113 - How to Be Early | Olaf Carlson-Wee
Bankless
Bankless
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2022
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Olaf Carlson-Wee is the Founder and CEO of Polychain Capital, a crypto investment firm that he founded in 2016. Olaf is a brilliant independent thinker which has led him to be the first in many things, one being the first employee of Coinbase.
In this episode, we dive into how he utilizes and became a contrarian thinking, which blockchain he believes has the potential highest likelihood to accrue the most value, the future of work and decentralized governance, and so much more.
Because of Olaf’s OG crypto tier status, he’s seen the evolution of the space from the very beginning. His experience—combined with the way he uniquely thinks—makes his vision for the future not only inspiring but promising.
------
✨ DEBRIEF ✨ | Ryan & David's Unfiltered Thoughts on the Episode
https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/113-olaf-debrief
------
📣 CONSENSYS | M·A·C: NFT Collection for a Good Cause
https://bankless.cc/MAC
------
🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/
🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/
------
BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALED ETHEREUM
https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2
https://bankless.cc/Across
🏦 ALTO IRA | TAX-FREE CRYPTO
https://bankless.cc/AltoIRA
👻 AAVE V3 | LEND & BORROW CRYPTO
https://bankless.cc/aave
⚡️ MAKER DAO | THE DAI STABLECOIN
https://bankless.cc/MakerDAO
🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET
https://bankless.cc/Brave
------
Topics Covered:
0:00 Intro
6:27 Has Crypto Played Out the Way Olaf Thought
10:15 Why Olaf Caught the Crypto Bug
17:35 Olaf’s Interest in Smart Contracts & Ethereum
23:50 Views on Vitalik
25:40 Independent Thinking
30:27 Why is Olaf is Here
32:40 The Common Traps of Crypto
34:12 The Wins Olaf’s Most Proud of
41:18 Which Chain Comes Out on Top
55:11 The Blockchain Spectrum
58:52 Forecasting Value Accrual
1:01:27 Olaf’s Thoughts on Ethereum & Decentralization
1:12:30 The Future of Work & Scaling DAOs
1:18:01 Crypto vs. The Nation State
1:21:50 Lightning Round
1:23:55 What’s Currently Obvious to Olaf
1:26:19 Closing & Disclaimers
------
Resources:
Olaf Carson-Wee
https://twitter.com/zxocw
Polychain Capital
https://twitter.com/polychain
-----
Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here:
https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Bankless, where we explore the frontier of internet money and internet finance. |
| 0:11.2 | This is how to get started, how to get better, how to front-run the opportunity. |
| 0:15.5 | This is Ryan Sean Adams. |
| 0:16.5 | I'm here with David Hoffman, and we are here to help you become more Bankless. |
| 0:20.6 | Guys, we have a fantastic episode with Olaf Carlson-Wee. |
| 0:25.1 | We are picking his brain. |
| 0:26.4 | This is an OG investor of OGs. |
| 0:28.9 | He was first to just about everything. |
| 0:31.0 | We're going to talk about all of that and more about what he thinks about the space. |
| 0:33.8 | A few things that you want to take away from this episode. |
| 0:37.0 | Number one, how did Olaf get in early to just about everything in crypto? |
| 0:41.8 | The contrarian investor, independent thinking. |
| 0:44.2 | He talks a lot about that in this episode. |
| 0:46.6 | Number two, who's going to win the crypto chain wars? |
| 0:49.8 | Is it Bitcoin? |
| 0:50.8 | Is it Alt-Layer ones? |
| 0:52.8 | Which chain is going to crew the most value? |
| 0:55.8 | That is a very relevant topic in 2022. |
| 0:59.3 | Number three, how the dals will look in the long run? |
| 1:02.3 | Will decentralized governance actually work as a bonus? |
| 1:06.1 | Really fun section here at the end. |
| 1:07.4 | David and I play a game we call Overrated or Underrated and get Olaf to name some things |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bankless, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Bankless and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

