Blockcrunch - 20 Minute Crypto Insights

When centralized lending desks were blowing up from the 3AC contagion, DeFi lending protocol Maple Finance remained stable. Could DeFi have prevented the crypto blowup?   Maple Finance is an undercollateralized lending protocol where pooled capital is managed by credit experts and lent to reputable and profitable crypto-institutions.   In this episode, Co-Founder Sid Powell shares with us: How DeFi might have prevented the recent blow-up How Maple Finance differs from other DeFi protocols Maple’s business model and value accrual to it’s token MPL   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:33) – Thoughts on recent 3AC contagion (00:08:13) – How DeFi could have helped (00:13:56) – Maple Finance vs DeFi 1.0 (00:20:02) – Is Maple replicable off-chain? (00:28:05) – How pool delegates manage depositor’s money (00:32:03) – Criticism that Maple Finance is partly centralized (00:35:43) – Will Maple Finance pursue full-decentralizat

The largest GameFi project in the Cosmos ecosystem was inevitably affected by the Terra implosion - can Levana make a comeback? Levana is the pioneering DeFi protocol to incorporate NFTs and GameFi mechanics in their DeFi products. Jonathan, Levana’s Head of Communications shares with us: Levana’s solution to problems other DEXes are facing Levana’s future on a new chain Performance of incorporating NFTs into their products   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps -------------   (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:40) – Introduction to Levana (00:05:20) – Why did projects build on Terra initially (00:09:57) – Levana vs other leverage trading protocols (00:24:54) – Levana’s solution to problems other DEXes are facing (00:30:45) – Terra’s impact and moving forward (00:33:53) – Deciding on a new chain (00:36:38) – Incorporating NFTs into DeFi (00:40:54) – Roadmap of NFTs  (00:46:41) – Advice for projects on surviving bear market   ----------- Sponsors -------------   dYdX

The recent Luna collapse and 3AC contagion unfortunately set the entire crypto-space back.Is crypto just a fad or can it make a comeback?   DeFi Dad, partner at 4R Capital and one of the most prolific supporters of DeFi shares with us: Current State Crypto Markets vs 2018 DeFi Markets Thus Far Future of DeFi   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:40) – Introduction to DeFi Dad (00:03:16) – Current State of DeFi (00:09:21) – Future of DeFi (00:17:40) – Distinction between DeFi vs NFTs (00:26:14) – Leaders in DeFi (00:33:21) – DeFi 1.0 vs DeFi 2.0 (00:42:16) – What Is Missing In DeFi?   ----------- Sponsors ------------- dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange for trading perpetual contracts. Users enjoy low fees, deep liquidity, up to 20x more buying power and even earn $DYDX from trading. Trade on dYdX today at: https://trade.dydx.exchange   ----------- More Resources --------- Guest DeFi Dad’s Twitter: https://twit

What will the future of NFTs and Multi-Chain experience look like?    Longhash, one earliest and largest accelerator funds in Asia shares with us: Takeaways from NFT NYC on the future of NFTs Vision of Multi-Chain future Projects they’re excited about   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:07) – Vibes at NFT NYC (00:03:49) – Introduction to LongHash (00:09:42) – Future of NFTs (00:13:47) – Social Tokens vs NFTs (00:18:04) – Why LongHash is bullish on multichain future (00:23:29) – Need for unique value proposition for each Chain (00:29:22) – How Polkadot could have done better (00:32:40) – Does every DApp need their own chain? (00:40:52) – Recent favourite projects   ----------- Sponsors ------------- dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange for trading perpetual contracts. Users enjoy low fees, deep liquidity, up to 20x more buying power and even earn $DYDX from trading. Trade on dYdX today at: https://trade.dydx.ex

Monthly trading volume on Hashflow grew from $20m in August to $670m in October after a campaign with Project Galaxy - that’s a 3000% increase in volume in 3 months! Project Galaxy is an open and collaborative data network that empowers developers to build better products and communities using on-chain credentials. In this episode, co-founder of Project Galaxy, Harry shares with us: What is Galaxy and On-chain Credentials Use-cases of Galaxy Galaxy’s token and own chain   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:22) – Introduction to Galaxy (00:05:37) – User’s On-chain Data (00:09:42) – Importance of Privacy in Web 3 (00:11:13) – Biggest Use-Cases for Galaxy (00:14:29) – Difference with Competitors e.g DegenScore (00:23:07) – Building an Open and Permissionless Platform (00:25:28) – Project Types that Best Benefit from Galaxy (00:27:55) – Galaxy’s Token - $GAL (00:31:28) – Galaxy’s Own Chain  (00:34:06) – Possible Reasons

