#143 The Future of Carbon Markets: Blockchain, Transparency, Local Impact, & Retail Investors | Sudhu Arumugam, CYNK

🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, founder edition.

Today, we are talking to Sudhu Arumugam of CYNK

In this episode, some of the biggest ideas we discuss are:

* Evolution and Importance of Carbon Markets: Discussion on how the carbon markets have evolved over the years, especially the increased emphasis on the social impact of carbon credits.

* Role of Blockchain Technology in Carbon Markets: Exploring the need for blockchain technology in carbon markets for transparency and trust and how it improves data management and verification.

* Challenges and Opportunities in the African Carbon Market: Insights into the specific challenges and opportunities in the African voluntary carbon markets and how CYNK is addressing these.

* Impact of CYNK and Its Market Approach: Understanding the impact of CYNK’s blockchain-tied marketplace in the carbon market, particularly regarding connectivity, transparency, and supporting local communities.

* Retail Investors in Carbon Markets as a Catalyzing Event: Discussion on the future of carbon markets, including the potential for increased retail investor involvement and the overall market growth projections.

📺 Watch on YouTube🍎 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

The Guest: Sudhu Arumugam

* Sudhu Arumugam is the Co-Founder and CEO of CYNK.

* He has over 20 years of experience in various trading and risk management roles across fixed income, equity, exotic derivatives, commodities, and, more recently, crypto markets in Europe and Asia.

* Before starting CYNK, Sudhu Co-Founded CoinFLEX. Before that, he was the Head of Risk at Coinfloor UK, the UK’s oldest and largest crypto exchange. In addition, he served as Partner and Head of Trading at Cusaru Capital, managing portfolio hedging across different financial instruments.

The Company: CYNK

Carbon Markets, Blockchain, Transparency, Carbon Credits,

One-liner: Increasing transparency in the Carbon Markets and creating access for retail investors.

CYNK is a blockchain-tied marketplace for carbon credits.

They help maxime revenues and secure early-stage financing for carbon capture projects, particularly in African carbon markets through transparency, connectivity, and proprietary climate technology.

They achieve this through use of blockchain-tied marketplace carbon credits, thus addressing the recent transparency issues in the carbon markets.

Through providing this transparency, they believe it will help catalyze retail investors to get into the carbon markets, which they believe to be critical to the long-term success of carbon markets.

Enjoying the CleanTechies PodLetter? Please show your support by subscribing!

📝 Show Notes:

Topics

* 1:40 Intro to Sudhu

* 5:00 Importance of blockchain in the carbon markets and how it works

* 6:05 The Data Behind Carbon Credits and How That Affects the Price

* 7:45 Technology: Carbon → Blockchain 

* 8:40 Who their Customers are

* 10:00 Growing the TAM Requires Transparency

* 13:00 Pricing Carbon

* 14:20 Attitude Towards Buying Carbon in Your Geography

* 17:45 Retail Investors Will Catalyze the Carbon Markets

* 20:30 How They Got Their First Customer

* 22:10 Merging Carbon and Blockchain Cultures

* 24:30 Interacting with Scientists

* 27:00 Their Next Challenges

* 27:50 Advice on Building in Carbon Markets Space

* 30:00 Closing Thoughts

Links

* Connect with Sudhu | CYNK Website

* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas

* Check out our sponsor, NextWave Partners, for all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs.

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

🗓️ Upcoming Events

Reminder 🔔 that we have another CleanTechies in-person networking event on January 11th

Contact Somil or Silas on LinkedIn to be included and receive details on the location.

🚨🚨🚨 Attention Hiring Managers!!! Are you struggling to find qualified candidates? Maybe getting candidates but can’t bring them across the line consistently? Or not getting sufficient applicants? — Reach out to our sponsors, NextWave Partners today to help solve that for you.

NextWave Partners is a leading Global Renewables, Climate, & Sustainability recruitment consultancy solely focused on these impact areas. They are also B-Corp Certified.

Reach out to them today to help you solve your hiring challenges and get you one step closer to making an impact.

🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in, and see you all next episode!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe