Unchained: Big Ideas From The Worlds Of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency

Alexander Zaidelson, the CEO of Beam, a cryptocurrency being built on the MimbleWimble protocol, talks about how he came to start Beam, how it differs from Grin, another cryptocurrency being built on MimbleWimble and what types of users the cryptocurrency is targeting. See the full show notes at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2019/04/16/how-businesses-might-one-day-use-cryptocurrency/ Interested in a weekend of yoga, nature, healthy food and talking crypto? Then join me, Meltem Demirors of CoinShares and Jalak Jobanputra of Future Perfect Ventures at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, from September 20-22. Sign up today! https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: Beam: https://www.beam.mw Medium: https://medium.com/beam-mw Overviews of Grin vs. Beam: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/battle-privacycoins-what-we-know-about-grin-and-beams-mimblewimble/ https://www.coindesk.com/gri

Daniel Lehnberg and Michael Cordner, core team members of Grin, discuss the first implementation of the MimbleWimble protocol, named after a tongue-tying curse in Harry Potter. We discuss the many ways in which Grin is similar to Bitcoin: its origin story, its goal to be "digital cash," as Satoshi's paper was subtitled, and even its emission schedule. We discuss how Grin is private, how it is lighter weight than the Bitcoin blockchain, and the philosophy behind Grin, which stands in stark contrast to the many ICOs. For the full show notes, go to http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2019/04/09/a-nimbler-more-private-version-of-bitcoin/ Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: Grin: https://grin-tech.org Grin newsletter: https://grinnews.substack.com Daniel Lehnberg: https://twitter.com/lehnberg?lang=en Michael Cordner: https://twitter.com/yeastplume?lang=en MimbleWimble white paper: https://scalingbitcoin.org/papers/mimblewimble.txt Grin Intros: https

In a fireside chat I moderated with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce held by the Blockchain Digital Asset Forum, in conjunction with the NYU Stern Executive MBA program, on March 26, 2019, she explained where her reputation as 'Crypto Mom' comes from — a desire to look at the world with fresh eyes and say, are there things we can do things better? We also discussed a Bitcoin ETF and the prospects for one after Bitwise released a report showing a health legitimate market, as well as initial coin offerings and what will happen to the hundreds of ICO issuers that had initial coin offerings that look much like the ICOs that have already had enforcement actions against them. She described the process that occurs when something like an application for a Bitcoin ETF is submitted to the SEC, whether or not there's a lot of disagreement amongst the commissioners about how to regulate crypto, how much they work to persuade each other to come over to their side and whether Chairman Jay Clayton's opinion overrules everyone

At the first Unchained Live, Vitalik explained why he thought it was "inevitable" Ethereum would lose some of its lead, when he would be upset if Ethereum were overtaken by a competitor, and whether the Ethereum 2.0 road map was too long. We also discussed why a strain of Ethereum maximalism is emerging, how the foundation sets its funding priorities, whether or not the community should adopt inflation funding for development of the blockchain and why he thinks the MolochDAO experiment likely won't garner much investment. For the full summary, go to http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2019/03/26/vitalik-buterin-on-why-ethereum-has-lost-some-of-its-lead/. Thank you to our sponsors! Quantstamp, the venue sponsor for Unchained Live: http://quantstamp.com/unchained Columbia School of Professional Studies, the networking sponsor: http://sps.columbia.edu/podcast CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: Previous Unchained interview with Vitalik Buterin: https://unchainedpodcast.com/vita

Ameen Soleimani, CEO of Spankchain, comes on the show to discuss his latest effort to fund Ethereum development through the decentralized autonomous organization MolochDAO. He describes how it works, plus we cover competition in the smart contract space and whether we're seeing the emergence of Ethereum maximalism. Full show notes are back on Forbes.com! See the full recap of this week's recap of the episode at http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2019/03/18/how-could-ethereum-development-be-funded-perhaps-through-this-decentralized-autonomous-organization/. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: MolochDAO website: MolochDAO.com MolochDAO on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MolochDAO MolochDAO white paper: https://github.com/MolochVentures/Whitepaper/blob/master/Whitepaper.pdf Moloch Github: https://github.com/molochventures/moloch State of Ethereum 2.0 report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PS0k9MaKPdPwEw3Uh9rq7USjq7LcSpT6ICQUXRij4YE/edit#heading=h.kdbgcss2

Tushar Jain and Kyle Samani, managing partners of Multicoin Capital, discuss Binance, Binance Chain and BNB token, and why they believe Binance will become the first centralized company to successfully decentralize itself and migrate the value in itself to its token. We cover what Binance, the centralized company has so far achieved in terms of trading volume, fiat on-ramps, and regulatory arbitrage, and whether the company has any more regulatory risk than any other exchange. We also look at the features of Binance Chain, how they compare to other decentralized exchanges such as 0x, and why Multicoin believes that it will have more liquidity than previous dexes. We then explore BNB token — how it works now, the regulatory risk for BNB token, and how it will function on the dex. Finally, we touch on Binance's decentralization strategy overall and how it could fail. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: Multicoin Capital: https://multicoin.capital Kyle Sam

Get your tickets now for Unchained Live with Vitalik Buterin! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176   It will take place March 20th at 6pm at Columbia Journalism School in the Joseph D. Jamail Lecture Hall. Hope to see you there! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mona El-Isa, the cofounder and CEO of Melonport, explains how Melon, the asset management protocol which recently launched on Ethereum, makes launching a fund easier and less expensive, plus gives investors even more transparency into the manager's decisions. She describes who will be using Melon, how the funds using Melon access liquidity if the protocol only connects to decentralized exchanges, what happens if bugs are found in the protocol's smart contracts, and how know-your-customer processes are handled. Noting that the company Melonport will now be winding down, she talks about how the protocol will be managed going forward. Plus, we dive into the MLN token. Thank you to our sponsor! http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: Melonport: https://melonport.com Launch of Melon 1.0: https://medium.com/melonport-blog/melon-v1-0-zahreddino-60105f51988d Front and back office functions in a traditional fund vs. a Melon-based fund: https://medium.com/melonport-blog/what-is-melon-2018-edition-3437f3

Glen Weyl, a political economist and social technologist, the coauthor of Radical Markets and a principal researcher at Microsoft, and Santiago Siri, the founder of Democracy Earth, discuss how blockchains can be used to create borderless democracies that can reach any citizen on earth and can be used not just by nation-states but in all kinds of communities such as the workplace, church or a social network like Facebook. We cover concepts such as quadratic finance and quadratic voting, and look at how forcing voters to have a budget for their votes changes voting behavior. We also dive into what needs to be put in place for blockchain-based voting systems to work, why identity solutions are crucial but also so hard to get right, and how we can prevent token-based governance systems from becoming plutocracies. Plus, we surmise that blockchain-based governance might be the 21st century political experiment and that someday, we may all be citizens of multiple communities. Thank you to our sponsors! CipherTrac

In case you haven’t heard, I’m doing a live podcast recording with Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum. What is a live podcast recording? It's a podcast performed by me and the guest on a stage, in front of an audience.  Vitalik and I will be discussing Ethereum 2.0, Polka Dot, Substrate, what happened with Afri this week and more. And you’ll have an opportunity to ask questions.  It’ll be in New York City the evening of March 20th, which is one month from today. The doors open at 6, the show starts at 7. We will be announcing the venue soon.  Get your tickets here! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jalak Jobanputra, founder and managing partner of Future Perfect Ventures, talks about how, in 2014, her experience as an investment bank and VC, her global background, and her observation that new streams of data were becoming available led her to launch her first fund, which ended up being 70% invested in blockchain. She describes what it was like selling LPs on the nascent technology in 2014, how her latest fund, which will be more than $50 million, is different and how it's drawing LPs who thought they could make money through liquid hedge funds invested in tokens. She talks about why she thinks early-stage technologies can't be IPO'ed -- and why FPV shied away from ICOs -- but why her second fund is capable of investing in tokens. She also explains how the space is still lacking in early-stage VCs with knowledge of the blockchain sector, why New York launched the New York Blockchain Center and whether crypto is becoming more diverse. Come See Unchained Live With Vitalik Buterin! Wednesday, March 20th,

Jeremy Welch of personal key security system Casa describes the company's various services and products, including its $10,000-a-year premium service for HODLers of at least $500,000 worth of cryptocurrency and the Casa node. He explains how he came to start Casa, why using seed phrases for managing security of crypto hardware devices is so problematic, and how customers should set up the keys in their possession for the company's multi-signature solution, in which any transaction requires the use of three of five keys. We go on at length at about potential ways in which an attacker could still force a target, say, at gunpoint, to move money to the hacker's wallet. We also discuss why the company doesn't offer a multi-sig solution for ether, why people choose to run Casa's Bitcoin/Lightning node and where people are using Lightning. Unchained Live With Vitalik Buterin in New York City: Get your tickets here! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176 Thank you to

Rune Christensen, CEO and cofounder of MakerDAO, explains how multicollateral Dai will work, what happens if one type of collateral fails, and what happens when someone's collateralized debt position with multicollateral Dai needs to be liquidated. He also discusses who gets to participate in the various levels of governance with the MKR token, who owns those tokens and what the purpose of the Maker Foundation is. We also cover whether the CFTC would consider collateralized debt positions to be derivatives and therefore under its purview, how Dai is being used and how much education is required for people to use the system. Thank you to our sponsors! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain Tokensoft: https://www.tokensoft.io Episode links: MakerDAO: https://makerdao.com/en/ Rune Christensen: https://twitter.com/RuneKek Previous Unchained episode on stablecoins with Rune and Philip Rosedale of High Fidelity: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-its-so-ha

