It’s been almost three years since we celebrated the launch of our firm’s blockchain practice. Since then, TMG and Greenbrier have worked with sector leaders across nearly every corner of the industry, helping our clients shape public perception and drive successful community, media, and policy outcomes.
With crypto exploding into the consciousness of regulators and political campaigns – right in time for one of the most important elections in U.S. history – we thought an update was in order.
The bottom line is that crypto remains one of the few sectors with the potential for bipartisan rulemaking.
We’re already seeing legislation such as FIT21 and the Payment Stablecoin Act work their way through Congress, but we believe a larger trend is driving these regulatory headwinds. Crypto legislation was virtually a non-starter 18 months ago, so why are bills being considered now? The reason is that, in aggregate, the industry is far more compliant with existing rules than ever before.
Traditional finance is now leveraging its experience working with regulators to develop and launch SEC-approved asset classes and digital assets. Their sudden adoption of crypto is being driven by exchange-traded funds (think Bitcoin ETFs) and real-world assets (RWAs), such as tokenized U.S. Treasury bills. Meanwhile, stablecoins are becoming a widespread method for compliant payments and remittances.
As institutional interest booms, to keep up, crypto-native platforms are integrating compliance features directly into their products – and even open-sourcing these solutions for smaller developers to build applications that meet regulatory standards.
Of course, the existing rules in the U.S. can be improved to more articulately define sanctioned activity, more effectively unlock innovation, and better protect consumers, but those conversations were never going to start unless the industry did better within the confines of current regulations. We’re finally seeing that.
For a while, the narrative had crept dangerously close to assigning pro-crypto and anti-crypto policy platforms to the two major parties. In reality, as underscored by the recent bipartisan momentum, there are smart, thoughtful, and pro-innovation officials on both sides of the political aisle.
That said, the U.S. is years behind other regions in regulating the industry. There is a reason why seven out of every 10 blockchain developers are based outside of North America and why the U.S. has lost 14% of its share of the global blockchain developer market since 2018, now only accounting for 26% of blockchain developers compared to 40% in 2018.
Meanwhile, the global regulatory outlook for unbacked crypto assets continues to evolve, with some jurisdictions leading the way in establishing a bespoke licensing regime. The U.A.E., E.U., Switzerland, Japan, and Hong Kong, among others, have been praised for their pro-innovation approach. They have established robust frameworks to attract the blockchain industry to their respective markets by providing regulatory certainty and approval.
While not all jurisdictions are as comprehensive in their regulatory efforts, we predict that as authorities around the world take steps to either restrict private forms of digital money or promote publicly backed digital currencies, the debate over the future of money will become increasingly political.
The good news is that we’ve never been better positioned to run a global combined policy and communications function for Web3 companies than we are today, thanks to TMG’s recent strategic investment in Global Counsel. The partnership combined two of the world’s leading strategic advisory and policy firms to align operations across offices in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and to deploy 150 employees globally across several key markets.
Global Counsel, like TMG and Greenbrier, has advised dozens of digital assets businesses, including stablecoin issuers, retail trading platforms, financial market infrastructures, layer 1 protocols, NFT providers, as well as retail banks, payment services providers, and investors across the Web3 ecosystem to navigate complex regulatory and political landscapes, anticipate market trends and develop successful commercial and political strategies.
With TMG and Global Counsel bringing deep policy relationships, strategy, insights, and intelligence to the table, combined with Greenbrier’s strategic communications, crisis, and content creation expertise to implement those insights, today we stand as the preeminent global policy and communications firm for the crypto industry, ready to take on any opportunity or challenge – anywhere in the world, at any scale.
To learn more about our new and comprehensive global Web3 services, please get in touch with us here. To get an informed and analytical take on the latest crypto news and regulatory developments shaping the blockchain industry, subscribe to Greenbrier’s monthly newsletter, The Crypto Beltway.
The mainstream adoption of blockchain technology – and all the ways it stands to improve the world – has never been more obtainable. Let’s shape that future together.