Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

Many within the cryptofinance industry have been patiently waiting for regulatory oversight to deliver the clarity required for institutional adoption. Recent updates by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which issues guidelines for 200 countries and territories, attempts to apply the same rules and regulations required of traditional finance to the world of virtual currencies.

Yaya Fanusie's background as an intelligence analyst at the CIA, and research on the national security implications of cryptocurrencies, provide valuable insight into the necessity of regulation in the space to mitigate the risk of bad actors. Yaya discusses the history and evolution of “Know Your Customer” and where he believes the industry is heading as it faces policymakers who attempt to regulate such rapid technological change.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Yaya’s background in the CIA and how he became interested in bitcoin
• Bitcoin from a national security perspective
• How terrorist organizations leverage cryptocurrencies for funding
• The evolution of AML/KYC and complicance regulation in the financial sector
• The cost of AML/KYC on business and society
• Trying to regulate rapid technological change
• Privacy in communication vs. Privacy in payments
• The travel rule and how it affects cryptofinancial companies
• Cryptocurrencies over the next decade

Episode links:

• Yaya Fanusie's website
• Yaya Fanusie on Twitter
• FinCEN’s Regulations to Certain Business Models Involving Convertible Virtual Currencies
• Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Podcast
• Stronger AML Enforcement Might Actually Save Crypto (FDD)
• Crypto Rogues (FDD)
• Anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (European Commission)
• Cryptocurrency AML Strategies
• KYC in Stablecoins (Bits on Blocks)
• Rhythm of Wisdom Podcast

Sponsors:

• Pepo: Meet the people shaping the crypto movement - https://pepo.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/324

The blockchain trilemma is the generally accepted concept that it's not possible to scale public and permissionless blockchains without compromising on security, decentralization, or both.

While the industry seems focused on building Layer 2 solutions to scale the transaction capacity of public networks, Algorand believes it has solved the trilemma, offering a network that scales without compromise to security or decentralization.

Silvio Micali, Algorand's Founder and Head of Research, as well as the company's CEO, Steven Kokinos, discuss the project's background, recent protocol upgrades, and how Algorand will create a great ecosystem for developers.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Silvio’s path from academia to blockchain entrepreneurship
• What Algorand addresses that other blockchains don’t
• The blockchain trilemma: security, decentralization, scalability
• How Algorand mitigates risk present on other blockchains
• The TEAL smart contract language and how it's unique
• Building primitives: atomics swaps, asset issuance, and a smart contract language called TEAL
• Applications and use-cases for Algorand
• The Algorand Foundation
• What’s next for Algorand

Episode links:

• Algorand Website
• Whitepaper
• Algorand on Twitter
• Algorand on Medium
• Algorand on YouTube
• Algorand Year in Review (YouTube)

Sponsors:

• Status: A multi-purpose communication tool that combines a peer-to-peer messenger, secure crypto wallet, and web3 browser - https://status.im/
• Cosmos: Compete to win 100,000 ATOM by building and running Cosmos Zones - https://cosmos.network/goz/
• Pepo: Meet the people shaping the crypto movement - https://pepo.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/323

Governance within any community has been a work in progress for humanity's history. The blockchain ecosystem continues to develop and offer an alternative to today's centralized powers. With this, distributed projects and technologies will need to enact clear governance to ensure viable competition with the streamlined decision-making processes present in today's institutions.

The absence of codified governance in Bitcoin may be one of its most significant traits, signaling to the world its predictability due to its inability to change drastically. New projects like Edgeware, however, hope to encode the rules of governance on-chain and ensure a transparent process for stakeholders wishing to participate.

Edgeware is a smart contract platform built on Polkadot's Substrate. Focused on developing community-owned governance tools, Edgeware is a distributed project where participants use the tools themselves to vote, delegate, and fund each other to upgrade the network. While initially developed by Commonwealth Labs, Edgeware at launch will be entirely managed by the community, which holds 90% of the tokens and resulting influence.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What attracted Dillon to crypto and why he co-founded Commonwealth Labs
• Multi-chain governance
• How Edgeware is unique
• Building Edgeware on Polkadot’s Substrate
• Retrospection from the soft-launch of Edgeware
• What a “lockdrop” is, and why Edgeware had one
• The issues and controversy around the Edgeware launch and lockdrop
• The zero-day fork of Edgeware, Straightedge
• The future of Edgeware

Episode links:

• Edgeware Homepage
• Commonwealth Homepage
• Relaunch: A Clean Genesis for Edgeware
• Edgeware White Paper
• Edgeware blockchain launch gets hijacked by rival fork - Decrypt
• Edgeware Participation Statistics
• Straightedge
• Hey Straightedge - Conspiratus episode
• Edgeware on Twitter
• Edgeware on Discord
• Edgeware White Paper

Sponsors:

• Pepo: Meet the people shaping the crypto movement - https://pepo.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/322

Charlie Shrem became fascinated with Bitcoin in 2011 but grew frustrated with the hassle of buying it from the leading exchange at the time, Mt. Gox. To make the process faster and more convenient, Charlie created BitInstant in 2012. BitInstant quickly grew and by 2013 became responsible for processing a third of all Bitcoin transactions. This was with the help of Roger Ver and the Winklevoss twins, who were his seed investors, and Erik Voorhees, who led their marketing efforts.

The success of BitInstant was short-lived. In a time where Bitcoin's primary applications were price speculation and buying things on the Silk Road, Charlie spent time in prison after a lack of customer due-diligence attracted the attention of the law enforcement. Our conversation with Charlie recounts the Bitcoin industry at its beginning, his time in prison, and what he is doing now that he's able to continue his work as a Bitcoin advocate.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Learning of Bitcoin on IRC in 2011
• The Bitcoin community in the early days
• Collaborating with competitors to grow the ecosystem
• Frustration with Bitcoin infrastructure in 2011
• Why Charlie decided to create BitInstant
• Meeting Roger Ver, Erik Voorhees, and the Winklevoss Twins
• Charlie’s time in prison and its effect on his personal life
• Podcasting and daily life after prison

Episode links:

• Untold Stories Website
• Untold Stories on Apple Podcasts
• Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption
• Charlie and Best Selling Author Ben Mezrich Discuss Bitcoin's History
• 60 Minutes Podcast - Sunday, May 19, 2019 with Charlie Shrem
• Crypto.IQ
• Charlie Shrem on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Status: A multi-purpose communication tool that combines a peer-to-peer messenger, secure crypto wallet, and web3 browser - https://status.im/
• Cosmos: Compete to win 100,000 ATOM by building and running Cosmos Zones - https://cosmos.network/goz/
• Pepo: Meet the people shaping the crypto movement - https://pepo.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/321

With global commerce and finance continuing to digitize, the world’s borders are seemingly becoming more fluid, even as physical walls are built. How does this globalization affect the sovereignty of nation-states and their ability to democratically direct their own economic future?

In a panel moderated by Epicenter host, Sunny Aggarwal, we explore the interpretation of monetary policy from a global context, discuss the morality of impacting other nations, and the potential for new technologies to offer alternatives in a dollar-dominated world. The conversation includes Jae Kwon, CEO of Tendermint; John P Conley, Professor at Vanderbilt University; Steve Randy Waldman, Author of Interfluidity, and Baek Kim, Senior Associate at Hashed.

Topics covered in this episode:

• A moral perspective on making monetary policy that is beneficial to one nation, and detrimental to another
• Who matters when determining externalities in governmental policies
• The possibility of a fiscal union without a monetary one
• USD stablecoins promoting the notion that the US should control the world’s monetary policy
• Comparing the Libra to the Euro

Episode links:

• Dani Rodrik's Blog: The inescapable trilemma of the world economy
• Euro and Rodrik's Trilemma
• Interfluidity Blog - Steve Randy Waldman
• John Conley Macro WTF Talk
• Steve Randy Waldman Macro WTF Talk
• Jae Kwon | Twitter
• Steve Randy Waldman | Twitter
• John P Conley | Twitter
• John P. Conley Personal Website

Sponsors:

• Pepo: Meet the people shaping the crypto movement - https://pepo.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/320

Managing crypto-assets can be an anxiety-inducing experience for a lot of people. While it's quite empowering to “be your own bank,” it's also scary for a lot of people who understand the risks associated with self-custody. Although cryptocurrency wallets have made tremendous progress since the days when a full-sync of the blockchain was required, there are still significant hurdles that limit broad adoption.

This conversation on the future of wallets at SF Blockchain Week Epicenter conference includes Taylor Monahan of MyCrypto, David Gold of FIO Protocol, Dan Finlay of MetaMask, and Ouriel Ohayon of ZenGo. They discuss design, app store policies, and the evolution necessary to enable more people to send, receive, and manage their tokens confidently. The panel is moderated by Epicenter host Sebastien Couture.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Advancements in the usability of cryptocurrency wallets over the last year
• The importance of mobile-first development
• Frustrations with iOS and Android app stores
• How to make developing wallets economically feasible
• The future of wallets
• Self-custody vs. custodial wallets
• Regulation of self-custody wallets
• What to look forward to in the near-term

Episode links:

• MetaMask
• ZenGo - Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Wallet
• FIO Protocol Developer Hub
• MyCrypto
• Taylor Monahan on Twitter
• Dan Finlay on Twitter
• Ouriel Ohayon on Twitter
• FIO Protocol on Twitter
• MetaMask on Twitter
• MyCrypto.com on Twitter
• ZenGo on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Cosmos: Compete to win 100,000 ATOM by building and running Cosmos Zones - https://cosmos.network/goz/
• eToro: Automatically copy every trade of eToro's top crypto traders at the exact price in real-time - https://www.etoro.com/
• Pepo: Meet the people shaping the crypto movement - https://pepo.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/319

Much of the digital world now operates in the cloud. A handful of companies are responsible for the massive market, and the centralization makes many people worry about censorship, privacy, and network resilience.

David Vorick’s passion for distributed file storage had him start Sia in 2014. He’s been working fervently ever since to develop a viable competitor to the centralized solutions that are responsible for much of the content on the internet today. David aim’s to create a more private, resilient, and secure alternative to Amazon Web Services while also outperforming it.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why David started Sia rather than taking a job in big-tech
• The Sia launch in 2015
• Why Sia has prioritized development over marketing in the beginning
• The importance of decentralized storage solutions
• How decentralized storage can be cheaper than AWS
• Why Sia needs its own blockchain and protocol's tech stack
• David's views on Proof of Work how that lead him to start a mining company
• The circumstances around the Sia blockchain fork of 2018
• Where David envisions decentralized storage in the next few years

Episode links:

• Sia API Documentation
• Sia Blog
• Decentralization & Cutting-Edge Cryptography - Starkware Sessions Talk
• Busted Setup - MIT Bitcoin Expo 2019 Talk
• Recovering Payment Channel Midstates Using only The User's Seed - Scaling Bitcoin Talk
• The Sia Ethos (Sia Blog)
• Blockchains of the Sia family
• Obelisk
• SiaStats
• David Vorick on Twitter
• Sia on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Pepo: -
• eToro: Automatically copy every trade of eToro's top crypto traders at the exact price in real-time - https://www.etoro.com/

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/318

Many people find that the crypto-finance space is quite difficult for non-technical people to understand and interact with the technologies. Some projects and people have made tremendous progress in creating tools and interfaces that allow a broader audience to participate, speculate, and learn.

Taylor Monahan started MyEtherWallet as a side project in 2015, only for it to grow into one of the significant pieces of software people used to participate in the 2017 ICO boom. She has since "design-forked" the codebase and created MyCrypto, an open-source tool for generating ether wallets, handling ERC-20 tokens, and interacting with the blockchain with a clean and intuitive design.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Taylor's background, and how she got into cryptocurrency
• What her experience was with Ethereum so early in the projects lifecycle
• How Reddit comments helped guide the feature list in the early days of MyEtherWallet
• How the DAO hack got her working full time on MyEtherWallet
• Building a project before “founding a company”
• Experiencing the ICO boom as the main wallet used to participate in token generation events
• Where MyCrypto is at today
• How Taylor wants MyCrypto to change the user experience in cryptocurrency
• Taylor’s view on centralized exchanges and view of the future

Episode links:

• MyCrypto Beta
• #MyCryptoWinter is back! (Medium)
• Try The New MyCrypto! (Medium)
• MyCrypto Twitter
• MyCrypto GitHub
• MyCrypto Discord
• Taylor Monahan Twitter

Sponsors:

• Cosmos: Compete to win 100,000 ATOM by building and running Cosmos Zones - https://cosmos.network/goz/
• eToro: Automatically copy every trade of eToro's top crypto traders at the exact price in real-time - https://www.etoro.com/
• Pepo: -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/317

We were joined by Luka Mueller, who played a key role in establishing Switzerland as a cryptocurrency center and in laying the legal groundwork for the ICO boom. In 2014, his law firm MME worked with the Ethereum team to set up the Ethereum Foundation and run its public fundraiser. A model that was later copied by countless other projects and led MME to work with many other leading protocols like Cosmos and Tezos.

We also discussed his new project Sygnum, a cryptocurrency-focused bank. Nearly every company that works in the cryptocurrency space has had problems with its banking partner. Legal uncertainty, lack of knowledge, or simple unwillingness to work with cryptocurrency companies has made this a frequent nightmare for companies in this emerging sector. With a presence in both Switzerland and Singapore, Sygnum aims to fill a piece of missing infrastructure in the crypto-ecosystem: a bank that is able to receive, hold and transfer protocol tokens while offering a secure fiat gateway to easily transfer from the old world of finance to the new.

We also discussed Switzerland’s regulatory environment and why it is able to provide more regulatory clarity.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What life was like for Luka before blockchain
• How Luka met Vitalik and went on to set up the Ethereum Foundation and run their fundraiser
• What protocols his law firm, MME, helped launch
• The lessons learned over the years, and how he would do it differently
• Why Switzerland is a great jurisdiction for crypto projects
• What Luka thinks of asset-backed tokens
• What is Sygum, and why did he decide to start a crypto bank
• What Luke believes will happen when the tech giants release their own currencies
• The difference between Sygnum and similar banks
• What Luka's fears are in the space, and what he is hopeful for

Episode links:

• MME Law Firm
• Sygnum Website
• Institutional Custody: A Portal to the Digital Asset Economy (Sygnum Blog)
• How Tokenization is Closing the Gap Between Public and Private Markets (Sygnum Blog)
• Sygnum gets green light to operate in Singapore (SwissInfo)
• Switzerland’s first crypto bank reports “overwhelming” demand (Decrypt)
• Sygnum on Twitter

Sponsors:

• eToro: Automatically copy every trade of eToro's top crypto traders at the exact price in real-time - https://www.etoro.com/
• Cosmos: Compete to win 100,000 ATOM by building and running Cosmos Zones - https://cosmos.network/goz/

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/316

As the crypto ecosystem continues to grow, wallets and exchanges are quickly evolving to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. Viktor Radchenko, CEO and founder of Trust Wallet, joins us this week to talk about why he created a noncustodial wallet solution, what makes Trust Wallet unique, and how the acquisition by Binance has allowed his team to focus on a long term vision. Viktor helps us understand what it means to be part of the Binance Ecosystem, and what he believes the future holds for wallets, key storage and custody.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Victor's bio and how he ended up moving from the Ukraine to the US
• How hacking games got Victor into cryptocurrency
• What Trust Wallet is and its' strengths in the wallet landscape
• What it means for Trust Wallet to be secure, opensource, decentralized, and anonymous
• What Vicktor believes the future holds for wallets and key storage
• The Binance acquisition of Trust Wallet
• Trust Wallet's policy for adding new coins and the criteria they look at

Episode links:

• Trust Wallet
• Trust Wallet Blog
• Crypto exchange Binance buys Trust Wallet in first acquisition deal (TechCrunch)
• 7 Essential Steps to Keep Your Crypto Wallet Secure (Trust Wallet Blog)
• Ethereum Name Service is Now Supported (Trust Wallet Blog)
• Trust Wallet DEX is growing up, Order book and Trading History added (Trust Wallet Blog)
• Wallet Core documentation
• Wallet Core on GitHub

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/315