In 1955, during the post-World War II global economic boom, John van Eck set out to create an international broker to give US citizens access to foreign markets and connect the world through investment. The company he founded, VanEck, established its reputation by providing investors exposure to emerging industries, asset classes, and markets. Now, John’s son Jan van Eck is taking similarly innovative steps with Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and other digital assets. Last November, VanEck launched ...
Mar 09, 2022•14 min
The recent $320 million Ethereum-Solana cross-chain hack – the second-biggest exploit ever, behind the $600 million Poly Network theft – is only the beginning, according to Corby Pryor, venture partner at HOF Capital. A former academic who studied quantum physics and designed neural networks, Pryor went all in after dabbling in crypto investing in 2017. A talented computer scientist, Pryor has identified a key vulnerability in the DeFi ecosystem, particularly in cross-chain interoperability. He ...
Mar 08, 2022•14 min
Quantitative traders Moritz Heiden and Moritz Seibert, chief technology officer and chief investment officer, respectively, at the Exponential Age Digital Asset Management Fund, developed a bot to help Real Vision better understand market sentiment by studying topics covered and emotions expressed in video interviews on our platform. This research project has grown to include building an algorithm to create NFTs, among them “Affe mit Waffe” (ape with gun). Now, Heiden and Seibert – together know...
Mar 07, 2022•10 min
The virality of CryptoPunks has spawned a series of new projects, one of which is led by a former punk himself: @punk4156, co-founder of Nouns.wtf DAO. He joins Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Delphi Digital, who has been on a mission to explore the world of DAOs, social tokens, and Web 3.0. The anonymous @punk4156, originally an active member of the CryptoPunks community, saw an opportunity in the NFT space, given that many of the dominant trends had originated in 2017 with new projects simply copyi...
Mar 06, 2022•50 min
Within a week of announcing it would accept cryptocurrency donations, Ukraine raised nearly $40 million. The Ukrainian government even announced an airdrop for donors. Does this prominent deployment as an instrument of geopolitics mark a new stage in crypto’s development? Robin Schmidt and Camila Russo of The Defiant join Real Vision’s Ash Bennington to assess what Kyiv’s current crypto-reliance means for widespread adoption. Robin, Camila, and Ash also dig into the Pixelmon drama and how it fit...
Mar 05, 2022•44 min
Two major players in the crypto industry, BitGo and Galaxy Digital, have come together to advance a shared vision of what comes next for digital assets on the path to widespread deployment and use among the general public. Of key importance, according to BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, is crypto establishing a strong voice in the developing conversation about regulation. Belshe is concerned about the potential impact of multiple bureaucracies trying to assert some sort of control at the same time. Anothe...
Mar 04, 2022•14 min
Ever wanted to know more about Raoul’s story? Interested in how he approaches not only his investments but life generally? Curious about what made it possible for him to retire for the first time at 36? In this special crossover episode, Raoul finds himself in the guest seat as My First Million host Shaan Puri probes Raoul’s background, his life philosophy, and the facts behind his first million. Shaan and Raoul also explore Raoul's Bitcoin-versus-ethereum "bet" as well how NFTs are commodifying...
Mar 04, 2022•55 min
Multiple layers of bureaucracy in the California real estate industry create major burdens but have proven ineffective at preventing fraud. This duality ultimately means higher transaction costs. At the same time, accommodative monetary policy and historically low mortgage rates attracted the ultra-rich. Altogether, too many people have been priced out of the California market. That’s why Natalia Karayaneva, as she explains to Santiago Velez, co-founder and division lead of R&D at Block Digi...
Mar 02, 2022•12 min
The NFT revolution has only just started and we all need to learn how to navigate it. This interview sets the core foundation stones for all of us to get involved. Sergio Silva, NFT Collector and Sales Director at Fireblocks, has taken the journey from being in investment banking to working full time in the digital asset world and being a key player in the NFT space. Raoul gets his inspiring story and picks Sergio’s brains on what NFTs represent, where they are going, how to think through the co...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr 14 min
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, says Bitcoin is inevitable. That’s despite a slide of nearly 40% from its all-time-high price. Meanwhile, based on his own analysis of the issues in play, Thorn sees regulation eventually providing a tailwind to digital assets generally. In conversation with Real Vision’s Ash Bennington, Thorn also addresses interesting developments for Ethereum and other “altcoin” communities. Ethereum, he notes, faces an “innovator’s dilemma”: solving it...
Mar 01, 2022•16 min
Everyrealm is already an active developer in the metaverse ecosystem, with holdings in 25 platform portfolios, ownership of more than 3,000 NFTs, and management of more than 100 metaverse real estate projects. It began life as Republic Realm, alternative asset crowdfunding platform Republic’s metaverse real estate arm. Co-founder and CEO Janine Yorio led a spin off and rebrand that now has Everyrealm positioned to build an NFT and gaming production studio, in addition to its metaverse real estat...
Feb 27, 2022•13 min
One of the world’s most successful NFT art-drops to date, Yam Karkai’s 10,000 images of diverse and powerful women has drawn global attention to female-led projects. The company she co-founded, World of Women, now includes celebrity collectors and investors like Reese Witherspoon, Shonda Rhimes, Eva Longoria, and Liam Payne. Yam and co-founder Raphael Malavieille talk to Real Vision’s Elaine Ly about where they plan to go after such a resounding debut for a company that’s rapidly evolving into a...
Feb 26, 2022•11 min
What happened with the OpenSea $1.7 million phishing hack? And did Laura Shin unmask the perpetrator who siphoned 3.6 million Ether (with a current value north of $11 billion) from the Ethereum network? Robin Schmidt and Camila Russo of The Defiant join Real Vision's Elaine Ly to talk about these headline-making stories and the issues around them – including their views on safety and traceability in the crypto space. Robin, Camila, and Elaine also discuss the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Ris...
Feb 25, 2022•45 min
Centralization has defined technology, finance, and government for decades. Bill Barhydt, co-founder and CEO of Abra, considers the 1969 moon landing the peak of centralization: people working together, pooling massive amounts of resources, achieving the near-impossible. Centralization has its benefits. It’s also had its day. History shows that global change often corresponds with the introduction of new technology. The present shift from centralization to decentralization, according to Barhydt,...
Feb 24, 2022•14 min
We’re still in the Netscape phase of crypto, according to Marshall Hayner, founder and CEO of Metal Payments, and the future is bright. Hayner sees regulation and user interface as the two pivotal factors affecting mass adoption. While 2021 saw a rapid acceleration of lobbying efforts as well as public-awareness initiatives, most governments still just don’t seem to get it and people are still using clunky software like Metamask. Hayner and his team at Metal are currently working to create brows...
Feb 23, 2022•10 min
From the revolutionary potential of the microprocessor to the prediction of “anonymous digital cyber cash,” James Dale Davidson’s 1997 book “The Sovereign Individual” is full of future-looking scenarios that are part of 2022’s reality. Robert Breedlove, founder of the “What Is Money?” podcast, interviews Davidson, editor of the “Strategic Investment” newsletter, to discuss Bitcoin’s potential to destabilize entrenched power. Breedlove and Davidson explore the cyclical struggle between liberty an...
Feb 22, 2022•14 min
That Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana personally designed a set that ended up selling for $6 million strongly suggests NFTs are more than just a novelty. We’re talking real money – and real assets. Dolce & Gabbana launched its first NFTs with the help of UNXD co-founders Shashi Menon and Nick Gonzalez. Menon and Gonzalez share with Leslie Lamb, founder and host of the Crypto Unstacked podcast, the story of how they were able to inspire this multi-billion-dollar fashion conglomerate to crea...
Feb 20, 2022•13 min
Alkemi Network touts itself as “an institutional-grade liquidity network facilitating professional DeFi for financial institutions and individuals to earn yields on their Ethereum-based digital assets.” On the ground, that means helping old-school financial institutions update their legacy infrastructure for the modern era. More and more companies and more and more people want ready access to digital assets and related products and services. According to co-founder Brian Mahoney, Alkemi makes it...
Feb 19, 2022•14 min
Does the sheer number (and entertainment value) of crypto commercials during the Super Bowl broadcast mean widespread adoption is on the horizon? Or is this just a replay of the Web 1.0/Pets.com fiasco of the late 1990s? Does BlockFi’s settlement with the SEC complicate the process? Robin Schmidt and Camila Russo of The Defiant join Real Vision’s Elaine Ly to break it all down. Robin, Camila, and Elaine also dive deep into Coinbase’s plan to make more than 2,000 new hires this year, and they als...
Feb 18, 2022•41 min
Kadena’s combination of “revolutionary, braided multi-chain architecture” and powerful, readable smart-contract language for writing applications directly on the blockchain make it the only sharded and scalable proof-of-work network in production today. In other words, according to co-founder and CEO Stuart Popejoy, Kadena is the only PoW platform capable of scaling to settle the more than 9 million trades executed on the New York Stock Exchange each day. And its consensus mechanism maintains th...
Feb 17, 2022•11 min
With more than 100 million users worldwide and over $20 billion in assets under management, Celsius founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky is doing his part to move DeFi into the mainstream. Mashinsky emphasizes the importance of liquidity in reducing friction and lowering barriers to entry, critical objectives that will accelerate widespread adoption. He notes too that DeFi platforms like Celsius are able to offer yields around 6%, while traditional financial institutions are effectively at zero. Mashi...
Feb 16, 2022•14 min
Tom Bilyeu, co-founder and host of Impact Theory, is an amazing storyteller with an amazing story, from business builder to educator to giant influencer. He’s driven by mission and purpose, and his journey into crypto and NFTs is an inspiration to us all. He’s an accidental macro investor who sees the big picture and can comfortably live in the world of possible futures, allowing him to make the big bet. His bet is the nexus of NFT storytelling, social impact, education, money, and value, all wi...
Feb 15, 2022•11 min
Josh Ong, affectionately known as @beijingdou on Twitter is onboarding many NFT projects into the metaverse, including Happiness House, a mental health clinic. Ong is Sandbox’s ambassador and co-founder of Causeway Strategies who “came across an ape cartoon picture” on his Twitter timeline. After minting it for $250 - the rest is history. In this conversation with Real Vision’s Elaine Ly, they discuss what is next for Bored Ape Yacht Club. Has one of the world’s most exclusive NFT collections hi...
Feb 15, 2022•40 min
“Don’t pay attention to the price. The price is not what matters. It’s the value that matters,” says Brian Estes, founder of Off The Chain Capital. Using various models, Estes joins Real Vision to explain how he values Bitcoin and why many investors miss opportunities when focusing on price rather than value. He believes Bitcoin prices are fair and could potentially reach as high as $10M in 2029. The founder of Off The Chain Capital recounts his own missed-opportunity story to put clients in Ber...
Feb 13, 2022•13 min
Identifying the need to educate policymakers about blockchain technology, Bitcoin, digital currency, and digital assets early on, CEO Perianne Boring founded the Chamber of Digital Commerce in July 2014. Now, thanks to Boring and her growing team, members of Congress and regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission are warming to the new reality. Boring talks to Real Vision’s Ash Bennington about Washington D.C.’s digital evolution, from a gaggle once flummoxed by social media to a ...
Feb 12, 2022•14 min
What’s driving Bitcoin’s recent price action? Does it have anything to do with India’s plan to launch a digital rupee? Is it Russia’s move to recognize crypto? And what’s happening in Washington D.C. with regard to regulation? Robin Schmidt and Camila Russo of The Defiant join Real Vision’s Ash Bennington to unpack those issues and more – including the fact that Bitcoin is simply a volatile asset right now. Robin shares details of a conversation he had just yesterday with a high-profile American...
Feb 11, 2022•42 min
Population growth in virtual worlds surpasses that of any nation today, a trend of keen interest to Richard Kim, general partner at Galaxy Interactive, unit of Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Asset Management. Under Kim’s guidance, Galaxy Interactive is the Lewis and Clark of the virtual frontier. “Self-sovereign digital natives,” as Kim refers to them, are people who have partially grown up in virtual environments and/or spend the majority of their spare time in them. Today, they’re mostly youn...
Feb 10, 2022•12 min
Rob Frasca, co-founder and managing partner of COSIMO, applies lessons learned from the early internet days as well as the mobile phone boom to harness crypto. “I’ve seen this movie before… and I know how it ends,” says Frasca in reference to past adoptions of new technologies. Whether it’s the proliferation of email addresses, search engines, or smartphones, the early days are always clunky and saturated with high-valuation companies that turn out to be nothing. Frasca has lived and invested th...
Feb 09, 2022•14 min
An adventure like crypto is bound to attract talent from all corners. In a far-ranging conversation, Michael Creadon, a former journalist with Bloomberg, and David Micley, once a researcher at Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates, describe their journeys into crypto and bounce ideas off one another about where the space is headed. Creadon is now president of DeFi Developers at Inveniam, while Micley is director of sales and client relations at Floating Point Group. They come together to make sense...
Feb 08, 2022•12 min
The metaverse can look a lot like online video games. But what Sebastien Borget, COO and co-founder of The Sandbox, is trying to create is a parallel universe. Blockchain gaming manifests in various ways. Some developers simply utilize blockchain technology to mint in-game NFTs, while others are going so far as to grant DAOs governance over the game’s rules. It’s about giving users dominion over the virtual world they occupy. Interoperability – as in the ability for avatars, items, and currency ...
Feb 08, 2022•12 min
