Chain Reaction - 1st May 2023

National meetups, Boat Parties and Consensus

Wow, what an amazing week it was last week. We had our first ever national event across all the 7 cities we're in and what a lineup of talent it was. We kick-started with Dylan from Monero giving us a rundown of their privacy coin's features. Then it was over to Sydney to chat about Tide Foundation and their cyber 

There was also an amazing audience with some great questions out there for the presenters. We went around the room covering all things privacy, exchanges, regulation, research and analysis and more. Check out the replay here and thanks to our awesome guests and interviewers.

Also earlier in the week we saw co-founder Mark Monfort join the crew at ausbiz to chat about regulation and in particular MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets) out of Europe and how to think about that from an Australian perspective. https://www.ausbiz.com.au/media/what-do-the-mica-laws-mean-for-crypto-markets?videoId=28603 

https://twitter.com/CaptDeFi/status/1650411264282357760

Mark was also on stage with Hannah Glass of KWM and Gabe Perrottet from Zepto for the Metaverse event on Wednesday. They spoke about the pros and cons of blockchain as well as getting into payment rails and more. Check out the post on it here https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7057151386718765057-yXPC?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android 

Also check out the Adelaide Aus DeFi meetup here https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jason-findlay-a6162219_a-great-presentation-from-richard-jones-from-activity-7057287332953010176-8PJE?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android 

Finally, we saw a great way to finish last week with Circle coming to town (thanks Ben Morris and crew) and having this cool little get-together where co-founders Mark and Arturo got to don their NotCentralised hats and share the love in their NotCentralised gear amongst others cruising around Sydney Harbour on a great sunny day (until the rains came in over the weekend)

https://twitter.com/notcentralised/status/1651932318569996288

 

News

Coinbase was in the news as they are suing the SEC over the lack of regulatory clarity they’ve provided whilst also pulling out the enforcement actions. Their legal counsel speaks to the folks at Bankless about it here:

 

Speaking of legal matters, thanks to Jazz Osvald and the great folks at KWM who put out their latest "Move fast and make things" newsletter covering all things crypto, venture capital and more. Check out the latest thinking here https://www.kwm.com/au/en/insights/latest-thinking/publication/move-fast-and-make-things-ed-3.html

Also, we got to see some Aussie locals up on stage and around town in Austin, Texas for Consensus. Here’s Michael Bacina of Piper Alderman/Blockchain Australia talking with Coindesk https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mikebacina_consensus2033-activity-7057855522900770816--aLc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Some hot takes with Steve Vallas too https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stevevallas_things-ive-heard-at-consensus-in-austin-activity-7057124653063954432-cgP2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

as well as Ben Simpson and Matt Willemsen from Collective Shift https://twitter.com/bensimpsonau/status/1651767336817291264

Here’s one for the CBDC discussions here with talk about the privacy levels that will be put into a digital euro https://decrypt.co/137684/digital-euro-will-have-maximum-level-of-privacy-but-not-as-much-as-cash-ecb-board-member 

Hedera launched a partnership with Google for their Web3 Startup Program. Lots of value offered to startups from both sides here. Check out Niko’s post on this here https://www.linkedin.com/posts/web3owl_web3-hedera-web3-activity-7056746599766507520-6JJW?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop 

Not much in FTX news these days except for this sell-off of the LedgerX Derivatives Exchange https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/25/ftxs-ledgerx-derivatives-exchange-sold-to-miami-international-holdings-in-bankruptcy-auction/ 

Given Tay Tay made the news last week for not buying into the FTX hype train, there’s this piece on what she can teach you about investing by asking 1 simple question https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/04/21/what-taylor-swift-can-teach-you-about-investing/ 

Great to see Adidas doing more in the web3 space with their Alts project - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/katherineboiciuc_web3-futureofretail-tokengated-activity-7056748809028046848-BTJX?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop 

ABOUT AUS DEFI ASSOCIATION

The Australian DeFi Association (Aus DeFi) is a non-profit community organization dedicated to increasing education and awareness of blockchain technology, specifically decentralized finance (DeFi) and web3-based projects. Their goal is to empower the Australian community with the knowledge and tools to participate in the decentralized economy, and to promote the adoption and growth of blockchain technology in Australia. They strive to provide a more grassroots approach to promoting blockchain technology compared to other industry-focused organizations in Australia, and to provide a platform for community members to learn about and engage with this emerging technology.

You can watch our recorded meetups and interviews here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ausdefiassociation3956/videos

SPONSORS

We also thank all of our sponsors who help us run and organise and keep this association going. We could not do it without them so check out their details here

• NotCentralised - https://www.notcentralised.com/

• Sensand - https://sensand.com/

• Stone & Chalk - https://www.stoneandchalk.com.au/web3

• Fireblocks - https://www.fireblocks.com/

• Adiuvo Legal - https://adiuvolegal.com.au/home

• Block Earner - https://blockearner.com.au/

• Digital Village - https://digitalvillage.network/

• Klyp Co - https://klyp.co/