Uneven Terrain: Drawing a Regulatory Perimeter Around a Rapidly Evolving Digital Asset Landscape

Editor’s note: Manoj Ramia is the General Counsel at Digital Asset.

Efforts to bring digital assets within the regulatory perimeter are rightly gaining momentum. But it would be a mistake to draw a regulatory perimeter around digital assets with only the headline-grabbing crypto debacles in mind (though the regulatory perimeter does need to be drawn to prevent similar debacles in the future).

There is a lot of responsible innovation happening within the broader digital asset ecosystem, particularly with the tokenization of traditional assets, and it is important that regulators keep this broader conception of digital assets in mind when crafting regulations.

And it is equally important that regulators work to understand the different blockchain technologies being used in digital asset issuances. Not all blockchain technologies are the same and the differences can have a meaningful impact on the risks posed to financial institutions.

This will allow regulators to protect the financial system while also promoting responsible innovation.

I've looked at a few recent attempts to draw a regulatory perimeter around digital assets in a recent working paper.

As I'm not a regulatory expert, I'd love to get feedback from practitioners more experienced in the space.

Click here to read the working paper.