Episode 12
3D Chess: New Highs, Major Questions
In this episode of Crypto Facto, Josh Klayman, Linklaters’ Head of U.S. Head of Fintech and Head of Blockchain & Digital Assets, is joined by Jeff Cohen, Partner in Linklaters’ New York Capital Markets practice. Josh and Jeff discuss how 2024 is shaping-up to be a big year for digital assets. Following the hard-fought approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF, Bitcoin has reached new all-time highs, grabbing the attention of serious institutional players and focusing many on the potential of a future spot Ether ETF. With the recent conviction of Do Kwon and sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried, the market appears to be putting the turmoil of the past two years squarely behind it. Buoyed by recent successes, including in the DEBT Box case, the crypto industry continues to fight back against regulators, including by taking the offensive in Texas. The Major Questions Doctrine is playing out in the courts, with many predicting that the final word will need to come from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Episode 11
Inside Look at Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure
In a special episode of Crypto Facto, Linklaters U.S. Head of Fintech and Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets Josh Klayman is joined by the architects of the landmark launch of Euroclear Bank’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (D-FMI): Euroclear’s Head of the Digital Assets Practice Stéphanie Lheureux and Senior Legal Counsel and Head of the Innovation Center for Excellence at Euroclear Legal Bart Garré alongside their legal advisors on the launch, Linklaters’ Michael Voisin, Capital Markets Partner and former Global Head of Capital Markets and Richard Hay, Partner and UK Head of Fintech.
These leading experts on the future of financial markets share a look under the hood of D-FMI, which enables the creation, issuance, and settlement of fully digital international securities. It’s the world’s first international issuance of a digital bond and represents the first distributed ledger technology deployment within an EU established central securities depository capable of supporting securities governed by English law. Listen to their thoughts on how D-FMI transforms the financial markets, the way it works from a legal perspective, and how we can expect these novel technologies to disrupt the market in 2024.
Episode 10
Untangling the Spiderweb: Biden’s Executive Order on AI, National Security, and Digital Assets
In this episode of Crypto Facto with Josh Klayman, Carole House, Executive in Residence at Terranet Ventures Inc. and former Director of Cybersecurity and Secure Digital Innovation at the White House’s National Security Council joins to discuss President Biden’s recent Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence and the current regulatory environment. Carole also held senior roles focused on cybersecurity and emerging technology at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen), among others. They dive into growing national security concerns because of AI, as well as the interplay between emerging technology, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and digital assets. Listen to Josh and Carole’s hot takes now.
Episode 9
On the Warpath? The Outlook for VCs when AI/Emerging Tech Meets National Security
In this episode of Crypto Facto with Josh Klayman, Jonathan Gafni, Head of U.S. Foreign Investment at Linklaters joins to discuss the technology landscape and President Biden’s recent Executive Order on outbound foreign investment. They take a deep dive into investments in AI, quantum computing, and semiconductors, how CFIUS plays a role in regulating foreign technology investments, and most importantly what this means for VCs amid a backdrop of increasing investment into the digital assets space. Listen to Josh and Jon’s hot takes now.
Episode 8
Within the Sandbox
In this episode of Crypto Facto with Josh Klayman, Signum Growth CEO and Founder Angela Dalton returns for a discussion of the Financial Stability Board’s latest crypto report, a new digital asset market structure bill, litigation over AI IP rights, the changing tide for NFTs in video games, and an NFT with the potential gamify your life. Listen to Josh’s and Angela’s hot takes now.
Episode 7
The Ripple Effect
In this episode, Josh and guest colleague, Jeff Cohen, Capital Markets Partner at Linklaters New York, discuss the surprising ruling in the Ripple case, the important findings and what happens next for the crypto industry. Listen to Josh and Jeff’s hot takes now and who they think is the big winner in all of this.
