Empire

In today’s episode of Empire, we explore the state of the crypto market. We discuss where we are in the market cycle, the investment landscape, why 2023 could be a blood bath for crypto startups and why there's reason to be optimistic. You don’t want to miss this section.

We then talk through Visa’s new payments deployment on Starknet, the power of account abstraction, Yuga Labs’ big hire, DCG’s outlook, the evolving media landscape and more!

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

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

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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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Resources

Barry Silbert's WSJ tweet

https://twitter.com/BarrySilbert/status/1604837519224639488

Catherine's Visa announcement tweet

https://twitter.com/catgu_/status/1604896035616264205

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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, Simon Jones joins us to discuss DeFi's interest rate opportunity. A year ago, DeFi's meme was, "Why earn .01% in your bank account when you can earn 20%+ in DeFi". Fast forward to today, and TradFi offers higher yields than DeFi. Did we get rugged, or what's the new opportunity?

Tune in as we explore the correlation between TradFi and DeFi rates, DeFi's low cost-of-capital opportunity, the efficiency of market-driven protocols, importing TradFi yields on-chain and more!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:15) The Divergence of TradFi & DeFi Rates

(11:00) DeFi Responded 10x Faster Than the Fed

(17:42) Leveraging DeFi as a Cheap Source of Funding

(20:59) Importing TradFi Yields On-Chain

(27:35) Why Institutions Will Use On-Chain Products

(32:11) Replacing Regulation With Smart Contracts & Incentives

(36:46) Voltz and the Importance of Fixed Rates

(41:16) Will TradFi & DeFi Rates Eventually Converge?

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Follow Simon: https://twitter.com/0xSimonJones

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

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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Circle’s USDC has quickly become one of the most trusted and widely used stablecoins because of its composability, stability and reserve transparency. As a seamless, trusted digital currency, USDC is a zero-to-one opportunity for the global financial system. Check out their Transparency Hub at http://empirepodcast.link/circle that outlines everything from links to USDC weekly reserve reports, monthly attestations, and blog posts written by their executive team highlighting how and why USDC was built the way it is.

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Resources

Voltz

https://www.voltz.xyz/

Voltz research paper on DeFi vs TradFi rates

https://www.voltz.xyz/tradfi-vs-defi-rates

Bell Curve episode with Simon

https://bit.ly/3PC7lEj

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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, Jason is joined by Avi Felman and Jonah Van Bourg to discuss their new podcast 1000x and the state of crypto markets. Avi and Jonah explain their trading mindset, how to evaluate the buyers/sellers in the market, crypto's investment cycle, how catastrophe creates opportunity and more!

A new 1000x episode will drop on Empire's RSS feed and the 1000x YouTube channel every two weeks. Links below!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:07) 1000x Podcast Launch

(04:33) Market Outlook

(07:48) Who’s Buying, Who’s Selling?

(18:10) Crypto’s Investment Cycle

(21:10) How Are People Positioned Right Now?

(23:23) Leverage In The System

(25:05) Trading Around Governance Events

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

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

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

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

Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod

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/

--

Circle’s USDC has quickly become one of the most trusted and widely used stablecoins because of its composability, stability and reserve transparency. As a seamless, trusted digital currency, USDC is a zero-to-one opportunity for the global financial system. Check out their Transparency Hub at http://empirepodcast.link/circle that outlines everything from links to USDC weekly reserve reports, monthly attestations, and blog posts written by their executive team highlighting how and why USDC was built the way it is.

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Resources

1000x YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEAwYFRFUuekaEmKz4oiB_A

The Prize

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/169354.The_Prize

Sushi's protocol fee proposal

https://bit.ly/3FWvOkA

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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.

Blockworks just released a new podcast called 1000x! We're dropping the first episode here as we think you might want to add this podcast to the lineup. 1000x is a crypto markets podcast hosted by professional traders Avi Felman and Jonah Van Bourg that dives deep into the macro and micro factors that represent the lifeblood of digital money and web3. 

In this episode, Avi and Jonah discuss how to think like a crypto trader. They explore how today's market compares to the 2018 bear, where to look for opportunities, the investment landscape post-FTX and our top investing frameworks. 

A new 1000x episode will drop on Empire's RSS feed and the 1000x YouTube channel every two weeks.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:28) Why We Started 1000x

(06:18) Today’s Market Compared To 2018

(16:17) How To Think About Trading Markets

(23:25) Market Structure Post-FTX

(28:05) Managing Risks

(36:30) Investing Frameworks

(48:12) Crypto Is Here To Stay

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

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

Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3Fw083Z

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

Golden Tree

https://www.goldentree.com/

Cumberland

https://cumberland.io/

Avi's psychology of a market tweet

https://twitter.com/AviFelman/status/1595176484766883843

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x 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. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Rob Behnke and Steve Walbroehl join us to discuss the state of Web3 security. When code equals money, security is everything. Rob and Steve explain the concept of blockchain cybersecurity, transactional-level audits, bridge hacks, crypto-native insurance and more. With over $2B in crypto hacks this year, this episode is worth everyone's time!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:30) Halborn, Cybersecurity For Web3

(12:17) The State Of Web3 Security

(17:45) Are Smart Contract Audits A Sustainable Solution?

(21:30) Reactive Security Measures

(23:33) Seraph, A Tool That Enables Transactional Level Audits

(26:25) Crypto-Native Insurance Solutions

(29:53) Why Are There So Many Bridge Hacks?

(42:20) Creating Security Standards

(48:43) Solidity vs Other Programming Languages

(53:56) The Best Way To Scale Blockchains

(1:00:29) Why Rob & Steve Are Bitcoin “Maxis”

(1:06:26) The Downsides Of Liquid Staking

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Follow Rob: https://twitter.com/robbehnke

Follow Steve: https://twitter.com/HalbornSteve

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/

--

Circle’s USDC has quickly become one of the most trusted and widely used stablecoins because of its composability, stability and reserve transparency. As a seamless, trusted digital currency, USDC is a zero-to-one opportunity for the global financial system. Check out their Transparency Hub at http://empirepodcast.link/circle that outlines everything from links to USDC weekly reserve reports, monthly attestations, and blog posts written by their executive team highlighting how and why USDC was built the way it is.

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Resources

Seraph

https://www.seraph.co/

Halborn

https://halborn.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.

In this episode of Empire, we start with a 25-minute interview with Adam Brotman, the creator of Starbucks Rewards, to discuss why he believes every company will adopt an NFT strategy. We discuss his partnership with Starbucks, NFTs as the ultimate loyalty product and what OG crypto fans get wrong about NFTs.

After this interview, we do something a bit different. Instead of our usual roundup, we dropped one of our favorite episodes from a new Blockworks show called 0xResearch. It's an episode with dYdX's founder Antonio Juliano that I highly recommend you check out. If that's not for you, check out the spicy roundup from our Bell Curve podcast [see links below].

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:03) Creator of Starbucks Rewards talks NFTs

(25:55) 0xResearch dYdX podcast with Antonio

(26:05) FTX's Ripple Effects Across CeFi & DeFi

(38:11) Brand As A Moat

(42:49) How dYdX Can Outmatch CeFi

(49:35) Expected FTX Regulatory Fallout

(54:36) Risk Mgmt & dYdX’s Safety Module

(1:01:40) SubDAOs & Governance

(1:04:31) dYdX AppChain Update

(1:13:36) How dYdX Will Approach MEV

(1:16:53) On & Off Ramps To dYdX

(1:23:16) Returning Fees To Stakers & The Future Of dYdX

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Follow Adam: https://twitter.com/adambrotman

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/

--

Circle’s USDC has quickly become one of the most trusted and widely used stablecoins because of its composability, stability and reserve transparency. As a seamless, trusted digital currency, USDC is a zero-to-one opportunity for the global financial system. Check out their Transparency Hub at http://empirepodcast.link/circle that outlines everything from links to USDC weekly reserve reports, monthly attestations, and blog posts written by their executive team highlighting how and why USDC was built the way it is.

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Resources

Forum3

https://www.forum3.com/

Bellcurve Podcast (roundup)

Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Fdw7pB

Apple: https://bit.ly/3UJid4b

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3VH4jB6

0xResearch Podcast

Spotify: https://bit.ly/3hhL81z

Apple: https://bit.ly/3hcTsQ8

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3DNVFdp

Blockworks Research twitter

https://twitter.com/blockworksres

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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, Anatoly Yakovenko and Ben Sparango join us to discuss Solana's future in the aftermath of FTX. SBF and FTX were core investors and contributors to the Solana ecosystem. How did Solana get so intertwined with FTX? How bad was Solana damaged as a result? How will Solana recover? These are just a few of the questions we explore.

We then dive into Solana's roadmap and discuss Solana's new local fee market, network outages, decentralization worries, monolithic chains vs rollups, the Solana mobile stack and more. This is the go-to podcast for all Solana fans and skeptics!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:18) How Did Solana Get So Intertwined With FTX?

(11:20) How Important Was SBF To Solana’s Growth?

(17:36) Fallout From Reliance On FTX

(20:05) Did You See This Coming?

(25:07) What Exchanges Got Wrong & Alameda’s 10% SOL Stake

(29:58) FTX Impact On Solana Apps & Developers

(33:30) Where Does Solana Go From Here?

(42:13) Solana’s Fee Markets & Decentralization Questions

(46:16) Solving Solana’s Network Outages

(57:38) Monolithic Blockchains, Layer 2s & New Learnings

(1:07:10) Economic Sustainability

(1:10:30) Avalanche vs Cosmos, Who’s Solana's Main Competitor?

(1:14:59) The Importance Of Business Development

(1:19:18) Google Partnership & The Solana Phone

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Follow Anatoly: https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko

Follow Ben: https://twitter.com/bennybitcoins

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/

--

Circle’s USDC has quickly become one of the most trusted and widely used stablecoins because of its composability, stability and reserve transparency. As a seamless, trusted digital currency, USDC is a zero-to-one opportunity for the global financial system. Check out their Transparency Hub at http://empirepodcast.link/circle that outlines everything from links to USDC weekly reserve reports, monthly attestations, and blog posts written by their executive team highlighting how and why USDC was built the way it is.

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Resources

Break Solana website

https://break.solana.com/

Chris Burniske's thread on Solana

https://twitter.com/cburniske/status/1590455521307660290

Anatoly and Dankrad debate

https://bit.ly/3Umky4T

Solana events webpage

https://solana.com/events

Solana Twitter account

https://twitter.com/solana

The Solana Podcast

https://bit.ly/3FgMAdS

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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, Jason and Santi discuss SBF's interview with The New York Times and his attempt to avoid all liability. We then discuss BlockFi's bankruptcy, Uniswap's new NFT marketplace, Apple banning NFT transfers on Coinbase, Bitcoin's colossal problem and more! This is the one weekly podcast you won't want to miss.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(05:00) SBF Played Us

(17:00) BlockFi Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

(27:00) Permissionless Tickets Are On Sale!

(28:40) Uniswap Launches An NFT Marketplace

(36:48) Coinbase Takes On Apple

(41:38) Bitcoin Miners In More Pain

(46:30) Is Bitcoin In Trouble?

(53:27) Tech Layoffs & A Focus On Unit Economics

(57:55) Casa Adds Ethereum Support

(1:02:33) Crypto Media, Book Recs & Closing Thoughts

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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/

--

Circle’s USDC has quickly become one of the most trusted and widely used stablecoins because of its composability, stability and reserve transparency. As a seamless, trusted digital currency, USDC is a zero-to-one opportunity for the global financial system. Check out their Transparency Hub at http://empirepodcast.link/circle that outlines everything from links to USDC weekly reserve reports, monthly attestations, and blog posts written by their executive team highlighting how and why USDC was built the way it is.

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Resources

Vox SBF interview

https://bit.ly/3AZa7O4

BlockFi/FTX/Alameda recursive loan tweet

https://twitter.com/ayko2718/status/1597432454070956032

Coinbase tweet on Apple

https://twitter.com/CoinbaseWallet/status/1598354819735031809

The River of Doubt

https://www.candicemillard.com/river-of-doubt.html

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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, Thomas Braziel joins us to discuss the highly lucrative yet misunderstood world of distressed crypto investing. We start with the basics of how distressed asset investing works; then, we explore the Mt. Gox bankruptcy, how to value bankruptcy claims, what's next for FTX, the tokenization of bankruptcy claims and more!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:57) What Is Distressed Asset Investing?

(04:49) Mt. Gox Case Explained

(19:26) Circle Ad

(21:08) Finding Investment Opportunities

(27:09) How to Value a Bankruptcy Claim

(30:01) Buying FTX Claims for 3 Cents on the Dollar

(31:59) FTX Bankruptcy Jurisdiction Questions

(35:57) Tokenization of Bankruptcy Claims

(38:32) Will They Separate FTX.US and FTX International Assets?

(39:43) What's Next for BlockFi and Genesis?

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Follow Thomas: https://twitter.com/ThomasBraziel

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/

--

Circle’s USDC has quickly become one of the most trusted and widely used stablecoins because of its composability, stability and reserve transparency. As a seamless, trusted digital currency, USDC is a zero-to-one opportunity for the global financial system. Check out their Transparency Hub at http://empirepodcast.link/circle that outlines everything from links to USDC weekly reserve reports, monthly attestations, and blog posts written by their executive team highlighting how and why USDC was built the way it is.

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Resources

507 Capital

https://507capital.com/

Memos from Howard Marks

https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights

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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's Weekly Roundup, we bring on Nic Carter to discuss if Genesis and DCG can fix their liquidity issues and avoid bankruptcy. We explore how Genesis overextended its books with asset-liability duration mismatches, how FTX's fallout exposed the DCG Empire and what to expect next. Nic then walks us through his framework on institutional adoption, Bitcoin's long-term outlook, proof-of-reserves and more!

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(00:58) Genesis Meltdown Exposes DCG

(20:10) Bitcoin Miner Blood Bath & BTC’s Outlook

(34:03) Proof-of-Stake vs Proof-of-Work

(36:05) What Looks Interesting Right Now?

(39:05) How Has Institutional Adoption Been Affected?

(42:20) The Future of Solana

(47:37) The Off-Shore Exchange Thesis

(50:05) Proof-of-Reserves

(56:20) Where Nic and His Business Partner Disagree

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Follow Nic: https://twitter.com/nic__carter

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/

--

Circle’s USDC has quickly become one of the most trusted and widely used stablecoins because of its composability, stability and reserve transparency. As a seamless, trusted digital currency, USDC is a zero-to-one opportunity for the global financial system. Check out their Transparency Hub at http://empirepodcast.link/circle that outlines everything from links to USDC weekly reserve reports, monthly attestations, and blog posts written by their executive team highlighting how and why USDC was built the way it is.

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Resources

On The Brink podcast

http://bit.ly/3TWTnxz

Castle Island Ventures

https://www.castleisland.vc/

Nic Carter's blog and website

https://niccarter.info/

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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.