Welcome back to another episode of Empire’s Weekly Roundup. The Weekly Roundup airs every Friday morning with Jason Yanowitz and co-host, Santiago Roel Santos. In today's weekly roundup Jason & Santiago discuss the latest in crypto narratives and news, starting with Jack Dorsey's latest polarizing tweets on Web 3.0, Permissioned DeFi, crypto social media, DAOs winning deals against VCs for investments, and more! -- Empire's Weekly Roundup is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media br...
Dec 24, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 45
In this episode of Empire, Jason and Santiago are joined by Andrew Steinwold Managing Partner at Sfermion & John Crain CEO of SuperRare Labs. Andrew & John saw the potential of NFTs years before most in 2018, just after Crypto Kitties broke the Ethereum blockchain. We decided to invite them to Empire to discuss the explosive growth in NFTs throughout 2020/21, how the industry has developed since their introduction around 2018 and what is the future for the NFT market. -- Avalanche: Thank...
Dec 23, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Welcome back to another episode of Empire’s Weekly Roundup. The Weekly Roundup airs every Friday morning with Jason Yanowitz and co-host, Santiago Roel Santos. In today's weekly roundup Jason & Santiago discuss the Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Index Fund, Shopify & Nike entering crypto, NYDIG raising $1 Billion, Elizabeth Warren's negative comments on DeFi, PleasrDAO buying an NFT of Wikipedia's First Edit for $750K, Preston Pysh's M2 supply growth thread and so much more! Wikipedia NFT: https:...
Dec 17, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 43
In this episode of Empire Jason & Santiago are joined by legendary VC investor Bill Tai. Bill has successfully funded 20 startups that wen't on to IPO. Zoom, Canva, Dapper Labs, Twitter & Wish.com are just a handful of companies Bill was among the first investors in. Due to Bill's ability to spot key technology trends at major inflection points, we invited him on the show to discuss the exponential growth of technology, crypto vs the early days of the internet, creating new digital econo...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 42
On this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Santiago and Jason discuss the latest in crypto news and drama. Looking at the price action and cycles of your favourite currencies to discussing the recent news involving Sushiswap and more, listen to them exchange their thoughts on DAOs, Bitcoin's current status, and the rise of ETH builds. -- 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...
Dec 10, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 41
In this episode on Empire, Jason is joined by returning guest Jeremy Allaire. Jeremy is the CEO & Co-Founder of Circle the financial technology firm that enables access to the Stablecoin USDC. As USDC recently surpassed $40 Billion in circulation, we invited Jeremy back to discuss how USDC was created, how Stablecoins are a $120 trillion market, how crypto compares to the growth of the internet, DAOs & Jeremy's outlook for crypto. -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empir...
Dec 09, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 40
Welcome to Empire’s first Weekly Roundup. The Weekly Roundup will air every Friday morning. We’re excited to share that Santiago Roel Santos has joined the show as a co-host for both the interviews and the weekly roundups. In today’s roundup, we cover: L1 wars, PleasrDAO bidding on Ross Ulricht’s NFT, ETH/BTC hitting cycle highs, Decentralization maxis, Permissioned DeFi, and Nuclear energy. Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insi...
Dec 03, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 39
In this episode of Empire Jason is joined by Blockworks Co-Founder Mike Ippolito for a very special episode. Six months after identifying the '7 biggest crypto trends', Mike returns to Empire to share his predictions for the crypto industry throughout 2022. Will Bitcoin surprise everyone with a major bull run in the new year? How large will DAOs become? Could a crypto company buy a bank?! Listen to find out. Today's 7 biggest crypto trends: https://youtu.be/JjrQiNKN5U0 -- Avalanche: Thank you to...
Dec 02, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 38
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Jack Butcher a designer, entrepreneur and the Founder of Visualize Value. After spending 10 years working in Fortune 100 advertising in NYC as a creative director for multi-billion dollar brands, Jack took the decision to start Visualize Value, allowing him to focus on highly-specialized consulting, and a product business that scales infinitely. Jason & Jack discuss how to monetize personal brands, the transition from web 2.0 to web 3.0, the adva...
Nov 26, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 36
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Nevin Freeman, Co-Founder & CEO of Reserve. Nevin set out to create Reserve as a way to protect individuals from currency destroying hyperinflation, providing access to a stable currency and financial services. Jason & Nevin discuss how having access to a stable currency is a human right, challenges of creating a stablecoin, hyperinflation, developments in the cryptocurrency industry & much more. -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for s...
Nov 11, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 35
In this episode of Empire, Jason & Casey are joined by Senior Bloomberg ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas & CEO of Valkyrie Funds Leah Wald. With the recent approval of the Valkyrie Bitcoin futures ETF, we invited Eric & Leah onto the show to discuss everything you need to know from how an ETF works, the benefits of an ETF for institutional investors, the SEC's Bitcoin ETF regulation framework & if the SEC will approve a spot Bitcoin ETF. -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sponsor...
Nov 04, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 34
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Aave founder/CEO Stani Kulechov & technology investor Santiago R Santos. Sitting at the forefront of the fast evolving DeFi ecosystem, we invited Stani & Santiago on to Empire to share their thoughts on the exponential growth and assess whether DeFi has hit escape velocity. This conversation was fascinating and covered a range of topics including how DeFi managed to attract $100 Billion of total value during the 2020 DeFi summer, when $1 tril...
Oct 28, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 33
In this episode of Empire Jason & Mike are joined by Cooper Turley an operator, advisor & thought leader in the fast evolving DAO ecosystem. Cooper has worked on projects such as Friends with Benefits, Forefront, Seed Club & many more. In this episode, Cooper shares his thoughts on the transition from web 2.0 to web 3.0, four steps to creating a DAO, the creator economy, how to invest in the ecosystem & the outlook for the rest of 2021. -- Avalanche: Thank you to Avalanche for sp...
Oct 21, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 32
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Blockworks co-founder Mike Ippolito & Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko. Anatoly has spent over 20 years as an engineer working for companies such as Qualcomm & Dropbox whilst contributing to open source software development. After the recent success of Solana, we invited Anatoly onto Empire to discuss how Solana was founded, the current layer 1 wars, the growth of crypto vs the internet, DeFi, DEXs vs CEXs and so much more! -- Avalanche: T...
Oct 14, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 31
In this episode of Empire Jason is joined by Alyse Killeen, Managing Partner of StillMark - the Bitcoin VC Firm investing in the frontier of Bitcoin innovation. As well as founding StillMark in 2019, Alyse sits on the board of directors at Blockstream as an Independent Director. Alyse shares her thoughts on the most exciting companies being founded in the industry, the future of earning Bitcoin vs investing in Bitcoin, Bitcoin adoption outpacing the internet & bringing Bitcoin to the next Bi...
Sep 30, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 30
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Qiao Wang, contributor to DeFi Alliance. As a former quant trader & now busy funding projects in the DeFi & Web 3.0 ecosystem, Qiao has a unique understanding of crypto's past and what new innovations lay in store for the crypto economy at large. While looking at the timeline of DeFi, they touch on the Layer 1 wars, DAOs, the 10 year supercycle and more. -- Thank you to Avalanche for sponsoring Empire. Avalanche is one of the best and fastest...
Sep 23, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 29
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Marty Bent of Great American Mining and Harry Sudock of GRIID. Marty & Harry are focused on using stranded or otherwise wasted energy to mine Bitcoin whilst reducing flaring, methane and carbon emissions whilst doing so. Marty & Harry discuss the multi billion dollar opportunity in Bitcoin mining, the energy arbitrage opportunity, how the energy grid actually operates, the energy consumption debate and the Lightning Network. -- Empire is brou...
Sep 16, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 28
In this episode of Empire Jason is joined by Sergey Nazarov. Sergey is the Co-founder of Chainlink, a decentralized oracle network provider for advanced smart contracts. Sergey and Jason discuss hybrid smart contracts, oracle networks, DeFi's total addressable market, how current business models will be forced to adapt and the challenges of developing Chainlink. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets ...
Sep 09, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 27
In this episode of Empire Jason is joined by Mike Jones. Mike is the CEO of Science, a studio that focuses on mobile, marketplaces and select e-commerce investments. Mike is highly regarded in the venture capital industry having been CEO of Myspace, investor in Dollar Shave Club successfully overseeing $2 billion in exits. Mike shares his thoughts on the negative effects of social media, entertainment vs utility, how a VC approaches investing in crypto, how Science studio has evolved and the cur...
Aug 26, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 26
In this episode Jason sits down with Avik Roy. Avik is President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, policy editor at Forbes, former analyst and portfolio manager at the investment firms Bain Capital, JPMorgan Chase & founder of the healthcare-focused hedge fund Mymensingh Partners. Avik shares his thoughts on CBDC's vs stable coins, the private sector's role within the economy, the incoming entitlement crisis and his current Bitcoin thesis. Avik's expertise covers a variety...
Aug 19, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 25
In this episode of Empire Jason is joined by Matt Hougan the Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management. Jason and Matt discuss how an ETF would benefit financial advisors, DeFi innovation, future outlook for the space and incoming regulation. ––– 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 their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Prime is the worl...
Aug 12, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Cynthia Lummis is a US Senator from Wyoming. On this episode of Empire, Senator Lummis speaks with Jason about the proposed Infrastructure Bill and the negative effects this could have for Bitcoin, digital assets and innovation. Cynthia also discusses the negative effects of inflation on the American population and the ever increasing national debt. This is a shorter episode than usual as Senator Lummis had less than 30 minutes to record between votes. ––– Get unparalleled access to the greatest...
Aug 05, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 23
In this episode Jason is joined by Robert Breedlove. Robert is one of the most esteemed Bitcoin philosophers with a focus on exploring Freedom, Sovereignty, Philosophy, History, Economics and Bitcoin from first principles. When Robert isn't writing his captivating essays, he hosts the YouTube series 'What is Money?' featuring some of the top names in Technology, Finance & Bitcoin including previous guests Michael Saylor, Jeff Booth & Robert Kiyosaki. We couldn't be more excited to welcom...
Jul 29, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Since buying his first bitcoin in 2011, Erik Voorhees has seen it all. Erik helped Charlie Shrem build BitInstant and then launched ShapeShift in 2014, just months after the Mt. Gox crash. In 2018, ShapeShift lost 95% of their business when they introduced KYC due to regulatory demands. In this episode, Erik shares how he got through this tough time, and why he recently took a bold leap to integrate DeFi into ShapeShift and turn the company into a DAO. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset prici...
Jul 22, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Christian Angermayer is one of the world’s leading investors in psychedelics. Christian invested in the seed round Compass Pathways and recently founded Atai, a multi-billion dollar publicly traded psychedelics company. Christian talks about his beginnings, and how they led him to his current project: Atai Medical. ––– 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...
Jul 15, 2021•1 hr 41 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Chris Burniske is a co-founder of Placeholder, a New York venture firm that specializes in cryptoassets, and co-author of the book, Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond. He joins us to talk about crypto's past, and the implications that has for its future. ––– 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 their new cryptocurrenc...
Jul 08, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Anil is the Chief Operating Officer at Delphi Digital, and joins us to talk about DeFi, crypto gaming, and how he got so bullish on NFTs. ––– 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 their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Prime is the world’s first fair market value pricing source for crypto assets and the best option for all post-trade reporting needs....
Jul 01, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Dan Held is currently the director of growth marketing at Kraken. This is the long awaited part 2 of a 2 part series with Dan. If you haven't already, be sure to check out part 1! Dan's blog: 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 their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Prime is the world’s first fair market value pric...
Jun 24, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Peter Smith has been in the crypto space for a long time — and he's learned a thing or two about how the market ebbs and flows. He's come to the conclusion that Bitcoin's success — as well as the success of his own company — doesn't depend on other project's failures. ––– 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 their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Pr...
Jun 17, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 16
On this special episode of Empire, Blockworks co-founder Michael Ippolito tells us about today's biggest trends in crypto. ––– 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 their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Prime is the world’s first fair market value pricing source for crypto assets and the best option for all post-trade reporting needs. Visit lukka.te...
Jun 10, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 15