Rune Christensen, CEO and cofounder of MakerDAO, explains the intricacies of the MakerDAO system, which includes the stablecoin Dai, which is pegged to $1, backed by collateral, and whose governance is managed by holders of the MKR token. He describes how the current version of "single-collateral" Dai, is backed by ether, how Dai is created with a collateralized debt position and what happens when the value of the collateral falls too low. He also talks about the roles of various players in the system, such as keepers, oracles and MKR token holders. We also cover how the system handles black swan events or other emergencies. The MakerDAO system is so complex, however, that we will reconvene for a part 2 to describe the rest of the system and how a multi-collateral Dai will function. Thank you to our sponsors! Tokensoft: https://www.tokensoft.io Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: MakerDAO: https://makerdao.com/en/ Rune Christensen:

Gemini's Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who serve as chief executive and president, respectively, discuss their new ad campaign -- what they mean when they say crypto needs rules, why they agree in certain respects with some of their critics, and what the general reaction has been. They discuss why they launched a stablecoin, why they chose the stablecoin structure of dollar reserves and GUSD's role in an arbitrage involving a Chinese exchange and a competing stablecoin. They also explain how they intend to make a Bitcoin ETF a reality, what they think of SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce's dissent and what they intend for the Virtual Commodity Association. Plus, the brothers talk about why their goal is to be "the fastest tortoise in the race." Thank you to our sponsors! Tokensoft: https://www.tokensoft.io Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: Gemini's new ad campaign: https://www.wsj.com/articles/winklevosses-cryptocurrency-exchange-say

In this wide-ranging episode, Eric Meltzer and Dovey Wan of Primitive Ventures describe how Asia is weathering the crypto downturn: how have the low prices affected miners, how has this affected Bitmain's prospects for an IPO and how, despite a ban on crypto exchanges, Chinese crypto users have been trading. We also discuss more broadly how crypto projects and startups differ between China and the U.S., how crypto is upending Silicon Valley's dominance, and how differences in regulation are affecting entrepreneurship in the space. Plus, Eric and Dovey address whether or not the surveillance state is motivating Chinese interest in crypto. Thank you to our sponsors! Tokensoft: https://www.tokensoft.io Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: Primitive Ventures: http://primitive.ventures Eric Meltzer: https://twitter.com/wheatpond Dovey Wan: https://twitter.com/DoveyWan Binance was more profitable than Deutsche Bank in quarter 1 of 2018:

Eric Larcheveque, cofounder and CEO of Ledger, and Demetrios Skalkotos, global head of Ledger Vault, describe the company's three main offerings: its hardware wallets, the new software-as-a-service product for institutions, and an Internet of Things offering for transactions involving physical assets. They also describe how the company scaled for a massive increase in demand in 2017, who their customers are and how the company has responded to vulnerabilities found in its products. Plus, they explain why they don't put tamper-proof packaging on their hardware wallets. Thank you to our sponsors! TokenSoft: https://www.tokensoft.io Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: Ledger: https://www.ledger.com Eric Larcheveque: https://twitter.com/EricLarch Demetrios Skalkotos: https://twitter.com/DemoSkalkotos Introduction of Ledger Vault: https://medium.com/ledger-on-security-and-blockchain/ledger-vault-nyc-office-brings-crypto-security-to-in

To celebrate the 100th episode of Unchained, I talk a little about what this podcast means to me and thank everyone who's helped me with it. Then I let past guests and listeners take it away with their comments and predictions for 2019. Thank you to everyone who sent in submissions -- and to the listeners and sources who've helped me along the way! Thank you to our sponsors! TokenSoft: https://www.tokensoft.io Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: My TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Ew7PW4LCo Facebook working on a stablecoin: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-21/facebook-is-said-to-develop-stablecoin-for-whatsapp-transfers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Growing up in Argentina, Wences Casares saw his family lose all their money three times due to actions by the government. The so-called "patient zero" of Bitcoin in Silicon Valley explains why he believes that experience predisposed him to seeing the potential in Bitcoin earlier than most people, why it's so hard to explain Bitcoin to Americans and why the company he founded, Xapo, isn't just a Bitcoin vault and wallet company but his best effort at helping to ensure that Bitcoin succeeds. He talks about why he isn't scared of all the new competitors to his service, including Coinbase Custody, why Xapo hasn't branched out into any other crypto assets, and why he believes there's a more than 50% chance that Bitcoin is worth $1 million in five to ten years. Additionally, he still believes the attempt to accommodate more transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain with the SegWit2x fork, which he backed, was wrong -- even though the fees after its failure skyrocketed to as high as $60. Plus -- he reveals what it woul

Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings, describes the company's services and products, why it's launching a credit offering, and why he pivoted from his original intention to launch a crypto hedge fund and then pivoted again from working with ICOs to serving institutional players. He talks about why, if he had the chance to go public again, he wouldn't do it, why Galaxy's stock fell so precipitously one day that trading was halted, and why he thinks the SEC has made it clear the ICO markets are closed. He also talks about why, on the way to democratizing finance, the crypto markets need to "take a step back" and start with institutions, why decentralization is important, and why he thinks the launch of Bakkt is the most important news in the crypto space this year. Plus, Mike surmises as to how consumers will start using crypto, but believes it won’t replace fiat in the Western world. Thank you to our sponsors! Microsoft: aka.ms/unchained CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained