Blockleaders Podcast

It’s not often that a CEO gets voted in by his peers, but this is the starting ground for Nik Christodoulakis, CEO Enosys, a position he holds carefully. Three years ago he was CTO for Enosys (then called FLR Finance) leading the technical development of the company. The previous CEO left in unexpected circumstances and the remaining team voted him into the position. “They persuaded me that I was ready for the position and, fast forward to now, I am pretty glad that I did.” Tune in to list more - Your host is Jillian Godsil

Roy Hui, LightLink and Nathan Lenga, Elektrik LightLink is a brand new Layer 2 Solution building on Ethereum and Elektrik is the very first decentralised application building on its blockchain. Elektrik is an innovative decentralised exchange focusing on providing an unrivalled trading experience with minimal fees, advanced tools and improved capital efficiency via a unique AI-driven machine learning model. The teams are remarkably aligned, to the extent where team members are shared.   It doesn’t get much more interesting than when two companies decide to cooperate together over their ideas, combine team players and share ambitions. Especially when there is a relationship built on trust, ambition and respect. This is the LightLink / Elektrik journey and it’s signposted for success. Your Host is Jillian Godsil

When faced with the question, how to protect crypto, OG Brock Pierce is circumspect. He points out that not everyone is in the same place. “Early noobs looking to begin their journey might go to Coinbase and purchase their first $20 or $50 worth of crypto and it’s not an investment in crypto, but an investment in yourself. However, the moment you have a material investment – and that is a different amount for everybody – then it’s important to understand the basics.   “It’s always better to walk before you can run, to walk in baby steps and don’t let FOMO (fear of missing out) cloud your judgement. This is a marathon, a long game, so take you time and be informed.” Pierce repeats the mantra of not your coins, not your keys, not your keys, not your coins. He points out that people advanced in sophistication can look at investigating yield farming or decentralized finance. He emphasizes the importance of investing in your own education. “If you are participating in those markets, then you by necessity take on the counterparty risk associated with those platforms and how you mitigate those risks is through diversification, but not having all your eggs in one basket. If any one asset fell it won’t wreck (rek) your entire portfolio.” Tune in and listen to the rest of the interview. Your host is Jillian Godsil Protect your crypto -

Dmitry (Dima) Buterin, avid supporter of Ukraine, serial entrepreneur and father to Vitalik Dmitry Buterin has always been outspoken and prone to using humour to make his point. He has lived through great change in his native Soviet Union before relocating to Canada in the 90s. There he has openly criticized the brain washing of the old Soviet era and increasingly the dictatorship of Valdmir Putin. It has not earned him many friends back in Russia where even high school peers condemn his views as traitorous. In fact, what is interesting when speaking with Buterin is that he is not nationalist or even jingoistic at all. At one stage I ask him who is his tribe and his answer is: “Humanity is my tribe.”   This thread of uniqueness runs through our conversation. At the end, I suddenly realise this is the gift or the legacy Buterin has given his son, an ability to view things in new and innovative ways. There are no set nations, cultures or even people in Buterin’s worldview but a series of individuals all rubbing along in their own little bubble. Perhaps the birth of Ethereum hinges on everyone and everything being unique. To find out more, tune into the postcast. Your host is Jillian Godsil

Matej Zrimšek – Co-founder and CTO of Akshun (The Unseen Agency) Called one of the tech-hottest CTOs in Web3 by his co-founders, Matej Zrimšek, certainly has the receipts. Holding a Bachelors in Computer Science, he went on to earn a double Masters in Computer Science and Mathematics. “I also love algorithms and cryptography, so while my early career was in Life Sciences and included robotics programming and dabbling with 3D games and AI, it was no surprise that I soon migrated over to crypto and blockchain, first working with an arbitrage platform trading between different crypto exchanges and leveraging AI.” Next stop was Bitstamp Cryptocurrency Exchange, which is the longest standing crypto exchange in existence. Zrimšek believes it also to be the most regulated exchange. As a Banking Technical Lead he worked with departments from across many aspects of the exchange from payments, to accounting, to treasury and even support. At this stage, while Zrimšek knew he was working in the right sector, he also knew he wanted to be a founder and not just an employee. He wanted to put his drive and enthusiasm into a project of his own making and enjoy the full rewards of his efforts. To find out more, tune into the podcast. Your host is Jillian Godsil

Bumper your crypto and defend against price drops Bumper is an innovative DeFi protocol that protects the value of the crypto you hold from bear cycles and market crashes and simultaneously preserves gains when the price climbs. Set the price you want to protect and if the market crashes, your asset will never fall below that price. Importantly, if your asset price pumps, you’re still capturing that value rise Co founder of Bumper Gareth Ward talks about how Bumper was developed. In conversation with Jillian Godsil

Ben Appleby, co founder and chief product officer with The Unseen Agency As a freelancer all this life, Ben Appleby knows good people when he meets them. And so it was with his co-founder Richard Kieswich. As soon as they met, Appleby knew this man was smart and he wanted to work with him, so relying on the adage that it pays to employ (or co-found with) people that are smarter than you, he did. This learning was circuitous enough and came over time. Appleby did not enjoy school and only found one teacher that ‘got’ him; and he got her back by overperforming in that subject, but largely he was a fish out of water as he struggled to conform under fluorescent lights. “As soon as I could escape, I did.” To find out more, tune into the podcast. Your host is Jillian Godsil  

Marieke Flament almost passed up on the chance to move into Web3 in 2015 because in her mind bitcoin was connected with illicit substances. She was approached by a headhunter who wanted to pitch her to a bitcoin startup. “And I thought they’d got the wrong number. I did not want to work for drug dealers.” However, curiosity got the better of her and she decided to investigate further – to ignore the screaming news headlines of the day – with the result she ended up working with blue chip Circle headed up by Jeremy Allaire. “That was a great privilege to enter this space and work with someone who was incredibly visionary.” To hear more, tune into the podcast. Your host is Jillian Godsil

Web3 is a wonderful cornucopia of people from all walks of life, sharing passions and looking at the transformation world of blockchain, NFTs and AI to create new experiences and adventures. Fitting right into this eclectic mix is former playwright, rugby player, sustainable food mogul and TV presenter Richard Kieswick. In his adventures along the way to Web3, he peaked hard. His play has run on the WestEnd to critical acclaim, he played semi pro rugby (his sisters played even higher), his sustainable food business was to develop into one of the first compostable coffee pod companies which was valued in excess of £10million and, yes, he was the face for a TV shopping channel, BidTV, talking to hundreds of thousands of viewers every evening for six years.   Oh, and he founded an alcoholic sausage company called Dickie’s Big Boozy Bangers which has a great line on Bloody Mary bangers amongst other flavours. Interestingly, this company gestated from a perchance for boozy bangers but is importantly a data-driven business. To find out more, tune into the podcast. Your host is Jillian Godsil

Abel Sebhatu, CEO and co-founder of Atrivr.ai – his promise is that even your granny can use this platform Fascinated by NFTs, Abel Sebhatu decided to fix the issue of complexity and difficulty surrounding their production. In short, he wanted the process of creating an NFT to be as easy as sending a message. His background is technical, having studied mathematics and mathematical engineering, and for the six years prior to founding his NFT platform, he worked in a mixture of sectors, some outside crypto and some directly related. His non crypto work was with a startup in the Netherlands helping small farmers in the developing world become more productive. In the crypto world he worked with decentralized storage, DeFi and NFTs. Your host is Jillian Godsil, award winning journalist, broadcaster and author

Maria Matyushina does not do comfortable. Instead, she enjoys pushing herself in new experiences and challenges. This is reflected in her hobbies where she thrives on extreme activities such as paragliding and parachuting.  Next on her bucket list is diving with manatees.  “I don’t do these activities every week but I love a challenge and a new adventure,” she says.  The same love of adventure has turned her career on its head from a legal beginning to managing a team of engineers at a top Web3 NFT company. Tune in to hear more - your host is Jillian Godsil, award winning journalist, broadcaster and author  

Thibault has over six years’ experience working in traditional finance, as a portfolio manager and leading business development initiatives for a Swiss currency overlay firm ($30bn in AUM). Thibault has been in the crypto space since 2017 and made his way full time in 2021 after a career break and moving to China to learn Mandarin full-time. At Bifrost, Thibault manages Strategic and Business development initiatives - engaging and developing strategic partnerships across blockchain and financial industries i.e. institutions (VCs, HFs, MM, LPs) and sourcing relationships with ecosystem  projects and protocols as well as identifying new opportunities (investment, revenue etc.) https://www.linkedin.com/in/thibault-perréard/   https://twitter.com/Titi1P

Matthew de la Hey, inploi   It pays to understand the people behind the company, in this case Matthew de la Hey, co-founder of inploi, in order to understand the corporate ethos of the company.   Coming from South Africa he understood first-hand the unfairness of life and wanted to make a difference.   “South Africa is a very complicated place, as well as a very beautiful place, with one of the most unequal societies in the world. Growing up there and being exposed to its inequalities instilled in me a strong sense of social justice.   “I think if we are to survive as a society, we need to address how capitalism works. Capitalism needs to adapt, and we need to level the playing field and create opportunity for all.”   Part of that vision led de la Hey into becoming a council member of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism last year. He sees capitalism as being an extraordinary economic system for growth and innovation but this vehicle needs to be harnessed for everyone, otherwise society will buckle under its own weight and the inequality it produces.   “We need to build more equal, more productive, happier, healthier societies, rather than a race to bottom where some people get very rich and a lot of people have nothing. We need a more inclusive, more sustainable approach, that considers all stakeholders and upholds a social contract”. To find out more - tune into the full podcast

Welcome to Joining the Dots, hosted on Blockleaders (hence the funny number) In this interview Lisa Gibbons speaks with Claudio, founder of Kryptos Chain. Claudio is a leading poker influencer and content creator in the Polkadot ecosystem. Question: What is your background in technology and Polkadot? I used to work as a database developer before getting into blockchain and starting my YouTube channel. In 2017, a work colleague introduced me to Bitcoin, which sparked my interest in cryptocurrencies. I set up a wallet and purchased my first Bitcoin on Coinbase, a popular platform at the time. I also discovered Ethereum and Litecoin on Coinbase and decided to invest in them without fully understanding their differences. As I delved deeper into crypto, I began to grasp its technical aspects and its potential to solve issues like double spending and high transaction fees. This intrigued me, and I started researching altcoins and initial coin offerings (ICOs). In April 2018, I launched my own YouTube channel to discuss cryptocurrencies and ICOs. I was particularly drawn to the Neo ecosystem, known as the "Ethereum of China" at the time, due to its requirement for payment to list projects, which I believed would reduce scams and encourage serious development. I expanded my research to other cryptocurrencies like Cardano and Tezos and aimed to become multi-chain rather than focusing solely on Neo. In 2020, I discovered Polkadot, an interoperability ecosystem connecting different blockchains, and became fascinated by its creator, Gavin Wood, who had previously developed Ethereum's programming language, Solidity. This led me to cover Polkadot extensively on my channel, including interviews with founders and co-founders, project reviews, and providing the latest news updates. To find out more, tune into the podcast

Interview with Danny Brown Wolf, CoS with Upland - with Jillian Godsil Danny Brown Wolf was poached to go and work with Upland by a headhunter. She tried to refuse saying that she worked B2B, not B2C. She did not know what metaverse was being pitched.  “When I heard Upland I thought it was gaming but the recruiter pestered me until I met Dirk and Edan (the two cofounders) and heard their vision. Then the penny dropped and I realized Upland was a blend of an economic platform. It may have started as a game, and there are gamification elements, but the real value proposition is the economy of Upland.  “I was excited as their future plans centered on User Generated Content (UGC). The other main kicker was the metaverse was mobile first. Not everyone has or wants a headset, not even a new Apple headset, but everyone has a phone.” Underpinning the metaverse is the community according to Brown Wolf. “We keep in mind the community at all times. It is totally transparent and in fact the community can see any changes on chain even before we announce it.  “The community has even created analytic services that abstract data directly from the blockchain. They make decisions independent of Upland.”  

Why artists are embracing NFT’s:  Our artists love to create NFT’s as they give them a vehicle to create, sell and promote their own artistic talents and ideas rather than those asked for by art editors and creative directors in their day-to-day world of being a commercial artist.  It gives them complete artistic freedom and a sense of control over their own financial destiny while also being able to connect their own personal artistic preferences. Ultimately, with ongoing royalties written into a smart contract, it potentially gives them a revenue stream each time they are ‘flipped’ and in perpetuity.  And that’s not a bad thing! Kevin in conversation with Jillian Godsil

Mirek Kaspar is the creator of Liberverse - the metaverse for Liberland. In conversation with Jillian Godsil To visit Liberverse, visit Liberverse.net Visit Blockleaders.io to find out more: https://www.Blockleaders.io Connect with us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockleaders Telegram: https://t.me/blockleadersnews Twitter: https://twitter.com/blockleaders BLOCKLEADERS IS A DEDICATED PUBLISHER THAT SHARES STORIES, ANECDOTES, AND NEWS FROM LEADERS IN THE TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

Zara Zamani is the Chief Solutions Officer (CSO) of the leading Nordic blockchain company, ChromaWay, and Co-Founder of Neoki Metaverse. She has multiple years of experience in designing blockchain platforms in tourism, healthcare, logistics, foodchain, energy, gaming, DeFi, DAOs, and now metaverse and fashion industries. She has also been involved highly in the development of innovative investment models in the crypto space. She was featured as one of the 21 women in the blockchain you should know in 2021 by Fintech Review and the 10 most influential women in technology in 2021 by Analytics Insights. Visit Blockleaders.io to find out more: https://www.Blockleaders.io Connect with us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockleaders Telegram: https://t.me/blockleadersnews Twitter: https://twitter.com/blockleaders BLOCKLEADERS IS A DEDICATED PUBLISHER THAT SHARES STORIES, ANECDOTES, AND NEWS FROM LEADERS IN THE TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

Clem Chambers, technical innovator, entrepreneur, software expert (especially in gaming for 27 years) and best selling author - talks setting up his first business on a sixpence, hiring runaways, what's wrong with education, why crypto, his fears for young people and The Rocky Horror Show celebrating its 50th anniversary with NFTs Your host is Jillian Godsil

Jake Lee of Uppercent talks to Jillian Godsil about building the world's first NFT marketplace dedicated to e-learning on Flare