World Economic Forum

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.

Bitcoin dialogue at WEF requires ‘open-mind’ — Davos 2023

“It’s about taking inspiration from what we’ve done.” Lugano’s Plan B hopes to drive Bitcoin adoption dialogue at future World Economic Forum conferences.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) convenes in Davos annually, taking over the Swiss skiing town. The main promenade is flush with events and companies renting out properties, with an increasing presence from companies in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space.

The entrance to the WEF compound is restricted by cement barriers and security personnel, drawing an invisible line between the conference and the rest of Davos. Curiously, the last building on the fringe of the conference was branded with familiar logos, that of Polygon and the ever-recognizable Bitcoin (BTC) symbol.

Cointelegraph stumbled upon Pietro Poretti while shooting footage of the Bitcoin logo emblazoned on the Tech Lodge stand. Poretti is the director of Lugano’s Economic Development department. This Swiss city has opened up BTC and crypto payments for various municipal accounts for its residents through its Lugano Plan B project.

Bitcoin was not on the official agenda of the WEF in 2023. Crypto and blockchain featured across different workshops during the week, but these conversations focused more on Web3, the metaverse, central bank digital currencies and blockchain payment systems rather than decentralized cryptocurrency adoption.

*Pietro Poretti speaks to Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson outside the World Economic Forum compound in Davos in January 2023.*

2023 is the second year that Lugano’s Plan B set up shop in Davos, as it looks to meet new people, create connections and share its story driving real-world BTC adoption and use cases. The project has been operational since March 2022 and Poretti says while it is in its infancy, it’s about educating and demonstrating the utility of cryptocurrencies:

“It’s about promoting crypto payments throughout the city by the city administration. Soon in Lugano, you’ll be able to pay taxes, fines, anything you pay to the municipality.”

Lugano Plan B merchants accept payment in the native LVGA tokens, Bitcoin, Lightning Network payments and Tether (USDT). This year, sharing experience with other industries, policymakers and public officials has been a focus. Poretti says payments innovation has been approached with “small but very concrete steps” focused on providing different but complementary payment gateways.

“I think that at the end of the day if people see the benefits of having an alternative, it’s not something necessarily will replace or is going to replace.”

Lugano’s cryptocurrency payments initiative could serve as a tangible case study for the adoption of decentralized payment options worldwide, including inside the WEF. That has not yet happened, but representatives from other cities have asked Lugano for the “hows and whys” of their Plan B initiative, which Poretti describes as progress:

“We think that it’s not about duplicating the exact same approach elsewhere in the world, but maybe it’s about taking inspiration right from what we have done and and and learn something also from our experience. I think that in this respect, Lugano still is a little bit of a pioneer.”

While the likes of Ripple and Circle were prominent cryptocurrency ecosystem participants involved in WEF workshops, Poretti believes a more open-minded approach will be required for Lugano to sit at the table to outline their crypto-adoption efforts.

This requires many moving parts, including financial and legal services participation and political support for similar initiatives. Perhaps most importantly, Poretti believes users will drive discourse and adoption of solutions like Bitcoin:

“If your citizens are on board and they say, ‘let’s try, we are curious, we are open,’ then when we start seeing the benefits.”

Poretti believes this drives job creation, stimulates economic growth and ensures technological and digital adoption.

Bitcoin Suisse was another Swiss-based cryptocurrency industry player that Cointelegraph managed to connect with in Davos. CEO Dirk Klee highlighted the company’s role in founding Crypto Valley and its early work to drive BTC adoption in Switzerland, which has become a leader for worldwide cryptocurrency adoption in many respects.

“I would call it the world headquarters of wealth management and the early adopters, right? We’re partially crypto natives, but who grew into wealthy individuals early on.”

Klee said that Switzerland’s reputation as a well-regulated and safe place to do business has also helped the local cryptocurrency ecosystem grow over time while conceding that its an ongoing journey.

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

Highlighting tough market conditions over the last year, Klee suggested that the industry is at a point where trust and confidence need to be built before considering more participation in events like the WEF:

“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.”

Klee also wants to see the likes of Bitcoin Suisse potentially involved in cryptocurrency workshops in future WEF conferences and described going mainstream as “the ultimate goal.“

The likes of Lugano and various Swiss regions are prime examples of the potential for cryptocurrency adoption for everyday payments. Furthermore, the presence of Plan B and Bitcoin Suisse in Davos proves that the industry is driving its own conversations with interested parties outside the walls of the World Economic Forum.

Inside the World Economic Forum: Circle, Ripple reflect on Davos 2023

A handful of cryptocurrency industry players who took part in workshops at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting paint a picture of increased collaboration within the space in 2023.

Key figures from the wider cryptocurrency space painted a picture of increased dialogue and collaboration at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology remained but a small part of the projects and initiatives discussed and workshopped at the annual WEF conference high in the Swiss Alps. However, an increased number of sessions focused on the sector suggests that the wider world is looking for synergies between traditional finance and decentralized finance.

This theme emerged from a number of interviews conducted by Cointelegraph during January’s conference in Davos. Senior executives from XRP issuer Ripple and USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin firm Circle highlighted the importance of embracing solutions and systems that are creating tangible utility and value.

Circle and Ripple had a bird’s eye view of the wider crypto and blockchain conversation in Davos, given their participation outside the WEF conference at a myriad of crypto-focused events like Blockchain Hub Davos and GBBC’s Blockchain Central.

More than a Ripple

Ripple’s team rented out office space in Davos to conduct meetings and business during the WEF conference. Cointelegraph met Ripple’s APAC managing director, Brooks Entwistle, inside their Davos hub to discuss the firm’s involvement at this year’s conference.

Entwistle painted an interesting picture as an individual who has been to past WEF Annual Meetings in different roles for different companies and organizations from as early as 2009. The presence of crypto and blockchain industry participants has come to the fore in recent years, as Entwistle explained:

“What you notice over time is the crowd changes, the promenade changes and, certainly with crypto over the past few years, that has been the case. In May [2022], you could not walk down the promenade without being offered a Bitcoin pizza.”

However, the prolonged downturn across conventional and cryptocurrency markets, coupled with seismic events like the collapse of FTX late last year, has made a noticeable mark on the number of crypto ecosystem participants that set up shop at the conference in 2023.

The Managing Director of @Ripple, @BrooksEntwistle, took a moment to speak to our reporter @gazza_jenks about what’s to come for the company and $XRP in 2023.#CTWEF23 #davos2023 pic.twitter.com/kxmLMIxz03

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 20, 2023

The likes of FTX, who had a stall at the conference last year, were nowhere to be seen. Instead, blockchain infrastructure providers like Filecoin and Hedera had a notable presence, alongside the likes of Circle. Other firms maintained a presence outside the conference at their own event, like CV Labs’ Blockchain Hub and, at Davos’ Hotel Europe, GBBC’s Blockchain Central.

But Entwistle drew a silver lining around the decreased number of crypto stalls along the promenade, suggesting that more fruitful dialogue has been possible at the WEF conference:

“It’s definitely more muted now, but we’re actually having a really good WEF. With some of the noise and hype gone, the conversations and ability to go deep present more of an opportunity.”

Ripple’s APAC head highlighted his belief that progress was being made in terms of dialogue and understanding of crypto given that the number of panels within the event had increased from two sessions in 2022 to seven in 2023, stating:

“If you think about the two parallel tracks, the industry pushing the agenda outside on the street, around Davos and around the region and then what’s going on inside. That infiltration over time, why it’s important, why regulators and banks need to talk about it, and why it should be a broader topic than just what’s happening at a night cap here or a panel there along the promenade.”

