Moneyneversleeps

Holy Mackenzie, we just hit 200 episodes!  When Eoin Fitzgerald said to Pete Townsend in early 2018, “Hey Pete, I heard you on a couple of podcasts, wanna help me start one?” never in our wildest dreams did we think this would become such an integral part of our week for the past, well, 200 weeks. So, here’s our recap of our Top 10 from the past one hundred episodes, some honourable mentions, the Top 10 all-time by downloads, reflections on flywheels, the good things that come from doing 200 podcast episodes, and a bunch of our past guests sharing their good tidings. Thanks to all of our fantastic guests, sponsors, supporters and especially to our listeners - we couldn’t have hit 20 episodes, never mind 200, without you! This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutio

This week, Eoin and Pete take the inevitable plunge into what to make of the FTX mess, and then resurface with some of the scenarios unfolding on what Elon Musk has in mind for the 250 million daily active users of Twitter.  The guys also look at the hubbub around the control of Tech Nation in the UK, a Digital Dollar pilot in the US, and how the Big Tech layoffs in Ireland may be short-term pain but long-term gain. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED The Casino and the Genie (Mario Gabriele, The Generalist newsletter, 13-Nov-22, h/t Packy McCormick) 5 More Disturbing Revelations About Sam Bankman-Fried (NY Magazine, 14-Nov-22) Elon Musk details his vision for a Twitter payments system

This week, Pete gives some insight into the new Techstars Web3 accelerator and goes on a quick rant on FTX before he and Eoin riff on Block’s flywheel and their ambitions with Cash App, then they go through a hall-of-fame list of fintech and crypto apps from Rex Salisbury, and finally dive into NFTs and VR through an Apple lens with a dash of Reddit. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED Sam Bankman-Fried’s Twitter Apology (Twitter, 10-Nov-22) Block Says Goal of Cash App Is To Be Primary Bank (PYMNTS, 4-Nov-22) Rex Salisbury on Consumer Fintech ARPUs (Twitter, h/t Simon Taylor, 2-Nov-22) Apple cracks down on NFT functionality, social post boosts with App Store rules (TechCrunch, 25-Oct-22) We

Ollie Walsh is the co-founder and CEO of Pipit, who are bringing to market the new Konect network that is powering international cash transactions with DeFi and enabling migrants to support their families back home cheaper, safer, and now faster. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. In this episode, recorded live from Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, Ollie Walsh riffs with Pete Townsend on a recap on Ollie Walsh’s journey as co-founder and CEO of Pipit, a for-profit social impact platform powering international cash transactions and mobile money payments for unbanked migrants.  Ollie and Pete also dive into Ollie's inspiration to bring the Konect network to market leveraging the Pipit tech stack, but with st

Nigel Verdon is the CEO and co-founder of Railsr (formerly Railsbank) and is a 3x fintech founder and ‘Finance 4 Good’ evangelist focused on building great ideas - first with Evolution (exited to BAE Systems), followed by Currency Cloud (exited to Visa), and now with Railsr. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. In this episode, Nigel Verdon riffs with Pete Townsend and Eoin Fitzgerald on the foundational experiences that pushed him towards becoming a fintech founder before the word fintech even existed, the rebranding of Railsbank to Railsr, the impact of Railsr’s $46mn Series C funding round and spending it on the right things, fintechs as public utilities, Nigel’s view on the digital asset market and dece

Alex Amartei is an Irish entrepreneur originally from Shannon and is also an investor, film writer, and producer. He recently won the Hollywood Icon award and the Monaco Streaming Film Festival Award alongside James Cameron and Mark Wahlberg. Alex is the producer of Antara - the first major DeFi Hollywood movie in history financed by NFTs and the power of web3. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. With a strong background in equities, real estate, corporate finance, and an extensive Hollywood network, Alex has built a brand around the democratization and decentralization of the movie business through web3, community, and blockchain. In addition to launching the Antara Movie NFT, Alex also carried out the NF

This week, Eoin and Pete riff on crypto exchange FTX’s partnership with Visa enabling users to spend crypto anywhere Visa is accepted, Google Cloud enabling customers to pay in crypto in partnership with Coinbase, the state of ‘community fintech’ through the lens of Chetwood Financial’s deal with Mumsnet and their 8 million-strong community, NovaCredit’s big $10mn investment from HSBC as a rallying cry for public fintech utilities, the latest on Meta’s metaverse world, and how it’s backs-against-the-wall time for Goldman Sachs’ Marcus and Bank North. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED Visa partners with FTX in a bet that shoppers still want to spend cryptocurrencies in a bear market (CNBC,

Amor Sexton is Head of International Operations for Blockdaemon, the leading independent blockchain node infrastructure to stake, scale, and deploy nodes with institutional-grade security and monitoring. Amor is an experienced global leader with extensive commercial, legal and operational experience, and a diverse background that includes operations, strategy and commercialization, marketing and communications, regulatory and legal, and design and delivery of enterprise-grade products and solutions. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. LINKS: Connect with Amor Sexton and learn more about Blockdaemon Follow Blockdaemon on Twitter Episode title inspired by Express Yourself by N.W.A. Leave a review and subscri

This week, Eoin and Pete riff on crypto asset service provider regulation through the lens of Revolut, the trifecta of crypto market failures in Voyager, Celsius and Terra, how Walmart’s metaverse play with Roblox feels like the right platform vs. Decentraland or Sandbox, credit as a service player Noble coming out of stealth mode, and Goldman Sachs’ next move into retail fintech with mobile network operator T-Mobile. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED: Revolut wins FCA approval for crypto service (Finextra, 27-Sep-22) Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager to sell assets to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX for $1.4 billion (CNBC, 27-Sep-22) Alex Mashinsky resigns as head of Celsius Network (FT, 27-Sep-22)

In this episode, Eoin and Pete talk through the aftermath of the Ethereum Merge, some pandas and goofy songs, an early-morning Bankless livestream of the Merge, and critically, a 99% more energy-efficient blockchain. We also look at the new Revolut BNPL product live in Ireland, two new funding deals that a16z did on this side of the pond in Sequence and Sardines, opportunities for bored yacht owners, and how it feels like 2002 all over again with builders still building. STORIES COVERED: Ethereum Makes History With Merge to Proof-of-Stake (Crypto Briefing, 15-Sep-22) Revolut rolls out BNPL product in Ireland (Finextra, 20-Sep-22) Revolut confirms cyberattack exposed personal data of tens of thousands of users (TechCrunch, 20-Sep-22) Andreessen Horowitz leads London fintech Sequence’s $19m seed round (Sifted, 20-Sep-22) Sardine raises $51.5M led by a16z to sniff out fishy fintech transactions (TechCrunch, 20-Sep-22) Invest Like the Best: Trina Spear - Billion Dollar Scrubs (Podcast episode) A Bored Ape Ethereu

Founder and CEO of PlanDail, Owen O’Driscoll, riffs with Pete Townsend on PlanDail’s mission to build Europe’s premier cross-border, seamless, regulated crowdfunding platform, powered by carbon-neutral Algorand technology.  PlanDail’s aim is to connect high-impact focused entrepreneurs with ESG/impact investors of all shapes and sizes who want to fund a better future for the planet. In this episode, we dig into: How Owen’s foundational experiences in operations, supply chains, horticulture, blockchain, and retail investing merged together to form his vision for PlanDail. How participating in an accelerator in 2019 opened Owen’s eyes to the startup ethos. Taking advantage of the entrepreneurial support frameworks in Ireland to transform himself into a startup founder. Making sure that as a CEO, you can have the confidence in yourself to back yourself. Self-sovereign identity - in digital form - both for investors and for companies raising funding on the PlanDail platform. Combatting ESG greenwa

Eoin and Pete dive into the shortcomings of Metaverse graphics through the lens of Metaverse deep-thinker Matthew Ball and his new book on the Metaverse, what’s up with the Ethereum Merge, the big fundraisings of Irish unicorn Wayflyer and Techstars grad Alloy, the death of ING’s Yolt, Block’s Cash App’s small-dollar lending milestone, and old friend Bradley Tusk takes his super-charged regulatory advisory into crypto and DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations). This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. STORIES WE COVERED: When Metaverse (Life in Color, 1-Aug-22) After $177 Billion in Investment, Why Do Metaverse Graphics Still Suck? (Decrypt, 27-Aug-22) Ethereum’s Big Moment Is Coming With ‘The Merge.’ What It Means for Crypto (5-Sep-22) Wayflyer secures €254m in debt financing from Credit Suisse (Irish Times, 1-Sep-22) Fintech start

This week, Eoin Fitzgerald and Pete Townsend riff on Pete’s trip to the US last month with the sheer ridiculousness of the 8 different combinations of point-of-sale authorizations he experienced with a single Revolut card, Starling Bank’s re-prioritization of a presence in the Irish banking market, the hunt for crypto talent by EU regulators, Vitalik’s view on giving people what they want in the Metaverse, fintech micro-lender Umba’s deal for Daraja Lending and Tomo Credit’s big round to make credit scores obsolete. *SUMMER SCHEDULE UPDATE* - This is our mid-summer episode for August and we’ll be back with our regular weekly cadence come September. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. STORIES WE COVERED: EBA warns talent shortage will hamstring crypto regulation (Finextra, 2-Aug-22) Apple Accused Of Potential Consumer Data Misuse With

This week, Eoin Fitzgerald and Pete Townsend recap Techstars’ first-ever demo day in Dublin as part of the Launchpool Web3 Techstars Accelerator, look at crypto winter with FTX, BlockFi and Voyager, Klarna’s down round, Revolut’s new card reader, Algorand bringing Napster back to life, MiCA ( Markets in Crypto Assets) regulation in the EU, and open banking as a crossover from embedded finance into crypto and digital assets. *SUMMER SCHEDULE UPDATE* - We’ll be moving to a monthly release for July and August 2022, but we’ll return to our regular weekly episodes in September. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. LINKS: Leave a review and subscribe on Podchaser| Apple Podcasts | Spotify| Google| Overcast Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website Subscribe to our newsletter on Substack Follow MoneyNeverSleeps on Twitter Follow Eoin Fitzgerald

Michael Quartey and Lukas Bruell, founder and co-founder of Eczodex, join the show this week to riff on how Eczodex are enabling investors to unlock more returns with traditional investments through DeFi (decentralized finance). This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. Eczodex are the ninth of the founding teams forming the Launchpool Web3 Techstars Accelerator Class of 2022 that we’ve got on the show in the lead-in to Demo Day in Dublin on June 30th. In this episode, Michael Quartey and Lukas Bruell talk with Pete Townsend and Eoin Fitzgerald about: - How their backgrounds uniquely prepared them to bring Eczodex to life - How Eczodex will bridge real-world assets into DeFi - Enabling yield enhancement strategies for real-world investor - Connecting the Eczodex vision with the realities of the crypto markets - Breaking down the problem for

Tim Goodman is the founder and CEO of Your Diamonds, an ecosystem enabling the diamond industry to solve old-world problems through digital technologies and Web3. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. Your Diamonds are the eighth of the founding teams forming the Launchpool Web3 Techstars Accelerator Class of 2022 that we’ve got on the show over the next month. In this episode, Tim Goodman talks with Pete Townsend about: - Having diamonds flowing through his veins - Scaling by surrounding yourself with smart people - Cashflow finance as the problem to solve in the diamond industry - Building fintech first before moving into DeFi (decentralized finance) - Providing a venue for lenders and borrowers to negotiate - Creating scalability by pairing NFTs as digital twins of real-world assets with smart contracts - Letting nature work out the

Luis Martinez and Martin Liebrich are the co-founders of Staxe. Staxe is enabling music and creative production economies on web3 so that anyone can become an owner of music and creative productions, support their favorite artists, and become a part of their success.” This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. Staxe are the seventh of the founding teams forming the Launchpool Web3 Techstars Accelerator Class of 2022 that we’ve got on the show over the next month. In this episode, Pete Townsend talks with Luis and Martin from Staxe about: - Luis leaving DJ school to become a trader before going down the crypto rabbit hole - Martin’s earliest days of programming on the Commodore 64 - The lightbulb moment on the problem to solve with financing creative productions - How creative productions are like micro-startups - Blockchain as a social coord

Jeff Donnelley and Colin Bracey are the co-founders of MegaFans, a mobile esports platform and community bridging web2 to web3 in a play-to-earn environment for gamers, collectors and developers. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. MegaFans are the sixth of ten founding teams forming the Launchpool Web3 Techstars Accelerator Class of 2022 that we’ve got on the show over the next two months. In this episode, Pete Townsend talks to Jeff and Colin about: - How their paths first converged with the predecessor to MegaFans after doing the first legal ICO (initial coin offering) in Canada. - An inside look at the MegaFans platform - ‘Mining’ the web2 market and building a web3 community - The longer-term vision for MegaFans and the esports market overall - How Jeff and Colin are approaching the big challenges in front of them right now LINKS

On the show this week, we’ve got Will Martin and Laura Brkić from LiveDuel, a DeFi-powered digital sports market with live fan engagement. LiveDuel supports decentralized sports betting built on blockchain to give you a fairer deal than traditional sports betting sites. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. LiveDuel are the fifth of ten founding teams forming the Launchpool Web3 Techstars Accelerator Class of 2022 that we’ve got on the show over the next two months. In this episode, Pete Townsend talks to Will and Laura about how they got together with Alex Luce to drive LiveDuel forward, what LiveDuel is and how it works, replacing ‘the house’ in sports betting markets with DeFi liquidity pools, and staying close to the long-term vision while executing in the short term.   LINKS: Connect with Will Martin and Laura Brkić and learn

On the show this week, we’ve got Victor and Lee and Alvin Foo, co-founders of Securo Finance (formerly DAOventures) who are building a compliant, secure and easy to use DeFi (decentralized finance) investment platform for regular investors. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities. Securo Finance are the fourth of ten founding teams forming the Launchpool Web3 Techstars Accelerator Class of 2022 that we’ve got on the show over the next two months. In this episode, Eoin Fitzgerald and Pete Townsend talk to Victor and Alvin about how they got together with their CTO Soon Lai to bring the Securo Finance idea to life, what Securo Finance is and how it works, what really matters when you’re bridging web2 investors into the web3 world, and how Securo Finance are going to make a big splash into the market in and around Palm Beach and Miami at the