About
Experience & Education
-
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
View Jess’s full experience
See their title, tenure and more.
or
Volunteer Experience
-
Elected Member
The American Law Institute
- Present 8 months
The ALI is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law.
-
Chair, Tokenized Payment Instruments Task Force
American Bar Association
- Present 1 year 11 months
My task force's mission is to: (i) examine the nascent market practices for issuing, holding, transferring, and converting tokenized payment instruments, (ii) identify, analyze, and assess the significance of key legal issues or areas of legal uncertainty associated with such market practices, and (iii) identify and assess possible means for commercial law or contract to address any problems.
-
Vice Chair, UCC Committee
American Bar Association
- Present 2 years
Our committee's mission is to provide timely information and training about developments in commercial law, commercial transactions, and commercial practices.
-
Chair, UCC Payments Subcommittee
American Bar Association
- 4 years
I organized and led a forum for lawyers to consider potential law reform and legal issues in payments, including emerging payment services and products.
Publications
-
A Lawyer's Perspective on U.S. Payment System Evolution and Money in the Digital Age
Federal Reserve Board
This article analyzes the current frictions, and opportunities for evolution, in the U.S. dollar payment system, by viewing money through the lens of network effects, interoperability, and their legal underpinnings. It gives a lawyer’s perspective on the workings of the U.S. payment system and lessons from history, including the free banking era. This article also discusses current developments, such as various central bank digital currency (CBDC) proposals and private-sector stablecoin…
This article analyzes the current frictions, and opportunities for evolution, in the U.S. dollar payment system, by viewing money through the lens of network effects, interoperability, and their legal underpinnings. It gives a lawyer’s perspective on the workings of the U.S. payment system and lessons from history, including the free banking era. This article also discusses current developments, such as various central bank digital currency (CBDC) proposals and private-sector stablecoin developments, in this context. The goal is to contribute to the discussion around the future of the U.S. payment system, toward greater efficiency that does not come at the cost of introducing instability.
Other authors -
-
Preconditions for a general-purpose central bank digital currency
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
For any possible issuance of a #CBDC in the U.S., what are the foundational #preconditions? This paper highlight the key legal aspects, among other foundational elements, to inform any potential work agenda: Clear legal authority; combatting money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and addressing sanctions evasion, while balancing privacy considerations; legal roles and responsibilities, including allocation of risk of loss.
Other authors -
-
Technical Note-Technological Change, Legal Frameworks, and Implications for Financial Stability (Republic of Korea - IMF Financial Sector Assessment Program)
International Monetary Fund
See publicationKorea’s financial sector legal framework, particularly the recently announced open banking initiative and anticipated amendments to the legal frameworks for electronic financial transactions and use of personal data, will play a key role in shaping the direction of innovation and competition in the financial sector. The already highly modernized and digitally connected state of the Korean financial sector will amplify the impact of these changes to market structure and competition. Korea’s…
Korea’s financial sector legal framework, particularly the recently announced open banking initiative and anticipated amendments to the legal frameworks for electronic financial transactions and use of personal data, will play a key role in shaping the direction of innovation and competition in the financial sector. The already highly modernized and digitally connected state of the Korean financial sector will amplify the impact of these changes to market structure and competition. Korea’s fintech experience illustrates that even within an already highly technologically advanced, efficient, and inclusive financial sector, significant benefits can still be reaped from innovation in financial services.
-
How to Build a Stablecoin: Certainty, Finality, and Stability Through Commercial Law Principles
Berkeley Business Law Review
See publicationIt's one thing to say that stablecoins need a sound legal basis; it takes a constructive lawyer to help build one. My article shows you how. I explain in plain English how critical building blocks can be found in core payments and securities law principles: (i) settlement finality, (ii) rules for adverse claims, (iii) discharge of the underlying obligation, and (iv) the concept of a security entitlement. That is, how to leverage what is working today and doesn't need to be re-invented.
-
Data Laws for the Digital Age
Payments Canada
The article discusses how modernized legal frameworks can facilitate data-driven innovation, highlighting key opportunities and challenges. It focuses, in particular, on modernized privacy laws (the EU’s GDPR) and open banking initiatives (the PSD2), and explores their intersection at the sharing of an individual’s payments and account data: the PSD2 is aimed at driving the sharing of such data, while the GDPR is aimed at regulating the processing of personal data. The issue is increasingly…
The article discusses how modernized legal frameworks can facilitate data-driven innovation, highlighting key opportunities and challenges. It focuses, in particular, on modernized privacy laws (the EU’s GDPR) and open banking initiatives (the PSD2), and explores their intersection at the sharing of an individual’s payments and account data: the PSD2 is aimed at driving the sharing of such data, while the GDPR is aimed at regulating the processing of personal data. The issue is increasingly important as a growing number of national authorities are considering similar initiatives in response to technology-driven change. More generally, as highlighted by the IMF’s and World Bank’s jointly launched Bali Fintech Agenda, the modernization of legal frameworks is a critical element for national authorities to consider in fostering fintech’s potential benefits while managing the risks.
Other authors -
-
The Uniform Commercial Code: Payments Survey (for the year 2017)
American Bar Association, The Business Lawyer
This year’s survey of developments in payments law begins with a review of principal U.S. supervisory and regulatory developments with regard to payment systems, electronic checks, and national bank charters. The survey then continues with a review of the year’s most important judicial decisions relating to check, ACH, and wire transfers.
Other authors -
-
Blockchain-Based Innovation in Cross-Border Payments: Public Policy Opportunities and Regulatory Challenges
PLI, The Current
See publicationI wrote this legal article to reflect on the topics that I found the most personally fulfilling and intellectually interesting during my two and a half years as deputy general counsel at Ripple.
-
The Uniform Commercial Code: Payments Survey (for the year 2016)
American Bar Association, The Business Lawyer
This year’s survey of developments in payments law begins with a review of principal federal regulatory developments. The survey then continues with a review of the year’s most important judicial decisions involving Articles 3, 4, and 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Other authors -
-
Remittance Transfers: Policy, Practicalities, and Innovation
Wolters Kluwer, Banking & Financial Services Policy Report
Our article provides a legal and policy analysis on the remittance market in particular, covering today’s business models and operational practices as well as promising fintech developments.
Other authors -
-
How Payments Law Can Help Drive Innovation
Yale Journal on Regulation
See publicationThis piece discusses why business lawyers and technologists alike should take note that commercial rules, as well as requisite payments law expertise to craft them, are critical to transforming blockchain and distributed financial technology from an experimental pilot to an enterprise solution for financial institutions to move real value around the world.
-
Does It Matter How I Pay?
American Bar Association, Business Law Today
After an overview of the legal framework applicable to payments, the article walks through hypotheticals that compare and contrast certain payment methods. In doing this, the article discusses processing and settlement mechanisms, applicable laws and regulations, and whether emerging payment methods, including payment apps and distributed ledger systems, fundamentally differ from legacy payment systems.
Other authors -
-
Implementation of Real-time Settlement for Banks Using Decentralised Ledger Technology: Policy and Legal Implications
Financial Stability Review, Banque de France
This article analyzes the benefits and risks of payment rails running on distributed ledger technology, particularly from a systemic stability point of view, and highlights the policy considerations that should be forefront for global leaders.
Other authors -
-
Understanding Block Chain and Distributed Financial Technology: New Rails for Payments and an Analysis of Article 4A of the UCC
Business Law Today, American Bar Association
We wrote this Business Law Today article with a simple goal --- to bridge for business lawyers the gap between established commercial law and today's cutting-edge developments in distributed financial technology.
Other authors -
-
An Antitrust Analysis of Product Hopping in the Pharmaceutical Industry, 108 Colum. L. Rev. 1471 (2008)
Columbia Law Review
-
“Domestic Large Dollar Wire Transfer Systems — CHIPS and Fedwire Funds Service,” Chapter 3 in The Law of Electronic Funds Transfers
Matthew Bender & Co., Inc.
Annual updates (2012 to present)
-
Toward the Internet of Value: The Internet of Things and the Future of Payment Systems
Electronic Payments in the 21st Century, American Bar Association (forthcoming)
See publicationThis brief book chapter discusses the need for an Internet of Value and pairs discussion of the IoV's transformative potential with substantive analysis of policy and legal considerations --- in straightforward, practical terms.
Other similar profiles
Explore more posts
Explore collaborative articles
We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.
Explore MoreOthers named Jess Cheng in United States
-
Jess Cheng
-
Jess Cheng
-
Jess Cheng
M.S Supply Chain Management(STEM)@University of Maryland | Graduate in December 2024
-
Jess Cheng
Medical Director at GM Arlington Assembly Plant
161 others named Jess Cheng in United States are on LinkedIn
See others named Jess Cheng