Lab Radio

Together let’s count all the votes Carlos Torriellos is changing the political system in Latin America. He is the face of a volunteer group, consisting of concerned citizens in Guatemala, called Fiscal Digital. This translates to, “The Digital Witness”. Their goal is to certify post-election paper ballot results in a corrupt and broken system. Last year, in mid 2019, Guatemala held an election. Everything was going fine, until doubt was cast on the official results through social media. The situation escalated quickly and no one seemed to have a solution. The election officials began searching for a solution. Back in 2018, Carlos and some colleagues built the system that is now being utilized by the Guatemalan government. The platform wasn’t originally built for certifying election results. Their plans to gain traction and revenue diminished and they tabled the project temporarily. Then it happened. Opportunity came a knockin’. The stage was set. The Guatemalan government was in quite a predicament. Unrest

Darknets Rising The Darknet is powered by cryptocurrency. On episode 82 of LAB Radio we speak with Cedric Dahl of 1000X Group about this controversial place. Most people have heard of the Darknet, but know what really goes on or how it operates. We dispel some myths and provide insight to why crypto is used predominantly on darknet markets. Cedric, like most of us, shrugged off Bitcoin when first told by a friend. The only difference for most us the is when the clock first starts ticking. For Cedric it was 2010. By the time he became a believer, he was farther ahead of the game than most. His first fascination was when he was told that it was being used on the Darknet for drugs and other nefarious activities. His shock came from realizing the power of a non-state controlled medium of exchange. Power to the people. The money use case was interesting, but after the Silk Road trial it was obvious that Bitcoin was not nearly as anonymous as we all thought. So why are the majority of Darknet marke

The Creation of a New Nation Welcome to the Free Republic of Liberland. Wait you've never heard of this country? "Well, that's a pretty normal response", says Joey Langenbrunner, Deputy Head of Mission to the United States. Liberland is new. The micronation, like Somaliland, will have existed for 5 years on April 13th, 2020. The delegation is planning a big celebration. They are launching they're own blockchain for governance and a cryptocurrency called Merits. Although, they are starting to get recognition internationally, they are still not recognized by the UN. This micronation lies along the Danube river, between Serbia and Croatia. The land lay unclaimed after the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991. The Danube is an international waterway and lends to many interesting trade and commerce opportunities. Liberland is will act as a testing ground for new models of governance. Additionally, they are planning an e-residency program like Estonia. After the launch of their blockchain in April 2020

This episode is LAB Radio's "Best of 2019". It's composed of several clips from guests over the past year. For many, 2019 will be one of those years in crypto that won't stand out in people's minds much. It wasn't flashy. There wasn't a lot fanfare. CNBC wasn't pumping XRP. It was quiet and people were busy building great things. I was fortunate to sit down with many amazing people this year to discuss their thoughts and contributions on the industry. Unfortunately, I had to narrow it down to just a hand full of clips but, trust me, all of our guests were fire. I know you'll enjoy hearing perspectives from the likes of: Alex Mashinsky & Leah Jonas, Celsius Network Jan Čapek, Braiins Hannah Rosenberg, Velas Commerce Hailey Lennon, Coinbase Xan Ditkoff, Blockstack Uri Klarman, bloXroute Labs Alyse Killeen, Stillmark Capital Alex Adelman, Lolli Caitlin Long, Lawyer R0ckstar Developer, BTC Payserver So no matter how awful a year in crypto seems, try to remember we are just getting started. Building a

Caitlin Long knows Blockchain Law Caitlin Long joins LAB Radio host Chris Groshong, just days after resigning from the Wyoming Blockchain Taskforce. I had asked her specifically to come on the show to comment on concepts the newly formed California Blockchain Taskforce can glean from her pioneering efforts. We waste no time getting into the issues around the Uniform Law Commission's (ULC) Uniform Regulation of Virtual Currencies Businesses Act or URVCBA. Particularly the supplemental portion which strips the property rights of owners. Ms. Long says if we're not careful we may only recognize people's rights "...in digital assets if you are in a debtor/creditor relationship with your intermediary."   This ties in nicely into a discussion of the Uniform Commercial Code(UCC) with respect to Virtual Currencies. Currently, it is being worked on by members of the special subcommittees of the ULC. Meanwhile, the California Lawyers Association is considering creating legislature for Commercial transactions at the sta

The Crypto Curator, Paul McNeal  The first person I met at the Avantpay |19 conference was the always smiling,  Crypto Curator, Paul McNeal. I had no idea Paul was the host of a crypto news show, but after talking to him, I knew he had the chops and would make a great guest for LAB Radio. Paul's path into crypto took a circuitous route to say the least. Like many, he was able to leverage a previous skillset to help him land where he is today. Initially Paul heard about Bitcoin from the Bitcoin Knowledge podcast by Trace Mayer.  This officially made him the "go-to" Bitcoin guy when the monthly Chamber of Commerce Tech Committee Meeting took place in Loudoun County, VA. Back in 2012 it was tough to make a case for its uses, but Paul always spoke about it in a positive light and defended it against its critics. However, the Chamber would not put on a Bitcoin event. Paul's background in the military has helped him in many ways. He was an ROTC Army member in High School and then went into the Navy. He was on a su

Money Launderers Beware  Cryptocurrency Analyst and Financial Crimes Investigator, Lourdes Miranda joins us for episode 77 on LAB Radio.    Lourdes’ expertise lies in her years working from a compliance and financial crimes angle. Her knowledge of the Bank Secrecy Act led her to a career in the intelligence community, primarily the CIA. She knows the ins and outs of how money launderers operate. So when she was approached to join, admittedly she didnt know much about cryptocurrencies. That didnt bother the Agency one bit. She told their cyber security teams, if they taught her how crypto worked, she’d show them how it was being used to launder illegal proceeds.   Lourdes speaks to and teaches both local and federal law enforcement communities across the country. She also consults banks and financial institutions. More recently Lourdes tells us about an interaction with a Bank and a Bitcoin ATM operator. The advice she gives seems obvious to me, but it just goes to show the Banks disparate view of this asset

    Chicago's Queen of Crypto  When I noticed the talented Hannah Rosenberg would be speaking at the Avantpay |19 conference, you have no idea how happy I became. I had recently visited Chicago at the end of August and I was able to sit down with Hannah and record an episode. Unfortunately, the recording had some technical issues and it was unusable. I wasn't going to let a second opportunity slip by.  Hannah got started in crypto back in 2014 and is one of the most involved and passionate people in the industry. She is the Managing Director of the Blockchain Institute, the Lead Organizer of the B.O.B. meetup (Bitcoin and Open Blockchain),  an adjunct faculty member at UIC (University of Illinois Chicago) and the founder of Velas Commerce.  Hannah was representing Velas Commerce at the Avantpay conference. So I asked her what she was hoping to get out of this event. She was really curious to hear the Cannabis Industries thoughts on crypto. Additionally, Hannah shares with us her take on the intersection o

    Celsius Network is changing the game I was thrilled to interview, not only one of the Celsius Network top brass, but two at the same time. We rarely get a duo as dynamic as CEO, Alex Mashinsky and Head of Global Partnerships, Leah Jonas. I knew this was going to be fun and informative. You don’t have to go deep into a search for the name Alex Mashinsky before you uncover a plethora of amazing feats. Not only does Alex have an eye for the future, but he understands what it takes to get there. A big part of “getting there” is surrounding yourself with amazing people and one of those people on this journey with Alex is Leah Jonas.  “Are you part of the problem or part of the solution” – Alex Mashinsky With Leah’s energetic and inviting personality it’s no wonder she’s the head of partnerships. Now living in Tel Aviv, she is helping expand the reach of the Celsius Network. As a previous part of the core team in New York, she has a unique perspective on remote teams and how to keep them focused.  Cel

  Our guest on episode 74 of LAB Radio is InsureYourBit’s founder, Doug Moeller. Doug is passionate about providing crypto related insurance to individuals and entities who regularly use uninsured third party custodians as a regular part of their business.  Stay in crypto long enough and you will eventually hear of or be a part of an exchange hack. US based residents who are used to traditional financial services, like banking, are familiar depositors insurance. They receive this as part of the banks agreement with the FDIC. However, the FDIC only insures one kind of deposit, US dollars. Many US based exchanges have FDIC insurance for their customers US dollar deposits, but what about all those crypto deposits? This is where InsureYourBit comes in. Doug wants to see a world where users, on exchange platforms, are able to purchase their own insurance for their digital assets.  Crypto on an exchange is not insured Doug's passion for insurance comes from his experience of platform failure  in the crypto space,

Who is Rockstar Developer? On episode 73 of LAB Radio, your host Chris Groshong visits with Rockstar Developer over lunch during a recent visit to Chicago. For those of you who are new to this personality or know little about him, you are going to find out why he is such a Rockstar. And he even gives us some pointers on becoming a Rockstar too. Sometimes it's best to start with the simplest things first. You will hear us visit this topic several times during the episode. Of many themes we cover during lunch  they all relate to the human element behind the things we do.  Imagine sitting at a corner table on the 15th floor, over looking the fork of the downtown Chicago river. A thunder storm was just finishing up and off in the distance the top of the formerly known Sears Tower could be barely seen as it was dodging in and out of a fog against a dark backdrop of ominous looking cumulus clouds. Rockstar Developer and I had never met, nor spoken by phone. Our only contact came briefly via Twitter(@r0ckstardev).

What is SALT Lending? On episode 72 of LAB Radio, we are joined by Rob Odell, VP Product and Marketing from SALT Lending to discuss what's new with SALT. SALT is a lending platform that uses crypto as collateral. It's a simple yet brilliant platform to allow users to leverage their existing crypto portfolio to leverage against a fiat loan.  How does it work? For example, you own 5 bitcoins and need $25K to put a new roof on your house. Let's assume 1 Bitcoin is valued at $10K and you believe Bitcoin will rise in value from $10K to $50K in the next 3 years. Instead of selling 2.5 BTC, you could leverage your 5 BTC at a 50% Loan To Value (LTC) ratio. You would receive a $25K interest only loan with minimal interest payments due monthly and the balance due in the last month of the loan.  Let's say Bitcoin never reaches $50K, but it does hit $25K at 24 months into the loan. In this scenario you could close out your loan by selling 1 BTC instead of the original 2.5 BTC you were going to have to sell.  On the flip

What is Lolli? More coverage from the Bitcoin2019 conference. This time with CEO and Co-Founder of Lolli, Alex Adelman. Lolli is a rewards app that pays you in Bitcoin. Purchase things as you normally would, but instead of proceeding to checkout, use the Lolli browser extension. This enables the user to earn a percentage back on their purchase, which can be redeemed in Bitcoin.   Lolli's goal is to onboard as many people into the Bitcoinsphere as possible. They believe most people are more likely to earn bitcoin rewards rather than bitcoin through investing or mining. Lolli just pops up when you're on a partner's website letting you know how much bitcoin you can earn. They want to make it as easy for possible. How does it work? The magic happens in the background. The retailer pays Lolli  in dollars for sending paying customers to their site. Then Lolli transfers bitcoin to your Lolli Wallet. It is a custodial solution, but the amounts are usually so small that the user risk is limited.   "The biggest chall

  Chris Wittenborn,  Business Development and Strategy at Velocity Markets On episode 70 of LAB Radio, Velocity Markets’, Chris Wittenborn chats with your host Chris Groshong from Bitcoin2019.  Chris first heard about Bitcoin back in 2010. He read the whitepaper, but couldn’t get around the fact that he meet someone in parking lot to buy bitcoins. After growing up in Chicago, he moved to Colorado for better winters, great skiing and to pursue a degree at the University of Colorado Boulder. He landed a research job with a little finance firm locally and was given some sage advice to go East.     It was in 2011 when Chris headed to New York and where he really dug into the financial world. In 2017 there was lots of rumblings about the Institutional world coming into the crypto space. Being on the Institutional side, he knew that ecosystem was not ready to support Institutional grade customers. Therefore, he left to start providing institutional consulting for Exchanges and Private Equity companies building pro

Jan Čapek, Cofounder and Co-CEO at Braiins On episode 69 of LAB Radio, Braiins Cofounder and Co-CEO, Jan Čapek chats with your host Chris Groshong from Bitcoin2019. We finally got a chance to sit down and talk mining after meeting in January 2019 in Las Vegas.   We first get a run down from Jan about the history of mining and what's wrong with the state of things currently. There's no surprise when it comes to understanding the mysteries behind ASIC Boost were just the tip of the iceberg. The problem is now mining has become so commercialized companies go to great lengths to keep firmware proprietary and access to making modifications difficult. Braiins has decided to take a different approach. An open source approach. They feel if you can't audit or make changes to the miners at the root level then you really don't own them. This is why they have released Braiins OS.     "Not your firmware, not your miner." -Jan Čapek    The Braiins team motivation comes from their desire to have standards around mining. Th

Xan Ditkoff, Growth at Blockstack  On episode 68 of LAB Radio, Blockstack's Head of Growth, Xan Ditkoff chats with your host Chris Groshong from Bitcoin2019. We discuss how great the conference was and what made it special.  Blockstack Xan, as I am respectfully dubbing him, has an interesting path that led him into the crypto world. Coming from New York to Silicon Valley in 2015 was a bit of an adjustment. However, he knew the solutions being worked on there were going to help impact more people globally than anything he could do in a world of suits. When he found the Crypto and Bitcoin Community in 2015 he knew this was the industry he was meant to be in.   "To me, decentralization is a means to an end." -Xan Ditkoff    His motivation stems from wanting to be a part of a transformative technology revolution. When he first learned about Bitcoin he knew how much it could solve and simplify the internet's hodgepodge of technologies with it's securities vulnerabilities and privacy issues. He views Bitcoin and B

Josie Bellini,  Crypto Artist   On episode 67 of LAB Radio, Crypto Artist Josie Bellini chats with your host, Chris Groshong from Bitcoin2019. Some might think the path is obvious for an artist and crypto lover. Create, Incorporate and Sell your works for crypto, but not Josie Bellini. Her passion for cryptocurrency and its ethos not only inspires her creative works, but also her innovative side.  Having a background in finance, specifically private wealth management, Josie invested personally in Ethereum and became interested more after its rise. After taking a full stack web development course at Northwestern University and doing design for a few blockchain and crypto companies, she knew she could contribute in very cool ways to the industry.  After one of her pieces went viral on Reddit, her arrival in the industry was cemented. Crypto Art was now her full time gig.     In this episode Josie Bellini shares with us:   Which is her favorite piece? If her pieces are political or if they have special meaning

What is Graphene, BitShares and BEOS? This is part 2 of a deep dive chat with Michael Taggart, BitShares . We discuss why they created BEOS and the practicality of creating a EOS clone. Michael Taggart, co-founder of BEOS and Quintric Michael is a long time BitShares supporter and recently helped co-found an EOS clone to act as a middle-chain between BitShares and EOS networks and tokens. Quintric has tokenized real gold coins and legal tender   Quintric bridges Gold, Cash (Legal Tender), and Crypto During this episode, you will learn: Why BEOS was created How the marketplace demands certainty such as the identity and location of Block Producers Why Utah was chosen as a venue for the BEOS Limited Cooperative Association (BCLA) How their legal team knows how to get policy accomplished and structure using pre-existing legal tender and  How Terradac, a private enterprise that funded BEOS, interfaces with the BCLA How their operation and fund management system for the BCLA operates How they are moving toward

What is Graphene? What is BitShares? And what else has been built on this framework? This episode is a bit of an open long form chat and deep dive with BitShares regular Michael Taggart. This is the 1st of 2 parts for this episode. Michael Taggart, co-founder of BEOS and Quintric Michael is a long time BitShares supporter and recently helped co-found an EOS clone to act as a middle-chain between BitShares and EOS networks and tokens. "BEOS Limited Cooperative Association (BLCA) is the world's first Non-Profit Cooperative Blockchain. Designed as a middle chain, BEOS Blockchain allows interoperability between EOS/BEOS/BitShares based tokens. BEOS is a new privately funded blockchain, a straight clone of EOS intended to serve as a middle chain between BitShares and the EOS main chain. Its goals are token portability and jurisdictional agility. It does these functions without requiring any modifications to or cooperation from either BitShares or EOS communities, neither of which are involved in its developm

Uri Klarman, CEO and Cofounder at bloXroute Labs On episode 65 of LAB Radio, your host, Chris Groshong chats with Network Researcher and Ph.D. Uri Zubair. As CEO and cofounder of bloXroute Labs. After graduating from Northwestern University he and his inital cofounder Aleks Kuzmanovic knew that they could solve the relay issue that ultimately keep blockchain systems from scaling. As they progressed down this journey, they added two additional cofounders, Emin Gün Sirer, professor at Cornell and his PhD student Soumya Basu, the creator of the Falcon Network. Falcon can be thought of as a relay network for bitcoin to help pass along the block data faster. In 2017 it was their heads down approach that brought them to discover the real world solution for scaling blockchain networks. “This is a networking problem,” says Uri. Scaling of blockchains has been discussed since Satoshi’s whitepaper, but no one has solved it. At least until now. How can we be so sure that bloXroute Labs can provide this solution?   Uri