Unchained

Latest Episodes:

The Chopping Block: Will Modular Blockchains Win? - Ep. 501 Jun 03, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner, chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, the gang answers audience questions, digs into the discourse around rollups, and debates whether modular blockchains will vanquish existing monoliths.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights:

How someone asked people to just give them money, and raised over $1 million
Answering audience questions from Twitter, including ‘what’s Tarun’s favorite drug?’
Whether there’s tension between Haseeb and Tarun
How the incoming generations of crypto people (e.g. “Class of 2017”) have changed over the cycles
The five-level explainer on what a rollup is
Why everyone’s debating the ontology of rollups and why Haseeb still thinks blockchains are like religions
Tarun’s take on the modular blockchain thesis and why Haseeb is skeptical
Whether app chains like the ones in Cosmos will become dominant
Whether one of the top 4 chains will be modular in the next five to 10 years

Hosts

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly
Robert Leshner, founder of Compound
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures

Disclosures

Links

Binance Feed: Bored Ape NFT Holder Ben.eth Launches Third Crusade of Memecoin Psychopathy
Rollups, Rigor, and Reality by Kelvin Fichter
Rollups Are L1s (& L2s) a.k.a. How Rollups *Actually Actually Actually* Work by Jon Charbonneau
Haseeb’s question on Twitter
Previous episode of The Chopping Block on the L1 debate: Why Are We Still Building Layer 1s?

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Laura Shin Reflects on 500 Episodes of ‘Unchained’ - Ep.500 Jun 02, 2023

Show notes

If a year in crypto is like a decade in other industries, then Laura Shin has seen a lot. To commemorate the 500th episode of “Unchained” (actually, there’s about 150 more under a different brand name), Laura hops on the other side of the microphone to field questions from Unchained Contributing Editor Zack Seward about standout moments dating back to 2018. From the early rise of Binance to a charged interview with Terra founder Do Kwon, Shin takes you behind the scenes for rare insights into her process, her favorite moments, and how key episodes have aged.

Highlighted episodes:

Sept. 25, 2018: How Binance Became the Most Popular Crypto Exchange in 5 Months
March 26, 2019: Vitalik Buterin on Whether or Not Ethereum Is ‘Blowing It’
April 8, 2022: Here’s Why USDN De-Pegged From the Dollar – And Why UST Might Too
Dec. 23, 2022: Martin Shkreli Explains Why Sam Bankman-Fried Got Lucky With His Judge
Aug. 3, 2021: Can a DeFi Smart Contract Be Regulated? Two CFTC Commissioners Discuss
May 23, 2023: Ex-CFTC Commissioner Berkovitz Says ‘DeFi Should Be Regulated’ – But How?
March 18, 2022: Punk6529 on the Significance of Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks
Oct. 18, 2022: Do Kwon of Terra: ‘It Was Never Really About Money or Fame or Success’
July 31, 2018: Meltem Demirors and Jill Carlson on the Shitcoin Waterfall
Aug. 10, 2021: Is ETH on Its Way to Becoming Ultra-Sound Money? Yes, Says Justin Drake
Dec. 28, 2021: Why NFT OG Mitchell Chan Has Released Just One Project This Year
Oct. 28, 2022: The Mango Markets Attacker on Whether His ‘Trade’ Was Ethical or Not
Feb. 7, 2018: Xapo’s Wences Casares on How Bitcoin Makes a Fairer World

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These 2 Crypto Trading Platforms Agree With SEC Chair Gary Gensler - Ep. 499 May 30, 2023

Show notes

“Lack of regulatory clarity” is the catchall complaint levied against U.S. regulators by most major players in the crypto industry. But the founders of Bosonic and Prometheum disagree. Both firms have spent years chasing the necessary regulatory approvals to compliantly trade digital assets, including those seen as securities. Last week, Prometheum secured a potentially landmark approval to operate as a special purpose broker-dealer for digital asset securities. Prometheum co-founder Aaron Kaplan and Rosario Ingargiola, founder of Bosonic, which earlier secured a similar approval, discuss why big players like Coinbase need to quit carping in the court of public opinion and do the hard work of getting approved.

