Scenius Studio is a podcast hosted by Ben Jacobs, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Scenius Capital. With this podcast, Ben will converse with leading hedge fund managers and venture capitalists dedicated to operating funds in the crypto and blockchain space. Investors will share insights into their investment process and strategies while also shining a light on the complexities of running a fund in the nascent crypto asset class.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Jack Platts, CEO and CIO of Hypersphere. Jack was part of the founding team at Polkadot leading their BD and marketing efforts before launching Hypersphere in 2020. In 2022, Jack avoided the various implosions within blockchain and managed to return 620m in profits to his LPs. Now Jack is managing a multi-manager hedge fund as well as the fund’s next venture vehicle.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
Hypersphere https://www.hypersphere.ventures/
Follow Hypersphere on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/hypersphere_
Follow Jack on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/jackbplatts
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Travis Scher, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of North Island Ventures. Travis began his crypto career in 2015, where he led the venture team at Digital Currency Group. After leaving DCG, Travis launched North Island Ventures alongside Glenn and James Hutchins. Travis invests across a range of blockchain categories and possesses strong opinions regarding the entrepreneurs and ideas that will bring blockchain to the masses.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
North Island Ventures https://northisland.ventures/
Follow North Island on Twitter/X https://x.com/NorthIslandVC
Follow Travis on Twitter/X https://x.com/travisscher
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Carlos Pereira, Partner at BITKRAFT.
BITKRAFT is a premier gaming focused venture firm and Carlos is the lead investor for their crypto-dedicated fund. His perspective into the innovation that crypto uniquely unlocks within gaming is insightful. Moreover, his assessment of the current blockchain gaming ecosystem highlights his experience investing in the sector and the observations he and his team have earned across cycles.
Let's get into it.
Resources Mentioned
Connect with the guest
Bitkraft https://www.bitkraft.vc/
Follow Bitkraft on Twitter/X https://x.com/bitkraftvc
Follow Carlos on Twitter/X https://x.com/cegapereira
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner of Dragonfly. Haseeb is highly respected in the space for his synthesis of complex topics, sharp opinions on contentious debates, and repeated ability to back category winners early. With Haseeb at the helm, Dragonfly has established itself as one of the industry’s premier global firms with strong footing in the US and Asia.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
Dragonfly https://www.dragonfly.xyz/
Follow Dragonfly on Twitter/X https://x.com/dragonfly_xyz
Follow Haseeb on Twitter/X https://x.com/hosseeb
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Min Teo, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Ethereal Ventures.
Together with Joe Lubin, Min leads one of the industry’s most well-respected early-stage venture firms. With an impressive track record that includes seed stage bets in EigenLayer and Aztec Protocol, Min has a knack for uncovering blue ocean categories and companies before they become consensus.
Lets get into it.
Connect with the guest
Ethereal https://www.etherealventures.com/
Follow Ethereal on Twitter/X https://x.com/etherealvc
Follow Min on Twitter/X https://x.com/_MinTeo
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Michael Dempsey, Managing Partner of Compound. At Compound, Michael oversees investments in AI/ML, robotics, biology, and of course crypto. His cross-industry knowledge and deep understanding of blockchain-native challenges and commercial opportunities makes him stand out from the crowd. Let's get into it.Connect with the guestCompound https://www.compound.vc/Follow Compound on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/compoundvcFollow Michael on Twitter/Xhttps://twitter.com/mhdempseyDisclaimer Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Phil Bonello, Co-Founder and CIO of Plaintext Capital. Phil is an industry veteran, having spent time at Messari, Ikigai, and Grayscale before launching Plaintext. Phil is a fundamental investor who understands what moves crypto markets intimately. He has a proven ability to find emerging trends and then find creative ways to express related trades before the narrative gets hot.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
Plaintext Capital https://plaintextcapital.com/
Follow Phil on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/PhilJBonello
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Ken Seiff, founder and general partner of Blockchange Ventures. Following a successful career as a founder and retail tech investor Ken discovered blockchain where he has repeatedly made contrarian, early bets that have paid off in spades. His insights into the history of internet innovation shine a light on where we are within the blockchain industry's growth and where we go from here.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
Blockchange https://blockchange.vc/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with James Parillo, Managing Partner of Figment Capital. Following a career in taxation and accounting, Jim developed an expertise in digital assets, which opened up the door to the world of venture investing. Now, as part of a collaboration with Figment, the industry's leading institutional staking provider, Jim and his team invest into critical infrastructure and middleware supporting the growth of the blockchain industry.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
Figment Capital https://www.figmentcapital.io/
Follow Figment Capital on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/FigmentCapital
Follow James on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/VelvetMilkman
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Allan Cassis, Founder and CEO of LVNA Capital. Born and raised in Mexico City, Allan is a crypto OG and has been operating LVNA since 2017. Following early bets in Bitcoin and the Ethereum ICO, Allan currently operates a liquid and venture strategy that focuses on infrastructure and other pragmatic applications of blockchain and digital assets.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
LVNA https://lvnacapital.com/
Follow LVNA Capital on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/lvnacapital
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Homer Sun, Managing Partner of Animoca Capital.
Following an illustrious career as the CIO of Morgan Stanley’s Private Equity business in Asia, Homer took the web3 plunge to launch Animoca’s first growth equity fund. Now at Animoca Capital, Homer is investing in category defining blockchain-related businesses 3-4 years before a potential IPO or strategic acquisition. Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
Animoca https://www.animoca-capital.com/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Larry Sukernik of Reverie. Larry led Digital Currency Group's corporate VC before launching Reverie's consulting and advisory business where he worked with leading crypto projects, such as Uniswap, dYdX, and Osmosis. Building off of his experience working with leading protocols and companies, Larry launched a 20 million fund to invest in founders at the earliest stages.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
Reverie https://www.reverie.ooo/
Follow Larry on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/lsukernik
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Zoe Weinberg, Founder and Managing Partner of Ex/Ante, a venture firm investing in the next generation of privacy, security, and information tools.
Prior to Ex/Ante, Zoe served on the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence and at Google AI. She has also had stints as an investor at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and at Goldman Sachs. Tune in for insights into Ex/Ante’s thesis of agentic tech and how blockchain represents a core component of the firm’s investment strategy.
Let's get into it.
Resources Mentioned
Connect with the guest
ex/ante https://www.buildexante.com/
Follow ex/ante on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/buildexante
Follow Zoe on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/zweinberg
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise.
Jeff has had an illustrious career with a variety of roles at Morgan Stanley, Harvard Management Company, and Corbin Capital Partners before focusing his career on crypto and multi-manager solutions at Bitwise. Jeff’s insight into the forthcoming Bitcoin Spot ETF is timely and informative. Moreover, his measured approach when evaluating actively traded strategies demonstrates his mastery of various methods of alpha generation. Tune in for insights into active and passive digital asset investment strategies.
Resources Mentioned
Connect with the guest
Bitwise https://bitwiseinvestments.com/
Follow Bitwise on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/BitwiseInvest
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Adam Benayoun Founder and General Partner of Collider Ventures. Collider is Israel’s preeminent blockchain-dedicated venture capital fund.
Over the last five years, Adam has been investing in the asset class and steering blockchain and digital asset policy in Israel alongside Israeli-born blockchain unicorns such as Fireblocks and Starkware. Collider seeks to back Israeli teams where blockchain intersects with traditional areas of Israeli technological strength such as cybersecurity and cryptography. Amid the recent geopolitical turmoil in Israel and Palestine we thought this was an important episode to share.
Let's get into it.
Resources Mentioned
Starkware
Fireblocks
Fhenix
Connect with the guest
Collider https://www.collider.vc/
Follow Collider on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/ColliderVC
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sit downs with Alex Lange Founding Partner of Inflection based out of Berlin. Prior to launching Inflection Alex held roles at Google and Index Ventures where he leveraged his technical acumen and deep understanding of hardware to begin exploring cutting edge and non-consensus blockchain investing. Now at Inflection, Alex invests into both the infrastructure and application layer as the firm continues to build its brand as a premier European based early-stage venture fund.
Let's get into it.
Connect with the guest
Inflection https://inflection.xyz/
Follow Alex on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/AlexLangeVC
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Rennick Palley Founding Partner of Stratos, a seed stage focused blockchain venture fund. Rennick is known for his research and understanding of blockchain infrastructure which he integrates into his equity research background. Stratos’ thought leadership into value accrual and token design offers unique insight for those interested in digital asset and network fundamentals.Let's get into it.Timestamps1:36 How was the trip to Singapore?2:08 What are some of the dynamics in Asia?5:49 What is your background?7:49 What would the world look like if your investments went 10x?13:02 Why is it important to invest in the seed rounds?16:45 Comparing the valuations of monetary assets and financial assets?20:12 How do token owners accrue traditional value?22:04 What is the business model for L2s?26:02 Who is making the decisions around token dynamics: dev teams or token holders?33:50 Where do data availability projects like Celestia fit in?35:51 What is data availability?38:10 How is Celestia's $TIA token integrated into the network?40:30 What are some of the projects that Stratos is most excited about?46:37 How is Dymension different than Cosmos49:26 What is your most contrarian take within crypto?52:40 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?54:49 Where can people learn more about you and Stratos?Resources MentionedMonetary Assets vs. Financial AssetsExploring the Economics and Network Effects of Layer 2 SolutionsBabylon Celestia Intro to EigenDAFuel DymensionConnect with the guestStratos Capital https://www.stratos.xyz/Follow Rennick on Twitter/X https://twitter.com/RennickPalleyDisclaimer Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Evgeny Gokhberg, Founder and CIO of re7 Capital based out of the UK. Evgeny is a DeFi OG having formed re7 as one of the first true on-chain market neutral hedge funds in the asset class. Now Evgeny operates three vehicles: a market neutral fund, a ETH yield fund, and a directional long-biased strategy as part of a joint venture with Republic. Nobody knows the opportunity set and shortcomings of DeFi better than Evgeny and in this episode we cover a lot of ground as to what the future of on-chain finance looks like. Lets get into it.Resources MentionedCompound FinanceTotal Value Locked (TVL)Uniswap v4 dYdX on Cosmos app-chainSynthetix visionUniswapXSquidChainflipLido market share dominanceConnect with the guestRe7 Capital Follow Evgeny on Twitter/X Disclaimer Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with David Kalk, founder and CIO of Reflexive Capital. Dave recently spun Reflexive out of Commonwealth Asset Management where he was head of global macro and digital assets. Prior to Commonwealth, Dave was CIO of Peter Thiel’s Macro Fund and a trader at Goldman Sachs. At Reflexive, Dave brings an institutional mindset and cross asset market experience to liquid tokens and the early stage venture space. Let's get into it. Resources Mentioned Commonwealth https://www.cwamgroup.com/
Connect with the guest Reflexive Capital https://www.reflexive.xyz/
Disclaimer Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Anand Iyer of Canonical Crypo. Anand founded Canonical after a successful career as a founder, angel investor, and venture partner at Lightspeed and Pear VC. At Canonical, Anand invests into core blockchain infrastructure, middleware, and developer tooling. His thoughts on the intersection of AI and blockchain are representative of how these two technologies need each other to maximize their value to the world.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
3:16 Background and experiences?
6:20 How did you transition from angel investing to running a fund?
8:50 What's Canonical's thesis?
11:55 What's it like being a solo GP and how are you sourcing projects?
15:09 What does the underwriting process look like at the pre-seed stage?
18:23 What lessons and commonalities have you learned from investing at the earliest stage?
21:35 What should founders be prioritizing at different stages of their company's growth?
24:09 Does blockchain need AI and vice versa?
32:55 What needs to happen for AI to impact the end user in their own application use?
35:56 How important is decentralization to the growth and development of AI?
39:21 What are AI agents?
43:01 Why is ZK ML important?
44:44 Why is MPC important?
46:40 Why is fully homomorphic encryption important?
49:19 What makes projects like FrenTech so popular?
52:29 What is your spiciest take within crypto?
55:38 What is your spiciest take outside of crypto?
58:26 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Ikigai
DeFi Masterclass
Daniel Kang Fighting AI Generated Audio
Sarah Silverman Suing OpenAI and Meta for Copyright Infringment
Flocki.io
Gensyn
Friend.Tech
ZeroDev
Connect with the guest
Canonical Crypto
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Jon Moore and Gaby Goldberg of The Chernin Group Crypto. At TCG, Gaby and Jon invest in web3 consumer applications and related infrastructure. Deploying out of a $120mm Fund I, TCG has and continues to invest in payments, collectives, gaming, entertainment, and consumer related utility products. The fund has a unified thesis around digital ownership unlocking net-new and business accretive opportunities. Tune in for unique insights into the application layer, mobile, wallets, and more. Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:00 What consumer use-case has the opportunity to onboard durable new users to crypto?
4:25 What is your background?
10:27 How has the team developed TCG's thesis and how has it evolved?
16:21 Are there examples of "passion" not driven by speculation/financialization in crypto?
19:08 Can you elaborate on how Arkive represents a new consumer experience?
24:21 Web2 brands integrating web3 tooling vs. web3 native brands?
