Unchained Laura Shin

With ETH spot ETFs now more likely than ever, Bits + Bips hosts James Seyffart, Alex Kruger, and Joe McCann delve into the reasons behind this shift, surmising that the reversal may have come from powers above the SEC—perhaps in the Biden administration.
The three hosts surmise that ETH will likely reach all-time highs, discuss how this changes their election trading strategy and ponder where there is enough institutional demand for ether ETFs. They also look at whether the potential approval could sway the US elections. 
Plus, they share insights into stablecoins and how they strengthen the US’s political power globally, dive into the debate on low float/high FDV coins, and also take a peek at what they think could be the potential next crypto spot ETF.
Show highlights:

Why the chances of an ETH ETF suddenly reversed

What the "Coinbase premium" is and how Joe uses it for trading

Why Alex believes that ETH is heading to all-time highs

Whether there's institutional demand for spot ether ETFs

The political pressure that led to this change

Whether the ETH ETF will change the course of the US elections

The broader macroeconomics conditions and how Alex thinks to trade the US elections

How US dollar-pegged stablecoins promote USD hegemony

The debate about high FDV, low float coins, and whether there is a solution

Whether new crypto spot ETFs will be approved


Hosts:


James Seyffart, Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence


Alex Kruger, Founder of Asgard


Joe McCann, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric

Links
Ether ETF approval:

Unchained: Analysts Up Odds of Spot Ether ETF to 75% as Prometheum Launches Product That Treats ETH as a Security


CoinDesk: Ether ETFs Filing Process Sees Abrupt Progress, Though Approval Not Guaranteed: Sources


The Block: Fidelity files amended S-1 registration statement, removing staking rewards from prospective Ethereum ETF


Unchained Podcast: Why Spot Ether ETFs Are Now Likely to Be Approved on Thursday


High FDV, low float coins:
Unchained: Who’s to Blame for the Underperformance of Low Float, High FDV Tokens?


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Just when everyone thought that spot Ether ETFs were going to be denied on Thursday, news broke Monday that they are now likely to be approved, with Bloomberg analysts tripling their odds to a 75% chance of approval. 
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise Asset Management, say this reversal definitely has to do with politics, citing the fight of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, a rule that was unfriendly to financial institutions wanting to engage with crypto. 
Plus, they delve into the reasons why Michael Sonnenshein stepped down as CEO of Grayscale after 10 years (hint: it has to do with GBTC), what the 13F filings revealed about who’s been buying the spot bitcoin ETFs since the beginning of the year, and what Vanguard’s incoming CEO, Salim Ramji, who was instrumental to getting BlackRock to launch its Bitcoin ETF, could mean for crypto’s future at the asset management firm.
Show highlights:

Why Eric believes the ether ETFs will be approved

Why Matt thinks the Bitcoin ETFs set off a "complete sea change in Washington around crypto"

Whether the spot Ether ETFs will be approved with or without staking

Who the authorized participants and other behind-the-scenes players in the ether ETFs will be

When the ETH ETFs could start trading and why Eric believes they won't be as successful as Bitcoin ETFs

What the 13F filings revealed about the spot Bitcoin ETFs buyers and why their identities are "stunning"

Why Michael Sonnenshein stepped down as CEO of Grayscale

Grayscale’s new mini ETF, BTC

Whether Vanguard's new CEO appointment could mean a change in attitude by the asset management firm towards crypto

What a buffered ETF is and why they could be significant

Matt's prediction for the BTC price

Their outlook on the future of ETFs and developments in the space

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
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Guests:


Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management

Previous appearances on Unchained: 

How Small Bitcoin ETF Issuers Will Compete With the Likes of BlackRock

Why a Spot Bitcoin ETF Will Probably Launch No Later Than January 10


Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence

Previous appearances on Unchained:

How, in 7 Weeks, Bitcoin ETFs Reached Inflows That Took Gold ETFs 3 Years

Why Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Likely to Finally Start Trading on Thursday

Will a Spot Bitcoin ETF Finally Get Approved?


Links
Ether ETFs

Unchained: Analysts Up Odds of Spot Ether ETF to 75% as Prometheum Launches Product That Treats ETH as a Security


CoinDesk: Ether ETFs Filing Process Sees Abrupt Progress, Though Approval Not Guaranteed: Sources


The Block: Fidelity files amended S-1 registration statement, removing staking rewards from prospective Ethereum ETF




SAB 121

Bloomberg: As Bitcoin Rallies, Banks Are Pushing US Regulators to Change Crypto Guidance 

Unchained: Senate Votes to Kill SAB 121 Custody Bill: How Crypto Became So Political


13F Filings
Unchained: Large Institutions Betting Big on Bitcoin ETFs Revealed in SEC Filings

Leadership changes

CoinDesk: Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein Steps Down, to Be Replaced by TradFi Veteran


WSJ: Meet Salim Ramji, Who Is Going to Oversee the Retirement Assets of Tens of Millions of Americans




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In this episode, Evan Zinaman, founder and principal at Trailbreak, delves into the first-of-its-kind case of the Bueno brothers, who face Department of Justice charges for exploiting Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) in a cryptocurrency scheme. Accused of manipulating transaction ordering to create an arbitrage opportunity, the brothers are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud as well as wire fraud itself. 
Zinaman explores the broader implications of MEV exploitation, addresses critics who say that the MEV exploiters just got a taste of their own medicine, and the need for block building participants to consider their legal and compliance responsibilities.
Show highlights:

What the charges against the Bueno brothers are about

How block building works on Ethereum and how the relay was manipulated by the Bueno brothers

The different types of MEV and which ones are acceptable 

Why these charges could be seen as a "vanilla fraud," according to Evan

Whether the benefits of MEV outweigh the cons of it

The lack of terms of service in the MEV space

How the regulators' attention to the space has changed over time

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
First Bits + Bips episode: Bits + Bips: Does Macroeconomics Point to a Potential Crypto Supercycle?
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Guest


Evan Zinaman, Founder & Principal at Trailbreak


Where the Rubber Meets the Road: A MEV-Aware, Functionalist Review of OFAC Risk "on the Base Layer"

Links

Previous coverage on Unchained of MEV:

Why MEV Will Always Be Controversial

The Chopping Block: Why the Once-Taboo MEV Is Now a Core Part of Ethereum

The Mango Markets Attacker on Whether His 'Trade' Was Ethical or Not

The Chopping Block: ‘Code Is Law’ Is ‘Obviously Not How Anything Works Ever’

The Case:
Unchained: DOJ Alleges Two Brothers Stole $25 Million From MEV Bots Last Year

Research:

Blockchain Transaction Ordering as Market Manipulation by Mikolaj et al
Learn more: 

What Are Sandwich Attacks in Crypto? A Beginner's Guide

What Is MEV in Crypto?


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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and special guest Laura Shin explore the latest trends in the crypto world. In this episode, we touch on how Donald Trump's pro-crypto statements influence voter behavior in the upcoming U.S. elections. We ask ourselves, is voting based solely on crypto policy a legitimate strategy? What are the implications of the Biden administration's stance on crypto regulations for future electoral outcomes? Following the political discussion, we unpack the recent GameStop and AMC pump and dissect the viability of their business models. We bring to light the broader implications for memestocks and whether the increased capital really saves these companies. Tune in for a detailed exploration of these critical questions affecting the interplay of politics, finance, and cryptocurrency.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights
🔹 Crypto's Role in U.S. Politics: Trump's pro-crypto stance at a recent gala and its potential implications for voter behavior are examined.
🔹 Single Issue Voting on Crypto: The legitimacy of voting based solely on crypto policy is debated, with insights into how this could impact the political landscape.
🔹 Opinions on Financial Regulations: The various aspects of financial regulation, including the Biden's administration's stance on crypto, and predictions on how this might influence future electoral outcomes.
🔹 Roaring Kitty’s resurgence and its impact on GameStop's stock prices are discussed, analyzing the ongoing influence of meme stocks in the market.
🔹 Retail's Impact on Financial Markets and the broader implications of retail investment behaviors.

Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly 
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate
⭐️Laura Shin, journalist, author of ‘The Cryptopians,’ founder and CEO of Unchained

Disclosures
Links
Blockworks article: https://blockworks.co/news/only-a-fool-would-vote-on-crypto-alone 
Trump’s 2019 Tweet: https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1149472282584072192 
SAB121: https://financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409250 
Roaring Kitty Tweet: https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1789807772542067105 

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Erik Voorhees, a crypto OG, has launched Venice, a private, uncensorable, open-source competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, powered by a decentralized crypto network. 
In the episode, Erik and Venice’s COO Teana Baker-Taylor delve into the problems with censorship and data in current AI agents, including how they create honeypots of information about users’ search history for hackers, or that they can be absurdly politically correct, such as refusing to create images of Caucasian people. As they point out, there’s also the risk that the companies managing them could be censoring the models to please the Chinese government, in order to access the market in that country. They talk about their plan for Venice to gain market share, considering that DuckDuckGo, a privacy-preserving competitor to Google, has a much smaller market share. And they explain why they intend for Venice to eventually use the compute of Morpheus, or other decentralized crypto-powered compute networks. 
They also critique the SEC’s current regulatory approach to crypto, calling it “a joke.” Additionally, they explore the concept of AI agents using cryptocurrencies as their primary currency.
Show highlights:

Why Erik decided to move into artificial intelligence and merge it with crypto

What problems decentralized AI would solve and why it's hard to solve sexist and racist views in LLMs

The differences between ChatGPT and other similar products and Venice AI

Why privacy is so important for users, according to Erik, and how Venice doesn't store the users' information

How central governments could manipulate information to their own benefit and how to avoid it

Whether people will shift from using search engines to LLMs

What Morpheus is and its goal to provide decentralized computation for AI

How Erik and Teana believe crypto and AI will continue to work together 

Erik's and Teana's thoughts on some of the recent government actions against founders of crypto privacy services such as Samourai Wallet andTornado Cash

Why Erik believes that the SEC has become a joke


Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
First Bits + Bips episode: Bits + Bips: Does Macroeconomics Point to a Potential Crypto Supercycle?
Thank you to our sponsors!

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Guests:


Erik Voorhees, Founder and CEO of Venice AI

Previous appearances on Unchained:

Erik Voorhees and Cobie on Why FTX Loaned Out Customers’ Assets

Why ShapeShift’s Erik Voorhees Thinks Toxic Bitcoin Maximalism Is B******t

Shapeshift’s Erik Voorhees on How Crypto Will Separate Money and State


Teana Baker-Taylor, COO at Venice AI

Links
Previous coverage on Unchained of crypto/AI:

When AI and Blockchain Meet, How Can Each Technology Benefit?

The Chopping Block: Why AI Will Change the Course of History in Crypto

5 Use Cases of AI in Blockchain

A Beginner's Guide to AI Tokens


Venice AI:

Erik’s thread announcing Venice 

The Separation of Mind and State

Architecture:

About Morpheus.Network

Messari: What is Akash Network?


LLMs:

MIT Technology Review: LLMs become more covertly racist with human intervention


China Talk: Censorship’s Impact on China’s Chatbots - by Nicholas Welch


Recent cases on privacy:

CoinDesk: Samourai Wallet Founders Arrested and Charged With Money Laundering


Cointelegraph: DOJ’s Tornado Cash arguments show ‘obvious disdain for privacy’ — Lawyer


CNBC: North Korea crypto hacking activity soars to record high in 2023, new report shows


Reuters: Exclusive: UN experts investigate 58 cyberattacks worth $3 bln by North Korea


Erik’s post on the right to have privacy


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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and special guest Avichal Garg from Electric Capital dissect the latest trends in the crypto world. This episode dives deep into the buzz around EigenLayer’s airdrop: What sparked the controversy and how did EigenLayer respond to community backlash? We then explore LayerZero’s unique self-reporting strategy to combat Sybil farmers and analyze Friend.Tech’s bold, no-VC token launch. The discussion heats up with a look at ConsenSys’ proactive lawsuit against the SEC, setting the stage for a showdown over regulatory clarity. We also delve into Robinhood’s decision to challenge the SEC’s Wells Notice amidst soaring earnings, and tackle the ongoing debate between VC-backed tokens and memecoins: Which is captivating the market? Finally, we predict the future of SocialFi and its potential to revolutionize the crypto landscape. Join us for an insightful exploration of these pivotal topics shaping the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Show highlights
🔹 Breaking down the EigenLayer airdrop controversy and its impact on the community.
🔹 Exploring LayerZero's self-reporting mechanism to combat Sybil attacks.
🔹 Assessing Fantasy Top's growth and its significance in the NFT trading landscape.
🔹 Predicting the trajectory of SocialFi and its potential to reshape the crypto landscape.
🔹 Detailing Consensys’ proactive lawsuit against the SEC over regulatory clarity.
🔹 Robinhood's SEC Challenge and analyzing Robinhood's decision to fight the SEC’s Wells Notice amid record earnings.
🔹 VC Coins vs. Memecoins: Exploring the ongoing debate about the dominance and appeal of VC-backed tokens versus memecoins.
🔹 The Future of SocialFi: Predicting the trajectory of SocialFi and its potential to reshape the crypto landscape.


Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly 
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

Guest
⭐️ Avichal Garg, Co-Founder and General Partner at Electric Capital.

Disclosures
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