The Brief for July 20, 2020

Happy Monday! I’m just passing along I saw a few articles that you might find interesting.

• ConsenSys Researchers Break Down Risks in Ethereum 2.0, the “Biggest Economic Shift” in Crypto

  • Bottom line: Ethereum 2.0 has a long way to go. Some important design decisions remain unsettled.

  • My take: ETH 2.0 is a lot more complicated and contentious than some people think, with lots of delicate design decisions.

  • Why we care: we’re not so complacent we assume ETH 2.0 will succeed. Don’t sleep on alternative smart contract platforms, for example, Waves, Cardano, and many others. E.g, Waves incorporated Band Protocol oracles and Cardano has hit all its milestones (including backwards compatibility with tokens that use ERC standards).

• G20 Lays Regulatory Foundation to Accept Digital Payments by November Summit

  • Bottom line: the world’s largest economies plan to accept digital payments as part of a larger move to regulate stablecoins—or at least provide guidelines for members on how to handle them.

  • My take: I’ll believe it when I see it. Let’s come back in November, after the two fall meetings where the topic’s on the agenda. Technology always moves faster than governments.

  • Why we care: G20 could effectively kill DeFi with its guidance on stablecoins—or at least scare big investors and developers. It’ll be interesting to see whether G20 guidance will address oracles, too—another key component of DeFi.

• Blockchain and Regulation: A Definitive Guide To The Future

  • Bottom line: cryptocurrency opens up a lot of legal and regulatory problems.

  • My take: these topics don’t necessarily help anybody make money, but they matter a lot for the evolution of cryptocurrency.

  • Why we care: we’re investing time and money into an industry that has poor regulations and lots of sloppy projects. It’s worth taking a few minutes to appreciate the questions, challenges, and risks we might encounter as the industry grows.

Relax and enjoy the ride!