Why Crypto is Africa’s Next Big Bet | James Zhang, Jambo

In today's episode, Jason talks with Zach Rynes, formerly known as crypto anon "ChainLinkGod". They discuss Zach's journey in the crypto space, the pros and cons of being an anon, and the strong community of "Link Marines" that has formed around Chainlink. Zach explains how Chainlink has evolved from a simple oracle service to a platform for data, compute and cross-chain functionality, and why he believes it will be a critical piece of infrastructure as crypto matures and gains adoption from institutions. They also touch on Zach's thoughts on the current state of the oracle market, the importance of the LINK token, and some other exciting developments in the Ethereum and broader crypto ecosystem. - - Follow Zach: https://twitter.com/ChainLinkGod Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Timestamps (00:00) Why ChainlinkGod is DOXing (03:31) The ChainlinkGod Origin Story (13:42) Importance of Identity in Crypto (21:49) Oracle Landscape Today (25:05) Link Business Model (28:49) The Role of LINK Token (32:45) CCIP Overview (37:51) Dencun's Impact to Rollups - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

18 Mars 202443min

In today's episode of Empire, Konstantin Lomashuk, co-founder of Lido & Cyber Fund, discusses his journey. He shares his views on the importance of decentralization in staking, the potential risks and rewards of restaking protocols like Eigenlayer, and his long-term vision for a "cybernetic economy" powered by blockchain and AI. Konstantin also reflects on Ethereum's development roadmap, the surprises he's encountered in his crypto career, and the challenges of building in an open, permissionless ecosystem. - - Follow Konstantin: https://twitter.com/Lomashuk Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Wormhole is a decentralized interoperability platform powering multi-chain applications and bridges. It provides developers with access to liquidity and users on over 30 leading blockchain networks, enabling use cases in DeFi, data queries, and governance. The platform is trusted by teams like Uniswap and Circle and, to date, the platform has facilitated the transfer of over 35 billion dollars through over 850 million cross-chain messages. Claim your unique Wormhole NFT at https://wormhole.com/empire9-9444 - - Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses. If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad - - Shardeum is an EVM-based autoscaling blockchain Learn more and spin up your node today: bit.ly/shardeum-blockworks-1 - - Get the freshest price feeds free for 12 months. Join Supra’s early integration program for zero-cost access to the fastest oracles and dVRF across 50+ blockchains: supra.com/blockworks Earn $1,500 by referring Web3 projects to use Supra services. The projects get the fastest services for free, and you earn $1,500 for every referral. Learn more at the link above. - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this March! DAS is the #1 institutional conference in crypto, hosted by Blockworks. Use the link below to learn more, and use EMPIRE10 to get 10% off your ticket! Sign up now because the price goes up every month. See you there! Learn more + get your ticket here: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2024-london/home - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:40) Konstantin's Background (10:38) ETH Staking Marketshare (26:26) Thoughts on Restaking (35:44) Wormhole Ad (37:11) Monda Ad (38:10) Shardeum Ad (39:05) Supra Ad (40:02) ETH's Edge & Misses (47:52) Risks of Restaking (58:23) Value of Alt Ecosystems (01:02:54) The Cyber Economy - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

15 Mars 20241h 24min

This week, Alex Kruger aka Krugermacro joins the show for a discussion on where we are in the current crypto cycle. With Bitcoin ripping above all-time highs, ETF flows strong & meme coins up only are thing getting a little too frothy too quick, or does this rally have much further to run?  -- Follow Alex: https://twitter.com/krugermacro Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Perennial is an on-chain derivatives protocol built from first principles to be a DeFi primitive. The core protocol is minimalist, flexible, and efficient, allowing Perennial to mold to the needs of many different users & use cases. Perennial has a super efficient core protocol that lets LPs use native maker leverage — allowing $1mn in TVL to back to $5-10mn in Open interest. Trade and LP at: https://perennial.finance/1000x -- Timestamps: (0:00) Introduction (1:59) Trading Bull vs Bear Markets (4:21) The FTX Blowup (11:30) Where Are We In The Cycle? (18:27) Trading Blow-Off Tops (22:02) Perennial Ad (23:34) The Bitcoin ETF Is Still Early (29:30) Meme Coins (39:49) There's A Lot Of Euphoria.. But Not In Alt's (47:34) The Bitcoin Basis Trade (51:08) Solana & The FTX Estate -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

14 Mars 202455min

In today's episode we are joined by Arthur Hayes and Guy Young dive deep into the world of stablecoins and synthetic dollars. They discuss the counterparty risks associated with Ethena, a new synthetic dollar product, and how it aims to provide a decentralized alternative to traditional stablecoins like Tether and USDC. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by algorithmic stablecoins, the potential impact of institutional investors entering the crypto space, and the exciting opportunities in the growing interest rate market within the crypto ecosystem. To close out Arthur shares where he thinks we are in the cycle. Thanks for tuning in! - - Follow Arthur: https://twitter.com/CryptoHayes Follow Guy: https://twitter.com/leptokurtic_ Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all.  Get started at: portal.arbitrum.io  - - Harpie is the most advanced on-chain security solution for monitoring and protecting your crypto wallet from theft in real time. Harpie detects, blocks, and recovers compromised assets from malicious transactions before they execute, and is the only security tool to also protect users from off-chain signature attacks like the recent Ledger Connect Kit exploit. Secure your wallet for free at harpie.io. - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this March! DAS is the #1 institutional conference in crypto, hosted by Blockworks. Use the link below to learn more, and use EMPIRE10 to get 10% off your ticket! Sign up now because the price goes up every month. See you there! Learn more + get your ticket here: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2024-london/home - - Timestamps: (0:00) Arthur's Stablecoin Musings (9:28) History of Tokenized Hedge Funds (11:47) Ethena Overview (16:34) Arbitrum Ad (17:20) Harpie Ad (18:33) Risks of Ethena (24:25) USDe Yield over Time (29:28) Defending a Cascade (35:05) Rebranding USDe (45:35) Minting & Redeeming Process (48:14) Stablecoin Endgame (1:00:39) Where are we in the cycle? (1:09:09) Top Narratives this Cycle - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

12 Mars 20241h 15min

Today's episode of Empire Santi opens up about the biggest investing mistakes he's made throughout his crypto journey, from getting carried away with trading in Bitcoin's early days, to not re-underwriting his Ethereum thesis as the price soared, to chasing dependent projects during the ICO boom. He unpacks the importance of differentiating between errors of process vs. errors of outcome, shares hard-earned lessons on portfolio management and tax implications, and discusses how to handle the psychological challenges of investing. Stay tuned for all of this and much more! - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Wormhole is a decentralized interoperability platform powering multi-chain applications and bridges. It provides developers with access to liquidity and users on over 30 leading blockchain networks, enabling use cases in DeFi, data queries, and governance. The platform is trusted by teams like Uniswap and Circle and, to date, the platform has facilitated the transfer of over 35 billion dollars through over 850 million cross-chain messages. Claim your unique Wormhole NFT at https://wormhole.com/empire8-8812 - - Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses. If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad - - Shardeum is an EVM-based autoscaling blockchain Learn more and spin up your node today: bit.ly/shardeum-blockworks-1 - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this March! DAS is the #1 institutional conference in crypto, hosted by Blockworks. Use the link below to learn more, and use EMPIRE10 to get 10% off your ticket! Sign up now because the price goes up every month. See you there! Learn more + get your ticket here: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2024-london/home - - Timestamps: (00:00) Learning from Mistakes (05:22) First Big Mistake (12:34) Know your Game (16:00) When to Sell (24:03) Mistakes in ICO Era (32:40) Tax Implications & Strategy (34:22) Profit Taking & Identity (39:55) Wormhole ad (41:22) Monad Ad (42:20) Shardeum Ad (43:17) Private Deal Mistakes (46:15) Dealing with Mistakes (54:08) Biggest Rug (56:04) Biggest Paperhand (01:02:28) Preparing for Success (01:06:36) Investing in Dependencies (01:09:54) Biggest Mistakes (01:23:17) Jason's Mistakes - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

8 Mars 20241h 33min

In today's episode Jason is joined by Bitcoin early adopters, Pete Rizzo and Charlie Shrem. They dive into the early days of Bitcoin from 2011-2014, covering topics like the origins of BitInstant, Charlie's experience being arrested, the Mt. Gox hack, and the start of the block size wars. Charlie and Pete share insider stories and insights from their unique vantage points, having been involved in Bitcoin from its very early stages. They touch on the cultural divide between the Bitcoin and broader crypto communities and look towards the future of ordinals. Stay tuned for all of this and much more! - - Follow Charlie: https://twitter.com/CharlieShrem Follow Pete: https://twitter.com/pete_rizzo Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all.  Get started at: portal.arbitrum.io  - - Harpie is the most advanced on-chain security solution for monitoring and protecting your crypto wallet from theft in real time. Harpie detects, blocks, and recovers compromised assets from malicious transactions before they execute, and is the only security tool to also protect users from off-chain signature attacks like the recent Ledger Connect Kit exploit. Secure your wallet for free at harpie.io. - - Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses. If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:52) Early Days of Crypto (12:09) BitInstant Origin Story (23:34) Competing with Money (36:40) Arbitrum Ad (37:28) Harpie Ad (38:43) The Mining Industry (46:46) Origins of Exchanges (52:56) Bitcoin in 2013 (01:00:08) Charlie's Arrest (01:09:24) The 2015/16 Bear Market (01:15:15) The Block Size Wars (01:29:33) Ordinals - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

5 Mars 20241h 45min

In this week's roundup Jason and Santi dive into the stages of a bull market. They break down why traders often chase narratives and overtrade during peak market conditions. They also analyze the Uniswap proposal to reward token holders, predicting it may enable more DeFi tokens and protocols to distribute fees. To close out they discuss the Blast mainnet launch and incentives offered to builders. Stay tuned for all of this and much more! - - Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Wormhole is a decentralized interoperability platform powering multi-chain applications and bridges. It provides developers with access to liquidity and users on over 30 leading blockchain networks, enabling use cases in DeFi, data queries, and governance. The platform is trusted by teams like Uniswap and Circle and, to date, the platform has facilitated the transfer of over 35 billion dollars through over 850 million cross-chain messages. Claim your unique Wormhole NFT at https://wormhole.com/empire7-8645 - - Send your crypto to your PayPal account, swap it for PYUSD, and use it to checkout at millions of stores. Pay how you want by getting started at: https://blckwrks.co/PYUSD - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this March! DAS is the #1 institutional conference in crypto, hosted by Blockworks. Use the link below to learn more, and use EMPIRE10 to get 10% off your ticket! Sign up now because the price goes up every month. See you there! Learn more + get your ticket here: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2024-london/home - - Timestamps: (00:00) Tokyo, Marathons, and Crypto Highs (04:54) Santi's Best Trades (18:54) 4 Stages of the Bull Market (30:33) Wormhole Ad (31:59) Paypal ad (32:57) Chasing Narratives in Bull Markets (48:22) Uniswap Fee Proposal (59:55) Blast Mainnet Launch - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

1 Mars 20241h 9min

Follow 1000x On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3P6Lo19 Follow 1000x On Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3P4bYbb Follow 1000x On YouTube: https://bit.ly/3DNc5C6 -- We're are so ₿ack! On today's episode of 1000x, Jonah and Avi discuss recent market price action as Bitcoin rips above $60,000 & ETF flows continue. -- Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Referenced In The Show: Bitcoin ETF Flow: https://farside.co.uk/?p=997 -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

29 Feb 202454min