Unchained

By Laura ShinNews Business News Tech News

Unchained episodes

October 19, 2022The Chopping Block: Two on Two Debate: NFT Royalty Throwdown! - Ep. 409
Welcome to The Chopping Block! Host Haseeb Qureshi partnered with Zhuoxun Yin, cofounder of Magic Eden, to debate Unchained host Laura Shin and Li Jin, cofounder at Variant Fund, on the topic of NFT Royalties.

Show highlights:
What NFT royalties are
Why Laura believes zero NFT royalties is a bad business decision prioritizing short-term needs over long-term ones and that it will turn creators off from the industry
How charging royalties is not sustainable, according to Haseeb
Why royalties are the best mechanism to align incentives between creators and holders, according to Li
The technical limitations of NFT royalties on a general-purpose blockchain like Ethereum or Solana
How to align incentives between NFT creators and holders
Why the prices of NFTs would go up if royalties are not enforced
Whether the NFT market will change in the future
Whether it is possible to create a standard that enforces royalties in a smart contract
The creators’ reaction to Magic Eden moving to optional royalties
The possibility of a bifurcation of the NFT market
Hosts
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly

Guests
Laura Shin, author, and host of Unchained
Zhuoxun Yin, cofounder of Magic Eden
Li Jin, cofounder of Variant

Episode Links
Magic Eden Optional Royalties - Unchained Coverage
Post-debate poll
Tool Metashield
The standards innovation paradox by Li Jin
X2y2 flexible royalties
Previous episodes of The Chopping Block debating NFT Royalties
The Chopping Block - Ep. 405
The Chopping Block - Ep. 386
Article: Why NFT Creators and Collectors Can’t Stop Talking About Artist Royalties
Article: NFT Royalties: Why artists love them, and traders don’t

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1 hr 24 min
October 18, 2022Do Kwon of Terra: 'It Was Never Really About Money or Fame or Success' - Ep. 408
Do Kwon, cofounder of Terraform Labs, discusses the charges against him, gives a message to Terra victims, answers allegations about potential fraud and non-transparent business practices, and much more.

Show highlights:
whether Do finds the charges based on the Capital Markets Act legitimate
why he doesn’t want to discuss his location
whether the South Korean government is lying about the accusations against him
what happened with the BTC held by the Luna Foundation Guard
whether Do regrets being so arrogant in his tweets
what he would say to the people who lost huge amounts of money in Terra or family members of people who committed suicide due to its collapse
the decision to set Anchor’s yield near 20%
why Terra had a large SDT pre-mine that was not proactively disclosed
whether Do’s actions show he didn’t think that the algorithmic mechanism was sufficient to keep UST pegged to the dollar
whether Terraform Labs cashed out $2.7 billion using Degenbox
why there were no disclosures about Chai terminating its agreement with Terra
why the Terra blockchain went through a hard fork without a public discussion
the failure of the basis cash stablecoin, also worked on by Do Kwon
whether an algorithmic stablecoin can work
the week of the UST depeg and what happened to the funds held by LFG
where the 3 million Luna unlocked per month by Project Dawn went
when the LFG will return funds to UST holders
what Do would do differently if he had the chance to go back
* Quick correction*
At 7min 18sec, I misspoke, the Korean government posted a pdf for Do Kwon’s passport revocation, not his arrest warrant.

Thank you to our sponsors!
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Episode Links
Do Kwon:
Twitter

Previous Coverage of Unchained on Do Kwon and Terra:
How Will the Legal Case Against Do Kwon Play Out in South Korea?
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
Devastating Stories
One man commits suicide
Fat Man Terra’s thread with several stories
SDT pre-mine
CoinDesk Korea article
Anchor yield
JTBC article reporting core devs wanted a lower yield

Chai
WSJ article
Do’s tweets about Chai:
2.5 million users
Tweet in May 2021
Tweet in May 2021 #2
Tweet in January 2021
Abracadabra Degenbox
$2.7 billion cash out
TFL Exit Liquidity dashboard on Dune
Project Dawn
Launch
The Defiant article
Basis Cash
CoinDesk article
Luna Foundation Guard
Ergo-BTC on-chain evidence of more than 313 BTC
Dumps BTC
LFG postpones compensation
Allegations against Do Kwon
SBS news reporting Do moved funds to the Virgin Islands.
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
Red Notice
“Not on the run”
Kwon’s Passport
SEC Actions Against Terra
SEC Investigating UST Stablecoin Blowup in Fresh Threat to Terra
Terraform Labs Loses US Appeal over SEC Subpoena

