Law of Code

When should software lose free speech protections?
This podcast covers software and the First Amendment, tracing the history from Cold War export controls to recent restrictions on advanced AI models.
My goal: the internet's most comprehensive explainer on speech and code, from cryptography to cryptocurrency to AI.
In this episode, you'll hear from leading experts on the legal layer of software and free speech:
Peter Van Valkenburgh, Executive Director at Coin Center
Laz Pieper, Director of Research at Coin Center
Eugene Volokh, First Amendment scholar and Fellow at the Hoover Institution
Jane Bambauer, Brechner Eminent Scholar at the University of Florida
Preston Byrne, Managing Partner at Byrne & Storm
Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel and co-chair of CahillNXT
By the end of this episode, I promise you'll be in the top percentile for understanding when code is protected speech, regardless of where you're starting from. (You just might need to listen twice. There's a lot here.)
This episode is presented by Altitude, visit Altitude.xyz/law to learn more about their financial operating system.
Timestamps:
0:00 Anthropic AI export controls
6:17 Introduction
9:39 Reading the First Amendment
10:38 Eugene Volokh on his First Amendment philosophy
13:42 The machine gun sculpture: speech vs function
19:24 Peter Van Valkenburgh interview
25:50 The Cold War, munitions list and Phil Zimmermann
29:57 The Bernstein case
34:53 Strict scrutiny
38:48 The Corley case
49:17 Sorrell, Stevens and where the Supreme Court is heading
53:25 Preston Byrne on the Supreme Court's AI case
57:23 Defense Distributed and 3D-printing
1:04:00 Where publication ends and professional conduct begins
1:15:20 Lowe v. SEC and the agency line
1:45:45 Compelled speech, the IRS broker rule and tobacco labels
2:04:17 Laz Pieper on Sorrell and third-party liability
2:11:29 Preston Byrne on the GRANITE Act and foreign censorship
Newsletter: Stay updated on emerging tech law for free at lawofcode.fm. https://www.lawofcode.fm/
Any feedback on this episode? Or how to improve the podcast? Click here. https://forms.gle/W4d2a5aHuLJjuNdn7
Sponsors: Thank you to the Hyperliquid Policy Center and Solana Policy Institute for supporting this podcast.
To get in touch with the Cahill team about how any issues discussed in this episode apply to your situation, email mtomsky@cahill.com. Subscribe to Cahill's free client alerts on digital assets and emerging technology at https://www.cahill.com/news/index?search=1&practice=litigation-digital-assets-and-emerging-technology.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Prediction markets are a multi-billion dollar industry, led by companies like Kalshi and Polymarket. They are also controversial. Some want them banned and believe they are operating illegally, while others see them as invaluable truth-seeking markets.
This podcast is a multi-hour deep dive on prediction markets, starting from conclave betting in 15th century Rome to the CFTC's proposed rulemaking on Rule 40.11 earlier this month.
My goal: The internet's most comprehensive explainer on prediction markets.
By the end of this episode, I promise you'll be in the top percentile for understanding prediction markets, regardless of where you're starting from. (You just might need to listen twice. There's a lot here.)
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:40 16th century papal betting (Koleman Strumpf)
11:13 Insider trading rules on prediction markets (Bobby DeNault)
16:20 The Google search insider case and Rule 180.1 (Sam Enzer)
27:38 Why prediction markets matter (Chris Giancarlo)
33:20 Election betting in America38:35 Iowa Electronic Markets and the 1992 no-action letter
45:56 Dodd-Frank, swaps and the Special Rule
48:08 Senator Lincoln on Super Bowl and Derby contracts
55:49 Parlays as swaps (Josh Sterling)
1:01:23 CFTC's exclusive jurisdiction (Thania Charmani)
1:07:30 Perspective on the CFTC's NPRM (Michael Passalacqua)
1:14:55 Exceptions that swallow the rule (Paul Grewal)
1:27:25 How prediction markets actually work
1:36:05 Kalshi's probability-weighted fee structure
1:38:18 Cardi B and the resolution problem (Dustin Gouker)
1:45:05 Oracles, UMA and decentralized resolution (Jeff Amico)
1:51:55 Inside the Ninth Circuit case
2:07:49 The CFTC's June 2026 proposed rulemaking (Brad Bourque, Stefan Schropp)
2:19:06 Kalshi's landmark 2024 win
2:23:05 PASPA, Murphy v. NCAA (Daniel Wallach)
2:45:14 The case against banning prediction markets (Bobby DeNault)
Newsletter: Stay updated on emerging tech law for free at lawofcode.fm. https://www.lawofcode.fm/
Any feedback on this episode? Or how to improve the podcast? Click here. https://forms.gle/W4d2a5aHuLJjuNdn7
Sponsors: This episode is sponsored by Cahill Gordon & Reindel, the Hyperliquid Policy Center, and the Solana Policy Institute. To get in touch with the Cahill team about how the issues discussed in this episode apply to your situation, email mtomsky@cahill.com. Subscribe to Cahill's free client alerts on digital assets and emerging technology at https://www.cahill.com/news/index?search=1&practice=litigation-digital-assets-and-emerging-technology.
In this episode, you'll hear from the world's leading experts on the legal layer of prediction markets:
Josh Sterling, partner at Millbank
Bobby DeNault, Head of Enforcement at Kalshi
Chris Giancarlo, former Chairman of the CFTC
Daniel Wallach, founder of Wallach Legal LLC
Stefan Schropp, Senior Regulatory Counsel at Paradigm
Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel and co-chair of CahillNXT
Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase
Koleman Strumpf, economics professor at Wake Forest
Brad Bourque, Policy Counsel at Hyperliquid Policy Center
Thania Charmani, partner at Winston & Taylor
Michael Passalacqua, Senior Advisor to CFTC Chairman Selig
Jeff Amico, Chief Operating Officer at Gensyn
Matt Kalish, co-founder of DraftKings and CEO of Hardscope
Dustin Gouker, author of the Event Horizons newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship.

How do regulators actually write the rules for crypto? SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and Taylor Lindman, Chief Counsel of the SEC's Crypto Task Force, take us inside the process, recorded at the SEC offices in Washington, D.C.
We cover CLARITY Act rulemaking, lessons from Dodd-Frank, principles-based regulation and navigating the risks of decentralized projects. If you want to understand how an agency like the SEC actually works, this episode is for you.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:20 Commissioner Peirce's philosophy on capital markets
5:04 Rulemaking at the SEC
6:48 The SEC's divisions, explained
8:27 How the Crypto Task Force is staffed
10:37 Lessons from Dodd-Frank
13:10 Legal artisans
15:15 The Clarity Act deadlines
18:55 Decentralized intermediaries
20:56 Principles-based vs prescriptive regulation
24:49 Tackling difficult crypto questions
26:23 Leveraging AI for data review
29:46 "Come in and register" under this SEC
33:50 SEC & CFTC collaboration
35:52 Re-engaging the crypto industry
40:00 Crypto Task Force & the Clarity Act
45:54 The SEC's non-crypto priorities
48:41 Avoiding another regulation-by-enforcement era
57:14 Thank you to Sam Enzer, Lewis Cohen and Cahill, plus a shoutout to Day One Law and Nick Pullman
Newsletter: I'm re-launching the Law of Code newsletter soon: you can ⁠⁠⁠stay updated on emerging tech law for free here⁠⁠⁠: https://www.lawofcode.fm/
Any feedback on this episode? Or how to improve the podcast? ⁠⁠Click here: https://forms.gle/W4d2a5aHuLJjuNdn7
Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Over a trillion dollars worth of perps are traded every month, yet 99% people have never heard of them. Fewer understand how they work.
This podcast is a multi-hour deep dive on perps, starting from the history of grain futures in Chicago to a historic CFTC announcement on Friday, May 29, 2026.
My goal: The internet's most comprehensive explainer on perps.
In this episode, you'll hear from the world's leading experts on the legal layer of perps:
Hyperliquid Policy Center CEO Jake Chervinsky and policy counsel Brad Bourque
BrettHarrison, CEO of Architect
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, general counsel of StarkWare
Ryne Miller, partner at Morrison Foerster
Mike Frisch, partner at Croke Fairchild
David Shafer, lawyer at Coinbase
By the end of this episode, I promise you'll be in the top percentile for understanding perps, regardless of where you're starting from. (You just might need to listen twice. There's a lot here.)
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
4:04 What is a perp?
7:18 Why futures contracts exist
8:15 Liquidity fragmentation
11:01 History of U.S. futures
17:08 Richard Nixon, the gold standard and financial futures
21:27 Birth of the CFTC
24:27 Robert Shiller's 1992 paper
30:09 Price convergence
32:00 The funding rate
43:41 Oracles and manipulation risk
47:39 Are perps swaps or futures?
52:44 A @ChairmanSelig clip on perps
54:02 The DCM framework
59:16 DCMs, DCOs and FCMs explained
1:04:55 History of crypto perps (BitMEX, FTX)
1:13:00 How Hyperliquid works
1:25:41 CFTC's historic announcements on May 29, 2026
1:35:00 Fireside with @jchervinsky and @BradBourque of @HyperliquidPC
Newsletter: I'm re-launching the Law of Code newsletter soon: you can ⁠⁠⁠stay updated on emerging tech law for free here⁠⁠⁠. https://www.lawofcode.fm/
Any feedback on this episode? Or how to improve the podcast? ⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠. https://forms.gle/W4d2a5aHuLJjuNdn7
Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship.

What is the CLARITY Act? Maybe the most important piece of financial legislation in a generation.
This podcast explains the history of U.S. digital asset regulation, why regulation-by-enforcement failed and what the CLARITY Act addresses, plus remaining steps for this to become law.
Guests:
Lewis Cohen, Partner & Co-Chair of CahillNXT's Digital Assets & Emerging Technology practice
Miles Jennings, Head of Policy & General Counsel for a16z crypto
Sarah Brennan, general counsel at Delphi Ventures
Kyle Bligen, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Decentralization Research Center
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO at Solana Policy Institute
Dugan Bliss, Head of Litigation at Binance
By the end of this episode, I promise you'll be in the 99th percentile for understanding CLARITY, regardless of whether you're a lawyer, builder or operator.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
4:46 Explaining market structure
6:05 Regulatory distortion
10:43 Predecessor bills
13:35 Senate Banking markup takeaways
15:46 SEC & CFTC
20:37 The Securities Act of 1933
23:07 The Howey Test
25:26 The Ineluctable Modality of Securities Law
28:51 SEC enforcement
32:32 Why SEC rulemaking isn't enough
37:36 Titles of CLARITY
40:00 Digital commodities
47:29 Investment contract principles
54:10 Promoters: originators
58:18 Promoters: related persons
1:04:13 Token taxonomy
1:11:02 Ancillary asset requirements
1:19:34 The certification process
1:28:32 Remaining hurdles for CLARITY
1:34:50 Stablecoin yield
1:38:45 Ethics
1:45:50 Tax consequences
1:48:54 Thanking people working on the bill, such as @SenLummis, @gillibrandny, @SenatorTimScott, @SenatorHagerty, @SenThomTillis, @MarkWarner, @SenRubenGallego, @Sen_Alsobrooks, their staffs & many, many others.
Newsletter: I'm re-launching the Law of Code newsletter soon: you can ⁠⁠⁠stay updated on emerging tech law for free here⁠⁠⁠. https://www.lawofcode.fm/
Any feedback on this episode? Or how to improve the podcast? ⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠. https://forms.gle/W4d2a5aHuLJjuNdn7
Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers. Listening to this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship.