Base Layer

Mati, formerly the Senior Market Analyst at eToro joins me on Base Layer to talk about a multitude of issues in the global markets right now. First, based on some questions from Institutional Investors we discussed USD as reserve currency and if there any issues with that with that in the future. We also discuss role of CBCD's right now like China's DCEP; do they infringe on Bitcoin and other Digital Assets or do they promote their use? We rounded it out with thoughts on how COVID is affecting the market/s around the world. Unreal thoughts from Mati...not to be missed!

Raghu joins me on Base Layer and it's a fantastic overview of the infrastructure of the capital markets in Digital Assets. Raghu tells a story of his beginnings which include being brought in by Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet to help with Chrome OS and more. He then found his way into Digital Assets and experienced the pitfalls of Digital Asset market fragmentation firsthand while trading his own strategies. His new team identified market structure issues including complex inventory management, price discovery, and unreliable market data. You learn how they are doing what they are doing, the different aspects like Prime Brokerage, Lending and the maturation of Digital Asset capital markets. So much to learn here!

Alex, the Co-Founder of The Giving Block joins me for a special Base Layer. The Giving Block was founded in 2018 after seeing hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin being donated to the few nonprofits that were equipped to accept those donations. Early investors in Digital Assets have done very well for themselves, but a question loomed: how could they donate digital assets to help those in need? Because the IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, these investors had a huge tax incentive to donate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly to nonprofits, but were nonprofits ready, willing and able to take those donations? A great conversation about the complexity and size of charitable donations of Digital Assets with Alex.

Muneeb and Steve join me back on Base Layer to talk about a big joint venture. Blockstack and Algorand, have jointly announced an independent open-source project to support a first-of-its-kind smart contract language, Clarity. Recognizing the need for smart contract languages that are more safe, secure, and predictable in order to mature the industry beyond its current state, teams run by Blockstack Founder Dr. Muneeb Ali, a Princeton Ph.D in computer science, and Algorand Founder Dr. Silvio Micali, a computer science professor at MIT, will collaborate on Clarity design and development. We talk about the why, what and how and dig deeper into how Clarity uses a "decidable" language, meaning, according to the team, developers can know, with mathematical certainty, what a program will and will not do ahead of time. This shift addresses a key obstacle currently preventing large-scale, serious use in their opinion.

Josh Wolfe, co-founder Lux Capital which is one of the most inspiring venture capitalists firms supporting scientists and entrepreneurs who "pursue counter-conventional solutions to the most vexing puzzles of our time" came on my show and it was an absolute honor! Josh and I have a similar upbringing which drives us in different ways and having him talk about his drive & inspiration was amazing. We talk about all the work being done at Lux to make this world a better place for our kids and their future kids. One for the ages!

Jenny Q. Ta joins me on Base Layer for a great conversation! Jenny is a seasoned entrepreneur with two highly successful early ventures to her credit. As Founder and CEO of Titan Securities, a full-service broker-dealer and investment banking firm, Prior to that venture, Jenny had filled the role of Founder, CEO, and driving force behind Vantage Investments, another full-service broker-dealer and investment banking firm that she started while still in her twenties and quickly grew to a-third-of-a-billion dollars in assets. We discuss her new venture, Coinlinked which is an online social commerce platform powered by a decentralized Blockchain solution to connect the traditional marketplaces of today with the digital assets of tomorrow. This powerful platform provides a brand-new concept in crypto-marketplace for users and consumers to purchase any product from any website in the world paying with digital assets like Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ethereum ($ETH) or stablecoins such as Tether ($USDT).

Adam joins me on the show to delve into his very successful past, from co-founding Doctor on Demand which ushered in a whole new world of telemedicine to looking at talent networks like Toptal & Upwork and applying distributed & decentralized architecture to truly empower those in the network in Braintrust Network. We discuss the intricacies of how Braintrust is empowering this new network that just came out of stealth and the parts that are needed to make it work, like a reputation system. Such an interesting chat and a new company to keep an eye on!

Jesse from Strix Leviathan joins me for a great conversation about the use of technology and systematic approaches to in investing in digital assets. Jesse has over 20 years of experience as a technical entrepreneur. Prior to Strix Leviathan, Jesse founded Blue Box, a cloud computing startup. Jesse raised $22M in venture capital for Blue Box and subsequently sold the company to IBM where Jesse was named as an IBM Distinguished Engineer. At IBM, Jesse spent time researching blockchain and digital assets. Jesse is an active member of the Seattle startup community.

Jeff joins the show and my goodness is it a good one! Every year Jeff releases about 10 "predictions" in tech that based off his vast experience he feels are close to coming and without fail he has been spot on. We talk about his 2020 predictions which have included the rise of Face ID and biometrics esp in a post COVID/contactless world, Student Debt and the rise of anger among parents and students that are locked out of school and paying hundreds of thousands for MOOC's, Web 2.0 and the recent "fact checking" debate, WFH and how long that may last and lastly, Bitcoin, and it's role and maturation. This is too good not to share!

Cody Willard, Hedge Fund Manager and writer, joins me on Base Layer to discuss the equity markets and Digital Asset Landscape. His analysis has been featured on CBS News, ABC’s 20/20, in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine and many other places. We discuss the recent Robinhood phenomenon in which retail traders have picked up shares of companies like Hertz and outperformed legendary investors like Icahn and Buffett. We also discuss about the Fed's intervention and printing - how this effects Bitcoin and digital assets. Must listen!