Blockchain Insider Podcast by 11:FS

Latest Episodes:

161. Insights: Scaling blockchains and Layer 2 - a deep dive May 11, 2022

Show notes

gm. Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back this week to take another deep dive, this time into all things scaling and layer 2, including: Why do we want decentralisation and how is it achieved in traditional PoW blockchains? What solutions have been proposed and implemented for the scalability problem? And what are the main trade-offs at play? All of this, and much much more.

We are also joined by some amazing guests:

Mauricio Magaldi, Global Strategy Director, Crypto at 11:FS
Yessin Schiegg, CFO at NEAR Foundation

This episode is sponsored by Visa.
This episode is brought to you by Visa, one of the world’s leaders in digital payments.
Crypto has opened up a new world of possibility. And Visa is helping everyone take part.
Visa enables commerce across their network and crypto networks through solutions like Fintech Fast Track, a quick and easy way for crypto innovators to issue payment credentials.
Join us in this new money movement. Learn more at visa.com/crypto.

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

Special Guests: Mauricio Magaldi and Yessin Schiegg.

Bonus: If the President orders a CBDC, then who can stop it? May 05, 2022

Show notes

gm. Simon Taylor hosted a live onstage panel as part of Empire Startups New York FinTech Week! Originally recorded for Fintech Insider podcast, the conversation was so good we just had to share it here too.

Earlier this year, we saw an executive order signed on the desk of the White House calling for research and development on a US CBDC.

What was once a theoretical possibility has now been directly decreed by the President himself.

So, today we’re talking about how this executive order will fit into the history books, what we know about CBDCs currently, what the challenges are still to overcome and what the future may hold.

This week's guests include:

Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto, Visa
Carmelle Cadet, Founder & CEO, EMTECH
Jennifer Lassiter, Executive Director, The Digital Dollar Project

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

Special Guests: Carmelle Cadet, Cuy Sheffield , and Jennifer Lassiter.

160. News: Big week for stablecoins - Terra’s UST flips BUSD and Circle's new raise Apr 27, 2022

Show notes

gm. Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back this week to talk about the latest and greatest news in the world of crypto, including:

European crypto industry steps up efforts to influence EU policy
Terra’s UST flips BUSD to become third-largest stablecoin
Circle Announces $400M Funding Round
Bitcoin may soon be accepted by McDonald’s, Walmart via Lightning Network, Mallers says
Meta plans ‘Zuck bucks’ virtual coins for Facebook and Instagram users
Nike and Rtfkt take on digital fashion with first “Cryptokick” sneaker
Coinbase launches social NFT marketplace in limited beta

We are also joined by some amazing guests:

Adi Ben-Ari, Founder and CEO at Applied Blockchain
Cokie Hasiotis, Founder of Twali

The Tweet of the Week comes from @masonnystrom, about Web3 infrastructure protocols generating substantial protocol revenue in Q1'22.

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

Special Guests: Adi Ben-Ari and Cokie Hasiotis.

Links:

159. Insights: Clearing the air on crypto regulation Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

gm. Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back this week to take a deep dive into the world of crypto regulations.

In this Insights show, we take a look at the current state of crypto regulations and its challenges, the differences in various parts of the world, the opportunities, and of course, the future.

We are also joined by some amazing guests:

Chris Brummer, Professor and Faculty Director, Institute of International Economic Law
Patrick South, Head of Sales at TRM Labs

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

Special Guests: Chris Brummer and Patrick South.

158. News: Optimism and FTX are thriving, and Biden's executive order is promising Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

gm. Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back this week to talk about the latest and greatest news in the world of crypto, including:

Paradigm and a16z back Ethereum scaling startup Optimism at $1.65bn valuation 3:03
FTX announces expansion into Europe, FTX Ventures invests $100m in money app Dave and Naomi Osaka becomes latest FTX 'ambassador' 15:35
The cryptocurrency community is celebrating Biden’s executive order, while Europe rejects proposal limiting PoW cryptos but sets draft rules for sustainability 30:30
Crypto start-up founded by ex-Meta employees raises $200m 46:10

We are also joined by some amazing guests:

Richard Brown, CTO at R3
Brett Harrison, US President at FTX
Emily Nicolle, Crypto Blogger at Bloomberg News

The Tweet of the Week comes from @BitcoinMagazine about Airbnb looking into crypto payments!

