CoinJournal Podcast

Charmyn Ho used to be a pre-school teacher who liked gaming.

Then she came across a game called Axie Infinity, sporting a curious feature of earning while you play.

Today, she's Head of Crypto Insights at Bybit, having been bitten by the crypto bug. And she joins Dan on this week's episode of the CoinJournal podcast.

She works on a monthly report in conjunction with Nansen on the state of the market, and today she discussed some of her findings in her latest report. We talk about the state of the NFT market, whether it was all a bubble and dig into the hysteria of profile-picture NFTs that took the space by storm last year.

We also chat GameFi, a clear passion area for Charmyn, as well as Ethereum on-chain flows - including a particularly interesting discussion on the stETH - ETH relationship and current arbitrage opportunities available both there, and in the wider crypto market.

CoinJournal write-up is here.
Read Charmyn's July market report here (and keep an eye out for her future reports!).

As always, reach out to us on www.coinjournal.net, @CoinJournal or @DanniiAshmore on Twitter. 

What blockchain will win? A common question in the world of cryptocurrency. But in truth, the future is likely one of interoperability. Certain blockchains will be bigger than others, but many will exist. 

I sat down with Ram Ramachandran on the latest episode of the CoinJournal podcast to discuss this issue and more. Ram is the CEO of the Router Protocol, an infrastructure layer which aims to enable communication between blockchains. 

Ram has been in crypto for the best part of a decade, meaning he has some good perspective on the recent bear turn and how it compares to what else we have seen. Previously working in the traditional capital markets, Ram even worked for the rating agency Moody’s during the Great Financial Crisis, meaning he has a unique perspective from his time at the heart of the storm. 

We discuss the bear market, why Ram believes Ethereum will remain King, the current economy, inflation, interoperability, running a start-up in the current turbulent times and a lot more.

See Dan's article on CoinJournal here

Router Protocol website: www.routerprotocol.com

Twitter: @routerprotocol

Flagship Dapp: app.thevoyager.io/swap

Telegram: routerprotocol

Discord: here

Cryptocurrency can be intimidating. 

Even to people with a good understanding of the financial markets or technology, wrapping their heads around blockchain can be a challenge. 

I sat down on the latest episode of the CoinJournal podcast with someone who can be described as a “crypto academic”,  who aims to bridge that gap for people. 

Omid Malekan lectures at Columbia University, and has also written several books, the latest of which has just been released, called “Re-Architecting Trust: The Curse of History and the Crypto Cure for Money, Markets, and Platforms”.

Our discussion meandered around a whole bunch of topics, but the theme was what Omid tries to do best: educate people about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, which is more challenging than it sounds. 

I enjoyed this one! 

For more on Omid, see our article on CoinJournal here

Omid’s new book can be bought here, titled “Re-Architecting Trust: The Curse of History and the Crypto Cure for Money, Markets, and Platforms”. It digs into the “why” of crypto more so than the “what” – but if you want the latter, he’s got you covered too. Check him out here. 

There are hundreds of cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms, with more popping up every single day. With the industry still only a few years old, however, most of these are private companies.

Coinbase led the way in changing this, however, going public last year to much furore. North of the border, Canadian platform Coinsmart followed suit not long after, officially going public in November 2021.

Jeremy Koven, COO of Coinsmart, jumped on the CoinJournal Podcast to discuss why they decided to go public, and whether the trend of a private-company dominated industry will change going forward. We talked about the bear market too, and how it has affected CoinSmart  - remember, the exchange went public in Nov-21 around the same time Bitcoin was trading at its all-time high of $68,000.

We also discussed the fascinating impasse of the Canadian trucker protests earlier this year, when the government moved to freeze the assets of anyone who was involved. This led to many pulling their bitcoin and other crypto off exchanges, tucking it into cold storage to keep it secure.

That’s just a flavour of the very enjoyable conversation with Jeremy, a well-spoken and informative guy who gives the sense that he really enjoys what he does.

