Olaf Carlson-Wee

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. The success of any blockchain isn’t just about scalability, security, or decentralization—it’s about attracting developers. The easier it is to build, the more innovation happens. Or at least, that’s the thesis of Movement Labs co-founder Rushi Manche and Olaf Carlson-Wee, CEO of Polychain Capital. In this episode of Unchained, Rushi explains why Move, originally developed by Meta, is a fundamentally better programming language for crypto than the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). He breaks down how Move’s unique approach to security and asset management improves developer experience and why the Movement Network is bringing Move to Ethereum as a layer 2 solution. Olaf shares his thoughts on how alternative programming environments like Move could challenge the dominance of the EVM, why Ethereum is at a critical moment, and how AI-powered financial agents could change how investments work. Show highlights: 2:32 What problems Move solves for crypto and how it got started 8:57 How the programming language is safer than others, specifically for crypto finance 21:00 What’s the thesis behind the Movement network 23:12 Why Movement chose to become an Ethereum L2 30:08 Where ETH is headed and what it needs to succeed 32:25 Why Rushi is so bearish on EVM layer 2s 34:59 Whether Ethereum is going through an existential crisis 37:47 Why Rushi believes that modularity will save Ethereum 39:28 How Movement differs from Aptos and Sui 41:36 The importance of developer experience in crypto’s growth 44:48 How tokens can signal the significance of content in social media 52:04 Why Olaf thinks we’ll soon see an explosive growth of financialized agents 57:19 Whether AI will replace VC investors and other jobs 1:01:38 What Rushi has to say about the Trump team buying MOVE 1:04:09 The significance of the U.S. making crypto a national priority Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsor! Mantle Guest: Rushi Manche, Co-founder of Movement Labs Olaf Carlson-Wee, CEO of Polychain Capital Previous appearances on Unchained: OG Olaf Carlson-Wee on Why His Crypto Thesis Is Stronger Than Ever Olaf Carlson-Wee: ‘If There Is a Money-Losing Exploit, the Money Is Gone’  Why The First Employee Of Coinbase Launched A Hedge Fund To the Moon and Back With Polychain’s Olaf Carlson-Wee Special Episode with CNBC’s Crypto Trader: Olaf Carlson-Wee on Why This Crypto Winter Is Different From Previous Ones All Things Cryptoeconomics, Pt. 1, With Olaf Carlson-Wee and Ryan Zurrer of Polychain Capital Links Unchained:  Trump’s Crypto Project Bought MOVE Tokens as DOGE News Leaked How Solana Beat Out Ethereum to Nab New Crypto Developers in 2024 Chris Dixon on Why We Will Finally See New App Innovation in Crypto 2025 Will Be a Year of Crypto Competition. Can Ethereum Make a Comeback? With AI Agents Now Trading Crypto, What Does Their Future Look Like? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Rushi Manche

Co-Founder

Movement Labs

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer, and Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CIO of Polychain Capital, an investor in EigenLayer, say that the developer ecosystem around EigenLayer is sprouting up very fast, which reminds Carlson-Wee of the developer excitement in Ethereum’s early days. They discuss the potential of EigenLayer, which uses a restaking mechanism to allow ETH stakers to reallocate their staked ETH and Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) to bolster security for other protocols. They cover how it could turbocharge Ethereum's rollup scaling roadmap and enable Ethereum to become a stack of decentralized software as a service providers. Additionally, they discuss the potential risks associated with restaking as well as how EigenLayer could work with AI. Read more: What Is EigenLayer? A Guide to the Decentralized ETH Restaking Protocol Show highlights: Sreeram's explanation of what EigenLayer is and what it allows on Ethereum why Polychain invested in EigenLayer's seed round why Sreeram believes that there are not just going to be three modules in blockchains, but thousands the types of applications that can be built with actively validated services, according to Sreeram why they both believe that EigenLayer will improve smart contracts whether EigenLayer will help solve the liquidity fragmentation issue in Layer 2s what Ethereum inclusion guarantees are and why they are important the potential risks of EigenLayer and why Olaf doesn’t agree that EigenLayer results in rehypothecation how attribution claims work in EigenLayer, allowing for "elastic scaling of security" EigenLayer’s points program and the likelihood of a token why Sreeram believes that an EigenLayer governance token wouldn't have the same issues as Lido's LDO whether EigenLayer should be a core part of the Ethereum protocol itself how AI and EigenLayer intersect and how to have permissionless innovation in the AI space Thank you to our sponsors! Polkadot Guest:     Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CIO of Polychain Capital Previous appearances on Unchained: OG Olaf Carlson-Wee on Why His Crypto Thesis Is Stronger Than Ever Olaf Carlson-Wee: 'If There Is a Money-Losing Exploit, the Money Is Gone'  Why The First Employee Of Coinbase Launched A Hedge Fund To the Moon and Back With Polychain's Olaf Carlson-Wee Special Episode with CNBC's Crypto Trader: Olaf Carlson-Wee on Why This Crypto Winter Is Different From Previous Ones All Things Cryptoeconomics, Pt. 1, With Olaf Carlson-Wee and Ryan Zurrer of Polychain Capital Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer Previous appearance on Unchained: Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets? Links EigenLayer Unchained:  What Is Ethereum Restaking? A Beginner's Guide ETHDenver’s 2024 Hackathon: Onchain Security, AI, and Gaming Fun Dominate the Winning Projects A16z, Binance Labs Make Investments in EigenLayer Ecosystem EigenDA Overview Sreeram’s post on why “building on EigenLayer, therefore, doesn't negate the utility of an AVS token” Points DL News: Kelp DAO opens trading of the $340m EigenLayer airdrop market with KEP CoinDesk: Omni Network Signs $600M Restaking Deal With Ether.Fi to Enhance Security Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sreeram Kannan

Founder & CEO

EigenLayer

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Polychain Capital founder and CIO Olaf Carlson-Wee has been through every single bubble in crypto history, from Bitcoin’s rise past the single digits in 2012 to the ICO craze of 2017 to 2021’s NFT mania, and he says his main thesis about crypto has remained consistent since the beginning. That is, that crypto constitutes an “incentive vortex” that will replace the world’s preoccupation with country-backed currencies.  Carlson-Wee, who was the first employee at Coinbase, joins Unchained to discuss the significance of the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs, how he successfully navigated all the industry blow-ups in 2022, the challenges of balancing incentives for early adopters versus new users, why EigenLayer is so significant, why Worldcoin’s distribution strategy is a “disaster,” and the strange places that the intersection between crypto and AI could take us.  Show highlights: Why Olaf sees the current market as the cusp of another bull run and how his thesis has remained consistent since 2011​​ How the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs marks a significant milestone  Why criticisms of the crypto space are really criticisms of money in general  The fundamental differences between Web3 applications and the Web2 ecosystem and why they matter The importance of fair token distribution in enhancing the value of Web3 projects When Olaf expects Bitcoin to replace legacy financial systems The areas and technologies Olaf and his fund are keen to invest in Why Olaf thinks a modular blockchain architecture is superior to a monolithic one in the long term How EigenLayer is innovating to enable new types of applications and whether it competes with Celestia How Polychain managed to avoid being hurt by the major market blowups of 2022, including Terra and FTX The evolution of the space from an ideologically driven to a more pragmatic approach The significance of incentive design in crypto ecosystems and the trade-offs involved in system design Olaf’s perspective on the recent rise of points systems The growth of privacy-focused crypto projects and the potential for private blockchains to become the norm Why he thinks Worldcoin’s distribution strategy is a “disaster” Olaf’s interest in the intersection of AI and crypto and potential developments in this area His bullish outlook on SocialFi and Web3 gaming Thank you to our sponsors! Popcorn Network Guest: Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CIO of Polychain Capital Previous appearances on Unchained: Olaf Carlson-Wee: 'If There Is a Money-Losing Exploit, the Money Is Gone'  Why The First Employee Of Coinbase Launched A Hedge Fund To the Moon and Back With Polychain's Olaf Carlson-Wee Special Episode with CNBC's Crypto Trader: Olaf Carlson-Wee on Why This Crypto Winter Is Different From Previous Ones All Things Cryptoeconomics, Pt. 1, With Olaf Carlson-Wee and Ryan Zurrer of Polychain Capital Links Olaf Carlson-Wee Forbes:  This Man Has Been Living On Bitcoin For 3 Years Why This Hedge Fund CEO Once 'Put Most Of My Meager Life Savings Into Bitcoin' TechCrunch: The future is a decentralized internet Blockworks: Why Polychain Capital Founder Never Sells His Crypto  CoinDesk: Olaf Carlson-Wee: Crypto Is the Great Wealth-Redistribution Machine Restaking/EigenLayer Unchained:  DeFi Protocol EigenLayer Reaches Restaking Capacity, Pushing TVL Past $1.4 Billion Do You Need to Think Twice Before Restaking Your Assets?  Olaf’s tweet on EigenLayer Crypto + AI Olaf’s tweet: “in crypto nearly 100% of value accrues to start-ups and outsiders, not existing establishment interests” Visit Unchained for more links and details Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

