BlockChain Reaction
By Mike Fay
BlockChain ReactionMar 07, 2023
Seamus Rocca, CEO of Xapo Bank
Xapo Bank is a Gibraltar-based crypto bank and custodian that offers dollar and Bitcoin exposure to global customers - US excluded. This wasn't always the case, however. Xapo previously served the US market until 2021 and pioneered the Bitcoin-backed debit card in 2014. The CEO of Xapo is Seamus Rocca. He has a background in traditional finance after spending a decade at Standard Chartered Bank working in Liquidity and Funding Risk.
After talking about Xapo, banking, and regulations, Rocca and I spent several minutes on the geopolitical angles supporting the US dollar as global reserve currency. He's bullish Bitcoin, but Rocca seemed highly pragmatic in this conversation.
Topics covered:
- Rocca's crypto origin story
- Bridging crypto with banking, breaking the fear of crypto in traditional finance
- Xapo starting as a custodian and adding banking as a product
- How Xapo generates a profit
- Making an interface that works for the majority of consumers
- Why Xapo closed its US business, difficult to do business
- American market doesn't need banking but the rest of the world does
- Why Latin America and emerging markets could be the growth opportunity for Xapo
- Xapo's customer is already comfortable with crypto
- US Dollar as global reserve currency
- A lot of Bitcoin is outside of the US
- Do the BRICS nations get a say in how the global currency story changes?
- China's regime and wealth controls make it unappealing to the rest of the world
- Europe is going to be holding the bag on rebuilding Ukraine, which means Euro likely goes lower
- Local currencies in emerging markets will also likely lose steam vs the dollar
- Foreign governments holding US treasuries can't dump US debt without realizing a loss
- Reaction to Europe's MiCA legislation- TLDL: don't get too excited
- The effort to get fully registered and licensed in every US state isn't worth the return
- Xapo userbase has grown during 'Crypto Winter' - "positioned as a flight to safety"
I wish we could have kept on going but Rocca had a hard out and I had to be respectful of his time. Maybe sometime down the line I can bring him on again. I hope you all enjoy this episode. Remember, you can get access to the full downloadable version of every BCR podcast episode by subscribing to my Seeking Alpha research service BlockChain Reaction. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on May 11th, 2023.
Calanthia Mei, Co-Founder of Masa
My latest guest on the BlockChain Reaction podcast is Calanthia Mei. She's the co-founder of Masa - formerly Masa Finance. Masa is a digital identity protocol that is built on the Celo (CELO-USD) blockchain. The company recently announced inclusion in the Binance (BNB-USD) accelerator program and is aiming to be a global leader in Web3 identity infrastructure. I thought this was a really interesting episode and we touched on everything from the privacy concerns about digital IDs to the global macro setup for fiat currencies more broadly speaking.
- What is Masa?
- Calanthia's TradFi bank and fintech background
- Building a new world on chain with identity infrastructure
- What are Soulbound tokens?
- How Masa allows developers to build Web3 native communities
- Web3 is likely more attractive to a global audience rather than a Western audience
- Future generations will be "on-chain native"
- How does a crypto builder define "decentralized?"
- Applicable ways Web3 identity is useful
- Protecting privacy in Web3
- On choosing the Celo blockchain but also being a cross-chain protocol
- What being in the Binance Accelerator program enables
- The differences between jurisdictions in attracting crypto businesses
- Phones as a fintech utility
- How does Masa simplify Web3 for the non-crypto native
- Is EVM the blockchain winner or do ecosystems like Solana (SOL-USD) and Cosmos (ATOM-USD) have a chance long term?
- A possible Masa token in the future
- Learning from the airdrops of other market participants
- What else is exciting about Web3?
- Book/podcast recommendations
- Being a student of geopolitics and thinking long term macro outcomes
- How fiat currencies play in a future with internet native money
I hope you guys enjoy this episode. Remember, you can get access to the full downloadable version of every BCR podcast episode by subscribing to my Seeking Alpha research service BlockChain Reaction. One final note, if you're not completely sick of listening to my voice, I also joined James Foord on his new podcast The Pragmatic Investor earlier this week. You check that out here. In that pod, we talk crypto broadly, Bitcoin (BTC-USD), and the macro outlook. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on April 18th, 2023.
Marek Olszewski, Co-Founder Of Celo
Episode 11 of the BlockChain Reaction podcast brings Marek Olszewski. Marek is the co-founder of the Celo (CELO-USD) blockchain and the CTO of cLabs. Celo is an EVM blockchain that is currently one of the top 20 blockchains by Total Value Locked. I enjoyed this conversation quite a bit. Topics we covered during the podcast include but are not limited to:
- Marek's MIT background and pivot to blockchain
- Celo's optimization for mobile payments
- Why the Celo team picked Ethereum Virtual Machine over other options
- Getting the UE right in crypto wallets
- Why do people even need decentralized options?
- Speed capabilities of the chain
- Deep dive on the real mission of the chain's developers and carbon offsetting
- Battling crypto's anti-climate narrative with PoS consensus
- The robustness of Celo's DeFi footprint
- Bringing more global markets onto the network
- How merchants are using Celo to reduce transaction costs with customers
My take: getting payments right is a big deal. Even though the western world seems to be largely apathetic to permission-less systems in my opinion, Celos's global adoption is very encouraging and I think this is a chain to keep an eye on. I hope you guys enjoy this episode. Remember, you can get access to the full downloadable version of every BCR podcast episode by subscribing to my Seeking Alpha research service BlockChain Reaction. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on April 6th, 2023.
Holger Arians, CEO of Banxa
For the tenth episode of the BlockChain Reaction podcast, I spoke with Holger Arians. He's the CEO of Banxa (OTCPK:BNXAF); which is a crypto business that works with self-custodial wallet applications to provide an on/off ramp platform for on-chain wallet addresses. Banxa has wallet integration with MetaMask, Ledger and Trezor among others.
Topics we covered during the podcast include but are not limited to:
- Entering crypto as a BTC miner
- Changing from mining to on-ramp platform
- What the process is like at the user level
- Competing with PSPs
- Being an advocate for regulation
- Navigating what is currently a hostile regulatory environment
- The journey to becoming a publicly listed crypto business
- Why the company's filings have been delayed
- Being chain-agnostic while Bitcoin eats the alts
- NFTs being a gateway to crypto rails
- Adapting organizational structures with blockchain
- Remittances are the still the big innovation of crypto
With the latest regulatory developments impacting Coinbase (COIN) as a backdrop, I thought this was a very eye-opening discussion. This was a fun discussion and I hope you guys enjoy it. Remember, you can get access to the full downloadable version of every BCR podcast episode by subscribing to my Seeking Alpha research service BlockChain Reaction.
https://seekingalpha.com/checkout?service_id=mp_1406
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on March 22nd, 2023
Markus Levin, founder of XYO Network
The ninth episode of the BCR podcast brings Markus Levin from XYO Network (XYO-USD). Markus is the co-founder of that protocol. It serves as an Oracle for Web3 platforms and allows users to monetize their data through a variety of different engagements with the XYO platform. XYO was started by XY Labs and there's actually a second token that represents equity in XY Labs. That token is XYLB and is registered "security token" that trades on the tZERO platform.
Topics we covered during the podcast include but are not limited to:
- Markus' background and building the COIN platform to work with Web2 companies for data monetization
- Using data Oracles to combat things like fake information
- Getting Web2 companies exposed to crypto rails
- User engagement of the COIN platform
- The somewhat controversial decision to work with US regulators on a decentralized blockchain project
- Data monetization in the 'metaverse'
- Issues with the SEC's approach to regulation
- How tokenization changes equity offerings in the future
- End game for the XY Labs token
This was a fun discussion and I hope you guys enjoy it. Remember, you can get access to the full downloadable version of every BCR podcast episode by subscribing to my Seeking Alpha research service BlockChain Reaction.
https://seekingalpha.com/checkout?service_id=mp_1406
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on March 3rd, 2023
Stefaan Vervaet, Heat of Network Growth at Protocol Labs
Episode 8 of the BCR podcast brings Stefaan Vervaet from Protocol Labs. Protocol Labs is building decentralized internet infrastructure through two different independent (but related) projects; the InterPlanetary File System, or IPFS, and the Filecoin (FIL-USD) decentralized storage protocol.
Topics we covered during the podcast include but are not limited to:
- why decentralized storage is necessary compared to more popular centralized businesses
- what kind of applications stand to benefit from using decentralized storage
- data monetization at the individual level
- how does the user engage with a protocol like IPFS?
- growth through application developers vs individual users
- token incentive for participants and for Protocol Labs
- how to deal with theoretical criminal behavior
This was a fun discussion and I hope you guys enjoy it. Remember, you can get access to the full downloadable version of every BCR podcast episode by subscribing to my Seeking Alpha research service BlockChain Reaction.
https://seekingalpha.com/checkout?service_id=mp_1406
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on February 22nd, 2023
Brent Xu, Founder at Umee
Brent Xu is the founder of Umee. Xu previously spent time with ConsenSys and Cosmos (ATOM-USD) before launching the Cosmos-based lending protocol, Umee. In this conversation, Brent and I talked about what Umee is and how the token has utility within the lending platform. Other topics we covered during the call include but are not limited to:
- Brent's professional/crypto background
- Why DeFi is disruptive to traditional finance
- How Umee specifically is combating the kind of Oracle attacks that drained Mango Markets (MNGO-USD)
- The future of multi-chain as an idea
- Is proof of stake a security?
- Blockchain disruption beyond finance?
- Can DeFi eventually overtake mortgage lending or automotive lending?
This was a very interesting conversation and I hope you guys enjoy it. For the full version of this podcast and the entire show archive, you can subscribe to my Seeking Alpha marketplace, BlockChain Reaction:
https://seekingalpha.com/checkout?service_id=mp_1406
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on February 3rd, 2023
James Foord, The Digital Trend
James Foord is founder and analyst behind The Digital Trend, it's a Seeking Alpha marketplace that focuses on the cryptocurrency market. James applies both fundamental and technical analysis to what he does. In this conversation, we talked about our services, how to approach crypto investing, key metrics and data resources to pay attention to, and some of the specific coins to look at and to avoid.
You can check out the Digital Trend by following the link below:
https://seekingalpha.com/checkout?service_id=mp_1401
Of course, for the full version of this podcast and the entire show archive, you can subscribe to my Seeking Alpha marketplace, BlockChain Reaction:
https://seekingalpha.com/checkout?service_id=mp_1406
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on December 12th 2022.
Carol Van Cleef, Counsel At Bradley
Carol Van Cleef is Counsel and Chair of the Blockchain and Digital Assets practice at Bradley. She has been an influential voice in the crypto community for several years and is an expert in financial law. In this conversation, we talked about the collapse of FTX, SBF, regulations that may be coming, Ripple, Statute of Limitations on 2017 ICOs, NFTs, how the regulators view DAOs and quite a bit more.
BlockChain Reaction members get the full audio version of this episode in addition to live chat access, a weekly market report, my full crypto portfolio, and top token ideas.
https://seekingalpha.com/author/mike-fay/research
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. This episode was recorded on November 15th, 2022.
Gex Williams, Founder of Moonstream
Gex (pronounced Jay) Williams is the founder of Moonstream. Moonstream is building a one-stop shop for filmmaker crowdfunding, asset trading, and streaming consumption all with an NFT model. It's one of the coolest projects I've encountered on public blockchain infrastructure and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I enjoyed taking part in it. BlockChain Reaction members get the full audio version of this episode in addition to live chat access, a weekly market report, my full crypto portfolio, and top token ideas.
https://seekingalpha.com/author/mike-fay/research
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. I personally have no position in Moonstream NFTs as of recording date. This episode was recorded on August 11th, 2022.
Dai Dai, Co-Founder of DODO Exchange (DODO)
Episode 3 of the BCR Podcast features Diane Dai. She is the co-founder of a decentralized exchange called DODO (DODO-USD). That DEX has integration with a number of blockchains including Ethereum, Avalanche, Binance, and Cronos. Diana is one of the few female founders in the blockchain space and she shared a very interesting perspective on the culture of the crypto industry. BlockChain Reaction members get the full audio version of this episode in addition to live chat access, a weekly market report, my full crypto portfolio, and top token ideas.
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The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. I personally have not position in LPT tokens. This episode was recorded on July 18th, 2022.
Doug Petkanics, Co-Founder of Livepeer (LPT)
Doug Petkanics is the co-founder of Livepeer. Livepeer is enabling decentralized video transcoding with a blockchain-based streaming video solution. Doug and I talked about what Livepeer solves, the tokenomics of LPT, and a whole lot more. BlockChain Reaction members get the full audio version of this episode in addition to live chat access, a weekly market report, my full crypto portfolio, and top token ideas.
BlockChain Reaction Two Week Trial
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. I personally have not position in LPT tokens. This episode was recorded on July 7th, 2022.
Ethan Buchman, Co-founder of Cosmos (ATOM)
Ethan Buchman is the co-founder of Cosmos and the CEO of Informal Systems, a core developer of Cosmos. Ethan shared his thoughts on the utility of blockchain beyond just payments and his reaction to the Terra LUNA blowup. BlockChain Reaction members get the full audio version of this episode in addition to a live chat, weekly market report, portfolio, and top token ideas.
BlockChain Reaction Two Week Trial
The views and opinions expressed in the following podcast are those of myself and my guest. None of this is investment advice or a solicitation for you to buy any financial instrument. I am not a licensed investment advisor. This content is for information purposes only. I am personally long ATOM tokens as of recording date. This episode was recorded on June 6th, 2022.