URGENT! The US Must Pass the Clarity Act Now! | Adrian Wall

**Adrian Wall** (0:00)
I think that many of us understand that the US financial system, particularly the technology that underpins it, is woefully behind the rest of the world. We're still using payment rails that are like 75 years old. No one's going to point to it and be like, there's something that we should be emulating.

**Tony Edward** (0:17)
Adrian, do you feel it's been getting better though? It seems like more Democrats are openly, freely talking more about crypto.

**Adrian Wall** (0:22)
100%. I'd say Senator Warren makes it very hard to like her. She doesn't make it easy, right?

**Tony Edward** (0:33)
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Hey folks, welcome into the Thinking Crypto Podcast. I'm Tony Edward.

**Amanda Wickroft** (3:00)
And I'm Amanda Wickroft.

**Tony Edward** (3:02)
And joining us is Adrian Wall, who is the Senior Director of US Policy at Tron Dao and the Managing Director of the Digital Sovereignty Alliance, which is advocating for ethical innovation in blockchain, Web3, crypto, and AI through research, education, and policies. Adrian, great to have you.

**Adrian Wall** (3:20)
Likewise. It's great to be here. Thank you both.

**Tony Edward** (3:22)
Adrian, excited to chat with you because there's a lot happening with crypto legislation and you are well connected down in DC.
So we're excited to get into the Clarity Act and much more. But just so the audience gets to know you, tell us a bit about your background and how did you make your way to crypto?

**Adrian Wall** (3:39)
Sure, sure. I'd say, like a lot of people, I actually come from a TradFi background. So I spent 20 plus years in banking and then private equity, first in New York and then going abroad. Then I joined a private equity group, DC based called Allied Capital back in the day. Then they sent me to Hong Kong and I did a stint in China. But what was interesting is as an academic, I was an economist by trade.
So I've always maintained a real interest in currency and the economy that defines whether currencies have, what the values are behind it. So when, fast forward to 2015, when digital assets first started to make their way into the public mind via blockchain, I think blockchain led the way. I of course took an immediate interest and made it my job to get to know more about it. So from academic interest in blockchain to digital asset, I then became an investor, not just in Bitcoin, an early adopter of Bitcoin, but also in Stablecoin and other adjacent technologies. So I went that route and I was based in Asia at the time I was doing all this. So what brought me back to DC was watching the US take one step forward in policy and then like two steps back, and then two steps forward and then 10 steps back. I thought to myself, I really need to get back there and see if I can help write this ship a little bit. Without sounding cocky, I thought to myself, I don't have a lobbying background, but I thought, man, I can't do any worse than the people at DC are doing right now. That's not throwing shade at some amazing organizations like the Digital Chamber, Blockchain Association, GBA. These guys have done fantastic, fantastic work. I think they were just facing a very difficult challenging period. So it brought me there. I think what the industry needed was a voice that was willing to try to connect DeFi with TradFi.