Davos

Takeaways from Davos: Blockchain is changing the way we fight for sustainability

Evercity’s Alexey Shadrin shares his insights from last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos.

The Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change unites around 40,000 people from 196 countries. Governments, international institutions, financiers, businesses, non-governmental organizations and native communities gather for a two-week sprint to discuss the measures to tackle the climate crisis. The famous 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were also first introduced at COP21 in Paris along with the historic Paris Agreement. It is aimed at limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with an aim to limit it to 1.5 degrees (most likely already achieved according to most evaluations).

The COP has also created tools to prevent climate doomsday. Such economic tools as voluntary and compliance carbon markets, carbon credits, green bonds and other green assets tied to positive environmental impact play a crucial role in decarbonization global efforts. However, they are often inaccessible to small and medium-sized companies from developing countries. The main reasons are high upfront costs and complex structuring processes in line with global green standards.

Positive and negative impacts on the environment have to be forecasted and described according to approved methodologies. This information is used for the future monitoring and reporting and is verified by assurance providers. That’s where greenwashing or deceptive eco-claims may occur. On-chain verification brings data immutability and transparency, stimulating issuers to meet their green commitments.

12% of carbon offsets and the birth of ReFi

It is an open secret that the issuance of green finance instruments has long been monopolized by the Web2 financial infrastructure players, such as banks, exchanges, registries and standards. So, it is no surprise that Web3 is bringing the most disruption at this stage.

The most obvious Web3 use case in green finance is the transfer of assets from traditional centralized registries to the blockchain via fungible or nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The tokenization of carbon credits pioneered by DAO IPCI in 2017 and scaled by Toucan and Klima DAO in 2021 led to the retirement of 20 million tons of CO2 — almost 12% of the annual voluntary carbon market retirement volume. As a protective move, leading carbon standards immediately banned tokenization. This initiated an ongoing public discussion and highlighted the need for a wider approach than increasing liquidity.

Such an approach, initially described by the timelessly passed DAO IPCI founder Anton Galenovich, is now being implemented by a new generation of infrastructure solutions. One of them is Guardian, an open-source tool that provides auditable, traceable, reproducible records that document emissions and the lifecycle of green assets. It provides a low-code environment to instantly launch new apps, asset types and even standards. The blockchain-based infrastructure has overall proven to be faster, more cost-efficient and transparent. This is crucial for unlocking green finance for small and medium-sized enterprises and eliminating greenwashing.

Web3 also offers the opportunity to develop innovative instruments that boost the liquidity of previously illiquid assets or merge the strengths of multiple instruments. Take, for instance, carbon-linked bonds. They unite the features of green bonds and carbon credits, giving green bond investors more incentives and allowing issuers to get lower coupon rates. Biodiversity credits value ecosystem services, and my own Evercity’s “carbon forwards” enable financing for early-stage carbon projects ahead of issuing actual carbon credits. There are already Web3 exchanges, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and liquidity pools, such as Solid World, that deal with such assets.

The combination of blockchain technology with monitoring tools, such as the Internet of Things and satellites, can provide further transparency and traceability of impact reporting along the green finance value chain. All of the abovementioned use cases have already started to make a significant impact on the attainment of the Paris Agreement and U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The companies behind them consider themselves part of the growing Regenerative Finance (ReFi) community.

Convergence of Web3 and carbon markets

In 2017, Glocha and DAO IPCI, which executed the world’s first voluntary carbon credit transaction, introduced a blockchain booth at the COP. The Climate Change Coalition was formed with support from the UNFCCC Secretariat to unite blockchain pioneers, who back then faced a lot of skepticism from traditional players amid the initial coin offering wave. Five years later, the picture had changed dramatically — COP27 in Egypt marked the convergence of the green finance and Web3 worlds.

With national states falling short of their climate responsibilities, new players have stepped up. The sunny Sharm El Sheikh featured a record number of Web3 companies. The United Nations Global Innovation Hub was at the center of all the climate tech talks, featuring high-level speakers and crucial topics. The Web3 agenda was also featured at the Singapore pavilion, International Emissions Trading Association, Climate Chain Coalition, the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development and several others. At dinner parties and hotel conferences, like the one organized by the Hubculture, Hedera and the HBAR Foundation, carbon market veterans mixed with the Web3 crowd. What should be a more solid sign of industry adoption?

Two of the most important carbon market standards, Verra and Gold Standard, were featured at blockchain events, but no official statements regarding tokenization were made. At the same time, some of the carbon-market veterans have already adopted Web3, with AirCarbon exchange, Climate Trade, Climate Check and Ecoregistry leading the way.

This COP also marked Africa’s growing openness to carbon markets and climate finance, as the continent seeks financing and technologies that foster sustainable, independent growth. But the key elements of infrastructure need to be deployed first. Web3 and its open-source part offer such an inclusive, decentralized infrastructure with peer-to-peer payments and transparency that build trust between green issuers and investors.

Regenerative finance is among the hottest WEF trends

Being annually held at a fancy ski resort in the most expensive country, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is the opposite of the COP in many ways, but foremost in inclusivity. While the COP always changes its host country, the WEF stays in the snowy Davos fortress. The outside temperature this year was around -17 celsius, but the hotel prices were even more extreme. A lack of snow highlighted that climate change is indifferent to wealth and status.

Access to the WEF event zone was restricted to politicians, business leaders and friends of the organization, and one had to have a badge to enter. The outside stakeholders gathered at hotel conferences and the Promenade, a street lined with boutiques that were transformed into promotion spaces, also known as Houses. The Houses were mainly occupied by corporations, blockchain companies and countries, such as India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, which wanted to promote themselves on the international stage.

The main topics of discussion at the WEF were the economic downturn, geopolitical issues, sustainability and Web3. The intersection of the last two was among the top trends. In September 2022, the WEF launched the Crypto Sustainability Coalition aimed to investigate how Web3 and blockchain tools could be utilized to achieve positive climate action. The working group meetings on carbon credits and climate action were held among other thematic events.

The key Web3 Houses included Global Blockchain Business Council, Hedera, the Blockchain Hub Davos and a creative ReFi space featuring digital art. Apart from the ReFi project, these events featured speakers, including someone from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Will.i.am and Naomi Campbell. Each day ended with late-night parties, where attendees had the opportunity to mingle with high-level individuals and investors from around the world.

What’s coming in 2023?

Web3 companies had the strongest ever showing at both the COP and WEF events, showcasing solid use cases with broad global support. Climate and Web3 were among the hottest topics, with the ReFi sector on the rise. 2023 and beyond promise continued growth for this trend, with the potential to become the blockchain space’s leading focus. The industry awaits guidance from carbon standards and regulations to drive the market, but there are also untapped opportunities in topics beyond climate, such as biodiversity.

Web3-native standards and infrastructure, such as Guardian, are coming soon and are poised to shake up the market landscape. Established players must act quickly to stay relevant. Adoption is fully underway, with developing regions, including Africa, ideally positioned to get the most benefits from Web3’s sustainable solutions.

Alexey Shadrin is a co-founder of the Carbon Fund and Evercity.io, a Web3-based platform for green finance origination. He is also a finance group leader in the Climate Chain Coalition and a frequent speaker at high-level events by the World Bank, U.N. and WEF. He also co-authored an Elsevier-published book about using blockchains for climate finance.

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.

TradFi and DeFi come together at Davos 2023: Finance Redefined

Decentralized finance meets its traditional counterpart at Davos, with a growing cross-pollination between the two.

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week.

Traditional finance, or TradFi, continues to explore the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, with the World Economic Forum holding more workshops and sessions for the sector in 2023.

Layer-1 blockchain protocol, Injective, has launched a $150 million ecosystem fund to support developers building on the Cosmos network.

The Mango Markets saga took another turn this past week, as the company filed a lawsuit against the exploiter Avraham Eisenberg for $47 million in damages plus interest. The lawsuit marks the fourth time the Mango Markets exploiter has been hit by charges or lawsuits relating to his attack on the DeFi protocol.

Blockchain transaction history shows that the hacker transferred the funds onto a decentralized exchange and then went on to cycle funds around different DeFi protocols.

The top 100 DeFi tokens continued their bullish momentum into the final week of January, with most of the tokens trading in green and a few even registering double-digit gains.

TradFi and DeFi come together — Davos 2023

On this episode of Decentralize With Cointelegraph, the team reflects on their week in Davos covering the World Economic Forum as crypto and TradFi continue to collide.

Speaking to several industry insiders and TradFi participants, Cointelegraph journalist Gareth Jenkinson highlighted the ongoing cross-pollination between the sectors. Still, just a handful of crypto participants were involved in conversations inside the World Economic Forum.

Continue reading

Injective launches $150 million ecosystem fund to boost DeFi, Cosmos adoption

Injective, a layer-1 blockchain protocol founded in 2018, has launched a $150 million ecosystem fund to support developers building on the Cosmos network.

The ecosystem group is backed by a large consortium of venture capital and Web3 firms, including Pantera Capital, Kraken Ventures, Jump Crypto, KuCoin Ventures, Delphi Labs, IDG Capital, Gate Labs and Flow Traders. According to Injective, the consortium is the largest assembled within the broader Cosmos ecosystem.

Continue reading

Mango Markets sues Avraham Eisenberg for $47 million in damages plus interest

Mango Labs, the company behind the DeFi protocol Mango Markets, has filed a lawsuit against exploiter Avraham Eisenberg.

The Jan. 25 filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges Einseberg exploited its platform for millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies in October 2022. It asks for $47 million in damages plus interest, starting from the time of the attack.

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Wormhole hacker moves $155 million in the biggest shift of stolen funds in months

The hacker behind the $321 million Wormhole bridge attack has shifted a large chunk of stolen funds, with transaction data showing that $155 million worth of Ether (ETH) was transferred to a decentralized exchange on Jan 23.

The Wormhole hack was the third-largest crypto hack in 2022 after the protocol’s token bridge suffered an exploit on Feb. 2 that resulted in the loss of 120,000 Wrapped Ether (WETH), worth around $321 million at the time.

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DeFi market overview

Analytical data reveals that DeFi’s total market value remained over $40 billion this past week, trading at about $46.1 billion at the time of writing. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView show that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization had a bullish week, with nearly all the tokens registering price gains.

dYdX (DYDX) was the biggest gainer with a 68% surge on the weekly charts, followed by Fantom (FTM) with a 59% weekly surge. The majority of the other top 100 tokens also registered a bullish surge.

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education in this dynamically advancing space.

Here’s how the World Economic Forum leaps into the metaverse — Davos 2023

Industry insiders highlight World Economic Forum workshops on the metaverse focusing on user privacy, asset protection and regulation.

Web3 and the metaverse were handed a seat at the table of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2023 as the ecosystem continues to drive innovation across industries.

As Cointelegraph continues to explore WEF, the presence of the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem was mainly found outside the walls of the forum. Blockchain Hub Davos and the Global Blockchain Business Council’s “Blockchain Central” were two central events in town that brought together the wider crypto community that has been somewhat left out of the WEF’s discourse on the sector.

The metaverse is a notable exception. Although some metaverse applications do not operate on decentralized blockchain systems, key proponents for the space have been involved in high-level workshops within the WEF that look to understand and plan for the future integration of innovative technology.

The WEF agenda featured two workshops directly addressing the metaverse as part of the conference’s “Defining and Building the Metaverse” initiative in 2023.

The first workshop, “A New Reality: Building the Metaverse,” featured Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox, while a second, titled “Deployment in the Industrial Metaverse,” explored how industries can tap into the benefits of the metaverse while avoiding its disruptive potential.

The World Economic Forum is exploring metaverse experiences within the convention as well. The 2023 conference allowed delegates to experience the forum in its own 3D immersive digital sessions called the Global Collaboration Village.

A custom digital avatar allowed WEF delegates to explore Davos in the metaverse and experience tailor-made experiences during the weeklong conference. Decentralized or not, the organization is tapping into the potential of Web3 to offer more to delegates through virtual experiences.

Blockchain-based metaverse platforms were also present in Davos as the wider traditional finance industry, policymakers and delegates looked to continue learning about the promise of metaverse ecosystems and their potential influence.

Playing in The Sandbox

Cointelegraph talked with The Sandbox co-founder Sebastien Borget at an exclusive networking event known as the Swedish Lunch halfway through the week. Every January, the Schatzalp Hotel hosts the gathering, seeing swathes of WEF delegates dine and mingle on the snowy terrace of the picturesque venue located high above Davos.

The Sandbox has emerged as a popular decentralized metaverse platform worldwide. Its collaboration with mainstream brands and companies is a major drawcard, which is part of the reason Borget was involved in some high-level workshops on the metaverse inside the World Economic Forum in 2023.

