DeFi Decoded

DeFi Decoded - Let’s Talk About SX, Baby! With Andrew Young of SX Network Nov 21, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of Web3 and DeFi with Andrew Young, Co-Founder and CEO of SX Network. Listen in as they explore Andrew’s background and journey into crypto, the inefficiencies in traditional sports betting that inspired him to start SX, the advantages of SX over centralized betting exchanges, its revenue model, its narrow focus on sports markets, the two phases of SX's development, the SX token, its underlying technology and scalability, and more.

DeFi Decoded - Web3 for Business and the Enterprise with John Wu of Ava Labs Nov 14, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest John Wu, President of Ava Labs. Listen in as they discuss John’s journey from traditional finance to crypto, the potential for tokenization in financial services and accelerating stablecoin adoption worldwide, the next big assets that will be brought onchain, Avalanche’s classification and uniqueness, its subnets and how they contrast to Ethereum L2s, its dual mission of targeting both crypto native and enterprise users, key Web3 adoption milestones that have helped pave the way for more firms to join, the roadmap for the next twelve months, and more.

DeFi Decoded - Trump Wins and Crypto Soars. But What’s Next? With Brandon Potts of Framework Ventures Nov 08, 2024

Listen in as Alex and Andrew discuss the U.S. presidential election outcome and its market impact, the repricing of legacy DeFi protocols, the contrast between markets and polls this election cycle, achievable crypto initiatives with the new administration, the election’s role in advancing Web3 compared to other factors, exciting subsectors in the ecosystem, enterprise crypto adoption and associated onchain friction points, how Web3 gaming can drive mainstream adoption, and more.

DeFi Decoded - Pudgy Penguins at the Gate: How Crypto is Eating Wall Street with Matt Bartlett of VanEck Oct 31, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Matt Bartlett, Head of Web3 at VanEck and CEO of SegMint. Listen in as they discuss Matt's background and journey into the space, VanEck's suite of crypto products and Web3 initiatives, including the fractionalized NFT marketplace SegMint and tokenized collectibles, the potential for tokens to drive the next wave of financial innovation, VanEck's focus areas in Web3, SegMint's Lock and Key Model, VanEck's crypto predictions, NFT’s growing traction but waning sentiment, key catalysts for the NFT market, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Bringing the World’s Assets Onchain with Chris Yin of Plume Oct 24, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Chris Yin, Founder & CEO of Plume. Listen in as they discuss the real-world asset (RWA) thesis, the benefits of bringing assets onchain and the exciting new possibilities it unlocks, the various subsets within the RWA market and how they work behind the scenes, bootstrapping liquidity for emerging asset classes, verifying the authenticity of assets not on blockchain networks, Plume’s role within the RWA space and its ecosystem metrics, key growth drivers for the RWA market in the year ahead, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Bitcoin Bull Run Begins. What’s Next? Oct 18, 2024

Alex and Andrew discuss the recent surge in the crypto market, particularly in Bitcoin, and how it could be attributed to a shift in market sentiment and more favorable regulatory conditions. Trump's improved election odds and Kamala Harris's interest in crypto are also seen as positive influences. The FTX bankruptcy case concluded with a favorable outcome for users, with creditors set to receive 118% of their funds. The introduction of options on ETFs early next year is expected to boost investor interest and demand for crypto. Although a bull run is anticipated, cautious sentiment remains due to previous market cycles, and experts recommend setting preset sell prices to avoid potential losses. The market may see a rise in alternative layer twos, Solana competitors, meme coins, decentralized AI, and DeFi projects, while Bitcoin and Ethereum are expected to underperform mid-cycle but recover towards the end. This recovery could be a warning sign of market dynamics shifting, especially with the growing competition from meme coins drawing attention away from projects with strong fundamentals.

DeFi Decoded - Is "Uptober" Still in Play? Five Crypto Catalysts to Watch Now Oct 10, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi. Listen in as they discuss a crypto market roundup, major catalysts that could ignite the next leg of the bull market, potential risks that could counter these catalysts, the actual impact the U.S. election outcome will have on the industry, the memecoin supercycle thesis, and more.

DeFi Decoded - Making DePIN Real with Yannik Schrade of Arcium Oct 04, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Yannik Schrade, CEO and Co-Founder of Arcium. Listen in as they discuss what Arcium is building and its importance for public blockchain networks, how it compares to traditional L1s, its relationship to zero-knowledge proofs, the new use cases it unlocks for decentralized AI, how it works from a technical perspective, value capture within the decentralized infrastructure stack, enabling specialized uses of DePIN, and more.

DeFi Decoded - Unlocking the Open Metaverse with Alfred Tom of OMA3 Sep 26, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Alfred Tom, Executive Director and Board Member of OMA3. Listen in as they discuss the core differences between an open and closed metaverse, Alfred’s journey into the space, OMA3’s 100+ members and their reasons for joining the consortium, the complexities involved in building metaverse standards, the value and benefits of interoperability, the future liquidity hub of the metaverse, best practices for collaborating on standards, Wivity's relationship with OMA3, the best-equipped network for the metaverse, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Will Rate Cuts Reignite the Bull Market? Sep 20, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi. Listen in as they discuss the impact of rate cuts on the crypto market in the near and long term, the current phase of the unwinding of the Yen carry trade, Arthur Hayes’ thesis on an imminent market collapse, the potential liquidity effect if China distributes a fresh stimulus package, the deteriorating ETH/BTC ratio, the current state of Ethereum and reasons for its poor performance and sentiment, the role reflexivity plays in cryptoasset valuations, and more.

DeFi Decoded - Building on Bitcoin with Andrei Poliakov of APX Lending Sep 12, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Andrei Poliakov, Founder of APX Lending. Listen in as they discuss the state of the crypto market and what’s next, the extreme bearish sentiment that has emerged, the level of demand for crypto-backed loans, an overview of APX Lending and its various offerings, its key counterparties and liquidity providers, how it’s managing risk to grow sustainably, where leverage will come from and its potential impact moving forward, how APX Lending is future-proofing its business, its long-term vision, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Polkadot’s Past, Present, and Future with Fabian Gompf of the Web3 Foundation Sep 05, 2024

