Category: Regulations

Coinbase creates ‘crypto native think tank’

On By mehranmuslimiblogIn Bitcoin, crypto, RegulationsLeave a comment

In a bid to be on the inside track when it comes to shaping polices for digital assets, Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has created a “crypto native think tank “to help shape the global conversation around policies for digital assets,” Cointelegraph reports. The new think tank will also publish research on Web 3.0, in addition to crypto.

The policy research department is to be headed by Hermine Wong, its current Director of Policy. She previously served in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and before that worked at the Department of State.

At the same time Coinbase has formed a Coinbase Institute Advisory Board with academics across law and finance from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, Duke and John Hopkins. It also has an academic partnership with the University of Michigan, which will partner with Coinbase on an annual U.S. based survey measuring the adoption of cryptocurrencies, as well as sentiment towards them. Its first publication, a “Crypto and the Climate” report is published today, 19th May.  It looks into the energy use of proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin.

It has also released today its first monthly insight report into crypto markets, comparing market movements in crypto and traditional finance. The formation of the institute is another example of Coinbase aiming to influence the conversation around cryptocurrencies, something it has done in the past with the launch last May of a fact checking blog “to combat misinformation and mischaracterizations about Coinbase or crypto being shared in the world.”

Coinbase also spent over $1.3bn lobbying in 2021, and created a political action committee in February 2022, ahead of the November midterm elections in the USA.

Non-custodial wallets are under threat

On By mehranmuslimiblogIn crypto, Regulations, walletsLeave a comment

What is the difference between a custodial and non-custodial wallet? The prime difference between custodial and non-custodial cryptocurrency services is that the private key is managed by third parties in the former, whereas it is handled by users in the latter case.

The EU is proposing some regulatory changes regarding these wallets managed privately by users. On March 31, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) approved provisions to Europe’s Transfer of Funds Regulation that restricts Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) from transacting with unhosted wallets without verifying their owners’ identities beforehand. Furthermore, VASPs will be required to report all crypto transactions worth more than 1,000 EUR to relevant anti-money laundering authorities.

As Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase says, “Imagine if the EU demanded your bank to report you to the authorities every time you paid your rent, simply because the transaction was over 1,000 Euros.” Armstrong also said that the regulation amounts to treating “every person who holds crypto differently from fiat.” And if you use Coinbase, or indeed any other centralized exchange, if you are being sent a transaction that is above €1,000 in value, “Coinbase will be required to collect, store, and verify information on the other party, which is not our customer, before the transfer is allowed.”

Patrick Hansen of Unstoppable Finance remarked, the upshot of such a piece of regulation would mean that transactions between non-custodial wallets and centralized exchanges “would become way more costly and burdensome” due to the data collection requirements.

Furthermore, Hansen pointed out that the databases storing names, home addresses, and other sensitive personal data would become the target of hackers and criminals, which could lead to increased incidents of hacking, phishing, and physical violence targeting crypto users. He also warned that the provisions of the regulations could have even more drastic effects in the future, namely that the EU Commission could “potentially move to impose an outright ban on transfers between VASPs and non-custodial wallets in the future.”

Fortunately, the legislation has not yet been passed, and a debate on it will start this April. Hansen is hopeful: “Individual voices from the council and commission make me optimistic that we can still achieve changes.” If the legislation does pass, cryptocurrency businesses will still have nine months to adopt plans to adopt and implement the regulation, and 18 months until they must ensure full compliance.

Should DAOs become the form of governance for DeFi?

On By mehranmuslimiblogIn DeFi, RegulationsLeave a comment

According to the latest annual report from KuCoin Labs, “If DeFi aims to reduce regulatory risk, the form of DeFi governance will gradually become a DAO.”

The report further predicts that decentralized finance (DeFi) will still be a significant trend in the crypto industry in 2022. It points to the fact that the DeFi ecosystem has been “plagued by criminal whales” and that this has raised the prospect of increased risk. This situation has prompted calls for the regulation of decentralized finance; calls that come from inside the ecosystem in addition to pressure from external bodies.

With regulators more keenly scrutinizing DeFi, Kucoin predicts the industry may turn to DAO governance to reduce regulatory risks, and that is because “a DAO that puts community interest first can carry out “true governance decentralization.” It forecasts that the industry will see a shift in DeFi governance being coordinated using different mechanisms.

In relation to that, Kucoin’s report suggests, “the fundamental operational principles of DAOs are reasonable enough to be employed as foundations for the creation of legal entities.” However, this may not happen immediately. Rather, it is likely that we will not see a DAO expansion this year, but that there will be a refinement of the mechanisms instead, in preparation for adoption by companies and corporations.

To give a real life example of the use of DAOs in governance, we can look at the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. The islands now recognize DAOs as legal entities, meaning that they can register and operate legally within the island nation’s jurisdiction. It could be said that this represents proof that the DAO governance structure is indeed starting to become more prevalent in the blockchain world.

Ultimately, it concludes that 2022 is not likely to be the year where we see a breakthrough in DAO expansion, but rather we will see the refinement of their mechanisms that can pave the way for future adoption on corporate or company-size levels.

Money in 2022

On By mehranmuslimiblogIn Bitcoin, Blockchain, Governments, Metaverse, Regulations, Smart ContractsLeave a comment

This coming year might see many changes in the financial world, especially in money itself. It’s difficult to predict how things might play out, although there have been predictions in the MSM that Bitcoin and crypto generally will crash and burn, but that seems unlikely for those of us that are more immersed in cryptocurrencies than MSM journalists and their readers.

One scenario revolves around central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Will they be more influential this year as governments look to control digital currencies? Or will the stablecoins, such as Tether, issued by private companies rule the roost? Then there are the decentralised currencies, such as Bitcoin. Will they become the dominant force in finance?

Various factors are driving the debate around money. For example, China is rolling out its Digital Currency Electronic Payments (DCEP) project during the Winter Olympics in February. And the USA is developing regulations targeted at private issuers of stablecoins, whilst adoption of decentralized cryptocurrencies for payments continues to grow around the world.

The Regulations debate

In 2021, the US government debated crypto tax provisions in the infrastructure bill and the approval of a futures-based Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF.) This year it is likely that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will find ways to clarify its position on whether tokens are unregistered securities. At the same time, DeFi tokens may find themselves being included in this debate, which would be unwelcome.

The future of Ethereum

Although Ethereum still dominates DeFi, will its high gas fees for NFTs and other transactions become too expensive? It depends on the success of Ethereum 2.0. There are many big moves to be made before the full 2.0 project can be deemed a success. It has to merge its mainnet with the Beacon chain and that could disrupt token economics for miners and validators. And there are challenging upgrades within Eth 2.0, including sharding. The future of the dominant smart contracts platform depends on these going well.

Crypto and the climate

As climate change continues, crypto needs to shift the conversation away from how bad it is for the environment and towards one about mining-integrated energy systems that create incentives not only for miners to use renewable energy.

Web 3.0

Finally, there will be many discussions about Web 3. Jack Dorsey has been leading at least one discussion about its future, in which people will have greater control over their data and content. So far Web 3 is not really well defined, but there is a need to adjust our systems for managing digital property and for establishing users’ rights in this new era. We can expect this year to bring more clarity on Web 3 might be like and to get a better idea of the projects that will form part of it.