Diogo Monica

This week, Jason and Santi are joined by Rob Hadick (Dragonfly), and Diogo Monica (Anchorage/Haun Ventures) to dive into the evolving crypto venture landscape. -- 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-- Follow Diogo: https://x.com/diogomonica Follow Rob: https://x.com/HadickM Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- 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 -- Marinade Labs develops staking technologies that strengthen Solana.In 2021, our protocol was the first to bring liquid staking to the network; today, our sophisticated, high-performance staking delegation platform brings billions in liquidity and security to the SOL market. We have solutions for both DeFi and TradFi, including liquid and native staking, as well as direct enterprise integrations.Our best-in-market features include user downside protection (through protected staking rewards) and optimized delegation (via our automated auction marketplace). Crypto asset investors worldwide, from individual traders to global institutions, use Marinade to earn rewards on their SOL treasuries and holdings. We are headquartered in New York, with offices in the European Union, including Prague. To learn more about Marinade, visit https://www.marinade.finance. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks.Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM. Screen, chart, and analyze 1300+ tokens. Summarize market-moving news instantly. Integrates data from CoinGecko, Kaito, Token Terminal, Tokenomist, The Tie. Get started today: https://askfocal.com -- Petra Earn was designed to make DeFi more accessible for everyone—from seasoned pros to DeFi beginners. Manage your balance, claim rewards and deposit directly from the app.By supplying USDT to Aries lending pools, users have the potential to earn a higher yield compared to some traditional methods.Not financial advice. Participating in Defi carries risks. To learn more visit https://petra.app/earn -- 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. -- Chapters: (00:00) Intro (02:50) Current State of Venture (11:29) Ads (Skale Marinade) (13:07) Crypto Company IPOs (26:15) Crypto Treasury Companies (36:06) Ads (Skale Marinade) (37:44) How Does Hyperliquid’s Success Impact Venture? (41:27) Exploring PumpDotFun’s Raise (48:05) Ads (Falcon x, Aptos, LEDN) (50:36) Crypto’s Most Exciting Opportunities Today (01:01:42) X & Polymarket Join Force (01:04:42) Ripple’s Strategy — 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.

Diogo Monica

Co-Founder and President

Anchorage DigitalHaun Ventures

Diogo Mónica is the founder and executive chairman of Anchorage Digital, and a general partner at Haun Ventures. In this episode, Chaparro and Diogo discuss how culture and intensity are crucial in building successful teams and companies in the crypto industry. OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 03:44 Macro & Geopolitical Risks 04:39 Buying the Dip 06:20 VC Conviction 09:20 Mónica's Background 18:19 Startup Culture 23:58 Building Crypto Companies 26:13 Advice for Founders 33:44 2024 VC Landscape 38:19 Consumer Crypto Apps 41:31 Crypto x AI 47:11 Predictions This episode is brought to you by our sponsor Polkadot Polkadot is the blockspace ecosystem for boundless innovation. To discover more head to polkadot.network The Block Community The Block is launching a new community experience for fans of The Scoop! Follow us on Lens to stay in the loop: hey.xyz/u/theblockcommunity The Block Newsletters The Block's newsletters bring you the latest news and analysis of the fast-moving crypto and DeFi markets. To subscribe, visit theblock.co/newsletters

Diogo Monica

Co-Founder and President

Anchorage DigitalHaun Ventures

As the market for non-fungible tokens continues to court interest from mainstream corporates, investors, and celebrities, Anchorage co-founder Diogo Mónica reveals how his firm is managing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of these assets.  As Mónica explained during an interview on The Scoop with host Frank Chaparro, there are two main reasons he believes institutions are expressing interest in NFTs: “The first one is that it’s free marketing. You buy an NFT or you do something in crypto and for a few hundred thousand dollars you get tens of millions of dollars of mainstream press. The second reason, which is probably the major reason for the ones who want to build products, is they want to try it out… if you’re going to build a product in NFTs, you have to own one.” Indeed, institutional interest in developing NFT products is accelerating. This month alone, Softbank, Gamestop, and Instagram all announced NFT products slated for release in the near future. Still, Mónica noted that NFTs only represent a small portion of the digital assets of which Anchorage holds custody. “I would say it probably maps in the hundreds of millions. But the business is obviously measured in the tens of billions which makes it not significant enough yet." The core of Anchorage's business is its institutional custodian services, which have been growing since its inception in 2017. Last year, Anchorage became the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the US and has now expanded its operations to lending and trading services. One particularly interesting NFT play that aligns with this narrative was Visa's acquisition of a CryptoPunk NFT last summer, which Anchorage Digital helped to facilitate. Episode 21 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Diogo Monica, Co-Founder and President of Anchorage Digital. 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 Fireblocks, Coinbase Prime & Chainalysis Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 725 financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $1.5 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com. About Coinbase Prime Coinbase Prime is an integrated solution that provides institutional investors with an advanced trading platform, secure custody, and prime services to manage all their crypto assets in one place. Coinbase Prime fully integrates crypto trading and custody on a single platform, and gives clients the best all-in pricing in their network using their proprietary Smart Order Router and algorithmic execution. For more information, visit www.coinbase.com/prime. About Chainalysis Chainalysis is the 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. Our data powers investigation, compliance, and market intelligence software that has been used to solve some of the world’s most high-profile criminal cases and grow consumer access to cryptocurrency safely. 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.

Diogo Monica

Co-Founder and President

Anchorage DigitalHaun Ventures

Today's episode was originally featured in our Web3 Breakdowns feed. For listeners unfamiliar with Web3 Breakdowns, the concept was inspired by Business Breakdowns but intended to be a place fully dedicated to the emerging ecosystem around blockchains, crypto assets, and everything that makes up Web3. This Breakdown of Anchorage Digital has a foot in both camps, by diving into a business that’s enabling traditional institutions to participate in and profit from digital assets. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe to Web3 Breakdowns and enjoy our growing catalog of episodes.   My guest today is Diogo Monica, co-founder and President of Anchorage Digital. Diogo started Anchorage in 2017 to meet the growing institutional need to custody and use crypto assets. The business has since grown into a full-service financial platform for institutions, allowing them to securely participate in web3. Our discussion breaks down Anchorage’s business, explores what great digital security looks like, and reveals what new behaviors web3 is unlocking for traditional institutions. Please enjoy this breakdown of Anchorage Digital.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Coinbase Prime. Coinbase Prime combines advanced trading, battle-tested custody, financing, and prime services in a single solution. Clients have used our comprehensive investing platform to execute some of the largest trades in the industry because we are the only publicly-traded company with experience trading and custodying crypto assets at scale. Get started with Coinbase Prime today at coinbase.com/prime.   -----   Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag    Show Notes [00:02:40] - [First question] - Why he got into the crypto space and what set him down the path that would to founding Anchorage  [00:05:53] - An overview of digital security, state of it today, and where people should spend their time learning about it [00:09:16] - A future of perfect authentication and data protection being so core to this space [00:13:29] - How custody should be considered in the modern world and with digital assets [00:18:59] - What it means to be a great qualified institutional custodian [00:25:17] - The business and unit economics of Anchorage [00:28:07] - What it was like working with their first big institutional client [00:30:52] - Speed as a component of digital security and its implications writ large   [00:35:51] - How they’re differentiated from their competitors by expanding beyond custody [00:39:46] - Different challenges between securing NFTs versus currencies and tokens [00:42:43] - New behaviors he finds most interesting about institutions due to Anchorage [00:48:46] - Breakdown of what players and services contribute to and create Anchorage’s clients today [00:51:24] - The best case scenario for the future of the business [00:53:37] - What would worry him about Anchorage’s development if it swayed from their original mission [00:55:55] - Opportunities he finds most interesting that haven't materialized yet  [00:57:46] - Will we need a public blockchain to create the infrastructure needed to bring the world to a more crypto-fluid place [01:00:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Diogo Monica

Co-Founder and President

Anchorage DigitalHaun Ventures

The DeFi Mullet is a classic Bankless thesis that we've begun to watch play out right in front of us. This week, we bring on Cuy Sheffield from Visa and Diogo Mónica from Anchorage to explain the DeFi mullet from the Fintech side of things. This episode explores how crypto payments are extending beyond retail and into institutions, and how Fintech platforms like Visa are leveling up with the utilities provided by Anchorage to support crypto. Blurring the lines between the two worlds is shaping up to be a fascinating corner of our industry, and there's a ton of new concepts to dive into throughout this conversation. ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  ------ 📣 OPOLIS | YOUR CRYPTO CAREER https://bankless.cc/Opolis  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  🍵 MATCHA | DECENTRALIZED EXCHANGE AGGREGATOR https://bankless.cc/Matcha  🔐 LEDGER | SECURE YOUR ASSETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger  🧙‍♀️ ALCHEMIX | SELF-PAYING LOANS http://bankless.cc/Alchemix  ------ Topics Covered: 0:00 Intro 6:30 Visa & The DeFi Mullet 15:03 Anchorage & The DeFi Mullet 18:55 Volatility & Engagement 25:52 Crypto Rewards 34:13 How Payments Work 41:08 Settlement Layers 46:22 What Anchorage Does 50:30 Stablecoins & Bridging 1:00:09 Teaching Visa About Crypto 1:06:10 Immutable Transactions 1:13:22 Visa CryptoPunk 1:22:09 Central Bank Digital Currencies 1:28:04 Trusting Institutions? 1:31:52 Closing & Disclaimers ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures

Cuy Sheffield

Head of Crypto

Visa

Diogo Monica

Co-Founder and President

Anchorage DigitalHaun Ventures