Does crypto need to improve its image, put the wild west days in the past, and get real? With institutional investors looking on, and an increasing number of entities being set up to enable crossovers between traditional finance and digital assets, it would appear that crypto is entering the financial mainstream. Or at least, it’s hovering on the edge of the mainstream, but still in a state of uncertainty.
Alarmingly, there remains a sense that the crypto industry and its major players are always only one or two steps away from yet another catastrophe, are not operating according to safe principles, and are steered by eccentric personalities. But, if crypto were to become a more stable, respectable, and inviting institution, what would that shift entail? And, would everyone currently involved in the crypto space welcome such changes?
In crypto’s favor, we can certainly conclude that it is a survivor. In almost a decade and a half since Bitcoin was unleashed, we have seen phenomenal growth and durability, but also, an accompaniment of crashes, criminality and, on the whole, the image of an industry sometimes verging on chaos.
By any orthodox reckoning, crypto probably should be as dead as its naysayers have repeatedly claimed. Last year, perhaps Terra/Luna should have been the final straw, putting crypto out for the count. Celsius and Three Arrows Capital might have put a boot in for good measure. And finally, there was the FTX collapse, which could have buried the entire crypto edifice under its rubble.
Yet, here it all still is, with more blockchains than ever, developers busy at work, DeFi and NFTs spinning along, and with Bitcoin even enjoying a dramatic start-of-year price rally. What’s more, this is all happening while in the US, the SEC appears to have the crypto industry firmly in its sights.
That the crypto markets are conspicuously enjoying the end of spring, might suggest that the crypto industry itself is nearing the end of its own 14-year spring and, having survived this long, is ready to enter a new and more mature season in its existence.
What Crypto Needs to Do Now
Essentially, and especially in the wake of the FTX scandal, custodial service providers need to perform all-round good housekeeping. Most straightforwardly, this would take the form of demonstrating proof of reserves, and proof of liabilities, which should, as a result, provide proof of solvency. There may be complications to navigate when it comes to proof…
