Tomicah Tillemann, the global chief policy officer of Katie Haun's new firm, analyzes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and explains how crypto is being used in an unprecedented manner to render aid to civilians, move money across the world, and potentially document war crimes. Show highlights: Tomicah’s background, which includes stints working for the State Department and a16z recap of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine what Tomicah thinks of the decision to boot certain Russian banks from SWIFT why Tomi...
Mar 04, 2022•46 min•Ep. 326
During my research for The Cryptopians, I found information that I believe identifies the perpetrator behind The DAO hack on Ethereum. Three founding members of The DAO and Slock.it (Christoph Jentzsch, Lefteris Karapetsas, Griff Green) discuss how and why they created The DAO, how they helped save the funds being siphoned off by black hat hackers, their personal feelings about The DAO, along with their reaction to the news about who I believe was The DAO attacker. Show topics: Part 1: Backgroun...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 325
In a fun change of pace, Steven Ehrlich, editor of Forbes Cryptoasset and Blockchain Advisor, joins Unchained to interview me about my book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze, which came out this week. We discuss… where the inspiration for “The Cryptopians” title came from why I wanted to write a book about Ethereum how Vitalik’s role changed over the course of Ethereum’s founding who the main characters in The Cryptopians are the bigges...
Feb 25, 2022•44 min•Ep. 324
Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. Show topics: their thoughts on The DAO hacker reveal the importance of The DAO and why it made Robert fall in love with crypto how the alleged attacker was found (feat. a deep dive into the Morden testnet and Wasabi) dumb DAOs: why the guys are unimpressed with DAOs seeking to purchase, among other things, the Denver Broncos and fast-food re...
Feb 24, 2022•59 min•Ep. 323
While researching for my book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze, I found evidence that I believe resolves the biggest whodunnit in crypto: who hacked The DAO? This podcast is coming out in conjunction with an article in Forbes revealing the prime suspect’s identity. Part 1: Who Attacked the DAO? Here’s the Evidence To document the process of finding the alleged attacker, I wrote an article for Forbes, with which I opened the podcast. In...
Feb 22, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 322
Congressman Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, discusses crypto and decentralization, his new book, Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us, and how to regulate the crypto industry. Show highlights: what Silicon Valley had to do with Congressman Khanna’s journey down the crypto rabbit hole why Congressman Khanna is so passionate about decentralization why Congressman Khanna thinks crypto could bring tech jobs across the country and world (rather than staying in hubs like Silicon ...
Feb 18, 2022•41 min•Ep. 321
Two crypto tax experts, Shehan Chandrasekera, certified public accountant and head of strategy, Tax, at Cointracker, and John Cardone, senior director of Washington National Tax at RSM US LLP, explain everything crypto traders need to understand when filing taxes for 2021. Show topics: -the five types of transactions that constitute a taxable crypto event -how NFT taxes should be reported -why the sale of collectibles (NFTs) is taxed differently than the sale of crypto property (tokens) -what ty...
Feb 15, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 320
On Tuesday, the US government seized $3.6 billion in bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex hack and arrested two individuals, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, on charges of money laundering. Tom Robinson, cofounder and chief scientist at the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, breaks down how law enforcement was able to seize the BTC, what techniques the alleged money launderers used to avoid capture, and who could have pulled off the initial hack. Show highlights: background on the 2016 Bitfinex ...
Feb 11, 2022•37 min•Ep. 319
Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. On this week’s episode, Sam Bankman-Friend (SBF), CEO and founder of FTX, also dropped by. Show topics: Robert and SBF’s takeaways from previous experiences speaking to regulators what happened during the Wormhole hack and why building decentralized systems is difficult whether AssangeDAO is a good use of money and how it showcases the power...
Feb 09, 2022•58 min•Ep. 318
Variant Fund is a venture capital firm that describes itself as “a first-check crypto fund investing in the ownership economy.” Jesse Walden and Li Jin, co-founders and general partners at Variant, join Unchained to discuss the ownership economy, issues with web2 and web3, NFTs, the future of work, and more. Highlights: where Li and Jesse met and how their backgrounds as investors + founders led them to the crypto space how Li’s investing niche, which she describes as the passion economy, ended ...
