Unchained

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In this episode, Laura interviews Meg Lister, GM of Grants Labs at Gitcoin, and Kevin Owocki, co-founder of Gitcoin. 

They discuss the evolution of Gitcoin from a centralized platform to a decentralized suite of protocols, Gitcoin 2.0, which allows any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) based ecosystem to fund its public goods. They also talk about the various funding mechanisms available, including quadratic funding, retroactive public goods funding, and conviction voting. 

Learn more: What Is Retroactive Public Goods Funding?

The team is also exploring more futuristic concepts such as private voting systems, angel investing 2.0, and impact attestations. The ultimate goal for Gitcoin is to create a capital allocation infrastructure that funds what matters to communities, whether they are towns, states, countries, or online interest groups.

• Kevin's background and how he came to found Gitcoin and why Meg joined the company
• The differences between Gitcoin 1.0 and 2.0
• What quadratic funding is and why it is important in the blockchain ecosystem
• The problem of sybil attacks and how Gitcoin Passport aims to solve it
• Why Gitcoin has changed its approach to put more focus on scaling Ethereum rather than other types of grants
• How Gitcoin is trying to solve capital allocation efficiency with Allo (Capital Allocation) Protocol
• What streaming quadratic funding is and how it differs from traditional quadratic funding
• How retroactive public goods funding (RPGF) works
• What conviction voting is and how it addresses some of the current problems in DAOs
• Which projects are using Gitcoin Passport and what for
• Why Gitcoin is so focused on the Ethereum ecosystem and whether they will launch in other chains
• What the purposes of the GTC token are and how it could become a flywheel for Gitcoin
• How Gitcoin can become sustainable long-term, since it's free to use at the moment
• The features that are coming down the line for Gitcoin, including privacy and onchain "angel investing" 
• What the future could look like if Gitcoin succeeds in its mission, according to Kevin

• Polkadot

• Kevin Owocki, Co-founder of Gitcoin
• Meg Lister, GM of Grants Labs at Gitcoin

Gitcoin

• Gitcoin 2.0 Whitepaper, co-authored by Kevin Owocki and Meg Lister
• Public Goods Funding: The New Meta | Kevin Owocki - Gitcoin, presentation at ETH Denver 2024
• Gitcoin Entering the End Game 
• Gitcoin’s Citizen Grants program
• Impact report
• CoinDesk: Why Crypto’s Most Altruistic Project Is Going (Kinda) Corporate
• Blockworks: Gitcoin is restructuring to focus on grants for the Ethereum ecosystem 

Allo Protocol

• Announcement thread

Web3 Ecosystem Funding

• State of Web3 Grants Report
• Web3 Innovations in Public Goods Funding
• How To Fund Innovation: A Guide to Web3 Grants, Meg Lister for BeIn Crypto

Quadratic funding

• ORIGINAL WHITE PAPER, co-authored by Vitalik Buterin 

Retro PGF

• Unchained: What Is Retroactive Public Goods Funding?

Passport

• Introducing Passport - Digital Identity as a Public Good 

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On Wednesday, BlackRock, the world's leading asset management firm, announced the launch of a tokenized investment fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity (BUIDL) Fund, developed in collaboration with Securitize. 

Carlos Domingo, founder and CEO of Securitize, discusses the launch of the fund, which is native to the public Ethereum blockchain and aims to bring an institutional-grade cash management product to crypto institutions, offering faster token issuance, redemption, and transferability. 

Learn more: What Is Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization? A Beginner's Guide

He also talks about how Blackrock has embraced crypto, how the launch of the fund was “front run” by crypto Twitter, and how Blackrock will deal with issues such as the fund being dusted with ETH tainted by sanctioned Tornado Cash ETH. 

Show highlights:

• What the BUIDL fund is, its essence and objectives
• How the fund rewards its users, with a system similar to crypto airdrops
• Whether they were worried about regulatory aspects of bringing this product onchain
• Securitize's role in the partnership with BlackRock
• How much money flowed into the fund on the first day and who the target investor is
• Why BlackRock decided to build this product on Ethereum 
• What BlackRock's attitude towards crypto is, according to Carlos
• How the launch of the fund was frontrun by crypto insiders 
• How a wallet associated with the fund received unintended funds from North Korean tied wallets and whether Ethereum should implement a mechanism for addresses to approve funds that are sent to it
• Whether the contract is secure and what steps Securitize is taking to increase the safety of the users
• The roadmap for the partnership between BlackRock and Securitize

• iTrustCapital
• Polkadot
• Uniswap

• Carlos Domingo, Founder and CEO of Securitize
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Could Securitize Democratize Access to Different Asset Classes?

• Previous coverage on Unchained of real world assets:
• The Catalysts for This Crypto Bull Market: AI, DeFi, Real World Assets?
• The Chopping Block: Will Tokenizing RWAs Finally Click This Time?
• MakerDAO Has Brought in Real World Assets. Is It Worth the Risk?

BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity (BUIDL) Fund

• The Block: BlackRock to launch tokenized investment fund with Securitize
• Unchained:
• BlackRock's Institutional Fund Wallet Receives Unsolicited ETH From Tornado Cash Within Hours of Launch
• BlackRock Receives Memecoins and NFTs After Putting $100 Million USDC Onchain

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. In this week's episode, the squad dives into the riveting dynamics of meme coins and their undeniable sway over market sentiments, alongside a detailed exploration of BlackRock's groundbreaking leap into blockchain with its on-chain fund initiative. Is Solana redefining its role as the new haven for meme coin ventures, signaling a shift in blockchain platform dominance? And with Ethereum's recent 4844 and Dencun upgrades, can it hold its ground as the DeFi ecosystem's backbone amidst escalating competition? We delve into MakerDAO's ambitious 'Endgame' strategy, contemplating its potential to reshape governance within the DeFi sector. The conversation doesn't stop there; we untangle the complex web of crypto conspiracies and debate the evolving definition of 'fair launch' in the decentralized space. This episode is packed with analysis and insights as we navigate the speculative excitement of meme coins, the strategic moves of blockchain giants, and the transformative policies shaping the future of decentralized finance. Join us for a thought-provoking journey as we dissect these developments, with Robert Leshner shedding light on the alpha in Reg D filings, to unravel the narratives that could redefine the crypto ecosystem's future. Tune in for a compelling session that promises to peel back the layers of innovation, speculation, and strategic maneuvering in the ever-evolving crypto landscape.

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

🔹 Unraveling Crypto Conspiracies: Delving into the speculative theories surrounding the surge of memecoins and their potential orchestration by exchanges or other entities.

🔹 Redefining 'Fair Launch' in DeFi: A critique of the shifting meaning of 'fair launch' within the memecoin sector, highlighting the departure from traditional norms.

🔹 Solana as the New Memecoin Haven: Examining Solana's burgeoning role as the preferred platform for memecoin activity and what it signifies for blockchain innovation.

🔹 Ethereum's Technological Upgrades: Analyzing the implications of Ethereum's 4844 and Dencun upgrade for transaction fees, scalability, and the developer ecosystem.

🔹 Debating the Future of memecoins: Insights into the dynamic world of memecoins, from the rise of pre-sales on Solana to the broader implications for the crypto market.

🔹 The Evolution of MakerDAO: Discussion on MakerDAO's transformative 'Endgame' strategy, introducing new governance mechanisms and tokens to revitalize its ecosystem.

🔹 BlackRock's Entry into Crypto: A glimpse into BlackRock's strategic move to launch an on-chain fund, marking a significant step by a major institutional player into the crypto space.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound

Pump.fun - https://www.pump.fun 

3AC’s Kyle Davies on Why He’s Crypto’s Lloyd Blankfein and Why He’s Not Sorry - https://unchainedcrypto.com/3acs-kyle-davies-on-why-hes-cryptos-lloyd-blankfein-and-why-hes-not-sorry/ 

MakerDAO Endgame: Launch Season - https://forum.makerdao.com/t/makerdao-endgame-launch-season/23857/1 

What Is a Fair Launch in Crypto? - https://www.coingecko.com/learn/what-is-a-fair-launch-in-crypto 

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Few crypto figures have been as vilified as Kyle Davies, the co-founder, along with Su Zhu, of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which imploded in mid-2022, losing $3 billion and bringing many pillars of the crypto industry down with it. Davies and Zhu have been accused of, among other things, lying about 3AC’s assets as the firm was imploding, trying to borrow money when the firm was insolvent, and seeking funding from the Mafia, all of which Davies denies. 

But he remains unapologetic about 3AC’s demise, saying most, if not all, companies eventually go bankrupt, and that 3AC had a “pretty spectacular” ten-year run. He joined Unchained to explain why he and Su Zhu were ordered to prison in Singapore for non-compliance with the liquidation proceedings, Zhu’s “six weeks meditating” (in prison), where he’s living now, why he and Zhu went to Bali after the bankruptcy, his $25,000-a-month fee for consulting for crypto bankruptcy exchange OPNX, his and Zhu’s current work advising crypto derivatives platform OX.FUN, and what he wishes he would have done differently in terms of 3AC’s wind down. 

Show highlights:

• Whether Kyle is cooperating with 3AC liquidator Teneo and his opinions of that firm
• His and 3AC co-founder Su Zhu’s prison sentences in Singapore
• Why Kyle says he didn’t know about the scheduled court date
• Why Dubai levied fines against him, according to Kyle
• Where he is living now
• Whether or not he made misrepresentations about 3AC’s assets to lenders before its implosion, traded when the firm was insolvent, and borrowed money from the mafia
• Why Kyle went to Bali after the bankruptcy 
• His defense of his $25,000 a month fee for consulting for OPNX
• Why Kyle thinks his reputation post-3AC was still “huge” because all companies eventually go bankrupt
• Gamified derivatives platform OX.FUN, where he is an advisor
• His dreams of opening a cloud kitchen chicken restaurant
• Why he filed a lawsuit against Sixth Man Ventures’ Mike Dudas
• What he could have done differently at the time of 3AC’s collapse
• Why Kyle is not sorry 3AC went bankrupt 

• Polkadot

• Kyle Davies, OX.FUN advisor and co-founder of Three Arrows Capital 

Su Zhu’s Arrest

• Unchained: Three Arrows Capital Cofounder Su Zhu Arrested in Singapore

3AC Founders’ Assets Frozen

• CoinDesk: Court Freezes $1 Billion of Assets of Three Arrows Capital Founders

3AC Ventures

• CoinDesk: Bankrupt Hedge Fund 3AC's Return as a VC Stirring Up Crypto Community

Davies and Su’s Post Bankruptcy Lives

• New York Times: Their Crypto Company Collapsed. They Went to Bali
• New York Magazine: ‘They Are Very Comfortable Lying’: How fallen crypto kingpins Su Zhu and Kyle Davies are dodging prison — and rebranding 

OPNX

• Wall Street Journal: Founders of Bankrupt Three Arrows Capital Plan Trading Platform for Distressed Crypto Debt 
• Cointelegraph: CoinFLEX creditors dissatisfied with restructuring to OPNX: Report
• Unchained: 3AC Founders’ New Crypto Exchange OPNX to Shut Down
• Cointelegraph: OPNX to shut down with mysterious new exchange as replacement
• Decrypt: CoinFLEX Creditors React to OPNX Closure: 'They Have Left a Trail of Destruction'

OX.FUN

• March 11 Twitter spaces on OX.FUN with Davies and Zhu 

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Ethereum’s long-awaited Dencun upgrade finally went live this week, and many L2s immediately saw their transaction fees fall dramatically, as was the intention. Among them was the Coinbase-incubated Base, which was created by Jesse Pollak. Pollak joined Unchained to discuss the impact Dencun was having on Base; how he thinks Layer 1s and Layer 2s will start to differ from one another and eventually spawn a multitude of specialized Layer 3s; his response to criticisms of the increasing use of Layer 2s, what he’s focusing on now, and why he supports using the word “onchain” over “crypto” or “web3.” 

