Bankless Bankless

Chris Tarbell is a former FBI Agent specializing in cyber investigations. While at the FBI, Chris led some of the most high-profile cybercrime investigations in the world, including the arrest of members of the hacker group LulzSec, as well as the founder of the Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, which resulted in the largest seizure of bitcoins to date.
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✨ DEBRIEF | Unpacking the episode: 
https://www.bankless.com/debrief-the-fbi-agent-who-took-down-the-silk-road 
 
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✨ COLLECTIBLES | Collect this episode: 
https://collectibles.bankless.com/mint 
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Rarely do we have the opportunity to pick the brain of a cybercop, but this was our opportunity to see through the eyes of the FBI agent who took down the Silk Road in the largest crypto seizure ever recorded.
In today’s episode, Chris shares the story of crypto, Ross Ulbricht, and the Silk Road as told by the FBI agent who took it down. We also dig into the eternal cat-and-mouse game between Cybercriminals and Cyberpolice, how to protect yourself from people who want to take your crypto, and if the FBI wants your private keys, how they get them. 
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Topics Covered
0:00 Intro
9:10  Bitcoin Predictions 
10:08 FBI’s Crypto Impression
11:15 Chris’s Crypto Aha Moment 
16:11 FBI’s Institutional Knowledge
17:00 Silk Road Story 
21:25 FBI Divisions 
27:14 Growth of the Silk Road 
30:39 Purchasing on the Silk Road
31:36 Why End the Silk Road?
34:17 Ross Ulbricht
37:38 Timeline of the Investigation 
39:00  Dread Pirate Roberts
42:20 Ross Ulbricht as a Martyr
43:27 What Ross Was Charged With?
44:05 Chris’s Thoughts on Ross?
46:30 Sabu vs. Ross
48:05 Other Charges 
50:53 Silk Road Principles 
52:45 Silk Road Bitcoin Vault
54:53 Seizing the Laptop 
56:04 The Black Marketplace Wave 
57:32 FBI Adapting 
1:00:52 Cyber Police 
1:03:26 What Chris Sees in Crypto 
1:06:30 Bursting the Crypto Utopia 
1:10:59 Crypto Tools 
1:12:11 Steelmanning the Crypto Case 
1:15:39 Tornado Cash
1:17:58 Hive Ransomware
1:21:05 Profile of a Hacker 
1:22:21 The New Frontier of Ransomware
1:22:38 Nationstate Actors 
1:25:04 Honeypots for Hackers
1:27:49 How to Protect Yourself
1:32:06 Prioritizing Targets 
1:36:00 zkProofs & Privatization
1:39:32 Missing Silk Road Bitcoin Story 
1:43:46 Chris’s Podcast
1:45:10 Closing & Disclaimers 
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Resources:
Hacker and the Fed
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacker-and-the-fed/id1649541362 
Naxo
https://www.naxo.com/ 
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

There are bank runs and also rumors of more bank runs on the horizon. One side says, “the banks are insolvent, get to the lifeboats.” Another side says, “the banks are going to be fine…we’re sick and tired of doomers pulling the fire alarm.” Who’s right?
This is our third episode in a series of conversations. To get the full debate you’ll need to listen to the last two episodes with Balaji Srinivasan and Arthur Hayes.
In this episode, we’re speaking with Ben Hunt who lays out the counterpoint details on why banks are going to be fine. He believes Balaji and Arthur are dangerously wrong. Tune in to hear why!  
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⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM
https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 
🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE
https://bankless.cc/kraken 
🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE
https://bankless.cc/uniswap 
👻 PHANTOM | FRIENDLY MULTICHAIN WALLET
https://bankless.cc/phantom-waitlist 
🦊METAMASK LEARN | HELPFUL WEB3 RESOURCE
https://bankless.cc/MetaMask 
🚁 EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS
https://bankless.cc/earnifi  
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Timestamps
0:00 Intro
6:55 Ben’s Crypto Credentials 
10:36 Critiques of the Fed
16:55 Ben’s Understanding of Balaji’s Thesis
24:33 What Ben Believes is Untrue
33:42 Treasuries Are the Safest Assets?
43:34 Ben’s Objection
45:55 Icebergs
50:52 Fiat is Better? 
57:45 Step Back for Society? 
1:02:26 Checks on Power
1:07:39 Rules-Based Monetary Policy 
1:12:30 How to Fix the Fed
1:15:35 Closing & Disclaimers 
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Resources:
Previous Debates 
https://www.bankless.com/balaji-bets-the-dollar-will-hyperinflate-to-zero-not-a-drill  
https://www.bankless.com/arthur-hayes-says-get-your-bitcoin-and-get-out 
Ben Hunt
https://twitter.com/EpsilonTheory 
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Alex Gluchowski is the Co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs and the creator of zkSync. Anthony Rose is the head of engineering at Matter Labs and has a background in software and machine learning. Prior to joining Matter Labs, Anthony spent a number of years in the industry building teams at SpaceX. 
In today’s episode, the four talk about zkSync’s massive announcement, they’ve launched their zkEVM to mainnet! They also delve into the engineering challenges, what zk unlocks, the difference between zkEVM vs Optimistic Rollups, what builders need to know, and of course…wen token?! 
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📣 Infura | New SDK for NFT APIs For Devs
https://bankless.cc/Infura 
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🚀 JOIN BANKLESS PREMIUM: 
https://www.bankless.com/dashboard 
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BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM
https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 
🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE
https://bankless.cc/kraken 
🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE
https://bankless.cc/uniswap 
👻 PHANTOM | FRIENDLY MULTICHAIN WALLET
https://bankless.cc/phantom-waitlist 
🦊METAMASK LEARN | HELPFUL WEB3 RESOURCE
https://bankless.cc/MetaMask 
🚁 EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS
https://bankless.cc/earnifi  
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Timestamps
0:00 Intro
8:15 zkSync’s Era Mainnet Launch
8:53 The Importance of zkSync Era
9:53 zkSync Era
13:53 Staged Roll-Out
18:50 zkSync Era Projects
21:14 Engineering Challenges 
26:25 What Does zk Unlock? 
28:16 zkEVMd vs Optimistic Rollups
36:35 How Low Can Gas Fees Go?
39:22 The Power of zkEVMs
48:58 How is zkSync Era Different?
53:08 New Risks to Pay Attention to
55:35 Path to Decentralization & Security
1:03:42 What Do Builders Need to Know? 
1:05:36 Resources
1:07:12 Token?! 
1:08:20 Closing & Disclaimers
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Resources:
zkSync Website
https://zksync.io/ 
Alex Gluchowski
https://twitter.com/gluk64 
Anthony Rose
https://twitter.com/anthonykrose 
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Bankless Weekly Rollup
4th Week of March 2023
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📣 Infura | New SDK for NFT APIs For Devs
https://bankless.cc/Infura 
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🚀 JOIN BANKLESS PREMIUM: 
https://www.bankless.com/dashboard 
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BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM
https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 
🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE
https://bankless.cc/kraken 
🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE
https://bankless.cc/uniswap 
👻 PHANTOM | FRIENDLY MULTICHAIN WALLET
https://bankless.cc/phantom-waitlist 
🦊METAMASK LEARN | HELPFUL WEB3 RESOURCE
https://bankless.cc/MetaMask 
🚁 EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS
https://bankless.cc/earnifi  
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Topics Covered
0:00 Intro
3:08 Markets
6:47 FED hikes
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/22/fed-rate-hike-decision-march-2023.html 
12:30 Volatility
https://twitter.com/ColeGotTweets/status/1637645721485598725 
13:40 ETHBTC & Wartime
https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1638878806105628673 
22:50 Crypto VC List
https://coinstack.substack.com/p/the-crypto-vc-list-2023 
27:48 Do Kwon Arrested
https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ/status/1638891838881910785 
29:38 Arbitrum Airdrop
https://twitter.com/arbitrum/status/1638163831833649152 
33:14 Earnifi
https://earni.fi/account  
https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/arbitrum 
37:24 War on Crypto 
37:34 SEC Coinbase Wells Notice 
https://twitter.com/RyanSAdams/status/1638655328257548289 
https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1638654192138199041 
https://twitter.com/iampaulgrewal/status/1638660032324829184 
https://twitter.com/brianquintenz/status/1638747660080533504 
https://twitter.com/jessepollak/status/1638716234027106305 
https://twitter.com/RebeccaRettig1/status/1638867335745290240 
46:25 Sushi SEC Subpoena
https://www.theblock.co/post/221723/sushi-hit-with-sec-subpoena-seeking-3-million-usdt-legal-defense-fund 
46:55 SEC Lawsuit Against Justin Sun & Celebrity Promoters
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/technology/justin-sun-sec-crypto.html 
47:55 Bank Pressure & Contagion Spreads
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/20/what-ubs-rescue-of-credit-suisse-cs-means-for-markets-and-banks.html 
https://www.wsj.com/articles/signature-bank-new-york-community-bancorp-flagstar-bank-crypto-barney-frank-fdic-9b825e2e 
56:56 Euler Hack Update
https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1636985705858764800?s=20 
https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1637864971290697738 
https://twitter.com/chainalysis/status/1636739618249867265? 
https://twitter.com/proofofjake_/status/1638225829397143555 
58:55 IRS Tax Treatment of NFTs
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-issues-guidance-seeks-comments-on-nonfungible-tokens 
1:00:15 Magic Eden Bitcoin Ordinals
https://cointelegraph.com/news/magic-eden-launches-marketplace-for-bitcoin-ordinals 
1:01:29 Avalanche Short Outage
https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1638711219778646016 
1:02:40 Florida Gov. US CBDC Ban
https://www.flgov.com/2023/03/20/governor-ron-desantis-announces-legislation-to-protect-floridians-from-a-federally-controlled-central-bank-digital-currency-and-surveillance-state/ 
1:04:30 New Green Pill Channel 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrX_72ziMAZMb8fwD2HyOaw 
1:05:18 Bankless Merch
https://137s232gkpwm42ei-26449739831.shopifypreview.com/products_preview?preview_key=b4f7d5e5a88c4e2852bf37665f580cd0&variant=40128096206903 
1:06:40 Immutable x Polygon Labs
https://twitter.com/0xPolygon/status/1637878834945990675 
1:07:44 Microsoft Wallet in Edge Browser 
https://twitter.com/thebookisclosed/status/1636759487829917698 
1:08:25 Sismo
https://twitter.com/Sismo_eth/status/1636371873377423361 
1:09:50 PleasrHouse UniBlocks
https://twitter.com/PleasrDAO/status/1638858333506646020 
1:12:25 Farcaster Web Login
https://twitter.com/dwr/status/1638297074365239296 
1:12:45 Ledger Browser Extension
https://www.ledger.com/ledger-extension

You might know Arthur Hayes as perhaps THE dominant financial creative writer in crypto. When Arthur Hayes drops an article, it commands the attention of basically everyone in the industry. 
And he’s done it again with his new piece, “Kaiseki,” which outlines one of the most chaotic and critical times in the macro and monetary landscape that we’ve seen, at least since 2008. 
In today’s episode, Arthur walks us through his essay, why he believes Balaji’s $1M Bitcoin bet is wrong, how he’s navigating these tumultuous times, and so much more. 
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⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM
https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 
🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE
https://bankless.cc/kraken 
🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE
https://bankless.cc/uniswap 
👻 PHANTOM | FRIENDLY MULTICHAIN WALLET
https://bankless.cc/phantom-waitlist 
🦊METAMASK LEARN | HELPFUL WEB3 RESOURCE
https://bankless.cc/MetaMask 
🚁 EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS
https://bankless.cc/earnifi  
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
6:27 Arthur’s Recent, “Kaiseki” Essay
13:09 Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) 
18:08 Effect on the Banking Sector
24:30 Current State of the Banking Sector 
30:44 Should We Support BTFP?
39:11  What’s Going to Happen to Crypto? 
46:56 Sending Bitcoin to $1M 
55:05 Effects on Expanding Variables 
57:35 Who Takes the Loss? 
1:00:00 Rampant Inflation Worldwide & Fiat
1:03:36 Swap Lines 
1:06:07 Punchlines & Endgame 
1:09:25 Everyone is a Speculator
1:10:49 What Will Arthur Hayes Do?
1:13:36 Closing & Disclaimers  
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Resources: 
Arthur Hayes
https://twitter.com/CryptoHayes  
Arthur’s Recent, “Kaiseki” Essay
https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/kaiseki-b15230bdd09e  
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Balaji Srinivasan is back on Bankless with alarming takes. According to Balaji, in the next 90 days, the Dollar will hyperinflate—and the Bitcoin price will skyrocket to $1 Million.
He’s backed up these claims with a million dollar bet. With these dire predictions and a track record of strong takes, we needed to hear him out. 
Who should we bring on next to counter these claims?
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BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM
https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 
🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE
https://bankless.cc/kraken 
🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE
https://bankless.cc/uniswap 
👻 PHANTOM | FRIENDLY MULTICHAIN WALLET
https://bankless.cc/phantom-waitlist 
🦊METAMASK LEARN | HELPFUL WEB3 RESOURCE
https://bankless.cc/MetaMask 
🚁 EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS
https://bankless.cc/earnifi  
———
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
7:50 Weeks when Decades Happen
9:30 $1 Million Bitcoin Bet
16:20 Balaji’s Track Record
19:00 Pandemic
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1222921758375927808 
23:15 Hyperinflation
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1636797265317867520 
27:50 US Banking Failure
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1636822077775941633 
32:50 The Banks are Insolvent
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrXKYKcakAAdJwe?format=jpg&name=medium
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1637671174271565825 
35:38 More Failure, More Funding
https://archive.is/0Jww3#selection-731.0-731.286 
40:30 FDIC and the Fed
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10874230/Jean-Claude-Juncker-profile-When-it-becomes-serious-you-have-to-lie.html 
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20230312b.htm 
44:18 Bank Runs
https://qz.com/the-feds-discount-window-is-lending-to-banks-at-2008-le-1850237214 
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1637859435149398016 
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/wall-street-giants-move-to-rescue-first-republic-bank 
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/other20230315a.htm 
52:25 Escaping to Gold
https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/1637544100663803904 
57:50 Exporting Inflation
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/17/bread-food-arab-spring 
https://www.wsj.com/graphics/red-economy-blue-economy/ 
https://howmuch.net/articles/rise-and-fall-dollar 
1:04:30 Bitcoin in Wartime
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrrfQuaaUAEFYev?format=jpg&name=medium 
1:10:45 Capital Allocation
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1488988253411708931 
1:13:30 The Only Real Banks
https://twitter.com/koeppelmann/status/1637898298005626881 
1:20:49 Why Now?
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1637329482687324161 
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1637868839890472960 
https://twitter.com/0xfoobar/status/1637855829750628353 
https://www.google.com/search? q=sivb&oq=sivb&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i10i131i433i512l2j0i10i512l2j69i64l3.1066j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 
https://www.google.com/search?q=usd+btc&oq=usd+btc&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l4j69i64l3.1207j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 
1:28:15 Do This Now
https://twitter.com/MaxCRoser/status/1355652800588505089 
1:34:52 A Year From Now
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHe0bXAIuk0 
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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures