regulatory uncertainty

In today's episode, Ryan and David bring on Mike Selig to chat about everything need to know about crypto regulation. Mike is a crypto lawyer at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, former a regulator at the CFTC, and a frequent contributor to Coindesk about the state of crypto regulation. 

Operation Chokepoint is in full effect. Tune in to understand everything you need to know. 

------
 MetaMask Learn 
https://bankless.cc/metamaskshow 

------
 JOIN BANKLESS PREMIUM: 
https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/subscribe 

------
BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 

KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE
https://bankless.cc/kraken 

UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE
https://bankless.cc/uniswap 

️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM
https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

 EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS
https://bankless.cc/earnifi  

------
Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
6:18 2023 Regulation Playbook
7:15 SEC Charging Kraken
11:27 SEC Rolling Out Regulation
14:09 SEC Patronizing Approach
15:44 Wells Notice
19:45 Kaken Staking Crackdown
28:00 Driving Crypto Offshore
30:05 Staking Pools Next?
35:05 SEC Scoring Points
40:50 Paxos & BUSD
44:40 Circle
50:55 Banks Servicing the Crypto Industry
57:55 Net Effects
59:27 U.S. Crypto Regulation History
1:02:49 Why the U.S. Hates Crypto
1:06:26 Banks vs. Crypto
1:08:14 Will Crypto Survive?
1:10:25 Closing & Disclaimers

------
Resources:

Regulation vs. Decentralization 
https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2022/12/23/2023-the-year-of-regulation-vs-decentralization/ 

Gensler Statement
https://twitter.com/SquawkCNBC/status/1624041483241156608 

-----
Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Europe’s hydrogen economy is so close to becoming a reality. Billions in public and private dollars are lining up to invest in a wave of newly planned hydrogen facilities. EU policymakers are finalizing new regulations and subsidies. And the region’s energy crisis–sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine–has accelerated the need for alternative energy sources like hydrogen. But an unexpected twist: The U.S. passed the Inflation Reduction Act, with subsidies for hydrogen production and far looser rules than those under consideration in Europe. Could Europe lose its hydrogen competitiveness? In this episode, Shayle talks to Gniewomir Flis, an independent hydrogen consultant. Previously he researched hydrogen at Agora Energiewende, a decarbonization think tank, and Energy Revolution Venture, a decarbonization venture capital firm. Gniewomir explains that some in Europe worry the U.S. might become a more attractive place to invest in hydrogen if the EU’s rules are too strict. This concern throws more complexity into an already difficult policy-making process. It’s causing EU policymakers to fight over proposed rules and investors to delay final decisions to greenlight European projects. Gniewomir and Shayle discuss questions like: What’s the evidence for the concerns about Europe’s competitiveness? What counts as renewable hydrogen in the proposed EU rules? They discuss the three key criteria that could be required for subsidies: additionality, temporal correlation and geographic correlation Which electrolyzer technology—proton exchange membrane (PEM), alkaline, or solid oxide—is best for which power generation technology, such as solar, gas, and wind? How will the proposed rules impact developing countries’ plans to export hydrogen to Europe? How do we transport hydrogen? They discuss options, such as metal hydride, ammonia, methanol and liquid (also known as cryogenic) hydrogen. Will China ultimately take over electrolyzer manufacturing, like it did for solar photovoltaic manufacturing? Recommended Resources: Agora Energiewende: 12 Insights on Hydrogen Guidehouse: Facilitating hydrogen imports from non-EU countries Florence School of Regulation: Green hydrogen: how grey can it be? The New York Times: Can This Man Solve Europe’s Energy Conundrum? Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media. Catalyst is supported by Scale Microgrid Solutions, your comprehensive source for all distributed energy financing. Distributed generation can be complex. Scale makes financing it easy. Visit scalecapitalsolutions.com to learn more. Catalyst is supported by CohnReznick, a trusted partner for navigating the complex and evolving financial, tax and regulatory landscape of the renewable sector. Visit cohnreznick.com to learn more.

