The Charlie Shrem Show

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Bitcoin Lessons & Signs of a Bottom in 2023 with Scott Melker Jan 04, 2023

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My guest today is my friend, Scott Melker, the Wolf of All Streets. Scott is a trader, investor, and the host of the popular “The Wolf of All Streets Podcast,” the author of “The Wolf Den” Newsletter, and prolific writer and thought leader in the crypto space. He has been featured on Fox Business, in the New York Times, Forbes, Businessweek, The Wall St. Journal, Coindesk, CoinTelegraph, CNN, and much more. Prior to jumping down the Crypto rabbit hole, Scott Melker, also known as The Melker Project, had a 20-year music career and was a world-renowned producer and DJ. He has played alongside legends from nearly every musical genre, including Enrique Iglesias, Future, Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Crosby Stills & Nash, Neyo, Sheryl Crow, T.I., Jason Derulo, Public Enemy, Kanye West, DJ AM, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Steve Aoki, A-Trak, Lupe Fiasco, Prince Royce, J Balvin, Joey Montana and more. We discuss a variety of topics including Bitcoin, Crypto Markets, the Macro Environment, Recapping 2022, and look forward to 2023. We begin our conversation by discussing the increased institutional adoption that happened throughout 2022 and the fallout from the increased institutional adoption. We discuss how the immense amount of capital is still on the sidelines waiting to be deployed. We touch on the various crypto blowups that happened throughout the year and the impact that had on the crypto market. We also compare FTX to MT Gox and the similarities and differences. We pivot to discuss about the possible decoupling between crypto and the broader macro environment. We discuss the various signs to look for that could signal a changing in the sentiment around and within the crypto industry. We discuss why DeFi was the biggest winner of 2022. We discuss possible trades for 2023 and why the crypto market could have bottomed. Scott emphasizes the value of dollar cost averaging regardless of the price of the asset. He also notes that all financial assets, not just cryptocurrency, have decreased in value recently. Scott explains why the FTX fallout was so disastrous and can have dramatic second order consequences. We finish our conversation by discussing the beauty of free markets. Please enjoy my conversation with Scott Melker

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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Programmable Bitcoin and a Turing Complete Economy with Justin Banon of Boson Protocol Dec 29, 2022

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Today’s guest is Justin Banon, co-founder of Boson Protocol, the decentralized network on which the future of commerce will run. Boson Protocol (BOSON) is a decentralized infrastructure for e-commerce transactions. The ecosystem enables the exchange of digital value for real-world products and services through the use of tokenized futures contracts. Сommitments to buy and sell physical assets are represented as stateful non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the platform. Together with its native utility token BOSON, the protocol aims to demonopolize commerce and allow buyers and merchants to interact with minimal intervention from intermediaries. Justin is a serial entrepreneur, he previously blitzscaled the Priority Pass Group to a $1Bn per annum revenue global rewards platform. With an academic background in physics, digital innovation and crypto, Justin applies first principles thinking to solve human problems with technology. By combining cool tech with deep tech, he imagines a future where commerce is open, fair and equitable. He has extensive blockchain experience where he consulted for MakerDao, Centrifuge, et. He got his degree in Physics from Imperial College London. We discuss a variety of topics including Boson, Web3, the future of commerce, property rights, and much more. In this conversation, we discuss how taking time off to relax can boost creativity and lead to better ideas. We also talk about Boson and the issues with the current Web2 paradigm. Justin explains that Boson's goal is to decentralize power and trust, and he sees it as a key part of the future of commerce and the exchange of physical goods. We discuss which sectors are most likely to adopt Boson and the potential impact of a web3-powered economy on society. Justin also shares his thoughts on digital assets, their appeal, and the importance of strong property rights. We also discuss the meaning behind the branding and naming of Boson. Our final episode topic centered around the future of Boson and the importance of the path to decentralization.

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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An Internet with Attesters and No Identities with Ingo Rübe, Founder of KILT Dec 27, 2022

Show notes

Ingo Rübe is the founder and CEO of BOTLabs, a Berlin-based company providing Blockchain-powered solutions for Self-Sovereign Data. BOTLabs is the team behind KILT, a Blockchain protocol, enables the user to describe and attest any kind of characteristics of persons, organizations, and things in a standardized way. KILT is an open-source fat blockchain protocol for issuing claim-based verifiable, revocable, and anonymous credentials in the Web 3.0. It allows end users to claim arbitrary attributes about themselves, get them attested by trusted entities, and store the claims as self-sovereign credentials (certificates). As trusted entities can issue credentials in return for money, KILT aims to foster new business models for anyone who owns trust or wants to build up trust. Ingo has vast experience in tech and building startups, starting in 1995 Ingo founded his very first startup, Network Department, which in 2000 was merged with the IT Department of Fresenius AG to form today’s Fresenius Netcare GmbH. With subsequent experience as IT Project Director at Axel Springer, CTO of Burda Media (where he initiated the open-source Content Management System “Thunder”), and Board Member of the Drupal Association, he is well aware of the need for reliable and verifiable identity solutions in the business world and beyond. We discuss a variety of topics including KILT, Digital Identities, Polkadot, Privacy, and much more. We begin our conversation by discussing Ingo’s backstory and how he got interested in Crypto. Ingo touches on his experience working for the Drupal Association and the importance of giving back to open source projects. Ingo shares how he became fascinated by crypto and blockchain technology and why believed it would be a revolutionary step change for technology. We transition our conversation to focus on KILT. Ingo explains the importance of digital identities and how they will reshape the way society functions. We discuss applications for digital identities and how they can be used to provide more privacy protections. Our next conversation centered around Polkadot. Ingo explains how Polkadot works. Ingo also explains how KILT leverages Polkadot to scale and secure their blockchain. We also discuss data privacy. Ingo explains how blockchain technology can be leveraged for greater privacy We discuss the broader value proposition of Polkadot and what makes it standout in the broader Layer 1 landscape. Ingo discusses the biggest challenges in the identity landscape. Ingo explains how standardizing helps fosters better communication within an industry and field of study. We discuss the why building out proper infrastructure is necessary for an industry to grow.

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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Bitcoin, Privacy, Randomness, Security & Consensus Mechanisms with Matthew Niemerg Dec 22, 2022

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Today’s guest is Matthew Niemerg, a distributed ledger technology researcher. He advises and is integrated with various teams on multiple projects in the blockchain space. He provides technical expertise in a wide range of areas within this field: economic incentive of tokens, i.e. game theory design; security and consensus protocols; cryptographic schemes; business logic; and much more. He is currently the co-founder of Aleph Zero (https://www.alephzero.org) and is leading the team at Cardinal Cryptography (https://www.cardinals.cc). He is also an advisor for OneLedger (https://www.oneledger.io, Helix Cognitive Computing (https://www.hlx.ai, KardiaChain (https://www.kardiachain.io), and Ternio (https://www.ternio.io). Aleph Zero is a privacy-enhancing, Proof-of-Stake public blockckchain with instant finality. Its enterprise-ready, high-performance network is built on a novel, Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)-based consensus protocol that has been peer-reviewed and presented at an ACM conference. Aleph Zero uses the DAG as an intermedriary data structure, but can still be categorized as a blockchain. In 2023, Aleph Zero plans to enable privacy-enhancing features based on secure multi-party computation research (sMPC) and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). We discuss a variety of different topics including Aleph Zero, Bitcoin, Privacy, Security, Consensus Mechanisms, and much more. We begin our conversation to discuss the differences between cryptography and DLT and how the two overlap in the crypto landscape. We discuss how crypto has the appeal for both consumer and enterprise. We discuss the various possible paths for crypto to become mainstream. We transition our discussion to focus on Aleph Zero. Matt discusses how Aleph is providing an infrastructure layer for the future of crypto that builds off the decades of research and advancement of decentralized systems theory and cryptography. Matt explains various different problems that arise when trying to construct a secure and decentralized network. We dive deep into the concept of true randomness. Matt explains how randomness is applied to security. We discuss the difference between privacy and anonymity. We discuss what kind of privacy features enterprise clients are looking for and crypto can fulfill those requirements. We also discuss privacy preserving technology and the importance of preserving privacy for a sovereign society. We transition our conversation to discuss consensus mechanisms. Matt explains the differences between the various different consensus mechanisms. Please enjoy my conversation with Matthew Niemerg.

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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An Honest Look at Bitcoin & The Crypto Landscape with Haseeb Awan Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

I caught my friend Haseeb in a tough moment. He is getting ready to leave the Crypto community in Puerto Rico and move back to California. He seems frustrated with things. I started the show by asking him why?

