How WEF 2022 Tackled Crypto in Davos

Published January 21st, 2022 - 02:22 GMT
How Did WEF 2022 Tackled Crypto in Davos
From China to Russia Turkey and Chile, many governments around the world have already started exploring CBDCs, or in testing period or rolled out or scheduled for releasing for 2022. WEF thinks that CBDCs will become more popular in 2022 that other crypto. (Shutterstock)
Highlights
While 2021 was the year in which crypto made its debut in the institutional investing scene, the debate about it is still raging amongst world leaders in 2022.

Every year, world leaders gather around the city of Davos, Switzerland to discuss key financial, technological, and economic issues that need global collaborations.

While 2021 was the year in which crypto made its debut in the institutional investing scene, the debate about it is still raging amongst world leaders in 2022. Although United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for “reform of the global financial system to ensure it works for all countries without being biased”, India’s PM called for a common global approach for tackling cryptocurrencies. "Cryptocurrency is an example of the kind of challenges we are facing as a global family with a changing global order. To fight this, every nation, every global agency needs to have collective and synchronized action. The kind of technology it is associated with, the decision taken by a single country will be insufficient to deal with its challenges. We have to have a similar mindset," Modi said.

In case you haven’t been able to keep up, here are 3 takeaways that are essential to the crypto industry. 

  1. WEF Launches Crypto Impact and Sustainability Accelerator (CISA)

Teaming up with CoinDesk, WEF has launched an accelerator to boost crypto-enabled ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) efforts and to make progress on ESG targets by generating projects, learning, and leadership focused on advancing crypto-enabled efforts worldwide. 

“The crypto ecosystem is expected to see massive worldwide adoption over the next few years,” the WEF head of blockchain, Sheila Warren, said.

  “There is an opportunity to shape an inclusive and sustainable future to ensure we maximize the benefits and minimize the risks ahead. This project aims to bring together leaders to accomplish just this.”

This CISA will gather support from private companies, government representatives, academics, international organizations, experts, NGOs, in multi stakeholder projects to further the global ESG agenda with actionable measures. Community members include Andreesen Horowitz, Celo, Chainalysis, CoinDesk, Coinshares, Ernst and Young, Ethereum Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Grayscale Capital, Ripple, and the Stellar Development Foundation.

  1.  WEF to Use Blockchain to Solve Supply Chains Issue

Covid-19 has drastically disrupted the trade supply chain around the world in 2020 and still has a knock-on financial effect to this day. Using blockchain, WEF thinks it will help analyse supply chain dependencies using real-time data and transparent verification carried out by multiple parties. And blockchain features like smart contracts can lead to timely resolution to all the cases of disputes along the supply chain.

  1. More Central Banks to Go Digital

From China to Russia Turkey and Chile, many governments around the world have already started exploring CBDCs, or in testing period or rolled out or scheduled for releasing for 2022. WEF thinks that CBDCs will become more popular in 2022 that other crypto.

Eswar Prasad, a trade policy professor at Cornell University in New York said that “State-issued digital coins will begin to compete with cryptocurrencies in 2022, as more nations trial their own central bank digital currencies - or CBDCs-. Central banks around the world are bowing to the reality that digital payments are becoming the norm,".

According to a report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), 80 percent of central banks are now either exploring or engaging in research, experimentation, or development of CBDCs. For example, Sweden has soft-launched e-krona and the Bahamas’ sand dollar.

Not just that, consumers globally are growing significantly receptive to the CBDC issued by governments.

A study by leading European deep tech company GuardTime shows that “across 10 countries including major European and Asian economies in addition to the US and the United Arab Emirates found 64% of adults would be likely to use a digital currency launched by their country’s Central Bank and Government”.

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