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- [00:02]
Tristan
We see you getting after your fitness goals, but what about those money goals? You can count on Credit Karma for a clear view of your finances and your progress, helping you see results. So you can keep checking off those financial personal vests and find your way to money progress never felt so good. Download the Intuit Credit Karma app and start achieving your money goals today. Intuit Credit Karma Karma you can count on. There's great defi platforms that you can go and take your Stable coin and literally in a year make 20%. That's over 3x of what the Wells Fargo is providing for you. But what I try to tell them is that, listen, nobody works for free, right? If Wells Fargo is giving you 4%, that means the Wells Fargo as a bank and as an entity, they're probably making that 20% or they're probably making even more. But in the day, that's just how decentralized banks have been built. For me, it's like, why not take back some control of your financial freedom and put yourself in a position where you can control that stablecoin. Right.
- [01:12]
Jen
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- [01:45]
Tristan
Thank you for having me, Jen. Thank you.
- [01:47]
Jen
How do you go from athlete to tech founder? Talk me through that journey.
- [01:52]
Tristan
I mean, for me as an athlete, I think as more athletes, how the sports world is changing. I think we've done such a good job entering a career at such a young age, being able to be at this forefront of sports. But, you know, like Father Time, it's undefeated. And, you know, your career is here today, gone tomorrow. Not all of us are as fortunate as LeBron James. I played 22 years. For me, 14 years is a blessing and try to continue that for as long as I can. But for us, I think they always preach to us, what's next? Right? What's next? What else can you do? Because at the end of the day, you know, most careers, you're done by your mid-30s, and most adults don't reach their stride until like their mid-30s, right? So that's another 30 years of life that you, you know, you want to do something productive. And for me, I've always been into financial literacy. That was something that I always preached in the locker room, preached to younger guys. And then with me understanding more about crypto now and getting into that space more, just because I feel like that's, that's the future of finance. There's so many different layers. And obviously right now with this, with this, this time, obviously, AI became a, a big thing, became a big narrative. You see it all over the media, whether it's from Elon Musk to President Trump to, to, to, so on, so forth, teams talking about it. For me, it was like, how can I be in this space and really capitalize and really dive into it?
- [03:22]
Jen
When you're talking to those younger players, when you're talking in the locker room about tech, like crypto and AI, let's talk about specifically crypto and AI. How, how are they reacting to it? Like, are they all bought in? Are they skeptical? What are those conversations like?
- [03:36]
Tristan
I mean, I think like any, anybody right after, after the whole FTX crash, I think it's put a, it put a sour taste in everyone's mouth about crypto on the web. 3 Just because, you know, to the, to the naked eye and to the normal people, it just seems like a big scam. But like anything in life, right, you have good cops, bad cops, you have good teachers, bad teachers in the crypto space. You have people that are really doing some great things in the space and actually helping the community. And then unfortunately, you have the bad apples. And unfortunately, that bad apple became a big apple and it really put a sour taste. So for me, it's more just educating and telling people, like just giving that, that, that, that narrative and given that kind of analogy, right, and that's, that's how you kind of grab their ear. But you also educate them to show them, you know, what are the benefits of crypto and how can it be better than just a centralized exchange and banks?
- [04:26]
Jen
When you're talking about the benefits of crypto, I guess, with other athletes or teammates, are you talking about it from a technology perspective? Like, are you talking about it from, you know, fan engagement or how it might be able to enhance the athlete experience, or are you talking about it purely from an investment perspective?
- [04:42]
Tristan
Well, I think the beauty of crypto is so many different layers, I think, for athletes, because with any athlete, right, in order to dive into their brain and really get them to kind of shift gears and kind of join this journey of what I feel is like the future of financial freedom. You got to come from a perspective of what position are they in now that they're not maximizing or capitalizing on, on the fruits of their labor, which, end of the day, is money. Right? So the one way you can explain to them, which I do, is about defi. Right. I think, you know, I'll give the example. And, and it's the easiest one, and they totally understand, is that, you know, you go to Wells Fargo and you talk to your investment banker, you tell them, hey, I want to open an investment portfolio. They tell you, hey, give a certain amount, you know, whatever it is, right? Just to say 100,000, right? They tell you, hey, give us 100,000 and we'll get you 4% in a year, right? And they tell you to be happy, kiss the ground you walk on, and they're doing great things, right? But in defi and in crypto, you know, there's great protocols and there's great defi platforms that you can go and take your stablecoin and literally in a year make 20%. So that's, that's over 3x of what the Wells Fargo is providing for you. But what I try to tell them is that, listen, nobody works for free, right? If Wells Fargo is giving you 4%, that means the Wells Fargo as a bank and as an entity, they're probably making that 20% or they're probably making even more. But in the day, that's just how the decentralized banks have been built, is by taking money and finance that the people work hard for and basically be your shortcut to creating that passive income. But for me, it's like, why not take back some control of your financial freedom and put yourself in a position where you can control that stable coin, right? You could take that stable coin and you can make that yield and you can reap as much of the benefits as possible. Of course, these platforms and protocols are going to get their transaction fees and their service fees because they have to make their money. But at least a chunk of the passive income and the yields you're going to make comes back to you, and you don't have to pay the man, the middleman that you don't even know from, from fifth grade. It's a random stranger.
- [07:00]
Jen
Does the question of security ever come up? You know, these hacks make, make headlines. There was recently a $1.5 billion hack on a centralized exchange. I'm sure you saw it. Does the conversation come up, Are you guys talking about security and how to keep your. Your keys safe.
- [07:15]
Tristan
Yeah, I mean, listen, what I always tell guys is that, you know, you should always have multiple wallets, right? You should always have cold wallets. I know, obviously they have. There's digital wallets that you have on your mobile devices, of course, but I always tell people, you never keep all your money in one bank, so you should never keep all your money in one wallet. Right? So, of course you always have the smart contract risk, but there's no different than the bank. If the bank gets robbed, they only cover 250 grand. So you can have 251 grand or you can have $10 million. They're only covering 250 grand. So there's risk. Anything in life. The only thing that's guaranteed in life is death and taxes. So those only two things I can promise you guys. But obviously, of course, you got to protect yourself and be safe. And there's other ways that you can do that. And there's definitely some protocols that they might have had a situation like the one that happened with Bybit. But the one thing I always say is that when a mistake happens or something like that happens to a company, I wouldn't say it's a good thing. But now they have their eyes open, now they become more protection. So it's actually the best time to join something or dive into or explore it. Because I'm not here to give financial advice, because like everyone says, but companies that have kind of went through some. Some turmoil are the ones that I feel personally a little bit more safer because I know they. They beefed up the security. Right. Like anything in life, if someone breaks into your house, you're going to start having security outside your house. You're starting using your ring camera more often. Right. So that's how I look at it.
- [08:45]
Jen
Justin, you sound like you really are embedded in the space. It sounds like you are really read up on the space, which is not. You know, sometimes we see people who are like brand ambassadors for crypto projects or, or, you know, are the face of projects, but it sounds like you really know what you're talking about. Where did you. Where do you get your inspiration from? Where do you learn from? Who are you talking to about crypto when it's not, you know, educating some of your younger teammates?
- [09:12]
Tristan
Yeah, no, I mean, I've been very fortunate to know a lot of considered, quote unquote, OGs in the space that have been in crypto from, you know, 2015 and so on. And, you know, obviously, you know, me being who I AM as an athlete, you get into a lot of rooms and meet a lot of great people where you can really just educate yourself. And for me, like I've been saying, right? What is life after basketball? What does that look like, right? So for me, there's so many. It's like an octopus. There's so many different arms to it, right? And one arm is. Is the web3 crypto space. But it's more so on the literacy education side, right? Because I believe, you know, I have younger children, right? My kids are 7, 6 and 4. And I truly believe by the time they're teenagers or by the time. Maybe sooner than that, by the time they're teenage, they're gonna, they're gonna have a debit card that's going to be USDC based. I have one right now, so I know they're gonna have one, right? So like using your USDC stable coins to go to the store and go to. My daughter loves Claire's. She wants to go to Claire's and go buy herself some earrings. She'll be using her usdc, right? So for me, it's like, how can I prepare and pay it forward to the younger generation so that they're not behind? Because I was very fortunate to go to token 2049 in Singapore this past September. And I understand that side of the world in terms of the web3 and crypto space, they're so much further ahead compared to North America and the Western hemisphere because unfortunately, our media and the rules sec. How it used to be has put such a blanket on it because they couldn't reap the benefits. But over there, you notice that because the rules are different and there's more leeway and less restrictions, they're able to dive into the future more. And that's why what you see with our current president, he's pushing this because he sees what the other side is. And at the end of the day, it's all about control, right? V. Who has the power has the control. And they understand that there's so many different layers to having control as a country. Finance is one of the biggest things, right? Whoever has the money can call the shots. And that's unfortunate, but it's just a reality. So with us knowing that's the future, why not help those that quote unquote, the normies understand that to give them kind of the cheat code of the steps to be ahead and not play from behind.
- [11:35]
Jen
It's so interesting you bring up your kids because I've heard so many people who have young children Say you look at how they're interacting with the world, you look at what they're doing inside of games like Roblox, and it really embodies everything we talk about in the space. They're spending digital money, they're collecting digital assets. And so I think you're spot on. You just have to look to the younger generation to see where this is all going.
- [12:00]
Tristan
Yeah, no, totally. My daughter loves Roblox. She calls me in the morning and says, like, dad, let's play Rainbow friends and I need some Roblox bucks. And I'm like, what do you want for your birthday? She's like, I want Roblox gift card. I'm like, all right. So like, like you said, like these young kids, if you just spend time and just really dive in and just pay attention to what their trends are, it lets you know what's coming. Because like, any company, right? It's like, it's like that's how YouTube became so big, right? It's be creating an algorithm that the young kids are hooked on or addicted to where they don't want to get off that platform. So then you realize, okay, so short clip videos is something that gravitates or grabs the brain and the attention of younger people. So that's how you have the tiktoks of the world or the Instagram reels, like all that. It's really the formula. Whatever the young kids are doing, you just dive in a little bit and it shows you where the trend's going.
- [12:51]
Jen
What crypto assets are you invested in?
- [12:55]
Tristan
Well, so for me, in this space, I invested in angel, invested a lot. But the two that I'm very, very passionate about and I like is Corn chain, which is a layer two under Ethereum, but it's basically off the backs of bitcoin, right? Like, when anyone gets into crypto, what is the first thing everybody says? Buy the og. The OG is bitcoin. Buy your bitcoin. But once you buy it, what do you do with it? Right? But with corn Chain, they're basically. You're basically able to take your bitcoin and basically put it on the corn, exchange it to usdt and actually like defy it, right? Make. Make passive income. Because I think that's. That's the way crypto and the normal world's in a combined, right? Something that normies love is passive income. Something that crypto is really great at is. Is defi and creating great yields to give you great returns, right? So it's like, how can you migrate this and that's what corn is basically doing, taking what normies only know about, which is bitcoin. OG with now with Web three. And it's like, how can you use bitcoin to actually make it work and do something? Because, you know, originally bitcoin just didn't do nothing, just held onto it and you look at the charts, it goes up, it goes down, it goes up, it goes down. But why not be able to put it in a pool and yield it and make money? Like, I'm currently in an aerodrome pool as you speak, USDCB, BTC Pool. And I'm making, you know, 1% a day right now, obviously, depending on the market, apr apys change. But, you know, that's what I'm doing with my, with my bitcoin. And I think that's what corn is doing, which is. Which is great. A second protocol I invested in is Moonwell. Great group of guys. The founder, Luke, he used to work at Coinbase super early and he's a defi. And the way I look at Moonwall is it's basically your safest bank in Web3. And the reason why I say that is because it's very easy. Safe to onboard. You're getting, you know, if you take your USDC and you put it in a Moonwell vault, you're getting between 12 to 18% yields a year. And that's easy for normies to grasp, understand, it's not like a concentrated liquidity pool where you guys stay in range. No, you take your usdc, you put it in there, you leave it and you gain your yields. And you might get some morpho tokens and all this other cool stuff of like, free money, but that's simple and easy. And I gravitate towards that company because it was the simplest for people in my position to understand.
- [15:30]
Jen
What kind of due diligence are you doing when you're deciding to invest in companies? Because, as you know, you are a public figure, you're out there. I would say that as folks like you are probably scrutinized a little bit more when you're talking about projects publicly like you are now. What kind of due diligence are you doing before you put your money into a crypto project?
- [15:48]
Tristan
Oh, one thing about me, I do my homework, I dive all the way in. Listen, at the end of the day, it's the reality of it's not with these two companies, but in general in crypto, they always say, you know, with every four great projects you invest in, you might get 10 that don't do so over. It's just the name of the game. It's like any business, even like normal businesses in life. You invest in a water company, you hope it becomes smart water, but it becomes something that you've never heard of, right? So, like, but for me, I've been so fortunate and blessed to know people that are in the space from all different parts of the world and countries. So whenever I'm looking at a protocol, I'm the first person that's on TG or signal and I'm asking everyone to think, well, like, have you heard of these guys? What have they done in the past? Tell me what you think. If they mention one of my friends, they know I'll go and ask them, like, hey, you invested in. Are you invested in it? Or are you just a kind of like a hidden angel Kol that no one knows about? Like, I ask those questions because I want to know. And I feel like I've developed a good enough rapport in the space with some people that have done some great things where they'll give me the truth. And like you said, I have to be very careful with who I align myself with because the one thing I have that most people don't have in the web free space is, is distribution. Right? And distribution is power because distribution helps your product and company grow. But if I'm giving distribution to someone that's not good, that's a ruin my reputation. And I've done such a good job in my playing career and who I am outside of crypto, just playing basketball and doing right things in the community. The last thing I want to do is give someone bad advice. And if I'm eating dinner at a steakhouse, the last thing I want is someone to come up to me and say, hey, I took my kids college fund, invested in one of these protocols you were talking about, and now we're at zero. Like that's not worth it to me because I've put myself in a position where it's not from a need, it's more of a want. I don't need to do this. I want to do this because I want to help, I want to educate. I want to move the needle forward.
- [17:45]
Jen
Now, before I let you go, Tristan, I have to ask you. I think I 100% understand the world that you envision for sports when it comes to AI, but what do you think the best use case is for crypto and sports? Whether that's fan tokens or NFTs or straight investing or. I know that there was a time when athletes were putting some of their salary into Bitcoin. What's the best use case for crypto and sport?
- [18:10]
Tristan
Crypto and sports, the best use case? I think it's multiple things, right? I think I like the fact that a couple athletes were taking their salaries and putting it into crypto and seeing the opportunity of growth. Obviously they believed on longing it and understanding it's holding for the long run. With AI and sports, I think you always, and especially with Tracy, we're creating a program where we can give back. And with Tracy, what we're going to do is that as she develops tokens or develops revenue, we want her to give back to the community. And a cool thing that we were thinking is that, you know, every month, whatever she's gained revenue wise, have her donate it to a local charity of one of the 30 NBA teams, right? So one month she might be giving it to the Boys and Girls Club in Memphis. The next month she might be Oklahoma City Food Bank Drive. I think things like that where you give back to the community because at the end of the day, for me as an athlete, we're all about community and taking care of our people and our fans because without them, we're nobody, right? So with this AI project I'm almost figuring out, I'm almost putting together where she has a brain of how I would think or how athletes should think. But she's just giving you the stats detail as a commentator.
- [19:25]
Jen
Tristan, thank you so much for sitting down with me and joining the show.
- [19:29]
Tristan
All right, thanks, Jen. Thanks so much for having me.