Crypto in Davos? These events prove the opposite
3 min readWhile the most important representatives from politics and business are advising on the war, the climate crisis and the precarious inflation situation at the World Economic Summit in 2023 at an altitude of 1,600 meters, Davos and Zurich are also offering a stage for tech bosses, suits and developer geniuses from the crypto space. The “longest-running high-quality crypto conference in Europe” takes place at the same time: the Crypto Summit. The motto of the event: “Regain trust and advance technology”.
Charles Hoskinson introduces – Cardano presents new project
The first day of the conference opened Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson. In his keynote, the 35-year-old spoke about the development of Bitcoin and Ethereum, Layer 2 scaling solutions, DeFi, Web3 and applications in the banking sector.
Cardano takes advantage of the moment and presents a new project: the world’s first automotive protocol on the in-house blockchain – eTukTuks in Sri Lanka. The three-wheeled motor vehicles are powered by electricity. Appropriate charging stations are to be installed across the island. The inexpensive and fast Cardano blockchain acts as an administrator and wants to make the eTukTuks as economical as possible.
Altcoin dominance and an orange Mercedes
The elite of the crypto industry meet in the small town in the canton of Graubünden. Members of Polygon, Cirlce, but also Meta (Facebook) or Zoom give each other a hand. The data storage protocol Filecoin meanwhile reported with a bang. Together with the US armaments and technology group Lockheed Martin, they are working on a mission to “deploy the interplanetary file system (IPFS) in space”. The mission is scheduled to take place in 2023 aboard the LM 400 defense satellite Message.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared his views on the SEC litigation at the event. The verdict can be expected in June. However, an agreement is only possible if Ripple’s cryptocurrency XRP is not regulated as a security, says Garlinghouse. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has been accusing Ripple of selling unregistered securities since December 2020. It remains to be seen whether a final decision will actually be made in the next five months.
The show, as always, steals bitcoin. A Mercedes – in BTC orange – was parked in the slush in Davos. Instead of the iconic star badge, the Bitcoin “B” adorns the hood. The words “in crypto we trust” are emblazoned on the wheels of the sports car, which is adorned with a Ukrainian license plate. Michael Chobanian, founder of Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna, has come out to the public CNBC as the owner of the vehicle.
World Economic Forum without crypto
Meanwhile, there is silence in the halls of the World Economic Forum on the subject of crypto: It was only in May that Bitcoin and Co. were still being discussed pompously. This January, however, the tide turned. The turbulence of the last few months may well have been a reason for the collapse of the previous euphemism. Because: The implosion of the Terra ecosystem, the fall of Celsius and finally the FTX debacle left scratches on the paintwork. The call for regulation is getting louder. Circle CSO Dante Disparte calls on the WEF to act.
James Butterfill counters. The Head of Research at the asset manager CoinShares expressed concerns to BTC-ECHO:
I think Davos attendees are missing the point if they believe blockchain should be government regulated. This goes against the original purpose of creating digital assets on the blockchain in the first place – to mitigate currency debasement, decentralize computation, and protect against censorship.
Cryptocurrencies could be regulated, Butterfill continued. However, only the centralized components are of regulatory importance, since the problems of the past emanated from them. The extent to which the responsible regulatory authorities share this view is another matter.
