Dear GBBC Community,
I have relocated to Washington, D.C.
Today is also Election Day in the United States. Normally, midterm elections are quite humdrum; not today. Much is at stake, including the future of tokenization and digital assets.
Why did I make the move? How does the outcome of the midterm elections benefit all of us? Here are some of the headline reasons.
If we are going to have reasonable and effective regulation of all things related to digital assets, D.C.-based decisionmakers and policy makers will need to have (1) a good understanding of the potential of blockchain technology, and (2) the ability to decipher what’s real from hype and noise.
- HELP WANTED: You provided feedback last year asking us to help support and increase the frequency of interactions with legislators, regulators, NGOs, and the private sector in a more neutral, fact-based, and balanced way. We are on it.
- FACTS, NOT HYPE: We remain committed to furthering the education of blockchain and digital assets, providing resources to regulators and policymakers on both sides of the aisle and advocating for responsible innovation while providing safeguards to consumers.
- BRIDGE THE GAPS: We will work with our members to convene both public and private roundtables with a multi-stakeholder approach including academia, NGOs, and previously unheard groups.
EYES ON DC 2023 ONWARDS: We believe that the next few years will be critical for the industry, not only from a legislative and regulatory standpoint, but also from an industry maturation and scaling perspective.
- Today, citizens across the United States exercise their right to vote, a hallmark of our democracy. Majority of Congressional, state, and local government seats will be determined by the ballots cast today; the individuals elected will have the ability to pass legislation that strikes the right balance between responsible innovation and consumer protection.
- Further, we anticipate that in the coming years, tokenization and digital assets will play a prominent role in the development of climate action, supply chains, agriculture, commodities, digital identity, and cybersecurity, just to name a few.
- Tokenization and other blockchain-enabled use cases will bring benefits to communities and society, which I like to call, ‘bringing blockchain home.’ And though the average person rarely cares about the development of tech behind the scenes, it is of the highest level of importance that not only does the tech work, but that it is also secure, reliable, and solves a REAL problem.
COLLABORATION AND HARMONIZATION: GBBC applauds the many blockchain groups in DC, and we do not wish to duplicate those efforts. We are reaching out to ensure a rich and substantive dialogue with all the groups seeking to promote the responsible adoption of digital assets and blockchain.
- We will continue to build our community and strengthen dialogue, understanding, and relationships – both in Washington, D.C. and across the globe.
- GBBC, as the largest blockchain non-profit association with more than 500 institutional members and 178 ambassadors across 95 jurisdictions and disciplines, offers both a macro perspective on industry trends and the ability to reach many different changemakers across the globe and tie it back to DC. Yes, this is part of the larger GBBC and GBBC Digital Finance (GDF) announcement of our Global Policy team (see below) and our purpose is clear: education, mutual understanding, and collaboration.
This is just the beginning of our push to bring GBBC member interests to the halls of power in D.C. There is more to come. We want to hear from you – if you are in D.C. or have ties to D.C., please let us know!
Yours truly on an important Election Day,
Sandra
P.S. Below you will see highlights from our most recent interactions with regulators at Singapore FinTech Festival, GBBC’s Blockchain Central UNGA, and ongoing GDF events.
For those who may not be familiar, if you are interested in pursuing a career within the blockchain and crypto industries, GBBC provides an expansive job board with nearly 30,000 job opportunities that include our Member organizations’ listings. The GBBC Job Board can be found here.
By Sandra Ro, CEO, Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC)
For more information, please contact [email protected]