The Blockchain Debate Podcast

Guests:
Qiao Wang (@qwqiao)
Jimmy Song (@jimmysong)
Host:
Richard Yan (@gentso09)

We all know the dominant crypto-native perspective on corporate/Wall Street bailouts — as generally anti-intervention, both fiscally and monetarily. But it’s important to hear the other side, if only to kick the tires of your own beliefs. After all, many smart people embrace a statist, big government view, in how to run an economy.

In this debate, we covered many topics, including the following:

• A way to think about corporate bailouts as claims on a social insurance policy, with an analogy in social security and Medicare
• How the monetary policies are worsening the wealth gap by giving a disproportionate advantage to the rich not enjoyed by the poor
• Whether FDR’s intervention policies were instrumental in lifting the nation out of the Great Depression, or this was just revisionist economic history, with these policies accomplishing the opposite or having tepid effects at best

Our two knowledgeable guests are both in the crypto circle, but come from very different backgrounds. One used to be a Wall Street trader and is a finance buff. The other is a bitcoin maximalist and an unapologetic libertarian.

Be sure to also check out our previous episodes too. We’ve featured some of the best known thinkers in the crypto space. And it was great to have a few no-coiners on. I always appreciate their agreeing to do the show, and adding perspectives to what sometimes seem like an echo chamber.

If you would like to debate or want to nominate someone, please DM me at @blockdebate on Twitter.

Please note that nothing in our podcast should be construed as financial advice.

Source of select items discussed in the debate:

• Change in unemployment and GDP during the Great Depression: https://www.thebalance.com/unemployment-rate-by-year-3305506
• The Forgotten Depression (1921) by James Grant: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2017/02/23/james-grant-explains-how-a-crash-in-1921-cured-itself-with-the-help-of-good-policy/#3feb9a1dbd86
• Qiao's Messari articles (paywall): https://messari.io/article/how-will-the-recession-impact-crypto-theses-questions-and-lessons
• Jimmy Song's Programming Bitcoin book: https://programmingbitcoin.com/
• America's Great Depression by Murray Rothbard: https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Great-Depression-Murray-Rothbard/dp/1607960656

Guests:
Mike Kelly (@mikekelly85)
Hasu (@hasufl)
Host:
Richard Yan (@gentso09)

Today’s motion is “Nation-state attack on the bitcoin network is an unresolved ticking time bomb.”
In this thorough and fascinating debate, we covered these topics:

• The motivations of nationstate attacks
• The mechanisms of nationstate attacks
• The aftermath of nationstate attacks
• The preventive mechanism of nationstate attacks

The idea for this debate was born out of a twitter discussion, where someone posted a video of Andreas Antonopoulos dismissing the threat on bitcoin from nationstates.
Now, while you’re here, be sure to also check out our previous episodes too. We’ve featured some of the best known thinkers in the crypto space. And it was great to have a few no-coiners on. I always appreciate their agreeing to do the show, and adding perspectives to what sometimes seem like an echo chamber.
If you would like to debate or want to nominate someone, please DM me at @blockdebate on Twitter.
Please note that nothing in our podcast should be construed as financial advice.

Source of select items discussed in the debate:

• 32 states have introduced legislation accepting or promoting the use of Bitcoin and blockchain distributed ledger technology https://www.businessinsider.com/blockchain-cryptocurrency-regulations-us-global
• State-by-state regulations on Bitcoin and blockchain https://www.carltonfields.com/insights/publications/2018/state-regulations-on-virtual-currency-and-blockchain-technologies

Guests:
Jonathan "JP" Padilla (@JPadillaCA)
Nick White (@nickwh8te)
Host:
Richard Yan (@gentso09)

Today’s motion is “I largely approve the US government’s fiscal and monetary response to the ongoing economic crisis.”

We recently had another debate on a similar topic, between Qiao Wang and Jimmy Song.

While Qiao argued for the pro-establishment view, he still saw lots of issues with the government’s intervention in the markets. In the debate, Qiao was playing the role of a devil’s advocate, to help the crypto community understand the pro-intervention perspective.

In today’s debate, however, the pro-intervention guest (Jonathan "JP" Padilla) is a Kenseyan, has worked for the Whitehouse, and is very supportive of the government actions during the ongoing crisis.

The anti-intervention guest (Nick White) today is also not a hard-core libertarian like Jimmy from the previous debate. So today’s debate is more consensus-building than that previous debate.

Be sure to also check out our previous episodes too. We’ve featured some of the best known thinkers in the crypto space.

If you would like to debate or want to nominate someone, please DM me at @blockdebate on Twitter.

If you like the show, please give us five stars on iTunes or wherever you listen to this.

Please note that nothing in our podcast should be construed as financial advice.

Source of select items discussed in the debate:

• Components of CPI: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm#Question_10
• Banks fined $243 billion since the Great Recession: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/banks-have-been-fined-a-staggering-243-billion-since-the-financial-crisis-2018-02-20
• The federal government made $15Bn profit from TARP: https://money.cnn.com/2014/12/19/news/companies/government-bailouts-end/
• Niall Ferguson, "The Ascent of Money": https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/dp/0143116177
• Airlines receiving government assistance in return for equity warrants: https://www.barrons.com/articles/airlines-stocks-government-bailout-grants-loans-cares-act-covid-19-passenger-traffic-51586967006

Guests:
Jason Williams (@JWilliamsFstmed) - debating FOR the motion
Christian Keroles (@ck_SNARKs) - debating AGAINST the motion
Host:
Richard Yan (@gentso09)
Today’s motion is “Bitcoin halvening is priced in.” Halvening, or halving, refers to the regularly scheduled reduction in the supply of new bitcoins to reward miners. This happens roughly every four years, and the supply is reduced by 50% each time. Halvening is built into the protocol and not a contentious topic. What is contentious, is whether the market for bitcoin has incorporated the effects of this upcoming activity.
The guests we have for this episode are two bitcoiners. One works in bitcoin investment, and the other in bitcoin education and marketing. Turns out there are more areas where the two debaters agree, than disagree. And our listeners can trace the convergence in their arguments. For better or worse, I get involved in the discussion a bit more than usual in this episode. As a sample of topics, we discussed miner response to the halvening, the stock-to-flow model, institutional interests in BTC, and many more.
If you would like to debate or want to nominate someone, please DM @blockdebate.
Please note that nothing in our podcast should be construed as financial advice.
Source of select items discussed in the debate:

• Continued demand increase due to institutional, price-inelastic allocation to BTC asset class (Kyle Samani from Multicoin Capital): https://twitter.com/KyleSamani/status/1213548776700416000
• Pomp (Morgan Creek) citing market run-up as evidence of halvening not priced in: https://twitter.com/APompliano/status/1229250083968946176
• Kelvin Koh (Spartan Capital) citing BTC's difficulty to value as evidence against EMH https://twitter.com/SpartanBlack_1/status/1198071110798983169
• Charts from Coin Metrics: https://coinmetrics.io/
• Nic Carter of Castle Island Capital wrote about EMH: https://medium.com/@nic__carter/an-introduction-to-the-efficient-market-hypothesis-for-bitcoiners-ed7e90be7c0d
• BTC Stock-to-flow model by PlanB: https://medium.com/@100trillionUSD/modeling-bitcoins-value-with-scarcity-91fa0fc03e25
• Plan B juxtaposing STF vs EMH: https://medium.com/@100trillionUSD/efficient-market-hypothesis-and-bitcoin-stock-to-flow-model-db17f40e6107

Guests:
John Wolpert (@jwolpert)
Richard Brown (@gendal)
Host:
Richard Yan (@gentso09)
Today’s session is about enterprise blockchain and features a co-founder of Baseline protocol and CTO of R3. The former is building an enterprise solution on a public blockchain, whereas the latter is doing so on a private blockchain. So you will learn about the two approaches as the two guests compare notes on their respective products. And today’s format is more of a discussion rather than a debate. It is an update to a debate that took place between them a year ago.

To derive the most value from today’s discussion, some familiarity with the state of enterprise blockchains is necessary. If you’re new to enterprise blockchain, it’s probably best to check out that previous debate first. It was hosted on another podcast called Insureblocks. Just google “insureblocks enterprise blockchain debate” and you will find that episode. The relevant link will also be in the show notes.
Note that this episode's format will be a little bit different than usual. This will be a follow-up conversation to the previous debate, even though you will still hear plenty of disagreement from our guests.

Also, be sure to check out our previous episodes too, on Bitcoin’s store of value status, tokenization and smart contracts, DeFi, bitcoin halvening, China’s future in blockchain, POW vs POS, and oligopoly vs multiplicity of public blockchains.

If you would like to debate or want to nominate someone, please DM me at @blockdebate on Twitter.

Please note that nothing in our podcast should be construed as financial advice.

Source of select items discussed in the debate:

• R3/Corda: https://www.r3.com/corda-platform/
• EY launches Baseline protocol: https://www.ey.com/en_gl/news/2020/03/ey-launches-baseline-protocol-an-open-source-initiative-for-the-public-etherum-blockchain
• Previous debate between John and Richard: https://insureblocks.com/ep-53-debate-public-vs-private-blockchains-for-enterprises-with-r3-and-consensys/