Global Crypto Regulation and the "Rebecca Decentralization Test"

Rebecca Rettig is the General Council at the Aave companies, which build open source, blockchain based software for the web3 world. She’s a respected lawyer and longtime friend of our host, Katherine Wu. 

We dive right into the episode with Rebecca answering the question that’s on all of our minds - why is regulation so difficult? We discuss the negative narrative that mainstream media portrays about the crypto industry and Rebecca offers some advice on how to flip that narrative. 

Because there is such a disconnect between lawmakers and crypto builders, it’s difficult for both sides to find common ground about what crypto is and how to regulate it. Blanket statements like “same risk, same regulation” need to be thought about deeply as blockchain technology, and decentralization more specifically, certainly add levels of nuance to the discussion and change how we think about risk.

At the end of the day, crypto regulation is inevitable. This conversation covers what we should do as crypto community members to help build a future where regulation can guide and help us instead of stopping and stifling us. During our talk we also touch on regulation for DAOs, DeFi, centralized web3 tools, and we get the inside scoop on The Rebecca Test. 

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Rebecca’s EthCC talk: https://youtu.be/ifUXVEyF_vQ

⌛ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

3:14 Why is crypto regulation so difficult?

5:03 The negative narrative surrounding crypto

7:15 The future of DeFi

8:39 The disconnect between lawmakers and the crypto industry 

9:54 Same risk, same regulation

13:04 Crypto regulation is inevitable

15:00 The Rebecca Test and the 3 prongs of decentralization

17:54 The Ooki DAO case

22:31 Fake decentralization

23:31 DAO governance needs improvement

24:43 How we thought regulation would be vs. how it is playing out

25:52 Policy makers aren’t allowed to hold crypto assets???

27:37 Rebecca’s GC career advice

29:59 Outro

DISCLAIMER: The information in this video is the opinion of the speaker(s) only and is for informational purposes only. You should not construe it as investment advice, tax advice, or legal advice, and it does not represent any entity's opinion but those of the speaker(s). For investment or legal advice, please seek a duly licensed professional.