Decrypt Asia - Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ep. #21: Blockchain Community/ Co-Living, Co-Working space with See Eun and Young Hoon (Co-Founders Nonce Community) Aug 15, 2018

Show notes

Our first guest for this episode is See Eun who was into breakdancing and danced professionally for more than 10 years. He served in the military, curated and wrote for a hip-hop blog and lead hip-hop education efforts before the Bitcoin bug bit him. He started ‘The Blockchainers”, the first Blockchain Cryptocurrency YouTube channel in Korea with his co-host Young Hoon who is the other guest on the show.

Young Hoon majored in math and computer science at the University of Oxford and upon graduation had short stints in McKinsey and Macquarie before also serving in the military in Somalia for a counter-piracy mission for the Korean army.

Together, they also started and currently run Nonce Community, an open-source co-working, co-living Blockchain/Cryptocurrency space based on Proof-of-Work. Nonce community started as a few people who worked in this ecosystem living together in a 3 bedroom apartment and has since grown to a whole building which can currently accommodate upto 100 Blockchainers.

Tune in to hear about:

Their fascinating background and what got them into crypto
First Korean Blockchain Youtube channel they started – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsH44G5T4hHXYrb1aGUB1Gw
Nonce Community – Blockchain community – co-living, co-working, open-source Blockchain community based on Proof-of-Work
How they went from a 3 bedroom apartment to a building that can accommodate a 100 people
Decentralised governance model for the community – decentralised way to make decisions including deciding who gets to stay
How the environment was like initially
An essay that inspired them (Tyranny of Structurelessness): https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
Different verticals at Nonce Community: Tokeneconomics consulting, smart contract auditing, media and community management, fund and research arm
Studio Decentral (Media arm): http://www.studiodecentral.org/
See Eun’s views on the current perverse media model in the Blockchain/crypto ecosystem
Other resources mentioned: Epicenter Podcast (https://epicenter.tv/), Let’s talk Bitcoin (https://letstalkbitcoin.com/)
Gary Vee! – https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/
Fund – arbitrage, market making and ICOs – due diligence process and fund structuring
Research – Whitepaper.foundation
Scalability solutions and their trade-offs: Plasma, state channels and sharding
Thoughts on scalability through centralisation of block production
Thoughts on move from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake consensus mechanism
Store of Value vs Tokens of protocols becoming store of value
Bitcoin: Store of value vs medium of exchange
Using Blockchain and Cryptocurrency to help society and the planet

Ep. #20: Fintech/Blockchain Hub with Joe Seunghyun Cho (Founding CEO Lattice 80) Aug 10, 2018

Show notes

Our guest for this episode is Joe Seunghyun Cho. Joe has been a hedge fund manager and has run an asset management company before founding Lattice 80, one of the world’s largest fintech and blockchain hubs in Singapore. Joe has been a mentor to several young companies and regularly coordinates with the government and larger corporations to support the startup ecosystem.

Tune in to this episode to find out about:

Joe’s background
How Lattice 80, the world’s biggest fintech/blockchain hub by size, came about
Government involvement in building out the startup ecosystem and getting all stakeholders involved
Expansion of Lattice 80 beyond Singapore, with the ultimate vision to open Lattice 80 in 100 cities eventually
Value add beyond a co-working space by getting multiple stakeholders involved – startups, financial institutions / corporates, government, public
Evolution of fintech companies in Singapore
Kaya network: connecting all stakeholders locally physically and globally to collaborate and do business and reducing the time required to take care of legal and due diligence issues
Kaya network database and mini social database to eliminate travel costs
Utility of the Kaya token
Use of token beyond the Lattice 80
Why Kaya is being built on the NEM Blockchain
Diving in to a ‘staggered’ ICO
First few locations that Lattice 80 is going to focus on
Joe’s plans beyond the co-working space
Link to Lattice 80 website: http://www.lattice80.com/

Ep. #19: Decentralised Service Marketplace with JP Thor (CEO CanYa) Jul 30, 2018

Show notes

Our guest for this show is JP Thor, CEO of CanYa, a global marketplace of peer-to-peer services with a cryptocurrency payment layer.

JP is a former Air Force pilot, an early Bitcoin adopter and a Blockchain ambassador. He serves as an advisor to multiple Blockchain startups including Loki and Trust Wallet.

Tune in to hear about:

Background and transition from being an air force pilot to the blockchain/cryptocurrency ecosystem
Why JP started a decentralised service marketplace
What does the customer journey look like as a service provider or user
Use of the token (CAN) on the platform and the tokeneconomics
How the hedged escrow function works to ensure that the service provider gets paid fairly and not be subject to price fluctuations
Thoughts on most people in the world not investing or buying cryptocurrency but getting into crypto by earning it
How CanYa plans to cope with the learning curve required for anyone to store crypto assets
Why CanYa took the strategy of being centralised in the beginning and over time move towards greater decentralisation – with the eventual goal to be a DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation)
How CanYa aims to achieve decentralisation over a period of time
How CanYa is developing infrastructure around having a decentralised marketplace as well
On-chain governance
Ethereum 2.0
Layer 1 vs Layer 2 discussion
Projects mentioned: Digix, Origin Protocol, uPort, OmiseGo, Humaiq, Trust wallet, Loom Network amongst others

Ep. #18: Data Provenance and Authenticity using Blockchain with Mike Davie (Founder Quadrant Protocol) Jul 16, 2018

Show notes

Mike Davie is the Founder of Quadrant Protocol, a Blockchain project that allows for easy access, creation and distribution of data.

Mike was a member of the Advanced Mobile Product Strategy Division at Samsung where he developed go-to-market strategies for cutting edge technologies created in the Samsung R&D Labs. Thereafter, he founded DataStreamX, an online marketplace for real time data allowing companies that produce data to easily monetize and distribute it and allowing data consumers to source their data requirements in one place.

With the emergence of the Blockchain technology, Mike sought to further improve what he was trying to do at DataStreamX and as a result, Quadrant Protocol was born.

Tune in to hear about:

Mike’s background and how Quadrant Protocol was born
What problems Quadrant Protocol is seeking to address
How Quadrant Protocol is a data stamping protocol and the value that brings
Different stakeholders in the Quadrant ecosystem and their roles (‘nurseries’ are where the data is born, ‘pioneers’ who create the data into products, ‘elons’ who can be innovative companies and individuals who try to create more value of the data products)
How the different stakeholders are incentivised in the ecosystem
Quadrant Protocol’s consensus mechanism (mix of Proof of Authority and Proof of Work)
Quadrant Protocol’s roadmap
Key things Quadrant is looking for – partnerships, data providers and data consumers
Major partnership with IMDA (Govt of Singapore) – https://medium.com/quadrantprotocol/singapores-info-communications-media-development-authority-imda-partners-with-datastreamx-and-be4b1ba94cd9
Quadrant Protocol website, Medium

Ep. #17: Cryptocurrency Aggregator with Sharan Nair (SVP Marketing & BD CoinSwitch) Jul 03, 2018

Show notes

CoinSwitch is a Sequoia backed cryptocurrency aggregator. A cryptocurrency aggregator allows users to buy and sell multiple cryptocurrencies across various exchanges without creating multiple accounts while getting to choose the best prices across exchanges.

Sharan is currently the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at CoinSwitch. Prior to this role, he was the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Unocoin, one of India’s largest fiat to crypto exchanges.

Tune in to hear about:

Sharan’s background, his work with Unocoin (a fiat to crypto exchange in India) and how he started working at CoinSwitch
CoinSwitch – is an exchange aggregator supporting 300 coins and 45000 exchange pairs where users do not need to create accounts at multiple exchanges and use the CoinSwitch platform to get access to best pricing
Current exchanges integrated on Coinswitch: ShapeShift, Bittrex, Changelly, KuCoin, Changer and Cryptopia
Roadmap: Integrate with IDEX, a decentralised exchange and the challenges with integrating with a decentralised exchange
End-to-end customer journey for using Coinswitch
Coinswitch’s business model
CoinSwitch’s customer base and its distribution across the globe
CoinSwitch’s roadmap
CoinSwitch’s value added services such airdrop tracker, tax calculator etc
Business risks for CoinSwitch
Sharan’s view on the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency ecosystem in India
Twitter

Ep. #16: Tokenised Index Fund with Aditya Mishra (COO ZenPrivex/108 Token) Jun 25, 2018

Show notes

Aditya Mishra is the Co-founder and COO of ZenPrivex. ZenPrivex is an umbrella company with different product offerings in the Blockchain and crypto space. One of their first products is the 108 token which is a token representing an indexed fund with the top 15 cryptocurrencies rebalanced on a monthly basis.

Prior to his journey in the Blockchain space, Aditya or Adi was involved in the secondary private equity markets.

Tune in to hear about:

Background of the team
Adi’s journey in blockchain and cryptocurrency
ZenPrivex – the parent company behind the 108 token. Other ventures include a research arm and a decentralised exchange on top of ZRX (“relayer”)
108 token – tokenised fund holding the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market cap and rebalanced monthly
Why the name ‘108’ (https://108token.com/)
Investment concepts in the crypto space that investors should consider: supply adjusted market cap versus only considering circulating supply (https://onchainfx.com/)
Why Adi and his team decided to work on this project? Why the ZenPrivex decided to tokenise this index fund versus taking on USD/SGD (or fiat currency straight)?
Who should buy the 108 token? How to buy the 108 token?
How the 108 token could trade at a discount or premium to the underlying assets
Target clients for 108 tokens (including treasury management for companies who have done ICOs)
Things that Adi is excited about in the Blockchain space
Telegram, Blog

Ep. #15 Crypto investing mental models and frameworks with Meher Roy Pt. 2/2 (Host of Epicenter and Co-founder Chorus One) Jun 17, 2018

Show notes

Meher is a fellow podcaster and host of Epicenter, one of the most well respected Blockchain podcasts in the industry with guests such as Vitalik Buterin, Adam Back, Gavin Andresen, Ralph Merkle regularly featuring on his show. He has also recently started a new company called Chorus One where his company is building validator nodes for Proof of Stake Blockchain networks such as Cosmos.

Meher is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology or IIT and worked in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry prior to making a switch to the Blockchain world.

Tune in to hear about:

His mental models and philosophies behind investing
Strategy – identify investments that may grow 10x over 10 years with relatively high odds and 100x over 10 years but with relatively lower odds
Strategy – identifies fundamentally good projects and holds them long term
How to identify these investment opportunities that one can hold for 10 years
How he held Ether through the DAO and Parity hacks
Strategy – try to find opportunities through identifying what the key problems that exist today (e.g. scalability, smart contract safety) and find good projects that are addressing those
However, the projects that may ‘win’ may not necessarily be the inventors of that technology which leads to further complexity
How to determine ticket size or position sizing
Books mentioned – Fortune’s formula
What Meher’s personal portfolio looks like currently
Meher’s outlook on the Blockchain ecosystem in general

Link to Epicenter Podcast: https://epicenter.tv/

Youtube link to Epicenter podcast: https://www.youtube.com/user/epicenterbtc

Link to his new company: http://chorus.one/

Ep. #14: Crypto Twitter, Bitcoin and Proof of Stake Nodes with Meher Roy Pt. 1/2 (Host of Epicenter and Co-founder Chorus One) Jun 10, 2018

Show notes

Meher is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology or IIT and worked in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry prior to making a switch to the Blockchain world.

Tune in to hear about:

Crypto Twitter and why he went off Twitter
His background and journey in the Blockchain space
How he came across Bitcoin in 2012, was unsuccessful in being able to purchase it
The thesis that made him purchase Bitcoin in 2013/14 and how that thesis has turned out wrong
The power of compound interest
First alt coin he purchased – Ether in 2015
His company (Chorus One) and what they are trying to do – Proof of Stake (PoS) validator node for the Cosmos project
How validation in PoS networks is the beginning of the fixed income in the cryptocurrency market
What will be the total size of the staking market and what percentage of the tokens would Chorus One look to be staked with them
What would be the differentiators for validator nodes to capture a greater market share
How PoS can lead to greater ‘centralisation’ but why that’s not necessarily a bad thing

Link to Epicenter Podcast: https://epicenter.tv/

Youtube link to Epicenter podcast: https://www.youtube.com/user/epicenterbtc

Link to his new company: http://chorus.one/

Ep. #13: Location Data Marketplace on Blockchain with Justin Mann (Co-founder Fysical) Jun 05, 2018

Show notes

Fysical is a location data marketplace which connects location suppliers i.e you and me to location buyers which could be marketing agencies, hedge funds, insurance companies amongst others.

Justin co-founded Fysical labs, from which Fysical has been spun out, in Boston in 2014. Fysical was accepted into the 500 startups accelerator in the summer of 2016. Sensing a big opportunity in Asia, Justin and his team moved to Singapore from Silicon Valley to build out Fysical.

Tune in to hear about:

Justin’s background and how Fysical came about
Why Fysical decided to relocate from Silicon Valley to Singapore
What is location data?
The problems with location data and location data marketplaces
What are the use cases presently and in the future – hedge funds, marketing firms, commercial real estate firms, smart cities, disaster recovery, health insurance companies
Who analyses the location data?
Role of the FYS token in the ecosystem
Fysical is live on the Ethereum main net – what that experience has been like
How users can get paid from their location data
Medium, Telegram and Twitter

Ep. #12: Insurance on Blockchain with Val Yap (CEO PolicyPal Network) May 29, 2018

Show notes

PolicyPal Network aims to leverage the Blockchain technology to make insurance more accessible for consumers by creating a peer-to-peer insurance platform. It also aims to cater to the needs of the crypto ecosystem by providing insurance services to Blockchain startups during their initial launch.

Our guest for today’s show is Val Yap, the Founder and CEO of PolicyPal and the PolicyPal Network based out Singapore. After graduating, she worked in varying capacities in the Financial Services industry including stints at Aberdeen Asset Management, PricewaterhouseCoopers and OCBC Bank. She was recently included in the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Finance and Venture Capital.

Tune in to hear about:

Val’s background and how PolicyPal (‘traditional’ business) came about
What PolicyPal does and how PolicyPal Network came about
PolicyPal Network’s partnership with FWD insurance company and new partnership with WeWork Asia
The two products that PolicyPal Network is building – crypto protect insurance helping blockchain companies (wallets/exchanges etc.) and a P2P insurance marketplace
Partnership with NEM and QTUM on the crypto protect insurance side
Tech stuff – why they are building on Ethereum currently and why they’ll be launching their own blockchain network in the future
Launch of PolicyPal’s testnet next month
Some other interesting developments that are taking place at PolicyPal
Importance of community in the cryptocurrency space
Twitter, Telegram, Medium

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