Oct 13, 2017 · 24m · top-founders
811: Crypto: After $2m ICO, He's Building the Bloomberg Terminal for Crypto
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of The Top podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Santiment founder Maxim Balashevich about building an information terminal for the crypto asset economy, exploring its multi-million-dollar token raise, valuation metrics, and dual SaaS-staking monetization strategy.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 41.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 5.3 Guest teaching 4.6 Guest disagreement 2.0 Nathan pushing back 4.3
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:31 Rejecting traditional SaaS monetization logic
Maxim pushes back on Latka's assertion that demand equates to charging upfront, arguing crypto infrastructure requires open utility before premium monetization.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:24 Latka demands justification for zero revenueLatka directly challenges Maxim's strategy by insisting that genuine demand should result in paying customers immediately.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 18:09 Educating host on smart contract security exploitsMaxim provides detailed breakdowns of recent multi-million dollar hacks against CoinDash and Ethereum multi-signature contracts.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 13:00 Deducing token cap table and implied valuationLatka computes token supply, token pricing, and deduces the implied sixteen million dollar market capitalization on the fly.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santiment's Core Mission and Dual Revenue Model | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | Latka frames the conversation by clarifying Santiment's business model and confirming it operates as an information layer rather than an exchange. Maxim provides a standard breakdown of their dual payment structure involving SaaS subscriptions and token staking. | |
| Token Sale Breakdown and Initial Capitalization | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | Latka actively checks EtherScan data during the interview to probe token sale numbers. Maxim corrects Latka's historical price assumptions by pointing out Ethereum traded around ten dollars during their initial presale. | |
| Monetization Strategy and Product Development Timeline | 6 | 5 | 3 | 7 | Latka presses hard on why Santiment is not monetizing immediately if user demand exists. Maxim counters Latka's traditional SaaS assumptions by explaining crypto network data layers and prioritizing platform adoption over near-term monetization. | |
| Token Allocation, Vesting, and Implied Valuation | 7 | 3 | 2 | 4 | Latka drills into the token allocation numbers, outstanding float, and calculates the implied sixteen million dollar valuation based on circulating supply. Maxim confirms Latka's financial math and clarifies founder vesting schedules. | |
| Analyzing Market Competitors and Alternative Models | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | Latka pushes Maxim to name concrete competitors rather than speaking in generalities. Maxim lists related projects such as Iconomi, StockTwits, and Melonport while explaining their different approaches. | |
| Blockchain Interoperability and Recent Security Exploits | 4 | 7 | 2 | 3 | Latka asks about storage vulnerabilities and future winning blockchains. Maxim takes control to educate Latka on recent high-profile ICO exploits including the CoinDash attack and multi-signature wallet security breaches. | |
| Sponsor Message: Acuity Scheduling | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | Segment includes an ad read followed by the Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Latka redirects Maxim when he resists answering the book question to get specific industry figures like Nick Szabo and online tools. |
Statements from this episode (12)
Balashevich: Santiment offers fiat subscriptions or token staking for data access
“Now, in order to get access to information we are generating and packaging for you or visualizing, you have basically two means of paying us. One way, normal way, you can buy our services through monthly subscriptions. Like normal paying in dollars or euros or…”
Santiment does not yet sell data or generate subscription revenue
“We are just building the system, so we do not sell the data yet.”
Santiment raised $12 million in its July 2017 ICO crowdsale
“We raised at that time, and that time it was around twelve million. ... We started crowdsale on the first of July, one day for our own communities, and one day for other communities, and it was over. So at that time, yeah, it was 45,000 Ethereum.”
Santiment's $12 million crowdsale had around 720 participants
“Well, in the crowd sale itself, we've got a bit more than 700, I think it was 720, and the number you see on Token Explorer, it shows actually amount of people who moved the tokens.”
Santiment raised 12,000 ETH in a 2017 presale when ETH was $10
“At that time it was 12,000 Ethereum. ... Back then it was difficult to believe at the time Ethereum was 10 dollar per ETA. So we were aiming like between 120 and 50,000 is what we collected.”
Balashevich predicts Santiment will establish meaningful revenue in six months
“Well, positively, I try to align team to go for it like in three months, but after talking and estimating, we think, ah, it's most likely like in a half a year, where some revenue, which makes sense, can be established.”
Balashevich: Hedge funds are requesting specific paid data from Santiment
“There are requests for us to deliver specific kind of data where people, well, mostly it's like hedge funds will be ready to pay for it.”
Balashevich sees no active direct competitors building crypto data terminals
“I don't see yet active competitors who are doing on the same level like going very deep down and trying to establish informational layer.
well, I'm sure they will emerge.”
Most retail crypto projects merely copy traditional finance models
“Most projects doing basically the same for end customers, but they're copying already existing business models from normal, from classic financial economy, like trying to establish, well, some are doing a kind of social trading platforms.”
StockTwits is pivoting to crypto to launch its own ICO
“I think they simply decided to switch or even pivot completely to cryptocurrency, and now they're moving also creating their own crowd sale and what they're doing.”
Balashevich views Polkadot as promising due to its technical architecture
“Very, well, I personally like Polkadot. Polkadot? This one? Yeah. Because of the technical background, which is very, very high level.”
Hackers stole $7 million during the CoinDash ICO crowdsale
“I think the first one was that Coin Dash, actually it's also in service doing something similar they were hacked during the crowd sale, the address of crowd sale was exchanged on their webpage, and some, like, seven million dollars was stolen.”