Davos Debate: Should Tokenization Follow the ‘Same Activity, Same Rules’ Approach?

I was hoping I could get through the week without mentioning Davos, since the conference has been getting increasingly tedious over the years, not to mention irrelevant.

But, alas, that harsh judgment is largely unfair, since the agenda at the annual meeting of the world’s elite does attempt to tackle large global issues by inviting the ultimate “influencers” to say their piece. We can mock the private jets used to travel to a venue to discuss the perils of climate change, scoff at privileged financiers dismissing tools for financial freedom, and laugh at the hypocrisy of wanting to fight misinformation with censorship. Yet, we can also appreciate the showcasing, parading and parties for the networking opportunities they are. And we can enjoy the glitz of the media coverage, which is increasingly what Davos is about.

Intriguing yet overlooked debates sometimes get surfaced. This happened yesterday, on the Tokenization Economy panel, which I actually enjoyed. It featured good dialogue and smart people, including Circle’s Jeremy Allaire, Stellar’s Denelle Dixon, Euroclear’s Lieve Mostrey and Skybridge’s Anthony Scaramucci.

Noelle Acheson is the former head of research at CoinDesk and Genesis Trading, and host of the CoinDesk Markets Daily podcast. This article is excerpted from her Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, which focuses on the overlap between the shifting crypto and macro landscapes. These opinions are hers, and nothing she writes should be taken as investment advice.

The discussion was about use cases, regulation, jurisdictional differences – the usual stuff but eloquently said. At the very end, however, just as I was concluding “nice, but nothing new,” an audience-member asked for the panel’s opinion on the regulatory approach of “same activity, same risk, same regulation.”

A-ha! Finally, something potentially controversial.

Euroclear’s Mostrey chimed in first, insisting that regulation has to be technology-agnostic if we don’t want to block progress. This has been Euroclear’s approach so far, issuing a short-term note on their own proprietary blockchain and then passing it over to traditional rails, fully compliant with existing laws.

Read more: Noelle Acheson – Bitcoin ETFs and Wall Street: A Double Milestone

I get this, and on principle I agree…