Ep 204: GENIUS Stablecoin Act, Pump.fun X Suspension & Decentralized Social Media, Dream Recorders, Guest: Debbie Soon from Privy, Guest: Pplpleasr on Shibuya and filmmaking

[00:01] Dumb Shower is a weekly live chat on all things tech, crypto and pop culture news brought to you by Boys Club, a New York based media and creative studio. DBH is hosted by myself, Deena Burke and Natasha Hoskins. Hi. Co-founders, marketers and entrepreneurs that have built our careers in new tech and startups. We're also proudly the dumbest in the room and we love to learn in public. DBH is recorded live and best consumed as a video podcast. Here's this week's show. [00:31] you [00:33] We're live. Hi. I've been told I gotta stop doing the peace signs. Oh really? [00:38] Why? Kate says it's so millennial. [00:42] And, um, [00:43] But I am millennial. You are. What are you going to try and be [00:47] Gen Z. I'm thinking you're not. That's not gonna work. That's not gonna work for anyone. It's not gonna work for anyone. How's it going? [00:54] Good, good. I'm in a different locale today. You are in a different, you're in a studio, a very nice studio. I got like a banjo ready to go. I got an arm's reach. Yeah, I got a banjo ready to go. I got a whole rack of guitars here just in case. [01:13] Anything needs serenading. I can't play guitar, but I can hold one up. It would be really fun if this became like a musical hour with Dina. [01:24] Oh my gosh. [01:27] Okay, I'm just getting us retweeted here. Yeah, I gotta do the same. So before before we started the live you revealed that you started a new retinol, which is huge. I did.

[01:38] I went to Lou Pharmacy here and hold on. Um, [01:44] I... [01:46] I started a new retinol. I had a really amazing, there's, [01:51] um [01:52] Yeah. [01:54] In an area called Le Hall, it's like this big sort of [02:00] part of, I think it's in the second, there's an unbelievable pharmacy. Like I was like, spread my ashes here. I will die here. It's like many stories. It's massive. It's a dream for those who [02:14] for those who participate, for those who celebrate. And... [02:18] The women who work there are just... [02:21] just like so rich in knowledge about what is going on with my face. And so I went in, I was like, I had a list of things I wanted to buy that I use, that I've used before that I get every time I'm in France. And so I was going through my list and we were talking to them. She did not speak any English. [02:40] my French is coming along with my adorable French tutor, but not enough to be talking about serums and retinols and different things. Yeah, that's advanced level translating. Yeah, that's not like a table for two, a bottle of wine, you know, my sort of my core area. Cafe L.A. Super play. And so anyway, we're using Google Translate, we're going back and forth.

[03:08] And she's like, this is the one. She was like, bon, bon, bon, bon, bon, bon, bon, bon. And I was like, okay. [03:15] She's obsessed. [03:16] We're doing it. What's it called? So, um, I don't remember, but I can post it in the thread here. Okay. It's something I, it's the same brand that I, so I have this brand that I really like the thing that I wanted from them was discontinued. And I was really like, Oh, this is such a bummer. And she was like, okay, we'll use their retinol. It's amazing. So I've been using the retinol. It's great. However, I'm in a shedding. Okay. [03:37] Yeah. For those who don't know, yeah. Retinol is a process. You have to get through the bad phase before you get to the good phase. So starting a new retinol is like starting the journey all over again. [03:46] we're starting the journey all over again. You go through a shedding, you go through a purging, like your skin, it looks terrible. And then it looks amazing, but we're in the part where I'm just like, Whoa, okay. You're scared. You're like, makeup's not like sitting right. But yeah, it, for those who love this stuff, they're like, Oh, it's working. It's doing what it's supposed to do. And look so snatched so soon. So I'm very much looking forward to that. Anyway, [04:16] Maybe next DBH I'll do one of these. Yeah, we need the name of the retinol. We probably couldn't buy it. You can't buy it here. [04:23] There is a website that's like frenchpharmacy.com and you can buy stuff that comes from a French pharmacy, but it is like a lot more expensive. You're like, have a suitcase that you're bringing back and then doing one-on-one sales. That's actually what Boyzap pivots into. I start like a multi-level marketing team. Well, one of the first write-ups we ever got, I actually just

[04:53] And I was like, babe, I wish I was smart enough to start an MLM. Oh my God. Okay. I remember how, I remember that article when it came out when she called Boys Club an MLM. Or she like... [05:03] She like insinuated around it that it was an MLM and... [05:07] It ruined... [05:09] You were very upset. I was very upset. I was very upset. I felt very misrepresented [05:16] and misunderstood yeah and i it really hurt and that was like my villain origin story with um [05:23] press journalists. [05:25] where I was like, I'm no longer, yeah, it began there. And I was like, I'm no longer talking to people. If they want to be involved in Boys Club, they can come and they can hang out with us. And- [05:33] They can write about that. [05:35] What's that? [05:36] You refused to participate in the. Yeah. Interviews. [05:40] Interviews, yeah. [05:42] Yeah, I remember that. And really funny times. How far we've come here. Hilarious times. Okay, welcome to DBH. This is a live stream where Dina and I talk about... [05:56] tech news, report on things that we're seeing on the timeline, bring on friends to talk about what they're working on, what they're excited about. It's fun. It's really great. Very low stakes environment here. Hop into the chat. [06:11] Tell us what you're up to. [06:13] That's it? That's it. I'll take what is Voice Club today. So really inspired by that last comment about the press. Now I'm all like riled up. Voice Club is a multi-level marketing scheme. Voice Club is a multi-level marketing scheme. Voice Club is an indie media company, one part indie media company. We talk about technology. We talk about crypto. We do that through newsletters,

