Ryan Gentry, business development lead at Lightning Labs, discusses the latest updates on the Lightning Network, the layer 2 solution for Bitcoin. Highlights:

• how Lightning Network is bringing Bitcoin to the masses through partnerships with Twitter, Substack, and Paxful
• what the significance of El Salvador adopting Bitcoin means for the Lightning Network
• how many nodes are running Lightning Network nodes
• why the capacity on the Lightning Network has grown rapidly
• how Ryan has seen interest in Lightning has changed since the El Salvador announcement earlier this year
• what stage of adoption Ryan thinks the Lightning Network is
• why Lightning Network total-value-locked should not be compared to Ethereum L2s or other DeFi protocols 
• how Lightning Network differs from DeFi
• what metric Ryan believes is the best way to measure adoption on Lightning Network
• how El Salvador has changed the types of transactions being made on Lightning Network
• what’s next for Lightning Network and how Lightning micropayments could affect how podcasts (like Unchained!) are distributed

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Episode Links

Ryan Gentry

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanthegentry

The Summer of Lightning: Reaching the Tipping Point

Lightning Labs

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lightning

Lightning Enabled Tips

• Twitter:

Paxful Integration

Arcane Research Paper

• Paper:
• • https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60377b34e7791c1277aaae97/t/615cb9aeaab8c63e1a732771/1633466815710/The+State+of+Lightning.pdf
• Tweet thread:
• • https://twitter.com/ArcaneResearch/status/1445749299703205894

Lightning Network stats

• https://studio.glassnode.com/metrics?a=BTC&c=native&category=Lightning&chartStyle=column&contractExpiration=1640908800&ema=0&m=lightning.NetworkCapacitySum&mAvg=0&mMedian=0&resolution=24h&zoom=all
• https://1ml.com/statistics

Lightning Network Resources

Preston Pysh episode with BTC Sessions

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How does the SEC determine if a token is a security? Why is DeFi particularly hard to regulate? What will regulators do about stablecoins? On Unchained, Greg Xethalis, chief compliance officer at Multicoin Capital, and Collins Belton, founding partner at Brookwood P.C., dive into crypto regulation, discussing securities laws, DeFi regulation, and why the US should be promoting stablecoins rather than trying to shut them down. Highlights:

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Have idea son how we can improve at Unchained? Let us know. This is the last week in which you can take the Unchained survey and be entered to win a BTC Candle. Be sure to end by EOD Friday. We'll be announcing the winners in next week's show. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2021 

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Episode Links

Greg Xethalis

Collins Belton

Cases Mentioned

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Stephen Palley, partner at Anderson Kill, discusses a few hot-button crypto regulatory issues like lending products, whether DeFi protocols fall under the SEC’s purview, and more. Show highlights:

• why Stephen thinks the SEC and CFTC did not announce more extensive crypto enforcement news this week
• what areas the SEC Chair Gary Gensler and the SEC as a whole are focused on regulating
• what Stephen has heard about whether stablecoins that are not fully-backed are securities
• why Coinbase decided to drop its Lend product
• why Stephen is skeptical that decentralized protocols should be regulated under existing securities laws
• how securities law is contrary to consumer protection in light of DeFi protocols and airdrops
• why DeFi AMMs should be regulated differently than centralized market books
• whether companies running a front-end for a DeFi protocol should be considered an exchange
• why crypto devs are “going Satoshi” because of US securities laws

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Episode Links

Stephen Palley

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephendpalley

Topics Covered

Lending Products

• Coinbase blogs regarding Lend

• Brian Armstrong angry tweet storm
• • https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1435439291715358721
• BlockFi and Celsius overview

SEC + Gary Gensler

• How SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s Views on Crypto Have Changed Since His MIT Days
• • https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-sec-chair-gary-genslers-views-on-crypto-have-changed-since-his-mit-days/
• SEC Chair Gary Gensler Washington Post Q&A

Other

• Uniswap delisting certain tokens through its front end

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Fereshteh Forough is the founder and CEO of Code to Inspire, a coding school for girls in Afghanistan. She discusses her background as a refugee, how she uses crypto to fund the school and pay students, and how the US military’s departure has affected student life. Topics include:

• Fereshteh’s journey from refugee to computer science professor to founder and CEO of Code to Inspire
• what Code to Inspire offers to young Afghan women and what risks they take by getting an education
• how Code to Inspire success stories are changing the attitudes of student’s families and communities
• the importance of Afghan Hero Girl, a video game created by Code to Inspire students
• why crypto payments are a better alternative to PayPal and Western Union for Code to Inspire and its students
• how Code to Inspire and its students exchange crypto to fiat
• what the perception of crypto is in Afghanistan
• how the Taliban is stifling the education of women and how Code to Inspire is attempting to continue its curriculum
• how crypto companies can offer assistance to Code to Inspire
• what features and products Fereshteh thinks would the crypto industry actually bank the unbanked
• how listeners can help Code to Inspire and where to find more information on Fereshteh

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Episode Links

Fereshteh Forough

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/f_forough

Code to Inspire

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codetoinspire/

Code to Inspire Coverage

• Forbes
• • https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2021/08/17/taliban-resurgence-could-threaten-afghan-school-teaching-women-to-code-and-build-ethereum-apps/?sh=465a8208197d
• The Giving Block
• • https://thegivingblock.com/donate/Code-to-Inspire/
• Code to Inspire students are coding at home

US Military leaving Afghanistan

• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-withdrawal-united-states-troops-pentagon/

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Nik De, managing editor for global policy and regulation at CoinDesk, stops by Unconfirmed to discuss the current state of crypto regulation, including recent comments by SEC Chair Gary Gensler on stablecoins and why Coinbase decided to sideline its Lend product. Highlights:

• Nik’s biggest takeaway from Gary Gensler’s interview with the Washington Post 
• why Nik thinks Gensler has escalated his rhetoric regarding stablecoins and DeFi 
• how crypto exchanges are currently regulated and how that might change
• what it would take to convince crypto exchanges to register with the SEC
• whether the SEC has the purview to regulate stablecoins
• Nik’s thoughts on Coinbase’s Lend product and the SEC’s stance on lending products
• what the overall picture of crypto lending is in the US
• whether the SEC will go after DeFi protocols
• what to expect from the SEC going forward, especially with the end of its fiscal year coming up next week

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Episode Links

Nikhilesh De

• CoinDesk articles: https://www.coindesk.com/author/nikde/

Content

• Coinbase blogs regarding Lend

• SEC Chair Gary Gensler Washington Post Q&A
• • https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2021/09/21/transcript-path-forward-cryptocurrency-with-gary-gensler/
• Brian Armstrong tweet storm
• • https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1435439291715358721
• BlockFi and Celsius overview

Read my latest Medium post, “The Reason Crypto Regulation Is Turning Out to Be So Difficult,” which takes take a deeper dive into some of the topics addressed in this pod :)

• https://medium.com/@laurashin/the-reason-crypto-regulation-is-turning-out-to-be-so-difficult-788cc134958d

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Rhea Myers, artist, hacker, writer, and senior smart contract developer at Dapper Labs, has been making crypto art before NFTs were a thing. Check out this episode to learn about Rhea’s work as an OG crypto artist, why she believes concerns over NFT energy consumption are overblown, and how NFTs are changing the art world. Show highlights

• Rhea’s experience entering the crypto space
• what inspired her to make Bitcoin-based transaction art
• what blockchain art she was creating in 2014
• how she helped Coin Artist create crypto puzzles
• what Rhea thinks about Cadence, the programming language for Flow
• what conceptual art and blockchain art have in common
• how Rhea minted her soul on a Dogecoin fork
• how Rhea came up with the idea of Secret Artwork (Content), which was recently sold at a Sotheby’s auction
• what cryptographic elements influenced Secret Artwork (Content)
• why Rhea was wrong about how the NFT industry would evolve
• why Rhea believes concerns over NFT energy usage are overblown
• how NFTs are changing the art world 
• what Rhea thinks about the NFT DAO movement
• what about NFTs make them so fascinating, in a legal sense, to Rhea

Read the sidebar — and see Rhea's artwork!

If you'd like to see the art discussed in the show, be sure to check out the sidebar I wrote on Medium: 

https://medium.com/@laurashin/how-rhea-myers-made-blockchain-art-before-nfts-were-a-thing-e6ac52d3abf9

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Episode Links

Rhea Myers

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rheaplex

Example Art

• Secret Artwork (Content)

• MYSOUL

Other

• Artists Rethinking the Blockchain (book)

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Aidan Mott, research analyst at Messari, discusses Solana’s network restart that resulted in the blockchain going dark for 17 hours earlier this week. Show highlights:

• when Solana validators noticed something was wrong and how they responded
• what initial dex offering (IDO) caused the network to be flooded with transactions
• how a surge in bot transactions pushed validators to decide to restart the network
• how Solana’s outage compares to similar incidents on other chains
• why the Solana community was most likely not surprised by the 17-hour restart
• how Solana validators and the Solana Foundation coordinated the network restart
• how Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko communicated with the community during the outage
• whether Solana is still vulnerable to a similar flood of transactions
• what the network restart means in terms of Solana’s centralization
• why Solana validators running the same client could be an issue

Check Out the Related Article In addition to the analysis from Aidan, I did an interview with a Solana validator about his experience of the outage, and his concerns for the network going forward. Check out "The Experience of One Validator: What Happened During Solana's 17-Hour Outage?" in my Facebook Bulletin newsletter here -- and subscribe today! https://laurashin.bulletin.com/178076467796725

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Episode Links

Aidan Mott

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KidKrypt0

Messari

• https://messari.io/

Solana Outage

• The Block’s coverage
• • https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/117711/solana-blockchain-validators-restart-network-after-transaction-stoppage
  • https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/117624/solana-experiences-transaction-stoppage-as-developers-report-intermittent-instability
• CoinDesk coverage

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Once the block reward diminishes greatly, can Bitcoin be secured only by transaction fees? On Unchained, Bitcoin writer Vijay Boyapati and Ethereum Foundation’s Justin Drake debate the merits of Bitcoin’s security model, which Drake says will largely rely on transaction fees as soon as within 20-30 years, not in 100+ years. Highlights:

• Justin’s and Vijay’s professional backgrounds
• why Justin thinks Bitcoin cannot survive solely on fees
• how Bitcoin is currently secured
• what makes Bitcoin’s security subjective rather than binary
• how much it would cost in dollars to 51% attack Bitcoin
• what the Bitcoin network could do in response to a 51% attack
• how to calculate Bitcoin’s security budget
• why Bitcoin's price can’t go exponential forever
• whether a “nuclear option” for Bitcoin miners could protect against a 51% attack
• why nation-states could be either pro or anti-Bitcoin
• why a Bitcoin Standard could be similar to the Gold Standard
• how Bitcoin will change going forward, and why Vijay thinks transaction fees will increase
• why Justin does not think transaction fees will increase enough to secure Bitcoin’s base layer
• how Justin would fix Bitcoin’s security model -- and why he thinks the 21 million hard cap is a meme
• why Vijay does not think Bitcoin’s security model will ever change -- especially the 21 million hard cap
• what Justin thinks Ethereum is doing better than Bitcoin
• why Vijay thinks Ethereum will fail

Take the annual Unchained survey! 

Hey all, the Unchained survey is out now, and we'd so appreciate it if you could give us your thoughts on how Unchained is doing and what we could do better. Plus, we've got some questions for you about Laura's upcoming book launch and the articles that she's already starting to write! Two lucky survey respondents will receive a BTC candle, which is scented with "satoshiwood, musk musk, tulip bulbs and finite minerals." 

Head to surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2021 to fill out the survey today! 

Subscribe to my Facebook Bulletin Newsletter!  

Hey all, I'm excited to announce that I'll be writing a Facebook Bulletin newsletter , joining the likes of Malcolm Gladwell, Malala Yousafzai and Adam Grant, among others. My first post is already up.

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Episode Links

Justin Drake

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/drakefjustin

Vijay Boyapati

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/real_vijay

Bitcoin’s Security Model

• Hasu
• • https://ark-invest.com/podcast/bitcoins-security-model-with-hasu/
• Dan Held

Basic Info

• How BTC fees work
• • https://river.com/learn/how-bitcoin-fees-work/

Bitcoin Fees

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Ephrat Livni, a DealBook business and policy reporter at the New York Times, discusses Coinbase’s fight with the SEC over its Lend product and El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender. Show highlights:

• why Coinbase is unhappy with what it calls the SEC’s “sketchy” behavior
• how Coinbase’s Lend product is structured and why it might be a security
• why Ephrat considers Coinbase’s reaction to the SEC’s decision on Lend to be “trolling”
• what we can learn from SEC chair Gary Gensler’s letters with Senator Elizabeth Warren
• what legal precedence the SEC is leaning on in its decision about Lend
• how to explain the SEC’s choice to not meet with Coinbase in Washington
• why Ephrat thinks Brian Armstrong sounds entitled
• Why even pro-Bitcoin groups in the US take issue with El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender
• why Ephrat thinks Bitcoin is not a practical payment mechanism for El Salvadorans
• how El Salvadorans have reacted to the law
• why Ephrat believes El Salvador’s mandate to accept BTC is philosophically problematic for Bitcoiners

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Episode Links

Ephrat Livni

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/el72champs 
• New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/by/ephrat-livni 

Coinbase

• Brian Armstrong tweet thread: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1409555338836078592

Bitcoin and El Salvador

• CoinDesk coverage:

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Audius, a blockchain native music streaming platform, hit six million monthly active users in August and announced a partnership with TikTok. Roneil Rumburg, co-founder and CEO of Audius, talks about how Audius works, AUDIO tokenomics, the give and take of decentralization, and more. Show highlights:

• what problems Audius is solving for creators
• how artists are utilizing crypto to connect with fans
• how the crypto components of Audius fit together
• what three utilities AUDIO, the native token of Audius, offers holders
• why Audius requires over $500K in AUDIO tokens to run a node
• why AUDIO’s inflation rate is higher than other popular tokens like Ethereum or Bitcoin
• which portions of Audius are centralized versus decentralized
• where the majority of Audius’s listens come from (hint: it’s not the app)
• how Audius has created a “password” system to make blockchain technology easier to use for non-crypto natives
• why Audius uses both Solana and Ethereum
• how big-name artists like Diplo found their way onto Audius
• how Audius makes it easier to upload music to TikTok
• what’s next for Audius

Take the annual Unchained survey! 

Hey all, the Unchained survey is out now, and we'd so appreciate it if you could give us your thoughts on how Unchained is doing and what we could do better. Plus, we've got some questions for you about Laura's upcoming book launch and the articles that she's already starting to write! Two lucky survey respondents will receive a BTC candle, which is scented with "satoshiwood, musk musk, tulip bulbs and finite minerals." 

Head to surveymonkey.com/r/unchained2021 to fill out the survey today! 

Follow Laura on Medium! 

Hey everyone, some news: I've begun writing news and features again. I’m now a Medium Partner, one of a group of writers I have long admired, such as Susan Orlean, Cory Doctorow, James Surowiecki and Will Leitch, among others. You can already check out my first post, which is on my career trajectory and why I still love covering crypto six years in. To find all my writing on Medium, please follow me at Medium.com/@laurashin. 

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Episode Links

Roneil Rumburg

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/roneilr 

Audius

• Website: https://audius.co/ 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AudiusProject 
• Whitepaper: https://whitepaper.audius.co/AudiusWhitepaper.pdf 
• Discord: https://discord.com/channels/557662127305785361/806017242734395413 

What is Audius?

• Decrypt: https://decrypt.co/resources/what-is-audius-the-decentralized-music-sharing-and-streaming-service

TikTok + Audius Coverage

• Audius: https://twitter.com/AudiusProject/status/1427299274325323779 
• Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/tiktok-sounds-streaming-crypto-blockchain-nfts-audius-1211699/

General Coverage

• 6M monthly users
• • https://twitter.com/AudiusProject/status/1433248161443684356

• Moving to Solana (Oct 2020):
• • https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/10/29/audius-the-decentralized-spotify-is-moving-part-of-its-service-to-solana-blockchain/
• 5M monthly users (Aug 5):

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