Staking Legal Issues, Celestia, Crypto Journalism, and More!
This Week on Unchained: Don't miss the interviews with crypto lawyers Kayvan Sadeghi and Sam Enzer, and Mustafa Al-Bassam, cofounder of Celestia. Plus, a new episode of TCB.
Why the SEC Lawsuit Against Consensys May Hold Little Ground
Past rulings, such as the Coinbase and Binance cases, undermine the allegations made by Gary Gensler’s agency, the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), in its lawsuit against Consensys.
In this episode, crypto lawyers Kayvan Sadeghi and Sam Enzer delve into the SEC’s lawsuit against Consensys, which focuses on MetaMask’s swaps and staking services, and explore the implications of the SEC’s stance on MetaMask acting as a broker-dealer, and the classification of its staking product as a security.
They discuss how recent rulings on Coinbase and Binance challenge the SEC’s claims, and whether differing judicial opinions could lead to the Supreme Court.
Also, they talk about the potential impact of the Supreme Court striking down Chevron deference for crypto regulation.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
How Satoshi Nakamoto and Vitalik Buterin Inspired Key Parts of Celestia
Mustafa Al-Bassam, cofounder of Celestia, shares his most vivid stories of his early days of hacking, the next steps for Celestia, and what he’s cautious about.
Mustafa Al-Bassam was a teenage hacktivist who outsmarted US government contractor, shamed the Westboro Baptist Church, hacked Sony a record number of times and eventually got arrested—though his 80 transgressions got halved for a funny reason.
At the Modular Summit in Brussels, Laura had a fireside chat with Mustafa to discuss how he went from his teenage years as the head of LulzSec and member of Anonymous to founding Celestia, a project aiming to solve key issues in blockchain scalability by going with a modular approach.
He also discussed data availability sampling, why he believes Celestia has achieved significant product-market fit since its launch, and the three key components of Celestia’s roadmap.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
The Chopping Block: The Role of Media in Crypto, Blockworks Op-Ed, and Apps vs. Infrastructure
Trust in Crypto Journalism, Apps vs. Infrastructure, and Media Controversies.
Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Robert Leshner, and Tarun Chitra explore the latest trends in the crypto world. In this episode, Jason Yanowitz from Blockworks joins the squad to explore the media’s significant role in the crypto industry. They discuss challenges faced by the media in meeting client demands and industry expectations, and highlight financial sustainability and biases. The hosts compare crypto media to mainstream journalism, examining the balance between journalistic integrity and revenue. They critique broader media trends, discussing monopolistic narratives and public dissatisfaction, with a specific look at political coverage. The episode concludes with reflections on the media’s evolving role in truth dissemination amidst industry fragmentation.
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.
In Case You Missed It 👀
Here are some articles you will probably want to read:
Friend.Tech Token Reaches All-Time Low as Two Other Metrics Plummet
After it dropped plans to launch its own chain, multiple of Friend.tech’s main metrics dropped, while users criticized them for “greed or incompetence.”
BTC on Exchanges at More Than Five-Year Low Amid German Government Selling
While the German government has been transferring large sums of bitcoin to exchanges and market makers, exchanges are holding a multi-year record low of BTC, suggesting that people are self-custodying their assets or using custodial entities.
Ethereum Foundation and Immunefi Launch ‘Attackathon’ With Plans to Raise $2 Million Reward Pool
The crowd-sourced security audit competition will reward security researchers for identifying vulnerabilities in Ethereum’s code.
Aave DAO Delegate Takes Aim at MakerDAO Over Spark Profit Sharing Deal
The Aave Chan Initiative’s Marc Zeller claims that “creative accounting” by MakerDAO puts the actual revenue share from Spark Lend much closer to 1% of profit, as opposed to the agreed upon 10%.
Solana’s Firedancer Client Builds First Block on Testnet
Jump Crypto’s Firedancer achieved a key milestone on the testnet. The high-performance Solana validator client has been in the works since 2022.
Both Bitcoin and Ether Are Commodities: CFTC Chair Rostin Benham
Nearly a decade of digital asset experience has given the CFTC staff a deep understanding of the digital asset market, said the agency’s chairman Rostin Benham.
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