"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
"The Hat Stays On" with $DEGEN Founder Jacek Trocinski | ZEROPOD S2 E12
Earlier this month, Jacek Trocinski threw a huge party in Poland to mark the first anniversary of the $DEGEN project on Base, and degens from all over the world flew in to celebrate. On this episode of ZEROPOD, host Toady Hawk sits down with Jacek to learn a little bit about his own personal story, as well as the many twists and turns along the road of degen’s first year, and what lies ahead for the "official unofficial" community token of the Farcaster network. Grab a hot drink and your favorite cap, because the hat stays on for this one!
"Agents of Change" with Moxie founder Jason Goldberg | ZEROPOD S2 E11
This week on ZEROPOD, host Toady Hawk sits down with Jason Goldberg, the founder of Moxie.xyz and the soon-to-be-launched Moxie AI platform. We dig into his previous startups, find out what made him want to organize the creator economy via Moxie, and what to expect from the new AI features. If you’ve always wondered about the man begin the moxie, this pod is your opportunity to find out.
"Onchain Native" with Native.fun Founder Derek Brown | ZEROPOD S2 E9
On this episode of ZEROPOD, we sit down with Derek Brown, the mad scientist developer and founder behind the upcoming agentic onchain game called Native dot fun, built on top of the Clanker protocol on Base. We had a blast getting to know Derek and hearing his story, from working as a rural midwest minister to coding in the halls of the some of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley, and then striking out to build tech startups of his own. His vision for Native is wild and ambitious, and we can’t wait for you to learn all about it! If you enjoy this conversation, please Like, Comment & Subscribe — it really helps us grow our community. — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Introduction: Positive-Sum Environments 1:15 - ZEROPOD Intro & Guest Introduction - Derek Brown 2:00 - Derek’s Fun Fact: Three Daughters, Same Birthday 3:09 - From Dupont Brat to Tech Builder 7:01 - Discovering Programming 7:06 - A word from our sponsor: Clanker.world 9:00 - The Journey to Tech: From Ministry to SV 18:12 - Tough Times & Family Resilience 24:00 - Getting Into Crypto: Bitcoin at $300 and Satoshi’s Whitepaper 31:01 - The Base vs. Solana Debate: Values & Coexistence 36:00 - The Origin of Clanker and Its Influence on Native 44:00 - What is Native? Sim City Meets Onchain Economies 51:00 - Dots Explained: AI Agents in the Digital City 58:00 - Tokenomics Deep Dive: Fees, Buybacks, and Sustainability 1:06:00 - The User Experience: MVP, Maps, and Gameplay 1:11:00 - Passports & Stamps: Proof of Humanity in Native 1:12:46 - Final Thoughts & How to Get Involved — Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk, JackWyldes and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk, SuperTightWoody & Suno AI. Ad spot by JackWyldes. Produced by Zero Rights Media. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like! #base #onchain #clanker #ai #ethereum #tokens
"Winning Together" with Clanker Founders Proxy and Dish | ZEROPOD S2 E8
Welcome back to another episode of ZEROPOD. This week, Toady Hawk is joined by JackWyldes and they have a very interesting conversation with Proxy and Dish, the two indomitable founders of the little AI agent token launcher called Clanker which has taken the Base ecosystem by storm over the past couple months. This pod is structured a little differently than most, because we actually sat down with the clankers-in-chief on two separate occasions, a couple weeks apart. In between, the guys hosted a hackathon in Boston called Clankhack, where many builders from their burgeoning ecosystem gathered to build together for a weekend, and our own Jack was fortunate enough to attend and document the whole thing (more on this soon.) In any case, we have edited these 2 conversations into a single podcast for your enjoyment, with hinge in the middle separating the pre-clankhack and post-clank-hack eras. We had a blast digging in to get the raw clanker story for you and we hope you will enjoy this conversation as much as we did. So grab a tall glass of milk and a fresh can of spinach and strap in for the Clankpod! —- TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Introduction to Clanker: What is Clanker? Deploying meme coins made simple. 2:04 - ZEROPOD Intro 3:00 - Start of Part 1: Pre-Clankhack. Personal Stories of the Founders 6:00 - The Origin of Clanker 9:04 - Building Clanker in Five Days 12:02 - Launching and Scaling Clanker 15:02 - Clanker’s Value Proposition 18:33 - A message from our sponsors 20:00 - Reminiscing about launch day 22:00 - Create the job(s) you want 24:00 - “Farcaster is an incredible network” 26:00 - Tokens as a novel bootstrapping mechanism 29:00 - Dish got kicked off of Facebook 36:00 - The speculative power of ERC-20s vs NFTs 48:00 - Start of Part 2 (Post Clankhack) 49:00 - What is Clanker, exactly? 51:00 - How does it differ from other models 54:00 - The moat is the network 57:00 - What was Clankhack? 1:00:00 - The space needs more good content 1:03:00 - How can Zero Rights Help creators 1:05:00 - Being bombarded by VC term sheets 1:08:00 - “It shouldn’t be easy to make 16 million dollars” 1:10:00 - The future of Clankhack 1:17:00 - Comparison to UX on Solana 1:19:00 - “No more L2s” 1:21:00 - “If the leader of the free world can do it, so can you.” 1:24:00 - Wen $SNOWDEN on Base? 1:33:00 - Bit of a love fest tbh 1:38:00 - Chugging canned spinach for the plot 1:40:00 - Alpha? 1:42:00 - Outro — Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk and JackWyldes, edited by Toady Hawk, JackWyldes and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk and JackWyldes. Music by Toady Hawk, SuperTightWoody & Suno AI. Ad spot by JackWyldes. Produced by Zero Rights Media. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like! #base #onchain #clanker #ai #ethereum #tokens
"Keep it Gdupi, Stupi" with 'Degenerative Artist' Yon from Peaceful Groupies & GDUPI | ZEROPOD S2 E7
Welcome back to another episode of ZEROPOD, a zero copyright video podcast for people who enjoy Ethereum. Our guest this week on ZEROPOD, is from the artistic side of the onchain world— Yon, the self described “degenerative artist” behind The Peaceful Groupies, the Yon Experience and most recently, one of the first artcoins launched via the clanker AI agent on farcaster: Redacted Gdupi. On this episode, we talk about Yon’s youth in a small Argentinian town, how he moved to Europe and carved his own way as an artist, how he has been a constant early adopter of onchain techs and trends, and what’s next for him and $GDUPI. We hope you enjoy this conversation with an onchain CC0 art legend, and if you do, please remember to like and subscribe! Thank you to our partner sponsors at clanker.world for helping to make this content possible. Clanker is the easiest way to deploy a token on Base. — Timestamps • 0:00 - GDUPI Origins • 1:35 - Welcome to ZEROPOD, introducing Yon. • 2:59 - Yon’s upbringing in Chaco, Argentina • 3:55 - Early love for character design, video games, and art • 4:56 - Childhood gaming • 6:25 - Yon the Baller • 8:50 - The Paris Period • 11:00 - Saving money and finding time for art • 12:50 - Discovering clients through Reddit subreddits • 14:10 - Parental perceptions of an art career • 16:01 - “Every piece is a portrait of what I’m living in that moment.” • 17:03 - Introduction to crypto and saving in Ethereum • 19:00 - Early experiments with CS:GO skins and CryptoKitties • 21:00 -Discovering NFTs • 22:20 - A Word About Our Sponsors Clanker.World • 23:10 - Yon’s first NFT purchase was a Beeple • 25:00 - Minting on Rarible and building early collections • 26:50 - Experimenting with telegram auction houses • 28:00 - Creating Peaceful Groupies and generative art • 31:00 - The challenges of launching a hyped NFT collection • 32:40 - Mentorship from 9999 and learning about contracts • 35:00 - Joining Farcaster and exploring new creative outlets • 39:00 - The Reply Guys channel and community-driven art • 41:50 - The Reply Guys t-shirt and embracing CC0 licensing • 44:00 - Perspectives on piracy, creativity, and open art • 48:00 - Organizing minted collections and planning for the future • 51:00 - Reflections on the Yellow Collective’s first year • 54:00 - GDUPI: origins, meme culture, and experiments with Clanker • 57:40 - Thoughts on memecoins and tokenizing moments • 1:00:30 - The distribution powers of ERC-20 tokens. • 1:02:20 - Moving from Argentina to LA and the creative scene in the US • 1:04:00 - Planning for the future and growing the Yon ecosystem • 1:06:10 - What’s next for GDUPI, NFTs, and personalized 1/1 art • 1:07:00 - Yon turns the tables on Toady • 1:11:10 - Closing thoughts on creativity, 2025 plans, and the onchain journey — Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk, JackWyldes and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk, SuperTightWoody & Suno AI. Ad spot by JackWyldes. Produced by Zero Rights Media. Custom NFT thumbnail hand illustrated by Yon himself! This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like! #base #onchain #groupies #art #clanker #artist
"Believe in Something" with 1confirmation Founder Nick Tomaino | ZEROPOD S2 E6
What do you get when you cross a middleschool sneakerhead, a Bitcoin pizza-esque 30 million dollar engagement ring, and a knack for spotting the next big thing onchain? You get Nick Tomaino, crypto OG and founder of iconic crypto venture fund 1confirmation. On this episode of ZEROPOD, host Toady Hawk digs in with Nick about working at Coinbase in the very early days, the passion for collecting that led him from copping kicks and rare books to NFTs and ERCs, and founding and running one of the most successful early investment funds in the space. Nick also talks candidly about his bull case for Degen, Farcaster and Ethereum (he thinks one of those will even one day flip Bitcoin), why Ethereum doesn’t need a Michael Saylor, and what he thinks is the best advice for new investors in the space: just believe in something. --- Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro: Find Something More to Believe In Nick shares advice for new traders and the importance of conviction beyond money. 1:02 – Welcome to ZEROPOD: Meet Nick Tomaino Introduction to Nick’s background as an early Coinbase employee and founder of 1confirmation. 2:02 – Nick’s Sneaker-Collecting Days How basketball and sneaker culture shaped Nick’s early passion for collecting. 3:39 – The Collector Gene: Rare Books and Americana Nick’s family history of collecting and how it influenced his love for rare books and later NFTs. 6:42 – Crypto vs. Rare Books: Liquidity and the Future of Collectibles Nick compares the illiquidity of traditional collectibles to the fluidity of NFTs. 10:21 – College Days: Economics and a Focus on Making Money Why Nick studied economics and his early ambitions to optimize for financial success. 12:42 – Learning About Venture Capital How Fred Wilson’s blog inspired Nick’s interest in venture capital and crypto. 15:16 – Joining Coinbase: Early Days of Bitcoin Adoption Nick’s journey to Coinbase in 2013, hustling his way into the company, and working on business development. 20:03 – Starting 1confirmation: Supporting Early Crypto Projects Nick explains the genesis of 1confirmation and its focus on being the first check into game-changing projects. 22:00 – Why the Name 1confirmation? The blockchain-inspired reasoning behind the fund’s name. 23:49 – Opensea and CryptoKitties: Early Investments Nick’s experience with CryptoKitties and why he believed in Opensea’s potential. 26:47 – Degen: Why Social Tipping Matters The evolution of tipping mechanisms in crypto and their role in driving adoption. 30:36 – Thoughts on Farcaster and Decentralized Social Media Nick discusses Farcaster as the best decentralized social network and its role in enabling financial opportunities. 36:39 – Farcaster Projects: Clanker, Anoncast, and More Nick evaluates recent Farcaster projects and the importance of experimentation. 40:04 – The Value of In-Feed NFT Minting Nick shares why he believes microtransactions and NFT minting are the next big things for creators. 45:08 – Ethereum’s Strength and Long-Term Potential Why Nick believes Ethereum could flip Bitcoin and the importance of innovation over narratives. 49:12 – The Importance of Skin in the Game How crypto allows more people to have ownership and take risks with real consequences. 52:03 – The Future of Farcaster: Financial Opportunities Nick’s vision for how Farcaster can thrive by giving users more ways to make money. 53:03 – What’s Exciting in 2025? Pro-Crypto Policies and Innovation Nick shares his optimism about potential regulatory changes and new product developments. 56:00 – Advice for Newcomers: Conviction and Curiosity Final advice for those new to crypto: find something to believe in beyond making money. 58:14 – Wrap-Up: Believe in Something More Closing remarks and gratitude for the conversation. -- Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk, SuperTightWoody & Suno AI. Produced by Zero Rights Media. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like!
"Building a Better Internet on Base" with Aneri Amin (Product Lead at Base) | ZEROPOD S2 E5
Welcome back to another episode of ZEROPOD, our zero copyright video podcast about enjoying Ethereum. In this episode, host Toady Hawk, from the Zero Rights Media Collective sits down with Aneri Amin, the Head of Product in charge of social, creators and onchain summer at Base. Aneri’s career journey spans from the high tech hallways of Apple and Meta to the onchain trenches of Coinbase's leading Ethereum L2 rollup. She has been a force for change, driving innovation in creator tools, decentralized social, and onchain ecosystems. In this episode, we chat about Base’s explosive first full year, its plans for 2025, and how they’re building a future where creators like me can own our content, identity, and audience. Plus, she shares some great insights into her own journey—from a curious kid asking “why” to every question to a crew chief on the construction site for what she calls “the new internet.” This was an inspiring conversation about the power of community, ownership, and innovation—so buckle up, stay based and let’s dive in! Also, if you enjoy this content and want to see more like it, please Like, leave a comment and Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. --- TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 The Future of the Creator Economy is Onchain 00:54 Welcome to ZEROPOD 02:00 Childhood Curiosity and Governance Passion 04:00 A Lifelong Love of Reading 06:26 Education 07:00 From Public Sector to Big Tech 09:00 What Exactly Does a Product Manager Do? 11:03 Creator Challenges and Meta Days 15:00 Biggest Learnings From Time at Meta 16:30 Onchain as a New Internet for Creators 20:00 Creator Wellbeing as a New Pillar 22:00 Original Intro to Crypto, and Later Onchain-pilling via Coinbase 27:00 Goals for Onchain Summer 3 29:00 Why Did Base Find So Much Success in 2025? 30:00 Aneri Spills The Tea on What It’s Like Working With Jesse Every Day 34:00 Around the World with Base Lessons and community insights from Base’s global tour across Africa, India, and beyond. 37:00 Different Regional Onchain Needs How cultural differences shape creator priorities in various regions. 40:00 Strategies for Tackling Global Expansion of the Onchain Economy 41:00 Big Plans for 2025 Aneri hints at major Coinbase Wallet updates and what’s next for Base. 44:00 What is Aneri Most Excited About in 2025? 46:00 Aneri’s Advice for Onchain Creators 48:00 Wrapping Up --- Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk, SuperTightWoody & Suno AI. Produced and distributed by the Zero Rights Media Collective. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like! #base #onchain #content #creators #ethereum
"Without a Trace" featuring Anoncast founder Kartik Patel aka @slokh | ZEROPOD S2 E4
When Vitalik Buterin buys a memecoin to try your consumer zk social app, you know you’re onto something. Kartik Patel (aka @slokh) joins ZEROPOD to talk about Anoncast— the ZK-powered app that lets you post anonymously and trustlessly to Farcaster and Twitter/X from a web interface at anoncast.org. From hacking RuneScape mods as a kid to pulling endless hours at OpenSea during peak NFT chaos, Kartik shares his journey, the lore behind $ANON, and why he thinks ZK privacy is the future. Along the way: why Farcaster is the Silicon Valley of crypto, how he learned ZK programming from scratch in three weeks, and how "lore-first, product-second" might just be the future of bootstrapping. Join us to learn all about the cracked dev who made it possible to speak your mind on the internet, without a trace. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - When Vitalik tries your app 01:09 - ZEROPOD Intro 01:26 - Anon, A-non, Tomato, tomahto.03:13 - Young Kartik 04:00 - Hacking game mods 05:00 - Happy in his space (software developing) 07:13 - From defi protocols to NFTs 07:33 - Joined Opensea 08:13 - Working at Opens during peak NFT bull 09:33 - Working at Manifold and then striking out on his own 10:28 - Solo hacking 11:25 - Why was he attracted to building on Farcaster 12:13 - Better Farcaster branding 13:40 - Similar problems to Ethereum 15:13 - Building Nook farcaster client 18:23 - A Kartik Primer on the ANON Lore 21:51 - Kartik wasn’t even involved in ANON until after the CTO 23:00 - How the anoncast idea came to be 24:49 - New paradigm of products coming downstream of communities 27:13 - Why he wanted to build anoncast 28:16 - Vitalik buying $ANON and trying anoncast 29:40 - How does ZK privacy work? 31:18 - Why is ZK privacy important? 32:55 - How does anoncast work? 36:00 - The future of what curation could look like on anoncast… ZK-anon reddit? 38:00 - Favourite feature shipped on anoncast so far 41:00 - Learning ZK on the go 42:00 - Best use cases for anoncast? (Alpha?) 43:30 - How can people contribute to the project? 44:00 - Best place to learn how to use anoncast? 44:44 - What is he most excited about? 47:00 - Just build, have fun and differentiate 47:30 - What is the sloth backstory 48:00 - Outro Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk, SuperTightWoody & Suno AI. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like!
Ep. 1 - Introducing the Podscast
Welcome to The Podscast - where we explore the emergence of onchain media and the people building it. The first episode is a bit different than usual. It's a solo recording explaining why we're launching the Podscast and the reason for onchain media. This is a canonical episode that we hope to revisit on a recurring basis, challenging and updating the thesis for onchain media. Every episode of The Podscast will be available onchain. We'll continuously look to experiment with different ways to engage with our audience. Strap in and enjoy.
Actionable insights for a new generation of crypto marketers
In Episode 03 of Onchain Alpha our host Humpty Calderon speaks with Adam Levy of Bello. The conversation discusses building an onchain audience, the role of Bello as a no code analytics platform, distribution and social insights, onchain experiments and going viral. Additionally, Adam shares insights on the power of networking in the crypto industry and the value of creating content. The conversation concludes with a discussion on Bello's public product launch and future plans. Find the companion article to this podcast on our blog: https://cryptosapiens.xyz/insights-for-the-next-wave-of-crypto-marketers
#9: Regan Bozman, Lattice | Product-market fit, building moats, & picking winners at seed in crypto
Today’s guest is Regan Bozman. Regan is the co-founder of Lattice, an early-stage crypto venture fund. Regan Bozman: Learn more: https://twitter.com/reganbozman https://www.lattice.fund/ 00:00 - Regan’s background 01:56 - ICO takeaways 05:25 - Changes in the crypto investor landscape 13:40 - Improvements in the space 16:33 - Building for the current crypto audience 19:45 - Lattice’s founding thesis and development 21:14 - Non-crypto-native funds returning to crypto 22:55 - Competing with crypto’s biggest funds 24:15 - Exciting areas and contrarian positions 30:18 - Private VC rounds vs market buying 32:08 - Lattice’s perfect deal 34:47 - Having an irrational belief in crypto 36:00 - Making contrarian bets 40:13 - Valuing equity vs tokens 41:14 - Building moats in crypto 43:20 - Types of distribution 45:16 - Organic crypto marketing 46:25 - Lattice’s investing process 48:37 - Examples of failed deals 50:00 - Investing in applications 53:43 - How experience informs how Lattice invests 55:45 - Where the market is going 58:08 - Product-market fit in crypto Follow: https://twitter.com/wallfacerlabs And subscribe for all our other content: https://linktr.ee/wallfacerlabs
Building The Next Wave of GenArt Lovers: Interview with Erick Calderon
Kicking off a series of interviews with platform founders, we are thrilled to bring you this conversation with Erick Calderon aka Snowfro. We dive deep into the recently announced changes with AB, Sansa, and the market as a whole. In this episode we discuss: -Racing cars, Magic: the Gathering & Minecraft -Surviving in Crypto for 7+ years, surviving the 2018 bear market and our current downswing & the simple math behind the generative art market -What the experience could be for new collectors that are no longer "early" -Why buy Sansa? What do they bring to Art Blocks and their role in the future of the platform? -Who will be allowed to release on Sansa & the challenges of being a truly open platform -Expanding Engine Partners to brands & bringing new communities to web3 through physical generative objects -How Curated is changing and when we can expect the next Curated release -Can we expect new chains, sale mechanisms, release styles & more from Art Blocks & Sansa? Follow Erick on Twitter @ArtOnBlockchain and join the Art Blocks Discord to stay up to date on their upcoming announcements
#167 - LUCAS CAMPBELL
Lucas is the founder of Pods — a platform for onchain podcasts. Pods launched in private beta in Q4 2023 and since then, has onboarded over 30 podcasts and over 250 episodes on the platform. Prior to Pods, Lucas was the first employee at Bankless, where he led the newsletter for 3 years and launched Bankless Collectibles — the first instantiation of podcast NFTs. Follow Lucas on Farcaster @0xl. I'm excited to partner with Pods to release this as our first episode onchain on Base. For more episodes, go to podofjake.com. Previous guests include Mark Cuban, Vitalik Buterin, Brian Armstrong, Balaji Srinivasan, Keith Rabois, Ali Spagnola, Anthony Pompliano, Raoul Pal, Julia Galef, Jack Butcher, Tim Draper, and over 100 others alike. Learn from founders and CEOs of companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Solana, Polygon, AngelList, Oura, and Replit, and investors from Founders Fund, a16z, Union Square Ventures, and many more. I appreciate your support and hope you enjoy. Thanks to Chase Devens for the show notes and Yiction for the music. Lastly, I love hearing from fans of the pod. Feel free to email me any time at jake@blogofjake.com. Thank you!
Modular March EP 15: Where Espresso Fits In The Modular Thesis
We really enjoyed this presentation. While we’ve had multiple shared sequencers talks on Modular March, each one has been far different. Today’s deep dive is around the game theory and incentive designs behind creating a rollup ecosystem which feels completely seamless and interoperable. At its core, Espresso leverages a two part system to enforce how transactions are ordered and finalized across rollups via its sequencer. This system mirrors Ethereum's, but with a twist, aiming to streamline interactions between different rollups and thereby improve user experience significantly. We discussed the based sequencing approach, their auction & lottery mechanism, and where Espresso fits in the broader modular thesis. While we are bullish on Espresso (and Ellie is amazing), we didn’t let their vision go untouched so to speak. There were areas where we pushed back around the incentive designs and whether or not this would actually work in practice. We also tried to understand why potentially making things more complex is really the solution for scaling the modular L2 landscape. Also, if Espresso is another chain with trust assumptions, what tradeoffs does that bring for rollup operators? Finally the big question…Will rollup operators really want to use Espresso if it could cause a big revenue reduction? Ellie flipped that narrative on its head, ever so graciously. She helped us understand how Espresso works under the hood and answered our questions. We were impressed and left feeling extremely optimistic on shared sequencing. Happy April Fools Day (no jokes here, yet!) & let’s have a great week!
Building consumer products on permissionless protocols
In Episode 04 of Onchain Alpha our host Humpty Calderon speaks with Rish of Neynar. The conversation explores the challenges of building on Web2 APIs and the value proposition of Neynar's infrastructure. They also delve into the revolutionizing effect of Frames on Farcaster and the future possibilities of Frame Studio. The conversation concludes with Rish emphasizing the importance of the work happening behind the scenes at Neynar. Find the companion article to this podcast on our blog: https://cryptosapiens.xyz/building-consumer-crypto-products-on-permissionless-social-protocols
Blockchain Vibe Check
This week on MARS, Matthew & Rizzle talk about working in web3 - some red flags, good signs, and other things to be on the look out for as you interview with various teams and projects in the space based on their decade plus experience working in crypto full-time. That conversation (somehow) ends up becoming a vibe check on the overall state of the blockchain that examines the past week of memecoin shenanigans as well as million dollar mints by XCOPY x Neonglitch on Farcaster along with other artists mints from folks like Fabiano Speziari and neurocolor. Shout-outs & Shots-fired: @collectpods @CohentheWriter @co1born @museumofcrypto @solana @telegram @farcaster_xyz @neurocolor @xcopyart @neonglitch86 @warpcast_ @dwr @charl3svii @nifty_island @prtydao @steveklbnf @bnolan @cryptovoxels @raybuckton @viamirror
Can Omni Network Solve for Ethereum’s Fragmented L2 Liquidity?
Austin King is the CEO of Omni Labs. In this episode, we discuss how Omni Network can solve for Ethereum's fragmented L2 liquidity. Austin shares his vision for how this EVM blockchain, secured by Ethereum, aims to power one united user experience for all DeFi and Web3 apps built across rollups. ------ 🔗 Essential Show Links 🔗 ► Youtube: https://youtube.com/@defidad ► Apple: https://tinyurl.com/edgepod ► Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/edgepodspotify ► Linktree: https://linktr.ee/edge_pod ► Follow DeFi Dad: https://twitter.com/DeFi_Dad ► Follow Nomatic: https://twitter.com/Nomaticcap ► Learn about DeFi and Web3: http://defidad.com/ ------ The Edge Podcast Sponsor Resources 🚀 FLAT MONEY | NEW FLATCOIN AND DELTA-NEUTRAL MARKETPLACE BACKED BY RETH https://flat.money/ 🌊 SWELL NETWORK | NATIVE LIQUID RESTAKING WITH RSWETH https://www.swellnetwork.io/ 💧 INSTADAPP | NEW LENDING AND BORROWING VAULTS WITH FLUID https://fluid.instadapp.io/ 🧑🌾 MANTLE | THE ETHEREUM L2 FOR TOP NATIVE YIELDS https://www.mantle.xyz/ 🟢 KELP DAO | THE FIRST LIQUID RESTAKING PLATFORM FOR LSTS https://kelpdao.xyz/restake 🟣 MAVERICK PROTOCOL | DEFI INFRA MADE TO CUSTOMIZE, AUTOMATE & INCENTIIZE LIQUIDITY https://app.mav.xyz/theEdgePodcast ------ Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 5:12 - Austin's background 8:48 - What is Omni Network? 9:26 - What is Omni solving for? 11:39 - Blockchain design of Omni 12:46 - Getting to sub-second finality 15:34 - Omni vs major interoperability solutions 18:36 - Inspiration from prior builders 20:35 - Maverick mid-roll 21:44 - Secured by Ethereum thanks to EigenLayer 23:02 - ether.fi commits $600M of staked ETH 24:12 - Risks of restaking 28:28 - The Open Liquidity Network 32:06 - Could Omni deprecate bridging protocols? 33:34 - Ethereum security, with a Solana-like UX 36:03 - Expand beyond Ethereum? 37:25 - Closing ------ 🔗 Guest Links 🔗 ► Omni Website: https://omni.network/ ► Omni Whitepaper: https://docs.omni.network/whitepaper.pdf ► Omni on Twitter: https://twitter.com/omniFDN ► Austin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/0xASK ------ If you're a DeFi/Web3 builder, contact our team at: https://fourthrevolution.capital/ All opinions expressed by hosts and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and not necessarily those of Fourth Revolution Capital. Podcast guests and 4RC may have positions in the assets or other matters discussed in this podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Do your own research. This is not a recommendation or endorsement to buy any token(s) related to any platform(s) discussed.
Modular March EP 10: Endless Modular Application Possibilities with Lagrange
A core fundamental primitive of blockchain is the unlocking of usecases which are not possibly in any other type of system. We’ve heard a lot of this and we believe the technology stack is being built as we speak which will facilitate an array of “breakout apps” atop of it. In today’s piece, we set out to find out what type technological design constraints are present in the current modular ecosystem as well as the necessary solutions. If you’ve been following us for awhile, you know the Lagrange team from our zkAcademy. If you are newer here, you’re in luck. Andy and Rob sat down with Ismael, co-founder of Lagrange, to learn why zk coprocessors are crucial in enabling offchain computation for data queries and processing tasks that are too intensive for standard smart contracts. By creating a decentralized network for ZK proving and prioritizing access to complex onchain information within the modular ecosystem, Lagrange is playing a crucial role in the modular thesis. Let’s have a great week and continue to push forward as part of Modular March.
Kenny Li from Manta Networks on being OG ZK builders
Our second episode on FC we bring Kenny from Manta Network! Manta Network is an ecosystem of networks offering scalable execution environments for decentralized applications with a core focus on zero-knowledge (ZK) applications. The project consists of two distinct networks: Manta Pacific and Manta Atlantic, offering ZK tooling to simplify ZK application deployment.
How BlackRock’s New Fund on Ethereum Got a Very Crypto Welcome
On Wednesday, BlackRock, the world's leading asset management firm, announced the launch of a tokenized investment fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity (BUIDL) Fund, developed in collaboration with Securitize. Carlos Domingo, founder and CEO of Securitize, discusses the launch of the fund, which is native to the public Ethereum blockchain and aims to bring an institutional-grade cash management product to crypto institutions, offering faster token issuance, redemption, and transferability. Learn more: What Is Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization? A Beginner's Guide He also talks about how Blackrock has embraced crypto, how the launch of the fund was “front run” by crypto Twitter, and how Blackrock will deal with issues such as the fund being dusted with ETH tainted by sanctioned Tornado Cash ETH.
Exploring public goods data
In Episode 02 of Onchain Alpha our host Humpty Calderon speaks with Umar Khan of Gitcoin. This conversation explains the importance of public goods, regen data, and building with public goods data. The conversation highlights the future of Gitcoin Grants and the role of open source software and data in the Web3 ecosystem. They also touch on the significance of data distribution and the role of platforms like Dune and Farcaster. Find the companion article to this podcast on our blog: https://cryptosapiens.xyz/exploring-public-goods-data-with-gitcoin-insights-from-onchain-alpha-podcast
How USDC is dominating the stablecoin market
Excited that the legend, Jeremy Allaire, is my first guest on our new Frames for Base Layer! Jeremy joined me last week to talk about all the amazing things happening at Circle, talking about stablecoin regulation, all the way to the amazing use cases that are popping up for USDC around the world.
Ep 48 - Oscillator
We’re joined by RAC and Jack Spallone to unpack their plans to make onchain music data globally accessible in the company’s first podcast!
