• The Lobby3 DAO aims to get in touch with lawmakers in Washington D.C. and help them understand the Web3 technologies.
• Yang believes that DeFi and Web 3 regulations need to maintain a balance between innovation and managing risks.

American Democrat Andrew Yang has called the DeFi and the Web3 community to rally and influence the shaping of the crypto regulations. Yang has now jumped into the Web3 with a new DAO called Lobby3, he revealed in an exclusive interview with The Defiant.

The organization seeks to rally the DeFi community to bring favorable regulations in place. Explaining further, Yang noted:

Lobby3 is an initiative to take the voices of Web3 to Washington DC, where we can hopefully expand people’s understanding of what these tools can do to improve the public interest [and]improve people’s lives. My goal is to make it so that the rules are intelligent, understand the space, and properly prioritize the [innovation]side of the equation. Right now, if you’re a regulator, unfortunately, they are very focused on risk.

The challenge in explaining to lawmakers

The launch of the Looby3 DAO comes at a crucial moment. Last year, U.S. SEC chair Gary Gensler said that all crypto projects should undergo the same registrations requirements as currently available for bonds and equities.

Yang believes this ‘one-size-fits-all’ to be a flawed approach, especially while dealing with regulations in the DeFi space. He also believes that the U.S. lawmakers “are a little bit in the dark or confused about the myriad range of uses for the blockchain and Web3 technologies”.

The Lobby3 DAO initiative seeks to get in touch with open-minded lawmakers in Washington D.C. The average age of U.S. Senators is 63 and Yang is willing to connect with lawmakers in the 30s-40s who can have a better grasp over these technologies. “You might have a shot there,” he said.

Lobby3 is currently raising money via an NFT sale ending March 11. He added that the members of Lobby3 will focus on pushing things in the “positive direction” for DeFi, in the next 12-24 months.

The role of the Lobby3 DAO will be effectively communicating the Web3 technologies to lawmakers and simultaneously ensuring that the incoming regulations maintain a balance between maintaining fostering innovation and managing risks. Yang added:

You don’t need to worry about people necessarily understanding the whole space. I need [lawmakers]to understand that the people [they]care about, care about this… there are very powerful virtues and applications, and you don’t want to go too far and throw the baby out with the bathwater.

He further added: “The question is, how are the rules going to be written? Are they going to balance the management of the risks within the space… with the positive potential around innovation, value creation, and job growth? I think we all sense instinctively that regulators are leaning much more towards the risk management side than the value creation side, so that’s the balance we have to strike.”

U.S. President Joe Biden has signed the much-awaited executive order for cryptocurrencies. The market has reacted positively today in what seems to be an accommodative stand for digital assets. But considering multiple facets of the crypto ecosystem such as DeFi, smart contracts, NFTs, etc. it will be interesting to see how the regulations shape ahead.