Crypto technology will shift towards ‘steadier hands’ in 2023: Circle CSO

Circle’s chief strategy officer and head of global policy, Dante Disparte, believes that the turmoil in the crypto sector over the last year could mark the handover of crypto technology to more durable companies and “steadier hands” in 2023.

In a Jan. 2 post for The World Economic Forum (WEF), Disparte highlighted the growing use of crypto in the financial services sector and opined that the ongoing bear market and exchange collapses may ultimately be a boon for the industry, paving the way for “responsible, always-on internet finance.”

“Just as it took the dot-com bubble bursting in the early 2000s to hand over the future of the internet to more durable companies, business models and use cases, perhaps 2022 marks a handover of crypto technology and blockchain infrastructure to steadier hands,” he said.

Disparte was giving his opinion via his position at Circle, the issuer of U.S.-dollar pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC). He also serves on the World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Happy New Year! Following an annus horribilis for #Crypto in 2022, now more than ever demonstrable utility value is the order of the day. Sharing my @wef #WEF23 reflections on what the future holds and how @circle is navigating turbulence. https://t.co/emR4cHNbu3

— Dante Disparte (@ddisparte) January 2, 2023

In the blog post, Disparte also added that cryptography and blockchain will continue to be an “integral” part of the “modern economic toolkit,” despite the “terrible year” for crypto — which he said was more akin to a crypto “ice age” than winter.

2022 turned into a very bumpy year for the crypto market, with one of the worst bear markets on record and the collapse of some major platforms within the space.

However, Disparte said despite these setbacks, mainstream financial services will still look to crypto at some point because “the technology remains a protagonist in the global financial world.”

“Indeed, as a test of the staying power of digital assets and blockchains at the core of financial services (and other areas of the global economy), watch what the big banks and mature financial services firms do, not what they say,” Disparte added.

The end of Bitcoin (BTC) has now been announced more than 460 times, according to the Bitcoin Obituaries Archive, and despite some high-profile resistance from mainstream financial services, some of the most outspoken critics have begun wading into the crypto waters.

Related: 13% of Americans have now held crypto: JPMorgan research

Disparte doubled down on his stance in a Jan. 2 opinion piece for the Diplomatic Courier, calling it “disingenuous” for bankers to criticize crypto with one hand while trying to co-opt its innovations on the other.

“To link all crypto innovations, the responsible and the irredeemable together would be like dismissing all banking because of Danske Bank’s $230 billion money laundering pipeline,” he argued.