This Week on Unchained: Modular vs. Monolithic, Bitcoin Turns 15, ETFs, Cypherpunks, and More!
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A History of Bitcoin: How the World’s First Digital Asset Went From Obscurity to Fame
Celebrating 15 years of Bitcoin: Unravel the story of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The past few days have been a busy stretch in the run-up to a potential spot Bitcoin ETF approval by the SEC. Goldman Sachs was revealed as a possible authorized participant (AP) for BlackRock and Grayscale’s offerings, the SEC met with representatives of major stock exchanges, and a report skeptical of an imminent SEC approval likely caused a 7% decline in Bitcoin. Spencer Bogart, general partner at venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, joined Unchained to break down what all of these events mean, as well as discuss who the likely winners will be among ETF issuers, the impact of a spot bitcoin ETF on companies such as MicroStrategy and Coinbase, and how a spot ETF will affect Bitcoin futures ETFs and leveraged crypto ETFs.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
In this episode, Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, Nick White, COO at Celestia, and Chris Burniske, partner at VC firm Placeholder discuss the differences between modular and monolithic, or integrated, blockchains, with Solana epitomizing the monolithic approach and Celestia the modular one. They all agree that both approaches have their merits and will likely coexist, but argue each lends itself to specific use cases and developer preferences. They also discuss what will drive the next crypto bull cycle, and each gives their best predictions for a specific development in the crypto industry in the next few years.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
The Chopping Block: If Vitalik Is the Pope of Crypto, Is Justin Sun the Inverse Pope?
Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. This week, they are joined by Laura Shin, the host of Unchained, to discuss the latest post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who argues that crypto needs to get back to its idealistic cypherpunk roots. Is Vitalik the Pope of crypto, as Haseeb argues, and is there even a need for such an exemplary-type figure? And how do other influential crypto folks like Solana’s Anatoly Yakovenko and Tron’s Justin Sun fit into this dynamic? The gang also discusses the likely imminent approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. and what it might mean for Bitcoin’s price and Ordinals Inscriptions.
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. Or watch it on YouTube.
In Case You Missed It 👀
Here are some of the most important news of this week:
How Will a Spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. Affect the Rest of the World?
The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States is likely to help spot ETF offerings — as well as Bitcoin’s overall development — in other parts of the world, too.
The Bitcoin Genesis Block Was Mined 15 Years Ago: What Is It and Why Is It Significant?
The first Bitcoin block was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency’s pseudonymous creator, in 2009, and there are several interesting mysteries associated with it.
Why Did Bitcoin’s Price Dip as ETF Approval Nears?
BTC retreated to as low as $41,800 Wednesday morning, down from a high of $45K Tuesday as pundits, quants and other crypto gadflies analyze every utterance, rumor and on-chain metric to make sense of the price swing.
Goldman Sachs Could Take Vital Role in BlackRock, Grayscale Spot Bitcoin ETFs: Report
The banking giant is reportedly considering an authorized participant role for spot bitcoin ETFs, which many expect to receive SEC approval this month.
DeFi Protocol EigenLayer Reaches Restaking Capacity, Pushing TVL Past $1.4 Billion
EigenLayer increased its restaking capacity in the middle of December, and since then the number of liquid staking tokens (LSTs) and ETH deposited into the protocol’s smart contracts has increased more than fivefold from about $250 million.
Orbit Chain Announces ‘Significant Clue’ in $81 Million New Year’s Eve Hack
The Dec. 31 breach capped a year when crypto hacks and scams totaled nearly $2 billion, down 50% from the previous 12 months.
Spot Bitcoin ETF Issuers Move One Step Closer to Potential Approval
BlackRock, ARK Invest and several other potential issuers filed amended SEC filings on Friday that would put in place stock exchange rule changes needed for the spot Bitcoin ETFs to be approved.
Opinion: Crypto’s pathway to widespread adoption: Compromise
Even if the SEC approves spot Bitcoin ETFs in the coming weeks, DeFi must make some effort to gain mass acceptance of crypto overall, writes Ramon Recuero.
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