Flippening - For Cryptocurrency Investors (bitcoin, Ethereum, And Cryptoasset Investing)

This episode is the first installment of our two-part series on the history of crypto exchanges. I’m joined by Nathaniel Whittemore, freelance crypto communications strategist and curator of Long-Reads Sundays on Twitter. This conversation is part of a larger series we’re doing on crypto exchanges. As part of this series, we’ve already interviewed Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Ivan Poon from Switcheo, & John Jansen from Deribit, among others. Nathaniel and I are teaming up to write an article about the history of cryptocurrency exchanges. In this two-part series, we explore the main ideas from that article and share our understanding of how cryptocurrency exchanges and the crypto exchange ecosystem have evolved over time. This conversation is broken up into 5 chapters: - Chapter 1: The pre-history of Bitcoin and how regulation from that era still affects us today- Chapter 2: An exploration of the first crypto exchange that launched only a year after Bitcoin went live- Chapter 3: The

Welcome to part two of this series on crypto derivatives trading. Once again, I'm joined by Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, one of the fastest-growing crypto derivatives exchanges in the space. FTX launched in April of 2019, and at the time of this recording, does around $100 million dollars in daily volume. Sam is also CEO of Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm that provides liquidity to crypto markets worldwide. Alameda manages over $100 million in digital assets and trades $600 million to $1.5 billion dollars per day across thousands of products. They are responsible for approximately 5% of all (legitimate) crypto exchange volume. This deep-dive is broken up into 7 chapters: - Chapter 1: Quantitative trading - Chapter 2: The relationship between Alameda Research and FTX - Chapter 3: The current state of crypto derivatives trading - Chapter 4: The similarities and differences between leveraged volume and spot market volume - Chapter 5: The current state of FTX - C

Welcome to part 1 of this series on crypto derivatives trading. I’m joined by Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, one of the fastest-growing crypto derivatives exchanges. FTX launched in April of 2019, and at the time of this recording, does around $100 million dollars in daily volume. Sam is also CEO of Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm that provides liquidity to crypto markets worldwide. Alameda manages over $100 million in digital assets and trades $600 million to $1.5 billion dollars per day across thousands of products. They are responsible for approximately 5% of all (legitimate) crypto exchange volume. This conversation is broken up into 7 chapters: - Chapter 1: Quantitative trading - Chapter 2: The relationship between Alameda Research and FTX - Chapter 3: The current state of crypto derivatives trading - Chapter 4: The similarities and differences between leveraged volume and spot market volume - Chapter 5: The current state of FTX - Chapter 6: Growth hacking and b

Welcome to part 2 of our series on Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange based on real trading volume. Nomics has given Binance an A exchange transparency rating, which means that Binance provides highly audible and granular data about trading activities with complete history. On most days, they are the #1 ranked exchange on Nomics.com. In the previous episode, I had the honor of interviewing CZ, CEO and founder of Binance. In that episode, CZ gives us a "behind the scenes" look at how Binance grew to become the #1 crypto exchange only a few months after launching. In this episode, we continue our exploration of Binance by talking with Wei Zhou, CFO of Binance. Before joining Binance in 2018, Wei was CFO of several startups, including two companies that IPOed in the US. Wei was also instrumental in the 2018 Grindr acquisition. This conversation is broken up into 8 chapters: - Chapter 1: How Binance accounts for its revenue - Chapter 2: Binance’s fiat businesses (like Binance US, Binance Jersey,

This conversation is with Binance CEO and founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ). Binance is the world’s biggest crypto exchange based on (real) trading volume.  On most days they're #1 ranked exchange on Nomics.com; they're also our highest rated exchange. Binance is one of the two most important crypto companies.  I believe they'll become one of the most important in all of finance.This episode is in 5 chapters: - Chapter 1: The state of Binance when it launched, and the pre-conditions that led to its rapid rise- Chapter 2: The current state of Binance and Binance Coin / $BNB- Chapter 3: What CZ would do if he were to start a company from scratch - Chapter 4: Binance’s growth hacking strategies - Chapter 5: An exploration of value-added custody In this episode we discuss: The lawsuit Sequoia Capital lodged against Binance over a "no-shop clause" in a term sheet Why Binance transitioned from “employees” to "team members" The relationship between Binan

