Empire

In this episode of Empire, we are joined by Kain Warwick, founder of Synthethix and crypto OG. Kain explains the concept of centralized insanity and how crypto is finally ready for the next bull cycle. We cover Synthetix's evolution, Ethereum's outlook, crypto infrastructure, what will cause the shift to decentralized products, DeFi's most important metric and more! Kain is one guest you won't want to miss!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:18) DeFi Summer 2020

(05:29) The Synthetix Evolution

(09:29) Ethereum’s Outlook and Alt L1 Cycles

(23:25) A Shift From Infra to Apps

(27:47) Quicknode Ad

(29:34) Synthetix Ad

(31:13) Centralized vs Decentralized Trading

(36:20) Regulators are Stuck in the Past

(43:43) Future of Stablecoins

(47:08) Centralized Insanity, Base and DeFi Summer 2.0

(52:43) A Focus on Revenue

(01:01:30) Synthetix v3 and the Value of Composability

(01:18:34) Fire Round

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Follow Kain: https://twitter.com/kaiynne

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

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Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ 

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This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!

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This episode is brought to you by Synthetix. Synthetix Perps is the most efficient decentralized perpetual futures engine, with 5/10 bp fees and up to 25x leverage. With a growing list of over 20 tradable markets, Synthetix Perps are available on Optimism via Kwenta.io and Polynomial.fi, with more coming soon! As a permissionless liquidity layer, Synthetix makes it easy for any protocol to integrate perps and earn 5%-10% of trade fees.

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Resources

Synthetix

https://synthetix.io/

https://twitter.com/synthetix_io

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Today we are joined by Ben Forman, one of the most prolific investors in crypto, to discuss the day DeFi almost died: Black Thursday. The industry was a few liquidations away from an extinction event. Tune in to hear the riveting story and how Black Thursday has shaped MakerDAO and crypto's development!

We also discuss why Ben believes RWAs and permissioned DeFi is the next narrative, Binance FUD, investing in private vs liquid markets, return dispersion, incoming regulation and more!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:34) Binance FUD: Signal or Noise?

(07:36) Operation Choke Point 2.0

(11:19) Return Dispersion

(16:29) The Moment of Reckoning

(23:16) Base’s Market Impact

(26:16) Early Stage vs Liquid Market Investing

(38:35) MakerDAO’s Black Thursday Almost Killed DeFi

(45:50) “Valora Ad”

(46:50) The State of DeFi

(54:07) USDC, A Structural Reset and Regulation

(1:05:00) Tokenization of RWAs and Permissioned DeFi

(1:08:00) Key Learnings and Fire Round

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Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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This episode is brought to you by Valora. Valora is a self-custody, mobile-first wallet... and the easiest way to send, swap, collect and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain. Download the app and start exploring today at valoraapp.com/empire.

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, I'm joined by Marek Olszewski and Rene Reinsberg to discuss how Celo is building an L1 focused on a mobile-first user experience and real-world use cases. We start with the Celo origin story and how Celo is building scalable tech while maintaining the focus on where it belongs: the user. Marek and Rene explain how Celo and Valora (Celo's wallet) provide the infrastructure used by local communities throughout the globe to provide real-world use cases for payments and restorative finance. We then explore Celo's partnership with Deutsche Telekom, why Celo is an L1 and not a rollup, the importance of on/off ramps and more!

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Follow Marek: https://twitter.com/marek_

Follow Rene: https://twitter.com/RegenRene

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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Resources

Celo

https://celo.org/

https://twitter.com/CeloOrg

Valora

https://valoraapp.com/about

https://twitter.com/Valora

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, we are joined by Amy Oldenburg and Andrew Peel from Morgan Stanley to discuss how the banking crises will impact crypto's adoption. We start by exploring how far the banking crises will go, the similarities between today and 2008, and the market outlook. Amy and Andrew then explain how crypto is prime for adoption in a world that desperately needs new banking rails and an alternative store of value. We discuss institutional adoption, ETH vs BTC, why BTC just had its most important rally and more!

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Follow Amy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-oldenburg-395b09

Follow Andrew: https://twitter.com/andrewlpeel

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ 

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This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!

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Resources

Morgan Stanley

https://www.morganstanley.com/

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Crypto's timeline keeps getting more surreal and the SEC just added fuel to the fire by issuing a Wells Notice to Coinbase. In this episode, we explore the implications for Coinbase, BTC's opportunity and why crypto isn't going anywhere. This podcast will make you sweat it's so hot

We then discuss Arbitrum's airdrop, the wild Euler x Ronin hacker story, DeFi Llama drama and more. Tune in for this epic episode!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:38) Coinbase receives SEC Wells Notice

(18:20) BTC’s path to mass adoption

(30:00) Self-custody, regulation & crypto’s staying power

(50:20) Abritrum’s airdrop

(50:29) Blockworks Research

(56:55) Wild Euler x Ronin hacker story

(1:00:35) DeFi Llama Drama

(1:03:37) Sushi subpoena, Do Kwon and Justin Sun

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Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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Resources

Bell Curve podcast

https://spoti.fi/42uqCxH

Blockworks' Grantfarm

https://blockworks.co/grantfarm

Arbitrum Airdrop dashboard by Blockworks Research

https://dune.com/blockworks_research/arb-airdrop

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Avi Felman and Jonah Van Bourg explain how macro and banking turmoil has ignited a market paradigm shift. Funds will be hunting for the assets that will perform well in this new paradigm, and it won't be bonds... Tune in as we discuss BTC's prime moment, why supply is the story of 2023, BTC vs ETH, the USDC depeg and more. If you listen to one Empire episode this year, this is it!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:06) The market is consistently wrong

(07:24) A new paradigm and BTC's opportunity

(27:14) Bitcoin vs ETH vs Alts

(35:34) Quicknode

(37:19) The implications of USDC's depeg

(38:05) What other trades are you watching?

(45:27) Expected sources of leverage in the next cycle

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Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz

Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!

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Resources

GoldenTree

https://www.goldentree.com/

Cumberland

https://cumberland.io/

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, we are joined by Steven Goldfeder and Harry Kalodner to discuss all things Arbitrum. We start with Coinbase's decision to leverage the OP Stack, where the "modular vision" falls apart and Arbitrum's core vision.

We then ask about Arbitrum's token strategy, which leads to a unique conversation around decentralized sequencers and MEV. Steven and Harry explain the design philosophy of Abritrum and how innovations like Styles (Rust is coming to Arbitrum) will onboard the next million developers!

Note: This episode was recorded prior to the ARB token and Orbit L3 announcement

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Follow Steven: https://twitter.com/sgoldfed

Follow Harry: https://twitter.com/hkalodner

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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Resources

Arbitrum

https://arbitrum.io/

https://twitter.com/arbitrum

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Arbitrum just announced the $ARB token airdrop and their new L3 solution called Orbit! The L2 wars are now in full force. Tune in as we deep dive into Arbitrum's token and L3 strategy with Steven Goldfeder and Harry Kalodner!

PS: We are dropping a second Arbitrum episode this afternoon that covers fraud proofs, decentralizing sequencers, value capture and more. These are two banger episodes. Don't miss out!

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Follow Steven: https://twitter.com/sgoldfed

Follow Harry: https://twitter.com/hkalodner

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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Resources

Arbitrum

https://arbitrum.io/

https://twitter.com/arbitrum

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Signature and Silicon Valley Bank have collapsed. In this breaking news episode, hosts Jason Yanowitz and Jack Farley interview Joseph Wang to discuss the banking system failures and what to expect next. Joseph dives deep into the risk both banks took by not hedging interest rate risk, how this could have been avoided and whether other banks are in a similar position?

We then discuss if the Fed's Bank Term Funding Program was the right move? To hear all this and more, you'll have to tune!

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Follow Joseph: https://twitter.com/FedGuy12

Follow Jack: https://twitter.com/JackFarley96

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Follow Forward Guidance: https://twitter.com/ForwardGuidance

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In today's episode of Empire, we start with Jason's big takeaways from ETH Denver. What was the vibe? What innovations are on the horizon? And most interesting, what crypto sector was conspicuously missing from the conversation?

We then discuss Silvergate's unwind, Coinbase's wallet announcement (bullish), Amazon NFT rumors, MakerDAO's 1.25B treasury proposal and more!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:33) ETH Denver Takeaways

(09:15) Silvergate Unwinds

(21:06) Coinbase's WaaS Announcement

(28:49) Amazon NFT Rumors

(33:07) Public.com

(34:29) GBTC & Legal Wins for Crypto

(40:24) MakerDAO Proposal to Buy $1.25B US Treasuries

(44:04) Bitcoin Innovations

(51:44) Predictions: Hong Kong, Bitcoin stablecoins, Coinbase

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Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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Resources

Silvergate Twitter thread

https://twitter.com/ramahluwalia/status/1633669035924529152

Empire episode with Eric Peters

https://spoti.fi/3yqRcdd

Empire episode with Rebecca Rettig

https://spoti.fi/3ynCF1Z

Empire episode with Muneeb Ali (Ordinals/Stacks)

https://spoti.fi/3L6xXgB

MakerDAO US Treasury proposal

https://bit.ly/3T4oqbF

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.