Unchained

Latest Episodes:

The Chopping Block: Why Canto, Up Nearly 500% This Month, Has Its Haters - Ep. 452 Feb 04, 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. This week, they cover:

why Bitcoin maximalists are mad about Bitcoin NFTs
why Robert thinks Bitcoin is not a good blockchain on which to build things
why Canto, a layer 1 blockchain, surged in price and activity and why Haseeb is anti-Canto
how Ethereum will have multi-dimensional fee structures
what the role of applications in generalized blockchains should be and why they think they shouldn't be enforced at the base layer
the accusations against the LayerZero team and their response
the battle to provide the bridging services to Uniswap

Hosts

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

Links

Disclosures

Bitcoin NFTs:

Canto:

The Block: Layer 1 blockchain Canto sees surge in trading activity
Canto - Lending

LayerZero controversy:

James Prestwich’s tweet
Bryan Pellegrino’s response
Explanation of the situation by Bartek

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Why the Celsius Examiner Report Shows 'a Complete Disaster in Almost Every Way' - Ep. 451 Feb 03, 2023

Show notes

Following the release of Celsius' examiner report, Kadhim Shubber, an investigative reporter at The Financial Times, dives into the controversial business practices of the lender, how the company inflated the CEL token, the use of customers' money, and much more.

Show highlights:

how Celsius used investors’ money to prop up the price of CEL
the reasons why Celsius inflated the CEL token
where the money to pay rewards to investors came from
blatant misstatements from Alex Mashinsky and how his team tried to cover him
how the company leveraged Bitcoin to fill the hole in its balance sheet
who was responsible for Celsius' shady business practices
Celsius' poor investment decisions
whether Mashinsky is at risk of facing criminal charges

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Guest

Kadhim:

Twitter

Links

Final report of Shoba Pillay, examiner
Financial Times:Crypto lender Celsius misused customer funds for years, examiner finds
Unchained:7 Revelations From Celsius’ Examiner Report
CoinDesk:Celsius Used New Customer Funds to Pay for Withdrawals: Independent Examiner
The Block:Tether denies it borrowed $2B from Celsius, as described in court report
Blockchain News:Celsius' Official Creditor Committee Denies Rejected Bids
Ram Ahluwalia’s take on the Celsius bankruptcy examiner report

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Did FTX Ruin Crypto’s Image on Capitol Hill? Two DC Insiders Discuss - Ep. 450 Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, and Miller Whitehouse-Levine, Policy Director of the DeFi Education Fund, offer insider takes on how lawmakers and regulators are viewing crypto after FTX’s catastrophic failure. Both expect heightened activity in the U.S. from what they’re calling the “Crypto Congress.” Will this be the year for stablecoin regulation? Is DeFi still in the crosshairs? What about Ripple’s fight with the SEC? The two crypto policy experts look to the U.S. and beyond for what regulatory battles lie ahead in 2023.

Show highlights:

why the current environment in Washington makes it difficult to pass new legislation
whether the opinion of members of Congress on crypto has changed in the aftermath of FTX’s alleged fraud
how Elizabeth Warren and others are using the FTX collapse to prove their anti-crypto stance
whether it’s possible to prevent a fallout like FTX from ever happening again
why Miller believes that this year Congress will be “absolutely obsessed” with crypto
what stablecoin legislation would look like, and why stablecoins are more likely to be regulated sooner
why Sheila thinks Ripple could win its case against the SEC
why they believe the SEC’s failure to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF is a logical inconsistency
why they think it’s not possible to apply TradFi rules to DeFi technology
how more policymaker education needs to be done
how OFAC sanctioning Tornado Cash sparked many conversations among researchers and policymakers
the role of the government in preserving national security
how MiCA took an appropriately slow approach to imposing DeFi regulations
the impact of China and India adopting digital currencies
why Miller thinks China’s digital yuan is “the apotheosis of a totalitarian technology”

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FTSE

Links

Previous coverage of Unchained on crypto legislation:

Guests:

Sheila:

Twitter

Miller:

FTX

CNBC: House Republicans move to regulate crypto industry with a new subcommittee

MiCA

Others

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The Chopping Block: Why the Once-Taboo MEV Is Now a Core Part of Ethereum - Ep. 449 Jan 28, 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. This week, Flashbots co-founder Phil Daian joins the show to go deep on what maximal extractable value (MEV) means and how it’s shaping the Ethereum ecosystem.

Show highlights:

how Phil started working in MEV and why he believes it resembles 'Alice in Wonderland'
Phil's definition of MEV and when he realized this was an actual problem
how Flashbots was born
the story of how Vitalik didn't care about sandwich attacks at the time Uniswap was released
whether it's possible to minimize MEV via more competition
the never-ending debate about whether MEV should be accepted
why Tarun thinks the concept of fair ordering is against nature
how Bitcoin uses social norms to solve its weaknesses
how Google is being called out in court for creating auction to front run its customers
how Flashbots worked prior to and after Ethereum's Merge
why Flashbots complies with OFAC sanctions
what is the Suave project and how it aims to decentralize Flashbots
what the future of MEV looks like

Hosts

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

Guest:

Phil:

Twitter

Disclosures

Links

The Block: Flashbots seeks up to $50 million at a billion-dollar valuation

CoinDesk: Opinion: Miners, Front-Running-as-a-Service Is Theft

CNN: DOJ sues Google over its dominance in online advertising market

Unchained:51% of Ethereum Blocks Are OFAC Censored

Given the Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Is Ethereum Censorship Resistant? - Ep. 390

The Cost of Decentralization in 0x and EtherDelta

Previous coverage of Unchained on MEV:

Why Is Ethereum Trying to Maximize Value From Users? Two Sides Debate

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Why Grayscale Is Suing the SEC Over Its Denial of a Bitcoin ETF - Ep. 448 Jan 27, 2023

Show notes

Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale Investments, gives an overview of his firm’s case against the SEC, which has denied requests to turn Grayscale’s bitcoin trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF). With oral arguments kicking off March 7, Sonnenshein lays out what a worst-case “tender offer” would entail and whether DCG CEO Barry Silbert has any say over GBTC’s fate.

Show highlights:

why Grayscale charges higher fees than, say, the average ETF
what Grayscale will do if it loses its case against the SEC
why Grayscale has not filed for Regulation M relief
Michael's comments on Gemini liquidating 31 million shares of GBTC
the reason behind the October 2022 timing of Grayscale changing GBTC's “authorized participant”
the relationship between Grayscale and DCG, and Barry Silbert's involvement in Grayscale's operations
why the trust agreement of GBTC was changed

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Guest

Michael Sonnenshein:

Twitter

Links

CNBC:Court sets date for oral arguments in Grayscale's challenge of SEC's bitcoin ETF decision
Reuters:
Grayscale would appeal lawsuit against SEC if court rejects case, CEO says
Ruling in Grayscale-U.S. SEC lawsuit likely within a year
MarketWatch:Grayscale may ‘ultimately’ consider tender offer for bitcoin trust, CEO says
CoinTelegraph:Grayscale terminates Bitcoin trust material agreements with Genesis
CoinDesk: Grayscale Slams SEC's 'Unreasonable' Barring of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Bloomberg: Hedge Fund Sues Grayscale for Data on Battered Bitcoin Trust
Bitcoinist: Here's What A Reg M Will Entail For Genesis, DCG And Bitcoin
Why Investment Experts Say a Spot Bitcoin ETF Would Be Superior to Bitcoin Futures ETFs by Laura Shin
Andrew Parish’s tweet on the possibility of the case going to the Supreme Court
Grayscale’s End of Year CEO Letter to Investors
Ycharts: GBTC Discount or Premium to NAV

Previous coverage of Unchained on GBTC:

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The Chopping Block: Will Genesis Creditors Be Made Whole? - Ep. 447 Jan 25, 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. This week, they covered:

why the markets were up so much recently
how and why Genesis entered into bankruptcy
why the hole in DCG's financials are potentially much bigger than previously reported
the differences between the bankruptcies of FTX and Genesis
whether 3AC founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies will find success with their new exchange
what will happen to GTBC now that a huge portion has already been liquidated
whether Tarun is predicting "the start of a new supercycle"
the large percentage of vested SOL held by the FTX estate
how SBF is still trying to win the public

Hosts

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

Links

Disclosures

Genesis:

FTX:

3AC/GTX:

Unchained: 3AC Founders Are Raising $25M for ‘GTX’

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Not Just FTX: One Skeptic’s Take on Why Crypto Is a Scam - Ep. 446 Jan 24, 2023

Show notes

James Block, crypto skeptic and author of the Dirty Bubble Media newsletter, rose to prominence with a timely post predicting FTX’s insolvency. The blogger, a doctor by day, explains why he sees crypto as an unregulated morass of would-be securities and outright “Ponzi schemes.” From an early interest in Tether to connecting the dots on Celsius, Block explains why he does what he does and why almost all of crypto is just “regulatory arbitrage.”

Show highlights:

how James got into crypto and why he started writing about the space
why James chose "Dirty Bubble Media" for the name of his publication
the problems with the legitimacy of crypto projects
the reasons to be bearish on Coinbase
why the question of whether Bitcoin has intrinsic value is highly subjective
whether every token in crypto is a scam and whether regulations will hit stablecoin issuers hard
how FTX used tokens to create fictitious value worth billions of dollars
why Celsius and FTX were closely linked, and the difference between both cases
ties James found between FTX's European subsidiary and a company doing binary options, an industry characterized by fraud
how he believes financial fraud is similar throughout history — it doesn't repeat, but it rhymes
James’s concerns around Signature Bank and its "questionable tactics"
why Genesis and DCG got into trouble and how James thinks the situation will likely play out
whether exchange tokens are securities and why he believes they have very little value
why he says BNB resembles OneCoin's pyramid scheme
James's contrarian take on the Avi Eisenberg case

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DeFi Saver

Links

Guests:

James Block:

FTX:

Dirty Bubble Media:

DCG

Dirty Bubble Media: Digital Currency Grift
Unchained:SEC Charges Gemini and Genesis With Sale of Unregistered Securities

Binance

Dirty Bubble Media: The Binance Scam Chain

Signature

Bloomberg: Binance Says Signature Sets Transaction Minimum Amid Pullback

Mango Markets

Celsius

Dirty Bubble Media: Anatomy of a (fake) Market
Unchained:NYAG Sues Celsius’s Alex Mashinsky for Defrauding Investors

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Why Crypto Developer Activity Continues to Grow Despite the Bear Market - Ep. 445 Jan 20, 2023

Show notes

Maria Shen, partner at Electric Capital, unpacks the venture firm’s latest Developer Report. Hotly anticipated among crypto observers, the annual report captures which chains developers are building on. Despite 2022’s price carnage, the report finds developer interest remains strong. Ethereum is the leading chain by far but EVM-compatibility is emerging as a major force in winning developers’ hearts and minds. Shen unpacks Bitcoin’s stability, Terra’s implosion, and many more insights from crypto’s open-source code repos.

Show highlights:

why the report "undercounts" developers and how it defines active developers
how developers represent a fundamental measure of the health of emerging technologies like crypto
the meaning of developer numbers going up even when prices plummet
why in recent years the speed of developer growth jumped so drastically
what happened after the number of developers reached an all-time high in June 2022
the role of Terra in the decline of developer activity in 2022’s second half
why Ethereum dominates the ecosystem and whether it will continue to be the leader
the benefits of being part of “the EVM universe”
why the number of Bitcoin developers has remained flat over the last year
whether looking at the number of developers in the NFT ecosystem is even relevant

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Guest

Maria Shen:

Twitter

Electric Capital Developer Report

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How Crypto Bankruptcy Claims Buyers Will Profit From the Collapse of FTX - Ep. 444 Jan 17, 2023

Show notes

From 3AC to FTX (and possibly more to come), it’s boom times for those trading crypto bankruptcy claims. Thomas Braziel, founder and CEO of 507 Capital, gives a crash course on bankruptcy law, offering the latest updates on the FTX, Celsius, and Three Arrows Capital cases. Plus, insight on how 2023 could finally be the year Mt. Gox creditors get (some) closure.

Show highlights:

how Tom got into crypto with the Mt. Gox bankruptcy and whether "crypto distressed" is an emerging asset class
how buying bankruptcy claims is also a way to buy crypto assets at a discount
how to determine how much value creditors are owed in a crypto bankruptcy
what the marketplaces for buying and selling claims are like
whether it's possible to tokenize bankruptcy claims
whether crypto tokens should be treated as property
what is likely to happen when Mt. Gox creditors are returned their BTC
the importance of Celsius' separation of custodial assets vs. assets in interest-bearing accounts
the likelihood of Celsius being acquired
why the fact that FTX recovered $5 billion in assets is "amazing"
why so many stakeholders disputed the ownership of the $450 million in Robinhood shares
why there's so much difference in the prices of FTX, Voyager, BlockFi and Celsius claims
whether the customer list of FTX should be kept private
what type of creditors are Gemini Earn customers

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DeFi Saver

Links

Guests:

Thomas:

Twitter
507 Capital
Previous appearances on Unchained:
Will FTX Customers Ever Recover Their Assets? Two Insolvency Experts Weigh In
Will Celsius Survive the Bankruptcy Process?

Episode Links:

Celsius

FTX

CoinDesk:
FTX Creditor Claims Going for 13 Cents on the Dollar on Bankruptcy Marketplace Xclaim
After Bankruptcy, FTX User Claims Pay Cents on the Dollar
Fortune: Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers just filed a claim to keep his $450 million in Robinhood shares
Reuters: U.S. Trustee files objection to FTX's planned asset sales
Thomas Braziel’s prediction on the FTX claims
Connor Grogan’s take on the $5 billion in assets

DCG/Gemini:

Unchained: Gemini Ends Its Earn Program and Calls for Barry Silbert’s Ouster

3AC

Kyle Davies’ comments

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The Chopping Block: Why Gemini Users Are Mad at Genesis and DCG - Ep. 443 Jan 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.

Show topics:

Haseeb’s TL;DR of the ongoing situation between DCG, Genesis and Gemini
whether DCG committed fraud because of a misrepresentation of its financials
why DCG did Genesis a favor by absorbing the losses from exposure to Three Arrows Capital
what's required to force an entity into bankruptcy
why Cameron Winklevoss would request Barry Silbert to step down as DCG CEO
the SEC’s probe into the investors of FTX and whether the regulators will fine them
whether there will be on-chain assets for trading FTX bankruptcy claims
what Tarun thinks of the future of NFTs and what needs to be built for them to thrive
why Robert thinks most NFTs are “hot garbage”
what the value behind NFTs is and whether they need a utility
whether the massive layoffs are good for the industry and how many companies over-hired during the bull market