Policy and regulation in the U.S. is top of mind in the industry of crypto and digital assets. The Scoop's Frank Chaparro sat down with The Block's policy reporter Stephanie Murray and broke down the biggest stories and trends from Gary Gensler's big bet against crypto to CBDCs and who takes Sam Bankman-Fried's place in Washington, DC. From the collapse of FTX, Blockfi, Voyager, Celsius and others, to the aggressive stance regulators are displaying, it's been busy in Washington. "We went from bi...
Apr 12, 2023•27 min•Season 5Ep. 35
Jeffrey Zirlin is a Co-Founder & Growth Lead at Sky Mavis — the studio behind the popular blockchain game, Axie Infinity. In this episode, Zirlin explains why the first wave of game studios building on Ethereum's Ronin sidechain have easy access to a "golden cohort" of initial users, and how a recent network upgrade puts Ronin's destiny in the hands of gamers worldwide. During this episode, Chaparro and Zirlin also discuss: Web3 gaming and the Metaverse Blockchain as a medium Mobile gaming i...
Apr 10, 2023•32 min•Season 5Ep. 34
Sandy Carter is the Chief Operating Officer at Unstoppable Domains — a platform that allows users to create and manage digital identities that live on public blockchains. In this episode, Carter explores why more brands are turning to web3 digital profiles for authenticity and how user-owned digital identities are poised to disrupt existing industries. During this episode Carter and Chaparro also discuss: How AI refines the 'Metaverse' Experimenting with loyalty and rewards The empowering nature...
Apr 07, 2023•37 min•Season 5Ep. 33
Samantha Bohbot is the Chief Growth Officer and investor at RockawayX — a web3 VC firm headquartered in London, Zurich, and Prague. In this episode, Bohbot breaks down RockawayX's recent report on the state of crypto funding in Europe, and explains why there are "more VC-baked crypto startups in Europe than in any other geography." During this episode, Chaparro and Bohbot also discuss: Connecting crypto with the real world How VCs can help founders the most Europe's regulatory landscape This epi...
Apr 05, 2023•27 min•Season 5Ep. 32
In this episode — recorded at Paris Blockchain Week 2023 — Vincent Gusdorf, SVP and head of DeFi and digital asset analytics at Moody's, breaks down why his company is betting on blockchain technology to transform finance, and how Moody's is thinking about the credit qualities of different stablecoins. During this episode, Chaparro and Gusdorf also discuss: Bringing bonds on-chain Stablecoins vs. CBDCs The tokenization of illiquid RWAs This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Circle , Rail...
Mar 31, 2023•34 min•Season 5Ep. 31
In this episode, Wintermute Founder and CEO Evegeny Gaevoy and The Block VP of Research Larry Cermak examine how the recent regulatory crackdowns and bank failures have impacted crypto's market structure. During this episode, Chaparro, Cermak, and Gaevoy also discuss: Balaji's Bitcoin bet The CFTC's suit again Binance How Wintermute played the USDC de-peg This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Circle , Railgun , Flare Network About Circle Circle is a global financial technology company h...
Mar 29, 2023•36 min•Season 5Ep. 30
In this episode — recorded at Paris Blockchain Week 2023 — Matthew Savarese, VP, Global Head of Strategy at Nasdaq, lays out his company's plan for entering the digital asset space. As Savarese explains, Nasdaq hopes to soon offer crypto custody solutions , which is the first of many steps on the exchange operator's roadmap for digital assets. During this episode, Chaparro and Savarese also discuss: Nasdaq's expertise in traditional finance Institutional interest in digital assets Tokenized carb...
Mar 27, 2023•28 min•Season 5Ep. 29
In this episode — recorded at Paris Blockchain Week 2023 — Google Cloud's Web3 Head of Strategy Rich Widmann, and Web3 Engineering Director James Tromans break down Google's crypto strategy and how Google Cloud's Blockchain Node Engine is making it easier for web3 developers to focus solely on building their products. During this episode, Chaparro, Widmann, and Tromans also discuss: Google Cloud's partnership with Coinbase How big brands are entering web3 Google's infrastructure expertise This e...
Mar 25, 2023•32 min•Season 5Ep. 28
Jesse Walden and Li Jin are General Partners at the crypto venture firm, Variant. In this episode, Walden and Jin announce the launch of Variant's new Founder Fellowship — a three-month educational program for crypto founders at the earliest stages of their startup journey. During this episode, Chaparro, Jin, and Walden also discuss: Developments in web3 social networking How token models can be more effective Why bear markets are better for building This episode is brought to you by our sponsor...
Mar 24, 2023•48 min•Season 5Ep. 27
David Wells is the CEO of Enclave Markets — a development team whose first product, Enclave Cross , essentially creates on-chain OTC dark pools for digital assets. In this episode, Wells explains why OTC traders benefit from maintaining confidentiality via Enclave's Fully Encrypted Exchange ('FEX'), and how Enclave aims to combine the best elements of centralized and decentralized exchanges in its products. During this episode, Chaparro and Wells also discuss: How Enclave Cross eliminates MEV Wh...