31:03 How do you think about the integration of consumer with crypto infrastructure when investing?
36:18 How can crypto transition into mobile?
42:47 What is GMI vs. NGMI in crypto gaming?
43:41 What is GMI vs. NGMI in crypto music?
44:50 What is GMI vs. NGMI in crypto payments?
45:51 What is GMI vs. NGMI in DAOs?
46:50 What are some projects that you’re excited about?
55:29 What is your spiciest take within crypto?
58:22 What is your spiciest take outside of crypto?
1:01:16 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Bright Moments
Hume
Arkive
Flamingo
Medallion
Pudgy Penguins
Y00ts to Ethereum
Rainbow Wallet
Sphere
Curio
Jia
Finance Fairer by TCG
Ledger Recover
Once Upon - Block explorer
Connect with the guest
TCG Crypto
Gaby Goldberg
Jon Moore
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Evan Fisher, Founder and General Partner of Portal Ventures. Evan started his career at Goldman Sachs and Insight Partners before launching Portal. At Portal, Evan invests across the industry, globe, and fundraising stage as he applies his traditionally trained venture skillset to protocol investing. Evan is a pragmatist with a business model oriented investment framework that has thus far resonated with founders and builders across the blockchain industry. Lets get into it.
Timestamps
1:45 How was ETHcc and your trip to Paris?
2:58 How should crypto-natives share with others what the state of the industry is?
3:44 What is your background?
6:44 How does your classical venture investment experience translate into protocol investing at Portal?
8:17 What is different about traditional investing and protocol investing?
12:41 What needs to change in crypto in order to attract institutional investors?
16:15 How can non-layer one tokens hold value without being deemed as securities?
18:05 Where do you feel like you have an edge?
20:45 What are the business models in crypto that are emblematic of where the space can go?
22:56 What are some emerging categories that you’re most excited about?
26:06 What is Urbit?
29:10 How do you invest in Urbit?
31:03 What is built on Urbit that can attract the interest of crypto native people?
35:19 What is next for DeFi?
38:41 How was the Ion deal sourced?
42:56 What are some of the retail ready projects that you are excited about?
47:48 Is there anything in AI that you’re excited about?
52:01 What is your most contrarian take within crypto?
52:22 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
56:50 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Medici Network
Fully Homomorphic Encryption
Urbit
Holium
Tlon Landscape
Ion Protocol
Connect with the guest
Follow Evan on Twitter https://twitter.com/evanbfish
Follow Portal on Twitter https://twitter.com/PortalVentures
Portal Ventures https://portal.vc/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Hootie Rashidifard, Founder and General Partner of Hash3. Hootie recently announced Hash3’s first fund dedicated to investing in disruptive crypto middleware and infrastructure. With a roster of LPs with experience leading unicorn tech start ups, Hash3 works closely with its investor base and venture partner network to help crypto founders operate and scale their protocols and businesses.
Let’s get into it.
Timestamps 2:41 Background and experience? 6:11 What were you investing in at Canaan? 11:03 What made you leave Canaan and start Hash3? 16:26 Which categories are you investing in? 22:28 Are you investing in L1 or L2 blockchain architecture projects? 26:03 Why do we need more infrastructure? 27:29 What is your investment process at Hash3? 31:27 Is your 6 investment criteria just a mental checklist or a complete diligence process? 35:19 How do exit opportunities fit in your evaluation? 38:18 What projects have you invested in? 45:06 What appealed to you most about Ajna ? 51:07 What is your most contrarian take inside crypto? 53:30 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto? 56:17 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Connect with the guest Follow Hootie on Twitter https://twitter.com/hootie_r Follow Hash3 on Twitter https://twitter.com/hash3xyz Hash3 https://www.hash3.xyz/
Disclaimer Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Kyle Samani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Multicoin Capital. Kyle has been at the forefront of blockchain technology and innovation since founding the firm in 2017. Kyle is known for his non-consensus perspectives and his ability to break down business concepts and market structures to their core essence. Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:50 What are the lessons learned from Pristine?
6:20 What were the biggest takeaways from Vision Pro?
12:30 How do you best consume information?
13:47 What is your process for developing investible theses?
16:30 Was the value proposition for Helium clear to you immediately?
18:48 Lessons learned from evaluating DePIN projects?
22:12 Evaluating market structures?
25:14 Opportunities at the intersection of AI x crypto?
30:25 What do you think about Zero Knowledge tech and Privacy?
34:47 Issues with restaking and EigenLayer?
38:39 How has VC in crypto evolved?
40:51 Do you consider MultiCoin to be a generalist?
43:07 What emerging categories are most appealing to you at the moment?
46:53 What is your most contrarian take on crypto?
49:32 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
50:54 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Connect with the guest
Follow Kyle on Twitter https://twitter.com/KyleSamani
Follow Multicoin on Twitter https://twitter.com/multicoincap
Multicoin https://multicoin.capital/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
Quick reminder that despite our guest this week being a managing partner of a registered investment adviser, nothing in this podcast should be considered an offer of Multicoin’s investment advisory services or should otherwise be confused for investment, tax, legal or other financial advice.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Matt Walsh, Founding Partner of Castle Island Ventures. Matt was instrumental in the development of Fidelity's blockchain efforts before leaving to found Castle Island in 2018. Matt is a leading crypto VC with a deep understanding of tech innovation driving adoption, and the regulatory dynamics impacting the blockchain industry.
Let’s get into it.
Timestamps
3:15 What is your background?
5:04 Why was Fidelity open to Bitcoin in 2014?
8:10 What gave you the confidence to leave Fidelity and launch Castle Island?
10:26 What was it like raising capital for a new crypto fund in 2018?
12:07 How has the Castle Island thesis evolved since founding the firm?
18:17 What exit opportunities are available to equity-based blockchain companies?
23:15 What is the current state of venture in crypto?
26:25 Walk us through McHenry's market structure bill
30:18 What would this bill unlock within the U.S.?
32:54 Would this bill impact the proliferation of U.S. dollar denominated stable coins?
36:15 What is the status of blockchain acceptance in China?
39:17 Where does operation chokepoint 2.9 stand right now?
44:00 What impact will Ordinals have on BTC beyond NFTs?
48:12 What emerging opportunities are you excited to be backing now via Castle Island?
50:30 What is your most contrarian take within crypto?
52:55 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
53:01 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Connect with the guest
Follow Matt on Twitter https://twitter.com/MattWalshInBos
Follow Castle Island on Twitter https://twitter.com/CastleIslandVC
Castle Island https://castleisland.vc/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Arthur Cheong, Founding Partner of Singapore-based DeFiance Capital. Arthur is a DeFi OG with a track record of early home run bets in Synthetix, Aave, and DYDX. Arthur is now leading DeFiance as the firm executes on its liquid venture thesis.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
1:43 What are things like in Singapore at the moment from a general business perspective?
3:45 What are the dynamics between Singapore and Hong Kong?
5:58 Are there lobbyists that are pushing the crypto agenda in Asia?
10:42 What is your background?
12:27 What were the early days of DeFi like?
15:35 Explain in your words DeFiance's liquid venture thesis?
17:48 What type of liquid assets are you looking for?
23:50 How does your strategy compare to an active trading strategy?
26:38 What does the one-to-n phase in DeFi looks like?
29:56 What categories need to have their zero-to-one moments?
31:42 Are you still investing in infrastructure?
35:11 What are your thoughts on real-world assets and crypto?
37:53 What are your thoughts on crypto and AI?
39:59 What risk management operations and procedures have you put in place?
47:46 How are you evaluating counterparties?
51:04 What is your most contrarian take within crypto?
53:50 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
58:19 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Connect with the guest
Follow Arthur on Twitter https://twitter.com/Arthur_0x
Follow DeFiance on Twitter https://twitter.com/DeFianceCapital
DeFiance https://defiance.capital/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Jason Yeh, Co-Founder and General Partner of Patron. Jason was head of international publishing and head of EU eSports at Riot Games where he was a key member of the team responsible for making League of Legends the most important game of the last decade. Jason is now investing in cutting-edge gaming content and infrastructure with much of the investible innovation happening right here in Web3.Let's get into it.Timestamps1:52 What is your background?3:07 Were you a gamer before joining Riot?4:02 What made League of Legends so revolutionary?7:27 What’s the scale of gaming and e-sports?10:22 How do you feel about the gamification of other asset classes and products?11:58 What led you to start Patron?15:16 What types of games are played in different regions and how does that affect your investment strategy?18:11 What are the responsibilities of game publishers?20:47 What do Web3 VCs misunderstand about the gaming industry?23:12 What does crypto unlock for the gaming industry?28:23 What did Axie Infinity get right and wrong?30:46 How do games create real value for their users?33:45 What are your thoughts on AI generated content?36:07 What are some projects that Patron has backed?41:50 What other gaming adjacent categories are you investing in?44:50 How are major game developers and publishers looking to adopt Web3 gaming?47:00 What will crypto gaming look like in the next 1, 5, and 10 years?48:46 What is your most contrarian take inside of crypto?51:55 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?53:22 What is your favorite game?54:42 Where can people learn more about you?Resources Mentioned FirstMark Riot Games League of Legends Axie Infinity AnyCraft Space Caps 10KTFConnect with the guestFollow Jason on Twitter https://twitter.com/jasonoliverPatron https://patron.xyz/Disclaimer Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Jeff Morris Jr., Founder and Managing Partner of Chapter One. Jeff was VP of Product and Revenue at Tinder and an active angel investor before leaving to start Chapter One. Jeff has a growth and product oriented mindset and has built his firm to identify founders with audacious missions and then support them on their entrepreneurial journey. Let's get into it.Timestamps2:01 What does it mean to get hit by a "Lucky Truck”?6:10 What is your background?10:57 Common threads among your early angel investments?14:58 What are some moon shot ideas that you’ve come across recently?19:02 What are your thoughts on Spindl and the roadmap for its products?23:37 What growth tactics have been most successful for web3 projects?28:48 What do you think about quests as a way to onboard authentic, organic users?34:59 What's it like transitioning from an angel investor to running your own fund?39:30 How do you think about portfolio construction at Chapter One?42:30 Is AI in a bubble?44:23 What will be a more valuable investment out of these next two vintages: consumer or infrastructure?50:22 What are your thoughts on Web3 social?55:49 What is your most contrarian take on crypto?57:21 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?59:52 Where can people learn more about you?Resources MentionedMedici Robert LeshnerHivemapperSpindl Chaos MonkeysDeGodsFarcasterDaylightOptimism QuestsConnect with the guestFollow Jeff on Twitter https://twitter.com/jmjFollow Chapter One on Twitter https://twitter.com/chapteroneChapter One https://chapterone.com/Disclaimer Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Tom Walton-Pocock, Managing Founder of Geometry. Building on his experience as a Co-Founder and CEO of the Aztec Network, Tom launched Geometry on the premise that deeply technical founders need investors who can relate to their engineering first approach to business building. Geometry is now a leading cryptography and mathematics research firm with a track record of successful early-stage blockchain venture deals.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:27 Background and experiences?
3:43 What gave you the motivation to launch Geometry?
7:00 What was the gap in the venture capital market that you identified?
10:00 What does Geometry offer to deeply technical founders?
13:30 What does running a research-driven VC fund mean in practice?
14:41 What are some examples of the business models that you’re backing at Geometry?
22:40 What are ZK proofs and what's their history?
26:20 What is Scroll and what is a ZK EVM rollup?
31:00 What benefits does this ZK technology bring to the average user?
34:20 Beyond ZK what are the cutting edge trends your team is actively researching?
38:20 Why is ZK important for traditional businesses interested in crypto/blockchain?
41:00 How does Geometry helps developers build better UX and products?
45:00 What are some of the projects that Geometry is backing?
51:00 What is invisible to other investors that is clear as day to you/What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
52:27 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
57:11 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Aztec
Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Ingonyama
Scroll
EVM
Risc Zero
MongoDB
Geometry Notebook
Connect with the guest
Follow Tom on Twitter https://twitter.com/tomwalpo
Follow Geometry on Twitter https://twitter.com/__geometry__
Geometry https://geometry.xyz/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Pranav Kanade, Portfolio Manager of Van Eck's Digital Assets Alpha Fund. Pranav left an illustrious career as a credit Portfolio Manager at Millennium to lead Van Eck’s active crypto hedge fund strategy. The institution's robust platform paired with Pranav's thesis-driven investment process shines a light on how TradFi and crypto are blending together at the highest level of the investment world.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:47 What is the Ethereum Shapella upgrade and how important is it?
7:03 What is your background?
14:33 How does your credit and distressed investing experience contribute to your current work at Van Eck?
16:31 What was your pitch to Jan Van Eck on launching an active crypto hedge fund strategy?
22:19 What’s it like running a crypto strategy within a highly regulated, large institution?
25:30 What are the investment themes that you are most focused on in the short-term?
29:41 What are some NFT innovations that are under appreciated?
32:40 What infrastructure needs to be built for institutions to participate on-chain?
36:20 USDC vs. a potential US Dollar denominated CBDC?
43:00 How correlated are assets currently and how does that influence your portfolio construction?
47:06 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
50:35 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
56:29 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Shapella
ERC-4337
Van Eck Bitcoin Strategy ETF
Homebase
Auto-GPT
Connect with the guest
Follow Pranav on Twitter https://twitter.com/pkan90
Follow VanEck on Twitter https://twitter.com/vaneck
Van Eck https://www.vaneck.com/corp/en/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Joe McCann, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric. Joe and Asymmetric blend deep technical knowledge and expertise with an institutional trader's mindset to market structures, trading strategies, and risk management. Joe and his team have decades of experience in finance and technology and therefore are able to take advantage of opportunities in both the private and liquid token markets.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:30 What is your background?
12:57 With crypto, what do traditional finance people get wrong and what do tech people get wrong?
21:55 Why did you split Asymmetric into multiple funds?
30:32 Are you worried about the optics of applying your trader's mentality to venture?
39:00 What’s your opinion on the utility of liquid tokens?
48:07 Why are you a Solana bull?
56:25 Will Solana matter as much with the implementation of ETH scaling solutions?
1:02:09 What catalysts need to happen for crypto to become a meaningful store of value asset usurping gold?
1:12:19 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
1:18:47 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
1:19:24 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
NodeSource
Microsoft Edge Crypto Wallet
Solana NFTs on Arweave
Brave Browser $BAT Token Sale ($35M in 30 Seconds)
SIMD
Nakamoto Coefficient
xNFT Backpack
Connect with the guest
Follow Joe on Twitter https://twitter.com/joemccann
Follow Asymmetric on Twitter https://twitter.com/goasymmetric
Asymmetric https://asymmetric.financial/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Lewis Harland, Portfolio Manager and Head of Research at Decentral Park Capital. Lewis is a prolific writer with deep research into cutting edge valuation methodologies that leverage on chain data and analysis. His top-down valuation frameworks are widely recognized among leaders in the crypto industry while also helping steer Decentral Park's investment strategy and portfolio construction. Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:21 How has writing publicly online influenced your career?
6:26 What are your resources to find signal amid the noise?
10:39 What is your background?
15:10 How does your research feed into your investment process?
19:17 Can you share some examples where your top-down investment thesis was right and/or wrong?
26:10 Do valuation frameworks matter in crypto?
32:02 Can you explain your guide on how to value a blockchain?
38:18 Please define the Lindy effect?
44:45 How do you think about new technological disruptions and their impact on valuation methodologies?
50:24 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
54:07 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
56:56 Where can people learn more about you?
Resources Mentioned
GlassNode
Into The Block
Thermocap
On Blockchain Valuations
Cryptonetwork Governance As Capital
Nexus Mutual
EigenLayer
Connect with the guest
Follow Lewis on Twitter https://twitter.com/_LewisHarland_
Follow Decentral Park Capital on Twitter https://twitter.com/DPCio
Decentral Park Capital https://www.decentralpark.io/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Regan Bozman, Co-Founder of Lattice Capital. Regan started his crypto career at CoinList where he was responsible for the launch of several of the industry's largest protocols. Regan then leveraged his go-to-market experience and partnered with his CoinList co-worker Mike Zajko, to launch Lattice Capital, an early-stage focused crypto VC firm.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:30 What is your background?
4:38 What was the impetus for AngelList to develop the CoinList platform?
08:58 What were the key CoinList products and features that appealed to protocol founders?
11:48 Describe your transition from CoinList to founding Lattice?
16:32 What led to the development of Dove Metrics?
22:51 What was it like operating your first fund?
28:47 What were the biggest lessons learned from Fund I that you are applying to Fund II?
32:04 What is TIPIN and what does the thesis represent?
40:37 What crypto use-cases excite Lattice?
45:41 Describe Ensemble: Lattice's most recently announced investment?
48:40 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
49:57 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
50:56 Where can people learn more about you and Lattice?
Resources Mentioned
CoinList
Dove Metrics
Digital Book: Bitcoin and the Internet
TIPIN
POAP
Delphia
Ensemble
Connect with the guest
Lattice Capital https://lattice.fund/
Follow Lattice on Twitter https://twitter.com/lattice_fund
Follow Regan on Twitter https://twitter.com/reganbozman
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Joyce Yang, Founder of Global Coin Research (GCR). GCR is a token-gated venture DAO with early-stage investments in various leading crypto companies and protocols. Joyce has built a vibrant community of thousands of accredited investors that together source, diligence, and invest as a collective.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:12 What is your background?
6:07 What's it like being a female founder in crypto?
10:35 What is a venture DAO and how do they work?
12:20 How does GCR source and diligence investments?
15:43 How are GCR tokens and community participation used to reward behavior?
17:58 Why would a company want GCR on its cap table?
22:07 How does GCR think about carry on a deal by deal basis?
24:45 What component of GCR's community is most important to the DAO's success?
27:34 What are the biggest challenges of running a venture DAO vs. a traditional fund?
29:59 What's the story around GCR's investment into Lens?
33:53 What did GCR see in Magic Eden that made the DAO want to invest?
37:25 What current investment themes in crypto are community-led?
39:22 How does GCR's global footprint support its mission?
41:18 What is your most contrarian take within crypto?
45:17 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
49:15 Where can people learn more about GCR?
Resources Mentioned
Lily Liu, Min Teo, Beryl Li, Linda Xie
Sui
Lens
Magic Eden
Tangent Ventures
Connect with the guest
Global Coin Research https://globalcoinresearch.com/
Follow Joyce on Twitter https://twitter.com/JoyceInNYC
Follow GCR on Twitter https://twitter.com/GlobalCoinRsrch
Join GCR on Discord https://GCR.community
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, I sit down with Balder Bomans, CIO of Maven 11 Capital based out of Amsterdam. Balder and Maven 11 have built a best-in-class venture firm on the back of their deep technical research, a commitment to community development, and active portfolio company support.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
1:52 What brings you to San Francisco?
2:30 What is your background?
5:01 How are European crypto funds and companies dealing with the unbanking?
8:05 How did Maven 11 develop its presence in the European market?
11:00 How did you identify early on the value of a project like Celestia?
15:33 What was so compelling about the modular blockchain thesis?
18:34 What patterns have you identified for successful early-stage projects?
22:31 What appealed to you about the Maple Protocol?
28:07 What lessons did the team learn from actively participating in DeFi?
33:37 How did you develop and scale Maven 11's research arm?
35:56 What is MEV and why is it important?
38:45 Are there any companies or protocols Maven 11 likes focusing on MEV?
40:47 What does the future of crosschain interaction or bridging look like?
43:25 What is a trend in the gaming sector that you’re most excited about?
46:03 What is your most contrarian take within crypto?
47:38 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
Resources Mentioned
Celestia
Lazy Ledger Research
Fuel
Maple
Spectral
The Modular Summit
Connect with the guest
Maven 11 https://www.maven11.com/
Maven 11 Substack https://maven11.substack.com/
Follow Maven 11 on Twitter https://twitter.com/Maven11Capital
Follow Balder on Twitter https://twitter.com/BalderBomans
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Jeff Dorman, Co-Founder of Arca and CIO of the firm's Digital Assets Fund. Jeff has two decades of portfolio management and trading experience, and now as CIO at Arca manages all aspects of portfolio sizing, trading, and risk management.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
1:59 What is your background?
5:12 How important is understanding the technical underpinnings of blockchain when investing?
8:04 How have you ported over your traditional finance training to digital asset investing?
11:36 What would be an example of a valuation framework you applied to a digital asset?
18:17 What arguments do you hear from TradFi execs on why they don't like crypto?
22:42 What is the misalignment with Cardano's valuation vs. Coinbase's?
27:03 Operation Chokepoint. Real or fake FUD?
29:05 Tokens as securities. Real or fake FUD?
30:25 Tether. Real or fake FUD?
32:31 Where are we in the cycle from a macro perspective?
37:15 How has Arca effectuated change via governance?
41:50 What activism is Arca pursuing with DYDX?
45:09 How can traditional corporates leverage tokens to align customers and owners?
48:35 What would your 30 second pitch to a Fortune 100 company be like on why they should launch a token?
49:27 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
51:27 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
51:59 Where can people find out more about you?
Resources Mentioned
$CHZ & Socios
Token Terminal: Fundamentals for Crypto
Luna Classic
Operation Chokepoint 2.0
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Arca Gnosis (GNO) Proposed Changes
DYDX Governance Forum
That's our Two Satoshis
Connect with the guest
Follow Jeff on Twitter https://twitter.com/jdorman81
Follow Arca on Twitter https://twitter.com/arca
Arca’s homepage https://www.ar.ca/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Kelvin Koh, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the Spartan Group. Kelvin was previously a partner at Goldman Sachs and CIO of Indus Capital before launching Spartan out of Hong Kong. Spartan has a liquid hedge fund, a DeFi VC fund, a metaverse and gaming VC fund, as well as a prestigious advisory arm that has been involved in several large transactions within the industry.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:09 What is your background?
6:08 What was the response from your colleagues at Goldman when you went full-time crypto?
7:08 Can you explain the evolving business and regulatory landscape in Hong Kong?
11:36 Why is there positive momentum in Asia regarding crypto?
14:39 What are your thoughts on the latest narratives driving price movement?
19:10 What is your perspective on Bitcoin and the innovations taking place within the btc ecosystem?
23:03 What excites you regarding the future of DeFi?
26:00 What does cross chain interoperability unlock?
27:56 What projects within the metaverse and gaming sectors are you excited about?
32:46 Where will the value accrue in the gaming sector?
34:19 Are there any games you recommend?
40:20 What’s your general perspective on L2s?
43:35 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
47:42 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
50:21 Where can people find out more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Hong Kong Twitter Thread https://twitter.com/SpartanBlack_1/status/1628230582265315333
Bitcoin NFTs (Ordinals) https://decrypt.co/resources/what-are-ordinals-a-beginners-guide-to-bitcoin-nfts
Blockstack https://medium.com/@melodyhe/blockstack-partners-with-spartan-group-for-asia-expansion-eb52df118cce
Layer Zero https://layerzero.network/
Dookey Dash https://dookeydash.com/
Sewer Pass https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/01/18/yuga-labs-sewer-pass-nft-collection-nets-over-6m-in-sales-in-just-hours/
Shrapnel https://www.shrapnel.com/
Metalcore https://www.metalcore.gg/
Scroll https://scroll.io/
Connect with the guest
Follow Spartan on Twitter https://twitter.com/TheSpartanGroup
Spartan Group https://spartangroup.io/
Kelvin on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanBlack_1
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Jake Brukhman, Founder and CEO of CoinFund. Jake was one of the first to build a crypto investment firm and has since scaled CoinFund into a pioneering, institutional-grade asset manager with a liquid token hedge fund and multiple venture funds.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:14 What is your background?
4:11 What is your process for identifying emerging trends?
8:04 What was the insight to invest in crypto vs. found a tech start-up?
11:06 What did the first few years of CoinFund look like?
16:37 What is the process of building CoinFund into an institution?
20:47 How can we change the crypto narrative despite regulatory headwinds?
30:13 What elements of AI do you think are most impactful?
40:12 What does crypto enable within AI?
43:10 What are you excited by on the NFT creators side?
57:39 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
Resources Mentioned
VenRock & CoinFund https://blog.coinfund.io/venrock-and-coinfund-teams-announce-strategic-partnership-eb1277dd4658
CryptoDad https://www.amazon.com/CryptoDad-Future-J-Christopher-Giancarlo/dp/111985508X
CoinFund President Appointed to CFTC https://crypto.news/coinfunds-chris-perkins-appointed-to-cftcs-gmac/
OpenAI https://openai.com/
WorldCoin https://worldcoin.org/
Ilya of NearProtocol https://metaschool.so/articles/alexander-skidanov-ilya-polosukhin-founders-near-protocol-profile/
Jake's Mirror Post on AI and Open Neural Networks https://jake.mirror.xyz/0hTmrmEddmTu7BA4feMonEA_z6LXJ6ulH4cAjwj1KMM
Stable Diffusion https://stablediffusionweb.com/
Zero Knowledge Proofs https://ethereum.org/en/zero-knowledge-proofs/
Gensyn https://www.gensyn.ai/
Connect with the guest
CoinFund https://www.coinfund.io/
Jake Brukhman Twitter https://twitter.com/jbrukh
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Mahesh Ramakrishnan, Co-Founder of Escape Velocity 3 or EV3.
EV3 is an early-stage venture fund investing in decentralized physical infrastructure networks and digital commodity networks. If you want to learn about the future of the telecom industry then this episode is for you.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:26 What is your background?
5:21 What gave you the confidence to strike out on your own?
8:04 What drew you to crypto incentive networks?
10:36 What made you decide that EV3 had to be a blockchain fund?
14:51 Why is the future of these infrastructure networks peer to peer?
20:09 What did Helium get right and wrong?
27:23 What projects in your purview represent the direction of DeWi?
32:13 Are there any collaborations between telecoms and crypto protocols?
34:36 What will this all look like if it’s successful?
42:42 What will the consumer experience look like?
47:10 Are there any geopolitical risks associated with this type of global, decentralized infrastructure?
52:43 What is your most contrarian within crypto?
55:04 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
57:25 Where can people find out more?
Resources Mentioned
EV3 Fund Announcement https://moneromr.substack.com/p/escape-velocity-launches-25m-fund
Helium 5G https://www.helium.com/5G
Helium LoraWAN https://www.helium.com/lorawan
X-Net https://www.xnet.company/
Andrena https://andrena.com/
Magma Core https://magmacore.org/
Network State https://thenetworkstate.com/
Connect with the guest
Escape Velocity https://ev3.xyz/
EV3 on Twitter https://twitter.com/ev3ventures?lang=en
Mahesh on Twitter https://twitter.com/MoneroMahesh
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, I sit down with Richard Galvin, Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM) based out of Australia. DACM is an award-winning long-only crypto hedge fund with a phenomenal track record and an institutional approach to digital assets. In today's show we discuss Richard's banking experience during the internet boom, DACM's on-chain participation, protocols vs. apps, and the future of Solana and Cosmos.
Let's get into it.
Timestamps
2:15 What is the crypto scene like in Australia?
4:52 Background and what gave you the confidence to launch DACM?
7:44 How did you position DACM to capture the crypto opportunity?
11:35 How did you adapt your fundamental analysis to crypto?
15:20 What is your investment approach and process at DACM?
22:21 How do you think about risks in the crypto ecosystem?
25:58 The future of risk-assets given the rise of interest rates?
30:05 What's your opinion on the fat protocol thesis and its validity going forward?
35:29 What are the investable areas within gaming?
39:50 What are your thoughts on Solana and Cosmos (ATOM)?
45:13 What is your most contrarian take within crypto?
46:43 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
48:30 Where can people find out more?
Resources Mentioned
DACM's Award-Winning Track Record https://medium.com/@richard.galvin/dacms-digital-asset-fund-once-again-world-s-best-performing-long-only-fund-6f9dd41b9c3a
The Internet & The Rise of Blockchain https://www.jpmorganchase.com/news-stories/could-blockchain-have-great-impact-as-internet
Fat Protocol Thesis https://www.usv.com/writing/2016/08/fat-protocols/
ATOM 2.0 https://learn.bybit.com/altcoins/cosmos-atom-2-whitepaper-explained/
App Chain Thesis https://maven11.substack.com/p/the-application-specific-chain-thesis
dYdX - DACM Special Situations Snapshot https://medium.com/@richard.galvin/dydx-599a7cb40e0d
Connect with the guest
DACM https://www.dacm.io/
Richard on Twitter https://twitter.com/richwgalvin
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode, I sit down with Hal Press, Founder, and CEO of North Rock Digital. North Rock is a fundamental, thesis-driven, long/short crypto hedge fund. We discuss Hal's assessment of blockchain technology from a first principles perspective and the mindset he uses to manage his hedge fund and trade his portfolio.
Timestamps
2:20 How do you maintain self discipline and composure in these volatile crypto markets?
6:55 What does the planning process look like as you consider trade set-ups?
10:00 How do you find signal among the noise especially on Twitter?
12:20 What innovation within crypto caught your eye?
18:00 What are the core principles of crypto for you?
31:21 What gives tokens their real value?
44:45 What catalysts need to happen for crypto to explode?
47:49 What are your go-to resources for staying on top of the markets?
49:54 What books or investors have influenced you the most?
51:03 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
52:34 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
53:18 Where can people find out more?
Connect with the guest
North Rock Digital https://northrockdigital.com/
Hal on Twitter https://twitter.com/NorthRockLP
Hal’s articles https://medium.com/@halp1120
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In today’s episode, crypto veteran Dan Elitzer joins the show. Dan is the co-founder of Nascent, a team of builders backing early-stage founders that are creating products and primitives for an open financial world. We talk about Dan’s experiences as President of the MIT Bitcoin club and his work at Circle and IDEO before starting Nascent. We discuss Dan's perspectives on tokens, DeFi 3.0, project alpha and much more.
We hope you enjoy the show!
Timestamps
2:41 What is your background?
9:04 How did you want to build Nascent in a crypto-native format?
12:52 What insights have you learned from Nascent's on-chain activities?
17:55 What tools are you developing for the various crypto security risks?
23:06 How will the VC and token models evolve so that users will actually have benefits?
31:38 Where is the industry going at the moment?
39:34 What will DeFi 3.0 reintroduce to the industry?
41:22 What other core areas of crypto are you focused on understanding?
45:07 What catalysts need to happen in order for real world assets to enter crypto?
49:15 What is your most contrarian take in crypto?
50:00 What is your most contrarian take outside of crypto?
50:51 Where can people find out more?
Resources Mentioned
MIT Bitcoin Club https://bitcoin.mit.edu/
Dan Elitzer and Jeremy Rubin’s “MIT Bitcoin Project” of 2014 https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/14/mit-student-gave-away-100-worth-of-bitcoin-to-all-undergrads-in-2014.html
UNIchain is Inevitable https://www.nascent.xyz/idea/the-inevitability-of-unichain
Morpho Protocol https://www.morpho.xyz/
Ajna Finance https://www.ajna.finance/
Superfluid Collateral in Open Finance https://tokeneconomy.co/superfluid-collateral-in-open-finance-8c3db15efac
Real World Assets https://www.rwa.xyz/
Connect with the guest
Dan on Twitter https://twitter.com/delitzer
Dan’s Medium Feed https://medium.com/@delitzer
Nascent https://www.nascent.xyz/
Disclaimer
Ben Jacobs is a partner at Scenius Capital Management. All views expressed by Ben and the guests of this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Scenius Capital Management. Guests and the host may maintain positions in the assets or funds discussed in this podcast. You should not treat any opinion expressed by anyone on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy but only as an expression of their personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
In this episode of Scenius Studio, host, Ben Jacobs, sits down with Peter Marshall, founder and CEO of Walden Bridge Capital. Walden Bridge is a research driven crypto hedge fund with an impressive track record dating back to 2017. Peter shares the challenges he faced while operating a crypto hedge fund before foundational asset management services were widely available for digital assets and how these experiences shaped his navigation of the crypto markets today. Peter also details his firm's research-driven investment process and his principles for building an institutional asset management firm.
Timestamps
1:50 What is the story behind the name "Walden Bridge"?
3:01 How did you first get into crypto?
6:32 What was the hedge fund landscape like in 2017?
8:42 What were the investment strategies in the early days of Walden Bridge?
11:00 How important is narrative and reflexivity?
