[PROPOSAL #79][ACCEPTED] Adan: non-profit fighting for sound crypto regulation

Hub Proposals Community Spend
21

Dear LeonoorsCryptoman,

I apologise for the delay in responding - we are going through an overactive phase at Adan (MiCA texts, Finance Bill, response to BIS consultation on cryptoasset exposures etc.) - and thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my comment.

We have updated our proposal by adding a section specifying that we will provide regular updates to help you understand what the Association is doing and will do.

We will soon be self-sufficient because we are developing new sources of funding - increasing our membership fees, developing the Associationā€™s events department, increasing partnerships and sponsorships, etc. - In addition, the recruitment of a European Affairs Officer will bring us closer to the European Union and its market. Although we already have international and European companies among our members, we will then be more attractive to many companies and thus raise more funds. As well as reporting on the progress of our missions, we will be able to provide you with a diagram of our different types of allocations to give you a clear idea of how your grant will be distributed in the Associationā€™s budget.

Thank you very much for your trust and support.

Best regards,
Jules

22

@serejandmyself If I may respond here.

Even for a decentralized hub / blockchain the implications of regulation could be massive.

Though I think itā€™s unlikely layer-1ā€™s get heavily regulated in the near future, the applications living on these platforms can and will (DeFi protocols, stablecoins, NFTs, etc). It is in the interest of the Hub, and the entire crypto industry, that use cases and innovation donā€™t get regulated out of existence.

Adan plays a crucial role in being a rational voice of reason in the face of regulators and this is why I think the Hub and other funding bodies should support their work.

23

Thanks for the clarification. I have no doubt in Adan and/or his skills. I have a doubt in the benefit of the proposition.

I think the misunderstanding come in play here:

It is in the interest of the Hub, and the entire crypto industry, that use cases and innovation donā€™t get regulated out of existence.

Exactly. I think that ALL regulations that arenā€™t free choice is enforcement and should be ignored. I believe that we are here to build a better solution. Not to build a solution that has to follow the guidelines of the existing law. Simply because they donā€™t work. otherwise we all wouldnā€™t be here.

24

While I do agree on the field of trying to build something better than we experience in daily life, we also canā€™t completely ignore it.

We have seen it with the discussions around blocked.go on Osmosis, where addresses blocked in the aftermath of Tornado Cash are also blocked on Osmosis for interaction (associated addresses that is). And we are still living in both worlds, so until the point that we get to the point that we actually created the new desired world we still have to cover our based in the current. And on that field I think legal advise what we can do within the boundaries is really helpful. While still striving to move those boundaries in the right direction by showing we can do better.

25

100% agree with from an ideological point of view.

The reality is that regulation is effective at making lots of the things we care about obsolete.

For example, in early versions of MiCa, much of DeFi (Dexes, lending protocols, etc) was outside the scope of the regulation and thus prohibited. In this case, a company or group of people engaging in those activities would have to go out of business or be operating outside the law, which means, no funding, no partnerships, no github, no customers/users, and possibly jail time.

The reality is that we unfortunately live in a world where crypto-finance is going to be regulated, for better or worse. Organizations like Adan work to make sure we avoid the worse. And so far, their work has been very effective given what MiCa started out as.

26

I agree with @serejandmyself
Itā€™s no doubt in Adan and/or his skills. Itā€™s a doubt in the benefit of the proposition.
We canā€™t see how exactly Adan spend money. And what exactly cosmos get for 8000 Atom.
Pay to Adan, because Adan is cool? Really?
Andā€¦ Where we can see your fund proposal of Ethereum community? I need to check how much it was and what result community got.
What about financial plan? 8000 Atom for half-year - what about later? Closing organisation?
My vote is ā€œnoā€ - urge the community to vote NO too.

3 Likes
27

Hello,

We have posted a thread on Twitter to announce the release of proposal #79. You will find below our communication.

To address the regulatory challenges facing crypto, we call on the #Cosmos ecosystem to vote
YES on #prop79

Mintscan

:thread:

ā€”-

Why Comos?

:eu: Strong EU footprint historically
:office: Fertile for business/enterprise adoption
:handshake: Strengthen our ties with the Interchain ecosystem

While we chose the Hub for our first treasury proposal, we will also call on other chains and DAOs to help fund Adanā€™s expansion.

ā€”-

Where will the funds go?

