Unchained

Latest Episodes:

Meltem Demirors and Jill Carlson on the Sh*tcoin Waterfall - Ep.74 Jul 31, 2018

Show notes

In this hilarious skeptics' episode, Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares, and Jill Carlson, an independent consultant, explain why they think crypto needs fewer moral arguments and more empirical evidence, and how there's too much focus on financial engineering, but not enough focus on winning hearts and minds. They also explain why people are not machines where "you put in a token and get out an action," what the "sh*tcoin waterfall" is, and why cryptoeconomics isn't anything new. Plus, they give their tips for working in the space.

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Episode links:

Meltem on Twitter: https://twitter.com/melt_dem

On Medium: https://medium.com/@Melt_Dem

Jill on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_jillruth

AirTM: https://www.airtm.io

Fat protocols thesis: http://www.usv.com/blog/fat-protocols

Amber Baldet's tweet about the finger guns guy: https://twitter.com/amberbaldet/status/1006286345122275331

Meltem's tips on working in crypto: https://medium.com/@Melt_Dem/so-you-want-to-work-in-crypto-57961ca074c4

Jill's tips on working for yourself: https://medium.com/@jillcarlson/working-alone-165ababeafc2

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Kathleen Breitman and Ryan Jesperson of Tezos on Why They Wouldn't Do Its Token Sale Differently - Ep.73 Jul 24, 2018

Show notes

Kathleen Breitman, CEO of Dynamic Ledger Solutions, the company behind the Tezos protocol, and Ryan Jesperson, president of the foundation, discuss the Tezos initial coin offering, which was the largest ICO at the time of sale. Kathleen explains why she wouldn't do anything differently, except for the choice of foundation head, Johann Gevers, with whom Kathleen and her co-creator and husband, Arthur Breitman, ended up in multiple disputes. She muses as to why many people initially praised Gevers and then later revealed that he was not liked or that he'd defrauded them when they'd worked for him. Ryan and Kathleen also explain how they will attempt to help Tezos compete in the competitive smart contract platform space, despite the fact that Tezos is built in less well-known computer languages, and they explain why they've chosen delegated proof of stake as their consensus protocol, despite the criticism that it could create a plutocracy.

Tezos: https://tezos.com

Kathleen Breitman: https://twitter.com/breitwoman

Ryan Jesperson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-jesperson-23b0053a/

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The Sun Exchange: https://www.thesunexchange.com

Podcast links:

Wired story on Tezos: https://www.wired.com/story/tezos-blockchain-love-story-horror-story/

Unconfirmed episode with Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of the Wired cover story: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/behind-the-tezos-scandal-conflicts-of-interest-self-dealing-and-bullying-ep024

Unconfirmed with Caitlin Long on Wyoming blockchain laws: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/behind-the-tezos-scandal-conflicts-of-interest-self-dealing-and-bullying-ep024

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How Widespread Is Money Laundering in Crypto? - Ep.72 Jul 17, 2018

Show notes

Yaya Fanusie, director of analysis at the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Tom Robinson, chief data officer and cofounder of blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, discuss how common money laundering is in crypto, how jihadist groups are using it, and how privacy coins (really Monero) affect their work. (The reason why the dark markets haven't much used Zcash surprised me.) We also discuss bad state actors using cryptocurrency, such as Venezuela's efforts with the metro and North Korea's alleged Bitcoin ransomware attacks, and how, leaving aside bad state actors, central bank cryptocurrencies would compete with decentralized ones. Plus, we discuss what impact OFAC blocked addresses list will have.

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Yaya Fanusie: https://twitter.com/SignCurve

Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies: http://www.defenddemocracy.org/csif

Tom Robinson: https://twitter.com/tomrobin

Elliptic: http://www.elliptic.co

Yaya and Tom's report on Bitcoin laundering: http://www.defenddemocracy.org/content/uploads/documents/MEMO_Bitcoin_Laundering.pdf

New AML regulations on cryptocurrencies in Europe: https://www.elliptic.co/our-thinking/5th-aml-directive-eu-regulation-cryptocurrency

Money laundering in ICOs: https://www.elliptic.co/our-thinking/ico-risk-why-aml-compliance-matters

Yaya's op-ed on the Venezuelan metro in CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-investors-stay-away-venezuelas-petro/

Russia's blockchain plans: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/346476-blockchain-technology-may-give-russia-its-next-sputnik-moment

What jihadists are doing with crypto assets: https://www.thecipherbrief.com/article/exclusive/international/terrorist-networks-eye-bitcoin-cryptocurrencys-price-rises

https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column/private-sector/the-new-frontier-in-terror-fundraising-bitcoin

Yaya's essay on self-policing in CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-community-must-use-blockchain-self-police/

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Circle's Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville on Why Crypto Will Be Bigger Than the Web - Ep.71 Jul 10, 2018

Show notes

Jeremy Allaire, cofounder and CEO of Circle, and Sean Neville, cofounder and president, discuss why they think the internet of value will be even bigger than the internet of information and how all assets will be tokenized. They also talk about why they're launching a stable coin, how their services in payments, exchange and investing will compete against decentralized versions of the same, and how they chose the assets for Circle Invest -- and why XRP didn't make the cut. They also address the investor presentation circulated that claimed the SEC would not pursue enforcement against Poloniex for prior activity and explain why Circle took investment from Bitmain despite negative sentiment against the mining equipment manufacturer. And they explain how Circle could compete once Wall Street incumbents begin to offer competitive services in crypto.

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Links:

Circle.com: https://www.circle.com/en/

Circle's plans around a federal banking license and brokerage and trading registration: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-06/circle-in-talks-with-u-s-to-become-licensed-bank-trading-venue

Acquisition of Poloniex: https://blog.circle.com/2018/02/26/circle-acquires-poloniex/

XRP in a screenshot of Circle Invest, but offered after launch: https://www.coindesk.com/circle-adds-monero-crypto-investment-app/

The Circle Asset Framework: https://www.circle.com/marketing/pdfs/en/circle-asset-framework.pdf

Nathaniel Popper's tweet showing the Circle investor deck indicating the SEC won't pursue action against Poloniex: https://twitter.com/nathanielpopper/status/968202570719117313?lang=en

Circle's stable coins + Bitmain investment: https://blog.circle.com/2018/05/15/circle-announces-usd-coin-bitmain-partnership-and-new-strategic-financing/

Unchained episode on stable coins: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable

Unchained episode with David Vorick, which includes some comments on Bitmain: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-asics-may-be-better-than-gpus-even-if-they-tend-toward-mining-centralization-ep67

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Chris Dixon on How Trust Is the Best Lego Block - Ep.70 Jul 03, 2018

Show notes

Chris Dixon, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, talks about the new $300 million crypto fund he is leading with Kathryn Haun, the new general partner of Andreessen, and how a16z came to hire its first female GP. The long-time crypto entrepreneur also discusses his theory of how crypto will grow -- and why Cryptokitties was one example of how that might happen -- his nights-and-weekend theory of technological change, and his view that writing software and smart contracts is similar to writing a novel. Additionally, he explains how someday, it will seem funny we didn't have concepts of ownership and money in the digital world, why Andreessen is investing almost exclusively in crypto-first projects and why he believes that the ability to create trust software will be the best Lego block for building things like money, finance, digital goods and more.

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Blockchain Warehouse: https://www.blockchainwarehouse.com

Clarity PR: http://clarity.pr

Preciate: https://preciate.org

LINKS:

The a16z $300 million crypto fund: https://a16zcrypto.com

Katie Haun's appointment as GP: https://a16z.com/2018/06/25/katie-haun/

My previous interviews with Katie Haun -- Unchained: http://unchainedpodcast.co/federal-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-how-criminals-use-bitcoin-and-how-she-catches-them

Unconfirmed: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/sxsw-episode-former-doj-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-what-the-sec-subpoenas-and-fincen-letter-likely-mean

Chris on decentralization: https://medium.com/@cdixon/why-decentralization-matters-5e3f79f7638e

On how tokens can reverse the centralization of the internet: https://medium.com/@cdixon/crypto-tokens-a-breakthrough-in-open-network-design-e600975be2ef

Chris mentioned Placeholder Ventures -- if you haven't heard my interview with the firm's Joel Monegro, check it out: http://unchainedpodcast.co/placeholders-joel-monegro-on-the-fat-protocols-thesis-today-ep65

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Jimmy Song on Why Bitcoin Will Be the Winning Cryptocurrency - Ep.69 Jun 26, 2018

Show notes

In an episode of strong positions, Blockchain Capital partner and Bitcoin educator Jimmy Song explains why private blockchains will never work, why smart contracts will never work, and why Bitcoin will be the one and only valuable cryptocurrency. He also gives his definition sound money, describes why Bitcoin is sound money, and talks about how he finds new companies to invest in if he believes Bitcoin is already the winner. Plus, he recounts the story of his buzz-generating debate with ConsenSys's Joe Lubin at the Consensus conference, which ended with a challenge to come up with a bet in Bitcoin, and what terms Jimmy would like to make the bet on. Lubin, it's your move.

Jimmy Song on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmysong

Medium: https://medium.com/@jimmysong

Blockchain Capital: http://blockchain.capital/

Programming Blockchain: http://programmingblockchain.com

Off Chain with Jimmy Song on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEFJVYNiPp8xeIUyfaPCPQw

Medium post on smart contracts: https://medium.com/@jimmysong/the-truth-about-smart-contracts-ae825271811f

Jimmy's rebuttal to the responses to his post: https://medium.com/@jimmysong/crypto-keynesian-lunacy-16bb9193a58

Video of Amber Baldet, Joe Lubin and Jimmy's panel at Consensus -- video 31 under Day 1: https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2018/videos/

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Clarity PR: http://clarity.pr

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Live From the World Economic Forum Industry Strategy Meeting: Breaking the Blockchain Hype - Ep.68 Jun 20, 2018

Show notes

This is a live recording from a panel I moderated at the World Economic Forum Industry Strategy Meeting. The speakers included Shwetha Shetty Senior Director, Corporate Strategy Group, of SAP, Adam Ludwin, CEO of Chain, Brian Behlendorf, executive director of HyperLedger the Linux Foundation and Sheila Warren, project head of blockchain and distributed ledger technology at the World Economic Forum.We dive into the pros and cons of using blockchains for elections. which types of problems are best-suited to be solved by blockchain, why B2B applications of blockchain might come before B2C products and what kinds of identity-related data might be safe to put on a blockchain. Plus, Adam reveals some entertaining anecdotes about Silicon Valley safaris and how old World’s Fair tickets could have an analog to blockchain systems today.

Episodes I referenced during the discussion in case listeners want to dive more into the elections topic:

Tomicah Tillemann episode on the blockchain voting pilot in West Virginia: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/battling-corruption-with-blockchain-technology-tomicah-tillemann-of-the-blockchain-trust-accelerator-ep018

Alex Gladstein episode with more on blockchain-based voting: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/alex-gladstein-of-the-human-rights-foundation-on-the-first-crypto-war-ep021

Tweets about blockchain-based voting:

Matt Blaze’s objecton to blockchain-based voting: https://twitter.com/mattblaze/status/1002921011854143488

Vitalik’s response: https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1004203105611726849

Tomicah Tillemann’s response: https://twitter.com/TomicahTD/status/1004325810252197888

To address the question at the end about blockchain-based passports:

2 Katie Haun episodes on using blockchain-based systems to solve the problems of "breeder documents" and fraud, waste and abuse:

Fraud, waste and abuse: http://unchainedpodcast.co/live-from-inforum-at-the-commonwealth-club-blockchain-and-cryptocurrency-the-basics-with-kathryn-haun

Breeder documents: http://unchainedpodcast.co/federal-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-how-criminals-use-bitcoin-and-how-she-catches-them

Episode with Vinny Lighal, founder of Civic, which is working on a blockchain-based identity solution: http://unchainedpodcast.co/bitcoin-oracle-vinny-lingham-on-why-bitcoin-is-overpriced

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Why ASICs May Be Better Than GPUs Even if They Tend Toward Mining Centralization - Ep.67 Jun 19, 2018

Show notes

David Vorick, CEO of Nebulous, which operates Siacoin and a new subsidiary, Obelisk, describes what he's discovered in his exploration of the mining industry, including why he's decided that specialized chips like ASICs are preferable to generalized chips like GPUs, even if they tend to bring out mining centralization. He also describes Obelisk's new service, Launchpad,which secures exclusive deals to create a custom proof-of-work algorithm for a coin and also the mining equipment for it, in exchange for being the only miner on the market at launch or for a period. He explains why he thinks proof of work is the only really viable type of consensus algorithm and doesn't even see any other potentially workable ones on the horizon. Plus, he has some sharp criticisms of Bitmain and claims that several groups were secretly mining Monero, though he can't reveal how he knows.

David Vorick: https://twitter.com/DavidVorick

https://medium.com/@davidvorick

Siacoin: http://sia.tech

Blog.sia.tech

Obelisk: https://obelisk.tech

Blog.obelisk.tech

David on why Siacoin chose ASICs: https://medium.com/obelisk-blog/choosing-asics-for-sia-4b11695df051

David's long post about the state of cryptocurrency mining: https://blog.sia.tech/the-state-of-cryptocurrency-mining-538004a37f9b

Announcement about Obelisk:

https://medium.com/obelisk-blog/introducing-obelisk-launchpad-b78756eaa74c

Zooko's recap of his conversation with Jihan Wu, CEO of Bitmain: https://forum.z.cash/t/so-i-had-a-videochat-with-jihan-wu/29379

Bitmain's tweets being transparent (account currently disabled): https://twitter.com/BITMAINtech/status/1001376036985028608

Bitmain's blog post about being transparent: https://blog.bitmain.com/en/antiminer-z9-mini-shipments-experiment-radical-transparency/

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https://www.blockchainwarehouse.com

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Live From Consensus: What the Media Really Thinks About Crypto - Ep.66 Jun 13, 2018

Show notes

This is a recording of a panel discussion I participated in with a couple other reporters and crypto PR people at Consensus. (It was at the same time as Jack's talk, so it's totally understandable if you missed it. Also, the room was freezing. I was shivering the entire time.) The other panelists were Leigh Cuen of CoinDesk, Avi Salzman of Barron's (and my old classmate from grad school!), Jill Richmond of Spark PR, Trey Ditto of Ditto PR, and the discussion was moderated by Frank Chaparro of Business Insider. We discussed whether or not crypto projects and publications should engage in pay to play (I would have hoped the answer to this would obvious to everyone, but alas), coverage that could cause investors to lose money, whether or not the business model of the media industry drives clickbait headlines and why journalists have a responsibility to include more of the nuances in crypto. We also dish up some practical tips and insider info, like how crypto projects can get media coverage, what factors reporters use in deciding whether or not to write about a project they're pitched, and whether or not crypto teams should hire crypto-specific PR firms.

Apologies that there was no mic for the questions from the audience. I've left the questions in, as you can sometimes hear them faintly. I tried my best to have someone or myself recap each question.

For the question about our favorite stories, these were the articles we named

My favorite of mine: my phone hijacking story: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/12/20/hackers-have-stolen-millions-of-dollars-in-bitcoin-using-only-phone-numbers/#464b730d38ba

Leigh liked a series I did exposing fake advisors: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/11/01/alex-tapscotts-crypto-vc-firm-going-public-with-100m-cad-falsely-touted-4-blockchain-stars-as-advisors/#483d3ff31b1f

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/11/03/cibc-walks-from-tapscotts-nextblock-global-after-falsehoods-revealed-more-misrepresentations-found/#724de0e13cbf

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/11/05/alex-tapscotts-crypto-vc-firm-aborts-public-listing-will-return-money-after-falsehoods-revealed/#1d4de0a62e27

Leigh's favorite stories: Cryptocurrency in Iran: http://www.ibtimes.com/bitcoin-adoption-rate-iran-surges-despite-censorship-protests-2636607

http://www.ibtimes.com/initial-coin-offerings-are-coming-iran-2653474

Cryptocurrency for sex workers: http://www.ibtimes.com/beyond-bitcoin-blockchain-tokens-sex-industry-2601252

Avi's favorite story: https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-storms-wall-street-1512188427

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Placeholder's Joel Monegro on the Fat Protocols Thesis Today - Ep.65 Jun 12, 2018

Show notes

Joel Monegro, partner at crypto VC firm Placeholder Ventures, describes how well his seminal blog post, "Fat Protocols," is holding up, why he and his partner Chris Burniske opted to found a crypto VC firm as opposed to a hedge fund, and what main factors they think will determine the success of a blockchain. He also describes how crypto and blockchains fit into the evolution of technology, how the business models in the crypto space will be built, and why their first publicly known investment was in Decred. Plus, he reveals why their firm is called Placeholder.

Placeholder: https://www.placeholder.vc

Joel: https://twitter.com/jmonegro

The Placeholder investment thesis: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZL4eT1gxnE168Pmw3KyejW6fUfMNzMgeKMgcWJUfYGRj/Placeholder%20Thesis%20Summary.pdf

The Fat Protocols Thesis:

https://www.usv.com/blog/fat-protocols

Decred investment thesis: https://www.placeholder.vc/blog/2018/5/12/decred-investment-thesis

Blog post on information technology cycles: https://monegro.org/work/2018/2/20/information-technology-market-cycles-a-brief-history

Joel's blog post on the shared data layer of the blockchain application stack:

http://joel.mn/post/104755282493/the-shared-data-layer-of-the-blockchain

and on the blockchain application stack: http://joel.mn/post/103546215249/the-blockchain-application-stack

Two episodes featuring his partner, Chris Burniske:

http://unchainedpodcast.co/how-to-valuate-a-crypto-asset-s3e08