Lewis Cohen

The SEC and Ripple have been locked in a legal tug of war for years, stirring up waves of controversy and debate in the crypto community. Finally, Judge Analisa Torres has given an order establishing that XRP buyers trading on exchanges were not, in fact, engaging in a securities transaction, a decision that could have far-reaching implications for the industry. Lewis Cohen, co-founder of DLx Law, unpacks the details of this pivotal case and what it might mean for the future of cryptocurrency regulation. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: why the SEC lawsuit against Ripple has such historical significance in the crypto industry how Judge Torres split the case into two categories  why the 'programmatic buyers' did not meet the four prongs of the Howey test why the institutional sales constituted an investment contract  what makes the Ripple case different from the Kik and Telegram cases whether the new ruling by Judge Torres will have an impact on how other crypto projects deal with their offerings why, in the event of an appeal, Lewis expects a Second Circuit decision to take at least one year whether Judge Torres' decision will impact the ongoing cases against crypto exchanges like Coinbase why Lewis thinks the XRP order will not change the likelihood that spot bitcoin ETFs get approved how there's no way to deal with information asymmetries in digital assets now Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO Ondo Finance Arbitrum Foundation Guest Lewis Cohen, Cofounder DLx Law Previous appearances on Unchained: The Lummis/Gillibrand Crypto Bill: Is the ‘Ancillary Token’ Approach the Best Links Previous coverage of Unchained on the Ripple case:  The SEC's Lawsuit Against Ripple and 2 Execs: What You Need to Know  Ripple's XRP: Why Its Chances of Success Are Low CoinDesk: Ripple, Crypto Industry Score Partial Win in SEC Court Fight Over XRP The Ineluctable Modality of Securities Law: Why Fungible Crypto Assets Are not Securities Paradigm Files Amicus Brief in SEC’s Lawsuit Against Ripple The Block: Lummis, Gillibrand to introduce revised comprehensive crypto bill  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lewis Cohen

Co-founder

DLx Law

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  Ava Labs: https://avax.network     EPISODE LINKS    Lewis Cohen  DLx Law LLC: https://dlxlaw.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/NYcryptolawyer  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewis-cohen-a3211410/   Lummis-Gillibrand Proposal (Responsible Financial Innovation Act)  Legal Memo from DLXLaw : https://dlxlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/DLX_FSV-summary_RFIA_060722.pdf Lummis-Gillibrand Section by Section Overview (summary by bill authors): https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Lummis-Gillibrand%20Section-by-Section%20%5bFinal%5d.pdf Responsible Financial Innovation Act (full text): https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Lummis-Gillibrand%20Responsible%20Financial%20Innovation%20Act%20%5bFinal%5d.pdf Blog post intro (by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand) : https://gillibrandny.medium.com/the-responsible-financial-innovation-act-218a764abd6c Commentary: CoinDesk recap: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/06/07/key-us-senators-introduce-bill-outlining-sweeping-plan-for-future-crypto-rules/ Fortune on what the bill means for algo stablecoins: https://fortune.com/2022/06/08/algorithmic-stablecoins-terra-luna-crypto-regulation-senate-bill-lummis-gillibrand/ JW Verret's critique: https://twitter.com/JWVerret/status/1534165678831325191?s=20&t=nIWYdZKJzXsr-SVK7F_W9w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lewis Cohen

Co-founder

DLx Law