Blockchain

This post was last updated on July 11th, 2019 at 05:58 pm

Part 1

Part 2

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play | Overcast

Part 1 Description

Today’s conversation is with Sam McIngvale who heads up Coinbase Custody.

Coinbase Custody’s clients include PolyChain Capital, Multicoin Capital (who we’ve had on this podcast, by the way), Autonomous Partners, and Walden Bridge Capital. Coinbase Custody’s mission is to make digital currency investment accessible to every eligible financial institution and hedge fund in the world.

Before Sam was running Coinbase Custody, he was VP of Engineering at Apex Clearing Corporation.

As a side note,I’ve been to several crypto conferences for institutional investors and heard several unremarkable conversations about custody. This is not one of them.

Sam is on point throughout this entire interview and this conversation results in a fantastic episode that will likely leave you with much to consider.

Part 2 Description

Whereas the first part of this conversation was focused on custody, the second part of this conversation focuses more generally on the suite of institutional products that Coinbase is rolling out, including their prime brokerage offering.

We also discuss how Coinbase markets, which provides a shared pool of liquidity for all of Coinbase’s products…. is both an internal service provider to the rest of Coinbase and a product available to market makers and high-frequency traders.

I should mention that if you want to discuss these topics or this podcast episode, feel free to join us on our telegram group at NomicsTelegram.com

Topics Discussed In These Episodes

• Why custody in the traditional financial world is a solved problem and a commodity, and why things are so much more difficult when it comes to crypto assets.
• The spectrum of options and dimensions that exist for solving the institutional custody problem with regards to crypto assets.
• Coinbase’s regulatory posture.
• How Coinbase scales key management, key generation ceremonies, and thinks about security.
• Insurance coverage of stored crypto assets at Coinbase.
• Why Coinbase is going to great lengths to separate its various institutional offerings.
• An overview of Coinbase’s suite of institution product offerings
• Why consumer products in the crypto space are optimizing for getting the greatest number of individual users, whereas institutional products are designed around servicing the greatest amount of capital
• How Coinbase Prime operates as a service layer on top of Coinbase’s products for institutional customers
• Coinbase’s forthcoming OTC offering
• The need for additional order types for cryptoassets
• A discussion of Coinbase’s soon to be shuttered index fund

Sponsors

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our two sponsors, Panda Analytics and the Nomics API.

Aurora DAO

Aurora is a collection of blockchain applications and protocols that form a completely decentralized financial and banking platform. Founded by a group of blockchain enthusiasts who aspire to see digital currency flourish, Aurora aims to provide these decentralized financial solutions to anybody in the world, regardless of location and status.

Aurora’s first product—IDEX—is the first real-time decentralized exchange, and currently the #1 dApp in the world by daily users, transactions, and volume. IDEX achieved early success utilizing a hybrid design which carefully balances the speed and user experience of centralization with the security of blockchain.

However, that is only the beginning, as IDEX will evolve into a fully-decentralized exchange through AURA staking. This will allow users who hold and stake AURA tokens to run specialized nodes that perform various exchange functions. In return, they will be rewarded with the fees collected by IDEX as well as all future Aurora products. Learn more by visiting AuroraDAO.com.

Panda Analytics

If investing is not your full-time job, but you still want to get into crypto and blockchain, what cryptocurrencies should you consider when making an investment decision?
One popular solution is a portfolio of crypto assets selected and rebalanced on a regular basis. Panda Analytics is a crypto index research and management company that has software tools which allow you to construct a passive index tailored to your risk level and help you execute the strategy, automating the tedious rebalancing work. Also, Panda created the world’s first Proof-of-Work index fund, a low-cost, complexity-free investment vehicle allowing you to diversify into crypto. If you want to learn more about their index fund and tools, please check the website at PandaAnalytics.com.

Nomics’s Free Cryptocurrency & Bitcoin API

The Nomics API offers squeaky clean and normalized primary source trade data offered through fast and modern endpoints. Instead of having to integrate with several exchange APIs of varying quality, you can get everything through one screaming fast fire hose. If you found that you or your developer have to spend too much time cleaning up and maintaining datasets, instead of identifying opportunities, or if you’re tired of interpolated data and want raw primary source trades delivered simply and consistently with top-notch support in SLAs, then check us out here.