Moving crypto innovation forward (Moscow, November 2019)
Was happy to update crypto / blockchain Moscow about the Cryptovalley and its Association - discussing ideas to move innovation forward. Interesting catch up with the local ecosystem, particularly comparing it to the height of the ICO bubble, when I last visited. Undoubtedly, a repositioning towards STO / Stablecoins and a maturing process have occurred - even though the material regulatory uncertainty does not help and the dependency on the economic backdrop taints the outlook. The undisputed technical strength is a constant across periods.
Honored industry-only representative at annual IOSCO/BIS conference (November 2019)
Honored to represent the Cryptovalley and its association (CVA) in a IOSCO / BIS close-door event featuring 120 regulators from 57 countries. The 2-day conference on securities trading issues and market infrastructure offered great formal and informal discussion opportunities as well as a panel on cryptocurrencies (shared with Nick Cook from FCA and Adrien Delcroix from EBC) that touched on a variety of cryptofinance and DLT issues including ICO / STO, Stablecoins, cryptoassets and DLT benefits, risks, economic function, cryptoregulation, debate on the adequate regulatory approach, the issue of CBDC issuance, market infrastructure including cryptoexchanges and their regulation, latest AML rules and their implementation, as well as overall prospect for cryptofinance.
10th Anniversary Compliance Management Day of the University of St.Gallen (October 2019)
Felt great to contribute cryptovalley thoughts to how compliance success will look like in a digitised future - during the 10th Anniversary Compliance Management Day of the University of St.Gallen - and to share with distinguished colleagues and panelists broader compliance and digital / cryptofinance views and experiences. The event offered quality discussion not least because of a skillful selection of participants and speakers, representing many industries, large and small businesses, different management functions and the regulatory / governmental sector.
Crypto Valley Conference - 26 June 2019 - A snapshot of the panel Crypto Compliance
Moderating the panel - The take on the FATF Guidance, between the general crypto compliance challenge and priorities.
Introducing the Crypto Valley Ecosystem 2.0 to the World Federation of Exchanges (June 2019)
Introducing the emerging "CryptoValley Ecosystem2.0" to the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) as well as CVA, SEBA Crypto AG and Xwiss AG, and discussing challenges to traditional exchanges, the economics and prospects of crypto assets and debating strategic response. With Matthias Obrecht (FINMA), Luca Schenk (Xwiss) and representatives from 28 exchanges / jurisdictions. The emerging Crypto Valley Ecosystem 2.0 is characterised by 1) an articulated and performant regulatory environment that provides legal certainty to blockchain, 2) a higher degree of economic integration of blockchain companies, and 3) an institutional-grade market infrastructure, including licensed crypto banks and exchanges.
Standalone, closed-door, discussion at the BIS (April 2019)
Excellent standalone, closed-door, discussion at the BIS, in an expert capacity, meeting a number of in-house senior managers and functional specialists, presenting and discussing i) the challenges for banking raised by Fintech, ii) the Swiss blockchain industry, iii) the CryptoValley and its Association (CVA) and policy initiatives, iv) the cryptoassets markets, the ICO ‘bell curve’ and lessons learned, the nature and prospects of STO, v) the blockchain / crypto regulation in Switzerland, elsewhere and the key prudential and conduct themes, vi) the opportunities and challenges of cryptofinance, and vii) why projects such as SEBA Crypto AG are crucial to achieve the infrastructure ‘level-up’ needed for the cryptomarkets and associated financial processes to reach maturity and sustainability.
Our position on the BCBS discussion paper on prudential crypto-assets standard
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) issued a discussion paper on prudential crypto-assets standard on 12 December 2019 and solicited comments until 13 March 2020.
In our paper we explain why although the initiative is laudable, the preliminary direction is misguided in our view.
The text was first published by Bank SEBA on 16 January 2020 in the form of a research paper authored by METI Advisory in its capacity as external regulatory analyst.
FiCAS AG: Adding alpha potential to your cryptoasset investment (November 2019)
FICAS AG (www.ficas.com) is a new kid in the cryptovalley town. It offers actively managed cryptocurrencies investment products to qualifying investors based on a clear investment strategy that allowed its founder, Ali Mizani, to consistently generate material alpha over the past handful of years in the context of private portfolios management. FiCAS allows investors to benefit from (active) risk management, lower the dependency on market price development, and unlock alpha potential. From an industry perspective. FiCAS brings the integration of cryptofinance and traditional finance a step further, broadens the cryptoinvestment offering in a complementary way and demonstrates once again the fertility of crypto valley.
Cryptonation (September 2019)
Honored to have contributed to the book "Cryptonation" and to have shared this privilege with 90 others distinguished shapers of Cryptonation Switzerland.