The Blockcrunch Podcast Jason Choi

Crypto markets are off to a bullish start in the new year, and one of the projects that have renewed a ton of community interest is Frax - the only semi-algorithmic stablecoin that has actually persisted throughout 2022’s thick and thin without depegging.
Today, we have Sam Kazemian, Founder of Frax, to share with us:
How Frax’s 5 products all tie together in 1 unifying vision  Frax’s roadmap in 2023 Frax’s liquid staking ETH versus others  
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.

 
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction to Frax
(00:04:10) – Major milestones for Frax in 2022
(00:07:12) – Frax’s 2023 roadmap
(00:13:25) – Decentralization vs Capital Efficiency vs Scaling
(00:21:20) – Frax as the central bank of DeFi 
(00:27:15) – Frax’s version of liquid staking ETH
(00:45:04) – Path to decentralizing the ETH PoS validator distribution
(00:50:50) – Handling slashing
(00:55:54) – Frax’s yield mechanism on staked ETH
(00:59:38) – Major initiatives to increase Frax adoption 
 
More Resources:
Guest
Frax’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/fraxfinance
Sam Kazemian’s: https://twitter.com/samkazemian
 
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
 
Disclosures:
The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.

P.S Blockcrunch VIP subs can access exclusive alpha from Hal in our part 2 interview over at http://bit.ly/3iTnsS4
 
2022 was one of the toughest years to be in crypto with even professional investors suffering from 80-90% losses.
 
However, crypto hedge fund North Rock Digital reportedly navigated 2022's crises nimbly, and its founder quickly rose to prominence on Twitter for his timely and decisive market commentary.
 
Today, we have Hal, Founder of North Rock Digital, to share with us: 
His transition from equities to crypto Identifying investable narratives and planning the trade 1 vertical that Hal is looking at right now  
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.

 
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction to Hal
(00:05:21) – North Rock Digital’s thesis 
(00:11:13) – Equities versus Crypto investing
(00:15:36) – Identifying investable narratives
(00:17:58) – How Hal played the ETH merge
(00:22:26) – Thesis on Short BTC Long ETH 
(00:26:56) – Positioning, sizing and exiting trades
(00:34:36) – 1 vertical that Hal is bullish on 
 
More Resources:
Guest
Hal Press’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/NorthRockLP
North Rock Digital’s Website: https://northrockdigital.com/
 
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
 
Disclosures:
The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.

Since 2020, the development of the Web 3 space has arguably validated the value propositions of decentralized blockchains. However, Web 3 today primarily serves crypto-natives and exists as a subset of the internet.
 
An up-and-coming vertical of projects known as Consumer Vertical focuses on helping empower the everyday internet user and helping Web 3 reach its fullest potential.
 
Today, we have Derek, Co-Founder of Collab+Currency, to share with us:
- What is the Consumer vertical?
- 3 consumer verticals that will take off in 2023
- Identifying investable opportunities
- “3 rights” investing framework - Time, Problem, Team
 
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.
 
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:02:22) – Introduction to Collab+Currency 
(00:05:45) – “Aha!” moment for Derek 
(00:07:57) – Conviction to focus on the consumer vertical 
(00:11:16) – Disrupting Web 2 social media platforms
(00:17:22) – Social features enabled by blockchain 
(00:22:43) – Outpacing Web 2 competitors
(00:24:24) – Derek’s investing framework 
(00:37:17) – Identifying networks that can be monetized
(00:40:12) – Narratives that might take off in 2023
 
More Resources:
Guest
Collab+Currencyl’s Website: https://www.collabcurrency.com/
Derek’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekedws
Flamingo DAO’s Website: https://flamingodao.xyz/
 
Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
 
Disclosures:
The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.

*PS* we apologize for the background noise around the 17min mark. We have already tried to minimize it to the best we can, but it is still audible.

Even amidst all the blowups in the bear market, great builders continue to build and great investors continue to support them.
Blockchain Capital is one of the earliest and leading venture capital firms in the blockchain industry. Today, Blockchain Capital manages $2 billion in AUM, and has invested in some of the largest blockchain companies like OpenSea, 1inch and Aave. 
Today on Blockcrunch, we have Kinjal Shah and Yuan Han Li, Partner and Associate at Blockchain Capital to share with us:
4 verticals they think will take off in 2023 Framework for investing in different verticals Making Web 3 development more accessible for builders Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.

 
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:39) – Introduction to Blockchain Capital 
(00:07:48) – Exploring consumer vertical 
(00:12:47) – Improving wallet UX with Account Abstraction 
(00:21:30) – Unlocking more use-cases in NFTs
(00:25:09) – Apps verticalizing into its own app-chain and app-rollup
(00:31:03) – Making Web 3 development more accessible
(00:35:23) – Layer 1 landscape & new developments
(00:41:26) – Value capture of dApps vs protocols
(00:44:52) – Projects to watch out for in 2023
 
More Resources:
Guest
Blockchain Capital’s Website: https://blockchain.capital/
Kinjal Shah’s Twitter:https://twitter.com/_kinjalbshah
Yuan Han Li’s Twitter:https://twitter.com/yuan_han_li

Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
 
Disclaimer:
The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.

How can crypto be dead when we still have outstanding teams building amidst this bear market?
STEPN took the world by storm when it introduced the idea of earning through movement - at its peak, there were more than a million daily active users using STEPN.
Since then, Find Satoshi Labs (team behind STEPN) has made further strides and verticalized to launch its own decentralized exchange DOOAR and more recently, their NFT marketplace MOOAR. 
Today on Blockcrunch we have Mable Jiang, Chief Revenue Officer at Find Satoshi Labs to share with us:
How is STEPN performing in a bear market  Decision to verticalization Enforcing royalties on DOOAR Trading vs subscription fee on DOOAR Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.

 
------------ Timestamps -------------
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:39) – Introduction to STEPN
(00:04:41) – Motivation for playing STEPN in a bear market
(00:09:07) – STEPN’s new dual reward system
(00:14:19) – Cutting Orca off and creating own DEX (DOOAR)
(00:20:41) – Building their own NFT marketplace (MOOAR)
(00:29:02) – Synergies between MOOAR and STEPN
(00:31:50) – Managing STEPN, DOOAR & MOOAR all at once
(00:35:58) – Decision behind MOOAR’s subscription fee
(00:43:54) – Status and roadmap on all the developments
 
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----------- More Resources ---------
Guest
Mable’s Twitter:https://twitter.com/Mable_Jiang
Find Satoshi Lab’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/fslweb3

Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi
 
------------ Disclosures -------------
Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.

GoldenTree, one of the largest independent asset managers with $47 billion AUM recently announced their official foray into the crypto space with a new subsidiary GoldenChain and a $5.2 million investment in Sushi
While traditional funds entering the crypto space is becoming more common, GoldenTree’s entrance is huge news because of their caliber and active investment strategy
Today on Blockcrunch, we have Avi Felman, GoldenChain’s Head of Digital Asset Trading to share with us:
How might crypto markets evolve over the years Frameworks for short-term and long-term trading GoldenChain’s thesis for $5.2 million investment into Sushi and their plans  
Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice.

 
------------ Timestamps -------------
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:42) – Avi’s road to investing in crypto professionally
(00:05:52) – GoldenTree, a $47b fund’s foray into crypto
(00:09:19) – Evolution of crypto markets
(00:20:37) – Categorizing different bets
(00:26:12) – System for short-term trading
(00:31:43) – Investing for the long-term
(00:36:30) – GoldenTree’s investment thesis in SUSHI
(00:42:53) – Restructuring a decentralized organization

----------- Sponsors -------------
dYdX is the Leading Decentralized Exchange for trading perpetual contracts. Users enjoy low fees, deep liquidity, up to 20x more buying power and even earn $DYDX from trading. Trade on dYdX today at: https://trade.dydx.exchange
 
----------- More Resources ---------
Guest
Avi Felman’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/AviFelman

Blockcrunch
Blockcrunch VIP: https://blockcrunch.substack.com/
Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch
Jason Choi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi

------------ Disclosures -------------
Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch’s guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch’s podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.