Best Jacquelyn Melinek Podcasts (2024)

1
Space and Time wants to help LLMs and AI agents get on-chain (w/ Scott Dykstra) 36:26

7M ago36:26

36:26

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Scott Dykstra, CTO and co-founder of Space and Time. Before diving into web3, Scott spent almost 8 years at the cloud analytics and data platform Teradata and throughout the years he held roles of senior architect, director of cloud solutions and worked his way up to VP of the firm’s global cloud. As f…

1
Whoever rules the data rules the world (w/ Tegan Kline) 24:21

7M ago24:21

24:21

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Tegan Kline, the CEO and co-founder of Edge & Node. The company is focused on creating and supporting decentralized applications, or dApps, and protocols. It was also the initial team behind The Graph, an indexing and query protocol, or what some have referred to as the Google of Web3, which aims to or…

1
Blockchain tech is working to combat AI-based deepfakes (w/ Melody Hildebrandt and Mike Blank) 35:33

7M ago35:33

35:33

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Melody Hildebrandt, CTO of Fox Corporation and Mike Blank, COO at Polygon Labs. Why these two companies? Well, Polygon Labs, the layer-2 blockchain focused on scaling Ethereum, and Fox Corporation, the well-known media conglomerate, joined forces in January to tackle deepfakes as artificial intelligenc…

1
Blockchain could be the answer to getting AI artists paid (w/ Dee Goens) 40:48

7M ago40:48

40:48

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Dee Goens, the co-founder of Zora. Zora is a platform and protocol that helps developers and creators bring their ideas on chain and on Ethereum through an open and shared environment. The platform has minted over 4 million NFTs, has over $300 million in secondary sales and about 1 million unique colle…

1
Looking back on the NFT marketplace Magic Eden (w/ Jack Lu) 26:38

8M ago26:38

26:38

For this week’s episode, we’re resharing a conversation I had in June 2023 with Jack Lu, CEO and co-founder of Magic Eden. When we recorded this episode, NFT sales were down around $640 million at the beginning of the month, compared to today where February 2023 NFT sales volume hit $1 billion, for the first time since February 2023. Looking back o…

1
Starbucks Odyssey’s community lead expects NFT brand building to expand this year (w/ Steve Kaczynski) 37:17

8M ago37:17

37:17

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Steve Kaczynski, co-author of the book “The Everything Token,” and co-host of a web3 morning show Coffee with Captain. He also co-authored the first Harvard Business Review article about NFTs and outside of that, he consults with agencies and brands about building their web3 strategies including his ro…

1
Web3 brands and NFTs are on a global race for adoption (w/ Yat Siu) 48:49

8M ago48:49

48:49

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands. Yat co-founded Animoca in 2014 and since then it has invested in over 400 web3 projects across a range of sectors like DeFi, education, infrastructure, blockchain gaming and the metaverse. Animoca also has its own NFT collections, blockchain…

1
OpenSea’s CEO sees greater opportunity for NFT use cases to grow (w/ Devin Finzer) 32:07

8M ago32:07

32:07

This year, Chain Reaction is doing monthly series diving into different topics and themes in crypto. To start things off, this month we’re focusing on NFTs. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Devin Finzer, the CEO of NFT marketplace OpenSea. He co-founded OpenSea in 2017 and it quickly climbed to become one of the most well known – and …

1
SEC Commissioner sees a need for a new Token Safe Harbor Proposal (w/ Hester Peirce) 34:30

8M ago34:30

34:30

This week we have a bonus episode with Hester Peirce, commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Jacquelyn moderated a fireside chat with Commissioner Peirce at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business alongside Eddie Cullen, a former candidate for New York City Mayor in 2021 and co-founder and CEO of Crescite Innovati…

1
Read Write Own this episode with a16z’s crypto partner (w/ Chris Dixon) 44:49

8M ago44:49

44:49

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Chris Dixon, general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Chris has been at the firm since 2012 and founded and leads a16z’s crypto team, which invests in the web3 world through four mega-funds with over $7 billion under management. He’s also an author of the recently released bo…

1
Bonus Episode: Worldcoin is going on a race to billions of users “as fast” as it can (w/ Alex Blania) 18:49

9M ago18:49

18:49

This is a bonus episode, where Jacquelyn interviewed Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, in a fireside chat at a StrictlyVC event in San Francisco. The startup was co-founded by Alex, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Max Novendstern. To date, it has raised about $250 million from investors like a16z, Bain Capital Crypto and others. It is …

1
Solana Mobile is just getting started (w/ Anatoly Yakovenko) 27:47

9M ago27:47

27:47

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, the technology company that aims to help grow the ecosystem for the layer-1 blockchain Solana. The conversation focused on Solana Mobile and its flagship web3 Android smartphone, Saga, which sold out in mid-December, as well as its new phone, Chapter 2 – wh…

1
Ripple president talks XRP Ledger, SEC suits, and 2024 plans (w/ Monica Long) 23:49

9M ago23:49

23:49

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Monica Long, the president of Ripple, a blockchain-based digital payment network and protocol. Monica has spent the last 10 years at Ripple, working her way up from the director of communications to now, president. Ripple has been around since 2012 and is one of the oldest crypto entities. In recent ye…

1
Bitcoin spot ETFs has been approved in the U.S. (w/ Michael Sonnenshein) 20:53

9M ago20:53

20:53

For this week’s bonus episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Michael Sonnenshein, the CEO at Grayscale Investments. Grayscale is a digital asset investment firm that aims to provide products and services to institutional and individual investors, it is well known for its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and now, its new bitcoin spot ETF product. The company …

1
All roads seem to be leading to a U.S. spot bitcoin ETF approval soon (w/ Fred Thiel) 22:05

9M ago22:05

22:05

For this week’s news episode, Jacquelyn dove back into the latest developments on spot bitcoin ETF applications in the U.S. as anticipation builds. Fred Thiel, the CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, a digital asset technology company and largest publicly traded bitcoin mining firm, joined to help break down the latest developments on spot bitcoin ET…

1
You should join a crypto social club w/ Boys Club co-founders (re-release) 33:16

10M ago33:16

33:16

Welcome to a re-released episode of of Chain Reaction, a podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, we're remixing an episode from earlier this year. Jacquelyn interviewed Dean…

1
Algorand foundation CEO sees tokenization as key sector to scale crypto (w/ Staci Warden) 28:41

10M ago28:41

28:41

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Staci Warden, the CEO of the Algorand Foundation, the organization behind the layer-1 blockchain Algorand. Previously, Warden worked at the Milken Institute and oversaw initiatives relating to capital market development, FinTech financial inclusion, cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Before that she was …

1
Robinhood’s still on a quest to make crypto mainstream (w/ Johann Kerbrat) 23:51

10M ago23:51

23:51

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Johann Kerbrat, the general manager of crypto at Robinhood. Johann is leading the application's effort to expand its crypto exchange business and make digital assets more accessible to retail investors. Before joining Robinhood, Johann was an engineer at Airbnb and was the head of engineering at Uber a…

1
Crypto VC space may be on the cusp of recovery (w/ David Pakman) 33:00

10M ago33:00

33:00

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed David Pakman, managing partner and head of venture investments at CoinFund. Before CoinFund, David spent 14 years at the venture capital firm Venrock. He also led the Series A and B rounds at Dollar Shave Club which was acquired by Unilever for $1 billion. And in 1991, David co-created Apple Music when…

1
Optimism is optimistic for the future of Ethereum (w/ Jing Wang and Ryan Wyatt) 37:55

11M ago37:55

37:55

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Optimism’s CEO and co-founder Jing Wang and chief growth officer Ryan Wyatt. Optimism is an Ethereum-focused layer-2 blockchain that focuses on scaling and speed, while also lowering costs for users. It helps users interact with Ethereum for about 10x cheaper through its blockchain and provides develop…

1
Amid the OpenAI chaos, here's a refresher on Sam Altman's crypto project: Worldcoin 20:33

11M ago20:33

20:33

For this week’s episode, we're re-sharing Jacquelyn's conversation with Tiago Sada, head of product for Tools for Humanity and core contributor to Worldcoin, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco. The saga behind Sam Altman’s departure from OpenAI has been a whirlwind, but his involvement in his crypto project Tools for Humanity, the team b…

1
Exclusive: Aave Companies rebrands to Avara and acquires crypto wallet (w/ Stani Kulechov) 24:11

11M ago24:11

24:11

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Stani Kulechov, the founder of Avara, formerly known as Aave Companies. The company is probably best known for Aave protocol, its platform-focused stablecoin GHO and its social network protocol Lens. The web3-focused software technology company announced exclusively on our podcast their rebranding as w…

1
Former SDNY prosecutor talks about what’s next for SBF post-trial (w/ Brendan Quigley) 23:03

11M ago23:03

23:03

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Brendan Quigley, partner at Baker Botts law firm. Quigley is a former U.S. Marine, now attorney who represents clients on matters related to white-collar government investigations and commercial disputes. Previously, he was a former federal prosecutor as an Assistant U.S Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s…

