凱特琳?朗第一次在州議會(huì)實(shí)習(xí)時(shí),還是懷俄明州的一名大學(xué)生。懷俄明州也是她的家鄉(xiāng)。之后,她在瑞士信貸(Credit Suisse)和摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)不斷攀登華爾街的階梯,并見(jiàn)證了比特幣的誕生。近30年之后的2017年,她決定回到懷俄明州,宣傳自己感興趣的新領(lǐng)域。她看到了一些熟悉的面孔。朗回憶說(shuō):“信不信由你。過(guò)去27年了,其中一位議員還在那里任職。這太不可思議了!”
在為期20天的議會(huì)會(huì)議期間,朗“投入自己的時(shí)間和金錢(qián)”,在懷俄明州的夏延和議員們就比特幣、區(qū)塊鏈和加密貨幣行業(yè)的前景進(jìn)行了“耐心的一對(duì)一談話(huà)”。她說(shuō):“他們喜歡我講的內(nèi)容。”在隨后的四年里,交流過(guò)的議員們幫她起草了很多法律章節(jié)。朗目前是“加密貨幣銀行”初創(chuàng)企業(yè)Avanti金融集團(tuán)(Avanti Financial Group)的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官,她推動(dòng)通過(guò)了24項(xiàng)對(duì)加密貨幣友好的法律,讓?xiě)讯砻髦莩蔀榱思用茇泿诺母5亍?/p>
在眾多通過(guò)的法律中,其中一部創(chuàng)立了一項(xiàng)銀行牌照,最終促使包括Avanti在內(nèi)的公司成為特殊目的存款機(jī)構(gòu)(SPDI)。獲得SPDI牌照的機(jī)構(gòu)有權(quán)在全國(guó)范圍內(nèi)經(jīng)營(yíng),業(yè)務(wù)范圍涵蓋美元和數(shù)字貨幣。(朗表示,她是在該法律通過(guò)幾個(gè)月后決定創(chuàng)立一家特殊目的存款機(jī)構(gòu)的。)Avanti的下一步發(fā)展可能會(huì)更具變革性:如果獲得美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)的批準(zhǔn),特殊目的存款機(jī)構(gòu)可以自行處理傳統(tǒng)貨幣和加密貨幣之間的交易,而無(wú)需和傳統(tǒng)銀行合作。這樣一來(lái),困擾加密貨幣領(lǐng)域的高額交易費(fèi)可能會(huì)有所降低,同時(shí)消費(fèi)者在該行業(yè)的方便程度會(huì)提升。(Avanti將專(zhuān)注于加密貨幣公司等機(jī)構(gòu)客戶(hù)和朗在摩根士丹利工作時(shí)合作過(guò)的養(yǎng)老基金等大型投資者。數(shù)字交易所Kraken是第一家獲得懷俄明州SPDI牌照的公司,其將關(guān)注點(diǎn)更多放在消費(fèi)者身上。)
朗剛開(kāi)始宣傳時(shí),是想改革懷俄明州貨幣轉(zhuǎn)移法。該法案規(guī)定,任何實(shí)體要想接收比特幣,均須持有等值的美元儲(chǔ)備,這致使她無(wú)法向她的母校懷俄明大學(xué)捐贈(zèng)比特幣。如今,加密貨幣公司不再受這些限制約束,而且還免征銷(xiāo)售稅和財(cái)產(chǎn)稅。懷俄明州最新頒布的加密貨幣法于7月1日生效,該法案創(chuàng)建了一種特殊類(lèi)型的有限責(zé)任身份,旨在保護(hù)企業(yè)家、軟件開(kāi)發(fā)商以及區(qū)塊鏈“分散自治組織”(DAO)中的其他參與者。
DAO并無(wú)中央企業(yè)管理機(jī)構(gòu),懷俄明州最新頒布的法律是為了“在分散世界及其發(fā)展與傳統(tǒng)法律結(jié)構(gòu)之間架起一座法律橋梁。我們獲悉,業(yè)界面臨的其中一個(gè)棘手問(wèn)題是:如果你有分散想法,你如何像創(chuàng)辦企業(yè)的任何其他企業(yè)家一樣,逐步使有限責(zé)任保護(hù)這一想法成形?”Hathaway & Kunz律師事務(wù)所的律師兼合伙人馬特?考夫曼這樣說(shuō)道??挤蚵鴧⑴c起草該法律,同時(shí)也是加密貨幣投資基金公司BXE Capital的合伙人。
朗和她的盟友說(shuō),這些新法律將給懷俄明州帶來(lái)更多商機(jī)。更籠統(tǒng)地說(shuō),該州正在嘗試制定積極的指導(dǎo)方針,確保即使聯(lián)邦監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)該行業(yè)反應(yīng)遲緩且往往持懷疑態(tài)度,加密貨幣業(yè)務(wù)也能實(shí)現(xiàn)穩(wěn)步增長(zhǎng)。懷俄明州加密貨幣擁護(hù)者、美國(guó)資淺參議員辛西婭?盧米斯表示,“各州永遠(yuǎn)是創(chuàng)新孵化地,這讓聯(lián)邦政府有機(jī)會(huì)將州政府作為‘培養(yǎng)皿’。”
只要州政府想要成為“培養(yǎng)皿”,那它就是。美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席杰羅姆?鮑威爾本月對(duì)加密貨幣的必要性提出了質(zhì)疑,而參議院銀行委員會(huì)的委員們?cè)诒局苷匍_(kāi)的一場(chǎng)名為“加密貨幣有什么好處?”的聽(tīng)證會(huì)上提出了更多質(zhì)疑。但與亞利桑那州民主黨參議員克里斯汀?西內(nèi)馬合作成立參議院跨黨派金融創(chuàng)新核心小組的共和黨人盧米斯,主張讓國(guó)會(huì)(而非聯(lián)邦監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu))制定加密貨幣規(guī)則。她表示,“該領(lǐng)域的參與者如此之多,我們定義加密貨幣的方式,即是將其作為證券、商品、中央銀行數(shù)字貨幣還是穩(wěn)定幣,將影響哪一監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)在聯(lián)邦政府層面占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位。我認(rèn)為由國(guó)會(huì)界定最合適?!?/p>
懷俄明州的監(jiān)管制度也受到了質(zhì)疑。由于該州的特別執(zhí)照可能會(huì)讓加密貨幣公司在全國(guó)站穩(wěn)腳跟,“懷俄明州目前的做法可能會(huì)對(duì)未來(lái)金融穩(wěn)定構(gòu)成威脅,”前紐約美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)官員、現(xiàn)任杜克大學(xué)法學(xué)院全球金融市場(chǎng)研究中心執(zhí)行主任李?賴(lài)納斯發(fā)出了這樣的警告。他擔(dān)心2008年次貸危機(jī)會(huì)再次上演,當(dāng)時(shí),機(jī)構(gòu)投資者在非公開(kāi)證券上下了很大的賭注,而當(dāng)這些證券崩盤(pán)時(shí),整個(gè)金融體系遭受了毀滅性打擊。
賴(lài)納斯并非朗的擁護(hù)者。他表示,“我認(rèn)為以凱特琳?朗為首的一小群自私自利的人實(shí)際上操縱了立法。這不是一個(gè)健全的政府?!崩试谝环怆娮余]件中回復(fù)說(shuō),她為自己能夠推動(dòng)家鄉(xiāng)懷俄明州“建立健全的監(jiān)管框架感到自豪”,她認(rèn)為懷俄明州的法規(guī)對(duì)經(jīng)營(yíng)加密貨幣業(yè)務(wù)的銀行來(lái)說(shuō)是一種約束,因此這是“問(wèn)題的解決方案,而不是問(wèn)題?!?/p>
無(wú)論政府健全與否,它都可能已經(jīng)達(dá)到了極限。Avanti本應(yīng)在今年年初開(kāi)始營(yíng)業(yè)。但若想處理美元與比特幣之間的交易,只有經(jīng)美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)批準(zhǔn),它才能直接使用美國(guó)支付系統(tǒng)。去年10月,Avanti向堪薩斯城聯(lián)邦儲(chǔ)備銀行申請(qǐng)開(kāi)立“主賬戶(hù)”。大概一年過(guò)去了,該申請(qǐng)還未能獲準(zhǔn)。朗表示,“我們確實(shí)有B計(jì)劃,”但并未具體說(shuō)明B計(jì)劃的內(nèi)容。目前,她寧可與美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)合作,也不愿與之對(duì)抗。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
