Unchained

By Laura Shin

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 Sh... more

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How many episodes does Unchained have?

The podcast currently has 874 episodes available.

Unchained episodes:

October 04, 2022Sam Bankman-Fried on How to Prevent the Next Terra and 3AC - Ep. 403
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, discusses his views on crypto regulation, macroeconomics, and the role of FTX in a decentralized industry.

Show highlights:
whether the market has already bottomed and the influence of macroeconomics
why Sam thinks regulation could have a significant impact on the crypto industry
the impact of the Terra collapse, Sam’s thoughts on stablecoins, and the importance of disclaimers
what the industry can do to prevent high leverage from crypto companies like Three Arrows Capital
how crypto lenders should manage risk in a sustainable way
whether the crypto collapses affected the opinion of lawmakers and regulators
the topics and proposals that Sam is discussing with regulators and his philosophy on financial regulation
what Sam thinks about building a centralized entity in a decentralized space
what it would take for FTX to move back to the United States
why Sam’s political donations more commonly support Democrats, among which are some prominent critics of crypto
whether he makes political donations based solely on candidates’ crypto stances
the role of FTX in the TradFi market and whether crypto and TradFi will evolve toward or away from each other
concerns about potential conflict of interests between FTX and Alameda Research
the impact of the Merge, the value proposition of Ethereum and whether it affects the narrative of Bitcoin as digital gold
how FTX is positioning itself in this macroeconomic environment
the type of acquisitions FTX is interested in
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com
a16z
Chainalysis

Episode Links
Sam:
Twitter

Bailouts and Acquisitions
FTX raising $1 billion in funding
FTX’s acquisitions had ‘mixed results’
Voyager Digital Auction
Celsius Possible Acquisition
Stablecoins and Regulation
Bankman-Fried Says He’s ‘Surprisingly Optimistic’ U.S. Will Devise Crypto Rules Within A Year
Stablecoin Draft Bill
Yellen cites UST stablecoin risk after it loses its dollar peg
Previous Coverage of Unchained on Stablecoins and Regulation:
Why Senator Pat Toomey Thinks SEC Chair Gary Gensler Is Wrong About Crypto
Why Terra Collapsed and Whether an Algo Stablecoin Can Ever Succeed
Donations and Politics
Giant crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried promises to give away most of his $21 billion fortune
Political donations
Sam Bankman-Fried is Democrats' largest donor in May
Alameda Research Concerns
Crypto Quant Shop With Ties to FTX Powers Bankman-Fried's Empire

Collapse of Crypto Companies
Celsius bankruptcy filing
Voyager Digital bankruptcy filing
Three Arrows Capital bankruptcy filing
FTX proposal to clear derivatives
New method of clearing
Previous coverage on Unchained:
FTX Wants to Compete with CME – Here’s Why It’s a Big Deal
Interest in buying Twitter
Text messages reveal Sam Bankman-Fried's guru told Elon Musk the crypto billionaire was 'potentially interested' in buying Twitter

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1h 2min
September 30, 2022Why the Ooki DAO Case Could Hurt Participation in DAOs - Ep. 402
Nikhilesh De, CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, comes to talk about the CFTC lawsuit against Ooki DAO and the potential consequences across the crypto industry.

Show highlights:
the enforcement action against Ooki DAO and the CFTC’s arguments behind it
whether bZx’s statements that the DAO would be beyond the reach of regulators made it a target for the CFTC
whether the broader implication of these charges could mean that all DeFi is illegal
whether the hacks of bZx made it a high-profile target
the CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger's dissenting statement and her concerns
who the targets of the CFTC enforcement action are
the consequences of the lawsuit for token holders and how to determine which token holders are liable
why the CFTC chose to post a notice in the Ooki DAO forum and whether that is sufficient notice
what the next steps for DAO members are and whether there will be wide community support
Thank you to our sponsors!

1inch
Crypto.com

Nik
Twitter

Previous Coverage of Unchained on regulation:
Why Senator Pat Toomey Thinks SEC Chair Gary Gensler Is Wrong About Crypto
Congressman Ro Khanna: How to Get More Democrats into Web3
Why the Crypto Industry Believes SEC Regulation by Enforcement Hurts US Consumers
The lawsuit against Ooki DAO
CFTC Filing
$250,000 fine
Nik’s article
CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger’s dissenting statement
Jake Chervinsky’s opinion
Ooki DAO’s options
CFTC serving the members of the Ooki DAO via their forum
Tim Copeland’s article on what’s next for DAOs

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38min
September 27, 2022How Will the Legal Case Against Do Kwon Play Out in South Korea? - Ep. 401
Zack Guzman, journalist and Coinage host, and Jongbaek Park, partner specializing in blockchain and crypto assets at Bae, Kim & Lee, discuss how the case in South Korea against Do Kwon and TerraForm Labs will likely go, whether Do Kwon is on the run, and what his sentence could be.

Show highlights:
Jongbaek’s and Zack’s disclosures regarding Terra
how big the Terra phenomenon was in South Korea and how Do Kwon was perceived in the country
whether Do Kwon posed any conditions for his interview with Zack
what Do Kwon is being charged with
the colliding opinions on which tokens are considered securities
whether the collapse of Terra had any negative impact on the South Korean President’s image
whether Do Kwon feels like a charge for violating the capital markets law is unfair
whether Do Kwon is “on the run,” despite his denials
how the potential revocation of Kwon’s passport could make him go back to Korea
whether Terra was a failure or a fraud, and how prosecutors are looking into it
whether Terra was centralized
the chance of prosecutors going after other people from Terraform Labs and the probability of the entity’s assets being frozen
how much jail time Kwon could be facing and whether he is prepared to go to prison
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com
a16z
Chainalysis

Guests:

Jongbaek
Zack: Twitter

Episode Links
Previous Coverage of Unchained on Do Kwon and Terra:
Do Kwon Is Backing UST With Bitcoin – And Here’s What Else He Is Building
The Legal and Regulatory Fallout From Terra’s Collapse: Who Will Pay?
The Chopping Block: Does the New Terra Have Any Chance?
Hester Peirce’s Former Counsel on Terra 2.0, XRP and a Bitcoin Spot ETF
Why Terra Collapsed and Whether an Algo Stablecoin Can Ever Succeed
SEC Actions Against Terra
SEC Investigating UST Stablecoin Blowup in Fresh Threat to Terra
Terraform Labs Loses US Appeal over SEC Subpoena
Allegations against Do Kwon
Seoul Police Probe Allegation of Embezzlement by Terraform Staff
South Korea Launches Investigation into Company Behind Luna Crypto Crash
Class action against Do Kwon
Was LUNA a Security?
Korean prosecutors are looking into Terra
Do Kwon
Red Notice
“Not on the run”
Kwon’s Passport
Stablecoin Regulation
Stablecoin Draft Bill
Yellen cites UST stablecoin risk after it loses its dollar peg

Haseeb Qureshi’s summary of the Terra collapse:
Zack’s Interview with Kwon

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1h 5min
September 24, 2022The Chopping Block: Why ETH Dumped So Hard After the Merge - Ep. 400
Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry.

Show topics:
Why the ETH price slumped after the Merge even though it was successful
Whether the BTC security model is flawed and why Robert thinks Bitcoin will change
Why Tarun thinks Bitcoin won’t change and why he’s bearish on Bitcoin development
Whether the Lightning Network can succeed with so many competitors getting better more quickly
ETHPoW’s performance after the Merge, whether it’s dead and why Robert wouldn’t rule out the PoW fork
Why Haseeb thinks the criminalization of the collapse of Terra is a bad precedent
The broader impacts of the Terra meltdown and whether Do Kwon not disclosing the fact that he had been involved with Basis Cash, which failed, is problematic
The House’s draft bill on stablecoins and whether it is necessary to study algo stablecoins
What happened with the Wintermute hack
Why Tarun thinks the Wintermute team is incompetent
Whether there is any positive news in crypto lately
Who would be a better pick for deploying treasury funds between Three Arrows Capital and Wintermute
What Haseeb, Tom, Robert and Tarun are excited about
Hosts
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures
Robert Leshner, founder of Compound
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly Capital

Episode Links

Post Merge
ETHPoW
ETH issuance

Do Kwon and Terra
Red Notice
“Not on the run”
Kwon’s Passport

Wintermute hack

House’s Draft Bill on Stablecoins
Bloomberg’s Article

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1h 1min
September 23, 2022Why Senator Pat Toomey Thinks SEC Chair Gary Gensler Is Wrong About Crypto - Ep. 399
Pat Toomey, U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania, talks about legislation in the crypto industry, how to determine if something is a security, the future of CBDCs, and much more.

Show highlights:
the structural differences between crypto tokens and securities
why Sen. Toomey is demanding crypto legislation
why “regulation by enforcement” does not provide clarity
how to determine if a token is decentralized
whether proof of stake consensus turns tokens into securities
Sen. Toomey’s take on the new framework for stablecoin regulation
whether it is appropriate to ban algorithmic stablecoins
the importance to make disclosures so that regular users understand the risks of crypto
how the collapse of Terra and other crypto companies like Voyager and Celsius affected lawmakers’ perception of crypto
whether the US Treasury made a mistake with the Tornado Cash sanctions
what the government should take into account in regards to a central bank digital currency (CBDC)
why he believes the White House reports on crypto are not helpful and whether entrepreneurial talent is migrating to other countries
the likelihood of any of the crypto bills passing soon
Thank you to our sponsors!

1inch
Crypto.com
Messari
Sen. Toomey
Twitter

Previous Coverage of Unchained on regulation:
Congressman Ro Khanna: How to Get More Democrats into Web3
The Legal and Regulatory Fallout From Terra’s Collapse: Who Will Pay?
Why the Crypto Industry Believes SEC Regulation by Enforcement Hurts US Consumers
SEC Views
Gary Gensler’s comments on PoS tokens
Sen. Toomey’s opinion

White House Reports

Stablecoins
Stablecoin Draft Bill
Bloomberg article: Senator Pat Toomey Still Sees Chance of Stablecoin Legislation This Year
Sen. Toomey’s framework for payment stablecoins that he released last spring
Tornado Cash
Treasury Press release
Previous coverage of the Tornado Cash Sanctions on Unchained:
Is TRM Labs Blocking Addresses From DeFi Protocols? Ari Redbord Says No
Tornado Cash Sanctioned. Did the Government Overstep Its Bounds?
The Chopping Block: Did OFAC Overstep by Sanctioning Tornado Cash?
Given the Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Is Ethereum Censorship Resistant?
Preston Van Loon on Ethereum's Merge and His Lawsuit Against Treasury

Ian Balina charges

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42min
September 21, 2022Is Bitcoin Doomed to Fail? Eric Wall and Justin Bons Face Off - Ep. 398
In a heated debate, Eric Wall, crypto blogger and investor, and Justin Bons, founder and chief investment officer of Cyber Capital, discuss Bitcoin’s security model, whether there are fundamental flaws in its design, and which is the best consensus mechanism.

Show highlights:
why Justin stopped believing in Bitcoin and why he calls it “technically one of the worst cryptocurrencies”
how Eric’s views on Bitcoin changed over time
the problems they see with Bitcoin’s security
why Eric attacks BTC maximalism, even when he is a Bitcoiner
how the Bitcoin community will change in the next decades, and why the security problem is a challenge that could be solved
whether BTC should increase its inflation and whether that would break the store of value proposition
why Justin thinks that BTC fails as money and won’t play a relevant role in the future
what happened around the time of the blocksize debate back in 2015-2017
whether there’s something wrong with Bitcoin’s culture and why Eric compares it to a doomsday cult
why Ethereum has external dependencies that can impose systemic risks, according to Eric
whether proof of stake or proof of work is a better consensus mechanism
whether Ethereum is more censorship resistant than Bitcoin
why BTC is a speculative asset and what Justin believes is needed for crypto to finally flourish
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com
Ava Labs
a16z

Justin:
Twitter
Eric:
Twitter
Medium
Episode Links

Previous Coverage of Unchained:
Arthur Hayes, Former Ethereum Skeptic, on Why the Merge Makes Him Bullish on ETH
With the Merge, Will Ethereum Take Over Bitcoin’s Title as Digital Gold?

Bitcoin’s Security, Blocksize and Culture
Surprisingly, Tail Emission Is Not Inflationary by Peter Todd
Justin’s thread that kicked off the debate
A (brief and incomplete) history of censorship in /r/Bitcoin
Theory On Bitcoin Governance; Three Stage Model by Justin Bons

Centralization:
Ethereum Post-Merge Centralization
Lido’s validators
BTC Centralization

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1h 30min
September 16, 2022Did the Merge Make Ethereum 'the Most Secure Blockchain in the World'? - Ep. 397
Justin Drake, researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, talks about the Merge, how this transition affects Bitcoin, where Ethereum’s road map is going, and more.

