Messari's Unqualified Opinions

DePIN Update + DePIN Summit Reactions with Dylan Bane | The Story

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

DePIN has been one of the fastest growing narratives in crypto over the last 12 months. Fundraising volumes so far this year are nearly 4x what they w...

How Crypto x AI Can Win with Seth Bloomberg | The Story

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of Crypto x AI (or, decentralized AI) is great - build the infrastructure of AI tool in public, and incentivize its coordination via tokens. ...

Crypto 2024's Mixed Bag with Seth Bloomberg | The Story

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We’re now more than halfway through 2024 - and on a macro level, to be honest, most of us at Messari research aren’t really sure what to make of c...

Solana's Next Growth Driver with Kinji Steimetz

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past year, Solana has been growing at a breakneck pace by any measure. But one vertical may be underperforming - liquid staking. As Kinji exp...

Coinbase's Latest Earnings Spoiler with Kunal Goel | The Story

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the past year, Messari's Kunal Goel has been consistently more accurate than most analysts at predicting Coinbase's Quarterly Earnings. Listen in ...

How DePIN Can Help Fight Climate Change with Dylan Bane | The Story

10 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since signing the Paris Agreement almost 10 years ago, carbon credit systems have emerged as the go-to method for reducing global CO2 emissions - but ...

A Guide to Stablecoin Yield in Summer 2024 with Kinji Steimetz | The Story

26 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Stablecoins have proven to be one of crypto's strongest early killer apps. But as Kinji Steimitz explains, this utility has led to a massive number of...

The Importance of Cryptoeconomic Security: A Debate with Kunal Goel & Peter Horton | The Story

19 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Historically, blockchain validators have been rewarded for their work with native tokens of the blockchain in question. But the ongoing revolution in ...

AO and Arweave's Unique Approach to Modularity with Seth Bloomberg | The Story

12 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When the crypto world turns its hype machine on one particular topic, like modularity, it can be rare to come across a truly unique approach. But as S...

What Polymarket's Growth Reveals about the Future of Prediction Markets with Kunal Goel | The Story

05 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Prediction markets always see an increase in activity in an election year - and this year is no different. But as Kunal Goel explains, for crypto-base...

Ryan Selkis and Marvin Ammori of Uniswap Labs Debate Politics and Crypto

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this Special Episode, Ryan Selkis and Marvin Ammori of Uniswap Labs debate the best approach to advance crypto in today's political climate. This d...

What OpenAI's Spring Updates Reveal About the Future of Crypto x AI with Seth Bloomberg | The Story

29 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

OpenAI's spring product updates may have underwhelmed those who were hoping for a GPT-5. But as Seth Bloomberg explains, the updates show OpenAI's com...

The Hidden Insights in Crypto's Latest Fundraising Data with Patryk Krasnicki | The Story

22 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Industry fundraising data isn't a guarantee of future innovation - but as Patryk Krasnicki explains, an examination of the data can give some indicati...

The Story | A Better Business Model for Social Media with Toe Bautista

15 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many "innovations" in social media turn out to be short-term fads. But as Toe Bautista explains, builders in the "SocialFi" industry are coming forwar...

The Story | The Boring Assets Making RWA's Exciting

08 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Real World Assets, or putting the core pieces of the world's existing financial system like cash, treasuries, and real estate on-chain, have long been...

The Story | Ethereum's Inflection Point with Seth Bloomberg

01 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Four years ago, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin laid out his vision for the network's scalability driven by rollups, and that vision has largely c...

The Story | A Lending Renaissance with Kinji Steimetz

24 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Decentralized lending protocols like Aave and Compound drove explosive growth in DeFi. But as Kinji Steimetz explains, new entrants are ready to take ...

India's Burgeoning Crypto Scene with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nischal clears up misconceptions about India's regulatory landscape and shares what he's seeing that has him excited about the future of crypto in Ind...

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier on the Business of Being Your Own Bank

25 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier joins The Unqualified Opinions podcast to discuss self custody, and the user experience of being your own bank.  --- Speci...

Charles Hoskinson on Cardano & Network Effects

17 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With the next major phase of Cardano's mainnet (Shelley) fast approaching, IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson provides a full project update as well his thoug...

Skale Labs CEO Jack O'Holleran on Launch & Decentralization

27 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Skale is a middle-ware protocol that aims to allow dApps to run on a high-speed consensus layer above platforms like Ethereum and EOS. With Skale appr...

Insuring DeFi with Nexus Mutual Founder Hugh Karp

21 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nexus Mutual is an insurance protocol for DeFi that covers financial loss resulting from hacks and unintended code usage. Nexus paid out its first cla...

Tokensoft CEO Mason Borda on Security Token Hurdles & Pathways to Growth

19 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Security tokens have at times, been heralded as the next major phase of crypto adoption. Despite the surrounding hype, security tokens don’t have an...

Halving 2020: The Bitcoin Reformation with Tuur Demeester

18 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tuur Demeester is one of Bitcoin’s longest standing research analysts who’s been through all three halvings. In this conversation, he recalls how ...

Halving 2020: Bitcoin Then & Now with Charlie Shrem

15 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It doesn’t get much more OG than Charlie Shrem. Charlie’s been involved in bitcoin from the days where the community consisted of a couple hundred...

Layer 1 CEO Alex Liegl on the Institutionalization of Mining in America

14 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Layer 1 is focused on converting “electricity into money” via highly efficient bitcoin mining facilities. Where mining has historically been conce...

Halving 2020: Bobby Lee on Bitcoin in China & $100K BTC

13 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bobby Lee has witnessed the ascent of Bitcoin from a unique perspective relative to many in the west. In 2013, Lee was the CEO of BTCChina and dealt f...

Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov on Institutional Adoption and Stablecoin Disruption

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Fireblocks is one of the hottest infrastructure companies in crypto, facilitating $30B in digital asset transfers to date and recently expanding its p...

Bison Trails CEO Joe Lallouz on Crypto Infrastructure & Working With Libra

08 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bison Trails is an infrastructure-as-a-service company that allows anyone to run a node for multiple blockchains. This gives Bison Trails CEO Joe Lall...

Halving 2020: The History of Bitcoin OTC Markets with Dan Matuszewski

06 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Veteran OTC trader Dan Matuszewski discusses the evolution of crypto OTC markets from Bitcoin's first, second, and third halvings, and how the trading...

Ontology Co-founder Li Jun on Asia’s crypto ecosystem and the smart contracting landscape

05 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This interview with Ontology co-founder Li Jun offers a rare window into Asia’s crypto ecosystem, which remains undercovered and misunderstood in th...

Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino on Tether’s Dominance and Spotting Fake Volume

30 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Paolo Ardoino sits at the intersection of one of crypto’s most liquid exchanges and its most dominant stablecoin. In this conversation, Paolo provid...

ErisX CEO Thomas Chippas on Creating Regulated Crypto Markets

28 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

ErisX is one of a handful of highly regulated crypto platforms that currently offers spot and derivatives trading for top assets. In this discussion, ...

Midcap Doubleheader with Zcoin’s Reuben Yap and Zilliqa’s Colin JG Miles

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this double header, we dive into two midcap projects across the privacy and smart contract sectors. First we talk to Zcoin founder Reuben Yap and l...

Celo Founder Rene Reinsberg on Stablecoins, Emerging Markets & Financial Inclusion

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As long as there have been blockchains there has been talk of “banking the unbanked”. Backed by a16z and Polychain, Celo aims to deliver financial...

Chad Cascarilla on the Early Days of Crypto, Regulation and Paxos’ Long Term Ambitions

16 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Paxos founder and CEO, Chad Cascarilla, is one of crypto’s longest standing entrepreneurs who first fell down the bitcoin rabbit hole in 2010. Paxos...

Paxful CEO Ray Youssef on Bitcoin Usage in Africa and its Emerging Market Future

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode with Ray Youssef covers his path to founding Paxful after immigrating to New York from Egypt, founding 2 successful startups and 11 ...

Anchorage’s Nathan McCauley on Custody, Libra, Bitcoin, XRP & crypto M&A

09 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Backed by Visa, Andreesen Horowitz and Blockchain Capital, Anchorage has emerged as one of the largest custodians in crypto. In this conversation, Anc...

Ben Hunt on the future of money, crypto, and political power

07 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ben Hunt  is the author of Epsilon Theory; a newsletter and website that examines markets through the lenses of history and game theory. In this wide...

The Bitcoin Custodian with BitGo CEO Mike Belshe

02 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While BitGo may not be as much of a household name as Coinbase and Binance, they’re easily one of the industry’s most important institutional cust...

A Blockchain Future with Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson

31 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Overstock is known in crypto circles as one of the first major online retailers to accept Bitcoin payments. On top of being an early adopter, Overstoc...

Exchange the US with Binance US CEO Catherine Coley

26 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Catherine Coley is the CEO of Binance US and former Head of XRP Institutional Liquidity at Ripple. In this conversation, Coley details her early days ...

Digitizing the Dollar with Christopher Giancarlo

24 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Christopher Giancarlo earned the moniker “Crypto Dad” by advocating for sensible crypto regulation during his time as CFTC Commissioner. He’s si...

Power Laws with Meltem Demirors

19 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Meltem Demirors is the Chief Strategy Officer at Coinshares and goes way back with Ryan from their time together at Digital Currency Group. In this co...

Global Public Health with Alex Gladstein

17 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Gladstein is the Chief Strategy Officer for Human Rights Foundation and a long time proponent of Bitcoin and its potential to bring freedom to th...

Covering Crypto with Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal

13 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The mainstream media and the crypto industry have long been at odds, with crypto proponents often accusing the media of unbalanced or inaccurate cover...

Coinbase Law with Coinbase CLO Brian Brooks

10 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Coinbase sits atop a short list of the largest and most critically important companies in crypto - a status they’ve achieved through a mix of produc...

Building Cardano with IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson

06 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There are very few people who have created a top 20 cryptocurrency. Charles Hoskinson is one of them. In this conversation, Charles details his path t...

Bitcoin Past, Present & Future with Casa CTO Jameson Lopp

03 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jameson Lopp has been involved with Bitcoin in one form another for 9 of Bitcoin’s 11 year history. In that time, Lopp has contributed volumes of fr...

Crypto-plumbing with Arwen CEO Sharon Goldberg

27 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 2019, centralized crypto exchanges were hacked to the collective tune of $300M. The ever present threat of exchange hacks has led to the rise of DE...

The Dudas Abides with The Block CEO Mike Dudas

25 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Founded in 2018, The Block has grown into one of the leading crypto news outlets using a combination of thorough research and reporting and brash, in ...

Virtual Private Networks with Orchid CEO Seven Waterhouse

20 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many in the West often look to privacy preserving technologies like Orchid’s virtual private network (VPN) marketplace as enablers of nefarious acti...

The Bitcoin Institution with River Financial’s Alex Leishman

18 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If Bitcoin is to become the foundation of a global, non-national monetary system, consumers and institutions are going to need Bitcoin based financial...

Special Edition: COVID-19 with Balaji Srinivasan

14 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

You likely know Balaji as the former CTO of Coinbase and now editor-in-chief of Nakamoto.com. What you may not know is that prior to his days in the c...

Dash’s Strategic Vision with Dash Core Group CEO Ryan Taylor

13 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Launched as Xcoin in 2014, Dash is one of the oldest projects in the top 25. While the prevailing narrative around bitcoin has shifted to digital gold...

Enterprise Blockchains & CBDCs with R3 CTO Richard Brown

11 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bitcoin is a technology that launched a thousand ships. In one direction, hundreds of permissionless cryptoassets and networks. In the other, permissi...

Crypto’s East-West Divide with Tron Founder Justin Sun

06 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Justin Sun is easily one of crypto’s most polarizing and controversial figures. While many in the West have been critical of Sun’s over-the-top ma...

The Lending Machine with Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky

04 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Crypto lending markets have exploded over the last year. Among the players in an increasingly competitive marketplace is Celsius, which according to C...

XRP - The Remittance Standard? with Bitso CEO Daniel Vogel

30 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This is one conversation the entire #XRParmy is going to love. Daniel Vogel, CEO of Bitso, which is Mexico's largest crypto exchange details how the c...

Building out the DEX Frontier with Radar CEO Alan Curtis

28 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Radar Relay, the peer-to-peer trading platform built on the 0x protocol did a respectable $100M in volume in 2019. This however is down from the dizzy...

Stablecoins: The Big Picture with Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire

23 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

USDC, backed by Circle and Coinbase’s Centre Consortium has emerged as the dominant “regulated” stablecoin. In this conversation, Circle CEO Jer...

Cosmos & Beyond with Zaki Manian

21 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tendermint Director of Research Zaki Manian reflects on the origins of the Cosmos project, including their 2017 crowdsale and the success of their “...

Building a Crypto Civilization with Balaji Srinivasan

16 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On the 11th anniversary of Bitcoin’s genesis block, former Coinbase CTO Balajis Srinivasan launched Nakamoto.com to much fanfare, as well as controv...

Being a Blockchain CEO in 2020 with Algorand CEO Steve Kokinos

14 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Gone are the days when a blockchain network could launch quietly, coordinated over an online forum by an anonymous developer or when a small number of...

Bitcoin’s Civil War & Toxic Maximalism with Samson Mow

08 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we take a walk down memory lane through Bitcoin’s chaotic early years. Required listening for anyone who got into the industry post...

The unintended consequences of platform economies with Matt Spoke

05 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Spoke is the founder and CEO of the Open Application Network, formerly known as Aion. In this discussion, Matt and Ryan discuss the OAN’s strat...

Public Blockchains for Enterprises with Oded Wertheim - CTO of Orbs

03 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Oded Wertheim provides and update on Orbs, which is a project building public blockchain infrastructure designed for enterprises. In this conversation...

Building a store-of-value with Decred’s Jake Yocom-Piatt

26 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jake Yocom-Piatt is the project lead of Decred: a hybrid proof-of-stake/proof-of-work blockchain that re-thinks development funding, on-chain governan...

Simon Taylor, Co-Founder of 11:FS

21 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Simon Taylor, Co-Founder of 11:FS. If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & friends, rate, review, and su...

Max Pertosovskiy, Head of Growth at Waves

19 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Max Pertosovskiy, Head of Growth at Waves. If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & friends, rate, review...

Chris McCann, Founding Partner at Proof of Capital

14 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Qiao Wang, Director of Product at Messari, interviews Chris McCann, Founding Partner at Proof of Capital. If you enjoyed this conversation, share it w...

Dovey Wan, Founding Partner of Primitive Ventures

12 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Qiao Wang, Director of Product at Messari, interviews Dovey Wan, Founding Partner of Primitive Ventures. If you enjoyed this conversation, share it wi...

Mo Dong, CEO of Celer

07 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Qiao Wang, Director of Product at Messari, interviews Mo Dong, CEO of Celer. This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-free app...

Dawn Song, CEO of Oasis Labs

05 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Qiao Wang, Director of Product at Messari, interviews Dawn Song, the CEO of Oasis Labs. This episode of Unqualified Opinions was recorded live during ...

Ryan Sean Adams, Creator of Bankless

31 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Ryan Sean Adams, the creator of Bankless. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-free app that lets you...

Matt Luongo, the Founder & CEO of Keep & Fold

29 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Matt Luongo, the Founder & CEO of Keep & Fold. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-free app ...

Itamar Lesuisse, Co-Founder & CEO of Argent

28 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Itamar Lesuisse, the Co-Founder & CEO of Argent. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-free app th...

Bob Summerwill, Executive Director of ETC Cooperative

25 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Bob Summerwill, the Executive Director of ETC Cooperative. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-free ...

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX

24 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-free app that lets you trade ...

Monica Quaintance, Head of Research and Networks at Kadena

11 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Monica Quaintance, the Head of Research and Networks at Kadena. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-...

Nathaniel Wittemore, Indepedent Content Curator

09 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Nathaniel Wittemore, an indepedent content curator. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-free app tha...

Gregory Di Prisco, Head of Business Development at MakerDAO

03 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Gregory Di Prisco, Head of Business Development at MakerDAO. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-fre...

Aaron Wright, Law Professor at Cardozo & Co-Founder of OpenLaw

01 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Selkis interviews Aaron Wright, Law Professor at Cardozo & Co-Founder of OpenLaw. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% ...

Chris Burniske, Partner at Placeholder

26 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Chris Burniske, a partner at Placeholder. -----This episode is sponsored by Voyager, a fast and 100% commission-free app that lets you...

Kain Warwick, Founder of Synthetix

03 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Selkis interviews Kain Warwick, the founder of Synthetix. -----This episode of Unqualified Opinions is sponsored by Voyager. -----If you enjoyed ...

Jack O'Holleran, CEO & Founder of Skale Labs

29 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Jack O'Holleran, the CEO & Founder of Skale Labs. -----This episode of Unqualified Opinions is sponsored by Voyager. -----If you e...

Kris Marszalek, CEO & Co-Founder of Crypto.com

13 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Interviews Kris Marszalek, the CEO and Co-Founder of Crypto.com. -----If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & frien...

Edan Yago, Founder of CementDAO

08 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Edan Yago, the founder of CementDAO. -----If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & friends, rate, review,...

Dave Weisberger, Co-Founder & CEO of CoinRoutes

07 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Dave Weisberger, the Co-Founder & CEO of CoinRoutes. -----If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & fr...

Amir Haleem, Founder & CEO of Helium

01 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Selkis interviews Amir Haleem, the Founder & CEO of Helium. -----If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & friend...

Ryan Zurrer, Director of the Web 3.0 Foundation

30 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Selkis interviews Ryan Zurrer, the director of the Web 3.0 Foundation. -----If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues &...

Zac Prince, Founder and CEO of BlockFi

25 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Zac Prince, the founder and CEO of BlockFi. If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & friends, rate, revie...

Mark Burstiner, CEO and Founder of Baeond

23 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Zack interviews Baeond CEO and Founder Mark Burstiner

Jason Goldberg, Founder and CEO of OST

17 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews OST (Simple Token) Founder and CEO Jason Goldberg

Dave Balter, CEO and Founder of Flipside

16 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Flipside Crypto Founder and CEO Dave Balter

Uri Klarman, CEO of BloXroute

15 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews BloXroute Co-Founder and CEO Uri Larman

Muneeb Ali, Co-founder of Blockstack

12 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Blockstack Co-Founder Muneeb Ali

Alex Adelman, Co-founder and CEO of Lolli

11 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan interviews Lolli CEO Alex Adelman

Alexander Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin of Near Protocol

10 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan speaks with Near Protocol Co-Founders Alex Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin

She256 Co-Founder Alexis Gauba

05 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan speaks with She256 Co-Founder Alexis Gauba