Fintech Fridays: Ali Hamed on Lending, Crypto and Venture Capital

Erik and co-host for this episode Ash Fontana (@ashfontana) of Zetta Venture Partners interview Ali Hamed (@AliBHamed), investor at CoVenture.Ali gives us a primer on the online lending space and compares and contrasts it to offline lending. He explains why payday lenders with astronomical APRs actually have small margins. He also talks about how government can improve the regulatory environment to allow for more disruption of traditional lending and help new companies get a foothold.They talk about crypto and whether people will be making loans against Bitcoin anytime soon as well as the idea of personal ICOs and why Ali thinks they are a bad idea.The trio finish with a rapid-fire round where Erik names a venture firm and Ali talks about what he thinks that company should do in the future. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.