The Blockchain New Zealand Podcast

Jit Maharaj is a former commercial pilot turned crypto co-founder of Pay it Now, a payments network that uses a custom layer 2 built on the Binance smart chain (now BNB) that makes it easy for merchants and businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments. Jit is also a long time web developer, an Ethereum miner, and a Solana critic.  In this conversation we talk about:  Payments networks and providers, Building on the Binance smart chain Customer rewards programs and creating a token Regulation in the crypto space in New Zealand $20k bitcoin, and being a pilot. Timestamps: 00:00 intro01:18 what is PayItNow?03:25 fixing gas fees09:56 what's a layer 2?13:33 how does a merchant onboard?18:00 on bridging tokens19:53 why token? (&safemoon)25:18 competition with bitpay/stripe/shopify/solana30:33 regulation in NZ crypto35:28 $20k bitcoin? and market activity40:05 cofounder story flying 737s44:45 BCNZ in the industry45:36 rapid fire49:31 fin Some notes from the show: BNB Smart Chain   Matic & Polygon   Solend debacle  Harmony bridge hack  Indian crypto regulation   USDD lost its peg similar to UST the last bitcoin  Hal Finney (the GOAT)  Contact Jit: Pay it Now Find Jeff: Twitter LinkedIn  The BCNZ Pod: Website https://bcnz.podbean.com/ YouTube  Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify  iHeartRadio  Media & Sponsorship Enquires: team@blockchain.org.nz  Recorded at blockheight 742914.  

Liz Izmailova is a Ukrainian New Zealander that has been working in blockchain for the past five years, she is a marketing manager at CENNZnet which is part of the Centrality ecosystem. In this conversation we talk about:  Financial Inclusion and the monetary situation in Ukraine, both before the war and presently. Ukraine has been ranked 4th in global per capita crypto adoption by Chainalysis and are likely the first to have a government directly accept crypto donations and provide transparency on where those donations are going. We cover a lot in the crypto-donation space in general, and some local New Zealand based projects. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Liz Izmailova. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro01:06 Ukrainian background, financial independence and entrepreneurship at an early age, coming to New Zealand05:20 Financial privilege in the West10:45 Crypto donations and the currency situation in Ukraine16:07 New crypto legislation in Ukraine20:04 War donation transparency24:02 FlufWorld F*ck the War campaign & Universe.xyz29:29 How are NFTs helping?33:40 Crypto & NFTs for gen-Z'ers36:35 Crypto friendly New Zealand charities40:15 How can BCNZ help with education?42:25 Rapid fire44:37 fin  Some notes from the show: Letter criticizing financial innovation https://concerned.tech/ Rebuttal for financial inclusion https://www.financialinclusion.tech/ Ukrainian Government crypto donation https://donate.thedigital.gov.ua/ Ukrainian Government Bitcoin address visible in a block explorer: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P National Bank of Ukraine partners with FTX https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/03/14/ukraine-partners-with-ftx-everstake-to-launch-new-crypto-donation-website/ USD $100m raised so far https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/03/09/ukraine-has-received-close-to-100-million-in-crypto-donations/ Ukraine legalises Bitcoin https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/03/17/ukraine-war-zelenskyy-signs-a-new-law-officially-legalising-bitcoin-and-other-cryptos  $411k raised and donated to Ukraine by Auckland based FLUF & NonFungible Labs: https://luckytrader.com/nft/fluf-world/news/fluf-world-finalizes-400000-donation-to-ukraine Michael Chobanian, president of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine https://www.theverge.com/23138465/decoder-ukraine-war-cryptocurrency-michael-chobanian-interview-bitcoin-usdt Charitable Donations with cryptocurrency UNICEF https://www.unicef.org.nz/donate-in-crypto Childfund https://childfund.org.nz/pages/donate-your-cryptocurrency-to-childfund Savethechildren https://www.savethechildren.org/us/ways-to-help/ways-to-give/ways-to-help/cryptocurrency-donation Heart Kids via the Giving Block https://thegivingblock.com/donate/heart-kids-nz/ Ukrainian NFT projects https://metahistory.gallery/ https://www.avatarsforukraine.com/ Ukraine DAO’s Flag NFT Sells for $6.75 Million https://decrypt.co/94353/ukraine-daos-flag-nft-sells-for-6-75-million Fidelity Charitable Study Insights https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/insights.html NFT marketplace https://lithoverse.xyz/ FLUF World https://www.fluf.world/ ASM/Non-Fungible Intelligence https://www.alteredstatemachine.xyz/ BCNZ https://blockchain.org.nz/     Contact Liz: LinkedIn Cennznet Find Jeff: Twitter LinkedIn  The BCNZ Pod: Website https://bcnz.podbean.com/ YouTube  Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify  iHeartRadio  Media & Sponsorship Enquires: team@blockchain.org.nz  Recorded at blockheight 740812.  

Hi Folks and welcome to the Blockchain New Zealand Podcast. I’m Jeff Nijsse and today I’m talking to Paul Quickenden. Paul is the ‘Head of New Zealand’ at EasyCrypto. In this conversation we talk about:  Recent market activity: everything's down but people are still buying EasyCrypto expanding into overseas markets, Their process for listing new digital assets - how do they decide what to list and their ethical considerations, The TerraLuna crash and stablecoin depegging event, The price of cheese. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Paul Quickenden. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro01:25 Current market conditions06.08 Do market factors affect Easy Crypto?09.13 People are still buying crypto 13:45 Is crypto its own asset class?15.03 Koura Investments KiwiSaver17.37 EasyCrypto global expansion20.58 On the Brasilian crypto market22.30 Lightweight NZ exports26.56 Banking as an export & the regulatory aspects30.52 Ethics around coin listings & approaches to risk36.46 Terra death spiral41.27 EC circuit breaker47.38 BCNZ51.33 What's next for easy crypto?54.50 Rapid fire56.43 Fin Some notes from the show: EasyCrypto’s expansion overseas https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/452991/easy-crypto-secures-17m-backing-from-investors Koura KiwiSaver Scheme https://www.kourawealth.co.nz/ Terra Death Spiral https://blockchain.org.nz/2022/05/17/crypto-market-plunges-hard-and-fast-investors-are-spooked/ Kindrik Partners (prev. Simmonds Stewart) has free resources for startups: https://kindrik.co.nz/resources/startup-resources/ BCNZ https://blockchain.org.nz/  Contact Paul: LinkedIn EasyCrypto Find Jeff: Twitter LinkedIn  The BCNZ Pod: Website https://bcnz.podbean.com/ Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify  iHeartRadio  YouTube  Media Enquires: team@blockchain.org.nz  Recorded at blockheight 737904.  

Kia Ora and welcome to the very first episode of the Blockchain New Zealand Podcast. I’m Jeff Nijsse and today I’m talking to Jonty Kelt. Jonty is the Founder of Fantail Ventures, a venture capital business that has invested in some of the biggest names in crypto, including Kraken, Ledger, Stacks, Yield Guild Games, and Uniswap, just to name a few. In this conversation we talk about:  Jonty coming out of Otago University and getting his start in finance; and the role of education in tech; He was building an online advertising business in the early days of the internet and his business was eventually acquired by google and we discuss the work culture at google in those days; Jonty has strong feelings about blockchain adoption providing a financial lifeline to the underbanked, and how digital ownership is just getting started; He’s an advisor for the teams behind VeVe–the NFT marketplace, and also Altered State Machine, the non fungible intelligence protocol; We wrap up with Jonty’s views on blockchain regulation in New Zealand and he gives us his thoughts on who Satoshi is. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jonty Kelt. Timestamps: 01:47 From Otago to NYC04:58 Being a non-technical founder07:03 Technology in education11:55 Building an online advertising company16:45 Google in 200820:54 Xero: a NZ success story22:59 Fantail ventures25:26 Advice for young entrepreneurs26:58 Blockchain & income inequality33:10 Bitcoin and debasement36:00 Security & energy criticism41:40 NFTs47:46 Regulation in New Zealand52:08 Rapid fire Some notes from the show: Peter Thiel Fellowship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiel_Fellowship No college degree required https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/16/15-companies-that-no-longer-require-employees-to-have-a-college-degree.html Google is ten years old https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/sep/05/google.google Jonty’s talk at Kea New Zealand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVfICUToQ58&ab_channel=KeaNewZealand NFTs with your bank account (Tweet) https://twitter.com/provenauthority/status/1517166544270381063 Crypto Kitties https://www.cryptokitties.co/ Ecomi & VeVe https://medium.com/ecomi/ecomi-advisors-introducing-jonty-kelt-2264026e0f97 Immutable Layer 2 for Ethereum NFTs https://www.immutable.com/  BCNZ https://blockchain.org.nz/  Contact Jonty: Fantail Ventures LinkedIn Find Jeff: Twitter LinkedIn The BCNZ Pod: Website https://bcnz.podbean.com/ Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify  iHeartRadio  YouTube  Media Enquires: team@blockchain.org.nz  Recorded at blockheight 734642.