Dive into the world of decentralised finance with Maple Finance, revolutionising the way we think about lending, borrowing, and real-world asset (#RWA) integration! 🚀

Catch the latest episode of the #MastersofWeb3 podcast🎙️ featuring an in-depth conversation with Sid Powell, CEO & Co-Founder of Maple Finance, where we peel back the layers of this innovative platform.

In this episode, we uncover:

🌐 The vision behind Maple Finance and its impact on the #DeFi landscape

🔗 The unique blend of loans and RWAs and its significance for businesses

👤 Who utilises Maple Finance for borrowing and the diverse community of lenders fueling the platform

💡 The advantages of leveraging blockchain for financial transactions and asset management

🔄 The operational efficiency of Maple Finance, including weekend payment settlements

About #MastersofWeb3 - A Podcast by Transak

Masters of Web3 is a deep-dive podcast into the impactful uses of web3, crypto, and blockchain technology. Hosted by Transak CEO Sami Start and CTO Yeshu Agarwal, we engage with leaders shaping the application layer of these technologies. Our focus: meaningful discussions that cut through hype and scams, bringing you the true stories behind major crypto ecosystems like Polygon and Solana. Join us for insights into the real-world applications driving blockchain innovation

Stay updated with new episodes every month!

Podcast Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

1:27 Introduction to Maple Finance

16:09 Loan vs. Real-World Asset Composition: Business Percentage?

21:15 Who borrows from your platform? 

27:27 What types of lenders are participating?

37:23 Who issues RWAs?

39:09 Benefits of doing this on a chain?

45:37 Do you do Weekend Payment Settlements ? 

57:33 Maple Finance vs. Aave, Compound, Others? 

1:05:22 Achieving Higher Returns on Maple Finance? 

1:08:58 Onboarding Procedures: What's Planned?

1:12:56 Decentralised Identity Formation: Attestations or Traditional KYC/KYB?

1:21:40 Credit Scoring: Integration with Identity Verification?

1:29:22 Attestations: Self-Sovereign Data Integration?

1:34:22 Plans for Roadmap Integration: Future Vision?

What will it take to get to 1 billion crypto adopters? 

That’s the question that keeps Gwendolyn Regina, Investment Director at BNB Chain, sitting down for countless panels, TV interviews, and print articles. Gwendolyn's role is particularly exciting in that she leads the $100M Binance Smart Chain Accelerator Fund, an investment incubator for the most promising new blockchain projects. 

Join us as we discuss:

• What the future for creators might be in web3

One of the largest decentralized applications on the Etherium blockchain with widespread adoption is the Maker Protocol. Soft-pegged to the US dollar, Dai boasts a resilience to inflation because of its low volatility. 

When Sam MacPherson, Lead Developer at MakerDAO, started his journey to the organization, it was because he had “some free time”. For Sam, that meant deciding to learn about solidity and challenging himself to make a smart contract. Next thing he knew he was being onboarded for Maker Protocol. 

Join us as we discuss:

• Why decentralization for the sake of decentralization shouldn’t necessarily be the goal of crypto

Console, a private Discord-like platform co-founded by Chris Castig, Co-founder at Console.xyz, is giving Web3 communities a place to call home. We break down the tech used to make this platform a reality including decentralized identity and autonomous communities. 

In this episode, Chris, Megan, and Sami discuss what to expect in the fast-approaching shift to Web3. Join us as we discuss:

• Why Console started with decentralized identity 

Check out Console for the latest updates, and follow Chris on Twitter so you don’t miss when his book drops! 

When Rahul Sethuram, CTO at Connext Labs Inc., set out to create an easier way for users to acquire tokens and on-ramp to crypto, he didn’t realize they were developing technology for cross-chain interoperability. Rahul laughingly admits that this made the company’s name, Connext, make more sense than it had when they began.

Join us as we discuss:

• How Rahul’s Silicon Valley upbringing prepared him web3 startup life

Let’s be honest. Crypto has a compliance problem. Blockchain is a global, permissionless, borderless digital technology that expands beyond geography. Yet, regulatory bodies exist in every nation, state, and locality — making it hard for industry players to know what’s legal and what’s not.  

That’s why the work of people like James Young, Head of Compliance & MLRO at Transak, is so important.  

Join us as we discuss:

• The headlines driving the newest crypto compliance concerns

For more, check out “Startups see gold in crypto compliance” in Protocol.

After witnessing political volatility and moving to the U.S. from Moscow in the early 1990s, Anastasia decided as a child that she wanted to create world change through technology.  

That led to an undergraduate degree in political science, a varied career in media, and a six-year period in Rwanda bringing education and tech to East African citizens. 

Then the Cambridge Analytica data scandal happened, and Anastasia knew she wanted to move into the crucially important digital privacy field. 

Anastasia Uglova is the Head of Communications & Ecosystem Development at Lighthouse, an alumna of Cornell with a Masters in InfoSec from UT Austin and an experienced skydiver.  

Join us as we discuss: 

• How do we preserve digital privacy and consent in increasingly immersive spaces?

There are not enough hours in the day for Marek Olszewski. As co-founder and CTO of cLabs and president of Valora, Marek, along with partners, are developing a crypto ecosystem (Celo) that is not only profitable but of service to people.

Marek and cLabs are making it easier and cheaper for people to send money with fewer fees at a faster rate.

Join us as we discuss:

• The synergy between Marek’s values and the technology to make his ideals a reality

Like many platforms in the blockchain space, Ambire was created out of necessity. The founders wanted to monetize their content and also have transparency in the supply chain management of ad sales.

Vanina Ivanova is the Chief Marketing Officer of Ambire, navigating the company through the convolution of the ad tech world. Vanina is using her experience to maximize the profits of clients through ad tech.

Join us as we discuss:

• How decentralization offers solution from a marketing and advertising perspective

The cryptocurrency market has taken quite a nose dive recently. But while the market is down, new innovations are happening with blockchain so that DeFi may one day be widely adopted.

Luigi D’Onorio is the Head of DeFi at Ava Labs on the Avalanche ecosystem. Luigi and his team are building new protocols, products, and applications in the DeFi space so that institutional adoption of DeFi will be a thing of the future.

Join us as we discuss:

• What is causing DeFi to be so expensive currently