CryptoMarketsWiki Podcast: Recent Episodes
Matt Raebel
Matt and Thom discuss Coinbase's recent debut as a publicly-traded company, as well as some updates about a company that wants to revitalize the U.S.'s struggling bitcoin mining industry.
Topics:
00:30 - Coinbase direct listing
14:20 - Riot Blockchain says it's going to be the "biggest bitcoin miner in North America"
BlockFi is a New York City-based start-up cryptocurrency financial institution. It offers lots of crypto services to its customers, including lending U.S. dollars against bitcoin and other cryptocurrency as collateral, as well as accepting deposits of cryptocurrencies which pay interest to the depositor.
David Olsson is the Global Head of Distribution at BlockFi. Previously, he worked in the financial markets for two decades, managing teams at companies like Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse. On this episode of the CryptoMarketsWiki Podcast, Olsson sits down to talk about about how BlockFi is striving to become the global crypto bank of the future.
In this episode of the CryptoMarketsWiki Podcast, Matt Raebel and Thom Thompson discuss some of the biggest stories of the year so far.
Topics:
00:59 - Ripple's lawsuits
04:10 - Polkadot
09:30 - Regulation updates
12:41 - Bakkt's IPO
21:30 - Jihan Wu no longer CEO of Bitmain
In this episode of the CryptoMarketsWiki Podcast, Matt Raebel and Thom Thompson discuss their picks for the biggest cryptocurrency and blockchain stories of 2020.
DrawBridge Lending LLC sees itself as the “bridge” between the cryptocurrency world and the world of institutional trading. Jason Urban, the company's founder and CEO, had over 20 years of experience working in the financial markets before starting DrawBridge with his partners, working at firms like Goldman Sachs and DRW. In this episode, Urban discusses the finer points of running a business based around lending against cryptocurrency, the state of institutional demand for digital asset products, how to work with regulators, and more.
Magnus Almqvist is a technology, compliance, and market surveillance expert, and the head of exchange development for Exberry, a software development platform designed to help its customers create sophisticated new trading platforms fast, and with the ability to easily scale after launch. In this episode, Almqvist discusses what makes Exberry unique, how the company has coped with the ongoing pandemic, institutional demand for digital asset products, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and more.
Philippe Bekhazi, the founder and CEO of the XBTO Group, has a long history of creating technological tools for trading, devising portfolio and risk management solutions for clients trading equities, FX, rates, and credit instruments. In 2009 he created Derivee Capital, a fintech incubator that sponsored the XBTO Group. Bekhazi has been watching the growth of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology for a long time, and on this episode of the CMW Podcast, he discusses how XBTO went from a prop trading desk to one of the biggest investors in the growing digital asset space, as well as the rise of digital asset derivatives and stablecoins, and the future of digital money.
Michael Sonnenshein, the managing director at Grayscale Investments, is passionate about bringing digital asset investing to his clients. In this episode of the CMW Podcast, Sonnenshein discusses institutional digital asset investing, the upcoming "Halvening" of bitcoin, and more.
In their last recorded in-studio episode before JLN's staff switched to work-from-home mode, Matt and Thom sat down to discuss how the epidemic is affecting the crypto markets, India's lift on cryptocurrency trading, the Steemit/TRON controversy, and more.
Topics
00:42 - Coronavirus causes the stock market to crash; bitcoin's price plummets
03:40 - India's supreme court lifts ban on cryptocurrency
06:22 - National stablecoins are not necessarily good for crypto adoption
09:42 - TRON's hostile takeover of the STEEM blockchain
15:03 - Libra update: Tagomi joins the Libra Association
Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at CoinShares, is passionate about cryptocurrency, financial technology, and civil rights - and she wants to share her knowledge as well as her enthusiasm with the world. In 2019, she testified before the House Financial Services Committee for a hearing on Facebook's proposed digital currency project, Libra. Demirors has appeared on Bloomberg, CNBC, CoinDesk, and the MIT Technology Review - now, she joins us to discuss privacy, mining, and regulation - and of course, Facebook's Libra.
Topics:
00:59 What's your favorite altcoin?
01:55 What are you and CoinShares' current goals?
3:37 What is the value of bitcoin as an asset class?
07:35 How is the value of bitcoin as an asset class different from other digital assets?
12:39 Since the majority of the bitcoin network's hash rate comes from machines concentrated in China, what are the chances this will cause problems down the line?
16:53 Is the frustration felt by many in the crypto/blockchain space regarding regulation warranted, or is the current
21:46 Do you think stablecoins or cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are more likely to play a significant role in the future of finance?
22:25 Do you think Libra pushed institutions like the Fed to consider the potential applications of stablecoins more seriously?
25:42 Why do you think people keep calling Libra a "cryptocurrency?"
28:57 At this point, what do you think Libra has to do to make regulators happy?
Matt and Thom take to the JLN studio once again to discuss 2020's biggest stories in crypto (so far).
Topics:
00:35 Bitcoin options are not, in fact, hot right now
02:58 Kraken CEO says cost of regulatory requests rising for the exchange
08:28 Japan puts limits on leverage for regulated cryptocurrency exchanges
09:05 Bitmain's "questionable" need for layoffs
11:48 Bitwise Bitcoin ETF takes a knee
15:02 Libra creates a new committee
17:35 "Crypto Dad" gets two new gigs
JLN Editor Thom Thompson has decades of experience working in the financial markets in both the U.S. and Europe. These days, he uses his expertise to explain the cryptocurrency markets, especially the burgeoning cryptocurrency derivatives to JLN's readers. In this episode of the CMW Podcast, Thom joins Matt in the studio to discuss the most notable moments in the cryptocurrency markets in 2019.
Before graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Ph.D. in physics in 2015, Carson Cook was already an experienced futures trader. In 2018, he started Fractal Wealth, a trading and technology firm that provides liquidity to digital asset exchanges - including so-called "decentralized" (DEX) exchanges. Cook explains the differences between both exchanges, as well as his unique insight into how the digital asset markets are changing.
After finishing her education at Pepperdine University, Lexy Prodromos dove headfirst into the blockchain world, quickly establishing herself as an influential figure. An early contributor to the Illinois Blockchain Initiative, she later became executive director of the Chicago Blockchain Center as well as a strategic lead at Bloq. Prodromos shares what it has been like working behind the scenes with both regulators and technology firms to help this nascent technology flourish.
Why did Scott Freeman go from being a managing partner at a quantitative hedge fund to starting a company for digital asset trading and advisory services? Scott answers this and other fascinating questions about pivoting into institutional crypto trading, navigating through the regulatory nuances between different markets around the world, and more.
Bill Ulivieri, former CBOE market maker and Principal of Cenacle Capital Management LLC, is a veteran of the industry who's done it all - including crypto trading. Ulivieri joins Matt at the JLN studio to discuss the benefits and shortcomings of digital assets as a store of value, and how he thinks bitcoin fits into the future of global finance.
Juan Hernandez, CEO of OpenFinance Network, joins JLN associate editor Matt Raebel to talk tokens - that is, securitized assets in the form of digital tokens, not the tokens you use to pay for arcade machines at Chuck E. Cheese's.
Ever wonder where bitcoin came from, or who made it? How about, 'what is a blockchain, and how does it work?' John Lothian News Associate Editor Matt Raebel offers a crash-course in crypto for the inaugural episode of the CryptoMarketsWiki Podcast.