Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up 2022-Week 18

This is Charles Brett’s start-of-the-week Enterprise Times ‘blockchain catch-up’ 2022-Week 18. Necessarily it is idiosyncratic and selective.

It is not intended to be comprehensive but does seek to highlight ‘Quick Takes’ on specific developments as well interesting pieces to read, a listing of some (not all) announcements/press releases and pointers to upcoming events.

Quick Takes – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up 2022-Week 18

California Governor signs blockchain executive order to spur responsible Web3 innovation, grow jobs and protect consumers

Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to foster responsible innovation, bolster California’s innovation economy, and protect consumers. It aims to create a transparent regulatory and business environment for web3 companies which harmonizes federal and California approaches, balances the benefits and risks to consumers, and incorporates California values such as equity, inclusivity, and environmental protection.

Under this executive order, and pursuant to the California Consumer Financial Protection Law passed by the Legislature in 2020, California will begin the process of creating a regulatory approach to spur responsible innovation while protecting California consumers, assess how to deploy blockchain technology for state and public institutions, and build research and workforce development pathways to prepare Californians for success in this industry.

Quick Take: lots of politician words (especially ‘grow jobs’)… Nevertheless, this is likely to represent another indicator that the regulatory world is trying hard to grapple with what crypto/blockchain opens up (see also Virtual Currency Guidance – New York Department of Financial Services, below).

7 pieces to read – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up 2022-Week 18

• ECB, Fed, BoE work on an interoperable CBDC
• EU’s CBDC gets record level of public feedback, mostly negative
• Central bank digital currencies, digital payments, and the future of money (video)
• #TechFT: how safe are digital assets? (behind FT paywall)
• Virtual Currency Guidance – New York Department of Financial Services
• The complete guide to crypto, Bitcoin, ApeCoin and blockchain technology
• Bored Ape metaverse frenzy raises millions (and) crashes Ethereum (behind Bloomberg paywall).

Selected announcements/press releases/opinions – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up 2022-Week 18

• Has New York State gone astray in its pursuit of crypto fraud? (opinion – relevant to Virtual Currency Guidance – New York Department of Financial Services, above)
• Why we need crypto payments to work – in a word: competition (opinion)
• Little by little, blockchain technology is beginning to appear around the house (opinion)
• Blockchain interoperability is essential to avoid the flaws of Web2 (opinion)
• DAOs: A blockchain-based replacement for traditional crowdfunding (opinion)
• Decentralized exchange Meshswap launches on Polygon, bringing 1M users to its DeFi ecosystem (announcement)
• FIFA announces partnership with blockchain company Algorand (announcement)
• B2B online marketplace ShelfNow gets blockchain integration (announcement).

Selected upcoming events

• Security Token Summit (15-16th May, 2022)
• Digital Assets AND Securities Conference (19th-21st May, 2022)
• EEMA 35th Annual Conference to focus on securing identity and its business (8th-9th June, 2022)
• Festival for the decentralised world (9th-12th June, 2022).