Miko Matsumura – Blockchain Venture Capital Company Builder – Venture Capital Startup Company Builder

Bio

Miko is a General Partner with Gumi Ventures, a US $30M investment fund focused early stage blockchain startups and a cofounder of crypto exchange Evercoin,

Miko fell in love with open source software 25 years ago as chief Evangelist for the Java Language and Platform at Sun Microsystems. Since then he has been building open source software startups in Silicon Valley including raising over $50 million in venture capital for developer platform companies such as Gradle and financial infrastructure companies like Hazelcast and has participated in multiple exits including INFRAVIO, webMethods, and Db4O. He is an advisor in successful startups like Celsius (CeFi Lending), Idle Finance (DeFi Yield Aggregator), Pundi X (Payments), and KEYLESS (ID infrastructure). He has been an investor with Focus Ventures, a firm with over $800M under management, 9 IPOs and 44 exits and blockchain firm Pantera Capital. He holds a Master’s degree in Neuroscience from Yale University where he worked on abstract computational neural networks.

Podcast

MikoBits Show: Keeping Up With the Latest in Bitcoin, DeFi and Blockchain

DeFi on Tezos with the Tezos Founders

Video Index:
1) Arthur Breitman shares his origin story of Tezos https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=85
2) Kathleen Breitman shares her origin story https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=206
3) Arthur: Tezos as "Coordination Mechanism" for Open Source governance https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=347
4) Governance and Fair Funding of Open Source https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=507
5) Miko: "Loot Drama" has existed since before the Bronze Age https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=660
6) The DAO Hack, SUSHI DeFi rug pull other problems https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=736
7) Gaming--how crypto people learn about economics first hand https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=950
8) Arthur comments on Societie Generale and their Central Bank Digital Currency project on Tezos https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=1059
9) Kathleen on CDBC https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=1125
10) What about DeFi on Tezos? https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=1279
11) Kathleen: Opportunities for NFT https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=1387
12) Arthur: DeFi what will "die" and what will survive https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=1405
13) Arthur: A bit on self-custody and the metaphor of crypto as a nation, what are its imports and export products? https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=1580
14) the ficticious Oracle Problem in blockchain https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=1812
15) What is Zero-Sum vs Positive Sum in blockchain? https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=2162
16) What happens next in DeFi and Tezos? https://youtu.be/yWavH6ocGC8?t=2261

Interesting piece where Arther Breitman and Kathleen Breitman the founders of Tezos talk about their perspectives on DeFi.

it's quite rare to get an appearance of both of the founders in one sit down!

I do want to let viewers know that this show is about a conversation, not an interview. So we all talk and enjoy one another's company. We just happen to be sharing this conversation with the public.
DeFi lending with AAVE (LEND) CEO Stani

Interview with Stani from AAVE the LEND protocol!

One of the absolutely meteoric DeFi protocols, the original ETH Lend group has a rampaging hit on their hands with AAVE.

We discuss the exciting protocol and about DeFi lending in general.
DeFi: Synthetix Derivatives: Meet $SNX Founder Kain Warwick

In this video I interview Kain Warwick the founder of Synthetix.

TimeStamps
0:00 Welcome
1:49 Announcing Synthetix on Chainlink
7:23 Derivatives on Synthetix
8:35 DEX Volumes
9:21 SNX, Product or Protocol?
11:33 Decentralization Maximalism
13:49 Optimism and Roll-ups
16:29 Implementation of Optimism
17:40 Smart Contract Audits
20:25 DeFi Insurance
23:15 Mainstream Adoption
26:31 Governance
29:10 Coordination and Creativity
33:35 Vampiric Protocols
36:42 Weaponized Network Effects
39:44 "Defense against the Dark Arts"
41:21 Recombinant DeFi
44:00 Potentially apocalyptic events
47:03 Creative Destruction in DeFi
DeFi Synthetic Assets with UMA Protocol

UMA allows for the creation of synthetic assets.

This requires a price to move from off-chain to on-chain which is of course the Oracle problem.

UMA embeds a novel form of oracle that only needs to be consulted during a dispute, for example during a liquidation event. Prices are pushed on chain during disputes.

As such, UMA works a bit more like a court of law, and most transactions go uncontested. Like most commerce, people generally behave in proper ways. It's only when things go sideways that this governance system works in the context of adjudication.

Allison and Hart are the cofounders with backgrounds in traditional finance such as Goldman Sachs.

We also discuss the game theory of Thomas Schelling (Schelling point theory) as the underpinning theoretical basis for the UMA oracle. This relates to the idea that a Schelling point which is essentially a guessing game where each player is incentivized to guess what another player will do based on clues within the game rather than any ability to collude.

UMA assures that all assets covered by UMA are worth less than the total market cap/value of the UMA token. This is the broad mechanism through which UMA secures the assets.
DeFi Oracles with Tellor (TRB)

Interview with Nick Fett CTO of Tellor.io a DeFi Oracle. We talk about macroeconomics at the start so if you want to jump right into the meat click here:
https://youtu.be/ndUQjWZWEcU?t=477

Nick was originally building a Derivatives exchange but required an Oracle. He started building Tellor because he was not happy with any of the other oracle solutions in the market. This video also contains information about other blockchain oracle projects such as Chainlink (LINK) and Band Protocol (BAND).

Nick got his start on the political side of things during the "end the fed" rallies in conjunction with Rand Paul. So a libertarian perspective and one that is concerned about the significant balance sheet of the Federal Reserve.

We begin with a discussion of the macroeconomic climate and the creation of money.

Book reference:
The creature from Jekyll Island
https://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve/dp/091298645X

Debt: the first 5000 years
https://www.amazon.com/Debt-Updated-Expanded-First-Years/dp/1612194192

Tellor protocol is a decentralized oracle on Ethereum, previously Nick was working on Daxia, a decentralized derivatives protocol that would provide things like a "Long Bitcoin" token and a "Short Bitcoin" token. In 2017 there were no solutions for this, so Nick started building his own.
DeFi Solana SOL DeFi High Performance Blockchain

I interview Anatoly, founder of Solana (SOL) a high performance blockchain that will be underpinning a novel exchange called Serum (SRM)

We talk about Ethereum scalability and the technical solution and novel layer one consensus that is represented by Solana. Fascinating technology and very interesting founder.
DeFi Dashboard with Zapper.fi

We speak with Nodar Janashia who is the CEO and founder of Zapper which simplifies Yield Farming.

So we discuss yield farming in DeFi with Nodar.

Ever since Compund Finance launched their governance token COMP

"If you don't understand where the yield is coming from in DeFi Yield Farming, it's coming from YOU"

Nodar's perspective is that different platforms offer different equations, borrowers pay yield and lenders get yield.

In compound, the borrower pays yield... in Maker, you collateralize in order to get a loan, and you do pay interest. If you collateralize ETH and take out Dai the interest is zero, so you can be incentivized to convert. But to unlock you need to pay back with interest. In uniswap a liquidity provider gains fees from swappers. If you get liquidated you can pay 13% or more in fees. The liquidity provider or market maker gets some of the fees. Now you can combine these pieces to form Zaps in Zapper.

What makes Zapper special initially was providing assets to Uniswap as a market maker--you need equal worth assets--two piles. So if you come with just ETH you need to split it into two different piles. This creates user friction, so initially Zapper just made this into a single action. So these kinds of transactions can be made much easier.

Synthetix created the most popular uniswap V1 pool with their SNX token. Now there are a ton of them with Balancer and Curve as well.

Ultimately we want to give the power to the people to make their own combinations of transactions in DeFi. A DeFi "sandwich" maker, or Zapper being a money lego set.

