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Unchained

1,192 episodes — Page 19 of 24

Ep 281Unconfirmed: What Is the Role of Investors in a Decentralized World? - Ep.281

Four investors talk about the decentralized web, explain how the crypto industry is improving upon Web 2, and discuss what can be done to increase diversity and financial inclusion within Web 3. Featuring Rik Willard, founder of Agentic Group, Thomas France, co-founder of Cygni Capital, Dylan Hixon, president of Arden Road Investments, and Nick Grossman,general partner at Union Square Ventures . Show highlights: how funding rounds for decentralized protocols differ from investing in traditional companies what VC investors can do to 1) participate in the protocols they invest in, and 2) not take advantage of whale holdings in governance voting how Web 3 has the potential to displace the “plantation economy” the difference between crypto idealism (i.e., banking the unbanked) versus what has actually played out (i.e., Salvadorans being mandated to accept BTC) what area of blockchain is delivering on the promise of financial inclusion how to bring diversity to the blockchain + crypto industry what can be done to solve the gender imbalance in crypto how investors are navigating the murky waters of US regulations regarding crypto projects how institutions fit into the Web 3 landscape what I think about the state of sexism within the crypto industry Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Nodle: https://bit.ly/3AXGydJ Episode Links Original Link: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8884996/video/614236078 Rik Willard Twitter: https://twitter.com/rik_willard?lang=en Agentic Group: https://www.agenticgroup.com/ Nick Grossman Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickgrossman?lang=en Website: https://www.nickgrossman.xyz/ Union Square Ventures: https://twitter.com/usv Dylan Hixon LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-hixon-1887803 Arden Road Investments: https://www.ardenrd.com/ Thomas France Twitter: https://twitter.com/totofrance?lang=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasfrance/ Topics mentioned Fereshteh Forough on Unchained https://unchainedpodcast.com/crypto-actually-fixes-this-how-code-to-inspire-uses-crypto-in-afghanistan/ Discussing crypto’s gender disparity on Unchained https://unchainedpodcast.com/cryptos-gender-disparity-what-can-be-done-about-it-4-women-weigh-in/ she256 https://she256.org/ El Salvador and BTC https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/09/24/why-el-salvador-is-botching-its-bitcoin-experiment/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 15, 202159 min

Ep 280Visa Is Building Infrastructure for NFTs, Smart Contracts, and L2s. Why? - Ep.280

Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, discusses Visa’s crypto game plan, stablecoin regulation, NFTs, and more. Show highlights: Cuy’s background and his journey down the crypto rabbit hole how Visa and cryptocurrency can coexist why crypto companies and fintech companies are similar what Visa is trying to solve for consumers regarding cryptocurrencies how cross-chain payment infrastructure would work why Visa requires enhanced diligence for crypto companies what countries can learn from stablecoins when building CBDCs why Visa is creating a universal payment channel for CBDCs and other cryptocurrencies why Visa chose USDC to begin making payments with the two main reasons why stablecoins are used (hint: it’s not for buying cups of coffee) how cryptocurrency is changing financial education and inclusion how crypto’s open-source ethos is helping underserved and emerging markets build financial infrastructure why NFTs are Cuy’s favorite topic how NFTs level the playing field for black artists (and artists in general) why Visa purchased a CryptoPunk and how other businesses could leverage NFTs Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Nodle: https://bit.ly/3AXGydJ Cuy Sheffield Twitter: https://twitter.com/cuysheffield LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cuy-sheffield-72082126/ NFT collection: https://tryshowtime.com/csheffield Content: Medium https://medium.com/@cuysheffield Tweets Thoughts on payroll deposits https://twitter.com/cuysheffield/status/1442571326447767554 DAOs as chaotic organizations https://twitter.com/cuysheffield/status/1441536551016534019 Visa Crypto Plays CryptoPunk purchase https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/blog/bdp/2021/08/18/nfts-mark-a-1629328216374.html First smart contract on Ropsten https://ropsten.etherscan.io/address/0xadb1f7e78a3ac3d0a006961f95d96bbb0ec14326#code NFT research report https://usa.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/regional/na/us/Solutions/documents/visa-nft-whitepaper.pdf Cross-chain Interoperability https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/blog/bdp/2021/09/29/making-digital-currency-1632954547520.html https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.12194v2.pdf Visa + USDC https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.17821.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninabambysheva/2021/03/29/visa-to-start-settling-transactions-with-bitcoin-partners-in-usdc/ Digital currency whitepaper https://usa.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/regional/na/us/Solutions/documents/visa-digital-currency-overview.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 12, 20211h 12m

Ep 279Unconfirmed: Why It Doesn’t Make Sense to Compare Lightning to DeFi - Ep.279

Ryan Gentry, business development lead at Lightning Labs, discusses the latest updates on the Lightning Network, the layer 2 solution for Bitcoin. Highlights: how Lightning Network is bringing Bitcoin to the masses through partnerships with Twitter, Substack, and Paxful what the significance of El Salvador adopting Bitcoin means for the Lightning Network how many nodes are running Lightning Network nodes why the capacity on the Lightning Network has grown rapidly how Ryan has seen interest in Lightning has changed since the El Salvador announcement earlier this year what stage of adoption Ryan thinks the Lightning Network is why Lightning Network total-value-locked should not be compared to Ethereum L2s or other DeFi protocols how Lightning Network differs from DeFi what metric Ryan believes is the best way to measure adoption on Lightning Network how El Salvador has changed the types of transactions being made on Lightning Network what’s next for Lightning Network and how Lightning micropayments could affect how podcasts (like Unchained!) are distributed Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Nodle: https://bit.ly/3AXGydJ Sorare: https://sorare.com Episode Links Ryan Gentry Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanthegentry The Summer of Lightning: Reaching the Tipping Point https://lightninglabs.substack.com/p/the-summer-of-lightning-reaching Lightning Labs Twitter: https://twitter.com/lightning Website: https://lightning.engineering/ Lightning Enabled Tips Twitter: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/bringing-tips-to-everyone Substack: https://decrypt.co/79215/substack-accept-bitcoin-payments-lightning-network Paxful Integration https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/paxful-integrates-bitcoin-lightning-network Arcane Research Paper Paper: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60377b34e7791c1277aaae97/t/615cb9aeaab8c63e1a732771/1633466815710/The+State+of+Lightning.pdf Tweet thread: https://twitter.com/ArcaneResearch/status/1445749299703205894 Lightning Network stats https://studio.glassnode.com/metrics?a=BTC&c=native&category=Lightning&chartStyle=column&contractExpiration=1640908800&ema=0&m=lightning.NetworkCapacitySum&mAvg=0&mMedian=0&resolution=24h&zoom=all https://1ml.com/statistics Lightning Network Resources https://www.lopp.net/lightning-information.html Preston Pysh episode with BTC Sessions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5bBJjVEg1U Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 8, 202137 min

Ep 278How the Greatest Decentralizing Force for Crypto Projects Is the SEC - Ep.278

How does the SEC determine if a token is a security? Why is DeFi particularly hard to regulate? What will regulators do about stablecoins? On Unchained, Greg Xethalis, chief compliance officer at Multicoin Capital, and Collins Belton, founding partner at Brookwood P.C., dive into crypto regulation, discussing securities laws, DeFi regulation, and why the US should be promoting stablecoins rather than trying to shut them down. Highlights: why the SEC and CFTC have not announced bigger crypto enforcement news at the end of their fiscal years why the SEC is going after DINO (decentralized in name only) companies what the Howey and Reves tests areand how the SEC uses themto determine whether an asset is a security or not why Collins and Greg think the SEC has recently begun been applying Reves more often why they think centralized crypto lending products should not be considered securities under the Howey test whether new legislation needs to be written for cryptocurrency-based products what makes Collins think the SEC is being “disingenuous” regarding the SEC registration process for crypto companies, like Coinbase how regulators will end up handling DeFi and why both Greg and Collins are long-term optimistic how the US government has a “great history” of respecting privacy and encryption why regulatory pressure is likely to build up around centralized crypto exchanges and what we can learn from the EtherDelta case why Collins thinks most cryptocurrency companies should be regulated why the SEC is the best motivator for forcing protocols to fully decentralize how smart contracts could theoretically be used to standardize SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s Safe Harbor proposal how blockchain data makes cryptocurrency companies more transparent and easier to regulate than centralized entities what Collins and Greg think will happen with stablecoin regulation going forward why the US should be pushing to make dollar-pegged stablecoins more prominent Take the Unchained survey! Have idea son how we can improve at Unchained? Let us know. This is the last week in which you can take the Unchained survey and be entered to win a BTC Candle. Be sure to end by EOD Friday. We'll be announcing the winners in next week's show. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2021 Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Nodle: https://bit.ly/3AXGydJ Episode Links Greg Xethalis Twitter: https://twitter.com/xethalis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xethalis/ Collins Belton Twitter: https://twitter.com/collins_belton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/collins-belton-10226283/ Cases Mentioned SEC charged DeFi Money Market https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/08/06/sec-charges-so-called-defi-company-for-allegedly-fraudulent-30m-offering/ SEC charged EtherDelta https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2018/11/08/sec-charges-etherdelta-founder-over-unregistered-securities-exchange/ Howey Test and Reves Test https://securities-law-blog.com/2014/11/25/what-is-a-security-the-howey-test-and-reves-test/ https://skrypto.sewkis.com/howeys-cousin-reves-may-be-another-way-for-the-sec-to-argue-that-tokens-are-securities https://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2021/09/coinbase-and-the-sec-.html DINO https://twitter.com/hesterpeirce/status/1423637816492318722?lang=en -uniswap-labs-investigation-could-signal-a-new-era-of-enforcement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 5, 20211h 15m

Ep 277Unconfirmed: People Expected a Big SEC Enforcement Action This Week. What Happened? Days - Ep.277

Stephen Palley, partner at Anderson Kill, discusses a few hot-button crypto regulatory issues like lending products, whether DeFi protocols fall under the SEC’s purview, and more. Show highlights: why Stephen thinks the SEC and CFTC did not announce more extensive crypto enforcement news this week what areas the SEC Chair Gary Gensler and the SEC as a whole are focused on regulating what Stephen has heard about whether stablecoins that are not fully-backed are securities why Coinbase decided to drop its Lend product why Stephen is skeptical that decentralized protocols should be regulated under existing securities laws how securities law is contrary to consumer protection in light of DeFi protocols and airdrops why DeFi AMMs should be regulated differently than centralized market books whether companies running a front-end for a DeFi protocol should be considered an exchange why crypto devs are “going Satoshi” because of US securities laws Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Nodle: https://bit.ly/3AXGydJ Sorare: https://sorare.com Episode Links Stephen Palley Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephendpalley Unchained podcast appearance speaking about Ripple: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-secs-lawsuit-against-ripple-and-2-execs-what-you-need-to-know/ Topics Covered Lending Products Coinbase blogs regarding Lend https://blog.coinbase.com/the-sec-has-told-us-it-wants-to-sue-us-over-lend-we-have-no-idea-why-a3a1b6507009 https://blog.coinbase.com/sign-up-to-earn-4-apy-on-usd-coin-with-coinbase-cdad79e5f5eb Lend overview: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/a-september-to-remember-coinbase-avoids-7608131/ Brian Armstrong angry tweet storm https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1435439291715358721 BlockFi and Celsius overview https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/09/17/3-states-alabama-securities-commission-also-claims-celsius-violated-securities-laws/ SEC + Gary Gensler How SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s Views on Crypto Have Changed Since His MIT Days https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-sec-chair-gary-genslers-views-on-crypto-have-changed-since-his-mit-days/ SEC Chair Gary Gensler Washington Post Q&A https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2021/09/21/transcript-path-forward-cryptocurrency-with-gary-gensler/ Gary Gensler + Elizabeth Warren letters https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-releases-response-from-sec-chair-gensler-affirming-need-to-regulate-cryptocurrency-exchanges-and-protect-investors-and-our-financial-system Other Uniswap delisting certain tokens through its front end https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/112399/uniswap-labs-culls-synthetic-stock-and-derivatives-citing-evolving-regulatory-landscape Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 1, 202135 min

Ep 276Crypto Actually Fixes This: How Code to Inspire Uses Crypto in Afghanistan - Ep.276

Fereshteh Forough is the founder and CEO of Code to Inspire, a coding school for girls in Afghanistan. She discusses her background as a refugee, how she uses crypto to fund the school and pay students, and how the US military’s departure has affected student life. Topics include: Fereshteh’s journey from refugee to computer science professor to founder and CEO of Code to Inspire what Code to Inspire offers to young Afghan women and what risks they take by getting an education how Code to Inspire success stories are changing the attitudes of student’s families and communities the importance of Afghan Hero Girl, a video game created by Code to Inspire students why crypto payments are a better alternative to PayPal and Western Union for Code to Inspire and its students how Code to Inspire and its students exchange crypto to fiat what the perception of crypto is in Afghanistan how the Taliban is stifling the education of women and how Code to Inspire is attempting to continue its curriculum how crypto companies can offer assistance to Code to Inspire what features and products Fereshteh thinks would the crypto industry actually bank the unbanked how listeners can help Code to Inspire and where to find more information on Fereshteh Thank you to our sponsors! Ledger: ​https://www.ledger.com/start-your-crypto-journey/?utm_source=Unchained&utm_medium=Partnership_Podcast&utm_campaign=14-09-Ledger-US-Brand-Paid&utm_content=subj_Global__msg_brand_convenience__targ_Crypto Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Digital Asset Research: https://www.digitalassetresearch.com/ Episode Links Fereshteh Forough Twitter: https://twitter.com/f_forough LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fereshtehforough/ Code to Inspire Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codetoinspire/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CodeToInspire Website: https://www.codetoinspire.org/ Donating crypto: https://www.codetoinspire.org/donate-crypto/ Services offered: https://www.codetoinspire.org/hire-a-cti-graduate/ Code to Inspire Coverage Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2021/08/17/taliban-resurgence-could-threaten-afghan-school-teaching-women-to-code-and-build-ethereum-apps/?sh=465a8208197d The Giving Block https://thegivingblock.com/donate/Code-to-Inspire/ Code to Inspire students are coding at home https://cointelegraph.com/news/amid-taliban-takeover-aspiring-crypto-miner-flees-afghanistan CoinDesk on Code to Inspire + ETH https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2018/06/12/forget-prices-ethereum-is-offering-a-different-value-in-afghanistan/ Coinbase https://blog.coinbase.com/fereshteh-forough-interview-1e73a684788f Inverse https://www.inverse.com/innovation/57129-fereshteh-forough-afghanistan-bitcoin Afghan Hero Girls https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-04-19-code-to-inspire-is-creating-afghan-hero-girls-through-education US Military leaving Afghanistan https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-withdrawal-united-states-troops-pentagon/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/last-u-s-troops-leave-afghanistan-after-nearly-20-years-11630355853 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 28, 202154 min

Ep 275Unconfirmed: How SEC Chair Gary Gensler's Views on Crypto Have Changed Since His MIT Days - Ep.275

Nik De, managing editor for global policy and regulation at CoinDesk, stops by Unconfirmed to discuss the current state of crypto regulation, including recent comments by SEC Chair Gary Gensler on stablecoins and why Coinbase decided to sideline its Lend product. Highlights: Nik’s biggest takeaway from Gary Gensler’s interview with the Washington Post why Nik thinks Gensler has escalated his rhetoric regarding stablecoins and DeFi how crypto exchanges are currently regulated and how that might change what it would take to convince crypto exchanges to register with the SEC whether the SEC has the purview to regulate stablecoins Nik’s thoughts on Coinbase’s Lend product and the SEC’s stance on lending products what the overall picture of crypto lending is in the US whether the SEC will go after DeFi protocols what to expect from the SEC going forward, especially with the end of its fiscal year coming up next week Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Digital Asset Research: https://digitalassetresearch.com Sorare: https://sorare.com Episode Links Nikhilesh De CoinDesk articles: https://www.coindesk.com/author/nikde/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nikhileshde Content Coinbase blogs regarding Lend https://blog.coinbase.com/the-sec-has-told-us-it-wants-to-sue-us-over-lend-we-have-no-idea-why-a3a1b6507009 https://blog.coinbase.com/sign-up-to-earn-4-apy-on-usd-coin-with-coinbase-cdad79e5f5eb SEC Chair Gary Gensler Washington Post Q&A https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2021/09/21/transcript-path-forward-cryptocurrency-with-gary-gensler/ Brian Armstrong tweet storm https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1435439291715358721 BlockFi and Celsius overview https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/09/17/3-states-alabama-securities-commission-also-claims-celsius-violated-securities-laws/ Read my latest Medium post, “The Reason Crypto Regulation Is Turning Out to Be So Difficult,” which takes take a deeper dive into some of the topics addressed in this pod :) https://medium.com/@laurashin/the-reason-crypto-regulation-is-turning-out-to-be-so-difficult-788cc134958d Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 24, 202132 min

Ep 274How OG Crypto Artist Rhea Myers Sold a Never-Seen Artwork at Sotheby's - Ep.274

Rhea Myers, artist, hacker, writer, and senior smart contract developer at Dapper Labs, has been making crypto art before NFTs were a thing. Check out this episode to learn about Rhea’s work as an OG crypto artist, why she believes concerns over NFT energy consumption are overblown, and how NFTs are changing the art world. Show highlights Rhea’s experience entering the crypto space what inspired her to make Bitcoin-based transaction art what blockchain art she was creating in 2014 how she helped Coin Artist create crypto puzzles what Rhea thinks about Cadence, the programming language for Flow what conceptual art and blockchain art have in common how Rhea minted her soul on a Dogecoin fork how Rhea came up with the idea of Secret Artwork (Content), which was recently sold at a Sotheby’s auction what cryptographic elements influenced Secret Artwork (Content) why Rhea was wrong about how the NFT industry would evolve why Rhea believes concerns over NFT energy usage are overblown how NFTs are changing the art world what Rhea thinks about the NFT DAO movement what about NFTs make them so fascinating, in a legal sense, to Rhea Read the sidebar — and see Rhea's artwork! If you'd like to see the art discussed in the show, be sure to check out the sidebar I wrote on Medium: https://medium.com/@laurashin/how-rhea-myers-made-blockchain-art-before-nfts-were-a-thing-e6ac52d3abf9 Thank you to our sponsors! Ledger: ​https://www.ledger.com/start-your-crypto-journey/?utm_source=Unchained&utm_medium=Partnership_Podcast&utm_campaign=14-09-Ledger-US-Brand-Paid&utm_content=subj_Global__msg_brand_convenience__targ_Crypto Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Digital Asset Research: https://www.digitalassetresearch.com/ Episode Links Rhea Myers Twitter: https://twitter.com/rheaplex Website: https://rhea.art/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertmyers/ Example Art Secret Artwork (Content) https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/natively-digital-a-curated-nft-sale-2/secret-artwork-content MYSOUL https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/nft-joke-1234588596/ Is Art https://rhea.art/is-art Proof Of Existence 2, 2014, Bitcoin Transaction https://rhea.art/proof-of-existence Art examples https://rhea.art/art Other Artists Rethinking the Blockchain (book) https://torquetorque.net/publications/artists-rethinking-the-blockchain/ Generative art (featuring Rhea Myers) https://medium.com/@mitchellfchan/nfts-generative-art-and-sol-lewitt-e99a5fa2b0cb Blockade games + crypto puzzles ​​https://blockade.games/press/index.html https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.4528357/this-painting-is-actually-a-bitcoin-puzzle-worth-more-than-40k-and-someone-finally-solved-it-1.4529176 Unchained Episode: What Exactly Do You Get When You Buy an NFT? Three Lawyers Discuss https://unchainedpodcast.com/what-exactly-do-you-get-when-you-buy-an-nft-three-lawyers-discuss/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 21, 20211h 8m

Ep 273Unconfirmed: Solana's Outage Lasted 17 Hours. What Does This Mean for Decentralization? - Ep.273

Aidan Mott, research analyst at Messari, discusses Solana’s network restart that resulted in the blockchain going dark for 17 hours earlier this week. Show highlights: when Solana validators noticed something was wrong and how they responded what initial dex offering (IDO) caused the network to be flooded with transactions how a surge in bot transactions pushed validators to decide to restart the network how Solana’s outage compares to similar incidents on other chains why the Solana community was most likely not surprised by the 17-hour restart how Solana validators and the Solana Foundation coordinated the network restart how Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko communicated with the community during the outage whether Solana is still vulnerable to a similar flood of transactions what the network restart means in terms of Solana’s centralization why Solana validators running the same client could be an issue Check Out the Related Article In addition to the analysis from Aidan, I did an interview with a Solana validator about his experience of the outage, and his concerns for the network going forward. Check out "The Experience of One Validator: What Happened During Solana's 17-Hour Outage?" in my Facebook Bulletin newsletter here -- and subscribe today! https://laurashin.bulletin.com/178076467796725 Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Digital Asset Research: https://digitalassetresearch.com Sorare: https://sorare.com Episode Links Aidan Mott Twitter: https://twitter.com/KidKrypt0 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidan-mott-77665267/ Messari https://messari.io/ Solana Outage The Block’s coverage https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/117711/solana-blockchain-validators-restart-network-after-transaction-stoppage https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/117624/solana-experiences-transaction-stoppage-as-developers-report-intermittent-instability CoinDesk coverage https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/09/14/solana-validators-ready-potential-restart-amid-blockchain-outage/ Decrypt coverage https://decrypt.co/81004/solana-back-online-following-downtime-network-restart Why the mainnet went down https://twitter.com/buffalu__/status/1437792673784549383 Potential ramifications https://twitter.com/CometShock/status/1437870278684590091 Neha Narula tweet https://twitter.com/neha/status/1438487308433494022 Solana Status -- the Twitter account that sent information out on the state of the network https://twitter.com/SolanaStatus Anatoly Yakovenko Solana outage tweets https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/status/1437887482897518595 https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/status/1437784552324358155 https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/status/1438496595360862215 https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/status/1438465508412739588 https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/with_replies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 17, 202136 min

Ep 272Can Bitcoin Be Secured Only by Transaction Fees? Two Researchers Sound Off - Ep.272

Once the block reward diminishes greatly, can Bitcoin be secured only by transaction fees? On Unchained, Bitcoin writer Vijay Boyapati and Ethereum Foundation’s Justin Drake debate the merits of Bitcoin’s security model, which Drake says will largely rely on transaction fees as soon as within 20-30 years, not in 100+ years. Highlights: Justin’s and Vijay’s professional backgrounds why Justin thinks Bitcoin cannot survive solely on fees how Bitcoin is currently secured what makes Bitcoin’s security subjective rather than binary how much it would cost in dollars to 51% attack Bitcoin what the Bitcoin network could do in response to a 51% attack how to calculate Bitcoin’s security budget why Bitcoin's price can’t go exponential forever whether a “nuclear option” for Bitcoin miners could protect against a 51% attack why nation-states could be either pro or anti-Bitcoin why a Bitcoin Standard could be similar to the Gold Standard how Bitcoin will change going forward, and why Vijay thinks transaction fees will increase why Justin does not think transaction fees will increase enough to secure Bitcoin’s base layer how Justin would fix Bitcoin’s security model -- and why he thinks the 21 million hard cap is a meme why Vijay does not think Bitcoin’s security model will ever change -- especially the 21 million hard cap what Justin thinks Ethereum is doing better than Bitcoin why Vijay thinks Ethereum will fail Take the annual Unchained survey! Hey all, the Unchained survey is out now, and we'd so appreciate it if you could give us your thoughts on how Unchained is doing and what we could do better. Plus, we've got some questions for you about Laura's upcoming book launch and the articles that she's already starting to write! Two lucky survey respondents will receive a BTC candle, which is scented with "satoshiwood, musk musk, tulip bulbs and finite minerals." Head to surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2021 to fill out the survey today! Subscribe to my Facebook Bulletin Newsletter! Hey all, I'm excited to announce that I'll be writing a Facebook Bulletin newsletter , joining the likes of Malcolm Gladwell, Malala Yousafzai and Adam Grant, among others. My first post is already up. Thank you to our sponsors! Digital Asset Research: https://www.digitalassetresearch.com/ Ledger: https://www.ledger.com/ Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Episode Links Justin Drake Twitter: https://twitter.com/drakefjustin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drakefjustin/ Recent Unchained appearance: https://unchainedpodcast.com/is-eth-on-its-way-to-becoming-ultra-sound-money-yes-says-justin-drake/ Vijay Boyapati Twitter: https://twitter.com/real_vijay LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijayboyapati The Bullish Case for Bitcoin: https://vijayboyapati.medium.com/the-bullish-case-for-bitcoin-6ecc8bdecc1 Bitcoin’s Security Model Hasu https://ark-invest.com/podcast/bitcoins-security-model-with-hasu/ Dan Held https://danhedl.medium.com/bitcoins-security-is-fine-93391d9b61a8 Nic Carter https://medium.com/@nic__carter/bitcoin-bites-the-bullet-8005a2a62d29 https://www.docdroid.net/C7uTY1R/mit-expo-slides-nic-carter-pdf#page=12 Paul Sztorc https://www.truthcoin.info/blog/security-budget/ Donal McIntyre https://etherplan.com/2019/05/17/why-the-bitcoin-fee-model-will-work/7587/ Phil Geiger https://unchained-capital.com/blog/21-million-is-non-negotiable/ Jordan McKinney https://medium.com/coinmonks/bitcoin-security-a-negative-exponential-95e78b6b575 https://medium.com/coinmonks/bitcoin-security-in-one-chart-694ee3ed8c2d Lyn Alden https://www.lynalden.com/bitcoin-security-modeling/ Princeton https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~arvindn/publications/mining_CCS.pdf Doomsday economics of PoW https://www.bis.org/publ/work765.pdf Basic Info How BTC fees work https://river.com/learn/how-bitcoin-fees-work/ https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Miner_fees What will happen when all BTCs are mined? Decrypt: https://decrypt.co/33124/what-will-happen-to-bitcoin-after-all-21-million-are-mined River: https://river.com/learn/what-will-happen-after-all-bitcoin-mined/ Bitcoin Fees https://studio.glassnode.com/metrics?a=BTC&category=&ema=0&m=fees.VolumeSum&mAvg=365&mMedian=0&modal=loginForm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 14, 20211h 15m

Ep 271Unconfirmed: Was Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Entitled to a Meeting With the SEC? - Ep.271

Ephrat Livni, a DealBook business and policy reporter at the New York Times, discusses Coinbase’s fight with the SEC over its Lend product and El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender. Show highlights: why Coinbase is unhappy with what it calls the SEC’s “sketchy” behavior how Coinbase’s Lend product is structured and why it might be a security why Ephrat considers Coinbase’s reaction to the SEC’s decision on Lend to be “trolling” what we can learn from SEC chair Gary Gensler’s letters with Senator Elizabeth Warren what legal precedence the SEC is leaning on in its decision about Lend how to explain the SEC’s choice to not meet with Coinbase in Washington why Ephrat thinks Brian Armstrong sounds entitled Why even pro-Bitcoin groups in the US take issue with El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender why Ephrat thinks Bitcoin is not a practical payment mechanism for El Salvadorans how El Salvadorans have reacted to the law why Ephrat believes El Salvador’s mandate to accept BTC is philosophically problematic for Bitcoiners Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Digital Asset Research: https://digitalassetresearch.com Sorare: https://sorare.com Episode Links Ephrat Livni Twitter: https://twitter.com/el72champs New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/by/ephrat-livni Coinbase Brian Armstrong tweet thread: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1409555338836078592 Coinbase blog: https://blog.coinbase.com/the-sec-has-told-us-it-wants-to-sue-us-over-lend-we-have-no-idea-why-a3a1b6507009 Coinbase Lend: https://www.coinbase.com/lend Howey and Reves test: https://securities-law-blog.com/2014/11/25/what-is-a-security-the-howey-test-and-reves-test/ Bitcoin and El Salvador CoinDesk coverage: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/09/07/as-el-salvador-enacts-bitcoin-law-locals-remain-confused-about-implementation/ Wall Street Journal coverage: https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-comes-to-el-salvador-first-country-to-adopt-crypto-as-national-currency-11631005200 CNN coverage: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/06/business/bitcoin-price-el-salvador-intl-hnk/index.html CBS coverage: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bitcoin-el-salvador-legal-currency/#:~:text=As%20legal%20tender%20in%20El,subject%20to%20capital%20gains%20tax. Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/technology/it-guy-in-chief-president-tries-fix-el-salvadors-bitcoin-woes-2021-09-08/ Jerry Brito’s opinion: https://twitter.com/jerrybrito/status/1405660809024393221 Survey results: ​​https://www.reuters.com/technology/majority-salvadorans-do-not-want-bitcoin-poll-shows-2021-09-02/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 10, 202137 min

Ep 270How Crypto Streaming Service Audius Hit Six Million Monthly Active Users - Ep.270

Audius, a blockchain native music streaming platform, hit six million monthly active users in August and announced a partnership with TikTok. Roneil Rumburg, co-founder and CEO of Audius, talks about how Audius works, AUDIO tokenomics, the give and take of decentralization, and more. Show highlights: what problems Audius is solving for creators how artists are utilizing crypto to connect with fans how the crypto components of Audius fit together what three utilities AUDIO, the native token of Audius, offers holders why Audius requires over $500K in AUDIO tokens to run a node why AUDIO’s inflation rate is higher than other popular tokens like Ethereum or Bitcoin which portions of Audius are centralized versus decentralized where the majority of Audius’s listens come from (hint: it’s not the app) how Audius has created a “password” system to make blockchain technology easier to use for non-crypto natives why Audius uses both Solana and Ethereum how big-name artists like Diplo found their way onto Audius how Audius makes it easier to upload music to TikTok what’s next for Audius Take the annual Unchained survey! Hey all, the Unchained survey is out now, and we'd so appreciate it if you could give us your thoughts on how Unchained is doing and what we could do better. Plus, we've got some questions for you about Laura's upcoming book launch and the articles that she's already starting to write! Two lucky survey respondents will receive a BTC candle, which is scented with "satoshiwood, musk musk, tulip bulbs and finite minerals." Head to surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2021 to fill out the survey today! Follow Laura on Medium! Hey everyone, some news: I've begun writing news and features again. I’m now a Medium Partner, one of a group of writers I have long admired, such as Susan Orlean, Cory Doctorow, James Surowiecki and Will Leitch, among others. You can already check out my first post, which is on my career trajectory and why I still love covering crypto six years in. To find all my writing on Medium, please follow me at Medium.com/@laurashin. Thank you to our sponsors! Digital Asset Research: https://www.digitalassetresearch.com/ Ledger: https://www.ledger.com/ Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Episode Links Roneil Rumburg Twitter: https://twitter.com/roneilr Audius Website: https://audius.co/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AudiusProject Whitepaper: https://whitepaper.audius.co/AudiusWhitepaper.pdf Discord: https://discord.com/channels/557662127305785361/806017242734395413 What is Audius? Decrypt: https://decrypt.co/resources/what-is-audius-the-decentralized-music-sharing-and-streaming-service Messari: https://messari.io/asset/audius/profile Coindesk: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2020/11/11/audius-has-big-numbers-by-crypto-standards-but-can-it-take-on-soundcloud/ TikTok + Audius Coverage Audius: https://twitter.com/AudiusProject/status/1427299274325323779 Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/tiktok-sounds-streaming-crypto-blockchain-nfts-audius-1211699/ General Coverage 6M monthly users https://twitter.com/AudiusProject/status/1433248161443684356 Moving to Solana (Oct 2020): https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/10/29/audius-the-decentralized-spotify-is-moving-part-of-its-service-to-solana-blockchain/ 5M monthly users (Aug 5): https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/08/05/blockchain-based-music-streaming-service-audius-up-to-5m-monthly-users/ Copyright nightmare (The Verge 2019) https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/9/20905384/audius-blockchain-music-streaming-service-copyright-infringement-piracy NFTs (April 2021) https://decrypt.co/65808/crypto-streaming-music-service-audius-nfts Token Drop (Oct 2020): https://medium.com/audius/welcome-audio-to-mainnet-409009bc130c https://decrypt.co/46390/audius-distributes-crypto-rac-deadmau5-listeners Youtube + Audius project https://youtubetoaudius.com/ Music Racer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/893030/Music_Racer/ Raises https://musically.com/2020/10/26/decentralised-streaming-service-audius-raises-another-1-25m/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/08/audius/ https://musically.com/2020/08/03/blockchain-music-service-audius-raises-3-1m-funding-round/ Node requirements: https://blog.audius.co/posts/a-primer-on-audio-staking#:~:text=All%20node%20operators%20are%20required,cost%20slightly%20more%20to%20operate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 7, 20211h 13m

Ep 269Unconfirmed: Why the FTX.US/LedgerX Deal Indicates Crypto M&A Might Start Booming - Ep.269

Steven Ehrlich, director of research for digital assets at Forbes, discusses the FTX.US-LedgerX merger, what to expect from FTX going forward, DeFi regulation, and more. Show highlights: why the FTX.US acquisition of derivatives platform LedgerX is significant how FTX.US stacks up against other US cryptocurrency exchanges who should use crypto derivative products how regulators might handle FTX.US and crypto derivative ETFs what to expect from FTX going forward how long FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried spends talking to regulators every day why Steven thinks crypto mergers and acquisitions will be a trend going forward what Steven learned from his conversations with Polygon and Hermez how Fereshteh Forough, a woman living in Afghanistan, is using crypto to help teach women to build dapps, smart contracts, and use crypto Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Polymarket: https://polymarket.com Sorare: https://sorare.com Episode Links Steven Ehrlich https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/?sh=fb976542ce44 https://twitter.com/Steven_Ehrlich https://www.forbes.com/newsletters/forbescryptoassetadvisor/?sh=55678b72dec8 FTX.US Merger https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2021/08/31/us-bitcoin-exchange-backed-by-billionaire-sam-bankman-fried-moves-into-crypto-derivatives/ M&A Trend https://www.forbes.com/newsletters/forbescryptoassetadvisor/2021/08/31/exploring-voyagers-900-million-token-merger/?sh=29f4f16851b4 Interview with Sam Bankman-Fried https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2021/08/30/billionaire-sam-bankman-fried-pushes-back-against-critics-of-crypto-derivatives/?sh=6428141b5cbd Polygon-Hermez Deal https://www.coindesk.com/polygon-merges-with-hermez-network-in-250m-deal Fereshteh Forough Coverage https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2021/08/17/taliban-resurgence-could-threaten-afghan-school-teaching-women-to-code-and-build-ethereum-apps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 3, 202137 min

Ep 268How Pplpleasr Helped Fortune Magazine Sell More Than $1 Million in NFTs - Ep.268

Pplpleasr, the artist behind Fortune magazine’s recent crypto cover and Uniswap’s V3 announcement animation, talks about her crypto journey and how NFTs are changing the game for creators. Show highlights: how not getting a job at Apple changed her life forever how the Pplpleasr-Uniswap collaboration came about what goes into her creative process how Pplpleasr got hired for the Fortune magazine cover why she chose to represent anon-avatars on the Fortune cover why Pplpleasr was surprised by Fortune’s response to her artwork (and crypto in general) what sort of crypto personas are represented on the Fortune cover and why how NFTs are changing the paradigm of monetization for creators compared to the traditional art world what pplpleasr is looking forward to in future NFT smart contracts why NFTs are still limited right now why institutions, like Budweiser and Visa, are suddenly interested in NFTs what Fortune is doing to grow its NFT collection how DAOs are changing art curation and collecting why Pplpleasr was surprised that a DAO (bearing her name) purchased the Uniswap V3 animation where Pplpleasr thinks the NFT space will go in the next year or so Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Polymarket: https://polymarket.com Episode Links: Pplpleasr Twitter: https://twitter.com/pplpleasr1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pplpleasr/ Website: https://pplplsr.com/ Pplpleasr Content: Fortune op-ed on crypto https://fortune.com/2021/08/06/nft-art-pplpleasr-fortune-cover-ethereum-defihow-crypto-changed-my-life/ Her previous work for DeFi protocols https://pplplsr.com/Crypto Fortune cover https://fortune.com/2021/08/05/nft-drop-pplpleasr-cover-art-opensea-auction-ethereum/ https://twitter.com/pplpleasr1/status/1423359319639212037?s=20 Miscellaneous Links PleasrDAO https://pleasr.org/ https://pleasr.mirror.xyz/D9wIadL-5EEkt17glTtar21m3RDqfgkhkr__OEE2mOE OpenSea’s post-mortem on Chad sale https://twitter.com/opensea/status/1424866514558128130 Business of business write up https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/defi-crypto-meme-hustler-yield-farmer-finance-blockchain-art-nft-pplpleasr-memetic-markting/ Manifold https://www.manifold.xyz/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 31, 202137 min

Ep 267Unconfirmed: How Another NFT Trend, .eth Names, Has Attracted the Likes of Budweiser - Ep.267

Nick Johnson, lead developer at the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), talks about making Ethereum human-readable, why Budweiser purchased an NFT, how purchasing an ENS works, and more. Show highlights: what ENS does and why it is important why Budweiser bought “beer.eth” how ENS names can be used to make Ethereum easier to use what business use cases ENS names make possible what made Nick want to create a naming service on Ethereum how people are using their ENS names why people are purchasing ENS names what privacy issues arise from people attaching their name to an ETH address what happens when Ethereum addresses get spammed with unwanted tokens how to buy an ENS name and how much it costs how ENS handles squatters what happens when you lose access to an address holding an ENS name how ENS is integrating normal domains (ex: “.com”) to Ethereum what ENS has planned for L2 launches Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021 Polymarket: https://polymarket.com Sorare: https://sorare.com Episode Links: Nick Johnson Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicksdjohnson Website: http://blog.notdot.net/ Ethereum Domain Service Twitter: https://twitter.com/ensdomains Website: https://app.ens.domains/ Miscellaneous links Budweiser ENS purchase: https://decrypt.co/79397/from-visa-to-budweiser-big-brands-are-taking-nfts-seriously Unwanted tokens being sent to addresses https://decrypt.co/79406/budweiser-dick-pic-nft-ethereum-wallet https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/05/12/vitaliks-regift-of-unsolicited-doge-knockoffs-sends-memecoin-prices-plunging/ DNS (.com) integration with ENS: https://twitter.com/ensdomains/status/1430933399745798155 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 27, 202136 min

Ep 266BitGo on Why the Travel Rule Should Not Apply to Digital Assets - Ep.266

BitGo CEO Mike Belshe and COO Jeff Horowitz talk about one of the hottest topics facing the crypto industry today: regulation. They discuss... what BitGo does why Jeff left his successful TradFi career to go crypto how crypto compliance and custody differs from the traditional finance world the state of crypto education amongst regulators why Jeff and Mike think the infrastructure bill is a win for the crypto industry what FinCEN is doing to regulate crypto why they think the infrastructure bill’s goal of raising billions in crypto taxes could only bring in millions what FATF guidance regarding VASPs requires of crypto companies why the travel rule could lead to US customer data being shared overseas how digital assets change the implications of the travel rule how regulators are attempting to deal with DeFi what the FATF guidance means for FATF countries, like the US why DeFi is not ready for strict regulations Jeff’s views on Brian Brooks’s departure from BinanceUS the Galaxy Digital acquisition of BitGo what security issues a trillion-dollar wallet presents why BitGo refused to put a “freeze” function in its WBTC contract why Tesla and MicroStrategy purchased BTC and why other companies have been slow to follow suit whether BitGo will offer NFT solutions going forward Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Polymarket: https://polymarket.com/ Episode links Mike Belshe -- CEO BitGo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebelshe/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikebelshe Previous Unchained appearance: https://unchainedpodcast.com/mike-belshe-on-what-bitgos-kingdom-trust-acquisition-means-for-crypto-and-how-security-will-develop-in-the-future/ Jeff Horowitz -- CCO BitGo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-horowitz-3381977 BitGo Website: https://www.bitgo.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitGo Blog: https://blog.bitgo.com/ Galaxy Digital purchase: https://www.coindesk.com/galaxy-digital-to-buy-bitgo-for-about-1-2-billion-in-stock-cash FATF solution: https://www.coindesk.com/us-crypto-giants-build-first-version-of-fatf-compliant-travel-rule-tool New York Trust Charter: https://decrypt.co/60110/bitgo-new-york-trust-charter-crypto-wall-street Infrastructure bill and its implications for crypto https://twitter.com/mikebelshe/status/1424163820726009861 https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-fans-are-suddenly-a-political-force-11629115380 https://www.coindesk.com/infrastructure-bill-house-politics https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/tax-foundation-infrastructure-bill-crypto-tax-provision-is-unworkable.html https://decrypt.co/78198/senate-passes-infrastructure-bill-crypto-tax-house https://www.taxnotes.com/featured-analysis/proposal-regulate-digital-asset-transactions-should-be-struck/2021/08/13/775gf#.YRfX9GEX2GI.twitter https://twitter.com/vtg2/status/1426264859071627266 https://twitter.com/BlockchainAssn/status/1427276559052910599 Unchained coverage: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-congress-might-pass-laws-bad-for-proof-of-stake-and-defi/ https://unchainedpodcast.com/crypto-got-screwed-what-happens-next-in-the-senate/ https://unchainedpodcast.com/this-bill-looks-very-bad-for-crypto/ FATF and the travel rule https://sumsub.com/blog/what-is-the-fatf-travel-rule/ Unchained coverage: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-the-travel-rule-is-one-of-the-most-significant-regulations-in-crypto/ https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-proposed-fatf-rules-could-be-a-shock-for-defi/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 24, 20211h 5m

Ep 265Unconfirmed: SOL Is Up 3,800% YTD. Could It Eventually Displace Ethereum? - Ep.265

SOL is up 75% over the past seven days, 205% in the past month, and 3,800% YTD. On Unchained, Multicoin Capital’s Kyle Samani discusses the DeFi projects fueling Solana’s growth, why he thinks Solana could make Ethereum obsolete, and the spectrum of decentralization. Show highlights: what factors have contributed to SOL’s growth this year what two milestones occurred last week that Kyle thinks supercharged SOL’s popularity why Kyle thinks the issues with the Degen Ape Academy NFT drop were not actually a problem with the Solana blockchain what projects will be possible on Solana that are impracticable on Ethereum why Kyle thinks some combination of NFTs and social token apps will be the first breakout app on Solana why Solana decreases the risk of massive liquidations -- like the crypto industry saw on Black Thursday in March 2020 how Solana and Ethereum differ in regards to composability and fragmentation what BitClout has to do with Kyle’s Solana investment thesis why Solana could be the basis for the next crypto bull run why Kyle thinks the Ethereum merge as it completes transition to Ethereum 2.0 will not really affect Solana how the competition between Solana and Ethereum could play out in the next 12 months why Kyle is not overly concerned about Solana being more centralized than Ethereum what the Solana versus Ethereum competition will look like going forward, and why Solana may have the upper hand what Kyle learned from his investment in EOS Thank you to our sponsors! Sorare: https://sorare.com Polymarket: https://polymarket.co/unconfirmed Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Episode links Kyle Samani Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani Multicoin Capital: https://multicoin.capital/ Previous Unchained appearances: May 2021: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-solana-and-binance-smart-chain-could-take-ethereums-lead/ April 2020: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-most-forkable-defi-protocols-on-ethereum/ March 2020: https://unchainedpodcast.com/teetering-on-the-edge-how-black-thursday-exposed-the-flaws-in-the-crypto-markets/ January 2020: https://unchainedpodcast.com/kyle-samani-on-how-2020-will-be-the-year-of-small-success-stories/ March 2019: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-binance-could-become-the-first-decentralized-autonomous-corporation/ June 2018: https://unchainedpodcast.com/multicoins-kyle-samani-on-why-he-believes-bitcoin-governance-doesnt-accommodate-the-real-world-ep-025/ May 2018: https://unchainedpodcast.com/multicoin-on-the-1-thing-crypto-teams-miss-in-their-quests-for-success/ Solana Twitter: https://twitter.com/solana Recent updates: https://solana.com/news/solana-ecosystem-news/ Website: https://solana.com/ Recent SOL boom https://twitter.com/JohnStCapital/status/1427088119870935047 https://www.ar.ca/blog/11-thoughts-during-a-digital-assets-bull-market https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninabambysheva/2021/08/16/solana-hits-new-all-time-high-above-60/ https://twitter.com/KyleSamani/status/1425282669630328841 Projects Saber (AMM/DEX) growth https://twitter.com/Saber_HQ/status/1428062812228759564 Audius https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-powered-audius-wins-tiktok-tie-up-for-streaming-music-direct-to-platform Degenerate Ape Academy https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/114703/solana-hits-all-time-high-as-market-watchers-say-institutional-interest-is-growing https://twitter.com/Pentosh1/status/1427034066784763904 https://twitter.com/samecwilliams/status/1426828830552084482 Mango Markets https://www.coindesk.com/solanas-mango-markets-dex-raises-70m-in-mngo-token-sale Wormhole https://www.coindesk.com/solana-launches-cross-chain-wormhole-for-shuttling-assets-from-ethereum-bsc Multicoin’s Solana material https://multicoin.capital/2021/05/04/announcing-venture-fund-ii/ https://multicoin.capital/2019/03/14/on-value-capture-at-layers-1-and-2/ https://multicoin.capital/2019/07/30/the-world-computer-should-be-logically-centralized/ Solana overview https://thedefiant.io/solana-defi-ecosystem-overview/ https://research.thetie.io/solana-ecosystem/ https://research.binance.com/en/projects/solana https://medium.com/coinmonks/solana-more-update-for-sol-becb65024877 https://genesisblockhk.com/what-is-solana/ Block explorers https://explorer.solana.com/ https://solanabeach.io/ https://solanaproject.com/ Submitted questions from Unchained listeners https://twitter.com/Unchained_pod/status/1428136429805264898 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 20, 202142 min

Ep 264On-Chain Analytics Show ETH Accumulation Is Greater Than That of BTC - Ep.264

NFTs are the talk of the metaverse, EIP 1559 just went live, and DeFi stats are rebounding. On Unchained, Fredrik Haga, cofounder and CEO at Dune Analytics, along with Richard Chen, general partner at 1confirmation, discuss the booming Ethereum ecosystem through the lens of on-chain data, diving into NFTs, DeFi, ETH, and their favorite layer 2s. Show highlights: why Ethereum is on such a pronounced upswing why on-chain metrics lead to superior information reporting mind-blowing OpenSea statistics why NFTs are so hot at the moment how Richard explains NFTs to normies whether the NFT market is sustainable what makes an NFT drop pop and why profile pics (PFPs) matter how Polygon NFTs compare to Ethereum NFTs the main driving force behind DeFi usage how Richard measures the total amount of DeFi users what brings new users into DeFi what DEX trends Fredrik is keeping his eye on why structured products are crucial to DeFi’s continued success how Ethereum is doing since the London hard fork why NFT drops are like 2017 ICOs what metric shows ETH adoption outpacing BTC adoption among institutions which layer 2 solutions are Fredrik and Richard excited about why Richard considers Binance Smart Chain a centralized blockchain why Fredrik likes what Solana is building Richard and Fredrik’s predictions for the NFTs, DeFi, and ETH going forward Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Polymarket: https://polymarket.com/ Episode Links Richard Chen Twitter: https://twitter.com/richardchen39 1confirmation: https://www.1confirmation.com/ Dune Analytics dashboards: https://dune.xyz/rchen8 Fredrik Haga Twitter: https://twitter.com/hagaetc Dune Analytics: https://dune.xyz/home Dune Analytics dashboards: https://dune.xyz/hagaetc On-chain dashboards Stablecoins: https://dune.xyz/hagaetc/stablecoins Lending: https://dune.xyz/hagaetc/lending DEXs: https://dune.xyz/hagaetc/dex-metrics ETH 2.0 deposits: https://dune.xyz/hagaetc/eth2-0-deposits OpenSea: https://dune.xyz/rchen8/opensea DeFi users: https://dune.xyz/rchen8/defi-users-over-time NFT prices: https://dune.xyz/rchen8/NFT-prices SuperRare: https://dune.xyz/rchen8/superrare_4 Nexus Mutual: https://dune.xyz/eliasimos/Nexus-Mutual-Financials ETH fees burned: https://dune.xyz/rchen8/ETH-fees-burned-in-1confirmation-portfolio Base Fees: https://dune.xyz/msilb7/EIP1559-Base-Fee-x-Tip-by-Block Unchained episodes mentioned Ultra Sound Money: https://unchainedpodcast.com/is-eth-on-its-way-to-becoming-ultra-sound-money-yes-says-justin-drake/ EIP 1559: https://unchainedpodcast.com/ethereums-eip-1559-will-solve-some-problems-but-big-ones-will-remain/ OpenSea: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-nft-platform-opensea-plans-to-maintain-its-competitive-advantage-ep-232/ Miscellaneous Zed Run: https://zed.run/ Axie Infinity: https://axieinfinity.com/ Qiao Wang tweet: https://twitter.com/QwQiao/status/1425773846418821125 Ethereum burning: https://ultrasound.money/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 17, 20211h 9m

Ep 263Unconfirmed: Why Did the Poly Network Attacker Return Half the Money They Stole? - Ep.263

Poly Network, a cross-chain DeFi protocol, recently suffered a $600M hack -- the largest DeFi exploit in crypto history. Mudit Gupta, security researcher and SushiSwap dev, breaks down the attack, explaining how it occurred, why the hacker is returning the funds, and what Poly Network should do next. Show highlights: how Poly Network works what specific mechanism the hacker attacked on Poly Network why many people (including myself) had never heard of Poly Network before the hack how “keepers” failed to protect Poly Network why a failed transaction was the key to pulling off the hack what SlowMist claims to have discovered about the hacker what could be motivating the hacker to return the stolen funds how the hacker is communicating with Poly Network why Tether was able to freeze funds while USDC and BSC allowed the hacker to get away with their tokens how Poly Network should handle negotiations with the hacker Thank you to our sponsors! Sorare: https://sorare.com Polymarket: https://polymarket.co/unconfirmed Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Episode Links Mudit Gupta Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mudit__Gupta Blog: https://mudit.blog/ SushiSwap: https://twitter.com/SushiSwap Poly Network hack Poly Network response: https://twitter.com/PolyNetwork2/status/1425870262067548163 Mudit’s analysis: https://mudit.blog/poly-network-largest-crypto-hack/ Kelvin Fichter thread: https://twitter.com/kelvinfichter/status/1425217046636371969 Hacker Q&A: https://twitter.com/tomrobin/status/1425487745166753794 Tether blacklist: https://twitter.com/paoloardoino/status/1425090760609832978 ETH tip: https://twitter.com/HsakaTrades/status/1425093301691195407 The Block’s coverage: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/114189/poly-hack-attacker-return-funds-id-slowmist ​​Returning funds: https://www.coindesk.com/poly-network-hacker-starts-to-return-funds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 13, 202138 min

Ep 262Is ETH on Its Way to Becoming Ultra-Sound Money? Yes, Says Justin Drake - Ep.262

Ethereum just went through its most complex upgrade ever. Justin Drake, researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, discusses what the upgrade, aka the London hard fork, means for ether’s future as what he calls "ultra-sound money." At the end of the episode, he also drops a few Bitcoin hot takes. Show highlights: his background and how he got involved in crypto how EIP 1559 will affect Ethereum now that it is live why burning ether is good for the Ethereum economy what two concepts are crucial to understanding money what three ways ether is used as money why he believes ether will become “ultra sound money,” when gold and silver are just “sound money” what the main drivers of ETH’s value are how the merge from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake will happen for Ethereum how much more efficient Justin calculates proof-of-stake will be compared to proof-of-work why people are saying Ethereum is going through a “triple halvening” what factors influence how much Ethereum is issued and burned how Ethereum could become deflationary why net sell pressure is about to decrease what projects are burning the most ETH now that EIP 1559 is live why Justin is worried about Bitcoin’s future what Bitcoin could do to survive once it only subsists on transaction fees whether Justin considers himself a bitcoiner how ETH as ultra-sound money is becoming a meme Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Episode Links Justin Drake Twitter: https://twitter.com/drakefjustin Written content June 23 Ethereum Foundation ETH 2.0 Research AMA (command F for Justin Drake responses) https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/o4unlp/ama_we_are_the_efs_research_team_pt_6_23_june_2021/ “If capped-supply gold is sound money decreasing-supply ether is ultra sound money” https://twitter.com/drakefjustin/status/1396796596281614339 Math Modeling ETH based on EVM fees https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U9cGxGY3_t7m4MEIpjKWtRcA2zRajywaxMCZYqbF9eI/edit#gid=0 Calculating ETH supply https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZN444__qkPWPjMJQ_t6FfqbhllkWNhHF-06ivRF73nQ/edit#gid=0 Podcast appearances Bankless “Modeling Ultra Sound Money” (April 28) https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/-sotn-44-modeling-ultra-sound-money Bankless “Ultra Sound Money” (Mar 23) https://twitter.com/drakefjustin/status/1374049775474114562 Bankless “Bull Case for Cryptography” (Jan 25) https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/-moon-math-the-bull-case-for-cryptography London/EIP 1559/Ethereum 2.0 Resources Unchained content Episodes Ethereum’s EIP-1559 Will Solve Some Problems But Big Ones Will Remain https://unchainedpodcast.com/ethereums-eip-1559-will-solve-some-problems-but-big-ones-will-remain/ Ethereum 2.0: What You Need to Know https://unchainedpodcast.com/ethereum-2-0-what-you-need-to-know/ Why Ethereum 2.0 Could Fail and How It Could Be Fixed https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-ethereum-2-0-could-fail-and-how-it-could-be-fixed/ Previous resources EIP 1559 links (Tim Beiko) https://hackmd.io/@timbeiko/1559-resources Messari Research https://messari.io/pdf/messari-report-eth2-the-next-evolution-of-cryptoeconomy.pdf Staked ETH address https://etherscan.io/address/0x00000000219ab540356cBB839Cbe05303d7705Fa#analytics DETH of Ethereum https://medium.com/ideo-colab/the-deth-of-ethereum-98553866e81b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 10, 20211h 9m

Ep 261Unconfirmed: How Congress Might Pass Laws Bad for Proof-of-Stake and DeFi - Ep.261

Kristin Smith, executive director at the Blockchain Association, discusses the latest news on a provision in the infrastructure bill that seeks to raise $28B from the crypto industry in taxes. Show highlights: how the original crypto provision within the infrastructure bill came to be why the expansion of the term “broker” is problematic in the original language of the bill what the Treasury and the White House have to do with this bill and how they, along with Senator Portman, are resisting change how Senators Ron Wyden, Pat Toomey, and Cynthia Lummis are attempting to change the language of the provision through an amendment how the crypto community rallied around Wyden's amendment why Kristin believes a rival amendment put forward by Senators Warner and Portman and supported by the White House late Thursday is worse than the bill’s original language when the Senate will be voting on the amendments how the amendment the White House supports seems harmful to proof-of-stake networks and bad for DeFi whether this is part of a master plan to regulate crypto in the US what Kristin hopes happens during the vote how the crypto community can have its voice heard how to fix the issues within the crypto policy world so this doesn’t happen again Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Episode Links Kristin Smith: https://twitter.com/KMSmithDC Blockchain Association: https://theblockchainassociation.org/ Infrastructure Bill Information Latest Coverage: https://decrypt.co/77838/rival-amendment-senate-infrastructure-bill-threatens-proof-stake https://decrypt.co/77859/crypto-industry-mobilizes-to-stop-controversial-tax-plan https://decrypt.co/77841/biden-crypto-infrastructure-bill-amendments https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/16-civil-society-organizations-call-congress-fix-cryptocurrency-provision https://decrypt.co/77681/senators-move-exempt-bitcoin-miners-tax-provision-infrastructure-bill https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/08/04/senators-propose-change-to-new-crypto-rules-for-tax-reporting-heres-whos-affected/ https://twitter.com/BlockchainAssn/status/1422976741715361792 https://twitter.com/jerrybrito/status/1422002228102107142 https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/113196/wyden-crypto-language-in-infrastructure-bill-fails-to-understand-how-the-technology-works https://www.coindesk.com/new-infrastructure-bill-looks-to-raise-30b-through-crypto-taxes https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1421150344051048451 https://twitter.com/NeerajKA/status/1421242689148932105 https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/01/politics/bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-collins-manchin-senate-cnntv/index.html https://www.coindesk.com/gop-lawmaker-janet-yellens-treasury-likely-behind-surprise-crypto-bill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 6, 202139 min

Ep 260Can a DeFi Smart Contract Be Regulated? Two CFTC Commissioners Discuss - Ep.260

CFTC Commissioners Dan Berkovitz and Brian Quintenz discuss the difficulties of regulating crypto derivatives and DeFi. Show highlights: their backgrounds what the CFTC’s duties are regarding crypto how the CFTC’s jurisdiction has evolved over the years why Commissioner Quintenz believes SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s safe harbor proposal is “brilliant” what relationship the CFTC and SEC have when making decisions on crypto assets why the commissioners believe CFTC’s complaints regarding BitMEX are “well-founded” why formal regulation for crypto derivatives is unlikely to be produced by the CFTC why leveraged derivatives products are a “concern” to the CFTC what makes regulating DeFi platforms so difficult when it comes to DeFi, who is a natural entity for the CFTC to regulate, if any whether the CFTC would ever go after DeFi "market participants," who the CFTC also regulates why smart contracts involving futures could be illegal how the possibility that smart contracts could be illegal squares with the view that software development is a form of free speech whether the CFTC could prosecute developers who write smart contracts whether the CFTC needs to re-write its laws in light of DeFi innovation why Commissioner Berkovitz thinks the DeFi “winners” will be protocols that focus on meeting regulatory requirements why the CFTC approved Bitcoin futures in 2017 while the SEC has not yet approved a Bitcoin ETF how a Bitcoin ETF could solve Bitcoin’s accounting issue, which currently gives companies no upside for adding BTC to its balance sheet Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Conjure: https://conjure.finance Episode Links People Dan Berkovitz, CFTC Commissioner (Sep 2018+) CFTC website: https://www.cftc.gov/About/Commissioners/CommissionerDanMBerkovitz/index.htm Twitter: https://twitter.com/CFTCberkovitz Brian Quintenz, CFTC Commissioner (Aug 2017+) CFTC website: https://www.cftc.gov/About/Commissioners/BrianQuintenz/index.htm Twitter: https://twitter.com/CFTCquintenz Related Links CFTC digital asset resources: https://www.cftc.gov/digitalassets/index.htm Commissioner Berkovitz DeFi speech: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/107769/cftc-commissioner-criticizes-defi-decries-lack-of-intermediaries Commissioner Quintenz smart contracts/blockchain speech: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opaquintenz16 CFTC jurisdiction over digital assets: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/giancarlostatement010418 CFTC BitMEX complaint: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8270-20 FTX and Binance remove high leverage: https://decrypt.co/76858/ftx-and-binance-remove-high-leverage-from-exchanges SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s safe harbor proposal: https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/peirce-statement-token-safe-harbor-proposal-2.0 Bitcoin futures approval from CFTC in 2017: https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-futures-trading-exchanges-cftc-2017-12 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 3, 20211h 13m

Ep 259Unconfirmed: Axie Infinity's July Revenue Tops $200 Million. Here's How Filipinos Drove It - Ep.259

Leah Callon-Butler, director of Emfarsis, discusses her documentary, “Play-to-Earn: NFT Gaming in the Philippines,” and the real-world impact that crypto is having in the Philippines. Show highlights: how the Axie Infinity movement started in the Philippines how much money players can earn through Axie Infinity compared to normal wages in the Philippines how Filipino crypto exchanges are catering to Axie Infinity players to make it easier to cash out their earnings what percentage of Axie Infinity players live in the Philippines why the game is so popular in rural areas what about Axie Infinity is bringing in non-crypto native players why Axie Infinity now has high barriers to entry how players have created their own system for helping bring new users into Axie Infinity how Axie Infinity scholarships work what Leah thinks about Yield Guild Games’s relationship with Axie Infinity Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org/ NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Leah Callon-Butler: https://twitter.com/leah_cb Emfarsis: https://emfarsis.com/ Axie Infinity: Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo-BrASMHU4 Coverage https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/14/people-in-philippines-earn-cryptocurrency-playing-nft-video-game-axie-infinity.html https://venturebeat.com/2021/05/13/how-a-rural-filipino-community-is-earning-a-living-playing-an-nft-game/ https://hypebeast.com/2021/5/axie-infinity-nft-cryptocurrency-game-philippines-documentary https://www.esquiremag.ph/money/industry/axie-infinity-mobile-game-cryptocurrency-nft-a00289-20210521 Leah’s NFT/Axie Infinity writings: https://www.coindesk.com/the-metaverses-emerging-economics https://www.coindesk.com/how-axie-infinity-creates-work-in-the-metaverse https://www.coindesk.com/nft-game-filipinos-covid https://www.coindesk.com/artists-who-now-make-a-living-because-of-nfts https://www.coindesk.com/for-filipinos-axie-infinity-is-more-than-a-crypto-game https://www.coindesk.com/here-comes-the-virtual-real-estate-boom https://www.coindesk.com/vindicatio-nft-pioneer-looks-ahead Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 30, 202136 min

Ep 258Why ShapeShift's Erik Voorhees Thinks Toxic Bitcoin Maximalism Is Bullshit - Ep.258

ShapeShift recently announced an intent to decentralize -- a move that would transition the one-time centralized exchange to a full-on DAO. Erik Voorhees, founder and CEO of ShapeShift, comes onto the show to talk about decentralizing the exchange, along with his thoughts on Bitcoin maximalism and crypto regulation. Show highlights: why ShapeShift is decentralizing the company how ShapeShift used to work what needs to happen for ShapeShift to decentralize why user experience should not change during the transition how the FOX token works what parts of a company cannot be decentralized yet how ShapeShift’s forthcoming foundation will function how ShapeShift decided upon the allocations for the FOX token airdrop why ShapeShift employee and shareholder FOX tokens are locked up for three years what Erik’s role will be going forward how ShapeShift plans to attract devs why Erik believes FOX is not a security how Erik wants the SEC to handle crypto why he believes THORChain is one of the most critical projects in crypto why he is opposed to Bitcoin maximalism Erik’s thoughts on BitMEX’s and Binance’s regulatory issues what he thinks about stablecoin regulation Why Erik believes ShapeShift and Uniswap are not competitors Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Conjure: https://conjure.finance Episode Links Erik Voorhees Twitter: https://twitter.com/ErikVoorhees Previous Unchained appearance: https://unchainedpodcast.com/shapeshifts-erik-voorhees-on-how-crypto-will-separate-money-and-state/ ShapeShift: https://beta.shapeshift.com/ Decentralizing Tweet thread: https://twitter.com/ErikVoorhees/status/1415339998740508674 Blog post: https://erikvoorhees.medium.com/shapeshift-is-decentralizing-639bb4c82fc8 Airdrop info: https://shapeshift.com/shapeshift-decentralize-airdrop FOX token contract: https://etherscan.io/token/0xc770eefad204b5180df6a14ee197d99d808ee52d CoinDesk write-up: https://www.coindesk.com/shapeshift-to-shut-down-airdrop-fox-tokens-to-decentralize-itself-out-of-existence FOX token analysis: https://www.coindesk.com/shapeshift-fox-token-rally-yield-play-daos Other THORChain: https://erikvoorhees.medium.com/an-introduction-to-thorchain-for-bitcoiners Getting booed at Miami BTC Conference: https://twitter.com/finematics/status/1401498099441405953 Paxos stablecoin blog: https://www.paxos.com/a-regulated-stablecoin-means-having-a-regulator/ Circle reveals reserves: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/112001/circle-reveals-majority-of-usdc-reserves-are-in-cash-and-cash-equivalents CFTC and BitMEX: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8270-20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 27, 20211h 4m

Ep 257Unconfirmed: MIT's Neha Narula on Why Building DeFi on Bitcoin Is a Great Idea - Ep.257

Neha Narula, director of the Digital Currency Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, discusses Elon Musk’s appearance at ‘The B Word’ conference, along with a few current events in the Bitcoin world. Show highlights: her main takeaway from ‘The B Word’ conference why governance plays an essential role in Bitcoin’s block size arguments what Neha thinks of proof-of-work mining and Bitcon’s environmental concerns why Neha is skeptical of Dogecoin becoming a serious cryptocurrency why Jack Dorsey’s new Bitcoin platform business is a good idea what Bitcoin’s dip in hashrate due to China’s crackdown could affect network security going forward what questions Neha has about Bitcoin’s adoption in El Salvador why Neha thinks cryptocurrencies and CBDCs will coexist what DCI has planned for the rest of 2021 Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org/ NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links: Neha Narula: https://twitter.com/neha MIT Media Lab: ​​https://twitter.com/medialab Digital Currency Initiative https://dci.mit.edu/ CBDC research https://dci.mit.edu/cbdc-central-bank-digital-currency Bitcoin network development https://dci.mit.edu/cbdc-central-bank-digital-currency The B Word conference Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, Cathie Wood conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwx_7XAJ3p0 Neha’s appearance: https://www.thebword.org/c/track-3-Supporting-the-Developer-Ecosystem Miscellaneous Square’s Bitcoin DeFi platform https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/16/square-is-building-a-decentralized-finance-business-for-bitcoin.html Bitcoin and El Salvador https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/05/el-salvador-becomes-the-first-country-to-adopt-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-.html Bitcoin hashrate drop https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/15/chinas-bitcoin-miner-exodus-.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 23, 202136 min

Ep 256How Ransomware Evolved Into a Big Business - Ep.256

Gurvais Grigg, Chainalysis public sector CTO, and Kim Grauer, director of research at Chainalysis, review the ransomware landscape. Show Highlights: their backgrounds and roles at Chainalysis how a ransomware attack works what types of businesses are usually targeted in ransomware attacks why ransomware as a service (RAAS) is a booming business why Kim and Gurvais believe the hacking group REvil is becoming more sophisticated what characteristic of REvil hints that the group could be affiliated with Russia how the RAAS business model works how ransomware payments can be tracked why ransomware reporting has a data problem why Bitcoin is the preferred method of payment amongst ransomware attackers what two factors makes BTC preferable to privacy coins how ransomware groups teach victims to transfer BTC how ransomware groups cash out of their BTC how counter-terrorism tactics can help fight ransomware attacks how the Department of Justice may have partially recovered part of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware payment what tools and strategies governments can and will use to battle ransomware Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Conjure: https://conjure.finance Episode Links People Kim Grauer - Director of Research at Chainalysis https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-grauer-a9501144 Gurvais Grigg - Global Public Sector Chief Technology Officer at Chainalysis https://www.linkedin.com/in/gurvais-grigg-b1027a153/ Chainalsysis Ransomware Data https://go.chainalysis.com/rs/503-FAP-074/images/Ransomware-2021-update.pdf https://go.chainalysis.com/rs/503-FAP-074/images/Chainalysis-Crypto-Crime-2021.pdf https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/applying-counterterrorism-strategies-to-ransomware https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/eastern-europe-cryptocurrency-market-2020 Ransomware Attacks Kaseya https://decrypt.co/75246/what-the-revil-ransomware-attack-means-for-crypto https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-03/ransomware-attack-us-revil/100265656 Colonial Pipeline https://ciphertrace.com/ransomware-seizure-blockchain-analytics-helps-us-authorities-seize-over-2-million-in-darkside-ransom-paid-by-colonial-pipeline/ https://www.elliptic.co/blog/us-authorities-seize-darkside JBS Holdings https://www.wsj.com/articles/jbs-paid-11-million-to-resolve-ransomware-attack Other Chainalysis Twitter: https://twitter.com/chainalysis Website: https://www.chainalysis.com/ Who is REvil? https://fortune.com/2021/07/07/what-is-revil-ransomware-attack-kaseya/ https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/revil-threat-actors/ Combating ransomware: https://securityandtechnology.org/ransomwaretaskforce/report/ Why Gurvais joined Chainalysis: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/gurvais-grigg-chainalysis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 20, 202157 min

Ep 255Unconfirmed: Why It Might Be Too Late for Binance to Avoid Regulatory Action - Ep.255

Christine Parker, partner at Reed Smith, summarizes the slew of regulatory headlines facing Binance and how such scrutiny may affect the exchange going forward. Show highlights: which countries are investigating Binance why it has been difficult for governing bodies to regulate Binance whether the reports that regulatory bodies, like the CFTC/IRS/DOJ, coming after Binance are correct when Christine expects regulators to make a move against Binance how hiring ex-regulators might help Binance in Congress whether Binance’s strategy of leaving countries with tight regulations helped or hurt the exchange what Christine thinks of Binance’s strategy to localize its business model whether or not it is too late to avoid regulatory penalties for Binance why transitioning to a DAO business model would not absolve Binance of prior infractions how the BitMEX situation could inform Binance whether criminal charges could be in Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s future Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Christine Parker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-parker-b09a31/ Binance Investigations https://www.coindesk.com/state-of-crypto-binance-is-firmly-in-the-regulatory-crosshairs https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/110380/thailand-sec-binance-crypto-exchange-criminal-complaint https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/104836/binance-crypto-irs-us-government-investigation-report https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/110510/barclays-customers-in-the-u-k-can-no-longer-transfer-funds-to-binance https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/110617/binance-suspends-deposits-from-key-european-payments-network https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/111482/italy-binance-consob-warning Binance Material CZ letter https://www.binance.com/en/blog/421499824684902301/A-Letter-from-Our-CEO-Reflecting-on-Progress-and-the-Road-Ahead CZ Unchained appearance https://unchainedpodcast.com/listen-to-cz-compare-binance-to-bitcoin/ Binance’s compliance hiring spree https://www.radicalcompliance.com/2021/07/08/binance-compliance-hiring-spree/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 16, 202130 min

Ep 254Can a DAO Go to Court? According to Two DAO Legal Experts… Probably - Ep.254

Aaron Wright, co-founder of OpenLaw and Professor at Cardozo Law, and Ross Campbell, SushiSwap core developer and LexDAO contributor, discuss the latest breakthroughs and legal implications in the burgeoning world of DAOs. Show highlights: how Aaron and Ross fell down the crypto rabbit hole whether a DAO, like Curve, could sue to protect its IP when a governance token might be considered a security who owns the copyright to a DAO how SushiSwap handles its open-source licenses why Ross views Uniswap’s business license as a good thing what an DAO is and how the idea stems from Bitcoin how Wyoming’s DAO law works what makes a Wyoming DAO different from a DAO registered as a Delaware LLC how an algorithmically managed DAO might work in the future why Aaron thinks a DAO should not be allowed to be manager-managed why wrapping a DAO into an LLC could be advantageous the difference between private and public ordering Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Conjure: https://conjure.finance Episode Links People Ross Campbell Social Twitter: https://twitter.com/r_ross_campbell Medium: https://medium.com/@rosscampbell9 Career OpenLaw: https://www.openlaw.io/ LexDAO: https://lexdao.substack.com/people/867851-ross-campbell SushiSwap: https://app.sushi.com/swap Aaron Wright Social Twitter: https://twitter.com/awrigh01 Career OpenLaw: https://www.openlaw.io/ Cardozo Law: https://cardozo.yu.edu/directory/aaron-wright Content The Rise of DAOs: https://stanford-jblp.pubpub.org/pub/rise-of-daos/release/1 DAO Information Basics: https://ethereum.org/en/dao/ https://1729.com/daos Kain Warwick: DAO First Capital Formation https://blog.synthetix.io/dao-first-capital-formation/ https://twitter.com/kaiynne/status/1287961077041393664 DAO Stats https://deepdao.io/ Wyoming: https://www.wyoleg.gov/2021/Engross/SF0038.pdf https://lexnode.substack.com/p/wyomings-legal-dao-saster https://twitter.com/prestonjbyrne/status/1370002015644962816?s=20 https://www.coindesk.com/wyoming-dao-llc-law-passed https://twitter.com/lex_node/status/1407668599205027843?s=20 https://decrypt.co/75222/americas-first-dao-approved-in-wyoming Delaware: https://ricardian.gitbook.io/ricardian-llc/is-ricardian-legal Curve IP: https://gov.curve.fi/t/cip-xx-enforce-curves-ip-rights/1890 https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/108561/the-first-dao-lawsuit-proposal-asks-if-curve-should-protect-its-ip https://www.coindesk.com/curve-dao-contemplates-its-intellectual-property https://twitter.com/SamMiorelli/status/1405141398479847426 https://twitter.com/lex_node/status/1405251782574497799 Uniswap V3 https://www.coindesk.com/uniswap-v3-introduces-new-license-to-spoil-future-sushis https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1374738548239314951 https://defiprime.com/uniswap-v3-explained Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 13, 20211h 9m

Ep 253Unconfirmed: How Axie Infinity Boosted Revenue 400%+ in 30 Days - Ep.253

Aleksander Larsen, co-founder and COO of Axie Infinity, discusses Axie Infinity’s recent growth, which has seen the platform do 20X the volume of NBA Top Shot in recent days. Show highlights: what is Axie Infinity? why there has been such an uptick in network activity and profitability how the Axie Infinity team came together how Axie Infinity uses blockchain technology within its game how Axie Infinity leverages the ‘play to earn’ mania sweeping across Web3 applications what problems may arise as Axie Infinity starts to decentralize how Axie Infinity is attempting to lower the expensive barrier to entry that comes with blockchain-based games why the Philippines is going crazy for Axie Infinity why building out a sidechain has been such a positive development for the company the two ways Axie Ininity makes money what’s next for Axie Infinity Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Aleksander Larsen: https://twitter.com/Psycheout86 Axie Infinity: https://axieinfinity.com/ Content Philippines: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/14/people-in-philippines-earn-cryptocurrency-playing-nft-video-game-axie-infinity.html Sidechain: https://medium.com/axie-infinity/introducing-ronin-axie-infinitys-ethereum-sidechain-8745e31eaef1 The Game That Helps Pay Bills: https://startups.my/the-game-that-helps-pay-bills-axie-infinity/ CoinDesk write up: https://www.coindesk.com/axie-infinity-token-quadruples-nfts Play-to-earn: https://metaportal.substack.com/p/the-memetic-power-of-play-to-earn Unchained Axie Infinity write-up: https://unchainedpodcast.com/this-nft-marketplace-does-20x-the-volume-of-nba-top-shot/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 9, 202141 min

Ep 252The Bitcoin Hash Rate Has Dropped. How Long Will It Take to Return? - Ep.252

Kevin Zhang, vice president of business development at Foundry, breaks down the latest developments surrounding China and bitcoin mining. Show highlights: how he came across crypto and which Bitcoin OG he joined at Bitcoin.com to help start its mining operations arm what Foundry does and its relationship with Digital Currency Group (DCG) why DCG wanted to build out a mining infrastructure business what news from China in early March kickstarted the process of the mining ban how China’s Central Television broadcasting company might have brought extra scrutiny to cryptocurrencies what the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party has to do with its Bitcoin mining ban why the Inner Mongolia and Sichuan Bitcoin mining bans were especially disruptive for Chinese miners how much of China’s hash rate Kevin estimates has been shut down since May where are miners relocating to why Chinese mining equipment will not be allowed to turn on in the US whether or not China’s Bitcoin mining ban will stick why China banning bitcoin mining will be good for the network in the long run what significant risk to Bitcoin’s network is solved by China banning bitcoin mining how much Bitcoin’s hash rate will drop and what effect this will have on miner revenue why Kevin thinks that Bitcoin is good for renewable energy how immersion cooling technology works what tangible benefits miners could find by moving to North America if El Salvador’s volcanic bitcoin mining plan is feasible what Kevin predicts will happen in the Bitcoin mining industry for the latter half of 2021 Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Conjure: https://conjure.finance Episode Links Kevin Zhang Twitter: https://twitter.com/SinoCrypto Mining tweet storms: https://twitter.com/SinoCrypto/status/1407524150885994497 https://twitter.com/SinoCrypto/status/1409227438262046723 Content from previous work experience: Greenridge Generation https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/57943/a-power-plant-in-new-york-is-reportedly-mining-roughly-50000-in-bitcoin-each-day Project Spokane https://medium.com/@derekbrouwer/the-bitcoin-barons-how-a-marketer-and-a-money-launderer-sold-montana-on-digital-gold-2a255c96c981 Foundry, Subsidiary of DCG Twitter: https://twitter.com/foundryservices Website: https://foundrydigital.com/ Foundry USA Pool Bit Digital: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bit-digital-joins-foundry-usa-pool-with-5-679-machines-adding-up-to-280-phs-of-compute-power-to-the-pool-301283792.html Bitfarms partnership: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/04/23/2215897/0/en/Bitfarms-Partners-with-Foundry-to-Expand-Bitcoin-Mining-Fleet-and-Join-Foundry-USA-Pool-Instantly-Boosts-Operating-Hashrate-By-15.html China’s Bitcoin Mining Ban Travis Kling noted 25 different announcements from China in June alone: https://twitter.com/Travis_Kling/status/1410630499748388865 Glassnode: mining difficulty to face its largest decrease ever https://insights.glassnode.com/the-week-on-chain-week-26-2021/ The Block: hash rate dropped 50%, Foundry up while everyone else is hurting https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/109315/bitcoin-hashrate-declines-50-percent-china-mining-crackdown Nic Carter: breaking down the hashrate migration https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-unpacking-hashrate-nic-cart-migration Secondhand mining equipment prices are spiking https://www.coindesk.com/chinese-logistics-firm-airlifting-bitcoin-mining-machines-to-maryland-report https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/109301/secondhand-bitcoin-miner-supply-spiking-bitmain Bitcoin miners shut down, 26 farms affected after Sichuan bans BTC mining https://www.coindesk.com/sichuan-becomes-latest-chinese-province-to-order-bitcoin-miner-shutdown https://decrypt.co/74075/bitcoin-hashrate-falls-17-overnight-after-china-mining-crackdown China’s Inner Mongolia announced eight measures in its crypto ban https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/105973/china-inner-mongolia-crypto-bitcoin-mining-ban-measures Hash rate hits yearly low https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-mining-hashrate-drops-low Miners are moving to Kazakhstan https://www.coindesk.com/chinese-bitcoin-mining-company-delivers-first-machines-to-kazakhstan Tweet thread on how bitcoin miners reacted to the PRC’s May crackdown https://twitter.com/MustafaYilham/status/1396574185598590979 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 6, 20211h 1m

Ep 251Unconfirmed: FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried Gives the Tom Brady/Gisele Bundchen Backstory - Ep.251

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and founder of FTX, explains FTX’s sports-centric advertising model and talks about what is on his regulatory wish list going forward. Show highlights: why Sam is so excited to bring Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen onto the FTX team how FTX decides on who to sponsor why so many of FTX’s sponsorship are targeting US customers what makes the sports industry such an attractive place to advertise for FTX how FTX’s tokenized stocks work what Sam learned from the GameStop/Robinhood situation what makes FTX’s tokenized stocks different from Binance’s offering how FTX is dealing with regulatory obstacles what item is on the top of Sam’s regulatory wishlist whether FTT is a security Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Sam Bankman-Fried Twitter: https://twitter.com/SBF_Alameda Previous Unchained appearance: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-the-gamestop-insanity-is-so-similar-to-crypto/ FTX Website: https://ftx.com Carbon credits: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/ftx-bitmex-to-become-carbon-neutral Tokenized Stocks FTX guidelines: https://help.ftx.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051229472-Tokenized-Stocks CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/ftx-follows-binances-lead-with-move-into-tokenized-stocks FTX Sports Deals NBA: https://www.coindesk.com/ftx-miami-heat-nfts Tom Brady: https://decrypt.co/74771/tom-brady-and-gisele-bundchen-invest-in-ftx TSM FTX: https://www.sporttechie.com/tsm-esports-signs-210-million-sponsorship-with-ftx-crypto-exchange MLB: https://www.coindesk.com/ftx-sponsors-mlb-umpires-to-wear-crypto-exchanges-logo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 2, 202141 min

Ep 250Ethereum's EIP-1559 Will Solve Some Problems But Big Ones Will Remain - Ep.250

Taylor Monahan, CEO of MyCrypto, and Tim Beiko, Ethereum Foundation core-dev facilitator, discuss the upcoming upgrade to the Ethereum network, EIP 1559. Show highlights: why Tim believes EIP 1559 is necessary what narrative is driving EIP 1559 what problems the network upgrade will solve how Ethereum transactions/fees work whether gas prices are correlated with ETH/USD the 3 main protocol changes that EIP 1559 proposes why Taylor, as the CEO of a wallet provider, is wary of EIP 1559 how EIP 1559 will affect Ethereum’s block size what changes wallet providers are considering due to EIP 1559 whether ‘Black Swan’ events will be more or less likely after the network upgrade how EIP 1559 will affect miners whether Tim or Taylor believes that miners could fork Ethereum to stop EIP 1559 how EIP 1559 will change the state of miner extractable value (MEV) how Taylor and Tim feel about the Ethereum as sound money narrative in light of EIP 1559 when EIP 1559 will go live Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Conjure: https://conjure.finance Episode Links Taylor Monahan Twitter: https://twitter.com/tayvano_ MyCrypto: https://mycrypto.com/ Tim Beiko Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimBeiko Ethereum Foundation: https://ethereum.org/en/foundation/ EIP 1559 Resources: https://hackmd.io/@timbeiko/1559-resources Taylor Monahan tweets https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1397725861575421953 https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1408000351916093441 https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1407853518493413379 Actual proposal: https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-1559.md Research: http://timroughgarden.org/papers/eip1559.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 29, 20211h 13m

Ep 249Unconfirmed: Strong Hands Aren't Selling Bitcoin. So Who Is? - Ep.249

Will Clemente, author of the BTC by WC3 newsletter, breaks down the current state of Bitcoin’s on-chain activity and explains why he believes the market is in a mid-cycle lull rather than turning bearish. Show highlights: why Will is not worried about a bear market what indicators make Will believe BTC is in a mid-cycle consolidation who is selling and driving the recent market downturn why Will thinks the unwinding of derivatives is a significant factor in Bitcoin’s move below $30K what Will believe institutions are waiting on before entering the market again how Bitcoin cycles can be broken down into mini hype-cycles how long-term holders are acting on-chain the difference between long-term holders versus short-term holders during bear and bull markets why Will is interested in finding data on Latin American Bitcoin users how long the consolidation process might take what metrics Will has his eyes on for the latter half of 2021 Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links: Will Clemente Twitter: https://twitter.com/WClementeIII Newsletter: https://btcbywc3.substack.com/ Miscellaneous Links Unchained w/ Willy Woo and Raphael Shultze-Kraft: https://unchainedpodcast.com/will-bitcoins-price-go-up-again-yes-according-to-on-chain-analytics/ Willy Woo and Will Clemente ratio: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1407403983023460354 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 25, 202140 min

Ep 248Is Quadriga's Gerald Cotten Still Alive? The 'Exit Scam' Podcast Aims to Answer - Ep.248

Aaron Lammer, author and host of the Exit Scam podcast, recounts the mysterious and controversial death of QuadrigaCX’s founder Gerald Cotton. Show highlights: A quick recap of QuadrigaCX why Aaron felt compelled to create a series on QuadrigaCX how Gerald Cotton, a lifelong Ponzi-addict, came to be the CEO of Canada’s largest crypto exchange what Ponzi-schemes Gerald ran before starting Quadriga CX why customers trusted QuadrigaCX and what red flags were readily apparent looking back the sketchy tactic Gerald used to single-handedly boosted QuadrigaCX’s trading volume by 30% a new wife, empty wallets, a hastily written will, and the circumstances surrounding Gerald’s shocking death how Gerald’s dark web background might have prepared him to fake his own death what the chances are that Canadian authorities exhume Gerald’s body why Aaron is skeptical Gerald’s widow was “in” on the QuadrigaCX fiasco Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Conjure: https://conjure.finance Episode Links Aaron Lammer Co-founder of Longform.org + co-host of Longform Podcast (2010+) Treats Media -- podcast platform (2018+) Exit Scam CoinTalk: https://medium.com/s/cointalk Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/exitscampod Episodes: The Lost Password https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-password/id1565845318?i=1000521095118 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-ii-the-co-founder/id1565845318?i=1000521984138 The Co-Founder https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-iii-the-ponzi-schemer/id1565845318?i=1000522885172 The Ponzi Schemer https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-iv-the-chris-markay-account/id1565845318?i=1000523624957 The Chris Markay Account https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-v-the-old-friend/id1565845318?i=1000524470802 The Old Friend https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-vi-the-coffin/id1565845318?i=1000525407259 The Coffin Quadriga Deep Dives: CBC News https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/bitcoin-gerald-cotten-quadriga-cx-death Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/11/the-strange-tale-of-quadriga-gerald-cotten Amy Castor timeline https://amycastor.com/2019/02/12/how-the-hell-did-we-get-here-a-timeline-of-quadrigacx-events/ Ontario Securities Commission https://www.osc.gov.on.ca/quadrigacxreport/ Details Ontario Securities Commission deems Quadriga an “old fashioned fraud” + “Ponzi” https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/11/the-strange-tale-of-quadriga-gerald-cotten https://www.coindesk.com/quadriga-was-a-ponzi-scheme-ontario-securities-regulator-says Crypto officially recognized as property in Canada due to this case https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=728711fd-5d3c-43ea-91b4-efb8c02f4bec Fun Reddit stuff Is a Gerald Cotten alive? -- a poll: https://www.reddit.com/r/QuadrigaCX/comments/m17kip/is_gerald_cotten_really_dead/ Graphic connecting Michael Patryn to Omar Dhanani https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinCA/comments/828dnr/quadrigacx_cofounder_michael_patryn_is_a/ Lawyers publicly request that RCMP exhume Gerald Cotten’s body https://www.coindesk.com/lawyers-ramp-up-pressure-to-exhume-quadriga-ceos-body Report on Gerald Cotten transferring funds into a personal account https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/28259/quadrigacx-co-founder-transferred-user-funds-into-personal-accounts-ey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 22, 20211h 8m

Ep 247Unconfirmed: Polygon: The Layer 2 Solution Doing 8 Times as Many Transactions a Day as Ethereum - Ep.247

Jaynti Kanani, cofounder and CEO of Polygon, discusses why the layer 2 solution has seen so much success during a down crypto market. Show highlights: what factors have led to Polygon’s and MATIC's impressive performance YTD how Polygon is scaling Ethereum what types of projects are taking off on Polygon how Polygon is attempting to address the issue of layer 2 composability how Polygon plans to use its latest funding why Jaynti is confident Polygon will still be necessary after ETH 2.0 launches Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Jaynti Kanani Twitter: https://twitter.com/_jdkanani Polygon Website: https://polygon.technology/ Overview: https://www.theblockresearch.com/polygon-a-technical-overview-105799 https://www.theblockresearch.com/mapping-out-polygons-ecosystem-105540 Popularity: https://www.coindesk.com/defi-projects-continue-flocking-to-layer-2-solution-polygon https://www.coindesk.com/institutional-investors-have-arrived-on-polygon-amid-rising-ethereum-layer-2-demand-blockchain-data https://www.coindesk.com/polygons-matic-token-ended-may-up-120-despite-bitcoins-price-crash Investments: https://www.coindesk.com/au21-capital-opens-polygon-fund https://www.coindesk.com/mark-cuban-invests-in-ethereum-layer-2-polygon Miscellaneous: https://www.coindesk.com/okcoin-integrates-polygon-reduce-users-ethereum-gas-fees https://polygon.technology/lightpaper-polygon.pdf https://www.coindesk.com/kyber-network-announces-polygon-integration-and-liquidity-mining-program https://defiwatch.net/second-letter-to-polygon/ https://www.coindesk.com/google-cloud-now-provides-blockchain-insights-for-polygon-network https://www.coindesk.com/decentralized-exchange-aggregator-1inch-network-expands-to-polygon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 18, 202136 min

Ep 246Unchained 5-Year Anniversary: AMA With Laura on Her Favorite Guests, Predictions and More - Ep.246

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of Unchained, I answer some questions submitted to me by the audience. In this episode, I cover: what I think about the relationship between psychedelics and crypto the most entertaining guest I’ve interviewed on Unchained why Coinbase founders may have a more impactful future on crypto than Ethereum founders which show has been the most impactful why I am a “nocoiner” where I believe DAOs fit into the future of crypto who my favorite guests have been over the years what I am most fearful and most hopeful about in the crypto space why I think user-friendly products are so important moving forward which DeFi projects I find the most interesting what sort of expenses go into producing Unchained which topics I would like to cover in the future the most surprising answers I have received in an interview (feat. CZ and Vitalik) what three cryptos I think will be most important three years from now if I think I have interviewed Satoshi :) my advice for anyone looking to change careers and go crypto who has been the hardest person to book on Unchained what crypto trend has surprised me the most in the past five years Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Keychain: https://conjure.finance Episode Links Twitter: https://twitter.com/Unchained_pod Daily Newsletter: https://unchainedpodcast.com/ Podcasts mentioned during the show: Vitalik Buterin on Ethereum’s Five-Year Anniversary https://unchainedpodcast.com/vitalik-buterin-on-ethereums-five-year-anniversary/ Listen to CZ Compare Binance to Bitcoin https://unchainedpodcast.com/listen-to-cz-compare-binance-to-bitcoin/ Mark Cuban on Why He Thinks ETH Is a Better Store of Value Than Bitcoin https://unchainedpodcast.com/mark-cuban-on-why-he-thinks-eth-is-a-better-store-of-value-than-bitcoin/ Meltem Demirors and Jill Carlson on the Shitcoin Waterfall – Ep.74 https://unchainedpodcast.com/meltem-demirors-and-jill-carlson-on-the-shitcoin-waterfall-ep-74/ Yeonmi Park on Why Doing Business With North Korea Is Like Buying a Ticket to a Concentration Camp https://unchainedpodcast.com/yeonmi-park-on-why-doing-business-with-north-korea-is-like-buying-a-ticket-to-a-concentration-camp/ Andre Cronje of Yearn Finance on YFI and the Fair Launch: ‘I’m Lazy’ https://unchainedpodcast.com/andre-cronje-of-yearn-finance-on-yfi-and-the-fair-launch-im-lazy/ Nick Tomaino on 1confirmation’s $125 Million Fund and What Future NFTs Will Look Like https://unchainedpodcast.com/nick-tomaino-on-1confirmations-125-million-fund-and-what-future-nfts-will-look-like/ Why Bitcoin’s December Price Target Is Now ‘Above $300,000’ (Willy Woo) https://unchainedpodcast.com/charting-bitcoins-growth-with-willy-woo-and-peter-brandt/ What Makes a CryptoKitty Worth $140,000? – Ep.75 (Roham Gharegozlou) https://unchainedpodcast.com/what-makes-a-cryptokitty-worth-140000-ep-75 Why I don’t own crypto: https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/1376211065772576770 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 15, 20211h 3m

Ep 245Unconfirmed: Want Crypto in Your 401(k)? It's Finally Possible -- With This Provider - Ep.245

ForUsAll recently announced a new product that will allow cryptocurrency investments to be made inside 401(k) retirement accounts. Jeff Schulte, CEO of ForUsAll, discusses why putting crypto in a 401(k) is such a game changer, how this differs from Bitcoin IRAs, and more! Show highlights: how bringing crypto into a 401(k) with ForUsAll will work what “guardrails” ForUsAll is placing on investors who choose to invest in crypto the tax advantages of purchasing crypto within a 401(k) whether ForUsAll is offering a Roth IRA why nobody has offered crypto within a 401(k) before now what differentiates a crypto 401(k) from a self-directed IRA what are the fees for the 401(k), who it will be available to, and when it will launch how security and keys are being handled why ForUsAll is not offering every token available on Coinbase how ForUsAll is determining which cryptos will be available to trade why offering crypto ETFs through a 401(k) may cause problems regarding the fiduciary risk of employers what new crypto features ForUsAll is excited to roll out Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Jeff Schulte: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffschulteproductmanagment/ ForUsAll: https://www.forusall.com/ + https://twitter.com/ForUsAll401k Coinbase partnership: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coinbase-teams-up-with-401-k-provider-to-offer-crypto https://fortune.com/2021/06/10/coinbase-crypto-401k-roth-offering-forusall/ https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/108034/coinbase-forusall-401k-advisor-crypto-retirement-accounts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 11, 202139 min

Ep 244Will Bitcoin's Price Go Up Again? Yes, According to On-Chain Analytics - Ep.244

Willy Woo, on-chain Bitcoin analyst and writer of the Bitcoin Forecast, a market intelligence newsletter, and Rafael Schultze-Kraft, co-founder and CTO of Glassnode, discuss Bitcoin and what the on-chain metrics tell us about the price. Here to discuss is. Episode highlights: what factors pushed the price of BTC down in May why Elon’s Twitter account hold so much sway over the market why Willy believes Bitcoin is good for renewable energy who sold during the last month which type of BTC investors stopped purchasing in Feb/March what trends Willy and Rafael have noticed from coins moving to/from exchanges their thoughts on exchange-traded products, like GBTC and Canadian ETFs how derivatives trading has played a role in Bitcoin’s price why stablecoins were trading above their peg in the months leading up to the Coinbase direct listing how Willy values Bitcoin (specifically using NVT ratio) whether the trend of corporate treasuries investing in Bitcoin will continue how they expect Ethereum's adoption of a deflationary monetary policy to impact the price of Bitcoin when the market could turn bullish once again and predictions for the rest of the year Thank you to our sponsors! E&Y: https://ey.com/globalblockchainsummit Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Episode Links Willy Woo Twitter: https://twitter.com/woonomic Substack: https://willywoo.substack.com/ Charts: http://charts.woobull.com/ Rafael Schultze-Kraft Twitter: https://twitter.com/n3ocortex Glassnode Blog: https://insights.glassnode.com/author/rafael/ Medium (no posts in 2021): https://medium.com/@neocortex Glassnode Website: https://glassnode.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/glassnode Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/glassnode Willy on BTC trends: NVT 2021 re-hash: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1399644889596370950 User growth on BTC network: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1396716391940575232 Exchange flows are bullish: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1395350421187690500 The movement to strong holders is unprecedented: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1391209800252358658 BTC undervaluation: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1389145220432859144 Rafael on BTC trends: Investors becoming fearful: https://twitter.com/n3ocortex/status/1394922200923312132 Bear market?: https://twitter.com/n3ocortex/status/1394312942678679559 Why on-chain exchange metrics are difficult to analyze: https://insights.glassnode.com/exchange-metrics/ BTC ownership is not highly concentrated: https://insights.glassnode.com/bitcoin-supply-distribution/ BTC illiquidity: https://insights.glassnode.com/bitcoin-liquid-supply/ Glassnode on BTC trends: May 31 recap: https://insights.glassnode.com/the-week-on-chain-week-22-2021/ May 24 recap: https://insights.glassnode.com/the-week-on-chain-week-21-2021/ December buyers approaching cost basis: https://twitter.com/glassnode/status/1399757635512066052 Battle of Bulls vs. Bears: https://twitter.com/glassnode/status/1399231089764360192 Grayscale discount: https://twitter.com/glassnode/status/1397059742019686400 Deleveraging futures market: https://twitter.com/glassnode/status/1395771367958581251 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 8, 20211h 12m

Ep 243Unconfirmed: How Taproot Could Improve Bitcoin -- If It Gets Adopted - Ep.243

Jeremy Rubin, a Bitcoin Core contributor and founder of Judica, a Bitcoin R&D Lab, joins Unchained from the Miami Bitcoin Conference (2021) to discuss all things Taproot. Show highlights: a general update on the Miami Bitcoin Conference what Taproot will do for the Bitcoin network how Taproot will make Bitcoin transactions more private what effect Taproot might have on on-chain analytics companies what parts of Bitcoin transactions will be public if/when Taproot goes live what new wallet features Taproot will unlock for Bitcoin how Bitcoin vaults might work a user-friendly definition of MASTs (Merklized Abstract Syntax Tree) how Taproot signaling works when/if Taproot will lock-in why network updates strain the relationship between miners and users Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links: Jeremy Rubin Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeremyRubin Judica: https://judica.org/ Personal website: https://rubin.io/ Taproot Signaling status of Taproot: https://taproot.watch/ Bitcoin Magazine on Taproot: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/taproot-coming-what-it-and-how-it-will-benefit-bitcoin Why Taproot matters: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-privacy-and-scaling-tech-upgrade-taproot-just-took-a-big-step-forward Marathon lifts block mining censorship: https://www.coindesk.com/marathon-wont-censor-bitcoin-transactions-says-mining-ceo MASTs: https://bitcointechtalk.com/what-is-a-bitcoin-merklized-abstract-syntax-tree-mast-33fdf2da5e2f Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 4, 202142 min

Ep 242Nick Tomaino on 1confirmation's $125 Million Fund and What Future NFTs Will Look Like - Ep.242

Nick Tomaino, general partner of 1confirmation, discusses his firm’s recently announced third fund of $125 million and gives his perspective on many hot crypto topics, such as NFTs, Layer 2 solutions, Polkadot, DAOs, and more. Show highlights: why Nick became interested in crypto and his background what drives 1confirmation’s investment thesis why he Nick believes NFTs have taken off in popularity this year why NFTs are currently in a bubble what we might do with NFTs in the future how competition between different NFT marketplaces will shake out how music NFTs could work the feasibility of charging royalties in the secondary sale of NFTs why environmental concerns over crypto mining to only be a short-term issue why Nick is not an Ethereum maxi and how he feels about the fragmentation of Layer 2 solutions on ETH why Polkadot is such an exciting project whether, as an early Coinbase employee, he would say the fat protocols thesis is true what new trend Nick is keeping an eye on for 2021 and beyond Thank you to our sponsors! E&Y: https://ey.com/globalblockchainsummit Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero Episode Links Nick Tomaino Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/NTmoney Recommended Content: Writing Introducing 1confirmation Fund 3 https://thecontrol.co/1confirmation-fund-iii-4633d18273e NFTs + Mimetic Desire https://thecontrol.co/stories-scarcity-and-mimetic-desire-c4a344fa74e1 Twitter Threads Has crypto “earned it?” https://twitter.com/NTmoney/status/1391782884202061824 Ethereum + decentralized identity https://twitter.com/NTmoney/status/1389608747924742157 WSB optimism https://twitter.com/NTmoney/status/1356036385287720960 The crypto perfect storm https://twitter.com/NTmoney/status/1352301464060760064 His journey from Coinbase to 1confirmation https://twitter.com/NTmoney/status/1353405899990155264 Guest Appearances/Quotes “Digital art has a chance to exceed $3 trillion in total value and flip traditional art” https://fortune.com/2021/03/30/nft-crypto-superrare-art-market/ “It's not going to look the same as the crypto booms and busts, but there are going to be a lot of these sales that maybe don't have buyers in the future” https://cheddar.com/media/nfts-facing-bubble-but-crypto-art-platforms-see-long-term “It's clear we're in some type of NFT bubble” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/technology/cryptocurrency-mainstream.html Old Unchained Appearances https://unchainedpodcast.com/nick-tomaino-on-why-he-is-skeptical-libra-will-be-significant/ https://unchainedpodcast.com/icos-why-people-are-investing-in-this-380-million-phenomenon/ 1confirmation Basics Website/Portfolio https://www.1confirmation.com/portfolio Twitter https://twitter.com/1confirmation Recently announced fund https://thecontrol.co/1confirmation-fund-iii-4633d18273e Recently, 1confirmation has funded... Notional Finance https://www.coindesk.com/notional-raises-10m-to-grow-defi-lending-protocol-with-real-world-potential SuperRare series A https://decrypt.co/63295/nft-marketplace-superrare-9m-funding-mark-cuban Nexus Mutual https://decrypt.co/57844/vc-firms-invest-2-7-million-in-defi-insurer-nexus-mutual dYdX series B https://integral.dydx.exchange/dydx-closes-10m-series-b-investment/ Acala https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/76313/polkadot-based-defi-project-acala-raises-7-million-saft Miscellaneous Meebits https://meebits.larvalabs.com/ Polkadot governance https://polkadot.network/polkadot-governance/ Unchained podcast discussing the petrodollar https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-vs-the-petrodollar-which-is-more-environmentally-friendly/ Fat Thesis https://www.usv.com/writing/2016/08/fat-protocols/ ZED Run https://zed.run/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 1, 20211h 1m

Ep 241Unconfirmed: Rep. Tom Emmer, One of the Most Active Crypto Congress Members, on Taxes and DeFi - Ep.241

House Representative Tom Emmer, of Minnesota, is one of the most active voice for crypto and blockchain in the US government. In this episode, he discusses: what book made Tom fall down the crypto rabbit hole why Tom believes the Financial Accounting Standards Board needs to set clear accounting standards for cryptocurrencies why the current way of accounting for Bitcoin on balance sheets may be a detriment to companies in the future how he feels about the acting head of the OCC putting together a “sprint team” of federal regulators to establish overarching crypto standards why he is fighting to change tax rules for forked coins what problems the Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act might solve why he is so passionate about the Securities Clarity Act, which would explicitly separate digital tokens from securities how DeFi should be regulated and why he is not a fan of FATF’s recently proposed guidance Tom’s prediction for when these bills may actually become law Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Tom Emmer Twitter: https://twitter.com/RepTomEmmer Website: https://emmer.house.gov/ Documents Mentioned FASB letter https://emmer.house.gov/2021/5/emmer-urges-fasb-to-issue-clear-accounting-standards-for-virtual-currencies Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2021/04/22/us-house-passes-bill-to-create-first-crypto-task-force-on-digital-assets/ Safe Harbor for Taxpayers with Forked Assets Act https://emmer.house.gov/2021/5/emmer-introduces-legislation-to-protect-taxpayers-with-digital-assets-pending-further-irs-guidance Securities Clarity Act https://emmer.house.gov/2020/9/emmer-introduces-legislation-to-provide-clarity-for-digital-assets-under-securities-law Proposed FATF Guidance (quick breakdown) https://www.coincenter.org/a-quick-analysis-of-fatfs-2021-draft-cryptocurrency-guidance/ Miscellaneous Congressional Blockchain Caucus https://congressionalblockchaincaucus-schweikert.house.gov/members US Regulatory “sprint” https://decrypt.co/71975/us-agencies-sprint-align-on-bitcoin-regulations Michael Saylor episode https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-michael-saylor-on-the-best-way-for-companies-to-buy-bitcoin/ Age of Cryptocurrency https://www.amazon.com/The-Age-of-Cryptocurrency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 28, 202138 min

Ep 240How Solana and Binance Smart Chain Could Take Ethereum's Lead - Ep.240

Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix, and Kyle Samani, managing partner at Multicoin Capital, debate the merits of Ethereum, Solana, and Binance Smart Chain. In this episode, they discuss: why Ethereum is losing market share to Solana and BSC whether decentralization matters and at what point decentralization becomes redundant why they think Solana and Binance Smart Chain need to be taken seriously as competitors to EThereum whether BSC or Solana is the bigger long-term threat to Ethereum the biggest obstacle to Ethereum’s success (and it’s not gas fees) how Ethereum will navigate fragmented Layer 2 solutions Solana and its lack of developers what differentiates DeFi from CeFi why Solana has an edge on Ethereum in terms of composability how Ethereum will onboard new users why Kain is such an ardent backer of Ethereum why both Kyle and Kain think EIP 1559 and the potential for higher ETH prices is bad for Ethereum if Synthetix would ever consider launching a cross-chain product the viability of a multi-chain world why Kyle believes the future holds a winner-take-most blockchain ecosystem Thank you to our sponsors! E&Y: https://ey.com/globalblockchainsummit Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Kyber Network: Dmm.exchange Episode Links People Kyle Samani Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani Multicoin Capital: https://multicoin.capital/ Kain Warwick Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaiynne Synthetix: https://synthetix.io/ Content Kain’s tweet that instigated this pod: https://twitter.com/kaiynne/status/1387266949302734852 Multicoin Blogs: New $100m fund focused on Solana https://multicoin.capital/2021/05/04/announcing-venture-fund-ii/ BNB Investment + valuation https://multicoin.capital/2019/02/19/binance-coin-analysis-and-valuation/ Investment in Solana https://multicoin.capital/2019/07/30/the-world-computer-should-be-logically-centralized/ Ethereum analysis https://multicoin.capital/2019/05/24/the-unbundling-of-ethereum/ Value Capture at Layers 1 and 2 https://multicoin.capital/2019/03/14/on-value-capture-at-layers-1-and-2/ Kain Warwick and Sam Bankman Fried podcast https://www.cryptonotes.org/2020/10/sbf-kain-blockcrunch-117/ Comparing AMMs on different blockchains https://www.coindesk.com/pancakeswap-uniswap-sushiswap-crypto-defi-exchange BSC and Solana NFT platforms https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/102959/binance-is-launching-its-own-nft-marketplace-in-june https://www.coindesk.com/banksy-burners-raise-3m-to-build-nft-platform-on-solana Overview of Layer 2 solutions on Ethereum https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/scaling/layer-2-rollups/ Binance Smart Chain guide https://defiprime.com/binance-smart-chain Solana guide https://thedefiant.io/solana-defi-ecosystem-overview/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 25, 20211h 10m

Ep 239Unconfirmed: Mike Novogratz on the 5 Reasons the Crypto Markets Plummeted - Ep.239

Mike Novogratz, founder, CEO, and chairman of Galaxy Digital, digs into the drivers behind this week’s market selloff. Show highlights: the five factors Mike believes led to this week’s dip what Mike thinks about the environmental concerns surrounding Bitcoin how Ethereum will perform in 2021 whether centralized blockchains will survive regulatory scrutiny why Galaxy Digital made its $1 billion acquisition of BitGo what sort of projects Galaxy Digital is mulling in the DeFi space when Mike thinks a bitcoin ETF could be approved Mike’s 2021 bitcoin price prediction Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Mike Novogratz: https://twitter.com/novogratz Galaxy Digital: https://www.galaxydigital.io Recommend Reads: Galaxy Digital BitGo purchase https://www.coindesk.com/galaxy-digital-to-buy-bitgo-for-about-1-2-billion-in-stock-cash SEC skepticism regarding bitcoin ETF https://www.coindesk.com/sec-warns-mutual-fund-investors-of-bitcoin-futures-risks Galaxy Digital 2021 Q1 results https://www.coindesk.com/galaxy-digital-q1-aum-rose-58-net-comprehensive-income-more-than-doubles Galaxy Digital bitcoin ETF https://www.coindesk.com/galaxy-digital-files-for-us-bitcoin-etf Youtube energy consumption https://www.iea.org/commentaries/the-carbon-footprint-of-streaming-video-fact-checking-the-headlines https://thefactsource.com/how-much-electricity-does-youtube-use/ Dapper Labs lawsuit https://www.forbes.com/sites/andreatinianow/2021/05/17/no-slam-dunk-for-plaintiffs-in-nba-top-shot-moments-class-action-lawsuit/?sh=be89ec3df3da Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 21, 202140 min

Ep 238Bitcoin vs. the Petrodollar: Which Is More Environmentally Friendly? - Ep.238

Last week, Tesla announced they will no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for vehicles. In a timely episode, Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation, and James McGinniss, CEO and co-founder of David Energy, come onto the show to discuss Bitcoin, the petrodollar, and how to contextualize the energy usage of the first cryptocurrency (BTC) versus the leading fiat currency (USD). Show highlights: their backgrounds and how they became interested in the intersection of currency and energy usage why Alex and James really think Tesla stopped accepting BTC as payment why James thinks Bitcoin’s energy intensity is a “feature, not a bug” Alex on the history of the petrodollar and how the USD in recent decades has been tied to fossil fuel production comparing the carbon cost of a dollar to Bitcoin’s energy consumption what both James and Alex think of the Square and Ark Invest research paper saying renewable energy production could be tied with Bitcoin mining why measuring Bitcoin’s energy usage is difficult how Bitcoin mining in China is changing for the better how the Biden administration might impact Bitcoin where to find more information on Bitcoin and energy consumption Thank you to our sponsors! E&Y: https://ey.com/globalblockchainsummit Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Kyber Network: Dmm.exchange Episode Links People: Alex Gladstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/gladstein Human Rights Foundation: https://hrf.org/ James McGinniss Twitter: https://twitter.com/James_McGinniss David Energy: https://www.davidenergy.com/ Recommended Reads: “Uncovering the Hidden Cost of the Petrodollar” by Alex Gladstein https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/the-hidden-costs-of-the-petrodollar “Think BTC is a Dirty Business? Consider the Carbon Cost of a Dollar” by Susan Su https://susanfsu.medium.com/think-btc-is-a-dirty-business-consider-the-carbon-cost-of-a-dollar-c38122fb55c5 “Bitcoin is Key to an Abundant, Clean Energy Future” by Square and Ark Invest https://assets.ctfassets.net/2d5q1td6cyxq/2D2BnksJjavw4a6SUvAPwZ/c42a9e3a520b0cc3b230cda3b43eead5/BCEI_White_Paper_.pdf Elisabeth Steyn thread on Tesla and energy credits https://twitter.com/Elisabeth_Steyn/status/1392799067986554880 “Tesla seeks entry into U.S. renewable fuel credit market” by Reuters https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/exclusive-tesla-seeks-entry-into-us-renewable-fuel-credit-market-sources-2021-05-12/ “Debt” by David Graeber https://www.amazon.com/Debt-First-5-000-Years/dp/1612191290 Others: Bitcoin energy consumption index https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption/ Cambridge study on cryptoassets https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-ccaf-3rd-global-cryptoasset-benchmarking-study.pdf Triffin Dilemma https://dailyreckoning.com/the-triffin-dilemma/ Alex Gladstein’s Recommended Follows: Nic Carter https://twitter.com/nic__carter Lyn Alden https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact Susan Su https://twitter.com/susanfsu Luke Gromen https://twitter.com/LukeGromen Michael Hudson https://twitter.com/michaelwhudson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 18, 20211h 8m

Ep 237Unconfirmed: How Elon Musk Pushed DOGE Up and BTC Down, With Arca's Jeff Dorman - Ep.237

Jeff Dorman, the chief investment officer at Arca, comes on the show to give a macro perspective on the crypto environment. In this episode, he discusses: how economic data and real-world events have affected digital assets how Jeff classifies the different types of assets within crypto what market forces have pushed ETH to new all-time highs above $4k whether EIP 1559 will have the same effect on ether price as the Bitcoin halving has on BTC price what is happening with Dogecoin and other meme-coins why the market’s reaction to Tesla’s halt of BTC vehicle purchases was healthy whether environmental concerns surrounding Bitcoin will have long-term consequences on crypto as an asset class Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Jeff Dorman Twitter https://twitter.com/jdorman81 Arca https://www.ar.ca/ Blog post titled “How Economic Data Affects Digital Assets” https://www.ar.ca/blog/crypto-market-recap-05-10-21 Blog post titled “The Four Types of Digital Assets” https://www.ar.ca/blog/crypto-market-recap-06-29-20 Miscellaneous Links Dogecoin SNL clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5RCfQyTDFI SHIB token + dog meme-coins https://decrypt.co/70587/shiba-inu-shib-what-why-price-dogecoin https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/104676/vitalik-buterin-donates-more-than-60m-to-charity-after-selling-meme-tokens-including-shiba-inu https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1392533724814876680/photo/1 Nic Carter on Bitcoin mining https://www.coindesk.com/the-last-word-on-bitcoins-energy-consumption Tesla’s announcement on halting BTC vehicle purchases https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1392602041025843203 Link to the Crypto News Recap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-an-elon-tweet-sent-bitcoin-below-50k/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 14, 202138 min

Ep 236Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla on How to Avoid Another GameStop - Ep.236

In this discussion I moderated for Paxos, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla discuss GameStop, the broken traditional financial infrastructure, and how blockchain technology may change the future of settlements. Show highlights: why Robinhood stopped trading on GameStop and AMC stock earlier this year what both Charles and Vlad think the feasibility of T+0 settlements versus Citadel’s and the DTCC’s aim of T+1 settlements how the GameStop scenario would have been different in a T+0 environment what it would look like if certain markets used T+0 settlements while others still settled on T+1 why Robinhood decided to add crypto back in early 2018 how Robinhood’s crypto operations work on the back end why Robinhood does not allow users to move crypto off-platform whether securities trading or crypto will be a larger portion of both Paxos’ and Robinhood’s business model what Paxos and Robinhood have planned for the near future Thank you to our sponsors! E&Y: https://ey.com/globalblockchainsummit Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Kyber Network: Dmm.exchange Episode Links: People: Charles Cascarilla Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlescascarilla/ Coindesk Profile https://www.coindesk.com/charles-cascarilla-most-influential-2020 Previous interview with Laura https://unchainedpodcast.com/chad-cascarilla-on-paxoss-partnership-with-paypal/ Blog post on the GameStop saga https://www.paxos.com/what-lehman-brothers-gamestop-and-the-next-financial-crisis-have-in-common/ Vlad Tenev Twitter https://twitter.com/vladtenev CNN Article https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/investing/robinhood-gamestop-vlad-tenev/index.html Tweet Thread on T+2 https://twitter.com/vladtenev/status/1356687248746455041 Companies: Paxos Twitter https://twitter.com/PaxosGlobal Paxos Settlement Service https://www.paxos.com/securities/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-paxos/paxos-to-launch-settlement-of-u-s-listed-equities-after-secs-no-action-letter-idUSKBN1X727M Wall Street Journal write-up https://www.wsj.com/articles/blockchain-makes-inroads-into-the-stock-markets-1-trillion-plumbing-system-11573131600 Robinhood Twitter https://twitter.com/RobinhoodApp Robinhood Crypto https://robinhood.com/us/en/about/crypto/ Public offering https://blog.robinhood.com/news/2021/3/23/robinhood-markets-inc-confidentially-submits-draft-registration-statement Miscellaneous Links Citadel on settlements https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/95326/citadel-robinhood-shorter-settlements-congress DTCC on settlements https://www.dtcc.com/news/2021/february/24/dtcc-proposes-approach-to-shortening-us-settlement-cycle-to-t1-within-two-years Other: Caitlin Long Unchained episode: https://unchainedpodcast.com/caitlin-long-why-avanti-will-be-a-new-kind-of-crypto-bank/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 11, 202150 min

Ep 235Unconfirmed: Should NYC’s Pension Funds Invest in Crypto? This Comptroller Candidate Says Yes - Ep.235

Reshma Patel, a Democratic candidate for New York City’s Comptroller position, talks about her “future proof” plan for the city, which centers on investing in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. In this episode, she discusses: what duties the New York City Controller performs how Reshma thinks crypto and blockchain tech can help New York City, which she calls her “future proof” plan how a city comptroller would go about investing 1%-3% of the city’s pension funds into crypto what type of crypto investment vehicles would be appropriate for the city to invest in why Reshma became interested in crypto in the first place what sort of real-world issues blockchain technology could solve in NYC, particularly in its procurement system whether Reshma envisions an NYC blockchain solution for its procurement system being on a private or public blockchain how the Comptroller could influence the state of New York to make the BitLicense more accessible for entrepreneurs why NYC must compete in the blockchain/crypto space with Miami and Wyoming how crypto could help NYC recover post-COVID what comes next for Reshma’s campaign and why she is not allowed to receive crypto donations Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links Reshma Patel Twitter: https://twitter.com/reshmapatelnyc?lang=en Blockchain campaign: https://www.reshma2021.com/blockchain CoinDesk profile: https://www.coindesk.com/city-comptroller-candidate-says-blockchain-is-in-new-yorks-future The Block article: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/102122/candidate-nyc-comptroller-crypto-blockchain Miscellaneous Links BitLicense https://ciphertrace.com/new-york-bitlicense/ https://www.coindesk.com/bitlicense-timeline Duties of NYC Comptroller https://comptroller.nyc.gov/about/duties-of-the-comptroller/ Link to the Crypto News Recap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/doge-up-13000-ytd/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 7, 202133 min

Ep 234Crypto's Gender Disparity: What Can Be Done About It? 4 Women Weigh In - Ep.234

Crypto sits at the intersection of two male-dominated industries: tech and finance. I was asked to moderate a panel for the Amber Group with four leading women in crypto to discuss the role of gender in the crypto industry and what can be done to bring more women into the space. Panelists include Mia Deng, partner at Dragonfly Capital; Amy Zhang, vice president of sales at Fireblocks; Alexis Gauba, cofounder at Opyn; and Annabelle Huang, partner at Amber Group. Show highlights: how each panelist got into crypto, what it is they do, and which company they work for why women have been somewhat reluctant to speak on crypto gender disparity in public what the main obstacles to bringing about better gender diversity in crypto whether the crypto space is harder to break into than traditional finance for women how gender issues in the U.S. are different than in Asia why more women have begun trading cryptocurrencies and how to increase that interest which crypto explanations are most effective for female friends why there are so few female crypto co-founders good hiring practices for bringing more women into the space advice for women trying to break into crypto Thank you to our sponsors! E&Y: https://ey.com/globalblockchainsummit Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Kyber Network: Dmm.exchange Episode Links Panelists Mia Deng Crypto career cofounder at TR Lab ---- NFT Platform (2021) partner at Dragonfly Capital - https://medium.com/dragonfly-research Head of biz Development + Venture partner @ Amber Group - https://www.ambergroup.io/about Social link https://twitter.com/miagegedeng?lang=en Amy Zhang Crypto career vice president of sales at Fireblocks - https://www.fireblocks.com/ head of sales/investor relations at Diginex - https://www.diginex.com/ Social link https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyzwzhang/?originalSubdomain=hk Alexis Gauba Crypto career cofounder at Opyn - https://www.opyn.co/#/ cofounder at she256 - https://she256.org/ Social link https://twitter.com/AlexisGauba Annabelle Huang Crypto career partner at Amber Group - https://www.ambergroup.io/about founding member at KeeperDAO - https://twitter.com/Keeper_DAO risk lead at AirSwap - https://www.airswap.io/ Social Link https://twitter.com/_annabellehuang?lang=en Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 4, 20211h 4m

Ep 233Unconfirmed: How MetaMask Grew Its Monthly Active Users By 5X in the Last 6 Months - Ep.233

Dan Finlay, co-founder of MetaMask, talks about the meteoric growth of monthly active users of the crypto wallet, which has quintupled in the past seven months. In this episode, he discusses: which crypto use case drove MetaMask’s active user base to grow 5x in under a year what types of scaling solutions are drawing users to MetaMask how MetaMask works what kind of customers are using MetaMask how MetaMask has grown without targeted marketing whether the type of crypto usage in developing nations differed from developed nations which feature MetaMask released in 2020 that is bringing in revenue what pivotal moments in crypto over the past six years have brought new users to MetaMask why scalability and security are the most important challenges facing MetaMask in the short term how MetaMask is trying to make online wallets more secure how much volume users have traded via MetaMask's new swap feature what new features are coming up for MetaMask wallets Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021 InterPop: https://hellointerpop.io/?utm_source=Unchained&utm_medium=episode-sponsorship&utm_campaign=interpop-launch&utm_content=interpop NEAR: https://near.org Episode Links MetaMask Dan Finlay: https://twitter.com/danfinlay MetaMask: https://metamask.io/ $5 Million Monthly Active Users: https://consensys.net/blog/metamask/metamask-surpasses-5-million-monthly-active-users/ MetaMask in Emerging Markets: https://twitter.com/MetaMask/status/1387114770923466755 Filecoin in MetaMask: https://medium.com/metamask/developer-preview-metamask-snap-for-filecoin-c28b01dfdcb Miscellaneous Robbie Ferguson on Unchained: https://unchainedpodcast.com/this-layer-2-solution-processed-more-nft-trades-in-24-hours-than-ethereum-did-in-1-week/ Marguerite deCourcelle on Unchained: https://unchainedpodcast.com/all-the-ways-crypto-can-make-gaming-more-fun/ Charles Cascarilla + Vlad Tenev conversation: https://t.co/2AG0y5j36B?amp=1 Link to the Crypto News Recap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-bitcoin-standard/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 30, 202138 min

Ep 232How NFT Platform OpenSea Plans to Maintain Its Competitive Advantage - Ep.232

Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO of NFT marketplace OpenSea, talks all things non-fungible. Check out the whole show to hear Devin answer the following questions: First Half: Breaking Down NFTs Why did he become so interested in NFTs ? What is an NFT? Why have NFTs become so popular recently? Who is creating NFTs? Who is purchasing NFTs? Are we in an NFT bubble? How is the NFT ecosystem going to evolve over the next few years? What are people purchasing when they buy an NFT? Second Half: OpenSea Q+A What is OpenSea? How will OpenSea maintain its competitive advantage in the open-source blockchain ecosystem? How does OpenSea make money? Are artists making money on OpenSea? How is OpenSea planning on integrating with layer 2 solutions on Ethereum and other blockchains? How do royalties work on OpenSea? Why are they hard to enforce? What can be done about content being minted on OpenSea without an artist’s permission? What issues in the NFT world still need to be resolved? How is OpenSea handling the environmental concerns surrounding NFTs? What’s next for OpenSea? Thank you to our sponsors! E&Y: https://ey.com/globalblockchainsummit Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2 Kyber Network: Dmm.exchange Episode Links Basic Links Devin’s Twitter https://twitter.com/dfinzer?lang=en OpenSea https://opensea.io/ Devin Finzer Content Podcast appearances https://www.owltail.com/people/YzIoa-devin-finzer/appearances The NFT Bible https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/ Blockchain gaming (2018) https://www.coindesk.com/the-emerging-trends-in-the-blockchain-gaming-world OpenSea Profiles Fortune https://fortune.com/2021/03/18/nft-art-crypto-marketplace-opensea-amazon/ CoinDesk 50 for 2020 (#47) https://www.coindesk.com/the-coindesk-50 Recent announcements scaling solution w/ Immutable X (Mar 31) https://www.coindesk.com/nft-opensea-immutable-layer-2-protocol-ethereum https://decrypt.co/65828/immutable-x-ethereum-nft-gods-unchained A16z investment (Mar 18th) https://a16z.com/2021/03/18/investing-in-opensea/ updating terms of service (Mar 13) https://twitter.com/opensea/status/1370895902068637697 taking down the hacker NFT (Mar 9) https://www.coindesk.com/hacker-selling-cybersecurity-exploit-nft unlockable content (early March) https://twitter.com/opensea/status/1366780226416631817 Tezos collab (Feb 10) https://twitter.com/opensea/status/1359519631275352064 creating NFTs for free (Dec 29) https://opensea.io/blog/announcements/introducing-the-collection-manager/ https://twitter.com/xanderatallah/status/1358848443356221445 recent usage: https://duneanalytics.com/rchen8/opensea 2018 investing round https://www.coindesk.com/ebay-cryptokitties-raises-2-million-star-vcs https://opensea.io/blog/announcements/opensea-raises-2-million/ Other Terms of service talk https://www.reddit.com/r/opensea/comments/m12uh4/do_i_keep_the_rights_to_any_nft_i_sell_on_opensea/ Stats https://www.forbes.com/sites/youngjoseph/2021/03/29/nft-market-rages-on-nfts-market-cap-grow-1785-in-2021-as-demand-explodes/?sh=2974862a7fdc https://duneanalytics.com/rchen8/opensea Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 27, 20211h 4m