Unconfirmed: Recent Episodes
Laura Shin
Events in crypto take place at warp speed. This weekly crypto podcast reveals how the marquee names in crypto are reacting to the week’s top headlines. With host Laura Shin, the guests also discuss what they’re thinking about these days and reveal what they believe is on the horizon in crypto. Disclosure: I'm a nocoiner.
Lea Thompson, aka Girl Gone Crypto, talks about what goes into producing her popular “The Crypto Minute” vlog, what initially got her into crypto, and her recent decision to quit her day job and go full time crypto. In this episode we discuss:
- what “The Crypto Minute” is all about, and all the crypto video content she produces (2:37)
- how Lea comes up with creative content such as wearing a whale costume to portray Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor (5:04)
- how long it actually takes to create “The Crypto Minute” (6:36)
- what goes into producing “The Crypto Minute” and which family member is behind the camera (7:05)
- the biggest challenges Lea faces when creating her videos and how she decides which stories make the final cut (8:56)
- Lea’s favorite bloopers including, but not limited to, rug pulls, sushi, an Amazon money printer, and a few fake $100 bills (10:28)
- how Girl Gone Crypto fell down the crypto rabbit hole and why her ukulele skills were instrumental to her crypto journey (12:54)
- the time when JK Rowling tweeted about Bitcoin, resulting in Lea’s viral “A Muggle’s Guide to Bitcoin” video (17:31)
- what type of crypto content works best on different social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok (20:00)
- when Girl Gone Crypto stopped being a hobby and how it is going now that Lea is full-time crypto (21:46)
- how Lea is trying to educate people about crypto in a simple and approachable way… one ninja suit at time (22:34)
- Crypto News Recap (26:12)
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://bit.ly/3jzkTAD
Download the Crypto.com app here: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/laurashinpodcasttesla
The Sun Exchange: http://thesunexchange.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Lea Thompson: https://twitter.com/girlgone_crypto
Her YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GirlGoneCrypto
Her TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@girlgone_crypto?source=h5_m
Lea's personal website: https://www.lealovescrypto.com/
Video Examples
2020 Year in Review… News Vlog Style: https://twitter.com/girlgone_crypto/status/1344384717466914817?s=20
A Muggle’s Guide to Bitcoin: https://twitter.com/girlgone_crypto/status/1261445010832015361?s=20
Hardware Wallets Explained: https://twitter.com/girlgone_crypto/status/1329580439820849153?s=20
Miscellaneous Information
Fair Use: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html
Money Printer: https://www.amazon.com/Printing-Machine-Magician-Close-Up-Accessories/dp/B07XRBDCL8
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-300k-btc-by-eoy/
Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis Global, discusses Tesla’s purchase of $1.5 billion in bitcoin and Genesis’s new unit: Genesis Treasury. He also talks about how demand has shaped Genesis’ bitcoin and crypto offerings over the years, which events have acted as catalysts for institutional demand, and what Genesis is expecting in 2021. In this episode Michael covers:
- The significance of Tesla allocating $1.5 billion to BTC (1:08)
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- How Tesla’s purchase is a result of the evolution of the asset class and why this is just the beginning
- How Genesis got its start as a regulated BTC trading desk in 2013 (2:56)
- What new products and services Genesis has launched since 2018 to meet institutional demand (6:11)
- How Genesis came to launch Genesis Treasury and what this unit does (8:00)
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- Understanding the idea of bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset and how the stock market is rewarding companies for getting into crypto
- What the catalysts were in creating corporate demand for bitcoin and where corporate demand for bitcoin is coming from (10:52)
- How corporate interest in bitcoin correlated with Microstrategy’s Bitcoin for Corporations event (13:16)
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- Why institutions have been interested in Bitcoin as collateral, and why that narrative is new
- How the conversation with institutions interested in buying bitcoin would be different in a bear market (16:00)
- How GAAP accounting rules affect the quarterly earnings reports of publicly traded companies that hold bitcoin (19:03 )
- His projections for how 2021 in crypto will play out (21:44)
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
The Sun Exchange: http://thesunexchange.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Michael Moro: https://twitter.com/michaelmoro
Genesis: https://genesis.global/
Genesis Treasury: https://genesistrading.com/treasury/
Recent institutional purchasing news:
- Tesla’s BTC purchase: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/02/08/bitcoin-surges-above-43000-to-a-record-after-elon-musks-tesla-buys-1point5-billion.html
- Twitter’s CFO considers Bitcoin: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/94459/twitter-cfo-bitcoin-btc-balance-sheet-comments
- Microstrategy’s Bitcoin for Corporations event: https://www.microstrategy.com/en/bitcoin/videos/bitcoin-macro-strategy
- Michael Saylor’s Unchained interview: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-michael-saylor-on-the-best-way-for-companies-to-buy-bitcoin/
- Companies holding bitcoin: https://bitcointreasuries.org/
Genesis information:
- Michael Moro’s presentation at Microstrategy’s event: https://www.microstrategy.com/en/bitcoin/videos/genesis
- Genesis Global background: https://f.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/6024551/About%20-%20Genesis%20Global/About%20Genesis%20Global%20-%20Full%20Overview.pdf
- Prime Brokerage Services: https://f.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/6024551/About%20-%20Genesis%20Prime/About%20Genesis%20Prime%20-%20Full%20Overview.pdf
- Q4 market observations: https://f.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/6024551/About%20-%20Genesis%20Prime/About%20Genesis%20Prime%20-%20Full%20Overview.pdf
Miscellaneous:
- Crypto and GAAP accounting : https://www.forbes.com/sites/shehanchandrasekera/2020/05/21/how-are-cryptocurrencies-classified-in-gaap-financials/?sh=40ed4f9865b2
- Coin Metrics report on institutional investing: https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/coin-metrics-state-of-the-network-330
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/41-trillion-in-aum/
Mira Christanto, research analyst at Messari, recently wrote a comprehensive report on the crypto scene in Asia. In this episode, she covers cultural differences in crypto trading between East and West, plus gives us the latest on the diverse regulatory landscape within this large region. Some topics covered in this show include:
- why Asia is an important geography in crypto
- why Asia dominates the crypto futures trading markets
- why DeFi fits better with Western culture, and centralized services are more respected in the East
- the state of regulation across the region
- what makes crypto regulation in Hong Kong unique
- how the Chinese are approaching regulation, and how bitcoin is exchanged there
- how Japan's crypto industry differs from that of other companies and why penetration is still somewhat low
- why and how Korea is distinct from other crypto trading cultures
- why Singapore's regulatory framework for crypto is the most sophisticated
- what's happening in Southeast Asia and India
- the status of crypto mining in China — and why the Western view of it is quite different from what it's like on the ground
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Sun Exchange: http://sunexchange.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Mira Christanto: https://twitter.com/asiahodl
Messari: https://messari.io
Messari's Asia Crypto Landscape report: https://messari.io/asia-crypto-landscape
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/25-billion-in-institutional-bitcoin-by-eoy/
Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and founder of FTX, describes what happened between the Subreddit Wall Street Bets and hedge funds around the stock of GameStop this week. In this episode, he covers:
- what happened with the stock of video game retailer GameStop this week
- what that says about how to value a stock
- how the traditional financial establishment reacted
- how the events in GameStop this week are similar to the way crypto markets operate
- how a crypto financial system could affect the ability of investors to do what the hedge funds did with GameStop — shorting more shares of the stock than actually exist
- what led to FTX listing for tokenized versions of GameStop, Blackberry, AMC and Nokia, as well as a tokenized index fund of Wall Street Bets stocks
- how the tokenized stocks and index work on the back end
- why Robinhood restricted customers from purchasing shares in GameStop on Thursday
- what the inspiration was for FTX
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
The Sun Exchange: http://sunexchange.com
Episode links:
Sam Bankman-Fried: https://twitter.com/SBF_Alameda
FTX: https://ftx.com
Roundups of what happened with Gamestop:
NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/business/gamestop-wall-street-bets.html
Vox: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22249458/gamestop-stock-wallstreetbets-reddit-citron
Early Wired story: https://www.wired.com/story/gamestop-stock-wall-street-bets-short-squeeze/
NYT analysis: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/technology/gamestop-stock.html
Sam on what can determine an asset’s price: https://twitter.com/SBF_Alameda/status/1354790766313234432?s=20
Chamath Palihapitiya on CNBC discussing Gamestop — defending individual investors: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/chamath-palihapitiya-closes-gamestop-position-but-defends-individual-investors-right-to.html
Videos: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/01/27/investor-chamath-palihapitiya-the-gamestop-story-is-pushback-against-wall-street-establishment.html
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/01/27/billionaire-investor-chamath-palihapitiya-on-gamestop-surge-and-rise-of-retail-investors.html
Gamestop price gyrations: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/gamestop-reverses-losses-and-surges-another-30percent-in-the-premarket-to-450-as-mania-continues.html
How many shares of GME are shorted: https://isthesqueezesquoze.com
FTX lists GME for tokenized spot and futures trading: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/92756/ftx-lists-gme-stock-for-tokenized-spot-futures-trading
FTX’s Wall Street Bets tokenized index fund: https://twitter.com/SBF_Alameda/status/1354790817060143114?s=20
Robinhood customers only being able to sell, not buy GME when Robinhood’s revenue biggest revenue source is sending order flow to hedge funds: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/robinhood-interactive-brokers-restrict-trading-in-gamestop-s.html
Matt Levine of Bloomberg on GameStop: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-28/knowing-when-to-sell-gamestop-stock-at-the-top-is-impossible?sref=m9L277rN
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-gamestop-is-like-crypto/
Gregory Pepin, deputy CEO of Deltec Bank and Trust, responds to allegations in a blog post by the pseudonymous Crypto Anonymous, that Tether is a "highly probably fraud." In this episode, he covers:
- how Deltec accounts for its reserves, and why they didn't show up on Crypto Anonymous's blog post
- where the dollars backing Tethers are held
- how Tethers get created
- where Tether Ltd. keeps its cash equivalents
- why there's more demand for trading with USDT than with USD partially because of the arbitrage opportunity between East and West
- how Tethers get created using Deltec
- why USDT gets minted in very round numbers as opposed to very specific numbers that USDC is minted in
- where the cash equivalents backing Tethers are held
- what type of due diligence Deltec conducted when it took on Tether Ltd. as a customer
- why the perception that Tether is unregulated compared to other stablecoins is false
- what Deltec thinks about the New York Attorney General office's investigation in to Tether
- why Deltec has a "large position in bitcoin"
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Gregory Pepin: https://twitter.com/dzrgreg
Deltec Bank: https://www.deltecbank.com/?locale=en
Crypto Anonymous’s Medium post: https://crypto-anonymous-2021.medium.com/the-bit-short-inside-cryptos-doomsday-machine-f8dcf78a64d3
Deltec having large position in bitcoin: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/91353/deltec-bitcoin-position-tether
Original video in which Deltec mentions its “large position in bitcoin”: https://www.deltecbank.com/2021/01/14/a-covid-year-in-review/
Deltec banking Tether: https://www.coindesk.com/deltec-chairman-says-tether-letter-on-bank-relationship-is-authentic
Tether not audited: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-review-claims-crypto-asset-fully-backed-theres-catch
Tether says it is fully backed: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-says-its-stablecoin-is-fully-backed-again
Tether current balances: https://wallet.tether.to/transparency?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=c035d054dd287020b16d6dbb4b70398ca7a99dcb-1611253376-0-AcOsT0Zqpd8Muzw5gnkSz6KKmTrN3WAssxGX8K-p_PkeZ2SUfW9EsAr-a2EkIojYzm5-3RA_1DHxpoK579d0YgtnxMYevlVRSS7RIAKh0sgk-ORzOZUDNgg_AvZjugdrxWVjTA9dCBf1hX4X83oU3-RTjQYn_qYukdRFJUq9a89BXyyDovL3bu4ohxSSVdworOR-cdxEiPURe4ZJrGIvuW3Ej2qJLJt3RDXfX6BfDANdpkVrU6O2KB4V0Or-HJjItS0uAu-L7KrTomXNv9anUv34_An8cH3VHYfB_OD-iyIvkgOh7RHd-Xafe-SJwPnUYg
What Tether is backed by: https://wallet.tether.to/transparency?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=c035d054dd287020b16d6dbb4b70398ca7a99dcb-1611253376-0-AcOsT0Zqpd8Muzw5gnkSz6KKmTrN3WAssxGX8K-p_PkeZ2SUfW9EsAr-a2EkIojYzm5-3RA_1DHxpoK579d0YgtnxMYevlVRSS7RIAKh0sgk-ORzOZUDNgg_AvZjugdrxWVjTA9dCBf1hX4X83oU3-RTjQYn_qYukdRFJUq9a89BXyyDovL3bu4ohxSSVdworOR-cdxEiPURe4ZJrGIvuW3Ej2qJLJt3RDXfX6BfDANdpkVrU6O2KB4V0Or-HJjItS0uAu-L7KrTomXNv9anUv34_An8cH3VHYfB_OD-iyIvkgOh7RHd-Xafe-SJwPnUYg
New York Attorney General’s office press release on investigation into iFinex: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/attorney-general-james-announces-court-order-against-crypto-currency-company
CoinDesk on NYAG investigation: https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-ny-prosecutors-tether-850-million-allege
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/what-8-trillion-could-do-in-bitcoin/
Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at Coinshares, and Nic Carter, general partner at Castle Island Ventures, join me at the Stacks conference to discuss Bitcoin layer 2s. In this episode, they cover:
- why layers 2s exist
- how layer 2s, such as payment channels like Lightning, work
- what kind of throughput layer 2s have
- how moving Bitcoin to layer 2 affects the price
- why people having moved $5 billion worth of Bitcoin to Ethereum
- how Bitcoin moving to Ethereum affects the price
- the most popular Bitcoin layer 2s
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Meltem Demirors: https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem
Nic Carter: https://twitter.com/nic__carter
Stacks: https://twitter.com/Stacks
Total value locked in Lightning: https://www.defipulse.com/lightning-network
Bitcoin on Ethereum: https://www.defipulse.com/btc
Stats on Lightning: https://bitcoinvisuals.com/lightning
What layer 2s mean for altcoins and base chain assets like Bitcoin: https://www.coindesk.com/rise-of-layer-2s-altcoins-like-ethereum
Sovryn: https://sovryn.app
RSK: https://www.rsk.co
Liquid network: https://blockstream.com/liquid/
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/stupid-bitcoin-rich/
Frank Chaparro, director of news at The Block, gives his predictions for what will happen in crypto in 2021. In this episode, we discuss:
- the big stories in crypto in 2020
- how the market has changed in 2020
- how the market differs from the 2017-2018 bubble
- what big traditional financial services firms and investment banks will do in crypto in 2021
- how crypto exchanges will experiment with their fee structures
- how regulatory actions, such as the lawsuit against Ripple, will affect exchanges
- what might happen to privacy coins as regulators become more active
- what he expects to see from the upcoming Coinbase IPO and how that will affect the broader market
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Blocknative: http://blocknative.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Frank Chaparro: https://twitter.com/fintechfrank
The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com
The Block's 2020 year in review: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/promotions/2020-in-review/
Predictions from The Block's analysts: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/89788/2021-predictions-from-the-blocks-analysts
Unchained interview with Raoul Pal and Michael Novogratz: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-mike-novogratz-and-raoul-pal-on-the-single-greatest-brand-of-the-last-10-years/
Bittrex delisting privacy coins: https://twitter.com/BittrexExchange/status/1345056010981892096?s=20
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/1t-40k-1200/
For the holidays, I'm doing two AMAs. In the second of two, I cover:
- privacy blockchains
- my thoughts on the STABLE Act
- whether or not Facebook's Diem will have a positive or negative impact on crypto
- what I miss from pre-COVID about the crypto community
- how we can use blockchain and crypto to weed our propaganda and fake news
- the best pick and shovel plays in crypto
- what distinguishes a journalist from an entertainer
- my thoughts on the state of media and journalism in the US
Thank you to our sponsors!
Blocknative: http://blocknative.com/unconfirmed
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Meltem Demirors on privacy in 2021: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-meltem-demirors-and-lyn-alden-on-the-perfect-conditions-for-bitcoin/
Jessie Liu episode: https://unchainedpodcast.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-dojs-cryptocurrency-enforcement-framework/
Brian Brooks episode: https://unchainedpodcast.com/acting-comptroller-of-the-currency-brian-brooks-on-crypto-banks/
STABLE Act episode: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-rohan-grey-believes-stablecoin-issuers-need-to-be-banks/
Episodes on Coinbase: https://unchainedpodcast.com/will-coinbase-do-a-token-offering-when-it-goes-public/
https://unchainedpodcast.com/coinbase-in-turmoil-why-employees-walked-out/
Episode with Chad Cascarilla of Paxos:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/chad-cascarilla-on-paxoss-partnership-with-paypal/
For the holidays, I'm doing two AMAs. In this first of two, I cover:
- how my book is going
- tips for aspiring podcasters
- what it's like being an independent journalist
- how I spent my time outside crypto
- if I send bitcoin to North Korea
- whether I own any crypto
- if I expect bitcoin will lose its weirdness as it becomes more widely adopted
- how much blockchain technology can disintermediate banks
- what black swans I see on the horizon for 2021
- what trends I see for 2021
Thank you to our sponsors!
Blocknative: http://blocknative.com/unconfirmed
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Links:
My previous AMA: https://unchainedpodcast.com/ama-with-laura-the-greatest-innovation-in-the-industry-right-now/
Whether North Koreans can benefit from bitcoin: https://unchainedpodcast.com/yeonmi-park-on-why-doing-business-with-north-korea-is-like-buying-a-ticket-to-a-concentration-camp/
Why North Korea is interested in cryptocurrency: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-north-korea-is-interested-in-cryptocurrency/
Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation: https://unchainedpodcast.com/alex-gladstein-on-a-world-without-bitcoin/
DeFi hacks: https://unchainedpodcast.com/defi-security-with-so-many-hacks-will-it-ever-be-safe/
Why yield farming is risky: https://unchainedpodcast.com/defi-yield-farming-why-its-all-the-rage-but-risky/
Regulation: https://unchainedpodcast.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-looming-battle-over-privacy-in-crypto/
https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-the-travel-rule-is-one-of-the-most-significant-regulations-in-crypto/
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/laura-eoy-ama-pt-1/
Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist also known as Beeple who has made an artwork every day for over 13 years, talks about the NFT auctions he held last weekend, after learning about crypto two months ago. In the show, he discusses:
- how he got into crypto two months ago, and made $3.5 million in NFT auctions last weekend
- how the objects on sale were more than just jpegs and what physical objects came with the NFTs
- what types of auctions he had, and why some pieces were available for $1 apiece
- how he previously made money as a digital artist
- how he believes digital artists will be able to make money in the future
- why people would pay to own an NFT if they can just get a digital file of the art
- why he incorporated physical objects into his sale
- whether or not this model would work for artists with smaller followings than he has, with his 1.7 million Instagram followers
- what his relationship was with the collector who paid $777,777 for the final piece sold in the auction
- why he chose Nifty Gateway among all the NFT sites
- how NFTs could also change business models for other types of creators besides visual artists
Thank you to our sponsors!
Blocknative: Blocknative.com/unconfirmed
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Mike Winkelmann: https://twitter.com/beeple
Video for auction: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIlNe6MAwVX/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Instagram video showing the digital art displays: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CIrMctwgfJ1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Coverage of auctions:
https://www.delphidigital.io/reports/beeple-shatters-crypto-art-records-across-the-board/
https://cryptobriefing.com/digital-art-auction-raises-record-million/
https://decrypt.co/51270/beeple-nft-sale
https://twitter.com/niftygateway/status/1338268375156482050?s=20
Rapper Lil Yachty's NFT sale: https://www.coindesk.com/lil-yachty-collectible-fetches-16k-in-latest-string-of-high-profile-nft-auctions
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/3-btc-price-targets/
Rohan Grey, assistant professor at Willamette Law, talks about the STABLE Act, which would require stable coin issuers to obtain a banking charter, require approval from the Federal Reserve and require issuers to have FDIC insurance. In this episode, Grey, an advisor to the bill, discusses:
- how the past history of financial innovation and events that have posed systemic risks necessitates the STABLE Act
- how he, not being a staff member of Congress, became involved in the bill
- how the bill would prevent stablecoin issuers from committing crimes that banks have perpetrated by requiring them to become banks
- why he believes open source smart contracts enforcing rules and public audit-able blockchains are not a fundamentally new way to prevent the type of events that pose systemic risks that the STABLE Act aims to prevent
- why existing regulatory and licensing regimes are insufficient
- how he would answer people from countries like Argentina who have had their currency devalued by their government the STABLE Act, and who might say this bill exposes them to a different type of risk
- how much the rollout of Facebook's Diem, as opposed to existing stablecoins such as Tether, USDC or Dai, was a motivation for this bill
- whether, by focusing narrowly on systemic risk, this bill could squash crypto and fintech innovation that could help the un- and under-banked
- whether he sees any path forward for this bill to be passed
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Blocknative: https://www.blocknative.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Rohan Grey: https://twitter.com/rohangrey
STABLE Act: https://tlaib.house.gov/media/press-releases/tlaib-garcia-and-lynch-stableact
Introduction of bill:
https://www.coindesk.com/us-lawmakers-introduce-bill-that-would-require-stablecoin-issuers-to-obtain-bank-charters
Implications of the bill for running an Ethereum node:
https://www.coindesk.com/stable-act-ethereum-node-illegal
https://www.coincenter.org/the-unintended-consequences-of-the-stable-act/
https://www.coindesk.com/stable-act-ethereum-node-illegal
Rohan Grey and Jeremy Allaire interviews on The Block Live: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1OwxWVgmqyMJQ
Unchained interview with acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks: https://unchainedpodcast.com/acting-comptroller-of-the-currency-brian-brooks-on-crypto-banks/
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-mass-mutuals-btc-buy-is-so-significant/
James Slazas, founder and CEO of LiquidStake and DARMA Capital, describes their retail and institutional offerings for customers who want to stake on Ethereum 2.0 but still access the locked-up capital. In this episode, we discuss:
- what problem LiquidStake solves and how
- what happens if the dollar value of someone’s stake drops below the amount that they’ve borrowed
- who keeps the ETH in a liquidation
- how LiquidStake makes money
- how they determine the price of ETH to make the loan and what it does in the event of a flash crash on an exchange
- how LiquidStake and DARMA Capital are also serving institutional clients
- how total return swap agreements with DARMA work
- why they offer more tax and regulatory clarity
- why LiquidStake currently offers USDC for its stablecoin
- the pros and cons of a centralized loans on staked ETH 2 over decentralized ones
- the other crypto systems LiquidStake is partnering with
- how LiquidStake and DARMA Capital are able to make these loans from a regulatory perspective
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com/
Episode links:
James Slazas: https://twitter.com/DARMA_Slazas
Liquidstake: https://liquidstake.com
DARMA Capital: https://darma.capital
LiquidStake announcements: https://www.coindesk.com/ethereum-heavyweights-launch-liquidstake-loans-to-ease-eth-2-0-lockup
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/84277/eth2-liquidstake-borrow-eth-validators
LiquidStake blog post: https://liquidstake.com/blog/1
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/this-is-pushing-up-the-price-of-bitcoin/
This episode is a discussion from Stellar's Meridian conference, in which I moderated the panel, Crypto on Every Corner: Driving Adoption, featuring Jeremy Allaire, cofounder, chairman and CEO of Circle, and Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at CoinShares. In this discussion, we cover:
- what adoption means and looks like
- why cryptocurrency is at a particularly interesting inflection point
- how central bank digital currencies could affect that
- how blockchains will recede into the background
- how existing fintech payment apps will use blockchains and/or crypto
- where on the road to adoption the industry currently is
- the significance of Crypto Twitter as a marketing tool
- what the crypto industry needs to do in the next year to grow the industry
- why it would have been easier to start a bank than a crypto business
- why the separation of money and state is one of the most interesting experiments in history
- how we'll see new corporate-like organizations without any connections to any existing legal or financial systems driven by tokens
- what their favorite crypto adoption success story is
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Jeremy Allaire: https://twitter.com/jerallaire
Circle: https://www.circle.com/en/
Meltem Demirors: https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem
Coinshares: https://coinshares.com
PayPal offering crypto: https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/12/paypal-says-all-users-in-u-s-can-now-buy-hold-and-sell-cryptocurrencies/
Revolut offering crypto: https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/15/revolut-partners-with-paxos-to-bring-cryptocurrency-trading-to-the-us/
Nic Carter, general partner at Castle Island Ventures, and cofounder and chairman of Coin Metrics, explains why the Bitcoin price has been rising without the retail bubble seen in 2017-2018. In this episode he covers:
- how this Bitcoin rally differs from the ones in 2017-2018 and why the market is much more mature
- how much the pandemic and other macro forces this year have helped propel Bitcoin
- what it says that the number of Bitcoin addresses with $10 or more worth of bitcoin are is at 18 million now, compared to 2014 in the 2017-2018 bubble
- the significance of realized cap, and why there's less pressure to sell now since the current cost basis of all bitcoins is much higher than in the bubble
- the significance of the fact that open interest in CME Bitcoin futures hit $1 billion this week — and why, even though they're cash-settled, they do impact the Bitcoin price
- what the appreciation of the Bitcoin price in other countries' currencies such as Turkish lira means
- what it means that the stablecoin free float has grown from $1.5 billion in the last bubble to $23 billion during this rally
- what he makes of the theory that Chinese miners are having difficulty to sell their BTC being a driver of the price rise
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Nic Carter: https://twitter.com/nic__carter
Castle Island VC: https://www.castleisland.vc
Coin Metrics: https://coinmetrics.io
Nic’s post: https://medium.com/@nic__carter/nine-bitcoin-charts-already-at-all-time-highs-78abbfe82804
Chinese miners unable to sell BTC: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-rally-supply-crunch-in-china
Dispute with this report: https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1328893579515682816?s=20
CME Bitcoin open futures surpasses $1 billion: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/85045/cme-bitcoin-futures-1-billion-open-interest
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/what-info-will-come-out-in-the-binance-lawsuit/
Paxos CEO and cofounder Chad Cascarilla discusses his company's partnership with PayPal, which just opened up its crypto purchase and selling product to all its US customers. In this episode, he covers:
- how Paxos enables PayPal's crypto product
- the regulatory steps Paxos took to make this happen
- why $200 billion company like PayPal would partner with a small company like Paxos
- how Paxos Crypto Brokerage works
- how Paxos provides the regulatory cover that PayPal needs for this offering, along with custodial and liquidity services
- why this product sources its coins on Paxos's ItBit exchange
- how the four crypto assets available on PayPal — bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash — were chosen
- what other tokens one might expect to be offered through Paxos Crypto Brokerage, and possibly by extension by PayPal
- how PayPal gets around the scaling issues on Bitcoin and Ethereum
- whether Paxos's stablecoin business might be used by PayPal
- if PayPal does acquire BitGo, what that would mean for Paxos offering custody for PayPal through its brokerage
- how Paxos's equity settlement platform is going, and where it could go over time
- how and why Paxos is applying to the SEC to become one of three clearing agents
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Chad Cascarilla: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlescascarilla/
Paxos: https://www.paxos.com
PayPal now offers crypto purchases to all its customers: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/84398/paypal-opening-up-app-crypto-users
Original announcements about PayPal offering crypto purchases with Paxos: https://www.coindesk.com/paypal-new-york-conditional-bitlicense-paxos-cryptocurrency
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/81794/paypal-to-enable-crypto-purchases-with-the-help-of-paxos
Paxos announcement: https://www.paxos.com/paypal-paxos-bring-crypto-to-millions-of-users/
Paxos Crypto Brokerage: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/paxos-introduces-paxos-crypto-brokerage-service-to-power-digital-asset-buying-and-selling-in-any-product-301093761.html
PayPal approved for conditional BitLicense: https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr202010211
Paxos’s stablecoin business: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/genesis/54254/a-deep-dive-into-the-paxos-stablecoin-ecosystem
PayPal rumored to be in talks to acquire BitGo: https://www.coindesk.com/paypal-said-to-be-in-talks-to-buy-crypto-firms-including-bitgo-bloomberg
Paxos working with Revolut: https://www.coindesk.com/uk-fintech-firm-revolut-brings-bitcoin-ether-trading-to-us-customers
Paxos equity settlement business: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/56494/paxos-equity-settlement-business-goes-live-with-credit-suisse-and-nomuras-instinet-as-first-clients
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/44901/paxos-looking-to-upend-a-massive-corner-of-wall-street-credit-suisse-on-board-for-pilot
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/1st-paxos-interview-since-paypal-news/
Kristin Smith, executive director of the Blockchain Association and a board member of HODLpac, discusses how advocating for crypto will change under what is likely to be a new presidential administration. In this episode she talks about:
- what crypto advocacy typically entails
- how the approach will change under a Biden administration compared to what it was under Trump
- what appointments by Biden could most affect the crypto industry
- which issues are at the top of the agendas for both the Blockchain Association and HODLpac
- why regulators are particularly interested in stablecoins
- how a potentially Democratic-controlled Senate under a Biden administration might affect crypto
- what she's watching for from Cynthia Lummis, a Bitcoiner who won her Wyoming Senate race
- how anti-trust sentiment in Congress could affect crypto, and whether legislators see Web3 as an antidote to monopoly problems
- the divisions within the crypto industry around how to approach regulators, and how to resolve them
- the potential for a de minimus tax exemption, in light of PayPal integrating cryptocurrencies
- and how HODLpac used quadratic voting to decide which candidates to support
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
Episode links:
Kristin Smith: https://twitter.com/KMSmithDC
Blockchain Association: https://theblockchainassociation.org
HODLpac: https://www.hodlpac.org
Interview with acting Comptroller of the Currency, Brian Brooks: https://unchainedpodcast.com/acting-comptroller-of-the-currency-brian-brooks-on-crypto-banks/
Likely second runoff election in Georgia to determine control of Senate: https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/1324360112190951424?s=20
Cynthia Lummis to become first US Senator who is also a Bitcoiner https://fortune.com/2020/11/04/wyoming-bitcoin-cynthia-lummis-u-s-senate/
Brad Sherman wanting to ban cryptocurrency: https://www.coindesk.com/congressmans-call-for-crypto-ban-sparks-social-uproar
Leaked Binance doc about whether Binance.US is a decoy: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2020/10/29/leaked-tai-chi-document-reveals-binances-elaborate-scheme-to-evade-bitcoin-regulators/?sh=1d759bd2a926
More on quadratic voting: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-blockchains-can-help-create-little-democracies-everywhere/
Link to the Crypto News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/what-a-potential-biden-administration-could-mean-for-crypto/
Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management, discusses a milestone Bitwise reached this week -- hitting $100 million in assets under management. He also covered
- what has been driving interest in Bitwise products
- the two types of customers who have been especially interested in purchasing crypto assets this year and why
- what this says about the maturation of the industry compared to during the 2017 bubble
- how conversations with Bitwise customers have changed since then
- what impact this week's bullish JPMorgan research note about Bitcoin could have on investors and why it was so significant
- what the significance will be of the integration of bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies by PayPal next year
- how Microstrategy and Square putting Bitcoin on their balance sheets will pave the way for other corporations to do so
- how the new Fed policy of targeting an average 2% inflation rate could affect Bitcoin
- how recent regulatory actions, such as with BitMEX, affect the likelihood of a Bitcoin ETF being approved in the next few years
- how a company like Bitwise, which interfaces with traditional investors, creates viable investment vehicles around DeFi for its clientele
- what a Trump win vs. a Biden win could mean for the crypto industry
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Matt Hougan: https://twitter.com/Matt_Hougan
Bitwise: https://www.bitwiseinvestments.com
Bitwise reaches $100 million in AUM: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bitwise-surpasses-100-million-in-assets-under-management-due-to-rising-demand-for-crypto-from-hedge-funds-and-financial-advisors-301161317.html?tc=eml_cleartime
JPMorgan research note on Bitcoin: https://fortune.com/2020/10/26/jp-morgan-chase-bitcoin-predictions-analyst-jpm-cryptocurrency/
https://twitter.com/DTAPCAP/status/1319703750450302980?s=20
Matt's piece on the significance of the OCC letter giving banks the authority to custody crypto assets: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthougan/2020/07/27/the-occs-notice-on-crypto-is-a-really-big-deal/
Matt's essay on how the Fed's new approach to inflation could affect Bitcoin: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthougan/2020/09/22/this-new-fed-policy-could-be-a-game-changer-for-bitcoin/
Matt's post on DeFi: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthougan/2020/07/13/why-ethereum-has-valuethe--opportunity-in-programmable-money--defi/#67e88a364818
News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-binance-decoy-for-us-regulators/
Willy Woo, on-chain Bitcoin analyst and writer of “The Bitcoin Forecast,” a market intelligence newsletter, discusses how the Bitcoin markets have been changing amidst what may be a forthcoming ebbing of derivatives exchanges and a revival of the importance of spot exchanges. In this episode, he covers:
- what the PayPal news means when there are currently only 23.4 million holders on chain, and only 101 million active unique accounts at centralized exchanges
- why "old hands" in Bitcoin have been changing their behaviors recently, selling at bottoms, rather than tops
- how derivatives exchanges have influenced Bitcoin price action
- why price moves in Bitcoin are likely to be less volatile going forward
- how he's detecting the purchase of Bitcoin off spot exchanges by whales and corporate treasuries
- how these shifts are affecting crypto infrastructure players
- how the price of Bitcoin moves for every dollar invested and what his projection is based on that
- why, as the price of BTC rises, he's currently seeing HODLers holding tighter than ever
- by when he believes we'll see sovereign wealth funds investing in Bitcoin
- by when he says we'll see a $50,000 Bitcoin
- why the Bitcoin NVT ratio indicates it's an "extremely great time to buy Bitcoin"
- why he doesn't focus much on ether, how he thinks it will perform under Ethereum 2.0 and why things could change if Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559 is implemented and transaction fees end up being burned
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Willy Woo: https://twitter.com/woonomic
The Bitcoin Forecast: https://willywoo.substack.com
His charts and models: http://charts.woobull.com
PayPal news: https://www.reuters.com/article/paypal-cryptocurrency/update-1-paypal-to-open-up-network-to-cryptocurrencies-idUSL1N2HC0PL
Willy's tweet about dormancy: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1318154088635224065
Willy on how coins on spot exchanges are dropping: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1313798080236380160?s=20
Willy on NVT ratio: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1315839269148086272
Willy on ETH: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1313099814041653248?s=20
Jessie Liu, partner at Skadden and the former US attorney for the District of Columbia, headed up the team that has prosecuted what some believe is the greatest number of cryptocurrency crimes worldwide — Welcome to Video, Dark Scandals, Helix, North Korea, Hamas/Al Qaeda and ISIS. In this episode, she discusses:
- how she came to create a Threat Finance Unit that focuses on the intersection of cybercrime that threatened national security
- what the DOJ's new cryptocurrency enforcement framework means and what the significance is of the framework
- what parts of the framework crypto startups should pay attention to
- whether the DOJ will continue to act in concert with other agencies, as it did recently with its indictment of four executives at cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX in conjunction with an enforcement action by the CFTC against the same exchange
- how DOJ can claim jurisdiction over exchanges located outside the US, on a practical level, go after entities located outside
- how the FATF global standards will affect enforcement in the US
- the DOJ's stance toward "anonymity-enhanced" cryptocurrencies, or privacy-preserving coins
- the DOJ's disagreement that EU's privacy law, GDPR, can be used by some crypto exchanges to keep the DOJ from obtaining data from those exchanges
- how willing foreign countries are to coordinate with US law enforcement and whether cryptocurrency criminals could engage in jurisdictional arbitrage
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Jessie Liu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessie-k-liu/
Skadden bio: https://www.skadden.com/professionals/l/liu-jessie
Press release about cryptocurrency enforcement framework: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-william-p-barr-announces-publication-cryptocurrency-enforcement-framework
Cryptocurrency enforcement framework: https://www.justice.gov/ag/page/file/1326061/download
Unchained podcast about FATF rules: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-the-travel-rule-is-one-of-the-most-significant-regulations-in-crypto/
CoinDesk on how the enforcement framework is a warning shot to offshore exchanges: https://www.coindesk.com/doj-crypto-framework-warning
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-whale-rocket-chart
Freelance reporter and audio producer Chris Harland-Dunaway speaks about his long investigative story on Tron founder Justin Sun after his acquisition of BitTorrent. In this episode, Harland-Dunaway describes:
- how after his acquisition of peer-to-peer file sharing protocol BitTorrent Justin Sun straddled the China-West divide
- Sun's background, his early success and how he got into cryptocurrency
- how he treated the US-based employees differently from those based in China
- how Sun made a threat to kill an employee's family over an anonymous employee question about what would happen is TRX went to $0
- an incident in which Sun hit an employee
- how Sun handled ethical issues that cropped up around scammers on the app store on Tron, with piracy on BitTorrent product BT Movie and with dark web-style content on BT Live
- why he believes Sun's biggest liability is his lack of empathy as both a manager and entrepreneur
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Christopher Harland-Dunaway: https://twitter.com/ChrisHDeee
Justin Sun: https://twitter.com/justinsuntron
Tron Foundation: https://twitter.com/Tronfoundation
Chris's article on Justin in The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/21459906/bittorrent-tron-acquisition-justin-sun-us-china
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-has-never-been-healthier
Frank Chaparro, director of news at The Block, discusses a controversial blog post by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong about how the company intends to take an apolitical stance, the pushback it received afterward, and the company's offer of generous exit packages for employees who disagree:
- why CEO Brian Armstrong wrote the blog post stating it would be taking an apolitical stance during these socially and politically tumultuous times
- why the company then offered a generous exit package to employees who disagreed with it
- which social and political issues caused the divisions at Coinbase
- how a question about Black Lives Matter at a a company all-hands back in June began the series of events that resulted in this blog post
- why employees walked out earlier this summer
- why Armstrong did tweet about the Black Lives Matter movement
- how the stance Armstrong took in the blog post is not a surprise to those who know his personality
- why the reactions to the blog post were so wide-ranging
- how this affects Coinbase's place in the wider world of investment, which has seen a greater interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing
- why Coinbase's plans to go public in the next year or so might have affected Armstrong's decision to take the apolitical stance
- what happened in another all-hands meeting on Thursday to discuss this issue
- plus, we talk about the DOJ and CFTC charges against BitMEX, how Frank talked with BitMEX cofounder and CEO Arthur Hayes last night, and whether it seemed Arthur had any awareness this was coming
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com
Cosmos: http://five.hackatom.org
Episode links:
Frank Chaparro: https://twitter.com/fintechfrank
The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com
Coinbase blog post: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-company-af882df8804?gi=2f36a2277d05
CoinDesk on the blog post: https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-for-its-activist-employees
What sparked the walkout: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/79517/a-question-about-black-lives-matter-sparked-an-employee-walkout-at-coinbase-this-summer
Erica Joy’s tweet thread on the Coinbase engineering walkout: https://twitter.com/EricaJoy/status/1310741842594426880
Paul Graham’s tweet: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1310583298666696705?s=20
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s response to Brian’s blog post: https://twitter.com/jack/status/1311423420274372608?s=20
Axios article: https://www.axios.com/coinbase-controversy-b707973c-0f24-4d1e-9690-78ac5fdb94e7.html
Coinbase offers severance package https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/79247/coinbase-offers-exit-package-for-employees-not-comfortable-with-its-mission
How Coinbase's apolitical stance could affect its IPO: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/79127/a-blog-post-by-coinbases-ceo-has-raised-a-fury-will-it-affect-a-potential-ipo
The Interface on Brian’s blog post: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/caseynewton/issues/coinbase-bans-politics-281784
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/up-to-10-years-in-prison/
Jake Brukhman, cofounder and CEO of CoinFund, explains why people are excited about non-fungible tokens, how they can be used, and what new behaviors and businesses they might enable. He discusses:
- what a NFT or non-fungible token is
- how they can be "liquid intellectual property"
- what kinds of digital assets can be turned into NFTs
- what new types of behaviors and new products and services can be created based off NFTs
- why consumers would prefer to use an NFT photo or song vs. one from Shutterstock or Spotify
- why someone would want to buy an NFT when it's so easy to make digital copies of things like art or ebooks or mp3s
- how disputes over digital objects could be adjudicated in a global marketplace
- how NFTs enable fractionalized ownership
- how NFTs can be used as collateral to manage risk
- how NFTs are combining with DeFi to create NFTFi
- how NFTs and NFTFi bring non-crypto people in to the space and expose them to finance
- why the NFT space is much bigger than people probably expect, and how it's drawing a new crowd to crypto
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Cosmos: http://five.hackatom.org
Episode links:
Jake Brukhman: https://twitter.com/jbrukh
CoinFund: https://coinfund.io
CoinFund’s NFT thesis: https://blog.coinfund.io/all-digital-content-is-going-on-chain-ae26a7071657
Rarible: https://rarible.com
Unchained show about Aragon: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-aragon-hopes-to-improve-on-democracy/
The LAO: https://www.thelao.io
https://twitter.com/thelaoofficial?lang=en
Yield farming on digital collectibles: https://www.coindesk.com/yield-farming-expands-from-finance-to-digital-collectibles-rarible-nfts
NFTFi: https://tokentuesdays.substack.com/p/defi-x-nfts-nftfi
Aavegotchi: https://aavegotchi.com
$MEME: https://medium.com/@dontbuymeme/nft-farming-guide-how-to-stake-meme-and-earn-crypto-collectibles-ac8121e93e8
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-uni-could-be-a-security/
David Kinitsky, CEO of Kraken Financial, talks about Kraken's news that it is launching a bank, after receiving approval to form a special purpose depository institution (SPDI) from the state of Wyoming. He discusses:
- why Kraken decided to become a crypto bank, and what it will be able to do with this status
- how this status will affect the consumer experience for crypto users
- what kinds of crypto assets it will be able to deal with
- how quickly it will list coins, such as those DeFi coins that quickly balloon to billion-dollar market caps
- what its designation, special purpose depository institution (SPDI) means, and why that has special meaning for crypto users
- what "bailment" means, and why that's significant for crypto users interested in using a crypto bank and how that would affect users in the event any coins were stolen or lost
- how Kraken Financial's status as a crypto bank will affect the longstanding problem in the industry of obtaining and maintaining bank relationships
- how this overlaps and works in conjunction with other recent regulations that have affected the crypto industry, such as the OCC saying banks can custody crypto assets
- how its SPDI status will affect how Kraken Financial is regulated in New York State where the BitLicense is in effect
- why Kraken, which has a reputation for pushing back on what it deemed to be overreach by regulators, decided to pursue the SPDI
- how Kraken Financial will make money, despite keeping 100% reserves
- David's extensive background in cryptocurrency
- the timeline going forward for Kraken Financial
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Cosmos: http://five.hackatom.org
Episode links:
David Kinitsky: https://twitter.com/Kinitsky
Kraken: https://www.kraken.com/en-us/
Kraken announcement about Kraken Financial receiving the SPDI title from the Wyoming Banking Board: https://blog.kraken.com/post/6241/kraken-wyoming-first-digital-asset-bank/
CoinDesk story: https://www.coindesk.com/kraken-crypto-exchange-secures-bank-charter-under-wyoming-law
The Block story: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/77804/kraken-crypto-bank-launch-wyoming
Kraken Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori tweet storm on the significance: https://twitter.com/msantoriESQ/status/1306236234675740672?s=20
Previous episode of Unchained on crypto friendly regulations in Wyoming: https://unchainedpodcast.com/eth-denver-fireside-chat-with-2-of-the-most-crypto-friendly-governors-in-the-nation/
OCC allowing banks to offer cryptocurrency custody services:
https://www.coindesk.com/us-banking-regulator-suggests-federal-licensing-framework-for-crypto-firms
https://www.coindesk.com/banks-in-us-can-now-offer-crypto-custody-services-regulator-says
https://www.coindesk.com/occ-crypto-custody-years
Conference of State Bank Supervisors’ new regulatory regime: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-regulators-crypto/u-s-crypto-fintech-firms-to-benefit-from-slimmed-down-regulatory-process-idUSKBN2661OA
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/half-a-billion-dollars-overnight/
0xMaki, a cofounder of SushiSwap explains how and why he got involved in this project forked from SushiSwap, why he thinks his view of decentralization differs from that of many centralized teams that being such projects, and what the benefits of the SushiSwap vampire mining scheme have been. He discusses:
- how and why he got involved in SushiSwap
- why he feels his view of decentralization differs from that of teams such as Uniswap
- who he believes the other cofounders are, demographically
- why cofounder Chef Nomi cashed out to take $13 million after a week's worth of work on the project
- how it was decided to hand the admin key to SushiSwap over to Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX and Alameda Research
- how SushiSwap proved that liquidity is not a moat, although trading volume might be
- why he doesn't own $SUSHI
- how he feels about taking code from Uniswap
- the vision for SushiSwap going forward
- whether or not SushiSwap will be built on another blockchain
- where he got his $YFI sweatshirt and $YAM pants
- how SushiSwap introduced a lot of people to being liquidity providers for the first time, and why that's beneficial for DeFi in general
- why, despite Chef Nomi cashing out, he thinks people will still trust anonymous devs going forward
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Nexo: https://www.nexo.io
Cosmos: five.hackatom.org
Episode links:
0xMaki: https://twitter.com/0xMaki
SushiSwap: https://sushiswapclassic.org
SushiSwap stats: https://sushiswap.vision/home
The Defiant’s pre-migration recap of the SushiSwap saga: https://thedefiant.substack.com/p/sushiswaps-vampire-scheme-hours-away
How the SushiSwap migration went down: https://www.coindesk.com/sushiswap-migration-defi-protocol-politicians
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/77324/sushiswap-initiates-migration-of-over-800m-in-liquidity-funds-from-uniswap
Forbes interview with Sam Bankman-Fried on the SushiSwap drama: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tatianakoffman/2020/09/06/exclusive-sbf-speaks-out-on-defis-sushi-saga/#55e447d65145
Chef Nomi’s explanation of why he or she decided to cash out: https://twitter.com/NomiChef/status/1302214292792422401?s=20
Reaction to Chef Nomi cashing out: https://twitter.com/alistairmilne/status/1302246157628956672?s=20
Sam Bankman-Fried’s proposal to build out SushiSwap on Solana: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EParJnqmYs1TJ1qX2q8nnyPeKCA1pF10zLCLYoDxTL8/edit
In the end, the total amount of liquidity across both AMMs is greater than before SushiSwap was created: https://twitter.com/koeppelmann/status/1303784413864636417?s=20
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-key-metric-that-jumped-82-in-august/
Nadav Hollander, cofounder and CEO of Dharma, discusses the war currently being waged between Uniswap and SushiSwap, how this is driving up fees on Ethereum, and how Dharma's product can get around them. In this episode we discuss:
- why he conceptually supports SushiSwap and fair launch coins
- whether or not fair launch coins really are fair
- why SushiSwap makes him nervous
- why the battle between SushiSwap and Uniswap is a so-called "vampire attack," which is actually driving up the total value locked on Uniswap
- how the SushiSwap yield farming works
- whether or not Uniswap will release Uniswap v3 in time to compete with SushiSwap
- whether he thinks Uniswap or SushiSwap will win
- what factors matter when it comes to which will win out between two nearly identical protocols
- how Dharma's product enables users to yield farm without paying the high gas fees on Ethereum, but what fee users will pay instead
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Nexo: https://www.nexo.io
Episode links:
Nadav Hollander: https://twitter.com/NadavAHollander
Dharma: https://www.dharma.io
Uniswap: https://uniswap.org
SushiSwap: https://sushiswap.org
Introducing SushiSwap: https://medium.com/sushiswap/the-sushiswap-project-c4049ea9941e
Total value locked in SushiSwap: https://sushi.zippo.io
The rise in SushiSwap: https://www.coindesk.com/uniswap-defi-pulse-tvl-leader-sushiswap
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/76419/uniswap-fork-sushiswap-700-million-total-value-locked
The frenzy of trading in $SUSHI: https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1300703418688864262?s=20
Technical issues/red flags raised around SushiSwap: https://twitter.com/NadavAHollander/status/1300625235427782657
https://twitter.com/AdamScochran/status/1300887520172019713?s=20
https://twitter.com/AdamScochran/status/1301243267636396032?s=20
What factors could help determine who wins: https://twitter.com/NadavAHollander/status/1300313617137500162?s=20
How Dharma is helping with high fees on Ethereum: https://twitter.com/NadavAHollander/status/1301006789081575424?s=20
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-to-yield-farm-without-the-hassle/
Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys and cofounder of Ethereum, discusses ConsenSys's acquisition this week of JPMorgan's blockchain solution, Quorum. In this episode, he talks about:
- why JPMorgan sold Quorum to ConsenSys, and how that fits into ConsenSys's larger enterprise offerings
- who Quorum's clients are and what it is used for
- whether or not ConsenSys is also acquiring the Quorum team
- how the acquisition fits in with the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and its standards-based approach to blockchain enterprise development
- how much JPMorgan invested into ConsenSys
- how much ConsenSys is raising
- how the Quorum acquisition fits into ConsenSys's larger restructuring into two main arms focused on software development and venture activity
- how the pandemic has affected ConsenSys's business
- the recent outcry over MetaMask's changes to its licensing structure and how it may eventually monetize with a token
- his thoughts on Ethereum's five-year anniversary and where it is headed with Ethereum 2.0
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Nexo: https://www.nexo.io
Episode links:
Joe Lubin: https://twitter.com/ethereumJoseph
ConsenSys: https://consensys.net
ConsenSys Quorum: https://consensys.net/quorum
Announcement about acquisition of Quorum: https://consensys.net/blog/news/consensys-acquires-jpm-quorum/
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/75947/consensys-jpm-quorum-announcement
The Block’s earlier reporting: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/daily/74687/jpmorgan-consensys-investment-deal
Initial report about deal by Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jp-morgan-blockchain-exclusive/exclusive-jpmorgan-in-talks-to-merge-blockchain-unit-quorum-with-startup-consensys-sources-idUSKBN2051AW
Interbank Information Network: https://www.jpmorgan.com/solutions/treasury-services/payments-and-cross-currency-solutions/iin
ConsenSys receives money from Payroll Protection Program: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/70511/ledgerx-consensys-tendermint-crypto-ppp-trump
MetaMask licensing: https://decrypt.co/39514/metamask-tightens-license-in-response-to-crypto-browser-boom
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/fidelity-and-the-next-best-thing-to-a-bitcoin-etf/
In this episode, I answer some questions submitted to me via Twitter. I take the audience behind the scenes at Unconfirmed and Unchained to discuss:
- how I started learning about crypto
- my pre-interview ritual and how I prepare for interviews
- the toughest interview I have done so far
- what I dislike about being a crypto journalist
- my interests outside of crypto
- what my recording setup and environment are like
- the storyline to my upcoming book
- who I consider to be the top five leaders in crypto
- what the layer 1 blockchain future looks like
- whether my conviction in the crypto industry has grown over the years
- what I believe the next tech revolution will be
- what I think of the trends in dapps, alts and DeFi
- how relevant fundamentals will be in the upcoming bull cycle
- whether I find time to reflect on how fast things are moving in the space
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Nexo: https://www.nexo.io
Episode links:
Laura Shin: https://twitter.com/laurashin
Unchained Podcast: https://unchainedpodcast.com/
Unchained and Unconfirmed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UnchainedPodcast/
Newsletter link:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/ama-with-laura-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-my-shows/
Andreas Antonopoulos, speaker, educator and author of "Mastering Bitcoin" and "Mastering Ethereum," dives into the ETH supply debate that raged over the last week. In this episode, he talks about:
- why the question about the ETH supply is a "silly gotcha"
- what technical features of the Ethereum blockchain make it less straightforward to calculate the supply of ether
- how the shift to Ethereum 2.0 and a proof of stake system will affect the value of ETH as money
- why Bitcoin and Ethereum are not natural competitors and will continue to coexist
- how macro forces will affect Bitcoin, and whether it will ever be used as a medium of exchange in addition to a store of value
- whether the full Ethereum 2.0 transition will happen in time to meet DeFi demand
- why Bitcoin gives Ethereum the freedom to experiment
- why Bitcoin Cash shows that offering scaling with no community isn't enough to take market share
- why he supports diversity and inclusion efforts in the space
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Nexo: https://www.nexo.io
Episode links:
Andreas Antonopoulos: https://aantonop.com
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/aantonop
Andreas's tweet storm: https://twitter.com/aantonop/status/1292877311570857990?s=20
Summary of the debate: https://www.coindesk.com/how-much-ether-is-out-there-ethereum-developers-create-new-scripts-for-self-verification
Andreas's video on the Lion and the Shark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0x6CtD8iq4
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/from-0-to-500m-to-0-in-48-hours/
Michael Sonnenshein, managing director of Grayscale Investments, talks about the strong growth in investment in its products, with inflows in Q2 totaling more than $900 million, bringing assets under management to over $5 billion. He discusses how Grayscale:
- saw more than $900 million in investment in Q2, up from $500 million in Q1
- why the macro environment is causing investors to focus on crypto
- why investors are expressing growing interest in the Grayscale Ethereum Trust
- how 80% of Grayscale investors have exposure to more than one asset
- which types of investors are coming in
- what developments within the crypto space are also leading to the increased inflows into Grayscale products
- Grayscale's filing of a Form 10 for the Grayscale Ethereum Trust, which will enable it to become an SEC-reporting company
- why it is doing so for the Ethereum Trust as opposed to Ethereum Classic
- how the Grayscale Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin Trusts will soon by publicly trading
- what metrics they use to determine whether to bring a digital asset to market
- who are attracted to the Grayscale Digital Large Cap fund (GLDC)
- how Grayscale grew to have $5 billion in assets under management
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com
Nexo: https://www.nexo.io
Episode links:
Michael Sonnenshein: https://twitter.com/Sonnenshein
Grayscale: https://grayscale.co
Grayscale's filing of the Form 10 for the Ethereum Investment Trust: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2020/08/06/valuable-sec-data-on-20-institutional-bitcoin-investors-could-soon-disappear/#27352c561de2
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-99-drop-in-value/
Dmitry Buterin, father of Vitalik Buterin and cofounder of BlockGeeks, discusses Ethereum at 5 years old. In this episode, he talks about:
- how he feels upon Ethereum's 5th birthday
- how he introduced Vitalik to Bitcoin
- what he thought when Vitalik dropped out of college to explore Bitcoin more
- his thoughts on Vitalik's initial idea and white paper for Ethereum
- what he thought of the ICO craze
- whether or not he worried about the SEC charging Ethereum or Vitalik with securities violations
- how Steven Nerayoff told Vitalik he should be worried about the SEC coming after him
- whether he tried to help Vitalik with the social challenges in growing Ethereum
- how Vitalik has changed through his work with Ethereum
- what he looks forward to as Ethereum shifts to 2.0
- what he thinks should happen with ether's monetary policy under Ethereum 2.0
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com
Nexo: https://www.nexo.io
Tezos: https://tquorum.com/
Episode links:
Dmitry Buterin: https://twitter.com/BlockGeekDima
BlockGeeks: https://blockgeeks.com
Ethereum: https://ethereum.org/en/
Unchained interview with Vitalik on Ethereum's 5-year anniversary: https://unchainedpodcast.com/vitalik-buterin-on-ethereums-five-year-anniversary/
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-surpassed-10k/
Haseeb Awan, CEO of Efani, a secure and private cell phone service, talks about how he became acquainted with hackers who took over prominent accounts on Twitter last week. He describes:
- the underground industry that steals cell phone numbers and why
- who the main players, Kirk, lol and "ever so anxious" are
- what the hackers did when they took hold of prominent accounts, such as those of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and those of crypto companies such as Binance and Coinbase
- what the hackers could do with the information that they obtained with the accounts they took over
- why this was likely not a pre-planned attack
- what happened to the security of the Twitter accounts, and why their second-factor authentication protections did not keep their accounts from being hacked
- what lessons crypto people can take away from the Twitter hack and how they can protect themselves
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com
Nexo: https://www.nexo.io
Tezos: https://tquorum.com/
Episode links:
Haseeb Awan: https://twitter.com/haseeb
Efani: https://www.efani.com
The New York Times story detailing the hack: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/technology/twitter-hackers-interview.html?searchResultPosition=3
Chainalysis analysis of the Bitcoin obtained in the hack: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/twitter-hack-july-2020-update
Twitter’s account of the hack: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/an-update-on-our-security-incident.html
Analysis by Krebs on Security: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/07/whos-behind-wednesdays-epic-twitter-hack/
The recounting by the holder of the @6 account: https://medium.com/@lucky225/the-twitter-hack-what-exactly-happened-d8740d33c1c
Coinbase preventing customers from sending money to the hackers: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/72200/coinbase-says-it-prevented-over-1000-customers-from-sending-280000-worth-of-bitcoin-to-twitter-hackers
Fortune on why the attackers will have a hard time cashing out: http://links.info.fortune.com/e/evib?_t=5c2d888702774d17aa3d0350287b6d73&_m=4ecf0f55469542a782a36f0ec9d8df09&_e=EaRX5Sk3zpaQLYk6z4FZ9OwiLdl6CTboSs0AyX9UekCl-VWvzN8z8oZ2pelKQ5oGqAiv5DUuK6FhjOY1tputGIU-mTcXNHxotHGTm1cA2_L6YhT_jsJ_DRRCpdFSGEbh
Convo between two of the hackers: https://i.imgur.com/aJUDLrI.png
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/dear-bank-hodl-my-crypto/
Nate Maddrey, senior research analyst at Coin Metrics, discusses a report on the rise of stablecoins over the last few months that Coin Metrics published in conjunction with Bitstamp. He covers:
- why a stablecoin supply that grew over five years has doubled in the last four months
- why demand has grown, specifically for Tether, especially after Black Thursday
- why that demand caused Tether's price to rise above $1 post-Black Thursday
- why Tether is the most dominant stablecoin
- how traders were making money off that arbitrage opportunity and why the arbitrage stayed in place so long
- where Tether is popular
- why Tether's price goes up when the free float supply is high and why it goes down when the free float supply is low
- why the stablecoins have varied in their ability to stay stable and how individual stablecoins have reacted
- which types of users are holding stablecoins and various types of users are doing with it
- why it is that stablecoins appear to have different median exchange values
- and why stablecoins have higher velocity than bitcoin and ether
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
Tezos: https://tquorum.com/
Episode links:
Nate Maddrey: https://twitter.com/natemaddrey
Coin Metrics: https://coinmetrics.io
The Rise of Stablecoins report: https://coinmetrics.io/the-rise-of-stablecoins/
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-brazen-bitcoin-heist-on-twitter/
Jeff Roberts, senior reporter at Fortune and author of "King of Crypto: One Startup’s Quest to take Cryptocurrency Out of Silicon Valley and Onto Wall Street" talks about the news this week that Coinbase may go public later this year. We talk about:
- how Coinbase may offer an additional token offering in addition to a traditional listing
- how the firm has been laying the legal groundwork for an innovative offering
- Coinbase's new chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, who is a former federal judge who has ruled over the Google-Oracle and Apple-Samsung trials and who was the deputy general counsel at Facebook
- what a direct listing, as opposed to a traditional IPO, could mean for Coinbase's investors
- what a Coinbase IPO would generally mean for the crypto industry
- why Coinbase's $8 billion valuation would likely go up in an IPO
- how the fact that overall interest in Bitcoin and crypto are down compared to the highs of 2017/2018 will affect a Coinbase listing
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
Tezos: https://tquorum.com/
Episode links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffjohnroberts
Kings of Crypto audiobook: https://www.amazon.com/Kings-of-Crypto/dp/B085PY7S7H
Kings of Crypto print book: https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Crypto-Startups-Cryptocurrency-Silicon-ebook/dp/B085TRJY8X
Reuters story: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-coinbase-ipo-exclusive/exclusive-crypto-exchange-coinbase-readies-landmark-stock-market-listing-sources-say-idUSKBN24A21W
Unconfirmed interview with Jeff Roberts about his book on Coinbase: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-brilliant-asshole-who-almost-blew-up-coinbase/
Coinbase’s recent legal hire: https://fortune.com/2020/07/08/coinbase-lawyer-paul-grewal-crypto-law/
Bitcoin interest is down: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/genesis/70437/data-shows-that-mass-adoption-is-still-nowhere-to-be-found?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
Links from news recap:https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-most-pivotal-event-in-all-of-crypto/
Ben Celermajer, index manager at Coin Metrics, talks about a new metric Coin Metrics introduced this week, called free float supply. In this episode, he explains:
- what problems in general Coin Metrics is trying to resolve with its various new metrics when it comes to blockchain-based tokens
- what other new metrics it has introduced
- what free float supply is
- what types of tokens and token holders it excludes from the free float
- how market caps change for some of the biggest coins when compared to the traditionally reported supply
- how using free float changes other valuation methods such as NVT and MVRV
- what other products Coin Metrics plans to build on these metrics
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
Episode links:
Benjamin Celermajer: https://twitter.com/CelermajerB
Coin Metrics: https://coinmetrics.io
Coin Metrics blog post on free float supply: https://coinmetrics.io/introducing-free-float-supply/
Coin Desk on the new metric: https://www.coindesk.com/coin-metrics-offers-more-rigorous-measure-of-crypto-market-supply
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-popular-bitcoin-theory-is-debunked/
Angel investor and writer Tony Sheng explains what yield farming is, why it's been such a craze, and whether or not the trend is sustainable. We discuss:
- how yield farming works
- how people could potentially earn 100% in annual percentage yields from it
- why people can earn more from lending or borrowing certain tokens vs. others
- how people can earn from borrowing at all
- how much leverage people are playing with
- the three ways people can lose their money while trying to yield farm
- and what the long-term significance is of yield farming for crypto
Unchained is hiring!
Check out our job listing for a remote editorial assistant here!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
DeversiFi: https://deversifi.com
Episode links:
Tony Sheng: https://twitter.com/tonysheng
Tony's newsletter: https://www.tonysheng.com
Beware illiquid markets: https://tonysheng.substack.com/p/beware-illiquid-markets-lessons-from
Yield farming is the new GPU mining: https://tonysheng.substack.com/p/yield-farming-is-the-new-gpu-mining
How to earn 100% annual interest yield farming: https://twitter.com/tonysheng/status/1274393189231689728
How you might lose your funds yield farming: https://twitter.com/tonysheng/status/1274780457729617920?s=20
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-chamath-palihapitiya-believes-in-bitcoin/
Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix, discusses the launch of the COMP token this week, including:
- why the price of COMP tokens popped
- how this now meant that the governance of the Compound protocol was now in the hands of the community
- whether liquidity mining in DeFi is similar to or different from transaction mining on centralized exchanges
- what the price jump in COMP on day 1 means for a future DeFi bull market
- why Kain believes he is already seeing Bitcoin flowing into alts and DeFi tokens
- what this means for VCs who invested in layer 1 projects
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
DeversiFi: https://deversifi.com
Episode links:
Kain Warwick: https://twitter.com/kaiynne
Synthetix: https://www.synthetix.io
Tweet storm on what he got wrong about COMP: https://twitter.com/kaiynne/status/1272875213319856129
Governance of Compound now in hands of the community: https://medium.com/compound-finance/compound-community-ownership-ee0ed1252cc3
Tushar Jain’s tweet: https://twitter.com/TusharJain_/status/1272696517258883072
Why Kain thinks COMP popping on its first day is a harbinger of a DeFi bull market: https://twitter.com/kaiynne/status/1272723560260198402?s=20
DeFi Weekly: https://defiweekly.substack.com/p/comp-lessons-and-learnings-651
Deribit on how this can create network effects: https://insights.deribit.com/market-research/supercharging-network-effects-in-crypto/
Tweet storm on the BTC dominance cycle: https://twitter.com/kaiynne/status/1269792683616120833?s=20
Tom Shaughnessy tweet on how there’s no more competition between layer 1s — it’s more about DeFi: https://twitter.com/Shaughnessy119/status/1272373784616542209
Similar thoughts by Spencer Noon: https://twitter.com/spencernoon/status/1273403731586023431?s=20
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/make-5x-on-day-1/
Robby Greenfield, the CEO of Emerging Impact and the former head of social impact and diversity programming at ConsenSys, talks about how the crypto community handles issues of diversity and inclusion. We discuss:
- why he thinks many in the community want to change everything but systemic racism
- why many in the community turned a blind eye to racist posts retweeted by cryptographer Nick Szabo
- how people in the crypto community responded to his recent essay on racism
- why cryptocurrency would not exist without black people
- his social impact work at ConsenSys
- how blockchain technology and crypto can help address issues of racism
- why blacks are underrepresented in crypto despite expressing more interested in it than other demographics
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
DeversiFi: https://deversifi.com
Episode links:
Robby Greenfield: https://twitter.com/RobTG4
Emerging Impact: http://emergingimpact.com
Robby’s essay in CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/the-crypto-community-needs-to-stand-up-and-fight-racism
Robby’s tweet storm on why cryptocurrency would not exist without black people: https://twitter.com/RobTG4/status/1269430232861175808
Unconfirmed interview with Steven McKie: https://unchainedpodcast.com/look-for-opportunities-to-increase-diversity-in-crypto/
Robby's campaign, Crypto for Black Lives: http://chng.it/KFn7vnk5
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/you-cant-buy-bad-press-like-that/
Steven McKie, CEO and founding partner at Amentum Capital, discusses the incidents involving Amy Cooper and George Floyd and the resulting protests, and how systemic racism affects black entrepreneurs in crypto. In this episode we discuss:
- His personal story from a childhood in poverty to running a crypto hedge fund
- How companies that want to hire from underrepresented groups have to change their habits to reach out to those communities
- Why underrepresented communities can be easily left behind at the time of technological revolutions
- Why Black Americans express more interest in crypto than white Americans and yet are still underrepresented
- What he says when people say that underrepresented groups choose not to be involved in crypto since there are no barriers
Take our survey!
Tell us what would you like to see from Unchained! Please take a moment to fill out the survey to let us know what you’d like from the show: surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2020.
Crypto.com has offered our survey respondents a chance to win a metal MCO Visa card — and Crypto.com will stake these cards indefinitely! Ten lucky winners will enjoy card benefits including free Spotify, free Netflix and 3% back on all spending, and they’ll earn extra interest on their crypto deposit and more! Thanks, Crypto.com! Again, take the survey now: surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2020.
Unchained is hiring!
Come work at Unchained! We have an opening for a remote editorial assistant — find out more about the gig and apply here: https://unchainedpodcast.com/seeking-remote-editorial-assistant/
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
DeversiFi: https://deversifi.com
Episode links:
Steven McKie: https://twitter.com/Steven_McKie
Amentum: https://amentum.org
Steven's personal story:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/i-started-from-the-bottom-bitcoin-investor-went-from-poverty-to-launching-a-hedge-fund-2017-12-18
Coinbase Reports: Black Americans and Crypto: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-reports-black-americans-crypto-97e54cc89f84
Weekly News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/where-the-bitcoins-are/
Sergio Lerner, the head of innovation of IOV Labs and the creator of the Rootstock side chain, describes a pattern he discovered in early Bitcoin mining that he called Patoshi and why people are talking about it now. In this episode he explains:
- what the Patoshi pattern is
- what connection it has to Satoshi
- why the pattern exists
- how the pattern is being used now in a current court case in which Craig Wright is claiming he is Satoshi Nakamoto
- how the Patoshi pattern was used this week to evaluate a set of transactions involving early bitcoins signed with the statement, "Craig Steven Wright is a liar and fraud"
- how it can be determined whether or not recent transactions were mined under the Patoshi pattern
Take our survey!
Tell us what would you like to see from Unchained! Please take a moment to fill out the survey to let us know what you’d like from the show: surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2020.
Crypto.com has offered our survey respondents a chance to win a metal MCO Visa card — and Crypto.com will stake these cards indefinitely! Ten lucky winners will enjoy card benefits including free Spotify, free Netflix and 3% back on all spending, and they’ll earn extra interest on their crypto deposit and more! Thanks, Crypto.com! Again, take the survey now: surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2020.
Unchained is hiring!
Come work at Unchained! We have an opening for a remote editorial assistant — find out more about the gig and apply here: https://unchainedpodcast.com/seeking-remote-editorial-assistant/
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
DeversiFi: https://www.deversifi.com/
Episode links:
Sergio Demian Lerner: https://twitter.com/SDLerner
First blog post about the Patoshi pattern: https://bitslog.com/2013/04/17/the-well-deserved-fortune-of-satoshi-nakamoto/
Block 3654: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/block/3654
Photo of where block 3654 fits against the Patoshi pattern: https://twitter.com/nic__carter/status/1263130214726582272/photo/1
More background on the Craig Wright case: theblockcrypto.com/linked/66657/plaintiffs-in-craig-wright-case-present-new-evidence-that-he-fabricated-his-list-of-bitcoin-addresses-and-blocks
https://www.coindesk.com/craig-wright-called-fraud-message-signed-bitcoin-addresses-satoshi
The addresses moved this week: https://www.reddit.com/r/bsv/comments/gq8ao1/more_than_100_addresses_with_unmoved_bitcoin/
https://paste.debian.net/plain/1148565
BitMEX Research on the recent transactions:
https://twitter.com/BitMEXResearch/status/1264989743139500033?s=20
Stephen Palley's take on what this means for Craig Wright's claim: https://twitter.com/stephendpalley/status/1265739610434473984?s=20
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-15-year-old-with-a-private-jet-account/
Jeff Roberts, staff writer at Fortune and author of the recent Audible book, “Kings of Crypto: Coinbase and the Coming Disruption of Finance,” discusses Coinbase's past, present and future. In this episode, we cover:
- when Coinbase duped Apple with its app and eventually got kicked out of the App Store
- when Coinbase's hot wallet got hacked
- how CEO Brian Armstrong handled challenges like the Bitcoin block size debate and an IRS summons on all its customers' activities for years
- how it handled the competition from Binance
- why that led to "screaming in the board room"
- the "complete mercenary" and "brilliant asshole" who tore the leadership ranks apart and led to a number of departures by top execs
- why Brian and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon met privately
- where Coinbase goes from here
Take the Unchained survey!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2020
Apply for the editorial assistant job at Unchained!
https://unchainedpodcast.com/seeking-remote-editorial-assistant/
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Nexo: https://nexo.io
Episode links:
Jeff Roberts: https://twitter.com/jeffjohnroberts
Kings of Crypto on Audible: https://www.amazon.com/Kings-of-Crypto/dp/B085PY7S7H
Harvard Business Review edition: https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Crypto-Startups-Cryptocurrency-Silicon-ebook/dp/B085TRJY8X
Jeff’s interview with Coinbase cofounder Fred Ehrsam at Consensus: Distributed: https://www.coindesk.com/video/the-kings-of-crypto-an-inside-look-at-the-history-of-coinbase
JPMorgan banks Coinbase: https://www.wsj.com/articles/jpmorgan-extends-banking-services-to-bitcoin-exchanges-11589281201
Brian Brooks becoming acting comptroller of the Office of the Currency: https://www.coindesk.com/a-former-coinbase-lawyer-is-about-to-become-acting-head-of-us-bank-regulator
Coinbase going remote-first: https://blog.coinbase.com/post-covid-19-coinbase-will-be-a-remote-first-company-cdac6e621df7
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/90-million-down-the-toilet/
Yan Liberman, cofounder at Delphi Digital, breaks down all kinds of data from the Bitcoin blockchain to give a snapshot of where Bitcoin is at this point in its development and glean where it might go in its future. We discuss:
- Bitcoin's wealth distribution and how that has changed over time
- what whales have been up to recently and how that compares with their behavior in previous bull and bear markets
- what data on multi-sig transactions tells us
- what companies serving the institutional and retail markets are seeing in terms of customer demand
- activity to and from exchanges, and what those trends mean
- what unspent transaction outputs tell us about investors' mindset now
- and the market value to realized value (MVRV) — what it is and what the current MVRV says about where Bitcoin is in terms of this investment cycle
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Yan Liberman: https://twitter.com/YanLiberman
Delphi Digital: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Delphi's State of Bitcoin 2020: https://www.delphidigital.io/halving
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/where-is-the-eth-going/
Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, talks about the coronavirus and its impact on the economy and on Bitcoin. We discuss:
- why he thinks the US won't have a V-shaped recession
- how the government's monetary and fiscal policy will affect the recovery
- how this looks similar to what he saw when he traded in Japan in the early 1990s
- why tokens are outperforming venture
- whether or not Bitcoin is uncorrelated or if that narrative is changing
- where he thinks Bitcoin will go — and whether the rest of the crypto market will go with it
- and what he thinks will happen after the halving
- and why his projection is that Bitcoin could reach $115,000 in 2021
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Dan Morehead: https://twitter.com/dan_pantera
Pantera Capital: https://www.panteracapital.com
Pantera's April 2020 newsletter: https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/macro-impact-on-bitcoin-pantera-blockchain-letter-april-2020-1fdc792d4f33
Pantera's March 2020 newsletter: https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/crypto-in-this-crisis-pantera-blockchain-letter-march-2020-4c73af3aaaf7
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/paul-hodl-jones/
Mike McGlone, senior commodity strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, explains why he believes Bitcoin is revolutionary, has begun to cement its status as a digital version of gold and is becoming less of a risky investment and more of a way to lower one's risk in a portfolio — but why he doesn't view it as a payment system. He describes how he expects the halving to affect the price of Bitcoin, why the on-chain metrics vs. price seem to him strong signs of adoption and why he views Ethereum as "just another one of the 5,000 cryptos out there." Plus, he talks about why increased usage of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies will only be bullish for Bitcoin.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Mike McGlone: https://twitter.com/mikemcglone11
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-mcglone-a8442513/
Bloomberg's Crypto Newsletter: https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/crypto-newsletter/
April 2020 outlook: https://data.bloomberglp.com/professional/sites/10/Bloomberg-Crypto-Outlook-April-2020.pdf
January 2020 Crypto Outlook: https://data.bloomberglp.com/professional/sites/10/Bloomberg-Crypto-Outlook-January-2020-edition.pdf
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-case-for-bitcoin-on-ethereum/
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner of Dragonfly Capital, describes how the Lendf.me attack happened, why imBTC was involved in that hack and a $300,000 hack involving Uniswap the day before, and how the ERC-777 token standard was involved. He also recounts what happened after the attack, including messages sent to and from the hacker, how the Chinese and Western DeFi communities had different responses, and how the hacker ended up returning the funds. Plus, he goes into the details of what he knows about why the attacker did so.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Haseeb Qureshi: https://twitter.com/hosseeb
Dragonfly Capital: https://www.dcp.capital
The Block on the exploit: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/62346/multicoin-capital-backed-defi-protocol-dforce-loses-25m-total-locked-value-in-an-exploit
News about dForce bringing imBTC to Lendf.me: https://medium.com/imtoken/dforce-brings-imbtc-to-defi-lending-c739b5cc0643
More about imBTC: https://token.im/blog/en-us/articles/360037559114
Compound CEO Robert Leshner’s comment referring to how dForce stole Compound’s code: https://twitter.com/rleshner/status/1251717261888385025?s=20
More on imBTC attack on Uniswap: https://defirate.com/imbtc-uniswap-hack/
Medium post on whether or not the ERC-777 standard is to blame: https://medium.com/@provablethings/is-a-new-token-standard-really-to-blame-for-the-imbtc-uniswap-and-dforce-attacks-31c62e2bc799
The Block on the new token standard: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/daily/62568/ethereum-token-standard-open-finance-exploits
Larry Cermak tweet about centralized tokens: https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1251953291891802112
Su Zhu on the hacker perhaps being exposed via VPN: https://twitter.com/zhusu/status/1252479842261450753?s=20
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/unbelievable/
Stephen Palley, partner at Anderson Kill and chair of the firm’s technology, media and distributed systems practice group, explains what the 11 recent class-action lawsuits against ICO issuers from 2017 and exchanges were about, who brought them, who the defendants are, and what hurdles they face, especially regarding jurisdiction. He also discusses why some prominent individuals in crypto, such as Changepeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, Brendan Blumer, CEO of Block.One, Arthur Hayes, CEO and cofounder of BitMEX, among others, were named, and how the "control person" theory of liability will play a role in the claims. We also dive into the lawsuit for $28 million against Maker Foundation over Black Thursday losses, and the attempt by MKR governance token holders to force Maker participants to agree to indemnify the Maker Foundation.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Stephen Palley: https://twitter.com/stephendpalley
The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/
The Block article on lawsuits: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/60930/top-crypto-exchanges-token-issuers-named-in-friday-barrage-of-u-s-class-action-lawsuits
Offshore Alert on lawsuits: https://www.offshorealert.com/class-action-complaints-against-cryptocurrency-firms-alleging-unregistered-sale-of-securities.aspx
CoinDesk article summarizing the lawsuits: https://www.coindesk.com/top-crypto-firms-including-binance-civic-tron-targeted-in-flood-of-lawsuits
The Block on lawsuit against the Maker Foundation: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/61797/maker-foundation-class-action-lawsuit-black-thursday
CoinDesk article on class-action lawsuit against the Maker Foundation: https://www.coindesk.com/makerdao-users-sue-stablecoin-issuer-following-black-thursday-losses
Indemnity vote: https://vote.makerdao.com/polling-proposal/qmwfvvguaf8rz8xwgv2cqnzzt9t5h6epzh17qmk2ue99y4
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/covidbnsdcep/
Matthew Graham, the CEO of Sino Global Capital, describes how the economy has changed in China due to the coronavirus, how it is affected as business opens back up and how the government is managing it. He explains why the DCEP project is continuing apace and described how he thinks the coronavirus will impact the crypto industry, how it will affect entrepreneurship, and how he thinks startups should approach this time. We also cover the Bitcoin halving and why he thinks that miners in China will make it through the halving fine despite the price volatility in recent weeks.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Matthew Graham: https://twitter.com/mattysino
Sino Global Capital: https://www.sinoglobalcapital.com/
China's economy as it comes out of the first coronavirus outbreak: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/business/economy/coronavirus-china-economy-stimulus.html
China's crypto startup scene post-coronavirus: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/08/start-up-crash-reveals-china-post-coronavirus-economy-luckin-coffee-fraud/
China going for digital yuan: https://www.coindesk.com/china-will-undoubtedly-pursue-digital-yuan-central-bank-says
The benefits China could reap from DCEP: https://fortune.com/2020/04/07/china-us-digital-currency-coronavirus/
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/flashbacks-to-2016-2017/
Kevin Kelly, macro strategist at Delphi Digital, discusses how the coronavirus's impact on the economy will affect Bitcoin and the crypto markets, including the ripple effects of the US fiscal stimulus package and historically high jobless claims. He explains how Bitcoin compares to traditional financial assets, what the recent Bitcoin price action says about the theory that Bitcoin serves as a macro hedge, and why it looks like newer buyers, rather than long-term holders, have been selling Bitcoin in recent weeks. We also look at the timing of the coronavirus on the upcoming Bitcoin halving, plus dive into a proposal by his colleague that Maker should hold some MKR in reserve rather than relying on token burns for system income.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Kevin Kelly: https://twitter.com/Kevin_Kelly_II
Delphi Digital: https://www.delphidigital.io
Delphi's March 2020 Bitcoin Outlook: https://twitter.com/Delphi_Digital/status/1243955823904280578?s=20
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-coronaviruss-impact-on-startups-mining-stablecoins/
Antoine Le Calvez, blockchain data engineer at Coin Metrics, explains what happened during the Bitcoin liquidation spiral on March 12, why it was so significant for the Bitcoin markets, and how a DDOS attack affected trading on BitMEX and the Bitcoin price during a period of high liquidations. We also discuss how Bitcoin liquidity has changed since Black Thursday, why that might be, and also what the coronavirus is showing us about Bitcoin's correlation to traditional financial assets.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Episode links:
Antoine Le Calvez: https://twitter.com/khannib
Coin Metrics: https://coinmetrics.substack.com
Coin Metrics’ BitMEX post: https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/coin-metrics-state-of-the-network-bf8
BitMEX on the DDOS attack: https://blog.bitmex.com/how-we-are-responding-to-last-weeks-ddos-attacks/
BitMEX Insurance Fund: https://blog.bitmex.com/bitmex-insurance-fund-your-questions-answered/
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-jaw-dropping-events-of-black-thursday/
Emily Parker, cofounder of Longhash, reads from an essay she wrote about a problem that is probably relatable to everyone in the crypto industry: how you explain blockchain technology to other people. She goes into the three main reasons why the industry has this problem, including the fact that the decentralized nature of the space means there's no designated marketer, that many in crypto don't know what story to tell, and how many actors in the space prefer to engage in petty infighting vs. communicating to outsiders. Plus, she has a few suggestions on what the industry could do to tell its story better and get more people on board.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/who-was-selling-on-black-thursday/
Noelle Acheson, director of research at CoinDesk, discusses the effect that coronavirus has been having on the traditional financial markets, Bitcoin and why Bitcoin is not turning out to be the uncorrelated asset it was touted to be. We also talk about why Bitcoin had a safe haven to begin with, the role traders played in changing how Bitcoin behaves as an asset, and why we can expect Bitcoin to become even more volatile in the short term. We cover how this could affect Bitcoin miners' ability to survive the upcoming halving, and whether Bitcoin will start to decouple from the other crypto assets.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Episode links:
Noelle Acheson: https://twitter.com/NoelleInMadrid
CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-uncertainty-and-the-ultimate-narrative
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-bonds-and-gold-why-markets-are-upended-in-a-time-of-fear
https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-investment-research/is-bitcoin-a-safe-haven
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/our-only-good-option/
Brady Dale, senior reporter at CoinDesk, walks through the last few weeks of drama in Steemit this week, staring with when Justin Sun bought Steemit, what that meant for the network, and how the validators (aka "witnesses") responded and how exchanges got involved. We talk about why it's significant that the exchanges were Poloniex, Huobi and Binance, and why they seem to have walked back their support of new witnesses. We also cover the lessons in this drama for blockchains that use delegated proof of stake, and where the Steemit community might go from here.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Episode links:
Brady Dale: https://twitter.com/BradyDale
Steemit: https://steemit.com
Justin Sun: https://twitter.com/justinsuntron
Sun acquires Steemit: https://www.coindesk.com/steemit-sets-up-shop-on-tron-network
Crypto exchanges get involved: https://www.coindesk.com/why-crypto-should-care-about-justin-suns-steem-drama
Blog post from Steemit: https://steemit.com/tron/@steemitblog/an-open-letter-to-the-community-hf22-5
Steemit community fights back: https://www.coindesk.com/steem-community-mobilizes-popular-vote-in-battle-with-justin-sun
Exchanges walk back: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/57607/justin-sun-stands-by-trons-decision-to-overturn-community-governance-rule
Lessons from the Steemit battle: https://twitter.com/DavidVorick/status/1235064633016242176
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/he-giggles-snorts-and-waves-his-arms/
Caitlin Long talks about her new venture, Avanti Bank, which will be a Wyoming special-purpose depository institution, what that means, and how that could bypass the New York Bitlicense. She covers why that's better than trust companies for certain types of customers, which type of institutions Avanti will target, and how this status will protect investors in a bankruptcy situation. Plus, she explains how Avanti will be a bank and yet have the “not your keys, not your coins” ethos, and how it will handle things like airdrops, forks and staking rewards, and why in the Ethereum hard fork, the bank would have needed permission from customers to follow the fork that became Ethereum.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Episode links:
Caitlin Long: https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_
Avanti Bank: https://avantibank.com
Caitlin’s announcement on Avanti: https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1231958552790482950
Tweet storm on SPDIs: https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1194022779730968577
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-is-big-on-cash-app/
Lev Livnev, a formal verification researcher at dapp.org and a founding partner at Symbolic Capital Partners, talks about the two attacks on bZx in the last week. He describes what the attackers did, why he thinks flash lending is not the culprit and how much he thinks bZx is to blame. Plus, we talk about what this means for DeFi in general and where the space goes from here.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Episode links:
Lev Livnev: https://lev.liv.nev.org.uk
CoinDesk explanation of both attacks: https://www.coindesk.com/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-defi-flash-loan-attack
The first attack: https://www.coindesk.com/exploit-during-ethdenver-reveals-experimental-nature-of-decentralized-finance
Peckshield analysis on the hack step by step: https://medium.com/@peckshield/bzx-hack-full-disclosure-with-detailed-profit-analysis-e6b1fa9b18fc
BZx's post-mortem on the first attack: https://bzx.network/blog/postmortem-ethdenver
Unchained interview with Compound: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep-82/
Unchained interview with dYdX: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-dydx-allows-you-to-take-a-short-position-in-one-token-ep-86/
Unconfirmed interview with Uniswap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-uniswap-quickly-became-one-of-the-most-popular-dexes/
The second attack: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/56207/bzx-attacked-again-645k-in-eth-estimated-to-be-lost
Sam Czsun blog post: https://samczsun.com/taking-undercollateralized-loans-for-fun-and-for-profit/
What all this means for bZx: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/genesis/56330/money-2-0-stuff-unus-sed-bzx
Unchained interview with Synthetix: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-synthetix-became-the-second-largest-defi-platform/
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/omg-bzx-wth/
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce discusses her proposal for a three-year safe harbor period for token sales. We talk about what problems she hopes to solve with this suggestion, the conditions that token issuers would have to meet to qualify for it, such as achieving a decentralized network or functional token within three years, and how she defines those terms. We also cover how the other commissioners have received her proposal and what the next steps are to her proposal potentially being adopted.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Episode links:
Hester Peirce: https://twitter.com/HesterPeirce
The SEC: https://www.sec.gov/
Full speech and proposal: https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/peirce-remarks-blockress-2020-02-06
Fortune article on the proposal: https://fortune.com/2020/02/06/ico-sec-cryptocurrency-proposal-investing/
Critique that proposal will only enable scammers: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/02/08/sec-commissioner-hester-peirces-safe-harbor-proposal-for-icos-will-only-enable-scammers/
CoinDesk article on crypto community reaction: https://www.coindesk.com/sec-safe-harbor-proposal-lauded-by-token-fans-defi-builders-at-0x-conference
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/indications-the-market-is-heating-up/
Elizabeth Stark, cofounder and CEO of Lightning Labs, talks about her company's two big announcements this week: the beta launch of its first paid product, Lightning Loop, and the company's Series A $10 million fundraise. We discuss how Lightning Loop works, what kinds of companies are already using it, and how Lightning Labs will make money from it. She also talks about the investors in this round, how several of them come from traditional finance and what their views are on Bitcoin and Lightning.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Elizabeth Stark: https://twitter.com/starkness
Lightning Labs: https://lightning.engineering
Lightning Labs announcement: https://medium.com/@lightning_labs/entering-the-decade-of-lightning-8c4a4d31167f
Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2020/02/05/jack-dorsey-backed-lightning-labs-raises-10-million-to-build-visa-network-for-bitcoin/#2f88e7e95ede
Bitcoin Magazine on the announcement: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/lightning-labs-announces-10-million-raise-as-lightning-loop-enters-beta
The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/54963/lightning-labs-10-million-series-a-bitcoin-beta
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-safe-harbor-for-token-sales/
Frank Chaparro of The Block discusses the report released by his firm and the Blockchain Association on employment trends in the blockchain industry. He covers how the demand for such jobs is growing, who the biggest employers are in the space, and what types of companies are hiring. We talk about how token launches are moving primarily to Asia, why there's still significant hiring demand in the US and what kinds of jobs are being sought. Plus, we look at the recent LinkedIn study showing "blockchain" was the most in-demand hard skill on LinkedIn in 2019 and how a few projected crypto IPOs in the next few years could affect the job market.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
Kelman Law: http://kelman.law
Episode links:
Frank Chaparro: https://twitter.com/fintechfrank
The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com
The Block’s and the Blockchain Association’s Digital Assets Human Capital Report: https://www.scribd.com/document/444039395/Digital-Asset-Human-Capital-Trends-Report
Frank discussing the report with Kristin Smith of the Blockchain Association, which approached The Block about conducting the report: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/51135/kristin-smith-executive-director-at-the-blockchain-association-breaks-down-2019s-biggest-crypto-stories-on-capitol-hill
LinkedIn on blockchain being the most in-demand hard skill: https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/trends-and-research/2020/most-in-demand-hard-and-soft-skills
https://www.beseen.com/blog/talent/bitcoin-job-market-2019-beyond/
Links from news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-far-from-being-a-unit-of-account/
Tom Schmidt, junior partner at Dragonfly Capital, talks about how liquidators are making money in DeFi — on which protocols, how liquidations work, and how much money they're making. He also discusses how liquidators do their work, how easy it is to create a bot to watch for liquidation opportunities, and how competitive the space is. We also discuss the growing competitive pressures, both from other liquidators as well as savvier borrowers.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Episode links:
Tom Schmidt: https://twitter.com/tomhschmidt
Dragonfly Capital: https://www.dcp.capital
Tom's post on Liquidations in DeFi: https://medium.com/dragonfly-research/liquidators-the-secret-whales-helping-defi-function-acf132fbea5e
Unchained interview on Compound: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep-82/
Unchained interview on MakerDAO, pt. 1: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-1-how-to-keep-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-afloat/
Unchained interview on MakerDAO, pt. 2: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-2-how-dai-stayed-at-1-while-eth-crashed-from-1400-to-85/
Unchained interview on dYdX: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-dydx-allows-you-to-take-a-short-position-in-one-token-ep-86/
The links from this week's news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/games-that-look-like-finance/
Leighton Cusack, CEO and cofounder of PoolTogether, describes how the Ethereum-based no-loss lottery applies the psychology of winning a prize to the action of saving money, to get more people to save, why this is better than a typical lottery, and how blockchain technology makes it even better than a typical no-loss lottery. He also talks about how PoolTogether works, why it currently uses Dai and Compound and whether it would use other stablecoins and interest-bearing platforms. We also discuss who is using it, why many non-crypto people are interested, and how they plan to reach more of their target audience.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law
Episode links:
Pool Together: https://www.pooltogether.com/
Leighton Cusack: https://twitter.com/lay2000lbs
CoinDesk on PoolTogether: https://www.coindesk.com/this-ethereum-lottery-perfectly-explains-how-facebooks-corporate-backers-will-profit-from-libra
Decrypto story: https://decrypt.co/9072/pooltogethers-ethereum-based-no-loss-lottery-is-back-with-a-twist
MakerDAO grant: https://blog.makerdao.com/maker-foundation-community-grants-provide-funding-for-blockchain-projects/
News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/please-slather-this-on-your-face/
Nate Maddrey, senior research analyst of Coin Metrics, gives an overview of how the major crypto networks ended 2019. We discuss how Bitcoin outperformed most other crypto assets last year, how it has been somewhat correlated with gold this year, whereas other crypto assets are not, and how the price movement of Bitcoin and Ethereum is starting to uncouple. We also talk about "realized cap," which is when each individual coin last moved on chain, and "market cap to realized cap" (MVRV), which is a way of looking at when the current holders will obtain profits if they sell, and how Bitcoin's investors are in the black, or that perhaps Ethereum is undervalued. Another topic was stablecoins, and how Tether on Ethereum has overtaken Tether on Omni and why, plus which other stablecoins are seeing growth. He also covers which four networks have seen their number of active addresses drop, how all those also saw their prices decrease and how only Bitcoin and Ethereum had a substantial amount of daily fees, and why that's significant.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://www.etoro.com
Kelman Law: http://kelman.law
Episode links:
Nate Maddrey: https://twitter.com/natemaddrey
Coinmetrics: https://coinmetrics.io/
State of the Network 2019 post: https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/state-of-the-network-2019-year-in
This week in crypto:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-halving-→-price/
Kyle Samani, managing partner of Multicoin Capital looks ahead to 2020 based on how the space changed from 2018 to 2019. He talks about how the space has matured and become more heterogeneous, when developers choose to build on platforms other than Ethereum and when they stick with it, and how the uncertainties about Ethereum 2.0 are affecting developers' choices. We discuss which chains he's most excited about now, why there's such a huge amount of competition in the smart contract space, and how the competition will shake out between the projects such as Cosmos and Polkadot that aim to connect other chains. He also covers why he isn't that excited about work being done in Bitcoin, why 2019 wasn't the year of Lightning and why 2020 will be the year of lots of small success stories.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com/
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com/
Kelman Law: https://kelman.law/
Episode links:
Kyle Samani: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani
Multicoin Capital: https://multicoin.capital/
Web3 Stack, 2019 edition: https://multicoin.capital/2019/12/13/the-web3-stack-2019-edition/
Unbundling of Ethereum: https://multicoin.capital/2019/05/24/the-unbundling-of-ethereum/
Near protocol: https://nearprotocol.com/
Solana: https://solana.com/
Kadena: https://www.kadena.io/
On Value Capture at Layer 1 and Layer 2: https://multicoin.capital/2019/03/14/on-value-capture-at-layers-1-and-2/
Arweave: https://www.arweave.org/
Livepeer: https://livepeer.org/
Laura recounts the tale of how she got SIM swapped, what mistakes she made, and what she did to secure her accounts and get her phone number back. She also reveals how, despite having shored up her security years before, she actually was still vulnerable. She also reveals the results of an investigation her mobile carrier did into what happened and what steps the mobile carrier is taking to deal with phone hijackings. Plus, she gives tips on how you can protect your cryptocurrency, financial accounts, data and more from SIM swapping attacks.
Due to the holidays, there's no news recap this week, but if you are with friends and family whose digital lives need some securing, then follow the tips in this episode together.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com/
Episode links:
My tweet about being SIM Swapped: https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/1182855237020901377?s=20
Unchained episode on protecting yourself from SIM swapping: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-to-keep-your-crypto-from-being-stolen-via-your-phone/
Forbes article on phone hijackings — sadly, despite being published in 2016, it's not that outdated: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/12/20/hackers-have-stolen-millions-of-dollars-in-bitcoin-using-only-phone-numbers/
Detailed SIM Swapping Bible from MyCrypto and CipherBlade: https://medium.com/mycrypto/what-to-do-when-sim-swapping-happens-to-you-1367f296ef4d
Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of Coinshares, talks about how the emergence of Bitcoin fits within the larger technological and financial shifts of the last decade, how crypto can integrate privacy into our digital lives and how political shifts, ideology and meme culture have helped drive adoption. We also cover her stance on shitcoin minimalism/Bitcoin maximalism, what other areas of crypto development are interesting to her, and why she thinks the development of Libra is different from the trajectory of crypto. She also discusses what she thinks the effects of the Bitcoin halving will be in 2020, and makes a few predictions for 2020 and beyond.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com/
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
eToro: https://etoro.com/
Episode links:
Meltem Demirors: https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem
CoinShares: https://coinsharesgroup.com/
CoinDesk on Meltem as one of 2019's Most Influential: https://www.coindesk.com/most-influential/2019/meltem-demirors
Coinshares mining report: https://coinsharesgroup.com/research/bitcoin-mining-network-december-2019#mailmunch-pop-849406
News recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-price-blows-past-all-time-high/
Larry Cermak, director of research at The Block, looks at the macro trends in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, including what can be gleaned from derivative data, why many hedge funds are shorting Bitcoin and what has happened to trading volume since the summer. We also cover how the exchanges vary in terms of liquidity and target customer, which types of traders are active now, and which exchanges other than the Bitwise 10 also have real volume. Finally, Larry talks about what amount of real value is being settled on the Bitcoin blockchain and how this compares to gold and other cryptocurrencies.
Be sure not to miss the Unchained shop! https://shop.unchainedpodcast.com/
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com/
Episode links:
Larry Cermak: https://twitter.com/lawmaster
The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/
Hedge funds short Bitcoin: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/48268/hedge-funds-were-short-bitcoin-going-into-this-downturn-cftc-reports-show
Per-website visits to exchanges:
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/46235/crypto-exchanges-experiencing-a-steady-drop-in-traffic-since-june-suggesting-declining-retail-interest
Depth of order book on exchanges: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/daily/49546/when-evaluating-spot-exchanges-based-on-order-book-depth-bitfinex-appears-the-most-liquid
Analysis of value settled on Bitcoin:
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/genesis/50100/close-correlation-between-value-settled-and-traded-volume-shows-cryptocurrencies-are-still-mainly-used-for-speculation
Weekly news recap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-most-important-crypto-podcast-of-2019/
Writer Nathaniel Rich discusses his recent long-form Vanity Fair article diving into what really happened with the Quadriga exchange debacle, what Gerald Cotten’s past really was, his relationship to his business partner Michael Patryn and who Patryn really was. He talks about their history with so-called high-yield investment programs, their falling out at Quadriga, what Cotten really did with the funds on the exchange, and the three main theories for what Cotten did, including a scam that ended in death, what Rich calls the “royal fuckup” and the final one, the Mastermind Theory.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
eToro: https://etoro.com/
Episode links:
Nathaniel Rich: https://twitter.com/NathanielRich
Vanity Fair article: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/11/the-strange-tale-of-quadriga-gerald-cotten
Bloomberg on Michael Patryn’s identity:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-19/from-fraud-to-fintech-quadriga-co-founder-s-past-crimes-emerge
Weekly news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/unicorns-rainbows-and-north-korea/
For Black Friday, Alex Adelman, cofounder and CEO of Lolli, talks about how, with the Lolli browser extension, shoppers can earn back, on average 7%, but as much as 45%, of their purchases in Bitcoin at over 750 merchants, including Walmart, Bloomingdales, Gap, Barnes & Noble, Postmates, Sephora, Sonos, Hotels.com and more. He talks about how about 50% of Lolli users appear to be new to Bitcoin, how 30% are women, which is likely much higher compared to other crypto companies, and how Lolli makes its money (hint: not off your data). He also covers where people can use Lolli, whether it will offer other cryptocurrencies and the announcement of their partnership with Alibaba, which the Chinese company later denied.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Lolli: https://www.lolli.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/trylolli
Alex Adelman: https://twitter.com/alexadelman
Lolli announcement: https://medium.com/@alexadelman/lolli-bitcoin-for-everyone-aa8f52e0ffa
Who is using Lolli: https://twitter.com/YahooFinance/status/1154400724563836929
CoinDesk on partnership with Alibaba: https://www.coindesk.com/alibaba-offers-bitcoin-rewards-through-lolli-shopping-app-for-singles-day
Clarification on partnership with Alibaba: https://www.coindesk.com/alibaba-denies-partnership-with-lolli-highlighting-crypto-industry-pitfalls
Weekly news recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/an-easy-way-to-earn-bitcoin/
Steven Becker, president and chief operating officer of the Maker Foundation, discusses the MakerDAO system's transition to multi-collateral Dai, what benefits it gets from having multiple collateral types, why it started with Brave's BAT, and how the Dai savings rate can lower risk for users. We also talk about what incentives current users have to transition to Dai, given that the Dai savings rate is just 2% while Sai holders can enjoy interest rates over 5% in Compound and dYdX, and how the MakerDAO system plans to try to incentivize people to move over. Plus, we talk about how to manage such a transition in a decentralized project and how the system might someday add tokenized real-world assets.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
eToro: https://www.etoro.com/
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
Episode links:
MakerDAO: https://makerdao.com/
The launch: https://blog.makerdao.com/multi-collateral-dai-is-live/
Steven Becker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-becker/
MCD roadmap: https://makerdao.com/en/roadmap/
Upgrade process depending on how you use MakerDAO: https://blog.makerdao.com/looking-ahead-how-to-upgrade-to-multi-collateral-dai/
Stats on the transition: https://sai2dai.xyz
Stats on Dai: https://daistats.com
Dai Savings Rate: https://blog.makerdao.com/an-update-on-the-dai-savings-rate-in-multi-collateral-dai/
The Block on the MCD transition: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/genesis/47367/makerdao-multi-collateral-dai
The Defiant on MCD: https://thedefiant.substack.com/p/defis-central-bank-is-becoming-much
Weekly News Recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/ethereum-nvtv-ratio-near-all-time-low/
This episode features an email interview with Kuma, the pseudonymous administrator of HKmap.live, a site showing a real-time crowd-sourced map of protests in Hong Kong, which Kuma believes is the first Hong Kong protest organization to accept cryptocurrency. Although I read his answers, Kuma talks about the controversy around the rejection of the app from the Apple App Store, why HKmap.live started accepting cryptocurrencies, why they chose those particular cryptocurrencies, and what the site does with the funds. We also discuss decentralization and how the Hong Kong protesters use this as a guiding philosophy, what practices he follows in terms of communication and finances to be able to keep protesting, and what improvements he thinks crypto businesses and entrepreneurs need to make.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
eToro: http://etoro.com/
Episode links:
HKmap.live: https://hkmap.live/
HKmap.live on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hkmaplive
Where HKmap accepts cryptocurrency donations: https://hkmap.live/crypto.html
Quartz article: https://qz.com/1700205/real-time-maps-warn-hong-kong-protesters-of-poliec/
Article about university clashes: https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/11/12/hong-kong-police-protesters-battle-night-cuhk-campus-university-head-among-tear-gassed/
HKmap.live tweet storm I referenced in the show: https://twitter.com/hkmaplive/status/1182154372563836928
Apple App Store kerfuffle: https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-pulls-hong-kong-cop-tracking-map-app-after-china-uproar-11570681464
https://www.ft.com/content/47ceb216-ea55-11e9-a240-3b065ef5fc55
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-factbox/factbox-global-firms-take-action-after-china-criticism-over-hong-kong-protests-idUSKBN1WP2EW
China’s revenue by geographical region, according to Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/382175/quarterly-revenue-of-apple-by-geograhical-region/
News recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/centralized-decentralized-centralized-decentralized/
Wolfie Zhao, Asia editor at CoinDesk, details how Jihan Wu ousted his cofounder Micree Zhan at the Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain last week, how he justified the coup at a staff meeting the next day, and how these tensions have actually been brewing for quite a while. He also discusses how Wu was able to remove Zhan despite the fact that Zhan was a larger shareholder, whether or not the other shareholders were aware of Wu's plans, and how Zhan plans to take some unspecified legal actions next. We also cover the general company reaction to the coup, how some compared it to Steve Jobs returning to Apple, and the competitive pressures Bitmain faces as it and a competitor attempt to IPO in the U.S.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Jihan ousts Micree: https://www.coindesk.com/bitmain-turmoil-co-founder-and-director-micree-zhan-ousted-from-management
Transcript of Bitmain meeting after Micree’s ouster: https://www.coindesk.com/leaked-transcript-details-power-struggle-inside-bitcoin-mining-giant-bitmain
Micree’s plans to use legal means to get back into the company: https://twitter.com/Excellion/status/1192261566437023744?s=20
FT articles: https://www.ft.com/content/35c34156-0150-11ea-b7bc-f3fa4e77dd47
https://www.ft.com/content/906c9322-fa44-11e9-a354-36acbbb0d9b6
Canaan’s filing for $400 million IPO in the US: https://www.coindesk.com/avalon-bitcoin-miner-maker-canaan-officially-files-for-400-million-us-ipo
Theory that the IPO brought tensions to a head: https://twitter.com/btcking555/status/1189522260702441472?s=20
News recap:
https://unchainedpodcast.com/dont-miss-this-long-awaited-interview/
Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer of the Human Rights Foundation, explains why he believes China's new pro-blockchain stance could turn out to be a blunder for the country and why this could lead to a red pill/blue pill moment that gets Chinese citizens interested in Bitcoin. He also talks about how the country could use a digital yuan as financial leverage in other countries, and why he's skeptical of the Chinese government's claims that anonymous transactions will be possible in the currency, called DCEP. We also talk about how wary citizens around the world should be as more societies go cashless, how corporations are starting to self-censor due to China's financial leverage and what the connection is between financial freedom and free speech.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Alex Gladstein: https://twitter.com/gladstein
Human Rights Foundation: https://twitter.com/HRF
China’s enterprise blockchain projects:
https://www.coindesk.com/from-banking-giants-to-tech-darlings-china-reveals-over-500-enterprise-blockchain-projects
China’s push to support cryptography: https://www.coindesk.com/chinas-congress-passes-cryptography-law-effective-jan-1-2020
Articles saying DCEP can be used like cash, does not require bank account: https://www.coindesk.com/new-head-of-chinas-digital-currency-says-it-beats-facebook-libra-on-tech-features
http://news.cnstock.com/news,yw-201909-4427378.htm
A Chinese dissident's view on the country's blockchain push
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-dissident-sees-dark-warnings-in-chinas-blockchain-push
News recap
To see the links in this week's news recap, go to https://unchainedpodcast.com/only-we-chinese-pump-with-real-money/
James Ferguson, CEO of Immutable, the creators of Gods Unchained, talks about how the video game recently doubled its number of users. In early October, after a winner of a Hearthstone tournament said, "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!" in an interview, had his winnings revoked and was banned from the game for a year, Gods Unchained offered to pay the player, Blitzchung, the amount of his winnings, plus invited him to play in its first tournament next year. Ferguson describes what happened next, ranging from a DDOS attack on Immutable's servers to some American University students making a similar pro-Hong Kong message, getting banned by Blizzard and switching to Gods Unchained. He talks about the benefits of decentralization and how the incident has gotten more true gamers (not crypto enthusiasts) interested in Gods Unchained.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com/
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Episode links:
Immutable: https://immutable.com
James Ferguson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesanthonyferguson/
Gods Unchained: https://twitter.com/GodsUnchained
Blitzchung: https://twitter.com/blitzchungHS
Quote from interview: https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1181065339230130181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1181442535962632193&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnet.com%2Fnews%2Fblizzard-pulls-blitzchung-from-hearthstone-esports-tournament-over-support-for-hong-kong-protests%2F
Article summarizing what happened with Blizzard, Blitzchung and Gods Unchained: https://www.cnet.com/news/blizzard-pulls-blitzchung-from-hearthstone-esports-tournament-over-support-for-hong-kong-protests/
More on the ensuing controversy: https://esportsobserver.com/blizzard-criticism-hong-kong/
Gods Unchained tweet offering Blitzchung payment for his lost winnings and a ticket to its $500k tournament: https://twitter.com/GodsUnchained/status/1181487505180258304?s=20
Blizzard subreddit set to private after Blitzchung was banned and stripped of his winnings: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-10-08-blizzard-punishes-hearthstone-pro-for-voicing-hong-kong-support
Now open Blizzard subreddit still awash in pro-Hong Kong memes: https://www.reddit.com/r/Blizzard/
DDOS attack on Gods Unchained: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-10-09-blizzard-backlash-escalates-following-hong-kong-supporter-ban
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/sydney-startup-under-fire-online-for-supporting-pro-hong-kong-protest-gamer-20191009-p52z2g.html
https://decrypt.co/10154/coinbase-backed-gods-unchained-cyberattacks-chinese-censorship
American University students who protested Blizzard also banned, now playing Gods Unchained: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3akzz/three-college-hearthstone-protesters-banned-for-six-months
Gods Unchained also offered donations to Electronic Frontier Foundation per viewer watching Gods Unchained on Twitch: https://twitter.com/GodsUnchained/status/1182589990850584576
Blizzard allegedly preventing people from deleting their accounts by deactivating four methods of authentication: https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2019/10/gods-unchained-hit-with-cyber-attacks-while-mei-becomes-mascot-of-free-hong-kong-movement/94841/
Why Ethereum: https://hackernoon.com/the-blockchain-gaming-revolution-why-ethereum-will-revolutionise-a-100-billion-dollar-market-148badaecb2a
Chris Clay, previously of Magic the Gathering, joins Gods Unchained: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurenorsini/2019/08/08/magic-the-gathering-executive-leaves-for-blockchain-based-gods-unchained/#7557a9b8419f
Weekly News Recap:
To see the links in this week's news recap, go to https://unchainedpodcast.com/congress-in-the-news-and-on-the-pod/
Jonathan Levin, the cofounder and chief strategy officer of Chainalysis, describes how the blockchain analytics firm helped the IRS identify the administrator of the largest child porn website in the world, which ultimately led to the arrest of the administrator, Jong Woo Son, and 337 site users across 38 countries. The work also led to the rescue of 23 minors from their abusers. He describes how the site used Bitcoin, how they used Bitcoin transactions to identify the users of the site, and how law enforcement worked with exchanges. We also discuss what impact privacy technologies could have on similar investigations going forward, as well as Levin's perspective on the overall utility of Bitcoin despite it being used for illicit activity.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
eToro: http://etoro.com
Newsletter:
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Episode links:
Chainalysis: https://www.chainalysis.com/
Jonathan Levin: https://twitter.com/jony_levin
DOJ press release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-korean-national-and-hundreds-others-charged-worldwide-takedown-largest-darknet-child
Chainalysis blog post: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/chainalysis-doj-welcome-to-video-shutdown
Indictment against Jong Woo Son, the administrator of Welcome to Video: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1210441/download
Bitcoin laundering: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1210461/download
Bitcoin exchanges Welcome to Video recommended + screenshots: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1210451/download
Screenshot of the site seized: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1210446/download
Joe Weisenthal’s column about how Bitcoin ETFs would make it easier for people to make illicit Bitcoin transactions: https://twitter.com/TheStalwart/status/1184786875262885890
Weekly news recap links:
Bloomberg article summarizing overall race to create a global coin: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-16/fed-drags-feet-as-digital-money-revolution-tests-central-banks
FT on why Libra members dropped out: https://www.ft.com/content/6e29a1f0-ef1e-11e9-ad1e-4367d8281195
Libra Association signs charter: https://libra.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Libra-Association-Charter-Press-Release-.pdf
CNBC article on China’s race to release digital currency: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/china-races-to-launch-a-cryptocurrency-that-could-rival-facebooks.html?__source=sharebar%7Ctwitter∥=sharebar
Fortune article further describing race between Chinese digital currency and alternatives: https://fortune.com/2019/10/16/if-libra-fails-china-wins-the-ledger/
Fed official saying US actively debating digital dollar: https://www.coindesk.com/top-fed-official-says-us-central-bank-actively-debating-digital-dollar
Christopher Giancarlo’s op-ed in WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-sent-a-man-to-the-moon-we-can-send-the-dollar-to-cyberspace-11571179923
IRS tax form: https://www.coindesk.com/the-irs-will-now-ask-if-you-own-crypto-in-the-1040-tax-form
From DevCon 5 in Osaka, Japan, Deborah Simpier, COO and cofounder of Althea Network, describes how this decentralized internet service provider works, what problem it's trying to solve, and how it uses Ethereum. She describes how neighbors provide each other with internet access, and how they pay each other automatically on pay-as-you-go plans using a stablecoin. She also covers how she came to found Althea, what challenges she faced in explaining how it worked to her non-crypto neighbors, and Althea's plans to expand to other areas, including urban areas and Nigeria.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
eToro: https://crypto.com/en/index.html
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Althea Network: https://althea.net/
Deborah Simpier: https://twitter.com/DeborahSimpier
Case study on Clatskanie: https://althea.net/clatskanie-case-study
Deborah’s talk at ETH Berlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD1tB0UFx78
https://breakermag.com/how-mesh-networks-and-crypto-can-fill-the-rural-broadband-gap/
Weekly news recap links:
IRS Guidance
IRS press release: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/virtual-currency-irs-issues-additional-guidance-on-tax-treatment-and-reminds-taxpayers-of-reporting-obligations
Guidance on hard forks and airdrops: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-19-24.pdf
Coin Center response: https://coincenter.org/entry/irs-cryptocurrency-guidance-answers-some-questions-while-raising-messy-new-ones
IRS scenario that never happened: https://twitter.com/valkenburgh/status/1182022188343418880?s=20
Marco Santori take: https://twitter.com/msantoriESQ/status/1181975909567475713?s=20
Patrick Murck take: https://twitter.com/virtuallylaw/status/1181997761811628038?s=20
Ethereum 2.0
The transition from Ethereum 1.0 to 2.0: https://ethresear.ch/t/the-eth1-eth2-transition/6265
Ethereum 2.0 cross-sharding composability: https://ethresear.ch/t/cross-shard-defi-composability/6268
Wired article on Facebook/Libra connections: https://www.wired.com/story/ties-bind-facebooks-libra/
Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Rejection:
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/42711/bitwises-bitcoin-etf-the-last-hope-has-been-denied
https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/nysearca/2019/34-87267.pdf
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bitwise-comments-on-the-secs-order-regarding-the-bitwise-bitcoin-etf-trust-300935107.html
https://twitter.com/BitwiseInvest/status/1182115344510402560?s=20
https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1182149164177608704?s=20
MakerDAO: https://blog.makerdao.com/breaking-launch-date-of-multi-collateral-dai-announced-at-devcon-5/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-10-05/crypto-rebels-trip-over-each-other-en-route-to-financial-utopia
https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-1-how-to-keep-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-afloat/
https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-2-how-dai-stayed-at-1-while-eth-crashed-from-1400-to-85/
Placeholder on protocols: https://www.placeholder.vc/blog/2019/10/6/protocols-as-minimally-extractive-coordinators
Ali Yahya on why there will be multiple dominant blockchains: https://twitter.com/ali01/status/1181161407406071808?s=20
QuadrigaCX widow to pay $9 million to affected users: https://www.coindesk.com/quadrigacx-founders-widow-will-cough-up-9-million-to-repay-users
Heads up, everybody! We are launching a weekly news recap, so stay tuned after the interview to find out about the top stories in crypto this week! (Links below.)
Zachary Fallon, principal at Blakemore Fallon and former SEC staffer, explains why the SEC penalty against Block.One, which raised $4 billion in a yearlong ICO, got a penalty of just $24 million and didn't have to register EOS tokens as securities. He also discusses how this differs from the Kik case, what we can learn from another SEC order this week against Nebulous and what other gray areas remain for potential token issuers who may want to sell to U.S. citizens. We also go over the Crypto Rating Council, and what significance those ratings could have on the way they are regulated, if any.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
SEC press release about the Block.One settlement: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-202
SEC Order re. Block.One: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2019/33-10714.pdf
Cooley letter on Block.one: https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2019/block.one-093019-506.pdf
Katherine Wu’s annotated settlement: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ac136ed12b13f7c187bdf21/t/5d92c33d937a3466c0c723a9/1569899329538/33-10714.pdf
SEC action on Nebulous: https://www.sec.gov/enforce/33-10715-s
Jake Chervinsky tweet storm on the settlement: https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1179162527541993472?s=20
Marco Santori tweet storm on the settlement: https://twitter.com/msantoriESQ/status/1178811671621591040?s=20
Crypto Rating Council: https://www.wsj.com/articles/cryptocurrency-exchanges-including-coinbase-to-rate-digital-assets-11569835801
CRC ratings thus far: https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1178627290676301824?s=20
Articles from this week’s news recap:
Paypal to Back Out of Libra Association: https://www.ft.com/content/6af11092-e5fd-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc
Visa, Mastercard, Other Libra Association Members Jittery: https://www.wsj.com/articles/visa-mastercard-others-reconsider-involvement-in-facebook-s-libra-network-11569967023
Federal Advisory Doesn’t Like Libra: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/bankers-advising-fed-board-describe-libra-as-a-monetary-threat
SEC press release about the order: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-202
The order itself: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2019/33-10714.pdf
Larry Cermak of The Block on the order: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/41612/dont-ask-for-permission-hire-good-lawyers-and-then-ask-for-forgiveness
Letter from House Reps re digital dollar: https://static.coindesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Foster-Hill-US-Crypto.pdf
Crypto Rating Council: https://www.wsj.com/articles/cryptocurrency-exchanges-including-coinbase-to-rate-digital-assets-11569835801
Cermak tweet storm: https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1178622451451867136?s=20
Blockchain executive departures: http://thein.fo/9a4fd2f9cab44d7d
LedgerX-CFTC dispute: https://www.coindesk.com/ledgerx-claims-personal-animus-drove-ex-cftc-chair-to-stall-approvals
Tweets by Paul Chou directed at the CFTC: https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177689857763807235?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177690348883197953?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177693761050157058?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177694467043680256?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177711475760218113?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177715093251018752?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177722516497928192?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177724302927581185?s=20
https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1177724477439971328?s=20
Paul Chou’s tweet storm: https://twitter.com/paul_l_chou/status/1178328955859951617?s=20
Explanation of the Fairwin Ponzi: https://medium.com/@PhABC/the-collapse-of-fairwins-125m-ponzi-scheme-61a66b273420
Martin Koeppelman graph on Fairwin: https://twitter.com/koeppelmann/status/1178781425585328129/photo/1
Fun Bits:
Bloomberg interview with Jered Kenna: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-03/an-early-bitcoin-millionaire-loses-his-love-for-the-industry
My Forbes story on how Kenna lost his Bitcoin: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/12/20/hackers-have-stolen-millions-of-dollars-in-bitcoin-using-only-phone-numbers/
Nick Tomaino, general partner of 1confirmation, discusses his firm's second fund of $45 million, announced this week, how prospective LPs have changed from 2017 to 2019, and what types of projects 1confirmation is interested in. He also reveals why he doesn't believe Libra will be meaningful in the long-term, what he thinks the top DeFi trends are, what impact Ethereum's scaling issues could have, and what other protocols the fund has invested in. Plus, he explains how the firm decides whether to invest in companies or tokens when there is a choice.
Thank you to our sponsors!
eToro: https://www.etoro.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
1confirmation: https://www.1confirmation.com
Nick Tomaino: https://twitter.com/NTmoney
https://thecontrol.co/1confirmation-fund-ii-f42192a9646b
https://fortune.com/2019/09/25/1confirmation-crypto-investing/
https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-venture-firm-1confirmation-announces-new-45-million-fund
https://thecontrol.co/thoughts-on-facebook-coin-c5804e97e7e1
Unchained interview with Compound: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep-82/
Unchained interview with dYdX: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-dydx-allows-you-to-take-a-short-position-in-one-token-ep-86/
Unconfirmed interview with Uniswap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-uniswap-quickly-became-one-of-the-most-popular-dexes/
Systemic risk in DeFi due to Ethereum scaling issues: https://twitter.com/evabeylin/status/1176861299076059136?s=20
Jacob Franek, cofounder and COO of Coin Metrics, discusses why daily transaction fees on Ethereum have surpassed those on Bitcoin, what daily transaction fees reflect generally about a blockchain, why this change appears to be driven by demand for Tether on Ethereum, and what types of transactions people are using Tether for on Ethereum. We also cover Bitcoin vs. its forks — Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Satoshi's Vision — and whether or not the latter two are becoming medium-of-exchange coins as they hoped to be, why they're being used more for data storage and what kind of data is being stored there.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode notes:
Coin Metrics: https://coinmetrics.io
Jacob Franek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-franek-b9865039/
ETH daily transaction fees surpassed those of Bitcoin: https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92cbb3e2-4e28-4cd7-8557-db7eea1656c5_1200x742.png
For a few months in 2018, ETH daily transaction fees were higher than BTC's: https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd2e5e596-39da-4c3a-a6ec-6c4277e1d210_1420x878.png
Demand for Tether on Ethereum skyrocketing: https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F632ba7b5-de3e-4a9d-b34c-d30a32486070_1200x742.png
Ethereum processes more than 2x transactions per day than Bitcoin: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QD82uclQKUQXp1WT12LMuqTVobkvNKEq/view
ETH locked in DeFi rising: https://twitter.com/spencernoon/status/1174048582204309505
Gas per transactions rising on Ethereum, indicating transactions are becoming more complex: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q53YFSgwSgtvvd346ARdbFV2ejwX8ZLX/view
Non-ETH/ERC-20/ERC-721/Tether transactions are also growing: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q4lFfW002Q_L9geNall8E5JSznnzVHZd/view
Ethereum miners have been voting up the gas limit: https://www.etherchain.org/tools/gasLimitVoting
Increasing the gas limit effectively increases the block size: https://etherscan.io/chart/gaslimit
Coin Metrics' comparison of Bitcoin forks: https://coinmetrics.io/a-comparative-analysis-of-bitcoin-forks/#more-1865
Comparison of medium of exchange metrics for BTC, BCH and BSV: https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7af691e0-7ee9-4dab-aad3-9e0a8a651542_1048x876.png
BSV being used for data storage: https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9d22b7a-c133-4086-a553-f7fbecb02227_1200x742.png
Almost all BSV transactions come from weathersv app: https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85817c8b-69a2-42ff-9174-ab4bb81c29e6_1200x742.png
Comparison of hash rate on BTC, BCH and BSV: https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4e16275d-80aa-48ca-bb84-0ddf7929be49_1387x833.png
Nic Carter, partner at Castle Island Ventures, discusses the ways in which cryptocurrencies could weaken the state, how they're already providing an alternative to central bank currencies for people in economies undergoing hyper-inflation. He describes why Bitcoin is inherently political, which other coins he views as legitimate and whether coins should always aim to be money or other types can exist. Plus, he explains why he isn't optimistic about Libra and why Facebook should have pegged the value of it to the USD.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Nic Carter's recent Medium post on Bitcoin as a revolutionary currency: https://medium.com/@nic__carter/a-most-peaceful-revolution-8b63b64c203e
Nic Carter: https://twitter.com/nic__carter
LocalBitcoins interview on Unconfirmed: https://unchainedpodcast.com/localbitcoins-on-how-bitcoin-trading-compares-across-the-world/
Unconfirmed interview with Dante Disparte of the Libra Association: https://unchainedpodcast.com/libras-dante-disparte-on-why-we-should-trust-a-financial-system-designed-by-facebook/
Michael Casey on why it would be good if Libra rivaled the USD: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-it-would-be-good-if-libra-rivaled-the-us-dollar/
Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh on why the Congressional hearings on Facebook's Libra were good for Bitcoin: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-the-congressional-hearings-on-facebooks-libra-were-good-for-bitcoin/
Unchained interview with the IMF on how to design central bank digital currencies: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-imf-on-how-to-design-central-bank-digital-currencies/
Yan Liberman, cofounder at Delphi Digital, explains why Bitcoin dominance is back up at 70%, more than double its low at 33% at the height of the crypto bubble in early 2018, why a crypto bear market has a positive effect on Bitcoin and who is putting money into the space now. He also discusses how metrics involving Bitcoin's unspent transaction outputs, or UTXOs, affect price moves, why scaling isn't necessarily so important for bitcoin's price — but is for ether's price — and why the number of developers isn't always correlated to price. Plus, we cover how developments like the launch of Libra will likely affect Bitcoin.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Delphi Digital: https://www.delphidigital.io
Yan Liberman: https://twitter.com/YanLiberman
Fred Wilson blog post on crypto: https://avc.com/2019/09/some-thoughts-on-crypto/
Pushback on Fred’s post: https://twitter.com/fredwilson/status/1169322053008314368
Electric Capital report on developer activity in crypto: https://medium.com/@ElectricCapital/electric-capital-developer-report-h1-2019-7d836d68fecb
Unconfirmed episode with Maria Shen: https://unchainedpodcast.com/electric-capital-on-the-coins-punching-below-their-weight/
Unconfirmed interview with the Libra Association's Dante Disparte: https://unchainedpodcast.com/libras-dante-disparte-on-why-we-should-trust-a-financial-system-designed-by-facebook/
Reid Hoffman's crypto rap battle between Hamilton and Satoshi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaMJi1_1tkA&feature=youtu.be
Ryan Zurrer, formerly chief commercial officer and director at the Web 3 foundation and former principal and partner at Polychain Capital, discusses his recent proposal for a new DAO, reviving one of the most notorious experiments in crypto history. Zurrer explains the way it works, some of the new technologies, such as SourceCred, that he thinks could make a new DAO better than the original, what problem he wants to solve with the DAO, and how it would work. He also talks about why he believes that if the DAO had survived, that the due diligence in the space would be far higher than it was during the ICO craze, and why he thinks that the architecture of the DAO he's proposed will not violate U.S. securities law.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
The DAO white paper: https://github.com/the-dao/whitepaper
Ryan Zurrer: https://twitter.com/rzurrer
SourceCred: https://sourcecred.io/
CoinDesk article on the recently proposed DAO: https://www.coindesk.com/former-polychain-partner-ryan-zurrer-is-leaving-web3-to-start-his-own-dao
The SEC's report on the 2016 DAO: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/investreport/34-81207.pdf
Comprehensive Bloomberg feature on the 2016 DAO: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-the-ether-thief/
Joerg Platzer, owner of Room77, a bar in Berlin that has accepted Bitcoin since 2011, describes how patrons who wanted to pay with Bitcoin originally had to type long Bitcoin addresses into their laptops, how people's interest in Bitcoin correlates with the markets and how the demographics of the Bitcoin users have changed over time. He discusses why the bar discourages users from sending their Bitcoins from Coinbase, Circle and BitPay, how crypto companies can surveil their companies more than banks do, and how they impose U.S, laws on other jurisdictions. He also talks about the Lightning Network point-of-sale device that they're using, how what he believes to be the first routed Lightning Network payment occurred at Room77, and how surprised he by the number of people eager to pay via Lightning. Plus, he reveals which other coins he is open to, and which ones he is not.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Room77: http://room77.de/
Joerg Platzer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j%C3%B6rg-platzer/
2014 CoinDesk article on Room77: https://www.coindesk.com/evolution-bitcoin-behind-berlin-bar
The Room77 Bitcoin Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Lab-Berlin/events/qbbwmhyzjbjb/
Photos of some of the Bitcoin-related signs I saw at Room77:
Maria Shen, head of data science at Electric Capital, dives into the details of the firm's report on crypto developer activity, which analyzed 27,000 code repositories to find that a recent decrease in crypto developer activity came from a drop-off in one-time-per-month and part-time developers, while full-time developers increased 13%. She explains how this breaks out among coins, how developer activity in Bitcoin and Ethereum have consolidated, what mid-tier coins are also seeing a lot of activity, and which ones appear to be punching below their weight price-wise. She also explains her metric of "active ecosystems," which ones are most active or gaining and gives us projections for further crypto development based on the data thus far.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Electric Capital: https://www.electriccapital.com
Maria Shen: https://twitter.com/mariashen?lang=en
Full deck of report: https://www.slideshare.net/MariaXinheShen/developer-report-published-august-2019-163234235
Blocktivity: https://www.blocktivity.info
Unchained episode with Chris Dixon: https://unchainedpodcast.com/chris-dixon-on-how-trust-is-the-best-lego-block-ep-70/
Most recent Unchained episode with Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin: https://unchainedpodcast.com/vitalik-buterin-on-whether-or-not-ethereum-is-blowing-it/
Unchained episode on Monero: https://unchainedpodcast.com/moneros-riccardo-spagni-aka-fluffypony-on-how-he-feels-about-monero-being-used-for-crime-ep-93/
Unchained episode on Grin: https://unchainedpodcast.com/grin-a-more-private-lighter-bitcoin/
Unchained episode on MakerDAO, part 1: https://unchainedpodcast.com/grin-a-more-private-lighter-bitcoin/
MakerDAO, part 2: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-2-how-dai-stayed-at-1-while-eth-crashed-from-1400-to-85/
Litecoin: https://unchainedpodcast.com/charlie-lee-on-how-litecoin-can-be-truly-successful/
Unconfirmed episode on the Bitcoin Cash hard fork: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-bitcoin-cash-hard-fork-bitcoin-abc-vs-bitcoin-sv-ep-046/
Rebecca Rettig, partner at FisherBroyles, talks about Kik's answer this week to the SEC's complaint, why she predicted they would make this move as opposed to filing a motion to dismiss as many had expected and what their main arguments were. We discuss the key points of their answer, such as the distinction they make between their SAFT sale to accredited investors vs. the token sale to the general public, how we could get new law applied to tokens as well as how the SEC took quotes out of context to make it appear that Kik and/or its board members and other associates said the opposite of what they meant.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Rebecca Rettig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-rettig-8b90a284/
FisherBroyles: https://www.fisherbroyles.com
Kik's response to the SEC: https://www.scribd.com/document/420998937/Kik-Response-to-SEC#from_embed
Katherine Wu's annotations on the response: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ac136ed12b13f7c187bdf21/t/5d4a3cfcfe4cc000019dff3b/1565146371923/KIK_SEC_+Answer+to+Complaint_3.pdf
CoinDesk article summarizing Kik's answer: https://www.coindesk.com/kik-says-sec-twisted-facts-about-100-million-token-sale
CoinDesk interviews with Kik CEO Ted Livingston, and blockchain lawyers Joshua Klayman, Rebecca Rettig and Nelson Rosario on this week's news: https://www.coindesk.com/watch-join-coindesk-live-with-ted-livingston-ceo-of-kik
Chandan Lohda, the cofounder and CEO of CoinTracker, talks about the 10,000 letters the IRS sent to cryptocurrency holders last week, what kinds of letters were sent, what recipients should do depending on what type of letter they received and how the IRS even knew who to write to in the first place. Plus, we discuss which types of transactions are taxable events, where the tax laws still need further clarification, and which types of changes he believes should be made to tax law.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
CoinTracker: https://www.cointracker.io/
Chandan Lodha: https://mobile.twitter.com/cglodha
IRS sending letters to 10,000 crypto holders:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/irs-sending-warning-letters-to-more-than-10-000-cryptocurrency-holders-11564159523
https://blog.cointracker.io/irs-sends-letter-6173-6174-6174-a-cryptocurrency-warnings-what-to-do/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2019/07/26/irs-sending-warning-letters-to-more-than-10000-taxpayers-about-cryptocurrency-reporting/#553158e35d3b
IRS press release: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-has-begun-sending-letters-to-virtual-currency-owners-advising-them-to-pay-back-taxes-file-amended-returns-part-of-agencys-larger-efforts
CoinTracker guide to filing crypto taxes: https://www.cointracker.io/bitcoin-taxes
Jeremy Allaire, cofounder and CEO of Circle, explains why the company has opened a new subsidiary in Bermuda, obtained a full Digital Assets Business Act license there and how it plans to create separate offerings for the US market vs. non-US. He discusses why Circle chose Bermuda out of the many jurisdictions that have created crypto-friendly regulations, why Circle believes the SEC's April guidance on digital assets expanded the scope on which digital assets are securities and why regulators should have a new definition for digital assets rather than putting them into existing categories like commodity, security, currency, etc. We cover how much of Poloniex's struggles have to do with restrictive regulations in the US vs. poor business choices on the exchange's part, and why some other US-based crypto exchanges are not having the same struggles. He also reveals what it is that he'll be telling the Senate next week when he testifies in a hearing on regulation for digital assets and blockchain technology.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Circle: https://www.circle.com/en/
Poloniex: https://poloniex.com
Jeremy Allaire: https://twitter.com/jerallaire
New Bermuda entity and license:
https://medium.com/circle-blog/circle-expands-international-offerings-with-new-bermuda-operations-and-digital-assets-business-ff4509ed76b9
https://www.coindesk.com/circle-moves-non-us-poloniex-customers-to-new-bermuda-entity
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/07/22/circle-is-opening-up-shop-in-bermuda-seeking-clearer-regulatory-framework-and-it-could-be-its-last-hope/
BTC trade volume:
https://www.bitcointradevolume.com
Trollbox:
https://medium.com/circle-trader/trollbox-is-back-a458e3ec58df
Next week's Senate hearing on crypto legislation:
https://medium.com/circle-blog/circle-ceo-to-testify-before-senate-on-crypto-regulation-dbaeaeba3a3b
https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/examining-regulatory-frameworks-for-digital-currencies-and-blockchain
The Bermuda rig: https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2015-01-26/dress-code-how-to-wear-bermuda-shorts
Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Coin Center, explains the significance of all the governmental activity around crypto in the last week -- the President's tweets, the Treasury Secretary's and Fed Chair's remarks and of course the Congressional hearings about Libra. We discuss whether Facebook's baggage could harm regulation of the space broadly, just what Libra is and who controls it (especially compared to decentralized networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum), and how that might require different regulatory approaches. We also covered how the lack of partisanship in the line of questioning could affect Libra's prospects, the odds that the draft bill to keep tech out of finance will go through and whether the idea of a Facebook-created digital currency could spur interest in central bank digital currencies. Plus, we talk about what we thought were the most memorable moments of the Congressional hearings, and why we both felt that, amazingly, the hearings seemed to teach Congress about the merits of decentralized networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Coin Center: https://coincenter.org
Peter Van Valkenburgh: https://twitter.com/valkenburgh
President Donald Trump's tweets about Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and Libra: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1149472282584072192?s=20
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony about Libra: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/technology/fed-chair-facebook-cryptocurrency-libra.html
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's news briefing on cryptocurrencies: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/15/treasury-secretary-mnuchin-will-hold-a-news-conference-on-cryptocurrencies-at-2-pm-et.html
Senate hearings on Libra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUQpmEjgFAU
House hearings on Libra: https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-libra-cryptocurrency-hearings-with-congress-day-2-watch-here-live/
Rep. Sean Duffy questioning David Marcus about who can transact in Libras: https://twitter.com/crypto/status/1151531255550230529
Rep. Warren Davidson bringing up a term that has not yet been heard in the halls of Congress — "sh*tcoin": https://twitter.com/bitstein/status/1151586640307064833
Lawson Baker, head of operations and general counsel at TokenSoft (disclosure: a previous sponsor of the podcast), explains the significance of this week's SEC statement on broker-dealer custody if digital asset securities, what issues it outlines, what problems remain to be resolved, what impact it could have on the overall industry — and why this, and other regulatory guidance, could push the industry in a more cypherpunk direction. Plus, we discuss Blockstack's Reg A+ initial coin offering, which was finally approved by the SEC, whether it's too onerous for startups and how this will affect the initial coin offering phenomenon. And finally, we talk about what we'll be watching out for in next week's Senate and House hearings on Facebook's Libra, and what the odds are that the regulators quash the project.
Don't forget about the Crypto weekend retreat at Omega Institute: Sign up here! https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Lawson Baker: https://twitter.com/lwsnbaker
TokenSoft: https://www.tokensoft.io/
SEC statement on broker-dealer custody of digital asset securities: https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/joint-staff-statement-broker-dealer-custody-digital-asset-securities
Blockstack's Reg A+ offering approved: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-clears-blockstack-to-hold-first-regulated-token-offering-11562794848
Details on Blockstack's token sale: https://blog.blockstack.org/blockstack-sec-qualified-token-sale-open/
Fed raises concerns about Libra: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/technology/fed-chair-facebook-cryptocurrency-libra.html
Unconfirmed episode with Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications for Libra: https://unchainedpodcast.com/libras-dante-disparte-on-why-we-should-trust-a-financial-system-designed-by-facebook/
Unconfirmed episode with Michael Casey on why it would be good if Libra rivaled the US dollar: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-it-would-be-good-if-libra-rivaled-the-us-dollar/
Michael Casey, chairman of the advisory board at CoinDesk, CEO of Streambed Media and a former Wall Street Journal reporter who covered global financial and economic affairs, discusses the regulatory response to Libra, in particular the letter from the US. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and the head of Calibra, David Marcus, calling on them to halt development of Libra. Casey explains why he think it would be good if the House's concern that Libra becomes "an entirely new global financial system that is based out of Switzerland and intended to rival US monetary policy and the dollar,” as the letter put it. We also discuss the likelihood that Libra actually achieves its goal of financial inclusion for the two billion unbanked, how Facebook's track record with privacy factors in and what smart regulation would look like.
Last chance to participate in the Unchained Survey 2019!
Last week to participate in the survey and enter to win a free Casa Bitcoin LIghtning node! Go to surveymonkey.com/r/unchainedsurvey2019 to give us your thoughts what you like about the show, what we could do better and who you’d like to see as a guest.
Those who answer the survey can enter to win one of five free Casa Bitcoin lightning nodes, plus a free year of Casa's Gold membership -- including a multisig security app for iPhone and Android, a Trezor hardware wallet, a Casa faraday bag, and 24/7 support! Those of you interested in learning more about Casa, or about protecting your Bitcoin investment generally, should check out my interview with CEO Jeremy Welch. Thank you to Casa for donating!
Again, go to surveymonkey.com/r/unchainedsurvey2019 now to give us your thoughts and enter to win.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Michael Casey: https://twitter.com/mikejcasey
CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com
Michael’s CoinDesk column on how smart, not heavy-handed regulation of Libra is necessary:
https://www.coindesk.com/a-monumental-fight-over-facebooks-cryptocurrency-is-coming
Michael’s CoinDesk column on understanding Libra and the Bitcoin price swings in the global economic context: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-facebook-and-the-end-of-20th-century-money
House Financial Services Committee letter to Facebook executives: https://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/07.02.2019_-_fb_ltr.pdf
David Marcus's blog post on Libra, published after Michael and I recorded: https://www.facebook.com/notes/david-marcus/libra-2-weeks-in/10158616513819148/
Ben Mezrich, author of the Accidental Billionaires, which formed the basis of the movie The Social Network, and the author of the recently published Bitcoin Billionaires about the Winklevoss twins' rise in the cryptocurrency industry, discusses what he initially got wrong about Cameron and Tyler. He also talks about Facebook's Libra, how he thinks personal animus against the is part of Mark Zuckerberg's motivation behind this new cryptocurrency, and what Facebook and Libra would have to do to assuage concerns over privacy issues. Plus, we cover his writing process and who can expect to be on the big screen, playing the Winklevoss twins and Charlie Shrem in the upcoming movie.
Take the Unchained/Unconfirmed survey!
Help make Unchained and Unconfirmed better! Take our survey and enter the giveaway for a free Bitcoin lightning node and a yearlong Casa Gold membership, — including a multisig security app for iPhone and Android, a Trezor hardware wallet, a Casa faraday bag, and 24/7 support! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unchainedsurvey2019
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Ben Mezrich: http://www.benmezrich.com/
https://twitter.com/benmezrich
Bitcoin Billionaires: http://www.benmezrich.com/books/bitcoin-billionaires/
Accidental Billionaires: http://www.benmezrich.com/books/accidental-billionaires/
The Unconfirmed interview with the Libra Association's Dante Disparte: https://unchainedpodcast.com/libras-dante-disparte-on-why-we-should-trust-a-financial-system-designed-by-facebook/
Unchained with Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss in January 2019: https://unchainedpodcast.com/tyler-and-cameron-winklevoss-on-being-the-fastest-tortoise-in-the-race/
Unchained with Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss in September 2016: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-tyler-and-cameron-winklevoss-fell-in-love-with-bitcoin/
The NYT on the Winklevoss Bitcoin fortune: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/technology/bitcoin-winklevoss-twins.html
Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications for the Libra Association, describes the roles of the various entities that make up the Libra ecosystem and how he came to be in this position. He addresses the most common concern being expressed: why people should trust a financial system designed by Facebook, which has lost public trust over privacy breaches. Plus, we discuss how Facebook will handle the financial information of Calibra's users, how the Libra Association will deal with the regulatory headwinds and why he believes that it's better if the project succeeds. We also discuss what impact this currency could have on the currencies of developing countries, what an identity system based on Libra might look like, and how it plans to get banks on board. Plus, we discuss what its social impact goals are.
Take the Unchained/Unconfirmed survey:
Help make Unchained and Unconfirmed better! Take our survey and enter the giveaway for a free Bitcoin lightning node and a yearlong Casa Gold membership, — including a multisig security app for iPhone and Android, a Trezor hardware wallet, a Casa faraday bag, and 24/7 support! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unchainedsurvey2019
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Dante Disparte: https://twitter.com/ddisparte
The Libra Association: https://libra.org/en-US/association/
Libra: https://libra.org/en-US/
More details on the Libra Association: https://libra.org/en-US/association-council-principles/#overview
Security and privacy on the Libra network: https://libra.org/en-US/security-privacy/#overview
Commitment to compliance and consumer protection: https://libra.org/en-US/compliance-consumer-protection/#overview
France calls for central bank review of Libra: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-18/france-calls-for-central-bank-review-of-facebook-cryptocurrency
Senate banking hearing on Libra is scheduled: https://twitter.com/ElleBeyoud/status/1141429557846781960 (link to webcast: https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings)
Europe working around US sanctions: https://www.apnews.com/b7fbb9c4b97b41c98d625cea0529386b
Dillon Chen, CEO of Edgeware, talks about how the network is distributing its tokens via a "lockdrop" in which people can lock up ether for certain time periods in order to obtain Edgeware tokens, why it chose to do so and how that could affect the distribution of the tokens. We also discuss how even people with ether frozen in the Parity multi-sig wallet can still use those funds to obtain Edgeware tokens. Plus, he describes what Edgeware tokens will be used for and how it fits in the Polkadot ecosystem.
Take the Unchained Survey!
How do you think we can make the show better? How would you like to see Unchained and Unconfirmed expand? Take our survey at surveymonkey.com/r/unchainedsurvey2019.
Those who answer the survey can enter to win one of five free Casa Bitcoin lightning nodes, plus a free year of Casa's Gold membership -- including a multisig security app for iPhone and Android, a Trezor hardware wallet, a Casa faraday bag, and 24/7 support! Those of you interested in learning more about Casa, or about protecting your Bitcoin investment generally, should check out my interview with CEO Jeremy Welch. Thank you to Casa for donating!
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Edgeware: https://edgewa.re
Dillon Chen: https://twitter.com/dillchen
Edgeware lockdrop: https://edgewa.re/lockdrop/
Edgeware blog post on lockdrops: https://medium.com/commonwealth-labs/whats-in-a-lockdrop-194218a180ca
CoinDesk article on the lockdrop: https://www.coindesk.com/1confirmation-canaan-partners-back-startup-pushing-new-spin-on-airdrops
Frozen funds: https://www.parity.io/a-postmortem-on-the-parity-multi-sig-library-self-destruct/amp/
In this conversation, conducted at the Oslo Freedom Forum, Vera Xavier, LocalBitcoins' Community Manager and Elena Tonoyan, Chief Customer Success Officer, describe what the Helsinki-based company does, how it got started, how its escrow system works and why the company typically keeps a low profile. We also cover who their typical users are (hint: it's a broad swath), how usage differs across geographically and types of economies, and how LocalBitcoins can be used in countries with authoritarian regimes. We also cover some regulatory issues such as why it had to stop service in Iran recently.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
LocalBitcoins: https://localbitcoins.com
LocalBitcoins bans trading in Iran: https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce
FinCen guidance indicating LocalBitcoins sellers in the US are money transmitters: https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/2019-05/FinCEN%20Guidance%20CVC%20FINAL%20508.pdf
Removal of Local Cash Ads: https://twitter.com/LocalBitcoins/status/1135872083962081281
At Ethereal, I spoke with Austin Griffiths, director of research at Gitcoin and founder of Burner Wallet, and Arjun Bhuptani, cofounder of Connext Network, about how they think about getting everyday usage. In this discussion, Austin talked about how he started Burner Wallet and how he did user testing at bars, and Arjun described Connext, how people are using it now. Plus, they both explain why they're using Dai, how they can compete when a company like Facebook has 2 billion users, and how the uncertain regulatory atmosphere in the US affects the way they work.
Omega Institute crypto workshop retreat: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Austin Griffith: https://twitter.com/austingriffith
Burner Wallet: https://xdai.io
Arjun Bhuptani: https://twitter.com/arjun_bhuptani?lang=en
Connext Network: http://connext.network
Video from Ethereal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkOI7166fmI
Hester Peirce speech: https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/peirce-how-we-howey-050919
How Polychain is faring during the crypto winter, where we are in the tech cycle, whether he thinks Ethereum 2.0 will deliver and how he views the competition in the smart contract space. We discuss the upcoming Facebook coin, what that might look like, and how his portfolio projects could compete against a token issued by a large company. We cover how regulatory uncertainty is affecting the development of crypto projects, what he thinks of the fact that some trends in the DeFi movement seem to mimic the risks leading up to the financial contract, why he's so excited about MakerDAO, what he makes of its difficulties keeping its USD peg, and why Tether hasn't lost its dollar peg despite being only 74% backed. Plus, we talked about how decentralized autonomous corporations could someday come into being, and what he thinks of on-chain governance systems today.
Join us at the Oslo Freedom Forum!
On May 27th I will be hosting a conversation about the future of finance and human rights at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway. As the world continues to move toward a cashless society, paper currency is disappearing. Companies like Facebook, Apple, and TenCent are becoming increasingly influential in the digital payment space. We'll discuss how individuals and companies can preserve and protect financial freedoms in the digital age. I'll be joined by Bitcoin author and educator Jimmy Song; Casa chief technology officer Alena Vranova; and CoinCenter founder Jerry Brito. To register to attend, you can visit oslofreedomforum.com today -- use a discount code “unconfirmed25” to get 25% off your ticket price!
Join us at Omega Institute in New York in September!
Sign up for our crypto weekend retreat today! https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Watch the full video on CoinDesk ("To the Moon and Back" under Main Stage): https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2019/videos
Polychain: https://polychain.capital
WSJ article on Olaf: https://www.wsj.com/articles/olaf-carlson-wee-rode-the-bitcoin-boom-to-silicon-valley-riches-can-he-survive-the-crash-1536681364
WSJ on Polychain's assets dropping: https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-fund-polychains-assets-drop-40-from-1-billion-mark-11554843471?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=3
Facebook coin: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/technology/cryptocurrency-facebook-telegram.html?searchResultPosition=9
Tether only 74% backed: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-lawyer-confirms-stablecoin-74-percent-backed-by-cash-and-equivalents
MakerDAO stability fee at 20%: https://www.coindesk.com/dai-stablecoins-stability-fee-nears-20-after-latest-makerdao-vote
Aragon vote being swung at the last moment: https://www.evanvanness.com/post/184616403861/aragon-vote-shows-the-perils-of-onchain-governance
Phil Chen, decentralized chief officer of HTC, discusses the upcoming model of the Exodus, why it will feature a full Bitcoin node, what's in it for the user, whether or not it will affect the performance of other apps on the phone and whether HTC would ever add mining capabilities for the phone. We cover how the phone also functions as a hardware wallet, how private keys are kept safe, and how they are recovered if the user loses their phone. Plus, he describes who the ideal user is and how having so many crypto features built into the phone could change how people interact with their devices.
On May 27th I will be hosting a conversation about the future of finance and human rights at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway. As the world continues to move toward a cashless society, paper currency is disappearing. Companies like Facebook, Apple, and TenCent are becoming increasingly influential in the digital payment space. We'll discuss how individuals and companies can preserve and protect financial freedoms in the digital age. I'll be joined by Bitcoin author and educator Jimmy Song; Casa chief technology officer Alena Vranova; CoinCenter founder Jerry Brito; and Bitfury Group vice chairman George Kikvadze. To register to attend, visit oslofreedomforum.com today -- use a discount code "unconfirmed25” to get 25% off your ticket price!
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
HTC: https://www.htc.com/us/
The Exodus: http://www.htcexodus.com and https://twitter.com/htcexodus
Phil Chen: https://twitter.com/philchen913
HTC Exodus to feature full Bitcoin node: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2019/05/11/htc-integrates-full-bitcoin-node-into-surprise-smartphone-for-the-masses/#430979983ec4
Phil's announcement at Magical Crypto Conference: https://www.coindesk.com/htc-says-its-next-smartphone-will-run-a-full-bitcoin-node
Bitcoin Magazine story: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/htc-launch-exodus-1s-smartphone-full-node-capacity/
Crypto swaps via Kyber on Exodus: https://www.coindesk.com/htc-has-added-in-wallet-crypto-swaps-to-its-exodus-phone
Tushar Jain of Multicoin Capital discusses how hackers likely obtained $40 million worth of Bitcoin in a hack on Binance, how the leading crypto exchange could have incentivized miners to reorganize the blocks, and what the possibility says about the game theory of Bitcoin. We talk about why Binance ultimately decided against trying to go this route, and whether or not exchanges should, in the future, try to use reorgs immediately after exchange hacks in order to both undo the hack as well as deter future hackers. Plus, we discuss how this idea would have differed from the Ethereum hard fork after the DAO and whether or not this suggests that fast finality is preferable to probabilistic finality.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Tushar Jain: https://twitter.com/tusharjain_?lang=en
Multicoin Capital: https://multicoin.capital
Binance's announcement about the hack: https://binance.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028031711
Bitcoin core contributor Jeremy Rubin's suggestion to attempt the reorg: https://twitter.com/JeremyRubin/status/1125919526485254144
CZ's Periscope AMA after the hack: https://twitter.com/binance/status/1125959459782553600
CZ's decision not to do the reorg: https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1125996194734399488
CZ tweeting about the controversy that resulted: https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1126088279261007875?s=20
Jeremy's statement after the controversy over his suggestion of a reorg: https://twitter.com/JeremyRubin/status/1126391126619971585?s=20
Robert-Jan Den Haan, a contributor to the Block who has been researching the Bitfinex/Tether situation for over a year, talks about how Bitfinex found itself without access to $850 million of its own money, how the trouble crypto companies have maintaining banking relationships played into that, and the company — or, rather, group of related companies — that is the source of its woes. We also cover where at least a portion of the money is now, and why it likely won't be made available soon, how a case involving Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef is related, and why Bitfinex will likely be conducting an initial exchange offering of $1 billion. Plus, we discuss why the price of Tether has barely budged despite being only 74% backed.
Crypto workshop at Omega Institute!
https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution
Thank you to our sponsors!
CoinDesk: Since 2015, Consensus has been recognized as the most influential blockchain and digital assets event of the year. Hot-button topics such as adoption challenges, privacy,blockchain innovation, capital formation and more take centerstage as experts and pioneers give voice to the new developments and innovations occurring around the globe. Don’t miss this three-day experience! Register today: www.consensus2019.com. Use promo: UNCHAINED300 to save $300 on your pass.
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Original story about NYAG court order against iFinex: https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-ny-prosecutors-tether-850-million-allege
Why at least part of the $850 million was seized (paywall):
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/04/30/no-bitfinexs-seized-850-million-is-not-likely-to-be-unfrozen-within-weeks/
Original indictment revealing involvement of Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/05/01/indictment-reveals-new-clues-to-the-crypto-capital-situation/
Tether backed by 74% cash and cash equivalents:
https://www.coindesk.com/tether-lawyer-confirms-stablecoin-74-percent-backed-by-cash-and-equivalents
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/04/30/bitfinex-reveals-stablecoin-is-only-74-backed-by-cash-says-its-simultaneously-addressing-requests-from-nyag-doj-and-cftc/
Bitfinex and Tether General Counsel Stuart Hoegner's statement to the NY Supreme Court regarding the OAG's preliminary injunction:
https://www.scribd.com/document/408190972/Stuart-Hoegner-Affidavit-4-30#from_embed
Indictment from Southern District of New York against Reginald Fowler and Ravid . Yosef: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1158991/download
Reginald Fowler's Master US Workbook and $345 million sitting in banks:
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/05/02/us-government-requests-detention-for-defendant-at-center-of-bitfinex-imbroglio-describes-master-us-workbook/
https://www.coindesk.com/u-s-doj-moves-to-detain-defendant-in-crypto-shadow-banking-case
Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef charged with providing shadow banking services to cryptocurrency exchanges:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/arizona-man-and-israeli-woman-charged-connection-providing-shadow-banking-services
Bitfinex's IEO: https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-is-planning-to-issue-an-exchange-token-shareholder-says
Already $500 million subscribed:
https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-shareholder-provides-more-details-about-potential-1-billion-token-sale
Meltem Demirors and Jill Carlson discussing Tether on What Grinds My Gears: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-18-tarred-and-tethered/id1450518746?i=1000436884557 Absolutely hilarious satire on the whole saga: https://coinjazeera.news/federal-reserve-conspiracy-and-phil-potters-tether-scam/
At the Subzero conference in Berlin, Ashley Tyson, the cofounder of the Web 3 Foundation, talks about how it plans to support the Polkadot protocol, plus bring together protocols to create a decentralized web, including other projects outside the Polkadot network. We discuss how the recent disaffection with Facebook and other social media platforms is affecting the movement toward decentralization, how they plan to get mainstream adoption of decentralized apps and whether or not enough people care about privacy to grow that movement.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
CoinDesk: Since 2015, Consensus has been recognized as the most influential blockchain and digital assets event of the year. Hot-button topics such as adoption challenges, privacy,blockchain innovation, capital formation and more take centerstage as experts and pioneers give voice to the new developments and innovations occurring around the globe. Don't miss this three-day experience! Register today: www.consensus2019.com. Use promo: UNCHAINED300 to save $300 on your pass.
Episode links:
Web3 Foundation: https://web3.foundation
Ashley Tyson: https://twitter.com/AsherT
Facebook fine: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/technology/facebook-ftc-fine-privacy.html?module=inline
Sri Lankan government shutting down all social media: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/world/asia/sri-lanka-social-media.html?searchResultPosition=1
Zachary Fallon, a former SEC staffer and author of the Reg A JOBS Act crowdfunding rules and a principal at Blakemore Fallon, discusses Blockstack's filing for a token offering under Reg A+, what that means for the security status of the tokens and what types of investors the company can raise from. We also talk about several of the particulars of the Blockstack filing, such as the time-lock on the tokens, the ability to raise money in bitcoin and ether, and the cap on the dollar amount of tokens any single investor can purchase. Zach also covers how much they must have worked with the SEC until this point, how long it might take the SEC to offer a response and what the filing means for token offerings going forward.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode Links
Zach Fallon: https://twitter.com/ZacharyFallon
Blakemore Fallon: https://blakemorefallon.com
Blockstack: https://blockstack.org
Stackstoken: https://www.stackstoken.com
App mining for Stacks: https://app.co/mining
Blockstack's Reg A+ filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1719379/000110465919020748/a18-15736_1partiiandiii.htm
Wired story on the filing: https://www.wired.com/story/startup-sell-you-crypto-tokens-with-sec-backing/
Sam McIngvale, head of product for Coinbase Custody, describes its new staking service. He explains how Coinbase Custody plans to allow its customers to participate in crypto networks while keeping those funds offline, what Coinbase had to build from an engineering and product perspective in order to keep funds secure and how insurance works for these assets. We also discuss its plans to enable its customers to participate in governance, whether or not Coinbase.com will move in the same direction, which other blockchains it may offer staking services for.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Coinbase blog post about staking with Coinbase Custody: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-custody-launches-staking-support-for-tezos-makerdao-governance-to-follow-68f7bc51bc53
Sam McIngvale: https://twitter.com/sammcingvale?lang=en
WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coinbases-new-customer-incentive-interest-payments-with-a-crypto-twist-11553855400
Fortune article: http://fortune.com/2019/03/29/coinbase-crypto-dividend-staking/
CoinDesk article: https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-leads-wall-street-to-brave-new-world-of-crypto-staking
Marco Santori, the president and chief legal officer of Blockchain, discusses this week's big regulatory news — the SEC's guidance on initial coin offerings and its first no-action letter. We talk about what guidance actually means and how much weight it has in court, how much clarity this guidance actually brought, and how the framework could affect also future attempts at future fundraising/token distribution events and airdrops. We also cover the no-action letter and the ways in which the token of TurnKey Jet, which received the no-action letter, is quite different from most other crypto-tokens and how helpful that example is for crypto projects.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
SEC guidance: https://www.sec.gov/files/dlt-framework.pdf
No-action letter: https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2019/turnkey-jet-040219-2a1.htm
Marco Santori: https://twitter.com/msantoriesq
Marco's tweet storm on the guidance and no-action letter: https://twitter.com/msantoriESQ/status/1113458502264074246
Coin Center's analysis: https://coincenter.org/entry/coin-center-analysis-of-sec-cryptocurrency-guidance
Jake Chervinksy tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1113672285595086848
Skeptic Preston Byrne tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/prestonjbyrne/status/1113463999591518209
Meltem Demirors tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/melt_dem/status/1113457795792293889
Katherine Wu tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/katherineykwu/status/1113452950041649157
Gabriel Shapiro tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/lex_node/status/1113461396593713152
SAFT white paper: http://saftproject.com/#saft-whitepaper
Article on SAFT white paper: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/10/02/are-icos-for-utility-tokens-selling-securities-prominent-crypto-players-say-yes/
More on the no-action letter: https://www.coindesk.com/sec-issues-first-ever-no-action-letter-clearing-ico-to-sell-tokens-under-us-law
https://www.coindesk.com/secs-first-crypto-no-action-letter-took-11-months-to-secure
Letter from TurnKey Jet prompting the no-action letter: https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2019/turnkey-jet-040219-2a1-incoming.pdf
Unchained episode with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce: https://unchainedpodcast.com/sec-commissioner-hester-peirce-come-talk-to-the-sec/
Ryan Todd and Matteo Leibowitz, research analysts at The Block, discuss why Dai has fallen below $1 in price, how the community has attempted to keep it pegged to $1 and how well that's been working. They also describe what the governance system looks like, how high participation is, and whether or not that's decentralized. And since 2% of al, ETH is locked up in Maker CDPs and Dai is the fuel behind the DeFi movement, we look at what type of role and risk it plays in Ethereum and the overall DeFi system.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Matteo Leibowitz: https://twitter.com/teo_leibowitz
Ryan Todd: https://twitter.com/_RJTodd
The Block: https://twitter.com/theblock__
March 15 governance call report: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/03/15/makerdao-governance-risk-call-march-14-stability-fee-hike-post-mortem/
March 21 governance call report: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/03/22/makerdao-governance-call-march-14-despite-0-75-supply-decrease-dai-continues-to-trade-down/
Unchained interview with Rune Christensen of MakerDAO, part 1: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-1-how-to-keep-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-afloat/
Unchained interview with Rune Christensen of MakerDAO, part 2: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-2-how-dai-stayed-at-1-while-eth-crashed-from-1400-to-85/
Unconfirmed podcast with Rune Christensen of MakerDAO on its investment of $15 million from a16z: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-on-its-15-million-from-andreessen-horowitz-ep-039/
Unchained podcast on why it's so hard to keep stablecoins stable: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable/
Unconfirmed interview with Uniswap, another DeFi project the utilizes Dai: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-uniswap-quickly-became-one-of-the-most-popular-dexes/
Unconfirmed interview on earning money on collateral in DeFi: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-to-earn-money-on-collateral-in-defi-and-why-thats-risky/
Delphi Digital recently released a report on Ethereum's short- and long-term prospects. It showed why there's been such high selling pressure on Ethereum, plus dived deeply into the economics of Ethereum 2.0, concluding that the current proposal leaves Ethereum with a shaky future. Medio Demarco and Yan Liberman, cofounders of Delphi, discuss how they think Ethereum could change its issuance in order to ensure the security of the network from the start and why the current plan will make validating transactions appealing only to the altruistically minded and malicious actors. Plus, we discuss the problem of velocity and utility vs. token price.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Delphi Digital: https://www.delphidigital.io
Medio Demarco: https://twitter.com/mediodelphi
Yan Liberman: https://twitter.com/YanLiberman
Delphi Digital's Ethereum report: https://www.delphidigital.io/ethereum
The Unchained interview with Vitalik will be released in full next week on Unchainedpodcast.com!
Hayden Adams, founder of the new decentralized exchange Uniswap, discusses how Uniswap differs from a traditional exchange based on order books, how market the contract determines the price of the tokens, and how market making on Uniswap is similar, in terms of payment, to participating in a mining pool. He covers under which conditions it is that a market maker will earn profit, what fees go toward in Uniswap, and how the contract functions as the dollar values of each token in a liquidity pair fluctuate. He describes how Uniswap quickly became one of the biggest decentralized exchanges on Ethereum since its launch in November, why gas fees are lower on Uniswap than other dexes, and how new tokens get listed on Uniswap. Plus, he talks about what regulatory risk he faces, how he plans to make money off the dex, and what he thinks of the idea that Dan Elitzer described in last week's Unconfirmed — people using the Uniswap liquidity pair tokens as collateral for loans.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Uniswap: https://uniswap.io
Uniswap on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UniswapExchange
Hayden: https://twitter.com/haydenzadams
Explanations of Uniswap:
High level overview by Cyrus Younessi of Scalar Capital: https://medium.com/scalar-capital/uniswap-a-unique-exchange-f4ef44f807bf
Another by Ross Bulat: https://medium.com/@rossbulat/uniswap-understanding-the-decentralised-ethereum-exchange-5ee5d7878996
Analysis of Uniswap on Token Daily: https://www.tokendaily.co/blog/pnl-analysis-of-uniswap-market-making
The posts by Vitalik Buterin that Hayden used to create Uniswap:
On Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/55m04x/lets_run_onchain_decentralized_exchanges_the_way/
The comment by Vitalik near the top of this blog post about Bancor: http://hackingdistributed.com/2017/06/19/bancor-is-flawed/
Blog post by Vitalik: https://vitalik.ca/general/2017/06/22/marketmakers.html
Unconfirmed episode with Dan Elitzer on superfluid collateral and Uniswap liquidity pair tokens being used as collateral: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-to-earn-money-on-collateral-in-defi-and-why-thats-risky/
Get your tickets now for Unchained Live with Vitalik Buterin! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176
It will take place March 20th at 6pm at Columbia Journalism School in the Joseph D. Jamail Lecture Hall. Hope to see you there!
Dan Elitzer, investor at IDEO CoLab Ventures, describes a concept he describes as superfluid collateral made possible in the decentralized finance space. We talk about which DeFi projects make this possible, how one can make collateral liquid so that interest can be earned from it, and what kinds of tokens could both serve as debt and earn interest. (Surprisingly, even trading pairs, particularly on the Uniswap decentralized exchange, which exist as tokens, can do so!) Based on the growth of Uniswap and DeFi, there's more than $300 million in collateral on Ethereum, causing Dan to make a prediction that Uniswap pool shares could serve as collateral for millions of dollars in loans within months. However, he admits that such a system could be risky, and discusses how he thinks such risks should be managed.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Dan Elitzer: https://twitter.com/delitzer
IDEO CoLab Ventures: https://www.ideocolab.com/ventures/
Dan's Medium post, Superfluid Collateral in Open Finance: https://tokeneconomy.co/superfluid-collateral-in-open-finance-8c3db15efac
MakerDAO interview Part 1: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-1-how-to-keep-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-afloat/
MakerDAO interview Part 2: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-2-how-dai-stayed-at-1-while-eth-crashed-from-1400-to-85/
Unchained interview about Compound: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep-82/
Unchained interview about Dharma protocol: https://unchainedpodcast.com/nadav-hollander-on-how-dharma-could-create-new-forms-of-debt-ep-80/
Unchained interview about 0x: https://unchainedpodcast.com/will-warren-of-0x-on-why-decentralized-exchanges-are-the-future/
Uniswap: https://uniswap.io
Blockstream chief strategy officer Samson Mow, who used to work at a competitor to Bitmain, discusses the recent news that the crypto mining manufacturer suffered a $500 million loss in the third quarter of 2018. He talks about possible reasons, including difficulties in selling its most recent miner and its stockpile of Bitcoin Cash, which has dropped more precipitously than Bitcoin during the last year. We also cover the extensive layoffs that the company has undergone in recent months, the shakeup in company leadership and what the prospects are for its IPO filing.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Samson Mow: https://twitter.com/Excellion
Bitmain: https://bitmain.com
CoinDesk article on Bitmain's Q3 loss: https://www.coindesk.com/mining-giant-bitmain-posts-500-million-loss-in-ipo-financial-filing
CoinDesk on Bitmain's original IPO plans: https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-unicorn-bitmain-weighs-18-billion-ipo-one-of-worlds-largest
CoinDesk on Bitmain layoffs: https://www.coindesk.com/layoffs-underway-amid-business-adjustments-bitcoin-miner-bitmain-confirms
Dovey Wan on the layoffs: https://twitter.com/DoveyWan/status/1076717693087080448
Dovey on Jihan launching a spinoff: https://twitter.com/DoveyWan/status/1100002158261428225
Unchained episode on Asia with Dovey Wan and Eric Meltzer of Primitive Ventures: https://unchainedpodcast.com/asia-edition-mining-a-crypto-yuan-and-the-two-main-reasons-the-chinese-are-interested-in-crypto-ep-102/
Ruben Galindo Steckel, cofounder and CEO of AirTM, describes how his companies enables everyday Venezuelans the ability to escape the hyperinflation in their currency, the bolivar, to save in U.S. dollar accounts. He also describes how the company creates its own exchange rate, and why that got them in trouble with the Venezuelan government. He also describes a campaign the company is waging, AirdropVenezuela, an attempt to raise $1 million in cryptocurrency to give to everyday Venezuelans for educational purposes and to use. He explains how Venezuelans can use crypto today and why they are raising money even in obscure coins.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode Links:
AirTM: https://www.airtm.com/#/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/AirtmInc
Airdrop Venezuela: https://airdropvenezuela.org
Planet Money episode on AirTM: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/03/635521893/episode-858-venezuelas-fugitive-money-traders
AirTM's blog post about AirdropVenezuela: https://blog.airtm.io/en/uniting-the-crypto-community-for-venezuela/
In case you haven’t heard, I’m doing a live podcast recording with Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum. What is a live podcast recording? It's a podcast performed by me and the guest on a stage, in front of an audience.
Vitalik and I will be discussing Ethereum 2.0, Polka Dot, Substrate, what happened with Afri this week and more. And you’ll have an opportunity to ask questions.
It’ll be in New York City the evening of March 20th, which is one month from today. The doors open at 6, the show starts at 7. We will be announcing the venue soon.
Get your tickets here! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176
Joyce Yang, founder of Global Coin Research, discusses the crypto scene in Korea today. An epicenter of the crypto craze in 2017, Korea still has a number of young people pinning their hopes and dreams on crypto, as described in an article in The New York Times this week. Yang talks about the societal factors that have led to this trend, as well as the common practices in investing that make Korean VCs less shrewd investors, which, in turn, makes Korean crypto projects less competitive. However, she also explains why she's still optimistic about crypto development there, noting one project, Terra, that looks interesting and describing the vibrant Tezos Korea community. (Joyce is consulting with Tezos.)
Get your tickets now to Unchained Live With Vitalik Buterin in New York City on March 20!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Global Coin Research: https://globalcoinresearch.com
Joyce Yang: https://twitter.com/JoyceInNYC
Joyce's tweet storm on Korea:
https://twitter.com/JoyceInNYC/status/1089716206544637952
The New York Times story on why Koreans are pinning their hopes and dreams on crypto: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/business/south-korea-bitcoin-cryptocurrencies.html
Terra: https://terra.money
Hashed: https://www.hashed.com
Global Coin Research/Tezos podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/introduction-conversation-arthur-breitman-diego-olivier/id1451821045?i=1000429387176&mt=2
To hear that a 29-year-old died of complications from Crohn's disease is shocking enough. But it's practically unbelievable when the person in question was in charge of a crypto exchange that held an estimated $150 million of customer funds and that he was the only person with access to the reserves. That's what many in the crypto community thought last week when news of the death of Gerald Cotten, the CEO of Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, spread. Taylor Monahan, the CEO of MyCrypto, looked at the Ethereum blockchain itself to see what could be gleaned from QuadrigaCX's holdings. She talks about whether or not the exchange had "cold storage" -- addresses in which customer funds were held, what Quadriga was doing with customer funds and why some of the choices it was making seem at odds with the typical operations a crypto exchange. She also discusses what crypto users can take away from this debacle.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Taylor Monahan: https://twitter.com/tayvano_
My Crypto: https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1092439754849759233
QuadrigaCX: https://www.quadrigacx.com/
Taylor's tweet storm about her findings from the blockchain: https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1092439754849759233
CoinDesk article recapping what is currently known and not yet known about the case: https://www.coindesk.com/quadrigacx-explainer
CoinDesk article on how the hospital has released information about Gerald Cotten's death: https://www.coindesk.com/quadrigacx-indian-hospital-releases-details-about-ceos-death
Globe and Mail article noting Cotten finalized his will less than two weeks before he died: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/streetwise/article-quadriga-cant-access-190-million-following-ceos-death-court/
New York Times article on the situation: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/business/quadriga-cx-gerald-cotten.html
Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, explains why this crypto bear market is different from the previous one his firm endured, what he believes will give institutional money the confidence to enter the space, and how Pantera's investing approach has changed in this downturn. We also discuss what types of projects and companies Pantera is investing in, how regulatory uncertainty is affecting development of the space, and where innovation is happening. The answer may surprise you.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Pantera Capital: https://www.panteracapital.com
Dan Morehead: https://twitter.com/dan_pantera
Pantera's December letter: https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/market-update-pantera-blockchain-letter-december-2018-f48ad020f9d6
Joey Krug's crypto thesis: https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/a-crypto-thesis-47eaacf861ca
Fidelity launching a Bitcoin custody service in March: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-29/fidelity-is-said-to-plan-march-launch-of-bitcoin-custody-service
Chandan Lodha, cofounder and CEO of CoinTracker, explains why reports from crypto exchanges could be insufficient for filing accurate tax returns to the IRS, how one should track one's crypto transactions in order to not over- or under-pay, and who can use the service. We also discuss how users should treat airdropped coins, new, comprehensive rules on crypto taxation for UK taxpayers and correlations in coin ownership that CoinTracker sees amongst its users.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links
CoinTracker: https://www.cointracker.io
Chandan Lodha: https://twitter.com/cglodha
Unchained episode on all crypto-related tax issues: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-tax-rules-that-have-crypto-users-aghast/
CoinTracker integration with TurboTax: https://medium.com/cointracker/cointracker-partners-with-coinbase-and-turbotax-17f37a08bbb
CoinTracker and Coinbase integration (announced after we recorded): https://blog.coinbase.com/new-resources-for-crypto-taxes-b29651c3f5d4
CoinTracker post on UK tax guidance: https://medium.com/cointracker/cryptocurrency-taxation-in-the-united-kingdom-3d99bb81b6b5
CoinTracker Cryptocurrency Coin Correlations: https://medium.com/cointracker/whats-in-your-wallet-cryptocurrency-coin-correlations-6c0aa6274882
The newly formed Blockchain Association recently released a post outlining what it calls the Hinman Token Standard based on a speech given last summer by Bill Hinman, director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. The Blockchain Association's director of external affairs, Kristin Smith, breaks down what factors are part of the standard, how much weight should be given to remarks he gave at a conference and how decentralization can square with leadership. We also discuss the Token Taxonomy Act, which seeks to amend the Securities Exchange Act to define "digital tokens" and when they are not securities.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
The Blockchain Association: https://theblockchainassociation.org
Kristin Smith: https://twitter.com/KMSmithDC
The Hinman Token Standard: https://medium.com/@BlockchainAssoc/understanding-the-secs-guidance-on-digital-tokens-the-hinman-token-standard-dd51c6105e2a
Token Taxonomy Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/7356
Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, discusses this week's 51% attack on the Ethereum Classic blockchain. He describes how the attacker was able to gain control of more than 51% of the network, why it was inexpensive for them to do so, how they profited from their attack and who loses money in such an attack. We talk about what types of blockchains are susceptible to these types of attacks, whether or not Coinbase or other exchange will de-list ETC and why the price of ETC hasn't dropped -- and what that means for cryptoeconomic theories around 51% attacks.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Coinbase blog identifying the 51% attack: https://blog.coinbase.com/ethereum-classic-etc-is-currently-being-51-attacked-33be13ce32de
Charlie's tweet about how a coin that's dominant in its respective mining algorithm will not be vulnerable to 51% attacks: https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite/status/1082369887278837763
Charlie's tweet about how only decentralized blockchains are susceptible to 51% attacks: https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite/status/1082491687169998848
Haseeb Qureshi tweet storm about the ETC 51% attack: https://twitter.com/hosseeb/status/1082815549132816384
On the 10th birthday of the Bitcoin network, Arjun Balaji, founder and managing partner at Shomei Capital, explains why doesn't worry too much about potential bugs in the code such as there was last fall, why we'll see improved scalability, privacy and fungibility in the top cryptocurrency in 2019, and why he believes the Lightning Network will foster more developer activity on Bitcoin. He also explains his view that governance tokens and token curated registries will be less popular than they were in 2018 and how such systems further entrench existing power structures. We look at the different waves of crypto funds, how they'll differentiate themselves during the crypto winter, and why we'll see some consolidation in that sector. Plus, he explains why long-term, value from security tokens will be captured by underwriters and why it's unclear who are the right investors for security tokens.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Arjun's crypto theses for 2019: https://medium.com/@arjunblj/crypto-theses-for-2019-dd20cb7f9895
CVE bug in Bitcoin caught last fall: https://www.coindesk.com/the-latest-bitcoin-bug-was-so-bad-developers-kept-its-full-details-a-secret
Jemma Green, cofounder and chairman of PowerLedger, describes how the company, which won the 2018 Extreme Tech Challenge, spearheaded by Sir Richard Branson and CES, is using tokens to solve various energy problems. One is the principal-agent problem in which the landlords of residential buildings don't have an incentive to install renewables because the tenants are the ones who would recoup the savings. Another is that, as more people install renewables, the grid is becoming less robust and more expensive. She describes the two types of tokens PowerLedger has, how that enables peer-to-peer trading but also involves the utilities, which pilots they have going now, how they're enabling energy asset financing and their work with carbon credits.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
PowerLedger: https://www.powerledger.io
Jemma Green: https://twitter.com/msjemmagreen
PowerLedger wins the Extreme Tech Challenge: https://medium.com/power-ledger/power-ledger-named-winner-in-extreme-tech-challenge-on-necker-island-423bcaa5e082
PowerLedger's pitch at XTC: https://medium.com/power-ledger/xtc-2018-power-ledgers-final-pitch-d69b66a329c6
Australian Financial Review Article that came out after we recorded on how small PowerLedger's uptake is so far: https://www.afr.com/business/energy/how-to-make-and-lose-2-billion-on-blockchain-20181212-h1914w
Bloomberg reporter Matt Leising, who obtained bank statements from Tether's bank, Noble Bank in Puerto Rico, found that for those months, the number of dollars in the bank matched the amount of Tether outstanding. He talks about what this means, whether it matters that both Tether and Noble Bank were founded by Brock Pierce, and whether it matters that the statements are not the most recent. We also touch on other investigations involving Tether, including the CFTC's investigation into whether Tether is fully backed by dollar reserves, the Department of Justice's investigation into whether Tether was used to manipulate the Bitcoin price, and why both Tether and Bitfinex have had such a hard time maintaining banking relationships.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Matt Leising: https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/AGfq0QVqo0I/matthew-leising
https://mobile.twitter.com/mattleising
His story on Tether: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-18/crypto-mystery-clues-suggest-tether-has-the-billions-it-promised?srnd=premium
CFTC subpoeanas Tether and Bitfinex:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/crypto-exchange-bitfinex-tether-said-to-get-subpoenaed-by-cftc
Bitfinex moves to Noble Bank: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/bitfinex-said-to-find-bank-in-puerto-rico-after-wells-fargo-exit
Tether moves to Deltec bank: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-02/bank-tied-to-tether-goes-quiet-on-relationship-with-crypto-firm
DOJ’s investigation into whether Tether was used to manipulate the Bitcoin price: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-20/bitcoin-rigging-criminal-probe-is-said-to-focus-on-tie-to-tether
This special episode is a recording of the closing fireside chat I had at Consensus: Invest, titled “Financial Products: 2019 and Beyond,” with Jan Van Eck, president and CEO of the Van Eck Securities Corporation, and Mike Belshe, cofounder and CEO of BitGo. During the talk, we discuss SEC chairman Jay Clayton’s comments earlier that day that the main barrier to a Bitcoin ETF was market manipulation. We dive into how well the problem of custody has been solved for potential financial products, and what the entrance of Bakkt and Fidelity could mean for the space in 2019.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Thank you to Consensus: Invest for inviting me to moderate! https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-invest-2018/agenda
Van Eck: https://www.vaneck.com
BitGo: https://bitgo.com
The comments with SEC chairman Jay Clayton that we reference at the beginning: https://www.coindesk.com/sec-jay-clayton-consensus-invest-video
An article on what he said: https://www.coindesk.com/clayton-sec-ico-funding-security-offering
ConsenSys's Andrew Keys talks about the company's recent pivot, called "ConsenSys 2.0," toward greater efficiency, accountability and focus on revenue, why it laid off about 150 people, and what areas it plans to generate revenue from. He explains what the company's mission and goals were in ConsenSys 1.0, how its new priorities will resemble those of more traditional companies, and whether it will retain its flat, unhierarchical structure. Plus, he reveals that the company has "years" of runway left, even as it toys with taking on outside investment.
