RollCall Feb 18th, 2022

GM, and welcome to RollCall by Rollfi! 

The weekly newsletter that helps you navigate the world of crypto

Before we get started, the TechCrunch Equity podcast mentioned us today in their discussion of paying employees in crypto! The mention comes just after the 18-minute mark. Check it out here!

Let's get into it:

Russia recognizes crypto

Amid a possible invasion of Ukraine and just weeks after the Bank of Russia called for the banning of all crypto transactions, the Russian government has decided to regulate crypto instead. 

More:

• The Bank of Russia just started its own CBDC and still wants to ban all crypto mining and transactions

• The Ministry of Finance in Russia is set to propose the bill on regulating crypto today

• Russia is the 3rd largest bitcoin-mining country behind the US and China

• Putin called for the two sides to come to a unanimous opinion, but recognizes the country's competitive advantages in mining

States to the moon!

Colorado: Today at ETHDenver, a conference for the Ethereum blockchain community, Colorado Governor Jared Polis will give the keynote address.  The Governor has already discussed several blockchain initiatives the state will support and announced that by mid-2022 the state will begin accepting crypto payments for taxes. You can see his interview on the matter with Coindesk here.

Tennessee: A state House of Representatives member in Tennessee proposed a bill earlier this month to allow for municipalities, counties, and the state to invest in crypto and NFTs with idle funds. 

While these are just two recent examples of states getting involved in crypto, this may be a signal of more things to come.  States looking to attract new upstarts in crypto will most likely continue to regulate in a way that decreases friction. 

Sports and Crypto: A Love Story

The past week has been a big one in the sports-crypto relationship:

• The Super Bowl had several ads for crypto exchanges (see Milk Road's ranking of those commercials here).  Companies spent millions for the ad spots and stars like Larry David and Lebron James to be featured in those commercials. However, our personal favorite was the Coinbase ad.  It was simple, effective, and reminded us of this scene from The Office.

• Terra signed a $40M sponsorship deal with the Washington Nationals. Terra is a DAO that runs a Layer 1 smart contract blockchain built for stablecoins. While that may seem like a word salad (that's why we have a glossary), what we think matters from this deal is that applications of cryptocurrency like Terra are breaking into the mainstream. The deal includes in-stadium signage, a digital series that will appear on the Nationals social platforms, potential cryptocurrency applications for fans, and as part of the agreement UST could be accepted as payment at Nationals Park as early as next season.

• Star wide receiver and now Super Bowl champion Odell Beckham Jr made headlines this past week because of the salary hit he may or may not have taken by receiving his salary in Bitcoin. The star wide receiver does not seem to be shying away from his conviction about blockchain technology though. After the game, Odell tweeted a photo of himself wearing a shirt with a picture of Cryptopunk #3365 which he purchased in August of last year.

Glossary

We're confused too. We want to help decode the world of crypto for the curious.

• CBDC - stands for Central Bank Digital Currency. This is digital currency pegged to the value of a country's fiat currency. Investopedia does a better job at explaining it here.

• DAO - stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. These are member-owned organizations that are often governed by holders of their native token. More here.

• Layer 1 - refers to "base level" blockchains that run independently of other blockchains. Popular layer 1's include Ethereum, Avalanche, Terra, Solana, Polygon, and many more. More here.

• Smart contract - a contract executed as code running on a blockchain. More here.

• Stablecoin - a class of cryptocurrency that maintains a stable priced tied to a reserve asset. More here.

• UST - The listing symbol for TerraUSD, Terra's decentralized stablecoin. Whitepaper here.

At Rollfi, we're building the payroll & HR platform for the modern workforce. Give your employees the power to choose exactly how and where they want to get paid.

We'll keep you updated on our progress as we continue to build. In the meantime, if you haven't already, sign up for early access to our crypto enabled payroll platform at the link below.