It is the end of the summer, and soon the 3rd quarter that the Adan will close at the end of the month. So, at the time of the beginning of the school year, Adan takes stock!

Already! Because for us permanent staff, and despite the crisis and the confinement, it seems that the Association was born yesterday. Because, for the whole ecosystem, crypto news has been a continuous stream of news, twists and turns, good or not so good surprises. Because many things have been achieved and great advances have been made in the space of these three quarters.

Only! Because the Adan has not yet blown out its first candle, even if it has firmly established itself in the crypto landscape. Because there is still a long way to go before all the pitfalls in the development of digital assets in France and the EU are resolved. Because crypto still has its share of major innovations, some of which (DeFi) are still in their infancy, others still unsuspected.

So, at the time of the beginning of the school year, the Adan takes stock!

Adan in numbers

  • 44 members have joined Adan since its creation in January 2020.
  • Two committees have been created to organise the Association’s work along its main strategic lines: the European Affairs Committee, chaired by Amandine Doat (Ledger), and the Committee, headed by VASPNicolas Louvet (Coinhouse and Coinhouse Custody Services).
  • 6 working groups were formed internally to give their opinions on the major industry issues: Taxation/Accounting, the COVID19 crisis, Banking AML-TFRelations, Security tokens and Stablecoins.
  • 11 documents are already publicly available: 4 reports, 6 consultation responses, a letter to MPs
  • 4 investigations have been launched: on crypto-crypto activities in France, the impact of the COVID crisis19 , security tokens and relations between the banking industry and crypto
  • 4 Adan events, both physical and online, brought the ecosystem together: the launch of the Adan, the restitution of the crisis survey, the conference “Security tokens: the need for an adapted European framework”, the webinar “Regulating crypto-assets: towards an EU-wide regime”.
  • 10 market authorities, hosted by non-Crypto players, host the Adan in regular meetings: AFG, AFTI, AMAFI, Fintech Forum AMF-ACPR, Fintech Innovation Forum ACPR, HCJP and Paris Europlace.

  • 2 sites keep you informed of all our work on a daily basis: the adan.eu and the Actifs numériques & COVID19 area.

  • 741 followers subscribed to @adan_asso with Twitter, 641 to our page Linkedin and 736 to our newsletter, so you don’t miss any of our news!

The Adan in words

The figures speak for themselves, but beyond the quantitative, how do we look at these first few months?

An intense daily life, punctuated by the rain of public consultations that flooded the crypto, when everything had to be built for a brand new Association. From the organization of the Adan to the production of contents, from the definition of our positions to the diffusion of our ideas, many blank pages to write! After 8 months, we set up our first committees and working groups, we drafted our positions on many important topics, we (e-)met the biggest public and private players in the Paris banking and financial market and we initiated contacts with our counterparts in the EU and the European Commission.

Visible progress. On issues as old as the French crypto ecosystem, things have finally started to move. Major work is under way to clean up relations between the crypto and traditional industries. The Banque de France is opening up to MDBCs. The European Union is preparing to draw up regulations for all digital assets. We welcome the regular and close exchanges that we have established and now maintain with public authorities and market associations on all subjects.

A lot of work to go on. If progress has been made, it should encourage us to continue our efforts. Everything is far from being achieved, from the pilot scheme for security tokens VASP to the system to more peaceful relations with the banking world, and much remains to be done. Conquering the EU is still in its infancy. And France must not fall behind on issues where it has been a forerunner.

Gratitude. Finally, these first few months have above all reminded us how rich the French crypto ecosystem is with ingenious ideas and passionate and exciting people. Within this industry at the service of a more efficient and open economy, 44 companies have shown their confidence in us by joining the ranks of the Association, and are convinced that Adan will be able to help them become the champions they want to be. In this, we are grateful and all the more determined in the pursuit of our missions. Thank you for your help, your availability within our committees/groups/dialogue forums, and your support! The work continues.

And of course, with the start of the new school year shaping up to be sporty, we are happy to have moved this week into our very first offices at 195 rue Saint Denis in Paris. Don’t hesitate to drop by if you’re in the area.

Excellent start to the school year for everyone!

Faustine, Sébastien et Simon

Back to school topics

Ongoing: Investigation into the relationship between digital asset players and the financial industry

We have launched a major survey to provide an informed picture of the relationship between digital asset players and the financial industry. Initially closed on 31 July, we are extending the consultation period to allow everyone to respond!

Indeed, the objective of this study – both quantitative and qualitative – is to precisely measure the state of these relations, and in particular to identify the points of tension. The findings of this survey will be compiled in a summary report for distribution to the public, the authorities and associations of the financial centre.

Participate in the survey

Response time required: 15-20 minutes
Deadline: Friday, September 11th

Responses will only be available to the Adan team and are not communicated to members. They will be made anonymous and processed with a view to publishing the survey report. If you take part in the survey, we will send you the draft report before publication and you will have the opportunity to make comments and suggestions.

Security tokens: The Threatened Road to a European Digital Laboratory

On 16 July, Adan and the partners in this initiative – AFTI, AMAFI and Gide 255 – presented the conclusions of their survey aimed at gaining a better understanding of the stakeholders involved in the development of the token security markets and their appetite for setting up a European Digital Laboratory, at a “hybrid” restitution event combining physical and remote audiences. At the end of this conference, the publication of the report “Security tokens: the need for an adapted European framework” – available in French and English – made a point of honour (but not final) to the work carried out in recent months by the Adan-AFTI-AMAFI-Gide255 collective.

However, while a large majority of respondents to the survey are in favour of the creation of a European Digital Laboratory and the issuance of a digital asset facilitating the settlement of transactions on the blockchain (a “euro on chain”), with a view to removing the barriers that current regulations pose to market and post-trade activities related to security tokens, the latest evidence we have been able to gather indicates that this avenue now appears to be under threat.

In these conditions, do not hesitate to relay our report and to explore with us the preliminary recommendations that have been elaborated on the basis of this synthesis, in order to (re)explain the European Digital Laboratory and its undeniable advantages for the development of security tokens. In any event, the current economic climate reinforces the need to encourage the players in the pursuit of their projects and to stimulate innovation, in the context of the increased digitisation of financial services and more broadly of the economy at the end of the crisis.

Download the report in French and in English.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ survey on “blockchain” projects of companies in France

PwC is organising a major survey to sound out French companies and their blockbuster projects.

“Faced with the impact of the current crisis, innovation appears to be one of the ways of anticipating the recovery and preparing the world of tomorrow. The first edition of this PwC survey on the state of play of blockchain projects in French companies in 2020 will enable us to better understand the place of blockchain in your activities”.

Participate in the survey

‍News from our members

  • Blockchain Partner : Building on its 5 years of pedagogical expertise, Blockchain Partner launches financedecentralisee.io to enable everyone to simply understand Decentralised Finance (DeFi). Moreover, in this period of uncertainty and in this complex sector, we offer our clients an independent and expert look at the Blockchain projects you wish to evaluate (partnerships, investments, choice of service provider, etc.). More information

  • Chainalysis : The Chainalysis report on the recent operation against the financing of Islamic terrorism by crypto-currency conducted by the US Department of Justice with our assistance is now available. More information

  • ConsenSys : We have just announced our partnership with JP Morgan. In summary, we have acquired the Ethereum Quorum project from JP Morgan. JP Morgan has invested in ConsenSys and becomes one of our clients. More information

  • Feel Mining : Launch of our new platform, a much anticipated V2 that is more intuitive, more transparent and more secure for our fast-growing community. Two newcomers: A systems and network administrator and a developer. The team is growing, we are moving to new premises to adapt to the growing needs of the company. More information

  • Multis : Multis : Multis is proud to launch recurring payments through its partnership with the Ʉnlock protocol. Our users can now pay their Multis subscriptions in a decentralized way, without guard, and without any friction, as if they were using our application! More information

  • Nyctale : Nyctale is proud to launch its SaaS Business Intelligence solution dedicated to digital assets and the future of finance. Our solution aims to provide a strategic vision of the use and development of the main decentralised applications, particularly in the DeFi domain. More information

New members

We are pleased to welcome two new members to the Adan this month.

  • Keplerk offers tools to facilitate access and use of digital assets.

  • SheeldMarket allows you to negotiate large-scale deals digital assets at the best price. Our platform matches orders in a dark pool preserving privacy, while routing the rest to external platforms to get the best price.

Welcome to them!