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

Special Guests: Brett Harrison, Emily Nicolle, and Richard Brown.

Links:

157. Insights: NFTs and music - where two worlds collide Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

gm. Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back this week to take another deep dive into the world of NFTs.

We wanted to take a look at the intersection between NFTs and culture. This is such a wide topic with so many incredible artists, collaborations and forms of art - so for this episode, we want to shine a light on music. We explore how NFTs play a part in what music is and how we experience and share it, as well as how they compare to the traditional music model most of us know and dislike.

We are also joined by some amazing guests:

Daouda Leonard, Founder and CEO of CreateSafe
Summer Watson, CEO, Heir & President, Vol. 1
Xcelencia, musician

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

Special Guests: Daouda Leonard, Summer Watson, and Xcelencia.

156. News: Will NYSE become *the* marketplace for NFTs? Mar 02, 2022

Show notes

gm. Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back this week to talk about the latest and greatest news in the world of crypto, including:

NYSE wants to be the marketplace for NFTs
Multis wants to build the financial backbone of crypto-native organizations
Solana integrates Web3Auth to lower DApp barrier to entry
Democratic DAO suffers coup, new leader steals everything
$1.7m in NFTs stolen in apparent phishing attack on OpenSea users
Colorado to accept crypto for state taxes
Pro athletes among group trying to raise $4bn in cryptocurrency to buy Denver Broncos

We are also joined by some amazing guests:

Rhian Lewis, author of The Cryptocurrency Revolution
Mauricio Magaldi, Global Leader of Crypto,11:FS
Thibaut Sahaghian, CEO, Multis

The Tweet of the Week comes from @pridesai about Meta-mates!

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

Special Guests: Mauricio Magaldi, Rhian Lewis, and Thibaut Sahaghian.

Links:

155. Insights: What's the latest with CBDCs? Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back this week to take a deep dive into Central Bank Digital Currencies, known as CBDCs.

We have looked at them, as well as stablecoins, in a previous podcast, but as we have stated before - this space moves at the speed of sound.

We want to revisit our conversation, and take a look at how they have evolved since we’ve last spoken about them.

Simon and Cuy are joined by fantastic guests who are experts in the ever-evolving crypto space:

George Selgin, Director Emeritus, Centre for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at Cato Institute
John Lester, Cypherpunk Capitalist and VP of Operations at Oneiro

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

154. News: Meta is late to the NFT party as OpenSea faces competition Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back this week to talk about the latest and greatest news in blockchain and Crypto. Tune in now to find out more about:

Facebook and Instagram are reportedly exploring plans to make, showcase, and sell NFTs, while Twitter debuted their new hexagonal NFT avatars
One Day After Launch, OpenSea Competitor LooksRare Sells Over $100M in NFTs
Big month for play-to-earn in the global south - big wins for Nestcoin, Carry1st, and YGG’s India subDAO
Web3 ‘Proof of attendance’ startup raises $10M to mint shared memories as NFTs
China’s Digital Yuan Captures $8.3B in Payments Over 6 Months

And much more!

Simon and Cuy are joined by some fantastic guests:

Cristiano Teixeira, Founder of Sandclock
Elizabeth Teixeira, COO at Sandclock
Chris Maddern, Co-Founder of Button

The Tweet of the Week comes from Serena Williams, @serenawilliams.

Why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show!

If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider

Special Guests: Chris Maddern, Cristiano Teixeira, and Elizabeth Teixeira.

Links:

153. Insights: Fintechs and crypto - the opportunity to use a new set of rails Jan 19, 2022

Show notes

Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield are back to discuss and unpack all things Fintechs and Crypto. In this Insights show, we want to take a deep dive into what their relationship has been like over the past few years. A couple of episodes ago, we visited the relationship between big banks and crypto - with incumbents dismissing Bitcoin and Co. at the very start. Now, at the beginning of 2022, not only are large banks offering crypto custody and leading in investments in crypto in 2021, but fintechs aren't too far behind either.

But what has changed, and what is their role in the crypto space, and vice versa? Join us while we try to unpack and ask all the right questions to get to the bottom of this!

Simon and Cuy are joined by fantastic guests who are experts in the ever-evolving crypto space: