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Ep 3: What’s next for blockchain policy in the EU & the US?
70 Plays1 year ago
Lee A. Schneider, General Counsel at Ava Labs and Co-founder of Owl Explains, brings together top policy experts in blockchain. Joining the conversation are Alison Mangiero of the Proof of Stake Alliance, Kristin Smith from the Blockchain Association, Marina Markezic of the European Group Initiative, and Tommaso Astazi from Blockchain for Europe. They delve into the future of blockchain and crypto policy, discussing achievable policy goals for this year. Tune in for a dynamic dialogue at the forefront of blockchain innovation and regulation.
Find out more in our explainers at owlexplains.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Panelists
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome to this Owl Explains Hootenanny, our podcast series where you can wise up on blockchain and web3 as we talk to the people seeking to build a better internet. Owl Explains is powered by Avalabs, a blockchain software company and participant in the avalanche ecosystem. My name is Silvia Sanchez, project manager of Owl Explains and with that I'll hand it over to today's amazing speakers.
00:00:33
Speaker
Welcome, everybody. We have a great panel today on this Owl Explains Hootnanny.
Roles in Blockchain Industry
00:00:39
Speaker
We're going to be talking with senior people at some of the major trade associations dealing with blockchain, crypto assets, and Web3. I'll let each of our panelists introduce themselves. But before they do, I'm Lee Schneider on the general counsel here at Ava Labs and one of the hopefully wise owls behind Owl Explains.
00:01:02
Speaker
We're very excited about our hootenanny today, and especially because we have such terrific folks. Allison, why don't you start off introducing yourself?
00:01:13
Speaker
Sure. Thanks, Lee. I'm very excited to be on today. My name is Alison Manjaro. I am the executive director of the Proof of Stake Alliance, which we often call POSA. POSA is an action-oriented nonprofit alliance that basically is laser focused on staking and proof of stake ecosystems and the public policies that affect them.
Innovation and Regulation Efforts
00:01:35
Speaker
We are hoping that we can help to foster some innovation and keep that innovation here in the US and globally. And to do that, basically, we bring together industry leaders, legal experts, and other industry participants to help fight for fair regulation and allow these proof of stake ecosystems to flourish. Great. Kristin, over to you.
00:01:59
Speaker
Yeah, thanks Lee. My name is Kristen Smith. I'm the CEO of Blockchain Association, which is a trade association representing more than a hundred companies who are working in the crypto ecosystem, ranging from software developers to wallet providers to exchanges to early stage investors. We're based here in Washington DC and primarily work on federal policy, both in terms of developing the industry's positions, but also advancing those positions with Congress regulators in the courts.
00:02:30
Speaker
Awesome. Okay, Marina, you're up. Hi, everyone. My name is Marina, and I'm a co-founder and a director of the European Crypto Initiative, which is an independent advocacy group based in Brussels. We were born at the time where the markets in crypto assets regulation was issued, so we were really much focusing on that in the last two years, working with different institutions and regulators in this area.
00:02:59
Speaker
And we continue to respond and engage with regulators when it comes to regulation that does affect crypto assets, blockchain and other entities. Great. And Tommaso, last but not least.
00:03:15
Speaker
Thank you, Lee. Thanks, everyone. And it's great to be here. My name is Thomas Astazzi. I'm the head of regulatory affairs at Blockchain for Europe, which is one of the others Brussels-based trade association representing the blockchain and crypto sector. I guess we also do some of the things that my fellow panelists mentioned here just before me. Of course, we are
00:03:37
Speaker
very much involved in the legislative making process in the European Union on everything that touches upon the blockchain and crypto sector and of course we are helping regulators understand what we are trying to build in this sector, everything that is great about Webtree and making sure also that the industry understands the policymakers as well. So it's great to be here and be part of this conversation.
00:04:02
Speaker
Really terrific. Well, I am fortunate to know all four of you pretty well and have had great interactions with all of you over the course of the last number of years. So thank you very much for joining us today.
Policy Priorities for 2023
00:04:16
Speaker
Let's start off with a question about policy priorities. What for each of your organizations are sort of the three main policy priorities for the rest of 2023?
00:04:30
Speaker
Maybe I'll mix it up a little bit instead of going in alphabetical order. Marina, why don't we start with you this time and we'll play fast and loose with the order now. Yes, of course. Thank you so much, Lee. So as you well know in the EU, there's a lot of things happening this year. So we're trying to cover most of it. But the most important thing is we'll have the final voting on the markets and group justice regulation this week on the 20th of April.
00:05:00
Speaker
What means is that after this voting, and even now it started already, there's a secondary technical process within our agencies, ESMA and EBA, so the European Securities Agency and European Banking Agency, that is working on the so-called technical aspects on the secondary phase of MIGA. So that's definitely something that is quite important. There's going to be a lot of
00:05:25
Speaker
regulatory guidance and standards issued by these bodies, and they might be as important as the regulation that has been finalized right now. The second part is, I'm sure that Tommaso, I see his nodding, will add similar topics, but the most important, I would say, is at the moment in Europe is the AML package, which is confirmed with
00:05:52
Speaker
the AMO regulation, the AMO directive, and also the AMO agency regulation. A part of it, of course, is covering her classes. So this is extremely important for everyone in the industry. And the third one is, I would say, a mix of regulations and laws that are impacting the product and also the, I would say, developers in the space. So we're talking about the data act that might be mentioning smart contracts on
00:06:20
Speaker
DLT, we're talking about the product liability directive or cyber resilience. So those are all laws that might be also very, very important for developers or software developers in this space. Great. Thank you, Marina. Let's switch over to the US. Kristin, what are the folks at Blockchain Association focused on? Three priorities.
00:06:45
Speaker
Well, we have more than three priorities, unfortunately, here in Washington. Top three is all we need. The top three I'm most excited about. The first one is stablecoin legislation. The US, we've had people within government and with an industry call for the need for a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. I think this is an issue area where
00:07:10
Speaker
Congress and Treasury and the White House have done a lot of work to try to identify the gaps. And we see the House Financial Services Committee in Congress holding hearings and advancing legislation. So this is one that I do think actually has a chance of becoming law this Congress and one that we're working on and supporting.
00:07:28
Speaker
that effort here at Blockchain Association. I think number two is what we're calling market structure legislation. That's figuring out who is the appropriate federal regulator, which agency, and what should that structure look like. And I think by doing this market structure legislation, we can also answer this critical question about how to classify different
00:07:51
Speaker
crypto assets, whether they're security or a commodity. So I think that legislative effort is something that is starting to get started. There needs to be more hearings. There needs to be more education on it. But I think moving the ball forward on that issue is probably our second priority. And then the third priority is, quite frankly, one that really didn't exist at the start of the year. But it's something we're watching very closely. And that is this issue of the debanking of crypto companies in the United States.
00:08:20
Speaker
The issue has seemed to subside a little bit, but around the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and then Signature Bank, as well as the closure of Silvergate, it's been challenging and there's been a scramble for crypto companies to open bank accounts so that they can pay their employees and pay
00:08:37
Speaker
know, their taxes and whatnot. And so that's an issue that we're watching closely. We're trying to gather more information. We have a tip line open on that front. And so, you know, that might be an issue that sort of solves itself and goes away. Or we may find that there is, you know, sort of a broader government led effort against crypto going on, in which case, you know, we would look to see to different policy levers to see if we can address that issue. So those are probably our top three.
00:09:04
Speaker
That's great. Thank you, Kristin. Let's head back over to Europe. Tommaso, any problems with debanking in Europe that you all are facing?
00:09:15
Speaker
Well, yeah, that is obviously a very important issue that we are keeping an eye on. I think the banking is obviously an area where we may see a lot more of potential issues coming up. So that is also a discussion that is happening at the European Union level, indeed, but probably is not as foreign as it is in the US already. So that's something that in any case is good to keep an eye on.
00:09:39
Speaker
In terms of the other policy priorities, I have to say I'm glad to hear as usual that we are in alignment obviously with Marina and the work that they're doing at the UCI because obviously she already touched upon two of the three priorities that I wanted to mention today being of course the AML regulation discussion which remains quite important because we are still trying to tackle how to potentially introduce KYC requirements and other AML
00:10:09
Speaker
rules onto this new sector of the crypto asset markets. Of course, policymakers try to introduce rules as they know them, as they've been applying them so far, but obviously that doesn't always work in a new innovative market. So AML regulation remain obviously a great priority. The work of the Level 2 legislation, as Marina was mentioning from the different European Supervisory Authorities, will be critical to define really what the future regulatory framework for crypto assets
00:10:38
Speaker
in Europe will be but then maybe I will mention something else which of course I know also the UCI and everyone here is very much involved and working on is of course the potential idea of how to regulate DeFi right so as we know at least the European Union decided to keep DeFi outside of the regulatory scope for now
00:10:59
Speaker
There is still some questions that need to be addressed on the actual scope of application of the rules, but that doesn't mean that regulators and policymakers in Europe and elsewhere will not, of course, try to potentially regulate DeFi. And we know exactly, of course, what is happening now in the US, but in Europe, at least we have the understanding from the European Commission that they are
00:11:22
Speaker
happy to first understand the DeFi sector properly before actually proposing rules. So right now we are operating in this space, in this window of time and basically are coordinating the input from the industry to try and put forward some ideas, some proposals that policymakers could actually be using them in their future suggestions on how to actually regulate DeFi. So
00:11:47
Speaker
I will stop myself there, but I think those are already a few important points that we'll be looking on for 2023. That's great. Thank you very much, Tommaso. So, Allison, over to you and back to the US. Obviously, Proof of Stake Alliance is a little bit more focused on layer one protocols, proof of stake issues. Let us know, what are the three top priorities that you all are looking at right now?
00:12:15
Speaker
Right. So I think in terms of our priorities for 2023, I mean, first of all, as Kristin said, there are many, many priorities that one would have or could have, but I think in terms of our focus, three things. First, and starting broad, we're still very focused on general education, on what staking is and what it is not. We're seeing a tendency to conflate staking with lending, which worries us a lot, or just
00:12:41
Speaker
lumping staking in with other what some people call yield generating activities. I wouldn't even classify staking rewards as being something akin to those other activities. But I think we still have a ways to go in terms of educating lawmakers, regulators and the general public about what proof of stake is and what staking is, because I think that term has even been co-opted amongst some of us in the industry to mean things that it traditionally has not meant in terms of securing a protocol. So I think just
00:13:09
Speaker
Going back to basic step one, let's kind of take a step back and explain what these proof of stake blockchains are how they function, why staking is crucial in order for them to continue to function in the future, and then we can kind of go from there so that would be priority number one.
00:13:27
Speaker
is ensuring that staking as a service providers are viewed as providing the technical services that they're actually offering and not viewed as offering financial services or investment contracts. We're seeing some kind of troubling language about this. This is something that Post has been working on actually since 2019, producing legal opinions about what the actual activities of these staking as a service providers are. So there's a lot of talk, and again, we're obviously very focused on market structure as well, but there's talk about
00:13:56
Speaker
whether something is a security or a commodity. We've heard comments that by virtue of Ethereum transitioning to proof of stake that somehow turned Ether into a security, which obviously we fundamentally disagree with. So I think we have a ways to go in terms of arguments about particular staking arrangements, maybe being securities or implicating the securities laws, and also just getting the word out about these underlying tokens and what should be used in that analysis. So that's a second priority for us.
00:14:26
Speaker
And then third, apropos of tax day today is tax and focusing on appropriate taxation of staking rewards and of receipt tokens in liquid staking protocols and ecosystems. So those are the main things that we're focused on. Obviously, we're keeping an eye on everything else that's going on, but those are our main focuses.
Policy Issues and Regulatory Challenges
00:14:49
Speaker
That's great. So it sounds like everybody's working on similar things, but there are differences and nuances to what's going on. The other thing that impressed me about all of your answers is the breadth of things that are at issue here, right? We're talking about securities versus commodities. We're talking about anti-money laundering issues. We're talking about, you know, what do wallet providers have to do? What are staking providers doing? What does staking mean?
00:15:18
Speaker
So it sounds like the world is using blockchain in many different ways. The next question that I had for all of you was, do you have a recommendation for policymakers or regulators of sort of an easy thing that they could focus on this year, get it done? And it's something that would make some real incremental progress
00:15:46
Speaker
Let's see, I think Marina, I started with you last time, so why don't we let Tommaso go first this time and then we'll take it from there.
00:15:55
Speaker
Sure, thank you Lee. I hope not to steal the point from Marina this time, but I think the one, at least in Europe, the one issue that we have right now in front of us and that could be potentially easily solved is actually on the data act, right? So the data act, as we discussed, as Marina was mentioning, is an important file that however wasn't really meant to
00:16:20
Speaker
be super important for the crypto sector and the blockchain sector. The data act is a file that is basically creating a new framework for data sharing between participants in the IoT industry and other similar industry where there is supposed to be data sharing between different companies, for example.
00:16:37
Speaker
And the problem there is that the European Commission decided to use the term smart contract for describing something that is more akin to a data sharing agreement through potentially APIs or other tools like that. And they decided to use the word smart contract because they realized that they actually wanted to give a role or to identify a role for smart contracts to automate
00:17:05
Speaker
potential economic relationships, data sharing agreements and other activities like that. So obviously we were happy to see the fact that the European Commission saw this innovation of smart contracts as an interesting tool that could be used also from the traditional industry.
00:17:23
Speaker
But then at the same time, the European Commission thought that for the traditional industry to trust smart contracts, these smart contracts used in this very specific context of the data sharing agreements should have complied with certain requirements. And these requirements are meant to be safeguards, basically, for the participants of these data sharing agreements to be using these smart contracts safely and trusting the smart contracts.
00:17:53
Speaker
The problem here, this sounds all nice and fine until you actually end up reading the requirements. And the requirements themselves, unfortunately, are for smart contracts developers, so for developers of the software, to actually make sure that these have, for example, access mechanism or the so-called kill switches, so tools to interrupt the sharing of data in that case.
00:18:20
Speaker
Obviously the industry got quite worried about this and together actually with the UCI we are looking at this issue and we will be doing more of an advocacy push right now on this important piece of legislation. But the main point here is that we only want to see clarification
00:18:40
Speaker
that these files, these data act and these requirements for smart contracts are not meant to apply for any smart contract developed in Europe or deployed in Europe or used on permissionless public blockchains. So that's really the substance of everything of this point. So this is why we think that is actually something easy to achieve because the policymakers involved in Europe in this discussion, they only simply
00:19:07
Speaker
need to clarify this intention that they never really meant to regulate smart contracts more widely more broadly than that so we're not we don't think we're asking too much but at the same time it's something very important because we want to see this final
00:19:22
Speaker
legal tax that clearly states what these requirements should be applying to so that we actually can reassure the blockchain industry, the wider ecosystem, that they will not have to comply with this requirement, that not every smart contract out there will now need to comply with these requirements if to be used in Europe, because that's not the case.
00:19:46
Speaker
Great. Thank you very much, Tomasso. Maybe we'll stay in Europe. And Marina, if you have anything you want to add to what Tomasso said about the Data Act issue, but also what is your one easy thing that you think policymakers or regulators could be focused on this year? Yes, I absolutely agree with what Tomasso said. And I think he explained it very, very nicely. I think it
00:20:12
Speaker
There is this thing about terminology, and I know that you have already mentioned it and thought about it in your tree section. I know we're going to discuss about it later, but it's... Even Awu explains is, of course, very much aware that terminology is important. And I think that many times we come from, in a way, our point of view. So we're using smart contracts, of course, in this industry in a specific way. Maybe the term is not the best.
00:20:42
Speaker
It's not really representing what it is because it's just, again, lines of code. But at the same time, there are other parts and other industries that can be seen as, again, smart contract, more of a descent, more of a, yeah, digital contract, not really in the sense that we're using it. So that's definitely something that we need to keep in mind also going forward. Maybe what I would say is that
00:21:11
Speaker
In a way, it seems easy, but it might be a little bit more complicated. It's again continuing with this legacy that we have from Mika. So again, Mika is finalized, politically agreed upon.
00:21:24
Speaker
We have all these rules written in the last version. It's also public, so you can all access it. But what is happening again now is with ESMA and other national competent authorities, how are they going to interpret the rules that we have today? So as you know,
00:21:42
Speaker
The way Homika defines crypto assets is that we have different kinds of crypto assets. We have stable coins that can be e-money token or asset reference tokens. We're also speaking about non-fungible tokens, for example, and those are excluded from the regulation, which is, I would say, a pretty good news.
00:22:03
Speaker
But again, we need to understand what are the non-fungible tokens. They are defined in Mika, but at the same time, we don't know really where is the line. So what token is a non-fungible one? How many can we issue in a batch, et cetera? It can be a very, I would say, simple thing, but at the same time, again, looking into how
00:22:27
Speaker
the guidance from ESMA is going to be finalized. But I would say that also ideally what would happen is also in a way coordination and communication between national, covenant authorities, because those are going to be really, really important later on when we are going to basically apply for licenses or even just send white papers for them to look into before issuing tokens.
00:22:55
Speaker
So again, secondary level of meek implementation. That's great. Thank you very much, Marina. Kristin, let's head over to the US and anything easy you think that we can do in the US, that policymakers can do in the US this year?
00:23:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think the easy thing policymakers can do is not overreact. I think what we are seeing right now are a lot of efforts that are sort of a response to some of the events of 2022. I mean, we're pretty far into 2023 now.
00:23:30
Speaker
But, you know, between Three Arrows Capital and Terra Luna and particularly the sort of spectacular collapse of FTX, I think there are a lot of policymakers, both in Congress and at the regulatory agencies in the U.S., that feel like they have a little bit of egg on their face because they were very close with FTX, they were very close to Sam Bankman Freed, and they were duped, right? I mean, it turns out that whole thing was a fraud. So I think that as a result, we're seeing a lot of
00:23:59
Speaker
particularly on the regulatory side, but now in Congress as well, lawmakers that are trying to jump in to crack down on crypto and they're putting forward legislative proposals that don't have a true understanding of what DeFi is or what self custody is, or even the regulatory framework that already exists for centralized exchanges. And so my one thing is, you know, don't do anything until you've had a chance to
00:24:23
Speaker
first really understand the technology and have actually accurately identified the risks that we need regulation for. We don't have regulation for regulation's sake. We have regulation to address specific risks in an ecosystem. My one easy thing is to take a deep breath, don't overreact, and take time to learn about this growing technology.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's great. And they can always go to the owl explains.com website to learn a lot. And we are very pleased to be part of that educational process. And by the way, they probably shouldn't overreact to the quote unquote banking crisis either. So everybody was was fond of bashing.
00:25:07
Speaker
what was going on in crypto and blockchain. And then all of a sudden, along came the traditional financial system, which is supposed to be incredibly stable and well run and give us a little bit of a little bit of run for our money there for a little while at the beginning of this year. Allison, over to you.
00:25:28
Speaker
Well, you know, that was supposed to be our fault, too, Lee, but we'll bracket that discussion for another day in terms of the way that that's being framed. Indeed. I agree with everything that Kristen said. I think the mood in Washington and the way that people are describing crypto and the
00:25:47
Speaker
the fact that people feel like they need to do something is a big problem. That said, I think there are a couple of maybe potentially easy things that could be done. And one, I think there's some hope for sensible stablecoin legislation. And I know that, you know, Kristin and her team have been working very hard in terms of education on that front.
00:26:04
Speaker
And the other thing I think could be an easy thing that could potentially get done or maybe easy things that could potentially be done are small fixes, like finalizing the broker fix for the infrastructure bill. One of the issues that we've been working on is this taxation of staking and mining rewards. Just small wins, I think it's better for us to focus on here this year and continuing the education so that there isn't anything that is
00:26:31
Speaker
done that we might regret later. So that's what I think would be the easy thing to do. Yeah, that's terrific. Again, a nice diversity of answers because a nice diversity of different things that are going on.
Web3 Wisdom and Misconceptions
00:26:46
Speaker
Um, before we wrap up, uh, going to plug, uh, owl explains initiative that we have ongoing called the tree of web three wisdom. You can find it on the owl explains.com website. And I know I gave all of you a chance to take a look at our thinking there. We do have five main branches for the tree and then explanations of each of those branches. Just quickly. The first branch is understand the technology.
00:27:13
Speaker
The second branch is beware of misconceptions. The third branch is classify tokens sensibly. The fourth branch is enact context appropriate regulation. And the fifth branch is think global.
00:27:30
Speaker
And by the way, we've got our owl sitting on the second branch. I don't know why we decided to have him sitting on the second branch, but maybe we'll have him moving around to different branches to show off the different branches as important at different times. But we'd love to get reactions from each of you as to, you know, was there one branch that stood out to you? And if so, why was that? Allison, maybe we'll start with you.
00:27:59
Speaker
So I think there's a reason why the owl is sitting on the second branch because I honestly think the most important one for us and the work that we do is this beware of misconceptions. And of course, you obviously have to focus on the first branch and understand the technology if you are going to correct those misconceptions and use appropriate terminology. But I think so much of the uphill battle that we face
00:28:21
Speaker
is that one, I think the vast majority of the general public still does not understand the technology and to the extent that they've heard about it.
00:28:30
Speaker
there are these pervasive misconceptions. So I think for us, the most important thing that we can possibly be doing is focusing on the second branch of that trait. They're all important and all wonderful. But I would say our particular focus is saying like, who are these base layer participants? What is a proof of stake blockchain? I mean, we need to really, really go back to basics and reclaim some of the terminology that I think has been co-opted, which is the line of everything I've said thus far.
00:28:57
Speaker
Perhaps, unsurprisingly, I would say we're largely focused on the second branch. Okay. Well, that's terrific. I'm glad the owl was prophetic in where it was sitting. Kristen, how about you?
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, listen, all of them resonate with me because I think this is kind of outlines the process that we need in order to get good regulation, not just here in the US, but all around the world. I think for me, the first branch about really understanding
00:29:33
Speaker
The technology is probably the most important and I think that's why this effort is I think so wonderful because you know, a lot of people, you know, in the policy community, they like to skip to, you know, kind of figuring out what the solution might be or, you know,
00:29:51
Speaker
Getting people kind of riled up and calling in congress and the reality is there's actually a tremendous amount of work that has to be done for policymakers to have the amount of knowledge that they need to make good policy and this isn't something that can be done in with one explanation or with one twenty minute meeting.
00:30:11
Speaker
This is really new, and for policymakers, it's hard, right? I mean, I know I've been in the industry for about five and a half or six years now, and I'm still learning about things every day, right? And it's my full-time job. So the education work is maybe not as glamorous. It's incredibly time consuming, and it requires meeting
00:30:33
Speaker
the policymaker where they're at. And so constantly going back, having conversations, not just with the same 10 or 20 policymakers who've expressed interest in this space, but really working to expand that group, I think is really important. And so understanding the technology to me, I think is a very appropriate first step and one that is going to be ongoing for some time. That's great. Marina, over to you.
00:31:04
Speaker
Those were very, very interesting comments and I agree with all of them. I might use another animal metaphor that we're using in the space, which is a duck. So many times we're saying if it quacks like a duck and it walks like a duck, then it's a duck, which I would say the lawyers and regulators are kind of used to that metaphor. But many times we need to explain it to maybe somebody that has a more technical background or software developers.
00:31:33
Speaker
And going back to, I would say, the first, second, and also the fourth part of the tree of wisdom is understanding the technology, understanding the misconceptions, but really understanding the risks. So how are the risks different, for example, between different applications, between centralized applications versus decentralized applications? And that is especially important, as Tommaso mentioned before, with the upcoming potential DeFi
00:32:03
Speaker
at least I would say regulation or taking into account how DeFi works, say within Europe, but also globally, and really understanding what could be the technical equivalent of the regulation that we have today. So if there is a specific policy goal that was achieved in the past by writing something down on paper,
00:32:26
Speaker
Can it be achieved by using a technical aspect of what we are using today to basically come up to the same solution, but in a war, I would say, automatized or digitalized way? So that's the hope, I would say, for the future of policy regulation. That's great, Marina. And as a birdwatcher, I really actually don't like it when people use that. Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck.
00:32:53
Speaker
analogy because by golly it could be a red-breasted merganser you don't know because you're not a bird watcher. So I totally reject that idea as that's how we should figure out how to regulate things. Tommaso, why don't you bring us home?
00:33:10
Speaker
Sure, happy to. And I have to say, of course, it's tough to disagree with anything that was said by my fellow panelists today, but also in general with the with the wisdom of WebTree, sorry, the Tree of Web Free Wisdom. I think in general, those are exactly those five areas are I think it's exactly how we see our work. At least I'm sure I can talk on behalf of the other associations as well. Those are exactly the five key principles that we try to integrate into our work. Right. So
00:33:39
Speaker
Obviously, as Kirsten was saying, the education piece is probably the most important one, because there is still a lot of education work to be done, both for the policymakers that are working to regulate our sector, but also, generally speaking, everybody needs to be educated on this topic.
00:33:57
Speaker
It's a new technology for all of us. Even though we like to think ourselves as experts, as we're saying, we're learning something new every day. I just learned a lot of new things in these 30 minutes of conversations. So obviously education remains the most important thing.
00:34:12
Speaker
But then I would also agree, I would say with Alison, that misconceptions are then what is actually slowing down our efforts probably. So fighting those misconceptions, talking with the wider public, with the industry,
00:34:29
Speaker
you know, making sure that everybody really understand what is happening and what is not happening, what is true about this sector. And I can think of a lot of examples, but for, you know, one of the most recent one that we've been working on is the sustainability of the sector, right? So the sustainability of the sector is obviously a super important issue because climate change is a fundamental issue that we should all be focusing on.
00:34:54
Speaker
But there is so many misconceptions about the energy impact of our sector, first of all, but also on the initiatives that are being developed within the sector to improve on that aspect. And then finally, I think the most important and interesting aspect there
00:35:09
Speaker
is how can we actually use blockchain technology to achieve those sustainable objectives, climate change mitigation initiatives and things like that. So that's the kind of work that I think we should all continue to be doing to showcase that this technology can really help us in achieving the other policy objectives that we already have. And I'll conclude just by saying that
00:35:35
Speaker
the global aspects, the global dimension is obviously still critical. Because obviously, we are happy to see how the European Union moved in that space with the marketing crypto assets regulation, this idea that we now have a comprehensive regulatory framework that will probably attract even companies to come and work and develop in Europe. And I would be actually interested to
00:36:00
Speaker
We hear from our colleagues in the US what they think about that. But so, you know, even though the European Union may have done something good, it's not going to be enough if the rest of the world doesn't somehow also move in the same direction with different approaches for sure.
00:36:18
Speaker
but with some common standards and understandings. That is the only way that this global sector can actually operate effectively in a regulated way and complying of course with important policy objectives that policymakers and regulators around the world will set.
00:36:34
Speaker
but without stopping innovation at the national borders, right? Because in the end, we are all looking at this from a very global perspective. And I think I would like to just thank once again, Lee and the Outlet's plane team for this initiative, because this is exactly what we need to do to achieve that. Continue talking between the US, the EU and the other stakeholders all over the world to really see a comprehensive common regulatory approach to this sector.
00:37:04
Speaker
Well, I will say I was very excited to get all of you on the same podcast together and you exceeded my expectations. This was a really terrific conversation. It's great to hear all of the different things that people are focused on.
00:37:19
Speaker
plus the similarities and the common themes that we heard today amongst all of you. So much appreciation and look, you all are doing great work. And we at Ava Labs and OWL Explains appreciate everything that you all are doing. So keep up the good work. We will continue to support and help and be part of the conversation. Thank you all.
Resources and Further Learning
00:37:48
Speaker
We hope you enjoyed our Hootenanny. Thank you for listening. For more Hootful and hype-free resources, visit www.owlexplanes.com. There, you will find articles, quizzes, practical explainers, suggested reading materials, and lots more. Also, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to continue wising up on blockchain and Web3. That's all for now on Owl Explains. Until next time!