Feb 08, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 317
Shrina Kurani, a Democrat running for a House seat in California, and Morgan Harper, a Democratic candidate running to represent Ohio in the US Senate, explain why they are running pro-crypto campaigns. They discuss how crypto will affect the 2022 midterms, justify being both pro-crypto and pro-environment, and talk about the importance of educating regulators about Web3. On this episode of Unchained, they highlight: how Morgan’s work at the American Economic Liberties Project and Consumer Finan...
Feb 04, 2022•53 min•Ep. 316
Dapper Collectives CEO and Friends With Benefits founder Trevor McFedries joins Unchained to discuss social tokens, NFTs, the creator economy, $FWB, VC snacks, DAOs, Cooper Turley, and more. Show highlights: Trevor’s past, which includes a top 10 album, working at Spotify, founding Brud, creating Lil Miquela, and, of course, falling down the crypto rabbit hole what Trevor’s vision for Dapper Collectives is what type of activities DAOs will facilitate in the future why Trevor is so excited to be ...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 315
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Jan 28, 2022•43 min•Ep. 314
Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. Show topics: Analyzing the market drawdown Twitter-native NFTs + Crypto Coven LooksRare — real or BS? Solana’s disappointing network performance What broke during the market downturn: OHM, Solend, and MakerDAO Predictions for market action going forward Episode Links Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital https://twitter...
Jan 26, 2022•55 min•Ep. 313
Will Papper and Ian Lee, the two co-founders of Syndicate, join Unchained to announce the release of Syndicate’s new product: Web3 Investment Clubs, an innovation they believe could end up disrupting the web2 investment world, along with the entire venture capital industry. For example, with Web3 Investment Clubs, users will be able to turn an Ethereum wallet address into an investing DAO with just a few clicks, transfer funds without going through banks, and manage a cap-table directly on-chain...
Jan 25, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 312
Fais Khan, author of the Startups and Econ newsletter, dives into his recently published research report, "You Don't Own Web3": A Coinbase Curse and How VCs Sell Crypto to Retail. Show highlights: whether tokens perform better before or after being listed on Coinbase what relationship a16z, a venture capital firm, has to Coinbase why Fais believes that the poor performance of VC-backed tokens after being listed could be the result of insiders dumping other reasons for a token’s poor performance ...
Jan 21, 2022•40 min•Ep. 311
Binance Smart Chain is the third largest chain by TVL and its token, BNB, is the third-largest token by market capitalization. However, there are questions about hacks, centralization, lack of developer support, and sketch MEV transactions. On Unchained, Gwendolyn Regina, investment director of the Binance Smart Chain Growth Fund, and Samy Karim, ecosystem coordinator at Binance Smart Chain, give a candid interview discussing BSC, from its amazing growth in 2021 to some of the toughest questions...
Jan 18, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 310
Avid NFT collector Aftab Hossain (aka @iamDCinvestor on Crypto Twitter) discusses why OpenSea and NFT volumes are popping to start 2022, how LooksRare’s vampire attack is a good thing for the NFT market, and how royalties affect a project’s trading potential. Show topics: why Aftab thinks NFT floor prices are rising and what role NFT “flippers” have to do with his theory whether the NFT industry could continue growing even if fungible crypto assets enter a bear market how the LooksRare vampire a...
Jan 14, 2022•41 min•Ep. 309
The Chopping Block is back! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. Show topics: why crypto assets experienced a drawdown after last week’s FOMC meeting that hinted at accelerated rate hikes which emerging assets Tarun, Haseeb, and Tom envision weathering a bear market which assets could be further hurt by a continued bear market the significance of Paradigm and Sequoia investing in Citadel Securities what aspe...
Jan 13, 2022•49 min•Ep. 308
Kristin Smith, executive director at Blockchain Association, and Jake Chervinsky, head of Policy at Blockchain Association, discuss the current state of crypto regulation. Show topics: why 2021 was a watershed year for crypto regulation and lobbying why Jake decided to move from Compound Labs to Blockchain Association what Kristin and Jake think about the current state of regulation in the crypto industry how crypto education will play a significant role in Blockchain Association efforts going f...
