In this episode of Empire, Santi is joined by Alok Tayi, scientist and founder of Vibe Bio. Alok started Vibe Bio because the biggest obstacle in treating patients with overlooked diseases isn’t finding potential treatments — it’s funding them. Vibe Bio is leveraging crypto's economic and coordination tools to fund the research and development that the legacy biotech industry ignores. Don't miss this fascinating conversation! We discuss: - Vibe Bio's origin story - How Vibe Bio works - Big pharm...
Jun 27, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 105
In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santi discuss CeFi's contagion risk and the fragility in the crypto market. Prices are crashing, and multiple companies appear to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Is SBF saving the industry? What questions should we all be asking right now? Tune in to find out! Highlights include: - What's going on in the markets - Crypto is transparent but not perfect - What is crypto's worst-case scenario - Crypto is transparent but not perfect - Will 3AC sur...
Jun 24, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 104
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Josh Rosenthal - a former historian turned serial entrepreneur and crypto VC. Josh's encyclopedic knowledge of history - from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and beyond - and ability to draw a throughline between historical events, Web3 and our world today is truly fascinating. Josh contends that we are living through the greatest Renaissance in history. How will historians look back on today? Tune in to find out. We discuss: - medieval life - wha...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 103
In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santi reflect on what might have been the most dramatic week in crypto's history. They explore the market contagion, the fallout, and debate if we've hit rock bottom. Santi is back in the studio with perfect timing. How is Santi approaching this volatility, is he buying, and what is his updated investment strategy? Tune in to find out. Highlights include: - How did this all start - The effects of quantitative tightening - Why stETH is causing...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 103
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Haseeb Qureshi and Tom Schmidt from Dragonfly Capital. Haseeb and Tom are top venture capitalists with unique insights into crypto's current trends, new innovations and market sentiment. If you want expert advice on the market, these are two people you ask. We discuss: - the venture capital landscape - power is shifting to investors - being long crypto while fighting the Fed - supercharged crowdfunding - convertible bonds & debt financing - the c...
Jun 13, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 101
In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Mike discuss the current state of crypto. It's officially a bear market, so how are companies and DAOs responding? What are the stories that you need to know? Tune in to find out. Highlights include: Did companies overhire What happens in a down round Why we need to separate investors from traders DAOs look to stables and the need for debt financing The Coinbase vs FTX strategy debate Is the Lummis bill good for crypto Enterprise blockchains ...
Jun 10, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 100
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Qiao Wang and Imran Khan, core contributors at Alliance DAO (the Y Combinator of Web3). Alliance DAO is a Web3 startup accelerator whose portfolio includes 0x, dYdX, Paraswap, Synthetix and top Web3 protocols. Qiao and Imran are former founders who now assist Web3's top entrepreneurs in building, launching and growing their products. As a result, the duo has a front-row seat to the latest trends and innovations in crypto. This episode is for you if y...
Jun 06, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 99
In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason is joined by Byron Gilliam - a markets strategist and author of the Blockworks newsletter. Often called the Matt Levine of Web3, Byron brings his traditional finance experience to crypto with a mix of wisdom and wit. Jason and Byron cover this week's biggest stories and explore crypto's outlook as an investable asset class. Episode highlights include: Why Byron frames crypto as commodities, not equities How private markets are losing their advant...
Jun 03, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 98
In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Charles Cascarilla, co-founder of Paxos, to discuss the state of the market. How did we get here, and what should we expect next? Show highlights include: How the everything bubble started in 1995 What tradeoff the Fed has to make How low interest rates perpetuated the greatest lie The 3 likely scenarios going forward How Paxos plans to bring $700T of assets on chain Why stablecoins aren't actually stable What Richard is looking forward to next - - F...
May 30, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 97
In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santiago discuss how to navigate the current bear market. Things aren't looking pretty, but this isn't the team's first rodeo. The duo explores what to expect, how to stay in the game and where opportunities might emerge. Highlights include: where will crypto's total market cap bottom? are Jason and Santi buyers at these prices? why are funds ignoring liquid markets? how founders should approach the bear thoughts on a16z's new $4.5B fund will...
May 27, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 96
In today’s episode of Empire, Jason and Santi are joined by the founders of Scroll - Sandy Peng, Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen - to discuss how ZK tech will scale Ethereum. Scroll is a general-purpose zkEVM rollup that combines Ethereum’s security with drastically reduced fees and low latency. We start the conversation with a deep dive into zero-knowledge tech, the power of validity proofs and the different L2 scaling techniques. The team then explains Scroll's advantage, the difficulty of building ...
May 23, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 95
On today's episode of Empire, Jason and Mike are joined by Richard Craib, founder of Numerai, to discuss why Richard sold all his ETH. Richard is a prolific investor and has been part of the Ethereum ecosystem since the 2014 ICO. That’s why it was such a big deal when he announced he sold his ETH and that he no longer sees crypto as a good investment. Does crypto have a product outside of speculation? Is crypto’s growth just a result of the Fed? Is crypto more about regulatory arbitrage than the...
May 20, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 94
On today's episode of Empire, Stani Kulechov - founder of Aave and Lens Protocol - joins Jason and Santiago to discuss the future of Web3 social. Stani explains how Lens Protocol will be the substrate Web3 social developers leverage to build and bootstrap their apps. Lens Protocol's modular architecture and open-data structure will enable mass experimentation, micro-communities and social composability: leading to differentiated and user-focused products. We then explore the benefits of a user-o...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 93
On today's episode of Empire, Joe Lallouz, Head of Coinbase Cloud, joins Jason and Santiago to discuss how Coinbase Cloud is building the AWS of crypto. Coinbase Cloud is building blockchain infrastructure and APIs that abstract the complexities of staking, data access, deployment and more. Joe explains the challenges of building in crypto, how Coinbase Cloud is taking on this challenge, and why developer tooling is critical for rapid innovation. We then discuss the importance of crypto's low sw...
May 16, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 92
On today's episode of Empire, Olaf Carlson-Wee, Coinbase's first employee & founder of Polychain, joins Jason and Santiago to discuss his views on the state of crypto. Olaf reflects on crypto's cycles, the reoccurring themes and how this relates to the UST meltdown and today's bear market. We then dive into Olaf's investment philosophy, exploring his thoughts on what assets will accrue value, the multichain future and the most exciting opportunities. You'll also hear Olaf's unique take on th...
May 13, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Jordi Alexander and Mika Honkasalo join Jason and Santiago on today’s episode of “Empire" to discuss the meltdown of UST, Terra's stablecoin. The match was lit Sunday with UST de-pegging from one dollar, and it's now become the single biggest wealth destruction event in crypto. Jordi and Mika explain what led to UST's demise, how this could have been prevented, and what's in store for the future of UST and Terra. Is this the end of decentralized stablecoins? Can the market recover? Tune in to fi...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 90
Vance Spencer and Michael Anderson, co-founders of Framework Ventures, join Jason on today’s episode of “Empire.” The founders have grown Framework’s assets under management from $14 million to over $1.4 billion in just three years. The co-founders share their thoughts on the layer-2 scaling thesis and why every project will eventually fork their own layer-2. Vance and Michael believe the shift to layer-2s is inevitable — it’s the endgame in maximizing token value. They then dive into staking an...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 89
In this episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason and Santiago start with the most relevant topic: how to survive a bear market. Santiago explains how he embraces the bear and shares advice for builders and investors - including his current investment strategy. Jason and Santi then explore the NFT market, Yuga land sale and today's scaling challenges. The conversation is capped off with thoughts on Lido's dominance, Anchor's rate drop and DAO legal battles. Tune in to hear this week's top storie...
May 06, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 88
On today's episode of Empire, Jason and Santiago are joined by Jeff Dorman, CIO of Arca. Jeff is a prominent crypto investor known for his fundamental analysis, contrarian bets and ability to simplify crypto's arcane topics. In this episode, Jeff explains crypto's response to macro, why fundamentals matter, equity tokenization, crypto's most exciting developments and more. Don't miss Jeff's insights on where crypto is headed next! Resources: BTC/NASDAQ correlation: https://www.bloomberg.com/news...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 87
In today's episode of Empire's Roundup, the long-awaited return of Santi and Jason discussing the latest in crypto, DeFi, and more has finally landed. They refresh some predictions around ETH for 2022 and discuss the Optimism airdrop, the BAYC Instagram hack, Osmosis's canonical bridge vote, and announcements from funds and initiatives alike. You won't want to miss this! -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC ...
Apr 29, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 86
On today's episode of Empire, Santiago Roel Santos is joined by Kieran Warwick, co-founder of Illuvium. Illuvium is an open-world, collector and auto battler game with high-res graphics and dynamic gameplay mechanics. Illuvium focuses on bringing both entertainment and earning into the core gameplay. It might just be the Pokémon of Web3. We discuss the inspiration behind Illuvium, how to build a AAA studio-level game, how NFTs empower gameplay and the key to Illuvium's success. Links: Kieran's T...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 85
On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Travis Kling, founder of Ikigai Asset Management. Travis is a prolific investor who sits at the intersection of macro and crypto. We discuss the implications of the ETH 2.0 merge, why ETH is prime for institutional capital, what a macro bear market means for crypto, Ikigai's investment strategy, and more. This is a must-listen if you're interested in the ETH 2.0 Merge and ETH's investment prospects (warning, Trav...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 84
On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Bryan Pellegrino, co-founder of LayerZero. LayerZero is an interoperability protocol that wants to connect every contract on every chain. This is a can't miss episode on blockchain bridges and the future of interoperability. We discuss how LayerZero works, how Stargate enables seamless cross-chain swaps, the flaws of synthetic/wrapped assets, and why the future will be cross-chain. -- Links: Bryan on Twitter: htt...
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 83
On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by gaming expert Brooks Brown, co-founder of the PlayFi platform NOR. Brooks has an encyclopedic knowledge of gaming and has worked with studios such as Universal Pictures, Lucas Arts (Starwars), and James Cameron's Avatar. We discuss the intricacies of world-building, what P2E games get wrong, how financialization shapes game design, NFTs, and the significance of permadeath in Nor. This is a masterclass on the conf...
Apr 18, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 82
On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by "Shark Tank" Investor and prolific entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary. We discuss Kevin's view on the current macro environment, how crypto will be the 12th sector of the S&P, why NFTs could be bigger than crypto, and the enormous opportunity for clean Bitcoin miners. Don't miss out on Kevin's unique insights and passion for the crypto industry -- Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; l...
Apr 15, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 81
On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital. Josh is a true polymath who invests in hard sciences, robotics, nuclear waste and more. If you wanted a nuclear energy crash course, this is it. Josh discusses where solar and biofuels fell short, how nuclear energy markets function, why nuclear is the sustainable-energy source environmentalist have wanted, and how nuclear is the key to energy security. Nuclear energy is ine...
Apr 14, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 80
On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz is joined by media specialist Jarrod Dicker. Jarrod is a Partner at TCG (The Chernin Group), where he focuses on investments in Web3, blockchain, and tech that connects fans with creators. We discuss the evolution of media's business model, how media companies are talent companies, where NFTs fit in the creation stack, and much more. Don't miss these unique insights on the confluence of media and Web3. --- Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a fin...
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 79
On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of the Near. Near is one of the fastest-growing layer-one blockchains that uniquely focuses on the user and developer experience. Illia believes Near's innovative culture, simplicity and dynamic scalability will onboard the next 1B users to crypto. Don't miss this discussion on Near's roadmap, scalability solutions, the layer-one landscape, Ukraine and more. This podcast was recorded ...
Apr 08, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 78
On today's episode of Empire, Jay Clayton, former-SEC Chairman, joins Santiago and Jason in a discussion about the merits of crypto and how regulation threatens its freedom. Giving a special perspective as a former head of the epitome of traditional finances, Jay Clayton talks about his journey in embracing crypto, how enforcement could affect it, and what he sees for its future in the markets. -- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.i...
Apr 04, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 77
In today's episode of Empire's Weekly Roundup, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos tackle the Ronin Hack and wallet security, explaining the whens and hows, and postulating on how to better protect themselves and others in the wake of the largest crypto hack thus far. They also look at some breaking news concerning wallets and securities, music NFTs, safety nets and more. With so much happening in the space, there's a lot to cover-- so tune in! Link discussed: https://twitter.com/paddi_hanse...
Apr 01, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 74
