Casey Wagner

<div id="highlights-block_6079b17dc7253" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>As the US battles the pandemic, catastrophic weather conditions and social unrest, ESG products have surged</li>
 <li>Lack of regulatory restrictions that police what products can be labeled as ESG lets advisors take advantage of investor interest in ‘socially conscious’ products</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The US Securities and Exchange Commission is ramping up environmental social governance (ESG) oversight in response to cases of inaccurate and misleading disclosures around the extremely popular investment vehicle category.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Earlier this month, the SEC Division of Examinations issued a <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/esg-risk-alert.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">risk alert</a> regarding ESG investment products.&nbsp;



“A range of investment advisers have offered several ESG investment options,” the agency said in the alert. “The staff noted, despite claims to have formal processes in place for ESG investing, a lack of policies and procedures related to ESG investing.”&nbsp;



As the US battles the pandemic, catastrophic weather conditions and social unrest, ESG products have surged. Inflows into sustainable open-end and exchange-traded funds in the US rose to $51.1 billion in 2020, up from&nbsp; $21.4 billion in 2019. That’s a nearly tenfold increase from 2018, when inflows were $5.4 billion.&nbsp;



<h3>Backing the claims</h3>



“ESG is a space that&#8217;s been getting more and more attention, and like any sort of financial trend or product or theme, the more attention that it gets, the more regulatory focus and scrutiny it&#8217;ll get,” said Mazi Bahadori, CCO and executive vice president of operations at Altruist. “I don&#8217;t think the risk alert was a surprise.” 



The problem is, there are no regulatory restrictions that police what products can be labeled as ESG, and some advisors have started to take advantage of investor interest in ‘socially conscious’ products.&nbsp;



“The SEC is trying to get out ahead a little bit by saying if firms are really going to be touting their capabilities here, they&#8217;d better be able to actually do what they&#8217;re saying they&#8217;re going to do, these products need to deliver what they say they&#8217;re gonna deliver on,” said Bahadori. “A lot of firms aren&#8217;t necessarily doing that right now, they&#8217;re instead just trying to capitalize on people&#8217;s emotions and fancy marketing as opposed to actually substantive investment policies and strategies behind their claims.”&nbsp;



Investors that put money into these products with the assumption that they are contributing to sustainability or social justice may be surprised to see the underlying holdings. BlackRock Inc.’s iShares ESG Aware MSCI exchange-traded fund (<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ESGU:US">ESGU</a>), one of the most popular in the ESG category, has large holdings in Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. Amazon most notably has recently been widely criticized for unethical practices and improper employee treatment.&nbsp;



There are independent agencies outside of the SEC that rate ESG products. One of the largest is MSCI Inc., which scores ESG ETFs based on the holdings’ environmental, social and governance contributions and risks. The problem is, a lot of the data required to analyze these categories is not made available by most companies.&nbsp;



<h3>Even the best ESG can be bad</h3>



“A lot of industries don&#8217;t actually report many of these metrics that would influence ESG ratings,” said Bahadori. “So asset managers will just take whatever&#8217;s publicly available, and then they&#8217;ll rate them among similar verticals, for example, they’ll do an ESG analysis of ten companies and then pick the top two or three best ones in there.”



The problem with that system, Bahadori said, is that even the ‘best’ companies can still end up being bad from an ESG perspective, but because they&#8217;re the best of their peer group, they make the cut.



The SEC has caught on to the issues surrounding ESG labeling, and the risk alert seeks to address some of the concerns. The alert stated that examiners “will continue to examine firms to evaluate whether they are accurately disclosing their ESG investing approaches and have adopted and implemented policies, procedures, and practices that accord with their ESG-related disclosures,” but it is difficult to predict the impact of their efforts.&nbsp;



“I think the approach that the SEC tends to take with these things is you have to disclose and disclaim a lot of things to investors,” said Bahadori. “What I would love to see, from a personal perspective, is just a consideration, not a separate investment strategy. Just like you look at if a company knows how to make money, you look at if the company knows how to run a sustainable business.”&nbsp;

SEC Warns Firms About ESG Shortcomings

David Canellis

The SEC is back on Coinbase’s case and posturing to sue, sending the top US crypto exchange’s stock tumbling up to 20% this week.



It’s the third time Coinbase shares have tanked directly following actions taken by US regulators since Sept. 2021.&nbsp;



If you count last month’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kraken-settles-sec-crypto-staking-program">SEC settlement with Kraken</a> over yield-bearing, staking-as-a-service products (which Coinbase also offers), it makes four.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a>’s share price dropped 12% on the same day as the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/kraken" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kraken</a> settlement announcement, tumbled further to nearly 22%, before rebounding completely — all within a few days of trade.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/the-sec-will-sue-coinbase-if-it-launches-lend">Coinbase’s first Wells notice</a>, issued in the second half of 2021 over its proposed plan to pay up to 4% interest on <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDC</a> deposits, appears to have had a more sustained effect. 



Blockworks mapped major relevant regulatory actions against Coinbase’s stock price for up to one month following.



The firm’s share price dropped around 4% on the day it disclosed the Wells notice (which it had received in the week earlier). Those losses had doubled by the close of the next trading session, before reaching 19% down three weeks later.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13175318/embed#?secret=ICoOdGmLXe" data-secret="ICoOdGmLXe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Click the swatches to toggled lines on the chart | Chart by David Canellis</figcaption></figure>



COIN dropped even harder last year when the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-insider-trader-prison">Department of Justice filed charges against a former product manager</a> in July 2022, over an insider trading ring that netted $1.5 million.&nbsp;



Back then, the stock sank 30% over the four following days, from above $75 to as low as $53. Still, it rebounded completely over the next few sessions — and then some, hitting $100 three weeks later.



As for <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation">this week’s Wells notice</a>, Coinbase stock is now down 12.3% since just before its disclosure, similar to losses felt after Kraken’s settlement.



<h2>Billions wiped from Coinbase market value after SEC threats</h2>



Coinbase saw up to $11.3 billion wiped from its market capitalization in the month following 2021’s Wells notice, ahead of the $5 billion and $3.3 billion after the insider trading and Kraken reports.&nbsp;



So far, Coinbase has lost up to $2.3 billion from its valuation since its most recent SEC threat.



Of course, it’s tough to prove direct causation outside of the price collapses that have occurred on the same day.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13186438/embed#?secret=iiCWAZpgJ2" data-secret="iiCWAZpgJ2" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div></figure>



Bitcoin price drops of up to 35% also happened in the 30 days following these regulatory actions, and Coinbase stock is often highly correlated with <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a> markets. 



Bitcoin’s performance is based on a myriad of external factors, arguably more influential than threats against a centralized public company like Coinbase.



But at least in the short term, agencies like the SEC surely aren’t helping Coinbase shareholders.



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US Agencies Keep ‘Protecting Investors’ — And Tanking Coinbase Stock

Ben Strack

Alluvial revealed a swathe of leadership changes, including the appointment of a new CEO.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-schmiedt-506862124/?locale=en_US">Mara Schmiedt</a>, formerly the software company’s chief growth officer, is now the firm’s chief executive. Before joining Alluvial last October, Schmiedt was head of sales at Coinbase Cloud for nearly two years. She worked as a strategy manager at blockchain company ConsenSys shortly prior to that.



Alluvial also named co-founder <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-leisinger/">Matt Leisinger</a>, its former CEO, as chief product officer. Before becoming Alluvial’s CEO last year, Leisinger was a product lead at blockchain infrastructure provider Figment.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The reshuffling comes at a time when Alluvial seeks to offer more support to liquid staking protocol Liquid Collective. The protocol’s Ethereum <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/staking">staking</a> went live on Coinbase Prime and Bitcoin Suisse earlier this month.



<h2>Bitcoin miner also names new chief executive&nbsp;</h2>



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitcoin-mining" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crypto miner</a> Bit Digital also named a new CEO in a move to go into effect on March 31. 



CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bullett/">Bryan Bullett</a> is set to step down from the chief executive post, becoming a senior adviser. Bit Digital Chief Strategy Officer Sam Tabar will fill the role.



Bullett will focus on finding additional, non-correlated income streams for the company in his new role, the company said in a press release. The New York-based company revealed last year its intention to become a validator on the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ethereum" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ethereum</a> network, as well as to compile and stake ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>).



“What already differentiates us is our pristine balance sheet, unleveraged and sound mining business, and exciting new Ethereum business that positions us to become a proxy for the foundational blockchain of the &#8216;smart contract economy,” Tabar said in a statement.



Bit Digital had roughly $33 million in cash and nearly $28 million worth of digital assets at the end of 2022 — including no debt or miner purchase obligations.



<h2>Other notable hires</h2>



<ul>
<li>Alchemy Pay, a payment company that connects the fiat and crypto economies, tapped former White House senior adviser <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-plouffe-00662396/">David Plouffe</a> as a senior adviser.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Crypto mining hardware company BitFrontier Capital Holdings hired Keith Su — formerly at ASIC Miners US — to lead its business operations in Asia.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Blockchain DigitalBits appointed Riccardo Cambiassi as its chief technology officer. Cambiassi was previously a technology consultant for firms such as GoCardless and Yodel.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Cipher Mining promoted <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kelly-060593169/">Patrick Kelly</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/williwaschuk/">Will Iwaschuk</a> to be co-presidents, while elevating <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-s-01ab7a74/">Olivia Stennett</a> to be the company’s chief administrative officer.</li>
</ul>



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: New CEOs for Bit Digital, Alluvial

Michael Bodley

Nasdaq’s hotly anticipated crypto custody suite is taking shape, with a launch reportedly expected before the end of the second quarter.&nbsp;



Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-24/nasdaq-eyes-crypto-custody-launch-by-end-of-second-quarter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> on Friday that Nasdaq Inc., the parent company of the US tech-heavy stock exchange, is “pushing ahead to get all the necessary technical infrastructure and regulatory approvals in place.” Bloomberg cited an interview with Ira Auerbach, senior vice president and head of Nasdaq Digital Assets, in reporting the news. 



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/nasdaq-to-enter-crypto-custody-market-for-institutional-clients">Nasdaq first made its digital asset ambitions known in September</a> 2022, as previously reported by Blockworks, when its president and chief executive, Adena Friedman, then said in a statement that the “technology that underpins the digital asset ecosystem has the potential to transform markets over the long-term.”



“To deliver on that opportunity, our focus will be to provide institutional-grade solutions that bring greater liquidity, integrity, and transparency to support the evolution,” she said in a statement at the time.&nbsp;



Nasdaq’s reported launch by the end of the second half of 2023 comes at a time when crypto industry participants say traditional finance interest is on the uptick. And the stock exchange’s move is at least one indicator that institutional-grade crypto interest remains strong, despite a disastrous 2022 for many sectors within the digital asset ecosystem.&nbsp;



In the fourth quarter of 2022, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bny-mellon-moves-to-let-institutions-hold-bitcoin-ether">BNY Mellon said it would provide custody and transfer services</a> for bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a>) and ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>), specifically, to a number of its institutional clients, according to a Blockworks’ story from the time. 



Crypto traders in more recent weeks have been eyeing what their traditional finance counterparts are doing in the space, as bitcoin, ether and crypto more broadly have found their local floor — and have already booked substantial performance gains so far in 2023.



There’s also been a related crypto-native push of late, per <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-custody-safety-net-animoca">Blockworks’ previous reporting</a>, to cash in on opportunities to provide blockchain-based alternatives to those moves made by the likes of Nasdaq and its counterparts.



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Nasdaq Crypto Custody Crystallizing, Launch Coming Soon: Report

Connor Sephton

Nas Daily&#8217;s video profiling Sam Bankman-Fried has aged badly. We all know that.



But even when it was released, it was oh so painful to watch.



There&#8217;s the slow-motion shot of SBF giving a woman a banknote, paving the way for a cringeworthy introduction.



Nas — real name Nuseir Yassin — gesticulates with glee and talks about the one-time crypto wunderkind to the camera…who is standing awkwardly next to him.&nbsp;



The YouTuber then documents how &#8220;normal&#8221; SBF is, in a breathless tone that&#8217;s a jarring mismatch for the facts.



&#8220;Sam has CRAZY HAIR! Sam is VEGAN! Sam sleeps FIVE HOURS A NIGHT!&#8221;



Animal-loving insomniacs with an untameable mane are so hard to come by, aren&#8217;t they?&nbsp;



To be fair to Nas, the focus of his video — released in January 2022 — was worth being breathless about. Or so we thought.



&#8220;The guy you see next to me is the most generous billionaire in the world…and I found him!&#8221;



Little did Nas know that he would soon wish he hadn&#8217;t found him — and when FTX&#8217;s bankruptcy hit, the influencer had little choice but to record a video offering his sympathy to its customers.



What happened isn&#8217;t the YouTuber&#8217;s fault. SBF wasn&#8217;t shy about his supposed ambitions of getting rich to give the money away to charity. He had long spoken of his belief in &#8220;effective altruism&#8221; — and how he was driven by earning to give.



But even before FTX went down in flames, there were warning signs that SBF was all mouth and no trousers.



When Forbes released its 2021 rundown of the 400 richest people in America — two months before Nas Daily&#8217;s video — Steven Ehrlich noted that SBF was worth $22.5 billion.&nbsp;



And how much had he given away, we hear you ask? Just $25 million — 0.1% of his fortune — meaning he was among the least charitable members of that esteemed list.



As Ehrlich said, that&#8217;s &#8220;mathematically equivalent to a typical 29-year-old American stuffing $15 into a Salvation Army bucket.&#8221;&nbsp;



(If you just have — Nas Daily is on his way to record you, I&#8217;m sure.)&nbsp;



SBF&#8217;s bluster is a symptom of a long-running disease in crypto: promising the world before you&#8217;ve delivered the goods.



We&#8217;ve seen it in the countless initial coin offerings that have raised millions, despite the fact they didn&#8217;t even have a working product.



And we&#8217;ve seen it in the entrepreneurs who would rent Lamborghinis and take them to crypto conferences — offering them the illusion of success at a fraction of the cost.



No one disputes that the goals of effective altruism and earning to give are admirable. But garnering column inches and YouTube views by saying you&#8217;re going to do it — rather than quietly getting on with it — is cheap and vain.&nbsp;



SBF isn&#8217;t the only crypto entrepreneur who risks falling into this trap, and he won&#8217;t be the last. But let&#8217;s be honest: It&#8217;s the billionaire&#8217;s equivalent of a TikTokker who films themselves giving a pizza or $100 to a homeless person. They’re not trying to do what&#8217;s right — they’re trying to get engagement.



It wasn&#8217;t always like this.



Back in December 2017 — shortly before Bitcoin broke $20,000 for the first time — a philanthropic project called the Pineapple Fund opened its doors.



It was started by an early adopter of Bitcoin who wished to remain anonymous. On Reddit at the time, they wrote: &#8220;Bitcoin has changed my life, and I have far more money than I can ever spend. My aims, goals, and motivations in life have nothing to do with having XX million or being the mega rich. So I&#8217;m doing something else: donating the majority of my bitcoins to charitable causes.&#8221;



And rather than waiting for Nas Daily to swing round with his camera crew, &#8220;Pine&#8221; got to work. A whopping 5,104 BTC was shared between more than 60 charities — organizations that provided everything from clean water to clinical trials exploring whether MDMA could treat post-traumatic stress disorder. That war chest was worth $55 million back then, and would have a value of well over $140 million now.



It was an incredible achievement — and to this day, &#8220;Pine&#8221; remains anonymous. Instead of blowing smoke up their you-know-where, they let the fund do the talking. And unlike FTX, these charities had the added bonus that they&#8217;ll never face immense pressure to return funds because they were stolen from unsuspecting customers.



Crypto has started to cultivate a compelling track record when it comes to charitable donations. Crypto Giving Tuesday goes from strength to strength every year, and Ukraine has received over $100 million since Russia&#8217;s invasion began. (But even then, contributions only spiked when an airdrop was rumored.)&nbsp;



The digital assets space is often consumed with talking about the future — where we&#8217;ll be in a year&#8217;s time, five years, a decade. And that&#8217;s fine. But when it comes to charity, maybe — just maybe — it&#8217;s better to follow Nike&#8217;s mantra: Just Do It.



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Dear Crypto Billionaires: Don’t Brag About Giving Away Your Fortunes, Just Do It

Shalini Nagarajan

Binance employees reportedly helped some users in China skirt local regulatory controls meant to keep locals out of the top crypto exchange.



China’s central bank declared all crypto transactions illegal in 2021, a move that essentially <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-markets-tumble-on-pboc-news">restricted</a> international crypto exchanges from the region.



But CNBC has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/23/binance-employees-volunteers-tell-users-how-to-evade-china-crypto-ban.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> details of Binance’s Discord and Telegram official chatroom histories. The outlet found accounts identified as Binance employees (or Binance-trained volunteers known as “Angels”) had taught China-based users methods of avoiding know-your-customer (KYC) checks and verification systems.&nbsp;



These approaches involved falsified documents such as forged bank statements and wrong addresses, CNBC said.



Mainland China residents were reportedly sent video guides and other resources by employees, volunteers and other customers, showing them how to fabricate their country of residence so they could get access to the exchange’s debit card.&nbsp;



A <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance</a> spokesperson told Blockworks that the exchange has taken action against employees who might have violated its policies that include giving advice against internal standards.&nbsp;



“We have strict policies requiring all users to pass KYC by providing us with their country of residence and other personal identification information,” the spokesperson said, adding that employees are unauthorized to support users in skirting local laws or regulatory policies and that they would be “dismissed or audited” if found to be in violation.&nbsp;



They didn’t respond to a query on how many employees were involved in the matter.



Alongside reported crackdowns on local and foreign crypto exchanges operating in the mainland, Chinese officials have repeatedly warned residents to steer clear from the digital asset market.&nbsp;



KYC checks and other anti-money laundering measures are key to disallowing users from either sanctioned countries or those where trading is deemed illegal.&nbsp;



<h2>Binance and restricted jurisdictions</h2>



Binance had been blocked in China since 2017 when local crypto exchanges were ordered to cease operations. After the 2021 ban, Binance <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/china-crypto-ban-binance-huobi-cut-ties-mainland-users-reactions-2021-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> Insider it didn’t hold exchange operations in China and that the Binance app is not available for downloads there.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-traders-in-iran-skirted-binance-ban-following-us-sanctions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a> previously reported that Binance accommodated crypto traders in Iran on its platform despite US sanctions and a company ban. At the time, Binance’s global head of sanctions, Chagri Poyraz said traders can manage to avoid geographical restrictions through the use of virtual private networks (VPNs).



A Binance spokesperson told Blockworks the company has implemented detection tools to crack down on users in restricted and sanctioned regions that had access to sophisticated masking tools, including VPNs.



