The Crypto Explorer - by Sygnum Bank AG

Every year Sygnum publishes a Digital Asset Outlook report, explaining events of the last year and the banks outlook for the year ahead. Understanding that not everyone can access or consume a full 28-page report, this year, we decided to summarize it down to a quick, simple 30 minute podcast to highlight key takeaways. Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

Thinking about investments in a bear market can be challenging! To address the fallout from the events of 2022, and how they changed the approach to risk management and portfolio strategy, we were happy to sit down with AM experts, Charles-Henry Monchau (Syz Bank) and Fabian Dori (Sygnum) to break it all down. We looked at questions like: Why do you think crypto needs to be a part of your portfolio?How / and why can crypto positions be integrated into traditional portfolios?It's been a difficult year in Crypto – how has this changed your outlook and approach? Addressing tradfi concerns  and with crypto exposure – including smart contract risk and regulatory uncertainty?Can crypto still be considered a diversifier for traditional portfolios?How to value crypto investments – compared to the traditional world? What are roadblocks that you face with crypto adoption?Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

The events of 2022 have emphasized the need and growth for truly decentralized, Web 3 solutions. However, the success of Web3 solutions is heavily reliant on community, which is largely driven by marketing. So, it was a pleasure to sit down with Massimo Moretti (CEO and Founder of Signvm accelerator) and Dom Castley (CMO, Sygnum) to understand what it takes to build a successful brand in Web3. We explored questions like:What are key factors for growth in web3? What's different from the traditional world ?  Why is community in web 3 so strong, and how do you build it? What are newer aspects to growth in web3, like metaverse presence, Discord, lens and airdrops?What role do traditional social media and paid media continue to play?   What are easy mistakes to avoid, but people don’t often do? Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

Managing your own crypto assets is challenging enough in a calm market. As the crypto world faces waves of turbulence this November, we were happy to sit down with Christoph Simmchen (Safe ecosystem) and Martin Burgherr (Sygnum) to make sense of how to assess and use different custody solutions.  In this new background of FTX market events, how has your view of custody solutions in the market changed?How do you think regulation will change? What in your view would be a welcome change? The use case for custody used to be pure custody, now its more about defi and staking – how do you think this evolves? On a more personal level, what are key factors and risks you consider when working with custody providers? Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

The Layer Two wars are heating up! Across the crypto ecosystem are rumblings of cutting edge Zero-Knowledge technology being developed and when they officially hit the market.  So we were delighted to sit down with Omar Azhar from Matter Labs (zkSync) and Rico Muller (Sygnum) to understand Layer 2s, and the evolution from plasma chains, side chains and optimistic roll ups to zero knowledge proofs and the arrival of Layer 3s. Its a technical subject, but an important one to understand!  We look at questions like: Why do we need to scale? What are different approaches to scaling? What are Zero-Knowledge rollups and why is everyone so excited about them? What does the Layer 2 ecosystem look like? And how come everyone made big ZK announcements at the *exact* same time? How does this effectively change our engagement with web3? How do you aim to address the fragmentation of liquidity with all the new solutions in the market? Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

Have you ever wondered why crypto projects are valued the way they are? Or how VCs make decisions in a sea of interesting projects? Tune in, as we sit down with David Toh from Mirana Ventures and Luca Burlando from Sygnum Bank to figure out how VCs deploy capital, and how this changes in a bear market. We explore questions like:When considering crypto investments, what are the key factors you consider? In what ways do you think these differ from non-crypto investments? How do you compare cases for token investments vs equity investments?There has been some criticism of centralization caused by VCs in the decentralized crypto universe – what are your thoughts on this?For founders, bear markets are often called build market, how does that impact the investment environment? What are red-flags for you, when considering an investment case? DisclaimerBecause Sygnum is a bank and some of the information in the podcast relates to financial and investment topics, we want you to understand that we do not create a bank client relationship with you when you listen to the podcast. By listening to the podcast, you agree that the information on this podcast does not constitute professional advice and no bank-client or other relationship is created between you and Sygnum. Do not consider the podcast to be a substitute for obtaining advice from a qualified investment advisor. The information in the podcast may be changed without notice and is not guaranteed to be complete, correct or up-to-date. All information you hear is never considered to be a solicitation for any purpose, in any form or content.Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

Right now, all everyone cares about in crypto is the MERGE. When the second largest blockchain transitions from PoW to PoS, people argue that this is the largest development in crypto since the advent of smart contracts in 2014! So of course, we had to sit down with Francesco Andreoli and Matt Nelson from Consensys and the Ethereum Foundation and Admir Opardija from Sygnum, to unwrap what exactly this means, and what changes for you! We explore questions like: What is the merge – and why is everyone so excited? How does this change the way I interact with eth? What about the PoW chain – are you anxious about the fork? What are the most annoying misconceptions about the Merge? What are the next big steps ahead? Which ones are you most looking forward to?DisclaimerBecause Sygnum is a bank and some of the information in the podcast relates to financial and investment topics, we want you to understand that we do not create a bank client relationship with you when you listen to the podcast. By listening to the podcast, you agree that the information on this podcast does not constitute professional advice and no bank-client or other relationship is created between you and Sygnum. Do not consider the podcast to be a substitute for obtaining advice from a qualified investment advisor. The information in the podcast may be changed without notice and is not guaranteed to be complete, correct or up-to-date. All information you hear is never considered to be a solicitation for any purpose, in any form or content. Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

What is the point of a DEX aggregator? How do they work? why are they useful? and how could this become a big driver for institutional adoption?  Listen in, as we sit down with Mounir Benchemled from Paraswap and Martin Burgherr from Sygnum Bank, as we explore opportunities for optimizing trades in the crypto world. We look at questions liek: What differentiates a CEX and DEX?Between a DEX and DEX aggregator – what are factors users need to look out for ? How do we see DEXs enter the mainstream? What is the institutional journey for DEXs and DEX aggregators? How do you expect this to unfold? DisclaimerBecause Sygnum is a bank and some of the information in the podcast relates to financial and investment topics, we want you to understand that we do not create a bank client relationship with you when you listen to the podcast. By listening to the podcast, you agree that the information on this podcast does not constitute professional advice and no bank-client or other relationship is created between you and Sygnum. Do not consider the podcast to be a substitute for obtaining advice from a qualified investment advisor. The information in the podcast may be changed without notice and is not guaranteed to be complete, correct or up-to-date. All information you hear is never considered to be a solicitation for any purpose, in any form or content. Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

In times of market turbulence, its nice to hear it straight from the experts.  What explains the movements we see, how are investments valued and what possibly could be the way forward. It was a pleasure to sit down with Daniel Egger and Katalin Tischhauser to make some sense of all the noise. Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer

Bear season = Build season. As the crypto universe recovers from recent turbulence - it is a good time to revisit the power of the tech stack. In discussion with Ralf Kubli from Casper Labs and Dominic Lohberger from Sygnum Bank, we dig into the interesting applications for blockchain in the finance world, and the power of smart financial contracts: far beyond defi as we know it today! This is unchartered, unexplored territory - so of course, full of immense possibility!  We dig into questions like: What are some interesting ways smart contracts have been used to fuel further blockchain innovation?Where do we see possible use cases for smart contracts in financial infrastructure?Derivatives on chain – how can smart contracts be applied in there?  What are the dangers of decentralized financial smart contracts?How can you address non-chain data needed for fulfillment of contracts?Current systems seems work fine, but what’s the big bonus of moving on chain?DisclaimerBecause Sygnum is a bank and some of the information in the podcast relates to financial and investment topics, we want you to understand that we do not create a bank client relationship with you when you listen to the podcast. By listening to the podcast, you agree that the information on this podcast does not constitute professional advice and no bank-client or other relationship is created between you and Sygnum. Do not consider the podcast to be a substitute for obtaining advice from a qualified investment advisor. The information in the podcast may be changed without notice and is not guaranteed to be complete, correct or up-to-date. All information you hear is never considered to be a solicitation for any purpose, in any form or content. Read the disclaimer here: https://www.sygnum.com/disclaimer