This is Matt Reustle and it's that time again - our 3Q 2022 quarterly recap. If you listened to our second quarter episode, that was a recap of carnage. A "what the hell just happened" episode. For this go-around, Eric helps assess the damage and signs of light in the market. The tide came up, we know who was swimming naked; but who was an emerging winner in Eric's mind? Spoiler alert - it's not just SBF. We cover early takeaways from the Ethereum merge, his observation on the convergence between traditional finance and crypto, and why Eric is so interested in the Bitcoin mining market in 4Q. Please enjoy this quarterly recap. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:22] - [First question] - General thoughts and most memorable points of Q3 2022[00:06:52] - Getting comfortable with the idea of a floor in an industry without the means of being bailed out by something like the Fed[00:11:54] - The level playing field and other players that have come out looking strong given the downside in the market[00:15:13] - A quick recap of the Ethereum merge, current takeaways, and the road ahead[00:21:06] - Whether or not there’s a way to measure the merge’s success going forward[00:25:46] - The ultimate vision for Ethereum staking and its reward system[00:27:22] - Whether or not leverage is what brought the system down[00:30:43] - Major institutional momentum and adoption in crypto[00:34:36] - The growth equity trolls were louder than the crypto trolls and crypto social stigma[00:41:47] - Sentiments around the new wave of Free-To-Own NFTs[00:45:16] - Material impacts on NFTs with a trend towards creative commons licensing and the experimentation phase of Intellectual Property [00:50:15] - What’s driving his interest around Bitcoin mining in the near future Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden, and my guest today is Michael Safai. Michael is the managing partner at Dexterity Capital, a high-frequency trading firm that trades billions in crypto every day. We discuss market neutral trading strategies, the challenges of high-frequency trading in crypto compared to tradfi, and the pros and cons of trading on DEXs versus centralized exchanges. Please enjoy this conversation with Michael Safai For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:07] - [First question] - Pivoting away from law and winding up in crypto[00:04:45] - A thumbnail sketch of Dexterity and what a proprietary capital firm is [00:06:08] - The juxtaposition between TradFi and DeFi in high frequency trading[00:09:13] - How non-standardization is as much an opportunity as it is challenging for builders[00:11:18] - Whether or not he plans on managing money for outside capital [00:12:43] - A high level overview of running a market neutral firm in the crypto space[00:14:24] - What a retail trader would need to take advantage of their arbitrage strategy[00:15:20] - Strategies to deploy to reduce volatility in crypto at a microstructure level [00:16:35] - How much large firms are trading against each other and their market structures[00:17:13] - What perpetuals are and trading them as a security  [00:18:53] - How he’d interpret Ethereum’s negative funding rate during the merge[00:20:29] - Whether he’s seeing traditional firms trying to get into and staying in crypto[00:22:07] - Top data and indicators to get a sense of the healthiness of a market [00:24:39] - His high level thoughts on web3, NFTs and new mainstream assets[00:26:04] - Pros and cons of a centralized exchange versus a DEX[00:28:51] - Thoughts on the code is law versus trading philosophy[00:30:46] - Some crazy stories from his early days of trading on DEXs [00:32:34] - The level of difficulty to getting alpha today compared to in the early days[00:33:55] - The different game of trading on DEXs versus centralized exchanges[00:35:15] - How to find an edge when everyone’s cards are face up [00:35:59] - His approach to diligence and analyzing an investment firm like his to invest in [00:37:10] - What good regulation would look like to minimize public skepticism [00:38:46] - How he looks to recruit talent and managing a global workforce[00:40:38] - Staying on top of all of his teams and what’s going to happen next for Dexterity[00:41:26] - Managing risk in automated systems when unexpected events occur [00:43:11] - Where we are in the cycle of standardization and what it means for finding returns[00:45:34] - Binance shifting to a single stablecoin affecting liquidity for market neutral firms[00:47:23] - Leverage six months ago compared to today and what it means going forward[00:48:44] - What he’s most excited to see built over the next six months and six years  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Tom McLeod. Tom is the founder and executive director of Arkive, the first ever decentralized museum. We discuss Tom’s early career in music and technology, the inspiration to start a museum, and the inner workings of the Arkive community - including voting, incentives, and ownership. Please enjoy my conversation with Tom. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:04] - [First question] - Having a vision to work with computers in the second grade[00:05:14] - Going from a child computer coder and starting an indie record label[00:07:00] - Working in a big music studio in the midst of the streaming and digital revolution [00:09:22] - The road leading from Omni to Arkive [00:13:02] - A high level sketch of Akrive and what their mission is  [00:14:17] - Finding pieces to fill this new approach to curating a museum [00:16:15] - Who can become a member and vote for what makes it into the museum[00:18:55] - Community owned capital and community owned assets [00:21:07] - How members can earn their Arkive points [00:22:30] - Mechanics of voting and the curation community decisions[00:26:14] - Sourcing items of the caliber able to excite their participants  [00:27:49] - How they approach pricing and valuation for art and collectibles[00:29:48] - What it was like to hold the ENIAC patent for the first time[00:32:24] - Making sure items purchased can be seen by the public [00:34:58] - Whether or not they plan to step outside of the viewable museum model [00:37:09] - Plans to make fractional ownership and private investing possible [00:39:09] - Advertising that they’re hiring on-chain pricing oracles[00:41:45] - The likelihood of liquidity in light of exclusivity [00:42:45] - Building out their own infrastructure and tools [00:45:17] - What he’s most excited to see built over the next six months and six years Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Lex Sokolin. Lex is the Head Economist at ConsenSys, a major Ethereum development company that built MetaMask. Our conversation breaks down the Ethereum merge and its implications on the network and ecosystem. We discuss how the switch affects centralization, the crypto economics of inflation and deflation, and popular market narratives around the event. Please enjoy this conversation with Lex Sokolin. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. -----  Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:08] - [First question] - The history leading up to the Ethereum merge[00:06:00] - A high level overview of proof-of-work compared to proof-of-stake[00:13:26] - Critical arguments he’s heard that have merit and are worth debating[00:17:19] - How staking worked before the merge and how it’ll work afterwards and allow retail traders to participate more easily [00:23:51] - Control of governance and decision making power when staking is outsourced[00:28:49] - How far away we are from being able to stake directly from our wallets[00:34:22] - Ways to think about and calculate the interest rate impact post-merge[00:36:58] - Liquidity of staking and ease of access to deposit and withdraw tokens[00:38:14] - An Ethereum fork and why so many participants are shorting Ethereum today[00:43:49] - What would happen to unique and serialized NFTs in a network fork [00:47:53] - How conversations have gone between him and institutional players about the coming changes to the network[00:51:34] - What he’s most excited to see built in the next six months and six years Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is Gabe Leydon, who’s episode last year was one of our most popular ever. Gabe has spent the last 20 years designing video games and is one of the most original thinkers I know. He was the co-founder of Machine Zone, which pioneered free-to-play hits like Mobile Strike and Game of War. Over the past year, he has been in stealth mode building a web2 meets web3 video game company called Limit Break, which is founded on a brand new business model that he calls free-to-own. We dive into his vision for the future of gaming, how it could onboard a billion users onto the Ethereum network, and why the LTVs of crypto gamers is far higher than their web2 equivalents. Please enjoy this conversation with Gabe Leydon. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:19] - [First question] - What free-to-own gaming means and why it’s exciting [00:11:40] - Pre-existing behavior that sets up free-to-own for success[00:12:32] - The progression from PFP NFTs to clubs and the road ahead[00:14:16] - Overview of the business and monetization model for free-to-own games[00:17:51] - The story of DigiDaigaku, their mechanics, the drops, and what lead to their creation[00:22:14] - Balancing supply and demand in a free-to-own market[00:24:35] - Creativity and extensions of the DigiDaigaku NFTs[00:26:13] - Tiering, breeding and the role the Genesis series will play in the Digi universe[00:27:32] - The level of brand marketing NFTs will unlock for businesses[00:29:57] - How free-to-own will be the primary monetization method for brands[00:31:21] - A future with a global marketing shift towards digital property and economies[00:33:06] - Why most of the winning PFP projects are of unique characters[00:35:50] - His Twitter strategy and how he’s created such a fervor around him[00:42:40] - What will define the legendary marketers over the coming decade [00:43:06] - Interoperability needed to make real-world NFT uses appealing to consumers [00:44:44] - Whether or not we’ll see more token-gated business in the future [00:45:40] - Stable Diffusion and his impression of the new AI art generating bots[00:48:56] - What great distribution looks like in a digitally native world[00:50:03] - The emphasis of innovation taking place in the metaverse being a bad thing[00:53:24] - Things he most admires in adjacent games and creators in his world[00:54:25] - Unique game mechanics that Web3 technology unlocks [00:56:16] - NFTs will be the gateway for people to acquire crypto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Alex Taub. Alex is the co-founder and CEO of Upstream, a no-code DAO platform, as well as the co-founder of Truth Labs, the team behind NFT projects Illuminati and Goblintown. Alex is an expert on forming communities, especially around NFTs and DAOs. In this episode, we discuss the best use cases for DAOs, the challenges of announcing NFT roadmaps, and why Truth Labs targets different audiences with each project. Please enjoy this conversation with Alex Taub. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:16] - [First question] - All of the projects he’s involved with and how they intersect[00:03:42] - How relationships are at the core focus of what gives him a superpower [00:05:24] - His transition from Web2 to Web3 and how it’s playing out for Upstream[00:06:26] - The legal structure of DAOs and what they unlock for people  [00:08:14] - Whether or not the size of a DAO makes control difficult[00:09:12] - Other exciting things he’s seeing in Upstream  [00:09:56] - Whether or not Illuminati was always on the Upstream roadmap [00:11:27] - The creative process for Illuminati and Goblintown [00:13:23] - How quickly the idea for Goblintown went from concept to launch [00:16:07] - The push pull caused by the participants in the NFT market[00:18:24] - Why they doxed themselves after a successful anonymous launch [00:21:26] - How the space came about and became so popular [00:22:18] - Why there is such a lack of people trying new things in NFTs[00:23:39] - What it’s like trying to find talent and onboard people in his projects[00:24:41] - His take on the NFT marketplace and why he made his own  [00:27:35] - The rabbithole of refunding participants for NFT purchases[00:28:45] - How vault DAO helps keep NFTs safe [00:29:48] - Overview of the multiple wallet on Metamask and using it[00:31:23] - What leads to a bad community when people come together[00:32:08] - Selection bias and controlling for it to filter out bad actors[00:33:18] - What he’s excited to see built over the next six months and six years  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Avi Felman. Avi is young but he has already had a successful career as a crypto investor. Earlier this year, he left BlockTower Capital to join GoldenTree as their Head of Digital Assets Trading. His ambition is to put crypto on TradFi's map by bringing this large well-known, credit-focused asset manager to the forefront of our industry. We dive into his investment process, hiring Discord anons into GoldenTree, and how long-term thinking manifests in crypto markets. Please enjoy this great conversation with Avi Felman. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:16] - [First question] - Learning everything he needed to about crypto from RuneScape[00:06:41] - Thoughts on the average market participant trying to find an edge in crypto[00:09:38] - Whether or not he’s ever thought about leaving crypto behind completely[00:11:10] - How much of his education has been self-taught or via mentors[00:14:02] - Defining an investor and a trader; and his style as a bidirectional trader[00:15:56] - An example of a theme that he’s changed his mind on [00:18:10] - Why he chose to work with GoldenTree over their competitors[00:21:10] - What it’s like pitching a token like SHIB to GoldenTree[00:25:09] - How he thinks about training, discipline, and building a team [00:28:44] - Thoughts on trades when it comes to managing risk[00:30:05] - Separating alpha and beta when valuing analysts and PMs[00:31:57] - What he meant by the entire market being based on the bid for Ethereum[00:33:57] - What an average person can do to track crypto market flows [00:35:16] - Things he’s currently focused on in the market today[00:37:32] - What he’s most excited to see built over the next six months and six years Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Andrew Steinwold. Andrew is the managing partner at Sfermion, an NFT-focused investment firm where he makes venture-style bets and directly invests in NFTs. He is a pioneer in this space. We discuss the challenges of starting up a Web3 fund, how NFTs make the metaverse possible, and what drives value in various NFT categories. Please enjoy this conversation with Andrew Steinwold. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Coinbase Prime. Coinbase Prime combines advanced trading, battle-tested custody, financing, and prime services in a single solution. Clients have used our comprehensive investing platform to execute some of the largest trades in the industry because they are the only publicly-traded company with experience trading and custodying crypto assets at scale. Get started with Coinbase Prime today at coinbase.com/prime. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:14] - [First question] - How he and his wife Josie Bellini got into the crypto space [00:05:40] - Why crypto OGs had a disdain for NFTs[00:07:55] - A snapshot of the NFT market today and the metrics he tends to look at [00:11:18] - Whether or not he’s surprised that the blue chip assets have held up[00:13:56] - The early formation of Sfermion and what lead him to start it [00:18:33] - Thoughts on holding NFTs and building an investable fund around them[00:23:13] - Plans for their second fund and what it will be comprised of [00:24:41] - His investment process and philosophy on exposure and valuation [00:28:15] - Top level view on capital allocation when investing and building funds [00:31:07] - Second Life interview; in-game economies[00:32:54] - Value is unlocked in more assets than just ones with utility [00:35:37] - How they pitched fundraising a venture fund compared to one that invested in NFTs[00:39:10] - USD performance fees and capital deployment in their venture fund  [00:43:37] - The different areas of the competitive landscape in NFTs [00:46:43] - Whether or not courts have reached out to them given their assets[00:48:59] - Real world use-cases and experiments that could prove useful in the future [00:53:28] - Axie Infinity; thoughts on the Axie Infinity experiment and play-to-earn product market fit[00:57:51] - What he’s most excited to see built over the next six months and six years  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Yanni Giannaros. Yanni is the co-founder and CEO of Wyre, which provides payment infrastructure for Web3 companies. Wyre started off enabling merchants to accept bitcoin in 2013 and eventually pivoted from B2C to B2B to serve developers. We discuss Wyre’s major pivots over the past decade, the inefficiencies of traditional cross-border money transfer, and the decoupling of crypto exchanges as on-ramps. Please enjoy my conversation with Yanni Giannaros. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:15] - [First question] - How he and his co-founder met[00:05:38] - Building Snapcard and whether they moved into crypto at that time [00:06:49] - The ways they technically achieved receiving funds via Snapcard[00:08:13] - What led to the second iteration of Snapcard[00:10:31] - Who their first competitors were when they started accepted Bitcoin and when they moved into cross-border payments [00:12:58] - The history of sending money across the border and what their products unlocked for consumers[00:15:27] - How people would on-ramp into crypto in the first place and the financial and technical risks of early crypto transfers[00:16:48] - The biggest pain points and what led them away from having so many businesses[00:18:51] - Whether or not he and his co-founder ever had second thoughts [00:19:54] - What he means by “It’s the fast that eat the slow”[00:21:06] - Interesting views on why major crypto exchanges won’t remain dominant[00:23:34] - Learning regulatory jurisdiction issues and the landscape today [00:25:37] - How someone can use Wyre to set up their Web3 protocol more quickly [00:27:31] - Some of the biggest surprise use cases for Wyre from developers [00:30:15] - Things he thinks about differently now not being so end-user focused [00:31:40] - How much money they raised on Wyre’s processing power[00:32:49] - Being acquired for over a billion dollars and selling their company [00:34:26] - How it feels now to run Wyre compared to their building days[00:35:21] - What he’s most excited to build over the next six months and six years  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Algod. Algod is a popular crypto investor, who is probably best known for predicting Luna’s demise ahead of time on Twitter and betting with the founder, Do Kwon, that it would happen. He’s self-taught, operates largely alone, and does few interviews so I was very excited to sit down with him and talk about his philosophy, analytical process, and current views. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Algod. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag  Show Notes[00:02:18] - [First question] - His early call that Luna would crash[00:03:52] - How Anchor and Luna work[00:04:26] - His confidence in the problems with Luna[00:06:32] - The crypto landscape today[00:09:10] - The connection to Three Arrows Capital and how he analyzes a token [00:10:50] - How to bootstrap a company through NFT/Crypto[00:13:35] - When investors are involved and there’s an unlock schedule in a new token[00:16:11] - Metrics he follows; Market Cap and Fully Diluted Value (FDV)[00:17:26] - Other metrics he looks at [00:18:30] - Watching people get burned by Crypto[00:19:32] - Dealing with crypto fanatics[00:21:44] - Whether stablecoins should exist[00:23:14] - His investment process[00:25:11] - Use cases of crypto he is excited for [00:26:49] - Benefits of the widespread crypto adoption[00:32:46] - Where he pulls information about crypto[00:33:26] - Building his network[00:34:09] - Original intention with his twitter handle[00:34:58] - How people monetize twitter accounts[00:35:22] - Being anonymous on twitter[00:36:35] - How this crypto cycle compares to previous ones[00:38:22] - Other investment assets he explores[00:39:32] - Things he is excited to build out in the future Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices