Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of MAS and Chairman of Elevandi Board, is a huge proponent of blockchain technology at both a nation-state level and for consumers. He regularly liaises with key leaders across the world about the rollout of CBDCs and other major Fintech initiatives. Indeed, he is Raoul’s go-to person to understand the really big picture. Sopnendu remains excited about many of the big opportunities in the space (especially what is happening in India), but he believes that the fallout in the crypto market has been a huge setback and government support of non-utility/monetary tokens such as bitcoin has evaporated. If you want to understand what is happening in the crypto market at a global policy-maker level, then this interview is both fascinating and vital. Recorded on January 23, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged crypto exchange Kraken with “failing to register” its staking-as-a-service program. As part of the settlement, Kraken will stop offering crypto staking in the U.S. and pay a fine. Ash Bennington discusses the impact with David Nage, portfolio manager at Arca. Plus, CoinDesk reports a U.S. brokerage and issuer of stablecoins such as Binance’s BUSD, is under investigation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When BlockFi went bankrupt, it left a lot of a lot of people with questions about their funds, how much and when they might possibly recover, and how the process would influence other crypto bankruptcy proceedings. So, when a Pro Crypto member gave us a list of detailed questions, we looked for an expert to answer them live on the show. Ash Bennington and Marco Olivera are joined by Thomas Braziel, the managing partner at 507 Capital, to make it happen. Plus, we’ll discuss Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong flagging rumors of a potential retail crypto-staking ban in the U.S., bitcoin blockchain activity surging to a 2-year high thanks to... NFTs, and a Satoshi-era wallet moving bitcoin that has gained 1,200,000% in 11 years (…!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Evin McMullen, the co-founder and CEO of Disco.xyz, joins Nico Brugge and Elaine Ly to discuss the importance of controlling your identity in the metaverse, the process of moving it from Web2 to Web3 and why this is becoming a new capitalist battleground. In the news, millions of dollars of crypto donations are pouring in for victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake, 2 NFTs sold for more than a million dollars this week, and an old school mobile phone maker is going all in on Web3. Plus, you can now own the famous doge couch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The two battling companies have agreed on a way forward that could open a path for Gemini Earn users to retrieve some of their funds. Marco Olivera and Ash Bennington discuss this significant development, including the broader implications for Genesis’ parent company Digital Currency Group. Later, Piers Ridyard joins to discuss Radix’s mission to build a “radically different DeFi.” Plus, Binance suspends USD bank transfers, the U.K. takes an important step towards launching a digital pound, and we take stock of the DeFi market performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A gathering in Tel Aviv is exploring the way to scale Ethereum through Layer 2 blockchains. Ash Bennington and Marco Olivera are joined live by StarkWare co-founder and president Eli Ben-Sasson and Argent CEO and co-founder Itamar Lesuisse to discuss an announcement that StarkWare will make its STARK Prover software open source. In other news: FTX wants the money Sam Bankman-Fried donated to politicians back, Binance launched a crypto tax tool in France and Canada, South Korea is moving ahead with regulating security tokens, and a mysterious image is popping up on the Twitter accounts of multiple DeFi platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New U.S. jobs data smashed expectations, bitcoin market sentiment hit a 14-month high, and venture capital investment dropped 91% year-over-year. Clearly, there’s conflicting data rippling through markets. Ash Bennington is joined by Chris Sullivan, co-founder and co-portfolio manager at Hyperion Decimus, to discuss what to make of it. Plus, we’ll cover a new report about the condensed ownership of the company behind tether, Australia’s new regulatory plans, and Silvergate Capital reportedly coming under investigation over FTX and Alameda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Crypto had a rough 2022, and the numerous high-profile failures, bankruptcies and downright scams did not help its standing with the press. The latest JPMorgan survey of institutional e-traders appears to confirm the unease. So how does crypto find a way back into people's good fortunes? Ash Bennington is joined by Charles Gasparino, a senior correspondent at Fox Business Network, to discuss this plus the latest in the FTX bankruptcy process, a record year for crypto hacks, and why Charlie Munger wants the U.S. to ban crypto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elaine Ly and Marco Olivera welcome Dean Carr aka C the Light to share his latest technical analysis. On the news front, the U.K. has unveiled its proposed crypto regulation, and we have updates on 3 bankrupt crypto lenders: BlockFi, Voyager Digital, and Celsius Network, with the latter revealing which customers can withdraw their assets from the platform. Plus, some respite for Silvergate Capital as a major TradFi investment company reveals a stake in the crypto-friendly bank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ash Bennington is joined by Jason Raznick, the founder and CEO of financial news outlet Benzinga and a member of the Voyager Digital unsecured creditor committee, for a discussion about the Voyager bankruptcy process. Got money tied up there? Jason lays it all out.In other news, Twitter is reportedly taking strides in Elon Musk’s quest to turn it into an “everything app” that includes payments — hopefully with crypto. Plus, there was no sugar-coating in the Celsius examiner report, the Premier League gets into NFTs, Binance launches a crypto payments card in Brazil with Mastercard, and Solana Mobile presents its dApp store. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices