The Scoop The Block

Denelle Dixon is the CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation — the primary development team supporting the Stellar blockchain.
In this episode, Dixon emphasizes the potential of blockchain technology to transform financial services in low- to medium-income countries, particularly in Africa and South America.
She also addresses the need for policymakers to create a supportive environment for the industry and the importance of asset issuance and payments in creating equitable access to the global financial system.
 
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Luke Hoersten is the founder and CEO of Bitnomial — a derivatives exchange that aims to replace the underlying rails of the global commodities trading market with crypto.
Bitnomial has obtained regulatory approval for an exchange license, a clearinghouse license and a brokerage license, making them the first business to have all three licenses under one roof.
In this episode, Hoersten discusses the technical innovation to collateral management and trading offered by crypto and the future of collateral management in the crypto derivatives market. 

OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
04:36 Bitnomial's Licenses
05:48 Bitnomial's Product Suite
07:46 Competition
12:09 Phases of Crypto Collateral
19:01 CME Marketshare
21:07 Importance of Derivatives
24:55 Future of Crypto Derivitives
32:18 Onshore vs. Offshore Derivatives
35:09 TradFi Perps
37:37 Closing Thoughts

Zaheer Ebtikar is the founder and CIO of Split Capital.
In this episode, Ebtikar discusses the opportunity of liquid crypto investment strategies and the challenges faced by crypto venture firms, including crowded markets and longer lock-up periods.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
05:14 Evolution of Crypto Venture
08:12 Nuances of Liquid Crypto Funds
10:58 Liquid Fund Capital Allocators
13:59 Crypto Market Inefficiencies
17:38 Shifting Fundamentals
20:38 Impact of ETFs
22:49 Market Opportunities
37:02 Closing Thoughts

Max Boonen is the founder of PV01 — a platform that allows issuers to access capital and for investors to purchase debt using blockchain.
In this episode, Boonen discusses the challenges of accessing debt capital markets and the potential of tokenization in the crypto space, including the paradigm shift from provider-based markets to token-based markets in DeFi.
PV01 uses a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to buy one bond and issue a token that represents the bond. This token is both a representation of a bond and a bond itself.

Mike Cagney is the co-founder and CEO of Figure Markets.
In this episode, Cagney discusses the need for a 'marketplace of everything,' the potential for equity trading on the blockchain, and more.
OUTLINE
00:00 Intro
07:21 The 'Everything' Platform
12:16 Onchain Equities Trading
17:50 Institutionalization of Crypto
27:12 DeFi Lending
29:59 Rebuilding Crypto's Credit Markets
33:51 Wall Street Appetite for ATS
36:28 Regulatory Considerations
38:09 Closing Thoughts

Soona Amhaz is the managing parter at Volt Capital.
In this episode, Amhaz delves into the evolving crypto venture landscape including: challenges for capital allocators, the rise of meme coins, and controversies in token distributions.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
03:40 New Venture Verticals
10:30 Last Cycle's Winners
14:29 Mainstream Crypto Adoption
21:26 Macro Impact on Crypto VC
25:44 The 'Memecoin Meta'
30:21 Points vs. Tokens
38:09 Tokenomics Best Practices
42:19 Closing Thoughts