Podcasts about wyre talks

DeFi and staking are classified as two different animals. And yet, both facilitate a protocol-level interaction with a smart contract that pays a yield over time. For that reason, Tim Ogilvie and the team at Staked are playing in both arenas, helping customers put their idle crypto to use.Tim is the Cofounder and CEO of Staked, a crypto platform that helps institutional investors reliably and securely compound their crypto assets. On this episode of Wyre Talks, Tim joins us to share his team’s mission around creating an easy-to-generate yield button and offer a high-level overview of the Staked infrastructure. He walks us through the metrics the team uses to judge its performance in terms of security and reliability and explains how his experience as a validator has changed his view of the space.Tim goes on to address Staked’s first DeFi product, Robo Advisor for Yield or RAY, discussing how it outperformed several other competitive rebalancing products and why the team wants RAY to be an open standard rather than staked product. He also weighs in on the current share of alpha that Staked earns, how that benchmark rate is defined, and the decisioning models the team uses to determine their potential market impact. Listen in for Tim’s take on KYC/AML and learn the benefit of smart contracts in terms of money operating like a pool—without being truly mixed. Follow Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscariaFollow Louis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/louAboudHogbenFollow Tim on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tim_ogilvieFollow Staked on Twitter:https://twitter.com/staked_usToday’s Topics[0:20] Tim’s 20-year career in entrepreneurship and what drew him to crypto[1:16] What inspired Tim’s transition from Wall Street to the risky world of startups[2:44] How Tim’s work on a debt derivatives desk informs his work at Staked[4:01] Where Tim thinks the crypto space is headed in terms of financial products based on interest rates[5:45] The volatility of forward yield markets and the subsequent challenge around defining a risk-free rate in Bitcoin[6:30] What Staked looked like in the beginning[7:51] A high-level overview of the Staked infrastructure[8:38] What metrics Staked uses to judge itself and other stakers[9:31] The Staked team’s mission to make it easy to take advantage of passive opportunities in crypto + what customers need to show up with to facilitate that[10:37] Why Staked runs its servers on a combination of public cloud and on-premise infrastructure[11:12] Why Staked does not charge fees for individual pieces of infrastructure[11:42] Determining which proof-of-stake coins require high-performance infrastructure to run a node based on performance, security and decentralization[13:17] How Tim’s experience running validators has changed his view of the space[14:41] Tim’s insight on the relatively low operating costs associated with PoS networks + why secure enclaves are much more expensive[16:41] Tim’s take on the profitability of a staking-as-a-service business model[18:36] How Staked benefits from running several different networks at once[20:17] The fee pressure among validators on Cosmos + why validator fees are rising in general[21:50] Other products and services Staked might provide in building a premium product[22:46] How the common theme around putting idle crypto to use inspired Staked’s DeFi vision[24:36] Staked’s first product in the DeFi space and how it works[25:22] How RAY might evolve to support more sophisticated pricing and evaluate risk[29:11] The DeFi opportunities the Staked team might add to RAY (i.e.: staking, liquidation tools)[29:51] How pricing is likely to evolve for RAY’s option to bid on underwater loans[31:10] How RAY outperformed several other competitive rebalancing products + how it will be better able to take advantage of opportunities and service new markets as its pool increases[33:51] Tim’s thoughts on KYC/AML + the advantage of smart contracts in terms of money operating like a pool without truly being mixed[36:19] How RAY is creating SPVs to bridge centralized lending services[37:10] Why the Staked team wants RAY to be an open standard rather than staked product[38:46] The decisioning models the team uses to determine their potential market impact[40:11] How RAY earns revenue in lieu of fees[40:46] The RAY token model and Staked’s approach to developing a decentralized product[41:50] The current share of alpha that Staked earns and how the benchmark rate is defined[42:48] Tim’s vision for the future of RAY + its potential distribution play to wallets and exchanges[44:52] Opportunities around forwards, spot prices and other DeFi functionalities that developers are exploring with the latest Staked tech[46:05] The most-requested features Staked customers are asking for[46:50] Tim’s prediction that the space will move toward a fixed interest rate model[48:24] How Tim thinks about Staked’s role in helping protocols define their own risk properties[49:41] How customers maintain their role in governance while Staked serves as a technical pass-through[50:19] Tim’s insight around smart contract insurance and the challenges associated with pricing it effectively[51:57] The demand for building an effective borrowing product[52:22] Tim’s view of early exit opportunities as the next big thing in the passive income space[53:16] How validators think about the nuances of high inflation vs. low inflation coins[56:34] Tim’s advice around recruiting capital for hobbyists interested in running a node[57:42] Why Tim is excited about projects like Cosmos, Polkadot and Keep in allowing for interchain activity

Imagine having the capacity to build a website that only you can put up or take down. A website that doesn’t require you to answer to any government or powerful company. A truly censorship-resistant website created on a decentralized registry.Brad Kam is the Cofounder and Head of Business Development at Unstoppable Domains, a blockchain startup that makes crypto payments simple and facilitates the creation of such censorship-resistant websites. On this episode of Wyre Talks, Brad joins us to discuss the custody problem with centralized domain registries and explain how Unstoppable Domains is building a decentralized system that works for wallets and websites simultaneously. He shares the idea of using extensions to support blockchain-based domains and the value of Unstoppable’s ecosystem partnerships with those browser extensions as well as IPFS providers and wallets.Brad goes on to address how Unstoppable Domains differs from ENS, functioning as both a registry and registrar and driving adoption through a sunrise period for brand owners. He also weighs in on the team’s conscious decision to be unifying and inclusive of any currency or wallet, describing the current customer profile and the most interesting use potential use cases for the platform. Listen in for insight around Unstoppable’s show-don’t-tell approach to marketing its censorship-resistant sites and learn how Brad thinks about balancing global free speech with ethical concerns.Follow Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscariaFollow Unstoppable Domains on Twitter: https://twitter.com/unstoppablewebToday’s Topics[0:28] How living in ‘the house that Bitcoin built’ inspired Brad’s interest in crypto[1:16] Brad’s previous referral marketing SaaS startup, Talkable[1:50] How the 4 cofounders met and decided to work together on Unstoppable Domains[3:04] The custody problem around centralized registries[3:53] Why domain pricing differs across registries [4:53] How top-level domains leverage marketing efforts to gain traction[6:14] What you can do through Unstoppable Domains in terms of making crypto payments and building websites[7:59] The Unstoppable Domains team’s progress to date[8:46] Why Brad’s team decided to build on the Zilliqa blockchain and the value of high transaction throughput[9:41] The simple process of creating an Unstoppable Domain that works for wallets and websites simultaneously[11:53] Using extensions to support blockchain-based domains[12:46] Unstoppable Domains’ partnerships with IPFS providers, browser extensions and wallets[14:46] How Unstoppable Domains stores data from multiple crypto addresses[16:00] How Unstoppable Domains differs from ENS[18:07] Unstoppable’s plans to auction top domains [19:19] Unstoppable’s adoption thus far + the site’s customer profile[20:29] The ethical concerns around picking top-level domain names[21:25] The Unstoppable team’s conscious decision to be unifying and inclusive of any currency or wallet[22:01] How Unstoppable is addressing domain squatting with a sunrise period[22:22] Unstoppable’s show-don’t-tell approach to marketing its censorship-resistant news sites[24:13] Interesting use cases for Unstoppable (i.e.: political conflicts)[24:55] How Brad thinks about ethics on the platform + how users can choose filters to match their beliefs[26:44] The future of the Unstoppable Domains product 

Scalability. Interoperability. Liquidity. Any number of projects in the crypto space are working to tackle these problems. But just one is solving for all three at the same time and leveraging cashflow incentives to encourage participation in the network.Varun Vruddhula is the Founder of Hashflow Network and Lawson Baker serves as an Advisor and Acting Head of Operations for the team. On this episode of Wyre Talks, Varun and Lawson join us to discuss the problems Hashflow is trying to solve in terms of binding ETH and BTC—while achieving scale. They speak to the three players in the Hashflow ecosystem, describing how they interact on the network and sharing the profile of an ideal hub, watch tower and trader.Varun and Lawson go on to explain how the Hashflow front end will parallel the Bloomberg terminal and address the flow of funds on the network. They also weigh in on the project’s token design and how it enables Hashflow to bootstrap liquidity, discussing how small and large exchanges alike benefit from joining the network. Listen in for insight around how cryptographic proofs are to crypto what paper currency is to commodity money and learn how Hashflow solves for the biggest problems in the crypto space and incentivizes participation through its unique cashflow token design!Follow Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscariaFollow Varun on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GandalfTheBr0wnFollow Lawson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lwsnbakerFollow Hashflow Network on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashflownetworkToday’s Topics[0:55] How Varun’s background in the space industry led him to the crypto space[5:01] Lawson’s journey from investment banking to FinTech startups to crypto[8:38] The core problems Hashflow is trying to solve, including scalability, interoperability and liquidity[10:14] How Varun was inspired by Lightning Network, Plasma and SUMOKOIN and what drew Lawson to the Hashflow project[20:04] The three players in the Hashflow ecosystem and how they interact on the network[25:47] The profile of an ideal Hashflow hub, watch tower and trader[30:56] How the Hashflow front end will parallel the Bloomberg terminal + the roadmap for what the team is building[33:59] The flow of funds on the Hashflow Network and how it executes around proof of solvency and profit insurance[42:26] How Hashflow safeguards users against false prices[44:30] Varun’s insight into the concern around double spending on Hashflow[47:06] Why Hashflow allows anyone to report prices but incentivizes only those used by users and exchanges[52:55] How Varun made decisions around what parameters to standardize and when to allow freedom of choice[56:26] How its token design enables Hashflow to bootstrap liquidity[58:09] How both small and large exchanges benefit from joining the Hashflow network[59:45] The process of joining the Hashflow network[1:00:52] The top concerns expressed by exchanges and OTC desks in terms of integration costs and business opportunity[1:05:13] The strategic impact of anyone being able to create an exchange on Hashflow[1:07:41] What differentiates Hashflow from the projects it’s compared to most often (i.e.: 0x, Arwen and tBTC)[1:14:07] Varun’s insight around how cryptographic proofs : crypto what paper currency : commodity money

Here at Wyre, we’re in a unique market position, serving as a bridge from the traditional payments ecosystem to the Wild West that is cryptocurrency. And we spend a lot of time on the podcast getting granular about innovative crypto projects and blockchain technology, but we have yet to focus our attention exclusively on the payments space. Until today, that is!On this episode of Wyre Talks, we’re discussing key trends in the payments industry over the last five years, digging into the rise of challenger banks and how regulations have influenced the evolution of the space. We introduce the concept of strong customer authentication (SCA), explaining how it’s creating a liability shift from merchants to banks, and explore the slow pace of regulatory change in the US as compared to Europe.Jack weighs in on the brilliance of WeChat Pay and China’s influence in the realm of device-based payments, and we look at the anticipated timeline for widespread adoption of contactless value exchange. Finally, Michael weighs in on the way hardware providers are hedging out of chargeback risk through biometric authentication and the telling link between payments and identity. Listen in for insight around how companies like Apple and Google are well-positioned to enter the crypto space and learn how that reality informed the launch of the latest Wyre Widget.Follow Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscariaFollow Mike on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelDunwort1Follow Jack Jia on Twitter:https://twitter.com/demonopolizeFollow Wyre on Twitter:https://twitter.com/sendwyreWyre's Website: https://www.sendwyre.com  Today’s Topics[0:26] The top trends in the payments industry over the last five years[6:18] How much recent changes in payments have been driven by the regulatory landscape[8:21] The concept of strong customer authentication (SCA) and how it’s creating a liability shift[14:38] Why regulatory change in the US is so much slower than Europe[21:35] The brilliance of WeChat Pay and China’s influence in the realm of device-based payment[24:52] The anticipated timeline around widespread adoption of contactless payments[27:38] How hardware providers are hedging out of chargeback risk via biometric authentication[31:52] How fraudsters are likely to respond with deep fakes and pump schemes[35:34] The link between payments and identity[40:04] How Apple is positioning itself to enter the crypto space[45:20] The new Wyre Widget product and how it fits into the crypto experience[52:57] Michael and Jack’s insight around the next iteration of payments 

It’s no surprise that Joey Krug is a fan of taking calculated risks. After all, he was betting on horse races (and winning) in middle school and eventually created a mechanism for making bets on the blockchain. As an early crypto developer, Joey had the opportunity to meet a lot of promising entrepreneurs. And ultimately, he put together a syndicate to invest in the projects with the most potential.Joey is the creator of Augur, the decentralized oracle and prediction market protocol built on Ethereum, and the Co-Chief Investment Officer with Pantera Capital, an investment firm focused exclusively on ventures related to blockchain tech, digital currency, and crypto-assets. On this episode of Wyre Talks, Joey joins us to discuss the inception and early days of Augur and explain why the team chose to raise money through an ICO — the first on top of Ethereum. He describes how Augur has evolved, shifting from a reporting to a dispute-based model, disincentivizing invalid markets, and incorporating the use of DAI in V2.Joey goes on to address how companies building on Augur are tackling US regulations and offer his take on what should and should not be regulated by the government. He also covers the advantages of using Augur overrunning a centralized operation, sharing the benefits for users in terms of limits, odds, and fees. Finally, Joey walks us through his transition to angel investing, explaining how he came to work with Pantera and how he evaluates investments with regard to team, product, and market. Listen in for Joey’s insight around the prerequisites for DeFi mass adoption and learn about the scalability projects he is excited to see the launch in the near future!Follow Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscariaFollow Louis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/louAboudHogbenFollow Joey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joeykrugFollow Augur on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AugurProjectFollow Pantera on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PanteraCapitalToday’s Topics[0:30] Joey’s introduction to Bitcoin mining and building on Ethereum[3:36] The inception of Augur[4:59] Why Joey’s team pursued a crowd sale to raise money over venture capital[6:15] How the Augur team created an incentive model around its tokens[7:15] The profile of the average participant in the Augur ICO[8:01] Augur’s shift from a reporting to dispute-based model and reduced dispute period[10:23] How V2 of Augur is disincentivizing invalid markets and allowing the use of DAI[13:23] How Joey’s day-to-day involvement in Augur has changed post-ICO[14:56] The pros and cons of running a distributed team[17:34] Joey’s insight on deciding what Augur should build internally vs. what external developers should build[19:30] How companies building on Augur are tackling regulatory issues in the US[20:56] The advantages of using Augur overrunning a centralized operation[22:25] The benefit of Augur for users in terms of limits, odds, and fees[23:20] Joey’s insight on political events + sports as the premier use cases for crypto prediction markets[24:30] Joey’s thoughts around what should and should not be regulated by the government[27:20] How the team is building compliance tools into Augur[28:48] The tradeoffs Augur is making to maintain a sound regulatory position in the US[30:52] How Augur’s solution to the oracle problem differs from that of UMA[33:47] Joey’s take on the problem of parasitic use of oracles[36:03] Joey’s transition to angel investing and how he came to work with Pantera[40:14] The three main funds Joey works with at Pantera[40:41] What Joey would do differently around Pantera’s digital asset and ICO funds at a time of massive flux in the crypto markets[42:50] How Joey thinks about assets in the ERC-20 token space[44:25] Whether governance tokens have value independent of a direct economic incentive[45:37] How Joey evaluates investments in terms of team, product and market[48:28] The major moat growing around Ethereum[49:02] The Layer 1 platforms with a potential value prop for developers[51:01] What Layer 1 platforms need to do from a go-to-market standpoint[52:16] Why Layer 2 projects that sold equity should monetize at the UI layer rather than the protocol layer[54:26] Why it’s advantageous to build your UI and protocol layers at the same time[55:32] Joey’s thoughts on the existing interoperability solutions (e.g.: Cosmos and Polkadot)[59:09] Why massive scalability and better fiat onramps are prerequisites for the mass adoption of DeFi[1:00:51] What Layer 2 primitives Joey would like to see built in DeFi[1:03:25] The advantages and disadvantages of building on open-source platforms[1:04:16] Joey’s take on sharding as a scaling solution and how it might impact DeFi[1:05:53] Joey’s crypto thesis + how he sees the misfits of other markets driving adoption[1:08:52] The scalability projects Joey is excited to see launch in the near future and their potential to facilitate exponential growth in the space

In the first CoinList Chats episode, Andy Bromberg speaks with Spencer Bogart of Blockchain Capital about how his investment theses have changed since he started covering cryptocurrencies in 2015, as well as his current thoughts on the Bitcoin ecosystem. CoinList: https://coinlist.co/ Blockchain Capital: https://blockchain.capital/ Spencer Bogart on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cremedelacrypto Nic Carter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nic__carter Wyre Talks: https://blog.sendwyre.com/tagged/wyre-talks   Legal disclaimer: This podcast was recorded and is being distributed by Amalgamated Token Services Inc., dba CoinList, for informational purposes only, and expresses solely the opinions of the speakers, not necessarily those of CoinList. Nothing in this podcast shall constitute or be construed as an offering of securities or as investment, legal or tax advice or investment recommendations (i.e., recommendations as to whether or not to enter into any transaction involving any specific interest or interests) by CoinList or any of its affiliates, or a recommendation as to an investment or other strategy. These types of investments involve a high degree of risk (including the risk of total loss) and potential investors should consult with their own advisors. CoinList does not receive compensation for publishing, giving publicity to, or circulating notices or communications that describe securities.

In this Wyre Talks, we are excited to host Steven Becker COO and President of MakerDAO. Having spent his career at various trading desks on Wall Street banks and high stakes hedge funds, Steven is no stranger to managing risk. However, a new challenge arose as he was tapped to run the decentralized risk functions at MakerDAO. Steven grasped the problem and led the decentralized organization scale and survive the downturn, all while preparing for the launch of MultiCollateral Dai -- the most intricate risk management problem. MakerDAO is many things, but it can be thought of colloquially as a decentralized central bank or more precisely as a decentralized credit facility. Maker is governed by their token holders who vote to implement the risk management around the collateral that backs their stablecoin, Dai. With decentralization center plate and a battle-tested Single Collateral Dai system, Maker is poised to make the jump into additional collateral types. We’re excited to continue rooting on their journey into riskier waters as the world’s only truly decentralized stablecoin. An overview of the MakerDAO ecosystem components and how they motivate stability. How the diverse range of MKR holders coordinates to govern the various risk verticals of the MakerDAO system. How liquidations are an essential part of the economic ecosystem that Maker is creating. Inherent systemic risks of the DeFi platform that participants should be mindful of. The primary objectives and motivations behind the launch of the Multi Collateral Dai. How adding additional collateral to the Maker platform presents a new risk management problem set. Maker’s measured approach to growing the acceptable collateral assets and subsequently their debt ceiling. How Maker will measure non-quantifiable risks like counterparty risk & legal risk for new collateral assets. How the Maker team focuses their go-to-market and partnerships efforts. Maker’s opinion of the other stablecoin models How Maker is thinking through the oracle problem. You can follow the hosts on Twitter!  Thomas Scaria (host): @tomscaria Louis Aboud (co-host): @louAboudHogben

In this episode of Wyre Talks, we're excited to have Joe Lau (cofounder & CTO) and Nikil Viswanathan (cofounder & CEO) of Alchemy, join us for the show. Alchemy, the world's leading blockchain intelligence and infrastructure company, powers the top hedge funds managing billions of dollars. In this session they share their background - how they met TAing the largest database class in the world at Stanford, built the #1 Social App in the App Store (featured on front page of the New York Times), were honored as Forbes 30 Under 30, and started Alchemy. They share their analysis of the crypto hedge fund industry and provide insights into the product development secrets they use to build a best in class product. Joe and Nikil also give the first sneak peek into Alchemy’s new infrastructure platform, which has been an instant hit and already powers many of the most well known crypto companies within weeks of their alpha release. In addition, as founders who are known for creating an incredible company culture and having extremely high powered investors, they share their tips on hiring and fundraising. We know you’ll love hearing this insightful and entertaining interview as much as we did. To discover more about the Alchemy, visit alchemyinsights.io To get priority access to Alchemy API, sign up at alchemyapi.io You can follow the host on Twitter!  Thomas Scaria: @tomscaria

In this Wyre Talks, our guest is John Piotrowski, founder and CEO of The Ocean. John has a past life in political campaigning and traditional finance, but made the pivot to cryptocurrency and founded the Ocean in 2017. The Ocean provides wallet-to-wallet trading on a high performance, institution-grade, decentralized platform that provides more liquidity with less risk. They also strive to create an intuitive trading experience, while maintaining a safe exchange with KYC/AML performed on their users. In this episode, we also discuss: How is the New York financial scene different from the SF crypto scene? With a team in Krakow, Poland, what are the challenges in building a distributed team? How do you address them? Transitioning from a career in political campaigning to being a VP at Goldman Sachs How is the Ocean more than just a 0x relayer? What led to the decision to build the infrastructure layer using the 0x protocol? Why create an onboarding flow instead of just sticking with Metamask? Why is verification and KYC so important to what the Ocean does? Why does the Ocean choose to focus on the U.S. market when you could move to a country that supports your business? What are the critical ingredients needed for institutional entry into the crypto space? What's the purpose of the OCEAN token? Links: The Ocean website: https://theocean.trade/ The Ocean blog: https://medium.com/the-ocean-trade You can follow the hosts on Twitter!  Thomas Scaria (host): @tomscaria Louis Aboud (co-host): @louAboudHogben

In this special live edition of Wyre Talks, we host Tom Schmidt, Product Manager, and Alex Xu, Director of Operations, of 0x protocol. In this episode, we discuss: Operational hurdles with setting up a decentralized project in early 2017 Why does 0x not have any partnerships? Fat protocol thesis and why open protocols are so popular What are relayers? Building an ecosystem that is all about incentivizing relayers Can ethereum handle a successful 0x protocol? Why has governance been the key purpose of the ZRX token? 0x project website: https://0xproject.com/ 0x twitter: https://twitter.com/0xproject 0x blog: https://blog.0xproject.com/latest Tom Schmidt's twitter: https://twitter.com/tomhschmidt Alex Xu's twitter: https://twitter.com/aqxu You can follow the hosts on Twitter!  Thomas Scaria (host): @tomscaria Michael Dunworth (co-host): @MichaelDunwort1

In this episode of Wyre Talks, we welcome Apurv Mishra, founder and CEO of Zeus Protocol, who explains the mission of the Zeus protocol of breaking down data silos to help developers and how the blockchain can empower users in owning their own identity and personal data. Zeus Protocol: https://zeusprotocol.com/ Contact Zeus Protocol with Telegram: https://t.me/zeusprotocol Sign up for ZeusID: https://id.zeusprotocol.com/ You can follow the host on Twitter!  Thomas Scaria: @tomscaria

In this episode of Wyre Talks, we host Michael Dunworth, CEO of Wyre, and Louis Aboud, Head of Research at Wyre Capital; we took this opportunity to dissect a topic we're not only very interested in, but feel is an important next step for crypto: the DEX. Through the episode, we discuss topics including: What is a DEX (decentralized exchange)? How having unregulated exchanges attracts bad actors How to get the first 100 million users for DEXs Challenges in improving user experience Regulation and compliance for exchanges Scaling issues with DEXs How will this ecosystem play out? Questions or comments? Feel free to reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, or the Wyre Blog! Remember to subscribe on Google Play or iTunes to get the latest episodes and let us know if you have any topics you’d like us to cover. You can follow the hosts on Twitter!  Thomas Scaria (host): @tomscaria Michael Dunworth (co-host): @MichaelDunwort1 Louis Aboud (co-host): @louAboudHogben

In this episode Wyre Talks, we interview the cofounders of Wyre: Michael Dunworth and Ioannis (Yanni) Giannaros. They recounted the story of Wyre; where it came from and where it's going. Wyre has been in the crypto space for five years now, and it's been a long and winding road, but we've seen a lot and learned a lot. It wasn't always easy but this is the story that defines who Wyre is today. Mike and Yanni also talk about: the struggles of founding a company and scaling it beyond the hacker house trying to get into Boost VC and handling rejection finally getting some traction and raising funds You can follow the host on Twitter!  Thomas Scaria: @tomscaria