The crypto exchange company Coinbase has created a “cryptocurrency think tank” in a bid to help shape the global conversation around policy for digital assets.
The newly created Coinbase Institute will also publish research on cryptocurrencies and Web3.
Coinbase has appointed its chief policy officer, Hermine Wong, to lead the institute. He previously worked at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Economic and Risk Analysis and before that he worked at the Department of State.
The Advisory Council of the Coinbase Institute has also been constituted, which will include law and finance academics from the best universities, such as Harvard, MIT, Duke and John Hopkins, plus an academic partnership with the University of Michigan.
The University of Michigan has conducted surveys for the US Census Bureau and the Department of Defense and will partner with Coinbase on an annual US-based survey measuring adoption of cryptocurrencies and sentiment towards digital assets.
The institute published the first in a series of “Coinbase Primers,” which are reports that explain key topics in cryptocurrencies. On Thursday it released a report titled “Cryptocurrency and the Environment” to justify the high energy usage of proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains like Bitcoin.
The first monthly report on cryptocurrency markets was also published, comparing market movements in cryptocurrencies and traditional finance.. Each report will focus on a specific topic.
The creation of the institute is another example of how Coinbase intends to influence the cryptocurrency conversation. In May 2021, it launched a fact-checking portal, and CEO Brian Armstrong said the blog would be used “to combat misinformation and mischaracterizations about Coinbase or cryptocurrencies being shared around the world.”
The crypto exchange also created a political action committee in February 2022 ahead of the November 8 midterm elections in the United States.. Additionally, Coinbase spent more than $1.3 million on lobbyists in 2021, the largest spend by a blockchain company that year.
Coinbase parted ways with the largest crypto industry lobby group, the Blockchain Association, in August 2020.believed to be in protest at the admission of Binance.US.
The company then formed the Crypto Council for Innovation in April 2021 along with Jack Dorsey’s Square (now Block) and cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm. with the aim of involving governments, regulatory agencies and legislators in the regulation of cryptocurrencies.
The institute has not outlined specific policies to advocate for, but its next step will be to publish more original research that will “provide the public, policymakers, regulators, and academics with a better understanding of the diversity and interconnectedness of cryptocurrencies with the economy in general.”
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