Lee A Reiners

Lecturing Fellow of Economics

Lee Reiners is a lecturing fellow at the Duke Financial Economics Center and Duke Law. At Duke, Reiners has taught classes on FinTech Law and Policy, Cryptocurrency Law and Policy, Financial Regulatory Policy, Climate Change and Financial Markets, and Cybersecurity Law and Policy. Reiners is widely recognized for his unbiased commentary and analysis on cryptocurrency regulation, and he has testified three times on the subject before the U.S. Congress.

Reiners’ broad research agenda focuses on how new financial technologies and climate change fit within existing regulatory frameworks. His work has examined the risks associated with cryptocurrencies and related products, the novel regulatory issues presented by the emergence of cryptocurrency, the rise of digital investment advice, corporate governance failures within the financial industry, and climate-related financial risks.

Reiners has published articles related to financial regulation and cryptocurrency in mainstream financial news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, American Banker, The Hill, and Coindesk. He also participated in cryptocurrency-related forums on mainstream television networks, such as CNBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, and ABC, and he is frequently quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, and similar media outlets.

Reiners is the founder and Editor-at-Large of The FinReg Blog, a blog dedicated to examining issues at the intersection of finance, law, and public policy.  He also regularly speaks with financial regulatory policy experts on his podcast, The FinReg Pod, and is the co-host of Coffee & Crypto with Lee and Jimmie, a podcast that covers the latest developments in the world of cryptocurrency. Reiners and Jimmie Lenz, Executive Director of the Master of Engineering in FinTech at the Pratt School of Engineering, are also co-organizers of Digital Assets at Duke, an annual conference that convenes key industry players in the digital assets space, regulatory experts, and select researchers for two days of rigorous debate, discussion and education on Duke’s campus.

Reiners directs the Climate Risk Disclosure Lab, which is dedicated to unbiased analysis around climate change and financial disclosure. He is also one of several faculty leads for American Predatory Lending, an interdisciplinary project dedicated to exploring state-level dynamics leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The project includes approximately 100 original oral history interviews of former state legislators, banking executives, regulators, and leaders of consumer groups.

Prior to Duke, Reiners worked for five years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), first as a supervisor of systemically important financial institutions and then as a senior associate within the executive office. In the latter capacity, he helped coordinate the FRBNY’s engagement with international standard-setting bodies, such as the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. While at the FRBNY, Reiners worked closely with other federal and state regulatory agencies.

Reiners has previously taught corporate finance and managerial economics in the MBA Program at Saint Peter’s University. In 2004-2005, Reiners served as a U.S. Army communications specialist in Baghdad, Iraq. Reiners received a BSc in business economics, summa cum laude, from the University of St. Thomas and a MPP with a global policy concentration from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. Reiners holds the chartered financial analyst designation and serves on the CFA Institute's Capital Markets Policy Council. 

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Lecturing Fellow of Economics

Contact Information

Education

  • M.P.P. Duke University, 2011

Courses Taught

  • LAW 611: Readings
  • LAW 580JS: FinTech Law & Policy
  • FMKT 390S: Selected Topics in Financial Markets
  • ECON 390S: Selected Topics in Economics
  • CYBERSEC 502: Cybersecurity and Interdisciplinary Law/Ethics/Policy/Privacy Considerations
  • CEE 690: Advanced Topics in Civil and Environmental Engineering

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