Welcome to Chain Reaction. A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk, better known as Gary Vee. He is the chairman of VaynerX and CEO of VaynerMedia and NFT collection VeeFriends. He’s a five-time New York Times bestselling author and previously created Wine Library, one of the first e-commerce platforms for alcohol in the early 2000s. In 2009, he co-founded VaynerMedia with his younger brother AJ and fast forward today the company services clients like PepsiCo, GE, Johnson and Johnson, Chase and others. Gary Vee is a “die hard” New York Jets fan (and wants to buy the team one day), as well as an investor in a handful of major companies like Twitter, Venmo and Facebook – which we talk about in the episode. We dove into a handful of topics surrounding the NFT ecosystem, how Gary Vee got into the space and gained traction for his collection and where he sees the sector going long term. We also talked about: VeeFriends origin storyImportance of intellectual property Mainstream adoptionWhat NFT collections are getting wrong Advice for NFT projects Chain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, a protocol that provides an oracle network to power smart contracts. Chainlink is also known as a web3 services platform that connects people, businesses and data with the world of web3. And for good reason - it has enabled over $7 trillion in transaction volume across DeFi, gaming, NFTs and other major industries. Prior to co-founding Chainlink, Nazarov co-founded four other businesses, most recently SmartContract - which focused on smart contracts. We discussed a number of things surrounding smart contracts, technological guarantees, cross-chain interoperability, and Nazarov’s long-term vision for Chainlink.We also dove into:  Unexpected smart contract use casesCryptographic guaranteesHow traditional companies can tokenize assets AI and blockchain technology CCIP updates Chain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. This week we have a bonus episode from a fireside chat Jacquelyn did with Nadya Tolokonnikova, the creator of the protest art collective Pussy Riot, at NFT NYC in April. Tolokonnikova was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in 2012 after being found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,” but was released early under amnesty. Fast forward to 2023 and Tolokonnikova has continued to use the Pussy Riot name to fight  in favor of women and LGBTQ people’s rights and against Russia’s control under President Vladimir Putin.  As of March, Tolokonnikova was added to Russia’s most wanted criminals list. Tolokonnikova has also spoken before the U.S. Congress, British Parliament, European Parliament and has also appeared on TV shows like House of Cards. We dove into a deep conversation surrounding Tolokonnikova’s mission, how she uses NFTs as a form of activism and how she got into the space. We also discussed:  How others can use NFTs for activismFuture visions for NFT utility Advice for projects in the space Chain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Jake Chervinsky, the chief policy officer at Blockchain Association, a non-profit organization focused on promoting “pro-innovation” policy for the digital asset world. He is also a board member of the DeFi education fund and advisor for a web3 seed stage fund Variant.Prior to his work with the Blockchain association, Chervinsky began his attorney career in private practice with a focus on anti-money laundering and anti-corruption compliance and investigations, financial services litigation and government enforcement defense. He spends a lot of time in DC, testifying at hearings to help provide clarity on the crypto industry in hopes to guide it in the right direction. We dove deep into conversations about all things regulation from how Chervinsky views the current regulatory landscape to whether or not we’re in a “crackdown” era as people call it. We also discussed:  Regulators views changingAmerican crypto companies Are cryptocurrencies commodities or securities  Stablecoin legislationFuture legal frameworks and guidelines Chain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Jesse Pollak, the lead for Base and head of protocols at Coinbase. Base is an Ethereum-focused layer 2 blockchain launched by Coinbase in February of this year. Pollak previously led all retail engineering at Coinbase, including building Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Wallet. In a past life, Pollak started Clef, a 2FA mobile app and was an engineer at BuzzFeed. A number of crypto businesses, platforms, marketplaces and infrastructure firms have committed to building on Base. Those that plan to be involved include Blockdaemon, Chainlink, Etherscan, Quicknode, Aave, Animoca Brands, Dune, Nansen, Magic Eden, Pyth, Rainbow Wallet, Ribbon Finance, The Graph, Wormhole and Gelato, to name a handful.Of course, we talked a lot about Base and where it’s headed in the future, as well as how regulation could affect the blockchain and the timeline for its Mainnet launch; Pollak shared it’s aiming for 2023.We also dove into: Decentralizing BaseBlockchain inspirationCoinbase’s role in BaseAdvice for developersChain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.The TechCrunch Podcast Network has been nominated for two Webbys in the Best Technology Podcast category. You can help TechCrunch win by voting for Chain Reaction, which digs into the wild world of crypto. Or Found which brings you the stories behind the startups by sitting down with the founders themselves. Please take a few moments to vote here. Voting closes April 20. (Obviously, I host Chain Reaction, so vote for my show!)Mentioned in the show: https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/23/coinbase-launches-blockchain-base-to-help-developers-build-dapps-on-chain/