The Model Law on Digital Assets and Exchanges (MDAE) for the DCBAS (Dynamic Collation on Blockchain Assurances and Standardizations) of the Internet Governance Forum of the United Nations is one of the most important pieces of model legislation ever written if you are interested in cryptocurrency. Unlike the Markets in Cryptocurrency Act (MiCA) which is continually delayed in the European Union, the MDAE is designed to give nations the ability to create their own cryptocurrency legislation from a global framework–without the attached bureaucracy which is estimated to cost nations billions of dollars to set up and millions of dollars each year to keep in place. The MDAE is designed to protect the domestic and the global economy through KYC, CTF (Counter-Funding Terrorism), AML, and anti-trafficking protections while still allowing a “transportation rule” effect around the world. Countries that sign onto this model legislation and build laws around it have the ability to follow global treaty guidelines without creating billion-dollar bureaucracies. Further, it specifies the duties of coin issuers, wallets, and exchanges to ensure that KYC/AML are done in the right place which is something MiCA makes overly complicated. 

Under the new Trump Presidency, with an avante guarde young Vice President in J.D. Vance, we have the opportunity to allow American exceptionalism into the international digital zeitgeist. Dr. Smithmyer’s model law brings together the business community, the government, and the people who live in each nation to ensure that all stakeholder interests are protected, that there is a concrete resolution system for problems that may arise, and a vision of limited democracy so that from Pulau to France, from Haiti to Australia and from the United States to the former Eastern Bloc nations everyone can afford to have clear, concise and effective cryptocurrency law. 

As we move into an America-centric regime–we have to remember that, while we want America First, we need global success to ensure that the United States is not called upon to be the police force of the world as under the Biden, Obama, and Bush Regimes. Good laws globally benefit everyone–they stop terrorism, undercut money laundering, and give people the trust and certainty they need to do business on a global scale. Many have tried to build a model law that will help everyone, one person has been successful in that effort. If America is going to be the paragon–that shining city on the hill, we need a bright light to make it shine. The digital future is looking bright, let us allow this model law to project that bright future across the globe with the United States as its source.