The Blockcrunch Podcast

Within a few years, USDC ballooned from an experiment to a $3 billion dollar phenomenon - but this is just the beginning. CEO and founder of Circle, Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) joins us in revealing:

• His experience taking 2 tech companies public in the 90s 
• How Circle grew USDC in the early days
• US vs. Asia in the fight for crypto dominance
• USDC on Ethereum, Algorand and Solana

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

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Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io

• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Intro track: Underground Stars by Loxbeats https://spoti.fi/34tPBBO Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/underground-stars Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/vpJDMD2EzkA

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

Can investors find alpha by looking at blockchain data? Companies have been built around the idea of aggregating onchain transaction data into investable insights - do they work? Host Jason Choi speaks with Brian and Dino from crypto analytics company, Santiment (@santimentfeed). We discuss:

• What are the most reliable onchain metrics for traders?
• What metrics should investors ignore?
• Case studies of using data to predict price movement

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

 ******

Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io

• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Intro track: Underground Stars by Loxbeats https://spoti.fi/34tPBBO Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/underground-stars Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/vpJDMD2EzkA

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

IDEX is taking a unique approach to scaling decentralized exchanges by combining centralized elements with non-custodial features. Can this work? We speak with founder Alex Wearn (@AlexWearn) on:

• Uniswap vs. order book exchanges
• Why dex's need to move to layer 2
• Is some centralization ok for dex's?
• Trust assumptions IDEX users have to make 

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

 ******

Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io

• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Intro track: Underground Stars by Loxbeats https://spoti.fi/34tPBBO Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/underground-stars Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/vpJDMD2EzkA

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

It's no news that DeFi needs to scale - but will it happen on layer 2, or will projects move to other layer 1s?

Serum's Sam Bankman-Fried (@SBF_Alameda) and Synthetix's Kain Warwick (@kaiynne) join us in discussing their opposite views on scaling

• Serum vs. Synthetix 
• Solana vs. Optimistic Rollups
• Is Layer 2 enough to scale all of DeFi?
• Composability concerns with layer 2 solutions
• Bootstrapping liquidity for a new layer 1

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

 ******

Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io

• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Intro track: Underground Stars by Loxbeats https://spoti.fi/34tPBBO Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/underground-stars Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/vpJDMD2EzkA

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

Stani Kulechov (@StaniKulechov), founder of Aave, joins us this week to recap the latest developments with 

• How did Aave successfully pivot, and grow to $1B in deposits?
• What is "Aavenomics" and why is it gamechanging?
• How will Aave onboard traditional assets and bridge DeFi with traditional finance?
• What excites Stani the most?

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

 ******

Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io

• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Intro track: Underground Stars by Loxbeats https://spoti.fi/34tPBBO Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/underground-stars Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/vpJDMD2EzkA

Transition track: "BHANGER" by Phortissimo. Used with permission

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

Santiago Roel Santos (@santiagoroel), partner at ParaFi Capital, an active DeFi fund, joins us to answer your burning questions around popular DeFi projects:

• Is Synthetix scalable?
• Is Nexus Mutual incentives correctly designed?
• Does Yearn Finance have key man risk?
• Are food forks like Yam going to be around?

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). If you enjoyed the show, consider tipping! This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

• BTC: 3EFSLnPpme6Lo6DynN1bVV9owooueFvEmJ
• ETH: 0xdec40AA30B9C562aB4b839529BfC290C1B5Da61E

 ******

Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io
• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Transition track: "BHANGER" by Phortissimo. Used with permission

Outro track: "LEMMiNO - Infinity [Chill]" is released under a Creative Commons license (BY-SA) 4.0 Music provided by BreakingCopyright: https://youtu.be/uweorwa3q34

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

Seth Ginns (@sethginns), Head of Liquid Strategy at CoinFund, hops on the podcast to share his crypto investment thesis, informed by over 2 decades of investment experience. We discuss:

• Why 2021 is the big year for crypto
• Amazon in the 90s vs crypto today
• How should investors value new cryptoassets?
• Price target for Bitcoin

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). If you enjoyed the show, consider tipping! This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

• BTC: 3EFSLnPpme6Lo6DynN1bVV9owooueFvEmJ
• ETH: 0xdec40AA30B9C562aB4b839529BfC290C1B5Da61E

 ******

Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io
• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Transition track: "BHANGER" by Phortissimo. Used with permission

Outro track: "LEMMiNO - Infinity [Chill]" is released under a Creative Commons license (BY-SA) 4.0 Music provided by BreakingCopyright: https://youtu.be/uweorwa3q34

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

Hugh Karp (@HughKarp), founder of Nexus Mutual, the largest project that provides insurance-like coverage for DeFi users, hops on Blockcrunch to answer your questions. We discuss:

• How does Nexus' token model work?
• Nexus' approach to pricing smart contract risk
• Why does Nexus have KYC? Will this stay?
• How can Nexus plug into other DeFi projects?
• What are the major developments for Nexus next 12 months?

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). If you enjoyed the show, consider tipping! This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

• BTC: 3EFSLnPpme6Lo6DynN1bVV9owooueFvEmJ
• ETH: 0xdec40AA30B9C562aB4b839529BfC290C1B5Da61E

 ******

Resources:

• Nexus Mutual forum: https://forum.nexusmutual.io/
• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io
• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Transition track: "BHANGER" by Phortissimo. Used with permission

Outro track: "LEMMiNO - Infinity [Chill]" is released under a Creative Commons license (BY-SA) 4.0 Music provided by BreakingCopyright: https://youtu.be/uweorwa3q34

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

Ethereum DeFi may soon face some competition from Serum - a high speed decentralized exchange built on Solana! Sam Bankman-Fried (@SBF_Alameda) and Anatoly Yakovenko (@aeyakovenko), founders of FTX exchange and Solana, join us in discussing their joint creation. We talk:

• What is Serum and why should we care?
• Building on Solana vs. on Ethereum Layer 2
• How can a new DeFi ecosystem overcome Ethereum's network effects?

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). If you enjoyed the show, consider tipping! This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

• BTC: 3EFSLnPpme6Lo6DynN1bVV9owooueFvEmJ
• ETH: 0xdec40AA30B9C562aB4b839529BfC290C1B5Da61E

 ******

Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io
• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Transition track: "BHANGER" by Phortissimo. Used with permission

Outro track: "LEMMiNO - Infinity [Chill]" is released under a Creative Commons license (BY-SA) 4.0 Music provided by BreakingCopyright: https://youtu.be/uweorwa3q34

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. 

IDEO is a design studio known for designing the Apple mouse and championing design thinking in Silicon Valley in the 90s. Today, IDEO CoLab invests and helps DeFi projects find product market fit. Managing Director Ian Lee (@ianjohnlee) joins me in discussing:

• Finding product-market fit for Layer 1s and DeFi
• How design thinking benefits founders in crypto
• How IDEO works with DeFi startups

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi). If you enjoyed the show, consider tipping! This show is not financial advice; show host and guest may hold some of the assets discussed.

• BTC: 3EFSLnPpme6Lo6DynN1bVV9owooueFvEmJ
• ETH: 0xdec40AA30B9C562aB4b839529BfC290C1B5Da61E

 ******

Resources:

• Borrow and lend crypto at market-beating rates: Nexo.io
• Subscribe to my essays here: jasonchoi.substack.com

 ******

Musical credits:

Transition track: "BHANGER" by Phortissimo. Used with permission

Outro track: "LEMMiNO - Infinity [Chill]" is released under a Creative Commons license (BY-SA) 4.0 Music provided by BreakingCopyright: https://youtu.be/uweorwa3q34

Disclaimer: Jason Choi is an investor at Spartan Capital, the hedge fund arm of The Spartan Group. All opinions expressed by Jason and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of The Spartan Group and any of its subsidiaries and personnel. This podcast is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.