Stay ConnectedThe crypto native’s podcast for DeFi, NFTs, and Web 3. .
Jason Choi (@mrjasonchoi), full-time crypto investor since 2018, goes deep into the technology and economics behind crypto projects to dissect trends and themes in a global context.
Nothing on this show is financial advice. Blockcrunch and its personnel may hold positions in assets discussed on the show.
Crypto games often face criticism for being unpolished and lacking quality, but Illuvium is unlikely to face this issue. Built by a team of 220 people, $35 million has been reportedly invested over 2 years in building this AAA Sci-Fi game world - and they're expected to launch their games this year
Today, we have Kieran Warwick, Co-Founder of Illuvium, to share with us:
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction to Illuvium
(00:04:06) – Illuvium's Founding Story
(00:07:25) – Inside Illuvium's gaming world
(00:13:25) – Investing/building Web 3 vs Traditional games
(00:19:05) – Illuvium's business model
(00:23:14) – Vision for the future
(00:27:04) – Reasons for launching $ILV token before the game
(00:30:36) – Building on ImmutableX
(00:35:31) – Strategy to onboard first 10k users vs 10mil users
(00:42:58) – Upcoming releases that players should be excited for
More Resources:
Guest
Illuvium's Website: https://illuvium.io/
Illuvium's Twitter: https://twitter.com/illuviumio
Kieran's Twitter: https://twitter.com/KieranWarwick
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
Disclaimer:
The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about
Crypto markets are off to a bullish start in the new year, and one of the projects that have renewed a ton of community interest is Frax - the only semi-algorithmic stablecoin that has actually persisted throughout 2022's thick and thin without depegging.
Today, we have Sam Kazemian, Founder of Frax, to share with us:
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction to Frax
(00:04:10) – Major milestones for Frax in 2022
(00:07:12) – Frax's 2023 roadmap
(00:13:25) – Decentralization vs Capital Efficiency vs Scaling
(00:21:20) – Frax as the central bank of DeFi
(00:27:15) – Frax's version of liquid staking ETH
(00:45:04) – Path to decentralizing the ETH PoS validator distribution
(00:50:50) – Handling slashing
(00:55:54) – Frax's yield mechanism on staked ETH
(00:59:38) – Major initiatives to increase Frax adoption
More Resources:
Guest
Frax's Twitter: https://twitter.com/fraxfinance
Sam Kazemian's: https://twitter.com/samkazemian
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
Disclosures:
The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
P.S Blockcrunch VIP subs can access exclusive alpha from Hal in our part 2 interview over at http://bit.ly/3iTnsS4
2022 was one of the toughest years to be in crypto with even professional investors suffering from 80-90% losses.
However, crypto hedge fund North Rock Digital reportedly navigated 2022's crises nimbly, and its founder quickly rose to prominence on Twitter for his timely and decisive market commentary.
Today, we have Hal, Founder of North Rock Digital, to share with us:
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction to Hal
(00:05:21) – North Rock Digital's thesis
(00:11:13) – Equities versus Crypto investing
(00:15:36) – Identifying investable narratives
(00:17:58) – How Hal played the ETH merge
(00:22:26) – Thesis on Short BTC Long ETH
(00:26:56) – Positioning, sizing and exiting trades
(00:34:36) – 1 vertical that Hal is bullish on
More Resources:
Guest
Hal Press' Twitter: https://twitter.com/NorthRockLP
North Rock Digital's Website: https://northrockdigital.com/
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
Disclosures:
The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
Since 2020, the development of the Web 3 space has arguably validated the value propositions of decentralized blockchains. However, Web 3 today primarily serves crypto-natives and exists as a subset of the internet.
An up-and-coming vertical of projects known as Consumer Vertical focuses on helping empower the everyday internet user and helping Web 3 reach its fullest potential.
Today, we have Derek, Co-Founder of Collab+Currency, to share with us: - What is the Consumer vertical? - 3 consumer verticals that will take off in 2023 - Identifying investable opportunities - "3 rights" investing framework - Time, Problem, Team
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:02:22) – Introduction to Collab+Currency
(00:05:45) – "Aha!" moment for Derek
(00:07:57) – Conviction to focus on the consumer vertical
(00:11:16) – Disrupting Web 2 social media platforms
(00:17:22) – Social features enabled by blockchain
(00:22:43) – Outpacing Web 2 competitors
(00:24:24) – Derek's investing framework
(00:37:17) – Identifying networks that can be monetized
(00:40:12) – Narratives that might take off in 2023
More Resources:
Guest
Collab+Currencyl's Website: https://www.collabcurrency.com/
Derek's Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekedws
Flamingo DAO's Website: https://flamingodao.xyz/
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
Disclosures:
The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
*PS* we apologize for the background noise around the 17min mark. We have already tried to minimize it to the best we can, but it is still audible. Even amidst all the blowups in the bear market, great builders continue to build and great investors continue to support them.
Blockchain Capital is one of the earliest and leading venture capital firms in the blockchain industry. Today, Blockchain Capital manages $2 billion in AUM, and has invested in some of the largest blockchain companies like OpenSea, 1inch and Aave.
Today on Blockcrunch, we have Kinjal Shah and Yuan Han Li, Partner and Associate at Blockchain Capital to share with us:
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:39) – Introduction to Blockchain Capital
(00:07:48) – Exploring consumer vertical
(00:12:47) – Improving wallet UX with Account Abstraction
(00:21:30) – Unlocking more use-cases in NFTs
(00:25:09) – Apps verticalizing into its own app-chain and app-rollup
(00:31:03) – Making Web 3 development more accessible
(00:35:23) – Layer 1 landscape & new developments
(00:41:26) – Value capture of dApps vs protocols
(00:44:52) – Projects to watch out for in 2023
More Resources:
Guest
Blockchain Capital's Website: https://blockchain.capital/
Kinjal Shah's Twitter:https://twitter.com/_kinjalbshah
Yuan Han Li's Twitter:https://twitter.com/yuan_han_li
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
Disclaimer:
The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
How can crypto be dead when we still have outstanding teams building amidst this bear market?
STEPN took the world by storm when it introduced the idea of earning through movement - at its peak, there were more than a million daily active users using STEPN.
Since then, Find Satoshi Labs (team behind STEPN) has made further strides and verticalized to launch its own decentralized exchange DOOAR and more recently, their NFT marketplace MOOAR.
Today on Blockcrunch we have Mable Jiang, Chief Revenue Officer at Find Satoshi Labs to share with us:
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
------------ Timestamps -------------
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:39) – Introduction to STEPN
(00:04:41) – Motivation for playing STEPN in a bear market
(00:09:07) – STEPN's new dual reward system
(00:14:19) – Cutting Orca off and creating own DEX (DOOAR)
(00:20:41) – Building their own NFT marketplace (MOOAR)
(00:29:02) – Synergies between MOOAR and STEPN
(00:31:50) – Managing STEPN, DOOAR & MOOAR all at once
(00:35:58) – Decision behind MOOAR's subscription fee
(00:43:54) – Status and roadmap on all the developments
----------- Sponsors -------------
dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange for trading perpetual contracts. Users enjoy low fees, deep liquidity, up to 20x more buying power and even earn $DYDX from trading. Trade on dYdX today at: https://trade.dydx.exchange
----------- More Resources ---------
Guest
Mable's Twitter:https://twitter.com/Mable_Jiang
Find Satoshi Lab's Twitter: https://twitter.com/fslweb3
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
------------ Disclosures -------------
Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
GoldenTree, one of the largest independent asset managers with $47 billion AUM recently announced their official foray into the crypto space with a new subsidiary GoldenChain and a $5.2 million investment in Sushi
While traditional funds entering the crypto space is becoming more common, GoldenTree's entrance is huge news because of their caliber and active investment strategy
Today on Blockcrunch, we have Avi Felman, GoldenChain's Head of Digital Asset Trading to share with us:
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
------------ Timestamps -------------
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:42) – Avi's road to investing in crypto professionally
(00:05:52) – GoldenTree, a $47b fund's foray into crypto
(00:09:19) – Evolution of crypto markets
(00:20:37) – Categorizing different bets
(00:26:12) – System for short-term trading
(00:31:43) – Investing for the long-term
(00:36:30) – GoldenTree's investment thesis in SUSHI
(00:42:53) – Restructuring a decentralized organization
----------- Sponsors -------------
dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange for trading perpetual contracts. Users enjoy low fees, deep liquidity, up to 20x more buying power and even earn $DYDX from trading. Trade on dYdX today at: https://trade.dydx.exchange
----------- More Resources ---------
Guest
Avi Felman's Twitter: https://twitter.com/AviFelman
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
------------ Disclosures -------------
Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
Last week was one of the darkest weeks for the crypto industry - the implosion of one of the largest crypto exchanges that no one saw coming. In this episode, Blockcrunch Host Jason Choi recounts the entire FTX saga all the way from FTX's 2019 beginnings to the aftermath of the implosion. Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. ------------ Timestamps ------------- (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:30) – Alameda's Raise in 2019 (00:03:14) – Raising for FTX (00:06:13) – Becoming One of the Largest Exchanges (00:09:36) – Achieving Mainstream Awareness (00:11:21) – The Start of FTX's Collapse (00:14:27) – FTX's Implosion (00:23:08) – Hacked and Siphoning of Funds (00:24:31) – The Aftermath ----------- Sponsors ------------- dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange for trading perpetual contracts. Users enjoy low fees, deep liquidity, up to 20x more buying power and even earn $DYDX from trading. Trade on dYdX today at: https://trade.dydx.exchange ----------- More Resources --------- Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi ------------ Disclosures ------------- Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
With DeFi activity reportedly down 70% from its all-time high and the recent OFAC regulations, it is safe to say DeFi took a heavy beating in 2022.
However, Sam Kazemian, Founder of decentralized stablecoin protocol Frax thinks that DeFi is not dead but requires innovation to reignite interest in the vertical.
Today on Blockcrunch, we have Sam and Wangarian to share with us:
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
------------ Timestamps -------------
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:02:17) – Regulatory pressure on DeFi
(00:05:54) – Tips for founders to navigate regulations
(00:13:05) – Reviving DeFi as a vertical
(00:19:43) – Lessons from Luna's implosion
(00:28:18) – Dilemma of centralization and stability
(00:32:04) – Verticalization vs composability
(00:36:39) – Updates on Frax and its future
(00:42:20) – Use-cases that Sam is excited for
----------- Sponsors -------------
dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange for trading perpetual contracts. Users enjoy low fees, deep liquidity, up to 20x more buying power and even earn $DYDX from trading. Trade on dYdX today at: https://trade.dydx.exchange
----------- More Resources ---------
Guest
Sam Kazemian 's Twitter: https://twitter.com/samkazemian
Frax's Twitter: https://twitter.com/fraxfinance
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
------------ Disclosures -------------
Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
Recently we've seen the rise of applications verticalizing into their own app-specific chains
While app-chains offers customizability, they lack the social coordination that generic chains bring - Sei offers both by being in the intersection of app-specific and generic chains
Sei is the first sector-specific Layer 1 blockchain specialized for trading to give exchanges an unfair advantage
Today on Blockcrunch, we have Jay, Co-Founder of Sei to share with us:
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
------------ Timestamps -------------
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:02:32) – Introduction to Sei
(00:06:37) – Potential trade-offs
(00:09:13) – Conviction to Build DeFi specific chain
(00:11:59) – App-chains vs Sector-specific chains
(00:15:33) – Importance of having on-chain orderbooks
(00:18:13) – Examples of projects building on Sei
(00:20:28) – Long-term moat for Sei
(00:22:52) – Requirements for deploying smart-contracts
(00:25:29) – Building on Cosmos SDK vs developing new consensus
(00:30:20) – Block processing on Sei
(00:32:48) – MeV on Sei
(00:37:52) – Sei vs new Layer 1 chains like Aptos & Sui
(00:41:07) – Sei vs thematic roll ups on Ethereum
(00:43:27) – Exciting projects & Sei's roadmap
----------- Sponsors -------------
dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange for trading perpetual contracts. Users enjoy low fees, deep liquidity, up to 20x more buying power and even earn $DYDX from trading. Trade on dYdX today at: https://trade.dydx.exchange
----------- More Resources ---------
Guest
Jayendra Jog 's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jayendra_jog
Sei's Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeiNetwork
Sei's Socials: https://linktr.ee/seinetwork
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
------------ Disclosures -------------
Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast ("Blockcrunch") is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.
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