Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj (Warwick) – What Keeps Stablecoins Stable? (EP.76)
The question of Tether’s influence on crypto markets has long vexed practitioners and academics. In a widely-publicized 2018 paper, academics Griffin and Shams allege that Tether was being issued collusively, effectively increasing the price of Bitcoin beyond its natural level. To learn how Tether behaves like a currency board, and to assess the veracity of […]
Weekly News Roundup 5/8/20 (Paul Tudor Jones, the stablecoin invasion, Cash App’s Q1) (EP.77)
Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week’s topics include: Renowned commodities investor Paul Tudor Jones announces his intent to trade Bitcoin and releases a Bitcoin thesis NEAR protocol gets funded Are fair launches dead? The under-appreciated merit of PoW issuance Libra’s new CEO hire Wyoming’s Special-Purpose […]
Patrick Dugan (Tradelayer) – HyperCryptoDollarization (EP.78)
In this episode, we talk to Patrick Dugan, coiner of the term ‘crypto-dollarization’. Patrick has a wealth of knowledge regarding stablecoins and the prospects for public blockchains to carry fiat-denominated value. Covered in this episode: His formative experiences living under capital controls in Argentina How Patrick’s time in LatAm taught him about dollarization Political drivers […]
Matt Ahlborg (UsefulTulips.org) – Bitcoin as a Bridge Currency (EP.79)
Peer to peer marketplaces are a wealth of data on genuine demand for Bitcoin – but not in the way you might think. As it turns out, a large fraction of the volume in these markets relates to complex, multi-step trades designed to use Bitcoin as a bridge currency to move fiat-denominated remittances, especially into […]
Weekly News Roundup 5/22/20 (Bitcoin Pizza Day, old coins reawaken, the Great Bitcoin Energy Debate) (EP.82)
Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. In this week’s episode: The story behind bitcoin pizza day The impact of hashrate futures Genesis Capital’s acquisition of Vo1t and what that means for their business Why the DTCC should get into crypto Brian Brooks becoming acting Comptroller of the […]
Tim Kelly (BitOoda) on Bitcoin hashrate derivatives (EP.81)
Tim Kelly, founder and CEO of BitOoda joins the show. BitOoda is a financial services firm that is innovating in the field of structured products based on Bitcoin hashrate and difficulty. In this show we discuss: Tim’s career background and the similarities he sees with cryptoassets vs. other asset classes he has traded The mining […]
Apolline Blandin (Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance) – Estimating Bitcoin’s energy footprint (EP.85)
Apolline Blandin, cryptocurrency research lead at the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, joins the show. In this episode: The Cambridge AltFin research agenda The motivation behind the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index How they determine Bitcoin’s electricity consumption How Bitcoin’s energy usage can be understood in context The genesis of their new geographical mining estimates […]
Weekly News Roundup feat. Matt Hougan 5/29/20 (Goldman’s Bitcoin note, Coinbase acquires Tagomi, the end of the CSW saga) (EP.84)
Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry, featuring special guest Matt Hougan, global head of research at Bitwise. In today’s episode: Tagomi is acquired by Coinbase Matt Hougan’s response to Goldman’s bearish note What wealth managers are saying about Bitcoin today Light at the end of the tunnel […]
Dan Matuszewski (CMS Holdings) – What explains the growth of Tether? (EP.83)
Dan Matuszewski, Principal and Co-Founder of CMS Holdings joins the show once again. Since he last appeared, the market has been through some gut-wrenching turmoil, and Tether (one of the subjects of the first episode) has tacked on a casual $5B in market cap. Dan, alongside his colleagues at CMS, has also joined the Crypto […]
Paolo Ardoino (Bitfinex/Tether) – Managing the growth of Tether (EP.87)
So far on the crypto-dollarization miniseries, we’ve covered Tether’s stability mechanics, we’ve heard from traders and OTC desks using the asset, but we haven’t heard from the issuers of the stablecoin itself. To give us insight into how they run the system, Paolo Ardoino, the CTO of Tether and Bitfinex, joins the show. In this […]