The Crypto Conversation

Andy Pickering is here with a weekly crypto market update where we look through the volatile world of crypto Twitter to tease out the most important narratives and data points of the last week. And what a week it was - China has stepped up its crackdown on all parts of the crypto ecosystem. As a result, miners are moving out of China, and the Bitcoin hashrate is dropping. The markets are down in response, but ultimately, is this good for the bitcoin network? Supporting links: Nexo Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Sebastián Milla is Chief of Special Projects at Exodus, one of the most popular blockchain wallets in the world. Exodus has 1.6 million users and completed a fund-raising round by issuing stock tokens to Exodus users on Algorand. Why you should listen: The internet is the future of experiences. The Exodus product and design teams are focused on delivering these experiences now. By focusing relentlessly on UI/UX Exodus has grown swiftly, developing a cryptocurrency wallet experience that surprises and delights its users. Supporting links: Exodus Nexo Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Andy Pickering is here with a weekly crypto market update where we look through the volatile world of crypto Twitter to tease out the most important narratives and data points of the last week. And what a week it was, Andy looks at El Salvador's decision to make Bitcoin legal tender, which countries might be next, and is Elon Musk warming back up to Bitcoin? Supporting links: Nexo Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Oliver Gale is the CEO and co-founder of Panther Protocol, an end-to-end privacy protocol for digital assets, which can be deployed in a compliant way on any public blockchain. After pursuing a hip-hop career in the Caribbean, Oliver entered the world of start-ups and blockchain. Why you should listen: Panther Protocol is an interoperable privacy solution focused on the needs of decentralized finance traders and investors. Due to the immutable and transparent nature of public blockchains, DeFi users are subject to surveillance and economic espionage. Transactional privacy is in high demand, as it allows retail, whales, and institutional users to protect their competitive advantages by not allowing adversaries to reverse engineer and front-run their strategies. Traders lose their alpha very quickly in DeFi, and Panther's value proposition is to help traders protect that alpha. Key Takeaway: Panther Protocol is an end-to-end privacy protocol for DeFi. Panther provides DeFi users with fully collateralized privacy-enhancing digital assets, leveraging crypto-economic incentives and zkSNARKs technology. Users are able to mint zero-knowledge zAssets by depositing digital assets from any blockchain into Panther vaults. zAssets will become an ever-expanding asset class for users who want their transactions and strategies the way they should always have been: private. Supporting links: Panther Protocol Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Aaron McDonald is the CEO and co-founder of Centrality, a tech ventures ecosystem building the infrastructure for the emerging decentralized web. Why you should listen: One of Centrality's mission statements is to UnF**ck the world. To achieve this they are building a suite of decentralized technology solutions that allow the world's citizens to interact with each other on a more even playing field. Key Takeaway: The CENNZ blockchain is part of the Centrality ecosystem. It is the world's first natively permissioned public blockchain. A "permissioned" blockchain provides specific access or privilege for certain participants of the network. So by making the permissioning native, you can be certain that the access control functionality is aligned with all the services. In practical terms, this means CENNZnet is one of the most secure blockchains in the world with higher performance and fewer issues. Supporting links: Centrality Aaron on Twitter Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Johan Unger is the CEO of Meme.com, a memetic asset protocol that acts as a story layer of the internet. Operating at the intersection of memes, NFTs, and social media, the platform describes itself as what would happen if Doge and Wikipedia had a baby. Why you should listen: Meme.com uses crypto and entertainment to measure the value of internet content. It enables people to mint memetic coins, which are priced based on the perceived value of the trend or meme they represent, like a CoinMarketCap for memes. Key Takeaway: Memes are the soul of the internet, a new way to communicate complex ideas, and fun to make, trade and collect. Johan thinks of memes in the way that Richard Dawkins originally described them: that any idea that spreads is a meme. So a song, a YouTube video or a tweet can be memes if they spread. Meme.com is building the meme economy. Supporting links: Meme.com Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Matthew Graham is the CEO of Beijing-based Sino Global Capital. Matthew is a prominent personality on Crypto Twitter, an authority on China's ever-shifting attitude to blockchain, and an outspoken critic of Elon Musk and Bitclout. Why you should listen: Sino Global Capital is an investment firm based in China that invests in decentralized technologies that have a strategic connection to the mainland Chinese market. Matthew says the firm is very bullish on DeFi, and the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems. While he comes from a traditional finance background and describes himself as an intense personality and a suit and tie guy, Matthew has embraced crypto's meme culture. Key Takeaway: China sees blockchain as a key strategic technology pillar critical to the next decade of growth. China is moving forward with its digital currency initiative and continuing to hold trials across the country. While headlines that say China is banning bitcoin or banning crypto mining can be alarming and market-moving, there is always much more nuance behind the scenes and headlines shouldn't be taken at face value. Supporting links: Sino Global Capital Matthew on Twitter Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Lin Dai is the CEO and co-founder of OneOf, a green NFT platform for music NFTs, built on Tezos, with backing by Quincy Jones. Why you should listen: OneOf was co-founded by tech entrepreneur Lin Dai, digital media executive Joshua James, and music industry veteran Adam Fell, in partnership with Quincy Jones. Launching in June, the platform will feature exclusive NFT drops from top music artists such as Whitney Houston, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Quincy Jones, John Legend, and TLC. Key Takeaway: Non-fungible token (NFT) platform OneOf raised $63 million in a seed round from prominent tech and music industry veterans. Its mission is to become a more environmentally sustainable marketplace for artists and fans. OneOf is built on the Tezos blockchain. Minting an NFT on OneOf uses an order of magnitude less energy than platforms on the Ethereum Network. Supporting links: OneOf Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Andy Pickering is here with a weekly crypto market update where we look through the volatile world of crypto Twitter to tease out the most important narratives and data points of the last week. We look at Elon Musk and the new Bitcoin Mining Association, the price volatility, and the news out of China - bullish or bearish for Bitcoin? Supporting links: Watch this podcast on YouTube Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Erica Stanford is the founder of the popular Crypto Curry Club in the UK and the author of a new book called Crypto Wars: Faked Deaths, Missing Billions and Industry Disruption. Why you should listen: With time on her hands during lockdown, after listening to the BBC podcast The Missing Crypto Queen about the infamous Onecoin crypto scam, Erica decided to write a book about crypto scams. The book covers everything from Onecoin to Bitconnect, the ICO bubble, and the various exchange exit scams. Supporting links: Crypto Wars on Amazon The Crypto Curry Club Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Colin Pape is the founder of Presearch, a community-powered, decentralized search engine that provides better search results while protecting privacy and rewarding users with crypto when they search. Why you should listen: Colin says the best way to compete with Google is to build a framework that enables people from all over the world to collaborate on an open and decentralized search engine. Presearch is preparing to release its first decentralized technology – a new search engine experience that runs on node servers operated by Presearch community members. The new Presearch Engine offers results that are as good as the world's top search engines. It also provides an additional layer of data through community packages which makes those results even better. For example, you can search Presearch for "Bitcoin" to see what the crypto package looks like. Over time, there will be additional results provided by a user-curated supplementary index. Key takeaway: Presearch is dedicated to creating significant value for marketers who want to reach Presearch users. Advertisers can stake their PRE to a keyword, and whichever advertiser stakes the most tokens will have its ads displayed when a user searches on the term selected. Advertisers confer the most external value on PRE, so their success is important to the ecosystem. Supporting links: Presearch Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Ben Pousty is the US Marketing Lead for Bitstamp, a crypto exchange with offices in Luxemburg, London and New York. We talk to Ben about Bitstamp's new "For All The Ways We Crypto" campaign, the challenges of crypto marketing, Bitcoin's unit bias issue, and more. Supporting links: Bitstamp Bitstamp U.S. expansion Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Last week Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. He said that Tesla is concerned about the increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining. In response, the crypto markets crashed with Bitcoin falling to $42,000. Let's look at the subsequent tweets from Elon, reaction from the Bitcoin community, the Doge angle, and speculate on what happens next. Supporting links: Bitcoin is key to an abundant energy future The Investors Guide to Bitcoin and the Environment Is this Elon's Doge wallet? Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin

Elon Musk tweeted today that Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. He said that Tesla is concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining. In response, the crypto markets crashed with Bitcoin falling 12% to $49,000. In this podcast, Andy reacts to Elon's tweets and suggests some resources that argue that Bitcoin mining incentivizes a renewable energy future. Supporting links: Bitcoin is key to an abundant energy future Bitcoin Mythology The Investors Guide to Bitcoin and the Environment Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Owl is the cofounder of 0x_nodes, a cross-chain yield aggregation network. 0x_nodes is a network of deployed systems that allow users to move, acquire, and build yield-bearing strategies with non-native assets across EVM and non-EVM-based blockchains. Why you should listen: One of the fundamental problems across the crypto ecosystem is the lack of interoperability between blockchains. The ability to easily move value between blockchains will unlock the next growth cycle in decentralized finance. This is the problem that 0x_nodes seeks to solve. To the non-technical, Web 3.0 feels seamless. Video streaming, global zoom conferences, smartphone apps, gaming, and social media. Everything is integrated and it all just works. Through innovation and fast development cycles, 0x_nodes aims to end the fragmentation of the Ethereum network — and make interoperability commonplace for all. Key takeaway: 0x_nodes is a cross-chain protocol that allows synthetic asset movements between blockchains — enabling broader yield aggregation strategies. Being able to seamlessly move value between blockchains will open up a new world of financial products and services. 0x_nodes will start on the Ethereum mainnet first — deploying nodes throughout the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem. Instead of utilizing a spoke network topology, 0x_nodes will be comprised of a core mesh network between EVM ecosystems — and will bridge the EVM network with external blockchain networks. This unidirectional yield aggregation pulling from EVMs to the mainnet will create new opportunities for yield, while simplifying the experience for the user. Supporting links: 0x_nodes Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Bette Chen is the co-founder of Acala - the DeFi hub of Polkadot, powering open finance applications and removing the need for financial intermediaries. Guest: Bette Chen Why you should listen: The mission of the Acala project is to support and nurture the financial applications of the decentralized web. The drivers of this mission are delivering financial stability, liquidity, and accessibility for all. Key takeaway: Acala offers a suite of financial primitives, including: a trustless staking derivative (liquid DOT - LDOT), a multi-collateralized stablecoin (aUSD) backed by cross-chain assets, and an AMM DEX – all with micro gas fees that can be paid in any token. Acala is a blockchain platform custom-built for DeFi and powered by ACA. Supporting links: Acala Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Dogecoin, a memecoin that was abandoned by its founders, is the best performing crypto asset of 2021, appreciating more than 12,000% YTD. With high-profile backers such as Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, can Doge stay the course or is it set to crash and burn? Why you should listen: Andy takes a deep dive into a new report by Galaxy Digital that takes a 360 angle look at Dogecoin's fundamentals. The report finds a large number of positives and some serious negatives as well. Dogecoin may have always been a joke, but it's a joke that keeps getting both funnier and more serious too. Key takeaway: On the positive side of the ledger, Doge is the best performing major digital asset year to date. More people own Doge than at any other time. Doge is dominating the cultural conversation thanks to memes and to Elon Musk. There are negatives. Dogecoin has zero development. Few people run full nodes and those who do have difficulty downloading the chain or staying synced with the network. There's no market infrastructure, barely any wallet software, and despite being more than 7 years old, many exchanges don't support it. There is no long-term narrative or use-case supporting its wide adoption. And it's not clear whether DOGE holders are dogmatic about the coin's long-term prospects. Supporting links: Galaxy Digital Doge Report Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Alex Wearn has a background in product development for tech companies such as Amazon. He now brings a user-first product lens to decentralized exchanges. Alex is the CEO and co-founder of IDEX, one of the first decentralized exchanges. Guest: Alex Wearn Why you should listen: The IDEX goal is to create a non-custodial exchange that has the same user experience as a centralized exchange, eliminating the choice that users have to make today between functionality and fund safety. Key takeaway: IDEX has just announced the IDEX Hybrid Liquidity model. This new innovation is a response to the rise of AMM based DEXes. However, AMMs have issues with failed transactions, high slippage, front-running bots, and high gas fees. These issues are a result of users being close to the blockchain. The IDEX Hybrid Liquidity approach attempts to smooth out these issues while still maintaining the core ethos of a DEX - remaining non-custodial. Supporting links: Bobby Lee Ballet Crypto Bobby On Twitter Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Bobby Lee is the Founder of Ballet Crypto, co-founder of BTCChina, and he is the author of a superb new book called The Promise of Bitcoin: The Future of Money and How It Can Work for You. Why you should listen: With a software engineering and computer science background, Bobby Lee has always been technologically inclined. So when his brother Charlie Lee introduced Bobby to Bitcoin in 2011, he understood its significance immediately. After dedicating himself to Bitcoin for the last ten years, Bobby has written a book that tells his story and explains why Bitcoin's journey has only just begun. Key takeaway: Bobby says that understanding and projecting the value of Bitcoin can be daunting - while the path is never a straight line, Bitcoin continues to grow in interest and appreciate in value. While Bitcoin is still working out its kinks - corporations and governments are likely to become more interested in Bitcoin, and interested in acquiring it as an asset. Supporting links: Bobby Lee Ballet Crypto Bobby On Twitter Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Camilla Churcher is the Global Head of Business Development at Celsius Network. Why you should listen: After a successful career in traditional finance with stints at Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, and Bank of America, Camilla made the move into crypto. She has been at Celsius since March 2020. Camilla sees crypto regulations as a positive that allow more users and institutions to enter the crypto ecosystem. She thinks there is a 75% chance that a Bitcoin ETF is approved in 2021. Key takeaway: The Celsius platform lets users earn interest on their crypto assets and use it as collateral to get fiat loans. Celsius offers a platform of curated financial services and can be thought of as a crypto bank. Their goal is to disrupt the financial industry, one user at a time, and introduce financial freedom through crypto. Supporting links: Celsius Network Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Techemy Capital has launched two actively managed portfolios that allow investors to gain exposure to BTC/ETH price action and the DeFi sector. Trades are executed by Techemy Capital's Josh Olszewicz. Investors can take advantage of crypto price moves without having to trade themselves - and because Techemy's products are non-custodial - without releasing control of their assets. Guest: Josh Olszewicz Why you should listen: Trader Josh Olszewicz joins Andy to talk about the two actively managed portfolios that Techemy Capital has deployed on Enzyme Finance. Individuals can invest into the portfolios in a non-custodial manner that gives them exposure to Josh's professional trading strategies. Key takeaway: Enzyme Finance is an on-chain asset management platform. Because everything is on-chain all trades are transparent and recorded on the blockchain. Rather than have to learn the stress of trading themselves, investors can simply buy into either portfolio and capture the gains or losses that the portfolios achieve over time. Investors can enter or leave the portfolios at any time. Supporting links: Techemy Capital Enzyme Finance Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Market optimism around the soon-to-be-implemented Ethereum Improvement Proposal, EIP1559, is high. The Ethereum EIP will arrive as a part of the London network Hard Fork in July and will overhaul Ethereum's fee structure. Andy is joined by Brave New Coin analyst Aditya Das to discuss the implications of EIP1559 for users, investors, and miners. Guest: Aditya Das Why you should listen: EIP1559 was first proposed by Vitalik Buterin in 2018. It will replace the variable first-price auction model currently used to decide Ethereum transaction fees with a more deterministic base fee model. It is hoped this will remove much of the volatility and uncertainty associated with paying the Gas fees required to successfully conduct a transaction on the network. It will also introduce a fee burn model for each transaction, that may add a deflationary element to the ETH currency and increase its appeal as a safe-haven, hard asset. Key takeaway: EIP1559 will solve four key problems with the current gas model: Making transaction fees more predictable Reducing delays in transaction confirmation Improving user experience by automating the fee bidding system Creating a positive feedback loop between network activity and the ETH supply. Supporting links: EIP 1559 Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Vasja Veber is the co-founder of music tech company Viberate. Vibrate has been building blockchain solutions for the music industry since 2017 and are positioning as market leaders in the music data sector. They have just entered the NFT space. Techno DJ UMEK is also a co-founder and is about to execute a live event NFT. Guest: Vasja Veber Why you should listen: On April 29 Viberate co-founder and Techno producer UMEK will mint the first-ever live performance and live stream NFT. If the release is successful, Viberate plans to enable their half a million verified artists database to mint gig NFTs, secure future bookings, and create a new revenue stream. Key takeaway: With this drop, UMEK aims to disrupt the live event industry, minting the first-ever live gig NFT and the first-ever livestream NFT, as well as minting three unique remixes of his track Lanicor. During the pandemic, UMEK, like all touring artists, has resorted to live streams and online fan interaction. Still searching for new ways of expression and exploring the digital space, he wants to push the boundaries of NFTs and create something unique. With the live gig NFT, he aims to disrupt the booking industry and offer promoters and artists a safety net until events are up and running again. Live streams have proven they're here to stay. NFTs have the power to create a brand new market for them, offering musicians a new revenue stream and enabling fans to support and book their favorites. Supporting links: Vibrate UMEK NFT Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Robbie Ferguson is the co-founder of Immutable, best known for launching the Gods Unchained blockchain game, one of the most successful blockchain games in the wild. Robbie is now focused on Immutable X, a decentralized gas-free layer-2 protocol for Ethereum NFTs. Guest: Robbie Ferguson Why you should listen: Immutable X is the first Layer 2 scaling solution for NFTs on Ethereum. It seeks to solve the key challenges facing the Ethereum NFT ecosystem such as scaling, UX, fees, and environmental impact. Immutable X has instant trade confirmation, massive scalability (9,000 TPS+), and zero gas fees - without compromising user custody. The largest NFT marketplace OpenSea is one of many NFT projects working with or supporting Immutable X including: SuperfarmDAO (defi NFT farm), Epics.GG (collectibles), Illuvium (auto battler RPG), Lucid Sight (MLB Champions Baseball, Crypto Space Commander), War Riders (post-apocalyptic MMO), Gods Unchained (TCG), Guild of Guardians (mobile RPG), and Mintable (NFT marketplace). Key takeaway: Robbie is a passionate supporter of the Ethereum community. He says it best represents the philosophy of trustless, decentralized asset ownership. It has prioritized decentralization and network health over short-term scalability upgrades. Immutable X lets projects stay on Ethereum while massively boosting their scalability and liquidity. Supporting links: Immutable The Three-Body Problem The Culture Series Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Chainlink has released a new whitepaper called Chainlink 2.0: Next Steps in the Evolution of Decentralized Oracle Networks. The new whitepaper outlines an ambitious vision for the future of smart contracts. We talk with Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov who explains the implications for the next generation of blockchain ecosystems. Guest: Sergey Nazarov Why you should listen: Chainlink's new whitepaper outlines a long-term, multi-year vision for the future of oracle-enabled smart contracts. The paper states that "Decentralized Oracle Networks will create a decentralized meta-layer that enhances smart contracts with highly scalable, confidential, and secure forms of off-chain computation, in addition to the external data feeds that Chainlink powers today." Key takeaway: The Chainlink 2.0 Whitepaper is over 100 pages long and represents a year of work by the Chainlink team. It was written by a team of academic researchers from computer science fields such as security, cryptography, distributed systems, game theory, and mathematics. The paper outlines a new architecture for building hybrid smart contracts where Decentralized Oracle Networks offer all of the capabilities that blockchains cannot, serving as an off-chain computation layer that is anchored to blockchains for security while operating with the feature-richness and scalability of off-chain systems. The new layer enables a product suite of Chainlink Decentralized Services that power a variety of secure, smart contract applications capable of supporting a wider set of use cases than is currently available today. Supporting links: Chainlink Chainlink 2.0 whitepaper Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Jaime Rogozinski was the original founder of the r/wallstreetbets subreddit. WSB is notorious for its community of young traders who executed risky trading strategies. WSB played a key role in the GameStop short squeeze that caused losses on short positions in U.S. firms topping US$70 billion in early 2021. VIX is the CEO of the new WSB Dapp, a decentralized Dapp that is launching a token. Token funds will be used by a WSB DAO to buy token portfolios (ETPs) voted on by the community. Guest: Jaime Rogozinski and VIXX Why you should listen: The Wall Street Bets subreddit is described as "Like 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal." Known for its aggressive trading strategies, members are generally young retail traders prepared to take on high amounts of risk. The community is fond of meme stocks that capture the zeitgeist. The subreddit is also known for its memes, with traders self-identifying as degenerate apes who trade stonks for tendies (profits). Key takeaway: The WSB movement for financial democracy began on Reddit and has become a global phenomenon. The WSB Dapp was created to give this decentralized community a tool to voice their opinions as retail investors so that anyone, anywhere can YOLO together as one. The WSB Dapp allows for index-fund type instruments to exist on the blockchain. $WSB governance token holders vote to decide on the rebalancing and exposure of each community-controlled instrument. The ETPs are wholly collateralized, instantly redeemable, and self-custodial. Supporting links: WSB Dapp Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Michael Anderson is a co-founder and partner at Framework Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on building the value of blockchain networks through strategic investment and infrastructural support. Before founding Framework, Michael built and sold Hashletes the first and only NFLPA-licensed digital collectibles, with co-founder Vance Spencer. Michael's prior experience bridges investment banking and consumer tech, with experience from Snap, Inc., Dropbox, and Barclays Capital. Guest: Michael Anderson Why you should listen: Framework Ventures is a team of technologists, researchers, and investors who participate in open crypto networks to build open-source finance. Framework is a technology company, building products and services to support the open blockchain networks that they invest in. The firm has backed many key companies in the decentralized finance space, including Synthetix, Chainlink, Aave, and The Graph. Key takeaway: Framework Ventures believes a new age of venture capital is here. They call this thesis Network Capital. Rather than just hold onto an asset, this type of investing aims to be more hands-on. In the new era of open-source decentralized finance, the best investing requires a new hybrid model where stakeholders are investing, market-making, staking, validating, and participating across all aspects of the ecosystem. Supporting links: Framework Ventures Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Jonathan is the lead developer and ceo of Aleph - Aleph is a cloud computing platform that makes it easy for DeFi and Web3 dapps to securely access trusted off-chain data or computation. One of their current projects is working to solve the problem of NFT security standards and ownership. Guest: Jonathan Why you should listen: Many NFTs point to a URL on the internet or an IPFS hash. In many circumstances, this references an IPFS gateway on the internet run by the startup you bought the NFT from. the URL is not the media. That URL is a JSON metadata file. The problem with that is that if the marketplace goes bust… so does your NFT. Key takeaway: Aleph has a solution - just like an Internet wayback machine backs up website versions over time, Aleph creates snapshots of NFTs at a certain point in time. Using decentralized storage capacities, the Aleph NFT Backup dApp allows any holder to save their NFT content on the Aleph network that is secured currently by nodes which all are incentivized to store the data and pin it on IPFS. The Interplanetary File System, or IPFS, is used by most NFT minting platforms to store their NFTs. Supporting links: Aleph The problem with NFTs Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Li Jun is the founder of Ontology, a decentralized system that protects data integrity and security. After launching its mainnet in June 2018, Ontology has continued to press forward, building a key partnership with Daimler. Guest: Li Jun Why you should listen: Ever since the early days of the internet, questions have swirled about the nature of our online selves. We all have large digital footprints that represent your digital identity, fragmented, unrecognizable, and trackable. We have provided social networks and service providers with our most valuable asset — our information — and we've done so free of charge. Ontology wants to change this. Blockchain's ability to store information on either a public or private network enables key parties to access critical information, and then only what the individual allows. This way, the power is placed back into the hands of the individual, where they can choose who they share their data with, and to what extent. Key takeaway: The solution is a concept called Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), which places control of personal information with the user, enabling them to log in to all of their online services using just one ID. No more forgotten passwords or having to hand over all your personal information; this is a concept that could dramatically change how we use the internet. Supporting links: Ontology Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Tim Frost is the CEO of YIELD App. The YIELD mission is to provide anyone with access to the best investment opportunities, regardless of their financial or technical knowledge. The YIELD platform is a bridge between FinTech and DeFi. Guest: Tim Frost Why you should listen: YIELD is a FinTech company that enables anyone to invest in decentralized finance with the touch of a button. This allows users around the world to earn returns from DeFi products without having to go through a complex learning process. Key takeaway: App users can deposit and withdraw stablecoins USDT and USDC, as well as the native YLD token. The team is now working on YIELD 2.0 which will bring new improvements and updates. Supporting links: YIELD Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

The Binance Smart Chain is a fork of Ethereum. However, BSC transactions are much faster and cheaper than Ethereum. As a result, it is onboarding millions of users at an eye-watering pace. Brave New Coin's Aditya Das joins Andy to answer the question - Is Binance Smart Chain an Ethereum killer? Why you should listen: The Binance Smart Chain is cheaper and faster than Ethereum by an order of magnitude. However, this speed comes at the cost of decentralization. Binance CEO CZ calls this 'CeDeFi' or Centralized DeFi, DeFi with training wheels. Key takeaway: As the Binance Smart Chain is a fork of Ethereum, it uses popular tools like MetaMask that any user who has experimented with Ethereum is likely to be familiar with. In addition, the BEP20 smart contract standard for issuing new tokens on BSC is similar to the ERC20 smart contract standard that was originally developed for Ethereum. As a fork of Ethereum, the BSC can also run the same smart contracts that Ethereum can. This has helped the network bootstrap quickly by forking popular existing Ethereum DeFi protocols. For example, Uniswap becomes PancakeSwap, Compound becomes Venus and Zapper becomes Yield Watch. Supporting links: Is BSC the Ethereum Killer? Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Marouane Hajji is the protocol lead at Unslashed Finance, a decentralized insurance protocol built on Ethereum. Insurance is a part of the decentralized finance stack that has received less attention. However, crypto is no different from any other industry - there are many risks. Smart contract hacks, exploits, oracle manipulation, data breaches, theft, and so on. Creating an insurance protocol requires both technical skills and a deep understanding of risk modeling. Why you should listen: Unslashed clients include decentralized exchange aggregator ParaSwap, infrastructure provider Lido Finance, decentralized on-chain asset management platform Enzyme, and several crypto hedge funds such as Techemy Capital who leverage insurance to hedge a certain number of risks. Individual traders can also use Unslashed to hedge their risk profiles. Key takeaway: Unslashed uses a quantitative approach to model the risks and build out a decentralized insurance protocol that enables almost instant liquidity to insurance buyers and risk underwriters, ensures constant collateralization, and guarantees transparency. In the Crypto Conversation hot take round Marouane reveals that he is a mega-fan of Battlestar Galactica. Supporting links: Unslashed Finance Unslashed on Medium Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Craig MacGregor is the founder of Taxoshi, a cryptocurrency tax calculator that helps Kiwis understand their crypto tax position. Taxoshi's algorithms automate the currency conversions and calculate your trading and mining loss and profit in accordance with the cryptocurrency guidance from the New Zealand IRD. Use the discount code "bravenewcoin" to get a 10% discount if you use Taxoshi. Why you should listen: Craig has been in the blockchain space for a number of years and is a co-founder of the Navcoin project. After making some capital gains from early crypto trading, Craig wanted to declare these to the IRD. He saw that there was a need for a simple solution that could help other Kiwis calculate their tax position quickly and easily. He built Taxoshi as that solution. Key takeaway: The IRD's position is that any time an individual makes a crypto to crypto trade, that is a taxable event that should be declared. The IRD estimates that there are between 25,000 and 100,000 people in New Zealand who have a tax obligation on their crypto assets. If you've never filed before, the IRD is currently allowing for voluntary disclosures from previous years. Supporting links: Taxoshi Navcoin IRD Crypto Tax Guidance Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin

Richard Sanders is a co-founder and lead investigator at CipherBlade, an elite blockchain investigation agency that works closely with top crypto exchanges, blockchain protocols, and the FBI. In this episode, Rich explains his views on the sometimes shady world of crypto ATM operators, the confusing new BitClout platform, and we cover best practice crypto security tips. Guest: Rich Sanders Why you should listen: CipherBlade uses a potent mix of on-chain and off-chain analytics and investigative techniques to track the most sophisticated cybercriminals on the planet. Using these techniques he has been tracking the transactions from crypto ATMs. Rich says many of these transactions are being sent to wallets linked to scammers. Key takeaway: Rich says just because VCs are involved with a project, it doesn't mean retail investors won't get burned. In fact, the ones with public team members are the soft exits that often end up mismanaged/shady. People think of this binary, like "it's a scam or not", where "scam" is defined as rug pull, it's a lot more nuanced. The range of scammers and bad actors in the blockchain ecosystem runs the full gamut from the lowest to the highest basket of sophistication. The least sophisticated are Twitter and Telegram impersonation scammers, often based out of Nigeria. Many of these scammers don't use VPNs, they don't always use mixers and sometimes they use direct deposit addresses for exchanges. At the other end of the scale, you have very sophisticated hacking groups out of North Korea that use sophisticated mixing and crypto hopping techniques. What scammers have in common is they play on human greed, stupidity, and laziness. Supporting links: CipherBlade Richard on Twitter Guide to Crypto Scams Breach vectors used by scammers What to do if you get SIM-Swapped Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin

Andy is joined by Samson Mow, CSO at Blockstream. Samson discusses the partnership between Blockstream and Seetee, a new Bitcoin company started by a 100-year-old company from Norway. He talks about the drop in hash power from Chinese miners as American miners increase, and he explains why he thinks Bitcoin will hit $100k in 2021 and could go even as high as $300K leaving $100K as the new price floor. Why you should listen: Two weeks ago, Aker, a 100-year old Norwegian company announced that it had established ("Seetee"), a new company dedicated to investing in projects throughout the Bitcoin ecosystem. Seetee said, "Bit­coin has in­spired us to chal­lenge our in­tu­itive un­der­stand­ing of money. Hav­ing fol­lowed the cryp­tocur­ren­cy dis­course for a while, we de­cid­ed to reach out to the en­gi­neers who made it their mis­sion to change the inner work­ings of mon­ey more than two decades ago. See­tee has formed a part­ner­ship with Block­stream, a glob­al leader in Bit­coin and blockchain tech­nol­o­gy. Blockstream's lead­er­ship in­cludes Adam Back, the in­ven­tor of Hash­cash, a 1997 pre­cur­sor to Bit­coin. With Block­stream as our part­ner, we are confi­dent that we can nav­i­gate this in­dus­try." Key Takeaway: Samson talks Blockstream, Liquid, why NFTs might be in a bubble and he gives the background and progress to Infinite Fleet, the epic sci-fi massively multiplayer online (MMO) strategy game he founded. Plus listen to the end of the show for a very special sci-fi easter egg! Supporting links: Blockstream Seetee Letter Infinite Fleet Seetee Ship Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Andy is joined by Zack Burks, CEO at the Mintable NFT marketplace, and Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, grandson of the legendary Ukrainian, Russian and French painter. Mintable is hosting an exclusive NFT based collection of 10 drops, 4 auctions, and 1 original 96-year-old physical painting, all by Baranoff-Rossine. It's a historic first where avant-garde art meets the brave new world of NFTs. Guests: Zach Burks and Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine Why you should listen: Zach and Wladimir have teamed up to create a collaboration that represents a piece of fine art and NFT history. The Mintable auction goes live on March 25 and is expected to attract interest from digital art collectors, the NFT ecosystem, and fine art connoisseurs. Listen to the episode to hear Zach talk about the new NFT creator economy, why we are not in an NFT bubble, and Wladimir explains the unique history of the pioneering artwork of his grandfather. Supporting links: Mintable Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Jonas Simanavicius is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Syntropy. Syntropy, based in San Francisco, transforms the public internet into a secure and user-centric internet, where encryption and optimized performance are built-in and automatically enabled for anything and everything connected to it. Guest: Jonas Simanavicius Why you should listen: Prior to founding Syntropy, Jonas worked on the engineering and application development teams of Royal Bank of Scotland and JPMorgan Chase. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Edinburgh. Syntropy Stack is a collection of tech and tools that allows anyone to build and deploy applications on Syntropy, with all connections optimized-for-performance and encrypted-by-default. It is compatible across millions of devices and services, including cloud, on-premise, and edge infrastructure. Syntropy Stack gives every developer the power and control to build on Syntropy's unifying layer. Supporting links: Syntropy Syntropy Stack Jonas on Twitter Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Alex Mashinsky is the CEO and founder of Celsius, the platform that lets you earn interest on your crypto and use it as collateral to get fiat loans. Celsius offers a platform of curated services that have been abandoned by big banks – fair interest, zero fees, and fast transactions. Their goal is to disrupt the financial industry, one user at a time, and introduce financial freedom through crypto. Guest: Alex Mashinsky Why you should listen: Alex explains the successful journey that has seen users deposit $10B in assets with Celsius. The Celsius token was one of the best-performing crypto assets in 2020. Key takeaway: Alex says Celsius is a supporter of DeFi and they are the bigger user of Aave, as one example. Celsius is aimed at noobs or everyday holders of Bitcoin and Ethereum and allows them to generate yield or get loans without the risk and knowledge barrier of DeFi. Supporting links: Leverj Celsius Previous podcast with Alex Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Dr. Marc Fleury is the founder and CEO of Two Prime, a digital assets investment firm that invests in BTC and ETH. Marc has a PHD in theoretical physics and he is an open-source evangelist. Two Prime uses a variety of sophisticated hedging strategies to help high net worth individuals gain exposure to the upside potential of BTC and ETH but remain hedged against downside risk. Why you should listen: Dr. Marc Fleury joins Andy for a fascinating and wide ranging discussion on why Bitcoin is the most important decentralized, open-source project on the planet. Marc explains why he is involved with the Mont Pèlerin Society, a group of economists and intellectuals advocating for an open society and economy driven by free-market principles, personal and political liberty, and freedom of expression. Marc shares his views on post-capitalism, UBI, a world of abundance, and how we evolve to a sci-fi future. Supporting links: Two Prime Universal Paperclips Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Mark Berisha is the CEO of APECoin and the MemeFarm and BustAbnb ecosystems. APECoin embraces the humor and viral nature of memes to bring new participants into crypto. Apecoin is developing a game called "Bust-a-BNB" for Binance Smart Chain (BSC). An airdrop will occur for existing APE holders on March 14. GO APE! Why you should listen: The exponential growth of DeFi in the past nine months has sparked a flood of experimentation in smart-contract and Dapp design. The APEcoin Dev team realized the world is already farming memes, and created MemeFarm.io to get involved. Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) can extend digital scarcity beyond currency to art, music, and design — any other form of expression that can be digitized. Suddenly, the control of scarcity and the ability to create a single verifiably unique version of anything digital is in the hands of the artists and creators where it belongs. Today, artists and makers have few choices as to how they commercialize their NFTs. They can either find buyers themselves or set up an auction through platforms like Rarible — where their success will depend on how well they market their creations and how hard they work to establish a market price. Mark thinks there is a better way. They could bootstrap the price discovery through a novel curation farming mechanic. Mark calls it the NFT DAO, and it could revolutionize how these trends interact on a whole new level. NFT DAO offers a new choice to makers and artists: They can submit their NFTs to the NFT DAO. MemeFarm token holders vote to accept or reject submitted NFTs. The artists of the accepted NFTs then receive their share of NFT DAO's monthly rewards. And the farmers compete to 'mine' those NFTs. Supporting links: APEcoin Meme Farm BustABNB Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Norwegian Billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke says that Aker ASA, his Norwegian fishing, oil, and engineering company has established Seetee, a new company dedicated to investing in projects and companies in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Seetee will keep all its liquid investable assets in bitcoin. To announce this decision, Mr Røkke wrote a letter to shareholders. The letter is one of the most bullish Bitcoin letters published this year and points towards the changing narratives around Bitcoin mining and how Bitcoin may help speed up the global transition to renewable energy. Supporting links: The Letter Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) is one of the most exciting narratives in crypto in 2021. The collectible digital art world has exploded with some pieces selling for millions of dollars. The market is frothy and might be in bubble territory but over the next decade, NFTs have the potential to bring millions of people into crypto and help build out the metaverse. Guest: Aditya Das Why you should listen: Aditya Das is a blockchain analyst and researcher at Brave New Coin. He joins Andy to discuss NFTs. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique, digital assets that can be owned, bought, sold, and traded on a blockchain. A non-fungible token is a type of cryptographic token that represents something unique. People often refer to them as "Provably rare digital assets." If we are going to build a Ready Player One metaverse, it is important that it is built on a neutral platform where individuals can own their own items and not be at risk of censorship. If one central company gains control of the metaverse, it will become more powerful than any government and be a god on Earth. Key takeaway: Right now, NFTs mostly exist in the world of art, music, and gaming. But It's about to get a whole lot crazier, with NFTs poised to explode across the digital economy. The NFT art scene has boomed in the last few months. Marketplaces like SuperRare, Rarible, and Nifty Gateway are seeing record volumes. In January, a piece of artwork by Mike Winkelmann, a digital artist also known as Beeple, sold for $6.6 million at Nifty Gateway. A digital art piece by Beeple called The First 5000 Days is being auctioned by Christie's. The current bid is USD 3,750,000, and the auction closes in 4 days. People are finding new ways to tokenize anything digital. You can now buy tweets as NFTs and Jack Dorsey's original tweet is valued at USD 2.5 million. Supporting links: Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

CME Group has launched its Ether Futures product offering. The new contract is cash-settled, and based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products, joins Andy to talk Ether Futures. Guest: Tim McCourt Why you should listen: Andy and Tim discuss the CME Futures markets, the role of futures in global price discovery, and how market participants use Futures to hedge their positions. Tim says, "Based on increasing client demand for our Bitcoin futures and options markets, we see the addition of Ether futures as a valuable tool to trade and hedge this growing cryptocurrency. Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by both market capitalization and daily volume. The introduction of listed Ether futures will help create a forward curve so Ethereum market participants can better manage price risk." Tim McCourt serves as CME Group's Managing Director and Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products. He is responsible for leading the development and execution of the company's global Equity Index, Commodity Index, and Cryptocurrency product strategies. He serves on the CME Ventures Investment Committee and the S&P Dow Jones Indices U.S. Advisory Panel. Key takeaway: Andy asked Tim how CME Group thinks about open-source decentralized protocols such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Tim said, "When we look at cryptocurrencies we think it's interesting in the way they are pushing out the frontier of finance. CME Group is a two-century-old institution with an innovative history itself. We've introduced all sorts of innovative financial products across that 200-year history. So when we see new technologies that can help our clients engage with markets in new ways, we adapt and innovate, and look for new ways to serve the risk management needs of our customers. I think it's exciting and interesting and I look forward to seeing how this continues to evolve." Supporting links: CME Group Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Rekt Capital, a Forbes featured crypto technical analyst and trader returns for his third appearance on the Crypto Conversation. With Bitcoin and Ethereum continuing to hit new all-time highs, REKT and Andy discuss the current bull market. Guest: Rekt Capital Why you should listen: Rekt Capital is an astute analyst who specializes in technical analysis and trading psychology. He has written several research articles analyzing the effect of the Bitcoin Halving, and the Crypto Money Flow Cycle to track the movement of capital from Bitcoin to mid-caps to small-caps and back. Key takeaway: Andy and REKT talk about the psychological toll that crypto volatility can have on traders, what new investors to crypto need to know, and the clever ways that Elon Musk and Michael Saylor influence the markets. Want to get $20 OFF Rekt Capital's Technical Analysis course? Simply follow this link and use the discount code "cryptoconversation" in the Discount Code field. Supporting links: The Bitcoin Halving with REKT Capital What to expect from the 2021 Bull Cycle The Dash Market Cycle Bitcoin Corrections REKT Capital Trading Course Rekt Capital Newsletter Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Josh Olszewicz, lead analyst at Brave New Coin joins Andy to discuss the recent crypto correction and today's recovery. Is the correction over? Will the bull run continue? Is the NFT boom a sign of market froth? Why you should listen: Josh and Andy share their plans for creating more crypto content as a response to the growing audience demand that a bull market generates. For crypto investors wanting to copy trade Josh, there's an easy solution via Techemy Capital's holistic ETH/BTC portfolio via Enzyme Finance. Key takeaway: After a swift run up in price, you should expect a swift correction. We've had two 30%+ corrections this year, however, this is normal in a bull market. Bitcoin continues to look strong with a series of bullish news events driving new buyers to Bitcoin. Supporting links: Josh on Twitter Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Techemy Capital has launched Decentralized Exchange-Traded Portfolios (ETPs) on Balancer, starting with a DeFi ETP. We're joined by Techemy Capital CEO Fran Strajnar, and Balancer CEO Fernando Martinelli who discuss why these ETPs are a potential game-changer, how to invest, and what this means for DeFi. Guests: Fran Strajnar and Fernando Martinelli Why you should listen: "Digital asset investors and traders are seeking more advanced ways to gain exposure to popular DeFi assets," says Fran Strajnar, CEO at Techemy Capital. "BNC's DeFi Index and ETP provides this, all with industry-leading security, transparency, and speed. Rather than having to pick one DeFi winner and hope for the best, investors can now get exposure to the success of the entire sector." Fernando says it is validating to see funds such as Techemy Capital be early adopters of Balancer. "We're about to launch Balancer V2 which will bring massive gains in cost efficiency for gas fees. It's an exciting time for crypto and for DeFi and brilliant to see Techemy Capital provide a use case for Balancer that we foresaw from day one." Key takeaway: The DeFi ETP is a physical representation of Brave New Coin's Blue-Chip DeFi Index ( a portfolio of 8 key assets). The DeFi ETP gives traders non-synthetic exposure to assets in the BNC DeFi Blue-Chip Index: Yearn Finance ($YFI), Compound Finance ($COMP), Aave Protocol ($AAVE), MakerDAO ($MKR), Synthetix ($SNX), Uniswap ($UNI), SushiSwap ($SUSHI) and Uma Project ($UMA). Issued on Balancer Protocol, the new DeFi ETP mimics the constitution and weights of the BNC Blue-Chip DeFi Index. It is rebalanced in alignment with the index, providing traders an opportunity to get non-synthetic exposure to the assets that make up the index, and/or to speculate or arbitrage between the price parity of the index-powered perpetual swaps [offered by third parties such as BTSE] and the spot market for the ETP. The DeFi ETP is non-custodial, transparent, on-chain, wholly collateralized, highly liquid, and instantly redeemable. Supporting links: Techemy Capital Balancer Previous Techemy Capital podcast Previous Balancer podcast Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Multichain Ventures is the parent company of The Tokes Platform. Multichain produces blockchain-focused products including cryptocurrency-based payment processing and supply chain visibility tools for the cannabis industry. Guests: Michael Wagner and Pablo Quiroga Why you should listen: The Tokes Platform builds software solutions for the merchant adoption of cryptocurrency and the data provenance of supply chains in the legal cannabis industry. The platform was developed as a solution to the cash-only problem caused by federal prohibition resulting in banking restrictions. To solve this issue, Tokes created software for tokenized transactions encompassing consumer to business, business to business, and business to state transactions. Blockchain provides utility for more than payments, as ensuring the provenance and transparency of cannabis supply chain data from seed-to-sale is not only a preferred scenario for consumers but regulated by state agencies. Tokes produces supply chain visibility solutions on blockchain for integration with seed-to-sale software to ensure the accuracy and availability of cannabis data for regulators and business stakeholders. Key takeaway: Multichain recently secured a public sector contract with the State of Nevada to fulfill the requirements of Assembly Bill 466. The Bill creates a Pilot Program and legal framework within which legal cannabis entities and supporting businesses can eliminate the necessity of transacting exclusively in cash, through the implementation of blockchain-based services. Multichain's contributions to the B466 date back to 2018. Early discussions centered on a variety of potential alternative solutions to issues facing cannabis operators and how tokenized ecosystems might help solve these issues. Multichain is working on Star Atlas, a space-themed metaverse of grand strategy, open world exploration, territorial conquest, and political domination. Underlying technology consists of the latest in hi-fidelity game development, Unreal Engine, stunning visuals, and a blockchain baselayer utilizing Solana. The metaverse represents an alternative world of economic and political strategy, with the ability to generate real-world wealth transcending video game assets. Supporting links: Tokes Platform Multichain Ventures Star Atlas Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Sergey Nazarov is the co-founder of Chainlink where he is spearheading the smart contract oracle revolution. In this podcast, Sergey lays out his current thinking on DeFi (Decentralized Finance), how it improves on CeFi, the role of oracles in decentralized finance, and the fast and slow cases on what is needed for DeFi to go mainstream. Sergey says "decentralized finance is the thing that people want. They just don't know that they want it yet." Guest: Sergey Nazarov Why you should listen: Sergey says the recent Robinhood r/Wallstreetbets phenomenon has injected new realizations into society's collective consciousness. People are waking up to the realization that in the legacy financial system - they don't have full control of their financial assets and trading accounts. And they have seen that the ability of the average person to participate in a system that they were told was fair can be taken away by those who hold the power. Sergey says that in the financial world if enough people believe in something, it starts to occur. If enough people decide to buy GameStop stock, something happens. If enough people decide to shift from one platform to another, something significant happens. Social media, digital platforms, and decentralized blockchain applications make fast collective action possible in new ways. DeFi is the system that people want. Sergey thinks it is only a matter of time before this becomes self-evident and people begin to move to DeFi applications at scale. Key takeaway: Sergey says the increasing mainstream adoption of DeFi will happen through the search for yield and the transparency and control of one's assets. With fiat interest rates low and the returns of DeFi much higher, eventually, even the legacy financial system is likely to build interfaces that flow value into DeFi to capture yield. Everybody wants to at least maintain their wealth. And so any place where they can do that will become popular, and eventually, there will be a tipping point. Sergey says there is a slow case and a fast case for how this evolves. "The slow case for DeFi is what we're experiencing now, as unbelievable as that sounds going from something like 20 billion to 40 billion in assets in DeFi over the last month." This is the slow case as only about 2.6% of the crypto value that could be in DeFi, is in DeFi. The slow case will be accelerated by events such as Robinhood. "It's slow because there is friction to using DeFi, but it will slowly be accelerated through better and better user interfaces. Eventually, someone will figure out a way to just make it seamless for people to interact with DeFi, and the tipping point will be reached." The fast case is a rapid succession of failures in the traditional financial system. This will create a fear of counterparty risk and a newfound cynicism about the solvency of traditional financial institutions. This would lead a majority of people to seek alternatives even if there is still some friction in the DeFi user experience. Supporting links: Chainlink Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Enzyme Finance is an Ethereum-based protocol for decentralized on-chain asset management. Enzyme empowers anyone to set up, manage and invest in customized on-chain investment vehicles. Techemy Capital has launched the non-custodial Holistic ETH-BTC Portfolio on Enzyme. This actively traded portfolio provides exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum price action using Long/Short trading strategies designed and executed by Josh Olszewicz. Guests: Mona El Isa and Josh Olszewicz Why you should listen: Traditionally, starting and managing investment funds has been complicated, and costly. Enzyme Finance has disrupted the old model by making it possible for anyone to set up their own on-chain fund that others can invest in. With a 5 minute set-up time and streamlined processes, Enzyme allows anyone to create or invest in an investment fund without asking for permission. This is a game-changer because historically there have been massive barriers to entry in the fund industry, both for fund managers and investors. Each fund on Enzyme is transparent and on-chain and its past performance and trading history, asset allocation, and the ruleset which describes its operations are all public and available for anyone to inspect. Josh Olszewicz is a trader at Techemy Capital. He says that Enzyme Finance is a game-changer. "Everyone is interested in trading now. They want exposure to markets. What I like about Enzyme is that everything is open and transparent. It's effectively like on-chain copy trading." The next Techemy Capital product to be released on Enzyme is an actively managed DeFi portfolio. Key takeaway: Mona says "You can think of Enzyme Finance as a technology protocol that enables fund managers to customize the set-up of their own unique fund. Managers can pre-define all sorts of rules from fees, to the number of positions, types of assets, risk management, and so on. They can build and scale investment strategies from discretionary and robo to ETFs and market-making. The protocol takes care of investments and redemptions, NAV calculations, and enforces the rules that managers have in their funds. Everything is automated using smart contracts. Users can write as many rules as they want, so they can create uniquely individual funds." Supporting links: Enzyme Finance Techemy Capital Mona on Twitter Josh on Twitter Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Anthony "The Mooch" Scaramucci is best known for his short-lived, but very entertaining tenure as the White House communications director under President Trump. Anthony has had a long career in investment banking and he is the founder of Skybridge Capital, a global investment fund that has just launched the Skybridge Bitcoin fund. Why you should listen: Anthony says investors have a Eureka moment when they begin to understand that Bitcoin is a monetary network. "Just like there is a retail network, Amazon, a social network, Facebook, like there is a search network, Google. Bitcoin is the monetary network, and that makes it potentially very valuable. Think about where Apple or Amazon or Google were ten years ago, maybe that is where Bitcoin is at today." Key takeaway: Anthony says that Bitcoin is the only thing in our society right now, where if the demand goes up, there's no increase in supply. "When people want Tesla shares, there's a sausage factory in the back of Tesla. They're printing out Tesla shares. Do people want dollars? They're printing out dollars. If oil prices are going up, we're drilling for oil everywhere to meet that demand and produce more oil, but that can't be done for Bitcoin. And so that's the Eureka moment." Anthony says that President Trump was out of control. "He was a full-on liar. He added a trillion dollars to the deficit and his legacy will be that he made our country weaker, sicker, and poorer. He had malpractice on the pandemic and then on the way out the door, he tried to undermine our democracy." Anthony says that Joe Biden, "whether you like him or not, what does he represent as a pillar of Democratic party politics? He represents centrism. He represents core bureaucratic competence. To me, this was a seismic change for good. Do I love the excess regulation? I don't. Do I love a ponderous government? I don't. But do I like competent people in positions? I do. And so I like Joe Biden." Supporting links: Skybridge Bitcoin Fund Anthony on Twitter Leverj Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.