- Back to menuPrices
- Back to menuResearch
- Back to menuConsensus
- Back to menu
- Back to menu
- Back to menu
- Back to menuWebinars & Events
Extremism and Cryptocurrency: The Story Too Big to Ignore
In this episode, Anna Baydakova, Danny Nelson, and Tanzeel Akhtar discuss livestreaming the insurrection on a blockchain, Iran taking the mining industry under control, and if Europe can regulate bitcoin.
ABOUT
In this episode, Anna Baydakova, Danny Nelson and Tanzeel Akhtar discuss why one of Justin Sun’s companies is linked to extremism, the insurrection of the Capitol on a blockchain, Iran taking the mining industry under control and also if Europe can regulate bitcoin.
Rioters storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, livestreamed the action in DLive; a video streaming platform owned by BitTorrent, which, in turn, is owned by the Tron founder Justin Sun. They also received donations through the blockchain-based service. Crypto, extremism, deplatforming and the history of Justin Suns' ventures all are wrapped up in this story, which is too big to ignore.
The government of Iran wants to control crypto mining and has clamped down on miners again. In January, the country shut down 1,620 illegal cryptocurrency mining farms. The mining operations were disconnected from the national power grid and miners will face prosecution. Iran has been cash-strapped by the international sanctions for years, and bitcoin looks like another way to get the government the money it needs. But will it work? And will the rest of the world allow it?
In Europe, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is eager to go after “funny business” in the cryptocurrency markets. Lagarde believes the world needs to adopt comprehensive regulation to stop criminals, such as money launderers, from turning to bitcoin for help. She has called bitcoin a "highly speculative" asset. This is not the first time Lagarde has cautioned that cryptocurrencies should be taken seriously and called for global cooperation among worldwide regulators. Whether or not Lagarde is being taken seriously is yet to be seen.
CoinDesk reporters Anna Baydakova, Danny Nelson and Tanzeel Akhtar mentioned these stories in today’s episode:
- CoinDesk: Tron-Owned Video Platform Dlive Criticized for Hosting Extremists, US Capitol Rioters
- The Verge: Hype Man of The Century
- CoinDesk: BitGo Launches Wrapped Bitcoin, Ether on Tron Blockchain
- Iranian Authorities Close 1,620 Illegal Cryptocurrency Mining Farms: Report
- Motherboard: The Era of Government-Friendly Bitcoin Miners Is Here
- The University of Cambridge: Bitcoin Mining Map
- ECB’s Christine Lagarde Says ‘Speculative’ Bitcoin Needs Global Regulation
Did you enjoy the show? We would love to hear what you think. Leave us a review on apple podcasts or your preferred service and talk to us directly via email at podcasts@coindesk.com.
HOSTS
Dan Ilett writes on tech, money and energy. He advises business on digital strategy and technology messaging for large deals. He is founder of Erbut - an advisory company - and Greenbang - a smart technology research company.

Tanzeel Akhtar has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes Africa, Financial Times, The Street, Citywire, Investing.com, Euromoney, Yahoo! Finance, Benzinga, Kitco News, African Business Magazine, Hedge Week, Campden Family Office, Modern Investor, Spear's Wealth Management Magazine, Global Investor, ETF.com, ETF Stream, CIO UK, Funds Global Asia, Portfolio Institutional, Interactive Investor, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoNews.com, Bitcoin.com, The Local, The Next Web, Mining Journal, Money Marketing, Marketing Week and more. Tanzeel trained as a foreign correspondent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and newspaper journalist at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and completed a semester abroad as an ERASMUS student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is NCTJ Qualified - Media Law, Public Administration and passed the Shorthand 100WPM with distinction. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.

Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies.
She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City.
She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.

Danny is CoinDesk's managing editor for Data & Tokens. He formerly ran investigations for the Tufts Daily. At CoinDesk, his beats include (but are not limited to): federal policy, regulation, securities law, exchanges, the Solana ecosystem, smart money doing dumb things, dumb money doing smart things and tungsten cubes. He owns BTC, ETH and SOL tokens, as well as the LinksDAO NFT.

Danny Bradbury has been a professional writer since 1989, and has worked freelance since 1994. He covers technology for publications such as the Guardian.

EPISODES
Fact Versus Fiction on India’s Crypto Crackdown
Rumor has it India’s government is gearing up for a crypto crackdown; possibly a complete ban. Is that really the cas...
Apr 5, 2021
Blockchain Sleuth Kim Nilsson on the Mt. Gox Saga
Mt. Gox crypto exchange has been investigated by Nilsson for its infamous crypto theft and he has been watching the e...
Mar 29, 2021
Mapping Crypto-Related Crime With Chainalysis
In this episode, Anna Baydakova and Danny Nelson speak with Kim Grauer, head of research at Chainalysis, about the bl...
Mar 22, 2021
$69M Art, Investing in Grayscale and the Future of Money
A collection of 5,000 .jpg files just sold at Christie’s for $69.3 million. Why? Because it’s art, it’s digital and i...
Mar 15, 2021

The Mining Pod
Feb 10, 2025

CoinDesk Podcast Network
The top stories and best shows in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk.
Dec 20, 2023

Markets Daily Crypto Roundup
Tune in as CoinDesk runs down daily action in bitcoin markets and some of the most important recent industry development.
Dec 19, 2023

Unchained
Unchained, your no hype resource for all things crypto by former Forbes senior editor Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopians.
Dec 18, 2023