Scenius Studio

In this episode, Ben sits down with Lasse Clausen, co-founder and managing partner of 1kx. With Lasse at the helm and roots dating back to 2018, 1kx has become one of the industry’s most reputable venture firms with a deep-research, thesis driven investment approach. The team recently released the second iteration of their Cost of Trust thesis which frames where they believe the largest crypto out...

In this episode Ben sits down with Stan de Maistre, Founder of Belem Capital. Belem operates one of the largest DeFi native, delta neutral strategies in the industry. With purely on-chain alpha sources, Belem strives to offer consistent, low-volatility returns irrespective of the broader market environment. With 400m in AUM, Belem has established itself as one of the premier crypto-native hedge fu...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Ben Forman, Founder and Managing Partner of ParaFi Capital, a $2bn+ AUM crypto dedicated institutional investment firm, pursuing a range of strategies. Since founding the firm in 2018, Ben has repeatedly found creative means of launching strategies and delivering returns for his LP base. Ben’s ability to sniff out opportunities at the edges of liquid and private...

In this episode, we’re returning to our bread and butter. We’ve explored use-cases but what the people really want is insights into how the top investors are positioning themselves in this rapidly evolving and dynamic asset class. In this episode, we dig into the crypto market neutral space with one of the largest and most sophisticated players out there. Vadim Khramov, the Founder, CEO, and CIO o...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Prabhakar Reddy , Founder and CEO of OpenFX . OpenFX is the fastest growing blockchain start up you’ve never heard of and Prabhakar is one of the industry’s most revered and proven founders. OpenFX has built a global FX system using stablecoins and blockchain rails to process tens of billions of volume per month while serving many large fintech providers. Prabha...

In this episode, Ben sits down with David Choi , Co-Founder of USD.AI . USD.AI is an emblematic project for crypto’s promise in the real world. The protocol leverages the strengths of DeFi to solve a bottle neck and pain point in the rabid AI infrastructure build out. By facilitating GPU backed loans, USD.AI unlocks capital efficiency for these companies scaling AI while providing real yield to on...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Zain Zaidi , founder of Transcrypts . Through Transcrypts, Zain has developed a solution that elegantly tackles two of blockchain’s most fundamental applications: identity and ownership of private data. To start, Transcrypts empowers individuals to receive proof of employment and income verification in a trusted and private manner. But this is just the beginning...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Cooper Turley , Founder of Coop Records Cooper has invested in and helped build many of the blockchain industry’s more culture and creator focused projects. Now he is combining music, his other passion and area of expertise, with blockchain to develop a novel protocol for musical artists to distribute their music while empowering consumers to earn for their cura...

In this episode, I sit down with Tuan Cao, co-founder of Life AI. Tuan and his team started by building a web 2 alternative to 23 and Me, focused on the Asian genome. But with the key difference, they gave users full control over their data. That was just the beginning of a long road to build one of the industry's leading decentralized science projects. Long before decI was even a term, Life A...

In this episode, Ben sits down to Andrej Radonjic, co-founder of Grass. Grass gives users the ability to earn ownership in the Grass network by supplying the protocol with their unused internet bandwidth for data scraping purposes (something that is already happening to most of us and we don’t get paid!). The grass protocol packages this scraped web data and sells it to AI companies who have insuf...

Welcome to “The Use-Case” a mini-series brought to you by Scenius Studio. Through Scenius Studio, I've interviewed 50 of the crypto industry’s top GPs and CIOs across liquid and private markets. One thing is clear, crypto has some savvy investors. Yet, both inside and outside the industry, the same question lingers: where are the real-world use-cases? We’ve built the infrastructure, but where...

Welcome to “The Use-Case” a mini-series brought to you by Scenius Studio Through Scenius Studio , Ben has interviewed 50 of the crypto industry’s top GPs and CIOs. One thing is clear, crypto has some phenomenal investors. Yet, both inside and outside the industry, the same question lingers: where are the real-world use-cases? We’ve built the infrastructure, but where are the apps? What commercial...

In this 50th episode special edition, Ben sits down with three elite liquid token hedge fund managers. Pranav Kanade of Van Eck, David Kalk of Reflexive, and Joe McCann of Asymmetric represent some of the best CIOs, traders, and big-picture thinkers in our industry. Leading into a consequential election with BTC knocking on the door of all-time-highs, we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Chris Rhine, Head of Liquid Active Strategies at Galaxy. Chris spent the last two decades trading a variety of instruments and asset classes at Cohen & Steers and BlackRock. Now, Chris uses his wall street experience to develop and manage highly institutional investment products that offer LPs a risk mitigated long-only approach to the liquid token markets....

In this episode, Ben sits down with Jason Kam, Founder of Folius. Folius has become the preeminent blockchain venture firm focused on the application layer, with a strong focus on China-based founders and companies. While Folius is known as a high-signal venture firm, the firm’s liquid strategy constitutes a notably larger percentage of AUM. Jason’s experience as a PM at a traditional emerging mar...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Matt Halstead, Director of Digital Assets and Real Estate Investing at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, also known as Texas Teachers.  Matt built the digital assets program at Texas Teachers from scratch and has helped push the asset class forward via his highly institutional and sophisticated approach to crypto fund allocations. We typically hear from GP...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Jack Platts, CEO and CIO of Hypersphere. Jack was part of the founding team at Polkadot leading their BD and marketing efforts before launching Hypersphere in 2020. In 2022, Jack avoided the various implosions within blockchain and managed to return 620m in profits to his LPs. Now Jack is managing a multi-manager hedge fund as well as the fund’s next venture veh...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Travis Scher, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of North Island Ventures. Travis began his crypto career in 2015, where he led the venture team at Digital Currency Group. After leaving DCG, Travis launched North Island Ventures alongside Glenn and James Hutchins. Travis invests across a range of blockchain categories and possesses strong opinions regarding the ent...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Carlos Pereira , Partner at BITKRAFT . BITKRAFT is a premier gaming focused venture firm and Carlos is the lead investor for their crypto-dedicated fund. His perspective into the innovation that crypto uniquely unlocks within gaming is insightful. Moreover, his assessment of the current blockchain gaming ecosystem highlights his experience investing in the secto...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner of Dragonfly. Haseeb is highly respected in the space for his synthesis of complex topics, sharp opinions on contentious debates, and repeated ability to back category winners early. With Haseeb at the helm, Dragonfly has established itself as one of the industry’s premier global firms with strong footing in the US and Asia. Let&...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Min Teo, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Ethereal Ventures. Together with Joe Lubin, Min leads one of the industry’s most well-respected early-stage venture firms. With an impressive track record that includes seed stage bets in EigenLayer and Aztec Protocol, Min has a knack for uncovering blue ocean categories and companies before they become consensus. Lets...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Michael Dempsey, Managing Partner of Compound. At Compound, Michael oversees investments in AI/ML, robotics, biology, and of course crypto. His cross-industry knowledge and deep understanding of blockchain-native challenges and commercial opportunities makes him stand out from the crowd.   Let's get into it. Connect with the guest Compound https://www.compound.v...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Phil Bonello, Co-Founder and CIO of Plaintext Capital. Phil is an industry veteran, having spent time at Messari, Ikigai, and Grayscale before launching Plaintext.  Phil is a fundamental investor who understands what moves crypto markets intimately. He has a proven ability to find emerging trends and then find creative ways to express related trades before the n...

In this episode, Ben sits down with Ken Seiff, founder and general partner of Blockchange Ventures. Following a successful career as a founder and retail tech investor Ken discovered blockchain where he has repeatedly made contrarian, early bets that have paid off in spades. His insights into the history of internet innovation shine a light on where we are within the blockchain industry's grow...

In this episode, Ben sits down with James Parillo, Managing Partner of Figment Capital. Following a career in taxation and accounting, Jim developed an expertise in digital assets, which opened up the door to the world of venture investing. Now, as part of a collaboration with Figment, the industry's leading institutional staking provider, Jim and his team invest into critical infrastructure a...