Decentralisation – Decrypt Asia

Ep. #30: Cryptocurrency/Blockchain Fund with Czhang Lin (MD JRR Crypto)

November 4, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:20:39 0 Comments

In this episode, we speak to Czhang Lin who is the Managing Director at JRR Crypto. JRR Crypto is a Swiss Cryptocurrency/Blockchain Fund with a Chinese team which invests in both Crypto projects and the Crypto Ecosystem. They are the second biggest equity shareholder in the Crypto Exchange with one of the highest trading volumes – Binance!

Czhang is a Taiwanese Canadian who grew up in Poland and took his family business public on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. He is an alumnus of INSEAD and Tsinghua University.

Tune in to hear about:

Czhang’s very interesting background and how he got involved in Crypto/Blockchain
JRR Crypto – structure of the fund, investment thesis, areas of focus etc
Crypto ecosystem investments (70% of portfolio): Incubation, Consultancy, Investment banks, Media, Exchanges, Wealth Management, Fund of Funds
Crypto projects reperesent 30% of portfolio
JRR is the 2nd biggest equity shareholder in Binance
Quick overview of the Chinese Crypto/Blockchain ecosystem
Reason for the success of the Chinese Exchanges (OKEx, Huobi etc)
JRR’s acceleration arm: Super advisor (light involvement) and Co-founder (heavy involvement)
JRR’s roadmap
Views on a dual token system (utility + security tokens)

Ep. #28: Hedera Hashgraph, a novel Consensus mechanism with Edgar Seah (APAC Head Hedera)

October 21, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:37:58 0 Comments

The Hedera Hashgraph platform provides a new form of distributed consensus – it is a fast, secure, fair ‘Blockchain’ with a novel Governance mechanism. In this episode, we speak to the APAC Head of Hedera, Edgar Seah. Edgar has a very eclectic background with stints in Investment Banking, NGOs and corporates aroud the globe. Tune in to hear about:

Edgar’s background and how ended up as Hedera Hashgraph’s Asia’s head
History of Hashgraph (consensus mechanism)
Hashgraph is leveraged in a private manner by a company called Swirlds and in a public manner by Hedera
Background on Swirlds and Enterprise clients on Swirlds (e.g. Credit Union Consortium)
Motivation behind creating a public ledger in addition to the private ledger
Properties of Hashgraph – Speed, Security (aBFT – Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance), Fairness
Governance and a deep dive into how Hedera is trying to solve this problem – Council Governance (off-chain governance) and Consensus Model (on-chain governance)
Discussion and views on the claim that Hedera is a private Blockchain and not a public one
Regulatory compliance and the path Hedera is taking to achieve mainstream adoption
Hedera Hashgraph’s roadmap and the 20 or so projects building on top of it etc
Specific areas of focus in Asia
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashgraph
Website: https://www.hedera.com/
Hedera 18 Hackathon website: https://www.hedera18.com/

Ep. #27: Email on Blockchain with George Hartley (Co-founder Sendy)

October 12, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:25:06 0 Comments

Our guest for this episode is George Hartley, co-founder of Sendy. Sendy is aiming to bring about improvements to emails by rewarding the attention of email receivers through cryptocurrencies. The attention is rewarded in Sendy tokens which can be purchased by advertisers.

George comes from a mixture of marketing and product background having worked with several startups and marketing agencies.

Tune in to hear about:

George’s background and journey in the blockchain/crypto space
Views on email marketing
What Sendy is about (https://sendy.network/)
Problems that exist in email marketing today and how Sendy is trying to address those
Stakeholders in the Sendy ecosystem and role of the token
How the current business (https://www.smartrmail.com/) is going to be leveraged/affected?
Sendy’s roadmap

Ep. #26: Infinite cash, monetary policies and synchronicity with Andrew Pantyukhin Pt. 2/2 (CEO Tangem)

September 30, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:39:41 0 Comments

In the second part of the interview with Andrew Pantyukhin, we speak about certain topics that occupy a great deal of his mindshare beyond the company that he is trying to build (Tangem – https://tangem.com/)

Tune in to hear about:

Concept of money as a means of communication
Making cryptocurrencies ubiquitous – infinite cash for everyone (along the lines of Universal Basic Income)
Optimistic and pessimistic views how the world looks like in a few years
Subsistence economies and monetary policies
Synchronicity in the world
Why speculation in crypto could be a good thing?

Ep. #25: Banknotes for Cryptoassets with Andrew Pantyukhin Pt. 1/2 (CEO Tangem)

September 23, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:44:24 0 Comments

In this episode, we speak to Andrew Pantyukhin, the CEO of Tangem. Tangem is aiming to make cryptocurrencies more accessible to everyday individuals by allowing people to store them in smart and secure banknotes. These banknotes can then be used to purchase items or make transactions just like how we use banknotes today.

Andrew has held several roles in various tech businesses prior to founding Tangem. He is a product guy with background in technology and Venture Capital.

Tune in to hear about:

Andrew’s introduction, background and about early days of crypto
Projects Andrew was excited about in the relatively early days of crypto (21/earn.com – https://earn.com/ and ZCash – https://z.cash/)
What Tangem does
How does on acquire a Tangem Note and how to use it?
What does the customer journey look like for using a Tangem Note
Details about the Tangem note – Is the card reusable? How to top up the card? How much does Tangem Note cost to the distributor and customer?
Tangem’s business model
Tangem’s roadmap and ambitions
Website: https://tangem.com/

Ep. #24: Decentralized CryptoBanking with Alex Wearn (CEO Aurora/IDEX)

September 11, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:52:34 0 Comments

Aurora is a decentralized financial platform with IDEX, a hybrid decentralized exchange, as its first product. Subsequent products will include margin lending on the hybrid exchange and a stablecoin to support the Cryptocurrency bank (called Decentralized Capital)

Our guest for this episode is Alex Wearn, CEO of Aurora DAO. He has previously worked with IBM and Adobe and is a graduate of Kellogg School of Management.

Tune in to hear about:

Alex’s background, introduction and journey in crypto
What is Aurora? (Decentralised financial institution)
Problems with the current financial system that Aurora is trying to address
Concept of free banking
Bundling of stable coins: https://www.tokensets.com/
1st product of Aurora ecosystem – IDEX which is a hybrid centralised/decentralised exchange
Decentralised aspect – custody and settlement
Centralised aspect – dispatch of trades to the blockchain
Liquidity providers / market makers on IDEX?
Key challenges during setting up IDEX and how they were overcome – acquisition of users, operating on Ethereum network
Fee structure on IDEX
ETH gas prices – https://ethgasstation.info/
Understanding Mempool (pending transactions) – https://99bitcoins.com/what-is-bitcoin-mempool/
Margin lending on IDEX
2nd product of Aurora ecosystem – Cryptocurrency bank (Decentralised Capital)
Stablecoin (Boreals) and how it’ll work
AURA token – staking token of IDEX network
IDXM token – membership token (3 years of free trades) to bring forth revenues for the company
Daily trading volume – highest was about 20-25m, average is 3-7m
Aurora’s roadmap
Views on the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency ecosystem in general
Website: https://auroradao.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aurora_Dao
Discord: http://bit.ly/AuroraDiscord

Ep. #21: Blockchain Community/ Co-Living, Co-Working space with See Eun and Young Hoon (Co-Founders Nonce Community)

August 15, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 01:20:29 0 Comments

Our first guest for this episode is See Eun who was into breakdancing and danced professionally for more than 10 years. He served in the military, curated and wrote for a hip-hop blog and lead hip-hop education efforts before the Bitcoin bug bit him. He started ‘The Blockchainers”, the first Blockchain Cryptocurrency YouTube channel in Korea with his co-host Young Hoon who is the other guest on the show.

Young Hoon majored in math and computer science at the University of Oxford and upon graduation had short stints in McKinsey and Macquarie before also serving in the military in Somalia for a counter-piracy mission for the Korean army.

Together, they also started and currently run Nonce Community, an open-source co-working, co-living Blockchain/Cryptocurrency space based on Proof-of-Work. Nonce community started as a few people who worked in this ecosystem living together in a 3 bedroom apartment and has since grown to a whole building which can currently accommodate upto 100 Blockchainers.

Tune in to hear about:

Their fascinating background and what got them into crypto
First Korean Blockchain Youtube channel they started – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsH44G5T4hHXYrb1aGUB1Gw
Nonce Community – Blockchain community – co-living, co-working, open-source Blockchain community based on Proof-of-Work
How they went from a 3 bedroom apartment to a building that can accommodate a 100 people
Decentralised governance model for the community – decentralised way to make decisions including deciding who gets to stay
How the environment was like initially
An essay that inspired them (Tyranny of Structurelessness): https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
Different verticals at Nonce Community: Tokeneconomics consulting, smart contract auditing, media and community management, fund and research arm
Studio Decentral (Media arm): http://www.studiodecentral.org/
See Eun’s views on the current perverse media model in the Blockchain/crypto ecosystem
Other resources mentioned: Epicenter Podcast (https://epicenter.tv/), Let’s talk Bitcoin (https://letstalkbitcoin.com/)
Gary Vee! – https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/
Fund – arbitrage, market making and ICOs – due diligence process and fund structuring
Research – Whitepaper.foundation
Scalability solutions and their trade-offs: Plasma, state channels and sharding
Thoughts on scalability through centralisation of block production
Thoughts on move from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake consensus mechanism
Store of Value vs Tokens of protocols becoming store of value
Bitcoin: Store of value vs medium of exchange
Using Blockchain and Cryptocurrency to help society and the planet

Ep. #19: Decentralised Service Marketplace with JP Thor (CEO CanYa)

July 30, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:33:42 1 Comment

Our guest for this show is JP Thor, CEO of CanYa, a global marketplace of peer-to-peer services with a cryptocurrency payment layer.

JP is a former Air Force pilot, an early Bitcoin adopter and a Blockchain ambassador. He serves as an advisor to multiple Blockchain startups including Loki and Trust Wallet.

Tune in to hear about:

Background and transition from being an air force pilot to the blockchain/cryptocurrency ecosystem
Why JP started a decentralised service marketplace
What does the customer journey look like as a service provider or user
Use of the token (CAN) on the platform and the tokeneconomics
How the hedged escrow function works to ensure that the service provider gets paid fairly and not be subject to price fluctuations
Thoughts on most people in the world not investing or buying cryptocurrency but getting into crypto by earning it
How CanYa plans to cope with the learning curve required for anyone to store crypto assets
Why CanYa took the strategy of being centralised in the beginning and over time move towards greater decentralisation – with the eventual goal to be a DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation)
How CanYa aims to achieve decentralisation over a period of time
How CanYa is developing infrastructure around having a decentralised marketplace as well
On-chain governance
Ethereum 2.0
Layer 1 vs Layer 2 discussion
Projects mentioned: Digix, Origin Protocol, uPort, OmiseGo, Humaiq, Trust wallet, Loom Network amongst others

Ep. #17: Cryptocurrency Aggregator with Sharan Nair (SVP Marketing & BD CoinSwitch)

July 3, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:27:56 0 Comments

CoinSwitch is a Sequoia backed cryptocurrency aggregator. A cryptocurrency aggregator allows users to buy and sell multiple cryptocurrencies across various exchanges without creating multiple accounts while getting to choose the best prices across exchanges.

Sharan is currently the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at CoinSwitch. Prior to this role, he was the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Unocoin, one of India’s largest fiat to crypto exchanges.

Tune in to hear about:

Sharan’s background, his work with Unocoin (a fiat to crypto exchange in India) and how he started working at CoinSwitch
CoinSwitch – is an exchange aggregator supporting 300 coins and 45000 exchange pairs where users do not need to create accounts at multiple exchanges and use the CoinSwitch platform to get access to best pricing
Current exchanges integrated on Coinswitch: ShapeShift, Bittrex, Changelly, KuCoin, Changer and Cryptopia
Roadmap: Integrate with IDEX, a decentralised exchange and the challenges with integrating with a decentralised exchange
End-to-end customer journey for using Coinswitch
Coinswitch’s business model
CoinSwitch’s customer base and its distribution across the globe
CoinSwitch’s roadmap
CoinSwitch’s value added services such airdrop tracker, tax calculator etc
Business risks for CoinSwitch
Sharan’s view on the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency ecosystem in India
Twitter

Ep. #14: Crypto Twitter, Bitcoin and Proof of Stake Nodes with Meher Roy Pt. 1/2 (Host of Epicenter and Co-founder Chorus One)

June 10, 2018 Tushar Agarwal 00:46:05 0 Comments

Meher is a fellow podcaster and host of Epicenter, one of the most well respected Blockchain podcasts in the industry with guests such as Vitalik Buterin, Adam Back, Gavin Andresen, Ralph Merkle regularly featuring on his show. He has also recently started a new company called Chorus One where his company is building validator nodes for Proof of Stake Blockchain networks such as Cosmos.

Meher is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology or IIT and worked in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry prior to making a switch to the Blockchain world.

Tune in to hear about:

Crypto Twitter and why he went off Twitter
His background and journey in the Blockchain space
How he came across Bitcoin in 2012, was unsuccessful in being able to purchase it
The thesis that made him purchase Bitcoin in 2013/14 and how that thesis has turned out wrong
The power of compound interest
First alt coin he purchased – Ether in 2015
His company (Chorus One) and what they are trying to do – Proof of Stake (PoS) validator node for the Cosmos project
How validation in PoS networks is the beginning of the fixed income in the cryptocurrency market
What will be the total size of the staking market and what percentage of the tokens would Chorus One look to be staked with them
What would be the differentiators for validator nodes to capture a greater market share
How PoS can lead to greater ‘centralisation’ but why that’s not necessarily a bad thing

Link to Epicenter Podcast: https://epicenter.tv/

Youtube link to Epicenter podcast: https://www.youtube.com/user/epicenterbtc

Link to his new company: http://chorus.one/