編者按:本文已經(jīng)更新,加入了凱特琳?朗對(duì)懷俄明州加密貨幣法規(guī)評(píng)論者作出的詳細(xì)回應(yīng)。
本文刊登在《財(cái)富》雜志2021年8月/9月刊上,標(biāo)題為“懷俄明州的區(qū)塊鏈先驅(qū)”。
翻譯:郝秀
審校:汪皓
凱特琳?朗第一次在州議會(huì)實(shí)習(xí)時(shí),還是懷俄明州的一名大學(xué)生。懷俄明州也是她的家鄉(xiāng)。之后,她在瑞士信貸(Credit Suisse)和摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)不斷攀登華爾街的階梯,并見(jiàn)證了比特幣的誕生。近30年之后的2017年,她決定回到懷俄明州,宣傳自己感興趣的新領(lǐng)域。她看到了一些熟悉的面孔。朗回憶說(shuō):“信不信由你。過(guò)去27年了,其中一位議員還在那里任職。這太不可思議了!”
在為期20天的議會(huì)會(huì)議期間,朗“投入自己的時(shí)間和金錢(qián)”,在懷俄明州的夏延和議員們就比特幣、區(qū)塊鏈和加密貨幣行業(yè)的前景進(jìn)行了“耐心的一對(duì)一談話(huà)”。她說(shuō):“他們喜歡我講的內(nèi)容?!痹陔S后的四年里,交流過(guò)的議員們幫她起草了很多法律章節(jié)。朗目前是“加密貨幣銀行”初創(chuàng)企業(yè)Avanti金融集團(tuán)(Avanti Financial Group)的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官,她推動(dòng)通過(guò)了24項(xiàng)對(duì)加密貨幣友好的法律,讓?xiě)讯砻髦莩蔀榱思用茇泿诺母5亍?/p>
在眾多通過(guò)的法律中,其中一部創(chuàng)立了一項(xiàng)銀行牌照,最終促使包括Avanti在內(nèi)的公司成為特殊目的存款機(jī)構(gòu)(SPDI)。獲得SPDI牌照的機(jī)構(gòu)有權(quán)在全國(guó)范圍內(nèi)經(jīng)營(yíng),業(yè)務(wù)范圍涵蓋美元和數(shù)字貨幣。(朗表示,她是在該法律通過(guò)幾個(gè)月后決定創(chuàng)立一家特殊目的存款機(jī)構(gòu)的。)Avanti的下一步發(fā)展可能會(huì)更具變革性:如果獲得美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)的批準(zhǔn),特殊目的存款機(jī)構(gòu)可以自行處理傳統(tǒng)貨幣和加密貨幣之間的交易,而無(wú)需和傳統(tǒng)銀行合作。這樣一來(lái),困擾加密貨幣領(lǐng)域的高額交易費(fèi)可能會(huì)有所降低,同時(shí)消費(fèi)者在該行業(yè)的方便程度會(huì)提升。(Avanti將專(zhuān)注于加密貨幣公司等機(jī)構(gòu)客戶(hù)和朗在摩根士丹利工作時(shí)合作過(guò)的養(yǎng)老基金等大型投資者。數(shù)字交易所Kraken是第一家獲得懷俄明州SPDI牌照的公司,其將關(guān)注點(diǎn)更多放在消費(fèi)者身上。)
凱特琳?朗在懷俄明州杰克遜霍爾的斯普林克里克牧場(chǎng)酒店。圖片由凱特琳?朗提供
朗剛開(kāi)始宣傳時(shí),是想改革懷俄明州貨幣轉(zhuǎn)移法。該法案規(guī)定,任何實(shí)體要想接收比特幣,均須持有等值的美元儲(chǔ)備,這致使她無(wú)法向她的母校懷俄明大學(xué)捐贈(zèng)比特幣。如今,加密貨幣公司不再受這些限制約束,而且還免征銷(xiāo)售稅和財(cái)產(chǎn)稅。懷俄明州最新頒布的加密貨幣法于7月1日生效,該法案創(chuàng)建了一種特殊類(lèi)型的有限責(zé)任身份,旨在保護(hù)企業(yè)家、軟件開(kāi)發(fā)商以及區(qū)塊鏈“分散自治組織”(DAO)中的其他參與者。
DAO并無(wú)中央企業(yè)管理機(jī)構(gòu),懷俄明州最新頒布的法律是為了“在分散世界及其發(fā)展與傳統(tǒng)法律結(jié)構(gòu)之間架起一座法律橋梁。我們獲悉,業(yè)界面臨的其中一個(gè)棘手問(wèn)題是:如果你有分散想法,你如何像創(chuàng)辦企業(yè)的任何其他企業(yè)家一樣,逐步使有限責(zé)任保護(hù)這一想法成形?”Hathaway & Kunz律師事務(wù)所的律師兼合伙人馬特?考夫曼這樣說(shuō)道??挤蚵鴧⑴c起草該法律,同時(shí)也是加密貨幣投資基金公司BXE Capital的合伙人。
朗和她的盟友說(shuō),這些新法律將給懷俄明州帶來(lái)更多商機(jī)。更籠統(tǒng)地說(shuō),該州正在嘗試制定積極的指導(dǎo)方針,確保即使聯(lián)邦監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)該行業(yè)反應(yīng)遲緩且往往持懷疑態(tài)度,加密貨幣業(yè)務(wù)也能實(shí)現(xiàn)穩(wěn)步增長(zhǎng)。懷俄明州加密貨幣擁護(hù)者、美國(guó)資淺參議員辛西婭?盧米斯表示,“各州永遠(yuǎn)是創(chuàng)新孵化地,這讓聯(lián)邦政府有機(jī)會(huì)將州政府作為‘培養(yǎng)皿’?!?/p>
只要州政府想要成為“培養(yǎng)皿”,那它就是。美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席杰羅姆?鮑威爾本月對(duì)加密貨幣的必要性提出了質(zhì)疑,而參議院銀行委員會(huì)的委員們?cè)诒局苷匍_(kāi)的一場(chǎng)名為“加密貨幣有什么好處?”的聽(tīng)證會(huì)上提出了更多質(zhì)疑。但與亞利桑那州民主黨參議員克里斯汀?西內(nèi)馬合作成立參議院跨黨派金融創(chuàng)新核心小組的共和黨人盧米斯,主張讓國(guó)會(huì)(而非聯(lián)邦監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu))制定加密貨幣規(guī)則。她表示,“該領(lǐng)域的參與者如此之多,我們定義加密貨幣的方式,即是將其作為證券、商品、中央銀行數(shù)字貨幣還是穩(wěn)定幣,將影響哪一監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)在聯(lián)邦政府層面占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位。我認(rèn)為由國(guó)會(huì)界定最合適?!?/p>
懷俄明州的監(jiān)管制度也受到了質(zhì)疑。由于該州的特別執(zhí)照可能會(huì)讓加密貨幣公司在全國(guó)站穩(wěn)腳跟,“懷俄明州目前的做法可能會(huì)對(duì)未來(lái)金融穩(wěn)定構(gòu)成威脅,”前紐約美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)官員、現(xiàn)任杜克大學(xué)法學(xué)院全球金融市場(chǎng)研究中心執(zhí)行主任李?賴(lài)納斯發(fā)出了這樣的警告。他擔(dān)心2008年次貸危機(jī)會(huì)再次上演,當(dāng)時(shí),機(jī)構(gòu)投資者在非公開(kāi)證券上下了很大的賭注,而當(dāng)這些證券崩盤(pán)時(shí),整個(gè)金融體系遭受了毀滅性打擊。
賴(lài)納斯并非朗的擁護(hù)者。他表示,“我認(rèn)為以凱特琳?朗為首的一小群自私自利的人實(shí)際上操縱了立法。這不是一個(gè)健全的政府。”朗在一封電子郵件中回復(fù)說(shuō),她為自己能夠推動(dòng)家鄉(xiāng)懷俄明州“建立健全的監(jiān)管框架感到自豪”,她認(rèn)為懷俄明州的法規(guī)對(duì)經(jīng)營(yíng)加密貨幣業(yè)務(wù)的銀行來(lái)說(shuō)是一種約束,因此這是“問(wèn)題的解決方案,而不是問(wèn)題。”
無(wú)論政府健全與否,它都可能已經(jīng)達(dá)到了極限。Avanti本應(yīng)在今年年初開(kāi)始營(yíng)業(yè)。但若想處理美元與比特幣之間的交易,只有經(jīng)美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)批準(zhǔn),它才能直接使用美國(guó)支付系統(tǒng)。去年10月,Avanti向堪薩斯城聯(lián)邦儲(chǔ)備銀行申請(qǐng)開(kāi)立“主賬戶(hù)”。大概一年過(guò)去了,該申請(qǐng)還未能獲準(zhǔn)。朗表示,“我們確實(shí)有B計(jì)劃,”但并未具體說(shuō)明B計(jì)劃的內(nèi)容。目前,她寧可與美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)合作,也不愿與之對(duì)抗。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
編者按:本文已經(jīng)更新,加入了凱特琳?朗對(duì)懷俄明州加密貨幣法規(guī)評(píng)論者作出的詳細(xì)回應(yīng)。
本文刊登在《財(cái)富》雜志2021年8月/9月刊上,標(biāo)題為“懷俄明州的區(qū)塊鏈先驅(qū)”。
翻譯:郝秀
審校:汪皓
Caitlin Long was a college student in her native Wyoming when she first interned at the state legislature. Almost three decades later, in 2017—after she climbed the Wall Street ladder at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley and witnessed the birth of Bitcoin—she decided to return to her old stomping grounds to talk up her new interests. She found some familiar faces. “One of the legislators was still there, believe it or not, 27 years later,” Long recalls. “The stars just aligned.”
Over the course of a 20-day legislative session in Cheyenne, Long “camped out on my own time and dime” for “patient, one-on-one conversations” with lawmakers about Bitcoin, blockchains, and the promise of the cryptocurrency industry. “They liked the story,” she says. And over the ensuing four years, they’ve helped her write multiple chapters. Long, now the founder and CEO of “crypto bank” startup Avanti Financial Group, has helped pass 24 crypto-friendly laws, giving Wyoming a reputation as cryptocurrency’s promised land—or its Wild West, depending on whom you ask.
