Off The Ledger with Jason Butcher

For the season finale of Off the Ledger, Jason is joined by Aydin Kilic of HIVE Blockchain Technologies to discuss why we’re now past the early stages of crypto adoption, what cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH are backed by, and important considerations investors need to make before targeting the crypto mining space.

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

01:06 The world is starting to “get” crypto

02:40 Why DeFi is becoming more attractive

06:50 The story of Fortress Blockchain

08:47 The opportunity in being ESG-Conscious

11:13 The need to be steadfast with capital allocation in crypto

13:50 How the London Hard Fork affected ETH mining

17:16 What's next for HIVE Blockchain

20:21 Where crypto regulation needs to go from here

22:50 ETH and BTC are energy-backed currencies

24:42 Anyone can be a Bitcoin miner

Aydin Kilic is the President and Chief Operating Officer of HIVE Blockchain Technologies, the world’s first publicly-traded crypto mining company. With two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, Aydin’s expertise lies in cryptocurrency, capital markets, real-estate development and scientific research.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

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Gorav Seth is the Co-chair of film financing for Mogul, a DeFi and NFT Marketplace platform for the film & entertainment industry. The corporate-financier and investment banker joins Jason Butcher on Off the Ledger to give a behind-the-scenes view (pun intended) of the changing movie industry, NFTs, and how blockchain is the catalyst for leveling the playing field.

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

01:39 Mogul is streamlining funding for filmmaking

05:08 Blockchain enables the democratization of cinema

08:54 Proof of Origin event launches ‘Wolf of Wallstreet NFT’

11:37 Films funded via the platform meet feasibility considerations

13:33 Upcoming NFTs and film projects

16:38 Blockchain disrupts and levels the playing field

21:18 India and China as potential markets

23:09 Distribution is key for the film business, and blockchain can enable this

25:13 The potential of NFTs is profound

29:44 The crypto community supports filmmakers who engage with them

Mogul is a decentralized film financing platform that brings creators, fans, and film financiers together; allowing everyone to play a part in the next big blockbuster. Gorav has worked for 15 years in corporate finance and investment banking at leading independent investment dealers based in Toronto. Prior to his career in capital markets, Gorav spent over a decade working in the film and television industry as entertainment manager and financier.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

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Praveen Varshney, Director of Varshney Capital Corp. and public venture capital markets specialist, joins Jason Butcher on Off the Ledger to share his views on success, integrity, and social impact. He has some interesting comments on crypto as a store of wealth, and how successful entrepreneurs can find the right investors.

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

01:20 BTC investing as a family matter

03:36 Everybody should have a slice of crypto as an asset

06:15 Profitability & positive social impact can go hand-in-hand

13:01 Money is money, but entrepreneurs need value-add money

16:36 Success leaves tracks, so follow them

Praveen Varshney is the founder, director, and advisor of several enterprises, one of which is Varshney Capital Corporation. An industry veteran who specializes in public venture capital markets, Praveen has a particular interest in resource exploration, real estate, social impact investing, alternative energy, and technology.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

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CoinPayments makes crypto payments easy for everyone including its 120,000 active merchants and 1.2M registered account holders. The platform enables users to transact with 2,000+ cryptocurrencies at industry-low fees of 0.5%. Since 2013, CoinPayments has processed over $10 billion in crypto payments and is now active in over 200 countries.

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Lev Mazur is the founder of the world’s fastest-growing trading platform, Quantfury. The trading veteran joins Jason Butcher on Off the Ledger to talk about the changing investment landscape, how crypto and blockchain enable innovation, and risks to consider with the rising trend of “synthetic trading.”

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

02:08  Pre-crypto trading vs. post-crypto trading

03:08 The elimination of barriers to entry for trading

06:13 Quantfury, the world’s fastest-growing trading platform

08:15 How blockchain enables accessibility & transparency

12:56 The QTF Token & Quantfury’s global presence

17:00 The rise of accessible investing & “synthetic trading”

19:50 Why Quantfury won’t list Dogecoin (for now)

25:35 Regulations are good, but who are they protecting?

30:22 What PayPal’s entry into crypto signals about the future

35:19 Crypto wasn’t invented to make money, but to create value

36:28 NFTs and virtual reality

40:03 What “Quantfurism” stands for

Lev Mazur is the Founder of Quantfury, an online brokerage that offers commission-free trading and investing at real-time spot prices. A veteran of the investment community, Lev has been a quantitative investor in proprietary capital, forex, futures, commodities, and equity markets.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

» Follow Jason on Twitter

CoinPayments makes crypto payments easy for everyone including its 120,000 active merchants and 1.2M registered account holders. The platform enables users to transact with 2,000+ cryptocurrencies at industry-low fees of 0.5%. Since 2013, CoinPayments has processed over $10 billion in crypto payments and is now active in over 200 countries.

» Follow CoinPayments on Twitter

Self-made man Daniel Gouldman holds some politically charged and insightful views on financial systems, monetary reform, and rights of the individual. The CEO & Co-founder of enterprise blockchain company Unbanked joins Jason Butcher on Off the Ledger to share his personal journey from homelessness to successful entrepreneur, as well as his vision for how crypto can help people regain control of their own money.

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

01:09 Daniel's personal journey to entrepreneurship

07:51 Founding of Unbanked

11:46 Finding success through purpose and partnerships

14:16 Unbanked: giving people the choice to control their own money

17:29  Phone-based banking as a precedent

19:00 Crypto as the “open loop” system for our money

20:59 Digital currencies create competition in the marketplace

23:44  COVID, money printing, and asset bubbles

27:24 Crypto needs smart policies and regulation

30:09 Consumer protection shouldn’t preclude consumer rights

31:25 CBDCs, choice, and the concept of criminalizing crypto

Daniel Gouldman is CEO & Co-founder of Unbanked, a global blockchain-powered fintech platform that is changing the way people interact with money and disrupting payments. Daniel has founded several companies and is passionate about making a difference for other businesses, too. A highly political person with an avid interest in geopolitics, history, and business, Daniel is more concerned with doing what’s right than what’s popular.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

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As an early investor in Bitcoin, an expert on the world of FinTech, and an advocate for monetary reform, it’s no exaggeration to call BnkToTheFuture founder Simon Dixon an oracle on the crypto industry. Simon joins Jason Butcher on Off the Ledger to share his thoughts on the evolution of cryptocurrencies, how it is reshaping traditional financial systems, and why Bitcoin remains the single most disruptive idea to the future of finance.

Show Notes

0:00  Intro

2:19 The evolution of the crypto industry

4:55 VCs & Wall Street integrate into the crypto space

7:00 Tapping into the network effect of the crypto market

9:58 The perfect storm for crypto adoption

15:33 Good regulation vs. bad regulation

18:02 The centralized & decentralized finance equilibrium

21:22 Creation of BnkToTheFuture

26:52 From equity crowdfunding to securities

29:20 Fiat currency is debt-based, cryptocurrency is equity-based

36:38 How crypto has influenced younger generations to save and invest

42:15 Why Bitcoin remains the most disruptive idea for monetary reform

Simon Dixon is the CEO & Co-founder of the online investment platform BnkToTheFuture.com and a leading commentator on the future of finance and technology. An ex-investment banker turned Bitcoiner and author of ‘Bank to the Future,’ Simon is an active FinTech & Bitcoin angel investor.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations. 

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Famed investor Frank Holmes has found success in gold, and most recently, in cryptocurrencies. He’s now getting ready for his next move. Tune in to find out what the HIVE Blockchain chairman is most excited for and why he thinks millennials are about to inherit trillions from baby boomers.

Show Notes

0:00 Intro

01:40 HIVE Blockchain: the world’s first publicly traded crypto-mining company

04:43 Understanding the “DNA of volatility”

06:40 Gold vs. Bitcoin: the “fear vs. greed” trade

12:11 How NFTs create a level playing field for the creative industry

13:30 HODL or spend?

17:30 El Salvador’s crypto scam

18:48 How the latest $1T infrastructure package will boost clean energy

20:53 The metaverse & the next evolution of money

24:24 How the “G7 cartel” is risking stifling crypto innovation

28:30 The current trends disrupting the financial industry

30:55 The future is high-performing data centers

34:31 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

Frank Holmes is the CEO of U.S. Global Investors and a thought leader in the precious metals and mining space. He recently found success in the world of blockchain and crypto mining, becoming the chairman of the first publicly traded crypto-mining company Hive Blockchain.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

» Follow Jason on Twitter

IBM Blockchain Leader and host of the popular “Blockchain Won’t Save The World” podcast Anthony Day is all about taking the hype out of blockchain and instead, teaching people how it is actually transforming everything around us. Anthony joined Off the Ledger to highlight ways blockchain is enabling everyone to trade peer-to-peer seamlessly on mobile, and at much lower fees -- trading everything from tokens and watches to energy and artwork.

Show Notes

0:00 Intro

02:45 Entry to IBM Blockchain & Supply Chain

05:39 Blockchain, explained

11:02 How IBM is applying blockchain

16:48 Navigating hesitancy to embrace innovation

19:32 10-year outlook for DeFi and blockchain

27:20 Achieving sustainability with decentralization

32:30 What IBM is leading on in blockchain today

35:48 Driving blockchain awareness and adoption

40:46 The tension between privacy and transparency

44:07 Taking the “blockchain” out to drive adoption

Anthony Day is a blockchain partner at IBM and host of the popular “Blockchain Won’t Save the World” podcast. He leads digital transformations for IBM clients, driving the adoption of new-age tech like blockchain, IoT, AI, robotics, and cloud platforms to optimize their operations.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

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Dynamic entrepreneur and Plastic Bank CEO David Katz joins Jason on his podcast, Off the Ledger, to talk about how blockchain is helping turn plastic waste into currency. Don’t miss the TED speaker's valuable insights geared towards future entrepreneurs.

Show Notes

00:00 Intro

03:48 Plastic Bank’s early vision

09:31 Harnessing the power of community for the future

13:23 Turning plastic waste into currency and creating a “win-win-win” scenario

19:41 The new regenerative economy

23:26 Why we need to demand more from retailers

30:49 How to decide where to branch out next

34:36 Plastic Bank’s proudest achievement

37:36 Advice to entrepreneurs

43:24 David’s 5-year outlook

45:30 Taming your ego

David Katz is the founder & CEO of Plastic Bank, a blockchain-powered solution to ocean plastic. Named one of the world’s most compassionate entrepreneurs by Salt Magazine, David is globally renowned for being a “steward of the earth and a champion for the poor.”

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

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» Follow CoinPayments on Twitter

Visionary entrepreneur and Keynote CEO Moe Levin joins Jason to talk about what it was like to introduce Ethereum to the world back in 2014, lessons learned from the pandemic, and the path the blockchain industry is now taking.

Show Notes

0:00 Intro

03:38 How Keynote got its start

06:13 World, meet Ethereum

07:46 The evolution and rising awareness of the crypto space

13:27 5-year outlook for the crypto industry

20:18 The impact of regulation on adoption

23:12 Pitching CBDCs to the Fed in 2013

30:42 The event industry post-Covid

38:08 Moe’s investment strategy

41:05 Advice to new entrants in the crypto industry

Moe Levin is the CEO of Keynote, the crypto-currency industry’s leading media and events company. He’s also an investor in high-tech startups and an advisor to various governments, regulators, banks, and venture-backed companies. The man that set the stage for Ethereum to launch back in 2014, Moe was also an early investor in Dropbox.

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Jason Butcher is the CEO of CoinPayments. An entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in payments and fintech, Jason has founded multiple global payments companies and serves as an advisor to various fintech and payment associations.

» Follow Jason on Twitter