We highlight the people, products, and protocols shaping the future of crypto, DeFi, and web3. Your hosts, Matthew Howells-Barby and Austin Knight, will take you on a journey of decrypting the various concepts related to blockchain and web3 technology, explaining them in a language that everyone can understand.
In this episode of the Decrypting Crypto podcast, Matthew Howells-Barby discusses the latest developments in the cryptocurrency market, including the May CPI report, the surge in IPOs, particularly in the stablecoin sector, and GameStop's recent investment in Bitcoin. He highlights the positive signals in the market, the implications of the CPI data, and the ongoing evolution of stablecoin regulations. The episode concludes with insights into market sentiment and future expectations for the crypto landscape.
Takeaways
Chapters
In this episode of the Decrypting Crypto podcast, hosts Matt Howells-Barby and Austin Knight discuss the recent market rally in the crypto space, highlighting the significant rise of altcoins and the impact of inflation data on market sentiment. They celebrate Coinbase's entry into the S&P 500 as a landmark achievement for the crypto industry, signaling increased legitimacy. The conversation shifts to the SEC's new pro-crypto stance under its new chair, Paul Atkins, and the potential for clearer regulations. Finally, they explore Meta's renewed interest in stablecoins and how this could reshape the landscape for crypto payments and adoption.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Personal Updates and Life Events
00:16 Market Rally and Crypto Trends
07:24 Coinbase Joins S&P 500
12:05 Liquid Staking Tokens and Market Dynamics
14:04 The Shift Towards Crypto Regulation
18:16 Meta's New Approach to Stable Coins
23:28 The Rise and Fall of Diem
28:49 Meta's Integration of Crypto Payments
35:24 Implications for the App Economy
In this episode of the Decrypting Crypto podcast, hosts Matt Howells-Barby and Austin Knight discuss the recent surge in Bitcoin and the overall crypto market, driven by macroeconomic factors and optimism surrounding trade deals. They delve into the implications of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions amidst fears of stagflation, and highlight New Hampshire's groundbreaking move to establish a cryptocurrency reserve. The conversation also covers the legal troubles facing Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky following the platform's collapse, emphasizing the ongoing challenges in the crypto space.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Market Movements and Macro Influences
15:03 Federal Reserve Decisions and Economic Implications
21:46 New Hampshire's Crypto Reserve: A Symbolic Milestone
26:50 Celsius Founder Sentencing: Lessons from the Collapse
In this episode of the Decrypting Crypto podcast, hosts Matthew Howells-Barby and Austin Knight discuss the latest trends in the cryptocurrency market, including the impact of political announcements, macroeconomic factors, and new investment vehicles. They explore how Trump's recent statements influenced market optimism, the performance of various cryptocurrencies, and the emergence of significant Bitcoin investment firms. The conversation also touches on the regulatory environment and the ongoing issue of crypto scams, highlighting the need for better regulation in the space.
Takeaways
đď¸ Off Chain Weekly Recap â April 10, 2025
This week, Matt and Austin unpack one of the wildest weeks in markets this year:
đš Trumpâs Tariff Tsunami: A 10% universal tariff turned into a tit-for-tat trade war with China, peaking at 125% tariffs on Chinese imports. China hit back hard â tariffs, blacklists, and export controls on rare earth minerals.
đš Global Fallout: Vietnam, India, Japan, and the EU rushed to the negotiating table. Some offered full tariff eliminations to avoid a full-blown trade war.
đš Apple, Inflation & $30K iPhones?: Concerns about Apple and other US companies absorbing the shock, but signs suggest theyâre more resilient than during Trumpâs first term.
đš Market Madness: Stocks nosedived early in the week, only to surge midweek after a partial tariff rollback. Crypto pumped. S&P saw its biggest 1-day gain since 2008. But uncertainty looms.
đš Currency Games: China strategically devalues the yuan to counter tariffs. US Treasury markets spooked. Is a dangerous feedback loop forming?
đš Outlook:
đ And yes â the G-Wagon is safe (for now). đ
In this week's episode we cover yesterday's Fed meeting and rate decision, discuss the macro outlook, dig into the pump.fun vs Raydium battle within Solana, and explain Strategy's recent STRF issuance.
In this week's episode, we take a look at the state of the markets, as well as the recent announcements regarding the US Strategic Crypto Reserve.
In this week's episode, we dig into this week's market volatility, looking at the impact of DeepSeek across global markets, yesterday's FOMC meeting, and the reasons behind the disproportionate sell off in alts and memes.
This week's episode is a bumper episode where we look back at our predictions from the start of 20245 and see how we performed. Plus, we make predictions for 2025 across the following topics:
In this week's episode, we discuss the recent shift in approach from the Fed and how this has impacted the crypto markets.
In today's episode, Matt looks at the contributing factors to Bitcoin's meteoric rise above 100k and shares his take on where we go from here. After this, he looks at the emerging winners across the wider crypto asset space and shares some thoughts on how to approach the next few weeks and months.
After a couple of months off, we're back! We dig into everything you've missed and share our thoughts on how you can play the next few months. Could this be the beginning of a golden era of crypto?
This is the second of a two-part series where Matt and Austin take a deep dive into central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This episode focuses on the arguments for and against their use.
This is the first in a two-part series where Matt and Austin take a deep dive into central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This episode focuses more on what CBDCs are, what they're capable of, and what their current rate of development progress is. Part two will go live next week where we dig more into the arguments for and against their use.
In this week's episode, we dig into the impressive trading volume happening across the DeFi ecosystem and the gains that DEX volume is making on CEX volume. Alongside this, we look at some of the big capital movements from the past few weeks.
There was significant news in the crypto ecosystem this week as Maker DAO passed a proposal to limit their exposure to WBTC across their platforms, effectively offboarding the asset from their ecosystem. We talk through what's happened and what the implications of this are.
In this week's episode we break down the major drivers of volatility in global markets. We unpack what's causing the major drawdown in the Nikkei, S&P500, NASDAQ, and many other major global indices, plus the bleed in crypto markets. Plus, we take a look at one bright spot: the ETH & BTC ETF flows.
We speak with Mightysol, the founder of the Chads NFT collection and now $YES memecoin to talk about what it was like launching an NFT collection on Solana in the fallout of the FTX collapse as well as what goes into the planning of a memecoin launch.
We talk through the state of the market, the upcoming ETH ETFs, the impact of Mt.Gox, FTX, and BLockFi redistributions, and the macro outlook for the rest of 2024.
In today's episode, we're joined by Max Chamberlin, the cofounder of Bitfinity - a next-gen EVM Bitcoin layer 2.
In today's episode, we dig into the demise of Bored Ape Yacht Club. The floor price of BAYC NFTs has reached its lowest point since early 2021 and sentiment among the community is at an all-time low. Can Yuga turn things around?
We host Leonidas, the founder of Ord.io, creator of the Runestone Ordinals project, and overall mega-bull on Runes. We discuss the future of Runes, Ordinals and Bitcoin L2s. Don't miss this one.
In this week's episode, we discuss:
Quick overview of the current macro situation.
Crypto gaming's struggle to find PMF and what's next.
Lessons learned from minting Runes.
In this week's episode, we discuss the upcoming narratives in the crypto space where we think there are the most opportunities over the coming months. Plus, we dig into the growing feeling that crypto is becoming a major theme in the upcoming US presidential election.
In this week's episode, we dig into the major catalysts that are coming to the crypto markets in the coming few months, and the reasons why you should be bullish. We dig into the implications of the spot Ether ETF plus the recent FIT21 legislation.
In this week's episode we dig into the exciting world of Bitcoin Layer 2s, explaining why they're important, how they work, and what to look out for. Alongside this, Austin digs into the recent case from the US Government against the Pepaire-Bueno brothers and their MEV exploit which earned them $25m.
In today's episode, we dig into the upcoming $EIGEN token launch, what we expect the value to come in at, plus some of the controversy surrounding it. Plus, we explain why. CZ's sentence confirms that we're living in a simulation.
Runes is a fungible token protocol built on Bitcoin. If youâre familiar with Ordinals, more specifically Inscriptions - theyâre effectively NFTs on Bitcoin. Runes, on the other hand, are like ERC-20s (from Ethereum) on Bitcoin.
In this episode, we do a deep dive into the protocol that's set to launch tomorrow on the Bitcoin halving (block 840,000).
In this week's episode, Matt gives a full overview of the EigenLayer protocol, how restaking changes the way new projects are launching, and what this means for staking on Ethereum.
In this week's episode we do a deep dive into the DeFi innovation happening within the liquid restaking space via Pendle.
Alongside this, we give a regulatory update on the SEC's fight with Coinbase, Ripple, and more.
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we discuss the following stories:
In case you didn't notice, it's airdrop season. Free money is raining down but airdrop farmers have to get smarter about how they're going to qualify for these juicy payouts.
We speak with Theo and Sami, the cofounders of Noder.bot which is a node-as-a-service platform focused on setting you up with pre-mainnet nodes. You don't need any technical knowledge and it's a simple one-click install. If you're exploring airdrops, you have to check this out.
Listeners can get early access to Noder.bot using code: decrypt
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode we cover:
We do a deep dive into the latest major theme in the crypto space: Restaking.
We bring in Mike Silagadze, CEO of EtherFi to break down what restaking is and why it's such an important innovation for the Ethereum ecosystem and beyond. We talk about the more than $700m of TVL that EtherFi has gained in the past few weeks and what's next.
In this week's episode, we dig into the data behind the capital flows of four days of trading the Bitcoin ETFs. Lots to unpack and we discuss why the BTC price has been down-only, and why you should still be bullish in the short to medium term.
In this week's episode, we explore the current airdrop season happening on and off Solana, sharing some interesting projects that could result in airdrops. Enjoy!
In this episode, Matt and Austin share their predictions on where BTC and ETH price will top, whether the Fed will reduce rates (and if so, when), plus they share three big predictions for major events in 2024.
In this episode, we unpack the current situation with the Bitcoin and Ether spot ETFs, breaking down why this is bullish and what it means from a practical standpoint. We also dig into the recent surge in price action across the crypto space, including MOON's 600% gain.
In this week's episode, we discuss the surge in activity in the NFT space, with daily trading volumes hitting 3-month highs, plus we dig into the NFT marketplace wars and make some predictions on how the space will shake out. All that, plus we discuss the SBF guilty verdict and what's next in the FTX saga.
In this week's episode, we discuss the u-tun made by Reddit on their blockchain-based community points system, plus we discuss the recent headlines surrounding crypto's role in the Isreal-Hamas conflict, and where they're being overstated.
In this week's episode, we discuss how Pudgy Penguins have been leveraging their IP to truly build a brand that reaches a mainstream (non-crypto) audience. Also, we take a look at the latest setback for UK crypto holders.
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we discuss the absolute insanity of what SBF's parents were handed out directly from FTX and Alameda during it's time operating. Everything from Persian rugs and expensive vases through to $1m+ salaries and multi-million $ properties!
Plus, we look at some of the recent questions from the SEC into Binance US's operations.
In this week's episode, we cover the following stories:
In this episode, we do a deep dive into the latest project to take crypto Twitter by storm: FriendTech.
In this week's episode we cover:
+ Alchemix got back the 4,820 Alchemix ETH (alETH), worth $8.3M, from the Curve hacker
+ The rise of GambleFi
In this episode, we give an update on the $70mn Curve exploit that's led to nearly 50% of Curve's TVL moving out of the protocol, as well as the huge portion of $CRV tokens at risk of liquidation from founder, Michael Egorov's, loans.
In this week's episode we dig into the highly controversial Worldcoin project, uncovering the tech, token economics and issues is raises.
In this week's episode we cover:
2. Judge Rules Ripple Sales of XRP Were Not SecuritiesâExcept to Institutions
In this week's episode we cover the following stories:
- FTX ârebootâ talks have begun
- Microstrategy bought a ton more Bitcoin over the past month
In this week's episode, we cover the following stories:.
In this week's episode, we do a deep dive into the SEC complaints against both Coinbase and Binance to summarise all the important information.
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of the podcast, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of the podcast, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode we discuss the following stories:
In this week's episode, we discuss the following stories:
Aki Balogh is the co-founder and CEO of DLC.Link, a company building Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) on Bitcoin that enable bitcoins to be stored onchain and then utilized via smart contracts across other chains.
Lending is an obvious use case here as it removes the third-part risk of requiring a custodian to manage your bitcoin that you borrow against (or via a wrapped BTC token). DLCs solve this and could be a game-changer for Bitcoin.
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode, we do a deep dive into the future of banking in the crypto space. We discuss:
In this week's episode of Off Chain we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we discuss the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
We speak with Karel Vuong, COO and cofounder of Treasure, the #1 marketplace for gaming and NFTs on Arbitrum.
There's been a lot of excitement around Arbitrum in general, and many interesting new projects are choosing to deploy there. Karel has a unique insight into the growing gaming and NFT ecosystem that's developed there.
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we discuss the following:
Ordinals, an innovative and divisive new project has brought NFTs to Bitcoin.
Coined as âDigital Artifactsâ by Ordinals founder, Casey Rodarmor, the NFTs have been the topic of much debate. On one side, thereâs the argument that Bitcoin should be exclusively used for financial transactions, with anything outside of this being a deviation from its mission. On the other side, Ordinals is paving the way for new use cases on Bitcoin that can both drive additional revenue for miners and increased interest from end users.
Whatever your stance, itâs clear that Ordinals has brought renewed interest in the Bitcoin blockchain. And with some of these early NFTs being sold for over 1 bitcoin (~$23,000) itâs been capturing the imagination of speculators.
In this episode, we share a full overview of how the technology works, why it's important, and how you can start exploring it yourself, featuring commentary from a few great minds building in the Bitcoin NFT space.
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In today's episode, we speak with the incredible TommyD.
Tommy Danvers AKA TommyD has had a wildly successful career in the music industry. Heâs a multi-platinum award-winning music producer, a songwriter, and a DJ. On top of that, heâs the creator of a whiskey brand (8O8 Whisky) as well as Tokentraxx, a company leading the way in web3 adoption in the music space.
We discussed this in a fascinating interview where Tommy shares his experience of the industry's inner workings and how web3 technology will play a role in its future.
While thereâs still a long way to go until we see mainstream adoption, Tommyâs explanation on how web3, and more specifically, NFTs, will change how fans form relationships with their favourite artists and become even greater advocates was an eye-opener for me.
If youâre interested to hear what the next phase of evolution within music might look like, tune in for the full interview.
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we discuss:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, Matt flies solo and digs into the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we do a deep dive discussion into The Merge. We break everything down so that you can understand the following:
We then discuss the following questions:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode, I speak with Preston Johnson, the founder of WAGMI United and co-Chairman of Crawley Town Football Club.
Why am I interviewing the chairman of a professional sports team? Well, theyâre doing something a little different. Very different, in fact. This is the story of how a web3 project raised funds to buy an English football team and has grand plans to take them from the fourth tier of English football, all the way to the top.
There's nothing conventional about the way they're running the club.
The fans have a say in the players that the club buys, who they bring in as backroom staff, and can even vote to fire Preston as Chairman if the club isnât promoted to the next division within two years. Regardless of what you think about crypto, these examples are a great step forward for a local fanbase.
And letâs face it, if youâve witnessed some of the ways in which English football clubs have been run in the more conventional sense in the past few years, itâs clear that something needs to be done differently.
Will the WAGMI United group be able to turn around the fortunes of Crawley Town? Only time will tell.
If youâre a fan of sports, have an interest in how crypto is being applied in the real world, or well, if youâre a Crawley Town FC fan, I think youâre going to enjoy this episode.
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
Bennett Collen, CEO and cofounder of Endstate, is on a mission to bridge the gap between physical and digital goods. In tandem with his cofounder and renowned sneaker designer, Stephanie Howard, they've built beautifully designed sneakers paired with a digital NFT.
Not only does this serve as a proof of ownership but can get you access to exclusive events, give you a digital representation of your sneaker in the metaverse, plus much more.
We dig into the future of physical and digital products, plus dig into the early success that Endstate has seen so far,
In this week's episode of Off Chain, we cover the following stories:
I speak with Gwendolyn Regina, the Investment Director at Binance's BNB Chain. We discuss how the current macro environment is shaping her investment strategy, which sectors Binance is looking to continue to invest in, and what she's most excited for over the next 9-12 months.
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories:
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories: * Tron Becomes DeFiâs Third-Largest Blockchain (in TVL) Thanks to Terra-Like Stablecoin * LUNA reboot (Terra 2.0) fell over 70% just hours after its launch * Goblin Town NFT collection explodes in popularity and claims the second spot in OpenSeaâs 7-day volume rankings behind BAYC * Blockâs 2022 Bitcoin Report is out, and makes an interesting observation: the more you know about Bitcoin, the more optimistic you are * Binance has raised a $500M web3 and crypto fund
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the following stories: * FTX moves into stock trading. * The LUNA hard fork proposal passes. * OpenSea loses its place as the top NFT marketplace by daily trading volume. * a16z launches a $4.5bn web3 fund. * GameStop launches... an Ethereum wallet (wut?). * Will the Merge ever happen? * And the Portugal crypto tax drama continues.
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we cover the biggest stories of the past week in web3. This includes:
If you listened to our episode on STEPN back in March, youâre probably familiar with the term âmove-to-earnâ. Itâs a subset of play-and-earn and itâs gaining a lot of traction.
Put simply, these web3 games center around you doing physical activity in exchange for crypto-based rewards. STEPN has arguably been the category creator here and now boasts over 300,000 DAUs, but there are a lot of new projects entering the space that are building on the model.
Genopets is one of them.
Itâs probably unfair to say theyâre new to the space because this project has been in the works for several years, but what I love about it is how they blend together the nostalgia of a Tamagotchi game with a physical exercise game element.
If you have no idea what a Tamagotchi is, well, you obviously didnât grow up through the 90s!
Actual gameplay to one side, the Genopets tokenomics are really interesting. They have both a completely free-to-play element that doesnât require you to purchase an NFT initially, as well as a path that includes buying in-game assets.
Iâve been playing in the beta and have been enjoying it so far, and I believe theyâre slated for a full launch in Q3 of this year. If youâve enjoyed some of the recent episodes where weâve been speaking with GameFi teams, this oneâs going to be popular with you.
I talk with Albert Chen, the co-founder & CEO, as well as Kevin Kim, the COO, and we dig into all aspects of the gameplay, game economy, and what to expect from the future of the project.
Markets have been in turmoil this past week, triggered by rising inflation concerns and then the monumental de-pegging of the Terra stablecoin, $UST.
We dig into exactly what happened, including how someone has walked away with around $800mm in profit as a result. All this and more in this week's episode of Off Chain, your weekly roundup of the biggest stories happening in web3.
We sit down with Shane Mac, the cofounder of XMTP, which aims to become the communication network for web3. We discuss the evolution of communication and how there's a huge gap in web3 for wallet-to-wallet communication that requires an infrastructure layer like SMTP to power it.
In this week's episode of Off-Chain, we dig into the biggest web3 stories of the week, including:
I speak to Bumzy, one of the early contributors to the Crabada ecosystem, and now leading growth at CrabaDAO. We take a look under the shell of the play & earn game that's accounting for over 60% of the Avalanche network's transactions.
This is the first episode of our new weekly series, Off-Chain, that covers the biggest stories in web3 from the past week.
In this week's episode, we cover:
I speak with Palmer, the cofounder of Monster Champions, a brand new play and earn game that's just launched. The game looks to create an exciting experience both on and off chain for players, with some interesting tokenomics to keep things growing sustainably. * Palmer's Twitter. * Monster Champions website.
In this episode, we speak with Shehan Chandrasekera, the Head of Tax at Cointracker, to walk through all of the different tax considerations for individuals holding cryptocurrencies and NFTs. We discuss staking rewards, airdrops, wash sale rules, gas fees, NFTs, and more. * Cointracker website * Shehan's Twitter
Jones Dao is a protocol thatâs focused on managing options trading strategies for retail investors through their vaults. Options trading in DeFi is just starting to take off, with Dopex really leading the charge here, and Jones Dao are very closely aligned with them, using Dopex for the majority of their options trading.
Options trading in general is an enormous part of traditional finance. Even retail investing platforms like Robinhood see the majority of their revenue (~38%, in fact) come from options. And whatâs great about this for DeFi is that options trading can be extremely profitable regardless of wider market conditions.
Ice Cream, one of the cofounders, talks through this in more detail in the episode, and shares their plans for going multi-chain, adding new vaults, the introduction of veJONES, and something Iâm particularly interested in - their synthetic options LPs.
In this episode we interview Yawn Rong, one of the co-founders of STEPN. STEPN is one of our favorite new play & earn apps that is probably best described as a version of Strava or MapMyRun on the blockchain. New players are earning ~$25 each day for doing 10 minutes of walking, whereas some power users are earning as much as $400+ each day! Don't miss this one. * STEPN website. * STEPN whitepaper. * STEPN Twitter.
If, like me, you grew up in the 90s and loved football, you probably spend a disproportionate amount of your time playing football management games like Championship Manager (later Football Manager).
Well, Metasoccer is bringing all of that nostalgia onto the blockchain. They're building a play & earn football management game. You own everything from the players, backroom staff, and stadia as NFTs, and you compete in a league against others around the world.
In this episode, I speak to Gustavo Sabino, the head of growth at Metasoccer, about how it all works.
Nat Eliason runs the treasury at Crypto Raiders, a popular play & earn game within the Polygon ecosystem. We discuss how Nat made the leap from working in web2 to taking on a major role in an emerging web3 project, as well as sharing what he's helping to build at Crypto Raiders.
The founder of Metafabric, an ambitious web3 project that aims to build a social network within the metaverse, speaks to the podcast about what they're building, why it's important, and what the future of wallet-to-wallet communication in web3 will look like.
I speak with the founder of Metagoons, a web3 incubator that combines the play-to-earn guild model with an incubator for emerging web3 creators. * Metagoons website. * DJ's Twitter.
We talk to FoodFarmer, the founder of Food Farmer Finance, about his "farming-as-a-service" platform. The platform is one of a few in the emerging FaaS space that looks to deliver returns from yield farming to investors in a completely passive way.
In this episode, we speak to Miles Anthony, founder of Decentral Games - the creator of ICE Poker. Miles walks through how play-to-earn gaming wokrs, give a deep dive into the economics of ICE Poker and how the whole thing works. Poker has arrived in the metaverse and people are making real money from it. Don't miss this one. Decentral Games: https://decentral.games/
Miles on Twitter: https://twitter.com/0xMiles
After two US Senators sent a strongly-worded letter to a number of the payment processing companies that had initially joined the Libra Association, a mass exodus began. The letter, sent to the likes of Stripe, Visa and Mastercard, urged them to leave the association, threatening to subject them to "a high level of scrutiny from regulators" on all of their payment activities. This is quite the blog for Libra, Facebook, and it raises some serious concerns around the approach taken by the US Senators.Â
Off the back of the news that researchers at Google have developed a quantum computer that managed to compute a problem in under 3 minutes that the world's most powerful classical supercomputer would take 10,000 years to complete, we look at the implications on blockchain and the technology that we use in our every day lives. Not only that, but we look at how Kik has taken the bold move to retire their 300 million user product to focus on fighting the SEC around the launch of their cryptocurrency, Kin (plus much more).Â
We speak with the CEO of MyCrypto, Taylor Monahan, to see how her mindset has changed and how MyCrypto has evolved since we last spoke to her over a year ago. Taylor shares why she believes DApps have a long way to go before they're truly useful to the masses, the personal security challenges that end users are facing in 2019, and also some of the upcoming new features of MyCrypto.
Crypto lobbyists are worried about Libra's impact on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin getting caught in the crossfire of regulatory action, while Facebook is worried that Libra may never see the light of day. We dig through Facebook's quarterly report to highlight how the company is currently feeling about Libra's chances.
Also, we talk through the implications of the Marshall Islands launching their own cryptocurrency, the Marshallese Sovereign (SOV), and why it's different from other state-run cryptocurrencies like the Petro.
Oh, and a group of nuclear power plant workers in Ukraine decided it would be a good idea to use the plant's supercomputer to mine cryptocurrency!
Ok, cryptocurrency isn't tax-free everywhere, but Portugal has taken the bold stance of not requiring income tax or capital gains deductions on personal cryptocurrency transactions. Beach house in the Algarve, anyone? On the other side of the globe, China announces its own digital currency to go up against the likes of Libra - we discuss all this and more.
We speak with Greg Freeman, CTO of the real estate investment platform, iFunded. Greg shares his thoughts on how security tokens are going to shape the future of private investments over the coming years, and why decentralization is NOT the goal here.
We speak with Raakhee Miller, CEO of Bitsian - a cryptocurrency exchange aggregator - about her past in the traditional financial services sector (senior positions in both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs), her take on how these giants are going to move and play in the crypto space over the coming years, and what she thinks about Facebook's Libra project.
We speak to Riccardo Spagni, one of the founding developers of Monero, about security tokens and how they can be used to create liquidity and channel for communication within organizations. We also discuss the latest privacy-enhancing technologies and what Riccardo thinks of Facebook's Libra project.
We speak with prominent blockchain attorney, Marc Boiron, to discuss the regulatory risks and hurdles ahead surrounding both Libra and Calibra.
Is Facebook's new cryptocurrency, Libra, a force for good or evil? Are the companies involved within the Libra association incentivized to be bad or good actors? And is the launch of Calibra, the mobile payments wallet run by Facebook, a thinly veiled excuse for Facebook to simply get mesh together more of the world's financial data? We discuss all of the above and more in this detailed first look at Libra.
After a 6-month hiatus, Matt and Austin are back to keep you updated with all the latest goings-on in the blockchain space... and there's been a LOT going on!
Weâve had price rises and price lows, an influx of ICOs and a wave of projects dying, but now we have the latest trend in crypto starting to surface⌠layoffs. Some of the largest companies in the space, including ConsenSys, Bitmain, and Coinbase have all been laying off staff. We explore why.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s03/e07-crypto-layoffs/
The giants of tech are making their move on the blockchain space. Amazon launches their Blockchain-as-a-Service offering, Intel files a new patent for an energy-efficient Bitcoin miner, and IBM, well, IBM has their hands in all of the crypto pies!
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s03/e06-tech-giants-blockchain/
The SEC is cracking down on âinfluencerâ promoting securities, GDPR might be a big hurdle for the blockchain to get over, is cryptocurrency the answer to Africaâs electrification issues, and we take a look at a group of 24 ICOs that raised a combined $2.8 billion that have now hit a point when they have 0 trading volumeâŚ
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s03/e05-mayweather-khaled/
Bitcoin suffers its largest weekly loss in value since 2013 and most other major cryptocurrencies follow suit. We unpack why this is happening, take a look at why Overstock are more bullish than ever on crypto, and how some companies are using âBlockchain for Goodâ.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s03/e04-crypto-bloodbath/
One day after the Bitcoin Cash fork, we take a look back at how this all came about, summarize the major implications from each fork proposal, and discuss the ongoing "hash war" that has broken out bitcoin Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s03/e03-forkception/
We speak with Jerry Cuomo, VP of Blockchain at IBM about how his team is planning to invest in the ecosystem. Jerry discusses IBMâs approach to building partnerships in the industry, why theyâre so bullish on blockchain, and how it may shape the future of IBM as a company.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s03/e02-ibm-blockchain/
We speak with Bram Cohen, creator of BitTorrent and founder of Chia, a blockchain project that claims to be a âbetter bitcoinâ. We take a look back at the past decade of bitcoin, highlighting some key milestones, plus we dive into how cryptocurrencies might have played a role in influencing the US midterm elections. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s03/e01-bram-cohen-chia
Coinbase has seen an 80% dip in active users since late 2017, Fidelity Investments has made a huge move into the crypto space, the SEC is taking more aggressive steps on projects that run ICOs, and we discuss the fact that 32 individuals own 1 million of the total 17 million bitcoin. All this and more in our series 2 finale. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e18-coinbase-fidelity-whales
We speak with Edmund John, founder of SelfKey about how heâs on a mission to give people sovereignty of their identities through the use of open source software and blockchain technology. We also dive into some news from BitTorrent founder, Bram Cohen, as well as a huge security breach of the US hardware supply chain thatâs been discovered, with fingers pointing to Chinese spies. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e17-blockchain-digital-identities
Coinbase has opened the floodgates for all kinds of cryptocurrencies to be listed on their platform, Tim Berners-Lee is here to save us all (again), and we take a look at the current state of ASIC mining. Donât know what that is? Donât worry, we explain all and start to pose some tough questions for the industry to answer. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e16-asic-mining/
A critical bug was discovered in Bitcoinâs code threatening to bring the integrity of the cryptocurrency as a whole. We briefly discuss a slightly unexpected âflippeningâ between XRP and ETH, and then we take a deeper look at how blockchain could revolutionize the healthcare sector. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e15-blockchain-healthcare-industry/
We take a look back over the past 3 years of ICOs, digging into the number of projects launching ICOs, how many have died, how many are scams, and how much theyâve raised. Not only this, but we discuss an alarming ICO sell off thatâs been taking place in September. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e14-ico-retrospective/
There are tons of different applications for blockchain technology, but one of the biggest industries that itâs looking to disrupt is cloud storage. In this weekâs episode, we take a deeper look at the Sia project that looks to take some market share in an industry thatâs expected to be worth $88 billion by 2022. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e13-sia-cloud-storage-blockchain/
What causes cryptocurrencies to see huge gains (and losses) in value? Whatâs going on over in Venezuela with their national cryptocurrency, the Petro? And has China really banned ALL cryptocurrency events? We answer all these questions and more in the latest episode of the Decrypting Crypto Podcast. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e12-why-cryptocurrency-increases-value/
We speak with David Bleznak, the CEO of Totle, an easy-to-use crypto portfolio management tool and decentralized trading platform. We discuss the current state of decentralization of cryptocurrency (or lack thereof!) and we go deep into explaining what decentralized exchanges are, and why David believeâs theyâre the future. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e11-david-bleznak/
We speak with Alexis Gauba & Aparna Krishnan, co-founders of Mechanism Labs, an open source set of experiments focused on pushing forward research in the blockchain space. We discuss their research into alternative consensus protocols, and they give some advice for other women entering the blockchain space. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e10-alexis-gauba-aparna-krishnan/
We speak with Colin Stewart of Producers Token, a platform with the modest vision of completely revolutionizing the agricultural supply chain. We discuss how blockchain (and its surrounding technology) can be used to empower producers and streamline the food industryâs supply chain. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e09-colin-stewart/
We speak with David Roon, Co-Founder of OpenLaw, a platform that seeks to democratize the access to legal support for the masses through blockchain technology. We discuss how smart contracts can be used to create legally binding agreements, and how OpenLawâs open source markup language can help give anyone access to secure legal contracts without having to pay huge legal fees. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e08-david-roon/
We speak with Gee Chuang, CEO of Listia and co-founder of Ink Protocol about how he grew Listia to over 10 million members, implementing its own virtual currency before even Bitcoin was created, and now why he believes crypto will completely revolutionize e-commerce. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e07-gee-chuang/
We speak with Gleb Nikitin, co-founder of MetaHash about how his project takes a new approach to gaining consensus within the mining process, what the future of decentralized applications has in store for us, ad how far we are away from mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e06-gleb-nikitin/
We speak with Benji Rogers, a musician and technologist, now based out of New York and the co-founder of the dotBlockchain Media Project. We discuss how blockchain technology could revolutionize the music industry and how he's on a mission to change things. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e05-benji-rogers/
We speak with Amy Wan, CEO of Sagewise, about how the smart contracts are going to revolutionize the legal space, why the most recent wave of ICOs is presenting whole new legal challenges for blockchain companies, and finally, what the future holds for regulation within the crypto space. Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e04-amy-wan/
We speak with Andrew Keys, from ConsenSys, about how the Ethereum blockchain is going to facilitate the widespread tokenization of assets across the world. We dig into what this actually means for the general public and how it's going to transform commerce. Full show notes:Â https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e03-andrew-keys/
We speak with Radko Albrecht, CEO of BitBond, about how the current financial system is broken and how blockchain technology can improve it. Radko is an advocate for financial inclusion and they're pioneering some interesting technology at BitBond, as well as a whole new take on the ICO.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e02-radko-albrecht/
We speak with Taylor Monahan, CEO of MyCrypto, about how she first created the company and some of the drama surrounding the split with her old company, MyEtherWallet. As well as this, Taylor gives her view on what the biggest adoption hurdles are for blockchain and where she sees the industry going.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s02/e01-taylor-monahan/
There are a lot of rational and valid arguments against the current state of Bitcoin. From the technical hurdles of mass adoption, through to the fact that the large proportion of wealth is held by a very small number of people. This episode takes an objective look at each argument and discusses it in detail.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e09-the-case-against-bitcoin/
The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, is very different from the largest, Bitcoin. But why? Within this episode, the fundamental differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin will be explained and the utility that the Ethereum blockchain brings will be discussed.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e08-what-is-ethereum/
Making your first ever transaction can be a little daunting. This episode will walk through the process of transferring your cryptocurrency to another person, as well as the best ways to store your crypto. This will include a run-down of the different types of wallets, along with their pros and cons.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e07-transferring-storing-crypto/
Another hot topic in the world of cryptocurrencies is Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Within this episode, we discuss what an ICO is, as well as how theyâre used within blockchain projects. Regulation will be discussed as well as how to evaluate the potential investment opportunity of an ICO.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e06-initial-coin-offerings/
Within this episode, you'll be introduced to the wider applications of blockchain technology (beyond just digital currencies). We explore smart contracts, use-cases for digital identities, real estate, healthcare, remittances and more. There will also be examples given of companies that are innovating in each of these spaces.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e05-beyond-bitcoin/
One of the most confusing aspects of blockchain technology is the act of mining. Within this episode, we'll be taking you through the concept of mining, some of the basic terminologies will be explained and, using Bitcoin as an example, the end to end process of mining Bitcoin will be walked through.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e04-cryptocurrency-mining/
Within this episode, you'll will be walked through the basics of how a cryptocurrency is valued at a specific price. Parallels will be drawn against precious metals, like gold, and also how anything is defined as a form of currency in the first place. You'd be surprised how much more bitcoin ticks the boxes than even the US dollar.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e03-what-gives-cryptocurrencies-value/
This episode goes through the process of buying your first cryptocurrency. This includes explaining the various different stages along the way, including, trading your fiat currency for crypto, trading that crypto for different crypto, and then storing it safely in a wallet. You'll find advice given on the best platforms and tools to use, as well as any nuances of buying certain cryptos (e.g. you canât buy Ripple on Coinbase).
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e02-buying-your-first-crypto/
Using Bitcoin as the primary example, we focus on helping you, the listener, better understand the fundamental concepts behind cryptocurrencies. This will include blockchain technology, what a cryptocurrency actually is, and some definitions of jargon related to it (mining, nodes, blocks, etc.).
This is the first episode of series 1 of the Decrypting Crypto podcast, designed to ease you into the initial concepts behind blockchain technology.
Full show notes: https://thecoinoffering.com/podcast/s01/e01-what-is-bitcoin/