Introduction
Bitcoin has become such a popular asset worldwide that the growth of its ETFs has broken the speed growth record among all asset classes and all securities that back ETFs globally. This growth, this spread, and this popularity cannot be contained by traditional financial institutions, whether these institutions are the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, or the central banks of countries. The expectation that these institutions can regulate crypto assets is akin to the idea that the Cartographers’ Union should define the standards for electric vehicles.
In this issue, we discuss how the new regulations have created an environment conducive to the further spread of crypto assets. Let’s remember that Qatar is one of the few countries in the world where cryptocurrency exchanges were banned until just a few months ago. Yes, Iran has fallen behind Qatar, Turkey, and the UAE in defining a national policy for the exchange and use of crypto assets.
In the past month, a very warm and constructive meeting took place between several activists, experts, and journalists with Mohammadamin Aghamiri, the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, and Hossein Afshin, the Deputy Scientific President of the country. A full report of that meeting is published in this issue.
The essence of money, i.e., what money was supposed to be in its conventional sense or, in other words, “what fiat money was meant to be and what it has become,” is another interesting article in this issue. Alongside the daily devaluation of money, central banks themselves are turning to Bitcoin, and a report on this is also included.
This issue features two reports on foreign exchanges active in the Iranian market. One concerns the hacking of the BingX exchange that occurred in September, and the other examines several of these exchanges. Our effort was to identify the credibility and authenticity of these companies, and truthfully, we did not find much information. In any case, thanks to the restrictions imposed on Iranian users and exchanges, a large portion of the market is controlled by these not-so-well-known foreign companies, which, by nature, are under no supervision or governance by Iran, and their accountability is a matter of concern.
Tokenization as an art is another fascinating branch of tokenization involving real-world assets (RWA), where dividing a valuable artwork into one or more tokens offers two benefits: digitalization and financialization for the piece. A report introducing the tokenization of art is included in this issue, which will undoubtedly be intriguing and enjoyable for art enthusiasts.
Finally, as I mentioned earlier, the planning and execution stages for the international deBlock conference are proceeding strongly, and I sincerely thank all private and public sector managers and academic institutions, both Iranian and international, for their warm reception and cooperation in making this event a grand success.
Until the next issue, stay tuned.
