EP 41: FTX Part 2 and the Twitter Breakdown: Aztec’s Jon Wu joins to talk FTX then Former Twitter Director Ryan Sarver & Fintwit Poster Compound248 Break Down Elon’s Takeover, Paid Verification, Advertisers Fleeing and the FTC
In episode 41 we get a visit from Aztec’s Jon Wu to talk briefly about FTX and then former Twitter Director Ryan Sarver joins along with Fintwit Personality Compound248 to try to explain everything that’s happened with the Twitter take private. From Elon firing half the staff, desperately trying to rehire them, advertisers bailing, and paid verification leading to fake companies and celebrities. As well as explaining why this has gotten so bad so quickly, why Twitter is unique, and what could have been done differently.
(0:00) Intro
(1:54) Welcome Rashad
(4:12) “Verified” Twitter Accounts
(7:36) FTX
(10:08) Rashad’s new podcast
(12:43) Welcome back Jon Wu
(14:32) SBF, FTX, and Alameda
(21:33) What was the fraud?
(24:56) Malicious intent or the tipping point?
(30:49) What was the sentiment of SBF by people in the ecosystem?
(34:10) What’s upcoming to pay attention to?
(36:23) CZ
(38:10) Welcome Ryan Sarver and Compound248
(43:04) Recapping what’s happened since Elon bought Twitter
(45:30) Blue checks
(51:48) Why Twitter is a difficult business
(1:00:30) Brand-based advertising to subscription
(1:16:33) Who will pay for verification?
(1:26:51) Why has Twitter been advertising-based?
(1:32:12) How much was pseudonymity a feature?
(1:34:49) What changes would you focus on?
(1:41:22) Twitter’s FTC order
(1:45:40) Elon shifting blame
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Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky
Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad Assir
Executive Producer: Josh Machiz
Music: Griff Lawson
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About the Show
A Saturday morning podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett (Partner and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures) covering the tech news with his friends and other people with industry expertise.
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
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EP 21: Aztec’s Jon Wu Joins Zach’s Crypto Debate, Plus the Celsius Disaster & Crypto as Bird Talons
(00:00) Intro
(01:19) Introducing Jon Wu
(04:40) What is Ethereum?
(08:10) Present and future of crypto
(12:53) How Jon got into crypto
(17:48) The oracle problem
(19:58) Real world crypto uses
(23:07) Post speculation
(29:15) Lack of sovereign money
(35:00) What’s happening with Celsius?
(37:30) Why does DeFi work?
(42:00) Digital goods
(48:06) Celsius state of play
(55:40) Celsius’ impact on the crypto market
(59:29) Crypto regulation
(1:05:31) TAM analysis
(1:10:08) Youth in crypto
(1:12:21) VCs in crypto
(1:19:52) Why should we care about crypto?
(1:27:20) The jetpack example
Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky
Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad Assir
Executive Producer: Josh Machiz
Music: Griff Lawson
🎙 Listen to the show
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb...
Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0...
Follow on Socials
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/cartoonavatars
🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars
🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars
About the Show
A Saturday morning podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett (Partner and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures) covering the tech news with his friends and other people with industry expertise.
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA
🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1
Follow on Socials
📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow
📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow
🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow
About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.
Did Someone Deliberately Attack Terra/Luna to Kick off a Death Spiral? - Ep.351
Jon Wu, head of growth at Aztec Network, recaps a historically chaotic week in the Terra ecosystem that saw $UST depeg, Anchor depositors flee, and $LUNA fall 99%. Show highlights:
how $UST, $LUNA, Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), and Anchor Protocol are supposed to work
why Jon compares the Terra blockchain with VISA, LFG with the Fed, and Do Kwon with Jerome Powell
how a previous $UST de-peg foreshadowed this week’s dystopian price action
how a bitcoin short seemed to have kickstarted $UST’s depeg and why Jon thinks it was a deliberate attack
why Luna Foundation Guard originally purchased Bitcoin – and how that plan backfired and made the Terra death spiral even more violent
why $UST had such low liquidity this week – making it more susceptible to a bank run
what Jon’s predictions are for $UST and $LUNA going forward
what were the reasons behind Terra halting
why Jon does not think this will be the end of algorithmic stablecoins
why Jon thinks this should not affect ETH directly, even though there is a high amount of staked ETH in the Terra ecosystem
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021
Coinchange: https://coinchange.io
Episode Links
Jon Wu
Twitter https://twitter.com/jonwu_
Jon’s Write-Up on the UST Depeg
Article: https://www.notboring.co/p/terra-to-the-moon-and-back
Thread: https://twitter.com/jonwu_/status/1523793482850050048?s=20&t=lvB1zdz98wu5TE5emh4fCw
Previous Unchained Coverage of Terra
Do Kwon on backing UST with BTC https://unchainedpodcast.com/do-kwon-is-backing-ust-with-bitcoin-and-heres-what-else-he-is-building/
Kevin Zhou on the risk of UST’s death spiral
https://unchainedpodcast.com/heres-why-usdn-de-pegged-from-the-dollar-and-why-ust-might-too/
Terra:
Terra proposal to accelerate the burn of UST and increase the base pool: https://station.terra.money/proposal/1164 https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/146254/terraform-labs-ceo-do-kwon-unveils-plan-to-restore-ust-peg
Terra halting the network: https://twitter.com/terra_money/status/1524785058296778752?s=20&t=FUJkFuN8PyxRoF9TCPgrGg
Terra going live again: https://twitter.com/terra_money/status/1524812171179327488?s=20&t=FUJkFuN8PyxRoF9TCPgrGg
Regulatory risks: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/146426/the-sec-has-already-sued-terraform-labs-it-has-every-reason-to-investigate-ust-lawyers-say
Other Recaps on Terra:
CoinDesk on how Do Kwon was behind previous algorithmic stablecoin: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/05/11/usts-do-kwon-was-behind-earlier-failed-stablecoin-ex-terra-colleagues-say/
Rekt: https://rekt.news/luna-rekt/
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