Blockchain Innovation: Interviewing The Brightest Minds In Blockchain

Lane Retting works at the Ethereum Foundation. He is a hacker and polyglot with an affinity for East Asian languages.   In this episode, Lane and I discuss:   The journey to a brand new Ethereum – Ethereum 2.0 (code named “Serenity”). We discuss what Serenity’s roadmap looks like, and when it’s expected to ship We discuss Lane’s work on ewasm And of course, we discuss governance, proof-of-stake, sharding, “Plasma,” and much more!

I sent a survey to about 1,500 people and asked them what their biggest challenges were, when it comes to learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency. We created Blockchain Innovation Academy to address those challenges. This is a short tour of the Academy. Watch the video – https://blockchain.global/academy/ Join the Academy – https://memorypool.ca/home/

I sent a survey to about 1,500 people and asked them what their biggest challenges were, when it comes to learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency. Here are the final 3 challenges my subscribers submitted. (From the top 10. See previous episodes for the other 7). Watch the video - https://blockchain.global/academy/

I sent a survey to about 1,500 people and asked them what their biggest challenges were, when it comes to learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency. Here are 4 of the top 10 challenges my subscribers submitted. Watch the video - https://blockchain.global/academy/

I sent a survey to about 1,500 people and asked them what their biggest challenges were, when it comes to learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency. Here are 3 of the top 10 challenges my subscribers submitted. Watch the video - https://blockchain.global/academy/

Konstantin Richter is the Co-Founder & CEO of Blockdaemon. He is a serial software entrepreneur and has also held senior-level positions at prominent firms such as Nokia and Deutsche Telekom. In this episode, Konstantin and I discuss:   The difference between Blockdaemon and other infrastructure startups Key reasons why individuals and enterprises should outsource their blockchain infrastructure Blockdaemon’s business strategy – what Konstantin calls, “Decentralization-as-a-Service”

Brendan Lee is the CEO & Co-Founder of Nodesmith. He holds a master’s degree in Computer Science, and has spent much of his career building developer platforms. In this episode, Brendan and I discuss: The complexities around running a full node and how Nodesmith solves that problem We go over some of the concerns developers and engineers may have. For example, if you outsource your full node, who controls the keys? Or, what are Nodesmith’s API standards? And, from an economic perspective, we look at the Nodesmith business model – “Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)”

Sascha Mojtahedi is the CEO of Bunz. The Bunz App uses its BTZ token to facilitate peer-to-peer bartering and purchases, while also compensating users for interacting with partner brands. In this episode, Sascha and I discuss: The $325 billion-dollar “data and attention economy” Bunz is tapping into The difference between the Brave Browser BAT (Basic Attention Token) model and the Bunz BTZ (Bunz Trading Zone) model The simple yet clever business model that Bunz uses to drive revenue while generously compensating its users – what Sascha calls, “the 60% promise”  

Philipp Pieper is the CEO & Co-Founder of Swarm. He has held various private equity and management positions at Deutsche Bank and Allianz Group.   Philipp is a serial tech entrepreneur and discovered Blockchain after an encounter with the founder of BitTorrent.   In this episode, we discuss:   The history of ICOs Whether it makes sense to tokenize traditional securities The 3 components of the Swarm system – tokenization, compliance, and decentralization How Swarm, as an open-source non-profit entity, differentiates itself from other players in the STO market

Michael Foland is the President and Co-Founder of TaxToken. His mission is to make TaxToken, “the ultimate cryptocurrency tax solution.” TaxToken leverages blockchain technology and artificial intelligence to modernize cryptocurrency accounting.   In this episode, we discuss:   Why you should file your crypto taxes and why 2019 is a good year to do that Exactly what problem TaxToken aims to solve and what makes them the best solution Challenges associated with filing your crypto taxes (like how does the tax-man treat quirky crypto events like hard-forks and airdrops).

Jordan Crawford was the Director of Growth at Purse.io. Their mission is to make crypto useful. Purse allows users to name their own discount when shopping on Amazon by matching shoppers with individuals who wish to exchange Amazon gift cards for cryptocurrency.   In this episode, we discuss:   How the Purse system works Why it’s critical for cryptocurrencies to be used in everyday transactions before they achieve mass adoption The drawbacks of traditional payment networks like ACH (Automated Clearing House)

Johan Toll is an Associate VP and leads Nasdaq’s blockchain efforts. He received the prestigious "FinTech person of the Year" award from the Financial Technologies Forum in 2018. Johan is also a renowned blockchain thought-leader and frequent speaker and panelist.   In this episode, we discuss:   How Nasdaq is not just a stock market company, but a full-fledged FinTech firm We go over how Nasdaq started experimenting with blockchain back in 2012, and how they created Nasdaq Linq, a blockchain-powered private share issuance platform that they used to become the first organization in the world to issue actual company shares on a blockchain in 2015 We also explore Nasdaq CEO, Adena Friedman’s statement, that Nasdaq is open to becoming a cryptocurrency exchange

Stephen Horan is the Managing Director of Credentialing at the CFA Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance and Economics, and is a former stock broker, portfolio manager, and finance professor. In this episode, Stephen and I discuss:   What made the CFA Institute realize Blockchain and Cryptocurrency are here to stay What type of material related to Blockchain will be included in the CFA curriculum What type of impact Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies will have on the enterprise world

Jason White heads up Indiegogo’s equity crowdfunding and token sale platform. Indiegogo is one of the first ever crowdfunding sites. It was launched in 2008 and has raised over a billion dollars for its participants across 232 countries.   In this episode, we discuss:   How ICOs were an obvious part of Indiegogo’s evolution Indiegogo’s first ICO – the Fan Controlled Football League (FCFL) How Indiegogo adds value and performs rigorous

Trent McConaghy is the Co-Founder of Solido, Ascribe, BigchainDB and Ocean Protocol. He holds a PhD in Engineering and has a background in Computer Science. In this episode, Trent and I discuss: How Trent went from being raised on a pig farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, to being one of the world’s top experts in Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) How companies like Facebook and Google are really just data companies that hoard data (and it looks like Ocean may change that) The “ArtDAO” – a thought experiment on how an autonomous piece of AI code becomes independently wealthy. What does it do with the money? The nuts and bolts of Ocean Protocol, Estonia’s e-residency program (which Trent has advised Estonia on), and much more  

Jerry Cuomo is the Vice President of Blockchain Technologies at IBM. He is an IBM Fellow, veteran software engineer, and one of the founding fathers of IBM WebSphere.   In this episode, Jerry and I discuss:   How Jerry and his father are lifelong “IBMers.” In fact, his father made a discovery in 1972 that eventually led to the invention of optical disks. Jerry recounts crawling through the hallways of the IBM Research Center in his diapers – true story How IBM first embraced Ethereum before helping form Hyperledger The IBM Blockchain Platform and how IBM is using blockchain to revolutionize supply chain management for big name clients like Walmart, Maersk, Dole, Kroger, and many more Sovereign identity and private vs. public blockchains

Mitch Steves is a Silicon-Valley-based Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets. RBC Capital Markets is one of the top global investment banks with almost 2,000 deals and approximately $250 billion dollars in capital raised for clients in 2017.  Mitch made headlines at the beginning of 2018 when he published a report stating, “Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain could become a $10-trillion-dollar market in 15 years.” In this episode, Mitch and I discuss: How his predictions may have driven up the price of Ether by over 1,000% in 2017 We review his report on blockchain and cryptocurrencies and discuss the rationale behind the $10-trillion-dollar figure And, because he’s a research analyst, I pick his brain on how to value cryptocurrencies and what best practices he recommends for ICOs Please note, Mitch is providing his personal opinion in this interview, which may not reflect the views of his employer, RBC. Also, for required disclosure on the companies discussed, please use the following disclosure link - http

Dr. Leemon Baird is the inventor of Hashgraph and the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Swirlds Inc. He has a PhD in Computer Science and is also a successful entrepreneur and former professor. Hashgraph is a new data structure and consensus algorithm. **PLEASE NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the Hedera Public Ledger announcement.** In this episode, Leemon and I discuss: What a Hashgraph is. How does it compare to a Blockchain? Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) – Leemon does a brilliant job of explaining this Exciting use cases for Hashgraph. Hint: they already have a few big ones in the pipeline

Aaron Wright is a Professor of Law at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City. He is also the co-inventor of OpenLaw – a blockchain-based protocol for the creation and execution of smart legal agreements In this episode, Aaron and I discuss: What OpenLaw is What the SAFT is (including some of its lesser known deficiencies) -and- The future of ICOs from a legal perspective

Taylor Monahan is the Co-Founder of MyEtherWallet, one of the most popular tools of choice for crypto-investors participating in ICOs on the Ethereum Blockchain. Taylor recently launched a new venture – MyCrypto – an open-source, client-side tool for generating Ether wallets, handling ERC-20 tokens, and interacting with the Blockchain more easily. In this episode, Taylor and I discuss: How MyEtherWallet came to be The absence of women in Crypto, and why this technology cannot go mainstream without women James Damore, the Google Engineer who got fired for his controversial memo on women’s suitability for engineering jobs (and what that has to do with the UFC and Ronda Rousey – yes, there is a connection) Taylor’s description of what the ideal ICO would look like Her prediction for ICOs over the next decade (hint: it’s not what you would think)