Unchained: Big Ideas From The Worlds Of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency

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” failed to protect Poly Network why a failed transaction was the key to pulling off the hack what SlowMist claims to have discovered about the hacker what could be motivating the hacker to return the stolen funds how the hacker is communicating with Poly Network why Tether was able to freeze funds while USDC and BSC allowed the hacker to get away with their tokens how Poly Network should handle negotiations with the hacker   Thank you to our sponsors! Sorare: https://sorare.com   Polymarket: https://polym

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 understanding money what three ways ether is used as money why he believes ether will become “ultra sound money,” when gold and silver are just “sound money” what the main drivers of ETH’s value are how the merge from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake will happen for Ethereum  how much more efficient Justin calculates proof-of-stake will be compared to proof-of-work why people are saying Ethereum is going through a “triple halvening” what factors influence how much Ethereum is issued and burned how Ethereum cou

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 change how Senators Ron Wyden, Pat Toomey, and Cynthia Lummis are attempting to change the language of the provision through an amendment how the crypto community rallied around Wyden's amendment  why Kristin believes a rival amendment put forward by Senators Warner and Portman and supported by the White House late Thursday is worse than the bill’s original language  when the Senate will be voting on the amendments how the amendment the White House supports seems harmful to proof-of-stake networks and bad for DeF

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 BitMEX are “well-founded” why formal regulation for crypto derivatives is unlikely to be produced by the CFTC why leveraged derivatives products are a “concern” to the CFTC what makes regulating DeFi platforms so difficult when it comes to DeFi, who is a natural entity for the CFTC to regulate, if any whether the CFTC would ever go after DeFi "market participants," who the CFTC also regulates why smart contracts involving futures could be illegal  how the possibility that smart contracts could be illegal squar

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 Infinity players live in the Philippines why the game is so popular in rural areas what about Axie Infinity is bringing in non-crypto native players why Axie Infinity now has high barriers to entry how players have created their own system for helping bring new users into Axie Infinity how Axie Infinity scholarships work what Leah thinks about Yield Guild Games’s relationship with Axie Infinity Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021  Oasis: https://oasis

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 during the transition how the FOX token works what parts of a company cannot be decentralized yet how ShapeShift’s forthcoming foundation will function how ShapeShift decided upon the allocations for the FOX token airdrop why ShapeShift employee and shareholder FOX tokens are locked up for three years what Erik’s role will be going forward how ShapeShift plans to attract devs why Erik believes FOX is not a security how Erik wants the SEC to handle crypto why he believes THORChain is one of the most critic

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 Bitcoin platform business is a good idea what Bitcoin’s dip in hashrate due to China’s crackdown could affect network security going forward what questions Neha has about Bitcoin’s adoption in El Salvador why Neha thinks cryptocurrencies and CBDCs will coexist what DCI has planned for the rest of 2021   Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021  Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org/  NEAR: https://near.org    Episode Links: Neha Narula: https://twitter

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 with Russia how the RAAS business model works how ransomware payments can be tracked why ransomware reporting has a data problem why Bitcoin is the preferred method of payment amongst ransomware attackers what two factors makes BTC preferable to privacy coins how ransomware groups teach victims to transfer BTC how ransomware groups cash out of their BTC how counter-terrorism tactics can help fight ransomware attacks how the Department of Justice may have partially recovered part of the Colonial Pipeline

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 Congress whether Binance’s strategy of leaving countries with tight regulations helped or hurt the exchange what Christine thinks of Binance’s strategy to localize its business model  whether or not it is too late to avoid regulatory penalties for Binance why transitioning to a DAO business model would not absolve Binance of prior infractions how the BitMEX situation could inform Binance whether criminal charges could be in Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s future Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https:

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 Uniswap’s business license as a good thing what an DAO is and how the idea stems from Bitcoin how Wyoming’s DAO law works what makes a Wyoming DAO different from a DAO registered as a Delaware LLC how an algorithmically managed DAO might work in the future why Aaron thinks a DAO should not be allowed to be manager-managed why wrapping a DAO into an LLC could be advantageous the difference between private and public ordering Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcard

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 as Axie Infinity starts to decentralize  how Axie Infinity is attempting to lower the expensive barrier to entry that comes with blockchain-based games why the Philippines is going crazy for Axie Infinity why building out a sidechain has been such a positive development for the company the two ways Axie Ininity makes money what’s next for Axie Infinity   Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021  Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org  NEAR: https://nea

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 Television broadcasting company might have brought extra scrutiny to cryptocurrencies  what the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party has to do with its Bitcoin mining ban why the Inner Mongolia and Sichuan Bitcoin mining bans were especially disruptive for Chinese miners how much of China’s hash rate Kevin estimates has been shut down since May where are miners relocating to  why Chinese mining equipment will not be allowed to turn on in the US whether or not China’s Bitcoin mining ban will stic

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/Robinhood situation what makes FTX’s tokenized stocks different from Binance’s offering how FTX is dealing with regulatory obstacles what item is on the top of Sam’s regulatory wishlist whether FTT is a security   Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021     Oasis: https://oasisprotocol.org  NEAR: https://near.org     Episode Links   Sam Bankman-Fried Twitter: https://twitter.com/SBF_Alameda  Previous Unchained appearance: https://unchainedpodcast.

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 1559 will affect Ethereum’s block size what changes wallet providers are considering due to EIP 1559 whether ‘Black Swan’ events will be more or less likely after the network upgrade how EIP 1559 will affect miners whether Tim or Taylor believes that miners could fork Ethereum to stop EIP 1559 how EIP 1559 will change the state of miner extractable value (MEV) how Taylor and Tim feel about the Ethereum as sound money narrative in light of EIP 1559 when EIP 1559 will go live Thank you to our sponsors! Cr

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 believe institutions are waiting on before entering the market again how Bitcoin cycles can be broken down into mini hype-cycles how long-term holders are acting on-chain the difference between long-term holders versus short-term holders during bear and bull markets why Will is interested in finding data on Latin American Bitcoin users how long the consolidation process might take what metrics Will has his eyes on for the latter half of 2021   Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelin

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 sketchy tactic Gerald used to single-handedly boosted QuadrigaCX’s trading volume by 30%  a new wife, empty wallets, a hastily written will, and the circumstances surrounding Gerald’s shocking death how Gerald’s dark web background might have prepared him to fake his own death what the chances are that Canadian authorities exhume Gerald’s body  why Aaron is skeptical Gerald’s widow was “in” on the QuadrigaCX fiasco   Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2   

Jaynti Kanani, cofounder and CEO of Polygon, discusses why the layer 2 solution has seen so much success during a down crypto market. Show highlights: what factors have led to Polygon’s and MATIC's impressive performance YTD how Polygon is scaling Ethereum what types of projects are taking off on Polygon how Polygon is attempting to address the issue of layer 2 composability  how Polygon plans to use its latest funding why Jaynti is confident Polygon will still be necessary after ETH 2.0 launches Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021   Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero   NEAR: https://near.org     Episode Links   Jaynti Kanani Twitter: https://twitter.com/_jdkanani   Polygon Website:  https://polygon.technology/  Overview: https://www.theblockresearch.com/polygon-a-technical-overview-105799 https://www.theblockresearc

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of Unchained, I answer some questions submitted to me by the audience. In this episode, I cover: what I think about the relationship between psychedelics and crypto the most entertaining guest I’ve interviewed on Unchained why Coinbase founders may have a more impactful future on crypto than Ethereum founders which show has been the most impactful why I am a “nocoiner” where I believe DAOs fit into the future of crypto who my favorite guests have been over the years what I am most fearful and most hopeful about in the crypto space why I think user-friendly products are so important moving forward which DeFi projects I find the most interesting what sort of expenses go into producing Unchained which topics I would like to cover in the future the most surprising answers I have received in an interview (feat. CZ and Vitalik) what three cryptos I think will be most important three years from now if I think I have interviewed Satoshi :) my advice for anyone looking

ForUsAll recently announced a new product that will allow cryptocurrency investments to be made inside 401(k) retirement accounts. Jeff Schulte, CEO of ForUsAll, discusses why putting crypto in a 401(k) is such a game changer, how this differs from Bitcoin IRAs, and more! Show highlights:  how bringing crypto into a 401(k) with ForUsAll will work what “guardrails” ForUsAll is placing on investors who choose to invest in crypto the tax advantages of purchasing crypto within a 401(k) whether ForUsAll is offering a Roth IRA why nobody has offered crypto within a 401(k) before now what differentiates a crypto 401(k) from a self-directed IRA what are the fees for the 401(k), who it will be available to, and when it will launch how security and keys are being handled why ForUsAll is not offering every token available on Coinbase how ForUsAll is determining which cryptos will be available to trade  why offering crypto ETFs through a 401(k) may cause problems regarding the fiduciary risk of employers wha

Willy Woo, on-chain Bitcoin analyst and writer of the Bitcoin Forecast, a market intelligence newsletter, and Rafael Schultze-Kraft, co-founder and CTO of Glassnode, discuss Bitcoin and what the on-chain metrics tell us about the price. Here to discuss is. Episode highlights: what factors pushed the price of BTC down in May why Elon’s Twitter account hold so much sway over the market why Willy believes Bitcoin is good for renewable energy who sold during the last month which type of BTC investors stopped purchasing in Feb/March what trends Willy and Rafael have noticed from coins moving to/from exchanges their thoughts on exchange-traded products, like GBTC and Canadian ETFs how derivatives trading has played a role in Bitcoin’s price why stablecoins were trading above their peg in the months leading up to the Coinbase direct listing how Willy values Bitcoin (specifically using NVT ratio) whether the trend of corporate treasuries investing in Bitcoin will continue how they expect Ethereum's adopt