The Blockcrunch Podcast

Jacob Ko, partner at Superscrypt, discusses contrasting investment philosophies between the West and Asia, Superscrypt's verticals of interest, onboarding non-Web 3 users, and the differences between Singapore and Hong Kong's Web 3 scene.

Recently, we have a few asset managers, including some of the largest in the world like Blackrock apply to create Bitcoin spot ETFs in the United States. This sparked a lot of speculation about whether this could herald institutional adoption of crypto and kickstart a bull market. Today, we have Ram Ahluwalia, CEO of Lumida and previous Head of Crypto & Digital Assets at Cross River, a crypto-friendly bank to share with us: Implications of BTC ETF on markets Odds of SEC approval Reasons for previous rejections And more! Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.   Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to BTC ETFs (00:03:10) – Importance of Spot BTC ETF (00:06:52) – SEC’s reason for rejecting BTC ETFs (00:13:57) – SEC’s stance on Crypto (00:17:30) – Why BlackRock is applying for BTC ETF now (00:21:38) – Larry Fink’s agenda  (00:28:38) – Need for clearer guidance (00:32:44) – Likelihood of ETF approval (00:35:11) – Past applications vs Now Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Read the full 30-page report on the future of Filecoin written by Blockcrunch over here: https://bit.ly/41gLdUm More Resources: Guest Ram Ahluwalia’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ramahluwalia Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about  

Arkham Intelligence is a blockchain data analytics platform that recently started a huge debate on Twitter due to its Intel-to-Earn model, which pays users to deanonymize blockchain wallets. There are also discussions on whether Arkham collects off-chain data on its users, and whether Arkham is actually a government project used to spy on crypto users. Today, we have Miguel Morel, CEO of Arkham on the show where we asked him: Info that will be allowed on Arkham’s marketplace Will Arkham work with government agencies Does Arkham collect non-public data of users Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Arkham Intelligence (00:02:47) – What is Arkham (00:06:42) – Arkham users and use-cases (00:11:17) – Is Arkham working with government agencies (00:24:33) – Issues surround Arkham’s referral system (00:30:09) – The controversial Intro-to-Earn system (00:45:07) – Data quality and accuracy (00:50:29) – Privacy blockchains (00:37:09) – Value accrual across layers Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Read the full 30-page report on the future of Filecoin written by Blockcrunch over here: https://bit.ly/41gLdUm More Resources: Tweet that claims Arkham Intel Referral System exposed 100s of private emails: https://twitter.com/nftherder/status/1680065466738376704?s=46&t=FkUP6WZfEjMkbcsVeZ1C1w Guest Miguel Morel’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealMiguelMorel Arkham Intelligence’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArkhamIntel   Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about  

Maven11 is one of the foremost crypto-venture funds renowned for its early trend detection and deep focus on the infrastructural layer of the crypto space.   In this episode, we dive into the secular trends that crypto investors should be aware of, particularly the Modular Blockchain thesis. Watch this episode to keep up with the next wave of blockchain evolution and its potential to shape the future of the crypto landscape   Chief Investment Officer Balder Bomans and Mathijs, Associate Partner of Maven11 shares with us: What exactly is the Modular Blockchain thesis Which layer accrues the most value in Modular Blockchains 4 interesting verticals other than Modular Blockchains   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Maven11 (00:03:38) – How Maven11 came about (00:08:19) – Maven11’s secret to forming theses (00:12:48) – Real-world Assets, Credit & Privacy (00:16:15) – Modular Blockchains thesis (00:20:25) – Data Availability (00:25:02) – Future of Roll-Ups (00:31:15) – Roll-Ups-as-a-Service (00:37:09) – Value accrual across layers Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Read the full 30-page report on the future of Filecoin written by Blockcrunch over here: https://bit.ly/41gLdUm More Resources: Guest Maven11’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/gizatechxyz Maven11’s Substack: https://maven11.substack.com Balder’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BalderBomans Mathijs’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/MathijsvEsch   Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about  

In part 2 of our “AI x Web 3’ series, we spoke with Giza, an end-to-end platform that makes it easy for developers to bring AI onto the blockchain to find out more about why AI SHOULD be onchain, and why onchain AI is the next biggest unlock since the invention of smart contracts   In this episode, Cem and Fran, Co-Founders of Giza also share with us: Where are we in AI’s lifecycle 5 interesting use cases of AI x Web 3 Open versus closed AI models Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Crypto x AI (00:02:41) – How Giza came about (00:05:42) – Why AI should be on-chain (00:07:46) – Benefits for end users (00:10:50) – What part of AI is Giza bringing on-chain (00:17:51) – Examples of disruptive use-cases (00:23:03) – Proof-of-Humanity (00:29:30) – Open models versus closed models (00:32:45) – Where are we in AI’s lifecycle (00:38:13) – How to contribute to Giza Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Read the full 30-page report on the future of Filecoin written by Blockcrunch over here: https://bit.ly/41gLdUm More Resources: Guest Giza’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/gizatechxyz Giza’s Website: https://www.gizatech.xyz/ Cem’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/CemFDagdelen Fran’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/franalgaba_   Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about  

If you were on the internet for the past 6 months, chances are you have realized that we’re entering into the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and maybe even experimented with ChatGPT   As investors, you might have also considered what’s the best way for you to capitalize on this paradigm shift - Jake Brukhman is here to answer that   Jake is the Founder of CoinFund, one of the earliest crypto funds, and has a reputation for being extremely early to large trends. In this episode, he shares with us: Thesis on the Intersection of AI x Crypto Interesting Use Cases for AI in Crypto Will AI Destroy Humanity   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Crypto x AI (00:04:26) – Convergence of AI x Crypto (00:11:19) – Jake’s thesis on AI x Crypto (00:16:18) – Decentralizing computing for AI (00:25:42) – Interesting intersections of AI x Crypto (00:32:12) – Future of AI models (00:35:41) – AI disrupting investing (00:38:59) – Is open source dangerous for humans (00:41:58) – Problems AI builders should be solving     Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Read the full 30-page report on the future of Filecoin written by Blockcrunch over here: https://bit.ly/41gLdUm     More Resources: Guest Jake Brukhman’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jbrukh Jake’s post on Jargon: https://bit.ly/45aSNCU Jake’s article on AI x Web 3: https://bit.ly/435ZTa0 CoinFund’s Website: https://www.coinfund.io/   Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about  

Despite complaints about privacy and exploitative revenue sharing, social media giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter still dominate the social media landscape after more than a decade   Why aren’t users and creators exploring other platforms? Well, they simply can’t since these giants own their data and audiences, and moving means losing all the progress they’ve built   In this Blockcrunch episode, Ryan Li, Co-Founder of CyberConnect, a decentralized social graph protocol trying to revolutionize the relationship between social media platforms and users, shares with us Why Web 3 social graphs are necessary Why you should switch over to Web 3 platforms The future of social media Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to CyberConnect (00:03:48) – History of CyberConnect (00:10:03) – Problems with Web 2 social platforms (00:13:28) – What is a social graph (00:16:00) – Incentives for building on CyberConnect (00:19:47) – Better monetization for creators (00:25:30) – Ownership and composability of data (00:31:57) – Why not social tokens (00:34:53) – Web 3 social graph landscape (00:42:13) – Are social graphs competitive or complementary (00:43:33) – CyberConnect’s monetization model (00:46:18) – Convincing users to switch over from Web 2     Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Join the Space Warp program (Live until March 2023) to be among the first to build on the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) https://spacewarp.fvm.dev/     More Resources: Guest Ryan Li’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanli_me CyberConnect’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/cyberconnecthq Link3’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/link3to   Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about  

NFTs today are mostly static profile pictures. What if we could create more engaging experiences with dynamic NFTs in a decentralized manner? Tableland, a database protocol is revolutionizing data management in Web 3, allowing developers to build dApps in a Web 3-native manner while overcoming the limitations of existing databases  In this Blockcrunch episode, Andrew Hill, Co-Founder of Tableland shares with us Problems with existing databases Use cases unlocked by Tableland Entering Web 3’s data era Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Tableland (00:04:08) – Evolving NFTs with Tableland (00:07:53) – Limitations of blockchain as databases (00:10:22) – History of decentralized databases (00:14:58) – Where Tableland comes in (00:23:07) – Tableland vs blockchains (00:25:54) – Tableland vs Dune (00:27:30) – Tableland’s Rigs NFTs (00:31:12) – Tableland & Filecoin (00:36:05) – Tailwinds driving Tableland’s future     Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Join the Space Warp program (Live until March 2023) to be among the first to build on the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) https://spacewarp.fvm.dev/     More Resources: Guest Andrew Hill’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewxhill Tableland’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/tableland__ Tableland’s Website: https://tableland.xyz/   Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about  

P.S You can find our full report on stablecoins at https://bit.ly/3AtuuCl   Stablecoins, as the name suggests, were thought to be stable - that is, until the recent USDC depeg drama where the supposedly rock-solid stablecoin traded from one dollar to eighty five cents as one of the major custodial banks went under   Can we still trust major stablecoins like USDC or USDT? If not, what are some alternatives?   In this episode, Michael who wrote a 20-page research article on stablecoins for our Blockcrunch VIP subscriber breaks down for us Issues with current stablecoins Up and coming decentralized stablecoins Relevance of stablecoins in 2030   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.      Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Spencer (00:03:30) – What are stablecoins (00:07:11) – Different types of stablecoins (00:14:59) – Commentary on Liquity Protocol  (00:17:52) – Frax vs Liquity (00:19:53) – Dominance of USDT & USDC (00:24:22) – Path to decentralization  (00:27:51) – Gyroscope stablecoin (00:31:27) – Aave’s GHO & Curve’s crvUSD (00:35:24) – Relevance of stablecoins in the future     Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Join the Space Warp program (Live until March 2023) to be among the first to build on the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) https://spacewarp.fvm.dev/     More Resources: Guest Michael Li: https://twitter.com/michael_lwy   Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about  

Have you ever wondered how professionals invest and trade NFTs?   How is it that some are seemingly able to time the market perfectly and accurately value something that supposedly trades on cultural relevance and memetic desire?   In this Blockcrunch episode, Spencer Sand-Gordon, Founder of Spencer Ventures, an NFT-only crypto fund demystifies NFT trading and shares with us: Entering and exiting NFT positions How to build investment theses for NFTs Future of NFT markets   Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.     Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Introduction to Spencer (00:03:13) – Spencer’s background  (00:06:30) – Starting an NFT-only fund (00:11:09) – Trading NFTs as a fund (00:17:07) – Sizing positions on NFTs (00:25:13) – Underwriting different collections (00:35:29) – NFT investing based on quantitative data (00:38:20) – Different NFT investment instruments Sponsor message: Filecoin is enabling open services for data, built on top of IPFS.   Today, Filecoin focuses primarily on storage as an open service, but looks to build the infrastructure to store, distribute and transform data.   Join the Space Warp program (Live until March 2023) to be among the first to build on the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) https://spacewarp.fvm.dev/     More Resources: Guest Spencer Sand-Gordon’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sgsand1 Spencer Ventures’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/venturespencer Spencer Ventures’ Website: https://www.spencer.vc/   Blockcrunch Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi     Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.   Full disclaimer: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about