Around The Coin

This week we (of course) had to chat about Apple's record breaking Q1 earnings report, which was the biggest Q1 income of any company, ever. Mike chats about his trip to Australia and New Zealand undergoing top secret research, aka visiting his brother. The big topic this week was really online marketplaces. We addressed Stripes partnership with Intuit to provide tools for on-demand workers, how the battle of 1099 independent contractors vs. W-2 employees is going and some important aspects about growing a marketplace company.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Brian discussed news of the Apple Watch, the current state of cryto mining and some secrets for making money on mining in the future. Mike discussed what investments VC's are looking for in 2015 and collectively we all gave our opinions toward the end of the show on the effect of immigration to the U.S. particularly with technologists. Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we discussed the implications of the biggest cyber attack in history on Sony and what the future might hold. Faisal enlightens us about the recent Bitcoin regulations, both positive and negative, and how they affect Bitcoin related startups as well as the financial industry as a whole. Lastly we touch on Facebook payments a bit of the magic of Apply Pay.Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we recapped every episode of the past year and updated you on the current status of each topic. We often make predictions and in this episode we took a step back and recapped how we did, surprisingly it wasn't too bad!Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we recapped every episode of the past year and updated you on the current status of each topic. We often make predictions and in this episode we took a step back and recapped how we did, surprisingly it wasn't too bad!Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take away thoughts from Mobile Money & Digital - Faisal8th Mobile Money and Digital Conference Over 300 attendeesBehavioral changes more important than everM-Pesa StatsAcceptance, closed loop, equally share client base65,000 merchants - M-Pesa in Kenya18 M, 80% adults in kenya use 6000 transactions / day16,000 bank agents accept M-PesaSnapcash: Snapcash Could Bring Real Identity And Ad Targeting Data To SnapchatAmerican red cross launches bitcoin: American Red Cross To Accept Bitcoin Donations Through BitPaySponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Brian and Mike dig into some deep topics this week, particularly how to find your path in life and other general topics.- How Brian relaunched onTwitter- Why Social profile is mandatory- HomeHero retreat brings people together, it’s all about people- How Flowtab and ZingCheckout became an obsession- How to connect life with expertise- Why having 2 roller coasters going is important- Generation gap between WW2, dreams- Sharel Sandberg married David Goldberg, the current CEO of SurveyMonkey- Decisions are not better or worse, they’re just different (Ted)- Steve Jobs cancer / Tim Cook going publicly gaySponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we dive into MCX, we talked about the history of the organization and why it is probably doomed. MCX (Merchant Customer Exchange). MCX is the collection of efforts by major retailers to eliminate the expense of Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX by creating their own payment network. Unfortunately the project now competes directly with Apple Pay and may be hitting some rough waters soon...Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nick Tomaino is the Business Development Manager at Coinbase and is responsible for the growth of Coinbase's new product that may just change the entire social construct of the social internet, Tipping. Many companies have tried and failed, but Coinbase is the world's most popular Bitcoin wallet, and they have the unique position to crush it.Learn what Nick and the Coinbase team have created and how they're planning to roll out out to the world. Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk about how the Money2020 conference became one of the most most important payment conference in the world in just a few years. Faisal Khan talks about the interesting moves Poynt has made recently and why they are in a great position. We also touched on the recent Fincen Ruling around Bitcoin, why MCX server hacking could put them in the grave and the ever growing Starbucks payment ecosystem. Sponsors:Otter Labs www.hireotter.com- Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter.Redeeem https://redeeem.click/qdza- Redeeem is a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange that lets you save 15% or more on gift cards using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices