Unchained

Gemini's Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who serve as chief executive and president, respectively, discuss their new ad campaign -- what they mean when they say crypto needs rules, why they agree in certain respects with some of their critics, and what the general reaction has been. They discuss why they launched a stablecoin, why they chose the stablecoin structure of dollar reserves and GUSD's role in an arbitrage involving a Chinese exchange and a competing stablecoin. They also explain how they intend to make a Bitcoin ETF a reality, what they think of SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce's dissent and what they intend for the Virtual Commodity Association. Plus, the brothers talk about why their goal is to be "the fastest tortoise in the race."

Thank you to our sponsors!

Tokensoft: https://www.tokensoft.io

Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Episode links:

Gemini's new ad campaign: https://www.wsj.com/articles/winklevosses-cryptocurrency-exchange-says-the-revolution-needs-rules-11546599600

Negative reaction to Gemini ad campaign from crypto community:

Erik Voorhees: https://twitter.com/ErikVoorhees/status/1081204430857416706

Gemini USD gets approval of New York Department of Financial Services: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-10/controversial-crypto-coin-tether-to-get-regulated-competitors

Past episodes with other stablecoin projects:

USDC/Circle: https://unchainedpodcast.com/circles-jeremy-allaire-and-sean-neville-on-why-crypto-will-be-bigger-than-the-web-ep-71/

TrueUSD: https://unchainedpodcast.com/harbor-and-trusttoken-on-why-they-dont-mind-being-unsexy-ep-77/

MakerDAO: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable/

https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-on-its-15-million-from-andreessen-horowitz-ep-039/

Bloomberg reporter Matt Leising on Tether: https://unchainedpodcast.com/bloombergs-matt-leising-on-why-it-appears-tether-has-sufficient-dollar-reserves-ep-052/

Trading of GUSD for Pax and cashing out via Huobi:

https://medium.com/paxos/regulation-in-the-crypto-world-part-i-leading-the-way-into-the-light-11e54d16b035

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/01/04/gemini-gave-trading-firms-a-stablecoin-discount-and-it-caused-big-headaches-for-one-of-its-rivals/

GUSD distribution on Etherscan: https://etherscan.io/token/tokenholderchart/0x056fd409e1d7a124bd7017459dfea2f387b6d5cd

Cameron and Tyler's AMA on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/adk0ua/we_are_cameron_and_tyler_winklevoss_cofounders_of/edhlb3b/

SEC commissioner Hester Peirce's dissent on Bitcoin ETF decision: https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/peirce-dissent-34-83723

Bitcoin Cash launch on Gemini: https://medium.com/gemini/bitcoin-cash-is-now-available-on-gemini-cc75299d892f

The 51% attack on Ethereum Classic: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-ethereum-classic-51-attack-how-it-happened-and-why-the-price-didnt-crash-ep-055/

Gemini year in review

https://medium.com/gemini/geminis-2018-year-in-review-1cd0815dd45e

Virtual Commodity Association: https://medium.com/gemini/joining-the-virtual-commodity-association-8bdf3b2f803e

Gemini's new mobile app:

https://medium.com/gemini/introducing-the-gemini-mobile-app-crypto-on-the-go-1448d2ae74fa

USD Coin's banking partners: https://support.usdc.circle.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015278272-Who-are-the-banking-and-financial-partners-you-are-using-for-USDC-    TrueUSD's trust companies and their correspondent banks: https://blog.trusttoken.com/who-are-the-correspondent-banks-and-trustee-partners-for-trueusd-e12508f0d5a2

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In this wide-ranging episode, Eric Meltzer and Dovey Wan of Primitive Ventures describe how Asia is weathering the crypto downturn: how have the low prices affected miners, how has this affected Bitmain's prospects for an IPO and how, despite a ban on crypto exchanges, Chinese crypto users have been trading. We also discuss more broadly how crypto projects and startups differ between China and the U.S., how crypto is upending Silicon Valley's dominance, and how differences in regulation are affecting entrepreneurship in the space. Plus, Eric and Dovey address whether or not the surveillance state is motivating Chinese interest in crypto.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Tokensoft: https://www.tokensoft.io

Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Episode links:

Primitive Ventures: http://primitive.ventures

Eric Meltzer: https://twitter.com/wheatpond

Dovey Wan: https://twitter.com/DoveyWan

Binance was more profitable than Deutsche Bank in quarter 1 of 2018: https://www.ccn.com/binance-surpassed-germanys-biggest-bank-deutsche-in-profitability/

Bitmain and Huobi layoffs: https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/2179513/chinas-cryptocurrency-giants-bitmain-and-huobi-plan-lay-offs-amid

Hong Kong regulators reluctant to allow crypto firms to IPO:

https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2178747/hong-kong-regulators-say-ipos-cryptocurrency-businesses-are

Report that China wants an "orderly exit" from crypto mining: https://qz.com/1174091/china-wants-an-orderly-exit-from-bitcoin-mining/

Chinese op-ed on why the People’s Bank of China should consider a yuan-pegged cryptocurrency: https://www.coindesk.com/pboc-op-ed-pushes-use-case-for-yuan-pegged-crypto-stablecoins

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Eric Larcheveque, cofounder and CEO of Ledger, and Demetrios Skalkotos, global head of Ledger Vault, describe the company's three main offerings: its hardware wallets, the new software-as-a-service product for institutions, and an Internet of Things offering for transactions involving physical assets. They also describe how the company scaled for a massive increase in demand in 2017, who their customers are and how the company has responded to vulnerabilities found in its products. Plus, they explain why they don't put tamper-proof packaging on their hardware wallets.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TokenSoft: https://www.tokensoft.io

Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Episode links:

Ledger: https://www.ledger.com

Eric Larcheveque: https://twitter.com/EricLarch

Demetrios Skalkotos: https://twitter.com/DemoSkalkotos

Introduction of Ledger Vault: https://medium.com/ledger-on-security-and-blockchain/ledger-vault-nyc-office-brings-crypto-security-to-institutional-investors-ec9ee3445850

Three part-series on hardware wallets: https://medium.com/ledger-on-security-and-blockchain/ledger-101-part-1-do-you-really-need-a-hardware-wallet-7f5abbadd945

Ledger's description of BOLOS: https://medium.com/ledger-on-security-and-blockchain/a-closer-look-into-ledger-security-our-custom-operating-system-bolos-ab608bcb0839

Blog post from Saleem Rashid: https://saleemrashid.com/2018/03/20/breaking-ledger-security-model/

Demonstration of attacks on hardware wallets at 35c3: https://wallet.fail

Ledger's response: https://medium.com/ledger-on-security-and-blockchain/chaos-communication-congress-in-response-to-wallet-fails-presentation-17bcd166a052

Ledger Donjon: https://medium.com/ledger-on-security-and-blockchain/ledger-donjon-3e04e0ce49a9

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To celebrate the 100th episode of Unchained, I talk a little about what this podcast means to me and thank everyone who's helped me with it. Then I let past guests and listeners take it away with their comments and predictions for 2019. Thank you to everyone who sent in submissions -- and to the listeners and sources who've helped me along the way!

Thank you to our sponsors!

TokenSoft: https://www.tokensoft.io

Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Episode links:

My TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Ew7PW4LCo

Facebook working on a stablecoin: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-21/facebook-is-said-to-develop-stablecoin-for-whatsapp-transfers

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Growing up in Argentina, Wences Casares saw his family lose all their money three times due to actions by the government. The so-called "patient zero" of Bitcoin in Silicon Valley explains why he believes that experience predisposed him to seeing the potential in Bitcoin earlier than most people, why it's so hard to explain Bitcoin to Americans and why the company he founded, Xapo, isn't just a Bitcoin vault and wallet company but his best effort at helping to ensure that Bitcoin succeeds. He talks about why he isn't scared of all the new competitors to his service, including Coinbase Custody, why Xapo hasn't branched out into any other crypto assets, and why he believes there's a more than 50% chance that Bitcoin is worth $1 million in five to ten years. Additionally, he still believes the attempt to accommodate more transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain with the SegWit2x fork, which he backed, was wrong -- even though the fees after its failure skyrocketed to as high as $60. Plus -- he reveals what it would look like if Bitcoin became a global standard of value, and why that vision doesn't threaten governments.

Thank you to our sponsors!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain

Episode links:

Wences Casares: https://twitter.com/wences

Xapo: https://xapo.com/

Wences's Facebook Live with Dan Schulman of PayPal: https://www.facebook.com/DanSchulmanPayPal/videos/1419329821528449/

To learn more about Wences, read New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper's book, Digital Gold: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062362506/digital-gold/

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Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings, describes the company's services and products, why it's launching a credit offering, and why he pivoted from his original intention to launch a crypto hedge fund and then pivoted again from working with ICOs to serving institutional players. He talks about why, if he had the chance to go public again, he wouldn't do it, why Galaxy's stock fell so precipitously one day that trading was halted, and why he thinks the SEC has made it clear the ICO markets are closed. He also talks about why, on the way to democratizing finance, the crypto markets need to "take a step back" and start with institutions, why decentralization is important, and why he thinks the launch of Bakkt is the most important news in the crypto space this year. Plus, Mike surmises as to how consumers will start using crypto, but believes it won’t replace fiat in the Western world.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Microsoft: aka.ms/unchained

CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Episode links:

Galaxy Digital: https://www.galaxydigital.io

Galaxy Digital's losses so far this year: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-28/novogratz-s-crypto-trading-desk-lost-136-million-in-nine-months

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/novogratz-s-galaxy-digital-sees-134-million-loss-on-crypto-drop

Unchained episode about security tokens: http://unchainedpodcast.co/harbor-and-trusttoken-on-why-they-dont-mind-being-unsexy-ep77

Unchained interview with Philip Rosedale of High Fidelity: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable

Unconfirmed episode with Tom Jessop of Fidelity Digital Assets: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/fidelity-digital-asset-services-tom-jessop-on-why-its-serving-institutional-clients-first-ep043

Unchained podcast with Arthur Hayes of Bitmex: http://unchainedpodcast.co/arthur-hayes-of-bitmex-on-why-countries-will-turn-to-digital-cash-ep63

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This is a special episode of Unchained from the CME Global Leadership Conference in Naples, Florida. There, I spoke with Arthur Hayes, CoFounder and CEO of Bitmex, Dan O’Prey, chief marketing officer of Digital Asset, and Alexis Ohanian, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Reddit and Co-Founder of Initialized Capital. We cover how public and permissioned chains will compete or complement each other, how blockchain technology will affect incumbent financial services, and how it has already proven itself (hint: as a store of value is one answer). We discuss whether or not crypto represents a new asset class, why the crypto winter is helping to improve the space, and what the launch of Bakkt and Fidelity Digital Assets could mean going forward.

Thank you to our sponsors!

CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Microsoft: https://twitter.com/MSFTBlockchain

Episode links

CME's Global Financial Leadership Conference: https://www.gflc.com

Arthur Hayes: https://twitter.com/cryptohayes

Bitmex: https://www.bitmex.com

Dan O'Prey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danoprey/

Digital Asset: https://www.digitalasset.com

Alexis Ohanian: https://twitter.com/alexisohanian

Initialized Capital: https://initialized.com

Unconfirmed episode with Tom Jessop's Fidelity Digital Assets: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/fidelity-digital-asset-services-tom-jessop-on-why-its-serving-institutional-clients-first-ep043

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Coinbase has departed from its conservative roots and begun adding many more coins. Dan Romero, vice president of Coinbase, explains how its listing process works, how it tries to prevent insider trading, and why it's listed coins that had ICOs, even though the SEC has indicated all coins that were offered in ICOs at least started off as securities. He also talks about Coinbase's international expansion, how regulations around crypto differ in Japan vs. the U.S., and the importance of banking relationships for crypto companies. Plus, we dive into how Coinbase plans to weather competition on multiple fronts -- from Robinhood, Square and Binance on its consumer side, and from Fidelity and Bakkt on the institutional side -- how its decentralized projects could affect its current revenues and how it is staffing now for any future hype cycles that could increase crypto adoption by an order of magnitude.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Microsoft: aka.ms/unchained

CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Altlending:  https://altlending.com

Episode links:

Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/

Dan: https://twitter.com/dwr

Coinbase Listing: https://listing.coinbase.com

Digital Asset Framework: https://listing.coinbase.com

Coinbase's new listing process: https://blog.coinbase.com/new-asset-listing-process-a83ef296a0f3

Announcement that they were exploring adding Cardano, Basica Attention Token, Stellar Lumens, Zcash and 0x: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-exploring-cardano-basic-attention-token-stellar-zcash-and-0x-9e44f0eb823f

News announced after we recorded: Coinbase considering offering 31 new assets: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-continues-to-explore-support-for-new-digital-assets-92ba4ab7f465

Interview with Will Warren of decentralized exchange 0x: http://unchainedpodcast.co/will-warren-of-0x-on-why-decentralized-exchanges-are-the-future

Coinbase investigates insider trading of Bitcoin Cash: http://fortune.com/2017/12/20/coinbase-bitcoin-insider-trading/

Coinbase finds no insider trading of Bitcoin Cash: http://fortune.com/2018/07/24/coinbase-insider-trading/

Unchained episode on Coinbase/IRS case: http://unchainedpodcast.co/is-the-irs-justified-in-demanding-information-on-millions-of-bitcoin-users

Link to Alistair Milne's tracking of total Coinbase customer base: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NgvD2kFT69mSXuJPzPDu-Qv9SS1ck2iPt6Kw9a55z0k/edit#gid=0

Coinbase adding USDC: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-and-circle-announce-the-launch-of-usdc-a-digital-dollar-2cd6548d237

Unchained episode with Circle: http://unchainedpodcast.co/circles-jeremy-allaire-and-sean-neville-on-why-crypto-will-be-bigger-than-the-web-ep71

Unchained episode with Rune Christensen of MakerDAO: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable

Unconfirmed episode with Rune: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-on-its-15-million-from-andreessen-horowitz-ep039

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Ari Paul, CIO of BlockTower Capital, explains why he likes how short-term trades concentrate risk in investment, why, "no matter what," he thinks Bitcoin is a good-value buy today, and how big university endowments investing in crypto now could eventually lead institutions to go from having a fear-of-loss attitude about crypto to having FOMO. He also dives into why he's not as excited about generalized mining as some of BlockTower's crypto fund peers and who he thinks is really well-poised in that space. We also discuss why Bitcoin futures didn't have a positive impact on the price and what effect Bakkt and Fidelity launching their crypto products could have. Plus, he responds to people who accused him of insider trading when a private conversation in which he mentioned Stellar was acquiring enterprise blockchain startup Chain was released.

Thank you to our sponsors!

CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained

Altlending: https://altlending.com

Episode links:

Ari Paul: https://twitter.com/AriDavidPaul

BlockTower Capital: https://www.blocktower.com

Harvard, Stanford, MIT endowments invest in crypto: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/harvard-stanford-mit-endowments-invest-in-crypto-funds

Yale endowment invests in a16z and Paradigm: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/05/yale-investment-chief-david-swensen-jumps-into-crypto-with-bets-on-two-silicon-valley-funds.html

Bitcoin Cash hard fork recap: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/week-2-how-bitcoin-cash-hash-war-came-and-went-and-not-much-happened/

Unconfirmed episode on Bitcoin Cash hard fork with Aaron Van Wirdum: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/the-bitcoin-cash-hard-fork-bitcoin-abc-vs-bitcoin-sv-ep046

Unchained episode with Riccardo Spagni of Monero: http://unchainedpodcast.co/coinfunds-jake-brukhman-and-multicoins-tushar-jain-on-generalized-mining-ep92

Unchained episode with Jake Brukhman and Tushar Jain of Multicoin Capital: http://unchainedpodcast.co/coinfunds-jake-brukhman-and-multicoins-tushar-jain-on-generalized-mining-ep92

Unconfirmed episode with Fidelity's Tom Jessop: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/fidelity-digital-asset-services-tom-jessop-on-why-its-serving-institutional-clients-first-ep043

Ari's private conversation in which he mentioned Stellar was acquiring Chain: https://hackernoon.com/ten-questions-for-ari-david-paul-of-blocktower-capital-dcd8d81ef27e

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde's talk on the case for central bank digital currencies:

https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2018/11/13/sp111418-winds-of-change-the-case-for-new-digital-currency

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Connie Gallippi, the founder and executive director for BitGive, and Joe Waltman, the executive director of GiveCrypto.org, discuss charitable giving in crypto -- what problems in philanthropy it solves, what level of transparency they can achieve and how they measure impact. Connie explains why she has chosen to work with existing non-profits and Joe, why GiveCrypto is working on its own initiatives, and why its working thesis is that crypto will be especially helpful in places with broken money or broken government. They also dive into the tax implications of donating crypto directly -- namely that donors can offset taxes on gains, particularly by donating their oldest coins before the end of the calendar year. Connie talks about how BitGive needs to ensure it doesn't hold or convert money in order to avoid money transmitter regulations, and Joe, how GiveCrypto has to ensure it's not giving money to bad people, such as money launderers or people or entities under economic sanctions. Plus, the two discuss why a space that so often espouses the ideals of democratization of finance gives so little and what it will take for it to donate more.

Thank you to our sponsors!

CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained

WeTrust: Donate in crypto and have your donation matched by WeTrust through Giving Tuesday, November 27! http://wetrust.io/unchained

Episode links:

Bitgive: https://www.bitgivefoundation.org

GiveTrack: https://www.givetrack.org

BitGive Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitGiveOrg

GiveCrypto: https://www.bitgivefoundation.org

GiveCrypto Twitter - https://twitter.com/givecrypto?lang=en

BitGive's five-year report: https://d1i1964a5wuyjt.cloudfront.net/2018/11/5-year-deck-021118_compressed-1.pdf

Joe's work trial for GiveCrypto: https://medium.com/givecrypto/givecrypto-work-trial-a-new-financial-system-a-new-opportunity-7f564b65aff5

GiveCrypto's October report: https://medium.com/givecrypto/givecryptos-october-monthly-report-5c191bc03b56

Unconfirmed episode with Robert Opp of the UN World Food Programme: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/the-un-world-food-programmes-blockchain-based-food-vouchers-for-syrian-refugees-with-robert-opp-ep017

Episode with Elizabeth Rossiello of Bitpesa: http://unchainedpodcast.co/bitpesas-elizabeth-rossiello-on-necker-island

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