Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Robert Leshner, chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, Taproot Wizards instigator Eric Wall joins the show to discuss the rise of Ordinals and what it means for the future of Bitcoin. Will inscriptions and BRC-20 tokens bring a slew of Ethereum-style problems to the original blockchain?  Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights:  how Eric has set up a “war” between the “laser-eye tribe” and the “magicians” how the Bitcoin maxi community is different from the normal Bitcoin user base whether Ordinals fixes the lack of demand for Bitcoin block space what Taproot is and what it enabled on the Bitcoin network the MEV problem that could arise in Bitcoin now that demand for block space is going up whether Bitcoin’s values resemble a religion whether the increased demand for Bitcoin block space is good for the network, even if it’s fueled by JPEGs and “shitcoins” why so many people got worried about Ledger Recover why Robert thinks that Ledger’s new service is “terrifying” and why Haseeb is not so concerned whether Bitcoin is becoming a unit of account once again Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Robert Leshner, founder of Compound Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Guest Eric Wall, cofounder of Taproot Wizards Previous appearances on Unchained:  Eric Wall and Udi Wertheimer on Why Bitcoin Maximalism Is 'Like a Shitcoin Community' Is Bitcoin Doomed to Fail? Eric Wall and Justin Bons Face Off Why Terra Collapsed and Whether an Algo Stablecoin Can Ever Succeed Disclosures Links CoinDesk:  Ledger Bats Back Criticism of New Wallet Recovery Service The Blocksize Wars Revisited: How Bitcoin's Civil War Still Resonates Today Nic Carter: There's No Such Thing as High Fees on Bitcoin Unchained:  ‘Backdoor’ for Seed Phrases? Ledger’s New Recovery Feature Spooks Users ​​‘Technically’ Possible to Extract User Keys? Ledger Addresses Deleted Tweet Haseeb Qureshi’s thread on Ledger Recover Previous coverage of Unchained on Ordinals and BRC-20s: Bitcoin’s BRC-20 Mania: Is It Sustainable? Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs Are Hot and Getting Hotter. What's the Hype About? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unchained

The Chopping Block: Wizards vs. Laser Eyes for the Future of Bitcoin - Ep. 495

Ledger, the crypto industry’s leading hardware wallet manufacturer, rolled out a new recovery feature this month that caused an uproar. The recovery service has dangerous implications for crypto self-custody, says Foundation Devices Head of Content “Seth For Privacy.” He joins the show to discuss the downsides of closed-source code and the security risks that come with compromising for mainstream adoption. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: how Ledger Recover works and why it caused an outrage in the crypto community why the fact that Ledger’s code is not open-source could be considered a problem what the concerns are about handing over additional data to Ledger how darknet markets have always existed for fake ID verifications and how it relates to Ledger’s new feature some of Ledger’s previous security lapses  why introducing a trusted third party undermines one of Bitcoin’s most central tenets whether Ledger’s move is a “net good for society,” and whether people actually want a service like this in a hardware wallet whether something will go wrong with Ledger in the future Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Stader Labs Guest Seth for Privacy, blogger and head of content at Foundation Devices Blog Foundation Devices Twitter thread on the logistics and risks of the Ledger recovery process Links Ledger CTO Twitter thread on Ledger Recover  CoinDesk: Ledger Bats Back Criticism of New Wallet Recovery Service, CoinDesk  Unchained: ‘Backdoor’ for Seed Phrases? Ledger’s New Recovery Feature Spooks Users Ledger Recover webpage Haseeb Qureshi’s thread on the Ledger controversy Past Ledger security issues CoinDesk: Crypto Wallet Maker Ledger Loses 1M Email Addresses in Data Theft Cointelegraph: Ledger data leak: A ‘simple mistake’ exposed 270K crypto wallet buyers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ugly Tradeoffs of Ledger’s New Recovery Service - Ep. 494

Ordinal theory has unleashed a new wave of NFTs, memecoins and innovation on Bitcoin — but not without controversy. Bitcoin educator Dan Held and Bitcoin Frontier Fund Managing Partner Trevor Owens join the show to discuss the breakneck rise of BRC-20s and why they’re both bullish on what memecoins mean for the original blockchain. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: what ordinal theory is and how it enabled Bitcoin “NFTs” how the Ordinals Protocol differs from the ERC-721 token standard used by many Ethereum NFTs how BRC-20s work by relying on some off-chain mechanisms why Bitcoin is not a “dinosaur chain,” according to Dan why Trevor says BRC-20 memecoins are superior to those on Ethereum what the practical utilities of BRC-20s are, if any why transaction fees in Bitcoin rose so much and why it’s healthy for the network  whether innovation is coming back to Bitcoin whether Satoshi Nakamoto would have approved of Bitcoin NFTs the role of speculation in fueling bitcoin adoption  the current and future state of layer 2s on Bitcoin why Dan says BRC-20s “absolutely” solve the problem with Bitcoin’s security budget why it’s hard to determine an “appropriate” amount for the security budget of Bitcoin how the NFT market could be shaped after the rise of Ordinals and BRC-20s what needs to be developed so that BRC-20s can flourish Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Guests: Dan Held, Bitcoin educator and marketing advisor at Trust Machines  Trevor Owens, managing partner at Bitcoin Frontier Fund Previous coverage of Unchained on Ordinals: Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs Are Hot and Getting Hotter. What's the Hype About? - NFT Crypto Links Unchained:  How to Create a Bitcoin Ordinal Bitcoin Core Developers Mull Getting Rid of BRC-20 Transactions Binance Briefly Halted Bitcoin Withdrawals Amid Network Congestion Domo’s thread on BRC-20s  Anita Posch’s comments.on the high fees Nic Carter: There's No Such Thing as High Fees on Bitcoin Nic Carter’s MIT presentation: MIT Bitcoin Expo 2019 - 10 years of Bitcoin: Evaluating its Performance as a Monetary System Decrypt: Michael Saylor: Bitcoin Ordinals Are a ‘Catalyst’ for Adoption [bitcoin-dev] [Mempool spam] Should we as developers reject non-standard Taproot transactions from full nodes? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bitcoin’s BRC-20 Mania: Is It Sustainable? - Ep. 493

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, they talk about the recent issues surrounding the Aragon Foundation, the likelihood of Montenegro becoming an ETH hub, the BRC-20s mania, and much more! Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights:  why Zuzalu is “Burning Man in the daytime” whether Montenegro could become the “ETH El Salvador doppelganger” why the Aragon Foundation alleged that they were under attack why Aragon has “missed the boat on a lot of everything that’s happened in DAOs” whether the Aragon Foundation is “suckling on the teat of the DAO for a fat salary” whether Arca was right about wanting the Aragon treasury to be part of the on-chain governance how on-chain governance can do even more than many of the investment banking functions that exist currently why some Bitcoin developers want to censor BRC-20 transactions why the way XEN works gives Haseeb a headache whether Binance CEO CZ invented the memecoin PEPE what the impact of Jump and Jane Street decreasing their market making activity is where the next market makers will come from Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Robert Leshner, founder of Compound  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Disclosures Links Unchained:  Coinbase Apologizes After Calling PEPE a ‘Hate Symbol’ Market Makers Jump and Jane Street Withdraw From U.S. Crypto Trading: Report CoinDesk: Aragon Cancels Planned Community Control of $200M Treasury Amid Battle With Activist Investors The Block: Coinbase cuddles up to UAE policymakers as US outlook sours Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chopping Block: Do Aragon Association Members Get 'Fat Salaries' With 'Zero Accountability'? - Ep. 492

News emerged this week that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) placed $44 billion in claims on the FTX bankruptcy estate. Now creditors of the defunct crypto exchange are worried that the taxman is going to gobble up funds that would otherwise be used to make users partially whole. Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency, joins the show to explain what’s going on, how that huge number is even possible, and why the so-called “trust argument” is not going to be the silver bullet that some FTX customers are dreaming of. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: whether the numbers of the IRS claim are even correct how these claims may affect all customers and unsecured creditors of FTX whether FTX CEO John Ray will fight the claims  what the trust argument is and how it could potentially save (or not) FTX’s creditors in what currency the investments made by creditors would be returned why the Three Arrows Capital case differs from FTX and Mt. Gox why what FTX allegedly did is similar, but different, from what Celsius or Voyager did Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Stader Labs Guest Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency Previous appearances on Unchained:  Did the Bahamian Government Direct SBF and Gary Wang to Hack Why the Messy 3AC, Celsius, and Voyager Bankruptcies Will Drag on for Years  Three Crypto Bankruptcies: 3AC, Celsius and Voyager. What Happens Now? Links CoinDesk: U.S. Internal Revenue Service Files Claims Worth $44 Billion Against FTX Bankruptcy MeatTC’s Twitter thread Wassie’s Twitter thread Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS Wants $44B From Bankrupt FTX. How Is That Possible? - Ep. 491

Longtime crypto reporter Brady Dale has beat Michael Lewis to market with the first book on the dramatic collapse of FTX. In stores today, “SBF: How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto’s Very Bad Good Guy,” tells the tale of the outsized role that Sam Bankman-Fried played in the FTX-Alameda death spiral. Drawing on years of reporting and interviews with SBF himself, the book charts the rise and fall of the one-time crypto wunderkind. “It became clear to me that Sam got really addicted to fame,” said Dale. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: Brady’s background and how he came to cover crypto how covering the space for a crypto outlet is different from a more mainstream publication how Brady was able to finalize his book so fast  what Brady’s favorite parts of the book are who was really responsible for the collapse of the FTX empire whether Sam Bankman-Fried will plead guilty  whether FTX will make a comeback how SBF thinks differently from other people, and how it led to his downfall why Brady thinks the “dot-com bust” for crypto has yet to arrive whether crypto has betrayed its cypherpunk ideals Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Guests: Brady Dale, writer and reporter at Axios, and author of “SBF: How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto’s Very Bad Good Guy” Previous coverage of Unchained on Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX: The Chopping Block: Was FTX a Scam From the Very Beginning?  How Much Prison Time Is FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Facing?  Why the Legal Process for FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried Could Take Years The Chopping Block: SBF Wants to Win in the Court of Public Opinion. Will He? Jesse Powell and Kevin Zhou on How FTX and Alameda Lost $10 Billion Is the Collapse of Crypto Lending Over, or Is It Just Starting? Did the Bahamian Government Direct SBF and Gary Wang to Hack FTX? The Chopping Block: Why Lenders Didn’t Liquidate Alameda When It Was Underwater  Erik Voorhees and Cobie on Why FTX Loaned Out Customers’ Assets The Chopping Block: FTX: The Biggest Collapse in the History of Crypto? Sam Bankman-Fried on How to Prevent the Next Terra and 3AC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writing the Book on FTX’s Downfall: ‘It Was All Just Sam’ - Ep. 490

The Genesis bankruptcy is about to take a high-stakes turn with a $630 million payment from Digital Currency Group (DCG) due by May 11. Barry Silbert’s DCG, the parent company of Genesis, is on the hook for the massive payment, but doubts are swirling as to whether the crypto conglomerate can cover it. Lumida Wealth CEO Ram Ahluwalia joins the show to unpack what could happen to Genesis creditors, Gemini Earn users, and the markets should DCG fail to cover its debt obligations. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: whether DCG will be able to pay its debt to the Genesis bankruptcy estate the ways DCG can “plug the hole” what the likelihood of DCG filing for bankruptcy is how FTX’s intent to claw back $3.9 billion from Genesis would affect DCG whether Gemini Earn customers will be made whole why Ram says that asymmetric information has plagued the bankruptcy process whether the creditors should accept the latest term sheet how the Grayscale lawsuit against the SEC could impact DCG’s cash flow Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Stader Labs Guest Ram Ahluwalia, CEO & Founder of Lumida Wealth Previous appearances on Unchained:  ​​Genesis May Be Facing Bankruptcy. Could It Take DCG Down With It? Gemini vs. DCG Is Heating Up. Could Gemini Force Genesis Into Bankruptcy? How Will the FTX Collapse Affect Silvergate? A Bear and a Bull Debate How Is the Fed Going to Respond to the Banking Crisis? Links Unchained: FTX Moves to Claw Back $3.9 Billion From Genesis Reuters: Crypto group DCG says bankrupt unit Genesis' creditors renege on deal CoinDesk:  Genesis Files for Mediator Assistance Over Amount of DCG Contribution to Reorganization DCG's CFO Steps Down as Crypto Conglomerate Repays $350M Loan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

$630M Due Next Week: Is DCG at Default Risk? - Ep. 489

In this episode, Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer, and Konstantin Lomashuk, cofounder of Lido Finance, discuss the complex world of staking in Ethereum's post-Shanghai ecosystem.   Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: how the staking ecosystem in Ethereum looks after the full completion of the Merge what EigenLayer is and why it's called that whether EigenLayer's model is more similar to Polkadot or, actually, to Ethereum Layer 2s what the risks of restaking are, for both projects and users how Lido is working to keep Ethereum decentralized and censorship-resistant what superfluid staking is and whether it could be done on Ethereum how EigenLayer incentivizes alignment between the delegator and the stakers whether there's a risk that Lido could become a governance layer for Ethereum what can be done to increase staking services adoption Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Guests: Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer Konstantin Lomashuk, cofounder of Lido Finance Previous coverage of Unchained on Ethereum staking:  Shapella in the Rearview: After Major Upgrade, What’s Next for Ethereum? How Will ETH React to Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade? Post-Merge, If Lido Becomes Dominant, What Does That Mean for Ethereum? In the Recent Crypto Market Meltdown, What Role Did Lido’s stETH Play? Is ETH on Its Way to Becoming Ultra-Sound Money? Yes, Says Justin Drake Learn more: How Liquid Staking Works A Guide to Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade How to Stake Ethereum With Liquid Staking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets? - Ep. 488

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news in digital assets. In this live episode from Consensus 2023, they are joined by Avery Ching, chief architect of Aptos, to discuss the latest SEC enforcement actions, an embarrasing admission by audit firm Certik, and crypto’s impact on the coming election. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights:  everyone's impressions of the conference why Korea has become a hub for crypto adoption why there's no benchmarking infrastructure to compare data across blockchains how Sui decided not to airdrop a token and what the implications for future airdrops are whether CertiK bears responsibility in the Merlin DEX rugpull whether the US elections have an effect on how the SEC is playing the case with Coinbase what impact AI will have on the crypto industry Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Guest Avery Ching, cofounder and CTO of Aptos Disclosures Links Unchained:  Coinbase Seeks to Compel SEC Response to Rulemaking Petition ​​Exploit or Rug Pull? $1.8 Million Drained From zkSync DEX Merlin Despite Audit  SEC Sues Bittrex, Names Dash, Algorand and Other Tokens ‘Crypto Asset Securities’ CoinDesk: Sui Network to Issue Token Following Exchange Sale; Airdrop Hunters Dismayed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chopping Block: Why Are We Still Building Layer 1s? - Ep. 487

Major crypto exchange Coinbase has decided to take action to get an answer from the Securities and Exchange Commission: this week, they filed a court action seeking to compel Gary Gensler’s agency to give specific rulemaking on crypto assets. J.W. Verret, associate professor of law at George Mason Law School, talks about how both parties are playing this game, how it could change the Howey test, and much more. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: whether there's a long-term chess strategy being played by Coinbase whether the case could actually change the Howey test why the 'West Virginia vs. EPA' is important for crypto what the SEC's strategy is and why the Kraken settlement was an “overreach,” according to J.W. whether the SEC could develop a new framework for crypto assets  how the Ripple case will unfold and how long it will take if it is appealed Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Guest J.W. Verret, Associate Professor of Law at George Mason Law School J.W.’s thread My story of telling the SEC ‘I told you so’ on FTX Public Request for Rulemaking: Securities Regulation Genesis Block Proposal Previous coverage of Unchained on the SEC’s actions:  Rep. Emmer on Why He Believes Gary Gensler Is a ‘Bad-Faith Regulator’ Is the Government Trying to Kill Off Crypto in the US? Coinbase’s Top Lawyer Calls SEC Wells Notice a ‘Massive Overreach’ Links Unchained: Coinbase Seeks to Compel SEC Response to Rulemaking Petition - Unchained Crypto Coinbase takes another formal step to seek regulatory clarity from SEC for the crypto industry IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT COINBASE, INC.’S PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS TO THE Coinbase petition for SEC rulemaking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coinbase's Legal Action Against the SEC: How It Will Likely Unfold - Ep. 486

Two lawyers, Josh Klayman, head of digital assets at Linklaters, and Marc Boiron, chief legal officer at Polygon Labs, offer their takes on the SEC’s recent crypto crackdown. They share what they heard from SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s Congressional testimony, whether this crackdown was inevitable or sparked by FTX, and why a proposed change to the definition of an exchange could be an existential threat for DeFi in the U.S. Show highlights: what Gary Gensler’s approach to crypto was when he took office whether the FTX collapse had any impact at all on the SEC’s recent actions whether the actions against Coinbase are “inappropriate” what the differences between Coinbase and Kraken staking services are why the concept of “exemptive relief” is important for exchanges whether the SEC is looking to go after AMM-based decentralized exchanges why SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce says that complying with a new proposal wouldn’t be possible for much of DeFi why, according to Marc, the industry should be “pushing very hard” against the newly proposed definition of an exchange whether the SEC’s ability to pursue enforcement actions against ETH is diminished by the statements of the previous SEC chair Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Halborn Guests: Josh Klayman, head of blockchain and digital assets at Linklaters,  Marc Boiron, chief legal officer at Polygon Labs. Sufficient Decentralization Previous coverage of Unchained on the SEC’s actions:  ‘Is ETH a Security?’ Why Gary Gensler Couldn’t Give Congress a Straight Answer Rep. Emmer on Why He Believes Gary Gensler Is a ‘Bad-Faith Regulator’ Is the Government Trying to Kill Off Crypto in the US? Coinbase’s Top Lawyer Calls SEC Wells Notice a ‘Massive Overreach’ SEC Chair Gary Gensler Avoids Question: ‘Is Ethereum a Security?’ SEC Sues Bittrex, Names Dash, Algorand and Other Tokens ‘Crypto Asset Securities’ Links CoinDesk: U.S. SEC Moves Toward DeFi Oversight as It Reopens Proposed Regulations Proposed rule: Amendments Regarding the Definition of “Exchange” and Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) Rendering Innovation Kaput: Statement on Amending the Definition of Exchange POLITICO: McHenry clashes with SEC’s Gensler over crypto crackdown Forbes: Crypto Exchange Beaxy Shuts Down Amid SEC Charges Treasury Releases 2023 DeFi Illicit Finance Risk Assessment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gary Gensler vs. Crypto: What Will the SEC Attack Next? - Ep. 485

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, the gang plays “guess the chart” and takes a deep dive into the booming world of Ethereum Layer 2s. Show highlights:  how much Layer 2s are spending to post data to Ethereum whether L2s suck up all the value of ETH the challenge of providing a good user experience across multiple rollups how the underlying technology of security is not improving but attackers are getting more sophisticated whether centralized lending in the industry is dead why crypto users still hold stablecoins that yield much lower than Treasury bills the new approach to bringing real-world assets and tokenized yields to blockchains whether all L2s are running via proof of authority whether alternative Layer 1s are dead or are actually more important than ETH L2s Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Robert Leshner, founder of Compound  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Disclosures Links Hildebert’s charts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chopping Block: Are Layer 2s Stealing Ethereum’s Thunder? - Ep. 484

It got heated this week on Capitol Hill with SEC Chair Gary Gensler testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on his agency’s efforts to rein in the U.S. crypto industry. Jason Gottlieb, partner at Morrison Cohen, unpacks what was said and whether we’ll continue to see more crackdowns from the U.S. securities regulator. Show highlights: Whether ETH is a security and what would be the impact if it was declared as such by the SEC Whether the SEC is harming investors  What the potential impacts of the SEC lawsuit against Bittrex are Why the case against crypto exchange Beaxy could serve as a precursor to a potential case against Coinbase How the SEC’s lack of clear regulation is pushing crypto out of America, according to Jason Why the SEC is trying to expand the definition of an exchange and its possible effects on DeFi Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Guest Jason Gottlieb, Partner at Morrison Cohen & Chair of the Digital Assets Department  Previous appearances on Unchained: The Department of Justice Goes After Its First NFT Insider Trading Case Previous coverage of Unchained on the SEC’s actions:  Rep. Emmer on Why He Believes Gary Gensler Is a ‘Bad-Faith Regulator’ Is the Government Trying to Kill Off Crypto in the US? Coinbase’s Top Lawyer Calls SEC Wells Notice a ‘Massive Overreach’ Links CoinDesk: U.S. SEC Moves Toward DeFi Oversight as It Reopens Proposed Regulations Unchained:  SEC Chair Gary Gensler Avoids Question: ‘Is Ethereum a Security?’ SEC Sues Bittrex, Names Dash, Algorand and Other Tokens ‘Crypto Asset Securities’ Proposed rule: Amendments Regarding the Definition of “Exchange” and Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) Rendering Innovation Kaput: Statement on Amending the Definition of Exchange POLITICO: McHenry clashes with SEC’s Gensler over crypto crackdown Forbes: Crypto Exchange Beaxy Shuts Down Amid SEC Charges Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

‘Is ETH a Security?’ Why Gary Gensler Couldn’t Give Congress a Straight Answer - Ep. 483

Maximal extractable value, or MEV, is a mainstay of the Ethereum landscape. But the process of validators reaping profits from handling new blocks is not without controversy. Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake and bloXroute Labs CEO Uri Klarman assess the current state of MEV. Hear them disagree about the path forward for making Ethereum fairer for all its economic actors. Show highlights: what MEV is and how it has evolved over time the nuances of the newly proposed MEV Blocker and why it’s important for users whether it’s possible to enable “back-running” while preventing front-running how to give power back to blockchain users what the differences and similarities are among several projects trying to solve MEV how “MEV Burn” will be like the EIP-1559 to what Justin calls contention whether EigenLayer can help solve MEV problems whether wallets and DEXs could be doing something different to prevent MEV and generate more revenue how “exclusive order flow” could be detrimental to DeFi users what proposer-builder separation (PBS) is and whether it will change MEV distribution why Uri doesn’t think PBS is the right step forward for Ethereum Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Halborn Guests: Justin Drake, researcher at the Ethereum Foundation Uri Klarman, CEO of bloXroute Labs Links Previous coverage of Unchained on MEV: Why Is Ethereum Trying to Maximize Value From Users? Two Sides Debate The Chopping Block: Why the Once-Taboo MEV Is Now a Core Part of Ethereum MEV Blocker CoinDesk: MEV Blocker Wants to Help You Outrun the Front-Runners MEV Blocker Unchained: Ethereum Builders Join Forces to Launch MEV Blocker MEV Distribution CoinDesk: Flashbots Proposes New Class of 'Matchmakers' to Share MEV Gains With Ethereum Users MEV-Share: programmably private orderflow to share MEV with users - The Flashbots Ship BackRunMe Wallet-Boost Design Doc · blocknative discourse · Discussion #1 · GitHub OpenMEV Mechanics and Formulas - Manifold Finance MEV Smoothing Committee-driven MEV smoothing - Economics MEV Burn Burning MEV through block proposer auctions - Economics Proposer-Builder separation Proposer-builder separation | ethereum.org Vitalik Buterin’s tweet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why MEV Will Always Be Controversial - Ep. 482

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, they’re joined by Unchained’s Laura Shin to debate FTX revival rumors, what the U.S. Treasury got wrong about DeFi, and whether VCs are antithetical to crypto’s core principles. Show highlights:  how much ETH is getting unstaked and deposited after Shapella the market reaction following the successful implementation of the upgrade whether FTX could reopen after its massive collapse why Robert thinks rebooting the exchange is a “terrible” idea whether FTX could do the same thing as Bitfinex and issue a debt token for creditors how the U.S. government misunderstands decentralized finance, in stark contrast with regulators from other parts of the world whether DeFi front-ends should be subject to the Bank Secrecy Act whether VCs go against the principles of crypto the difference between democratizing finance and democratizing fundraising Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Robert Leshner, founder of Compound  Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly Guest Laura Shin, author, and CEO of Unchained Disclosures Links Shapella: Previous coverage of Unchained on the upgrade: Shapella in the Rearview: After Major Upgrade, What’s Next for Ethereum? Ethereum's Shapella Upgrade - What to Expect? How Will ETH React to Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade? Unchained:  Staked Ethereum Withdrawals Enabled As Shanghai Upgrade Goes Live Ethereum Surges Past $2,000 Post-Shanghai, $2 Billion Staked Withdrawals Pending Nansen: The Shanghai Upgrade Dashboard CoinDesk: What’s Next After the Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade Known as Shapella FTX: Unchained: FTX Could Reopen Crypto Exchange, Recovers $7.3 Billion in Assets Treasury Report: Unchained: Poor DeFi Cybersecurity Presents Risks for National Security, Says U.S. Treasury Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chopping Block: Are VCs Bad for Crypto? - Ep. 481

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 Shin, an independent journalist covering all things crypto, talks with industry pioneers about how crypto assets and blockchains will change the way we earn, spend and invest our money. Tune in to find out how Web 3.0, the decentralized web, will revolutionize our world. Disclosure: I'm a nocoiner.

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Unchained

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