In the cannabis industry, the chemistry lab meets agriculture. A cannabis product called Delta-8 has been popping up in smoke shops, CBD shops and even gas stations.

Dr. Katelyn Kesheimer, a researcher at Auburn University and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, joins the show to demystify Delta-8. In this encore episode, we'll learn what it's made of, where it comes from, why it's so popular, and why science and the federal government are falling so far behind the cannabis industry.

Email the show at ShortWave@NPR.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

In a short news segment, Jason talks about a company that tried to sell "fantasy startup investing" NFTs and why they had to pivot (1:44). Jason gives a brief tribute to Steve Jobs (15:48). Then, he's joined by JB Straubel, Tesla's longtime CTO who stepped down in 2019 to found a new lithium-ion battery recycling company, Redwood Materials(22:08). JB and Jason discuss the early launches and setbacks at Tesla, overcoming challenges, and the possibilities created by battery recycling. To close out the show, we play a clip of Steve Job's 2005 Stanford Commencement Address (1:20:15).

In episode 1 of Hash Power, we explored blockchains as a technology—how they work, why tokens (also known as cryptocurrencies) are an integral part of any blockchain, and how these new networks might change the world. In episode two, we spend time with the leading investors in the field. Like any frenzied asset class, there are countless cryptocurrency hedge funds popping up everywhere. But founders from three of the original firms—Polychain, Metastable, and Blocktower Capital—are our primary guides this week. As I speak, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies is $136B. There are hundreds of tokens currently available, but bitcoin and Ethereum represent 75% of the total market cap. $136B sounds like a big number, but its tiny relative to any other asset class—and I use that term with hesitation. To put it in perspective, that’s exactly the same size as the market cap of IBM. But IBM had more than $10B of earnings in 2016. Tokens have none. As you will hear, valuing tokens is a very hard exercise. In such a nascent world, we are seeing investing strategies take hold. Olaf Carlson-Wee, Josh Seims, and Ari Paul walk us through different takes on cryptocurrency investing, be it early stage, long term buy and hold, or more hedge fund style strategies. Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/hashpower For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. To get involved with Project Frontier, head to InvestorFieldGuide.com/frontier. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Links Referenced Fat Protocols (Joel Monegro)   Show Notes 0:05 – Recap of part 1 and introduction to part 2 of Hash Power 2:58 – Ari Paul, CIO of Blocktower explains how he got involved in cryptocurrencies 5:23 – Why do we need bitcoin 7:23 – Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee on why the value of tokens accrue 9:23 – How main stream money is getting into this space 12:26- Useful comparisons when talking about ICOs when compared to IPOs 15:01 - Naval Ravikant, CEO of Angellist, is asked to explain the protocols of cryptocurrencies to platform businesses like Uber or Airbnb 17:43 – Naval’s interest in investing in cryptocurrencies 23:07 - Olaf Carlson Wee on the lifecycle of a token 24:02 – SAFT note, Simple Agreement for Future Tokens 25:31 – What is the earliest stage that edge is most present for investors in cryptocurrency protocols 28:12 – How do you mitigate the volatility that is present in blockchain 31:18 - Jeremiah Lowin, a risk and statistics expert, who runs risk management for a large private family office, talks about why he no longer owns cryptocurrencies  34:19 - Jordan Cooper, a venture capital investor, is optimistic about blockchains in general, but thinks there may be some overvaluations in current currencies 37:02 – How Jordan would value a single cryptocurrency 42:10 – Fat Protocols (Joel Monegro) 43:52 - Josh Seims, of Metastable, the value investor in blockchain? 51:15 - Ari Paul on the equivalent of listed stocks in the crypto currency world 52:33 – Understanding the concept of a coin in blockchain and how people are getting access to them 55:07 – The fairground analogy to understand cryptocurrencies 57:57 – What lessons from traditional markets can you apply to investing in cryptocurrencies 1:06:51 – Ari is asked to discuss some of the alternative cryptocurrencies outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum. He starts with Ripple 1:10:27 – What would help firms or traders create edge in investing in cryptocurrencies   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag