April 20, 2023

Calanthia Mei, Co-Founder of Masa

39 minutes

My latest guest on the BlockChain Reaction podcast is Calanthia Mei. She's the co-founder of Masa - formerly Masa Finance. Masa is a digital identity protocol that is built on the Celo (CELO-USD) blockchain. The company recently announced inclusion in the Binance (BNB-USD) accelerator program and is aiming to be a global leader in Web3 identity infrastructure. I thought this was a really interesting episode and we touched on everything from the privacy concerns about digital IDs to the global macro setup for fiat currencies more broadly speaking.

What is Masa?

Calanthia's TradFi bank and fintech background

Building a new world on chain with identity infrastructure

What are Soulbound tokens?

How Masa allows developers to build Web3 native communities

Web3 is likely more attractive to a global audience rather than a Western audience

Future generations will be "on-chain native"

How does a crypto builder define "decentralized?"

Applicable ways Web3 identity is useful

Protecting privacy in Web3

On choosing the Celo blockchain but also being a cross-chain protocol

What being in the Binance Accelerator program enables

The differences between jurisdictions in attracting crypto businesses

Phones as a fintech utility

How does Masa simplify Web3 for the non-crypto native

Is EVM the blockchain winner or do ecosystems like Solana (SOL-USD) and Cosmos (ATOM-USD) have a chance long term?

A possible Masa token in the future

Learning from the airdrops of other market participants

What else is exciting about Web3?

Book/podcast recommendations

Being a student of geopolitics and thinking long term macro outcomes

How fiat currencies play in a future with internet native money

I hope you guys enjoy this episode. Remember, you can get access to the full downloadable version of every BCR podcast episode by subscribing to my Seeking Alpha research service ⁠BlockChain Reaction. ⁠ One final note, if you're not completely sick of listening to my voice, I also joined James Foord on his new podcast The Pragmatic Investor earlier this week. You check that out here. In that pod, we talk crypto broadly, Bitcoin (BTC-USD), and the macro outlook.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on April 18th, 2023.

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