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Vinny Lingham Leads From The Front

Vinny Lingham

A big shark from South Africa and a veteran entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. He entered the world of Bitcoin early 2013 and was responsible for 5% of all transactions Gyft. Now, he leads the startup Civic.

Host
Matt Aaron

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About the Episode

A pleasure to have one of the O.G.'s of bitcoin on the show.

Many of you are familiar with Vinny. He is well known for his success as an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.

He is a successful investor, a media figure on shows like Shark Tank and Dragon's Den, and a partner in the largest cryptocurrency hedge fund.

At one point, 5% of all bitcoin transactions were made via his company Gyft.

Today, he serves as the CEO of Civic, a decentralized identity ecosystem built on Ethereum.

Vinny sheds light on his day-to-day and his outlook for cryptocurrencies:

  • What is a typical day in the life of Vinny? How does he divide his time?
  • How should we interpret the consequences of the scaling debate?
  • What does the Bitcoin Foundation do in 2018?
  • Why should people care about decentralized identity? When is the best time to lead a startup?

Timestamps:
2.50 - The accessibility of cryptocurrency
5.50-The story of how Vinny grew up in South Africa and how he afforded education
8.50-How Vinny first discovered Bitcoin
9.34- Buying his first Bitcoin and the problems with Gyft
11:00- Starting civic
14.31- Being part of the Bitcoin Foundation and being reactive as a non-profit
16:50- Bitcoin Foundation on BTC vs BCH
18:48- Why the poem ‘First They Came’ means so much to him
27:20 -He talks about hodling and why it isn’t a good idea right now, and answers-is a high float best?
34:00 Work/life and not being able to switch off as a CEO
36:00 Information on Civic and one of the main benefits of the company
And much, much more!

Mentioned in the episode:
Civic
Bitcoin Foundation
Gyft
Multicoin Capital

About the Host

Matt Aaron

Matt Aaron has been podcasting since 2013, when he launched the Food Startups Podcast.

He recently found a second love in cryptocurrency and blockchain and hasn't looked back.

His first major investment into cryptocurrency was the money he made betting on (but not voting for) that Donald Trump would win the 2016 election.

Matt believes that public blockchains and cryptocurrencies are the solution to the many problems exposed of the current banking system in the 2008 financial crisis.

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