Surprisingly Free

In this episode of Tangents, Peter and Jerry discuss the recent decision in the SEC v. Ripple case. They explain that the decision follows the same interpretation of the securities laws that Coin Center has longe advocated, namely that commodity tokens can be the subject of securities offerings without being securities themselves. Jerry and Peter also address misreadings of the opinion that have led some to conclude that it implies that sophisticated investors will get protection of the securities laws while retail participants will not. Finally, they discuss one issue they have with the judgment. 

In this episode of Tangents, Peter and Jerry discuss the Tornado Cash sanctions list designation by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. As they explain in a legal analysis of the case, they believe that OFAC has overstepped its legal authority by adding certain Tornado Cash smart contract addresses to the SDN List, that this action potentially violates constitutional rights to due process and free speech, and that OFAC has not adequately acted to mitigate the foreseeable impact its action would have on innocent Americans.

In this episode of Tangents, Peter and Jerry discuss the SEC's proposed rulemaking on the definition of ‘exchange’ and Alternative Trading Systems. Bottom line: The Commission’s proposed redefinition of “exchange” violates the First Amendment by requiring a license to speak–even of open source developers. It’s unconstitutional and they should change it. We explain why the First Amendment arguments against the proposed rule are strong and why the Supreme Court is poised to rule against the SEC should it finalize this new rule as drafted.

In this episode of Tangents, Peter, Jerry, and Neeraj discuss the narrative and substance how cryptocurrency is implicated in the  sanctions on Russia, as well as the Biden executive order on digital assets.

In this episode of Tangents, Peter and Jerry discuss a new backgrounder just published by Coin Center that explains what is "staking" to policymakers who sometimes are confused about how that word is used in different cryptocurrency contexts.

In the second part of their discussion of the crypto tax provisions in the infrastructure bill, Jerry, Peter, and Robin recount what happened after the Senate passed it and bring us up to date on efforts to fix the provisions in the House and elsewhere.

Jerry, Peter, and Robin discuss the crypto tax provisions in the infrastructure bill that passed the Senate and is now stuck in the House. They recount what's in the bill, why it's bad, and the efforts in the Senate to stop it. In the next part they'll discuss what's happening now in the House and what's being done to fight it.

Jerry and Peter discuss the stablecoin regulation and the forthcoming report from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets on that subject. Are stablecoins securities? Are they systemically risky? Is any of this graven in stone? Find out in this episode.

Jerry and Peter discuss the third comment letter that Coin Center has filed in FinCEN’s ongoing crypto rulemaking. Topics include privacy issues surrounding currency transaction reports and why the current CTR proposal is not tech-neutral and prejudices cryptocurrency technologies.

In the wake of the WSB/GameStop saga, Jerry and Peter discuss the intersection of DeFi and regulation, plus an update on FinCEN’s now unfrozen crypto rule making.

We discuss FinCEN extending the comment period in its crypto rule making, which is a bit of a victory, though we’re not out of the woods yet. We also discuss crypto in the NDAA and Gary Gensler appointed to chair the SEC.FinCEN Extends Comment Period for Rule Aimed at Closing Anti-Money Laundering Regulatory Gaps for Certain Convertible Virtual Currency and Digital Asset TransactionsCoin Center files second comment in FinCEN rulemaking challenging its authority to make the surveillance ruleWhat Does the 2021 NDAA Mean for Cryptocurrency?Gary Gensler Is Picked to Lead S.E.C.

Jerry and Peter discuss FinCEN's proposed new crypto midnight regulation, as well as the President's Working Group on Financial Markets statement on stablecoins, and FinCEN's announcement that it will develop rules applying FBAR requirements to cryptocurrency accounts.

The second in a mini-series within Tangents in which Robin asks the same three questions of different guests. Today’s answers by Michale Casey lead to a discussion of changing narratives dating back hundreds of years, reporting on cryptocurrency, the use of blockchain technology in enabling community-owned energy economies, and the future of media.

Dan is executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and previously worked at the American Enterprise Institute and the R Street Institute. They discuss how think tanks’ traditional role in developing policy ideas has evolved as politics and the media environment have changed over the last decade.

Abe’s research has spurred Coin Center to advocate for different tax treatment of block rewards. The IRS issued guidance in 2014, explaining that cryptocurrency was property and should be taxed as income when received by a miner. As Abe has pointed out, no other newly created property is taxed at the moment it is made by the taxpayer. A farmer owes taxes when she sells her corn, not when it appears in her fields. Abe first developed his analysis in the context of proof of stake cryptocurrencies but the same logic should apply to Bitcoin block rewards as well. Peter and Abe explore the history of the IRS’s treatment of block rewards and discuss their hopes for a change in treatment.

Robin tries out a new format where she asks three basic questions of her guests.  Today’s answers by @Bitcoinmom Brooke Mallers and her husband, and partner in everything, Bill Mallers leads to a discussion of the value of Bitcoin, the importance of having a de minimis tax exemption, some of the shared policy challenges faced by cryptocurrency businesses and marijuana-related businesses, and the future promise of the cannabis industry.

Neeraj talks with Jerry and Peter for a cryptocurrency policy update. Topics include the recent travel rule rulemaking from FinCEN, privacy and CBDCs, and a de minimis tax exemption. 

Because the cryptocurrency space is still relatively nascent, there haven’t been that many patents filed. And many of the patents that have been granted are held by innovative firms that understand that crypto is meant to be open source and open network, permissionless and unowned. If all crypto firms banded together now, at this early stage, they could not only protect each other from offensive use of patents today, they could prevent those patents from ever falling in the hands of trolls in the future. That’s what the Crypto Open Patents Alliance is trying to do.

When Twitter was recently hacked, hundreds of popular accounts started tweeting out misleading advertisements for cryptocurrency scams. The problem was not cryptocurrency itself, but rather the broken centralized identity systems that Twitter (alongside all modern internet services) relied upon. The solution, as discussed in this podcast, may actually be cryptocurrency technology itself. Peter and Daniel define decentralized identity, review how it can solve problems like the Twitter hack, and highlight upcoming software releases from Microsoft and others, the Ion protocol layer atop Bitcoin, that could radically improve our digital identity tools for the betterment of security and freedom online.

While many may know how a bill becomes a law, fewer may understand the important precursor of how a bill becomes a bill.  Following the recent introduction of the Digital Commodities Exchange Act (DCEA), Robin and Paul talk a bit about that process as well as what it is like to work on Capitol Hill.