Blockcrunch - 20 Minute Crypto Insights

Temasek is a globally recognized investment powerhouse with a robust portfolio that spans a diverse range of industries around the world. Recognizing the immense potential of the decentralized digital landscape, Temasek has boldly spun off a dedicated Web 3 investment arm, Superscrypt, to focus exclusively on the next generation of internet technologies. Today, we have Jacob Ko, Partner at Superscrypt to share with us:  Contrasting investment philosophies between the West and Asia Verticals Superscrypt is excited about Convincing & onboarding non-Web 3 users Singapore vs HongKong’s Web 3 scene Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Superscrypt (00:02:55) – Temasek & Jacob’s transition into Web 3 (00:09:42) – Western vs Asian investing focus (00:12:01) – Superscrypt’s investment in social & creator economy (00:16:18) – Discussion on blockchain wallets (00:23:21) – Convincing non-Web 3 users (00:30:15) – Handling security in Web 3

Recently, we have a few asset managers, including some of the largest in the world like Blackrock apply to create Bitcoin spot ETFs in the United States. This sparked a lot of speculation about whether this could herald institutional adoption of crypto and kickstart a bull market. Today, we have Ram Ahluwalia, CEO of Lumida and previous Head of Crypto & Digital Assets at Cross River, a crypto-friendly bank to share with us: Implications of BTC ETF on markets Odds of SEC approval Reasons for previous rejections And more! Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to BTC ETFs (00:03:10) – Importance of Spot BTC ETF (00:06:52) – SEC’s reason for rejecting BTC ETFs (00:13:57) – SEC’s stance on Crypto (00:17:30) – Why BlackRock is applying for BTC ETF now (00:21:38) – Larry Fink’s agenda  (00:28:38) – Need for clearer guidance (00:32:44) – Likelihood of ETF approval (00:35:11) – Past applications vs Now Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open

Arkham Intelligence is a blockchain data analytics platform that recently started a huge debate on Twitter due to its Intel-to-Earn model, which pays users to deanonymize blockchain wallets. There are also discussions on whether Arkham collects off-chain data on its users, and whether Arkham is actually a government project used to spy on crypto users. Today, we have Miguel Morel, CEO of Arkham on the show where we asked him: Info that will be allowed on Arkham’s marketplace Will Arkham work with government agencies Does Arkham collect non-public data of users Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Arkham Intelligence (00:02:47) – What is Arkham (00:06:42) – Arkham users and use-cases (00:11:17) – Is Arkham working with government agencies (00:24:33) – Issues surround Arkham’s referral system (00:30:09) – The controversial Intro-to-Earn system (00:45:07) – Data quality and accuracy (00:50:29) – Privacy blockchains (00:37:09) – Value accrual a

Maven11 is one of the foremost crypto-venture funds renowned for its early trend detection and deep focus on the infrastructural layer of the crypto space.   In this episode, we dive into the secular trends that crypto investors should be aware of, particularly the Modular Blockchain thesis. Watch this episode to keep up with the next wave of blockchain evolution and its potential to shape the future of the crypto landscape   Chief Investment Officer Balder Bomans and Mathijs, Associate Partner of Maven11 shares with us: What exactly is the Modular Blockchain thesis Which layer accrues the most value in Modular Blockchains 4 interesting verticals other than Modular Blockchains   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Maven11 (00:03:38) – How Maven11 came about (00:08:19) – Maven11’s secret to forming theses (00:12:48) – Real-world Assets, Credit & Privacy (00:16:15) – Modular Blockchains thesis (00:20:25) – Data Availability (00:25:02) –

In part 2 of our “AI x Web 3’ series, we spoke with Giza, an end-to-end platform that makes it easy for developers to bring AI onto the blockchain to find out more about why AI SHOULD be onchain, and why onchain AI is the next biggest unlock since the invention of smart contracts   In this episode, Cem and Fran, Co-Founders of Giza also share with us: Where are we in AI’s lifecycle 5 interesting use cases of AI x Web 3 Open versus closed AI models Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Crypto x AI (00:02:41) – How Giza came about (00:05:42) – Why AI should be on-chain (00:07:46) – Benefits for end users (00:10:50) – What part of AI is Giza bringing on-chain (00:17:51) – Examples of disruptive use-cases (00:23:03) – Proof-of-Humanity (00:29:30) – Open models versus closed models (00:32:45) – Where are we in AI’s lifecycle (00:38:13) – How to contribute to Giza Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS

If you were on the internet for the past 6 months, chances are you have realized that we’re entering into the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and maybe even experimented with ChatGPT   As investors, you might have also considered what’s the best way for you to capitalize on this paradigm shift - Jake Brukhman is here to answer that   Jake is the Founder of CoinFund, one of the earliest crypto funds, and has a reputation for being extremely early to large trends. In this episode, he shares with us: Thesis on the Intersection of AI x Crypto Interesting Use Cases for AI in Crypto Will AI Destroy Humanity   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Crypto x AI (00:04:26) – Convergence of AI x Crypto (00:11:19) – Jake’s thesis on AI x Crypto (00:16:18) – Decentralizing computing for AI (00:25:42) – Interesting intersections of AI x Crypto (00:32:12) – Future of AI models (00:35:41) – AI disrupting investing (00:38:59) – Is open source dangerous

Despite complaints about privacy and exploitative revenue sharing, social media giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter still dominate the social media landscape after more than a decade   Why aren’t users and creators exploring other platforms? Well, they simply can’t since these giants own their data and audiences, and moving means losing all the progress they’ve built   In this Blockcrunch episode, Ryan Li, Co-Founder of CyberConnect, a decentralized social graph protocol trying to revolutionize the relationship between social media platforms and users, shares with us Why Web 3 social graphs are necessary Why you should switch over to Web 3 platforms The future of social media Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to CyberConnect (00:03:48) – History of CyberConnect (00:10:03) – Problems with Web 2 social platforms (00:13:28) – What is a social graph (00:16:00) – Incentives for building on CyberConnect (00:19:47) – Better monetization f

NFTs today are mostly static profile pictures. What if we could create more engaging experiences with dynamic NFTs in a decentralized manner? Tableland, a database protocol is revolutionizing data management in Web 3, allowing developers to build dApps in a Web 3-native manner while overcoming the limitations of existing databases  In this Blockcrunch episode, Andrew Hill, Co-Founder of Tableland shares with us Problems with existing databases Use cases unlocked by Tableland Entering Web 3’s data era Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Tableland (00:04:08) – Evolving NFTs with Tableland (00:07:53) – Limitations of blockchain as databases (00:10:22) – History of decentralized databases (00:14:58) – Where Tableland comes in (00:23:07) – Tableland vs blockchains (00:25:54) – Tableland vs Dune (00:27:30) – Tableland’s Rigs NFTs (00:31:12) – Tableland & Filecoin (00:36:05) – Tailwinds driving Tableland’s future     Sponsor message: Filecoin

P.S You can find our full report on stablecoins at https://bit.ly/3AtuuCl   Stablecoins, as the name suggests, were thought to be stable - that is, until the recent USDC depeg drama where the supposedly rock-solid stablecoin traded from one dollar to eighty five cents as one of the major custodial banks went under   Can we still trust major stablecoins like USDC or USDT? If not, what are some alternatives?   In this episode, Michael who wrote a 20-page research article on stablecoins for our Blockcrunch VIP subscriber breaks down for us Issues with current stablecoins Up and coming decentralized stablecoins Relevance of stablecoins in 2030   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.      Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Spencer (00:03:30) – What are stablecoins (00:07:11) – Different types of stablecoins (00:14:59) – Commentary on Liquity Protocol  (00:17:52) – Frax vs Liquity (00:19:53) – Dominance of USDT & USDC (00:24:22) – Path to decentralization  (00:27:51) – Gyroscope st

Have you ever wondered how professionals invest and trade NFTs?   How is it that some are seemingly able to time the market perfectly and accurately value something that supposedly trades on cultural relevance and memetic desire?   In this Blockcrunch episode, Spencer Sand-Gordon, Founder of Spencer Ventures, an NFT-only crypto fund demystifies NFT trading and shares with us: Entering and exiting NFT positions How to build investment theses for NFTs Future of NFT markets   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Spencer (00:03:13) – Spencer’s background  (00:06:30) – Starting an NFT-only fund (00:11:09) – Trading NFTs as a fund (00:17:07) – Sizing positions on NFTs (00:25:13) – Underwriting different collections (00:35:29) – NFT investing based on quantitative data (00:38:20) – Different NFT investment instruments Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storag

