Coinbase executive hopes for better cryptocurrency regulations after the election
Shan Aggarwal discussed the state of crypto at Messari's Mainnet conference
With less than 35 days until the U.S. presidential election, the crypto industry seems to be hoping for more favorable regulations in the near future.
At Messari’s annual mainnet conference in New York City, Shan Aggarwal, the vice president of corporate and business development at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Ventures, touched on the industry’s regulatory uncertainties. “We’re hoping for the best,” he said in an exclusive interview with Quartz.
His remarks highlight the sector’s anticipation that the coming election could lead to clearer, more supportive legislation.
“The current SEC, it’s hard to go down from here,” Aggarwal said. “[Gary Gensler] has taken a regulation-by-enforcement approach towards the entire crypto industry, including Coinbase.”
Aggarwal is scheduled to speak at the conference Wednesday, where he will discuss Coinbase’s investments, mergers, and acquisitions over the years, as well as its future strategic direction.
This year, Coinbase partnered with traditional financial giants such as BlackRock to offer a platform for the tokenization of funds. Of that collaboration, Aggarwal said, “Coinbase acts as the bridge between traditional finance and crypto that touches different customer segments including retail customers, institutions, businesses.”
Mainnet conference is about the future of crypto
Messari is a leading provider of market intelligence for the crypto and Web3 sectors. Its three-day conference brings together prominent crypto leaders, investors, and industry professionals to explore the rising trend of tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) and integrating traditional financial instruments on blockchain — a signal of decentralized technologies moving toward mainstream adoption.
This year, Messari made headlines when CEO Ryan Selkis resigned after a series of controversial tweets about U.S. immigrants, violence toward Trump opponents, and civil war.
During 2021’s Mainnet event, the SEC served two subpoenas to the speaker of the event, Terraform Labs founder and then-CEO Do Kwon. Kwon, once a crypto king, was arrested in March 2023 for forging travel documents while trying to flee Montenegro. He is currently awaiting extradition to either the U.S. or South Korea, where he faces potential charges.
Messari launches AI-powered assistant for crypto
At this year’s conference, Messari introduced Messari Copilot, an AI assistant designed for the crypto industry. This tool delivers text-based answers to user queries based on Messari’s research and data, providing a comprehensive view of the crypto landscape.