Chain's Adam Ludwin On Who Is Best Poised To Benefit From Blockchain Technology

Will Warren, cofounder of decentralized exchange protocol 0x, was working on building tokenized derivatives for Ethereum when he and his cofounder realized there would be no place to trade them. They ended up pivoting to create a decentralized exchange protocol, 0x, that enables companies to use that infrastructure to direct fulfill trade orders without worrying about a Mt. Gox- or Bitfinex-type hacking situation, as users would still retain control of their funds. In this conversation, he talks about the problems with centralized exchanges and how decentralized exchanges can overcome some of their own obstacles including liquidity and problems with front running. He also gives answers to some of the criticisms of the 0x project, including why it needs its own token (ZRX) and what the token's purpose is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Mars 20181h 2min

Future Perfect Ventures' founder and managing partner Jalak Jobanputra and I discuss the New York Times article earlier this week about how few women there are in crypto. We discuss some of the surprising comments we saw from women in the space who wish the story hadn't been written and Jobanputra's new effort to increase diversity in crypto, The Collective Future. The New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/business/cryptocurrency-women-blockchain-bros.html Jutta Steiner's tweet: https://twitter.com/jutta_steiner/status/968158503096471553 Meltem Dermirors' tweet: https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem/status/967983438945968130 Elizabeth Stark's tweet: https://twitter.com/starkness/status/968307972597272576 Wired article about The Collective Future: https://www.wired.com/story/for-women-in-cryptocurrency-a-new-effort-to-grow-their-ranks/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2 Mars 201824min

Rune Christensen of MakerDAO and Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life and High Fidelity, discuss why stablecoins are called crypto's holy grail, why they may be what's necessary for mainstream adoption, and all the ways a stablecoin can be constructed. Philip brings in his experience with Second Life's Linden dollars, often called the first true virtual currency, to describe how it was constructed and how he's planning to disseminate the cryptocurrency of his new virtual world, High Fidelity. Plus, we talk about why a digital USD wouldn't be a threat to stablecoins and whether collateralized stablecoins resemble fractional reserve banking or not. Maker DAO: https://makerdao.com/ High Fidelity: https://highfidelity.com/ HFC: https://docs.highfidelity.com/high-fidelity-commerce/basics/hfc More info on Linden dollars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Second_Life The Hacker Noon post by Haseeb Qureshi: https://hackernoon.com/stablecoins-designing-a-price-stable-cryptocurrency-6bf24e2689e5 IMF SDRs: http://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/14/51/Special-Drawing-Right-SDR Episode with Bill Tai: http://unchainedpodcast.co/maitai-globals-bill-tai-on-why-blockchain-is-the-6th-wave-of-technology Vitalik's post on collateralized debt obligations for issuer-backed tokens: https://ethresear.ch/t/collateralized-debt-obligations-for-issuer-backed-tokens/525 Other stablecoins: Tether: https://tether.to/ Basecoin: http://www.getbasecoin.com/ Havven: https://havven.io/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Feb 20181h 4min

Subscribe to my new show, Unconfirmed! Here's a sample: Brian Kelly of BKCM talks about token-curated registries, such as the proposal for Messari, by Ryan Selkis, formerly of Digital Currency Group and CoinDesk, and why such TCRs are probably a good idea, but what pitfalls they may face. We also discuss the highly anticipated launch of crypto trading on Robinhood and look behind the scenes at Venezuela's new crypto offering, the petro. Token curated registries: Proposal for Messari: https://medium.com/@twobitidiot/a-token-to-self-regulate-tokens-but-really-a61da77e6a7b TCRs generally: https://medium.com/@ilovebagels/token-curated-registries-1-0-61a232f8dac7 A curated list of resources on TCRs: https://medium.com/@tokencuratedregistry/the-token-curated-registry-whitepaper-bd2fb29299d6 Robinhood launches crypto trading: http://blog.robinhood.com/news/2018/2/21/robinhood-crypto-trading-is-here https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/22/free-crypto-trading/ Petro: A good tweet storm on some of the issues surrounding the petro's launch: https://twitter.com/alemacgo/status/966072887319973891 Some meeting having to do with the petro that Laura found amusing -- the guy's smiles begin around 00:25: https://twitter.com/infrabolivar/status/965777624516759552 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Feb 201824min

The cofounder of MyEtherWallet and CEO of newly launched MyCrypto walks us through the nuts and bolts of how MyCrypto works, how it differs from a company like Coinbase, why the keys you get from the site even enable to work offline -- and how the company makes money. She also describes how the crypto community changed in 2017, her crazy sleeping schedule during that year, and how she responds when users ask questions like whether or not an initial coin offering will really deliver on the returns promised. We also cover what it's like being a CEO when running a company was never in her game plan, how she got into crypto after starting off in film school and what her tips are for not losing your crypto. https://mycrypto.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Feb 20181h 1min

Check out the first episode of Unconfirmed, in which Olaf Carlson-Wee, CEO and founder of Polychain Capital, discusses why an issue facing the Ethereum community right now has him thinking about on-chain governance. If you enjoy the episode, subscribe to Unconfirmed today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Feb 201823min

Unconfirmed: Insights and Analysis From the Top Minds in Crypto drops today! The first guest is Olaf Carlson-Wee, CEO and founder of crypto hedge fund Polychain Capital. We discuss the week's news and what is on Olaf's mind these days. It's available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify, TuneIn and wherever you get your podcasts. Check it out and subscribe today! Online at: www.unconfirmedpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Feb 20182min

Erik Voorhees says the greatest scam perpetrated on mankind is currency debasement -- and that crypto will change all that. In this wide-ranging interview, the CEO of crypto-to-crypto exchange Shapeshift talks about how crypto will take away power from central banks, why he believes "maximalists" -- those who believe one crypto asset will rule them all -- are wrong, and why someday we will look back and see the intertwining of money and state as barbaric and unjust, just as we now see the intertwining of church and state. We also discuss the prospects for Bitcoin in the face of high fees, how regulation will affect the development of crypto and why 2017 was the kind of year he hoped for when he got involved in Bitcoin in 2011. Shapeshift's products: https://shapeshift.io/#/coins https://prism.exchange/ https://www.keepkey.com/ http://coincap.io/ Erik's blog: http://moneyandstate.com/ His blog post addressing maximalism: http://moneyandstate.com/no-non-bitcoin-blockchains-are-not-disrespectful-to-satoshi/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Feb 201853min