Chain Reaction

Welcome to Chain Reaction. 

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

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn talked to Gwendolyn Regina, investment director at layer-1 blockchain BNB Chain. Prior to her current role, Gwen worked at Facebook, or as some call it now - Meta, building up a new business unit for venture capital partnerships and startup growth. She’s also a founder of a few different businesses and a founding team member for an early stage tech investment firm Thymos Capital.

BNB Chain was launched in 2020 and initially kicked off by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume. Since then, BNB Chain aims to be a decentralized, community-owned separate entity from Binance with a focus on three audiences: retail markets, builders and developers and bridging Web2.0 businesses to web3, Regina shared. 

Gaming on BNB Chain also has grown “organically through robustness and cheaper fees,” but the blockchain’s team is now “doubling down” in that sector to encourage more gamers and developers to play and build on its chain, Regina added.

We also discussed: 

• The dApps developers are building on-chain 
• BNB’s investing strategy 
• What investors look for in founders
• Advice to startups launching in a bear market

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

TechCrunch is coming to Boston for our Early Stage event. You can use code CHAIN for 40% off founder and investor passes, we'll see you there! 

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 show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn talked with Mo Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of the layer-1 blockchain Aptos. Shaikh is a three-times founder with over a decade of experience in financial services as well as blockchain technology and crypto. He also worked on blockchain strategic partnerships for Novi, Facebook’s wallet and was the strategy director at Consensys. 

Last year was huge for Aptos – as the blockchain launched publicly and raised about $400 million in funding, amid a bear market. The new layer-1 got backing from major investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Circle Ventures and the now-defunct FTX Ventures, to name a few. Looking forward, Aptos plans to focus on making 2023 its year of “intention,” Shaikh said. 

We also discussed: 

• What it’s like to launch in a bear market
• Builders on the blockchain
• Business development plans for 2023
• Onboarding people not in the space
• Future of interoperability and the multichain world

Chain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, 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 show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. 

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn talked with Ryan Wyatt, president of Polygon Labs, one of the biggest market shakers and layer-2 blockchains in the crypto space that’s building on top of the Ethereum ecosystem. The past year has been huge for Polygon as it partnered with big-brand names like Starbucks, Disney and Mastercard to launch loyalty rewards and accelerator programs. Now, Polygon is looking to 2023, new opportunities and Wyatt shares what’s in store for it and how the space still has room to grow.

We also discussed: 

• Polygon’s big themes and product vision for 2023 
• Mass adoption of crypto and what it takes to get there
• Wyatt’s outlook for the gaming and NFT market
• What real world use-cases may arise in the future 

Chain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, 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 Tuesday episode where we chat with a web3 expert, we’re playing a recording of our discussion live on stage with Alchemy’s CEO Nikil Viswanathan at TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto 2022. We chatted about:

• How the industry and developer’s focus on infrastructure has shifted
• Developers focus amid the crypto market chaos
• What will drive the next wave of consumer interest
• Advice for developers, builders and founders alike
• Which smaller blockchains are seeing the most activity and interest from developers
• Why Alchemy named itself Alchemy

Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the latest episodes, and please leave us a review if you like what you hear.

This was Chain Reaction's last episode for this season and we’ll be taking a break for the month of December, but catch up with us in the New Year where I’m sure there will be a lot to talk about!

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 Tuesday episode where we chat with a web3 expert, we’re playing a super timely recording of our discussion live on stage last week with Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, known as “CZ.” CZ sent shockwaves through the crypto world last week, so we jumped at the chance to ask him about:

• His tweets about rival exchange FTX that set off a firestorm and whether he anticipated their impact
• What Binance is doing to gain user trust and demonstrate transparency despite its regulatory troubles across the globe
• Binance’s revenue streams and strategy to weather a crypto downturn that just got much, much worse

Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action, and please leave us a review if you like what you hear!

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, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious.

Web3 this week really reminded us that even the best-laid plans aren’t always reliable. We tore up the script for our Thursday episode this week, which we recorded live on stage at our TechCrunch Crypto conference in Miami, and talked instead about the leaked DMs between Sam Bankman-Fried and a Vox reporter. 

We shared some of the most notable quotes from the surreal, absurd exchange and unpacked why they matter. Besides what went down in the DMs, we also talked through a couple of major topics related to the FTX fallout, including:

• The contagion that’s unfolded among other market makers and fund managers
• What proof of reserves actually means and whether it is a viable solution for transparency from crypto companies

ICYMI, you can use the promo code REACT to get 25% off an annual subscription to TechCrunch+, where we’ve been diving deep into all the latest drama going down in the cryptoverse.

Chain Reaction comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, 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 Tuesday episode where we chat with a web3 expert (or three), we’re playing a recording of our discussion live on stage with Brett Harrison, former president of FTX, Mary-Catherine Lader, COO of Uniswap and Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, at TechCrunch Disrupt. We chatted about: 

• Brett Harrison’s next plans 
• How the crypto startup world is evolving
• Advice for founders amid a bear market 
• Regulatory gaps and current hurdles 
• Ways Web2 and Web3 businesses are working together 

If you enjoyed this interview, you’ll have a chance to hear us talk with some of the biggest names in crypto at our event in Miami this week on November 17th. 

Chain Reaction comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, 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, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious.

We had to talk about the news that rocked the crypto world this week in our Thursday episode: the Binance/FTX deal that never was. To begin, we gave you a rundown of WTF just happened with the beef between two of the largest crypto exchanges in the world and how Sam Bankman-Fried’s storied exchange fell so far so fast, bringing down investors, cryptocurrencies and other companies in the space tumbling down with it.

Once we ran through the background behind the situation that’s been unfolding in real-time this week, we shared our thoughts on the massive implications this fiasco might have for the rest of the crypto industry, from venture capitalists and startups to regulation across the globe.

It’s a fascinating backdrop for our conversation at our crypto event in Miami next week, where we’ll be chatting with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the billionaire who is seen as the catalyst for FTX’s downfall. You can use the promo code REACT for 15% off a General Admission ticket to the event to hear from CZ and plenty of other crypto market players about what the future of this tumultuous industry might hold in the coming months.

Chain Reaction comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, 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 Tuesday episode where we chat with a web3 expert, we’re playing a recording of our discussion live on stage with Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of the Solana blockchain, at TechCrunch Disrupt. We chatted with Yakovenko about:

• Solana’s plans to launch a web3-focused smartphone and whether it can take on tech giants Apple and Google in mobile
• The lack of women in the web3 space and what blockchain leaders could (and should) be doing to fix that
• Whether Yakovenko is more afraid of competition from new layer-one upstarts or incumbent market leaders such as Ethereum

If you enjoyed this interview, you’ll have a chance to hear us talk with some of the biggest names in crypto at our event in Miami on November 17th. 

You can use the promo code, REACT, for 15% off a General Admission ticket to hear from speakers including FTX’s Amy Wu and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao.

Chain Reaction comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, 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, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious.

For our Thursday episode where we discuss the latest in crypto news, we talked about a string of troubles that have unfolded for various bitcoin mining companies over the past month, from Argo Blockchain to Core Scientific, and what it would take to unearth (ha ha, get it?) the sector from its woes. We also discussed:

• Binance’s $500 million investment in Elon Musk’s Twitter deal and what’s in it for the crypto exchange
• NFT marketplaces such as LooksRare and Magic Eden pulling the plug on creator royalties and how the decisions could affect web3 artists

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is one of the speakers set to join us at our upcoming crypto event in Miami on November 17th, and we’ll be sure to ask him about his plans for Twitter. If you’re interested in hearing more, you can use the promo code REACT for 15% off a General Admission ticket to the event.

And if you can’t join us in person we have a sweet deal for you to access our exclusive membership content — use the promo code REACT to get 25% off an annual subscription to TechCrunch+.

Chain Reaction comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, 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.