The Generalist

The rapidly scaling startup is more than just a fearsome fraud prevention platform for fintech and crypto. It’s laying the foundation to become a payments giant. Brought to you by Sardine If you’re a fintech or crypto company, you should be using Sardine. It is that simple. The fraud prevention and payments provider protects your customers from malicious scammers while improving your conversion rates. Companies like FTX, Brex, AtoB, MoonPay, Autograph, and others use Sardine to stop fraud and increase revenue. ‍To get started, book a demo here. By doing so, you stand to cut fraud by 300% and unlock $500,000 in operational savings. To find the original piece, published October 19, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates.

The “internet of blockchains” believes tomorrow’s builders will prioritize specialization and sovereignty. It represents a distinct view of crypto’s future and is gaining momentum. Brought to you by Masterworks After injecting trillions of dollars into the financial system…What could go wrong? Try the worst inflation in 40 years, the stock market in a tailspin, and a dark crypto winter. Yet, there are still some asset classes that the Fed can’t print more of. Like fine art – a $1.7 trillion-dollar asset class that's outpaced the S&P 500 by more than 2x in the last 25 years. A recent Goldman Sachs report also noted that portfolios with real assets like art have outperformed since WWII. With Masterworks, over 500,000 members are getting access to investments in multi-million dollar art, for just a fraction of the price of the entire work. While other assets are struggling with double digit losses, Masterworks has strategically exited six positions for a 29% average net return. The Generalist readers can skip their waitlist to join with this exclusive referral link. See important Regulation A disclosures. To find the original piece, published Oct 16, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates.

The venture firm has succeeded by focusing on geographies in which most investors dare not tread. It is positioned to become a dominant force in emerging markets. To find the original piece, published September 28, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates.

Five years after Masayoshi Son’s $100 billion fund shook the financial world, Softbank’s venture firm is crumbling. Can it be saved? Brought to you by Fintech Nexus London Calling! Join Fintech Nexus for its Merge conference October 17-18 at Tobacco Dock in London, and witness the impact web3 is having on financial institutions and fintechs. Hear from industry leaders and innovators as they reveal how they’re thinking about — and implementing — web3 solutions to gain a competitive edge. In partnership with 11:FS, Merge brings together a stellar lineup including, Lawrence Wintermeyer (GBBC Digital Finance), Lex Sokolin (ConsenSys), Jess Houlgrave (checkout.com), Claire Calmejane (Société Générale), Keith Grose (Plaid), Curtis Ting (Kraken), Pavel Matveev (Wirex), Jehangir Byramji (Lloyds Banking Group), Haydn Jones (PwC), a member of Parliament, and more. To learn more and register, visit Fintech Nexus here. ‍Use promo code Generalist and get 30% off! To find the original piece, published Oct 2, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates

With over $5.6 billion in total value locked, Aave is one of DeFi’s most dominant players. Its ambitions extend far beyond lending, with stablecoins and social media in its sights. Brought to you by Masterworks The near-zero interest rates and sub-two percent inflation that fueled the record bull market of the last ten years are gone. In their place, volatility and fear rule. How can you prepare? Ultra-high-net-worth investors are increasing their exposure to an asset class that outpaced the S&P 500 by 164% over the last 25 years: blue-chip art. Because of this demand, Deloitte expects the asset class to grow nearly 60% in 3 years. But investing in multi-million dollar art by names like Picasso and Banksy isn’t just an opportunity for the elite anymore. Thanks to Masterworks, the award-winning art investment platform, 500,000 other members and I have already discovered the potential of this wealth-generating asset. In fact, since inception they’ve delivered a 29% average Net Realized Return to investors across six exits. As a Generalist subscriber, you’re invited to skip the waitlist to join using this exclusive referral link. See important Reg A and performance disclosures. To find the original piece, published Sep 25, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates

FTX’s CEO shares his thoughts on management, staying focused, keeping up with the competition, scaling himself, hiring mistakes, and building a generational business. Brought to you by FTX US Here’s a puzzler for you: what do Tom Brady, GameStop, and chess god Magnus Carlsen have in common? The answer is, surprisingly, FTX US. The cryptocurrency exchange boasts Brady as an investor (and extremely watchable ambassador), GameStop as a new partner, and Magnus Carlsen as a player in its inaugural “Crypto Cup” tournament. At a time when most companies are being forced to pull back and dream a little smaller, FTX is still firing at full throttle. The reason FTX is able to do that is thanks to its exceptionally strong investing platform. FTX US is not only an easy, intuitive place to buy and sell crypto, NFTs, and stocks, it is also the most economical. No other player can match FTX US’s combination of coverage and low fees. To get started with crypto’s most interesting exchange, download the FTX US app here. As a reader of this newsletter, you can use the code GENERALIST, and after you trade $100, you’ll get a special $15 bonus. A final note: while FTX US is this edition’s sponsor, the interview below is not sponsored. I just really wanted to ask Sam these questions. To find the original piece, published Sep 18, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates

The firm has spent billions attempting to transform itself into a tech company, exploring lending, savings, investing, and beyond. The initiative shows the opportunities and challenges of innovating from within. Brought to you by FTX US When I first wrote about FTX in The Generalist, I said the company was building an “everything exchange.” One comprehensive platform to invest in different assets spanning crypto and traditional finance. With FTX US’s launch of stock trading earlier this summer, that’s truer than ever. From the company’s secure and intuitive app, you can invest in more than 900 different stocks and access your favorite cryptocurrencies. If you’re already holding stablecoins, you can fund your account with them seamlessly, saving you the trouble of selling back into dollars. FTX US is charging no fees on stock trading until September 30th and does not get paid for order flow. To capitalize on FTX US’s impressive feature set, download the app today. Use the code GENERALIST, and after you trade $100, you’ll get a special $15 bonus! To find the original piece, published Sep 11, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates

The $5 billion football club is amidst a high-risk transformation. Its strategy reveals the tricky economics of running a sports franchise and the potential teams see in web3. Brought to you by Masterworks Solve your “zero return crisis” with this fintech platform realizing 27.9% Vanguard, a $7.2 trillion money manager, calculated that stocks will return as little as 3.4% over the next ten years. With 8.5% inflation, that means negative real growth on your money. Yes, less than zero. But there's hope. Personally, I’m continuing to diversify into alternatives like contemporary art. It’s outperformed the S&P by 164% over the last 25 years, and demand is so high that Deloitte expects the art market to grow nearly 60% within three years. The smartest way for everyday investors to get in on the action is Masterworks. Despite covid, historic inflation, and the beginning of a recession, their last six exits achieved an impressive 27.9% average net return. Join me and 500,000+ others investing in multi-million dollar paintings. As a Generalist subscriber, you’re entitled to skip the waitlist using our referral link. See important Regulation A disclosures. To find the original piece, published Aug 28, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates

Fifteen investors share crypto's highest-potential projects featuring Cosmos, Toucan, Farcaster, Maple Finance, Axelar, and many more. Brought to you by Eco Eco may be one of the most innovative startups in the world. It’s not just improving the customer experience, it’s revolutionizing the financial system from the ground up. Built on a sophisticated crypto-native backend, Eco offers a simple way to spend, save, and earn money. The result is a product that operates like a checking account but with 50x better rates than the national average – up to 5%! That’s combined with unlimited 5% cash back at in-app merchant partners like Amazon and Uber and no minimums or fees, ever. Even better, as you use the product, you accumulate Eco Points, which the company intends to make the rewards currency of the future. If you're looking for better interest, better cashback, and the upside of a new currency, join Eco today. Attend a welcome session and if you make a deposit, Eco will match 10% of it (up to $200), as long as you leave it in your account for 30 days. To get started, just click here. To find the original piece, published Aug 14, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates.

In this new series, we ask the most interesting, unobvious questions we can think of to one of tech’s most fascinating people. Before founding crypto company LayerZero, Pellegrino played professional poker, sold a machine-learning tool to a Major League Baseball team, and published AI research. Brought to you by FTX US Last week, FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried summarized the company better than I ever could. He said... Right now on FTX you can: a) invest in stocks b) invest in crypto c) make credit card deposits d) get an FTX card, spend directly from FTX e) make direct deposits f) make peer to peer payments what else do people want? A year from now, there’s every reason to believe that Sam and his team will have added features “g” → “z” to their increasingly comprehensive platform. Already from FTX US, you can invest in crypto, stocks, and NFTs. It has some of the lowest fees in the industry and is a safe and intuitive place to up your investing game. ‍To get started, download the FTX US app. Use the code GENERALIST, and after you trade $100, you’ll get a special $15 bonus. To find the original piece, published Aug 7, 2022, follow this link. Subscribe to this podcast, and to our newsletter at readthegeneralist.com. You can also follow @mariogabriele and @thegeneralistco on Twitter for updates.