Join Andrew Young as he decodes the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Fabian Gompf, CEO of the Web3 Foundation. Tune in as they discuss Fabian’s journey into the space and his current role, the Web3 Foundation's various functions, Polkadot’s evolution since its inception and long-term vision, the significance of Polkadot’s JAM chain, the current DeFi landscape on Polkadot, the functionalities of the DOT token within the Polkadot ecosystem, the areas Fabian is most excited about in the year ahead, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Enterprise Blockchain is Dead with Yorke Rhodes III of Microsoft Aug 30, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Yorke Rhodes III, Co-Founder of Blockchain at Microsoft. Listen in as they discuss Yorke’s journey at Microsoft and in blockchain, leadership’s thoughts on embracing new technologies and whether an internal consensus exists, whether public blockchain networks are ready to handle enterprise-grade applications and workloads, how institutions consider L1s versus L2s, the current degree of enterprise adoption, key catalysts that could drive Web3 into the mainstream, the potential for Bitcoin to evolve into a platform for applications, the impact that the election outcome will have, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Top 5 Technology Mega-Trends, With Brett Winton of ARK Aug 23, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Brett Winton, Chief Futurist of ARK. Listen in as they discuss ARK’s evolution of thinking on disruptive technologies since their inception in 2014, their initial thesis on Tesla in the early days and how it’s coming to fruition, current issues with the automotive sector and its potential future transformation, how the convergence of these disruptive technologies will impact GDP and productivity growth, Cathie Wood’s prediction of Bitcoin surpassing over $1 million by 2030, the varying investment cases for Bitcoin and ARK’s primary belief, how Brett and ARK maintain expert thought leadership on so many emerging technologies, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Culture Needs a New Business Model. Audius is Providing the Blueprint Aug 16, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Roneil Rumburg, Co-Founder and CEO of Audius. Listen in as they discuss the current state of play for creators, issues with today’s streaming business models, the future of music content monetization, the underlying economics of Audius and creators’ take rate versus Web2 alternatives, the Audius’ ownership and AUDIO’s functions, token distribution and how they’ve deterred bad actors from the ecosystem, onboarding non-crypto-native artists and fans to the platform, Audius’ blockchain infrastructure, and more!

DeFi Decoded - What’s Next for the Crypto Market After the Global Market Sell Off with Joey Vidi of FRNT Financial Aug 08, 2024

Join Andrew Young as he decodes the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Joey Vidi, VP of Sales and Trading at FRNT Financial. Listen in as they discuss Joey’s background and journey into the space, the primary drivers of the global market sell off earlier this week and its impact on crypto, the next few months and what might follow, an analysis of the Ethereum ETF launch and flows throughout these volatility spikes, the impact the changing election odds have had on the crypto market, the hourglass bull market structure and whether it will continue on this cycle, a comparison of crypto interest rates versus products within traditional markets, areas that institutional investors are most interested in, which sector Joey is most excited about in the year ahead, an evaluation of Bitcoin’s post-halving performance relative to past ones, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Hyperscaling the Internet of Blockchain with Susannah Evans of the Interchain Foundation Aug 02, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Susannah Evans, IBC Product Lead, of the Interchain Foundation. Listen in as they discuss Susannah’s journey from attaining a Ph.D in Manufacturing Engineering to working within the blockchain space, her experience working at Zero-Knowledge Validator, the Interchain Foundation’s core mission and structure, exciting initiatives on the roadmap to help integrate more chains into the Interchain, the long-term vision and future of IBC, the elevator pitch to developers for why IBC vs alternatives, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Building the Fastest Ethereum Layer 2 Using Solana with Terry and Ren of Eclipse Labs Jul 25, 2024

Join Andrew Young as he decodes the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guests Terry Chung, Head of Strategy, and Ren Yu Kong, Growth Marketer, of Eclipse. Listen in as they discuss their backgrounds and journeys into the space, Eclipse in simple terms and how it stands out from other layer 2 networks, a comparison of the Solana Virtual Machine and the Ethereum Virtual Machine, Eclipse’s approach to community building and its scaling strategy, SX Network’s decision to move to its own chain, Eclipse’s business model and potential unique incentive plans, key trends and exciting sectors to watch in the year ahead, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Would a Trump 2nd Term REALLY Help Crypto? Alex and Andrew Debate Jul 19, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi. Listen in as they discuss the “Trump Pump” in the crypto markets this past week following the assassination attempt last weekend, the authenticity of Trump’s promises to support and embrace the crypto industry in America, the differing views that Democrats and Republicans have on big and little tech, how successful the imminent ETH ETF launch in the U.S. could be, the recent strength and influx of net flows into the BTC ETFs, Grayscale’s new Decentralized AI Fund, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Why Market Strategist Tom Dunleavy Sees Bitcoin Hitting $150,000 This Cycle Jul 11, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guest Tom Dunleavy, Managing Partner at MV Capital. Listen in as they discuss the impact of BTC selling from Mt. Gox and the German government, the potential buying pressure when FTX claim holders are repaid in Q4, the current market dynamics and future outlook, MV Capital and Tom’s management of their VC Web3 fund, Tom’s focus areas within Web3 and what he’s excited about, the state of DeFi, Tom’s fund positioning throughout various market phases and cycles, the soon launch of ETH ETFs and their potential inflows, Tom’s reasoning for believing Solana would outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum this year, and more!

DeFi Decoded - How Web3 Prediction Markets Outsmarted the Experts This Election Season Jul 05, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3. Listen in as they discuss the large disparity in U.S. presidential election odds between general pundits in the mainstream media and peer-to-peer prediction markets, its connection to James Surowiecki’s ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’ novel, SX Network’s recent quarterly report and major updates, USDC’s official compliance with the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework and its implications for the broader stablecoin landscape, Circle Internet Financial’s comeback story and potential IPO on the horizon, the overlooked value of Coinbase Ventures’ investment portfolio, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Why Web3 Mass Adoption is Closer Than We Think with Kendall Cole of Proximity Labs Jun 28, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Kendall Cole, Founder of Proximity Labs. Listen in as they discuss Kendall’s journey into the space, his key learnings from working at Consensys, Proximity Labs' purpose and mission, NEAR's unique value proposition and its main types of dApps, creating an open internet of value, the state of DeFi in the NEAR ecosystem, Kendall's conversations with institutions interested in coming onchain, the future of NEAR and its scaling roadmap, the evolution of the NEAR Virtual Machine, breaking through to the next stage of Web3 adoption, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Wall Street Goes All in on Ethereum, Plus Is Token Dispersion Killing Alt SZN? Jun 21, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi. Listen in as they discuss Alex’s key takeaways from Coinbase’s Institutional Summit in New York last week, the evolution of Wall Street’s thinking on Web3, the early days of crypto versus airdrops today, whether an institutional L2 frenzy is on the horizon as Coinbase’s Base continues to shine, the idea of altcoin dispersion and its relevance to the current market environment, the emergence of politifi memecoins ahead of the upcoming U.S. election in November, and more!

DeFi Decoded - What the Dot Com Era Can Teach Us About the Future of AI, Crypto and More Jun 13, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi. Listen in as they discuss what’s going on in the broader market, NVIDIA’s ever-growing dominance and its comparison to Cisco Systems during the dot com era, the pendulum moving from infrastructure to applications with all these newly announced grant programs, which adoption phase we're likely in, Telegram's TON layer 1 blockchain, the latest on crypto's increasing spotlight in U.S. politics, Alex's Toronto Star article on Canada's once global lead in Web3, the current innovation problem in Canada and why startups are moving elsewhere, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Is the Ethereum ETF Bad for ETH? Jun 06, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi. Listen in as they discuss the growing political spotlight on crypto ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election in November, how this may influence Canada’s approach on the industry, the net impact that the Ethereum ETFs might have, the strong fundamentals of the Ethereum network, whether layer 2s are good or bad for Ethereum, why ETH has underperformed and its potential revenge rally, the value capture of infrastructure versus applications throughout the history of the internet, and more!

DeFi Decoded - How Filecoin Helps Scale AI with Molly Mackinlay of Protocol Labs May 31, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Molly Mackinlay, Head of Engineering, Product, & Research Development at Protocol Labs. Listen in as they discuss Molly’s journey from working at Google to in Web3, Filecoin’s origin and where it stands today, core reasons why projects are using it, the provenance of data within artificial intelligence models, the structure of data DAOs and how they work, some consumer use cases, the importance of Filecoin Virtual Machine and its future, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley on Why Crypto is Bursting into the Mainstream of US Politics & Daily Life May 24, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Hunter Horsley, Co-Founder and CEO of Bitwise Asset Management. Listen in as they discuss Hunter’s busy week with the Ethereum ETF decision deadline, the accelerating momentum of developing policy around digital assets, the broad bipartisan support for the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, embracing an opportunity mindset on innovative and emerging technologies, Hunter’s experience at Facebook and journey to founding Bitwise, incorporating digital asset exposure into traditional portfolios, Bitwise’s decision to disclose the Bitcoin holding addresses of its BITB Bitcoin ETF, and more!

DeFi Decoded - How Ex-TechCrunch Journalist Jacquelyn Melinek Plans to Solve the Information Gap in Web3 May 16, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Jacquelyn Melinek, Co-Founder and CEO of Token Relations. Listen in as they discuss Jacquelyn’s experience as a crypto reporter, the craziest story she ever covered, why she left the world of journalism to become a founder, the current problem with projects' communications, how Token Relations help enhance relationships with token holders, how they are approaching business development and partnerships, the rise of key opinion leaders, the value arbitrage opportunity for great tech with lacking communication, the current best practices and what the future will look like, learning resources, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Crypto on the Ballot with the Blockchain Association’s Sarah Milby May 10, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Sarah Milby, Head of Policy at the Blockchain Association. Listen in as they discuss the Blockchain Association’s origin and the progress they’ve made, what good Web3 policy looks like, the current state of stablecoin legislation in the United States, crypto on the ballot with the upcoming election, whether this can become bipartisan again, the global Web3 regulatory situation, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Are Airdrops Dead? What's Next for Token Distribution Models May 03, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi. Listen in as they discuss a crypto market roundup with this past month being the worst since the FTX collapse, simple explanations of staking and restaking, EigenLayer and its airdrop controversy, the evolution of token distribution models, ideas on how these could look in the future, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Bitcoin's Second Act: Can The OG Network Lead the Next Era of Web3? Apr 26, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi. Listen in as they discuss Bitcoin’s fourth-ever halving that occurred last Friday, gold’s considerable uptick in recent weeks, the geopolitical neutrality of Bitcoin and whether central banks will adopt it as a reserve asset, the impact of Bitcoin Runes and BRC-20 tokens on the network, the potential of ‘remining’ to launch applications leveraging Bitcoin’s hashing power, the prospect of a Bitcoin collateralized stablecoin, Coinbase’s upcoming earnings next week and how its layer 2 Base may surprise investors, the New York Stock Exchange’s poll on 24/7 trading, and more!

DeFi Decoded - How MetaMask Institutional is Taking Web3 Mainstream with Daniel Lynch Apr 19, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guest Daniel Lynch, Head of MetaMask Institutional Partnerships at Consensys. Listen in as they discuss Daniel’s journey from working at SWIFT to Consensys, MetaMask at its core and the role it fulfills, its future integrated functionalities, their strategy and supports to bring institutions on chain, the understanding and thoughts that banks have on blockchain technology, whether the future will be multi-chain, all-things MetaMask Snaps, Daniel’s role and the state of Web3 in Latin America, and more!

DeFi Decoded - DCG's Bright Future, Plus MONAD Secures the Bag Apr 11, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3. Listen in as they discuss Monad Labs’ $225 million fundraising round led by Paradigm, why developers are excited about Monad, what EVM-compatible blockchains are and how they work, the current chain ecosystem dynamics and how things might look in the future, the FTX estate selling $1.9 billion worth of locked-up Solana, Genesis liquidating GBTC shares to buy Bitcoin to distribute to Gemini Earn creditors, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Is Memecoin Madness Over? Plus: How to Value Base Apr 04, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3. Listen in as they discuss a crypto market recap, which phase of the cycle we’re likely in, whether the recent multi-month memecoin madness could finally be coming to an end, where investors may rotate into next, the series of big raises by crypto VC firms in past weeks, the state of Ethereum post-Dencun upgrade and its sustainability compared to other chains, Coinbase’s layer 2 Base and valuing the network, Ethena Labs’ new ENA token, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Bringing an Engineer's Mentality to Early Stage VC with Avichal Garg & Ken Deeter of Electric Capital Mar 28, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guests Avichal Garg, Co-Founder and General Partner, and Ken Deeter, General Partner, of Electric Capital. Listen in as they discuss the different phases of crypto adoption, how they think about investing in the space and key areas they’re monitoring, what the future of decentralized finance might look like, the evolution of staking and yield-bearing assets, whether applications will go cross-chain or build out their own appchains, the net result of DeFi ecosystems between different chains, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Ethereum's Tim Beiko on how Dencun massively scales Ethereum Mar 22, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 with special guest Tim Beiko, Protocol Support of the Ethereum Foundation. Listen in as they discuss a simple explanation of Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, the sustainability of lower layer two transaction fees, whether there’s still a need for several different layer two chains, what’s next on Ethereum’s scaling roadmap, considerations on raising the data throughout on Ethereum, timeline on stateless Ethereum and full sharding efforts, the Ethereum Foundation team and how they operate, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Which country will lead the Web3 Era? With Chris Giancarlo, Former Chairman of the CFTC Mar 14, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of Web3 with special guest Christopher Giancarlo, the thirteenth Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Senior Counsel of Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Listen in as they discuss whether Web3 will be an important agenda topic in upcoming presidential elections, the industry’s ideal regulatory framework they want in the United States, the global race of emerging Web3 hubs, why the CFTC’s work with Bitcoin futures was instrumental for Bitcoin ETF approvals, the origin and meaning behind Chris’ “money is too important to be left to the central bankers” quote, important considerations and odds of Ethereum ETF approvals, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Animal Spirits Return! ETH Denver Roundup with Sid Powell of Maple Finance Mar 07, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest Sidney Powell, Co-Founder and CEO of Maple Finance. Listen in as they discuss key takeaways from the ETHDenver 2024 conference, the different types of stablecoins, potential lending opportunities that exist with restaking, Maple’s next growth areas, the size of the on-chain institutional market, the benefits and challenges with lending to protocols, lending with locked tokens of early investors or token treasuries, real-world asset tokenization versus crypto-native lending yields, attractive horizontal and vertical future opportunities, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Revenge of Old School DeFi and Bitcoin’s Reflexivity Explained Feb 29, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss this past week’s Bitcoin-led market rally, their current takes on the crypto market and what’s next, gaining digital asset exposure through MicroStrategy vs. Bitcoin ETFs, the potential for SEC approval on Ethereum ETFs, the emergence of Bitcoin layer 2s and some exciting projects, Uniswap Foundation’s proposal to distribute protocol revenue to token holders, Coinbase’s app store ranking and significance, Andrew’s Bitcoin story, Bitcoin reflexivity, and more!

