Staking Infrastructure to Supercharge Crypto Finance with Kiln

Laszlo Szabo is the CEO and Co-Founder of Kiln, a staking infrastructure provider backed by 1kx, Crypto.com, Wintermute, GSR, Kraken Ventures, Consensys and others. Diana Biggs is a partner at 1kx, a crypto VC that has led rounds in companies including Arweave, Pudgy Penguins, Rarible, Wallet Connect and many more. In this conversation, Laszlo, Diana and Will Beeson break down the staking opportunity and Kiln’s view of the space and also use it as a jumping off point to explore 1kx’s investment strategy. Specifically, we discuss staking as a crypto primitive, its potential to supercharge consumer and institutional crypto use cases, the investment thesis behind staking infrastructure, technical considerations and more.

Luca Prosperi is the founder and CEO of M^0, a stablecoin issuance protocol reimagining how money is created. We first connected with Luca in May 2023, shortly after M^0’s seed round. Fast forward a year, and the company has now raised $60 million, launched on mainnet and facilitated the issuance of over $40 million in stablecoins with its initial network participant. In this conversation, Luca and Will Beeson discuss his vision for a new money creation paradigm, institutional product/market fit in stablecoins, why crypto finance is different from blockchain for banks, overcoming the cold start problem in stablecoin distribution and network creation, the direct parallels between traditional finance and the use cases M^0 is building and more.

Nick van Eck is the co-founder and CEO of Agora, a US-based stablecoin issuer backed by Dragonfly, General Catalyst, Galaxy, Consensys, Wintermute, Flowdesk, Kraken Ventures and more. Agora’s strategy is to build distribution through B2B partners via a revenue sharing model, in which all parties that contribute to Agora’s stablecoins’ success share in the upside.  Prior to founding Agora, Nick worked at General Catalyst, a leading Venture Capital firm.  Nick’s grandfather started VanEck Global, a US ETF and mutual fund manager, in 1955, which informed much of Nick’s thinking about markets and the economy. Today, VanEck Global manages $100 billion across a range of products, including recently launched Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. In this conversation, Nick and I discuss crypto as an asset class and parallels to gold and other investments, the current state of the stablecoin industry and its future trajectory, Agora’s thesis vis-à-vis incumbent stablecoin issuers like Circle and Tether, Agora’s business model and the details of its go-to-market, and much more.

Lex Sokolin is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Generative Ventures, a crypto and AI focused venture firm.  Lex also publishes research and analysis at Fintech Blueprint, one of the best fintech, crypto and emerging tech newsletters out there.  In this conversation, Lex and I discuss his thesis at Generative Ventures, which invests in the financial infrastructure powering the machine economy.  Lex is a deep thinker focused on the leading edges of what’s currently possible. We're lucky to welcome him back on the podcast. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Lex Sokolin.

Bhanu Kohli is the co-founder and CEO of Layer2 Financial, a B2B payments company leveraging stablecoins for faster, cheaper payment processing. Mike Giampapa is General Partner of Galaxy Ventures, focusing on the intersection of crypto and financial services, security & DeFi applications, and developer tooling.  In this conversation, Bhanu, Mike and Will Beeson discuss real economy applications of stablecoins, including payments. We compare Layer2’s performance, economics and business model with traditional payments companies and look at potential applications for stablecoins in financial markets more broadly. This conversation was a fantastic look at a rapidly scaling, real-world use case for crypto and the disruptive potential of blockchain as financial infrastructure.

Edward Woodford is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zero Hash, a B2B technology and compliance platform that allows companies to embed crypto and stablecoins with a few lines of code and no regulatory overhead. Zero Hash has raised $170 million from investors including Bain Capital, Nyca Partners and Point72, and supports companies like Stripe, MoonPay, Interactive Brokers, Franklin Templeton and many others. In this conversation, Edward and Will Beeson discuss the most interesting crypto and stablecoin market opportunities in 2024, building digital asset infrastructure, landing blue chip clients, closed vs. open-source in crypto, the leadership ethos that has allowed the company to grow and thrive in a volatile market and more.

Regan Bozman is co-founder of Lattice Capital, a crypto-focused VC firm, and an expert in token launches and secondary trading dynamics. Lattice manages $80m across two funds, with a focus on early-stage crypto projects. Prior to founding Lattice, Regan and his partner Mike Zajko worked at CoinList, a leading platform for new token launches operating since 2017.  In this conversation, Regan and Will Beeson discuss the current state of retail crypto trading, various interpretations of memecoin energy, lessons for building community with airdrops, tension between VCs and retail token investors, managing a venture fund in a narrative versus fundamentals driven market, the rationale for LP allocation to crypto and more.

Rob Hadick is a General Partner at Dragonfly, a $2.5bn crypto venture fund. Dragonfly’s portfolio is a who’s who of leading crypto projects including Anchorage, Ava Labs, Blur, DYDX, Lido, MakerDAO, Matter Labs, NEAR, Polygon, Starkware and many, many more. In this conversation, Rob and Will Beeson discuss the recent change in tone in Washington regarding crypto, the implications for the industry as crypto goes mainstream, the next 2-3 years of stablecoin market development, investing in CeFi vs. DeFi, the state of the current crypto VC market, investment dynamics as a top 5 crypto fund by AUM and more. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Rob Hadick.

Anil Hansjee is a General Partner at Fabric, a UK-based blockchain VC. Prior to joining Fabric, Anil ran Corporate Development EMEA at Google and then led PayPal Ventures in the region. He has tremendous experience investing in fintech and payments at the venture, strategic and angel level.  In this conversation, we dive deep into payments, covering the existing legacy stack, initial waves of fintech innovation and more recent blockchain and stablecoin-based approaches to improving global commerce. Anil is incredibly experienced, thoughtful and articulate, which made for a fantastic conversation.

Sunny Parikh is co-founder and Partner at Reflexive Capital, a fundamentals-driven investment firm focused on digital assets across two core strategies: Liquid Trading and Venture Investing. Sunny was previously with Point72, and his partners at Reflexive worked at Soros Fund Management, Thiel Macro and Goldman Sachs. In this conversation, Sunny and Will Beeson discuss Reflexive’s approach to applying ecosystem to web3 venture, how liquid token and venture strategies can be complementary, valuations in early-stage web3, investing in equity versus token businesses and more. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Sunny Parikh. Disclaimer: The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation for any security. Nor shall it be viewed as an offer to provide investment or advisory services by Reflexive in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, purchase or sale would be considered unlawful, or be construed as investment or financial advice on any subject matter. While care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of information, Reflexive does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information herein or that it will be current at all times. Please see Reflexive for more details.