The High-Speed World Of ICOs: Smith and Crown Discuss Cryptoeconomics And The Future Of Tokens

In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts James Seyffart, Alex Kruger, and Joe McCann, joined by guest Jack Platts, dive into the market's reaction to the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, looking at how this event will influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election—and the crypto markets. They also cover potential rate cuts: Could there be a cut this July? How big might the rate cut be in September? Could the decision ever be influenced by the upcoming election? They also give their predictions for what percentage of the BTC ETF inflows the ETH ETFs will reach, and James talks about what he’s expecting for Grayscale’s ETHE (hint: his view would be positive for ETH). Finally, they delve into what’s next for Bitcoin as the German government runs out of BTC and Mt. Gox distributions begin. Is it up only now? Show highlights: 00:00 Intro 01:18 Whether the Trump shooting has settled the election and whether the event caused a “flight to safety” 11:23 How election markets are becoming a place to watch election odds and whether crypto “leans right” 20:16 Whether rate cuts are coming in July or September and how much they’ll cut: 25bps or 50bps 29:06 How Joe views the relationship between global liquidity cycles, rate cuts, and Bitcoin's potential rise 34:41 What new updates there are about the Ethereum ETFs and their expected launch 42:08 Why Solana hasn't outperformed significantly since the Trump news 43:25 What market breadth indicates about the current market rally and the impact of rates in small caps 49:01 Everyone’s predictions of ETH ETF inflows and how much outflows we’ll see on Grayscale’s ETHE 53:04 What’s next for BTC after the German government is out of bitcoin, and with Mt. Gox distributions starting this week Hosts: James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard Joe McCann, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric Guest: Jack Platts, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Hypersphere Ventures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Juli 20241h 4min

Iggy Azalea joins Unchained to share the story of how the $MOTHER token got started (spoiler: there was a brush with a potential scammer), her stresses during the launch, and what she plans to do about the price slumping over 60% since the all-time high. A master of memes and OnlyFans, she talks about how she is using her experience in both realms to make MOTHER a success, even though she has yet to make any money from the token.  She also discusses her beef with Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin, the allegations that there was insider trading of MOTHER, and how she plans to avoid regulatory action. Show highlights: 00:00 Intro 01:27 How Iggy got “onchain” and interested in crypto 03:01 How Iggy's understanding of memes and the attention economy influenced her approach to music and now MOTHER 08:09 How a brush with “scammer” Sahil Arora sparked the MOTHER launch  11:56 How Iggy plans to integrate her token into her business ventures and what strategies she's using to achieve this 16:33 Why she chose two market makers – DWF Labs and Wintermute – and why she decided to name the coin "Mother" 23:53 The lessons she learned from her OnlyFans that she is applying to MOTHER  33:54 Iggy’s response to Vitalik Buterin's criticisms of her coin 41:31 What strategies Iggy believes will bring $MOTHER out of its current slump 47:33 How Iggy responds to allegations of insider activity and dumping $2 million worth of her token 55:15 Whether she is concerned about regulators coming after her and what she's doing to prevent that 1:02:55 What Iggy thinks about the criticism regarding celebrities launching memecoins 1:08:49 Whether Iggy has a preference between Solana and Ethereum 1:11:36 How she’s trying to onboard other celebs into crypto, and her plans for integrating $MOTHER into mainstream culture and fan interactions Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Polkadot Guest: Iggy Azalea, rapper, creator of $MOTHER Links Previous coverage of Unchained on Iggy and MOTHER: Solana Attracts Attention From Mainstream Celebrities Caitlyn Jenner, Davido, Iggy Azalea, Rich The Kid, and Trippie Redd MOTHER Sheds Half Its Value Since All-Time High Despite Iggy Azalea's Mastery of Crypto Memes Traders Coping As Iggy Azalea’s MOTHER Token Surpasses $100 Million Market Cap Bits + Bips: Iggy Azalea, $MOTHER, and Celeb Coins: Is This the Top of the Crypto Cycle? The Chopping Block: Iggy Azalea, Hamster Kombat, & Airdrop Insights  DWF labs CoinDesk: Iggy Azalea's MOTHER Token Jumps Over 50% After Partnering With DWF Labs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Juli 20241h 21min

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra explore the latest trends in the crypto world. In this episode, Jason Yanowitz from Blockworks joins the squad to explore the media's significant role in the crypto industry. They discuss challenges faced by the media in meeting client demands and industry expectations, and highlight financial sustainability and biases. The hosts compare crypto media to mainstream journalism, examining the balance between journalistic integrity and revenue. They critique broader media trends, discussing monopolistic narratives and public dissatisfaction, with a specific look at political coverage. The episode concludes with reflections on the media's evolving role in truth dissemination amidst industry fragmentation. Show highlights 🔹 The Airdrop Era: Examination of the potential end of the airdrop/token narrative.  🔹 Investing in Apps vs Infrastructure: Debate on funding apps versus infrastructure projects. 🔹 Crypto Media Trends: Analysis of shifts in crypto media, major acquisitions, and industry stance. 🔹 Challenges in Crypto Media: Ethical questions and investor pressures media firms face.  🔹 Future of Media: Trends in media companies, prediction markets, and trust dynamics.  🔹 Media Integrity: Exploration of media's perception, skepticism around its business motives, and flawed business models.   Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly  ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Jason Yanowitz, Founder of Blockworks   Disclosures Timestamps  00:00 Intro 02:30 Airdrops and Token Valuations 04:04 Apps vs. Infrastructure 14:26 Venture's Not a Charity 22:41 Crypto Media Landscape 32:31 Revenue in Media 34:26 Trust as the Cornerstone of Media 35:27 The Blockworks Op-Ed Controversy 38:55 Navigating Media Bias and Trust 44:18 Balaji's Anti-Media Sentiment 49:57 The Future of Media and Truth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Juli 20241h 4min

Mustafa Al-Bassam was a teenage hacktivist who outsmarted a US government contractor, shamed the Westboro Baptist Church, hacked Sony a record number of times, and eventually got arrested—though his 80 transgressions got halved for a funny reason.  At the Modular Summit in Brussels, Laura had a fireside chat with Mustafa to discuss how he went from his teenage years as the head of LulzSec and member of Anonymous to founding Celestia, a project aiming to solve key issues in blockchain scalability by going with a modular approach.  He also discussed data availability sampling, why he believes Celestia has achieved significant product-market fit since its launch, and the three key components of Celestia’s road map. Show highlights: 00:00 Intro 01:47 Mustafa’s origin story and how he became a developer who ended up hacking FBI affiliates and Fox News 05:32 How he hacked a military contractor to the US Department of Defense and Sony 09:16 Why Mustafa was arrested at the age of 16 11:14 What about Bitcoin attracted his attention and got him interested in the industry 15:22 Why he founded Celestia, after doing a PhD in scaling blockchains and understanding the problems of sharding 21:16 What data availability sampling is and why it is important 23:52 Why Mustafa believes that Celestia has had “extreme product market fit” since the launch 26:16 What’s next for Celestia and why Mustafa is so excited about the possibilities that increased block size can enable 29:36 How Celestia is working with zero knowledge accounts for defragmenting liquidity in rollups and access liquidity even within the Cosmos ecosystem 30:57 What the endgame for Celestia and the overall industry looks like, according to Mustafa 37:36 Q&A with the audience 44:44 Crypto News Recap Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! iTrustCapital Polkadot PlayFi Labs Guest Mustafa Al-Bassam, co-founder of Celestia Labs. Previous appearance on Unchained: Why the Celestia Team Sees a Future With 10,000 Roll-Ups Links Previous coverage of Unchained on modular blockchains: Three Crypto Pioneers on Crypto’s Monolithic vs. Modular Debate What Are Modular Blockchains? A Beginner's Guide Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Juli 20241h 1min

In this episode, crypto lawyers Kayvan Sadeghi and Sam Enzer delve into the SEC's lawsuit against Consensys, which focuses on MetaMask's swaps and staking services, and explore the implications of the SEC's stance on MetaMask acting as a broker-dealer, and the classification of its staking product as a security.  They discuss how recent rulings on Coinbase and Binance challenge the SEC's claims, and whether differing judicial opinions could lead to the Supreme Court.  Also, they talk about the potential impact of the Supreme Court striking down Chevron deference for crypto regulation. Show highlights: 00:00 Intro 01:22 The key claims in the SEC's lawsuit against Consensys and how they relate to MetaMask's swaps and staking services 03:42 How recent Coinbase and Binance rulings challenge the SEC's claims against Consensys 09:29 Whether differing judicial opinions on whether wallets with private keys act as brokers could end up being decided by the Supreme Court 12:55 How the SEC will substantiate its claims that MetaMask acts as a broker-dealer and that its staking product is a security in Texas legal briefings 17:42 Why a token itself is not considered a security, according to Sam, and how this distinction affects secondary market transactions in the SEC's case against MetaMask 22:14 What Lido and Rocket Pool can do in response to the SEC tangentially naming their liquid staking tokens as securities 31:27 How the SEC and Consensys lawsuits will proceed, and whether conflicting rulings could arise from their parallel tracks 36:35 The key distinctions in the Binance case compared to those of Coinbase and Kraken, and how the Binance ruling might impact future crypto cases 50:08 What Chevron deference means and how its removal impacts crypto 56:49 How the elimination of Chevron deference affects current crypto cases and legislative gridlock Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Polkadot Guests: Kayvan Sadeghi, partner at Jenner & Block Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel Previous episode of Unchained with Sam and Kayvan: SBF Trial: How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers Might Try and Win His Case Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Juli 20241h 8min

Prediction markets are gaining mainstream traction, particularly with the upcoming US elections. In this episode, Nick Tomaino, founder of 1confirmation, which is an investor in Polymarket, explores how platforms like Polymarket identified the possibility that President Biden might drop out of the campaign before the mainstream media did. He talks about the journey of Polymarket, the challenges it faced, and how it overcame them to provide a credible platform for betting on political outcomes.  Finally, Nick explains why prediction markets are currently illegal in the U.S., the implications of the Supreme Court striking down Chevron deference, and what the future holds for prediction markets in the U.S. Show highlights: 00:00 Intro 01:28 Why prediction markets like Polymarket finally gained mainstream traction, and how 1confirmation became an early investor 04:01 What challenges Polymarket faced in its journey to mainstream recognition, and how it managed to overcome them 07:22 How prediction markets contribute to bringing more truth to the world, particularly in the context of media narratives and social media algorithms 12:52 What challenges have arisen from conflicts in resolving prediction markets on Polymarket 19:00 How bets are created and how the wording and resolution of prediction markets is managed on Polymarket 21:56 How trading volumes affect the credibility of prediction markets on Polymarket 22:38The regulatory environment of prediction markets in the US and whether the elimination of Chevron deference by the Supreme Court will have a positive impact on these markets 28:35 Crypto News Recap Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, pop op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! iTrustCapital Polkadot PlayFi Labs Guest Nick Tomaino, Founder & General Partner at 1confirmation Links Recent news on Polymarket: Unchained: Polymarket Hits Record Highs in Monthly Users and Trading Volume Due to Presidential Election Crypto.news: Polymarket reverses Oracle decision on Barron Trump's involvement in DJT meme coin Decrypt: Ethereum ETFs Approved by the SEC? Yes—But Don't Bet On It - Decrypt Dune dashboard: Prediction Markets Commentary: Vitalik’s tweet: “Prediction markets and Community Notes are becoming the two flagship social epistemic technologies of the 2020s. Both truth-seeking and democratic, built around open public participation rather than pre-selected elites. I want to see many more things like this.” Nick Tomaino’s tweet: “2024 will go down in history as the year prediction markets went mainstream.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Juli 202441min

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra explore the latest trends in the crypto world. In this episode, special guest Laura Shin is sitting in for Tom to discuss the impact of prediction markets on politics and crypto. They explore how prediction markets like Polymarket affect public perception during the presidential election, contrasting their reliability against traditional journalism. The conversation also touches on the implications of prediction markets on insider trading, market manipulation, and the role of expert information. Additionally, they discuss the Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine and its potential impact on regulatory shifts in the crypto industry. The episode provides an insightful analysis into how prediction markets could revolutionize journalism and the evolving landscape of crypto regulation. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights 🔹 Discussion on the recent presidential debate and its implications for prediction markets and the crypto industry.  🔹 Overview of the prediction market phenomenon and its growing importance in political forecasting.  🔹 Examination of the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Chevron Deference and its implications for crypto regulations.  🔹 Debate on whether the ruling will lead to more specific legislation from Congress or if it will hinder effective rulemaking.  🔹 Speculation on how different political figures might impact future crypto legislation and regulation. Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly  ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly ⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate ⭐️Laura Shin, journalist, author of ‘The Cryptopians,’ founder and CEO of Unchained Disclosures Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:50 Presidential Debate Chaos 04:25 Mainstream Media vs. Prediction Markets 16:48 Insiders in Prediction Markets 30:38 Prediction Markets vs. Sports Betting 38:58 Market Manipulation 50:22 Supreme Court Ruling & Chevron Deference Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Juli 20241h 7min

Are Solana ETFs on the brink of approval? How might political outcomes influence this decision?  Join hosts James Seyffart, Alex Kruger, and Joe McCann as they delve into the latest buzz around Solana’s potential spot ETFs, dissect the SEC's puzzling delay on Ethereum ETFs, and debate why Bitcoin’s recent performance has diverged from the NASDAQ. They also discuss the U.S. presidential election, the event that Alex says was the “second most bizarre thing” he’s seen in his life, what the bond market seems to indicate about expectations for a Trump presidency, and how upcoming nonfarm payroll reports and potential rate might affect the markets.  Show highlights: 00:00 Intro 01:47 How political outcomes might influence the approval of spot Solana ETFs 04:16 Whether futures ETFs are 100% needed for an approval of spot crypto ETFs 09:26 The high premium on Grayscale's Solana Trust (GSOL) 13:50 How the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election could impact the crypto industry 20:55 Why the SEC delayed the launch of the Ethereum ETF 24:53 How the upcoming nonfarm payroll report and potential rate cuts impact market volatility and the Federal Reserve's decisions 27:51 How the rise of populist candidates in France and changes in currency markets might affect the US dollar and the broader economic landscape 31:40 How Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana performed in Q2, and the surprising outperformance of BONK 34:45 Why Bitcoin's performance diverged from the Nasdaq's recent rally 45:48 How recent movements in long-term bond rates are linked to political changes, such as the rise of right-wing populism and concerns about fiscal responsibility 52:45 How FTX creditors could potentially influence market dynamics, and the irony in the US government using Coinbase as a custodian Hosts: James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard Joe McCann, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Juli 202455min