Somi Arian Podcast
The Somi Arian Podcast is your gateway to the dynamic terrain of business, technology, and human potential in an AI-driven society. We bring together thought leaders, innovators, and trailblazers from a wide spectrum of disciplines, including art, music, Web3, entrepreneurship, health span, and longevity, to unveil their profound insights and personal journeys. Our mission is to ignite inspiration, impart wisdom, and arm you with the tools to not only survive but thrive in a world marked by rapid transformation.
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Episodes
Monday Jul 11, 2022
Monday Jul 11, 2022
My guest on today’s podcast is Karl Floersch, one of my favourite people in the Ethereum community. I first heard him on the Bankless Podcast and I was really touched by his optimistic outlook on technology as a whole and on Blockchain and Ethereum in particular. It’s no wonder he is now the Chief Technology Officer at Optimism, an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution.
We talked about tokenisation's cultural and socioeconomic impacts and the many new challenges and opportunities that come with it.
I really enjoyed this conversation with Karl Floersch and I hope you do too.
Sponsor of this episode👉 https://www.metabrewsociety.com/
Tuesday Jul 05, 2022
Tuesday Jul 05, 2022
My guest on today’s episode of the Somi Arian Podcast is the Co-Founder & CIO of Ikiguy Asset Management, Travis Kling. Travis is a great leader in the Web3 space and he regularly appears on a number of podcasts that I often listen to, including the Pomp Podcast, What Bitcoin Did and Coin Desk.
Travis and I spoke about a number of topics to do with the Web3 space and we also touched upon something that occupies my mind a lot, which I never used to talk about publicly but I’ve recently felt more comfortable talking about it. That is whether we are living in a simulation and if so what does this have to do with the metaverse and Web3.
It was a truly fascinating and insightful conversation that you don’t want to miss.
Sponsor of this episode👉 https://athleticgreens.com/somi
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
My guest on today’s podcast is one of the most influential people in the Crypto and NFT space right now. Gmoney is a Crypto-Native Entrepreneur and Investor, and the Creator of Admit One, a collection of 1000 NFTs that give you access to his Discord.
Following this interview G and I had a long conversation off the record about things that he is not yet ready to discuss publicly and all I can say is that he has BIG plans for Amit One and as a holder of one of his NFTs I’m super excited to be part of this journey.
He’s also promised me that he will come back on the podcast to explain more about what he’s doing in the fashion lifestyle area very soon.
Outline
00:00 Intro
01:00 How and why did you start Admit One?
05:20 Scrapping roadmaps & handling pressure as a creator in the NFT market
09:30 There aren’t enough women in the NFT space
11:40 InPeak future plans
18:55 How do Web2 and Web3 subscriptions differ?
21:13 Why is gratitude important to you?
25:24 Goney’s background
29:10 Where do NFTs get their value?
33:41 If you could start over with $100 only, where would you choose to do so?
39:00 How fast did you have to upgrade your tech skills?
41:53 When will your next big project come to fruition?
43:51 Last words to people starting in this space
45:22 Outro
Sunday Jun 26, 2022
Sunday Jun 26, 2022
In today’s episode of the Somi Arian Podcast, we have two guests!
Tim Beiko runs the core protocol meetings for Ethereum and coordinates some of the most important movements as Ethereum advances towards the merge. The merge is when Ethereum transitions from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, known as the most significant protocol change in history. I have a video on YouTube where I’ve explained these concepts, so be sure to check them out.
My second guest, or rather a co-host and a guest, is Tara Annison, Head of Technical Crypto Advisory at Elliptic, who has been on a couple of previous episodes. Tara is super knowledgeable about the technical aspects of Blockchain technology and she follows the merge very closely. She also gives us the Bitcoiner’s perspective on the most recent blockchain and crypto movements.
I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and I’m sure you will too.
Outline
00:00 Intro
03:15 Tim’s “t-shirt story” & journey into Ethereum
10:47 “It is only worth starting a business is if you can do it better than the top 1%”
13:07 Bitcoin vs Ethereum
15:29 The Merge and Core Devs Robstein progress
22:56 Can this test be simulated?
25:20 Protecting Ethereum against other people throwing in extra hash rate
27:48 Is Ethereum going from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake less censorship resistant?
33:53 Bitcoiner’s perspective
42:38 Decentralization = decorrelated failures & swiss cheese
45:23 Maximal Extractable Value (MEV)
51:00 What really is blockchain? Some see it as a big company, some as the second internet
54:42 How long will it take until Ethereum gets disrupted comparing it to Web 2
56:55 Outro
Sponsors of this episode:
👉 https://www.metabrewsociety.com/
👉 https://athleticgreens.com/somi
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
Our guest on today’s podcast is Carly Reilly, the host of a brilliant podcast called Overpriced JPEGs. If you’re a member of InPeak, you’ve probably heard me mention Carly and her show. She’s the reason why I discovered a number of top NFT projects including Moonbirds!
In addition to that, Carly also worked on Andrew Yang’s campaign during his time as a presidential candidate. So we both have that background in politics in common too.
Carly has a very deep understanding of all things IP and branding which makes her show so rich with knowledge.
I really enjoyed this conversation and I’m sure you will too.
Outline ⤵️
00:00 Intro
02:24 Did you know that Overpriced JPEGs would have such a big impact?
03:25 What do you see in NFTs from a business perspective?
07:36 Businesses who label themselves as blockchain for profit
10:06 Is facebook’s (meta’s) metaverse a Web3?
14:18 Building audiences on multiple platforms
18:22 Carly’s background in politics and transition into Web 3
26:46 Why do female-led NFT projects have a harder time taking off?
