The digital asset industry is at a critical, hopeful time.
After many years of fragmented approaches to regulation and legislation, we have reached a moment when clarity is both urgent and achievable. Blockchain Association’s consensus -driven market structure principles representing the perspective of leading companies in the industry offer a framework for the path forward. The market structure principles that emerged from this collaboration effort reflect the maturation of the industry and the focus required to adopt meaningful legislation and achieve smart regulation.
The principles tackle twelve key areas – at their core is a recognition that consumer protection and innovation are complementary, not competing, priorities. We call for standardized information and robust protective measures while ensuring that companies can innovate without undue burden. This balanced approach extends to custody, where we agree to protect individuals’ right to self -defense their assets while establishing a clear framework for institutional custody solutions.
A crucial element of our framework is the distinction between financial activities and other different uses of blockchain technology. Smart regulation should focus on genuine financial risks without stifling innovation in non-economic use of this technology. This extends to the treatment of non-parenting authority, services and smart contracts that should not face the same legislative requirements as traditional financial intermediaries when not parent user assets.
The principles also relate to one of the industry’s most pressing challenges: token classification. We need a clear framework to distinguish between securities, raw materials and other digital assets. This clarity is important for compliance and growth, especially when the market matures and new types of tokens emerge.
Our framework recognizes the global nature of digital assets while emphasizing and strengthening us competitiveness. We advocate reducing friction in cross -border transactions while ensuring that US markets remain attractive to investment and innovation. This includes the establishment of a single secondary trading market to improve liquidity and price discovery.
Developer protection forms another crucial pillar of the Blockchain Association’s principles. Open Source software developers should not face liability when independent players abuse their code. This protection is important to maintain the innovation that is driving our industry forward. Similarly, we emphasize the importance of network participation protection of the ability of individuals and institutions to participate in activities such as poor voting and peer-to-peer transactions on permissionless networks.
This consensus we have achieved about these principles means because it signalizes to Congress and the supervisory authorities that the industry is and has been ready to regulate common sense. We do not ask for special treatment or regulatory cuts. Instead, we propose clear rules for the road that protects consumers, promotes innovation and ensures us competitiveness in a rapidly developing global market.
But this option of the opportunity does not remain open indefinitely. Market development, election cycles and global competition create urgency. The industry has demonstrated its emergency preparedness to engage constructively with decision makers. We have shown that we can find common grounds for complex questions and that we are obliged to responsible innovation.
For our Congress Allies, regulators in Washington DC and those who are recently engaged in these issues, these principles show that industry is ready for serious political discussion. For industrialists, they represent a common vision of responsible market structure. For everyone involved, they offer a path forward in a crucial moment for the future of digital assets in the United States.
Work on adopting smart rules and the preparation and adoption of legislation remains ahead. But with clear principles, industry adaptation and growing political sophistication on both sides, we have an unprecedented opportunity to get this right. We have precious a few months to get this done, let’s not let this moment pass.