In this episode, I’m joined by Ivan Poon, co-founder and CEO of the Switcheo Crypto Exchange. Switcheo is the world’s first consumer-grade & multi-chain decentralized cryptocurrency exchange allowing users to trade across different blockchains.We discuss Switcheo’s origin story, how to market a crypto exchange, and the future of decentralized exchanges. This conversation is broken up into 7 chapters: - Chapter 1: What Switcheo is and how it’s positioned in the market - Chapter 2: Which parts of the Switcheo exchange are on-chain versus off-chain - Chapter 3: Switcheo’s core user demographics - Chapter 4: What it actually takes to grow an exchange - Chapter 5: The regulatory environment for exchanges - Chapter 6: Switcheo’s business operations - Chapter 7: The future of decentralized exchanges In this episode we discuss: How Switcheo facilitates on-chain, Atomic swaps Hash time-locked contracts (HTLCs) Proxy tokens The pros and cons of the EOS, NEO, and Ethereum blockcha

Welcome to the second and final installment of our deep dive on high-frequency cryptoasset trading. Once again, I'm joined by Ed Tolson, founder of kbit. Kbit is a high-frequency trading firm that's responsible for about 0.5% of daily total crypto exchange volume. For example, in May of 2019, kbit did just shy of $1 billion of total volume. This two-part deep dive is broken up into five chapters: - Chapter One: What high-frequency trading is- Chapter Two: What high-frequency traders actually do as well as the categories of high-frequency trading that exist in cryptoland- Chapter Three: Data, fake volume, and toxic activity on exchanges- Chapter Four: How kbit operates- Chapter Five: What the future of high-frequency trading might look like In the previous episode (#0049), we explored chapters one and two. In this episode, we conclude the conversation by covering chapters three through five. We discuss: How exchanges outsource wash trading Wha

Welcome to this two-part deep dive on high-frequency cryptoasset trading. Our guest is Ed Tolson, founder of kbit. Kbit is a high-frequency trading firm that's responsible for about 0.5% of daily total crypto exchange volume. For example, in May of 2019, kbit did just shy of $1 billion of total volume. This two-part deep dive is broken up into five chapters: - Chapter One: What high-frequency trading is- Chapter Two: What high-frequency traders actually do as well as the categories of high-frequency trading that exist in cryptoland- Chapter Three: Data, fake volume, and toxic activity on exchanges- Chapter Four: How kbit operates- Chapter Five: What the future of high-frequency trading might look like In this episode, we cover chapters one and two. We discuss: Ed’s background in crypto and finance The role that artificial intelligence plays in high-frequency trading What Ed was doing before founding kbit The definition of high-frequency trading Who kbi

Today's episode is an exploration of crypto trading bots and algorithmic trading with Daniel Anderson. Daniel is a software engineer and a freelancer who builds tools for cryptocurrency traders. Before he got into the crypto space, Daniel was a software developer for IBM.This conversation is broken up into 4 chapters: - Chapter 1: What trading bots are, how they work, and why they’re useful- Chapter 2: Approaches for setting up, testing, and executing algo trading strategies- Chapter 3: Popular algo trading strategies- Chapter 4: The future of algorithmic trading In this episode we discuss: How John Mcafee inspired Daniel to start building crypto trading bots What trading bots are and what they do How algorithmic trading works Factors that new algo traders must take into consideration when backtesting How to account for slippage Portfolio allocation strategies How trading bot platforms allocate funds How fees are accounted for in algo trading 

Welcome to this second and final installment of this deep dive on institutional cryptoasset staking, staking as a service, and leveraging staking to generate returns. My guest today is Joe Buttram, founder and CEO of EON Staking. This two-part deep dive is divided into four chapters:  - Chapter One: What staking is and a step-by-step process for doing it- Chapter Two: The ins and outs of the institutional “staking-as-a-service” business model - Chapter Three: The regulatory landscape around staking and how the IRS, the SEC, and the CFTC view staking - Chapter Four: What the future of staking and staking based blockchains might look like Chapters 1 and 2 were covered in the previous episode. In today's episode, we finish up chapter 2 and dive into chapters 3 and 4. We discuss: How staking-as-a-service providers make money How EON communicates its philosophy and actions to users  How the legal agreements that EON has with its customers work How and why stakers can lose money

Welcome to this two-part deep dive on institutional cryptoasset staking, staking as a service, and leveraging staking to generate returns. My guest today is Joe Buttram, founder and CEO of EON Staking.  This two-part deep dive is divided into four chapters: - Chapter One: What staking is and a step-by-step process for doing it with tokens you may be holding - Chapter Two: The ins and outs of the institutional “staking-as-a-service” business model - Chapter Three: The regulatory landscape around staking and how the IRS, the SEC, and the CFTC view staking - Chapter Four: What the future of staking and staking based blockchains might look like In this episode, we cover chapters 1 and 2.We discuss: What staking is and how it exists as an alternative model to proof of work Criticisms of proof of stake Popular stake-based blockchains The difference between proof of stake and delegated proof of stake systems The economic models around staking What a validator does Whether staking’s histor

Today’s episode is the second and final installment of our 2-part exploration on investing for Bitcoin accumulation with Tuur Demeester from Adamant Capital. Before Adamant Capital, Tuur was the Editor in Chief for Adamant Research, a global macro investment research firm. While most investment strategies seek returns in US Dollars, Tuur focuses on generating returns in BTC. He also measures his success against Bitcoin, a much higher bar than investing for USD returns. There is a growing number of crypto fund limited partners who are looking for funds denominated in BTC, and which charge fees based on returns in BTC. Tuur's general approach is in line with this philosophy. This deep dive is broken up into 4 chapters. In episode #44, we covered Chapters 1 and 2: - Chapter 1: Why one would invest to accumulate BTC vs. USD. - Chapter 2: How Bitcoin accumulation investment methods differ from methods for generating returns against the US Dollar. In today’s episode, we focus on Chapters 3 and 4: - Chapter

I'm joined by Tuur Demeester from Adamant Capital. We discuss investment strategies for accumulating BTC and generating returns against BTC (instead of USD).  While most investment strategies focus on generating returns in US Dollars, Tuur focuses on generating returns in BTC. He measures his success against Bitcoin, which over the course of Bitcoin's short history, is a much higher bar for an investor. There is a growing number of crypto fund limited partners looking for funds denominated in BTC, and which charge fees based on returns in BTC. Our deep dive into investing for Bitcoin accumulation will be covered in two parts and split into four chapters: - Chapter 1: Why one would invest to accumulate BTC vs. USD- Chapter 2: How Bitcoin accumulation investment methods differ from methods for generating returns against the US Dollar- Chapter 3: The methods of investing for Bitcoin accumulation - Chapter 4: Tuur’s unfiltered thoughts on Ethereum and his take on the future of Bitcoin In today’s episode

My guest today is Stephen McKeon. Stephen is a visiting fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, a finance professor at the University of Oregon, and most relevant to this podcast, a partner at Collaborative Fund where he’s leading a dedicated effort called Collab Crypto. This is Stephen’s 3rd appearance on the podcast, making him our most frequent guest. His other two appearances were on episode 19, “The Economics of Cryptoasset Markets” and our very popular security token audio documentary entitled, “Tokenize The World.” Professor McKeon is back on the show to explore the state of crypto-focused venture capital, Collab Crypto's thesis and approach to structuring investments, and what Stephen believes to be the biggest investment opportunities. In this episode we discuss: How Stephen got involved with Collaborative Fund The current state of crypto VC Whether investors in the crypto space are getting more sophisticated How the crypto space is maturing Which funds provided inspiration for

Today, instead of an interview, you’ll hear a short public service announcement about tax-loss harvesting.Right now, during this period between the bear market and a potential bull market, where prices are going sideways, it would behoove a lot of people to consider doing some tax-loss harvesting To explain tax-loss harvesting in more detail, you’ll hear from my friend, Zac McClure, co-founder of TokenTax. I personally go to Zac for help with this stuff. In this short episode, you’ll learn: What tax-loss harvesting is What’s allowed and what isn’t How much you can deduct against your ordinary income if you've already used up all your gains The deadlines for tax-loss harvesting And finally, whether you can retroactively apply crypto losses on tax gains you’ve paid for in previous years Sponsors Veil Project Veil defines itself as ‘privacy without compromise’ — providing anonymity through a combination of technologies like RingCT. Having launched this year with over $1 million in seed funding, Veil boasts an

In this episode, we explore privacy coin investing with our guest, Jordan Clifford, Co-founder and Managing Director at Scalar Capital. Before Scalar, Jordan was a lead growth engineer at Coinbase and a business analyst at Capital One.  Hear Jordan & Clay discuss the fungibility of cryptoassets, the privacy coin landscape, and how macrotrends in society will lead to increased interest in privacy-centric cryptoassets. In this episode we discuss: How the Cyprus financial crisis in 2013 led Jordan (as well as many others) into exploring Bitcoin Why everyone should read the "Cypherpunk's Manifesto" How easy it is for companies and governments to trace your transaction history on the blockchain Why privacy matters The fungibility implications for cryptocurrencies Why privacy is the main focus of Scalar Capital How privacy coins empower individuals to custody their own assets Where privacy-centric cryptoassets will catch fire How p

On March 19, 2019, Bitwise, a crypto asset management firm, filed a report with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in hopes of getting approval for their Bitcoin ETF. In the report, Bitwise asserted that 95% of exchange volume was fake and only 10 exchanges had "real volume."  This report spread like wildfire throughout crypto Twitter. Today, I'm joined by Nathaniel Whittemore, curator of Long Reads Sunday and coauthor of the 6,000-word mammoth on our blog entitled, "Crypto Market Cap: An In-Depth Review & Survey Of Emerging Alternatives." In this episode, we turn the tables as he interviews me about my take on the Bitwise report. Please enjoy this conversation between myself and Nathaniel Whittemore. In this episode we discuss: The proper context for understanding the purpose of the Bitwise report A high-level overview of what was included in the report How the analysis is fair for a Bitcoin ETF, but probably not fair for considering the rest of the cryptosphere Why

Welcome to the second and final installment of this two-part case study on fund tokenization. This case study is an addendum to our security tokenization audio documentary, entitled "Tokenize The World," which has +100k downloads. If you haven't heard it yet, check it out at securitytokendocumentary.com. About this episode: In this case study, our guest Rob Nance from CityBlock capital is brutally honest about the arduous process of issuing his fund's NYCQ security token.(Note: if he’d known from the outset how difficult the journey would have been, he might never have started... especially given the bear market, the immaturity of legal precedent, etc.). Here’s some real talk: I regularly hear people who have never actually issued a security token advising companies to tokenize. In fact, on at least 10 occasions, people have suggested that Nomics -- the company that runs this podcast -- tokenize our equity (as if it were a simple process). Nothing could be further from the truth. As far as

This case study is an addendum to our security tokenization audio documentary, entitled "Tokenize The World," which has +100k downloads. If you haven't heard it yet, check it out at securitytokendocumentary.com.About this episode:In this case study, our guest Rob Nance from CityBlock capital is brutally honest about the arduous process of issuing his fund's NYCQ security token.(Note: if he’d known from the outset how difficult the journey would have been, he might never have started... especially given the bear market, immaturity of legal precedent, etc.).Here’s some real talk: I regularly hear people who have never actually issued a security token advising companies to tokenize. In fact, on at least 10 occasions, people have suggested that Nomics -- the company that runs and runs this podcast -- tokenize our equity (as if it were a simple process). Nothing could be further from the truth.As far as I know, this is the first published end-to-end case study and deep dive on what it actually takes