WAGMI Ventures Podcast

Today’s episode is with Amit Gajjala (Founder & CEO) and Antonio Morales (Head of Ecosystem + Community) at Stader Labs (www.staderlabs.com). Backed by Pantera, Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital, Accel, & more, Stader Labs is a multichain liquid staking platform. In this episode we discuss their earliest insights about the market that led to Stader Labs, their product roadmap (and how they continue to evolve), what it was like getting $150m TVL on day one of launch, the Terra/Luna collapse (and how they worked past it), comments on Coinbase’s recently-announced liquidity staking derivative cbETH, & much more.

Recorded Tuesday February 7th, 2023.

Vijay Pravin is the Founder & CEO at bitsCrunch (www.bitscrunch.com). Backed by Coinbase Ventures, Animoca Brands, Polygon, & more, bitsCrunch is forensic and AI-powered NFT analytics that fights wash trading, fraud, and gives accurate value for digital assets. In this episode we discuss how bitsCrunch fits into the current NFT space, his insights into the space driving their unique product strategy in 2023, his recent time in web3 circles at the World Economic Forum, and much more.

Recorded Tuesday January 31st, 2023.

Chris Georgen is the Founder & Managing Director of Topl (www.topl.co). Backed by Mercury Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures, & more, Topl is building an impact technology economy that enables digital and sustainable transformation across value chains and empowers the monetization of impact verified on the Topl Blockchain. In this episode we discuss the impact space (broadly construed), how blockchain technology can enable a greater impact on causes people care about, Topl’s unique discoveries about impact-driven blockchain building in 2023, and the possibilities for Topl over the next several years (plus much more).

Check out more about Topl’s work below:

Discord: https://discord.gg/ZqKC6k8pcJ

Topl's Twitter: https://twitter.com/topl_protocol

Chris’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/c_georgen

Recorded Monday January 30th, 2023.

Joseph Cooper is the Founder of Earn Alliance (www.earnalliance.com). Backed by Animoca Brands, CoinFund, Fabric Ventures, & more, Earn Alliance builds communities and tools to inspire and empower gamers to unlock their full potential in web3. In this episode we discuss Coop’s roots in IRC communities and entrepreneurship at a young age, curating games for entertainment value vs. NFT price, the state of the industry for blockchain gaming (good, bad, ugly), the second-order effects in the world if Earn Alliance continues to execute, & much more.

Recorded Monday January 30th, 2023.

Adi Sideman is the Co-Founder & CEO of Revel (www.revel.xyz).

Backed by Union Square Ventures, Polygon, Dragonfly Capital, & more, Revel is a social trading game that recently debuted as #1 Product of the Day on Product Hunt. In this episode we discuss where social networking is heading in the future, interesting possibilities for generative AI in the social networking space, what it’s been like fine-tuning the game economics of Revel, and much more. WAGMI Ventures is an investor in Revel.

Recorded Tuesday January 24th, 2023.

Arda Erturk is the Founder & CEO of DAOhub (www.daohub.xyz). As a Techstars participant, Arda is building a DAO marketplace to make DAO discovery, investment, and portfolio management easier in one central platform. Their long-term vision is to utilize AI by combining on-chain, off-chain data, and Decentralized IDs (DIDs) to enable data-driven governance and investment decisions for investors and DAO builders. In this episode we discuss Arda’s favorite DAOs (and why), new possibilities for DAO involvement, and what gets him most excited about the DAO space over the next several years (plus much more).

Recorded Monday January 23rd, 2023.

Andrew Choi is the Founder & CEO of SuperNormal (www.supernormal.art) & General Partner @ Factorial Funds (www.factorialfunds.com). SuperNormal is the #1 top-selling web3 brand in Korea with >$100m in volume traded, and with celebrity holders like Eva Longoria, Paris Hilton, Mark Cuban, Sergi Roberto, Android founder, and more. Factorial Funds has invested in top companies like Consensys, Coinbase, Robinhood, Affirm, and more. Andrew’s past work includes Tech Lead at Coinbase, Microsoft, Linkedin, & Snapchat. In this episode we discuss what SuperNormal understands about IP in 2023 that others don’t, the evolution from initial concept to a more expansive vision, the primacy of engaging one’s community in a cyclical loop, the investment thesis of Factorial Funds during the bear market, and much more.

Recorded Friday January 20th, 2023.

Mark Shekleton is the Co-Founder & CEO of Smart Seal (www.smartseal.io). Founded by aerospace engineers (and recently shipping the first physical NFT sold on Amazon), Smart Seal is delivering blockchain provenance for physical products (via merging encrypted near field communication hardware infrastructure with NFTs secured by 1:1 links) – tackling the massive counterfeiting challenges endemic to companies large and small across the world. In this episode we talk about the benefits to a world with fewer counterfeit products (hint: less funding for other criminal activities and enterprises), surprises and obstacles while engaging their earliest customers, his thoughts about the growth to come in the “phygital” space, and much more.

Recorded Wednesday January 18th, 2023.

Rohan Agarwal is the Co-Founder & CEO of Cypherock (www.cypherock.com). Backed by ConsenSys Mesh, Orange DAO, GnosisDAO, and more, Cypherock is the world’s first hardware wallet without a seed phrase. In this episode we discuss the three years of R&D necessary to produce their innovative wallet, second-order effects of users having a 10x more secure wallet, what it was like getting audited by Keylabs (the security firm that hacked Ledger), and much more.

Recorded Monday January 16th, 2023.

Griff Green has been a respected leader within the Ethereum community since 2015 and received a masters degree in Digital Currency in 2016 (as the first holder of its kind). As community manager for Slock.it and TheDAO, he led every angle of the crisis response effort following TheDAO Hack. He co-founded the White Hat Group, which secured the at-risk funds (10% of the total supply of ETH) during TheDAO hack and one year later rescued $210 million dollars worth of crypto assets following the Parity Multisig Hack. Griff and the WHG also audited Aragon and MakerDAO systems. Griff then founded Giveth, a crypto donation platform that radically empowers individuals and communities to affect real change in a transparent, decentralized way, and also founded Commons Stack, the natural progression of Giveth’s efforts to build the future of giving with the goal of turning any non-profit cause into an impact investment.

In this episode we discuss micro-economy governance possibilities, public and social goods funding, his best advice for those new to web3, and much more.

Recorded Thursday January 12th, 2023.