Episode 35
Banking on Bitcoin | Solving the Problem of Credit Using Distributed Applications | Alex Mashinsky
Episode 35
Alex Mashinsky
Banking on Bitcoin | Solving the Problem of Credit Using Distributed Applications | Alex Mashinsky
summary
In this week’s episode of Hidden Forces, host Demetri Kofinas speaks with Alex Mashinsky. Alex is the founder, and CEO of Celsius, a next generation lending wallet that aims to be the ‘Killer App’ of the bitcoin and cryptocurrency revolution. Celsius attempts to overcome the limitations of a traditional banking system by leveraging technology and rethinking lending for the 21st century. A serial entrepreneur, Mashinsky is the founder of seven New York City-based startups with over three billion dollars’ worth of exits to his name. He is a serial inventor with over 35 patents, relating to exchanges, VOIP protocols, messaging & communication. Alex Mashinksy is also one of the inventors of Voice Over Internet Protocol with a foundational patent dating back to 1994.
In their conversation, Demetri attempts to understand the mechanics behind the Celsius Network, as well as how the company intends to manage risk, execute short sales on behalf of institutional clients, and lower borrowing costs for its users. Who are Celsius’ main competitors, and how does its lending wallet differ from the competition? How are loans issued on the Celsius network? How does the CEL token work, and how does it incentivize the network to service its customers and not some financial middleman? What is the revenue model for this network? How does Celsius generate income from lending, short sales, and staking? What are some of the unintended consequences that could arise from a securitization market in cryptocurrencies? What are the risks associated with hoarding utility tokens in a proof-of-stake system? Could Celsius and other networks become central points of attack for malicious actors looking to destabilize the Ethereum once it moves from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake? Finally, what is the timeline for Celsius’ new wallet and how soon will crypto holders be able to rely on it as a real source of credit and interest-bearing income?
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation at @hiddenforcespod
bio
Alex Mashinsky was born into communism, reared under socialism, and is currently thriving under capitalism. He is a prominent Israeli-American entrepreneur who has founded several companies over the years, including GroundLink, Transit Wireless, Elematics and Arbinet.
Alex’s success as an entrepreneur stems from his acute ability to identify winning trends and assemble world-class teams. Two of his companies, Arbinet and Transit Wireless achieved a monopolistic hold in their respective industries and pioneered new business models and technologies used today.
Alex has a long history with tech in fact, evidenced by his powerful intellectual property portfolio. He has authored over 50 patents that cover aspects of the Smart Grid, Ad exchanges, Groupon, Twitter, Skype, App Store, Netflix streaming concept and many other top performing web companies. He is one of the leading evangelists of web-based exchanges and is even considered to be one of the early developers of VOIP.
Due to his extensive experience as a prolific inventor and a business strategist, Alex has been a featured speaker at over 120 international conferences. He has also made numerous TV appearances on talk shows.
He has received numerous awards, notably the prestigious Albert Einstein Technology Medal in 2000, the Technology Foresight Award for Innovation (presented in Geneva at Telecom ’99) and Crain’s Top Entrepreneur Award in 2010. He has also been nominated for E&Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002 and 2011.
After years of entrepreneurship, Alex subsequently gravitated towards investing in startups, founding his early stage venture capital firm, Governing Dynamics. Over the years, Alex has raised over $1 billion in venture and private equity funds to help position his startups as leaders in their fields. Arbinet’s fundraising efforts were even documented in an HBS case study in 2001.
Currently based in New York, Alex serves as a Managing Partner of Governing Dynamics. The firm has a keen interest in helping Israeli startups scale-up in the United States. The immense growth potential of the “startup nation” and its advances in high-tech – particularly in AI, biotech and cybersecurity – interests Alex greatly, who has a strong affiliation with Israel.
Having grown up, attended college and served in the military there, many of his ventures started out based in Israel – which he then went on to scale in the US. Thus, he has been fostering Israeli-American business ties for years, and he hopes to continue to do so with his work at Governing Dynamics.
Alex has invested in over 60 startups over the years, recording many successes and an equal number of failures. As a prominent figure in the New York entrepreneurial scene, he has previously been a member of the YPO’s NYC chamber. He believes that “the secret to success is finding something to do in which your skills can exceed your ambitions.”
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nihil acciderat ei, quod nollet, nisi quod anulum, quo delectabatur, in mari abiecerat. Mene ergo et Triarium dignos existimas, apud quos turpiter loquare? Claudii libidini, qui tum erat summo ne imperio, dederetur. Philosophi autem in suis lectulis plerumque moriuntur. Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Quodsi ipsam honestatem undique pertectam atque absolutam. Quasi vero, inquit, perpetua oratio rhetorum solum, non etiam philosophorum sit. Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum mediocri amico. Nec vero pietas adversus deos nec quanta iis gratia debeatur sine explicatione naturae intellegi potest.
Idemne potest esse dies saepius, qui semel fuit? In ipsa enim parum magna vis inest, ut quam optime se habere possit, si nulla cultura adhibeatur. Haec para/doca illi, nos admirabilia dicamus. Est igitur officium eius generis, quod nec in bonis ponatur nec in contrariis. Vos autem cum perspicuis dubia debeatis illustrare, dubiis perspicua conamini tollere. Fortasse id optimum, sed ubi illud: Plus semper voluptatis? Totum genus hoc Zeno et qui ab eo sunt aut non potuerunt aut noluerunt, certe reliquerunt. Huius, Lyco, oratione locuples, rebus ipsis ielunior. Sit hoc ultimum bonorum, quod nunc a me defenditur; Duarum enim vitarum nobis erunt instituta capienda.
Habent enim et bene longam et satis litigiosam disputationem. Ne vitationem quidem doloris ipsam per se quisquam in rebus expetendis putavit, nisi etiam evitare posset. Nulla profecto est, quin suam vim retineat a primo ad extremum. Rationis enim perfectio est virtus; Istam voluptatem perpetuam quis potest praestare sapienti? Non enim iam stirpis bonum quaeret, sed animalis.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Urgent tamen et nihil remittunt. Possumusne ergo in vita summum bonum dicere, cum id ne in cena quidem posse videamur? Satis est ad hoc responsum. Cur deinde Metrodori liberos commendas?
Maximas vero virtutes iacere omnis necesse est voluptate dominante. Piso, familiaris noster, et alia multa et hoc loco Stoicos irridebat: Quid enim? Quis enim redargueret? Illis videtur, qui illud non dubitant bonum dicere -; Ego quoque, inquit, didicerim libentius si quid attuleris, quam te reprehenderim. Quid ergo hoc loco intellegit honestum? Tollitur beneficium, tollitur gratia, quae sunt vincla concordiae. Unum est sine dolore esse, alterum cum voluptate. Hoc enim identidem dicitis, non intellegere nos quam dicatis voluptatem. Et hunc idem dico, inquieta sed ad virtutes et ad vitia nihil interesse. Qui autem esse poteris, nisi te amor ipse ceperit?
Praetereo multos, in bis doctum hominem et suavem, Hieronymum, quem iam cur Peripateticum appellem nescio. Et quidem saepe quaerimus verbum Latinum par Graeco et quod idem valeat; Nunc agendum est subtilius. Sed erat aequius Triarium aliquid de dissensione nostra iudicare. Sit ista in Graecorum levitate perversitas, qui maledictis insectantur eos, a quibus de veritate dissentiunt. -delector enim, quamquam te non possum, ut ais, corrumpere, delector, inquam, et familia vestra et nomine. Tubulum fuisse, qua illum, cuius is condemnatus est rogatione, P. Et ais, si una littera commota sit, fore tota ut labet disciplina.
Quae in controversiam veniunt, de iis, si placet, disseramus. Quis tibi ergo istud dabit praeter Pyrrhonem, Aristonem eorumve similes, quos tu non probas? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Ut in geometria, prima si dederis, danda sunt omnia. Indicant pueri, in quibus ut in speculis natura cernitur. Sine ea igitur iucunde negat posse se vivere?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed haec nihil sane ad rem; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Sed quid attinet de rebus tam apertis plura requirere? Verum esto: verbum ipsum voluptatis non habet dignitatem, nec nos fortasse intellegimus. Ita relinquet duas, de quibus etiam atque etiam consideret. Si autem id non concedatur, non continuo vita beata tollitur. Quid est igitur, cur ita semper deum appellet Epicurus beatum et aeternum?
Septem autem illi non suo, sed populorum suffragio omnium nominati sunt. Tum Piso: Atqui, Cicero, inquit, ista studia, si ad imitandos summos viros spectant, ingeniosorum sunt; In eo enim positum est id, quod dicimus esse expetendum. Nihil ad rem! Ne sit sane; Sed venio ad inconstantiae crimen, ne saepius dicas me aberrare; Nihilo beatiorem esse Metellum quam Regulum. Minime vero istorum quidem, inquit. Itaque primos congressus copulationesque et consuetudinum instituendarum voluntates fieri propter voluptatem; Non enim solum Torquatus dixit quid sentiret, sed etiam cur. Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus.
Ut nemo dubitet, eorum omnia officia quo spectare, quid sequi, quid fugere debeant? Cur deinde Metrodori liberos commendas? Ego vero isti, inquam, permitto. Profectus in exilium Tubulus statim nec respondere ausus; Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus. Illa videamus, quae a te de amicitia dicta sunt. Expressa vero in iis aetatibus, quae iam confirmatae sunt. Sed mehercule pergrata mihi oratio tua.
Hos contra singulos dici est melius. Que Manilium, ab iisque M. Non enim solum Torquatus dixit quid sentiret, sed etiam cur. Sapiens autem semper beatus est et est aliquando in dolore; Atque haec coniunctio confusioque virtutum tamen a philosophis ratione quadam distinguitur. Et quidem iure fortasse, sed tamen non gravissimum est testimonium multitudinis. Quippe: habes enim a rhetoribus; Illa tamen simplicia, vestra versuta. Restatis igitur vos; Quam tu ponis in verbis, ego positam in re putabam.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Eadem nunc mea adversum te oratio est. Sed utrum hortandus es nobis, Luci, inquit, an etiam tua sponte propensus es? Si enim ad populum me vocas, eum. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Non modo carum sibi quemque, verum etiam vehementer carum esse? Oratio me istius philosophi non offendit; Mene ergo et Triarium dignos existimas, apud quos turpiter loquare?
Ad eas enim res ab Epicuro praecepta dantur. Quamquam ab iis philosophiam et omnes ingenuas disciplinas habemus; Paria sunt igitur. Tum Quintus: Est plane, Piso, ut dicis, inquit. Quae cum essent dicta, discessimus. Itaque a sapientia praecipitur se ipsam, si usus sit, sapiens ut relinquat. In qua quid est boni praeter summam voluptatem, et eam sempiternam? Minime vero probatur huic disciplinae, de qua loquor, aut iustitiam aut amicitiam propter utilitates adscisci aut probari.
Si qua in iis corrigere voluit, deteriora fecit. Egone quaeris, inquit, quid sentiam? Ut optime, secundum naturam affectum esse possit. Indicant pueri, in quibus ut in speculis natura cernitur. Sed quid sentiat, non videtis. Consequentia exquirere, quoad sit id, quod volumus, effectum. Addidisti ad extremum etiam indoctum fuisse.
In eo enim positum est id, quod dicimus esse expetendum. Cave putes quicquam esse verius.