Unchained: Big Ideas From The Worlds Of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency

Olta Andoni, deputy general counsel at Ava Labs, and Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs, discuss the Terra stablecoin meltdown, implications for impending international regulations, and the history of stablecoin regulation internationally. Topics covered include: What the most important legal issues are for the Terra meltdown How the Terra implosion will trigger more regulation of the space How regulators seemed to think stablecoins should be regulated even before Terra How their approach differs between dollar-backed stablecoins vs. algorithmic vs. crypto collateral-backed coins How European regulators want stablecoin issuers to be treated like banks What the Lummis-Gillibrand bill would mean for US stablecoin regulation Whether Terra’s demise will mean that regulators won’t tolerate experimentation with algorithmic stablecoins  Why regulators will be skittish about stablecoins in response to Terra’s meltdown Why Olta and Ari were impressed by the NY Department of Financia

Welcome to The Chopping Block – in person at Consensus in Austin! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra are joined by guest Kyle Samani of Multicoin Capital to chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. Show topics: why Kyle believes people are too negative about the macro environment  how the only crypto product with product-market fit is parties what soulbound NFTs are, and what their pitfalls might be why Kyle and Robert have a beef between them why Kyle has a lot of run-ins with other people in crypto how Kyle thinks about Solana’s 12 instances of downtime over the last six months  how this has caused problems for SOL held in cold storage how Kyle and Robert think projects need to make tradeoffs between stability and adaptability why Kyle thinks every layer 1 and 2 will have a major failure over the next several years how Kyle thinks EVM chains are value-destructive how Tarun thinks zk L2s might be better aligned with the Ethereum ethos how Optim

Lewis Cohen, lead attorney at DLx Law LLC, joins to discuss the recently proposed Lummis-Gillibrand bill, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, which he helped shape. In this episode, we cover:  how Lewis was impressed by Gillibrand’s and Lummis’s offices’ hard work and bipartisanship   how the bill creates a new definition for an “ancillary asset” with split oversight responsibilities between the CFTC and the SEC  how the bill proposes a test of managerial centralization as a determinant of disclosure requirements for digital assets  his response to criticism that the ancillary token approach is more complicated than need be and gives too much power to the SEC  why the bill didn't adopt an approach more similar to something like SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s token safe harbor proposal  how Lewis would respond to SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s contention that the vast majority of digital assets are securities  how Cohen is concerned about legislation or regulation impinging on basic freedoms to trans

Glen Weyl, RadicalxChange Foundation founder and political economist & social technologist at Microsoft Special Projects, and Puja Ohlhaver, strategist at Flashbots, discuss “soulbound tokens” and their implications for collaboration and social organization in a variety of spaces. Topics covered include: how Glen got involved in crypto, wrote a book, and came to co-write a paper with Vitalik Buterin  how Puja studied economics and got in touch with Glen in pursuit of a middle ground between left and right politics what soulbound NFTs are and how they work how Vitalik’s paper articulated how the concept of the soulbound token could advance decentralized collaboration in web3 how decentralized reputation can enable larger networks of coordination how identity can be understood through the lens of community participation how the name ‘soulbound token’ came about how these tokens could provide a technology for those who value scarcity but disdain speculation how identity-dedicated tokens could work on a

Jason Gottlieb, a crypto attorney and partner at Morrison Cohen, discusses the insider trading case being built by the US Department of Justice against former OpenSea employee Nathaniel Chastain. Show topics: why Nathaniel is being charged with wire fraud and money laundering instead of insider trading what makes NFT insider trading different from usual insider trading indictments why an employee’s “duty of confidentiality” can be important when building an insider trading case whether the money laundering charge makes sense  whether moving money between self-custodied wallets constitutes money laundering why Jason does not think this particular case will have widespread implications for the NFT and crypto space Jason’s advice for employees at crypto exchanges and companies who may be tempted to trade on private information what happens next in the Chastain case why the potential sentences are so long – 20 years for each charge how likely it is that Chastain has to serve jail time   Thank you to

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. Since Robert Leshner couldn’t make it, Laura also decided to hop on the show too! Show topics: how Terra is trying to rebuild what its value proposition is why Laura is surprised at how fast Do Kwon began shitposting again how teams affected by the Terra collapse, like Delphi Digital and Mars Protocol, are responding how its implosion will affect Cosmos why Tarun thinks Osmosis’ purchase of Keplr was the “best” purchase in crypto history whether the collapse of UST could help Cosmos in the long run what the legal implications of UST’s depeg will be whether Terra was a fraud like Theranos why Tarun thinks that investors should be sued for getting clients involved in Terra why Tarun thinks regulators are against 24-hour trading why Tarun thinks Matt Levine is a “boomer” what FTX’s chances are in getting approval from the CFTC to be the engine f

Sunny Aggarwal, co-founder of Osmosis Labs, talks about how Osmosis is being built, the innovations that are coming, the reasons to use app chains, and much more. Show highlights: how Sunny got into crypto  how the DAO hack turned him off Ethereum at first  how the scaling issues with Ethereum got him interested in the Cosmos vision of app-chains why he is interested in Proof of Stake what the vision of Cosmos is how Sunny compares the evolution of blockchains with human evolution why he thinks that Cosmos integrates the best of Bitcoin and Ethereum networks why he thinks that having more than one Proof of Work chain is fundamentally insecure which three technologies are necessary for Cosmos to succeed what IBC and the Cosmos SDK do why Sunny decided to build Osmosis  how automated market makers are massively underexplored why UX is such a priority for the Osmosis team why Sunny does not want to list the OSMO token on other exchanges why Osmosis has a curated dex as well as a permissionless on

Coy Garrison, former counsel to SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce and partner at Steptoe & Johnson, discusses the role of regulation in the crypto industry and what the SEC could be doing to make crypto a better space. Show notes: how Coy started working with crypto why Coy decided to leave the SEC why recent comments by SEC chair Gary Gensler made him hopeful in how the SEC approaches crypto how the crypto industry has grown and evolved over the years whether the regulations are impeding innovation in the crypto space how stablecoins should be regulated what Coy thinks about the UST collapse what is the SEC’s take on decentralization whether ETH is centralized and whether it is a commodity  why the SEC has not approved a BTC spot ETF   Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021    Coinchange: https://coinchange.io  Ava Labs: https://avax.network The Graph: https://thegraph.com/graph-day   EPISODE LINKS Coy Garrison Linkedin: https://w

Cobie, co-founder of Lido and UpOnlyTv, and Chris Burniske, partner at Placeholder Ventures, talk about surviving a crypto bear market, the Terra collapse, lessons they’ve learned from their mistakes, and much more. Show highlights: whether Chris and Cobie think crypto is in a bear market why Chris says these are the times to buy what effect the Terra debacle will have on the crypto industry why Chris was expecting UST to blow up why Chris thinks there is going to be another massive liquidation event whether an algo stablecoin could work why bear markets are sometimes a good thing how USDT was stress tested and proved its resilience how macro is affecting the crypto space and what the role of the Fed is when will we see the bottom of this bear market how meme coins are the symptoms of a broken system why this crypto cycle is different whether regulations are helping VCs rather than the retail investors why risky assets are the ones that could increase 10,000x  whether the future of crypto is mu

Tascha Che, founder of Tascha Labs, unpacks the Terra/Luna debacle and reveals what she believes are the five main takeaways from its collapse. Here are some highlights from the show: how stablecoin issuers make money what caused Terra’s downfall why Tascha is bullish on algo stablecoins whether she believes undercollateralized stablecoins can work how fast market cap expansion without actual network effect equals death for stablecoins why she doesn’t believe a stablecoin’s network effects mean much for its success why small(er) stablecoins are better how blockchains mirror national economies  which stablecoins is Tascha excited about how FRAX is a stablecoin that resembles fiat currencies whether the UST collapse will affect the stablecoin development and further regulation how cross-chain agreements would be helpful for the stability of the crypto ecosystem Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021       Coinchange: https://coinchange.

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 episode, Kevin Zhou, the CEO of Galois Capital and long-time critic of UST, also joined the conversation. Show topics: the UST depeg and Terra collapse  Kevin on what it was like being one of the earliest naysayers of LUNA why Kevin believes that UST initially depegged and became a “fear cascade” how Galois Capital traded the UST depeg, from shorting LUNA to keeping their UST in Anchor until the last moment why Kevin was disappointed in the lack of transparency in how Luna Foundation Guard attempted to defend the UST peg the implications of UST’s collapse across the crypto and traditional financial markets  whether Terra’s decline will lead to more regulation in the crypto industry why Anchor was the “cancer” of the Terra system  why VCs are reticent to say something bad about protocols they don’t believe in why grifting is so much more

Nic Carter, general partner at Castle Island Venture, Eric Wall, former Chief Investment Officer of Arcane Assets, and Erik Voorhees, founder of ShapeShift, discuss what happened with the TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA fiasco, Do Kwon’s responsibility, the impact on the crypto ecosystem, and much more. Show highlights:  how Erik used to feel that algo stablecoins were impossible and why he changed his mind why Eric considers that the demand for UST was tied to a sh*tcoin why Nic didn’t think LUNA would work how a stablecoin could theoretically be decentralized whether Nic, Eric, and Erik think this was a deliberate attack why they think whether or not there was a deliberate attack is not even relevant how the de-peg started with a liquidity issue on Curve why Nic thinks that Terra’s biggest mistake was the 19.5% APY on Anchor whether pursuing a decentralized stablecoin is a worthy goal what aspects of UST were decentralized, according to Erik whether algo stablecoins are dead or whether in the future, de

Jon Wu, head of growth at Aztec Network, recaps a historically chaotic week in the Terra ecosystem that saw $UST depeg, Anchor depositors flee, and $LUNA fall 99%. Show highlights: how $UST, $LUNA, Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), and Anchor Protocol are supposed to work why Jon compares the Terra blockchain with VISA, LFG with the Fed, and Do Kwon with Jerome Powell how a previous $UST de-peg foreshadowed this week’s dystopian price action how a bitcoin short seemed to have kickstarted $UST’s depeg and why Jon thinks it was a deliberate attack why Luna Foundation Guard originally purchased Bitcoin – and how that plan backfired and made the Terra death spiral even more violent why $UST had such low liquidity this week – making it more susceptible to a bank run what Jon’s predictions are for $UST and $LUNA going forward what were the reasons behind Terra halting why Jon does not think this will be the end of algorithmic stablecoins why Jon thinks this should not affect ETH directly, even though there is

Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix, and Ben Jones, cofounder and chief scientist at Optimism Foundation, discuss the current state of Ethereum Layer 2s, Optimism’s new governance structure, why Synthetix chose to build on Optimism, and more. Show topics: what Optimism and Synthetix are how zero-knowledge rollups differ from optimistic rollups why Synthetix decided to build on Optimism what makes L2s more enticing to build on than other L1s how Optimism’s governance is going to change with the launch of the Optimism Collective and OP token what issues Synthetix has had with Discord governance and early token voting, and how they have now solved this by forcing users to consolidate wallet addresses what retroactive public goods funding is and how it could create a “flywheel” of development on Optimism why whales might be excluded from Optimism’s token grant to Synthetix why Ben thinks the future is about the “superchain” rather than multi-chain  what Kain and Ben think about bridging between L2s and

Eric Golden, the owner of BAYC #7560 and host of Web3 Breakdowns, discusses the Otherdeed NFT drop that stalled Ethereum and burned over $150 million worth of ether. Show topics: what the Otherdeed mint is  Why Yuga Labs had buyers undergo a know-your-customer process in order to mint the NFTs why Eric was pretty certain a gas war was imminent in the hours leading up to the mint how KYC’d addresses played into the Otherdeed mint what Eric thought about Yuga Labs’s decision to scrap a Dutch auction in favor of a flat minting price why Eric does not believe Yuga Labs purposefully botched their smart contract, as many in the Ethereum community alleged why Eric was frustrated with Yuga Labs’s response on Twitter to the mint  why Eric does not think Otherside needs its own chain what effect the Otherdeed mint is having on other Yuga Labs-adjacent assets like ApeCoin and Bored Ape Yacht Club what Kodas are and why they are trading for tens of thousands of dollars why Eric is confident that Yuga Labs is

