What is “Web3 crowdfunding,” and how can it help companies hoping to grow in the blockchain space? Real Vision Senior Crypto Editor Ash Bennington spoke with Mike Rogers, Head of Crowdfunding at Securitize Markets, about how "entrepreneurs can raise capital from their community using Web3 technology to further the expansion of Web3.” Recorded on June 30, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Mathieu Nouzareth is the CEO of The Sandbox, one of the world’s largest independent user-generated content platforms. His vision of the future for The Sandbox, which has already delivered over 40 million downloads to more than one million monthly active users, encompasses gaming and entertainment, art and fashion. Mathieu joins Ash Bennington to talk about what’s next in the metaverse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Volatility in the crypto market has always been elevated relative to old-school markets. But, in the aftermath of the Three Arrows Capital and Celsius meltdowns, it’s been particularly brutal. Imran Lakha, the founder of Options Insight, joins Real Vision’s Ash Bennington to talk about how he’s navigating this bear market. Imran walks Ash through his most recent Crypto Insights report, with a special focus on what the options market is signaling about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. There are man...
Bitcoin (and cryptocurrency generally) often has been called a long-term inflation hedge. Over the last few months, however, soaring inflation (and central banks’ efforts to counter it) has been a major driver of broad losses across the crypto market. Indeed, the U.S. dollar’s purchasing power against Bitcoin has been in an uptrend for the better part of 2022, inviting skepticism of the “inflation hedge” narrative. Joe Zhao, a former economist at the Federal Reserve and a current partner at vent...
Voyager Digital has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, blaming "volatility and contagion" in the market. The cryptocurrency brokerage previously revealed that it lost $650 million due to the collapse of Three Arrows Capital. In its court filing, Voyager reported it has more than 100,000 creditors and between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities. It’s the latest high-profile crypto firm to suffer the ultimate consequence amid the most significant downturn in the industry...
The cryptographic protocol of proving and validating information without the prover revealing any additional information – known as zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) – is the key to securing and growing Web3 and the metaverse. That’s according to Thomas Walton-Pocock, the founder of Geometry, a research and investment firm focused on projects that leverage deep mathematics, cryptography, and engineering to drive Web3’s growth. Walton-Pocock joins Santiago Velez, co-founder and division lead of R&D ...
“Where is the yield coming from?” is what Tania Reif wants people to ask themselves before they invest. Reif, the chief investment officer at Senda Digital Assets, says the recent drama in the crypto market is not unlike episodes she’s seen in “traditional markets for the longest time.” She spent years in old-school finance, studying currencies and running portfolios for Soros Fund Management. Now, Reif has her own digital asset fund. Recorded on June 27, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. ...
When CoinFLEX halted customer redemptions on June 23, it became the latest casualty of a crypto correction that’s dragged multiple companies into fights for survival. Unlike many that fell before it, CoinFLEX says it wasn’t a direct victim of liquidity issues at Celsius or the default by Three Arrows Capital. Rather, according to CEO Mark Lamb, “extreme market conditions” and a single account holder – identified by Lamb on Twitter as early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver – brought CoinFlex down. Lamb...
Rekt Capital, a technical analyst and a crypto trader, joins Real Vision’s Ash Bennington to study Bitcoin’s history via charts and to develop a better picture of when and how a bottom might be forming. Indeed, although Rekt says Bitcoin is currently oversold from a technical perspective, the bottom may still be weeks if not months out. This is one you won't want to miss for all that juicy price-action analysis. Recorded on June 28, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.co...
Regulating a complex ecosystem like cryptocurrency involves questions of status within the existing financial and monetary infrastructure, market stability, and state sovereignty. Eva Kaili, the Vice-President of the European Parliament, joins Michael Nicoletos, a macro investor and the co-founder of AppleTree Capital, for an in-depth conversation about the framework for regulation and oversight of cryptocurrency in the European Union. Among issues left to be resolved are whether to include NFTs...
Bitcoin has what seems like a tenuous hold on $20,000 in the immediate aftermath of a British Virgin Islands court ordering Singapore-based crypto fund Three Arrows Capital to liquidate. The plunge in asset prices has caused a domino effect in the industry, with Three Arrows joining Celsius, Terra LUNA, and others on the casualty list. And Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX, said in an interview with Forbes that there will be more failures, warning of dire financial ci...
How does an artist who got into NFTs only a year ago get featured on OpenSea twice and land a spot on the NFT NYC billboard? Step into the mind of up-and-coming NFT artist Camille Chiang as she talks about how she bootstrapped her way to success in the industry. Her collection, "WACK!," is an homage to her childhood in Hong Kong and is inspired by the everyday people she meets. In conversation with Matthew Kotek, Camille shares her plan to expand the "WACK!" brand into a fashion line. The recent...
What on earth is a “DAO”? And how might the “decentralized autonomous organization” lead the next phase of crypto innovation? StakeBorg CEO Vlad Mercori joins Real Vision's Elaine Ly to talk about all things DAO, how they work, why they’re proliferating, and what they mean for the future. Mercori says DAOs can transform the way communities organize, enhance teamwork and creativity, and help people solve problems in new ways. This wide-ranging conversation also covers the bear market, investor co...
Ethereum is nearing the end of a multi-year initiative to overhaul its consensus mechanism. But seamlessly migrating an operating protocol from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) is not a simple task. Galaxy Digital's Christine Kim joins Real Vision's Ash Bennington to explain how developers plan to bring PoS to Ethereum via a “merge” of Ethereum's Mainnet and the Beacon Chain. Challenges and risks attend this kind of transition. But there are also many advantages, such as improved scal...
Ethereum investor Ryan Berckmans joins Ash Bennington to talk about how decentralized public chains ignite trust within different communities. Although the market has been rough recently, Berckamams believes Ethereum’s future is bright. He explains why in another fascinating episode of Building Blocks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Adam Dell sees a disconnect between retail investors and the basic technology that’s powering Bitcoin, DeFi, and Web3. Dell, a venture capitalist and the CEO of Domain Money, has set out to build a platform for easy access to emerging technologies, including blockchain, crypto, and everything growing around it, through professionally managed portfolios. He joins Real Vision’s Ash Bennington for a probing conversation about blockchain’s maturity cycle, the rapid evolution of the blockchain develo...
The price of BTC has dropped dramatically so is mining Bitcoin still profitable? Real Vision's crypto editor Ash Bennington talks to the CEO of Miningstore, JohnPaul Baric about how the mining industry has been impacted. Miningstore is one of the longest large-scale crypto miners and they are serious builders who support the Bitcoin ecosystem by bringing mining to the masses. This is a conversation for everything you wanted to know about mining but were afraid to ask. Recorded on 14th June. Lear...
Some saw signs of capitulation when Bitcoin breached $20,000 and Ethereum slipped below $1,000 last weekend. BTC and ETH have rallied above those key psychological levels, but investors are still on tenterhooks amid a major repricing. Santiago Velez, co-founder and R&D division lead at Block Digital, and Mona El Isa, founder of Enzyme and CEO and founder of Avantgarde Finance, join Leslie Lamb, CMO of CoinFLEX and host of the Crypto Unstacked podcast to talk about the current state of crypto...
People are overlooking one of the crypto market’s clear drivers, says Real Vision Host Weston Nakamura. There’s more to bitcoin’s and ether’s fall below $20,000 and $1,000 respectively than just the downward swing in traditional assets and the liquidity trouble at companies like Celsius and Three Arrows Capital. In this flash update, Weston examines how listed derivatives and the ETF markets are affecting the world’s largest cryptocurrencies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoice...
There’s a whole lot of innovation going on as the music industry integrates the elements of Web3 into its business model. Relationships between artists and fans are evolving. Creators are generating income in new ways and on more favorable terms than legacy models offer. So, is the stage set for Web3 to replace Web2? Cherie Hu, the founder of Water and Music, joins Jack Spallone of HiFi Labs to talk about what she sees right now at the intersection of music and Web3. Many old-school industry ins...
Chris Perkins is now a managing partner at CoinFund, but he was once an active-duty U.S. Marine. Chris joins Ash Bennington for this week’s episode of Building Blocks to talk about how his experience in the Corps informs his investing career. He also describes the “a-ha!” moment during his early crypto research and shares his thoughts on fintech’s rapid evolution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
James Zhang grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and lived through two civil wars. His appreciation for cryptocurrency is based on his experience of that kind of instability. Zhang is now the co-founder and CEO of Jambo, a Congo-based start-up that recently closed a $30 million Series A funding round. And he’s deploying an app designed to help the 80% of the population on the African that’s unbanked. It’s becoming known as the “Web3 SuperApp of Africa.” Avi Zurlo, a ventures associate...
Bitcoin and Ethereum are teetering at levels not seen since early 2021, as several high-profile cryptocurrency companies have taken drastic measures to cut headcounts ahead of what could be a prolonged industry downturn. Moritz Seibert, co-head of digital innovation strategy at Real Vision and CIO at Exponential Age Asset Management, and Leslie Lamb, CMO at CoinFlex and the host of the the Crypto Unstacked podcast, join Real Vision Managing Editor Samuel Burke to assess the fallout from multiple...
How does Bitcoin provide value to investors? According to Andy Edstrom, the "clearest case is digital gold." Edstrom, CFA®, CFP®, managing director of Swan Advisor Services, and a financial advisor at Wescap Group, went down the Bitcoin rabbit hole in 2017 – when a bear market happened to be right around the corner and Bitcoin dropped from $20,000 to $3,000. Questioning his conviction, Andy put pen to paper and wrote “Why Buy Bitcoin,” the first and only book about Bitcoin published by a financi...
So much happens so fast in the rapidly emerging cryptocurrency market that on-the-ground observations by leading investors in the space are just about indispensable. With that said, Marissa Kim, general partner at Abra Capital Management, joins Wendy Diamond, the founder and CEO of LDP Ventures and head of the Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization, to share details of her investing philosophy and her perspective on the present and future of the space. Wendy and Marissa also talk about the Te...
DAOs are capturing the imagination of creators and entrepreneurs the world over. Jess Sloss, instigator at Seed Club, joins Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Delphi Digital, to discuss how they guide and invest in startup communities as well as explain how social tokens can play an important role delivering value to those communities' members. In this deep dive, Sloss explains who DAOs will work for and why Seed Club is discerning who is in this journey for the long haul. Learn more about your ad choic...
Anders Brownworth and his team of researchers are working on a potentially ground-breaking project, a central bank digital currency. Brownworth, the principal software architect at The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, joins Real Vision’s Ash Bennington to discuss the high-speed transaction processor he and his team are developing and the benefits of open-source software. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
With the Federal Reserve shrinking its balance sheet and hiking interest rates, investors in all markets – including crypto – must deal with the reality of reduced liquidity. Dean Carr, founder of C The Light Trading, sees “no reason to be long anything weak,” but he’s looking for volume to bounce back and prices to recover some ground before jumping back in. Carr joins Real Vision’s Ash Bennington to talk about key technical levels that can help us understand price action in the crypto market. ...
What’s going to make crypto go mainstream? Slava Rubin is the founder of alternative investment platform Vincent. He believes alternative investment wrappers are the way to make crypto investing accessible to everyone. He joins Real Vision's Ash Bennington to talk about Vincent's new product, which exposes investors to a range of alternatives – real estate, venture capital, art, crypto, and crypto collectibles – through a single investment vehicle. Slava and Ash explore the potential risks and r...
The U.S. Congress is getting closer to passing long-promised and highly anticipated legislation to regulate cryptocurrency, a step many industry insiders see as critical to the goal of widespread adoption. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, have introduced a bill that would establish a regulatory framework for most digital assets, treating them as commodities within the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commiss...