“Users who are found to have used any sort of workaround to avoid local law are restricted immediately,” they added.&nbsp;



“However, it is extraordinarily rare for users to be able to implement workarounds as we have multiple manual and AI-driven processes to ensure users cannot circumvent these processes, and AI processes cannot circumvent these processes.”



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Binance ‘Angels’ Helped China-based Users Evade KYC: Report

Macauley Peterson

Ethereum has a new scaling solution reaching public mainnet, going live Friday. ZkSync’s EVM-compatible zero-knowledge proof-based rollup is open to the public from 10:00 am ET.



The zkEVM, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/matter-labs-rebrands-zkevm">rebranded to zkSync Era</a> last month, has been open to developers-only <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zksync-sharpens-role-ethereum-200m-funding">since October 2022</a>. But now the proverbial training wheels are coming off and the public will have their first chance to interact with dapps on the platform.



ZkSync Era was previously known as zkSync 2.0, and its 1.0 cousin, launched by developer Matter Labs in December 2020, remains live as zkSync Lite.



A rival zkEVM from Polygon was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/polygon-zkevm-beta-live-on-ethereum">announced in mid-February</a> and its equivalent offering, which the team calls “Mainnet Beta,” is expected to go live on Monday, March 27.



So, the zkSync folks can lay claim to being “the world’s first zkEVM mainnet,” if only by a weekend.



Matter Labs’ co-founder and CEO Alex Gluchowski told Blockworks the timing is coincidental, and Era’s alpha launch milestone is arriving right on schedule, following the completion of a second public <a href="http://code4rena.com/contests/2023-03-zksync-era-system-contracts-contest">security contest</a> via Code4rena.



“Now we feel completely safe to launch,” Gluchowski said, stressing that the testing of the product has been extensive.



The developers spent $3.8 million on testing and auditing, according to a statement shared with Blockworks, including seven independent security audits — <a href="https://blog.openzeppelin.com/zksync-layer-1-audit/">one</a> with leading auditor OpenZeppelin — and an open-ended bug bounty program <a href="https://immunefi.com/bounty/zksyncera/">with Immunefi</a>.



“You really need this layered approach to security,” Gluchowski said, adding, “Now we feel comfortable, but I mean it’s still Alpha — people have to understand it’s still brand new technology.”



He pointed to the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/euler-bounty-defi-flash-loan-attack">recent exploit of Euler Finance</a>, whose smart contracts were audited by a reputable firm and were live for the better part of a year, as an example of how audits alone aren’t enough.



The combination of external and internal audits, public security contests and bug bounties and a developer gated release, Gluchowki thinks should be industry standard practice.



The zkSync Era code is also fully <a href="https://github.com/matter-labs/zksync-era">open-source</a>, including the prover, which the team <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zksync-sharpens-role-ethereum-200m-funding">sees as a competitive differentiator</a>.



“We open-sourced everything the moment we opened the network to developers — as we promised — under a permissive MIT Apache 2 License,” Gluchowski said, explaining the rationale is that they “believe it’s fundamental to crypto have the code open-source and forkable, because that’s tied to the ethos and values of Ethereum.”



Another key feature is native <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-are-smart-contract-wallets">account abstraction</a>, which will allow Era users to pay transaction fees in any token or even let dapp developers pay users’ fees.



<h2>Looking forward: Decentralization</h2>



There remain guardrails in place, such as a delay period for withdrawals, initially set to 24 hours, but which will be reduced gradually, Gluchowski said.



“In the initial phase, we will be still running the sequencer [and] we have the right to upgrade the contracts — it’s not yet fully decentralized,” he said.



The plan is to follow a similar approach to that of zkSync Lite, which has a <a href="https://blog.matter-labs.io/security-council-2-0-2337a555f17a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">security council</a> that supervises protocol upgrades.



“We can’t guarantee that there are no problems, we encourage people to experiment slowly,” Gluchowski said.



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ZkSync’s zkEVM ‘Era’ Opens to the Public

Sebastian Sinclair

Bitcoin and ether mostly held their ground as Coinbase disclosed it had received an <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SEC Wells notice</a> alleging potential securities violations.



The top-two cryptocurrencies even clawed back earlier losses, climbing 4% and 4.7%, respectively, on Thursday.&nbsp;Bitcoin is now at its highest point since last June.



Coinbase stock, on the other hand, immediately sank 20% on news of the Wells before recovering slightly. It&#8217;s however still up around 13% over the past month and nearly double year to date.



The securities watchdog is showing renewed focus in <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gary-gensler-bait-switch-coinbase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pursuing action with little mediation</a>. Last month saw a settlement with San Francisco-headquartered exchange Kraken over its staking-as-a-service <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kraken-settles-sec-crypto-staking-program" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">product</a><a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kraken-settles-sec-crypto-staking-program">s</a>.



Bitcoin and ether are still up more than 20% over the past month, with <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-dominates-bank-stocks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recent rallies coinciding with failures</a> at US banks Signature and Silicon Valley Bank. Although, markets corrected Friday morning, by 2%.



A “reprehensible amount of resources” have been spent in the US attempting to engage with the SEC, Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation told Blockworks in an emailed statement.



Coinbase’s chief counsel said the firm had directed millions to legal support for SEC proposals and repeatedly requested SEC feedback. “We got none,” Paul Grewal said in a blog <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/we-asked-the-sec-for-reasonable-crypto-rules-for-americans-we-got-legal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">post</a>.



On the other hand, more direct SEC action against Tron founder Justin Sun on Wednesday tanked TRX up to 13%. Other tokens tied to the crypto entrepreneur dropped, too, such as bittorrent and huobi token.



For what it’s worth, China’s ban on bitcoin in May 2021 triggered a far steeper sell-off — with BTC falling more than 30% on the month. Bitcoin bounced hard, topping out at $69,000 by November.



“We are seeing big demand coming from institutions,” Guillaume Chatain, head of institutional sales at Coinbase said during a fireside chat at Paris Blockchain Week on Thursday. “Hedge funds want to take advantage of the volatility.”



Updated Mar. 24, 2023 at 7:59 am ET: Added price context.



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Bitcoin and Ether Take SEC Crackdown On The Chin

MakerDAO members voted against diversifying the primary reserve stablecoin asset backing its DAI token on Thursday, opting to keep Circle’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdc">USDC</a> in place despite breaching all-time lows last week.



In an instant “run-off vote,” where participants rank options in order of preference, more than 93,000 governance tokens, or 79% of the total vote, were cast in favor of maintaining USDC, results from a recent <a href="https://vote.makerdao.com/polling/QmQ1fYm3#vote-breakdown" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">governance poll</a> shows.



It follows a chaotic period in the traditional financial and crypto markets with one of issuer Circle’s main banking partners, Silicon Valley Bank, being taken over by the FDIC. While investor&#8217;s nerves have <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/signature-silicon-valley-bank-made-whole">been calmed</a>, the vote was an insurance hedge against further systemic risks.



Circle revealed it had some $3.3 billion trapped within the bank, triggering a 48 hour run on the company’s token which briefly forced prices to as low as $0.87, and also destabilized <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoins-peg-usdc-all-time-low">other stablecoins</a> — DAI among them.



Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/circle-stand-behind-usdc">quickly reassured</a> investors it would be able to meet redemptions, stating the company would cover any shortfall incurred using corporate resources.



As a result, DAO members were presented with two options: Further diversify DAI’s stablecoin reserves with Gemini’s GUSD and the Paxos&#8217; USDP as viable candidates, or maintain the status quo.



DAI is designed to hold its peg with the US dollar on a 1:1 ratio through a system of collateralized debt positions. Users can deposit collateral in the form of ETH or other digital assets and mint DAI against it.&nbsp;



MakerDAO introduced its Peg Stability Module in 2020 at a time when the crypto market was experiencing large bouts of volatility. The module allows users to swap between USDC, USDP, GUSD and DAI at no cost.



“Among integrated stablecoins, USDP and GUSD seem to still have somewhat lower fundamental counterparty risk, with greater assurance of the stablecoins being bankruptcy remote and somewhat lower risk within their backing,” MakerDAO said in a <a href="https://forum.makerdao.com/t/proposal-psm-parameter-normalization-17-march-2023/20209" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">forum post</a>.



The first option was considered as a means to “more evenly distribute” its stablecoin reserves and protect against the ‘imminent risk of cascading bank runs and losses on uninsured deposits,” MakerDAO said.



But voters determined that USDC was working just fine, setting aside the serious wobble two weeks ago.



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MakerDAO Sticks with USDC Reserve Despite Calls for Diversification

Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon has been indicted in the US on fraud charges hours after <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/do-kwon-arrested">his arrest in Montenegro</a>.&nbsp;



A grand jury in New York federal court charged Kwon with securities fraud, wire fraud and commodities fraud, the indictment shows.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/do-kwon">Kwon</a> also has pending federal cases in the Southern District of New York with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a>. The securities regulator <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-charges-do-kwon-terraform-labs-with-fraud-misleading-investors">charged Kwon</a> with an alleged unregistered security offering last month.



The crypto executive was first served with a subpoena from the SEC in November 2021. Kwon and Terraform then countersued the agency challenging the subpoenas, citing alleged violations to due process law.&nbsp;



Montenegrin authorities may hand Kwon over to the US, based on prior agreements. The country has “provided significant assistance” in extraditions to the US, the Department of Justice said in November 2022.&nbsp;



Montenegro will only extradite on bilateral agreement and will transfer the person who has been granted extradition within 30 days, according to the <a href="https://rm.coe.int/16803ab7f1#:~:text=Citizen%20of%20Montenegro%20can%20be,of%20the%20decision%20on%20extradition.">Council of Europe</a>.&nbsp;



Kwon is still wanted by government officials in South Korea, who issued a warrant for his arrest in October 2022.



Terraform Labs’ stablecoin, TerraUSD (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/ust">UST</a>), rocked crypto markets with its sudden collapse last year. The fall of UST, and its sister coin, <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/luna">LUNA</a>, led to billions of dollars in losses for investors.



The US Department of Justice <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/doj-terrausd-stablecoin">is reportedly investigating UST’s failure</a>, alleging that Kwon and his company misled investors about the stablecoin’s risks.



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Do Kwon Indicted on Fraud Charges in New York

Coinbase executives doubled down on the possibility of taking the SEC to court a day after the regulator warned the crypto company it could bring an enforcement action against it.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation">The SEC hit Coinbase with a Wells notice</a> Wednesday about alleged securities violations. Coinbase said in a statement Wednesday it is “confident in the legality of [its] assets and services,” adding that the regulator’s claims lacked detail about specific problems.&nbsp;



Coinbase CEO <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/brian-armstrong" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brian Armstrong</a> said during a Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/coinbase/status/1638940882597744642" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Space</a> Thursday that while the SEC’s move wasn’t totally unexpected, it was “a very strange outcome” after the firm met with the regulator roughly 30 times during the last nine months. 



“I think the courts could maybe actually give us some clarity here,” Armstrong said. “In a way we’re happy to go to court if that’s what it takes to finally get some case law developed for this industry so the industry can be built in a safe, trusted and regulated way here in America.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The regulator is targeting Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Wallet, according to the Wells <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1679788/000167978823000051/coin-20230322.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">notice</a> — a letter that follows an investigation and precedes a potential enforcement action. 



The SEC declined to comment further.



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SEC</a>’s latest Wells notice against <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a> reflects a belief by some in the US that crypto industry players seek to take advantage of regulatory loopholes, Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Sheila Warren said in a Thursday statement.



“What’s true is that a reprehensible amount of resources and brainpower have been spent in the US trying to engage with this SEC and trying to create substance and a path out of the wraithlike comments issued by the agency,” Warren said. “Are we really going to allow one agency in the US to set the entire trajectory of an innovation for the entire country, especially if that agency refuses to engage with the industry it is trying to regulate?”



Armstrong said while other US regulators — such as the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cftc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFTC</a> and state agencies — have been “reasonable” to work with, the SEC has been “a real outlier.” 



Despite many meetings with the SEC and Coinbase spending tens of millions of dollars in legal fees, Armstrong said, the agency has not offered feedback to the company.&nbsp;



Policy by enforcement is the “worst possible way” to move a nascent space forward, Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said during the Twitter Space.



Despite a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-regulation-policy-law">lack of US crypto policy movement</a> thus far, Shirzad said he is confident politicians will start to respond to aggressive actions against the crypto industry.



“I think what you’ll see now over the next few weeks is that Congress is going to step up,” he said.



<h2>White House crypto stance said to be “disappointing”&nbsp;</h2>



The warning to Coinbase came the same day the SEC <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-justin-sun">launched a lawsuit</a> against Tron Network founder Justin Sun for allegedly selling unregistered securities. Sun <a href="https://twitter.com/justinsuntron/status/1638742625003130881" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> that the complaint “lacks merit.” 



The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy then renewed its warning about crypto risks in an investor <a href="https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins/crypto-asset-securities" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alert</a> Thursday, stating that “investments in crypto asset securities can be exceptionally volatile and speculative.”



The alert said that crypto companies may not be complying with federal securities laws. It added that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-are-proof-of-reserves-and-can-they-build-back-trust">proof-of-reserves</a> efforts “may not provide any meaningful assurance that these entities hold adequate assets to back their customers’ balances.”



The White House has even weighed, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ERP-2023.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">saying</a> in its annual Economic Report of the President earlier this week that the design of digital assets “frequently reflects an ignorance of basic economic principles.”



“Indeed, crypto assets to date do not appear to offer investments with any fundamental value, nor do they act as an effective alternative to fiat money, improve financial inclusion, or make payments more efficient,” the report states. “Instead, their innovation has been mostly about creating artificial scarcity in order to support crypto assets’ prices — and many of them have no fundamental value.”



Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith called the latest White House report “disappointing.”



“While other countries are increasingly receptive to the burgeoning crypto industry, some in government appear increasingly allergic to its promise, sending companies and innovators offshore,” she said in a statement the day later. “We urge the Biden administration to consider how it will be remembered: as a leader of profound innovation or a roadblock to a global tech revolution.”



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Brian Armstrong: Coinbase ‘Happy To Go To Court’ With SEC To Defend Industry

The Department of the Treasury and IRS issued a new notice proposing most NFTs be taxed higher than securities and other assets.&nbsp;



Certain <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/nft" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFTs</a> should be classified as collectibles, the agencies suggested in the notice issued this week. 



Net capital gains tax from selling collectibles for a profit can be as high as 28% for the highest earners, per <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/irs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IRS</a> code. Capital gains taxes on securities and other goods generally range from 15% to 20%. 



The notice states that NFTs could be classified as collectibles if the associated right or asset is a collectible. For example, stamps are collectibles under US tax code, so an NFT tied to ownership of a stamp would also be a collectible. The IRS calls this reasoning the “look-through analysis.”&nbsp;



“The [analysis] will be instrumental in an investor&#8217;s individual NFTs being classified correctly on one&#8217;s tax return as well as taxed at the correct rate rather than lumped into one rate and only one classification,” Gabriel Brin, vice president of tax and accounting product at Ledgible, told Blockworks in an interview.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The notice marks the first time the tax regulator has addressed NFTs, which have long been a headache for accountants.&nbsp;



Some NFT traders have already been claiming their assets as collectibles for tax purposes, but appraisals and tax rates have still been a headache, Erin Fennimore, head of tax and information reporting solutions at TaxBit, <a href="https://blockworks.co/webinar/the-big-picture-are-you-prepared-for-new-digital-asset-regulations">said</a>. 



“There’s different tax rates for collectibles, but also, collectibles like a fine piece of art are appraised as part of that valuation, but can you actually appraise an NFT as a collectible?,” Fennimore said.&nbsp;



When an NFT has been resold, there is a point of contact to determine fair market value, but when NFTs are first created this is more of an issue, she added.



Other traders have historically treated NTFs like any other digital asset. Property, for instance, comes with a minimum 20% tax when held for over a year. The IRS and Treasury’s proposal ups this tax up to 8%.&nbsp;



The agencies have some fine print to work out as well, the notice acknowledges. The “look-through” approach broaches the question of whether an NTF can be considered a work of art, which would also impact tax rates.&nbsp;



“If the Treasury department and the IRS find that in their conclusion a digital file does constitute a ‘work of art,’ then the vast majority of NFTs will be classified as collectibles and treated as such (28% max tax rate for long term holdings),” Brin said. “NFTs in general can have many use cases and utilities, the classifications can be endless based on different industries that may adopt blockchain technology.”



The agencies are accepting public comments on the notice now through June 19, 2023 before issuing official guidance.



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IRS Floats New Guidance Around NFT Classification That Would Increase Taxes

As the price of bitcoin has stabilized in recent weeks, and notched a notable increase in performance terms over the past seven days, a new joint venture designed to capitalize on institutional interest in ESG Bitcoin initiatives is set to hit the market.



Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol (SBP), has teamed up with <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitgo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BitGo</a> — the crypto service provider known for its digital asset custodial solutions — to launch what both companies dubbed “the first sustainable custody solution” in a statement provided to Blockworks exclusively.&nbsp;



It’s called the &#8220;Sustainable Bitcoin Certificate (SBC),” representatives told Blockworks, and it involves an on-chain solution to address problems environmental proponents say have long plagued bitcoin mining: dirty energy.



Non-renewable energy sources still power mining hardware on the original <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake-whats-the-difference">proof-of-work</a> blockchain, in many parts of the world, meaning securing the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitcoin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bitcoin</a> network adds carbon pollution to the atmosphere.



The crux of BitGo and SBP’s partnership — SBCs — are “on-chain assets that represent sustainable Bitcoin mining and can be added to the holdings of a Bitcoin investor, 1:1, ensuring that they are sustainably holding Bitcoin without disrupting its fungibility.”



Brad van Voorhees, SBP’s chief executive and co-founder, told Blockworks on Thursday that the partnership with BitGo is not a new idea. The CEO and his team have “recognized this opportunity for a couple of years actually,” he said.



“It’s because we’ve had the time to have the right partner join us to fill out the technical structure,” he said. “It’s the right time to leverage bitcoin to help drive the clean-energy transition — and ultimately change the narrative from ‘Bitcoin is a sustainability problem’ [to]…there’s unique potential to drive the clean energy transition [with BTC], and that’s really what we’re trying to unlock.”&nbsp;



<h2>Institutional winds at BTC’s ESG sails?</h2>



The effort is getting off the ground as retail and institutional traders alike are pushing <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a>’s price, as well as associated volumes and market capitalization, generally higher over a prolonged period of time.&nbsp;



Its end result is designed to offer a viable on-chain alternative to past and prevalent attempts to mitigate bitcoin’s environmental impacts — including tokenized, off-chain carbon credit models with crypto-native backing.&nbsp;



Carbon credits have been floated and have gathered steam, at least here and there, especially among Wall Street players looking to gain ESG exposure.&nbsp;



The metrics defining <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/upstart-crypto-carbon-credits-platform-raises-2b-to-tap-internet-of-energy">how ESG relates to crypto carbon credits</a> have resulted in a mixed bag, according to previous Blockworks reporting, but the sentiment did not altogether stop those efforts from moving forward last year.&nbsp;



Though bitcoin was roughly flat over the last 24 hours, the asset is up about 12.8% on a seven day-basis and about 16.5% over the past 30 days, marking a notable stabilization and ensuing recovery from the 49.5% price plummet of 2022.



Macro headwinds, including the Fed’s shifting stance on interest rates and the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a>’s moves to reign in what the US regulator alleged as bad crypto actors buffeted digital and traditional financial markets.



&#8220;We are excited to partner with SBP to offer our clients a solution that addresses their concerns around Bitcoin&#8217;s environmental impact while incentivizing verified clean energy use in bitcoin mining,&#8221; said Steve Scott, a director at BitGo, in the statement, a novel solution he calls “a key differentiator” in the custody space.



&#8220;This collaboration allows us to offer the most secure and sustainable Bitcoin custody solution on the market, providing our clients with a way to hold Bitcoin that aligns with their investment strategies and values,&#8221; Scott said.&nbsp;



A “proof of sustainability API” is in the works, which is designed to allow investors to show they hold a 1:1 ratio to BTC and SBC, the on-chain token under BitGo custody. 



BitGo and van Voorhees’ SBP summed up their team up by saying “the new offering aims to address the increasing demand from ESG and climate-focused institutional investors who want to hold Bitcoin but are concerned about its climate impacts.”



If you take the energy consumption and associated costs of renewable power premiums into account, van Voorhees said the impact of the token SBC would help mitigate bitcoin’s environmental impact.



The end goal, the SBP founder said, is “verifiably ensuring that bitcoin miners are using renewable energy from the grid, ensuring that every single bitcoin [is mined] in a totally transparent way.”



Updated March 23 2023 at 6:55pm ET: A previous version of this article erroneously reported that BitGo had regulatory approval for the product. Figures for the renewability certification market were also updated.



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BitGo, Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol Launch ESG-friendly Bitcoin-backed Token

Bessie Liu

Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Arbitrum has officially launched its governance token airdrop. 



Immediately following the airdrop token claim event, Arbitrum’s front end was forced to shut.&nbsp;



Almost 85,000 users had signed onto the webpage in a 30-minute window, Arbiscan, its blockchain scanner, said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/arbiscan/status/1638897253388800001" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet</a>. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We&#39;re sorry for turning off the lights on Arbitrum for a while. It seems abundantly clear that ARB will need to migrate to its own chain in order to properly scale. We&#39;d like to encourage the DAO to start thinking in this direction.&mdash; foobar (@0xfoobar) <a href="https://twitter.com/0xfoobar/status/1638891090202722304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Previously governed by New York-based <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/offchain-labs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Offchain Labs</a>, the ARB token is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/arbitrum-airdrop-faq">designed for Arbitrum to decentralize its governance</a>. 



The Airdrop will allocate 12.75% of ARB’s total supply to users and DAOs building on the network.&nbsp;



Roughly 11.6% of the supply goes to users at a present value of $1.56 billion and 1.1% of the supply goes to DAOs, currently valued at $151 million, Blockworks Research <a href="https://dune.com/blockworks_research/arb-airdrop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> shows. 



At the time of writing, over half of eligible users have claimed their airdrop — equating to roughly 330,000 unique addresses.&nbsp;



Of the remaining <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/arb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ARB</a> tokens, 43% will go to the DAO treasury — managed by the community, while 27% will be allocated to Offchain Labs. And 17.5% will be given to investors of the New York-based startup. 



Eligible airdrop recipients will have six more months to claim their airdrops.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Remember <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Arbinauts?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Arbinauts</a>, you have 6 months to claim your tokens! Gas fees will be quite high, and there will be server congestion.&mdash; Arbitrum (💙,🧡) (@arbitrum) <a href="https://twitter.com/arbitrum/status/1638889046964305922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The company warned users to only use the official <a href="http://arbitrum.foundation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a> to avoid potential copycat scams. “This is the safest way to claim, and you&#8217;ll be able to vote for your favorite ecosystem delegate.”



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Technical Difficulties Aren’t Stopping Users From Claiming Arbitrum Airdrop

Though crypto firms have rushed to build out a presence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following the passage of what they believe to be friendly crypto regulation, many still wait for the go-ahead to fully operate there.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/dubai-is-the-latest-government-to-roll-out-crypto-law-set-up-regulator">Dubai launched its Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority</a> (VARA) — which oversees crypto trades and new product issuances — in March 2022.



Various crypto companies revealed plans to enter the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/uae">United Arab Emirates</a> last year, including <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-granted-license-to-operate-in-dubai">Binance</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/okx-to-expand-in-uae-after-dubai-regulatory-approval">OKX</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-custodian-komainu-follows-exchanges-to-dubai">Komainu</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-com-secures-provisional-approval-to-open-crypto-exchange-in-dubai">Crypto.com</a> — and many firms have received provisional licenses.&nbsp;



VARA rolled out the Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations 2023 last month in an effort to give the market “greater clarity on the expected level of operator responsibility,” according to a VARA press release at the time.&nbsp;



The regulations span seven licensed activities — advisory, broker-dealer, custodial, exchange, lending and borrowing, and payments and remittances services, as well as virtual asset management and investment activities.



Existing Minimal Viable Product (MVP) operational license applicants — as well as holders of provisional MVP licenses, UAE-based virtual asset service providers and new market entrants — will be offered a path to become fully licensed, according to VARA.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/hex-trust">Hex Trust</a> officially launched operations in Dubai late last month after being granted an MVP Operational License. The designation, which allowed the company to offer crypto custodial and staking services to institutional clients, made it the first virtual asset custodian in the emirate, VARA <a href="https://www.vara.ae/en/#0">said</a>.&nbsp;



Spokespeople for VARA and Hex Trust did not immediately return requests for comment.&nbsp;



<h2>Ramping up UAE activity&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>



Binance has three regulated entities in the UAE, according to a spokesperson — two with financial services permissions granted by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and one with an MVP license from VARA.&nbsp;



The MVP license allows the company to offer a range of approved virtual asset-related services to suitably qualified retail and institutional investors in Dubai, the Binance representative told Blockworks.



Overall, the exchange already has roughly 600 employees in the UAE.



“We are officially operating in the UAE per the current licensing framework,” the spokesperson added. “The Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations 2023…clearly speaks to Dubai’s ambition to set the global benchmark for the Web3 industry, and we continue to collaborate in this space for the next phase of licensing.”



Crypto.com, which first received provisional approval from VARA in June 2022, said Monday it moved a step closer to operating in the region by receiving what is known as an MVP preparatory license. The new license came after regulators reviewed the firm’s personnel, governance procedures, anti-money laundering (AML) capabilities and know-your-customer (KYC) procedures, among other things.



Once licensed to be operational, Crypto.com intends to offer spot and derivatives exchange services, a brokerage, and OTC offerings around settlements for institutional investors.&nbsp;



A Crypto.com spokesperson declined to comment on when that could be.&nbsp;



Meanwhile, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/komainu">Komainu</a> is in “the final stages” of being operational in Dubai, according to Sebastian Widmann, Komainu’s head of strategy.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The company gained provisional approval to operate in Dubai last July and entered the MVP license phase in November. It has said it would seek to bring Komainu Yield — a product giving institutions the ability to earn yield on assets custodied with the company — and other services to clients in the region.



“We see a growing demand from institutional clients with exposure to digital assets in the region and are committing significant resources to make this expansion a success,” Widmann told Blockworks in an email.



Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-25/bitcoin-options-exchange-deribit-looks-to-relocate-to-dubai">reported</a> in January that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/1913639D:PP">Deribit</a>, the world’s largest bitcoin and ether options exchange, was making plans to relocate from Panama to Dubai this year.



Deribit Chief Commercial Officer Luuk Strijers told Blockworks the company intends to obtain a “full market license” in Dubai in the third quarter. That would allow Deribit to launch trading for institutional clients, followed by retail investors, he added.



The options exchange, which does not yet have a provisional license in the UAE, is looking at office space in One Central, part of the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) Free Zone, Strijers told Blockworks — where other crypto platforms are set to be located.



<h2>UAE hiring processes underway</h2>



“Deribit has not started hiring or moving staff yet, but expects to start with around 10 this summer, including senior management,” Strijers said.&nbsp;



Hex Trust seeks a compliance officer to manage “maintenance of the company’s compliance and AML program” in Dubai, according to a LinkedIn job post. The professional would report directly to the company’s head of legal and compliance.



The digital asset custodian is also seeking vice presidents of risk management, as well as institutional sales and business development.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Crypto.com was seeking to hire a regional head of compliance and money laundering reporting officer to be based in Dubai, according to a job post listed on LinkedIn earlier this week. The person would help Crypto.com secure licenses and manage regulatory examinations, among other things.



The listing is no longer active.



Binance is seeking to hire a range of professionals in the UAE, according to LinkedIn job listings. Such openings include a government affairs manager, regulatory counsel, an HR operations specialist and engineers, among other roles.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The exchange, unlike many other companies in the sector, has continued hiring efforts in 2023 — onboarding about 600 new employees globally year-to-date. It plans to hire roughly 500 more people worldwide, including in the Middle East, by the end of the quarter, a spokesperson said.



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Crypto Firms Bullish on UAE Entrance — But Now They Wait

The long-awaited Ethereum Shanghai-Capella upgrade is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-set-date-for-eth-withdrawals">right around the corner</a>, and it will enable validators to withdraw their staked ether from the network.



To participate in staking and earn rewards on Ethereum, individual validators must lock in 32 <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a> (about $52,500) into the staking contract. 



Activating withdrawals will enable these Ethereum stakers to claim rewards for participating in securing the network, and eventually to completely reclaim their locked-up ether, if they so choose.



But what about those who don’t run their own validator nodes and instead rely on one of a plethora of staking services or liquid staking tokens?



As April 12 draws near, these staking service providers must plan how to enable withdrawals as well.&nbsp;



“If you are part of a staking pool or hold liquid staking derivatives, you should check with your provider for more details about how staking withdrawals will affect your arrangement, as each service operates differently,” the Ethereum Foundation <a href="https://ethereum.org/en/staking/withdrawals/">said</a> in a blog post.&nbsp;



Following the upgrade, users will have the option to redeem their underlying staked ether or switch staking providers.&nbsp;



“If a particular pool is getting too large, funds can be exited and redeemed, and re-staked with a smaller provider. Or, if you’ve accumulated enough ETH you could stake from home,” the blog post said.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/lido" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lido</a> — one of the largest liquid staking service providers, with a market capitalization of a little over $10 billion — won’t allow its users who hold <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/steth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stETH</a> to redeem ETH initially. The Lido DAO noted on <a href="https://twitter.com/LidoFinance/status/1635739571227951117?s=20">Twitter</a> that a needed upgrade is expected by mid-May, citing security checks.



Calling the delay “a safety margin,” the group tweeted that “stETH withdrawals won’t launch on mainnet until all audits concerning on-chain code are completed.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">An update on Lido Ethereum withdrawals: TL;DR: &#8211; Lido DAO is currently undertaking 7 V2 audits. &#8211; Codebase is very close to being finalized. All major fixes have been merged. &#8211; 4 week Goerli testnet will commence next week (c. March 20th). &#8211; Mainnet upgrade expected mid May.&mdash; Lido (@LidoFinance) <a href="https://twitter.com/LidoFinance/status/1635739571227951117?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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In the case of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a>, a centralized exchange that also provides staking services, withdrawal requests will be available 24 hours following the upgrade, the company <a href="https://twitter.com/coinbase/status/1636047279793528833">said</a> in a tweet. 



“All unstaking requests are processed on-chain, and we’ll pass the unstaked funds and staking rewards to you once released by the Ethereum protocol,” Coinbase <a href="https://twitter.com/coinbase/status/1636047279793528833">tweeted</a>.



The exchange is currently under scrutiny from the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SEC</a> after <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation">receiving a Wells notice</a> over alleged security concerns.



Rocketpool, another decentralized Ethereum staking protocol, noted in a <a href="https://medium.com/rocket-pool/rocket-pool-atlas-upgrade-7c69e39a3d5f">blog post</a> earlier this month that staking withdrawals will likely be possible in time for Shanghai-Capella, following an upgrade dubbed Atlas, though specific dates have not yet been confirmed.



“We are targeting a mainnet Atlas release for end of March / early April,” RocketPool founder David Rugendyke said.



Stakewise has not provided clear documentation outlining dates of withdrawals but is estimated to be available following its “<a href="https://docs.stakewise.io/stakewise-pool">Phase 2</a>” plans.



“Upon arrival of Phase 2, StakeWise users will be able to burn sETH2 and rETH2 within the app and receive ETH in return at a 1:1 ratio,” the company <a href="https://docs.stakewise.io/stakewise-pool">said</a> in a blog post.&nbsp;



Similar to Stakewise, Frax has not detailed specific withdrawal dates. A representative for Frax was not immediately available for comment.



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Which ETH Staking Providers Will Be Ready for Withdrawals on Day 1?

Jon Rice

Ah, the old bait-and-switch, that tactic so beloved of used car sales agents, clickbaity headline writers (hello!) and now of course — the Securities and Exchange Commission.



Yesterday Gensler sued Coinbase, a public US-based business that has made significant and ongoing efforts to comply with US laws in its operations. And in so doing, he finally played his hand.



The bait in this case was very simple. “Come in and get registered,” he cried, pointing to a sign above the SEC entrance that says “Free puppies and ice cream in Room 101.”



The switch was equally simple: A Wells notice for the firm, explaining that the SEC intends to sue Coinbase over several matters including its staking service, and assets listed on the exchange that the SEC alleges to be securities.



Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, explained on Twitter that the company has tried to work with the SEC, but that any good-faith efforts to do so have been either ignored or rebuffed.



“Over the past 9 months, CB has met with the SEC more than 30 times, sharing details of our business to build a path to registration. During this time, the SEC hasn&#8217;t given basically 0 feedback on what to change, or how to register. Instead, today we received a Wells notice.” Grewal tweeted after the notice was made public.



“Even when giving us our Wells notice, the SEC wouldn’t specific assets giving them concern or what specific arguments that we’ve made on staking are wrong. Instead, we were simply told to consider the Chair’s generic statements.”



Gary Gensler has repeatedly made such statements…and “generic” is somewhat generous.



“Come in and get registered,” may well be his go-to, but there are others.



“Kraken knew how to register, others know how to register, it&#8217;s just a form on our website,” he said when Kraken settled over their own staking program.



However, a source within Kraken told Blockworks that the ‘form on the website’ is an S-1, which carries a reporting burden of over 970 hours, according to the Corporate Finance Institute — even when the rules are clear.



And, perhaps more pertinently, the S-1 is a pre-IPO form which would involve the admission that the filer intends to trade securities.



Which, of course, Coinbase and Kraken deny, for the simple reason that it has never actually been made clear by the SEC which tokens are possibly securities, which aren’t, and which might be open for debate.



So what’s the point of suing Coinbase?



This is the real bait and switch, and it’s playing out not only against the exchange itself, but against the entire industry.



Compliance was never the goal for Gensler’s SEC. The only thing he’s selling is chaos, and it’s a very deliberate ploy.



The Coinbase lawsuit, if forthcoming, will be vigorously contested by the company. Which means that it could take years to resolve.



The unsuccessful party might then decide to appeal whatever decision is handed down by the court, and even pursue the verdict all the way to the Supreme Court. More years.



Quoting Grewal, <a href="https://twitter.com/iampaulgrewal/status/1638660057750724609?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">again</a>: “So what happens next? We avail ourselves of the court system to finally start to get some clarity for the crypto industry in the U.S. Ironically, establishing some case law may be our best shot at getting the regulatory clarity that the industry deserves.”



Gensler doesn’t care if he wins or loses — he’ll be long gone by then, perhaps to the Treasury job he apparently covets. (Sources tell Blockworks that because Gensler is one of the most detested people on Capitol Hill, the chances of that role materializing are between zero and nil.)



Meanwhile, the regulatory purgatory in which crypto exists will persist. Many institutional investors will be unable to safely and confidently participate in the industry due to the ongoing lawsuit and the lack of clarity that will continue until it is resolved.



Which is precisely the situation that we’re in today.



We don’t know the rules, and if we try to play by the rules, the rules get changed. (Retroactively, no less!)



As Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase — rather eloquently — <a href="https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1638662289799917569?s=20">put it</a> “Imagine you&#8217;ve got both football and soccer refs on the field, but we&#8217;re actually playing pickleball (fastest growing new sport in America). The refs can&#8217;t really agree on the rules of this new game, and one of them decides to change a call they made back in April 2021.”



Uncertainty is the one thing that truly destroys financial innovation. Fiduciaries can’t deal with it. Responsible investors and entrepreneurs shouldn’t have to.&nbsp;



And yet that’s the whole point of Gensler’s latest, and perhaps most serious, action.



The bait: He’s suing Coinbase.



The switch: He’s trying to destroy the entire crypto industry in the USA.

Gary Gensler Refuses To Wax His Gross, Hairy Back

Matthew Fiebach

AVAX

Avalanche Update: Elastic Subnets, AWM, and The HyperSDK

Digital Asset Summit (DAS) is returning March 2024.



This year&#8217;s event will be held in our nation’s capital, where industry leaders, policymakers, and institutional experts will come together to discuss the latest developments and challenges in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency.



What you can expect:



<ul>
<li>Insights on the impact of regulatory implications and the need for realistic policy</li>



<li>Access to institutional dinners and exclusive networking events,</li>



<li>Unparalleled insights from industry leaders</li>
</ul>



And more! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be in the room when the future of crypto is decided.



Join us and help shape the future of our industry.

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March 18-20 | Washington, D.C.

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Digital Asset Summit 2024 | Washington, D.C.

Permissionless is the brainchild of Blockworks and Bankless. Over 5,500 people attended the inaugural event in 2022, making Permissionless the world’s largest DeFi conference.&nbsp;



What sets Permissionless apart? It’s a crypto native’s paradise, crafted specifically for both builders and investors who are dedicated to scaling the industry.&nbsp;



Permissionless is headed to Austin in 2023, and you know what they say… Everything is bigger in Texas.&nbsp;



Permissionless 2023 will feature the biggest names in Web3, a gargantuan exposition hall filled with the top brands in the space, an awe-inspiring NFT Gallery, inclusive, community-focused parties and events, metaverse experiences, and so much more.



See you in Paradise.

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Speakers

Erik Voorhees

Mary-Catherine (MC) Lader is the Chief Operating Officer of Uniswap Labs, a developer of foundational web3-based products and applications. In this role, she oversees the company’s growth efforts, strategic initiatives, and operations. Previously, she held various leadership roles at BlackRock, including as the Global Head of the firm’s digital sustainability business, Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s digital wealth business, and leader of the firm’s strategic fintech investments and blockchain activities. MC began her career as an investor in Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group. She received her J.D. and M.B.A. degrees at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, respectively, and her B.A. at Brown University.

Mary-Catherine Lader

Zaki Manian is a Co-Founder of Sommelier, the most powerful coprocessor yet for DeFi traders and Liquidity Providers. He’s also a Co-Founder of iqlusion, which provides infrastructure like a data center and a Cosmos validator for next-gen crypto technologies. Previously, Zaki helped build the Cosmos ecosystem, including launching the first public Cosmos testnet, and served as a director of Tendermint. Zaki has been a leading developer in the blockchain space since 2014, when he taught himself cryptography and began contributing to projects including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Zcash, and Tendermint. Having studied history of science at the University of Pennsylvania, Zaki’s skill sets in software engineering, programming, and computer science are largely self-taught.

Zaki Manian

Justin Drake

At Alluvial, Chief Growth Officer Mara Schmiedt focuses on advancing industry participation and adoption of Liquid Collective, seeking out world-class partnership opportunities, and overseeing Business Development, Sales, and other strategic functions. Mara recently joined Alluvial as Chief Growth Officer from Coinbase, where she served as the Head of Sales for Coinbase Cloud, the leading developer platform for blockchain-based infrastructure products and APIs. She expanded Cloud's staking business, supporting large-scale organizations, enterprises, and institutional investors. Prior to joining Coinbase, she managed Business Development at Bison Trails, a leading provider of blockchain-based infrastructure acquired by Coinbase in February 2021. Mara also served as Strategy Manager at ConsenSys, where she supported the strategic development of Codefi, the blockchain application suite for Web3 Commerce and Finance.



Mara is passionate about open-source technology and has published multiple research reports and papers on liquid staking, such as <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/13-s15SvCIUBukhSZiNkpd0sTff3izQ5G/view">The Internet Bond</a> and <a href="https://consensys.net/insights/eth-2-staking-ecosystem-report/">Ethereum 2.0 Staking Ecosystem Report</a>.&nbsp;



Additionally, she has led various industry initiatives, including leading the working group with the Ethereum Foundation that developed the Ethereum Launchpad and the first distributed validator technology (DVT) PoCs. Mara's deep experience in bringing technology and blockchain-based products and services to market — as well as her track record of building world-class business and sales organizations — bolsters Alluvial's support of Liquid Collective.

Mara Schmiedt

Stani Kulechov

Hasu

Christine is a Partner and Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Apollo Global Management, Inc. In this newly created position, Christine leads digital asset strategy across the firm, exploring more ways to apply blockchain technologies to Apollo’s business. She also plays a key role in Apollo’s strategy to invest in some of the most innovative digital asset companies and founders, with a specific focus on those transforming the financial services sector where Apollo can serve as a validator and enabler of new technologies. Previously, she was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan and led its Blockchain/Crypto/Metaverse program through initiatives in digital assets, tokenized payments, internet of-things, decentralized identity, NFTs, and virtual worlds. She is a graduate of Brown University. Christine was named in Fortune’s The Ledger 40 Under 40 list of “the most impressive, young superstars transforming business at the leading edge of finance and technology.”

Christine Moy

Santiago Roel Santos (CryptoPunk #9159) is an investor focusing at the intersection of DeFi and the Web3 metaverse (NFTs/gaming). Most recently was a Partner at ParaFi Capital, one of the largest crypto funds specializing in DeFi. Prior to that, he was at Sageview Capital investing in Internet and software and, before that, at JP Morgan investment banking. Santiago began investing in crypto in 2012.

Santiago Roel Santos

Michael Anderson is the co-founder of Framework Ventures, one of earliest and largest VC firms to enter the “DeFi” or Decentralized Finance industry. With over $1B in AUM, the firm has since expanded into additional maturing verticals like blockchain gaming and social crypto. Prior to Framework, Michael and his co-founder Vance Spencer launched Hashletes, a digital collectible startup with official licensing from the NFL. Before entering crypto, Michael served as a product manager at both Snapchat and Dropbox, where he helped build out their monetization platforms.

Michael Anderson

Soona Amhaz is founder and GP of Volt Capital, a venture firm that focuses on pre-seed and seed companies in the digital assets space. Soona is also an advisor to On Deck, Forbes 30 under 30 in VC, and an alum from the University of Michigan School of Engineering.

Soona Amhaz

Colleen Sullivan is Co-Head of Ventures at Brevan Howard Digital. Prior to joining Brevan Howard Digital, Colleen co-founded and served as CEO of CMT Digital, where she was also a partner with the broader CMT Group and commenced activities in the crypto industry in 2013. Prior to starting CMT Digital, Colleen co-founded Sullivan Wolf Kailus, a boutique law firm that specializes in hedge fund, private equity, venture capital, digital assets, and other alternative investment products. Colleen also previously practiced law in the Investment Funds and Derivatives group at Sidley Austin LLP and, at age 25, co-founded a company called iOptions Group LLC, which developed hedging and monetization strategies for holders of employee stock options. Ms. Sullivan currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.

Colleen Sullivan

Tarun is an alumni of D. E. Shaw Research (DESRES), Vatic Labs, an HFT firm, and Cornell. He fell into the blockchain world in 2011, when he was working on ASICs at DESRES and observed Bitcoin ASIC mining rigs substantially delay DESRES’s ASIC production. He has spent the last seven years working on simulation-based R&amp;D at the intersection of high-performance computing and AI and is applying this knowledge to the blockchain ecosystem.

Tarun Chitra

Kevin Owocki is the founder of Gitcoin.co — Where builders &amp; funders come together to build the open web.  Gitcoin has delivered <a href="http://gitcoin.co/results">$50mm worth of value</a> to OSS devs in the last several years. He has a BS in Computer Science, 15 years of engineering leadership experience in Open Source Software and Web Startups. Kevin is a community organizer in the Boulder Colorado Tech Scene.

Kevin Owocki

Meltem Demirors is Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, a publicly listed investment firm that manages over five billion in digital assets on behalf of a global investor base, and is a trusted partner to investors and entrepreneurs navigating the digital asset ecosystem.



 An established veteran of digital asset investing, Meltem draws on her substantial experience and widespread influence to accelerate growth and acceptance of the asset class. Prior to joining CoinShares, Meltem helped build and grow Digital Currency Group, raising capital from the world’s largest corporations and managing a portfolio of 120 companies and 4 subsidiaries. Before she was bitten with the bitcoin bug, Meltem worked in the Oil &amp; Gas industry in trading, corporate treasury, and M&amp;A roles. 



Meltem has been recognized for her personal contributions to the industry and serves as an outspoken advocate. She is a founding member of the World Economic Forum Blockchain Council. Meltem teaches at her alma mater MIT as well as Oxford, and is passionate about privacy and civil rights.

Meltem Demirors

Vance is the co-founders of Framework Ventures, a thesis-driven venture capital firm whose team of technologists, researchers, and investors partner with founders and teams to build token-based networks and develop the requisite cryptoeconomics, governance, and community to scale.

Vance Spencer

Jim Bianco is President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research, L.L.C. Since 1990 Jim’s commentaries have offered a unique perspective on the global economy and financial markets. Unencumbered by the biases of traditional Wall Street research, Jim has built a decades long reputation for objective, incisive commentary that challenges consensus thinking. In nearly 20 years at Bianco Research, Jim’s wide ranging commentaries have addressed monetary policy, the intersection of markets and politics, the role of government in the economy, fund flows and positioning in financial markets.



Jim appears regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business, and is often featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Grants Interest Rate Observer, and MarketWatch. Prior to joining Arbor and Bianco Research, Jim was a Market Strategist in equity and fixed income research at UBS Securities and Equity Technical Analyst at First Boston and Shearson Lehman Brothers. He is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) and a member of the Market Technicians Association (MTA). Jim has a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Marquette University (1984) and an MBA from Fordham University (1989).

Jim Bianco

Mr. Forman is the Founder and Managing Partner of ParaFi Capital. ParaFi is a leading investment firm focused on the blockchain and digital asset markets, and an early pioneer in decentralized finance (“DeFi”). ParaFi is one of the largest investors, users, and governance participants within the DeFi ecosystem, spanning the full network lifecycle from pre-launch to full decentralization. Mr. Forman serves as the Chief Investment Officer across the firm’s strategies, which include investing in public and private cryptoassets, systematic credit and market neutral DeFi strategies, and blockchain-focused venture capital and growth equity investing.



Prior to founding ParaFi in 2018, Mr. Forman spent 10 years at leading alternative investment managers, including KKR and TPG. While at KKR, Mr. Forman served as a Director in the Credit business, investing across a wide array of industry sectors and strategies, including distressed special situations, private credit, and opportunistic and liquid credit. Prior to KKR, Mr. Forman served as a Vice President with TPG’s former credit business, Sixth Street Partners, as one of the first investment professionals to join the platform, helping scale its private credit vehicle, TPG Specialty Lending, which listed publicly in 2014. Earlier in his career, Mr. Forman worked in private equity at Littlejohn &amp; Company and investment banking at Rothschild &amp; Co. Mr. Forman graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ben Forman

Haseeb is a Managing Partner at Dragonfly. He was previously a partner at Metastable Capital, and has a background in software engineering at Airbnb and Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase).

Haseeb Qureshi

Vanessa Grellet is a Managing Partner at Aglaé Ventures. Vanessa is a Global Executive with over 20 years of expertise in the Financial Services and Tech industry. At Aglaé Ventures she manages the Web 3 focused fund. Prior to joining Aglae she has Head of Portfolio growth at CoinFund and Executive director at ConsenSys where she focused on driving adoption for Ethereum based products,  Strategic initiatives, Alliances and Channels.  She was involved in setting up the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), the Accounting Blockchain Coalition (ABC) and the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition (BSIC). Prior to ConsenSys she was a Strategy Executive at NYSE focused on investments and M&amp;A and a key member of PwC’s global wealth management team. Vanessa is a Founding Board member of AABC focused on Blockchain and Art, a member of the Advisory Council of ConsenSys, a Milken Institute Associate, a contributor to the  World Economic Forum Digital Future Council and part of <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/top-people-in-crypto-and-blockchain-2022/vanessa-grellet">Cointelegraph’s list of 100 most influential people for 2022</a>. Mrs. Grellet graduated Cum Laude from Law School (Paris II Assas) and Business School (HEC).

Vanessa Grellet

Mihailo Bjelic received his MSc in CS from the University of Belgrade. Prior to entering Web3/blockchain industry, he co-founded an AI/ML-powered platform for automotive industry and several other smaller startups and side projects. In 2017, he decided to join the Web3 movement full-time, primarily as a researcher interested in Ethereum scaling and multi-chain paradigms. In parallel with his work, he became one of the prominent Ethereum proponents and community members. In 2019, he started working on Polygon and conceptualized its architecture, vision and brand. In 2020, he joined hands with the Matic Network team and they have been working together on Polygon since then.

Mihailo Bjelic

Ben is a co-founder of Optimism, a leading Ethereum L2 ecosystem. He served as Chief Scientist before becoming a director at the Optimism Foundation. In his free time, he makes Ethereum-based parody songs under his stage name, Weird ETH Yankovic.

Ben Jones

Kristin is the CEO of the Blockchain Association, the Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing more than 100 of the industry’s leading companies. She also serves as a board member of the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web. Kristin serves as a liaison between policymakers and the cryptocurrency industry to assist in the creation of legislation and regulation that promotes the growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the U.S. She is also a leading, public voice advocating for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry through top-tier media interviews, op-eds and letters to the editor, and global speaking engagements. Kristin is a renowned voice for the industry, having been featured on Fortune’s 2020 40 under 40 list, CoinDesk’s 2021 50 people who defined the year in crypto, and CoinTelegraph’s 2022 top 100 Influencers in Crypto and Blockchain. Prior to leading the Blockchain Association, Kristin helped blockchain and technology companies achieve their public policy objectives in Washington. She served as a Senate and congressional aide on Capitol Hill for nearly ten years, much of which was spent focusing on technology policy.

Kristin Smith

Avichal is a successful entrepreneur with executive experience at Google and Facebook, which acquired his previous company. As an angel investor, Avichal has invested in 15 unicorns and 5 decacorns including Airtable, Boom Supersonic, Color Genomics, Cruise, Deel, Figma, Newfront Insurance, Notion, Nova Credit, Pulley, and others. He co-founded Electric Capital in 2018 and has grown it to one of the largest crypto venture firms globally. Electric is an investor in many of the leading web3 protocols and companies such as Bitwise, Bitnomial, dYdX, Frax, Kraken, Magic Eden, NEAR, and Solana.

Avichal Garg

Matt Hougan is one of the world’s leading experts on crypto, ETFs, and financial technology. He is Chief Investment Officer for Bitwise Asset Management, a pioneer in cryptoasset index funds with more than $1.2 billion in assets under management. He was previously CEO of ETF.com, where he helped build the world’s first ETF data and analytics system, the leading ETF media site, and the world’s largest ETF conference, Inside ETFs. Hougan is co-author of both “A Comprehensive Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds” and “Cryptoassets: The Guide to Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies for Professional Investors” from the CFA Institute’s Research Foundation. He is a crypto columnist for Forbes, and a three-time member of the Barron’s ETF Roundtable.

Matt Hougan

Li Jin

Ethan is the co-founder of the Cosmos network and serves as the CEO of Informal Systems. Informal Systems is a member-driven worker’s cooperative building software that enables trustworthy relationships between protocols and people to flourish. Ethan also serves as the President of the Interchain Foundation which funds and coordinates development of public goods in the Cosmos ecosystem. Ethan sees local money systems as the basis for self-sufficient local economies to prosper. With a background in cell biology, neuroscience, mathematics, machine learning, and distributed systems, his goal is to build systems that encourage humans to work cooperatively through methods of self-organization. He is currently focused on blockchain technology as a means to bring greater political and economic sovereignty to local communities around the globe. Prior to Informal Systems, Ethan co-founded the Tendermint and Cosmos projects, and served as CTO of Tendermint Inc. Today, dozens of projects are adopting technology conceived in the original Cosmos whitepaper, including the Inter-Blockchain (IBC) Communication protocol – an industry-standard for permissionless communication between sovereign blockchains. Today, the Cosmos ecosystem continues to pioneer technological paradigms for building interoperable application-specific blockchains.

Ethan Buchman

Tyrone leads J.P. Morgan’s Blockchain team and is responsible for creating innovative Web3-focused products &amp; solutions for J.P. Morgan’s businesses and clients, and for engaging with the industry at large in order to provide a holistic blockchain strategy for the firm. Tyrone is also the Head of Onyx Digital Assets, a multi-asset tokenization platform that enables the exchange of value for various types of digital assets. Tyrone was previously a Senior Blockchain Product Manager in J.P. Morgan’s Blockchain Center of Excellence and was also the Head of Product for Quorum, an open-sourced Ethereum-based blockchain platform built for Enterprise use. Prior to moving into the blockchain industry in 2015, Tyrone was a software engineer within J.P. Morgan's Credit Markets business, and before that he spent several years in Product transformation, managing and delivering large strategic programs across various businesses within J.P. Morgan, across Front, Middle and Back Office risk and trading systems. Tyrone sits on the Board of Directors of The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and The Hyperledger Foundation.

Tyrone Lobban

Rich is a Co-Founder and President of GSR and leads the group across strategic initiatives and growth. He began his career at Goldman Sachs where he spent 11 years between New York and London in commodities trading as a Managing Director and Global Head of Crude Oil and Derivatives Trading. Prior to joining GSR, he spent a few years on the buy-side, running energy trading teams at two New York-based hedge funds. Rich earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Columbia University.

Rich Rosenblum

Kain Warwick is an Australian cryptocurrency entrepreneur most-known as the founder of Synthetix protocol. Synthetix is a financial primitive that enables the creation of synthetic assets, offering unique derivatives and exposure to real-world assets on the blockchain.&nbsp;In 2020, Kain popularised the concept of yield farming that sparked the 2020 DeFi boom, earning the moniker: ‘the father of modern agriculture.

Kain Warwick

Brian Quintenz is the Head of Policy for a16z crypto, where he helps to translate between the crypto and policy communities.



Brian has long stood out as an innovative thinker in crypto and DeFi and was one of the earliest leaders in Washington to recognize the value of crypto. Brian initially joined a16z crypto as a senior advisor. In December 2022, he moved to the full-time role leading its policy team.



Prior to joining a16z, he was nominated by both Presidents Obama and Trump to serve as commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and, in August 2017, was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He also led the agency’s Technology Advisory Committee, which hosted the most comprehensive set of public crypto-related policy discussions and briefings of any federal financial regulator. During his service, the CFTC oversaw the listing of the first U.S. regulated Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts on derivatives exchanges, and the rapid expansion of DeFi. All the while, he was a champion for tailored, risk-calibrated regulation.



Prior to his appointment to the CFTC, Brian was the Founder and Managing Principal of Saeculum Capital Management, LLC where he developed and implemented Saeculum’s long term, momentum-based investment process for both traditional discretionary accounts as well as a managed-futures, commodity pool hedge fund.



Brian began his career on Capitol Hill, where he worked for 6.5 years and served as senior policy aid to a Member of Congress. He received his B.S. from Duke University and M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

Brian Quintenz

Robby Yung, Animoca Brands’s CEO of Investments, partner at Animoca Capital, a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification with a portfolio of products and games including the REVV and SAND tokens, as well as investment and partnerships with companies like Axie Infinity,  OpenSea, Dapper Labs, and Alien Worlds and subsidiaries like The Sandbox, Gamee, Quidd, and Lympo. Robby has been in gaming since 2012 and blockchain gaming since 2018. He served as the first CEO of Animoca Brands after taking the group public in 2015. Prior to that, he cofounded magazine publisher, One Media Group, which he listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He also founded Chinese television and outdoor media concern, Redgate Media Group, which was acquired by  Inno-Tech Holdings . He began his career in technology, building wireless telecom networks in China and Indonesia with Metromedia.

Robby Yung

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<h2>Why Sponsor Permissionless 2023?</h2>
If you’re serious about crypto, you have to be at Permissionless. Permissionless brings together DeFi builders, DAO participants, protocol developers, crypto companies, funds and institutions, and more. It’s a true crypto-native’s paradise, where you’ll have the opportunity to showcase your offerings and form lasting connections with the community.
We’ll work with your team to define the perfect sponsorship opportunity that best fits your needs and budget. Want to do something completely revolutionary? Our team can help design a bespoke package that brings your vision to life.
Get in touch with us at <a href="mailto:sales@blockworks.co">sales@blockworks.co</a>
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