Unconfirmed

Noelle Acheson, director of research at CoinDesk, discusses the effect that coronavirus has been having on the traditional financial markets, Bitcoin and why Bitcoin is not turning out to be the uncorrelated asset it was touted to be. We also talk about why Bitcoin had a safe haven to begin with, the role traders played in changing how Bitcoin behaves as an asset, and why we can expect Bitcoin to become even more volatile in the short term. We cover how this could affect Bitcoin miners' ability to survive the upcoming halving, and whether Bitcoin will start to decouple from the other crypto assets. 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com

Kelman Law: https://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Noelle Acheson: https://twitter.com/NoelleInMadrid

CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com

https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-uncertainty-and-the-ultimate-narrative

https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-bonds-and-gold-why-markets-are-upended-in-a-time-of-fear

https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-investment-research/is-bitcoin-a-safe-haven

Links from news recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/our-only-good-option/

Brady Dale, senior reporter at CoinDesk, walks through the last few weeks of drama in Steemit this week, staring with when Justin Sun bought Steemit, what that meant for the network, and how the validators (aka "witnesses") responded and how exchanges got involved. We talk about why it's significant that the exchanges were Poloniex, Huobi and Binance, and why they seem to have walked back their support of new witnesses. We also cover the lessons in this drama for blockchains that use delegated proof of stake, and where the Steemit community might go from here. 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com

Kelman Law: https://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Brady Dale: https://twitter.com/BradyDale

Steemit: https://steemit.com

Justin Sun: https://twitter.com/justinsuntron

Sun acquires Steemit: https://www.coindesk.com/steemit-sets-up-shop-on-tron-network

Crypto exchanges get involved: https://www.coindesk.com/why-crypto-should-care-about-justin-suns-steem-drama

Blog post from Steemit: https://steemit.com/tron/@steemitblog/an-open-letter-to-the-community-hf22-5

Steemit community fights back: https://www.coindesk.com/steem-community-mobilizes-popular-vote-in-battle-with-justin-sun

Exchanges walk back: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/57607/justin-sun-stands-by-trons-decision-to-overturn-community-governance-rule

Lessons from the Steemit battle: https://twitter.com/DavidVorick/status/1235064633016242176

Links from news recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/he-giggles-snorts-and-waves-his-arms/

Caitlin Long talks about her new venture, Avanti Bank, which will be a Wyoming special-purpose depository institution, what that means, and how that could bypass the New York Bitlicense. She covers why that's better than trust companies for certain types of customers, which type of institutions Avanti will target, and how this status will protect investors in a bankruptcy situation. Plus, she explains how Avanti will be a bank and yet have the “not your keys, not your coins” ethos, and how it will handle things like airdrops, forks and staking rewards, and why in the Ethereum hard fork, the bank would have needed permission from customers to follow the fork that became Ethereum. 

Thank you to our sponsors!

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com

Kelman Law: https://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Caitlin Long: https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_

Avanti Bank: https://avantibank.com

Caitlin’s announcement on Avanti: https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1231958552790482950

Tweet storm on SPDIs: https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1194022779730968577

Links from news recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-is-big-on-cash-app/

Lev Livnev, a formal verification researcher at dapp.org and a founding partner at Symbolic Capital Partners, talks about the two attacks on bZx in the last week. He describes what the attackers did, why he thinks flash lending is not the culprit and how much he thinks bZx is to blame. Plus, we talk about what this means for DeFi in general and where the space goes from here. 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com

Kelman Law: https://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Lev Livnev: https://lev.liv.nev.org.uk

CoinDesk explanation of both attacks: https://www.coindesk.com/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-defi-flash-loan-attack

The first attack: https://www.coindesk.com/exploit-during-ethdenver-reveals-experimental-nature-of-decentralized-finance

Peckshield analysis on the hack step by step: https://medium.com/@peckshield/bzx-hack-full-disclosure-with-detailed-profit-analysis-e6b1fa9b18fc

BZx's post-mortem on the first attack: https://bzx.network/blog/postmortem-ethdenver

Unchained interview with Compound: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep-82/

Unchained interview with dYdX: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-dydx-allows-you-to-take-a-short-position-in-one-token-ep-86/

Unconfirmed interview with Uniswap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-uniswap-quickly-became-one-of-the-most-popular-dexes/

The second attack: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/56207/bzx-attacked-again-645k-in-eth-estimated-to-be-lost

Sam Czsun blog post: https://samczsun.com/taking-undercollateralized-loans-for-fun-and-for-profit/

What all this means for bZx: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/genesis/56330/money-2-0-stuff-unus-sed-bzx

Unchained interview with Synthetix: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-synthetix-became-the-second-largest-defi-platform/

Links from news recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/omg-bzx-wth/

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce discusses her proposal for a three-year safe harbor period for token sales. We talk about what problems she hopes to solve with this suggestion, the conditions that token issuers would have to meet to qualify for it, such as achieving a decentralized network or functional token within three years, and how she defines those terms. We also cover how the other commissioners have received her proposal and what the next steps are to her proposal potentially being adopted. 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com

Kelman Law: https://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Hester Peirce: https://twitter.com/HesterPeirce

The SEC: https://www.sec.gov/

Full speech and proposal: https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/peirce-remarks-blockress-2020-02-06

Fortune article on the proposal: https://fortune.com/2020/02/06/ico-sec-cryptocurrency-proposal-investing/

Critique that proposal will only enable scammers: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/02/08/sec-commissioner-hester-peirces-safe-harbor-proposal-for-icos-will-only-enable-scammers/

CoinDesk article on crypto community reaction: https://www.coindesk.com/sec-safe-harbor-proposal-lauded-by-token-fans-defi-builders-at-0x-conference

Links from news recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/indications-the-market-is-heating-up/

Elizabeth Stark, cofounder and CEO of Lightning Labs, talks about her company's two big announcements this week: the beta launch of its first paid product, Lightning Loop, and the company's Series A $10 million fundraise. We discuss how Lightning Loop works, what kinds of companies are already using it, and how Lightning Labs will make money from it. She also talks about the investors in this round, how several of them come from traditional finance and what their views are on Bitcoin and Lightning. 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

Kelman Law: https://kelman.law

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com

Episode links: 

Elizabeth Stark: https://twitter.com/starkness

Lightning Labs: https://lightning.engineering

Lightning Labs announcement: https://medium.com/@lightning_labs/entering-the-decade-of-lightning-8c4a4d31167f 

Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2020/02/05/jack-dorsey-backed-lightning-labs-raises-10-million-to-build-visa-network-for-bitcoin/#2f88e7e95ede

Bitcoin Magazine on the announcement: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/lightning-labs-announces-10-million-raise-as-lightning-loop-enters-beta

The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/54963/lightning-labs-10-million-series-a-bitcoin-beta

Links from news recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-safe-harbor-for-token-sales/

Frank Chaparro of The Block discusses the report released by his firm and the Blockchain Association on employment trends in the blockchain industry. He covers how the demand for such jobs is growing, who the biggest employers are in the space, and what types of companies are hiring. We talk about how token launches are moving primarily to Asia, why there's still significant hiring demand in the US and what kinds of jobs are being sought. Plus, we look at the recent LinkedIn study showing "blockchain" was the most in-demand hard skill on LinkedIn in 2019 and how a few projected crypto IPOs in the next few years could affect the job market.

Thank you to our sponsors! 

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/

Kelman Law: http://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Frank Chaparro: https://twitter.com/fintechfrank

The Block: https://www.theblockcrypto.com

The Block’s and the Blockchain Association’s Digital Assets Human Capital Report: https://www.scribd.com/document/444039395/Digital-Asset-Human-Capital-Trends-Report

Frank discussing the report with Kristin Smith of the Blockchain Association, which approached The Block about conducting the report: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/51135/kristin-smith-executive-director-at-the-blockchain-association-breaks-down-2019s-biggest-crypto-stories-on-capitol-hill

LinkedIn on blockchain being the most in-demand hard skill: https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/trends-and-research/2020/most-in-demand-hard-and-soft-skills

https://www.beseen.com/blog/talent/bitcoin-job-market-2019-beyond/

Links from news recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-far-from-being-a-unit-of-account/

Tom Schmidt, junior partner at Dragonfly Capital, talks about how liquidators are making money in DeFi — on which protocols, how liquidations work, and how much money they're making. He also discusses how liquidators do their work, how easy it is to create a bot to watch for liquidation opportunities, and how competitive the space is. We also discuss the growing competitive pressures, both from other liquidators as well as savvier borrowers. 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/

Kelman Law: https://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Tom Schmidt: https://twitter.com/tomhschmidt

Dragonfly Capital: https://www.dcp.capital

Tom's post on Liquidations in DeFi: https://medium.com/dragonfly-research/liquidators-the-secret-whales-helping-defi-function-acf132fbea5e

Unchained interview on Compound: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-youll-earn-interest-on-your-crypto-with-compound-ep-82/

Unchained interview on MakerDAO, pt. 1: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-1-how-to-keep-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-afloat/

Unchained interview on MakerDAO, pt. 2: https://unchainedpodcast.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-part-2-how-dai-stayed-at-1-while-eth-crashed-from-1400-to-85/

Unchained interview on dYdX: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-dydx-allows-you-to-take-a-short-position-in-one-token-ep-86/

The links from this week's news recap: 

https://unchainedpodcast.com/games-that-look-like-finance/

Leighton Cusack, CEO and cofounder of PoolTogether, describes how the Ethereum-based no-loss lottery applies the psychology of winning a prize to the action of saving money, to get more people to save, why this is better than a typical lottery, and how blockchain technology makes it even better than a typical no-loss lottery. He also talks about how PoolTogether works, why it currently uses Dai and Compound and whether it would use other stablecoins and interest-bearing platforms. We also discuss who is using it, why many non-crypto people are interested, and how they plan to reach more of their target audience.

Thank you to our sponsors! 

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://crypto.com

Kelman Law: https://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Pool Together: https://www.pooltogether.com/

Leighton Cusack: https://twitter.com/lay2000lbs

CoinDesk on PoolTogether: https://www.coindesk.com/this-ethereum-lottery-perfectly-explains-how-facebooks-corporate-backers-will-profit-from-libra

Decrypto story: https://decrypt.co/9072/pooltogethers-ethereum-based-no-loss-lottery-is-back-with-a-twist

MakerDAO grant: https://blog.makerdao.com/maker-foundation-community-grants-provide-funding-for-blockchain-projects/

News Recap: 

https://unchainedpodcast.com/please-slather-this-on-your-face/

Nate Maddrey, senior research analyst of Coin Metrics, gives an overview of how the major crypto networks ended 2019. We discuss how Bitcoin outperformed most other crypto assets last year, how it has been somewhat correlated with gold this year, whereas other crypto assets are not, and how the price movement of Bitcoin and Ethereum is starting to uncouple. We also talk about "realized cap," which is when each individual coin last moved on chain, and "market cap to realized cap" (MVRV), which is a way of looking at when the current holders will obtain profits if they sell, and how Bitcoin's investors are in the black, or that perhaps Ethereum is undervalued. Another topic was stablecoins, and how Tether on Ethereum has overtaken Tether on Omni and why, plus which other stablecoins are seeing growth. He also covers which four networks have seen their number of active addresses drop, how all those also saw their prices decrease and how only Bitcoin and Ethereum had a substantial amount of daily fees, and why that's significant. 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

eToro: https://www.etoro.com

Crypto.com: https://www.etoro.com

Kelman Law: http://kelman.law

Episode links: 

Nate Maddrey: https://twitter.com/natemaddrey

Coinmetrics: https://coinmetrics.io/

State of the Network 2019 post: https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/state-of-the-network-2019-year-in

This week in crypto: 

https://unchainedpodcast.com/bitcoin-halving-→-price/