Chain Reaction

This week, we have a bonus episode where Jacquelyn and TechCrunch+ Editor in Chief Alex Wilhelm interviewed Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins.

Pudgy Penguins, originally known for its flagship collection of 8,888 NFTs that began in 2021 has expanded beyond that into a “IP and brand development company” after Luca bought the project for $2.5 million and took over as CEO in April 2022.

For context, Pudgy Penguins digital collectibles have generated over $400 million in transaction volume since release. That early success in the NFT market has now been parlayed into the creation of an open-world digital player experience called Pudgy World, which integrates blockchain technology from Ethereum and zkSync Era, and through its toy line, Pudgy Toys, that launched back in May.

We discussed with Luca how those toys launched in 2,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. and Smyths, one of the biggest toy stores in the United Kingdom; in addition to prior launches in Five Below, Amazon, Hot Topic and others stores. 

We also talked about: 

• Economics of toys 
• Monetizing NFTs long term
• Demand for Pudgy Toys
• Bringing web3 to the real world
• Future plans for its digital world 

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Tiago Sada, head of product for Tools for Humanity and core contributor to Worldcoin, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco.

Tools for Humanity, which is the team building Worldcoin, raised $115 million in a Series C round back in May with investors like Blockchain Capital, a16z, Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global. In March 2022, Worldcoin raised $100 million at a $3 billion valuation.

The project was co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman with a three part mission to create a global ID, a global currency and an app that enables payments, purchases and transfers with its token. 

Worldcoin has been on a world tour since April, hitting major cities like Tokyo, Miami, New York City and San Francisco. It has also set up shop in major cities in countries like Kenya, India and China. 

We dive into why someone would scan their eyes, alternate options and privacy concerns some skeptics have about the project. 

We also talked about: 

• Global adoption of Worldcoin 
• Kenya 'indefinitely’’ pausing Worldcoin iris scans
• Projects’ biggest challenges for growth 
• How AI can fit into Worldcoin 
• Future opportunities and roadmaps 

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on  Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn did a live interview with Chris Lehane, chief strategy officer at Haun Ventures, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco.

Prior to joining the firm, Chris was an executive at Airbnb. He also co-founded a strategic consultancy firm, Fabiani & Lehane, that advised political, corporate, technology, entertainment and professional sports clients. In the 1990s, Chris held various government roles like press secretary to Vice President Al Gore and was special assistant counsel to President Bill Clinton.

After a number of decades working across different industries, Chris landed in the world of crypto at Haun Ventures, a web3-focused venture capital firm that has two investment vehicles: a $500 million early stage fund and a $1 billion acceleration fund. Aside from Haun, he is also a member of Coinbase's Global Advisory Council.

We discussed Haun’s investment strategy amid U.S. and global regulatory challenges, how the firm advises portfolio companies to navigate the ever changing environment and whether Chris find’s the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulation tactics productive, among other things. 

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Welcome to Chain Reaction. 

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn is sharing a panel she moderated live at Avalanche House, while she was in Seoul, South Korea for Korea Blockchain Week. 

The panel focused on the biggest opportunities and challenges facing web3 enterprise and included the following speakers:

• Dan Sun, startup success manager for web3 APAC lead at Google Cloud 
• Gagan Mac, head of product and senior director of web3 services at Circle 
• Johann Eid, chief business officer at Chainlink
• Lihan Lee, co-CEO and founder of Xangle

We discussed the state of web3 enterprise adoption today compared to past quarters and years and dove into the ripple effects that catastrophic events from 2022 had on the space. 

We also talked about: 

• Regulatory scrutiny 
• Next wave of enterprise adoption 
• New web3 enterprise use cases 

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotif,  or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Welcome to Chain Reaction. 

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Charlie Shrem, founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, general partner at Druid Ventures and host of the Charlie Shrem show.

Before all that, he was the co-founder and CEO of BitInstant which was a bitcoin payment processor that started in 2011. Shortly after founding the company, he was charged with operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and for allegedly attempting to launder over $1 million through the now defunct dark web marketplace Silk Road. He spent a little over a year in a low-security prison as a result. 

Now, Charlie is a vocal advocate for clearer crypto regulation, he’s a crypto investor, podcaster, and even a movie producer.

We discussed how the bitcoin and crypto ecosystem have changed (and stayed the same) over the past decade as well as how his incarceration shaped his view on the industry. 

We also talked about: 

• Need for regulatory clarity in U.S. 
• Crypto projects and sectors he’s following
• How the bitcoin ecosystem is growing 
• Friend.tech
• Advice for listeners

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on  Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Welcome to Chain Reaction. 

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s news episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Craig Salm, chief legal officer at Grayscale Investments.

Grayscale is a digital asset investment firm that aims to provide products and services, like its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), to institutional and individual investors. The company was founded in 2014 and is one of the world’s largest digital asset currency managers. It currently owns 3.4% of outstanding bitcoin, “worth tens of billions of dollars,” according to a recent legal filing. 

The firm was making headlines this week after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Grayscale in a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the matter of a bitcoin ETF. This ruling is in response to the SEC denying Grayscale’s application to convert its GBTC product into a bitcoin spot ETF in June 2022. 

We discussed why the ruling matters for Grayscale and its GBTC investment vehicle; as well as what it could mean for the crypto ecosystem and other firms like BlackRock, Citadel and Fidelity that also filed applications for bitcoin spot ETFs. 

We also talked about the SEC’s argued difference between bitcoin futures ETFs, which have been approved by the agency, and bitcoin spot ETFs, which have not been approved by the agency. 

Not quite caught up on bitcoin ETFs? Here’s some TechCrunch coverage:

• The SEC rejected bitcoin spot ETFs again. Now what?
• A bitcoin spot ETF could open the floodgates for wider crypto demand
• As appeals court rules in favor of Grayscale, a bitcoin spot ETF could be on the horizon

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on  Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Erik Svenson, co-founder, president and chief financial officer at Blockstream, a bitcoin and blockchain-focused infrastructure firm.  

The company was founded in 2014 and has its own sidechain technology, Liquid Network, as well as bitcoin mining operations and hardware wallets for Bitcoin and other assets. It most recently raised $125 million in January and has raised over $400 million to date. 

Erik previously worked on Wall Street as a former VP for AIG investments and was a co-founder and consultant of other startups. His last startup he co-founded before Blockstream was Dan’s Plan, a health tech company. 

We discussed how the current macroenvironment is impacting Bitcoin-focused businesses and where Erik sees the most opportunities for startups today. 

We also talked about: 

• Blockstream’s mining operations
• Surviving a bear market
• Transitioning from TradFi to crypto
• Advice for startups

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s news episode, Jacquelyn talks with Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, alongside TechCrunch+ editor-in-chief Alex Wilhelm.

Balchunas is the author of The Institutional ETF Toolbox and The Bogle Effect. He also co-hosts Bloomberg’s Trillions podcast and ETF IQ show. 

Spot bitcoin exchange traded funds, or ETFs, have been a hot topic in the crypto community for many years, but have recently gotten more attention due to Jacobi Asset Management listing Europe’s first bitcoin spot ETF, almost two years after its initial approval. Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently delayed deadlines for bitcoin spot ETF applications. 

We dive into what’s going on with the bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S., why it matters and the odds of the SEC approving one in the near future. We also talk about Europe’s first bitcoin spot ETF, how these investment vehicles in general could impact crypto exchanges’ trading volumes and what else is in store for them. 

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Welcome to Chain Reaction. 

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Robbie Ferguson, co-founder and president of Immutable. 

Immutable is a web3 company consisting of two entities: Immutable Platform, a developer platform for building and scaling Ethereum-based web3 games, and Immutable Games, a web3 game developer and publisher. Some traditional gaming studios and IP holders are also building on its platform like GameStop, TikTok, Illuvium and NFT marketplace OpenSea, to name a few. 

In March 2022, Immutable raised $200 million at a $2.5 billion valuation and last June it launched a $500 million developer and venture investment fund, which TechCrunch covered exclusively. 

We discussed the web3 gaming market and how it’s grown in the past year and where it’s going in the future.

We also talked about: 

• Creating value in games 
• Mobile gaming vs web3 gaming
• Global adoption 
• Advice for developers

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on  Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Welcome to Chain Reaction. 

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s news episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Jesse Pollak, lead for Base and head of protocols at Coinbase. You might remember him from an interview we did with him back in April. 

Coinbase, which is the second largest crypto exchange by trading volume, launched Base, an Ethereum-focused layer-2 (L2) blockchain, in February. The platform was in testnet, which is a test phase of the blockchain network, until mid-July when it launched its mainnet, the fully live version of a blockchain on the main network (hence the name: mainnet), to developers. 

Next week, Base is officially launching its mainnet to the public on August 9th, alongside its “Onchain Summer” initiative. 

We dive into what’s going on, why it matters, where Pollak sees Base going in the future and why he’s keeping an eye on the bigger layer-2 ecosystem.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on  Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.