Initial Legal Offering

This week on the pod: we discuss the latest in the XRP and Ripple litigation, with Ripple filing a motion to consolidate and notice of removal to federal court; IBM seeks a patent for storing scientific information on the blockchain; and Bitmain sues a John Doe in Washington state for the theft of 617 Bitcoin. Finally, for our crypto of the week, we take a look at Bytecoin, the self-proclaimed “first private untraceable cryptocurrency.”

This week: rapper T.I., the self-proclaimed “Rubber-band man,” is being sued to the tune of $5 million by investors for shilling the FLiK token; the founder of EtherDelta has been charged by the SEC for running an unregistered securities exchange; and finally, for our crypto of the week, we take a squiz at Nano, formerly RaiBlocks, where each user has their own blockchain on the main chain.

This week: a 21-year old trader could spend 5 years in prison for buying and subsequently selling bitcoin for cash; Russian exchange WEX, successor to BTC-e, allegedly moves user funds to Binance; and Coinbase gets a partial win in court, defending itself against accusations of insider trading. Finally, we’ll take an in-depth look at Dash, in Crypto of the Week.

This week: a consolidated class action complaint aims to show Bitconnect who's boss; the SEC decides that fighting us is harder than joining us and sets up an ICO division; and Coinbase gets approval for a crypto custody service. Finally, we’ll take an in-depth look at Sia, the decentralized storage solution looking to take on giants like AWS.

This week: CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz wants smart contract authors to know they can be held liable for predictive code; Civil fails to reach its ICO soft-cap, prompting a refund to investors; and Tether has a roller coaster of a week, triggering a rise in alternative stablecoins. Finally, we’ll take an in-depth look at Lisk, the nascent distributed app platform built on JavaScript.

This week: the operator of Dream Market and owner of the best beard in the biz, OxyMonster, is sentenced to 20 years in prison; another US indictment of Russian hackers mentions the use of bitcoin for illicit purposes; and Binance shakes up the exchange world with a massive overhaul of its coin listing process. Finally, our panelists face off over Aurora, the dApp platform "creating a bright and colorful blockchain world."

This week: the Wall Street Journal investigates the proceeds of the WannaCry ransomware; we discuss the legal ramifications of Sia’s recently announced intention to change its Proof-of-Work algorithm; and institutional investors continue to buy in to crypto on the over-the-counter market. Finally, our panelists face off over Populous, the peer-to-peer invoice financing token for small and medium sized businesses.

This week: US states begin banning cryptocurrency as campaign contributions; Google reverses its position on crypto-related advertising; and the New York Office of the Attorney General releases a new report on crypto exchanges and possible market manipulation. Finally, our panelists face off over BAT, the Basic Attention Token, which aims to decentralize the BATtle against ADD and ADHD worldwide!

In this week's bonus episode: Jared and Sevy interview the founder and CEO of Horizen (formerly ZenCash), Rob Viglione. We discuss the project's beginnings as a fork of Zclassic, their roadmap, and the recent 51% attack.

This week: We compare the price performance of ICOs over the last 4 years. Our panel will discuss the Russian mining operation that faked a Coinbase endorsement. We follow the creation of the Blockchain Foundation - a new crypto lobbying group in Washington DC. And we’ll also examine a new model for ICOs seeking to skirt securities laws. Finally, our panelists face off over Horizen (formerly ZenCash), a privacy project and fork of Zclassic. This project aims to integrate (1) transactions; (2) communication; and (3) competitive governance in a secure and anonymous manner using a worldwide distributed blockchain.

This week: The Winklevoss brothers launch an ERC-20 token backed by USD. We'll also discuss open source licenses and their effects on cryptocurrency. And in a first, FINRA files a fraud complaint against an ICO. Finally, our panelists face off over MCO, a platform “pioneering payments” in the crypto space. We’ll explore the project roadmap, team, and legal aspects related to the project.

This week: Sevy and Ben discuss the North American Security Administrators Association and their recent press release on crypto-related investigations. We’ll also explore the SEC’s bid to track crypto mentions on social media. Finally, we face off over whether Tether, cryptocurrency's most controversial crypto-asset, should sink or swim in Crypto of the Week.

This week: Sevy discusses the Blockchain Transparency Institute, Laura Beth explores the possibility that Crocs are a better investment than Bitcoin, Ben explains why cryptocurrencies are on the rise in Latin America, and Jared debates how cryptocurrencies could be a defense against discrimination. Also, our panel will review and discuss Loopring in our first "Crypto of the Week."