“Right now the risk/reward has never been better – maybe some VCs look at everything with the lens of early-stage investing where they expect a 100x pay off, what’s crazy is with Bitcoin you might actually get that.”
— Dan HeldLocation: Remotely
Date: Thursday 28th January
Company: Kraken
Role: Director of Business DevelopmentJack Dorsey has been one of the leading public supporters of Bitcoin in Silicon Valley, stating his belief is that “Bitcoin has the potential to become the world’s sole currency by 2030”. In late 2020 Dorsey went a step further when his company Square put $50 million of Bitcoin in their treasury. Following the purchase, he tweeted “More important than Square investing $US50mm in #Bitcoin is sharing how we did it (so others can do the same).”
Jack Dorsey is a hugely influential figure in Silicon Valley, and his actions sent a clear message of his belief in the importance of Bitcoin.
Silicon Valley has mostly ignored Bitcoin, and Dan Held thinks this is a culture issue. While Silicon Valley values moving fast and breaking things, Bitcoin is the opposite. It is conservative, slow and most importantly, hard to change.
In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken. We discuss Dan’s experience in Silicon Valley, what drives VCs to invest, and the changing Bitcoin narratives within Silicon Valley.
The Bullish Case for Bitcoin
With the price of a bitcoin surging to new highs in 2017, the bullish case for investors might seem so obvious it does not need stating. Alternatively it may seem foolish to invest in a digital asset that isn’t backed by any commodity or government and whose price rise has prompted some to compare it to the tulip mania or the dot-com bubble. Neither is true; the bullish case for Bitcoin is compelling but far from obvious. There are significant risks to investing in Bitcoin, but, as I will argue, there is still an immense opportunity.
Mythology is a way to encrypt and pass on Knowledge
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy look at the ‘revolt of the public’ as ordinary “schmucks” learn the Wall Street tricks that deliver advantage over the rest of the market. In the second half, Max interviews Dea Rezkitha of Kelasbitcoin.com about educating Indonesia about bitcoin.
Coindesk & Kraken aggregate blockchain requests to minimize cost
According to Robert Materzanni, CEO of Lukka, Large institutions like Coindesk and Kraken do not make a blockchain request for every transcaction. I infer that they also do not store individual blockchains for each customer.
LUKKA: SOLVING DATA CHALLENGES IN CRYPTO