Show highlights:

what Bosonic and Prometheum Capital do
how Aaron and Rosario started working in crypto
what it means to be a special purpose broker-dealer
what the three-step letter from the SEC is and why it's relevant for scaling a digital asset business
how exchanges work in traditional finance and how crypto differs
why Aaron believes there’s a “pathway forward for crypto in the U.S.”
whether the argument that there’s a lack of regulatory clarity is convenient for crypto incumbents
why Aaron agrees with SEC Chair Gary Gensler on his stance that everything except BTC is a security
how a token registration would work and what the nuances would be
why Coinbase’s approval to be a publicly traded company does not mean that the SEC is in line with the business
whether ETH is a security, with Aaron arguing it is and Rosario saying it’s a commodity
what the different requirements are for national securities exchanges and alternative trading systems
what Aaron and Rosario would tell existing crypto companies as it relates to compliance
whether regulation kills innovation

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com

Guests:

Aaron Kaplan, co-CEO and co-founder of Prometheum
Rosario Ingargiola, Founder and CEO of Bosonic

Previous coverage of Unchained on crypto regulation:

Links

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Ethereum L2s Are About to Be the Hot New Thing in NFTs - Ep.498 May 26, 2023

Show notes

It’s in the name: mint.fun. Co-founder Luke Miles joins the show to talk about his platform’s efforts to make NFTs more discoverable, accessible and fun. He also shares his on-the-ground perspectives on emerging trends in the NFT space – everything from Bitcoin Ordinals to the rise of Ethereum L2s as NFT hot spots. With last cycle’s NFT mania in the rearview, what’s next?

Show highlights:

what mint.fun is and what problems it solves for NFT users
how it is different from popular NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Blur
why mint.fun is also launching on Ethereum layer 2s
Luke’s thoughts on the current state of the NFT market
why the narrative has shifted from PFP projects delivering a roadmap to the ‘single creator narrative’
the difference between open-edition mints and limited editions
why NFTs on layer 2s are “about to have a moment,” according to Luke
whether mint.fun will launch on other blockchains
what Luke thinks of Ordinals and the BRC-20 mania

Thank you to our sponsors!

Guest

Luke Miles, CEO of mint.fun

Links

Dune dashboard
Fundrop
Recent coverage on BRC-20s: Bitcoin’s BRC-20 Mania: Is It Sustainable?
Unchained:
What Is NFT Farming? A Beginner's Guide
Music NFTs: What Are They & How Do They Work?
A Guide to Yuga Labs: The Most Important NFT Company
Exploring the NFT blue chips
What Is an NFT Marketplace?

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The Chopping Block: Why Everyone Is Talking About EigenLayer - Ep. 497 May 25, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner, chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan explains his vision for providing “decentralized trust” to new projects on Ethereum. Was Vitalik Buterin’s recent “re-staking” post a shot across EigenLayer’s bow?

Show highlights:

how Sreeram has transitioned from academia into the world of crypto
why he believes that crypto is the “coordination highway”
what EigenLayer is – explained to a five-year-old, a high schooler, a day trader, a developer, and a crypto professor
how middleware enables technology innovation
where the value accrues if there’s no token for securing a blockchain
whether Vitalik is right in being concerned about the risk of corrupting validators
what EigenLayer did to minimize risks and externalities to Ethereum
whether protocols and applications will fork if they get hacked and whether Ethereum will “bail them out”

Hosts

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly
Robert Leshner, founder of Compound
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures

Guest

Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer
Previous appearances on Unchained:
Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets?

Disclosures

Previous coverage of Unchained on Ethereum staking:

Learn more:

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Ex-CFTC Commissioner Berkovitz Says ‘DeFi Should Be Regulated’ – But How? - Ep. 496 May 23, 2023

Show notes

In the SEC’s push to rein in the crypto sector, one question looms large: Is ETH a security? Dan Berkovitz, a former CFTC commissioner and SEC general counsel, and Colin Lloyd, a partner at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, assess the current state of the regulatory turf war in the U.S., shedding light on some of Washington’s unanswered questions.

Show highlights:

how an asset can be both a commodity and a security
what it means that bitcoin and ether were listed as non-security futures
whether The Merge may have changed regulators’ views on the classification of ETH
who would be responsible for determining that ETH is a security
what Colin and Dan say about ETH being a security or not
what would happen if any regulator, be it the CFTC or SEC, determined that ETH is a security
how and whether DeFi applications should be regulated
why it is important to consider the “human initiative” behind DeFi platforms
the implications of having a technology that allows for the sale of securities without an intermediary
the implications of the SEC’s proposal to change the definition of an exchange
how new technologies were integrated with the regulatory system in the past and how that differs from the current approach of the SEC
the problems of trying to regulate a technology that’s changing so fast
how other jurisdictions have been taking a more proactive approach to regulating digital assets

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com

Guests:

Dan Berkovitz, former General Counsel at the SEC and former Commissioner at the CFTC.
Previous appearance on Unchained: Can a DeFi Smart Contract Be Regulated? Two CFTC Commissioners Discuss
Colin Lloyd, partner at Sullivan & Cromwell

Previous coverage of Unchained on crypto regulation:

Links

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The Chopping Block: Wizards vs. Laser Eyes for the Future of Bitcoin - Ep. 495 May 20, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Robert Leshner, chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, Taproot Wizards instigator Eric Wall joins the show to discuss the rise of Ordinals and what it means for the future of Bitcoin. Will inscriptions and BRC-20 tokens bring a slew of Ethereum-style problems to the original blockchain?

Show highlights:

how Eric has set up a “war” between the “laser-eye tribe” and the “magicians”
how the Bitcoin maxi community is different from the normal Bitcoin user base
whether Ordinals fixes the lack of demand for Bitcoin block space
what Taproot is and what it enabled on the Bitcoin network
the MEV problem that could arise in Bitcoin now that demand for block space is going up
whether Bitcoin’s values resemble a religion
whether the increased demand for Bitcoin block space is good for the network, even if it’s fueled by JPEGs and “shitcoins”
why so many people got worried about Ledger Recover
why Robert thinks that Ledger’s new service is “terrifying” and why Haseeb is not so concerned
whether Bitcoin is becoming a unit of account once again

Hosts

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly
Robert Leshner, founder of Compound
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly

Guest

Eric Wall, cofounder of Taproot Wizards

Previous appearances on Unchained:

Disclosures

Previous coverage of Unchained on Ordinals and BRC-20s:

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The Ugly Tradeoffs of Ledger’s New Recovery Service - Ep. 494 May 19, 2023

Show notes

Ledger, the crypto industry’s leading hardware wallet manufacturer, rolled out a new recovery feature this month that caused an uproar. The recovery service has dangerous implications for crypto self-custody, says Foundation Devices Head of Content “Seth For Privacy.” He joins the show to discuss the downsides of closed-source code and the security risks that come with compromising for mainstream adoption.

Show highlights:

how Ledger Recover works and why it caused an outrage in the crypto community
why the fact that Ledger’s code is not open-source could be considered a problem
what the concerns are about handing over additional data to Ledger
how darknet markets have always existed for fake ID verifications and how it relates to Ledger’s new feature
some of Ledger’s previous security lapses
why introducing a trusted third party undermines one of Bitcoin’s most central tenets
whether Ledger’s move is a “net good for society,” and whether people actually want a service like this in a hardware wallet
whether something will go wrong with Ledger in the future

Thank you to our sponsors!

Guest

Seth for Privacy, blogger and head of content at Foundation Devices

Links

Ledger CTO Twitter thread on Ledger Recover
CoinDesk: Ledger Bats Back Criticism of New Wallet Recovery Service, CoinDesk
Unchained: ‘Backdoor’ for Seed Phrases? Ledger’s New Recovery Feature Spooks Users
Ledger Recover webpage
Haseeb Qureshi’s thread on the Ledger controversy

Past Ledger security issues

CoinDesk: Crypto Wallet Maker Ledger Loses 1M Email Addresses in Data Theft
Cointelegraph: Ledger data leak: A ‘simple mistake’ exposed 270K crypto wallet buyers

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Bitcoin’s BRC-20 Mania: Is It Sustainable? - Ep. 493 May 16, 2023

Show notes

Ordinal theory has unleashed a new wave of NFTs, memecoins and innovation on Bitcoin — but not without controversy. Bitcoin educator Dan Held and Bitcoin Frontier Fund Managing Partner Trevor Owens join the show to discuss the breakneck rise of BRC-20s and why they’re both bullish on what memecoins mean for the original blockchain.

Show highlights:

what ordinal theory is and how it enabled Bitcoin “NFTs”
how the Ordinals Protocol differs from the ERC-721 token standard used by many Ethereum NFTs
how BRC-20s work by relying on some off-chain mechanisms
why Bitcoin is not a “dinosaur chain,” according to Dan
why Trevor says BRC-20 memecoins are superior to those on Ethereum
what the practical utilities of BRC-20s are, if any
why transaction fees in Bitcoin rose so much and why it’s healthy for the network
whether innovation is coming back to Bitcoin
whether Satoshi Nakamoto would have approved of Bitcoin NFTs
the role of speculation in fueling bitcoin adoption
the current and future state of layer 2s on Bitcoin
why Dan says BRC-20s “absolutely” solve the problem with Bitcoin’s security budget
why it’s hard to determine an “appropriate” amount for the security budget of Bitcoin
how the NFT market could be shaped after the rise of Ordinals and BRC-20s
what needs to be developed so that BRC-20s can flourish

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com

Guests:

Dan Held, Bitcoin educator and marketing advisor at Trust Machines
Trevor Owens, managing partner at Bitcoin Frontier Fund

Previous coverage of Unchained on Ordinals:

Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs Are Hot and Getting Hotter. What's the Hype About? - NFT Crypto

Links

Unchained:
How to Create a Bitcoin Ordinal
Bitcoin Core Developers Mull Getting Rid of BRC-20 Transactions
Binance Briefly Halted Bitcoin Withdrawals Amid Network Congestion
Domo’s thread on BRC-20s
Anita Posch’s comments.on the high fees
Nic Carter: There's No Such Thing as High Fees on Bitcoin
Nic Carter’s MIT presentation: MIT Bitcoin Expo 2019 - 10 years of Bitcoin: Evaluating its Performance as a Monetary System
Decrypt: Michael Saylor: Bitcoin Ordinals Are a ‘Catalyst’ for Adoption
[bitcoin-dev] [Mempool spam] Should we as developers reject non-standard Taproot transactions from full nodes?

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The Chopping Block: Do Aragon Association Members Get 'Fat Salaries' With 'Zero Accountability'? - Ep. 492 May 14, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, they talk about the recent issues surrounding the Aragon Foundation, the likelihood of Montenegro becoming an ETH hub, the BRC-20s mania, and much more!

Show highlights:

why Zuzalu is “Burning Man in the daytime”
whether Montenegro could become the “ETH El Salvador doppelganger”
why the Aragon Foundation alleged that they were under attack
why Aragon has “missed the boat on a lot of everything that’s happened in DAOs”
whether the Aragon Foundation is “suckling on the teat of the DAO for a fat salary”
whether Arca was right about wanting the Aragon treasury to be part of the on-chain governance
how on-chain governance can do even more than many of the investment banking functions that exist currently
why some Bitcoin developers want to censor BRC-20 transactions
why the way XEN works gives Haseeb a headache
whether Binance CEO CZ invented the memecoin PEPE
what the impact of Jump and Jane Street decreasing their market making activity is
where the next market makers will come from

Hosts

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly
Robert Leshner, founder of Compound
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly

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