Popular metaverse projects like Sandbox and Decentraland are trading > 80% lower than their previous all-time highs - are metaverses still the future?   Webaverse is an open-sourced metaverse that enables creators and communities to build their own virtual worlds and rich experiences which they truly own.   In this episode, co-founder of Webaverse, Ahad shares with us: What is a metaverse and what is it trying to replace? The importance of an interoperable metaverse  Upcoming Webaverse experience - Upstreet Webaverse’s strategy to bootstrap 100k users   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:58) – What is a Metaverse? (00:04:13) – Epic Games vs Apple In a Legal Battle (00:05:50) – Web 1, Web 2 and Web 3 (00:09:07) – What is Webaverse Trying To Replace (00:14:47) – Importance of Interoperable Metaverse Instead of Silos (00:27:12) – Difference Between Metaverses & Social Games Like Club Penguin (00:30:27) – How to and

Total crypto market cap is now less than $1 trillion. Bitcoin and Ethereum are currently trading near their 2018 all-time highs. Where do we go from here?   In this episode, CIO of Selini Capital, Jordi Alexander shares with us: What market stage are we at and how long it’ll last Can Bitcoin ever break its previous ATH of $70k Indicators to navigate this market   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:12) – Current Stage of Crypto Market (00:04:06) – Black Swan Events (00:06:00) – Drawn Out vs Short-Term Bear Market (00:08:01) – Crypto Market’s First Recessionary Environment (00:10:56) – Signs of Market Reversal (00:13:51) – Bitcoin as Inflation Hedge  (00:19:30) – Terra’s Impact On Crypto Market (00:23:41) – Can Bitcoin Ever Break $70K (00:25:54) – Indicators to Navigate this Market (00:29:06) – Is Bitcoin still the Bell-Weather for Crypto Market   ----------- Sponsors ------------- dYdX is the Leading Decentralized E

How are some users getting paid to walk?   StepN is a Walk-to-Earn mobile app and in less than 6 months, they managed to amass 1.7 million monthly active users and up to 400k users are using it on a daily basis.   This episode, Co-Founder Yawn Rong shares with us: How is StepN actually paying users and is it sustainable? Comparison of StepN over competitors and their moat StepN’s vision for the future   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:32) – Introduction to StepN (00:05:49) – Designing Users’ Cost Of Participation (00:07:12) – Revenue Mechanism (00:11:13) – Demand and Design Of StepN’s Tokens (00:14:12) – Social Aspect Beyond Walk-to-Earn (00:19:29) – Partnerships With Brands (00:24:30) – Comparison To Other Platforms (00:28:50) – Strategy For Massive Player Adoption (00:33:36) – StepN’s Moat Over Competitors (00:40:30) – Anti-Hacking/Cheating Mechanisms (00:43:41) – More On StepN’s 2 Tokens - GST & GMT   -----

Basketball is a sport with 2.2 billion fans worldwide - and Virtual Basketball Association (VBA) wants to bring them all into crypto. Charles, founder of VBA shares with us: How does VBA compare to other basketball based video games? Is VBA Play-To-Earn? What can users expect in upcoming & future launches?   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:37) – Background of Charles (00:04:20) – Introduction to VBA (00:06:09) – Comparison To Different Basketball Video Games (00:08:02) – VBA’s Game and Player Mechanics (00:16:28) – Virtual vs Real Basketball Players (00:23:03) – Building The VBA Lore And Community Effect (00:24:19) – First NFT Mint & Future Plans (00:29:16) – Competition Against Fantasy Sports (00:31:06) – VBA’s 4 Revenue Streams (00:32:09) – Is VBA Play-To-Earn? (00:34:28) – VBA’s Automated Gameplay Mechanics (00:36:53) – Upcoming Launch In June & Future Releases   ----------- Sponsors ------------- d

Every crypto-native must have seen a small green creature appear on their Twitter timeline when others tag @Inversebrah on a Twitter thread.  A group of wassie-lovers banded together to bring the green creature to life via a 3D NFT project, Wassieverse. This week, member of Wassieverse, 0xBags shares with us: What exactly is a wassie? What utilities can NFT owners get immediately post-mint and in the future? How can the community be involved in Wassieverse? Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:03:34) – What Is Inversebrah / Smol Ting (00:06:52) – Team Members Of Wassieverse (00:09:27) – What Exactly Is Wassieverse? (00:15:36) – Future Of Wassieverse (00:18:06) – NFT As Representation Of Virtual Identity  (00:22:30) – Capturing Essence Of Wassies Into The Project (00:25:51) – Comparison To Other Meme-Based NFT Projects (00:30:16) – Differentiation To Other Wassie NFT Projects (00:33:14) – Roadmap Of Wassieverse   ---------

Last week, $60B in value was wiped from crypto in a few days. Not many saw the collapse of Luna coming - even fewer had the guts to bet on it. Since the start of the year, Galois Capital has been openly calling out for the impending fall of Luna and endured the barrage of hate comments until 8th May 2022 - the day that Luna started death spiraling. Kevin Zhou from Galois Capital shares with us: Why he was convinced LUNA would implode How he timed his short trade The 4 high conviction trades Galois has taken How Terra Luna can recover - and why its current plan doesn't work Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:20) – Kevin's Thoughts After Luna's Crash (00:03:53) – Why Did Kevin Think Luna Would Collapse One Day (00:08:23) – Feasibility of Algorithmic Stable-Coins (00:16:44) – Shorting Luna or UST (00:23:06) – Pulling The Trigger On The Short (00:26:47) – Conviction On Bearish Luna Thesis and Past Plays (00:34:10) – Blac

Opensea facilitated $14 billion transactions in 2021 and is the largest NFT trading platform. However, users often face platform liveness, high fees and collection censorship issues. What if there was a decentralized alternative that could disrupt Opensea, just like Uniswap did to centralized trading exchanges? This week, founder of Sudoswap, Owen shares with us: What is Sudoswap? How does Sudoswap’s trading design compare to other NFT platforms? How is Sudoswap going to incentivize usage? Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:07) – Owen's Background  (00:05:24) – Reason for Building NFT Trading Platform (00:06:51) – What is SudoSwap (00:09:44) – How does AMM Work for Trading NFTs (00:15:43) – Sudoswap’s AMM vs Other Existing NFT AMMs (00:22:36) – Sudoswap’s Benefits for Users (00:27:23) – User Incentivization Strategy & Sustainability   ----------- Sponsors ------------- dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange f

Bridges are critical to a omni-chain future, but the recent bridge hacks totaling $1 billion lost in funds have struck fear in users and many are worried about the security of bridges. Can Nomad's security-focused bridge be the answer? Founder Pranay shares with us: Is there a difference between bridges and interoperability protocols? What is the interoperability trilemma? What are the different types of bridges available Why is Nomad potentially the safest? Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:38) – Pranay's Background (00:03:58) – 3 Overarching Types Of Interoperability Protocols (00:11:12) – Bridges vs Interoperability Protocols (00:19:03) – Recent Bridge Exploits (00:27:11) – Nomad's Optimistically Verified System (00:30:28) – Nomad's Latency Trade-Off For Security (00:39:29) – Current State Of Bridges And Competition   ----------- Sponsors ------------- CoinFLEX is the Home of Crypto Yield for passive capital and

Sfermion is NFT-focused fund with managing partners that were early investors of OpenSea Recently, they raised a $100m fund aimed at accelerating the emergence of an open, decentralized metaverse. In this episode, Founder Andrew Steinwold shares with us: What are the 4 NFT sub-markets and their different value-drivers How they analyze NFT-investments and Valuation Frameworks as a professional Which NFT vertical has the most potential Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:00:22) – Sfermion NFT Fund & Founder Andrew Steinwold (00:03:58) – Why Specifically NFTs & Why Is He Bullish on NFTs? (00:12:56) – Investing in NFT vertical (00:14:53) – 4 Sub-Markets of NFTs (00:17:11) – Case Study on Somnium Space & CryptoVoxels (00:22:35) – NFT Valuation Framework (00:29:00) – NFT Vertical With The Most Potential (00:36:12) – Metaverse & Competition Between Web 2 & Web 3 (00:44:44) – NFT-Collateralized Loans   ---

The total market-cap of NFT has hit $18 billion in 2022 - but most of these value are illiquid and NFTs sit idly in wallets. NFTFi (@NFTfi) unlocks the liquidity of these NFTs by allowing owners to take NFT-collateralized loans. Till date, they have facilitated $128 million over 7000 loans. In this episode, NFTFi co-founder, Steven Young shares with us: Why is unlocking NFT liquidity necessary and how can it help floor prices? What are the risks involved for lenders and borrowers? Why is NFTFi’s peer-to-peer model the most optimal for NFT-backed loans? Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:00:27) – Background of NFTfi’s Founders (00:04:17) – Beginning of NFTfi (00:06:53) – Projects eligible as collateral (00:08:15) – Different loan durations and common use-cases (00:14:30) – Liquidation on Loans (00:19:21) – NFTfi as an execution platform for Liquidity Provision DAOs (00:21:20) – Whitelisting criteria of NFT projects (00:24

Bridges facilitate cross-chain asset communication and play an imperative role in a multi-chain future. However, the recent WormHole & Ronin Bridge hack that led to a total loss of close to $1 billion has caused fear in users and led them to wonder - is the future still multi-chain? In this episode, Dmitriy - Research Partner at 1kx shares with us: What are the different kinds of bridges out there and their trade-offs? Why is the future is multi-chain and what are the role of bridges? Why is he excited about DAOs? Other high conviction and contrarian views he has Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. ------------ Timestamps ------------- 0:00 - Podcast Intro 0:52 - Dmitriy's Background 3:42 - High-level Overview of Bridges & Trade-Offs 9:16 - Is Multi-Chain The Future 12:55 - How to Evaluate Bridge to Use 17:44 - Safer Bridge Models and Examples 18:43 - Are Bridges "Tunnels" or Developer Platforms 24:04 - Aggregation of Bridges like with DEXes 27:55 - Bridges that Dmitriy is Bullish

Over the years, Jason has interviewed 100+ guests on Blockcrunch. This time, he's finally on the show as the guest! In his first ever LIVE AMA, he shared with us: His crypto journey Advice for beginners in crypto and aspiring analysts Investment frameworks & due diligence process Contrarian theses Jason has Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. ----------- Sponsors ------------- PARASWAP is the best place to trade your tokens and get the best price in DeFi today. Get started on paraswap.io/blockcrunch CoinFLEX is the Home of Crypto Yield for passive capital and active traders to earn and trade crypto. Explore yields up to 100% APR with CoinFLEX's simple AMM+ product: https://coinflex.com/amm ----------- Guests ------------- Jason Choi (Founder of BlockCrunch) https://twitter.com/MrJasonChoi Javier Ang (Intern at BlockCrunch) https://twitter.com/JavierAng_ ----------- Disclosures ------------- Disclaimer: Jason Choi is a General Partner at Spartan Capital, a subsidiary of The Spartan Grou

Back in 2018, Richard saw Opensea’s potential as one of the earliest investors - despite its measly yearly volume of $475k. In 2021, OpenSea became the largest NFT marketplace and facilitated $15 billion in volume, a 31,578x increase, In this episode, Richard shares with us:      - Is the NFT market a bubble?      - Is it possible to value NFTs like with DeFi protocols?      - How to identify “Blue-Chip” NFTs? Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. ------------ Sponsors ------------- PARASWAP is the best place to trade your tokens and get the best price in DeFi today. Get started on paraswap.io/blockcrunch CoinFLEX is the Home of Crypto Yield for passive capital and active traders to earn and trade crypto. Explore yields up to 100% APR with CoinFLEX's simple AMM+ product: https://coinflex.com/amm ------------ More Resources ------------- Richard Chen's Twitter - https://twitter.com/richardchen39 Chris Dixon - Strong & Weak Technologies: https://cdixon.org/2019/01/08/strong-and-weak-technolo

There’s a seemingly endless horde of new NFT projects - some of them rocket to the moon and some crash and burn. How should you navigate the NFT space? In this episode, NFT OG DeezeFi shares with us: What are some of his biggest wins and losses? What are his secrets and framework for evaluating NFTs? What are some projects that he believes will appreciate over the next 10 years? Can influencers really manipulate the market? Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. ------------ Sponsors ------------- PARASWAP is the best place to trade your tokens and get the best price in DeFi today. Get started on paraswap.io/blockcrunch CoinFLEX is the Home of Crypto Yield for passive capital and active traders to earn and trade crypto. Explore yields up to 100% APR with CoinFLEX's simple AMM+ product: https://coinflex.com/amm ------------ Guest ------------- Deeze - https://twitter.com/DeezeFi NFT Galleries - https://y.at/

The song "Stand By Me" has made over $60M in royalties alone. What if you had a slice of that just by being a fan? Music NFTs may allow that. Decent (@decentxyz) is a new startup that package royalties into NFTs. This week, the Decent team joins us and talk: Current state of music NFTs How Decent lets fans invest in royalties  Can songs outperform stocks over time? Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. ------------ Sponsors ------------- PARASWAP is the best place to trade your tokens and get the best price in DeFi today. Get started on paraswap.io/blockcrunch CoinFLEX is the Home of Crypto Yield for passive capital and active traders to earn and trade crypto. Explore yields up to 100% APR with CoinFLEX's simple AMM+ product: https://coinflex.com/amm ------------ Disclosures ------------- Disclaimer: Jason Choi is a General Partner at Spartan Capital, a subsidiary of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opi