Empire - podcast cover

Empire

Blockworksblockworks.co
Empire features interviews with top crypto founders to get the real stories that aren’t shared elsewhere. Empire is your look behind the curtain of the crypto industry. We release two episodes per week: guest interviews on Monday and a weekly roundup on Friday.
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Episodes

Why the 2021 bull market mirrors 2013, with Will Clemente

Empire is on pause this week. For now, enjoy Crypto Data 101 with Will Clemente. See you next week for part 2 with Dan! In this special episode, Will and I talk about why retail is buying when whales are selling, and how the 2021 bull run looks like 2013. Will built a steady following on Twitter this year with his market predictions and analytics, and predicts an eventual $300k Bitcoin. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka P...

Jun 03, 20211 hr 3 minSeason 1Ep. 14

Dan Held explains why the Supercycle will push Bitcoin above $500,000

Dan Held is currently the director of growth marketing at Kraken. We talked about Elon's impact on the field, energy and the environment, and of course, the possible $500k Supercycle. This is part 1 of a 2 part series with Dan. Check out his Substack if you can't wait for part 2! https://danheld.substack.com/ ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ for ...

May 27, 20211 hr 9 minSeason 1Ep. 13

Why $USDC will become a $10 trillion stablecoin, with Jeremy Allaire

Jeremy Allaire takes us deep into the world of $USDC, stablecoins, and the future of money. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file your 2020 taxes for just $19.95 whether you have 10 transactions or 1 million. Go to http://tax.lukka.tech/empire to sign up and generate 2020 tax forms today...

May 20, 20211 hr 24 minSeason 1Ep. 12

VC Colleen Sullivan explains how institutions and regulators view DeFi

Colleen Sullivan is a founder at CMT — but before that, she spent her summers fighting for space in the pit in Chicago. We talked about how those experiences informed her career, and what her legal experience has taught her about the landscape today. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file...

May 13, 20211 hr 1 minSeason 1Ep. 11

Why many Africans still use WhatsApp to buy Bitcoin, with Nelly Chatue-Diop

Nelly Chatue-Diop left her home in Cameroon to dive in to the tech world. Now she's bringing what she learned back to Africa with Ejara, which she hopes will soon let people on the continent invest in crypto. We talked about everything from Ejara's founding story, to what it could look like to tokenize a herd of cattle. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your tran...

May 06, 20211 hr 12 minSeason 1Ep. 10

Michael Moro on Why Corporations Bought $8 Billion of Bitcoin in Q1

Michael Moro remembers when Bitcoin felt like it could go to $0. We talked about the transition from that to corporations buying $8 billion in BTC in a quarter, the time he was forced to spend a bitcoin on a case of wine, and the rise of Genesis. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file you...

Apr 29, 20211 hr 22 minSeason 1Ep. 9

Why Jameson Lopp burned down his life to live in extreme privacy

After being Swatted, Jameson Lopp decided to burn down every trace of his identity. Even his own family members don't know where he lives. Now, he's using what he learned to build Casa — a secure storage for crypto that he hopes will ease users' transition into financial sovereignty. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on ex...

Apr 22, 20211 hr 16 minSeason 1Ep. 8

Ex Goldman Trader: The 80 Year Debt Cycle Will End With Wealth Redistribution

Before Bill Barhydt started Abra, he build security systems for the CIA and NASA. We talked about his time working for the government, as well as his role getting banks online through Netscape, and what is looks like to come out of a debt cycle. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file your...

Apr 15, 20211 hr 9 minSeason 1Ep. 7

Bootstrapping CoinGecko: The Fastest Growing Crypto Data Platform, with Bobby Ong

Bobby Ong co-founded the fastest-growing crypto data aggregator, CoinGecko. We talked about how to build a crypto company so that it can last through a bear market — and why honesty is central to his business model. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file your 2020 taxes for just $19.95 wh...

Apr 08, 202151 minSeason 1Ep. 6

How Sam Bankman-Fried made $10 billion by the age of 28

Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX made headlines when they acquired the naming rights to Miami's basketball stadium. We talk about how he got there, including everything from his childhood to his experience juggling arbitrage in Japan. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file your 2020 taxes for ju...

Apr 01, 20211 hr 12 minSeason 1Ep. 5

Mike Belshe, from $20M Bitcoin under a couch to $20B+ in custody: the BitGo story

My guest today is Mike Belshe, Founder and CEO of BitGo. But before that, he used what he learned at Netscape to help Google develop Chrome. Like many of us, Belshe stored his first Bitcoin on an old laptop. But after his investor friends started sending their digital assets his way, that "old laptop" was suddenly worth millions. Here's how his quest to secure those assets eventually became BitGo. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and pr...

Mar 25, 202155 minSeason 1Ep. 4

Flori Marquez on founding BlockFi: the fastest-growing Fintech in the world

My guest today is Flori Marquez, Co-Founder of BlockFi. On this episode of Empire, we discuss BlockFi's staggering valuation, what it's like to lead a $3 billion Fintech company, and why crypto is so valuable in countries without fiat stability. ––– 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 on Twitter @Jaso...

Mar 18, 202152 minSeason 1Ep. 3

Joe Lubin, Ethereum Co-Founder, on why assets are moving from Wall Street to Crypto

My guest today is Joe Lubin, Co-Founder of Ethereum and CEO and Founder of ConsenSys. On this episode of Empire, we discuss where Bitcoin falls short, Joe leaving Wall Street for Crypto, founding Ethereum and ConsenSys, why forks can be good for progress, and Joe's real motivators. ––– 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...

Mar 11, 202137 minSeason 1Ep. 2

Muneeb Ali, on why the next internet will be built on Bitcoin

My guest today is Muneeb Ali, Co-Founder of the Stacks Project (formerly Blockstack) and CEO of Hiro. On this episode of Empire, we talk about Muneeb’s upbringing in Pakistan and the sacrifices his family made to get him his first computer, military dictatorship vs democratic rule, how he lied about a grant to get a job in Sweden and then ran out of money, and why it’s better to build on Bitcoin than create a new chain. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand deliveri...

Mar 04, 202151 minSeason 1Ep. 1
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