Welcome to The Scoop, The Block's flagship podcast covering finance and technology industries through unmatched interviews with top thought leaders, cultural icons and industry veterans. The Block’s Frank Chaparro hosts new guests every week, diving into breaking news and topics ranging from NFTs, to the impact of DeFi on Wall Street, to Bitcoin's role in the economy and beyond.
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Welcome to The Scoop, The Block's flagship podcast covering finance and technology industries through unmatched interviews with top thought leaders, cultural icons and industry veterans. The Block’s Frank Chaparro hosts new guests every week, diving into breaking news and topics ranging from NFTs, to the impact of DeFi on Wall Street, to Bitcoin's role in the economy and beyond.
...see more
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Recent Episodes of The Scoop
Common crypto scam tactics and how to protect yourself
Jeff Lunglhofer is Coinbase's Chief Information Security Officer.
In this episode, Lunglhofer highlights common techniques used by malicious actors in the crypto space and offers suggestions on how to avoid these threats.
The crypto industry lost $336 million in the first quarter of 2024 due to hacks and fraud, according to blockchain bug bounty platform Immunefi.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:22 Malicious Actors
03:32 Data Leaks
09:30 Scammer Psychology
10:19 Red Flags
12:57 Phising Frequency
15:06 Victim Recourse
17:57 Security Best Practices
23:21 Scammer Trends
26:46...
Episode 47 • 25 July 2024 • 34m and 45s
Inside the market structure of crypto token launches
Wesley Pryor is the founder of Acheron Trading — a crypto market maker operating in the space since 2018.
In this episode, Pryor discusses the role of market makers in the context of token market debuts, and explains the nuances of market making in the crypto space, where assets are highly volatile and lack established processes.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
04:40 Institutional Trading
11:19 Institutional Adoption
17:02 Market Opportunities
This episode is brought to you by our sponsor Polkadot
Polkadot is the blockspace ecosystem for boundless innovation. To...
Episode 46 • 24 July 2024 • 29m and 54s
The 'perpetual-ification' of all assets is coming onchain
Kaledora Fontana Kiernan-Linn is the co-founder of Ostium — a startup that facilitates the trading of digitized commodities perpetual swaps.
In this episode, Kaledora discusses Ostium's integration of perpetual swaps with real-world assets, highlighting the maturation of digital asset trading.
The conversation also addresses technical and structural challenges in creating perpetual-like instruments, emphasizing the need for robust onchain data systems.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Ostium Overview
02:26 RWA Landscape
04:45 Post-Covid Market
06:17 Geopolitical Risk
08:17 Ostium Value Prop
...Episode 45 • 22 July 2024 • 43m and 24s
Institutions want more crypto asset diversity
Anton Katz is the co-founder and CEO of Talos — a one-stop shop for institutional digital asset trading.
In this episode, Katz shares how large buy-side institutions such as hedge funds and asset managers are entering the crypto market, and why a lack of asset diversity is keeping others sidelined.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
04:40 Institutional Trading
11:19 Institutional Adoption
17:02 Market Opportunities
This episode is brought to you by our sponsor Polkadot
Polkadot is the blockspace ecosystem for boundless innovation. To discover more head to po...
Episode 44 • 12 July 2024 • 28m and 59s
DeFi and stablecoins are coming to the Bitcoin ecosystem
Willem Schroé is the founder of Botanix Labs — a development team building an EVM-compatible Layer 2 on Bitcoin that allows users to deploy Ethereum smart contracts on the Bitcoin network.
In this episode, Schroé discusses the development of Bitcoin Layer 2s and the potential for Bitcoin-native ecosystems to become major platforms for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
02:45 Bitcoin L2 Landscape
08:48 Improving Bitcoin L2s
12:16 Bitcoin Applications
15:07 The Future of BitcoinFi
16:18 The Future of Ethereum
17:24 Bitcoin L2 Attack
18:36 Bitcoin L2 User...
Episode 43 • 11 July 2024 • 28m and 21s
Horizontally scaling Ethereum with zkSharding
Avi Zurlo is the chief product officer at the =nil; Foundation — a cryptography firm building a zkEVM Layer 2 on Ethereum.
In this episode, Zurlo discusses the importance of horizontal scaling in the crypto space and the need for blockchain technology to solve societal issues of trust and transparency.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
02:15 L2 Competition
04:22 =nil;'s Architecture
06:41 Scaling for Mass Adoption
08:56 Horizontal Scaling
14:34 Scaling Solutions
19:41 Accelerating Mass-Adoption
24:18 Closing Thoughts
This episode is brought to you by ou...
Episode 42 • 10 July 2024 • 26m and 34s
Justin Sun's legal victory and the changing perceptions of crypto in China
Justin Sun is the founder of Tron and Tron DAO.
In this episode, Sun discusses his recent legal victory in the People's Court of China against a media group that published false and defamatory content about him.
Sun emphasizes the importance of the court ruling in dispelling rumors and further establishing the legitimacy of cryptocurrency in China.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:37 Sun's Legal Victory in China
03:55 Defamation Article
05:19 Sun's Legal Argument
08:12 What's Next?
09:39 Market Outlook
11:44 Closing Thoughts
Episode 41 • 9 July 2024 • 14m and 26s
Coinbase's new smart wallet could be a watershed moment for crypto UX
Luke Youngblood is a former Coinbase employee and one of the founding contributors to the onchain finance protocol Moonwell.
Recently, Moonwell became one of the first apps to integrate Coinbase's new smart wallet.
In this episode, Youngblood explains how smart wallets solve major crypto onboarding pain points — and could be the key to bringing over a billion people onchain.
OUTLINE
00:59 Moonwell Overview
02:21 Youngblood's Background
04:56 DeFi Summer
07:42 Smart Wallets
09:54 Smart Wallet Security
13:58 Onchain Economy
17:12 Crypto App Developers
24:40 Moonwell's Mi...
Episode 40 • 28 June 2024 • 35m and 47s
DeFi is making institutional yield more accessible
Sidney Powell is the CEO and co-founder of Maple Finance — a decentralized finance platform that facilitates loans.
In this episode, Powell discusses the evolution of crypto's decentralized lending market, the challenges faced by centralized exchanges, and the strategic vision behind Maple's new permissionless lending product, Syrup.
OUTLINE
00:53 Maple Overview
02:06 Permissionless DeFi
04:00 DeFi 2.0
06:12 Derisking DeFi
09:44 DeFi Creditworthiness
11:19 DeFi Lending Robustness
13:48 Crypto Lending Market
19:04 Maple's Strategy
21:12 Closing Thoughts
This episode is brought to you by...
Episode 39 • 27 June 2024 • 24m and 1s
Ripple's upcoming stablecoin will 'compliment' XRP
Monica Long is the President at Ripple.
In this episode, Long discusses the growth and expansion of Ripple's business, the impact of the SEC's decision on XRP, the upcoming launch of a stablecoin, and more.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Ripple Updates
02:55 Regulatory Status of XRP
04:46 Ripple Product Offerings
08:14 Ripple & Payments
09:06 Ripple's Stablecoin
19:30 Ripple & RWAs
21:41 Institutional Paradigm Shift
24:52 Closing Thoughts
This episode is brought to you by our sponsor Polkadot
P...
Episode 38 • 25 June 2024 • 28m and 17s
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