Making Markets

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Jai Ramaswamy. Jai is the Chief Legal Officer at Andreessen Horowitz and we recorded this interview at the Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas. In our discussion, we cover the regulatory agencies involved in crypto, the balance between privacy and compliance, and how a16z thinks about responsible regulation. Please enjoy this conversation with Jai Ramaswamy. 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[00:01:52] - [First question] - How he went from a traditional finance lawyer to a crypto one [00:08:05] - A framework for how to think of the regulatory bodies that intersect with crypto[00:12:46] - Who’s responsible when you receive an OFAC sanction and what it was like seeing a protocol receive one [00:20:32] - Whether or not OFAC is an organization that tries to send a message to participants through their actions [00:23:15] - Thoughts about the line regulators are walking between being thorough and protecting transaction privacy [00:29:32] - Money laundering in traditional finance versus crypto [00:34:37] - How law enforcement could enforce or stop a truly decentralized smart contract[00:38:44] - The nature of disclosure and what the Howey Test is [00:47:34] - Commissioner Hester Peirce; Smart Regulation and how guidance and enforcement can help legitimize an asset class[00:51:25] - His take on the recent FTX piece that came out [00:54:43] - Thoughts on stablecoins, their uses, and a possible means of destabilization [01:00:32] - The tension between innovation and compliance and the implications of the balance between them[01:06:40] - What he’s doing about policy in light of everything that was discussed today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is 0xfoobar. Foobar is a developer and investor who writes a must-read newsletter called The Variable. We discuss the tradeoff between privacy and compliance, how culture and law shape each other, and his views on crypto regulation. Please enjoy this conversation with 0xfoobar. 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[00:02:02] - [First question] - How he built such a robust technical background in his career that lead him to crypto [00:04:42] - The trade off between compliance and privacy and his take on it writ large[00:07:27] - Whether or not people have given up on the idea that privacy of transaction matters [00:11:17] - The current technical framework for what exists in privacy today for crypto[00:14:07] - Defining a zero knowledge proof and explaining the process to do one [00:18:55] - The public ledger incentivizing other economic models and the ways crypto will be used in the future that might not be what we imagine today [00:20:14] - People want to experiment but doing so can involve blind risk unless they’re familiar with the space [00:22:00] - Reversible transactions and why they’re harmful [00:26:37] - Opensea’s flagging involvement and whether or not we’ll have a cash-like layer built on top of the irreversible chain   [00:29:26] - Minimizing crypto purchase risk and protecting participants with a transaction cooling process or holding period [00:32:46] - The ways in which law and culture shape each other [00:34:14] - Examples of how culture affects crypto in ways that laws don’t yet [00:36:31] - DeFi protocol hacks and how the culture should handle that kind of behavior [00:40:49] - His thoughts on the current takes of trying to bring regulation by enforcement to the crypto space[00:42:33] - What he would do about regulation with SBF’s wealth, power, and influence[00:43:18] - His current area of focus is lately and what he enjoys doing the most [00:46:50] - 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

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Jared Grey. Jared was recently elected Head Chef of SushiSwap, one of the most recognized decentralized exchanges in crypto. We discuss the pros and cons of a community-led governance structure, how and why Jared decided to campaign for this CEO-type role, and the opportunities to improve SushiSwap's structure over the long-term. Please enjoy this conversation with Jared Grey. 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[00:02:09] - [First question] - Addressing the accusations after being appointed head chef at Sushiswap[00:04:27] - How he first got into crypto and the road leading him to Sushiswap[00:06:50] - Overview of what a decentralized exchange is compared to a centralized one[00:08:17] - The unique way liquidity is provisioned in a DEX[00:09:47] - What permanent loss is and the main critique against DEXs[00:10:34] - Whether or not he believes DEXs will surpass centralized exchanges in volume[00:12:06] - The history of SushiSwap before he arrived [00:15:22] - Explaining the differences between Uniswap and SushiSwap[00:18:39] - Where his power starts and stops, and the challenges of running a community lead organization versus a traditional governance structure[00:20:44] - An example of how decision making happens inside of SushiSwap[00:22:57] - A situation where a gridlock happened and having a centralized governance structure might have helped[00:26:35] - The challenges of developing more features without making an overwhelming user experience[00:28:38] - The nomination process for him to become the head chef at SushiSwap[00:30:44] - The voting system and candidates involved in the voting process[00:33:08] - His mental model for the voting system and ways to modify the existing one[00:36:10] - How the transition of power works in a situation like his[00:37:22] - Thoughts on regulatory risk and regulatory structure[00:38:41] - His outlook for Sushi and where he wants to take it going forward[00:40:23] - 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 Matthew Graham. Matt is the co-founder and CEO of Sino Global Capital, a venture firm that made early investments in FTX, Solana, Wintermute, and other notable crypto projects. We discuss the origin story of Sino Global and delve into investing in China and emerging markets, including India, the Middle East, and Africa. Matt discusses his views on reinventing financial infrastructure, from TradFi to DeFi. Please enjoy this conversation with Matthew Graham. 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[00:02:13] - [First question] - How he got into one of the hardest asset classes in emerging markets[00:04:43] - What lead him to China and where he first started his career[00:06:52] - The origin story of Sino Capital and what its first iteration looked like[00:09:13] - Whether or not he felt he had an edge in the early days [00:09:44] - Being comfortable in an uncomfortable idiosyncratic position and if he would have ever gone back to a traditional path [00:11:06] - What European and Western investors would miss and not understand about the regions he invests in [00:12:07] - His take on Chinese and Indian markets and their similarities and differences[00:13:05] - Deciding to enter these markets and what gave him the confidence to do so [00:14:18] - How often he’s dealing with international founders versus local ones   [00:15:07] - The Sino Capital business model and balancing being long-term greedy with stakeholder needs [00:18:22] - Thoughts on evaluating founding teams and where Sino wants to invest[00:22:22] - How long they wait to invest after first meeting a team or founder[00:24:44] - What percentage of his time is spent sourcing new deals versus managing the existing portfolio[00:26:16] - Whether or not he’s relied on the insight of investors and mentors when it comes to how he’s structured Sino Capital  [00:27:25] - His philosophy when it comes to bringing new people onto the team [00:29:58] - The turnover rate of Sino interns and how many become employees [00:31:24] - Ways to explain to laypeople the differences between TradFi and DeFi and the what DeFi will unlock for the future   [00:35:38] - How he’d rebuild TradFi if he could wave a magic wand[00:39:24] - Walking through the pros and cons of the role regulation will play in crypto [00:44:21] - Where he’d suggest a young entrepreneur go in the world to find a new frontier and which asset classes they should participate in [00:45:59] - 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

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