Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yield Basis: Disrupting Defi & Bitcoin Yield | 05 Nov 2025 | 01:00:05 | |
Brian Fabian Crain and Michael Egorov, Curve Finance founder, discuss Curve's origins: solving inefficient DAI/USDC swaps after MakerDAO borrows by creating a DeFi AMM for stablecoins and LSTs.
It hit 1M TVL with a bonding curve concentrating liquidity at 1:1, more effective for pegged assets than Uniswap. Features grew to include BTC wrappers, stETH pairs, and crvUSD (a CDP stablecoin with reversible liquidations & a peg-keeper).
Governance uses veCRV: Locking CRV grants voting power proportional to lock duration, a mechanism now refined in Yield Basis.
Yield Basis solves impermanent loss in volatile pools (e.g., BTC/crvUSD). Users deposit BTC; the protocol borrows crvUSD, pairs it at 2x leverage (50% debt/equity), and uses LP tokens as collateral. This gives 1:1 asset tracking, while fees accrue from auto-rebalancing arbitrage.
Simulations show 20%+ APY (may decline as BTC volatility drops) under a $50B TVL cap. It complements Curve by directing veCRV incentives to crvUSD pools, enhancing liquidity, fees, and DAO revenues. Key considerations: manual migrations, deterring forks, and dev support to scale.
Topics Discussed
Links Mentioned
Sponsors Gnosis: Building decentralized infrastructure since 2015. With Gnosis Pay, the first Decentralized Payment Network. Start leveraging its power at gnosis.io
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. | |||
| Lamina1: Building The Future of The Creator Economy | 29 Oct 2025 | 00:59:47 | |
Sci-fi titan Neal Stephenson, whose Snow Crash coined the term 'metaverse' and Cryptonomicon, which foreshadowed crypto in 1999, joins Friederike to discuss his "hard sci-fi" method: building immersive, consistent worlds, not prophecy. He's now co-founder of Lamina1, aiming to restore Web1's ethos and give creators IP sovereignty with direct micropayments, breaking free from Web2's "walled gardens." Neal unpacks Web3's promise like "intent-casting" flipping ad models while citing its critical traps: abysmal UX, criminal stigma, and the "soul-crushing" risk of just upgrading incumbent systems. Spotlighting Lamina 1's game "Artifact," he argues Web3's true success will be measured when the technology becomes invisible and safe, proving its value by restoring sovereignty to its users and creators, rather than through speculative hype. Topics discussed in this episode:
Links mentioned in this episode:
Sponsors:
This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. | |||
| Pareto: Customizable On-Chain Private Credit Marketplace - Matteo Pandolfi | 25 Aug 2025 | 01:08:21 | |
Built primarily for institutional-grade clients, Pareto delivers customizable on-chain credit markets designed to expand DeFi liquidity and TradFi tokenization through structured yield strategies tailored to diverse risk profiles. Pareto allows its users to construct individualized credit lines in specific risk-ajusted tranches, with custom: interest rates, lockup periods, withdrawal cycles, reserve ratios, etc. In addition, Pareto’s USP is an yield-bearing synthetic stablecoin, fully backed by major stablecoins, that can be deployed into a diversified portfolio of liquid, short- and long-term credit, thus increasing capital efficiency. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. | |||
| Rand Hindi: Zama - Fully Homomorphic Encryption in Blockchain Applications & Privacy | 24 Nov 2023 | 00:59:21 | |
Homo- (Greek prefix meaning ‘same’); -morphic (Greek suffix meaning ‘having a specific shape/form’) We were joined by Rand Hindi, CEO of Zama, to discuss fully homomorphic encryption solutions, how they differ from ZKPs & MPC, and how they can be leveraged to ensure compliant programmable privacy. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/523 | |||
| Ye Zhang: Scroll - EVM-compatible ZK rollup | 18 Nov 2023 | 01:11:57 | |
"The advancements of zero knowledge proving technology, hardware acceleration and proof recursion have significantly increased the efficiency of EVM-compatible zk provers. As a result, the former tradeoff in efficiency implied by EVM-compatibility is gradually improving. Translating Ethereum’s virtual machine bytecode ensures seamless scaling for applications, without the need for additional audits and security compromises. We were joined by Ye Zhang, co-founder of Scroll, to discuss the EVM-compatible zero knowledge landscape and how Scroll aims to stay true to Ethereum’s values and community. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: Sponsors:
This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/522 | |||
| Charles d'Haussy: dYdX V4 - Decentralised Perpetual Exchange on a Cosmos Appchain | 10 Nov 2023 | 01:12:39 | |
Leading decentralised perpetual exchange, dYdX V4 recently migrated to Cosmos to build its own sovereign appchain, in order to provide its users a much better trading experience, while continuing to deliver DeFi innovations (e.g. permisionless markets). By having full control over the appchain’s parameters, the dYdX DAOs can shape the future of the protocol, starting from the very bedrock, ensuring proper distribution and incentives for the validator set. From early adopter of L2 zero knowledge proofs (STARKs), to building its own Cosmos appchain, dYdX has proven once again to be a trailblazer for new technologies. We were joined by Charles d’Haussy, CEO of dYdX Foundation, to discuss dYdX V4’s recent migration to a Cosmos appchain and what challenges it solves in terms of: order book decentralisation, validator distribution and user experience. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/521 | |||
| Nick Johnson: ENS - Multichain ENS Domains and Decentralised Identities | 04 Nov 2023 | 01:06:11 | |
The very nature of Ethereum addresses, expressed as random hexadecimal character strings, represents a big hurdle for mass adoption, as they are not human-readable. ENS domains were envisioned to not only solve this and provide a seamless UX, but to also be the cornerstone of on-chain identities. However, in the current multichain landscape, a plethora of decentralised naming services arose, which led to a heterogeneous domain name pool. As a result, ENS aims to expand to L2s and non-EVM chains, attempting to provide consistency, in order to further reduce user friction and limit conflicting domain names. We were joined by Nick Johnson, founder of ENS, to discuss the current state of decentralised naming services from a multichain and L2 perspective, and how these ultimately tie into decentralised identities. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/520 | |||
| Simon Harman: Chainflip - Native cross-chain AMM | 27 Oct 2023 | 01:03:59 | |
While competition fosters innovation, the proliferation of different blockchains has resulted in the fragmentation and isolation of liquidity within each ecosystem. Early attempts to address this issue primarily involved bridges and wrapped assets. Unfortunately, these solutions were often vulnerable to hacks and exploits, and the value of wrapped assets was contingent on the security of the wrapper contract, rather than the underlying asset. Cross-chain swaps of native assets hold the promise of resolving liquidity fragmentation, but numerous technological challenges must be overcome to make them as seamless as same-chain swaps. We were joined by Simon Harman, founder of Chainflip, to discuss multi-chain liquidity fragmentation and how Chainflip’s JIT AMM (Just in Time) aims to solve this, by providing cross-chain native swaps. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/519 | |||
| Guy Young: Ethena - USDe Synthetic Dollar via Delta-Neutral Staked Ethereum Hedging | 20 Oct 2023 | 00:52:52 | |
Stablecoins represent a safe haven against crypto’s volatility, allowing participants to remain in the market, without off-ramping to fiat. While the major stablecoins are centrally issued (e.g. USDT, USDC, BUSD), there is a pressing need for an algorithmic variant or a synthetic dollar asset. (DAI is somewhere in between since approximately 50% of its collateral is USDC). After Luna’s collapse, many jumped to point out its design flaws, yet such a concept would be crucial for crypto’s decentralisation and self-sustainability. Arthur Hayes proposed an interesting concept of NAKA synthetic dollar (NUSD), backed by Bitcoin and its inverse perpetual swap short. However, yield generation on $BTC is significantly lower than that of $ETH. A sustainable yield would help balance the cases in which funding rates would be negative (a minority in crypto). We were joined by Guy Young, co-founder of Ethena, to discuss the stablecoin landscape and their synthetic eUSD, backed by staked ETH and its inverse perpetual swap. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/518 | |||
| Evgeny Yurtaev: Zerion - Web3 Wallet UX 2.0 | 13 Oct 2023 | 00:57:36 | |
One of the best known memes in crypto is: 'Not your keys, not your coins'. This usually resurfaces whenever a (custodial) centralised exchange is hacked or goes bust altogether. Although Web3 provides the infrastructure for self custody, this often shares the fate of Pandora. Self-custody requires increased security measures, from both end-users, as well as application developers. Web3 wallets are the interface between users and decentralised applications deployed on blockchains. While Metamask still maintains the largest market share, a multitude of wallets have emerged, promising additional features and a better UX. We were joined by Evgeny Yurtaev, co-founder & CEO of Zerion, to discuss the challenges of building a Web3 wallet and how Zerion aims to improve user experience, while still maintaining security. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/517 | |||
| Niklas Kunkel: Chronicle – Ethereum's First-Ever Oracle | 06 Oct 2023 | 01:11:14 | |
Back in 2017, there was no DeFi as we know it today, yet MakerDAO were already envisioning and building towards what they thought to be a certainty. The backbone of DeFi is represented by stable coins, and MakerDAO quickly understood this: they set out to build a decentralised stable coin, $DAI (and its precursor $SAI). Being collateral-backed, the smart contract needs to know the value of that collateral, but any off-chain price data is not readily available on-chain. This is where oracles come in and provide data feeds on-chain. MakerDAO’s internal oracle has been active since 2017 on Ethereum and has recently branched out, forming Chronicle. By using aggregated Schnorr signatures, Chronicle solves the problem of oracle cost-efficient scaling. We were joined by Niklas Kunkel, founder of Chronicle, to discuss the challenges and tradeoffs that oracles regularly face, and how Chronicle is solving them, continuing the ethos of early MakerDAO. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/516 | |||
| Elias Simos: Rated Network - Reputation for Machines = Transparent Blockchain Infrastructure | 28 Sep 2023 | 01:09:47 | |
Data immutability and transparency are key features that define a blockchain’s public ledger. However, while transactions are indeed transparent, information surrounding the blockchain’s infrastructure layer is not readily available. Since Ethereum’s Merge to PoS and the introduction of staking delegation, actionable data on the validator and client status quos became crucial for the wellbeing of the network. Rated Network aims to build a reliable ‘reputation system for machines’ forming the infrastructure layer, through better data curation and improved transparency. We were joined by Elias Simos, founder of Rated Network, to discuss data interpretation in blockchain infra and what conclusions can be drawn about validator performance, client diversity & much more. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/515 | |||
| Misha Komarov: =nil; Foundation – The Marketplace for ZK Proof Generation | 22 Sep 2023 | 00:52:07 | |
Zero knowledge proof systems have found tremendous cryptographic utility in scaling blockchains, due to their ability to prove computational integrity, succinctly. However, despite recent advancements in ZKP R&D, their construction still requires special prover circuits. Their complexity is what gatekeeps zero knowledge technology to a select few astute teams. =nil; Foundation aims to challenge this status quo by providing an alternative through their zkLLVM circuit compiler and zk proof marketplace. By commoditising the production of custom proofs, =nil; Foundation unlocks an entire new range of applications employing zero knowledge technology. We were joined by Misha Komarov, co-founder of =nil; Foundation, to discuss the use cases and challenges of building the first marketplace for (outsourced) zero knowledge proofs. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/514 | |||
| Lagrange: ZK-Proving AI Alignment - Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh | 16 Aug 2025 | 00:56:51 | |
In an age when AI models are becoming exponentially more sophisticated and powerful, how does one ensure that proper results are being generated and that the AI model functions in desired parameters? This pressing concern of AI alignment could be solved through cryptographic verification, using zero knowledge proofs. ZKPs not only allow for verifying computation at scale, but they also confer data privacy. Lagrange’s DeepProve zkML is the fastest in existence, making it easy to prove that AI inferences are correct, scaling verifiable computation as the demand for AI grows. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. | |||
| Robbie Ferguson: Immutable - The Web3 Gaming one-stop-shop | 16 Sep 2023 | 01:01:15 | |
Apart from its numerous financial applications, blockchain technology could also disrupt the gaming industry, causing a paradigm shift towards true digital ownership, one that would create new incentive models for both players, as well as developers. Up until recently, technological barriers seemed cumbersome for most game developers, but the advancements of layer 2 scaling solutions made on-chain integrations viable. Immutable set out to create an all-in-one platform for developers, empowering them to create a lush gaming ecosystem to seamlessly onboard Web2 players. We were joined by Robbie Ferguson, co-founder of Immutable, to discuss the state of Web3 gaming and Immutable's contribution to this paradigm shift. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/511 | |||
| Stani Kulechov: Lens Protocol – Decentralised Social Media Primitive | 08 Sep 2023 | 00:51:50 | |
Social media revolves around content creation, and while the content itself could be tokenised through NFTs, SocialFi aims to take it a step further. The recently released friend.tech app went to show that users might be interested in something more than just content - creator shares. This implicitly links back to handles and profiles, and we can slowly start to unveil the primitives of social media. Lens Protocol predates the friend.tech venture, in both timeline, as well as scope. While social media became synonymous with monopolistic central entities, Lens Protocol aims to build the decentralised bedrock for Web3’s social layer. These primitives would not only be interoperable with any Web3 application, but they would redefine content creation, feed generation and monetisation. We were joined by Stani Kulechov, founder of Lens Protocol & Aave, to discuss decentralised social graphs and how to leverage smart contracts to build the primitives for Web3's social layer. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/512 | |||
| Stephane Gosselin: Frontier Research - Solving Ethereum's MEV Problem | 01 Sep 2023 | 01:00:56 | |
The maximal extractable value (MEV) problem, if left unchecked, could represent an existential threat to Ethereum’s core values. One might argue that it is a natural result of solving market inefficiencies, but it entices to centralisation and collusion in order to extract the highest amount of value. Additionally, through front-running and back-running, it creates unnecessary overhead, which caused up to 2.4% of the total network congestion back in DeFi summer of 2020 (according to Flashbots’ research). As current infrastructure cannot eliminate MEV altogether, Flashbots and other research groups have tried to come up with solutions to address its aftermath. We were joined by Stephane Gosselin, co-founder of Flashbots and Frontier Research, to discuss the MEV landscape, what research breakthroughs have been recorded and how they impact DevEx and UX. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/511 | |||
| Marko Baricevic: Cosmos SDK - The Internet of Appchains | 25 Aug 2023 | 00:58:04 | |
From the very beginning, Cosmos set out to provide an alternative to the monolithic blockchain architecture proposed by Ethereum. Cosmos SDK was the cornerstone of this vision, as it allowed developers to spin up blockchains effortlessly. Its modularity enabled custom, self-sovereign chains to become a reality. And, instead of being a jack of all trades, those chains were centred around a sole purpose, thus transforming them into appchains. In turn, as the ecosystem grew, appchains had to be interoperable with one another, but this was already a core feature of Cosmos, via IBC. Before Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap, appchains were thought to be a much-needed scaling solution. However, with the advancements of zero knowledge technology, the Cosmos SDK now faces another set of challenges as it navigates the market demand for L2 scaling solutions. We were joined by Marko Baricevic, Cosmos SDK product lead, to discuss the development philosophy behind the Cosmos Hub and how appchains evolved over time. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Meher Roy & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/510 | |||
| Sandeep Nailwal: Polygon 2.0 - The New Value Layer of the Internet? | 18 Aug 2023 | 01:10:44 | |
What started out as Matic Network, in 2017, and later rebranded to Polygon, in 2021, it is now facing another major milestone: Polygon 2.0. Apart from a tokenomics update, their plans include building an aggregation layer for every scaling solution that will settle on Ethereum. This will not only provide crucial rollup interoperability, but it will also further offload Ethereum by recursively combining multiple proofs into a single one. We were joined by Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, for a fascinating discussion on Polygon’s future revamp, their views on infrastructure decentralisation and interoperability. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Meher Roy & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/509 | |||
| Stephen Young & Storm: NFTFi – P2P NFT Lending Protocol: From PFPs & Art to RWA | 11 Aug 2023 | 01:06:41 | |
After a 2021 frothy bull market, NFTs are currently experiencing the depression phase of the market cycle. However, despite the fact that only NFT art has truly found its product-market fit, NFTs in general represented the consumerist moment for crypto. In addition, they also provided a solution for tokenising real world assets (RWA) and intangibles, potentially penetrating markets worth hundreds of trillions of dollars. Moreover, similar to digital art, the advent of AI poses a challenge when it comes to establishing provenance, but this represents another utility for NFTs, as they can be traced back to their origin, given the public nature of blockchains. We were joined by Stephen Young and Storm from NFTFi, to discuss the general state of the NFT market, future prospects for NFT development and how their P2P NFT lending platform unlocks new sources of liquidity in this bear market. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/508 | |||
| Alex Gluchowski: zkSync - A new Era for EVM-compatible zk rollups | 04 Aug 2023 | 01:18:49 | |
Ethereum scaling solutions often resort to tradeoffs, sacrificing security or decentralisation in favour of scalability. However, zk rollups hold the potential of increasing throughput, while also inheriting the layer 1’s security. This is achieved through zero knowledge validity proofs, which are published on Ethereum mainnet. The final hurdle remains the sequencer decentralisation. zkSync was designed around EVM-compatibility, offering custom scaling solutions through its hyperchain architecture. We were joined by Alex Gluchowski, co-founder & CEO of Matter Labs, to discuss the zk rollup landscape, its bottlenecks, and what makes zkSync stand apart as the most popular rollup. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Meher Roy & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/507 | |||
| Patrick O'Grady: Avalanche – Building High Performance VMs With HyperSDK | 28 Jul 2023 | 01:17:35 | |
The recent history of L2s has shown that there doesn’t need to be ‘one chain to rule them all’ or an ‘ETH killer’. Instead, a healthier approach would be to find the best solution for a specific need, taking into consideration any potential tradeoffs. Avalanche has done just that, focusing from the get-go on delivering high transaction throughput, using their unique subnet architecture, consensus protocol and warp messaging. HyperSDK continues this conviction, offering a framework for developers to spin up customisable, high performance virtual machines. We were joined by Patrick O’Grady, VP of Engineering at Ava Labs, to discuss HyperSDK and how it enables building customisable, high performance VMs on Avalanche subnets. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Meher Roy & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/506 | |||
| Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum - MEV, Staking Derivatives and Privacy (EthCC 6) | 22 Jul 2023 | 01:03:24 | |
We couldn’t miss EthCC 6 and we got to sit down with Vitalik Buterin to discuss hot topics from the Ethereum ecosystem: MEV, staking derivatives, privacy, decentralisation and future interoperability. Ethereum’s merge to proof-of-stake brought with it the emergence of liquid staking derivatives (LSD). Similarly to mining pools in proof-of-work consensus models, staking pools could pose a risk to Ethereum’s decentralisation. In terms of privacy preserving solutions, the advances in zero knowledge research were a big breakthrough, especially as EVM-compatibility became possible. Maximal extractable value (MEV) remains a pressing matter, but hopes are that the upcoming proposer-builder separation (PBS) will alleviate it. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture, Friederike Ernst & Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/505 | |||
| Avril Dutheil: Neutron – Interchain Smart Contracts on Cosmos | 14 Jul 2023 | 01:17:29 | |
Blockchains are secured through the economic incentives offered to their validators/miners. The more robust the network effect among validators, the more difficult it is for that blockchain to be compromised. However, building a truly decentralised and reliable validator set is not a trivial task. As a result, hub and spoke ecosystem designs like Cosmos’ (and even Polkadot’s), aim to share the main hub’s validator set and security to their ‘consumer’ chains (parachains in Polkadot’s case). Neutron relies on interchain queries, interchain accounts and interchain (replicated) security to deliver the most secure CosmWasm smart contract platform in the Cosmos ecosystem. We were joined by Avril Dutheil, GM at Neutron, to discuss Neutron’s smart contract platform and how it leverages replicated security (ICS) and interchain accounts (ICA). Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/504 | |||
| Zorp: Nockchain's ZK Proof-of-Useful-Work Consensus - Logan Allen | 09 Aug 2025 | 01:12:47 | |
Inspired by Urbit’s minimal assembly language, Nockchain fuses Urbit’s vision of sovereign computing with a novel proof-of-useful-work consensus mechanism, creating a blockchain where every computation fuels progress and scaling. The crypto-economics behind Nockchain’s zkVM incentivise competition between zero knowledge provers, ultimately bootstrapping ZKPs as a new computational commodity. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. | |||
| Sveinn Valfells: Monerium – Regulated On-Chain Euro (EURe) | 07 Jul 2023 | 00:59:55 | |
Stablecoins represent the backbone of DeFi, allowing complex financial applications to be protected from external volatility. From fiat-backed to algorithmic, there are multiple approaches to issuing and backing stablecoins. While US regulations are looming over the crypto industry, Monerium released a fully regulated on-chain euro stablecoin, the EURe, enabling direct SEPA transfers, on- and off-ramp. We were joined by Sveinn Valfells, CEO of Monerium, to discuss the European E-Money Directive and how it set the ground for fully regulated on-chain currencies (EURe) built on top of SEPA. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/503 | |||
| Eli Ben-Sasson: Starknet - zk-STARKs and Cairo 1.0 upgrade | 30 Jun 2023 | 01:07:57 | |
Layer 2 zero knowledge roll-ups have initially been used for achieving private transactions on blockchains. However, past simple transfers, interacting with a public smart contract posed a serious challenge. As research and technology evolved, proof construction became much more efficient, enabling zk-powered scalability. There is a variety of pros and cons for each type of proof system, but given the impending rise of qunatum computers, we have witnessed a recent migration from SNARKs to STARKs. While the former relies on trusted setups, zk-STARKs are quantum-resistant. We were joined by Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder of Starkware, to discuss Starknet's layer 2 architecture, as well as the upcoming update to Cairo 1.0 and how it will impact scalability performances for STARKs. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/502 | |||
| Luka Müller: Sygnum Bank & MME Legal – Crypto Regulations & Institutional Investors | 23 Jun 2023 | 00:56:17 | |
As institutional money set their eyes on crypto, some degree of centralisation and regulation was inevitable. However, the key aspect is to limit it to access gateways and not affect protocols’ decentralisation. Recent events have shown that price manipulation is easily achieved in conditions of low liquidity, hence regulated fiat on- and off-ramps will, in the end, also benefit retail consumers. It once again all boils down to achieving these goals while maintaining privacy for users and ensuring that regulations will not stifle innovation. We were joined by Luka Müller, co-founder of MME Legal Firm & Sygnum Bank, to discuss about crypto regulations, institutional investors, user privacy & CBDCs. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/501 | |||
| Epicenter – Looking Back on 10 Years of Crypto. AI Doom & Gloom? SPECIAL | 16 Jun 2023 | 01:21:52 | |
As Epicenter hits the 500 episode milestone, our hosts look back on almost 10 years of crypto developments, analysing the good, the bad and the ugly. What projects & narratives have surprised our hosts? Has Bitcoin failed in becoming a reliable store of value? Will ZK proofs provide the much needed solution to AI’s alignment problem? Last but not least, are we still early? Get ready for a fascinating discussion, albeit gloomy for this special occasion. Thank you for being part of this amazing journey! We wouldn’t have made it so far without your continuous support! Looking forward to the next 500 episodes! Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture, Brian Fabian Crain, Friederike Ernst, Meher Roy, Sunny Aggarwal & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: [epicenter.tv/500](https://epicenter.tv/500) | |||
| Zac Williamson & Joe Andrews: Aztec - Privacy-preserving, hybrid ZK rollup | 09 Jun 2023 | 01:18:21 | |
In order to achieve true transaction privacy, it is not enough to encrypt or build ZK proofs for transaction bundles, as long as the underlying blockchain uses an account-based model. Aztec is building a ZKVM that superposes an UTXO model, so that balances are constantly updated as new, untraceable, log entries. The upcoming Aztec 3 aims to enable privacy-preserving smart contracts, using a hybrid, multi-layered rollup. This approach allows for both public and private smart contracts to be executed simultaneously. We were joined by Zac Williamson & Joe Andrews, to discuss the evolution of Aztec, from ZK Money to their upcoming privacy-preserving hybrid ZK rollup. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/499 | |||
| Fig: Squid Router – Sub-20 Second Cross-Chain Swaps. Axelar-Powered Interoperability | 02 Jun 2023 | 00:46:18 | |
As crypto evolves, it becomes clearer that the future will be multi-chain. Presently, moving funds between different blockchains is frustrating...to say the least. The current bridging solutions are prohibitive from a UX perspective, mainly due to how finality is reached across different blockchains. This translates to long wait times and anxiety when interacting with new protocols, caused by the incertitude of funds arriving safely on the other side. Another major blockage consists of gas fees, particular to each blockchain, which often require an additional swap. But what if, users could enjoy near-instant cross-chain swaps (sub-20 second) and one-click transaction aggregators? We were joined by Fig, co-founder of Squid Router, to discuss how they leverage Axelar's infrastructure to achieve one-click, near-instant cross-chain swaps, creating user-friendly interoperability. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/498 | |||
| Collin Myers & Oisín Kyne: Obol Network - Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) | 27 May 2023 | 01:10:40 | |
Ethereum's merge and transition to a proof-of-stake consensus implied switching from proof-of-work mining to transactions being validated by entities that have an economic stake in the network. Proof-of-stake distributed networks are subject to complex game theory models (e.g. slashing). Distributed validator technology (DVT) enables a more modular validator stack at every level: key pairs, hardware and entities. This reduces trust dependencies and increases security for validator entities. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/497 | |||
| Ben DiFrancesco: Umbra – Privacy Preserving Token Transfers | 19 May 2023 | 01:09:07 | |
Public transaction history in blockchains represents one of their key features which, alongside immutability, aim to provide an alternative to CeFi. However, this transparency comes at a price: privacy. As a result, different solutions have been proposed, that preserve privacy while maintaining all the other benefits of blockchain technology, but there currently isn't a one-size-fits-all answer to this problem. For example, zero knowledge proofs convey the validity of a transaction batch without sharing any other details, but the underlying arithmetic circuits are both complex as well as computational intensive. Umbra proposes a system that relies completely on elliptic curve cryptography, employing multiple private-public key pairs to achieve stealth payments. We were joined by Ben DiFrancesco, founder & CEO of ScopeLift, to talk about Umbra's privacy preserving stealth token transfer system and if the need for privacy on blockchains outweighs any implicit UX frictions. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/496 | |||
| Emin Gün Sirer: Avalanche – The Future of Crypto: From Gaming to LLM-Powered Smart Contracts | 11 May 2023 | 01:03:21 | |
As the second Avalanche summit drew to a close, Sebastien Couture and Sunny Aggarwal sat down with Emin Gün Sirer for a fascinating conversation exploring future innovation narratives in crypto. Longtime friend of Epicenter, Ava Labs' founder and CEO shared his unique insights on the industry, from both a founder, as well as a former academia perspective. One of the most controversial narratives is that of LLMs (i.e. ChatGPT) powering smart contract development by bypassing programming languages and even bytecode altogether. The question arises if replacing the human third-party with an AI fixes trust issues or not, but only time will tell which piece of code we can actually consider 'law'. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/495 | |||
| Ali Yahya: Andreessen Horowitz – A16z Crypto Investment Thesis | 03 May 2023 | 01:12:50 | |
When it comes to top-tier VCs, very few equal Andreessen Horowitz' (a16z) impressive portfolio, which stretches over both Web2 and Web3. Their crypto venture arm includes investments in most industry verticals, from infrastructure projects to NFTs and blockchain gaming. Constructing such a solid investment thesis requires conviction in the long-term prospects of the industry, as well as an influential network. We were joined by Ali Yahya, GP at Andreessen Horowitz, to discuss about a16z structure, operations and investment thesis, as well as the broader crypto landscape and value proposition. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/494 | |||
| UMA & Across: Optimistic Oracles & Intent-Based Bridges for Unifying Ethereum - Hart Lambur | 01 Aug 2025 | 01:11:16 | |
Universal Market Access (UMA) was founded by 2 ex Goldman Sachs traders that wanted to make global markets universally accessible through financial smart contracts that used synthetic assets on Ethereum. However, this was taking place long before the massive boom of DeFi summer of 2020. As a result, UMA shifted to building an optimistic oracle to power prediction markets as a decentralised ‘truth machine’, thus expanding oracle use cases. Through game theoretic models, UMA managed to properly incentivise its token holders to act as voters, rewarding them for good predictions & disputes, and vice versa. Later on, Hart Lambur also co-founded Across, an intent-based optimistic bridge that set out to create a seamless UX for unifying EVM chains. Through their solver network, Across managed to achieve fast (as low as 2 seconds) and cheap bridging, abstracting away crosschain complexities, without any security tradeoffs. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. | |||
| Jose Macedo: Mars Protocol – Red Bank' Credit on Cosmos via Osmosis | 28 Apr 2023 | 00:59:24 | |
The end of 2022 and beginning of 2023 were marked by centralised institutions failing: from CEXes to CeFi itself, contagion spread quickly in over-leveraged and opaque entities. Amidst this chaos, (crypto)people turned their hopes, once again, to DeFi. However, in lack of traditional enforcing mechanisms, not even battle-tested decentralised lending protocols could find a solution to provide under-collateralised loans, aka credit. Mars Protocol, with its unique hub & outposts architecture, aims to answer this need in the Cosmos ecosystem, by deploying on Osmosis and tapping into its deep liquidity. From manual leverage to credit and yield farming, Mars will feature a wide suite of DeFi products. We were joined by Jose Macedo, founder of Delphi Labs, to discuss the history of Delphi Digital, their learnings from incubating projects and the vision behind Mars’ ‘Red Bank’ DeFi products. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/493 | |||
| John Letey: KYVE – Decentralised and Accessible Data Storage | 21 Apr 2023 | 00:59:31 | |
We often take data storage for granted, but the rise of centralised storing facilities (i.e. AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.) hangs over like Damocles’ sword. When it comes to blockchains, full nodes store that network’s complete data history. Even if storage costs are set to decrease as technology evolves, so do blockchains accumulate more data over time. An interesting solution would be to create a decentralised backup for blockchain data and Arweave is a prime candidate for it. There is but a missing link represented by uploading and validating different blockchains’ data. This is where KYVE steps in, offering a decentralised validating solution to verify uploaded blockchain data and even retrieve it from Arweave, on demand. This also extends to off-chain data, opening new possibilities for data availability and scalability. We were joined by John Letey, founder and CTO of KYVE Network, to discuss the challenges and use cases of decentralised data storage and how blockchain interoperability could benefit from it. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/492 | |||
| Tim Galebach: Uqbar – Smart Contracts on Urbit | 14 Apr 2023 | 01:31:25 | |
Building a truly decentralised, peer-to-peer network, based on a built-in identity system, limits the ecosystem’s interoperability with the outside world. Onboarding developers and users to Urbit was only the first hurdle. On-ramping crypto was a whole different & daunting task. Uqbar set out to build an execution layer on top of Urbit, enabling smart contracts, which would ultimately settle, via a ZK rollup, on Starknet. We were joined by Tim Galebach, founder of Uqbar, to discuss the different design choices involved, from Hoon programming DevEx to a hybrid ZK-optimistic rollup. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/491 | |||
| Ryan Zurrer: Dialectic AG - A Decade of Crypto Ventures: From BTC mining to P2E gaming | 07 Apr 2023 | 01:22:57 | |
Considering the abundance of cryto projects launching constantly, making sound investment decisions requires both ample experience in the space, as well as a reliable network. Predicting future trends in such a volatile industry is a skill very few possess, especially since narratives evolve at a rapid pace. Ryan Zurrer is one of the OG participants and investors in the blockchain industry, with an experience of more than 10 years and an impressive portfolio of investments. From BTC mining to ICOs, DeFi and more recently NFTs & play-to-earn gaming (P2E), Ryan has witnessed all the major cycles in crypto. Topics covered in this episode:
Episode links: This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/490 | |||
| Barry: Dymension – Modular Blockchains and RollApps | 31 Mar 2023 | 01:10:58 | |
When it comes to scaling blockchains, there are 2 main types of off-chain solutions: sidechains and L2s (i.e. rollups, state channels). These are all intended to scale monolithic L1 blockchains. However, the core functional layers of a blockchain could also be reinvisioned as customisable building blocks. This idea led to the creation of modular blockchains, which handle execution, consensus and data availability separately from one another, thus considerably increasing throughput. Sebastien was joined by Barry, Head of Product at Dymension, to discuss the advantages of developing modular blockchains, their scalability and how RollApps integrate in this environment. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/489 | |||
| Laurence Ion & Vincent Weisser: Vita DAO – From DeSci to Longevity Research | 24 Mar 2023 | 01:14:29 | |
Scientific research & publishing are gruelling tasks that extend outside the scope of science itself. Centralised publications abound in archaic practices that span from submitting a paper to getting it peer-reviewed and finally published, process which may take even up to years. In addition, research requires funding from very early stages of pursuing an idea, all the way to its finality (i.e. clinical trial or real-life applications). In TradSci (traditional science), funding is usually obtained once progress has already been achieved or when a startup has been formed. We were joined by Vincent Weisser & Laurence Ion, stewards of Vita DAO, to discuss the advantages of DeSci in general, and the progress of longevity research in particular. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/488 | |||
| David Schwartz & Jordi Baylina: Polygon zkEVM – From Mainnet to Mass Adoption - Part 2 | 17 Mar 2023 | 00:55:13 | |
While Part 1 (#486) focused on the technological advancements that allowed proofs to be generated in a practical manner, lowering both the time and the hardware requirements, in this episode, we take a closer look at the use cases of different types of zk rollups and how they could promote blockchain mass adoption. Polygon's zk EVM equivalence, coupled with low transaction fees, promise a frictionless user experience. As with all L2 rollups, sequencer decentralisation remains a pressing issue that needs to be solved. We were joined by Jordi Baylina (tech lead) & David Schwartz (CTO) from Polygon's zkEVM, to discuss the relationship between Polygon's multiple zk rollups, their use cases, as well as network statistics for zk-EVM. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/487 | |||
| David Schwartz & Jordi Baylina: Polygon zkEVM – From Circuits to Mainnet - Part 1 | 10 Mar 2023 | 00:57:00 | |
With the upcoming launch of Polygon's zkEVM mainnet, L2s are undoubtedly a huge narrative that is unfolding in 2023. It is time to take a step back and recognise the incredible amount of effort that has gone into researching and building L2 scaling solutions in general and zk rollups in particular. Tech-wise, we barely scratched the surface of general purpose processors that can handle zk circuits, so there is still tremendous room to grow. As layer 2s become more efficient, so will the applications that are dependent on blockchain throughput. We were joined by Jordi Baylina (tech lead) & David Schwartz (CTO) from Polygon's zkEVM, to discuss the different milestones & challenges they had to overcome in designing a zk rollup, from circuits to mainnet. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/486 | |||
| Jesse Pollak: Base – The Optimistic Gateway to Crypto Adoption | 03 Mar 2023 | 01:04:15 | |
Layer 2 scaling solutions are widely regarded as the next step forward in the mainstream adoption of crypto as they enable higher throughput and lower transaction fees. Coinbase’s recent announcement of building an optimistic rollup solution called Base is proof (no pun intended) that major centralized actors view this as an opportunity to onboard new users in a decentralized crypto economy. The following years will abound in innovation as both optimistic and zero-knowledge rollup solutions still have plenty of room to grow, but the involvement of centralized entities will act as a catalyst from a technological, as well as a regulatory standpoint. We were joined by Jesse Pollak, Head of Protocol at Coinbase, to discuss the thesis & business model behind Base and how it will act as an interoperable bridge to onboard the next billion users on-chain. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/485 | |||
| Rebecca Liao: Saga – Bootstrapping Chainlets in the Multiverse | 24 Feb 2023 | 01:12:44 | |
Building a blockchain from the ground-up is a daunting task in itself, one that should not be a concern when designing an end-user application. Moreover, as Web3 aims to move away from centralized vertical scalability towards a multi-chain decentralized environment, horizontal scalability and cross-communication should represent a standard. While Cosmos solves the latter, deploying application-specific blockchains has not been a streamlined process. Saga aims to address this by providing automated means of deploying application-specific blockchains, called chainlets that use the validator set of Saga. This leads to a simplified user (and developer) experience, presently much needed in the Web3 gaming and entertainment industries. We were joined by Rebecca Liao, co-founder & CEO of Saga, to discuss bootstrapping app-specific chains in just one click, leveraging the scalability & security of Cosmos, thus allowing developers to focus more on the product and less on the blockchain infrastructure. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/484 | |||
| Dragonfly: The Secrets of a Top-Tier Crypto VC - Haseeb Qureshi | 25 Jul 2025 | 01:29:13 | |
Founded in 2018, Dragonfly has quickly become one of the most prestigious crypto VCs. Dragonfly was one of the first to adopt a global approach to backing founders and disruptive tech, all while building a strong brand that allowed them to secure top-tier deals. Join us for a fascinating discussion with Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, to learn the secrets behind running a top-tier crypto VC and what made Dragonfly succeed where others have failed. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. | |||
| Luis Schliesske & Hilmar Orth: Gelato Network - Web3 Backend Automation & Relay | 17 Feb 2023 | 01:06:31 | |
Web3 has always been criticised for its not so friendly user experience. While one might argue that it requires a mere learning curve, similar to that of e-mail services when first introduced, Web2’s ease of use has become the norm. Account abstraction and smart contract automation are just 2 solutions for unlocking higher flexibility in transaction execution logic. These backend improvements, alongside scaling solutions and a more user-friendly frontend (e.g. wallets, interfaces) will represent the main drivers of adoption.
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/483 | |||
| Joel Thorstensson: Ceramic – Building the Dataverse | 09 Feb 2023 | 00:57:40 | |
The Metaverse has taken the world by storm in 2021 and even though many have and are still opposing it, the fact that we are spending the majority of our lives online is an undeniable truth. The boundaries between physical and digital worlds are slowly eroding away. Our digital presence generates a data footprint that is currently being stored in big tech’s centralized silos. As a whole, these user-generated data breadcrumbs represent our digital identity. Web3 has, so far, mainly focused on financial aspects, disregarding user specific data even though the latter actually represents the vast majority (>90%) of all generated data. We were joined by Joel Thorstensson, co-founder of 3Box Labs, to discuss Ceramic’s goal of decentralizing ‘social’, account-based data in the form of user-generated event streams, that could unlock true application interoperability built on a composable data layer. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/482 | |||
| Trent McConaghy: Ocean Protocol – AI & the Data NFT Marketplace (V4) | 01 Feb 2023 | 01:29:27 | |
From technological breakthrough to philosophical defiance, the topic of AI has always sparked intense debates ever since Alan Turing & John McCarthy advanced this branch of computer science. One might argue that this was caused by expectations overwhelmingly surpassing technological capabilities. However, the recent public release of ChatGPT has rekindled former sci-fi apocalyptical scenarios, even if it is (still) just a trained language model. Humanity gazed in awe as a simple input/output text interface could instantly disrupt fields such as software engineering or copywriting. Worst part? It also challenged (arguably) the most important human-specific trait: creativity (Midjourney). Data is the lifeblood of AI as it increases the model’s prediction accuracy: larger input sample translates into more outputs that help fine-tune weights during back-propagation cycles (the model ‘learns’). We were joined by Trent McConaghy, founder & CTO at Ocean Protocol, to discuss the advantages of implementing blockchain (& NFT) technology in data management and trading, what makes a particular data set valuable and what challenges derive from AI implementations and the data digital gold rush. Topics covered in this episode:
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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/481 | |||