Unchained

Latest Episodes:

What Is One Of The World's Largest Derivatives Exchanges Doing With Bitcoin? Jan 10, 2017

Show notes

CME Group handles three billion contracts worth about $1 quadrillion annually. So why is it making a foray into bitcoin, whose market capitalization is a mere $16 billion? Sandra Ro, CME's head of digitization, explains its first cryptocurrency products, the Bitcoin Reference Rate and the Bitcoin Real-Time Index, as well as a forthcoming blockchain-based product, Royal Mint Gold. She also reveals which other cryptocurrencies have piqued her interest and which other physical world assets she thinks could be traded by blockchain.

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Federal Prosecutor Kathryn Haun On How Criminals Use Bitcoin -- And How She Catches Them Nov 01, 2016

Show notes

Kathryn Haun put away the DEA and Secret Service agents who tried to make off with more than $800,000 in stolen bitcoin while investigating the darknet Silk Road marketplace. She talks about how the blockchain technology underlying Bitcoin made it possible to uncover their theft, why she believes blockchain will create a lot of good, and what she does when the very people behind tumblers and mixers -- technology that makes her work more difficult -- turn to her when they are the victims of crimes. Along the way, we learn about the habits of cryptocurrency criminals and get a fascinating view into the world of "breeder documents."

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How Coin Center Is Helping Define The 'Big Fuzzy Gray Area' Of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency Law Oct 18, 2016

Show notes

As blockchains and cryptocurrencies evolve, there are times when the technology outpaces the law. That's when Coin Center steps in. The non-profit, which represents the technology, not the industry, and aims for regulators to keep a mostly hands-off attitude, has already helped shape questions around which types of Bitcoin wallet providers are financial institutions and whether new coins being offered represent securities. And answering these questions has drawn it back into previous cases involving everything from Florida orange groves to Manhattan co-ops to golf club memberships.

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What Does Cornell’s Emin Gun Sirer See As The Main Security Threats In Cryptocurrency? ‘Everything’ Oct 04, 2016

Show notes

Cornell University computer science professor Emin Gun Sirer, an influential figure in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, describes his ideas for improving security in the space, his skepticism about how to scale these networks, and how the last time financial institutions invested in their systems appears to be for Y2K. He also tells us how growing up in an environment where he saw a lot of scams helps him find problems in code, explains why Bitcoin is the “universal bug bounty,” and reveals how two high school students saved burgeoning cryptocurrency network Ethereum “like in the movies — just before the clock was going to expire.”

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Why A Wall Street Journal Currency Reporter Didn't Understand Money Until He Learned About Bitcoin Sep 20, 2016

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Michael Casey, senior advisor at MIT's Media Lab and author of the Age of Cryptocurrency, spent 18 years at the Wall Street Journal -- a good portion of that covering currency markets. But he says it wasn't until he learned about Bitcoin that he really understood what money was. In this episode of Unchained, he explains why, plus discusses why he thinks China will play a key role in moving the world to a cryptocurrency- or blockchain-based trade settlement system, what that could mean for the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency and what he thinks is the most cutting-edge work being done in blockchain.

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Why Tyler And Cameron Winklevoss Fell In Love With Bitcoin Sep 06, 2016

Show notes

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, CEO and President, respectively, of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, talk about the importance of regulation in a sector once associated in popular culture with illicit activity. The twin brothers, who were the first to file with the SEC for a Bitcoin ETF, recount how they went from competing in the Olympics to launching a cryptocurrency company, explain why they believe private blockchains are really just distributed databases, and discuss why we've seen so many hacks of Bitcoin exchanges. They also touch on an emerging trend, app-coins or new cryptographic tokens being used to run, say, peer-to-peer versions of Dropbox or Reddit.

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Blockchain 101 With Andreas Antonopoulos: How Bitcoin Makes Each Of Us As Powerful As A Bank Aug 23, 2016

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“Shifting from a perspective of 'only humans control money' to 'machines and software control money' is really radical and it changes a lot of things,” says the popular blockchain and Bitcoin author and speaker Andreas Antonopoulos. Antonopoulos discusses why the real magic of blockchain is decentralization, why criticisms that Bitcoin is a waste of energy are wrong, and why he now charges a 20% premium to be paid by wire transfer instead of bitcoin. And if you're amazed by the idea of a self-driving car, wait until you hear his description of how the taxis of the future might operate.

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How The Blockchain Alliance Helps Law Enforcement With Bitcoin Crime And Developments Like The DAO Aug 09, 2016

Show notes

Jason Weinstein and Alan Cohn, partner and of counsel, respectively at law firm Steptoe & Johnson, discuss their work with the Blockchain Alliance, a coalition of both blockchain and cryptocurrency companies as well as law enforcement agencies including Interpol, the FBI, the SEC, Europol and others. Find out how crime in Bitcoin is similar to all types of crime, what genuinely new questions are being raised, and how various law enforcement agencies might think about even recent developments like the emergence of the DAO and the subsequent DAO hack.

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Chain's Adam Ludwin On Who Is Best Poised To Benefit From Blockchain Technology Jul 26, 2016

Show notes

As blockchain technology remakes financial services, some companies will be better positioned than others, says Adam Ludwin, CEO of Chain, which has partnered with incumbents like Visa, Citi and Nasdaq. Ludwin describes which types of firms will emerge winners and the mindset of the executives who really get it. He also explains why he is certain central banks will one day issue digital currency.

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Want to Diversify Your Portfolio? Try Bitcoin, Say ARK's Chris Burniske And Coinbase's Adam White Jul 12, 2016

Show notes

Invest in oil and gold? In this episode, the co-authors of a compelling white paper explain the four reasons why they believe you may soon be investing in digital oil and digital gold instead. Find out why their analysis prompted Burniske to say of bitcoin, "That's an investor's dream," why White mentioned the saying, "On the blockchain, no one knows you're a refrigerator," and how well ARK's investment in bitcoin has performed.

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