The Briefing Memo from The Department of XYZ

August 2024

August 21, 2024

The Briefing Memo

August 2024 - If you’re new here, welcome to The Briefing Memo, which features our latest insights and updates.

3 Questions for Department Advisor Andrew Jacobson

For this month’s Briefing Memo we spoke with Department Advisor Andrew Jacobson, Head of Legal for ETF issuer 21.co and 21Shares. He shares his perspective on the recent ETF approvals in the United States and the evolving global regulatory landscape. As a former regulator, Andrew also shares his advice for regulators involved in the digital asset sector and for founders building blockchain related companies. He’s got some golden insights you won’t want to miss.

3 Questions for Department Advisor Andrew Jacobson

Andrew Jacobson is the Head of Legal (Global) at 21.co and 21Shares and was previously an enforcement attorney at the New York State Department of Financial Services and an attorney at Seward & Kissel. You can find him on X at @AndrewJacobson_.

www.departmentofxyz.com/blog/andrewjacobson

Portfolio news

Bridge: Launched with Bitwage, which helps global workers get paid through stablecoins, and Coinbase Wallet.
Circuit: Published a guide to digital asset custody.
RWA.xyz: Partnered with WisdomTree Prime to publish a new report on tokenized precious metals and announced an integration with Near Protocol.
Mountain Protocol and Superstate: Partnered to whitelist Superstate’s USTB treasury fund as part of Mountain’s USDM Reserves. Superstate also announced an integration with Chainlink and Mountain announced a native integration on Optimism.
Swaye: Launched user generated markets in beta mode.

Department updates

Advisor Ashley Ebersole was interviewed by The Block on topics including the SEC’s approval of Ethereum ETFs and and two NFT projects’ lawsuit against the SEC.
Advisor Ji Kim was quoted in CoinTelegraph regarding IRS updates to its draft crypto tax reporting forms and interviewed by Bloomberg regarding the upcoming US election.
Advisor Gareth Rhodes met with met with a delegation from the Bank of Indonesia to discuss financial regulation.
Advisor Amanda Wick appeared on Bloomberg TV to discuss crypto’s involvement in politics.

What we’re reading and listening to

Bankless Podcast: Nate Silver: SBF, The 2024 Election, & Prediction Markets — Nate Silver discusses his new book on risk taking as well as insights related to venture capital and prediction markets.
Bloomberg: Crypto Is Booming Again in New York as Sentiment Turns Positive — Bloomberg reports on New York City as a central gathering place for founders and projects in the crypto ecosystem.
Washington Post: How Four US Presidents Unleashed Economic Warfare Across the Globe — Deep dive into US sanctions policy and the limitations of its effectiveness in the wake of increased usage.
Harvard Business Review: The Race to Dominate Stablecoins — An overview for a generalist audience on the growth of stablecoins and how they fit in the evolution of payments.

On the horizon

We’ll be in Denver, Dallas, and San Francisco over the coming weeks. Reach out if you’d like to meet up!