Crypto Industry Body Global Digital Finance (GDF) Is Ramping up the Sectors Self-regulation

Global Digital Finance (GDF), the global industry body for the cryptoasset sector,  that exists to promote the adoption of best practices and conduct, has announced the appointment of a list of leading companies in the space to its Advisory Council.

The council’s ‘patron members’ include industry heavyweights such as Coinbase, Circle and Consensus as well as law firms DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells, blockchain financial service company Diginex and enterprise blockchain software firm R3.

Founding members include Archax, Cambrial, CryptoCompare, Messari, Metaco, Radix, Solidus Labs, Steptoe & Johnson LLP and Templum, Inc.

The role of the advisory council will be to both develop the body’s global strategy and add more members to the firm who want to adhere to the body’s Code of Conduct.

GDF announced the appointment of Executive Director Teana Baker-Taylor, former Global Head of Client Strategy at HSBC, and former Messari Director of Policy and Operations, Hector Rosekrans as Head of Community.

GDF today also released additional sets of principles to its Code of Conduct, focusing on crypto funds and fund managers, and for comparison and ratings websites, after a 60 day open public consultation.

Teana Baker-Taylor explained the function of the Code of Conduct:

The GDF Code has been drafted by the cryptoassets community, for the community, with input from professional service providers, regulatory experts and financial services participants. Our intention is to create holistic industry-led best practices to enable companies to consistently deliver high conduct standards and operating practices to their customers, market participants and regulators.

An Industry Maturing?

GDF’s growth as an organization represents a significant milestone for the still-young sector, as it constitutes the industry’s most substantive and professional effort to represent itself – as regulatory scrutiny of the space grows.

From April 2019, companies will be able to register their compliance with the GDF Code of Conduct and self-attest to their organisation’s adoption of the Code.

Ryan Selkis, Founder and CEO at Messari, explained what registration offers crypto companies:

The GDF Registration scheme is an opportunity for crypto businesses who are focused on transparency, compliance and best practices to enhance customer trust. Initiatives like the GDF Code of Conduct should give policymakers confidence in our abilities to self-regulate and self-attest to certain common-sense standards.