Raoul Pal: The Journey Man

Ray Dalio, founder, co-chairman, and co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, famously noted that global reserve currencies typically last for 100 years or so. If that trend holds, the US dollar is nearing the end of the privileged status it inherited from the British pound. So, what comes next? Greg Foss and Seb Bunney believe it’s Bitcoin. Foss, a strategist at VPC, and Bunney, who advocates at The Looking Glass, argue that the world’s No. 1 cryptocurrency features characteristics necessary to the task. Foss stresses the importance to humanity of a hard asset immune to censorship and manipulation. Inflation, he says, is crippling poor families on fixed incomes, leading them down a dangerous path of debt accumulation. Bitcoin, as Foss sees it, is the way out of the fiat-driven leverage spiral the entire Western world has fallen into. Recorded on March 1, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What problem does DeFi solve? Jamis Johnson and Ali Hassan, founding partners of Perceptive Capital, attempt to answer that question. As two early Bitcoin adopters, Johnson, a computer scientist, and Hassan, a former TradFi fund manager, were convinced of the original cryptocurrency’s promise almost from its very beginning. But they each saw opportunities to expand on that promise. And they were particularly excited by decentralized finance. Johnson and Hassan have combined their expertise to create a cutting-edge investment fund focused on crypto and crypto-adjacent ventures. They talk to Real Vision’s Ash Bennington about the need for greater decentralization and a shift away from the “regulatory monopolistic banks,” as Hassan calls them. Tune in to share in the knowledge they’ve accumulated along their journey into the DeFi space. Recorded on February 24, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We promised Bill Tai would be back soon, and the day has come. In this special follow-up to their talk at Real Vision/MGM’s The Takeover, Bill shares with Raoul an update on the OnChain Monkey project, holding it up as an example of how NFTs and their communities can be incentivized to do good in the world. Bill also leads essentially a master class on Reed’s Law and how the concept is paramount for anyone who wants to understand today’s crypto ecosystem. Curious why everything is evolving even more rapidly than one can imagine? Your answers are here. It’s always magic when Bill and Raoul get together, and this episode is no exception. Recorded on February 28, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Almost overnight Ukraine’s largest crypto exchange has turned into a pool worth tens of millions of dollars that’s poured in from around the world to help the besieged country mitigate the everyday consequences of Russian aggression. Michael Chobanian, the founder of KUNA Exchange, speaks to Real Vision Managing Editor Samuel Burke about how he’s distributing the contributions and why he isn’t worried about Russia co-opting Ukraine’s crypto playbook. Recorded on March 8, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

André Allen Anjos is a musician and digital artist better known by his pseudonym, RAC. Years ago, he “went down the rabbit hole” of Napster. He emerged to found the Remix Artist Collective. In 2020, he was among the first artists to connect his work with blockchain technology. In the process, Anjos has shown artists how to overcome the many hurdles that confront them in the Web 2.0 world, including lack of artistic freedom, low royalties, and a broader denial of autonomy. Anjos, a longtime student of computer science, joins Sergio Silva, an NFT collector and a sales associate at FireBlocks, to break down how he’s capitalized on the advantages created by Web 3.0. Beyond launching his social token $RAC on Ethereum, Anjos has used the network to more directly engage with his audience and to give fans an incentive to “invest” in him rather than a large record label. Recorded on February 24, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“What is the future of money?” is a question more and more about the future of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. The rise of Web 3.0, as Chris Perkins and Chris Giancarlo describe it, will disrupt legacy financial business models and the regulatory infrastructure around it like nothing we’ve ever seen. Perkins, managing partner of CoinFund and a former U.S. Marine, and Giancarlo, former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, strategic advisor at CoinFund, and author of “Crypto Dad: The Fight for the Future of Money,” join Real Vision’s Ash Bennington to talk about the benefits of decentralization for financial markets, including greater access, lower costs, and more inclusion, as well as the evolution of an activity-based regulatory structure. Recorded on March 3, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first employee at Coinbase, Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CIO of Polychain Capital, went on to create one of the first crypto investment funds in 2016. While it may be a new buzzword to many, Carlson-Wee has been talking about Web 3.0 since early 2017. He describes the tensions that exist between content creators and social media platforms rooted in the Web 2.0 business model, which is largely driven by ad revenue. This arrangement is not always ideal for content creators, depriving many of brand ownership. Polychain, an investment fund that has been at the forefront of many trends, is betting on a revolution in the content creation and online community space. Tune in for Carlson-Wee’s perspectives on where crypto and Web 3.0 are headed in 2022. Interviewed by Ash Bennington on December 6, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yassine Elmandjra, analyst at Ark Investment, and Real Vision co-founder and CEO Raoul Pal come at the digital asset space with different perspectives. To be honest, almost everyone in the digital asset space has a unique perspective that resonates for them. In this absolutely incredible discussion, Yassine and Raoul demonstrate how people with different perspectives can learn from each other, leveraging those different perspectives to create entirely new ideas and understandings that make the whole immensely more valuable than the sum of the parts. Watch as Yassine and Raoul brainstorm and build on one another’s perspectives to take us to an entirely new place of understanding. This is a Masterclass in bringing an open mind, thinking “big picture,” and creating fresh value for everyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1955, during the post-World War II global economic boom, John van Eck set out to create an international broker to give US citizens access to foreign markets and connect the world through investment. The company he founded, VanEck, established its reputation by providing investors exposure to emerging industries, asset classes, and markets. Now, John’s son Jan van Eck is taking similarly innovative steps with Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and other digital assets. Last November, VanEck launched a Bitcoin futures ETF, establishing a reputable avenue into the space for institutions. Jan, now the CEO of VanEck, talks to Real Vision’s Ash Bennington about new ideas in the money-management industry and shares his thoughts on NFTs, stablecoins, and the future of digital assets. Recorded on February 24, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The recent $320 million Ethereum-Solana cross-chain hack – the second-biggest exploit ever, behind the $600 million Poly Network theft – is only the beginning, according to Corby Pryor, venture partner at HOF Capital. A former academic who studied quantum physics and designed neural networks, Pryor went all in after dabbling in crypto investing in 2017. A talented computer scientist, Pryor has identified a key vulnerability in the DeFi ecosystem, particularly in cross-chain interoperability. He discusses potential solutions, his unique perspective on venture capital based on his experience in physics, and a fascinating concept he calls “decentralized time” with Real Vision’s Ash Bennington. Recorded on February 14, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices