CoinDesk Podcast Network

Crypto legal experts join NLW to discuss the U.S. government’s case against BitMEX and its implications for the broader ecosystem. 

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Nexo.io and Elliptic.co.

Today on the Brief:

Our main discussion explores the ramifications of the recent BitMEX charges.

Yesterday, BitMEX was targeted with both civil and criminal complaints, with the CTO being arrested for violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. 

In this conversation, NLW talks to crypto legal experts Stephen Palley and Preston Byrne to discuss:

Find our guests online:

Stephen Palley: @stephendpalley

Preston Byrne: @prestonjbyrne

Anderson Kill: andersonkill.com

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NLW recaps a viral twitter thread asking people which financial conventional wisdom they disagree with.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Nexo.io and Elliptic.co.

When popular finance writer Morgan Housel asked followers on Twitter to share the commonly held investing beliefs they most disagreed with, the internet responded with vigor. 

A thousand or so replies later, NLW ranks the top 10 investing ideas we should be questioning, including:

Listen to hear the full list.

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The attention may have been with DeFi when it was warm, but as the cold winds of COVID-19 return fears and election volatility blow, bitcoin is resuming narrative dominance.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

Today on the Brief:

Our main discussion is a narrative shift from DeFi back to bitcoin. 

Over the summer, DeFi led the crypto charge. From growth in total value locked to narrative dominance to even leadership in the all important category of crypto drama, DeFi was it. 

Now, as a potentially turbulent macro environment rears its head, the narrative is shifting back to a focus on bitcoin.

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When the DeFi degens caught wind of a new pre-release Andre Cronje project they piled in, only to get $16 million hacked away in a flash.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

DeFi is one of the breakout crypto categories of 2020. Indeed, yield farming and the grand game of “money legos” has been so profitable that many are following every new protocol with rapt attention. 

This is all the more true for projects graced by YFI creator Andre Cronje. So when word got out about a new, pre-release game economy engine called “Eminence,” the DeFi degens took advantage of the permissionless nature of DeFi to pump $16 million or so into EMN. 

What happened next was arguably the first pre-release hack in DeFi’s history. This episode breaks down what happened and what it means for the fledgling field.

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CEO Brian Armstrong’s letter has not just the crypto world but the larger world of tech and business talking about the role of corporations in society. 

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

Monday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong published the innocuously titled “Coinbase Is a Mission-Driven Company.” 

While the post talked a lot about Coinbase’s core mission, its real goal seemed to be to make clear Coinbase would not be engaging with any other social or political issues beyond that, and to the extent employees wanted to do so they needed to do it on their own time. 

The reactions were intense, immediate and in many instances, totally opposite. 

In this episode, NLW breaks down the entire social media reaction and the arguments for and against this policy.

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Bitcoin has been above $10,000 for even longer than the record 2017-18 run, giving confidence to long term HODLers in the process.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

Today on the Brief:

Our main discussion: Digging in to bitcoin’s 64-day run over $10,000

Bitcoin has been above $10,000 for longer than any time in its history. Its volatility is also at recent historic lows. In this episode, NLW puts this in the context of broader market movements and explains why new price floors are self-reinforcing.

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On this Speaking of Bitcoin episode, join hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy & Jonathan Mohan for an in-depth discussion about what’s really at risk when blockchains suffer the dreaded 51% attack.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

On today’s show we’re talking 51% attacks, the much discussed, infrequently seen and fairly misunderstood doomsday scenarios. It’s recently re-emerged as a topic of discussion as Ethereum plans its transition to Proof-of-Stake and fork Ethereum Classic is hit by its third in less than a month.

Although the numbers may change, basically any blockchain you can imagine is vulnerable to some form of the so-called 51% attack. By distributing the power within a protocol, say to miners instead of a corporate board, blockchains and other decentralized systems create and maintain a “Consensus Reality”, where what most of the network believes to be true is true, or becomes true for the entirety of the network.

See also: How Does Kraken’s New Crypto Bank Work?

If you think about it, this makes sense. Each blockchain creates a game with a distinct set of rules that need to be followed for the thing to work. It requires lots of people who don’t know each other to individually follow those rules and get rewarded by the system for doing so. The assumption underlying all of these systems is that most of the people are going to be compelled by the offered rewards to follow the rules. Even if a lot of people aren’t following the rules, they’re probably breaking them in different ways rather than working together.

In a 51% attack, that assumption is broken as most, or at least enough of the network is overcome by bad actors who aim to rewrite reality in their favor. 

It’s a real problem, one of the biggest blockchains face, especially less popular ones… But even if you could pull one off, the outcome might not be as bad as many fear.

But what is actually at risk? What’s possible and what’s safe? Tune in to find out.

Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash

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Will the future of currency be led by the U.S., China, Bitcoin, or some combination we can barely imagine today?

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

This week’s Long Reads Sunday is a reading of “The Currency Cold War: Four Scenarios” by Jeff Wilsner – part of CoinDesk’s Internet 2030 series. 

In it, Wilsner talks to experts about four scenarios:

In addition to reading, NLW gives his take on which scenario is most likely. 

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With the final preparations for the launch of Ethereum 2.0 soon to be underway, CoinDesk's Christine Kim spoke with Developers Raul Jordan and Eduardo Antuña Díez about what's left to do.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

Lead developer at Prysmatic Labs Raul Jordan, who has been building Ethereum 2.0 software for over two years, explained his team would be wrapping up all feature development by October 15. 

“At that time, it’s all hands on deck to just have good documentation, good user experience, fix-up security holes [and] basically prepare for launch. That’s where we are today if all remains on track,” said Jordan. 

The final features currently in development by Prysmatic Labs and other software development teams include making sure different code implementations of Ethereum 2.0, also called “clients”, are interoperable and can be used interchangeably by a user without running the risk of losing validator rewards. 

See also: A Day in the Life of an Ethereum 2.0 Validator

It’s not only client developers who are beginning final preparations for this network upgrade. Ethereum startups building hardware and tooling for users to participate in the Ethereum 2.0 launch are also working on adding last-minute features to their products. 

Eduardo Antuña Díez, project lead at DAppNode, said, “The most important thing that we realized after the first [Ethereum 2.0] testnet is that people need to know the status of their validators. Having a good monitoring system to be able to know when your validator is down … we are working in that direction.” 

Before Ethereum 2.0 goes live, Jordan and Díez both noted that a new contract will be created on the current Ethereum blockchain to receive deposits of 32 ETH. Only once this contract accumulates a minimum of 524,288 ETH, which is worth roughly $181 million at time of writing, will the new Ethereum blockchain officially kick-start at midnight UTC the following day. 

See also: Ethereum 2.0: How It Works and Why It Matters

About the security of the deposit contract, Jordan said, “There’s no way to retrieve [funds]. … It’s considered a burn in the short term. It’s not like there’s any sort of admin key or any sort of way to take those funds out. There’s no way somebody can take all the ETH that is locked in there.”

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Last week saw the third-biggest outflow from stock funds in history, and the dollar is the strongest it’s been since April. Here’s what’s going on. 

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.

On this edition of The Breakdown weekly recap, NLW looks at the fourth painful week for traditional markets in a row. 

He discusses the factors contributing to the trouble, including: 

This week on The Breakdown:

Monday | The FinCEN Files Show Banks Don’t Actually Care About Stopping Money Laundering 

Tuesday | Marty Bent on Why Bitcoin and Big Energy Are Unlikely Allies 

Wednesday | Violent Reflexivity: Why Market Movements Are More Aggressive Than Ever, Feat. Corey Hoffstein 

Thursday | Did Corporate Insiders Perfectly Predict the Market Top? 

Friday | Sven Henrich on the Ever-Weakening Economic Cycle 

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