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  2. The Lummis/Gillibrand Crypto Bill: Is the 'Ancillary Token' Approach the Best Way? - Ep. 361

The Lummis/Gillibrand Crypto Bill: Is the 'Ancillary Token' Approach the Best Way? - Ep. 361

Jun 10, 2022

Lewis Cohen, lead attorney at DLx Law LLC, joins to discuss the recently proposed Lummis-Gillibrand bill, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, which he helped shape. In this episode, we cover: 

  • how Lewis was impressed by Gillibrand’s and Lummis’s offices’ hard work and bipartisanship  
  • how the bill creates a new definition for an “ancillary asset” with split oversight responsibilities between the CFTC and the SEC 
  • how the bill proposes a test of managerial centralization as a determinant of disclosure requirements for digital assets 
  • his response to criticism that the ancillary token approach is more complicated than need be and gives too much power to the SEC 
  • why the bill didn't adopt an approach more similar to something like SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s token safe harbor proposal 
  • how Lewis would respond to SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s contention that the vast majority of digital assets are securities 
  • how Cohen is concerned about legislation or regulation impinging on basic freedoms to transact by over-applying securities regulation
  • what kind of SEC disclosures will be required for “ancillary assets” and the requirements for projects to be able to cease mandatory disclosure
  • how the bill defines stablecoins
  • whether the requirement for stablecoins to maintain reserves means the end of algorithmic stablecoins or whether they will just be called something else
  • how the bill handles DAOs and how legislation in this area must be delicate
  • why Lewis believes the proposal is a “bright spot” for thoughtful US legislation and bipartisanship
  • why he doesn’t see the bill being adopted in the current Congress 

Thank you to our sponsors!

  • Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 
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EPISODE LINKS 

 

Lewis Cohen 

 

Lummis-Gillibrand Proposal (Responsible Financial Innovation Act) 

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