Resources
https://ethhub.io/
https://defirate.com/
https://bankless.substack.com/
DeFi BZX Kyle Kistner Third Episode

Index:
1) It's Different This Time: Criminal Indictment of BitMex https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=107
2) DOJ is involved so Jail Time https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=268
3) Contents of the Sealed Indictment https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=448
4) Implications of BSA Enforcement for DeFi https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=752
5) What happens to privacy coins and privacy tech https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=967
6) DEX isn't Safe: How they got EtherDelta https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=1277
7) Custody and Money Laundering https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=1578
8) Binance could be next https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=1645
9) Why IP Blocking isn't Enough https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=1707
10) BZX UPDATE https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=1850
11) Anonymity and DeFi https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=2286
12) Three Levels of DeFi Involvement https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=2378
13) Security and Battle Tested Smart Contracts https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=2486
14) Self Insurance: Incentive Problems with Nexus Mutual https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=2648
15) BZX, the largest self insurance payment in DeFi https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=2844
16) Next Steps for BZX Liquidity https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=2953
17) The Future of Governance Tokens: Cash Flow https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=3181
18) Art is just money laundering for the rich: https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=3330
19) Ponzis are a growth catalyst for DeFi https://youtu.be/hXbBK85tYdg?t=3452

Miko
NFT Kurt Braget NFTy Wizards

Kurt describes his NFT game on WAX that has full Telegram integration.

Video Index:
1) How Nifty Wizards got started and was inspired by "Rick and Morty" and a "Harry Potter Game for Adults" https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=70
2) Dungeons and Dragons, Telegram and Role Playing influences https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=256
3) Evolution of video game art, realism, cubism, 8-bit and pixel art styles https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=474
4) NFT functionality--can act as a ticket for access to a Telegram room or a key or a sword for stabbing someone in that room https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=554
5) DEMO of NFTy Wizards in Telegram https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=672
6) Demonstration of how all blockchain functions, buying, selling, using NFTs are deeply integrated with Telegram chat commands https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=726
7) Governance, access and the 12 Wizard Staff holder's counsel https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=866
8) the $DUST token and other gaming experiences like Garbage Pail Kids and Alien Mining Game https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=961
9) Chat integration and focus on social gameplay, the start of something big? https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=1138
10) How much economic traction so far in dollar values? https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=1216
11) NFT "Sets" and how they work https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=1251
12) DEMO of live creation of rare collectible 10 "Baby Wizard" NFTs on the blockchain, you saw it live here first https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=1324
13) How do you add game functionality to an NFT? https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=1644
14) Play functionality of NFTs might be open sourced eventually but for now remain proprietary to NFTy Wizards team https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=1749
15) About vanity, showing off NFTs and what we think of a guy driving a Lambo https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=2022
16) Inspiration from "Lord British" Richard Garriott, creator of Ultima https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=2133
17) He created the term "Avatar" for our online personas https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=2169
18) Mass adoption through Telegram and Messengers https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=2238
19) Play to earn and the evolution of in-game and real-world economic interactions https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=2351
20) Emergence of "Open Source" game content platforms through NFT https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=2641
21) What about Ethereum? https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=2772
22) Future platforms and cross platform NFTs https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=2931
23) "Stacking" NFT and new in game mechanics discovered https://youtu.be/-lADyCw-0FI?t=3097
NFTs with CoinFund's Jake Brukhman

Index:
1) Timing and Exponential growth of NFTs Art, Collectibles, Games, Financial Assets: history going back to "rare Pepes" and timing https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=97
2) Art could be a breakthrough for non-blockchain mass adoption. Non-technical and non-blockchain artists are joining and making a full-time living https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=252
3) Coinfund's investment thesis around NFT--liquid Intellectual Property: the wholesale migration and transformation of the Internet model towards ownership https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=376
4) Lessons learned from operating firstedition.xyz Jake's Digital Art Gallery online: Authenticity, counterfeit art, true ownership https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=544
5) How far are we in rebuilding the Internet around ownership? Gateways to the real word, advertisemetn? CryptoVoxels, Decentraland, Async https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=827
6) Politics, Trust, Privacy, Fake News, Voting, Authenticity: NFT's as a way of tackling some of the hard issues facing society https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=1100
7) How is authenticity handles in real-world art world historically? 40 page documents that certify authenticity that you still cant even trust https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=1292
8) How camera hardware makers could use digital signatures to authenticate photography https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=1405
9) Provenance, immutable digital history, ownership history, intellectual property supply chains https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=1569
10) Browser cookies for the real world: Grateful Dead mix tapes, tickets, proof of attending events https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=1791
11) Miko: Relics and Authenticity https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=1917
12) How many people REALLY attended Trump's inauguration? How digital authentication, anonymity, privacy, cryptographic signatures, NFTs, Blockchain can help with problems like this. https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=2066
13) Miko: How the gaming world, AR, VR, are providing leadership for these new experiences: World of Warcraft https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=2107
14) Digital Scarcity https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=2316
15) When does Banksy come into NFTs and what would he do? https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=2463
16) What are the most expensive and valuable examples of digital art NFTs? https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=2548
17) Elitza Rodriguez, POC, Osavage https://firstedition.xyz/#/sw-by-osavage/ https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=2548
18) How much do NFT digital artists cater or pander to Bitcoin fans? https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=2822
19) Behance.net https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=3017
20) What about Music and Audio segment of the NFT industry? https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=3117
21) The Adult content, porn and NFT Spank Chain, OnlyFans, Patreon https://youtu.be/dZKyRPxXG4w?t=3276