Episode 6
Disruptors Get Disrupted
In this episode of Crypto Facto with Josh Klayman, Josh is joined by Angela Dalton, CEO and founder of Signum Growth. Josh and Angela dive deep on the intersection of crypto and AI with video games, and the related impact on blockchain and Web3.
How are companies getting gamers to overcome their initial skepticism of crypto and NFTs in games? What can AI bring to interoperability in video games? Will crypto and AI in video games lead us to Web3? How will generative AI impact blockchain beyond video games? What liabilities and protections apply to content created by AI?
Listen to Josh's and Angela's hot takes now.
Episode 5
Return of the "Ugly Baby"
In this episode, Josh and Jonathan weigh in on the SEC’s charges against Bittrex, Gary Gensler’s House hearings, the reintroduction of a federal stablecoin bill, MiCA’s passage, Yuga Lab’s trademark victory, and Taylor Swift’s good sense about FTX.
Did Gensler change his mind about proof of work and Algo, or is the SEC throwing tokens at the wall until a case against Coinbase sticks? Why wouldn’t Gensler tell the House if Ether is a security or not? Does the very same stablecoin bill that was dubbed an “ugly baby” last September have any chance at succeeding now? Will the EU’s passing of MiCA lure crypto business away from the US and UK? In the absence of federal legislation in the US, will the courts become the real regulators of digital assets? Listen to Josh and Jonathan’s hot takes now.
Episode 4
Choke Point or Turning Point?
In this episode, Josh and Jonathan discuss The New York Times' scathing article against crypto mining — and Riot’s compelling rebuttal, Ethereum’s Shanghai/Capella upgrade, the Treasury's DeFi Illicit Finance Risk Assessment, a California federal court’s bZx DAO ruling recognizing the existence of a general partnership and a negligence theory of liability, and the new report detailing FTX's mismanagement. Does crypto mining really have an outsized burden on the environment and energy consumers? Is the U.S. government, potentially with help from the media, effectively banning crypto in an organized effort, dubbed "Operation Choke Point 2.0"? What will happen to the price and regulation of Ethereum now that people are able to withdraw the ETH they've staked? Would the implementation of illicit finance checks be a death knell for DeFi? Can DAOs really protect themselves from liability? How did FTX get so big without basic business policies and procedures in place? Listen to Josh and Jonathan's hot takes now.
Episode 3
Regulators Hook the Big Fish
In this episode, Josh and Jonathan discuss the “what’s happening?,” “why now?” and “what’s next?” of the Coinbase Wells notice, the CFTC enforcement action against Binance, and the SushiSwap SEC subpoena and proposal to Sushi DAO to create a legal defense fund. What’s behind the sudden rush of enforcement? Why is the SEC coming for Coinbase despite its reported efforts to “come in and register”? Is the CFTC still “cool with crypto” or is the tide changing? Will the SEC and DOJ pile onto Binance next? Are VCs enforcement targets? Can DAOs avoid the liability they were designed to circumvent? Listen now for Josh and Jonathan’s hot takes.
Episode 2
The Unbanking of Crypto
In this episode, Josh and Jonathan unpack the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank. With the three banks most associated with digital assets no longer up and running, has crypto been unbanked for good? Did Jerome Powell himself set the first domino in motion? Did VCs pressure the government into covering their deposits? What could have been if they hadn’t? How will this impact future digital asset and banking regulation? While the downfall of these banks highlight some negative realities of fractionalized reserve banking, could this be crypto’s moment to shine? Listen to Josh and Jonathan’s hot takes now.
Episode 1
Everything but Bitcoin
In the inaugural episode of Crypto Facto with Josh and Jonathan, our hosts tackle the SEC’s latest signaling on digital asset regulation and enforcement. Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler plan to treat everything but Bitcoin as a security? Under the proposed amendments to the Custody Rule, who will qualify as a custodian of digital assets? Is the SEC coming for staking as a service, layer 1s and other token issuers, and even NFTs? Listen now for Josh and Jonathan’s hot takes.
