The Blockcrunch Podcast

The Dharma team recently launched Lever, a platform for decentralized loans. I caught up with Dharma COO Brendan Forster to discuss this step forward for DeFi, and touch on:

• Surprises from the Lever launch
• How will Dharma capture value?
• How does Dharma compete with Compound?
• How do 150% collateralized loans benefit the unbanked?

Sponsored message: Crypto investors and projects - get a free investment consultation from Wave Financial at wavegp.com!

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi).

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Resources:

• Episode with Wave Financial: "VC's Take on DeFi"
• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

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Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

Funded by Coinbase, Placeholder, Bain Capital and more, UMA is creating decentralized synthetic assets for all. Co-founder Hart joins me in discussing:

• Why decentralize derivatives?
• How does UMA differ from dYdX and other projects?
• UMA's decentralized "US Stock Index" token
• What UMA means for the wider DeFi ecosystem

Rate and subscribe! Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi).

Not finance advice. Spartan Capital and/or Jason may have positions in assets discussed on the show. 

******

Resources.

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

We discuss one of the most awaited project launches recently and tackle every question you had about Cosmos and blockchain interoperability.

Sunny from Tendermint joins us to discuss:

• How does Cosmos work?
• Does Cosmos compete with Ethereum?
• Does Cosmos need the ATOM token?
• Cosmos vs. Polkadot - which one is better?
• and much more

Rate and subscribe! Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi).

Not finance advice. Spartan Capital and/or Jason may have positions in assets discussed on the show. 

******

Resources.

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

We continue our discussion on onchain governance by diving into the common critiques that people have for Decred. Decred's Noah Pierau and I touch on:

• Enforceability of onchain votes
• Stake-based vs. entity-based voting
• Fairness & centralization in proof of stake systems
• The threat of malicious actors

Rate and subscribe! Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi).

Not finance advice. Spartan Capital and/or Jason may or may not have positions in assets discussed on the show. 

******

Resources.

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

We continue our discussion of crypto governance with Decred, a radical project that wants to make all decisions in a decentralized way.

In part 1 of our interview, we chat with community lead Noah Pierau about:

• How Decred's governance works
• How stakeholders are rewarded
• What are people voting on?
• Why we need both miners & stakers 

Rate and subscribe for Part 2! Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi).

Not finance advice. Spartan Capital and/or Jason may or may not have positions in assets discussed on the show. 

******

Resources.

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

Polychain Capital turned $4 Million into $1 Billion and became the world's largest crypto hedge fund. Partner and research lead Niraj Pant joins Blockcrunch on this episode to discuss:

• Polychain's investment funnel
• Value accrual in tokens
• Tokens vs. equity
• Fat Protocols, dapps and interoperability
• Structuring a hedge/ venture fund

Rate and subscribe! Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi).

Not finance advice. Spartan Capital and/or Jason may or may not have positions in assets discussed on the show. 

******

Resources.

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

Do you really understand crypto if you don't understand liquidity? For investors, liquidity in crypto can be a huge risk - but also a big opportunity. 

I chat with Michael Feng from CoinAlpha/Hummingbot on:

• What market makers do 
• The problem with tokenizing illiquid assets
• Market asymmetries in crypto
• How traders arbitrage across centralized and decentralized exchanges

Rate and subscribe! Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi).

Not finance advice. Spartan Capital and/or Jason may or may not have positions in assets discussed on the show. 

******

Resources.

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

What would the three branches of the government look like...on the blockchain? This week, we continue our discussion on crypto governance with Storecoin, backed by Blocktower and Arrington XRP Capital, to find out.

Founder Chris McCoy and I touch on:

• Why 1-coin-1-vote doesn't work
• How to creates a p2p democracy and its tradeoffs
• Whether a system of checks and balances makes sense

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi)

Not finance advice. Spartan Capital and/or Jason may or may not have positions in assets discussed on the show. 

******

Resources:

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

More than $240M worth of ETH are locked up in MakerDao's smart contracts, making it the largest project on Ethereum in terms of value locked up (beyond direct speculation). Founder Rune Christensen joins us on this special episode.

We touch on:

• The origins of Dai and its adoption so far
• How will Maker scale?
• Maker's stabilization mechanism and governance
• How would Maker bootstrap a new synthesized asset?

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi)

Not finance advice. Spartan Capital and/or Jason may or may not have positions in assets discussed on the show. 

******

Resources:

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.

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. The Spartan Group and its clients may hold positions in assets described in the episode. Detailed disclaimers available at jasonchoi.me and spartangroup.io/disclaimer

Losing track of the million things happening in crypto governance?

This is the episode you don't want to miss. Gregory Rocco (@Obstropolos) from ConsenSys gives us a quick recap and his take on the different experiments out there today.

We touch on:

• Do governance tokens work?
• Should we have subjectivity in governance?
• The major types of governance models today
• On-chain vs. off-chain - pros and cons

Not finance advice. Rate and subscribe!

Host: Jason Choi (@MrJasonChoi)

******

Resources:

• Relay node newsletter (Asia crypto events)
• Libsyn link
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• Spotify

******

Intro music by Phortissimo.
Outro music by Garreth Chan.

Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch podcast series is intended for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Conduct your own research and invest at your own risk.