Unconfirmed: Insights And Analysis From The Top Minds In Crypto

Maria Shen, head of data science at Electric Capital, dives into the details of the firm's report on crypto developer activity, which analyzed 27,000 code repositories to find that a recent decrease in crypto developer activity came from a drop-off in one-time-per-month and part-time developers, while full-time developers increased 13%. She explains how this breaks out among coins, how developer activity in Bitcoin and Ethereum have consolidated, what mid-tier coins are also seeing a lot of activity, and which ones appear to be punching below their weight price-wise. She also explains her metric of "active ecosystems," which ones are most active or gaining and gives us projections for further crypto development based on the data thus far. Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.com CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Electric Capital: https://www.electriccapital.com Maria Shen: https://twitter.com/mariashen?lang=en Full deck of report: https://www.slideshare.ne

Rebecca Rettig, partner at FisherBroyles, talks about Kik's answer this week to the SEC's complaint, why she predicted they would make this move as opposed to filing a motion to dismiss as many had expected and what their main arguments were. We discuss the key points of their answer, such as the distinction they make between their SAFT sale to accredited investors vs. the token sale to the general public, how we could get new law applied to tokens as well as how the SEC took quotes out of context to make it appear that Kik and/or its board members and other associates said the opposite of what they meant.  Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.com CipherTrace:  http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Rebecca Rettig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-rettig-8b90a284/ FisherBroyles: https://www.fisherbroyles.com Kik's response to the SEC: https://www.scribd.com/document/420998937/Kik-Response-to-SEC#from_embed Katherine Wu's annotations on the response: https://static1.squ

Chandan Lohda, the cofounder and CEO of CoinTracker, talks about the 10,000 letters the IRS sent to cryptocurrency holders last week, what kinds of letters were sent, what recipients should do depending on what type of letter they received and how the IRS even knew who to write to in the first place. Plus, we discuss which types of transactions are taxable events, where the tax laws still need further clarification, and which types of changes he believes should be made to tax law.  Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.com CipherTrace:  http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: CoinTracker: https://www.cointracker.io/ Chandan Lodha: https://mobile.twitter.com/cglodha IRS sending letters to 10,000 crypto holders: https://www.wsj.com/articles/irs-sending-warning-letters-to-more-than-10-000-cryptocurrency-holders-11564159523 https://blog.cointracker.io/irs-sends-letter-6173-6174-6174-a-cryptocurrency-warnings-what-to-do/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2019/07/2

Jeremy Allaire, cofounder and CEO of Circle, explains why the company has opened a new subsidiary in Bermuda, obtained a full Digital Assets Business Act license there and how it plans to create separate offerings for the US market vs. non-US. He discusses why Circle chose Bermuda out of the many jurisdictions that have created crypto-friendly regulations, why Circle believes the SEC's April guidance on digital assets expanded the scope on which digital assets are securities and why regulators should have a new definition for digital assets rather than putting them into existing categories like commodity, security, currency, etc. We cover how much of Poloniex's struggles have to do with restrictive regulations in the US vs. poor business choices on the exchange's part, and why some other US-based crypto exchanges are not having the same struggles. He also reveals what it is that he'll be telling the Senate next week when he testifies in a hearing on regulation for digital assets and blockchain technology.  

Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Coin Center, explains the significance of all the governmental activity around crypto in the last week -- the President's tweets, the Treasury Secretary's and Fed Chair's remarks and of course the Congressional hearings about Libra. We discuss whether Facebook's baggage could harm regulation of the space broadly, just what Libra is and who controls it (especially compared to decentralized networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum), and how that might require different regulatory approaches. We also covered how the lack of partisanship in the line of questioning could affect Libra's prospects, the odds that the draft bill to keep tech out of finance will go through and whether the idea of a Facebook-created digital currency could spur interest in central bank digital currencies. Plus, we talk about what we thought were the most memorable moments of the Congressional hearings, and why we both felt that, amazingly, the hearings seemed to teach Congress about the merits of

Lawson Baker, head of operations and general counsel at TokenSoft (disclosure: a previous sponsor of the podcast), explains the significance of this week's SEC statement on broker-dealer custody if digital asset securities, what issues it outlines, what problems remain to be resolved, what impact it could have on the overall industry — and why this, and other regulatory guidance, could push the industry in a more cypherpunk direction. Plus, we discuss Blockstack's Reg A+ initial coin offering, which was finally approved by the SEC, whether it's too onerous for startups and how this will affect the initial coin offering phenomenon. And finally, we talk about what we'll be watching out for in next week's Senate and House hearings on Facebook's Libra, and what the odds are that the regulators quash the project. Don't forget about the Crypto weekend retreat at Omega Institute: Sign up here!  https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.

Michael Casey, chairman of the advisory board at CoinDesk, CEO of Streambed Media and a former Wall Street Journal reporter who covered global financial and economic affairs, discusses the regulatory response to Libra, in particular the letter from the US. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and the head of Calibra, David Marcus, calling on them to halt development of Libra. Casey explains why he think it would be good if the House's concern that Libra becomes "an entirely new global financial system that is based out of Switzerland and intended to rival US monetary policy and the dollar,” as the letter put it. We also discuss the likelihood that Libra actually achieves its goal of financial inclusion for the two billion unbanked, how Facebook's track record with privacy factors in and what smart regulation would look like.  Last chance to participate in the Unchained Survey 2019! Last week to participate in the survey and enter to win a free Casa Bit

Ben Mezrich, author of the Accidental Billionaires, which formed the basis of the movie The Social Network, and the author of the recently published Bitcoin Billionaires about the Winklevoss twins' rise in the cryptocurrency industry, discusses what he initially got wrong about Cameron and Tyler. He also talks about Facebook's Libra, how he thinks personal animus against the is part of Mark Zuckerberg's motivation behind this new cryptocurrency, and what Facebook and Libra would have to do to assuage concerns over privacy issues. Plus, we cover his writing process and who can expect to be on the big screen, playing the Winklevoss twins and Charlie Shrem in the upcoming movie. Take the Unchained/Unconfirmed survey! Help make Unchained and Unconfirmed better! Take our survey and enter the giveaway for a free Bitcoin lightning node and a yearlong Casa Gold membership, — including a multisig security app for iPhone and Android, a Trezor hardware wallet, a Casa faraday bag, and 24/7 support! https://www.surveymo

Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications for the Libra Association, describes the roles of the various entities that make up the Libra ecosystem and how he came to be in this position. He addresses the most common concern being expressed: why people should trust a financial system designed by Facebook, which has lost public trust over privacy breaches. Plus, we discuss how Facebook will handle the financial information of Calibra's users, how the Libra Association will deal with the regulatory headwinds and why he believes that it's better if the project succeeds. We also discuss what impact this currency could have on the currencies of developing countries, what an identity system based on Libra might look like, and how it plans to get banks on board. Plus, we discuss what its social impact goals are. Take the Unchained/Unconfirmed survey: Help make Unchained and Unconfirmed better! Take our survey and enter the giveaway for a free Bitcoin lightning node and a yearlong Casa Gold membership, — incl

Dillon Chen, CEO of Edgeware, talks about how the network is distributing its tokens via a "lockdrop" in which people can lock up ether for certain time periods in order to obtain Edgeware tokens, why it chose to do so and how that could affect the distribution of the tokens. We also discuss how even people with ether frozen in the Parity multi-sig wallet can still use those funds to obtain Edgeware tokens. Plus, he describes what Edgeware tokens will be used for and how it fits in the Polkadot ecosystem. Take the Unchained Survey! How do you think we can make the show better? How would you like to see Unchained and Unconfirmed expand? Take our survey at surveymonkey.com/r/unchainedsurvey2019. Those who answer the survey can enter to win one of five free Casa Bitcoin lightning nodes, plus a free year of Casa's Gold membership -- including a multisig security app for iPhone and Android, a Trezor hardware wallet, a Casa faraday bag, and 24/7 support! Those of you interested in learning more about Casa, or ab

In this conversation, conducted at the Oslo Freedom Forum, Vera Xavier, LocalBitcoins' Community Manager and Elena Tonoyan, Chief Customer Success Officer, describe what the Helsinki-based company does, how it got started, how its escrow system works and why the company typically keeps a low profile. We also cover who their typical users are (hint: it's a broad swath), how usage differs across geographically and types of economies, and how LocalBitcoins can be used in countries with authoritarian regimes. We also cover some regulatory issues such as why it had to stop service in Iran recently. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: LocalBitcoins: https://localbitcoins.com LocalBitcoins bans trading in Iran: https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce FinCen guidance indicating LocalBitcoins sellers in the US are money transmitters: https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/2019-05/FinCEN%20Guida

At Ethereal, I spoke with Austin Griffiths, director of research at Gitcoin and founder of Burner Wallet, and Arjun Bhuptani, cofounder of Connext Network, about how they think about getting everyday usage. In this discussion, Austin talked about how he started Burner Wallet and how he did user testing at bars, and Arjun described Connext, how people are using it now. Plus, they both explain why they're using Dai, how they can compete when a company like Facebook has 2 billion users, and how the uncertain regulatory atmosphere in the US affects the way they work. Omega Institute crypto workshop retreat: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Austin Griffith: https://twitter.com/austingriffith Burner Wallet: https://xdai.io Arjun Bhuptani: https://twitter.com/arjun_bhuptani?lang=en Connext Network: http://connext.network Video from Ethereal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkOI7166fmI

How Polychain is faring during the crypto winter, where we are in the tech cycle, whether he thinks Ethereum 2.0 will deliver and how he views the competition in the smart contract space. We discuss the upcoming Facebook coin, what that might look like, and how his portfolio projects could compete against a token issued by a large company. We cover how regulatory uncertainty is affecting the development of crypto projects, what he thinks of the fact that some trends in the DeFi movement seem to mimic the risks leading up to the financial contract, why he's so excited about MakerDAO, what he makes of its difficulties keeping its USD peg, and why Tether hasn't lost its dollar peg despite being only 74% backed. Plus, we talked about how decentralized autonomous corporations could someday come into being, and what he thinks of on-chain governance systems today. Join us at the Oslo Freedom Forum! On May 27th I will be hosting a conversation about the future of finance and human rights at the Oslo Freedom Forum i

Phil Chen, decentralized chief officer of HTC, discusses the upcoming model of the Exodus, why it will feature a full Bitcoin node, what's in it for the user, whether or not it will affect the performance of other apps on the phone and whether HTC would ever add mining capabilities for the phone. We cover how the phone also functions as a hardware wallet, how private keys are kept safe, and how they are recovered if the user loses their phone. Plus, he describes who the ideal user is and how having so many crypto features built into the phone could change how people interact with their devices. On May 27th I will be hosting a conversation about the future of finance and human rights at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway. As the world continues to move toward a cashless society, paper currency is disappearing. Companies like Facebook, Apple, and TenCent are becoming increasingly influential in the digital payment space. We'll discuss how individuals and companies can preserve and protect financial freedoms in t

Tushar Jain of Multicoin Capital discusses how hackers likely obtained $40 million worth of Bitcoin in a hack on Binance, how the leading crypto exchange could have incentivized miners to reorganize the blocks, and what the possibility says about the game theory of Bitcoin. We talk about why Binance ultimately decided against trying to go this route, and whether or not exchanges should, in the future, try to use reorgs immediately after exchange hacks in order to both undo the hack as well as deter future hackers. Plus, we discuss how this idea would have differed from the Ethereum hard fork after the DAO and whether or not this suggests that fast finality is preferable to probabilistic finality. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Tushar Jain: https://twitter.com/tusharjain_?lang=en Multicoin Capital: https://multicoin.capital Binance's announcement about the hack: https://binance.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028031711 Bitcoin core contributor

Robert-Jan Den Haan, a contributor to the Block who has been researching the Bitfinex/Tether situation for over a year, talks about how Bitfinex found itself without access to $850 million of its own money, how the trouble crypto companies have maintaining banking relationships played into that, and the company — or, rather, group of related companies — that is the source of its woes. We also cover where at least a portion of the money is now, and why it likely won't be made available soon, how a case involving Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef is related, and why Bitfinex will likely be conducting an initial exchange offering of $1 billion. Plus, we discuss why the price of Tether has barely budged despite being only 74% backed. Crypto workshop at Omega Institute! https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution Thank you to our sponsors! CoinDesk: Since 2015, Consensus has been recognized as the most influential blockchain and digital assets event of the year. Hot-button topics such as a

At the Subzero conference in Berlin, Ashley Tyson, the cofounder of the Web 3 Foundation, talks about how it plans to support the Polkadot protocol, plus bring together protocols to create a decentralized web, including other projects outside the Polkadot network. We discuss how the recent disaffection with Facebook and other social media platforms is affecting the movement toward decentralization, how they plan to get mainstream adoption of decentralized apps and whether or not enough people care about privacy to grow that movement. Thank you to our sponsors! CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed CoinDesk: Since 2015, Consensus has been recognized as the most influential blockchain and digital assets event of the year. Hot-button topics such as adoption challenges, privacy,blockchain innovation, capital formation and more take centerstage as experts and pioneers give voice to the new developments and innovations occurring around the globe. Don't miss this three-day experience! Register today: w

Zachary Fallon, a former SEC staffer and author of the Reg A JOBS Act crowdfunding rules and a principal at Blakemore Fallon, discusses Blockstack's filing for a token offering under Reg A+, what that means for the security status of the tokens and what types of investors the company can raise from. We also talk about several of the particulars of the Blockstack filing, such as the time-lock on the tokens, the ability to raise money in bitcoin and ether, and the cap on the dollar amount of tokens any single investor can purchase. Zach also covers how much they must have worked with the SEC until this point, how long it might take the SEC to offer a response and what the filing means for token offerings going forward. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode Links Zach Fallon: https://twitter.com/ZacharyFallon   Blakemore Fallon: https://blakemorefallon.com Blockstack: https://blockstack.org Stackstoken: https://www.stackstoken.com App mining for Stacks: https:/

Sam McIngvale, head of product for Coinbase Custody, describes its new staking service. He explains how Coinbase Custody plans to allow its customers to participate in crypto networks while keeping those funds offline, what Coinbase had to build from an engineering and product perspective in order to keep funds secure and how insurance works for these assets. We also discuss its plans to enable its customers to participate in governance, whether or not Coinbase.com will move in the same direction, which other blockchains it may offer staking services for. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Coinbase blog post about staking with Coinbase Custody: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-custody-launches-staking-support-for-tezos-makerdao-governance-to-follow-68f7bc51bc53 Sam McIngvale: https://twitter.com/sammcingvale?lang=en WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coinbases-new-customer-incentive-interest-payments-with-a-crypto-twist-11553855400 Fortun

Marco Santori, the president and chief legal officer of Blockchain, discusses this week's big regulatory news — the SEC's guidance on initial coin offerings and its first no-action letter. We talk about what guidance actually means and how much weight it has in court, how much clarity this guidance actually brought, and how the framework could affect also future attempts at future fundraising/token distribution events and airdrops. We also cover the no-action letter and the ways in which the token of TurnKey Jet, which received the no-action letter, is quite different from most other crypto-tokens and how helpful that example is for crypto projects. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: SEC guidance: https://www.sec.gov/files/dlt-framework.pdf No-action letter: https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2019/turnkey-jet-040219-2a1.htm Marco Santori: https://twitter.com/msantoriesq Marco's tweet storm on the guidance and no-action letter: https