As could be expected on a holiday week, it was a slow week in terms of legal developments which is a calm-before-the-storm type of moment as we gear up towards the race for market structure in the new year. You can use the break in the action to catch up on all the major developments from December in my monthly podcast appearance on the Law of Code podcast. That said, there were some updates in the AAVE governance drama worth following while Uniswap’s own governance change proposal passed. And some developments on crypto law in America’s hat (Canada) and America’s oldest frenemy (the U.K.) in a slow week in U.S. developments.
Here’s everything that happened last week in crypto law:
OTHER STORIES
AAVE DAO Drama Continues: I have discussed many times how the DAO/DevCo structure can often lead to misaligned goals which inevitably leads to disputes. Really fascinating to see it play out real-time in ongoing drama surrounding AAVE. Without taking either side, it is great to see everything play out in a public forum (tl;dr thread here) but suboptimal for a dispute between these parties to drag too far into the new year since AAVE is one of the shining lights of product/market fit in a crypto space filled with protocols solving for non-problems with zero users but 9 figure market caps.
Uniswap Governance Proposal Passes: Hard to picture better timing for Uniswap to have their own potential conflict between governance token and development company headed off before tensions flare up, with their “UNIfication” proposal passing. I don’t think this happens without the major crypto policy changes we have seen in America the past year, so huge ups to Uniswap being a first mover on this.
Judge Rakoff Rebuttal: It’s no secret that SDNY Judge Jed Rakoff is no fan of crypto, made even more explicit in his recent New York Review Op-ed. But I enjoyed this short rebuttal not to throw the technology out with the FTX bath water.
Flow Rollback: The flow blockchain planned a full blockchain rollback and start following a $3.9 million exploit but apparently didn’t discuss the plan with bridge providers who already saw the exploited funds bridged and converted (meaning the rollback was largely ineffective)? Details on this are still fuzzy to me, but messy stuff all around.
Make UK Crypto-Friendly: Another article worth reading I saw over the holiday weekend was this piece from a16z discussing the top priorities for U.K. crypto policy. Lots going on across the pond for sure.
Canada Stablecoins: Our friends to the north are considering their own stablecoin legislation and there is no better way to get caught up than to listen to this discussion between Jacob Robinson and Odun Olowookere on Law of Code podcast!
Arizona Crypto Tax Proposal: Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers has proposed exempting virtual currency from state taxation and amending the state’s property tax rules to add clarifications on digital assets. Good to see states moving forward with their own clarifications on digital asset issues as slower moving federal government mulls various proposals.
CONCLUSION
If you have any questions or would like me to write about anything else, let me know on Twitter (X?) or Farcaster. As always, I am an attorney, I am not your attorney. For legal advice, you should always consult (and pay for) an attorney.
Outro/Disclaimer: In late 2022, while I was at Polsinelli, I started preparing weekly updates for attorneys at the firm to stay abreast of the latest Web3 legal developments. I now post the weekly updates on my personal blog every Tuesday, where I also provide links to more obscure legal developments and otherwise discuss industry trends and stories. Please note, the views and opinions I express are solely my own. They do not reflect the official stance or endorsement of the Digital Chamber or any of its members.
The NFTtorney 