Unchained

Unchained

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Unchained episodes

  • Why Bitcoin Now: Michael Saylor on the Best Way for Companies to Buy Bitcoin - Ep.209

    Michael Saylor, CEO and founder of Microstrategy, explains how he decided the publicly traded business data firm needed to put its excess cash in bitcoin and what happened afterward. In this episode, we discuss: 

    • why Microstrategy decided to buy Bitcoin, and how the pandemic spurred that
    • whether his previous experience with Microstrategy stock imploding after accounting irregularities were revealed had any bearing on the company's decision to buy bitcoin
    • the reactions of the officers and board members to his suggestion to invest in bitcoin
    • why they put all the excess cash into bitcoin as opposed to some percentage
    • what parts of the bitcoin industry could be improved to better serve corporate interests
    • whether Microstrategy intends to take any money off the table at the top of any future bubbles and reinvest when the price hits a new low
    • whether it hurts Microstrategy that GAAP rules require the company to mark Bitcoin down to the lowest price it traded at during the quarter
    • how his life has changed since Microstrategy bought bitcoin
    • what he thought of Citi downgrading Microstrategy stock
    • what he thinks of Renaissance Technology being the third-largest buyer of Microstrategy stock since the summer
    • what will happen to Microstrategy stock in a bitcoin bear market
    • whether or not there was any further conversation after his tweets with Elon Musk
    • what types of companies, and how many, have been talking with him, expressing interest in buying bitcoin
    • what will happen at the Bitcoin for Companies conference
    • what type of bitcoin data products they are contemplating offering
    • what he thinks will happen to the USD’s global reserve currency status
    • what it would take for him to sell any bitcoin
    •  

      Thank you to our sponsors! 

      Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

      1inch: http://1inch.exchange

       

      Episode links: 

      Michael Saylor: https://twitter.com/michael_saylor

      Microstrategy: https://www.microstrategy.com/en

      Bitcoin for Corporations: https://www.microstrategy.com/en/resources/events/world-2021/bitcoin-summit

       

      Microstrategy purchases an additional $10 million in bitcoin:

      https://www.microstrategy.com/content/dam/website-assets/collateral/financial-

      documents/financial-document-archive/Form-8-K_jan-22-2021.pdf

       

      Unchained interview with Saifedean Ammous:

       

      August 11, 2020: Microstrategy adopts Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset:

       

      August 11, 2020: Microstrategy makes tender offer to purchase up to $250 million of its common stock:

       

      September 11, 2020: Microstrategy to purchase $60.5 million of common stock:

       

      Plan to offer $550 million in convertible notes: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/87120/microstrategy-550m-convertible-notes-bitcoin

       

      Microstrategy announces over $1 billion in Bitcoin purchases in 2020:

       

      Michael Saylor’s 2013 tweet on Bitcoin: https://twitter.com/michael_saylor/status/413478389329428480?s=20

       

      Forbes expose on unusual accounting practices by Microstrategy back in 2000: https://www.forbes.com/global/2000/0306/0305024a.html?sh=46312df01674

      April 2000 profile of Michael in The New Yorker: https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/2000-04-03/flipbook/034/

      SEC enforcement action against Microstrategy: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/34-43724.htm

      Forbes profile after the SEC enforcement action: https://www.forbes.com/2000/12/18/1218faces.html?sh=523061e03bf9

      Forbes announcing Microstrategy would restate earnings after its expose: https://www.forbes.com/2000/03/20/mu3.html?sh=21efe89d1ee6

      Summary of SEC action:

       

      Citi downgrading MSTR:

       

      Renaissance Technologies has been third-largest buyer of Microstrategy’s stock since the summer: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/87194/renaissance-technologies-microstrategy-bitcoin 

      Microstrategy contemplating bitcoin data products: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/85310/microstrategy-bitcoin-data-products

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      1 hr 40 min
    • The SEC's Lawsuit Against Ripple and 2 Execs: What You Need to Know - Ep.208

      Stephen Palley, partner at Anderson Kill. and Gabriel Shapiro, partner at BSV Law, discuss the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple and two executives, Chris Larsen and Bard Garlinghouse. In this episode, they explain:

      • what was so "egregious" that the SEC went after two executives, Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, were charged 
      • why their sales showed an information asymmetry, and why that matters
      • why the complaint comes close to being a fraud case, but why the SEC didn't charge them with fraud
      • why the idea that XRP is a currency and therefore cannot be a security will likely not fly
      • why it's unlikely the case will go to the Supreme Court
      • the SEC's case for why XRP is a security, and Ripple's role in it
      • how even on a technical level, the XRP network is centralized
      • how strong the SEC's case is against Larsen and Garlinghouse
      • Stephen's and Gabriel's predictions on how the lawsuit will play out
      • how this will likely impact XRP investors
      • whether or not Ripple could become an SEC-reporting company and XRP a security
      • what happened with Ripple's lead investor in its most recent fundraising round
      • whether or not the SEC might go after exchanges or other players who made money off XRP or collaborated with Ripple around XRP trading
      • what this means for Coinbase, in particular, because it's going public later this year
      • what Ripple's defense, in its summarized Wells submission, was 
      • how this case compares to some of the other big SEC/crypto securities cases, Kik/Kin and Telegram
      • whether there might ever be a digital token that is determined to be a security for specific transactions but not others
      • what the wider implications of the case are for the rest of the crypto industry 

       

      Thank you to our sponsors! 

      Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

      1inch: https://1inch.exchange

       

      Episode links: 

      Stephen Palley: https://twitter.com/stephendpalley

      Gabriel Shapiro: https://twitter.com/lex_node

       

      SEC lawsuit against Ripple: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2020/comp-pr2020-338.pdf

       

      SEC lawsuit against Ripple being close to a fraud case: https://twitter.com/stephendpalley/status/1341523294344896515?s=20

       

      Former SEC commissioner Joe Grundefest on the case: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/89164/former-sec-commissioner-says-ripple-lawsuit-will-cause-multi-billion-dollar-losses-to-innocent-third-parties

       

      Other lawsuit against Ripple: https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.334410/gov.uscourts.cand.334410.115.0.pdf

       

      Technical assessment of Ripple network: https://cryptobern.github.io/noconsensusripple/

       

      Tetragon’s case against Ripple: https://twitter.com/stephendpalley/status/1346531087971999749?s=20

       

      What the case means for exchanges: https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-delist-xrp-exchanges-dilemma

       

      Coinbase suspends trading in XRP: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-will-suspend-trading-in-xrp-on-january-19-2e09652dbf57

      https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-suspends-xrp-trading

       

      Lawsuit against Coinbase: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-30/coinbase-sued-over-xrp-commissions-after-sec-pursues-ripple?sref=m9L277rN

      https://twitter.com/stephendpalley/status/1344352455895691269?s=20

       

      People in the industry thinking for a while that XRP is a security: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/genesis/57366/xrp-is-probably-a-security-dont-at-me

       

      Mary Jo White: https://www.coindesk.com/former-sec-chair-represents-ripple-xrp-lawsuit

      Ripple’s Wells submission: https://ripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ripple-Wells-Submission-Summary.pdf

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      1 hr 11 min
    • Willy Woo: How Bitcoin Reaches up to $300,000 by End of Year - Ep.207

      Willy Woo, a prominent on-chain Bitcoin analyst and author of the “The Bitcoin Forecast,” a market intelligence newsletter, explains the parabolic activity of Bitcoin in the past month. We cover: 

      • why he thinks Bitcoin has more than doubled in the last month
      • what the "double pump" market is and why Bitcoin may see two rallies this cycle
      • what stage of the Bitcoin bull market we are currently in
      • who is buying, and how they've differed from previous investors
      • who still is yet to buy this cycle
      • why Bitcoin hitting new all-time highs mean that we're in "uncharted price discovery"
      • how his "top cap model" shows Bitcoin could be around $95k by end of year
      • and how if certain trends accelerate, it could reach $200,000-$300,000 by year's end
      • how the pandemic impacted Bitcoin’s price
      • what on-chain movements he's seeing that make him call the current cycle of Bitcoin "whale spawning season” 
      • how to gauge the increasingly rapid investor activity 
      • what to expect from Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2021

       

      Thank you to our sponsors!

      Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

      1inch: http://1inch.exchange 

       

      Episode links: 

      Willy Woo: https://twitter.com/woonomic

      Woobull.com: http://charts.woobull.com

       

      Willy on Unconfirmed: https://unchainedpodcast.com/willy-woo-on-why-its-an-extremely-great-time-to-buy-bitcoin/

       

      Fibonacci traces tweet: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1347433551906500614?s=20

       

      Bitcoin reflexivity: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1344189627997949952/photo/1

       

      Who has been buying recently: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1347127159538688002?s=20

       

      Double pump bull market: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1346889817792004096?s=20

       

      Buying by long-term holders: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1346827893322616833/photo/1

       

      What percentage of the Bitcoin supply is liquid: https://insights.glassnode.com/bitcoin-liquid-supply/

       

      Premium above NVT Price: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1346797291668029440/photo/1

       

      Accumulation of BTC before the OCC announcement: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1346296294797582336/photo/1

       

      Will never see a $20k BTC again: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1345660018541019138?s=20

       

      Bitcoin as investment vs. tech: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1345221723751206912?s=20

      NVT Ratio: http://charts.woobull.com/bitcoin-nvt-ratio/

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      1 hr 14 min
    • Central Bank Digital Currencies: How Should Privacy Be Built In? - Ep.206

      This panel, from a panel for the fifth anniversary of Hyperledger, features Rob Palatnick, managing director of global head of technology research and innovation at the DTCC and chairman of the Hyperledger board, Matthieu Saint Olive, Codefi payments product manager and CBDC advisor at ConsenSys, and Robert Bench, assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In this discussion on the current outlook on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), they cover: 

      • what main problems CBDCs can solve
      • whether CBDCs should be open sourced
      • why building a new technology for CBDCs is preferred over using existing tech
      • how concerns over CBDCs and their privacy implications differ across countries
      • what possible pain points or opportunities CBDCs pose for central banks
      • whether CBDCs should be blockchain-based
      • to what extent CBDCs will be distributed and open networks, and whether fees would be charged for transactions
      • how central banks are thinking about methods of adoption, like whether they will bank directly with retail customers or still use commercial banks 
      • how developers balance the drawbacks and benefits of blockchain-based CBDCs with different stakeholders
      • whether stable coins will be replaced by or coexist with CBDCs
      • and what the future holds for the continued development of CBDCs

       

      Thank you to our sponsors!

      Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

      1inch: http://1inch.exchange 

       

      Episode links: 

      Rob Palatnick: https://www.dtcc.com/our-experts/robert-palatnick

      Brian Behlendorf: https://twitter.com/brianbehlendorf?lang=en 

      Matthieu Saint Olive: https://twitter.com/msaintolive?lang=en 

      Robert Bench: https://www.bostonfed.org/home/people/bank/robert-bench.aspx

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      59 min
    • 2020 Highlights: The Biggest News Stories of the Year in Crypto - Ep.205

      Host Laura Shin recaps the biggest stories of the year in crypto, with clips from shows throughout the year. In this episode, we cover how the pandemic drove Bitcoin to new all-time highs, how regulation began to come for the crypto space in a big way, plus new trends in DeFi, corporate structures, and how ETH will change as an asset. 

       

      Thank you to our sponsors! 

      Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

      1inch: https://1inch.exchange

       

      Episode links: 

      Meltem Demirors on Bitcoin’s behavior during the recession https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-meltem-demirors-and-lyn-alden-on-the-perfect-conditions-for-bitcoin/

       

      Mike Novogratz and Raoul Pal on Bitcoin’s relation to fiat https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-mike-novogratz-and-raoul-pal-on-the-single-greatest-brand-of-the-last-10-years/

       

      Chamath Palihapitiya on Bitcoin as a financial hedge https://unchainedpodcast.com/chamath-palihapitiya-why-bitcoin-will-be-the-category-winner/

       

      Cathie Wood and Dan Tapiero on corporate adoption of Bitcoin https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-bitcoin-under-a-biden-administration/

       

      Dave Jevans and Siân Jones on regulation and VASPs https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-the-travel-rule-is-one-of-the-most-significant-regulations-in-crypto/ 

       

      Jake Chervinsky and Kristin Smith on the Swiss Rule and self-hosted wallets https://unchainedpodcast.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-looming-battle-over-privacy-in-crypto/

       

      Jeremy Allaire and Kristin Smith on Mnuchin’s proposed FinCEN rule https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-is-the-proposed-fincen-rule-for-unhosted-wallets-being-pushed-so-quickly/

       

      Jessi Brooks and Zia Faruqui on cryptocurrencies facilitating illicit activity https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-this-doj-strike-force-hunts-down-cryptocurrency-criminals/ 

       

      Brian Brooks on Americans accepting more privacy restrictions https://unchainedpodcast.com/acting-comptroller-of-the-currency-brian-brooks-on-crypto-banks/

       

      Meltem Demirors on privacy being under attack https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-meltem-demirors-and-lyn-alden-on-the-perfect-conditions-for-bitcoin/

       

      Haseeb Qureshi on the maturation of DeFi https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-decentralized-trading-has-10xed-in-a-few-months/ 

       

      Vitalik Buterin on risks that still exist in DeFi https://unchainedpodcast.com/vitalik-buterin-on-ethereums-five-year-anniversary/

       

      Taylor Monahan and Dan Guido on DeFi security https://unchainedpodcast.com/defi-security-with-so-many-hacks-will-it-ever-be-safe/ 

       

      Vitalik Buterin reflecting on the last five years of Ethereum https://unchainedpodcast.com/vitalik-buterin-on-ethereums-five-year-anniversary/ 

       

      Ryan Watkins on Ethereum 2.0 https://unchainedpodcast.com/ethereum-2-0-what-you-need-to-know/ 

       

      Olaf Carlson-Wee on DeFi impacting the traditional corporate structure https://unchainedpodcast.com/olaf-carlson-wee-if-there-is-a-money-losing-exploit-the-money-is-gone/

      Andrew Cronje on shifting corporate structures https://unchainedpodcast.com/andre-cronje-of-yearn-finance-on-yfi-and-the-fair-launch-im-lazy/

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      1 hr 4 min
    • Why Is the Proposed FinCEN Rule for Unhosted Wallets Being Pushed So Quickly? - Ep.204

      Jeremy Allaire of Circle Pay and Kristin Smith of the Blockchain Association explain the impact of and motivation behind Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s proposed FinCEN rule that targets “unhosted” wallets. In this episode, they cover:

      • what the new FinCEN rule says, and how it would impact unhosted or self-hosted wallets, as well as crypto businesses
      • why they believe this is really politically motivated and unilateral midnight rule making by Secretary Mnuchin 
      • what other bureaucrats and policymakers think should be done instead 
      • whether the rule only affects businesses rather than individuals 
      • what information will be recorded according to the rule
      • ways to circumvent compliance 
      • how the rule affects DeFi and Web3
      • the procedural hurdles Mnuchin took to propose the rule, and what they recommend the crypto community to do try to stop the implementation of the rule 
      • how the rule comports with European GDPR regulations 
      • which government entities will be tasked with making the regulatory changes the space needs 
      • why President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration may be more favorable for the space

       

      Thank you to our sponsors! 

      Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

      1inch: http://1inch.exchange 

       

      Episode links: 

      Jeremy Allaire: https://twitter.com/jerallaire 

      Kristin Smith: https://twitter.com/kmsmithdc

       

      Circle: https://www.circle.com/en/

      The Blockchain Association: https://theblockchainassociation.org

       

      Stories on proposed rule: 

      https://www.coindesk.com/fincen-proposes-kyc-rules-for-crypto-wallets

      https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/88347/treasury-crypto-wallets-reporting-rule

       

      Effect on DeFi: https://twitter.com/jerallaire/status/1340060806088671232?s=20

       

      https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1340050400871911424?s=20

       

      Coin Center response: https://www.coincenter.org/a-midnight-rule-for-cryptocurrency-transaction-reports/

       

      Brian Armstrong’s earlier tweet thread: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1331745196887867393

      Collins Belton’s tweet thread: https://twitter.com/collins_belton/status/1340051986008350721?s=20

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      1 hr 1 min
    • All the Ways Crypto Can Make Gaming More Fun - Ep.203

      Marguerite deCourcelle is co-founder and CEO of Blockade Games, which is releasing the role-playing game game Neon District the day this episode comes out. She discusses her background in art, how her love of video games led her to discover Bitcoin in the early days of the cryptocurrency, and how she helps create the next phase of web 3.0 content creation and distribution. Topics include:

      • how Marguerite became involved in crypto and what led her to co-found Blockade Games
      • her work on Pineapple Arcade and Plasma Bears
      • the problems she sees with gaming and how blockchain technology can solve them
      • how Blockade Games is utilizing blockchain tech
      • Neon District, a blockchain-based RPG game with active gameplay and animation that uses NFTs and farming
      • the difference between ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens and how each is utilized in Neon District
      • how they have been marrying NFTs with DeFi through the NIFTEX exchange
      • how an open economy challenges the dynamics of gameplay and how they account for this in their game design
      • why a decentralized profile can be so powerful in gaming
      • the types of users Blockade Games hopes to attract with Neon District
      • why they are using the Matic Network
      • how blockchain tech within a game changes the business model for Blockade as opposed to a traditional gaming company
      • whether she thinks conventional gaming companies will be disrupted by blockchain technology
      • the problems in content creation business models and distribution and how she thinks blockchain can solve them
      • her personal token, COIN, how it is connected to CRED and how the two work together and people earn them
      • what Coin Artist Liquidity Mining is and how it works

       

      Thank you to our sponsors! 

      Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

      1inch: http://1inch.exchange

       

      Episode links: 

      Marguerite: https://twitter.com/coin_artist

      Coin Artist: https://coinartist.io

       

      Yield farming NFTs: https://www.coindesk.com/nfts-yield-farming-defi-buzz-explained

       

      Crypto puzzles: https://www.coindesk.com/theres-more-money-to-win-in-the-310-bitcoin-challenge-heres-some-hints

       

      Blockade Games's seed round: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-puzzle-artists-blockchain-gaming-startup-valued-at-13-million

       

      CoinDesk podcast network with Marguerite: https://www.coindesk.com/what-artists-love-about-crypto

       

      Delphi Digital podcast with Marguerite: https://www.delphidigital.io/podcasts/marguerite-decourcelle-building-towards-a-neon-future/

       

      Delphi Digital report on Coin's E-den syndicate: https://www.delphidigital.io/reports/social-tokens-the-rise-of-the-coins-e-den-syndicate/

       

      OpenSea store for Alex Botez chess pieces: https://opensea.io/collection/get-pwnd

       

      Blog post about the Alexandra Botez collaboration: https://coin-artist.medium.com/bringing-chess-to-ethereum-5969d9cfa07a

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      1 hr 8 min
    • Can Gavin Wood's Polkadot 'Make Blockchain Great Again'? - Ep.202

      Gavin Wood, founder of Polkadot, Kusama, and Parity, discusses what he calls the "meta-protocol," Polkadot. In this episode, he talks about:

      • his vision for Polkadot and the problems he set out to solve when conceiving it
      • why he considers Polkadot a meta-protocol
      • the implementation of parachains and parathreads, how they are defined and how they differ
      • parachain auctions and candle auctions
      • how DDoS attacks can be prevented on parachains
      • initial parachain offerings and how they differ from initial coin offerings and avoid the regulatory problems that were so common with ICOs
      • on-chain governance on Polkadot and how it works
      • how immediate implementation of proposals that pass consensus will prevent forks
      • his answer to those who point to Parity's history with security lapses as cause for concern about Polkadot's security
      • how he sees Polkadot co-existing with Ethereum
      • whether Polkadot is working toward composability
      • how the Web3 Foundation and Parity plan to use their collective stake of DOTs within the network
      • how he plans to address the possibility that DOT could be labeled a security
      • how he imagines Polkadot will serve the enterprise world and how Polkadot will benefit enterprise blockchains

       

      Thank you to our sponsors! 

      1inch: https://1inch.exchange

      Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com

       

      Episode links: 

      Gavin Wood: https://twitter.com/gavofyork

      Polkadot: https://polkadot.network

      Kusama: https://kusama.network

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      1 hr 24 min
    • Ethereum 2.0: What You Need to Know - Ep.201

      Ryan Watkins and Wilson Withiam, senior research analysts at Messari, explain the nuts and bolts of Ethereum 2.0, including how it will transform ETH as an asset and why they believe it will be Ethereum’s most ambitious upgrade yet. Topics include:

      • the different phases of Ethereum 2.0 and the functions they serve
      • the problems Ethereum hopes to solve with this upgrade
      • the technical requirements needed to ensure the launch can happen
      • the new proof of stake consensus and why Ethereum is leaving proof of work behind
      • the requirements necessary to maintain a validator node on the Ethereum 2.0 network
      • why users won’t be able to use their ETH once it is staked on Ethereum 2.0
      • the incentives and services that will allow users staking on Ethereum 2.0 to continue using their ETH on Ethereum 1.0
      • whether the appeal of DeFi is a threat to Ethereum 2.0 staking
      • how Ethereum 2.0 incentivizes client diversity
      • the monetary policy of “minimum necessary issuance” that supports Ethereum 2.0
      • how Ethereum 2.0 will allow ETH to achieve the unprecedented combination of a store of value, a capital asset, and a commodity
      • what will be done in the short term to help ease the scaling problem while ETH 2.0 is being built
      • whether scalability can be efficiently addressed in time to prevent migrations to other blockchains
      • and the most significant risks Ethereum 2.0 is facing

       

      Thank you to our sponsor!

      Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com

       

      Episode links:

      Ryan Watkins: https://twitter.com/RyanWatkins_

      Wilson Withiam: https://twitter.com/wilsonwithiam

       

      Messari Crypto: https://messari.io/

       

      Messari report on Ethereum 2:0: https://messari.io/road-to-eth2  

       

      Amount of ETH in the Ethereum 2.0 Deposit Contract: https://etherscan.io/address/0x00000000219ab540356cBB839Cbe05303d7705Fa#analytics

      https://www.stakingrewards.com/earn/ethereum-2-0

       

      ETH issuance based on amount staked: https://docs.ethhub.io/ethereum-basics/monetary-policy/#proof-of-stake-impact

      Dan Elitzer article on DETH: https://medium.com/ideo-colab/the-deth-of-ethereum-98553866e81b

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      1 hr 12 min
    • What Fidelity Is Doing With the Bitcoin It's Mined - Ep.200

      Christine Sandler, head of sales and marketing at Fidelity Digital Assets, talks about how 30 years in traditional finance and an early retirement led her to Coinbase, and, eventually, Fidelity Digital Assets. She discusses the history of Fidelity's involvement in crypto, how they became one of the first to enter the space, and what the future holds. Topics include:

      • what Fidelity Digital Assets is and Christine's role there
      • Christine's background in traditional finance, how she was drawn into the world of cryptocurrencies, eventually working at Coinbase, and how she found her way to Fidelity Digital Assets
      • the role Fidelity sees itself playing in the digital asset space
      • how the client base for digital assets has changed over time
      • how Fidelity approaches the difficulties around explaining what bitcoin and crypto is, and the most common questions they receive
      • how the pandemic has changed the conversation around digital currencies
      • the types of services and products Fidelity is considering for the future
      • the differences Fidelity sees in how international investors are approaching digital currency
      • Fidelity's plans for a Bitcoin index fund and whether they are considering offering futures
      • how financial institutions and institutional investors fit into a world of decentralized finance founded with the ethos of excluding them
      • the regulatory improvements Fidelity is hoping to see
      • what a Bitcoin ETF would mean for Fidelity
      • how Fidelity might use a central bank digital currency in its business
      • Fidelity's thoughts on offering proof of stake services
      • whether a more deflationary Ethereum might attract more institutional investors
      • and whether Fidelity will offer Ethereum in the future

       

      Thank you to our sponsor! 

      Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com

       

      Episode links: 

      Christine Sandler: https://twitter.com/shoegalnyc

      Fidelity Digital Assets: https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/overview

      Twitter: https://twitter.com/DigitalAssets

       

      Christine leaves Coinbase for FDAS: https://www.coindesk.com/fidelity-poaches-coinbase-institutional-sales-head-christine-sandler

       

      Fidelity Center for Applied Technology: https://fcatalyst.com/overview

       

      Fidelity Digital Assets looking to become prime broker: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/daily/68920/fidelity-digital-assets-eyes-service-for-introducing-crypto-funds-to-big-investors

       

      How the client profile has changed: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/daily/42342/the-client-profile-is-changing-fidelity-digital-assets-exec-says-new-players-are-entering-the-crypto-fold

       

      How to Explain Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains to the Average Person

      Unchained episode: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-to-explain-cryptocurrencies-and-blockchains-to-the-average-person/

       

      Fidelity expands crypto business to Europe: https://www.coindesk.com/fidelity-to-expand-institutional-crypto-business-to-europe

       

      Fidelity obtains New York Trust Charter: https://www.coindesk.com/fidelity-gets-a-new-york-trust-charter-to-custody-bitcoin-for-institutions

       

      Bitcoin Index Fund: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2020/08/26/fidelity-president-files-for-new-bitcoin-fund/?sh=13aa335445c9

       

      Fidelity survey of 800 institutional investors: https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/FDAS/institutional-investor-study.pdf

       

      FDAS hiring: https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/articles/engineering-hiring-initiative?ccmedia=owned&ccchannel=social&cccampaign=hiring_blog&cctactics=twitter

       

      Kingdom Trust: 

      https://www.coindesk.com/fidelity-digital-assets-to-custody-bitcoin-in-kingdom-trust-retirement-accounts

       

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      55 min

    About Unchained

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    Crypto assets and blockchain technology are about to transform every trust-based interaction of our lives, from financial services to identity to the Internet of Things. In this podcast, host Laura…