Raoul Pal: The Journey Man

Latest Episodes:

3AC, Grayscale Face New Legal Challenges Dec 07, 2022

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Hedge fund Fir Tree Capital Management is suing Grayscale Investments, the operator of the world's largest Bitcoin fund, for "potential mismanagement and conflicts of interest," according to a complaint filed Tuesday in Delaware Chancery Court. Separately, a federal judge authorized the issuance of subpoenas to former leadership of bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital covering any "recorded information, including books, documents, records, and papers" related to its finances and assets. Jeremy Varlow and guest host Luke Franks of the Welcome to the Metaverse podcast discuss the latest developments on the legal front at the top of today’s Real Vision Crypto Daily Briefing. Later, DappRadar CEO Skirmantas Januskas joins Jeremy and Luke live to talk about the latest trends in Web3 gaming, the metaverse, and NFTs, including Animoca Brands' acquisition of PIXELYNX.

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Circle's SPAC Is Down the Drain Dec 06, 2022

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USDC issuer Circle has abandoned its plan to go public via a “special purpose acquisition company” merger with Concorde Acquisition Corp, which is led by former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond. At the top of today’s Real Vision Crypto Daily Briefing, Elaine Ly and Ash Bennington talk about why Circle and Concorde are walking away from a deal that valued the stablecoin group at up to $9 billion. Later, Diogo Mónica, the co-founder and president of digital assets custodian Anchorage Digital, joins Ash and Elaine to discuss lessons institutional investors can learn about crypto custody from the unfolding FTX meltdown. Diogo, Ash, and Elaine also take up Nexo’s phase-out of its U.S. products, Rep. Maxine Waters’s insistence that Sam Bankman-Fried attend a hearing next week on Capitol Hill, and the Federal Trade Commission’s investigations of multiple crypto companies over allegations of false advertising.

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So, How Much Are We Talking Here? Dec 05, 2022

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Prominent among the casualties of FTX’s collapse is Genesis Global Capital, a lending arm of crypto empire Digital Currency Group. And, when Genesis halted redemptions in November, one of its victims was Gemini's Earn program. Recent reports by the Financial Times and CoinDesk reveal how much money Gemini other customers are trying to recover from Genesis. At the top of today’s Real Vision Crypto Daily Briefing, Nico Brugge and Ash Bennington discuss what we know about the scale of the problem so far. Later, David Maria, the head of litigation and regulatory affairs at crypto exchange Bittrex, joins Nico and Ash to discuss the regulatory landscape, FTX hearings in the U.S. Congress (to which SBF sent an unusual RVSP), and the landmark SEC vs Ripple case that's finally nearing its conclusion.

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WSJ Raises New Questions About Tether Loans Dec 02, 2022

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Tether is discovering that, once asked, questions about its financial position will persist. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the largest stablecoin by market capitalization is “lending its own coins to customers rather than selling them for hard currency upfront.” Tether denies this characterization of its lending practices. At the top of today’s Real Vision Crypto Daily Briefing, Jeremy Varlow and Ash Bennington discuss the validity of the WSJ’s report. Later, Jeremy and Ash welcome Framework Ventures co-founders Michael Anderson and Vance Spencer to talk about the crypto market in the aftermath of the FTX meltdown, including what venture capitalists are thinking right now and how regulation might be shaped by recent events. We also assess Magic Eden’s decision to offer enforced royalties on NFT sales.

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SBF Tries To Spin the NYT Dec 01, 2022

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It was a long-booked interview barely anyone believed would actually happen. But Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, did show up via remote video for The New York Times’ DealBook Summit. And he did sit for questioning by Andrew Ross Sorkin. Elaine Ly and Santiago Velez, a co-founder and the R&D Division Lead at Block Digital, talk about what did and what did not come out of the conversation at the top of today’s Real Vision Crypto Daily Briefing. Andrew Keys, a co-founder of DARMA Capital and an Ethereum bull, joins Elaine and Santiago to share his take on the FTX debacle. Elaine, Santiago, and Andrew also discuss the current state of the crypto market, LBRY's fatal battle with the SEC, and Telegram's plan to launch a wallet and a decentralized exchange.

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This Is Why Crypto Will Live Nov 30, 2022

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After an abundance of bankruptcies, multiple market crashes, proliferating scams, and a lot of plain old bad news, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little despondent about crypto right now. So we're happy to share some good stuff at the top of today’s Real Vision Crypto Daily Briefing: Paul Guerra and Elaine Ly talk about Brazil legalizing crypto payments, Binance entering Japan, and Animoca Brands earmarking huge investment in the metaverse. Later, Ethereum Name Service co-founder and lead developer Nick Johnson and Coinbase head of identity product management Alex Reeve join Paul and Elaine to explain how CeFi and DeFi players are teaming up to make Web3 an easier, more secure, generally better experience.

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BlockFi Wants Its Robinhood Shares From SBF Nov 29, 2022

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Just hours after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, crypto lender BlockFi fired off another court motion, this time aimed at Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX. BlockFi alleges SBF pledged shares of trading company Robinhood as collateral on BlockFi and now wants to seize the stock. On this edition of Real Vision Crypto Daily Briefing, Nico Brugge and Elaine Ly discuss this latest development as the tangled web of FTX links becomes a little clearer with each day. Nico and Elaine also welcome Kristin Smith, executive director of the Blockchain Association, to talk about the incoming changes to the regulatory landscape in the wake of FTX's collapse, upcoming hearings in the U.S. Congress, a new JPMorgan report that will be a welcome read to people running centralized exchanges, and Kraken settling for apparent breach of Iran sanctions.

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BlockFi Writes Its Own Chapter 11 Nov 28, 2022

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Crypto lender BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., becoming the latest company to collapse due to an FTX shockwave that shows little sign of abating. Digital financial services company BitGo has been chosen by FTX as the custodian of the bankrupt crypto exchange's remaining assets. And BitGo CEO Mike Belshe joins Jeremy Varlow and Moritz Seibert for today’s Crypto Daily Briefing to talk about his company’s role in the process of identifying, gathering, and securing assets for FTX creditors. Later, Tania Reif, the chief investment officer at Senda Digital Assets, joins for a discussion of Bahamian officials’ defense of their country's crypto regulatory regime, Binance’s expansion of its industry recovery fund, and MetaMask’s user data controversy.

This episode is sponsored by The Crypto App.

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FTX Says Much of Its Crypto Is Gone Nov 23, 2022

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Revealing that a “substantial amount” of the collapsed crypto exchange’s assets are either missing or stolen, attorney for new management James Bromley also described FTX as the “personal fiefdom” of co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried during the first U.S. bankruptcy court hearing on the matter on Tuesday. Marco Olivera and Ash Bennington welcome Mike Alfred, a value investor and the managing partner at Alpine Fox, and Sam Kessler, a reporter for CoinDesk, to talk about the latest developments in the FTX saga as well as CZ’s Coinbase tweet, Grayscale’s reserve problems, and Genesis’s unwinding fate for the final Crypto Daily Briefing of the week.

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Is Genesis the Next Domino To Fall? Nov 22, 2022

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Bitcoin fell to $15,600 on Monday evening as mainstream media outlets honed in on Genesis, the digital-assets brokerage arm of the Digital Currency Group conglomerate. Bloomberg is reporting that Genesis has been seeking $1 billion in emergency funding following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Wall Street Journal sources say the brokerage approached Binance and private equity giant Apollo Global Management for the cash and was rejected by the former. Santiago Velez, co-founder and R&D Division Lead at Block Digital, joins Ash Bennington for today’s Real Vision Crypto Daily Briefing to talk about Genesis's potential bankruptcy. Later, Santiago and Ash welcome Ian Andrews, the chief marketing officer at Chainalysis, and Drew Hill, general counsel at Valkyrie Investments, for a panel discussion on Genesis and a U.S. investigation into FTX and the major hole in its finances.

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