Unchained

ETH staking began in December 2020. With Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade, which could happen as early as mid-April, withdrawals of staked ETH will finally be enabled. Will validators rush to cash out? Or will Shanghai bring more institutional stakers into the fold? Christine Kim, VP of research at Galaxy Digital, joins the show to discuss how Etheruem’s latest upgrade will affect the network, and maybe even ETH’s price. Show highlights: how Christine became an Ethereum expert what you need to know about Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade when Shanghai is expected to go live on mainnet what the difference is between Shanghai and Capella possible outcomes following the activation of staked ETH withdrawals whether Shanghai makes ETH staking more attractive to institutions why Christine thinks there won’t be much impact on ETH’s price how Shanghai will impact liquid staking providers upgrades that are coming to Lido and Rocket Pool what will happen in Ethereum’s subsequent upgrade: Cancun what “proto-danksharding” is and how it will help Ethereum scale what New York Attorney General Letitia James got wrong when she said ETH is a security how Ethereum development has become more and more decentralized over the years the next steps in Ethereum’s roadmap  why Christine is still concerned about Lido and staking centralization what zkEVMs are and why they play a key role in the future of Ethereum scaling Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com FTSE Halborn Guest: Christine Kim, Vice president of research at Galaxy Digital Twitter Links Post-Merge, If Lido Becomes Dominant, What Does That Mean for Ethereum? In the Recent Crypto Market Meltdown, What Role Did Lido’s stETH Play? Is ETH on Its Way to Becoming Ultra-Sound Money? Yes, Says Justin Drake ETHDenver presentation: Staked ETH Withdrawals: A Step-By-Step Overview with Christine Kim Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Mar 20231h 2min

BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, fresh out of home confinement after settling charges with the U.S. government, joins “The Chopping Block” with Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra. The early crypto pioneer pulls no punches in his assessment of SBF, TradFi’s failings, and how crypto traders lost the plot in trusting CeFi middlemen. Show highlights:  why Arthur travels with stuffed animals, and what his favorite brands are what factors led Sam Bankman-Fried to success how Bill Clinton seems to be related to many multibillion-dollar downfalls whether everyone in crypto thinks that prices are eventually going up what’s the thesis behind Maelstrom, Arthur’s new investment arm why he’s bullish on decentralization but also game to trade “dog shit” what the impact of Silvergate’s failure will be on the crypto industry what would Arthur have done if he was the CEO of Silvergate the role of rising interest rates in understanding Silvergate’s downfall why holding Tether’s USDT is not so different from USDC why crypto needs alternatives to dollar-backed stablecoins the real reasons why the U.S. Treasury is worried about stablecoins Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Robert Leshner, founder of Compound  Guest Arthur Hayes, cofounder of BitMEX Twitter Medium Disclosures Links Unchained:  ​​Silvergate to Wind Down Operations in ‘Voluntary Liquidation’ Silvergate Confers With FDIC to Avoid Closing Down: Report Silvergate Shuts Down Crypto Payments Network Bloomberg: Silvergate Had a Crypto Bank Run NYMAG: Arthur Hayes, the Original King of Crypto, Is Back. Arthur’s posts:  White Boy Dust on Crust Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Mar 202359min

Elliott Stein, senior litigation analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, shares his insights from a court hearing this week on the SEC’s rejection of Grayscale’s bid to convert GBTC into a spot bitcoin ETF. Stein says federal appellate court judges seemed skeptical of the SEC’s arguments for why bitcoin futures ETFs are OK while bitcoin spot ETFs aren’t. Who’s likely to win the case and what does it mean for the crypto industry as a whole? Show highlights: why Grayscale filed the lawsuit against the SEC why Grayscale believes that a bitcoin futures ETF is essentially the same as a spot ETF what the SEC disagrees why the judges pushed back against the SEC’s arguments why Elliott changed his mind about who will win the case after the hearing what would happen if Grayscale ends up winning the lawsuit and whether the SEC could go back on its previous approvals whether other companies applying for a bitcoin spot ETF would benefit from Grayscale winning the case whether this case could have an impact on the jurisdictional battle between the SEC and the CFTC why Elliott is keeping an eye on other cases such as Ripple, Terraform Labs, and insider trading at Coinbase Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Previous coverage of Unchained on Grayscale and GBTC:  Why Grayscale Is Suing the SEC Over Its Denial of a Bitcoin ETF $5 Billion in AUM: Why Growth at Grayscale Exploded in the Last Quarter Bitwise's Latest Plans to Get a Bitcoin ETF Approved DCG's Dilemma: Should It Sell Its GBTC Holdings to Repay Gemini? Gemini vs. DCG Is Heating Up. Could Gemini Force Genesis Into Bankruptcy? ‘The Last Big Whale’: Why the Crypto Contagion of 2022 Eventually Hit Genesis Guest Elliott Stein, Senior Litigation Analyst for the Financials Sector at Bloomberg Intelligence Twitter Links CoinDesk:  Judges Express Skepticism of SEC Arguments in Grayscale Bitcoin ETF Hearing A Dozen Reasons Why the SEC Should Have Approved Grayscale's Spot Bitcoin ETF Axios: Judges question SEC rejection of Grayscale's spot bitcoin ETF Reuters: US court questions SEC's rejection of Grayscale's bitcoin fund proposal Don Verrilli Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Mar 202337min

LayerZero launched a testnet bridge that allows users to swap mainnet ETH for Goerli ETH (GoETH), which led to a sudden emergence of a liquid market for GoETH tokens. This was a hugely controversial decision, as many in the Ethereum community believe that testnet tokens should remain free. At ETH Denver, Laura moderated a panel discussion about this hot topic with Bryan Pellegrino, cofounder and CEO of LayerZero Labs, Greg Markou, founder of Chainsafe and Matt Garnett, software engineer for the Ethereum Foundation. Show highlights: why LazerZero launched a testnet bridge for Goerli ETH (GoETH) the three reasons why Greg is opposed to Goerli ETH having a price why Bryan believes it is impossible for a permissionless testnet to have free tokens  the three types of constituencies that use testnets  whether the Sepolia testnet solves the issues with Goerli the upcoming Holli testnet and the problems it aims to solve how to create a permissionless testnet that takes into account the needs of developers from all over the world whether LayerZero’s move will create more problems in the future Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com FTSE Halborn Panel Bryan Pellegrino, cofounder and CEO of LayerZero Labs. Greg Markou, founder of Chainsafe Matt Garnett, software engineer for the Ethereum Foundation Links: Unchained: Goerli Testnet ETH Is Now Being Monetized CoinDesk: Start of the End? Testnet Goerli Ether Spikes to $1.60 as Traders Jump on Opportunity Meant for Developers LayerZero blog post: Public Goods by LayerZero. Alchemy: What is the Sepolia testnet? Ethereum (ETH) Developer Announces Plan To Launch New ‘Holli’ Testnet Later This Year 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Mar 202346min

In-person at ETH Denver, crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest crypto news. This week, Kyle Samani, scion of Solana, joins the show.  Show highlights:  why Coinbase decided to launch Base, a layer 2 on Ethereum and whether developers are building on it how Coinbase might make money from it whether it will be a permissioned, KYC’ed chain that requires users to reveal their identities  Kyle's opinion on the allegedly fraudulent operations of FTX, in which his firm, Multicoin Capital, was an investor how due diligence changed in the investing space after the collapse of FTX what the future of Paxos looks like now that its primary source of revenue, BUSD, was impacted why Kyle thinks the latest nearly 20-hour outage of Solana is different from previous outages what he’s excited about in Solana now how Jump, a VC firm, was able to “hack back” $150 million in previously stolen assets after a court order Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Guest Kyle Samani, managing partner at Multicoin Capital Disclosures Links Base Unchained:  Coinbase Launches Ethereum Layer 2 Network ‘Base’ Video Solana Unchained: Solana Attempts Two Chain Restarts After Near 20-Hour Outage FTX Unchained: FTX’s Nishad Singh Charged With Fraud After Guilty Plea Wormhole Coindesk: Oasis Exploits Its Own Wallet Software to Seize Crypto Stolen in Wormhole Hack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Mar 202347min

Muneeb Ali, co-creator of Stacks, discusses the Bitcoin trend that has everyone – or at least, many Bitcoiners – buzzing: Bitcoin ordinals. Ali explains why it is that they’ve taken up block space, pushed Bitcoin fees higher, and caused controversy in the community. Plus, he explains why the phenomenon has generated excitement about Stacks. Show highlights: how Ordinals technology works to enable NFTs in the Bitcoin blockchain the difference between NFTs in smart contracts platforms like Ethereum vs. NFTs in Bitcoin the way in which the Taproot upgrade allowed Ordinals technology to exist what security measures to take in order to protect one’s Bitcoin NFTs why the Bitcoin maxi community reacted negatively to Ordinals  why Stacks jumped so much in price after the release of Ordinals what Muneeb thinks is the significance of Yuga Labs launching NFTs on Bitcoin Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Guest Muneeb Ali, co-creator of Stacks Twitter Previous appearance on Unchained: Blockstack On Getting Independence From Google, Facebook And Amazon Links Unchained: BAYC Creator Yuga Labs to Launch Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs Decrypt: What Are Ordinals? A Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin NFTs Dune: Ordinals - Inscriptions on Bitcoin Episodes about Bitcoin mentioned in the show:  Does Maximalism Help or Hurt Bitcoin? Lyn Alden and Udi Wertheimer Debate Eric Wall and Udi Wertheimer on Why Bitcoin Maximalism Is ‘Like a Shitcoin Community’ Is Bitcoin Doomed to Fail? Eric Wall and Justin Bons Face Off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Mar 202339min

Andy Greenberg, senior writer for WIRED and author of “Tracers in the Dark,” takes us inside the world of crypto-tracing crimebusters and voices the ambivalence of Bitcoin – a cypherpunk creation – eroding financial privacy. Hear how the longtime crypto scribe got law enforcement and sleuthing firms like Chainalysis to open up about their major wins in taking down darknet kingpins. Show highlights: why Andy thought early on that Bitcoin would enable crypto anarchy how blockchain analytics started being used to tackle crime why the IRS Criminal Investigation unit was more open to discussing its techniques  how Andy learned many new things about already well-known stories when writing about them for the book the methods used to bring down the “biggest dark-web drug lord” in history did AlphaBay’s Alexandre Cazes really kill himself in a Thai prison? how researcher Sarah Meiklejohn developed tools to deanonymize Bitcoin  why she’s now uncomfortable that her techniques were adopted by Chainalysis and sold to law enforcement what Andy feels about the importance of privacy how Monero is harder to trace than Bitcoin but not untraceable what the impact of zero-knowledge technology will be for blockchain analytics firms whether the cypherpunk ethos is dead why the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity will never die Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com FTSE Halborn NYU Guest Andy Greenberg, senior writer for WIRED and author of “Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency” Twitter Writings for WIRED Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency Links: WIRED: The Hunt for the Kingpin Behind AlphaBay, Part 1: The Shadow The Hunt for the Kingpin Behind AlphaBay, Part 2: Pimp_alex_91 The Hunt for the Kingpin Behind AlphaBay, Part 3: Alpha Male  De-Anonymization in Bitcoin with Sarah Meiklejohn | a16z crypto research talks Wikipedia: Welcome to Video case Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 Feb 20231h 11min

Emily Parker, CoinDesk’s executive director of global content, joins the show to discuss the Asian crypto markets. From Hong Kong to Tokyo, Parker sees bullish signs in recent developments. Hear why she thinks China and Japan are closely watching as the U.S. clamps down on the crypto industry.  Show highlights: how Hong Kong is trying to create a regulated environment for crypto whether Beijing and Chinese officials support Hong Kong’s initiative  what was China’s motivation to make it harder to buy and hold crypto whether Asian countries will lead the next bull run  what the crypto environment looks like in Japan and how it differs from the U.S. how Japan responded to major crypto hacks and meltdowns what Japan is doing in terms of stablecoin regulation and adoption how Japanese authorities are trying to establish guidelines for DAOs whether people in Asia have different attitudes and views toward crypto and investing in general Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Guest Emily Parker, executive director of global content at CoinDesk. Twitter Previous appearance on Unchained: Crypto in China: What It Really Looks Like Links CoinDesk:  Japan Embraces Web3 As Global Regulators Grow Wary of Crypto FTX Japan Customers Can Begin Withdrawing Fiat, Crypto on Feb. 21 WSJ: Some FTX Customers Can Withdraw Their Money—in Japan, at Least Bloomberg:  Hong Kong’s Crypto Hub Ambitions Win Quiet Backing From Beijing - Bloomberg Hong Kong Plans to Let Retail Sector Trade Larger Crypto Tokens Like Bitcoin Crypto Mogul Sun Says Huobi Betting China Will Warm to Digital Assets as Exchange Targets Hong Kong Hong Kong to Establish Task Force to Help Develop Crypto Hub US Crypto Crackdown Boosts Appeal of Dubai, Hong Kong, Europe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Feb 202336min