[06:43] We actually have one coming up in the South France. If you plan on being there for people who aren't in crypto, that might be a ridiculous thing to say. For people who are in crypto, [06:53] will be coming to the south of France for ECC but that's the next thing that we have coming up and that's boys club. [07:03] That's boys club. Uh, we will be showing up in the South of France. Our event will be with polygon, which we love polygon so much. [07:12] we do so if you've touched crypto in any way chances are you've already used polygon it's the chain quietly powering a bunch of the stuff that actually works that people actually use like stripes crypto payments betting on poly markets prediction markets and a bunch more we love polygon and they support the show and we're so grateful and we love working with that team and we will be with them uh at our event in two weeks in [07:36] can. [07:37] So great. [07:39] Anything else to add there? [07:40] I can't wait. I feel like I... [07:42] I have been holding down the fort here in Europe. Yeah. In Europe. And I'm excited for our friends to come on in and for, uh, [07:53] to get a little to get a little sun too i'm like oh i'm just gonna be just in the south france all together so i can't wait blessed okay you're going to vegas before that i'm going to vegas next week yeah which um people might not know this but a required reading of working at boys club is a

[08:18] Yeah, I am so excited. Honestly, you can get me to do pretty much anything if you're like, it includes a trip to Vegas. I'm like, okay, great. I'm in. I saw the inbound and it said, [08:28] It said Las Vegas, and I was like, this is... [08:31] This is going to be a yes. Wait, what's the saying that's like... [08:35] like oh my gosh a fork founded kitchen yeah exactly fork founded kitchen boys of goes to vegas absolutely i am i was yeah we'll talk about it next week what i'm doing there but i'm so excited [08:48] and bringing the whole family, [08:49] I love it. I told you this. You were like, I don't know, maybe kind of weird to... [08:55] take do like a family vacation not that you're on vacation but like the rest of the kids are going to be in the pool in las vegas and i was like [09:03] I, as a kid, would go to Vegas. [09:05] All the time. My grandma lived in Las Vegas. So we would go to Vegas. I have a lot of memories of going to Las Vegas and I loved it. So like, even when I was, I don't know, [09:16] like 12, I'd be like, I love Las Vegas. People were like, what? I feel like a foundational thing for people to understand about you. When I, we were talking earlier this week and I was like, I might bring the kids to Vegas. I'm not sure. And you were like, definitely do it. You were like, one of the things that I used to do is my dad used to hand me [09:33] This is Natasha's dad used to hand her $50 and say, don't leave the MGM. [09:36] Exactly. Yeah. Which I love. I can't leave the MGM. I told Dave he loved it. So I'm planning on doing that, honestly, next week. 50,000 square feet of fun for those kids.

[09:49] Oh, okay, great. Mott32 for Vegas, restaurant recommendation. [09:53] Oh, MOT32 is great. We've eaten at MOT32. We shared, between the two of us, we shared an entire Peking duck. [09:59] Oh, that's where we went. Yes. Amazing. Okay. This is a great, that's a great recommendation. Thank you, Kate. Um, [10:06] I'm going to add that to my list. Yeah. So anyway, really excited, but we can talk about that next week. I'm, I, [10:14] I can share more then. [10:15] Great. Great, great, great. Okay, so today. Okay, we're going to talk a little bit about the genius act that just passed, the Stablecoin Act. I can't stop writing the newsletter about stablecoins. Like at a certain point, it's going to be... [10:28] Stop. [10:29] stop talking about stable coins but i it's i feel as though at some point someone's gonna say so what industry do you work in and i'm just gonna start saying stable coins stable coins yeah that's my whole personality now um we're gonna talk about the pumped up fund twitter shut down uh and [10:46] mass migration to Farkaster. Ted from Farkaster is on. Hi. Debbie is going to be on. Yes. Debbie soon from Privy is going to join us to talk about their acquisition, uh, [10:57] from with Stripe and we're gonna talk about what's next for Privy. We're gonna have people pleaser on who's gonna be talking about the Shibuya. Mint Shibuya is like a creative crowdfunding platform. They just opened a mint up yesterday, the day before very cool stuff and then we have our quick hits. [11:13] some weird stuff that we're going to get into. [11:15] We might even do quick hits before, depending.

[11:19] So... [11:20] Oh, Ted said, "Lol, there was sadly no mass migration to Farcaster." Not yet. [11:27] Mm-hmm. [11:28] Not yet. There's always time. We've still got time. Okay. Tell me about the Genius Act. Okay. Really quickly here. The Genius Act just passed in the... [11:40] Senate. It was a 68 to 30 bipartisan vote. The Genius Act is the first ever federal framework for stablecoins. I'm getting caught up right now because just before starting this [11:59] live stream like pressing live um [12:02] I read about [12:03] the origin of the [12:06] name genius act okay and it comes from like they've they it's an acronym like they've like assigned words to each letter to spell out genius but it it comes from when trump was called the stable genius when i can't remember like it was about something do you remember like that whole thing where he was like i'm a stable gene i'm a very stable genius you don't remember this no i don't remember okay it was like maybe two or three years ago i actually don't maybe was it around the [12:36] Anyway, it was just one of those stupid things that he said, and... [12:40] Now it's been re-morphed into the name of this act, which is like... [12:45] I don't know, the whole thing of like laws as jokes.

[12:49] as like Trump jokes. I don't like the, I hate it. Like, so anyway, I'm just a little. When I wrote the newsletter a few weeks ago about, uh, Elon and Trump's divorce, I, um, [13:02] It started with a disagreement around the big, beautiful bill. And I thought, [13:08] I think it's Big Beautiful Bill. Now I'm... But like, I thought that was a joke. And the bill was... Or like the... [13:15] Beautiful Budget Bill. I'm forgetting exactly what it was, but it's literally what it's called. And I was like, oh my God, this is dark times. Living in some dark times. Anyway, this is great news. This is really great news. Genius Act passed. So what it mandates is a bunch of stuff, but the headlines are one-to-one backing in liquid assets. So you issue 10 USDC. You know for sure that [13:45] there's 10 USDC sitting somewhere, USD sitting somewhere to sort of match that issuance of the stable coin. Okay. Monthly audits for issuers, AML compliance. AML is anti-sumption. [13:57] money laundering compliance so there's like checks on where the money's flowing and stuff like that um and [14:04] uh basically puts the oversight into state and federal regulators uh for stable coins um 18 democrats voted for it so [14:15] Kirsten Gillibrand, who was one of the co-sponsors. So that was great. Corey Booker, your man from New Jersey. Love him. Voted four. Elizabeth Warren was a very outspoken opponent. Kate is off stage, but I can see her face. And she just gave me the dirtiest read about liking Corey Booker. Did she? She was like, ooh. It's kind of a joke, Kate. It is. Don't worry. Don't

[14:45] you in on the Cory Booker lore. [14:48] And yeah, Elizabeth Warren has been very vocal against it. And basically it's like, there's... [14:53] uh insufficient safeguards is is part of what she's saying and i mean i i think like kind of fairly is like there's some ethical issues around trump's crypto ties and foreign issuers and stuff [15:05] It passed anyway. So like heard. [15:09] Let's work to fix that and also move forward. I hear you. I see you. It's not going to matter. [15:16] And yeah, just generally, it's kind of like a grow up. [15:19] moment for crypto. [15:22] And I think a lot of the people that voted for it are... [15:26] and the democrats especially that are in support of it are seeing kind of an opportunity for this first mover advantage for the us um to be issuing and also to provide to be like sort of writing the regulation on how it works and then i'd say the take from the crypto industry is like very very positive lots of optimism lots of excitement but there's definitely corners where people are like okay this is just more this is bureaucracy [15:54] we're creating now like systemic risks at the level of the federal government. And like, there's some privacy concerns and stuff like that. So, you know, nothing's perfect, but I think generally it's, [16:03] uh, [16:04] It's really optimistic for the space. [16:07] Great. Very exciting. I saw dad tweeted about it this week. So I was like, dad and Chris Dixon. Yeah, exactly. So thank you for the briefing. That was exactly what I was hoping for. Because I was like, I need to know what's going on here. But so really great. I know.

[16:28] Okay. I'm going to talk a little bit about what happened on a far less... [16:35] serious. I love how you were talking about the industry growing up and I'm about to talk about most infantile part of the industry. It's a regression. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. So yesterday, the Pump.Fun Twitter account, along with one of the founders, Alan Cohen's account, [16:53] or a lawn [16:54] um, Cohen's account was also, um, [16:59] deactivated. So they were suspended or suspended, I guess. Both accounts were suspended. It wasn't clear why. There wasn't a message on Twitter as to why these accounts were suspended. Um, [17:10] really bad timing and really bad news for pumped up fun because as we talked about a few weeks ago they are gearing up for a token sale and for those of you who are not like [17:20] living on crypto Twitter and aren't on and thinking about token [17:26] drops and launches and airdrops all the time like twitter is the main distribution channel for information about a specific token launch and so if their twitter account is down it makes [17:38] the roadmap for these very important inflection points in the business impossible um so they have 462 462 [17:48] thousand followers on that account as well. So a massive account. Not anymore. Well, they got it back. They got it back. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. You stole my punchline, but I'm sorry. No, it's totally fine. So that happened. Then there's speculation as to why that happened. But before I get into that, we can go to the next slide here.

[18:11] Many of these accounts over, there were 20 other accounts that were also shut down or suspended. So this guy, I'm going to say, [18:20] OX Auto Man was tracking, which counts. Many of them were other crypto Twitter accounts. So other crypto trading platforms, a few platforms that were like AI tools that were connected to or associated with crypto with meme point trading or Bitcoin. [18:38] trading crypto trading in general and they were tracking this account was tracking sort of like who was being suspended um and it all happened yesterday um [18:47] Um, so part of the specular, so there's two sort of guesses or speculations as to why these specifically pump fun was, uh, taken down. One speculation was specific to pump fun, which was that they are under regulatory, that it's evidence to that they are actually under regulatory scrutiny with the sec. So they're not currently being sued by the sec, but there is, [19:17] for selling unregistered securities. And that could be why this is happening. They are... [19:24] not inactive. They are in two active lawsuits, but those are civil suits. And so there's no criminal indictments at this point. [19:34] with pump fun those civil suits are are have been filed with the southern district claiming that they were selling unregistered securities and that they were liable for being

[19:45] uh, participating in and being the platform for some pump and done schemes. So there's some specific tokens that they're bringing and I'm like, yeah, fork, mountain, kitchen, fork, mountain, kitchen. [19:56] Ted says, okay, great time for them because the pump fun app is actually a good social app, social profiles, DMS, live streams. [20:05] with comments. [20:08] Ted always with a positive spin. I love that. My experience is not that it's a social app, but I could see if you want type of that, if you are looking for that type of community, maybe that would be Ted's founder people. [20:25] Um, so that's what, that's what, [20:29] Uh... [20:31] part of what is happening. One of the speculations for people who don't understand this distinction, civil crimes are crimes that are essentially saying you owe me. It's a business or an individual suing another business or individual. Criminal crimes are you broke the law. And that's like [20:47] the sec sues them because they broke a specific law okay the other speculation is associated with the other [20:55] which seems more likely to me and makes sense with all these other accounts also being shut down, is that they were illegally using tools that let them... [21:07] work around the Twitter API so that they didn't have to pay for the fees associated with the API. So, uh,

[21:15] pumped up on would use the Twitter API for like verifying users, linking wallets to Twitter handles, creator transparency, pulling social metrics and stats into the platform and enabling sort of like audio auto tweeting and promoting of specific coin launches. All of that with all of [21:36] functionalities, you have to plug into Twitter, and you have to use their API. And in order to use their API, I don't know if you remember this, but when Elon took over, [21:45] Well, years ago, they changed a lot of the APIs and a ton of businesses changed. [21:50] didn't exist anymore because they couldn't use the api in the same way then when elon took over they changed the pricing for the apis and it became astronomically expensive expensive to use them most businesses continue to use them but then all of these tools came up that were basically like a way to skirt around using um still using the apis without paying for it so the guess is that a lot of these accounts and platforms were using these different tools and then were suspended [22:16] Many of the counts are not back up yet. Pump fun is back up. Um, and they seem to, along with, uh, [22:23] Alan's account. So they seem to be back up no issues there, but it did also spark a conversation around decentralized social. So Dan Romero, the founder of Farcaster and now just Farcaster, wrote a tweet that said something, something decentralized doesn't matter until it does. And so this sort of like sparked a conversation around decentralized social, the importance of

[22:53] And there was like a bunch of discourse in the comments around like, how would that make a difference? Why would that matter? And essentially... [23:01] Decentralized social allows you to own your own [23:04] users. So your wallet, [23:06] owns the followers and then you could port that over to another client so if pump fun decided to [23:12] Um, [23:14] like their twitter was shut down permanently they would have the 460 [23:19] thousand followers that they have, they would just have lost. There was no, there's no way to get those back. But if they had been using Farcaster or another decentralized social, uh, client or, um, Coinbase wallet or something like that, they would be able to then use, uh, [23:34] they would own that audience and they would be able to port over to another client that was on chain. Great. [23:39] Preach it. So that's... Ted, Natasha's invoice is in the mail. We're receiving it shortly. If anyone has any questions about Farcaster, Ted here is in the chat and loves to answer questions about Farcaster. So you should ask her and is honestly one of the most... [23:55] incredible people just generally, but also knows so much about decentralized control. [23:59] Yeah. And then if you go to the next slide here, [24:03] um [24:05] That brings us to our next moment. Very excited to talk about this. [24:12] Speaking of Decentralized Social, there's a lot we could say here. We have a thread that talks about this partnership, but we're very excited to kick off a partnership with BASE. They are going to be doing a lot with Decentralized Social. If you've been on Facebook.

[24:26] forecast in the last few weeks you have been seeing the memes are already starting they're already starting sent from coinbase wallet [24:33] And if you're not in on that, you need to, if you know, you know. Um, and so we kicked off working with base, uh, officially, um, this week, we're super excited about it. We love the team over there. We're going to be doing a ton of fun stuff with creators, um, bringing creators on chain, working with them to learn about what they want, what they need from platforms like these. And, um, [24:56] Yeah, I'm really excited. [24:58] more there's a lot more to come but go ahead totally a lot more to come i think one of the the funnest things about this base partnership is that they're really [25:06] open to feedback. So part of what our job is, is to talk to creators and talk to creative people on the internet who are the lifeblood of the internet and to understand what works for those people, what doesn't work for those people. And then like Coinbase is like, [25:25] ready and willing and wants to integrate those learnings into what they're building. So I think, I'm just really excited to be able to be working so closely with the team on that front. And, [25:36] and also to be like in service of people who are creating online. And I think like there's base recognizes and we certainly recognize that there's like a lot more experimentation that needs to be happening. And like this is the time [25:49] to be doing it and we want to do it with you. We want to see like we want to be learning alongside of you and feeding that back to people that could make

[25:58] where like that could have an impact and also like a lot more and different people sitting around the table too so that's part of what we're going to be doing this summer is like trying to bring in from other pockets and corners of of uh the creator landscape and really pumped so really pumped oh one of the [26:14] One other thing I'll say about this is I think [26:18] You know, we talk a lot about... [26:19] decentralized social people talk a lot about creators, bringing creators on chain. And there's a lot of conversation as to why you would do that, why you would move platforms, why you would build a new following from scratch. And [26:33] Mm-hmm. [26:34] I'm personally really excited to one, as you're saying, like actually define the, [26:40] with creators, what they're looking for, what's missing from their current platforms and build for them. And then second, I think this pumped up fun thing is like such a perfect example of what is [26:52] a very, very specific offering to on-chain followership and building a social presence. [26:59] in and around these tools. And so very excited to do that. Very excited to talk to creators. And we really love the team over there. So yeah, more to come. We're going to be talking to creators one-to-one starting next month. And so we have a Twitter thread where there's a Calendly link. So if you want to chat with us. [27:16] hit hit the link um okay should we do some quick hits uh yeah let's do some quick hits kate are you there are you there kate [27:27] Paging Kate. Hi, I'm here. There she is. Yeah. Okay. She's actually, Kate is on the ground. I'm on the ground. I'm doing the work. I'm based in Berlin right now. Based, covering all things Berlin Blockchain Week. And it's been really fun.

[27:48] Love to see it. There's going to be a lot of fun content that I've gotten a sneak peek of. Yeah. And it's going to hit the timeline. Okay. Tell us about [27:56] recording our dreams. [27:59] This... [27:59] If I could build it, I'm so excited about this because I have thought about this is my Roman Empire. You know, when you have like shower thoughts and you're like, what if, what if, what if. Dream Recorder, I'm not sure how to say this, I would assume it's called Modem. [28:12] But this company created this product. It's called Dream Recorder, and it says it captures your subconscious in ultra low definition. And their little tagline is wake up, speak your dream aloud in any language and watch it come to life as a dreamscape in the aesthetic of your choice. And it kind of looks like a Bluetooth speaker. [28:35] Okay. [28:36] And visually, I'm assuming based on the language on their website and whatnot, you just wake up, you mumble what your dream was as if you would scribble it in a journal. And then AI does its thing and creates... [28:51] a visual of it which is crazy to me because like we all know our dreams we sound like three-year-olds when we're trying to explain our dreams [28:58] Yeah. So. And it's like, it's like plays it back. Yeah. It just like plays it back. [29:04] Do you know if it's visual and audio? [29:10] It does not say anything about like what the audio is. [29:14] I couldn't find that much detail. And you want this. You want this, Kate. I want this. This would be hilarious. Mine would be more of a horror film because I have a lot of nightmares. Oh, Kate. I know. When I tell people that, I'm like, don't worry about it. It's chill.

[29:30] It'd be like, there I was about to die. Oh, Kate. No! But I'm like, also, you have the dreams where you're like, and then I was in an ocean of hot dogs. So it would be crazy. [29:44] You can see it come to life. [29:46] Yeah, yeah. [29:46] And the weird thing to me is also the in your aesthetic of choice. So I'm like, can you make your dream and like, [29:52] Wes Anderson film. I don't know. Maybe. [29:57] Fun, fun, fun, fun. Okay, another quick hit here. [30:00] Sam Albro starts a pod. Yep. So Sam Altman's brother started a podcast and, um, [30:08] What else do you do if you're Sam Allman's brother? Like, that's what I would do. For real. For real. Like, honestly, are you I don't know that you want to be Sam Allman's brother. They both worked in VC, right? That's what they talked about on the pod. They posted like a 37 minute clip. [30:22] Oh, was it the whole episode? [30:24] Pretty much. Yeah, that's an episode. That's not a clip. Yeah, well, exactly. I was like, did they cut this down a little bit? Who knows? But he started off the clip, his brother saying Johnny's name wrong. [30:38] He called him Joanie. [30:40] What? To his own brother? No. [30:43] About Johnny Ive? Sam's brother, yeah, was talking about Johnny to Sam, and they just cut a sound bite at the very beginning, and Sam goes, [30:51] Johnny, not Joni. And he goes, Oh my God, can we edit that out? Oh, I'm tracking. I'm tracking what you're saying. They left it in. They wanted to create a little human moment. Exactly. I see. Okay. Okay. Bloopers. Interesting. And then they just continue to talk about AI for like ever. So, okay. As they would, but the tweet that I saw this morning that I was like, wow, read to filth is Sam saying my brother is trying to start a podcast or something, I guess. And I'm

[31:21] brother is out there in the trenches the tweet the tweet should be a little a little bit more supportive uh-huh I agree I agree this is giving sibling rivalry a little bit big time like your parents don't know what you do for a living and they're like I think my daughter has a podcast I guess like yes okay last one here and then we'll get Debbie on from Privy uh [31:44] Last one here. Ed Sheeran's wife went viral. Her LinkedIn profile went viral because turns out when Ed Sheeran was traveling the globe and selling out arenas, she was working at Deloitte. [31:58] I love that. [32:01] I love that about her. I'm just like, that is... [32:05] That is so cool that she's just like, I have a career. [32:09] Cherry standing on business. Okay. She really is. I think it's so wonderful. I saw this and I was like, what a babe. She's like, I'm not leaving my consulting gig. My consulting gig is great. And she's going to keep riding that. Even if her husband is literally at Sheeran. That's cool. That's cool. Thank you, Kate. Great. Thank you. Great. [32:32] Quick hits. Okay. I believe Debbie is here. We're going to bring her up on stage. [32:40] Hi. Hi. Oh, hi. So happy to have you. I am so happy to be here. What do I owe the honor of being on the dumpster show?

[32:53] Oh my gosh. Okay. Debbie Soon, you are working on marketing at Privy. Everybody knows this, [33:02] So happy to hear that you were there. And you guys have had a big few weeks. But before we get into your news, I'd love to just hear about why you joined the Privy team. Like what brought you there? What excites you about their product and what you all are building? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. So I guess prior to joining the Privy team, I was a founder. So I spent three years and my co-founder was Randy Zuckerberg. [33:32] the start of the year by the .art domains company. And so I was kind of looking for kind of like my next thing. But, you know, I think having been in crypto now for, I guess, what, four years, I really wanted to be super intentional about the team that I joined. And I think having also been through the founder journey, which is great, but it was extremely stressful. It's not for the faint of heart. I think for me, I personally was just, okay, I'm good at not being a founder, but what [34:02] is just an amazing team that's building a great product that has a lot of impact to continue moving crypto forward and, you know, kind of pretty tick all those boxes. So super, super happy and feel very grateful to be here. [34:13] amazing and um so privy's had a a big week tell us about what's going on there at hq oh gosh i mean we um yeah the vibes have been high um yeah it's been a crazy week i think um a lot of us are still kind of catching our breath a little bit from yeah so just for the listener um privy got acquired by stripe so that's what

[34:43] I think we announced it like last Wednesday, which honestly, it feels like it feels like months ago that this happened. But it was actually just exactly a week ago. And so I think a lot of it, like the rest of the week, to be honest, felt a little bit like a blur. But I would say this week, it's kind of business as usual. We're back to it. We're heads down. We're really, really focused. As you know, we still remain kind of an independent brand, independent product, even though we are part of the kind of Stripe family of companies. [35:13] on like still remains the same and I think we're just [35:16] really excited to show up for the people, our customers that we've been working with, just in a bigger, better and stronger way than before. [35:24] Okay. So you guys are like business as usual at Privy. You're still working with consumer crypto companies. You're still working on like institutional partners. Like, [35:36] The brand and product of Privy will continue as is and continue to build out features. Is that correct? [35:41] Yes, that's 100%. [35:43] Okay, great. It's so exciting to see and I was so happy to hear the news and also just really validating, I think, for a lot of us who work in this industry to have a company like Stripe. [35:56] Like you love to see the good guys win. And that's really how I felt when I saw the news come through the timeline. [36:03] Totally. Um, so another thing that I was like seeing a lot of on the timeline was, um, [36:09] you know, a few earlier this year, Stripe also acquired Bridge. Bridge is a stablecoin infrastructure startup. They provide APIs for stablecoin transfers and conversions and things like that. That was acquired by Stripe a few months ago. Then the Privy News last week. What do you think that sort of signals for the future of this industry? You know, one of the

[36:39] with these two acquisitions. I'd love to hear sort of your thoughts on that and what you think it means. [36:43] Yeah, I mean, I think this year has been really exciting all around. I know you guys just talked about the Genius Act. You know, there's been a lot of exciting announcements as well that came out of State of Crypto last week, you know, with Stripe as well and with Coinbase and Shopify. So, you know, I think we're really starting to see, you know, crypto being validated as a payment method and definitely in Stablecoin. That definitely feels a little bit to be like the buzzword, but, you know, not for any reason other than a good, [37:13] and that it genuinely does offer a much better alternative in terms of kind of selling payments. I think even at Hug, we were building a marketplace too where we had to make a lot of the payments via traditional means like PayPal, [37:27] not to you know like talk bad about them but they're just like certain kinds of limitations too in terms of making kind of international transfers and certain types of minimums so you know i think just showing that payments on crypto reels definitely has a future and there's much clearer regulation around that i think with regards to strike making um inroads into this space and clearly a very kind of meaningful and um demonstrative way it's obviously something that we are incredibly excited about you know i think prior to this we had already offered bridge [37:57] you know, on ramp and offering partners. But we also offer, you know, different, you know, on-ramp offering partners depending on what our customers are looking for. So I think this is just kind of a really positive step in the right direction. And again, just because, you know, we're both owned by Stripe doesn't mean that, you know, we're going to change anything about how we, the kind of flexibility that we offer. And I think at the end of the day, you know, our philosophy has always been the same is how do we build the best product for the customers we

