QuantLayer Podcast
62 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsIn this podcast, hosts Vikram Ramakrishnan and Faizaan Shamsi, partners at the software consultancy QuantLayer, talk to investors and builders of the cryptocurrency arena. We discuss how industry participants think about crypto assets, how they uncover fraud in the market, and which technologies will turn the budding, nascent crypto space into the revolutionary powerhouse early market participants had hoped for.
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Episodes
#12: Tesla Staying Public, How Amazon and AWS Made Angry Shorts Give Up and Why Rejection of the Bitcoin ETF is a Good Thing
August 28, 2018 09:00 - 53 minutes - 49.4 MBWe re-examine the drama around Tesla, and discuss its similarities and differences with Amazon. We also look at ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood’s open letter to Elon Musk asking him to keep the company public. We cover why we think the Bitcoin ETF rejections are a good thing, and the additional activity we are seeing on our alerting platform. Topics: Some thoughts on planning software projects up front, deploying early, and handling third party integrations early Is "deploy early, deploy of...
#11: Boston’s Growing Crypto Scene, Mailbag #1, and How to Say No to a Client
August 20, 2018 09:00 - 59 minutes - 55 MBWe attended the Boston New Technology Fintech & Blockchain group event where we got to present our alerting platform to a couple hundred attendees. We discuss some of the other crypto projects we saw, including Button Wallet, which is a Telegram bot that lets users buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies. We also discuss p2p lending, and go through our first Mailbag, which covers answers to questions you all have, from crypto market questions to how to say no to a client. Enjoy. Topics: On t...
#10: More About Tesla (This Time About Going Private), Software Developer Personalities and Getting Tangled in IOTA
August 13, 2018 09:00 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MBIn this episode, we discuss a range of topics from Elon Musk’s recent tweets about taking Tesla private for $420 per share to the wide range of personalities amongst software developers. We also take a deep dive into the web known as the Tangle, where we look at its underlying technology to figure out what exactly is going on with IOTA. Topics: Elon Musk's tweet on privatising Tesla How all current investors can remain with Tesla "Taking Tesla Private" blog How he arrived at the $42...
#9: Custody Solutions and Infrastructure, Family Offices, and How Funds Should Educate Their Analysts on Crypto
August 06, 2018 09:00 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MBIn this episode, we talk about our experience at the Crypto Hedge Fund Summit in New York, and what we learned about custody solutions and infrastructure being built for institutional investors. We go over what a family office is and how they differ from institutional investors. We discuss how important custody is and why. We also break out a multi-point thesis for how funds should think about educating their managers and analysts on the crypto space. Topics: QuantLayer's top three most p...
#8: Short Selling Explained, Tesla and How Controversial Shorts Work, and Nvidia and Bitmain
July 30, 2018 09:00 - 54 minutes - 50 MBWe take a deep dive into shorting, what it is, how it works, why it works, why people short, what the psychology of shorters is and when shorting can go horribly wrong. We also talk about the bull and bear cases around Tesla, and how that’s tied to controversy and short selling. We also look at Nvidia, its IPO and the company’s gross margins and how that relates to recent news of a Bitmain IPO filing. We also consider the current browser wars as they relate to crypto and continue our discuss...
#7: Bitcoin ETF & Alternative Energy ETFs, ZCash Incentive Structure, and How To Spot Bad Code in Your Crypto Investments
July 23, 2018 09:00 - 55 minutes - 50.7 MBVikram and Faizaan discuss the recent Bitcoin ETF filing by SolidX and VanEck, how it is reminiscent of the alternative energy ETF boom of the mid to late 2000s and also talk about what an actively managed ETF in crypto might look like. They also talk about ZCash’s incentive structure and founders reward, and developer incentives more broadly. They also discuss how crypto teams are leaking secret keys to Github, a missing deposit on Golem Network’s mainnet, and how to investigate bad code fo...
#6: Digital Ocean Versus Google Cloud, Polychain’s $1Bn Fund, a16z’s $300mm Fund, How to be a Shady Hedge Fund Manager, and 2nd Layer Solutions for Ethereum and Bitcoin
July 16, 2018 09:00 - 50 minutes - 46 MBIt’s been an action packed week of investor heavy news. Vikram and Faizaan discuss Polychain Capital’s one billion dollar SEC filing, and how you need one million dollars to invest in them. They also look at Andreessen Horowitz’s 300 million dollar fund launch and how they are thinking about good crypto projects. They go over the shady techniques that hedge funds engage in in order to juice their returns and what a high watermark is. They also cover some alerts that QuantLayer’s platform pic...
#5: Crypto Teams Need to Communicate Better, and a New Segment: Big Drama in Smallcap Land (Zoin and Sumokoin)
July 09, 2018 09:00 - 42 minutes - 39.4 MBCommunication between crypto teams and their customers is often non-existent or lacking. Vikram and Faizaan talk about the current bearish sentiment of the market, and how exchanges and coin teams can better communicate with their customers. They discuss how exchanges can add predictability to their platforms through API versioning and how coin teams can flag important news they need to share with their coin holders. They also start a new segment called “Big Drama in Smallcap Land” where the...
#4: A Discussion with Software Consultant Ben DiFrancesco on Building Great Blockchain Software
July 02, 2018 09:00 - 46 minutes - 53.8 MBVikram and Faizaan are joined by Ben DiFrancesco of Scopelift, a software consultancy based in Philly. They talk about the Elixir programming language, how he finds clients and what software is like at bigger vs smaller companies. They also discuss the current state of crypto with the early internet, get Ben’s thoughts on the current scaling debate for smart contract platforms, and how big companies might benefit from wide crypto adoption. This was a great mix of topics and if you have any i...
#1: The QuantLayer Genesis Story, Crypto and Stock Market Comparisons, and Why Crypto Needs Reg FD
June 25, 2018 09:00 - 46 minutes - 53.8 MBQuantLayer founders Vikram and Faizaan cover how they got into crypto, how crypto markets compare with traditional stock markets, fraud in the ICO space, cross border capital formation, and more. Topics Vikram’s background Faizaan’s background Advice for non-technical founders Why they decided to start a consultancy business What makes the cryptocurrency space interesting What a 10-K is What are companies obligated to report What are some steps that should be taken to co...
#3: Crypto’s ICO Legal Landscape, the Attack on Verge, M&A in Crypto, and Better Treasury Management for Crypto Teams
June 25, 2018 09:00 - 44 minutes - 40.5 MBVikram and Faizaan talk about their experience at Consensus, what they heard about the ICO space from the horse’s mouth - silicon valley lawyers themselves. They also cover the recent Verge hack, their thoughts around how coin teams can secure their treasury better, how background checks would be a great use case for blockchain, M&A in the crypto space and more. Topics Their experience attending one of the Consensus events The current status of utility tokens The two types of Reg D ...
#2: What’s a Crypto Investment Bank? A Conversation About Crypto Due Diligence With Crypto Launchpad CEO Adiraj Gupta
June 25, 2018 09:00 - 57 minutes - 65.6 MBVikram and Faizaan talk with Adiraj Gupta, of the Crypto Launchpad, a crypto investment bank. We learn what exactly a crypto investment bank is and how they built $20 million in management in just 6 months. We also discuss how friendly New Zealand regulators are towards crypto, how family offices are getting into crypto, and what the OTC or over-the-counter market looks like for Bitcoin. Topics What the Family Office Conference is all about What Crypto Launchpad is and how it works Th...