Jan 11, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 307
Electric Capital’s Maria Shen dives into her company’s recently published research report about Web3 open-source development in 2021 and shares her thoughts and insights on how developers are flocking to Web3 in a manner that goes far beyond just Bitcoin and Ethereum. Show topics: Maria’s biggest takeaways from the Electric Capital Developer Report how developer growth is affected by asset price which ecosystems are growing fastest why Maria thinks the growth in Bitcoin development has slowed do...
Jan 07, 2022•40 min•Ep. 306
Larry Cermak, VP of research at The Block, and Igor Igamberdiev, director of research and data at The Block, recap the most significant trends of 2021 (BTC mining, L1s, NFTs, DeFi, venture funding) and discuss what might happen in 2022. Show topics: why 2021 was so significant for the crypto industry why the crypto markets didn’t see a blow-off top at the end of the calendar year the way they typically do about a year after a Bitcoin halving what Larry thinks about whether the crypto market is i...
Jan 04, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 305
Jonathan Mann has published a song a day for 13 years. On Unchained, he talks about his writing process, how he came up with the idea of publishing his songs as NFTs, his plans for a DAO he created called SongADAO, and more. Show topics: the significance and process of making a song a day for 13 years straight how Jonathan monetized his content in the early days (2009) of the internet what crypto event sent Jonathan down the rabbit hole and how Vitalik Buterin was involved why CryptoPunks piqued...
Dec 31, 2021•47 min•Ep. 304
Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Chopping Block, a new show on Unchained hosted by Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra, in which they discuss the latest juicy topics in crypto. This week, the four crypto heavyweights take a look back at 2021. Show topics: Biggest winners and losers Best mechanism Biggest surprise Best meme Predictions for 2022 Without revealing too much, Haseeb, Robert, Tom, and Tarun cover a lot of ground, diving into “esoteric” subjects like Lu...
Dec 30, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 303
Mitchell F. Chan, who released one of the first NFT projects on Ethereum back in 2017, discusses his projects, making art on a blockchain, how NFTs are transforming the traditional art world, and more. Show topics: Mitchell’s art career before NFTs how Mitchell was inspired by Yves Klein’s 1950's work 'Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility’ the story behind Mitchell’s OG NFT art project: ‘Digital Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility’ what the traditional world thinks about NFTs who is c...
Dec 28, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 302
Merry Christmas (Eve)! For this special episode of Unchained, three other crypto journalists and I discuss their favorite stories from the past twelve months, how they would grade crypto journalism in 2021, and what they are looking forward to covering in 2022. Show highlights: what stories Michael, Michael, Jeff, and I will remember from a ~busy~ 2021 why 2021 is “clearly the biggest year” yet for the industry how CoinDesk, Forbes, and Decrypt can improve their news coverage in 2022 what Michae...
Dec 24, 2021•54 min•Ep. 301
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Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 300
Jess Symington, research lead at Elliptic, a blockchain forensics company, discusses the massive upswing in DeFi hacks during 2021, resulting in over $10 billion of DeFi value lost. Show topics: the state of crime in DeFi how much value has been lost to exploits whether the majority of hacks are the result of user or developer error the various types of exploits how to confirm when a project did, in fact, rug pull which blockchains are most susceptible to having exploits what has been happening ...
Dec 17, 2021•42 min•Ep. 299
Gabby Dizon, cofounder of Yield Guild Games, discusses his background in gaming, why he started Yield Guild Games, the performance of Axie Infinity, and more. Show topics: how Gabby fell down the crypto rabbit hole what inspired Gabby to co-found Yield Guild Games what Yield Guild Games does how blockchain games improve upon games in the traditional world a real-life story of Yield Guild Games improving a player’s life why it’s difficult for Yield Guild Games players to cash out earnings and how...
Dec 14, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 298
Jeff Dorman, the chief investment officer at Arca, discusses the recent events surrounding SushiSwap, including CTO Joseph Delong’s departure this week, Arca’s proposal to create a hierarchical management structure for SushiSwap, and why Jeff is still excited about Arca’s investment in SushiSwap. Show topics: what SushiSwap is and how it has performed since its inception how Jeff views SushiSwap’s performance from an investor’s perspective how the departure of 0xMaki affected SushiSwap what Jeff...
Dec 10, 2021•42 min•Ep. 297