13:25 Experiences in building a high-frequency trading strategy?
20:01 How does Walden Bridge construct its portfolio?
22:50 What is the firm's investment process?
29:04 What are some investment sectors that people should keep an eye on?
32:35 How does Walden Bridge analyze the landscape of investment opportunities?
36:43 What are your thoughts on the state of regulation?
41:01 What are your team-building philosophies?
44:58 What is your spiciest take inside and outside of crypto?
46:45 Where can people find out more about Walden Bridge?
Resources Mentioned
Walden Bridge Capital https://waldenbridge.capital/
Hedge Week Digital Assets Awards https://www.hedgeweek.com/2022/02/25/312353/hedgeweek-announces-winners-inaugural-us-digital-assets-awards
Maker DAO https://makerdao.com/en/
Network Effects https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-are-network-effects
Token Economics https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-tokenomics-and-why-does-it-matter
On-chain Derivatives https://defiprime.com/derivatives
Layer 0 https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-layer-0-in-blockchain
Gene Editing https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/19/1067074/next-for-crispr/
Connect with the guest
Walden Bridge Capital https://waldenbridge.capital/
Disclaimer
This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. Any advice and information on this podcast is general only, and has been prepared without taking into account your particular circumstances and needs. Before acting on any advice on this podcast you should assess or seek advice on whether it is appropriate for your needs, financial situation and investment objectives.
In the third episode of Scenius Studio, host, Ben Jacobs, sits down with Steve McKeon of Collab+Currency, an early-stage, crypto-focused venture fund investing into leading projects building the next generation of culture and consumer technology. Steve and the Collab+Currency team have been early to DAOs, NFTs, digital fashion, and several other emerging trends. In this comprehensive conversation, Steve shines a light on his crypto journey and the breadcrumbs of innovation and experimentation that he is most excited about going forward.
Timestamps
1:50 What is your background?
5:01 What about crypto appealed to you?
7:32 What made you focus on ETH in the early days?
11:23 How were you able to filter through opportunities during the 2017 ICO craze?
13:10 What led to the creation of Collab+Currency?
17:05 What were the light bulb moments for NFTs?
23:01 Art Blocks explanation
27:50 How did squiggles become a DAO?
31:44 What is on the roadmap for Collab+Currency?
38:35 What are your thoughts on Crypto entering the fashion industry?
46:03 What is the most contrarian take you have inside the crypto world?
48:01 What is your spiciest take outside of crypto?
48:58 Where can people find out more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Rainbow http://ww25.rainbowtoken.finance/
Crypto Kitties https://www.cryptokitties.co/
Art Blocks https://www.artblocks.io/
Squiggle DAO https://www.squiggledao.com/
The LAO https://www.thelao.io/
You are sleeping on crypto art https://medium.com/collab-currency/youre-sleeping-on-crypto-art-7df920ec038e
IYK apparel https://www.iyk.app/
Connect with the guest
Steve McKeon https://twitter.com/sbmckeon
Collab+Currency https://twitter.com/collab_currency
Collab+Currency on the web https://www.collabcurrency.com/
Disclaimer
This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. Any advice and information on this podcast is general only, and has been prepared without taking into account your particular circumstances and needs. Before acting on any advice on this podcast you should assess or seek advice on whether it is appropriate for your needs, financial situation and investment objectives.
In our second episode, Ben sits down with Cosmo Jiang (Twitter & LinkedIn), Founder and General Partner of Nova River.
Nova River is a web3 crypto investment fund that conducts deep research and takes a fundamental, long-term thesis-driven approach to underwriting investment opportunities with the goal of compounding capital on a multi-year time horizon.
In this show we discuss:
Enjoy this episode with Cosmo of Nova River!
Timestamps
2:15 What is the origin of Nova River?
3:11 What is your background?
6:00 Did you evaluate blockchains at Hitchwood?
8:50 Transitioning to the Crypto world
13:10 How have you accelerated your learning to understand the technical merits of projects?
16:00 What was it like to launch a digital asset fund?
20:01 How did you develop your strategy for Nova River?
26:50 Where do you see tokens going in the future?
34:04 What novel type of analysis are you doing for Tokens?
38:45 What sectors of crypto are you most excited about?
43:03 Where do you see NFTs going in the future?
45:23 What can we do with NFT-based loyalty points?
46:58 What is something you do outside crypto that is of value to you?
49:01 What positive things about crypto are you saying to your investors?
Resources Mentioned
Nova River
Hitchwood Capital Management
Polygon Blockchain
Starbucks Odyssey NFT
Helium ($HNT)
Connect with the guest
Cosmo Jiang https://mobile.twitter.com/cosmo_jiang
Nova River https://mobile.twitter.com/novariverxyz
Disclaimer
This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. Any advice and information on this podcast is general only, and has been prepared without taking into account your particular circumstances and needs. Before acting on any advice on this podcast you should assess or seek advice on whether it is appropriate for your needs, financial situation and investment objectives.
In the inaugural episode of Scenius Studio, I am joined by NiMA and Anthony Avedissian of Seed Club Ventures. In this conversation, we discuss the novel structure of Seed Club Ventures as well as the Venture DAO's investment focus at the intersection of Community and Web3. We dive into some early indicators of investment success and why they believe the Seed Club Ventures model is optimally suited for investing in web3.
I hope you enjoy this episode with NiMA and Anthony of Seed Club Ventures!
Timestamps
2:15 What are your backgrounds?
7:05 What is the origin story of Seed Club Ventures?
14:07 What is your position within Seed Club Ventures?
19:50 What are the complexities of the investment club model that SCV adopted?
24:40 What is the investment thesis of Seed Club Ventures?
29:10 What makes a project appealing to you?
35:15 How did Seed Club Ventures find Stability AI?
41:20 What projects in your portfolio are you excited about?
45:24 What is the thing you do outside of crypto that is most valuable to your work?
47:10 Where can people find out more about you?
Resources Mentioned
Scenius Capital https://www.scenius.capital/
Seed Club Ventures https://www.seedclub.xyz/
Stable Diffusion https://stability.ai/blog/stable-diffusion-public-release
Try image creation with AI https://www.mage.space/
Guild https://guild.xyz/
How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone
The Power Law: Venture Capital
Connect with the guest
Nima https://twitter.com/insidenima
Anthony https://twitter.com/antavedissian
Seed Club Ventures https://twitter.com/seedclubvc
Disclaimer
This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. Any advice and information on this podcast is general only, and has been prepared without taking into account your particular circumstances and needs. Before acting on any advice on this podcast you should assess or seek advice on whether it is appropriate for your needs, financial situation and investment objectives.