On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
Discussion on crypto and major tech firms combine in hearing over decentralization of digital ecosystem
“The point of crypto is to have true decentralization — the projects that succeed will be the projects that achieve that," said Brian Brooks.
Blaine Luetkemeyer, a House representative from Missouri, revisited the issue of major companies exerting control over vast swaths of the internet, something he expressed concerns about encroaching in the crypto space.
Speaking at a Wednesday hearing on digital assets with The House Committee on Financial Services, Luetkemeyer addressed Bitfury CEO and former acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks in saying that major tech firms including Instagram, Facebook — now Meta — and Twitter “control people on their platforms.” Luetkemeyer asked whether this level of control could extend to undue influence for the rollout of a digital dollar.
“The point of crypto is to have true decentralization,” said Brooks. “The projects that succeed will be the projects that achieve that. Bitcoin succeeded because there were literally millions of participants in the node network, and so there is no CEO of Twitter to deplatform you, there’s no CEO of JPMorgan to take away your credit card.”
The Bitfury CEO added that he believed companies unable to meet this standard would be relegated to the “ash heap of history” — that is, lose their relevance and largely be forgotten. In his written statement to the committee, Brooks implied that a decentralized internet would be better “than an Internet largely controlled by five big companies”:
“Crypto policy should take into account not only any new risks introduced into the system, but also the risks in the present system that are being solved by decentralization.”
For many of the lawmakers in attendance at the Digital Assets and the Future of Finance hearing, the goal seems to be gaining a greater understanding of the existing space rather than how they might be able to provide a clear regulatory framework for crypto and blockchain for the future. The six CEOs in attendance from Circle, Paxos, Coinbase Inc., Stellar Development Foundation, FTX and Bitfury have fielded questions including those on ransomware attacks, quantum computing and price volatility.
This story is developing and may be updated, as the House committee hearing is still ongoing.
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