1
SBF testifies and closing arguments are made as his trial comes to an end (w/ Alex Wilhelm) 23:38

12M ago23:38

23:38

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn is joined by TechCrunch+ Editor in Chief, Alex Wilhelm, to discuss the end of the trial for Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, who is facing seven charges related to fraud and money laundering. They talked about: SBF’s testimony The prosecution’s closing arguments The defense’s closing arguments Key points in t…

1
SBF finally takes the stand at his trial (w/ Alex Wilhelm) 24:16

12M ago24:16

24:16

For this bonus episode of Chain Reaction, Jacquie is joined by TechCrunch+ Editor in Chief, Alex Wilhelm, go over the FTX/Sam Bankman-Fried trial before getting into his testimony from Thursday and Friday. They talked about: Why the judge had the jury leave the courthouse for SBF’s testimony Thursday The general feeling of the courthouse on the fou…

1
Former SDNY prosecutor shares what the internet is getting wrong for SBF’s trial (w/ Josh Naftalis) 26:41

12M ago26:41

26:41

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Josh Naftalis, partner at law firm Pallas Partners. He’s a long time attorney who represents companies, boards and executives in cases for white collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement matters, internal investigations, crisis management and more. Prior to Pallas Partners, Josh was a federal pro…

1
FTX collapse and SEC oversteps point to greater need for U.S. crypto regulation (w/ Katherine Dowling) 30:44

12M ago30:44

30:44

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Katherine Dowling, the general counsel and chief compliance officer at Bitwise Asset Management. Bitwise is a crypto asset manager that is known for creating the world’s largest crypto index fund. The firm also filed for a bitcoin spot ETF in the U.S., making it one of a number of firms whose applicati…

1
The FTX co-founder and Alameda CEO didn’t hold back at SBF’s trial (w/ Alex Wilhelm) 10:54

1y ago10:54

10:54

This week, we have a bonus mini episode where Jacquelyn talks with TechCrunch+ editor-in-chief Alex Wilhelm to dive back into the Sam Bankman-Fried trial and what has transpired in its second week. Major witnesses who were involved in the downfall of FTX and its sister company Alameda testified like Gary Wang, CTO and cofounder of FTX, and Caroline…

1
Using blockchain tech to scale businesses and social impact projects (w/ Grace Torrellas) 16:01

1y ago16:01

16:01

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Grace Torrellas, Polygon Labs’ VP of product and zkEVM product lead and co-founder and executive director of Blockchain for Humanity, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco. Blockchain for Humanity aims to use Bitcoin and blockchain technology to help social impact projects. Separately, Polygon …

1
SBF's trial has started, and here's what you missed (Chain Reaction x Equity Crossover) 34:13

1y ago34:13

34:13

For this week’s episode, Chain Reaction (and Jacquelyn) did a crossover episode with Alex Wilhelm, editor in chief of TechCrunch+ and co-host of Equity, TechCrunch’s podcast focused on the business of startups. The highly anticipated criminal trial for Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, started on Tuesday to determin…

1
Bonus Episode: Pudgy Penguins’ toys hit Walmart with hopes of expanding NFTs revenue and adoption (w/ Luca Netz) 29:24

1y ago29:24

29:24

This week, we have a bonus episode where Jacquelyn and TechCrunch+ Editor in Chief Alex Wilhelm interviewed Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins. Pudgy Penguins, originally known for its flagship collection of 8,888 NFTs that began in 2021 has expanded beyond that into a “IP and brand development company” after Luca bought the project for $2.5 million …

1
Are you a Worldcoin skeptic? This one’s for you (w/ Tiago Sada) 19:37

1y ago19:37

19:37

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Tiago Sada, head of product for Tools for Humanity and core contributor to Worldcoin, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco. Tools for Humanity, which is the team building Worldcoin, raised $115 million in a Series C round back in May with investors like Blockchain Capital, a16z, Bain Capital C…

1
Staying strategic during regulatory uncertainty (w/ Chris Lehane) 29:04

1y ago29:04

29:04

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn did a live interview with Chris Lehane, chief strategy officer at Haun Ventures, at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco. Prior to joining the firm, Chris was an executive at Airbnb. He also co-founded a strategic consultancy firm, Fabiani & Lehane, that advised political, corporate, technology, entertainmen…

1
So you want more web3 enterprise adoption? ( w/ Google Cloud, Circle, Chainlink and Xangle panelists) 38:15

1y ago38:15

38:15

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn is sharing a panel she moderated live at Avalanche House, while she was in Seoul, South Korea …

1
OG Bitcoiner on the blockchain’s evolution, investing and need for regulatory clarity (w/ Charlie Shrem) 32:15

1y ago32:15

32:15

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Charlie Shrem, founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, general partner at Druid Venture…

1
Americans may get a bitcoin spot ETF soon (w/ Craig Salm) 14:15

1y ago14:15

14:15

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s news episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Craig Salm, chief legal officer at Grayscale Investments. Grayscale is a digi…

1
Blockstream is still betting on Bitcoin and mining it (w/Erik Svenson) 21:14

1y ago21:14

21:14

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Erik Svenson, co-founder, president and chief financial officer at Blockstream, a bitcoin and blockchain-focu…

1
A bitcoin spot ETF could open the floodgates for greater crypto demand (w/ Eric Balchunas) 24:17

1y ago24:17

24:17

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s news episode, Jacquelyn talks with Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, alongside TechCrunch+ editor-in-chief Alex Wilhelm. Balc…

1
Immutable wants to create more value in the web3 gaming world (w/ Robbie Ferguson) 25:14

1y ago25:14

25:14

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Robbie Ferguson, co-founder and president of Immutable. Immutable is a web3 compan…

1
Here’s what you need to know about Coinbase’s Base public mainnet launch and its “Onchain Summer” (w/ Jesse Pollak) 17:27

1y ago17:27

17:27

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s news episode, Jacquelyn sits down with Jesse Pollak, lead for Base and head of protocols at Coinbase. You might r…

1
You should join a crypto social club (w/ Boys Club co-founders) 33:16

1y ago33:16

33:16

A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Deana Burke and Natasha Hoskins, the co-founders of Boys Club. Boys Club is a social decentralized autonomous…

1
Ripple’s chief legal officer talks SEC lawsuit, XRP ‘win’ and future regulation (w/ Stu Alderoty) 22:41

1y ago22:41

22:41

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. This week we have a bonus episode. Jacquelyn interviewed Stu Alderoty, chief legal officer of Ripple Labs. Stu spent most of his …

1
What’s it like to invest in crypto globally as devs depart the U.S. (w/ Maria Shen) 25:24

1y ago25:24

25:24

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Maria Shen, a general partner on the investment team at Electric Capital, an early…

1
Magic Eden CEO talks NFTs, multi-chain expansion and market volatility (w/ Jack Lu) 25:10

1+ y ago25:10

25:10

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A podcast that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news in crypto with some of the biggest names in the industry to break things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Jack Lu, co-founder and CEO of NFT marketplace Magic Eden. This is his second time…

1
How can big beauty and fashion brands get into web3? (w/ L’Oreal web3 team) 27:51

1+ y ago27:51

27:51

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Patrick Kaminski, the director of digital innovation for web3 and metaverse at L’Oreal, and Manon Car…

1
Coinbase continues fight for crypto clarity post-SEC suit (w/ Paul Grewal) 13:32

1+ y ago13:32

13:32

This week, we have a bonus episode! Jacquelyn interviewed Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase. Grewal has been at Coinbase, the second largest crypto exchange globally, for almost three years. Previously he was the vice president and deputy general counsel at Facebook, among other roles. This week, Grewal has been busy testifying before Co…

1
VeeFriends, NFTs and the importance of intellectual property (w/ Gary Vaynerchuk) 33:41

1+ y ago33:41

33:41

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk, better known as Gary Vee. He is the chairman of VaynerX and CEO of VaynerMedia and N…

1
Chainlink co-founder talks cryptographic guarantees in web3 (w/ Sergey Nazarov) 34:22

1+ y ago34:22

34:22

A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, a protocol that provides an oracle network to power smart contracts. Chainlink is also …

1
Bonus Episode: Pussy Riot founder explains how to use NFTs for activism 11:24

1+ y ago11:24

11:24

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. This week we have a bonus episode from a fireside chat Jacquelyn did with Nadya Tolokonnikova, the creator of the protest art collective Pussy Riot,…

1
Crypto regulation and crackdowns (w/ Jake Chervinsky) 34:31

1+ y ago34:31

34:31

Welcome to Chain Reaction. A show that unpacks and dives deep into the latest trends, drama and news with some of the biggest names in crypto breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Jake Chervinsky, the chief policy officer at Blockchain Association, a non-profit organization focuse…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Jacquelyn Melinek Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

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