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

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 su

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 j

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

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 i

GNOSIS is a pioneer in the Ethereum ecosystem, creating the first implementation of both the multisig and smart contract wallets. Their pivotal technology served as the backbone for many ICOs, and the GNOSIS team was the first to leverage the Dutch auction for trading. So, how did the team at GNOSIS become trailblazers in the crypto space? And how are they working to demonstrate the value of fully decentralized prediction markets?Stefan George is the Co-Founder and CTO of GNOSIS, a prediction market platform that allows users to create custom forecasting applications and produce an entirely new asset class of conditional tokens they can then trade or hold. Today, Stefan joins us to discuss the GNOSIS team’s core mission to originate a prediction market system capable of aggregating global knowledge. He shares the use cases for prediction markets, including information discovery, incentivizing behavior and establishing financial markets.Stefan goes on to describe how financial markets created on prediction sys

If you ask Lasse Clausen, tokenized networks are better than free. And that’s why he has created a crypto investment fund around a token maximalist philosophy. A fund that capitalizes on permissionless innovation and declining trust in companies and governments. The 1kx thesis is flexible enough to adapt to the fast-moving blockchain space yet focused enough that it affords the team conviction—even when tokens are out of fashion.Lasse is a Founding Partner at 1kx Capital, a token fund designed to be the most founder-friendly and helpful source of early-stage capital for crypto projects. Today, Lasse joins us to discuss how his background as a software entrepreneur led him to create a crypto investment fund and offer insight around the current venture environment in the blockchain space. He shares the 1kx thesis for making investment decisions, describing how permissionless innovation and the omnipresence of trust inform their philosophy of token maximalism.Lasse goes on to explain 1kx’s narrow focus around Et

The most powerful financial tools available live on the blockchain. The problem is, only crypto aficionados currently have access to these decentralized financial protocols like Kyber, Uniswap, Maker, and Compound. So, how can we serve the investing, trading and borrowing needs of non-crypto users, abstracting the complexities of the blockchain to bring DeFi to the world? Itamar Lesuisse and Julien Niset are the cofounders of Argent, the first smart wallet for Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies and apps. Today, they join us to discuss how the team identified wallets as the biggest problem to solve in the space, landing on smart contracts as the best way to circumvent the need for users to remember a seed phrase. Itamar and Julien walk us through the two user types, owners and guardians, describing how Argent creates a smart contract wallet around a particular externally-owned account or EOA. Itamar and Julien go on to offer an overview of the Argent wallet architecture and the different types of contracts it sup

It goes without saying that DeFi is better with Bitcoin as collateral. And there is an appetite among BTC holders for ways to actively apply our money. But as of yet, there is no way to bring Bitcoin onto Ethereum that is censorship-resistant and adheres to the #1 principle of BTC: No printing money. Until now. The newly formed Cross-Chain Group is working on a project that facilitates interoperability known as tBTC Network. Matt Luongo and James Prestwich are the crypto OGs behind tBTC, a decentralized, redeemable, BTC-backed ERC-20 token that gives Bitcoin users access to financial services on other chains. Today, they join us to discuss how their respective expertise in secure multiparty computation and stateless SPV led to their partnership on tBTC and the founding of Cross-Chain Group. Matt and James explain the technical and economic guarantees of tBTC that satisfy Bitcoin users and offer us a high-level overview of the system’s functionality, including how tBTC is minted and redeemed. Matt and James go

Crypto is a different animal. Investors who play in the blockchain space are putting their money on a science experiment rather than a company with a business plan. And the pace and complexity of the ecosystem make it impossible to have a depth of knowledge in any one area. So, the best crypto venture investors can do is secure a broad understanding of the space and adapt their beliefs to the world as it changes. Haseeb Qureshi is a former general partner at cryptocurrency hedge fund MetaStable Capital. Today, he joins us to share his unconventional path to crypto, describing how his background as a professional poker player and experience in consumer payments at Airbnb inform his work as an investor. Haseeb explains why he focuses on layer one smart contract platforms and what differentiates one from another. Haseeb weighs in on the attack factor associated with stable coins and why Bitcoin is less susceptible. He also shares his view of how the current macroeconomic environment might influence Bitcoin adopt

The creators of Perlin still hold the long-term vision of developing a revenue-generating distributed ledger system that closes the wealth gap. But until smartphones are powerful enough and broadband speeds are fast enough, the team has expanded its scope to include Wavelet, a DAG ledger that powers WebAssembly smart contracts. Kenta Iwasaki and Dorjee Sun are the cofounders of Perlin, a crypto project powering the future of trade with enterprise solutions built on top of the world’s fastest public ledger. Today, Kenta and Dorjee join us to share their ten-year plan to realize a decentralized cloud compute platform and explain how the network evolved to include smart contracts—with international trade applications. They introduce us to DAG architecture, describing how it leverages alternatives to the longest chain rule and discussing Wavelet’s unique snowball sampling solution for identifying the valid chain. Kenta weighs in on the main design flaw of Avalanche as a consensus mechanism and offers a high-level

The ZRX token was created to facilitate governance for 0x as a public piece of infrastructure. It gave the community voting rights and was baked into the settlement layer as a way to collect fees. The idea was to get the token into the hands of the platform’s users. But soon after launch, the team realized their hypothesis was wrong, and they have spent the last 18 months developing a new token economics model that rewards liquidity providers. Will Warren and Amir Bandeali are the cofounders of 0x, an open protocol that enables the peer-to-peer exchange of assets on the Ethereum blockchain. Today, Will and Amir join us to share the 0x origin story, explaining how their own need for DEX infrastructure informed the creation of the protocol. They walk us through the team’s 2019 roadmap, offering insight around why liquidity is their #1 objective. Will and Amir discuss their work in the realm of ZIEPs, the team’s collaboration with StarkWare, and the introduction of 0x Mesh—as an alternative to the standard rela

Today, we're looking back at the first six months of 2019 to review the most important developments in crypto. We start with the launch of LIBRA, discussing its ambition to own the financial infrastructure in the developing world. We introduce the evolving narrative around Bitcoin and explore what's behind BTC price action, including the trade war with China and the current monetary policy. Louis offers insight into which institutions are entering the crypto space, and Michael offers his take on the potential for central banks to add Bitcoin as a reserve asset. Finally, we cover LedgerX's acquisition of all three licenses necessary to operate a derivatives exchange and how Bitfinex averted disaster with a $1B LEO token raise. Listen in to understand the latest SEC action against Kin and learn about the latest FinCEN guidance regarding what is and is not classified as a money transmitter in the crypto space. Follow Thomas on Twitter Follow Louis on Twitter Follow Mike on Twitter

How do you develop a venture fund that invests in future tech like jetpacks and exoskeletons? According to Adam Draper, you start by branding yourself as the VC interested in ‘anything that gets me closer to an Ironman suit.’ This attracts the demented builders and deal flow of wild things you need to realize your sci-fi vision of a world without borders. To date, Adam’s team has invested in more than 250 startups, 110 of which were crypto projects—including Wyre. Adam is the Cofounder and Managing Director of Boost VC, a pre-seed venture fund and accelerator dedicated to sci-fi tech. Today, he joins us to share his experience growing up in a venture family (he’s a 4th generation VC) and discusses his vision of a borderless, digital world enabled by virtual reality and crypto. Adam explains why he loves mentoring founders in the early stages, walking us through the three-month accelerator program Boost delivers to entrepreneurs. Adam also weighs in on the challenges associated with raising money from LPs for

Seth Rubin is the cofounder and CEO of MARKET Protocol, a framework for creating synthetic assets represented as tokens that allows users to gain exposure to a variety of assets without leaving the Ethereum network. Today, he joins us to discuss the launch of the MARKET Protocol Exchange (MPX) and minting platform, explaining the role of the MKT token in onboarding and educating new users. Seth shares the benefit to putting a cap on risk and the UX tradeoffs associated with this unique approach. Seth also weighs in on why his team has written their own oracle for initial implementation and how time to resolution impacts the user experience. Listen in to understand how Seth’s team is educating users around the pricing and trading of market position tokens and learn how asset exposure, a defined downside and accessible leverage differentiate MARKET Protocol from its competitors.

Michael Feng was looking for a problem to solve, so he spent September of 2018 talking to everyone he could in the crypto space. The notion of liquidity kept coming up, and without knowing exactly what the solution might be, he and his team set out to answer the question: How do you create the liquidity necessary to attract traders to cryptocurrency markets? Michael weighs in on the technical and regulatory challenges associated with market making on DEXes, the centralized and decentralized exchanges supported on the platform, and the startup's plan to monetize by way of liquidity bounties. Listen in for insight into the traction Hummingbot has gained since its launch in April and learn about the software's surprisingly diverse user base, including individuals in emerging markets, token projects, and even quant funds. Follow Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscaria Follow Mike on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fengtality

John Burnett is the Cofounder and Head of Business Development and Strategy at Omniex, an institutional operating platform for investment managers and active traders focused on crypto assets. Today, he joins us to explain how Omniex is priming the crypto market for institutional entry, describing the increasing interest in the tokenization of assets among institutional players and the impact their entry will have on the crypto ecosystem as a whole. John also discusses how Omniex differs from platforms like Tagomi or SFOX and weighs in on the pros and cons of trading with a single counterparty. Listen in to understand some of the key aspects of Omniex that appeal to institutional investors, including its suite of algorithms and ESP feature, and learn John’s theory around the ‘gateway drugs’ that will inspire major financial institutions to enter the crypto space. Follow Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscaria Follow Louis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/louAboudHogben Follow Omniex on Twitter: https:

Today, we’re joined by the cofounders of UMA, COO Allison Lu and CEO Hart Lambur. Allison and Hart explain how UMA facilitates bilateral derivatives by allowing the short side to be levered and collateralizing the long side at 100%, and they describe how the tokenized derivative smart contract serves as the protocol’s core technology. They go on to cover the hub-and-spoke design of the UMA market structure, the team’s decision to adhere to the ERC-20 standard, and the planned shift from a one-to-many to a multi-token-sponsor model. Allison and Hart also discuss the positive response to UMA’s USStocks synthetic token and the protocol’s potential to galvanize an ‘army of DeFi nerds’ via money-making arbitrage opportunities. Listen in for insight around UMA’s bring-your-own-price-feed approach to the oracle problem and learn how the team’s framework for dispute resolution—the decentralized oracle—serves as the foundation for its business plan. Follow Thomas (host) on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscaria Follow

Crypto wallets come in a variety of shapes and sizes. What the team stands for has an influence on who they serve, what services they offer, and how they address security. The architecture of the wallet itself is, in fact, shaped by each project’s core values. Curious how the co-founders of three very distinct wallets make decisions based on their respective mission statements? We also weigh in on security, covering the pros and cons of seed phrase recovery, the feasibility of hardware wallets as a long-term security solution, and the possibility of leveraging smart contracts as a viable alternative. Listen in for insight into how the Portis, BRD, and Argent teams decide what services to offer and what to display in their wallet’s UI—and learn how Tom, Aaron, and Itamar think about capturing value for investors, in bull and bear markets alike! Follow Thomas (host) on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscaria Follow Itamar (guest) on Twitter: https://twitter.com/itamarl Follow Tom (guest) on Twitter: https://twit

Hayden Adams is the founder of Uniswap, the decentralized exchange that affords users a simple smart contract interface for trading ERC-20 tokens, a formalized model for pooling liquidity reserves, and an open-source front-end for traders and liquidity providers. Today, Hayden joins us to offer insight around the design tradeoffs he considered in building Uniswap, the pros, and cons of the constant product model, and the advantage to using ether as a single medium of exchange. Hayden also explains how Uniswap reduces the complexity of becoming a market-maker and how the project has become a pillar of the DeFi space. Listen in to understand how Hayden is thinking about building a business on top of the protocol in light of its recent backing by Paradigm and learn about the team’s current focus on improving its user experience and function as a price oracle. Follow Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscaria Follow Hayden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/haydenzadams