CryptoTown NYC
NYC : world's most densely packed cryptotown and home to tier 1 crypto i've cut through the noise to bring you the cream of nyc - the best founders, VCs & operators raw & unhinged. insightful & entertaining. no bag bias. no circle jerking. keeping it real on CryptoTown.
ZEROPOD SPOTLIGHT #3: "Obsessed with the Craft of Content" feat. Cameron Armstrong of Seemore.tv
If the internet decides what’s funny, Cameron Armstrong (@cameron on farcaster) has spent his career listening closely to find out. In this edition of our popular ZEROPOD Spotlight series, the Seemore.tv founder shares how he’s helping creators escape the “content algorithm lottery” and why our completionist instinct is one of humanity’s most underrated traits. We explore Farcaster’s journey from tight-knit weirdo haven to high-value creator launchpad, the challenge of minting new platform stars, and the magic of Mandarin oranges on sticks (what?) Whether you’re trying to build a personal brand, a community, or create content like his “OK Banger” podcast, Cameron’s got plenty of advice and anecdotes and you won’t want to miss this conversation. — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - “Content Quality Arms Race” 00:47 - ZEROPOD Intro 02:05 - Crypto space needs more video content 04:15 - The Right Kind of Cringe 05:31 - The thing you can consistently do the longest is what you’ll be the best at 07:04 - The Cameron Origin Story: Military beginnings 08:32 - Harvard Business School 09:32 - E-commerce startup 10:35 - Illicit Farcaster Beginnings 11:50 - “A Bunch of Weirdos in a Room” 12:26 - Farcaster, then and now 15:09 - What is seemore.tv 17:58 - “If Linktree and Google Analytics had a baby” 20:55 - Badges for pod collectors 21:27 - Minting is a patronage behaviour for podcasts 23:00 - A minted episode is a creator tip with a lindy receipt 25:00 - The future promise of Ethereum Attestations 26:22 - The Seemore Story (pivot! pivot!) 30:00 - Problems with current business models for creators 32:00 - Conflicts of interest risk with advertising partnerships 34:00 - The advantage to bad actors in crypto 36:00 - The Seemore List 37:00 - The importance of finding values aligned sponsors for content 38:00 - Does Farcaster have enough interesting people? 40:00 - Rewarding creators is baked into the system on Farcaster 41:50 - The Content Valley of Death 43:00 - Problems with spam filters and dopamine triggers 45:18 - Cam’s got alts 46:00 - You don’t get to decide what’s funny on the internet 47:24 - Why is he bullish on Farcaster? 49:00 - OK Banger 50:53 - From Band Kid to Bangers 51:52 - Outro --- Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk x Suno AI. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like!
"Higher is a Mindset" with Martin Anquetil, founder of Higher and creator of Aether AI | ZEROPOD SEASON 2 E3
What does it mean to build a brand without a leader, a strategy, or even a plan? In this episode of ZEROPOD, I sit down with Martin Anquetil, one of the founders of $HIGHER, the headless memecoin brand redefining chaos as culture onchain. We dive into everything from AI agents breaking bounty bots on Farcaster to an Ethereum stock split, the memecoin meta and the challenges of building a project based on a number-go-up meme even when number doesn’t always go up. Along the way, Martin shares lessons from his time within Nouns, explores the unique challenges of decentralization, and reveals what it takes to survive a 97% token price crash with your optimism and community intact. We really enjoyed this conversation with Martin, and we hope you do too! — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Figuring out “Can we do this thing?” while doing it 01:00 - ZEROPOD Intro 01:51 - The Martin Origin Story 04:00 - College and Interning at Google 05:00 - Oneshot by Topshot 07:00 - 2021 NFT Season Nostalgia 10:55 - Who the F**k is Buying XRP? 11:50 - Ethereum Stock Split Discussion 15:15 - First Impressions of Nouns 16:15 - Leaving TopShot to Explore Onchain Options 17:50 - Freelancing with Nouns Builder 19:19 - Agora, Explorer Grants, and Other Nouns Initiatives 20:00 - Mogu Mogu Mogu: Nouns Governance Tooling 24:19 - Starting $HIGHER 25:00 - Roots in /bullposting 28:00 - How Would He Launch Higher Today? 32:00 - The Strength of Builders Who Stick Through the Bear 34:00 - “Higher, Not Sideways” 37:30 - Quack Quack ⌐◨-◨: 38:50 - Is $HIGHER a Neo-DAO or Something New? 40:00 - Authenticity vs. Top-Down Control: The Higher Experiment 44:00 - Could $ANON Run a Higher-Like Playbook? 45:00 - Farcaster Users Speed-Running Speculation Lessons 47:00 - $ZEROPOD: Exploring Media and Tokens 49:00 - The Origins of $POINTS on Farcaster 50:50 - “Provenance is Culturally Emergent” 51:00 - Jacob’s Horse Meme and Its Viral Evolution 53:53 - What Is Aether? The AI Agent Shaking Things Up 57:00 - The $LUM Luminous Launch 1:01:00 - Challenges of Community Cohesion in Decentralized Projects 1:02:03 - Questions for Martin from Aether 1:06:00 - What’s Next for Aether? Memory and Autonomy 1:07:00 - Aether on Twitter? Exploring New Platforms 1:08:00 - Balancing Meaningful Building with Market Pressures 1:11:00 - Betting on Yourself and Long-Term Projects 1:14:00 - Martin’s Thoughts on Trading and Staying Grounded 1:16:00 - Coinbase Listings and Meme Coin Dynamics 1:21:00 - What’s Next for Martin and $HIGHER 1:24:00 - Outro: Reflections and the Road Ahead — Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and JackWyldes. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk x Suno AI. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like!
#7 - @july
creating and destroying; built flying cars & autonomous vehicles, now building /faust, more here: /july, web: july.rocks
Wet Socks and Crypto Shocks
Today we discuss the viral WET Socks Challenge on DRACULA and its role in reshaping community and creativity in Web3. They explore the balance between financial incentives and genuine engagement, offering insights into how blockchain is redefining online interactions.
ZEROPOD SEASON 2 E2: "Positive-Sum Gamer" with Optimism's Chief Growth Officer Ryan Wyatt aka @fwiz
In Episode 2 of ZEROPOD Season 2, we dig in with Ryan Wyatt aka @fwiz about his first full year in the role of Optimism's Chief Growth Officer. Ryan shares how his leadership has helped to drive adoption of Optimism’s open source OP Stack and has attracted some S-tier partners for the so-called Superchain.We also learn about Ryan's interesting background as a lifelong gamer and esports streaming trailblazer, first with Machinima and later at Google as the head of gaming at YouTube. We discuss Optimism’s journey to becoming a powerhouse in Layer 2 solutions, what makes it the platform of choice for top companies, and the groundbreaking plans for seamless interoperability across the Superchain. Tune in for an inside look at what’s next for Optimism and the ambitious roadmap Ryan and his team have set for 2024 and beyond. And as always, if you enjoy this podcast, please mint and share it with your friends! --- Timestamps: 0:00 - The Bitcoin Millionaire Story: Ryan’s early experience paying creators in Bitcoin and its surprising outcomes 1:37 - A Swagged-Out Superchain Welcome: Introduction and Ryan’s first impressions of Optimism 2:15 - From Gamer to Growth Officer: How Ryan’s love for gaming launched his career in tech 4:00 - Navigating a Career in Gaming: The challenges and rewards of working in the gaming industry 6:36 - Early Days in Onchain Video Content: Ryan’s journey from Machinima to YouTube Gaming 9:03 - YouTube, Gaming, and the Crypto Transition: Moving from Web2 to onchain with optimism 11:06 - The Crypto Skepticism of Gamers: Ryan’s perspective on why gamers resist blockchain 12:50 - Memorable Moments at Google: Key lessons learned at YouTube and Google 13:50 - Why Ryan Jumped Into Crypto: Career shifts and finding inspiration in the onchain space 15:10 - Joining Polygon and Scaling Crypto: Early roles at Polygon and the vision for onchain scaling 17:57 - The Shift to Optimism and the Superchain: New challenges and the road to a collaborative L2 ecosystem 19:03 - What Does a Chief Growth Officer Do?: Ryan explains the role and responsibilities 21:01 - Unique Governance at Optimism: How collective governance shapes Optimism’s vision 23:01 - Retroactive Public Goods Funding: Exploring funding models that reward impact 25:05 - One Year of Superchain Growth: A recap of Ryan’s first year with Optimism and the ecosystem’s growth 29:33 - Coinbase’s Role in OP Stack Adoption: How Base helped drive the Superchain’s momentum 31:27 - Navigating Competitors on the Superchain: Collaboration and competition in the onchain world 33:50 - Solving Liquidity Fragmentation: Why interoperability is key to Optimism’s future 36:30 - The Future of Onchain Interoperability: Ryan’s vision for seamless cross-chain transactions 39:54 - Challenges of User Experience: Bridging, liquidity, and simplifying the user journey 43:16 - The Value of Open Source: How Optimism’s open-source approach benefits the ecosystem 46:13 - Looking Forward: 2025 Intentions: Ryan’s goals for the Superchain in the coming year 47:50 - Final Thoughts: How community and innovation drive onchain growth
EPISODE 11: JIHAD & BELIEVE IN SOMETHING
Jihad is the creator of believe in something: a higher-aligned grant-giving collective finding and funding optimistic writer-practitioners and scene-builders. - Jihad's thesis on DAOs and learnings from Forefront - The significance of Higher and tokenized communities - "Believe in Something": funding writer practitioners - Collaborations and communication in the Hire community - The role of on-chain platforms in fostering community - Friendship vs. community: understanding the difference - Shaping the future of media through taste and curation Follow me on warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ishika Believe in Something: https://hypersub.withfabric.xyz/collection/believe-in-something-dx0nainkb30g Follow Jihad on warpcast: https://warpcast.com/jihad
EPISODE 12: REN STERN & TOKYO DAO
Ren Stern, founder of Sense Space and Tokyo DAO, we discuss his journey into the crypto space and the vision behind Tokyo DAO. In this episode we talk about: Differences in Crypto Awareness: Tokyo vs. New York Tokyo DAO's Mission Ren envisions Tokyo DAO as a hub for connecting the Tokyo builder and creator community to the world. Sense Space's Brand Building and Community Focus Innovative Crypto Games on Farcaster Parallel Community Building: Tokyo DAO and Sense Space Farcaster Ecosystem Opportunities IRL-URL Connection in Farcaster Global Expansion: Tokyo DAO and FBI Communities Building Meaningful Communities for Long-Term Value Superchain Ecosystem Flexibility
EPISODE 13: KARAN BEDI & WILDCARD | ft. @defikaran
Karan Bedi, founder of Wildcard, discusses his background and the motivation behind building a crypto-native social network. The app allows users to tip, buy and sell, speculate, and align social incentives through tokens. The goal is to create a positive-sum game where users can support each other and discover content based on tipping and token ownership. The conversation covers topics such as the fragmented ecosystem of Web3 apps, the need for a more integrated and native user experience, the challenge of onboarding new users to Wildcard, the importance of community and culture in the Wild app, and the potential for personalized feedback and communication between card holders and creators.
many such cases ep 12: building for high-quality content with @dwr
on this episode (recorded “like a year ago”), @dwr joins @ted and @nonlinear to discuss the number one priority for farcaster right now: the challenge in creating a sustainable supply of quality content. we cover user engagement metrics, the current state of channels and what they could become, and how the team is thinking about enabling high-quality content through new features. @dwr also shares some of his insights on the power of text-based content and cultures on social platforms like twitter and what the emergence of AI-generated content may mean for these platforms. 00:39 farcaster’s top priority 01:29 challenges and strategies for building communities 07:30 reducing the barrier to high-quality content 15:20 the dominance of text-based content 18:35 in-group culture, power of memes, and AI-generated content 25:25 the future of channels
EP 8: JESSE POLLAK AND BASE
Jesse Pollak shares his backstory and how he got into Web3. He grew up in Washington, DC, attended a Quaker school, and played competitive soccer. He didn't learn how to code until his senior year of high school. He joined Coinbase as a software engineer and eventually became a leader in scaling their consumer products. He then started Base within Coinbase, with the mission of creating an open financial system for the globe. Base is driving international expansion by supporting decentralized builder communities like FBI in India and Builders Connect in Nigeria. They are focused on empowering local builders and providing resources to help them grow.
FARSIDE.FM EP2 : DISCUSSING BALAJI'S TRIBAL LENS | ft. Adrienne, Tim Reilly
In this episode, we dive deep and discuss our thoughts on the concept of the Tribal Lens advocated by Balaji Srinivasan. The Tribal Lens emphasizes why cognitive territories will gain increasingly more power than land-defined territories. Are we going to see a rise in the grey tribe?👀 Balaji on the Tribal Lens: Follow us on Warpcast - https://warpcast.com/ @ishika @matthew @tayyab @adrienne @tldr
FARSIDE.FM EP 1: FARCASTER HUBS & NEYNAR | ft. Manan Patel
We dig into what farcaster hubs are, what do they entail, how they are unique compared to current web2 social app infrastructure, what https://neynar.com/ is building in relation to Farcaster hubs, etc Background : Farcaster is a sufficiently decentralized protocol for building decentralized social apps. Users are able to control their data, and developers can build apps permissionlessly on the network. Farcaster hubs are API-based apps that allow people to create applications that leverage the resources of other apps within the same ecosystem (e.g., you could use an app like Instagram without having to have an Instagram account).
FARSIDE.FM EP 5: FARCASTER BUILDERS INDIA | ft. Saumya Saxena
On this episode, Saumya and I chat about the rise of the Indian builder tribe on Farcaster aka the FBI. We talk about the journey of the movement, where its headed, what Saumya is looking to build, and just how the past few weeks have been on farcaster.