Whether there should be more representation from the crypto and blockchain ecosystem inside WEF is a more complex question to consider. Entwistle believes topics with a broad reach outside of the crypto ecosystem need wider representation with projects, protocols and tools that offer value and insights into vexing global issues. He added:

“You need all those different forms represented, but I also think we have to use those slots wisely, use the panels wisely when you do get in front of this group and make sure that people understand real-world utility.”

Entwistle said the “general thrust” of crypto conversations inside the WEF Annual Meeting was focused on why the industry exists and what it’s building. For Ripple, that has been cross-border payments and liquidity provision. Other crypto proponents have been driving conversations around blockchain-based CBDCs and carbon credit initiatives.

While a more specific discourse took place at the WEF Annual Meeting, conversations and business between TradFi and DeFi flowed freely along the Davos promenade. Cointelegraph moderated a number of panels during the week, one of which involved mainstream banks Bpifrance and Arab Bank discussing TradFi’s relationship with the industry.

A key takeaway was the fact that both these traditional financial institutions were offering cryptocurrency custody services for private clients, clearly showing that TradFi is already exposed to the asset class. Regulatory and process controls remain hurdles, but the industries are already cross-pollinating on their own terms.

What remains to be seen is whether the cryptocurrency and blockchain space will continue to camp out along the promenade in the years to come. Entwistle thinks that may well be the case, given the proximity and ability for the sectors to intermingle, stating, “I would expect that Web3, crypto, blockchain, if we do our job and convince the world that we are actually needed, and we certainly believe we are, that we’ll have a place at the table for a long time here.”

Coming for Circle

Cory Then, Circle’s vice president of global policy, said he’d seen a lot of idealistic individuals trying to cooperate and marshall resources in a way that would benefit the world economy.

Speaking to Cointelegraph after moderating a panel at Hotel Europe, Then highlighted the importance of exploring the role of blockchain-based payments systems like Circle with regard to the future of finance and global payments:

“We’re out there talking to policymakers, we’re talking to traditional companies outside of tech, who are looking at using USDC as a payment solution, we’re talking to tech companies, to figure out how we might integrate with the work that they’re doing. We’re talking to humanitarian organizations.”

According to Then, Circle has had hundreds of conversations with policymakers from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Mexico and more as USDC continues to become more readily available as a stablecoin solution.

Cointelegraph’s @gazza_jenks got to speak with @circle‘s Head of Global Policy @ThenCorey regarding the utility value of stablecoins and the value $USDC brings to fast settlement in the TradFi world.#WEF #Davos2023 #CTWEF23 pic.twitter.com/6WPBLd1gWr

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 19, 2023

Key drivers around adoption were focused on how decentralized payment systems can help large swaths of unbanked people around the world. Then said that stablecoins can improve financial systems and inclusion in areas that are largely unserviced by banks and financial institutions:

“You have a phone. You download a personal wallet onto that phone. And next thing you know, you have access to a payment mechanism that is quite reliable and you can get U.S. dollars or you can get Euro coins.”

Then suggested that continued utility offered by protocols, platforms and institutions in the sector and less “betting on price fluctuations” would drive further inclusion.

Driving collaboration in a fragmented world

Brett McDowell, chairman of Hedera, also gave his perspective having been involved both inside the WEF conference and along the promenade in Davos.

Hedera’s institutional, open-source decentralized network is used by a variety of enterprises, universities and Web3 organizations globally. The proof-of-stake blockchain platform’s “performance-optimized” Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts allow for the creation of diverse Web3 applications and ecosystems.

McDowell told Cointelegraph that the impression of fragmentation between the WEF conference and the crypto and blockchain ecosystem was understandable, but highlighted his own experience of continued collaboration:

“As someone who was privileged to be on both sides of the fence this week for those conversations with leaders of the industry and the World Economic Forum directly, the conversation is a lot more fluid than it looks.”

McDowell said that the WEF’s ability to assemble stakeholders from different industries that might otherwise be separated from one another was invaluable, bringing policymakers to the table alongside private and public enterprises. He added:

“The WEF has unparalleled convening power. Blockchain and crypto is really about building trust layers, anchoring truth and then using cryptography to ensure truth over time on immutable ledgers. That’s why it’s about trust and it starts with relationships.”

The environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework, a focus of the WEF, is another sector that could leverage the many applications of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. As McDowell explained, “This is trust technology. It’s the perfect backbone for ESG applications at scale and that is what we need, we need network effects.”

The Hedera chairman said that the WEF was actively considering blockchain-based tools and applications to tackle topics like climate change and power digital economies and tokenization of assets.

The organization might still be at a stage where it is learning about the power of these relatively new technologies, but the growing discourse inside the World Economic Forum emerged as a positive takeaway from Davos 2023.

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.

BTC metrics exit capitulation — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

Bitcoin retains higher levels after gaining 40% or more this month, but concerns of a BTC price correction are never far away.

Bitcoin (BTC) starts the last week of January in fine form after sealing its highest weekly close in five months.

Despite opposition, the largest cryptocurrency is holding on to its newfound strength and continues to surprise market participants.

This is no mean feat — market sentiment has plenty to spook it and initiate a rethink among investors. Macro conditions remain uncertain, while within Bitcoin, research has highlighted whales on exchanges potentially moving prices artificially with huge amounts of liquidity.

Nonetheless, Bitcoin has seen its most impressive gains percentage-wise in over a year, and hopes remain that the good times will endure. What could that depend on?

Cointelegraph takes a look at some of the major factors to keep in mind as a January unlike any other draws to a close.

Bitcoin analysts bank on “continuation” to come

It is no secret that Bitcoin is facing its fair share of suspicion as it delivers 40% gains over just three weekly candles.

Demands for a major correction and continuation of the bear market have long been public, and some of the more conservative trading voices insist that macro lows are not yet in.

That inflection point has still not materialized, however. At its latest weekly candle close, BTC/USD traded at just above $22,700, marking its best performance since last summer.

Thereafter, the pair consolidated into the start of Monday, likewise retaining ground recovered over the week.

“Lows swept, juicy highs above, would be the perfect time to put in a nice running flat before continuation up,” trader Credible Crypto summarized about the short-term outlook.

Credible Crypto’s is characteristic of some of the more bullish takes on the market, less concerned by the idea that the whole move may simply be a relief rally within a broader bearish structure.

“Total market capitalization broke through the 200-Day EMA,” a similarly optimistic Michaël van de Poppe, Cointelegraph contributor and CEO of trading firm Eight, added at the weekend, referring to exponential moving averages.

“Good signs for crypto, as continuation seems likely. In between continuation to $25K or a correction to $19.5K. To continue -> hold above 200-Day EMA and break resistance. 200-Day EMA potential entry point.”

The 200-day EMA stood at $21,056 at the time of writing, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.

*BTC/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp) with 200EMA. Source: TradingView*

More conservative appraisals of the situation focused among other things on exchange order book composition.

In its latest analysis, Material Indicators noted BTC price action rising and falling as major area of bid liquidity came and went on Binance.

“The BTC buy wall at 20,200 has been moved to push price up to test resistance on the trend line,” part of commentary stated.

“I don’t trust this entity at $22k any more than I did at $20k, but happy to trade in their wake.”

*BTC/USD order book data (Binance). Source: Material Indicators/ Twitter*

A further post doubled down on a previous assertion that price action was being “choreographed” and giving no attention to surrounding industry news, notably the bankruptcy of crypto lending firm, Genesis Trading.

“Fundamentally nothing has changed, yet BTC is testing macro level resistance. Meanwhile, some of the largest institutions in crypto are headed for bankruptcy. Probably nothing,” Material Indicators tweeted.

Macro optimism creeps back in

Macro analysis shows a similar split among those involved in crypto markets themselves.

With the United States Federal Reserve’s latest decision on interest rate hikes due Feb. 1, sources are reading into falling inflation in increasingly diverging ways.

Meanwhile, the 2023 World Economic Forum, despite some crypto opposition, failed to dent sentiment significantly.

For Dan Tapiero, founder and CEO of 10T Holdings, it is simply a question of how bullishly risk assets will respond to changing tides at the Fed as it loosens monetary policy in future.

“How will Fed respond when inflation goes below 0? A long good year coming for BTC ETH gold,” he told Twitter followers.

“USD bear mkt and 10yrs below 3% to support main trends. Digital asset ecosystem (DAE) to thrive as clearing prices reached without government support. Free markets work!”

That position is conspicuously unlike some other popular takes, in particular last week’s predictions from ex-BitMEX CEO, Arthur Hayes. The Fed pivot on rates, he warned, will come with dire losses for crypto before the recovery sets in.

Credible Crypto, meanwhile, also sees no reason not to be bullish on risk assets now.

“Talks of rate hikes slowing to 25 basis points as inflation decreases for 6 consecutive months, meanwhile the $SPX has made a picture perfect retest of prior ATH and looks ready to head back up. All that panic and fear, for what?” he queried on Jan. 23.

*S&P 500 annotated chart. Source: Credible Crypto/ Twitter*

The last week of the month meanwhile contains various potential short-term market triggers in the form of U.S. macro data releases.

These include GDP growth on Jan. 26 and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index on Jan. 27.

DXY swoons as support nowhere to be seen

On a related macro note, special attention arguably deserves to be given to the fate of the U.S. dollar this week.

As crypto markets rally, dollar strength is crashing, swiftly losing ground won during its surge to twenty-year highs last year.

The U.S. dollar index (DXY) is typically inversely correlated to risk asset performance, and Bitcoin has shown itself to be particularly sensitive to major moves.

Currently, DXY is trading at around 101.7, having tested 101.5 — more than six-month lows — for a second time this week. After losing it as support at the end of November, the index’s 200-day moving average has acted as resistance since.

“Don’t need much else to tell you what happens next The biggest short squeeze markets have ever seen is upon us,” entrepreneur and crypto commentator “Coosh” Alemzadeh thus declared alongside a chart comparing DXY to Bitcoin and Nasdaq performance at the weekend.

The dollar’s decline versus Chinese bonds also caught the attention of popular analyst TechDev, who showed that impulse moves on Bitcoin top out within a year of a key level being breeched on Chinese ten-year bonds.

“New multi-month lows for the U.S. Dollar Index DXY, after getting rejected perfectly on the horizontal support/resistance range & the 200 day moving average cloud,” Caleb Franzen, Senior market analyst at Cubic Analytics, added.

“That rejection was the moment I realized & accepted that momentum was biased to the downside.”

*U.S. dollar index (DXY) 1-day candle chart with 200MA. Source: TradingView*

On-chain metrics emerge from the abyss

Bitcoin really is in the midst of a renaissance, on-chain data is concluding.

Compiled by analytics firm Glassnode, multiple classic indicators of Bitcoin market health are now exiting their capitulation zones.

These include — perhaps unsurprisingly given the 40% upside move this month — the amount of the BTC supply held at a profit and loss.

Net unrealized profit/loss (NUPL) is now out of its lowest boundary and heading towards better profitability, despite notably not dipping as low as during the pits of prior bear markets.

*Bitcoin net unrealized profit/loss (NUPL) chart. Source: Glassnode*

As Glassnode confirms, this applies equality to short-term holder (STH) and long-term holder (LTH) NUPL. The two classes of Bitcoin investor are described as entities holding coins for less than or more than 155 days, respectively.

