Unconfirmed

Jackson Palmer, the creator of Dogecoin and the website Are We Decentralized Yet, explains why he thinks the markets suddenly took a nosedive, why it's hard for him to get data on these crypto assets for the Are We Decentralized Yet website -- unless there's a centralized company behind them -- and how Ripple and Initiative Q are somewhat similar. We also covered the perpetual question of how much of Ripple's social media support is real vs. bots, what "fair distribution" of coins means, why mining isn't for "anybody" but for the privileged, and whether or not proof of stake coins could be secure or whether they'll also be susceptible to centralization.

Thank you to our advertisers!

CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

WeTrust: https://wetrust.io/unconfirmed 

Episode links:

Jackson Palmer: https://twitter.com/ummjackson

Jackson Palmer's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/JacksonPalmer

Jackson Palmer's website: https://ummjackson.com

Dogecoin: https://dogecoin.com

Are We Decentralized Yet: https://arewedecentralizedyet.com

In lieu of a regular episode during this (U.S.) holiday, I'm releasing the audio from my TEDx San Francisco Talk.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Abra: Click this special link for a free $25 in Bitcoin! https://www.abra.com/unconfirmed

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

Links:

TEDx San Francisco: https://www.tedxsanfrancisco.com

Video of the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Ew7PW4LCo

My Unconfirmed episode with Bill Tai: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/how-crypto-will-give-you-more-flexibility-in-your-work-ep033

Bitcoin Magazine technical editor Aaron Van Wirdum breaks down what is going on with the Bitcoin Cash contentious hard fork: who is fighting, over what, and how this could play out, including the nuclear option of a proof of work algorithm change. We discuss whether the battle could deliver a verdict on the question of whether hash power follows price or vice versa, what this says about the strength of proof of work as an algorithm over proof of stake, and what Bitcoin Cash holders should do.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Abra: Click this special link for a free $25 in Bitcoin! https://www.abra.com/unconfirmed

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

Episode links:

Aaron Van Wirdum: https://twitter.com/AaronvanW

Aaron's article on the Bitcoin Cash contentious hard fork: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/when-fork-forks-what-you-need-know-bitcoin-cash-goes-war/

Jordan Clifford of Scalar Capital explains the split: https://medium.com/@jcliff/bitcoin-cashs-november-2018-fork-804596268771

Where you can watch the battle between Bitcoin ABC and SV: https://cash.coin.dance

Tweet storm on Bitcoin Cash hard fork by Emin Gun Sirer: https://twitter.com/el33th4xor/status/1063074170739744768

Gun's tweet about the security of proof of work vs. proof of stake: https://twitter.com/el33th4xor/status/1062963517530103808

Emin Gun Sirer, Cornell professor, co-director at the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts (IC3) and the founder of Ava, talks about the settlement the SEC reached with the founder of EtherDelta, and what that could mean for the coders of decentralized systems.  He also puts this action in the context of the history of peer-to-peer sharing and how the government used to prohibit encryption. We also discuss his main takeaway from DevCon4 last week -- hint, maximalism is probably not the future -- and he explains a new consensus algorithm called Avalanche, and how that differs from previous ways to achieve consensus. Then, he gives us a sneak preview of a new coin he is launching, Ava.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Abra: Click this special link for a free $25 in Bitcoin! https://www.abra.com/unconfirmed

Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com

Episode links:

Emin Gun Sirer: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/egs/

IC3: https://www.initc3.org

SEC/EtherDelta settlement press release: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-258

SEC order: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2018/34-84553.pdf

CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz's speech discussing how they would prosecute illegal prediction markets and how coders could be liable: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opaquintenz16

Unchained episode discussing whether coders would be liable: http://unchainedpodcast.co/reflections-on-the-10-year-anniversary-of-the-bitcoin-white-paper-ep90

DevCon4: https://devcon4.ethereum.org

Avalanche white paper: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmUy4jh5mGNZvLkjies1RWM4YuvJh5o2FYopNPVYwrRVGV

Ava: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2629017553989259&id=1801780960046260

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the publication of the Bitcoin white paper, Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, asks how Bitcoin can go from a speculative asset to real money (hint: the Lightning Network plays a role) and explains what he thinks is the significance of Fidelity getting into crypto and Bakkt launching. He also tells the story of how Poker Black Friday, when the government shut down online poker sites, demonstrates the need for Bitcoin, which leads us to discuss whether or not Bitcoin is mostly good for criminal activities. We explore how Satoshi leaving Bitcoin has influenced its trajectory, and, looking to the next 10 years, Charlie wonders whether we'll find, via its market cap, that Bitcoin truly is a better store of value than gold -- plus, he gives us his vision for Litecoin.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Abra: Click this special link for a free $25 in Bitcoin! https://www.abra.com/unconfirmed

Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com

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

Episode links:

Charlie Lee: https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite

Litecoin: https://litecoin.org

Bitcoin white paper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Lightning Network: https://lightning.network

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

Fidelity Digital Asset Services president Tom Jessop explains why its new crypto offering for institutional clients is focused on custody and trade execution, why it's decided not to launch its own exchange, and what kinds of trading capabilities from traditional financial services they plan to build out in the space. He also describes Fidelity's journey to this point -- how it started mining Bitcoin in 2015, had employees buy what must now be some of the world's most expensive bagels in the company cafeteria, and enabled Bitcoin donations in its donor advised funds. He also answers whether or not they plan to create a digital asset offering for retail customers, how custodying digital assets is different from custodying traditional assets and how he came to Fidelity after experience at Goldman Sachs and Chain.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Onramp: http://www.thinkonramp.com

Blockdaemon: http://blockdaemon.com/unchained/

Episode links:

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

Fidelity's journey in crypto: https://medium.com/@FidelityDigitalAssets/fidelity-digital-assets-the-journey-from-idea-to-market-3ab3bf4b38d5

Custody of digital assets: https://medium.com/@FidelityDigitalAssets/custody-in-the-age-of-digital-assets-95799f347016

Endowments investing in crypto: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/harvard-stanford-mit-endowments-invest-in-crypto-funds

Dan McArdle, cofounder of Messari and the creator of OnChainFX, discusses why tether lost its dollar peg, how the Gemini USD traded at above $1, and how this was similar to the time before Mt. Gox imploded. We also discuss the significance of the Fidelity news, plus McArdle's thesis on how Bitcoin would behave in a recession -- which isn't the conventional wisdom.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Blockdaemon: http://blockdaemon.com/unchained/

OnRamp: http://www.thinkonramp.com

Episode links:

Dan McArdle: https://twitter.com/robustus

Messari: https://messari.io

OnChainFX: https://onchainfx.com

Tether falls in price: https://www.coindesk.com/price-of-tether-stablecoin-tanks-to-18-month-low/

Gemini trades as high as $1.09: https://www.coindesk.com/gemini-stablecoin-volume-doubles-top-10-exchange-bibox-tether-turmoil/

Bitfinex's banking situation: https://theblockcrypto.com/2018/10/16/tether-has-found-a-new-bank-in-the-caribbean/

https://theblockcrypto.com/2018/10/16/bitfinex-appears-to-have-moved-its-business-to-a-hong-kong-bank/

Unchained episode in which I answer listener questions: http://unchainedpodcast.co/listener-mail-laura-answers-your-questions-on-the-markets-velocity-privacy-and-more-ep88

Fidelity's news: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2018/10/15/fidelity-launches-institutional-platform-for-bitcoin-and-ethereum/

Dan's thoughts on how Bitcoin could behave in a recession: https://twitter.com/robustus/status/1010240675189805063

Soona Amhaz of Token Daily talks about how we've misused the word decentralization and stretched it to the point of meaninglessness. She discusses how certain companies misrepresent being decentralized and walks us through some misleading graphs put out by Ripple and EOS. She also explains why, when a good metric becomes a target, people will then game it, and why we should be open to projects becoming decentralized over time.

We also talk about tribalism, and why it's bad in only some instances -- like for investors -- but good for other groups of people in the crypto space. Plus, we dish about Nouriel Roubini's and Peter Van Valkenburgh's testimony to the Senate on cryptocurrencies.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Blockdaemon: http://blockdaemon.com/unchained/

Interested in sponsoring Unchained or Unconfirmed? Contact Raelene at [email protected].

Episode links:

Soona Amhaz: https://twitter.com/soonaorlater

Token Daily: https://www.tokendaily.co

Crypto Springs: http://www.cryptosprings.org

Unchained episode on Ripple: http://unchainedpodcast.co/ripples-xrp-why-its-chances-of-success-are-low-ep58

Singularity episode with Galia Benartzi of Bancor: http://unchainedpodcast.co/singularity-university-global-summit-how-do-we-get-consumer-adoption-ep83

The bug in the Bitcoin software: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qvakp3/a-major-bug-in-bitcoin-software-could-have-crashed-the-currency

The Senate hearings on crypto featuring NYU economist Nouriel Roubini and Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFc0Um6WUU4

Sample of Roubini's tweets: https://twitter.com/Nouriel/status/1050425363413827584

Bill Barhydt, founder and CEO of Abra, describes its new product, the BIT10, which it created in partnership with Bitwise Asset Management (full disclosure: Bitwise previously sponsored my podcasts). He outlines the way the token is similar to an ETF -- for instance, it rebalances monthly -- and the ways in which it differs. We also compare and contrast it to similar offerings announced by Coinbase and Circle. Bill also explains Abra's overall strategy and recent pivot, why it is built on Bitcoin and its future plans.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Blockdaemon: http://blockdaemon.com/unchained/

If you're interested in sponsoring Unchained or Unconfirmed, reach out to Raelene at [email protected].

Episode links:

Abra: https://www.abra.com/

Bill Barhydt: https://twitter.com/billbarhydt

BIT10: https://www.abra.com/index/bit10/

Bitwise: https://www.bitwiseinvestments.com

Singularity episode: http://unchainedpodcast.co/singularity-university-global-summit-how-do-we-get-consumer-adoption-ep83

Rune Christensen, founder and CEO of MakerDao, explains what Andreessen Horowitz's $15 million investment in its Maker token means for the ecosystem and why they chose to work with a16z and its general partner Kathryn Haun. He also responds to criticism that the process took place behind closed doors despite the fact that MakerDao has a notably open, transparent system otherwise, and concerns about the seeming discount of 40% that the a16z team got. He also talks about whether or not MakerDao could amass too much power in the Ethereum ecosystem, thereby centralizing power around the Dai stablecoin.

If you're interested in sponsoring Unchained or Unconfirmed, reach out to Raelene at [email protected]!

Episode links:

Rune Christensen: https://twitter.com/runekek

MakerDao: https://makerdao.com

Announcement about investment from a16z: https://medium.com/makerdao/a16z-crypto-purchases-6-of-mkr-backing-stablecoin-vanguard-makerdao-ff410a692393

Rune's comments about why MakerDao wants to work with a16z and Kathryn Haun: https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/comments/9ihwz0/big_news_az16z_buys_6_of_makerdao/e6jque0/

Critiques from Meltem Demirors about the process for deciding upon this investment: https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem/status/1044217806043181057

MakerDao being ready to move to multi-collateralized Dai: https://medium.com/makerdao/the-code-is-ready-2aee2aa62e73

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

A previous episode of Unconfirmed with Katie Haun: 

http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/sxsw-episode-former-doj-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-what-the-sec-subpoenas-and-fincen-letter-likely-mean 

A previous episode of Unchained with Katie Haun, when she was a federal prosecutor:

http://unchainedpodcast.co/federal-prosecutor-kathryn-haun-on-how-criminals-use-bitcoin-and-how-she-catches-them