[38:27] know-how. And so that's very much what we are continuing to focus on going forward. Okay. So just ending here, I get that you guys are staying somewhat separate, but like, what are you guys, what are you like hyper-focused on for the rest of this year? What can we be expecting to see out of news from Privy? [38:47] Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, honestly, like the priorities have changed. Yeah, like, you know, we are very much like we have our own office still. So, you know, we are, we're still like a really kind of lean, fast growing team. I think at the end of the day, we're really guided by what all customers want to see. So, you know, I think over the past year, we've added a lot of support for, you know, new chains. We have, you know, I think in terms of the way account abstraction has been moving forward, we've also made, you know, wallets, wallets, [39:17] are smarter and more capable. So, you know, we've added more programmability in terms of, you know, things that we offer through Privy. I would say the other thing too is that, you know, there's always room for improvement in terms of, you know, being higher performance, better. I think now we expect a lot more scale and, you know, we want to make sure that we are, you know, better tested and really, you know, secure for all of that and all of the different types of use cases. So yeah, I think

[39:47] the best kind of product experience for developers out there and make it as easy as possible for, you know, people to build great applications on on crypto rails. [39:54] Nice. I love it. Okay. Final question. And then, then we'll let you, we'll let you go here. But, [40:00] You and I entered crypto. I mean, at least you started a business around the same time that I entered crypto. Last four years have been very much a whirlwind of this industry. Some highs, some lows, some highs again. And I see... [40:18] you as someone who's very positive about this industry, very bullish on where we're headed. And I'd love to hear [40:24] what are some of the things that you're excited about? I mean, obviously, Stablecoin is obviously working at Privy, but I think, especially four years ago, there was like this big cultural movement that happened that I think brought a lot of people in. And I think a lot of your work at Hug spoke to that as well. And so curious, like what [40:40] gets you excited about this industry and still sort of bullish about what we're all collectively working on and [40:46] uh excited to see for for crypto more broadly yeah um i think that's a great question i think a lot of the times people's kind of disappointment or euphoria um optimism versus disillusionment um you know i think really comes from the reason why they entered crypto in the first place i think a lot of the times even when i'm talking to people um you know who are not yet in crypto or like you know have not yet been convinced about the reason why they should experiment with doing things on chain um i think a lot of times i always ask people well why are you even interested in the [41:16] interested because it sounds like a cool thing to be in right now? Or is it you're interested because you want to make a lot of money or you're interested for whatever other reasons? And I think all of those reasons are valid. For me, the thing that got me really excited four years ago, and I'm still excited about today, is that I still think that we're so early in terms of overall adoption. So for me, what gets me up in the morning is that I know that I have the opportunity to shape an industry that is still kind of being formed and that, especially the

[41:46] you know, there is a real way in terms of building the kind of industry or the way that we want, whether it's settling payments, whether it's monetizing creativity, there's a lot of different ways in which that every single one of us can play a role. So I think for me, yeah, there's definitely been highs, there's definitely been lows, I think, especially working with creators, I think creators have always suffered in some ways, you know, I think the perpetual joke is that it's always a bear market for artists, you know, even with or without crypto. So, you know, [42:16] now I think with Privy, it's just about getting to work on the infrastructure. So, you know, I, and I actually put out a post about this. I said that the easier it is to own wallets, the easier it is to own art on chain. So, you know, that's still what really motivates me. And I hope that other people have kind of looked through that lens of optimism too. [42:34] I love it. That's so great. That's such a great way to end. Debbie, thank you so much for coming on and huge congratulations again to you and the team. And we're just cheering you guys on and so excited to see all that you are going to be pushing out through the next few weeks and months and just big fans of everybody over there. Well, big fans of you too. So thank you so much for having me on. It was an honor. [42:57] Bye. See you later. Take care. [43:00] Okay. I have a question for you, Dina. Uh-huh. [43:05] Um, [43:06] What? I know the standing on business. I know the origin... [43:11] of standing on business. [43:12] I do not know the origin of monitoring the situation.

[43:17] Do you? [43:20] Is it touchy? [43:22] yeah but i also don't know that like [43:26] I think you can read it at face value. [43:30] I think that's one of, I think that's a face value one, but I'm sure it comes from a moment where someone was monitoring the situation. [43:36] Okay. Okay. Okay. Then it became, [43:38] But I don't know what that, I don't know. I have not seen the, what the key moment was. [43:43] I was really hoping you could write about it. What the original moment. That's what I'm talking about. The original moment. [43:48] And I was really hoping I could talk about it on the newsletter, but from your face, it seems like we're not. I just like it probably is like a 4chan thing. [43:56] If I were to guess. Oh, I thought it was related to... [43:59] Never mind. I'm sure it was some, if I were to guess, I would say it was an international conflict. Like the first time I thought it was Ukraine and Russia. [44:11] Uh-huh. Okay. I think it was Ukraine and Russia. That was the first time I saw it, at least. And I'm sure it was like some dudes on 4chan and then it spilled over to Twitter and now everyone's monitoring every situation. But I don't know. That would be my guess. And I would be curious to see if that tracks. Okay. That's what I thought it was, too. But I was wondering if there was some... [44:29] some nugget that was um really kicked things off um okay let's get people please please here [44:37] we're so excited okay hi hello how's it going i'm good how are you guys [44:45] Good. I love this. You've got such an aesthetic vibe. Very chic background. Very chic background. I, uh,

[44:53] I'm a proud plant mom. Okay. Good for you. [44:57] I got this thing from Mother of Junk. [45:01] Oh, nice. It looks great. What's Mother of Junk? [45:04] It's like a. [45:06] like a junk store in williamsburg um very good find wait the one on uh this red here yeah no no yeah oh wow wow wow wow wow you gorgeous [45:18] You really... [45:19] dollars. [45:20] Good for you. Okay. I can't take the smell in there. So I I've stopped going in there. I used to go in there all the time. It's really chaotic in there, especially when we go out. [45:30] like a weekend, but I will say that there's like, [45:34] a lot of really good finds like actually [45:37] Look at this thing. I also got this from there. It was like, wow, like $50. Like, [45:43] I'm surprised at these prices because these prices are shocking. [45:48] These are not Williamsburg prices. A little table over there. That was like $30. I don't know. Okay, you're really hitting it. You're in there quite a bit, it seems. No, actually, it's like, it's really weird. Like, I'm never like, I'm always like, I want to spend like an afternoon there. And I'm sure I can just like flip a bunch of shit. But like, I don't have that kind of time. It's always like. [46:08] it's always like I'm passing because I live here. So it's like I'm passing by and then something it's like, you know, like in TV shows where like, like, like, like, wait, and then so like, go in and like, it's like, they just like call to you. It's kind of like, I'm pretty sure these things are all possessed. Maybe I don't know. So it's always like,

