Unconfirmed

In this conversation, conducted at the Oslo Freedom Forum, Vera Xavier, LocalBitcoins' Community Manager and Elena Tonoyan, Chief Customer Success Officer, describe what the Helsinki-based company does, how it got started, how its escrow system works and why the company typically keeps a low profile. We also cover who their typical users are (hint: it's a broad swath), how usage differs across geographically and types of economies, and how LocalBitcoins can be used in countries with authoritarian regimes. We also cover some regulatory issues such as why it had to stop service in Iran recently.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

LocalBitcoins: https://localbitcoins.com

LocalBitcoins bans trading in Iran: https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce

FinCen guidance indicating LocalBitcoins sellers in the US are money transmitters: https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/2019-05/FinCEN%20Guidance%20CVC%20FINAL%20508.pdf

Removal of Local Cash Ads: https://twitter.com/LocalBitcoins/status/1135872083962081281

At Ethereal, I spoke with Austin Griffiths, director of research at Gitcoin and founder of Burner Wallet, and Arjun Bhuptani, cofounder of Connext Network, about how they think about getting everyday usage. In this discussion, Austin talked about how he started Burner Wallet and how he did user testing at bars, and Arjun described Connext, how people are using it now. Plus, they both explain why they're using Dai, how they can compete when a company like Facebook has 2 billion users, and how the uncertain regulatory atmosphere in the US affects the way they work.

Omega Institute crypto workshop retreat: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Austin Griffith: https://twitter.com/austingriffith

Burner Wallet: https://xdai.io

Arjun Bhuptani: https://twitter.com/arjun_bhuptani?lang=en

Connext Network: http://connext.network

Video from Ethereal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkOI7166fmI

Hester Peirce speech: https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/peirce-how-we-howey-050919

How Polychain is faring during the crypto winter, where we are in the tech cycle, whether he thinks Ethereum 2.0 will deliver and how he views the competition in the smart contract space. We discuss the upcoming Facebook coin, what that might look like, and how his portfolio projects could compete against a token issued by a large company. We cover how regulatory uncertainty is affecting the development of crypto projects, what he thinks of the fact that some trends in the DeFi movement seem to mimic the risks leading up to the financial contract, why he's so excited about MakerDAO, what he makes of its difficulties keeping its USD peg, and why Tether hasn't lost its dollar peg despite being only 74% backed. Plus, we talked about how decentralized autonomous corporations could someday come into being, and what he thinks of on-chain governance systems today.

Join us at the Oslo Freedom Forum!

On May 27th I will be hosting a conversation about the future of finance and human rights at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway. As the world continues to move toward a cashless society, paper currency is disappearing. Companies like Facebook, Apple, and TenCent are becoming increasingly influential in the digital payment space. We'll discuss how individuals and companies can preserve and protect financial freedoms in the digital age. I'll be joined by Bitcoin author and educator Jimmy Song; Casa chief technology officer Alena Vranova; and CoinCenter founder Jerry Brito. To register to attend, you can visit oslofreedomforum.com today -- use a discount code “unconfirmed25” to get 25% off your ticket price!

Join us at Omega Institute in New York in September!

Sign up for our crypto weekend retreat today! https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Watch the full video on CoinDesk ("To the Moon and Back" under Main Stage): https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2019/videos

Polychain: https://polychain.capital

WSJ article on Olaf: https://www.wsj.com/articles/olaf-carlson-wee-rode-the-bitcoin-boom-to-silicon-valley-riches-can-he-survive-the-crash-1536681364

WSJ on Polychain's assets dropping: https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-fund-polychains-assets-drop-40-from-1-billion-mark-11554843471?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=3

Facebook coin: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/technology/cryptocurrency-facebook-telegram.html?searchResultPosition=9

Tether only 74% backed: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-lawyer-confirms-stablecoin-74-percent-backed-by-cash-and-equivalents

MakerDAO stability fee at 20%: https://www.coindesk.com/dai-stablecoins-stability-fee-nears-20-after-latest-makerdao-vote

Aragon vote being swung at the last moment: https://www.evanvanness.com/post/184616403861/aragon-vote-shows-the-perils-of-onchain-governance

Phil Chen, decentralized chief officer of HTC, discusses the upcoming model of the Exodus, why it will feature a full Bitcoin node, what's in it for the user, whether or not it will affect the performance of other apps on the phone and whether HTC would ever add mining capabilities for the phone. We cover how the phone also functions as a hardware wallet, how private keys are kept safe, and how they are recovered if the user loses their phone. Plus, he describes who the ideal user is and how having so many crypto features built into the phone could change how people interact with their devices.

On May 27th I will be hosting a conversation about the future of finance and human rights at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway. As the world continues to move toward a cashless society, paper currency is disappearing. Companies like Facebook, Apple, and TenCent are becoming increasingly influential in the digital payment space. We'll discuss how individuals and companies can preserve and protect financial freedoms in the digital age. I'll be joined by Bitcoin author and educator Jimmy Song; Casa chief technology officer Alena Vranova; CoinCenter founder Jerry Brito; and Bitfury Group vice chairman George Kikvadze. To register to attend, visit oslofreedomforum.com today -- use a discount code "unconfirmed25” to get 25% off your ticket price!

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

HTC: https://www.htc.com/us/

The Exodus: http://www.htcexodus.com and https://twitter.com/htcexodus

Phil Chen: https://twitter.com/philchen913

HTC Exodus to feature full Bitcoin node: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2019/05/11/htc-integrates-full-bitcoin-node-into-surprise-smartphone-for-the-masses/#430979983ec4

Phil's announcement at Magical Crypto Conference: https://www.coindesk.com/htc-says-its-next-smartphone-will-run-a-full-bitcoin-node

Bitcoin Magazine story: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/htc-launch-exodus-1s-smartphone-full-node-capacity/

Crypto swaps via Kyber on Exodus: https://www.coindesk.com/htc-has-added-in-wallet-crypto-swaps-to-its-exodus-phone

Tushar Jain of Multicoin Capital discusses how hackers likely obtained $40 million worth of Bitcoin in a hack on Binance, how the leading crypto exchange could have incentivized miners to reorganize the blocks, and what the possibility says about the game theory of Bitcoin. We talk about why Binance ultimately decided against trying to go this route, and whether or not exchanges should, in the future, try to use reorgs immediately after exchange hacks in order to both undo the hack as well as deter future hackers. Plus, we discuss how this idea would have differed from the Ethereum hard fork after the DAO and whether or not this suggests that fast finality is preferable to probabilistic finality.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Tushar Jain: https://twitter.com/tusharjain_?lang=en

Multicoin Capital: https://multicoin.capital

Binance's announcement about the hack: https://binance.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028031711

Bitcoin core contributor Jeremy Rubin's suggestion to attempt the reorg: https://twitter.com/JeremyRubin/status/1125919526485254144

CZ's Periscope AMA after the hack: https://twitter.com/binance/status/1125959459782553600

CZ's decision not to do the reorg: https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1125996194734399488

CZ tweeting about the controversy that resulted: https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1126088279261007875?s=20

Jeremy's statement after the controversy over his suggestion of a reorg: https://twitter.com/JeremyRubin/status/1126391126619971585?s=20

Robert-Jan Den Haan, a contributor to the Block who has been researching the Bitfinex/Tether situation for over a year, talks about how Bitfinex found itself without access to $850 million of its own money, how the trouble crypto companies have maintaining banking relationships played into that, and the company — or, rather, group of related companies — that is the source of its woes. We also cover where at least a portion of the money is now, and why it likely won't be made available soon, how a case involving Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef is related, and why Bitfinex will likely be conducting an initial exchange offering of $1 billion. Plus, we discuss why the price of Tether has barely budged despite being only 74% backed.

Crypto workshop at Omega Institute!

https://www.eomega.org/workshops/virtues-of-the-crypto-revolution

Thank you to our sponsors!

CoinDesk: Since 2015, Consensus has been recognized as the most influential blockchain and digital assets event of the year. Hot-button topics such as adoption challenges, privacy,blockchain innovation, capital formation and more take centerstage as experts and pioneers give voice to the new developments and innovations occurring around the globe. Don’t miss this three-day experience! Register today: www.consensus2019.com. Use promo: UNCHAINED300 to save $300 on your pass.

CipherTrace:  https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Original story about NYAG court order against iFinex: https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-ny-prosecutors-tether-850-million-allege

Why at least part of the $850 million was seized (paywall):

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/04/30/no-bitfinexs-seized-850-million-is-not-likely-to-be-unfrozen-within-weeks/

Original indictment revealing involvement of Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/05/01/indictment-reveals-new-clues-to-the-crypto-capital-situation/

Tether backed by 74% cash and cash equivalents:

https://www.coindesk.com/tether-lawyer-confirms-stablecoin-74-percent-backed-by-cash-and-equivalents

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/04/30/bitfinex-reveals-stablecoin-is-only-74-backed-by-cash-says-its-simultaneously-addressing-requests-from-nyag-doj-and-cftc/

Bitfinex and Tether General Counsel Stuart Hoegner's statement to the NY Supreme Court regarding the OAG's preliminary injunction:

https://www.scribd.com/document/408190972/Stuart-Hoegner-Affidavit-4-30#from_embed

Indictment from Southern District of New York against Reginald Fowler and Ravid . Yosef: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1158991/download

Reginald Fowler's Master US Workbook and $345 million sitting in banks:

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/05/02/us-government-requests-detention-for-defendant-at-center-of-bitfinex-imbroglio-describes-master-us-workbook/

https://www.coindesk.com/u-s-doj-moves-to-detain-defendant-in-crypto-shadow-banking-case

Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef charged with providing shadow banking services to cryptocurrency exchanges:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/arizona-man-and-israeli-woman-charged-connection-providing-shadow-banking-services

Bitfinex's IEO: https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-is-planning-to-issue-an-exchange-token-shareholder-says

Already $500 million subscribed:

https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-shareholder-provides-more-details-about-potential-1-billion-token-sale

Meltem Demirors and Jill Carlson discussing Tether on What Grinds My Gears: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-18-tarred-and-tethered/id1450518746?i=1000436884557

Absolutely hilarious satire on the whole saga: https://coinjazeera.news/federal-reserve-conspiracy-and-phil-potters-tether-scam/

At the Subzero conference in Berlin, Ashley Tyson, the cofounder of the Web 3 Foundation, talks about how it plans to support the Polkadot protocol, plus bring together protocols to create a decentralized web, including other projects outside the Polkadot network. We discuss how the recent disaffection with Facebook and other social media platforms is affecting the movement toward decentralization, how they plan to get mainstream adoption of decentralized apps and whether or not enough people care about privacy to grow that movement.

Thank you to our sponsors!

CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

CoinDesk: Since 2015, Consensus has been recognized as the most influential blockchain and digital assets event of the year. Hot-button topics such as adoption challenges, privacy,blockchain innovation, capital formation and more take centerstage as experts and pioneers give voice to the new developments and innovations occurring around the globe. Don't miss this three-day experience! Register today: www.consensus2019.com. Use promo: UNCHAINED300 to save $300 on your pass.

Episode links:

Web3 Foundation: https://web3.foundation

Ashley Tyson: https://twitter.com/AsherT

Facebook fine: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/technology/facebook-ftc-fine-privacy.html?module=inline

Sri Lankan government shutting down all social media: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/world/asia/sri-lanka-social-media.html?searchResultPosition=1

Zachary Fallon, a former SEC staffer and author of the Reg A JOBS Act crowdfunding rules and a principal at Blakemore Fallon, discusses Blockstack's filing for a token offering under Reg A+, what that means for the security status of the tokens and what types of investors the company can raise from. We also talk about several of the particulars of the Blockstack filing, such as the time-lock on the tokens, the ability to raise money in bitcoin and ether, and the cap on the dollar amount of tokens any single investor can purchase. Zach also covers how much they must have worked with the SEC until this point, how long it might take the SEC to offer a response and what the filing means for token offerings going forward.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode Links

Zach Fallon: https://twitter.com/ZacharyFallon  

Blakemore Fallon: https://blakemorefallon.com

Blockstack: https://blockstack.org

Stackstoken: https://www.stackstoken.com

App mining for Stacks: https://app.co/mining

Blockstack's Reg A+ filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1719379/000110465919020748/a18-15736_1partiiandiii.htm

Wired story on the filing: https://www.wired.com/story/startup-sell-you-crypto-tokens-with-sec-backing/

Sam McIngvale, head of product for Coinbase Custody, describes its new staking service. He explains how Coinbase Custody plans to allow its customers to participate in crypto networks while keeping those funds offline, what Coinbase had to build from an engineering and product perspective in order to keep funds secure and how insurance works for these assets. We also discuss its plans to enable its customers to participate in governance, whether or not Coinbase.com will move in the same direction, which other blockchains it may offer staking services for.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

Coinbase blog post about staking with Coinbase Custody: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-custody-launches-staking-support-for-tezos-makerdao-governance-to-follow-68f7bc51bc53

Sam McIngvale: https://twitter.com/sammcingvale?lang=en

WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coinbases-new-customer-incentive-interest-payments-with-a-crypto-twist-11553855400

Fortune article: http://fortune.com/2019/03/29/coinbase-crypto-dividend-staking/

CoinDesk article: https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-leads-wall-street-to-brave-new-world-of-crypto-staking

Marco Santori, the president and chief legal officer of Blockchain, discusses this week's big regulatory news — the SEC's guidance on initial coin offerings and its first no-action letter. We talk about what guidance actually means and how much weight it has in court, how much clarity this guidance actually brought, and how the framework could affect also future attempts at future fundraising/token distribution events and airdrops. We also cover the no-action letter and the ways in which the token of TurnKey Jet, which received the no-action letter, is quite different from most other crypto-tokens and how helpful that example is for crypto projects.

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

SEC guidance: https://www.sec.gov/files/dlt-framework.pdf

No-action letter: https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2019/turnkey-jet-040219-2a1.htm

Marco Santori: https://twitter.com/msantoriesq

Marco's tweet storm on the guidance and no-action letter: https://twitter.com/msantoriESQ/status/1113458502264074246

Coin Center's analysis: https://coincenter.org/entry/coin-center-analysis-of-sec-cryptocurrency-guidance

Jake Chervinksy tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1113672285595086848

Skeptic Preston Byrne tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/prestonjbyrne/status/1113463999591518209

Meltem Demirors tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/melt_dem/status/1113457795792293889

Katherine Wu tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/katherineykwu/status/1113452950041649157

Gabriel Shapiro tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/lex_node/status/1113461396593713152

SAFT white paper: http://saftproject.com/#saft-whitepaper

Article on SAFT white paper: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/10/02/are-icos-for-utility-tokens-selling-securities-prominent-crypto-players-say-yes/

More on the no-action letter: https://www.coindesk.com/sec-issues-first-ever-no-action-letter-clearing-ico-to-sell-tokens-under-us-law

https://www.coindesk.com/secs-first-crypto-no-action-letter-took-11-months-to-secure

Letter from TurnKey Jet prompting the no-action letter: https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2019/turnkey-jet-040219-2a1-incoming.pdf

Unchained episode with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce: https://unchainedpodcast.com/sec-commissioner-hester-peirce-come-talk-to-the-sec/