Inside the Rules Shaping Crypto's Next Decade with Rodrigo Silva
This week my guest is Rodrigo Silva, partner at Cooley in the firm's private companies group. Rodrigo works with founders and investors across fintech and crypto, representing clients ranging from two person startups to established players like Circle and Coinbase. He studied philosophy before training as a lawyer, started his career as an M&A and capital markets lawyer with a Latin America focused practice, and got pulled into crypto during the 2017 ICO boom. From there he moved to one of the first crypto focused boutique law firms, then to Cooley as an associate, then in house at Paradigm during a period of aggressive SEC enforcement, before returning to Cooley as outside counsel. We talk about how he developed a framework for handling regulatory risk rather than just minimizing it, what has actually changed in Washington with the SEC's new AMM exemption and the CFTC's posture on perpetual futures, why the Clarity bill stalled in the Senate, and how he thinks about the political durability of crypto friendly policy as power in Washington potentially shifts. We also get into stablecoins, yield bearing vaults, and what it would take for everyday consumers to actually use crypto rails without thinking about it.
Key Takeaways
- Rodrigo Silva started his legal career as an M&A and capital markets lawyer with a Latin America focused practice before getting pulled into crypto during the 2017 ICO boom.
- He left a large law firm to join DLx Law, one of the first crypto focused boutique firms, co-founded by Lewis Cohen.
- Rodrigo later worked in house at Paradigm, where he did deal work and policy work during the period of SEC enforcement actions following the collapses of Terra Luna and FTX.
- He describes his current approach to regulatory risk as translating the risk tradeoffs of different product and structuring choices so founders can make business decisions, rather than simply minimizing risk.
- The SEC's new innovation exemption creates a limited sandbox allowing tokenized securities to trade on AMMs under specific guardrails without the venue being deemed an exchange.
- Rodrigo says the Clarity bill's chances of passing are dim for now after it failed to advance in the Senate, which has pushed the SEC and CFTC toward more aggressive rulemaking instead of legislation.
- He points to Kraken and Coinbase both announcing single stock perpetual futures products as a sign that security perps are arriving in the US faster than he expected a few months ago.
- Rodrigo argues that the best way for the crypto industry to protect its regulatory gains against a future shift in political power is broader consumer adoption and deeper integration into financial infrastructure.
Rodrigo's story stuck with me because it's a case of someone betting on an unproven technology inside a profession built to avoid exactly that kind of risk. His account of running a Gary Gensler parody Twitter account at Paradigm and later meeting SEC staff in person says a lot about how fast the regulatory mood around crypto can actually shift.
Connect with Rodrigo Silva: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodrigo-seira/
Connect with Desmond Fleming: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desmond-fleming-b84042100/
Connect with Desmond Fleming: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desmond-fleming-b84042100/
00:00 How Rodrigo got into crypto law
02:11 Joining DLx Law and following curiosity
03:08 First exposure to crypto and his grandfather's story
07:05 What he has learned about value creation in crypto
09:00 Risk minimization versus risk translation
14:09 The current regulatory environment under Trump
16:08 Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
19:01 How the rulemaking process actually works
22:20 The SEC's new AMM innovation exemption
26:57 Why Citadel is pushing back on the exemption
28:28 Perps, leverage, and the Dodd-Frank legacy
33:09 How regulators actually think about risk
38:03 What happens to crypto policy if power shifts
41:09 Does Rodrigo actually use crypto rails
49:41 What would get consumers to switch to on-chain yield
50:12 The sectors getting the most attention right now
55:03 Advice for building a career at this intersection
02:11 Joining DLx Law and following curiosity
03:08 First exposure to crypto and his grandfather's story
07:05 What he has learned about value creation in crypto
09:00 Risk minimization versus risk translation
14:09 The current regulatory environment under Trump
16:08 Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
19:01 How the rulemaking process actually works
22:20 The SEC's new AMM innovation exemption
26:57 Why Citadel is pushing back on the exemption
28:28 Perps, leverage, and the Dodd-Frank legacy
33:09 How regulators actually think about risk
38:03 What happens to crypto policy if power shifts
41:09 Does Rodrigo actually use crypto rails
49:41 What would get consumers to switch to on-chain yield
50:12 The sectors getting the most attention right now
55:03 Advice for building a career at this intersection
