CoinDesk Reports

New York City was all about NFTs this week as the third edition of NFT.NYC, New York’s non-fungible token conference, took place. It went off with a bang!

This episode is sponsored by Quantstamp and Nexo.io.

The event has come far from its humble origins in 2019 and this year’s featured 600 speakers across three days and six venues throughout the city. Over the course of the event, 15 different NFT-themed billboards were featured in Times Square. 

In this episode of “Money Reimagined” Sheila Warren and Michael Casey figure out what to make of the overwhelming display of innovation, creativity and speculative fervor that was unleashed with this event. To do so, they tapped the insightful mind of Sam Ewen, the head of CoinDesk Studios, who explains what this week’s conference represents and how the greater phenomenon of NFTs is sweeping through society.

The discussion explored the driving factors behind the energy that was on display, and it says about the current NFT zeitgeist. The event, which attracted 5,500 registered attendees and many more who turned up for the sideline parties and entertainment, has exploded in size since its last showing in February 2020. Back then, the event was in just one theater housing a modest gathering of early NFT enthusiasts. This year, there were more than 600 speakers appearing in concurrent programming across six venues. 

Just as important was the massive amount of promotion underway. There were hundreds of exhibitors with products using NFTs for everything from music rights to wine collecting. Meanwhile, many NFT platforms, flush with cash from this year’s investment boom, put on raging parties with A-list DJs and bands and spectacular digital art installations. 

To Ewen, what stood out was the passion of the various NFT communities. He described it as “evangelism,” a force that is helping to grow this space at as rapid a clip as the money that early investors are making. 

But he also highlighted the hurdles, including the challenge of “gas fees,” the high transaction costs users incur for trading NFTs, especially on the Ethereum blockchain. 

Either way, the conclusion from the discussion is that something big is happening in this sector, something could transform the digital economy as we know it. It’s just that with things moving so fast, it’s very difficult to predict what exactly that change will look like. 

 This episode was produced and edited by Michele Musso with announcements by Adam B. Levine and additional support by Eleanor Pahl. Our theme song is “Shepard.”

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Quantstamp is the leader of blockchain security, having secured over 100 billion USD worth of digital assets. Visit quantstamp.com to learn why top DeFi projects like Maker, Compound and BarnBridge trust Quantstamp to secure the financial infrastructure of tomorrow. Learn more at quantstamp.com/blog.

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This week, “Opinionated” hosts Ben Schiller, Anna Baydakova and Danny Nelson are talking to PaperImperium, the first and only pseudonymous crypto advocate, lobbying on behalf of MakerDAO in the corridors of power. 

PaperImperium, or Paper, or Chris (his real name, but he’s not keen to publicize his full name), is advocating for a clear regulation for DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organisations. 

DAOs are a brainchild of the crypto-anarchist culture, and the concept implies that communities can make decisions and solve problems by common voting, using their crypto tokens as voting mandates. 

Interestingly, Chris is not a huge fan of this idea itself, and he’s still on the fence on whether the concept is viable. Also, not everybody shares a belief that decentralized finance (DeFi) needs regulation at all, and recently the DAO members voted down the proposal to compensate Chris for his work. 

Why then is he so passionate about educating congressmen and regulators about MakerDAO and everything around it? What got him into crypto in the first place, and why is he so excited about Maker?

Listen to Anna, Ben and Danny talk to Chris about his observations about the moods towards crypto in Washington, D.C., his hopes for DeFi and other things.

PaperImperium’s handle on Twitter is @ImperiumPaper.  

Mentioned in this podcast:

Meet the DeFi Delegate Knocking on the Doors of Congress

What Is a DAO?

This episode was produced, announced and edited by Michele Musso. Our theme song is by Elision.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“If you're just now getting started, you’re behind.”

“On Purpose” host Tyrone Ross is joined by Amber McLeod, director of customer success at Onramp Invest for a conversation on adviser education in all things crypto. Whether an adviser is starting at ground zero, ready to trade or a full-blown crypto believer, there is always more to learn and a bevy of educational resources to draw from.

In the crypto investment class, clients also bring varying levels of understanding, from those who are wary of the volatility to those who are ready to jump in but aren’t sure where to start. Sometimes, advisers can even be behind their advisers when it comes to understanding the complexities of crypto.

To create the best possible relationship between advisers and their clients, an in-depth understanding of crypto is required, as well as an innovative and inquisitive mindset, ready to think outside the traditional RIA box.

This episode was produced, announced and edited by Michele Musso with additional production support from Eleanor Pahl. Our Theme song is Walk with Swag.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“You’re moving from a very slow, archaic world into a fast-moving world. There’s a lot to bridge there.”

Lacey Shrum, CEO of Smart Kx, joins “On Purpose” host Tyrone Ross to discuss the improvements technology can make in the adviser space, starting with the modernization of the billing process. A smarter billing system improves compliance, transparency and transaction speeds. Instead of billing once per quarter, advisers can work according to clients’ needs to bill monthly, weekly or even daily. Working with technology instead of against it will improve the client-adviser relationship.

Advisers need to prepare themselves for an incoming technology-focused financial ecosystem. To meet this future head-on, advisers need to become faster, more flexible and more agile with the growing trends.

The first step: Start building trust in technology wherever applicable, from smart contracts for billing to trading crypto.

This episode was produced, announced and edited by Michele Musso with additional production support from Eleanor Pahl. Our Theme song is Walk with Swag.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Christopher Giancarlo is the former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and founding principal of the Digital Dollar Foundation, a group that supports the U.S. adopting a digital currency. 

This episode is sponsored by Quantstamp.

 Giancarlo has written a book and he came on our “Money Reimagined” podcast recently to talk about it. The book is called “Crypto Dad,” which is a nod to the affectionate nickname that members of the crypto community started giving Chris when, as head of the CFTC, he made some regulatory moves that were seen as constructive to the industry, such as the approval of bitcoin futures, which was a contentious move at the time. 

The book is packed with inside-the-Beltway insights into the sausage-making behind regulation. It’s also a great primer for understanding the challenges that the U.S. faces as the technology around money goes through a dramatic transformation. 

And it makes a very strong case for the federal government to act proactively to support crypto technology in a way that preserves core U.S. values.

It’s timely because right now the regulatory conversation around crypto is front and center. Just last week, the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund was launched after the Securities and Exchange Commission gave it the green light after years of resistance to launching a bitcoin ETF that holds physical bitcoin. Ironically, the ETF version the SEC approved is focused on bitcoin futures, a product Giancarlo’s CFTC set in motion. 

But if that sounds like the SEC is now seen as a friendlier force by the crypto community, think again. Many view with concern the rather harsh tone the current SEC chairman, Gary Gensler, has taken with the industry. 

There’s a lot at stake here. Not just for investors but for geopolitics, too.

This episode was produced and edited by Michele Musso with announcements by Adam B. Levine. Our theme song is “Shepard.”

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Quantstamp is the leader of blockchain security, having secured over 100 billion USD worth of digital assets. Visit quantstamp.com to learn why top DeFi projects like Maker, Compound and BarnBridge trust Quantstamp to secure the financial infrastructure of tomorrow. Learn more at quantstamp.com/blog.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The first bitcoin-linked ETF to ever hit U.S. markets has finally arrived. But what does that mean for bitcoin as an investment?

For starters, hundreds of millions of dollars in speculative bets from traders whose brokerage accounts have never tasted crypto before. But are they betting on bitcoin? Not exactly…. They’re betting on bitcoin futures contracts. And it’s not quite the same. 

Karan Sood joins the “Opinionated” squad to break down crypto’s hot new investment trend. His investment company, Cboe Vest, was one of the first to wrap bitcoin futures in a traditional finance shell. It's no wonder that he believes products linked to futures contracts are mainstream investors’ best way into crypto.

Ben, Anna and Danny don’t completely agree.

Listen to this week’s “Opinionated” for a contrarian take on the big bitcoin news. 

This episode was produced, announced and edited by Michele Musso with additional production support by Adrian Blust. Our theme song is by Elision. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We think it’s fitting that this, the 50th episode of “Money Reimagined,” is being published inside an historic week for the crypto community, when the launch of a futures-focused bitcoin exchange-traded fund helped drive the leading cryptocurrency to a new all-time-high just shy of $67,000.

This episode is sponsored by Quantstamp.

It’s also fitting that at this moment in time – one that is truly looking like a “crypto moment,” defined not only by soaring bitcoin prices but also explosive interest in non-fungible tokens (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi) – the “Money Reimagined” guest this week is someone who’s been involved in the crypto journey for almost a decade.

Joining Michael Casey and Sheila Warren for this special “OG edition” is Balaji Srinivasan, a serial entrepreneur, investor and influential essayist. Srinivasan is a former CTO of Coinbase, a former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and the founder of 21.co, earn.com and a variety of other startups. His eclectic interests range from genetics – in which he led research at Stanford – to finance, to political history, to the future of journalism. 

Last year, Srinivasan was recognized as one of CoinDesk’s “Most Influential,” as much as for his prescient warnings about COVID-19 and for mobilizing the crypto community to respond to it as for his insights into the direction of the blockchain technology. More recently, he has become a somewhat controversial critic of media organizations and an advocate for new, decentralized models of truth. 

That latter topic is where this week’s conversation ended up. What began as a discussion about Srinivasan’s early interests in bitcoin and how it saw it playing into his view of technological disruption as history’s main driver of economic and social transformation moved into an even deeper consideration of the nature of “truth” and who gets to define it. 

Have a listen as Srinivasan breaks down his arguments for why the future lies in trusting distributed “cryptographic truth” rather than the values of centralized news organizations. 

This episode was produced and edited by Michele Musso with announcements by Adam B. Levine. Our theme song is Shepard. 

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Quantstamp is the leader of blockchain security, having secured over 100 billion USD worth of digital assets. Visit quantstamp.com to learn why top DeFi projects like Maker, Compound and BarnBridge trust Quantstamp to secure the financial infrastructure of tomorrow. Learn more at quantstamp.com/blog.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s Policy Week here at CoinDesk!

We’re diving deep into Washington, D.C., lobbying, DeFi regulation, how non-fungible tokens (NFT) could be seen as securities, and much more through a series of feature stories, op-eds, interviews, research and video. 

For the “Opinionated” podcast, co-hosts Ben Schiller, Anna Baydakova and Danny Nelson discuss some regulatory hot topics. 

First up: Is crypto a threat to financial stability?

A senior Bank of England official recently suggested as much, comparing crypto to the subprime mortgage securities that blew up the world economy in 2008. 

Similarly, the International Monetary Fund said the other day that digital assets could cause as much disruption as COVID-19 and climate change. 

If the high priests and priestesses of finance once ignored crypto, no longer! This once-insignificant industry is now firmly on the agenda. 

Next: The SEC is looking at NFTs. 

Non-fungible tokens have been one of the big stories of 2021. Artworks and collectibles have sold for many millions and the NFTs have served to bring many new faces into the crypto sector. 

But will 2022 raise compliance issues for NFT platforms and makers as regulators step in?

That’s the belief of many lawyers and NFT execs. Fractionalization, where works are split into pieces and sold off to investors, seems particularly likely to interest our overseers. 

Finally: Will Russia embrace crypto as a way around the dollar’s domination of international oil markets?

Recent comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin have raised hopes on this one. But, speaking from Moscow, Anna says it’s not likely, at least in the short term. 

Listen to the episode for more on the big policy questions of the moment. And subscribe to the podcast via your favorite podcast service. 

This episode was produced, announced and edited by Michele Musso. Our theme song is by Elision.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

DraftKings co-founder Matt Kalish became personally infatuated with non-fungible tokens (NFT) earlier this year. He’s now helping his sports betting giant navigate digital collectibles. It's one of the few publicly traded companies with an on-platform NFT marketplace. This week on “Opinionated,” Danny, Ben and Anna learn more about the Bored Ape Yacht Club-owning president of DraftKings.

In a wide-ranging conversation, the hosts spar over what makes an NFT valuable, whether fundamental tech specs matter, and why it's important to see big names like DraftKings jumping in. Non-fungible tokens are more than a phase, Kalish says: They’re a new way of trading and owning goods online.

Kalish, who has long loved sports collectibles, thinks NFTs are a natural evolution of the baseball card era. His platform is primed to take a hefty cut. It has signed up a long line of A-list athletes in some of their first NFT deals. That includes Tom Brady, the five-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback who sat through multiple sessions of digital autograph signing for DraftKings’ NFT debut.

The gang learns more about Kalish’s philosophy and DraftKings’ crypto plans. Is this a one-off act by the lucrative gaming outfit? Or is crypto here to stay, with NFTs only the vanguard? Listen to the latest edition of the “Opinionated” NFT series to find out.

This episode was produced, announced and edited by Michele Musso with additional production support from Eleanor Pahl. Our theme song is by Elision.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week’s edition of “Money Reimagined” explores the ramifications of a startling shift in the rankings of the world’s top locations for bitcoin mining. The U.S. has leapt into first place and China, the world leader just a few months ago, now has essentially zero mining capacity following a regulatory crackdown there in June. Co-hosts Michael Casey and Sheila Warren talk to Justin Podhola, the CEO of Elite Mining, and George Kaloudis, who leads CoinDesk’s Bitcoin-focused research. 

This episode is sponsored by Quantstamp.

The show keys off a report from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) that found that as of the end of August, the U.S accounted for more than 35% of the global Bitcoin hashrate – a measure of the total worldwide computational power used to mine bitcoin – more than double its 16.8% stake at the end of April. Over the same period, the report says, China dropped from 46% of total hashrate to zero.

Another point of interest is the rise of alternative centers, – in particular, Kazakhstan, which is now in second place with 18.1% of total hashrate, followed by Russia with 11%.

How can an industry with all that equipment and complicated energy needs move so quickly to a new location? What are geopolitical implications of China’s bitcoin mining leadership - once as high as 75% of total hashrate – now being ceded to the U.S., Kazakhstan and Russia? What does this mean for regulation, especially in the U.S., where new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler has been talking a hardline against crypto? Would the presence of a dominant, profitable and strategically important bitcoin industry sway policymakers toward being more or less crypto-friendly?

And most importantly, to address a topic that we’ve dived into a number of times on “Money Reimagined”: does this create an opportunity for the U.S. to lead the push for renewable energy-based mining, not only to make Bitcoin greener but to collaborate with energy developers to fund the expansion of a green grid more generally?

All that and more is discussed in this wide-ranging discussion. 

This episode was produced and edited by Michele Musso with announcements by Adam B. Levine and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Our theme song is Shepard.

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Quantstamp is the leader of blockchain security, having secured over 100 billion USD worth of digital assets. Visit quantstamp.com to learn why top DeFi projects like Maker, Compound and BarnBridge trust Quantstamp to secure the financial infrastructure of tomorrow. Learn more at quantstamp.com/blog.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.