35:55 Engineering social change through NFTs
38:12 Carly’s future plans
Sponsor of this episode👉 https://www.metabrewsociety.com/
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
Our guest on today’s podcast is known as Zeneca_33, a well-respected NFT influencer, founder of ZenCademy and the host of ZenChats Podcast. He also appears on Overpriced JPEGs every other week. Zeneca is extremely wise and well, extremely Zen! He is the sweetness and light in the community when prices are shooting up in the bull market, and he lifts us when we are in the depth of the bear market.
I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Zeneca, especially because we mostly covered topics that he hasn’t yet covered on other podcasts.
Outline ⤵️
00:00 Intro
03:00 Where did the name Zeneca come from?
04:09 Philosophy and Stoicism
09:46 The Web3 space can be overwhelming to start with
12:08 Zeneca’s background and upbringing
15:57 Is the Web3 and NFT space a democratising force
22:45 The low-hanging fruit in the Web3 space right now
23:50 By now everybody in this space knows your name, how did you get to this point?
35:07 What are some of the problems that need fixing in this space?
39:29 Why female-led projects often never take off?
46:30 What would you say to people who want to launch their own NFT projects?
Sponsors of this episode
👉 https://www.metabrewsociety.com/
👉 https://athleticgreens.com/somi
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Our guest on today’s podcast is Justin Mezzell, one of the most credible leaders in the NFT community. He is the Co-Founder of Proof and Moonbirds and the creative mind behind the Moonbirds NFT collection. Previously to Moonbirds, he also Co-Founded and continues to run a project on Solana called Grim Syndicate.
Justin and I touched upon a number of different topics around NFTs, building new cultures, and most importantly we discussed why women-led NFT projects seem to have a relatively harder time taking off. I shared my ideas with him on how I plan to build allyship between men, women and people of other diverse backgrounds to build an inclusive business model.
I hope you will find this episode as insightful and enjoyable as I did.
Outline ⤵️
00:00 Intro
03:42 Justin’s journey into the NFT space
08:10 How could the NFT space incentivise other areas such as science, maths etc?
15:03 About the InPeak platform and web3
18:19 Somi’s 2 NFT drops of allies
25:55 How do NFTs give us the opportunity to build a new culture
28:30 Differences in NFT design for women and men
33:39 NFTs as a business idea
39:04 Moonbirds day to day
42:31 How do Moonbirds compare to other blue chips in this space?
51:49 Justin on skulls and music
Sponsor of this episode👉 https://www.metabrewsociety.com/
Sunday Jun 12, 2022
Sunday Jun 12, 2022
Our guest on today’s show is Stephan Livera, Managing Director of Swan Bitcoin International, and the host of the Stephan Livera Podcast, one of the leading Bitcoin podcasts out there.
Stephan and I have slightly different views of blockchain technology and all the different cultural shifts that it has enabled. I personally hold the view that blockchain only got started with Bitcoin, similarly to Charles Babagges's conceptualisation of a computer which he thought was only going to be used for calculating math.
One of the most fascinating things about having conversations with various industry leaders is learning the different perspectives that they each have.
Outline ⤵️
00:00 Intro
02:28 Stephan’s stance on libertarianism
06:19 Where do you see the role of technology in this?
09:38 Can power be decentralized just like Bitocin decentralized money?
13:31 There is value to decentralizing other things too
15:56 If there was no Ethereum, how could Bitcoin save us from the metaverse becoming the next authoritarian state?
22:16 Why DAOs could be the answer to many authoritarian concerns of the future
31:12 Is the government trying to slow down the speed of technological progress?
35:55 Metaverse
37:44 Recaps for the future, NFTs
39:45 The Singularity is Near
41:45 Outro
Sponsor of this episode 👉 https://www.metabrewsociety.com/
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
Our guest on Today’s podcast is Steven McClurg, CIO and Co-Founder of Valkyrie Investment.
In today’s episode of the Somi Arian Podcast Steve and I discuss the role of VCs in the Blockchain space, the institutional adoption of Crypto and whether decentralization should become a value that we adopt in society and whether DAOs could disrupt the VC model.
Steven has some great perspectives on these topics which I think you will also enjoy hearing.
Outline ⤵️
00:00 Intro
00:46 Steven’s background and journey into blockchain technology
05:06 Is decentralization the future?
09:08 Defining and regulating tokens
13:37 Lack of unanimity between countries when it comes to crypto
17:07 Emerging markets impacting the blockchain technology
21:46 DAO and VC funds
27:15 Should startups tokenize?
34:05 Crypto ecosystem is encouraging people to learn financial literacy
35:29 Why Bitcoin?
36:28 Outro
Sponsor of this episode 👉 https://www.metabrewsociety.com/
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Matthew Pines is is a Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute specializing in national security. He has also written an in-depth report for the Bitcoin Policy Institute which we discuss.
In today’s episode of the Somi Arian Podcast, Matthew and I dive into some profound and complex questions around bitcoin and macroeconomic shifts, including the United Kingdom opening up to Crypto assets. This was probably one of my favourite conversations on this podcast so far, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too!
Outline ⤵️
00:00 Intro
02:43 Matthew’s background
11:19 The Bitcoin Policy Institute
16:11 The UK and the US relations on crypto and digital assets regulations
27:21 How forces of geopolitics and transnational technology are going to collide
45:35 Technology is naturally developing towards decentralization
55:06 Where to find Matthew’s work and what’s next for him
56:42 Outro
Sponsor of this episode 👉 https://www.metabrewsociety.com/