The Blockchain New Zealand Podcast

Hosted by Jeff Nijsse

Technology EducationInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

Latest episode

May 2024

Language

About the show

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

Listen to episodes

29 recent

May 16, 2024Episode 291 hr 5 min

E29 - Brandon Bucher on Samourai, Privacy, & Lightning

Brandon Bucher is an engineer and the co-founder of LightningPay.nz. Brandon and I talk about the recent indictments against the Samourai founders whose wallet was operating a bitcoin mixing service. They are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business which echo with the privacy battles in the 90s over encryption. We get into lightning network adoption, privacy, and the future outlook of your UTXO. Timestamps: 00:00 Samourai indictment 08:22 moving the goal posts 16:26 privacy as choice 21:37 privacy long game 26:11 cypherpunks and the battle 32:26 lightning network 38:04 public info on lightning 41:09 adoption in lighting 49:12 UTXO scarcity 54:25 LightningPay.nz 1:02:25 rapid fire 1:05:24 fin Some notes from the show: Samourai indictment coin-join/whirlpool Bitcoin fog Tornado Cash founder sentenced to prison Coin Centre post by Peter Van Valkenburgh unannounced lightning channels Lighting charts River Reports eCash Lightning Pay Contact Brandon: X LinkedIn Find Jeff: X 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 842607. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

May 9, 2024Episode 2833 min

E28 - Ian Woolford on Digital Cash in New Zealand

Ian Woolford has made a career working at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and presently he's the director of money and cash which is overseeing the CBDC or Digital Cash program. The RBNZ is partway through a series of consultations to get public feedback and opinion on a Reserve Bank issued digital currency. In this conversation Ian makes it very clear that the Reserve Bank wants cash to remain as close to regular cash as possible meaning that anonymity is preserved, and activity is not tracked. Ian also highlights that innovation in banking by banks has been woeful and they hope to encourage non-bank players to innovate here to provide more options for Kiwis. Timestamps: 00:00 intro 03:05 rural access to cash & services 08:24 balancing physical and digital cash 10:56 is this a CBDC? 12:21 blockchain? 15:14 benefits of digital cash 19:36 innovation in cash 24:54 privacy 28:40 banking access for startups 30:22 rapidfire 33:02 fin Some notes from the show: rural cash trial program cyclone Gabrielle cash shortage ESAS settlement Northern Rock's trouble Nigeria's CBDC failure Sweden's e-krona Ecuador's Dinero Electronico RBNZ privacy support paper RBNZ Digital Cash Feedback Contact Ian: LinkedIn RBNZ Find Jeff: X/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 842510. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

April 19, 2024Episode 271 hr 2 min

E27 - Brooke Howard-Smith on AI & Web3 in the Creator Economy

Brooke Howard-Smith is the founder of Otterfish that is at the heart of the creator economy and influencer marketing. He's also a cofounder of Non-Fungible Labs which is now a part of Futureverse. Brooke and I broadly cover what's happening with AI and how its affecting everything digital and where Web3 fits in. We jump right in Brooke is talking about everyone leveraging what they love, being commercial and non commercial at the same time in the creator economy. Timestamps: 00:00 intro 00:56 monetizing & creator economy 05:15 web3 12:26 spotify, superapps, & AI 18:15 instagram & influence marketing 23:08 client AI tools in the creator economy 28:40 personal AI use 38:46 non fungible labs 41:55 fluf launch & futureverse 46:22 gemini's mis-launch 51:58 rapidfire 1:02:31 fin Some notes from the show: Gino the Ghost on music https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb2NG6NWyhjisymBWg8aSXQ Kurzweil's singularity https://www.singularity.com/ Otterfish https://otterfish.com/ Brian Armstrong AI use https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1779946210226577913 Futureverse https://www.futureverse.com/ unstoppable art machine https://www.instagram.com/unstoppableartmachine/?hl=en fluf launch https://nfts.wtf/what-the-fluf-3d-bunnies-break-the-blockchain/ Gemini's mis-launch https://www.wired.com/story/google-gemini-woke-ai-image-generation/ Asian shopping https://youtu.be/p3RhRB3YJks?si=M-y5cZab34sQ3Q5G Ready Player One announcement https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/ready-player-one-metaverse-warner-bros-discovery-1235862190/ Golden https://heresgolden.com/ Contact Brooke: X/Twitter LinkedIn Find Jeff: X/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 839555. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

March 19, 2024Episode 2652 min

E26 - Leo Clark on Filmmaking, Nouns, & Decentralised Social Media

Leo Clark is a documentary filmmaker that is presently working with the Nouns DAO community. His latest film, NON-FUNGIBLE AOTEAROA, is debuting at the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival in Palm Springs with the tagline: See how NFTs and Nouns DAO are transforming people’s lives in New Zealand. In this conversation Leo and I talk about the Nouns project and what the community is doing with NFTs and funding artists, we get into Farcaster and decentralised social media and touch on CC-zero (CC0) licensing and how it aligns with web3. Timestamps: 00:00 intro & doco 12:13 NFT art 14:46 Nouns 20:58 community funding 26:06 Farcaster 31:46 Warpcast 35:50 incentives 39:59 mint everything 42:41 nouns cafe 46:42 CC0 no copyright 50:43 rapid-fire 52:13 fin Some notes from the show: The Doco The Festival Nouns Prophouse Nouns names a new species of frog Farcaster Warpcast Frames CC0 No Copyright Contact Leo: X/Twitter Warpcast Find Jeff: X/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 834418. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

March 5, 2024Episode 251 hr 0 min

E25 - Sam Kamani on Talent, Capital, and Markets in Web3

Sam Kamani has lots of experience in tech, from being a founder to a VC, an advisor, and an author. We talk about 3 important aspects to entrepreneurship: talent, ability to raise capital, and access to market. In the back third we get into trends in Web 3 including decentralised physical infrastructure (DePIn) and ETFs. Timestamps: 00:00 intro 01:12 realestate/density/Dubai 05:22 web3 in Dubai 09:29 capital & market access 15:57 New Zealand's rating 17:18 Sam's background 22:47 Kiwi access to capital 27:28 no-code tools 31:52 the 30 day startup 37:22 post covid 37:40 trends in web3 - stablecoins 46:52 DePIn 50:13 ETFs 56:45 rapid fire 1:00:20 fin Some notes from the show: Norway's Oil Fund autowhale Cookbook.dev Remix IDE The 30 Day Startup PayPal stablecoin Chris Rothfuss in Wyoming Contact Sam: X/Twitter LinkedIn Find Jeff: X/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 832462. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

February 27, 2024Episode 231 hr 26 min

E23 - Will Remor on Stablecoins

Will Remor is a former quantitative risk analysist from traditional banking that got into stablecoins via the maker DAI project. He's consulted on a number of finance, stablecoin, and defi protocols, including New Zealand's newest stablecoin the NZDD, and has been involved with asset tokenization (or RWAs) from the early days. In this conversation Will takes us through some of the key differences between USDC, Tether, and DAI. We talk about some of the prominent depegging events affecting USDC when Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and who remembers 20% yield in Anchor and the Terra-Luna death spiral. Timestamps: 00:00 intro 01:15 background in finance 03:19 open banking 06:00 2017-era crypto 11:49 what's a stablecoin? 16:55 circle 19:07 tether 21:50 DAI & maker 27:30 NZDD 35:36 mechanics 39:49 stay pegged 44:11 USDC depegs 53:23 UST Terra/Luna 58:46 tokenizing real world assets 1:14:10 opening markets 1:17:20 rapid fire 1:26:20 fin Some notes from the show: tZero ETHLend history Paul Salisbury from Everlasting Janine Grainger from EasyCrypto Stables by marketcap Circle winds down consortium USDC SVB depeg TrueUSD arbitrage Contact Will: LinkedIn Find Jeff: X/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 828304. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

February 20, 2024Episode 2459 min

E24 - Aditya Das on ETFs, Scaling, and Macro Trends

Aditya Das is a crypto analyst and writer with a background in applied economics working with Brave New Coin and the Techemy Group analysing macro trends in the crypto and wider markets. In this conversation Aditya and I cover the Bitcoin ETF and it acting as a gateway for an Ethereum ETF, broader Ethereum scaling solutions such as proto danksharding and layer 2 mechanisms. We touch on the halving, US elections, and the tokenisation of real world assets including stablecoins. ---------------- Timestamps: 00:00 intro 01:07 background & Silk Road 06:40 applied economics 09:03 Bitcoin ETF 16:16 GBTC outflows 19:41 Ethereum ETF 24:31 scaling Ethereum 33:33 halving 40:37 US election 44:20 new projects 47:41 stabull.finance 51:51 tokenised realworld assets 56:00 rapidfire 59:03 fin ---------------- Some notes from the show: Brave New Coin https://bravenewcoin.com/ American Kingpin by Nick Bolton https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31920777-american-kingpin Ross Ulbricht https://freeross.org/ Aaron Schwartz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz Bitcoin ETF tracker https://www.tradingview.com/markets/etfs/funds-bitcoin/ Grayscale GBTC https://decrypt.co/resources/gbtc-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-grayscale-bitcoin-trust XRP not a security https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-says-sec-lawsuit-vs-ripple-labs-can-proceed-trial-some-claims-2023-07-13/ ETH ETF tracker https://blockworks.co/ethereum-etf BTC-ETH correlation https://www.blockchaincenter.net/en/crypto-correlation-tool/ Danksharding https://cointelegraph.com/explained/danksharding-and-proto-danksharding-explained halving countdown https://www.nicehash.com/countdown/btc-halving-2024-05-10-12-00 Powell on 60 Minutes https://www.cbsnews.com/news/full-transcript-fed-chair-jerome-powell-60-minutes-interview-economy/ Ramblocks https://www.ramblocks.com/ Stabull Stablecoin AMM https://stabull.finance/ Contact Aditya: X/Twitter LinkedIn Find Jeff: X/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 829267. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

February 7, 2024Episode 221 hr 5 min

E22 - Darcy Ungaro on Bitcoin in the Modern Portfolio

Darcy Ungaro is the host of the Everyday Investor podcast, and he advises clients in a range of financial matters from mortgages all the way to Bitcoin. In this conversation Darcy and I broadly cover financial advice in the age of digital assets such as the Bitcoin ETF and strategies to modernize that dusty portfolio. ---------------- Timestamps: 00:00 intro 01:00 finite supply & property 07:37 trad-fi advice 13:08 responsibility for other's money 15:38 not financial advice 20:26 60/40 portfolio 27:00 update your models 30:00 zombie apocalypse 32:15 bitcoin curious 35:46 crypto portfolio 43:18 bitcoin ETF 50:52 diversification 54:32 property 59:29 rapid fire 1:05:50 fin ---------------- Some notes from the show: Bitcoin ETF news BITO Fred Kruger record NZ immigration Peter Schiff on The Everyday Investor Contact Darcy: X/Twitter LinkedIn Find Jeff: X/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 828315. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

November 21, 2023Episode 2145 min

E21 - Janine Grainger on Growth, & Launching a Wallet and Stablecoin

Janine Grainger is the cofounder and CEO of Easy Crypto which is coming up on their 6th anniversary and very well known in New Zealand. In this conversation we talk about growing a crypto company, competition in the New Zealand market, building a wallet and some of the security issues that come with it, and deploying an NZ dollar stablecoin on the main chains. ---------------- Timestamps: 00:00 intro 01:17 hi-tech awards 05:35 WTF is crypto documentary 08:20 long term goals 11:46 competition in the NZ market 15:00 exchange vs swaps 18:43 building a wallet 22:50 seed phrases & security 30:07 NZDD stablecoin 42:00 rapidfire 45:25 fin ---------------- Some notes from the show: NZ Hi-Tech awards WTF is Crypto MPC for crypto wallets account abstraction social recovery DFX exploit (affected NZDS) AUDD Contact Janine: LinkedIn Find Jeff: X/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 817074. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.

September 24, 2023Episode 2058 min

E20 - Simon Collins on Orange Pilling New Zealand Parliament

Simon Collins is the founder of Stackr.co.nz, a Bitcoin mining company that uses sustainable and renewable energy sources. Simon is also the lead on the fundraising campaign to Orange Pill New Zealand parliament, and that is what we're talking about today. As we lead up to an election here in New Zealand we're listening to a lot of promises from the parties, many of them economic, but none of them are talking of potential alternative financial paths. The plan is simple: raise money to buy copies of The Bitcoin Standard to send to all 120 MPs in New Zealand's next, 54th parliament. ---------------- Timestamps: 02:06 orange pilling 09:44 Plato's cave 15:45 sound money as a threat to Bitcoin 19:23 convincing politicians 23:00 remittances 30:50 breaking the spending addiction 38:02 Sov & MoE 40:04 inflation/deflation 58:28 The Bitcoin Standard 56:00 rapidfire 58:31 fin ---------------- Some notes from the show: NZ Parliament Fundraiser The Bitcoin Standard Plato's cave Cantillon effect Why the Yuppie Elite Dismiss Bitcoin Javier Milei to Abolish Argentinian Central Bank The Price of Tomorrow A Progressive's Case For Bitcoin Simon on The Everday Investor Contact Simon: X/Twitter: LinkedIn: Find Jeff: X/Twitter LinkedIn The BCNZ Pod: Website https://podcast.blockchain.org.nz/ YouTube Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify iHeartRadio Sponsor: The Blockchain New Zealand podcast is brought to you by EasyCrypto Media & Sponsorship Enquires: team@blockchain.org.nz Recorded at blockheight 807695. The BCNZ podcast was founded in 2022 by Jeff Nijsse and Bryan Ventura.