Outside of BTC’s cypherpunk movement, the early days of crypto were more or less barren in terms of innovation. However, this presented a huge opportunity for visionaries and angel investors to either launch or back bold projects, recognizing the potential of crypto stretching far beyond than just payments. One of them was Konstantin Lomashuk, co-founder of cyber•Fund which was a key actor in bootstrapping the cybernetic economy. Apart from early investments in Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana and many others, Konstantin recognized the potential threats to the core ethos of decentralisation and also co-founded Lido DAO in order to stave off Ethereum’s centralization risks.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Konstantin’s background
• cyber·Fund & cybernetic economy
• Entrepreneurship vs. angel investing
• Delegating tasks and scaling businesses
• Lido’s origin story
• Lido DAO proposals and improvements
• Solana vs. Ethereum
• The evolution of Ethereum’s economy
• Konstantin’s other areas of interest
• AI’s risk of centralization
• The impact of AI on crypto
• How CyberFund invests in new narratives

Episode links:

• Konstantin Lomashuk on Twitter
• cyber·Fund on Twitter
• P2P org

Sponsors:

• Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io
• Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

As Ethereum’s roadmap shifted to a rollup-centric approach, a plethora of rollups have been launched, to the point where L3s have been conceptualized. Celestia sits at the forefront of modularity as it aims to replace the monolithic blockchain architecture with specialized layers that are more suited for scalability and customization. As a result, Celestia strictly focuses on data availability to accommodate the recent rollup expansion, as data storage represents the largest portion of fees on L2s. The Lemongrass upgrade lays the foundation for further use cases being enabled through Celestia, mainly revolving around interoperability and zk proof enabled ‘lazy bridging’. 

Topics covered in this episode:

• The vision behind Celestia
• Rollup architecture
• Centralised sequencers and the role of fraud proofs
• Celestia’s market share
• Rollkit & sovereign rollups
• Governance & light clients
• The importance of decentralisation: L1s vs. rollups
• Celestia’s data availability capacity
• Latency & Celestia block times
• Interoperability & ‘lazy bridging’
• The Lemongrass upgrade
• On-chain economics & value accrual
• Interchain accounts on Celestia
• Crypto’s mainstream adoption
• Future roadmap

Episode links:

• Mustafa Al-Bassam on Twitter
• Ismail Khoffi on Twitter
• Celestia on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io
• Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

Web3’s decentralisation is currently limited to smart contracts as they can be verified on-chain. However, until scalability and UX become on par with that of Web2, the only realistic way for crypto to reach mass adoption is threw off-chain dApps. This creates the premise for a security bottleneck in the form of centralised APIs used for on-chain querying. Mel Project aims to expand on-chain security and decentralisation (consensus) to off-chain apps, basically achieving off-chain composability through trustless light clients. Earendil, the backbone of their ecosystem, designed to resist ISP-level censorship, is a decentralized anonymous communication and payment network that enables autonomous applications and true P2P protocols.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Eric’s background and founding Mel Project
• Why Ethereum came short
• Is Infura a security bottleneck?
• Liberating markets (and the Internet)
• Light clients and how Mel Project tackles them
• Use cases
• Smart contracts on Mel Project
• Scaling the ‘world computer’
• Mel Project’s consensus: Streamlet
• Why Mel Project chose an UTXO model
• Earendil & ISP-level censorship resistance
• Roadmap
• The Geph VPN
• Mel Project’s low volatility (stable) coin
• $SYM: PoS token
• Misc.

Episode links:

• Eric Tung on Twitter
• Mel Project on Twitter
• Geph VPN on Twitter
• Moxie Marlinspike's 'My first impressions on web3' article
• Streamlet BFT consensus model

Sponsors:

• Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io
• Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

Wormhole is a decentralized cross chain messaging protocol powering the transfer of value and information across high value chains. A network of Guardian nodes secure the protocol by observing and attesting to events and data on its connected chains. These attestations are gossiped around the open Wormhole peer-to-peer network, allowing anyone connected to the network to observe the flow of information. Portal is a bridging app built on top of Wormhole where users can seamlessly bridge tokens and NFTs across supported chains and easily enter the network’s ecosystem.

We were joined by Dev Bharel, Developer Relations for Wormhole. He gave us great insight into how the protocol works, security assumptions and incidents, the concept of generalized messaging passaging, and the Portal Bridge as a first adopter of the Wormhole protocol. We also chatted about what else is being built on Wormhole, and how you can get involved.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Dev's background and how he got into crypto
• An overview of Wormhole
• The different network ecosystems in Wormhole and challenges with adding new networks
• The Wormhole guardian network and its plans for expansion
• The user experience on Portal Bridge
• Relayers on the network
• Using Wormhole bridge assets directly with non-native tokens
• The Wormhole hack and the changes that have been made
• Using zero knowledge proof on bridges

Episode links:

• Portal Bridge
• Wormhole hack
• Bug bounty program
• Developer docs
• Wormchain
• xHack hackathon
• Wormhole on Twitter
• Dev on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Omni: Access all of Web3 in one easy-to-use wallet! Earn and manage assets at once with Omni's built-in staking, yield vaults, bridges, swaps and NFT support.
  https://omni.app/ -

This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/468

With the long awaited Ethereum Merge successfully executed last month, we caught up with Vitalik at DevCon in Bogota to talk shop: How does he see the state of the network, does he think looming centralization is a threat. Was Ethereum's danksharding plus third party layer 2s a good architecture decision? How much of an issue is MEV?

Topics covered in this episode:

• The state of the network and credible neutrality
• Should validators have agency?
• How much of a problem is MEV
• The Ethereum Surge
• The road to Danksharding
• Decentralizing the sequencer
• The future of the space
• The one most important thing we need to get right in the coming year for the ecosystem to succeed

Episode links:

• Ethereum
• Devcon 6
• Episode 402 - Ethereum – Can It Go Beyond DeFi?
• Join the Epicenter team!

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/467

Since its announcement a few weeks ago at Cosmoverse in Medellin, Atom 2.0 has sparked intense debate in the Cosmos community and throughout the blockchain ecosystem. It proposes three pillars for the Cosmos Hub: Interchain Security, the Interchain Allocator, and the Interchain Scheduler. However, parts of the paper have been contested and debated over fears of token holder dilution, potential treasury mismanagement, and even the collapse of the Hub. We chat with Ethan Buchman and Zaki Manian to dive deep into Atom 2.0 and its vision for Cosmos moving forward.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The ATOM 2.0 announcement and follow up
• The goal of the whitepaper
• Interchain Security and its role in Cosmos' future
• Interchain Security vs. Mesh Security
• Cosmos scalability
• Liquid staking in the Cosmos ecosystem
• Distributing funds through the Allocator
• Atom issuance model
• The motivation behind the Interchain Scheduler
• The governance process - voting on the whitepaper
• Next steps to community adoption

Episode links:

• Atom 2.0 Whitepaper
• Atom 2.0 forum post
• Atom 2.0 Debate episode on The Interop
• Ethan on Twitter
• Zaki on Twitter
• Join Epicenter!

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/466

After a 2 year hiatus, Devcon was back for its 6th and best year so far, this time in Bogota, Colombia. As things wrapped up we grabbed a few of the Ethereum community's most prominent names for a recap on the conference. Hear as we chat to Nick Johnson from ENS, Anett Rolikova from Nethermind, David Hoffmann from Bankless, and Joseph Schweitzer from the Ethereum Foundation, about their particular standouts of the event, the LatAm and wider Ethereum community, and what they see coming next for Devcon 7 and beyond.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Introductions and a look back over the conference
• The LatAm Ethereum community
• Favourite talks from the conference
• Having a booth at Devcon
• What's in store for Devcon7 next year
• The future vision for the event

Episode links:

• Devcon
• Devcon 4 recap from Prague

Sponsors:

• Omni: Access all of Web3 in one easy-to-use wallet! Earn and manage assets at once with Omni's built-in staking, yield vaults, bridges, swaps and NFT support.
  https://omni.app/

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/465

Bonus Episode: At a side event at Devcon in Bogota Colombia, Friederike moderated a panel discussion on censorship resistance and credible neutrality with Phil from Flashbots, Patrick from Infura, Sebastian from HOPR, Martin from Gnosis, and Sreeram from EigenLayer. We dove deep into what credible neutrality constitutes, whether it needs defending, and if so how we should go about it.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Introduction to the panel
• What is censorship resistance and credible neutrality?
• When has Ethereum been or not been crediably neutral, and where is it today
• Recent cencorship instances in the space
• The roadmaps for more credible neutrality

Episode links:

• Devcon

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/B007

We caught up with Cosmoverse co-founder and YouTuber Cryptocito, for a chat from this year's event in Medellin. We look back on the 2nd edition of the conference and how the ecosystem has grown since last year. We also dive into some of the announcements, notably, ATOM 2.0.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Cosmoverse in Medellin
• Cryptocito's background and how Cosmoverse was born
• Highlights from the conference
• Mesh security systems
• Cosmos community growth
• Thoughts on Interchain Foundation (ICF)
• ATOM 2.0

Episode links:

• Cosmoverse
• Crytpocito's youtube
• Cosmoverse on Twitter
• Cryptocito on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Omni: Access all of Web3 in one easy-to-use wallet! Earn and manage assets at once with Omni's built-in staking, yield vaults, bridges, swaps and NFT support.
  https://omni.app/ -

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/464

HOPR is a decentralized and incentivized peer-to-peer mixnet open to anyone who wants to join and run a node. The network allows people, companies, and devices to exchange information online with its metadata stripped. People who communicate and transact using HOPR — or apps and services which run on top of the platform — can be sure that no-one can find out what data is being shared, who is sending or receiving it, or even how much data is being sent. HOPR gets its name from the fact that it provides metadata privacy by sending data packets through multiple nodes - or “hops” – in the network. Decentralization ensures that the network is fully independent and there is no entity that can control it or intercept the traffic.

We were joined by HOPR founder Sebastian Bürgel, who chatted about the need for a platform such as this in the space, how it works by sending packets through nodes, the HOPR token, and The DecenGov DAO.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Sebastian's background
• An overview of HOPR
• Mixnet vs onion routing
• Who is the HOPR user?
• How packets move through the network
• The distribution requirements for HOPR nodes
• The costs involved
• The HOPR token
• The DecenGov DAO
• Why privacy systems in crypto have such a hard time finding traction

Episode links:

• HOPR
• HOPR on Twitter
• Sebastian on Twitter
• Join the Epicenter team!

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/463

Crescent is an AMM/Orderbook Hybrid Decentralized Exchange that allows trading inter-chain assets in a cost-efficient manner. Crescent is a sovereign Cosmos chain that was created after migrating the Gravity Dex from the Cosmos Hub. Crescent particularly focuses on efficient use of liquidity by giving powerful tools to market makers to use their capital and provide good prices for traders.

We were joined by the founder of Crescent Network, Hyung Lee, to chat about his involvement in the Cosmos ecosystem, B Harvest, the Gravity DEX, and combining AMMs and orderbooks. We also hear about Crescent's roadmap and future role within the ecosystem.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Hyung's background and how he got into crypto and the Cosmos ecosystem
• Launching Crescent on its own chain
• The vision for Crescent's role within the ecosystem
• Liquidity formation for the project
• Comparing AMM and orderbooks and the advantages/disadvantages of each
• How AMM and orderbooks have been combined
• The future of AMMs
• Difference between a market maker and a liquidity provider
• Cross chain dex aggregation
• MEV and the interchain world

Episode links:

• The Crescent Ethos
• Crescent Network
• Crescent on Twitter
• Hyung on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Omni: Access all of Web3 in one easy-to-use wallet! Earn and manage assets at once with Omni's built-in staking, yield vaults, bridges, swaps and NFT support.
  https://omni.app/ -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/462

In the countdown to the merge, Sebastien and Friederike teamed up with Eduardo Antuña, Co-founder of DappNode, at this year's Dappcon which is back after a 2 year hiatus. Hear as they chat about what the merge means for the broader Ethereum ecosystem.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Update on Dappcon
• The implications of the Tornado Cash sanctions in the wider crypto space
• ZK bridging and the merge
• The Gnosis ecosystem
• The importance of privacy
• The user experience in crypto and how its important for onboarding
• POAP distribution

Episode links:

• Dappcon
• The Merge
• Dappcon on Twitter
• Eduardo on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/461

Decentralized stablecoins have long been regarded as a fundamental building block for the decentralized web. The first ground-breaking project in this area is Maker with their stablecoin DAI. Multiple ideas existed for how Maker should evolve and the path Maker chose was to add multiple types of collateral and rely on governance input to maintain stability. Over time, the vast majority of Maker's collateral came to be represented by USDC, a centralized stablecoin issued by regulated US institutions.

Rai Reflex Index (RAI) decided to fork Maker and choose a path favoring trust-minimization over faster scaling. Unlike with Maker, only ETH is accepted as collateral and a different mechanism is used to maintain low volatility that doesn't rely on governance input. We were joined by Reflexer Labs' co-founder Ameen Soleimani to chat about the philosophical differences to Maker, the mechanisms used to ensure the stability of RAI, the threat of regulatory intervention for DAI and how we can create truly trust-minimized stablecoins to ensure the resilience and neutrality of DeFi.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Ameen's background and the vision behind Reflexer
• How RAI differs from Maker
• The problem with DAI becoming multi-collateral and adding more governance control
• RAI's stability mechanism
• The function of the redemption price
• Who holds RAI and how stable is it?
• FLX governance
• How decentralized stablecoins can scale

Episode links:

• Reflexer Labs
• Reflexer on Twitter
• Ameen on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/460

One of the OG flag bearers for decentralisation, Gnosis initially set out to build a prediction market on Ethereum. However, unlike the vibrant ecosystem of today, the early Ethereum days were barren. As a result, Gnosis team decided to build out their own infrastructure and tooling to suit their needs. Before long, tools such as Gnosis Safe, Zodiac, etc. were quickly adopted by the entire industry. Nowadays, since the foundation has been tried and tested, Gnosis 3.0 aims to focus on improving consumer dApp UX in order to facilitate widespread adoption.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Gnosis’ background and vision
• Gnosis 3.0
• Gnosis DAO
• Capital allocation management
• How Gnosis Pay revolutionizes payment rails
• The ‘Baguette Conundrum’: privacy & regulatory compliance for on-chain payments
• The future of the EVM vs. modularity
• Would Gnosis shift to an L2 architecture?

Episode links:

• Friederike Ernst on Twitter
• Gnosis DAO on Twitter
• Gnosis Chain on Twitter
• Gnosis Pay on Twitter
• Safe on Twitter
• CoW Swap on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io
• Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture.

DappCamp is a 21-day cohort-based course for Web2 developers making the shift to Web3. It offers hands-on experience on how to architect, develop, and scale a Web 3.0 app on Ethereum. Participants are given the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded peers to learn and build together, and also meet world-class founders who built some of the most successful apps on Ethereum to understand best practices and common pitfalls.

Preethi Kasireddy, Founder of DappCamp, started her crypto journey while at a16z and later joined Coinbase as a software engineer. After teaching herself Ethereum Dapp development during the 2017 ICO boom she built smart contracts for various crypto projects and created TruStory where she and her team built a blockchain on Cosmos. She also writes a great blog which often see her posts go viral. Preethi joined us to chat about how her journey in crypto has evolved, her love of writing, learning and teaching, why she created DappCamp, and being a woman in the crypto space.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Preethi's background and how she got into crypto
• Her early days with Coinbase and TruStory
• Preethi's love of writing which led to her blog
• DappCamp
• What are the major struggles people face with learning web3 development?
• Opportunities for DappCamp graduates
• How DappCamp will evolve in the future
• Being a woman in crypto
• Keeping up to date with the crypto industry

Episode links:

• DappCamp
• Preethi’s Blog
• DappCamp Twitter
• Preethi’s Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/459

On August 8, 2022, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash, citing allegations it helped North Korea's Lazarus hacker group launder millions of dollars worth of crypto proceeds stolen from various crypto projects over the past few years. Coin Center believe that OFAC has overstepped its legal authority by adding certain Tornado Cash smart contract addresses to the Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons (SDN) List, potentially violating US Americans' constitutional rights to due process and free speech.

Peter Van Valkenburgh, Director of Research at Coin Center, joined us for an in-depth look at how OFAC operates, why he believes this sanctioning represents an overreach, what's next for Tornado Cash, and what this means for the rest of the blockchain ecosystem.

Topics covered in this episode:

• An overview of the Tornado Cash case
• What is the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)?
• How is it determined who gets on the OFAC list? What happens to you if you're on the list?
• Does this only apply to US Americans?
• How does one get removed from the list?
• What did Tornado Cash do wrong, and what should they have done?
• Is there an acceptable level of maliciousness within the system?
• Comparison to PGP
• Why Tornado Cash was targeted over other privacy enhancing tools
• The reaction from the crypto ecosystem

Episode links:

• OFAC - The Office of Foreign Assets Control
• Coin Center
• Tornado Cash on Twitter
• Coin Center on Twitter
• Peter on Twitter
• Join the Epicenter team!

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/458

CosmWasm is a smart contracting platform built for the Cosmos ecosystem. It's the Cosmos (Cosm) way of using WebAssembly (Wasm). CosmWasm is written as a module that can plug into the Cosmos SDK, meaning that anyone currently building a blockchain using the Cosmos SDK can quickly and easily add CosmWasm smart contracting support to their chain, without adjusting existing logic.

We were joined by the project's founder, Ethan Frey, for a deep dive into what WebAssembly is and the benefits of its integration with Cosmos SDK, its interaction with IBC and use cases for other cross-chain apps, and the roadmap ahead.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Ethan's background and how he got into crypto and in particular Cosmos
• What Ethan worked on during his time at Tendermint
• Why CosmWasm was created
• What is WebAssembly and what are its advantages
• How does WebAssembly compare with the EVM?
• What are the pros and cons of developing Cosmos SDK modules vs building things in CosmWasm?
• How CosmWasm interacts with the IBC module
• The roadmap for CosmWasm
• Potential use cases on cross-chain CosmWasm apps
• The CosmWasm Academy

Episode links:

• CosmWasm
• CosmWasm Academy
• WYND DAO
• CosmWasm on Twitter
• Join the Epicenter team!

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/457

A cashless society - one where paper and coin currency is no longer used and instead replaced with electronic transactions. Many countries are already moving in this direction with benefits noted as including lower crime rates and reduced money laundering, and of course convenience. But going cashless does have its downsides.

Brett Scott is the author of Cloudmoney, a revelatory story about the fusion of big finance and tech, which requires physical cash to be replaced by digital money or 'cloudmoney'. Diving beneath the surface of the global financial system, He uncovers a long-established lobbying infrastructure waging a covert war on cash, as banking and tech companies promote a cashless society under the banner of progress.

He joins us to dive deeper into the thesis behind his book and to share his views on how cryptocurrency and blockchain fits into this.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Brett's background and how he got into the Fintech space
• The central thesis of Cloudmoney
• The meaning of 'not all money is created equally'
• The arguments around Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism
• Privacy and the value of digital payment data
• Central bank digital currency
• Brett's views on the blockchain industry
• IOU vs money as a commodity
• Where to buy Brett's book

Episode links:

• Cloudmoney
• Brett's newsletter
• Brett on Twitter
• Join Epicenter as our Community Manager

Sponsors:

• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/456

Flashbots has pioneered the work around MEV which has become one of the most important topics in crypto today. MEV-Boost is an implementation of proposer-builder separation (PBS) built by Flashbots for proof of stake Ethereum. Validators running MEV-Boost maximize their staking reward by selling their blockspace to an open market while protecting Ethereum decentralization. It is estimated that validators running MEV-Boost can increase their staking rewards by over 60%. MEV-Boost is free, open-source, and neutral software.

Lido has become the leading liquid staking solution on Ethereum with a huge amount of stake and has also taken on a key role in shaping the future of staking on Ethereum.

We were joined by Stephane Gosselin, co-founder of Flashbots, to chat about MEV and the importance of MEV-Boost, how it works and it's impact on Ethereum. Also joining the chat is Vasiliy Shapovalov, Tech Lead at Lido, to share with us the significant impact MEV-Boost will have on Lido.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Stephane and Vasily introductions
• What is MEV and why is it important?
• MEV supply chain and the centralization risks with it
• The significance of MEV for Lido
• Lido MEV policy for node operators
• The economics around MEV-Boost
• Flashbot Protect - will this still exist in MEV-Boost?
• Beyond Ethereum - what are the solution for cross-chain MEV
• The impact of L2s and rollups on MEV and MEV-Boost
• Timelines as we approach The Merge

Episode links:

• Flashbots
• Lido
• MEV-Boost in a nutshell
• Why your blockchain needs an MEV solution - Hasu
• Stephane on Twitter
• Vasily on Twitter

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/455

An interesting question that has sparked debate in the Twittersphere and amongst our hosts. Hear as Meher, Friederike and Brian discuss scaling visions currently in the ecosystem, with particular focus on Ethereum Layer 2s and whether or not this is a good path forward for holders of Eth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Introduction to the hosts
• Meher's opinions and recent twitter thread on Ethereum
• How Layer 1s and Layer 2s work together
• Smart contract sharding
• Bitcoin vs Ethereum
• Solana
• The Ethereum roadmap from here

Episode links:

• Meher's twitter thread
• Epicenter - About Us
• Brian on Twitter
• Friederike on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/454

EthCC is over for another year and what a week it was! 6 stages, 2,000 attendees, over 200 speakers, 40 hours of talks and content, 40 sponsors, and 130 side events (and parties) all over Paris. The Ethereum France team pulled it off again with the fifth edition of the Ethereum Community Conference bringing the community together in the city of love.

Keeping with tradition we did an EthCC recap panel and were joined by Ethereum France President Jerome de Tychey, EthCC Project Manager Bettina Boon Falleur, and Founder of Giveth Griff Green. We talk about the standout moments of this year's event, how the conference has grown over the years, NFT tickets, the European Ethereum community, and the future of EthCC.

Episode links:

• EthCC 5
• Ethereum France
• Giveth

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/453

Enzyme Finance, previously named Melon, is a decentralized protocol built on Ethereum (ETH) that allows users to create, manage and invest in custom crypto asset management vehicles onchain. Using Enzyme Smart Vaults, individuals and communities can build, scale and monetize investment strategies that employ the newest innovations in decentralized finance. Enzyme enables Depositors to interact with Vaults in a way that is non-custodial and requires minimal trust between parties. Vault Managers can be bound to performing certain actions or forbidden from others.

We were joined by Mona El Isa, CEO & founder at Avantgarde Finance and Enzyme Finance, for the second time after her first appearance 5 years ago. We chat about the transition from Melon to Enzyme and the current state of the protocol, how vaults work on the platform, decentralized governance and how to survive a bear market.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The transition from Melon to Enzyme
• Has the vision for Enzyme changed?
• How does the protocol work?
• Choosing your vault and redeemability
• Who are Enzyme users?
• Becoming a vault manager and sharing your vault
• 24/7 reporting
• The MLN token
• Governance - Enzyme’s path to decentralization

Episode links:

• Episode 158 - The Polkadot Protocol – One Blockchain to Connect Them All
• Enzyme
• Enzyme on Twitter
• Mona on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/452

The hotly anticipated Ethereum merge due later this year, will see the joining of the existing execution layer of Ethereum (the Mainnet we use today) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. It eliminates the need for energy-intensive mining and instead secures the network using staked ETH. This is a truly exciting step in the Ethereum vision of more scalability, security, and sustainability.

Tim Beiko, Protocol Support for the Ethereum Foundation, is heavily involved in the project. He joined us to give some deep insights into governance within Ethereum, a full update on how the merge is coming along and the next steps, and how Ethereum will look post-merge.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Tim's background and how he got involved in the space
• Unpacking governance on Ethereum
• The Ethereum client ecosystem
• The current state of Ethereum's testnet landscape
• The Merge: what is it, and where do we stand?
• What is coming next in the lead up to the merge and how is success measured?
• How did the very recent Sepolia test go?
• Scaling - what will the ecosystem look like post-merge?
• The Ethereum roadmap

Episode links:

• Nebular Summit
• Ethereum Foundation
• The Merge
• Ethereum on Twitter
• Tim on Twitter

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Joseph Schweitzer. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/451

Urbit is an exciting new operating system and peer-to-peer network that’s simple by design, built to last forever, and 100% owned by its users. Under the hood it's a from-scratch software stack compact enough that individual developers can understand and control it completely. Urbit deconstructs the client-server model in favor of a federated network of personal servers with built-in, cryptographically-owned identity, each of which is capable of distributing and running their own applications that communicate over the Urbit network.

We were joined by the Executive Director of the Urbit Foundation, Josh Lehman, who explained in depth how the Urbit ecosystem was built and now runs, the advantages of the network from user and developer perspectives, the bridge with crypto, and how the roadmap for the kernel is looking going forward.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Josh's background and how he became involved with Urbit
• An overview of Urbit and the current state of the system
• What’s changed about Urbit over the last three years
• Urbit's address space consisting of galaxies, stars and planets
• What Urbit applications are and how they differ from iphone applications or a dApps
• The advantages of the Urbit user and developer experiences
• The connection between Urbit and crypto
• The projects currently being built on Urbit - Holium, Uqbar, Tirrel
• What the roadmap for the underlying Urbit kernel looks like
• How you can get involved

Episode links:

• Episode 205 - A Digital Republic Reinventing the Internet
• Urbit
• Urbit Grants
• Urbit on Twitter
• Josh on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -
• Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafe
• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/450

We couldn’t miss EthCC 7, nor the chance to chat with Vitalik Buterin about Ethereum’s status quo as an L1 amidst the plethora of L2s competing for market share, and what challenges will most likely arise along the way (e.g. staking decentralisation).

Tune in for a captivating discussion on the importance of decentralisation as a last stand of human empowerment in the current geopolitical context and how it could positively impact AI's trajectory. 

Topics covered in this episode:

• Types of Ethereum ‘hardnesses’ (sic)
• The L1 status quo
• Staking decentralisation & block building
• Non-financial crypto applications
• Account abstraction & interoperability
• Solana & Bitcoin ecosystems
• DeSci, biotech & longevity
• Geopolitics
• Ethereum nation state?
• The impact of AI
• Do not go gentle into that good night

Episode links:

• Vitalik Buterin on Twitter
• EthCC on Twitter
• Ethereum on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io
• Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Brian Fabian Crain.

Wyre is a leading fiat-to-cryptocurrency and payment infrastructure company for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In blockchain time, Wyre has been around forever -- it was founded in 2013. Wyre leverages blockchain to facilitate cross-border payments, bridging the gap between traditional payment processing and digital assets. Focusing on developers, the company provides easy-to-integrate APIs which enable thousands of developers to bring cryptocurrency to the masses. The company has “on-ramped” over 15 million end users to their partners and has processed over $10B in payments since inception.

We were joined by Co-founder and CEO Yanni Giannaros, and Director of Crypto Strategy Jamal Raees, to chat about payments applications in general and in web3, how Wyre works on a technical and business level including regulatory constraints, their recent acquisition by Bolt, and the roadmap for the platform.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The history of Wyre and the changes they have seen in the space over the past 10 years
• Yanni and Jamal's backgrounds and how they met
• A technical overview of Wyre
• The challenges of running an onramp
• Bolt's recent acquisition of Wyre
• Payments applications in web 3 - what works and what doesn't
• The Wyre business model and fees
• The jurisdictional restrictions for using Wyre and Yanni and Jamal's thoughts on the current regulatory environment
• The future of crypto interfaces
• The Wyre roadmap

Episode links:

• Wyre
• Wyre on Twitter
• Yanni on Twitter
• Jamal on Twitter

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/449

Arbitrum is a Layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain which helps reduce high transaction gas fees. Arbitrum uses a multi-round optimistic rollup that regularly checks in with Ethereum’s main chain.

OG cypherpunk and ex deputy CTO of the USA, Ed Felten, is one of the creators of Arbitrum. He joined us for an in depth chat about how transactions are processed on the protocol, who validates them, what the security guarantees are, and how the economics will work in the longer term.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Ed's background (including his time as deputy CTO of the USA!) and what led him to creating Arbitrum
• A walk back to pre-blockchain crypto
• Why Arbitrum chose to build on top of Ethereum
• What are roll-ups and what's the user experience with them on Arbitrum?
• A deep dive into how transactions work on Arbitrum
• How nodes work on the platform
• Transaction fees on Arbitrum
• How is Arbitrum designed differently to Optimism?
• Arbitrum and bridges to ETH and other assets
• How will different scaling solutions co-exist in the future?

Episode links:

• Arbitrum
• Arbitrum on Twitter
• Ed on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafe
• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/448

Connext is a crosschain liquidity network that speeds up fully-noncustodial transfers between EVM-compatible crosschains (xapps) and L2 systems. Connext works in tandem with nomad bridge technology, enabling fast transfer of value between blockchains and interchain DeFi protocols. Their goal is to create a world where users never need to know what chain or rollup they're on, and developers can build applications that utilize resources from many chains/rollups simultaneously.

We were joined by Connext founder Arjun Bhuptani to chat about bridge technology in general, Connext's pivot from state channels to bridges, their recent partnership with Nomad, and what is coming next.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Arjun's background and how he got into the space
• Arjun's involvement with the Moloch DAO
• What is Connext?
• The history of interoperability
• Connext and the bridges they utilize
• Connext's partnership with Nomad
• Bridge hacks
• Finality and rollbacks - dealing with reorgs and probabilistic finality
• What is Connext's capital efficiency model

Episode links:

• Connext
• Nomad
• Connext / Nomad partnership
• Connext on Twitter
• Arjun on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/447

MetaMask is the de-facto standard self-custodial wallet for Ethereum. It started off as a web browser extension on chromium. More recently, it also launched a mobile app. MetaMask allows you to interact with decentralized applications (dapps) natively.

We were joined by Dan Finlay, Founder & Group Manager at MetaMask, to chat about the motivation for building MetaMask, the security of the platform, decentralization, the future of seed phrases and much more!

Topics covered in this episode:

• Dan's background and how he got into the space
• The journey of creating MetaMask Consensys
• Why this was built as a browser extension
• MetaMask mobile: What’s the scope? How do people use it?
• Number of MetaMask accounts, funds stored in MetaMask wallets and some use cases
• Security on the platform
• The future of seed phrases
• How thinking has shifted from smart wallers to EoA's with enhanced capabilities
• What is MetaMask Snaps?
• When will we see the MetaMask token?

Episode links:

• MetaMask
• Forum
• Twitter
• Dan on Twitter

Sponsors:

• CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswap
• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/446"

The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) allows users to register .eth domain names, which can be used natively in some browsers and all Ethereum wallets. It provides a solution to long crypto addresses with a human-friendly format, analogous to DNS domain names that point to IP addresses. There are now 1.1 million registered domains on ENS.

Nick Johnson, Lead Developer of ENS, was last on the show 5 years ago when ENS had just been created. We had him back on to give us an update on how the project had evolved and to chat about the kinds of content ENS domains point to, the ENS token airdrop, the governance of the platform, and the road ahead, particularly with respect to scaling solutions and spiralling Ethereum gas costs.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What is Domain Name Service (DNS)?
• How do you register a top level domain?
• The relevance of ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
• The kinds of content ENS domains point to and some use cases
• The fees associated with .eth domains
• The ENS token airdrop
• Governance - how the process of using delegates worked
• The kinds of decisions delegates have made so far
• Trading ENS tokens
• Nick's views on the major challenges facing the ethereum ecosystem today

Episode links:

• Episode 183 - ENS – A Global Naming System for Ethereum
• ICANN
• ENS
• ENS Governance
• ENS on Twitter
• Nick on Twitter

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/445

Aave is an open-source moneymarket protocol. An Ethereum native, it's deployed on Avalanche and Polygon, with more than $1 billion deposited on each. V3 is now live on seven different blockchains, including Fantom, Arbitrum, Optimism and Harmony. Aave, which has a decentralized governance system, collects about $50 million in revenue per year to its treasury through its various activities, which makes it self-sustainable.

Two years after his last visit to the show and after the recent Aave 3.0 release, we had Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, back on to chat about governance within the DeFi space, his new project Lens Protocol, and the road ahead for not only his projects, but also the ecosystem as a whole.

Topics covered in this episode:

• In view of the situation this week with Terra and UST, we hear Stani's take on stable coins and stable coin mechanisms and how this has evolved over time
• New collateral - how a collapse of an asset can affect lending markets
• Governance within Aave and DeFi protocols in general
• How interoperability looks for a lending protocol
• Stani's new project LensProtocol - the composable and decentralized social graph
• Why have other decentralized social networks not managed to take off?
• Stani's recent ban from Twitter #freestani
• The roadmap for both Aave and Lens over the next 2 years
• What is coming next for the ecosystem?

Episode links:

• Aave
• Lens Protocol
• Aave on Twitter
• Lens on Twitter
• Stani on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -
• CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswap
• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/444

Chun Wang started mining Bitcoin in 2011 and later created F2Pool, one of the leading Proof-of-Work mining pools. Despite his deep involvement in Proof-of-Work, Chun also recognized the transformative impact of Proof-of-Stake and started stakefish. stakefish has become one of the leading staking provider.

Chun joined us to talk about his journey and reflections on Bitcoin, Ethereum and Proof-of-Stake. We also dove into the topic of humans becoming a multi-planetary species and whether Bitcoin's consensus could be modified to allow mining on different planets.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Chun's background and how he got into crypto
• Why he created the mining pool F2Pool
• The biggest differences between running validators like stakefish vs a mining pool like F2Pool
• What led him to build stakefish
• Chun's views on Ethereum
• Why Bitcoin is more decentralized than Ethereum
• The future of Proof-of-Stake
• Stakefish's Ethereum staking product
• Chun's thoughts of MEV and how will stakefish deal with it in the future
• Making Bitcoin multiplanetary

Episode links:

• stakefish
• F2Pool
• stakefish on Twitter
• Chun on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafe
• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/443

Florian Glatz, blockchain.lawyer, is one of the most knowledgeable OG's at the intersection of crypto and law. He was last on the show 6 years ago when we talked in great detail about smart contracts and the DAO. We welcomed him back to discuss the regulatory environment, with a focus on Europe. We covered key topics like the recently floated Proof of Work ban, Travel of Funds Regulation (TFR), and Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation. We also discussed the European Crypto Initiative, a new lobby organization that Florian co-founded, which is advocating for crypto-friendly regulation on a European level.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What Florian got wrong about DAOs when he was on the show in 2016
• The story of the Geman blockchain association Bundesblock that Florian co-founded and was president of
• The European Crypto Initiative - Why a European-level organization is needed
• The most important regulatory questions facing crypto today
• Why crypto taxation is a particularly challenging issue
• How will competition between different nation states play out?
• Whether we will see the rise of new nation states or digital nations

Episode links:

• Episode 125 - Defining a Legal Framework for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO)
• The Sovereign individual
• blockchain.lawyer
• Florian on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/422

Multicoin Capital is a thesis-driven investment firm that invests in the crypto space. They manage a hedge fund and a venture fund, investing across both public and private markets. Since their founding in 2017, they have become known for their high returns.

We were joined by founders Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain, for Multicoin's third visit on the show, to chat about how they came together to form Multicoin, their current investment thesis and how it has evolved, and the road ahead in the blockchain ecosystem.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Tushar and Kyle's backgrounds and what led to Multicoin
• Why did they choose to create an investing company?
• Their current investment thesis and how it has evolved
• Multicoin's decision to not invest in certain lucrative projects
• How they chose what to invest in
• The Proof of Physical Work thesis
• The process of how they select an investment and the strategy behind their portfolio
• Projects they regret not investing in
• A prediction of how the blockchain ecosystem will look in three years
• Dominance of DeFi

Episode links:

• Episode 361 with Kyle
• Episode 223 with Kyle and Tushar
• Protocols dont capture value, DAOs manage risk - thesis
• Multicoin on Twitter
• Kyle on Twitter
• Tushar on Twitter

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/441

Regen Network is a blockchain focused on ecological regeneration and reversing climate change. Their aim is to reinvent the economics of agriculture so that farmers are seen not only as food producers, but also as land stewards. Regen Network serve as the foundation on which which other projects and protocols may build upon and harness to execute their own climate-focused business models. Using a distributed ledger and modern remote sensing technology, the Regen team are creating new tools allowing humanity to reconnect with the environment.

We were joined by CEO & Co-founder of Regen, Gregory Landua, to chat about what has motivated him to create Regen. We took a deep dive into how Regen Network works and especially discussed carbon credits and the Nature Carbon Ton (NCT), a novel carbon credit token they are launching.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Gregory's background and what motivated him to create Regen
• Why he chose to build Regen on Cosmos
• What are carbon credits and how is their impact measured?
• How the Nature Carbon Ton (NCT) token works and what is the vision for how it evolves
• The 2 modules Regen have built on Cosmos SDK - Ecocredits and Data
• Regen 4.0 - what is coming next?

Episode links:

• Regen website
• Regen on Medium
• Regen on Twitter
• Gregory on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/440

One of the bluechip DeFi projects and backbone of Ethereum liquidity markets, Aave has recently announced their V4 upgrade proposal, which aims (among others) to unify crosschain liquidity.

We were joined by Stani Kulechov, founder & CEO of Aave, to discuss the DeFi (r)evolution since ETH Lend to Aave V4, expanding to non-EVM chains and potentially even building a self-sovereign chain. 

Topics covered in this episode:

• The evolution of Aave
• Aave V3 risk management & MakerDAO feud
• Aave V4
• Unified liquidity layer & risk pricing
• GHO stablecoin
• How the unified liquidity layer improves UX
• RWA & liquidation strategies in Aave V4
• Expanding to non-EVM networks
• Building a self-sovereign chain
• Aave’s role in the future of DeFi
• How stablecoins will evolve
• DeFi institutional adoption
• Future roadmap

Episode links:

• Stani Kulechov on Twitter
• Aave on Twitter
• Lens Protocol on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io
• Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst.

Brian was joined by Felix Lutsch, CCO of Chorus One, for a discussion of what is going on in crypto today. The discussion included the evolving Proof-of-Stake landscape, the role of and trends around liquid staking and interoperability. They also discussed the crypto markets and the possible impact of a changing macro environment with increasing inflation.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Felix's background and how he got into crypto
• How the staking landscape is evolving
• The increasing complexity within the staking industry and the impact this will bring, including compliance and MEV
• Liquid staking - where it is today and where it is headed
• Interoperability - IBC adoption, Terra, composability
• Crypto markets - inflation and predicting the future

Episode links:

• Chorus One
• Chorus One on Twitter
• Felix on Twitter
• The Q-Trap by Arthur Hayes

Sponsors:

• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/439

Anoma is a set of protocols that puts privacy front and center. It aims to facilitate “Self-Sovereign Communities” by providing tools that grant increased control to individuals and communities governing their day-to-day interactions and activities.

We were joined by co-founders Adrian Brink and Christopher Goes, to help unravel the complex offering that is the Anoma Network. Hear as we chat about why they created Anoma, some use cases to explain how it works, and the roadmap going forward.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What led Adrian and Christopher to starting their own PoS blockchain
• What 'undefining money' actually means
• How Anoma works
• The Namada blockchain
• Multi asset shielded pools - why aren't they used more often?
• A deep dive into the technical components of Anoma
• The relationship between Anoma and Namada
• Thoughts on FATF and recent moves to make sending KYC information with transactions mandatory
• Timelines for upcoming launches

Episode links:

• Anoma
• Discord
• Anoma on Twitter
• Adrian on Twitter
• Christopher on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally: Tally is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswap

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/438

Leveraging the Cosmos SDK, Evmos is the first IBC-compatible EVM-based blockchain, bringing composability, interoperability, and fast finality to Ethereum. While much of the Cosmos ecosystem has embraced CosmWasm to deploy smart contracts, Evmos brings EVM capabilities to the Interchain and allows developers to write contracts in Solidity, the most widely used language in crypto.

While the Evmos launch was halted in early March due to a critical vulnerability and a failed chain upgrade, the project is highly anticipated by the Cosmos community as it promises to bring speed, scale, and interoperability to Ethereum. This week, Sebastien was joined by the co-founder of Evmos, Federico Kunze Küllmer, to chat about the innovation that Evmos is bringing to the EVM ecosystem and the long-term vision for the project.

This episode is an excerpt of an extended interview with Federico released on The Interop, a new podcast hosted by Sebastien Couture. To hear the full interview and subscribe to The Interop, check the episode links.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Fede's background and how he got into crypto
• The early days at Tendermint and contributing to Ether Mint
• The delayed launch of the Evmos upgrade and how that has affected the project
• What innovation does Evmos bring to the EVM now and in the future
• Evmos' interoperability with other chains
• Bridges and the issue asset fungibility
• How sovereign chains will interact with smart contracts or addresses on Evmos
• What DeFi applications will be launched on Evmos
• Standout features of the token model
• Is fragmentation on the Interchain a good approach?

Episode links:

• Hear the full interview on The Interop podcast
• Evmos
• Evmos on Twitter
• Federico on Twitter

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/437

After more than three years in the making, Laura Shin has just released her first book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze. In it she dives into the history of Ethereum and the 2017 ICO craze by telling the tale of the early tensions and power struggle that defined Ethereum's founding. It gives the inside story of The DAO, and depicts 2017's global initial coin offering tidal wave that boosted prices and fortunes.

Laura Shin, former Forbes journalist, podcast host, and now author, joined us for a fascinating chat about the research that went into the book (including the 200+ interviews), revealing the infamous Ethereum hacker, and how the book has been received and her future plans for another.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Laura's background and how she got into crypto
• Why did Laura choose to write this book?
• Researching for the book and the people she interviewed
• Laura's takeaways about the Ethereum founders
• The reveal of the hacker and the reactions from those close to them
• The Ethereum 'Shadow Government'
• The importance of Vitalik to Ethereum today and where he might be headed next
• Where are the other co-founders of Ethereum now?
• What's next for Laura?

Episode links:

• Buy the book
• Laura Shin
• The Unchained Podcast
• Laura on Medium
• Laura on Twitter

Sponsors:

• CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswap

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/436

Worldcoin is a start-up trying to engineer widespread adoption for its cryptocurrency by giving away tokens. Sound too good to be true? Depends how you look at it (literally). Participants must be willing to have their eyes scanned on registration by a proprietary iris scanner dubbed 'orb'. Worldcoin says the scan is necessary to prove that users are human and to verify they only register once. The start-up has attracted big investors but it has also raised concerns among an increasingly privacy-conscious public with some labeling it a MLM.

We were joined by co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, who explained the idea behind Worldcoin and the aspect of UBI, the current number of orbs in circulation and users, and he addresses the criticisms they have faced so far. Worldcoin is due to launch later this year.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Alex's background and how he got into crypto
• The idea behind Worldcoin and the aspect of UBI
• How does the orb work?
• How they have reacted to some of the criticism regarding privacy and onboarding
• A deep dive into how the protocol works
• The incentive mechanism with Worldcoin
• An overview of Worldcoin users
• The corporate structure of Worldcoin
• Regulatory issues

Episode links:

• Worldcoin
• Worldcoin on Twitter
• Alex on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/435

Helium is a global, distributed network of long-range wireless coverage hotspots for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, powered by the Helium blockchain. Community run hotspots create 'The People’s Network' and they are rewarded with $HNT, the native cryptocurrency of the network, through the Proof-of-Coverage mechanism. Helium has managed to build the largest P2P network with over 600,000 hotspots and is now starting to deploy other networks like a 5g cellular network.

We were joined by Founder and CEO of Helium, Amir Haleem, to chat about how Helium works and the most interesting use cases, how the Proof-of-Coverage mechanism allows the community to participate, and the road ahead for the network.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What is a wireless network and what makes them so interesting
• The objective of Helium
• The use cases Amir is most interested in
• How cellular networks are utilized
• Helium and censorship resistance
• The architecture of the Helium Network
• Proof-of-coverage
• The HNT and Data Credit tokens
• The possibility of Helium becoming interoperable and hosting smart contracts
• The biggest challenges in Helium's future

Episode links:

• Helium
• Helium on Twitter
• Amir on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafe
• Tally: Tally is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/434

Axelar is a highly scalable, decentralized blockchain that aims to connect all existing blockchains. The proof of stake network, built on the Cosmos-SDK, allows application developers to choose the best blockchain to deploy their applications and use Axelar’s cross-chain communication protocols to lock, unlock, and transfer assets between networks, as well as communicate with applications on other blockchains.

Co-founder and CEO of Axelar, Sergey Gorbunov joined us to chat about his experience working on Algorand, the importance and future of interoperabilty protocols, and the vision behind Axelar.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Sergey's background and how he got into crypto
• The lessons he learnt from his time at Algorand
• Why and how Axelar was built
• The future of interoperabilty protocols
• What are security challenges around interoperability
• Interoperability use cases beyond token transfers
• Atomic transactions with Alexar
• The road ahead for Axelar

Episode links:

• Axelar Site
• Axelar Discord
• Axelar on Twitter
• Sergey on Twitter
• Nonconventional Podcast by Ela Crain

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/433

It's been just short of 2 years since we had Julian Assange's father John, and Harry Halpin, on the show to chat about his imprisonment and the impact it could have on the crypto community. At that time it was unknown if/when Julian would be extradited to the US to face trial. On December 10 2021, the US government won its appeal of a British court ruling that barred Assange’s extradition to the US. On the very same day the AssangeDAO was born and now has a thriving community of 10k people behind it.

The DAO raised over $50 million and the funds were used to bid on an NFT, Clock, which is part of a collection between Assange and digital artist Pak. The bid was successful and proceeds from the sale of the Clock NFT will go to support Assange’s legal defence fund and awareness campaign about the free speech implications of his case.

We were joined by Julian's brother Gabriel, and Stellar Magnet, core contributors of the AssangeDAO. We spoke about Julian's case as it currently stands, how the DAO was born and why they chose to purchase the NFT, and the road ahead.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Julian Assange and his imprisonment from his involvement with Wikileaks
• The Assange DAO and why an NFT was purchased with the funds raised
• What are the next step options that the DAO is considering?
• Where to learn more about the Assange DAO
• How to contribute

Episode links:

• Episode 339 - What Julian Assange Represents to the Crypto Movement
• AssangeDAO site
• US based site
• UK based site
• AssangeDAO on Twitter
• Gabriel on Twitter
• Stellar on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/432

NEAR Protocol is a leading smart contract platform that aims for simplicity, security and scalability. NEAR was one of the first sharded blockchains and allows deploying smart contracts using Web Assembly on currently four different shards. NEAR's sharding design, Nightshade, splits the blocks into different segments, which allows for great scalability without negatively impacting user and developer experience. Since, its launch NEAR has evolved into one of the most active smart contract ecosystems.

Illia and Alex, co-founders of NEAR, joined us to chat about the NEAR's protocol design and recent advances, such as the launch of Aurora, NEAR's EVM shard. We also discussed how their sharding solution works and how it can scale to support a massive amount of users and applications.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why Illia and Alex decided to build NEAR
• NEAR's core idea to scale through sharding
• NEAR’s Nightshade sharding design
• Dealing with interactions between programmes
• How cross-shard interoperability works
• Aurora - the EVM shard
• NEAR's focus on user experience
• Pagoda - the first web3 startup platform
• The biggest challenges ahead

Episode links:

• NEAR Protocol
• Aurora
• NEAR on Twitter
• Alex on Twitter
• Illia on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafe
• Tally: Tally is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/431

Gitcoin is a platform which funds software developers for work in open source ecosystems. Open source creates value without capturing it: Gitcoin creates funding mechanism to correct the asymmetry between value created and value captured. So far they have raised $51million, which were then distributed to public goods projects.

We were joined, for the second time, by Gitcoin's founder Kevin Owocki. Hear as we chat about quadratic and public good funding, the Internet of Jobs, and Kevin's book, Greenpilled - Regenerative CryptoEcononmics, which is out soon!

Topics covered in this episode:

• An update on what's happened since Kevin was last on the show
• High level funding stats and measuring the success of Gitcoin
• Quadratic funding - why and how?
• Public good funding
• Impact DAOs and Regenerative CryptoEconomics
• Gitcoin's transformation to a DAO
• The Internet of Jobs (IoJ) - advantages and disadvantages
• Greenpilled - Kevin's book

Episode links:

• Episode 257 - Gitcoin – Aligning Incentives in Open-Source Development
• Gitcoin results
• Greenpilled - Regenerative CryptoEconomics - book coming soon
• Take the Green Pill
• Gitcoin on Twitter
• Kevin on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafe
• Tally: Tally is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/430

It is one thing to invest in early stage companies, but to do so in a nascent industry that constantly reinvents and rediscovers itself is a whole different venture. Richard Muirhead co-founded Fabric Ventures in 2012 around the thesis of supporting the Open Economy. While at first this meant investing in Bitcoin-related projects, once Ethereum was announced, a new horizon unveiled, filled with tremendous potential. Since then, the Open Economy thesis was adapted to match technological breakthroughs, and it is now centered around artificial intelligence, distributed computing and self sovereignty (over both fungible, as well non-fungible assets).

Topics covered in this episode:

• Richard’s background and how he founded a crypto VC
• Fabric Ventures’ thesis
• How the AI thesis evolved
• User-generated AI
• On-chain autonomous agents
• Upcoming DeFi innovations
• Web3 trends that took Richard by surprise
• Missed opportunities
• The impact of crypto liquidity & market cycles on VC investing
• How to vet projects in early investment phase

Episode links:

• Richard Muirhead on Twitter
• Fabric Ventures on Twitter
• Fabric Ventures

Sponsors:

• Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io
• Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst.

Agoric is an Proof-of-Stake blockchain built on the Cosmos-SDK that allows developers to create secure smart contracts written in JavaScript. It offers developers safe, reusable DeFi components and built-in economic primitives like a stablecoin, while connecting to the larger blockchain ecosystem via IBC.

Besides covering the Agoric platform, we dove into the long prehistory with Agoric CEO Dean Tribble. Dean and his co-founders have been working on smart contracts and secure computing for decades, long before cryptocurrencies were invented, and a lot of that work shaped the Agoric platform today. We talked about underlying design principles like the Object Capability Security Model, but also the tradeoffs between Ethereum's model of scaling on a single chain versus the Cosmos model of sovereign chains interoperating asynchronously.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Dean's background and how he got into crypto
• Smart contracts in pre-blockchain times
• Why was Agoric created?
• The Object Capability Security Model
• Why they chose to build on the Cosmos SDK and the problems that solves
• IBC transfers
• How much can Agoric scale?
• What's coming next for Agoric

Episode links:

• Episode 286 - Agoric and the Decades-Long Quest for Secure Smart Contracts
• Agoric website
• Agoric on Twitter
• Dean on Twitter

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/429

Olympus is a hotly debated project in the DeFi space. It posits to be a decentralized reserve currency protocol. Each OHM token is partially backed by the Olympus treasury, but how large the treasury is, depends on what is counted towards it. We would argue that OHM tokens should be discounted for this purpose. Users can interact with Olympus DAO through staking and bonding, which incentivizes users to deposit or sell their collateral to the Olympus treasury in return for discounted OHM tokens.

We were joined by Olympus Founder Zeus to chat about why the protocol was created and how it works, and we address the debate about it being a Ponzi scheme.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Zeus' background and how he got into crypto
• Why and how the OHM was created
• Bonding and staking within the protocol
• APY on Olympus DAO
• How Olympus would deal with a DAO run
• Is Olympus a Ponzi?
• The goals for Olympus this year

Episode links:

• Olymus DAO website
• Olympus Discord
• Olympus on Twitter
• Zeus on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally: Tally is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswap

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Zubin Koticha. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/428

Zodiac is a collection of tools built according to an open standard which proposes a composable design philosophy for DAOs. Built by the Gnosis Guild team, this extension pack for DAOs enables connection between platforms, protocols, and chains, no longer confined to monolithic designs. It not only changes access, but bridges chains, organizations, and networks through DAO-to-DAO (D2D) collaboration mechanisms.

We were joined by Kei Kreuther and Auryn Macmillan, founders of Gnosis Guild, a core contributor to the Zodiac platform. Hear as we chat about the rise of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, the Zodiac Toolset and how it works, and the future of DAOs in not only the blockchain space but also in the real economy.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Kei and Auryn's backgrounds and how they got into crypto
• Where DAOs came from and the arc of their evolution
• The overlap between DAOs and cooperatives
• Unraveling the abundance of DAO tools
• The components and modules of the Zodiac Toolset
• The types of legacy organizations or governance structures that are most ripe to transition into DAOs
• The future of DAOs and their place within the real economy

Episode links:

• A prehistory of DAOs
• Ep 33 - Reality Keys – A Certificate Authority for Facts
• What DAOs and Cooperatives can learn from each other
• Fostering Worker Cooperatives with Blockchain Technology: Lessons from the Colony Project
• Gnosis Guild Blog
• Zodiac
• Gnosis Guild Discord
• Gnosis Guild on Twitter
• Kei on Twitter
• Auryn on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/427