Aaron Wright is a Professor of Law at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City.
He is also the co-inventor of OpenLaw – a blockchain-based protocol for the creation and execution of smart legal agreements.
In this episode, Aaron and I discuss:
– What OpenLaw is
– What the SAFT is (including some of its lesser known deficiencies) -and-
– The future of ICOs from a legal perspective
SHOW NOTES
[00:59] – Who is Aaron Wright and what is OpenLaw? Introduction and overview
[14:15] – What is a smart contract? What is a legal agreement? What problem is OpenLaw trying to solve?
[25:55] – OpenLaw launch timeline
[28:07] – The OpenLaw markup language
[35:17] – What is a SAFT? Why does Aaron think it’s a bad idea?
[42:10] – The Howey Test and the SAFT
[53:03] – The Forman Case: An alternative to the Howey Test
[53:55] – Why “facts and circumstances” and “economic realities” are key in determining whether or not a token is a security
[56:20] – What’s next for ICOs from a legal perspective?
[1:01:31] – Can the law keep up with rapid pace of technological innovation?
[1:05:23] – Aaron’s take on the Blockchain killer app
[1:07:37] – His prediction of where Bitcoin and Ethereum will be in 10 years
[1:10:52] – Aaron Wright’s advice to companies and entrepreneurs interested in innovating with Blockchain
[1:11:20] – Conclusion
RESOURCES DISCUSSED
– OpenLaw video tutorials
– SAFT
– Aaron’s paper
– Thomson Reuters
– Contracts Ex-Machina
– Jason Teutsch
– DocuSign
– HelloSign
– BitTorrent
– GitHub
– ConsenSys
– Accredited Investor
– Marco Santori
– The Brooklyn Project by ConsenSys
– Howey Test
– Forman case (utility)
– Regulation D
– Regulation A+
– Filecoin
– Airswap
CONTACT INFORMATION
OpenLaw website
OpenLaw Twitter
