As investor interest in crypto grows, Betterment acquires Makara to meet demand Episode 12
Episode Notes
Sean dives back into the world of crypto, talking to Mike Reust, president at Betterment, and Jesse Proudman, Makara CEO, about Betterment’s purchase of Makara. They discuss how important crypto has become to portfolios and Makara’s future plans.
Guest Bios:
Jesse Proudman is a Seattle-based entrepreneur. He founded Blue Box, which provided private cloud as a service based on OpenStack technology. The company was sold to IBM in 2015. In 2018, after leaving IBM, he founded Strix Leviathan, which builds an investment management platform for crypto currencies. In 2021, he founded Makara, which aims to make it more simple to invest in crypto by creating “thematic baskets” that can meet various goals and interests, such as the largest coins or emerging trends.
Mike Reust is president at Betterment. His goal is to lead the retail business at Betterment, helping deliver solutions to customers that wrangle the complexity of the American financial system. He has been with Betterment since 2016.