My guest today is Winston Robson. He is the co-founder of WeMeta, where he and his team are building the data layer for the Metaverse.

Winston and I had a great conversation. Below are a few interesting topics that we discussed:

- Should we call it Metaverse or Multiverse?
- Data is key to "build" and "transact" on the Metaverse
- How to interpret on-chain and off-chain data together
- Key data point to watch out: How long does an average person stay? 
- Games to unlock mass adoption (see FTX's recently launched Crypto Service)
- Learning how to solve a problem, not how to code

Please listen in for a great conversation with Winston Robson.

For anyone interested in a masterclass in investing in financial services (TradFi & DeFi), here is one delivered by Francesco Filia on The Curious Learners. Francesco is the founder and CIO of Fasanara Capital, which is an alternative investment firm.

Francesco and his team have been investing in public and private markets for longer than a decade. He describes his team as a group of 'gentle scientists' and he prefers experimentation over experience. 

Francesco and I had a fascinating discussion on the show and talked about highly interesting topics including:

- the current status of financial markets and its disconnect with the real economy
- why fintechs exist (hint: the huge gap left by the banks)
- platform economy to offer solutions that banks can't (or don't want to?)
- embedded finance and DeFi working together for financial inclusion
- DeFi's four top pillars
- path to mass adoption for DeFi

Please listen in for a great conversation with Francesco Filia.

My guest today is Calvin Luk from Refinable. It is a decentralised NFT marketplace operating across multiple layer-1 chains.

Calvin and I discussed the future of NFT marketplaces, where white-label technology solutions might be more favourable for brands, creators and project owners.

Also discussed the following interesting topics:

- Difference in customer adoption between Asia and Western markets
- Gaming ecosystem as a key partner for higher utility from NFTs
- How partnerships with Web 2.0 brands increase value proposition for both sides
- Shopify model for future of commerce in web 3.0

Please enjoy my conversation with Calvin Luk.

And please feel free to sign up on The Curious Learners on the following link: https://thecuriouslearners.substack.com

I continue to go down the rabbit hole of Web 3.0. My guest is Mark Studholme. He is the founder of Metamundo, which is a marketplace of 3D NFTs and digital assets for metaverse.

It is a gateway for the use of artists and creators to build the metaverse.

Mark and I discussed all things metaverse. Select topics are listed below:

• Difference between 2D and 3D assets and the need for a new platform for 3D
• Critical building blocks of an open metaverse
• Mass adoption of metaverse (observations from scaling of games)
• Solving interoperability across metaverses (e.g. Decentraland, Sandbox, Somnium, etc.)
• DAOs in the context of metaverse
• NFTs to empower and compensate creators

Please enjoy my fascinating conversation with Mark Studholme.

My guest today is Simon Vans-Colina. He was in the founding team of Monzo and is now the CTO of Fronted.

Simon has contributed to transformation of financial services during his time at Monzo and is now passionate about DeFi and Web 3.0. Hence, he was a perfect guest to talk about the new wave of transformation in fintech, i.e. convergence with Web 3.0. In fact, he set up TreeDAO, which is a decentralized autonomous organisation (DAO) that buys and protects woodlands.

Some of the interesting topics that Simon and I talked about are listed below:

- Frictions as a driver of transformation in fintech (then and now)
- Attacking the gap between lending and deposit rates via DeFi
- Fintech start ups: agents of consumers
- DAOs to solve the Tragedy of the Commons  

Please enjoy my conversation with Simon Vans-Colina.

My guest today is Patrick Hansen. He is the Head of Strategy and Growth at Unstoppable Finance. It is a start-up with a mission of financial inclusion and making decentralised finance accessible to the mass market.

Patrick and I talked about what it takes to onboard billion users in DeFi and what they are building at Unstoppable Finance to contribute to this goal. Some of the specific topics that we discussed are below:

- Current challenges in DeFi
- Response from regulators and policy-makers
- CBDCs vs. privately-issued stable coins
- Transformational impact of web 3.0 and expanding use of NFTs
- Serving 'power users' and new users of crypto at the same time

Please enjoy my conversation with Patrick Hansen.

