December 02, 2022

Digital Assets Download - World Cup Edition

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In some ways, the trajectory of the World Cup has looked a bit like digital assets markets in 2022—some blowouts, some upsets, a bit of drama and controversy, all of it wrapped up into a global, high-stakes event that brings something new every day. Here at the Digital Assets Download, we track the players and scores but never take sides ;-) Enjoy the latest below!

For the Uninitiated: Digital Assets Download is a curated mix of insights and headlines that provide a Layer 3 Legal Perspective™ on the digital assets multiverse—created by Mayer Brown’s global Digital Assets, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency group. (Check out all of our previous editions of the Digital Assets Download)

Select Events

Selected events for deeper dives into different parts of the digital assets and DeFi world.

Web3 Lawyers Meetup at EmpireDAO in New York
On Wednesday, December 7 from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. ET, Mayer Brown and EmpireDAO will host a Web3 lawyer meetup. Even though crypto has gained significant popularity in the past few years, there is still a shortage of legal professionals in the field. This is a great chance to meet and network with other professionals in the practice! Food and drinks, too!

Investigating the Collapse of FTX, Part I
On Tuesday, December 13 starting at 10 a.m. ET, the full US House Committee on Financial Services will convene for a hybrid hearing.

Learn the Lingo

For those new to the digital assets and DeFi world, each edition of the Digital Assets Download will highlight a different term to help you be a part of the conversation.

Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

DAOs are a form of digital-native business that can be organized to do just about anything: management of a crypto protocol (MakerDAO), investment (MetaCartel Ventures), art collection (PleasrDAO), or even completion of a single purpose (ConstitutionDAO). The key distinguishing feature of a DAO—beyond its digital roots—is its decentralized and autonomous governance structure.

Hyper-democratic by nature, DAOs are not historically creatures of state law, unlike the predominant forms that most businesses take—corporations and limited liability companies. Also unlike corporations and limited liability companies, DAOs do not have boards of directors, managers or executive management; instead, in a DAO’s purest form, decisions made by tokenholders are implemented with self-executing smart contracts. While shareholders and bylaws are the backbones of a corporation, the foundations of a DAO are its tokenholders and smart contracts.

  • DAO membership is derived from ownership of the DAO’s token and is often permission-less. As with most crypto-tokens, these are typically freely tradeable on decentralized exchanges or earned by performing actions the DAO seeks to encourage, such as providing liquidity.
  • Smart contracts, a type of program stored on a blockchain, allow DAOs to forego many of the management and other authority structures of a typical organization by automatically executing actions when certain conditions are met, without the need for intermediaries. Rules of the organization are made by members and encoded in smart contracts. Among other things, these rules control the DAO’s treasury and spending. Rules can be changed by vote of the membership.

Writing on the Wall, Translating ‘Crypto’ Terms with Mayer Brown

From Airdrop to Wrapped Token, our illustrated glossary, “Writing on the Wall, Translating Securities with Mayer Brown,” has been updated with additional digital assets and cryptocurrency terms. Check out our “featured” list for the crypto terms and the full list of terms.

Digital Assets Download

View previous editions and additional content in our Digital Assets Download Resource Center.
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