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.

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.

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.

The future of U.S. decentralized finance, one of blockchain's key use cases, in many ways depends on how Congress decides to act. Hear from Senator Cynthia Lummis, a co-founder of the Digital Asset Caucus, about how Capitol Hill is talking about blockchain, the clarity her legislation would provide for both the industry and enforcing agencies, and her thoughts on the advantages offered by cryptocurrency. This interview was recorded in the spring of 2023.

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.

Join our podcast co-hosts for the latest episode of Blockchain Explained: Tackling Global Financial Inclusion. The World Bank's Harish Natarajan shares his perspective on the obstacles in dissolving the gap in access to transaction accounts and other financial tools, what blockchain-based tools can already do to close the gap, and the obstacles that still remain to achieve true financial inclusion.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Our co-hosts are joined by Chris Cummings, Founder and CEO of Iconic Moments, to talk about how he uses blockchain and NFTs to help museums and cultural institutions reach more people in the digital age. Hear more from Chris about using NFTs to bring art to people, like their series of pieces featuring sections of Jackson Pollock's studio floor, and the role that NFTs can play in proving provenance and ownership. Iconic is also helping museums build digital twins, creating more valuable experiences through which people from around the world can engage directly with a museum's collection, even if they never set foot in the physical space. Listen now for more on how these digital tools allow museums to tap into new resources and audiences!