Unconfirmed

Latest Episodes:

Why Has MakerDAO's Dai Struggled to Keep Its Dollar Peg? - Ep.066 Mar 29, 2019

Show notes

Ryan Todd and Matteo Leibowitz, research analysts at The Block, discuss why Dai has fallen below $1 in price, how the community has attempted to keep it pegged to $1 and how well that's been working. They also describe what the governance system looks like, how high participation is, and whether or not that's decentralized. And since 2% of al, ETH is locked up in Maker CDPs and Dai is the fuel behind the DeFi movement, we look at what type of role and risk it plays in Ethereum and the overall DeFi system.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Matteo Leibowitz: https://twitter.com/teo_leibowitz

Ryan Todd: https://twitter.com/_RJTodd

The Block: https://twitter.com/theblock__

March 15 governance call report: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/03/15/makerdao-governance-risk-call-march-14-stability-fee-hike-post-mortem/

March 21 governance call report: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/03/22/makerdao-governance-call-march-14-despite-0-75-supply-decrease-dai-continues-to-trade-down/

Unchained interview with Rune Christensen of MakerDAO, part 1: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-1-how-to-keep-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-afloat/

Unchained interview with Rune Christensen of MakerDAO, part 2: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-2-how-dai-stayed-at-1-while-eth-crashed-from-1400-to-85/

Unconfirmed podcast with Rune Christensen of MakerDAO on its investment of $15 million from a16z: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-on-its-15-million-from-andreessen-horowitz-ep-039/

Unchained podcast on why it's so hard to keep stablecoins stable: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable/

Unconfirmed interview with Uniswap, another DeFi project the utilizes Dai: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-uniswap-quickly-became-one-of-the-most-popular-dexes/

Unconfirmed interview on earning money on collateral in DeFi: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-to-earn-money-on-collateral-in-defi-and-why-thats-risky/

Why Ethereum 2.0 Could Fail and How It Could Be Fixed - Ep.065 Mar 22, 2019

Show notes

Delphi Digital recently released a report on Ethereum's short- and long-term prospects. It showed why there's been such high selling pressure on Ethereum, plus dived deeply into the economics of Ethereum 2.0, concluding that the current proposal leaves Ethereum with a shaky future. Medio Demarco and Yan Liberman, cofounders of Delphi, discuss how they think Ethereum could change its issuance in order to ensure the security of the network from the start and why the current plan will make validating transactions appealing only to the altruistically minded and malicious actors. Plus, we discuss the problem of velocity and utility vs. token price.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Delphi Digital: https://www.delphidigital.io

Medio Demarco: https://twitter.com/mediodelphi

Yan Liberman: https://twitter.com/YanLiberman

Delphi Digital's Ethereum report: https://www.delphidigital.io/ethereum

The Unchained interview with Vitalik will be released in full next week on Unchainedpodcast.com!

How Uniswap Quickly Became One of the Most Popular Dexes - Ep.064 Mar 15, 2019

Show notes

Hayden Adams, founder of the new decentralized exchange Uniswap, discusses how Uniswap differs from a traditional exchange based on order books, how market the contract determines the price of the tokens, and how market making on Uniswap is similar, in terms of payment, to participating in a mining pool. He covers under which conditions it is that a market maker will earn profit, what fees go toward in Uniswap, and how the contract functions as the dollar values of each token in a liquidity pair fluctuate. He describes how Uniswap quickly became one of the biggest decentralized exchanges on Ethereum since its launch in November, why gas fees are lower on Uniswap than other dexes, and how new tokens get listed on Uniswap. Plus, he talks about what regulatory risk he faces, how he plans to make money off the dex, and what he thinks of the idea that Dan Elitzer described in last week's Unconfirmed — people using the Uniswap liquidity pair tokens as collateral for loans.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Uniswap: https://uniswap.io

Uniswap on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UniswapExchange

Hayden: https://twitter.com/haydenzadams

Explanations of Uniswap:

High level overview by Cyrus Younessi of Scalar Capital: https://medium.com/scalar-capital/uniswap-a-unique-exchange-f4ef44f807bf

Another by Ross Bulat: https://medium.com/@rossbulat/uniswap-understanding-the-decentralised-ethereum-exchange-5ee5d7878996

Analysis of Uniswap on Token Daily: https://www.tokendaily.co/blog/pnl-analysis-of-uniswap-market-making

The posts by Vitalik Buterin that Hayden used to create Uniswap:

On Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/55m04x/lets_run_onchain_decentralized_exchanges_the_way/

The comment by Vitalik near the top of this blog post about Bancor: http://hackingdistributed.com/2017/06/19/bancor-is-flawed/

Blog post by Vitalik: https://vitalik.ca/general/2017/06/22/marketmakers.html

Unconfirmed episode with Dan Elitzer on superfluid collateral and Uniswap liquidity pair tokens being used as collateral: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-to-earn-money-on-collateral-in-defi-and-why-thats-risky/

Venue Announcement for Unchained Live Mar 10, 2019

Show notes

Get your tickets now for Unchained Live with Vitalik Buterin! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176

It will take place March 20th at 6pm at Columbia Journalism School in the Joseph D. Jamail Lecture Hall. Hope to see you there!

How to Earn Money on Collateral in DeFi — and Why That's Risky - Ep.063 Mar 08, 2019

Show notes

Dan Elitzer, investor at IDEO CoLab Ventures, describes a concept he describes as superfluid collateral made possible in the decentralized finance space. We talk about which DeFi projects make this possible, how one can make collateral liquid so that interest can be earned from it, and what kinds of tokens could both serve as debt and earn interest. (Surprisingly, even trading pairs, particularly on the Uniswap decentralized exchange, which exist as tokens, can do so!) Based on the growth of Uniswap and DeFi, there's more than $300 million in collateral on Ethereum, causing Dan to make a prediction that Uniswap pool shares could serve as collateral for millions of dollars in loans within months. However, he admits that such a system could be risky, and discusses how he thinks such risks should be managed.

Thank you to our sponsors!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Dan Elitzer: https://twitter.com/delitzer

IDEO CoLab Ventures: https://www.ideocolab.com/ventures/

Dan's Medium post, Superfluid Collateral in Open Finance: https://tokeneconomy.co/superfluid-collateral-in-open-finance-8c3db15efac

MakerDAO interview Part 1: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-1-how-to-keep-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-afloat/

MakerDAO interview Part 2: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-2-how-dai-stayed-at-1-while-eth-crashed-from-1400-to-85/

Unchained interview about Compound: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep-82/

Unchained interview about Dharma protocol: https://unchainedpodcast.com/nadav-hollander-on-how-dharma-could-create-new-forms-of-debt-ep-80/

Unchained interview about 0x: https://unchainedpodcast.com/will-warren-of-0x-on-why-decentralized-exchanges-are-the-future/

Uniswap: https://uniswap.io

After Massive Layoffs and Losses, What Are Bitmain's Future Prospects? - Ep.062 Mar 01, 2019

Show notes

Blockstream chief strategy officer Samson Mow, who used to work at a competitor to Bitmain, discusses the recent news that the crypto mining manufacturer suffered a $500 million loss in the third quarter of 2018. He talks about possible reasons, including difficulties in selling its most recent miner and its stockpile of Bitcoin Cash, which has dropped more precipitously than Bitcoin during the last year. We also cover the extensive layoffs that the company has undergone in recent months, the shakeup in company leadership and what the prospects are for its IPO filing.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Samson Mow: https://twitter.com/Excellion

Bitmain: https://bitmain.com

CoinDesk article on Bitmain's Q3 loss: https://www.coindesk.com/mining-giant-bitmain-posts-500-million-loss-in-ipo-financial-filing

CoinDesk on Bitmain's original IPO plans: https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-unicorn-bitmain-weighs-18-billion-ipo-one-of-worlds-largest

CoinDesk on Bitmain layoffs: https://www.coindesk.com/layoffs-underway-amid-business-adjustments-bitcoin-miner-bitmain-confirms

Dovey Wan on the layoffs: https://twitter.com/DoveyWan/status/1076717693087080448

Dovey on Jihan launching a spinoff: https://twitter.com/DoveyWan/status/1100002158261428225

Unchained episode on Asia with Dovey Wan and Eric Meltzer of Primitive Ventures: https://unchainedpodcast.com/asia-edition-mining-a-crypto-yuan-and-the-two-main-reasons-the-chinese-are-interested-in-crypto-ep-102/

How AirTM Hopes to Get Venezuelans to Use Cryptocurrency - Ep.061 Feb 22, 2019

Show notes

Ruben Galindo Steckel, cofounder and CEO of AirTM, describes how his companies enables everyday Venezuelans the ability to escape the hyperinflation in their currency, the bolivar, to save in U.S. dollar accounts. He also describes how the company creates its own exchange rate, and why that got them in trouble with the Venezuelan government. He also describes a campaign the company is waging, AirdropVenezuela, an attempt to raise $1 million in cryptocurrency to give to everyday Venezuelans for educational purposes and to use. He explains how Venezuelans can use crypto today and why they are raising money even in obscure coins.

Thank you to our sponsors!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode Links:

AirTM: https://www.airtm.com/#/

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/AirtmInc

Airdrop Venezuela: https://airdropvenezuela.org

Planet Money episode on AirTM: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/03/635521893/episode-858-venezuelas-fugitive-money-traders

AirTM's blog post about AirdropVenezuela: https://blog.airtm.io/en/uniting-the-crypto-community-for-venezuela/

Unchained Live With Vitalik Buterin Feb 20, 2019

Show notes

In case you haven’t heard, I’m doing a live podcast recording with Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum. What is a live podcast recording? It's a podcast performed by me and the guest on a stage, in front of an audience.

Vitalik and I will be discussing Ethereum 2.0, Polka Dot, Substrate, what happened with Afri this week and more. And you’ll have an opportunity to ask questions.

It’ll be in New York City the evening of March 20th, which is one month from today. The doors open at 6, the show starts at 7. We will be announcing the venue soon.

Get your tickets here! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176

How Korea's Crypto Scene Differs From That of the US - Ep.060 Feb 15, 2019

Show notes

Joyce Yang, founder of Global Coin Research, discusses the crypto scene in Korea today. An epicenter of the crypto craze in 2017, Korea still has a number of young people pinning their hopes and dreams on crypto, as described in an article in The New York Times this week. Yang talks about the societal factors that have led to this trend, as well as the common practices in investing that make Korean VCs less shrewd investors, which, in turn, makes Korean crypto projects less competitive. However, she also explains why she's still optimistic about crypto development there, noting one project, Terra, that looks interesting and describing the vibrant Tezos Korea community. (Joyce is consulting with Tezos.)

Get your tickets now to Unchained Live With Vitalik Buterin in New York City on March 20!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unchained-live-with-vitalik-buterin-tickets-56189456176

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Global Coin Research: https://globalcoinresearch.com

Joyce Yang: https://twitter.com/JoyceInNYC

Joyce's tweet storm on Korea:

https://twitter.com/JoyceInNYC/status/1089716206544637952

The New York Times story on why Koreans are pinning their hopes and dreams on crypto: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/business/south-korea-bitcoin-cryptocurrencies.html

Terra: https://terra.money

Hashed: https://www.hashed.com

Global Coin Research/Tezos podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/introduction-conversation-arthur-breitman-diego-olivier/id1451821045?i=1000429387176&mt=2

The QuadrigaCX Case: Taylor Monahan on What We Know From the Blockchain - Ep.059 Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

To hear that a 29-year-old died of complications from Crohn's disease is shocking enough. But it's practically unbelievable when the person in question was in charge of a crypto exchange that held an estimated $150 million of customer funds and that he was the only person with access to the reserves. That's what many in the crypto community thought last week when news of the death of Gerald Cotten, the CEO of Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, spread. Taylor Monahan, the CEO of MyCrypto, looked at the Ethereum blockchain itself to see what could be gleaned from QuadrigaCX's holdings. She talks about whether or not the exchange had "cold storage" -- addresses in which customer funds were held, what Quadriga was doing with customer funds and why some of the choices it was making seem at odds with the typical operations a crypto exchange. She also discusses what crypto users can take away from this debacle.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Taylor Monahan: https://twitter.com/tayvano_

My Crypto: https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1092439754849759233

QuadrigaCX: https://www.quadrigacx.com/

Taylor's tweet storm about her findings from the blockchain: https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1092439754849759233

CoinDesk article recapping what is currently known and not yet known about the case: https://www.coindesk.com/quadrigacx-explainer

CoinDesk article on how the hospital has released information about Gerald Cotten's death: https://www.coindesk.com/quadrigacx-indian-hospital-releases-details-about-ceos-death

Globe and Mail article noting Cotten finalized his will less than two weeks before he died: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/streetwise/article-quadriga-cant-access-190-million-following-ceos-death-court/

New York Times article on the situation: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/business/quadriga-cx-gerald-cotten.html

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