Anthony Paglino, Community Manager at Starfish Network SF
Welcome to LAB Radio episode 61. Chris recently spent some time in San Francisco and had the great fortune to run into Anthony Paglino at Starfish Network's coworking space. Starfish Network is an agnostic blockchain community focused on building web 3.0 and providing a space for the community to leverage for events and meetings. Starfish Network was started by Alicia Ferratusco when the SF community was feeling pangs over lack of community space. Anthony came to Starfish from Tampa because he believes in the necessity to build tools for the future and San Francisco is the place where it can be accomplished.
Anthony has an interesting past, which includes living in China after he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Economics in 2008. Instead of looking at the recession as a bad thing, he took the opportunity to focus on learning how the world's most populous economy ran. Anthony is optimistic and realizes timing as well as location are important components to success.
As a side project, Anthony is focused on how to token precipitous rainfall called RainCube. Aligned with his mission at Starfish Network, he hopes to help bring dApps into existence that benefit humanity and are easily replicable and adaptable. He believes blockchains will have some hyperlocalization in future, but still remain a part of the main chain.
Things you will learn during this episode:
We get perspective from Anthony about his time living in China.
Where he feels the industry is headed and his plans to stay at the forefront
Ideas around how we change the structure of economies to make them regenerative, rather than extractive.
The Starfish Network's mission and plan to build a decentralized coworking network.
How the path to enlightenment might be through cryptocurrency and blockchain.
What other projects Anthony is working on and much more.
Further Reading and Resources
Starfish Network | Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter |
Anthony Paglino, Community Manager, Starfish.Network| Facebook | LinkedIn |
Raincube, Inc. | Website | Facebook | Twitter |
Daniel Popa, CEO of Anchor
Welcome to episode 60 of LAB Radio. We had a chat with Daniel Popa, CEO of Anchor. Anchor is a "stable currency designed to preserve and enhance the value of your holdings. Anchor is pegged to the value of the global economy, protected by a safety net comprised of six pillars."
Daniel elaborates on his LinkedIn:
"Anchor is addressing one of the biggest issues in the global economy – how to preserve monetary value over time, stabilize the value of any given currency, lower its volatility and prevent devaluation.
Anchor aims to solve the problem of transparency, liquidity, guarantee and trust on a global scale and thus tackle these burning issues directly, with the introduction of stability, facilitated by a decentralized true stable token and backed by the purchase of sovereign debt as the backing for the two-token system.
Additionally, Anchor goes a step further than other cryptos, and proposes a solution for the systemic issue of instability in the financial markets in general. We have devised an innovative and universal monetary value measurement Standard, in the form of a Proprietary mathematical algorithm – the Monetary Measurement Unit (MMU).
The MMU is a true representation of the value of the global economy and an index based on the real GDP of more than 190 countries of the word.
In light of this, Anchor’s value will be pegged to the MMU directly, providing a stable and dependable unit to store and preserve monetary value over many decades, as opposed to crypto and fiat currencies that are more susceptible to fluctuation as a result of market forces and the volatility of global and local economic landscapes."
How Anchor's System Works
What you will learn during this episode:
- Who is Daniel Popa and his background
- What is Anchor and what problem they're solving
- Why we need another stable coin
- What is the MMU index and why its proprietary
- Why Anchor uses a two-token system
- What is the ultimate goal of the project and tokens? (Store of value, Investment vehicle)
- What resources he would recommend for people to learn more
For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio
Welcome to episode 59 with Hailey Lennon, the Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs for bitFlyer US. If you're not familiar with bitFlyer, don't worry, it's only the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in Japan. They have been in business since 2014 and are expanding throughout the US and European markets.
Hailey and I finally get to sit down and talk about what her new role at bitFlyer entails. When Hailey and I first met in 2015/2016 she was working with Silvergate Bank to help launch their banking platform for legitimate cryptocurrency companies. We get to find out how she ended up at bitFlyer after starting out with one of the biggest and most crypto friendly bank in the US. We also talk about the path that led her to where she is today.
Hailey and I both agree, more collaboration around compliance, regulation and oversight, even with competitors, is needed to advance the crypto and blockchain industry. There needs to be more open discussions and working groups stepping up to provide guidance to Regulatory Agencies while leading by example, not through lobbying. This is why bitFlyer and Hailey are leading the charge for a new organization called the Virtual Commodities Association, to which its founding members consist of Bitstamp, Bittrex and Gemini.
Things you will learn during this episode:
We dive into the differences between San Diego and San Francisco from a crypto perspective.
Where Hailey thinks crypto US and global regulation may be headed.
What are the goals for bitFlyer in 2019?
Creating Self-Regulating Organizations(SRO), industry standards and best practices for virtual commodities.
If she wasn't in the crypto and blockchain space, what Hailey thinks she would be doing instead.
If she had a magic wand, what would Hailey change about the industry.
If there is any cultural crossover or influence, since bitFlyer is originally from Japan? What's the environment at bitFlyer like?
Further Reading and Resources
bitFlyer | Website (US) | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter USA | Twitter Japan | Twitter Europe
Hailey Lennon Head of Legal & Regulatory Affairs| Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter