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Tarun Chitra on whether Code is Law | Layer Zero

Mar 15, 2022

In this lively discussion, Tarun Chitra, Founder and CEO of Gauntlet, shares his unique insights into the interplay of finance and law, highlighting the elegance of smart contracts. He reflects on New York's post-pandemic transformation and the shifting dynamics of its populace towards cryptocurrency. Tarun navigates the challenges within U.S. regulatory frameworks and the urgent need for legal reform in our tech-driven world. He explores innovative governance models like DAOs, emphasizing how decentralized finance can reshape our understanding of law and community.

01:22:41

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Episode guests

Tarun Chitra

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Episode notes

Intro

5min

Navigating the Dichotomy of Creativity and Analysis

5min

New York's Post-Pandemic Transformation

10min

Navigating Regulation in a Digital Era

23min

Navigating Legal Systems in the Era of Innovation

3min

Governance in Flux: Navigating Change and Stability

4min

Decentralized Governance: The Future of Law

20min

Navigating the Challenges of DeFi and Beyond

11min

The Evolution of DeFi and the Importance of Social Connection

3min

Tarun Chitra, in addition to being Founder and CEO of Gauntlet, is a gigabrain, polymath type in the Ethereum space. His fluency in mathematics results in a creative, almost artistic approach to a traditionally rigorous and analytical field.

Perhaps related to his search for beauty, Tarun observes the structural changing of massive systems happening in the broader geopolitical ecosystem today. We explore the relationship between regulation and finance in a unique light. Finance itself is fundamentally a legal practice—it’s money plus law.

Finance becomes more elegant with smart contracts, and we muse on the idea that broader governance structures can improve with smart contracts as well. Is code law? Can we generalize capital efficiency?

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Topics Covered:

0:00 Intro

4:30 Tarun Chitra

8:15 New York City & Boom Cities

14:00 Global Crypto

18:00 Leapfrogging the US

27:45 Governance & Regulation

31:55 The Fundamental Crypto Shift

35:53 The Great Re-Shuffling

43:08 What Works vs What Doesn’t

48:07 Core Blockchain Governance

52:40 Scaling with DAOs

1:00:00 Upgrading Financial Law

1:09:00 Code is Law

1:14:05 Tarun’s Approach to Life

1:20:34 Optimism through Beauty

1:26:00 Basins and Sinking to Elegance

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Resources:

Tarun on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/tarunchitra?s=20&t=-Wk1FKVJz6cQrJM6EzusdQ

Gauntlet:

https://twitter.com/gauntletnetwork?s=20&t=-Wk1FKVJz6cQrJM6EzusdQ

Episode with Santi Siri:

https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-santiago-siri-layer-zero?s=w

Fundamental Theorem of Algebra

https://www.britannica.com/science/fundamental-theorem-of-algebra

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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:

https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures

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