Unchained Laura Shin

Wallet security was in the spotlight after the announcement of Ledger Recover, but the crypto community doesn’t need to “freak out,” according to Itai Turbahn, co-founder and CEO of Dynamic Labs, and Ouriel Ohayon, CEO of ZenGo. The two CEOs join the show to talk about the challenges of bringing self-custody to the masses. For many, “not your keys, not your coins” is actually “your keys, your problem.”
 
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:

the problems that may arise when managing your own keys

the misconceptions that people have about hardware wallets

why Ouriel says that Ledger is going in the right direction but made a major mistake

how multi-party computation can be a solution to the problem of securing your own keys

what are other ways to solve it, such as Shamir’s secret sharing (SSS) and multisigs

the tradeoffs between security and user experience

how Dynamic Wallet works by linking multiple wallets to a single account

whether “passwordless authentication” is the future of security

how can users protect themselves from “bad transactions” and what are companies doing to help

whether open source contributes to more security in the wallet landscape

how account abstraction will change the user experience

whether security is the key to the future of crypto

 
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com
Guests:


Itai Turbahn, cofounder and CEO of Dynamic Labs


Ouriel Ohayon, CEO of ZenGo

Previous appearance on Unchained: ZenGo: A Self-Custodial Wallet Minus the Risk of Losing Your Keys


Previous coverage of Unchained on wallets:
The Ugly Tradeoffs of Ledger’s New Recovery Service
Links

What is ZenGo Recovery Kit?

Cointelegraph:

Multiparty computation could offer increased protection for crypto wallets

I run a Ledger competitor — But I support it in blow-up over keys

Unchained: ‘Backdoor’ for Seed Phrases? Ledger’s New Recovery Feature Spooks Users



Tweet from Ouriel that explains the differences between ZenGo and Ledger

Solving the crypto adoption problem: making crypto *actually* usable

Multi-Party Computation (MPC) Technology Can Ensure Effective Fraud Detection | Nasdaq

Web3 Auth 101: What is wallet-based authentication?

 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner, chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, the gang answers audience questions, digs into the discourse around rollups, and debates whether modular blockchains will vanquish existing monoliths.

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 someone asked people to just give them money, and raised over $1 million

Answering audience questions from Twitter, including ‘what’s Tarun’s favorite drug?’

Whether there’s tension between Haseeb and Tarun

How the incoming generations of crypto people (e.g. “Class of 2017”) have changed over the cycles

The five-level explainer on what a rollup is 

Why everyone’s debating the ontology of rollups and why Haseeb still thinks blockchains are like religions

Tarun’s take on the modular blockchain thesis and why Haseeb is skeptical

Whether app chains like the ones in Cosmos will become dominant

Whether one of the top 4 chains will be modular in the next five to 10 years

Hosts


Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly 


Robert Leshner, founder of Compound


Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly 


Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures

Disclosures
Links

Binance Feed: Bored Ape NFT Holder Ben.eth Launches Third Crusade of Memecoin Psychopathy



Rollups, Rigor, and Reality by Kelvin Fichter


Rollups Are L1s (& L2s) a.k.a. How Rollups *Actually Actually Actually* Work by Jon Charbonneau

Haseeb’s question on Twitter

Previous episode of The Chopping Block on the L1 debate: Why Are We Still Building Layer 1s?





Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If a year in crypto is like a decade in other industries, then Laura Shin has seen a lot. To commemorate the 500th episode of “Unchained” (actually, there’s about 150 more under a different brand name), Laura hops on the other side of the microphone to field questions from Unchained Contributing Editor Zack Seward about standout moments dating back to 2018. From the early rise of Binance to a charged interview with Terra founder Do Kwon, Shin takes you behind the scenes for rare insights into her process, her favorite moments, and how key episodes have aged.

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.
Highlighted episodes:

Sept. 25, 2018: How Binance Became the Most Popular Crypto Exchange in 5 Months


March 26, 2019: Vitalik Buterin on Whether or Not Ethereum Is ‘Blowing It’


April 8, 2022: Here’s Why USDN De-Pegged From the Dollar – And Why UST Might Too


Dec. 23, 2022: Martin Shkreli Explains Why Sam Bankman-Fried Got Lucky With His Judge


Aug. 3, 2021: Can a DeFi Smart Contract Be Regulated? Two CFTC Commissioners Discuss


May 23, 2023: Ex-CFTC Commissioner Berkovitz Says ‘DeFi Should Be Regulated’ – But How?


