GC @Hedera. NFTs ⌐🆇-🆇, decentralization, and open source law (🔗👇). Views my own. Not your lawyer.
Phoenix, AZ
Joined January 2011
- Tweets5.5K
- Following1.8K
- Followers5.3K
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Hello friend. Allow me to (re)introduce myself. I am a crypto lawyer fighting for a freer future. What do I mean? Crypto tech is freedom tech, and it will help create a freer and safer world for billions. So I fight to see the law embrace this revolution in how you can own money and property in your digital life.[1]
I also want to make the law itself freer and more accessible to everyone. To that end, all my writing is available free/ungated/no popups over at lawtoshi.xyz, mostly under a CC-BY-4.0 license. There you’ll find:
- Crypto Litigation Tracker
- Articles on crypto law
- Crypto law primer (coming soon™)
And I also have fun tinkering on the web and building helpful tools. I think about making the most out of life and living close to death. So I created a tool to help you visualize how much of your life you’ve lived, one week at a time.
When I was buried in student loan debt, I created a visual Debt Payoff Calculator using the snowball method. You’ll find that there too.
And of course I’m a big fan of crypto art and memes. I’ve created a couple tools related to them: a way to add Summer.jpg’s glasses to any picture, and a tool tracking stats specific to the The Memes by 6529 NFTs.
Finally, I write about life, art, and reflections on the path to wisdom. Thanks for reading. I look forward to connecting with you soon. ❤️🔥🌈🤙
* * *
[1] Information about current specific legal activity/employment is available on the ethics disclosure on my website.
Lawtoshi retweeted
Should code ever lose First Amendment protections?
This podcast covers free speech and software, including cryptography, cryptocurrency and AI. It should be the internet's most comprehensive.
You'll hear from experts like @valkenburgh, @prestonjbyrne, @LazPieper, Sam Enzer, and Professors Eugene Volokh (@VolokhC) and @JaneYakowitz.
We trace the history of Cold War export controls through to the recent restrictions on Anthropic's AI models, and explain why the Supreme Court has never definitively answered the question above.
Timestamps:
0:00 Anthropic AI export controls
6:17 Intro
9:39 The First Amendment
10:38 @VolokhC on his free speech philosophy
13:42 Speech vs function
19:24 @valkenburgh interview
25:50 The Cold War, munitions list and Phil Zimmermann
29:57 The Bernstein case
34:53 Strict scrutiny
38:48 The Corley case
49:17 Sorrell, Stevens and where the Supreme Court is heading
53:25 @prestonjbyrne on the Supreme Court's AI case
57:23 Defense Distributed and 3D-printing
1:04:00 Where publication ends and conduct begins
1:15:20 Lowe v. SEC and the agency line
1:45:45 Compelled speech
2:04:17 @LazPieper on Sorrell and third-party liability
2:11:29 @prestonjbyrne on the GRANITE Act and foreign censorship
Thank you to the presenting sponsor of this episode, @altitude.
Nothing in this podcast is legal or investment advice.
Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: "We are going to keep the US the dominant reserve currency in the world, and we will use stablecoins to do that." 🤝
Lawtoshi retweeted
I've been quiet on socials for the past 12 months. I also paused my legal practice and stopped recording podcasts.
Why?
Last year, at 29, doctors found a large tumor wrapped around my heart.
It was cancer.
Lawtoshi retweeted
Based on the authors and @lawtoshi as a contributor I am comfortable giving this a “must read” tag even before I have a chance to dig in myself.
Really great work here by @Prof_CarlaReyes and @talkhardbeheard that it was an honor to help with. L1s are digital infrastructure and they should get the same regulatory treatment as other tech infrastructure like email (SMTP).
Very much worth your time to read!
Really great work here by @Prof_CarlaReyes and @talkhardbeheard that it was an honor to help with. L1s are digital infrastructure and they should get the same regulatory treatment as other tech infrastructure like email (SMTP).
Very much worth your time to read!
Hedera is proud to have supported the development of the paper “Ready Layer One: Functional Regulation for Blockchain Infrastructure” by @Prof_CarlaReyes & @talkhardbeheard, outlining a framework for treating decentralized Layer-1 & Layer-2 protocols as digital infrastructure resources—ensuring open access with targeted regulation.
A critical step toward a more open, trusted, and innovation-driven digital economy.
📖 Read more: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.…
Lawtoshi retweeted
When I graduated with my computer engineering degree I went to Gap and wanted a job that could let me code and design clothes. They laughed at me and told me to go work in IT.
I went to an ad agency and said I wanted to work on creative and they said haha there is no role for you.
There is a place in the world for polymaths and now I realize that place is to be a founder, the only place where it is required that you be able to do every job.
Lawtoshi retweeted
Bootstrapping a Digital Nation with memes
...and how @lawtoshi helps convert floor price to the lucrative un-spendable currency known as TDH (total days held)
2/25
OpenSea has received a Wells notice from the SEC threatening to sue us because they believe NFTs on our platform are securities.
We're shocked the SEC would make such a sweeping move against creators and artists. But we're ready to stand up and fight.
Cryptocurrencies have long been in the crosshairs of the SEC, and companies like @coinbase, @Uniswap, @RobinhoodApp, @krakenfx, and @Consensys have been fighting against the SEC's single-track approach of "regulation by enforcement."
But this is a move into uncharted territory. By targeting NFTs, the SEC would stifle innovation on an even broader scale: hundreds of thousands of online artists and creatives are at risk, and many do not have the resources to defend themselves.
NFTs are fundamentally creative goods: art, collectibles, video game items, domain names, event tickets, and more.
We should not regulate digital art in the same way we regulate collateralized debt obligations.
As we've built OpenSea, we've heard so many stories about the impact of NFTs on people’s lives, including:
• Student artists finding full-time careers in selling their digital art
• Indie game developers instantly enabling open markets for their in-game items, without having to build marketplaces from scratch
• Passionate collectors from different corners of the world joining new communities, all centered around shared digital ownership
It would be a terrible outcome if creators stopped making digital art because of regulatory saber-rattling. Take, for example, the suit filed against the SEC by the musician @songadaymann and conceptual artist @brianlfrye, which describes their fear that the sale of their art and music could be deemed unregistered securities offerings.
In addition to standing our own ground, we're pledging $5M to help cover legal fees for NFT creators and devs that receive a Wells notice. Every creator, big or small, should be able to innovate without fear.
I hope the SEC will come to its senses sooner rather than later, and that they'll listen with an open mind.
Until then, we'll stand up and fight for our industry.
Onwards 🌊⛵️
Lawtoshi retweeted
Today, the Federal Court for the Northern District of California ruled, as matter of law, that none of the tokens trading on Kraken are securities.
This is a significant win for Kraken, for the principle of clarity and for crypto users everywhere. It also confirms Kraken’s long-standing position that it does not list securities. 1/
Lawtoshi retweeted
1/ Lawyers in Web3 are a mixed bunch and one of the most confusing things for founders is when different lawyers provide different types of advice.
Here's a handy breakdown (each starting with the letter 'P' because I enjoy alliteration) of the types of lawyers in Web3.
Lawtoshi retweeted
Remember Treasury’s Unhosted Wallet Rule from the end of the Trump Administration?
It’s dead. Officially.
To jog your memory, days before Christmas in 2020, FinCEN proposed rulemaking that would have required data collection and reporting on users of unhosted wallets.
Apparently real life and not a Monty Python sketch about sovereign citizens, bane of the US legal system.
Lawtoshi retweeted
As pols discuss crypto policy in advance of elections:
I wrote (last year) that this fight is much more important than "crypto." Today’s fight over cryptocurrency is tomorrow’s fight over *all* digital assets, and increasingly, our lives are digital.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law…
