chamber of digital commerce

Perianne Boring: Blockchain Will Be the Foundation of the New Financial System

Perianne Boring is the Founder and President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce—the world’s first and largest blockchain trade association. Boring began her career as a legislative analyst in the U.S. House of Representatives, advising on finance, economics, tax, and healthcare policy. Prior to forming the Chamber, Boring was a television host and anchor of an international finance program that aired in more than 100 countries to over 650 million viewers.

In Part 2 of the interview, Boring urged the United States to catch up with the People’s Republic of China following the inclusion of blockchain in their 13th Five-Year Plan. She also outlined the evolution of money issuance standards and argues that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are the keys to overcome the challenges faced by the current monetary system.

China Joins the Blockchain Race

On Oct. 25, 2019, Chinese leader Xi Jinping gave a speech where he encouraged Chinese enterprises to ‘seize the opportunity’ in using and accelerating the development of blockchain technology. This was a significant event in China’s perspective of the technology and cemented several previous public statements regarding blockchain. It took the markets by surprise as the shares of 70 Chinese technology companies rose significantly, the price of bitcoin surged, and internet searches for the term “blockchain” on WeChat grew 60 fold. This opportunity gave large local enterprises such as social media giant WeChat and payment platform AliPay the green light to innovate with enhanced freedom.

Boring said, “Blockchain is part of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan. They want to be the first country to issue a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). They’ve invested significant resources for many, many years into this technology and they have applied for at least 80 patents, so they are taking this very seriously. Other countries should take notice. And of course, we want the United States to be at the forefront as well. Already major industrialized nations are making significant advances in promoting and adopting this technology, making a hard run to surpass the United States and obtain the economic value this industry offers. Meanwhile, the United States risks missing out on blockchain’s enormous potential for innovation and economic growth.

Blockchain is set to play a key role in many sectors in the future, including financial services, cyber security, digital identity and privacy, healthcare, insurance, supply chain, intellectual property, and others. China’s public entry into the blockchain space has prompted many to describe the situation as a new kind of ‘space race,’ with many believing that whoever masters the technology first will dominate development for future generations. Boring said, “I think that’s very possible, and China could also become the leaders in finance and monetary policy, and that is going to have a direct result on our national security. So this is incredibly important. And I do think blockchain is going to play a huge role in the future of money and the United States needs to be taking it a lot more seriously than we are right now.”

Facebook Libra and the Ongoing Money Experiment

Facebook’s Libra project dominated blockchain headlines last year ever since the social media giant announced the cryptocurrency’s development. The project has faced intense scrutiny from U.S. and European lawmakers ever since Libra was unveiled to be a stablecoin backed by a select number of national currencies. This led to CEO Mark Zuckerberg being summoned to Capitol Hill for questioning in October.

“Facebook’s announcement of the Libra Association has sparked some very important conversations and public discussion about money, what it is and how it works,” said Boring. “Last year was the 75th anniversary of the Bretton Woods agreement where the allied nations came together following World War II to create a new global monetary arrangement. At Bretton Woods Agreement outlined that the price of gold would be $35 an ounce, the US dollar would be the world reserve currency, all other currencies would peg their value to the dollar and they could legally demand gold from the U.S. Treasury. By the 60s, we started the transition to fiat currency as it became impossible to maintain the peg to gold as the U.S. began racking up trade deficits. In 1971, President Nixon closed the gold window. And by the 1980s, all industrialized nations moved to fiat—or floating exchange rates. It’s really amazing to look back and see that just even a couple of decades ago, the world was on a type of gold standard. And we were on a gold standard for thousands of years before that. The global monetary system today has a lot of uncertainty and is a never before seen experiment.”

The monetary experiment has so far not yielded the results originally intended by the Bretton Woods System. Pointing to global financial statistics, Boring said, “Look at global debt, hundreds of trillions of dollars of debt around the world accounting for over 200% of global economic output—that’s a systemic issue. And one of the resulting symptoms of the debt is inflation, over 20% of all fiat currencies around the world have inflation rates of over 5% which is a huge problem—the Federal Reserve’s target is 2% just to put that figure into perspective.” She emphasized, “the international financial and monetary system is broken and we have world leaders all around the world saying the current system is sick and we need something new.”

While Facebook’s Libra has not quite gotten off the ground as of yet, the speculation and industry analysis generated by the giant organization that already has access to 2.6 billion users developing in the crypto space is creating new inputs and discussions around new money forms. Boring concluded saying, “the problems that the international monetary and financial system has are so challenging, that it is going to take a paradigm shift to fix them. And what I think is so exciting about being where we are today is that I believe cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will be foundational toward achieving that paradigm shift and that’s what I have bet my career on.”

DC Blockchain Summit 2020

Don’t forget, the Chamber of Digital Commerce will present its fifth annual DC Blockchain Summit on March 11-12, 2020. This gathering of the Chamber’s membership will bring together the world’s leading blockchain executives and technologists, public policymakers, and academics — all with a common passion for blockchain technology. Join the Chamber for this important and intimate dialogue on blockchain policy development.

Members of Congress Start Blockchain Education with $50 Dollar Bitcoin Donation

Members of the United States Congress will receive a $50 campaign contribution in Bitcoin today, as part of a new initiative by the Chamber of Digital Commerce PAC, to educate lawmakers on the potential of blockchain technology.

Crypto for Congress is an initiative to provide all 535 Members of Congress with a hands-on experience with cryptocurrencies – starting with a $50 bitcoin donation from the Chamber of Digital Commerce PAC – that will empower them to set up a wallet, receive and send their first cryptocurrency.

The initiative was formed on the basis that with all technologies, the deepest form of learning happens when someone uses it for themselves. On top of the initial $50 Bitcoin contribution, the Chamber of Digital Commerce is providing extensive public online educational training, a toolkit, and resources to Members across all parties to help them engage directly in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Perianne Boring, Founder and President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce said:

“Now is the moment for all Members of Congress to learn about and embrace cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, and the best way to do that is to set up a digital wallet and get started on the blockchain journey […] Many other nations like China, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland have rapidly embraced blockchain technology and created robust national plans to be global leaders in this area. The United States is falling behind in technological innovation and this is not a risk we should be willing to take.”

Crypto for Congress is championed by the co-chairs of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus Rep. Darren Soto and Rep. Tom Emmer and sponsored by a consortium of digital asset companies including BlockFi, Circle, eToro, Hedera Hashgraph, Messari and Paxos.

US Rep. Tom Emmer said:

“The lightbulb moment is now. Crypto for Congress brings an opportunity for our entire Congressional community to join this generational shift in finance and technology. By embracing the digital asset movement, we have an opportunity to take a significant step forward to ensure America’s leadership position in the future of the global economy.”

US Rep. Darren Soto said:

“As lawmakers, it’s our duty to ensure the United States leads in blockchain technology. Understanding how this technology works at a hands-on level is an important step we must take to promote innovation and maximize the potential of cryptocurrencies for the US economy.”

Blockchain Bills Approved By Congress

While blockchain development and policy have been lagging in the United States, last week two important blockchain initiatives were approved by the House of Representatives.

Two bills introduced by Representative Darren Soto—the Digital Taxonomy Act and the Blockchain Innovation Act—are now making their way to the Senate after being approved in the House of Representatives.

The two acts have been updated into the Consumer Safety Technology Act (H.R. 8128), which is a bill directing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to explore applications for AI earlier this month. The Bill is now headed for the Senate for the final vote.

As Criticism Of Binance grows, It Joins Lobbying Organization

Binance has joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce, which is a lobbying organization for the cryptocurrency market in the United States, according to a press release that was issued by the exchange on December 20.After receiving feedback that it was allegedly functioning in an unregulated manner, Binance ultimately decided to make this choice.Following the demise of the exchange’s primary rival, FTX, the exchange has been the target of an increasing amount of criticism from its adversaries.The Vice President of Public Relations for Binance, Joanne Kubba, has stated the expectation that the partnership would aid in leading to clearer legislation for the cryptocurrency industry in the United States.Binance has come under particular scrutiny as a result of the fact that it is a high-volume exchange that does not have a defined geographical location or the legal status that it should have. This is because the failure of FTX has led to an uptick in demands for crypto regulation, and Binance has come under particular scrutiny as a result.On December 14, Kevin O’Leary testified in front of a congressional committee and said that Binance is an unregulated monopoly that was responsible for the failure of FTX.In order to show that it can be trusted and that it has adequate financial resources, Binance has prepared a proof-of-reserve that has been subjected to independent auditing.On the other side, the proof-of-reserve has been criticized due to the fact that it does not expose the internal controls or the corporate structure of Binance.In the year 2020, the cryptocurrency exchange known as Binance in the United States joined the ranks of members of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.Both the global trading platform and a separate cryptocurrency exchange go by the name Binance. Binance was founded in 2017.Its main rival, FTX, was also known to provide money to political candidates and campaigns in the United States.On the other side, it seems that the international Binance organization has never before directly joined a lobbying group in the United States. This may be the first time that it does so.

Chamber of Digital Commerce argues the SEC is overstepping its authority

In the insider trading prosecution that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is now conducting against former Coinbase workers, the SEC has once again been accused of going beyond the scope of its power and incorrectly classifying cryptocurrencies as securities.

The U.S.-based Chamber of Digital Commerce argued in an amicus brief that was filed on February 22 that the case should be dismissed because it represented an expansion of the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” campaign and seeks to characterize secondary market transactions as securities transactions. The Chamber of Digital Commerce argued that the case should be dismissed because it represented an expansion of the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” campaign.

“This case represents a stealthy, yet dramatic and unprecedented effort to expand the SEC’s jurisdictional reach and threatens the health of the U.S. marketplace for digital assets,” wrote Perianne Boring, founder and CEO of the Chamber of Digital Commerce. “This case represents a stealthy, yet dramatic and unprecedented effort to expand the SEC’s jurisdictional reach.”

The Chamber emphasized that “the SEC’s encroachment into the digital assets market” was never authorized by Congress, and it noted that in other Supreme Court cases, it has been ruled that regulators must first be granted authority by Congress. The Chamber also highlighted the fact that the Supreme Court has ruled that regulators must first be granted authority by Congress.

On Twitter, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated: “By operating without authority from Congress, [the SEC] continues to contribute to a chaotic regulatory environment, therefore endangering the same investors it is tasked to defend.”

The Chamber also argued that the SEC was essentially asking the court to uphold that secondary market trades in the nine digital assets mentioned in an insider trading case against a former Coinbase employee constitute securities transactions, which the Chamber suggested was “problematic.” The Chamber also argued that the SEC was essentially asking the court to uphold that secondary market trades in the nine digital assets mentioned in an insider trading case against a former Coinbase employee constitute securities transactions.

Perianne added, “We have serious concerns about the attempt by [the SEC] to label these tokens as securities in the context of an enforcement action against third parties who had nothing to do with creating, distributing, or marketing those assets.” “We have serious concerns about the attempt by [the SEC] to label these tokens as securities.”

In its brief, the Chamber made reference to the case LBRY v. SEC, in which the court decided that transactions using secondary markets would not be considered to be transactions involving securities.

The judge had been persuaded by a paper written by commercial contract attorney Lewis Cohen, which pointed out that no court had ever acknowledged the underlying asset was a security at any point since the landmark ruling in SEC v. W. J. Howey Co. — a case which set the precedent for determining whether or not a security transaction exists. The judge had been persuaded by the paper because it pointed out that no court had ever acknowledged the underlying asset was a security at any point since

The most recent amicus brief comes on the heels of a similar filing that was made on February 13 by an advocacy group called the Blockchain Association. That filing argued similarly that the SEC had exceeded its authority in the case and claimed that it was “the latest salvo in the SEC’s apparent ongoing strategy of regulation by enforcement in the digital assets space.”

An amicus curiae, sometimes known as a “friend of the court,” is a person or organization that is not directly engaged in a lawsuit but that may be able to help the court by providing pertinent information or insights. This person or organization may submit an amicus brief.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit in July against Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase Global product manager; his brother, Nikhil Wahi; and an associate, Sameer Ramani, alleging that the three had used confidential information obtained by Ishan to make gains totaling $1.5 million from trading 25 different cryptocurrencies. The lawsuit also names Sameer Ramani as a defendant.

Chamber of Digital Commerce Joins Forces to Counter SEC's Lawsuit Against Binance.US

A concerted effort is underway to defend against the lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance. This lawsuit, rooted in allegations dating back to at least July 2017, claims that Binance, under the stewardship of CEO Changpeng Zhao, operated as unregistered exchanges, brokers, dealers, and clearing agencies, thereby generating substantial revenue primarily from transaction fees from U.S. customers1. In light of these allegations, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, headquartered in the United States, has mobilized alongside a myriad of other businesses, groups, legal experts, and politicians to challenge the SEC’s lawsuit.

The core of this collective resistance is captured in a recent amicus brief. The document articulates a dual objective: firstly, to challenge the SEC’s mode of regulation through enforcement, and secondly, to halt the SEC’s initiative to regulate the cryptocurrency sector without explicit authorization from the United States Congress. The amicus brief underscores a broader industry sentiment concerning the SEC’s jurisdiction over digital assets, positing that the SEC lacks the necessary legislative mandate to classify all digital assets as securities.

Pivoting on this argument, the Chamber of Digital Commerce has petitioned the court to dismiss the SEC’s case against Binance. The grounds for dismissal underscore the SEC’s alleged overreach, the assertion that digital assets do not constitute investment contracts, and the claim that token transactions do not meet the Exchange Act registration requisites. This motion resonates with the stance of Binance.US, Binance Holdings, and CEO Changpeng Zhao, who have jointly filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, contending that the SEC has overstepped its authoritative boundaries.

Furthermore, Binance.US has voiced its concerns regarding the SEC’s latest requests for document discovery and depositions, denouncing them as unreasonable. This stance was fortified when Binance.US, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States, formally objected to the SEC’s request for additional information, submitting the necessary documentation to express its dissent.

The collaborative endeavor spearheaded by the Chamber of Digital Commerce not only signifies a robust defense against the SEC’s lawsuit but also underscores a broader industry pushback against the SEC’s regulatory approach towards the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector. This collaborative resistance illuminates the ongoing tension between regulatory authorities and cryptocurrency entities, a dynamic that continues to evolve amidst the unfolding legal discourse surrounding Binance.US.