Bitcoin and Ethereum were not regulated according to an interview of Joe Lubin. Joseph Lubin is a Canadian-American entrepreneur. He has founded and co-founded several companies including the Swiss-based EthSuisse, contributing heavily to Ethereum, the decentralized cryptocurrency platform. Lubin is founder of ConsenSys, a Brooklyn-based software-production studio.
Governments around the world have started to catch up with regulation for new blockchain-related projects, but the underlying technology still attracts entrepreneurial activity. Forkast.News Senior Editor Sam Reynolds sits down with ConsenSys Founder Joseph Lubin on the sidelines of Hong Kong FinTech Week to find out more about how the Ethereum blockchain infrastructure is dealing with regulation.
Against the backdrop of Hong Kong Securities Futures Commission CEO Ashley Alder announcing new regulatory framework for virtual asset trading platforms, projects related to blockchain have seen an increasing amount of engagement in the industry from governments around the world in 2019. This includes Chinese President Xi Jinping recently promoting the development of blockchain technology in the country. Bitcoin and Ethereum were not regulated in the beginning.
While blockchain and cryptocurrency companies adapt to the new regulations, Lubin says “the technology shouldn’t matter that much as long as you’re doing all the right things according to securities law, you should be able to sell your securities to appropriate buyers.”
Add to that Ethereum 2.0’s looming launch, ConsenSys has been working on various projects including a space program in which “any person can participate and contribute.” The project aims to create a collaborative platform to organize efforts such as space sustainability in a decentralized and democratic way, according to the ConsenSys Space site.
Lubin said that — to attract investors — any project has to promise that its token will increase in price. Furthermore, given that the appreciation is usually obtained through the work of developers, by definition, an asset that is being sold is a security. Because of this:
“And so securities law is then implicated and now you can’t sell a utility token as it’s not a utility token, it’s a tokenized security. You can’t sell it broadly and equitably.”
ConsenSys is a blockchain software technology company founded by Joseph Lubin, with its headquarters in Brooklyn and additional United States offices in Washington DC and San Francisco.
Joseph Lubin founded ConsenSys in early 2015 as a software foundry to develop decentralized software services and applications that operate on the Ethereum blockchain.
As of July 2018, ConsenSys has more than 900 employees. Its Brooklyn’s office is located in an old industrial building in and was described by The New York Times as “essentially one large room, with all the messy trademarks of a start-up operation, including white boards on the walls and computer parts lying around.”
On October 31st, 2018, ConsenSys acquired Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company.
ConsenSys is involved in multiple projects and initiatives for blockchain uses and applications.
- Meridio is a platform to create, manage, and trade fractional ownership shares in real estate assets.
- Ether.camp is an Ethereum blockchain explorer.
- Blockapps Strato is a partnership with Microsoft Azure to build industry-specific blockchain (database) applications.
- TransActive Grid is a joint venture with LO3 Energy which proposes to allow peer-to-peer electricity sales
- Ujo Music. Imogen Heap used the technology to release her single Tiny Human.
- DAOWars is a project where human players design autonomous agents to outfight and outwit other agents created by competitors
- GroupGnosis is a platform for prediction markets
- EtherSign is a cryptographic tool for managing and signing documents
- Blockstack Labs is a project with Microsoft to address human rights issues by creating identity systems on the blockchain.