Hiring a European Affairs Manager to expand our EU policy activities. With recent regulatory debates threatening crypto innovation and use cases, itā€™s necessary to ramp up our presence in Brussels.

ā€”-

How does this benefit the Hub?

While we are chain agnostic, our work directly impacts the number of compliance requirements for crypto companies/protocols, AML/KYC needed for users and even the types of activities allowed.

See our mission: https://adan.eu/en/association

ā€”

How will you remain accountable?

Transparency and trust are key concerns. We pledge to publish regular progress reports (minimum every 6 months) to the Hub Forum.

[PROPOSAL #79][ACCEPTED] Adan: non-profit fighting for sound crypto regulation

ā€”-

Will you seek further funding?

We hope to gain the full trust of the Cosmos ecosystem as we report back. With $ATOM 2.0 on the way, we could seek further treasury allocations to supplement our current funding, which relies mostly on membership dues.

ā€”

We will host a Twitter Spaces next week (announcement soon) to answer the communityā€™s questions and gather more feedback.

Thank you for your support!

28

Hello @Kwaskoff,

We are a small team of 5 people, in the next few weeks we have over 30 European texts to follow and analyse in order to ensure that they do not lead to negative measures for the development of the european crypto sector. As a result, we have limited resources to allocate to funding requests, even though they are fundamental to the success of our missions. We can therefore only apply for one grant at a time.

As mentioned above, the Hub is a community that we are naturally close to (European footprint, fertile for entreprise adoption, etc.), so it is your help that we are seeking first. However, our needs are multiple (several recruitments, materials, etc.), so we will definitely ask for support from other chains in the near future.

In order to guarantee the transparency of the use of the funds granted to our association, we pledge to publish regular progress reports (minimum every 6 months) to the Hub Forum.

We look forward to counting you among the participants in the Twitter Spaces we will soon be organising. You will be able to ask us all your questions and - given the importance of our missions - we hope that you will support our proposal.

Best regards,
Jules

1 Like
29

Guys,

Iā€™ve been working in the EU policy field in Brussels for 15 years . 6 years more if you count managing and working with European Union funding from different programmes. Iā€™ve worked six years of this in the European Commission and several more in membership associations like Adan.

This proposition is not a good fit with Atom. This organisation is primarily interested in the French crypto ecosystem. Nothing wrong with this, if Atom were solely French. But it isnā€™t. Moreover, EU legislation is made in Brussels, not Paris. The EU is composed of 27 member states, after all.

The proposal is EUR 80,000 for a one-year full time member of staff. The membership of Adan is not centred on ATOM, and it would be a conflict of interest within the organisation if outside money trumped its own membersā€™ contributions of time and money. Perhaps Atomā€™s contribution would increase awareness within the membership, and greater awareness of Atom in position papers, but since these are speaking to a French audience, it doesnā€™t really matter.

EUR 80k ATOM could fund 1x full time (or better 2x part-time) experienced industry consultants, who would be able to meet at least once a month with MEPs, officials at the Commission, and participate in regulatory events based on ATOMā€™s needs. This would be much better value than 80k for a full-time member of staff (who will likely does not take home more than 60% being asked for - I donā€™t know the salaries exactly, but EUR 80k gross/including social charges most likely is still inflated for a policy officer).

Even better, ATOM would join a real EU-level association to push for ATOM-friendly legislation. Membership fees are going to be far less than EUR 80k a year, so we could be talking about 2-8 years of membership fees covered by this amount, perhaps leading to top-level representation after about 5 years in a leading association (thatā€™s because it takes a few years to build trust to become a member of the governing council, etc.).

I really think this is a money grab, and doesnā€™t look good. ATOM does need regulatory representation in the centres of power, but going to a national, French-focused association, to fund a member of staff ATOM has little oversight of, is not the way to do it.

Iā€™m voting ā€œno with vetoā€ (for once) because dontā€™ think this is an honest request and potentially undermines ATOM. Otherwise, vote ā€œNoā€.

TD

1 Like
30

Hello Adan,

Thank you for fighting on behalf of the overall community. Iā€™m thankful for the opportunity to vote: YES

31

If we want the crypto industry to continue to develop and our vision of a future where distributed networks, decentralized finance and other uses of the blockchain are realized, we will have to get out of our bubble and face or I should rather say educate regulators.

Any industry wishing to have its business and its interests respected must do some lobbying work with legislators who might be tempted to ban everything because of their prejudices and not seeing the potential of these new technologies.

The best institution capable of carrying out this mission for Europe remains for the moment ADAN.

As a Frenchman, I have seen for many months that their work is very useful for the entire crypto community and I therefore support this proposal more than twice.

For those who complain that these funds will only benefit European regulations, it cannot be denied that European regulations will be scrutinized and can be imitated by other countries. In the competitive world in which we live, doing at least as well or even better than its neighbor ensures that we at least do not lag behind in innovation.

32

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well and thank you for your numerous feedbacks.

We are organising a Twitter Spaces to answer everyoneā€™s questions today at 5pm.

Come and discover Faustine Fleuret presenting our Associations, our missions and our objectives.

Regards,
Jules

1 Like
33

Dear Cosmos Community,

We are pleased to confirm that our proposal #79 has been accepted.

On this occasion, we would like to thank you individually and warmly by publishing this letter on our website.

These funds are crucial for the development of the digital assets industry in Europe and will allow us to accelerate our regulatory and public affairs efforts by recruiting a European Affairs Officer.

Respecting the trust you place in our association, we will publish on this same channel progress reports on our missions and work on the European scene.

Adan remains available for any question at any time.

Best regards,
Jules

Twitter post: https://twitter.com/adan_asso/status/1592572481671376896
Linkedin post: Adan on LinkedIn: Proposal: non-profit fighting for sound crypto regulation ā€“ Adan thanksā€¦

1 Like
34

Looking forward to the updates and the steps forwards.

1 Like
35

Hi

Any updates?

I have this feeling that 2 updates in one year was really not enough.

Thanks.

1 Like
36

Hi Tom,

Thank you for reaching out.

Regarding your concern about the frequency of updates, I want to assure you that we will always strive to provide timely updates while also ensuring that the updates meet our quality standards.

We are currently working on a detailed report on the progress of our recruitment and the profile we are looking for. Our regulatory and public affairs teams will be able to provide you with this report early next week.

If you have any specific information you would like to see, please let us know so that we can include it in our report.

Pease let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Best regards,
Jules

2 Likes
37

Appreciate your post @tom

100% agreed that 2 updates in one year wouldnā€™t suffice.

38

ADAN is very pleased to send you the first progress report. We will send you a new one in the coming months. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need more information.

39

Hi,

Thanks for this,

But iā€™m sorry to tell you that this report is quite empty :sweat_smile:

6 months later you still havenā€™t hired anybodyā€¦ is this that difficult to achieve? x)

And i would say in the context we all know, there is some sort of an emergency to be loud/constructive with authoritiesā€¦

UE seems to be voting bills with tough constraints on the defi space and we canā€™t see how or on what topics youā€™ve been useful / what they listen/ignore from your point of view.

Maybe iā€™m just not aware enough about what your role is here but sadly it looks like they are ruling without any counter power/broad advisors/etc

Anyway if i missed something or if you can share blogs or something which go deeper into what your role is/will be in this decisive year, would be curious to read it.

Thank you.

4 Likes
40

Dear Tom,

I understand your concerns and appreciate your feedback. Following our initial proposal, we have successfully recruited two profiles (within the budget allocated by the Cosmos community). However, we have yet to hire a European Affairs Manager with specialized knowledge in crypto-assets. The search for this position has proven challenging due to the rarity of qualified candidates in the current job market. It is essential that we take our time to secure the most suitable and qualified individual for this position. Our efforts in this regard have included multiple interviews without success, as well as the commissioning of a headhunting firm to aid in the recruitment process.

Simultaneously, we remain proactive in our efforts to promote the European crypto industry and community. Our recent report on DeFi, ā€œRegulating DeFi in Europe: Issues for Consideration,ā€ is available for your perusal.

Furthermore, we have partnered with KPMG and IPSOS to release the second edition of our study ā€œWeb3 and Crypto in France and Europe.ā€ This yearā€™s study focused on adoption and structuring at the European level. We strongly encourage you to review this study, which can be accessed at the following link (currently published in French but undergoing translation): Web3 et Crypto en France et en Europe.

All of our work, including access to our newsletter, is available on our website: https://www.adan.eu/.

We welcome the opportunity to engage with you to discuss our vision and initiatives further.

Best regards,

1 Like