Blockchain Bylines

On today's episode of The Blockchain.com Podcast, we're joined by Charlie McGarraugh, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Markets here at Blockchain.com.  While crypto prices plummeted in May, gold had its best month since July of last year, up 8% for the month. Garrick Hileman - Blockchain.com's Head of Research - and Charlie discussed what's happening with gold, crypto prices, and tokenized gold like Blockchain.com's own DGLD token.  In this episode, we discuss: Charlie’s background as a gold trader at Goldman Sachs and the structure of global gold markets why tokenizing traditional assets like gold is useful, and what functionality and advantages tokenization brings Are gold and bitcoin more competitive or complementary? Blockchain.com’s tokenized gold product called DGLD - how it is constructed, where the gold is stored, and its new wrapped version called wDGLD that can be stored and transacted in the Blockchain.com wallet Enjoy!  ---- Previous podcasts with Charlie McGarraugh - Episode 10: The Crypto Markets with Charlie McGarraugh and Episode 27: Is the crypto bull market still intact?  Blockchain.com's Gold Token Primer and Going for Gold? A Research Primer on Gold-Backed Crypto Tokens. More reading - November Markets: Bitcoin sets a new all time high while gold plunged, A Classic, Now Digital. DGLD Now Exclusively Available on the Blockchain.com Exchange, and Wrapped-DGLD brings Swiss vault held Gold to Ethereum.  Even more reading - What is wrapped-DGLD (wDGLD)? and Why do I need ETH to send wDGLD?

On today's episode of The Blockchain.com Podcast our CEO, Peter Smith, and Head of Research, Garrick Hileman, host Niall Ferguson. Niall is currently a Senior Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and the author of 16 books, including a new book titled Doom.   During their conversation, the three discussed a range of topics including, What historical period may be most relevant to understanding if the current inflationary price pressures are transitory or something more troubling What impact inflation could have on markets The significance of El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender and what's happening with crypto adoption throughout Latin America The latest of China's crypto crackdown and why policymakers around the world are struggling to develop a grand strategy for regulating crypto And why many macro economists keep getting crypto wrong 

This month's Market Outlook event, we were joined by Muneeb Ali, Stacks Founder and CEO of Hiro.  Our Head of Research, Garrick Hileman, and Co-founder, Nicolas Cary, discussed with Muneeb Stacks' work to build DeFi on Bitcoin - how that's possible and the advantages of building on Bitcoin as opposed to Ethereum and other blockchains - how you can earn 10% yield by using Stacks, and Muneeb's outlook on how smart contracts and other blockchain powered applications will eventually collapse back to being built on top of bitcoin. Enjoy!

On today's episode of The Blockchain.com Podcast, Garrick Hileman - visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and Head of Research at Blockchain.com - sits down with Charlie McGarraugh - Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Markets - to discuss the current state of the crypto markets. In this episode, we get Charlie's take on:  Whether the crypto bull run market is still intact Is bitcoin's status as the reserve asset intact in light of growing environmental concerns Why measures like bitcoin dominance are poor measures to watch and what you should really be watching The evolving China regulatory situation and why there is some upside to a crackdown in China DeFi, Ethereum, and what key upside and downside catalysts Charlie is keeping an eye out for over the coming months Enjoy!

Crypto taxes are gaining attention, and not just because assets like bitcoin and ethereum continue to make new all-time highs. Policymakers around the world have been debating the issue of crypto taxes and with relatively new types of crypto activity it can all be a bit confusing. Today's episode of The Blockchain.com Podcast covers part 3 of our Navigating Crypto Taxes series. Blockchain.com's Head of Research, Garrick Hileman, is joined by Austin Woodward, Co-Founder and CEO of TaxBit to discuss a range of topics, including... How TaxBit is both similar and different from traditional tax software firms and products Austin's view on where US and International crypto tax policy is heading in regards to compliance Why the automation of tax compliance at the protocol level for DeFi is something we're likely to see in the future Enjoy! Blockchain.com's 2020 Guide to US Crypto Taxes

Crypto taxes are gaining attention, and not just because assets like bitcoin and ethereum continue to make new all-time highs. Policymakers around the world have been debating the issue of crypto taxes and with relatively new types of crypto activity it can all be a bit confusing. Today's episode of The Blockchain.com Podcast covers part 2 of our Navigating Crypto Taxes series. Blockchain.com's Head of Research, Garrick Hileman, is joined by Shehan Chandrasekera, Head of Tax Strategy about CoinTracker.io to discuss a range of topics including... Various tax saving strategies Tax questions surround DeFi and transactions on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap How the IRS knows you have crypto and how future changes at the protocol level may help boost tax compliance Enjoy! Blockchain.com's 2020 Guide to US Crypto Taxes

During this month's Market Outlook, we were joined by Aaron Wright, Clinical Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School and co-founder of OpenLaw. Our Head of Research, Garrick Hileman, and Co-founder, Nicolas Cary, discussed with Aaron all things DAOs or decentralized autonomous organizations. In this episode they break down DAOs, diving into questions such as what are DAOs, when did they first start gaining traction, what is the significance of the Wyoming DAO legislation and what is the long-term vision for DAOs in terms of the future of work and e-government. Enjoy!

On today's episode, our Head of Research Garrick Hileman sits down with Sergii Gerasymovych to discuss bitcoin's energy consumption. One of the most common topics of scrutiny surrounding bitcoin and crypto assets is their energy consumption. But as we learn today bitcoin mining is actually helping the environment.  Sergii is the founder and CEO of EZ Blockchain, one of the leading bitcoin mining companies focused on flared gas and stranded natural gas. During the episode, they address a range of topics, including... How mining with flared gas works What common questions Sergii faces in conversations with oil and gas producers when discussing bitcoin mining How and where the market for mining with flared gas is expanding. 

For today's episode, Blockchain.com's Head of Research, Garrick Hileman, reads his article titled "Crypto-Wall Street Convergence". It was first published in July of last year and makes the case that the long heralded arrival to crypto of traditional financial institutions (like banks) was underway. Read the article here: https://medium.com/blockchain/crypto-wall-street-convergence-881a6c3d2dee

On today's episode of The Blockchain.com Podcast, our Head of Research, Garrick Hileman, is joined by Yuriy Anosov. Yuriy is the Head of Trading at Anchorage, one of the leading crypto custodial firms focused on institutions. They discuss a range of topics, including the current state of crypto market infrastructure what barriers to further institutional adoption of crypto still exist today and why Yuriy is happy to see a decline in bitcoin's dominance, which is a term that refers to bitcoin's share of the total market value of all cryptoassets Blockchain.com's Crypto-Wall Street Convergence