Today’s guest is Haseeb Awan, the founder and CEO of Efani. Efani is the most secure Telecommunication Service that guarantees protection against any kind of SIM port-out hacks, encrypts your personal information & backs it with a $5M Insurance coverage. Efani operates on America’s #1 5G Network that covers 99% of Americans. In addition, they also offer complimentary Wi-Fi calling so users can even make calls in spotty locations. They also provide military-grade verification, 24*7 support, and 5M insurance coverage per person.Haseeb is working on solving complicated financial & economical problems with the help of technology. He has a track record of two successful business exits, raising over 100M in venture capital & growing the customer base from 0-4 Million users & expanding the business globally into 15 countries across 4 continents within 18 months. He has been included among the top 100 influential people in FINTECH globally, won multiple international awards, wrote for and is mentioned on multiple international media & frequently speaks at international conferences & government committees. He has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters Degree in Engineering Management. He also has studied Financial Markets from Yale University & actively holds Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. He is also a Y-Combinator & Next Founder Alumni. He was an early Bitcoiner. His career in crypto started when he co-founded the Bitcoin ATM company 6 years ago & installed the first bitcoin ATM in Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Montreal Ottawa & 50 other major cities in 15 countries among 4 continents within 18 months. He has personally invested in 30+ companies & advising over 10 companies on branding, marketing & sales. We began our conversation by discussing the philosophical ethos of people who are in crypto. We discuss how some of the major narratives in crypto have been co-opted. Haseeb discusses the hypocrisy that permeates a lot of the crypto industry and why that frustrates him. Haseeb stresses the importance of the crypto industry to begin producing useful and needed products. We discuss the general shortcomings in the privacy and security industry. Haseeb explains the importance for startups to align incentives and offer an overwhelming amount of value to succeed. Haseeb stresses that people will always choose the path that is most convenient. We discuss how the crypto industry can find its way back to its core tenants. Our final conversation centered around advice for the listeners on how to improve their lives. Haseeb stresses the importance of not overly optimizing one's life. We discuss how to take full advantage of 2023.

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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The Bitcoin Philosophy ‘Ich bin ein Bitcoiner’ with Mark Jeffrey Dec 16, 2022

Show notes

What does it mean to be a Bitcoiner living in a Crypto World?

Today’s guest is Mark Jeffery, an award-winning serial entrepreneur and author with Harper Collins. He is currently working on the Boolean Fund Previously, Mark co-founded the Guardian Circle emergency response network (NEWSWEEK Blockchain Impact Award Nominee (2019), One of FAST COMPANY’s 'World Changing Ideas' (2018); Partner: XPRIZE Foundation; Featured in TRUST MACHINE (2018), THE RISE OF BLOCKCHAIN (2019). He is also an early pioneer of blockchain technology, releasing BITCOIN EXPLAINED SIMPLY (2013) and THE CASE FOR BITCOIN (2015). His previous companies include The Palace metaverse (backed by Time Warner, Intel and SoftBank; sold with 10 million users), ZeroDegrees (a business social network sold to InterActiveCorp / IAC in 2004 with 1 million users) and ThisWeekIn (video network). He was the founding CTO of Mahalo / Inside.com (backed by Elon Musk, Sequoia and others). Mark is the author of seven books of fiction, published both traditionally and as audiobooks. His first novel, MAX QUICK: THE POCKET AND THE PENDANT is published by HarperCollins. Mark was one of the first three people ever to podcast a novel: MAX QUICK originally received over 2.5 million downloads in 2005. We discuss a variety of different topics including Bitcoin, the Venture Landscape, Crypto’s Killer App, The Bitcoiner Ethos, and much more. We begin our conversation by discussing the Mark’s backstory and journey to crypto. We dive deep into the topic of being a Bitcoiner in an increasingly crypto world. Mark explains the reality of being an entrepreneur in the Bitcoin space and the necessity of incorporating crypto to further Bitcoin’s mission. We discuss why Bitcoin is so special and what is the holy grail for Bitcoin. We discuss the philosophy surrounding Bitcoin and what it means to be Bitcoiner. We pivot our conversation to discuss the investing environment. Mark explains why it is currently the best time to invest and build in crypto by sharing some of the lessons he learned during the Dot Com Bubble. Mark shares the similarities between the post Dot Com Bubble venture landscape and the current Crypto venture landscape. We discuss various crypto sectors that could lead to Crypto’s killer application. We discuss how to avoid burnout and the importance of following your passion. Our last conversation topic centered around the various failures throughout Crypto over the last year and the lessons we can learn from them. Please enjoy my conversation with Mark Jeffrey

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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Building a Value Graph: Creating vs Extracting with Sakina Arsiwala of Taki. Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

Today’s guest is Sakina Arsiwala, Co-Founder of Taki.

We begin our conversation by discussing Sakina’s experience working at NextDoor. Sakina explains how NextDoor enabled trust by ensuring the users of the platform were verified and how that helped create a flywheel effect for getting users to use and trust the platform. We discuss the lessons blockchain startups can take from NextDoor’s success. We transitioned our discussion to focus on Taki.

Taki is an engage-to-earn social network which aims to create a better community by rewarding users with a stake in the network itself. Traditional social networks have become stagnant and exploitative: bombarding users with advertisements, operant conditioning for engagement, and preventing free movement. These problems stem from a fundamental incentive misalignment between the users who create value and the platform that extracts it. The new tools and paradigms of web3 offer an opportunity to create a better system. Engage-to-earn rewards user contributions. Free-flowing tokens enable low-friction value transfer. User coins deepen creator-audience relationships and create new engagement vectors. Decentralized organizations grant users governance over their own platform. Composability on-chain unlocks the interoperable potential of the whole blockchain ecosystem. Taki promises a better social network, shifting focus from the social graph to the value graph. Sakina has held Product and Growth leadership positions at Nextdoor, YouTube (She took Youtube International, launched 22 countries, including India), was Product Lead on Google Search Internationally. She also co-founded a social startup that was acquired by Groupon, where she led Social Product Growth for Groupon. She loves building products that help level the playing field. We discuss Taki, Web3’s promise, the future of Social Networks, the Creator Economy, and much more. Sakina explains who is currently their core user base and how they imagine expanding their user base over time. Sakina goes on to explain Taki’s value proposition to content creators and how web3 enables them to have more control over their careers. We discuss why Taki is focusing on UX and why simplifying the user experience is how you onboard the next wave of crypto participants. Sakina explains engage-to-earn and why this model can be so powerful for both creators and their fans. We discuss the importance of thoughtful token economics and Taki’s approach to ensuring proper token dynamics. We discuss the future of advertising in web3 and how web3 can help create a better advertising experience. Sakina discusses the mission of web3 and the importance of building products and services that enable web3’s core ethos. Our final conversation topic centered around the importance of interoperability and synergy for the long term value proposition of web3 to come to fruition. Sakina stresses the importance for protocols to strive to be self-sustaining. Please enjoy my conversation with Sakina Arsiwala

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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Finding Sustainable Yield in Life and Crypto with Julian Koh of Ribbon Finance Dec 08, 2022

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Get ready for this epic episode! We discuss a variety of topics including Ribbon Finance, CeFi’s Blowups, DeFi’s Future, Yield, and much more. We began our conversation by discussing Julian’s journey into the crypto-space. Julian shares how he got interested in crypto and how he was able to navigate the previous bear market to position himself for success in the recent bull market. Our next conversation topic centered around “Crypto Banks.” We discuss the current fallout from the failure of CeFi institutions and the importance of custodying your own crypto. We transitioned to discuss DeFi. We focus on DeFi innovation and DeFi’s unique value proposition. We discussed how CeFi institutions were leveraging DeFi in order to provide yield to their customers. We touch on the lack of oversight and controls that were present within the CeFi institutions which enabled funds to be mismanaged. Our next conversation topic centered around Ribbon Finance. Julian explains how Ribbon Finance works. Julian discusses Ribbon’s protocol design and growth strategy which focuses on responsible and sustainable growth. We discuss yield. Julian explains how yield is generated. We discuss what’s on the future roadmap for Ribbon Finance. Julian explains why he believes options trading is the next area of growth for DeFi. We finish our conversation by focusing on advice for the listeners. Please enjoy my convention with Julian Koh.

Today’s guest is Julian Koh, the Co-Founder & CEO of Ribbon Finance. Ribbon Finance is a suite of DeFi protocols that help users access crypto structured products. By combining derivatives, lending and a proprietary on-chain options exchange (Aevo), Ribbon aims to be the one-stop solution for users who want to improve a portfolio's risk-return profile. Prior to co-founding Ribbon Finance, Julian was Software Engineering at Coinbase. He also worked at Metastable Capital as a Consultant. He studied Computer Science at Cornell University. He cares deeply about cryptocurrencies and the nature of information.

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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Being A Bitcoiner in a Crypto World with Alex Strześniewski of AngelBlock Dec 06, 2022

Show notes

Today's guest is Alex Strześniewski is the Founder of AngelBlock. AngelBlock is a Crypto and FinTech investment platform connecting investors with noteworthy startups with a focus on early-stage investments. AngelBlock is on its way to creating the largest decentralised venture capital fund for the Crypto, FinTech, and Blockchain space. Their mission is to build a cohesive and synergistic community of investors, supporters and entrepreneurs developing innovation within the blockchain space. AngelBlock will allow Crypto, FinTech, and blockchain start-ups to raise funds and receive support from knowledgeable, experienced professionals solely via their online platform. Prior to founding AngelBlock, he was a former Exec at Coin Deal. He believes the future is decentralized and open source. Alex has focused on crypto and crypto-based startups for the last 6+ years. A former crypto-fiat exchange executive, Alex has years of managerial and operational experience and has helped companies navigate the ever-changing regulatory landscape. He has worked as a blockchain consultant for one of the largest FMCG companies in Europe, led various projects through obtaining regulatory licences in the crypto space, and has been an active advisor and investor in numerous crypto and FinTech projects. Most recently he has advised successful companies such as Gamerhash and Aleph Zero. We discuss various topics including AngelBlock, Bitcoin, Crypto Investing, the Path of Decentralization, and much more. We begin our conversation by discussing the state of the crypto space. We stress the importance of striving towards our North Star and staying true to crypto’s ethos. Alex shares why he believes it is important for the crypto industry to self-regulate to prevent over regulation by the government. We pivot our conversation to focus on AngelBlock. Alex shares AngelBlock’s backstory. We discuss the problems that exist in the current venture and fundraising ecosystem. Alex explains how AngelBlock’s is building crypto-native solutions to address these shortcomings. Alex shares AngelBlock’s vision to allow for non-custodial & on-chain fundraising, transparent vesting, and automated token distribution. Alex explains how they designed the protocol to incentivize proper governance. We discuss the differences between angel investing and being a VC. We also discuss the importance of apprenticeship and learning from experts. We transition our conversation to discuss what it means to be a bitcoiner in a crypto world. We discuss how we are all Bitcoiners. We discuss the importance of striving for decentralization and making it a priority. We discuss the dangers of maximalism and how it is the antithesis of Bitcoin's core ethos.

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

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The Last Untold Story & Cultural Ownership with Jan Leitenbauer of MovieShots Dec 02, 2022

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The last episode of UntoldStories and the first episode of The Charlie Shrem Show

Today's guest is Jan Leitenbauer, the co-founder of MovieShots. MovieShots is an Austrian startup which enables film lovers to own a part of their favorite movie as a unique collector’s item. As a digital collectible, MovieShots aims to link the two worlds of film and NFT. Using software developed in-house, individual still images from iconic films transform and become originals. Using NFT technology, this content can be made ownable as unique digital items with guaranteed proof of ownership on the blockchain, for example as collectibles and for trading on various NFT marketplaces. Jan is a professional video editor, blockchain enthusiast, and NFT collector. He completed the MOOC "Introduction to digital currencies" at the University of Nicosia and received his Bachelor and Master in "MultiMediaArt - Video" at the Film University of Applied Sciences. Jan Leitenbauer is involved in directing, editing and writing short films as a filmmaker and is a founding member and artist of the crypto-collective CryptoWiener. We discuss a variety of topics including MovieShots, NFTs, Community, the Crypto Space, and much more. We begin our conversation by discussing Jan’s experience taking Blockchain classes at the University of Nicosia. Jan explains how the classes gave him the foundation to start MovieShots. We discuss what compelled Jan to co-found MovieShots and MovieShots’s backstory. Our next conversation topic centered around NFTs. We discuss the narrative around NFTs and dispel some of the misconceptions of NFTs. Jan explains the technology behind NFTs and why the technology is so disruptive. We discuss how NFTs digitize the cultural layer of society and the possible implications it will have on society. Jan explains how NFTs foster a sense of community within the holders. We discuss MovieShots’ minting process and how the community is involved in the governance process. We discuss how NFTs bring reputation to the internet and identity to the internet. We discussed the Cannes Film Festival. Jan shares his experience being on the only panel at Cannes dedicated to NFTs. Our final discussion topic centered around life advice. Jan explains how to be comfortable with uncomfortability. Please enjoy my conversation with Jan Leitenbauer.

Thank you for listening to The Charlie Shrem Show. For more free content and access to over 400 episodes, visit www.CharlieShrem.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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