Building trust in crypto with Jonathan Levin of Chainalysis
Late last week, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler said that he was “proud to serve” the agency, which some are taking as a hint at an upcoming resignation. Gensler has faced heavy criticism for his crackdown on crypto, including a recent lawsuit from 18 states, and is likely to be replaced under President-Elect Donald Trump who has vowed to oust Gensler. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is meeting with Brian Armstrong, the CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, to discuss potential personnel appointments.
Today on Equity, we're bringing you an interview between Rebecca Bellan and co-founder and CSO of blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, Jonathan Levin. The pair caught up at our Strictly VC event in New York shortly before the Gary Gensler news dropped to discuss:
The imminent change for crypto in the wake of the US election
Trends in crypto crime
Chainalysis’s choice to run its operations in the US
How to build trust in crypto
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
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#118 Dean of Stanford GSB, Jonathan Levin: Innovation Engines
Jon Levin has been teaching at Stanford for more than 20 years, and has been the dean of the famous Graduate School of Business since 2016. Although teaching at Stanford puts him in contact with some of the most promising future entrepreneurs in tech, he says he hasn’t yet been tempted to leave academia for a startup because “I actually love being part of an institution that’s gonna be around for hundreds of years.” As public trust in institutions has eroded in recent years, Jon and his colleagues have had to make changes. For example: Proactively challenging GSB students to think about “What does it mean to be a leader of an organization in today’s world?”
In this episode, Jon and Joubin discuss honorific names, applying research in the real world, matching med school students, the “endless frontier,” the globalization of innovation, the entrepreneurial “itch,” the erosion of trust in institutions, US-China relations, students from Ukraine and Russia, what the GSB admissions staff looks for, self-awareness, the “Touchy Feely” class, and the serendipity of in-person classes.
In this episode, we cover:
The John Bates Clark Medal, and researching economic topics like auction design (01:56)
Nobel Prize winners at the Stanford GSB and the uniqueness of the US university system (10:15)
Teaching entrepreneurial students and the value of institutions (16:30)
Being affirmative vs. reactive and how Jon measures success (23:07)
International MBA students and the importance of geographic diversity (27:27)
Growing up in an academic family and how Jon’s theory of teaching (34:47)
The qualities that “great” GSB alumni have in common, and the gradual changes to business school cohorts (39:12)
The qualities of “great” faculty and what was lost when classes moved to Zoom during COVID (47:06)
Links:
Connect with JonLinkedIn
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
The Rogue 100: How Cryptocurrency Criminals Cash Out - Ep.156
Jonathan Levin, co-founder and CSO of Chainalysis, and Kim Grauer, head of research, discuss the company's 2020 Crypto Crime Report, which explores how cryptocurrency criminals, who perpetrate hacks and scams and send out ransomware and more, cash out. We cover how criminals are turning their illicit crypto into fiat currency, why exchanges are a prime avenue for money laundering, and how over-the-counter brokers are playing a large role. They talk about a group of OTC brokers they describe as the Rogue 100, what their transactions look like, and what can be done to help stop criminals from cashing out. Jonathan and Kim talk about the PlusToken scam, the largest Ponzi scheme in crypto and how Chainalysis determined that it was likely driving down the price of Bitcoin. They also explain the trends in exchange hacks and how the most prolific hackers have grown more sophisticated, giving some examples of how the Lazarus Group, a cybercriminal syndicate linked to the North Korean government has become more advanced. Finally, we also discuss ransomware and terrorism financing and what trends they are seeing there.
Thank you to our sponsors!
CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained
Kraken: https://www.kraken.com
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Episode links:
Chainalysis: https://www.chainalysis.com/
Jonathan Levin: https://twitter.com/jony_levin
Kim Grauer: https://twitter.com/KimberlyGrauer
Previous Unchained interview with Jonathan: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-chainalysis-helps-solve-crimes-jonathan-levin-tells-all-ep-62/
Unconfirmed episode on how Bitcoin led to the demise of the largest child porn site: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-bitcoin-led-to-the-demise-of-the-largest-child-porn-site/
Money laundering report: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/money-laundering-cryptocurrency-2019
https://fortune.com/2020/01/15/crypto-criminals-brokers-launder-billions/
Exchange hacks report: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/cryptocurrency-exchange-hacks-2019
Unchained interview with Priscilla Moriuchi on why North Korea is interested in cryptocurrency: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-north-korea-is-interested-in-cryptocurrency/
Plus Token report: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/plustoken-scam-bitcoin-price
Terrorism financing report: https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/terrorism-financing-cryptocurrency-2019
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How Chainalysis Helps Solve Crimes: Jonathan Levin Tells All - Ep.62
Jonathan Levin, cofounder and chief operating officer for blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, describes how the company was born out of questions he had while a grad student, how they began mapping the Bitcoin blockchain to certain entities, and how their customers, which include government agencies such as the FBI, DEA, IRS, Europol and others, use Chainalysis to help solve Bitcoin crimes. He also reveals what level of detail the software tracks, how privacy coins could affect their work, and what new developments in the technology could decrease current crimes, such as physical extortion of crypto holders. Plus, he answers the question of whether or not Chainalysis's work destroys the fungibility of Bitcoin.
Chainalysis: http://chainalysis.com/
Jonathan Levin: https://twitter.com/jony_levin
Chainalysis report on the changing nature of crypto crime: https://www.chainalysis.com/static/Cryptocrime_Report_V2.pdf
Forbes article on Chainalysis: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/04/05/snooping-on-bitcoin-is-big-business/#234e6792d198
Usage of Chainalysis by IRS: https://www.thedailybeast.com/irs-now-has-a-tool-to-unmask-bitcoin-tax-cheats
Threats of violence against bitcoin and other crypto holders: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/technology/virtual-currency-extortion.html
Thank you to our sponsors!
Blockchain Warehouse: https://www.blockchainwarehouse.com/
Keepkey: https://www.keepkey.com/
Preciate: https://preciate.org/recognize/
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