co-founder @TributeLabsXYZ, @TheLAOOfficial, @flamingoDAO, etc; Professor Cardozo Law.
Dec 18, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
It's becoming increasingly clear that blockchain technology and generative AI will be two key trends that will shape the future of the Internet.
These two tech trends will converge. And, without blockchains, we'll run the risk of entering into an "age of incoherence"
As we're seeing in real-time, AI is rapidly evolving and is poised to revolutionize a wide range of industries. But with the explosion of content that AI will generate, there is a clear need for a way to authenticate and verify that content
Dec 24, 2021 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
NFTs will help create a media landscape that is post-copyright.
NFTs help turn media into networks.
Networked tech works best when it’s open-sourced (i.e. IP is more freely licensed)
Copyright laws will exist, but it’ll be increasingly contracted away for media. This is similar to what we saw for software
Sep 30, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
DAOs (governed by communities of fans) will eventually buy sports franchises.
Web 1/2 companies sponsored sports teams.
Web 3 communities will buy them.
Mar 9, 2021 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
🚨 DAOs took a HUGE step forward today 🚨
The Wyoming DAO bill passed the Wyoming Senate committee. I’ll try to keep folks posted on what happens next.
The bill makes it possible to create an entity that is actually called a "DAO"; that's just really cool.
You will be able to transact with an organization called "XYZ, DAO."
Nov 23, 2020 • 25 tweets • 8 min read
Curious why Ethereum is gaining ground? Ethereum currently is seeing exponential from two simultaneous growth curves and there are three growing in the wings. Long thread below 👇
The first is #defi. The growth of #defi has been hyperbolic. The last time we saw this was when the entire ecosystem of digital assets grew from just over ten billion to $100 billion over the course of several months in late 2016 early 2017
Oct 16, 2020 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
Glad the US is waking up to the importance of blockchain. Some thoughts:
coindesk.com/trump-blockcha…
The above article is great progress, but I think underappreciates some of the core technical characteristics embedded into / are being built on top of these networks.
Oct 2, 2020 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
DeFI brings new challenges for KYC regulations. Post-BitMex, we'll likely enter a new chapter of blockchain regulatory approaches
With DeFi, regulators can bring actions against software companies that developed DeFi protocols, but the smart contracts will still be available
Imputing criminal liability could be harder because the developers of the smart contracts may not have sufficient knowledge to justify these types of charges.
Oct 1, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
For those surprised about BitMex, the Bank Secrecy Act has always been the third rail for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and blockchain.
Just because blockchains don’t have KYC baked in at the protocol level, doesn’t mean services on top won’t be required to do so.
How this impacts DeFI? My sense is where’s going to see some complex First Amendment-related questions about the right of projects to develop and deploy software.
Sep 13, 2020 • 24 tweets • 3 min read
Why are governance tokens interesting and important? A short thread below 👇
There is often no IP protection with many blockchain-based protocols and assets move fast on a blockchain. Teams are using governance tokens to build a community, which ideally helps generate integrations with other blockchain-based projects.
Sep 8, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
The use of NFTs to tokenize creative works is growing. Artists are attempting to tokenize their IP and these tokens are trading on dexes and other marketplaces. Some NFTs are selling for $50k+ and we're seeing robust NFT marketplace emerge:
A short thread 👇
There are some interesting concepts being explored with NFTs, including:
- using smart contracts to program ongoing payment to authors on secondary transactions.
- fractionalizing all or parts of the NFT so it can be owned by a group of people.
Aug 31, 2020 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
From 2014-2016, financial folks talked about Bitcoin as if it was an oddity. Now, it's mainstream.
The same thing is happening to smart contracts and oracles. Today many folks look at them with crooked looks. Over the next decade, they will increasingly become the norm. Why?
- Smart contracts can be designed to automate the agreement and performance aspects of a contract.
- They rely on digital assets, enabling near real-time payment and/or settlement.
- They enable the low-cost distribution of assets to multiple parties simultaneously.
Aug 29, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Ethereum is not about lawlessness. It’s about innovation.
It’s disheartening to see talented lawyers like @lex_node struggle.
- Blockchains have decentralized the asset management, creation, and settlement layer of traditional finance, lessening the technical need for centralized exchanges.
We’re seeing this play out as a raft of tokens emerge and as dexes take volume away from centralized exchanges.
May 14, 2020 • 32 tweets • 17 min read
1/There's been quite a bit of discussion around personal tokens over the past couple of days. I thought I'd weigh in here.
Buckle up (jking -- but it's prob worth a read if you're a crypto dork)👇
For those that don't know, personal tokens are being created by a variety of folks for a variety of different reasons: lawyers in exchange for services and entrepreneurs in exchange for nothing in particular.
Mar 25, 2020 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
The SEC successfully blocked the distribution of Telegram’s Grams. The below outlines the key portions of the court’s analysis and provides entrepreuners that are still contemplating issuing tokens some high level guidance.
Telegram sold “grams” pursuant to “Gram Purchase Agreements” to a bunch of purchasers who were entitled to “receive an allotment of Grams upon the launch of the TON blockchain” (i.e., once the blockchain was functional or operational.
Mar 6, 2020 • 11 tweets • 6 min read
One of the core use cases of #ethereum is capital formation (just like how one of the core use cases of the Internet is e-commerce).
Ethereum showed us how it was possible to pool capital in ways that are vastly superior to traditional methods.
Just because there are and may be regulatory issues with “token sales” and ICOs doesn’t change this simple fact.
Efficient systems tend to win in the long run and many of these regulatory issues will be addressed through new laws, regulations, or different forms of structuring.
Oct 30, 2019 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
#DAOs will naturally crib from traditional governance structures at first—boards, delegated voting / proxy voting weren’t invented in a vacuum.
They help deal with the cost and expense of information. Information can be freely disseminated, but that doesn’t render it costless.
Just because someone has access to information doesn’t mean that they have the time / knowledge to act on it.
That doesn’t mean that DAOs won’t overtime change the shape of organizations.
Oct 25, 2019 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Blockchain is becoming a larger geopolitical issue and the US should help lead here. Blockchains embody fundamental values that align with US politics:
1) a framework for digital property rights (smart contracts)
2) first amendment protections (censor resistant data)
3) participatory and democratic voting mechanisms (think about DAOs)
4) open and global marketplaces (think DEXs)
For the US to lead, it’s imperative that the US government support the technology’s maturation through sensible policy and government applications.
Nov 16, 2018 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
SEC just entered into settlements with two projects (Airfox and Paragon) for failing to register tokens as securities. Lots of additional detail on how the SEC is viewing the sale of tokens to “investors.” Thread below:
sec.gov/news/press-rel…
Paragon was an online entity that was purportedly established to implement blockchain technology in the cannabis industry.
Oct 3, 2018 • 20 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Blockchains will support not only cryptoeconomic and financial primitives, but also legal primitives. Legal primitives streamline existing commercial transactions and will power new emergent forms of commercial activity and arrangements over the upcoming decades.
2/ At a high level, primitives are well established, generic building blocks designed to do one very specific task in a highly reliable fashion.
Sep 18, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Big report from New York Attorney General on virtual currency market places. Key points below.
(2) Trading platforms have yet to implement serious efforts to impede abusive trading activity.
Jun 18, 2018 • 48 tweets • 19 min read
Late last week Bill Hinman from the SEC gave a speech that outlined a handful factors that lawyers and projects should use “in assessing whether a digital asset is offered as an investment contract and is thus a security.”
sec.gov/news/speech/sp… (towards the end)
These factors indicate that many of the tokens sold via an “ICO” run the risk of being deemed a security.
