Unchained - How Crypto Prediction Market Polymarket Signaled Early That Biden Might Drop Out - Ep. 670

Starting point is 00:00:00 The belief in prediction markets isn't that markets are perfectly rational and always get it right, but that, again, when a wide variety of people have skin in the game and, you know, bet on, you know, what they believe to be true, that ends up that the price in aggregate ends up more truthful than just what, you know, a few pre-selected elites say. Hi, everyone. Welcome to Unchained. You're a no-hap resource for all things crypto. I'm your host, Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopians. I started covering crypto nine years ago, and as a senior editor at Forbes was the first mainstream media reporter to cover cryptocurrency full-time. This is the July 5th, 2024 episode of Unchained.

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Starting point is 00:01:26 including new tastes, new fits, and virtually, Everything in between. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Today's guest is Nick Tamano, founder and general partner at One Confirmation. Welcome, Nick. How's it going, Laura? Good to see you.

Starting point is 00:01:44 Nice to see you. Prediction Market, Polymarket, has had a record June attracting nearly 30,000 monthly active users and seeing over $110 million in trading volume. You are an investor. Tell us a little bit about the road to getting here. Yeah. I mean, prediction markets has been a category that a lot of people have been interested in for a long time. Actually, a lot of people don't know this, but in the 1916 U.S. election, there was more money bet on that election. It was Woodrow Wilson versus Charles Evans Hughes. There was more money bet on that election than there was money given to both candidates and campaign finance. And on some days, there was actually more trading volume on that market than there was the entire stock market volume. So prediction markets have been around for a long time.

Starting point is 00:02:39 A lot of people have been interested in for a long time, you know, dating back to, you know, to back then. And more recently, you know, in trade had a moment in the early 2000s and even in crypto, you know, Auger five or six years ago. So there's a long kind of history in prediction markets. And it's really exciting for people like me that have believed in them for a long time because now it's really starting to happen on a mainstream level. And these markets are playing a big role in kind of important world events. And it's exciting to see. And how did you come to invest in polymarket?

Starting point is 00:03:21 We like at one confirmation, we're very much product oriented investors. And we like to invest in products that we really. believe in from a user perspective, kind of first and foremost. And I've long thought that prediction markets would be one of the most important products that comes out of crypto. And so, you know, in our first fund back in 2018, 2019, we invested in Auger and we invested in another very early stage project called Bale. They didn't really work out. And then, you know, we came across Shane in in in in in in 2019 2020 and it felt like better timing and so we you know we were part of that the the early seed round of polymarket and have been investing ever since and working closely

Starting point is 00:04:14 with Shane and kind of building the company yeah Shane Coplin um and so tell us like you know how it launched and um what it's been like getting to this point where now we're seeing being talked about, for instance, by the likes of Nate Silver, who's one of the most famous election pollsters. Yeah. And I mean, I mean, the favor for president, right, Trump has been posting his polymarket, you know, odds on truth social for the past, you know, six or nine months, right? So it really is, and, you know, news outlets like CNN and Bloomberg are starting to use it. So it's really becoming an important part of the media, I think. And I really think it's just getting started.

Starting point is 00:05:01 I think people aren't using it enough. But, yeah, there's certainly been a lot of ups and downs, you know, at Polymarket. I mean, around 2019, 2020, there was some success around the election. After that, you know, there were some issues with the CFTC. You know, the CFTC actually fined Polymarket. and we had to block U.S. consumers from using the platform, and that's still the case today. We can kind of talk about the regulation and where that might be going.

Starting point is 00:05:35 And then there was kind of a lull. I think a lot of people maybe gave up on the market and maybe even the idea of prediction markets overall. But what we've seen in crypto is like the founders with like the deepest long-term conviction end up surviving the ups and downs and winning the biggest. And so I think all the credit is really to Shane and the team at Polymarket because, you know, they persisted through kind of ups, downs, lulls, and are really thriving now. So. And so now that you're seeing that it has, you know, pretty substantial activity, have you been noticing anything specific about how

Starting point is 00:06:18 the prediction market interacts with the news. You know, I just imagine you've been watching every little tick up and tick down. Oh, for sure. I think the, you know, there's probably people listening that don't even know what a prediction market is. And it's really a exchange-based market that trades 24-7 on any type of outcome, any world event. And to make it concrete, I mean, I think that one of the most interesting markets to talk about right now is will Joe Biden drop out of the 2024 election, right? And if you if you look at the

Starting point is 00:06:55 history on that market, you know, you can go to polymarket and, and look at that market. And back in, you know, October, 2023 timeframe, look at what the media was writing about Joe Biden. You know, there's, there's headlines. Joe Biden knows what he's doing. Joe Biden is as sharp as ever. These are, you know, New York Times, CNN, whatever headlines. If you look at the market, even back then, there was about 25% chance that the market was saying that Joe Biden would drop out of this election. And so the reason I think a lot of people, you know, see prediction markets is just gambling or, you know, something like that. But my excitement about prediction markets is not at all the, you know, the gambling side of it. but it's the ability that they have to bring more truth to the world.

Starting point is 00:07:47 And you have a lot of narratives right now out there, right? And it's hard for people to know what is true. You have kind of corporate media narratives. You also have social media narratives. And, you know, the X algorithm doesn't do people any favors. And it often kind of, you know, it showcases what's popular rather than what's true. Right. So, you know, this will Joe Biden drop out in 20?

Starting point is 00:08:13 24, again, I think is a great example because if you look back then what the media was saying, what most people were saying and what the odds were, like, you know, the average person would look at that, you know, 25% and say, ah, that's that's stupid. The market is irrational, doesn't know, you know, people, it's just crypto bros. But that actually was closer to the truth than what the mainstream was writing, right? And then, you know, fast forward to the debate last week. And in real time when Biden was, you know, on air debating, the odds will he drop out actually doubled. So it was like happening faster than the media was talking about or anything like that. And it became that time that like the polymarket odds. And, you know, one thing about prediction markets too is that liquidity is important, right? If it's just a few people trading and there's no liquidity, the market price doesn't mean much. But if you start having lots of different people, you know, with different perspectives, putting skin in the game, and you start, you know, seeing real volume, that means more. And so now, you know, this will Joe Biden drop out market has over $10 million in volume.

Starting point is 00:09:31 And there's now, you know, a much greater than 50% chance that it's happening. And that's what the market says. And you have some of the biggest people from the Democratic Party, like Gavin, you have. in Newsom, you know, on Twitter yesterday and Whitmer saying Biden is our candidate. They're still saying this. The market clearly doesn't believe them anymore. And that's kind of interesting in itself. And we'll see what happens. You know, a lot of people also about prediction markets say, well, you know, they get it wrong all the time. And if Biden ends up running, people will say, oh, you know, the market got it wrong. The belief in prediction markets isn't that market,

Starting point is 00:10:13 are perfectly rational and always get it right. But that, again, when a wide variety of people have skin in the game and bet on what they believe to be true, that ends up that the price, in aggregate ends up more truthful than just what, you know, a few pre-selected elites say. Yeah, yeah. There's an episode of The Chopping Block that I think is coming out today, the day we're recording, which is Thursday. And I was on it and we discussed all this. And we were saying that, especially in the period before the mainstream media reports on something, then they can be more accurate. And I talked about how there's a certain bar to publish that can make it hard for a journalist to break something

Starting point is 00:10:58 if, like, the people that are close to that situation do not want that to be public. But then we were saying that once it became public, then now we're seeing this interplay where events that are being reported by the mainstream media are affecting the prediction. markets. But I do think, you know, your point about how like Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer, etc., were saying they were behind Biden, but you might have seen also in the New York Times did report a couple of close allies to Biden had conversations with him where he did express that he knew that he had to prove himself within some short period. Otherwise, it was over for him. So, yeah, I think, yeah, now there's more of an interplay, but you're right in that period

Starting point is 00:11:39 before the prediction markets were more spot on. So in a moment, we're going to talk more about, you know, some of the different events that have happened in Pauly Market. But first, a quick word from the sponsors who make this show possible. PlayFi uses cutting edge AI and blockchain technology to transform content into real-time data. Their AI agents watch games, live streams, sports, and more, converting terabytes of video into actionable on-chain data, helping studios, brands, and creators find new ways to engage and monetize whatever. the world is watching and playing. Discover more about PlayFi's upcoming node license sale, launching the world's first decentralized network for mass market content. Visit playfi.ai.ai to learn more.

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Starting point is 00:13:36 Back to my conversation with Nick. So I did want to also ask just generally about, the process for creating a prediction market on polymarket, because we have seen that there are some conflicts that have happened around resolving these prediction markets. Two of the more notable ones were the spot ether ETF approvals, where the definition of what approval meant or when the actual approval happened came into question. And then the other was around the DJT meme token and whether or not Barron Trump was involved. So can you talk about, yeah, just kind of how that whole thing works and then what you learned maybe from those two events?

Starting point is 00:14:20 Yeah, good question. So, I mean, there's two parts of it, right? There's the market creation. And right now, Polymarket is, you know, curating markets. I think there may be a world in the future where you have user-generated markets. And someone like, you know, a podcast or like you could actually create your own markets. and potentially earn fees from those markets on markets that your users care about. But right now, it's largely just, you know, in the prediction market space broadly and polymarket

Starting point is 00:14:54 specifically, it's, you know, the platforms are kind of creating the markets. So that's one side of it. And then I think that the side you're alluding to, which is an important piece, and I would say it's still, you know, not perfect and being ironed out is the market resolution side. So, you know, on something like will Joe Biden drop out, the result is pretty clear, right? I don't think there's going to be gray area around something like that. But how these markets are written really matters, right? And that's where, you know, like the market creation side is important because, you know, when you see a market, there's the, you know, the headline question.

Starting point is 00:15:36 But then there's the, there's the details in the question that really specify, you know, what determines yes, what determines no. And those, you know, specifications are written. But then for Polymarket right now, there's a decentralized Oracle that actually effectively votes on the outcome. And it's up to this kind of decentralized Oracle to determine what they believe to be true or false. And the most, I guess,

Starting point is 00:16:11 notable recent one that you mentioned is was Barron involved in DJT and that was a controversial one, right? Because you have Martin Screlli, you know, doing hour long Twitter spaces, you know, giving his details. And he's still, he's probably going to do one today. He's still chirping about, you know, about Barron's involvement. And so you have really his account. And, and, you know, some other, um, journalists that are probably chasing clout that are saying, uh, you know, one thing. And, um, but you don't have anything from Barron. You don't have anything from really, um, you know, any sources besides, behind those two. And, um, again, the, the, the, the terminology matters. Um, so how did they determine in, in the, the wording of that

Starting point is 00:17:08 market, um, whether he was involved or not? I think. think that the term was, is there a preponderance of evidence? And so then it's up to this decentralized oracle to evaluate whether there's, you know, a lot of evidence or not. And that was one where actually the decentralized Oracle, you know, it's a token-based project called Uma, decided that he wasn't involved. There wasn't enough evidence. And Polymarked actually disagreed with that. So they ended up refunding everyone that that that that that that yes because they determined that there you know there was enough evidence from Schrelli. And and so it's an interpretation of of the wording in that case. And and yeah, I think as I said, I think that it's

Starting point is 00:17:56 still being figured out like what's the best way. I think, you know, some people dismiss prediction markets because of events like this, which I think is foolish because I think it, you know, this stuff is still being ironed out. And, you know, I tend to believe that, you know, largely it should be, the decision should be in the spirit of the market. So there shouldn't be like gotchas that, you know, that the people, you know, are getting duped on effectively. And by that, you're referring to the spot, Ether ATF1,

Starting point is 00:18:31 where the initial sign that there was an approval you feel should have been, the determinant factor, not the later, like, bureaucratic thing of, like, the official approval. Right. When you have the media reporting, the ETF was approved. And, you know, by all accounts, the ETF was approved. But there's some, like, very minor nuance that it's not, you know, actually approved until a bit later. You know, things like that, um, I think. think it's in the interest of prediction markets and the growth of prediction markets broadly to decide in favor of the spirit of the market. Because if people are getting duped on minor

Starting point is 00:19:21 things like this, they're not going to want to go back to prediction markets. And we actually saw that. There was one market in particular back in Auger days that the decentralized Oracle actually decided against the spirit of the market. And there was probably a lot of reasons why, it just wasn't the right time for auger. But I think that, you know, things like that may have played a small role in it. And then so just to make clear, so when somebody sets up a market, it's their own phrasing that determines, like, how it's decided? Or does anybody help them to, like, make sure that the wording is such that it can be easily decided? Well, in the case of Polymark, again, to be specific right now, Polymarket is creating their own markets.

Starting point is 00:20:07 have like people that are, you know, focused on the wording. And again, I think that probably, you know, that could still be improved. So, you know, Polymarket is, is creating the market and, you know, and writing the, you know, what determines the market. But then it's a separate body that is interpreting the wording of the markets, right? So it's kind of a two, you could think of it as a two kind of party system currently, where you have. have the market creator and then the, you know, a separate decentralized oracle. Okay. And in the case of something where it's kind of like a moving target where, for instance, like this question of who could replace Biden if he steps down, I notice that the prediction

Starting point is 00:20:54 market, it has, you know, obviously like Kamala, but then it's like other including Whitmer. But there are so many people that could fall in that bucket. Like I hear a lot of people talking about like Pete Buttigieg or the governor of Pennsylvania, something Shapiro, I forgot his first name. But they're not on there. But then like people like Gavin Newsom, who I feel like I heard a lot about initially and then I'm hearing less about now, they're still on there. So like in this kind of situation where it's like fluid, is it just whatever is the beginning, you know, slate of options just remains or is there a way to like update it as, you know, more information comes to late. I think it could be updated with a new market. And I think it has been, like,

Starting point is 00:21:44 for example, Bergam, I don't think was in really, no one was talking about him initially as, you know, a VP candidate. And like on that initial market, he wasn't on there. But then you just add a new market for, you know, a new candidate. So it can. And, you can. kind of fragment liquidity on certain markets, but that's generally how it works. Okay. I think I'm honestly not 100% positive on that, but I think that's true. But these markets typically have like other, like the kind of OG market, if you will. So it is that kind of captures, you know, someone that's not on it initially.

Starting point is 00:22:33 and then if a new candidate fast emerges, that becomes kind of a favorite, then you'll create a new market for it. Okay. And you kind of mentioned earlier that at lower trading volumes, the markets maybe are like a little less reliable. Is there a certain threshold that you like to use to delineate when, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:52 you feel like a market's more credible? Yeah, it's a good question. Not really. I think it really depends on what, you know, the event is and, you know, and how much volume there is. I wouldn't say there's like a blanket over a million dollars is definitely kind of more truthful. I just think in general, the more volume on a market, the more kind of truthful you can interpret it as. But if you look on polymarket right now, I mean, like there's some like pop culture type markets that,

Starting point is 00:23:29 let's pull one up. Okay. Will Trump say Mog? in 2024. Which is a meme coin for those of you who don't know. Yeah. Yeah. And the market says there's a 15% chance, but there's only $20,000 worth of volume and very low liquidity. So if you bet yes, and you put, you know, $1,000 on that, it's going to move the market

Starting point is 00:23:55 a lot. So, you know, something like that, you know, you put less weight on. then again, there's over 200 million on the presidential election winner now with Trump at 64%. And Kamala, number two, at 13%. So, you know, those are two extreme examples. And I think there's in between, there's gray area and you kind of have to use your own judgment. All right. Well, last thing I wanted to mention is you talked about how the CFTC had this.

Starting point is 00:24:31 fine. And, you know, as you mentioned, historically, the U.S. has had prediction markets, but obviously we don't now. So, you know, what do you, what, so what happened at that time to eliminate them from the U.S.? But what prospects do you see for prediction markets going forward in the U.S.? Yes. So this is something I haven't seen many people talk about, but I think it's pretty interesting. I mean, again, I mentioned in the early kind of 1900s in the U.S., there was a deep, desire for the American people to bet on politics. And then regulators came along and didn't allow it anymore. And if you ask, and so now it's specifically the CFTC that is basically able to deem some markets legal and other markets illegal. And if you ask why, you know, there's maybe different reasons why, but you know, a common answer you hear is, well, you don't want money and politics too closely aligned, right? You don't want them to intersect too much. And that's, that's pretty funny, actually, right?

Starting point is 00:25:46 Because we all know how much money and politics actually matter. It's like, but it's, it's corporate money. It's the money of elites. And I think what that really means is we don't want people's money, you know, the little guy's money. and politics to too closely come together. So that's, you know, my personal view. Aside from that, if you look at what's happening with the administrative state in this country in the past couple weeks, right, like Chevron deference being overturned last week, that's a big deal, right? Because the courts are saying, you know, we're no longer going to defer to the regulators

Starting point is 00:26:28 on what's legal and illegal. And this has big implications for prediction markets, political prediction markets in particular, right? Because, again, what's happening right now is the CFTC is deeming some markets illegal and some markets illegal. And I'm not a lawyer, of course, and I'm kind of talking based on, you know, discussions I've had with different lawyers. And there's smart lawyers that think that if this goes to the Supreme Court, you know, this could actually. be overturned and, you know, and political markets could actually be deemed legal and, and free for Americans to participate in. And there's actually a non-crypto prediction market, Calci, that is suing the CFTC on this issue. So certainly if you look at like how, you know, gambling has

Starting point is 00:27:24 opened up in the U.S. over the past, you know, five years, and you look at, you look at, you know, the direction that hopefully the administrative state is going where there's less of these kind of unelected bureaucrats who are, you know, making decisions that might be in their own interests and against the interests of people. I think there's a lot of signs that at some point prediction markets are going to open up in the U.S. But we'll see. Yeah. I agree. that there's just the fact that this is being cited so much, I feel like, is also a positive sign. And for listeners who are interested in hearing about how the elimination of Chevron deference affects crypto, I have an episode coming out about that on Tuesday, so you guys should tune into that.

Starting point is 00:28:17 But, Nick, this has been super helpful and super interesting. Thank you so much for coming on unchanged. Of course. Yeah, thanks for having me, Lark. Happy fourth. Same to you. Don't forget. Next up is the weekly news recap, today presented by Wondercraft AI. Stick around for this week in crypto after this short break. Did you know Unchained is much more than a podcast? Last year, we unveiled a completely redesigned website,

Starting point is 00:28:38 enriching your experience for the latest news, insightful analysis, compelling op-eds, and comprehensive learning articles and guides for beginners. Explore all this and more at Unchained Crypto.com. Did you know you can buy and sell crypto with tax benefits in an individual retirement account or IRA? I trust capital makes this possible. But what does this mean? When you buy crypto outside an IRA, like on an exchange, you face taxes on gains.

Starting point is 00:29:05 But in a Roth IRA, gains would be tax-free. I-Trust Capital also has the lowest fees in the industry and 24-7 accessibility. Start now and maximize your retirement savings with I-Trust Capital. Welcome to this week's Crypto Roundup. In today's recap, we'll cover the revenue surge of meme coin platform pump. Fun, Pocodot's treasury concerns, gray-scale's Solana Trust trading at a high premium and Silvergate Bank's $63 million settlement with regulators. We'll also discuss the U.S. Marshal Services contract with Coinbase, Blast's new reward program,

Starting point is 00:29:40 Genesis Digital Assets potential IPO, Lido finances decentralization efforts, and BittenSour's network halt due to a security breach. Plus, we'll end with some lighthearted tweets from PolkaDOT's community manager. Thanks for tuning in to the weekly news recap. Let's begin. meme coin platform pump dot fun surpasses ethereum in daily revenue the meme coin craze continues as salana based platform pump dot fund outperformed ethereum in daily revenue on monday pump dot fun which offers a low cost way to create meme coins generated an impressive one point nine million dollars in 24 hours surpassing ethereum's one point one nine million dollars in revenue and trons one point five eight million according to data from Difi Lama.

Starting point is 00:30:29 Despite a $1.6 billion drop in the total mimic coin market cap since mid-June, Pump. Dot Fund averages $692,000 in daily revenue. Celebrities such as Caitlin Jenner and Iggy Azalea have launched their own tokens on the platform, fueling its popularity. Pump. Pump.fund, which launched its main net in early 2024, is projected to have an annualized revenue of $268.95 million per defy llama. The platform earns revenue through a 1% swap fee on trades and additional listing fees on decentralized exchange radium. Also this week, restaking protocol symbiotic

Starting point is 00:31:06 crossed $1 billion in total value locked, gaining ground against restaking first mover eigenlayer. Symbiotic and Carrick are two emerging players that are challenging the restaking stalwart. If you are interested, Unchained has an explainer on what makes them different from Eginlayer. PolkaDOT's treasury could deplete in two years, says ecosystem ambassador. After analyzing PolkaDOT's on-chain treasury, head ecosystem ambassador, Tommy Ennkel, warns that its $245 million treasury could run dry in two years. The report shows $87 million spent in the first half of 2024, with significant allocations

Starting point is 00:31:47 to outreach, development, and liquidity incentives. Ennkel estimates that the Treasury has $200 million in liquid assets available within the next year, cautioning that at the current spending rate, it may last only two years if DOT's value remains stable. However, the Web3 Foundation disagrees, emphasizing that the Treasury is continually replenished through staking. The Web3 Foundation is an organization that oversees the PolkaDOT ecosystem's growth, Fabian Gompf, CEO of the Web 3 Foundation, said, The Treasury has continuous inflows. It's never going to run out of funds.

Starting point is 00:32:26 The PolkaDOT community recently rejected a proposal to reduce DOT's 10% annual inflation rate, which primarily funds staking rewards. Grayscale Salana Trust trades at high premium amid ETF filings. After last week's Solana ETF filings by investment firms Vanek and 21 shares, Grayscale's Salana Trust continues to try. trade at a significant premium. As of the latest data, Sol shares are priced at $431, while the net asset value stands at $57. Gray scales closed-end funds such as Xol offer limited shares, creating higher demand and premiums compared to open-ended funds. Investors prefer these

Starting point is 00:33:07 trusts for their ease of placement into tax-advantaged accounts. Silvergate Bank pays $63 million to settle charges with regulators. Silvergate Bank agreed to pay $63 million to settle charges with the SEC, Federal Reserve, and California regulators. The bank, known for its crypto-friendly stance, was accused of failing to maintain a proper anti-money laundering program and misleading investors about the effectiveness of the program. The SEC alleged that former executives, including CEO Alan Lane and Chief Operating Officer Kathleen Freyher, were aware of these deficiencies. Lane and Freher settled without admitting guilt, accepting a five-year ban from public company roles.

Starting point is 00:33:50 Silvergate's former chief financial officer Antonio Martino denied the charges. Speaking of legal actions, Tron founder Justin Sun won a defamation lawsuit this week in the People's Court of China against Chongqing Business Media Group, which was ordered to apologize and retract false statements. U.S. Marshal Service Awards $32.5 million contract to Coinbase for asset custody. The U.S. Marshal Service, an arm of the Department of Justice, has selected Coinbase Prime to provide custody and advanced trading services for its large-cap digital assets under a $32.5 million contract. The agency highlighted the need for managing and disposing of significant amounts of cryptocurrency securely and professionally. Coinbase was chosen for its strong track record in institutional-grade crypto services. This decision comes amid ongoing legal battles between Coinbase and the SEC, as noted by Alex Kruger on this week's episode of Bits and Bips,

Starting point is 00:34:50 who pointed out the irony of Coinbase being sued by the SEC while simultaneously partnering with the U.S. government. Phase 2 of Blast's reward program to distribute 10 billion tokens. After its airdrop last week, Ethereum Layer 2 Network Blast launched phase 2 of its token rewards program, allocating 10 billion blast tokens to incentivize mobile DAP use and development. Running until June 2025, the program splits rewards evenly between users who earn points and gold users. Points are accrued through ether, wrapped ether, blasts stable coin USBB, and blast balances,

Starting point is 00:35:28 while gold is earned based on DAP traction. Bitcoin Miner Genesis Digital Assets, I's US IPO. Bitcoin mining company Genesis Digital Assets, is exploring a U.S. initial public offering, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday. The firm is working with advisors to potentially raise a pre-IPO funding round in the coming weeks. Genesis, which was backed by defunct hedge fund Alameda Research, has raised over $550 million from investors since 2021, reaching a valuation of $5.5 billion in its latest round. Alameda Research invested $1 billion in Genesis, though a Wall Street Journal report revealed

Starting point is 00:36:08 that only half of this was used for operations, with the rest buying out co-founder's shares. Genesis operates 20 data centers globally, boasting a total power capacity of over 500 megawatts and 150,000 miners. Lido advances decentralization path. Lido Finance, the leading firm in liquid staking, launched its community staking module on the Holeski Test Network on Monday. This initiative allows new entities, including solo stakers, to become node operators without requiring Dow approval. The move aims to diversify Lido's node operator set, which has been permissioned since its inception. This step comes as the SEC alleges that Lido's liquid staking token, STETH, is an unregistered security. Lido's STEth, which represents staked

Starting point is 00:36:55 ether, dominates 29% of the total staked ether supply, and has a $33 billion market cap. Dmitri Gusekhov, tech leader for Lido's community staking product, emphasized in a governance post that this module will enable more accessible and decentralized staking operations. BitTensor halts network after 8 million wallet exploit. BitTensor, a decentralized AI blockchain, paused its network following a security breach targeting user wallets. On-chain analyst, Zach XPT, reported that approximately $8 million worth of Tao tokens were stolen, possibly due to private key leakage. The incident caused a 17% drop in Tao's value. A bit-Tensore Discord administrator confirmed the network was halted

Starting point is 00:37:43 to prevent further unauthorized access while the team investigates. Co-founder Ala Shabana stated the blockchain is in safe mode, with blocks being produced but transactions halted. Time for fun bits. PolkaDOT's treasury tweets take a lighthearted turn. Previously, we told you about PolkaDOT's treasury concerns. But what we didn't mention is the humorous and lighthearted approach their community manager is taking on X. Pocodot's official X account has been engaging with the community in a fun and witty manner. The day after the news broke, they posted, GM to all marketers and KOLs. Then, after Near Protocol's account pointed out that you can't spell Pocodot without KOL,

Starting point is 00:38:27 the Pocodot account responded, community voted, were rebranding to Kolkodot. Lastly, on Wednesday, Pocodot posted AKOLs you can contact the marketing bounty. that marketing bounty via the form here and a link to a form. Pocodot is embracing humor and camaraderie showing that even in the face of serious issues, a little levity can go a long way in keeping the community engaged and entertained. And that's all. Thanks so much for joining us today. If you enjoyed this recap, go to unchainedcrypto.substack.com that is unchainedcrypto.substack.com And sign up for our free newsletter so that you can stay up to date with the latest in crypto.

Starting point is 00:39:05 Unchained is produced by Laura Shin, with help from Matt Pilchard, Juan Aronovich, Megan Gavis, Pam Majumdhar, and Margaret Korea. The weekly recap was written by Juan Aronovich and edited by Kari McMahon. Thanks for listening. Unchained is now a part of the Coin Desk Podcast Network. For the latest in digital assets, check out markets daily five days a week with host Noel Atchison. Follow the Coin Desk Podcast Network for some of the best shows in crypto.

Unchained - How Crypto Prediction Market Polymarket Signaled Early That Biden Might Drop Out - Ep. 670

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