The Chopping Block: What Does Binance’s Record $4.3 Billion Settlement Mean for Crypto? - Ep. 573

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the gang breaks down the record $4.3 billion settlement between Binance and the U.S. government — whether it was fair, the chances CEO Changpeng Zhao will face any jail time, whether it was ultimately a good thing for Binance and for the U.S., and what this changes for the industry going forward. They also delve into the SEC’s lawsuit against Kraken, and the drama around Sam Altman’s firing from Open AI and what it says about corporate governance and crypto companies. 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights: 

the details of the settlement between Binance and the Department of Justice 

how a core part of Binance’s business model was to allow bad actors on its platform, according to Robert

why Binance had to settle with the U.S. government even though it's not an American company

why Tom believes that the settlement represents a "very bad lesson"

whether U.S. market makers should be liable in cases like these

how the crypto community has reacted to the settlement 

what the settlement means for the future of the crypto industry 

whether the new SEC lawsuit against Kraken is just a “copy-and-paste” of its suit against Coinbase

The drama around Sam Altman’s removal from his role as CEO of OpenAI

Why Robert thinks that the OpenAI board was “silly and dumb”

What the problems at OpenAI say about its innovative governance structure 

Hosts


Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly 


Robert Leshner, founder of Compound


Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly 


Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures


Disclosures
Links
Binance Settlement

Unchained: 

Binance to Pay $4.3 Billion to Settle U.S. DOJ Criminal Probe; CEO Changpeng Zhao Pleads Guilty for Violating Bank Secrecy Act 

Binance CEO CZ Released on $175 Million Bond

SEC Charges Against Kraken
Unchained: Crypto Exchange Kraken Accused by SEC of Violating Securities Law

OpenAI

The Verge: Sam Altman returns as CEO of OpenAI


Unchained: Worldcoin Falls and Rises After Sam Altman-OpenAI Saga


Haseeb’s tweet on accelerationism
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