Law of Code

Jesse Pollak (@jessepollak) currently works on protocols, public goods, cities, and currencies at Coinbase & beyond (more coming soon). He previously led all Retail engineering at Coinbase, including building Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Wallet. Way back when, Jesse started Clef and was an engineer at BuzzFeed. He also writes open source software and takes incredible photos. You can find Jesse at jesse.xyz on ETH and on Twitter, Github, & LinkedIn. In this episode, we discuss building at Coinbase, Jesse's introduction to Bitcoin during a conversation with Olaf Carlson-Wee (Polychain Capital CEO), his project to bring crypto awareness and knowledge to the city of Oakland, and much more. Show highlights: [1:30] A conversation with Olaf Carlson-Wee [8:00] Cultivating coding skills [19:30] Minting a CryptoPunk [24:00] Online Pseudonymity [32:00] Software-enabled corporations & the future of DAOs [39:00] Perspective shifts in Web3 [42:00] Building @ Coinbase [48:00] Oakland Community Currency [54:00] Focus and discipline in Web 3 If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Thanks to our sponsor - Hedera Hashgraph (@Hedera). Hedera is the most used, sustainable, enterprise-grade public network for the decentralized economy. They are looking to add bright legal minds to their team. You can review the available openings at hedera.com/future. When you apply, be sure to mention you heard about it here on the Law of Code podcast!

Laura Shin (@laurashin) is a crypto journalist, host of the Unchained podcast, and author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” (PublicAffairs, 2022). During the course of writing her book, she and her sources uncovered who they believe was behind the biggest whodunnit in crypto — the 2016 DAO attack on Ethereum. Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time, and her podcasts and videos have had more than 19 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the International Monetary Fund, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum. In this interview, Laura shares her original intention behind writing The Cryptopians, interviewing Vitalik, and her favourite moments from the book! Show highlights: [2:30] Laura's first piece of journalism [6:00] Full-time Bitcoin reporting [11:00] Staying updated on crypto [14:00] Laura's favourite moment writing The Cryptopians [17:00] Self-care in crypto [23:00] The importance of writing [25:30] First week writing The Cryptopians [33:30] Interviewing Vitalik [39:00] Difficult moments [48:00] Remaining neutral while reporting [56:00] What was left out of The Cryptopians [57:00] Truth vs Consequences  [63:00] Legal side of crypto [68:30] Other professions Laura considered [73:40] Blind spots [79:00] Religion & Crypto [85:00] Doing what you love Links: Laura's Book: The Cryptopians Laura's Newsletter: Unchained Laura's Podcast Channel If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes. Thanks to our (first-ever) sponsor - Hedera Hashgraph (@Hedera). Hedera is the most used, sustainable, enterprise-grade public network for the decentralized economy. They are looking to add bright legal minds to their team. You can review the available openings at hedera.com/future. When you apply, be sure to mention you heard about it here on the Law of Code podcast!

Ben Samaroo (@BenSamaroo) is CEO/Co-Founder at WonderFi Technologies Inc, one of the largest players in the Canadian crypto space. Ben began building WonderFi with the mission of lowering barriers to entry to crypto and decentralized finance in support of a more equitable financial system.  Previously, Ben was an executive and regulatory consultant with broad experience in managing corporate finance, risk and compliance on behalf of Fintech companies. He previously served as Regulatory Consultant and Advisor at Netcoins, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for First Coin Capital, a Vancouver-based company that was acquired by Galaxy Digital. Prior, he was a lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where advised public and private companies on M&A and capital raises.  In this episode, we discuss DeFi, taking risks, and building one of Canada's largest crypto companies. Show highlights: [2:50] Ben's Genesis Block [9:30] WonderFi [12:35] Best Decisions [16:00] Taking Risks [25:13] Playing Offense in Business and Life [32:00] WonderFi's Foundation & Acquisitions [38:44] Legal Experience - Asset or Burden? [49:24] Flair Airlines [52:00] Habits [56:10] Great Lawyers If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes.

(April 28) This episode is an overview of the legal landscape for digital assets, outlining the implications, pertinent news, and updates in the crypto law space from the past week. It is a collaboration between the Law of Code Podcast and the CryptoLaw Newsletter, by Ann Sofie Cloots. This will be a weekly installment to ensure you're up to date on the regulations impacting digital assets. This "solo-pod" is an attempt to add value to the space by highlighting ongoing blockchain regulation across the world - with a focus on the legal implications. It's a work in progress and can only get better. I appreciate any feedback on this format - please send your thoughts to @JacobRobinsonJD. If you have suggestions for topics for future solo-pods, I'd love to hear that as well. Now go subscribe to the CryptoLaw Newsletter (@cryptolaw_news)!

Stepan Simkin (@SimkinStepan) is the co-founder and CEO of Squads (https://squads.so/) and a former attorney at the international law firm Clifford Chance LLP.  Squads raised millions to build DAO tooling for the Solana ecosystem. Squads' goal is to simplify the DAO framework and make it accessible to the majority of users who are familiar with web3 or are just discovering it. By combining the core DAO primitives under one platform and building it on a fast and scalable layer 1 blockchain like Solana, they hope that Squads will become a social hub for web3 coordination. Their focus is on a clean and simplified UI/UX combined with scalability and predictable fees to democratize the DAO framework. In this episode, we cover Stepan's transition from lawyer to CEO, solving problems DAOs face, buying NFTs and Squads.  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes.

Miles Jennings (@milesjennings) is the general counsel of a16z crypto, where he oversees the firm's investments, works on regulatory and policy matters, and works with the firm's portfolio companies and DAOs on decentralized operations, protocol design and regulatory matters.  Miles was previously a partner at Latham & Watkins in its capital markets and emerging companies group, and co-chaired its global blockchain and cryptocurrency task force, which was composed of over 80 lawyers around the globe. In that role, Miles acted as lead counsel for nearly every large investor in the sector, including a16z, Paradigm, Pantera, ParaFi, Ribbit, Coatue and others. In addition, he was a go-to, trusted advisor for countless startups and crypto projects, including ConsenSys, Uniswap, Aave, Bitwise, Avalanche, Element, Idle, Connext, 3Box, and Aztec.  Miles has written extensively on legal frameworks for digital assets and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and on the design of decentralized systems. He previously co-authored “A Legal Framework for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations” with David Kerr.  In this episode, we discuss his recently published “Principles & Models of Web3 Decentralization” paper. You find a summarized version of the paper here.  Show highlights  [5:08] Legal work in crypto  [7:52] SAFTs & issues around them  [10:45] Why he wrote a paper on decentralization  [14:00] Surprising insights while writing about decentralization  [20:20] Goal of writing on decentralization  [29:00] Howey: efforts of others & DAOs - best practices  [37:50] Conflict of interest for a16z  [48:20] VCs as legal clients  [58:00] Information asymmetry  [69:50] Writing strategies  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes.

(April 8-14) This episode is an overview of the legal landscape for digital assets, outlining the implications, pertinent news, and updates in the crypto law space from the past week. It is a collaboration between the Law of Code Podcast and the CryptoLaw Newsletter, by Ann Sofie Cloots. This will be a weekly installment to ensure you're up to date on the regulations impacting digital assets. This "solo-pod" is an attempt to add value to the space by highlighting ongoing blockchain regulation across the world - with a focus on the legal implications. It's a work in progress and can only get better. I appreciate any feedback on this format - please send your thoughts to @JacobRobinsonJD. If you have suggestions for topics for future solo-pods, I'd love to hear that as well. Now go subscribe to the CryptoLaw Newsletter!

(April 1-7) This episode is an overview of the legal landscape for digital assets, outlining the implications, pertinent news, and updates in the crypto law space from the past week. It is a collaboration between the Law of Code Podcast and the CryptoLaw Newsletter, by Ann Sofie Cloots. This will be a weekly installment to ensure you're up to date on the regulations impacting digital assets. This "solo-pod" is an attempt to add value to the space by highlighting ongoing blockchain regulation across the world - with a focus on the legal implications. It's a work in progress and can only get better. I appreciate any feedback on this format - please send your thoughts to @JacobRobinsonJD. If you have suggestions for topics for future solo-pods, I'd love to hear that as well. Now go subscribe to the CryptoLaw Newsletter!

Lana Schwartzman (@LanaCryptoAML) is the Chief Compliance Officer at Dapper Labs, the team behind NBA Top Shots, NFL All Day, and Cryptokitties. Lana has more than 17 years of experience specializing in compliance, cryptocurrency regulations, and AML. Specifically, in BSA/AML/OFAC program development, MSB/MTL licensure process, internal audits, independent compliance program reviews, and consent order validation for various cryptocurrency exchange companies, financial institutions, and foreign banking organizations. Prior to joining Dapper Labs, she spent close to 3 years as a Chief Compliance Officer at a regulated P2P marketplace, and previously spent 7 years at Grant Thornton LLP in the Regulatory Risk Group specializing in BSA/AML and OFAC regulations. Lana spent her early years at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in various compliance roles. Lana is known as a subject matter expert in Regulations and Compliance related to cryptocurrency and she stays current on all AML regulations. Lana is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and obtained the ACAMS Virtual Currency Certification and various Chainalysis certifications. She achieved the recognition of "AML Professional of the Month" in 2019 and has been a frequent panelist at various ACAMS, ACFCS, and Bitcoin conferences. You can also find Lana on LinkedIn. In this episode of Law of Code, Lana explains what a chief compliance officer does, building a compliance program, and why a compliance officer isn't the "fun police." We also discuss: - Mining Bitcoin - Dapper Labs - Where compliance officers add value - Learning more about compliance regulation - Surprising aspects of a compliance role - Changing sentiment of regulators - Promoting inclusion and diversity If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes.

David Kerr (@David_M_Kerr) is the Principal of Cowrie LLC, where he uses ten years of experience in tax strategy, financial accounting, and risk advisory in the industries of gaming, telecommunications, and technology-driven online sales platforms to assist clients. David co-authored "A Legal Framework for Decentralization Autonomous Organizations" together with Miles Jennings. This paper identified a number of taxation, entity formation, and operational issues pertaining to DAOs and suggested a domestic entity structure capable of addressing such issues. In this episode of Law of Code, David shares his views on today's DAOs, writing techniques, settling on the UUNAA framework, and all things taxes.  [1:36] DAOs [8:00] Proving decentralization [16:30] Decentralization as a demonstrable principle [19:00] DAOs & Taxes [21:00] Section 61 & Glenshaw Glass: Dominion and Control [28:30] Income events for token holders [32:00] Writing concisely and the DAO Research Collective [46:00] David’s intro to crypto & consulting background [55:58] Tips for great writing and conducting research across jurisdictions [60:09] Building a career If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest episodes.