Flippening - For Crypto Investors

Latest Episodes:

Understanding China's Largest Blockchain Fund w/ Eric Meltzer of INBlockchain, Part 1 (Ep. 0017) May 17, 2018

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Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

The Nomics API offers squeaky clean and normalized primary source cryptocurrency trade data offered through fast and modern endpoints. Instead of having to integrate with a bunch of exchange APIs of varying quality, you can get everything through one screaming fast firehose. If you’ve found that you or your developer has to spend too much time cleaning up and maintaining cryptoasset datasets, instead of identifying investing/trading opportunities . . . or if you’re tired of interpolated data and want raw primary source trades delivered simply and consistently, with top-notch support and SLAs, then check us out at Nomics.com.

My guest today is Eric Meltzer, and this is part one of my conversation with him.

Eric is a partner at INBlockchain, China’s oldest and largest institutional crypto asset and blockchain fund.

To give you a sense of INBlockchain’s size and scope, consider that they recently announced a $1.6 Billion dollar fund with 30% coming from the Hangzhou government.

When people talk about institutional investing, these are the kinds of numbers they’re referring to. It’s a fascinating interview.

Part 2: Ateet Ahluwalia of CoVenture Crypto (Ep. 0016) May 17, 2018

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Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

This is part 2 of my conversation with Ateet Ahluwalia.

I really enjoyed the content from part 1 and I wanted to give you a second chance to hear from Ateet and tease the first episode.

If you didn’t catch our previous episode, here’s some background: Ateet is Managing Director at CoVenture Crypto, and in a past life, he was a Macro Credit Trader at Barclays, a Macro Portfolio Manager at Bluecrest Capital, and a Credit Index Trader at Goldman Sachs.

In part 1 of this two-part interview, we discussed quantitative crypto investing, the values of quantitative trading, why whatever idea you have must be quantified, and how Ateet's investment research during the Cyprus bailout led him to Bitcoin.

In this, part 2 of our conversation, we play a fun lightning round game of over-rated / under-rated, discuss the impact that regulation is likely to have on the space, and take stock of the real impact that our community is having on the world.

Quantitative Crypto Investing w/ Ateet Ahluwalia of CoVenture Crypto, Part 1 (Ep. 0015) May 03, 2018

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Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

My guest today is Ateet Ahluwalia, and this is part one of my conversation with him.

Ateet is a Managing Director at CoVenture Crypto.

Prior to CoVenture, Ateet was a Macro Credit Trader at Barclays, a Macro Portfolio Manager at BlueCrest Capital, and a Credit Index Trader at Goldman Sachs. Ateet is a trader’s trader and a quantitative investor through and through. He’s also one of the most disciplined thinkers in our space.

I should note the one singular theme driving through this entire conversation is encapsulated by the phrase Ateet repeats over and over again, quote: “it’s all just a number on the screen”

Ateet’s entry into the space is indicative of an industry that’s evolving past offering basic exposure to investors to an industry offering investors the ability to allocate capital behind particular pureplay strategies.

Ari Nazir of Neural Capital On What's Overrated & Underrated in Crypto, Part 2 (Ep. 0014) Apr 24, 2018

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Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

This is part 2 of my conversation with Ari Nazir.

I was so happy with the content in part 1, that I decided to create this second episode from my conversation with Ari.

If you didn’t catch our previous episode, here’s some background: Ari is a founder and managing partner at Neural Capital, an advisor at Protocol Ventures, and Chief Investment Officer at Apex Token Fund.

He’s also outperformed almost every Crypto hedge around with a regulated, San Francisco based fund.

In part 1 of this interview we discussed, among other things, sentiment and momentum investing, some of Ari’s other favorite indicators, and Ari’s strategy of shorting everything pitched on CNBC fast money. If you haven’t listened to that episode, I’d go and do that now.

In this, part 2 of our conversation, we play a lightning round game of over over-rated / under-rated.

I hope you enjoy the conclusion of my conversation with Ari Nazir.

Sentiment & Momentum Investing w/ Ari Nazir of Neural Capital, Part 1 (Ep. 0013) Apr 18, 2018

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Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

My guest today is Ari Nazir and this is one of our top 3 episodes to date.

Ari is a founder and managing partner at Neural Capital. I met Ari in part because I’m a limited partner in Protocol Ventures, which we covered in a previous episode. Protocol Ventures is a Fund of Funds with a portfolio that includes prominent crypto asset hedge funds like BlockTower Capital, Metastable, PolyChain, and Ari’s Neural Capital.

As an LP of protocol ventures, I get to see how these funds are performing; these reports made it clear to me that I needed to have Ari on the show.

Ari is without a doubt one of the top minds in crypto investing, and I think you’ll find this episode to be as funny as it is informative.

Masternode Businesses & Going Public w/ Troy Wong of Neptune Dash (Ep. 0012) Mar 29, 2018

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Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

My guest today is Troy Wong, CFO and Co-Founder of Neptune DASH, which he took public in January 2018 in Canada on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Neptune DASH is the first Dash masternode company; it currently runs 18 masternodes, each of which generates about 6.8 DASH per month.

Neptune DASH’s business reminds us of proof-of-stake and proof-of-work mining businesses, with some characteristics of direct exposure investment vehicles like the Bitcoin investment trust, but there’s nothing else like this business model around.

I’m presenting this conversation to you as part of our attempt to broadly cover regulated businesses with cryptocurrency roots.

This is an interesting episode because there are no direct analogies to Neptune DASH’s business model in the traditional financial world.

The Future of Nomics & Cryptocurrency Data w/ Rob Paone of the Crypto Bobby Podcast (Ep. 0011) Mar 14, 2018

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My guest today is actually . . . me (Clay Collins).

On this episode, you will hear a very special interview conducted by Rob Paone, the host of the Crypto Bobby Podcast

A few weeks ago, Rob interviewed me for his podcast and I liked the content so much that I asked Rob if I could air a modified version of that conversation here for you today. He generously said yes, so here we are.

You're probably used to me being the one asking the questions. In this episode, we flip the script and I hope you enjoy what happens when the tables are turned.

Topics include:

Nomics' origin story and what led myself and my co-founder to start Nomics.
A high-level overview of what Nomics is involved in at the moment.
What the future product roadmap for Nomics looks like, and the importance of our forthcoming API product.
Why we think we have the cleanest data in the space.
The evolution of institutional participation in crypto investing and some of the top lessons learned thus far from the Flippening Podcast.
The difference between Alpha and Beta gains.
The ethics of crypto asset liquidity events or ICOs.
The evolution of ICO fundraising.
Crypto index funds and crypto funds of funds.
Why I'm so interested in decentralized exchanges.
Our favorite crypto projects right now.
Please enjoy this conversation between myself and Rob Paone.

Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

Crypto Index Funds & the Bitwise Hold 10 Index w/ Hunter Horsley from Bitwise Asset Management (Ep. 0010) Feb 27, 2018

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My guest today is Hunter Horsley.

Hunter is the co-founder and CEO of Bitwise Asset Management, which operates the first crypto-index fund called the HOLD 10, which tracks the top 10 crypto assets weighted by inflation-adjusted market cap.

The HOLD 10 Index fund has several hundreds of investors that range from billionaires to professors, to large RIA firms.

What’s notable about this interview is that Hunter’s business model is the antithesis of hedge funds’.

The indexing approach is about collecting small fees from lots of investors, and about passive methodologies winning over an active "coin picking" strategies. It’s a belief that a properly formed index can beat hedge fund performance without source code reviews, meeting founders, or creating value hypothesis.

Hunter’s thoughts and worldviews are sobering counterpoints to some of this podcast’s most popular interviews.

ShapeShift's Anonymous COO on Operating One Of Crypto's Largest Exchanges (Ep. 0009) Feb 13, 2018

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My guest today is a guy named "Jon." Jon wouldn’t tell me his last name or where he’s located.

Jon isn't a mysterious figure I met on an underground Telegram pump-and-dump group or a darknet market operator.

To the contrary, he's the COO of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world: ShapeShift.io.

Over time, ShapeShift is becoming somewhat of a crypto conglomerate. They recently purchased Hardware wallet maker KeepKey. They also run the pricing website CoinCap and the do-it-yourself index fund creation tool, Prism (currently in private beta).

In this episode, I wanted to speak with the person in charge of end-to-end operations at ShapeShift. This conversation yields an inside look at one of the cryosphere's most influential companies.

Topics include:

The thesis that ties together ShapeShift's products, brands, and websites.
How ShapeShift is similar to decentralized exchanges, and how it’s different.
ShapeShift’s product for creating your own crypto hedge fund, called Prism.
The mechanics of how Prism works, and how Prism creates Ethereum-based smart contracts.
What ShapeShift's organizational structure looks like.
Why people who run exchanges tend to stay out of the public eye.
ShapeShift’s relationship with other exchange operators
How running a non-custodial exchange differs from running a custodial exchange.
Why cryptocurrency exchanges get a bad rap.

Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

Selling vs. Borrowing Against Your Cryptoassets w/ Dhruv Bansal of Unchained Capital (Ep. 0008) Jan 30, 2018

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Our guest on today's show is Dhruv Bansal.

Dhruv is the co-founder of Unchained Capital, which offers individual and commercial cash loans to US individuals and businesses who can provide Bitcoin as collateral. This is an interesting service because it lets you take out a cash loan on your crypto assets so you can benefit from your bitcoin wealth without having to sell your favorite investment.

In essence, Unchained Capital is a services layer available to users of the bitcoin blockchain and is part of a growing trend towards making traditional financial services available to crypto asset holders.

This is a fascinating offering, and bitcoin holders seem to be really excited about this trend.

P.S. You might remember Dhruv from Episode 6, where we discussed the top soundbites and talks from Coindesk’s Consensus Invest Conference.

Topics include:

Why someone might take out a crypto asset-backed loan.
The tax advantages of borrowing against vs. selling your bitcoin.
The fact that 60% of bitcoins haven’t been spent in the last year, and how this discovery led to the formation of Dhruv’s business.
What sets Unchained Capital’s product offering apart from other crypto loan products.
The parameters around Dhruv’s offering, including loan interest rates, loan terms, fees, etc.
Why Unchained Capital doesn’t do credit checks and how they handle volatility.
How Unchained stores collateral and how they let you monitor it while it’s in their custody.
How much money they have lent out thus far.
Dhruv’s views on the industry and how he sees his product roadmap evolving over time.

Note: This Episode of Flippening is Made Possible by Nomics' free Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin API.

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