Digital Currencies  & Blockchain

Econ,Tech, & Legal Challenges

David Stancel

Content

• Economic Considerations
• Tech Challenges
• Legal Aspects and challenges in Crypto & Smart Contracts, KYC, AML, MiCA

Web 3.0

Challenges?

What is Bitcoin anyway?

Speculation and Volatility

86% of total bitcoin owners live outside of developed countries.

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

Tech Challenges

Access to Public Cryptogprahy

UX

Web 2.0

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

Web 3.0

ETH

Interoperability

Web 3.0

Social Recovery

Legal Challenges

What would you think that are the main legal challenges in crypto?

Crypto Assets

• Wide spectrum of Assets of different risk profile
  • and qualities
• Stablecoins - FIAT backed, Crypto backed, Algorithmic
  • Tether vs Dai vs rDAI
     
• In case of tokenized physical assets, what happens if the state in blockchain does not correspond with reality?
   
• How to enforce it?
   
• "Industrial" utilitization of public blockchain

Nie je Dai ako Dai

DeFi 

• Tax/ Legal Treatment of Stocks vs Crypto stocks?
   
• Who is responsible for the undesired app behaviour?
   
• Is it really immutable?
   
• Using DeFi via UI vs. Raw transactions ––> no signed disclaimer ––> different legal implications?
   
• KYC / AML ?
   
• Real-World Assets as Crypto Loan Collateral

Taxes

Smart Contracts

• Is it Legally binding?
   
• Who is responsible for the failure?
   
• Code is Law?

NFTs

• What do you actually own?
   
• Typically JPEGs stored at private server and could be made unavailable
   
• How do you classify and regulate such a broad asset class?
   
• NFT-Backed Loans --> ENS, Cryptopunks (Fractions)

MiCA

Markets in Crypto Assets

• Crafted with ICOs in mind
• What is actually in scope?
  • Virtual assets
  • NFTs? DeFi?
  • If not, are they outlawed?
     
• Significance Thresholds (stablecoins) 
  • Too low, even when systemic risk absents
     
• In Effect, MiCA could be a driver for decentralization as projects could not deal with all kinds of bureaucracy

Reading:

• (Must) The Virtual Economy
• The History of NFTs
• How to make money with Axie Infinity
• The Metaverse Primer
• Copyright in the Blockchain Era
• Criticism of Web 3 by the Founder of Signal
• Coinstory: The Future of Crypto

Thank you!

david@coinstory.tech
 

slides.com/stancel/challenges