The European Commission’s Web4 strategy might be a flop

Published

2 years ago

July 18, 2023

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On July 11, the European Commission formally adopted its new strategy on Web4 and virtual worlds with the aim of ensuring “an open, secure, trustworthy, fair and inclusive digital environment” for European Union citizens. The strategy is based on four main pillars, revolving around the empowerment of human resources, support of businesses, further development of public services, and shaping of global standards for “Web 4.0” — a freshly coined term that attempts to preempt the next technological wave.

While it’s commendable that the European Commission is proactively strategizing for the EU to take the lead on Web 4.0, or Web4, and virtual worlds, we shouldn’t neglect the fact that for all the fanfare of Web3 and the trends that accompanied it, notable credit and financial institutions have so far only firmly and mainly placed their confidence in Bitcoin (BTC) and, to a lesser extent, Ethereum.

Indeed, it is difficult to assert that Web3 left anything of considerable substance behind it — aside from a sharp but short-lived spike in the Lamborghini and Rolex markets. The sooner that term is forgotten, the sooner we’ll be able to focus again on the areas that do matter.

The EU’s general stance on Bitcoin has arguably detracted from its image as a forward-looking, technology-advancing region, and it would do well to either retract or modify previously taken positions on matters such as proof-of-work mining. The reinvention of money is far from a light matter, and if the EU is to take a pincer hold of what ultimately makes the world move, it is well-advised to do so by both advancing its digital euro project and also supporting the other side of the coin, thereby hedging its position to a degree where it is minimizing risks and maximizing possible opportunities.

In order to do so, it must proverbially unstick the European Central Bank’s head from the sands, limit any anti-Bitcoin publications from the famed Fabio Panetta, and adopt a neutral monetary stance that aligns with a technology-neutral one.

European Union has introduced its Web4 and virtual worlds strategy

The strategy is in line with the 2030 objectives of the Digital Decade policy program and three of its key pillars of digitalization: skills, business, and public services.

The outlook of the EU economy beyond… pic.twitter.com/lg1X5Yvccj

— FanBe_web3 (@FanBe_web3) July 12, 2023

Moving on to the cornerstone of the proposed strategy on Web4 — digital twinning — it is evident that the EU faces stiff competition from stalwarts such as the United States and China in digitally dominant areas such as artificial intelligence. While one may argue that, on the physical side of things, the EU enjoys a notable position in areas such as manufacturing and global exportation of goods, there is still an appreciable degree of catching up to do in relation to digital areas such as crypto and cloud computing.

In order for the EU to take the lead on the intersection between the physical and digital realms, it must ramp up its efforts to emancipate digitally exclusive domains such as crypto, which presents notable opportunities given the current lull in the market. While most are forgoing innovations such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and decentralized autonomous organizations as passing trends that have recently exited the limelight, it is clear that these are still very early days for such topics, and that optimally positioning oneself while the general attention is elsewhere will very likely pay handsome dividends in a few years’ time.

When it comes to DeFi, specifically, Europe as a continent has quietly asserted itself as a leader, with countries such as Italy and France being the birthplace of some of the most notable projects in the space. It would not do to ignore the advantageous position gained in the market in this respect, and with the total value locked metric still hovering comfortably above the $45 billion mark, it is amply clear that DeFi staunchly took the bear market punch and is nowhere near knocked out. It’s also likely to come back for more in the next market reversal.

With innovations such as ERC-4626 ready to unlock a wealth of exciting new prospects in the space, it is safe to state that we have yet to see DeFi’s true strengths and potential, and if the EU manages to take the helm and steer innovation going forward, it will cement its place in the inevitable financial revolution that has been bubbling in its pot for the past few years.

Over the past decade, cryptocurrency has been reinvented and reshaped to no avail. The promise of a new form of money still remains its strongest premise, and digital assets flourish best in a digital environment. The lessons learned from the repeated security token flops should still be fresh enough to accentuate the fact that we are not yet ready for a seamless intersection between what is digital and what is physical, and that in order for two subjects to simultaneously succeed, there must be a comparable, if not identical, level of excellence.

That is something that is still sorely missing in the EU when it comes to digital and crypto assets, which is why it should remain the focus in the short term.

Jonathan Galea is the CEO and founder of BCAS, a European crypto regulatory consultancy firm. He has consulted numerous regulatory entities across multiple jurisdictions on crypto-related matters, including the structuring of novel legal frameworks. He holds in an LL.D. in law from the University of Malta.

Matteo Vena is the chief strategy officer at BCAS, a crypto-focused regulatory consultancy firm based in Europe. His area of focus is business and marketing strategy in the Bitcoin and digital assets industry. He worked previously as the managing director for Cointelegraph Italy and as the head of content for Blockchain Week Rome.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Politics

US to get its first XRP-based ETF, launching on NYSE Arca

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1 hour ago

April 8, 2025

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US to get its first XRP-based ETF, launching on NYSE Arca

Asset manager Teucrium Investment Advisors is set to launch the first XRP-based exchange-traded fund in the US markets, a leveraged XRP (ETF) on the NYSE Arca.

The Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF will seek to offer investors two times the daily return of the XRP (XRP) token with a 1.85% management fee and annual expense ratio, according to the company’s website. The XRP-based ETF will trade under the XXRP ticker beginning April 8.

“If you have a short-term high-conviction view on XRP prices, you may consider exploring the Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF,” the alternative asset manager said.

XXRP currently has $2 million worth of net assets.

Teucrium founder and CEO Sal Gilbertie told Bloomberg on April 7 that investors had shown strong interest in an XRP ETF and hinted that it may file to list more crypto ETFs in the future.

Gilbertie was also pleased that XXRP would launch during a market downturn driven largely by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“What better time to launch a product than when prices are low?” Gilbertie told Bloomberg.

Likelihood of an approved spot XRP ETF still high: Analyst

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said it was “very odd” to see a new asset’s first ETF come in leveraged form — however, he added that the odds of a spot XRP ETF being approved remain “pretty high.”

Several spot XRP ETF applications from the likes of Grayscale, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Canary Capital and 21Shares are being reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In February, Balchunas and fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart attributed 65% approval odds to a spot XRP ETF in 2025.

Predictions market Polymarket states there is currently a 75% chance that the SEC will approve a spot XRP ETF in 2025.

Up until recently, ETF issuers would have seen a different environment for filing for XRP ETFs as Ripple Labs — the creators of the XRP token — and the SEC battled out a four-year court battle over XRP’s security status.

That case came to a close last month.

Teucrium has amassed over $310 million worth of assets under management since it was founded in 2010.

It offers mostly agricultural commodities, such as ETFs tracking the likes of corn, soybeans, sugar and wheat.

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set

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Aussie regulator to shut 95 ‘hydra’ firms linked to crypto, romance scams

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3 hours ago

April 8, 2025

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Aussie regulator to shut 95 ‘hydra’ firms linked to crypto, romance scams

Australia’s corporate watchdog has been given the nod to shut down 95 “hydra” companies that it suspects engaged in crypto investment and romance scams, known as “pig butchering.”

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s application to wind up the companies was approved by the Federal Court of Australia on just and equitable grounds after ASIC found that most of the companies had been incorporated with false information.

Many of these companies were set up purporting to provide “genuine services” but were instead believed to be scamming their victims, ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said in an April 8 statement.

“There appears to be a common pattern of scam activity in the nature of ‘pig butchering,’” Justice Angus Stewart said in an April 4 court ruling after looking at 48 “Reviews of Misconduct” from 17 companies accused of facilitating romance scams. The judgment was made on March 21.

Pig butchering scams involve scammers building fake relationships with victims to win their trust before convincing them to invest in a fraudulent crypto or financial scheme.

The securities regulator also suspects that much of the scam activity is coming from Southeast Asia.

Insolvency and restructuring advisers Catherine Conneely and Thomas Birch of Cor Cordis have been appointed as joint liquidators of the 95 companies.

Nearly 1,500 claims by “investors” had been received by the provisional liquidators, amounting to total claims of over $35.8 million, according to the court order.

The claimants are based in 14 countries, including Australia, the US, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Nepal, the Philippines and France.

The provisional liquidators found that only three of the 95 firms had assets to their name and recommended that the other 92 companies be wound up and immediately deregistered.

ASIC shutting down scam websites

ASIC said it has been removing around 130 scam websites each week of late, bringing its total to over 10,000 sites, which have included over 7,200 fake investment platform scams and 1,564 phishing scams.

“However, these scams are like hydras: you shut down one and two more take its place. That’s why we’re warning consumers that the threat of scams and identity fraud remains high. We remind consumers to be vigilant,” Court said.

Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre recently reported a 26% fall in scam losses to $2 billion in 2024, while the number of scam reports also fell by 17.8% to 494,732.

Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again

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SEC crypto trading roundtable to include crypto giants Uniswap, Coinbase

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4 hours ago

April 8, 2025

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SEC crypto trading roundtable to include crypto giants Uniswap, Coinbase

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has released the list of executives from US crypto and finance giants that will take part in a roundtable discussion on crypto trading regulation.

On April 7, the regulator said its upcoming April 11 roundtable will discuss how it should handle crypto trading rules, calling it “Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading.”

It will be the second in a series of discussions on crypto, headed by its recently-formed Crypto Task Force.

Taking part are Uniswap Labs chief legal officer Katherine Minarik, Cumberland DRW associate general counsel Chelsea Pizzola and Coinbase institutional product vice president Gregory Tusar — all firms that had once been in the regulator’s scope.

Under the Biden administration, the regulator sued Cumberland DRW in October and Coinbase in June 2023 for alleged securities law violations, but both lawsuits were dropped this year under the Trump administration.

The SEC also started an investigation for possible enforcement action into Uniswap Labs in April 2024, which was dropped in February with no further action.

Also taking part in the roundtable are New York Stock Exchange product chief Jon Herrick, crypto brokerage FalconX business lead Austin Reid, securities tokenizing firm Texture Capital CEO Richard Johnson and the University of California, Berkeley finance chair Christine Parlour.

Dave Lauer, co-founder of the advocacy group We the Investors and Tyler Gellasch, CEO of the not-for-profit Healthy Markets Association, will also take part, while law firm Goodwin Procter partner Nicholas Losurdo will moderate the discussion.

Representing the SEC will be acting chair Mark Uyeda, Crypto Task Force chief of staff Richard Gabbert and Commissioners Caroline Crenshaw and Hester Peirce.

The roundtable is the second crypto-focused discussion in a series of five that the SEC dubbed the “Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity.” The first was on March 21, regarding the legal status of crypto, while three future discussions will cover custody, tokenization, and decentralized finance (DeFi).

SEC’s Uyeda orders review of staff crypto comments

The roundtables come as the SEC, under President Donald Trump, works to revamp its oversight of the crypto industry, with its latest action being to review staff statements on crypto so they can possibly be changed or withdrawn.

Uyeda said in an April 5 statement shared by the SEC on X that due to Trump’s executive order on deregulation and recommendations from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, he was reviewing seven staff statements, five of which concerned crypto.

“The purpose of this review is to identify staff statements that should be modified or rescinded consistent with current agency priorities,” Uyeda said.

The first on the list was an April 2019 analysis from the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology on how crypto sales could be investment contracts under the securities defining Howey test — an argument the agency had made to sue multiple crypto firms for legal violations.

Also up for review are two Division of Investment Management statements, one from May 2021 asking investors to consider the risks of funds with exposure to Bitcoin futures and a November 2020 statement asking for feedback on whether state-chartered banks meet standards to be qualified custodians.

The SEC will also look into a December 2022 Division of Corporation Finance statement that urged SEC-regulated companies to evaluate their disclosures to mention if a slew of crypto firm bankruptcies and collapses at the time impacted their business.

Finally, the agency will review a Division of Examinations alert from February 2021 that said, “a number of activities related to the offer, sale and trading of digital assets that are securities present unique risks to investors.”

Legal Panel: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set