One of those laws created a bank charter that enabled companies—including, eventually, Avanti—to become “special-purpose depository institutions,” or SPDIs, entitling them to operate throughout the nation, handling both dollars and digital currencies. (Long says she only decided to start a SPDI months after the law was passed.) Avanti’s next step could be even more transformational: If they win the Federal Reserve’s blessing, SPDIs will be able to process transactions between traditional and crypto currencies on their own, without having to partner with traditional banks. That could reduce the high transaction fees that have dogged the crypto world, while increasing consumers’ comfort level with the industry. (Avanti will focus on institutional clients like crypto companies and large investors, like the pension funds with whom Long once worked at Morgan Stanley. Digital exchange Kraken, the first company to receive a Wyoming SPDI charter, focuses more on consumers.)
When she first started her advocacy, Long was trying to change a state money-transmitter law that had stymied her efforts to donate Bitcoins to her alma mater, the University of Wyoming; at the time, any entity accepting Bitcoin had to hold an equal value in dollars in reserve. Today crypto companies are exempt from those restrictions. They’re also exempt from sales tax and property tax. Wyoming’s most recent crypto law, effective July 1, creates a special type of limited liability status that protects entrepreneurs, software developers, and others participating in blockchain-based “decentralized autonomous organizations,” or DAOs.
DAOs don’t have a central corporate authority, and Wyoming’s latest law is intended to “create a legal bridge from the decentralized world, and the development occurring there, to a traditional legal structure,” says Matt Kaufman, an attorney and partner at the Hathaway & Kunz law firm, who co-wrote the law. (He’s also a partner at BXE Capital, a crypto-focused investment fund.) “One of the big problems we were hearing from the industry is: If you have a decentralized idea, how can you develop that idea with some limited liability protection, like any other entrepreneur working in a startup?”
All these new laws, Long and her allies say, will bring more business to Wyoming. More broadly, the state is trying to draw proactive guidelines under which crypto businesses can grow—at the same time that federal regulators have taken a slow and often suspicious approach to the industry. “States have always been the incubators of innovation,” says Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming’s pro-crypto junior U.S. senator. “This gives the federal government a chance to use state governments as a petri dish.”
If it wants to, that is. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell this month questioned the need for cryptocurrencies, while members of the Senate Banking Committee this week aired more skepticism at a hearing entitled “Cryptocurrencies: What are they good for?” But Lummis, a Republican who partnered with Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema to create the Senate’s bipartisan Financial Innovation Caucus, advocates putting crypto rules into the hands of Congress first, rather than federal regulators. “There are so many players in this space, that the way we define things—as a security, a commodity, a central-bank digital currency versus a stablecoin—will have an effect on what regulatory agency has primacy at the federal level,” she says. “And I think that Congress is the appropriate definer.”
Wyoming’s regulatory regime also has its critics. Because the state’s special charters could help crypto companies gain a national foothold, “what Wyoming is doing could potentially threaten financial stability down the road,” warns Lee Reiners, a former New York Fed official who’s now executive director of the Global Financial Markets Center at Duke Law. He fears a repeat of the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008, when institutional investors bet big on esoteric securities, sending destructive ripples through the whole financial system when those securities crashed.
Nor is Reiners a fan of Long’s influence. “I think a narrow group of self-interested individuals, primarily led by Caitlin Long, essentially hijacked the legislative process,” he says. “It’s just not good government.” In an emailed response, Long says she is “proud of the interest I have in advancing the robust regulatory framework” of her home state, and that she sees Wyoming regulations as a “straight-jacket” for banks that handle crypto, therefore “a solution to the problem, not the problem.”
Good government or not, it may have reached its limits. Avanti was supposed to open for business early this year. But in order to process transactions between dollars and Bitcoin, it needs Fed approval to directly access the U.S. payments system. Avanti applied to the Kansas City Fed for a “master account” last October. Almost a year later, it’s still waiting. “We do have a plan B,” Long says, declining to specify what that is. For now, she’d prefer to work with the Fed, not fight it.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include a longer version of Caitlin Long's response to critics of Wyoming's crypto regulations.
This article appears in the August/September 2021 issue of Fortune with the headline, "Wyoming's blockchain pioneer."