Blockchain Explained

Meet your co-hosts for Blockchain Explained, Alan Rechtschaffen and Kellee Wicker! Hear more from Alan and Kellee about the podcast's mission to educate a wide audience about the opportunities and challenges of blockchain, study use cases, and assess the current and coming regulatory landscape. Listen now for more on what to expect from this series, and to hear what our hosts find most exciting about blockchain technology.

Welcome to Blockchain Explained

This episode, hear from Laura Shin, journalist, podcaster, and author of The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze. She joins the podcast to talk foundational concepts in blockchain, from smart contracts to the role cryptocurrencies play in a blockchain's work as a decentralized ledger. Listen now to hear her take on the key thing you should know about digital assets - and the key misconception many have.

Blockchain Basics with Laura Shin

Join Alan Rechtschaffen, Chair of Wilson’s Digital Assets Lab & Forum, and Jordan Walbesser, Director of Legal & Business Affairs at Mattel, as they discuss the evolution of blockchain technology in the context of NFT’s, Digital Collectibles, and the Metaverse.

During this episode, Alan and Jordan discuss the differences between Digital Collectibles and Digital Assets, identify technologies that appear to be solutions in search of a problem and analyze how regulatory actions will affect innovation in both Digital Assets, Digital Collectibles and gaming.

Barbie & Blockchain

In part of an ongoing struggle to determine how cryptocurrency fits into existing financial structures, a federal judge issued a July 2023 judgment around whether XRP, the native crypto token for Ripple Labs, was a security or not. The verdict? Depends on the transaction in question. Join us to unpack what is really going on in the Ripple decision with Colin Lloyd, partner in Sullivan Cromwell's Commodities, Futures and Derivatives and Capital Markets Groups.

The Ripple Effect

Join our co-hosts for a conversation with Stellar Development Foundation's Lesley Chavkin and PwC's Kurt Fields on the potential for blockchain to offer solutions for increased financial inclusion around the world, and how financial service providers can assess whether new solutions fit a particular challenge. Our guests discuss case studies from four countries where blockchain is already being leveraged, drawing from their new report, "Enhancing the social handprint of financial service providers: Using blockchain to foster financial inclusion." Listen now, check out the report, or see more info on blockchain and resolving access gaps from Stellar Development Foundation here.

Blockchain and Financial Services' Social Handprint

Join Blockchain Explained co-hosts Alan Rechtschaffen and Kellee Wicker to reflect on a big year in blockchain and consider what major themes we'll be watching in 2024.

Wrapping 2023 in Blockchain

Join our co-hosts for a conversation with Amazon Web Services’ Global Head for Financial Innovation and Digital Assets, Michael Greenwald. In this episode, AI Meets Blockchain, Michael Greenwald shares his predictions for Blockchain and digital currencies in 2024, the basket of currencies approach to finance, and more.

AI Meets Blockchain

Join our co-host for a wide-ranging conversation with Jared Ronis, digital assets analyst and advisor for SeedAI. In this episode, Jared talks about the power of using blockchain for verification, how it can close the gap on key AI problems, and why blockchain's time is now. For more, don't miss Jared breaking down the basics in our ongoing Blockchain Brief series, available online at https://www.wilsoncenter.org/collection/blockchain-briefs

Moving into Prime Time

In this episode, we delve into the findings from a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources that examined the fiscal impact of refugees and asylum seekers on the economy over a 15-year period. Many will be surprised by the overwhelmingly positive findings. John Thon Majok, Director of the Wilson Center's Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative, provides insights and analysis that could have significant implications for policy decisions. 

https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/28fe4e756499bdab08b4e6cb3b952e22/aspe-report-refugee-fiscal-impact.pdf

New Study Upends Negative Assumptions About the Economic Impact of Refugees

Co-hosts Kellee Wicker and Alan Rechtschaffen briefly discuss current events in blockchain, including the recent Bitcoin ETF and Ethereum's latest upgrades, and how they're affecting the conversation in Washington DC in this election year. Listen now for thoughts on how a bull market for crypto is driving new interest in the technology, and the continued obstacles presented by a lack of regulatory clarity.

Peaks and Policy: A Current Events Chat

Join us to hear from Ross Venokur, an artist, director, blockchain innovator, and the Chief Creative Officer of Driver Studios. Ross talks about his work to harness blockchain technology and NFTs to put creators back in the driver's seat, connecting fans to the artists they love and allowing them to support their work directly. He talks about some of the obstacles to crossing the bridge from web2 to web3, from difficult user interfaces to resistance to terms like NFT, and his vision for how that change could happen. Hear more from Ross about the promise of blockchain for creatives and his work with NFTs to empower creativity - including his 2021 project to "sell the Brooklyn Bridge" with Monty Python's John Cleese https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/03/nfts-are-driving-stunts-and-diving-into-the-culture-wars

Handing Control to Creatives

Join our co-hosts for a conversation with Kyle Hauptman, Vice Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, on how blockchain and crypto represent an opportunity for financial institutions. We discuss how crypto presents an opportunity for income not sensitive to interest rates as well as a simplification of key processes like title transfers, and how the development of a path to access crypto via a trusted institution like a credit union could increase public interest in the tech. The vice chair also highlights the high impact the government can have in this space just by clarifying definitions or where regulations don't apply, short of developing guidance or regulations that will guide the use of  blockchain for finance. Listen now for more on how evolving and experimenting with new technologies might keep traditional finance institutions from going the way of Blockbuster.

Evolving and Experimenting with New Financial Instruments

Join our co-hosts for a conversation with Daniel Goldsmith, CEO of Heights Labs, on how forensic analytic labs like his help law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels crack down on illicit uses of blockchain and cryptocurrency. Daniel talks about how mapping and tracing of these very transparent ecosystems can thwart even sophisticated bad actors who are setting up multiple accounts and automating their activity to cover up money laundering, scams, or other illicit uses. Tune in now to learn more about these labs help recover funds, identify scammers and thieves, and how the nature of blockchain inherently helps them tackle crime.

Blockchain and Bad Actors

Join our co-hosts for a conversation with Chris Giancarlo, former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and reported candidate for "crypto czar" in the incoming Trump administration. Giancarlo, known as Crypto Dad after his plea to Congress in support of cryptocurrencies, shares a vision for using cryptocurrencies as anchors for the US dollar, drawing parallels to historical gold or oil standards. He also speculates as to what we could see from the new administration on establishing policy and a clearer regulatory environment for crypto and outlines potential reforms integrating digital assets into the fiat currency system. Tune in now to hear about the role of digital assets in maintaining the dollar's dominance in the global economy, and how an incoming crypto-friendly Congress has already shifted where companies plan to do business.

Forecasting American Crypto Policy in 2025

Join our co-hosts for a conversation with Michael Greenwald, AWS Global Head of Financial Innovation and Digital Assets, and Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase Global, to talk about the intersection of AI and blockchain. Michael and Paul cut through the buzz and hype to talk about how AI is actually driving better security, more efficient user onboarding, and better business practices for companies using digital assets. Listen now to hear more about how AI also makes it easier for people to use digital assets as a financial tool, adding healthy competition to the financial world and driving more innovation in both traditional finance and decentralized finance. For more from Michael and Paul on what's happening on the cutting edge, check out their October 2024 blog post on how these technologies combine.

Link here: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/industries/enhancing-public-sector-digital-asset-security-and-efficiency-with-generative-ai/

AI and Blockchain Drive Security and Efficiency

Within 72 hours of returning to the White House, President Donald Trump issued a landmark Executive Order aimed at reshaping US cryptocurrency policy and positioning America as a global leader in digital assets, blockchain innovation, and financial technology. Listen to a selection from a recent Digital Assets Forum briefing analyzing the order's impact, in which we explore what is changing and how this directive could influence US fiscal and monetary policy moving forward. For more, check out the entire briefing on our website to learn about the blockchain basics that underpin this technology and hear questions digging into the order's impact.

Understanding the New Executive Order on Cryptocurrency and Financial Innovation

Tackling global issues through independent research, open dialogue, and actionable ideas.

Blockchain Explained

The Wilson Center