Global Cryptocurrency Regulation Breakthrough and Three Major Future Trends

【Chain Wen】At the Davos Forum on January 22, industry insiders shared their views on the current state of global crypto regulation. Currently, regulatory differences among countries are enormous, and most nations’ licensing systems are still imperfect. However, the good news is that regions like the UAE, Bahrain, and Kazakhstan have already begun to promote forward-looking regulatory frameworks, and the US is also pushing for market structure-related legislation.

But the real challenges are also evident—capital controls and tax policies vary greatly among countries, making it almost impossible to establish a unified global regulatory authority. In comparison, establishing a Regulatory Passport system might be more feasible, as it can balance innovation flexibility with ensuring basic uniform standards. Several governments are already exploring such cooperation mechanisms.

Regarding the value of crypto, blockchain has proven over the past 15 to 16 years its significant role in the financial system and the global economy. In terms of market size, the current global user base has reached hundreds of millions, and transaction volumes have surpassed the scale of Shanghai and New York’s two major traditional exchanges.

Three future directions are worth noting: first, asset tokenization, which is being advanced in cooperation with about 12 governments; second, payment integration, connecting crypto with traditional payment systems to unlock growth potential; and third, the arrival of the AI agent era, where cryptocurrencies will become the native payment method for AI executing automated tasks.