The collapse of FTX, the arrest of Sam Bankman Fried, and the ensuing collapse of the cryptocurrency market presented new opportunities for Kasper Vandeloock while forcing other players to exit the market.
Note: This interview has two parts. Part 1 was recorded before the collapse of the crypto market with the fall of FTX. Part 2 (heard immediately after Part 1) follows up with Kaspar in his interview to hear his take on the fallout of FTX and how it affected his strategy.
Kasper received his first bitcoin for his programming skills when he was 16. Intrigued by the new opportunities of cryptocurrency, he dropped out of high school and immersed himself in learning everything he could about this fast-paced new type of finance and medium of exchange. His Kasper discovering market inefficiencies between different exchanges led Delta to create his own program to capitalize on his neutral arbitrage opportunities.
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Trading in financial markets involves the risk of loss. Podcast episodes and other content produced by Chat With Traders are for informational or educational purposes only and do not constitute trading or investment recommendations or advice.
Topic and Timestamp:
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- 0:00 Background and purpose
- 6:40 Why cryptocurrencies are attractive to Casper
- 7:50 Type of cryptocurrency he bought first
- 9:30 Crypto Recognition
- 12:15 Why Use Cryptocurrencies and Strategies to Become a Quant Trader
- 18:12 What is a perpetual contract?
- 27:30 Advantages of defi
- 28:30 NFTs and their perceived value
- 33:13 Reasons for previous market crashes
- 35:00 Motivation to start a quantitative fund
- 37:45 Designing a microservices architecture and its benefits
- 40:20 Start of Crypto Fund
- 42:25 long term goal
- 43:45 Need regulation?
- 44:45 The mindset of algorithmic and discretionary traders
- 46:45 What Kasper struggles with the most
- 48:40 How did Kasper learn to mentor?
- 51:10 sacrifices taken
- 53:10 Suggestions for those interested
- 54:20 How to get to Kaspar
- 1:00:35 Recap update and reasons for FTX’s demise
- 1:03:49 Impact of FTX on cryptocurrencies, NFTs and lending
- 1:05:33 How was DeFi affected by the FTX collapse?
- 1:06:33 Impact on Kasper’s strategy
- 1:08:53 Did players leaving the crypto space increase their opportunities?
- 1:10:35 Using Leverage
- 1:11:40 Central banks say crypto is irrelevant. End of Crypto?
- 1:15:35 Does Defi need regulation?
- 1:17:35 Very bearish sentiment. contrarian indicator?
- 1:19:35 How to increase trust in centralized exchanges
- 1:22:04 Need an algorithmically stable coin?