Hosted by @alextapscott. Crypto, fintech and AI — straight from the builders, investors and policymakers. New guest every week. Since 2021.
Toronto, Canada
Joined September 2023
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Episode 251: The Man in the Arena: Olympic Wrestler Turned Founder Jeff Adamson of Neo Financial on Why Canada Is Playing to Win
@alextapscott @jeffcanadamson @neofinancial @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:52 Wrestling in a Saskatoon attic, and seeing excellence up close
6:54 Why combat sports are a language
9:14 Individual sport, team company - and why being great in Canada isn't enough
13:09 Post-Olympics: "I literally Googled what a startup was"
16:12 The delivery decision that almost killed Skip
17:13 Going head-to-head with DoorDash and Uber Eats on no capital
19:50 Leaving Skip and why banking was the next problem
22:02 2008 as the best marketing coup the banks ever got
25:00 How friction lets fees creep up, unconsciously coordinated
27:13 The Costco effect: negotiating deposit rates on behalf of billions
28:24 Deposit flight, stablecoins, and what's coming for Canadian banks
30:49 Hot money, agentic finance, and bidding on your tap
34:47 Why fintech 1.0 wrappers broke when cheap money ended
37:29 Credit, home ownership, and underwriting with AI
39:18 Credit bureaus older than women's suffrage
43:36 Canada's moment, and building for a global stage
48:46 Joining a startup: ask if you'll learn, not if it'll work
Also, there's always a pod for that:
'Dying on ETH Maxi Hill' with @AndrewY_SX
youtube.com/watch?v=EASpYobf…
The DeFi Decoded Podcast retweeted
JP Morgan will make $107 BILLION on net interest income (NII) next year.
NII, simply put, is the difference between what the bank pays for deposits and what it earns on its loans.
Rates are rising. Your savings rate isn’t.
That’s why banks fought to ban stablecoin yield in GENIUS and even modest rewards in CLARITY.
They’re protecting the spread, not you.
WATCH THE BANKS: This is JPMorgan's stock price tracked against its net interest income. The bank said that NII is set to expand by almost $10 billion next year to roughly $107 billion -- that's even as JPM, Citi and Wells combined just set a record quarter for NII. It's one reason you've seen the stock reverse its losses this morning even as trading fees and capital markets become somewhat more muted.
Being great in Canada is just not enough. We need to be competing on a global stage — and I want to set that example.
— @jeffcanadamson, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer of @neofinancial
Episode 251: The Man in the Arena: Olympic Wrestler Turned Founder Jeff Adamson of Neo Financial on Why Canada Is Playing to Win
@alextapscott @jeffcanadamson @neofinancial @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:52 Wrestling in a Saskatoon attic, and seeing excellence up close
6:54 Why combat sports are a language
9:14 Individual sport, team company - and why being great in Canada isn't enough
13:09 Post-Olympics: "I literally Googled what a startup was"
16:12 The delivery decision that almost killed Skip
17:13 Going head-to-head with DoorDash and Uber Eats on no capital
19:50 Leaving Skip and why banking was the next problem
22:02 2008 as the best marketing coup the banks ever got
25:00 How friction lets fees creep up, unconsciously coordinated
27:13 The Costco effect: negotiating deposit rates on behalf of billions
28:24 Deposit flight, stablecoins, and what's coming for Canadian banks
30:49 Hot money, agentic finance, and bidding on your tap
34:47 Why fintech 1.0 wrappers broke when cheap money ended
37:29 Credit, home ownership, and underwriting with AI
39:18 Credit bureaus older than women's suffrage
43:36 Canada's moment, and building for a global stage
48:46 Joining a startup: ask if you'll learn, not if it'll work
A friend said "what about doing a startup?" I thought he was missing a word. I literally Googled "what is a startup."