Visit CoinSmart here -> CoinSmart
See Dan's article on CoinJournal here

Hokkaido Inu were one of the many memes that rode the coattails of Dogecoin’s success. Peaking at a mouth-watering $800 million in market cap, it was since abandoned by the founders and crashed down 99%.

Today, however, it’s reinventing itself as a DeFi player “powered by memes”. Whatever you think about memes, they are definitely interesting. There is a dark side, of course, with innocent retail investors sometimes used as exit liquidity in what amounts to a pump-and-dump scheme by the creators. There is the entire issue of regulation – what should be allowed?

But there are intriguing network effects, too, as a community of thousands – nay, millions – is worth a lot, no matter what way you swing it. So, how does one convert this community and this branding into a legitimate business? That is what HOKK Finance, hoping to rise out of the ashes of the Hokkaido Inu meme coin, is trying to answer.

Mark Basa has been in crypto since 2011, working on a whole host of different projects and areas. He has meandered around the space and today one of his focuses is HOKK, where he works as the Director following joining the project after originally being just another buyer.  

I sat down with Mark on the latest episode of the CoinJournal podcast to discuss all things memes – the dark side, the scams, the euphoria, the network effects, regulation, why they are worth anything, and so much more.  

Full article can be seen on CoinJournal here -> https://coinjournal.net/news/podcast-can-memes-rebrand-and-provide-actual-utility/
HOKK Finance website -> hokk.finance

"(Inflation) is the most important political issue in existence"

If you're only going to listen to one episode of the CoinJournal podcast, I would make it this one (in my extremely biased opinion).  I sat down with Michael Kong, the CEO of Fantom, one of the biggest cryptocurrencies around. But Michael is a deep thinker and understands the world has bigger problems right now, from the cost of living crisis to the spiralling debt and the crippling inequality gap. 

The podcast essentially took two parts, and the timestamps are below accordingly. The first half is mostly centred on Fantom, blockchain technology, comparisons of cryptocurrency's growth to the Internet, "standing on the shoulders of Ethereum" and DeFi. Super interesting stuff for any crypto junkies.

The second half then turns macro, which is obviously turning everybody's lives upside right now. We took a deep dive into why Michael believes inflation is the most important political issue right now, how money printing during the pandemic stole from the poor to give to the rich, why it's so hard to live in cities like Sydney (where Michael is from) and Dublin (where I'm from), and why politicians have an incentive to cause inflation. 

Michael spoke candidly and with passion, and it was refreshing to hear him talk about the real reasons he got into cryptocurrency, and what he hopes the future holds, and routes to protect oneself in this environment. 

This was my favourite podcast episode yet, so I hope you enjoy it as much I did. 

• "If they can pass the debt to future voters, then they can win the votes of current voters. So the incentive of the government is to create inflation because it lowers the cost of borrowing."
• "You have to protect yourself in this inflationary environment. But if you’re already super rich and you already own all these assets, then you win by default". 
• "In 2020, Forbes reported that the increase in wealth for the Forbes (richest) 400 went up the highest in 2020 than in any year since they started recording. The reason it went up the highest rate is because they printed money” 
• “What is the incentive for a politician? The incentive for a politician is to gain power and stay in power….how are they going to try and get votes? By spending a whole bunch of money without taking money from the taxpayer…they pass the book down the road”.

• 0:00 Preview
• 2:52 What is Fantom?
• 8:55 Fantom's Consensus Mechanism & Tradeoffs
• 12:32 Comparisons to Ethereum
• 17:06 Cryptocurrency vs the Internet
• 20:00 Standing on the Shoulders of Ethereum
• 25:17 DeFi
• 27:44 Bear Market
• 32:20 Money Printing, And How Bad is the Economy?
• 37:23 Inequality and the Problems Inflation Causes
• 38:12 Inflation is the Most Important Political Issue
• 46:20 Inequality & Politics
• 48:58 Next Bull Cycle
• 52:45 Debt Crisis

• Fantom are best followed on Twitter @FantomFDN
• For the open jobs Michael mentions at the end of the podcast, visit their site here -> fantom.foundation/careers/
• Fantom Website -> fantom.foundation
• Read my more in-depth article on the podcast over on CoinJournal here -> coinjournal.net/news/interview-michael-kong-ceo-of-fantom-just-gets-it/

The concept of identity is quite a polarising one in cryptocurrency. People forget sometimes that Bitcoin grew out of a niche corner of the Internet, birthed from ultra-libertarian ideals with self-sovereignty, anonymity and independence central to the thesis. 

Of course, cryptocurrency has involved beyond Bitcoin, and today we have numerous different views and thousands of projects, some with similar goals, some with differing ones. 

Concordium is a layer-1 blockchain project which embeds encrypted ID into every transaction that occurs on the network. This is intriguing because it goes against what some purists would describe as the original Bitcoin vision. 

We sat down for a quick mini-podcast with Concordium CEO Lone Fonss Schroder to get more of an insight into this, who says that “a lot of business does materialise because you do not know who you are transacting with”, and asserts that this identity is vital to gain trust in the space.  

Other topics such as whether regulation is a positive thing (another thing that may send maxis into a fit), the strengths of decentralisation and the current market environment were discussed, and while time constraints prevented Dan and Joe digging into Schroder’s answers too deeply, they’ll be put on the agenda for next time.

Joe and Dan talk to Jake Yocom-Piatt, founder of top-100 cryptocurrency Decred (DCR). In this wide-ranging discussion, Jake and the boys talk about the importance of sovereignty, crypto scams, privacy, CBDCs, and more.

Read Dan's write-up on CoinJournal.net.

Decred is a cryptocurrency with a hybrid Pow/PoS consensus algorithm that aims to build on the success and principles of Bitcoin to extend sovereignty beyond the realm of monetary policy. Founder Jake Yocom-Piatt worked on Bitcoin as early as 2013, and created Decred in 2016.

Sovereignty refers to the ability of individuals to exercise control over their own lives and is arguably a founding tenet of cryptocurrency. Some would argue that profiteering and rent-seeking have come to overshadow this key principle as "hot money" has arrived in crypto, leading to a splintering within the crypto community between "investors" and sovereignty enthusiasts.

Learn more & connect with us:
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Joe and Dan talk to Slava Rubin, founder of alternative investment search engine Vincent. Vincent recently launched their actively managed investment product, VALT, which 

Read Dan's piece on alternative assets here.

Alternative assets are just assets outside the realm of the traditional stalwarts like stocks, bonds, commodities, and forex. This includes crypto and NFTs nowadays, as well as rare artworks, watches, trading cards and more.

Collectibles, just one type of alternative asset, have actually increased in value recently, despite virtually all other asset classes losing value in light of the prevailing macroeconomic conditions. This makes a strong case for diversifying into various types of "alts" alongside crypto, equities, bonds, et al.

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Joe quizzes Dan on his latest article, which dives into the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) that has followed Tether and its USDT stablecoin for years.

Read the full analysis.
Read more about Tether.

Stablecoins—crypto tokens pegged to the value of real-world assets like the US dollar—have come under the microscope in recent weeks after one of the largest, TerraUSD (UST), fell off its $1 peg before collapsing entirely.

UST’s implosion also brought down the Terra blockchain and its LUNA token in the process, wiping out billions of dollars of wealth and drawing attention to other large stablecoins like Tether (USDT). CoinJournal’s Dan Ashmore looked into Tether’s reserves to see if investors have anything to worry about.

One of the most common uses of stablecoins like Tether is in conjunction with lending platforms like Celsius, Nexo, and Blockfi, which allow users to earn yields of up to ~10% on their cash holdings. Dan and co-host Joe also discuss the phenomenon of declining yields across the board, and why this is happening.

Learn more & connect with us:
Coinjournal.net
Coinjournal YouTube
Coinjournal Spotify