The Global Standards Mapping Initiative (GSMI) is an unprecedented effort undertaken by the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) and World Economic Forum in partnership with blockchain and digital asset leaders across industry, academia, and industry consortia groups. The overarching intent was to outline a path towards universally accepted standards, which would allow the blockchain and the digital assets ecosystem to scale and progress. Several key trends and insights, which could be useful for other industry bodies in their quest for setting standards, were identified in the process.
The GSMI is an unprecedented effort to map and analyze data from over 30 standards-setting entities, 185 jurisdictions, and nearly 400 industry consortia. The final products include two reports (“Legal & Regulatory” and “Technical”) and an interactive map of blockchain and digital asset regulation and guidance. Besides, many key trends and insights were identified.
One of the key insights was that approaches to regulating blockchain and digital assets vary from country to country. Also, fragmentation exists within countries and jurisdictions. Another insight that came up was the complexity involved in defining blockchain, digital assets, and cryptocurrencies. This complexity makes building functional regulatory frameworks challenging, which causes ripple effects throughout the standards development and implementation process.
The lack of alignment among industry players can also be confusing for regulators and policymakers, who rely on categorization and delineation for regulating blockchain and, especially, digital assets. Thanks to the industry's initiatives, taxonomies are beginning to move towards a set of common definitions. However, confusing language remains a challenge. The broader community, and particularly industry groups, must prioritize finding greater consensus on common definitions and taxonomy.
It is important to note that many aspects of the technology are not yet mature, and moving towards standardization early may stifle innovation or lead to skewed or adverse incentives. Additionally, standards are optional by nature, and given that philosophical debates remain, much of the adjudication happens directly within the developer community. Therefore, it is vital to focus standards-setting initiatives on demand signals from the industry and the technical community and ensure all the stakeholders are involved in the standards development and implementation process.
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