I sat down for an insightful conversation with Yan Pritzker (@skwp), CTO of Swan. We discussed the recent controversy surrounding Swan's email to clients stating that future interactions with Bitcoin privacy tools (i.e. mixers) would result in their accounts being terminated. Here's Yan's followup tweet referenced in the podcast: https://twitter.co…

This is a conversation with Taylor Monahan (twitter.com/tayvano_) of MetaMask. Taylor is a respected figure in the Ethereum community, particularly due to her work uncovering and explaining crypto security issues and hacks. Here's a summary of the podcast's main topics by ChatGPT 4: KYC and AML Regulations: The podcast delves into the effectiveness…

Recently, the Bitcoin buying service Swan sent an email to its customers warning them that their banking & custodial partners would begin terminating accounts of end-users who engage in Bitcoin "mixing" for enhanced privacy. In this conversation, I discuss on a Twitter Space with @mineyour_biz, @JWVerret and @BTCxZelko whether or not Swan did the r…

Chris sits down with Zach Herbert (twitter.com/zachherbert) of Foundation Devices, maker of the Passport Bitcoin Wallet, to discuss the current landscape of Bitcoin and crypto hardware wallets. If you ever wondered what the difference is between the various Bitcoin and crypto hardware wallets on the market, this video is for you. Thanks to our spon…

Udi Wertheimer (https://twitter.com/udiWertheimer) is a controversial figure in the Bitcoin space. He's a founder of Taproot Wizards, huge proponents of bringing the Ordinal protocol to Bitcoin. In this conversation, we discuss Udi's motivations in the space, how he seeks to increase Bitcoin adoption with Ordinals, and whether he's concerned about …

This is a conversation with Matt Luongo, lead developer of tBTC.We decided to have this chat after exchanging some tweets debating whether or not non-technical crypto users are capable of having valid opinions on DeFi security that devs should take seriously.We also talk about what recently happened when the "FTX hacker" tried to use tBTC to bridge…

@ChrisBlec and @sovmindset engage in a profound discussion about personal freedom, its vulnerabilities, and the role of Bitcoin in safeguarding it.Concerns about Future Threats: Chris voices his apprehensions about the potential erosion of freedom, especially in the face of significant global events like pandemics. He fears that a more severe crisi…

This is a recording of a Twitter Space that I held the other day about the recent THORSwap / THORChain controversy with regard to the FTX hacker moving stolen funds through their system. Worth listening even if you aren't familiar with the THORChain ecosystem as it dives into the recent trend of developers complying with laws they may not even agre…

Justin Bons @justin_bons is the Founder & CIO of Cyber Capital, Europe’s Oldest Cryptocurrency Fund. He's also a full-time crypto researcher since 2014. In this fun conversation, we go into these topics and more: Risks External Forces May Pose to Crypto PoS vs. PoW Challenges to Bitcoin & Ethereum Governance Compliance vs. Decentralization SPONSORS…

In this episode of Chris Blec Conversations, Chris (https://twitter.com/chrisblec) and Craig Raw (https://twitter.com/craigraw) of Sparrow Wallet (https://twitter.com/sparrowwallet) delve into the intricacies of Bitcoin, its ecosystem, and the challenges it faces from both internal and external forces. They discuss the importance of privacy and the…

Seth for Privacy (https://twitter.com/sethforprivacy) returns to discuss the controversial "Privacy Pools" idea recently launched by Vitalik Buterin, Ameen Soleimani and others on Ethereum. Thanks to our sponsor Foundation Devices! Check out their Passport Bitcoin Hardware Wallet at https://foundationdevices.com Follow Chris Blec on Twitter at …

Seth For Privacy is an educator and privacy advocate. He works for Foundation Devices as their Head of Content, he’s been an outspoken Monero community member for 5 years and he’s worked on education & adoption of Monero along with Bitcoin and other freedom tech. We talk a lot about what holds me back from going all in on Monero and whether native …

On this episode, I speak with the pseudonymous lead dev of Samourai Wallet, the leading Bitcoin privacy wallet. We share opinions on the Tornado Cash indictment and discuss in detail what it may mean for the future of Bitcoin privacy as well as for developers who work on privacy tech. Website: https://samouraiwallet.com Twitter: https://tw…

Alex Gluchowski is the co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs, which is the company behind zkSync, which is a Layer 2 being built on top of Ethereum. This is a conversation that will really open your eyes with regard to the security around Layer 2s and who you actually have to trust when you put your money there. Website: https://zksync.io Twit…

Frances Coppola is an outspoken writer and speaker on banking, finance and economics, and a well-known critic of cryptocurrency. She’s the author of a book called “The Case for People's Quantitative Easing". We’ve had some run-ins on Twitter in the past so I was really excited to get to hash a few things out in real time. Website: https://coppo…

Bruce Fenton is an OG Bitcoiner - he's been involved with Bitcoin for 11 years - and he’s host of the prestigious Satoshi Roundtable annual gathering. He ran in the Republican Primary for the US Senate last year in New Hampshire. He’s also been in the business of securities for 30 years as CEO of Chainstone Labs and owner of SEC registered broker W…

Lyn Alden is the founder of the Lyn Alden Investment Strategy, a great blog at https://lynalden.com, and the author of the upcoming book Broken Money. Website: https://lynalden.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/lynaldencontact -- Thank you to our sponsor, Foundation Devices! https://foundationdevices.com -- Visit Chris …

Gabriel Shapiro (@lex_node on Twitter) is the General Counsel for Delphi Labs. He's also a member of the LexPunk Army, an open-source legal resource for DAOs & other crypto projects. We discuss crypto lawyers, crypto ethics, lawmaking & regulations and much more. Twitter: https://twitter.com/lex_node -- Thank you to our sponsor, Foundat…

Jameson Lopp is the co-founder & CTO of Casa, which protects your bitcoin and ethereum with multiple keys stored in separate places for extra security. He’s also the creator of bitcoin.page, probably the best one-stop resource of info about Bitcoin that you can find on the web. Most importantly, he’s an OG cypherpunk who’s been involved with Bitcoi…

Andrew M. Bailey is an Associate Professor at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, a fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, and a co-author of the upcoming book "Resistance Money: The Philosophical Case for Bitcoin". Twitter: https://twitter.com/resistancemoney Website: https://resistance.money -- Thank you to our sponsor, Foundation…

Chris Blec is joined by Nick Fett of Tellor to discuss the critical role that oracles play in DeFi. Some of the topics covered: what makes Tellor unique in the oracle space the challenges of running a trustless & decentralized project without taking shortcuts the perils of accepting VC money Chainlink's centralization issues and more! If you want t…

Chris Blec is joined by Bartek Kiepuszewski, Co-Founder of L2Beat to discuss the security risks & trust requirements that come along with popular Ethereum Layer 2s. Some of the topics covered: How L2Beat got started as a MakerDAO research project the risks of a whitelisted validator system what it means to have a centralized sequencer what kind of …

Chris Blec chats with Darren Langers, General Manager of Rocket Pool about the Ethereum staking scene. Some of the topics covered: How Rocket Pool tries to address ETH2 staking in a decentralized way; the dangers presented by Lido's more centralized staking solution; how Ethereum staking actually works; the difference between liquid staking (rETH) …

Chris Blec engages in a high intensity chat about DeFi multisigs with Mudit Gupta, Chief Information Security Officer of Polygon. Some of the topics covered: Details on which aspects of Polygon are secured by multisigs What users can and cannot know about how the multisigs are secured Whether it's safe for users to trust Polygon's multisig security…

Carolyn Reckhow of Thesis, the developer of the new Tally Ho Ethereum wallet, joins Chris Blec for an honest chat about the new community-backed wallet project and how it can serve as an alternative to MetaMask. Some of the topics covered: Carolyn's history with Ethereum including time spent at ConsenSys how the Tally Ho wallet project came to be t…

Zac Williamson, CEO of Aztec Network, joins Chris Blec for a blunt chat about the challenges & benefits of building a privacy-focused Layer 2 on Ethereum. Some of the topics covered: the background of the project how Aztec Network works the nature of privacy and why it's critical whether or not building to regulator specs makes sense the benefits &…

Marc Boiron, General Counsel for dYdX & Committee Member for DeFi Education Fund, joins Chris Blec for a refreshingly honest chat about the influence that venture capital and corporations may or may not have over DeFi regulation. -- SUPPORT: chrisblec.eth Follow Chris Blec on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ChrisBlec Follow Marc Boiron on Twitter at…

SW, co-founder of Samourai Wallet, joins Chris Blec for an honest chat about running one of the most popular Bitcoin privacy wallets available. Some of the topics covered: benefits of developers staying anonymous in the Bitcoin space importance of having strong principles as a Bitcoin/DeFi developer the negative influence that venture capital can h…

On this episode, Chris Blec is joined by Kolten of Liquity to discuss the stablecoin project in detail and better understand how decentralized it really is. The conversation dives deep into how Liquity works, how it's different from competitors like MakerDAO and USDC, how the use of oracles affects the project's decentralization, why Liquity chose …

On this episode, Chris Blec digs deep into the question "What is a DAO?" with John, Chris and Augusto of the DeFi-building DAO, DXdao. The conversation explores whether or not the term "DAO" should have a strict definition, what different forms a DAO can take, and explores the recent ConstitutionDAO phenomenon and whether it was good or bad for the…

Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO & Founder of Solana Labs, joins Chris Blec for a frank chat about the level of decentralization of Solana as compared to mainstay blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the impact that Solana validators can have on the state of the network, how the Solana project was conceived, whether or not the SOL token truly has real valu…

Chad Barraford of THORChain joins Chris Blec for an amazingly candid chat about the successes and challenges that the novel cross-chain DeFi project has faced over the past 1-2 years. Topics covered include THORChain history, exploits, the stress of being a DeFi dev, the difficulty of trading decentralization for security & much more. Learn more ab…

Listen in on this honest discussion between Chris Blec (DeFi Watch) and Yago (Sovryn). In this conversation, we dive deep into the Bitcoin Layer 2 RootStock a.k.a. RSK and the intricacies of Sovryn's lending & borrowing, swapping tools and decentralized stablecoin tech. If you are a DeFi project member that would like to engage in a future Proof Of…

Join this live discussion between Chris Blec (DeFi Watch) and Alex Gluchowski (Matter Labs & zkSync). The goal of this conversation is to learn about zkSync, their Ethereum Layer 2 solution, and discuss its level of decentralization. If you are a DeFi project member that would like to engage in a future Proof Of Decentralization chat, please DM @Ch…

Join this live discussion between Chris Blec (DeFi Watch) and Douglas Horn (Telos). The goal of this conversation is to learn what Telos is, why the world needs it, and to what extent it can be considered decentralized. This conversation is happening as a result of an open call that Chris put out on Twitter for any projects that want to discuss the…