7investing and CryptoEQ recently announced a partnership, to help investors get a better consolidated view of the opportunities in both equities and in cryptocurrencies. 7investing provides its top seven stock market recommendations every month, while CryptoEQ provides its top-rated cryptocurrencies.

The two companies are now joining forces and publishing a monthly Collision Course conversation, where they discuss important recent developments and the impact they’ll have on both equities and crypto.

This month, our teams discuss the Biden administration’s recent Executive Order meant to “ensure the responsible development of digital assets.” 16% of Americans have now invested in or used crypto, and the consolidated market cap of all cryptocurrencies during the past five years has increased from $14 billion to $3 trillion. The stakes are high, and the implications for investors will be massive.

These video conversations and the complete transcript are only available for 7investing subscribers and will be published as monthly Advisor Updates. CryptoEQ will also publish a written recap of the conversation – including additional context on the events – in their monthly subscriber email newsletter.

If you’d like to access that newsletter, please sign up for CryptoEQ using this link.

Companies mentioned in this conversation include Block, Coinbase, PayPal, SoFi Technologies, Tesla, and UiPath. Cryptocurrencies mentioned include Bitcoin and Ethereum. 7investing or CryptoEQ’s advisors may have positions in the stocks or cryptocurrencies of the companies that were mentioned.

Transcript

Simon Erickson 0:00
Hello everyone and welcome to our March 2022 Collision Course Conversation between 7investing and CryptoEQ. We always enjoy these every single month to look at the marriage, the collision, if you will, between equities and cryptocurrencies. I’m 7investing founder and CEO Simon Erickson joined by my fellow lead advisor, Steve Simonton. We’re also joined by CryptoEQs co-founder and CEO Spence Randall. Gentlemen, happy Friday morning to both of you.

Spencer Randall 0:31
Happy Friday.

Steve Symington 0:32
Happy Friday. Now you got Princess Bride in the back of my head with the marriage comment.

Simon Erickson 0:38
They’re so much fun.

Steve Symington 0:40
We’re all feeling a little rummy. I’m excited to talk them.

Simon Erickson 0:42
I always enjoy these. They’re always a lot of fun. A lot going on here. I just got back from South by Southwest. We chatted about a lot of things that were crypto related for that. But I think the biggest news right now that we really should be paying some attention to is Biden’s executive order that’s laying out their strategy for cryptocurrencies. What he’s calling this is he’s ensuring the responsible development of digital assets. There was a lot of meat on the bone here. We’re gonna go into several of the sections and define what that really could mean for equity investors, for cryptocurrency investors, or for people who just want to dig a little deeper into this.

But maybe let’s start at the at the 10,000 foot level first. Spence, I’ll start with you on this one. We’ve heard some people call this a nothing burger, where it’s just a bunch of lip talk, and it wasn’t anything of interest. And then other people saying that, you know, actually, this is a great step for the US government to be embracing cryptocurrencies. What’s your take on the executive order at the 10,000 foot level?

Spencer Randall 1:39
Yeah, I think the biggest positive thing that comes out of the executive order is the administration has organized all of the agencies in the US that really do control financial markets here in the US and globally. So we now have an administration that is organizing our agencies to take action.

Now I would say the biggest knock, the why people are calling a nothing burger, is we’ve been anticipating this for a long time. So if you’ve been following crypto markets for as long as we have a CryptoEQ, then that expectation of clarity has always felt like it’s on the precipice and it’s just not here yet. So we still don’t have that clarity that we are, you know, wanting to see in the markets and digital assets. But at least we have the big first step.

So the biggest strength is that it still provides space for digital assets to continue to change the world. You know, it’s not some of the negative action that you’ve seen out of other countries, other nations, other organizations, other administrations. So it does still provide space for innovation here in the US. But the biggest knock is that it’s not definitive and we still have a lot of work to do.

Simon Erickson 2:59
Certainly. Steve, any comments you’d like to add to that maybe just to set the scene a little bit before I jump in and hear your thoughts on this? The cryptocurrency overall market cap has risen from $14 billion five years ago, to more than $3 trillion today. That’s in a five year period. It’s now estimated that 16% of Americans, which is some 40 million people, have invested or used cryptocurrencies. And so this is kind of a really big deal. This is something the US definitely shouldn’t be dragging its feet on. Steve, any thoughts at the 10,000 foot level of what’s going on?

Steve Symington 3:35
I think those people who are encouraged by this step, this executive order, are right to be encouraged in the sense that, if anything, it’s a huge piece of validation for the industry. I mean, I feel like we started these Collision Course calls when the cryptocurrency market was closer. It was almost like half the size, even when we started this. And it’s grown so quickly, to the point that governments can’t totally ignore it anymore. And totally ignore the possibility of potential regulation and laying out a framework and even if this is a skeleton, and even if, you know, some cryptocurrency industry proponents wanted more specifics, I think this is a great place to start. And again, a fantastic piece of validation for crypto in general. That they say, okay, you know, we’ve got to do something about this, and this is a good starting point.

Simon Erickson 4:35
That’s a great way to frame it. We’re gonna jump right into a couple of the sections that are interesting for investors. Just a reminder for anyone who’s new to this conversation, we do this because 7investing prefers to look at publicly traded equities, stocks in the stock market. And we really enjoy teaming up with Spence and his team at CryptoEQ to tackle the cryptocurrency side of this. It’s a completely different ballgame, a completely different style of analysis. We encourage everyone to check out cryptoeq.io if you’d like to subscribe to their service, we think they do incredible work. And that’s why we’ve been having these conversations on a monthly basis. And again, 7investing com/subscribe if you’d like to hear our perspective on the equity side of it.

But Spencer, let’s jump back and let’s figure out what’s going on within this executive order. Again, kind of comprehensively. The order is outlining the first whole of government strategy to protect consumers, financial stability, national security, and even address climate risk. There’s a lot going on here. But let me start at the first of the sections, which is protecting US consumers, investors, and businesses, by directing the Department of the Treasury and other agency partners to develop policy recommendations that would give sufficient oversight and safeguard over systemic financial risks posed by digital assets.

Okay, so there’s a lot going on in what they’re saying. As always for government reporting, you’ve got to figure out what they mean. But systemic risk kind of is a little bit more of a regulatory oversight on how the government plans to regulate these things so that they don’t cause mass damage. We have seen regulation and a lot of senses on on how cryptocurrencies are defined, how they’re regulated on exchanges like CBOE or the CME Group exchanges you can actually trade cryptocurrency futures. In the past on these calls, we’ve talked about the spot price of Bitcoin being defined and exchangeable on a lot of those exchanges.

But I guess systemic risk, Spence, how do you think about that? What do you think the risk is to the US government posed by cryptocurrencies that they might be referring to here? And what would be a reasonable way to to restrict or at least regulate that?

Spencer Randall 6:49
I think what we’ve seen happen gradually is the same tools that exists in traditional finance, are being adapted and carried over to the digital asset ecosystem. There are certainly limits, but you’re having a tradable future product on prominent futures exchanges is a great first step. We did that in 2017. And we’ve done many more things since then. Another example would be having a, not a spot Bitcoin ETF, but a Bitcoin futures ETF. It’s another great instrument that we have in the traditional system that we’d like to see applied to digital assets.

So steps like this, over time, create the infrastructure that we have in traditional finance, atop digital assets. So I think the more steps we take in that direction, the more comfortable it will be to regulate digital assets, and have some of the volatility dampened as this ecosystem continues to mature.

Now, looking at this from another angle, we could look at capital flight, right? Digital assets are permissionless. And the best ones cannot be transactions cannot be censored or stopped, like atop the Bitcoin network. So I think one of the concerns from the US government’s standpoint is value leaving the dollar system at rates that they can’t control. So there’s two angles to look at it. One, instruments and tools being adopted and adapted for digital assets. And two, another way I’m looking at this is how do you stop capital flight out of the dollar system?

Simon Erickson 8:36
It makes a lot of sense. I’d like to add some perspective on this on how the SEC has similarly been lightening its regulations on equities, too. We’ve seen SPAC’s in this past year boom in popularity, the Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, which are raising capital for requirements that are not required for traditional IPOs. It’s much more lenient for capital flow through that type of a system.

We’ve seen reggae plus, which is kind of meaning you can invest in private companies now. In certain instances, if you are not an accredited investor, that used to be no go. That used to be something you didn’t do in years past, but the SEC is just kind of encouraging flows of capital into private companies into publicly traded companies that are now finding other ways to raise capital. It seems like that is, like you mentioned Spence, also applying to cryptocurrencies as well.

Steve, any other thoughts on this? It seems like there’s a lot of consumer and business protections in the wording that the executive order has mentioned. It seems like that is reasonable, at least in my opinion.

Steve Symington 9:35
Yeah, I think a lot of that is very reasonable on their part. I think one of the things that we kind of brought up when were talking about kind of risks to US and global financial stability. Mitigating, like risk of capital flight, I think is a huge one that I think is worth reiterating that Spencer mentioned. In the sense that I also think the government is going to have to combat the idea that you’ve got a lot of you got a lot of cynical people out there, a lot of skeptical people who are going to be looking at at regulation like this. And I think they are going to be looking at the government and saying, Oh, you’re just trying to squash any competition for the dollar. And that’s a that’s a huge concern for governments in general with cryptocurrency around the world, is that you know, what happens to their own currencies? You know, do we want to launch our own sort of competing digital currencies that are based on you know, the dollar.

But there’s options in the existing cryptocurrency world, as far as like stable coins, and, something big. Like Cathie Wood has stepped out and said, you know, in time, we expect Bitcoin to act more like a stable currency. Rather than big, huge, eight, nine, ten percent swings in a day, it should be something that’s a little bit more predictable that that people can kind of rely on in that sense. So I don’t know, I think there’s a lot of skepticism out there from people who look at things like this and say, Oh, the government’s just trying to protect its interests. But with good reason, I guess. So that’s something that I’m kind of keeping my eyes on, is how they manage that skepticism.

Simon Erickson 10:56
So let’s talk about that next. That’s a great segue, Steve. And the next question that I want to hear though, the next topic I want to get into. Because both of you mentioned kind of the the risk that’s present for the government if there is a flight away from the US dollar into cryptocurrency. Seems like a systemic risk you would reasonably be interested in addressing.

One of the other sections of the executive order was exploring a US central bank, digital currency. So Steve, like you said, if we can get rid of some of the volatility, have a stable coin, have something the government has some kind of control over, but still allows for a lot of the benefits that cryptocurrencies offer maybe that’s the middle ground between the US dollar and something that’s completely market based, like a Bitcoin would be. Spence we’ve chatted about this before. I mean, what are your thoughts on Raven, your business colleague, Raven Morris chatted about this before, too. What are your expectations of a US stable coin that might give the government a little bit more control but still allow some flexibility?

Spencer Randall 12:30
I think a lot of Americans are already accustomed to interacting with the digital dollar. So I think it’s more of an upgrade of our infrastructure and technology. There are leading global powers that have already rolled out test pilots of CBDC’s at scale, that are quite successful. So I see it as a natural progression. I do think that we’ll have CBDC’s here in the United States.

As an individual, it doesn’t alleviate my concerns around storing value in a CBDC or a digital dollar. I would only be interested in keeping as much value as I need to live. I would still implore folks to look at other things like equities markets, precious metals markets, real estate, ways to diversify and protect yourself against what could play out over the next few decades. So I think that, in a nutshell, I see CBDCs here in the United States as an upgrade of our technological infrastructure, and catching up to other global powers who have already made significant moves in this direction.

Simon Erickson 13:42
Let me change gears just a minute here. Another good segue for this is kind of the US doesn’t want to just overly restrict or overly regulate cryptocurrencies. It wants to embrace them too. It wants to figure this out. We’ve talked a lot about regulations on the show, but that’s kind of necessary over the long term.

We understand that there’s also an embrace feature of this as well. I mean, one of the segments of this executive order was actually to promote US leadership in technology and economic competitiveness from the Department of Commerce. Specifically to put priority into the policy research and development and operational approaches to digital asset. So if you want to look at the bear, the restrictive, the regulator’s, the holding this downside of it, let’s talk about the embracing and encouraging that part of it as well.

In the past in previous conversations, we’ve chatted with you Spence about El Salvador. We said out of a 1 to 10 scale in terms of being the innovator, we think El Salvador is the tip, right? They’ve got Chivo, they’ve got the app that’s gonna give you gas points if you load up some currency into cryptocurrencies into Bitcoin. They’ve made Bitcoin a legal tender in the country. I mean, they’re kind of all in on crypto. And it seems like the government is maybe a little hesitant on this. They don’t really know exactly how they want to address this.

Biden certainly has been a little bit more measured in the way that he has written this, or his administration has written this. But Steve, it does seem like there is some support in making sure that US is kind of ahead of the pack in promoting cryptocurrencies right now.

Steve Symington 15:20
And I think that also at risk of tackling one of our future points now, it also is very closely related to another one of those sections. It’s exactly where the support technological advances and ensure responsible development and use of digital assets. Just a couple of bullet points down there, they’re talking about basically supporting responsible development and technological advances for like cryptocurrency infrastructure. I appreciate that.

Then the other things are combating illicit uses and exploitation of digital assets. And that’s one of the big concerns and one of the big criticisms that skeptics have. Oh, this is just a tool for criminals, right? So I think it makes sense also, to not only take a leadership role in technology in the economic competitiveness aspect by the US, but also to tackle responsible development and prevent illicit uses of the technology.

And that’s maybe a whole other podcast. We’ve mentioned that a few times, their ability to capture stolen digital assets, or to trace illegally used things, which is sort of a concern. And there’s high points and low points to that, you know, from someone who’s a proponent of digital assets, in that they’re like, “wait a second, isn’t it supposed to be untraceable?” And it’s like, well, yes, and no. And there’s kind of some nuance. Oftentimes when they’re able to recover assets or when they’re able to track criminal use it’s not a byproduct of, you know, shortfalls in the system, but rather often shortfalls in security by the criminals themselves. And irresponsible password management, to wallet use and stuff. I’m sure Spence can speak a little bit more to that as well.

Simon Erickson 17:26
Well, before we do that, and we’ll get to you in just a minute Spence. But I want to touch on this just one more equity perspective of this, is just how important innovation is. How important the embrace of innovation is for countries to do. And whether we’re talking about Elon Musk moving to the United States because he saw the dream for electric vehicles and Tesla in Silicon Valley, or a company that you’ve been very fond of, Steve, UiPath. I believe their founder came from Romania for robotic process automation. You know, now he’s one of the richest Romanians, I think that is out there. But he brought his business to the United States.

We should be encouraging in a time where China is banning its Bitcoin miners and saying, get out of the country. It seems like this is an opportunity to find some really talented technology folks and and apply it here. I know that you’ve seen a lot of this in AI. You follow artificial intelligence and have for 20 years. It seems like a similar story to me.

Steve Symington 18:17
Yeah, it really is. You’re trying to play leadership roles in artificial intelligence. And not only just plowing forward with development for AI, but doing so in a responsible fashion. Kind of one of those fields that a lot of people study and things that I talk about in a lot of my updates on artificial intelligence, is whether it’s being used responsibly ethically because there’s a lot of power. Like the old Spider Man quote, “great power great responsibility.”

That’s an interesting point you bring up about China telling cryptocurrency miners to leave and there’s a lot of, in the world of artificial intelligence and technology in general, there’s a lot of competition for talented people, especially in the engineering world. And you know, that’s part of the reason companies like C3.ai, another artificial intelligence platform company that’s kind of up and up and coming. Tom Siebel founded that of Oracle and Siebel systems fame, right.

But they, in their quarterly slides regularly post, here’s how many people we had applied to work at our company. Here’s how many people we hired. Lots of people apply, very few actually get hired and it’s encouraging to see that because there’s a lot of jobs out there and competition is stiff with companies like Alphabet, Google Parent, Facebook, and Vidya, Apple, Microsoft, There’s just there’s so much competition for good talent and I I think we’re gonna see kind of a similar struggle in the world of cryptocurrencies, especially as we have more publicly tradable equities that we can work with, with software foundations. We’re gonna see a struggle in the coming years to hire good people, and to compete to bring them on.

Simon Erickson 20:21
Spence, I know you have some thoughts about this one as well.

Spencer Randall 20:24
Yeah, thoughts on blockchain forensics, minor flight, and talent. So I’ll try and hit all three points. So what we try and do sometimes on this podcast is predict the future. And, of course, we all have our own biases. But I have some strong convictions about what will happen in the next decade. I think that we’ll see strong motions for CBDC’s here in the United States. And I think what could play out is that, that perception that cryptocurrencies are used for illicit activities will actually flip. I think that blockchain forensics are already very strong.

We know of several companies in the space that are fantastic at what they do and are very adept at tracing blockchain transactions through the blockchain. It’s really built for that level of transparency. So this distributed ledger can be reviewed by anyone in the world. And so when you get an expert in there, they’re quite adept at piecing together what happened.

So when I say that I think it’ll be a flip, I think actually cash would be what is preferred for illicit activity. And then blockchain forensics and blockchain would be where a lot of transactions actually happen in a world where CBDC’s are commonplace. So that’s way out in the future. Kind of like the mindset shift we had in the middle of the pandemic, we don’t have that much of a need for that physical cash anymore. There’s lots of businesses shifting to a digital system. And in time, that could be cryptocurrency, backend, and infrastructure. So that’s my take on blockchain forensics, and illicit activity.

Minor flight. So we talked about moving Chinese based mining companies and capital expenditure and equipment out of China, it was banned. Bitcoin mining was banned in mainland China. Moving that to pretty much everywhere else in the world. So I think that that is an example of what the US has not done. The US has not come down with hard bans on important infrastructure in the cryptocurrency and digital asset ecosystem. We’ve seen an open to innovation, a promotion of innovation, responsibly here in the United States.

And so what we’ve seen here in Texas, which is where I’ve called home since I was born, I was born here in Texas, an immense rally around Bitcoin mining. And they’re surprising, not surprisingly, actually, the value system of a bitcoin miner, and the value system of a Texan has happened to mesh really well. And with Houston being one of the energy capitals of the world, we’re seeing immense community being built very rapidly around Bitcoin mining in Texas. So I would say, we literally saw lots and lots of miners come to Texas. And so that’s bolstering. Houston and Texas is the energy capital of the world. It’s a tangible example that people at home can feel when we say the US has been open to innovation in digital assets.

And then the last point, talent. Yeah. So one of the interesting things about watching companies in digital assets, once great people come to our industry, we don’t see them leave. It’s very rare that you’ll see a very talented individual leave digital assets as a whole. It does happen from time to time, especially some of the folks that entered the market in 2010 2011 2012. But we see a lot of people work in the industry and stay. Some of the smartest people I know are now making the leap. People that didn’t want to have anything to do with digital assets in 2018, in 2017. That’s a very interesting pattern I’ve seen develop is the human capital and talent that is flocking to and growing with this maturing asset class.

Simon Erickson 24:52
This is fantastic. There are about 17 things in what you just said, Spence, that I think are important to remember. I especially like the point about Texas being the energy and engineering and entrepreneurship capital of the world that is also attracting Bitcoin miners. Man, that’s fantastic for you and me, both my friend that are here in Houston. Great points about kind of the move in talent, kind of how people are really sticking with this industry.

I wanted to point out also within the executive order, the Biden executive order, that they are committing to technological advances, you know, laying down the infrastructure that would encourage that, not stifle it. And also coordinating international frameworks to keep the illicit activities that both Steve and Spence just mentioned. That’s gonna be a tough one, but I think we’ve got to at least go out there and say, we are going to try to keep the bad guys from doing bad things.

Of course, Elizabeth Warren, just kind of recently putting out a letter to the US Treasury. She believes that cryptocurrency would be a weapon against the sanctions imposed on Russia, that’s kind of a step back on where we’re trying to get on the right direction. We don’t want to have money trading hands to the wrong people in the wrong countries at the wrong times. We want to encourage international cooperation on how these things can be regulated. US can play a leadership role on that. I think that’s a step in the right direction.

So a lot going on on that. My goodness, like I said, rewatch this podcast about five times on 5x speed, because we’ve got a lot of meat on the bone here. But one last thing that we haven’t touched on yet that I think is important, is equitable access to cryptocurrencies. This was another big one within the executive order, that there’s a need for safe, affordable and accessible financial services within the entire United States, especially for those who might not have sufficient funds to participate in the crypto economy right now. It’s still not really easy for people to understand cryptocurrencies, or even get access to Bitcoin, especially in kind of underdeveloped communities, people that might not have immediate access to these kinds of things.

Spence this is kind of a big one. I mean, I assume that the executive order is not talking about putting Bitcoin ATMs on every block in America. But how do you feel about inclusion for people that don’t have a ton of money that are trying to get into cryptocurrency, making sure you have equal access to this as well,

Spencer Randall 27:09
Absolutely. So I think that the Bitcoin network is more inclusive than, say, the traditional banking system. So I actually see the biggest gap as education and awareness. So I think it’s much easier to practically open a Bitcoin wallet at a Bitcoin ATM, and consider that your first crypto savings account, than it is to walk in and open a bank account. I think it’s a shorter process.

Now there’s new things that you have to learn to participate in a crypto economy. And that’s why at CryptoEQ we’re so fired up to do what we do because we want to help bridge that information gap. But I do think that you know, opening a Bitcoin wallet, a Bitcoin ATM, is very inclusive. And there’s hundreds and thousands of Bitcoin ATMs all across the country, where people can walk into their, you know, local corner store and open their Bitcoin bank account. Inherently I see Bitcoin and high quality digital assets as very equitable, and very inclusive, because there isn’t that third party to censor your access to the network, as there is in traditional financial system.

Simon Erickson 28:31
Anything to add to that one, Steve? Any thoughts about diversity and inclusion for cryptocurrencies?

Steve Symington 28:37
Maybe this is just a function of how we structure the podcast, but I immediately think of the fact that purchasing equities has become so much easier in recent years and I feel like cryptocurrency is not far behind in that sense. How many people couldn’t participate in equity markets back in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s because it was kind of difficult without online discount brokers and the cost of performing trades was high.

I feel like especially with companies like Coinbase and different brokerages that are designed, your SoFi’s, and your Pay Pals, and Squares, and all those companies that are much more accepting and recognizing the need to provide a platform that people can buy and sell and manage their cryptocurrency portfolios. It’s only gotten easier. So I think some of that’s just happening naturally. We provide additional ways to kind of affirm the need for that. So much for the better.

Simon Erickson 29:56
Those platforms you mentioned are great ones. Steve mentioned Coinbase with Brian Armstrong, the CEO of that, you know, he’s ready to go. He wants to have the bar set for what he can do so he can start building out the crypto economy. You mentioned SoFi Technologies, Anthony Noto. He’s a go getter. I mean, he’s a guy that it’s like, hey, let’s do this, I want to be a very comprehensive platform that can offer a lot of things including cryptocurrency. We’ve seen Square, which has now Block, you know, Jack Dorsey, kind of embracing this and buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. We’ve seen PayPal even saying, hey, we don’t want to be behind our competitors in all of this, There’s a lot of publicly traded companies that are certainly embracing this. Are there any stocks, Steve, that you are watching that you really think are going to benefit from this executive order? Or just the State of the Union for cryptocurrency and where we are right now?

Steve Symington 30:54
You know, stocks, specifically, that I’m watching. I think anyone who has recognized the need and the importance of cryptocurrencies in general. So, you know, obviously, you’re kind of pure plays, like Coinbase. But companies like Sofi, where and Noto himself, you mentioned, has stepped out and said, you know, any companies that don’t recognize that they need to play leadership roles in the cryptocurrency industry are going to be left behind.

I think you can’t just necessarily make a blanket statement, by all stocks that are touching cryptocurrency, you know, which would I guess, extend to your Micro Strategies and your Tesla’s and where they’ve decided to hold some Bitcoin on their balance sheet, or they’ll accept payment and Dogecoin, or whatever. It’sjust, you know, you have to be somewhat selective. But I think there’s a lot of great options out there, and the stocks that we’ve talked about in particular, and there’s a reason those are kind of the first to come to mind for me. That half dozen or so names, and I think I’ll have plenty of upside, in addition to kind of the foundations of the core businesses if they’re not a pure play, like Coinbase is.

Simon Erickson 32:20
That’s a great point, Steve. Look, this is a foundational technology and look for innovative leaders who are taking advantage of it. Spence, how about some last words? Let’s wrap this up. What’s your overall thoughts about the executive order and what’s going on in the state of cryptocurrencies?

Spencer Randall 32:35
Overall, the executive order for me, you know, a long time ago, you asked me how you score how the US is doing on cryptocurrencies. It bumps me up from a five to a six. So overall, I think it’s positive step. You know, you asked Steve a fun question, which is, where are you looking in the market for opportunity? You know, we look at our respective markets, most of our professional day.

So what do I think is a good theme to watch as it pertains to both crypto and publicly traded companies? It’s what happens within NFT’s. So what I’m seeing in communities, especially online communities, is the leading podcasts in the world that demand the most attention are deploying NFT’s to their communities. And these are not to be overlooked. These are very influential people, very influential brands. And what we’re seeing is NFT’s are starting to scale.

So OpenSea still controls a lot of the NFT market. But for example, Coinbase is making big moves for NFT’s and offering products that pertain to NFT’S. FTX is making big moves to deploy products that support NFTs. We are in talks with companies that are laser focused and obsessed with NFT’s. So the theme of NFT’s and what publicly traded companies and crypto companies are doing to support the further growth of NFT’s and integration into our lives is something to watch. And that’s what I’m thinking about when you ask that question, what are you thinking as far as themes and investment themes and opportunities?

And then you know, I’d like to wind this down with what 7investing does thier deep research for equities, is what we do at CryptoEQ for cryptocurrencies. And so I invite the folks that are watching to jump into our community chat as well. We have a crypto subset at 7investing discord, where we talk about crypto and answer questions directly to 7investing subscribers. So jump in there, join the conversation. We do our best to answer any and all questions that come in.

Simon Erickson 34:46
Absolutely. We are loving this partnership. We love chatting with CryptoEQ every single month. Some incredible work, check out their core reports. They’re very thorough. I encourage everyone who’s interested in cryptocurrencies to look at what Spence and his team are doing over at CryptoEQ. Spence and Steve, thank you both for joining this month’s collision course. We take a look at the collision between equities and cryptocurrencies. It’s been a lot of fun. I think we’ve got a lot to talk about. I think we might be having to chat about DAO’s and NFT’s and any other three letter acronyms that are impacting the crypto world next month. We’ll be back in April of 2022. Once again, my name is Simon Erickson from 7investing. Thank you for joining us this month. We’ll see you next time around.