CoinDesk Podcast Network

The top stories and best shows in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk.

Latest Episodes:

LEIGH: 'Pandora's Box, but for Freedom': Author Isaiah Jackson on Bitcoin's Impact Feb 22, 2020

Show notes

Coindesk reporter Leigh Cuen is joined by Isaiah Jackson, author of “Bitcoin and Black America '' and co-founder of KRBE Digital Assets group, to talk about financial discrimination in the United States and the unique value bitcoin can offer minority communities.

According to a survey of 5,126 Americans conducted by Coinbase and Qriously, “twice as many Black Americans have been negatively impacted by the current financial system” compared to their white peers. As such, the survey suggested, they are much more likely to be curious about bitcoin.

This finding is supported by broader evidence. For example, The National Bureau of Economic Research also found in 2019 that black mortgage borrowers were charged higher interest rates than white borrowers and were denied mortgages that would have been approved for white applicants.

Later, we'll discuss the cultural aspects of bitcoin and how someone’s background impacts his unique experience in the bitcoin community.

Want more? Leigh also has an article about how black entrepreneurs use cryptocurrency to fundraise.

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BREAKDOWN: Why Today's Crypto Exchange Leaders Are Powerful, but Not Inevitable Feb 21, 2020

Show notes

After settling in to the $10,000 price level, BTC suddenly and rapidly dipped more than 5% in an hour on Wednesday. As the market discusses possible explanations, some floated the unexpected simultaneous downtime of Binance and Coinbase as a causal factor.

In this episode of The Breakdown, we discuss the power exchanges wield - both in terms of market liquidity as well as the ability to shape news cycles. The good news is that new funding for insurgent exchanges suggest that power today is not inevitable.

Lastly, we discuss the latest in central bank digital currencies, with Sweden launching an e-krona pilot; a former head of China’s national bank saying Coronavirus could accelerate efforts; and a new member of the Libra Association.

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BREAKDOWN: Why We Should Stop Thinking of ‘Crypto’ as a Single Industry Feb 20, 2020

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The ‘crypto’ industry is having a hard time fitting everything that’s happening inside that one monolithic term. On this episode, @nlw looks at current news stories from across at least 5 different categories - DeFi, enterprise blockchain, central bank digital currencies, digital collectibles and bitcoin - to ask whether they really all belong lumped in in the same category.

The episode also looks at:

Four reasons these increasingly different categories remain bunched together
Why turning other parts of the industry into an enemy is rewarded in the public sphere
Why letting individual parts of the industry evolve individually is likely to bring more, not fewer resources into the space.

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BREAKDOWN: Chainlink's Sergey Nazarov on What DeFi Can Learn From Early Exchange Hacks Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

The DeFi world continues to dissect the recent attacks on bZx. To most, the amount lost in the attacks is far less relevant than what the attacks suggest about how DeFi applications need to be designed.

Within that, one key topic of conversation is the role of price oracles - the systems by which DeFi applications check the prices of assets that dictate what happens in a given smart contract. Since asset price manipulation was at the core of the recent attacks, this is a particularly pertinent area of inquiry.

Yesterday, Chainlink announced that it would be helping bZx upgrade their systems taking advantage of Chainlink’s recently-launched “meta oracle.” On this episode of The Breakdown, Chainlink founder Sergey Nazarov discusses:

The role of price oracles in DeFi
How price oracles were targeted in the recent attacks
What the DeFi industry can learn from early crypto exchange hacks

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BREAKDOWN: Is It Exploitation Season for DeFi? Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

Part of what makes DeFi interesting to people is how it takes advantage of open source protocols to enable types of transactions never before available. The problem, however, is that financial structures mean new financial vulnerabilities.

In the last few days, two attacks on bZx have used a similar strategy of manipulating the price of synthetic assets in the context of a new instrument called 'flashloans'. On this episode of @nlw breaks down exactly

How the attacks were carried out
How the community is responding
What the larger ramifications for DeFi might be

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LEIGH: How Bitcoin Is Used To Promote Human Rights, Feat. Stories from Activists and Refugees Feb 17, 2020

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CoinDesk reporter Leigh Cuen is joined by the Human Rights Foundation’s Alex Gladstein and Syrian entrepreneur Moe Ghashim to discuss how cultural context shapes the way people view bitcoin, including stories from the Middle East.

Many bitcoiners see cryptocurrency as a cypherpunk tool that enhances personal freedoms, with cypherpunk meaning “using privacy tech to promote social change.” There are diverse users around the world gaining this type of value from bitcoin, but they rarely give interviews or are seen on stage at conferences.

Later we’ll explore the risks of governments impacting the bitcoin ecosystem, through regulatory enforcement, censorship and market manipulation. Then we’ll dive into what everyone can do to enhance bitcoin’s usability through education.

Want more? Leigh has several articles exploring such use cases, everything from why protesters in Lebanon are turning to bitcoin to the possibility that dictators may also participate in the crypto ecosystem

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LTB!: Mainstream Moments and the CompuServe of Crypto Feb 16, 2020

Show notes

The best Sundays are for long reads and deep conversations. With the price of bitcoin headed up again, the idea of blockchains and digital currencies has never been more palatable to the mainstream. We've seen this cycle before, but could this time be different?

This episode of Let's Talk Bitcoin! is sponsored by Brave.com and eToro.com

Today's discussion features Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy and Adam B. Levine

Editing by Jonas, featuring music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats

Today's episode features audio clips from CNBC, C-SPAN and Figure.com

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RESEARCH: We Think 10-Minute Settlement Is Slow, but That's Crazy, Feat. CoinDesk Research's Noelle Acheson Feb 15, 2020

Show notes

CoinDesk's Head of Research Noelle Acheson joins Ophelia (Amun's co-founder and president) and Lanre (Amun's researcher) to discuss the advantages, disadvantages and eccentricities of crypto markets, exchanges, settlement and more.

The group discusses the differences in the market microstructure between the crypto asset industry and traditional capital markets. The guests drew from their experience within capital markets understand the intricacies of the crypto market.

AlbumPhoto by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

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BREAKDOWN: The Top Narratives Driving Crypto Market Growth, feat. Travis Kling Feb 14, 2020

Show notes

There’s no denying that 2020 is off to a roaring start. From prices to volume to social media, sentiment is up up up.

But what’s driving it? On this special Valentine’s Day episode, @nlw reacts to listeners votes about which narratives are most driving the shift in energy, discussing:

The BTC halving
Coronavirus and volatility
Fed action
Central bank digital currency intrigue
Ethereum and DeFi
Price reflexivity and Lindy effects

The episode finishes up with some hot takes on what is driving the markets and what we should be most concerned about and most excited for with Ikigai Asset Management’s Travis Kling.

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