A11 Crypto: Recent Episodes
a11crypto
Focusing on builders and the people who back them in DeFi, NFT, blockchain and Web 3.0 space.
We ask tough questions to derisk potential and explore opportunities.
Avalanche is building a fast finality proof of stake smart contract blockchain that settles transactions in sub-seconds.
The frequent high gas prices on the Ethereum have shut out many crypto users and congested the network. With users and project teams both looking for alternatives, Avalanche has recently announced a massive $600mil incentive program to encourage more builders and users to try out its super fast L1 solution.
In this episode, Jay, the VP of Marketing at Ava Labs, explores with us the Avalanche ecosystem and popular dapps that we can use on Avalanche. To find more, please visit https://ecosystem.avax.network/
When most of world's trillion dollar credit market function on an uncollateralised basis, we in crypto have so far left this opportunity unaddressed. Goldfinch is one of the innovators going after this market opportunity by leveraging cryptoeconomic incentives and decentralised credit assessment processes.
Listen to my conversation with Blake and Mike, the two Co-Founders, to learn how can you borrow a stablecoin loan without the customary crypto collateral requirement. Or if you have credit analysis expertise, how can you pursue opportunities with the financial backing from Goldfinch's liquidity providers.
Learn more about the project
https://goldfinch.finance
https://discord.gg/HVeaca3fN8
Did you know there were $20billion loans made by Genesis Trading in Q1 2021? Have you ever wondered what does it take to move from what is currently capital inefficient overcollateralized loans to under/uncollateralised loans in crypto? What unlocks would this capital efficient loan making process enable?
In this episode I chatted with Sidney Powell, CEO of Maple Finance, who spent much of his career in corporate lending business, on bringing together risk assessors, liquidity providers and institutional borrowers through incentives design and expertise requirements.
Find out more about Maple Finance:
https://www.maple.finance/
https://discord.com/invite/CrgPep9
https://twitter.com/maplefinance
Have you ever traded a perpetual swap because it allowed you to gain a 10x capital efficient exposure to an asset or allowed you to implement a basis trading strategy. Why does decentralised perpetual swaps not work on Ethereum L1 yet found much success on a higher performant chain such as Ethereum L2s. What are some of the use cases of perpetual swaps in a crypto native setting?
In this episode I chatted with Eric Chen, the founder of Injective Protocol, a Cosmos and EVM compatible purpose built blockchain for derivatives creation and trading. We dived deep into the technology stack and cryptoeconomic incentives enabling market making, security and trading activities on the chain.
How did the crypto market evolve from the early 2010s to what it is today? In this episode I talked with Josh Lim about the market structure changes and the evolution of one of industry's heavyweight - Genesis Trading.
Genesis Trading is building a fully integrated prime brokerage platform for institutional crypto players. To learn more about the firm, go to https://genesistrading.com
Why does the crypto project only raise one round or a few rounds early in its life compared to a traditional startup? What are the underlying narratives in crypto VC market and what are their relative importance in relations to being a good investment at the right time?
These are some of the questions we talk about in this episode where I had the pleasure of explore VC investing with Rennick Palley, the Founder and CIO of Stratos Technologies. Rennick has a long track record in equity research and investing. He has led Stratos Technologies in early investments in Compound and other crypto projects that are likely to shape the evolution of the industry in the coming years. Listen to our conversation to learn more.
Stratos Technologies Website: https://www.stratoslp.com/
Stratos Twitter: https://twitter.com/StratosTec
Stratos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stratostec/about/
Medium Publication: https://medium.com/stratos-technologies
How does a crypto fund that is $30mil in size land the hottest crypto projects, such as OpenSea, Theta and Celsius, before or at the same time as the giants like Andreessen Horowitz.
In this episode, I had the pleasure to chat with Miko Matsumura, GP of gumi Cryptos Capital and a veteran Valley entrepreneur and investor, to discuss and dissect the secret behind its success and unicorn investments.
Miko also hosts his own show MikoBits. Do check it out https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcvr_fLs0J9LEvK-BqLkiBA
With over $40 billions locked inside DeFi and the TV constantly increasing, the total addressable market for insurance product is huge. Yet only a few hundreds of millions is insured. What are some of the market trends, product adoption challenges and opportunities in this largely untapped market?
In this episode I talked with Lucius Fang of Coingecko who has an actuary background and experience. He recently wrote a great article (https://www.coingecko.com/buzz/decent...
) on the topic. We unpacked, explored and discussed various product features in the current market.
What do Vega, Terra, 1inch and Agoric have in common? They all have Rockaway Blockchain Fund as their investor. Based in Europe while investing globally, Rockaway has built an impressive portfolio. With corporate backing and an experienced and entrepreneurial team behind it, Rockaway is making bets on projects that aim to define the crypto space of the future.
In this episode, I talked with David Rakusan, Investment Manager at Rockaway Blockchain Fund, to dive into its investment process and focus.
What does it take to go from zero to billions of dollars in tractions? The chart climbing L1 project Terra is seeing explosive growth in its ecosystem and product usage. Supported by real world as well as crypto users and tier-1 VCs such as Binance and Galaxy, Terra is setting its sight firmly on user adoption and value accrual for the Luna holders.
In this episode, I talked with the CEO and Founder Do Kwon about his journey and plans for the future. To find out more about the project visit: https://terra.money/
What happens if you combine Yearn’s vaults with 1inch’s DEX liquidity aggregation while getting risk and investment management services from Numerai?
The answer - Reef Finance.
Reef Finance is looking to build out an aggregation layer on top of our fast-changing and complex DeFi landscape so that anyone can utilise and enjoy the benefits that DeFi affords. This means you can do crypto savings, investing and staking all from the same platform instead of going to a dozen different websites.
In this episode I spoke with Denko Mancheski from Reef Finance (https://reef.finance/) to look at mechanisms that enable such an user experience.
The team is building out the product and iterating on the process. Please join their Telegram group (https://t.me/reefdefi) where discussion is taking place. Please feel free to reach out to provide feedbacks.
From building startups to leading growth hacking at Dfinity, Tomahawk VC leverages its network and firsthand entrepreneurial experience in supporting founders and teams.
In this episode, I talked to Claude Donzé about the current state of crypto and traditional VC markets, including insights and differences between the two.
Have you ever wondered when you clicked on buy or sell button, who are the players that make your trade happen? What does institutional trading of crypto look like? What challenges does the industry face on the road to mass adoption?
In the episode, I spoke with Aya Kantorovich, Head of Institutional Coverage at FalconX, to unpack and discuss these subjects. FalconX (https://falconx.io
), backed by the likes of Amex Ventures and Accel Partners, is looking to tackle the fragmentation of liquidity and lack of institutional grade trading infrastructure in crypto with its fully integrated product suite.
What does an institutional crypto VC do? What are its investment criteria and process? How does it add value to the companies it invests in?
In this episode, I talked with Lior Messika, the Founder and Managing Partner, of Eden Block , an European blockchain focused VC firm to unpack the evolution and landscape of blockchain VC market.
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In today's nascent regulated digital securities market, very few players can offer a suite of fully integrated services that spans the whole lifecycle of digital securities.
Securitize, backed by Coinbase, has been pioneering and expanding its offerings in the space. Imagine if Coinbase would like to issue digital securities in the US to provide better liquidity for its shareholders prior to its IPO.
In this episode, I spoke with Jamie Finn to better understand the market and future plans.
Built for blockchain game developers, players and NFT creators in fashion and art - Enjin aims to tackle the broad NFT ecosystem with its enabling tools and markets. Through its Dapp wallet, game development tools, upcoming L2 solution and ecosystem partners, Enjin is building the infrastructures for the intersections of blockchain gaming and NFT assets. In this episode I spoke with Alex Russman from Enjin to look at the origin, progress and future plans of the project.
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Centrifuge is a technology platform that connects DeFi to real world assets using blockchain technology. It enable companies to bring their assets on chain via our own PoS chain and enable businesses to create an on-chain credit fund using the dApp Tinlake.
This is the first part of a multiple part series looking at the processes involved in onboarding and using the platform for both companies interested in tapping into the liquidity in DeFi and investors who would like to understand the various opportunities.
You can find out at https://centrifuge.io/ or https://discourse.centrifuge.io/
Where do you go to create and sell your NFT artworks or insurance? What is the process for transforming traditional paintings to collectibles on blockchain? How do you program a unique unlockable feature for your NFT item? Who are the biggest selling artists in NFT space? Enter Rarible.
Backed by Coinfund, Rarible has been busy building an art focused NFT marketplace. In this episode I spoke with Alex Salnikov to look at the origin, progress and future plans of the project.
What if you no longer have to rely on your mobile provider to send data securely to any parts of the globe no matter where you are? NKN is a project solving the decentralised data transmission problem. It has survived the 2017 mania and the ensuing crypto winter. It has been working with streaming services to deliver content in a decentralised manner.
In this episode I spoke with Bruce Li to look at the history, progress and future plans of the company. You can find out more about its products and services below:
nMobile secure chat app https://www.nkn.org/nMobile/
NKN mining FAQ: https://forum.nkn.org/t/nkn-mining-gu...
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ShuttleOne, backed by MakerDao and CMT Digital, is solving the $1.5trillion gap in SME trade financing. By integrating with Calista, GeTS’ cross-border logistics, compliance and financial requirements interface for supply chain stakeholders, ShuttleOne has processed over $1 million trade finance solutions since its entry into the market mid 2020.
In this episode I spoke with HongZhuang Lim, the CEO, to look at the history, progress and future ambitions of the company. Do follow @shuttle_one for updates
DoDo (https://dodoex.io), backed by Coinbase, Pantera and Binance, is solving Uniswap’s billion dollar problem. Uniswap has over $2billion liquidity staked to the platform. But almost all of it is suffering from impermanent loss that is far more than the trading fees generated. This inefficient use of capital is a major block to AMM’s efficiency.
Enter DoDo’s Proactive Market Maker, the smart AMM that takes Chainlink oracle price updates, concentrates liquidity around the market price and re-balances liquidity composition so that liquidity providers can always take out the same number of the tokens they put in.
In this episode I spoke with Diane Dai, the CMO, to look at the progress that has been made in making AMM’s far more efficient.
Would you prefer going through 10 clicks to use a single DeFi product or clicking a single button from a mobile app that allows you to buy, sell, vote, sign and stake?
Frontier is tackling the complex landscape of DeFi product fragmentation and clunkiness by allowing users to execute DeFi functions from its simple mobile app.
In this episode I spoke with Ravindra Kumar, Founder and CEO, to look at the technologies and features that aggregate DeFi functionalities all in one place. To learn more please visit their website at https://frontier.xyz/
How much value can be unlocked if there is a way to enable collateralised lending in trade finance through improving transparency and efficiency of existing processes that have oiled the wheels of global commerce for hundreds of years? Answer: trillions.
Consul Freight is tackling the antiquated trade finance market using blockchain enabled technologies to free up trillions of liquidity in the global supply chain.
In this episode I spoke with Ernesto Vila, Founder and CEO, to look at the technologies and blockchain applications that solve pain points for millions of SMEs involved in the global supply chain. To learn more please visit their website at https://www.consolfreight.io/
What is a layer 2 scalable smart contract platform that provides EVM compatibility to Ethereum Dapps and offers Optimistic Rollups as a scalability solution. Welcome to Plasm Network (http://plasmnet.io/)
Plasm Network, backed by , is tackling vertical scalability problems on Polkadot with its EMV compatible Rollup solutions.
In this episode I spoke with Sota Watanabe to dive into the concept, development and future plans of the project. Join their Telegram group (https://t.me/PlasmOfficial) to learn more and get involved.
What if an application can allow you to upload important legal documents, photos and articles to a cloud storage permanently so they cannot be lost or sensored? Welcome to ArDrive. (http://ardrive.io/)
ArDrive is building an access layer on the ArWeave’s (backed by Coinbase Ventures, A16z and Union Square Ventures) Permaweb to provide a decentralised, pay-once and permanent online storage for consumers.
In this episode I spoke with Philip Mataras to dive into the concept, development and functionalities of the project. Please join their discord (https://discord.gg/BdZfUcZ) to learn more and get involved.
What if there is a savings account that allows people to compete with each other and awards the winner? Welcome to GoodGhosting.(https://goodghosting.com/)
GoodGhosting is building a decentralised saving account platform that gamifies savings. The team is working on the first release and iterating on user feedback. In this episode I spoke with Rachel Black and Giel Detienne to dive into the concept, features, and future of the project.
What do we call a fully decentralised crypto derivatives exchange such as Bitmex or Deribit? The answer is MCDEX (http://mcdex.io/)
Monte Carlo Dex is building a decentralised exchange for trading derivatives. The team has bootstrapped the user base and product and is working on V3 where you can trade crypto perpetual swaps in the same way that you use Uniswap. Plus they will introduce an automated strategy for passively earning returns using perpetual swaps.
In this episode I spoke with Jean Miao to dive deep into the features, challenges and future of the project.
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What if you can have a stablecoin pool that offers customisable weighting to different stablecoins that align your view on the risk profiles of different stablecoins? What if you can have a swap pool that offers tBTC, wBTC and renBTC? Well it would make DeFi so much easier to navigate.
Shell Protocol is building the tool for people to swap between similar assets such as stablecoins. It already has $15mil liquidity in its first pool launched a few weeks ago. It is looking to build out more pools facilitating low slippage and easy swaps between similar assets.
In this episode I spoke with Denny White and James Foley from Shell Protocol (https://shells.exchange/) to dive deep into their protocol mechanics. Listen to the end to find out if you have what it takes to take on challenges facing the team and become part of the DeFi legend. You can reach the team on:
Discord: https://discord.gg/ZqMJPr4
Email: info@cowri.io
Have you ever thought about being able to pay for a service or a product - such as renting an in-game NFT item or paying for a membership service - not in a lump sum but instead in a constant stream of micropayments that you can cancel at any time?
Like Aave’s flash loan, having a constant stream of cash flow is a new primitive in DeFi. In this episode I spoke with Francesco Renzi and Michele D'Aliessi from Superfluid Finance (https://www.superfluid.finance/) to look at features and use cases of this brand new DeFi primitive.
The team is building out the product and helping developers to enhance their own applications. There is a very active Discord group where discussion is taking place. Please feel free to reach out to the team to discuss possible integration.
Welcome to 9Lives Arena, the Blockchain NFT Gaming pioneer that was here before NFT was in vogue. In this episode I spoke with Ralph Laemmche of 9Lives Arena (https://www.9livesarena.com/) - the well esteemed MMO PvP game - to look at the features and mechanisms that enable a Play to Earn in-game economy where savvy players can earn thousands.
The project is in closed alpha but has already seen the value of its limited items skyrocket in the marketplace. As it moves towards Steam Early Access, we look at upcoming additional features and gauge the outlook.
Follow A11 Crypto podcast series to receive updates on market trends and deep dives of projects. I talk with visionary founders and savvy investors to derisk opportunities and explore potential.
In this episode I spoke with Hugh Karp of Nexus Mutual (https://nexusmutual.io/) - the leading DeFi insurance focused project - to look at the mechanisms that enables growth and the plans to scale further.
The project is covering $230 million and the DeFi space has $11 billion total value locked according to DeFi Pulse at the writing. There is a lot of growth ahead. Let's explore how we can capture all that value.
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Date: Tuesday, September 15th 2020
Market Update is a focused analysis and timely commentary from A11 Crypto on the latest market moving trends.
Many NFT projects, such as Rarible and Meme, has seen its market capitalisation explode in recent days. What are the reasons behind the move? We are here to explore.
Date: Tuesday, September 22nd 2020
A11 Crypto is your guide into the cryptoland where both treasures and dangers await.
Join Harvey on an adventure to upend the unfair traditional financial system and adopt the permissionless internet money protocols.
Together we will discover a new world where the financial system work for everyone because everyone is given the power to shape it.
Show Notes:
Yearn Protocol (https://yearn.finance/vaults) is a yield maximising platform that helps users manages their funds to find the best yield opportunities for their assets in the DeFi world.
What are stablecoins? https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stablecoin.asp
The Infinite Machine by Camilla Russo is an entertaining look at the fascinating history of the Ethereum blockchain. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Infinite-Machine-Crypto-hackers-Building-Internet-ebook/dp/B07X8HS2WC
Date: Tuesday, September 15th 2020
A11 Crypto is your guide into the cryptoland where both treasures and dangers await.
Join Harvey on an adventure to upend the unfair traditional financial system and adopt the permissionless internet money protocols.
Together we will discover a new world where the financial system work for everyone because everyone is given the power to shape it.
Show Notes:
Aave (https://aave.com) - Aave is an open source and non-custodial protocol enabling the creation of money markets. Users can earn interest on deposits and borrow assets.
Yearn (https://yearn.finance/vaults) - Yearn Protocol is a yield aggregator that helps users manages their funds to find the best yield opportunities for their assets in the DeFi world.
Metamask (https://metamask.io) - A crypto wallet & gateway to blockchain apps. Start exploring blockchain applications in seconds. Trusted by over 1 million users worldwide.