Unchained: Big Ideas From The Worlds Of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. In this episode, Hasu, the gourmand of governance and Rune Christensen, chief mischief maker at MKR, discuss how to manage a DAO, their respective visions for MakerDAO, and much more.    Show topics:   What MakerDAO is, how DAI works and whether it is the “central bank” of DeFi How the visions for MakerDAO of Hasu and Rune differ Whether Maker should only hold highly liquid collateral assets Hasu’s mental model of DAI as eurodollars The role of real-world assets in backing DAI What the purpose of a DAO is and how it differs from a legal entity Whether people behave in their purest form within a DAO How DAI can create positive externalities and make a better world How crypto holders are not only in it for the money but also for the philosophy  What the “decentralized stablecoin trilemma” is Whether there’s a need for dollar-denominated collate

Layne Haber, Co-founder of Connext Network, discusses the Nomad bridge hack, how it happened, and what can be done to prevent these exploits.    Show highlights: what Nomad is and how it works how the hack occurred and what the vulnerability was how much TVL the protocol had and how much of it was drained why the Nomad hack was unique how this exploit resembled the DAO hack on Ethereum the bounty program that Nomad offered and how hackers responded to it how Nomad is working with law enforcement, and the reasons why law enforcement has decided to get involved how Nomad has partnered with TRM Labs to help with tracking the hackers whether privacy developments in the crypto ecosystem will make it harder for law enforcement to track down hackers why cross-chain hacks happen so often what Layne thinks can be done to improve bridge security what mechanism can be implemented to prevent errors that enable these types of mass looting what Layne expects to see in the next few weeks around the Nomad expl

Kevin Zhou, co-founder of Galois Capital, comes to talk about the possibility of a Proof of Work chain on Ethereum after the Merge, the LUNA death spiral, how he plans to play the Merge, and much more...    Show highlights: how Kevin got started in crypto  what Galois Capital is and what its investment thesis is why Kevin was more vocal than most about the possibility of the LUNA death spiral whether Kevin made money out of the Terra collapse and what was his strategy what the difficulty bomb in Ethereum is the potential scenarios that could arise after the Merge whether the public is not considering the risks of the Merge how the fact that everybody was telling the same narrative about ETH made Kevin suspicious how Chandler’s statement about forking Ethereum made it a lot more likely that it would happen the groups behind the encouragement of a proof-of-work Ethereum chain whether there is a value proposition for a Proof of Work chain how Kevin used The Cryptopians to remember how the DAO fork

Lyn Alden, founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy, and Mauricio di Bartolomeo, cofounder of Ledn, discuss how inflation could affect the digital asset industry. Show highlights: how Mauricio’s upbringing in Venezuela and firsthand experience with inflation led him to Bitcoin what a “long-term debt cycle” is and why Lyn thinks the 2020s could be similar to the 1930s and 1940s the difference between inflation and hyperinflation how inflation changes consumer investing and purchasing decisions what the impact of inflation is on Bitcoin how Russia’s war on Ukraine will continue to impact inflation how rising interest rates will affect Bitcoin and stablecoin adoption  what type of economic environment is worst for BTC growth whether Bitcoin is an inflation hedge why Lyn is long-term bullish on stablecoins and Bitcoin what effect a global recession would have on Bitcoin how global inflation has changed adoption rates for BTC in developing economies how Venezuelans use and perceive Bitcoin  why Lyn

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. In this episode, Balaji Srinivasan discusses his latest book, “The Network State, how different digital tools like crypto will help empower network states, and analyzes how crypto fits into the current political environment.    Show topics: why Balaji wrote a book and why he is so enthralled with a digitized future what a “network state” is, and what components of crypto are embedded into the idea why Balaji is interested in “re-centralization” why Balaji believes that networks states need to be recognized by real nations what makes a network state better than a physical nation or digital community why Balaji thinks a community of people who eat a keto diet could be the first network state why Balaji thinks the network states will be a good thing where Bitcoin maximalism fits into the left vs. right political divide, woke culture, and Christiani

Marisa Tashman, policy counsel at Blockchain Association, analyzes the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision to name nine tokens as securities and investigate whether Coinbase lists securities. Show highlights:  why the SEC named tokens as securities in an insider trading case where no exchanges or token teams are listed as defendants  what happens if the Coinbase insider trading case is settled or goes to court why the SEC’s actions should be considered “regulation by enforcement”  whether there is any process to force the SEC to reveal its reasoning for calling a token a security why Marisa thinks the SEC is actively harming US investors with its crypto policy how Coinbase is handling the SEC’s investigation what Marisa thinks of Coinbase’s listing process why the Cynthia Lummis-led crypto regulatory framework is a good start what Marisa believes will happen in the crypto regulatory landscape in the near future Thank you to our sponsors! 1inch: https://1inch.io/ Crypto.com: ht

Two crypto law experts, WassieLawyer and Adam Levitin, analyze the bankruptcies of 3AC, Celsius, and Voyager. Show highlights: the difference between Voyager and Celsius “custody” and “earn” deposits why Celsius commingling customer custody and earn deposits could make it harder for creditors to get their money back what similarities and differences the Voyager and Celsius bankruptcies have how Chapter 11 bankruptcy works why Wassie and Adam believe Celsius might have engaged in shady business practices, whereas they believe Voyager was just an irresponsible lender what the latest is on the 3AC bankruptcy and the location of Kyle Davies and Zhu Su what Celsius and Voyager can clawback from 3AC how Alameda fits into the Voyager bankruptcy case whether creditors will receive funds back in crypto or dollars the three types of ways creditors can “claw back” funds in a bankruptcy case why Wassielawyer and Adam believe Celsius’ Chapter 11 plan to restructure around mining is so weird whether the found

Adam Cochran, partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, discusses the impact of 3AC’s impending liquidation. Show topics: why 3AC founders (and family members) are listing themselves as creditors what the “corporate veil” is and why it matters regarding 3AC where retail investors stand in the pecking order of creditors  why Adam doesn’t believe we know the full story about 3AC’s downfall, despite liquidators leaking a 1,000-page report about it what creditors might do with 3AC’s yacht why Adam is less worried about the health of GBTC in light of recent 3AC filings what effect 3AC’s fall will have on Genesis and Digital Currency Group why creditors might prefer liquidations to be paid out in equity compared to cash in this environment  how 3AC’s liquidation is impacting retail investors at Voyager and Celsius why there could be a crypto credit crunch coming soon Thank you to our sponsors! 1inch: https://1inch.io/ Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021    Adam Cochran Twi

Nelson Rauda, Salvadoran journalist for El Faro, comes to talk about the impact of Bitcoin in El Salvador, the needs of Salvadoran people, Bitcoin City and the Bitcoin Bond, and much more.    Show highlights: Nelson’s story and how he began covering BTC what kind of politician and president Nayib Bukele was before BTC what the financial reality was for Salvadoran people before the implementation of BTC the reasons for the high rates of unbanked people in El Salvador how Bukele changed the monetary policy with what Rauda says was very little discussion why Rauda believes the BTC law is not meant for Salvadorans, but instead is a PR stunt how people reacted after the announcement of BTC as legal tender, and how it resembled the dollarization of the economy in 2001 how Nelson did not even understand BTC at the moment of the announcement and how he says there was not an effort from the government to educate the population whether BTC was successful in attracting investments and tourism, and how there’s

In a highly educational conversation, Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency, discusses the bankruptcy and liquidation of Three Arrows Capital, plus sheds light on similar processes unfolding with Celsius and Voyager. Show highlights: Wassielawyer’s experience as a lawyer and his professional background what the liquidation process looks like and what drives a company to get into this situation what the creditors of 3AC can expect from the liquidation process and who will be paid first why he doesn’t think the liquidators breached their fiduciary duty by not exercising the Starkware token warrants what Chapter 15 bankruptcy is and what it means for a company whether Zhu’s and Davies’ unknown whereabouts affect the liquidation process and whether they are likely to cooperate whether 3AC counterparties will get anything back from the credits they provided how Chapter 11 bankruptcy differs from Chapter 15  what Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing means for Celsius and its accoun

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. In this episode, Anatoly Yakovenko, Tsar of Solana, joins the show to discuss the use cases of Solana, whether it’s actually a blockchain, how Solana scales, and much more!    Show topics: What Anatoly thinks of Andre Cronje's opinion that Solana is not a blockchain Why Solana has had so many instances of downtime Whether Solana is the NASDAQ of blockchains Why Solana changed its approach to fee markets and how it is different from other blockchains Why Anatoly is bearish on generic Layer2s How to prevent a mempool to blow up Whether Anatoly is pro app-chains Why Anatoly would have had Solana build a fee model from the start What proof of history is and what its problems are  How vertical scaling and horizontal scaling differ What the use cases of Solana are  Why Solana decided to build the SAGA phone How a web3 phone enables new ways of inno

Ryan Berckmans, Ethereum investor and community member, and Alexandre Bergeron, Bitcoin investor, discuss Lido’s dominance as a liquid staking provider, whether that issue can be resolved, and how it could be a centralizing force for Ethereum. Show highlights: what stETH is, what the uses cases are for stETH, and why it is important how Lido had a first-mover advantage and how that kicked off network effects whether the liquid staking derivatives system is one of a “winner-take-all” how much of the staked ETH will be turned into a liquid staking derivative how Lido might have a huge MEV opportunity after the Merge what the proposer-builder separation is whether Lido's dominance will increase over time whether other competitors have been competitive with Lido why Lido is a natural monopoly because of the incentives and MEV opportunities what the implication of Lido’s monopoly is for Ethereum’s censorship resistance whether Lido is effectively a single entity despite having multiple node operators

Amir Haleem, CEO of Nova Labs and founder of Helium, talks about the use cases for Internet of Things (IoT), how blockchain and crypto help to construct a decentralized internet infrastructure, and what is the future of Helium. Show highlights: what Helium is and what it is trying to solve how, after struggling for years, introducing crypto tokens, finally helped Helium grow who the users of Helium are and how they differ from each other how Helium grew to have one million devices around the world what the challenges and use cases of the IoT space are why Helium decided to add new networks why Helium is launching specific tokens for each of the new networks what proof of coverage is and why it is useful what an open-source cellular network is and how it would work whether there is a need for some centralization of the network what Helium’s roadmap is and what the major milestones are for the future   Thank you to our sponsors!   Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfe

Hasu, strategic advisor to Lido, and Tarun Chitra, founder of Gauntlet, explain everything about staked ETH, aka stETH, how it should be priced, Lido’s market dominance, and much more. Show highlights: the role of Lido, what stETH is, and what its benefits are whether Ethereum’s lack of delegated proof of stake contributes to the need for stETH why stETH is not mispriced and why it doesn’t necessarily have to be worth 1 ETH the inherent risks associated with stETH how there was not enough liquidity to handle all the liquidations, especially in automated vaults on, for instance, Instadapp  how automated market makers work and what Curve’s amplification factor is whether 3AC and Celsius had a significant impact on the stETH/ETH “de-peg” how does the Merge affect the liquidity of stETH Hasu’s and Tarun’s level of confidence that the Merge will happen this year and whether it will be a success what will happen to the price of stETH after the redemptions are enabled why Lido has achieved such a level of

Badiucao, Chinese artist and activist, talks about the importance of NFTs for political activism, the role of China in his career as an artist, the significance of blockchain technologies to resist censorship, and much more. Show highlights: why Badiucao became an artist and how the censorship in China brought him to NFTs how Badiucao only learned about Tiananmen Square when he was 22 years old  why Badiucao took up work as a preschool teacher in Australia how anonymity is important for Chinese activists for their family’s safety the intention of Badiucao’s art and what is he trying to express the repercussions of Badiucao’s activism why Badicuao eventually gave up his anonymity why Badiucao decided to issue art as NFTs and what possibilities he sees in NFTs how Badiucao enabled people to write a message of protest in the blockchain with the launch of his NFT and how this represented the first large mass protest written into the blockchain whether the Beijing Winter Olympics is an outrage and a dis

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. In this episode, Taylor Monahan, matriarch of Metamask, joins the show to discuss the contagion of major crypto firms, the bear market, SBF saving crypto, and much more! Show topics: The importance of UX and security How Three Arrows Capital’s practice of borrowing to leverage their bets has caused a crisis for crypto lenders that rippled out to many customers How the GBTC arbitrage trade was part of 3AC’s undoing, and how that trade was one many other crypto trading institutions had previously abandoned How crypto lenders were being degens with customers funds Why SBF stepped in and made sure that BlockFi and Voyager didn’t default on customers’ deposits Whether this whole wind-down reflects a credit cycle How DeFi protocols were built to avoid these kinds of centralized finance problems  How the systemic issues caused by CeFi institutions like C

Shaun Maguire and Michelle Bailhe, partners at Sequoia, discuss their long term view and thesis about crypto, what do they look for to invest in a crypto project, the takeaways from the blowup of Terra, the insolvency of crypto companies, and much more. Show highlights: what is Sequoia’s long term view and thesis about the crypto industry how different our lives will look in 20 years from now due to blockchain technology how Sequoia had to adapt to invest in this new asset class and what are the similarities and differences with investing in traditional startups when a product or service on the internet should be offered in a decentralized or centralized way how Sequoia decides whether to invest in the entity behind a project or in the tokens whether having venture capitalists involved at all goes against the ethos of decentralization why Shaun believes that Ethereum proved that decentralization can be achieved even when you start being centralized whether people underestimate the value that VCs can a

Derek Hsue, cofounder at Reverie, discusses the recent controversial decisions by Solend DAO and Bancor, the importance of establishing processes for black swan events, and whether decentralized governance truly exists. Show highlights: what situation prompted Solend to feel it was in jeopardy what Solend DAO’s response was to that situation why Derek views it as “the nuclear option” why the proposal sparked an outcry from the crypto community whether this issue could have been prevented or managed differently if the protocol was built on a blockchain other than Solana why, a day later, the DAO reversed its first decision to take over the whale’s account whether Derek thinks the DAO made the right decision to not take over the whale’s account what is Impermanent Loss Protection, a feature offered by Bancor why Bancor decided to pause Impermanent Loss Protection whether Celsius and 3AC had anything to do with Bancor’s problem how Bancor’s decision was made unilaterally how DAOs should deal with bl

Caroline Pham, commissioner at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, discusses how we should build a regulatory framework for crypto assets, whether the SEC and CFTC should work together, what were the consequences of the Terra collapse, and much more. Show highlights: how Cmr. Pham got started in crypto and became a CFTC commissioner the importance of the regulatory strategy around crypto what crypto’s role is in the financial system how bitcoin is a sort of money outside of the traditional financial system how friendly regulators should be with the industries they regulate why she believes transparency is one of the greatest ideals of American democracy how Cmr. Pham believes in self-determination and the power of free markets why Cmr. Pham published an op-ed with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce how the Terra collapse incentivized regulators to look deeper into the space whether the US approach towards regulation can improve the role of the regulatory agencies in making the US the financial

Mika Honkasalo, independent crypto researcher, discusses what is happening with Celsius and Three Arrows Capital, the importance of having proper risk management, and the contagion effects on the industry.   Show highlights: why is it so significant that Celsius paused withdrawals what is stETH and why is it important to understand the Celsius situation how the Luna/UST debacle started a contagion effect in the crypto space why Celsius’s investors won’t bail the company out what will happen to Celsius’s retail customers what Three Arrows Capital (3AC) is and whether they have a solvency problem how 3AC was levered long and whether they had poor risk management who will be hurt if 3AC goes under what would be the effect of 3AC and Celsius collapsing which types of funds that Mika will be eyeing to see if they also end up in a similar situation to 3AC and Celsius why Mika would counsel anyone who keeps their money with centralized crypto lenders to scrutinize their practices   Thank you to our