Ten FAQ About “Crypto” for Corporate Directors

What is “crypto”? The term “crypto” is shorthand for “cryptographic asset,” which is generally understood to be a digital asset whose features and ownership are coded on a blockchain and protected by cryptography. The first notable crypto asset was bitcoin,[1] created on January 3, 2009. Other bitcoin-based crypto assets have been created since then. Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV) and Litecoin (LTC) are forks of the original Bitcoin protocol and related assets, while Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) is a digital asset backed by bitcoin but with enhanced functionality. But thousands of other crypto assets have nothing to do with bitcoin. A few well-known examples are Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Avalanche (AVAX), Cardano (ADA), USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), Hyperliquid (HYPE), Stellar (XLM), Zcash (ZEC), Polkadot (DOT) and Dogecoin (DOGE). Dogecoin was originally a joke, but now has a market cap exceeding $20 billion. Each one of these, and innumerable others, has features that differ markedly from all others. I have personally analyzed more than 100 of them. 

Is crypto lawful? It looked like various federal agencies were very active in enforcement actions in the industry after the FTX debacle. The SEC investigated and sued various companies and leaders in the crypto industry, but many teams continued to create and launch new blockchains, apps and tokens. There were a number of important court cases that ended favorably, and also unfavorably, for market  participants. More importantly, and perhaps driven by the change in federal administration, many SEC lawsuits against crypto exchanges,  trading firms, crypto development labs and infrastructure providers have been dropped. This does not mean that all crypto activities are lawful at all times and in all places. On the contrary, the applicable law is complex, involving securities regulation, commodities and derivatives regulation, banking regulation, taxation, money transmission regulation, and sanctions compliance, to name just a few topics. With the notable shift in approach by the U.S. federal government, the crypto industry is growing again.  

What is the main difference between the traditional financial system and decentralized finance that is associated with crypto assets? Traditional finance (sometimes called TradFi) differs from decentralized finance (DeFi) with respect to control. TradFi is controlled by banks and governments. DeFi is controlled by code. U.S. dollar deposits, stocks, and bonds are traditionally custodied in and by banks, broker-dealers and clearing agencies and are bought, transferred, and sold using exchanges and other TradFi institutions. The assets are controlled by centralized entities and identifiable human beings. Most crypto assets, in contrast, can be held and transferred without an intermediary. They can be transferred using personal computers and the internet from one person’s “wallet” to another’s wallet. Metamask and Ledger are two well-known wallet providers. This is a “peer-to-peer” transfer. That said, there are centralized crypto exchanges, such as Coinbase and Crypto.com, that can be used to transfer and custody crypto assets. And there are decentralized exchanges, such as Uniswap, where crypto assets are bought and sold peer-to-peer, with no human involvement other than the buyer and the seller.  The Cube Exchange is a hybrid exchange, combining centralized order-matching with decentralized custody and settlement.      

What do “miners” do? What is Proof of Work? Proof of Stake? Miners run nodes that enable the Bitcoin protocol (and a few others) to validate and execute a transfer of crypto assets.  As a result of these activities, they create new bitcoin, which is the first and largest crypto asset (by market cap and dispersion), and a few other crypto assets. Miners “earn” bitcoin (or the other asset) by racing to the correct solution of a math problem whose solution requires massive compute.  This is called “Proof of Work.”  The first miner to solve a given math problem (i.e., complete the Proof of Work) wins the right to create the next block on the blockchain, which is then validated, through consensus, by others on the blockchain network. The miner earns bitcoin by creating the new block. Through this process, miners collectively validate the distributed ledger that accounts for the ownership of all outstanding assets and the prior history of transfers of those assets. The miner also collects transaction fees from network users.  Most blockchains, however, do not rely on Proof of Work to achieve consensus.  Instead, they rely on “Proof of Stake,” of which there are multiple varieties. In a Proof of Stake system, token owners lock their tokens in a wallet, called a “stake,” which functions like collateral. For example, 32 ETH (market-valued at roughly US$100,000) can be bought and locked up to run an Ethereum validator. A “stake” in that amount bestows the right to participate in Ethereum validation. Because bigger and older stakes are more likely to be chosen as a lead validator by a protocol’s algorithm, some validators solicit delegations of authority from other validators and act for the delegators collectively. In doing so, the delegates promise to share rewards with their delegators. The validator chosen by the algorithm for the next block will create that new block and broadcast it to the network. Other validators will then verify its legitimacy. When consensus is reached, the lead validator will receive a reward, which (in the case of Ethereum) will be paid in ETH. Honest and speedy validation is incentivized because everyone knows that bad behavior will be punished by “slashing” (forfeiture) of staked tokens. The key point is that both Proof of Work and Proof of Stake are decentralized consensus mechanisms that are used to validate the state of a blockchain.

Are all crypto assets based on blockchain, and do they use massive amounts of data center capacity and energy? All crypto assets are related to particular blockchains in one way or another. Some blockchains are permissioned, meaning that they are controlled by a person or identifiable group. Others, such as the Bitcoin blockchain, are permissionless, because they are decentralized. Proof of Work consumes massive amounts of energy, but the energy might be renewable. An example is the use of hydro-electric power for bitcoin mining in northern New York. The use of energy by the industry as a whole is often overstated by critics because Proof of Stake uses only about one percent of the energy consumed by Proof of Work and almost all crypto assets are now Proof of Stake assets.  

What is a “stablecoin,” and how does it compare to crypto assets like BTC and ETH? Stablecoins are digital assets denominated in a fiat currency (usually U.S. dollars) that are normally backed by redeemable hard assets held in reserve. USDC, for example, is a stablecoin issued by a private party that is backed by Treasury bills and other short-term federal debt obligations. Stablecoins are typically overcollateralized. As a result, they trade at or very close to their US dollar target price. In the case of USDC, that price is US$1.00. Deviations from the target price are short-lived because arbitrageurs keep the market price close to value. Notably, stablecoin technology is not decentralized, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. On the contrary, stablecoin technology is controlled by identifiable sponsors and banks. Those who use stablecoins treat them as proxies for fiat currency. BTC and ETH, in contrast, do not have stable value, but are valued for other reasons. BTC is commonly viewed as a store of value. Some consider it a partial hedge against fiscal and monetary irresponsibility by governments, particularly since it is hard-capped: There can never be more than 21 million bitcoin. ETH is used as “gas” on the Etherium blockchain, which is a decentralized, permissionless blockchain that serves as the base layer (L-1) for app development and deployment (L-2 and L-3). 

What are “utility tokens”? Tokens that have one or more specific “uses” are sometimes called “utility tokens.” An example is Filecoin (FIL), which is used as payment for decentralized data storage. (Storage fees are both paid and earned in FIL rather than US dollars.)  Some utility tokens have been deemed securities under the SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293 (1946), and its progeny. Offers and sales of securities must comply with the securities laws. Other utility tokens are more accurately classified as non-security commodities, as to which the securities laws do not apply. The line between “security” and “non-security commodity” is fuzzy.  

What are the benefits of DeFi over TradFi? The main benefits of decentralized finance relative to banks and brokerage firms are speed and cost of execution and the maintenance of financial privacy. As an example, stablecoins valued at US$100 million can be transferred to many locations around the world in less than a minute and at a transaction cost which can be less than US$1.00. Financial privacy is especially important when sending or receiving payments from troubled regions, like Ukraine. A more pedestrian use is remittances, which are often paid in crypto assets. Other crypto assets have features that fiat currency does not replicate. Particular crypto assets are used for discounts and payments within digital ecosystems where fiat currency is simply not accepted. When crypto industry advocates talk about “reinventing money,” these are some of the features that they have in mind.    

Should corporate treasuries allocate capital to crypto assets?  Early adopters include some payment companies and gaming companies.  Other companies should consider the possible use of stablecoins for payments (especially international payments), idle cash (because they do generate yield) and sales to new customers. Financial firms have a wider range of possible uses including trade settlement, 24/7/365 changes to collateral positions, investment management, capital markets, and more. Banks, asset managers, payments companies, insurance companies and retailers with international customers that do not currently have a stablecoin plan or working group are already behind their competitors and should reach out for help. Major stablecoin sponsors, crypto exchanges and other industry experts are working with corporate treasuries and their legal advisors. Global companies especially need to consider the speed and cost advantages of stablecoins for at least some payments to and from regions that are under-served by reliable banks. Using stablecoins for transactions enables settlement to occur outside hours when ACH transfers can be made. Deals of every nature and size can be closed on weekends, using stablecoins for payment. Crypto assets other than stablecoins are less likely to be held in treasury, given their volatility, unless management and the board decide to invest in a particular asset or group of assets as part of the company’s evolving business strategy. A company might choose to do this in order to align itself with the crypto industry, or part of it, or because of a bullish conviction about a particular crypto asset. “Strategy,” founded by Michael Saylor, is the best-known and biggest public company of that genre.  All companies that choose to engage in transactions using crypto assets should be mindful of considerations that include tax, accounting, controls, systems and broader regulatory compliance.

When will more companies use crypto? Corporate use of crypto assets is increasing with the recent passage of the GENIUS Act. Bear in mind that there were no notable crypto assets before the creation of bitcoin. The industry is only 17 years old. For the first 16 years, crypto has faced a number of challenges from legislators and regulators around the world, including the United States. Blockchain is disruptive technology. The adoption curve of disruptive technology is said to be like this: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” Notable progress was achieved a few months ago, in the summer of 2025, when the GENIUS Act was enacted with overwhelming bipartisan support, creating a class of legally permitted stablecoins in the US. Broader “market structure” legislation is pending in Congress while the SEC and Nasdaq discuss how to “tokenize” publicly traded common stock and the federal agencies issue clarifying legal interpretations. As statutes are enacted and rules are written by the agencies and exchanges, broad lawful paths forward are becoming clearer, thereby enabling and encouraging broader adoption.