Oct 24, 2024 · 1h 43m · tbpn
Crypto is Back Baby (ep5)
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In this episode of Technology Brothers, co-hosts John Coogan and Jordy Hays analyze Stripe's landmark $1.1B acquisition of Bridge, the maturation of stablecoin infrastructure, tech media monetization flywheels, and the foundational pillars of American economic dominance.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. The hosts hold 51.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
The hosts as informed peer 5.3 Guest teaching 1.9 Guest disagreement 1.4 The hosts pushing back 2.1
speaking balance: gold is the hosts, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 1:06:15 Hays dismisses valuation warnings by citing standard VC power law models
Hays rejects the cautionary premise regarding huge seed rounds, asserting that venture capital is solely designed around taking repeated long shots on dropouts.
Hardest push from the hosts ▶ 1:06:45 Coogan pushes back that the warning targets founders, not VC portfolio mathCoogan refuses Hays's venture-centric framing, clarifying that the tweet is a warning to young founders about getting buried under liquidation preferences.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 24:35 Hays explains banking partner platform risk from firsthand startup experienceHays educates Coogan on the operational realities of banking partner risk, explaining how partner banks forced Capital to drop digital asset clients.
The host holds their own ▶ 35:35 Coogan breaks down foreign exchange return hedging from running an e-commerce startupCoogan demonstrates deep domain knowledge by detailing the complex accounting and refund hedging traps of accepting crypto payments as early as 2013.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The hosts as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The hosts pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coogan's Law, Catchphrases, and Rustic Audio | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Coogan defines 'Coogan's Law' regarding the power of compressed catchphrases in modern algorithmic feeds. Hays cheerfully plays along, adding banter about personal branding and rustic audio aesthetics. | |
| Tracking Tech Laws and Mike Solana's Takes | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | The hosts discuss tracking tech phrases and Solana's journalistic flair. The exchange is lighthearted and entirely collaborative. | |
| Eric Newcomer's Profitability and Media Business Models | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | Coogan breaks down the career history of Zach Abrams and corrects Hays on the precise definition of hyperscalers. Hays shares his firsthand experience meeting Abrams in 2022 during stablecoin fundraising. | |
| Stablecoin Utility and Bridge's Regulatory Moat | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Coogan quotes reporting on Bridge's European and US state-by-state money transmitter licenses to explain its $1B acquisition valuation. Hays questions why Stripe didn't build it internally. | |
| Banking Plumbing, Regulatory Risk, and Fiat Depegging | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Coogan highlights historical banking demarcations between checking and savings, while Hays provides tactical context from Capital's banking partner risk requirements. Coogan probes the theoretical scenario of stablecoins depegging upward from inflating fiat. | |
| Circle's IPO, Polymarket's Surge, and E-Commerce Rails | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Coogan shares detailed personal founder experience integrating Bitcoin merchant payments via Coinbase in 2013 and navigating foreign exchange return hedging. Both examine Circle's IPO expectations and Polymarket's election volume. | |
| Venture Treasury Gambles and the FedEx Myth | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Coogan and Hays debate the apocryphal Vegas gambling tale of FedEx's founder and relate it to crypto startup treasury management. Hays jokes about narco conspiracies before turning back to practical startup payroll rails. | |
| Sponsor: NetJets and Private Air Travel | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Sponsor read and comedic riffing on private aviation, NetJets, and David Senra's jet philosophy. | |
| Brother of the Week: Daniel Francis Launches Able | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Coogan analyzes Daniel Francis's startup Able and recounts having dinner with the founders before their viral Twitter prank. Both explore the go-to-market dynamics of selling software into municipal police departments. | |
| Elon Musk's Diablo Rank and Tech Billionaire Eccentricities | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Coogan explains the quarterly endgame progression mechanics in Diablo IV to explain why Elon Musk's leaderboard ranking demands hundreds of grinding hours. Hays speculates about account-warming teams and private jet Starlink gaming. | |
| The Dangers of Massive Pre-Seed Valuations | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Hays argues venture economics only care if one founder builds a SpaceX-scale winner regardless of failure rates. Coogan counters directly, clarifying that the critique addresses young founders trapping themselves in bloated preference stacks rather than fund-level returns. | |
| Evan Armstrong's Paternity Tweet and Viral Ragebait | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Coogan and Hays dissect Evan Armstrong's viral paternity leave tweet as masterclass ragebait designed to optimize feed engagement. | |
| Global Tech Competition with China and Angel Investing Wisdom | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Coogan delivers a passionate argument urging American tech factions (SF vs El Segundo) to stop infighting and recognize China's unified industrial strategy. Hays reflects on his angel investing misses. | |
| The Fentanyl Vaccine and Billionaire Retreat Shields | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Coogan and Hays joke about Bloomberg's fentanyl vaccine piece and pitch an imaginary ayahuasca vaccine for surviving billionaire executive retreats. | |
| The Economist's Cover and American Economic Dominance | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Coogan reads Robert Sterling's viral list praising the pillars of American capitalism and compares US geographic and economic versatility against international destinations. | |
| Tim Ferriss's Detox and Jocko's Monetization Playbook | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Coogan analyzes Jocko Willink's sophisticated multi-tier price discrimination funnel across supplements, books, executive consulting, and events. | |
| Keith Rabois's Hiring Philosophy and Finding an Edge | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Coogan and Hays review Keith Rabois's strict hiring maxims, evaluate Miami versus SF startup hubs, and discuss Harry Stebbings's $400M fund raise. |
Statements from this episode (29)
Newcomer pacing toward $1M profit on $2M revenue in 2024
“Newcomer is on track to generate more than one million in profit on more than two million in revenue this year.”
Coogan: Eric Newcomer will soon stop writing critical tech hit pieces
“He's not going to be writing hit pieces for very much longer.”
Coogan: Stripe Acquired Bridge for Over $1 Billion
“Yeah, the top story, we gotta talk about Stripe acquiring Bridge for over one billion dollars.”
Hays: Stripe's Bridge Deal Will Spark Massive Crypto Infrastructure Investing
“And the funny thing is this will inspire an entire massive wave of new crypto infrastructure investing.”
Hays: Nothing in Crypto Has Product-Market Fit Like Stablecoins
“Nothing has product market fit in crypto like stablecoins.”
Hays: Tether generates 10x more revenue per employee than BlackRock
“Like if you actually look at, like, I think the most, it's USDT is, has more revenue on a per employee basis by like, 10 X than BlackRock.”
Hays: Stablecoins are a major catalyst for US dollar dominance
“Stable coins are a big catalyst for the dollar.”
Hays: Bridge had a $15M revenue run rate at Stripe acquisition
“It was like fifteen million dollar run rate.”
Hays: Partner Bank Forced Capital to Abandon Stablecoin Custody Product
“We, at Capital, we were rolling out a Stablecoin custody product when we were informed by our bank partner that we were gonna have to jettison a lot of our Digital asset oriented customers. And so our entire product strategy like fell apart because we couldn't…”
Hays: Taking Regulatory and Platform Risk Creates Exponential Startup Alpha
“It shows that there's so much alpha and just being okay with the fact that you're taking on a regular, you're taking on a lot of regulatory risk, you're taking on a lot of platform risk, and you need to just That's part of what creates these sort of exponentia…”
Hays: A major stablecoin will undoubtedly blow up in the future
“And so I think that there will undoubtedly be a time in the future where a major stable coin like blows up.”
Hays: Circle generates roughly 5% interest yield on $34B in USDC reserves
“Circle is, Has taken on thirty four billion dollars and is earning interest yield on that, which right now is somewhere around five percent.”
Hays: Memecoin platform pump.fun generates roughly $100M annually in fees
“They're doing, I think, like, a hundred million a year in fees, right?”
Coogan: Polymarket holds around $1B in US presidential election liquidity
“There's like a billion dollars of liquidity in the election right now.”
Coogan: Scale AI pays international contractors using a Bridge-powered product
“With bridge, the one Really interesting example that I did see of, like, a company using this, and it was a perfect example of this was scale. So they have a bunch of contractors internationally. They want to pay them quickly in dollars because there's no fluc…”
Hays: Great posting skills translate directly to effective company building
“Whether you like it or not, if somebody can figure out how to post really well, they can figure out how to, Build a company and get attention and communicate in the right ways to raise money, to hire great people, to get customers. So for some reason or anothe…”
Hays: A VC fund dedicated solely to top posters would outperform
“The, you could raise a whole fund dedicated to funding posters. Right. It's just the poster index. And I think it would outperform.”
Coogan: Elon Musk is a top 30 Diablo player globally
“Elon Musk has been playing Diablo relentlessly. I mean, the guy is one of the top 30 Diablo players in the world right now. Something like that.”
Hays: Back young dropouts but give them experienced industry chaperones
“Find the balance of it, right? So, but, so bet on the kid, bet on the dropout, but go get them somebody from Lockheed Martin to be their chaperone.”
Hays: Took only 36 hours of paternity leave for first child
“I took off 36 hours when my son was born. Not necessarily proud of that. He was born Saturday, like You know, in the early, early hours of the morning. Four a.m. On Monday. I legitimately had a 12, 12 hour meeting of back-to-backs on Monday.”
Coogan: Work-life balance content is the most effective viral rage bait
“Work-life balance always goes viral. So I don't know if this got dunked on, but like if you're rage baiting, like this is the best possible rage bait. If you're just trying to grow your account, like, because people will fight about this forever.”
Coogan: Media brands must have an enemy to build loyal allies
“You gotta have an enemy. If you don't have an enemy, you don't have an ally. The only reason people rally together. The enemy of my, yeah. No, seriously. You have to have an enemy. If you don't have an enemy, there's no reason for someone to be your ally.”
Hays: Passed on early investments in Bridge and Polymarket
“I talked with Zach within six months of him incorporating Bridge, didn't invest. I met Shane from Polymarket, like we would DM back in like, 20, 21, and I didn't go back up the Brinks truck.”
Hays: Angel investing is deeply addictive and financially irrational
“I mean, the angel investing is deeply addictive. It makes no sense to do. Financially.”
Hays: Founders who follow 90% of Keith Rabois's advice will succeed
“I would say that overall Keith's advice, I'm like very bullish on any founder that takes like 90% of Keith's advice to heart and follows it. I think it's a really good framework”
Coogan: Miami lags in engineering talent but excels for fundraising
“It still is just like a phenomenal place to go meet a lot of extremely wealthy people. Yeah. Yeah. Like it, I think everyone agrees that it is behind on, on hiring engineering talent, but in terms of just like lots of capital markets, powerful people having mo…”
Coogan: 20VC raises $400M fund for early-stage startups
“The British firm, firm, 20 VC pulls in four hundred million dollars to invest in early stage tech startups.”