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Despite Bitcoin Bull Ride Mass Layoffs in Crypto Land: At Least 2,900 Jobs Lost In January

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In the first month of 2023, crypto companies took a more cautious approach as they trimmed their workforce in response to the ongoing economic uncertainty. Despite a rise in Bitcoin prices, at least 14 crypto firms have let go of 2,900 employees in January, according to a January 31st report.

The crypto industry saw significant job cuts from top companies such as Prime Trust, Matrixport, Gemini, Coinbase, Digital Currency Group, and many more.

The crypto industry has faced numerous challenges in the past year, including regulatory uncertainty, major companies’ fallout, and security concerns. Companies are still cautious about investing in new hires and expanding their operations.

The impact of these job cuts will likely be felt by the wider crypto community, as many of those affected are likely to be experienced professionals with a wealth of knowledge and expertise. 

Trimmed Down In Crypto Industry As Bitcoin Rise 

Prime Trust, a crypto infrastructure provider, reportedly reduced its employee count by a third, equivalent to an estimated 100 layoffs. Meanwhile, crypto platform Matrixport and exchange Gemini also saw significant reductions in their workforce.

Another crypto giant, Coinbase, made the largest staff layoff of the month, with 950 employees terminated on January 10th. Other exchanges such as Crypto.com, Luno, and Huobi also made significant cuts, with 500, 330, and 320 employees laid off, respectively.

Digital Currency Group, which has been struggling with a financial crisis, and its subsidiaries also saw significant layoffs, with 485 employees let go in January. The DCG-owned Luno had the most layoffs, while DCG itself, Genesis, and HQ Digital shuttered, affecting a total of 155 employees.

Other notable layoffs include the 200 employees from Silvergate, 110 from Blockchain.com exchange, and 96 from ConsenSys, the parent company of MetaMask. NFT marketplace SuperRare also saw 20 staff members being laid off.

These mass layoffs in the crypto industry were not in isolation. In January 2023, around 48,000 people were laid off from just four companies: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce.

Bitcoin Rise: A Positive Outlook for the Crypto Industry

Despite the mass layoffs, Bitcoin has been performing strongly in the month, targeting nearly $25,000 and reaching a high of $23.900 on Sunday. Institutional demand for BTC has continued to increase, leading to the best month for the coin, as reported by TronWeekly.

Crypto hedge fund Pantera Capital believes there has never been a better time to start a blockchain company. According to them, bear markets provide “less noise and distraction from building.”

While the crypto industry has faced its fair share of challenges, the rise in Bitcoin price and institutional demand presents opportunities for growth and development. 

The mass layoffs, while unfortunate, also provide a chance for companies to streamline their operations and become more efficient. Despite the challenges, the future of crypto remains bright and full of possibilities. 

Ethereum Reigns Supreme: 55% Of ETH Holdings On Top 2 Platforms

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The world of cryptocurrency is constantly evolving, with new players entering the market and established ones consolidating their position. One such player is Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Ethereum continues to dominate the exchange landscape, with its 24.9 million holdings concentrated on just five platforms, according to Nansen, a blockchain analytics platform.

This concentration of Ethereum holdings is significant, as it gives these top exchanges a significant amount of power over the cryptocurrency’s future. 

In the top five exchanges, Coinbase (35%) and Binance (20%) hold 8.72 million and 4.94 million ETH, respectively, which is more than a third of all Ethereum exchange holdings.

Additionally, the Nansen data shows that Kraken, Bitfinex, and OKX round out the top 5 with 1.97 million, 1.82 million, and 1.25 million ETH holdings, respectively.

Ethereum’s Growing Influence In The Crypto Sphere

These staggering numbers are a testament to Ethereum’s growing influence in the cryptocurrency sphere. Its popularity among traders and investors alike has led to the platform is a top choice for holding and trading ETH.

As the crypto market continues to mature and evolve, it will be interesting to see if ETH’s dominance on exchanges will continue or if other platforms and cryptocurrencies will rise to challenge its position.

Regardless, its substantial presence on the top 5 exchange platforms is a sign of its lasting impact on the crypto market and a promising indicator of its future growth potential.

Furthermore, according to the latest report from CoinGecko, despite a 67.5% decline in Ethereum (ETH) prices in 2022, the number of addresses holding at least 1 ETH (≥1 ETH) rose by 28.1%. The number of ≥1 ETH addresses increased from 1.41 million on January 1 to 1.73 million on December 31.

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Source: CoinGecko

Q4 2022 saw the highest growth in crypto adoption, with the number of ≥1 ETH addresses growing by 10.4% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). This growth can be attributed to positive sentiments surrounding Ethereum’s successful Merge in September and anticipation for its upcoming Shanghai upgrade.

However, the steady rise in ETH addresses suggests growing confidence in the cryptocurrency’s future and increased adoption.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index Hits One-Year High At 61: The Market’s Wild Ride Continues 

Threshold (T) is up over 94%, hours after Coinbase said it is adding it to its listing roadmap, Gala (GALA) up 9%, Snowfall Protocol (SNW) hits All time high ahead of launch

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Threshold (T) is up over 94%, hours after Coinbase said it is adding it to its listing roadmap, Gala (GALA) up 9%, Snowfall Protocol (SNW) hits All time high ahead of launch 4

For the first time since its launch in February 2022, the Threshold token (T) rallied by more than 94% amidst news of upcoming Coinbase listing. Entertainment metaverse Gala Games also recorded a 9% rise in what seems like a comeback for metaverse platforms.

Meanwhile, Snowfall Protocol (SNW) is bringing a new age of interoperability closer to blockchain users. The protocol has grown so much in popularity because it provides a secure and hassle-free ecosystem for anyone to transfer their assets over different blockchains. The Snowfall Protocol token (SNW) has hit an all-time high price, and demand is still blowing over the roof. Read on to learn why.

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Threshold (T) is up over 94%, hours after Coinbase said it is adding it to its listing roadmap, Gala (GALA) up 9%, Snowfall Protocol (SNW) hits All time high ahead of launch 5

Threshold (T) is up over 94%, hours after Coinbase said it is adding it to its listing roadmap

The news of the Threshold (T) coin getting listed on Coinbase has driven much attention to the low-cap altcoin. Threshold (T) is an Ethereum-based network that protects and maintains dApps with a cryptographic threshold. Barely a year after its launch, the Coinbase exchange announced the Threshold token (T) as part of its listing roadmap.

While the news signals a strong bullish sentiment for the token, the Threshold token (T) price drove past 94% from $0.0245 to an intra-day high of $0.046. If the listing is successful, the Threshold token (T) may break old resistance levels and create new highs.

Gala (GALA) up 9%

It has been a green year for metaverse tokens, and Gala Games is seeing a considerable rise in interest. The Gala token (T) has gained a staggering 9% in the past 7 days, with its market cap zooming past the $336 million market cap for the first time since August. So far, Gala (T) has gained 192% this year, and price has steadied at $0.048.

While Gala (T) is breaking intermediate 90-day resistance levels, its performance is certainly lower than expected. Since the beginning of the year, Gala Games (T) have not had a substantial development or partnership that can further drive interest to it. Meanwhile, its price has dipped a bit after the Gala token (T) received backlashes for deleting a tweet teasing the partnership with Hollywood stars Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg.

Snowfall Protocol (SNW) Gains 3700%, Hits All-Time High Ahead of Launch

Snowfall Protocol (SNW) is a leading multi-chain asset transfer protocol and bridging solution for fungible and non-fungible tokens. The protocol has gained ground and vast popularity as a platform that ensures the effortless transfer of cryptographic assets across blockchain networks.

The protocol is an open one-stop and multipurpose hub for anyone to interact with over 200 EVM-compatible and non-EVM-compatible blockchains. Furthermore, it removes the roadblock impeding chain-to-chain communication using a canonical/reverse canonical token bridge and a swap/wrap system for crypto assets and NFTs. This way, it enhances interoperability and facilitates the back-and-forth movements of funds.

In summary, Snowfall Protocol (SNW) opens a vast world between networks and protocols, and that is why investors and crypto enthusiasts are actively flocking to its presale. As a result, Snowfall Protocol (SNW) is 2023’s top-performing ICO token. So far, the token has grown by 3700% from $0.005 to $0.20 current all-time high price. 

Technical and market analysts are confident in Snowfall Protocol (SNW) prowess to disrupt the crypto space. Experts are speculating a 1000x rise – therefore, its current ATH price is only a starting point. You can invest in Snowfall Protocol token (SNW) to be a part of a revolutionary change.

