Weekly News Roundup 5/1/20 (SEC vc. SAFTs, Telegram, Ebang IPO) (EP.74)

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week’s topics include: Deals of the week The SEC’s court battle against the SAFT on two fronts Ebang’s IPO announcement  a16z Crypto’s new fund FTX’s entry into the US Telegram’s new offer to investors Brian Quintenz leaves the CFTC Check […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]