David Doss with CKC.Fund

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with CKC.Fund, Mr. David Doss. How are you, man?

David Doss: Doing well. Thanks, Tony. I appreciate you having me on the show.

Stone Payton: Well, I’ve really been looking forward to the conversation I shared with you before we went on air. Uh Lee Kantor. And I just spent a full day at the Fintech South 2024 conference, and we did a ton of interviews and we caught up with some old friends, made some new ones. It’s a very timely conversation. I got a ton of questions. David, I know we’re not going to get to them all, but but I think a great place to start would be if you could paint a picture for me and our listeners of mission, purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks, man.

David Doss: Yeah. No, it’s it’s a good question. So I mean, ultimately what we’re looking to do is to mobilize systems that work better for a wider group of people. So the way that we see blockchain, digital assets, Web3, the way we see that kind of broader sector is an ability to to create more value for for more kinds of businesses, more kinds of groups and more people. And that’s, you know, ranging from investment and wealth building perspective to a more kind of a product and service functionality perspective on the business side.

Stone Payton: If you could, would you try to give us laypeople a simple definition or a way to think about a blockchain, and b maybe even digital assets.

David Doss: A key set of factors around blockchain is that it is a decentralized ledger. So it’s essentially as a database, a database with multiple different copies. And there’s consensus that’s needed or agreement that’s needed in order to make sure what data is correct. So thinking through that on a more functional level, I like I like the analogy that that a friend in literature used. They were saying, oh, you know, before, before we had kind of ultra standardized literature, let’s say we had oral tradition and there were multiple different people out there that had memorized different, different texts. And so an advantage of that is that when you do have that memorization happening. You know, if you destroy one copy of the text you still have, you know, you still have access to the source text. It’s not not a perfect analogy, but I think that that’s that’s one of the things where this is, is resistant to tampering, resistant to theft, resistant to censorship. Basically, what I would call more of an anti-fragile system where when it’s when it’s put under stress, it actually, uh, actually not only stays resilient, but actually can even grow under that stress.

Stone Payton: I think it’s a marvelous analogy for somebody like me that’s very helpful and is digital assets. Is this like crypto? Is that what we’re talking about here?

David Doss: Yeah. So and that’s I think an important, important point to make is we prefer to use the term digital assets, because I think a lot of people will will say crypto or cryptocurrency. Uh, but the. What’s important to bear in mind is that there are multiple different types of digital assets. So when I say digital assets, I’m specifically referring to tokens of value that are, you know, usually on a blockchain. But those those tokens can represent different things. So they can represent they can represent real world value like tokenized real estate or tokenized, let’s say gold. Right. They can they can include though also, you know what a lot of people conventionally think of as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Or they could also be completely separate around solving for a particular utility, like an access token to to a digital space or a physical a physical space. So the broader point there being that there’s more to to blockchain and there’s more to assets on the blockchain than just the, you know, the Bitcoin or Ethereum that we read about in the news.

Stone Payton: So what’s the backstory, man? How did you find yourself in this line of work?

David Doss: Well, I think it’s a it’s been a it’s been a journey. Um, I’d say a couple of the key points along the way are, uh, firstly, I grew up in a pretty international environment and pretty mission driven environment. So I was raised Orthodox Christian. And so that’s there’s a lot of these different, different communities around the world, you know, in different countries, different cultures. So in that sense, also kind of a bit, uh, decentralized, uh, approach to, uh, to community spirituality. Um, and I mean, with that background, I, I was always interested in doing something that was, uh, basically had the ability to make some sort of impact um, Across different communities around the world, and in university I studied. Languages, social movements. Um, I got involved in non-profits. Uh, other. You know, basically impact initiatives. And I became really interested in the ability. For small groups in the private sector to impact change from the bottom up. So it’s really, again, kind of interested in that decentralization before I knew what it was really. So after after university, gravitating back to Silicon Valley where I grew up, um, you know, being involved in, uh, in security, privacy, uh, digital economy, commerce, these sorts of things. Once I found out about blockchain, digital currencies, it really was kind of the next evolution of that journey that, uh, like I was saying at the beginning, this is one way where we can create more inclusive and more um. More beneficial systems for a broader group of people around the world.

Stone Payton: So yeah, I want to dive into the work because I’m operating under the impression that your assertion is there is a place in my portfolio for digital assets. Yeah.

David Doss: That’s correct. So the the thing about, I guess, any, any new innovation is, you know, you’ve got kind of maximalists who say, oh, this is going to completely replace. And then you’ve got the naysayers who are saying, oh, what are you talking about? You know, this stuff is is useless, right? And I mean, generally speaking, the truth tends to be somewhere in the middle. And and so to that point, I like that you said a place in your portfolio. So, you know, you do have the people that are are saying, oh, this is going to, you know, replace anything and everything under the sun. I’m not one of those people, but where I do think that the use case is, is rounding out the broader, the broader picture of a portfolio that digital assets can provide a asymmetric upside opportunity in a portfolio that’s basically just a fancy way of saying that the reward far outweighs the risk when a small percentage of the portfolio is is allocated into digital assets. And that’s that’s the case. That level, that type of strategy is something that a lot of, uh, very, uh, wealthy and or very savvy individuals have tended to indicate preference for. So if you look at analysis from a modern portfolio theory framework or surveys of high net worth individuals, uh, family offices, uh Forbes, even Ark invest. Various have indicated that a percentage ranging from 2 to 20% of a portfolio depends on who you ask. And and you know and what the what the person’s kind of goals are for their portfolio. But that general kind of smaller position of a bigger portfolio is something where this can act as a hedge against uncertainties and and vulnerabilities in other markets. Um, you know, that might make up the portfolio. So positions like stocks or bonds or real estate and where it can also, um, is still large enough that that it that the upside is significant. So kind of finding that sweet spot between the risk and the reward is the point there.

Stone Payton: So your work your business, is it focused on working with individual investors like me, or is it working with wealth management professionals to help bring this as uh, as something that they can bring to their clients. What’s your role in all this?

David Doss: Yeah. So we, my team and I, we are a fund management team. So we manage a we manage vehicles that that focus on optimizing returns in the crypto space. And generally, uh, the, the folks involved in those vehicles can range from, uh, you know, uh, individuals specifically, uh, you know, uh, accredited investors or kind of higher net worth individuals can also include, um, businesses and can also include wealth management groups, investment advisors who are, who are allocating on behalf of their clients.

Stone Payton: So now that you’ve been at this a while, what what are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you?

David Doss: Yeah. So I think that I think that, um, it really feels like being at the center of everything, I guess the kind of the, the, the node connecting to, to all these other interesting worlds. And what I mean by that is, uh, a couple of things. So firstly, just in general, I think that, you know, the, uh, the financial services sector touches everything, you know, from, from, you know, every everyone’s day to day lives. Right? But also so does technology. So when you look at the intersection of finance and technology, it’s just really very connected to just about everything that that we do in our day to day lives. And so to me, that’s that’s a really exciting way to be, uh, kind of that expert generalist where this one thing that I’m focused on touches all of these amazing areas and where I get to to see an impact that ripples out across other, um, other, uh, you know, use cases, other, other sectors. So as an example of that, you know, we are working on providing liquidity for other, uh, other groups, for example, investment groups that are looking to build businesses or buildings in emerging markets, um, or in, uh, basically new opportunity sectors like, uh, to develop new opportunity sectors like AI or, um, intellectual property. And through what we’re doing on the, on the liquidity, uh, providing the, the, the, uh, asset management and the due diligence, we’re able to support those initiatives. Uh, and so I think that that’s really exciting, where you don’t have to do everything, but can partner with people who are doing all these other cool things.

Speaker4: Well, yeah.

Stone Payton: How does the whole sales and marketing thing work in your world? I would think it might be a little bit different than a than a lot of us and what we find ourselves doing to get the business.

