Unchained

In this episode, Austin Campbell, a professor at Columbia Business School, discusses the recent allegations made by the CFTC against Binance, and whether or not criminal charges will be brought against company officers such as CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, or former Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim. He also sheds light on how this case could shape which agency will have regulatory authority over crypto assets. Show highlights: what the CFTC's allegations against Binance are whether Binance and its employees will face criminal charges what the two most likely scenarios for Binance are, according to Austin how regulators got so many details and so much information from CZ's phone whether CZ is personally liable and whether the US could extradite him  how the CFTC used the complaint to state that BTC, LTC, ETH, and some stablecoins are commodities Why Austin believes Coinbase would be the "single biggest winner" if Binance US is shut down how this case is going to help determine which agency has jurisdiction to regulate crypto assets Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Guest Austin Campbell, professor at Columbia Business School and Managing Partner at Zero Knowledge Consulting Previous coverage on Unchained: Just a Coincidence? Coinbase and Polygon Lawyers See Bad Omens in SEC Crackdown Links CFTC vs. Binance Unchained: CFTC Sues Binance and CZ Over US Regulatory Violations Bloomberg’s Matt Levine: The CFTC Comes for Binance Previous coverage on Unchained: The Chopping Block: Is This the Beginning of the End for Binance? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 Mar 202344min

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, they discuss Binance's recent regulatory issues, the potential impact on the crypto markets, the CFTC's stance on tokens, and also touch on Do Kwon's arrest and Hong Kong's approach to crypto regulation. Show highlights:  whether the chief compliance officer of Binance was aware of how the exchange was evading compliance how the CFTC contradicted the SEC about some tokens being securities whether Binance was trading against its customers what the future of Binance looks like after the CFTC lawsuit how the Do Kwon arrest coincided with Vitalik running an experiment in Montenegro  how the SEC's Wells Notice against Coinbase will affect the exchange whether all the regulatory actions are coordinated  what would happen to the crypto markets if Binance goes down  how Hong Kong’s approach to crypto regulation contrasts with that of the US Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Robert Leshner, founder of Compound  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Disclosures Links CFTC vs. Binance Unchained: CFTC Sues Binance and CZ Over US Regulatory Violations   Coinbase Wells Notice Previous coverage of Unchained: Coinbase’s Top Lawyer Calls SEC Wells Notice a ‘Massive Overreach’  Coinbase: We asked the SEC for reasonable crypto rules for Americans. We got legal threats instead. The Crypto Securities Market is Waiting to be Unlocked. But First We Need Workable Rules. Unchained:  SEC Issues Coinbase a Wells Notice U.S. Supreme Court Hears First Crypto Case: Coinbase Arbitration Dispute Bloomberg: Coinbase (COIN) Gets SEC Wells Notice Over Crypto Offerings Do Kwon Unchained:  Do Kwon Arrested in Montenegro, Faces Criminal Charges From US Prosecutors  Do Kwon Plans to Appeal 30-Day Detention Extension After Arrest DL News: US requests extradition of Do Kwon from Montenegro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Mar 20231h 5min

In this episode, Stanford cryptography professor Dan Boneh and a16z General Partner Ali Yahya elevate our knowledge of zero-knowledge proofs and their applications in the blockchain world. Listen as they dive into the intricacies of succinct proof systems, the difference between SNARKs and STARKs, the magic of recursive SNARKs, and why zero-knowledge systems are essential to the evolution of Ethereum. Show highlights: how Ali became a general partner at a16z Crypto and why Dan started working on “the science of blockchains” what a succinct proof system is analogies for understanding zero-knowledge proofs the difference between SNARKs and STARKs and whether centralization can be fully avoided how zero-knowledge technology became so crucial for blockchains the reasons to push computations off-chain and the applications of this technology why zkEVMs are essential to help Ethereum scale why privacy is important not only in financial transactions but also in other areas like social networks and gaming the challenges that arise from trusted setups and whether it would be possible to create false proofs how to mitigate the trusted setup problem with different proof systems what is being built to make zero-knowledge proofs cheaper to create whether a privacy-focused technology can be pursued while staying compliant with regulations how zero-knowledge proofs can improve the security of blockchain bridges Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Halborn Guests: Ali Yahya, general partner at a16z crypto Dan Boneh, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, Stanford University; and senior research advisor, a16z crypto Using ZK Proofs to Fight Disinformation Links Unchained: zkEVM: The Computing Overhaul to Help Scale Ethereum Previous coverage of Unchained on zero-knowledge: Can You Trace Monero? 'It's Hard - But Not Impossible,' Says Nick Bax a16z crypto: Privacy-Protecting Regulatory Solutions Using Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Full Paper zkDocs: Zero-knowledge Information Sharing How the Coming Privacy Layer Will Fix the Broken Web CoinDesk: Polygon Rolls Out Zero-Knowledge, Privacy-Enhanced Identification Product   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 Mar 20231h 9min

Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, shares his concerns about the SEC’s recent warning that it would pursue legal action against the crypto exchange. With the U.S. markets regulator failing to provide clear rules on digital assets, Grewal discusses the implications for Coinbase and for the future of crypto in the United States. Show highlights: why Grewal was not surprised by the Wells notice  how Coinbase asked the SEC multiple times for clear rules and got no response, according to Grewal how the SEC is withholding information about which rules Coinbase allegedly broke, according to Grewal Coinbase’s efforts to disclose everything about its operations  whether Grewal thinks there was a change in the regulators’ approach after the collapse of FTX why Grewal thinks this is not the right way to go to keep crypto in the United States the jurisdictional fight between the CFTC and the SEC whether Coinbase will proceed with litigation  why Grewal thinks the Wells notice is a “shot at crypto as a whole” why Coinbase believes that its products are “fully compliant” what opportunities the U.S. Congress has to legislate blockchain technology Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Guest Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase Previous appearances on Unchained: Just a Coincidence? Coinbase and Polygon Lawyers See Bad Omens in SEC Crackdown Links Coinbase:  We asked the SEC for reasonable crypto rules for Americans. We got legal threats instead. The Crypto Securities Market is Waiting to be Unlocked. But First We Need Workable Rules. Unchained:  SEC Issues Coinbase a Wells Notice U.S. Supreme Court Hears First Crypto Case: Coinbase Arbitration Dispute Bloomberg: Coinbase (COIN) Gets SEC Wells Notice Over Crypto Offerings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Mar 202339min

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. This week, NEAR co-founder and former Google AI researcher Illia Polosukhin joins the show to discuss the intersection of crypto and machine learning. Show highlights:  whether Signature was shut down because of its crypto arm whether banking crypto is riskier than banking other industries how Balaji’s $1 million BTC bet is just highly effective marketing whether the Fed is doing quantitative easing again how the artificial intelligence industry has changed over the years why Illia says that “open source always wins” the intersection of blockchain technology and AI whether a broken Tesla could become the world’s greatest investor Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Guest Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near Disclosures Links Signature and Banking Unchained: $4 Billion in Crypto Deposits Not Included in Flagstar Signature Deal Was Signature Bank Actually Insolvent? Regulators Close Signature Bank Following SVB Collapse Jim Bianco on Why the Banking System Has Always Been Broken Nic Carter: Operation Choke Point 2.0 Is Underway, And Crypto Is In Its Crosshairs Arthur Hayes: Kaiseki Balaji’s bet Coin Edition: Balaji Bets $1M on Bitcoin Price, Says US Hyperinflation Is Underway Artificial Intelligence: Richard Sutton: The Bitter Lesson Facebook: Introducing LLaMA: A foundational, 65-billion-parameter large language model Stanford: Alpaca: A Strong, Replicable Instruction-Following Model Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Mar 20231h 20min

Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, and Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares, share their concerns about crypto in the U.S. following a wild week in the banking sector. With Signature Bank’s takeover looking like a targeted takedown and crypto-friendly upstarts like Custodia being shadowbanned by the Fed, the two longtime experts look ahead at the fights to come. Is USDC next to land in regulators’ crosshairs? Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: how crypto is viewed as a “big, scary, and strange” industry how Signature and Silvergate became so important for the crypto industry with SEN and Signet why Caitlin says it’s “crystal clear” that we are now in Operation Choke Point 2.0, with U.S. regulators pushing to debank the crypto industry why Caitlin says the Fed’s vote against Custodia’s application was preordained whether Sen. Elizabeth Warren had an impact on the current crisis how everything comes down to game theory whether VCs are responsible for causing the bank run whether the rollback in 2018 of certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act played a role in the recent collapse Caitlin’s hot takes on what happened with Signature Bank the unique characteristics of Custodia’s business model as a bank how stablecoins challenge the current financial system why it’s so important for crypto to improve its public perception Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Halborn Guests: Meltem Demirors, Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank Links Previous coverage of Unchained: Jim Bianco on Why the Banking System Has Always Been Broken The Fed Is In Checkmate: What Will Powell Do? The Fall of SVB: What Happened and How It Affects Crypto NYT: Congress Approves First Big Dodd-Frank Rollback NYMAG: Barney Frank Talks More About the Surprise Shuttering of Signature Bank WSJ Editorial Board: Signature Bank’s Crypto Execution Unchained: FDIC Denies Asking Signature Buyers to Give Up Crypto: Report Was Signature Bank Actually Insolvent? Circle to Bring On New Banking Partner for USDC Minting, Redemption Circle Clears Backlog of USDC Minting and Redemption Requests Regulators Close Signature Bank Following SVB Collapse ​​Silvergate to Wind Down Operations in ‘Voluntary Liquidation’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Mar 20231h 16min

Jim Bianco, president and macro strategist at Bianco Research, explains what’s causing the recent cascade of bank failures. Yield seekers taking their money elsewhere are putting banks under strain. However, the Signature Bank takeover by New York regulators is “a little fishy,” Bianco says. He adds that DeFi has been holding up strong, providing an “alternative to this unstable system that we have right now.” Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: why Jim thinks this is a liquidity crisis, not a solvency crisis the role of crypto and tech startups in the recent bank run  how people have been pulling out of crypto in the past 18 months why the traditional fractional reserve system for banks is broken why crypto projects like Aave and Compound are solutions why Jim says the Fed is a “legal counterfeiter” why money moving around so fast is a challenge to our antiquated financial system  whether Signet, Signature Bank’s digital payments platform, is the real reason why regulators shut the bank down whether the Fed will succeed or fail with FedNow, its instant payment system Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Guest Jim Bianco, President and founder of Bianco Research Links Unchained: The Fall of SVB: What Happened and How It Affects Crypto Was Signature Bank Actually Insolvent? Circle to Bring On New Banking Partner for USDC Minting, Redemption Regulators Close Signature Bank Following SVB Collapse Silvergate to Wind Down Operations in ‘Voluntary Liquidation’ CNBC: Long-awaited Fed digital payment system to launch in July Ram Ahluwalia’s tweet on the Fed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Mar 202345min

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. This week: Silicon Valley Bank went belly up and knocked USDC off its peg with it. For good measure, Signature Bank was taken over by regulators. After a hellish weekend, what did we learn? Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights:  what happened with Silicon Valley Bank  why USDC depegged and reached a low of 88 cents how Maker responded to the depegging of USDC whether DeFi responded flawlessly to the chaotic events how Haseeb’s VC fund, Dragonfly, was ensnared in SVB’s collapse what Tarun thinks made Elizabeth Warren change her tune on SVB whether Signature Bank was shut down because of its crypto-related activities why bonds are not marked to market by banks which company is going to issue the euro-dollar stablecoin how BTC has been outperforming the NASDAQ since the FTX collapse how Euler Finance got hacked for almost $200 million whether flash loans should be banned  the rules around crypto and finance in the Middle East why DeFi is a fundamental innovation that’s better than many financial systems across the world Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Robert Leshner, founder of Compound  Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Disclosures Links Unchained: The Fall of SVB: What Happened and How It Affects Crypto Was Signature Bank Actually Insolvent? Euler Finance Loses $197 Million in Flash Loan Exploit MakerDAO to Reinforce DAI Peg With Parameter Changes Circle to Bring On New Banking Partner for USDC Minting, Redemption Coinbase Says It Holds $240 Million in Cash at Signature Bank Regulators Close Signature Bank Following SVB Collapse Silvergate to Wind Down Operations in ‘Voluntary Liquidation’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Mar 20231h 6min