1 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Odd Lots Podcast. 2 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Alloway and uh we have a very very 3 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: special episode for you today. Many of you will have 4 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: been following what's been happening in the cryptocurrency market, where 5 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: a bitcoin recently dipped below six thousand dollars per coin. 6 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 1: That's down from a record high of I think it 7 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: was eighteen thousand dollars back in January, and of course 8 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: lots of people scratching their heads trying to figure out 9 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: what to make of the recent price movement, and lots 10 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: of people trying to figure out still what to make 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: of cryptocurrencies in general. So today we have a treat 12 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: for you, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to be talking 13 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: with two people who set up their own crypto currency, 14 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: and one of them happens to be my co host, 15 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: Joe Wisenthal. Joe Say, Hi, Hi Tracy, thanks for having 16 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: me on on launch today. Yes, a little bit of 17 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: a role reversal for you there and your partner in 18 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: this cryptocurrency endeavor is also a previous guest on The 19 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,119 Speaker 1: Odd Lots Podcast. It's Gwan Yang. He is a data 20 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: scientist edit tech startup Hi Kwan Hi Tracy. So in 21 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: that brief intro I mentioned that you had set up 22 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: your own cryptocurrency. Do either of you want to sort 23 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: of set the stage for when you did this and 24 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: why you decided to do it, well on what year 25 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: was that it was in in Januar. It was a 26 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: time when it felt like everyone was setting up there 27 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: on cryptocurrency, and a lot of these were vanity currencies. 28 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: There was do you recall Coigny a West, which didn't 29 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: really gets actually launch. And as I remember the story, 30 00:01:57,600 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: I was on vacation Arizona and you d n me 31 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: and and said, there's all these people setting up their 32 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: own cryptocurrency, and there are journalists doing it, and you 33 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,519 Speaker 1: know this is a big problem because you wanted to 34 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,919 Speaker 1: be the first. Yeah, I don't remember. I remember like 35 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: over over over New Year's vacation, around the end of beginning, 36 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: I had this idea, is like, oh, I should launch 37 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,639 Speaker 1: a cryptocurrency. And then I thought, you know who would 38 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: be really interested because he's really fun and he has 39 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: a great sense of humor and a say yes to 40 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 1: new projects. Jouis Devive would be guant. So I message Guan, 41 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: I said, Guan, let's launch our own cryptocurrency, and we 42 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: did it. We did yeah, and I think we got 43 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,919 Speaker 1: ahead of at least the other other cryptocurrencies and in 44 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,399 Speaker 1: media at least go on. As soon as you said 45 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: that Joe needed to be first, Uh, I started laughing, 46 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: because that's the Joe that I recognize. Okay, So you 47 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: make this decision to do it, but it can't be 48 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,359 Speaker 1: that easy, right You have to actually figure out how 49 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: your cryptocurrency is going to work. So how did you 50 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: go about doing that? So at the time in Janu 51 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: there were actually people trying to make it easier. I 52 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,679 Speaker 1: found this paid service and actually paid them amount of 53 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: bitcoin that would probably be worth thousands today. Uh, I'm sorry. 54 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: And it was like a cryptocurrency as a service, you know, 55 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: you paid them some bitcoin, you put in the name 56 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: of your cryptocurrency and the way they would work, and 57 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: they would create it for you. It turned out that 58 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: it didn't work that well. So, you know, like like 59 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: any good artist, I decided to steal something that already existed, 60 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: and the most obvious choice was the scryptocurrency that was 61 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: quite popular back then and it's still pretty popular I think, 62 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: called dogecoin. That how you would pronounce it change. Yeah. 63 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: Dog Coin is um based on a meme of of 64 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: this particular sheep. But you knew that's kind of a 65 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: fox like Japanese dog breed. That's like the Instagram version 66 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: of a Corgi becoming more coin in the US, by 67 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: the way, and there was a particular Japanese sepa named 68 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: Kabosa who became a meme. They were all these captions 69 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: like wow and such something very something moon exactly. Yeah, 70 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: And obviously when that happened in someone had to create 71 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 1: a cryptocurrency based on this poor dog. Well, and the 72 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: other thing is you mentioned stealing, But like all these currencies, 73 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: the code is open for the most part, so Bitcoin, 74 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: light Coin, doge Coin, which I think is based on 75 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,040 Speaker 1: light Coin. All you have to do in a way 76 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: is copy and paste the code and then change a 77 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: few parameters, maybe change the name, and essentially they were 78 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: everyone's kind of copy off of them. Yeah, and until 79 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, all of these cryptocurrencies were 80 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 1: almost all basically copies of Bitcoin. Dots Coin is Space, 81 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: and something called light Coin which changed some some key details, 82 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: but the basic architecture, if you open up the software 83 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: on your computer, they all sort of looked the same, 84 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:00,720 Speaker 1: and in the case of dos coin, changed a lot 85 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: of the menus and the branding to be more mimi. 86 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: Of course, the Stalwart Books was a clone of doge coin, 87 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:09,840 Speaker 1: which was a clone of light Coin, which was a 88 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 1: clone of Big Yeah, we would say a fork right, 89 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,600 Speaker 1: and Stalwart Bucks for those who don't know, Joe's handle 90 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: on Twitter is of course the Stalwart So you named 91 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: it after yourself, even though Guan was doing all the work. 92 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: Of course, have you ever told this the origin story 93 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: of that name? Oh? Yeah, I don't know. I feel 94 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: like I might be an unreliable narrator on this. What's 95 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: your recollective of the origin story? I don't really know. 96 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: You had a some kind of stock tips blog with 97 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: this name or I don't. I don't know what the 98 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: reasoning was. It sounded pretty goofy, like Stalwart Bucks, like 99 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: maybe like some sort of like fake courtesy you would 100 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: get in an arcade or something like that, like that 101 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: you would only be able to use to play video 102 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: games or something. I think, in retrospect, though it may 103 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: have been our first error is not giving it more 104 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,359 Speaker 1: august and serious sounding there. And I think that that 105 00:05:57,520 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: right off the bat may have said a song the 106 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 1: wrong the wrong fund. Yeah, you know, it was that 107 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: like many startups, it was like that rushed to launch. Yeah, 108 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: it's not always a good idea. Okay, so we have 109 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: a little bit of foreshadowing there of what's to come. 110 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: But you know, you mentioned star wart Bucks is a 111 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: clone of doge coin, which is a clone of light coin. 112 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: And this is a question I always have about cryptocurrencies, 113 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: which is that anyone can launch these things, and so 114 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: in order to be successful you kind of have to 115 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: focus on either first mover or advantage or adoption. So 116 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: what was your big plan to get people on board 117 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: with star war Books. Well, so this was actually the 118 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: one idea that I think we were pretty legitimately ahead 119 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: of our time on. So obviously the trend in was 120 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: initial coin offerings, and the premise would be that of 121 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: many of these coin offerings that the token has some 122 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 1: sort of redeemable value. So for example, some projects are 123 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: we've seen like, oh, you could use this token to 124 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: buy storage space on people's computer for data or something 125 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: like that. And we are the idea that every month, 126 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: Guan and I would host a dinner among journalists or 127 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: among people, and we would like get together and talk 128 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: about economics or cryptocurrencies, and that to come to the dinner, 129 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 1: you would have to pay install wart books and that 130 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: that would sort of set a floor for the currency. 131 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: So if it was really desirable to come to this dinner, 132 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: then people would have to bid up for the currency 133 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: to get it. One of the first currencies I think 134 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: to attempt to underpin the currency with real world value. 135 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: You did have to pay for the food separately, right, 136 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: So it didn't get the currency, didn't even get you 137 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: the food. It just got you the ability to come 138 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: to the dinner the honor of being there. Okay, so 139 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: how many of these dinners did you actually hold and 140 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: what was adoption? Like, I think we've had about ten, 141 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: ten or eleven so far over the course of we've 142 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 1: had we've had I think we've had more than that. 143 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: I bet we've had close to twenty and we still 144 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: have them. But even starting from the first one, I 145 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: think we were never actually able to convince people to 146 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 1: actually use the currency to come. So we insist that 147 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: you and I think at the first dinner, maybe about 148 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: half the people at the dinner actually paid the required 149 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: fee in stalwart books and and lately it's been a 150 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: lot less than that zero. Wait, so how did people 151 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: actually go about acquiring stal Wart books? So there were 152 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: basically two ways, and one is that you could buy 153 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: Stalwart Bucks from someone who already had them, or you 154 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: could get them and I would often just give them 155 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: out free just for for fun. And and like most cryptocurrencies, 156 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: the other way that you could get them is by 157 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: mining them by solving this this computational problem, this math 158 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: problem basically, and the blockchain, the software would then award 159 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: you some Stalwart bucks as as a reward for for 160 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 1: spending some you know, some time on your computer and 161 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: some electricity to solve this problem for us. And people 162 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: were mining them, right, people, you were probably the biggest miner. 163 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:05,959 Speaker 1: But what's the history of the mining. I think that 164 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: you and I only control that ten or fifteen percent 165 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 1: of all the star wart Bucks in existence, So I 166 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: would say the vast majority of the star wart Bucks 167 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: were mined by other people who who are not sitting 168 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: in this room. Right, So how many star wart Bucks 169 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: are in existence? Now? This is a good Yeah, there's 170 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:26,320 Speaker 1: a lot to this. So if you you know, if 171 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: you if I check in the database, it's uh it's 172 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: it's it's about ten or fifteen ten and fifteen billion. 173 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: But then also another error that we may have made 174 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: in terms of serious adoption is didn't we make it 175 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: so that they were mined and increments of one or 176 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: like that each coin, each allocation was then from the 177 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: moment you started, you were everyone the moment they acquired 178 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,080 Speaker 1: anything was a stalwart boxing billionaire. Do you want to 179 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:55,559 Speaker 1: explain that? Yes, so that that was the original goal, 180 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: that you know, you would be mining increments of a 181 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: billion or maybe ten or or a large multiple of 182 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:04,560 Speaker 1: a billion. Unfortunately, the bitcoin Slash light Coin slash dosecoins 183 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: software that we used, the field that they used to 184 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: store how many coins you have was not big enough 185 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: to both be mining and increments of a billion and 186 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,679 Speaker 1: and have a reasonable amount in existence. Right, So this 187 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: was like the really where the user experience in my 188 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: recollection broke down because you would instantly when you would 189 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: first get them, you would immediately get like a billion 190 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 1: or actually several bills, but we would just label them 191 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:32,679 Speaker 1: as a billion stalwart bucks in the software, so when 192 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:34,679 Speaker 1: you looked at it, it would look it would say 193 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: you know, and then we would wrote write b sp x, 194 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:43,480 Speaker 1: so was was getting those? Sorry, was mining those? And 195 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: increments of a billion? Was that supposed to be a 196 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: gimmick just to get more people on board so that 197 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: they can say that they're star wart Bucks billionaires. Yeah, 198 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: I think you could say that that was a gimmick. Okay. 199 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: And the amount of Stalwart Bucks in existence, I mean 200 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: crypto proposed. It's often talk about how bitcoin is sort 201 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: of self limiting, there's a limited supply um in existence 202 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: and in essence the thing is kind of deflationary. Was 203 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: that the same idea for Stalwart Books as well? No, 204 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,959 Speaker 1: we decided not to limit the amount of listens. No, 205 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: it just keeps going. But it's growing very slowly now 206 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 1: and now it's a thousand per per mining. So it 207 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: does as it does decline on a predictable schedule. It's 208 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: just there's no hard limit, there's no limiting. It'll go 209 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: on forever, unlike say Bitcoin, where eventually you're gonna keep mining, 210 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: but there no new bitcoin will be created. At some 211 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: point in fact, bitcoin will be destroyed as people lose 212 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: their their passwords and so forth. So do you have 213 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: any idea of who else was mining or even buying 214 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: Stalwart Books? So? I think most of the miners sort 215 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,080 Speaker 1: of in in headcount, or people who knew about it 216 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: from the finance Twitter community, like a few though, like 217 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: on Twitter, who from crypto I think the early crypto 218 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: Twitter from back then, I think we would see people 219 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:06,560 Speaker 1: tweeted about mining it from time to Yeah, but yeah, 220 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: they're also people just sort of from the broader crypto 221 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:13,240 Speaker 1: community who already had a big mining rig and who um, 222 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: I don't know if anyone really took it that seriously, 223 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:17,800 Speaker 1: but who took their big mining rig and said, you know, 224 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: for the next couple of hours, I'm just gonna mind 225 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 1: stalwart bucks. Why not? I think at the time. These days, 226 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: I don't think anyone who actually had any significant hash 227 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,559 Speaker 1: power or mining rig would waste their time on something 228 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:35,000 Speaker 1: like that. But it's still in twenty In early it 229 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: was still like mostly weirdos and hobbyists, and even judging 230 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,080 Speaker 1: by the seriousness with which we took this project, no 231 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:44,800 Speaker 1: one knew that crypto is going to be as big 232 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: then as it is now obviously, so I think maybe 233 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: it was a little bit more of a tolerance or 234 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: interest and sort of quirky projects like this just for 235 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,080 Speaker 1: the fun of it, wouldn't you say, yeah, I think 236 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:00,079 Speaker 1: none of the cryptocurrencies that people talk about now are 237 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:06,559 Speaker 1: or even mean based at all. That's really sad, right. So, 238 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: one of the pervasive problems in many parts of crypto 239 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,719 Speaker 1: land right now is this idea of crypto whales, or 240 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:18,560 Speaker 1: people who own big proportions of a certain coin, notably 241 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 1: Bitcoin for instance. Do you have any suspicions that there's 242 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: someone out there who, given possibly the limited participation that 243 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,079 Speaker 1: you had in stalt Wart Bucks. Forgive me for saying so, 244 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: do you have any suspicion that there's one or two 245 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,719 Speaker 1: people out there who are holding a big chunk of 246 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 1: the market besides Guan, Yeah, besides squad and yourself. I 247 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,200 Speaker 1: don't think there's anyone who's both a Stalwart Bucks whale 248 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: and remembers that they have Stalwart Bucks. But didn't you 249 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:50,719 Speaker 1: say that one point you're surprised to see that there 250 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:53,680 Speaker 1: was one other, like pretty significant minor in this space. 251 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,400 Speaker 1: There was. Yeah. I don't think we ever figured out 252 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,160 Speaker 1: who that was. It was traded at one point, there 253 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: was an exchange the story with that, do you remember, 254 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 1: I don't really know the backstory. We didn't have any 255 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,439 Speaker 1: contact with them back then. There were lots of crypto exchanges. 256 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: Mount Cox was still in existence in the but there 257 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: were tons of other exchanges that were trading all these 258 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: weird cryptocurrencies like black coin and dochecoin, kitty coin and 259 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: all these others. And the one that we got listed 260 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: on was called cryptocode dot i N So cryptocin end 261 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 1: is India, but it's not necessarily in Indiana. Yeah, I 262 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: don't think they're actually based in India. Yeah, but if 263 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:34,280 Speaker 1: I recall, the only it was traded on this one site, 264 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: and the only pair was stalwart bucks to dogecoins exactly, 265 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: so there was at one point on an exchange you 266 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:47,360 Speaker 1: could trade the doge sp x pair. And so to 267 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,320 Speaker 1: figure out how much is stalwart bucks we're actually worth, 268 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: you had to figure out the stalwart bux doze exchange 269 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: rate on just one exchange, and then the doge to 270 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: bitcoin exchange rate, and then of course the bitcoin to dollars. Yeah, 271 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: and as I recall, the maximum market cap and dollars 272 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: was about fifty dollars. Is that incredible that at one 273 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: point in theory, all of the stllar bucks that existence 274 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: on this very thinly traded exchange, And it's very tenduous 275 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: exchange technically was worth about fifty dollars. You got, you 276 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: guys created a fifty thou out of thin air. That's 277 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: pretty amazing thin air and some electricity. Yeah, that's true. 278 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: So you mentioned price discovery there, Joe. So with without 279 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: the exchange, would there have been any way to figure 280 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 1: out what a star wart book is actually equivalent to 281 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: in fiat currency or other cryptocurrency? I mean, I guess 282 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:48,360 Speaker 1: you could the only other way to do it if 283 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: you don't have exchanged b OTC trades. In other words, 284 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: someone sends Gland a dollar for ten billion starward Bucks whatever, 285 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: and those exist in cryptocracies today, those kind of trade, 286 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: but there would be no transparency or real like market 287 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: price discovery. Back back in there was actually a pretty 288 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: active bitcoin occ market. There were these internet chat rooms 289 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: on on I r C where you could say, you know, 290 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: I'm based in New York, I would like some bitcoin 291 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,720 Speaker 1: at this price, and then you would you you would 292 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: either pay Pal them some money, which PayPal wasn't happy about. 293 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: You might meet them at Starbucks and in exchange dollar 294 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 1: bills and they would transfer some some bitcoin to you. 295 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 1: I kind of feel like that's gonna be the future 296 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: of that. Eventually the crypto market might go back to that. 297 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: It's totally plausible to me to see one day regulators 298 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: be like, you know, we don't want banks to be 299 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges in the future for whatever reason, 300 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: And it's totally plausible to me that the crypto market 301 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,720 Speaker 1: could once again return to people trading bitcoins for cash 302 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: on Starbucks is again. Yeah, they even had this complicated 303 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: reputation system where if you'd completed a successful transaction, there 304 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: was a bot would keep track of your reputation. And 305 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: there were some scams on on that channel too, as 306 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: I recall scams with crypto shocking. So, you know, you 307 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: mentioned that you were acting a little bit like a 308 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: sort of tech startup at the beginning. Were there any 309 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,400 Speaker 1: disagreements that you two had along the way in terms 310 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: of how you were actually constructing or deploying stal Wart Books. 311 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think the biggest regret is 312 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: rushing to market, because I think we got the whole 313 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 1: project done in like three days, and I think that 314 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: if we had waited even like six days, we could 315 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,680 Speaker 1: have made a lot of user experience tweaks that might 316 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 1: not have saved stalwart Bucks, but at least given it 317 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,119 Speaker 1: a slightly better shot like we used. I think we 318 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: just used the existing dogecoin wallet, and that had a 319 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:56,680 Speaker 1: lot of like the doge memes, like the dog pop 320 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,440 Speaker 1: print on it and stuff like that. Probably that would 321 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:03,359 Speaker 1: have been a tweak. Rethinking about how conversion it would 322 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: be to denominate everything in billions might have been helpful, 323 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:12,879 Speaker 1: So a few things like that. I don't think rushing 324 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: out that fast was probably the best move for market adopted. 325 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: And the person they were rushing to beat was Alex 326 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,760 Speaker 1: Hearn of The Guardian, and I don't think he the 327 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:25,639 Speaker 1: hern coin ever really took off he used, didn't he 328 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: use the third party service? I don't remember. I think 329 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: he did. I think I we were so focused on 330 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: beating other people, and of course our project went further 331 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: than everyone else's because I think those were just like 332 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: one day jokes. But if we had put any sort 333 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 1: of serious planning into it, who knows what's gonna happen. 334 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:43,400 Speaker 1: There was a coin that launched a couple of months 335 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,959 Speaker 1: later in Marchen called arts Coin from from the Arts 336 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: Technical Fox, and they put in more than more of 337 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 1: an effort to create tools for it to be useful 338 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:54,879 Speaker 1: to to a normal user, so they had instead of 339 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: having to download this complicated software, you could have an 340 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: account on a website sort of like a bank and 341 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:05,680 Speaker 1: store your art coin there. But it hasn't thrived, has it? Well? 342 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:07,440 Speaker 1: That I guess that makes me feel good because it 343 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: means no matter what we did, ore Is probably wasn't 344 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: gonna thrive either. Yea. And what's the big takeaway that 345 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:19,199 Speaker 1: both of you learned about either cryptocurrencies or normal fiat 346 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: currencies based off your experience. I'll be honest, I'm still 347 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: kind of upset that we were like launching a currency 348 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,200 Speaker 1: and are not insanely rich. Like I kind of feel 349 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: like if we had taken it a little bit more 350 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 1: seriously or a lot actually a lot more seriously, and 351 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: you never know, like it could have been the next 352 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: light cone coin or even like doge coin. I think 353 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,440 Speaker 1: at one point this year had like a total market 354 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: cap like close to a billion dollars. So if you 355 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: have like ten or five or even one percent of that, 356 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,160 Speaker 1: that is really an extraordinary amount of money. And does 357 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: coin has really outlift the doself? Yeah, it has so 358 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: in retrospect, I think like you have to be pretty 359 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,879 Speaker 1: impressed with anyone who is into crypto and launching their 360 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:10,200 Speaker 1: own coins who is not now like incredibly loaded and 361 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:13,880 Speaker 1: necessarly weird to think about. Yeah, I would agree. I'm 362 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:16,440 Speaker 1: also very upset that Joe and I are not insanely rich. 363 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:20,159 Speaker 1: I think one another sort of sad aspect of this 364 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:23,439 Speaker 1: is that the so the original concept was that all 365 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,920 Speaker 1: these dinners would be at Korean barbecue restaurants, and the 366 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: one that we always went to, Kang sue On Street, 367 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: is now closed in all of Korea. Town is you know, 368 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: still thriving, but in a very different form with with 369 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:39,680 Speaker 1: no more mom and pop restaurants. Yeah, but I will 370 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,399 Speaker 1: say on the plus side, you know, we continue to 371 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 1: have these dinners and if there are any odd lots 372 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:48,159 Speaker 1: listeners who want to come to the next one, they 373 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: should shoot me a message. We've met a lot of 374 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: people get those dinners, and we've made like some good 375 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: friends and we always have a good time, and we 376 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:58,440 Speaker 1: usually I think we have like like four or five 377 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:00,919 Speaker 1: a year something like that. We've probably had about four 378 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 1: or five a year since early So something lasting and 379 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: good came out of the project. And one thing that 380 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: I strongly feel about all cryptocurrencies is they are sort 381 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: of like de facto social networks. They only have value 382 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: because people decide they have value, and the ones that 383 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,879 Speaker 1: more people decide have value tend to accumulate more value. 384 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 1: So we sort of got the social networking aspect right, 385 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: just on an incredibly uh micro scale, right, You just 386 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:35,400 Speaker 1: need a bigger social network there, Joe, Yeah, exactly. Well, 387 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 1: that has really been a fascinating discussion. I'm going to 388 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,920 Speaker 1: bring Joe back in as a co host because I 389 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: feel very uncomfortable doing it on my own up. But 390 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: Kwan Yin, thank you so much for joining us again 391 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: on the All Thoughts Podcasts. Really fun episode. Thank you 392 00:21:50,800 --> 00:22:04,719 Speaker 1: for having me uh so show. I know you were 393 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: just talking about this, but one thing that I probably 394 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: am taking away from your experience is the importance of 395 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: the crypto exchanges when it comes to price discovery for 396 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: crypto and sort of legitimizing these things. And to your point, 397 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: I do think the exchanges are really really important to 398 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:25,440 Speaker 1: what we've seen over the past year or so when 399 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: Bitcoin and other coins were really going gangbusters, reaching eighteen dollars, 400 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:33,520 Speaker 1: and I wonder what that market looks like if you 401 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: don't have those functioning exchanges. Oh, I I think there's 402 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:42,159 Speaker 1: no question that the professionalization and security of the exchanges 403 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,800 Speaker 1: the idea that I mean, first of all, a lot 404 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: of these exchanges are most of them. At that time, 405 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,440 Speaker 1: you couldn't even buy bitcoin with fat currency, So the 406 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:55,919 Speaker 1: idea that you can even use dollars to buy cryptocurrency 407 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,440 Speaker 1: these days is kind of extraordinary. And I think a 408 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: lot about like these exchanges as being the pipes in 409 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:05,800 Speaker 1: for money, and back then the pipes were incredibly thin, 410 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 1: and these days the pipes in have gotten a lot thicker. 411 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: But of course we know from the efforts to have 412 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: e t fs and to have futures and all other 413 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:21,160 Speaker 1: sort of cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin traded on more traditional exchanges. 414 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,119 Speaker 1: Within the community, there's still a huge effort to just 415 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 1: make it as easy as buying anything else, and that's 416 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: very important I think for sort of financial adoption. Yeah, 417 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: and as much as people complain about the difficulty of 418 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: buying or selling crypto using various services, it has come 419 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: a long way in a relatively short amount of time. Uh, Joe, 420 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: I have one more question for you. Yeah, can I 421 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: have a star Wart book? I'm gonna you'll have to 422 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,879 Speaker 1: give one from Guan because I never I have to 423 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:56,360 Speaker 1: admit that I had my wallet only on some computer 424 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: at my old job, which I left like four years ago. 425 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: So I am a I'm broke in Starbucks. I have 426 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: zero stalwart Bucks. But Guan actually does still have his 427 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:10,000 Speaker 1: functioning wallets. And I have a feeling that next time 428 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: you're in town, maybe we'll have a star wart Bucks 429 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: dinner and if you want to properly pay, he would 430 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: be glad to give you some so that you can 431 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: pay your entry faith. All right, another valuable lesson about 432 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:24,919 Speaker 1: keeping your wallets safe. Yeah, this has been another episode 433 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: of the Odd Lots podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway. You can 434 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at Tracy Alloway, and I'm Joe Wisenthal. 435 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,920 Speaker 1: You could follow me on Twitter at the Stalwart and 436 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: you should follow Guan on Twitter at Juan And you 437 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 1: should follow our producer on Twitter to for Foreheads. He's 438 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 1: at foreheads T, as well as the Bloomberg head of podcast, 439 00:24:46,080 --> 00:25:05,760 Speaker 1: Francesco Levie at Francesca Today. Thanks for listening. The year 440 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: e