Empire

In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santi discuss CeFi's contagion risk and the fragility in the crypto market. Prices are crashing, and multiple companies appear to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Is SBF saving the industry? What questions should we all be asking right now? Tune in to find out! Highlights include: - What's going on in the markets - Crypto is transparent but not perfect - What is crypto's worst-case scenario - Crypto is transparent but not perfect - Will 3AC survive - Voyager joins the illiquidity party - BlockFi continues to be in pain - SBF & Alameda swoop in - Are low DeFi yields existential - What happened with Solend - Is it okay if applications are centralized - - Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - Referenced in the show: Jason's tweet on 3 phases of a bear market https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1536365738906202112 Episode with Qiao from Alliance DAO https://tinyurl.com/4wrkuakz -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- (00:00) Introduction (01:41) Market Update (04:34) Today's Risk Factors (08:37) 3AC Crises Update (13:17) Celsius & sETH Update (13:45) Voyager & Risk Mgmt (17:56) How Bad Are Low Yields For DeFi? (20:16) Bitmex Ad (21:16) The Question You Should Be Asking (27:27) When Markets Go Quiet (29:02) SBF Saves CeFi (35:04) A Daisy Chain of Yields (31:02) Solend & Centralization1 (41:33) Topics For Next Week -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Josh Rosenthal - a former historian turned serial entrepreneur and crypto VC. Josh's encyclopedic knowledge of history - from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and beyond - and ability to draw a throughline between historical events, Web3 and our world today is truly fascinating. Josh contends that we are living through the greatest Renaissance in history. How will historians look back on today? Tune in to find out. We discuss: - medieval life - what defines a Renaissance - the advent of a dynamic identity - signs of a reformation - what drives history - layering ownership into communication - the pendulum between aggregation and decentralization - how Web3 brings the missing element to the internet - why we are living through THE greatest Renaissance - how will society be impacted - - Follow Josh: https://twitter.com/JoshuaRosenthal Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices and lowest slippage. - - (00:00) Introduction (04:07) Medieval You (10:30) Taking the Red Pill (17:45) Self-Generating Demand (21:16)The New Reformation (27:42) A Recreation of Society (32:15) Crypto Is A Counterweight To Aggregation (37:18) Paraswap Ad (38:26) Choosing Your Identity (41:59) Synthetic Worlds and Chaotic Change (46:51) Distinguishing the Institution From The Ideology (53:37) Zoom Out (56:46) Our Questions Affect the Outcomes (57:51) Have We Lost Our Ingenuity? (1:06:09) Institutions Eventually Give In (1:07:10) Embracing Pluralism (1:11:36) What Will the World Look Like? (1:15:08) Crypto's Impact on the Middle Class (1:21:18) New Jobs and Opportunities -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santi reflect on what might have been the most dramatic week in crypto's history. They explore the market contagion, the fallout, and debate if we've hit rock bottom. Santi is back in the studio with perfect timing. How is Santi approaching this volatility, is he buying, and what is his updated investment strategy? Tune in to find out. Highlights include: - How did this all start - The effects of quantitative tightening - Why stETH is causing waves across crypto - A bank run at Celsius - Do CeFi companies need more regulation - Three Arrows Capital insolvency rumors - Santi's #1 takeaway from this week's drama - Tether FUD - The downside of on-chain transparency - Are Santi and Jason buying back in - Santi's updated investment strategy - How to maximize the bear market - - Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - Referenced in the show: degentrading Twitter thread on 3AC's liquidity crises https://tinyurl.com/4xer8dzn Jason's tweet on 3 phases of a bear market https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1536365738906202112 -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- (00:00) Introduction (03:26) How Did We Get Here? (07:02) A Sudden and Brutal Bear Market (13:15) Thesis vs Fear Driven (15:14) Balancing Optimism With Rational Valuation (18:42) What Is Happening With sETH? (25:12) Why Celsisus Is In A Liquidity Crunch? (34:52) Should CeFi Companies Be Regulated Like Banks? (39:04) Bitmex Ad (40:05) What's Next For Celsius? (44:04) Three Arrows Capital is treading water (51:12) Margin calls, 3AC and risk mgmt. (55:19) Santi's #1 Takeaway (1:01:36) Contagion (1:07:12) Tether FUD (1:09:47) Negative Consequences of Transparency (1:13:25) Is This Rock Bottom? (1:18:32) Santi's Current Strategy (1:27:52) Patience and Staying In The Game (1:41:00) Blockworks and Building in a Bear -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Haseeb Qureshi and Tom Schmidt from Dragonfly Capital. Haseeb and Tom are top venture capitalists with unique insights into crypto's current trends, new innovations and market sentiment. If you want expert advice on the market, these are two people you ask. We discuss: - the venture capital landscape - power is shifting to investors - being long crypto while fighting the Fed - supercharged crowdfunding - convertible bonds & debt financing - the changing meta - how projects choose where to build - the end of airdrops - market outlook - - Follow Haseeb: https://twitter.com/hosseeb Follow Tom: https://twitter.com/tomhschmidt Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - Referenced in the show: Dragonfly's letter to founders https://tinyurl.com/493vrmpp Tom's tweet on Porter Finance https://twitter.com/tomhschmidt/status/1533779269851176960 - - ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices and lowest slippage. - - (00:00) Introduction (01:33) Today's Narrative (05:25) A venture capitalist perspective (08:17) Rising interest rates and available capital (16:15) The big outstanding problems (21:29) Utilizing debt financing (27:35) The changing meta (31:49) Paraswap Ad (32:58) The layer one wars (36:00) How projects "shop around" protocols (39:10) Where should new projects build? (42:22) The end of airdrops (47:28) How founders should approach growth (51:25) Advice on down rounds (59:32) Public vs Private markets (1:02:47) How long will the bear market last? -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Mike discuss the current state of crypto. It's officially a bear market, so how are companies and DAOs responding? What are the stories that you need to know? Tune in to find out. Highlights include: Did companies overhire What happens in a down round Why we need to separate investors from traders DAOs look to stables and the need for debt financing The Coinbase vs FTX strategy debate Is the Lummis bill good for crypto Enterprise blockchains are back Optimism loses 20M OP tokens ApeCoin DAO sides with Ethereum - - Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_ Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - Referenced in the show: BlockFi down round https://tinyurl.com/2tej9jyf Novogratz says 2/3 of crypto funds will fail https://tinyurl.com/yh4x2jsu Lido, FEI and Frax proposals https://research.lido.fi/t/lido-to-prepare-for-the-bear-market/2318/5 https://tribe.fei.money/t/tip-110-simplify-pcv/4323 https://gov.frax.finance/t/fip-77-20m-fxs-buyback-program-using-twamm/1523 SBF on Empire https://tinyurl.com/23wp5uza SBF on Invest Like The Best https://tinyurl.com/2p8wsdfe FTX surpasses Coinbase in BTC & ETH spot trading https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/state-of-the-network-issue-158?s=r Coinbase job portal https://coda.io/@coinbase-talent/coinbase-talent-hub/ Richard Burton article on how crypto is like building hardware https://tinyurl.com/ytww6ap7 Tim Beiko on Bankless https://tinyurl.com/2vxmcdux -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (02:45) Down Rounds, Layoffs and Hiring Freezes (16:40) An Investor Reckoning? (18:20) Separating Investors vs Traders (20:05) Frothy Private Markets (23:50) DAO Treasuries and Debt Financing (27:53) Questioning Token Buybacks (32:30) Bitmex Ad (33:33) FTX Surpassing Coinbase (40:15) Cynthia Lummis Bill (45:15) Are Tokens Securities? (48:21) Salesforce and Enterprise Blockchains (56:15) Optimism loses $20M OP tokens (59:45) APE DAO votes on Ethereum (1:03:40) When ETH merge -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Qiao Wang and Imran Khan, core contributors at Alliance DAO (the Y Combinator of Web3). Alliance DAO is a Web3 startup accelerator whose portfolio includes 0x, dYdX, Paraswap, Synthetix and top Web3 protocols. Qiao and Imran are former founders who now assist Web3's top entrepreneurs in building, launching and growing their products. As a result, the duo has a front-row seat to the latest trends and innovations in crypto. This episode is for you if you want to know what it takes to build a top Web3 product. We discuss: - how to think about tokenomics - why product should come before community - what tech stack developers are building on - why Qiao recommends launching your product on Avalanche - how to scale a team in Web3 - the top 3 things founders should think about - why you shouldn't start a DAO, and much more! -- Follow Qiao: https://twitter.com/QwQiao Follow Imran: https://twitter.com/Imrankhan Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - Referenced in the show: Empire's previous episode with Qiao & Imran https://tinyurl.com/bznjm8ub Alliance DAO https://alliance.xyz/ Qiao's "Common Pitfalls for Web3 Founders" post https://twitter.com/QwQiao/status/1503365524272689156 Imran's tweet thread on "leveraged CAC" https://twitter.com/lmrankhan/status/1501247894325768194 Imran's tweet on a Robinhood acquisition https://twitter.com/lmrankhan/status/1527353717741490178 Imran's tweet on DAO treasuries growing to $11B https://twitter.com/lmrankhan/status/1517551697148747777 The Obol staking protocol https://obol.tech/ - - ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices and lowest slippage. - - (00:00) Introduction (01:37) State of The Market (06:37) Is This Crypto's Last Cycle? (11:24) The Best Time To Launch A Product (12:49) Leveraged Customer Acquisition Cost (16:09) Don't Start Your Company As A DAO (18:02) Paraswap Ad (19:09) Why Do We Even Need DAOs? (21:26) Building Community Around A Project (24:47) Scaling a Team In Web3 (26:55) The Use Case for Creator DAOs (30:22) How Do Builders Choose Which Platform to Build On? (35:42) Will Talent Flock to Ethereum L2s? (38:49) Web3 Unit Economics (42:38) Top 3 Things Founders Should Focus On (45:04) How to Think About Community (48:43) Is Coinbase undervalued? (49:59) Will Robinhood Be Acquired in 2022? (51:25) Coinbase vs FTX (51:56) Where is the NFT Market Headed? (55:08) Lido's Future Dominance -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason is joined by Byron Gilliam - a markets strategist and author of the Blockworks newsletter. Often called the Matt Levine of Web3, Byron brings his traditional finance experience to crypto with a mix of wisdom and wit. Jason and Byron cover this week's biggest stories and explore crypto's outlook as an investable asset class. Episode highlights include: Why Byron frames crypto as commodities, not equities How private markets are losing their advantage Why crypto may be amazing for users, but a bad investment How OpenSea's insider trading news will affect other Web3 companies What happened with Optimism's airdrop Can L2s find a sustainable revenue model How BTC mining could fuel growth in renewable energy Byron questions if MEV is crypto's only use case Why UST's collapse was not crypto's Lehman moment and much more! - - Follow Byron: https://twitter.com/bgilliam1982 Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - Referenced in the show: Byron's Newsletter https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ 0xHamZ tweet on $100B required market inflows https://twitter.com/0xHamz/status/1530222542413234176 Arthur Hayes article https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/shut-it-down-15d230b28089 - - BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- (00:00) Introduction (01:26) Byron's Evolving View on Crypto (05:50) Lack of moats and risk taking founders (11:28) Byron's investment outlook (13:30) The private market arbitrage (16:25) OpenSea insider trading (23:49) Optimism's Airdrop (27:18) Bitmex Ad (33:08) Public goods & Layer 2 tokens (36:28) Oil companies working with BTC miners (38:51) Is everything just MEV? (42:39) Crypto's structural selling (46:31) No profits, just circular pricing (48:13) Trust in Tether -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Charles Cascarilla, co-founder of Paxos, to discuss the state of the market. How did we get here, and what should we expect next? Show highlights include: How the everything bubble started in 1995 What tradeoff the Fed has to make How low interest rates perpetuated the greatest lie The 3 likely scenarios going forward How Paxos plans to bring $700T of assets on chain Why stablecoins aren't actually stable What Richard is looking forward to next - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices and lowest slippage. - - Referenced in the show: Paxos Website https://paxos.com/ Charles on "Invest Like the Best" (2019) https://tinyurl.com/32x95pfb Charles on "Invest Like the Best" (2020) https://tinyurl.com/2p92aszt -- (00:00) Introduction (01:12) The Macros Mess (08:17) The Everything Bubble (10:27) How To Invest In This Environment (13:06) What is Bitcoin's Narrative? (18:34) BTC and Crypto's Outlook In A Macro Bear Market (24:18) Short Or Long-Term Pain? (28:05) Paraswap Ad (29:13) Almost All Stablecoins Aren't Stable (35:54) Paxos Aims To Bring All Assets On Chain (38:28) Privacy Is A Requirement For Adoption (40:17) Crypto's Unlock (43:32) What Projects Emerge From The Bear? (45:35) The Most Exciting Thing in Web3 Today -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santiago discuss how to navigate the current bear market. Things aren't looking pretty, but this isn't the team's first rodeo. The duo explores what to expect, how to stay in the game and where opportunities might emerge. Highlights include: where will crypto's total market cap bottom? are Jason and Santi buyers at these prices? why are funds ignoring liquid markets? how founders should approach the bear thoughts on a16z's new $4.5B fund will Coinbase be acquired? and much more - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - Referenced in the show: Chris Dixon Permissionless Keynote https://youtu.be/Znkpa64J7qA Santi's Coinbase Acquisition Tweet https://twitter.com/santiagoroel/status/1525941336070922242 Bill Gurley's "All In" Panel https://youtu.be/lcyec3pvAEY - - BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- (00:00) Introduction (01:11) Crypto Marketing (04:04) Why Santi Missed Permissionless (05:45) Advice For This Bear Market (17:32) A 16z Raises 4.5B (22:04) How Founders Can Embrace The Bear (26:34) ETH And Assessing Value Today (29:13) Overleveraged (33:05) How Capital Calls Work (34:55) Will Funds Leave The Space? (37:00) Bitmex Ad (38:02) When Do You Buy? (45:10) Stay In The Game? (47:16) Coinbase Acquisition Thesis (53:07) Three Leading Indicators (54:07) Smaller Funds Underwater (57:35) Liquid Assets Have Been Ignored (1:00:27) Investing Isn't Easy

In today’s episode of Empire, Jason and Santi are joined by the founders of Scroll - Sandy Peng, Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen - to discuss how ZK tech will scale Ethereum. Scroll is a general-purpose zkEVM rollup that combines Ethereum’s security with drastically reduced fees and low latency. We start the conversation with a deep dive into zero-knowledge tech, the power of validity proofs and the different L2 scaling techniques. The team then explains Scroll's advantage, the difficulty of building a general-purpose L2 and why Scroll’s “EVM equivalence” is a massive breakthrough for Ethereum developers. Scroll has been flying under the radar, but they won’t be for long. Don’t miss this conversation on the most sci-fi tech in crypto. - - Follow Scroll: https://twitter.com/Scroll_ZKP Follow Sandy: https://twitter.com/SandyPeng1 Follow Ye: https://twitter.com/yezhang1998 Follow Haichen: https://twitter.com/shenhaichen Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices and lowest slippage. -- Referenced in the show: Layer-2 for beginners https://gourmetcrypto.substack.com/p/layer-2-for-beginners?s=r Optimistic vs ZK Rollups https://blog.matter-labs.io/optimistic-vs-zk-rollup-deep-dive-ea141e71e075 -- (00:00) Intro (05:00) Scroll, a zkEVM Rollup (05:26) Why Is zk Tech Interesting? (07:58) Optimistic vs ZK rollups (10:26) The Evolution of ZK Tech (13:27) zkSync and Starkware (20:26) Where Is Scroll Today? (22:09) The Scroll Team (24:16) Moats In An Open-Source Industry (26:42) General-Purpose vs App-Specific Rollup (28:44) Paraswap Ad (29:44) Creating The Best Developer Experience (32:12) Working With The Ethereum Foundation (36:02) What Scroll Will Enable for Web3 (41:22) China and Web3 (46:17) Building and Investing (47:19) What's Next For Scroll? -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason and Mike are joined by Richard Craib, founder of Numerai, to discuss why Richard sold all his ETH. Richard is a prolific investor and has been part of the Ethereum ecosystem since the 2014 ICO. That’s why it was such a big deal when he announced he sold his ETH and that he no longer sees crypto as a good investment. Does crypto have a product outside of speculation? Is crypto’s growth just a result of the Fed? Is crypto more about regulatory arbitrage than the tech? These questions and more are explored in this fascinating conversation (debate!) where Richard holds nothing back. - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_ Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Follow Richard: https://twitter.com/richardcraib Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - Referenced in the show: Richard's video announcing why he sold his ETH https://twitter.com/richardcraib/status/1523513981347848192?s=20&t=qwlN5rWxe5-KWyJOEr4B6Q -- (00:00) Intro (01:52) Why Richard Sold All of His ETH (09:00) The Fed "Created" UST (12:14) Macro Trouble (15:53) A Market Neutral Strategy (19:38) Is Crypto's Only Product Speculation? (32:58) An Overreaction to a Flawed System (36:26) A Massive Misallocation of Capital (40:25) It's Mostly Just Regulatory Arbitrage (43:00) Why People Join The Crypto Industry (47:33) Is There A Real Use Case? (52:28) What Richard First Liked About Crypto

On today's episode of Empire, Stani Kulechov - founder of Aave and Lens Protocol - joins Jason and Santiago to discuss the future of Web3 social. Stani explains how Lens Protocol will be the substrate Web3 social developers leverage to build and bootstrap their apps. Lens Protocol's modular architecture and open-data structure will enable mass experimentation, micro-communities and social composability: leading to differentiated and user-focused products. We then explore the benefits of a user-owned social graph, monetization strategies and how identity/social credit will be the next big unlock in Web3. Tune in to explore this new medium for social! - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Stani: https://twitter.com/StaniKulechov Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw - - BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:03) Why Stani Was Kicked Off Twitter (04:45) Can Twitter Decentralize? (12:36) Social Media In Crypto (22:13) What Problem Is Lens Protocol Solving? (25:40) Building Moats In Social Media (28:14) Bitmex Ad (29:30) Building Moats In Social Media (34:36) Comparisons Between Web 2.0 & Web 3.0 Social Media (40:28) How Does Web 3.0 Social Media Monetize? (51:56) Negatives of Social Media On A Blockchain (53:40) Could Lens Be Bigger Than Aave? (59:23) The Lens Protocol Stack -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Joe Lallouz, Head of Coinbase Cloud, joins Jason and Santiago to discuss how Coinbase Cloud is building the AWS of crypto. Coinbase Cloud is building blockchain infrastructure and APIs that abstract the complexities of staking, data access, deployment and more. Joe explains the challenges of building in crypto, how Coinbase Cloud is taking on this challenge, and why developer tooling is critical for rapid innovation. We then discuss the importance of crypto's low switching costs, proof-of-stake systems, Lido's staking dominance, and Coinbase's approach to MEV. Blockchain infrastructure isn't the hot topic on Crypto Twitter, but it's the base layer of the entire ecosystem and will soon be a primary talking point. Don't miss this fantastic conversation to stay ahead of the blockchain infrastructure narrative! - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Joe: https://twitter.com/JoeLallouz Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices and lowest slippage. -- (00:00) Introduction (01:27) The AWS of Crypto (10:57) The Multichain Thesis (16:24) Bundling and Unbundling in Web3 (21:56) The Magic of Low Switching Costs (28:11) Move Fast and Don't Break Things (33:48) Building The Secure Foundation (35:19) Is Coinbase a Bridge? (37:27) Paraswap Ad (38:35) Is Lido a Threat to ETH? (45:40) A Coinbase ETH Staking Derivative (48:16) How Coinbase Approaches MEV (51:43) MEV's Moral Hazard (55:19) Blockchain On Demand (59:38) Why ApeCoin Doesn't Need Its Own Chain (1:03:11) Every Company Will Be a Crypto Company (1:06:08) Segments Ripe For Innovation -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Olaf Carlson-Wee, Coinbase's first employee & founder of Polychain, joins Jason and Santiago to discuss his views on the state of crypto. Olaf reflects on crypto's cycles, the reoccurring themes and how this relates to the UST meltdown and today's bear market. We then dive into Olaf's investment philosophy, exploring his thoughts on what assets will accrue value, the multichain future and the most exciting opportunities. You'll also hear Olaf's unique take on the "one reason" DAOs should exist. Don't miss this fantastic episode with one of the most interesting/successful OGs in crypto. - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_ Follow Olaf: https://twitter.com/zxocw Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- (00:00) Introduction (01:02) Market Chaos (05:37) Crypto's Cycles (17:33) Stablecoins and UST's Meltdown (24:33) The End of Algo Stables (30:06) Where's The Market Headed? (38:14) Bitmex AD (39:31) The Biggest Entrepreneurial Laboratory in History (43:23) It's Time for Buying Not Selling (44:34) Layer One Wars (48:38) The L2 Ecosystem (53:58) Where Will Value Accrue? (58:13) What's Overlooked In Crypto? (1:03:22) The One Thing DAO's Should Do (1:06:18) DeFi vs CeFi (1:07:39) Struggles of an Entrepreneur (1:11:33) The Industry Has to Prove Itself -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Jordi Alexander and Mika Honkasalo join Jason and Santiago on today’s episode of “Empire" to discuss the meltdown of UST, Terra's stablecoin. The match was lit Sunday with UST de-pegging from one dollar, and it's now become the single biggest wealth destruction event in crypto. Jordi and Mika explain what led to UST's demise, how this could have been prevented, and what's in store for the future of UST and Terra. Is this the end of decentralized stablecoins? Can the market recover? Tune in to find out. - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Jordi: https://twitter.com/gametheorizing Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc -- (00:00) Introduction (01:07) What Happened to UST? (04:32) Utility vs Ponzi Mechanics (12:13) BTC Reserve (15:26) The Attack (20:32) How Did Institutions Play This? (24:31) Macro's Impact (26:52) Future of Decentralized Stablecoins (35:46) How Could UST Be Designed Differently? (43:21) The Multiplier Effect (44:44) The Soros Test (46:57) What's Next for UST? (56:16) The Arbitrage (59:12) The Systemic Effects (1:05:40) The Investment Outlook -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Vance Spencer and Michael Anderson, co-founders of Framework Ventures, join Jason on today’s episode of “Empire.” The founders have grown Framework’s assets under management from $14 million to over $1.4 billion in just three years. The co-founders share their thoughts on the layer-2 scaling thesis and why every project will eventually fork their own layer-2. Vance and Michael believe the shift to layer-2s is inevitable — it’s the endgame in maximizing token value. They then dive into staking and staking derivatives and why the Ethereum merge will bring about the birth of a new industry. This might be the most alpha ever dropped in one podcast — don’t miss it! - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:21) Yuga Labs debacle and scaling solutions (07:40) Application-specific L2s (09:07) Are L2 tokens parasitic to L1 tokens? (11:27)The multichain future (15:58) $10B hack prediction (17:57) Lido and Staking (23:27) Is The ETH Merge Priced In? (27:41) How To Outperform ETH (30:24) Fundamental Analysis (32:54) Institutional strategies and the ETH flippening (38:56) Paraswap Ad (40:05) Bearish AMMs, Bullish PFOF (45:14) Are we just recreating TradFi? (47:22) Revisiting the OG DeFi protocols (50:50) Tokenomics (55:14) Investing in GameFi (1:04:58) Enterprise blockchains (1:09:54) Super DAOs (1:11:54) 2022 Outlook -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santiago start with the most relevant topic: how to survive a bear market. Santiago explains how he embraces the bear and shares advice for builders and investors - including his current investment strategy. Jason and Santi then explore the NFT market, Yuga land sale and today's scaling challenges. The conversation is capped off with thoughts on Lido's dominance, Anchor's rate drop and DAO legal battles. Tune in to hear this week's top stories all in one episode! -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc - - Referenced in the show: The WSJ "NFT Sales Are Flattening" article https://www.wsj.com/articles/nft-sales-are-flatlining-11651552616 Dune Analytics Data https://dune.com/sealaunch/NFT https://dune.com/rchen8/opensea Nansen NFT Tweet/Stats https://twitter.com/themlpx/status/1521845362830430208 Ben Strack Article On bZx Litigation https://blockworks.co/hacked-dao-faces-lawsuit-as-users-try-to-recoup-stolen-funds/ Fairfax Pension Announcement https://cointelegraph.com/news/virginian-county-wants-to-put-pension-funds-into-defi-yield-farming -- (00:00) Introduction (02:43) Surviving The Bear (08:36) Are Private Deals Too Hot? (12:18) Santi's Current Investment (18:00) What's Going On With NFTs (28:23) Bitmex Ad (29:31) Yuga Land Sale & Scaling Challenges (37:26) Does Provenance Determine an NFTs Value? (39:01) ApeCoin's Staking Proposal (41:51) Lido and the Pull of Centralization (47:01) Anchor Hits ATH TVL Despite Rate Drop (48:28) DAOs Are Being Sued (52:13) Pension Fund Doubles Down on Crypto (53:36) Permissionless Is Almost Here! -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason and Santiago are joined by Jeff Dorman, CIO of Arca. Jeff is a prominent crypto investor known for his fundamental analysis, contrarian bets and ability to simplify crypto's arcane topics. In this episode, Jeff explains crypto's response to macro, why fundamentals matter, equity tokenization, crypto's most exciting developments and more. Don't miss Jeff's insights on where crypto is headed next! Resources: BTC/NASDAQ correlation: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-11/bitcoin-s-correlation-with-big-tech-increases-to-record-chart Follow Jeff on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jdorman81 Follow Empire on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theempirepod -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (01:27) The Real Reason Crypto Is Correlated To The NASDAQ (04:27) Is The Fed In Control of Inflation? (09:02) Crypto's Strength During Macro Turbulence (13:04) The Ownership Narrative (15:25) Everything Is Based On Trust (18:12) Ownership and Aligned Incentives (25:27) Liquidity Incentives (30:28) Governance (33:57) Paraswap Ad (35:06) CeFi Merging With DeFi (39:32) What Is Jeff Excited About? (44:09) DeFi Is Boring But Works (47:42) Tokens That Accrue Value (49:50) Business Development in Crypto (54:38) How To Value Layer One Blockchains -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In today's episode of Empire's Roundup, the long-awaited return of Santi and Jason discussing the latest in crypto, DeFi, and more has finally landed. They refresh some predictions around ETH for 2022 and discuss the Optimism airdrop, the BAYC Instagram hack, Osmosis's canonical bridge vote, and announcements from funds and initiatives alike. You won't want to miss this! -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps: (00:00)・Introduction (01:50)・The Permissionless conference (03:05)・Optimism's airdrop & implications (20:06)・Predictions for an Ethereum and P2E Summer (23:56)・BAYC Instagram hack (29:08)・Is it the NFT top? (35:55)・Be a crypto user (38:35)・A proliferation of algo stablecoins (44:30)・BTC as the global reserve layer of the world (47:02)・Osmosis votes in Axelar as the canonical bridge (49:05)・Fidelity's 401K BTC announcement (50:52)・Dragonfly launches a $650M crypto fund (52:18)・Current favorite shows and podcasts

On today's episode of Empire, Santiago Roel Santos is joined by Kieran Warwick, co-founder of Illuvium. Illuvium is an open-world, collector and auto battler game with high-res graphics and dynamic gameplay mechanics. Illuvium focuses on bringing both entertainment and earning into the core gameplay. It might just be the Pokémon of Web3. We discuss the inspiration behind Illuvium, how to build a AAA studio-level game, how NFTs empower gameplay and the key to Illuvium's success. Links: Kieran's Twitter: https://twitter.com/KieranWarwick Illuvium: https://www.illuvium.io/ Illuvium Gameplay Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzT88eN4gts&t=120s&ab_channel=Illuvium Live Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KeNzTaJhmQ&ab_channel=Illuvium -- Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (01:10) Creating A Passionate Community (04:43) Launching A Token (10:22) Inspiration Behind Illuvium (15:10) What's It Mean To Build a Good Game? (19:01) Utilizing Capital Formation (23:51) Scaling Illuvium (25:42)Playing For The Entertainment Value (30:49) How Do You Think About Competition? (33:12) Will Traditional Gaming Studios Use Crypto? (34:54) Building On Top Of Illuvium (36:45) Pokemon, NFTs, and Interoperability (44:35) Scarcity vs Utility (52:35) ETH Lizaards (55:49) Investing In Illuvium (1:01:50) How To Get Involved -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Travis Kling, founder of Ikigai Asset Management. Travis is a prolific investor who sits at the intersection of macro and crypto. We discuss the implications of the ETH 2.0 merge, why ETH is prime for institutional capital, what a macro bear market means for crypto, Ikigai's investment strategy, and more. This is a must-listen if you're interested in the ETH 2.0 Merge and ETH's investment prospects (warning, Travis is a mega bull). -- Travis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Travis_Kling Ikigai Newsletter: https://www.kanaandkatana.com/ -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. --- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (00:58) Bitcoin's 2022 Outlook (07:30) ETH 2.0 Merge Catalyst (12:33) Why Is This Time Different? (15:20) Paraswap Ad (16:37) When Will Institutions Start Deploying Capital? (19:36) The Bear Case (21:31) The Merge's Perfect Timing (23:35) Will Institutions HODL? (28:48) Crypto's Progress and Runway (33:00) Moving Beyond Just BTC (39:52) The Most Important Rule In Crypto Investing (41:00) Layer 1 Wars (48:40) BTC As Pristine Collateral (54:30) Bitcoin Defi (56:00) Ikaigi's Investment Style (57:20) Investments and Mistakes

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Bryan Pellegrino, co-founder of LayerZero. LayerZero is an interoperability protocol that wants to connect every contract on every chain. This is a can't miss episode on blockchain bridges and the future of interoperability. We discuss how LayerZero works, how Stargate enables seamless cross-chain swaps, the flaws of synthetic/wrapped assets, and why the future will be cross-chain. -- Links: Bryan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PrimordialAA LayerZero Website: https://layerzero.network/ Stargate Website: https://stargate.finance/ -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (01:21) Why Bryan Started LayerZero (03:51) Why Now? (05:27) Why Does Interoperability Matter? (07:48) A Microscience vs Monolithic Structure (10:48) How LayerZero Works (18:43) The Apps Now Have Control (22:33) The Adversarial Nature of Crypto (28:08) Moving Fast and Breaking Things in Crypto (31:54) Fundraising (33:01) Bitmex Ad (34:16) Security Is Table Stakes (36:56) Where Are We In The Adoption Phase? (36:43) The Multichain Future (42:43) Where Is LayerZero's Activity Today? (44:01) Should Wrapped Assets Exist? (47:40) Yield Seeking Capital (50:42) The Project Bryan Is Most Excited About Outside of LayerZero (54:23) The Challenges of Being a Crypto Builder (58:14) What Will The Team Focus On Next? (1:00:19) Advice For Future Founders (1:02:52) How To Get Involved -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by gaming expert Brooks Brown, co-founder of the PlayFi platform NOR. Brooks has an encyclopedic knowledge of gaming and has worked with studios such as Universal Pictures, Lucas Arts (Starwars), and James Cameron's Avatar. We discuss the intricacies of world-building, what P2E games get wrong, how financialization shapes game design, NFTs, and the significance of permadeath in Nor. This is a masterclass on the confluence of gaming, finance and Web3. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (01:36) What Makes A Good Game? (05:11) Open vs Closed Games (14:41) Improving Is The Human Condition (19:19) The Evolution of Gaming (25:18) How Money Shapes Our Games (29:17) The Two Magic Circles (33:13) Access Drives Adoption (35:58) Building Nor In Layers (39:56) Cohesive Gameplay and Composability (44:35) What Is The Metaverse? (48:50) Sponsor Segment (49:58) Are Games Meant For Escaping Reality? (53:53) NFTs and Building In The Digital Space (01:00:46) The Value of Permadeath (01:10:03) Blockchains Enable Unique Contribution (01:13:57) Most P2E Games Are Just Jobs (01:19:28) Adding Scarcity To Games (01:22:47) Defi vs Gaming (01:25:45) Closing Thoughts -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by "Shark Tank" Investor and prolific entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary. We discuss Kevin's view on the current macro environment, how crypto will be the 12th sector of the S&P, why NFTs could be bigger than crypto, and the enormous opportunity for clean Bitcoin miners. Don't miss out on Kevin's unique insights and passion for the crypto industry -- Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (00:38) The Macro Landscape (05:10) Investing In Crypto (08:04) Crypto Will Be The 12th Sector Of The S&P 500 (13:11) The End State Of Stablecoins (14:54) Progressive Crypto Regulation (17:57) Timing The Market (19:50) NFTs (23:57) Customer Retention In Crypto (28:12) Clean Energy Mining (38:55) Taxing Unrealized Capital Gains (41:02) Is America Losing Its Competitive Edge? -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital. Josh is a true polymath who invests in hard sciences, robotics, nuclear waste and more. If you wanted a nuclear energy crash course, this is it. Josh discusses where solar and biofuels fell short, how nuclear energy markets function, why nuclear is the sustainable-energy source environmentalist have wanted, and how nuclear is the key to energy security. Nuclear energy is inevitable. Listen to Josh's unique insights to learn why. -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (01:58) Solar Energy Hype (07:16) Bio Fuels Fell Short (09:40) Energy Density (10:58) The Nuclear Narrative (15:31) Understanding the Uranium Market (18:44) Modular Reactors (19:49) Intro to Nuclear Waste (22:33) Low-Level and High-Level Nuclear Waste (24:11) Russia's Impact on the Nuclear Narrative (28:45) Sponsor Segment (30:01) Adopting Nuclear (33:39) Investing in Nuclear (37:30) China and the Nuclear Advantage (40:51) Cheap Electricity and Jevon's Paradox (44:39) Lux's Investment in Nuclear (48:53) Black Swan Events (52:19) Looking Forward -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz is joined by media specialist Jarrod Dicker. Jarrod is a Partner at TCG (The Chernin Group), where he focuses on investments in Web3, blockchain, and tech that connects fans with creators. We discuss the evolution of media's business model, how media companies are talent companies, where NFTs fit in the creation stack, and much more. Don't miss these unique insights on the confluence of media and Web3. --- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (02:58) Media's Evolution (17:37) Media Companies are Talent Companies (26:54) Web3 Media (34:02) From Product to Process (41:07) Scarce Memberships (50:18) DAOs (57:27) Leveraging Web3 -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of the Near. Near is one of the fastest-growing layer-one blockchains that uniquely focuses on the user and developer experience. Illia believes Near's innovative culture, simplicity and dynamic scalability will onboard the next 1B users to crypto. Don't miss this discussion on Near's roadmap, scalability solutions, the layer-one landscape, Ukraine and more. This podcast was recorded the day before NEAR announced their latest $350M raise led by Tiger Capital; just 3 months after raising $150M from Three Arrows Capital. -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like Empire, visit http://blockworks.co/podcasts Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- (00:00) Introduction (01:00) Near's Inspiration (06:35) Ethereum's Scaling Challenge (09:48) Scalability Tradeoff (15:00) Centralization (16:51) Enabling Innovation (24:03) Blockchains As Cities (27:18) Bitmex Ad (28:34) Sharding (32:35) Coordination Problem (37:27) Rollup Complexity (40:13) Solana and Avalanche (43:41) Composability (46:33) Low Switching Costs (48:38) Multichain and Bridges (52:59) Open Source Competition (56:03) Ukraine

On today's episode of Empire, Jay Clayton, former-SEC Chairman, joins Santiago and Jason in a discussion about the merits of crypto and how regulation threatens its freedom. Giving a special perspective as a former head of the epitome of traditional finances, Jay Clayton talks about his journey in embracing crypto, how enforcement could affect it, and what he sees for its future in the markets. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. --- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:52) Stabalizing Markets (05:25) Decentralized Market Operations (12:55) Embracing Crypto (14:32) The Tradeoffs (18:44) The Real Opportunity (27:14) Paraswap Ad (28:02) Bitcoin ETF (31:44) Enforcement (35:44) Biden's Executive Order (39:52) Stablecoins (43:32) Final Thoughts -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In today's episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos tackle the Ronin Hack and wallet security, explaining the whens and hows, and postulating on how to better protect themselves and others in the wake of the largest crypto hack thus far. They also look at some breaking news concerning wallets and securities, music NFTs, safety nets and more. With so much happening in the space, there's a lot to cover-- so tune in! Link discussed: https://twitter.com/paddi_hansen/status/1509536318585454597 -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ --- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:00) Curiosity and Culture (04:46) NFT Collectors and A Growing Space (10:16) What Do Investors Look For? (14:20) Ronin Hack Explained (20:34) Avalanche Ad (22:03) Where The Community Goes From Here (26:30) Bridging & Web 2.0 Inspired Buffers (31:05) Music NFTs vs. JPEG NFTs (39:09) SEC News and Securities (41:10) News -- Blockchain.com, MacroStrategy, FTX & More (50:45) Permies and Permissionless! -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Do Kwon, founder of Terraform Labs. Do explains Terra’s evolving roadmap, how UST will be the most dominant stablecoin in the interchain world, and why Terra is adopting BTC as a reserve asset. Do is an absolute force - don’t miss his alpha on Terra, Anchor, bridges and more. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:14 Stable Coins 04:58 Terra's Beginning 11:48 Terra's Path 35:08 Use Cases 39:07 The Crypto Community 44:36 Seigniorage 50:09 Tradeoffs 54:59 Bitcoin Buys 58:52 Anchor 1:05:44 What's Next 1:08:56 NFTs -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Li Jin and Jesse Walden of Variant. Bringing their specific expertise on the creator space, Li and Jesse discuss what it means to form a crypto creator economy that not only supports quality content but attracts players to actually invest in the concept. With Jason and Santiago, they cover mainstream adoption, NFTs, what it means to be an owner, and more. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santiago go through the latest in crypto news. They dive in by talking wallet security in the wake of Arthur0x's wallet hack, then segue into equity vs. tokens, Bitcoin as a reserve asset, and what the future will hold for hard commodities like gold as BTC becomes foundational to other nation states. Links discussed: https://twitter.com/Arthur_0x/status/1506167899437686784 https://cryptohayes.medium.com/energy-cancelled-e9f9e53a50cd -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ --- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Jason and Santiago are joined by Gabby Dizon (co-founder YGG) and Felix Sim (co-founder Salad Venture) for a deep dive into crypto-gaming guilds. We discuss the future of play-to-earn (P2E) and how guilds provide the core infrastructure necessary for gaming's exponential growth. This is a must-listen if you're curious about how P2E economies work, how guilds add value to the gaming ecosystem, or where P2E gaming is headed in the next 5 to 10 years. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Gmoney joins Santiago and Jason to discuss CryptoPunks, IPs, and the creator space in the wake of this week and last week's news. Not only weighing in on the NFT space's tricky relationship with IP and creative commons rights, Gmoney discusses his own journey with self-branding in the space and outside of it. Santiago and Jason also cover $APE and the ApeCoin DAO, the vote results of last week's discussion on Anchor, and more. -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ --- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire Jason and Santiago are joined by investor, entrepreneur & Co-Founder of Twitch Justin Kan, for a deep dive into NFTs. Sitting at the crossroads of gaming and NFTs, after launching Fractal, a Solana based marketplace for gaming NFTs, we invited Justin to Empire to discuss what he anticipates for the future. He shares what it was like after leaving Twitch, getting into crypto, launching Fractal and so much more. Justin provides a look behind the curtain into the fast evolving world of Web 3.0, from the the traditional Web 2.0 and gaming perspective, discussing the new possibilities crypto provides for gamers, streamers & communities online. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason is joined by Blockworks Co-founder and On The Margin podcast host Mike Ippolito, Blockworks Markets Strategist Byron Gilliam, and Matthew Hepler, vice president of portfolio management at Arca. Matt joins the show to discuss Anchor, its upcoming protocol proposal and the sustainability of the protocol’s 19% APY. He also chats about the differences in governance in equities versus crypto. Jason, Mike and Byron then dive into the hottest stories of the week: the Luna Foundation Guard’s burning of 4.2 million LUNA, Biden’s crypto executive order, Andre Cronje & Anton Nell’s DeFi departure and if we in a bear market as sentiment & Crypto narratives begin to fade. Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ --- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire Jason & Santiago are joined by Andrew Yang an Entrepreneur, Author & 2020 Presidential Candidate. Andrew joins Jason & Santiago for a conversation to discuss the biggest challenges the U.S faces today. Andrew also shares his thoughts on income inequality, universal basic income, his vision for a multi party system, the growth of Web 3.0 & so much more. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

Episode recorded on February 22nd. On today's episode of Empire Jason & Santiago are joined by Jim Bianco, Founder of Bianco Research, for a conversation on the broader markets, as well as crypto. Jim shares his macro framework for 2022 discussing Fed rate hikes, Biden's inflation problem, recessionary warnings in the bond market, crypto's correlation to traditional markets, DeFi vs CeFi Stablecoin TVL, the complexities of protocol bridging & how the financial system is ready for a new wave of innovation in the form of DeFi. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santiago welcome Simon Taylor for a deep dive into the much lauded topic of SWIFT. With the recent sanctions placed on Russia, Simon gives an in depth explanation into what this means for the Russian economy going forward. Simon, Jason & Santiago are here to dispel some misnomers and create a concrete definition of everybody's current question, what is SWIFT? Simon's SWIFT article Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ --- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire Jason Yanowitz is joined by Haseeb Qureshi of Dragonfly Cap and Avichal Garg of Electric Capital. Both are strong voices in the space when it comes to tokenization, metaverse, and multichain futures. With their unique perspectives, Haseeb and Avichal debate the merits of the crypto as cities philosophy, the future of Crypto, what a multichain world will look like & more. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire, Jason sits down with Amy Wu, General Partner at FTX, to take a deep dive in crypto gaming. Covering the differences between traditional gaming and crypto gaming, Amy Wu provides an in-depth and pertinent perspective on the future of gaming as exciting developments occur everyday. She also discusses FTX's personal strategy when concerning crypto gaming and what they see for the genre in the future. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santiago are joined by Blockworks' very own newsletter writer, Byron Gilliam, to discuss the latest crypto trends. Harkening back to last week's conversation as the markets experienced a substantial sell off, they review recent news like FTX's push in the retail space and Terra's billion dollar raise. They also go over current market trends discussing stablecoins, wallets, protection and safety in an ever-evolving space. -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ - Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

In this episode of Empire, Jason and Santiago are joined by James Zhang of Jambo Technology, a crypto team pioneering the largest Web 3.0 super app in Africa. Discussing the foundation of Jambo to how it can empower the next generation of Africans, James Zhang provides an insightful perspective to the crypto infrastructure in Africa & how Web 2.0 companies are approaching Web 3.0. They discuss the current state of crypto in Africa, developing web 3.0 infrastructure, Jambo's roadmap for Africa, China's investment in Africa and more. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup Jason and Santiago catch up on the latest with Bitcoin's changing narrative, Canada and America's moves against banking freedom, BlockFi & the SEC and more. Discussing their observations and thoughts on the developments in the space, they cover everything from DeFi acquisitions to social tokens. Follow Jason Yanowitz: @JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: @santiagoroel Follow Blockworks: @Blockworks_ -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today’s episode of Empire, Jason sits down with Jane Street’s Thomas Uhm for Jane Street’s first ever crypto podcast. Thomas and Jason compare traditional capital markets to crypto markets, get deep into financial plumbing, and explore Jane Street’s crypto strategy. You don’t want to miss this one! Accelerating the U.S. Securities Settlement Cycle to T+1 - https://www.sifma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Accelerating-the-U.S.-Securities-Settlement-Cycle-to-T1-December-1-2021.pdf — ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. — Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks’ free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ — Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

On this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup Jason and Santiago cover Russia officially cosigning cryptocurrency as a legal form of currency, KPMG taking an undisclosed Bitcoin & Ethereum position & BlackRock providing crypto trading & financial services. Jason and Santiago exchange thoughts and musings on what this means for the space- and what we can expect to come in 2022. -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire, Jason sits with Tom Schmidt of Dragonfly Cap and Tarun Chitra of Gauntlet for a DeFi deep dive. They cover a range of topics, from DAOs and governance, to the digitization of corporations in our increasingly technology-based world. Revisiting familiar subjects like tokenization and Web 2.0 creators coming to Web 3.0. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On this episode of Empire’s Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santiago cover the Ethereum hack on Wormhole and MakerDAO’s governance proposal. They also dig into why everyone is misunderstanding the importance of DAOs (hint: it has nothing to do with governance). Explanation of the Wormhole Hack -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire Jason Yanowitz & Santiago Santos and are joined by Jason Kam. Jason runs Folius Ventures, a Hong Kong based crypto fund. After years working as an Analyst in TradFi at Deutsche Bank, 40 North Management & Briarwood Chase Management, Jason took the leap into the world of DeFi after seeing the potential in 2018. Jason shares his insights on launching Folius Ventures, whether we are in a bear market, big trends in crypto for the next decade, the reaction and response to the crypto space from China, investing in Web 3.0 & more. Follow on Twitter: Jason Kam - @MapleLeafCap Jason Yanowitz - @JasonYanowitz Santiago Santos - @santiagoroel Blockworks - @Blockworks_ -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

On today's episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Santiago and Jason both tackle wild news in a crazy market environment. From uplifting fundraisers to shifty characters, the space is rife with commentary to be had and neither hold back. They go over DeFi, protocols, regulation, NFTs and more as they navigate market news and recent events in crypto. -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest growing smart-contract platforms in the industry. Learn more about them at https://www.avax.network/ -- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show! Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9 Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M