Crypto Policy Map

Meta

Summary

A unified live view of global cryptocurrency regulation — every major jurisdiction’s posture on crypto across multiple dimensions: legal status (legal / restricted / banned), VASP licensing regime, stablecoin rules, exchange registration requirements, DeFi treatment, NFT classification, mining policy, central bank digital currency (CBDC) status, tax treatment of crypto assets, and recent enforcement actions. Anchored by the Atlantic Council Cryptocurrency Regulation Tracker as the canonical spine, supplemented with primary regulator sources.

The audience is crypto exchange founders + CCOs navigating expansion, fintech expansion teams adding crypto rails, stablecoin issuers (Circle, Tether, Paxos, etc.), DeFi protocol legal teams, and the lawyers who advise them. Crypto regulation moved fast over the past three years — MiCA fully in force in EU, US stablecoin legislation (GENIUS Act, etc.), UK FCA crypto regime, Singapore MAS tightening, UAE VARA + DFSA + ADGM split, Hong Kong becoming a crypto hub, China’s continued ban with CBDC focus. Currently scattered across regulator pages, Atlantic Council tracker, and law firm summaries. The custom build is “private crypto regulation tracker for your specific products + target markets.”

ICPs

Primary buyer: Chief Compliance Officer / General Counsel at a Series B+ crypto exchange, stablecoin issuer, custodian, or DeFi protocol with active expansion plans (Coinbase, Kraken, Circle, Gemini, OKX, plus mid-stage protocols). Searches: “MiCA implementation timeline”, “stablecoin regulation US”, “crypto license [country]”, “VASP licensing EU”. Deal value: $80K-$300K (private regulatory tracking platforms).

Secondary buyer: Partner at crypto-focused law practice (Sullivan & Cromwell crypto, Latham crypto, Davis Polk crypto, Anchorage’s external counsel network). Same data for client work. Deal value: $50K-$200K.

Tertiary buyer: Fintech expansion teams adding crypto features (neobanks adding custody, payment processors adding stablecoin rails). Lower direct conversion but growing segment. Strong overlap with Banking License Map audience.

Bridge audience: Crypto founders pre-Series B, crypto-curious lawyers, regulatory journalists, retail investors trying to understand legality in their jurisdiction. Very high SEO traffic — crypto regulation queries are huge volume.

Core Features

• Multi-dimensional choropleth with selectable dimension: legal status / VASP licensing / stablecoin rules / DeFi treatment / NFT classification / mining policy / CBDC status / tax treatment / enforcement intensity
• Per-jurisdiction detail drawer — full crypto regulatory profile, regulator name, key statutes, recent enforcement actions, current licensing pipeline, sandbox availability
• VASP license tracker — which jurisdictions offer VASP licensing, capital requirements, application timeline, current applicant count where disclosed (cross-references Banking License Map)
• MiCA progress tracker — implementation status across all 27 EU member states, transition periods, license issuance count
• CBDC status overlay — research / pilot / live / sunset categories per jurisdiction, with rollout timelines
• Comparison pages — “MiCA vs UK FCA crypto”, “Singapore MAS vs UAE VARA”, “Hong Kong vs Singapore crypto”, high search volume pairs
• Recent enforcement feed — SEC actions, CFTC actions, FCA enforcement, MAS actions as NewsArticle event pages
• Methodology drawer with full source citations
• Custom build CTA panel focused on crypto founders / CCOs

Map Layers (z-order, bottom-up)

• Polygons: country boundaries; sub-national for US states (significant variation: NY BitLicense vs Wyoming friendly vs others), choropleth by selected dimension
• Lines: none in default view; optional EU “passporting” connectors when MiCA dimension is active (single license, multi-market access)
• Points: recent enforcement / new-rule events as pulse-animated markers when toggled
• Labels: Mapbox base labels remain topmost

Data Sources

Tier classification:

• Tier 1: Atlantic Council Tracker, national regulator primary sources, ESMA MiCA register, BIS
• Tier 2: FATF, IMF crypto research, Coin Center
• Tier 3: Sullivan & Cromwell, Latham, Davis Polk (institutional reference)
• Tier 4: Crypto trade press (review required)

Competition

We win on: live unified map UX, multi-dimensional comparison, sub-national US coverage, recent enforcement feed, free access. We lose on: institutional crypto-policy authority — Sullivan & Cromwell + Davis Polk partners are who exchanges call for actual deal advice; Atlantic Council has the academic credibility.

SEO Strategy

Primary keywords:

• “MiCA crypto regulation” (8,100/mo — huge volume)
• “[country] crypto regulation” — many long-tails
• “VASP license” (1,300/mo)
• “stablecoin regulation” (2,400/mo)
• “crypto regulation by country” (590/mo)
• “BitLicense New York” (1,000/mo)
• “is crypto legal in [country]” — millions of long-tail consumer queries

Long-tail (massive volume):

• “is crypto legal in [country]” — for every country
• “[country] cryptocurrency law”
• “[regulator] crypto rules”
• “MiCA [provision] requirements”
• “stablecoin regulation [country]”

Route families (prerendered):

• / — homepage with legal status choropleth
• /jurisdiction/{iso2}/ — per-country crypto profile pages
• /us-state/{abbrev}/ — US state pages (NY BitLicense, Wyoming, Texas, CA, etc.)
• /dimension/{slug}/ — per-dimension deep-dive pages (MiCA, stablecoin regulation, DeFi treatment, etc.)
• /regulator/{slug}/ — per-regulator deep-dive (SEC, CFTC, FCA, MAS, BaFin, ESMA, VARA, etc.)
• /topic/{slug}/ — explainer pages (what is a VASP, MiCA passporting, stablecoin issuance, DeFi compliance, etc.)
• /q/{slug}/ — Q&A pages targeting massive featured snippet opportunity (“Is Bitcoin legal in [country]?”, “What is MiCA?”, etc.)
• /event/{id}/ — enforcement action and new-rule NewsArticle pages
• /compare/{a}-vs-{b}/ — comparison pages (top 30 prerendered)
• /methodology / /attribution / /privacy / /terms / /about

The Q&A pages are the volume monster — “is bitcoin legal in [country]” queries get asked of ChatGPT and Google millions of times per month. Strong LLM optimization potential.

Translations

Y — priority locales: en, es, fr, de, ja, zh, ko, pt, ar, ru Rationale: Crypto is genuinely global; Russian + Spanish + Portuguese cover emerging markets where crypto adoption is highest; Arabic covers GCC fintech hubs; Asian language coverage essential for Japan + Korea + China + Hong Kong + Singapore.

Custom Build CTA Strategy

• Corner link: ?utm_source=crypto-policy&utm_medium=corner-link&utm_campaign=custom-build
• For-your-data angle: “Map your live products + target markets against regulatory requirements — track new rules affecting your customers, manage license pipeline, monitor enforcement risk”
• API offer: structured JSON access to regulatory parameters per jurisdiction
• Methodology download (email gate): PDF with classification methodology + regulator list + version history
• Outbound trigger: corporate-domain visitors from crypto exchanges, stablecoin issuers, custodians, large protocols, crypto law firms flagged for LinkedIn outreach
• Cross-promote: Banking License Map (overlapping audience), Sanctions Map (overlapping compliance need)

Demo Notes

First-touch: map renders with “Legal status” dimension selected (universal entry point). Hero text: “150+ jurisdictions. 9 regulatory dimensions. One map updated quarterly.” China, Algeria, Egypt prominently shown as restrictive; most of Europe + N. America + Asia shown as legal-with-conditions.

Wow moment: user clicks dimension selector and switches from “Legal status” to “MiCA implementation” — most of the world dims, only EU 27 lights up with implementation timelines visible. Then “Stablecoin rules” — different jurisdictions with strict rules (US, EU, UK, Japan, Singapore) light up. Then “DeFi treatment” — different again. The fragmentation story tells itself visually. Secondary wow: per-jurisdiction drawer for “US” reveals the sub-national patchwork — NY’s BitLicense vs Wyoming’s crypto-friendly statute vs Texas vs California’s pending rules.

Default state: detected visitor location influences default jurisdiction focus; US visitor sees US+sub-national prominently; EU visitor sees MiCA prominently.

Tech Notes

• Mapbox token: mapbox.atlas.crypto-policy, URL-restricted to cryptopolicymap.app
• Data scale: 195 jurisdictions × 9 dimensions = ~1,755 cells + US state overlay + ~25 regulator pages + growing enforcement event archive
• Sub-national US: essential given state-by-state variation; track NY, WY, TX, CA, FL, and others as they pass crypto laws
• Enforcement feed: Worker polls SEC press releases + CFTC + FCA + MAS + BaFin + national regulator feeds daily
• Performance: main map < 200KB JS

Demo Video Brief

• Backend (Micky): Show the Atlantic Council tracker ingestion + supplementary regulator scraping + ESMA MiCA register integration + enforcement feed pipeline. Show the multi-source normalisation. Close: “Your products, your markets — atlasdevelopment.io/custom”
• Design (Finn): Attio founder-friendly aesthetic. Demo the dimension cycling (Legal → MiCA → Stablecoin → DeFi) as wow moment. Show US sub-national drilldown. Talk through why Attio fits crypto founder + CCO audience.
• Development (Chloe): Building the dimension selector, sub-national US overlay, per-regulator route family. Close: “Boilerplate at atlasdevelopment.io/boilerplate.”