Borget held meetings with government ministries and heads of digital transformation to open dialogue around empowering and protecting digital ownership and digital economies. He said this was a pertinent point considering that half of the world’s population is now beyond generation Z as digital natives:

“We still have to demystify a little bit what the metaverse is today and what it can be in three, five, 10 years from now.”

As a lens to conversations within the World Economic Forum centered on the metaverse, Borget revealed that stakeholders were focusing on considerations around data privacy and security:

“How can we make sure that metaverse platform will respect user privacy, that it will implement enough rules or controls to make sure that users can be safe and protected and their digital assets as well?”

Borget said he had the chance to speak with representatives of the European Parliament about its general data protection regulation, which came into effect in May 2018, as well as regulations around artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and how nonfungible tokens (NFTs) should be treated differently.

*The Sandbox co-founder Sebastien Borget in conversation with Gareth Jenkinson at the Schatzalp hotel overlooking the town of Davos.*

Borget believes regulation of the space is inevitable but hopes that these dialogues will ensure that the industry is afforded room to innovate and experiment. This could prevent the metaverse from being hamstrung by restrictive measures in the years to come:

“It’s a chance to make sure that those regulations will not be too prescriptive for entrepreneurs to really be able to build something interesting here and develop and push their ideas. And so we are involved as early on as possible in the dialogue rather than trying to solve the issue too late as well.”

The Sandbox co-founder highlighted the “productive” nature of the WEF metaverse workshops, describing the meetings as different from a typical conference featuring panels or talks. Working groups discussed key topics at length inside the WEF, while Borget had ample opportunity to network and collaborate with the wider crypto community at various events around Davos throughout the week.

‘We need a bigger voice’

The World Economic Forum and mainstream institutions seem keenly aware of the promise of Web3 functionality and metaverse experiences. Dirk Lueth and Idan Zuckerman, co-founders of metaverse platform Upland, shared these sentiments in conversation with Cointelegraph on a snowy Thursday evening outside of Blockchain Hub’s venue on the Promenade.

The pair were involved in speaking engagements and networking with crypto and blockchain minds. Conversations around metaverse applications provided a learning opportunity. Lueth highlighted the need for industry leaders to have a “bigger voice” among policymakers and industry leaders at conventions like the WEF.

*Gareth Jenkinson interviews Dirk Lueth and Idan Zuckerman, co-founders of metaverse platform Upland.*

“I think everybody’s pretty much bought into the idea that the web will evolve into an immersive version of it. It will take time, but people are realizing it and are taking the first steps to understand how they fit into the plan,” Zuckerman explained.

Decentralization is another important tenet that powers digital ownership and economies, according to Lueth. He believes that open metaverse networks provide a variety of entrepreneurial and media opportunities that closed systems might not provide.

Zuckerman offered a more thoughtful take, suggesting that the future of metaverses will become a hybrid featuring centralized and decentralized elements:

“I always look at decentralization; it’s not like a one or a zero; it’s a gradient. So there are some elements that need and should and could be decentralized and those will be the first ones.”

Examples of this were seen firsthand by Cointelegraph in Davos. Moderating a panel on metaverse adoption by institutions, two speakers represented mainstream metaverse solutions at the cutting edge of virtual reality.

*Emma Todd (MMH Group) and Gareth Jenkinson*.

Accenture’s David Treat unpacked their advanced extended reality technologies, while Vince Cacace touched on Vertebrae’s 3D and augmented reality commerce platform. Both projects operate on blockchain technology and serve mainstream institutions and commercial clients.

Interoperability could become an important part of the evolution of various metaverse platforms and applications, but Davos 2023 suggests that collaboration and innovation are already happening. Decentralized and centralized are already interoperable, providing a glimpse into the future of the space.

TradFi and DeFi come together — Davos 2023

On this episode of Decentralize With Cointelegraph, the team reflects on their week in Davos covering the World Economic Forum as crypto and TradFi continue to collide.

Traditional finance, or TradFi, continues to explore the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, with the World Economic Forum holding more workshops and sessions for the sector in 2023. These were major themes seen by the Cointelegraph team as they covered the action throughout a busy week in Davos, Switzerland. In a late-night recording session, the team recapped everything readers need to know about the week for the new Decentralize With Cointelegraph podcast.

Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr reflected on her access inside the WEF compared with previous years in Davos. She also unpacked the ongoing synergies between traditional finance and decentralized finance, or DeFi, that were evident from the myriad crypto industry events taking place. Cointelegraph journalist Gareth Jenkinson was tasked with covering these crypto meet-ups, which took place at a number of shops refurbished for events down the central promenade in Davos.

Speaking to a number of industry insiders and TradFi participants, Jenkinson highlighted the ongoing cross-pollination between the sectors, while just a handful of crypto participants were involved in conversations inside the World Economic Forum.

From JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s renewed skepticism toward Bitcoin (BTC) to the Cointelegraph team nearly getting stranded due to frozen diesel in their gas tank, Davos 2023 proved to be an entertaining and educational journey.

Davos has long been the spiritual home of the World Economic Forum, but recent years have seen a number of crypto and blockchain firms, projects and events rent space along the central road that runs to the WEF conference compound.

While crypto proponents mixed with TradFi members and curious visitors from both public and private institutions on the promenade, just a handful of crypto-related institutions took part in workshops inside the WEF.

*Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr (right) on stage with Rhett Power (left), Forbes columnist, hosting Webit Founders Games in Davos during WEF 2023. Source: Cointelegraph*

Cointelegraph spoke with representatives from Circle and Ripple, who gave an inside view into the WEF’s changing perception toward the sector, while the heads of metaverse platforms The Sandbox and Upland also touched on the different perceptions both inside the WEF and outside of its walls.

There seemed to be general consensus that the crypto and blockchain space was becoming increasingly talked about at the WEF, with the number of workshops and discussions on the sector increasing from May 2022.

*Cointelegraph reporter Gareth Jenkinson (right) with Brooks Entwistle* *(left), APAC managing director at Ripple. Source: Cointelegraph*

Nevertheless, the co-mingling of TradFi and DeFi proponents was clear to see. Conventional investment funds, hedge fund managers and banks all drove discussions around cryptocurrency adoption and custody at the events Cointelegraph attended and moderated.

To hear Cornèr and Jenkinson reflect on changing perceptions and increased conversations between the old guard of traditional finance and the innovative cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem, listen to the first episode of Decentralize With Cointelegraph on Cointelegraph’s newly launched podcasts page — and be sure to check out the additional lineup of new shows. The episode is also available on Spotify.

Chinese blockchain project aims to be the ‘SWIFT’ of stablecoins and CBDCs

A SWIFT-style system for bank-issued and regulated digital currencies was launched by a firm with a tenure building China’s national blockchain project.

A Hong Kong-based blockchain company has launched a digital payments system aimed at bridging the gap between stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

Red Date Technology, the blockchain infrastructure firm which is also leading one of China’s blockchain efforts, launched the Universal Digital Payment Network (UDPN) on Jan. 19 during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

According to its whitepaper, the UDPN is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform that would serve a similar purpose to what the SWIFT network does for banks, but for stablecoins and CBDCs.

Tech engineering company GFT Technologies and the digital asset creation engine TOKO from law firm DLA Piper are also contributors to UDPN development.

“Just as the SWIFT network created the original common standard for messaging between financial institutions across different settlement systems, the UDPN will serve the same purpose for the emerging generation of CBDCs and stablecoins.”

According to a Jan. 19 press release, a “number of global tier 1 banks” are already involved in use-case proof of concepts (POCs) to test the network in cross-border transfers and swaps.

The release didn’t disclose what banks were taking part in the POCs, but Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, The Bank of East Asia, and Akbank were represented on a panel at the UDPN launch in Davos.

A high-level overview of the UDPN architecture depicting CBDC systems connecting to off-chain “transaction nodes” which in turn connect to the on-chain “validator nodes.” Image: UDPN whitepaper.

The stablecoins to be used in the POC were also undisclosed. The networks whitepaper does state, however, that it only supports “CBDCs and regulated fiat-backed stablecoin currency systems as payment methods,” adding:

“No unregulated public-chain crypto-currencies, such as Bitcoin, will be accepted.”

Eight other proof-of-concept tests are scheduled for the network, including issuing and circulating a CBDC and bank-issued stablecoin and using UDPN as a payment gateway for e-commerce.

The UDPN has been in development by Red Date for nearly two years.

Before launching this digital payments system, the company was known for its work on Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), China’s national blockchain project.

In a now-deleted roadmap posted on Jan. 15, 2021, the BSN said it planned to build a global CBDC system that “will completely change the current payment and circulation method, enabling a standardized digital currency transfer method and payment procedure for any information system.”

The latest whitepaper makes no mention of Red Date’s tenure in steering China’s blockchain project, nor of the country’s own CBDC efforts with its digital yuan.

Previously, in June 2022 Red Date’s CEO, Yifan He, called cryptocurrencies the “biggest Ponzi scheme in human history.”

Davos-launched blockchain project aims to be the ‘SWIFT’ of stablecoins and CBDCs

A SWIFT-style system for bank-issued and regulated digital currencies was launched by a firm involved in building China’s national blockchain project.

A Hong Kong-based blockchain company has launched a digital payments system aimed at bridging the gap between stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Red Date Technology, the blockchain infrastructure firm that is also leading one of China’s blockchain efforts, launched the Universal Digital Payment Network (UDPN) on Jan. 19 during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Tech engineering company GFT Technologies and the digital asset creation engine TOKO from law firm DLA Piper are also contributors to UDPN development.

According to its white paper, the UDPN is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform that would serve a similar purpose to what the SWIFT network does for banks, except for stablecoins and CBDCs.

“Just as the SWIFT network created the original common standard for messaging between financial institutions across different settlement systems, the UDPN will serve the same purpose for the emerging generation of CBDCs and stablecoins.”

According to a Jan. 19 press release, a “number of global tier 1 banks” are already involved in use case proof of concepts (POCs) to test the network in cross-border transfers and swaps.

The release didn’t disclose which banks were taking part in the POCs, but Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, The Bank of East Asiaand Akbank were represented on a panel at the UDPN launch in Davos.

“No unregulated public-chain crypto-currencies, such as Bitcoin, will be accepted.”

Eight other proof-of-concept tests are scheduled for the network, including issuing and circulating a CBDC and bank-issued stablecoin and using UDPN as a payment gateway for e-commerce.

The UDPN has been in development by Red Date for nearly two years,

Before launching this digital payments system, the company was known for its work on Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), China’s national blockchain project.

The latest white paper makes no mention of Red Date’s involvement in steering China’s blockchain project, nor of the country’s own CBDC efforts with its digital yuan.

A spokesperson for the project told Cointelegraph there is “no connection whatsoever between BSN and UDPN” as the latter is “managed and governed in a decentralized manner.”

In June, Red Date’s CEO, Yifan He, called cryptocurrencies the “biggest Ponzi scheme in human history.”

Update (Jan. 23, 6:40 AM UTC): Added comment from UDPN spokesperson.

Metaverse to bring ‘true productivity’ to industrial environments: Davos 2023

A panel of experts at the 2023 World Economic Forum highlighted how the metaverse could deliver practical use cases of large-scale industrial industries like healthcare and retail.

The metaverse continues to be a central talking point among leaders and decision-makers in global industries. For many, the vision of the future of the metaverse is not limited to a gamified version of reality.

At the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 in Davos, Switzerland, a panel of experts came together to discuss a global idea of an industrialized metaverse. With echoes of the industrial revolution, the industrialized metaverse will bring Web3 technologies into industries that are at play in everyday life.

The “Deployment in the Industrialized Metaverse” discussion started out with Abdullah Alswaha, the minister of communications and information technology in Saudi Arabia, expressing that the current reality of digital engagement doesn’t match up to its potential.

“The digital world that we live in today is not fit for purpose in the 21st century.”

Instead, it could, and arguably will be better off, leveling up the current digital communications for situations such as telework. Alswaha continued:

“I’m a big advocate of the metaverse that it’s going to be the next wave of how immersive experiences work for consumers, enterprises, and the industry.”

Peggy Johnson, the CEO of augmented reality company Magic Leap, said the industrial metaverse would only come into play when digital and physical worlds begin to merge:

“That’s when it really comes to life and brings true productivity in these industrial environments.”

Åsa Tamsons, the senior vice president and head of business area technologies at Ericsson, said this technology is already at play with big use cases in the healthcare, automotive and consumer electronics industries.

Another example was in retail onboarding:

“Huge retail and consumer goods companies are working on how to use this metaverse technology to improve and shorten the time for employee onboarding and training.”

When explicitly asked about metaverse technology in real-time situations in the healthcare industry, the CEO of Siemens Healthineers, Dr. Bernd Montag, said that although there are use cases, healthcare needs more time to catch on.

