#201 - The CLARITY Act

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/ Any feedback on this episode? Or how to improve the podcast? ⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠. https://forms.gle/W4d2a5aHuLJjuNdn7 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.