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 Depository Institution legislation
  • The privacy-auditability tradeoff in blockchains
  • Whether the growth of stablecoins threatens the security model of public blockchains
  • Thoughts on the imminent halving
  • Our guess of who the next high profile hedge fund investor will be to flip bullish on Bitcoin

Check out this episode!

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 the Griffin & Shams hypothesis in light of new data, we brought Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj on to the show. Ganesh is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, covering international finance and macroeconomics, with a focus on foreign exchange derivatives, market microstructure and cryptocurrencies.

Find the full text of the paper here, and follow Ganesh’s work on his personal website.

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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 out this episode!

Marcos Veremis (Evanston Capital) on the Institutional Allocators Perspective on Cryptoassets (EP.75)

Marcos Veremis, Managing Director at Evanston Capital Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Marcos’ time at Cambridge Associates and how he came to lead cryptoasset research at the firm
  • His perspectives on the various investment theses that are gaining traction with institutional allocators
  • Fund structure, strategy and other crypto-fund considerations

To learn more about Evanston Capital Management visit their website

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Moiz Kohari (Manetu) on Building Software to Enable Data Privacy (EP.73)

Moiz Kohari, the co-founder and CEO of Manetu, a company building a Consumer Privacy Management (CPM) platform for enterprises to manage personally identifiable information (PII) joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Moiz’s recent experience contracting COVID-19
  • His motivation to start Manetu after holding high profile roles at State Street, London Stock Exchange and Novell
  • Data privacy and the challenges enterprises face complying with upcoming regulations
  • The state of blockchain and cryptoasset projects at large financial firms

Learn more about Manetu at www.manetu.com

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Michael Sonnenshein on building a Crypto-Asset Management Franchise (EP.70)

Michael Sonnenshein, Managing Director at Grayscale Investments joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Grayscale’s record quarter, raising $503.7 million in Q1 2020
  • The pace of institutional adoption of passively managed crypto asset products
  • Thoughts on Libra, the halvening and other upcoming events in the cryptoasset industry

Learn more about Grayscale at Grayscale.co and follow them on Twitter @GrayscaleInvest

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Peter Johnson (Jump Capital) on Fintech Investing (EP.72)

Peter Johnson, Head of Fintech and Crypto Investing at Jump Capital joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Peter’s fintech thesis and the categories that he is most excited about
  • Jump Trading’s crypto journey and how Jump Capital works with the core trading business
  • Cryptoasset market infrastructure and the categories that need to exist in order for this industry to thrive

Learn more about Jump Capital at www.jumpcap.com and follow Peter @TheChicagoVC

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Weekly News Roundup 4/24/20 (RenTech trading Bitcoin, It’s Time to Build, dForce) (EP.71)

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week’s topics include:

  • Deals of the week
  • Our changing view of the halving
  • Renaissance Technologies’ announcement that they have the capacity to trade Bitcoin
  • Our reaction to Mark Andreessen’s “It’s Time To Build”
  • The dForce hack
  • Ripple’s lawsuit against Youtube
  • Nic’s defense of Coors Light

Check out this episode!

Weekly News Roundup 4/17/20 (Libra 2.0, MKR lawsuit, and Grayscale’s big Q1) (EP.68)

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week’s topics include:

  • Deal activity
  • More bailout angst
  • A discussion of Libra’s second iteration
  • The lawsuit against the Maker Foundation
  • Grayscale’s monster Q1
  • Blogs we enjoyed reading this week

Check out this episode!

Bob Davis (Highland Capital Partners) on Investing in Disruptive Technologies (EP.67)

Bob Davis, the founder of Lycos and General Partner at Highland Capital Partners joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Bob’s entrepreneurial journey, from taking Lycos from founding to IPO in 9 months, to an eventual $5.5 billion exit
  • Perspectives on the venture industry and the impact of COVID-19 on the capital formation environment
  • Comparisons of the blockchain industry to the early internet era
  • General thoughts on Bitcoin’s macro narrative and the evolution of the market infrastructure to support this asset

 

Learn more about Highland Capital Partners at www.hcp.com

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Sal Ternullo (KPMG) on Enterprise Adoption of Cryptoassets

Sal Ternullo, Director and Cryptoasset Services Co-Lead at KPMG joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • KPMG’s cryptoasset practice and the types of engagements they are leading for large enterprises
  • Sal’s views on cryptoassets and security tokens including barriers to adoption for enterprises
  • The outlook for M&A activity in this industry

Learn more about KPMG’s cryptoasset practice here.

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Brian Klein (Baker Marquart) on High-Stakes Crypto Litigation (EP.66)

Brian Klein, trial attorney at Baker Marquart, joins the show. Brian has represented clients in the crypto industry since 2014 and has been involved in some of the most impactful cases in that time. In this episode:

  • How he got his start at the San Jose bitcoin conference in 2013
  • Representing Erik Voorhees in a case relating to SatoshiDice
  • Whether the SEC has provided sufficient clarity on the application of the Howey test to token issuance
  • Brian’s view on the Hinman guidance on the security to commodity transmutation
  • Brian’s take on the SAFT
  • Brian’s take on disclosure in the industry
  • The little-known variables that affect sentencing outcomes in criminal cases
  • Brian’s experiencing representing Marcus Hutchins
  • Why Brian allocates so much time and effort to pro bono cases

Check out this episode!

Adam Draper (Boost VC) on Investing in Sci-Fi Technologies (EP.61)

Adam Draper, co-founder of BoostVC, an accelerator and venture fund focused on Sci-Fi technologies joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

– Adam’s advice for portfolio companies navigating the current COVID 19 crisis

– His thesis on Virtual Reality and what categories he is most excited about

– His journey in crypto, from being an early investor in Coinbase to present

– Book recommendations

Learn more about Boost at Boost.vc and follow Adam on Twitter @adamdraper

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Weekly News Roundup 4/10/20 (Bailouts, asteroid mining, and office plants) (EP.65)

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week’s topics include:

  • Fidelity connecting to ErisX
  • The sad fate of office plants
  • Gold mining on asteroids
  • More crypto dollarization
  • The class action suits against Bitfinex, Block One, and others
  • Retail vs institutional buying of Bitcoin
  • The best articles published this week

and much more 

Check out this episode!

Tom Jessop (Fidelity) and Tom Chippas (ErisX) on building institutional infrastructure (EP.64)

Tom Jessop, the President of Fidelity Digital Asset Services and Tom Chippas, the CEO of ErisX join the podcast. In this episode we discuss: 

– Today’s announcement that Fidelity Digital Assets is now connecting to ErisX as a venue for procuring cryptoassets

– General perspectives on how COVID-19 impacts blockchain companies

– Fidelity and ErisX’s respective roadmaps and plans for 2020

Learn more about ErisX at www.ErisX.com 

Learn more about Fidelity Digital Assets at www.fidelitydigitalassets.com

 

Check out this episode!

Alex Treece (Zabo) on Cryptoasset Value Accrual (EP.63)

Alex Treece, the president and cofounder of Zabo, joins the show. 

  • How a background in private equity equipped him to think about crypto as a asset class
  • Why Alex founded his startup, Zabo
  • Why there are so few successful examples of utility tokens
  • How tokens sit in the asset class taxonomy
  • Why token value accretion is reliant on an informal contract with the issuer
  • Distinctions between tokens that represent real world securities and natively accretive cash flow tokens which resemble securities
  • Why he’s thinks that blockbuster token sales are a thing of the past
  • Revisiting his old prediction that Bitcoin would outperform in a recession

Check out this episode!

Weekly News Roundup 4/03/20 (CoinMarketCap, Telegram, and bailouts) (EP.62)

Matt and Nic review the top stories of the week in the cryptoasset industry. This week’s topics include:

  • Binance’s acquisition of CoinMarketCap
  • Factom’s insolvency
  • Telegram’s latest setback in court
  • Recent stablecoin growth
  • Nic’s piece on bailouts in Coindesk

and much more news of the week

Check out this episode!

Brian Flynn (Rabbit Hole) on NFTs and DeFi Customer Acquisition (EP.187)

Brian Flynn, the founder and CEO of Rabbit Hole, a platform for driving customer acquisition for decentralized finance protocols joins the show. In this episide we discuss:

  • Brian’s path to cryptoassets and the spark that led him to founding Rabbit Hole
  • Views on NFTs and the use cases that we will see in the coming years
  • Thoughts more broadly on the categories of decentralized finance that are the most enduring and likely to capture value
  • How customer acquisition works now in DeFi and where Rabbit Hole is solving problems

To learn more about Rabbit Hole visit their website and follow Brian on Twitter @Flynnjamm

Check out this episode!

Weekly Roundup 02/26/21 (Bitcoin vs Fedwire, ETF prospects, Is the Tether Saga Over?) (EP.186)

Nic and Matt return for more news and deals of the week. In this episode: 

  • Is Bitcoin more reliable than Fedwire?
  • Are stablecoins already superior to legacy infrastructure?
  • Tether-Tron transactions exceed Tether-Ethereum
  • The social utility of trading wholesale energy
  • One chapter in the Tether saga closes
  • Is the Tether story over?
  • The ultimate takeaway from the Tether saga
  • Square buys more Bitcoin
  • Nic evangelizes bitcoin to his hairdresser
  • A bitcoiner joins the Federal Reserve
  • How big will a Bitcoin ETF be on approval?
  • Why exchanges are prudent to delist BCH and BSV

Check out this episode!

Andy Edstrom on Bitcoin Adoption in the RIA Channel (EP.184)

Andy Edstrom, a financial advisor and Head of Institutional at Swan Bitcoin joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Andy’s new book Why Buy Bitcoin and why he embarked on writing a book about Bitcoin
  • His path to understanding Bitcoin through the lens of an RIA
  • His views on the prospects of a new Bretton Woods or Plaza Accord style arrangement in the coming years
  • Prospects for an exchange-traded Bitcoin fund in the United States
  • Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset and the outlook for more MicroStrategy style moves

 

To learn more about Andy visit his website, check out his book or follow him on Twitter at @edstromandrew

Check out this episode!