Crypto regulations could come after the election, Coinbase executive hopes

With less than 35 days until the US presidential election, the crypto industry seems to be hoping for more favorable regulations in the near future.

At Messari’s annual Mainnet conference in New York City, Shan Aggarwalthe vice president of corporate and business development at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (CURRENCY) Ventures, touched upon the regulatory uncertainties of the industry. “We’re hoping for the best,” he said in an exclusive interview with Quartz.

His remarks highlight the sector’s anticipation that the upcoming election could lead to clearer and more supportive legislation.

“The current SEC, it’s hard to get down from here,” Aggarwal said. “(Gary Gensler) has taken a regulatory approach with enforcement towards the entire crypto industry, including Coinbase.”

Aggarwal is scheduled to speak at Wednesday’s conference, where he will discuss Coinbase’s investments, mergers and acquisitions over the years, as well as its future strategic direction.

this year, Coinbase has partnered with traditional financial giants like BlackRock to provide a platform for tokenization of funds. About this collaboration, Aggarwal said, “Coinbase acts as a bridge between traditional and crypto finance, reaching different customer segments including retail customers, institutions, businesses.”

The Mainnet Conference is about the future of crypto

Messari is a leading provider of market intelligence for the crypto and Web3 sectors. Its three-day conference brings together prominent crypto leaders, investors and industry professionals to explore the growing trend of tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) and integrating traditional financial instruments on the blockchain – a signal of decentralized technologies moving towards adoption general.

this year, Messari made headlines when CEO Ryan Selkis resigned after a series of controversial tweets about US immigrants, violence against Trump opponents and the civil war.

During the 2021 Mainnet event, the The SEC issued two subpoenas to the speaker at the event, Terraform Labs founder and then CEO Do Kwon. Kwon, once a crypto king, was arrested in March 2023 for forging travel documents while trying to flee Montenegro. He is currently awaiting extradition to the US or South Korea, where he faces potential charges.

Messari launches an AI-powered assistant for crypto

At this year’s conference, Messari presented Copilot Messarian AI assistant designed for the crypto industry. This tool provides text-based answers to user queries based on Messari’s research and data, providing a comprehensive view of the crypto landscape.