[46:27] I'm passing by and it calls to me and then I have to let go and like, [46:32] pick it up. It has like a gravitational pull and you just are open to receiving that. [46:37] Yes. Mm hmm. Are you a Facebook marketplace? [46:41] I am. Person? Okay. I love the apartment tour we're getting. [46:51] um yeah i got those from basic market place they were like 400 for four chairs but i was like researching and it's like called like the like first dibs or i don't know like some bougie um and they're like bougie vintage chairs so like the moment that i found like they were coming coming from two manufacturers but basically they were going for like between like the cheaper ones were like six to seven hundred per chair to like the expensive ones were like two three thousand [47:21] them and then I'm going to flip them. There you go. They didn't get flipped. They have not gotten flipped. I was like, they're cute. I'm actually just going to keep them. [47:30] Well, it looks great in there. You've done a great job. [47:34] um okay what a contract address for if you want to like um buy my coins so that i can just flip furniture and then i'm buying i'm buying i i see the vision what's the ticker what is the ticker um okay we're super excited uh to have you on and talk about everything that you're working on at shibuya you had you guys had a big um drop this week which is exciting but before we get

[48:04] And before I left on my trip, you had an event that I went to in the Lower East Side where you guys premiered five of your, five, five? Yeah. Five of your short, like the first episode of different filmmakers that you're working with. It was amazing. [48:20] I was genuinely so impressed. Like all of the episodes were so good. There was a few that I was like, I want right now to binge this. Like I want to know everything that happens with these characters. And genuinely really... [48:35] So like inspiring to see, um, [48:39] that work displayed and those filmmakers talk about what they were passionate about and how Shibuya was supporting them. So all that to say, would love like a one-on-one from, uh, from you around that. And then we can talk about more, uh, of what happened this week. Thank you. Um, yeah, I mean, well, honestly, I think Shibuya was kind of just like born out of like, um, my sort of, well, I have a background in like film, film adjacent. Um, I was working [49:09] like want to create um and so you know we a few years ago we me and my co-founder we started white rabbit where we just made like a bit of um animation we were like this would be cool and then we you know we launched it and kind of like sold nfts and were able to fund the whole production um and it was just kind of like this thing where we realized oh wait we didn't have to because both of us coming from the film industry we understand and i think like everybody understands

[49:39] and green lit like it's not a straightforward it's not like based on merit actually like there's so many things that go into it and a lot of people making the creative decisions are not [49:48] necessarily creative people um and that has been going on for decades actually and it just like keeps [49:54] snowballing. And so I think now we're really feeling the [49:58] start of the death of the like traditional film industry. Um, and it's like, I can give a whole Ted talk about this, but I won't, but like, it has other things to do with the fact that like, you know, DVDs used to be like an, an, a distribution method and then it moved to like streaming. And then now, you know, like YouTube and like small, like shorter form content is in the mix, which is causing like Hollywood to be dying. And so, you know, when you hear people like, Oh, say like, why don't we have movies? Like, [50:25] we did in the 90s anymore there's like actually a really really complex ball of reasons that contribute to that um long story short is we were like okay we made this thing that's like really like people clearly resonated with and then and we were able to like on our own means like be able to raise the capital to like create it and then now it is actually getting the attention of like people in [50:55] we have shown that White Rabbit can have an impact in like the cultural world outside of crypto as well. Like, you know, it caught the attention of Linkin Park and then they were like, let's do a music video together. And which has like over a hundred million views now. And then like, you know, it was on like the cover of Vogue a couple of years ago. Like there's things that can be

[51:16] born out of just like this innate, [51:18] need to create, but it's like to create stuff currently, you need a lot of resources to do so. And then, so anyway, long story short is we were like, okay, if this was like possible for White Rabbit, is there something that we can do to make this path possible for other filmmakers as well? And so the slate of films that you saw at that event was us kind of like partnering with like five up and coming. When I say upcoming, it's like, there are actually a lot of them are [51:46] well established already like even you know like l mills like one of the directors she has like 1.7 million subscribers on youtube um another one uh ben he's like one of the directors he has like you know like basically like hundreds of thousands of fans on tick tock on both instagram and his reels like regularly go viral um but it's like people that hollywood don't take seriously because they didn't go to nyu film school or i don't know like yeah [52:13] filmmaking is just so [52:15] It's like a whole thing. And so we were like, why is everything, why does everything need to be gatekept? And like, you know, if people have a good idea and they're able to, [52:23] like congregate the resources to basically make that a reality. [52:28] I think that's good. That's a good thing. And it's a good thing for humanity. And there's like things that we would rather be watching than just because the way that Hollywood is currently trending is why we're getting only like sequels and prequels and remakes and just like a bunch of like [52:42] pouring hundreds of millions of dollars which is like insane right into movies that were kind of just like being fed down our throats like but we don't actually like really want to water like nobody asked for like a snow white live action remake that you know it's just like and so and then you know when i look at what these filmmakers were able to make like with just um so the first slate of uh films that we made we co-produced with them it's like basically we like um were

[53:12] Like, and I was saying in like at the event, I was like 40,000 is like one pump fund token, like release, you know, like, but when, and, and it's a huge concept and I feel like. [53:24] there's like a segment in White Rabbit that's like called like fighting the tide is a lonely journey. And like, that's kind of how I feel right now, because of course, like we're in crypto and it's like really hard to get people like attention spans are at an all time low. It's really hard to get people to like care about the arts or like anything that's like not speculative. And, but that, that is like my mission is to basically create like a permissionless protocol for [53:54] Thank you. [53:54] um, everybody should be given the resources to be creating stuff. Like there are people who are able to like do it in a way that makes it like creates more value or like makes it more compelling and entertaining for people to watch. And hopefully we demonstrated some of that, like, um, with our first season. And it's not even like us, it's just us identifying people who like have that special ability to take money and resources and like, you know, um, assemble a team to come [54:24] like actually wanna watch. And that's how A24 was able to build up their brand name as well as like, because the stuff is good and quality does matter. And I hope that in a world where we're like, [54:36] going more towards like [54:38] abundance of content like AI slop. By the way, we're not like, and I think AI is an amazing thing because it's like, isn't the whole point of creating is that we have an idea in our heads and like we want to be able to render it to reality so that it can be something that people can watch, be entertained.

