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decentralized finance

asset management decentralized finance NFTs and digital objects visual art

·Dec. 18, 2020

Connecting the $2T in Art owned by UHNW investors, with the rise of crypto art and Beeple’s $3.5MM NFT digital art auction

A few delicious morsels for us today, connecting ideas between the automation of the institutional art world, and the rise of non-fungible token art. We are surprised by how things are clicking.

We caught up recently with Lori Hotz of Lobus. Lori used to work in the wealth and investment management businesses of Wall Street (Lehman, Lazard) and comes to art with a background of asset allocation and investment assets. One core narrative in wealth management has of course been roboadvisors and digital wealth, and the automation of the financial advisor process. Whether you are doing client experience, CRM, financial planning, trading, or performance reporting, there are now lots of platforms for everyone from mass-retail to ultra-high-net-worth and family office advisors.

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central bank / CBDC Crypto decentralized finance open source philosophy regulation & compliance stablecoins

·Dec. 21, 2020

Crypto regulatory wargames with FinCen, FCA, and the US House of Reps, impacting Paxos, Compound, BBVA, and Northern Trust

This week, we look at:

Proposed US regulation from FinCEN, legislation from the House of Representatives, and UK FCA registration requirements that would impact the crypto industry
The difference between competition for share within an established market, and competition between market paradigms (think MSFT vs. open source, finance vs. DeFi)
The crypto custodian moves from BBVA, Standard Charters, and Northern Trust
The bank license moves from Paxos and BitPay, as well as the planned launch of a new chain by Compound, in the context of the framework above

Permissionless finance is a paradigm breach. It pays no regard for the very nature of the incumbent financial market. Without banking, it creates its own banks. Without a sovereign, it bestows law on mathematics and consensus. Without broker/dealers, it creates decentralized robots. And so on. It tilts the world in such a way as to render the economic power of the incumbent financial market less important. Not powerless -- the allure of institutional capital is a constant glimmer of greedy, opportunistic hope. But the hierarchy of traditional finance does not extend to DeFi, and thus has to be re-battled for the incumbent. This is cost, and annoying.

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central bank / CBDC Crypto decentralized finance neobank Open Banking regulation & compliance stablecoins

·Jan. 11, 2021

How the OCC is building Crypto America and saving banks from extinction

This week, we look at:

How banks and financial advisors have failed to deliver on $1 trillion in capital appreciation for their clients over the last 12 years
The role of bank regulators in the United States, and the tensions between state and federal agencies
How the OCC is laying the groundwork for national banks to custody crypto assets, bank stablecoin reserves, run blockchain nodes, and use crypto payment networks

And instead of financial advisors or other CFAs guiding the retail market in good decision making, a newsfeed of *what’s popular* has driven Apple, Google, Tesla and the other John Galt hallucinations to the stratosphere. Don’t get us wrong. We love the robot as much as the next Fintech commentator. But it is clear to us that “the masses” are not being “advised”. And that the capital appreciation that matters — cementing the next trillion dollar networks for global future generations in work yet to emerge — is misunderstood and misrepresented by most financial professionals to their clients.

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decentralized finance digital securities / STO digital transformation enterprise blockchain exchanges / cap mkts

·Jan. 29, 2021

The path from institutional finance (Goldman) to enterprise blockchain (PwC) to the $26B edge of DeFi innovation (Aave) with Ajit Tripathi

In this conversation, we talk Ajit Tripathi, currently the Head of Institutional Business at Aave and a former colleague of mine at ConsenSys, about the path from traditional finance, to enterprise blockchain and “DLT” consulting, to full-on decentralized finance.

Thinking about how to connect these worlds and different available journeys? Or the timeless risks developing in tranched DeFi that look like mortgage-backed securities? We even touch on hegelian dialectics! Check out our great conversation.

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decentralized finance NFTs and digital objects philosophy supply chain / trade visual art

·Feb. 8, 2021

Non-fungible tokens and crypto art (like Hashmasks) will create multi-billion markets for digital objects with financial features

This week, we look at:

Hashmasks, CryptoPunks, and other large NFT / crypto art projects generating tens of millions of USD trading volume
Perceptions of financial value, as well as whether it matters to have an “original” digital art piece relative to its digital copy
The intersection of collectibles with decentralized finance, and its collateralization, tranching, lending, and trading, as well as a view on 2021

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Crypto decentralized finance exchanges / cap mkts Fractals & reflexivity IPO / SPAC

·Feb. 25, 2021

Why Coinbase’s $100B+ valuation makes sense, and how to compare it to $60B Ethereum DeFi, and to crypto-king Binance

his week, we look at:

There are two very large revenue pools in the crypto asset class — (1) mining, and (2) trading. There are some large revenue pools in crypto-as-a-software, too, but those tend to be less sensational.
This analysis will establish a 2021 baseline for the most regulated of crypto exchanges, Coinbase, including a detailed financial model building a $100B+ valuation case
We then consider the valuations and multiples of capital markets protocols in Decentralized Finance of Ethereum, now making up over $60B in token value
Lastly, we look at Binance’s $1B in profits, its $35B BNB token, and the activities on Binance Smart Chain

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civilization and politics Crypto decentralized finance enterprise blockchain regulation & compliance

·Feb. 26, 2021

$60B digital capital markets, crypto law and regulation, and Ethereum Layer 2 scaling, with Pat Berarducci

In this conversation, we talk with Patrick Berarducci of ConsenSys, about the valuations and multiples of capital markets protocols in Decentralized Finance on Ethereum, now making up over $60B in token value. Additionally, we explore the nuances of scaling Ethereum and its solutions, such as Metamask and the emerging Layer 2 protocols.

We also discuss law and regulation, including a fascinating story about Bernie Madoff from when Pat was a practicing attorney. This leads into a conversation about the embedded compliance nature of blockchain and crypto technology, the early days of ConsenSys, the path of crypto brokerages like Coinbase, and Metamask exhibiting emerging qualities of a neobank.

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civilization and politics Crypto decentralized finance macroeconomics

·Mar. 12, 2021

Joe Lubin, ConsenSys CEO and Ethereum co-founder discusses AI, macroeconomics, philosophy, and the future of the $200 billion Ethereum network

In this exciting conversation, we talk with none other than Joe Lubin of ConsenSys and Ethereum, about his journey from being exposed to advances in artificial intelligence at Princeton to becoming the household name in programmable blockchain. Additionally, we get an insider look into his founding of Ethereum and ConsenSys, and how the technology and individuals behind these two companies are transforming the very fabric of financial institutions that exist today and how new products/services are started for the betterment of humanity.

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Crypto decentralized finance p2p & crowdfunding Social / Community

·Mar. 19, 2021

Camila Russo of The Defiant and author of The Infinite Machine discusses crypto journalism, writing about Ethereum’s inception, $69M NFTs, and building a DeFi community

In this conversation, we talk with Camila Russo of The Defiant and author of The Infinite Machine, about her journey as a successful financial journalist was derailed by the Crypto boom and subsequent winter of 2017. Additionally, we explore the success behind her first book, the nuances of the NFT craze, and how The Defiant became one of the most popular crypto media brands to date.

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decentralized finance

·Mar. 26, 2021

Uniswap’s V3 upgrade, the future of Automated Market Makers, and the financial compression algorithm

The most popular AMM, Uniswap, is annualizing to $1 billion in fees. That’s a chunky amount of value for its users.

The team has just released the third version of its protocol, and it is an innovation in the structure of the AMM logic. Instead of providing liquidity across the entire price curve, users are now able to specify pricing ranges for which they are participating in the curve. This protects market makers from the extreme price fluctuations which they may prefer not to fund. Because most trading also happens in narrower price bands, it is possible that capital is much more actively used in those bands, and generates higher fee returns comparatively.

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