In today's episode of Empire, Olaf Carlson, the founder of Polychain and first Coinbase employee, shares why he believes crypto is going to be the greatest wealth redistribution of the modern era. The conversation covers the impact of the leverage cycle, the viability of restaking, and the importance of privacy. They also touch on the L2 and Appchain thesis, embedding financial markets into social platforms, and the potential of wearables. Olaf breaks down why crypto is a one-way street and why it will outlive fiat currency. We hope you enjoy!  - - Follow Olaf: https://twitter.com/zxocw Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/  - - Planning to grant token awards for your team? Toku makes implementing global token compensation and incentive awards simple. With Toku, you get unmatched legal and tax support to grant and administer your global team’s tokens. Toku navigates it across the lifecycle — from easy to use token grant award templates through tracking vesting to managing tax withholdings. Make it simple today, at https://www.toku.com/empire - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this March! DAS is the #1 institutional conference in crypto, hosted by Blockworks.  Use the link below to learn more, and use EMPIRE20 to get 20% off your ticket! Sign up now because the price goes up every month. See you there!  Learn more + get your ticket here: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2024-london/home - - Timestamps: (00:00) Crypto Sentiment Check (06:38) The L2 Wave (14:52) App-chain Thesis (24:20) Impact of the Leverage Driven Cycle (33:35) DAS 2023 (34:51) Toku Ad (36:03) Crypto in 10 years (43:44) Privacy Solutions, Shared Security, and Wearables  (53:24) Why Olaf Doesn't Sell - - 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.

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

On today's episode of Empire, Olaf Carlson-Wee, Coinbase's first employee & founder of Polychain, joins Jason and Santiago to discuss his views on the state of crypto. Olaf reflects on crypto's cycles, the reoccurring themes and how this relates to the UST meltdown and today's bear market. We then dive into Olaf's investment philosophy, exploring his thoughts on what assets will accrue value, the multichain future and the most exciting opportunities. You'll also hear Olaf's unique take on the "one reason" DAOs should exist. Don't miss this fantastic episode with one of the most interesting/successful OGs in crypto. - - Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_ Follow Olaf: https://twitter.com/zxocw Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe To Our Podcast: apple.co/3srZf7M or sptfy.com/8bQc -- BitMEX is back and better than ever. Sign up for BitmEX's new Spot Exchange for a chance to win a piece of $500,000 in BTC (new users). Learn more about them at https://www.bitmex.com/ -- (00:00) Introduction (01:02) Market Chaos (05:37) Crypto's Cycles (17:33) Stablecoins and UST's Meltdown (24:33) The End of Algo Stables (30:06) Where's The Market Headed? (38:14) Bitmex AD (39:31) The Biggest Entrepreneurial Laboratory in History (43:23) It's Time for Buying Not Selling (44:34) Layer One Wars (48:38) The L2 Ecosystem (53:58) Where Will Value Accrue? (58:13) What's Overlooked In Crypto? (1:03:22) The One Thing DAO's Should Do (1:06:18) DeFi vs CeFi (1:07:39) Struggles of an Entrepreneur (1:11:33) The Industry Has to Prove Itself -- 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.

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Olaf Carlson-Wee is the Founder and CEO of Polychain Capital, a crypto investment firm that he founded in 2016. Olaf is a brilliant independent thinker which has led him to be the first in many things, one being the first employee of Coinbase. In this episode, we dive into how he utilizes and became a contrarian thinking, which blockchain he believes has the potential highest likelihood to accrue the most value, the future of work and decentralized governance, and so much more. Because of Olaf’s OG crypto tier status, he’s seen the evolution of the space from the very beginning. His experience—combined with the way he uniquely thinks—makes his vision for the future not only inspiring but promising. ------ ✨ DEBRIEF ✨ | Ryan & David's Unfiltered Thoughts on the Episode https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/113-olaf-debrief  ------ 📣 CONSENSYS | M·A·C: NFT Collection for a Good Cause https://bankless.cc/MAC  ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALED ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  ❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across  🏦 ALTO IRA | TAX-FREE CRYPTO https://bankless.cc/AltoIRA  👻 AAVE V3 | LEND & BORROW CRYPTO https://bankless.cc/aave  ⚡️ MAKER DAO | THE DAI STABLECOIN https://bankless.cc/MakerDAO  🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave  ------ Topics Covered: 0:00 Intro 6:27 Has Crypto Played Out the Way Olaf Thought 10:15 Why Olaf Caught the Crypto Bug 17:35 Olaf’s Interest in Smart Contracts & Ethereum 23:50 Views on Vitalik 25:40 Independent Thinking 30:27 Why is Olaf is Here 32:40 The Common Traps of Crypto 34:12 The Wins Olaf’s Most Proud of 41:18 Which Chain Comes Out on Top 55:11 The Blockchain Spectrum 58:52 Forecasting Value Accrual 1:01:27 Olaf’s Thoughts on Ethereum & Decentralization 1:12:30 The Future of Work & Scaling DAOs 1:18:01 Crypto vs. The Nation State 1:21:50 Lightning Round 1:23:55 What’s Currently Obvious to Olaf 1:26:19 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Resources: Olaf Carson-Wee https://twitter.com/zxocw  Polychain Capital https://twitter.com/polychain  ----- 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

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

"They start with bitcoin. It is the easiest to understand." In the most recent episode of The Scoop, Olaf Carlson-Wee said that recent headlines about institutional investors making waves in the bitcoin market aren't surprising to him. Since he launched Polychain Capital in 2016, he's become familiar with new market entrants who start by exploring bitcoin and then ultimately make their way to other ecosystems.  "It isn't surprising that these big institutional investors are first getting involved with bitcoin," he said. "This is effectively electronic gold. Everyone can reason about gold and the value of gold in an easy way." From Anthony Scaramucci to Paul Tudor Jones, the bull case for bitcoin as digital gold has been all but cemented as a Wall Street talking point. Yet his interest in bitcoin will find its way to DeFi, Carlson-Wee argues. "Once you have $100 million of bitcoin, you might start to think how I could get yield on this bitcoin for example," he said. "A lot of the time the answer there is through on-chain financial contracts." Carlson-Wee also believes that interest in DeFi products and services will buck the example of the 2017 ICO bubble and be more long-lasting. As he put it during the interview: "The summer of ICOs was a summer, the summer of DeFi was just the beginning of multi-years of compounding growth. The financial engineering in DeFi, I think, at this point is inarguably moving faster than the financial engineering anywhere else in the world. The capital coordination is faster than anywhere else in the world. A lot of these DeFi protocols are bigger than IPOs—regularly. Despite that go regularly unnoticed and are hard to interact with. The user experience barriers here are very high and despite that we see significant traction in terms of volumes." Still, Olaf-Carlson Wee said DeFi market participants need to work out the UI problems that make platforms difficult to use. In this episode of The Scoop, Olaf Carlson-Wee digs into: The differences between the ICO boom and the current market rally How DEXs went from being irrelevant to facilitating billions of dollars in volumes Where DeFi goes next What he thinks about the upcoming Coinbase IPO YFI's recent proposal to increase inflation  Polychain's lessons learned from the previous 2017 cycle

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Olaf Carlson-Wee, the founder and CEO of Polychain Capital, goes deep into yield farming, fair launches and how decentralization will upend the traditional notion of the corporation. In this episode, he talks about: when it makes sense for a team to introduce a liquidity mining scheme, and when it doesn't the difference between yield farming and ICOs when it comes to investing his thoughts on YFI, as well as YAM, and the pace at which unaudited DeFi projects are moving forward the three advantages he sees in automated market makers as opposed to centralizedexchanges his thoughts on Uniswap and SushiSwap and why he's not sure Uniswap will make a token his thoughts on fair launches and whether he thinks they will threaten traditional crypto VCs whether the CRV token launch really was instigated by someone unrelated to the team his thoughts on the yEarn yETH vault and what it says about where the DeFi space is going what he sees as the pros and cons of rebasing why he sees projects like YFI as a new kind of corporation whether he thinks Ethereum will scale fast enough to meet the demand already being put on it why he thinks systems like Polkadot are going to expand what is possible in the same way that Ethereum expanded beyond what was possible with Bitcoin whether he thinks the yields from yield farming will pull investors away from staking on Ethereum 2.0 what he thinks DeFi teams should do to improve security Bitcoin on Ethereum and what he believes it could mean for DeFi in the future the chatter around a potential public offering from Coinbase, and what's in store for Polychain in the future   Thank you to our sponsor!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/   Episode links:  Olaf Carlson-Wee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olafcw/ Polychain Capital: https://polychain.capital   Previous interviews with Olaf on Unchained and Unconfirmed: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-the-first-employee-of-coinbase-launched-a-hedge-fund/   https://unchainedpodcast.com/to-the-moon-and-back-with-polychains-olaf-carlson-wee/   https://unchainedpodcast.com/special-episode-with-cnbcs-crypto-trader-olaf-carlson-wee-on-why-this-crypto-winter-is-different-from-previous-ones-ep-028/   https://unchainedpodcast.com/all-things-cryptoeconomics-pt-1-with-olaf-carlson-wee-and-ryan-zurrer-of-polychain-capital/   Why trading on automated market makers has risen so quickly: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-decentralized-trading-has-10xed-in-a-few-months/    Launch of yEarn/YFI: https://medium.com/iearn/yfi-df84573db81   Dex volume over time: https://defiprime.com/dex-volume   YAM recap: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/74810/yam-token-market-cap-collapses-by-more-than-90-flaw   YAM team’s plans going forward: YAM Post-Rescue Attempt Update. At approximately 6PM UTC, on Wed August… | by Yam Finance | Aug, 2020 | Medium   SushiSwap vs. Uniswap: https://unchainedpodcast.com/sushiswap-takes-on-uniswap-which-should-win-and-why/   Ian Lee of IDEO CoLab Ventures on fair launches vs. VC coins: https://synthesis.substack.com/p/fair-launches-will-disrupt-crypto   And on fast-follower forks: https://synthesis.substack.com/p/fast-follower-forks-in-defi   CRV token launch: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/genesis/74921/the-story-of-the-botched-crv-launch   yEarn's yETH vault: https://www.coindesk.com/yearn-finance-yeth-vault-defi-triforce   Ethereum's transition to 2.0: https://unchainedpodcast.com/vitalik-buterin-on-ethereums-five-year-anniversary/   Security in DeFi: https://unchainedpodcast.com/defi-security-with-so-many-hacks-will-it-ever-be-safe/ Whether Coinbase will do a token offering when it goes public: https://unchainedpodcast.com/will-coinbase-do-a-token-offering-when-it-goes-public/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

In today’s episode, I speak with Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee. He was already telling Wired magazine about programmatic finance back in 2016, so it’s no surprise Olaf is very excited about the growth and promise of DeFi. He thinks smart contracts are enabling different ways of organizing people and capital, turning traditional corporations into internet sovereign corporations. He believes that given a compelling underlying product, liquidity mining will be an incredibly effective mechanism for accelerating network effects, which will be applicable to many different types of business models even beyond financial services.

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

In a followup to one of our most popular podcast episodes which originally aired in April 2017 (https://a16z.com/2017/04/03/cryptocurrencies-protocols-appcoins/), a16z Crypto Fund General Partner Chris Dixon returns to talk with Olaf Carlson-Wee of Polychain Capital in a free-wheeling conversation about the seven major trends they see happening in blockchain computing now as we shift from basic protocol design to pragmatic product launches: Improving developer productivity Scaling out versus scaling up On-chain governance Proof of Stake Networks, and especially their resilience to attacks 2017: year of of fund raising, 2019: year of launches Autonomous and re-mixable code Killer apps: distributed finance and beyond This conversation was originally recorded for our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/a16zvideos The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates.This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investor or prospective investor, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund which should be read in their entirety.)Past performance is not indicative of future results. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information. Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

In an intermittent series on cryptoeconomics, Olaf Carlson-Wee and Ryan Zurrer of crypto hedge fund Polychain Capital describe what cryptoeconomics is, what goals it typically helps networks accomplish and what behaviors token systems might someday incentivize. We discuss when cryptoeconomic models don't make sense, how the type of consensus algorithms a blockchain chooses can affect behavior in that system and which consensus mechanisms excite them now. We also dive into whether or not it's desirable for a cryptoeconomic system to depend on a small number of knowledgeable participants, how to manage on-chain governance so networks don't vote themselves into a "black hole," and what disciplines are helpful in designing smart cryptoeconomic systems. Polychain Capital http://polychain.capital/ Thank you to our sponsors: Preciate: Recognize someone with a shout out: https://preciate.org/recognize/ Bitwise Asset Management: https://www.bitwiseinvestments.com/unchained Keepkey: https://www.keepkey.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Ryan Zurrer

Founder

Polychain CapitalDialecticSpaceX

Check out the first episode of Unconfirmed, in which Olaf Carlson-Wee, CEO and founder of Polychain Capital, discusses why an issue facing the Ethereum community right now has him thinking about on-chain governance. If you enjoy the episode, subscribe to Unconfirmed today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

The internet, believe it or not, was just the beginning. Yes, it spawned an incredible number of uses (some unexpected), from marketplaces and commerce to publishing and social networks... but that’s all been built with old models of funding and coordination. Now, as we enter a new phase of blockchain-enabled innovation -- decentralized, distributed, crowdfunded -- we’re finally bringing capitalism to open source: Smart people can come together in new ways, to build new things. In this brief discussion from a16z Summit November 2017, founder and CEO at Protocol Labs Juan Benet and founder and CEO of Polychain Capital Olaf-Carlson Wee -- both of whom have appeared on the a16z Podcast for more in-depth conversations -- chat with general partner Chris Dixon to summarize the big picture on crypto, going beyond the buzz around ICOs to the golden age of protocols. ––– The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information. Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Juan Benet

Founder and CEO

Protocol Labs

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Olaf Carlson-Wee is the Founder & CEO @ Polychain Capital, one of the world's premier funds actively managing a portfolio of blockchain assets. Having founded the firm less than 2 years ago with their initial $4m fund, Polychain now has over $200m AUM with backing from the likes of Sequoia, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz and USV just to name a few. Prior to founding Polychain, Olaf was the first employee at Coinbase serving as their Head of Risk and as product manager. In addition, Olaf has also been an active angel with a portfolio including the likes of Robinhood, Ethereum and Numerai. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Olaf made his way into the world of crypto from academic studies to Coinbase to today with Polychain? 2.) What really is Polychain Capital and what is the primary mandate with the $250m AUM? With the firm's investments being always liquid, how does one look to stay aligned to founders with an exit possible at any time? How does Olaf think about LP fund withdrawal, would that symbolize a snowball effect in the crypto space? 3.) How does sourcing crypto opportunities differ from sourcing venture opportunities? How does the subsequent DD process change when evaluating crypto opportunities? What does Olaf want to see in whitepapers and what are the big red flags when analysing crypto investments? 4.) How does Olaf think about the exit environment for crypto assets? How does Olaf believe traditional corporate acquirers will respond to crypto assets and those that have raised through ICO? What does Olaf mean when he says, "we will see token network acquisitions in the future"? 5.) Have tokens created a paradigm shift in the method through which companies are funded? Charlie Lee @ Litecoin stated on the show, "ICO's were his biggest concern for crypto". Does Olaf share this concern and where does he see the nuances? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Olaf's Fave Book: Infinite Jest Olaf's Most Recent Investment: 0x Project As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Namely is the all-in-one HR, payroll, and benefits platform your employees will love to use. It's as intuitive as social media, but powerful enough to support the complexity of today's workforce. Namely's mission is to help mid-sized companies build a better workplace. See how Namely can transform your workplace at www.Namely.com. Eero is the world's best-reviewed wifi. A system of eero and eero Beacons wirelessly connects to blanket your home in fast, reliable WiFi, so despite the increased number of devices with Christmas coming, you'll still be able to get powerful mesh WiFi in every nook and cranny of your home, backyard included. No more dead spots, slow spots, drop-offs, or buffering — right out of the box. Eero is only available in the US and Canada and you can check it out here!

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

In episode 1 of Hash Power, we explored blockchains as a technology—how they work, why tokens (also known as cryptocurrencies) are an integral part of any blockchain, and how these new networks might change the world. In episode two, we spend time with the leading investors in the field. Like any frenzied asset class, there are countless cryptocurrency hedge funds popping up everywhere. But founders from three of the original firms—Polychain, Metastable, and Blocktower Capital—are our primary guides this week. As I speak, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies is $136B. There are hundreds of tokens currently available, but bitcoin and Ethereum represent 75% of the total market cap. $136B sounds like a big number, but its tiny relative to any other asset class—and I use that term with hesitation. To put it in perspective, that’s exactly the same size as the market cap of IBM. But IBM had more than $10B of earnings in 2016. Tokens have none. As you will hear, valuing tokens is a very hard exercise. In such a nascent world, we are seeing investing strategies take hold. Olaf Carlson-Wee, Josh Seims, and Ari Paul walk us through different takes on cryptocurrency investing, be it early stage, long term buy and hold, or more hedge fund style strategies. Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/hashpower For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. To get involved with Project Frontier, head to InvestorFieldGuide.com/frontier. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Links Referenced Fat Protocols (Joel Monegro)   Show Notes 0:05 – Recap of part 1 and introduction to part 2 of Hash Power 2:58 – Ari Paul, CIO of Blocktower explains how he got involved in cryptocurrencies 5:23 – Why do we need bitcoin 7:23 – Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee on why the value of tokens accrue 9:23 – How main stream money is getting into this space 12:26- Useful comparisons when talking about ICOs when compared to IPOs 15:01 - Naval Ravikant, CEO of Angellist, is asked to explain the protocols of cryptocurrencies to platform businesses like Uber or Airbnb 17:43 – Naval’s interest in investing in cryptocurrencies 23:07 - Olaf Carlson Wee on the lifecycle of a token 24:02 – SAFT note, Simple Agreement for Future Tokens 25:31 – What is the earliest stage that edge is most present for investors in cryptocurrency protocols 28:12 – How do you mitigate the volatility that is present in blockchain 31:18 - Jeremiah Lowin, a risk and statistics expert, who runs risk management for a large private family office, talks about why he no longer owns cryptocurrencies  34:19 - Jordan Cooper, a venture capital investor, is optimistic about blockchains in general, but thinks there may be some overvaluations in current currencies 37:02 – How Jordan would value a single cryptocurrency 42:10 – Fat Protocols (Joel Monegro) 43:52 - Josh Seims, of Metastable, the value investor in blockchain? 51:15 - Ari Paul on the equivalent of listed stocks in the crypto currency world 52:33 – Understanding the concept of a coin in blockchain and how people are getting access to them 55:07 – The fairground analogy to understand cryptocurrencies 57:57 – What lessons from traditional markets can you apply to investing in cryptocurrencies 1:06:51 – Ari is asked to discuss some of the alternative cryptocurrencies outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum. He starts with Ripple 1:10:27 – What would help firms or traders create edge in investing in cryptocurrencies   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Ari Paul

Co-founder and CIO

BlockTower Capital

Welcome to the first episode of Hash Power, an audio documentary that explores the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies with leaders in the field like Naval Ravikant, Olaf Carlson-Wee, Fred Ehrsam, & Ari Paul. Hash Power is meant to be an introduction, but really, it is an invitation to explore this emerging world on your own.  In the coming weeks, we will cover the technology, the power of decentralization, bitcoin, Ethereum, ICOs, cryptography and hashing. We will spend time with the leading active hedge fund managers in the field, and with outside investors who are both optimistic and skeptical. Episode one covers the big picture, and answers the question: what is blockchain and why might it significantly affect our world? If you enjoy what follows, you’ll still be very early in understanding this field. Most don’t. So help me spread it like wildfire, because the more people that understand blockchain, the better its impact might become. Please enjoy episode one, and stay tuned next week for episode 2, which explores investing in cryptocurrencies. Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments   For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/hashpower For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. To get involved with Project Frontier, head to InvestorFieldGuide.com/frontier. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Books Referenced The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age Nostalgia for the Absolute   Links Referenced Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Reddit User jav_rddt SHA-256 Calculator The BitCoin Model for Crowdfunding Fat Protocols #cryptotwitter   Show Notes CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Concept of Blockchain (3:25) 4:30 – Jeremiah Lowin explains how blockchain is like a database 5:14 – Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System 5:46 – Owning a digital asset 7:14 – Naval Ravikant, CEO of Angelist on how blockchains can help to create personal networks and organize humans 13:33 – New coins popping up around data storage and utility needs like solar panels 14:57 – Permission vs permissionless networks 18:13 – Keeping track of scarcity and the introduction of tokens 18:51 – The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age 21:55 – The role of blockchains in the informational age and the rise of more individual sovereignty 23:29 - Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase, on the increasing shift to digital worlds led by incentive structures   CHAPTER 2 – Blockchain Technology (27:48) 29:09 - Reddit User jav_rddt 30:43 - SHA-256 Calculator 31:53 - Charlie Noyes, Pantera Capital, explains how SHA-256 was developed and what make its so special 35:48 – How miners create new blocks and the incentives to do so 46:54 – Ethereum, the “spiritual successor” to bitcoin 48:36 – How the Ether network is an ecosystem in which other tokens can sit 50:51 - Naval Ravikant on alternative coins or tokens 50:50 - The BitCoin Model for Crowdfunding 52:35 – Fat Protocols 53:22 – Blockchain as an experiment in distributed government 54:47 – How cryptocurrency is more than just technology, it’s a movement 54:50 – Nostalgia for the Absolute 57:27 - #cryptotwitter 1:00:58 - Peter Jubber, of Fidelity, on how huge institutions, like theirs, are getting into the cryptocurrency game 1:05:21- Olaf Carlson-Wee, first employee at Coinbase and the founder of Polychain, on the early excitement for cryptocurrency 1:06:56– Closing thoughts from Patrick Looking to work in this space - hashpowerdeveloper@gmail.com   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

Naval Ravikant

Co-founder and Former CEO

AngelList

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Fred Ehrsam

Co-founder

Coinbase

Ari Paul

Co-founder and CIO

BlockTower Capital

Most of us have probably heard of bitcoin and ethereum -- but did you know there were 15 new cryptocurrencies launched this past month alone? How then do we know which protocols to invest in -- not just as a developer or user, but as an investor? Because, let's face it, open source software and services need resources not just to survive but thrive. General partner Chris Dixon talks about this dynamic between open vs closed in this episode of the a16z Podcast in conversation with Sonal Chokshi and with Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder of (a16z investment) Polychain, a new kind of hedge fund that invests directly in cryptocurrencies at the protocol layer. But what does that actually mean? Instead of investing in the companies that are building on top of these protocols, Polychain invests in the protocols themselves -- in much the same way that you could have invested in domain names instead of early internet companies like Amazon in the early days (which most people actually didn't have access to do). Imagine if you could have bought equity in Linux! As people create application-specific tokens for these protocols (also known as “app coins”) to crowdfund and share equity in these networks, it's actually "bringing capitalism into open source" -- and could even one day lead to less centralized platforms and a web owned by users. It's also creating a whole new asset class... but whatever you do, do NOT try this at home! The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information. Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital

Olaf Carlson-Wee is the founder of Polychain Capital, a hedge fund that has invested $15 million into digital assets and has gotten backing from storied venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. In this episode, Carlson-Wee recounts war stories from the early days of bitcoin, including how he learned about bitcoin before his computer science professors, bought bitcoins with cash and created “the Bitcoin SAT” to make hires at Coinbase. He also describes how to separate cryptocurrency scams from legitimate ventures, how he plays blackjack against a smart contract and why launching a digital asset hedge fund means he can no longer earn and spend mostly in bitcoin. Read the show notes.  Other links: Polychain Capital Coinbase Golem Tezos This episode was sponsored by Onramp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olaf Carlson-Wee

Founder

Polychain Capital