Unconfirmed: Insights And Analysis From The Top Minds In Crypto

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-decrea

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 nex

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: h

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!

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

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 B

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 AirdropVenez

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

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://globalcoinr

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 Mona

Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, explains why this crypto bear market is different from the previous one his firm endured, what he believes will give institutional money the confidence to enter the space, and how Pantera's investing approach has changed in this downturn. We also discuss what types of projects and companies Pantera is investing in, how regulatory uncertainty is affecting development of the space, and where innovation is happening. The answer may surprise you. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Pantera Capital: https://www.panteracapital.com Dan Morehead: https://twitter.com/dan_pantera Pantera's December letter: https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/market-update-pantera-blockchain-letter-december-2018-f48ad020f9d6 Joey Krug's crypto thesis: https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/a-crypto-thesis-47eaacf861ca Fidelity launching a Bitcoin custody service in March: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-29/fidelity-is-said-to

Chandan Lodha, cofounder and CEO of CoinTracker, explains why reports from crypto exchanges could be insufficient for filing accurate tax returns to the IRS, how one should track one's crypto transactions in order to not over- or under-pay, and who can use the service. We also discuss how users should treat airdropped coins, new, comprehensive rules on crypto taxation for UK taxpayers and correlations in coin ownership that CoinTracker sees amongst its users. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links CoinTracker: https://www.cointracker.io Chandan Lodha: https://twitter.com/cglodha Unchained episode on all crypto-related tax issues: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-tax-rules-that-have-crypto-users-aghast/ CoinTracker integration with TurboTax: https://medium.com/cointracker/cointracker-partners-with-coinbase-and-turbotax-17f37a08bbb  CoinTracker and Coinbase integration (announced after we recorded): https://blog.coinbase.com/new-resources-for-crypto-taxe

The newly formed Blockchain Association recently released a post outlining what it calls the Hinman Token Standard based on a speech given last summer by Bill Hinman, director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. The Blockchain Association's director of external affairs, Kristin Smith, breaks down what factors are part of the standard, how much weight should be given to remarks he gave at a conference and how decentralization can square with leadership. We also discuss the Token Taxonomy Act, which seeks to amend the Securities Exchange Act to define "digital tokens" and when they are not securities. Thank you to our sponsors! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: The Blockchain Association: https://theblockchainassociation.org Kristin Smith: https://twitter.com/KMSmithDC The Hinman Token Standard: https://medium.com/@BlockchainAssoc/understanding-the-secs-guidance-on-digital-tokens-the-hinman-token-standard-dd51c6105e2a Token Taxonomy Act: https://www.congress.gov/b

Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, discusses this week's 51% attack on the Ethereum Classic blockchain. He describes how the attacker was able to gain control of more than 51% of the network, why it was inexpensive for them to do so, how they profited from their attack and who loses money in such an attack. We talk about what types of blockchains are susceptible to these types of attacks, whether or not Coinbase or other exchange will de-list ETC and why the price of ETC hasn't dropped -- and what that means for cryptoeconomic theories around 51% attacks. Thank you to our sponsors! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Coinbase blog identifying the 51% attack: https://blog.coinbase.com/ethereum-classic-etc-is-currently-being-51-attacked-33be13ce32de Charlie's tweet about how a coin that's dominant in its respective mining algorithm will not be vulnerable to 51% attacks: https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite/status/1082369887278837763 Charlie's tweet about how only decentralized b

On the 10th birthday of the Bitcoin network, Arjun Balaji, founder and managing partner at Shomei Capital, explains why doesn't worry too much about potential bugs in the code such as there was last fall, why we'll see improved scalability, privacy and fungibility in the top cryptocurrency in 2019, and why he believes the Lightning Network will foster more developer activity on Bitcoin.  He also explains his view that governance tokens and token curated registries will be less popular than they were in 2018 and how such systems further entrench existing power structures. We look at the different waves of crypto funds, how they'll differentiate themselves during the crypto winter, and why we'll see some consolidation in that sector. Plus, he explains why long-term, value from security tokens will be captured by underwriters and why it's unclear who are the right investors for security tokens. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Arjun's crypto theses for

Jemma Green, cofounder and chairman of PowerLedger, describes how the company, which won the 2018 Extreme Tech Challenge, spearheaded by Sir Richard Branson and CES, is using tokens to solve various energy problems. One is the principal-agent problem in which the landlords of residential buildings don't have an incentive to install renewables because the tenants are the ones who would recoup the savings. Another is that, as more people install renewables, the grid is becoming less robust and more expensive. She describes the two types of tokens PowerLedger has, how that enables peer-to-peer trading but also involves the utilities, which pilots they have going now, how they're enabling energy asset financing and their work with carbon credits. Thank you to our sponsors! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: PowerLedger: https://www.powerledger.io Jemma Green: https://twitter.com/msjemmagreen PowerLedger wins the Extreme Tech Challenge: https://medium.com/power-ledger/power-ledge

Bloomberg reporter Matt Leising, who obtained bank statements from Tether's bank, Noble Bank in Puerto Rico, found that for those months, the number of dollars in the bank matched the amount of Tether outstanding. He talks about what this means, whether it matters that both Tether and Noble Bank were founded by Brock Pierce, and whether it matters that the statements are not the most recent. We also touch on other investigations involving Tether, including the CFTC's investigation into whether Tether is fully backed by dollar reserves, the Department of Justice's investigation into whether Tether was used to manipulate the Bitcoin price, and why both Tether and Bitfinex have had such a hard time maintaining banking relationships. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Matt Leising: https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/AGfq0QVqo0I/matthew-leising https://mobile.twitter.com/mattleising His story on Tether: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-18

This special episode is a recording of the closing fireside chat I had at Consensus: Invest, titled “Financial Products: 2019 and Beyond,”  with Jan Van Eck, president and CEO of the Van Eck Securities Corporation, and Mike Belshe, cofounder and CEO of BitGo. During the talk, we discuss SEC chairman Jay Clayton’s comments earlier that day that the main barrier to a Bitcoin ETF was market manipulation. We dive into how well the problem of custody has been solved for potential financial products, and what the entrance of Bakkt and Fidelity could mean for the space in 2019. Thank you to our sponsors! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: Thank you to Consensus: Invest for inviting me to moderate! https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-invest-2018/agenda Van Eck: https://www.vaneck.com BitGo: https://bitgo.com The comments with SEC chairman Jay Clayton that we reference at the beginning: https://www.coindesk.com/sec-jay-clayton-consensus-invest-video An article on what he sai

ConsenSys's Andrew Keys talks about the company's recent pivot, called "ConsenSys 2.0," toward greater efficiency, accountability and focus on revenue, why it laid off about 150 people, and what areas it plans to generate revenue from. He explains what the company's mission and goals were in ConsenSys 1.0, how its new priorities will resemble those of more traditional companies, and whether it will retain its flat, unhierarchical structure. Plus, he reveals that the company has "years" of runway left, even as it toys with taking on outside investment. Thank you to our sponsor: CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode links: ConsenSys: https://consensys.net Andrew Keys: https://twitter.com/consensysandrew Jeff Kauflin's article about ConsenSys: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2018/12/05/cryptopia-in-crisis-billionaire-joe-lubins-ethereum-experiment-is-a-mess-how-long-will-he-prop-it-up/ Unconfirmed episode about ConsenSys with Jeff: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/how-consensys-g

Despite having Joe Lubin's billions at its back, and despite having 1,200 employees to build apparently anything they wanted in the Ethereum ecosystem, ConsenSys has accomplished very little and has little revenue -- so it's finally facing the music and laying off 13% of its employees. Jeff Kauflin, staff writer at Forbes, who wrote a great story on how ConsenSys is flailing, discusses how the company got to this place. (Hint: asteroid mining and college diplomas on a blockchain are part of the answer.) We talk about whether any ConsenSys projects actually have some traction, how much of the new focus has to do with the downturn in the crypto markets -- particularly bitcoin and ether, which are rumored to comprise most of Lubin's wealth -- and what ConsenSys's difficulties mean for Ethereum. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed Episode Links: Jeff Kauflin's stories on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/#6083b54463ae On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jeff