Every generation of regulators climbs the same ladder.
First, they regulate the surface.
Then the platforms.
Then the intermediaries.
Then the rails.
Each time, they arrive just in time to declare victory over the last system — right as the next one quietly becomes critical infrastructure.
Now we’re watching the next predictable move unfold:
They are rolling up the stack again.
This time, not into applications.
Not into exchanges.
Not into custody.
This time, they are moving toward verification itself.
Identity.
Proof.
Attestation.
Reputation.
Settlement.
The problem is simple:
You can regulate interfaces.
You can regulate companies.
You can regulate jurisdictions.
But when verification becomes cryptographic, composable, and globally interoperable — there is no obvious place left to grab.
So what follows is also predictable:
More consultation papers
More symbolic enforcement
More attempts to map old authority onto new primitives
Not because it will work —
but because institutions always reach for the last tool they understand.
This time, they won’t be regulating markets.
They’ll be grasping at the fabric of trust itself.
And history suggests how that ends.
#VerificationEconomy #RegulatoryCycles #DigitalTrust #CryptoInfrastructure #FutureOfCompliance #PermissionlessSystems #FounderPerspective #DamageBDD #BitcoinFirst
