Around the Coin

Joe Bayen is CEO at Grow Credit. Over the past decade, Joe has specialized in underwriting, credit score improvement, user acquisition, and monetization.Grow Credit helps consumers establish or build credit using a MasterCard designed to exclusively process subscription payments. The platform enables consumers with thin credit or no credit files to seamlessly establish a credit history using a Netflix, Pandora, or Xbox live account.Joe previously founded at ICS Mobile Inc, the developer behind Free App A Day, a mobile application marketing platform with 12M users worldwide that was bootstrapped to $18.3M in total revenue. Notable clients included Disney, Electronic Arts, Groupon, and Kabam.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem www.redeeem.com- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Townsend interviews Jareau Wadé, a payments entrepreneur and recovering engineer based in Atlanta, GA. He currently runs growth and marketing at payments infrastructure company, Finix. Prior, Jareau lead commerce and visual search business development for Pinterest and co-founded Balanced, a payments API company that exited to Stripe in 2015. Jareau was also the first employee and head of data acquisition at Milo.com, a local shopping search engine acquired by eBay in 2010.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem www.redeeem.com- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Townsend interviews Xiaohan Zhu, CEO of Meter.io. Xiaohan Zhu is an engineer by training, he was born and raised in Chine, and moved the US to go to graduate school at UC San Diego, and eventually got his MBA at Wharton before working as an engineer at Microsoft and Motorola. In 2016 he became fascinated with cryptocurrency and global finance and started ZMT Capital investing in Blockchain, and ICOs. In 2018 Xiaohan started Meter.io to further enable of the crypto community by using the cost of production and the minor's behavior and the proof of work system as the key piece of feedback that enables stable pricing of their Meter token. Learn more about what makes Meter special on the deep dive interview!Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this engaging interview Mike Townsend interviews Sunayna Tuteja, Head of Digital Assets and Blockchain at TD Ameritrade. With more than ten years of diverse global experience, she has a proven record for building new ventures from scratch and leading the kind of change that is critical in shaping the future of business. In her current role, Sunayna is responsible for building a scalable blockchain and crypto practice within TD Ameritrade. This rapidly growing practice is inclusive of partnerships, investments and products to harness the growing power of blockchain technology. Through partnering with the Stanford Innovation Lab, she works closely with the start-up and VC communities helping to advance public and corporate innovation. Outside of work and school, you can find Sunayna adventuring the skies in her Cessna.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kyle Samani and Mike Townsend sit down and chat about how cryptocurrency will influence the US and global economy over the coming years. Kyle gives us the down low on companies and crypto projects he's excited about, and how he thinks about making investment decisions. Kyle Samani is a co-founder and managing partner at Multicoin Capital, a thesis-driven investment firm that invests in cryptocurrencies, tokens, and blockchain companies. Prior to Multicoin Capital, Kyle founded Pristine, a health IT startup that was later acquired by Upskill. Kyle holds degrees in Finance and Management from NYU, and is widely recognized in the crypto ecosystem for his writing and system-level analysis.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.We promise you'll learn a lot on this show, tune in!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this interview Mike Townsend interviews Alex Bouaziz, the founder and CEO of Deel. Alex is a true international entrepreneur, having been born and raised in Paris, France, he then went to undergraduate university in Tel Aviv, Israel, studying civil and environmental engineering. We chatted about his time getting a master degree at MIT, and starting on his PhD researching water treatment. The conversation moved quickly into the future of remote work, how companies are hiring now, what countries have the best and worse employment laws, and what a long term vision for Deel could look like to improve the international standard for employment. The world looks a lot different today than it did 50 years ago and it will look just as different 50 years in the future, learn what those differences are and more on the show!Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this show Mike Townsend interviews Chris McAlary, the CEO of Coin Cloud, the world’s largest network of two-way digital currency kiosks. From his early days as a Bitcoin miner to now, he is a pioneer in the cryptocurrency industry. When Robocoin installed the world’s first Bitcoin ATM in Vancouver, BC, in 2013, McAlary wondered why not the US. After much research and collaboration, he installed the first Coin Cloud BTM on the Las Vegas Strip in 2014 – built by Robocoin, branded by Coin Cloud, and serviced by McAlary himself.Today, Coin Cloud is the largest Bitcoin ATM company in the nation, with over 800 machines (and growing constantly), all of which allow two-way transactions of Bitcoin and 29 altcoins. Coin Cloud’s first international expansion is Brazil, offering that country the first opportunity ever to purchase digital currency with cash.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this interview Mike Townsend interviews Ljuba Youngblom, the co-founder and CEO of Hometown, an early stage startup reimagining local news from the ground up. Prior to that, Ljuba co-founded the connected car startup Automatic Labs, which was acquired by SiriusXM in 2017. He’s a UX designer, mentor, and pragmatic do-gooder living in Oakland, California. In the show we go into depth on local politics, what motivates people to vote, to contribute to their local economies, and what fascinating new techniques Hometown is using to improve democracy on a local level.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Tune in and share if you enjoyed the show!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this interview Mike Townsend interviews Jason Butcher, CEO of CoinPayments. Jason took over as CEO after running HODLtech, a crypto consultancy. He now leads CoinPayments which is most known for being a leader in facilitating cryptocurrency payments for businesses. CoinPayments has over 1800 crypto options, over 100,000 merchant customers, processing over $100M per month, which has increased over 30% since the Coronavirus hit. We talked about why crypto companies incorporate off shore to the Cayman Islands or Malta, and all the pros and cons that go along with that decision. We talk about the governmental policies regarding crypto and what we should be thinking about now that will prevent mistakes down the road. We also dive into what crypto opportunities he sees on the horizon and much more!Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this show Mike Townsend interviews Nelson Chu, founder and CEO of Cadence. Nelson is a 3x startup founder with several years of experience at the top investment management firms, including Bank of America and BlackRock. Prior to Cadence, he founded a strategy consulting firm specializing in helping companies build products and raise capital for growth, creating over $1B in equity value. He currently serves as an advisor to an ultra high net worth family office and is an active angel investor, with notable investments including BlockFi, Cadre, Care/Of, Clover Health, dv01, Tala, and Uala. This was a highly educational podcast, as Nelson explains how the highly complex market of business lending works, from the small business loans, personal loans, and all the way up to the banks and governments. Nelson gives us his thoughts on how the 2008 financial crisis changed the way money flows throughout the system now.We hear that Cadence has $1.6 issuance volume and $40M in securitization, and self-proclaimed shortest duration, highest yield (30%) flexible cheap growth capital... give it a try and decide for yourself! As always, reach out if you'd like to be on the show, or have guest recommendations.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices