US Crypto Reserve Bombshell, Ramp’s $13B Climb, & more | E2092
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show: Trump just floated the idea of a U.S. Crypto Reserve, suggesting a 10 bips transaction tax and naming unexpected altcoins like XRP, Solana, and Cardano. Jason and Alex break down what this means for crypto markets, regulation, and startups—plus the legal and political fallout. Is this a game-changer or just another pump-and-dump controversy?
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Timestamps:
(0:00) Alex and Jason kick of the show!(1:48) Trump's crypto policy and PR strategy(7:14) Analysis of Trump's proposed US crypto reserve
(10:21) Gusto. Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist(11:32) Predictions on legal challenges to Trump's crypto proposal(12:08) Industry reactions to the crypto tax proposal
(20:27) OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist(22:26) Crypto report around market hours and Eric Trump's tweet(24:13) Predictions on Trump's future crypto policies and inflation impact(27:10) Trump's Truth Social and Crypto Investments dynamics(30:48) LinkedIn Jobs. Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist(31:05) Jason's alternative idea for a crypto tax(36:40) Ramp's funding and fintech sector growth(41:02) Discussion on investment performance and Jason's ETF idea(46:42) Challenges companies face with public offerings and market fairness(50:14) Potential CoreWeave IPO and high CapEx costs(54:39) Founder Hack from Matt Turck(57:12) Exploring hybrid business models
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Links from the episode:
Check out Angel University: https://www.angel.university/Check out the JCal Case Study at Stanford Business: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/jason-calacanis-case-study-creating-resourcesCheck out Arduino: https://www.arduino.cc/Check out Ramp: https://ramp.com/
Check out Coreweave: https://www.coreweave.com/
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Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm*
Follow Lon:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lonharris
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Follow Jason:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
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Thank you to our partners:
(10:21) Gusto. Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist(20:27) OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist(30:48) LinkedIn Jobs. Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist
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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
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Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just balls and strikes here. Very simple idea. Trump comes out and says on Friday at the White House Crypto Summit, which I think is great that the White House is doing a Crypto Summit. I think it's great they're going to do regulation. Trump comes out and says, here's how it's going to go. Everybody in crypto pays a wonderful crypto tax. Crypto transaction tax. Not a tariff. It's the crypto transaction tax. It's going to be |
| 0:24.2 | wonderful. Everybody pays 10 bips. They pay the Vig to the crypto reserve. Problem solved. |
| 0:30.6 | We're not spending any taxpayer money. It goes directly to taxpayers. Maybe we do a crypto dividend. |
| 0:34.9 | Maybe everybody gets a little crypto. Wouldn't that be a nice, Alex, |
| 0:37.6 | a little crypto for everybody? Alex from this week in startups in the first row. I thought we were |
| 0:42.0 | broke, Mr. President. I thought we were flat broke. Okay. No dollars. Listen one more time. |
| 0:48.3 | He's a low IQ, low IQ lib. Okay. That's true. Gay rights. I love the gays. Okay, |
| 0:53.8 | Gates for Trump. Huge. |
| 0:55.4 | Alex Wilhelm. Low IQ, Alex Wilhelm. |
| 0:58.1 | It's a tax. Crypto people pay it. |
| 1:00.3 | Not the Americans. |
| 1:01.9 | So I think this would solve the whole problem. |
| 1:03.3 | Are you saying that crypto people are not Americans? |
| 1:05.6 | Have you, madam? Alex. |
| 1:07.1 | Very interesting people. Maybe from Mars. |
| 1:09.6 | I mean, maybe Elon will find crypto people on the red planet. |
| 1:12.9 | I mean, he's capable of doing it. |
| 1:14.2 | Okay, anything's possible here. |
| 1:15.9 | This weekend startups is brought to you by Gusto. |
| 1:19.0 | Gusto is easy online payroll benefits in HR built for modern small businesses. |
| 1:23.3 | Get three months free when you run your first payroll at gusto.com slash twist. |
| 1:27.2 | Open phone. Create business phone numbers for you and your team payroll at gusto.com slash twist. Open phone. |
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