The cryptoasset industry has spent considerable energy arguing that cryptoassets are different enough to require a fundamentally new approach to governance. The argument runs that the technology is too novel, the markets too fast-moving or the business models too unusual to map onto the governance frameworks that traditional finance has built up over decades.

Having spent years building and running financial crime compliance functions at regulated cryptoasset firms, I disagree. The argument lacks nuance. The governance model that regulated cryptoasset firms need generally already exists. It sits inside every well-run financial institution in the world. Building a crypto governance framework is about applying what works in traditional…