Blog

Musings about Venture Capital investing.

gumi Cryptos Capital Statement on Equality

Gambarō: Let’s Bravely Produce Effort

gumi Cryptos Capital: Being Bold When Others Are Fearful

Cryptocurrency “W Shaped” Recovery Thesis

Durable Conviction: How do I Convince a VC to Invest in my Startup?

The Mind of a VC: Reading List

Getting your startup funded by gumi Cryptos

Investment Criteria: are you a fit for gumi Cryptos?

How to be a VC and not act like an entitled douchebag

Our Fund Thesis

Follow Me!

Bad Crypto Podcast

Fun with Joel and Travis of Bad Crypto

Geeks of the Valley

Long form podcast if you want to just spend time with me and get my mindset.

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Testimonials

Anyone on the fence about attending a conference, if Miko is there makes it definitely makes it worth the effort. He is by far one of the most visionary and perceptive leaders in this space. I don’t believe there is anyone else who groks the opportunities of blockchain as he does.

Chris ZiomkowskiFounder at XTend Online – https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-ziomkowski-b25b343a/

Honestly one of the best speech on decentralization I’ve seen, super engaging!

Romain NouzarethCEO, Founder, Thinker

Miko is of the most gifted speakers that I have had the pleasure of learning from. He has a unique methodology of simplifying complicated concepts to cater to his audience. He is an adept in understanding how to convey content, so that his lectures are engaging through and through. He is very personable, well regarded amongst his peers, and is a dedicated hard worker. His mindfulness and initiative to help others is why why he is a prominent thought leader in his industry

Early Boykins IIIAndra Capital – https://www.linkedin.com/in/early-boykins-iii-0893286/

If you want to know about what Blockchain driven Planet will look like, just ask Miko! He has all of the answers, as well as many interesting anecdotes regarding his experiences on the road to getting there.

John CarpenterGlobal Blockchain Summit – Linkedin

Seoul to host World Knowledge Forum next month

There will be 200 speakers, including former UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, Crypto Exchange founder Miko Matsumura, Nobel Peace laureate Kawasaki Akira and Estonia’s President Kersti Kaljulaid.

The Nation NewspaperBangkok Thailand

Your presentation this week ROCKED. Loved it. Was so inspired by your “toes in the water” concept. Thanks for the amazing insight.

Issac RogersCEO at 20|20 Technology – Linkedin

Miko was perhaps first true digital evangelist I have seen in action. He is still a master of the art — always bringing original insight, humor and a genuine connection between the complexities of the technical world and real business and consumer applications any audience can relate to.

Jason EnglishCryptocurrency Executive – Millermedia

I attended Miko’s first Talks on Webservices and cloud in Boston and NY Cloud Expo, 10 years back, and was instantly attracted to his combination of technology vision, articulation of complex scenarios and insights on why the shift. Have followed him since, and become a better leader along the way….

Yugan SikriTechnology Executive DXC

“I was lucky early in my career to get to see Miko speak at a company event. He was our CTO, and this was really my first time attending a big corporate rah-rah event. It was great listening to him. It was evident that he knew what he was talking about, but was also able to engage with the audience in a meaningful way. It lead me to change the direction of my career.”

James OickleTechnology Executive

Miko Matsumura Blockchain Investor & Startup Builder

Bio