LAB Radio

In this episode, Aaron Mangal discusses the Coinigy platform with Derek Urben, CFO of Coinigy, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Coinigy is a cross-exchange charting, portfolio management, trading, and research platform.

Using a monthly subscription model, Coinigy allows users a wide cornucopia of data sets and access to exchanges including the possibility to execute trades through a secure Application Programming Interface (API).

Derek Urben, CFO, Coinigy

Coinigy's reach stretches across more than 45 exchanges with 75+ technical indicators all under a single pane of glass interface. On the alert side of things you can trigger SMS, E-Mail and in-browser price alerts powered by low-latency data feeds.

In addition, they allow instant access to real-time APIs and historical data. There is also the ability to leverage enterprise-grade data feeds for individuals and institutions.

The API is live, real-time data powered by the Coinigy CryptoFeed™. This API stretches across 41 exchanges, 3,516 markets and 3.468 cryptocurrencies.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About Derek's origin story and how he got started in Cryptocurrency and Coinigy
• Who the users of Coinigy are
• Why Coinigy doesn't hold user funds
• The emergence about just about anything "as a service"
• Why the membership subscription model was chosen
• Basic security practices and architecture behind the platform and how it protects users
• Why APIs are a common practice along with cloud computing for traditional trading houses
• About the research arm of Coinigy and the types of information they aggregate
• How they position as an aggregator allows a non-biased exploration of the ecosystem
• Why the future of firms, mergers and private equities will shift dramatically

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

In this episode, Aaron Mangal explores the concept of User Experience (UX) with Vitalik Demin, Software Program Manager, and Information Architect at ZenCash.

Vitalik Demin, Software Program Manager, Information Architect at ZenCash

"My passion is to fix and improve processes and technologies that are broken and not intuitive to use. I see process end-to-end and drive inefficiencies out by re-engineering the flow, building technology solutions, and ensuring the user experience is impeccable."

User Experience (UX) and design are separate (albeit greatly related) disciplines. The science of UX has not always been as obvious as it seems today and has shifted into such force that it has it's own specialization and job role in today's startups.

According to usability.gov, a website on UX maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services:

User experience (UX) focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities, and also their limitations. It also takes into account the business goals and objectives of the group managing the project. UX best practices promote improving the quality of the user's interaction with and perceptions of your product and any related services.

Peter Morville, veteran UX and information architect made a User Experience Honeycomb to visually explain the concept:

User Experience Honeycomb

We greatly enjoyed learning about this super important yet often overlooked construct not only within Cryptocurrency but the digital (web) experience as a whole.

We hope you enjoy learning more about the philosophy and principles behind User Experience (UX).

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• How Vitalik first learned UX and developed his craft
• The origin story of Vitalik discovering ZenCash and how he decided to work for them (due diligence process)
• What some great (and not so great) examples of UX are
• What ZenCash is and what they do
• The connection between ZenCash and IOHK
• The difference between designers and User Experience professionals
• Why brands should maintain control end-to-end for their marketing (see Samsung S9 phone ad example)
• Best practices and other insights around approaching User Experience (UX)

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

In this episode, Aaron Mangal and Tim Francisco of CoinStructive, caught up with Paul Puey, co-founder and CEO of Edge (formerly AirBitz), a security platform and multi-coin wallet and key management system.

Paul Puey, co-founder of Edge (formerly AirBitz)

"Paul is a proud Electrical Engineering and Computer Science graduate of UC Berkeley with a wide range of technical skills from low-level 3D graphics engineering to development of custom web CMS systems, even before people knew what a CMS was. He held lead engineering positions with Nvidia and Chromatic Research, but most recently owned and operated several non-technical small businesses throughout California. There he learned the importance of the intersection of people, business, and technology.

Today, Paul aims to bring Bitcoin mainstream with software and products aimed at simplifying Bitcoin and making it insanely easy to send and secure this revolutionary currency while maintaining the highest level of privacy.

When not converting people to bitcoin you'll likely find him climbing a rock in Joshua Tree or at a local climbing gym."

The unique selling proposition is Edge allows users to manage multiple wallets for multiple assets securely under a single sign-on (SSO) login (just like using Facebook or Google to sign up for a site).

Edge's philosophy is "security is our foundation, not a feature" as demonstrated by their client-side encryption which means data is encrypted from the device itself and before it ever touches Edge servers.

Cryptocurrencies currently available on Edge

We had a great time learning more about Paul's origin story, the creator of Edge (formerly AirBitz) and the vision of how to bridge Cryptocurrency use into the mainstream world.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• Paul's beginnings in Silicon Valley at Nvidia working on Graphics Processor Units (GPUs)
• How Paul got out of balance with work which was a catalyst for shifting his health in a more positive direction
• The origin story of AirBitz and how it evolved into Edge as a rebrand
• Why we should stop trying to make security perfect and instead analyze the trade-offs
• How users get the benefit of security like SSL but for everyday Cryptocurrency usage
• Why Paul believes in usability and utility as much (if not moreso) than just ideology
• About the threat of centralized custodians and how counterparty risk and cold storage reduce usability
• How the architecture of centralized entities slow down transactions due to the lack of funds available in hot wallets
• How Edge saw the opportunity to open up its security architecture to other dApps (like Augur)
• Edge and why its the first use case of the Edge platform itself which can be used in many other
• What the Edge's of the network are and how the data generated there is secured
• How the communities of various cryptocurencies helped Edge integrate their tokens

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

In this episode, we're at the Beyond Blocks in Seoul (the "capital city"), Korea. Chris Groshong, CEO of CoinStructive, caught up with Jack Tan of Kronos Token, a platform aimed at allowed token holders to access to elite trading strategies through a built-in trading desk.

Kronos helps to bridge the gap between retail untrained investors and the elite 1% who have unfair access to the majority of global wealth, where they just get richer. Kronos disagrees with this premise.

To solve this problem, Kronos sources and nurtures elite investing and trading talent which opens up the skillsets and strategies of these teams to KRON holders.

In addition, Kronos leverages a variety of time-tested investment methodologies to battle unstable and volatile markets and pass the value to the users. This allows investors to benefit from enterprise trading strategies which help stabilize portfolios despite market conditions.

As stated on the Kronos website:

We are changing the rules once and for all. All KRON holders will have a chance to access the best strategies in quantitative trading and other investments within crypto. The mission of the KRONOS project is to:

• Attract, foster and retain the best trading talent globally
• Remove access barriers to the top investments
• Maximize resilience of the ecosystem through the intelligence of decentralized governance

Our strategies carry a range of risk and return profiles, but are generally uncorrelated from the market. This means they can profit even when asset prices are falling. We will begin with high-frequency market making and proprietary trading, but will quickly add teams to trade "smart index", statistical arbitrage, and discretionary small-cap strategies.

The Kronos token helps bring elite trading strategies to the average investor

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• How Jack moved to the US when he was 7 with humble beginnings
• What nagging problem Kronos solves for investors
• The limited choices and options available to the average retail investor
• How Kronos provides access to liquidity, market making and trade execution
• Why Kronos structured their coin in Taipei, Taiwan with a focus on Asian markets
• An example of the use cases and stories from users of the platform
• The future outlook and vision of Kronos in 2-3 years
• How Kronos uses quantitative algorithms to drive intelligent trading 24/7/365 regardless of bull or bear markets
• Why Jack believes in thinking long-term and creating something bigger than yourself

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

In this episode, we're at the RISE conference at Asia's World City, Hong Kong. We caught up with a company called Bucket Technologies that aims to help us deal with the issues and costs of handling physical change.

Francis Hwang, Daniel Kam, Mac Ling (left, Bucket Technologies) and Chris Groshong (right, CoinStructive Inc.)

Bucket is a "digital piggy bank platform" which aims to bridge the worlds of coinless cash transactions. Bucket alleviates the stress and significant costs associated with the production, distribution and handling of physical coins.

Their mission is "to accelerate humanity's transition to a digital economy" as the world first global aggregator of coin currency for consumers and enterprise users.

Our guests for today's show from the Bucket Team include:

Francis Hwang, CEO of Bucket Technologies

Francis has over a decade of experience in creating, launching, and managing successful businesses. Having always gravitated towards enterprises and ideas that question and disrupt the status quo, it was a natural step for Francis to start Bucket Technologies. Coming up with the concept for Bucket over 10 years ago, Francis finally set aside other ventures to focus and commit to his mission of eliminating coins and alleviating the environmental and governmental stresses from the production, distribution, and management of coin currency.

Francis recently moved to Bentonville, Arkansas and when he isn't working or travelling for Bucket you will find him off-roading with his wife Kristine in the Ozarks.

Daniel Kim, President and COO

Daniel is a successful entrepreneur who has launched and built several businesses in the technology, managed services, manufacturing, and hospitality/F&B industries. He has over 20 years of B2B/B2C sales and marketing experience within various commercial sectors including cloud-commerce, telecommunications, and graphic arts. Daniel regularly speaks and networks with leading companies and organizations on topics such as leadership, innovation, branding, and operations management.

When Daniel is not working he enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 girls, cooking or going after big fish (literally, not metaphorically).

Mac Ling, Managing Director, Asia

Mac has over 15 years of technology and marketing leadership experience in corporations, SMEs, and startups, in both the United States and Asia. His personal mission of leaving this world a better place than he found it made joining the Bucket team an easy fit. His ability to take technical solutions and create simple value propositions for end users has served him well in both B2B and B2C environments and is committed to Bucket's mission of eliminating coins and alleviating the retailer and consumer stresses from the use and management of physical coin currency.

Mac's past experience includes leading Boost Mobile's Digital Media business, heading up marketing and service delivery for i-Admin, Asia's premier payroll outsourcing provider. Mac received his B.S. in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego, and an M.B.A. from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. He is also a certified Marshall Goldsmith executive coach.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• The origin story of Bucket and how the founders envisioned the company

• What Bucket is and what problem they solve

• The extraordinary cost associated of dealing with loose change

• How Bucket made a critical partnership deal with a US bank (same one Square uses) to help structure the stable coin and adds liquidity

• The current Point of Sale system have never been upgraded and how they are going to add a bucket button on a POS system

• Why they worry that people will not learn from history and repeat previous mistakes

For show notes and more: LAB Radio

In this episode, we’re at the RISE conference at Asia's World City, Hong Kong. We caught up with a company called Bucket Technologies that aims to help us deal with the issues and costs of handling physical change.

Francis Hwang, Daniel Kam, Mac Ling (left, Bucket Technologies) and Chris Groshong (right, CoinStructive Inc.)

Bucket is a "digital piggy bank platform" which aims to bridge the worlds of coinless cash transactions. Bucket alleviates the stress and significant costs associated with the production, distribution and handling of physical coins.

Their mission is "to accelerate humanity’s transition to a digital economy" as the world first global aggregator of coin currency for consumers and enterprise users.

Our guests for today's show from the Bucket Team include:

Francis Hwang, CEO of Bucket Technologies

Francis has over a decade of experience in creating, launching, and managing successful businesses. Having always gravitated towards enterprises and ideas that question and disrupt the status quo, it was a natural step for Francis to start Bucket Technologies. Coming up with the concept for Bucket over 10 years ago, Francis finally set aside other ventures to focus and commit to his mission of eliminating coins and alleviating the environmental and governmental stresses from the production, distribution, and management of coin currency.

Francis recently moved to Bentonville, Arkansas and when he isn’t working or travelling for Bucket you will find him off-roading with his wife Kristine in the Ozarks.

Daniel Kim, President and COO

Daniel is a successful entrepreneur who has launched and built several businesses in the technology, managed services, manufacturing, and hospitality/F&B industries. He has over 20 years of B2B/B2C sales and marketing experience within various commercial sectors including cloud-commerce, telecommunications, and graphic arts. Daniel regularly speaks and networks with leading companies and organizations on topics such as leadership, innovation, branding, and operations management.

When Daniel is not working he enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 girls, cooking or going after big fish (literally, not metaphorically).  

Mac Ling, Managing Director, Asia

Mac has over 15 years of technology and marketing leadership experience in corporations, SMEs, and startups, in both the United States and Asia. His personal mission of leaving this world a better place than he found it made joining the Bucket team an easy fit.  His ability to take technical solutions and create simple value propositions for end users has served him well in both B2B and B2C environments and is committed to Bucket’s mission of eliminating coins and alleviating the retailer and consumer stresses from the use and management of physical coin currency.

Mac’s past experience includes leading Boost Mobile’s Digital Media business, heading up marketing and service delivery for i-Admin, Asia’s premier payroll outsourcing provider.  Mac received his B.S. in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego, and an M.B.A. from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.  He is also a certified Marshall Goldsmith executive coach.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• The origin story of Bucket and how the founders envisioned the company

• What Bucket is and what problem they solve

• The extraordinary cost associated of dealing with loose change

• How Bucket made a critical partnership deal with a US bank (same one Square uses) to help structure the stable coin and adds liquidity

• The current Point of Sale system have never been upgraded and how they are going to add a bucket button on a POS system

• Why they worry that people will not learn from history and repeat previous mistakes

For show notes and more: LAB Radio

In this episode, we're in the thick of Korea Blockchain week for our roadshow and we wanted to introduce you to one of the top movers, shakers and connectors, named Andrew Lee.

Andrew Lee (pictured left) and Chris Groshong (pictured right)

Andrew has an MBA and Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting and Economics from The Wharton School | University of Pennsylvania. He's built an extensive professional and personal network worldwide, having spent 15 years in Asia and the rest in the U.S.

In this episode, we're in the thick of Korea Blockchain week for our roadshow and we wanted to introduce you to one of the top movers, shakers and connectors, named Andrew Lee.

Andrew Lee (pictured left) and Chris Groshong (pictured right)

Andrew has an MBA and Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting and Economics from The Wharton School | University of Pennsylvania. He's built an extensive professional and personal network worldwide, having spent 15 years in Asia and the rest in the U.S.

As a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and investment banker, Andrew worked at storied institutions such as Apple, a multi-billion dollar Tiger hedge fund, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Enron. As Andrew hosted multiple upscale events, his clients were multi-billionaires, and his sponsors were Diageo, Uber, Red Bull, Ultra Music Festival and New Face Models.

"As a global organization, FOMO MASTERNODE operates as a red carpet, curated events company and crypto fund, involving some of the biggest names in crypto worldwide. The network and participants are comprised of global & local media, influencers, market makers, exchanges, investment funds, lawyers, syndicates and ICOs ... represented from all parts of the world: Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Beijing, New York City, Taipei, Singapore, London, Dubai, Tokyo, Thailand, Israel, Hong Kong, etc.

The main driver of the company are the events, and the fund is just a by-product given all the publicity and access.

What I do is an art -- it's an indirect and subtle way of marketing, fundraising and building brand awareness, globally. These all go hand-in-hand, and if executed well, the outcome is immensely synergistic."

~Andrew Lee, founder of FOMO MASTERNODE

Sponsors for the July 14th, 2018 FOMO MASTERNODE event included:

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About Andrew's background as an investment banker and VIP hospitality host for billionaires around the world
• That macroeconomics was the initial gateway into Andrew's transition into finance, and eventually Wall Street
• FOMO MASTERNODE's story and how it is helping build the ecosystem in Asia and the United States
• How he came up with the idea and built a global brand from scratch
• His prior history organizing & hosting events for VIPs, billionaires, hedge fund & private equity CEOs, venture-backed startups How this was the genesis to FOMO MASTERNODE
• What Andrew does in his personal time when not working
• Warnings about not over-doing things as Andrew did trading Bitcoin Futures

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

Andrew Lee (pictured left) and Chris Groshong (pictured right)

In this episode, we're in the thick of Korea Blockchain week for our roadshow and we wanted to introduce you to one of the top movers and shakers and connectors, named Andrew Lee.

Andrew has an MBA and Bachelor degree in Finance, Accounting and Economics from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professional executive experiences with over 15 years in Asia and the rest in the U.S. professional and personal network spans across all of Asia and the U.S.

As a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, investment banker and event manager, Andrew had worked with such brands as the multi-billion dollar Tiger Cub hedge fund, Apple, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Enron, Diageo, Uber, Red Bull, New Face Models, and Ultra Music Festival.

FOMO MASTERNODE is an organization that aims to bring mainstream global media and attention to Asia around Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies.

FOMO MASTERNODE operates two crypto entities:
1. VIP Events
2. Venture Fund

"The Company FOMO MASTERNODE operates as a VIP highly curated events company and also a Cryptofund. It's a highly exclusive and highly curated event for people within crypto [in Korea]. This includes great ICOs, a lot of great investors, exchanges, and the media...The Cryptofund is created and with that capital and these value added services I provide, it can really supercharge relationships and advance the marketing abilities of ICOs. So, it works hand in hand, there are a lot of synergies doing these events." ~Andrew Lee, founder of FOMO MASTERNODE

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About Andrew's background as an investment banker and event manager for VIPs and billionaires worldwide
• How macroeconomics was an initial doorway into Andrew's finance career which led to an internship at Merril Lynch
• What FOMO MASTERNODE is and how it is helping build the ecosystem in Asia and the United States
• How he came up with the idea and got support to build a global brand from scratch
• How his previous history running events for VIPs, billionaires, hedge fund managers and global brands fed FM
• The story behind how Andrew initially got media exposure for South Korea and the Cryptocurrency community
• What Andrew does in his personal time when not working

 For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

Today we are exploring a fascinating intersection of disciplines, Cryptocurrency and Economics, called Cryptoeconomics (aka Cryptonomics or Tokenomics).

To help dig deeper into these concepts we brought on Stephanie Hurder, a Harvard educated PhD economist, who is also a founding economist of the Prysm Group, a consulting firm focused on economic and governance.

Stephanie is a Harvard-educated economist specializing in human capital, market design, and the future of work. While at the Boston Consulting Groups, Stephanie worked with Fortune 50 corporations and global NGOs to build effective organizations that are prepared for the future of work. She was recognized as a firm-wide expert on organizational effectiveness and design and co-authored multiple publications on these topics.

Stephanie has held research positions at MIT, Microsoft Research, and Merrill Lynch, and given invited seminars to faculty at half a dozen top research universities across the country. She holds a PhD in business economics, an AM in economics, and an AB in mathematics from Harvard University.

Stephanie now works with the Prysm group as a founding economist:

"We are a blockchain economics & governance design firm led by PhD-level economists disciplined by the world's top universities, specializing in blockchain and cryptocurrency contract theory and market design. We use a first principles-based structured process in reaching a customized solution for your distributed ledger database or smart contract enabled enterprise, concentrating on: Community Governance, Consensus Governance, Token Structure, Coin & Token Sale, and Market Structure."

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• What Economists study and do
• What is the Prisoner's Dilemma? (how it applies to cryptoeconomics)
• What Cryptoeconomics is? (The difference between Protocol and dApp, Token Curated Registries cryptoeconomics)
• What tokenization is (and how it connects with economics)
• About Stephanie's arguments in her article, the Economics of Tokenization
• Best practices, fundamental principles behind "token economics"
• How Blockchains are like mini-economies (Economic systems designed in code)
• Use cases, protocols and projects that most excites her

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

In today's episodes, we are going to explore some of the complexities of a Security vs. Utility token which are fresh on our minds after the recent SEC announcement about Ether and Bitcoin not being considered securities.

William Hinman, the SEC's Director of Corporate Finance made the announcement:

"Strictly speaking the token, the coin, whatever the digital information packet is being called all by itself, we don't think is a security. Just as oranges in the Howey case were not securities. Essential to determining whether a security is being offered, however, is how it's being sold and a reasonable expectation of purchasers.

When someone buys a housing unit to live in it's probably not a security but under certain circumstances, the same asset could be offered and sold in a way that could cause investors to have a reasonable expectation of profits based on the efforts of others.

If the housing unit is offered with a management contract or other services where purchases are encouraged to invest rather than reside, it could be a security. Case law tells us that," Hinman explained during his speech.

Securities are the talk of the regulator town and perhaps less so in the Cryptosphere's now that we have a solidified answer. However, many other projects have uncertain futures as to their designation which may bring pause to would be Blockchain empire builders.

The Street, a finance-focused media outlet, defines securities as follows:

"A simple definition of a security is any proof of ownership or debt that has been assigned a value and may be sold. (Today, evidence of ownership is likely to be a computer file, while once it was a written piece of paper.) For the holder, a security represents an investment as an owner, creditor or rights to ownership on which the person hopes to gain profit. Examples are stocks, bonds and options.

The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 provides this more complicated definition, but you might want to grab a cup of coffee: "The term 'security' means any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement or in any oil, gas, or other mineral royalty or lease, any collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit, for a security, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities..."

To help us demystify this fascinating (yet complex) situation of Securities vs. Utility tokens we brought in Joe Ciccolo, an expert in building BSA/AML programs as well as over 10 years of banking compliance.

Joe founded BitAML, a regulatory compliance advisory group, to help Blockchain startups and innovators to remain above board in a rapidly shifting (and uncertain) regulatory landscape.

For show notes and more visit: LAB Radio