The Chopping Block: The Clarity Act, Stablecoins, and a $120K Bitcoin Boom - Ep. 874

The IRS found three entities using bitcoin to evade taxes and has now demanded the records of millions of users at Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. An accountant and an attorney specializing in cryptocurrency discuss whether the IRS is overreaching, how this "unprecedented" case differs from previous ones pursued by the IRS, and what they think the ultimate outcome will be. Read the show notes. Other links: Coinbase Berns Weiss LLP Global Tax Accountants Brian Armstrong's response on Medium My magazine feature on Coinbase This episode was sponsored by Onramp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Jan 201751min

CME Group handles three billion contracts worth about $1 quadrillion annually. So why is it making a foray into bitcoin, whose market capitalization is a mere $16 billion? Sandra Ro, CME's head of digitization, explains its first cryptocurrency products, the Bitcoin Reference Rate and the Bitcoin Real-Time Index, as well as a forthcoming blockchain-based product, Royal Mint Gold. She also reveals which other cryptocurrencies have piqued her interest and which other physical world assets she thinks could be traded by blockchain.   Read the show notes.   Other links: CME's Bitcoin Reference Rate Bitcoin Real-Time Index Royal Mint Gold Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Jan 201745min

Kathryn Haun put away the DEA and Secret Service agents who tried to make off with more than $800,000 in stolen bitcoin while investigating the darknet Silk Road marketplace. She talks about how the blockchain technology underlying Bitcoin made it possible to uncover their theft, why she believes blockchain will create a lot of good, and what she does when the very people behind tumblers and mixers -- technology that makes her work more difficult -- turn to her when they are the victims of crimes. Along the way, we learn about the habits of cryptocurrency criminals and get a fascinating view into the world of "breeder documents." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Nov 201645min

As blockchains and cryptocurrencies evolve, there are times when the technology outpaces the law. That's when Coin Center steps in. The non-profit, which represents the technology, not the industry, and aims for regulators to keep a mostly hands-off attitude, has already helped shape questions around which types of Bitcoin wallet providers are financial institutions and whether new coins being offered represent securities. And answering these questions has drawn it back into previous cases involving everything from Florida orange groves to Manhattan co-ops to golf club memberships. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Okt 201650min

Cornell University computer science professor Emin Gun Sirer, an influential figure in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, describes his ideas for improving security in the space, his skepticism about how to scale these networks, and how the last time financial institutions invested in their systems appears to be for Y2K. He also tells us how growing up in an environment where he saw a lot of scams helps him find problems in code, explains why Bitcoin is the “universal bug bounty,” and reveals how two high school students saved burgeoning cryptocurrency network Ethereum “like in the movies — just before the clock was going to expire.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Okt 201657min

Michael Casey, senior advisor at MIT's Media Lab and author of the Age of Cryptocurrency, spent 18 years at the Wall Street Journal -- a good portion of that covering currency markets. But he says it wasn't until he learned about Bitcoin that he really understood what money was. In this episode of Unchained, he explains why, plus discusses why he thinks China will play a key role in moving the world to a cryptocurrency- or blockchain-based trade settlement system, what that could mean for the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency and what he thinks is the most cutting-edge work being done in blockchain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Sep 201656min

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, CEO and President, respectively, of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, talk about the importance of regulation in a sector once associated in popular culture with illicit activity. The twin brothers, who were the first to file with the SEC for a Bitcoin ETF, recount how they went from competing in the Olympics to launching a cryptocurrency company, explain why they believe private blockchains are really just distributed databases, and discuss why we've seen so many hacks of Bitcoin exchanges. They also touch on an emerging trend, app-coins or new cryptographic tokens being used to run, say, peer-to-peer versions of Dropbox or Reddit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Sep 201655min

“Shifting from a perspective of 'only humans control money' to 'machines and software control money' is really radical and it changes a lot of things,” says the popular blockchain and Bitcoin author and speaker Andreas Antonopoulos. Antonopoulos discusses why the real magic of blockchain is decentralization, why criticisms that Bitcoin is a waste of energy are wrong, and why he now charges a 20% premium to be paid by wire transfer instead of bitcoin. And if you're amazed by the idea of a self-driving car, wait until you hear his description of how the taxis of the future might operate.   Read the show notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Aug 201653min