Welcome to this 24th issue of the Chain Reaction newsletter published on the 29th April 2022. It's a new type of newsletter as we overhauled what we're doing here to give more of a voice back to our awesome and growing community.
Yes, it's also the 2nd one this week because next week we'll be moving this format to Wednesdays. So lucky you as you get to see us twice in a week!
We now will partner with our good friend Justin Arzadon from BetaShares who keeps an eye on what's going on in the news and we'll also have 2 new sections on Projects that people in our community are working on as well as getting to share some opinions on various web3 topics from the community too. Finally, we'll be sharing our notes from the Editor and this week it's our very own Captain DeFi.
Anyway, check out all this and more in the newsletter below and make sure you hit subscribe so you can get access to updates directly to your inbox.
What you can expect in this newsletter
Editor's Note
In the News
Community Projects
Community Views
Editor's Note
As we saw last week, APRA and AUSTRAC have put out statement showing their roadmap for regulation of entities that fall under their purview. We also saw some slight delays to the listing of locally listed ETFs that track crypto but we should see something there soon.
Overseas we're seeing more projects connect real world transactions with the blockchain whether its in film and TV or events or sports. The mainstream events continue to give us a positive outlook on the future of what can be built in this space and as some of us work on projects (our own or contributions or others) it's important to take that macro outlook to see what else is going on.
Unfortunately we still see the scams and rug pulls happening but the transparency of folks sharing what's happened to them (to help others avoid going down the same path) is amazing to see. #WAGMI
In the news
The following comes from BetaShares weekly crypto focused newsletter - check it out in full over here for more data analysis and other insights: https://www.betashares.com.au/insights/bitcoin-etf-hits-australia/
Also check out Justin's latest article on Livewire here: https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/prices-fall-but-conviction-grows
Australia’s central clearing house, ASX Clear, confirmed that four market participants have agreed to meet its stringent margin requirements of 42%. This has paved the way for Australia to get its first bitcoin ETF. According to a report by the AFR, three institutional participants and one retail participant have agreed to the clearing house margin requirements. The clearing house will give market participants seven days’ notice of ASX Clear’s regulatory approval, intended to give brokers, clearers, investors and market makers time to prepare for commencement of ETF trading. Trading in the first bitcoin ETF is expected to commence on the CBOE trading venue on April 27, with others soon to follow.
APRA Policy Roadmap from https://www.apra.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-04/Crypto-assets%20-%20Risk%20management%20expectations%20and%20policy%20roadmap.pdf
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has detailed a regulatory roadmap for financial entities engaging in activity with crypto-assets. In a letter by Chair, Wayne Byres, released on Thursday, Australia’s prudential regulator set a tentative goal of 2025 for its framework to be effective. APRA plans to conduct consultations on requirements for the financial treatment of crypto-assets, expected to be undertaken in 2023. In the letter, Byers outlined “that APRA therefore expects that all regulated entities will adopt a prudent approach if they are undertaking activities associated with crypto-assets, and ensure that any risks are well understood and well managed before launching material new initiatives.”
To ensure consistency in its approach, APRA is developing the longer-term prudential framework with other regulators internationally, for crypto-assets and related activities. APRA’s statement comes just days after an announcement was made that Australia is set to get its first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace is officially live in beta on the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange, Coinbase. The marketplace is officially known as ‘Coinbase NFT’ and for a limited time will not have any transaction fees. The company described the platform as “a peer-to-peer community platform where creators and collectors can come together to discover, display, purchase and create digital assets.”
A recent Coinbase blog stated “anyone can explore the vast collection of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Beta testers can additionally create a Coinbase NFT profile to buy and sell NFTs.” Coinbase first announced its plan to launch an NFT marketplace in October last year.
Community Projects
Here's a project being built by 2 community members called Enchanta - https://www.enchanta.xyz/ - Cofounders Anna and Nilu told us
Enchanta is a social discovery platform and insights engine to help users find NFTs they want to buy & communities they want to support. We are in the very early stages of building and would love to find people who are interested in what we are doing to join our early access list.
Community Views
This week we asked our community the following question:
What gets you most excited about the web3 space?
Here's some of the responses from our Discord
From Beraliios:
that collaborative spirit that makes working on projects fun!
From skyfoxx:
Decentralization of power. I think every large social change has been accelerated by profit. I.e. Make it profitable for something to happen and the change happens much faster. Since Bitcoin is profitable, it's driving this change so much faster
from OpenRae:
Development in new technology/businesses. After coming to an understanding of some of the things that blockchain/smart contact technology can achieve, I’m incredibly optimistic about the future of web3 and the organisation of business and people (DAO’s). I’m also keen to see what begins to take place in both macro and micro environments after such an insane few years.
from Alex (katalys.earth):
Agree with both @beralios and @OpenRae , for me it's all about collaboration and technology. I love to be involved in bleeding edge projects that do good as much as they make the bottom line bolder.
from Bishfactor:
well for me it's the creativity; optimism for the future; inclusiveness (apart from @Numbers); willingness to experiment; and the embrace of cutting edge technology.
from πTLT~KPCTs|BoneZ|SKRsπ:
For me it's the timeless range of opportunities it offers. A lot of ideas that were not possible a few years ago are now been actualized and in turn creating new avenues for employment, creativity, innovation and recognition.
from ConcretePigen | Jeremy:
At first it was decentralisation. There were these digital assets you could own which couldn't be tampered with by some central authority. I got over that aspect pretty quick. Now what gets me the most excited is the fricking cool tech and all the innovative products/services that are coming out.
and finally, from IBambam:
The most excited thing is an opportunity to rebuild tech infrastructure and subsequently business models in a way that distributes global capital more fairly. We definitely not there yet and we're yet to see if it works out but for the first time we have the tools and means for communities to coordinate at scale.
If you're interested in contributing to these newsletters in future - please join us on Discord or reach out to us on info@defi.org.au
If you would like to dig deeper into why and how is the blockchain relevant to international matters and to get more insights on regulations and Defi knowledge , join us on our Discord: https://discord.com/invite/ZRCTDdsVEF
