E131: @diogomonica: Why DEFI will NEVER WORK, unless these two things change! Diogo Monica is the General Partner at @HaunVentures, President at @NEARFoundation, and the co-founder of @Anchorage. Join me for this captivating 2-hour conversation with Diogo - a crypto founder turned VC, now backing the next wave of blockchain innovation and driving mainstream adoption through Anchorage Digital, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:54 Partnerships: @JupiterExchange, @KASTcard, @BitwiseInvest, @SuiNetwork, @Mantle_Official, @ForzaBitcoin 2:44 Beauty Privilege Is Real 3:26 Why Fitness Builds Trust 8:30 Who is Diogo Mónica? 9:56 Self-Custody with @Trezor 10:48 Silicon Valley Changed Everything 12:03 Why I Left San Francisco 15:52 The Crypto Traveling Circus 18:31 Stablecoins & FinTech Founders 20:36 Ambition Through Discomfort 23:17 Retirement Is a Myth 25:25 The Evolution of Jack Dorsey 27:37 The Cost of Working Sundays 29:10 Working Sundays & Culture 33:51 Missionaries vs. Mercenaries 36:26 The Loneliness of Founders 38:09 Why Starting Is Easier Now 40:32 Watching Your Team Disappear 43:13 Hiring Self-Starters Only 45:29 Why Most Startups Fail 51:56 Is Life a Single-Player Game? 53:28 The Struggles of Solo Founders 55:43 The $1.5M Bitcoin Mistake 58:13 The Magic of Zero to One 58:50 Why Zero to One Needs In-Person 1:00:02 Scaling From One To Hundred 1:00:54 From Employee To Multi-Founder 1:05:10 Proactive Mental Health Care 1:06:24 Starting Couple Therapy Early 1:07:24 Founder Burnout Is Common 1:09:33 Entrepreneurs Becoming VCs 1:10:35 Founder Vs. Venture Investor 1:12:41 Why VCs Seem Arrogant 1:15:13 Why Founders Make Bad VCs 1:16:20 VCs Have Higher Expected Value 1:19:01 The Accountability Gap In VC 1:21:19 Why I Joined Haun Ventures 1:23:39 Balancing Work And Family Life 1:26:42 When Family Changes Priorities 1:28:26 What Does Enough Mean? 1:30:24 Balancing Happiness and Anxiety 1:32:35 Contrarian Views on AI 1:34:04 Changing Minds Through Debate 1:37:41 The New Default Career Path 1:39:07 Crypto’s Incentive Problem 1:42:07 Prediction for the Next 12 Months 1:43:30 Concluding Remarks

Anchorage just launched a Stablecoin Issuance Platform, and our first issuer is @ethena_labs's USDtb.

Ethena is set to become the first stablecoin developer whose product has a clear path to full compliance with the U.S. GENIUS Act Through our partnership with @Anchorage, the only federally chartered crypto bank, USDtb will move onshore to become a U.S. federally regulated payment stablecoin

@diogomonica thinks the first true on-chain IPO is coming! Diogo predicts a tipping point in the next 12 months: the first real-world asset with utility value being fully integrated into DeFi - and maybe even the first on-chain IPO. Imagine a token issued on-chain, underwritten transparently, with no detour through legacy exchanges or banks. The tech is ready. The players are moving. If it happens, it’ll be a foundational shift in how we think about going public - and who gets to participate. Podcast out this week! @HaunVentures @Anchorage @NEARProtocol

In the Charts, Episode 7: Boomers Won’t Retire, Gen Z Won’t Bank 🎙️In this episode @diogomonica, @brxckinridg, and @ahnchrisj are joined by their first-ever guest host — @HaunVentures GC @jamesrathmell — to unpack venture exits, bull market?, and why Gen Z might skip the bank account entirely. 00:30 – Venture-backed exits are weird rn 05:54 – Spectrum of exit opportunities (onchain IPOs) 08:00 – Bull market? 15:00 – Gen Z's fintech future: wallets > wire transfers 22:00 – Social platforms as the fintechs of the future 25:00 – Boomers aren’t retiring. What happens next?

In the Charts, Episode 7: Boomers Won’t Retire, Gen Z Won’t Bank 🎙️In this episode @diogomonica, @brxckinridge, and @ahnchrisj are joined by their first-ever guest host — @HaunVentures GC @jamesrathmell — to unpack venture exits, bull market?, and why Gen Z might skip the bank account entirely. 00:30 – Venture-backed exits are weird rn 05:54 – Spectrum of exit opportunities (onchain IPOs) 08:00 – Bull market? 15:00 – Gen Z's fintech future: wallets > wire transfers 22:00 – Social platforms as the fintechs of the future 25:00 – Boomers aren’t retiring. What happens next?

This Thursday, I'm releasing a 100-minute conversation with @diogomonica, General Partner at @HaunVentures, President at @NEARProtocol, and co-founder of @Anchorage Digital. Diogo Mónica is a powerhouse at the cutting edge of crypto and fintech. He’s investing in the next wave of blockchain innovation and serves as the Executive Chairman of Anchorage Digital, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S. Additionally, he chairs the NEAR Foundation, shaping the future of the NEAR Protocol ecosystem. We talk about: - Balancing life with 2 young kids with a demanding job - Why he believes that in the next 12 months, we will see the first on-chain IPO - How DEFI will never work - unless founders have four-year cliffs and seven seven-year vesting periods - How anger can be a positive driving force when harnessed properly - Leaving Portugal to move to Silicon Valley - How discomfort leads to growth - Working with Jack Dorsey - How starting your own company accelerates knowledge building And much, much more... Out this Thursday!

Can’t wait for the stablecoin treasury play: raise dollars to put stablecoins on the balance sheet and trade on hype!

Breaking 🚨 | Extreme Poverty Drops 18.2% YoY to 7.4%, Driven by Real Wage Growth Outpacing Inflation for First Time Since 2020

ChatGPT's growth really is staggering. 800 million monthly users in under 3 years. Curiously, only 20 million (2.5%) are paying subscribers. I expect that to go up one order of magnitude over the next year.