
Base Layer
Base Layer will be providing insights from founders and investors in the base layer of cryptoassets. Simplifying complex projects and the technology being developed, from interoperability to relayers and more - who is building the future, why are they and how are they doing it.
Latest episodes

Mar 29, 2021 • 28min
Base Layer Episode 203: Ryan Berkun, Founder & CEO of Teller Finance on creating the first DeFi protocol built to evaluate consumer credit risk.
Teller Finance is a company I've been watching for almost a year; I think it could arguably become one of the most important DeFi platforms ever. Imagine something like a decentralized FICO score that is portable and universally accepted. That's kind of what Teller is up to. Listen and learn.About our sponsor, Coinbase:Coinbase Prime is one of the leading prime brokerages for digital assets. Coinbase provides the bridge to the crypto world for institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and financial institutions. Through their professional trading platform, deep and diversified liquidity, and Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Prime is built for institutions. Learn more at prime.coinbase.com.

Mar 24, 2021 • 28min
Base Layer Episode 202: Stani Kulechov, Founder at Aave on getting the next 10 million users into DeFi
Welcome back! After an unexpected hiatus from yours truly we are back! What better way to come back then talking with Stani from Aave who has been instrumental in DeFi massive growth in the last year. Aave is an open-source and non-custodial protocol to earn interest on deposits and borrow assets with a variable or stable interest rate. It also enables ultra-short duration, uncollateralized flash loans designed to be integrated into other products and services. We talk about how this all works, their new AMM (automated market maker), how their decentralized governance is working compared to others, NFT's and how we get the next 10 million users into DeFi. About our sponsor, Coinbase:Coinbase Prime is one of the leading prime brokerages for digital assets. Coinbase provides the bridge to the crypto world for institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and financial institutions. Through their professional trading platform, deep and diversified liquidity, and Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Prime is built for institutions. Learn more at prime.coinbase.com.

Feb 1, 2021 • 26min
Base Layer Episode 201: Andrew Peel, Head of Digital Assets at Morgan Stanley on Institutions converging on Bitcoin, DeFi and more
Did you know Morgan Stanley had a Head of Digital Assets? Well you do now! Such a great episode with Andrew who is incredibly knowledgeable about the space. We discuss the global macro narrative that has been the draw to Bitcoin for many institutions; going beyond Bitcoin and what DeFi's role could be in further growing; the role Corporations are playing in terms of buying Bitcoin and Digital Assets and much more.

Jan 25, 2021 • 48min
Base Layer Episode 200: Meltem Demirors from Coinshares: "Nothing f'in matters anymore", Bitcoin Cathedrals and the world we live in now
It's been a little over two years in the making but we have reached our 200th episode! What a special one with Meltem in which we have a no holds bar conversation about the world we live in and the role Bitcoin is playing in it. **Note: unlike in previous episodes, I do drop a few curses here; it was right after the attempted insurrection at the Capitol and I was heated** We talk about the role Bitcoin is playing; is it ok to spend your Bitcoin or should it be in the narrative of store of wealth? So much more; just listen!

Jan 11, 2021 • 49min
Base Layer Episode 199: Raoul Pal on the World Burning, Bitcoin and how to apply Second Level thinking in Digital Assets
The legendary Raoul Pal joins me for an absolutely epic conversation in which we touch on global macro issues, including last week's attempted insurrection in the United States, yields and the debt markets around the world, the continued narrative of Bitcoin among institutional investors and more. We also spend a lot of time discussing second level thinking (coined by investors like Howard Marks, Ray Dalio and others) in Digital Assets; how to look beyond the meme's and those who call digital assets derogatory names and more. Raoul and his team have been producing amazing content at Real Vision on traditional markets and now Digital Assets; check it out here: https://www.realvision.com/About our sponsor, Coinbase:Coinbase Prime is one of the leading prime brokerages for digital assets. Coinbase provides the bridge to the crypto world for institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and financial institutions. Through their professional trading platform, deep and diversified liquidity, and Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Prime is built for institutions. Learn more at prime.coinbase.com.

Jan 6, 2021 • 25min
Base Layer Episode 197: Matt Cutler, CEO of Blocknative on the role mempools play
Matt joins us to kick off 2021 with a great discussion on mempools; for those unfamiliar a mempool is a Digital Asset node’s mechanism for storing information on unconfirmed transactions. It acts as a sort of waiting room for transactions that have not yet been included in a block. One is able to gather very interesting observational data with this and Blocknative is at the forefront of it. Learn more about what they are doing here: https://www.blocknative.com/About our sponsor: Coinbase Coinbase Prime is one of the leading prime brokerages for digital assets. Coinbase provides the bridge to the crypto world for institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and financial institutions. Through their professional trading platform, deep and diversified liquidity, and Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Prime is built for institutions. Learn more at prime.coinbase.com.

Dec 21, 2020 • 35min
Base Layer Episode 196: Peter Johnson (Jump Capital) on 2021 predictions including $50K Bitcoin and M&A "mania"
Legendary recording! Peter is the Managing Director of Jump Capital, a highly seasoned investor in both traditional and digital assets. He and his team have been investing in Digital Assets for about 7 years now and he's seen it all. We talk about his 2021 predictions which include Bitcoin hitting $50,000 and why that is a more reachable target today than ever before. Additionally we talk about DeFi having a continuance of a breakout in 2021, stablecoins, will CBDC's take off and so much more. Time to take notes! About Coinbase, our partner:Coinbase Prime is one of the leading prime brokerages for digital assets. Coinbase provides the bridge to the crypto world for institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and financial institutions. Through their professional trading platform, deep and diversified liquidity, and Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Prime is built for institutions. Learn more at prime.coinbase.com.

Dec 18, 2020 • 24min
Base Layer Episode 195: Tim Ogilvie, Founder at Staked on helping to create the Fixed Income of Digital Assets
Tim joins me back on the show to update everyone Staked which for the last few years has been facilitating what I call the emergence of fixed income in Digital Assets. Essentially Staked helps investors earn yield from staking and DeFi without taking custody of crypto assets; some of the yields on the platform are high 10's and 20's. We talk about the how this works, what goes into staking and the emergence of ETH2 and why this is potentially a watershed moment.

Dec 14, 2020 • 29min
Base Layer Episode 194: Richard Craib, Founder of Numerai on what the future of Hedge Funds may look like
Richard, the founder of Numerai, joins me for a great podcast to discuss how they are building a blockchain based hedge fund using crowdsourced predictions. Numerai, founded in Dec. 2015, is building a blockchain based hedge fund that utilizes artificial intelligence and crowdsourced stock market predictions. The platform relies on a monthly machine learning and data science “tournament” where users, primarily data scientists, can submit trading algorithms about the stock market. Numerai then employs artificial intelligence algorithms to analyze the predictions, and the best are included in Numerai’s “meta-model” which combines all the underlying inputs on which it will trade the stock market.About Coinbase and Coinbase Prime, our sponsor:Coinbase Prime is one of the leading prime brokerages for digital assets. Coinbase provides the bridge to the crypto world for institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and financial institutions. Through their professional trading platform, deep and diversified liquidity, and Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Prime is built for institutions. Learn more at prime.coinbase.com.

Dec 9, 2020 • 30min
Base Layer Episode 193: Joe Lallouz, CEO of Bison Trails on building the Oracle of Digital Assets
Joe Lallouz, the CEO of Bison Trails, comes back on Base Layer for an epic conversation about the role Bison Trails is playing in Digital Assets; prior I've equated them to being the Wix of 2006, bringing the ability of the non-technocrat to build websites/e-commerce sites and more. Upon reflection of this chat I am now equating them to Oracle, that infrastructure layer that has been so incredibly important to the build of internet 1 & 2 that not many people non-technocratic people understand what they do but they just know they may things work: that's what Bison Trails is becoming. We discuss ETH2 and their role and QT, a new release they put out a few weeks ago and much more. Find out more here: https://bisontrails.co/About Coinbase & Coinbase Prime (Base Layer partner)Coinbase Prime is one of the leading prime brokerages for digital assets. Coinbase provides the bridge to the crypto world for institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and financial institutions. Through their professional trading platform, deep and diversified liquidity, and Coinbase Custody, Coinbase Prime is built for institutions. Learn more at prime.coinbase.com.