Show highlights:
how Justin was feeling prior to and during the Merge
whether the upgrade is complete or there are other things to watch out for
why Ethereum has slashing and why it is a better form of removing any attackers
the concern about centralization due to liquid staking derivatives providers, like Lido or Coinbase
how the Merge affects MEV and the long-term vision of proposer-builder separation
whether the Merge puts pressure on BTC to also transition to proof of stake
what impact ETH’s more deflationary nature will have on BTC’s narrative as digital gold
why Ethereum is the settlement layer for the internet of value
whether there is a winner take all dynamic in the blockchain industry
why Ethereum is more secure than Bitcoin, according to Justin
what Justin thinks about the ETHPoW fork and its team and the risks of interacting with the ETHPoW fork
the next steps in Ethereum’s roadmap
Thank you to our sponsors!

1inch
Crypto.com
Messari
Justin
Twitter

Previous Coverage of Unchained on the Merge:
How Traders Are Thinking About the Merge -- and a Potential ETHPoW Chain
Arthur Hayes, Former Ethereum Skeptic, on Why the Merge Makes Him Bullish on ETH
With the Merge, Will Ethereum Take Over Bitcoin’s Title as Digital Gold?
Why Kevin Zhou Believes Ethereum Will Have 3 Forks After the Merge
Post-Merge, If Lido Becomes Dominant, What Does That Mean for Ethereum?
The Merge:
Vitalik announcement of the Merge
Ethereum carbon emission reductions
A guide on the Merge by Dan Chen from Sequoia Capital
ETH Post-Merge Dynamics:
Ultra sound money
ETH issuance and burn
Cumberland on the Ethereum dynamics after the merge
Miles Suter on the implications of the Merge
The triple point asset
Post Merge MEV:
PMCGoohan’s tweet
Pintail on post-Merge MEV
ETH Proof of Work
Poloniex announces a different token
ETHPoW team Mainnet announcement
Ethereum’s roadmap:
ETH Vision
Haym on Ethereum’s roadmap

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42min
September 14, 2022The Chopping Block: ETHPoW Is 'a Terrible Way to Fork the Blockchain' - Ep. 396
Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. In this episode, Emin Gün Sirer, the emperor of Avalanche, also joined the conversation

Show topics:

Gün’s take on the Ava Labs conspiracy story and whether there was any truth in the videos

The impact of the Merge on ETH issuance and energy usage

What’s going on with the ETHPoW fork, and how the team has been messing up

The TL;DR of the technical side of Ethereum scaling, explained by Tarun

How, in the beginning, proof of stake was designed to resemble proof of work

What Ethereum miners are going to do after the Merge

Whether increasing hash rates spike prices of PoW coins

How the Basic Attention Token is like the Stanford prison experiment

Whether the fights between Gün and other founders were positive or negative

How an exchange delisted every privacy coin

Whether Coinbase's support of the lawsuit against the US Treasury over Tornado Cash was a PR move

How this moment in history resembles the 90s and the rise of the internet

Whether there are blockchain-haters and what the crypto industry can do better

How there can’t be a single chain to meet every need

How FTX and Coinbase have different approaches to regulation

How would everyone celebrate a successful Merge and whether there’s a chance of it failing

Hosts
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures
Robert Leshner, founder of Compound

Guest
Emin Gün Sirer, Founder and CEO of Ava Labs

Episode Links

Ava Labs Accusations:

Emin Gün Sirer’s statement
CoinDesk article
Crypto Leaks article

Tornado Cash
Treasury Press release
Coinbase supports lawsuit against US Treasury

Huobi delisting privacy coins

Previous coverage of the Tornado Cash Sanctions on Unchained:
Is TRM Labs Blocking Addresses From DeFi Protocols? Ari Redbord Says No
Tornado Cash Sanctioned. Did the Government Overstep Its Bounds?

The Chopping Block: Did OFAC Overstep by Sanctioning Tornado Cash?

Given the Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Is Ethereum Censorship Resistant?

Preston Van Loon on Ethereum's Merge and His Lawsuit Against Treasury

ETH Proof of Work and Miners:

ChainID missing; the request from Coinbase

CoinDesk article
The ETHPoW team said the fork will be deployed within 24 hours of the Merge

ETHPoW team’s promise to abolish EIP-1559

ETHPoW first blocks
The Merge:

Ethereum Foundation Merge announcement.

Ethereum carbon emission reductions.
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58min
September 13, 2022How Traders Are Thinking About the Merge -- and a Potential ETHPoW Chain - Ep. 395
Kevin Zhou, co-founder of Galois Capital, and Evgeny Gaevoy, founder and CEO of Wintermute, discuss how to trade the Ethereum Proof of Work fork, what the market is telling about the Merge, and whether the Merge affects Bitcoin.

Show highlights:

what will happen at the time of the Merge according to Kevin and whether there’s uncertainty

when the ETH Proof of Work chain will emerge and how that affects trading opportunities

the mistakes of the ETHPoW team, like repealing EIP-1559

what percentage of ETH market cap ETHPoW will accrue

what the first few blocks of ETHPoW will be like

what the strategies are to earn the ETHPoW airdrop and what the on-chain activity looks like

whether there is an “up-only” monoculture in Ethereum

what stETH is, how it should be priced and what the futures market indicates

where the value of a chain comes from and the likelihood of ETHPoW failing catastrophically

how to protect from replay attacks

the price action of ETH after the Merge

how ETH becoming deflationary affects Bitcoin’s narrative as digital gold

how the ESG-friendly image of Proof of Stake could affect the narratives of ETH and BTC

Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com

Ava Labs

a16z

Kevin:

Twitter

Evgeny:

Twitter

Episode Links

Previous Coverage of Unchained on the Merge:

Preston Van Loon on Ethereum's Merge and His Lawsuit Against Treasury
Arthur Hayes, Former Ethereum Skeptic, on Why the Merge Makes Him Bullish on ETH

With the Merge, Will Ethereum Take Over Bitcoin’s Title as Digital Gold?

Why Kevin Zhou Believes Ethereum Will Have 3 Forks After the Merge

Post-Merge, If Lido Becomes Dominant, What Does That Mean for Ethereum?

ETH Proof of Work:

ChainID missing; and the request from Coinbase

Kevin’s analogy
CoinDesk article
ETHPow Token
Summary of Kevin’s thoughts

ETHPoW team’s promise to abolish EIP-1559

ETHPoW first blocks
Tether supports PoS
Circle (USDC) supports PoS
ETH Trade

Ether’s backwardation
Eth-Flexive by Arthur Hayes
Whether Ethereum’s Merge is priced in

Gauntlet’s view on the Merge
BTC correlation with stocks

ETH Post-Merge Dynamics:

Onchain Wizard post
Cumberland on the Ethereum dynamics after the merge

Miles Suter on the implications of the Merge

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1h 12min
September 09, 2022Preston Van Loon on Ethereum's Merge and His Lawsuit Against Treasury- Ep.394
Preston Van Loon, cofounder and Ethereum core developer at Prysmatic Labs, talks about the Merge, its impact on an environmental level, and why he is a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Treasury Department over Tornado Cash.

Show highlights:

what the Merge is on a technical level and what its impact will be

whether the proof of stake consensus mechanism makes the network more decentralized and secure

what happens if the Merge fails and whether there’s a contingency plan

why Preston founded Prysmatic Labs and how Prysm works

what the next steps are for Ethereum and what the community is working on

whether Preston thinks a proof of work Ethereum fork would succeed

when and how Ethereum’s high fees and scaling issues are going to be resolved

why Preston joined the lawsuit against the US Treasury over the Tornado Cash sanctions

how Preston would celebrate a successful Ethereum Merge

Thank you to our sponsors!

1inch

Crypto.com

Messari

Preston
Twitter

Episode Links

Previous Coverage of Unchained on the Merge:

Arthur Hayes, Former Ethereum Skeptic, on Why the Merge Makes Him Bullish on ETH

With the Merge, Will Ethereum Take Over Bitcoin’s Title as Digital Gold?

Why Kevin Zhou Believes Ethereum Will Have 3 Forks After the Merge

Post-Merge, If Lido Becomes Dominant, What Does That Mean for Ethereum?

Lawsuit against the US Treasury:

Coinbase is supporting a lawsuit against the Treasury Department by six users of Tornado Cash.

Fortune article on the lawsuit

Why Preston joined the lawsuit.

The Merge:

Ethereum Foundation Merge announcement.

Ethereum carbon emission reductions.
ETH Post-Merge Dynamics:

Cumberland on the Ethereum dynamics after the merge

Miles Suter on the implications of the Merge
The triple point asset

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40min

FAQs about Unchained:

How many episodes does Unchained have?

The podcast currently has 874 episodes available.