What is the CLARITY Act? Maybe the most important piece of financial legislation in a generation.

This podcast explains the history of U.S. digital asset regulation, why regulation-by-enforcement failed and what the CLARITY Act addresses, plus remaining steps for this to become law.

Guests:

Lewis Cohen, Partner & Co-Chair of CahillNXT's Digital Assets & Emerging Technology practice
Miles Jennings, Head of Policy & General Counsel for a16z crypto
Sarah Brennan, general counsel at Delphi Ventures
Kyle Bligen, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Decentralization Research Center
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO at Solana Policy Institute
Dugan Bliss, Head of Litigation at Binance

By the end of this episode, I promise you'll be in the 99th percentile for understanding CLARITY, regardless of whether you're a lawyer, builder or operator.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

4:46 Explaining market structure

6:05 Regulatory distortion

10:43 Predecessor bills

13:35 Senate Banking markup takeaways

15:46 SEC & CFTC

20:37 The Securities Act of 1933

23:07 The Howey Test

25:26 The Ineluctable Modality of Securities Law

28:51 SEC enforcement

32:32 Why SEC rulemaking isn't enough

37:36 Titles of CLARITY

40:00 Digital commodities

47:29 Investment contract principles

54:10 Promoters: originators

58:18 Promoters: related persons

1:04:13 Token taxonomy

1:11:02 Ancillary asset requirements

1:19:34 The certification process

1:28:32 Remaining hurdles for CLARITY

1:34:50 Stablecoin yield

1:38:45 Ethics

1:45:50 Tax consequences

1:48:54 Thanking people working on the bill, such as @SenLummis, @gillibrandny, @SenatorTimScott, @SenatorHagerty, @SenThomTillis, @MarkWarner, @SenRubenGallego, @Sen_Alsobrooks, their staffs & many, many others.

Newsletter: I'm re-launching the Law of Code newsletter soon: you can ⁠⁠⁠stay updated on emerging tech law for free here⁠⁠⁠. https://www.lawofcode.fm/

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Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship.