Unconfirmed (Laura Shin)

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) 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) 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) 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/

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

Subscribe now - first episode coming Friday! 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.

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/

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:  Get Laura’s newsletter on the top crypto stories of the week’s plus a preview of exclusive podcast content! Signup Here: http://eepurl.com/ga8ub5 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&par=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

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/

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/  

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/

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/ 

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/

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/  

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

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/

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/

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

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/

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/

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/

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

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

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

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

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/

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

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

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/

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

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/

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/

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

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/  

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!

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

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/

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

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/  

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/

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

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/

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/

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/

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

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/

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

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

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/

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

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    

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

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

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/

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/

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/  

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/

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/

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/  

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/

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/

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

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

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/

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

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

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/

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

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/

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

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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

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

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

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/

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/

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/

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!

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/

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/  

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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

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/

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/  

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/

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  

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

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/

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/

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

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

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/