Chris Burniske - How to Value a Cryptoasset

This episode is a continuation of the Hash Power series. It is the first of what we will call a Hash Power single—a series of conversations each with a single guest on a specific topic. In this case my guest is Chris Burniske, and the topic is cryptoasset valuation. This conversation is loaded with information, I think you are going to love it. Chris recently released book called Cryptoassets, which is a must read for those interested in this field. Chris was at one point the only tradintional buy side analyst covering bitcoin, and is now a partner at a new crypto firm called Placeholder. Chris has developed new frameworks for evaluating and valuing cryptocurrencies, marrying techniques and ways of thinking for several different asset classes to assess the newest asset class. Chris prefers the term cryptoassets because as you’ll hear, several of these tokens aren’t really currencies at all. We discuss the differences between cryptocurrencies, cryptocommodities, and cryptotokens. We begin our conversation with a deep dive into the equation of exchange, which Chris has been using as a starting point for understanding utility value.  You can see all crypto related conversations at investorfieldguide.com/Hashpower. Please enjoy this conversation with Chris Burniske. Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. To get involved with Project Frontier, head to InvestorFieldGuide.com/frontier. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Books Referenced Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond   Links Referenced Hash Power Podcast Documentary Nic Carter (twitter) Cryptoasset Valuations (Medium)   Show Notes 4:58 - (First Question) – Chris’s overall method for evaluating cryptocurrencies             5:14– Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond 6:47 – The equation exchange 11:19 – Bonding 12:35 – How bonding may represent a more efficient way of representing consensus over proof of work 14:29 – Why the amount being bonded and held should be taken out of the float 16:58 – Using bitcoin as an example to figure out remittances in the PQ side 18:31 – Looking at the velocity of various crypto-assets 21:04 – Chris’s impression of the different way of categorizing various crypto assets 24:37 – Explaining Auger as an example of a cryptotoken 25:38 – How could these networks be impacted by not having any censorship 27:57 – Exploring the gap between expectation vs reality in the value of crypto currency 30:43 – Other ways of valuing these crypto assets             30:50 – Hash Power Podcast Documentary 33:32 – Explaining the idea of billion dollar a day onchain transactions 36:05 – How to measure the value of the underlying network             36:37 – Nic Carter (twitter) 37:13 – What are the variables that matter when investing in cryptocurrency on a long-term horizon 39:24 – Determining when it’s better for a network to be centralized vs decentralized 42:03 – Networks that Chris is most excited about 44:06 – Understanding the consumption side of the steam marketplace 46:01 – Deep dive into the Aragon network 47:27 – How does Chris evaluate existential risk of networks 51:09 – Could these assets really ever go to zero? 54:07 – Is there a scenario in which velocity gets so high that it negatively effects the price 56:10 – What are the unknowns of cryptocurrency that Chris is most interested in             56:24 – Cryptoasset Valuations (Medium)   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag