Unconfirmed: Insights And Analysis From The Top Minds In Crypto

Jeff Roberts, staff writer at Fortune and author of the recent Audible book, “Kings of Crypto: Coinbase and the Coming Disruption of Finance,” discusses Coinbase's past, present and future. In this episode, we cover:  when Coinbase duped Apple with its app and eventually got kicked out of the App Store when Coinbase's hot wallet got hacked how CEO Brian Armstrong handled challenges like the Bitcoin block size debate and an IRS summons on all its customers' activities for years how it handled the competition from Binance why that led to "screaming in the board room"  the "complete mercenary" and "brilliant asshole" who tore the leadership ranks apart and led to a number of departures by top execs why Brian and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon met privately where Coinbase goes from here Take the Unchained survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2020 Apply for the editorial assistant job at Unchained! https://unchainedpodcast.com/seeking-remote-editorial-assistant/ Thank you to our sponsors!  Cr

Yan Liberman, cofounder at Delphi Digital, breaks down all kinds of data from the Bitcoin blockchain to give a snapshot of where Bitcoin is at this point in its development and glean where it might go in its future. We discuss:  Bitcoin's wealth distribution and how that has changed over time what whales have been up to recently and how that compares with their behavior in previous bull and bear markets what data on multi-sig transactions tells us what companies serving the institutional and retail markets are seeing in terms of customer demand activity to and from exchanges, and what those trends mean what unspent transaction outputs tell us about investors' mindset now and the market value to realized value (MVRV) — what it is and what the current MVRV says about where Bitcoin is in terms of this investment cycle Thank you to our sponsor!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Episode links:  Yan Liberman: https://twitter.com/YanLiberman Delphi Digital: https://www.delphidigital.io/ Delphi's State o

Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, talks about the coronavirus and its impact on the economy and on Bitcoin. We discuss:  why he thinks the US won't have a V-shaped recession how the government's monetary and fiscal policy will affect the recovery how this looks similar to what he saw when he traded in Japan in the early 1990s why tokens are outperforming venture whether or not Bitcoin is uncorrelated or if that narrative is changing where he thinks Bitcoin will go — and whether the rest of the crypto market will go with it and what he thinks will happen after the halving and why his projection is that Bitcoin could reach $115,000 in 2021 Thank you to our sponsor!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Episode links:  Dan Morehead: https://twitter.com/dan_pantera Pantera Capital: https://www.panteracapital.com Pantera's April 2020 newsletter: https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/macro-impact-on-bitcoin-pantera-blockchain-letter-april-2020-1fdc792d4f33 Pantera's March 2020 newsletter: https://medi

Mike McGlone, senior commodity strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, explains why he believes Bitcoin is revolutionary, has begun to cement its status as a digital version of gold and is becoming less of a risky investment and more of a way to lower one's risk in a portfolio — but why he doesn't view it as a payment system. He describes how he expects the halving to affect the price of Bitcoin, why the on-chain metrics vs. price seem to him strong signs of adoption and why he views Ethereum as "just another one of the 5,000 cryptos out there." Plus, he talks about why increased usage of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies will only be bullish for Bitcoin.  Thank you to our sponsor!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Episode links:  Mike McGlone: https://twitter.com/mikemcglone11 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-mcglone-a8442513/ Bloomberg's Crypto Newsletter: https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/crypto-newsletter/ April 2020 outlook: https://data.bloomberglp.com/professional/sites/10/Bloo

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner of Dragonfly Capital, describes how the Lendf.me attack happened, why imBTC was involved in that hack and a $300,000 hack involving Uniswap the day before, and how the ERC-777 token standard was involved. He also recounts what happened after the attack, including messages sent to and from the hacker, how the Chinese and Western DeFi communities had different responses, and how the hacker ended up returning the funds. Plus, he goes into the details of what he knows about why the attacker did so.  Thank you to our sponsor!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Episode links:  Haseeb Qureshi: https://twitter.com/hosseeb Dragonfly Capital: https://www.dcp.capital The Block on the exploit: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/62346/multicoin-capital-backed-defi-protocol-dforce-loses-25m-total-locked-value-in-an-exploit  News about dForce bringing imBTC to Lendf.me: https://medium.com/imtoken/dforce-brings-imbtc-to-defi-lending-c739b5cc0643 More about imBTC: https://token.im/b

Stephen Palley, partner at Anderson Kill and chair of the firm’s technology, media and distributed systems practice group, explains what the 11 recent class-action lawsuits against ICO issuers from 2017 and exchanges were about, who brought them, who the defendants are, and what hurdles they face, especially regarding jurisdiction. He also discusses why some prominent individuals in crypto, such as Changepeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, Brendan Blumer, CEO of Block.One, Arthur Hayes, CEO and cofounder of BitMEX, among others, were named, and how the "control person" theory of liability will play a role in the claims. We also dive into the lawsuit for $28 million against Maker Foundation over Black Thursday losses, and the attempt by MKR governance token holders to force Maker participants to agree to indemnify the Maker Foundation.  Thank you to our sponsor!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Episode links:  Stephen Palley: https://twitter.com/stephendpalley The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/ The Blo

Matthew Graham, the CEO of Sino Global Capital, describes how the economy has changed in China due to the coronavirus, how it is affected as business opens back up and how the government is managing it. He explains why the DCEP project is continuing apace and described how he thinks the coronavirus will impact the crypto industry, how it will affect entrepreneurship, and how he thinks startups should approach this time. We also cover the Bitcoin halving and why he thinks that miners in China will make it through the halving fine despite the price volatility in recent weeks. Thank you to our sponsor!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Episode links:  Matthew Graham: https://twitter.com/mattysino Sino Global Capital: https://www.sinoglobalcapital.com/ China's economy as it comes out of the first coronavirus outbreak: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/business/economy/coronavirus-china-economy-stimulus.html China's crypto startup scene post-coronavirus: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/08/start-up-crash-

Kevin Kelly, macro strategist at Delphi Digital, discusses how the coronavirus's impact on the economy will affect Bitcoin and the crypto markets, including the ripple effects of the US fiscal stimulus package and historically high jobless claims. He explains how Bitcoin compares to traditional financial assets, what the recent Bitcoin price action says about the theory that Bitcoin serves as a macro hedge, and why it looks like newer buyers, rather than long-term holders, have been selling Bitcoin in recent weeks. We also look at the timing of the coronavirus on the upcoming Bitcoin halving, plus dive into a proposal by his colleague that Maker should hold some MKR in reserve rather than relying on token burns for system income. Thank you to our sponsor!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Episode links:  Kevin Kelly: https://twitter.com/Kevin_Kelly_II Delphi Digital: https://www.delphidigital.io Delphi's March 2020 Bitcoin Outlook: https://twitter.com/Delphi_Digital/status/1243955823904280578?s=20 Links

Antoine Le Calvez, blockchain data engineer at Coin Metrics, explains what happened during the Bitcoin liquidation spiral on March 12, why it was so significant for the Bitcoin markets, and how a DDOS attack affected trading on BitMEX and the Bitcoin price during a period of high liquidations. We also discuss how Bitcoin liquidity has changed since Black Thursday, why that might be, and also what the coronavirus is showing us about Bitcoin's correlation to traditional financial assets.  Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Episode links:  Antoine Le Calvez: https://twitter.com/khannib Coin Metrics: https://coinmetrics.substack.com Coin Metrics’ BitMEX post: https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/coin-metrics-state-of-the-network-bf8 BitMEX on the DDOS attack: https://blog.bitmex.com/how-we-are-responding-to-last-weeks-ddos-attacks/ BitMEX Insurance Fund: https://blog.bitmex.com/bitmex-insurance-fund-your-questions-answe

Emily Parker, cofounder of Longhash, reads from an essay she wrote about a problem that is probably relatable to everyone in the crypto industry: how you explain blockchain technology to other people. She goes into the three main reasons why the industry has this problem, including the fact that the decentralized nature of the space means there's no designated marketer, that many in crypto don't know what story to tell, and how many actors in the space prefer to engage in petty infighting vs. communicating to outsiders. Plus, she has a few suggestions on what the industry could do to tell its story better and get more people on board. Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Links from news recap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/who-was-selling-on-black-thursday/

