Mike Dudas, Founder of The Block and VP at Paxos: Crypto, Venmo vs. CashApp, Andrew Yang, and More
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On today’s episode, I sat down with one of the crypto world’s most outspoken and passionate advocates, Mike Dudas.
Mike has navigated a long career spanning Disney, Google, Venmo, and Circle before founding The Block, one of the world’s premier research and news sources for all things crypto and blockchain. Outside of the Block, Mike runs G2M Ventures where he advises various projects in the digital assets space. Mike recently stepped back into a Chairman role at The Block, moving to Paxos as their VP of Stable Coin Business Development.
In today’s episode, Mike and I cover:
- The Venmo / CashApp battle of the last few years and his grades for each app’s approach (6:45)
- When Mike first learned about Bitcoin and realized its massive potential (10:50)
- The new wave of DeFi and how this technology will disrupt incumbents (14:04)
- The Block and why its model will be the business model of the future (17:00)
- How he decided to build The Block with no journalism experience (22:05)
- His passionate, outspoken support for Andrew Yang for Mayor of NYC (24:30)
- And a great rapid-fire round (28:30)
About Mike Dudas
Mike Dudas is the Founder and Chairman of The Block, the leading media & information brand in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. The Block’s expert-based model, in which all journalists and researchers are deep industry participants, has received universal acclaim and led to millions of readers. Previously, Mike was co-founder and CRO of Button, the leading global, mobile performance marketing platform. Mike is a builder of mobile commerce businesses, having worked at Google, Braintree/Venmo and PayPal. Early in his career, Mike worked in corporate M&A and strategy for Disney. Mike earned a BA from Stanford and an MBA from Kellogg. You can find his personal website here.
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Ryan Zauk
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Ryan Zauk is an MBA Candidate at The Wharton School, where he runs the Wharton FinTech Podcast. He currently works with the US International Development Finance Corp looking at technology impact investments in developing markets. After graduation, Ryan will join Morgan Stanley’s Menlo Park Office working with the world’s largest technology companies. He has a passion for music, media, and all things FinTech.
You can reach him at rzauk@wharton.upenn.edu or on Twitter.
