The Exchange
The Exchange
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The Exchange is a podcast for professional investors curious about or active in cryptocurrencies -- a significant new asset class that traditional finance institutions are now exploring. Each episode we speak with an early mover in the space from venture capital, private equity, top financial firms, and more. Learn how these individuals and their firms are approaching the world of cryptocurrency and the many issues everyone in this space are tackling: the incredible proliferation of tokens & blockchains, ICOs & regulatory issues, investment strategies, and how to stay on top of it all.
Available episodes
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May 13, 2019
Approaches & Activity in Crypto Company Investing [The Exchange #004]
Ash Egan is a Principal at Accomplice focusing on early-stage blockchain and crypto investments. Previously, he was a founding Principal on the venture team at ConsenSys, the largest blockchain company in the world, where he led investments in BlockFi, Vault, RocketPool, and Quantstamp. Ash began his career in venture at Converge VC, where he focused primarily on blockchain/crypto and machine learning applications, and led the firm's investment in Chainalysis' seed round. Show notes & links below; subscribe for future episodes!
You can also watch this discussion on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVeoGp1D76A
This episode hosted by: Manasi Vora
Manasi is a Boston finance professional and blockchain enthusiast. A former portfolio manager for Dalal Capital Advisors, she's more recently worked in research with the MIT Digital Currency Initiative. She served as Director of this year's MIT Bitcoin Expo, and is the founder of Boston's Women in Blockchain group.
00:27 - Ash's painful story about a USB stick full of crypto
02:40 - Why Ash decided to focus on blockchain as a VC
04:00 - How investing at Accomplice differs from other blockchain & crypto investors
05:42 - Comparing ConsenSys ventures' focus on the ethereum ecosystem to being a protocol-agnostic investors
07:35 - Areas of interest at Accomplice
11:30 - Investing in companies for equity vs investing in digital assets
13:20 - Valuation models for crypto networks
17:43 - Managing governance rights / responsibilities as a token-holding investors
20:00 - Where there's the most startup activity in the space
23:11 - Alternative approaches to fundraising in the crypto space
24:42 - M&A activity approaching, and issues tokens raise
27:30 - Open finance / decentralized finance, and how it will impact the traditional finance industry
30:26 - Exit paths for crypto companies
32:31 - What Ash knows about crypto now that he wishes he knew 3 years ago
36:10 - Upcoming developments Ash is excited for
Thanks for listening! Subscribe for future episodes.
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Apr 8, 2019
#003 - The Challenges & Nuance of Crypto Regulation w/ Patrick Murck
In this episode, Patrick Murck, a legal expert on cryptocurrency since its earliest days, joins us to talk about the present and future regulation of the space. Described by investor Michael Troiano as "the man who made Bitcoin respectable," Patrick co-founded and later served as Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation, playing a key role in 2013 Senate hearings that shaped the opinions of policy makers. Today, Patrick serves as a member of both the IMF and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York FinTech advisory groups, as a Special Counsel at Cooley LLP, and as an angel investor. Show notes & links below; subscribe for future episodes!
You can also watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHFyAvpHHhQ
This episode hosted by: Manasi Vora
Manasi is a Boston finance professional and blockchain enthusiast. A former portfolio manager for Dalal Capital Advisors, she's more recently worked in research with the MIT Digital Currency Initiative. She served as Director of this year's MIT Bitcoin Expo, and is the founder of Boston's Women in Blockchain group.
00:51 - The 2009 startup that first got Patrick interested in Bitcoin
02:27 - Bitcoin devs to Patrick: "You're a lawyer / startup guy that knows digital currency regulation in 2011? Come be a part of this." Patrick's journey into the crypto ecosystem + what led to the lightbulb moment for him.
05:41 - Has the US's regulatory environment been confusing? Has it caused the US to fall behind the rest of the world?
06:51 - Fragmentation of US regulatory bodies vs other countries like Singapore or the UK
10:34 - US regulator actions on token sales
15:00 - Are most ICOs securities offerings?
16:40 - Implications for exchanges trading tokens + who's the 'operator' of a decentralized exchange?
18:45 - Future of ICOs / alternative models for distributing tokens for a new network
22:30 - What makes Bitcoin special
24:58 - Patrick's approach to angel investing
28:50 - The closing gap of KYC arbitrage, and the opportunity for better tools that balance privacy with fighting illicit finance
34:28 - The dearth of good information serving institutions in the crypto ecosystem
36:32 - The magical properties of money and why code is law
41:55 - The need for regulatory clarity that holds back some institutions + why that creates entrepreneurial opportunity
44:22 - What crypto infrastructure does the ecosystem still need?
46:05 - Patrick's 3rd or 4th "crypto winter" and why he loves it
Thanks for listening! Subscribe for future episodes.
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Jan 8, 2019
#002 Early Crypto at Fidelity + Cryptocurrency Infrastructure w/ Matt Walsh
In this episode, we’re joined by a former Fidelity Investments VP, Matt Walsh, who started a public blockchain-focused VC fund, Castle Island Ventures. We discuss why Fidelity is so progressive on blockchain-enabled fintech, the opportunities CIV sees in blockchain infrastructure, and Matt’s predictions around regulation, exchanges, and blockchain powering the next wave of innovation. Show notes & links below; subscribe for future episodes!
