This episode was recorded live at Consensus Miami 2026.

Jonathan Schmalfeld — known as 'Birdnals' across Crypto Twitter — is Policy Director at The Digital Chamber. He came up doing soft IP litigation, got into crypto around 2015, and eventually turned what he was doing for fun into his full-time work.

We cover the NFT IP moment, what it takes to be a real Web3 lawyer, the knowledge-sharing culture that makes this community unique, and how he went from associate at a major law firm to advocating for the industry in front of Congress and regulators.

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This episode is sponsored by FirstRead (use BYNDTHECODE10 for 10% off).

This show is hosted by Yitzy Hammer.

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A milestone episode, recorded live at Consensus Miami 2026: after three years, Beyond the Code has its first sponsor — and there's a good story behind why it's FirstRead.

Yitzy is joined by returning guest Mike Bacina, now a partner at NXT Law leading the firm out of Cayman, to talk about how boutique firms are gaining a real edge with AI, why the billable hour quietly works against adoption at big firms, and why "AI will take your job" is the same fear lawyers have had about every technology before it.

Sponsored by FirstRead — AI-powered contract help for lawyers. 10% off with code BYNDTHECODE10: https://first-read.com/signup?ref=BEYOND2026

Snir Levi is the founder and CEO of Nominis — a crypto compliance and blockchain intelligence platform. Before building Nominis, Snir was inside Celsius Network during its rise and sudden collapse, working in the security department with no warning of what was coming.

In this episode, Snir walks us through what it was actually like when Celsius froze withdrawals, how he turned that experience into a company, and what Nominis is uncovering today — including IRGC activity, sanction evasion through crypto, and why tracking inflows and outflows to Iran is the wrong way to look at the problem entirely.

We also get into the future of stablecoins, the slow death of the token economy, and where AI is reshaping compliance workflows.

🔗 Try Nominis: https://www.nominis.io/ — use code DLTLAW5 for 5% off.

🔒 Sponsored by FirstRead — AI-powered legal contract review.Try free at https://first-read.com/signup?ref=BEYOND2026 | Code BYNDTHECODE10 for 10% off.