Proof of State is the Wednesday edition of Fortune Crypto where Leo Schwartz delivers insider insights on policy and regulation.
When I attended CoinDesk’s Consensus conference in late April, I had an intense experience of whiplash. On one hand, the convention halls echoed with the accusations of Operation Chokepoint 2.0, a theory rampant in crypto that U.S. federal agencies are coordinating to deny the industry of banking services—and a premise not without evidence. On the other hand, major players in the world of traditional finance, from asset manager Franklin Templeton to Mastercard, showed up en masse, seemingly unfazed by the perceived toxicity of crypto in our nation’s capital and endless reports of its imminent downfall.