March 18, 2022: Punk6529 on the Significance of Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks


Oct. 18, 2022: Do Kwon of Terra: ‘It Was Never Really About Money or Fame or Success’


July 31, 2018: Meltem Demirors and Jill Carlson on the Shitcoin Waterfall


Aug. 10, 2021: Is ETH on Its Way to Becoming Ultra-Sound Money? Yes, Says Justin Drake


Dec. 28, 2021: Why NFT OG Mitchell Chan Has Released Just One Project This Year


Oct. 28, 2022: The Mango Markets Attacker on Whether His ‘Trade’ Was Ethical or Not


Feb. 7, 2018: Xapo’s Wences Casares on How Bitcoin Makes a Fairer World


Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com

Copilot Money


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Lack of regulatory clarity” is the catchall complaint levied against U.S. regulators by most major players in the crypto industry. But the founders of Bosonic and Prometheum disagree. Both firms have spent years chasing the necessary regulatory approvals to compliantly trade digital assets, including those seen as securities. Last week, Prometheum secured a potentially landmark approval to operate as a special purpose broker-dealer for digital asset securities. Prometheum co-founder Aaron Kaplan and Rosario Ingargiola, founder of Bosonic, which earlier secured a similar approval, discuss why big players like Coinbase need to quit carping in the court of public opinion and do the hard work of getting approved.
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 Bosonic and Prometheum Capital do 

how Aaron and Rosario started working in crypto

what it means to be a special purpose broker-dealer

what the three-step letter from the SEC is and why it's relevant for scaling a digital asset business

how exchanges work in traditional finance and how crypto differs

why Aaron believes there’s a “pathway forward for crypto in the U.S.”

whether the argument that there’s a lack of regulatory clarity is convenient for crypto incumbents 

why Aaron agrees with SEC Chair Gary Gensler on his stance that everything except BTC is a security

how a token registration would work and what the nuances would be

why Coinbase’s approval to be a publicly traded company does not mean that the SEC is in line with the business

whether ETH is a security, with Aaron arguing it is and Rosario saying it’s a commodity

what the different requirements are for national securities exchanges and alternative trading systems

what Aaron and Rosario would tell existing crypto companies as it relates to compliance

whether regulation kills innovation

Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com
Guests:

Aaron Kaplan, co-CEO and co-founder of Prometheum


Rosario Ingargiola, Founder and CEO of Bosonic


Previous coverage of Unchained on crypto regulation: 

Ex-CFTC Commissioner Berkovitz Says ‘DeFi Should Be Regulated’ – But How?

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

Coinbase's Legal Action Against the SEC: How It Will Likely Unfold

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: 

SEC Proposal Could Bar Investment Advisers From Keeping Assets at Crypto Firms

U.S. SEC Moves Toward DeFi Oversight as It Reopens Proposed Regulations

Prepared Remarks of Gary Gensler On Crypto Markets Penn Law Capital Markets Association Annual Conference

SEC Issues Investigative Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

Unchained: 

SEC Chair Gary Gensler Avoids Question: ‘Is Ethereum a Security?’

Coinbase Seeks to Compel SEC Response to Rulemaking Petition

SEC Asks Court to Deny Coinbase Demand for Crypto Rules

Financial Institutions Hub: SEC Proposal Targets Crypto Exchanges, Trading Platforms, and Brokers

Emmer and Soto Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Provide Regulatory Clarity for Digital Assets


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s in the name: mint.fun. Co-founder Luke Miles joins the show to talk about his platform’s efforts to make NFTs more discoverable, accessible and fun. He also shares his on-the-ground perspectives on emerging trends in the NFT space – everything from Bitcoin Ordinals to the rise of Ethereum L2s as NFT hot spots. With last cycle’s NFT mania in the rearview, what’s next?
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 mint.fun is and what problems it solves for NFT users

how it is different from popular NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Blur

why mint.fun is also launching on Ethereum layer 2s

Luke’s thoughts on the current state of the NFT market 

why the narrative has shifted from PFP projects delivering a roadmap to the ‘single creator narrative’

the difference between open-edition mints and limited editions

why NFTs on layer 2s are “about to have a moment,” according to Luke

whether mint.fun will launch on other blockchains

what Luke thinks of Ordinals and the BRC-20 mania

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com

Stader Labs

Guest

Luke Miles, CEO of mint.fun

Links

Dune dashboard

Fundrop

Recent coverage on BRC-20s: Bitcoin’s BRC-20 Mania: Is It Sustainable?



Unchained:

What Is NFT Farming? A Beginner's Guide

Music NFTs: What Are They & How Do They Work?

A Guide to Yuga Labs: The Most Important NFT Company

Exploring the NFT blue chips

What Is an NFT Marketplace?


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to “The Chopping Block” – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner, chop it up about the latest news. In this episode, EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan explains his vision for providing “decentralized trust” to new projects on Ethereum. Was Vitalik Buterin’s recent “re-staking” post a shot across EigenLayer’s bow?
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 Sreeram has transitioned from academia into the world of crypto

why he believes that crypto is the “coordination highway”

what EigenLayer is – explained to a five-year-old, a high schooler, a day trader, a developer, and a crypto professor

how middleware enables technology innovation

where the value accrues if there’s no token for securing a blockchain

whether Vitalik is right in being concerned about the risk of corrupting validators

what EigenLayer did to minimize risks and externalities to Ethereum

whether protocols and applications will fork if they get hacked and whether Ethereum will “bail them out”

Hosts


Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly 


Robert Leshner, founder of Compound


Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly 


Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures

Guest


Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer

Previous appearances on Unchained: 

Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets?

Disclosures
Links

Don't overload Ethereum's consensus by Vitalik Buterin
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