Can you believe Christmas is around the corner?! After a year of bringing you the latest legal, regulatory, and project updates in Blockchain and Digital Law hot off the press, the Piper Alderman Blockchain Team would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope you enjoyed our updates as much as we enjoyed putting them together.
The Blockchain Team and the industry has enjoyed another breakthrough year filled with significant milestones. As we close out 2021 we would like to share, for the final time this year, the most significant developments in the blockchain and FinTech industry:
Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) took flight this year with Sothesby’s auctioning off the first NFT in May. eBay, Gamestop and Visa joined the party and before long we saw an eye-popping USD $26 million lot sale of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.
El Salvador became the first country to recognise bitcoin as legal tender with Cuba announcing it will recognising cryptocurrency. Rumours then circulated that Amazon would be accepting bitcoin as payment from customers.
Mastercard and Visa battled for crypto-linked card supremacy with Mastercard teaming up with CoinJar to launch crypto-linked cards in the Asia-Pacific region.
Our United States crypto-enthusiasts made spectacular waves through congress with the White House considering a crypto Executive Order and then implementing a working group on stablecoins. The waves continued to grow with the US Federal Reserve hinting towards Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) action while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a Bitcoin Synthetic Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).
2021 saw the strongest progression for a regulatory framework that encourages growth and innovation for NFTs, cryptocurrencies, Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) and more with the Report into Australia as a Financial and Technology Centre’s recommendations.
To cap off the year, Australia’s largest bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) announced that from 2022 it will be providing crypto capabilities for customers opening cryptocurrency trading access to its 6.5 million users.
For a short period, our team will be pressing the pause button on our content as we too delight in some quality time with our families and friends, but we look forward to seeing you again for another exciting, and chock-a-block 2022!
We'll see you soon! Michael Bacina, Konnie Lontos, Sally Fetouh, Jade McGlynn, Luke Misthos Piper Alderman Blockchain Group