The Crypto Treasury Playbook With Ben Forman & Josh Solesbury From ParaFi Capital
Gm! Ben Forman and Josh Solesbury from ParaFi Capital join Yano for this episode to dive into all the details, developments, the good and the bad and the future for publicly traded crypto vehicles!
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Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts
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SKALE is the next evolution in Layer 1 blockchains with a gas-free invisible user experience, instant finality, high speed, and robust security. SKALE is built different as it allows for limitless scalability and has already saved its 50 Million users over $11 Billion in gas fees. SKALE is high-performance and cost-effective, making it ideal for compute-intensive applications like AI, gaming, and consumer-facing dApps. Learn more at https://skale.space and stay up to date with the gas-free invisible blockchain on X at @skalenetwork
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Katana is a DeFi-first chain built for deep liquidity and high yield. No empty emissions, just real yield and sequencer fees routed back to DeFi users. Pre-deposit now: Earn high APRs with Turtle Club [https://app.turtle.club/campaigns/katana] or spin the wheel with Katana Krates [https://app.katana.network/krates]
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Mantle is building the financial infrastructure for a tokenised future—bridging traditional finance and on-chain innovation through six integrated product pillars: Mantle Network, mETH Protocol, Function BTC, and the upcoming launches of MantleX, Mantle Banking, and the Mantle Index Four (MI4) Fund. Anchored by one of the largest community-governed treasuries in the industry, valued at over $4 billion, Mantle is delivering institutional-grade products designed for global capital markets.Follow Mantle on X: https://x.com/Mantle_Official
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Zenrock is a permissionless, decentralized custody network backed by 1RoundTable Partners, 10T, Maven11, and Spartan. Live on Jupiter, $ROCK is the native token for transactions within the Zenrock ecosystem and secures Zenrock’s decentralized custody network.The first application launching on Zenrock is zenBTC – yield-bearing Bitcoin on Solana. zenBTC is now live.
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Ledn is the leading platform for Bitcoin-backed loans, offering a secure and transparent way to unlock liquidity without selling your Bitcoin. Ledn has issued over $9 billion in loans since 2018 and has never lost a single satoshi of client assets, earning a reputation as the name you can trust in the crypto space.Visit https://www.ledn.io to learn more.
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Chapters:
(00:00) Intro
(01:58) Parafi Investor Letter
(02:54) Digital Asset Treasuries Overview Today
(10:10) Ads (Skale, Katana)
(11:57) Why Q2 + Q3 For Public Crypto Treasuries?
(17:09) Largest Convertible Issuer
(23:51) Scale of Public Crypto Treasury Vehicles
(25:23) Ads (Skale, Katana)
(27:11) Green Flags To Launch A Treasury Company
(40:00) Reputational Risks
(43:25) Why don't Treasury vehicles Impact native token price action
(51:26) Ads (Mantle, Zenrock, ,LEDN)
(53:56) Crypto Treasury Vehicles For Top 50
(01:01:05) Low Capital Market Crypto Liquidity
(01:03:15) Top Signals
(01:10:09) The End Game
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
ParaFi's 10 Crypto Predictions for 2030 | Ben Forman & Kevin Yedid-Botton
In today's episode we are joined by ParaFi partners, Ben Forman and Kevin Yedid-Botton. They unpack their biggest predictions for crypto in 2030. They unpack their vision of Bitcoin reaching gold parity at $815K, stablecoins hitting 10% of M2 supply, and AI dominating 90% of on-chain activity. They also explain the evolution of prediction markets, Solana's path to Ethereum parity, and why wallets will become the new banks. To close out they discuss the rising geopolitical influences Bitcoin may have for the coming decade, and its transformative role for nation state accumulation. Thanks for tuning in!
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Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis.
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Explore the SKALE Ecosystem at skale.space/ecosystem and stay up to date with the gas-free blockchain on X at @skalenetwork
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It's time for an on chain Binance to emerge.
Magic Eden is getting into token trading and their vision is to become on chain Binance and then much more as the entire world ends up moving on chain
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The self-custody wallet that's built for swapping. Created for a multi-chain world by the most trusted team in DeFi.
Available on Chrome, iOS, and Android.
https://blckwrks.co/UniswapWallet
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$cmETH, a Mantle native liquid restaking token, will launch together with Season 2: Methamorphosis, allowing users to easily participate in restaking, and earn $COOK rewards in addition to other yields.
$COOK, the governance token of mETH Protocol, will allow holders to play a pivotal role in directing the strategic future of mETH Protocol.
Learn more: https://x.com/mETHProtocol
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Ledger, the world leader in digital asset security, proudly sponsors Empire podcast. Celebrating 10 years of protecting over 20% of the world’s crypto, Ledger ensures the security of your assets. For the best self-custody solution in the space, buy a LEDGER™ device and secure your crypto today.
Buy now at Ledger.com
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:15) Predictions for 2030
(05:02) Bitcoin Price 2030 Prediction
(13:42) Stablecoin Growth
(29:55) Tokenized RWA Growth
(40:14) Prediction Markets
(47:54) Media & Prediction Market Relationship
(55:43) Skale Ad
(56:22) Magic Eden Ad
(57:06) Uniswap Ad
(57:38) Mantle Ad
(58:33) Ledger Ad
(59:18) AI is 90% of Onchain Activity
(01:07:50) Application Layer Boom
(01:14:52) Wallets as the New Banks
(01:24:43) Solana Parity with Ethereum
(01:32:16) 98% of Tokens Underperform BTC
(01:41:24) Blockchain GDP to $1T
(01:50:24) Honorable Mentions
(01:53:42) Geopolitical BTC Race
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
How to Position for a New Crypto Bull Market | Ben Forman and Jason Kam
In today's episode of Empire Santi is joined by Jason Kam, Founder of Folius Ventures,and Ben Forman, Mananging Partner of ParaFi Capital, to find out if the bear market really is over. They dive into the recent crypto price action and whether an Ethereum ETF could be a catalyst for DeFi. They then look to the future and discuss how gaming and prediction markets could drive adoption, the opportunities in tokenizing real world assets, and why this environment rhymes with late 2019 when fundamentals were emerging but prices were low. Ben and Jason also discuss their outlook on the macro landscape, remaining opportunities in liquid and illiquid markets, and why they believe we may be in the early innings of a new bull market driven by growing institutional interest and real use cases.
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Chronicle Protocol is a novel Oracle solution that has exclusively secured over $10B in assets for MakerDAO and its ecosystem since 2017. With a history of innovation, including the invention of the first Oracle on Ethereum, Chronicle Protocol continues to redefine Oracles. A blockchain-agnostic protocol, Chronicle overcomes the current limitations of transferring data on-chain by developing the first truly scalable, cost-efficient, decentralized, and verifiable Oracles, rewriting the rulebook on data transparency and accessibility.
Learn more about Chronicle Protocol: https://chroniclelabs.org/
Join the Chronicle Labs team: https://chroniclelabs.org/careers#ope...
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MetaMask Portfolio is your one-stop shop for all things web3. Instead of connecting to multiple exchanges, dapps, and tools, you just need to connect to one simple dapp to track and manage all your assets across different networks and accounts. MetaMask Portfolio provides a secure and convenient way to perform common tasks such as Buy, Sell, Swap, Bridge, and Stake.
Try MetaMask Portfolio at https://blckwrks.co/MetaMaskEmpire
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Sentiment Check-in with Private Investors
(08:48) Portfolio Positioning
(18:08) Investing Outside of the Majors
(24:00) Investing in Crypto Layers
(30:44) Deciding Thesis Invalidation
(35:40) DeFi Catalysts
(45:13) Chronicle Ad
(46:30) Metamask Ad
(47:15) Unique Use Cases Outside of RWAs
(54:12) Timing Investments & Managing Risk
(59:41) Value in Gaming and Blockchain
(01:12:39) How Financialization Complicates Social Behaviors
(01:18:48) Why is Scaling Usage Hard?
(01:35:26) Are We in a New Cycle?
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
The Day DeFi Almost Died | Ben Forman
Today we are joined by Ben Forman, one of the most prolific investors in crypto, to discuss the day DeFi almost died: Black Thursday. The industry was a few liquidations away from an extinction event. Tune in to hear the riveting story and how Black Thursday has shaped MakerDAO and crypto's development!
We also discuss why Ben believes RWAs and permissioned DeFi is the next narrative, Binance FUD, investing in private vs liquid markets, return dispersion, incoming regulation and more!
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:34) Binance FUD: Signal or Noise?
(07:36) Operation Choke Point 2.0
(11:19) Return Dispersion
(16:29) The Moment of Reckoning
(23:16) Base’s Market Impact
(26:16) Early Stage vs Liquid Market Investing
(38:35) MakerDAO’s Black Thursday Almost Killed DeFi
(45:50) “Valora Ad”
(46:50) The State of DeFi
(54:07) USDC, A Structural Reset and Regulation
(1:05:00) Tokenization of RWAs and Permissioned DeFi
(1:08:00) Key Learnings and Fire Round
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This episode is brought to you by Valora. Valora is a self-custody, mobile-first wallet... and the easiest way to send, swap, collect and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain. Download the app and start exploring today at valoraapp.com/empire.
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
The Current State of DeFi Investing | Ben Forman
On today’s episode of Empire Blockwork’s co-founder Jason Yanowitz and his co-host Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Ben Forman, managing partner at ParaFi Capital.
Ben launched ParaFi in 2018 after seeing the potential of DeFi. Now with around $1 billion AUM, he provides his thoughts on how the DeFi ecosystem has evolved.
Ben also shares his insights into how the recent Jan. 21 2022, market sell-off compares to March 2020, the explosive growth of stablecoins, the layer-1 wars, opportunities in NFTs, gaming and the biggest crypto trends for 2022.
This episode was recorded on January 21, 2022.
ParaSwap:
If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out paraswap.io. ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage.
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