Ameen Soleimani

Iran is a real-world stress test of freedom: the Islamic Republic is built to outlast dissent. In this special Iran Unchained episode, David talks with Sana Ebrahimi and Amin Soleimani about the regime’s control stack, including unelected theocracy, street-level coercion, corruption as governance, and propaganda that reaches far beyond Iran’s borders. They unpack gender apartheid, internet blackouts during uprisings, why protests keep returning, and what the West gets wrong about “intervention” and regional stability. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget-futures 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro 💰ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:21 “How does it feel to be Iranian right now?” 3:39 Sana’s background: Tehran → U.S., and a life shaped by protests 4:38 What is the Iranian regime and what does it want? 9:51 What an Ayatollah is and how that status concentrates power 16:46 Promises vs reality: revolutionary slogans, economic collapse, and control loops 24:15 1979’s alliance, the Marxists, and the purge that followed 34:53 Repression as a system: arrests, torture, and fear as governance 39:15 “Let this land burn”: why the regime doesn’t step down 41:23 Gender apartheid, Mahsa Amini and the spark that keeps reigniting protests 51:58 Protest math: why people still return to the streets 55:18 The internet blackout playbook 1:02:52 “Regime apologists” abroad: media, think tanks, and narrative capture 1:07:17 Why the West gets confused: Palestine politics and cognitive dissonance 1:17:56 Western intervention: “Not Iraq, not Afghanistan” 1:28:57 The diaspora, brain drain, and what a free Iran could unlock 1:31:40 What they’re hoping for next and how to help --- RESOURCES Ameen Soleimani https://x.com/ameensol Sana Ebrahimi https://x.com/__Injaneb96 Iran Unchained fundraiser https://www.iranunchained.com/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Sana Ebrahimi

Ameen Soleimani

Founder

SpankChainReflexer LabsMolochDAO

Ameen Soleimani is the Founder and CEO of SpankChain, the co-creator of MolochDAO, and the co-founder of Reflexer Labs, which created RAI. David and Ameen chat about Moloch, coordination, DAOs, and what DAOs can do for both Ethereum and the broader world. Additionally, they get into Ameen’s recent fight against the Federal Reserve. This is a mind-expanding discussion that you won’t want to miss. Enjoy! ------ 📣 Swell | Liquid Staking for the People https://bankless.cc/swelldiscord  ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🌱 LENS | WEB3 SOCIAL PROTOCOL https://bankless.cc/Lens  🚀 ROCKET POOL | ETH STAKING https://bankless.cc/RocketPool  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave  🌉 JUNO | BRIDGE FIAT TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Juno  ⚡️ ZKSYNC | THE LAYER 2 SCALING ENDGAME https://bankless.cc/zkSync  ----- Topics Covered 0:00 Intro 5:25 Ameen’s Crypto Perch 7:22 Ethereum’s Culture 9:55 Ameen’s Activity in the Space 14:03 Moloch Meme’s Origin 22:03 Moloch DAO & PTSD(AO) 31:31 Ability to Freely Exit 35:20 Organizational Change 42:55 Slaying Moloch 50:25 Global Settlement Layer 54:20 Sticks vs. Carrots 59:18 RAI, the Fed, Ponzis, & the Dollar 1:10:32 Thomas Jefferson & Slavery 1:15:34 Dollar Printing Gone Wrong 1:18:00 Invading Iraq 1:19:50 Ignoring, Overreacting & the Dollar 1:27:18 How Ethereum Fixes Things 1:34:11 Closing ------ Resources: Ameen Soleimani https://twitter.com/ameensol  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Ameen Soleimani

Founder

SpankChainReflexer LabsMolochDAO

In this week’s episode I interview Ameen Soleimani, one of the most prolific builders in Ethereum. He’s the CEO of SpankChain, a blockchain-based adult entertainment platform, the co-creator of MolochDAO, a DAO to fund Ethereum projects, and the co-founder of Reflexer Labs, which created RAI, a purely ether-backed stablecoin. We talk about the need of a purely ETH -backed stablecoin, and how RAI is so cypherpunk it’s not only not backed by fiat, but it’s also not pegged to the dollar, it’s only pegged to itself, and stabilized by its own algorithm. It’s a pretty radical experiment and Ameen has very high hopes for it: The goal is for Rai to become a global reserve currency. Big thanks to our sponsors: Zerion, a simple interface to access and use decentralized finance Ledger, a hardware wallet combined with the Ledger application to securely buy, sell, exchange, stake, lend & manage your crypto Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi

Ameen Soleimani

Founder

SpankChainReflexer LabsMolochDAO

🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: http://bankless.substack.com/ ✊ STARTING GUIDE BANKLESS: https://bit.ly/37Q17uI ❤️ JOIN PRIVATE DISCORD: https://bit.ly/2UVI10O 🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 👕 BUY BANKLESS TEE: https://merch.banklesshq.com/ ----- GO BANKLESS WITH THESE SPONSOR TOOLS: 🤖YIELD-SEEKING MONEY ROBOT THAT FARMS DEFI FOR YOU http://bankless.cc/yearn 🌐 UNSTOPPABLE DOMAINS - HUMAN READABLE ETHEREUM & CRYPTO ADDRESSES https://bankless.cc/unstoppable 🌈 ZAPPER - ULTIMATE HUB FOR DEFI - ZAP INTO DEFI http://bankless.cc/zapper 💳 MONOLITH - GET THE HOLY GRAIL OF BANKLESS VISA CARDS https://bankless.cc/monolith ------ 33 - Slaying Moloch | Ameen Soleimani & Kevin Owocki Moloch is the god of human coordination failure; the reason why we can't have nice things; the embodiment of the Prisoners Dilemma. The story of humanity is a never-ending iterative process of discovering new tools and mechanisms to coordinate against Moloch. Is Ethereum the Sword that Humanity needs to finally slay Moloch? Why is Ethereum different than previous instances of coordination mechanisms, such as Religion or the Nation-State. Tune in to this extremely important episode, and join the army of coordinators to help Slay Moloch! Meditations on Moloch blog post: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ This is the original source of information which all Moloch-related conversation spawns from Read aloud on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeohwQls2GE&t=5660s David's Bankless Piece: Ethereum: Moloch Slayer https://bankless.substack.com/p/ethereum-slayer-of-moloch- Gitcoin & MolochDAO https://gitcoin.co/hackathon/gitxchange2/?tab=hackathon:16 https://gitcoin.co/grants/238/bankless?tab=description https://www.molochdao.com/ POV Crypto Podcast on MolochDAO origins w/ Ameen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oU5jjyHWxE&t=4s ------ Don't stop at the video! Subscribe to the Bankless newsletter program http://bankless.substack.com/ Visit the official Bankless website for resources http://banklesshq.com/ Follow Bankless on Twitter https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ Follow Ryan on Twitter https://twitter.com/ryansadams Follow David on Twitter https://twitter.com/TrustlessState Follow Lucas on Twitter https://twitter.com/0x_Lucas ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time we may add links in this channel to products we use. We may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. We'll always disclose when this is the case.

Ameen Soleimani

Founder

SpankChainReflexer LabsMolochDAO

Kevin Owocki

Founder

GitcoinSupermodular

Ameen Soleimani, CEO of Spankchain, comes on the show to discuss his latest effort to fund Ethereum development through the decentralized autonomous organization MolochDAO. He describes how it works, plus we cover competition in the smart contract space and whether we're seeing the emergence of Ethereum maximalism. Full show notes are back on Forbes.com! See the full recap of this week's recap of the episode at http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2019/03/18/how-could-ethereum-development-be-funded-perhaps-through-this-decentralized-autonomous-organization/. Thank you to our sponsor! CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links: MolochDAO website: MolochDAO.com MolochDAO on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MolochDAO MolochDAO white paper: https://github.com/MolochVentures/Whitepaper/blob/master/Whitepaper.pdf Moloch Github: https://github.com/molochventures/moloch State of Ethereum 2.0 report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PS0k9MaKPdPwEw3Uh9rq7USjq7LcSpT6ICQUXRij4YE/edit#heading=h.kdbgcss2wsc Ameen's tweet storm on MolochDAO: https://twitter.com/ameensol/status/1084652403889065989?s=19 MolochDAO tweetstorm with update on members, etc.: https://twitter.com/MolochDAO/status/1100516720563806209?s=19 MolochDAO presentation at ETHDenver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abTRJZcmPwI  Post by Dino Mark, Vlad Zamfir and Emin Gun Sirer, A Call for a Temporary Moratorium on the DAO: http://hackingdistributed.com/2016/05/27/dao-call-for-moratorium/ Ameen on the importance of ETH price: https://twitter.com/ameensol/status/1090319128810815489 Ryan Zurrer's position on ether fund recovery: https://medium.com/@rzurrer/evolution-dogma-a-proposed-path-towards-ether-fund-recovery-9810f213e8ee r/Ethereum decision on moderators: https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/azyqdu/a_statement_call_for_discussion_from_some_of_the/ Ameen on the timeframe for developing Ethereum 2.0 relative to development on potentially competitive chains like Polkadot: https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/ajc9ip/ama_we_are_the_eth_20_research_team/eewscyf/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ameen Soleimani

Founder

SpankChainReflexer LabsMolochDAO