Mar 20, 2023•32 min•Season 5Ep. 26
David Mercer is the CEO of LMAX Group — a leading operator of institutional execution venues for FX and crypto trading. In this episode, Mercer makes the case that embracing regulation is the only way for the crypto industry to mature beyond its "tiny" role in global markets. During this episode, Chaparro and Mercer also discuss: Why bitcoin dominance has been increasing Post-SEN/Signet opportunities Where markets go from here This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Railgun , and Flare Ne...
Mar 18, 2023•36 min•Season 5Ep. 25
Dan Finlay is the co-founder of MetaMask — a leading crypto wallet provider that allows users to access decentralized web3 applications. In this episode, Finlay makes the claim that people not feeling safe holding crypto is the "biggest plague" the industry faces and unpacks what MetaMask is doing to address the problem. During this episode, Chaparro and Finlay also discuss: A recent MetaMask all-time high MetaMask's plans to decentralize "Sign-in with MetaMask" This episode is brought to you by...
Mar 16, 2023•40 min•Season 5Ep. 24
After leaving his role as President of FTX.US late last year, Brett Harrison has moved on to become the Founder and CEO of Architect — a soon-to-be-released trading platform aiming to unify crypto's CeFi and DeFi capital markets. In this episode, Harrison discusses the market opportunities created by Silvergate's and Signature Bank's closures, as well as why his long-term vision is that "the trading of crypto looks very much like the trading of everything else." During this episode, Chaparro and...
Mar 15, 2023•34 min•Season 5Ep. 23
Adam Jackson is the Founder and CEO of Freelance Labs — the development company behind the user-owned talent network, BrainTrust . In this episode, Jackson explains how decentralization helps BrainTrust operate more efficiently than traditional staffing firms and how recent tech layoffs have impacted the crypto job market. During this episode, Chaparro and Jackson also discuss: Why contractors are in high demand How token models bootstrap growth The role of VCs in web3 This episode is brought to...
Mar 13, 2023•32 min•Season 5Ep. 22
Jessica Furr and Bryan Edelman are legal counsels for crypto-focused VC firm Dragonfly Capital. In this episode, Furr and Edelman break down several crypto court cases that are set to answer critical legal questions for the first time and explain why 2023 is becoming a turning point for crypto regulation and legislation in America. During this episode, Chaparro, Edelman, and Furr also discuss: The SEC's "cherrypicking" approach to regulation Updates on crypto bankruptcy cases How IP rights relat...
Mar 11, 2023•43 min•Season 5Ep. 21
Michael Sonnenshein is the CEO of Grayscale — the digital asset manager embattled in a court case against the Securities and Exchange Commission over the agency's refusal to convert Grayscale's flagship product, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), into a spot Bitcoin ETF. In this episode, Sonnenshein explains why a spot Bitcoin ETF could have shielded many U.S. market participants from the crypto 'carnage' of 2022, and how Grayscale's veteran legal team is working to ensure GBTC holders receive ...
Mar 09, 2023•43 min•Season 5Ep. 20
The Delegate Cash protocol aims to significantly reduce the risk of theft for NFTs and other tokens by allowing users to safely store valuable assets in one wallet and delegate the rights to those assets to another. In this episode, the Delegate Cash team breaks down how their protocol is making web3 safer and more secure for users, and the far-reaching implications delegation has for crypto gaming and NFT financialization. During this episode, Chaparro, Copeland, and the Delegate Cash team also...
Mar 08, 2023•47 min•Season 5Ep. 19
Marco Santori is the Chief Legal Officer for Kraken — the crypto exchange recently charged by the SEC for failing to register the offer and sale of its "crypto asset staking as-a-service program" in the U.S. In this episode, Santori explains how recent regulatory actions in the U.S. have caused banks to become hesitant to accept crypto companies as new clients, and how this favors 'incumbent' crypto players such as Coinbase and Kraken. During this episode, Chaparro and Santori also discuss: 'Ope...
Mar 06, 2023•37 min•Season 5Ep. 18
Casey Rodarmor is the creator of Ordinal Theory — a numbering scheme for Bitcoin's atomic unit, 'satoshis' or 'sats,' which allows individual sats to be inscribed with information, thereby unlocking a new frontier of possibilities and use cases for Bitcoin. In this episode, Rodarmor explains how Ordinals are causing veteran members of the bitcoin community to confront their own beliefs about what sort of information should be recorded on-chain, and why he believes his project is a continuation o...
Mar 03, 2023•33 min•Season 5Ep. 17
Miguel Morel is the Founder and CEO of Arkham Intelligence — an analytics platform that is attempting to de-anonymize the crypto markets. It is backed by high-profile investors including Tim Draper and the founders of Palantir and OpenAI. In this episode, Morel unpacks how increased on-chain visibility can help traders and investors alike discern the 'truth' behind market activity, and how Arkham's technology can help prevent another FTX-type of event. During this episode, Chaparro and Morel als...
Mar 01, 2023•41 min•Season 5Ep. 19
Evan Cheng is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mysten Labs — the development team valued at over $2 billion that is behind the soon-to-be-released Sui blockchain. In this episode, Cheng discusses the limitations of current blockchains in supporting complex consumer applications and explains how Sui plans to overcome this challenge with the help of the Move programming language, which was initially created at Facebook. During this episode, Chaparro and Cheng also discuss: Why a vibrant developer ecosyst...
Feb 27, 2023•40 min•Season 5Ep. 15
After sitting on the sidelines during the bull market mania of 2021 and the early part of 2022, early-stage investment firm 1kx has been deploying at a "frantic" pace since the third quarter of last year, according to Founding Partner Lasse Clausen. "We really like the bear markets," Clausen said, "We know that this is the good time to be very actively investing." 1kx has a policy of holding onto its crypto investments for at least three years, which Clausen suggests is a good guideline given th...
Feb 22, 2023•50 min•Season 5Ep. 14
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce opposes her agency's recent targeting of Kraken's staking program in the US. "If investor protection is about just shutting programs down or preventing people from purchasing certain things — that's a very unimaginative form of investor protection," Commissioner Peirce said. In this episode, Commissioner Hester Peirce discusses how the SEC's recent enforcement action towards Kraken is emblematic of the agency's broader attempt to regulate the crypto industry in the...
Feb 20, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 13
With U.S. regulators cracking down on digital assets, Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Gewal says Coinbase is just looking for consistency. “We’re not saying we don’t want to be regulated. We’re just saying that regulation all ought to occur under the rule of law that is in a manner that’s consistent with what Congress wrote,” he added. One particular inconsistency Grewal points out is how the Securities and Exchange Commission’s request for crypto exchanges to register as national securities...
Feb 17, 2023•46 min•Season 5Ep. 12
US financial regulators are conducting a coordinated front against certain crypto companies in what Compound Labs Founder Robert Leshner says is a "planned set of product takedowns." One particular case to watch is the SEC's potential suit against Paxos over its BUSD stablecoin, which the SEC is alleging is an unregistered security. According to Leshner, this case is of particular importance given the precedent it could set for the billion-dollar stablecoin industry: "If there's an argument that...
Feb 16, 2023•44 min•Season 5Ep. 11
In this venture-focused segment of The Scoop, veteran crypto VCs Meltem Demirors and Vanessa Grellet unpack the trends shaping crypto's venture landscape in 2023. According to Demirors, crypto companies must follow the flow of funds: "The name of the game is 'interchange,'" Demirors said. "The closer you migrate to where the actual interchange happens, the more likely you are to earn consistent revenues, which then results in you being able to raise capital." Although crypto venture funding hit ...
Feb 15, 2023•48 min•Season 5Ep. 10
Just as the internet revolutionized the taxi industry through the advent of apps like Uber and Lyft, it is only a matter of time before money gets brought into the digital age, according to the pseudo-anonymous crypto personality Punk6529 . "Eventually cash is also going to end up being a centralized database," said Punk6529, and "the person who has the master password to the database can decide what rights you have in society." In this episode, Punk64529 lays out two possible futures for our so...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 5
For web3 developers looking for alternatives to tools like Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform, QuickNode's development environment allows teams to easily build and deploy on over 16 blockchains. According to QuickNode Co-Founder and CEO Alex Nabutovsky, a recent surge in demand for NFT data has played a large part in QuickNode's recent success. "The amount of need for the NFT technology and NFT API, and NFT data is growing on our platform by a factor of let's just say 5x every quarter,...
Feb 10, 2023•40 min•Season 5Ep. 8
From Starbucks to Warner Music , large corporations are building on the Polygon blockchain to bring their web3 visions to life. According to Polygon Labs President Ryan Wyatt, it’s not Polygon’s tech that is attracting big brands, but rather Polygon Labs’ unique "white glove" approach to corporate partnerships. “Fortune 500 companies are used to having their hand held along a journey, especially in something like web3 where there’s a lot to navigate,” Wyatt said. In this episode, Wyatt discusses...
Feb 08, 2023•54 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Since the start of 2023, the total crypto market cap has risen over 20%, and daily exchange volume has nearly tripled, according to data from The Block Research. In this Market Pulse edition of The Scoop, The Block's VP of Research Larry Cermak and eGirl Capital's Hedgedhog discuss the dynamics shaping the crypto market's current rally, and explain why they aren't holding out hope for a sustained uptrend. According to Cermak, crypto is lacking a strong enough narrative to be able to break free f...
Feb 03, 2023•31 min•Season 5Ep. 6
