Empire

After being Swatted, Jameson Lopp decided to burn down every trace of his identity. Even his own family members don't know where he lives. Now, he's using what he learned to build Casa — a secure storage for crypto that he hopes will ease users' transition into financial sovereignty. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hu...

Before Bill Barhydt started Abra, he build security systems for the CIA and NASA. We talked about his time working for the government, as well as his role getting banks online through Netscape, and what is looks like to come out of a debt cycle. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it...

Bobby Ong co-founded the fastest-growing crypto data aggregator, CoinGecko. We talked about how to build a crypto company so that it can last through a bear market — and why honesty is central to his business model. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload your transactio...

Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX made headlines when they acquired the naming rights to Miami's basketball stadium. We talk about how he got there, including everything from his childhood to his experience juggling arbitrage in Japan. ––– LUKKA Minimize your crypto taxes and maximize your refund with Lukka Essentials. Dozens of exchange APIs and hundreds of mapped file formats makes it easy to upload you...

My guest today is Mike Belshe, Founder and CEO of BitGo. But before that, he used what he learned at Netscape to help Google develop Chrome. Like many of us, Belshe stored his first Bitcoin on an old laptop. But after his investor friends started sending their digital assets his way, that "old laptop" was suddenly worth millions. Here's how his quest to secure those assets eventually became BitGo....

My guest today is Flori Marquez, Co-Founder of BlockFi. On this episode of Empire, we discuss BlockFi's staggering valuation, what it's like to lead a $3 billion Fintech company, and why crypto is so valuable in countries without fiat stability. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of inve...

My guest today is Joe Lubin, Co-Founder of Ethereum and CEO and Founder of ConsenSys. On this episode of Empire, we discuss where Bitcoin falls short, Joe leaving Wall Street for Crypto, founding Ethereum and ConsenSys, why forks can be good for progress, and Joe's real motivators. ––– Empire is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights abo...

My guest today is Muneeb Ali, Co-Founder of the Stacks Project (formerly Blockstack) and CEO of Hiro. On this episode of Empire, we talk about Muneeb’s upbringing in Pakistan and the sacrifices his family made to get him his first computer, military dictatorship vs democratic rule, how he lied about a grant to get a job in Sweden and then ran out of money, and why it’s better to build on Bitcoin t...