November 2022 Community Update
It’s probably safe to say that as crazy as the digital asset industry has been over the last couple of years, the last few months have hit a new level of insanity. Changes in the industry have taken over much of the headlines and World Cup fever is also reaching crypto fans as well. Unfortunately, the tokens have been in for a few surprises, most notably when Argentine Football Association Fan Token plummeted at Argentina’s surprise loss against Saudi Arabia. Let’s see how other fan tokens, there will still be much to hear and see about the World Cup over the next couple of weeks!
We wrote a post earlier this month on the regulatory space happening within different key regions and have highlighted the number of changes that have been made by regulators as well as their stance.
Of course this was before the latest crisis to hit the crypto sphere, with the downfall of FTX. While the initial shockwaves about the FTX debacle have died down, the story and the court case may prove to be one of the most impactful incidents we’ve seen this year yet.
Ironically, despite the conversations regarding regulations and how such checkpoints in place may have avoided such an incident, the truth is, regulatory measures may not have been able to fully prevent the situation. Centralized exchanges have been a “middle ground” for what investors and traditional financial institutions are used to; however, that very reliance demonstrates the weakest link– trust. DeFi still stands as an opportunity to address the issues that centralized exchanges have now demonstrated.
With decentralized environments, token holders manage their own wallets, their own keys. While decentralized exchanges do face their own challenges and security risks, the fundamental premise for all digital assets was initially based on the idea that we shouldn’t have to trust anyone with our assets.
In retrospect, it’s easy for everyone to come down on the ‘villian’ of the story. Since the collapse of FTX, we’ve seen stories about how FTX’s reserves dropped massively after Terra’s demise, and references made by lawyers in the latest bankruptcy trials referring to FTX as “Sam Bankman-Fried’s ‘Personal Fiefdom’”. But while it’s easy to come down on those that have fallen, we ought to consider the role that others have played in it, and take ownership for individual failings. Failures over due diligence have existed long before the latest issues seen in the digital asset market, and we ought to be questioning what should be examined during the due diligence process if institutional investors are also getting it wrong.
Blame in this instance can only go so far and do so much. The rippling effects of the FTX implosion will become more apparent in the months to come. Individuals, companies, family offices and institutional investors that may not even had direct exposure will likely find themselves impacted financially, either through the web of funds that may have invested, to business leads or funding disappearing because of the impact it made to business partners. It will take some time for the dust to settle to see what the new crypto world will look like in the coming months and to see what comes from the companies that manage to weather the storm.
On a slightly more positive note, Ethereum developers are shaping up what will be included in the Shanghai upgrade. Considerations of 8 proposals have been included:
- EIP 4895: Unlocking Beacon Chain staked ETH withdrawal
- EIP 4844: ‘Proto-danksharding’ - splitting the network into shards to increase capacity and lower fees
- EIP 3540 & EIP 3670 : Clarifying contract creation rules, separating coding from data
- EIP 4200, EIP 4570, EIP 5450 : Updates making the smart contract execution safer
- EIP 2537 : ‘BLS precompile’- creating more secure cryptographic proofs and allowing better interoperability with the Beacon Chain
One month left until the end of the year! Let’s see how the final month plays out and we also consolidate some of the milestones for 2022. We’re hoping to end the year on a more positive note, so here’s hoping some good news comes our way!
