Episódios

  • Prometheum is the one firm that other crypto firms love to hate. This is because the firm’s founders and co-CEOs, brothers Aaron and Ben Kaplan, have consistently and publicly argued that most cryptocurrencies are investment contracts subject to SEC registration requirements. In this episode, Aaron Kaplan joins Lee to discuss the process Prometheum followed to receive regulatory approve to operate an alternative trading system and special purpose broker dealer, which allows the firm to offer trading, clearing, settlement, and custody of digital asset securities. Aaron also addresses the frequent criticisms leveled at his firm and offers his thoughts on the future of the digital asset industry.

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links

    *Prometheum Receives First of Its Kind Approval From FINRA to Clear and Settle Digital Asset Securities: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110419249/en/Prometheum-Receives-First-of-Its-Kind-Approval-From-FINRA-to-Clear-and-Settle-Digital-Asset-Securities

    *Prometheum Announces Custodial Services for Ether (ETH), Opens Account Sign Up For Institutional clients: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240207966185/en/Prometheum-Announces-Custodial-Services-for-Ether-ETH-Opens-Account-Sign-Up-For-Institutional-Clients

    *SEC may be forced to declare Ethereum a security after controversial new launch: https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/02/07/sec-prometheum-ethereum-broker-dealer-gary-gensler-coinbase/

    *Blockchain Association Calls for Investigation into SEC Approval of Prometheum Ember Capital as Special Purpose Broker-Dealer: https://theblockchainassociation.org/blockchainassociation-calls-for-investigation-into-sec-approval-of-prometheum-ember-capital-as-special-purpose-broker-dealer/

    *‘Crypto Communism’? Not in America: https://www.wsj.com/articles/prometheum-digital-asset-crypto-china-wanxiang-tuberville-eab5629b

    *U.S. Senator Tuberville Asks DOJ, SEC to Investigate Crypto Broker Prometheum:

    https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/07/10/us-senator-tuberville-asks-doj-sec-to-investigate-crypto-broker-prometheum/

    *Testimony of: Aaron Kaplan Co-CEO and Founder, Prometheum, Inc. Before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/BA/BA00/20230613/116085/HHRG-118-BA00-Wstate-KaplanA-20230613.pdf

    *Agriculture, Financial Services Republicans Demand Sec Clarify Position Regarding Prometheum’s Custody Of Ethereum’s Ether: https://agriculture.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=7749

  • Well Fargo was an iconic and respected American Brand. But then, in September 2016, in a settlement with the City of Los Angeles, the OCC, and CFPB, it was revealed that approximately 5,300 Wells Fargo employees had been terminated between 2011 and 2016, for sales practice violations that included opening over two million unauthorized deposit and credit card accounts. Earlier this year, Kevin Wack published a 5-part series in the American Banker that shed new details on the scandal. Kevin came on the show to talk about how the series came together and what his reporting uncovered. He also provides an update on what has happened to some of the senior executives involved in the scandal and shares his thoughts on the enduring lessons the Wells Fargo scandal provides.

    Leave questions and comments at [email protected]

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links

    *Alarm bells, arrogance and the crisis at Wells Fargo: https://www.americanbanker.com/news/alarm-bells-arrogance-and-the-crisis-at-wells-fargo

    *How Wells Fargo's Aggressive Sales Culture Took Root: https://www.americanbanker.com/news/how-wells-fargos-aggressive-sales-culture-took-root

    *Wells Execs Stuck to the Script as Evidence of Sales Abuses Mounted: https://www.americanbanker.com/news/wells-execs-stuck-to-the-script-as-evidence-of-sales-abuses-mounted

    *Deal to put ex-Wells Fargo executive behind bars sends tough message: https://www.americanbanker.com/news/deal-to-put-ex-wells-fargo-executive-behind-bars-sends-tough-message

    *The Rise and Fall of Wells Fargo with Dick Kovacevich: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7f2D7PL9ZM1zLlnNCneK0L

    *Wells Fargo Unauthorized Account Openings: A Case Study for Bank Board Directors: https://sites.duke.edu/thefinregblog/2017/04/26/phony-accounts-scandal-a-case-study-for-bank-board-directors/

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  • James Wigginton has thought deeply about economic power and the role cooperatives can play in ensuring Web3 lives up to its stated potential of sharing ownership with users in digital networks. James joins Lee to discuss how cooperatives can be used by Web3 firms to engage with their users, strengthen digital networks, and remain compliant with securities laws. James also talks about the potential for sports fans to own a part of their favorite teams by allowing cooperatives to take minority stakes in teams.

    Leave questions and comments at [email protected]

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links

    *Cooperatives: An Ownership Model for Digital Networks: https://media.orrick.com/Media%20Library/public/files/insights/2023/cooperatives-path-to-compliance-for-web3.pdf

    *Can fan-owned cooperatives change the relationship between fans and owners for the better? https://theathletic.com/4783026/2023/08/17/fan-cooperatives-sports-ownership/?access_token=13946098

  • Alicia Seiger is a lecturer at Stanford Law and the managing director of Stanford’s Sustainable Finance Initiative. And Marc Roston is the founder of investment advisory firm MNR Capital and a senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance. In this episode, Alicia and Marc offer their perspective on the problems with the current method of corporate carbon counting, known as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. They also break down a new carbon accounting methodology they’ve developed called Emissions Liability Management, or ELM.

    Leave questions and comments at [email protected]

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links

    *Carbon Accounting and Emissions Liability Management:

    https://sfi.stanford.edu/carbon-accounting-and-emissions-liability-management

    *Settling Climate Accounts: Navigating the Road to Net Zero:

    https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-83650-4

    *Accounting for Climate Change: https://hbr.org/2021/11/accounting-for-climate-change
  • Tony McLaughlin is Managing Director for Emerging Payments & Business Development at Citi Treasury & Trade Solutions. In this episode, Tony offers his thoughts on the latest developments in payments, including stablecoins, central bank digital currency, and FedNow. He also breaks down an exciting new project he’s been working on, called the Regulated Liability Network (RLN). RLN envisions a regulated Financial Market Infrastructure that could deliver an interoperable network of all facets of the sovereign currency system: central bank money, commercial bank money, and e-money (and in the future, regulated stablecoins).

    Leave questions and comments at [email protected]

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links

    *The Regulated Liability Network Whitepaper https://regulatedliabilitynetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/The-Regulated-Liability-Network-Whitepaper.pdf

    *Regulated Liability Network U.S. Proof of Concept Findings https://www.rlnuspoc.org/home#subpage/introduction/section/w3rk7

  • Joe Davis is chief economist at Vanguard as well as the global head of Vanguard Investment Strategy Group. In this episode, Joe offers his thoughts on what’s driving inflation, how the Federal Reserve is likely to respond at their upcoming policy meeting and beyond, and how investors can insulate their portfolio from inflations pernicious effects. Joe and Lee also reflect on key lessons learned from the last 15 years of economic policymaking.

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    GFMC Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Related Links

    *Ukraine and the Changing Market Environment* Vanguard https://advisors.vanguard.com/insights/article/ukraineandthechangingmarketenvironment

    *Why Do We Think That Inflation Expectations Matter for Inflation? (And Should We?)* Jeremy B. Rudd

    https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2021.062

    *Will Inflation Stay High for Decades? One Influential Economist Says Yes* Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-high-forecast-economist-goodhart-cpi-11646837755

  • Ari Redbord is the head of legal and government affairs for the blockchain intelligence firm, TRM Labs. Prior to joining TRM Labs, Ari held public sector roles involving cryptocurrency and national security at the Department of Justice and U.S. Department of the Treasury. In this episode, Ari and Lee break down President Biden’s executive order on cryptocurrency.

    Ari Redbord’s Twitter: @ARedbord

    TRM Labs Twitter: @TRMLabs

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    GFMC Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Related Links

    *Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets* https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/03/09/executive-order-on-ensuring-responsible-development-of-digital-assets/

    *FACT SHEET: President Biden to Sign Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets* https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/09/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-on-ensuring-responsible-innovation-in-digital-assets/

    *Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on the President’s New Digital Assets Executive Order* https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2022/03/09/background-press-call-by-senior-administration-officials-on-the-presidents-new-digital-assets-executive-order/

  • Barbara Haya directs the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project. Barbara joins Lee to explain what carbon offsets are and the considerations that must be addressed to ensure that offset credits entering into commerce reflect real, verifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, Barbara details why most offset programs issue more credits than they should, and recent policy efforts to bring greater integrity to the voluntary offset market.

    Barbara’s Twitter: @Barbara_Haya

    GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links:

    *POLICY BRIEF: The California Air Resources Board’s U.S. Forest offset protocol underestimates leakage* by Barbara Haya https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/working-papers/policy-brief-arbas-us-forest-projects-offset-protocol-underestimates-leaka

    * Measuring Emissions Against an Alternative Future: Fundamental Flaws in the Structure of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism* by Barbara Haya https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/working-papers/measuring-emissions-against-an-alternative-future-fundamental-flaws-in-the-

    Barbara Haya directs the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project. Barbara joins Lee to explain what carbon offsets are and the considerations that must be addressed to ensure that offset credits entering into commerce reflect real, verifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, Barbara details why most offset programs issue more credits than they should, and recent policy efforts to bring greater integrity to the voluntary offset market.

    Barbara’s Twitter: @Barbara_Haya

    GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links:

    *POLICY BRIEF: The California Air Resources Board’s U.S. Forest offset protocol underestimates leakage* by Barbara Haya https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/working-papers/policy-brief-arbas-us-forest-projects-offset-protocol-underestimates-leaka

    * Measuring Emissions Against an Alternative Future: Fundamental Flaws in the Structure of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism* by Barbara Haya https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/working-papers/measuring-emissions-against-an-alternative-future-fundamental-flaws-in-the-

  • Jeremy Kress is Assistant Professor of Business Law at Michigan Ross and Co-Faculty Director of the University of Michigan’s Center on Finance, Law & Policy. Jeremy joins Lee to discuss how policymakers’ long-standing approach to bank antitrust—premised on consumer welfare—has reduced the cost and availability of basic financial services and ignores numerous non-price harms stemming from bank consolidation. Jeremy details how the Chicago school of antitrust and its focus on consumer welfare came to dominate bank merger review, the impact of fintech on bank competition, and recent policy actions that foreshadow a more stringent review of bank mergers going forward.

    Jeremy’s Twitter: @Jeremy_Kress

    GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links:

    * Modernizing Bank Merger Review* by Jeremy Kress https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3440914

    * Reviving Bank Antitrust * by Jeremy Kress https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4039197

    * Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American* https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/07/09/executive-order-on-promoting-competition-in-the-american-economy/

    * Antitrust Division Seeks Additional Public Comments on Bank Merger Competitive Analysis* U.S. Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/antitrust-division-seeks-additional-public-comments-bank-merger-competitive-analysis

    * Request for Public Comment on the Bank Merger Act* Joint Statement of Martin J. Gruenberg and Rohit Chopra, Members, FDIC Board of Directors https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_bank-merger-act-rfi_joint-statement_2021-12.pdf

  • Mike Bloomberg is the Public Infrastructure Fellow at the NewCities Foundation and a Visiting Researcher with the Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech. In this episode, he examines the dark side of U.S. cities embracing cryptocurrency. Mike and Lee discuss how MiamiCoin and NYC Coin actually work, the nebulous legal relationship between these coins and the cities of Miami and New York, and why anyone would bother purchasing or mining these coins. They also discuss the legal and regulatory risks mayors are taking on by embracing crypto.

    Mike’s Twitter: @BloombergME

    GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links:

    CityCoins Website: https://www.citycoins.co/

    *Money for nothing: Cities’ crypto push draws fans, critics* Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-new-york-miami-coin-f076e0e8b80adf74fdeebaeae9188e70

  • Jay Brown and Kathleen Hamm are former board members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB. Jay and Kathleen join Lee to discuss the origins of the PCAOB and the ongoing challenges the agency faces. Specifically, they discuss the role of auditors in overseeing non-financial reporting such as ESG disclosure, the difficulty in getting US-listed Chinese companies to comply with American auditing standards, and whether PCAOB standards adequately reflect the risks of a cyber incident at issuers or at the auditors themselves.

    Jay’s Profile: https://www.law.du.edu/about/people/j-robert-brown-jr

    Kathleen’s Profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Hamm

    GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

  • On January 20th, the Federal Reserve released a discussion paper that examines the pros and cons of a potential U.S. central bank digital currency, or CBDC. In this episode, Marcelo Prates joins Lee to breakdown the paper’s findings and the future of CBDCs in the U.S. and elsewhere. Marcelo is a lawyer at the Central Bank of Brazil and a columnist at cryptocurrency news site, Coindesk.

    Marcelo’s Twitter: @MarceloMPrates

    Related Links:

    *Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation*, the Federal Reserve Board. https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/money-and-payments-discussion-paper.htm

    *No Reason to Fear Central Bank Digital Currencies* by Marcelo Prates

    https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/05/17/no-reason-to-fear-central-bank-digital-currencies/

    * Legal troubles may delay CBDCs* by Marcelo Prates

    https://www.omfif.org/2021/02/legal-troubles-may-delay-cbdcs/

    *CBDC: A Solution in Search of a Problem?* by Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/waller20210805a.htm
  • Art Wilmarth is Professor Emeritus at The George Washington University Law School. In this episode, Art discusses his new paper, “It’s Time to Regulate Stablecoins as Deposits and Require Their Issuers to Be FDIC-Insured Banks.” Specifically, Art explains why he believes that stablecoin issuers and distributors should be required to become FDIC-insured banks and the other steps he would like to see financial regulators take in the interim, including having the SEC use its existing authority to regulate stablecoins as “securities” and having the Department of Justice designate stablecoins as “deposits” and bring enforcement actions to prevent issuers and distributors of stablecoins from unlawfully receiving “deposits” in violation of Section 21(a) of the Glass-Steagall Act.

    Related Links:

    Art’s profile: Arthur E. Wilmarth, Jr. | GW Law | The George Washington University (gwu.edu)

    It’s Time to Regulate Stablecoins as Deposits and Require Their Issuers to Be FDIC-Insured Banks: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4000795

    President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Report on Stablecoins: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0454

  • Hilary Allen is a professor of law at the American University Washington College of Law and author of “Driverless Finance: Fintech’s Impact on Financial Stability.” In this episode, Hilary discusses the financial stability risks associated with the rise of crypto-assets, fintech payments, and machine learning; and why she believes regulators should be guided by the precautionary principle in addressing these risks.

    Hilary’s Profile: https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/hjallen/bio

    Hilary’s Twitter: @ProfHilaryAllen

    GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links:

    Driverless Finance: Fintech’s Impact on Financial Stability by Hilary Allen

  • Sara Greene is a sociologist and legal scholar whose research utilizes qualitative empirical methods to study the relationship between law, poverty, and inequality. In this episode, Sara discusses her recent paper “Stealing (Identity) From the Poor.” Sara discusses why low-income individuals are particularly vulnerable to identity theft, why the existing regulatory regime around data breaches ignores the unique needs and circumstances of the poor, and how she would transform this regulatory regime by creating a new federal agency with field offices in all fifty states.

    Sara’s Duke Law Profile: https://law.duke.edu/fac/ssgreene/

    Sara’s Twitter: @SaraJSGreene

    GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    Related Links:

    Stealing (Identity) From the Poor by Sara Greene

    Credit Scoring Duality by Sara Greene

  • In this special look-back episode, Tim Swanson breaks down major developments in the cryptocurrency market in 2021. Tim is head of market intelligence at London-based blockchain company Clearmatics and is the founder and director of research at tech advisory firm Post Oak Labs.

    Tim’s Twitter: @ofnumbers

    GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    The FinReg Blog: https://sites.law.duke.edu/thefinregblog/

  • Costas Stephanou and Matteo Aquilina from the Financial Stability Board (FSB) discuss the fragilities in the non-bank financial intermediation sector that were revealed in March 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the work of the FSB to address these risks. Non-bank financial intermediaries include money market mutual funds, other open-ended funds, asset managers, non-bank corporate bond dealers, and derivatives central counterparties. The sector was on the bring of collapse in March 2020 before central banks took extraordinary and unprecedented action.

    Related Links

    Enhancing the Resilience of Non-Bank Financial Intermediation: Progress report(November 2021)

    Policy proposals to enhance money market fund resilience: Final report (October 2021)

    Global Monitoring Report on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation 2020 (December 2020)

    Holistic Review of the March Market Turmoil (November 2020)

  • Chris Giancarlo served as the thirteenth Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. While leading the CFTC, Chris earned the nickname “CryptoDad” for his call on Congress to respect a new generation’s interest in cryptocurrency, an experience he details in his excellent new book “CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money.” Chris is also the co-founder of the digital dollar project, which promotes research into a US central bank digital currency.

    Chris’ Twitter: @giancarloMKTS

    Related Links

    * CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money

    CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money: J. Christopher Giancarlo, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss: 9781119855088: Amazon.com: Books

    *The Digital Dollar Project

    https://digitaldollarproject.org/

  • Laura Parisi is team lead at the European Central Bank Climate Change Center and Spyros Alogoskoufis is a financial stability and stress test expert at the European Central Bank. Together, they spearheaded the ECB’s economy-wide climate stress test which was released in September. The exercise tested the impact of climate change on more than four million firms worldwide and 1,600 Euro-area banks under three different climate policy scenarios.

    Related Links

    * ECB economy-wide climate stress test

    https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2021/html/ecb.pr210922~59ade4710b.en.html

    *The ECB pledge on climate change action

    https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpops/ecb.op271~36775d43c8.en.pdf

    Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

    GFMC Twitter: @DukeGFMC

  • Ari Redbord is the head of legal and government affairs for the blockchain intelligence firm, TRM Labs. Prior to joining TRM Labs, Ari held public sector roles involving cryptocurrency and national security at the Department of Justice and U.S. Department of the Treasury. In this episode, Ari discusses the first time he encountered cryptocurrency as a federal prosecutor, how crypto is being used to evade and undermine US economic sanctions, and how firms like TRM Labs can leverage public blockchains to trace illicit activity.

    Ari Redbord’s Twitter: @ARedbord

    TRM Labs Twitter: @TRMLabs

    Related Links

    *Ban Cryptocurrency to Fight Ransomware

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/ban-cryptocurrency-to-fight-ransomware-11621962831

    *Crypto Isn’t the Cause of Ransomware. It Might Be the Cure

    https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/09/14/crypto-isnt-the-cause-of-ransomware-it-might-be-the-cure/