Thank you to our sponsor:
CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode links:
ConsenSys: https://consensys.net
Andrew Keys: https://twitter.com/consensysandrew
Jeff Kauflin's article about ConsenSys: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2018/12/05/cryptopia-in-crisis-billionaire-joe-lubins-ethereum-experiment-is-a-mess-how-long-will-he-prop-it-up/
Unconfirmed episode about ConsenSys with Jeff: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/how-consensys-got-so-big-but-accomplished-so-little-ep049
Joe Lubin's letter to ConsenSys staff about the 2.0 pivot: https://breakermag.com/exclusive-consensys-letter-to-staff-details-major-strategy-shift/
CoinDesk article about restructuring: https://www.coindesk.com/lubin-wont-rule-out-layoffs-amid-refocusing-at-consensys
13% of staff cut at ConsenSys: https://www.coindesk.com/consensys-confirms-layoffs-projecting-13-of-staff-at-startups-to-be-cut
Town Hall questions: https://www.coindesk.com/consensys-town-hall-shows-staff-shaken-at-ethereums-largest-startup
WSJ article about layoffs: https://www.coindesk.com/lubin-wont-rule-out-layoffs-amid-refocusing-at-consensys
Despite having Joe Lubin's billions at its back, and despite having 1,200 employees to build apparently anything they wanted in the Ethereum ecosystem, ConsenSys has accomplished very little and has little revenue -- so it's finally facing the music and laying off 13% of its employees. Jeff Kauflin, staff writer at Forbes, who wrote a great story on how ConsenSys is flailing, discusses how the company got to this place. (Hint: asteroid mining and college diplomas on a blockchain are part of the answer.) We talk about whether any ConsenSys projects actually have some traction, how much of the new focus has to do with the downturn in the crypto markets -- particularly bitcoin and ether, which are rumored to comprise most of Lubin's wealth -- and what ConsenSys's difficulties mean for Ethereum.
Thank you to our sponsor!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
Episode Links:
Jeff Kauflin's stories on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/#6083b54463ae
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeffKauflin
Jeff's story on ConsenSys: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2018/12/05/cryptopia-in-crisis-billionaire-joe-lubins-ethereum-experiment-is-a-mess-how-long-will-he-prop-it-up/#c3354702f0a6
Letter from Joe announcing new focus on efficiency and revenue: https://breakermag.com/exclusive-consensys-letter-to-staff-details-major-strategy-shift/
CoinDesk article reporting layoffs at ConsenSys: https://www.coindesk.com/consensys-confirms-layoffs-projecting-13-of-staff-at-startups-to-be-cut
Joe Lubin's estimated personal wealth as of early 2018: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2018/02/07/joseph-lubin-ethereum-ether-consensys-crypto-cryptocurrency/#58d513863575
Jackson Palmer, the creator of Dogecoin and the website Are We Decentralized Yet, explains why he thinks the markets suddenly took a nosedive, why it's hard for him to get data on these crypto assets for the Are We Decentralized Yet website -- unless there's a centralized company behind them -- and how Ripple and Initiative Q are somewhat similar. We also covered the perpetual question of how much of Ripple's social media support is real vs. bots, what "fair distribution" of coins means, why mining isn't for "anybody" but for the privileged, and whether or not proof of stake coins could be secure or whether they'll also be susceptible to centralization.
Thank you to our advertisers!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed
WeTrust: https://wetrust.io/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Jackson Palmer: https://twitter.com/ummjackson
Jackson Palmer's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/JacksonPalmer
Jackson Palmer's website: https://ummjackson.com
Dogecoin: https://dogecoin.com
Are We Decentralized Yet: https://arewedecentralizedyet.com
In lieu of a regular episode during this (U.S.) holiday, I'm releasing the audio from my TEDx San Francisco Talk.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Abra: Click this special link for a free $25 in Bitcoin! https://www.abra.com/unconfirmed
WeTrust: Donate in crypto and have your donation matched by WeTrust through Giving Tuesday, November 27! http://wetrust.io/unconfirmed
Links:
TEDx San Francisco: https://www.tedxsanfrancisco.com
Video of the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Ew7PW4LCo
My Unconfirmed episode with Bill Tai: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/how-crypto-will-give-you-more-flexibility-in-your-work-ep033
Bitcoin Magazine technical editor Aaron Van Wirdum breaks down what is going on with the Bitcoin Cash contentious hard fork: who is fighting, over what, and how this could play out, including the nuclear option of a proof of work algorithm change. We discuss whether the battle could deliver a verdict on the question of whether hash power follows price or vice versa, what this says about the strength of proof of work as an algorithm over proof of stake, and what Bitcoin Cash holders should do.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Abra: Click this special link for a free $25 in Bitcoin! https://www.abra.com/unconfirmed
WeTrust: Donate in crypto and have your donation matched by WeTrust through Giving Tuesday, November 27! http://wetrust.io/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Aaron Van Wirdum: https://twitter.com/AaronvanW
Aaron's article on the Bitcoin Cash contentious hard fork: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/when-fork-forks-what-you-need-know-bitcoin-cash-goes-war/
Jordan Clifford of Scalar Capital explains the split: https://medium.com/@jcliff/bitcoin-cashs-november-2018-fork-804596268771
Where you can watch the battle between Bitcoin ABC and SV: https://cash.coin.dance
Tweet storm on Bitcoin Cash hard fork by Emin Gun Sirer: https://twitter.com/el33th4xor/status/1063074170739744768
Gun's tweet about the security of proof of work vs. proof of stake: https://twitter.com/el33th4xor/status/1062963517530103808
Emin Gun Sirer, Cornell professor, co-director at the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts (IC3) and the founder of Ava, talks about the settlement the SEC reached with the founder of EtherDelta, and what that could mean for the coders of decentralized systems. He also puts this action in the context of the history of peer-to-peer sharing and how the government used to prohibit encryption. We also discuss his main takeaway from DevCon4 last week -- hint, maximalism is probably not the future -- and he explains a new consensus algorithm called Avalanche, and how that differs from previous ways to achieve consensus. Then, he gives us a sneak preview of a new coin he is launching, Ava.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Abra: Click this special link for a free $25 in Bitcoin! https://www.abra.com/unconfirmed
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Episode links:
Emin Gun Sirer: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/egs/
IC3: https://www.initc3.org
SEC/EtherDelta settlement press release: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-258
SEC order: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2018/34-84553.pdf
CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz's speech discussing how they would prosecute illegal prediction markets and how coders could be liable: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opaquintenz16
Unchained episode discussing whether coders would be liable: http://unchainedpodcast.co/reflections-on-the-10-year-anniversary-of-the-bitcoin-white-paper-ep90
DevCon4: https://devcon4.ethereum.org
Avalanche white paper: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmUy4jh5mGNZvLkjies1RWM4YuvJh5o2FYopNPVYwrRVGV
Ava: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2629017553989259&id=1801780960046260
To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the publication of the Bitcoin white paper, Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, asks how Bitcoin can go from a speculative asset to real money (hint: the Lightning Network plays a role) and explains what he thinks is the significance of Fidelity getting into crypto and Bakkt launching. He also tells the story of how Poker Black Friday, when the government shut down online poker sites, demonstrates the need for Bitcoin, which leads us to discuss whether or not Bitcoin is mostly good for criminal activities. We explore how Satoshi leaving Bitcoin has influenced its trajectory, and, looking to the next 10 years, Charlie wonders whether we'll find, via its market cap, that Bitcoin truly is a better store of value than gold -- plus, he gives us his vision for Litecoin.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Abra: Click this special link for a free $25 in Bitcoin! https://www.abra.com/unconfirmed
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
WeTrust: Donate in crypto and have your donation matched by WeTrust through Giving Tuesday, November 27! http://wetrust.io/unconfirmed
Episode links:
Charlie Lee: https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite
Litecoin: https://litecoin.org
Bitcoin white paper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Lightning Network: https://lightning.network
Unconfirmed episode with Fidelity Digital Asset Services' Tom Jessop: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/fidelity-digital-asset-services-tom-jessop-on-why-its-serving-institutional-clients-first-ep043
Fidelity Digital Asset Services president Tom Jessop explains why its new crypto offering for institutional clients is focused on custody and trade execution, why it's decided not to launch its own exchange, and what kinds of trading capabilities from traditional financial services they plan to build out in the space. He also describes Fidelity's journey to this point -- how it started mining Bitcoin in 2015, had employees buy what must now be some of the world's most expensive bagels in the company cafeteria, and enabled Bitcoin donations in its donor advised funds. He also answers whether or not they plan to create a digital asset offering for retail customers, how custodying digital assets is different from custodying traditional assets and how he came to Fidelity after experience at Goldman Sachs and Chain.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Blockdaemon: http://blockdaemon.com/unchained/
Episode links:
Fidelity Digital Assets: https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/overview
Fidelity's journey in crypto: https://medium.com/@FidelityDigitalAssets/fidelity-digital-assets-the-journey-from-idea-to-market-3ab3bf4b38d5
Custody of digital assets: https://medium.com/@FidelityDigitalAssets/custody-in-the-age-of-digital-assets-95799f347016
Endowments investing in crypto: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/harvard-stanford-mit-endowments-invest-in-crypto-funds
Dan McArdle, cofounder of Messari and the creator of OnChainFX, discusses why tether lost its dollar peg, how the Gemini USD traded at above $1, and how this was similar to the time before Mt. Gox imploded. We also discuss the significance of the Fidelity news, plus McArdle's thesis on how Bitcoin would behave in a recession -- which isn't the conventional wisdom.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Blockdaemon: http://blockdaemon.com/unchained/
OnRamp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Episode links:
Dan McArdle: https://twitter.com/robustus
Messari: https://messari.io
OnChainFX: https://onchainfx.com
Tether falls in price: https://www.coindesk.com/price-of-tether-stablecoin-tanks-to-18-month-low/
Gemini trades as high as $1.09: https://www.coindesk.com/gemini-stablecoin-volume-doubles-top-10-exchange-bibox-tether-turmoil/
Bitfinex's banking situation: https://theblockcrypto.com/2018/10/16/tether-has-found-a-new-bank-in-the-caribbean/
https://theblockcrypto.com/2018/10/16/bitfinex-appears-to-have-moved-its-business-to-a-hong-kong-bank/
Unchained episode in which I answer listener questions: http://unchainedpodcast.co/listener-mail-laura-answers-your-questions-on-the-markets-velocity-privacy-and-more-ep88
Fidelity's news: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2018/10/15/fidelity-launches-institutional-platform-for-bitcoin-and-ethereum/
Dan's thoughts on how Bitcoin could behave in a recession: https://twitter.com/robustus/status/1010240675189805063
Soona Amhaz of Token Daily talks about how we've misused the word decentralization and stretched it to the point of meaninglessness. She discusses how certain companies misrepresent being decentralized and walks us through some misleading graphs put out by Ripple and EOS. She also explains why, when a good metric becomes a target, people will then game it, and why we should be open to projects becoming decentralized over time.
We also talk about tribalism, and why it's bad in only some instances -- like for investors -- but good for other groups of people in the crypto space. Plus, we dish about Nouriel Roubini's and Peter Van Valkenburgh's testimony to the Senate on cryptocurrencies.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Blockdaemon: http://blockdaemon.com/unchained/
Interested in sponsoring Unchained or Unconfirmed? Contact Raelene at laurashinpodcast@gmail.com.
Episode links:
Soona Amhaz: https://twitter.com/soonaorlater
Token Daily: https://www.tokendaily.co
Crypto Springs: http://www.cryptosprings.org
Unchained episode on Ripple: http://unchainedpodcast.co/ripples-xrp-why-its-chances-of-success-are-low-ep58
Singularity episode with Galia Benartzi of Bancor: http://unchainedpodcast.co/singularity-university-global-summit-how-do-we-get-consumer-adoption-ep83
The bug in the Bitcoin software: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qvakp3/a-major-bug-in-bitcoin-software-could-have-crashed-the-currency
The Senate hearings on crypto featuring NYU economist Nouriel Roubini and Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFc0Um6WUU4
Sample of Roubini's tweets: https://twitter.com/Nouriel/status/1050425363413827584
Bill Barhydt, founder and CEO of Abra, describes its new product, the BIT10, which it created in partnership with Bitwise Asset Management (full disclosure: Bitwise previously sponsored my podcasts). He outlines the way the token is similar to an ETF -- for instance, it rebalances monthly -- and the ways in which it differs. We also compare and contrast it to similar offerings announced by Coinbase and Circle. Bill also explains Abra's overall strategy and recent pivot, why it is built on Bitcoin and its future plans.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Blockdaemon: http://blockdaemon.com/unchained/
If you're interested in sponsoring Unchained or Unconfirmed, reach out to Raelene at laurashinpodcast@gmail.com.
Episode links:
Abra: https://www.abra.com/
Bill Barhydt: https://twitter.com/billbarhydt
BIT10: https://www.abra.com/index/bit10/
Bitwise: https://www.bitwiseinvestments.com
Singularity episode: http://unchainedpodcast.co/singularity-university-global-summit-how-do-we-get-consumer-adoption-ep83
Rune Christensen, founder and CEO of MakerDao, explains what Andreessen Horowitz's $15 million investment in its Maker token means for the ecosystem and why they chose to work with a16z and its general partner Kathryn Haun. He also responds to criticism that the process took place behind closed doors despite the fact that MakerDao has a notably open, transparent system otherwise, and concerns about the seeming discount of 40% that the a16z team got. He also talks about whether or not MakerDao could amass too much power in the Ethereum ecosystem, thereby centralizing power around the Dai stablecoin.
If you're interested in sponsoring Unchained or Unconfirmed, reach out to Raelene at laurashinpodcast@gmail.com!
Episode links:
Rune Christensen: https://twitter.com/runekek
MakerDao: https://makerdao.com
Announcement about investment from a16z: https://medium.com/makerdao/a16z-crypto-purchases-6-of-mkr-backing-stablecoin-vanguard-makerdao-ff410a692393
Rune's comments about why MakerDao wants to work with a16z and Kathryn Haun: https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/comments/9ihwz0/big_news_az16z_buys_6_of_makerdao/e6jque0/
Critiques from Meltem Demirors about the process for deciding upon this investment: https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem/status/1044217806043181057
MakerDao being ready to move to multi-collateralized Dai: https://medium.com/makerdao/the-code-is-ready-2aee2aa62e73
A previous episode of Unchained with Rune: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable
A previous episode of Unconfirmed with Katie Haun:
http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/sxsw-episode-former-doj-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-what-the-sec-subpoenas-and-fincen-letter-likely-mean
A previous episode of Unchained with Katie Haun, when she was a federal prosecutor:
http://unchainedpodcast.co/federal-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-how-criminals-use-bitcoin-and-how-she-catches-them
Linda Xie, cofounder at Scalar Capital, talks about what she saw at ETHBerlin, why it made her think Ethereum's first-mover advantage may be hard for other smart contract platforms to overcome and how the crypto community in Berlin differed from that of Silicon Valley. She also talked about why Scalar Capital is focused on privacy coins, how her experience at Coinbase informed that, and what impact it would have on her investments if a more widely used coin like Bitcoin adopted privacy features. Finally, she talked about common mistakes crypto teams are making and what advice she finds herself commonly giving nowadays.
If you're interested in sponsoring Unchained or Unconfirmed:
Email Raelene at laurashinpodcast@gmail.com.
Episode links:
Linda Xie: https://twitter.com/ljxie
Scalar Capital: https://scalar.capital
Linda's thoughts on the Ethereum hackathons she's attended over the last year, including ETHBerlin: https://medium.com/@linda.xie/building-a-developer-community-66e6a47674d7
Unchained interview with Dominic Williams of Dfinity: http://unchainedpodcast.co/dfinitys-dominic-williams-on-how-its-blockchain-nervous-system-is-not-an-ai-ep78
Unchained interviews with a few decentralized finance projects being built on Ethereum:
Compound: http://unchainedpodcast.co/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep82
Dharma: http://unchainedpodcast.co/nadav-hollander-on-how-dharma-could-create-new-forms-of-debt-ep80
0x: http://unchainedpodcast.co/will-warren-of-0x-on-why-decentralized-exchanges-are-the-future
Unchained interview with Zooko Wilcox of Zcash: http://unchainedpodcast.co/zcashs-zooko-wilcox-on-why-he-believes-privacy-coins-will-be-used-more-for-good-than-bad
Alex Sunnarborg, founding partner of Tetras Capital, describes the three core buckets his fund is investing in, how they're investing during this bear market, and why the firm has decided to short ether. He also describes why he thinks dapps could take off, but the value of ether may not rise anyway, and gives us some insight into how he thinks psychology plays into market rhythms. Plus, he explains why he's long Ethereum but short ETH.
Alex Sunnarborg: https://twitter.com/alexsunnarborg
Tetras Capital: http://tetras.capital
Tetras's bearish thesis: https://medium.com/@tetrascapital/ether-eth-bearish-thesis-the-flippening-of-market-irrationality-8633e70ab498
Tetras's other writing: http://tetras.capital/partners/
Unchained episode with Joey Krug: http://unchainedpodcast.co/joey-krug-on-how-augur-is-like-any-other-tool-ep79
Unchained episode on CryptoKitties: http://unchainedpodcast.co/what-makes-a-cryptokitty-worth-140000-ep75
Unconfirmed episode on Joe Lubin's and Jimmy Song's bet on adoption of dapps: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/joe-lubin-and-jimmy-song-work-on-the-terms-of-their-bet-on-dapps-and-trash-talk-the-others-coin-ep034
Tetras founding partner Brendan Bernstein's article on how cryptocurrencies are money, not equity: https://tokeneconomy.co/cryptocurrencies-are-money-not-equity-30ff8d0491bb
Katherine Wu, director of business development and community at Messari, talks about the news that everyone on crypto Twitter was discussing this week: Shapeshift's decision to require customer accounts. The well-known crypto-to-crypto exchange has long been known for enabling anonymous transactions, and CEO Erik Voorhees is a noted libertarian who prefers less rather than more regulation, so the reversal was surprising to many in the crypto community. Katherine explains her theory as to why Shapeshift will be instituting customer accounts now after so many years of not requiring them, why this wasn't an easy decision for Erik to make and how Erik's personal history of run-ins with the law may have influenced this decision.
Potential sponsors!
This ad spot could be yours! Reach out to Raelene Gullapalli at laurashinpodcast@gmail.com to find out about sponsorship opportunities on Unconfirmed and Unchained.
Episode links:
Katherine Wu: https://twitter.com/katherineykwu
Messari: https://messari.io
https://info.shapeshift.io/blog/2018/09/04/introducing-shapeshift-membership/
Unchained interview with Shapeshift founder and CEO Erik Voorhees: http://unchainedpodcast.co/shapeshifts-erik-voorhees-on-how-crypto-will-separate-money-and-state
Katherine's tweet storm: https://twitter.com/katherineykwu/status/1037315100326158338
Jake Chervinsky's tweet storm: https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1037334799382401027
Erik's tweet about how everything he writes is being read closely: https://twitter.com/ErikVoorhees/status/1037070392140083200
For more on the alphabet soup of regulators covering crypto, check out this Unchained with Perianne Boring and Amy Kim of the Chamber of Digital Commerce: http://unchainedpodcast.co/the-chamber-of-digital-commerces-perianne-boring-and-amy-kim-on-why-us-crypto-regulation-is-complicated-and-confusing
Shapeshift's announcement about its new chief legal officer: https://ag.shapeshift.io/press-release/shapeshift-hires-new-chief-legal-officer/
Bloomberg article on Shapeshift's U-turn on accounts: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-05/crypto-world-rocked-after-long-time-advocate-voorhees-backpedals
Pamela Morgan, a lawyer in the blockchain space and the author of Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning, explains how you can pass on your crypto assets to your heirs without them or anyone else getting ahold of them beforehand. Surprisingly, the first step begins with a letter. She explains what information to put in that letter, how to choose helpers, and how to protect your private keys. We also discuss what you should do legally to help the process along and what kind of tax prep you should follow.
Pamela has graciously given Unconfirmed a complimentary copy of Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning, which we’ll be giving away. To win the book, tweet about it and tag me, @laurashin and @PamelawJD, and next Friday I will pick a name out of a hat and announce it on next week’s episode.
Announcement: On October 26, Pamela will be in Chicago, where she's teaching a 1/2 day legal workshop: Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Smart Contact Essentials. It's open to lawyers, law students, and law curious. Learn more at empoweredlaw.com.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Digital Asset Custody Company: https://digitalassetcustody.com
Episode links:
Pamela Morgan: https://empoweredlaw.com
https://twitter.com/pamelawjd
Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BRQ864J/
Wired article on Coinbase's custody rituals: https://www.wired.com/story/coinbase-physical-vault-to-secure-a-virtual-currency/
Joe Lubin, cofounder of Ethereum and founder of ConsenSys, and Jimmy Song, partner at Blockchain Capital and founder of Programming Blockchain, pick up the bet they started at the Consensus conference in May. The challenge was on whether or not we would see several decentralized apps with real user traction five years from now, with Joe taking the yes side of the bet and Jimmy taking the no side. However, the terms of the agreement were still to be worked out. On Unchained, Jimmy proposed that Joe wins and he loses if five dapps have 10,000 daily active users and 100,000 monthly active users over a six-month period. Joe, who isn’t quite certain about what terms exactly he’d be willing to agree to, proposes a cry-uncle escape clause, Jimmy expresses his concern that Joe goes to jail and can’t deliver on any payout, and multi billionaire Joe scoffs at Jimmy’s offer to put 100 BTC on the line.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Digital Asset Custody Company: https://digitalassetcustody.com/
Episode links:
Jimmy Song on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmysong
Blockchain Capital: http://blockchain.capital/
Programming Blockchain: http://programmingblockchain.com
Joe Lubin: https://twitter.com/ethereumjoseph
ConsenSys: https://new.consensys.net/
Jimmy Song on Unchained, during which he proposes the terms of the bet:
http://unchainedpodcast.co/jimmy-song-on-why-bitcoin-will-be-the-winning-cryptocurrency-ep69
Video of Amber Baldet, Joe Lubin and Jimmy's panel at Consensus -- video 31 under Day 1: https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2018/videos/
Silicon Valley capitalist and longtime crypto investor Bill Tai discusses some interesting theories about how crypto is changing money and work. He starts by talking about the shift from oil- to electron-based currencies. He also describes how people have worked flexibly, as individuals, for most of human history and only recently have they become cogs in a wheel, beholden to one employer. Crypto, he believes, will shift us back to more flexible work models. We also talked about a new project he's launched with CryptoKitties to try to fund endangered species -- the Honu Kitty -- which raised $25,000 to support turtle conservation, marine protection and other conservation projects. He'a also got more ideas for how crypto collectibles could help endangered species.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Digital Asset Custody: https://digitalassetcustody.com
Episode links:
Bill Tai: https://twitter.com/KiteVC
Actai Global: http://actai.global
Bill on how electricity has replaced oil as the basis for productivity: https://medium.com/@billtai/currency-in-the-4th-industrial-revolution-19a73d47b6c5
Speaking at the Milken conference on how the petro dollar was like an ICO: https://video.cube365.net/l/8n5dF-FzQWmXBg2LUuvS3A
Honu the CryptoKitty: https://medium.com/cryptokitties/honu-the-charity-kitty-is-making-waves-1c21315a09bd
Caitlin Long, who’s working on a book about Wall Street and crypto assets and is the cofounder of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, discusses the significance of the creation of Bakkt, a new federally regulated market for Bitcoin, by ICE, Microsoft, Starbucks and investment firms Fortress Investment Group, Eagle Seven, and Susquehanna International Group. She explains why she thinks the price of bitcoin didn't jump after the news, what this move could mean for institutional players getting into crypto and why it could lead to systemic risks. We also discuss some remarks by ICE founder, chairman and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher about how the enterprise would bring "transparency and trust" to crypto.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Digital Asset Custody Company: https://digitalassetcustody.com
Episode links:
Caitlin's articles on the announcement: https://www.forbes.com/sites/caitlinlong/2018/08/03/ice-creating-new-cryptocurrency-market-a-double-edged-sword/#50803d791015
Tweet from SEC commissioner Hester Peirce regarding comment on crypto funds: https://twitter.com/HesterPeirce/status/1027273379819204608
Bakkt press release: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180803005236/en/Intercontinental-Exchange-Announces-Bakkt-Global-Platform-Ecosystem
Fortune article on Bakkt: http://fortune.com/longform/nyse-owner-bitcoin-exchange-startup/
Tricia Martinez, director of the Dala Foundation and founder and CEO of Wala, describes how cryptocurrency Dala is being used in Africa and how it hit 100,000 new wallets and 2.5 million in transactions in two months, with an average transaction size of around $0.27. She talks about how 94% of transactions in Africa are still being done in cash, why the problem she's trying to solve needs its own cryptocurrency and can't use bitcoin or ether, and how Wala's users are using Dala. Plus, she explains why she's focusing her entrepreneurial efforts in Africa and other emerging markets.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com/
Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com/
Show links:
Dala Foundation: https://dala.org/
Wala: https://getwala.com/
Tricia: https://twitter.com/TriciaTita
CoinList founder and president Andy Bromberg talks about why the ICO services firm has worked with only five out of 2,500 token projects, how tokenomic models are changing to ensure the viability of the network and also avoid incurring regulatory action, and why one of the biggest regulatory questions remaining is when a token shifts from being a security to a non-security. We also discuss why there's such a race in the stablecoin space, why there's been a shift toward building infrastructure, and what that infrastructure looks like.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com
Episode links:
CoinList: https://coinlist.co
Andy Bromberg: https://twitter.com/andy_bromberg?lang=en
Unchained episode on stablecoins: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable
Unchained episode on the main regulatory issues regarding crypto: http://unchainedpodcast.co/the-chamber-of-digital-commerces-perianne-boring-and-amy-kim-on-why-us-crypto-regulation-is-complicated-and-confusing
Unconfirmed episode on SEC Director Bill Hinman's statement that, leaving aside the manner of sale, ether, in its current form, is not a security: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/coinbases-adam-white-on-a-momentous-day-in-crypto-ep023
In this wide-ranging conversation, the Token Economy newsletter coauthor Stefano Bernardi talks about fully digital security tokens -- security tokens with no relation to real world securities like companies and real estate, but that represent securities from DAOs and other purely crypto entities. He also discusses a new evolution in cryptoeconomics -- multiple-token economies that utilize different tokens to incentivize various behaviors on a network. For instance, one system might have a security token for accredited investors and a utility token for users. Stefano also explains why he thinks personal data monetization projects won't take off, and at the end, we dive into the question of how DAOs and blockchain technology might lead to a less capitalist world.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com
Links from the show:
Stefano: https://twitter.com/stefanobernardi
Token Economy: https://tokeneconomy.co/
World After Capital: http://worldaftercapital.org/
Failure of the old-world corporation: https://tokeneconomy.co/token-economy-35-the-failure-of-the-old-world-corporation-35ac2312eced
The Zero-Cost Marginal Society: https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Marginal-Cost-Society-Collaborative/dp/1137278463/
In this special episode I hosted with CNBC Crypto Trader, Ran Neu Ner and I talk with Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CEO of crypto hedge fund Polychain Capital. We discuss his early career, what sets this crypto downturn apart from previous ones and why we see hardcore tribalism in the crypto space. He also explains what types of investments and technologies he looks for, why we won't see one dominant breakthrough and why "no one cares about incrementally faster bank settlement but paradigm shifts."
Thank you to our sponsors!
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com
Polychain Capital: http://polychain.capital
CNBC Crypto Trader: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN9Nj4tjXbVTLYWN0EKly_Q
Independent crypto analyst Willy Woo, who blogs at Woobull.com, talks about where he sees the price of Bitcoin going over the next six months. (Hint: He uses the word "sideways.") He also describes his concept of NVT Ratio, the Bitcoin equivalent of price-to-earnings ratio, and how that helps determine whether bitcoin and certain other coins are over- or undervalued. We also discuss his 10,000-year view of cryptocurrency, and why he believes we're only nine years away from half of the world using Bitcoin.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Clarity PR: http://clarity.pr
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Links for this episode:
https://woobull.com
https://twitter.com/woonomic
Willy's recent tweets on the short-term future price of Bitcoin: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1000223528803762176
The Unconfirmed episode in which Coinbase's Adam White estimates conservatively, that $10 billion of institutional money is waiting to come into crypto: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/coinbases-adam-white-on-a-momentous-day-in-crypto-ep023
Willy's 10,000-year view of cryptocurrency:
Graphic: https://woobull.com/the-10-000-year-view-of-cryptocurrency/
https://woobull.com/the-state-of-crypto-markets-q4-2017/
NVT Ratio: https://woobull.com/introducing-nvt-ratio-bitcoins-pe-ratio-use-it-to-detect-bubbles/
NVT Signal: https://woobull.com/nvt-signal-a-new-trading-indicator-to-pick-tops-and-bottoms/
Demian Brener, the cofounder and CEO of Zeppelin discusses a dilemma he's seeing investors be concerned about: whether blockchains should be immutable forever or whether it should be possible to upgrade smart contracts over time. He explains why he doesn't see it as a dilemma, how it could be possible to have an upgradeable, immutable blockchain. We also cover another trend he's seeing: would-be ICO issuers instead turning to airdrops as a way to avoid some regulatory issues. Now that Tezos Betanet has launched (plus EOS and Dfinity are in the race), we talk about what factors will determine which smart contract platforms come out on top, plus Brener describes how the libraries he's building at Zeppelin OS could factor in.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Clarity PR: http://clarity.pr
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Links for the show:
Zeppelin OS: https://zeppelinos.org
Tezos Betanet: https://tezos.com/betanet/
Dfinity airdrop: https://medium.com/dfinity/liftoff-the-dfinity-community-airdrop-is-here-5a11b94a2d03
Kyle Samani, managing partner of Multicoin Capital, talks about what got him really excited at this week's Zcon0 conference for Zcash -- primarily, technologies that could make possible a future of massively scalable blockchains featuring default private transactions that would still make possible selective viewing to, say, auditors. He also recaps the major incidents around EOS's launch and how the community plans to change its governance, by trying out a new ethos of "intent of code" is law. We also discuss whether or not it's even possible to enforce that and how EOS's governance system compares to the one in Bitcoin. Finally, we also touch on some of the news around VCs investing in crypto, starting with some of the biggest news this week -- Kathryn Haun's appointment as the new GP of Andreessen Horowitz, where she will be co-managing its new crypto fund -- and the various strategies that VC firms are using to invest in crypto.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Clarity PR: http://clarity.pr
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Links from the episode:
The Zcon0 conference: https://z.cash.foundation/zcon/
Unchained episode with Zooko Wilcox: http://unchainedpodcast.co/zcashs-zooko-wilcox-on-why-he-believes-privacy-coins-will-be-used-more-for-good-than-bad
The "intent of code" is law post by Dan Larimer, CTO of Block.one, the company behind EOS: https://medium.com/@bytemaster/the-intent-of-code-is-law-c0e0cd318032
Katie Haun becoming the new GP at Andreessen Horowitz, where she will co-manage its new crypto fund: https://a16z.com/2018/06/25/katie-haun/
More on a16z crypto: https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/25/andreessen-horowitz-has-a-new-crypto-fund-and-its-first-female-general-partner-is-running-it-with-chris-dixon/amp/
Episodes with Katie:
Unconfirmed: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/sxsw-episode-former-doj-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-what-the-sec-subpoenas-and-fincen-letter-likely-mean
Unchained: http://unchainedpodcast.co/live-from-inforum-at-the-commonwealth-club-blockchain-and-cryptocurrency-the-basics-with-kathryn-haun
http://unchainedpodcast.co/federal-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-how-criminals-use-bitcoin-and-how-she-catches-them
The different strategies VC firms are using to invest in crypto:
https://www.recode.net/2018/6/21/17484524/venture-capital-cryptocurrency-investing-structures
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, a contributing writer at Wired, came out with a cover story in the magazine earlier this week that investigated the actions of both sides in the Tezos boardroom battle. Lewis-Kraus walks us through the accusations on both sides and explains how the balance of the blame seems to lie with foundation head, Johann Gevers, who had numerous conflicts of interest, proposed an unjustified payment for himself and appears to have tried to revive his faltering company Monetas by riding on the coattails of Tezos's success with the ICO. Lewis-Kraus also tells us what he thinks are the big takeaways from the Tezos fight for other crypto entrepreneurs.
Gideon Lewis-Kraus: http://www.gideonlk.com
His Wired cover story: Inside the Crypto World's Biggest Scandal: https://www.wired.com/story/tezos-blockchain-love-story-horror-story/
Tezos: https://tezos.com
Thank you to our sponsor!
Onramp: http://thinkonramp.com
Adam White, vice president and general manager of Coinbase, explains why he believes the SEC's statement Thursday that ether, in its current form, is not a security, is a historic moment in crypto. Also, from his vantage point of being steeped in the industry but interacting regularly with institutional investors and regulators, he describes where crypto is right now and why he believes it will be moving from an investment phase to a utility phase. He also discusses Coinbase's many recent announcements, from the fact that it will soon be a regulated broker dealer, to the establishment of services for institutional investors such as Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Markets and Coinbase Prime, to its acquisition of decentralized relay Paradex. He also explains why Coinbase decided to list Ethereum Classic, gives an answer to the Twitter people requesting Coinbase list XRP, and describes the main developments he believes are necessary to bring established financial institutions into crypto trading.
Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/
Adam White: https://twitter.com/WhiteAdamL
The SEC's speech containing the line asserting that ether is, in its current form, not a security: https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/speech-hinman-061418
Coinbase's move toward becoming a regulated broker-dealer:
https://blog.coinbase.com/our-path-to-listing-sec-regulated-crypto-securities-a1724e13bb5ahttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-06/coinbase-seeks-broker-dealer-status-in-keystone-capital-takeover
Announcement of Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Markets, Coinbase Prime, Coinbase Institutional Coverage Group: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-institutional-deea317d23af
Coinbase's acquisition of Paradex: https://blog.coinbase.com/welcome-paradex-to-coinbase-62f16cc9bd74
Coinbase's announcement about Ethereum Classic: https://blog.coinbase.com/adding-ethereum-classic-support-to-coinbase-becb9a337e9c
Thank you to our sponsor!
Element Group: https://elementgroup.com/unconfirmed/
Joey Krug, cofounder of Augur and chief investment officer at Pantera Capital, talks about the upcoming Augur launch, and why we haven't yet seen a regular, non-deflationary, non-stablecoin cryptocurrency -- and how to create one. For instance, he says, an inflationary currency could distribute the inflation to particular groups. He also explains what the "impossible trinity" is and how an independent monetary policy in crypto might work. We also discuss new ways crypto projects are trying to solve the scalability problem and he gives us his take on the polarizing EOS network.
Joey Krug: https://twitter.com/joeykrug
Augur: http://www.augur.net
Pantera Capital: https://www.panteracapital.com
Basis: https://basis.io
Celer: https://www.celer.network
Counterfactual: https://counterfactual.com
Oasis Labs: https://www.oasislabs.com
Ankr: https://www.ankr.network
EOS: https://eos.io
Multicoin Capital on Unchained talking about tradeoffs: http://unchainedpodcast.co/multicoin-on-the-1-thing-crypto-teams-miss-in-their-quests-for-success
Thank you to our sponsor Element Group! https://elementgroup.com/unconfirmed/
Think Bitcoin and crypto assets are just vehicles for speculation? They're already having both a positive impact and negative impact when it comes to human rights, says Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation. Gladstein talks about how he first became enamored with Bitcoin because of its potential to solve hyperinflation, and why he believes Venezuela is the site of the world's first crypto war. He also covers why repressive governments are excited by centralized cryptocurrencies, why impact investing focused on the UN sustainable goals will not address human rights issues, and why blockchain-based elections, which many believe could be fair and transparent, could instead be terribly corrupt.
https://twitter.com/gladstein
https://oslofreedomforum.com/
https://www.hrf.org
Blockstack on Unchained: http://unchainedpodcast.co/blockstack-on-getting-independence-from-google-facebook-and-amazon
Stablecoins and MakerDAO on Unchained: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable
Roya Mahboob on Unchained: http://unchainedpodcast.co/how-bitcoin-solved-this-serial-entrepreneurs-problems
Bitcoin in Venezuela:
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/04/03/why-are-venezuelans-mining-so-much-bitcoin
https://www.wired.com/story/where-could-bitcoin-succeed-as-a-currency-in-a-failed-state/
https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2018/04/11/localbitcoins-com-replaces-dolartoday-as-standard-reference/
Data showing that Venezuela, at the time of this recording, accounts for 8.1% of all LocalBitcoins transactions: https://anacoinda.github.io/localbitcoins/all.html
The North Korean government using cryptocurrency:
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/2/28/17055762/north-korea-sanctions-bitcoin-nuclear-weapons
https://qz.com/1199400/north-korea-is-suspected-in-the-530-million-coincheck-cryptocurrency-heist/
Thank you to our sponsor!
Element Group: http://elementgroup.com/unconfirmed
Blockchain consultant, Jill Carlson, who has worked with 0x, dydx, Algorand, Tezos, O1 Labs, and the IMF, discusses why Blockchain Week to her seemed to be too much about Lambos and how crypto has reached its "illogical conclusion" and is replicating Wall Street's misbehaviors. Hence, the Department of Justice's investigation into the price manipulation of Bitcoin. However, she sees a bright spot in decentralized exchange, but believes blockchain-based credit is an area that needs further development -- and that relies on decentralized credit scoring.
Jill Carlson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_jillruth
On Medium: https://medium.com/@jillcarlson
Jill on how crypto looks a lot like Wall Street: https://www.coindesk.com/growing-greed-crypto-looks-lot-like-wall-street/
DOJ investigation into possible price manipulation of Bitcoin: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/bitcoin-manipulation-is-said-to-be-focus-of-u-s-criminal-probe
Jill on blockchain-based credit:
https://medium.com/@jillcarlson/the-mutual-communication-society-ae6a3a068858
Jill on credit scoring in a decentralized world:
https://medium.com/@jillcarlson/decentralized-credit-scoring-fe2c6c0611c6
Thank you to our sponsor, Element Group!
http://elementgroup.com/unconfirmed/
Mike Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital Capital Management, talks about the recently announced Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, why it's limited to just 12 cryptos, how traditional financial players know more about crypto than people believe they do, and how "the herd" is coming. He discusses the biggest obstacles to institutional money entering the space, how their entry will affect trading opportunities and and which types of stablecoins he believes are most promising. He also talks about why he's not very sanguine about custody solutions from Coinbase, why the market might go sideways for a while and why he wishes he'd invested in Telegram.
Mike Novogratz: https://twitter.com/novogratz
Listen to the Unchained episode with Wences Casares, the CEO of Xapo, which Novogratz mentions in the episode: http://unchainedpodcast.co/xapos-wences-casares-on-how-bitcoin-makes-a-fairer-world
Listen to the Unchained episode on BitGo, which Novogratz also mentions: http://unchainedpodcast.co/mike-belshe-on-what-bitgos-kingdom-trust-acquisition-means-for-crypto-and-how-security-will-develop-in-the-future
Thank you to our sponsor!
Element Group: http://elementgroup.com/unconfirmed/
Many government officials have noted the potential blockchain technology has to fight fraud, waste and abuse. Tomicah Tillemann, cofounder of the Blockchain Trust Accelerator, assembled an intimate group of 18 people at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center to discuss the ways in which blockchains can be designed in a way that fulfills the technology's most idealistic potential to combat corruption and democratize access, whether to the financial system, the ability to vote or to a self-sovereign identity. He discusses the Blockchain Trust Accelerator's work with a blockchain-based voting system in West Virginia, and with enforcing labor rights via blockchain-based contracts in a pilot with Coca-Cola and the State Department.
Tomicah Tillemann: https://www.newamerica.org/our-people/tomicah-tillemann/
Blockchain Trust Accelerator: https://www.newamerica.org/bretton-woods-ii/blockchain-trust-accelerator/
The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work/bellagio-center/
West Virginia Blockchain Voting Pilot: https://www.coindesk.com/west-virginia-piloting-blockchain-voting-app-in-senate-election/
Coca-Cola/State Department pilot on fighting forced labor with blockchains: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-blockchain-coca-cola-labor/coca-cola-u-s-state-dept-to-use-blockchain-to-combat-forced-labor-idUSKCN1GS2PY
Thank you to our sponsors!
Element Group: http://elementgroup.com/unconfirmed
Token Agency: http://tokenagency.com/
Robert Opp, director of innovation and change management at the United Nations World Food Programme, discusses the Ethereum-based food voucher program for Syrian refugees. He describes how the refugees are identified, what they receive with their voucher, and how the system has allowed the program to save a half million dollars a year. He also gives a hint at how the program will be built on for other initiatives.
Robert Opp: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/AI/Pages/opp.aspx
UN World Food Programme: http://it1.wfp.org/
Episode of Unchained with Vitalik Buterin, where he discusses the food voucher program for Syrian refugees: http://unchainedpodcast.co/vitalik-buterin-creator-of-ethereum-on-the-big-guy-vs-the-little-guy
Thank you to our sponsors!
Element Group: http://elementgroup.com/unconfirmed
Token Agency: http://tokenagency.com/
Who sets up the rules of a blockchain? And how does that impact its users? Could there be unintended consequences? Might the design not account for the potential that bad actors will abuse it? These are questions that Cara LaPointe, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, is about to release a framework for blockchain ethics. She and her team came up with six main areas of focus that blockchain designers should be considering from the outset, starting with governance, identity, data ownership and other factors. As Ethereum is facing the question of how the community should decide what to do with frozen funds or a potential cap on the money supply, LaPointe has some suggestions for how the major players should proceed. She also talks about the dangers of artificial intelligence combined with blockchains.
We spoke at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy, at the Blockchain Summit hosted by New America's Blockchain Trust Accelerator.
Cara LaPointe: http://beeckcenter.georgetown.edu/cara-lapointe/
The Blockchain Ethical Design Framework for Social Impact: http://beeckcenter.georgetown.edu/building-ethical-design-blockchain/
Thank you to the Blockchain Trust Accelerator: https://trustaccelerator.org/
Thank you to the Bellagio Center: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work/bellagio-center/
Thank you to our sponsors!
Element Group: http://elementgroup.com/unconfirmed
Token Agency: http://tokenagency.com/
Ryan Selkis of blockchain standards organization Messari explains why he jumped into a public debate between CoinDesk editor Pete Rizzo and Vitalik and Ethereum, in which Vitalik criticized CoinDesk for charging high prices for its Consensus conference. He also names some blockchain-based media efforts that can bring new solutions to the media industry and discussion how token-curated registries play a role.
Messari: https://messari.io/
Vitalik's tweets about skipping Consensus: https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/989525778424451072
The Washington Post tweet storm and article that Ryan and I discuss:
https://twitter.com/asymmetricinfo/status/989609519465553920
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/04/26/a-farewell-to-free-journalism/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ee18b4c8938c
Thank you to our sponsor, Token Agency!
http://tokenagency.com/
Vinny Lingham, the founder and CEO of blockchain-based identity service Civic, talks about how he hasn't seen token projects find good product-market fit yet, and gives us a sneak preview of how Civic is trying to solve that problem for itself. (Apparently, an announcement is in the works.) He also discusses how Multicoin Capital, where he is a general partner, takes this view into account when investing and why the firm is a proponent of EOS, set to launch in June. We also dive into why he is bullish on EOS, which is fairly centralized, even though he also supports Bitcoin for its censorship-resistant qualities.
Civic: https://www.civic.com/
Multicoin: https://multicoin.capital/
Multicoin's EOS analysis and valuation: https://multicoin.capital/2018/04/24/eos-analysis-and-valuation/
Thank you to our sponsor, Quantstamp!
https://quantstamp.com/
Formerly head of emerging technology at State Street, Hu Liang is now launching Omniex, which offers tools for institutional investors in crypto. He talks at the Time Summit in Greenwich, Connecticut, about the four quadrants of activity he sees in the crypto space, why he thinks private blockchains will still be disruptive, and what institutional players are planning to do in crypto in 2018. He also discusses what concerns they have about getting involved and what Omniex is building to serve them.
Omniex: https://omniex.io
Hu’s CoinDesk article on how he categorized the activity in the crypto space: https://www.coindesk.com/four-quadrants-dividing-conquering-crypto-universe/amp/
We spoke at the Time Summit by Bridge Alternatives:
https://timesummit.org/
https://www.bridgealternatives.com/
Thank you to today’s sponsors!
Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com
Quantstamp: http://quantstamp.com
At the CoinAlts Fund Symposium in New York City on Thursday, Don Wilson, CEO of DRW Holdings, discussed what hopeful signs he's seeing amid greater regulatory uncertainty, what crypto regulations in other jurisdictions he finds smart, and how the regulatory cloud is affecting the decisions of institutional investors. He also described how DRW's customers changed over 2017, and why the market has dropped in 2018.
DRW: https://drw.com
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton's recent statements on tokens evolving toward and away from a security: https://www.coindesk.com/sec-chief-not-icos-bad/
More on BitGo's acquisition of Kingdom Trust:
http://unchainedpodcast.co/mike-belshe-on-what-bitgos-kingdom-trust-acquisition-means-for-crypto-and-how-security-will-develop-in-the-future
CoinAlts Fund Symposium: https://www.coinaltsfundsymposium.com
Thank you to our sponsors, Onramp and Quantstamp:
http://www.thinkonramp.com
https://quantstamp.com
Meltem Demirors of Athena Capital and recently of Digital Currency Group explains how the crypto world is creating artificial scarcity and how investors can uncover the true scarcity (or lack thereof). She describes why many projects have not yet able to create natural demand and how the downturn has affected many of their balance sheets. She also talks about how she's looking for investments and businesses that aren't necessarily sexy but will make money in both bull and bear markets -- and reveals what types of businesses fit that description.
Some recent writing and presentations in which Meltem elaborated on these thoughts: https://medium.com/@Melt_Dem/drowning-in-tokens-184ccfa1641a
https://www.slideshare.net/DCGCo/playing-the-game-the-nature-of-competition-among-blockchain-networks
The Carlota Perez book we mention: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/technological-revolutions-and-financial-capital
OnChainFX: https://onchainfx.com/
Thank you to our sponsors!
Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com/
Onramp: http://thinkonramp.com/
Chris Burniske, partner at Placeholder and author of Cryptoassets, discusses why he thinks initial coin offerings may not always be the best token distribution model, why he's more interested in projects that enable users to earn tokens through contributing to the network, and how token distribution models can be designed to take advantage of the democratizing potential of blockchains. We also discuss why Placeholder uses a ten-year time horizon as it invests in these liquid markets and why regulators may someday have to buy tokens.
Placeholder: https://www.placeholder.vc/
TPL: https://blog.zeppelin.solutions/tpl-a-framework-for-secure-peer-to-peer-exchange-7c69fd0aebc9
Messari: https://messari.io/
Harbor/R-token standard: https://harbor.com/
R-token white paper: https://harbor.com/rtokenwhitepaper.pdf
Ari Paul, CIO of BlockTower Capital, discusses the slump in crypto prices, and how infrastructure rolling out over the rest of the year could have a positive effect on the market. He also describes how BlockTower Capital thinks about security for its assets and what risks they consider. Additionally, we discuss the movement in some parts of the crypto community to build coins to be ASIC-resistant and whether or not that could adversely affect the security of those tokens.
BlockTower Capital: https://blocktower.com/
More info on custody solutions and how they could affect the development of the space: http://unchainedpodcast.co/mike-belshe-on-what-bitgos-kingdom-trust-acquisition-means-for-crypto-and-how-security-will-develop-in-the-future
Coins sorted by percent down from all-time high: https://onchainfx.com/v/aiTLnb
The Carlota Perez book, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/technological-revolutions-and-financial-capital
Movements toward ASIC resistance:
Monero: https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-kill-switch-monero-going-war-big-miners/
Ethereum -- Bitmain may have created an Ethereum ASIC miner: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitmain-developed-ethereum-asic-miner-194845158.html
Discussion around whether to hard fork Ethereum to make ASICs obsolete: https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/87ucsk/would_you_support_a_hard_fork_that_obsceletes_eth/
Twitter poll on whether or not to hard fork: https://twitter.com/VladZamfir/status/979060233430552576
Siacoin's decision not to soft fork to invalidate Bitmain's new Siacoin miners: https://blog.sia.tech/response-to-the-sia-community-and-bitmain-653a12284098
Its previous blog post on why ASICs were good for security: https://blog.sia.tech/choosing-asics-for-sia-b318505b5b51
Thank you to our sponsors:
Onramp: http://thinkonramp.com/
Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com/
StartEngine Summit: http://www.startenginesummit.com/
Arianna Simpson, managing partner of investment firm Autonomous Partners, discusses this week's news that Cambridge Analytica had used data from Facebook to perhaps manipulate the 2016 election and whether that could create an opening for blockchain-based decentralized social networks. We also cover the announcement that Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and top individual investors invested $12 million in Cryptokitties and why Simpson thinks the area of digital collectibles could take off.
The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica story: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html
Cryptokitties: https://www.coindesk.com/a16z-leads-12-million-funding-for-ethereum-app-cryptokitties/
Why Arianna isn't worried about the downturn: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-smart-money-isnt-worried-about-the-bitcoin-selloff-2018-03-19?siteid=rss
Thank you to the sponsors of today's episode:
Preciate: https://preciate.org/ and https://preciate.org/recognize/
Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com/
Wyoming now has five blockchain-specific laws. Caitlin Long, cofounder of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, describes what these laws are, what they mean, and how our least populous state became a crypto leader. The former chairman and president of Symbiont explains what this could mean for any project that aims to launch a utility token, whether or not ICOs held in Wyoming would only be available to Wyoming residents, and what big issue she thinks remains for the SEC to address.
Caitlin Long: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin-long-/
To read the laws: https://legiscan.com/WY/bill/HB0070/2018
An op-ed Caitlin co-authored with WY House Rep. Tyler Lindholm: https://www.coindesk.com/haven-blockchain-case-wyoming/
Thank you to our sponsors, Onramp http://www.thinkonramp.com/ and Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com/
Amber Baldet, JPMorgan Chase blockchain program lead, talks about what she was discussing at SXSW with Hyperledger executive director Brian Behlendorf and what themes she heard at the Ethereum Community Conference in Paris. She talks about privacy in financial transactions, how "immutable" blockchains might conflict with a new EU privacy law granting people the "right to be forgotten." And we briefly touch on her work with Jalak Jobanputra's new diversity-focused group Collective Future.
Privacy on Ethereum: https://www.coindesk.com/progress-hot-ethereum-privacy-projects-cooling-off/
The Collective Future: https://www.wired.com/story/for-women-in-cryptocurrency-a-new-effort-to-grow-their-ranks/
https://iapp.org/news/a/blockchain-technology-is-on-a-collision-course-with-eu-privacy-law/
Thank you to our sponsors: Preciate https://preciate.org/ which is seeking suggestions for who to appreciate at https://preciate.org/recognize/
and Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com/
As a former government official, current board member of Coinbase and professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Kathryn Haun has a unique and varied view of the crypto space. She doesn't necessarily see the SEC subpoenas as a reason to be alarmed and compares it to her work as a federal prosecutor. We also discuss the FinCen letter and why her take is different from the fear we've seen in the marketplace.
SEC issues 80 subpoeast: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-launches-cryptocurrency-probe-1519856266?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1
The FinCen letter: https://coincenter.org/link/fincen-raises-major-licensing-problem-for-icos-in-new-letter-to-congress
Thank you to our sponsors: Preciate https://preciate.org/ which is seeking suggestions for who to appreciate at https://preciate.org/recognize/
and Quantstamp: https://quantstamp.com/
Spencer Bogart, partner at Blockchain Capital, discusses why he think Bitcoin's growing pains are a sign of success, how the SEC regulatory gloom could affect the development of crypto and how a liquidity crunch could affect crypto hedge funds. We also take a peek at the coming platform wars.
Blockchain Capital: http://blockchain.capital/
New crypto hedge funds: https://hackernoon.com/the-fate-of-crypto-hedge-funds-ca5850e8421c
Future Perfect Ventures' founder and managing partner Jalak Jobanputra and I discuss the New York Times article earlier this week about how few women there are in crypto. We discuss some of the surprising comments we saw from women in the space who wish the story hadn't been written and Jobanputra's new effort to increase diversity in crypto, The Collective Future.
The New York Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/business/cryptocurrency-women-blockchain-bros.html
Jutta Steiner's tweet: https://twitter.com/jutta_steiner/status/968158503096471553
Meltem Dermirors' tweet: https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem/status/967983438945968130
Elizabeth Stark's tweet: https://twitter.com/starkness/status/968307972597272576
Wired article about The Collective Future: https://www.wired.com/story/for-women-in-cryptocurrency-a-new-effort-to-grow-their-ranks/
Brian Kelly of BKCM talks about token-curated registries, such as the proposal for Messari, by Ryan Selkis, formerly of Digital Currency Group and CoinDesk, and why such TCRs are probably a good idea, but what pitfalls they may face. We also discuss the highly anticipated launch of crypto trading on Robinhood and look behind the scenes at Venezuela's new crypto offering, the petro.
Token curated registries:
Proposal for Messari: https://medium.com/@twobitidiot/a-token-to-self-regulate-tokens-but-really-a61da77e6a7b
TCRs generally: https://medium.com/@ilovebagels/token-curated-registries-1-0-61a232f8dac7
A curated list of resources on TCRs: https://medium.com/@tokencuratedregistry/the-token-curated-registry-whitepaper-bd2fb29299d6
Robinhood launches crypto trading: http://blog.robinhood.com/news/2018/2/21/robinhood-crypto-trading-is-here
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/22/free-crypto-trading/
Petro:
A good tweet storm on some of the issues surrounding the petro's launch: https://twitter.com/alemacgo/status/966072887319973891
Some meeting having to do with the petro that Laura found amusing -- the guy's smiles begin around 00:25: https://twitter.com/infrabolivar/status/965777624516759552
The founder and CEO of Polychain Capital discusses why an Ethereum core developer is stepping down, how blockchains should be governed and whether speculators and users have equal weight in crypto communities. We also discuss an op-ed that suggests a new crypto-specific regulatory body, and whether or not it's safe for Salon.com to be asking its readers who use ad-blockers to give computer power so Salon.com can mine Monero.
Governance issue:
https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/867#issuecomment-365800936
https://twitter.com/5chdn/status/963730276743548928
NYT op-ed suggesting a new crypto-specific regulatory body:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/business/dealbook/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-regulation.html
Salon.com mining Monero
https://www.salon.com/about/faq-what-happens-when-i-choose-to-suppress-ads-on-salon/
Polychain Capital
http://polychain.capital/
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Weekly Insights and Analysis From the Top Minds in Crypto.
Events in crypto take place at warp speed. This weekly crypto podcast reveals how the marquee names in crypto are reacting to the week’s top headlines. With host Laura Shin, the guests also discuss what they’re thinking about these days and reveal what they believe is on the horizon in crypto.
Host Laura Shin - Independent journalist covering crypto (crypto assets, Bitcoin, Ethereum, ICOs, tokens), and host of the podcasts Unchained and Unconfirmed.