— @jeffcanadamson, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer of @neofinancial
Episode 251: The Man in the Arena: Olympic Wrestler Turned Founder Jeff Adamson of Neo Financial on Why Canada Is Playing to Win
@alextapscott @jeffcanadamson @neofinancial @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:52 Wrestling in a Saskatoon attic, and seeing excellence up close
6:54 Why combat sports are a language
9:14 Individual sport, team company - and why being great in Canada isn't enough
13:09 Post-Olympics: "I literally Googled what a startup was"
16:12 The delivery decision that almost killed Skip
17:13 Going head-to-head with DoorDash and Uber Eats on no capital
19:50 Leaving Skip and why banking was the next problem
22:02 2008 as the best marketing coup the banks ever got
25:00 How friction lets fees creep up, unconsciously coordinated
27:13 The Costco effect: negotiating deposit rates on behalf of billions
28:24 Deposit flight, stablecoins, and what's coming for Canadian banks
30:49 Hot money, agentic finance, and bidding on your tap
34:47 Why fintech 1.0 wrappers broke when cheap money ended
37:29 Credit, home ownership, and underwriting with AI
39:18 Credit bureaus older than women's suffrage
43:36 Canada's moment, and building for a global stage
48:46 Joining a startup: ask if you'll learn, not if it'll work
The DeFi Decoded Podcast retweeted
Most people won’t pay for AI.
My guess: paid adoption tops out around 16%, roughly the share who pay for online news.
For everyone else, free will be good enough.
98% of US households aren't paying for AI yet
More charts in State of Markets II: a16z.news/p/state-of-markets…
The DeFi Decoded Podcast retweeted
This was one of the most thoughtful and fun interviews I’ve done this year.
@jeffcanadamson weighed in on how @neofinancial is building the future of finance, why fintech 2.0 differs from the first era, and how Canadian builders are moving differently now.
As Jeff says “being great in Canada is just not enough”
Check it out 👇
Everyone has a character arc getting to their first company. Mine runs through a warehouse attic in Saskatoon, where the guys coming off the mats had grown up a block over and become national champions.
— @jeffcanadamson, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer of @neofinancial
Everyone has a character arc getting to their first company. Mine runs through a warehouse attic in Saskatoon, where the guys coming off the mats had grown up a block over and become national champions.
— @jeffcanadamson, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer of @neofinancial
Episode 251: The Man in the Arena: Olympic Wrestler Turned Founder Jeff Adamson of Neo Financial on Why Canada Is Playing to Win
@alextapscott @jeffcanadamson @neofinancial @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:52 Wrestling in a Saskatoon attic, and seeing excellence up close
6:54 Why combat sports are a language
9:14 Individual sport, team company - and why being great in Canada isn't enough
13:09 Post-Olympics: "I literally Googled what a startup was"
16:12 The delivery decision that almost killed Skip
17:13 Going head-to-head with DoorDash and Uber Eats on no capital
19:50 Leaving Skip and why banking was the next problem
22:02 2008 as the best marketing coup the banks ever got
25:00 How friction lets fees creep up, unconsciously coordinated
27:13 The Costco effect: negotiating deposit rates on behalf of billions
28:24 Deposit flight, stablecoins, and what's coming for Canadian banks
30:49 Hot money, agentic finance, and bidding on your tap
34:47 Why fintech 1.0 wrappers broke when cheap money ended
37:29 Credit, home ownership, and underwriting with AI
39:18 Credit bureaus older than women's suffrage
43:36 Canada's moment, and building for a global stage
48:46 Joining a startup: ask if you'll learn, not if it'll work
The DeFi Decoded Podcast retweeted
New DeFi Decoded is out!
Awesome discussion with @jeffcanadamson, co-founder of @neofinancial.
Before startups, Jeff was a Canadian wrestling champion and Olympian. Then he co-founded SkipTheDishes, a massive Canadian success story.
His encore? Reinventing finance from the ground up with Neo Financial.
We went long for good reason. Topics include:
• How elite sport prepares you for founder life
• Why being great in Canada is no longer good enough
• Resilience in business and life: getting back up every time you hit the mat
• Fintech 1.0’s “digital wallpaper” vs. Fintech 2.0’s digitally native, agentic finance
• How Neo thinks about AI and the future of banking
And plenty more.
