Author: CoinDesk

Part of what makes DeFi interesting to people is how it takes advantage of open source protocols to enable types of transactions never before available. The problem, however, is that financial structures mean new financial vulnerabilities.

In the last few days, two attacks on bZx have used a similar strategy of manipulating the price of synthetic assets in the context of a new instrument called 'flashloans'. On this episode of @nlw breaks down exactly 

• How the attacks were carried out 
• How the community is responding 
• What the larger ramifications for DeFi might be

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CoinDesk reporter Leigh Cuen is joined by the Human Rights Foundation’s Alex Gladstein and Syrian entrepreneur Moe Ghashim to discuss how cultural context shapes the way people view bitcoin, including stories from the Middle East.

Many bitcoiners see cryptocurrency as a cypherpunk tool that enhances personal freedoms, with cypherpunk meaning “using privacy tech to promote social change.” There are diverse users around the world gaining this type of value from bitcoin, but they rarely give interviews or are seen on stage at conferences. 

Later we’ll explore the risks of governments impacting the bitcoin ecosystem, through regulatory enforcement, censorship and market manipulation. Then we’ll dive into what everyone can do to enhance bitcoin’s usability through education.

Want more? Leigh has several articles exploring such use cases, everything from why protesters in Lebanon are turning to bitcoin to the possibility that dictators may also participate in the crypto ecosystem

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The best Sundays are for long reads and deep conversations. With the price of bitcoin headed up again, the idea of blockchains and digital currencies has never been more palatable to the mainstream. We've seen this cycle before, but could this time be different?

This episode of Let's Talk Bitcoin! is sponsored by Brave.com and eToro.com

Today's discussion features Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy and Adam B. Levine

Editing by Jonas, featuring music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats

Today's episode features audio clips from CNBC, C-SPAN and Figure.com

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CoinDesk's Head of Research Noelle Acheson joins Ophelia (Amun's co-founder and president) and Lanre (Amun's researcher) to discuss the advantages, disadvantages and eccentricities of crypto markets, exchanges, settlement and more.

The group discusses the differences in the market microstructure between the crypto asset industry and traditional capital markets. The guests drew from their experience within capital markets understand the intricacies of the crypto market.

AlbumPhoto by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

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There’s no denying that 2020 is off to a roaring start. From prices to volume to social media, sentiment is up up up. 

But what’s driving it? On this special Valentine’s Day episode, @nlw reacts to listeners votes about which narratives are most driving the shift in energy, discussing: 

• The BTC halving
• Coronavirus and volatility
• Fed action
• Central bank digital currency intrigue
• Ethereum and DeFi
• Price reflexivity and Lindy effects 

The episode finishes up with some hot takes on what is driving the markets and what we should be most concerned about and most excited for with Ikigai Asset Management’s Travis Kling.

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We're joined by CoinDesk senior reporter Leigh Cuen to discuss developments and implications in the case alleged against Larry Dean Harmon.

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To look at the US Government, it is the best of times and the worst of times for personal financial privacy. 

On the one hand, in comments before the Senate Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says that FINCEN is planning more strict regulations around anti-money laundering and crypto. 

At the same time, the CEO of DropBit was arrested on money laundering charges around a bitcoin mixing service he allegedly ran between 2014 and 2017. In this new enforcement regime, one of the government’s major partners is Chainalysis, who have seen more than $10m in Federal agency contracts since 2015. 

Yet privacy advocates are also surprisingly enthused by comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell, who suggested in testimony to Congress that any potential US digital dollar would need to be privacy preserving.

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With blockchain puppets (we really mean it) on TV, CNBC pushing the bitcoin-as-gold narrative and The Guardian seeing connections between coronavirus and bitcoin's recent rally, we've got a lot to talk about on today's episode of The Breakdown.

After Monday’s quick retrace, bitcoin and the rest of the market went green again. In this episode, @nlw breaks down the shifting sentiment, looking at:

• How a partnership between Hedara Hashgraph and Google Cloud pumped HBAR more than 50% - featuring commentary from Hedara CEO Mance Harmon 
• Why Figure is launching a TV campaign to educate people about blockchain
• CNBC Fast Money actively (and convincingly) promoting the narrative of bitcoin as a safe haven asset.

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Last week, Blockstack announced a new proposal through which node operators would be rewarded in bitcoin. The concept behind Proof of Transfer is that, for the cryptoasset ecosystem to run, electricity should only have to be converted into digital scarcity once. 

In this interview with @nlw, Blockstack CEO Muneeb Ali explains how, by tying the security of Blockstack’s Stacks blockchain to bitcoin, and allowing miners to be rewarded with BTC, Blockstack might be setting a new precedent for how the crypto ecosystem looks to bitcoin as a base layer. 

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Last week, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce proposed Rule 195 to give token projects a 3 year safe harbor. This proposed period would allow them to distribute tokens without fear of violating securities law so long as they achieve certain standards of decentralization in that time.

Coinlist is a platform for compliant token sales. On this episode of The Breakdown, Coinlist CEO Andy Bromberg and @nlw discuss:

• The cost of regulatory clarity in the US, including projects leaving US shores
• Historic approaches to “compliant” token sales and what problems they still leave
• What Commissioner Hester Peirce’s proposed Rule 195 includes 
• The potential implications for the US crypto markets 
• The chances that Rule 195 comes to pass

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