Nischal clears up misconceptions about India's regulatory landscape and shares what he's seeing that has him excited about the future of crypto in India. --- Special thanks to our sponsors: Lukka - Crypto taxes made simple. Use the promo code "MESSARITAX" and get $5 off the normal price of $19.95  Crypto.com - The best place to Buy, Earn, Pay with Crypto. Choice by Kingdom Trust: Bitcoin, Stocks, ETFs, Gold and more. All in one retirement account....

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier joins The Unqualified Opinions podcast to discuss self custody, and the user experience of being your own bank.  --- Special thanks to our sponsors: Lukka - Crypto taxes made simple. Use the promo code "MESSARITAX" and get $5 off the normal price of $19.95  Crypto.com - The best place to Buy, Earn, Pay with Crypto. Choice by Kingdom Trust: Bitcoin, Stocks, ETFs, Gold and more. All in one retirement account. https://www.retirewithchoice.com/messari Bitstamp is the...

With the next major phase of Cardano's mainnet (Shelley) fast approaching, IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson provides a full project update as well his thoughts on the competitive outlook of the smart contracting landscape. --- Special thanks to our sponsors: Lukka - Crypto taxes made simple. Use the promo code "MESSARITAX" and get $5 off the normal price of $19.95  Crypto.com - The best place to Buy, Earn, Pay with Crypto. Choice by Kingdom Trust: Bitcoin, Stocks, ETFs, Gold and more. All in one...

Skale is a middle-ware protocol that aims to allow dApps to run on a high-speed consensus layer above platforms like Ethereum and EOS. With Skale approaching its mainnet launch this summer, Ryan and Skale co-founder/CEO Jack O’Holleran discuss the project’s progress as well as how they’re approaching launch. --- Special thanks to our sponsors: Lukka - Crypto taxes made simple. Use the promo code "MESSARITAX" and get $5 off the normal price of $19.95  Crypto.com - The best place to Buy, Earn,...

Nexus Mutual is an insurance protocol for DeFi that covers financial loss resulting from hacks and unintended code usage. Nexus paid out its first claim following one of the bZx hacks early this year. In this conversation, founder Hugh Karp details how he thinks about platform risk, particularly in the context of Ethereum’s migration to ETH 2.0, and sheds light on creating a decentralized alternative within one of the most regulated industries in the world.  --- Special thanks to our...

Security tokens have at times, been heralded as the next major phase of crypto adoption. Despite the surrounding hype, security tokens don’t have any actual trading volume to speak of. In this conversation, Tokensoft CEO Mason Borda discusses the hurdles that still remain for adoption and outlines the bullish case for security tokens over the next few years. Conservatively, he estimates that we could see $10M in security tokens trading hands each day by year end and that once the industry...

Tuur Demeester is one of Bitcoin’s longest standing research analysts who’s been through all three halvings. In this conversation, he recalls how his study of financial history and subsequent worry about our financial system’s inflationary risks led him to a 2010 post from Satoshi laying out bitcoin’s value proposition as digital gold. He describes his first bitcoin bubble from $1 to $30 and the fears that existed during the first two halvings that weren’t present for the third. Tuur also...

It doesn’t get much more OG than Charlie Shrem. Charlie’s been involved in bitcoin from the days where the community consisted of a couple hundred people on forum.bitcoin.org, created by Satoshi himself. In this conversion, we discuss both bitcoin and Charlie’s evolution throughout the years, from the first halving where many feared the protocol would break down, to Charlie’s imprisonment and eventual release. Early bitcoiners can enjoy the nostalgia of hearing Charlie recall the days where...

Layer 1 is focused on converting “electricity into money” via highly efficient bitcoin mining facilities. Where mining has historically been concentrated in places with cheap and sometimes subsidized energy, Layer 1’s operations are currently focused in America: West Texas to be precise. Also counter to historical trends, Layer 1 is focused on working with regulators and the institutionalization of the mining space. In this conversation, CEO Alex Liegl provides insight into the economics of...

Bobby Lee has witnessed the ascent of Bitcoin from a unique perspective relative to many in the west. In 2013, Lee was the CEO of BTCChina and dealt first hand with the CCP as they tried to come to grips with this strange new asset. In this conversation, he recalls bitcoin’s first bubbles, his foray in Bitcoin mining and the time the Chinese Communist Party instructed him to lower the price of bitcoin. He also calls for $100K Bitcoin over the next 6-8 months and demos his company’s new...

Fireblocks is one of the hottest infrastructure companies in crypto, facilitating $30B in digital asset transfers to date and recently expanding its presence into Asia. In this conversation, CEO Michael Shaulov details how a $200M heist from the North Korean government led him to crypto, and ultimately founding a company whose technology secures and transfers billions for top exchanges and OTC desks. He describes the growing demand for stablecoins and the massive disruption is represents for...

Bison Trails is an infrastructure-as-a-service company that allows anyone to run a node for multiple blockchains. This gives Bison Trails CEO Joe Lallouz the unique vantage point of seeing all of the major projects in the space at a granular level. Bison Trails is one of the founding members of the Libra Association who stuck around when top names were backing out due to regulatory pressure. In this conversation Joe discusses the origins of the company, how they select which chains they...

Veteran OTC trader Dan Matuszewski discusses the evolution of crypto OTC markets from Bitcoin's first, second, and third halvings, and how the trading environment has gotten... a bit different from the 2012 event. --- Bitstamp is the original global cryptocurrency exchange. Since 2011, we’ve been a cornerstone of the industry, earning the trust of over four million individuals and top financial institutions looking for a reliable trading venue. Whether you’re trading on our web platform,...

This interview with Ontology co-founder Li Jun offers a rare window into Asia’s crypto ecosystem, which remains undercovered and misunderstood in the West. In Li’s own words, Ontology is a decentralized trust collaboration platform. In our words, it’s one of a host of “ETH Killers” competing within a competitive smart contracting platform landscape with a focus on enterprise adoption of DeFi. In this discussion, Li sheds light on China’s crypto ecosystem, the government's blockchain...

Paolo Ardoino sits at the intersection of one of crypto’s most liquid exchanges and its most dominant stablecoin. In this conversation, Paolo provides unique insight into the philosophy behind Tether and walks us through its path to a $5B+ market cap. He also discusses how Bitfinex approaches markets, how to spot fake liquidity and whether or not he’d consider exploring proof-of-reserves.    --- Special thanks to our sponsors: Lukka - Crypto taxes made simple. Use the promo code "MESSARITAX"...

ErisX is one of a handful of highly regulated crypto platforms that currently offers spot and derivatives trading for top assets. In this discussion, CEO Thomas Chippas discusses their slow and steady approach to organically creating vibrant markets. He details the table stakes required for institutional participation that don’t apply to retail, such as the need to fully understand counterparty risk. He provides an overview of ErisX’s roadmap for retail and institutional traders alike and...

In this double header, we dive into two midcap projects across the privacy and smart contract sectors. First we talk to Zcoin founder Reuben Yap and learn about how Zcoin is differentiated from other privacy protocols like Monero and Zcash. Reuben details how Zerocoin’s protocol works and discusses its focus on building community throughout Asia. Then we talk to Zilliqa Head of Marketing Colin JG Miles who details their plan for ascending through a crowded smart contract field by taking a...

As long as there have been blockchains there has been talk of “banking the unbanked”. Backed by a16z and Polychain, Celo aims to deliver financial inclusion through a mix of on-chain collateralized stablecoins and easy to use mobile applications built with the unbanked in mind. In this conversation, Celo founder Rene Reinsberg describes how Celo’s solutions differ from Libra, where he sees Celo’s open and permissionless approach taking root, and why stablecoins are on the verge of exploding...

Paxos founder and CEO, Chad Cascarilla, is one of crypto’s longest standing entrepreneurs who first fell down the bitcoin rabbit hole in 2010. Paxos is the first crypto company to receive a NY Trust charter and has blazed a trail as one of the few regulated financial settlement and custody platforms outside of the legacy banking system.  In this conversation, Chad details how Paxos is playing the long game with respect to regulation. Where Paxos currently offers regulated trading and custody...

Today’s episode with Ray Youssef covers his path to founding Paxful after immigrating to New York from Egypt, founding 2 successful startups and 11 failed ones before temporarily becoming homeless while finding his way to bitcoin. He details how he sees Bitcoin moving beyond a speculative instrument and returning to its roots, with payments, e-commerce and wealth preservation in emerging markets. Lastly, he predicts that peer-to-peer bitcoin transactions will eclipse exchange volume within...

Backed by Visa, Andreesen Horowitz and Blockchain Capital, Anchorage has emerged as one of the largest custodians in crypto. In this conversation, Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley details the origins of the company and their early involvement with the Libra Association where Nathan saw Facebook’s engineering and legal might up close and personal. He relays what he’s seeing from institutional buyers with respect to bitcoin and the coronavirus crisis, their recent support for XRP and why he sees...

Ben Hunt  is the author of Epsilon Theory; a newsletter and website that examines markets through the lenses of history and game theory. In this wide ranging discussion, Ben discusses what our government's response to the COVID-19 crisis revealed about those in power and why we need to take a different approach to hedging against catastrophic risk. He shares his affinity for what crypto stands for and his fear that its focus on money will inevitably lead the powers that be to co-opt it....

While BitGo may not be as much of a household name as Coinbase and Binance, they’re easily one of the industry’s most important institutional custodians. BitGo supports custody for over 200 assets and In 2019 alone, accounted for 20% of all transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. In this conversation, CEO Mike Belshe shares his views on the role of custodians in the industry, BitGo’s approach to asset selection, and how he views Bitcoin’s prospects in light of the current economic...

Overstock is known in crypto circles as one of the first major online retailers to accept Bitcoin payments. On top of being an early adopter, Overstock has invested heavily into blockchain technology through its subsidiary, Medici Ventures. In this conversation, Overstock CEO and President of Medici Ventures, Jonathan Johnson, details why the company is betting heavily across blockchain’s application in capital markets, banking, identity, property, voting and supply chains.    --- Special...