JP Thieriot is the CEO of Uphold, a crypto broker that serves 184+ countries, across 30+ currencies (traditional and crypto) and commodities with frictionless foreign exchange and cross-border remittance for members around the world. In this episode we explore: Competition in the crowded landscape of crypto brokerage The key distinctions between the U.S. and South America in regards to crypto utility and speculation How Uphold is promoting utility and providing a safe haven from inflation in cou...
Jan 16, 2020•42 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Kristin Smith is the Executive Director of The Blockchain Association. In this episode Kristin sits down for her second time with Frank, Ryan, and Steven to discuss: Where we stand after the Libra hearings and predictions on how this story will play out in 2020 The important differences between Republicans and Democrats in the manner they introduce crypto related legislation The Blockchain Association's efforts in making the U.S. more appealing for blockchain businesses to operate The implicatio...
Dec 19, 2019•55 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Episode 34 of The Scoop was recorded with Frank Chaparro, Ryan Todd, and Horacio Barakat, V.P. of corporate strategy at Broadridge. Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple , Spotify , Google Play , Stitcher , or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com . In this episode Horacio sits down with Frank and Ryan to discuss: The challenges associated with implementing distributed ledger technology into the financial services industry...
Dec 17, 2019•53 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Tom Jessop is the President of Fidelity Digital Assets. In this conversation Frank and Tom discuss: Fidelity's process in deciding between servicing institutions or retail The importance of custodians as a foundation for the digital assets market Why even the best technology may fail when there is no mature market structure Fidelity Digital Assets offering of execution services Why it is important to implement aspects of traditional finance into the digital assets space...
Dec 13, 2019•47 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Leo Zhang is Principal at Iterative Capital Management, an investment manager, cryptocurrency miner, and wholesale dealer. In this episode Leo joins Frank Chaparro and Matteo Liebowitz to discuss: The unseen impact Bitcoin miners have on the overall market The initial public offering of mining firm Canaan and new entrants to the market, like Layer1 The significance of rainy season in China and it's importance to mining ecosystem Leo's take on upcoming halvening and it's impact on the entire Bitc...
Dec 10, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 32
Alex Gladstein is the Chief Strategy Officer of the Human Rights Foundation. Alex is a supporter of Bitcoin and it's important role in supporting human rights against oppressive regimes. In this Episode Frank and Alex discuss the important distinction between the moral and legal issues surrounding Virgil Griffith's recent arrest, Bitcoin's potential role in the modern urban protesting environment, how the IMF could, but wont, lend aid to Venezuelans in need by using Bitcoin, and the separation o...
Dec 06, 2019•56 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Episode 30 of The Scoop was recorded on Skype with Frank Chaparro, Steven Zheng, and Andy Rachleff, Co-Founder of Wealthfront. Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple , Spotify , Google Play , Stitcher , or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com . In this episode of the Scoop, Andy discusses several topics with Frank and Steven, including: How Andy saw opportunity in the crowded investment services space Why Wealthfront has d...
Dec 03, 2019•52 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Max Boonen is the Founder & Director of B2C2, one of the world's largest OTC liquidity providers. In this conversation Frank and Max discuss: Why Max encourages competition amongst OTC liquidity providers Why Max thinks the institutional investors that matter may already be in the space The importance of accounting for regulatory and customary risk when entering a new market Why the majority of B2C2 clients prefer to trade Tether How B2C2 differentiated itself as a young company...
Nov 19, 2019•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 29
In this episode of The Scoop, Paolo Ardoino discusses several topics with Frank Chaparro and Larry Cermak, including: Bitfinex's failures in transparency and what they are doing today to be more transparent Paolo's thoughts on the research report suggesting Tether manipulated Bitcoin prices during the 2017 bull run Why Bitfinex saw success in raising capital for LEO Plans to launch options which will be available on Bitfinex via it's company iFinex Financial Services Tether's plans to launch a g...
Nov 12, 2019•57 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Bob Greifeld led Nasdaq as its CEO from 2003 to 2016, driving its evolution as a fledgling listing venue for many tiny tech companies into a diversified global financial technology company. He now sits on the board of two financial high frequency trading firms, including Virtu Financial, where he serves as Chairman. In this conversation, we discuss his new book, Market Movers, and dig into his storied career and examine some of the market structure debates shaping today's capital markets.
Nov 05, 2019•55 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Agatha Bacelar is a 27-year-old Brazilian-American running for Congress in California’s 12th district, a seat currently held by House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Agatha is not your typical Congressional candidate. With a degree from Stanford University and a professional background in blockchain, Agatha is aiming to make tech regulation an important conversation in politics. In this conversation, Agatha discusses how she got into politics, her time working at Democracy Earth, her stance on universal b...
Oct 29, 2019•47 min•Season 1Ep. 26
State Street, one of the largest custody banks in the world is yet to launch a service to store crypto assets but that doesn't mean the Boston based firm isn't making waves when it comes to digital assets. On this episode of The Scoop we spoke to Jay Biancamano, managing director of digital product development and innovation at the firm about the opportunity State Street sees in the market. The 25 year plus financial services veteran also shared stories about his time in the US equity market str...
Oct 24, 2019•52 min•Season 1Ep. 25
On this episode of The Scoop, Michael Sonnenshein talks about the largest Q3 that Grayscale has experienced in it's 6 year history, the increased participation of institutions in the space and the transference of traditional wealth that will be occurring over the next couple of decades -- a transference that will undoubtedly expand the scope and usage of digital currencies.
Oct 16, 2019•46 min•Season 1Ep. 24
While big players like Coinbase, Bakkt and Consensus make most of the headlines in Crypto and on Crypto Twitter there are some institutional players that have been quietly operating in the background for years in the Bitcoin market. One such player is Jump Trading and it's affiliate venture capital firm, Jump Capital. Jump Trading is one of the most active traders in the digital asset world and also one of the most discrete. Leading investments on the Crypto side at it's sister firm Jump Capital...
Oct 08, 2019•51 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Tom Lee is one of the great luminaries of crypto and finance Twitter. The former chief equity analyst at JP Morgan made headlines during the bitcoin boom of 2017 with his calls that the cryptocurrency would soar to it's price target of $25,000. Fast forward to today; Lee isn't making anymore price targets on bitcoin but he still makes calls on the market -- leading Fundstrat, a market research shop covering both equities and crypto. On this episode of The Scoop, Lee shared his thoughts on how th...
Oct 01, 2019•55 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Union Square Ventures is one of the most prominent east coast VC firms and is also one of the most notable mainstream investors in the bitcoin market. On this episode of The Scoop USV partner Nick Grossman joined us to discuss the firm's approach to investing in the market -- he was recently promoted to partner to lead blockchain investments after 5 years with the firm. We spoke about Libra association which USV is a member of, we examined USV's portfolio and talked about the future of venture c...
Sep 24, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Galaxy Digital is one of the most well known brands in the market for digital currencies led by it's stalwart Mike Novogratz. The firm's origin story dates back to the bitcoin boom of 2017. Originally, Galaxy was to be a $500 million hedge fund which at the time reportedly lured the attention of family offices and other hedge fund managers. It also marked a striking comeback story for Novogratz who left his previous employer, Fortress Investments after his $2.3 billion macro-fund was liquidated ...
Sep 17, 2019•53 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Listen to a preview of next week's The Scoop episode where Frank chats with Mike Novogratz, the Founder, CEO and Chairman at Galaxy Digital.
Sep 12, 2019•44 sec•Ep. 20
Founded in 2013, Pantera Capital is one of the oldest investors in the nascent market for digital currencies. Having previously made headlines for it's eye-popping 25,000%+ returns in bitcoin back in the heyday of 2017 -- it might also be one of the most recognizable brands. On this episode of The Scoop, The Block welcomed Pantera Capital partner Paul Veradittakit to talk about the firm's history, why it sees more room for investing in the crowded crypto currency exchange market and how the firm...
Sep 10, 2019•58 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Paxos wears many hats in the blockchain ecosystem. It offers one of the better known stable coins, $PAX. Operates a crypto currency exchange, that's itBit and the company provides products that help large firms use blockcain to improve their settlement systems. But at the heart of Paxos (according to CEO Charles Cascarilla) is to move the financial system onto the blockchain -- it's a move he says could prevent future financial calamities like what the market saw in 2008. On this episode of The ...
Sep 03, 2019•52 min•Season 1Ep. 18
On this episode of The Scoop, Nelson Minier, who was once the world's largest Venezuelan bond trader shares his stories about being a trader during the financial crisis, how he built up Kraken's OTC business and straddling the line between the worlds of traditional and emerging financial services.
Aug 20, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 17
R. Martin Chavez is perhaps one of the most senior technologists on Wall Street as the global co-head of securities at Goldman Sachs. On this episode of The Scoop Chavez talked about the evolution of banking over the past 20 years, Goldman’s foray into bitcoin and the reason why he thinks the Fed will end up making its own cryptocurrency. Transcript and show notes are available on The Block.
Aug 13, 2019•54 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Listen to a preview of this week's The Scoop episode where Frank and Ryan discuss technology adoption, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies at Goldman Sachs with Marty Chavez, Global Co-Head of Securities.
Aug 13, 2019•2 min•Ep. 16
CoinList president Andy Bromberg has witnessed numerous cycles of the token sale market. From the ICO boom in 2017 to the short-lived STO mania the next year. Today, CoinList continues to offer it's platform for firms to conduct token sales for institutional investors, recently facilitating crypto-project Algorand's $60 million offering -- it was one of the largest in recent memory. Bromberg joined The Scoop to discuss how the surge in bitcoin's price has impacted the broader market for token sa...
Aug 06, 2019•59 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Yoni Assia has been in the bitcoin world since 2012 and his firm eToro has offered a platform for crypto trading for several years but if you're a listener in the U.S. you might not have ever heard of his firm which actually has a $1 billion plus evaluation. The Israeli based company which is popular across Europe has just expanded into the U.S. and it's preparing to go head to head with the likes of Robinhood and Coinbase. Yoni is hoping big marketing dollars and the social network elements of ...
Aug 01, 2019•49 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Alex Adelman is CEO and Co-Founder of Lolli, which is a rewards application that gives you bitcoin when you shop at your favorite stores. Frank Chaparro and Steven Zheng discuss e-commerce and crypto, the power of memes in regards to marketing Lolli in the spacehow the firm lures Fortune 500 companies to it’s platform and why it could one day offer services like lending and possibly a credit card.
Jul 23, 2019•47 min•Ep. 13
Zac Prince is CEO of BlockFi, which helps crypto investors manage digital assets and grow their net worth through services such as Bitcoin loans. Frank Chaparro and Ryan Todd discuss the complexity of crypto loans and the future of the industry. Notes and transcript available on The Block.
Jul 17, 2019•54 min•Season 1Ep. 12
David Mercer has been building out LMAX Digital, a UK-based institutional exchange venue, which recently clocked in $1 billion in volumes in one trading day. The firm counts dozens of banks and trading firms as its clients. Mercer joins The Scoop with Frank Chaparro and Ryan Todd at the Crypto Evolved event in New York City to talk about LMAX's growth, the 3 things keeping institutions from diving into the nascent market, and what it is like playing Rugby on the North Pole. Show transcript and n...
Jul 09, 2019•50 min•Season 1Ep. 11
It's been three months since Yuval Rooz stepped into his new role at Digital Asset as CEO. Rooz, a cofounder of the firm, had a goal of making the firm - which was best known for partnering with large financial institutions on blockchain project - more open. On this episode of The Scoop, Rooz joins Frank Chapparo and Ryan Todd to discuss his transition into the CEO suit, what it's been like to take the reins after the exit of Blythe Masters. We also dove into blockchain strategies across cloud p...
Jul 02, 2019•51 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Frank Chaparro and Matteo Leibowitz interview Joe McCann, the Founder and Chairman of the Board of NodeSource in this week's episode of The Scoop. Frank, Teo, and Joe discuss open source software, how it's changing the banking industry, decentralized financing, and how they're all coming together. View show notes and transcript.
Jun 25, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 9