Show highlights:

• The problem that Dencun is trying to solve
• The benefits of blobs and blobspace
• How Dencun has already reduced Base’s fees, but also increased its transactions
• How Jesse thinks Layer 1s and Layer 2s will start to become differentiated from each other
• The rise of Layer 3s
• How Jesse addresses criticisms of fragmentation and centralization arising from the increasing use of Layer 2s
• Why Jesse is particularly excited about two features of the Dencun upgrade—transient storage and increased composability between L1s and L2s
• What Jesse and the Base team are focusing on now
• Why Jesse thinks that “onchain” is a better word to describe the industry than “crypto” or “blockchain” or “web3” 

• iTrustCapital
• Polkadot
• Uniswap

• Jesse Pollak, creator of Base at Coinbase

Previous appearances:

• The Chopping Block: All About That Base With Jesse Pollak 

Recent coverage on Unchained of the Dencun Upgrade and Base: 

• Dencun Day One: Ethereum Layer 2 Networks See Drastic Drop in Transaction Fees
• Ethereum Completes Milestone Dencun Upgrade, Which Should Substantially Reduce Fees
• How Much Will the Dencun Upgrade Really Reduce Ethereum Layer 2 Fees By?
• Why Base’s Creator Thinks Social Apps Will Be a ‘Huge Part’ of the Layer 2 Blockchain’s Success

CoinDesk:

• Debating Dencun: Will Ethereum's Big Update Help or Harm the Network?

Jesse’s tweets on Dencun

• October 2022 
• January 2024
• March 13, 2024 

Blobs / Proto-danksharding

• EIP-4844 proposal
• Blobs unleashed: Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade activates on mainnet 
• Base says it will support EIP-4844 from 'day 1' following Dencun upgrade 
• Ethereum stans are putting the Bee Movie on blobs for as little as $5

Superchain

• Decentralizing Base with the OP Stack and Optimism 
• Base’s Commitment to Decentralization with the Superchain 

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. In this week's episode the squad asks: Is MakerDAO setting a new precedent for DeFi protocols with its emergency rate hike? How significant is the role of meme coins in the crypto market's volatility, and what does Solana's prominence tell us about the future of blockchain platforms? Can Ethereum maintain its position as the backbone of DeFi amidst the growing competition from layer 1 and layer 2 solutions? This episode delves deep into the whirlwind discussions surrounding MakerDAO's sudden monetary policy adjustments, scrutinizing the balance between stability and adaptability in DeFi's fast-paced world. We explore the fascinating, yet often speculative, universe of meme coins, highlighting their impact on network activity and public perception of cryptocurrency's value. The conversation also navigates the evolving landscape of Ethereum as it faces challenges and opportunities in scalability and functionality. Join us as we tackle these thought-provoking questions, armed with Robert Leshner's expertise, to peel back the layers of complexity surrounding DeFi strategies, the meme coin craze, and Ethereum's strategic positioning. Tune in for a captivating session aimed at decoding these trends and offering insights into their potential to redefine the contours of the crypto ecosystem.

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

🔹 MakerDAO's Monetary Strategy Shift: Exploring the implications of MakerDAO's emergency rate hike and its potential to redefine monetary policy in DeFi.

🔹 The Meme Coin Madness: Diving into the dynamics of meme coins in the crypto ecosystem, focusing on their impact on market volatility and investor behavior.

🔹 Ethereum's Position in the DeFi Ecosystem: Analyzing Ethereum's challenges and opportunities as it continues to be the backbone of decentralized finance amid rising competition.

🔹 The Crypto Evolution and Reflection: Reflecting on the progress of the crypto industry by comparing current discussions to traditional banking models, highlighting the maturation of the sector.

🔹 Solana's Influence in the Crypto Market: Investigating Solana's growing prominence for meme coin activity and what it signals about blockchain platform developments.

🔹 DeFi Protocols as Financial Antidotes: Discussing the role of DeFi protocols in offering alternatives to traditional financial systems and their potential to disrupt.

🔹 Intellectual Property Rights in a Digital Age: Speculating on the future of IP rights in the era of digital creation and AI, questioning the sustainability of current legal frameworks.

🔹 The Crypto Market's Bullish Trends: Analyzing the current bullish trends in the cryptocurrency market, including Bitcoin and Ethereum's price movements and the factors fueling optimism.

🔹 Governance and DAOs in Crypto's Future: Delving into the significance of decentralized autonomous organizations and governance models for the future of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound

Bitcoin Is Hitting All-Time Highs Around the World (CoinDesk) https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/02/29/bitcoin-is-hitting-all-time-highs-around-the-world/ 

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Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer, and Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CIO of Polychain Capital, an investor in EigenLayer, say that the developer ecosystem around EigenLayer is sprouting up very fast, which reminds Carlson-Wee of the developer excitement in Ethereum’s early days.

They discuss the potential of EigenLayer, which uses a restaking mechanism to allow ETH stakers to reallocate their staked ETH and Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) to bolster security for other protocols. They cover how it could turbocharge Ethereum's rollup scaling roadmap and enable Ethereum to become a stack of decentralized software as a service providers. Additionally, they discuss the potential risks associated with restaking as well as how EigenLayer could work with AI.

Read more: What Is EigenLayer? A Guide to the Decentralized ETH Restaking Protocol

• Sreeram's explanation of what EigenLayer is and what it allows on Ethereum
• why Polychain invested in EigenLayer's seed round
• why Sreeram believes that there are not just going to be three modules in blockchains, but thousands
• the types of applications that can be built with actively validated services, according to Sreeram
• why they both believe that EigenLayer will improve smart contracts
• whether EigenLayer will help solve the liquidity fragmentation issue in Layer 2s
• what Ethereum inclusion guarantees are and why they are important
• the potential risks of EigenLayer and why Olaf doesn’t agree that EigenLayer results in rehypothecation
• how attribution claims work in EigenLayer, allowing for "elastic scaling of security"
• EigenLayer’s points program and the likelihood of a token
• why Sreeram believes that an EigenLayer governance token wouldn't have the same issues as Lido's LDO
• whether EigenLayer should be a core part of the Ethereum protocol itself
• how AI and EigenLayer intersect and how to have permissionless innovation in the AI space

• Polkadot

• Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CIO of Polychain Capital
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• OG Olaf Carlson-Wee on Why His Crypto Thesis Is Stronger Than Ever
• Olaf Carlson-Wee: 'If There Is a Money-Losing Exploit, the Money Is Gone' 
• Why The First Employee Of Coinbase Launched A Hedge Fund
• To the Moon and Back With Polychain's Olaf Carlson-Wee
• Special Episode with CNBC's Crypto Trader: Olaf Carlson-Wee on Why This Crypto Winter Is Different From Previous Ones
• All Things Cryptoeconomics, Pt. 1, With Olaf Carlson-Wee and Ryan Zurrer of Polychain Capital
• Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets?

EigenLayer

• Unchained: 
• What Is Ethereum Restaking? A Beginner's Guide
• ETHDenver’s 2024 Hackathon: Onchain Security, AI, and Gaming Fun Dominate the Winning Projects
• A16z, Binance Labs Make Investments in EigenLayer Ecosystem
• EigenDA Overview
• Sreeram’s post on why “building on EigenLayer, therefore, doesn't negate the utility of an AVS token”

Points

• DL News: Kelp DAO opens trading of the $340m EigenLayer airdrop market with KEP
• CoinDesk: Omni Network Signs $600M Restaking Deal With Ether.Fi to Enhance Security

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner dive into the hot topics stirring the cryptocurrency world. Could Uniswap's fee switch revolutionize DeFi's economic model? What's the real potential of decentralized AI in blockchain, and how close are we to seeing its practical applications? And in the whirlwind of the crypto market, what makes meme coins like Jeo Boden not just viral, but influential? This episode offers a detailed analysis of Uniswap's strategic move to potentially activate fee switches, exploring its implications for liquidity providers and the broader DeFi landscape. We also navigate the promising yet challenging terrain of Crypto AI, dissecting decentralized inference and the feasibility of verifiable training. The phenomenon of meme coins, with a spotlight on Jeo Boden, is dissected for its impact on community engagement and market dynamics. Join us as we probe these intriguing questions, equipped with Robert Leshner's insights, to unravel the complexities of DeFi innovations, Crypto AI's frontier, and the unique ecosystem of meme coins. Tune in for an enlightening session that aims to demystify these trends and provide a clearer understanding of their role in shaping the future of cryptocurrency.

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

🔹 Uniswap's Fee Switch Debate: Unpacking the implications of Uniswap's potential fee switch activation and its impact on DeFi's revenue models.

🔹 The Intricacies of Crypto AI: Diving deep into the world of Crypto AI, focusing on decentralized inference and the hurdles of verifiable training.

🔹 Meme Coin Phenomenon: Analyzing the cultural and economic forces behind meme coins like Jeo Boden and their sway in the crypto community.

🔹 Regulatory Winds in Crypto: Discussing the changing regulatory landscape and what Uniswap's move might signal about the future of DeFi regulation.

🔹 Market Predictions and Speculations: Exploring expert predictions on Bitcoin and Ethereum's price movements and the factors driving market optimism.

🔹 Technological Developments and Security: Delving into the significance of memory-safe programming and the White House's surprising tech endorsement.

🔹 Attested Data in the Age of Synthetic Media: Examining the role of cryptographically signed data in ensuring content authenticity in the blockchain era.

🔹 Decentralized Platforms' Disruption Potential: Probing the capability of decentralized platforms to reshape traditional social media models.

🔹 The Economic Model of DeFi: Discussing the potential transformation in DeFi's economic landscape post-Uniswap's fee switch implementation.

🔹 Crypto Culture and Community Dynamics: Investigating the unique cultural aspects of the crypto community, especially around meme coins and their market influence.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound

Bitcoin Is Hitting All-Time Highs Around the World (CoinDesk) https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/02/29/bitcoin-is-hitting-all-time-highs-around-the-world/

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In this episode, Eric Balchunas, senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, discussed the performance of Bitcoin ETFs since their launch two months ago. 

Balchunas noted that the ETFs' performance exceeded his expectations, with a faster and more intense "second wind" than anticipated. He attributed this to a combination of asset managers buying in, retail interest, and the "ETF effect" where the knowledge of incoming flows encourages non-ETF investors to buy. 

Balchunas also predicted that BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF would likely be the most successful of the nine new spot Bitcoin ETFs, while also doubting that any of the smaller issuers would bow out. 

He also discussed the potential for spot Ether ETFs, but was less optimistic about their success compared to Bitcoin ETFs.

Learn more: Bitcoin ETFs Explained: What Are They & How Do They Work?

Show highlights:

• Why the Bitcoin ETF performance in the past couple of weeks exceeded Eric's expectations
• Whether Eric had ever seen the kind of hype around Bitcoin ETFs occur with other ETFs
• How there has been a lot of retail interest in these past few weeks
• Eric's insights into how bitcoin reached all-time highs again this week
• Whether a good portion of the ETF volumes is sustainable and what's driving those large volumes
• Whether it's safe to say that BlackRock is the winner among issuers
• Whether the smaller issuers in terms of volume and AUM will close their ETFs
• When options on Bitcoin ETFs will be approved
• Whether in-kind redemptions will be allowed in the near future and the role of politics in that
• Whether Grayscale will have to reduce its fees considering the huge outflows from GBTC
• Why Eric believes that spot ether ETFs won't have as much demand as the bitcoin ETFs did
• Reasons the SEC could use to reject spot ether ETFs
• Whether issuers will rebalance their portfolios at the end of quarters
• What Eric expects to see in terms of inflows by year’s end 

• iTrustCapital
• Polkadot
• Uniswap

• Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Finally Start Trading on Thursday
• Will a Spot Bitcoin ETF Finally Get Approved?

Recent coverage on Unchained of Bitcoin’s surge: 

• How the Bitcoins in Your ETF Get Sourced: The Real Story
• Should You Sell Bitcoin Now That It’s Nearing Its All-Time High?
• Miners Appear to Sell $69 Million Worth of Decade-Old Bitcoin
• Bitcoin Hits New All-Time High Above $69,000, Presaging More Potential Gains

Previous coverage on the Unchained podcast of spot Bitcoin ETFs:

• Bitcoin’s Price Is Way Up. And $48 Trillion in Wealth Just Got Access
• Why Some Brokerage Firms Are Blocking Access to Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF
• The 4 Factors That Will Determine Which Spot Bitcoin ETFs Win Market Share
• How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection
• Eric’s tweet on $IBIT smashing $788m 

Ethereum spot ETF:

• BitMEX Blog: Ethereum ETFs & Staking
• Eric’s tweet on ether ETFs 
• Unchained: 
• Why Spot Ether ETFs Likely Won’t Steal Bitcoin’s Thunder — Even if Staking Is Included
• Spot Ether ETFs Could Introduce New Concentration Risk in Ethereum: S&P Global

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In this episode of Unchained, Alex Pack, managing partner at Hack VC discusses the firm's recent $150 million fundraise, the challenges of raising capital in a bear market, and the firm's focus on early-stage Web3 infrastructure. He also shares his thoughts on the intersection of crypto and AI, the future of DeFi, and the importance of security in the crypto space. Pack believes that the current infrastructure of crypto is still in its early stages and needs significant improvement before it can reach mainstream adoption. He also sees potential in the development of more secure smart contracts and the integration of AI into decentralized applications.

• How Hack VC was able to raise $150 million in a bear market, especially after the blowups of FTX, 3AC, and Terra
• Alex's interaction with SBF, whom he calls a "sociopath," and why he didn't invest in FTX
• Hack VC's philosophy to "back hackers" in crypto
• The goals behind Zuzalu, the new community that resembles Balaji Srinivasan's idea of a network state
• What the main focus of Hack VC's investments are, including scalability, AI, and DeFi
• Why Alex believes that "we are still so early"
• How Alex believes crypto and artificial intelligence will intersect 
• The role of AI agents and how to use them in decentralized applications
• Why he thinks that EigenLayer is a great solution for middleware applications
• Alex's opinion on the modular vs. monolithic approach for scaling blockchains
• How DeFi survived the last bear market, contrasted with the collapses of CeFi companies like Celsius, BlockFi and FTX
• Whether algorithmic stablecoins can ever work and what Alex thinks of Ethena's USDe
• How to improve security in crypto, according to Alex
• Why the outcome of the Bitcoin ETFs exceeded Alex's expectations
• What he believes the catalysts are for the next bull market

• Polkadot

• Alex Pack, Managing partner at Hack VC
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Dragonfly Capital on Why Ethereum Is So Far in the Lead
• ‘The Last Big Whale’: Why the Crypto Contagion of 2022 Eventually Hit Genesis

New fund

• Bloomberg: Hack VC Raises $150 Million for Bets on Battered Crypto Industry 
• Hack VC Closes $150M Venture Fund I, Bringing AUM to $425M

Stablecoins:

• Unchained:
• What Is Ethena’s USDe Synethic Dollar? A Beginner’s Guide
• What Is Terra and Why Did It Fail?
• Why It's so Hard to Keep Stablecoins Stable 
• What Is Depegging in Crypto and Why Does It Occur?
• What Is Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization? A Beginner's Guide

EigenLayer ecosystem

• Unchained: What Is EigenLayer? A Guide to the Decentralized ETH Restaking Protocol
• The Block: AltLayer closes $14.4 million strategic round co-led by Polychain and Hack VC

Modular vs. monolithic approach

• Unchained: 
• What Are Modular Blockchains? A Beginner's Guide
• Three Crypto Pioneers on Crypto’s Monolithic vs. Modular Debate

Crypto x AI crossover

• io.net and Ritual Collaborate to Boost Global AI Compute Landscape 
• Ritual x EigenLayer: Restaking for AI
• Unchained: 5 Use Cases of AI in Blockchain

Zuzalu

Decrypt: I Spent a Month Inside Vitalik Buterin’s Social Experiment—Here’s What It Was Really Like

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After a week in which Bitcoin nearly hit its all-time high, Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy, joins Unchained to discuss the pivotal role of ETF inflows in Bitcoin's recent price surge, the nuanced behaviors of long-term versus short-term holders, and the potential impacts of upcoming halvings and institutional involvement on the market's future trajectory. 

Alex offers deep insights into the market value to realized value Z-score, explaining its relevance in assessing Bitcoin's valuation. He also delves into the implications of major financial institutions like Merrill and Wells Fargo embracing Bitcoin ETFs for their clients. Furthermore, Thorn speculates on the timing and conditions for an "altcoin season" and shares his price predictions for Bitcoin by the end of the year.

Learn more: Bitcoin ETFs Explained: What Are They & How Do They Work?

• The main drivers for Bitcoin's recent surge, according to Alex
• Whether long-term Bitcoin holders are selling due to the recent surge in price
• What the MVRV (market value to realized value) Z-score is and how Alex uses this metric to assess the Bitcoin market
• Why Alex believes this period in Bitcoin's history is distinct
• What the implications of Merrill and Wells Fargo offering Bitcoin ETFs to their customers are, and how this expands Bitcoin's institutional appeal
• How the upcoming halving could affect the price, especially since Bitcoin is already closer to all-time highs than previous times ahead of the halving
• Why Alex thinks this might be the first time that highs in bitcoin and ether do not lead to an "altcoin season"
• Alex's price prediction for Bitcoin by the end of the year

• Uniswap
• iTrustCapital
• Polkadot

• Alex Thorn, Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy
• Previous appearance on Unchained: How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection

Recent coverage on Unchained of Bitcoin’s surge: 

• Should You Sell Bitcoin Now That It’s Nearing Its All-Time High?
• Bitcoin Watchers React to BTC Returning to the $60,000 Mark
• Coinbase App Crashes Amid Bitcoin’s Massive Rally
• Bitcoin Price Surges Past $61,000

Others:

• The Block: JPMorgan says bitcoin price could drop towards $42,000 after April halving
• Bloomberg: BofA’s Merrill, Wells Fargo Offer Bitcoin ETFs to Wealth Clients

Previous coverage on Unchained of spot Bitcoin ETFs:

• Why Some Brokerage Firms Are Blocking Access to Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Finally Start Trading on Thursday 
• Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF
• Will a Spot Bitcoin ETF Finally Get Approved?
• The 4 Factors That Will Determine Which Spot Bitcoin ETFs Win Market Share
• How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection

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Well-known white hat hacker and head of security at Paradigm samczsun recently took the wraps off a new security organization called the Security Alliance (SEAL) that offers a 911 hotline for immediate response to security threats, runs war games to simulate potential security incidents, and provides a safe harbor agreement to protect white hat hackers from legal liabilities.

He joined Unchained to discuss why he and his fellow white hat hackers decided to start the Security Alliance and how it operates, how the safe harbor agreement works, the measures he takes to maintain his anonymity and why, the top security measures people in crypto should take to protect themselves, and what attack areas in crypto Sam still considers “scary.”   

• How samczsun got into white hat hacking
• The most memorable saves and rescues sam was able to perform 
• Whether there's a reason why sam is so good at noticing bugs in crypto
• The origin of his samczsun handle
• What the Security Alliance is and why it was formed
• How SEAL would approach a bug or a hack
• Whether black hat hackers are trying to exploit open groups
• Why the work in the group is volunteered, not paid, and whether that's sustainable
• How the SEAL War Games help in training on how to respond to an incident in Web3
• What the Safe Harbor Agreement is and what it aims to accomplish for white hat hackers
• How sam protects his identity and whether his coworkers know what he looks like
• The top security measures people working in crypto should take
• How projects should approach the audit for their smart contracts given it's an expensive endeavor 
• What attack vectors still scare sam

What is ‘White Hat Hacking’?

White hat hacking, often referred to as ethical hacking, is a cybersecurity practice where skilled computer experts use their knowledge for good, employing the same methods as malicious hackers (black hat hackers) but with a significant difference: they do so with permission and for a constructive purpose. These ethical hackers identify vulnerabilities in computer systems, networks, or applications before malicious attackers can exploit them. By detecting and resolving these security weaknesses, white hat hackers help organizations strengthen their defenses against cyber threats. 

• Popcorn Network
• Polkadot

• Samczsun, CEO of Security Alliance (SEAL) and Head of Security at Paradigm
• Previous appearances on Unchained: The Chopping Block: Top White Hat Hacker Samczsun Discusses the State of Crypto Security

• Introducing the Security Alliance
• Bloomberg: Paradigm’s Famed ‘White-Hat’ Hacker Unites Peers Against Crypto Attacks, 
• White Hat Safe Harbor [Github]
• Chainalysis: Funds Stolen from Crypto Platforms Fall More Than 50% in 2023, but Hacking Remains a Significant Threat as Number of Incidents Rises
• sam’s tweet on security practices 
• Halborn: Explained: The Nomad Hack (August 2022)

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Fifteen years after the birth of Bitcoin, the network is now entering an era of remarkable innovation and change, according to Stacks' co-creator Muneeb Ali.

On this episode of Unchained recorded at the Bitcoin Builders conference, Muneeb explores the complexities and advancements within Bitcoin's Layer 1 and Layer 2. He shares his perspectives on what's fueling innovation in Bitcoin's Layer 1 and discusses the implications of Ordinal Inscriptions amid criticism of it by core developers. 

He delves into the various scaling solutions within Bitcoin, highlighting how trust assumptions vary among them, and how BitVM could be a 'game changer'. He goes over the advantages of integrating smart contracts on Bitcoin, and why he considers BTC the only true form of monetary asset. 

Show highlights:

• What's driving innovation in Bitcoin’s L1 
• How Muneeb feels about Ordinals Inscriptions in Bitcoin, considering the criticism from some core developers
• How, in the recent years, research and development in crypto happened outside of Bitcoin, and how that's changing now, according to Muneeb
• The different types of scaling solutions in Bitcoin and how the trust assumptions differ in each of them
• Why he feels like BitVM is a 'game changer' and what it enables
• What the Nakamoto upgrade is on Stacks
• The advantages of having smart contracts on Bitcoin, according to Muneeb
• Why he says that BTC is the only asset that is money
• The challenges to having privacy in Bitcoin

• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital
• Polkadot

• Muneeb Ali, co-creator of Stacks
• Previous appearances on Unchained: 
• Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs Are Hot and Getting Hotter. What's the Hype About? - NFT Crypto
• Blockstack On Getting Independence From Google, Facebook And Amazon

Recent news:

• Unchained: 
• Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 Protocol, Sees All-Time High in Total Value Locked
• A New Era for Bitcoin Is Here, Whether Bitcoin Maximalists Like It Or Not
• Bitcoin Passes the $1 Trillion Market Cap Mark; All Cryptos Combined Reach $2 Trillion

Bitcoin L2s:

• Unchained: 
• Are Layer 2s on Bitcoin Having a Moment?
• How Botanix Aims to Enable Smart Contracts on Bitcoin
• An Ethereum-Like Experience Built on Bitcoin?

Learn more:

• What Are Opcodes in Bitcoin? A Beginner's Guide
• What Are BRC-20 Tokens? 
• What Are ORC-20 Tokens? 
• How to Create a Bitcoin Ordinal

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Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto experts Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner bring you inside perspectives on critical topics in the crypto world. This week the boys dive deep into Starknet's airdrop controversies, the psychological toll of internet backlash on founders, and the groundbreaking Ethena project inspired by Arthur Hayes. This episode questions the effectiveness of airdrop strategies in user engagement, the resilience founders must muster against online criticism, and Ethena's potential to revolutionize crypto finance with its tokenized cash and carry trade. We also tackle the security threats on platforms like GitHub, the balance between egalitarian distribution versus market dynamics, and the transparency required in token economics. What legal challenges arise from token vesting schedules, and how does Ethena innovate in crypto finance inspired by traditional models? Join us for an insightful exploration of these critical topics, aiming to enrich our understanding of cryptocurrency airdrops, founder resilience, and Ethena's ambitious financial mechanisms within the evolving cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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.

🔹 Starknet Airdrop Controversy: Exploring the backlash and debates over its distribution mechanics.

🔹 The Psychology of Founders Facing Internet Critique: Discussing the impact of public scrutiny on creators.

🔹 Innovation in Airdrop Strategies: Highlighting the need for creativity to engage and retain users.

🔹 GitHub and Security Risks: Addressing the increase in phishing attacks and noise on developer platforms.

🔹 Efficacy of Airdrops in User Engagement: Evaluating how airdrops influence community involvement and loyalty.

🔹 Egalitarianism vs. Market Dynamics: Debating the balance between fair distribution and economic incentives.

🔹 The Complexities of Vesting Periods: Unpacking the discussions around token unlock schedules.

🔹 Legal Nuances of Crypto Vesting: Exploring the regulatory implications and challenges.

🔹 Transparency in Token Economics: The importance of clear policies for investor confidence.

🔹 The Inspiration Behind Ethena: Tracing the origins and motivations for its creation.

🔹 Cash and Carry Trade Basics: Simplifying the concept and its significance in crypto finance.

🔹 Analyzing Ethena’s Yield Mechanisms: Delving into the strategies and risks of yield generation.

🔹 Risk Mitigation in Ethena’s Protocol: Investigating novel approaches to safeguarding assets.

🔹 The Potential Ripple Effects of Ethena: Speculating on the impact of layered financial products.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

⭐️Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound

• “Is the Short Team Lockup for STRK ‘Misaligned’? No, Says Starkware CEO - Ep. 609”: https://youtu.be/0D0Qyw9TeoY 
• The Uniswap Airdrop - Lessons for the Industry by jhackworth: https://dune.com/blog/uni-airdrop-analysis 
• “Dust on Crust” by Arthur Hayes: https://ehandbook.com/dust-on-crust-300d4b5cf3ec 

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Celestia, a data availability layer for blockchains, was launched last October to much fanfare. The platform takes a modular approach to blockchains, allowing developers to post data onto it without the need for smart contracts or execution. This makes it extremely useful for scaling roll-ups and other layer two technologies. 

Celestia co-founder Mustafa Al-Bassam and COO Nick White join Unchained to discuss what Celestia is and how it works, how data availability sampling allows for more scalability, how Celestia compares with other data availability layers, whether Celestia could become a data availability layer for Bitcoin, and comparisons between Celestia and Solana. 

• Mustafa’s background and how his project called Lazy Ledger ended up becoming Celestia
• Nick’s vision for modular blockchains
• Why Mustafa believes in the “10,000 roll-up” endgame
• Why Mustafa thinks that gaming and NFT chains work better on a modular blockchain
• What Celestia is and how it resembles the publication of an article in a newspaper
• What data availability sampling (DAS) is and how it works to ensure that the data is available and accurate for validators
• How DAS allows for more scalability
• What types of applications can be built with this type of modular architecture
• Mustafa’s explanation of the concept of Blob stream and blob space
• How a roll-up can be an independent or sovereign layer, not just a layer 2 to a layer 1
• How Celestia competes with other DA layers, like the future EigenDA
• The role of the TIA token in the Celestia ecosystem 
• How Mufasa hacked the CIA when he was 16 years old and how he transitioned into crypto
• Whether Celestia could become a DA layer for Bitcoin layer 2 roll-ups
• Whether Solana could end up becoming an Ethereum layer 2 using Celestia for data availability 
• The proposal to extend the functionality of Celestia without smart contracts in the base layer 

• Popcorn Network
• Polkadot

• Nick White, COO at Celestia Labs
• Previous appearances on Unchained: Three Crypto Pioneers on Crypto’s Monolithic vs. Modular Debate
• Mustafa Al-Bassam, cofounder and CEO at Celestia Labs

Modular vs. monolithic

• Alchemy: Modular vs. Monolithic Blockchains
• Visa: Monolithic vs. modular blockchain
• Chris Burniske’s tweet on modular vs monolithic
• “The horrific inefficiencies of monolithic blockchains” by polynya
• Blockworks: A spicy salvo launched in the monolithic vs modular debate
• Unchained: What Is the Blockchain Trilemma?

Celestia

• Celestia’s explanation of modular blockchains
• Data availability
• Data availability sampling
• An introduction to sovereign roll-ups

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Starknet made news this week for announcing what will be the largest initial airdrop by number of eligible addresses ever. But it faced heavy criticism online for many of the details of the airdrop, from the fact that Ethereum solo takers received almost 22% of the distribution to eligibility requirements that users held at least 0.005 ETH in their wallets as of Nov. 15, 2023 to the fact that the token generation event took place almost two years before the unlock date.

Starkware CEO Eli Ben-Sasson joined Unchained to respond to the multiple critiques of the airdrop and discuss why he and the Starknet Foundation decided on the details that they did.  

Show highlights:

• What the airdrop criteria was and why they decided to make it that way
• Why they allocated so much $STRK to Ethereum solo stakers
• Eli’s response to the criticism about how little Starknet network participants got in the airdrop
• Why the STRK Token Generation Event (TGE) was done in 2022, only to be airdropped two years later
• Why Eli believes that even if the unlock of tokens is in two months, it does not indicate misalignment of incentives
• Whether Eli will sell his tokens when they become unvested

• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital
• Polkadot

• Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of Starkware

• Recent coverage of Unchained on airdrops: Jupiter Founder Meow to Critics of JUP Airdrop: ‘Give Me a Break’
• Unchained: 
• Starknet’s Airdrop Plan Sparks Some Praise but Also Outrage
• Starknet’s First Token Distribution Will Be Available to Nearly 1.3 Million Addresses
• The Defiant: Starknet Faces Backlash Over Airdrop and Team Unlocks
• Loomdart’s tweet on the TGE

Learn more:

• Do You Have to Pay Taxes on a Crypto Airdrop?
• What Is a Crypto Airdrop? A Beginner's Guide 

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and special guest Dan Romero, co-founder of Farcaster, engage in a riveting discussion on decentralized social media and the burgeoning meme coin trend within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This episode offers an in-depth analysis of Farcaster's innovative mechanisms for user engagement and its significant role in shaping the future of social interactions in the crypto domain. We delve into the mechanics behind meme coins, examining their influence on community dynamics, market behavior, and the broader implications for digital asset valuation. Our conversation navigates through the intricacies of decentralized platforms like Farcaster, probing into their potential to disrupt conventional social media models and foster a new era of user-centric, blockchain-enabled online communities. Join us for a comprehensive exploration of these pivotal developments, enriched with Dan Romero's firsthand insights, as we dissect the evolving landscape of social media in the crypto age and the captivating allure of meme coins, all aimed at providing a deeper understanding of their impact on the global cryptocurrency market.

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

🔹 Decentralized Social Media Evolution: Exploring the growth and challenges of platforms like Farcaster in the decentralized web landscape.

🔹 User Empowerment in Crypto: Analyzing how crypto-native features on platforms empower users through economic incentives and community building.

🔹 The Rise of Social Tokens: Delving into the emergence of social tokens and their role in fostering online communities and creator economies.

🔹 Interactive Crypto Features: Investigating innovative features like Farcaster's frames and their impact on user engagement and content sharing.

🔹 Sustainable Tokenomics: Discussing the sustainability of token models in social platforms and the potential for long-term value creation.

🔹 Behavioral Economics in Crypto: Understanding the psychological factors driving the speculative nature of meme coins and their market dynamics.

🔹 Decentralization vs. Centralization: Debating the balance between decentralized ethos and the need for centralized governance in crypto platforms.

🔹 The Future of Online Identity: Discussing the evolution of online identities in the context of decentralized platforms and blockchain technology.

🔹 Celebrity and Crypto Synergies: Speculating on the future of celebrity involvement in crypto through personalized tokens and endorsements.

🔹 Cross-Platform Crypto Integration: Exploring the possibilities and challenges of integrating crypto-native features across various social and digital platforms.

🔹 Ethical Considerations in Crypto: Delving into the ethical implications of rapid token creation, distribution strategies, and their impact on unsuspecting users.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

Guest

⭐️ Dan Romero, Farcaster Co-Founder

• Eugene Wei’s “Status as a Service (StaaS)”: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service 
• Vitalik Buterin’s forum post on DAICOs: https://ethresear.ch/t/explanation-of-daicos/465/1 

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In the two weeks since Farcaster introduced its Frames feature that allows developers to easily add mini apps to users’ posts, the decentralized social network has become the talk of Twitter, now X, and increased its user base by ten times, according to co-founder Dan Romero. 

Romero joins Unchained to discuss why Frames has become so popular, the philosophy behind Farcaster and its client Warpcast, why the crypto component behind Farcaster is being kept to a minimum, how Apple’s new Vision Pro could lead to the creation of a 3D social network on Farcaster, how he and his fellow co-founder’s background at Coinbase helped shape their decisions about building Farcaster, and his vision for eventually getting Farcaster to a billion-plus users. 

• What Farcaster is and what problems it’s trying to solve
• How and why Farcaster uses blockchain technology in the background 
• How you can use ENS (Ethereum Name Services) for your handles on Farcaster
• How the recovery of accounts works on Farcaster and what the security implications are
• What Frames is and why it’s significant for developers and creators
• What’s controlled by the protocol vs. the client 
• What Dan imagines could be built with the new Apple Vision Pro
• Whether there’s potential for better economics and ways to monetize content in Farcaster
• Why Farcaster is on Optimism, an Ethereum Layer 2, and whether it could be moved to another network
• How they are working to build a more decentralized network
• What the future of Farcaster and Frames could look like
• How Dan’s background at Coinbase shaped the way in which he decided to build Farcaster
• What the strategy is for scaling the platform to the numbers more associated with Web2 social media

• Popcorn Network
• Polkadot

• Dan Romero, Co-founder of Farcaster
• Coinbase’s Pragmatic Crypto Culture by Dan Romero

• Unchained: 
• Bounties to Build Frames on Farcaster Are Growing Rapidly
• Farcaster's User Base Skyrockets Nearly 500% After Frames Launch
• What Is SocialFi? A Beginner’s Guide
• The Chopping Block: Is Farcaster the Web3 Social Layer?
• Dan’s ideas for Farcaster

Farcaster architecture

• Architecture
• Onchain password reset mechanism
• Why Farcaster Frames are important
• The layers of Farcaster
• Farcaster charges “rent”

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Crypto: The Game captivated a large swath of the crypto community this past week. The game, modeled after “Survivor,” was the brainchild of Dylan Abruscato, Tyler Cagle and Bryan Lee. The intention of the game, which was played virtually but also unfolded in real life, was to ruthlessly vote people off to determine a single winner. Throughout, multiple psy-ops operations created chaos. Despite all that, the competition ended up fostering numerous friendships (including for Unchained reporter Sage Young, whose coverage is below) and resulted in a shocking, but heartwarming ending. 

On Friday afternoon, after the winner was announced, we hosted a Spaces with Dylan, the winner, and some of the more notable players, which we’re releasing here. In the discussion, we cover the inspiration for the game, some of the behind-the-scenes surprises, who was causing chaos for various teams and how, and why the winner may be one of the winning-est contestants ever. 

Guest:

• Dylan Abruscato, founder of Crypto: The Game

• Unchained: 
• Day 6 of ‘Crypto: The Game’ Brutally Exposes the Problem of Trust in a Digital World
• Day 8 of ‘Crypto: The Game’ Puts Me on a Hit List for the Second Time
• Day 9: Cutthroat Contestants Put an End to My Time in “Crypto: The Game”

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On Tuesday, Solana suffered a network outage, just shy of a year since its last shutdown. The blockchain had to quickly get a new version out and notify its validators to upgrade to it and restart their systems before blocks could be produced again, resulting in downtime of roughly five hours. This was previously something that had happened regularly to the blockchain, but seemed to have been largely addressed over the past year.

Lucas, the CEO of Jito Labs, which builds infrastructure for Solana and staged a highly successful airdrop last year that helped rejuvenate the blockchain, joined Unchained to discuss what caused the outage, whether it’s something that builders on Solana should be concerned about for the future, recent improvements Solana has made to its technology, whether the implementation of Firedancer would have prevented this incident, and the promise of the Solana phone. 

Show highlights:

• What caused the Solana blockchain’s outage this week
• Whether Solana needs to have better quality control 
• Whether the halt of the network affects the builders in the space
• What recent developments in the infrastructure surrounding Solana give Lucas confidence in the network
• Whether the Firedancer client that’s now in development would have prevented this week’s outage
• The promise of the Solana phone
• Whether the network going down presents a setback for the Solana community in terms of recognition and momentum
• Whether financial companies will consider using Solana if these issues keep occurring

• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital
• Polkadot

• Lucas Bruder, CEO of Jito Labs

• Recent coverage of Unchained on Solana:
• Jupiter Founder Meow to Critics of JUP Airdrop: ‘Give Me a Break’
• Three Crypto Pioneers on Crypto’s Monolithic vs. Modular Debate
• Anatoly Yakovenko on Solana’s Astounding Recovery and Its Future Plans

Outage

• Unchained: Solana Back Online Again After Suffering 5-Hour Outage
• Matthew Sigel’s explanation for why the outage happened
• Mert’s tweet on how Solana prioritizes security over liveness
• CoinDesk: Can We All Stop Pretending That Solana Is in Beta?

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news and with special guest, and Farcaster aficionado Ted! This episode zooms in on Farcaster Frames: How are they revolutionizing the platform? We examine Farcaster's transformation and its impact on the future of social media: Can Farcaster redefine decentralized communication? Delving into its user base, we ask: What makes Farcaster's community unique? How do airdrop strategies and global hub distribution shape its ecosystem? And what's next for decentralized social networks like Farcaster? Join us for an insightful discussion on these pivotal questions impacting the crypto sphere.

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

🔹 Farcaster frames launch: Revolutionizing user engagement in crypto communities.

🔹 Social Media Evolution: Farcaster's Rise from Niche Network to Powerhouse.

🔹 Global dynamics: Farcaster's u.s. focus vs. Lens' worldwide appeal.

🔹 Decentralized platforms: the unique soul of Farcaster and Lens communities.

🔹 Airdrop strategies: boosting Farcaster's growth and user engagement.

🔹 From social networks to media: Farcaster's balancing act.

🔹 Overcoming adoption barriers: user reluctance vs. Farcaster's innovations.

🔹 A shift in content, authenticity and interaction on Farcaster.

🔹 Expanding Farcaster's ecosystem globally.

🔹 Farcaster's vision: the future of decentralized social networks.

🔹 Discovering Farcaster: overcoming hesitation, embracing curiosity.

➡️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly 

➡️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

➡️Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound

Guest

⭐️ Ted, the Farcaster Fangirl #1

Why Farcaster Frames are important: How a failed Facebook bet is coming to fruition in Web 3 By Antonio García Martínez

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Trying to regulate DeFi is a huge challenge because in a truly decentralized system, there should be no centralized actors to make and enforce rules for. This could make combating illicit finance challenging since traditionally, regulation has been targeted at centralized intermediaries. Yet Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs; Michael Mosier, the co-founder of boutique law firm Arktouros; and Katja Gilman, senior lead for public policy at Polygon Labs, published a paper last week that proposes to do just that. 

Rebecca and Michael join Unchained to discuss what prompted them to write the paper, what the difference is between "onchain CeFi" and "genuine DeFi," how targeting high-risk wallets can be one part of the solution, how critical communications transmitters (CCTs) are another piece of the puzzle, and what next steps they are pursuing. 

• The motivations behind their paper and Michael and Rebecca’s legal backgrounds
• Why Michael views the Bank Secrecy Act as outdated in the context of DeFi
• How critical KYC and AML compliance is for the integrity of DeFi
• What Rebecca identifies as the principal risks in the DeFi sector
• Why their proposal targets the protocol layer for effective DeFi regulation
• How "onchain CeFi" differs fundamentally from "genuine DeFi"
• Whether a decentralized protocol can be effectively regulated when controlled by a DAO
• How if DeFi were to be classified as critical infrastructure by the Cyber and Information Security Agency (CISA), it would impact the sector
• Whether the critical components of blockchain networks, such as RPCs, can be regulated effectively
• How categorizing wallets based on risk can be one part of the solution to fighting illicit finance
• Why Rebecca considers Tornado Cash a prime example of “genuine DeFi”
• What steps Rebecca and Michael plan to take next following the publication of their paper

• Popcorn Network
• Polkadot

• Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Just a Coincidence? Coinbase and Polygon Lawyers See Bad Omens in SEC Crackdown
• Kik’s Surprising Move in Its Lawsuit With the SEC
• Michael Mosier, cofounder of Arktouros PLLC

• Previous coverage of Unchained on the topic: Could the Bank Secrecy Act Harm Crypto? Coin Center Thinks So 
• Full paper: Genuine DeFi as Critical Infrastructure: A Conceptual Framework for Combating Illicit Finance Activity in Decentralized Finance
• Rebecca’s thread
• Coin Center: Broad, Ambiguous, or Delegated: Constitutional Infirmities of the Bank Secrecy Act

Tornado Cash

• Unchained: Given the Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Is Ethereum Censorship Resistant?

Illicit funds in crypto:

• Unchained: How Much Money Are Terrorists Actually Raising in Crypto?

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news and with special guest Aevo's Co-Founder - Julian Koh. This episode zeroes in on the latest buzz around the Jupiter ($JUP) airdrop: What's the real story behind Jupiter’s valuation and controversy? We peel back the layers of Jupiter's token strategy and its impact on market dynamics. The dialogue then shifts to the innovative approaches of Aevo (formerly Ribbon Finance) in pre-launch derivatives and the burgeoning trend of airdrop farming: How are Airdrop strategies altering the landscape of token valuation and investor behavior? The debate intensifies as we tackle the contentious battle between points systems and traditional airdrops: Are points a revolutionary engagement tool or a complex web of incentives? With the resurgence of ICOs and the strategic pivot of Ribbon Finance, we explore the implications of rebrands on the crypto ecosystem. Join us for an in-depth exploration of these critical topics and their profound impact on the world of cryptocurrency.

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

🔹 Jupiter Airdrop Deep Dive: Unraveling the complexities and controversies behind the Jupiter ($JUP) airdrop.

🔹 Valuation Variance: Examining the fluctuations in Jupiter token valuation and their market repercussions.

🔹 Community Engagement: Evaluating the effectiveness of @weremeow's live streams in shaping community perceptions.

🔹 Airdrop Discontent: Analyzing the liquidity dynamics and user dissatisfaction stemming from airdrop strategies.

🔹 Innovations in Derivatives: Exploring Aevo's unique approach to pre-launch derivatives in the DeFi space.

🔹 The Airdrop Farmer's Dilemma: Discussing the strategies used by airdrop farmers to hedge against price volatility.

🔹 Points vs. Airdrops Debate: Delving into the pros and cons of points systems compared to traditional airdrop mechanisms.

🔹 Rebranding Strategies: Assessing the impact of token rebrands, with a focus on Ribbon Finance's evolution.

🔹 Pre-IPO Markets and Crypto: Drawing parallels between traditional pre-IPO conversion markets and crypto points systems.

🔹 The Uncertainty Factor: Considering how the allure of uncertainty influences engagement and investment in crypto.

🔹 Protocol Dynamics: Investigating the effects of airdrop farmers on the health and engagement of blockchain protocols.

🔹 ICO Resurgence: Discussing the potential comeback of Initial Coin Offerings and their role in the crypto funding landscape.

🔹 Stress Testing with Points: Highlighting innovative uses of points for protocol stress testing like Eigenlayer.

🔹 Referral Systems in Crypto: Analyzing the impact of referral-based points systems on protocol engagement and growth.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

Guest

⭐️ Julian Koh, Aevo's Co-Founder

• Jupiter LFG Launchpad Blog Article - https://station.jup.ag/blog/jupiter-lfg-launchpad 
• Blockworks: “Jupiter airdrop draws criticism, but support remains strong” - https://blockworks.co/news/jupiter-airdrop-draws-criticism 
• Proposal: “Merge Ribbon Finance into Aevo” - https://gov.ribbon.finance/t/rgp-33-merge-ribbon-finance-into-aevo/709 
• Weremeow’s Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/weremeow 

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While Solana DeFi protocol Jupiter staged what was by most measures a very successful airdrop launch on Wednesday, achieving a market cap of close to $800 million, the company’s critics pointed out numerous ways the company seemed to unfairly enrich itself in the process. While Jupiter’s founder, who goes by the pseudonym Meow, acknowledges he might have done some things differently, he finds the criticisms of the launch mostly based on “bad faith” and misinformation.  

Meow joined Unchained to discuss the thinking behind the launch mechanics of JUP, how the prior launch of memecoin WEN served as a dry run for JUP, whether the aggressive pricing strategy of JUP was a mistake, and what he hopes to achieve with Jupiter next, including the possibility of enabling companies of all kinds to list themselves publicly on chain. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

• What Jupiter is and how it extends its functionality beyond mere token swapping
• What users are primarily utilizing the dollar-cost-average feature of Jupiter for
• Meow’s background in crypto and how he ended up in the Solana ecosystem
• Why a launchpad seemed the ideal choice for Jupiter's token launch
• What prompted the decision to release WEN, a memecoin, before launching JUP
• Meow's response to criticisms regarding the launchpad's mechanics
• Whether the aggressive pricing strategy for Jupiter was a misstep
• How Meow feels about being targeted for criticism
• What's on the horizon for Jupiter as a platform following the airdrop

• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital

• Meow, cofounder of Jupiter

• Unchained: 
• Jupiter Traders Claim Whopping 545 Million JUP Tokens in First 8 Hours of Airdrop
• Jupiter’s Airdropped Token JUP Debuts at a $878 Million Market Cap
• Pro-Ethereum Crowd Slams Solana-based Jupiter Airdrop as ‘Absolute Trash’
• Breakpoint 2023 Meow conference
• The Block: Solana DEX aggregator Jupiter confirms token release date

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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z crypto, believes the Internet’s early ideals of democratization and community ownership have been subverted by the consolidation of power into just a few small companies like Facebook and Google. He’s written a new book called Read Write Own in which he writes about this phenomenon, and argues that blockchain technology can help reverse the trend by providing an environment in which developers and entrepreneurs can once again build direct relationships with their audiences. 

Dixon joins Unchained to discuss criticisms of crypto VC firms, how he feels now about a16z’s previous investment in Facebook, how crypto has become overly politicized in the U.S., why Facebook’s Libra project was ultimately shut down, the significant promise of restaking and EigenLayer in particular, and why he believes that creator royalties are essential for the NFT market.  

• what inspired Chris to write his new book and why he thinks the crypto industry is misunderstood
• what the current problems of the Internet are and how just a few companies control most of the revenue
• how Chris explains the concept of blockchains to the layman
• the importance of property rights in the real world and how blockchains make this better
• how Chris responds to the criticism that venture capital firms “dump on retail” and what a proper allocation of tokens to VCs is
• what the best designs are to achieve good governance in decentralized networks
• how the crypto industry has become politicized in the U.S. 
• what Chris thinks about a16z’s investment in Facebook
• why Facebook’s Libra project was shut down and his takeaways from the venture
• what lessons Chris learned from the 2022 crypto debacle, with the collapse of FTX, Terra, Celsius, 3AC, etc.
• where Chris sits in the debate about modular vs. monolithic networks
• how restaking and EigenLayer could “unlock a bunch of new design possibilities,” according to Chris
• the role of open source software in driving a better environment and better projects
• how decentralized social networks could attract new levels of adoption 
• whether creator royalties are necessary and why Chris believes that they are “non-negotiable”

• Popcorn Network

• Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z crypto, author of Read Write Own
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Chris Dixon on How Trust Is the Best Lego

Tokenomics

• Unchained: What Is Tokenomics? A Beginner's Guide

Venture Capital

• Unchained: Does Venture Capital Investment Violate the Ethos of Crypto? Sequoia Says No

Modular vs. monolithic

• Unchained: 
• Three Crypto Pioneers on Crypto’s Monolithic vs. Modular Debate
• What Are Modular Blockchains? A Beginner's Guide

Restaking

• Unchained: 
• Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets? 
• What Is Ethereum Restaking? A Beginner's Guide

Royalties

• Unchained: Are NFT Royalties the Way? How to Build a Sustainable Creator Economy
• The Chopping Block: Two on Two Debate: NFT Royalty Throwdown!

The 2022 debacle

• Unchained: Collapses, Bankruptcies, and Fraud: How 2022 Became the Year of Crypto Carnage

SocialFi

• Unchained: What Is SocialFi? A Beginner’s Guide

Crypto & AI

• Unchained: When AI and Blockchain Meet, How Can Each Technology Benefit?
• The Chopping Block: Why AI Will Change the Course of History in Crypto

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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

This week a major potential risk to Ethereum was highlighted by a bug that surfaced in Nethermind, a minority execution client. While the bug was fixed quickly, it raised the question of what would happen to the blockchain if Geth, which is used by more than two-thirds of validators and so is considered a “supermajority client,” had a bug. The situation could potentially result in a catastrophic fork of Ethereum. 

Ethereum developer Lefteris Karapetsas joined Unchained to discuss the different scenarios of what could happen, the potential impact of a supermajority client issue on staking services such as Lido, why he feels the incentive system is poorly designed, and what other solutions are out there to address the lack of client diversity. 

Show highlights:

• What a consensus issue is in Ethereum and what happened with Nethermind last weekend
• Why it would be a big problem if a supermajority client had a bug
• The potential impact on staking services such as Lido
• Why Lefteris feels like he is reliving the historic Ethereum DAO hack all over again
• Whether the largest entities running nodes will start pursuing client diversity
• How the data on the prevalence of specific Ethereum execution clients is not verifiable or programmatic, making it less transparent and difficult to analyze
• Why Lefteris believes that the incentive system is not designed to achieve client diversity
• Whether there are developments in the works to try to solve the lack of client diversity 

• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital

• Lefteris Karapetsas, Founder of Rotkiapp
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Is Code Law? Should the Hacker Be Punished? The DAO Creators Disagree

• Unchained: 
• Most Ethereum Staking Pools Are Using Just One Execution Client, Potentially Increasing Risks to the Network
• The Chopping Block: Data Availability & Why It’s Important
• CoinDesk: Bug That Took Down 8% of Ethereum's Validators Sparks Worries About Even Bigger Outage
• The Defiant: Ethereum Software Client Centralization Sparks Concern
• Crypto.news: Nethermind rolls out urgent fix for block processing bug in Ethereum client
• Lukasz Rosmej’s tweet that minority client Nethermind had a consensus issue
• Lefteris’ tweet on a supermajority Ethereum client bug 
• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's tweet on what he’d do in a censorship resistance request scenario
• Run the majority client at your own peril! by Dankrad Feist

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week kicks off with a crucial question: Are the latest trends in crypto ETFs signaling a major shift in the investment landscape? We delve into the market's nuanced response to these ETFs and what it means for investors. How important is client diversity for Ethereum's stability and future growth? The squad engages in a lively debate on this topic. With the advent of Proto-Danksharding, how might Ethereum's scalability be impacted, and what are the implications for the blockchain ecosystem? We further examine the user experience across blockchain platforms, particularly comparing Solana and Ethereum in terms of their user interfaces and transaction dynamics. Looking to the future, what breakthroughs and challenges can we anticipate in blockchain technology? Join us for an in-depth exploration of these key questions and their profound impact on the world of cryptocurrency.

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: 

🔹 ETF Market Analysis: Dissecting the impact of GBTC and other ETFs on the crypto market.

🔹 Client Diversity in Ethereum: Debating the pros and cons of multiple clients for network resilience.

🔹 Proto-Danksharding Effects: Assessing its potential to lower rollup costs and enhance scalability.

🔹 User Experience in Crypto: Exploring how fees and speeds affect user interactions on various platforms.

🔹 Solana vs. Ethereum UX: Comparing their user interfaces, focusing on transaction costs and latency.

🔹 Blockchain's Future Trends: Delving into predictions and emerging innovations in the blockchain world.

🔹 Ethereum's Protocol Evolution: Discussing the roadmap and future developments in Ethereum.

🔹 Scalability Solutions: Evaluating different approaches to scaling blockchains effectively.

🔹 Layer 2 Dynamics: Analyzing the growth and challenges of Layer 2 solutions on Ethereum.

• Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly 
• Robert Leshner, founder of Compound
• Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly 
• Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures

• Vitalik's post about Cypherpunk values: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/12/28/cypherpunk.html 
• PolyMarket for gas price per blob after EIP 4844: https://polymarket.com/event/gas-price-per-blob-1-month-after-eip-4844?tid=1706149992794 
• Tweet thread from DC investor: https://twitter.com/iamDCinvestor/status/1749410364666606075 
• Ethereum's Proto-Danksharding and EIP-4844: https://www.eip4844.com/ 
• Ethereum 2.0 Clients Dashboard: https://clientdiversity.org/#distribution 
• Solana's Firedancer: https://github.com/firedancer-io

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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Polychain Capital founder and CIO Olaf Carlson-Wee has been through every single bubble in crypto history, from Bitcoin’s rise past the single digits in 2012 to the ICO craze of 2017 to 2021’s NFT mania, and he says his main thesis about crypto has remained consistent since the beginning. That is, that crypto constitutes an “incentive vortex” that will replace the world’s preoccupation with country-backed currencies. 

Carlson-Wee, who was the first employee at Coinbase, joins Unchained to discuss the significance of the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs, how he successfully navigated all the industry blow-ups in 2022, the challenges of balancing incentives for early adopters versus new users, why EigenLayer is so significant, why Worldcoin’s distribution strategy is a “disaster,” and the strange places that the intersection between crypto and AI could take us. 

• Why Olaf sees the current market as the cusp of another bull run and how his thesis has remained consistent since 2011​​
• How the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs marks a significant milestone 
• Why criticisms of the crypto space are really criticisms of money in general 
• The fundamental differences between Web3 applications and the Web2 ecosystem and why they matter
• The importance of fair token distribution in enhancing the value of Web3 projects
• When Olaf expects Bitcoin to replace legacy financial systems
• The areas and technologies Olaf and his fund are keen to invest in
• Why Olaf thinks a modular blockchain architecture is superior to a monolithic one in the long term
• How EigenLayer is innovating to enable new types of applications and whether it competes with Celestia
• How Polychain managed to avoid being hurt by the major market blowups of 2022, including Terra and FTX
• The evolution of the space from an ideologically driven to a more pragmatic approach
• The significance of incentive design in crypto ecosystems and the trade-offs involved in system design
• Olaf’s perspective on the recent rise of points systems
• The growth of privacy-focused crypto projects and the potential for private blockchains to become the norm
• Why he thinks Worldcoin’s distribution strategy is a “disaster”
• Olaf’s interest in the intersection of AI and crypto and potential developments in this area
• His bullish outlook on SocialFi and Web3 gaming

• Popcorn Network

• Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CIO of Polychain Capital
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Olaf Carlson-Wee: 'If There Is a Money-Losing Exploit, the Money Is Gone' 
• Why The First Employee Of Coinbase Launched A Hedge Fund
• To the Moon and Back With Polychain's Olaf Carlson-Wee
• Special Episode with CNBC's Crypto Trader: Olaf Carlson-Wee on Why This Crypto Winter Is Different From Previous Ones
• All Things Cryptoeconomics, Pt. 1, With Olaf Carlson-Wee and Ryan Zurrer of Polychain Capital

Olaf Carlson-Wee

• Forbes: 
• This Man Has Been Living On Bitcoin For 3 Years
• Why This Hedge Fund CEO Once 'Put Most Of My Meager Life Savings Into Bitcoin'
• TechCrunch: The future is a decentralized internet
• Blockworks: Why Polychain Capital Founder Never Sells His Crypto 
• CoinDesk: Olaf Carlson-Wee: Crypto Is the Great Wealth-Redistribution Machine

Restaking/EigenLayer

• Unchained: 
• DeFi Protocol EigenLayer Reaches Restaking Capacity, Pushing TVL Past $1.4 Billion
• Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets? 
• Olaf’s tweet on EigenLayer

Crypto + AI

• Olaf’s tweet: “in crypto nearly 100% of value accrues to start-ups and outsiders, not existing establishment interests”

Visit Unchained for more links and details

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On Wednesday, a federal court in New York heard oral arguments in Coinbase’s motion to dismiss the SEC’s case against it for, among other things, allegedly acting as an unregulated securities exchange. Notably, Judge Katherine Polk Failla pressed the SEC to explain how it has jurisdiction over Coinbase in the case by defining what it considers a security. 

Sam Enzer, a partner at Cahill Gorden & Reindel who represents Coinbase but not in this matter, joined Unchained to discuss why this case is so significant for the crypto industry, how he believes the government contradicted itself on the crucial definition of what constitutes a security, why he thinks the judge will not dismiss the case at this early stage, how the Ripple and Terraform Labs cases could be used by each side, and why he thinks Judge Failla is such a perfect choice to rule in this case.  

Show highlights:

• Why SEC v Coinbase holds important implications for the U.S. crypto ecosystem
• What the SEC alleges against Coinbase, focusing on its trading platform, wallet, and staking services
• How Coinbase forcefully counters the SEC's claims as it strives to get the case dismissed
• What the “major questions doctrine” entails and its critical role in this dispute
• Why Sam perceives the judge as “extremely skeptical” of the SEC's stance
• Whether inconsistencies surfaced in the SEC lawyers' arguments
• What “strict liability” means and its frequent mention in this legal battle
• What takeaways from the Ripple and Terraform Labs cases offer about secondary market sales
• Why Sam believes Judge Katherine Polk Failla is exceptionally well-suited for this case
• Whether Judge Failla might reject the motion to dismiss, and when 

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital

• Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel
• Previous appearances on Unchained: 
• Why SBF's Testimony So Far Has Likely Already Doomed Him
• Another Bad Week for Sam Bankman-Fried in His Criminal Trial
• Why These Lawyers Say It's Over for SBF-But His Only Hail Mary Is to Testify
• SBF Trial: How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers Might Try and Win His Case
• SBF’s Lawyers Could Be Annoying the Judge How Might That Impact the Trial?

• Previous coverage of Unchained on the Coinbase case and the topic of securities:
• SEC Sues Binance, Coinbase: ‘This Is Not the End of Crypto in the United States’ 
• These 2 Crypto Trading Platforms Agree With SEC Chair Gary Gensler
• Coinbase’s Legal Action Against the SEC: How It Will Likely Unfold 
• ‘Is ETH a Security?’ Why Gary Gensler Couldn’t Give Congress a Straight Answer
• Gary Gensler vs. Crypto: What Will the SEC Attack Next?
• Rep. Emmer on Why He Believes Gary Gensler Is a ‘Bad-Faith Regulator’

Coinbase vs. SEC

• Unchained: 
• Federal Judge Presses SEC Over Jurisdiction in Case Against Coinbase
• SEC Sues Coinbase for Breaking Securities Laws
• SEC Files Motion to Freeze Binance’s Assets, Asks for ‘Sworn Accounting’
• SEC Files 13 Charges Against Binance Including the Mishandling of Funds, Sale of Unregistered Securities
• SEC Calls Solana, Polygon, Algorand and Other Tokens Securities but Misses Ether in Binance Lawsuit
• Cointelegraph: Senator Lummis files amicus brief supporting Coinbase’s dismissal motion against SEC.

Other cases

Kraken

• CNBC: Crypto exchange Kraken settles with SEC for $30 million, will close US staking operation

XRP

• Unchained: SEC vs Ripple: Judge Rules XRP Sold on Exchanges Is Not a Security

Terraform Labs

• Reuters: Judge sides with US SEC, says Terraform Labs crypto founder Do Kwon violated law

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Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto experts Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner bring you inside perspectives on critical topics in the crypto world. This episode delves into the complexities and market impact of crypto ETFs: Are they a game-changer for investors? The team also examines the controversies surrounding Tether, exploring its stability and the implications of recent scandals. They then shift focus to the burgeoning world of asset-backed securities and crypto casinos: What potential and challenges do they present? NFTs and their evolving role beyond digital art are scrutinized, along with the integration of crypto technology in devices like the Solana phone. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on these critical developments shaping the future of cryptocurrency.

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: 

🔹 ETF Performance Analysis: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and Competitors.

🔹 Circle IPO: Impact on Stablecoin Market and Financial Ecosystem.

🔹 Tether Controversy: Financial Backing and Southeast Asian Scams.

🔹 Vivek Ramaswamy's Political Future: Influence on Crypto Policy.

🔹 Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) in Crypto: Opportunities for Investors.

🔹 Crypto Casinos: Rise in Popularity and Move Toward Transparency.

🔹 NFTs in Mainstream Culture: Adoption and New Use Cases.

🔹 Crypto and Traditional Finance: Stablecoins like USDC and Tether.

🔹 Crypto Integration in Devices: Solana Phone and Market Adoption.

• Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly 
• Robert Leshner, founder of Compound
• Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly 
• Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures

• Blockworks: Tether says UN needs more blockchain education in response to USDT report by Casey Wagner 
• UNODC: Casinos, Money Laundering, Underground Banking, and Transnational Organized Crime in East and Southeast Asia: A Hidden and Accelerating Threat
• CNBC: Costco sold more than $100 million in gold bars last quarter by Spencer Kimball
• Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise And Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux
• CNBC: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: Bitcoin ETF approvals are ‘stepping stones’ towards tokenization

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Thursday was a momentous day in crypto as the first SEC-approved spot Bitcoin ETFs finally began trading after more than a decade of waiting, and by almost all accounts, it was a huge success, with more than $625 million in inflows on the first day of trading. 

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan and VanEck head of digital assets research Matthew Sigel joined Unchained to discuss their approaches towards selling their products in the market, the challenges of competing with larger firms like BlackRock and Fidelity, the fee wars and where those are headed, the importance of specialist expertise in the crypto investment space, and how Bitcoin prices might react to all the new supply in the market. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

• Why Matt Hougan regards the first week as a massive success for Bitcoin
• How Matthew Sigel emphasizes the costs and benefits ETFs offer to retail investors
• The strategic marketing approaches of VanEck and Bitwise aligning with Bitcoin community values
• The reasons for Bitwise's standout performance in the first days of trading, according to Matt
• Whether the introduction of Bitcoin ETFs will reshape the broader ETF landscape
• Matt's perspective on why some financial institutions resist Bitcoin, and their eventual openness to crypto
• Whether the established players in finance feel threatened by the rise of open source technologies
• Whether Gary Gensler’s statement after the approval is “totally crazy”
• Why data for the various ETFs in the market should be analyzed on a weekly or monthly basis
• The ongoing fee competition and how smaller entities can compete against giants like BlackRock and Fidelity
• Grayscale's strategies to remain competitive with higher fees and the possibility of launching a new, low-fee ETF
• How investment advisors might adapt to these new crypto products and the potential for mainstream adoption
• Matthew’s predictions for when BTC investors, both short-term and long-term, will take profits
• Why they are both closely monitoring Ethereum's performance and the prospects for a spot ether ETF in the market

• Arbitrum Foundation
• Popcorn Network

• Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management
• Previous appearances on Unchained: Why a Spot Bitcoin ETF Will Probably Launch No Later Than January 10
• Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck.

• Previous coverage of Unchained on spot Bitcoin ETFs:
• Why Some Brokerage Firms Are Blocking Access to Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Finally Start Trading on Thursday 
• Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF
• Will a Spot Bitcoin ETF Finally Get Approved?
• The 4 Factors That Will Determine Which Spot Bitcoin ETFs Win Market Share
• How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection

Approval:

• Unchained: 
• Spot Bitcoin ETFs Finally Receive SEC Seal of Approval
• What Officials, ETF Issuers, and Others Are Saying About the SEC's Spot Bitcoin ETF Approvals
• Laura Shin’s op-ed on Unchained: Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are (But Mostly Aren't) a Big Deal for Crypto
• David Z. Morris’ op-ed on Unchained: The SEC’s Bumbling Bitcoin ETF Rollout Was Perfectly On-Brand

First days of trading

• Unchained: 
• Spot Bitcoin ETFs Record $4.6 Billion First Day Trading Volume
• Spot Bitcoin ETF Inflows Topped $625 Million on First Day in ‘Phenomenal’ Debut, Led by Bitwise
• Vanguard Isn’t Allowing Customers to Buy Spot Bitcoin ETFs

Visit Unchained for more links and details

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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably heard that spot Bitcoin ETFs were finally approved by the SEC this week. That set the stage for 11 such offerings from the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity, and ARK 21Shares to begin trading on Thursday. On this episode of Unchained, Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store; Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence; and James Seyffart, research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence discussed the initial record trading volumes, the mechanics of how the funds work, the botched roll-out process, the pointed commentary from SEC commissioners, the potential for future Ethereum spot ETFs and predictions for total inflows. Plus, they explain why brokerage firms like Vanguard, Merrill and others were blocking customer access to the ETFs.

Show highlights:

• The initial impact and trading volumes on the launch day of the ETFs
• How BlackRock’s ETF, IBIT, had a lot of volume in pre-market and what that means
• Why Eric was surprised that BlackRock proceeded with a waiver for its ETF, but realized that it was “genius marketing”
• Whether there’s a problem that ETFs don’t trade 24/7, unlike BTC itself
• Why James says the spot ETFs are not going to have significant premiums or discounts to NAV 
• What the percentage premium is and how it will play out with spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Whether the SEC will ever allow in-kind creation and redemption
• Why Nate and Eric believe that the SEC’s denials of spot Bitcoin ETFs for a decade was “completely suboptimal” for retail investors
• How the SEC commissioners pointedly disagreed with each other in their comments and dissents
• The politics of the approval process
• Whether Ethereum spot ETFs will be approved next
• Why some big platforms and brokerages are not offering the spot Bitcoin ETFs
• How RIAs will respond to the ETF and whether there’s going to be mainstream adoption by advisors

• Arbitrum Foundation
• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital

• James Seyffart, Research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
• Previous appearances on Unchained: Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Finally Start Trading on Thursday
• Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF
• Why a Spot Bitcoin ETF Will Probably Launch No Later Than January 10
• Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Finally Start Trading on Thursday
• Will a Spot Bitcoin ETF Finally Get Approved?
• Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store

• Previous coverage of Unchained on spot Bitcoin ETFs:
• The 4 Factors That Will Determine Which Spot Bitcoin ETFs Win Market Share
• How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection
• The Chopping Block: Are We Back? The ‘Low IQ’ Response to the Potential Spot Bitcoin ETF

Approval:

• Unchained: 
• Spot Bitcoin ETFs Finally Receive SEC Seal of Approval
• What Officials, ETF Issuers, and Others Are Saying About the SEC's Spot Bitcoin ETF Approvals
• Laura Shin’s op-ed on Unchained: Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are (But Mostly Aren't) a Big Deal for Crypto
• David Z. Morris’ op-ed on Unchained: The SEC’s Bumbling Bitcoin ETF Rollout Was Perfectly On-Brand

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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.

Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto experts Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner bring you inside perspectives on critical topics in the crypto world. In this episode, they're joined by Gwart, the caustic comedian of Crypto Twitter, as they explore questions like: What is Gwart's stance on the overhyped nature of DAOs and governance in crypto? How does Gwart view the potential and risks of NFTs, particularly Bitcoin-based Ordinals? The team also dives into the recent SEC Twitter hack - what does this incident reveal about market manipulation and the importance of cybersecurity? They then explore the competitive landscape of Bitcoin ETFs, discussing the implications of their fee structures. Finally, they consider the significance of developing crypto infrastructure that resonates with the average user, not just the niche crypto enthusiast. Tune in for an engaging exploration of these pivotal questions shaping the future of cryptocurrency.

Show highlights: 

🔹The concept of Ethereum alignment and its origins

🔹The SEC's Twitter account being hacked and a fake BTC ETF approval tweet

🔹Fees for different ETF issuers and Grayscale's fee reduction for GBTC

🔹The SEC's Twitter account being hacked and the fake BTC ETF approval tweet

🔹The potential use case of prediction markets in Taiwanese elections

🔹Imprisonment of individuals in Taiwan for betting on the election through PolyMarket

🔹Discussion on the concept of futarchy and its potential implementation

🔹The prevalence of centralized exchanges and their impact on user adoption

🔹Gwart's role as an observer and heckler in the crypto space

🔹Building infrastructure for onboarding users in crypto

🔹The dichotomy between the ideal of decentralization and the reality of user adoption

🔹Criticism of DAO governance and lack of significant innovation

• Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly 
• Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound
• Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 
• Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

• Gwart, Crypto Twitter Icon

• Justin Drake on Bankless’ “57 - Ultra Sound Money | Justin Drake”: https://youtu.be/bWqhn1hXvVc 
• Justin Drake on “ETH’s Biggest Upgrade Since EIP1559 | MEV Burn w/ Justin Drake and Dom”: https://youtu.be/nb7x7n8Ga3U 
• Eliezer Yudkowsky – “AI Alignment: Why It's Hard, and Where to Start”: https://youtu.be/EUjc1WuyPT8  
• Eliezer Yudkowsky - “Why AI Will Kill Us, Aligning LLMs, Nature of Intelligence, SciFi, & Rationality”: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/eliezer-yudkowsky  
• Vitalik Buterin’s “An Introduction to Futarchy”: https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/08/21/introduction-futarchy  
• Arthur Breitman’s “Towards Futarchy in Tezos”: https://medium.com/tezos/towards-futarchy-in-tezos-54a7b8926967  
• “More arrests for betting crypto on Taiwan election via blocked website” by Jono Thomson (Taiwan News, Staff Writer): https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/5070386  

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It’s set to be a historic week in crypto, with the SEC widely expected to finally approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, although it’s not a 100% certainty. Two Bloomberg analysts who have followed all the developments closely since the beginning, James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, join Unchained to discuss the final filings, the likely schedule, and whether all the applications are likely be approved on the same day. Then they dive into the real action: the cutthroat wars that have already begun, why Grayscale might be keeping its fees on the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust so high, and who the likely winners in what has traditionally been a “winner take most” category will be. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

• What the recent 19b-4 and S-1 filings say about how close the ETFs are to approval
• Whether Hashdex's existing futures ETF impacts its treatment in the spot Bitcoin ETF process
• The likely timeline for trading to start post-ETF approval
• The possibility of simultaneous launches for all approved ETF issuers
• The SEC's concerns about ensuring a fair launch, informed by the BITO experience
• Eric’s surprise at JP Morgan's involvement as an Authorized Participant
• Why the SEC is approving the ETF despite Gensler’s stance against crypto
• What extreme cases Eric believes might cause the ETF not to be approved 
• How BlackRock's low fees set a challenging benchmark for competitors
• The potential for an issuer to offer even lower fees than current players
• How issuer margins are thin due to marketing fees, and the impact of waivers
• James’ theory about why Grayscale might be keeping the fee on GBTC so high
• Predictions about which issuer(s) will gain the bulk of assets under management
• The rumor about BlackRock introducing substantial liquidity on the ETF's first day
• Eric and James's expectations for ETF inflows and market dynamics

• Arbitrum Foundation
• Popcorn Network

• James Seyffart, Research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF
• Why a Spot Bitcoin ETF Will Probably Launch No Later Than January 10
• Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Will a Spot Bitcoin ETF Finally Get Approved?

• Previous coverage of Unchained on spot Bitcoin ETFs:
• The 4 Factors That Will Determine Which Spot Bitcoin ETFs Win Market Share
• How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection
• The Chopping Block: Are We Back? The ‘Low IQ’ Response to the Potential Spot Bitcoin ETF

Fees 

• Unchained: Fee Competition Heats Up Among BlackRock and Other Spot Bitcoin ETF Applicants
• Caitlin Long’s tweet warning about no fees
• Fidelity set their fee to .39%
• Invesco/Galaxy chose to waive fees

Market participants:

• Unchained: Goldman Sachs Could Take Vital Role in BlackRock, Grayscale Spot Bitcoin ETFs: Report
• The Block: Nasdaq to meet with SEC today to discuss spot bitcoin ETFs: Source
• Reuters: BlackRock, VanEck among asset managers that submitted updated filings for spot bitcoin ETF
• CoinDesk: BlackRock, Valkyrie Name Authorized Participants Including JPMorgan for Bitcoin ETF

Others:

• Better Markets’ letter: The SEC Must Follow the Law and Reject Spot Bitcoin ETPs Which Will Inflict Massive Investor Harm
• FXSTREET: BlackRock might be on track to create history with $2 billion inflows in spot Bitcoin ETF in a week
• Eleanor Terrett of Fox News’ tweet on Better Markets’ letter
• Scott Johnson of Van Buren Capital’s estimate

Learn more: 

• Unchained: 
• Bitcoin ETFs Explained: What Are They & How Do They Work?
• Why The Spot Bitcoin ETF Is a Big Deal
• Deciding on Bitcoin: Should New Investors Jump In Now or Wait for an ETF?

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The past few days have been a busy stretch in the run-up to a potential spot Bitcoin ETF approval by the SEC. Goldman Sachs was revealed as a possible authorized participant (AP) for BlackRock and Grayscale’s offerings, the SEC met with representatives of major stock exchanges, and a report skeptical of an imminent SEC approval likely caused a 7% decline in Bitcoin. Spencer Bogart, general partner at venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, joined Unchained to break down what all of these events mean, as well as discuss who the likely winners will be among ETF issuers, the impact of a spot bitcoin ETF on companies such as MicroStrategy and Coinbase, and how a spot ETF will affect Bitcoin futures ETFs and leveraged crypto ETFs.

Show highlights:

• Why the newly authorized participants in the spot Bitcoin ETFs are critical for maintaining the ETF’s price alignment
• The reasons behind the excitement over Goldman Sachs becoming an authorized participant in the spot Bitcoin ETFs
• How the Matrixport report led to a 7% drop in BTC value
• The importance of seed funding for ETFs and its impact on their stability and growth
• The pivotal role of distribution in an ETF and why Spencer emphasizes its significance
• Whether the fees charged by ETF issuers will become a decisive factor for consumers in choosing their preferred ETF
• The potential impact of changes in the Grayscale board on its aspirations to launch an ETF
• How the introduction of a spot Bitcoin ETF might influence BITO, the futures-based Bitcoin ETF
• Whether the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF could affect the stock value of MicroStrategy
• Spencer's reasoning behind why Coinbase stands to "absolutely benefit" from the introduction of a spot Bitcoin ETF

• Arbitrum Foundation
• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital

• Spencer Bogart, General Partner at Blockchain Capital

• Previous coverage of Unchained on spot Bitcoin ETFs:
• Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF
• Why a Spot Bitcoin ETF Will Probably Launch No Later Than January 10
• How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection
• Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF
• The Chopping Block: Are We Back? The ‘Low IQ’ Response to the Potential Spot Bitcoin ETF

Matrixport report

• Why the SEC will REJECT Bitcoin Spot ETFs again
• Jihan Wu’s tweet defending the analyst 
• Unchained: Why Did Bitcoin's Price Dip as ETF Approval Nears?

Market participants:

• Unchained: Goldman Sachs Could Take Vital Role in BlackRock, Grayscale Spot Bitcoin ETFs: Report
• The Block: Nasdaq to meet with SEC today to discuss spot bitcoin ETFs: Source
• Reuters: BlackRock, VanEck among asset managers that submitted updated filings for spot bitcoin ETF
• CoinDesk: BlackRock, Valkyrie Name Authorized Participants Including JPMorgan for Bitcoin ETF

8-As

• The Block: Fidelity, Grayscale filing 8-A forms show progress for spot bitcoin ETF applications

Fees

• Fidelity set their fee to .39%
• Invesco/Galaxy chose to waive fees

Grayscale:

• Unchained: DCG CEO Silbert, President Murphy Exit Grayscale Board 

Learn more: 

• Unchained: 
• Bitcoin ETFs Explained: What Are They & How Do They Work?
• Why The Spot Bitcoin ETF Is a Big Deal
• Deciding on Bitcoin: Should New Investors Jump In Now or Wait for an ETF?

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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.

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. This week, they are joined by Laura Shin, the host of Unchained, to discuss the latest post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who argues that crypto needs to get back to its idealistic cypherpunk roots. Is Vitalik the Pope of crypto, as Haseeb argues, and is there even a need for such an exemplary-type figure? And how do other influential crypto folks like Solana’s Anatoly Yakovenko and Tron’s Justin Sun fit into this dynamic? The gang also discusses the likely imminent approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. and what it might mean for Bitcoin’s price and Ordinals Inscriptions.

Show highlights: 

• Who won the group’s bet on what the circulating supply of PayPal’s stablecoin, PYUSD, would be at the end of the year
• The Orbit Bridge hack and how the potential involvement of North Korea could be a problem for the industry
• How Vitalik’s post urging for a return to the cypherpunk ideals sparked a debate within the community
• Whether Vitalik is like “the Pope of crypto” and whether there’s even a need for one
• Why it’s so important to keep the cypherpunk ethos, according to Tarun
• Why Tom believes, after reading Vitalik’s post, that the wrong lessons are being learned
• How Vitalik and Solana’s Anatoly Yakovenko could represent the religious leaders of two different approaches
• Whether Justin Sun is the “inverse of Vitalik”
• How GBTC holders are the most impacted ones given that the spot Bitcoin ETFs will be created and redeemed in cash
• Whether the SEC is picking favorites in the Bitcoin ETF landscape
• What could happen to the price of BTC if the ETF is approved
• Whether the rise in Bitcoin’s price will increase fees so much that it crowds out Ordinals Inscriptions

• Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly 
• Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly 
• Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures

• Laura Shin, journalist, author of ‘The Cryptopians,’ founder and CEO of Unchained

Cypherpunk ideals

• Make Ethereum Cypherpunk Again by Vitalik Buterin
• Quotes on Vitalik’s post on X
• Business Insider: 'Heed these words of warning:' Ethereum founder threatens to leave if the crypto community doesn't grow up
• The Block: Solana Labs CEO: It ‘doesn’t really matter’ if the network goes down again

Spot Bitcoin ETF

• Unchained: 
• 77% of Financial Advisors Are Waiting for a Spot Bitcoin ETF to Offer Their Clients
• How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection
• Should First-Time Bitcoin Investors Buy Now or Wait for the ETF?
• Signs Increasingly Point to January Approval of Spot Bitcoin ETF Applications
• Why The Spot Bitcoin ETF Is a Big Deal
• Deciding on Bitcoin: Should New Investors Jump In Now or Wait for an ETF?
• CoinDesk: Michael Saylor Commences Plan to Sell $216M Worth of MicroStrategy Stock Options

PayPal’s PYUSD bet:

• The Chopping Block: Curve Crisis Concludes With a Whimper, PayPal’s PYUSD Raises New Questions

Orbit Bridge hack

• Unchained: Orbit Chain Announces 'Significant Clue' in $81 Million New Year's Eve Hack
• The Block: Orbit Chain's bridge reportedly hacked for $81.5 million

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In this episode of Unchained, Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, Nick White, COO at Celestia, and Chris Burniske, partner at VC firm Placeholder discuss the differences between modular and monolithic, or integrated, blockchains, with Solana epitomizing the monolithic approach and Celestia the modular one. They all agree that both approaches have their merits and will likely coexist, but argue each lends itself to specific use cases and developer preferences.They also discuss what will drive the next crypto bull cycle, and each gives their best predictions for a specific development in the crypto industry in the next few years. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

• Chris’s explanation of the modular vs. monolithic approach in blockchains
• What drove Anatoly to prioritize speed in Solana's architecture and its impact on the network
• What Celestia is and how it represents the first modular blockchain network
• Whether developers and users will gravitate more towards modular or monolithic blockchains
• How Solana, as one of the fastest blockchains, is gearing up to handle massive usage and scalability
• Why Chris views Celestia as a frontrunner in the data availability sector
• How Nick perceives the philosophical similarities and executional differences between Celestia and Solana
• Whether there's potential for Solana to transition into a modular blockchain in the future
• Why Chris believes that the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) might surpass the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in user adoption
• What challenges Bitcoin faces in developing actual Layer 2 solutions, especially considering its "doomers storage" issue
• What could drive the next crypto bull market
• Top predictions for 2024 and beyond 
• Anatoly’s perspective on how a significant hack could pose a serious setback for the entire industry 

• Arbitrum Foundation
• Popcorn Network
• iTrustCapital

• Anatoly Yakovenko, cofounder of Solana Labs
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Anatoly Yakovenko on Solana’s Astounding Recovery and Its Future Plans
• Will Solana Be the Execution Layer and Ethereum the Settlement Layer?
• Can Solana Seize Marketshare From Ethereum With Serum?
• Anatoly Yakovenko on Why Solana Is Building the SAGA
• Chris Burniske, partner at Placeholder
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Two VCs on Why This Is the Perfect Time to Invest in Crypto
• 2022 in Review + How Cobie and Chris Burniske Are Playing the New Year
• Cobie and Chris Burniske on How to Navigate a Crypto Bear Market
• How To Value A Crypto Asset
• Nick White, COO at Celestia Labs

Modular vs. monolithic

• Alchemy: Modular vs. Monolithic Blockchains
• Visa: Monolithic vs. modular blockchain
• Chris Burniske’s tweet on modular vs monolithic

“The horrific inefficiencies of monolithic blockchains” by polynya

• Blockworks: A spicy salvo launched in the monolithic vs modular debate
• Unchained: What Is the Blockchain Trilemma?

Celestia

• Celestia’s explanation of modular blockchains
• Data availability
• Data availability sampling
• An introduction to sovereign rollups

Spot Bitcoin ETF:

• Unchained: 
• Why The Spot Bitcoin ETF Is a Big Deal
• Deciding on Bitcoin: Should New Investors Jump In Now or Wait for an ETF?

Ledger ConnectKit incident

• Unchained: Ledger Library Compromised, Causing Confusion and Panic in Crypto Community

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. This week, they are joined by Lucas Bruder, co-founder and CEO of Jito Labs, an infrastructure provider that mitigates the impact of maximum extractable value (MEV) on Solana — specifically spam and wasted block space. He and the gang discuss how the Jito airdrop this month helped rejuvenate Solana; how Jito differs from Flashbots, its counterpart on Ethereum; Solana’s potential scalability; and how Solana believers have been vindicated by the developments of the last few months. 

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: 

• Why Jito is a crucial development in the Solana ecosystem and its potential impact on network performance
• What sets Jito apart from its counterpart on Ethereum, Flashbots, in terms of functionality and benefits
• Whether Solana's speed uniquely influences Jito's effectiveness compared to Flashbots
• Lucas' explanation of maximum extractable value (MEV) and how it operates within the Solana network, providing insight into its complexities and advantages
• Whether Solana's infrastructure could sustain block production if the AWS integration encounters disruptions
• How the Jito airdrop may have rejuvenated the Solana network, potentially marking an end to its "ice age"
• What recent surges in on-chain activity in Solana indicate about the network's health and user engagement
• Where MEV fees in Solana are directed and who benefits from this value accrual within the ecosystem
• Whether Solana dapps are evolving their architectures to mitigate MEV opportunities and enhance network security
• How Tarun envisions the design of Solana's fee market for optimal efficiency and fairness
• Whether Solana has the inherent capacity for infinite scalability and what potential bottlenecks might impede this growth

• Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly 
• Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly 
• Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures

• Lucas Bruder, CEO of Jito Labs

MEV:

Previous coverage of Unchained on MEV: 

• Unchained: Why Is Ethereum Trying to Maximize Value From Users? Two Sides Debate
• The Chopping Block: Why the Once-Taboo MEV Is Now a Core Part of Ethereum
• CoinDesk: What Is MEV, aka Maximal Extractable Value?

Jito: 

• Unchained: Jito, Solana-Based Liquid Staking Protocol, Airdrops Governance Token
• Solana Validator 101: Transaction Processing
• Jito Block Engine Expands Access to All Solana MEV Traders

Solana’s recent activity and bull run:

• Unchained: 
• Anatoly Yakovenko on Solana’s Astounding Recovery and Its Future Plans
• Solana Takes the Lead in Daily Stablecoin Transfer Volume
• Solana Surges to $84, Flips Ethereum in Weekly DEX Volume
• Paxos Bringing Stablecoin Issuance on Solana, Diversifying Beyond Ethereum

Solana’s model:

• Solana
• Proof of History: How Solana brings time to crypto

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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

As 2023 nears its end, the crypto community is abuzz with speculation: will the relentless crypto winter give way in 2024? Crypto OG Arthur Hayes is confident that crypto is on an upswing. According to Hayes, these market cycles are historically recurrent, indicating a potential bull run in the near future. 

In this episode, Hayes offers his insights on a range of compelling topics, from what he believes will be a resurgence of central bank money printing between 2024 and 2027 to the effect spot Bitcoin ETFs will have on crypto markets. 

He also shares his views on the post-FTX blockchain landscape, the dynamics of Ethereum and memecoins, and why he thinks Tether won’t last. 

Show highlights:

• Why Arthur believes that central banks across the globe might resort to printing money again between 2024 and 2027
• Why he's anticipating a bull run in the crypto market within the next year
• Whether the financial system established post-World War II is on the verge of a breakdown
• What Arthur recommends investors should do in the event of a spot Bitcoin ETF launch
• Why he is confident that the launch of a Bitcoin ETF won't immediately lead to a massive surge in prices
• How, according to Arthur, the collapse of FTX actually validated the resilience of the blockchain ecosystem
• Whether the DCG crisis is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the crypto industry
• Why Arthur maintains a bullish stance on ETH and the Ethereum ecosystem, despite labeling it a “shitcoin”
• Whether he sees the use of the Bitcoin blockchain for trading memecoins (BRC-20s) as problematic
• Why Arthur thinks Tether's dominance will be challenged with the entry of major U.S. banks into the stablecoin market
• Why he firmly believes that AI systems will favor Bitcoin over traditional forms of money
• Why, in Arthur's view, China may not aim to become the issuer of the global reserve currency
• The investment strategy of Arthur’s family office, Maelstrom

• Arbitrum Foundation
• Uniswap
• Popcorn Network

• Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom.
• Previous appearances on Unchained:
• Arthur Hayes, Former Ethereum Skeptic, on Why the Merge Makes Him Bullish on ETH 
• Arthur Hayes of Bitmex on Why Countries Will Turn to Digital
• The Chopping Block: Arthur Hayes on Why Crypto Needs to Ditch the Banks
• How Crypto and Blockchain Technology Could Change Financial Services

Macroeconomics

• CoinDesk: The Relationship Between Bitcoin and Interest Rates Is Breaking Down: Arthur Hayes
• Bad Gurl by Arthur Hayes
• The Periphery by Arthur Hayes
• Arthur Hayes’ tweet: “the U.S. banking crisis is back”

Bitcoin ETFs and markets

• Forbes’ Billy Bambrough on Arthur Hayes’ hot ETF take - “If ETFs managed by TradFi asset managers are too successful, they will completely destroy Bitcoin.”
• Blockworks: Institutional custody of bitcoin could kill it, cautions Hayes
• Arthur’s tweet on cash or in-kind Bitcoin ETFs
• Unchained: Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Arthur’s meme on BlackRock 

SBF and FTX

• White Boy by Arthur Hayes
• White Man by Arthur Hayes
• New York Magazine: The Original King of Crypto Is Back Arthur Hayes rubbed success in the Feds’ face and got busted. Now he’s returning to a shell-shocked industry.

CZ and Binance

• Panda Power by Arthur Hayes
• Unchained: 
• How Binance Will Open All Its Activity to the U.S. Government
• Binance to Pay $4.3B Penalty to Resolve U.S. DOJ Criminal Investigation; Changpeng Zhao Resigns, Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Charges

For more detail and links visit Unchained!