The Scoop The Block

Li Jin is a co-founder and general partner at the crypto VC firm, Variant.
In this episode, Li analyzes the memecoin phenomenon that has recently swept over the crypto market, and explores how different types of memecoins capture and monetize attention.

OUTLINE
00:35 Memecoin Zeitgeist
04:04 The Attention Economy
10:58 Classifying Memecoins
17:40 Trading Memecoins
21:05 Are Memecoins Productive?
23:14 Memetic Analysis
29:10 Memecoins & Marketing Strategies
34:42 Closing Thoughts

Professor J.W. Verret teaches corporate and securities law and financial accounting at George Mason Law School.
In this episode of The Scoop,  Verret discusses the potential legal challenges that Uniswap may face from the Securities and Exchange Commission and highlights the similarities between the Coinbase case and the possible claims against Uniswap.
Verret says the charges the SEC is likely to bring against Uniswap could include operating as an unlicensed broker dealer, operating an unregistered exchange, and/or selling unregistered securities.

Brandon Mulvihill is the co-founder and CEO of Crossover Markets.
In this episode of The Scoop, Mulvihill discusses crypto's changing market structure and the role of Crossover as an execution-only trading venue.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction and Background
01:07 The Role of Crossover in the Market
04:04 FX & Crypto Trading Similarities
08:22 ECN vs. CLOB Differences
18:30 The Importance of Fee Compression
22:33 Crypto Flash Crashes
26:15 Crypto Market Structure Maturity
29:27 Institutional Credit
34:02 Closing Thoughts

Austin Reid is the global head of revenue and business at FalconX.
In this episode of The Scoop, Reid discusses why we are still at the 'early stages' of institutional adoption of crypto, and the role retail traders have played in the market's current rally.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
04:12 Market Overview
08:06 FalconX Volume
12:03 Crypto Derivatives
15:55 Interest Rates
19:19 Institutional Adoption
22:10 ETF Flows
26:49 Retail Flows
32:51 Market Maturation
35:06 Exchange Improvements
39:25 Closing Thoughts

Haseeb Qureshi is a managing partner at the crypto VC firm Dragonfly.
In this episode of The Scoop, Qureshi explains how the crypto VC landscape has changed during his five years at Dragonfly and why he believes 'points' are a more useful mechanism than airdrops for incentivizing user behavior.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
05:41 Dragonfly Early Days
09:45 Early Crypto VC
13:14 Competing in Layer-1s
26:11 Old Blockchains
29:26 Points
31:47 Airdrop Mechanism Design
37:38 Closing Thoughts

Craig Burel is a partner at Reciprocal Ventures.
In this episode of The Scoop, Burel explains how the recent market rally caused sidelined venture capitalists to return to the crypto industry in earnest.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
07:38 Nuances of Crypto VC
10:05 Crypto Venture Maturation
13:12 Valuations in the Bull
19:15 Solana Conviction
23:15 Navigating Market Cycles
28:17 Consumer Crypto Apps
32:22 Improving Tokenomics
38:00 Closing Thoughts