Presale: https://presale.snowfallprotocol.io 

Website: https://snowfallprotocol.io 

Telegram: https://t.me/snowfallcoin 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/snowfallcoin 

Binance Scandal: Coinbase Director Exposes Pattern of Alleged Front-Running

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Conor Grogan, Director of Coinbase, has exposed a pattern of alleged front-running by leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In a series of tweets, Grogan shared evidence of connected wallets buying large sums of various cryptocurrencies, including Rari, ERN, and TORN, seconds before their listing on Binance and dumping them minutes later.

According to Grogan, these connected wallets purchased $900,000 worth of Rari seconds before its listing and sold it minutes after. Similarly, they bought approximately 78,000 ERN between June 17 and June 21 and sold them immediately after the listing announcement. The same pattern was observed with TORN.

Previously as reported by TronWeekly, a mysterious wallet address made a staggering profit of $55.4K in a matter of just 20 minutes by making a wise move of buying 6193.46 RPL tokens before Binance announced their listing and flipping them immediately after. 

The individual or group behind the transaction managed to capitalize on the listing announcement and turn a quick profit. It is not the first instance of such a transaction. Grogan mentions a number of incidents like this in his Twitter thread.

These actions, known as front-running, are considered unethical and illegal in traditional financial markets. However, the lack of regulation in the cryptocurrency space has allowed such practices to continue unchecked. 

Binance & A list Of Unethical Series  

Grogan also pointed out that regulators and law enforcement have been cracking down hard recently on CEX insider trading. If front-running is taking place, it may be the result of insider MNPI, most likely from a rogue employee associated with the listings team who would be aware of future asset announcements or a trader who discovered an API or staging/test trading exchange leak.

In addition, Grogan also shared another suspicious transaction involving the purchase of $500K+ worth of RAMP over a few days and sent it to Binance minutes after the listing announcement; assuming they sold it, it was a ~100K payday. 

He also highlighted that Binance could probably easily trace the person via deposit address and shared a 6th suspicious transaction he found.

This news has sent shockwaves through the crypto community, raising questions about the integrity of Binance and calling for stricter regulations to prevent such practices. 

The revelation also brings up the fact that directly connected wallets are still up to the same thing months later. This developing story will surely have wave effects throughout the industry, and it remains to be seen how it will play out.

Ethereum Liquid Staking Market Booms With Lido & Rocket Pool Leading The Way: Report

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Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism has led to the rise of liquid staking platforms, where users can earn a yield by delegating their ether (ETH) to a validator and receiving a tradable token in return.

Forbes reported on January 21st that two of the biggest players in the space, Lido and Rocket Pool, have seen significant growth in recent months, with Lido’s native token, LDO, surging 115% and Rocket Pool’s token, RPL, rising 80% year-to-date.

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Source: Dune

The largest centralized exchange, Coinbase, has also entered the liquid staking space, quickly rising to claim “second place” with its staking service and related token, cbETH. 

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Source: Dune

According to Dune Analytics, Lido and Rocket Pool currently dominate the market with 76% and 3.5% of the total ETH deposited on their respective platforms, but Coinbase has made a significant impact in the space, amassing a 17% share in a short period of time.

Since the launch of Ethereum’s beacon chain in December 2020, which marked the beginning of the network’s shift to proof-of-stake, those who participate in staking have been able to earn compensation in the form of block rewards, tips, and minimum extractable value (MEV) in the form of ETH.

However, stakers were not able to withdraw their assets until the Shanghai upgrade, expected to take place in March of this year. Liquid staking providers issue derivative tokens that are backed one-to-one by the assets staked on the platform, providing users with liquidity on their underlying staking positions. 

The amount of ETH staked in pools has ballooned 2,470% from 265,000 ETH in early 2021 to over 6.8 million ETH now. It is worth noting that the price of ETH and its derivative liquid staking tokens have consistently diverged, with the staking tokens often trading at a slight discount. 

This is due to several reasons, such as users selling their staking tokens to buy more ETH or the risk of further delays in withdrawals.

Simplifying Ethereum Staking: Centralized & Decentralized Providers On the Rise

The report also highlighted that in recent times, both centralized and decentralized staking providers have been on the rise as they simplify the staking process and lower the barrier of entry for everyday users.