In 2021, Axie Infinity took the world by storm as the world’s most popular Play-to-Earn game with 2.7 million concurrent users at its peak.   It also shocked the world a 2nd time in March 2022, albeit for a negative reason as its Ronin bridge suffered the largest bridge exploit of all time with $600M lost, Though users were made whole, confidence levels are inadvertently impacted   Despite everything and the current lull period for crypto-gaming, Sky Mavis has been diligently building behind the scenes and recently launched a few critical updates that could kickstart the next wave of crypto-games.    Today on Blockcrunch, Aleksander, Co-Founder of Sky Mavis shares with us Making users whole after the $600M exploit Decentralization of Ronin  Future of Ronin & crypto gaming   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Ronin (00:03:32) – Recent Games Developer Conference (00:05:18) – $600 million Ronin bridge exploit (00:10:48) – Making users wh

Crypto has been always been likened to an echo chamber, where crypto-natives reinforce their beliefs over and over again with others on Twitter   Contrarian and long-term thinkers are rare, and today on Blockcrunch we have just the guest to talk about investing in frontiers that most crypto-natives have yet to pick up   Anirudh Pai, Partner at Dragonfly, shares with us: What it means to invest at the frontier Building an actual city with Praxis 2 overlooked verticals that are likely to take off in the future   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Ani (00:05:28) – Investing happens at the frontier (00:10:28) – Decentralized Science (00:19:29) – Ani’s thesis on metaverses (00:25:26) – Building a physical crypto city with Praxis (00:40:17) – The next big crypto verticals (00:44:47) – Successful founders are polymaths Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on stora

Web 3 champions the ethos of decentralization, wherein users own their data, and services are trustless and permissionless. But ironically, much of Web 3 is built on centralized infrastructure.   Today we have David Choi, Product Manager at Protocol Labs, to share with us how Web3Storage and NFT.Storage allows developers to build on Filecoin to achieve higher levels of decentralization, amongst other benefits over centralized providers.   Watch this episode to learn: Web 2 vs Web 3 storage Why Filecoin should be the go-to-choice for developers Exciting updates and projects utilizing Filecoin   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.    Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Web3Storage (00:03:24) – Storage in Web 2 vs Web 3 (00:10:02) – Why is Filecoin better for data storage (00:13:58) – Web3Storage’s role (00:19:35) – Examples of projects utilizing Web3Storage (00:27:36) – Web3Link and Web3Name (00:31:43) – Truly Decentralized NFTs with NFT.Storage (00:36:36) – Why Filecoin is more suitabl

In the past month, the banking sector experienced its most turbulent period since 2008. Major crypto-friendly banks, including Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature, have gone under, while the 170-year-old Credit Suisse stands on the brink of being absorbed by its main competitor, UBS.   Are we witnessing a reenactment of the 2008 financial crisis? Will the BTFP Fed program ignite another bull run? Or, could we be entering a phase of hyperinflation where Bitcoin's value surges to $1 million within 90 days, as predicted by Balajis, the former CTO of Coinbase?   Today on Blockcrunch, we have Ram, CEO of Lumida who was also previously the Head of Crypto at Cross River, one of the remaining crypto-focused banks, and also the Vice President at Merril Lynch to help us separate signal from noise: Overview of the entire banking situation Will BTFP introduce liquidity into the market What will happen to the crypto markets   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:0

These few weeks have been turbulent for the markets to say the least, with 3 of the largest banks that support crypto winding down, USDC stablecoin de-pegging and more developments happening in real time.   Is this the end for crypto, or are we on the cusp of another bull-run?   Today we have Hal Press, founder of North Rock Digital who is known on Twitter for his timely and accurate calls, such as  the ETH Merge trade and more recently, his thesis on why USDC will return to peg. In this episode, he shares with us: Thoughts & how to navigate the recent market situation Outlook for BTC vs ETH Thesis on Stacks How to identity and assess narratives like a pro   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to the US banking situation (00:09:13) – Is Bitcoin a credible Store-of-Value? (00:15:59) – Balaji’s prophecy of $1M BTC in 90 days (00:20:25) – Thoughts on BTFP (00:23:49) – Will Bitcoin de-correlate from equities? (00:27:05) – Outlook for BTC vs

Opinion on DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations is split between 2 camps - those that don’t believe that decentralized organizations can be effective, and those that swear its the business model of the future To end the debate, there’s no one better to ask than DAO experts Anthony and Timour, who operate and invest in DAOs at the same time on: Why and when a DAO structure is better than traditional organizations Lessons learned in operating & investing in DAOs 2 promising up and coming DAOs Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Stacks (00:03:36) – 2 Favourite DAOs (00:07:16) – Why invest in DAOs (00:17:24) – Landscape of DAOs (00:23:46) – DAOs over conventional organizations (00:30:13) – Nouns DAO (00:33:11) – Examples where DAOs wouldn’t work  (00:37:13) – 2 promising up-and-coming DAOs (00:40:49) – Lessons learned in DAO investing (00:46:06) – Hallmarks of good DAO tooling Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open service

Recently, a new phenomenon called Ordinals, known as NFTs on Bitcoin reignited interest in Bitcoin and got people wondering - what else is possible and is this the start of something bigger?   At the center of this discussion is Stacks, a smart-contract layer built on Bitcoin that is working to unlock the $500 billion Bitcoin capital via DeFi, NFTs, and more.    In this Blockcrunch episode, Muneeb, co-creator of Stacks shares with us: How Stacks is going to unlock the potential of Bitcoin Why build on Bitcoin over other ecosystems Stack’s upcoming upgrades   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Stacks (00:03:24) – Stacks over the years (00:07:28) – Path to becoming 1st SEC-approved token offering  (00:11:48) – History of Bitcoin and blockchains (00:18:53) – Ordinals drawing attention back to Bitcoin (00:30:37) – Why some Bitcoin Maxis hate Ordinals (00:36:38) – Ordinal’s use-cases  (00:40:49) – What exactly is Stacks (00:47:58) – Use-case o

Over the past few months, there has been a steady uptick in activity on Arbitrum, an Optimistic Layer 2 scaling solution on Ethereum.  Today, Arbitrum is home to popular DeFi dApps and GameFi projects like GMX and Treasure and owns more than 50% of the market share against other Layer 2s like Optimism and Metis. In this Blockcrunch episode, A.J Warner, Chief Strategy Officer at Offchain Labs shares with us: How the rollup landscape has evolved Difference between Arbitrum One, Arbitrum Nova and Optimism How Arbitrum became the top Layer 2 Path towards decentralization Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Arbitrum (00:03:19) – Rollup landscape NOW vs a year ago (00:06:34) – Arbitrum One gas fees vs Ethereum (00:09:16) – Arbitrum Nova; Arbitrum chain for social and games (00:14:19) – Trade-off of Arbitrum One vs Nova (00:17:43) – Apps verticalizing into their own app roll-ups (00:20:53) – Partnership with Reddit & social use-cases (00:25:1

This is a sponsored episode from our collaboration with Filecoin Huddle01 is a decentralized video-meeting platform built to be scalable and secure from the get-go and features web 3 functions such as NFT-gated meetings and decentralized storage for meeting recordings.   In 2022, it hosted over 30,000 meetings that lasted over 500,000 minutes on its platform.    Today on Blockcrunch, Huddle01’s Co-Founder Ayush shares with us: Huddle01’s 3-pronged approach to decentralizing communication Problems with existing video-conferencing platforms How Huddle01 uses Filecoin as its backend Path to decentralizing real-time communication worldwide   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Huddle01 (00:03:21) – 3-pronged approach to decentralizing communication (00:07:22) – Problems with Zoom & Google Meets (00:14:49) – Infrastructure behind Huddle01 (00:17:22) – Importance of decentralized file storage (00:19:01) – Huddle’s moat over existing offerin

Ryan Breslow dropped out of Stanford to found payment startup Bolt, which later on raised $1.3 billion dollars at an $11 billion valuation - making Ryan one of the world’s youngest self-made billionaires (according to Forbes)   Now, Ryan is on the mission of improving the health and wellness of the world with alternative medicine like natural remedies, by making them more accessible to all and giving them the credibility they need via clinical trials.  Today on Blockcrunch, Ryan shares with us: What exactly is Love DAO Why a DAO over the traditional company structure How Love fits in with crypto Tips for founders that are raising   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Ryan Breslow (00:05:04) – Journey to founding Love DAO (00:08:18) – Funding health products with Love DAO (00:18:00) – LoveDAO as an impact organization (00:25:22) – DAO as the optimal organizational structure   (00:28:49) – How LoveDAO fits in with crypto (00:30:28) – Differe