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exchanges / cap mkts

digital transformation exchanges / cap mkts paytech regulation & compliance venture capital

·Jul. 7, 2021

Fintech venture investing after a career in the US treasury and Wall St equity research, with Patrick Pinschmidt of MiddleGame Ventures Jul 9 2

In this conversation, we talk all things Wall Street, FinTech, and Venture Capital with Patrick Pinschmidt, who's the general partner and co-founder at MiddleGame Ventures.

More specifically, we discuss the ups and downs of sell-side research in the early 2000s, the evolution of financial technology to today’s FinTech, an insight into the Financial Stability Oversight Council at the US Treasury Department, the founding of Middlegame Ventures and its impressive investment portfolio, and the transformation of financial services fueled by the rapid innovation in FinTech.

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

·May. 28, 2021

The software stack powering Capital Markets and its coming transformation, with Horacio Barakat of Broadridge

In this conversation, we geek out with Horacio Barakat, who serves as the Head of Digital Innovation for Capital Markets and the Head of DLT for the Repo Platform of Broadridge, about digital transformation, capital markets, and the role of blockchain in the institutional part of the financial industry.

Additionally, we explore the embedded complexities of capital markets and how fundamental they are to the smooth functioning of our economy, determining the growth of companies, and funding expansion. Touching on everything from the engine that powers capital markets, how that engine has evolved to becoming computational, and lastly how companies like Broadridge are leading the deep work going on in making that engine better.

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Crypto exchanges / cap mkts macroeconomics philosophy venture capital

·May. 24, 2021

Bitcoin price falling doesn’t mean what Paul Krugman claims

This week, we cover these ideas:

That absurd Paul Krugman article about Bitcoin. Also Jim Cramer has things to say about financial regulation.
If all the prices are down, which they are, does that mean that everything is bad and wrong?
How timing is a personal financial planning problem, not a market value problem

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decentralized finance entrepreneurship exchanges / cap mkts IPO / SPAC monetization / commercial paytech

·May. 17, 2021

Marqeta’s $300MM of revenue & Ethereum’s $20B in ann. transaction fees highlight opportunity and industry structure

This week, we cover these ideas:

How market structure determines the types of companies and projects that succeed
A walk through Marqeta’s economics and business model, and how Square’s Cash App and DoorDash were needed for success
The emerging $10B transaction revenue pool on Ethereum, MEV, and the changes to mining and gas

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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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exchanges / cap mkts Investing narrative zeitgeist

·Feb. 5, 2021

The post-FinTech New American Finance, and Robinhood’s $3.4B support of an 8MM-strong Reddit army that cost Wall Street $7B, with Will Beeson of Bella

In this conversation, we talk with Will Beeson of Bella and Rebank, about how the Internet/Reddit/Gamestop broke out financial market structure, the social contract, and what the new American finance structure will look like.

More specifically, we give some thought to which FinTech and Crypto companies win or lose from the GameStop adventure, the actual market structure issues that led to the suspension of Robinhood’s trading, and what’s next for the mobile broker, and finally, the social meaning of the war against hedge funds by Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets. Check out our conversation on these exciting new developments.

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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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Crypto exchanges / cap mkts Investing

·Oct. 30, 2020

Understanding Robinhood, Derivatives, and Market Makers with Paul Rowady of Alphacution

In this conversation, we talk with Paul Rowady, who is the Director of Research for Alphacution Research Conservatory. Paul has a deep background in capital markets, derivatives, and the macro structure of the industry. He has been uncovering the transformation of that structure with data driven analyses, making visible the economics of market makers like Citadel and retail order flow aggregators like Robinhood. This is a rich discussion of what trading stocks is really like. And make sure to check out Alphacution.

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artificial intelligence civilization and politics exchanges / cap mkts philosophy

·Oct. 26, 2020

The AI cluster running on top of the Internet has data mined you, and has some deep fakes to sell you

This week, we look at:

Deep Fakes behind South Park creators' new parody, Sassy Justice
The AI-created author of the fake Hunter Biden intelligence report
GPT-3 winning the love and attention of people on Hacker News
How should we react to these robots and their desire to mess with our minds

Unlike equities, the crypto markets were born from machines, and are constructed from code. Hold dear the tokens in which you believe, and stay away from the stories of easy money. Nothing is easy. To win Russian roulette is not good fortune. It is, instead, a grave mistake to play a lethal game. Have you nothing to lose?

And then Brexit. And then Taiwan and China. And then Covid, again. And then, who knows.

From now on and forever, your counterparty is the data center running an AI cluster on top of the Internet. The data center that has already profiled you and knows everything about you. Bring the tinfoil hat.

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big tech central bank / CBDC decentralized finance digital lending digital securities / STO enterprise blockchain exchanges / cap mkts

·Sep. 28, 2020

DeFi should take the middle road between the extremes of QAnon and J.P. Morgan

This week, we look at:

How the music industry needed The Pirate Bay and Napster
Why J.P.Morgan is paying $1B in fines for allegedly manipulating the precious metals market
Whether DeFi is flirting with self-dealing and veering towards apathy
Why QAnon and 8chan are a bad example for global governance
And how the European Commission’s proposed crypto-market rules are highly productive for blockchain-based capital markets infrastructure

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