The Blockchain New Zealand Podcast
The BCNZ Pod is hosted by Jeff Nijsse and keeps you up to date on the blockchain and cryptocurrency community in and around New Zealand. For more details about the Blockchain New Zealand Organization head to https://blockchain.org.nz
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Episodes
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
Bryan Ventura is here for our first roundtable; Bryan is a lawyer specializing in blockchain and Web3. Today we're covering two main topics:
Tornado cash - what is it and why was it sanctioned - and the downstream effects of platform level censorship along with freedom of expression and how open source code fits in.
Then we dive into Eth2.0 (I still call it that) - The Merge - we talk about some of the history of proof of work transitioning to proof of stake ethereum and what people are expecting afterwards.
We wrap up with a shoutout to Roger Ver and Zuckerberg's metaverse.
Timestamps:00:00 intro00:57 Tornado cash intro06:27 OFAC & US regulatory influence09:27 Circle censoring USDC tx13:30 Multiple identities & dusting accounts17:08 freedom of speech 23:51 Dutch jailed the founder25:57 contributing to open source27:18 FATF virtual asset guidance32:56 is code speech38:26 Eth2.0, the merge & the history of PoW45:46 merge performance & fees51:20 validators55:37 deflationary distribution of ETH59:15 Roger Ver1:01:11 metaverse1:13:20 fin
Some notes from the show:
What is Tornado Cash
Sanctions
Roman Semenov
Chainalysis report & Lazarus North Korean hacking group
Bernstein v. Department of Justice
Developer jailed for 90 days
Stable Diffusion
Dall-e
pgp privacy
Github's co-pilot
Ethereum difficulty bomb
Otherside land mint fees
Ethereum nodes
Futureverse
Horizon Worlds
paper cheques
Zuckerberg on Lex
Contact Bryan:
LinkedIn
MinterEllisonRuddWatts
Find Jeff:
Twitter
LinkedIn
The BCNZ Pod:
Website https://podcast.blockchain.org.nz/
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
iHeartRadio
Media & Sponsorship Enquires:
team@blockchain.org.nz
Recorded at blockheight 752817. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.
Tuesday Aug 02, 2022
Tuesday Aug 02, 2022
Stephen Macaskill is the CEO of Dasset, a trading platform for buying bitcoin and other digital assets. Before digital assets Stephen ran a precious metals company helping people maximize their savings and financial literacy.
In this conversation we talk about:
precious metals and gold's role in recent monetary history including Bitcoin;
the definition of money and Austrian and Keynesian methodologies within economics;
bitcoin and its intrinsic versus subjective value;
spontaneous orders, and
human cooperation through decentralized autonomous organizations.
Timestamps: 00:00 intro01:23 precious metals and gold's role in monetary history07:04 WTF happened in 197113:27 what is money19:46 Austrian vs Keynesian27:35 social data vs natural science32:59 Bitcoin39:30 intrinsic vs subjective value of Bitcoin43:32 on enabling global collaboration45:52 scaling blockchains49:13 defining digital assets51:53 potential of DAOs59:07 insurance1:01:23 rapid fire1:04:02 fin
Some notes from the show:
what happened in 1971? https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
Turkish rare earths discovery https://www.wired.com/story/turkey-rare-earth-metals/
French try to redeem gold https://www.huffpost.com/entry/august-15-1971_b_4284327
Austrian methodology https://mises.org/library/methodology-austrian-school-economists-0
Keynes & rise of macroeconomics https://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/keynesianeconomics.asp
tomayo https://www.newworld.co.nz/shop/product/5267101_ea_000nw
Bitcoin whitepaper https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
spontaneous order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_order
coinmarketcap https://coinmarketcap.com/
Vitalik's essay on DAOs https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/bootstrapping-a-decentralized-autonomous-corporation-part-i-1379644274
Whitehouse redefines recession https://twitter.com/EpsilonTheory/status/1551349167674499073?s=20&t=i4KWmNn8oWiVhCt7MdvMVg
Contact Stephen:
Dasset https://dassetx.com/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenm/
Find Jeff:
Twitter
LinkedIn
The BCNZ Pod:
Website https://podcast.blockchain.org.nz/
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
iHeartRadio
Media & Sponsorship Enquires:
team@blockchain.org.nz
Recorded at blockheight 746718. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.
Friday Jul 15, 2022
Friday Jul 15, 2022
Tak Suzuki is the co-founder of Senkusha, a funding platform looking to support and grow emerging artists, musicians, and athletes through NFT sales. Tak is soon to be a physiology graduate from the University of Auckland, he loves experimenting with new tech, and has an impressive CV at a young age.
In this conversation we talk about:
Music labels and the motivation for a crowd funding platform
NFTs, mp3s, transparency, and minting on Ethereum
The upcoming launch with musician Ash Supé
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:06 When did you first hear about crypto?
05:36 Senkusha
08:19 Not a music label
11:04 Finding talent and upside for artists
13:06 Business model & royalties
17:06 Why NFTs & mp3s?
19:40 Minting on ethereum
24:14 Transparency & DAOs
28:02 Ash Supé
30:32 the Senkusha 500
34:50 BCNZ
36:47 rapidfire
39:42 fin
Some notes from the show:
Banksy NFT
Mike Shinoda's music NFTs
At least 2600 fake tickets to the Champions League Final
IPFS for storing NFTs
Contact Tak:
LinkedIn
Senkusha
Find Jeff:
Twitter
LinkedIn
The BCNZ Pod:
Website https://bcnz.podbean.com/
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
iHeartRadio
Music: Liféstyle Freéstyle by Ash Supé
Spotify
Instagram
Media & Sponsorship Enquires:
team@blockchain.org.nz
Recorded at blockheight 743902. The BCNZ Podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.
Thursday Jul 07, 2022
Thursday Jul 07, 2022
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 intro
01:18 what is PayItNow?
03:25 fixing gas fees
09:56 what's a layer 2?
13:33 how does a merchant onboard?
18:00 on bridging tokens
19:53 why token? (&safemoon)
25:18 competition with bitpay/stripe/shopify/solana
30:33 regulation in NZ crypto
35:28 $20k bitcoin? and market activity
40:05 cofounder story flying 737s
44:45 BCNZ in the industry
45:36 rapid fire
49:31 fin
Some notes from the show:
Pay it Now
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. The BCNZ Podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Monday Jun 20, 2022
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.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:06 Ukrainian background, financial independence and entrepreneurship at an early age, coming to New Zealand
05:20 Financial privilege in the West
10:45 Crypto donations and the currency situation in Ukraine
16:07 New crypto legislation in Ukraine
20:04 War donation transparency
24:02 FlufWorld F*ck the War campaign & Universe.xyz
29:29 How are NFTs helping?
33:40 Crypto & NFTs for gen-Z'ers
36:35 Crypto friendly New Zealand charities
40:15 How can BCNZ help with education?
42:25 Rapid fire
44:37 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. The BCNZ Podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Wednesday Jun 01, 2022
Paul Quickenden is the current Head of New Zealand for EasyCrypto. He's been active in the blockchain and Crypto sector for a number of years, consulting to numerous projects and helping them with successful capital raises and commercial launches. Prior to that Paul was the CEO of Putti Apps, and held numerous roles in Product Marketing and Strategy within Spark New Zealand. Paul is passionate about growing New Zealand businesses, helping us to stand out on the global stage, and make a difference to the lives of New Zealanders.
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.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:25 Current market conditions
06.08 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 KiwiSaver
17.37 EasyCrypto global expansion
20.58 On the Brasilian crypto market
22.30 Lightweight NZ exports
26.56 Banking as an export & the regulatory aspects
30.52 Ethics around coin listings & approaches to risk
36.46 Terra death spiral
41.27 EC circuit breaker
47.38 BCNZ
51.33 What's next for easy crypto?
54.50 Rapid fire
56.43 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. The BCNZ Podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.
Monday May 09, 2022
Monday May 09, 2022
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.
Timestamps:
01:47 From Otago to NYC
04:58 Being a non-technical founder
07:03 Technology in education
11:55 Building an online advertising company
16:45 Google in 2008
20:54 Xero: a NZ success story
22:59 Fantail ventures
25:26 Advice for young entrepreneurs
26:58 Blockchain & income inequality
33:10 Bitcoin and debasement
36:00 Security & energy criticism
41:40 NFTs
47:46 Regulation in New Zealand
52:08 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. The BCNZ Podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.
BCNZ
The Blockchain Association of New Zealand was established in 2016 as a membership based group to support and grow the blockchain and crypto community. It is part of the Tech Alliance ecosystem in New Zealand.
The Podcast
Founded by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura in 2022, the podcast is looking to highlight NZ based crypto & blockchain teams and people. This is an experiment in a crowded space, lets see what happens.
The Organisation
Blockchain technology is changing our understanding of transparency, authentication, trust, and contracts in the private and public sector. It is also accelerating the move towards a globalised society and many people believe it will fundamentally change how business and society operates. BlockchainNZ has undertaken to provide New Zealand organisations with opportunities for advancing knowledge around blockchain, connecting with the blockchain tech ecosystem and promoting awareness of its potential.
BlockchainNZ is an association of organisations and individuals that represent this rapidly emerging business sector and those engaged in the wider global Financial Services, IT, and public sector communities. BlockchainNZ members have come together to lead a programme of work, taking a key role in growing our country’s capability to maximise the opportunities enabled by blockchain technology and address any challenges.
Our Team
BlockchainNZ is governed by an Establishment Committee and a working group of comprising of member representatives passionate about helping to grow the ecosystem.