#169 - Drew Hinkes shares 2026 crypto law predictions

What should the industry be watching in 2026?

Drew Hinkes is a partner at Winston & Strawn and a longtime crypto lawyer whose work spans DeFi, market structure, tokenization, and digital asset regulation. 

Timestamps:

➡️ 1:53 — Tokenization, RWAs, and institutional crypto’s next phase

➡️ 4:00 — Market structure gaps and DeFi’s unresolved treatment

➡️ 6:09 — AML creep and the risk to permissionless finance

➡️ 8:15 — Why DeFi depends on interfaces—and where regulation can bite

➡️ 12:28 — Grey areas after market structure: why uncertainty remains

➡️ 17:05 — Equity vs. tokens and what token holders are actually promised

➡️ 23:57 — Tokenization vs. TradFi capture: competition or consolidation

➡️ 29:03 — The biggest systemic risks to crypto in 2026

➡️ 31:17 — Crypto’s most underappreciated source of resilience

Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by the Decentralization Research Center (DRC), a nonprofit think tank advocating for decentralization in emerging technologies. Learn more at thedrcenter.org. 

Resources: 

📓 Latest Senate Banking Committee Market Structure Draft

📓 Latest Senate Agriculture Committee Market Structure Draft

📄 SEC No-Action Letter to DTCC on Tokenization Services

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