• 38. Senator Bragg | Will Australia become a crypto hub?
    May 11 2022
    On this episode of Koji Conversations, Soph chats to Senator Andrew Bragg. Senator Bragg has been the flagship Senator for crypto in Australia. Putting aside mainstream assumptions about crypto as a fad, scam, and or haven for criminals, Senator Bragg has been steadfast in putting the underlying technology front and centre. In this chat, he covers: Australia as a world leader so far The US’ approach and his discussions with Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis An appropriately dynamic and light touch framework that welcomes innovation and protects consumers The need for Labor to come to the table and have a bi-partisan approach The current race for Australian listed ETFs and why we need to ensure Australian companies can provide to Australian consumers The possibilities that blockchain tech and DeFi will unleash a stronger, and more efficient economy. “Australia is a nation of Oligopolies. This technology is our best chance to break some of these down.” Join the conversation for a chat about how appropriate regulation will allow Australians to access competitive financial products with low risk and how this could drastically benefit our economy. JOIN SENATOR BRAGG’S COMMUNITY Andrew’s twitter: @ajamesbragg Site: https://www.andrewbragg.com/ (https://www.andrewbragg.com/) TIME STAMP OF QUESTIONS 0:51 - Take me back to early 2021 when you’re the chair of the Senate Select Committee for Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre and you say to the Government I want to tackle an enquiry on crypto among other things. What did that process look like and why did you want to do it? 2:25 - What did you learn from the committee process and talking to industry and what in your view should be the governments priorities for a dynamic and prosperous approach to crypto policy and regulation? 4:07 - Would you also say its relevant that payments and the approach to regulation of crypto and digital assets needs to remain separate because there are those technological idiosyncrasies surrounding smart contracts, DeFi and this trustless infrastructure that is blockchain? 6:21 - When you had that call with Senator Lummis, can you shed some more light on the US or she as a senator is thinking about Crypto regulation in Wyoming? 8:11 - Recently you have advocated for a specifically enshrined digital services act, what are you laying out there and why do you think it’s important that it could resemble something entirely different? 10:28 - What are the big partisan tussles that are shaping up between the two major parties when it comes to regulation or policy settings for digital assets? 12:04 - What are the biggest road blocks that industry needs to help government solve? or founders of projects need to solve to get this over the line? 18:18 - you just alluded to having a flexible or light touch approach, do you think there’s a world in which this evolves in more of a sandbox spot for 12 -24 months, or if pending an election if the government can see this through, they are going to lock in an agenda pretty soon? 20:25 - In terms of where you think the general public is as well as the political class, what are the general conversations you are having with your colleagues compared to a year ago? 23:15 - Can you lay out for our listeners what your top four priorities in how we should approach this? 25:15 - 10-17% of Australians now hold Crypto in some form or another, do you think there is a relative comparison in the house of representatives that are thinking about this? Or whether they're interested in learning about it on behalf of their constituents which they claim to represent? JOIN THE KOJI COMMUNITY Twitter: Koji_capital Email us: hello@koji.capital Discord: https://discord.gg/nZP2AqXD (https://discord.gg/nZP2AqXD) Website: http://koji.capital (koji.capital) Portfolio: http://koji.capital/portfolio (koji.capital/portfolio) It's important to...
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    29 mins
  • 37. Illuvium | Co-Founder Kieran Warwick on P2E, AAA Blockchain games, the GameFi future
    Mar 17 2022
    On this episode of Koji Conversations, Soph chats to the Co-Founder of Illuvium, Kieran Warwick. Alongside two of his brothers and a mammoth team of approx. 200 employees, the Illuvium team are building first AAA blockchain game. An open world collectible and auto battler all in one. With 1.2 million registered users and over $1 billion staked in the protocol prior to game launch, it’s safe to say the community is ready. Keep an eye out for the open beta releasing in June. Join the conversation for a chat about GameFi, predictions for legacy studios to enter the space, playing the metaverse long game, and the next 12 months for Illuvium. JOIN ILLUVIUM’S COMMUNITY Project twitter: @illuviumio Kieran’s twitter: @KieranWarwick Site: https://t.co/YeFIfhJVXV (illuvium.io) TIME STAMP OF QUESTIONS 0:14 - We like to kick off all of our episodes with an elevator pitch from founders just to give us the TLDR on what Illuvium is building and where it is at? 01:30 - For you as a founder and the rest of your team, what have been the key unlocks in the sustained engagement of the token, community and game when you do have such a long road map in order to get out a AAA game? 05:23 - Why gaming, why did you want to pursue Illuvium in this instance, was it a gap in the market? 10:35 - When these AAA games are entering the space, there’s going to be a consolidation of where the attention is. These guilds will have these gluts of in game assets, how do they pivot in your view? 16:04 - And what about the skill level for a player in Illuvium, are these illuvials going to be hard to catch to varying degrees? 17:18 - On something like E Sports, what are your predictions around the legacy gaming industry entering the Blockchain space, you guys obviously have first movers advantage, but you have to expect that they're at least going to attempt to integrate. Or do you think its a ‘we own our patch and we’re going to stick to it’ mentality? 19:55 - Broadening the scope a little bit, what is the bull case for the metaverse more generally in your view? 25:06 - Bring me up to speed on the timeline for Illuvium at the moment. You guys are about to launch a private beta? and what does it look like for the next two quarters after that? 27:40 - Do you feel like this is the perfect synergy of everything that you actually need to create a AAA game, or are there four competing interests as far as these timelines go that you’re trying to get out? 29:49 - If I want to join the community or follow along to get in at the ground floor, what is the best way? JOIN THE KOJI COMMUNITY Twitter: Koji_capital Email us: hello@koji.capital Discord: https://discord.gg/nZP2AqXD (https://discord.gg/nZP2AqXD) Website: http://koji.capital (koji.capital) Portfolio: http://koji.capital/portfolio (koji.capital/portfolio) It's important to remember that none of the contents of this podcast or the podcast itself constitutes any kind of investment advice.
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    31 mins
  • 36. TracerDAO | V2 teaser and the future of Derivatives markets
    Mar 9 2022
    On this episode of Koji Conversations, Jack and Soph chat to Co-Founder of TracerDAO Patrick McNab and head of the Tracer team Billy. Tracer DAO is a smart contract protocol for derivatives, focussed on providing a suite of tools for users to manager their risk or supercharge their holdings via their new derivative primitive, perpetual pools. They offer effective risk management tools to hedge out risk that exists on balance sheets, as well as allowing users to effectively take out further risk on underlying positions. Following the V1 launch on Arbitrum, they have seen about $375m volume, with $50m TVL. V2 will supercharge that growth. How? Permissionless deployment. Removal of minimum commit sizes. Distributing minting fees to pool token holders. Cambrian explosion of markets. Pat and Billy also detail how the problem of volatility decay is being solved in V2, as well as teasing their perpetual swap product due to launch later this year. JOIN Tracer DAO's COMMUNITY Project twitter: @TracerDAO Person twitter: @pat_mcnab & @bwelch13 Site: https://tracer.finance/ (https://tracer.finance/) TIME STAMP OF QUESTIONS 0:08 We always start off the episode with an elevator pitch, so welcome to the podcast and bring us up to date of Tracer DAO V2 2:11 It sounds like a pretty incredible missing piece of the DeFi puzzle for many users, lets dive further into volatility decay, and how you guys plan to tackle that to make sure you’re incentivising those long term positions 3:34 What is volatility decay and what's the trade off with volatility decay? 4:19 So the longer I am in a position, the more exposed I am to volatility, the more my collateral will naturally depreciate over time, that's the trade off for no liquidations? 5:16 And you get that same sort of utility but now with V2 it with 75% or about there, less volatility decay than V1 5:40 So you’re looking to have a fee mechanism then distribute the rewards back to people holding those pool positions? 5:54 So that's counteracting any negative effects that someone might have? 6:01 What were the biggest takeaways from your V1 launch, aside from aside from volatility decay? 7:23 You guys launched in September last year, so compared to maybe where the market is at now would have been viewed as a bull market, have you seen the users change their position holdings reflecting that? 8:15 So you basically built out a structure product on top of the Tracer pools, one to allow people to gain access to this opportunity that stirred from the fact of inefficient allocation of resources by people participating in the pools 9:15 Lets chat about Arbitrum for a bit, you guys have been one of the first projects there. What are your thoughts on Arbitrum, what do you do think about L two 22? 12:12 Is Arbitrum going to be the final home for tracer finance, or is there looking across to different chains as well, maybe Avalanche, Phantom, is a multi chain future in the pipeline? 14:19 As for the scalability of Tracer DAOs specifically, I know a big feature of V2 will be permissionless deployment, so essentially your smart contracts are designed so any user can plug and play a market they wish to gain exposure to. Why for your team is permissionless deployment so important? 17:27 When I’m deploying a market, what are the key features? There is the price feed, and there is this collateral type as well. Do you get to pick and choose the collateral type and the price feed that you’re using or is it the collateral type is permissioned and you can only select from a few and then the price feed is permissionless? 18:26 Is there any risk in having a highly volatile collateral type? 19:01 Are you expecting to see some really novel collateral types maybe ?__? positions for example? 22:31 The removal of commit sizes is going to open you up to a whole new raft of smaller market participants. Why was that really essential to the V2 launch? 23:25 Lets go a bit more drastic,...
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    29 mins
  • 35. Anima | AR in Web3 with Co-Founder Alex Herrity
    Feb 23 2022
    On this episode of Koji Conversations, Soph and Jack chat to Alex from Anima. Anima is an augmented reality company bridging the metaverse and physical world. The project consists of three major components: 1. An augmented reality platform for the creation of new AR objects, experiences and art. 2. The selling of these creations as NFTs, with the verification layer being displayed in AR. 3. Their studio, where they help artists and developers bring their concepts to life. Soph, Jack and Alex talk the importance of making AR a compelling experience, how social media achieved this but for the wrong reasons and how Anima aims to fix this by giving creators the tools to inspire a Cambrian explosion of AR creatives. JOIN ANIMAS' COMMUNITY Project twitter: @animavirtuality Alex’s twitter: @alexrherrity Site: https://t.co/LK4eWiyNj2 (anima.supply) TIME STAMP OF QUESTIONS 0:20 - Alex we like to start all of our episodes with an elevator pitch, particularly when we’re talking to founders so give us the TLDR on Anima and what you’re trying to achieve? 1:30 - Tell us a little bit about your background because I think you’ve always worked in the visual arts space. Where did you start ideating about AR in the web 3.0 ecosystem? 4:01 - What are the centralised components within the tech stack, is it the hardware layer, is it the hardware and a bit of the software layer and how are you approaching that question? 7:17 - What is the optimal end state of AR and the AR stack for you? 8:24 - I feel like how most users are experience AR at the moment is essentially via this corporate monopoly. Filters that are put out there on Instagram or snap like brands, and those brands have contracted a creator or a creative agency or in-house designer. But what Anima will do is essentially rebalance that supply chain so creators can go direct to user, am I right in thinking that? 10:10 - Do you think we’ve had that cambrian explosion of innovation and new users yet? What do you think is going to kickstart the AR craze if it does happen or if it hasn’t happened yet? 12:11 - With TikTok do you think that’s a place where AR is going to grab a strong foothold and say we move into more real-world dynamics where you are wearing AR glasses. Do you think the success of AR relies on people to be able to clearly see different rendering file types on different people as they’re walking down the street? 14:22 - The AR future I always think of is owning a digital fashion NFT, and then being able to walk down the street and I’m wearing that. Also being able to see everyone around me wear their digital fashion. And maybe its night time and I have a neon filter for the general environment around me, and I’m able to have an NFT that represents that neon filter, and I use that as well. Is that ridiculous, or is that feasibly possible? 17:30 - What are the bottle necks, what are the things that are slowing us down? Is it the research and development side of things, is it lack of interest or lack of capital in the space? 20:54 - Can I rewind back to your time at Ultra Visual, you said you took a lot of learnings for content driven platforms. What were those learnings and how are you taking it into building Anima? 22:45 - And how does that translate over to Anima now, how do creators engage directly with their community? is it via discord? What channels are you pushing for that? JOIN THE KOJI COMMUNITY Twitter: Koji_capital Email us: hello@koji.capital Discord: https://discord.gg/DjY7FwnS (https://discord.gg/DjY7FwnS) Website: http://koji.capital (koji.capital) Portfolio: http://koji.capital/portfolio (koji.capital/portfolio) It's important to remember that none of the contents of this podcast or the podcast itself constitutes any kind of investment advice.
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    25 mins
  • 34. 1,989 Sisters NFT Collection with artist Blair Breitenstein | Women in NFTs, Fashion, Crypto
    Feb 16 2022
    On this episode of Koji Conversations, Soph chats to Blair from 1,989 Sisters. 1,989 Sisters is an NFT collection comprising of 1,989 female avatars hand drawn, painted and then scanned by Blair. The collection is an extension of her work as a fashion illustrator with a digitally native twist via a generative algorithm to embrace the NFT medium. Soph and Blair chat about how side-hustles transition to life-changing careers, the promise of more female collectors and creators, and where the sisters fit within a broader ecosystem of artists, fashion houses, and brands entering the space. JOIN THE SISTERS' COMMUNITY Project twitter: @1989Sisters Blair’s insta: @blairz Site: https://opensea.io/collection/1989-sisters (https://opensea.io/collection/1989-sisters) TIME STAMP OF QUESTIONS 0:26 - In as many words or as little, what the Sisters are about and who you are, that would be a perfect way to start. 03:20 - Have you always been a love of fashion and wanting to pursue a career in the industry? 04:35 - You had a preexisting following coming into NFTS but I think you’ve found a new crypto native following for you work as well, what has that experience been like? 06:38 - When did you first come across NFT’s and decide that was something you wanted to pursue yourself with your own art? 08:24 - Why do you think it is women in NFT season? 12:50 - As soon as you sold out I think it pretty much 10 x straight out of the gate, it was completely organic growth, you didn't do an paid advertising for the collection. I presume that was a deliberate strategy choice on your end? 17:10 - How was it being non technical to an extent and coming into the world of Blockchain and OpenSea and NFT’s how did you go about actually getting the bricks of mortar of technical experience? 19:10 - And I think in talking to your peers from the fashion industry, the sisters was definitely first of its kind as a fashion illustration NFT collection. Do you think we’re going to start to see more of your peers move into the space? 20:06 - How do you feel larger fashion brands fit into the NFT space, compared to individual creators like yourself? 21:22 - From your point of view, what is next for the sisters? 24:40 - The sisters have recently attracted a lot of attention from celebrities in the NFT space. I think Reese Witherspoon or Paris Hilton may have been the first. And then you had Cosomo and most recently Eva Longoria, how does that feel? 28:24 - What has been the biggest surprise for you out of this entire experience? Join this Koji Conversation, with Blair from 1,989 Sisters. JOIN THE KOJI COMMUNITY Twitter: Koji_capital Email us: hello@koji.capital Discord: https://discord.gg/vBvCfvVu Website: http://koji.capital (koji.capital) Portfolio: http://koji.capital/portfolio (koji.capital/portfolio) It's important to remember that none of the contents of this podcast or the podcast itself constitutes any kind of investment advice.
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    32 mins
  • 33. Steve Vallas, CEO of Blockchain Australia on crypto's regulatory landscape
    Feb 9 2022
    On this episode of Koji Conversations, Jack and Sophie chat to Steve Vallas, the CEO of Blockchain Australia. Blockchain Australia is a member based organisation bring greater awareness and advocacy to the digital asset sector. Steve offers valuable insight into how Australia is poised for success with a promising regulatory outlook, the talent flooding into the space, how zero-knowledge proofs are a powerful innovation for consumer protection, and much more. JOIN BLOCKCHAIN AUSTRALIA's COMMUNITY Project twitter: @BlockchainAUS Steve’s twitter: @stevevallas Site: http://www.blockchainaustralia.org (www.blockchainaustralia.org) 1:30 - It would be an interesting place to start describing what Blockchain Australia is and how you got involved and the multiple pursuits you're trying to achieve with Blockchain Australia? 4:10 - You had humble beginnings driving cabs which you've previous said has set you up perfectly for where you've ended up today, so I'd love for you to elaborate on that... 5:46 - Do you think a similar sort of dynamic has happened with crypto? 8:26 - You said at the high level Blockchain Australia's role is to elevate this ecosystem. What are the endeavours you do to elevate the ecosystem, and if your role is to elevate, who is the opposing force that is trying to take away from that elevation, or trying to keep crypto in the dark? 10:52 - Australian companies building in the crypto space is pretty extensive. Australia is definitely punching above its weight in this new industry, why do you think that's the case and because Australia is in such a strong position for this new industry, what are regulators thinking about how to best position ourselves to best succeed in this space? 14:36 - I think many people have been surprised that Australian government and regulators actually have been moving quickly, can you outline what Australia is looking at doing at this point in the journey? 20:21 - What would you say is the best solution to mitigate the friction between the two parties of the crypto consumer and the crypto regulator? 24:18 From a position that you're in where you’re having the conversations with the individuals that ultimately make these changes and decisions, how are they thinking about preserving privacy? Is it high on their list to do or does it come second to the idea of wanting to make sure that they have tabs on everyone who is in this eco system. 28:33 - Talking about the medium and long term, what do you foresee the Australian regulatory landscape looking like in three to five years? 31:47 - What do you think the odds are they we will see a change to our corporations act and allow DAO’s to operate in Australia? Join this Koji Conversation, with Steve Vallas from Blockchain Australia. JOIN THE KOJI COMMUNITY Twitter: Koji_capital Email us: hello@koji.capital Discord: https://discord.gg/9H6qTY7B Website: http://koji.capital (koji.capital) Portfolio: http://koji.capital/portfolio (koji.capital/portfolio) **It's important to remember that none of the contents of this podcast or the podcast itself constitutes any kind of investment advice.
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    34 mins
  • 32. Alchemix V2, Curve Wars, and competitive APYs with DeFi maxi Scoopy Trooples
    Feb 2 2022
    On this episode of Koji Conversations, Jack chats to Scoopy Trooples from Alchemix. Alchemix is a forward-thinking DeFi protocol offering users self-repaying loans via earned yield. Scoopy is an absolute gigabrain offering an in depth explanation of the protocol, plans for V2, the multichain future, as well as discussing the current Curve Wars, the future Toke Wars and Alchemix's multi-chain future. JOIN HIS COMMUNITY Alchemix twitter: https://twitter.com/AlchemixFi (@AlchemixFi) Scoopy’s twitter: @scupytrooples Site: https://alchemix.fi/ (https://alchemix.fi/) QUESTIONS 1:31 - Let’s start at the very beginning, what's the TLDR of Alchemix? 2:14 - Can we go into how you’re planning to expand it out and what sort of benefits there are for users in V2? 5:38 - So at the start of V2 all of those are going to be permissioned, so I'm imagining there's going to be some layer of bribing on top of that to know what sort of strategies are going to be implemented first or is it just pushed out by the team? 7:39 - So if I'm understanding that correctly one of the most basic use cases would be I could have someone helping me pay off my loan? 8:39 - It sounds like there could be a cool integration with Superfluid or something like that, is that in the pipeline? 9:04 - So with the collateral types, with V2 it’s still permissioned, there's going to be a couple more stable coins that are going to be used. And you’re going to use FRAX as well, eventually is the full vision to expand that out to permissionless collateral types or is it always going to be permissioned? 10:16 - And for the listeners that aren't fully aware, would you be able to break down EIP4626 and why it’s sort of a game changer for vaults and vault strategies? 12:18 - You were talking about before the call started, Frax finance, you were admiring the things they’ve implemented and are thinking about using some of what they’ve done in Alchemix, would you be able to run through that for the listeners? 17:32 - So with the DAI that is then liquidated by the individual, and now it’s in the POL of Alchemix, you then use that in Convex to complete the flywheel? 20:12 - And you said you’re going into Curve wars, I feel with all the projects you just named it sounds like every single one of those players are playing in the Curve wars to some degree, why is it important that Alchemix is entering the fray? 23:21 - Why are people fighting over Curve liquidity, the stable coin liquidity and Curve, and secondly why is this only something people are talking about now? 25:02 - Why are people only concerned about Curve wars now? It seems like it’s a narrative that has become pretty popular in the past couple months 26:21 - What is the end game for stable coins? Some of them fail, a bunch of them could win, is there a stable coin aggregator? I know that Mstable kind of runs that line already, does an aggregator also win? 28:40 - From what I hear right now there's a mechanism in which some stable coins are selected and not selected. Do you think there is a future where you're looking to make that its own bribable mechanic? 29:33 - Are the Toke Wars one real, or is it two, just playing into the narrative and playing into the hype? 30:50 - It feels like over the last three months, a lot of major projects have moved away from just being applications, so I come to Alchemix and I use it for collateralised loans that repay themselves. Now it’s not just the service I'm receiving but the protocol is also doing so much in the background to retain its position within this growing ecosystem, do you think it’s going to be a continuation of competition for survival in this space? 32:58 - When is that going to be? Not to put you on the spot with a timeline 34:02 - I guess another one of the key topics that you hear about in the progression of the crypto space and DeFi is the need for going multichain. So is that...
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    42 mins
  • 31. Rigor: a DeFi homebuilding solution with founder Isaac Lidsky
    Dec 15 2021
    On this episode of Koji Conversations, Jack chats to Isaac from Rigor. Rigor is a Defi protocol that provides decentralised liquidity for home builders seeking to finance the construction of their homes. Rigor offers a solution to the affordability crisis using Web3 native solutions for coordination and financing. Through their model, builders will become more profitable and efficient whilst buyers can enjoy affordable houses. Moreover, they hope to implement unprecedented buyer options, such as rent-to-own homes. Isaac and Jack also discuss the infinite options blockchain technology can unlock for the housing market, and what that looks like both IRL and in the metaverse. JOIN RIGOR's COMMUNITY Twitter: @Rigor_HQ Isaac's Twitter: @isaaclidsky Discord:  https://discord.gg/aKVSDwafEm (https://discord.gg/aKVSDwafEm) 01:00 - What is Rigor, why are you building it and what are you building? 01:52 - It would be great to go through a bit of your background and how you found yourself in a position where Rigor made a lot of sense to you as a product. 03:38 - At a super high level what are the pain points of the construction industry and with that solution in mind, where did Rigor come into play? 08:12 - So even prior to Rigor, you pulled a company working in the space that was failing on this exact problem, to one that became successful. Briefly describe how you 180'd that project? 10:25 - So there are two major problems, one is coordination and the other is finance and getting the financing and paying people on time. It seems like these are two problems that crypto solves extremely well and I guess that you notice that and out comes Rigor... 11:54 - Let's go into the full architecture, as a participant, as a lender, who are the lenders you're targeting today? Are they your average DeFi users? Are they your more institutional lenders that are currently lending in the traditional market? In the traditional real estate landscape and moreover who are the builders on the other side and the full stack on the building side? 14:19 - In the Rigor model, is it based off the history you're lending to? is that where their credit worthiness comes into play as well? 18:00 - Before we go into crypto cities, I'd love to go into the metaverse and your plan for Rigor in the metaverse? 23:15 - With that vision in mind, where are we now and where are we sitting on the road map? 26:25 - Any final remarks before we close this episode? Join this Koji Conversation, with Isaac from Rigor. JOIN THE KOJI COMMUNITY https://twitter.com/koji_capital (FOLLOW KOJI ON TWITTER) EMAIL KOJI https://discord.gg/jm2N74Cg (JOIN OUR DISCORD)  http://koji.capital (FIND KOJI ONLINE) https://koji.capital/portfolio (VIEW OUR PORTFOLIO) It's important to remember that none of the contents of this podcast or the podcast itself constitutes any kind of investment advice.
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    29 mins