The Crypto Conversation

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Josh Olszewicz - How to invest in Techemy Capital's non-custodial portfolios on Enzyme Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

Techemy Capital has launched two actively managed portfolios that allow investors to gain exposure to BTC/ETH price action and the DeFi sector. Trades are executed by Techemy Capital's Josh Olszewicz. Investors can take advantage of crypto price moves without having to trade themselves - and because Techemy's products are non-custodial - without releasing control of their assets.

Guest:

Josh Olszewicz

Why you should listen:

Trader Josh Olszewicz joins Andy to talk about the two actively managed portfolios that Techemy Capital has deployed on Enzyme Finance. Individuals can invest into the portfolios in a non-custodial manner that gives them exposure to Josh's professional trading strategies.

Key takeaway:

Enzyme Finance is an on-chain asset management platform. Because everything is on-chain all trades are transparent and recorded on the blockchain. Rather than have to learn the stress of trading themselves, investors can simply buy into either portfolio and capture the gains or losses that the portfolios achieve over time. Investors can enter or leave the portfolios at any time.

Supporting links:

Techemy Capital

Enzyme Finance

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

EIP 1559 - What it means for Ethereum users, investors, and miners Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

Market optimism around the soon-to-be-implemented Ethereum Improvement Proposal, EIP1559, is high. The Ethereum EIP will arrive as a part of the London network Hard Fork in July and will overhaul Ethereum's fee structure. Andy is joined by Brave New Coin analyst Aditya Das to discuss the implications of EIP1559 for users, investors, and miners.

Guest:

Aditya Das

Why you should listen:

EIP1559 was first proposed by Vitalik Buterin in 2018. It will replace the variable first-price auction model currently used to decide Ethereum transaction fees with a more deterministic base fee model. It is hoped this will remove much of the volatility and uncertainty associated with paying the Gas fees required to successfully conduct a transaction on the network. It will also introduce a fee burn model for each transaction, that may add a deflationary element to the ETH currency and increase its appeal as a safe-haven, hard asset.

Key takeaway:

EIP1559 will solve four key problems with the current gas model:

Making transaction fees more predictable
Reducing delays in transaction confirmation
Improving user experience by automating the fee bidding system
Creating a positive feedback loop between network activity and the ETH supply.

Supporting links:

EIP 1559

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Viberate - Are NFTs & Tokens the future of music? Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

Vasja Veber is the co-founder of music tech company Viberate. Vibrate has been building blockchain solutions for the music industry since 2017 and are positioning as market leaders in the music data sector. They have just entered the NFT space. Techno DJ UMEK is also a co-founder and is about to execute a live event NFT.

Guest:

Vasja Veber

Why you should listen:

On April 29 Viberate co-founder and Techno producer UMEK will mint the first-ever live performance and live stream NFT. If the release is successful, Viberate plans to enable their half a million verified artists database to mint gig NFTs, secure future bookings, and create a new revenue stream.

Key takeaway:

With this drop, UMEK aims to disrupt the live event industry, minting the first-ever live gig NFT and the first-ever livestream NFT, as well as minting three unique remixes of his track Lanicor.

During the pandemic, UMEK, like all touring artists, has resorted to live streams and online fan interaction. Still searching for new ways of expression and exploring the digital space, he wants to push the boundaries of NFTs and create something unique. With the live gig NFT, he aims to disrupt the booking industry and offer promoters and artists a safety net until events are up and running again. Live streams have proven they're here to stay. NFTs have the power to create a brand new market for them, offering musicians a new revenue stream and enabling fans to support and book their favorites.

Supporting links:

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Immutable X - The first Layer 2 for NFTs on Ethereum Apr 19, 2021

Show notes

Robbie Ferguson is the co-founder of Immutable, best known for launching the Gods Unchained blockchain game, one of the most successful blockchain games in the wild. Robbie is now focused on Immutable X, a decentralized gas-free layer-2 protocol for Ethereum NFTs.

Guest:

Robbie Ferguson

Why you should listen:

Immutable X is the first Layer 2 scaling solution for NFTs on Ethereum. It seeks to solve the key challenges facing the Ethereum NFT ecosystem such as scaling, UX, fees, and environmental impact. Immutable X has instant trade confirmation, massive scalability (9,000 TPS+), and zero gas fees - without compromising user custody. The largest NFT marketplace OpenSea is one of many NFT projects working with or supporting Immutable X including: SuperfarmDAO (defi NFT farm), Epics.GG (collectibles), Illuvium (auto battler RPG), Lucid Sight (MLB Champions Baseball, Crypto Space Commander), War Riders (post-apocalyptic MMO), Gods Unchained (TCG), Guild of Guardians (mobile RPG), and Mintable (NFT marketplace).

Key takeaway:

Robbie is a passionate supporter of the Ethereum community. He says it best represents the philosophy of trustless, decentralized asset ownership. It has prioritized decentralization and network health over short-term scalability upgrades. Immutable X lets projects stay on Ethereum while massively boosting their scalability and liquidity.

Supporting links:

Immutable

The Three-Body Problem

The Culture Series

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Sergey Nazarov on Chainlink 2.0 - The next generation of hybrid smart contracts Apr 18, 2021

Show notes

Chainlink has released a new whitepaper called Chainlink 2.0: Next Steps in the Evolution of Decentralized Oracle Networks. The new whitepaper outlines an ambitious vision for the future of smart contracts. We talk with Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov who explains the implications for the next generation of blockchain ecosystems.

Guest:

Sergey Nazarov

Why you should listen:

Chainlink's new whitepaper outlines a long-term, multi-year vision for the future of oracle-enabled smart contracts. The paper states that "Decentralized Oracle Networks will create a decentralized meta-layer that enhances smart contracts with highly scalable, confidential, and secure forms of off-chain computation, in addition to the external data feeds that Chainlink powers today."

Key takeaway:

The Chainlink 2.0 Whitepaper is over 100 pages long and represents a year of work by the Chainlink team. It was written by a team of academic researchers from computer science fields such as security, cryptography, distributed systems, game theory, and mathematics. The paper outlines a new architecture for building hybrid smart contracts where Decentralized Oracle Networks offer all of the capabilities that blockchains cannot, serving as an off-chain computation layer that is anchored to blockchains for security while operating with the feature-richness and scalability of off-chain systems. The new layer enables a product suite of Chainlink Decentralized Services that power a variety of secure, smart contract applications capable of supporting a wider set of use cases than is currently available today.

Supporting links:

Chainlink

Chainlink 2.0 whitepaper

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

The Wall Street Bets Dapp - YOLO together as one Apr 16, 2021

Show notes

Jaime Rogozinski was the original founder of the r/wallstreetbets subreddit. WSB is notorious for its community of young traders who executed risky trading strategies. WSB played a key role in the GameStop short squeeze that caused losses on short positions in U.S. firms topping US$70 billion in early 2021. VIX is the CEO of the new WSB Dapp, a decentralized Dapp that is launching a token. Token funds will be used by a WSB DAO to buy token portfolios (ETPs) voted on by the community.

Guest:

Jaime Rogozinski and VIXX

Why you should listen:

The Wall Street Bets subreddit is described as "Like 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal." Known for its aggressive trading strategies, members are generally young retail traders prepared to take on high amounts of risk. The community is fond of meme stocks that capture the zeitgeist. The subreddit is also known for its memes, with traders self-identifying as degenerate apes who trade stonks for tendies (profits).

Key takeaway:

The WSB movement for financial democracy began on Reddit and has become a global phenomenon. The WSB Dapp was created to give this decentralized community a tool to voice their opinions as retail investors so that anyone, anywhere can YOLO together as one.

The WSB Dapp allows for index-fund type instruments to exist on the blockchain. $WSB governance token holders vote to decide on the rebalancing and exposure of each community-controlled instrument. The ETPs are wholly collateralized, instantly redeemable, and self-custodial.

Supporting links:

WSB Dapp

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

How Framework Ventures became one of the biggest DeFi funds Apr 14, 2021

Show notes

Michael Anderson is a co-founder and partner at Framework Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on building the value of blockchain networks through strategic investment and infrastructural support. Before founding Framework, Michael built and sold Hashletes the first and only NFLPA-licensed digital collectibles, with co-founder Vance Spencer. Michael's prior experience bridges investment banking and consumer tech, with experience from Snap, Inc., Dropbox, and Barclays Capital.

Guest:

Michael Anderson

Why you should listen:

Framework Ventures is a team of technologists, researchers, and investors who participate in open crypto networks to build open-source finance. Framework is a technology company, building products and services to support the open blockchain networks that they invest in. The firm has backed many key companies in the decentralized finance space, including Synthetix, Chainlink, Aave, and The Graph.

Key takeaway:

Framework Ventures believes a new age of venture capital is here. They call this thesis Network Capital. Rather than just hold onto an asset, this type of investing aims to be more hands-on. In the new era of open-source decentralized finance, the best investing requires a new hybrid model where stakeholders are investing, market-making, staking, validating, and participating across all aspects of the ecosystem.

Supporting links:

Framework Ventures

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

The problem with NFTs and the Aleph NFT backup dApp Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

Jonathan is the lead developer and ceo of Aleph - Aleph is a cloud computing platform that makes it easy for DeFi and Web3 dapps to securely access trusted off-chain data or computation. One of their current projects is working to solve the problem of NFT security standards and ownership.

Guest:

Jonathan

Why you should listen:

Many NFTs point to a URL on the internet or an IPFS hash. In many circumstances, this references an IPFS gateway on the internet run by the startup you bought the NFT from. the URL is not the media. That URL is a JSON metadata file. The problem with that is that if the marketplace goes bust… so does your NFT.

Key takeaway:

Aleph has a solution - just like an Internet wayback machine backs up website versions over time, Aleph creates snapshots of NFTs at a certain point in time. Using decentralized storage capacities, the Aleph NFT Backup dApp allows any holder to save their NFT content on the Aleph network that is secured currently by nodes which all are incentivized to store the data and pin it on IPFS. The Interplanetary File System, or IPFS, is used by most NFT minting platforms to store their NFTs.

Supporting links:

Aleph

The problem with NFTs

If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Self-Sovereign - Ontology is building a decentralized identity solution Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

Li Jun is the founder of Ontology, a decentralized system that protects data integrity and security. After launching its mainnet in June 2018, Ontology has continued to press forward, building a key partnership with Daimler.

Guest:

Li Jun

Why you should listen:

Ever since the early days of the internet, questions have swirled about the nature of our online selves. We all have large digital footprints that represent your digital identity, fragmented, unrecognizable, and trackable. We have provided social networks and service providers with our most valuable asset — our information — and we've done so free of charge.

Ontology wants to change this. Blockchain's ability to store information on either a public or private network enables key parties to access critical information, and then only what the individual allows. This way, the power is placed back into the hands of the individual, where they can choose who they share their data with, and to what extent.

Key takeaway:

The solution is a concept called Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), which places control of personal information with the user, enabling them to log in to all of their online services using just one ID. No more forgotten passwords or having to hand over all your personal information; this is a concept that could dramatically change how we use the internet.

Supporting links:

Ontology