Will the SEC & CFTC steady crypto industry after the Clarity Act impasse?

Episode 37 of The Starting Block, hosted by The Block's Gareth Jenkinson, was broadcasted live with Injective Labs Head of Public Policy John Medel.

Key topics

What happened to the Clarity Act in the Senate and what we can take away from it
SEC creating an innovation exemption that allows for onchain trading of tokenized stocks. There will be more to come from them.
Helping legislators understand what DeFi is and what it means to trade with no middlemen.
Injectives efforts to help further the conversation and other companies doing the same.
Midterm elections could bring about changes to Congress that may benefit the bill.

Summary

John Medel, Head of Public Policy at Injective Labs sits down with Gareth Jenkinson on The Starting Block to talk about the Clarity Act's failure to pass through the Senate, regulators moving forward with their own agendas on Crypto ,and why he believes the next congress will be friendlier to crypto.

Medel discusses why Injective is still optimistic about the market structure bill not passing a procedural vote in the Senate last tuesday. Injective as a US Company wants to continue building in America and they are happy that regulators have jumped on this issue with an expansive list of topics to tackle. The SEC created their innovation exemption right after the procedural vote allowing for onchain trading of tokenized stocks. We can expect more from them. Medel also mentioned some things that we are not seeing the headlines for such as the SEC looking to create a rule around licensing for transfer agents. Rulemaking is not as flashy as Congress but there are many details to consider on how our industry can continue to grow.

When it comes to politics Medel states that nothing shocks him at this point in washington. Of course having a piece of legislation passed would be great because it has that longevity that regulations don't but he feels that over the past year we built something that can continue to grow from. There are 120+ topics that were agreed upon and an ethical standard that he says no one has ever done. Lawmakers understand the technology better then when I first started in the space 5 years ago. Blockchain and digital assets will be used in finance its just a matter of what kind of rules we put in place.

Medel goes into brief detail about what Injective is. A Decentralized Layer one blockchain that is creating financial infra with fintechs and TradFi institutions. Most of his role is educational. Helping people understand how fast this technology is growing and who these builders are. How can we prevent any negative effects from new technologies. Our industry needs to learn how to advocate better when it comes to DeFi. Many legislators don't understand what that means. There has been a group effort from many companies including Solana and Coinbase.

Medel thinks we will see a change in Congress come the midterms. Whether it be the party that takes over or even a generational shift of lawmakers. Which will allow us to continue to educate them and create a safe environment for consumers while innovating and
creating jobs in America.

OUTLINE
00:06 - Introduction
01:47 - The Block Briefing
07:19 - The Hot Seat: Clarity Act Impasse
10:10 - SEC's Innovation Exemption
11:46 - Politics vs. Progress
14:59 - Injective's DC Education Push
17:14 - Post-Midterms Road Ahead

About the guest

John Medel serves as the Head of Public Policy at Injective Labs. He is leading Injective's efforts to work with regulatory bodies and lawmakers through the Injective Policy Institute. Earlier, he worked at Coinbase in Public Policy and at Goldman Sachs.

Guest links:
Injective Labs - https://x.com/InjectiveLabs

Host links:
Gareth Jenkinson - https://x.com/gazza_jenks
The Block - https://x.com/TheBlockCo