Tangents from Coin Center

In this episode of Tangents, Peter and Jerry discuss the recent decision in the SEC v. Ripple case. They explain that the decision follows the same interpretation of the securities laws that Coin Center has longe advocated, namely that commodity tokens can be the subject of securities offerings without being securities themselves. Jerry and Peter also address misreadings of the opinion that have l...

In this episode of Tangents, Peter and Jerry discuss the Tornado Cash sanctions list designation by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. As they explain in a legal analysis of the case, they believe that OFAC has overstepped its legal authority by adding certain Tornado Cash smart contract addresses to the SDN List, that this action potentially violates constitutional rights...

In this episode of Tangents, Peter and Jerry discuss the SEC's proposed rulemaking on the definition of ‘exchange’ and Alternative Trading Systems. Bottom line: The Commission’s proposed redefinition of “exchange” violates the First Amendment by requiring a license to speak–even of open source developers. It’s unconstitutional and they should change it. We explain why the First Amendment arguments...

In this episode of Tangents, Peter, Jerry, and Neeraj discuss the narrative and substance how cryptocurrency is implicated in the  sanctions on Russia, as well as the Biden executive order on digital assets.

In this episode of Tangents, Peter and Jerry discuss a new backgrounder just published by Coin Center that explains what is "staking" to policymakers who sometimes are confused about how that word is used in different cryptocurrency contexts.

In the second part of their discussion of the crypto tax provisions in the infrastructure bill, Jerry, Peter, and Robin recount what happened after the Senate passed it and bring us up to date on efforts to fix the provisions in the House and elsewhere.

Jerry, Peter, and Robin discuss the crypto tax provisions in the infrastructure bill that passed the Senate and is now stuck in the House. They recount what's in the bill, why it's bad, and the efforts in the Senate to stop it. In the next part they'll discuss what's happening now in the House and what's being done to fight it.

Jerry and Peter discuss the stablecoin regulation and the forthcoming report from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets on that subject. Are stablecoins securities? Are they systemically risky? Is any of this graven in stone? Find out in this episode.

Jerry and Peter discuss the third comment letter that Coin Center has filed in FinCEN’s ongoing crypto rulemaking. Topics include privacy issues surrounding currency transaction reports and why the current CTR proposal is not tech-neutral and prejudices cryptocurrency technologies.

In the wake of the WSB/GameStop saga, Jerry and Peter discuss the intersection of DeFi and regulation, plus an update on FinCEN’s now unfrozen crypto rule making.

We discuss FinCEN extending the comment period in its crypto rule making, which is a bit of a victory, though we’re not out of the woods yet. We also discuss crypto in the NDAA and Gary Gensler appointed to chair the SEC. FinCEN Extends Comment Period for Rule Aimed at Closing Anti-Money Laundering Regulatory Gaps for Certain Convertible Virtual Currency and Digital Asset Transactions Coin Center...

Jerry and Peter discuss FinCEN's proposed new crypto midnight regulation, as well as the President's Working Group on Financial Markets statement on stablecoins, and FinCEN's announcement that it will develop rules applying FBAR requirements to cryptocurrency accounts.

The second in a mini-series within Tangents in which Robin asks the same three questions of different guests. Today’s answers by Michale Casey lead to a discussion of changing narratives dating back hundreds of years, reporting on cryptocurrency, the use of blockchain technology in enabling community-owned energy economies, and the future of media.

Dan is executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and previously worked at the American Enterprise Institute and the R Street Institute. They discuss how think tanks’ traditional role in developing policy ideas has evolved as politics and the media environment have changed over the last decade.

Abe’s research has spurred Coin Center to advocate for different tax treatment of block rewards. The IRS issued guidance in 2014, explaining that cryptocurrency was property and should be taxed as income when received by a miner. As Abe has pointed out, no other newly created property is taxed at the moment it is made by the taxpayer. A farmer owes taxes when she sells her corn, not when it appear...

Robin tries out a new format where she asks three basic questions of her guests.  Today’s answers by @Bitcoinmom Brooke Mallers and her husband, and partner in everything, Bill Mallers leads to a discussion of the value of Bitcoin, the importance of having a de minimis tax exemption, some of the shared policy challenges faced by cryptocurrency businesses and marijuana-related businesses, and the f...

Neeraj talks with Jerry and Peter for a cryptocurrency policy update. Topics include the recent travel rule rulemaking from FinCEN, privacy and CBDCs, and a de minimis tax exemption. 

Because the cryptocurrency space is still relatively nascent, there haven’t been that many patents filed. And many of the patents that have been granted are held by innovative firms that understand that crypto is meant to be open source and open network, permissionless and unowned. If all crypto firms banded together now, at this early stage, they could not only protect each other from offensive u...

When Twitter was recently hacked, hundreds of popular accounts started tweeting out misleading advertisements for cryptocurrency scams. The problem was not cryptocurrency itself, but rather the broken centralized identity systems that Twitter (alongside all modern internet services) relied upon. The solution, as discussed in this podcast, may actually be cryptocurrency technology itself. Peter and...

While many may know how a bill becomes a law, fewer may understand the important precursor of how a bill becomes a bill.  Following the recent introduction of the Digital Commodities Exchange Act (DCEA), Robin and Paul talk a bit about that process as well as what it is like to work on Capitol Hill. 

Taken as a whole, the internet is a resilient platform for free speech. However, individual platforms are increasingly being targeted by government and activist groups demanding censorship. Will and Neeraj discuss the recent history of this trend and how censorship might look at different levels in the internet infrastructure stack. Read: A History of Crowdfunding in the Wake of Violence by Will D...

Jerry and Alex discuss what is lobbying and what lobbyists do, the differences between the House and Senate, why Congress is dysfunctional and what can be done about it.

Ian Mier’s graduate work in cryptography pioneered the integration of zero-knowledge proof systems and cryptocurrency blockchains. Along with co-authors, he published the Zero-Coin and Zero-Cash research papers that eventually informed the creation of the Zcash blockchain and cryptocurrency. Peter and Ian discuss the importance of privacy in cryptocurrency technology, the tradeoffs made within dif...

FIRE focuses on campus free speech issues. It may be most well known for its work on guest speaker controversies but threats to speech in academia run much deeper than that. Sarah McLaughlin focuses on tracking how colleges and universities grapple with issues caused by some of their curriculum being illegal to discuss in parts of the world, particularly China. This issue has been complicated furt...

A pinch-hitting Peter Van Valkenburgh discusses what is Coin Center and what exactly we do in DC. Who do we represent and for what do we advocate? Find out as we address some common misconceptions about lobbying for crypto.