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, 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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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

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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

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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, 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, 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

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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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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 

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Nic and Matt break down the headlines in yet another week of ATHs. In this episode: 

• Our cured meat scandal
• We dissect crypto mafias
• Necessary conditions for a corporate mafia to form
• Microstrategy’s speculative attack on the dollar
• How the corporate adoption story took us by surprise
• Is there a goodwill dividend for buying bitcoin?
• Is buying bitcoin a bitcoin strategy?
• Nic’s 50k road trip to Tahanis in Ontario
• Coin Metrics’ partnership with Bitgo and KPMG
• Verge has a year-long reorg
• Is Coinbase fairly priced at $77b pre-IPO?
• Should Coinbase be worth more than Goldman?
• OFAC reminds us that it exists
• The implications of OFAC compliant mining
• How the tulip bubble is a Calvinist conspiracy

Content mentioned in this episode: 

• Smithsonian Mag, There Never Was a Real Tulip Fever
• CM announces a partnership with BitGo and KPMG
• Coinbase pre-IPO shares trading at $77b

Check out this episode!

BlockFi Chief Risk Officer Rene Van Kesteren joins the show to explain how crypto lender and brokerage BlockFi engages in risk management. In this episode:

• Rene’s career trajectory and the path that led him to joining BlockFi
• The mechanics of how BlockFi offers interest bearing accounts
• The borrowing and lending market structure
• How BlockFi thinks about counterparty risk
• The reason why rates on U.S. Dollars are higher for stablecoins vs. dollars in a bank account
• How margin calls work
• Differences and similarities in market structure in ‘traditional’ vs. cryptoasset markets
• The biggest misconceptions about BlockFi and crypto lending in general

To learn more about risk management at Blockfi visit:

https://blockfi.com/how-blockfi-handles-risk-and-security

To learn more about BlockFi’s products visit: www.blockfi.com

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Teddy Fusaro, the President of Bitwise Asset Management joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

• The new Bitwise DeFi Index Fund
• The decentralized finance opportunity set and the narratives driving the space
• Teddy’s career path to cryptoassets and joining Bitwise
• The prospects of a Bitcoin ETFs
• Cured meats

To learn more about Bitwise visit their website.

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Repeat guest Zach Kelman joins the show to break down the contemporary effects of Operation Choke Point from his perspective as a lawyer having worked in compliance and regulatory for large financial institutions. In this episode: 

• The (pre)history of Choke Point – and how it wasn’t a bolt from the blue 
• How Choke Point was mechanically enforced against the banks 
• Why industry-wide politicization of financial services is a poor policy to pursue 
• How Choke Point lasted far beyond its original mandate
• Have banks been permanently politicized as a result of OCP? 
• How Choke Point’s effects are being felt in the crypto industry
• What to expect on an ongoing basis

Prior episodes in the Choke Point 2.0 series 

• Iain Murray (Competitive Enterprise Institute) on the history of Operation Choke Point
• Amber Scott (Outlier Canada) on crypto-bank relationships in Canada

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Nic and Matt return for one of the most explosive weeks in the history of the podcast. In this episode: 

• How Nic ended up at war with the Dogecoin fans
• CIV closes a $50m fund
• Tom Brady wins the Super Bowl
• Should responsible CFOs own Bitcoin on their corporate balance sheets?
• Bitcoin on the balance sheet as a signaling mechanism
• BNY Mellon announces support for Bitcoin
• The St Louis Fed is writing articles about DeFi
• Nic orangepills Central Bankers
• Our guesses for the first central banks to adopt Bitcoin
• Nigeria contemplates a Bitcoin ban
• Mastercard is supporting cryptocurrency on their networks – what does this mean?
• The Bitcoin energy debate
• Can you compare Bitcoin to Visa?
• Are Christmas lights wasteful

Content mentioned in this episode: 

• Nic in Coindesk, What Bloomberg Gets Wrong About Bitcoin’s Climate Footprint
• St Louis Fed, DeFi coverage
• Nic on Bloomberg, Bitcoin’s Impact on the Environment

Check out this episode!