Please see below the link to Patrick's Medium article from Aug-2020, where he talked about the challenges in DeFi.

https://patrickhansen-79119.medium.com/why-defi-is-still-years-away-from-mass-adoption-and-its-3-main-challenges-ahead-a46000b5dcfc

My guest today is Aleksi Loytynoja. He is the co-founder of Kleoverse, a platform of work in web 3.0.

Aleksi and his co-founders launched Kleoverse very recently. Their initial focus is on building the network of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and helping talent discover DAOs and engage with them.

Aleksi and I started the episode with why 2022 would be the year of DAOs and talked about Kleoverse in detail and their product roadmap. Below are some of the specific topics that we discussed:

- Operating model for a DAO
- DAOs at its best when there is a strong community with a shared mission
- Crypto wallets to replace LinkedIn to showcase skills and experience
- Kleoverse serving both talent and DAOs / crypto-native companies
- Key operating metrics for Kleoverse now in the early days and later in the future

Please enjoy my conversation with Aleksi Loytynoja.

My guest today is Kaan Eryilmaz. He is the founder of Tinyman, a decentralized trading protocol built on the Algorand blockchain. Kaan is also one of the co-founders of Hipo, where they built several successful fintech products.

Kaan and I had a great conversation on all things DeFi and Tinyman. Here are some of the topics that we discussed:

- How crypto turned into a real product for Kaan with the introduction of DeFi
- The mechanics of a decentralized  trading protocol 
- The spirit behind Tinyman to empower ordinary people and bring them to DeFi
- Community aspect differentiating DeFi from traditional fintech
- User interface as an integral element to grow adoption in a multi-chain world

Please enjoy my conversation with Kaan Eryilmaz.

p.s. Unfortunately, a couple of days after we recorded the episode, an attack occurred on Tinyman Pools on the 1st of Jan. Since then, the Tinyman team, with strong support from their community and stakeholders, have been working to fix the problem and deploy a new version of the contracts as early as possible.

Please feel free to follow their official channels for up to date information.
https://twitter.com/tinymanorg, https://tinymanorg.medium.com/, https://tinyman.org/

Happy New Year everyone!

The Curious Learners is ending 2021 with a special episode on NFTs and web3 with two amazing guests Justin Shenkarow and John Kraski. They are the co-hosts of the wonderful podcast NFT Heat!

Justin is an actor, voice actor, producer and Emmy and Golden Globe winner! He is passionate about NFTs. He started in the NFTs space as a collector and now works with brands, artists and athletes to formulate their NFT strategy.

John is the director of strategic partnerships at NFT Genius and an NFT thought leader. He has a unique position in the NFTs world with his background in luxury lifestyle businesses and his domain expertise in finance. He also works with and advises celebrities in their NFT plans. 

We discussed the following very interesting topics and many more, all things NFTs:

- Utilities for NFTs today and those we are yet to see
- Predictions for NFTs transactions volume in 2022
- Drivers behind the popularity of blue-chip NFT projects 
- Key components to formulate NFT strategy for artists and athletes
- NFTs as a bridge between fans and artists
- Shocking events that could happen in 2022 (you must hear this!)

Please enjoy my fascinating conversation with John Kraski and Justin Shenkarow.

My guest today is Sinan Koc. He is a co-founder of BiLira, which is a stablecoin pegged to Turkish Lira.

I truly enjoyed speaking with him. We discussed the following and many more interesting topics:

- why do we need stablecoins? Now and in the future?
- do stablecoins remain as a gateway between fiat and crypto?
- is there a bifurcation for the use of stablecoins between emerging markets and developed markets?
- what are the two most important KPIs for a stablecoin business?
- how did he combine his previous experience in building a traditional fintech business with his time at Consensys?
- which blockchain is the most promising in his personal view?

Please enjoy my conversation with Sinan Koc.