Banks Will Have to Adapt to DeFi, Featuring Eric Wall

From bitcoin trading basics, we’re going right into the wild world of decentralized finance

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ABOUT

This week, “Opinionated” hosts Anna Baydakova, Danny Nelson and Ben Schiller are talking to Eric Wall, chief investment officer at a Swedish hedge fund Arcane Crypto – and one of Crypto Twitter’s favorite trouble stirrers.

“I spent my entire 20s in bitcoin. What the f*ck,” Eric tweeted in July on the day of his 30th birthday, and that decade did not pass in vain for him: He’s been trading bitcoin since Mt. Gox (and lost his money there), he worked as a crypto guy in the legacy fintech firm Cinnober, and now he’s advising a hedge fund on crypto investments. During his time in crypto and mainstream finance, Eric saw a lot and has a lot to say.

You might be surprised to learn he doesn’t believe in technical analysis as a basis for trading decisions. Why, and what is he using instead? Just wait and listen.

From bitcoin trading basics, we’re going right into the wild world of decentralized finance (DeFi). Are there better protocols for DeFi than Ethereum? Is it better to invest in totally decentralized projects, or those that can freeze their coins? Will the regulators clamp down on DeFi and destroy it?

And, last but not least, what is the “digital condom” Eric thinks beginning traders might want to use when they jump into the dangerous world of DeFi? Listen and learn from Eric together with Anna, Ben and Danny!

Eric Wall’s Twitter handle is @ercwl.

Mentioned in this episode:

CoinDesk: Thorchain’s RUNE Token Tumbles After 2nd Exploit in 2 Weeks
CoinDesk: Poly Network Hacker Releases Private Key for Remaining Looted $141M
U.Today: Arcane Assets CIO Ridicules Charles Hoskinson And Cardano For Bitcoin Criticism On TVhttps://u.today/arcane-assets-cio-ridicules-charles-hoskinson-and-cardano-for-bitcoin-criticism-on-tv

This was produced, announced and edited by Michele Musso.

HOSTS

Dan Ilett

Dan Ilett writes on tech, money and energy. He advises business on digital strategy and technology messaging for large deals. He is founder of Erbut - an advisory company - and Greenbang - a smart technology research company.

Anna Baydakova

Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies.
She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City.
She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.

Danny Nelson

Danny was CoinDesk's managing editor for Data & Tokens. He formerly ran investigations for the Tufts Daily. At CoinDesk, his beats include (but are not limited to): federal policy, regulation, securities law, exchanges, the Solana ecosystem, smart money doing dumb things, dumb money doing smart things and tungsten cubes. He owns BTC, ETH and SOL tokens, as well as the LinksDAO NFT.

Benjamin Schiller

Benjamin Schiller is CoinDesk's managing editor for features and opinion. Previously, he was editor-in-chief at BREAKER Magazine and a staff writer at Fast Company. He holds some ETH, BTC and LINK.

Danny Bradbury

Danny Bradbury has been a professional writer since 1989, and has worked freelance since 1994. He covers technology for publications such as the Guardian.

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