Feb 9, 2021
Lyn Alden, CEO and founder of
Lyn Alden Investment Strategies, and Raoul Pal, CEO &
cofounder of Real Vision Group & Global Macro Investor,
explain their thinking about Ethereum and its native token, and
talk about their perspective on GameStop. In this episode, we
discuss:
- why Raoul views ether as similar to bitcoin at
a macro level (1:25)
- why Lyn decided ETH was not currently
investable (5:06)
- an analysis of utility protocols (John
Pfeffer’s paper) (6:55)
- counterarguments to John Pfeffer’s paper
(9:31)
- how to allocate between BTC and ETH
(11:22)
- why Raoul also invested in other coins beyond
BTC and ETH (11:47)
- whether Metcalfe's law applies equally to all
kinds of networks (13:35)
- why Lyn views Ethereum’s use case as circular,
and why that makes it less investable (15:09)
- whether Ethereum 2.0 and Ethereum Improvement
Proposal 1559, and whether that could make ETH more investable
(21:20)
- the impact of fees on the value of Ethereum
(23:36)
- Raoul's views on what S-Curves and the Lindy
Effect indicate about the development of a currency
(25:22)
- how high fees make DApps less attractive, while
low fees potentially decrease demand for ETH (27:06)
- how Lyn believes demand for DeFi is to
circumvent compliance and know-your-customer processes, and she
doesn't also see that as a downside for Bitcoin (33:10)
- how the regulators are behind innovation in
cryptocurrencies, particularly around taxation (36:32)
- Raoul's and Lyn's predictions for the ETH price
by end of 2021 (41:45)
- what GameStop says about the democratization of
financial information (45:32)
- whether smart contracts could play in
preventing situations similar to what happened with GameStop and/or
Robinhood (49:03)
- how blockchain technology could be used to
prevent a situation in which the hedge funds could short more
shares than existed (54:03)
- how the GameStop/Robinhood saga is a giant
advertisement for self-custody (54:53)
- whether r/WallStreetBets' behavior was market
manipulation or not (56:53)
Thank you to our sponsor!
Crypto.com: http://crypto.com
Episode links:
Lyn Alden: https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact
Lyn Alden Investment:
https://www.lynalden.com/
Raoul Pal: https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI
Real Vision: https://www.realvision.com/contributor/raoul-pal
Global Macro Investor:
https://www.globalmacroinvestor.com
Raoul's tweet storm on
Ethereum:
https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI/status/1347013567799848961?s=20
Lyn Alden’s research paper on
Ethereum: https://www.lynalden.com/ethereum-analysis/
Raoul Pal’s tweet: ETH equals
BTC:
https://twitter.com/raoulgmi/status/1347013567799848961?lang=en
John Pfeffer’s paper:
https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/john-pfeffer/An+Investor's+Take+on+Cryptoassets+v6.pdf
Network effects and Metcalfe’s
Law:
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_developing-new-products-and-services/s04-12-there-is-power-in-numbers-netw.html
Quantity Theory of Money:
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_economics-theory-through-applications/s30-01-the-quantity-theory-of-money.html
How Will the Government React to
GameStop?:
https://www.coindesk.com/gamestop-regulators-response
GameStop and Crypto
trading:
https://cryptonews.com/exclusives/are-gamestop-style-surges-in-crypto-any-different-from-old-p-9151.htm
Robinhood Raises Extra
funds:
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/93258/report-robinhood-billions-raised-investors-1
Possible role of blockchain in
trading:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/cardano-foundation-ceo-says-blockchain-could-prevent-gme-type-showdowns
Caitlin Long:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/caitlinlong/2019/05/16/naked-shorting-in-the-uber-ipo-it-couldnt-happen-on-a-blockchain/?sh=f2a0dcd4737d