Unchained

Latest Episodes:

The IRS Wants $44B From Bankrupt FTX. How Is That Possible? - Ep. 491 May 12, 2023

Show notes

News emerged this week that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) placed $44 billion in claims on the FTX bankruptcy estate. Now creditors of the defunct crypto exchange are worried that the taxman is going to gobble up funds that would otherwise be used to make users partially whole. Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency, joins the show to explain what’s going on, how that huge number is even possible, and why the so-called “trust argument” is not going to be the silver bullet that some FTX customers are dreaming of.

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:

whether the numbers of the IRS claim are even correct
how these claims may affect all customers and unsecured creditors of FTX
whether FTX CEO John Ray will fight the claims
what the trust argument is and how it could potentially save (or not) FTX’s creditors
in what currency the investments made by creditors would be returned
why the Three Arrows Capital case differs from FTX and Mt. Gox
why what FTX allegedly did is similar, but different, from what Celsius or Voyager did

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Guest

Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency

Previous appearances on Unchained:

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Writing the Book on FTX’s Downfall: ‘It Was All Just Sam’ - Ep. 490 May 09, 2023

Show notes

Longtime crypto reporter Brady Dale has beat Michael Lewis to market with the first book on the dramatic collapse of FTX. In stores today, “SBF: How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto’s Very Bad Good Guy,” tells the tale of the outsized role that Sam Bankman-Fried played in the FTX-Alameda death spiral. Drawing on years of reporting and interviews with SBF himself, the book charts the rise and fall of the one-time crypto wunderkind. “It became clear to me that Sam got really addicted to fame,” said Dale.

Show highlights:

Brady’s background and how he came to cover crypto
how covering the space for a crypto outlet is different from a more mainstream publication
how Brady was able to finalize his book so fast
what Brady’s favorite parts of the book are
who was really responsible for the collapse of the FTX empire
whether Sam Bankman-Fried will plead guilty
whether FTX will make a comeback
how SBF thinks differently from other people, and how it led to his downfall
why Brady thinks the “dot-com bust” for crypto has yet to arrive
whether crypto has betrayed its cypherpunk ideals

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Guests:

Brady Dale, writer and reporter at Axios, and author of “SBF: How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto’s Very Bad Good Guy”

Previous coverage of Unchained on Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX:

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$630M Due Next Week: Is DCG at Default Risk? - Ep. 489 May 05, 2023

Show notes

The Genesis bankruptcy is about to take a high-stakes turn with a $630 million payment from Digital Currency Group (DCG) due by May 11. Barry Silbert’s DCG, the parent company of Genesis, is on the hook for the massive payment, but doubts are swirling as to whether the crypto conglomerate can cover it. Lumida Wealth CEO Ram Ahluwalia joins the show to unpack what could happen to Genesis creditors, Gemini Earn users, and the markets should DCG fail to cover its debt obligations.

Show highlights:

whether DCG will be able to pay its debt to the Genesis bankruptcy estate
the ways DCG can “plug the hole”
what the likelihood of DCG filing for bankruptcy is
how FTX’s intent to claw back $3.9 billion from Genesis would affect DCG
whether Gemini Earn customers will be made whole
why Ram says that asymmetric information has plagued the bankruptcy process
whether the creditors should accept the latest term sheet
how the Grayscale lawsuit against the SEC could impact DCG’s cash flow

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Guest

Ram Ahluwalia, CEO & Founder of Lumida Wealth

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Guests:

Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer
Konstantin Lomashuk, cofounder of Lido Finance

Previous coverage of Unchained on Ethereum staking:

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The Chopping Block: Why Are We Still Building Layer 1s? - Ep. 487 Apr 29, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in digital assets. In this live episode from Consensus 2023, they are joined by Avery Ching, chief architect of Aptos, to discuss the latest SEC enforcement actions, an embarrasing admission by audit firm Certik, and crypto’s impact on the coming election.

Show highlights:

everyone's impressions of the conference
why Korea has become a hub for crypto adoption
why there's no benchmarking infrastructure to compare data across blockchains
how Sui decided not to airdrop a token and what the implications for future airdrops are
whether CertiK bears responsibility in the Merlin DEX rugpull
whether the US elections have an effect on how the SEC is playing the case with Coinbase
what impact AI will have on the crypto industry

Hosts

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly

Guest

Avery Ching, cofounder and CTO of Aptos

Disclosures

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Coinbase's Legal Action Against the SEC: How It Will Likely Unfold - Ep. 486 Apr 28, 2023

Show notes

Major crypto exchange Coinbase has decided to take action to get an answer from the Securities and Exchange Commission: this week, they filed a court action seeking to compel Gary Gensler’s agency to give specific rulemaking on crypto assets. J.W. Verret, associate professor of law at George Mason Law School, talks about how both parties are playing this game, how it could change the Howey test, and much more.

Show highlights:

whether there's a long-term chess strategy being played by Coinbase
whether the case could actually change the Howey test
why the 'West Virginia vs. EPA' is important for crypto
what the SEC's strategy is and why the Kraken settlement was an “overreach,” according to J.W.
whether the SEC could develop a new framework for crypto assets
how the Ripple case will unfold and how long it will take if it is appealed

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Guest

J.W. Verret, Associate Professor of Law at George Mason Law School

Previous coverage of Unchained on the SEC’s actions:

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Gary Gensler vs. Crypto: What Will the SEC Attack Next? - Ep. 485 Apr 25, 2023

Show notes

Two lawyers, Josh Klayman, head of digital assets at Linklaters, and Marc Boiron, chief legal officer at Polygon Labs, offer their takes on the SEC’s recent crypto crackdown. They share what they heard from SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s Congressional testimony, whether this crackdown was inevitable or sparked by FTX, and why a proposed change to the definition of an exchange could be an existential threat for DeFi in the U.S.

Show highlights:

what Gary Gensler’s approach to crypto was when he took office
whether the FTX collapse had any impact at all on the SEC’s recent actions
whether the actions against Coinbase are “inappropriate”
what the differences between Coinbase and Kraken staking services are
why the concept of “exemptive relief” is important for exchanges
whether the SEC is looking to go after AMM-based decentralized exchanges
why SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce says that complying with a new proposal wouldn’t be possible for much of DeFi
why, according to Marc, the industry should be “pushing very hard” against the newly proposed definition of an exchange
whether the SEC’s ability to pursue enforcement actions against ETH is diminished by the statements of the previous SEC chair

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Guests:

Josh Klayman, head of blockchain and digital assets at Linklaters,
Marc Boiron, chief legal officer at Polygon Labs.
Sufficient Decentralization

Previous coverage of Unchained on the SEC’s actions:

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The Chopping Block: Are Layer 2s Stealing Ethereum’s Thunder? - Ep. 484 Apr 22, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, the gang plays “guess the chart” and takes a deep dive into the booming world of Ethereum Layer 2s.

Show highlights:

how much Layer 2s are spending to post data to Ethereum
whether L2s suck up all the value of ETH
the challenge of providing a good user experience across multiple rollups
how the underlying technology of security is not improving but attackers are getting more sophisticated
whether centralized lending in the industry is dead
why crypto users still hold stablecoins that yield much lower than Treasury bills
the new approach to bringing real-world assets and tokenized yields to blockchains
whether all L2s are running via proof of authority
whether alternative Layer 1s are dead or are actually more important than ETH L2s

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

Disclosures

Links

Hildebert’s charts

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‘Is ETH a Security?’ Why Gary Gensler Couldn’t Give Congress a Straight Answer - Ep. 483 Apr 21, 2023

Show notes

It got heated this week on Capitol Hill with SEC Chair Gary Gensler testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on his agency’s efforts to rein in the U.S. crypto industry. Jason Gottlieb, partner at Morrison Cohen, unpacks what was said and whether we’ll continue to see more crackdowns from the U.S. securities regulator.

Show highlights:

Whether ETH is a security and what would be the impact if it was declared as such by the SEC
Whether the SEC is harming investors
What the potential impacts of the SEC lawsuit against Bittrex are
Why the case against crypto exchange Beaxy could serve as a precursor to a potential case against Coinbase
How the SEC’s lack of clear regulation is pushing crypto out of America, according to Jason
Why the SEC is trying to expand the definition of an exchange and its possible effects on DeFi

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Guest

Jason Gottlieb, Partner at Morrison Cohen & Chair of the Digital Assets Department

Previous appearances on Unchained: The Department of Justice Goes After Its First NFT Insider Trading Case

Previous coverage of Unchained on the SEC’s actions:

Links

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Why MEV Will Always Be Controversial - Ep. 482 Apr 18, 2023

Show notes

Maximal extractable value, or MEV, is a mainstay of the Ethereum landscape. But the process of validators reaping profits from handling new blocks is not without controversy. Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake and bloXroute Labs CEO Uri Klarman assess the current state of MEV. Hear them disagree about the path forward for making Ethereum fairer for all its economic actors.

Show highlights:

what MEV is and how it has evolved over time
the nuances of the newly proposed MEV Blocker and why it’s important for users
whether it’s possible to enable “back-running” while preventing front-running
how to give power back to blockchain users
what the differences and similarities are among several projects trying to solve MEV
how “MEV Burn” will be like the EIP-1559 to what Justin calls contention
whether EigenLayer can help solve MEV problems
whether wallets and DEXs could be doing something different to prevent MEV and generate more revenue
how “exclusive order flow” could be detrimental to DeFi users
what proposer-builder separation (PBS) is and whether it will change MEV distribution
why Uri doesn’t think PBS is the right step forward for Ethereum

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Guests:

Justin Drake, researcher at the Ethereum Foundation
Uri Klarman, CEO of bloXroute Labs

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