Unchained: Big Ideas From The Worlds Of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency

Welcome to “The Chopping Block!” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. Show topics: Haseeb’s TL;DR of the ongoing situation between DCG, Genesis and Gemini whether DCG committed fraud because of a misrepresentation of its financials why DCG did Genesis a favor by absorbing the losses from exposure to Three Arrows Capital what's required to force an entity into bankruptcy  why Cameron Winklevoss would request Barry Silbert to step down as DCG CEO the SEC’s probe into the investors of FTX and whether the regulators will fine them whether there will be on-chain assets for trading FTX bankruptcy claims what Tarun thinks of the future of NFTs and what needs to be built for them to thrive why Robert thinks most NFTs are “hot garbage” what the value behind NFTs is and whether they need a utility  whether the massive layoffs are good for the industry and how many companies over-hired during the bull market Hosts Haseeb

Gemini has accused Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert of fraud after allegedly misrepresenting the financials of his company. The accusations follow a dispute over the return of $900 million in assets owed to Gemini Earn’s users. Karim Dandashy, CFA and portfolio manager at XBTO Group, discusses everything about the ongoing drama between Genesis, its parent company DCG, and Gemini.  Show highlights: the fraud accusations against DCG CEO Barry Silbert all the details disclosed in Barry's response whether Genesis will file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the meaning of the $1.1 billion promissory note being not callable the EDNY and SEC investigation on transfers between DCG and a subsidiary – potentially Genesis whether the 1% interest rate charged for the loan was suitable considering the nature of Genesis' business whether DCG could sell its venture investments to plug the hole why Bitvavo rejected an offer from DCG to return 70% of the $300 million owed to them what Karim would do if he

Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at Delphi Labs, and Collins Belton, managing partner at Brookwood P.C., dive into the controversial case of Avi Eisenberg, the self-described “applied game theorist” who was arrested in Puerto Rico on Dec. 26 on market manipulation and fraud charges. The two crypto lawyers discuss the case’s potential impact on DeFi and DAO governance — and whether “code is law” stands a chance in the courtroom. Show highlights: whether Avi’s manipulation of the markets constitutes fraud  debating the crypto maxim “code is law” whether it’s wrong to use DeFi code in a “smarter way” how the Mango Markets exploit happened due to poor governance management whether crypto should be regulated from the securities angle or the commodities angle the consequences of Avi’s arrest for the DeFi space whether MEV could constitute market manipulation, even if it’s democratized for everybody the role of DAOs and whether early-stage projects should maintain some level of centralization how DAOs coul

Ram Ahluwalia, CEO and cofounder at Lumida, talks about the ongoing dispute between Gemini and Digital Currency Group (DCG), specifically focusing on the actions and statements of DCG CEO Barry Silbert and Gemini’s cofounder Cameron Winklevoss. Ram discusses various aspects of the conflict, including the potential commingling of assets between DCG and its subsidiary Genesis and the options available to Gemini if DCG does not cooperate. Show highlights: how Cameron Winklevoss’s tweets attempt to put Barry Silbert in the same class of actors as Celsius and BlockFi whether the assets of DCG and Genesis are commingled what Gemini’s options are if DCG does not commit to cooperate whether Gemini will file an involuntary petition for Genesis to enter chapter 11 bankruptcy why Barry's statement that DCG didn't borrow $1.675 billion from Genesis is "very surprising" to Ram why it is relevant whether Genesis has a liquidity issue or an insolvency one whether a class-action lawsuit alleging Gemini's earn product

Lucas Nuzzi, head of R&D at CoinMetrics, and Larry Cermak, VP of research at The Block, discuss the current state of the crypto market, including the potential for contagion effects and the challenges faced by VC companies. They also delve into the mining industry and the issues surrounding MEV and Ethereum. The conversation also touches on stablecoins, DeFi activity and NFT trading, and the potential dangers of Binance's dominance in the industry.   Show highlights: how the collapse in 2022 of FTX and other behemoths will affect the industry in 2023 why there's been a lot of forced selling in the markets recently why the industry could still be headed to more contagion effects the characteristics of the current bear market, how it differs from previous ones, and the role of the macroeconomic environment why it's very hard to predict how prices will behave in 2023 why VC firms will have to focus on long-term projects rather than speculation what's going to happen in the Bitcoin mining industry in 2023

Martin Shkreli, entrepreneur, investor and convicted white-collar criminal, talks about the new judge assigned to the case against Sam Bankman-Fried, whether Sam’s going to plead guilty or not, and the potential involvement of his family in the lawsuit. Show highlights: whether Sam Bankman-Fried truly did not have money to post bail why the government did not restrict Sam's usage of the internet and social media why Martin thinks the new judge assigned to the case, Judge Lewis Kaplan, is good for SBF how many years Judge Kaplan could sentence SBF to, given his unusual work experience whether there's still a chance that Sam could paint this case as a business failure how defense attorneys will likely try to exploit the romantic relationship between Ellison and SBF in their favor why it is unlikely that SBF will plead guilty on the January 3rd arraignment date what a telemarketing fraudster case has to do with FTX how the prosecutors could indict SBF's family if he doesn't plead guilty how a jury wou

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the year 2022 in the crypto industry and share their biggest winners and losers of the year, what were the best mechanisms, the biggest surprises and the best memes, and their predictions for the upcoming year.   Show topics:   why stablecoin bulls performed so well in 2022, as well as journalism, DeFi, and the EVM how the reputation of the industry suffered tremendously in 2022 how Solana had to endure multiple hacks and challenges and whether it’s having its “ETH moment”  whether ETH is the only crypto with good tokenomics why MEV has seen such a massive adoption, even if it’s technically not good for crypto  why the investment landscape changed so much in June whether Arbitrum is the winner among layer 2s on Ethereum and the role of retroactive airdrops why so many lending companies went bust this year whether proof of reserves is a useful concept whether developers will g

This episode of Unchained looks back on a tumultuous year for the cryptocurrency industry in 2022. Significant events such as the bankruptcies of FTX, Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, and the collapse of Terra/LUNA, led to billions being lost due to market plunges and also due to numerous hacks.  This year also brought the Ethereum Merge, one of the most awaited events in crypto's short history. Amidst the turmoil, true believers like Chris Burniske saw a silver lining, while the crypto community watched for the further fallout of this year’s crypto contagion to play out.    Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Chainalysis Minima DeFi Saver DAO attacker revealed:  Exclusive: Crypto’s Biggest Whodunnit: Who Was Behind the 2016 DAO Attack on Ethereum? Exclusive: Austrian Programmer And Ex Crypto CEO Likely Stole $11 Billion Of Ether Ukraine War: How Ukraine Is Leveraging Crypto in Its Fight Against Russia - Unchained Podcast The Chopping Block: In 'the First Crypto War,' How Should the Mo

Martin Shkreli, entrepreneur and investor, talks about what Sam Bankman-Fried’s potential life in prison could look like. As a former white-collar criminal, Martin had a lot to say about prison culture, how judge selection affects sentencing, and more. Show highlights: why Martin says that the prosecution part of the case is the most difficult to endure why he thought Sam had "no chance at bail" (although shortly after we recorded, news broke that Sam had been released on what is believed to be the largest bail bond ever – $250 million) whether SBF should plead guilty and hope to be favored by his cooperation what jails in New York are like and how the other inmates might treat SBF  whether SBF will be in danger if he goes to prison and Martin's suggestions for him if he wants to survive why the FTX's case is so unprecedented, especially considering the current sentencing guidelines Martin's take on Ronnie Abrams, the judge in charge of the case, and why her selection will be good for SBF whether Car

What a year. Cobie, crypto investor and host of UpOnly, and Chris Burniske, partner at Placeholder Ventures, sift through 2022’s rubble for clues as to what lies ahead in 2023. The two bright lights of Crypto Twitter weigh in on SBF’s fraud, how to succeed through the bear market, and what remains promising despite the gloom and doom. Show highlights: why 2022 is “the hangover of 2021” why this year’s big meltdowns were different and dispiriting why it was actually a year to remind us of why we’re all here how the underlying protocols didn’t skip a beat how to survive the bear market what Chris feels guilty about in the wake of Alameda’s collapse why Cobie hopes SBF spends life in jail whether people will actually use decentralized alternatives – or if banking-like relationships will prevail what Chris sees as the 2023 version of proof-of-stake in 2017 why Cobie thinks bitcoin is an area of opportunity over the next few years whether the multichain thesis (“Solunavax”) will ever rise again whethe

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra were joined by Laura Shin to chop it up about the latest news. Show topics: the details of the SEC and CFTC complaints how crypto traders have always speculated about Alameda's preferential treatment whether many people knew about the mismanagement of funds and alleged fraud why Haseeb thinks SBF was a "f*cking psycho" how helpful Tarun believes a testimony from Sam Trabucco, former co-CEO of Alameda, would be why Alameda and FTX lost billions of dollars, and the poor diligence of SBF's venture investments Sam's "ineffective altruism"  why a bull market wouldn't have solved the insolvency problems of FTX whether SBF will fight extradition and how long it would take how Sam's consistent use of Facebook and his anti-Maker stand shows he was not a crypto-native why Laura thinks that The Block CEO's undisclosed loans represent a "total betrayal" Robert's take on the ineffectiveness of the government's cont

Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs, discusses all the charges that Sam Bankman-Fried is facing and their potential outcomes.  Show highlights: the charges against SBF and why the criminal indictment is the most important whether SBF testifying in Congress would have complicated the DOJ's criminal case against him why it is complicated to state how much prison time Sam is facing the ways in which Bankman-Fried can reduce his sentence by cooperating with authorities why it's so unprecedented that the indictment came only one month after the collapse of FTX whether other senior FTX executives are providing prosecutors with information to reduce their charges the reasons why SBF is being held in The Bahamas and the likelihood of him being extradited how much the case will be delayed if SBF's lawyers fight the extradition Ari's thoughts on whether this case will go to trial Take Unchained's 2022 survey!   Unchained is doing its annual survey. Tell us how you think we’re doing

Ram Ahluwalia, CEO and cofounder of crypto-native investment advisor Lumida, and Marc Cohodes, individual investor and former hedge fund manager, have a heated debate about Silvergate, a crypto-friendly bank that plays a key role in integrating crypto with traditional finance and is currently under scrutiny due to its ties with FTX and Alameda. Both Marc and Ram have a vested interest in Silvergate. Marc is shorting the stock, while Ram is longing it.   Show highlights: why Silvergate plays such a vital role in the movement of money within the crypto industry whether Silvergate runs proper KYC and AML practices whether Silvergate has a $1 billion hole in its balance sheet whether regulators will go after Silvergate as they are doing with FTX why Marc thinks the FTX collapse wouldn't have happened without Silvergate  whether Silvergate was complicit with FTX’s activities or simply negligent  why Ram believes this case is different from JPMorgan's involvement with Madoff  what regulatory actions might c

TuongVy Le, partner and head of regulatory & policy at Bain Capital Crypto, discusses how the legal process for Sam Bankman-Fried in the wake of the FTX scandal could play out.  Show highlights: the allegations that Bankman-Fried manipulated the market during the Terra crash the motivations for Bankman-Fried's media appearances what the selection of Mark Cohen as a lawyer says about the potential charges and the case why SBF hasn't been arrested yet how the US investigating the potential involvement of Bahamian government officials could complicate cooperation of an arrest of SBF in the Bahamas why this case is very different from Bernie Madoff's what evidence would be needed to say, legally, that SBF committed fraud the potential outcomes of the legal case for SBF and how many years of prison time he could face Take Unchained's 2022 survey!   Unchained is doing its annual survey. Tell us how you think we’re doing and how we could improve, whether it be on the podcast, in the newsletter, or in our

Ram Ahluwalia, CEO and co-founder of crypto-native investment advisor Lumida, and Samuel Andrew, crypto author and analyst, talk about the financial situation at Genesis and parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG). The collapse of FTX has dealt crypto lender Genesis another major blow, with the firm halting withdrawals and DCG stepping in to help. Now the two face a range of suboptimal outcomes in the face of massive debts. Ahluwalia and Andrew discuss what could come next, and what should be learned from the recent debacles.  Show highlights: why Genesis and DCG are so important for the crypto sector Ram's explanation of the "Grayscale trade" and why it is relevant to understand the current crisis the ghost of Three Arrows Capital and the origins of Genesis' problems why Sam thinks Genesis was "reckless" in its loan underwriting what a spot Bitcoin ETF would mean for Grayscale's revenue what options Genesis and DCG have to weather the storm whether it makes sense for Genesis to file for bankruptcy

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news.  Show topics: highlights of Sam Bankman-Fried's interview with the New York Times whether SBF knew what was going on in his companies, and how that impacts potential prosecution why Genesis and DCG are in financial trouble whether Genesis will file for bankruptcy or go through a restructuring process revelations from BlockFi's bankruptcy filing new info on why FTX bailed out BlockFi last summer what is going on with Binance’s recovery fund  how Avi Eisenberg tried to pull off an attack on Aave  how the banking industry works and whether Changpeng Zhao is the closest thing to a central bank in crypto how DeFi responds in a crisis, and how it contrasts with CeFi’s recent implosions Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Robert Leshner, founder of Compound  Tom Schmidt, general p

Adam Cochran, partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, talks about the collapses suffered during this year, their impacts on big traditional finance players, and what’s coming in the crypto markets in the near future.  Show highlights: whether Sam Bankman-Fried lied during his interview at the Deal Book Summit why SBF kept the number of FTX's engineers at such a low number why Adam is optimistic about Genesis and DCG what options Genesis have to raise liquidity the significance of a potential meltdown of DCG in the crypto industry why Adam is worried about Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) what lessons can be learned from this crypto winter Adam's prognosis for crypto lending and for the crypto markets in general the impact of the bankruptcy of BlockFi and all the other centralized lenders Take Unchained's 2022 survey!   Unchained is doing its annual survey. Tell us how you think we’re doing and how we could improve, whether it be on the podcast, in the newsletter, or in our premium offering. Looking forward

Michael Jordan, founder at DBA and former co-head of investments at Galaxy Digital, and Alex Pack, managing partner at Hack VC, talk about the potential insolvency of Genesis and DCG, the cycle of credit expansion, and the importance of DeFi to prevent these situations.    Show highlights: what will happen with Genesis and its parent company DCG where the insolvency of Genesis might have come from how the expansion of crypto lending in 2021 is impacting the markets and the role the Fed played in this expansion how the Terra collapse kickstarted a ton of contagion effects in crypto companies Alex's story of why he did not invest in Alameda in 2018 whether it is possible to prevent the "FTXs of the future" the importance of assessing the quality of collateral assets the story of when SBF called DeFi a "Ponzi black box" the mystery of where FTX Ventures got the $2 billion it planned to invest    Take Unchained's 2022 survey!   Unchained is doing its annual survey. Tell us how you think we’re doing and

Gabriel Haines, a crypto content creator, comes on this 2022 Thanksgiving edition of Unchained to talk about his videos and leave a positive message for these holidays.  Show highlights: how Gabriel started doing his very unique type of videos Gabriel's hummus eating competition how Gabriel's videos are "quite not professional" how Gabriel is monetizing some of his videos with NFTs whether NFTs are a solution for content creators how Lee, Gabriel's wife, has also started creating some funny videos how Web3 is going to change the traditional version of media in the Internet Take Unchained's 2022 survey!   Unchained is doing its annual survey. Tell us how you think we’re doing and how we could improve, whether it be on the podcast, in the newsletter, or in our premium offering. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!  Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Ava Labs DeFi Saver Gabriel: Twitter Gabriel’s video with a machete Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news concerning the collapse of FTX.  Show topics: the statements of newly appointed CEO John Ray in the first day declaration why Tarun, Robert and Haseeb think SBF is possibly delusional or at least in denial whether the assets of FTX and Alameda were commingled from the beginning or whether they had been separate and at a certain point, FTX loaned money to Alameda whether the Bahamian government was the 'FTX' hacker the theories of why Alameda started falling how regulators and legislators are assessing the failure of FTX whether SBF will get a pardon like Mark Rich and the chances of him being charged criminally whether Genesis will go insolvent and its potential contagion effects Take Unchained's 2022 survey!   https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2022 Unchained is doing its annual survey. Tell us how you think we’re doing and how we could improve, whethe