He clarified why the healthcare industry might be seen as being behind digitally.

“It is that you want to have ultimate safety. You want to have ultimate trust. This is sometimes harder to solve and that is why the adoption also doesn’t come in with a big bang.”

However, he did mention that the shift to augmenting surgery with 3D is happening, albeit “very gradually.”

Both Tamsons and Johnson highlighted the need for governmental involvement in the release of new technology within a massive industry. This comes down to many things such as safety and privacy.

She continued to say there should be a line between under and over-regulation.

“I think that’s the appropriate way to bring new technologies. You don’t want to suppress innovation, but you also don’t want to allow [it] out in the wild without the proper constraints around it.”

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show 2023, new metaverse technology was showcased that could deploy touch and smell in digital reality, which has the potential to enhance interactions for both average and industrial usage in the near future.

Metaverse not the endgame, but ‘ongoing digital transformation‘: Davos 2023

Leaders in the Web3 space came together at the World Economic Forum in Davos to discuss the first outputs from the “Defining and Building the Metaverse” initiative.

Over the last year, the metaverse has been a buzzword inside and out of the Web3 world. Moreover, development in the metaverse has remained strong relative to the overall turmoil of the decentralized space.

It is also a hot topic at the 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The WEF has been developing its own initiative, “Defining and Building the Metaverse,” with the participation of over 120 participants, for which it held a press conference on Jan. 18.

The WEF panel highlighted the initiative’s first two papers, which cover interoperability, governance and the consumer’s role in the metaverse of the future.

Huda Al Hashimi, one of the panelists and the deputy minister of cabinet affairs for strategic affairs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), framed the future of the metaverse as a space to break societal barriers and not recreate the same issues.

“We have to ask ourselves why we are still stuck in the domains we want to break through. We believe that a breakthrough will happen.”

Particularly when it comes to governmental bodies creating their presence in digital reality, Hashimi says the initiative’s vision has reimagined the role of regulators.

“We also see that regulators will be acting more like referees rather than gatekeepers. That code of conduct will actually take precedence over formulating policies.”

Across the globe, governments have been exploring the metaverse. The UAE has already launched a government-backed metaverse city as one of its many initiatives in digital reality.

Norwegian governmental offices have also opened up metaverse branches to cater to the generation of users.

Cathay Li, the head of Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment & Sport and member of the ExCom at the World Economic Forum, Geneva, said regulations and value creation are two key issues that needed to be understood for a digital reality that is beneficial for users.

“There is tremendous economic and societal value in this. But if it is unregulated, then there might be some issues with privacy, safety and security.”

Li said that the metaverse should not be looked at as an “end state” to all of the work and developments underway now. Rather it should be seen as an “ongoing digital transformation” of human experience in digital reality.

In addition to ideas of governance, the panelists touched on interoperability and user data generation within the metaverse.

Siu Yat, the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, noted that digital property rights are key to the interoperability needed in the next evolution of the metaverse. He said :

“If you don’t have judicial property rights, then you can actually have digital freedom — the freedom to transact because it’s always permissioned. I think that this lies at the foundation of making interoperability benefit everyone.”

All three panelists had a five-year vision of the metaverse that is more integrated into most people’s everyday life, along with clearer governance structures. “The metaverse will be part of our lives whether we like it or not,” said Hashimi.

Yat closed by highlighting that a metaverse in the near future will also have generated new economies, which could be on a national scale.

“New national economies will spring out of the metaverse, like a virtual society that is real because of all the transaction value and all the commerce that’s happening on it.”

He stressed that with more robust digital properties, users will actually be able to have a stake in these new digital economies. Recently, McKinsey reported that the metaverse could potentially create $5 trillion in value in the next seven years.

Bitcoin Suisse explains why Swiss is a crypto pivot point: Davos 2023

Bitcoin Suisse CEO emphasizes the importance of “Swiss quality” and “safe custody for the crypto industry.”

Switzerland is a “pivot point” for crypto adoption in Europe and continues to be the “center point of the next stage of institutionalization,” said Dr. Dirk Klee, CEO of Bitcoin Suisse.

Klee divulged why Switzerland is still the top spot for crypto in Europe and will continue to attract institutional investors in an exclusive Cointelegraph interview in Davos, Switzerland.

We have boots on the ground in Davos! Our reporter @gazza_jenks speaks to Dr. Dirk Klee, CEO of @BitcoinSuisseAG about Switzerland and the adoption of cryptocurrency at the @wef. #CTWEF23 pic.twitter.com/ka00dvWpVz

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 18, 2023

In discussion with Cointelegraph reporter Gareth Jenkinson, Klee explained:

“A lot of trust has been destroyed and eroded in the last year and we want to be kind of the center point of the next stage of institutionalization, making the place more accessible, easier to use, but also safer.”

Founded in 2013, Bitcoin Suisse is one of the oldest Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto companies specializing in asset storage, including “custody solutions deep in the Swiss mountains,” stated Klee.

Switzerland is a well-known safe haven for crypto in Europe. The landlocked country is recognized for its role in the inception of Ethereum and is home to Crypto Valley — a favorable environment for blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.

Switzerland is known for “Crypto Valley,” in the canton of Zug.

Switzerland also boasts the Bitcoin and crypto-friendly city of Lugano, which hosts an annual Bitcoin conference and has even onboarded McDonald’s into accepting Bitcoin Lightning payments.

However, even in Switzerland, crypto confidence took a knock in 2022, particularly in light of the FTX debacle and its contagion effects across the industry: “It’s a setback for the industry. It has destroyed a lot of trust and has also left a lot of investors harmed,” Klee explained.

In such an environment, it’s helpful to hark back to historic Swiss values. Switzerland is still a “safe safe place to do business.”

“The Swiss finish, the Swiss quality is a narrative and is a quality sign that this industry needs because you need to have a trusted place.”

Thousands of crypto enthusiasts have flocked to the crypto and blockchain events at the World Economic Forum. Hosted at the seat of the Alps, in the Davos ski resort, it appears the overarching bear market has not disturbed the Swiss charm.

Davos 2023: Education is key to driving sustainability in blockchain and beyond

Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr moderated a panel discussion at the 2023 Davos conference in Switzerland on sustainability in the blockchain world.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, brings together global leaders and thinkers across various industries to hone in on global issues each year. As the world of crypto and blockchain continues to push into the mainstream, it has become a topic of discussion at the legacy event.

Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr moderated a panel on Jan. 17, which touched on sustainability efforts in the blockchain industry.

Even though not all panelists come from the same background, they unanimously highlighted education and learning as the key to driving sustainability in emerging technologies during “The emergence of Breakthrough Technologies” panel.

The panel’s focus viewed sustainability in the blockchain industry through two lenses. One is in the “green” sense of the word, with a more energy-efficient and sustainable future for the environment. The other speaks to the long-term impact of projects and initiatives in the greater Web3 space.

Mark Mueller-Eberstein, the CEO of business consultancy Adgetec Corporation, pointed out that the industry does suffer from “greenwashing,” but verification standards that can be taken from the blockchain can lead to productivity in sustainability practices in the industry.

“Knowing that we can trust the data is extremely important. This is why I think blockchain especially is so important.”

He continued to say that educating the community, especially the next generation, will be “the cornerstone for all of us, as societies and individuals.“

Christina Korp, the president of Purpose Entertainment and founder of SPACE for a Better World, highlighted the significance of education to older generations with an example of a United States congressman aged over 70 who began educating himself on artificial intelligence.

“How can all these people make the decisions about what happens with the laws when they don’t even understand the technology or this new world?”

The chief financial officer and treasurer of the Hedera Foundation, Betsabe Botaitis, also touched on trust as a foundation for a more sustainable industry, especially she said, as the blockchain industry can sometimes have a bit of a negative reputation.

“We need to be careful with that because it is easy to think that a new idea can be immediately funded. And that’s not always the case.”

Botaitis used carbon credit tracking as an example of a trust-building niche, in which blockchain can be utilized for this transparency and verification.

“It’s such an honor to see how companies are coming together to really build this trust infrastructure, an immutable layer.”

Botaitis continued by saying that creating and leaving a sustainable legacy for the next generation is not just about wealth, but ensuring a safe environment for that wealth and education is the key.

“There’s very, very little technology that is given for the education of wealth management. I think that it is the private sector that needs to have that education, the regulators and everyone that is having this conversation.”

Education continues to be a major touch point in the Web3 space, with many brands and initiatives focusing on educating users alongside technological developments.