Defending Crypto

Ciao from Roma!

In my travels, I’ve tried to better understand the current landscape around the world for the decentralized and digital we are working on and part of.

What I’ve seen is that there’s a lot of room for improvement.

Quick example: I needed to ride the Metropolitana di Roma (subway). An all-day pass is 7 Euros. Cash only.

No big deal, I just pulled some €50 notes this morning. The only problem is that the machine will only take 5 and 10 notes to pay for it. Oh, and there’s no change machine in sight.

As for why apparently there’s a lot of counterfeits in circulation for this area.

Well, here’s the thing: Neither of these things are my fault as the end user, and yet I’m still punished because, “That’s just how it’s done”.

I think, in the coming years, that notion is going to be bulldozed. “That’s just how it’s done” is the equivalent of “We don’t want to embrace beneficial change and we’re proud of it”.

Mind you, this isn’t aimed simply at Italians. A lot of countries and places are like this.

What I’m taking aim at is a cash-based society and all the bloat it creates.

I think we can do better. We will.

And one day, I’ll be able to ride the subway.

In a more serious note, I also wanted to comment on the announcement by KIN that they’re raising 5 Million to fight the SEC.

Here’s the thing: They’ve already spent 5 million in legal fees after the SEC ruled their 100M raise ICO to be an illegal security. So, they’ve announced a “Defend Crypto” fund with the aim of challenging the Howey Test in the name of digital securities.

Quite frankly, I think this is stupid and you should NOT give your money to the laughably named “Defend Crypto” fund.

Kin calling this the “Defend Crypto” fund is dishonest. This should be “Defend Kin”, and would set a terrible standard and the SEC is not going to reverse 100 years of precedent, no matter how much KIN raises. It’s much better to see this as a legislative battle and “Defend Crypto” in Congress.

Due to a deadline triggered by the SEC letter stating an intention to pursue an enforcement action, it seemed that the commissioners would either have decided recently or will decide soon whether or not to do so. If they do, Kik and the Kin Foundation are prepared to fight it in court in order to create a new law that defines when crypto tokens are and are not securities.

Though conceding that a court battle will take years, they also say that other pushes for regulatory clarity, such as the Token Taxonomy Act, which would create a new class for digital tokens that would not be considered securities, would also take a while to get passed.

Meanwhile, they say, innovation is leaving the United States.

There’s no question that the US needs to re-examine the Howey Test under the guise of digital securities if we are to stay competitive with the world, but they would never reverse 100 years of precedent because an upstart cryptocurrency project declared the rules unfair.

Much better to go through the proper democratic channels, as the future is coming with or without the US.