Hashing It Out: How Web3 makes shopping better with crypto cash-back

November 21, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Hashing It Out: Navigating the next wave of Web3 with Avail’s Anurag Arjun

May 24, 2024 Coin Telegraph

On the latest episode of Hashing It Out, Avail’s co-founder explains the need to unify multiple networks in the Web3 space, not just ideologically but through innovation.

In this week’s episode, Hashing It Out dives into the evolving landscape of Web3 and blockchain technology with Anurag Arjun, co-founder of Avail. The discussion covers the unification of the Web3 ecosystem, the rise of rollups, the challenges of fragmentation and the innovations paving the way for mass adoption.

Arjun discusses the fragmentation of the Web3 ecosystem and Avail’s role in unifying it. He explains that the increasing number of layer-1 and layer-2 blockchains offering innovation can be detrimental to the space due to fragmentation and user confusion. He emphasizes the importance of a modular architecture, where multiple blockchains can operate on top of a secure base layer, sharing the same economic security.

Avail aims to address this fragmentation by providing a scalable and reliable base layer for rollups, enabling the creation of numerous blockchains with different execution environments. Arjun also highlights the significance of data availability and zero-knowledge-proof technology in achieving scalability and solving fragmentation issues. He envisions a future where rollups become the dominant model for blockchains, offering flexibility and reducing the friction for developers to build decentralized applications.

Hashing It Out: A case for Web3 chat apps with Push Protocol’s Harsh Rajat

December 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Hashing It Out: A conversation about spot Bitcoin ETFs and decentralized ETFs

November 24, 2023 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin regulation

Joel Kuck, CEO of Decentralized ETF, believes that “the big money will come when the institutions come” after the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States.

As expectations grow that a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) will be approved in the United States, it remains one of the hottest topics heading into 2024. In Episode 38 of Cointelegraph’s Hashing It Out, Elisha Owusu Akyaw talks to Joel Kuck, CEO of Decentralized ETF (D-ETF), about how ETFs work, the potential impact of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs on the cryptocurrency industry and the idea of decentralized ETFs.

Amid the optimism that U.S. regulators are set to greenlight multiple spot BTC ETFs, some projects are also looking to bring other ETFs to the blockchain while riding the wave of hype around the investment products. Kuck explains why the industry is bullish about spot Bitcoin ETFs and why the excitement around them is mounting.

He explains that direct exposure to Bitcoin for institutional investors and funds through spot ETFs will boost adoption, which wasn’t previously feasible because some investors were unwilling to touch Bitcoin directly and be responsible for the self-custody of their assets.

According to Kuck, ETFs are an important wealth management and investment instrument that must be available for people in developing markets. He explains that this is the background for the creation of decentralized ETFs. This new classification of ETFs intends to take traditional ETFs to the blockchain, providing exposure for users who would otherwise not have access due to their jurisdiction or other barriers.

As 2023 comes to an end, Hashing It Out guests are asked to share their thoughts about the future of crypto and give their projections for 2024. Kuck said he is bullish that we will see a spot Bitcoin ETF soon and multiple similar products in the next five years. Moreover, he expects an increase in the tokenization of real-world assets, and the opening up of fractional ownership of assets like real estate powered by the blockchain.

Listen to the full episode of Hashing It Out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or TuneIn. You can also explore Cointelegraph’s full roster of informative podcasts on the Cointelegraph Podcasts page.

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This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Hashing It Out: How Web3 is causing an evolution of traditional finance

November 16, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banking

Sarah Clark, the CEO of E-Gates, believes that traditional finance needs to adopt features of decentralized finance as part of an evolution instead of seeing it as a revolution.

As decentralized finance grows in popularity, many wonder what the future holds for traditional finance (TradFi). In episode 37 of Cointelegraph’s Hashing It Out podcast, Elisha Owusu Akyaw talks to Sarah Clark, the CEO of E-Gates, about how TradFi plans to compete and collaborate with the Web3 space and what that means for global payments moving forward. The episode also highlights issues around Web3 payments, such as regulatory compliance, fraud prevention and customer trust.

Clark has worked at multiple TradFi firms like PayPal and Barclays before pivoting to Web3. She explains that conventional finance could benefit from integrating blockchain technology and Web3 practices to solve major gaps like cross-border payments. Clark argues that these changes should be seen as an evolution instead of a revolution.

On using cryptocurrencies as payments, Clark identifies two main issues: acceptance and trust. She states that the number of merchants today that accept cryptocurrency is small, and there is a need for that to change for crypto-powered payments to take off. Clark explains there is a significant burden on Web3 payment providers to build trust among regulators concerned about funding sources and the potential use of cryptocurrencies to fund illicit activities. At the same time, consumers, too, have fears about the safety of their funds.

Clark argues that the issue with regulations cuts across all forms of innovation, and the frustrations with regulators go beyond Web3 to Silicon Valley. She explains that too much regulation could stifle innovation and add more friction for end users who want a simple user experience. The CEO believes that regulators must move away from existing regulations that benefit incumbents and disadvantage new systems that did not exist when most laws around finance and technology were crafted.

“We face a very similar challenge in the crypto space in terms of regulators not necessarily understanding. And then their instinctive reaction is to be more prescriptive rather than embracing the progress that can come from new technologies and setting a level playing field and saying all payment methods, whether it’s fiat credit cards, digital wallets or crypto, have to meet these thresholds.“

Listen to the full episode of Hashing It Out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or TuneIn. You can also explore Cointelegraph’s full roster of informative podcasts on the Cointelegraph Podcasts page.

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Hashing It Out: Roofstock onChain vice president explains how Web3 and real estate interact

November 2, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Assets

Sanjay Raghavan believes that the tokenization of real estate could bring Web3 adoption and provide a diversification alternative for crypto natives.

The tokenization of real-world assets has been tipped as a major use case of blockchain technology that could drive Web3 adoption. In episode 35 of Cointelegraph’s Hashing It Out podcast, host Elisha Owusu Akyaw interviews Sanjay Raghavan, vice president of Web3 Initiatives at Roofstock onChain, about tokenized real estate on the blockchain and how digital real estate investing interacts with the nonfungible tokens market and the decentralized finance landscape. Raghavan also talks about fractional nonfungible tokens (NFTs), regulations and the risks related to Web3 real estate platforms.

Raghavan explains how real estate is sold on the blockchain using NFTs. Companies that sell real estate on-chain must first purchase the property and create a limited liability company (LLC). An NFT is then created, which is associated with the ownership of the LLC. When users buy the NFT, they buy the LLC, which means they have purchased the property.

Raghavan tells Hashing It Out that regulations for tokenizing real-world assets can be complex. In the United States, for instance, various states have rules on the sale of assets, meaning that com navigate separate compliance requirements across 50 jurisdictions.

Beyond bringing people from the traditional real estate market to Web3, Raghavan believes that crypto natives may see real estate tokenization as a diversification tool. He explains that most investment alternatives in the industry may be highly correlated to the Bitcoin (BTC) price, and having another stable and less correlated asset could be a reason for exposure to real estate NFTs.

Raghavan also talks about the fractionalization of assets, including NFTs, which may require running a securities program that makes it unattractive for companies working in the United States. On the other hand, non-U.S. citizens may be able to access fractional NFTs in the future if firms outside the jurisdiction buy properties and sell the NFTs in other markets.

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Listen to the full episode of Hashing It Out, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or TuneIn. You can also check out Cointelegraph’s full catalog of informative podcasts on the Cointelegraph Podcasts page.

Hashing It Out: A case for Web3 social media, and is Friend.tech a security?

October 26, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

CyberConnect co-founder Ryan Li believes that creators who want their content to live forever will ditch Web2 social media platforms for Web3 alternatives.

The Web3 industry continues its mission to disrupt the World Wide Web, and social media is one of its primary targets. In the 34th episode of Cointelegraph’s Hashing It Out, host Elisha Owusu Akyaw interviews Ryan Li, co-founder of CyberConnect, about the concept of decentralized social media.

Li kicks off the episode by explaining the rationale behind creating social media platforms running on blockchain. Li points out that Web3 social media platforms give content creators the confidence that they won’t be abandoned when the platform gets bigger or shifts its focus to ad revenue, unlike traditional platforms. This feature is built on top of a decentralized financial system, and the speculative nature of the space creates a strong case for SocialFi.

Li also highlights updates in recent years that have shone a spotlight on decentralized social media applications. Developments like the addition of account abstraction by CyberConnect and new gamified ways to increase engagements on SocialFi platforms have created some buzz around the sector.

A decentralized social media platform taking the space by storm recently is Friend.tech. The platform became the most used decentralized application on Coinbase’s Base network after recording revenue of 10,663 Ether (ETH), with total value locked of over 30,000 ETH in less than two months. Despite the growth, the platform has attracted critics, and Li shares an interesting opinion about the platform, describing it as a security:

“However, when you say if it’s a security, I would kind of say it might be because the price of a key, even though it’s trading against a battling curve, it’s not trading with another person.“

Beyond decentralized social media, Owusu Akyaw and Li discussed how the latest changes at major platforms like Meta and X (formerly Twitter) affect adoption. Li explains that X’s new monetization strategy and Meta’s seemingly unsuccessful experiment with Threads may catalyze Web3 social media adoption. According to the CyberConnect co-founder, users are likely to make a move due to a single feature they love and stay because of the infrastructure they find.

Listen to the latest episode of Hashing It Out with Ryan Li, co-founder of CyberConnect, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or TuneIn. You can also check out Cointelegraph’s full catalog of informative podcasts on the Cointelegraph Podcasts page.

Hashing It Out: Diving into cross-chain DeFi lending

October 19, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

MultiChainZ chief operating officer Aanchal Thakur believes that cross-chain lending platforms will open users up to more liquidity.

Cointelegraph’s Hashing It Out podcast talked with MultiChainZ chief operating officer Aanchal Thakur to discuss a popular decentralized finance (DeFi) use case: lending. Host Elisha Owusu Akyaw and Thakur explored what makes a cross-chain lending platform different from other platforms and the potential risks it entails. Other highlights include conversations about institutions, DeFi lending, nonfungible token lending, and how projects embrace decentralized autonomous governance.

Thakur started her cryptocurrency journey by falling for a crypto doubling scam, which she claims taught her an important lesson to take her research of the industry more seriously. She went on to work on multiple projects before moving to MultiChainZ.

Thakur argued there is a strong case for building a cross-chain lending platform. She explained that funds are unavailable for many people globally, and that creating a lending and borrowing platform that cuts across multiple networks opens users up to more sources of liquidity.

The MultiChainZ exec also argued that overreliance on a single network may expose projects to a high level of risk. She explained that one of the proper ways to ensure decentralization is to use multiple networks.

“If a blockchain is not working for even two hours, when Solana was down for a few hours, it impacted so many users. It impacted the trust of those users. So, we realized that it does not make sense to build a product on a particular blockchain.“

Owusu Akyaw asked Thakur about bringing more institutions into Web3 through lending. According to Thakur, most institutional investors are concerned about risk and compliance. On risk, there is a need for a higher security threshold to attract major firms that manage huge sums of money. For compliance, she explained that although most Web3 developers like to look at the industry as a borderless environment, the real world has boundaries with regulations that need to be respected. Failure to work with regulators will keep more institutions away from the ecosystem, she believes.

Listen to this latest episode of Hashing It Out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or TuneIn. You can also explore Cointelegraph’s complete catalog of informative podcasts on the Cointelegraph Podcasts page.

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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Coinbase Advanced’s Moheeth Alvi sees pro traders as next wave of crypto users

September 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Alvi says the company is focused on bringing the next billion users to crypto, and attracting pro traders is a major part of its plans.

Moheeth Alvi, group product manager at Coinbase Advanced, joins Cointelegraph’s Hashing It Out podcast with host Elisha Owusu Akyaw for an in-depth discussion about pro traders in the cryptocurrency space.

The podcast starts by highlighting Coinbase’s eventful year so far, from new products to the launch of its layer-2 network Base and the “Onchain Summer” campaign that followed. Alvi says the team believes this is the best time to build, and the company is focused on figuring out how to bring the next billion users to crypto. He also explains that building for and attracting pro traders is a major part of the plans to onboard the next wave of crypto users.

Alvi describes pro traders as very distinct from regular crypto investors and holders. He says most of them operate as traders programmatically, trading relatively higher volumes. Alvi also points out that many advanced traders rely on trading for their livelihoods. Considering the high stakes involved, most advanced traders are looking for platforms they can depend on in terms of functionality and ease of use.

Alvi breaks down what these traders look for in a platform, explaining that they need access and exposure to a good number of assets to trade. There is a need for pro traders to have access to a platform that is dynamic and available on multiple device types, from desktop to mobile and the web, he adds.

Alvi also explains the role liquidity plays in creating a good environment for pro traders.

Listen to the latest episode of Hashing It Out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or TuneIn. You can also explore Cointelegraph’s complete catalog of informative podcasts on the Cointelegraph Podcasts page.

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