GBBC Digital Finance joins international securities organization as an affiliate member

GBBC Digital Finance announced Feb. 16 that it has joined the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) as an affiliate member. The IOSCO is an international association that develops and promotes international standards for securities. 

IOSCO members include 35 national securities regulators and over 200 affiliated organizations. In addition, the IOSCO has an Affiliate Members Consultative Committee, which GBBC Digital Finance has joined as its 70th member. The committee provides input on IOSCO policy and standards. Committee members also form groups that hold annual trainings on securities-related issues.

The IOSCO released a Crypto-Asset Roadmap in July. GBBC Digital Finance Chair Lawrence Wintermeyer said in a statement:

“We will work with IOSCO to best engage our members in 2023 in providing any assistance we can to the two IOSCO Crypto-Asset Roadmap working groups, Crypto and Digital Assets (CDA) and Decentralised Finance (DeFi).”

The IOSCO released a paper on DeFi in March that highlighted several risks it saw in the technology. Also in July, the IOSCO teamed up with the Bank for International Settlements to issue guidance on stablecoins.

Related: IOSCO demands tighter scrutiny over ‘finfluencers’

The Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) is a global industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem that engages in educational efforts and has maintained a presence at the World Economic Forum. It merged with Global Digital Finance, a market standards association for the adoption of cryptocurrencies and digital assets, in May 2022 to form GBBC Digital Finance.

— GBBC Digital Finance (@GlobalDigitalFi) February 16, 2023

At the time of the merger, the new organization had 500 institutional members and 178 ambassadors operating across 95 jurisdictions. GBBC Digital Finance CEO Emma Joyce said in the statement on Feb. 16, “Our priority at GDF in 2023 is engagement with regulators and policy makers and jointly examining how we might construct a DeFI education and engagement platform.”