
214 episodes

Empire Jason Yanowitz & Santiago Santos | Blockworks
-
- Business
-
-
4.9 • 143 Ratings
-
Empire features interviews with top crypto founders to get the real stories that aren’t shared elsewhere. Empire is your look behind the curtain of the crypto industry.
We release two episodes per week: guest interviews on Monday and a weekly roundup on Friday.
-
Mike Novogratz on Crypto's Outlook, Trading & Storytelling | 1000x
In today's episode of 1000x, we are joined by Mike Novogratz, legendary trader and founder of Galaxy Digital. We talk about how Mike built an intuition for markets, how to synthesize trades, crypto's outlook, macro policy expectations, Mike's favorite trade and more!
We'll drop a new 1000x episode on Empire's RSS feed and the 1000x YouTube channel every two weeks. Hit the links below and give us a follow!
- -
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:55) Developing an Intuition for Markets
(03:25) How to Synthesize Trading Opportunities
(07:17) Trading Crypto vs Macro: Similarities and Differences
(11:42) Maintaining Conviction in Crypto
(18:27) Crypto’s Most Interesting Opportunities
(20:51) The Relationship Between BTC and Monetary/Fiscal Policy
(30:41) Retail Adoption: Crypto Needs More Storytellers
(37:19) Why Mike Started Galaxy
(39:40) Favorite Trade of All Time
(42:37) When to Sell vs Hold
(48:22) Investing in Your Community and Making an Impact
- -
Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/novogratz
Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz
Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod
Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3FuSarX
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw
Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
Resources:
Golden Tree
https://www.goldentree.com/
Cumberland
https://cumberland.io/
https://twitter.com/CumberlandSays
DRW
https://drw.com/
https://twitter.com/DRWTrading
- -
Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -
The Sovereign Rollup Thesis & Inevitability of Modular Tech Stacks | Mustafa Al-Bassam (Celestia), Preston Evans (Sovereign)
Today we are joined by Preston Evans and Mustafa Al-Bassam to discuss the sovereign rollup thesis. We discuss social vs technical sovereignty, the Sovereign SDK, why light clients are critical to scale, limitations of optimistic rollups, value accrual in a modular world and more!
- -
Timestamps:
(00:00) Rollup Designs
(05:40) Social Sovereignty vs Technical Sovereignty
(09:58) Why Does the Rollup Debate Matter?
(18:09) Limitations of the EVM
(20:39) A Blockchains 3 Core Tasks
(24:21) Thales
(25:18) Security Guarantees & the Benefit for Users
(32:21) Modular Inevitability & Breaking the Layer One Loop
(42:34) Why Preston is Bearish on Optimistic Rollups
(46:00) Value Accrual and Moats
(53:40) Sovereign’s Alpha Release & Celestia’s Mainnet Incoming
- -
Follow Preston: https://twitter.com/prestonevans__
Follow Mustafa: https://twitter.com/musalbas
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod
Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw
Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
This episode is brought to you by Thales. Thales is an innovative digital options platform on Arbitrum and Optimism that gets you exposure to crypto assets in the simplest way possible. As simple as choosing UP or DOWN! Experience the simplicity and power of Thales by visiting https://thalesmarket.io/markets today!
- -
Resources
Celestia
https://celestia.org/
https://twitter.com/CelestiaOrg
Sovereign
https://www.sovereign.xyz/
https://twitter.com/sovereign_labs
- -
Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -
Santi Announces He's Building A Crypto Bank | Roundup
In today's episode, Jason and Santiago discuss their outlook on the bear market, why Lido FUD is overblown, Animoca's red flags to watch, the SEC's show of weakness and Santi's big announcement (he's building a new crypto bank!).
- -
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:38) Why This Bear Market Seems So Dark
(13:47) Santi Announces He's Building a Crypto Bank
(24:54) “Valora Ad”
(25:49) Lido FUD
(33:34) Animoca's Red Flags
(43:16) The SEC Shows Weakness
(47:53) Book/Show Recommendations
- -
Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod
Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw
Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
This episode is brought to you by Valora. Valora is a self-custody, mobile-first wallet... and the easiest way to send, swap, collect and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain. Download the app and start exploring today at valoraapp.com/empire.
- -
Resources:
Animoca
https://www.animocabrands.com/
- -
Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -
MakerDAO's Endgame: The Boldest Gamble in Crypto History | Rune Christensen
Today we are joined by Rune Christensen to discuss MakerDAO's Endgame. The Endgame is MakerDAO's roadmap to create the world's most widely used stablecoin. We discuss how Maker has evolved since 2015, MKR's underperformance, the 5 phases of the Endgame, what could go wrong and more!
- -
Timestamps:
00:00 MakerDAO's History: From Creation to Today
08:51 Codifying Rules to Scale
19:36 MKR’s Underperformance vs DAI’s Growth
24:36 Quicknode
26:25 Phase 1: Rebranding, New Tokens, Farming
37:37 Phase 2: SubDAOs, RWA Collateral & Tokenomics
55:59 Phase 3: Implementing AI
01:01:20 Phase 4 & 5: Voting Rewards and a Special Purpose Blockchain
01:05:40 The Bear Case
01:10:10 Allocator DAOs and Internalizing Value
- -
Follow Rune: https://twitter.com/RuneKek
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod
Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw
Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!
- -
Resources
The Endgame Plan parts 1&2 (May 2022)
https://forum.makerdao.com/t/the-endgame-plan-parts-1-2/15456
The 5 phases of Endgame (May 2023)
https://forum.makerdao.com/t/the-5-phases-of-endgame/20830
- -
Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -
Solana's Metaplex Sparks Heated Protocol Funding Debate | Roundup
In today's episode, we discuss how Metaplex, Solana's leading NFT infrastructure provider, surprised the community by announcing usage fees, causing a heated debate on public goods funding and protocol business models. We also explore the intersection of AI and crypto, the dangers of restaking, if crypto has PMF and Ledger's PR nightmare!
- -
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:57) Nvidia and AI Take Center Stage
(14:20) Metaplex: Public Goods and Protocol Funding
(31:26) “Valora Ad”
(32:24) Should ETH Embrace Restaking?
(38:28) Ledger’s PR Nightmare
(49:32) Does Crypto Have PMF?
(58:01) Fred Wilson: “When They Want to Shut Down, Double Down”
(1:04:41) What We’re Watching and Blockworks’ New Podcast
- -
Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Garrett: https://twitter.com/GarrettHarper_
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod
Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw
- -
This episode is brought to you by Valora. Valora is a self-custody, mobile-first wallet and the easiest way to send, swap, collect and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain.
Try out Masa Prosperity Passport in Valora to claim your free 5+ character .celo domain and get additional rewards from Celo ecosystem partners. Download the app and start exploring today at valoraapp.com/empire."
- -
Resources:
EigenLayer episode (Empire)
https://spoti.fi/45yUdr6
Shared Sequencer episode (Empire)
https://spoti.fi/3MSIw7n
Vitalik's new article on restaking
https://vitalik.ca/general/2023/05/21/dont_overload.html
- -
Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed. -
How Don Wilson Built His Trading Empire | 1000x
In today's episode of 1000x, we are joined by Don Wilson, the founder of DRW and one of the world's most successful traders. Don explains how to use probability distributions to make decisions, how he founded DRW, why BTC has negative convexity, how AI will change financial markets and more!
We'll drop a new 1000x episode on Empire's RSS feed and the 1000x YouTube channel every two weeks. Hit the links below and give us a follow!
- -
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:57) How Don First Became a Trader
(06:28) Custom Valuation Models and Strategies
(10:37) The Transition to Electronic Trading
(14:56) Bitcoin’s Appeal: Removing Intermediaries
(19:21) Cumberland's Origin Story
(21:15) BTC's Negative Convexity
(26:35) How Will AI Impact Financial Markets?
(30:16) Crypto’s Evolution and Market Structure
(35:15) When Will RWAs Move to Crypto Rails?
(37:50) Today’s Infrastructure Shortfalls and the Canton Blockchain
(42:54) Don’s Decision-Making Process
(47:51) Favorite Trades of All Time
- -
Follow Don: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donwilsonjr/
Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman
Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz
Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod
Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3FuSarX
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw
Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
Resources:
Golden Tree
https://www.goldentree.com/
Cumberland
https://cumberland.io/
https://twitter.com/CumberlandSays
DRW
https://drw.com/
https://twitter.com/DRWTrading
Digital Asset
https://www.digitalasset.com/
Canton Network
https://www.canton.network/
- -
Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
Customer Reviews
Accessible, clear fun
As someone serving brands in Web3, Empire is my favorite spot to learn and stay in the know. Yanowitz brings it!
10/10 Listen
One of the best crypto pods out there! Highly recommend for anyone interested in the space.
One of the best crypto podcasts
Informative content with great guests