Law of Code

Carol Van Cleef (@Carol_VanCleef) is an internationally recognized authority and pioneer in legal issues involving cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. As chair of Bradley’s Blockchain and Digital Assets practice, Carol leads the firm’s virtual currencies and blockchain work to help clients navigate the complex, dynamic and rapidly evolving issues in these areas. Carol is also an anti-money laundering specialist and has created compliance training programs for state regulators, bank executives and beyond. Show highlights: [7:00] E-Gold [12:00] Classifying digital assets [22:00] Tornado Cash [32:40] Applying sanctions [40:00] De-banking & much more.  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. PSA: Ledn is looking to hire crypto-focused, financial-payments savvy lawyer as their Senior Counsel. You can learn more about the role here: https://jobs.lever.co/ledn. Tell them you heard about the job from the Law of Code podcast. Around the Blockchain's weekly newsletter is my go-to source to stay updated on crypto law - you can find this incredible (and free) resource here. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

Paul Grewal (@iampaulgrewal) is the Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase, where he is responsible for Coinbase’s legal, compliance, global intelligence, risk management and government relations groups. Before joining Coinbase, Paul was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Facebook.   Show highlights:  [1:40] Paul's role as Chief Legal Officer @ Coinbase  [6:30] Introduction to crypto as a magistrate judge  [12:30] Rule-making in crypto law  [16:30] Listing assets on Coinbase  [22:00] Tornado Cash lawsuit  [32:00] Remaining grounded  [34:25] Playing offense against regulators  [38:00] Regulation by enforcement  & much more.   Resources:  Stanford Talk Proof of Alignment Coinbase does not list securities The Crypto Securities Market is Waiting to be Unlocked. But First We Need Workable Rules If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes.  Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

Rebecca Rettig (@RebeccaRettig1) is the General Counsel of the Aave Companies (@AaveAave). Rebecca began her legal career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York, litigating complex commercial disputes; prior to joining the Aave Companies, Rebecca was a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP in the financial services group, representing blockchain and crypto clients.  In this conversation, Rebecca shares her thoughts on DeFi regulation, as well as: [5:30] Bringing clients through the regulatory enforcement process  [6:45] Ooki DAO [16:00] Regulatory Catch-22 [23:00] DeFi & Regulation: Can they co-exist? [37:00] MiCA & much more. You can watch Rebecca's talk at EthCC here. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. PSA: Ledn is looking to hire crypto-focused, financial-payments savvy lawyer as their Senior Counsel. You can learn more about the role here: https://jobs.lever.co/ledn. Tell them you heard about the job from the Law of Code podcast. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

Have you ever wondered about the history of the CFTC, SEC, or other regulatory agencies? In this episode, Marisa Coppel walks me through each America regulatory agency that impacts crypto - who they are, why they were created and what role they play in the crypto ecosystem. Marisa Tashman Coppel (@mtcoppel) is policy counsel at the Blockchain Association, where she helps develop and advocate for policy positions on behalf of the crypto industry as well as manages long-term legal projects and strategic litigation. She also writes a newsletter called Becoming Undefined, which focuses on themes of spirituality and self-discovery. Show highlights: [11:00] Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [16:00] Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) [21:00] Department of Justice (DOJ) [25:00] Treasury Department & Sanctions [39:00] Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) & much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Ledn is looking to hire crypto-focused, financial-payments savvy lawyer as their Senior Counsel. You can learn more about the role here: https://jobs.lever.co/ledn. Tell them you heard about the job from the Law of Code podcast. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

This episode outlines Pre-DAO and Post-DAO Legal Risk Assessment, an article written by Kevin Chen (@anothrkevinchen) in collaboration with the DAO Research Collective (@DAOResearchCo). Kevin is an attorney at Homiak Law LLC based in Denver, Colorado. He advises cryptoasset and blockchain technology companies on a wide variety of matters such as formation of new startup companies, venture financings, and securities law compliance. You can find the full article on the Law of Code substack, here. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

The 'Can’t Be Evil' licenses are a set of six NFT licenses developed by lawyers and operators in web 3 - each license grants “different sets of rights with different degrees of permissiveness”. The licenses have been deployed on Arweave (a decentralized storage, similar to IPFS) and can be directly linked on-chain by smart contracts. The licenses are available on the a16z website (document containing the six licenses) or a16z's repository on Github. Miles Jennings and Chris Dixon published an introduction with background on the licenses that is also available on the a16z website. Miles Jennings (@milesjennings) is general counsel and head of decentralization at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) crypto, where he advises the firm's portfolio companies and DAOs on decentralization and protocol design, oversees the firm's investments, and works on regulatory and policy matters. You can find Miles' conversation with Laura Shin here. Mark Radcliffe (@markfradcliffe) is senior partner at DLA Piper, where he assists companies in strategic intellectual property advice and venture financing. Mark has worked in Silicon Valley for 30+ years and has significant experience in applying the law to the issues raised by new technologies, such as open source software, blockchain, and domain names. In 1994, he assisted Network Solutions, Inc. in developing the first domain dispute resolution system - which is still the basis for the system in use today. The link to the recording of Mark's NFT webinar is here: Non-Fungible Tokens: Technology and Legal Overview | Events | DLA Piper Global Law Firm.  Ghaith Mahmood (@GhaithMahmoodLW) is a partner in the Los Angeles office of the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP, and a leader in the firm’s Digital Assets and Web3 practice group, and also of the firm’s Video Games and Esports group. Ghaith advises clients on all aspects of intellectual property and technology transactions, from developing, licensing, and commercializing IP assets, to advising on the IP aspects of strategic transactions.  In the blockchain space, he has particular expertise advising NFT projects of all shapes and sizes, from some of the biggest NFT platforms and marketplaces in the world, to individual NFT projects trying to figure out what rights and utility to grant to their NFT holders. Show highlights: [3:00] Why draft these licenses? [13:30] What projects should use these licenses [16:00] How NFT projects can incorporate the licenses [21:00] Lawful ownership [26:00] Terminating sublicenses [34:00] Notice [39:00] Hard forks [45:40] Fractionalizing & much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

Amber D. Scott (@OutlierCanada) specializes in Canadian anti-money laundering (AML), counter terrorist financing (CTF), privacy, and regulatory compliance. In addition to being a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) Amber is also a Certified Privacy Professional (CIPP). In 2013, she founded Outlier Solutions Inc. to provide anti-money laundering (AML) solutions to Canadian reporting entities. Show highlights: [1:55] Apple gift card story [6:50] Why work in AML and compliance [14:20] When projects should bring on compliance specialists [21:00] What is money laundering [22:10] Ozark [24:00] 3-5% of GDP is associated with money-laundering [35:00] Crypto & money laundering [42:40] History of money laundering [102:00] Project Participate & much more If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

Nabil Manji is the Senior VP, Head of Crypto & Emerging Business at Worldpay from FIS Global. Worldpay is the world’s largest payment processing company (and largest company you've never heard of). The company provides payment and technology services to merchants and financial institutions and processes approximately $2 trillion in volume annually.  In June 2019, Worldpay was acquired for $43 billion and merged into Fidelity National Information Services (FIS).  Nabil also represents Worldpay from FIS on the Governing Council of Hedera, Klaytn, and is a Partner/Advisor at Covalence Capital. Show highlights: [2:00] Genesis block [6:30] Conducting business internationally [9:40] What is Worldpay?  [10:30] Traditional payment processing [15:00] Worldpay & crypto companies [26:00] Speed of innovation in crypto [39:50] Working with legal & compliance & much more If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

Olta Andoni (@AndoniOlta) is the Deputy General Counsel at Ava Labs, a company that helps launch decentralized finance applications on Avalanche. She was previously the Chief Legal Officer at Nifty’s, has lectured for Chicago-Kent, College of Law, and is a writer for Coindesk.  In this conversation, Olta and I discussion the new CryptoPunks license, the Yuga Labs v. Ryder Ripps case, and the importance of NFT IP licenses. Show hightlights: [7:00] CryptoPunks license [17:00] Commercial rights & $100K limits [24:00] Choosing which IP license to grant [28:00] Ryder Ripps case [36:00] Owl explains & much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.

Larry Florio (@LarryFlorio) is General Counsel at Delphia Technologies Inc., one of the most innovative data-drive investment DAO projects in the world. Larry previously held senior counsel roles with several prominent blockchain-focused software developers. In this conversation, we cover business goals vs legal goals, the 80/20 principal, and how crypto law is developing. Show highlights: [1:20] Genesis block [4:00] TradFi [8:30] Privacy [11:00] Business mindset in a legal role [20:00] Get comfortable being uncomfortable [26:00] Delphia [36:00] How Larry starts each day [41:00] Life online [48:00] @thing3_xyz [54:00] Habits & advice & much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Disclaimer: Jacob Robinson and his guests are not your lawyer. Nothing herein or mentioned on the Law of Code podcast should be construed as legal advice. The material published is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Please seek the advice of counsel, and do not apply any of the generalized material to your individual facts or circumstances without speaking to an attorney.