Similarly bullish is Bitcoin’s market value to realized value Z-score (MVRV-Z), which measures “the ratio between the difference of market cap and realized cap, and the standard deviation of all historical market cap data, i.e. (market cap – realized cap) / std(market cap),” or “when Bitcoin is over/undervalued relative to its ‘fair value.’” as Glassnode explains.

MVRV-Z has now left its green “undervalued” zone for the first time since a brief spike in early November, also marking its first such move since the FTX debacle.

“MVRV Z-Score just dragged itself out of the green accumulation zone,” Philip Swift, co-founder of trading suite Decentrader, confirmed last week.

*Bitcoin MVRV-Z score chart. Source: Glassnode*

Bitcoin mining hash rate, difficulty at all-time highs

It is already time for another Bitcoin network difficulty adjustment, and this week should preserve existing all-time highs.

According to estimates from BTC.com, difficulty will edge up by approximately 0.5% in six days’ time.

*Bitcoin network fundamentals overview (screenshot). Source: BTC.com*

This will add an incremental cherry on the cake to a mining sector already in the midst of major flux. Despite recent low prices, competition among miners has surged this month, adding pressure to those unable to keep costs to a minimum.

Glassnode additionally shows that versus thirty days ago, miners on aggregate hold less BTC. It was at that time that price gains began to materialize.

*Bitcoin 30-day miner net position change chart. Source: Glassnode*

Raw data from MiningPoolStats meanwhile puts Bitcoin’s hash rate — an estimate of processing power dedicated to mining — also at new all-time highs.

*Bitcoin hash rate raw data chart (screenshot). Source: MiningPoolStats*

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Crypto to play ‘major role’ in UAE trade: foreign trade minister

UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade Thani Al-Zeyoudi noted that as the country has attracted a lot of talent from the crypto sector.

Crypto will play a “major role” in the United Arab Emirates’ global trade moving forward, says the UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade Thani Al-Zeyoudi.

Speaking with Bloomberg on Jan. 20 in Davos Switzerland — where world leaders are currently gathered for the 2023 World Economic Forum — Al-Zeyoudi provided a host of updates regarding the UAE’s trade partnerships and policies heading into 2023.

Commenting on the crypto sector, the minister stated that “crypto will play a major role for UAE trade going forward,” as he outlined that “the most important thing is that we ensure global governance when it comes to cryptocurrencies and crypto companies.”

Al-Zeyoudi went on to suggest that as the UAE works on its crypto regulatory regime, the focus will be on making the Gulf country a hub with crypto-friendly policies that also have sufficient protections in place:

“We started attracting some of the companies to the country with the aim that we’ll build together the right governance and legal system, which are needed.”

The comments from Al-Zeyoudi come just a week after the UAE Cabinet introduced new regulation which essentially ensures that entities engaging in crypto activities must secure a license and approval from the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA).

If companies fail to do so they will face fines of up to $2.7 million under the new law. The move adds to the “Guiding Principles” for digital asset regulation and supervision that were published by the financial regulator of Abu Dhabi’s Global Market free economic zone in September.

The principles outline a friendly stance towards crypto while also pledging to comply with international standards in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) and supporting financial sanctions.

The UAE’s minister of state for artificial intelligence and the digital economy, Omar Sultan Al Olama also appeared at the World Economic Forum as part of a crypto-focused panel on Jan. 19.

Al Olama noted that while the FTX debacle was a major concern, the UAE still wants to be a hub despite the whole ordeal.

“Them [crypto companies] calling the UAE home is definitely a positive thing,” he said.

The minister also distanced the UAE from assertions that its cities like Dubai tend to become key spots for disgraced crypto figures to flee to, arguing that “bad actors don’t have a nationality and don’t have a destination.”

He did stress however that governments do need to work together to stop bad actors from going awol overseas.

“You will see them everywhere. You will see them in the Bahamas, you will see them in New York, London, and what we need to do as governments is to work together, with the industry as well, to ensure that if someone does something wrong he can’t move from one place to the other,” he said.

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.

WEF 2023: CBDCs need to find a ‘real problem’ to solve, says SARB governor

The central bank governor highlighted that the South African Reserve Bank would rather follow than become a first mover in retail CBDCs.

South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago highlighted issues surrounding the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, held in Davos, Switzerland.

In a WEF 2023 panel discussion dubbed “In the Face of Fragility: Central Bank Digital Currencies” Kganyago voiced his opinions on CBDCs and questioned if there’s a real problem solved by this new technology. Kganyago said:

“Is this a solution looking for a problem or do we have some real problem that we are trying to solve?”

The central bank governor also highlighted that the countries which are researching and looking to introduce CBDCs highlighted several reasons for its implementation. This includes the modernization of the central bank, making national payment systems more efficient, dealing with domestic market failure and strong financial inclusion.

However, the government official raised the question of demand. Kganyago pointed out there has to be a national conversation before introducing CBDCs. He argued that before introducing this to the public, central banks should make sure that the people actually want to use it.

Following these points, Kganyago mentioned that the SARB is taking a cautious approach when it comes to CBDCs. “We are going to be good students when it comes to retail CBDCs and would rather be a follower than to be a first mover,” he said.

Back in 2021, the SARB governor also voiced opposition to crypto being deemed as currencies. The government official said that crypto only meets two out of three requirements for currencies, arguing that it lacks general adoption.

In other parts of the WEF 2023 event at Davos, Cointelegraph reporter Gareth Jenkinson spoke with Ava Labs CEO Emin Gun Sirer and discussed decentralized finance and its role in complementing traditional finance. Sirer noted that the two financial worlds are now merging despite their differing values in the beginning.

WEF 2023: CBDCs need to find a ‘real problem’ to solve, says SARB governor

The central bank governor highlighted that the South African Reserve Bank would rather follow than become a first mover in retail CBDCs.

“Is this a solution looking for a problem or do we have some real problem that we are trying to solve?”

The central bank governor also highlighted that the countries that are researching and looking to introduce CBDCs highlighted several reasons for its implementation. This includes the modernization of the central bank, making national payment systems more efficient, dealing with domestic market failure and strong financial inclusion.

WEF publishes new in-depth guide to DAOs to air issues, encourage development

The World Economic Forum’s “Decentralized Autonomous Organization Toolkit” is the fruit of the labor of over 100 experts in a concise discussion format.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) released a “toolkit” for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) on Jan. 17. More than 100 experts contributed to the document’s attempt to provide “a starting point for DAOs to develop effective operational, governance and legal strategies.”

The 37-page so-called toolkit is explanatory in nature, with concise but encyclopedic entries on DAOs and related topics. It described the toolkit as “a set of adaptable resources for key stakeholders to help realize the full potential of this emerging form.” DAOs have “the potential to address many of the shortcomings of the traditional firm while also realizing more equitable governance and operations,” according to the document.

The World Economic Forum has published a toolkit on DAOs pic.twitter.com/iVn9E7WWHh

— gonbe (@gonbegood) January 17, 2023

The discussion begins with a section titled “What are DAOs” and goes on to cover DAO operations, governance and legal structures. That was followed by recommendations for each of those areas, which were also provided in a discussion format and tended to be somewhat generalized. For example:

“Empowering local ‘ambassadors’ or community managers with specialized knowledge of a DAO community can help facilitate onboarding and other key operational processes.”

The discussion did not mince words when it had points to make, however:

“Creating adequate policy and legal frameworks for DAOs is crucial to realizing the benefits and mitigating the risks of this novel organizational form. The creation of such regimes is complicated by the existence of several proposals, such as the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework proposed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the US Infrastructure Bill, which could create competing requirements for DAOs.”

This is not the first look WEF has taken at DAOs, or even its first toolkit. The WEF published the “Decentralized Finance: (DeFi) Policy-Maker Toolkit” in June 2021 and a follow-up report in June 2022.