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1 hr 29 min
October 14, 2022Why the SEC Is Probing Yuga Labs and Coin Center �Is Suing Treasury - Ep. 407
Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Coin Center, comes to talk about the SEC probe into Yuga Labs, how to determine whether something is a security, and Coin Center’s lawsuit against the US Treasury over the sanctions on Tornado Cash.

Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Coin Center, comes to talk about the SEC probe into Yuga Labs, how to determine whether something is a security, and Coin Center’s lawsuit against the US Treasury over the sanctions on Tornado Cash.

Show highlights:
whether there’s an over-reliance on the Howey Test and how a token being non-fungible doesn’t mean it’s not a security
what constitutes an investment contract and how it works in the Metaverse
the consequences for NFT holders and issuers if the NFTs are considered securities
why Coin Center is suing the US Treasury over the Tornado Cash sanctions
Who the plaintiffs are
whether this lawsuit differs from the one Coinbase is supporting
how to solve the issue of bad actors like North Korea using tools such as Tornado Cash to launder money
the remedy Coin Center is looking for in the lawsuit against the Treasury
how long the lawsuit could take to be resolved
Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com

Peter
Twitter

SEC probe into Yuga Labs
Unchained article
CrypTones thread on land sales
Coin Center lawsuit over Tornado Cash sanctions
Coin Center lawsuit and statement
Unchained article
Coinbase Backs Tornado Cash Lawsuit Against U.S. Treasury
North Korean hacks
Treasury Press release on the sanctions
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

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40 min
October 11, 2022Zaki Manian and Jack Zampolin on Why ATOM Is 'Dogecoin for Academics' - Ep. 406
Zaki Manian, cofounder of Sommelier Protocol and cofounder of Iqlusion and Jack Zampolin, founder of Strangelove Ventures, discuss everything about Cosmos, the new white paper, and how to improve MEV capture for ATOM holders.
Show highlights:
how Jack and Zaki got involved with crypto and Cosmos
what the Sommelier protocol is, the role of Iqlusion, and what Strange Love does
the basics of Cosmos and application-specific blockchains (ASB)
why would a project choose to be an ASB rather than an application on a blockchain
whether Cosmos can achieve network effects
the reasons behind launching a new white paper for Cosmos
why the team decided to pursue interchain security
whether there would be an increase in fees with so many chains relying on the Cosmos Hub for security
how much economic value the Cosmos Hub will end up securing if the proposal gets passed
how the Cosmos Treasury could be used to fund development
the role of the Interchain Scheduler to capture MEV
whether centralized exchanges are going to start trading against the customers
the new issuance model proposed for ATOM
the role of an active governance community to make Cosmos more decentralized
what problems Liquid staking solves
how USDC will launch on a consumer chain
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Chainalysis
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Jack:
Twitter
Zaki:
Twitter

Episode Links

Previous Coverage of Unchained on Cosmos:
How Osmosis Is Trying to Improve the Crypto User Experience

New white paper
Document
Proposal
Interchain security
Paper
The Block article
The DeFi investor thread
ATOM 2.0
Thread by Route 2 DeFi
Youseff Amrain’s thread
Charlie Morris’ thread
Other articles
Vaneck’s article: Why we are bullish on Atom
Alex Valaitis article: A deep dive into Cosmos
Liquid Staking
Native USDC on Cosmos

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1 hr
October 08, 2022The Chopping Block: Was This Gary Gensler's Most Liked Tweet? - Ep. 405
Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra were joined by Laura Shin to chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry.

Show topics:
Whether crypto optimism is different in Asia than in the United States
How Sam Bankman-Fried has been doing some work with US regulators
How the CFTC lawsuit against Ooki DAO changed people’s perspectives about the regulator
Whether the lawsuit could make all DeFi illegal and the role of DAOs to coordinate governance
The SEC settlement with Kim Kardashian for $1.26 million, Gensler’s video explaining the case and whether it was a publicity stunt
Why Tarun would fire almost everyone at the CFTC and the SEC to hire more technical people
How the NFT QQL collection censored a marketplace in its code
What the whole purpose of NFTs is, according to Haseeb
The debate around NFT royalties and their enforcement
How a huge portion of the blocks in Ethereum are generated by Flashbots and whether it represents a centralizing force
Whether MEV should be stopped or accelerated
Hosts
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital
Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures
Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly Capital
Guest
Laura Shin, author, and host of Unchained

Episode Links

The lawsuit against Ooki DAO
Previous Coverage of Unchained on Ooki DAO:
Why the Ooki DAO Case Could Hurt Participation in DAOs
Kristin Smith on Why Crypto Legislation Could Be Passed by Year’s End
CFTC Filing
$250,000 fine
Nik’s article
CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger’s dissenting statement
CFTC serving the members of the Ooki DAO via their forum
Tim Copeland’s article on what’s next for DAOs
A federal court ruled that the CFTC legally served Ooki DAO through a website help bot.
The LeXpunK Army filed a motion for amicus status in the SEC case against bZx/Ooki DAO.
Crypto group DeFi Education Fund argued that the CFTC should properly serve Ooki DAO’s actual members, not just the DAO at large.
NFT Royalties
Tyler Hobbs’ QQL $17 million collection
QQL blacklist explanation
NFT platform hits back
Previous episode of The Chopping Block debating NFT Royalties
Article: Why NFT Creators and Collectors Can’t Stop Talking About Artist Royalties
Article: NFT Royalties: Why artists love them, and traders don’t
SEC charges against Kim Kardashian
The SEC fined reality TV star Kim Kardashian $1.26 million for promoting a crypto security without proper disclosure.
Fortune article on the Kim Kardashian settlement as publicity stunt
eMax price spiked
Gary Gensler’s video
Flashbots and MEV
Post-merge relay drama
What is MEV
Proposer-Builder separation:
MEV Boost
Flashbots auctions
Previous Coverage of Unchained on MEV: Why Is Ethereum Trying to Maximize Value From Users?

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1 hr 16 min
October 07, 2022Kristin Smith on Why Crypto Legislation Could Be Passed by Year's End - Ep. 404
Kristin Smith, Executive Director of the Blockchain Association, comes to talk about Tornado Cash, the lawsuit against Ooki DAO, the SEC charges against Kim Kardashian, and crypto legislation.

Show highlights:
whether regulators did not understand the implications of sanctioning smart contracts
the necessity of having a conversation around financial privacy
whether the government wants sanctions compliance at the base layer
the reasons behind the CFTC lawsuit against Ooki DAO
why the SEC settled charges with Kim Kardashian and whether it was a publicity stunt
the chances of the different crypto bills becoming law
why Kristin thinks stablecoin legislation won’t come this year
whether the CFTC being the main regulator of crypto settles the question of crypto being securities or commodities
Thank you to our sponsors!

1inch
Crypto.com

Kristin
Twitter

The lawsuit against Ooki DAO
Previous coverage of Unchained on Ooki DAO: Why the Ooki DAO Case Could Hurt Participation in DAOs
CFTC Filing
$250,000 fine
CoinDesk’s Nik De’s analysis
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
A federal court ruled that the CFTC legally served Ooki DAO through a website help bot.
The LeXpunK Army filed a motion for amicus status in the SEC case against bZx/Ooki DAO.
Crypto group DeFi Education Fund argued that the CFTC should properly serve Ooki DAO’s actual members, not just the DAO at large.
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
Legislation
Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022
Europe’s MiCa bill
Previous coverage of Unchained on legislation:
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
SEC charges against Kim Kardashian
The SEC fined reality TV star Kim Kardashian $1.26 million for promoting a crypto security without proper disclosure.
Fortune article: The SEC’s Kardashian fine was a dumb publicity stunt
Stablecoins
Stablecoin Draft Bill
Bloomberg article: Senator Pat Toomey Still Sees Chance of Stablecoin Legislation This Year

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37 min
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!
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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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1 hr 2 min
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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38 min
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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1 hr 5 min
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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1 hr 1 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…

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