The Scoop

Block CEO Jack Dorsey has called 'Web5,' a decentralized identity platform under development by TBD, the Block's blockchain arm, "likely our most important contribution to the internet."In this episode of The Scoop, TBD lead Mike Brock explains how Web5, whose name is a play on the idea of connecting Web2 and Web3, aims to reimagine the way trust is established and maintained, and how digital identity can connect the emerging decentralized financial system to the existing real-world economy.Hardcore crypto proponents dream of creating a fully decentralized, trustless system. But Brock says there are some practical problems with transacting in such a world:"Are you going to go and buy a gold watch from an anonymous online merchant and then send them a non-reversible payment for $10,000 and just hope that it gets drop-shipped to you?... We can't build an economy around that. We have to have a way to authenticate with the real world."That's where the Web5 platform comes in. Brock describes it as a "messaging layer that ultimately allows you to establish secure transactions, with negotiated social trust."Users of Web5 are in control of both their identities and their data — something Brock believes will facilitate a new way for the developing decentralized economy to connect with known, verifiable actors in the real world:"We're trying to build on-ramps and off-ramps from the real world — fundamentally, that's what digital identity ultimately gets you."Episode 74 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded live at The Block headquarters with The Block's Frank Chaparro and TBD Lead at Block, Mike Brock.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

In this episode of The Scoop, Solana Labs co-founder and COO Raj Gokal discusses his early impression of Solana Spaces, as well as the innovation and experimentation that is occurring across the Solana ecosystem at a "breakneck pace."As Gokal explains, some people who visit Solana Spaces' first location in Manhattan are discovering that web3 might not be as daunting as it seems:"There's hundreds of people coming through — just starting their first Phantom wallet, sending their first USDC, and learning, 'okay, using crypto is like not that complicated.'"In addition to the inroads Solana is making in the physical world, Solana is currently hosting a virtual hackathon called 'Summer Camp' — the largest Solana hackathon to date, according to Gokal: "The hackathon that's going right now has almost 14,000 developers. This is the most participation from a hackathon that we've ever seen… and it's now — in the depths of the bear market."Although the price of SOL has fallen approximately 85% since last November's highs, the Solana Network has seen accelerated adoption over the same period, as data from The Block shows.Episode 72 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Solana Labs Co-Founder and COO, Raj Gokal.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

Circle's USDC stablecoin is the second largest by market capitalization, and has steadily grown in dominance over the last couple of years.In this episode of The Scoop, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle, Dante Disparte, joins host Frank Chaparro to share his take on what a responsible approach to stablecoin regulation might look like and why he believes central bank digital currencies are "anti-democratic."According to Disparte, the separation between the central banks and citizens' pockets is important to maintain:"The gap between the central bank, the banking system, your wallet and how you spend money is a powerful feature and not a bug."Furthermore, Dante believes that central bank digital currencies ignore the fundamental peer-to-peer potential of digital assets:"A central bank digital currency would be the equivalent of building a high speed train engine, but not caring about the rail network, nor the station stops. And the real powerful breakthrough of blockchain based finance is that the infrastructure has networked peer to peer station stops."During this episode, Chaparro and Disparte also discuss: The difference between 'risk' and 'uncertainty' Stablecoin standards Non-USD denominated stablecoins Episode 72 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro, and Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle, Dante Disparte.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

Earlier this year, crypto infrastructure provider Talos closed a $105 million Series B for a valuation of $1.25 billion.In this episode of The Scoop, Talos cofounders Ethan Feldman and Anton Katz provide insider perspectives on how institutions have been positioning themselves during the crypto market’s recent upheaval, and why they believe the industry will rebound stronger than ever before.As Katz points out during the interview, the more market participants think about risk, the more stable the industry will become:“I think a lot of people are revising how they're thinking about risk… So overall, I think what we're going to see is actually we're going to see a much more robust, much safer credit market emerge as a result of this.”In addition to firms beefing up internal risk management, the Talos co-founders also believe regulation will also play a major role in helping the crypto ecosystem grow.According to Feldman:“Regulation is an enabler to some extent, right? This is what's going to enable the bigger institutions in the world to actually trade spot crypto.”Episode 71 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro, and Talos Co-Founders Ethan Feldman and Anton Katz.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

Variant — a venture capital firm founded on the idea that the next iteration of the internet is going to be defined by decentralized, user-owned networks — has raised $450 million to be deployed across two new funds.In this episode of The Scoop, Variant co-founders Jesse Walden and Spencer Noon reveal how they plan on allocating the capital — and why Variant remains bullish on the long-term future of web3.According to Walden, the technology powering the emerging web3 industry will only improve from here:“In the history of technology, technology doesn't get worse and disappear — it gets better and more pervasive. And that's happening at an exponential rate in Web3, because this is all software, it's all open source, and there's just tons of talent jumping in... So the tech is working, and again, I think that means it's only going to be more pervasive.”Although web3 is still in its infancy, the Variant co-founders believe elements of it are already disrupting their centralized equivalents. For example, Walden describes how certain distressed lenders recently prioritized paying back loans to DeFi protocols over other counterparties:“DeFi protocols were the only protocols that got paid back by some of these institutions that blew up … the transparency and sort of enforcement of these smart contracts can actually have better outcomes than the alternative, which is opacity and sort of trust in the wrong parties.”Episode 70 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro, and Variant Co-Founders Jesse Walden and Spencer Noon.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

Following the crypto market crash in May and June, several institutional bitcoin mining companies have liquidated large portions of their bitcoin reserves, adding more fuel to the selling pressure.In this episode, we discussed the impact of the shrinking hash price and the profitability of bitcoin mining at the moment. The network's hash price has reached the lowest point since late 2020 due to bitcoin's price decline and only moderate difficulty correction. Even though the network has had three difficulty declines in a row over the past month, the competition level is still up by about 10% year-to-date.Meanwhile, the global energy price surge and inflation are pushing mining firms' production costs even higher – not to mention that a lot of them also have growing interest expenses on outstanding loans they took since last year. If bitcoin's price drops below the critical $15,000 level, we may start to see miner capitulation. Listen to more of our discussions below.In this episode of The Scoop Mining Report, The Block Research's mining analyst Wolfie Zhao and host Frank Chaparro take a further look at the pressures facing miners in today's market environment and how recent heatwaves have affected mining operations today.Episode 69 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and The Block Research Analyst Wolfie Zhao.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the blockchain-based method to verify and transfer ownership of a digital asset, exploded in popularity in 2021. Though some collections such as NBA Top Shot and CryptoPunks had existed before last year’s climb in popularity, NFTs largely did not enter mainstream consciousness until the arrival of Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 algorithmically assembled images of languid monkeys. The success of Bored Ape Yacht Club in the spring of 2021 sparked an influx of large-scale NFT collections such as Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Meebits, Doodles, Cool Cats and Azuki. What followed was the scramble in the crypto community to buy in early to the next popular project, and the rush for non-crypto natives to understand what these types of tokens even are. Around the same time as so-called profile-picture projects emerged, NFTs also expanded into the gaming sector through play-to-earn (P2E) mechanics. The P2E game Axie Infinity particularly emerged as a giant in the blockchain-based gaming space in the late summer and early fall of 2021 before losing traction. In all, NFTs surpassed $13 billion in trading volume in 2021. NFT trading volume cooled in concert with the broader crypto bear market in 2022. With high-profile parties like Coinbase and GameStop entering the space, this technology doesn’t seem to be going away. And with them, so too are pertinent questions around copyright and ownership.In this debut episode of The Block's NFT Scoop, reporter MK Manoylov speaks with The Block Research's Thomas Bialek about the history of NFTs, where they came from, and what lead to their explosion in popularity in 2021.Episode 68 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's MK Manoylov and The Block Research's Thomas Bialek.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

As head of a retail crypto platform with lending exposure to Three Arrows Capital (‘3AC’), Abra CEO Bill Barhydt has personal insight into what led similar platforms to go bust in the wake of 3AC defaulting on $3.5 billion in loans across 27 different counterparties.In this episode of The Scoop, Barhydt reveals how Abra has been able to remain operational despite 3AC exposure, and where other lenders who incurred severe losses from 3AC went wrong.Adequately accounting for ‘concentration risk’ for example, which Barhydt describes simply as not putting “all your eggs in one basket,” has been key to Abra’s survival. This meant Abra was able to write-off a relatively small loss resulting from the collapse of 3AC without it having an impact on their broader operations.Yet, while Barhydt believes concentration risk is “by far the easiest thing to manage for in lending,” firms like Voyager have been forced into bankruptcy from over-exposure to 3AC, with court documents suggesting Voyager has claims of over $650 million against 3AC compared to the $1.3 billion in crypto assets the broker currently has on its platform.When lenders take a hit from failing to adequately account for concentration risk, Barhydt believes it is usually out of complacency:“Usually it’s a function of laziness because: hey, the rates are good, nobody’s asking any questions, markets going up and to the right… It is pure laziness. And unfortunately, there were a couple of firms that were in that situation for different reasons.”Episode 67 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Bill Barhydt, CEO of Abra.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

Last time Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal came on The Scoop podcast back in 2020, the investment strategist cautioned that the Federal Reserve's monetary policy was simply “papering up the cracks” in the economic crunch caused by Covid-19.Over two years later, Pal’s predictions seem to have come true, as the global economy struggles to keep pace with rampant inflation, which reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in the US in June.Although the crypto markets have been hit especially hard in recent months, Pal feels “that the forced selling participants are out of the market,” adding that “we’re definitely close to the low.”In this episode of The Scoop, Pal forecasts where he believes the economy is headed in the coming months, and shares why Ethereum’s upcoming merge could represent a defining moment for the web3 industry.After Ethereum’s merge to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, users who "stake" ether to secure the network will earn yield in ether — something Pal thinks will have a standardizing effect on the inflation rate of protocols around the industry:“We are going to end up creating a benchmark web3 interest rate of which we can assess other risks against, so that makes risk management slightly more transparent.”For example, Pal hypothesizes that if Ethereum offered 4.8% yield after its upcoming merge, then 4.8% would become the benchmark yield for other crypto projects as well. Furthermore, the risk from investing in protocols offering yields higher than Ethereum’s could be assessed relative to Ethereum's hypothetical risk-free 4.8% yield.In addition to creating a benchmark yield for the industry, Pal thinks the decrease in the Ethereum blockchain’s energy consumption after the merge could result in it becoming an institutional favorite compared to the more energy-intensive, proof-of-work consensus mechanism used by the Bitcoin blockchain. As Pal explains:“To have a benchmark yield in the second largest cryptocurrency, when everybody wants to allocate over time to web3 as a theme, that is not counter to the 'FUD' of the ESG narrative that Bitcoin has to battle with — it becomes incredibly attractive for institutions to allocate.”Additionally, Pal claims he has personally been adding the most crypto to his portfolio since November of 2020, stating “the risk-reward is now becoming super ludicrous, so it dwarfs anything else.”Episode 66 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Raoul Pal, Co-Founder and CEO of Real Vision.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com

Although Algorand may not be the most popular blockchain ecosystem, its underlying technology is arguably among the most cutting edge.Founded in 2017 by Silvio Micali, MIT professor and Turing Award recipient for his pioneering work in the fields of cryptography and computer science, Algorand uses a highly efficient consensus mechanism it calls pure proof of stake, and is one of the most energy-efficient blockchains in the industry.While Silvio Micali oversees the research and development of Algorand's technology, the Algorand Foundation is responsible for helping the surrounding community flourish.In this episode of The Scoop, Algorand Foundation CEO Staci Warden detailed recent developments in the Algorand ecosystem that she hopes will harness the power of Algorand's technology for global good. "We have the best tech in crypto, and I think a lot of people would acknowledge that," Warden says. She cites Algorand's roughly 1,000 transactions per second and 4.5 second settlement time — which the development team hopes to increase to 10,000 transactions per second and 2.5 second settlement time by the end of the year.Given these performance indicators, Warden believes Algorand is equipped to handle problems at scale. As she explains,"When you've got a machine like that, of course you start thinking big — and so we think in terms of very big global problems."One of these problems is financial inclusion, which the Algorand Foundation is looking to address through an upcoming partnership with an organization that is planning to make 4G mobile phones preloaded with Algorand's tech available to people in Africa who might otherwise be unable to access traditional financial services.Algorand also has a growing decentralized finance ecosystem, largely due to an ecosystem fund launched last September that today is worth approximately $50 million.Episode 65 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation.Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC SchaffhausenAbout ChainalysisChainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.About IWC SchaffhausenIWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com