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 ...
Oct 01, 2021•36 min•Ep. 277
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 Inspir...
Sep 28, 2021•55 min•Ep. 276
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 c...
Sep 24, 2021•33 min•Ep. 275
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...
Sep 21, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 274
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 w...
Sep 17, 2021•37 min•Ep. 273
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 securi...
Sep 14, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 272
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 ...
Sep 10, 2021•38 min•Ep. 271
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 Au...
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 270
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...
Sep 03, 2021•37 min•Ep. 269
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 Fort...
Aug 31, 2021•38 min•Ep. 268
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 na...
Aug 27, 2021•36 min•Ep. 267
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...
Aug 24, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 266
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 a...
Aug 20, 2021•43 min•Ep. 265
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 statistic...
Aug 17, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 264
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” f...
Aug 13, 2021•39 min•Ep. 263
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 un...
Aug 10, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 262
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 cha...
Aug 06, 2021•40 min•Ep. 261
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 BitME...
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 260
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 Infini...
Jul 30, 2021•37 min•Ep. 259
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 du...
Jul 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 258
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 Bi...
Jul 23, 2021•36 min•Ep. 257
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 ...
Jul 20, 2021•58 min•Ep. 256
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 C...
Jul 16, 2021•31 min•Ep. 255
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 Unis...
Jul 13, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 254
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 ...
Jul 09, 2021•41 min•Ep. 253
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 T...
Jul 06, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 252
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/Robinhoo...
Jul 02, 2021•41 min•Ep. 251
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 155...
Jun 29, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 250
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 be...
Jun 25, 2021•40 min•Ep. 249
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 sketch...
Jun 22, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 248
