State of Crypto: A Crypto by Any Other Name

January 24, 2023

Examining the intersection of cryptocurrency and government

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Welcome to State of Crypto. Here’s what’s important in policy news this week:

I got to the airport in Zurich and the first person I ran into was a friend from Austin visiting her family in Reykjavik. Anyways, I’m OOO this week, so if you need anything email someone else.

The crypto industry went on a rehab tour last week in Davos, Switzerland, among the world’s elite at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. To my surprise, there was an audience interested in what the industry looks like now.

— Nikhilesh De

Snowcapped

(Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

The narrative

The industry projected strength and all of that good stuff during this week’s meeting in Davos. And there was an audience – in at least some of the panels – of people who aren’t normally part of the industry.

Why it matters

Obviously, FTX was a looming shadow over crypto’s presence in Switzerland. And as my colleagues and I wrote last week, the industry had a much lighter presence in 2023 than it did last May. Even without FTX’s collapse, we would still be in a bear market, so that makes sense.

Breaking it down

“Crypto” barely came up at some of the panels from the industry during last week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) conference or during the side events in Davos, Switzerland. There were discussions about specific issues within the industry or about use cases for blockchain technology (and I was told the phrase “use cases” is getting phased out for “case studies”), but the actual word didn’t come up.

Instead, you had the industry talking about issues that could be adjacent to crypto, such as data storage and sharing, or sub-issues within crypto like stablecoins. And you saw public officials speaking to use cases for the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies.

CoinDesk Chief Content Officer Michael Casey wrote about what he saw, and also noted that whatever the industry may want, it won’t be able to escape the “crypto” term right now.

And yet, that may not actually matter. While the industry did have a smaller presence, the panels that did happen were substantive. The official WEF had more panels related to crypto and crypto-adjacent topics this year than last. The speakers at the side events represented the United Nations, NASA, CERN, BlackRock, the U.S. Congress, the Ukraine Parliament and a host of other traditional heavyweights.

These speakers didn’t wander onto a stage hosted by a crypto company by accident. Their willingness to be affiliated with the industry, even as loosely as a speaker, is suggestive.

Of course, the industry is currently still barreling full tilt toward adding to its impressively large dumpster fire status, so we’ll have to wait and see what the long term looks like.

You can catch CoinDesk’s coverage of the week below.

Blockchain’s Non-Crypto Applications Take Center Stage on Davos Day 2 – The CoinDesk’s team wrap-up of the second day of the annual conference.
Crypto Speculation Has Had Its ‘Comeuppance’: Raghuram Rajan – CoinDesk’s Sandali Handagama spoke exclusively with economist and former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan.
Binance CEO Says Many Crypto Players ‘Get Distracted’ by Money – CoinDesk’s Helene Braun sums up Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s virtual appearance at the Casper Labs Blockchain Hub.
In Davos, Blockchain Yields More Promises Than Problems – The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development’s controller and director Advit Nath discusses what he sees in an op-ed.
Davos Day 3 Shows Conflicting Visions for the Metaverse, CBDCs – The CoinDesk’s team wrap-up of the third day of the annual conference.
‘No Point’ to European Union’s Crypto Rules Unless World Follows Suit, Official Says – CoinDesk’s Jack Schickler spoke exclusively with European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness.
At Davos, Dutch Central Bank Chief Takes Aim at Jurisdictions That Attract Bad Crypto Actors – Sandali sums up a fascinating WEF panel.
World Economic Forum Wraps Up Davos 2023 With Sparks – The CoinDesk’s team wrap-up of the last day of the annual conference.

Explore the policy fallout from the 2022 market crash, CBDCs, stablecoin regulation, the challenges in applying 20th century securities laws to 21st century decentralized protocols and more at the Consensus 2023 Crypto Policy Forum. Use code FM15 for 15% off your pass. Learn more and register.

Biden’s Rule: Changing of the Guard

Key: (nom.) = nominee, (rum.) = rumored, (act.) = acting, (inc.) = incumbent (no replacement anticipated)

N/A

Outside CoinDesk

(The Wall Street Journal) Come for the news that new FTX CEO John J. Ray III has formed a task force to explore whether the bankrupt crypto exchange has more value in restarting than in being sold for parts, stay for the fascinating pseudo-back-and-forth on the claims made by JJR3 and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
(New York Magazine) Zoë Schiffer, Casey Newton and Alex Heath write about Twitter under its new boss.
(The Wall Street Journal) Prepare for every rich crypto person to talk about how much they’d like to buy CoinDesk.

Today’s Tweet

If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at nik@coindesk.com or find me on Twitter @nikhileshde.