Unchained

Latest Episodes:

SyndicateDAO Is Launching Web3 Investment Clubs. Could They Disrupt VCs? - Ep.312 Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Will Papper and Ian Lee, the two co-founders of Syndicate, join Unchained to announce the release of Syndicate’s new product: Web3 Investment Clubs, an innovation they believe could end up disrupting the web2 investment world, along with the entire venture capital industry. For example, with Web3 Investment Clubs, users will be able to turn an Ethereum wallet address into an investing DAO with just a few clicks, transfer funds without going through banks, and manage a cap-table directly on-chain. Show topics:

what differentiates a Web3 Investment Club club from a normal investment club
what on-chain tools Syndicate has built for Web3 Investment Clubs
how Web3 Investment Clubs work within existing regulations
how Ian and Will met and what inspired them to create Syndicate
whether Syndicate plans to decentralize
why Will and Ian believe investment DAOs will disrupt the venture capital industry
why venture capital firms invested in Syndicate, a company built to disrupt them
what Will learned from building Adventure Gold (AGLD), the governance token for Loot
what plans Syndicate has for 2022

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Beefy Finance: https://beefy.finance

Alchemy Pay: https://alchemypay.org

Episode Links

Will Papper

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WillPapper
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wpapper

Ian Lee

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iandaos
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrianlee/

Syndicate:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SyndicateDAO
Website: https://twitter.com/SyndicateDAO

Miscellaneous

History of AGLD
- https://twitter.com/WillPapper/status/1484215805478797312
Will Papper’s previous Unchained appearance
- https://unchainedpodcast.com/constitutiondao-did-not-win-the-auction-but-it-demonstrated-the-power-of-daos/
Will DAOs disrupt crypto venture capital?
- https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/06/will-daos-replace-crypto-venture-capital/

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Why a Coinbase Listing May Not Be a Good Thing for a Token - Ep.311 Jan 21, 2022

Show notes

Fais Khan, author of the Startups and Econ newsletter, dives into his recently published research report, "You Don't Own Web3": A Coinbase Curse and How VCs Sell Crypto to Retail. Show highlights:

whether tokens perform better before or after being listed on Coinbase
what relationship a16z, a venture capital firm, has to Coinbase
why Fais believes that the poor performance of VC-backed tokens after being listed could be the result of insiders dumping
other reasons for a token’s poor performance after being listed on Coinbase besides insiders dumping
what type of coin/token went up 1,800% in 2020
why Fais is suspicious of how quickly certain VC-backed tokens were listed on Coinbase
whether Fais believes Coinbase or a16z is actually doing something nefarious
what sort of regulatory actions he believes would improve crypto
what advice Fais has for token investors

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021

Episode Links

Fais Khan

https://twitter.com/Faktastic11

Article

https://startupsandecon.substack.com/p/you-dont-own-web3-a-coinbase-curse

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Is Binance Smart Chain Being Run 'Like the Project of a Stoned Teenager?' Two BSC Execs Answer - Ep.310 Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

Binance Smart Chain is the third largest chain by TVL and its token, BNB, is the third-largest token by market capitalization. However, there are questions about hacks, centralization, lack of developer support, and sketch MEV transactions. On Unchained, Gwendolyn Regina, investment director of the Binance Smart Chain Growth Fund, and Samy Karim, ecosystem coordinator at Binance Smart Chain, give a candid interview discussing BSC, from its amazing growth in 2021 to some of the toughest questions surrounding the chain. Topics covered include:

how and why BSC grew from 50,000 daily active users to about 7 million over the course of 2021
what differentiates Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain
why Binance Smart Chain decided to design its blockchain with only 21 validators
how Gwen and Samy envision BSC fitting into a multichain future
what plans BSC has to scale its throughput
why blockchain gaming is so important to BSC and how it will use its $1 billion growth fund to grow the gaming aspect of the chain
how BSC’s relationship between Binance and BNB works

In the second half of the show, Sam and Gwendolyn respond to a few critiques, such as:

is BSC really innovating, or is it just a copy and paste blockchain of Ethereum?

why are there so many failed transactions on BSC?
how is BSC addressing the numerous hacks on the blockchain?
why has BSC’s share of total value locked among smart contract blockchains fallen from 20% in May to 6%?
how is BSC attempting to help developers, who, according to some critical posts, are struggling to work with BSC?
why does it appear that some validators are front running without risk?
does BSC have a future if Ethereum scales?
what does BSC have planned for 2022?

Thank you to our sponsor!

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021

Beefy Finance: https://beefy.finance

Alchemy Pay: https://alchemypay.org

Episode Links

Gwendolyn Regina

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gwendolynregina?lang=en
Website: https://www.gwendolynregina.com/

Samy Karim

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samsulkarim/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cryp7omaxi

Binance Smart Chain

Website: https://www.binance.org/en
Documentation: https://docs.binance.org/index.html
Binance Validator Reqs: https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/a-quick-guide-to-bnb-staking-on-binance-smart-chain-bsc

Whitepaper: https://dex-bin.bnbstatic.com/static/Whitepaper_%20Binance%20Smart%20Chain.pdf

Binance 2021 Recap

https://twitter.com/gwendolynregina/status/1476089910498971648

Misc

Top BSC apps: https://dappradar.com/rankings/protocol/binance-smart-chain

Criticisms

“Stoned teenager:” https://github.com/binance-chain/bsc/issues/553
NullQubit: https://github.com/binance-chain/bsc/issues/658
Other
- Larry Cermak: https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1359426876440207361
- Wilson Withiam: https://twitter.com/WilsonWithiam/status/1381420702918664194
- Ryan Watkins: https://twitter.com/RyanWatkins_/status/1381421858675953665

BSC Research

Nansen: https://www.nansen.ai/research/the-binance-smart-chain-scalability-in-action
Bison Trails: https://bisontrails.co/guide-to-bsc/
Decrypt:
- https://decrypt.co/58654/how-binance-put-the-smarts-in-its-smart-chain
- https://decrypt.co/57420/binance-smart-chain-is-starting-to-rival-ethereum-heres-why
Messari (Pro): https://messari.io/article/exploring-the-binance-smart-chain-ecosystem
Galaxy Digital: https://docsend.com/view/tdgbf4sfmyd7sr3m

Twitter questions I received about Binance Smart Chain

https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/1480582386677133313

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Why Are NFTs the One Bright Spot in the Crypto Markets? - Ep.309 Jan 14, 2022

Show notes

Avid NFT collector Aftab Hossain (aka @iamDCinvestor on Crypto Twitter) discusses why OpenSea and NFT volumes are popping to start 2022, how LooksRare’s vampire attack is a good thing for the NFT market, and how royalties affect a project’s trading potential. Show topics:

why Aftab thinks NFT floor prices are rising and what role NFT “flippers” have to do with his theory
whether the NFT industry could continue growing even if fungible crypto assets enter a bear market
how the LooksRare vampire attack on OpenSea works
why people are wash trading NFTs on LooksRare
why Aftab would choose to list NFTs on LooksRare over OpenSea
whether LooksRare’s vampire attack will force OpenSea to decentralize and/or tokenize
what sort of NFT projects should have royalties… and which projects shouldn’t

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021

Episode Links

Aftab Hossain

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamDCinvestor

LooksRare

LooksRare vampire attack + wash trading:
- https://decrypt.co/90317/ethereum-nft-market-looksrare-wash-trading
- https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/01/11/one-day-after-launch-opensea-competitor-looksrare-sells-over-100m-in-nfts/
LooksRare: https://twitter.com/LooksRareNFT
LooksRare vs OpenSea data: https://dune.xyz/hildobby/LooksRare-VS-OpenSea

Background Links

NFT volume to start the year: https://cryptopotato.com/opensea-records-over-2-billion-in-trading-volume-early-in-2022/
OpenSea metrics: https://dune.xyz/rchen8/opensea
Fred Ehrsam tweet: https://twitter.com/FEhrsam/status/1370414944265572353

The Chopping Block: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-chopping-block-why-the-crypto-markets-have-been-down-this-week/
Nas NFTs:
- https://decrypt.co/89881/rap-legend-nas-sells-2-songs-as-nfts-on-dj-3laus-royal-platform
- https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130123/3lau-backed-platform-royal-crashes-during-first-music-nft-drop-mint-delayed
OpenSea IPO rumors: https://decrypt.co/87701/opensea-ipo-criticism-crypto-ethereum-token
SushiSwap vampire attack: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/76419/uniswap-fork-sushiswap-700-million-total-value-locked

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The Chopping Block: Why the Crypto Markets Have Been Down This Week - Ep.308 Jan 13, 2022

Show notes

The Chopping Block is back! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. Show topics:

why crypto assets experienced a drawdown after last week’s FOMC meeting that hinted at accelerated rate hikes
which emerging assets Tarun, Haseeb, and Tom envision weathering a bear market
which assets could be further hurt by a continued bear market
the significance of Paradigm and Sequoia investing in Citadel Securities
what aspects of Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike’s web3 article Haseeb, Tom, and Tarun take umbrage with
whether Cryptoland is crypto’s Fyre Festival or whether it’s the metaverse
what the heck is going on with the Pudgy Penguins community
the lessons from the CFTC’s fine of Polymarket (disclosure: a former sponsor of my shows)

Episode Links

Hosts

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital
- https://twitter.com/hosseeb
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly Capital
- https://twitter.com/tomhschmidt
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures
- https://twitter.com/tarunchitra

Topics

FOMC = Crypto assets dip
- https://www.ar.ca/blog/debunking-more-overreactions-to-macro-a-ronin-case-study
Paradigm + Sequoia invest in Citadel Securities
- https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/11/paradigm-sequoia-to-invest-115b-in-citadel-securities-bringing-trading-firm-closer-to-crypto/
Cryptoland
- https://thenextweb.com/news/welcome-to-cryptoland-real-island-cryptocurrency-fans-analysis
Moxie Marlinspike’s first impressions of web3
- https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html
Pudgy Penguins drama
- https://thedefiant.io/fire-on-the-iceberg-pudgy-penguin-holders-eye-coup-amid-acquisition-talks/
Polymarket fined by CFTC
- https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/01/03/cftc-fines-crypto-betting-service-polymarket-14m-for-unregistered-swaps/

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Can Crypto Be a Force in the Midterms? Yes, Say Kristin Smith and Jake Chervinsky - Ep.307 Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

Kristin Smith, executive director at Blockchain Association, and Jake Chervinsky, head of Policy at Blockchain Association, discuss the current state of crypto regulation. Show topics:

why 2021 was a watershed year for crypto regulation and lobbying
why Jake decided to move from Compound Labs to Blockchain Association
what Kristin and Jake think about the current state of regulation in the crypto industry
how crypto education will play a significant role in Blockchain Association efforts going forward
how crypto will affect midterm elections
why Kristin thinks crypto will not be a partisan issue long term
what sort of budget Blockchain Association functions on
what Kristin and Jake think about the President’s Working Group report on stablecoins
why Jake does not think the US should issue a CBDC
what Blockchain Association’s take is on SEC commissioner Hester Peirce’s “safe harbor” proposal
why Kristin and Jake believes the idea of a “crypto czar” is not feasible
how regulators are treating DeFi going into 2022
how crypto tax guidelines could be improved for centralized exchanges
how Blockchain Association thinks tax code 6050I should be applied
what issues could arise from DAOs in 2022+
what listeners can do to address the different regulatory topics discussed in this podcast

Thank you to our sponsor!

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021

Show Links

Guests

The Blockchain Association

Website: https://theblockchainassociation.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlockchainAssn
2021 growth: https://theblockchainassociation.org/crypto-industrys-leading-trade-association-more-than-doubles-membership-in-2021/
Jake joining the team: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2021/11/09/blockchain-association-fills-out-its-washington-team-with-seasoned-hands-798774

Regulatory Topics Discussed:

a16z
https://a16z.com/2021/10/13/an-agenda-for-the-future-of-the-internet/
Tax Code 6050i
https://www.coincenter.org/congress-takes-its-war-on-cash-to-digital-assets/
https://unchainedpodcast.com/not-reporting-info-on-some-transaction-partners-could-soon-be-a-felony/
Infrastructure Bill
https://twitter.com/jerrybrito/status/1461317078175072263
President’s Working Group stablecoin report
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/11/01/biden-administration-to-congress-put-stablecoins-under-federal-supervision-or-we-will/
FATF Guidance
https://twitter.com/coincenter/status/1453700485484097537

Articles Jake Mentioned

Jake on CBDCs: https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2021/12/21/secure-americas-financial-strength-with-stablecoins-not-central-banks/
Gabriel Shapiro on DAOs: https://lexnode.substack.com/p/wyomings-legal-dao-saster
Morgan Harper thread: https://twitter.com/mh4oh/status/1463219384776806402

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65% of Active Developers Joined Web3 in 2021 - Ep.306 Jan 07, 2022

Show notes

Electric Capital’s Maria Shen dives into her company’s recently published research report about Web3 open-source development in 2021 and shares her thoughts and insights on how developers are flocking to Web3 in a manner that goes far beyond just Bitcoin and Ethereum. Show topics:

Maria’s biggest takeaways from the Electric Capital Developer Report
how developer growth is affected by asset price
which ecosystems are growing fastest
why Maria thinks the growth in Bitcoin development has slowed down
why Maria is so impressed by Ethereum’s performance in terms of retaining developers
how closed-source development on, for example, Solana or Flow could affect the report’s findings
the significance of Polkadot, Solana, NEAR, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, and Terra growing faster than Ethereum did at similar points in its history
developer growth in DeFi during 2021
why Electric Capital did not study developer growth for NFTs, DAOs, or gaming
why Maria is so interested in studying community growth going forward
what Maria will be watching for in 2022

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021

Episode Links

Maria Shen

https://twitter.com/MariaShen
Previous Unchained appearance: https://unchainedpodcast.com/electric-capital-on-the-coins-punching-below-their-weight/

Electric Capital

https://www.electriccapital.com/

Electric Capital Developer Report (2021)

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Crypto 2022 Outlook: Where Will the Markets Go This Year? Plus DeFi and NFTs - Ep.305 Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

Larry Cermak, VP of research at The Block, and Igor Igamberdiev, director of research and data at The Block, recap the most significant trends of 2021 (BTC mining, L1s, NFTs, DeFi, venture funding) and discuss what might happen in 2022. Show topics:

why 2021 was so significant for the crypto industry
why the crypto markets didn’t see a blow-off top at the end of the calendar year the way they typically do about a year after a Bitcoin halving
what Larry thinks about whether the crypto market is in a supercycle
how the state of BTC and ETH mining changed in the past year
why Igor thinks multichain technology was key to a record-breaking year for venture capital entering the crypto space in 2021
how the layer 1 (L1) ecosystem wars played out in 2021 and what it could look like in 2022
what Larry and Igor think of Ethereum layer 2s (L2s)
how Ethereum’s shift to 2.0 could affect the L1 race
what Larry thinks about DeFi tokens going into 2022
how DeFi trends, like decentralized exchange volume and lending, played out in 2021
why Igor thinks KYC-DeFi (know-your-customer decentralized finance) is inevitable
what Larry thinks about NFTs going in 2022 and why he thinks PFPs are dead
Larry and Igor’s outlook on the metaverse going into the new year

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021

Episode Links

Guests

Larry Cermak: https://twitter.com/lawmaster
Igor Igamberdiev: https://twitter.com/FrankResearcher

The Block’s 2022 Digital Asset Outlook Report

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/127723/the-block-research-2021-digital-asset-outlook-report

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Unconfirmed: Song a Day NFTs With Jonathan Mann + Your 2022 Crypto Predictions! - Ep.304 Dec 31, 2021

Show notes

Jonathan Mann has published a song a day for 13 years. On Unchained, he talks about his writing process, how he came up with the idea of publishing his songs as NFTs, his plans for a DAO he created called SongADAO, and more. Show topics:

the significance and process of making a song a day for 13 years straight
how Jonathan monetized his content in the early days (2009) of the internet
what crypto event sent Jonathan down the rabbit hole and how Vitalik Buterin was involved
why CryptoPunks piqued Jonathan’s interest in monetizing his content on-chain
how being in the crypto world has changed Jonathan’s creative process
where his song data is being uploaded in the context of web2 and web3
how SongADAO will work and how it could change the paradigm of the music industry
the characteristics of his 12/31/2021 NFT drop, which will see over 3,000 songs minted
Jonathan plays “Mongoose Coin” for the Unchained audience, a song he made about Senator Brad Sherman’s comments about cryptocurrency in a recent hearing.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Avado: ava.do

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021

Nodle: https://bit.ly/3AXGydJ

Episode Links:

Jonathan Mann

Twitter: https://twitter.com/songadaymann
Website: https://www.jonathanmann.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanmann/

Song A Day:

YouTube: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanmann/
Minting website: https://songaday.world/
OpenSea: https://opensea.io/collection/song-a-day

Tweet Thread on Song A Day + SongADAO (must read if you are interested in Jonathan’s work)

https://twitter.com/songadaymann/status/1475210923124178951

Jonathan at Devcon

https://www.jonathanmann.net/devcon

Mongoose Coin

https://decrypt.co/87904/congressional-hearing-spawns-mob-mongoose-based-meme-coins

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The Chopping Block: 2021 in Crypto: The Biggest Winners, Biggest Losers, and Best Memes - Ep.303 Dec 30, 2021

Show notes

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Chopping Block, a new show on Unchained hosted by Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra, in which they discuss the latest juicy topics in crypto. This week, the four crypto heavyweights take a look back at 2021. Show topics:

Biggest winners and losers
Best mechanism
Biggest surprise
Best meme
Predictions for 2022

Without revealing too much, Haseeb, Robert, Tom, and Tarun cover a lot of ground, diving into “esoteric” subjects like Luna tokenomics, the Tezos NFT marketplace HEN, the origins of web3, the Grayscale arbitrage opportunity, OHM, Convex Finance, single-basis point liquidity pools on Uniswap, and Empty Set Dollar. They also tackle more popular topics like BTC, Dogecoin, NFT marketplaces, L1s, and more.

Episode Links

Hosts