The Blockchain Association takes over the Defend Crypto fund to advance favorable ecosystem-wide jurisprudence
We’re pleased to announce that the Blockchain Association will take responsibility for managing more than $2 million of residual funds from Defend Crypto, the fund set up by Kik Interactive to help fight legal battles that could benefit the entire crypto industry.
The mission of the Blockchain Association is to advance U.S. public policy for the crypto ecosystem. We believe policy should be made in an open rulemaking process or open legislative process, where ideas can be vetted, debated, improved upon, and anyone who is impacted can share their views. That’s why we’re spending so much energy and resources working to advance legislation in Congress and engaging directly with regulators on our issues.
Policy is sometimes set through other avenues too, namely new case law resulting from litigation. While this usually isn’t the ideal process, it’s often the reality for new business models utilizing new technology that don’t fit neatly within regulatory structures. We believe that the crypto industry should constructively engage in the legal process when they have the potential to have an impact that goes beyond the parties to the case. These funds will be used for this purpose and related initiatives that promote regulatory clarity and allow for responsible innovation.
As the fund is transitioned, we will determine the best way to structure the fund, governance policies, how to raise additional funding, and criteria for determining when to use the funds. We welcome any thoughts the crypto community has and encourage you to share those with us at defendcrypto@theblockchainassociation.org.
Finally, we want to thank Kik Interactive for their leadership in organizing the community around this cause. As we’ve stated previously, we think that the Kik case could play out in a way that impacts the entire industry. We hope that it results in a decision that will provide the certainty the industry needs for the US to be a leader in next-generation financial services and web applications.
