81 - The Digital Commodity Explosion | Brian Quintenz
Bankless
Bankless
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 September 2021
⏱️ 100 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Brian Quintenz was a commissioner on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2017 until April of this year. The CFTC serves to regulate the derivative markets, and Brian particularly worked to embrace innovative technologies and emphasize the power of free markets, even in a regulatory environment.
He has been an advocate for the exploration and growth of the crypto space and is provides an insider’s perspective to deal with the question of crypto regulation. His sober and pragmatic takes are deeply insightful, and there is a clear alignment of values between Brian and the industry.
This episode dives into the disruptive nature of cryptocurrencies, and how we can make sense of this Cambrian explosion of new assets.
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Topics Covered:
0:00 Intro
7:00 Brian Quintenz
9:29 Does the US Hate Crypto?
14:10 Brian’s Take on Crypto
20:36 The CFTC
26:36 Congress is Great at 2 Things
31:14 Digital Farmers need Futures
38:05 Understand It Before You Attack
47:03 SEC vs CFTC
54:04 Crypto Commodities
1:03:35 Tokens Transcend Labels
1:10:00 The New Paradigm
1:17:54 An Explosion of Assets
1:25:14 Rights and Innovation
1:32:20 Good Regualation
1:39:00 Closing & Disclaimers
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Resources:
Brian on Twitter
https://twitter.com/BrianQuintenz?s=20
Episode with Hester Peirce
https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/-the-sec-and-defi-hester-peirce
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https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Bankless, where we explore the frontier of internet money and internet finance. |
| 0:18.4 | This is how to get started, how to get better, and how to frontrun the opportunity. |
| 0:22.4 | I'm Ryan Chan Adams, I'm here with David Hoffman, and we're here to help you become more |
| 0:27.6 | bankless. David, fantastic episode. Brian Quintez is a former commissioner at the CFTC |
| 0:34.3 | former, and he just resigned actually the day before we talked to him. This is a very candid |
| 0:39.9 | conversation and what's going on in regulators minds, particularly the CFTC with respect to |
| 0:45.6 | crypto. Just fantastic insights here. This is definitely part of the Bankless series where we try |
| 0:50.8 | and explore the disposition or the nature of these agencies that regulate the financial world. |
| 0:57.2 | And are all kind of jostling for position with how to deal with the crypto regulation question. |
| 1:03.0 | It was actually really fortuitous that Brian had just resigned from the CFTC, so he was probably |
| 1:07.5 | a little bit more capable of speaking freely. And so we were able to pick his brain about like, |
| 1:12.4 | what's it like to take the perception and perspective of the CFTC as it relates to some of the |
| 1:18.9 | big questions that we have about how crypto is ultimately going to be regulated by the nation state |
| 1:24.4 | or even if it can at all. We also went through kind of just a background of the CFTC |
| 1:29.1 | and how it came to be and what is role is. And then of course extended that and extrapolated |
| 1:34.0 | that to crypto. And then also just talked about the inherent problems that the nature of crypto and |
| 1:38.7 | how it might cause a big obstacle for not only the CFTC but for regulators at large. If you |
| 1:43.6 | guys remember our episode with Josh Rosenthal, we talked about how everyone now has a printing press |
| 1:48.7 | for assets. How is an agency going to deal with that? So questions like this were rampant |
| 1:54.0 | throughout the episode and overall really enjoyed Brian's very sober and pragmatic responses |
| 2:00.4 | to all the questions that we have. Yeah, not only pragmatic but also like values aligned. And this |
| 2:04.9 | is just another reminder to people in crypto who think all regulators are evil and like bad and |
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