Our Guest: Matthew Walsh, Managing Partner at Castle Island Ventures
Castle Island Ventures is an early stage venture fund focused exclusively on the blockchain / cryptoasset sector. Prior to founding Castle Island Ventures, Matt was a Vice President at Fidelity Investments, where he led a number of the firm’s blockchain initiatives. While at Fidelity, he led the creation, operationalization and the investment strategy of a private fund focused on cryptoasset investments.
Our Host: Abbey Titcomb
Abbey is the EiR & Head of Strategy at Onward Labs, a venture studio working with founders leveraging emerging technologies to solve the world's most pressing issues. She is also an Associate at Underscore.VC, a $85M early-stage tech venture firm with a community-centric model supporting the next generation of transformative entrepreneurs. Abbey is hyper-curious and tech-obsessed, with focuses in blockchain, artificial intelligence, and consumer tech as a whole.
Show Notes
00:49 - How Matt got involved in crypto in business school
01:50 - Scenario-planning for the future of blockchain & financial services while at Fidelity
https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/28/fidelity-ceo-abigail-johnson-says-the-company-is-mining-cryptocurrencies/
06:02 - Being able to explore crypto at Fidelity because of support from the top, lack of career risk
07:50 - Early experiments with crypto at Fidelity
https://www.fidelitylabs.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh69_jruVzQ
09:15 - Why Matt created Castle Island Ventures, started investing in blockchain companies.
http://www.castleisland.vc/
10:35 - CIV's focus on public blockchains & infrastructure
11:45 - Why invest in these companies as an equity investor? Matt explains his skepticism around ICOs / the proliferation of native utility tokens.
14:07 - Market infrastructure -- custody, exchanges, *data* -- that's needed regardless.
16:10 - How CIV differs from other blockchain investors; investments they're looking to make.
https://flipsidecrypto.com/
18:39 - What kind of companies Matt's excited about
20:26 - The need for visibility into transaction volume on different chains
21:20 - What will be necessary for a Bitcoin / crypto ETF
https://www.coindesk.com/sec-rejects-7-bitcoin-etf-proposals/
24:07 - Centralized exchanges vs decentralized exchanges
25:56 - Matt's long-term view on blockchain & cryptocurrency as a whole
27:55 - How current web giants, whose businesses are built around data monopolies, will be disrupted by blockchain
Thanks for listening! Subscribe for future episodes.
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Nov 1, 2018
#001 Venture Investing in Blockchain Cos w/ Geoff Bernstein, GP & Cofounder of Indicator Ventures
In our first episode, we sit down with venture capitalist Geoff Bernstein of Indicator Ventures, an early-stage fund that's made investments in several blockchain-powered companies, including our own. We discuss how Indicator sees blockchain technology & investment opportunities around it, how traditional equity investing compares to and interacts with ICOs, and what VCs and other equity investors should be thinking about when investing in companies that may ICO. Show notes & links below; subscribe for future episodes!
Our Host: Abbey Titcomb
Abbey is the EiR & Head of Strategy at Onward Labs, a venture studio working with founders leveraging emerging technologies to solve the world's most pressing issues. She is also an Associate at Underscore.VC, a $85M early-stage tech venture firm with a community-centric model supporting the next generation of transformative entrepreneurs. Abbey is hyper-curious and tech-obsessed, with focuses in blockchain, artificial intelligence, and consumer tech as a whole.
Show Notes
00:52 - How Geoff went from a hedge fund to VC
http://www.indicatorventures.com/
03:11 - How Indicator is more hands-on; getting companies from "fragility to stability"
04:31 - Indicator's investment thesis
07:31 - How Indicator got into blockchain
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/blockchain-for-dummies/9781119365594/
https://unikrn.com/
11:52 - "wrinkle in the governance" challenge of companies that previously raised funding via equity rounds now offering ICOs
16:08 - How Indicator's LPs felt about a portfolio company's ICO, Indicator's advisement to LPs
18:30 - Indicator's investment in Caplinked, which will be ICOing
https://www.caplinked.com/
19:30 - Caplinked's thesis around security-backed tokens
22:40 - For ICOs, importance of the type of people you're offering to
25:07 - Geoff's advice to entrepreneurs to "pick a path" - ICO or equity investors; why the two don't mix right now, but, how they could in the future.
28:21 - What requirements Geoff thinks should be in place for companies that want to offer an ICO but have existing equity investors.
30:41 - Nerding out on the mechanics of venture fund interactions from ICOs - returns, taxes, etc.
32:16 - Indicator's investment targets in blockchain companies going forward
https://www.everbloom.co/
https://www.noblebankint.com/
34:59 - What's needed for VCs / traditional equity investors to invest in crypto
42:45 - How Indicator plans to stay relevant / the future of VCs vs ICOs
Thanks for listening! Subscribe for future episodes.
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