Empire

Jordi Alexander and Mika Honkasalo join Jason and Santiago on today’s episode of “Empire" to discuss the meltdown of UST, Terra's stablecoin. The match was lit Sunday with UST de-pegging from one dollar, and it's now become the single biggest wealth destruction event in crypto.

Jordi and Mika explain what led to UST's demise, how this could have been prevented, and what's in store for the future of UST and Terra. Is this the end of decentralized stablecoins? Can the market recover? Tune in to find out.

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

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

Follow Jordi: https://twitter.com/gametheorizing

Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc

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(00:00) Introduction

(01:07) What Happened to UST?

(04:32) Utility vs Ponzi Mechanics

(12:13) BTC Reserve

(15:26) The Attack

(20:32) How Did Institutions Play This?

(24:31) Macro's Impact

(26:52) Future of Decentralized Stablecoins

(35:46) How Could UST Be Designed Differently?

(43:21) The Multiplier Effect

(44:44) The Soros Test

(46:57) What's Next for UST?

(56:16) The Arbitrage

(59:12) The Systemic Effects

(1:05:40) The Investment Outlook

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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.

Vance Spencer and Michael Anderson, co-founders of Framework Ventures, join Jason on today’s episode of “Empire.” The founders have grown Framework’s assets under management from $14 million to over $1.4 billion in just three years.

The co-founders share their thoughts on the layer-2 scaling thesis and why every project will eventually fork their own layer-2. Vance and Michael believe the shift to layer-2s is inevitable — it’s the endgame in maximizing token value.

They then dive into staking and staking derivatives and why the Ethereum merge will bring about the birth of a new industry. This might be the most alpha ever dropped in one podcast — don’t miss it!

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

Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism

Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson

Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc

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ParaSwap:

If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(01:21) Yuga Labs debacle and scaling solutions

(07:40) Application-specific L2s

(09:07) Are L2 tokens parasitic to L1 tokens?

(11:27)The multichain future

(15:58) $10B hack prediction

(17:57) Lido and Staking

(23:27) Is The ETH Merge Priced In?

(27:41) How To Outperform ETH

(30:24) Fundamental Analysis

(32:54) Institutional strategies and the ETH flippening

(38:56) Paraswap Ad

(40:05) Bearish AMMs, Bullish PFOF

(45:14) Are we just recreating TradFi?

(47:22) Revisiting the OG DeFi protocols

(50:50) Tokenomics

(55:14) Investing in GameFi

(1:04:58) Enterprise blockchains

(1:09:54) Super DAOs

(1:11:54) 2022 Outlook

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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, Jason and Santiago start with the most relevant topic: how to survive a bear market. Santiago explains how he embraces the bear and shares advice for builders and investors - including his current investment strategy.

Jason and Santi then explore the NFT market, Yuga land sale and today's scaling challenges. The conversation is capped off with thoughts on Lido's dominance, Anchor's rate drop and DAO legal battles. Tune in to hear this week's top stories all in one episode!

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BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users).

Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/

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

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

Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc

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Referenced in the show:

The WSJ "NFT Sales Are Flattening" article

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nft-sales-are-flatlining-11651552616

Dune Analytics Data

https://dune.com/sealaunch/NFT

https://dune.com/rchen8/opensea

Nansen NFT Tweet/Stats

https://twitter.com/themlpx/status/1521845362830430208

Ben Strack Article On bZx Litigation

https://blockworks.co/hacked-dao-faces-lawsuit-as-users-try-to-recoup-stolen-funds/

Fairfax Pension Announcement

https://cointelegraph.com/news/virginian-county-wants-to-put-pension-funds-into-defi-yield-farming

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(00:00) Introduction

(02:43) Surviving The Bear

(08:36) Are Private Deals Too Hot?

(12:18) Santi's Current Investment

(18:00) What's Going On With NFTs

(28:23) Bitmex Ad

(29:31) Yuga Land Sale & Scaling Challenges

(37:26) Does Provenance Determine an NFTs Value?

(39:01) ApeCoin's Staking Proposal

(41:51) Lido and the Pull of Centralization

(47:01) Anchor Hits ATH TVL Despite Rate Drop

(48:28) DAOs Are Being Sued

(52:13) Pension Fund Doubles Down on Crypto

(53:36) Permissionless Is Almost Here!

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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.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason and Santiago are joined by Jeff Dorman, CIO of Arca. Jeff is a prominent crypto investor known for his fundamental analysis, contrarian bets and ability to simplify crypto's arcane topics.

In this episode, Jeff explains crypto's response to macro, why fundamentals matter, equity tokenization, crypto's most exciting developments and more. Don't miss Jeff's insights on where crypto is headed next!

Resources:

BTC/NASDAQ correlation: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-11/bitcoin-s-correlation-with-big-tech-increases-to-record-chart

Follow Jeff on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jdorman81

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

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ParaSwap:

If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage.

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(01:27) The Real Reason Crypto Is Correlated To The NASDAQ

(04:27) Is The Fed In Control of Inflation?

(09:02) Crypto's Strength During Macro Turbulence

(13:04) The Ownership Narrative

(15:25) Everything Is Based On Trust

(18:12) Ownership and Aligned Incentives

(25:27) Liquidity Incentives

(30:28) Governance

(33:57) Paraswap Ad

(35:06) CeFi Merging With DeFi

(39:32) What Is Jeff Excited About?

(44:09) DeFi Is Boring But Works

(47:42) Tokens That Accrue Value

(49:50) Business Development in Crypto

(54:38) How To Value Layer One Blockchains

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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's Roundup, the long-awaited return of Santi and Jason discussing the latest in crypto, DeFi, and more has finally landed. They refresh some predictions around ETH for 2022 and discuss the Optimism airdrop, the BAYC Instagram hack, Osmosis's canonical bridge vote, and announcements from funds and initiatives alike. You won't want to miss this!

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BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users).

Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/

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Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show!

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

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Timestamps:

(00:00)・Introduction

(01:50)・The Permissionless conference

(03:05)・Optimism's airdrop & implications

(20:06)・Predictions for an Ethereum and P2E Summer

(23:56)・BAYC Instagram hack

(29:08)・Is it the NFT top?

(35:55)・Be a crypto user

(38:35)・A proliferation of algo stablecoins

(44:30)・BTC as the global reserve layer of the world

(47:02)・Osmosis votes in Axelar as the canonical bridge

(49:05)・Fidelity's 401K BTC announcement

(50:52)・Dragonfly launches a $650M crypto fund

(52:18)・Current favorite shows and podcasts

On today's episode of Empire, Santiago Roel Santos is joined by Kieran Warwick, co-founder of Illuvium. Illuvium is an open-world, collector and auto battler game with high-res graphics and dynamic gameplay mechanics. Illuvium focuses on bringing both entertainment and earning into the core gameplay. It might just be the Pokémon of Web3.

We discuss the inspiration behind Illuvium, how to build a AAA studio-level game, how NFTs empower gameplay and the key to Illuvium's success.

Links:

Kieran's Twitter: https://twitter.com/KieranWarwick

Illuvium: https://www.illuvium.io/

Illuvium Gameplay Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzT88eN4gts&t=120s&ab_channel=Illuvium

Live Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KeNzTaJhmQ&ab_channel=Illuvium

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Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show!

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(01:10) Creating A Passionate Community 

(04:43) Launching A Token

(10:22) Inspiration Behind Illuvium

(15:10) What's It Mean To Build a Good Game?

(19:01) Utilizing Capital Formation

(23:51) Scaling Illuvium 

(25:42)Playing For The Entertainment Value 

(30:49) How Do You Think About Competition?

(33:12) Will Traditional Gaming Studios Use Crypto?

(34:54) Building On Top Of Illuvium

(36:45) Pokemon, NFTs, and Interoperability

(44:35) Scarcity vs Utility

(52:35) ETH Lizaards 

(55:49) Investing In Illuvium 

(1:01:50) How To Get Involved

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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.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Travis Kling, founder of Ikigai Asset Management. Travis is a prolific investor who sits at the intersection of macro and crypto. 

We discuss the implications of the ETH 2.0 merge, why ETH is prime for institutional capital, what a macro bear market means for crypto, Ikigai's investment strategy, and more. This is a must-listen if you're interested in the ETH 2.0 Merge and ETH's investment prospects (warning, Travis is a mega bull). 

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Travis on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Travis_Kling

Ikigai Newsletter:

https://www.kanaandkatana.com/

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ParaSwap:

If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage.

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Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like this, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show!

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(00:58) Bitcoin's 2022 Outlook

(07:30) ETH 2.0 Merge Catalyst

(12:33) Why Is This Time Different?

(15:20) Paraswap Ad

(16:37) When Will Institutions Start Deploying Capital?

(19:36) The Bear Case

(21:31) The Merge's Perfect Timing

(23:35) Will Institutions HODL?

(28:48) Crypto's Progress and Runway

(33:00) Moving Beyond Just BTC

(39:52) The Most Important Rule In Crypto Investing

(41:00) Layer 1 Wars

(48:40) BTC As Pristine Collateral

(54:30) Bitcoin Defi

(56:00) Ikaigi's Investment Style

(57:20) Investments and Mistakes

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Bryan Pellegrino, co-founder of LayerZero. LayerZero is an interoperability protocol that wants to connect every contract on every chain. This is a can't miss episode on blockchain bridges and the future of interoperability.

We discuss how LayerZero works, how Stargate enables seamless cross-chain swaps, the flaws of synthetic/wrapped assets, and why the future will be cross-chain.

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Links:

Bryan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PrimordialAA

LayerZero Website: https://layerzero.network/

Stargate Website: https://stargate.finance/

--

BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users).

Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/

--

Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show!

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(01:21) Why Bryan Started LayerZero

(03:51) Why Now?

(05:27) Why Does Interoperability Matter?

(07:48) A Microscience vs Monolithic Structure

(10:48) How LayerZero Works

(18:43) The Apps Now Have Control

(22:33) The Adversarial Nature of Crypto

(28:08) Moving Fast and Breaking Things in Crypto

(31:54) Fundraising

(33:01) Bitmex Ad

(34:16) Security Is Table Stakes

(36:56) Where Are We In The Adoption Phase?

(36:43) The Multichain Future

(42:43) Where Is LayerZero's Activity Today?

(44:01) Should Wrapped Assets Exist?

(47:40) Yield Seeking Capital

(50:42) The Project Bryan Is Most Excited About Outside of LayerZero

(54:23) The Challenges of Being a Crypto Builder

(58:14) What Will The Team Focus On Next?

(1:00:19) Advice For Future Founders

(1:02:52) How To Get Involved

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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.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by gaming expert Brooks Brown, co-founder of the PlayFi platform NOR. Brooks has an encyclopedic knowledge of gaming and has worked with studios such as Universal Pictures, Lucas Arts (Starwars), and James Cameron's Avatar.

We discuss the intricacies of world-building, what P2E games get wrong, how financialization shapes game design, NFTs, and the significance of permadeath in Nor. This is a masterclass on the confluence of gaming, finance and Web3.

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ParaSwap:

If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage.

--

Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show!

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(01:36) What Makes A Good Game?

(05:11) Open vs Closed Games

(14:41) Improving Is The Human Condition

(19:19) The Evolution of Gaming

(25:18) How Money Shapes Our Games

(29:17) The Two Magic Circles

(33:13) Access Drives Adoption

(35:58) Building Nor In Layers

(39:56) Cohesive Gameplay and Composability

(44:35) What Is The Metaverse?

(48:50) Sponsor Segment

(49:58) Are Games Meant For Escaping Reality?

(53:53) NFTs and Building In The Digital Space

(01:00:46) The Value of Permadeath

(01:10:03) Blockchains Enable Unique Contribution

(01:13:57) Most P2E Games Are Just Jobs

(01:19:28) Adding Scarcity To Games

(01:22:47) Defi vs Gaming

(01:25:45) Closing Thoughts

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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.

On today's episode of Empire, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by "Shark Tank" Investor and prolific entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary.

We discuss Kevin's view on the current macro environment, how crypto will be the 12th sector of the S&P, why NFTs could be bigger than crypto, and the enormous opportunity for clean Bitcoin miners. Don't miss out on Kevin's unique insights and passion for the crypto industry

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Follow me and Santiago on Twitter, @JasonYanowitz and @santiagoroel; let us know what you thought of the show!

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq?si=41bc452345b649f9

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple: https://apple.co/3srZf7M

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(00:38) The Macro Landscape

(05:10) Investing In Crypto

(08:04) Crypto Will Be The 12th Sector Of The S&P 500

(13:11) The End State Of Stablecoins

(14:54) Progressive Crypto Regulation

(17:57) Timing The Market

(19:50) NFTs

(23:57) Customer Retention In Crypto

(28:12) Clean Energy Mining

(38:55) Taxing Unrealized Capital Gains

(41:02) Is America Losing Its Competitive Edge?

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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.