… An Inch Closer

President Biden signed an executive order which directs federal agencies to coordinate their approaches to the crypto sector. 

The Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets does not specify how agencies should act or what regulations the administration wants to impose. Still, it does direct the Treasury Department to prepare a report on the “future of money,” an explanation of why the current financial system does not meet consumer demand.

The executive order represents the first attempt to regulate the cryptocurrency industry at a broader level, and it aims to address key areas like consumer protection, financial stability, illicit activity, U.S. competitiveness, financial inclusion, and responsible innovation. Additionally, the Biden administration is mulling how the U.S. can issue a digital dollar.

​​”Growing development and adoption of digital assets and related innovations, as well as inconsistent controls to defend against certain key risks, necessitate an evolution and alignment of the United States Government approach to digital assets,” as per the executive order.

Notably, the executive order, which was originally slated to go into effect in October 2021, does not mention stablecoins. This is strange because U.S. authorities assailed stablecoins, comparing them to “poker chips.” However, Treasury Secretary Yellen has already stated that Congress should introduce regulations in this area.

The order also focuses on the impact of crypto mining on the environment since it consumes a lot of power. It said crypto innovation could be made more “responsible,” reducing the effects of climate change. It also mentions some interesting statistics about American crypto investors, noting that about 40 million Americans, or 16% of the total population, have reported investing in or trading cryptocurrencies.

In general, the latest order is neutral and more consumer-oriented. While the order lacks specifics on how crypto regulations would work in the country, it has certainly reached the base camp — and is on its way to conquering the mountain.

At a time when the world is divided between Russia and Ukraine, it looks like Justin Sun wants to sail on two boats. The China-born diplomat and the founder of the popular blockchain Tron, has recently displayed some strange behavior, leading to a question – whose side is he on?

When Russia began its full-scale war against Ukraine, Sun was one of the few crypto giants who offered help in supporting Ukraine via crypto fundraising. Tron community members raised a total of $1.46 million USDT during the campaign, which included a $200K donation from Sun himself in support of the Ukrainian people.

All was going well until the Ukrainian government canceled the airdrop token plan, which upset Sun immensely. He took to Twitter, saying: “TRON community has donated over $1.2M in USDT (TRC20), but now the airdrop just ignores them completely. It is just UNFAIR. We need to fix it!”

On the list of patently unfair things we could come up with, not getting a reward for donating to a charitable cause is probably one of the least unfair things we can imagine. Sorry for the editorialization, we’re just being real.

And our take isn’t mutually exclusive from the rhetoric in the broader crypto community, which was perplexed with how the Tron creator responded to the airdrop cancellation. Though Sun insisted that he was standing up for the entire Tron community, his comments alienated a critical mass of people. 

But the Sun’s strange behavior did not end there. The Chinese billionaire was apparently playing both sides of the ball. On his Chinese Twitter account, Sun tweeted about a video call he had with the Russian representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO). He expressed the hope of growing collaboration with the country, saying: “In a video call with Russia’s (WTO) Ambassador Dmitry Lyakishev, we discussed how technology could be used for humanitarian cases for Russia’s development, such as the use of Blockchain tech to help citizens that don’t have access to the financial system. Hope to strengthen future cooperation with Russia!”

The double-speak aroused even greater suspicion from the ecosystem. However, given that Sun stepped down from working on Tron and now serves as a WTO diplomat for the country of Grenada, these kinds of conversations might be slightly more excusable. However, Sun’s perplexing double-speak might also have something to do with the  Chinese government’s refusal to explicitly condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

Whatever the case is, Sun – one of crypto’s more controversial figures – might want to clarify his personal positions… since there is no gray area in war, and playing both sides could backfire.

If you have followed the Russia-Ukraine war, you might have learned how crypto crowdfunding has become a source of raising funds. With fundraises, including the Ukraine crypto fundraise, “airdrops” have become particularly zeitgeisty.

In short, an airdrop is a gift of “free tokens” which are sent to your wallet – and they can be sent for participation in a fundraise, using a platform or protocol, doing work, or posting on your socials about a token, or any number of other things. And although the Ukraine airdrop didn’t actually pan out (as you read above),  these free tokens are sent by crypto projects to their investors to encourage adoption and create awareness about the project.

Airdrops are like a lottery.

Given their lucrative value – “free money” – in the crypto ecosystem, crypto power users have become a lot more sensitive to seeking out protocols likely to do an airdrop. There’s usually no “heads up” when airdrop ‘screenshots’ are done.

On the flip, some airdrops performed by protocols or companies are out in the open – they’ll invite you to participate by performing a specific task such as posting about the token on a social media account, writing a blog post, or connecting to a particular member of the blockchain project. The goal is to stand out from the crowd and attract more and more investors to the project. 

Where there is money to be made, there will be bad people. 

 Some airdrop tokens are nothing more than pump-and-dump schemes, in which the token price is artificially inflated in order to make a quick profit. Crypto scammers may send small amounts of Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies to a celebrity, which is also known as a dusting attack. 

Be cautious before investing in airdrop tokens. 

Getting a gift of free tokens from a credible protocol is one thing – but many people seeking out more “free money” will find that there are limits to the generosity of others (namely, that there are very few generous people who are willing to give you thousands of dollars of free tokens.)

That’s why it’s crucial that you DYOR (Do Your Own Research) before investing in initial coin offerings or airdrops – and not just financially, but in an abstract sense: sharing it with your friends, sharing it on social media, or helping a protocol that might not have your best interests at hand is likely to go very poorly.

The value of a token goes along with how great a crypto project is and what its future holds. If you just look for the free tokens without doing your research on the coin, you might end up being scammed.

EmpireDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) dedicated to facilitating co-working space for people and companies developing web3 products, will lease 36,000 square feet in Manhattan in an effort to create New York’s most sought-after co-working space for crypto developers.

EmpireDAO, founded last year by Mike Fraietta, will open its first coworking space in Lower Manhattan at 190 Bowery. Everything in the office will be paid in crypto using Solana Pay, from an office chair to coffee.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Fraietta said, “I’ve spent my whole career pushing online work, digital work. I was like, ‘Guys, we don’t need to go to the office, maybe just two to three days a week” 

“But I’ve been missing this dramatically. So many things come out of meeting in person,” he added.

EmpireDAO is the latest in a series of startups bringing Web3 communities into real-world settings. Previously, Friends with Benefits, Flyfish Club (the first NFT restaurant), and CabinDAO began to model how the future of work might look.