Image credits: TechCrunch The US government took a long-awaited first step toward comprehensive regulatory clarity for the digital asset space this week in the form of a new bipartisan Senate bill. As much as crypto bulls insist that it is still early days for the industry, it is even sooner for US regulators. The bill is not expected to become a reality until next year. Hello and welcome back to the Chain reaction podcast, where we unpack and explain the latest crypto news, drama and trends, breaking it down block by block for the crypto curious. The proposed legislation, sponsored by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand, could be a significant victory for cryptocurrency companies due to its relatively lax provisions if it does pass. It would prevent most of the industry from falling under the harsher control of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), instead classifying cryptocurrencies as commodities to be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). . We talked about some of the specific provisions of the bill on mining, DAO and more. We also discussed some much more negative news emerging from the industry this week: layoffs, hiring freezes, and terminated job offers from some of the major players in crypto, including Coinbase and Gemini, founded by the Winklevoss twins from the movie “The Social network”. infamy. (If you’re wondering what the “Winklevi” are doing these days besides running their crypto exchange, we’ve got a weird update on that front too.)
Our guest: Andreessen Horowitz partner Sriram Krishnan
Joining us this week from a16z, which recently raised the largest crypto venture fund in history, investor Sriram Krishnan spoke to us about how scaling a crypto startup is akin to building a social media company. He also shared his thoughts on why he thinks VCs subsidizing early-stage companies to attract users is a smart and crucial strategy. Chain Reaction podcast episodes air every Thursday at 12:00pm PDT. Subscribe to us on Apple, Spotify or the alternative podcast platform of your choice to stay up to date with us every week. https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/25/amid-crypto-downturn-a16z-debuts-4-5-billion-web3-mega-fund/
