Raoul Pal: The Journey Man

Garry Tan, co-founder of Initialized Capital and one of the earliest investors in Coinbase, shares his outlook on crypto products, his concerns with crypto regulation, and how it will challenge America's democracy. Deeply rooted within the world's tech hub, Tan expresses that Silicon Valley will continue to be home to the internet. Tan explains what he learned in Y Combinator, his peers who have gone on to develop multi-billion dollar companies, and what it means to invest in early stage startups. What role does crypto play in all this? Tan outlines where that fits in as well. Interviewed by Ash Bennington on September 16, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn about smart contracts inside and out. David Salem, contributor at Epsilon Theory, is joined by Anders Brownworth to discuss from technical and philosophical perspectives. Beginning by coding his own smart contract, Brownworth gives viewers a visual breakdown of the inner workings of currencies like Ethereum. Salem and Brownworth then pivot to conceptualize how smart contracts might work in the real world. How do you enforce contracts that reach beyond the digital realm? They discuss "the trilemma" and the trade-offs that come with a truly decentralized coin like Bitcoin versus coins with an organization's backing like Ethereum. This is essential content for anyone who wants to truly understand crypto. Filmed on August 16, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chart guru Willy Woo, founder of The Bitcoin Forecast, has been a pioneer in harnessing on-chain metrics for trading analysis, an area that is seeing rapid institutional adoption. A true expert in the space, Woo describes his experience locating and refining what he now identifies as the most important metrics to watch. He walks viewers through his charts on topics such as identifying Bitcoin supply shocks, monitoring Bitcoin whale activity, and recognizing patterns in the "Hodlers". Interviewed by Ash Bennington on September 2, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Axie Infinity paving the way, Anil Lulla, COO at Delphi Digital; Yan Liberman, managing partner at Delphi Digital; Jeffrey Zirlin, co-founder of Axie Infinity; and Gabby Dizon, CEO and co-founder of Yield Guild Games, join to discuss the new trend taking over the metaverse, which is expanding at a rapid pace. One of the latest developments is the play-to-earn gaming model, in which players can enjoy a video game while earning actual income. In the case of the Philippines, some players earn more than the minimum wage. Dizon and Zirlin were early pioneers in the space while Lulla and Liberman were early investors who recognized the potential. Filmed on August 23, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robert Breedlove, founder of the "What is Money?" podcast, sits down with Brad Mills, host of the Magic Internet Money podcast, to thoroughly breakdown the Bitcoin fundamentals from both a philosophical and a technical standpoint. Starting off with the evolution of money, Breedlove and Mills discuss the desirable properties of money from first principles, followed by a brief history of historical phases of money throughout human history. Breedlove makes the case for Bitcoin as the best form of money we have seen in history, being efficiently portable through both time and space. He analyzes the properties that make a network effect robust and elements that make Bitcoin distinct from altcoins. Ultimately, Breedlove and Mills leave all crypto investors with an important message on overcoming tribalist notions about those who hold different views. Filmed on July 29, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A contrarian thinker in the DeFi space, Sean Lippel, partner and head of digital assets at FinTech Collective, joins Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research LLC, to bring us through the many facets of DeFi with a new perspective. Lippel, a true expert in the field, makes a case for a possible solution to crypto's propensity to volatility, one of the primary criticisms to its feasibility as a standalone currency. Lippel suggests that continued integration of DeFi with real world assets—whether that’s real estate, commodities, business loans, etc.—will gradually reduce the volatility due to the robustness of real world demand. In addition, Lippel shares intriguing insights on central bank digital currencies, stablecoins, and regulation that break the mold of typical commentators in the space. Filmed on July 21, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Strap in for the deepest of deep dives into all things DeFi. Blake Richardson, investor at BlockTower Capital, enlightens viewers with his expert perspective as an investor in the space. Decentralized finance is a relatively new industry, but the number of subtopics continues to grow. A helpful discussion for beginners and experts, Richardson educates viewers on a wide range of material including synthetics, stablecoins, DeFi in the insurance industry, smart contracts, bonding curves, and more. He also shares insight into the due diligence process undergone by his team at BlockTower when assessing the ever-increasing number of DeFi companies emerging today. Interviewed by Ash Bennington on July 16, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As much a philosopher as he is a technologist, Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, joins Real Vision to discuss some of the core theses of DeFi and the meta-layer’s role in smart contracts. Smart contracts will likely play a large role in the future of finance, but they have a long way to go. Companies like Chainlink and their partners are working to expand what they call “the meta-layer,” the framework connecting blockchain ecosystems to off-chain datasets in order to build out more complicated smart contracts. This is all part of the Chainlink 2.0 mission. Nazarov walks viewers through interesting developments on this front as well as additional topics like the quantum risk to DeFi, lessons from the ‘08 financial crisis, and more. Interviewed by Ash Bennington on July 14, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On day five of After the Hype: Reality Sets in for NFTs, Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO & founder of Chiliz & Socios.com, and Raoul Pal, CEO & co-founder of Real Vision, discuss tokenization of world-class sport franchise communities. Giving fans the power to participate in a franchise’s decision-making process is a valuable proposition. The Chiliz & Socios.com network is expanding quickly with over 40 sporting franchises on the platform and over 800,000 active users. Dreyfus walks viewers through his company’s evolution and the ways in which he and his team are innovating to create more real-world utility for their token holder—whether that’s voting on the design of a team’s jersey or issuing token rewards based on a team’s performance. Filmed on July 1, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peng Zhong, CEO of Tendermint, joins Ash Bennington, Real Vision senior editor, for a deep dive into the various projects emerging from Tendermint and how they mesh with the existing DeFi industry. As the Ethereum chain becomes crowded, rising gas fees are forcing developers to look for alternatives. From Cosmos, "The Internet of Blockchains", to Gravity DEX, a liquidity pool and order book protocol, Tendermint is constructing a number of different projects aimed at solving scalability issues and ushering in a multi-chain era. Zhong guides us through both the conceptual and technical aspects of his work during this chat. Filmed on June 28, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices