startup lawyer, not yours
Boston, MA
Joined May 2022
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The Ghibli AI images are shockingly good. There’s a certain warmth to the style that is captured and reproduced very well. Hard not to imagine what this can do to the animation industry.
Appreciate @collins_belton and others pushing back on the notion that attempting to clarify securities status is too hard. Would like more engagement from the skeptics on the problems with the guiding principles and examples offered by Miles and Sarah.
This is an almost-perfect Crypto Law All Star game
🚨NEW: The @SECGov Crypto Task Force has announced the panelists that will be attending its first industry roundtable entitled “How We Got Here and How We Get Out – Defining Security Status.”
The group of twelve lawyers and academics will join the task force for a discussion on Friday, March 21 from 1PM-5PM at the SEC HQ in Washington D.C. The discussion will be moderated by Troy Parades, Founder of Paredes Strategies LLC.
Here’s the attendee list:
📌@collins_belton, Managing Partner, Brookwood P.C.
📌@SH_Brennan, General Counsel, Delphi Ventures
📌@ChrisBrummerDr, Professor of Financial Technology, Georgetown Law
📌@NYcryptolawyer, Co-Chair, CahillNXT
📌Coy Garrison, Partner, Steptoe
📌 @teresagoody, Partner, BakerHostetler
📌@milesjennings, General Counsel, @a16zcrypto
📌@leereiners, Lecturing Fellow, Duke Financial Economic Center and Duke Law
📌Benjamin Schiffrin , Director of Securities Policy, @BetterMarkets
📌@RSSH273, Special Counsel, Cooley LLP
📌@JohnReedStark, John Reed Stark Consulting LLC
Matt retweeted
The fact that you might lose money on something does not make it a security. Be careful out there: sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-st…
Matt retweeted
It is my great honor to be nominated by President @realDonaldTrump as the next Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where I had served as a Commissioner in his last administration. The @CFTC plays a critical role in maintaining robust hedging and price discovery markets that are the envy of the globe. The agency is also well poised to ensure the USA leads the world in blockchain technology and innovation. I look forward to working with President Trump’s incredible financial regulatory team. 🇺🇸
Matt retweeted
🚨NEW: Here’s the first requested pause on #crypto litigation in the courts since @MarkUyedaUS took over as acting chair.
@binance and the @SECGov have just filed a joint motion to stay the agency’s case against the exchange for 60 days, citing the new SEC crypto task force as having a possible bearing on the case.
“The work of this task force may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case.”
Following the 60-day period, the parties plan to issue a joint status report to see whether a continuation of the stay is warranted.
I expect we’ll see other non-fraud cases (i.e. @Ripple, @coinbase, @krakenfx and others) follow suit in this manner.
Highly recommend following this account for a nuanced, pro-regulation perspective
I think many will have a knee jerk reaction that this is a negative or bad for bank regulation, just because of the context and who is proposing it. And I think they’d be wrong.
“Reputational risk” has been an amorphous, black box of subjectivity that the bank regulators have used to much harm.
So don’t just immediately dismiss it as some wild Republican removal of protections, if that’s your first response to this.
Matt retweeted
today on @OnTheBrinkCIV I sit down with Mike Lempres, the former chairman of Silvergate Bank, for his side of the story on FTX, the bank run, the liquidation of Silvergate, and the debanking affair.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
Matt retweeted
Good write-up by Miles.
Many web3 founders don’t want their projects to be decentralized. That’s fine. We have legal frameworks for centralized projects.
But decentralized projects are fundamentally different from centralized ones. Good policy would distinguish the two.
Matt retweeted
Bye, bye SAB 121! It's not been fun: SEC.gov | Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 122
Matt retweeted
Incoming FDIC interim chair Travis Hill confirms regulatory-driven debanking. OCP2.0 = real. Says the FDIC will clean house.
fdic.gov/news/speeches/2025/…
Matt retweeted
Consumer protection laws always seemed like a more logical regulatory regime over cramming securities law categorization into an ill fitting posture.
The issue will be ensuring the rules implemented make sense. This one doesn’t.
🚨🚨🚨Biden Administration 11:59 PM interpretive rule drop:
TLDR: in order to protect consumers and to avoid a competitive advantage to new forms of electronic fund transfers over traditional ones, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) should be reinterpreted to apply to crypto.
Specifically, "virtual currency wallets" that can hold and transfer fungible tokens and stablecoins should be considered a consumer account that is regulated by the CFPB.
Under this regime, the wallet provider and not the consumer would be responsible for any "unauthorized transfers" including "transfers initiated by a person who obtained a consumer’s access device through fraud or robbery . . . [or] when a bad actor obtains a consumer’s account credential through computer hacking or other forms of cyber theft and uses that credential to steal funds."
Hacked because you tweeted you emailed your seed phrase or believed that fashion model in Malaysia needed 5000 bucks to fly to see you? Don't worry your wallet might have to cover it . . .
Wallet providers also would be required to provide disclosures and terms and conditions when the consumer first uses their product. "The disclosures must include a summary of various consumer rights . . . including the consumer’s liability for unauthorized EFTs, the types of EFTs the consumer may make, limits on the frequency or dollar amount, fees charged by the financial institution, and the error-resolution procedures. . . . also require[d is providing] regular, periodic statements, and change-in-terms notices."
So should wallet providers (both custodial and non-custodial) now be financial institutions for purposes of the EFTA? The CFPB says they don't need to ask the public what they think but are doing so anyway (how courteous of them) through the end of March 2025.
And you thought the Warrenites were done with us, didn't you? Their co-opting of crypto under the banner of consumer protection (who can argue with protecting consumers after all?) won't stop until someone stops it. And that someone is the next President of the United States. So add this to the list of "law by decree" problems that need to be fixed.
files.consumerfinance.gov/f/…
Shocked it took this long for the CFPB to attack wallet providers. Consumer protection laws are ripe for broad interpretations.
🚨🚨🚨Biden Administration 11:59 PM interpretive rule drop:
TLDR: in order to protect consumers and to avoid a competitive advantage to new forms of electronic fund transfers over traditional ones, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) should be reinterpreted to apply to crypto.
Specifically, "virtual currency wallets" that can hold and transfer fungible tokens and stablecoins should be considered a consumer account that is regulated by the CFPB.
Under this regime, the wallet provider and not the consumer would be responsible for any "unauthorized transfers" including "transfers initiated by a person who obtained a consumer’s access device through fraud or robbery . . . [or] when a bad actor obtains a consumer’s account credential through computer hacking or other forms of cyber theft and uses that credential to steal funds."
Hacked because you tweeted you emailed your seed phrase or believed that fashion model in Malaysia needed 5000 bucks to fly to see you? Don't worry your wallet might have to cover it . . .
Wallet providers also would be required to provide disclosures and terms and conditions when the consumer first uses their product. "The disclosures must include a summary of various consumer rights . . . including the consumer’s liability for unauthorized EFTs, the types of EFTs the consumer may make, limits on the frequency or dollar amount, fees charged by the financial institution, and the error-resolution procedures. . . . also require[d is providing] regular, periodic statements, and change-in-terms notices."
So should wallet providers (both custodial and non-custodial) now be financial institutions for purposes of the EFTA? The CFPB says they don't need to ask the public what they think but are doing so anyway (how courteous of them) through the end of March 2025.
And you thought the Warrenites were done with us, didn't you? Their co-opting of crypto under the banner of consumer protection (who can argue with protecting consumers after all?) won't stop until someone stops it. And that someone is the next President of the United States. So add this to the list of "law by decree" problems that need to be fixed.
files.consumerfinance.gov/f/…
Mersinger’s dissents have shown her thoughtful, tech-forward approach to regulation. She would be an A+ pick.
📣 SCOOP: There’s a new lead for CFTC Chair.
🏇 CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger, who has made numerous pro-crypto dissents to enforcement actions, is now the top contender for CFTC Chair ⚖️
@vronirwin reports
unchainedcrypto.com/summer-m…
Matt retweeted
On the latest episode of @fordhamcorpcntr’s Bite-Sized Business Law Podcast, Fordham Law Profs. Sean Griffith, Amy Martella ’07, and Richard Squire break down Elon Musk’s Tesla 2018 compensation package and the Delaware Court of Chancery’s initial ruling.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
Matt retweeted
Jesus christ wtf
"Chinese venture capitalists are hounding failed founders, pursuing personal assets and adding them to a national debtor blacklist when they fail to pay up, in moves that are throwing the country’s start-up funding ecosystem into crisis."
"in its recent report on redemption rights, said they had turned entrepreneurship into a “game of unlimited liability"
"Once blacklisted, it is nearly impossible for individuals to start another business. They are also blocked from a range of economic activities, such as taking planes or high-speed trains, staying in hotels or leaving China. The country lacks a personal bankruptcy law, making it extremely difficult for most to escape the debts."
ft.com/content/38f1e51b-83b8…
