0/ Privacy has always been at the heart of the Ethereum ecosystem.
Here are 8 privacy talks from the last 10 years of @EFDevcon events.
Privacy is normal.
Coin Center’s Seven Takeaways from the Storm Verdict:
▪️ 1. The sole conviction—unlicensed money transmission (18 U.S.C. § 1960)—turns mainly on legal/regulatory interpretation (“does this count as money transmission?”), not jury fact-finding.
▪️ 2. The court, at the motion-to-dismiss stage, discounted FinCEN’s stated guidance on what counts as “money transmission” in crypto and treated the category as broader than “control of customer funds.”
▪️ 3. With “money transmission” defined that broadly, the jury’s room to decide facts was narrow; the court’s interpretation largely dictated the outcome.
▪️ 4. DOJ’s prior “end regulation by prosecution” memo didn’t fully resolve §1960 issues left things open for continued prosecution; the DOJ dropped the failure-to-register theory but not the “knowingly transmitting criminal funds” theory. Coin Center’s view: both hinge on “transmitting” and are improper against developers excluded by FinCEN guidance.
▪️ 5. The BRCA (Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act), now attached to CLARITY and passed by the House, would confirm that non-controlling developers aren’t money transmitters. It can’t help Roman retroactively, but the Senate should pass it in upcoming market-structure debates.
▪️ 6. Coin Center fellow Michael Lewellen is suing DOJ for a declaration that publishing/maintaining his software isn’t unlicensed money transmission. Coin Center will continue supporting this effort to correct the legal interpretation.
▪️ 7. Coin Center is sorry Roman faces sentencing on a theory that contradicts the regulator’s guidance. He should appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss; Coin Center will assist however possible.
I welcome in-kind creations and redemptions for crypto-asset ETPs, a feature that ETP sponsors and investors have wanted since the initial approvals of crypto-asset ETPs: https://t.co/eBbrbC8b0H
PRINCIPLES OF BITCOIN: Technology, Economics, Politics and Philosophy
Published by Columbia University Press, foreword by Alex Gladstein
Available for delivery in the US starting March 31, 2025
What is the book about? And what makes this #Bitcoin book different? 🧵👇
Crypto has always been libertarian at heart.
Most of us working here never wanted government to buy our bags or give blockchains a regulatory moat. We just wanted the boot off our necks so we could compete in the free market.
Less strategic reserve, more protections for devs 🙏