Launching a token can be as easy as sending an email.

Unlocking their potential as a new digital primitive and bringing them to market is much harder.

I’ve worked with dozens of founders tackling this challenge and am now releasing a 3-part playbook written for everyone. 🧵 1⃣ Getting ready to launch a token: What you need to know.

Launching a token too early is a common mistake that can be fatal for a project.

@jasonrosenthal and I wrote about how to be ready.

a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/…

Wyoming’s DUNA legal structure for DAOs goes live on July 1, 2024.

Companies that (1) have a U.S. nexus and (2) are using tokens to decentralize the governance of an asset (a treasury, autonomous software, etc) should consider it.

Here are 10 benefits of the DUNA👇 1⃣ Lets DAOs be DAOs – DUNAs enable DAOs to continue to be governed by smart contracts. That means they can continue to be decentralized, autonomous and permissionless.

1/ In the last few days, we've gotten a great look at how the SEC's strategy against @coinbase and @binance is going to play out.

Here's how that strategy could be used to target decentralized exchanges (DEXs) next and why those attacks should fail. 🧵 2/ The SEC's focus on centralized exchanges (CEXs) is a shift from its historic focus on token issuers.

The rationale for that shift (exchanges are a critical chokepoint and act as a gateway for new users) also applies to DEXs.

https://x.com/milesjennings/status/1747748238307012663?s=20

1/ Today, @BrianQuintenz and I published our analysis of 5 recent actions to answer some key questions:

🔹Is the SEC’s case against Coinbase’s wallet justified?
🔹Is the Uniswap class action result significant?
🔹Is the CFTC the industry’s new boogeyman?

Grades and summary 👇 2/ We examine these actions under our “Regulate Web3 Apps, Not Protocols'' framework (RANP), looking at whether the actions appropriately target business activity rather than software and its developers (the key tenet of RANP).

a16zcrypto.com/posts/series/r…

1/ The SEC’s action today makes clear what many in the industry have long suspected.

Under the direction of Chair Gensler, the SEC’s endgame for crypto/web3 in the United States is about one thing: banning the technology. 2/ In pursuit of this goal, the SEC has fostered uncertainty by refusing to engage the industry proactively, even though this approach has led to significant investor harm, roiled markets, and hindered capital formation in contravention of the SEC’s three-part mission.

This weekend, we filed a letter applauding 👏 the UK's efforts to provide regulatory clarity and enhance consumer protections in web3.

Here’s what to expect and our take on the future of web3 in the UK. 🧵
a16zcrypto.com/content/papers… 2/ The UK wants to become a global hub for web3 technology and investment and the government has been keen to demonstrate a pragmatic and constructive approach to crypto.

As a result, there is cause for significant optimism, but the next 18 months are critical.

18 pieces of content from my first 18 months at @a16zcrypto.

Decentralization, tokens, NFTs, DAOs, stablecoins, securities laws, privacy and more.

Here’s hoping they renew my content contract, otherwise I’m all memes from here on out.🤞 1/🔹Decentralization. Paper on the many elements of decentralization (technical, economic and legal) and how decentralization can be incentivized in different complex web3 protocol models, including social, NFT and RWA protocols.

https://twitter.com/milesjennings/status/1512106060898660352?s=20&t=Wd0Tw4EXGjGW8-gHSvURgQ

In response to today’s Kraken / SEC settlement - we had a few thoughts 🧵👇 Staking is incredibly important to the ecosystem, and staking-as-a-service programs are both legal and allow more people to participate in blockchain technology.

(1/11) Today, we published Part 3 of the @a16zcrypto “Regulate Web3 Apps, Not Protocols” series to complete the foundation of our framework and to address a significant loophole: DAOs 🧵
a16zcrypto.com/regulate-web3-… 2/ Part 3 covers:
1⃣ the Web3 DAO Dilemma
2⃣ the importance of DAOs
3⃣ how to solve the Web3 DAO Dilemma with regulatory safeguards
4⃣ how to design compliant protocol and decentralized governance while preserving the fundamental principles of protocols.

1/ This year comes with a renewed sense of urgency regarding web3 regulation. So, today @BrianQuintenz and I published Part 2 of the @a16zcrypto “Regulate Web3 Apps, Not Protocols” framework.

Here’s a quick guide. 🧵👇
a16zcrypto.com/regulate-web3-… 2/ This Part 2 builds on our approach to regulating web3 businesses (not software), exploring how various factors should influence web3 app regulation and incorporating great feedback on our initial post from September.

Here’s a flowchart of the framework:

This week’s events will be used by some to paint web3 as the "wild west." In reality, these events, like prior excessive financial risk-taking collapses, are instances of wrongdoing that were preventable.

We have to stop this from happening again. Unfortunately, the irony is that good faith actors in the U.S. will most likely face the resulting regulatory backlash, while others continue to avoid scrutiny by operating in the dark - contrast Coinbase with their offshore competitors.

It is time to flip this tired script.

1/ Why we should regulate web3 apps, not protocols. 👇🧵

a16zcrypto.com/web3-regulatio… 2/ First, some background. Much of our internet experience currently depends on web1 communication protocols like HTTP (data exchange for websites), SMTP (email) and FTP (file transfers), which are open source, decentralized, autonomous and standardized.

Here’s how email works:

Just as we wrap up an amazing @stanford Blockchain Week, California is now poised to be telling the passionate entrepreneurs and academics that attended the conference to leave.

Here's why: The CA Digital Financial Assets Law is antithetical to Governor @GavinNewsom’s executive order.

If California wants to lead in web3, it should help resolve existing regulatory uncertainty, rather than add to it.

1/ Today we’re thrilled to be launching a slate of open sourced “Can’t be Evil” NFT licenses. These licenses are designed specifically for NFTs and were inspired by 20-plus years of work by the Creative Commons. a16zcrypto.com/introducing-nf… 2/ There’s currently significant ambiguity and legal risk across the NFT ecosystem, a lack of standardization makes it difficult for NFT purchasers to know what rights they’re getting and creating customized licenses is expensive. All of this acts as a drag on the industry.

Having read through yesterday’s SEC complaint, my biggest takeaway is that it’s remarkable how little new information/guidance can be taken from the allegations...

Nevertheless, the allegations are a good reminder of the rules of the road for web3 builders.

Here are 5👇 (1) Don’t sell tokens to U.S. persons for fundraising purposes.

There is no issue that the SEC has been more clear or consistent about over the last 4 years.

DAOs are fundamental to the success of web3, yet they're shrouded in legal uncertainty with no consensus about a path to legitimacy.

Today, @Dave_M_Kerr and I published Part II of our Legal Framework for DAOs to chart a definitive way forward. #LFDAOs!👇
bit.ly/3x2Y6nY 1/ In Part I, we provided a comprehensive review of the US regulatory and tax challenges that threaten the existence of DAOs.

We also explored a potential solution to many of those issues, the Unincorporated Nonprofit Association (UNA) entity structure.

https://twitter.com/milesjennings/status/1453080226179608577?s=20&t=QPgrg1l0DBDrFn8TlUSFNQ

It’s great to see Congress working hard to provide web3 builders with regulatory clarity. The SEC should see this moment as an opportunity to adopt a more constructive approach to regulating web3.

If it does, here are 3 suggestions for where it could start.🧵 1/ First, the SEC should engage in a constructive dialogue w/ industry. As we said in our comment letter on the proposed “Exchange” rule change, policy questions about the proper regulation of DeFi systems are serious and shouldn't be decided opaquely.

https://twitter.com/milesjennings/status/1516230638222778371?s=20&t=ba_xGwpEJ0EjeZE3XRcdAQ

1/10 Lots of talk about who should own Twitter. Here’s how web3 decentralization can turn social media platforms like Twitter into Public Utilities and what that might mean for content moderation. 2/ Much of the platform’s backend would be moved on-chain into a smart contract protocol controlled by a DAO, governed by tokens.

This forms the foundation upon which multiple clients (the apps, software and services that run off-chain) could be built.

https://twitter.com/milesjennings/status/1512106075352305664?s=20&t=kEUxvYT440_u6FB0kHyLLg

1/ As the web3 space continues to expand, approaches to decentralization need to evolve.

Today, I published this piece for web3 builders on the principles and models of web3 decentralization. Here's a quick guide. 🧵
future.a16z.com/web3-decentral… 2/ The heart of the piece discusses the model of "Full" Decentralization used throughout DeFi and how its limitations may ultimately make it unsuitable for most of web3 beyond DeFi. I then analyze a more complex model of "Open" Decentralization for web3.

More on both below 👀

Today's NYT article on DAOs misses the big picture. DAOs are a groundbreaking way for people with shared interests to collaborate towards common goals, and can deliver unprecedented societal benefits if we cultivate them well. 🧵nytimes.com/2022/03/08/us/… Because of the trustless nature of DAOs, people can collaborate with confidence even if they don't know each other.
We've seen an explosion in the number and size of DAOs over the past year, as well as the variety and scale of their objectives.

1/ Over the past 6 months, @David_M_Kerr and I have been researching several legal issues facing many DAOs (liability, taxes, contracting, etc.) that are beginning to emerge and that threaten their viability. Today, we published a potential solution.👇

a16z.com/wp-content/upl… 2/ The problem: DAOs have the potential to revolutionize how people organize, collaborate and coordinate. However, their innovative organizational characteristics make most DAOs incompatible with traditional US entity structures (i.e., C-corps, LLCs, etc).