Empire
375 episodes - English - Latest episode: 17 days ago - ★★★★★ - 155 ratingsEmpire features interviews with top crypto founders to get the real stories that aren’t shared elsewhere. Empire is your look behind the curtain of the crypto industry.
We release two episodes per week: guest interviews on Tuesday and a weekly roundup on Friday.
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Episodes
Bitwise CIO on the next wave of institutional capital moving into DeFi
August 12, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourIn this episode of Empire Jason is joined by Matt Hougan the Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management. Jason and Matt discuss how an ETF would benefit financial advisors, DeFi innovation, future outlook for the space and incoming regulation. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ for their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Prime is the world...
Bitcoin in the Senate: The Infrastructure Bill | Cynthia Lummis
August 05, 2021 12:00 - 32 minutesCynthia Lummis is a US Senator from Wyoming. On this episode of Empire, Senator Lummis speaks with Jason about the proposed Infrastructure Bill and the negative effects this could have for Bitcoin, digital assets and innovation. Cynthia also discusses the negative effects of inflation on the American population and the ever increasing national debt. This is a shorter episode than usual as Senator Lummis had less than 30 minutes to record between votes. ––– Get unparalleled access to the grea...
Will hyperinflation lead to hyperbitcoinization? | Robert Breedlove
July 29, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourIn this episode Jason is joined by Robert Breedlove. Robert is one of the most esteemed Bitcoin philosophers with a focus on exploring Freedom, Sovereignty, Philosophy, History, Economics and Bitcoin from first principles. When Robert isn't writing his captivating essays, he hosts the YouTube series 'What is Money?' featuring some of the top names in Technology, Finance & Bitcoin including previous guests Michael Saylor, Jeff Booth & Robert Kiyosaki. We couldn't be more excited to welcome Rob...
Why Erik Voorhees Transitioned ShapeShift into a DAO
July 22, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourSince buying his first bitcoin in 2011, Erik Voorhees has seen it all. Erik helped Charlie Shrem build BitInstant and then launched ShapeShift in 2014, just months after the Mt. Gox crash. In 2018, ShapeShift lost 95% of their business when they introduced KYC due to regulatory demands. In this episode, Erik shares how he got through this tough time, and why he recently took a bold leap to integrate DeFi into ShapeShift and turn the company into a DAO. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset p...
This Billionaire is all in on Bitcoin... And Psychedelics | Christian Angermayer
July 15, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourChristian Angermayer is one of the world’s leading investors in psychedelics. Christian invested in the seed round Compass Pathways and recently founded Atai, a multi-billion dollar publicly traded psychedelics company. Christian talks about his beginnings, and how they led him to his current project: Atai Medical. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices...
Chris Burniske on the Original Sins of Crypto
July 08, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourChris Burniske is a co-founder of Placeholder, a New York venture firm that specializes in cryptoassets, and co-author of the book, Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond. He joins us to talk about crypto's past, and the implications that has for its future. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ for their new cryptocurrency...
How to get started in DeFi | Anil Lulla
July 01, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourAnil is the Chief Operating Officer at Delphi Digital, and joins us to talk about DeFi, crypto gaming, and how he got so bullish on NFTs. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ for their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Prime is the world’s first fair market value pricing source for crypto assets and the best option for all post-trade reporting needs....
How to earn yield on your bitcoin | Dan Held
June 24, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourDan Held is currently the director of growth marketing at Kraken. This is the long awaited part 2 of a 2 part series with Dan. If you haven't already, be sure to check out part 1! Dan's blog: https://danheld.substack.com/ ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ for their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Prime is the world’s first fair market value prici...
Blockchain.com CEO says Bitcoin Maxis are wrong about BitClout and DeFi
June 17, 2021 12:00 - 48 minutesPeter Smith has been in the crypto space for a long time — and he's learned a thing or two about how the market ebbs and flows. He's come to the conclusion that Bitcoin's success — as well as the success of his own company — doesn't depend on other project's failures. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ for their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Pri...
Today's 7 biggest crypto trends
June 10, 2021 12:00 - 42 minutesOn this special episode of Empire, Blockworks co-founder Michael Ippolito tells us about today's biggest trends in crypto. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ for their new cryptocurrency indices. Lukka Prime is the world’s first fair market value pricing source for crypto assets and the best option for all post-trade reporting needs. Visit lukka.te...
Why the 2021 bull market mirrors 2013, with Will Clemente
June 03, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourEmpire is on pause this week. For now, enjoy Crypto Data 101 with Will Clemente. See you next week for part 2 with Dan! In this special episode, Will and I talk about why retail is buying when whales are selling, and how the 2021 bull run looks like 2013. Will built a steady following on Twitter this year with his market predictions and analytics, and predicts an eventual $300k Bitcoin. ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukk...
Dan Held explains why the Supercycle will push Bitcoin above $500,000
May 27, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourDan Held is currently the director of growth marketing at Kraken. We talked about Elon's impact on the field, energy and the environment, and of course, the possible $500k Supercycle. This is part 1 of a 2 part series with Dan. Check out his Substack if you can't wait for part 2! https://danheld.substack.com/ ––– LUKKA Lukka Prime is crypto asset pricing data aligned to accounting standards like GAAP and IFRS. Lukka Prime Pricing Data is the pricing source used by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ for...
Why $USDC will become a $10 trillion stablecoin, with Jeremy Allaire
May 20, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourJeremy Allaire takes us deep into the world of $USDC, stablecoins, and the future of money. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file your 2020 taxes for just $19.95 whether you have 10 transactions or 1 million. Go to http://tax.lukka.tech/empire to sign up and generate 2020 tax forms to...
VC Colleen Sullivan explains how institutions and regulators view DeFi
May 13, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourColleen Sullivan is a founder at CMT — but before that, she spent her summers fighting for space in the pit in Chicago. We talked about how those experiences informed her career, and what her legal experience has taught her about the landscape today. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, f...
Why many Africans still use WhatsApp to buy Bitcoin, with Nelly Chatue-Diop
May 06, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourNelly Chatue-Diop left her home in Cameroon to dive in to the tech world. Now she's bringing what she learned back to Africa with Ejara, which she hopes will soon let people on the continent invest in crypto. We talked about everything from Ejara's founding story, to what it could look like to tokenize a herd of cattle. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your t...
Michael Moro on Why Corporations Bought $8 Billion of Bitcoin in Q1
April 29, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourMichael Moro remembers when Bitcoin felt like it could go to $0. We talked about the transition from that to corporations buying $8 billion in BTC in a quarter, the time he was forced to spend a bitcoin on a case of wine, and the rise of Genesis. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file...
Why Jameson Lopp burned down his life to live in extreme privacy
April 22, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourAfter being Swatted, Jameson Lopp decided to burn down every trace of his identity. Even his own family members don't know where he lives. Now, he's using what he learned to build Casa — a secure storage for crypto that he hopes will ease users' transition into financial sovereignty. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits...
Ex Goldman Trader: The 80 Year Debt Cycle Will End With Wealth Redistribution
April 15, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourBefore Bill Barhydt started Abra, he build security systems for the CIA and NASA. We talked about his time working for the government, as well as his role getting banks online through Netscape, and what is looks like to come out of a debt cycle. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file ...
Bootstrapping CoinGecko: The Fastest Growing Crypto Data Platform, with Bobby Ong
April 08, 2021 12:00 - 51 minutesBobby Ong co-founded the fastest-growing crypto data aggregator, CoinGecko. We talked about how to build a crypto company so that it can last through a bear market — and why honesty is central to his business model. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file your 2020 taxes for just $19.95...
How Sam Bankman-Fried made $10 billion by the age of 28
April 01, 2021 12:00 - 1 hourSam Bankman-Fried and FTX made headlines when they acquired the naming rights to Miami's basketball stadium. We talk about how he got there, including everything from his childhood to his experience juggling arbitrage in Japan. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transaction history. With no limits on exchanges or transaction count, file your 2020 taxes f...
Mike Belshe, from $20M Bitcoin under a couch to $20B+ in custody: the BitGo story
March 25, 2021 12:45 - 54 minutesMy guest today is Mike Belshe, Founder and CEO of BitGo. But before that, he used what he learned at Netscape to help Google develop Chrome. Like many of us, Belshe stored his first Bitcoin on an old laptop. But after his investor friends started sending their digital assets his way, that "old laptop" was suddenly worth millions. Here's how his quest to secure those assets eventually became BitGo. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and...
Flori Marquez on founding BlockFi: the fastest-growing Fintech in the world
March 18, 2021 12:00 - 52 minutesMy guest today is Flori Marquez, Co-Founder of BlockFi. On this episode of Empire, we discuss BlockFi's staggering valuation, what it's like to lead a $3 billion Fintech company, and why crypto is so valuable in countries without fiat stability. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like Empire, visit http://blockworks.co/podcasts. Follow me on Twitter...
Joe Lubin, Ethereum Co-Founder, on why assets are moving from Wall Street to Crypto
March 11, 2021 13:00 - 37 minutesMy guest today is Joe Lubin, Co-Founder of Ethereum and CEO and Founder of ConsenSys. On this episode of Empire, we discuss where Bitcoin falls short, Joe leaving Wall Street for Crypto, founding Ethereum and ConsenSys, why forks can be good for progress, and Joe's real motivators. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like Empire, visit http://blockwor...
Muneeb Ali, on why the next internet will be built on Bitcoin
March 04, 2021 13:00 - 50 minutesMy guest today is Muneeb Ali, Co-Founder of the Stacks Project (formerly Blockstack) and CEO of Hiro. On this episode of Empire, we talk about Muneeb’s upbringing in Pakistan and the sacrifices his family made to get him his first computer, military dictatorship vs democratic rule, how he lied about a grant to get a job in Sweden and then ran out of money, and why it’s better to build on Bitcoin than create a new chain. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand del...
Introducing: Empire with Jason Yanowitz
February 22, 2021 20:54 - 54 secondsMany of today’s unicorn crypto companies started as a dream — entrepreneurs who took a leap of faith on a small internet phenomenon called Bitcoin. On Empire, host Jason Yanowitz reveals the personal struggles, bold moves, and tough decisions that these individuals have gone through in order to build a new financial system. Our first episode goes live March 4, 2021.