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This Week on Unchained: Taxes, Vivek's Policy, Negotiations With Hackers, and More!

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December 02, 2023

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the gang sits down with Ogle Crypto, a veteran negotiator in crypto hacks, to discuss the recent KyberSwap exploit, which involved an almost $50 million loss across various chains.

Ogle shares how he initially became a negotiator, including his first case in which he tracked down a group of hackers from Hong Kong when they fled to Great Britain after stealing $24 million in funds. Ogle also shares his negotiation tactics, the typical profile of hackers he encounters today and his empathetic approach towards these often young and financially struggling individuals.

Then the group raises concerns around the hype and marketing strategies of Blast, a new Layer 2 on Ethereum offering “native yields” that achieved $620 million of TVL in less than two weeks.

Vivek Ramaswamy is likely the biggest supporter of crypto among the current crop of presidential candidates. But his enthusiasm comes not from an inherent love of the technology or its principles themselves, but a dissatisfaction with what he calls the “administrative state” that’s stifled innovation in a number of important industries, crypto among them. 

On this episode of Unchained, Ramaswamy discusses his radical plan to slash the number of people working at federal agencies; his three-point crypto policy plan based on the freedom to code as a protected form of expression, the freedom of financial self-reliance, and the freedom to innovate free from regulatory overreach; why the current orientation of the U.S. government towards regulation of the crypto industry by enforcement isn’t helping anyone; his plans to stabilize the U.S. dollar by pegging it to a basket of commodities that could eventually include Bitcoin; why he’s so opposed to central bank digital currencies; and what industries he thinks could benefit from the use of blockchain technology.

The IRS sparked a storm of controversy when it released proposed new rules for crypto transaction reporting earlier this year. The new rules seek to define who is considered a broker, what types of transactions need to get reported, and the kinds of digital assets that need to be included, but many in the industry consider them overly broad and ultimately unworkable. 

Lawrence Zlatkin, VP of Tax at Coinbase, and Shehan Chandrasekera, Head of Tax Strategy at tax software firm CoinTracker, discuss the crypto industry’s specific objections to the proposed new rules, and what might be a better way forward. They also delve into how the regulations would apply to stablecoins and NFTs, potential blockchain-based solutions for the reporting requirements, and what the likely outlook and timeline for the proposals to come into effect are.

In Case You Missed It 👀

Here are some of the most important news of this week:

In a new essay, Ethereum’s creator splits the difference between “Effective Altruism” and “Effective Accelerationism” with a reiteration of crypto principles of both independence and democracy.

FTX and affiliated debtors intend on selling $691 million from five Grayscale trusts and $53 million from one Bitwise trust.

The Treasury continues targeting the favorite crypto mixers of North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group.

The software company founded by Michael Saylor now holds about 174,530 BTC, worth roughly $6.5 billion.

Year-to-date, the crypto industry has lost $1.8 billion to hacks and fraud, according to a new report from Immunefi.

A lawsuit filed by Genesis against its parent company DCG could soon conclude after the two reached an agreement that would see the latter repay $275 million early next year.

Zhao will not be part of the firm’s governance, but will retain his economic interest in Binance’s U.S. affiliate company.

The TUSD stablecoin dropped to a low of $0.995 on Monday after news that the Tron blockchain was used to facilitate significant terror financing.

In a filing last week, federal prosecutors said that Zhao was a “flight risk.” Defense attorneys countered in their own filing that Zhao would abide by the terms of his bond agreement.

Following the approval of an inflation reduction proposal, Cosmos Hub’s founder Jae Kwon suggests forking the network to create AtomOne, stirring discussions and expectations among ATOM stakeholders.

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