David Doss: Yeah. I mean, there’s, uh, that’s a good point. There are a couple of different aspects to that. So firstly, just that, uh, emerging emerging asset classes tend to have a certain level of, uh, you know, education needed in them. So, you know, I think people are largely just, you know, maybe they’re suspicious or maybe they just need to need to know more, you know, and that’s fairly, fairly frequent. So, um, so kind of that, uh, education component is huge. And then another part of it is as a as an emerging fund as well. So, um, you know, essentially like a startup. Uh, there’s a need for people to, to get more comfortable with who we are as a team. Um, so not just educating them on what we’re doing, but on who’s who’s doing it and why we’re doing it, is is another important part of things. And then also certainly just, you know, working within a regulated industry. So, you know, the, um, asset management, but also, uh, dealing with regulations that are constantly changing because it is an emerging asset class. That means that, you know, I think at the end of the day, developing relationships and giving people information and tools to make the right decisions for them is really what it comes down to, which is a is definitely a process. So this is not something where you know, it’s The, uh, throwing up a bunch of Facebook ads and, uh, kind of, you know, having people click through and buy.

Speaker4: Well, no, your.

Stone Payton: Focus on education makes all the sense in the world to me, because I’ve got to believe, because I think this is true in most every industry. It certainly is in ours, in the digital media industry, that there are often some myths, some, uh, preconceptions, sometimes just flat out wrong ideas about how and why things, uh, work. I bet you probably run into some of the same kind of myths. Misconceptions, uh, over and over from time to time, don’t you?

David Doss: Absolutely, absolutely.

Stone Payton: Uh, and this the other thing I’m thinking, and again, it’s true in our business, too, but the level of trust that you and your team must have to cultivate with the people you’re intending to to serve, it’s a it’s as transactional, I guess, as my initial talk about misconceptions initially, I’m thinking, well, this is a very transactional kind of business. It’s not. Your work is extremely rooted in relationship, isn’t it?

David Doss: 100%.

Stone Payton: So as you were kind of finding your way into this new world, um, this, this whole new class of, of asset, did you have the the benefit of one or more mentors along the way that kind of helped you navigate the terrain, or did you just have to kind of figure it out yourself and get a lot of scar tissue?

David Doss: A bit of both. I think there’s, you know, certainly there it’s a, it’s a it’s been a team sport, but definitely also one that’s uh, had a few, uh, you know, uh, few collisions along the way. Right. So, um, I think that, uh, yeah, as far as that’s one thing that I really find so, um, inspiring about, uh, about an emerging asset class like this is that the community is so passionate and also so tight knit in a lot of ways that, you know, a lot of people know a lot of other people and, and, you know, are pretty collaborative and just, you know, looking to, to learn from each other and build together. Um, but yeah, I think learning is kind of a double learning curve that there’s, you know, basically alternative investment, uh, funds and alternative investment management is a bit of a, uh, kind of under, uh, I guess, uh, under represented niche, let’s say that’s, that’s that’s fast growing. So it’s there it’s certainly not something where, you know, you can kind of just go and, and, uh, you know, find info on YouTube that’s necessarily, you know, 100% what’s right for, for what you need. So knowing people who’ve, you know, done this sort of thing before is, I think, very important. But then also same thing with the asset class of of in particular with crypto. I think there’s, there’s plenty of information but a lot of it is noise. So, you know, knowing people who can kind of confirm or deny a lot of the kinds of stuff that, you know, that you might read on the internet has, has been very important. So yeah, certainly it’s a, it’s a performance sport rather than a knowledge sport. So I think, you know, learning by by doing rather than by, by reading has been important. But also learning from a community has been important as well.

Stone Payton: So passions, pursuits, hobbies outside the scope of this work. I most of my listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel. What do you do when you’re not doing this and want to get away a little bit?

David Doss: Yeah. So let’s see a couple of things. I mean, firstly, I think just really, um, prioritizing um, you know, spiritual, emotional, physical health has been really, really important in, you know, I think the investment management space things are, you know, there’s a lot of stressors. And then when you add in a 24 over seven market like crypto, it can really just get quite crazy. So just really focusing on, you know, staying, uh, staying happy and healthy is, I think, really, really important for me. You know, I think I benefit a lot from kind of this biohacking trend going on. So really kind of just working on, you know, things ranging from measuring and optimizing, you know, my various health metrics to, you know, just taking the time to, to go for a run or to sit in the steam room and just kind of clear my head. I think these are really important things. And then like, like you had mentioned, sports and travel, I think are are huge as well of, uh, for me. You know, I’ve, uh, loved to travel, especially internationally. Um, and it’s something I get to do for. For work as well as personal travel. And then, uh, uh, fencing, competitive fencing is something that has been, um, you know, a long time, uh, avocation for me as well, which is, I think also something that that helps kind of build, reinforce the right concepts of, you know, building out strategies, but then also just kind of, uh, just kind of going with the flow when you need to go with the flow. I think sports can teach us a lot about life and business.

Stone Payton: I am so glad I asked David. I’ve been doing this for 21 years and you are my first fencer.

David Doss: All right.

Speaker4: Is that what you call him? The one.

Stone Payton: Who fences. A fencer?

David Doss: Yes. A fencer. You got it.

Speaker4: That is.

Stone Payton: Fantastic. All right, man. Before we wrap up, um let’s leave our listeners, if we could, with a couple of actionable pro tips, maybe something they should be reading, questions they should be prepared to ask, some things to look for a do or don’t. But let’s leave them and look gang. The number one pro tip if you want to learn more about this and you seriously want to to to get your arms around this, this emerging asset class, I think I think those were the words you used. Uh, the number one pro tip is reach out and have a conversation with David or somebody on his team. But let’s leave them with a couple of ideas, David.

David Doss: Yeah for sure. So in general, like you said, you know, I think, uh, just having the right people in your court is, is a really important part of life, right? I mean, we’ve all we’ve got our, our our guy or our lady, you know, for, for specific things ranging from, you know, uh, insights on, you know, the markets to, uh, to sports to, to business all of this stuff. So develop a good, uh, good community that can help, um, you know, community of experts that can help support you is, I think, an important one. Another is, you know, if you are thinking of, uh, of allocating into a, an asset class such as, you know, crypto or digital assets, consider the tried and true frameworks that, you know, that would apply to to other asset classes. So one thing we see with, uh, with the digital asset space is that, you know, people, a lot of people will either just park, uh, all their, uh, capital into Bitcoin, for example, or they’ll be just, uh, putting all their money into these very low market cap meme coins. And there’s some, some weird, uh, sense in which, uh, you know, people most people would never do similar things with their stock portfolio, but yet they do them with, you know, with another asset class. So, you know, the the analogy for what that would mean. And with stocks would be, oh, well, you know, Microsoft is, you know, ultra high cap stock. So I’m just going to put all my money into Microsoft or oh these you know these penny stocks could a thousand x. So you know I’m only going to go into those at the end of it. You know building out a a resilient portfolio that’s you know that’s balanced that and that also needs to adjust depending on on market conditions is something that you know, it can be a path to success, whether it be in real estate or stocks or crypto or what have you.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Stone Payton: All right, man, what’s the best way for our listeners to tap into your work? Maybe get some of this initial education, whatever, uh, coordinates or appropriate website. But let’s make sure they can they can connect if they’d like to.

David Doss: Yeah, absolutely. So there’s there’s a couple of different ways I’m pretty active on LinkedIn. Like we were saying, you know, education has been really key, um, for for what we’re doing. So on my personal LinkedIn as well as, as well as our company LinkedIn, we put out a lot of educational content, you know, videos, articles, market reports and, you know, market commentary, those sorts of things. So I would encourage you to check out the Casey Fund, LinkedIn. We have a newsletter on there you can subscribe to. There’s also my my personal LinkedIn. The URL is, uh, David Ambrose Doss. So LinkedIn, uh, what is that LinkedIn.com slash in slash uh, David Ambrose Doss and then, yeah, you can also feel free to reach out to me and my team, uh, via email if you like. Um, we’re at info at Casey Dot Refund.

Stone Payton: Well, David, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast. Thank you for your insight, your perspective. Uh, it’s an exciting time for you, man. Congratulations on the momentum that what you’re doing. It really is important work. And we sure appreciate you, man.

Speaker4: Well, I.

David Doss: Appreciate you having me on the show. And yeah, especially after tackling 19 interviews yesterday, I’m, uh, honored to be honored to be on the show.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. Man. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, David Doss with Casey Fund and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.