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. On this episode, Andre Cronje, the recently retired (sort of) DeFi developer, also joined the conversation. Show topics: why being doxxed led to Andre retiring (sort of) from crypto Andre’s response to Robert who calledl his departure from DeFi “an epic rug pull”  why Andre is back – and why he is working on “regulated” crypto products how the Otherside KYC’d NFT drop was an “absolute fail” where identity fits into the crypto space and why traditional and DeFi institutions alike are interested in the identity of their users Dalle 2 why the Bored Ape community likely sees the Yuga Labs Otherdeed NFT sale as a turning point why Robert would compare buying a BAYC NFT last year to purchasing BTC in 2010 main takeaways from Solana’s seven-hour outage and why designing a mempool (or multiple) is critical for the chain     Hosts   Has

André Allen Anjos, who is better known as the crypto-friendly artist RAC, and David Greenstein, co-founder of Sound.xyz, a web3 music platform, analyze the current state of the web3 music scene and discuss how artists can leverage web3 tools to get paid at fair market value for their art.  Show highlights: RAC’s experience in the traditional music industry why David believes music is the most undervalued sector in the world – and how Sound and crypto can help value it correctly the different types of NFTs with which musicians like RAC are experimenting what Sound.xyz is and how it is helping artists unlock their fanbase and community why David is so passionate about creating a social experience when it comes to music NFTs Sound.xyz’s decision to allow artists to deploy their own smart contracts what RAC has made in NFT drops compared to Spotify streams why Sound.xyz was built with “editions” as the most common format for NFTs sold on the platform what makes blockchain technology well-suited for the music indu

Chris Perkins, president of CoinFund, a web3 investment firm, discusses his experience at the Crypto Bahamas conference before diving into an FTX.US proposal that would allow for direct trading of crypto derivatives in the US – which appears to be rocking the boat of certain regulators in D.C. Show topics: Chris’s two biggest takeaways from his Crypto Bahamas experience how Chris’s experience at Lehman Brothers and Citi prepared him for crypto  what issues arise via the plumbing of traditional financial markets why centralized intermediaries make derivatives trading efficient what FTX.US is proposing and how it could be a boon for retail traders how crypto settlement would work compared to the current batch trading method why the acquisition of LedgerX enabled FTX.US to make this proposal what license FTX.US feels like it no longer needs since it can settle derivative transactions on a blockchain whether FTX.US would expand to other derivatives and what that might do to an entity like CME what Chri

Amy Wu, head of FTX ventures and gaming initiatives, discusses her role at FTX, what problems need to be addressed in the web3 gaming world, and her thoughts on APE and Yuga Labs as a board member of Apecoin DAO and investor in Yuga Labs. Show highlights: what Amy does at FTX how her background investing in gaming prepared her for her role at FTX Amy’s vision for FTX’s gaming studio how FTX is helping gaming studios get into web3 and NFTs why Amy thinks blockchain games are the evolution of the ‘free to play’ gaming archetype what best practices Amy believes web2 companies should implement when transitioning into web3 gaming why there is so much backlash against traditional companies incorporating NFTs (hint: it’s not just about environmental concerns) how FTX Ventures is looking to deploy capital and why it is so interested in Korea and India, specifically why Amy thinks the L1 wars will end with just a few winning chains why “consumer products” are going to be more important than high throughput

Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Coin Center, discusses a proposed rule by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that has massive implications for the free-speech rights of crypto software developers in the US. Show highlights: why an SEC proposal changing the definition of “exchange” could violate the right to free speech of US crypto developers whether the SEC is going after DeFi on purpose – as its 200+ page proposal never mentions crypto or DeFi what precedent Peter has found that should prohibit the SEC from taking away software developers’ right to free speech how Peter and Coin Center structured their recent letter of comment to the SEC what the next steps (such as a lawsuit?) should be for the crypto community if the rule goes into effect  why writing software is part of someone's right to free speech what implications the proposed rule could have on AMMs what happens next: when could the rule be put into place? Unchained is hiring!  Find out information on the three open