[54:53] be therapeutic, we can relate to, make us feel something. That's a core part of humanity. [55:00] I feel like humans are still at the, at least right now before the singularity, very much like a needed component of that. [55:07] The meme that keeps coming to mind for me is, did you watch the studio? [55:13] I haven't yet, but I've seen like, okay. Okay. It's, it's great. You, you'll love it. But there's a scene where Seth Rogan, no spoilers, but like, there's a meme that's been going around where he's like talking to the, not to the camera, but almost. And he's like, I'm single-handedly saving film. And have you seen this meme going around? No, but I've only seen. Oh my gosh. And it's you. It's you. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I don't know that I can, and maybe I can't, [55:43] at least like I am willing to die trying, right? And it's kind of sad. I'm like, these filmmakers, like they went through so much just to like, [55:53] And they barely got paid from doing these. It's just purely a labor of love. And all just to entertain us for a few minutes. And I hope that we still have that innate drive to sit down and be like, "Oh, I want to watch this." Because it does make you feel things. And it can be beneficial to your life. [56:12] Anyway, that's my rant for [56:17] quality content. I hope film doesn't die. I think there is value to it, but who knows where it's going.

[56:24] Totally. Wow. Thank you so much for all of that. I love, I couldn't love it more. And also like, just generally feel so happy that there's people like you who are [56:35] One, thinking about this and two, willing to think about it [56:39] like not in the crypto industry, but like adjacent, I'd say you're like kind of adjacent to crypto. You're thinking about like how you use the rails for it to enable the ultimately what you're interested in, which is human creativity. And I just feel like, [56:53] like, [56:53] just happy that there's someone like you who's doing this work here because I feel, yeah, just [57:00] like we it's needed and um [57:04] Yeah, it's kind of like... [57:05] Creating the world that you want to live in. And I'm like, I don't... [57:08] I enjoy my, I have my 15 minute limit on Instagram every day. Like I enjoy my like brain rot of like, but I don't want to live in a world where it's only that and like, or it's either brain rot or we have like the Marvel, like fast and furious 69 and like snowman, no white man version, like live action. [57:29] Live action snowman. No, no, don't give any ideas. [57:38] Tell us how the the the mint there was a mint that happened yesterday or the day before. Tell us about the mechanics of that and how that is sort of like how that feeds into what happens next. Yeah, it's still live. You can go to mint.shibuya.film. And, you know, because people have such short attention spans right now. Well, ideally, what we would like to happen is you go actually watch the films. And if you're like, I fuck with this, like, I think this should exist, then you can support it either by giving directly or minting.

[58:08] then you can go there and mint it. And they're all frames from every one of the films. So if you mint it, it prints over a poster thing. So it looks like we're giving you a poster, but it's just like one of the frames from the films. And it could be cool. Like it's like maybe you receive and you're like, "Hey, well now I'm invested in this film. Let me go watch it, see what it's about." But at first, and all of the proceeds are going directly to support the director so that they can keep [58:38] making stuff like this. But yeah, I think the most important, it's not about like selling something. Like, honestly, I just want people to watch it. Like, you know. Yeah. [58:46] Yeah, the content hopefully is so good that it speaks for itself. [58:51] So Dina and I both come from crowdfunding before we started working in crypto. And so have like a lot of... [59:01] first hand [59:02] experience and trauma from being a part of a lot of different crowdfunding campaigns. But one of the things that [59:09] I do think creative projects were one of the most effective sort of categories and verticals for crowdfunding and always love to sort of see those things come to life and have fans have a direct relationship with filmmakers and creatives. But I'm curious, like what you would say the main differentiation between sort of like a Kickstarter or an Indiegogo and Shibuya is for creatives and what the main sort of draw would be to...

[59:38] to make [59:39] I know it's not open to everybody, but just curious. Yeah, it's evolutionary right now because we're still building a brand and we need to beat the cold stuff. So our way of doing that is like by tastemaking and curation. Of course, the dream is that it is permissionless and like open to everyone. But right now it's like curated. And, you know, the arbitrage is that a lot of the filmmakers that we're making, like working with, like they have a distribution outside. [1:00:09] I mean, like, and it's not specific to film. Like we're trying, the product that we're trying to create is something that's so seamless that like, it's like the cross between like streaming and crowdfunding. So it's like, you're watching and you're like, oh, that was really good. Oh, wait, I can do something about it. Like continue the ball rolling. Um, we haven't totally figured it out yet. Like any other startup, but that is like what we're currently building towards. [1:00:31] Cool. That's so exciting. Okay. So how can people get involved where, so they go to mint.shibuya.film. What's next? What's the season two look like? Tell us, tell us more. [1:00:41] Well, we are currently on the hunt for season two creators. So we actually have, like, we posted on Reddit, a lot of people were like, this is sick. And, you know, we got a lot of applications from filmmakers and stuff too. So we are in the process of that. But I think that there's something cool that we could do where maybe everybody who minted can also, like, maybe vote or like use those NFTs, like vote for like, decide on like, who can be part of the next season and stuff. There's some ideas that we're cooking up. But [1:01:07] If you want to support it, just mint it.

[1:01:10] Uh, yeah. [1:01:12] Great. People Pleaser, thank you so much for coming on. It's so nice to talk with you. Such a huge fan of what you're working on. And we'll see you. I'll see you in Brooklyn soon. Yeah. Okay. All right. Bye. Bye. [1:01:28] There it is. There it is. [1:01:30] That's all to wrap. [1:01:35] No, nothing. See you next week. [1:01:42] Okay, that was DBH. Join us live on Twitter every Wednesday at noon. Or here, I guess.