Toward a Crypto-friendly Index for the APEC Region

Abstract

This paper presents a new index concerning the extent of public policy accommodation towards usage of blockchain technology. The coverage of the index is for the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states, representing a significant bloc of global production, trade and economic development. The crypto-friendly index includes indicators related to four general categories of blockchain policy: (i) extent of policy restrictiveness toward cryptocurrency initial coin offerings; (ii) extent of policy restrictiveness toward cryptocurrency exchanges; (iii) taxation treatment toward cryptocurrencies; and (iv) type and extent of general public policy interest in blockchain-related activity. Based on data and information available as at October 2018, the index results reveal considerable diversity exists amongst APEC countries in terms of their degree of crypto-friendliness. Jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, the United States and Canada are seen as relatively crypto-friendly locations, whereas jurisdictions such as China, Vietnam and Peru have the greatest scope for pro-blockchain policy improvement. This paper suggests future avenues for index refinement, as well as the potential for additional research into the concept of crypto-friendliness using this and similar policy indexes.