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Source: Dune

Platforms such as Lido, Rocket Pool, and Stakewise have formed DAOs to handle governance and reward stakeholders. These platforms use their native tokens to compensate node operators, provide oracle pricing data, and vote on protocol upgrades.

One major player in the staking game is Coinbase, which recently announced its intention to join Rocket Pool’s Oracle DAO. As a member, Coinbase will be responsible for providing real-time ETH pricing data, running Rocket Pool nodes, and voting on protocol upgrades. In return, Coinbase will receive RPL tokens as compensation.

Moreover, Alluvial, a liquid collective, aims to tap into the institutional market by forming a consortium of centralized staking providers, including Coinbase, Figment, and Kraken. The collective aims to provide an enterprise-grade multi-chain liquid staking protocol, initially targeting institutional investors.

However, Lido’s high percentage of the total validator set raises concerns about centralization risk and censorship at the protocol level. Additionally, the Shanghai upgrade’s enabling of withdrawals may lead to more supply coming into the market and additional sell pressure.

Despite the potential challenges, the current staking ratio of Ethereum, which stands at around 14%, compared to the likes of Solana, Cardano, and BNB, which have ratios of 71%, 72%, and 97%, respectively, indicates that there is still opportunity for more ETH holders to join in and secure a bigger portion of the supply through staking. 

However, with a wide margin for expansion, the staking scene for Ethereum is poised for an exhilarating journey ahead.

Related Reading |  Weekly Market Watch: Bulls Dominate Bitcoin and ETH, Aptos (APT) Gains Momentum

Binance Is Defying Industry Trend by Planning to Increase Hiring by 30% in 2023

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Binance, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has announced plans to increase its Hiring by 15-30% in 2023, despite the fact that many of its rivals in the industry are cutting jobs. 

The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao or CZ, announced that the company has significantly grown its workforce from 3,000 to 8,000 in 2022 and plans to continue expanding in 2023. 

Despite market fluctuations, the leading crypto exchange remains optimistic about the industry’s future and expects continued demand for its services. 

CZ stated that Binance needs to improve its organization before the next market uptrend and admitted that the exchange is not currently highly efficient. Additionally, the company plans to continue developing and aims to be better prepared for the next bull market.

Despite the cryptocurrency market downturn that resulted in a loss of nearly $1.4 trillion in 2022, Binance has seen a significant increase in revenue. 

According to Tronweekly, the exchange’s annual income has grown 10-fold over the last two years and reached over $12 billion by 2022. This growth has allowed Binance to maintain its workforce while rival exchanges have been forced to reduce their staff. 

Kraken revealed in November that it was reducing its workforce by 30%, while both Huobi and Coinbase announced plans to cut 20% of their employees in the same year. It was the second time Coinbase had to do layoffs within a year.

On January 10th, Coinbase announced further layoffs, with a total of 950 employees affected. The company also mentioned discontinuing several projects with a low chance of success. ‘

Additionally, it stated that the affected employees will receive at least 14 weeks of basic salary compensation, health insurance, and other benefits as part of their severance package.

Binance Ongoing Development

It was also reported that the exchange lost $12 billion in just 60 days, while CZ disputed these rumors by calling them fake news. Moreover, as part of the ongoing worldwide expansion, it has been granted authorization in seven EU Member States, including Sweden.

The exchange recently announced that Binance Nordics AB had been officially recognized as a financial institution for virtual currency management and trading by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Swedish FSA). 

This registration marks a significant milestone for its presence in the Nordics region, and it solidifies the company’s commitment to compliance and adherence to regulatory requirements.

Head of Europe and MENA at Binance, Richard Teng, said:

Binance continues to demonstrate its commitment to work closely with regulatory agencies to uphold global standards. Our registration in Sweden is the result of many months of diligent, hard work from our team, underpinning our commitment to the Swedish market and our users.

Related Reading | El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bonds Set To Gain Legal Status After 1 Year Delay

Nearly $3.3M Coinbase Shares Joins Cathie Woods ARK Invest

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Quite a few things have caused Coinbase to fly beneath the media’s notice. The rest of the community anticipated a decline in the stock price of COIN as the crypto exchange finished its third round of layoffs. In contrast, it was climbing.

Throughout the week, Cathie Wood and Ark Invest, her investment management company, have been in the news. The company was observed repeatedly funding Coinbase. Just yesterday, ARK received 33,756 shares of Coinbase. The cost of this transaction was $1.49 million. Wood’s platform spent another $3.28 million earlier today to purchase 74,792 shares of COIN.

The value of the shares is based on COIN’s Wednesday closing price of $43.79, it should be emphasized. COIN’s price was $44.65 at the time of publication, up 1.96 percent on the day.

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Source

After its shares fell to a low of $31.59 on January 6, Coinbase desperately needed this increase.

As all of its investments saw noticeable growth, Ark was generating a lot of money. Wood’s company also spent $8.5 million buying 69,060 shares of Tesla [TSLA] in addition to Coinbase. TSLA experienced a daily increase of 11.56 percent and closed at $123.21.

Here’s Why Coinbase Chief Received Praise

In spite of the crypto winter, Coinbase boasted in 2022 that it had hired 2,000 new employees. By 2022, however, it had reduced its workforce by more than 2,000. In the middle of this, the brother of the former manager of the exchange received a prison term for insider trading. Consequently, there was a lot of reaction following the encounter.

In the past six months, the firm had let go of 2,110 workers in total, and their staff is becoming slacker. Armstrong attributed the employment cuts to the ongoing bear markets that devoured their earnings. The CEO also acknowledged that the company is terminating a number of projects with low success rates.

However, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong received praise for creating a page to support the company’s fired employees.

Armstrong created a page for 122 candidates from various industries. He even gave these candidates the option to opt into the project or to add their names to the list.

Crypto Payments Company Wyre to Shut Down in 2023: Report

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Amid layoffs, Wyre, a 2013-founded crypto payments company, has informed staff that it is closing down, as reported today by Axios. Two ex-employees have confirmed that Wyre is shutting down and plans to cease operations in January 2023. 

The CEO, Ioannis Giannaros, reportedly informed some employees of the closure via email during the holiday season and stated that the company would be liquidated.

The cryptocurrency industry is currently facing challenging times due to the “crypto winter,” which has led to the closure of operations and a halt in hiring at many companies. 

It is partly due to many adverse events, such as the collapse of FTX, the Luna Terra crash, and other crypto crises. During this, many companies filed for bankruptcy, and at least one of their founders seems to have fled.

Additionally, rising interest rates by the Federal Reserve, regulatory uncertainty, and investors pulling out of the cryptocurrency market have also contributed to the markets’ struggles.

According to a report by Axios, one of the former employees stated that Wyre has not yet offered a severance package, causing concern among ex-workers that there may not be one.

However, in an email to Axios, Giannaros said that Wyre is still operating but will be reducing its operations as it plans its next steps. He did not yet respond to requests for further comment on the claims made by former employees.

2022 Crypto Winter’s Layoffs

In 2022, there were several reports of mass layoffs at cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase, which is one of the largest exchanges. In June, it announced that it was laying off around 18% of its workforce, or about 1,100 jobs. Then in November, it laid off another 60 employees.

Crypto.com, another exchange, announced in June that it was laying off 260 employees, representing about 5% of its workforce. However, it has since come to light that the exchange has actually laid off more than 2,000 employees as trading volume has decreased due to the bear market.

According to the report, Celsius laid off 150 employees in July due to financial difficulties. Additionally, on December 4th, the exchange Bybit disclosed that it is reducing its workforce by at least 30% because of the decline in the market. BlockFi also made roughly 600 layoffs, which amounted to a 20% reduction in its personnel.

Related Reading | Ripple CEO Explains Why 2023 Will Be Crypto’s Breakthrough Year 

Cardano Founder Lambast Coinbase For Excluding ADA

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Cardano and IOG founder Charles Hoskinson has taken to Twitter to slam Coinbase for not including the project in its 2023 outlook report.

Hoskinson tweeted, “Not a single mention of Cardano. Pretty low and pretty sad. I honestly expected better..”

One community member brought out the fact that, unlike Solana, the crypto exchange does not maintain the most recent news under Cardano. “Is that Coinbase’s job to keep it updated? How come Solana has recent news?” he asked.

Stake pool operator and project manager Rick McCracken of DripDropz chimed in by claiming that the exclusion wasn’t deliberate after some Twitter users began jokingly alleging a massive plot to suppress Cardano.

In its report, Coinbase stated that although the FTX collapse has impacted investors’ confidence and has led to liquidity constraints all is not lost though.

According to the report, cryptocurrencies have transformed themselves into a globally important asset class with widespread commercial and investor appeal which needs “thoughtful legislation to encourage innovation and protect consumers.”

The trading platform predicted three key themes that are set to dominate the cryptocurrency market in 2023: high-end institutional investors looking for quality assets; new opportunities created by creative destruction; and comprehensive reforms that will usher in a new market cycle.

The 57-page document covers a variety of subjects, including Bitcoin mining, Ethereum upgrades, the L1/L2 market, stablecoins, and non-fungible tokens. However, Cardano and other altcoins are not mentioned [apart from ETH, of course].

Recently, Coinbase, an American publicly traded business that runs a cryptocurrency trading platform, produced a regulatory roadmap in order to assist financial authorities in the United States.

Cardano Community On Coinbase’s Delaying Tactics

The Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] should categorize the top 100 cryptocurrencies as securities or non-security, as per a document published by Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume.

The trading platform thinks that by establishing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, stablecoin issuers, exchanges, and custodians will help with regulation.

That said, the exchange has come under heavy criticism from the Cardano community for being reportedly inactive with regard to Vasil’s hard fork.

Unlike other exchanges like Bitrue or Bitmart, Binance, and OKex which have already added the support of the hard fork, that went live on Sept 22, Coinbase has not launched the update mechanism yet.

Coinbase CEO’s Plea To Leave DeFi Alone

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Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has argued for stronger rules on centralised crypto operators but believes decentralised protocols should be allowed to grow since they represent “the ultimate form of disclosure” because to open-source software and smart contracts.

As the market continues to recover from the harm caused by FTX and its shocking collapse, Armstrong offered his thoughts on cryptocurrency regulation in a blog post published on December 20 by Coinbase. He suggested ways that regulators might assist “restore trust” and advance the business.

However, the Coinbase CEO highlighted that decentralized protocols are not a factor in that calculation.

He further added,

“Decentralized arrangements do not involve intermediaries [and] open-source code and smart contracts are “the ultimate form of disclosure,…… transparency is built in by default……cryptographically provable way.”

Because people are engaged, Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, stated that “extra transparency and disclosure” checks are required for centralised actors. Armstrong expressed the hope that the fall of FTX “will be the trigger we need to finally get new legislation approved.”

He continued, “where we’ve seen the biggest danger of consumer harm, and pretty much everyone can agree [that regulation] should be done” are exchanges, custodians, and stablecoin issuers.

Armstrong recommended that the United States begin with stablecoin regulation in accordance with general financial services legislation and that regulators enforce the application of a state trust charter or an OCC national trust charter.

Coinbase CEO’s Take On Stablecoin Issuers

The Stablecoin Transparency Act, which was just introduced by U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty, is anticipated to be approved by the Senate in the near future.

Armstrong continued, “Stablecoin issuers should still have to pass “minimum cybersecurity criteria” and develop a blacklisting system in order to comply with regulatory requirements. Issuers shouldn’t have to be banks, unless they desire fractional reserves or to invest in riskier assets.

Armstrong thinks that once stablecoin regulation is established, regulators focus on cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians.

The CEO of Coinbase stated that in addition to improving consumer protection laws and banning market manipulation techniques, regulators should enact a federal licensing and registration scheme to allow the exchanges or custodians to legally serve customers inside that market.

Armstrong suggested that the U.S. Congress should require the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to classify each of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap as either a commodity or a security, despite the fact that the courts are still figuring things out in this area.

He added,

“If asset issuers disagree with the analysis, the courts can settle the edge cases, but this would serve as an important labeled data set for the rest of the industry to follow, as, ultimately, millions of crypto assets will be created.”

Armstrong also asked authorities from all nations to look beyond what is happening in their domestic market to assess the effects that a foreign business may be having on their population in light of the global reach of cryptocurrency-based businesses.

In order for the business to be effectively regulated, corporations, legislators, regulators, and customers from financial markets all over the world—particularly those from G20 countries—will need to work together, according to Armstrong.

Armstrong stated that he is still optimistic that considerable legislative progress may be accomplished in 2023 despite the complexity and range of issues that need to be resolved.