DeFi Decoded - The Bitcoin ETF launch was the most successful ever. Is ETH next? With James Seyffart of Bloomberg Feb 22, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest James Seyffart, ETF Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Listen in as they discuss James’ methodology behind the Bitcoin ETF approval odds he set last year, reading between the lines of GBTC and ETHE’s discounts to NAV, the likelihood of Ethereum ETF approvals, how the SEC differs from other nations’ regulators, the historic flows into Bitcoin ETFs, next cryptoasset to get ETF beyond BTC and ETH, Canadian Bitcoin ETF outflows following U.S. approvals, GBTC’s high 1.50% fee, whether Ethereum staking and leveraged Bitcoin ETFs will come, key dates and deadlines for Ethereum ETF approvals, Bloomberg Intelligence and James’ story, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Web3 Gaming. A powerful idea whose time has come…again! With Rebecca Liao of Saga Feb 16, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest Rebecca Liao, Co-Founder and CEO at Saga. Listen in as they discuss an update of the past year for Saga, their upcoming $SAGA community genesis airdrop to five different ecosystems, thoughts on crypto loyalty ‘points’ with projects like Blur, the thesis behind modular blockchains and its relevance to Saga, their recent $6.5 million raise plans for the year ahead, if the space is finally ready for consumer crypto applications, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Tether Money Printer Go Brrrrr, Plus when Elon Coin? Feb 08, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss Tether’s 2023 Attestation Report, GoDaddy’s partnership with Ethereum Name Service to bridge domain names with crypto wallets, FTX’s desire to sell 8% Anthropic stake as part of its liquidation process to help make customers “whole,” Farcaster’s frenzy of activity following its frames launch last, the prospect of Twitter as a Web3 protocol, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Is the Bitcoin Halving the Bull Market’s Next Catalyst? Feb 02, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss an update on Bitcoin ETF flows after their first two official trading weeks, Bitcoin’s fast-approaching halving in less than 75 days, Bitwise’s decision to publicly disclose their Bitcoin wallet address, Bitcoin ETF issuers’ fee competition and pledge differentiators, our Bitcoin beard commitment, Noble’s $100 million milestone, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Noble CEO Jelena Juric on Democratizing Dollars and RWAs Jan 25, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest Jelena Djuric, Founder and CEO of Noble. Listen in as they discuss an update following Noble’s launch of bringing USDC to Cosmos, key metrics they use to measure their success, dYdX’s impact on the ecosystem, exciting upcoming projects within Cosmos, some fun facts encompassing demand for the U.S. dollar, Noble’s new partnership with Hashnote, their decision to transition to Interchain Security, what’s next for Noble, Jelena’s Bad Kid NFT, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Bull Market Vibes? We Unveil our Top Web3 Predictions for 2024 Jan 18, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss a roundup of the current crypto market post-ETF approval, the potential for a revenge rally from original alternative layer-1 chains, possible attention shift from underlying fundamentals toward growth, the chance of Ethereum ETFs taking longer than expected, how the stablecoin market could amass to $200 billion by year-end, why enterprise adoption of public blockchains could accelerate in 2024, whether a ‘D Everything’ market will occur this year, and more.

DeFi Decoded - Bitcoin ETFs Get the Green Light, a Conversation with Osmosis Co-Founder Sunny Aggarwal Jan 11, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of Web3 and DeFi with special guest Sunny Aggarwal, Co-Founder of Osmosis. Listen in as they discuss the Bitcoin ETF approvals and their potential implications, the state of Web3 and Osmosis’ role within it, the impact of having native USDC on Cosmos, exciting narratives circulating within the ecosystem, Osmosis’ DEX market share, the prospect of a successful crypto native stablecoin, and more.

DeFi Decoded - dYdX ditches Ethereum and migrates to Cosmos. Why it matters - with Charles d’Haussy of dYdX Jan 04, 2024

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest Charles d’Haussy, CEO of the dYdX Foundation. Listen in as they discuss Charles’ journey into crypto, the history of dYdX, the thought process behind and decision to migrate, the reasoning for Cosmos SDK selection, their rare situation and chance at becoming a profitable protocol, experience moving exchange and users from one network to another, dYdX builders’ product focus moving forward, future growth opportunities for dYdX, Cosmos USD liquidity, some fantastic blockchain analogies, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Top Gaming VC Reveals why Web3 will Reinvent Gaming, The Metaverse and More Dec 21, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of Web3 and gaming with special guest Justin Swart, Principal, Investment Team of BITKRAFT Ventures. Listen in as they discuss BITKRAFT’s discovery of Web3 gaming’s potential, the significance of property rights in gameplay and gaming economics, the gaming market’s biggest opportunity moving forward, the ‘third place’ and its relevance to an increasingly immersive shared internet reality for humanity, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Investing in Web3, the Easy Way with ML Tech Dec 14, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest Leo Mindyuk, Co-Founder and CEO of ML Tech. Listen in as they discuss an overview of ML Tech, Leo’s trading experience and journey into the crypto space, differentiating features from first-generation firms within the decentralized quant trading movement, potential opportunity to become a software provider, popular crypto trading strategies and key differences to those in traditional finance (tradFi), how ML Tech thinks about and manages counterparty risk, which types of investors they’ve had the most traction with, current challenges with deploying institutional capital in DeFi protocols, growth drivers in 2024, interchangeability of strategies, the crypto market’s efficiency moving forward, asset tokenization future market size, and more!

DeFi Decoded - “Silent Rally” Pushes Bitcoin Through $40,000. Where to Next? Dec 08, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss Bitcoin’s ‘silent’ rally beyond $44,000 and its driving forces, crypto market trajectory predictions based on past cycle experiences, interesting metrics regarding retail investor sentiment and Bitcoin supply, the intersection of AI and blockchain as seen in Alex’s AI stack, the growing popularity of Web3 social, how decentralized exchanges’ on-chain trading volumes could surpass CEXs, sustainable growth models, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Missionaries, Mercenaries and Pragmatists - The Debate Between Decentralization and Growth Rages On Dec 01, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss the crypto market rally following Binance’s $4B settlement last week, key signals of growing confidence in Bitcoin ETF approvals, the controversy encompassing Ethereum layer-2 (L2) Blast, the potential upcoming Cosmos fork, and more!

DeFi Decoded - OpenAI drama makes the case for Decentralized AI, plus Binance settles Nov 23, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss OpenAI’s history and structure, Sam Altman’s firing, the importance of decentralized artificial intelligence, Binance’s $4 billion settlement and CZ resignation, NVIDIA’s impact on the crypto space, and more!

DeFi Decoded - We Reveal the Narratives and Themes for the Next Bull Market Nov 16, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss the approaching ‘three horsemen’ crypto catalysts, the potential magnitude of inflows in the event of SEC-approved BTC ETFs, investors' cryptoasset rotation from bitcoin into ethereum and solana, 3iQ’s new Ether Staking ETF, Coinbase’s positioning for the next cycle, builders’ blockchain architecture preferences, Noble's upcoming launch of Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol for USDC, and more!

DeFi Decoded - How Decentralized Computing will Unleash the Spatial Web with Jules Urbach and Trevor Harries-Jones Nov 09, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guests Jules Urbach, CEO of OTOY and Founder of the Render Network, and Trevor Harries-Jones, COO of OTOY and on the Board of Directors for the Render Network Foundation. Listen in as they discuss the Render Network’s origin story, customer preferences on using OTOY versus the decentralized cloud, OTOY’s toolkit compatibility on the Render Network, how it ensures security and privacy for projects, its proof-of-reputation mechanism, having a hash of the rendered visual NFT, performance gap in chips, the Render Network’s thesis encompassing provenance, reasoning for Solana migration and vision, its trajectory in the next five years, and more!

DeFi Decoded - What are Tokenomics? With Mehdi Farooq of Animoca Brands Nov 02, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest Mehdi Farooq, Senior Tokenomics Analyst of Animoca Brands. Listen in as they discuss Mehdi’s day-to-day role, past projects he’s worked on, the intersection of in-game assets with governance models, ApeCoin’s evolution toward ApeChain, exciting ecosystems for developers to build on, token standards’ impact on interoperability, NFTs’ potential for a comeback, leveraging NFTs as collateral for DeFi, and more!

DeFi Decoded - How Bitcoin and Stablecoins Empower the Oppressed Oct 24, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF). Listen in as they discuss the Human Rights Foundation’s purpose, the initial bridging of the HRF and Bitcoin in 2017, the number of charitable organizations leveraging it, reasoning for the lopsided mainstream media narrative surrounding Bitcoin, similarities and differences between Bitcoin and stablecoins, Bitcoin’s future mass adoption, Alex’s 2021 Time Magazine op-ed, resources to learn more about Alex and the HRF, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Bitcoin ETF False Alarm Sends Market into Frenzy Oct 18, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss Cointelegraph’s false U.S. Bitcoin ETF approval report, Grayscale Investments’ cryptoasset trusts’ narrowing spreads, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s interview on the genuine demand for Bitcoin, Marc Andreessen’s recent “The Techno-Optimist,” and more!

DeFi Decoded - Enterprise Blockchain is Dead. Long Live Public Blockchains for the Enterprise! Oct 16, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss an update on the FTX trial after week one in court, the influx of VC funding toward AI-based businesses, a macroeconomic crypto market analysis and potential upcoming catalysts, current enterprise interest and sentiment surrounding public blockchains, which chains these businesses are opting to build upon and why, impressive best seller accolades for Alex’s new Web3 book, a news headline roundup, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Grayscale Applies to Convert Ether Trust into ETF. Plus: FTX Trial Begins Oct 05, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3. Listen in as they discuss Michael Lewis’ new book on FTX’s collapse, his controversial comments regarding Sam Bankman-Fried, Grayscale’s official application to convert its Ethereum Trust (ETHE) into an ETF, Ethereum’s post-Merge performance, outcomes of Bitcoin ETF approvals in the U.S., the hidden significance of Ether futures on its classification, Microsoft’s potential roadmap to include crypto wallet in its next-gen Xbox, and more!

DeFi Decoded - LIVE from Forum Fintech Montreal! Sep 29, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi on center stage at the Canada Fintech Forum 2023 in Montréal. Listen in as they discuss Andrew’s journey into Web3, Uniswap’s revolution, DAO’s incentivization model, use cases for decentralization, SX Network’s role within the ecosystem, importance of smart contracts, balancing technological innovation with inherent risks, Andrew’s optimism for future of crypto, tokenization of U.S. dollar in stablecoins, and more!

DeFi Decoded - How WonderFi’s Dean Skurka thinks about the Role of Centralized Exchanges in Web3 Sep 21, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Dean Skurka, President and CEO of WonderFi. Listen in as they discuss Dean’s crypto journey, WonderFi’s institutional and retail customer breakdown, its regulatory moat, ease of gaining approval on futures versus perps, CeFi exchanges integrating DeFi components, the role of centralized exchanges (CEXs) with evolving decentralized exchanges (DEXs), Canada’s crypto regulatory approach, balancing staking support for various chains with risk mitigation, potential for a CAD-denominated stablecoin, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Building a New Financial Architecture on Top of Bitcoin with Ledn Co-Founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo Sep 14, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of DeFi with special guest Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Ledn. Listen in as they discuss Mauricio’s incredible background and journey into crypto, moving to Canada and Ledn’s development, its core business offerings, its supported cryptoassets for lending, role within the ecosystem, its Bitcoin price exposure risk, competitive environment of yield-paying products, customer base regional breakdown, CeFi vs DeFi future, expanding loan structures to incorporate reputation, and more!

DeFi Decoded - US Moves Closer to Bitcoin ETF Approval Sep 01, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi. Listen in as they discuss Grayscale Investments’ victory in its Bitcoin ETF conversion case, first-mover advantage versus reputation among ETF filers, their underlying subscription and redemption processes, crypto market arbitrage trading strategies, friend.tech’s design and early growth, Digital Currency Group’s deal with Genesis creditors, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Will Canada be a Leader in Web3? A Conversation with Kraken Canada's Mark Greenberg Aug 24, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of DeFi with special guest Mark Greenberg, Managing Director of Canada at Kraken. Listen in as they discuss Mark’s incredible journey, experience at Scotiabank, biggest surprises upon starting work at Kraken, balancing business growth pace with regulations, the pre-registration undertaking process within Canada, pre-registered limitations, restricted versus broker-dealer comparisons, Kraken’s business size metrics, its strategy to address intensified market competition, WonderFi’s full broker-dealer license, countries’ crypto regulatory approaches, and more!

DeFi Decoded - More like CeFi Decoded! Coinbase, WonderFi, and BitGo Make Moves Aug 17, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi. Listen in as they discuss Coinbase receiving approval to list crypto futures in the United States, their official launch in the Canadian market, the current cryptoexchange ecosystem within Canada, BitGo’s $100M raise, Zynga’s first-ever Web3 game, and more!

DeFi Decoded - The USDT Juggernaut Keeps on Rolling, Plus ETHCC and DeFi Woes Aug 03, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi. Listen in as they discuss Andrew’s recent trip to Paris and his on-the-ground key takeaways from EthCC, Tether’s Q2 2023 attestation report, Curve Finance’s exploit and its potentially seismic implications for the DeFi ecosystem and more!

