Hi everyone, we are back with another episode of our podcast allowing you to get to know people working behind the scenes of the crypto industry.  Today we are joined by Jim Myers, the CTO and Founder of Flipside Crypto. Before Flipside, Jim developed the core technology that took products from 0 to 1 at Mylestone, Pluralsight (IPO), and Smarterer (acquisition).

Welcome to the 177th episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast. This episode was recorded on November 12, 2023.  We chatted with Jim about data analytics, the state of the market, AI, and predictions for 2024.

Thanks, everyone for listening, and don’t forget to tune in to 2024 when we speak to Zak Taher, CEO of Multibank.io.

Topics Covered Today:

Jim, earlier this month you released a crypto economy snapshot which has a great summary of what is going on at the moment. I’d like to chat about that for a bit. One of the most interesting details is that Binance Smart Chain continues to have the most daily active users despite everything that has happened. What do you think that is?

Dex Volume peaked at 4.06B on December 9th. I know many people think DEXs will the the mainstay for crypto in the future. Do you think we can expect to see DEXs pull more users in 2024?

Arbitrum pulled in the greatest amount of new users. Do you think L2s will be the main onboarding platforms in the future? 

Let’s come back to Flipside. You are our first-ever data analytics platform guest. I’ve spoken on previous podcasts about who these platforms are for but perhaps you could tell us in your own words, who Flipside is for?

Looking at some of the dashboards that have been produced, one thing I like is that it is very colorful and makes it interesting to explore data compared to other platforms but at the same time, I feel the average crypto user would be lost. Are their plans to make Flipside more accessible?

I think one of the most frequent comments I got when I mentioned you were coming on the show was a Chat GPT-like integration for querying dashboards. Is that available now or is it planned in the future?

So our research analyst Tom is a big fan of yours. I loved the previous podcast that you two were on. One of the coolest things you do is pay analysts for dashboards. I was wondering if you could explain how that works.

Is that something you plan to do in perpetuity?

You’re on at a perfect time. 2024 looks to be an exciting time for crypto and I was wondering if you could tease anything that’s coming from Flipside next year. 

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Important...

Hi everyone, we are back with another episode of our podcast allowing you to get to know people working behind the scenes of the crypto industry.  Today we are joined by Bill Wolf, who is the Chief Investment Officer of Archblock. He has been in the specialty finance/lending, investment banking, and asset management industries for over 30 years.

Welcome to the 176th episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast. This episode was recorded on December 5, 2023. With the crypto market seemingly on the rebound, we speak to Bill about some of the infrastructure they are building as well as what is in demand at the moment.

Thanks, everyone for listening, and don’t forget to tune in next week when we speak to Jim Myers, CEO of Flipside Crypto.

Topics Covered Today:

So we’ve had a lot going on this past few weeks with Binance, and spot ETFs, where do you and Archblock sit amongst all of this?

Let’s dive into Archblock, who are you and what do you do?

Looking at the recent press, you rebranded your Stablecoin portfolio in September. Looking at stablecoins, most people would be familiar with USDT or USDC, what are you doing that is different?

What do you think is the future of stablecoins?

It seems that we might be shifting towards CBDCs at some point. Does that threaten what you are doing? 

What do you think is the future of stablecoins? Do you think we will ever see mass retail adoption?

What about Archblock for asset managers? How does that work?

Looking at your product lines, what do you think will be the standout success in 2024?

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Hi everyone, we are back with another episode of our podcast allowing you to get to know people working behind the scenes of the crypto industry.  Today we are joined by Max Howell, the CEO of tea.xyz and creator of Homebrew. Brew was one of the largest open-source projects of all time, with tens of millions of users to this day.

Welcome to the 175th episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast. This episode was recorded on November 21, 2023. A lot of the software that we love and enjoy was built on an open-source foundation. The problem is that the devs who did this have never been appropriately compensated for creating this public good. Max Howell is going to change this with his platform tea.xyz.

Thanks, everyone for listening, and don’t forget to tune in next week when we speak to Bill Wolf, the CIO of Archblock.

Topics Covered Today:

I’m old but perhaps not as old as some of the senior contributors to the biggest Open Source projects that exist out there. I feel like to this day, open source is still the space for geeks rather than the general public. Why do you think that is?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you started to try to fix the very real problem of the lack of appropriate compensation for open-source developers. But I feel some of the biggest projects on Github like Mastodon, most of the devs are not a big believer in Web 3 or blockchain tech. How do you overcome that?

We’ve danced around the topic. Please tell our audience how tea works and who is it for.

How does Proof of Contribution work?

Can I get involved with tea even if I’m not a developer?

How are developers incentivized?

What would the internet look like if more devs could work full-time on their passion projects?

What’s the end goal with tea and when you reach it, where do you want to go from there?

What are your plans for 2024 with regard to tea?

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Hi everyone, we are back with another episode of our podcast allowing you to get to know people working behind the scenes of the crypto industry.  Today we are joined by Zechariah Zheng, associated with eToro, he is a crypto expert on a mission to transform the cryptocurrency landscape.

Welcome to the 174th episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast. This episode was recorded on November 24, 2023. The investing landscape has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. So much of it is dominated by big personalities so this week we talk to Zechariah Zheng about going beyond the facade to understand what trading is really like.

Thanks, everyone for listening, and don’t forget to tune in next week when we speak to Zak Taher, COO of Multibank.

Topics Covered Today:

Things seem to be picking up in the cryptocurrency market, if there is another bull run, I think accessibility has improved a fair bit but do you think we have done enough?

How are you feeling about the markets overall? What’s top of mind when you think about 2024 and your plans around crypto?

Do you think cryptocurrency has become more transparent in 2023 and will it become even more so next year?

We’ve got to chat about Etoro, they are my personal favorite platform just because going through my broker here in Taiwan is super complicated and their trading interface is ancient. Tell us about your association with them and how that works.

So you’ve obviously had a lot of experience trading. I also want to remind everyone here that we are not offering you advice but rather tips from experience. What do you think are some of the biggest mistakes younger traders make?

I’ve seen posts on Reddit where people are thinking about loans to start trading. Obviously, that is not a good idea but what’s the best way to get started?

Tell me about ethical trading practices. What does that mean why is it so important?

Lastly, what are your top 5 tips for people getting into trading?

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Hi everyone, we are back with another episode of our podcast allowing you to get to know people working behind the scenes of the crypto industry.  Today we are joined by Nathan Leung, co-founder and host of Cryptonauts. Cryptonauts has been doing what we’ve been doing but for much longer and honestly much better. Making crypto education accessible and reminding people about all the amazing innovation that continues to happen in the space. 

Welcome to the 167th episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast. This episode was recorded on October 4th, 2023. We sat down with one of the most prolific content creators in the crypto space to talk about the current state of the industry and what he sees coming down the pipeline.

Thanks, everyone for listening, and don’t forget to tune in next week when we speak to Rachid Ajaja, CEO and Founder of Allianceblock.

Topics Covered Today:

What are some of the biggest challenges in the crypto space right now and how do you see them being addressed in the future?

You were recently at the Korean Blockchain Week. What was the general consensus from the people that you spoke to there?

It’s been my general prediction that blockchain tech will grow in Asia and some parts of Europe before it becomes acceptable in the West. Am I totally off base?

What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who is skeptical about the value or potential of cryptocurrency?

Can you share some of the most common misconceptions about cryptocurrency that you’ve encountered through cryptonauts?

How do you see the role of cryptocurrency evolving in the global economy over the next decade?

What about the channel? You’re doing some amazing content. How do you plan on taking your content to the next level or is there something else that you have planned?

What’s one prediction you have for the future of cryptocurrency?

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Hi everyone, we are back with another episode of our podcast allowing you to get to know people working behind the scenes of the crypto industry.  Today we are joined by Sebastian Widmann who is Head of Strategy at Komainu, where he leads the development and execution of Komainu's vision to become the key partner for institutions entering the digital asset industry.

Welcome to the 166th episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast. This episode was recorded on September 25, 2023. With the fallout from FTX and other situations in 2022, more organizations are looking for ways to demonstrate to their clients how their assets are stored.  We  chat about asset flows, regulations and much more.

Thanks, everyone for listening, and don’t forget to tune in next week when we speak to Rachid Ajaja, CEO and Co-Founder of AllianceBlock.

Topics Covered Today:

Before we jump into Komainu, I was wondering if you could talk about what flows you are seeing this month. September is typically a poor month across the board for crypto not to mention equities. Are you seeing the same thing?

You recently acquired your virtual asset provider license in Dubai. Why is that so important for the future?

Do you see Dubai as being the hub for crypto in 5 years with users all over the world utilizing your services there?

You are also regulated in Jersey. Given your history, do you see yourself setting up shop in Japan or the U.S. in the future?

For those who might not know you, who is Komainu? What’s your unique proposition when it comes to custody services?

Moving a little more granular, Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to dominate the investment landscape. Do you ever think we’ll move beyond that?

I’ve heard the word tokenization thrown around this year but honestly haven’t seen much progress from a retail perspective. What’s your take on that?

We’re almost at the end of the year, what’s your vision for Komainu for 2024?

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Hi everyone, we are back with another episode of our podcast allowing you to get to know people working behind the scenes of the crypto industry.  Today we are lucky to be joined by Peter Fernandez, Financial Products Operations and Management Senior Associate at 21Shares

Welcome to the 165th episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast. This episode was recorded on September 20, 2023. With the launch of 21.co’s new tokens, we talked to Peter about how the operations team helps keep everything running behind the scenes for our newly launched tokens.

Thanks, everyone for listening, and don’t forget to tune in next week when we speak to Sebastian Widmann, Head of Strategy at Komainu. 

Topics Covered Today:

Before we jump into the crux of today’s show, Peter, for those who might have missed Krish’s episode two weeks ago. I was wondering if you could fill us in on what we launched and why this is so unique.

What are wrapped tokens and how do people make use of them?

Now, let’s dive into the process of the 21.co-wrapped tokens. What makes them so special?

How does the underlying process work? How are these tokens created? Walk us through step-by-step. 

This sounds amazing but I was wondering if you can fill us in on some of the challenges of this process.

What’s the future of wrapped assets? Krish seemed to hint that there will be more to come in the future.

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Hi everyone, we are back with another episode of our podcast allowing you to get to know people working behind the scenes of the crypto industry.  Today we are joined by Gurjeet Kundi who is the Managing Director and Head of Trading at 21co. He joined the company last year, with over two decades of experience in the ETF industry including two years as head of cross-asset ETF trading at Mizuho. 

Welcome to the 164th episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast. This episode was recorded on September 18, 2023. With the launch of 21.co’s new tokens, we talked to Gurjeet about some of the core infrastructure behind our tokens. We discuss why liquidity is so important as well as the role a market maker plays.

Thanks, everyone for listening, and don’t forget to tune in next week when Andres Valencia ( Vice President of ETP and Trading Operations at 21Shares) joins the podcast to talk about the underlying process for our newly launched wrapped tokens. 

Topics Covered Today:

Before we jump into the main topic of today’s show, Gurjeet, I was wondering if you could fill our audience in on what happened last week and why is this so important. 

For those new to finance or even crypto. What is liquidity and why is it important?

What about market making? What do market makers do?

How do wrapped tokens help us bring liquidity at scale?

What was wrong with previous solutions? Why is ours better?

How is the trading team helping facilitate this?

This seems like the first step into something bigger. Could better liquidity give rise to newer products that we’ve never seen before? What do you imagine those could look like?

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