Noelle Acheson, director of research at CoinDesk, discusses the effect that coronavirus has been having on the traditional financial markets, Bitcoin and why Bitcoin is not turning out to be the uncorrelated asset it was touted to be. We also talk about why Bitcoin had a safe haven to begin with, the role traders played in changing how Bitcoin behaves as an asset, and why we can expect Bitcoin to become even more volatile in the short term. We cover how this could affect Bitcoin miners' ability to survive the upcoming halving, and whether Bitcoin will start to decouple from the other crypto assets.  Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Episode links:  Noelle Acheson: https://twitter.com/NoelleInMadrid CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-uncertainty-and-the-ultimate-narrative https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-bonds-and-gold-why-markets-are-upended-in-a-time-of-fear https://www.coindesk.

Brady Dale, senior reporter at CoinDesk, walks through the last few weeks of drama in Steemit this week, staring with when Justin Sun bought Steemit, what that meant for the network, and how the validators (aka "witnesses") responded and how exchanges got involved. We talk about why it's significant that the exchanges were Poloniex, Huobi and Binance, and why they seem to have walked back their support of new witnesses. We also cover the lessons in this drama for blockchains that use delegated proof of stake, and where the Steemit community might go from here.  Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Episode links:  Brady Dale: https://twitter.com/BradyDale Steemit: https://steemit.com Justin Sun: https://twitter.com/justinsuntron Sun acquires Steemit: https://www.coindesk.com/steemit-sets-up-shop-on-tron-network Crypto exchanges get involved: https://www.coindesk.com/why-crypto-should-care-about-justin-suns-steem-drama

Caitlin Long talks about her new venture, Avanti Bank, which will be a Wyoming special-purpose depository institution, what that means, and how that could bypass the New York Bitlicense. She covers why that's better than trust companies for certain types of customers, which type of institutions Avanti will target, and how this status will protect investors in a bankruptcy situation. Plus, she explains how Avanti will be a bank and yet have the “not your keys, not your coins” ethos, and how it will handle things like airdrops, forks and staking rewards, and why in the Ethereum hard fork, the bank would have needed permission from customers to follow the fork that became Ethereum.  Thank you to our sponsors! eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Episode links:  Caitlin Long: https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_ Avanti Bank: https://avantibank.com Caitlin’s announcement on Avanti: https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1231958552790482950 Tweet storm on

Lev Livnev, a formal verification researcher at dapp.org and a founding partner at Symbolic Capital Partners, talks about the two attacks on bZx in the last week. He describes what the attackers did, why he thinks flash lending is not the culprit and how much he thinks bZx is to blame. Plus, we talk about what this means for DeFi in general and where the space goes from here.  Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Episode links:  Lev Livnev: https://lev.liv.nev.org.uk CoinDesk explanation of both attacks: https://www.coindesk.com/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-defi-flash-loan-attack The first attack: https://www.coindesk.com/exploit-during-ethdenver-reveals-experimental-nature-of-decentralized-finance Peckshield analysis on the hack step by step: https://medium.com/@peckshield/bzx-hack-full-disclosure-with-detailed-profit-analysis-e6b1fa9b18fc BZx's post-mortem on the first attack: https://bzx.network/b

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce discusses her proposal for a three-year safe harbor period for token sales. We talk about what problems she hopes to solve with this suggestion, the conditions that token issuers would have to meet to qualify for it, such as achieving a decentralized network or functional token within three years, and how she defines those terms. We also cover how the other commissioners have received her proposal and what the next steps are to her proposal potentially being adopted.  Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Episode links:  Hester Peirce: https://twitter.com/HesterPeirce The SEC: https://www.sec.gov/ Full speech and proposal: https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/peirce-remarks-blockress-2020-02-06 Fortune article on the proposal: https://fortune.com/2020/02/06/ico-sec-cryptocurrency-proposal-investing/ Critique that proposal will only enable scammers: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/0

Elizabeth Stark, cofounder and CEO of Lightning Labs, talks about her company's two big announcements this week: the beta launch of its first paid product, Lightning Loop, and the company's Series A $10 million fundraise. We discuss how Lightning Loop works, what kinds of companies are already using it, and how Lightning Labs will make money from it. She also talks about the investors in this round, how several of them come from traditional finance and what their views are on Bitcoin and Lightning.  Thank you to our sponsors!  Kelman Law: https://kelman.law eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Episode links:  Elizabeth Stark: https://twitter.com/starkness Lightning Labs: https://lightning.engineering Lightning Labs announcement: https://medium.com/@lightning_labs/entering-the-decade-of-lightning-8c4a4d31167f  Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2020/02/05/jack-dorsey-backed-lightning-labs-raises-10-million-to-build-visa-network-for-bitcoin/#2f88e7e

Frank Chaparro of The Block discusses the report released by his firm and the Blockchain Association on employment trends in the blockchain industry. He covers how the demand for such jobs is growing, who the biggest employers are in the space, and what types of companies are hiring. We talk about how token launches are moving primarily to Asia, why there's still significant hiring demand in the US and what kinds of jobs are being sought. Plus, we look at the recent LinkedIn study showing "blockchain" was the most in-demand hard skill on LinkedIn in 2019 and how a few projected crypto IPOs in the next few years could affect the job market. Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/ Kelman Law: http://kelman.law Episode links:  Frank Chaparro: https://twitter.com/fintechfrank The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com The Block’s and the Blockchain Association’s Digital Assets Human Capital Report: https://www.scribd.com/document/444039395/Digital-Asset-Hum

Tom Schmidt, junior partner at Dragonfly Capital, talks about how liquidators are making money in DeFi — on which protocols, how liquidations work, and how much money they're making. He also discusses how liquidators do their work, how easy it is to create a bot to watch for liquidation opportunities, and how competitive the space is. We also discuss the growing competitive pressures, both from other liquidators as well as savvier borrowers.  Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/ Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Episode links:  Tom Schmidt: https://twitter.com/tomhschmidt Dragonfly Capital: https://www.dcp.capital Tom's post on Liquidations in DeFi: https://medium.com/dragonfly-research/liquidators-the-secret-whales-helping-defi-function-acf132fbea5e Unchained interview on Compound: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep-82/ Unchained interview on MakerDAO, pt. 1: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-chris

Leighton Cusack, CEO and cofounder of PoolTogether, describes how the Ethereum-based no-loss lottery applies the psychology of winning a prize to the action of saving money, to get more people to save, why this is better than a typical lottery, and how blockchain technology makes it even better than a typical no-loss lottery. He also talks about how PoolTogether works, why it currently uses Dai and Compound and whether it would use other stablecoins and interest-bearing platforms. We also discuss who is using it, why many non-crypto people are interested, and how they plan to reach more of their target audience. Thank you to our sponsors!  eToro: https://www.etoro.com Crypto.com: https://crypto.com Kelman Law: https://kelman.law Episode links:  Pool Together: https://www.pooltogether.com/ Leighton Cusack: https://twitter.com/lay2000lbs CoinDesk on PoolTogether: https://www.coindesk.com/this-ethereum-lottery-perfectly-explains-how-facebooks-corporate-backers-will-profit-from-libra Decrypto story: ht

Nate Maddrey, senior research analyst of Coin Metrics, gives an overview of how the major crypto networks ended 2019. We discuss how Bitcoin outperformed most other crypto assets last year, how it has been somewhat correlated with gold this year, whereas other crypto assets are not, and how the price movement of Bitcoin and Ethereum is starting to uncouple. We also talk about "realized cap," which is when each individual coin last moved on chain, and "market cap to realized cap" (MVRV), which is a way of looking at when the current holders will obtain profits if they sell, and how Bitcoin's investors are in the black, or that perhaps Ethereum is undervalued. Another topic was stablecoins, and how Tether on Ethereum has overtaken Tether on Omni and why, plus which other stablecoins are seeing growth. He also covers which four networks have seen their number of active addresses drop, how all those also saw their prices decrease and how only Bitcoin and Ethereum had a substantial amount of daily fees, and why th