DeFi Decoded - Be Mobile Africa’s Plan to Lift 100 Million People Out of Poverty Using Blockchain and DeFi Jul 27, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Dr. Cédric Jeannot, Co-Founder and CEO of Be Mobile Africa. Listen in as they discuss Cédric’s journey into the blockchain space, Be Mobile Africa’s mission and role, addressing off-ramp implementation challenges, back-end liquidity structure, determining which blockchain to build on, neobank design and functionalities, imperative regulatory considerations, the firm’s long-term vision, market size and growth metrics, Cédric’s experiences with central banks and the existing educational gap, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Investing in Web3 Part 2 with Alex Tapscott Jul 21, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Michael Hainsworth as they engage in an in-depth conversation that explores what using Web3 technology will look like, early enterprise adopters, the impact of decentralization on government and governance, whether lawmakers will get regulation right, examples of successful first-mover companies, gaining exposure to the Web3 asset class, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Simpler Transactions and Mobile-First Approach Will Fuel Mass Adoption Says Crypto VC Charlie Morris Jul 14, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Charlie Morris, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of CMCC Global. Listen in as they discuss the current crypto market cycle phase and next catalyst, the importance of intent-centric designs for Web3 transactions, improving wallets with account abstraction, channels to gain exposure to the user experience adoption thesis, dYdX’s testnet launch on Cosmos, defining MEV, an analogy to the Sovereign Individual, embracing a mobile-first approach, Charlie’s Solana cellphone, thesis area developer activity, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Investing in Web3 part 1 with Alex Tapscott Jul 07, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Michael Hainsworth as they engage in a high-level, beginner-friendly, and educational episode that breaks down Web3 in simple terms, discusses its applications and disruptive potential on financial markets, introduces the Ninepoint Web3 Innovators Fund (TSX: TKN; TKN.U), and more!

DeFi Decoded - Alex Shares a Big Announcement. Also: DeFi’s Growth and Innovation Over the Years Jun 30, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi. Listen in as they discuss Alex’s big announcement on his new book, “Web3: Charting the Internet’s Next Economic and Cultural Frontier,” its structure and focal points, concepts from Niall Ferguson’s “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World,” asset types that hold the greatest disruptive power in a Web3 world, an FTX customer fund recovery update, evaluating innovation within the DeFi space, insuring decentralized protocols, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Bringing Real World Assets into the Digital World – The Noble Approach Jun 23, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guests Jack Zampolin of Strangelove and Jelena Djuric of Noble. Listen in as they discuss Noble’s emerging role in the Cosmos ecosystem onboarding USDC, how they pitched themselves to Circle and won the partner role for Cosmos, the chain’s underlying business model, tokenizing other real-world assets (RWAs) beyond stablecoins, exciting DeFi trends to monitor this upcoming year, the sustainability of different chains’ reward incentives, earning yield by holding stablecoins, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Our 100th Episode! UK Goes all in on Web3, plus the market reacts to the US Regulatory Crackdown Jun 16, 2023

We are celebrating our 100th Episode! Thanks to our listeners and fans for your loyalty, feedback and support. It's been quite a ride, but just like the industry we cover, the future for DeFi Decoded is bright and we're only getting started!

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi. Listen in as they discuss an insightful macro roundup and its implications for crypto, Bitcoin’s newfound divergence from traditional asset classes, current venture capital cheque sizes into Web3 projects, institutional investor sentiment, how the SEC lawsuits last week are affecting altcoins, a16z’s international expansion to the United Kingdom, all-things crypto regulation in the United States, what market phase we may be at, and more!

DeFi Decoded - U.S. Crackdown on Crypto Intensifies. Plus: Making Bitcoin Fun Again! Jun 09, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest FarmerJoe, an OG Bitcoin Ordinal Whale. Listen in as they discuss the definition of a Bitcoin Ordinal, their growth and evolution, their impact on the Bitcoin network, how they take on those that critique them, the sustainability of their demand, whether the network has the capabilities to support them at greater scale, whether Ordinals can bring value and serve as a price catalyst for Bitcoin, the SEC’s recent lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Unpacking Beijing’s Web3 White Paper, Circle’s Euro Coin, and Crypto’s Course Jun 02, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi. Listen in as they discuss Beijing’s recently released “Internet 3.0 Innovation and Development White Paper,” the current standpoint of China’s crypto ecosystem, Circle launching Euro Coin (EUROC) on the Avalanche blockchain, a macroeconomic roundup, predicting the next big crypto market catalyst, assessing Web3 project economics and cost structures, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Casting an Encrypted and Compliant Blockchain with Elena Nadolinski of Iron Fish May 25, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Elena Nadolinski, Founder and CEO of Iron Fish. Listen in as they discuss Elena’s incredible journey from working at Microsoft and Airbnb to Web3, private yet compliant-friendly protocol designs, exciting types of potential new use cases and applications, Iron Fish’s asset issuance functionality and tokenomics, $IRON utility, the network’s node running sustainability, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Opening Your Eyes to Sam Altman’s WorldCoin Crypto Project May 19, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi. Listen in as they discuss a roundup of current macroeconomic themes, the looming debt ceiling situation in the United States, potential Bitcoin selling pressure resulting from the U.S. government’s Silk Road seizure, newfound popularity of Bitcoin ordinals, and all things OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s crypto project, WorldCoin!

DeFi Decoded - Is America Closing its Doors to Web3? With Sheila Warren of the Crypto Council for Innovation May 11, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of DeFi with special guest Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation. Listen in as they discuss Sheila’s Web3 origin story, experience spearheading blockchain at the World Economic Forum, day-to-day work at the Crypto Council for Innovation and its source of funding, root causes of the banking crisis, the big geopolitical picture in the race to establish clear legislation governing crypto, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Consensus Time - What’s Going on in Web3 May 03, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi. Listen in as they discuss Alex’s insights from the Consensus 2023 conference, the state of venture capital funding, a macroeconomic market analysis, factors that may impact crypto moving forward, Bitcoin’s halving less than a year away, Coinbase’s international perps exchange, and more!

DeFi Decoded - From NASA’s Lab to Web3’s Frontier: A Cosmic Journey with Chjango Unchained of Interchain.FM Apr 28, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of DeFi with special guest Chjango Unchained, Host of Interchain.FM. Listen in as they discuss Chjango’s incredible journey into Web3, experience working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, the importance of an ecosystem development role, what’s happening in Web3, exciting projects in Cosmos, Interchain.FM’s audience, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Sky’s the Limit: The Potential of Web3 Gaming with Aleksander Larsen of Sky Mavis Apr 18, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Aleksander Larsen, COO and Co-Founder of Sky Mavis. Listen in as they discuss Aleksander’s intersection of gaming and Web3, experience with and learning lessons from Axie Infinity, exciting blockchain-based gaming applications, the response from large traditional gaming studios, the future outlook for Web3 gaming adoption, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Web3 vs Climate Change: Carbon Credits Go Digital with Gregory Landua of the Regen Network Apr 13, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Gregory Landua, CEO and Co-Founder of the Regen Network. Listen in as they discuss Gregory’s discovery of Web3 as a potential solution for ecological and social regeneration, overcoming critiques surrounding blockchain energy consumption, addressing counterparty risk with tokenized assets, monitoring to ensure standards of on-chain credits, liquidity formations, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Disrupting the Creator Economy Through Decentralization with pplpleasr of Shibuya Apr 06, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of DeFi with special guest pplpleasr, a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on Web3, NFTs, crypto, DAOs, and philanthropy. Listen in as they discuss pplpleasr’s fascinating Web3 origin, Shibuya’s story, the evolving IP model landscape, their recent $6.9 million funding round, next steps for the studio and platform, generative AI and art opportunities, and more!

DeFi Decoded - The New Frontier of Web3 Credit Scores with Sishir Varghese of Spectral Finance Mar 30, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott as he decodes the world of DeFi with special guest Sishir Varghese, CEO and Founder at Spectral. Listen in as they discuss Sishir’s journey into crypto, Spectral Finance’s founding, how the Spectral protocol works, its different customer use cases, reactions from traditional credit bureaus, the future of Spectral, and more!

Sishir has been an active supporter and investor in the cryptocurrency space since 2014, having previously founded and managed venture firm Alphachain Capital, working closely with entrepreneurs and builders. Founded in 2020 by Sishir in New York, Spectral Finance is a protocol designed to evaluate on-chain creditworthiness, allowing users to monitor their credit scores and risk insights. Users can review high-risk loan activity through the platform, view current positions, and receive low health warnings across different DeFi protocols. The MACRO Score is the world's first-ever Web3 credit score that is a numerical representation of an individual's on-chain creditworthiness; Spectral has generated over 50,000 MACRO scores for its users. Spectral's partners gain valuable access to credit risk insights for business decisions and offerings by leveraging on-chain data while users gain exposure to new financial opportunities. Spectral raised $23 million in August 2022, led by Circle Ventures and nine other investors.

Tune in to the 89th DeFi Decoded episode to hear Alex and Sishir discuss all things Spectral Finance. What lured Sishir into crypto in 2014, and what ultimately led to his founding of Spectral? How does Spectral’s MACRO credit score work, and which traditional themes were leveraged in its design? What is the competition like for Web3 credit scores, and how have legacy credit bureaus reacted to Spectral’s success?

TIMESTAMPS

[0:00] Introduction [3:32] Crypto Origin Story [4:49] Life Before Spectral [7:40] Spectral Founding [11:01] How Spectral Works [12:21] User Personas and Uses [15:22] Tracking Users With Multiple Addresses [17:30] Growth in Different Global Regions [21:40] Reactions from Legacy Businesses [24:15] MACRO Score Design Rationale [25:40] Web3 Competition Outlook For Credit Score [29:00] Future of Spectral [32:09] Conclusion

DeFi Decoded - Inside the World’s Largest Web3 Gaming Guild with Beryl Li of Yield Guild Games Mar 29, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Beryl Li, Co-Founder at Yield Guild Games (YGG). Listen in as they discuss Beryl’s journey into Web3, YGG’s inception, the community’s rebranding, Web3 gaming genres, game development trends, the open metaverse, the future of YGG, and more!

DeFi Decoded - How Web3 Empowers Arists and their Fans with Roneil Rumburg of Audius Mar 23, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Roneil Rumburg, CEO and Co-Founder at Audius. Listen in as they discuss Roneil’s ride to founding Audius, how music consumption has evolved from traditional forms, $AUDIO’s tokenomics, critical considerations for Audius’ three-sided marketplace, what’s in store for Audius’s future, and more!

DeFi Decoded - What’s Next on the Ethereum Roadmap with Tim Beiko, Ethereum Core Developer Mar 16, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Tim Beiko, a core developer and key figure in the Ethereum Foundation. Listen in as they discuss Tim’s Web3 origin story, events leading up to and after The Merge, the significance of the Shanghai Fork, and more!

DeFi Decoded - Mapping the World - One HONEY Token at a Time with Ariel Seidman of Hivemapper Mar 09, 2023

Tune in to the 85th DeFi Decoded episode to hear Alex, Andrew, and Ariel discuss all things Hivemapper and how they are revolutionizing map creation via ownership. How did non-crypto native Ariel find himself at the epicentre of a decentralized mapping platform? What noteworthy aspects from Helium and Waze does Hivemapper leverage? Which global regions are the most active, and how do their contributor counts affect overall reward capture? Tune in!

DeFi Decoded - Exploring the Potential of Web3 in Africa Mar 02, 2023

Tune in to the 84th DeFi Decoded episode to hear Alex and Andrew discuss all things DeFi and learn more about the crypto landscape in Africa. What is going on in South Africa? Why might Africa play a leading role in Web3? How can Africa potentially leap frog its legacy financial infrastructure to tap into Web3?

DeFi Decoded - “What Chains Are Worth Betting On” With Jake Hannah of SX Bet Feb 23, 2023

Join Andrew Young as he decodes the world of DeFi with special guest Jake Hannah, Co-Founder of SX Bet. Listen in as they discuss the NFT regulatory environment, exciting perpetual future projects, layer-2 blockchains, EVM-compatible chains, Polygon’s financial health, and the overall value capture of many of the top projects.

DeFi Decoded - "Making Polygon DeFi More Accessible Than Running Water", with Hamzah Khan of Polygon Technologies Feb 16, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Hamzah Khan, Head of DeFi at Polygon Technologies. Listen in as they discuss Polygon, the future of DeFi, app chain trends, and more!

Polygon is a layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution that enables developers to build scalable, user-friendly, and secure decentralized applications (dApps) by “bringing the world to Ethereum.” As the Head of Defi, Hamzah remains committed to developing Polygon’s cutting-edge technology to grow further the 37,000+ Web3 applications utilizing Polygon. Hamzah is also an angel investor who personally invests in various DeFi and Web3 infrastructure companies.

Tune in to the 82nd DeFi Decoded episode to hear Alex, Andrew, and Hamzah discuss all things DeFi and learn more about Polygon. How have Hamzah’s two years at Polygon been? What is it that has allowed Polygon to be so successful with business development execution? What does the future of Polygon and DeFi look like?

DeFi Decoded - “Web3 for Gamers: The Saga Experience” With Rebecca Liao of Saga Feb 10, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi with special guest Rebecca Liao, Co-Founder and CEO at Saga. Listen in as they discuss Saga, Rebecca’s incredible past leading into Web3, Web3 Gaming and Entertainment ecosystems, and more! Rebecca Liao is the CEO of Saga, a Web3 protocol for launching dedicated blockchains. Saga allows developers to create their own blockchains with just a single click. It provides dedicated runtime environments for high performance and low, predictable gas fees. Users can freely transfer assets between ecosystems using Saga's dedicated chains, which are IBC+ enabled. Rebecca was previously a Co-Founder and COO at Skuchain, a top blockchain company in trade and supply chain finance, reaching $5 billion in annual volume under her leadership. Rebecca is an Advisor to Sommelier Protocol, a Fellow at Stanford Law, Science, and Technology, and has a background in law, writing, and advising presidential campaigns with the Biden and Clinton administrations. Tune in to the 81st DeFi Decoded episode to hear Alex, Andrew, and Rebecca discuss all things Web3 Gaming and learn more about Saga. What led Rebecca to dive into the world of Web3, and what is her experience with presidential campaigning? How does Saga work for users? Which ecosystems should we be most excited about?

DeFi Decoded - Will Algorithmic Stablecoins Ever Work? With Sasha Ivanov of Waves Feb 02, 2023

Join Alex Tapscott and Andrew Young as they decode the world of DeFi and Web3 with special guest Sasha Ivanov, Waves Ecosystem Founder. Today’s topic: algorithmic stablecoins. Will they ever work? Waves is a global open-source platform for decentralized applications launched in 2016, based on proof-of-stake consensus and a community-driven technology stack. Ivanov has announced plans to launch a new stablecoin after their current USDN algorithmic stablecoin in the Waves ecosystem depegged, angering many in the Waves ecosystem. Tune in to the 80th DeFi Decoded episode to hear Alex, Andrew, and Sasha discuss all things stablecoins and learn more about Waves.

DeFi Decoded - How Should We Value Digital Assets? with Sam Andrew Jan 26, 2023

On today’s episode of DeFi Decoded, Alex and Andrew sit down with crypto researcher Sam Andrew. Sam cut his teeth as an equity and fixed income analyst at a prominent New York-based hedge fund before turning his attention to Web3. His training on Wall Street has helped him bring a rigour and discipline to analyzing this new asset class. But it also forced him to re-train his brain to rethink valuation methodology and come up with some new ways to understand this technology. We discuss: does “value” exist in Web3? What are the top metrics we can use to measure it? Which assets does Sam think are undervalued, and which are overvalued based on his reasoning? Tune in to find out!

DeFi Decoded - Ethereum goes Ultra-Sound! Is ETH the New Digital Gold? Jan 19, 2023

On today’s episode, Andrew and Alex talk about crypto’s stellar start to 2023. Since the beginning of the year, Bitcoin and Ethereum are up more than 20% while some smaller names like Solana have fared even better. Is this a dead cat bounce? Short covering? A macro-driven rally lifting all risk-on boats? Or is this the start of a new bull market? Next they talk about how Ethereum is becoming ‘ultra-sound’ meaning net new-issuance of tokens is flat or declining. How does Ethereum compare to other big profitable enterprises like Apple who use excess profit to buy back stock much in the same way the Ethereum network uses excess network fees to retire ETH (a process known as ‘burning’). As always, a little knowledge of traditional finance is helpful to understanding Web3!

DeFi Decoded - Solana Survived! Plus: 2023 Crypto Predictions (Part 2)! Jan 12, 2023

On this episode, Alex and Andrew briefly summarize the situation with Solana. It turns out reports of the death of the once-ascendant Layer 1 blockchain were premature. Then, Alex shares his four Web3 predictions for 2023. First, enterprise adoption of Web3 will accelerate rather than slow down. Second, DeFi will grow beyond the insular crypto community because of better reputation scoring and the integration of real assets. Third, Web3 gaming will drive the next wave of digital asset adoption. New Web3 games will make earning and owning a nice to have rather than the point of the game. Fourth, the U.S. will pass a major law around crypto. Alex is cautiously optimistic the blockchain caucus in the U.S. congress and the Web3 lobby can steward this towards a reasonable outcome, but it comes with plenty of risks. Tune in to hear more!

DeFi Decoded - Can Solana Survive? Plus: 2023 Crypto Predictions! Jan 05, 2023

Happy New Year! On today’s episode of DeFi Decoded, Andrew and Alex discuss the situation with Solana. The prominent Layer 1 blockchain was heavily backed by disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankamn Fried. Solana was once dubbed an Ethereum killer and at its zenith had a market capitalization of $70 billion. Today it is fighting for its survival. Andrew explains why the current collapse, while painful, could set up Solana for a new era of more sustainable growth, so long as it can survive in the short term. Then, Andrew gives us his top three predictions for 2023. What are they? Tune in to find out.

DeFi Decoded - 2022: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Plus: 2023 Outlook and More! Dec 22, 2022

On this episode of DeFi Decoded, Alex and Andew sit down with Tom Dunleavy, Senior Research Analyst at Messari. 2022 was crypto’s annus horribilis so they start with post-mortem for a challenging year. There were some huge setbacks, notably the collapse of FTX and other centralized exchanges and lending platforms, but also several major breakthroughs, such as the Ethereum Merge. Next, they discuss the outlook for 2023 and talk about core themes for investors, users, and builders in 2023, including the rise of app-chains, Web3 gaming, enterprise adoption, distributed physical infrastructure (DE-PIN), the future of layer 2’s and competing layer 1’s, and preview Messari’s Crypto Theses report, which will be released before year-end.

DeFi Decoded - How a Renowned Hollywood Screenwriter Became a Web3 Entrepreneur Dec 16, 2022

Hollywood screenwriter Jesse Nickson-Lopez has brought some of modern TV’s most indelible characters to life. As a founding member of the writing team on Stranger Things, she developed the storyline for the character Eleven and has written for The Outsiders, Narcos: Mexico, and other hit shows. Her next project, Lucia, will be directed by Damian Chazelle, the Academy Award-winning director of La La Land and Whiplash. At age 35, she has a résumé most writers aspire to. Despite her success, she considers screenwriting her day job. By night, she is the co-ounder of Web3 startup MV3. At the intersection of storytelling and technology, MV3 promises to disrupt TV, film, and the Hollywood business model itself. In this episode of DeFi Decoded, Alex and Andrew chat with Jesse and MV3 co-founder Torey Kohara about how Web3 can reimagine storytelling and the business of entertainment.

DeFi Decoded - Introducing our New Co-Host, Chat-GPT (Alex, you’re fired!) Dec 08, 2022

On this week’s episode of DeFi Decoded, Alex and Andrew talk about OpenAI’s smash hit Chat GTP and how Andrew is using it to unlock new capabilities, debug software and accelerate the growth of SX Network. On the topic of SX, Andrew gives us a sneak peek into the roadmap for the SX Network Merge, and shares his vision for how prediction markets can help solve big problems, manage risk and support new governance models. But before all that, Alex tells us about his recent trip to Turkey where he was the keynote speaker at the Turkish Capital Markets Congress. Plagued by inflation many in Turkey have chosen crypto as an off-ramp. Alex was very impressed by the working knowledge of Web3 in many of the country’s leading financial firms. The future of Web3 in Turkey looks bright!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected