CoinDesk Podcast Network

Puma's Head of Emerging Technology, Ivan Dashkov, joins us to discuss how the sportswear brand is approaching digital fashion, community building and marketing innovation.

Today's episode is sponsored by Chainalysis.

In the final episode of 2023, Avery and Sam discuss predictions for 2024 and interview Ivan Dashkov, Head of Emerging Technology at Puma, about innovation in marketing and brand-building strategies like social media, NFTs, the metaverse and AI.

Links mentioned from the podcast: 

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From our sponsor:

Chainalysis is the blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, web3 companies, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies. Our data powers investigation, compliance, and business intelligence software that has been used to solve some of the world’s most high-profile criminal cases. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.

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"Gen C" features hosts Sam Ewen and Avery Akkineni, with editing by Jonas Huck. Executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced by Uyen Truong. Our theme music is "1882” by omgkirby x Channel Tres with editing by Doc Blust. Artwork by Nicole Marie Rincon.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

U.S. crypto regulation has much to learn from Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. But while these jurisdictions offer legal clarity around digital assets, they also have some of the toughest rules in the world, says CoinDesk’s Emily Parker.

Today's episode is sponsored by CME Group.

To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.

Today’s featured story is an opinion piece from Emily Parker, titled: “Crypto-Friendly Does Not Mean Crypto-Easy.”

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From our sponsors:

CME Group Cryptocurrency futures and options provide market-leading liquidity for bitcoin and ether trading. These cash-settled contracts give full exposure to crypto performance without the hassle of holding the physical position. No digital wallet? No problem. Trade nearly 24/7 in a transparent, CFTC-regulated market. Visit cmegroup.com/crypto to learn more.

Disclaimer:

This communication is not directed to investors located in any particular jurisdiction and is not intended to be accessed by recipients based in jurisdictions in which distribution is not permitted. The information herein should not be considered investment advice or the results of actual market experience. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. Trading derivatives products involves the risk of loss. Please consider carefully whether futures or options are appropriate to your financial situation.

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This episode was hosted by Noelle Acheson. “Markets Daily” is executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced and edited by Eleanor Pahl. All original music by Doc Blust and Colin Mealey.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Li Jin of Variant Fund dives into the trend of points in crypto: why projects favor points over tokens, the art of designing such systems, and the potential of on-chain points.

Take the Unchained 2023 survey!

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.

Over the past year, the crypto industry has seen the rise of a new trend: the adoption of points systems. 

Li Jin, cofounder of Variant Fund, says that while points systems have long been a staple in the Web2 domain, their integration into the crypto ecosystem could have pitfalls. 

She covers how these points are currently being leveraged within crypto applications in the hopes of driving user engagement and retention, why they’re taking off now, and why they’re off-chain. She also points out that, if implemented poorly, they could engender disloyalty instead of leading to sustainable communities, and urges founders to be thoughtful about the design of these systems, especially about how points translate to economic value.

Show highlights  | 

Thank you to our sponsors!

Arbitrum Foundation  |  Uniswap  |  Popcorn Network  | Phemex

Guest |

Li Jin, cofounder and General Partner at Variant Fund

Previous appearances on Unchained: 

Will Every Piece of Media Enter the Internet as an NFT? Variant Fund Says Yes

The Chopping Block: Two on Two Debate: NFT Royalty Throwdown!

Links | 

Points:

Li’s Newsletter: Lessons on Points Programs for Crypto Apps

Li’s comments on the topic: 

Tweet 1 on points entering “the crypto app zeitgeist”

Tweet 2 on points discounting the cost of the product

Tweet 3 on points and product-market-fit

Tweet 4 on how points can “distort activity”

CoinDesk: 

Crypto Points: Off-Chain Derivatives That Everyone is Talking About 

Web3 Loyalty Programs Are a Trojan Horse for Good Crypto Policy

DL News: Why DeFi protocols love to offer ‘points’ before airdrops 

Projects using points

Rainbow wallet

Friend.tech

Blast

Blackbirds

Marginfi

Parcl

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Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC.  Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Noelle Acheson, the mind behind the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, speaks with Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at Arca.

Today's episode is sponsored by CME Group.

To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.

As the year comes to a close, host Noelle Acheson speaks with guest Jeff Dorman, CIO of Arca, about what the crypto narrative is shaping up to be in 2024.

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From our sponsors:

CME Group Cryptocurrency futures and options provide market-leading liquidity for bitcoin and ether trading. These cash-settled contracts give full exposure to crypto performance without the hassle of holding the physical position. No digital wallet? No problem. Trade nearly 24/7 in a transparent, CFTC-regulated market. Visit cmegroup.com/crypto to learn more.

Disclaimer:

This communication is not directed to investors located in any particular jurisdiction and is not intended to be accessed by recipients based in jurisdictions in which distribution is not permitted. The information herein should not be considered investment advice or the results of actual market experience. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. Trading derivatives products involves the risk of loss. Please consider carefully whether futures or options are appropriate to your financial situation.

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This episode was hosted by Noelle Acheson. “Markets Daily” is executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced and edited by Eleanor Pahl. All original music by Doc Blust and Colin Mealey.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Noelle Acheson, the mind behind the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, explores market moves, crypto predictions, consumer confidence and more.

Today's episode is sponsored by CME Group.

To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.

Today’s Stories:

Consensus Magazine 

6 Predictions for Crypto in 2024: Pantera’s Paul Veradittakit 

Blockchain Tech Predictions for 2024, From Experts at Ripple, Coinbase, a16z, Starknet 

ETFs, Halving, Upgrades – What to Expect With Bitcoin Next Year 

7 Predictions About the Crypto Lending Landscape in 2024 

2024: The Year of Regulatory Compromises 

5 Predictions for Real World Assets in 2024 

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From our sponsors:

CME Group Cryptocurrency futures and options provide market-leading liquidity for bitcoin and ether trading. These cash-settled contracts give full exposure to crypto performance without the hassle of holding the physical position. No digital wallet? No problem. Trade nearly 24/7 in a transparent, CFTC-regulated market. Visit cmegroup.com/crypto to learn more.

Disclaimer:

This communication is not directed to investors located in any particular jurisdiction and is not intended to be accessed by recipients based in jurisdictions in which distribution is not permitted. The information herein should not be considered investment advice or the results of actual market experience. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. Trading derivatives products involves the risk of loss. Please consider carefully whether futures or options are appropriate to your financial situation.

-

This episode was hosted by Noelle Acheson. “Markets Daily” is executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced and edited by Eleanor Pahl. All original music by Doc Blust and Colin Mealey.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A DeFi project steps precariously close to insider trading.

On "Carpe Consensus," hosts Ben Schiller and Danny Nelson dive into the murky waters of DeFi news. 

• Inside the Desk: Danny recaps his latest deep-dive piece looking at a highly profitable yet legally dubious DeFi trading strategy – one that could render those behind the trade vulnerable to what would be a first-of-its-kind insider trading investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Carpe Consensus” is executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced and edited by Eleanor Pahl.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We are going back in our archives for this year before this podcast to share some stories that we think are special. 

This episode is sponsored by the Stellar Community Fund

Follow the show here for more.

In this installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk, explore the following stories:

TOPIC | Events 

Zuzalu

This invite-only gathering of 200 people in the Mediterranean marina town of Lustica Bay has been taking place since late March and wraps up this week, featuring official sessions on zero-knowledge cryptography, twice-a-day jumps into the Adriatic Sea, and the chance to get face time with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Curve hack, DeFi existential crisis 

Curve, a leading decentralized exchange on Ethereum, was hacked for more than $70 million in July. Questions continue to linger around the platform's long-term viability and potential contagion risk.

Ethereum Validator Withdrawals

Following last week's milestone Shanghai upgrade, we moved to wind down CoinDesk's Ethereum validator project, but it could be a week before the 32 ETH we staked (about $67,000 worth) hits our wallet. C. Spencer Beggs, our director of engineering, breaks down the technical steps he's taken.

TOPIC | New Technology - Projects 

Account Abstraction was Fire at the start of 2023

Account abstraction – a concept recently embraced by Visa – could make Ethereum wallets significantly more user-friendly.

Worldcoin

World ID has added integrations with Shopify, Minecraft, and Reddit alongside a slew of developer-focused updates that could expand the OpenAI founder's blockchain-based "proof-of-personhood" service to more users.

Bitcoin Ordinals

In the historic auction house's first-ever sale of the Ordinals inscriptions known as "NFTs on Bitcoin," a batch of three pixelated images from a mushroom-themed collection drew about $450,000, or roughly five times the highest estimates.

PROTOCOL VILLAGE SEGMENT  

TOPIC | INDUSTRY TRENDS - BUSINESS SIDE 

Layer2 Mania

Users will be able to bridge their ETH starting Thursday, with the official launch of the main network on Aug. 9.

Crypto Winter / Legal -Regulatory: SBF gets charged | Binance + CZ

The alleged fraudster and ex-FTX CEO acted "in good faith," Bankman-Fried's attorney said in an emotional closing argument.

ZK Teams 

Polygon Labs, a developer of scaling networks for Ethereum, has shifted toward "Polygon CDK," a blockchain-development kit powered by zero-knowledge cryptography. The older "Polygon Edge" was used by Dogechain, in an unofficial effort to build a Dogecoin-oriented smart-contracts network.

EPISODE LINKS |  

Zuzalu Is 2 Months in Montenegro With Crypto Elites, Cold Plunges, Vitalik Selfies

As Curve Averts DeFi Death Spiral, Fiasco Exposes Serious Risks

CoinDesk Winds Down Ethereum Validator ‘Zelda,’ and We Now Wait to Get Money Back

Ethereum Upgrade Could Make It Harder to Lose All Your Crypto 

'Bitcoin NFT' Hysteria Comes to Sotheby's as Super-Mario-Style Mushroom Character Tops $200K

Sam Altman Is Bringing Worldcoin's Controversial Eye-Scanning Orb to Reddit and Microsoft

Coinbase Sets Public Launch of ‘Base’ Layer 2 Blockchain for Next Week 

Sam Bankman-Fried on Verge of Tears as His Lawyer Concludes Defense

Polygon Stops Work on 'Edge,' Used to Build Dogechain, as Focus Turns to ZK 

Sign Up for THE PROTOCOL NEWSLETTER 

From Our Sponsor: 

The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) is an open-application awards program that draws on community input to support developers and startups building on Stellar and Soroban. Accelerate your web3 project today.

Apply for Funding at communityfund.stellar.org

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The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Noelle Acheson, the mind behind the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, explores market moves, the oil price, crypto regulation and more.

Today's episode is sponsored by CME Group.

To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.

Today’s Stories:

42 Different Countries Discussed or Passed Crypto Regulations, Legislation in 2023: PwC 

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From our sponsors:

CME Group Cryptocurrency futures and options provide market-leading liquidity for bitcoin and ether trading. These cash-settled contracts give full exposure to crypto performance without the hassle of holding the physical position. No digital wallet? No problem. Trade nearly 24/7 in a transparent, CFTC-regulated market. Visit cmegroup.com/crypto to learn more.

Disclaimer:

This communication is not directed to investors located in any particular jurisdiction and is not intended to be accessed by recipients based in jurisdictions in which distribution is not permitted. The information herein should not be considered investment advice or the results of actual market experience. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. Trading derivatives products involves the risk of loss. Please consider carefully whether futures or options are appropriate to your financial situation.

-

This episode was hosted by Noelle Acheson. “Markets Daily” is executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced and edited by Eleanor Pahl. All original music by Doc Blust and Colin Mealey.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The outspoken entrepreneur discusses his unwavering long-term support for the premier cryptocurrency, and why he thinks all alt-coins are eventually going to zero.  

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.

Take the Unchained 2023 survey!

Swan founder and CEO Cory Klippsten is all-in on Bitcoin. Not only does he believe that Bitcoin is poised to reach $1 million by 2030, he also thinks most alt-coins add little to no value and will eventually all go to zero. Accordingly, his company is a massive bet on the future of Bitcoin, from educating people about the world’s first crypto and convincing them to eventually self-custody, to making private equity investments in the Bitcoin ecosystem, to eventually planning to launch the first US Bitcoin-only trust company to create a safer environment for investors. 

Here he talks to Unchained about his crypto journey, the likely impact of spot Bitcoin ETFs on crypto adoption and prices, his extreme skepticism about Bitcoin Ordinals, when he first knew Sam Bankman-Fried was a fraud and why he thinks that crypto VCs have done a “massive disservice” to the world.

Show highlights | 

Thank you to our sponsors!

Uniswap |  Popcorn Network | Arbitrum Foundation

Guest | 

Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan Bitcoin

Links | 

Swan Bitcoin:

Fortune: Swan deployed more than $200 million in 2023 building out institutional offerings such as Bitcoin-backed lending

Protos: Some Swan Bitcoin customers lose banking access

CoinDesk: BitGo, Swan to Form Bitcoin-Only Trust Company

WSJ: Crypto Custodian Prime Trust Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Cointelegraph: Swan Bitcoin to terminate customer accounts that use crypto-mixing services 

Bitcoin ETFs:

Previous coverage on spot Bitcoin ETFs:

How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection

Why a Spot Bitcoin ETF Will Probably Launch No Later Than January 10

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

Unchained: 

Why the SEC May Want Cash Creation of Spot Bitcoin ETFs

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

BlackRock Updates Bitcoin ETF Filing to Make Access Easier for Wall Street Banks 

FTX

CoinDesk: Divisions in Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Empire Blur on His Trading Titan Alameda’s Balance Sheet

Ordinals:

Cory’s tweet on Ordinals 

Unchained:

Bitcoin Ordinals-Related Token ORDI Passes $1 Billion in Market Value

Bitcoin Mempool Reaches Record Levels of Congestion

Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs Are Hot and Getting Hotter. What’s the Hype About?

Bitcoin’s BRC-20 Mania: Is It Sustainable?

Why All 10,000 OnChainMonkey NFTs Will Move From Ethereum to Bitcoin

Learn more:

What Are BRC-20 Tokens? 

What Are ORC-20 Tokens? 

How to Create a Bitcoin Ordinal

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Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC.  Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A seamless mix of reflection and anticipation of compelling discussions and featuring in this second half of the conversation, the political, economic, and global implications of Bitcoin.

This episode is sponsored by Cboe Digital

We are celebrating the holiday season with a special "Money Reimagined" edition featuring the hosts' top picks from the year in our 'Best of' compilation.

In this week's episode, Michael Casey selects two of his favorite picks: 

In the first installment, Sheila Warren takes the spotlight, joining co-host Michael Casey for an impassioned discussion. She recounts her morning encounter with Google, unraveling the pervasive hold of digital feudalism. Brace yourself as she explores how the allure of convenience ensnares us in the intricate web of modern existence.

The second pick is Part 2 of Michael Casey and Sheila Warren’s conversation into the world of Bitcoin and climate change with environmentalist and Bitcoin mining OG Troy Cross. Troy, is not only a Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College but also a distinguished Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute.

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From our sponsors:

Do you have a trusted partner for your crypto trading? Cboe Digital will introduce financially settled margin futures on Bitcoin and Ether on January 11th, 2024 with physically delivered contracts to follow.  Listed and cleared on Cboe’s U.S. regulated exchange and clearinghouse, and complemented by a liquid crypto spot market for greater ease and access.  We invite you to learn more about this and all applicable risk disclosures at cboedigital.com/coindesk.

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Money Reimagined has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “The News Tonight ” by Shimmer.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.