HQLA

Minke is a savings app that allows you to use the Aave protocol to make interest on your cryptos in a much safer way than using Luna.  We take a deep dive into the Melbourne-based startup with remote employees all over the world. This perfectly fits the theme of a non-custodial wallet, which is a decentralised concept of being able to pick up your crypto wallet and use it in any country. As they work on Apple Pay integration, as well as integrations with international payments systems and the complexities of the South American currency crisis, this startup has a lot of room to run in one of the largest industries in the world.

Have you ever wanted to buy an NFT that pays you dividends? What about buying and owning a piece of your favorite album?

Well, this web 3 startup is aiming to revolutionize the music industry and the way that individuals interact with artists and the intellectual property they put out. For the longest time, it has been the bragging right of the earliest fans to claim they had heard their favorite rapper, DJ, or band in a small gig back in 2010 'before they were famous', or for people to say they walked past Ed Sheeran busking when he was still homeless. Now the fans are able to put their money where their mouth is, and buy into the future streaming revenue of their favorite small-time artists.

In this interview, we speak with Andreas about everything from the technical aspects of Oracles & APIs all the way through to streaming rights and 'royalty-backed NFTs'. We discuss the challenges of deciding on whether to base a project on Ethereum or Polygon, and we even diverge into discussing the founding of the Bitcoin Political Party of Sweeden in 2014.

It turns out anotherblock.io is more than just another block in the chain.

In this episode, we talk to Crypto Karin, a TikToker who has recently blown up to over 90,000 followers with her clips about the state of the crypto market, and how it ties in with tech and cyber security. Truly nothing was off the table as we chatted everything from stray cats, content creation, and the future possibilities of DAOs.

Clearly, it’s high time we dedicate a full episode to digging into NFTs; how to buy them, why they’re valuable & what prospective use cases exist.

So, this week we embark on our first transcontinental interview, featuring Jory Davies from ‘basicbats’, an NFT mobile game that’s set out as a pioneer in the NFT gaming universe.

Jory lets us in on how ‘basicbats’ came to life, how the artwork has been crafted and what to anticipate from the game play.

What’s all this talk about DAOs? Well, we discuss constitutionDAO, a recent example of a real-world DAO use case & an explicit presentation of some of the flaws in its construct.

Finally, is Facebook promoting a fake metaverse to remain relevant and deflect negative press, or has Mark pivoted the company into a front-runner within the ecosystem?

Trump Media & Technology Group recently announced their SPAC merger (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) with DWAC (Digital World Acquisition Corp). This will be the launch of Donald Trump's own Truth Social, a social media platform that will rival the liberal media consortium and fight back against big tech. The tech stack is built on an open-source version of Twitter called Masterdon.

WeWork have completed their own SPAC, which was at a vastly different valuation to their initial IPO attempt in 2019. This time, going for a market cap of $9B as opposed to a target of $47B. The key differences are: they aren't positioning themselves as a tech company, and they've removed their largest deadweight: Adam Neumann.

Is Pinterest (PINS) being acquired by Paypal (PYPL)? This could be a major play in terms of creating a new tech giant, combining a globally recognisable payments system with the perfect media distribution front-end for online shopping.

Polymath (POLY / POLYX) combines web3.0 verifiability technology with financial securities. Providing a self-service toolkit, allowing organizations to issue digital tokens representing assets such as property, debt, and equity (stocks). There’s no lack of action along the way with a pro Hockey player in the C-suite, a founder arrested on assault charges, and Charles Hoskinson (ETH Co-Founder) working on their newest project.

The THREE HOTTEST UNICORNS

Divvy Homes, allow tenants' ordinary rent payments to contribute towards owning their first home. And the best part is, they don't need a huge deposit.

Lemon.io is a startup that started as "Uber for developers", but have recently switched to a model where you can hire Eastern European developers who are pre-vetted by Lemon, giving Startups access to cheap coding labor.

Finally, Nostromo makes roof-mounted ice bricks, and aim to make the best use of solar panels, without needing lithium-ion batteries to store energy. The ice bricks are used to provide cold water to commercial air-conditioning systems.

Do the rich pay enough tax? | Canva has a new valuation. | Mailchimp sells to Intuit for $12B. | Discord raised a new $500M round and is now worth $15B. | Rivian R1T is up against Tesla and Ford’s latest pickups, and they’re boldly launching themselves with an 80B market cap. | Space X sent an all-civilian mission deep into space. | Tesla launched its Tesla bot on AI day. | Donda vs Certified Lover Boy? | China’s EverGrande crisis.

What does Palantir, Elon Musk, and E-Torro have in common? Perhaps a space-based SPAC is the answer? Should we send up a cube satellite with an HQLA billboard on it? Getting a satellite up there might be cheaper than you think! 

Betsy Cohen is loosely connected to the previous segment, but who is she? A woman who has made more SPACs than Chamath Palihapitiya himself. 

SOLANA, Proof of History is the next big step.

The FAANG group of tech stocks are known for being disruptors, and Netflix permanently changed the way distribution works in Hollywood forever. Starting with disrupting Blockbuster in the late 90s, they've moved on to compete with more modern companies like Apple and Disney. 

EverRise is a crypto startup running under the premise of DApps, or Decentralised Apps. EverRise has a unique fee structure, with 11% of each purchase taken and being used for their unique treasury requirements, one of these uses includes buying back supply and burning it.

The Lamborghini Countach has been re-launched as a new product. It boasts an impressive V12, and some styling features to match the original LP 400. Although some are wondering why they didn't make it more like the 1985 LP 5000. 

Naval Ravikant has become a name not only synonymous with Angel investing and tech, but also with philosophy. In this segment, we talk about Naval's tweetstorm: How to Get Rich Without Getting Lucky.

In recent news: US financial tech giant Square buys Afterpay, Cathie Wood's ARK funds sell JD.com as well as other Chinese holdings, Salesforce officially acquires Slack & Tesla has signs a deal with Australian mining giant BHP to supply raw materials.

The International Olympic Committee is a private not-for-profit which has been the powering force behind the modern Olympic Games. Through multiple wars, budget issues, and managing the interests of different competing cities and countries, the IOC manages to ensure that consistency is upheld and that athletic requirements are met according to their standards. 

Shopify today has grown into a powerhouse and is responsible for the back-end of 8.5% of the online sales in the US. Though it's important to note, Shopify is not only competing with Amazon here, they are also competing with Square with Shopify Capital, as both now have a small business loans system and a POS offering, with all of the merchant data to back up analytical decisions as well.

The 2021 Ford Bronco goes up against the Jeep Wrangler, and is a fun way to bring back the 1980's American nostalgia. Its capability off-road is probably better than the old one though.

In this episode we start with Palantir Technologies, with three strong products and their even better names: Gotham, Foundry & Apollo.  Some of Palantir's newest clients are impressive, including Scuderia Ferrari, Faurecia, BP, 3M, the UK's NHS, and IBM, as well as many others. 

Bill Ackman is up next, with his hedge fund gains, his holding company and his newest SPAC PSTH. 

Microacquire is our third segment, and is a great way to acquire small private companies, including Software-As-A-Service (SAAS), E-Commerce, Mobile App's, Newsletters, & Crypto startups. We discuss some of the options in this segment. 

The fourth part of the episode is about the Hyundai's new electric car: the Iconiq 5. 

Our first segment is about ADA, which is a cryptocurrency on the Cardano blockchain. This one is third generation crypto that aims to have a central blockchain, usable by other cryptocurrencies. 

In our second segment, we talk about Advanced Micro Devices, more commonly known as AMD. AMD has had a record year, clocking massive earnings and revenue growth. 

In our final segment, we discuss which broker is right for you as an Australian. We look at Goodments, Stake, Commsec, CMC, Interactive Brokers, E-Torro, and Selfwealth.