In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Ben Jaffe, an attorney and partner at CDAS who leads their Digital Media & Technology practice.

If you've followed the world of cryptocurrencies at all, you know that the threat of regulation has been hanging over the industry. One area in particular that's attracted major scrutiny is securities law as it relates to crypto projects. When a company issues shares in a company, that's typically regulated under securities law. A temporary loophole that emerged in recent years is issuing tokens instead of shares. But increasingly, the SEC is regulating these tokens as securities.

Based on his experience working with various crypto projects, Ben shares where he thinks regulation is headed, highlights examples of projects providing value with their tokens or NFTs while avoiding being labeled a security, and gives advice on how projects can steer clear of potential regulatory issues. 

Things mentioned in this episode:

Overview of SEC Securities Law and Crypto: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-29/why-crypto-flinches-when-sec-calls-coins-securities-quicktake

Fancurve: https://fancurve.com/

Adventures In Late Stage Fiat (w/Fode Diop) episode of The Bitcoin Standard Podcast: https://saifedean.com/podcast/124-adventures-in-late-stage-fiat-cfa-franc-with-fode-diop/

Bitcoin's Lightning Network: https://lightning.network/

Green Bay Packers stock sale and public ownership: https://www.nfl.com/news/packers-add-176-160-new-shareholders-net-approximately-65-8m-with-sixth-ever-sto