Next, translate 2-8
Topic: The 2022 Crypto Thesis - Key trends, people, companies, and projects in the Crypto space to watch, along with predictions for 2022
Original report download link: https://messari.io/pdf/messari-report-crypto-theses-for-2022.pdf
There’s a reason I have a robust policy section on my docket this year. With three years left in the Biden administration and the successful passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill (and its disastrous crypto provisions), our industry's policy leaders have a lot on their plates. Given how trivial the current rankings of these Crypto policy leaders are, steering good industry policy will not be an easy task.
This makes Kristin and Katie key figures in the new year.
Kristin runs the largest professional trade association in the industry, The Blockchain Association (BA). It is considered the most trusted business member push force in DC. This summer, there was an 11-hour live debate about revising the language for cryptocurrency brokers, and Kristin's team was one of the driving forces behind this intense negotiation.
Although the effort failed, this struggle helped BA increase its financial resources and talent depth significantly. Membership fees have tripled, and this autumn she added full-time staff, including former Compound General Counsel Jake Chervinsky and new government affairs head Dave Grimaldi.
However, the challenge for the alliance lies in the time and energy required to manage members with different personalities. For example, BA’s inclusion of Ripple as a member has been headache-inducing. In 2020, it added Binance US as a member, which infuriated Coinbase so much that it abandoned support for BA and chose to push its own policy agenda while supporting another organization - the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI), which includes Ribbit, Square, Paradigm, and others.
That said, the last I heard, CCI has yet to hire an executive director, so it will take months of infrastructure building before the coalition can be on par with BA.
This brings us to Katie Haun and the policy team she has built at a16z. The former federal prosecutor, Coinbase board member, and current general partner of a16z's massive crypto fund has hired former Hillary Clinton and Biden advisors, former Treasury crypto experts, and former SEC and CFTC commissioners as consultants to build her policy team.
a16z has a megaphone with significant influence, and so far, their policy work has progressed rapidly. The web3 Policy Center they launched in 2021 provided excellent starting material for policymakers. Most notably, it explained why crypto should be a legislative priority, what specific legislative proposals (and draft language) could form the pillars of new crypto laws while addressing core policy issues without undermining the industry, and how employees can be educated to catch up with the trends in cryptocurrency.
We now need unity and acceleration in the development of the industry. The efforts of BA and a16z have given us a great combination punch as we head into the new year.