Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Agnes West
Politics aside, what’s the plan for US central bank digital currency? Original
While there have been many intelligent discussions about the merits and perils of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, imagine U.S. digital dollars that are accessible directly from the Federal Reserve instead of a bank. The debate in Washington has been distilled to something akin to a bottom-shelf vodka: cheap, without nuance, easy to slosh around, and difficult to stomach.
Congress may modernize the SEC’s mission. Will it work?
Buried inside the 212-page Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT Act) is Section 504 — a single amendment to securities laws that could be a potent legislative check on the overzealous use of regulatory power by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Estimates show that regulatory bloat is expensive, costing the median U.S. public firm 4.1 percent of its equity value. Aggressive regulatory enforcement also drives U.S.-based startups to friendlier jurisdictions.
The paradox of valuing cryptocurrency in America
The White House just dedicated an entire chapter to the value of digital assets in its 2023 Economic Report of the President. Viewpoint diversity on the subject is alive and well. Crypto critics and advocates can’t even agree on a name. Labels like “digital asset,” “virtual currency,” “tokens,” “decentralized money,” and “digital gold” float around the industry. Critics choose colorful terms of art such as “rat poison squared” and “” and call to ban crypto for its lack of value.
Phony Demand and Underpopulation: Problems Plaguing American Farmers
Status quo bias weighs heavily on our policy debates. The United States of America is a major global power, and Canada is not. The most talented and ambitious people from around the world — including from Canada itself — are more likely to make their way to New York, Los Angeles, or Silicon Valley to seek their fortunes than they are to go to Toronto or Vancouver. This in part reflects the fact that the United States is among the richest countries in the world.
The New DAO Model: Legal Protections for Unincorporated For-Profit Associations
There are nearly 5,000 decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in the world, which, collectively, have advanced the growth of the billion dollar Web3 market, led to experimentation with new models of economic cooperation, and catalyzed entrepreneurial activity in America. While these contributions are a boon for business dynamism, the unincorporated nature of DAOs has major flaws. One of those flaws is that DAOs are a corporate governance design nightmare.
Achieve Agricultural Abundance by Challenging the Status Quo
"Without innovation and competition, the current macroeconomic environment facing the agricultural industry is a threat to rural life in America, the values and principles of property ownership, the sustainability of small family businesses, and the prevalence of agricultural entrepreneurship." "An agTech pilot program resembles the regulatory sandbox model that has already been adopted across numerous states, such as Utah, Arizona, and North Carolina.
Operation Choke Point 2.0, Monopolistic Favoritism, or the Velocity of Money?
Operation Choke Point was initiated in 2013 by the United States Department of Justice to protect consumers from fraud perpetrated by third-party payment processors. The DOJ issued subpoenas to approximately 60 financial entities, some of which were FDIC-supervised.
Basic R&D in digital assets could lead to breakthroughs in innovation, competition Original
Entrepreneurial dynamism in America should not be captive to the fickle nature of news headlines, nor should innovation be permanently hampered by industry scandals. While FTX’s collapse has been a setback for the crypto industry, the downfall of the cryptocurrency exchange has thus far highlighted flaws in that business’s leadership rather than in the underlying technology or its long-term potential.
Blockchain mining needs a makeover - but so does mining policy Original
Like so much of the civic discourse in America these days, the debate over the environmental implications of digital assets, particularly cryptocurrencies, is unnecessarily polarized. The policy that governs the energy-intensive computer “mining” of assets like bitcoin from hidden corners of cyberspace often descends into a pit of binary parley — a zero-sum game where one political team can win as long as the other team loses. Where can America find common ground on bitcoin mining?
States Can Attract More Entrepreneurs by Sharing Sandboxes
As more states experiment with “regulatory sandboxes” to give innovators whose products don’t fit within old policy models a proving ground, one critique has been surfacing: Participation varies widely. Wyoming has struggled to recruit a single applicant despite its prolific success in creating a.
States Can Attract More Entrepreneurs by Sharing Sandboxes
As more states experiment with “regulatory sandboxes” to give innovators whose products don’t fit within old policy models a proving ground, one critique has been surfacing: Participation varies widely. Wyoming has struggled to recruit a single applicant despite its prolific success in creating a.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Agnes
Contact Agnes, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack