LAB Radio

On this LAB Radio, episode Aaron Mangal chats with Kylan Hurt about the life as a developer at Edge wallet, a multi-currency wallet with baked in secure Single Sign-On (SSO) functionality.

We discuss how he became a developer, building a wallet, programming various code bases (like Javascript) and other topics from a dev's perspective.

Kylan Hurt, Software Engineer at Edge

Kylan is a Software Engineer for Edge Wallet, a team that develops a multi-cryptocurrency wallet software and application. Kylan has worked with such organizations as Intuit, Z Global marketing, Knowledge City, Datagonia and Let's Talk Bitcoin.

He is also the organizer of the San Diego Blockchain Development Meetup and previously produced and hosted of The Captain Crypto Show, a discontinued cryptocurrency-related podcast.

Edge, a multi-currency wallet with over 15 coins including BTC, ETH, XMR, XRP and more

Here is some lore about how Edge (formerly AirBitz) came to be from the company website:

Edge's first product, a bitcoin wallet and business directory, was launched in the winter of 2014, under the company name of "AirBitz" and has been securing millions of dollars worth of bitcoin ever since. Like many others, Airbitz was inspired by the bitcoin revolution and set out from day one to build tools that kept bitcoin users safe and in control.

The Airbitz Bitcoin Wallet was the first application of a security model we coined as "Edge Security". By the end of 2015, we had successfully packaged up the tools that make the Airbitz Wallet awesome into a software development kit (SDK) that developers could use for their own applications. Our "Edge Security" SDK has since been integrated into top-tier blockchain projects such as Augur, Wings, and OpenLedger.

Airbitz quickly advanced from a bitcoin wallet in 2014 to a paradigm shifting data security solution and multi-currency wallet in late 2017. Given our company's evolution and coining of the term, "Edge Security", we thought it would be best to highlight this focus as the core of our brand.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• How Kylan self-started learning programming from a previously dissatisfying job
• The path he took to go from nothing to building an app (Edge wallet)
• Why Javascript is a more common language for front-end programming
• How you can do a lot of backend (server side) programming with Javascript
• Why other languages force you to configure your own server to write and deploy code
• What nodes are and why they are critical to decentralization
• How 0x works as a decentralized exchange protocol
• A day in the life of a developer at Edge
• How Edge eats their own dogfood through internal Cryptocurrency usage as a company
• Why development in the Blockchain space is bleeding edge and people should realize everything is a work in progress

For show notes and more visit: LAB Radio

On this LAB Radio, episode Chris Groshong chats with Will McDonough, founder of iCash which provides a Proof of Trust Protocol (PoT). This enables powerful use cases like smart contract validation, settlement and Blockchain insurance.

Will McDonough, founder of iCash

Will McDonough is an investor and entrepreneur whose storied career ranges from sports and entertainment management to the world of global finance. In 2014, McDonough led the Initial Public Offering for Atlas Mara (ATMA:LSE) with co-founder and former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, for a market cap of $825 million after acquiring eight banks in Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, Atlas Mara has more than 3,500 employees and is operated by former executives of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Barclays, Standard Chartered and Ecobank.

Prior to founding Atlas, McDonough and his team in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs managed more than $17 billion in private capital of the firm's current and retired partners. While at Goldman, he co-founded the Goldman Sachs Builders & Innovators Summit, an industry-leading conference bringing together the top 100 entrepreneurs in the world every year.

Prior to Goldman, McDonough partnered with New York-based Avenue Capital Group to co-found a $250 million distressed debt fund called Avenue Strategic Partners. Since 2001, he has run his own highly successful management company called MMG, which has represented the licensing and partnerships interests of many high-profile individuals, iconic brands, and venerable estates including The Estate of Nelson Mandela, New England Patriots Quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, and supermodel/activist Gisele Bundchen. MMG also co-founded a children's entertainment company with Andy Heyward, Warren Buffett, Martha Stewart, Stan Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger to build educational content for children.

iCash, a Proof of Trust (PoT) protocol assuring accurate data from Blockchain transactions

iCash's is a Blockchain-agnostic Proof of Trust (PoT) protocol which provides distributed trust for data input. This means assuring data is accurate using this construct for services like validating smart contract settlements and Blockchain Insurance.

Just as courts and lawyers provide validate appeals processes for paper contracts, iCash's PoT Delegates provide the same process for digital Smart Contracts.

While proof of stake and proof of work are certainly breakthrough tech, there is currently no system in place to assure users that the data inputs are accurate.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About Will's origin story and how he got started as a childhood entrepreneur
• How Will got into Boston College after initially being rejected
• Why he built a company with Tom Brady and represented such figures as Nelson Mandela financially
• What a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is and the benefit of operating as one
• Creating a company ("fund of funds") that provided exclusive access to hedge fund managers that money couldn't buy
• How he developed relationships with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs
• Why settlement in Blockchain transactions are not always accurate and why that's a pain point for institutional traders
• What Proof of Trust (PoT) is and how it works?
• About iCash positioning as an independent third party insurance provider of Crypto (like buying it for your car)
• How iCash uses Delegates (third-party Oracles) which can be configured for public or private Blockchains

For show notes and more visit: LAB Radio

On this LAB Radio, episode Aaron Mangal discusses Blockchain Regulation and the legal side of things with Morvareed Salehpour.

Morvareed Salehpour, Attorney and Speaker

Morvareed Z. Salehpour specializes in handling a diverse range of complex legal matters both in and outside the courtroom. She is experienced in negotiating a variety of contracts and legal agreements and litigating cases from inception to trial and appeal. She has represented companies and individuals in a variety of industries, including blockchain, technology, entertainment, media, banking, manufacturing, real estate, fashion, retail, food and beverage, and healthcare, among others.

She has represented clients across the nation ranging from entrepreneurs and small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Ms. Salehpour enthusiastically applies unique solutions to client needs, working hard to devote herself to efficient resolutions.

Ms. Salehpour earned a degree in Political Science, summa cum laude, from UCLA in 2007 and received her JD from the UCLA School of Law in 2010, where she also served as a Managing Editor for the UCLA Law Review. Ms. Salehpour previously practiced at BakerHostetler, a national firm where her work included being a member of the legal team seeking to recover the principal lost in the Madoff Ponzi scheme, and then at Strange & Butler, a complex litigation boutique.

She is admitted to the State Bar of California, is a member of the bars of the United States District Court for the Central, Northern, Southern, and Eastern Districts of California, and a member of the bar of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Ms Salehpour is also active in the tech community and enjoys analyzing and discussing developing legal issues in that field, particularly with respect to the blockchain, artificial intelligence, virtual reality/augmented reality, and esports.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About Morvareed's background, where she's from and how she got started in the Law (Hint: Law and Order)
• How Morvareed decided to focus her legal services on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency technology
• The way she approached applying legal capabilities and the Law to Blockchain
• About the US-based case law system and how it affects the development of Regulation
• Why we have been through these cycles before with the Law but with other tech booms
• Key concepts including Jurisdiction, Liability, Enforcement, Crypto Asset Management, and Copyright Protection
• The dark side of Cryptocurrency and the Law
• Threats to Blockchain immutability
• About the uniform regulation of virtual-currency businesses act

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio Episode 44

On this LAB Radio, episode Aaron Mangal discusses creating rare digital art on the Blockchain as well as the myriad of platforms out there for artists. Our guest this week is Joe Chiappetta, cartoonist, comic book author and artist.

Joe Chiappetta, Author, Cartoonist, Blockchain Art Creator

Joe Chiappetta has been involved in cartooning and publishing since the mid-1980s, creating comics and art that reflect something positive about life. As an author, Chiappetta has won many awards, including an Illinois Arts Council Award for his work on the book "Back Pain Avenger." This volume, its research, and the speaking tour surrounding it focused on issues of disability in the history of comic books, as well as presenting a non-medicated memoir of rehabilitation. For his family documentary work on the graphic novel "Silly Daddy," Joe was also the recipient of the Xeric Award as well as numerous other award nominations over the years.

Rare Silly Chain from Joe's Blockchain Art Card Collection Called CrystalsCraft

While widely known for his award-winning work on Silly Daddy Comics, Joe has also been a prolific cartoonist creating comics about cryptocurrency and blockchain since 2015. He exhibited twelve blockchain comics at the 2018 Ethereal Summit in New York City and was the only cartoonist selected for this event to create live interpretive comics covering the show.

As the author of numerous articles about rare digital art, and an early adopter in this field as well as on crypto-social networks, Joe has educated and encouraged thousands of professionals, including artists and collectors, to pay close attention to the rising opportunities that cryptocurrency has opened up for the art industry.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• Joe's Background and how he got into making art
• How the old system of collectables works (Creating, selling and distributing the works)
• What makes something rare, valuable and collectable
• How Joe sees the opportunity to transition into digital collectables
• The story behind Joe's rare digital artwork
• How does Cryptocurrency open new opportunities for Cartoonists and Collectors
• About Spells of Genesis and their "Blockchanization" in gaming
• Applications in the Cryptocurrency art realm Joe is excited about
• Book of Orbs, a platform for buying/selling and storing digital art
• Platforms Joe likes including Steemit and Ono

For show notes and more visit: LAB Radio

On this LAB Radio, episode Aaron Mangal discusses Spark, a web and mobile payments platform and decentralized exchange (DEX) powered by Graphene and built on BitShares.

Maxine Ryan, Spark's Chief Operations Officer, discusses the platform and a variety of concepts including the components of a DEX and the process of moving from Spark from Bitcoin to BitShares.

Maxine Ryan, COO and co-founder of Spark

Maxine Ryan is a Hong Kong-based entrepreneur who is passionate about the freedom of financial services for people. In 2014, she co-founded Bitspark, the world's first cash in, cash out blockchain money transfer platform for Money Transfer Operators which helps business owners send money better via cryptocurrency solutions worldwide.

The company in 2017 launched its ICO, $ZEPH, a rewards token for Bitspark's 180+ pegged cryptocurrency network whereby users of networks are incentivised via rewards and the company contributes buybacks to the market via its profits. Maxine frequently speaks at tech and finance events, can be seen on BloombergLive and was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, 2018. Twitter : @MaxieRyan @BitsparksLtd #Bitshares #Decentralisation #RealSolutions

As stated on their website:

Bitspark, a Hong Kong based fintech company provides Spark, a secure web and mobile platform for money transfer operators [MTO] to send and receive payments quicker and cheaper utilising blockchain technology in addition to a suite of compliance and analytics tools tailored for the MTO industry.

In November 2014 Bitspark conducted the world's first cash-in cash-out remittance transaction using Bitcoin and has since refined and targeted their services towards money transfer operators.

Bitspark has in recent years expanded to over seven countries in the Asia Pacific and African regions including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Ghana, Nigeria, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan and has formed a number of important partnerships and gained recognition at home and internationally. Bitspark has a history of excellent support from many notable organisations.

Bitspark is an alumni of the Cyberport Incubation Program in 2014 backed by the Hong Kong government, in 2015 was selected for the Accenture Fintech Innovation Lab APAC, in 2016 selected for the SixThirty Fintech accelerator USA and in 2017 was selected by the United Nations Development Program for financial inclusion projects in Tajikistan. In the financial space, Bitspark has been recognised by Goldman Sachs, Citibank, KPMG and Nikkei and has received coverage by noted publications like Forbes, SCMP, RT News, New York Times, The Australian, Coindesk and many more.

We discuss network effects and building technology that can be used across the Blockchain universe.

Thanks for checking out LAB Radio!

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• How Maxine got started in her career and eventually into Blockchains
• The state of the Blockchain market an industry in 2014
• Why Spark (BitSpark at the time) shifted from Bitcoin to the BitShares Blockchain
• About how Spark is bankless, using full Crypto for all of their business
• The SparkDEX, what it is and how it works on BitShares
• Core models of Spark's business
• How Spark wants to create an open ecosystem for the money transfer space
• The 3 components of a DEX: fund management, order books and crypto transaction
• How the Sendy App works to facilitate cash-in and cash-out transaction in person leveraging Spark

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

On this LAB Radio, episode Aaron Mangal discuss Blockdaemon, a three-click Blockchain node deployment and cloud platform with Konstantin Richter, the CEO and founder. Konstantin is a technology Entrepreneur in the Telecom, SaaS, and the B2B space. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, he was an executive at Deutsche Telekom and Nokia in software/services strategy and business development. He is also fluent in 4 languages.

Konstantin Richter, CEO and founder of Blockdaemon

Blockdaemon is a node deployment tool that allows you to launch your node on a public blockchain network or join a private network in three clicks.

To maintain decentralization, Blockdaemon partners with multiple cloud providers, including AWS, Digital Ocean, and Google Cloud Services.

With Blockdaemon you can customize an existing protocol, supply your genesis block, choose the regions you want and how many nodes you need.

Current Blockchains supported include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stellar and AION

We discuss network effects and building technology that can be used across multiple Blockchain universes.

Thanks for listening to LAB Radio!

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• How Konstantin got his start through telecom and consulting
• The power of network effects Konstantin observed and how he sought to leverage that construct in his companies
• About the crossover between network effects and the Blockchain
• Previous experiences including helping structure the business and strategy for Gem
• How his previous consulting experiences led him to think strategically about systems
• The benefits of Nodes-as-a-service which allows users to pool resources and gain economies of scale
• Why the goal has been to provide self-provisioning 3-click deployment of nodes for Cryptos like Bitcoin and Stellar
• Their developer first focus in term of the tools and services they provide

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

In this episode of LAB Radio, Chris Groshong and Aaron Mangal discuss the NEO Global Capital fund, investing in Asia, emerging markets and the Blockchain.

Roger Lim, Partner at NEO Global Capital

Roger is an experienced angel and blockchain investor, entrepreneur and technologist. He previously founded Webvisions, a managed cloud hosting company which he sold to a private equity firm.

He is an advisor for Bluzelle, Qlink, CoinFi, Selfkey, TheKey, Tomocoin, 0Chain, nOS, Open Platform. Roger is now a founding partner of NEO Global Capital.

Tony Gu, Partner at NEO Global Capital

Tony is an experienced Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) professional and blockchain investor. Tony is a founding partner at NEO Global Capital (NGC) and is a partner of Rhodium Capital and Longstand Capital.

He has done deals in Financial Services, Consumer, Health Care and TMT sectors, with total transaction value exceeding $1 Billion.

We discuss investing in Asia, emerging markets, preserving wealth and the NEO Global Capital fund.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• How Roger and Tony met each other and began investing together
• The structure and focus of the two NEO Global Capital funds they manage
• Key initiatives and project categories that investment occurs in
• Emerging markets that they see activity and investment in
• The things that are most exciting to Roger and Tony
• Why Networking, building trust and opening doors for others is so important
• How NGC focuses on not just investing in firms but adding value
• The challenges around finding and retaining talent
• Strategies and tactics to consider when looking at markets

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

In this episode of LAB Radio, Aaron Mangal discusses the Bitshares ecosystem, the Graphene engine that underlies it and algorithms like Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) with Kevin Messerly. Graphene was originally designed by Daniel Larimer who also founded Steemit and EOS.

Kevin Messerly, Proxy and DEXBot Team Manager

"I have six years experience as a cryptocurrency investor and advocate. Additionally, I have four years experience as a sales executive/account manager with a track record of high performance and strong work ethics. On top of that I have over fourteen years experience as an intelligence analyst for the United States Army and Department of Defense. I have successfully operated in high stress environments, requiring 13 hour shifts, six or seven days a week, throughout four deployments in Southwest Asia, South-Central Asia, and Africa for a total of 49 months."

Graphene is the underlying technology that underlies BitShares and several other Cryptocurrency projects like Steemit and EOS. Graphene is an open source C++ blockchain implementation, which acts as a consensus mechanism.

BitShares also has the ability to issued market pegged assets which are tied with real-time real world prices.

The BitShares market pegged BitAssets system

Ultimately, BitShares operates more as an equity rather than a purist "currency" since BTS tokens are used as collateral for a variety of decentralized financial services like decentralized exchanges, banking, derivative creation (of market pegged "bitAssets") and currency rails.

Thanks for checking out LAB Radio.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• Kevin's origin story and how he first discovered Cryptocurrency in 2011
• Why BitShares, in particular, caught Kevin's eye
• How BitShares leverages a suite of services including a DEX, bank and even user issued assets (UIA)
• About BitShares and how it had the first stable coin and market pegged assets (MPA) system
• The construct of Witnesses who process transactions and maintain price feeds
• The concept of decentralized banking and how you can borrow against your BitShares as collateral
• How Black swan events and collateral are handled by the system
• The risk and challenges of growing an ecosystem like BitShares
• The benefits of Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs)

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

In this episode of LAB Radio, Aaron Mangal discusses Interactive and Tokenized Television with Gavin Douglas, CEO and co-founder of iPowow.

"Our early vision was conceived on a surf beach in Australia, '… to give millions of television viewers the power to interact with their favorite TV show and to affect the story, second by second'.

Since then we've been expanding around the world, transforming tens of thousands of hours of live TV, taped TV and live stream shows into exciting participation experiences. We're a team of TV thinkers, creators and doers with a passion for Participation TV and we firmly believe that telling great stories leads to great ratings.

By moving iPowow onto the blockchain and making use of the best technology available, we can tokenize and monetize viewer engagement to provide better rewards for viewers and valuable data insights to networks, shows, and brands. So basically, instead of earning points, which have limited value, viewers earn HIT tokens just for watching content and more HITs for actively participating in contests, polls, and campaigns. After accumulating a certain amount of HITs, a viewer can visit our digital shopping plaza and exchange them for either digital or real-world products offered by our TV Network and Brand partners."

Gavin Douglas, CEO and Co-Founder of iPowow

Gavin is a multi-award winning media producer and TV format developer with over 20 years of experience. As the CEO of iPowow, Gavin has driven the business deals and the production of over 100 broadcast television + streaming video projects that link linear storytelling with real-time interactive technology, offering a unique perspective important to bridging blockchain technology and the media ecosystem.

Gavin has overseen iPowow's growth across both linear television and streaming video by negotiating and signing production deals with clients including ESPN, NBC, ABC, Fox Sports, CNBC, CNN, Red Bull, Discovery and Disney. Prior to iPowow, Gavin had written, produced, directed or edited more than 30 television series around the world, including "BBC Top Gear," "MasterChef," "So You Think You Can Dance," "Big Brother" and "MythBusters."

iPowow which led to the creation of the HIT protocol allows viewership to be tokenized, meaning viewers can be paid to watch content. This also brings with it a whole new level of data as this viewership can be correlated with buying habits.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About Gavin's background in Television and analog approaches to audience interaction
• The genesis of iPowow and pitching their interactive tech to NBC, ABC, CNN, ESPN and FOX Sports
• How they have always focused on the viewing experience and aim to keep viewers excited about the show
• The key technological catalysts for the evolution of TV from "stuck the wall" 20 years ago to today's on-demand world
• Why the fact that everyone can consume content on any device anytime is a huge business opportunity for everyone
• How viewers are incentivized to watch shows through HIT tokens
• The vast treasure trove of data available behind these tokens and the associated viewing and purchasing habits
• Why we should always be on the lookout for the next technology and how to put those pieces together

For show notes and more visit: LAB Radio

Thanks for listening to LAB Radio.

In this episode of LAB Radio, Aaron Mangal discusses Spl.yt, a decentralized marketplace protocol, with CEO and founder Cyrus Taghehchian.

Cyrus Taghehchian, CEO and Founder at Spl.yt

Cyrus Taghehchian is the co-founder and CEO of Spl.yt, a decentralized marketplace protocol. Cyrus, a Deloitte Consulting alum, is a world-class consultant, co-active coach and Lean-Agile thought leader who has helped C-level and executives improve their organizations' product management processes, development practices, and team culture at companies such as Intel, Bank of America, Paypal, and more.

A serial entrepreneur at heart, Cyrus specializes in technology strategy and implementations in the e-commerce and digital marketing space, including leading his previous companies through product and market fit phases.

Cyrus entered the blockchain space in 2015, having taken several notable active involvements, collaboration and advisory roles within the blockchain community where he applies his unique business development perspective, to promote blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

Spl.yt, a Decentralized E-commerce Protocol for a Global Inventory and Affiliate Network

According to the Spl.yt litepaper: "Spl.yt provides the market reach of Alibaba and CJ Affiliate, with the assurance of Amazon, at the no-cost prices of Craigslist"

This is based on their global inventory and logistics system which allows retailers to connect with several marketplaces, not just one, which greatly reduces the labor and management behind multiple postings.

It goes on to further explain how retailers can connect with their platform: Spl.yt's core function begins when an online retailer connects our easy-to-use SDK to load its inventory onto the blockchain. Once on the blockchain, Spl.yt's smart contract grants access to all other participating marketplaces...Spl.yt uses token economics to promote fair and reliable participant behaviors. Spl.yt's global reputation system provides peace of mind that reviews and ratings (necessary for buyers to trust retailers) are performed fairly without censorship or manipulation, and reflect behavior across the internet (rather than one website).

How Splyt Connects Buyers and Sellers

Splyt also have a dispute resolution to take care of any kind of problem that arises from transactions through intermediaries called Validators. These are real people that help figure out any issues whether on the buyer or seller side.

Finally, through an affiliate system sellers can leverage an automated way to manage and pay out commissions to affiliate for helping to sell products.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About the origin story of how Cyrus went from Consulting into the Blockchain world
• How consultants think, work and create value for clients
• Why great consultants replace themselves in the long-term
• Why people are a super important often overlooked part of building a successful company
• What Splyt is and how it works as a protocol
• The way that Splyt increases the reach of a posting across several major marketplaces
• A unique affiliate system that incentivizes anyone helping sell any product in the marketplace
• How Sellers can download the Splyt SDK and access a global database of inventory
• About Decentralized Autonomous Initial Coin Offerings (DAICOs) and one called HAIKU that Splyt is building
• The Affiliate system behind Splyt and how it evolves the current Affiliate model
• How Splyt handles dispute resolutions

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio Episode 37