STO Restart and New Trends in Encryption Policy

This episode features Alex, a research partner at Mint Ventures, and Ren Min Dao, the founder of dForce, who engaged in an in-depth discussion on the recent hot topic of STO and the policy environment of the encryption industry.

Coinbase Stock Tokenization Plan

Recently, Coinbase has restarted its stock tokenization program, which has sparked industry attention towards STOs. It is believed that Coinbase's move is related to the improvement of the policy environment in the United States and aligns with the traditional finance sector's demand for the application of blockchain technology. He pointed out that Coinbase's stock tokenization is not just about putting stocks on the chain; more importantly, it is about expanding the rights associated with stock equity, such as being usable for staking, paying gas fees, etc.

The Value and Challenges of Stock Tokenization

Minda believes that the main value of stock tokenization lies in:

1. Expand the capital pool from regional markets to global markets.
2. Improve capital efficiency, reduce settlement time and costs
3. Empower traditional stocks, increase more use cases

However, it also faces some challenges, such as regulatory policies, liquidity, issuer credit, and other issues. He believes that to attract users from the cryptocurrency circle, simply providing U.S. stock trading is not enough; it is also necessary to add more practical value.

Outlook on the STO Market

Regarding the prospects of the STO market in the next 3-5 years, Mindao expressed optimism. He believes that with changes in market structure, an increasing number of non-encryption native users will enter, leading to a growing demand for the allocation of traditional assets. However, the prerequisite is to have a compliant issuance framework. The biggest beneficiaries may be asset issuers, especially leading players who can achieve scale effects and network effects.

Encryption Industry Policy Environment Analysis

Regarding the recent encryption policy environment, Mindao expressed that the views are complex:

1. Multiple favorable policies have emerged, such as including Bitcoin in strategic reserves.
2. However, some actions taken by the Trump family have raised concerns, such as issuing tokens and exchanging currencies with project parties.
3. Currently, most policies are implemented in the form of administrative orders, and it is questionable whether they can ultimately be solidified into law.
4. Over-attachment to specific political figures may pose risks.

He believes that the key in the future is to see how many policies can truly be implemented as laws, rather than remaining at the level of administrative orders. At the same time, it is necessary to be vigilant about the risk of policies being used for private purposes.