"Building for People, Not Wallets" with Privy cofounder Henri Stern | ZEROPOD S2 E16
What if crypto products weren’t built for wallets, but for people? In this episode of ZEROPOD, Privy.io founder Henri Stern joins host Toady Hawk to talk about building user-first infra, why account abstraction matters, and what it’ll take to onboard the next billion. From his Parisian roots to Protocol Labs and now Privy, Henri shares sharp takes on fragmentation, EIP-7702, and why most crypto apps still miss the point. Come for the insights, stay for the travel tips and Italian bread slander. TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - Intro: Meet Henri Stern, founder of Privy01:44 - Henri’s backstory: Growing up in Paris, moving to NYC03:55 - Adjusting to life in New York and early education04:32 - Choosing Stanford over the French education system06:00 - Discovering computer science and why it stuck07:54 - Founding Shout: a peer-to-peer marketplace experiment10:01 - What went wrong with hyperlocal marketplaces12:20 - Filecoin and Protocol Labs: Henri’s next chapter13:49 - What Filecoin taught Henri about zk, consensus, and infra19:00 - Falling in love with crypto, then falling out of it for a bit20:06 - The origin of Privy: starting with privacy, landing on onboarding24:00 - What Privy does today: abstracting onboarding, not just accounts26:10 - The nuance of account abstraction vs. 4337/770228:30 - Privy’s internal values: focus, experimentation, ownership33:00 - Wallet sprawl and the identity fragmentation dilemma36:00 - Wallets as identity tools, not just money holders39:00 - Why crypto infra must be built now, not later41:00 - Notable partnerships: Farcaster, Pump.fun, Hyperliquid & more45:10 - Privy's current roadmap: chains, funding UX, identity UX47:02 - EIP-7702: What it is and why it matters50:00 - Speculation vs stability: the real bifurcation in crypto52:40 - Henri’s vision for 2025 and hiring at Privy54:08 - Rapid-fire round: food, music, tech, travel, and more1:04:28 - Where to find out more about Privy and wrap-up--- Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Produced by Zero Rights Media. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like! #base #onchain #ethereum #privy #crypto #stripe
BASE Creator Jesse Pollak: Why Most Crypto Traders Lose (And What to Do Instead) | E93
Jesse Pollak is the creator of Base, Coinbase's ethereum layer 2 network offering a secure, low-cost way for anyone to build decentralized apps onchain. He is also the Lead at Coinbase Wallet and a member of the Coinbase Exec Team. In this conversation, Jesse shares his deeply personal journey of building Base, from the intense pressure of early ideation to the physical and emotional toll of its launch. He opens up about almost quitting, losing 20 pounds from stress, and how his wife's intervention helped him through the darkest moments. Beyond the struggles, Jesse discusses his ambitious vision for an onchain future, predicting that "everything will be onchain in 5 years." From his unique background in Quaker schools to his unconventional problem-solving methods, Jesse offers rare insights into what it takes to build a platform that could transform how billions of people interact with the digital world. In this episode, we explore: Jesse’s mind and struggles What gave him a big chip on the shoulder How hard the beginning of Base was on a personal level Why the most successful products in crypto DO NOT have a token The Coinbase’s centralization Paradox How Jesse built the leading Ethereum Layer 2 in the crypto space. Why Jesse owns a Cryptopunk What it takes to be a successful founder in crypto Why Jesse cuts his hair earlier this year How Jesse finds solutions to the most complex problems! And much more!
Writing, Podcasts and Minting Base Colors — JAKE
JAKE is a pseudo anonymous internet creator. Going with the classic blue, colour code #0000FF as his pfp. Host at Pod Of Jake where he’s interviewed almost 200 guests over 4 years. Most recently Jacob from Zora and others such as Vitalik Buterin, pplpleasr and Mark Cuban. Writer at Blog of Jake, where he’s published about creativity and writing, documenting his experiences as a podcaster, observing what’s happening on the internet, reviewing crypto news, thinking about how to learn and build. JAKE is also the founder of Base Colors, a new onchain collection where you can mint unique colour codes on Base and give them a name, an interesting primitive which many people are starting to play around and experiment with. We talk about the benefits of writing online. Go behind the scenes experiences of hosting a podcast. Thoughts on the crypto scene, Bitcoin and pseudo anon identities on the internet, decentralized social like Farcaster, and thinking too much about Colors. ___ UFO Sponsor Resources ↑ Higher — https://www.aimhigher.net/ 🌐 International Meme Fund — https://imf.bz/ --- @jake @ufoclub.eth @hollins For more episodes, go to ufo.fm
Electronic Music Scenes — Sound Of Fractures
Jamie Reddington is an electronic music producer, consultant and lecturer from London who recently released his debut album Scenes. His music is shaped by hiphop, UK dance music and soul. Leaning into telling stories, with textures and samples captured from his phone, featuring the sound of his daughter’s heartbeat. The record was released as a co-creation. ‘Over 350 memories were submitted and turned into Scenes, capturing a moment in time. People stopped, took time out of their lives and engaged in a process that connected music and emotions.' We talk about the past, present and future of music on the internet. What's most interesting for artists right now? ___ UFO Sponsor Resources ↑ Higher — https://www.aimhigher.net/ 🌐 International Meme Fund — https://imf.bz/ --- @soundoffractures @ufoclub.eth @hollins For more episodes, go to ufo.fm
Exploring the Memecoin Supercycle with IMF — Gami, Clouted
Gami and Clouted are core contributors from International Meme Fund (IMF) and $MONEY. Their team believes it is now crucial to have native liquidity and financial infrastructure for the meme sector. They're both from Sydney and have shared interests in defi financial engineering, game theory and the memecoin phenomonen. We talk about financial nihilism. Memes as emergent properties of the internet. Why do some meme assets succeed when the vast majority fail? How do you choose the tokens that go up? (no financial advice). The internet is stranger than you think.
Interpreting Technology with AIxDESIGN — Nadia Piet
Nadia Piet is Founder and Creative Lead of AIxDESIGN, a global community conducting critical AI research for the benefit of people, not profits. She's a designer, researcher, organiser and faculty member at ELISAVA's Design for Responsible AI. We talk about many things artificial intelligence. AlphaGO and Move 37. AI models trained on creative assets without permission. Commodification of digital life. What's causing the rapidly improving visual quality of generative AI such as DALL-E and Midjourney? Big picture, what are constructive ways to be thinking about AI?
Bitcoin Is Worth Over $1 Trillion. How Much Will Coinbase’s New cbBTC Grab?
On Thursday, Coinbase unveiled cbBTC, a tokenized version of Bitcoin on its Base layer 2 and Ethereum. This launch follows the recent BitGo controversy about the custody arrangement for Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) now involving Justin Sun, sparking concerns within the crypto community. In this episode, Will Robinson, Coinbase’s VP of engineering, discusses the strategic importance of cbBTC, how it differs from other wrapped Bitcoin products, and what this means for the future of Bitcoin within DeFi ecosystems. Will Coinbase’s reputation as a "trusted custodian" be enough to make cbBTC the go-to choice for Bitcoin in DeFi, or will the industry remain skeptical?
Jesse Pollak- Base Builder #001
Jesse Pollak is known to everyone in the Base ecosystem and an inspiration to all. Learn more about who Jesse is, what keeps him motivated, and where his sense of purpose comes from in life.We hope you enjoy the epsiode. Learn More About Jesse On X:https://x.com/jessepollakLearn More About Late Night On Base on X:https://x.com/latenightonbase
SEC Approves Trading For ETH ETFs
The SEC approves trading for ETH ETFs. Superstate launches a crypto carry fund. Optimism announces Retro Funding Round 5. And today marks 10 years since the Ethereum ICO. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/511
Alex Masmej Talks $DEGEN: Fueling Drakula's Growth and the Onchain Creator Economy
Join us in this episode as we sit down with Alex Masmej, the brain behind Drakula and a key player in the farcaster ecosystem. From his early days of conceptualizing Showtime as the 'Instagram of NFTs' to pioneering Drakula, Alex's journey is nothing short of remarkable. Drakula, now making waves as the 'TikTok of Web3', has seen an explosive start with over $30M in transactions in just two weeks, introducing a new and engaging way for fans to support video creators. Alex returns to the podcast to share the lessons learned from pivoting Showtime to creating Drakula, highlighting the strategic moves, go-to-market strategy, and the decision to adopt $DEGEN as the native currency of the app. I hope you enjoy our conversation and our genesis episode on Pods!
