Proof-of-PR

Jalak Jobanputra is Founding Partner of Future/Perfect Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund in NYC focused on next generation technology such as blockchain and machine learning. Prior to starting the fun, Jalak's career included lots of experience with tech, communications, and investing. When Jalak originally began investing in blockchain projects, she was met with skepticism from many. Bitcoin had been associated with Silk Road and cybercrime, the market wasn't looking great, and Jalak was one of few investors who saw its potential. In this episode, Jalak shares some of the early projects she invested in, what their second fund is looking to invest in, and what they look for when deciding which companies to fund.Topics covered:- How Jalak became interested in the crypto space.- What it was like being one of the first early-stage investors to fund blockchain projects.- What Future/Perfect is looking to invest in now, and what they look for when deciding what to invest in.- Important things for entrepreneurs to know who are looking to get into the blockchain/crypto space.- Weekend for women in blockchain.- Recommendations for people looking to get started in crypto.Links for resources mentioned:http://futureperfectventures.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jalak https://twitter.com/jalakhttp://thebarefootvc.com/https://www.wired.com/story/for-women-in-cryptocurrency-a-new-effort-to-grow-their-ranks/ https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-Blockchain-Future-Everything/dp/1250114578 https://www.amazon.com/Age-Cryptocurrency-Blockchain-Challenging-Economic/dp/1250081556 http://unchainedpodcast.co/https://www.coindesk.com/

RightMesh is an inspirational Canadian success story in the making. John Lyotier, co-founder and CEO, joins us today to talk all about what RightMesh is doing, how they got started, and the secrets to running a great organization.

RightMesh empowers developers to retrofit existing mobile applications and build new P2P mesh applications using its ad hoc mobile mesh networking protocol secured with blockchain technology. What does all this mean? Tune in to find out. Whether it’s communication during a natural disaster or region suffering from lack of traditional infrastructure, there are a ton of use cases for this technology.

This episode features interviews with 2 separate guests; Mike Morgan of McDermott Will & Emery, and Amy Wan, CEO of Sagewise. Mike Morgan leads the Global Privacy and Cybersecurity practice at McDermott Will & Emery, specializing in data breaches, data protection compliance counseling, and other legal issues arising from advanced technologies. With the rise of blockchain, companies are asking him questions about what blockchain can do for them, and the effect it can have on their business. Amy Wan is the CEO of Sagewise, a dispute resolution platform and borderless, digital jurisdiction for smart contracts. She points out that smart contracts are vulnerable due to coding errors, hacks, incorrect data entry, and parties wanting to change or terminate a contract.

Here are another two fascinating interviews recorded during the recent UCLA Cyber Days event. Rajiv Phougat, IBM, is leading a transformation of the automotive industry using AI, blockchain, IoT, and cloud. You may be surprised to know how long IBM has been involved with blockchain, and Rajiv talks about some of the very cool use cases that blockchain can have, including with autonomous vehicles. Ben Taylor is the CEO of LedgerDomain, a blockchain-based Communal Trust Platform delivering blockchain-based solutions to global-scale enterprises. Ben talks about the ways companies can use blockchain technology, both behind the scenes and for customers, while ensuring a fast and secure experience. His company is attempting to stay ahead of the curve, and they’re helped in doing this simply by listening to questions that clients are asking.Show Highlights: - How long IBM has been involved with blockchain tech and what they are doing with it in the automotive sector.- The future of self-driving autonomous cars; regulations, adoption, infrastructure, and the roll blockchain can play.- How blockchain and IOT can affect and transform the automotive industry.- Uses for public vs private blockchains.- Practicality of blockchain security vs consumer expectation.- Progress towards mainstream consumer adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.- Hyperledger.- Importance of realizing problems on existing transactional systems when comparing to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.- How companies can use blockchain properly and efficiently; on chain vs off chain.- Types of blockchain solutions businesses may be able to benefit from.

Taylor Monahan is the CEO and founder of My Crypto. She was one of the minds behind MyEtherWallet.com, a site built out of personal need, which quickly exploded in popularity, playing an integral role in the Ethereum ecosystem, making it easy to interact with the blockchain. In this episode, Taylor shares what it was like growing into a CEO, the challenges of scaling to keep up with massive growth, 2018 plans for My Crypto, and advice for newcomers to crypto.Show highlights: - The story of starting MyEtherWallet and the challenges of scaling to keep up with exponential growth.- Security advantages and disadvantages of crypto and blockchain technology, such as understanding that a user is solely responsible for their private keys.- Recommended first steps for newcomers wanting to get into crypto.- My Crypto’s business model and plans for 2018.- What Taylor’s past year looked like from a personal development standpoint.- Breaking free of the traditional way of thinking to finally enter the world of crypto.- What Taylor is learning as a new CEO.- Taylor’s experience as a woman in the blockchain and crypto community.Links: https://mycrypto.com/https://twitter.com/tayvano_https://twitter.com/mycrypto

Matt Leising is a Market Structure Reporter who covers blockchain and cryptocurrencies for Bloomberg. Having his finger on the pulse of blockchain and crypto, Matt offers some great insights into the market, the relationship between crypto and the traditional financial market, why banks are interested in blockchain, and more. Show Highlights: - Realizing that blockchain technology could change everything.- Why and when Wall Street started paying attention to blockchain and crypto.- How blockchain can help banks and traditional financial markets.- Why the traditional financial world started warming up to crypto after initially not wanting to be involved. - Similarities between crypto markets and traditional markets.- A big reason why crypto won’t go away.- Model of how applications based on blockchain would work and how the company/developers would earn money.- Massive amounts of money in the crypto world chasing gains and funding nonsense ideas.- Will fiat go digital?- Infrastructure needed for crypto to go mainstream.- Responsibility as a crypto reporter who can affect the market.

Amanda B Johnson, a “Crypto Queen” and figurehead for women within the space joins us to talk all about Dash! We first learn about Amanda’s foray into crypto, how she came to be a crypto writer and YouTuber, and how she ended up as a Dash super fan - exclusively promoting Dash. Show Highlights: - Why fast and cheap aren’t the only things required for a successful cryptocurrency payment system.- Reasons why crypto would be avoided as a payment method, and how to change that.- Why user experience is so important.- Can a cryptocurrency function like PayPal for the user, but still be cryptocurrency under the hood? - Paying via usernames- Staking and masternodes

Episode 109: Crypto During Tax Season:

What On Earth to Do with Chris Kovalik of Cointaxes

It’s a hot and confusing topic: taxes and crypto. Chris Kovalik, CEO of Cointaxes, is here to answer every question you’ve ever had (and some you didn’t have) about the laws surrounding crypto taxation in the U.S. Chris and his team saw a dire need to establish confidence in cryptocurrency through consumer education and guidance. Confusion around taxes and crypto led them to create Cointaxes, an affordable software that makes tax prep super easy. Cointaxes supports all exchanges, can scan your public addresses, and calculates your full crypto tax liability - not just capital gains.

Show Highlights:  - Are cryptocurrencies taxed? How does the IRS expect you to file taxes relating to your crypto holdings?- When do you have to pay taxes on your crypto? - Why it’s important to get off on the right foot filing taxes now.- Calculating capital gains and capital losses.- Determining which specific coin you’re selling when you sell. Buying at different times and different prices can get confusing. FIFO, LIFO, and HPFO make this manageable. - How to use the tax system as best possible.- Do you have to pay taxes on airdrop and hardfork currencies?- Donating or gifting cryptocurrencies.- FinCEN requirements  and what to know before using foreign exchanges. - An outline of Cointaxes features.

Links for resources mentioned in this episode:

Cointaxes Website: bit.ly/CTTcointaxes *(affiliate link)

Cointaxes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cointaxes

Coincenter Website: https://coincenter.org/

Digital Chamber Website: https://digitalchamber.org/

Note: The information contained in this episode is for general guidance only. It is not providing any legal, accounting, tax, or any other professional advice. Do not use this podcast as a substitute for consultation with a professional accounting, tax, legal, or other competent advisor. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a tax, legal, or accounting professional

Episode 108: Kavita Gupta of ConsenSys Kicks Off UCLA Cyber Days with Veronica Reynolds

During the UCLA Cyber Days we were able to catch up with many bright minds, and you’ll hear two of them during this episode. Kelley talks with Veronica Reynolds, UCLA student and one of the co-founders of the UCLA Blockchain Lab, and Kavita Gupta, founding managing partner at Consensys.UCLA Cyber Days was a blockchain & cryptocurrency conference where attendees got to meet investors and learn more about the state of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Veronica tells us more about the event, and why the UCLA Blockchain Lab was started. ConsenSys is a major player in the blockchain ecosystem. Kavita Gupta, founding managing partner, is here to blow your mind and explain the many facets of their business. Some of these include: - ConsenSys Academy: Education for both developers and non-developers, bridging the Ethereum knowledge gap and revolutionizing education through blockchain technology.- ConsenSys Labs:  A venture studio providing world-class resources, tools, and talent to entrepreneurs and developers around the world.- ConsenSys Solutions: A consulting arm which helps organizations across the globe build, test, and deploy public and private blockchain solutions. Kavita explains these and more in detail and outlines what’s to come from ConsenSys in the future at their fast-growing company.

Links for resources mentioned:

ConsenSys Website: https://consensys.net/

ConsenSys Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consensussystems

Kavita Gupta Twitter: https://twitter.com/KavitaGupta19

Veronica Reynolds LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronicareynolds/

Veronica Reynolds Twitter: https://twitter.com/vlectronica

Episode 107: Talking with Tim Draper:

Crypto Legend and Bitcoin’s Biggest Fan

Tim Draper is a well-known venture capital investor and early adopter of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. We were super fortunate to have Tim sit and chat with us recently at the Bitcoin Super Conference in Dallas.

Having the foresight to get into bitcoin in the early days, it’s fascinating to hear Tim’s outlook and predictions for the future of cryptocurrency and the financial industry. He tells us about how he first became interested in bitcoin, whether or not he thinks bitcoin will hold its dominance in the future, and why countries should remain mostly hands-off in terms of regulating the cryptocurrency space.

Tim is a firm believer in bitcoin and the entire crypto space, making an argument for why bitcoin is the best store of value. There’s no FUD here! This episode is sure to instill confidence in the exciting future that cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech will bring.

Show Highlights:

• How Tim got into bitcoin and crypto in the first place.
• His future prediction of whether or not Bitcoin will hold its dominance.
• The future of fiat currency vs crypto.
• The bitcoin lightning network and how bitcoin can stay relevant by implementing new tech.
• Implications of light vs. heavy government regulations on cryptocurrency.
• Why countries would benefit hugely by staying mostly hands-off on bitcoin, crypto, and blockchain tech.
• The best way to enter the market and get started in crypto.
• Tim’s argument for why bitcoin is the best store of value

Links and resources mentioned:

Tim Draper Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimDraper 

Ledger Nano S Wallet: http://amzn.to/2FsaQcy

Coinbase: To earn $10 of bitcoin, sign up for Coinbase using Kelley's referral link: https://goo.gl/Be2Pkz