Episode 251: The Man in the Arena: Olympic Wrestler Turned Founder Jeff Adamson of Neo Financial on Why Canada Is Playing to Win
@alextapscott @jeffcanadamson @neofinancial @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:52 Wrestling in a Saskatoon attic, and seeing excellence up close
6:54 Why combat sports are a language
9:14 Individual sport, team company - and why being great in Canada isn't enough
13:09 Post-Olympics: "I literally Googled what a startup was"
16:12 The delivery decision that almost killed Skip
17:13 Going head-to-head with DoorDash and Uber Eats on no capital
19:50 Leaving Skip and why banking was the next problem
22:02 2008 as the best marketing coup the banks ever got
25:00 How friction lets fees creep up, unconsciously coordinated
27:13 The Costco effect: negotiating deposit rates on behalf of billions
28:24 Deposit flight, stablecoins, and what's coming for Canadian banks
30:49 Hot money, agentic finance, and bidding on your tap
34:47 Why fintech 1.0 wrappers broke when cheap money ended
37:29 Credit, home ownership, and underwriting with AI
39:18 Credit bureaus older than women's suffrage
43:36 Canada's moment, and building for a global stage
48:46 Joining a startup: ask if you'll learn, not if it'll work
The DeFi Decoded Podcast retweeted
The CLARITY Act failed—but crypto got some clarity anyway.
The SEC and CFTC stepped in where Congress did not.
Will rulemaking be enough to unlock the next wave of crypto adoption—or will the momentum prove fleeting?
My take for @CoinDesk in this week’s Crypto for Advisors 👇
Every cycle before this one was driven by price. This one is being driven by companies that actually want to use the thing.
— @alextapscott, CEO of @CMCC_Global Capital Markets
Episode 250: Will Aave Eat Wall Street? with Luigi D'Onorio DeMeo of Aave Labs
@alextapscott @luigidemeo @aave @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:48 Leaving Avalanche and landing at Aave
7:17 From ETHLend to the largest lending protocol in crypto
11:16 $80B in deposits, no back office
12:12 How overcollateralized lending works and why people borrow
15:49 Why Celsius and BlockFi blew up and Aave didn't
18:46 What's being built on top of Aave
21:12 Life after CLARITY, and the cost of uncertainty
23:55 Does uncertainty advantage the risk-tolerant?
26:20 Why stablecoins cut at the heart of the bank model
29:29 Deposit insurance as a taxpayer subsidy
31:22 Fintech as digital wallpaper and why that's ending
33:34 Moving loans off balance sheets and onto Aave
37:23 The DTCC and the next killer app
I speak to every fintech out there, and every single one is already using crypto products for their customers, or trying to.
— @luigidemeo, Chief Strategy and Business Officer at @aave
Episode 250: Will Aave Eat Wall Street? with Luigi D'Onorio DeMeo of Aave Labs
@alextapscott @luigidemeo @aave @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:48 Leaving Avalanche and landing at Aave
7:17 From ETHLend to the largest lending protocol in crypto
11:16 $80B in deposits, no back office
12:12 How overcollateralized lending works and why people borrow
15:49 Why Celsius and BlockFi blew up and Aave didn't
18:46 What's being built on top of Aave
21:12 Life after CLARITY, and the cost of uncertainty
23:55 Does uncertainty advantage the risk-tolerant?
26:20 Why stablecoins cut at the heart of the bank model
29:29 Deposit insurance as a taxpayer subsidy
31:22 Fintech as digital wallpaper and why that's ending
33:34 Moving loans off balance sheets and onto Aave
37:23 The DTCC and the next killer app
CLARITY failing wasn't a win. We'll keep building, but it’s difficult to make a ten-year bet on a jurisdiction when nobody knows what the law is in two.
— @luigidemeo, Chief Strategy and Business Officer at @aave
Episode 250: Will Aave Eat Wall Street? with Luigi D'Onorio DeMeo of Aave Labs
@alextapscott @luigidemeo @aave @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:48 Leaving Avalanche and landing at Aave
7:17 From ETHLend to the largest lending protocol in crypto
11:16 $80B in deposits, no back office
12:12 How overcollateralized lending works and why people borrow
15:49 Why Celsius and BlockFi blew up and Aave didn't
18:46 What's being built on top of Aave
21:12 Life after CLARITY, and the cost of uncertainty
23:55 Does uncertainty advantage the risk-tolerant?
26:20 Why stablecoins cut at the heart of the bank model
29:29 Deposit insurance as a taxpayer subsidy
31:22 Fintech as digital wallpaper and why that's ending
33:34 Moving loans off balance sheets and onto Aave
37:23 The DTCC and the next killer app
The DeFi Decoded Podcast retweeted
New @defidecodedpod is out!
I sit down with past guest and industry leader @luigidemeo who is now heading up BD at @aave
His ambition is to build the infrastructure for global credit markets.
Can Aave eat Wall Street, and remake finance for the better?
Find out! 👇
Episode 250: Will Aave Eat Wall Street? with Luigi D'Onorio DeMeo of Aave Labs
@alextapscott @luigidemeo @aave @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:48 Leaving Avalanche and landing at Aave
7:17 From ETHLend to the largest lending protocol in crypto
11:16 $80B in deposits, no back office
12:12 How overcollateralized lending works and why people borrow
15:49 Why Celsius and BlockFi blew up and Aave didn't
18:46 What's being built on top of Aave
21:12 Life after CLARITY, and the cost of uncertainty
23:55 Does uncertainty advantage the risk-tolerant?
26:20 Why stablecoins cut at the heart of the bank model
29:29 Deposit insurance as a taxpayer subsidy
31:22 Fintech as digital wallpaper and why that's ending
33:34 Moving loans off balance sheets and onto Aave
37:23 The DTCC and the next killer app
Episode 250: Will Aave Eat Wall Street? with Luigi D'Onorio DeMeo of Aave Labs
@alextapscott @luigidemeo @aave @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:48 Leaving Avalanche and landing at Aave
7:17 From ETHLend to the largest lending protocol in crypto
11:16 $80B in deposits, no back office
12:12 How overcollateralized lending works and why people borrow
15:49 Why Celsius and BlockFi blew up and Aave didn't
18:46 What's being built on top of Aave
21:12 Life after CLARITY, and the cost of uncertainty
23:55 Does uncertainty advantage the risk-tolerant?
26:20 Why stablecoins cut at the heart of the bank model
29:29 Deposit insurance as a taxpayer subsidy
31:22 Fintech as digital wallpaper and why that's ending
33:34 Moving loans off balance sheets and onto Aave
37:23 The DTCC and the next killer app
There's always a pod (or 10) for that:
Every 20-odd years, the boundary between humans and technology gets redrawn.
The first era of the internet was PC-based: static, read-only content.
The second was smartphone-based: rich media and user-generated content.
Now, roughly 20 years after the iPhone, the internet is entering a new era.
In my book, Web3, I argued that this next era would be defined by the convergence of three technologies:
1. Blockchain and digital assets
2. AI
3. Wearables, including VR and AR
Wearables—and VR in particular—have always felt like the technology of the future. And perhaps always would be.
But this $META announcement feels like a watershed.
All three technologies have now reached their tipping point.
The next era of the internet has begun.
We run about 41 days ahead of the government. In volatile cycles it's further — during COVID we were 70 days ahead and reading 12% while the government printed 8%.
— @fiftyfly, CEO of @truflation
Episode 249: Economic TruthMaxxing with Stefan Rust of Truflation
@alextapscott @fiftyfly @truflation @CMCC_Global
0:00 Introduction
3:59 "Transitory" and the case for a better number
5:37 Real-time, verifiable, and written to a blockchain
6:52 Why nobody built this sooner — and the $130 trillion tied to CPI
9:47 41 days ahead of the government (70 during COVID)
13:45 Oil, the Iran war, and where we are in the cycle
15:33 Going live on FRED, and what the Fed actually watches
18:38 Trimmed mean, $15 eggs, and the 40% nobody reports
20:27 Inflation as a hidden tax
24:18 Building macro data for an agentic market
28:57 Revisions, edits, and the frozen index
29:55 Why Bitcoin and gold traded like risk assets
33:00 The Genius Act, stablecoins, and borrowing costs
39:06 Where to learn more
