Empire

In this episode of Empire, we are joined by one of crypto's best traders: Dan Matuszewski. Dan is the founder of CMS, a crypto OG and a prolific trader/investor. We discuss upcoming catalysts, the Coinbase trade, punting on L1s vs L2s, lending markets, what it's like managing a crypto fund and more. This is one of my favorite conversations that you won't want to miss!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:35) Surviving FTX

(08:52) Market update and upcoming catalysts

(15:41) The industry is starved for action

(17:40) Deploying in private vs public markets

(21:50) Trading macro

(23:43) Is the lending market dead?

(27:02) Base and the Coinbase trade

(31:30) Punting L1s vs L2s

(34:10) Regulation

(41:25) Anything under a $50M fund doesn’t make sense

(44:11) Blockworks Research

(45:45) Anything under a $50M fund doesn’t make sense

(49:16) Fund sentiment, LSD trade and inefficient markets

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Follow Dan: https://twitter.com/cmsholdings

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

CMS Peary on LSDs

https://cmsholdings.substack.com/p/lsds-rocketpool

https://twitter.com/cmspeary

CMS Intern

https://twitter.com/cmsintern

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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, Muneeb Ali, the founder of Stacks, joins us to discuss Bitcoin's sudden transformation. Until the last two months, Bitcoin was (perceived as) simply a store of value, a religion. However, Ordinals, a Bitcoin NFT project, has redirected the spotlight to Bitcoin’s underlying tech and utility - a technology that can support NFTs, DeFi and more. Muneeb provides his unique insights in this eye-opening episode!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:53) Bitcoin is a technology, not a religion

(06:43) Building apps on Bitcoin

(12:36) Has Ordinals transformed Bitcoin’s future?

(24:42) Stacks and Bitcoin DeFi

(29:30) Blockworks Research

(31:04) Stacks and Bitcoin DeFi

(35:57) What will Bitcoin look like in 12 months?

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Follow Muneeb: https://twitter.com/muneeb

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

Empire's first-ever episode (with Muneeb)

https://tinyurl.com/4vnbxwkz

Stacks

https://www.stacks.co/

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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, Darren Langley (Rocketpool) and John Zettler (Coinbase) join us to discuss why liquid staking is taking over Ethereum. We start with the LSD landscape, how cbETH and Rocketpool approach product strategy, and Lido's dominance. Then we get into the real fun stuff. Darren and John explain the 2/3rd order effects of the Shanghai upgrade, how to drive on-chain liquidity, the evolving fee market and more. Liquid staking is poised to take over Ethereum - don’t miss out!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:45) The LSD market overview

(13:34) Rocketpool’s focus on decentralization

(16:44) Lido’s dominance

(19:59) Coinbase’s partnership with Rocketpool

(24:41) Shanghai predictions

(33:55) Blockworks Research

(40:55) A reshuffling of market share?

(46:18) Driving on-chain liquidity

(50:08) Fee markets and multi chain

(57:00) Future outlook

(1:02:44) Regulation

(1:08:48) LSDs on L2s

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Follow John: https://twitter.com/JohnZettler

Follow Darren: https://twitter.com/langerstwit

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

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

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

cbETH

https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/trading-and-funding/staking-rewards/cbeth

Rocket Pool

https://rocketpool.net/

https://twitter.com/Rocket_Pool

Ethereum staking distribution dashboard

https://dune.com/hildobby/eth2-staking

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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 discuss Coinbase's journey to become the default gateway to crypto with their new L2. Jason and Santi delve into Coinbase's secret master plan, the impact of Base on Arbitrum and Optimism and the current state of on-chain creativity. Warning: we are bullish.

We also cover the recent layoffs and reorgs at Polygon, the closure of Galois Capital, a new CBDC proposal and the misleading claims about Top Shot. Don't miss this episode, where we cover the top stories of the week!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:53) On-chain creativity is at an all-time high

(07:04) Coinbase’s secret master plan

(39:28) Blockworks Research

(41:02) Trouble at Polygon?

(46:18) Security is the #1 priority

(50:02) Galois Capital shuts down

(53:37) Arbitrum, CBDCs and Top Shot

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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

The Myth of The Infrastructure Phase

https://www.usv.com/writing/2018/10/the-myth-of-the-infrastructure-phase/

Empire's Base interview

https://spoti.fi/3KGUIau

The Coinbase Secret Master Plan

https://www.coinbase.com/blog/the-coinbase-secret-master-plan

Empire's Cosmos interview

https://spoti.fi/41y0xgK

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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.

Breaking News: Coinbase is launching an L2 on Ethereum called Base!

Jesse and Will from Coinbase join us to discuss the news and paradigm shift for Coinbase. We explore why Coinbase is building Base, how Coinbase chose to use the OP tech stack, Base's value proposition, how Coinbase thinks about "competition" building on Base, if Base will have a token and more!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:45) Base: Coinbase’s on-chain journey

(05:02) Why build Base?

(10:10) Leveraging the OP stack

(19:10) Why now?

(24:41) Base’s value proposition

(35:27) Controlling the stack

(41:10) Will Base have a token?

(44:05) Building a bridge, not an island

(46:54) What will Coinbase build on Base?

(51:05) What is Base’s business model?

(54:34) A culture shift and the on-chain future

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Follow Jesse: https://twitter.com/jessepollak

Follow Will: https://twitter.com/willrobinson23

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

The Coinbase Secret Master Plan

https://www.coinbase.com/blog/the-coinbase-secret-master-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 this episode of Empire, Pacman (Blur's founder) joins Jason and Santi to discuss how Blur, an NFT marketplace for professional traders, has revolutionized the NFT market. We discuss Blur's business strategy, vertical vs horizontal markets, the creator royalty debate, Blur vs OpenSea and more! This is one of my favorite episodes yet - Pacman is a giga brain.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:50) Blur’s Unique Design and NFT Strategy

(09:23) Incentivizing Liquidity vs Volume

(21:30) Blockworks Research

(23:05) Thoughts on Uniswap's NFT Strategy

(31:40) OpenSea’s Response to Blur

(40:30) Blur’s Airdrop Strategy

(47:55) Navigating Regulations

(49:30) Creator Royalties

(56:00) Blur’s Market Unlock

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Follow Pacman: https://twitter.com/PacmanBlur

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

Blur

https://blur.io/

https://twitter.com/BlurCrypto

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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 a deep regulatory discussion with Kristin Smith and Rebecca Rettig to explore Gary's attack on crypto. We cover the SEC's attack against Kraken and BUSD, tokens as securities, market implications, what to expect next and more!

Santi and Jason co-pilot the last 25 minutes to discuss Blur's airdrop, the battle for NFT market share, the L2 wars and Flashbots' new MEV-Share product. This episode covers everything you need to know from this wild week!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:55) An attack on Stablecoins?

(06:34) Kraken and staking services

(10:22) Why is Gary gunning for crypto?

(14:09) The Implications and path forward

(27:37) What if tokens were deemed securities?

(32:30) Blockworks Research

(34:05) How should crypto companies respond?

(40:22) Regulation segment recap

(51:25) Blur's airdrop, OpenSea losing market share

(59:10) L2 Wars, Flashbots MEV-Share, Sushi Studios

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

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

Follow Kristin: https://twitter.com/KMSmithDC

Follow Rebecca: https://twitter.com/RebeccaRettig1

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

Blockchain Association

https://twitter.com/BlockchainAssn

Polygon

https://twitter.com/0xPolygon

Empire podcast with Rebecca Rettig and Jake Chervinsky

https://spoti.fi/3YTMfoh

Flasbots MEV-Share article

http://bit.ly/3S7g9TO

Categorizing different zk implementations (a Twitter thread)

https://twitter.com/pseudotheos/status/1622698514475061252?s=20

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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, Camilla McFarland and Avery Akkineni discuss how the world's biggest brands will leverage Web3. Nike, Starbucks, Gucci and many others are already starting to build in crypto, and soon, every brand will have a Web3 strategy. Camilla and Avery explore how brands can leverage Web3 to build customer loyalty, customize user experiences and cater to a digitally-native community. This is one of my favorite episodes yet - it's stable stakes for anyone looking to build or grow a brand!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:36) Defining the Web3 opportunity

(09:15) Why will brands embrace Web3?

(28:50) Blockworks Research

(30:21) How will brands participate?

(42:39) How NFTs enable tailored user experiences

(48:22) The Tech Stack: EVM dominance

(1:05:06) The 5 to 10 year vision

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Follow Camilla: https://twitter.com/camillionaire_m

Follow Avery: https://twitter.com/avery_akkineni

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

Vanyer3

https://vayner3.com/

Mojito

https://mojito.xyz/

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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.

There's a heated debate in crypto right now around AppChains and the modular vs monolithic paradigm. That's why we released this special episode today from our other favorite podcast, Bell Curve.

Sunny Aggarwal and Dmitriy Berenzon discuss how AppChains enable developers and protocols to customize consensus, cryptography, MEV rules, fees and more. But is this customization worth the fragmentation, start-up costs, lack of tooling and other challenges AppChains face? Tune in to find out!

And don't worry - we'll be back to the usual roundup with Jason and Santi next week!

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Timestamps

(00:00) A Note from Jason

(02:45) Intro: Pre-Interview

(05:15) The AppChain Thesis

(13:34) Reasons to Build an AppChain

(30:00) Blockworks Research ad

(31:33) The Downsides and Challenges

(46:22) What is Permissioned Blockspace?

(53:06) Cosmos vs Ethereum

(01:06:28) Solving Interoperability

(01:12:12) User Lock-in, Wallets

(1:18:00) Recap: Post-Interview

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Follow Myles: https://twitter.com/MylesOneil

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Sunny: https://twitter.com/sunnya97

Follow Dmitriy: https://twitter.com/dberenzon

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD

Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH

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Resources:

Bell Curve podcast

https://spoti.fi/3JWqLmK

Dmitriy's blog

https://dberenzon.medium.com/

Osmosis

https://osmosis.zone/

1k(x)

https://1kx.network/

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve or 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. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Sam Kazemian joins Jason and Dan to discuss Frax's mission to build the most widely used stablecoins in DeFi. Sam starts by explaining how Frax has succeeded while other stable protocols have failed, why Frax is eyeing Fed deposits and the strategy behind the "DeFi Trinity". We then explore Frax's new ETH staking product, the stablecoin trilemma, and Sam drops a new product announcement (alpha leak). Don't miss this conversation with one of the brightest minds in DeFi!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:49) - Frax’s Mission

(04:41) - How Frax Thrived When Others Failed

(09:00) - Fed Deposits, Escaping Regulation and RWAs

(17:03) - Public ad

(18:53) - Creating Spot Demand and Monetary Premium

(26:00) - frxETH and sfrxETH Explained

(44:31) - Is Frax’s Focus too Broad?

(49:02) - The Stablecoin Trilemma

(54:00) - Alpha Leak

(55:46) - Update on Frax’s Multisig

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Follow Sam: https://twitter.com/samkazemian?lang=en

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

Follow Dan: https://twitter.com/smyyguy

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 sponsored by Public.com. Go to https://Public.com/empire to move your cash into a Treasury Account today.

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Resources

Frax

https://frax.finance/

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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.