"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!
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
many such cases 11: feet, frames, long casts, and a surprise guest
on this episode, @ted and @nonlinear.eth are joined by special guest, @v, to kick off a discussion about longer casts and frames — but not until after they cover the recent trend of [redacted] that is both a hysterical and mortifying case study in farcaster virality. after getting the rundown on longer cast intentions and current developer (and consumer) pain points on frames, we focus on exploring the potential for better content creation that enhances the entertainment value and social experience on farcaster. we share the frame experiences we love most as well as offer new ideas for more entertainment-driven, less utility-driven frames. last, we revisit the current zeitgeist on power badges and content discovery through the lens of marketplace dynamics. we could be midcurving it, but it made pretty good sense to us.
many such cases 10: nook shuts down, emerging cozy corners, and a new farcaster fight
In this episode, Ted and Jonny discuss the recent news about Nook shutting down and explore the explore different strategies @dwr recommended for building on (or alongside) farcaster as developers, creators, and potentially independent business owners. Ted and Jonny then cover some of the emerging cozy corners on Farcaster, such as FBI (Farcaster Builders India), First Draft, Tabletop, Lounge, Club Ted, and Higher Run Club. Last, Ted and Jonny wrap it up with a quick discussion about a recent controversy on Farcaster involving the authenticity of certain Instagram-like accounts.
Onchain record labels with Coop Records
The inaugural episode of the Coop Records Podcast featuring the core team - Cooper, Ramie, Jake and Cece. We cover the origins of Coop Records and everything you need to know about running an onchain record label in 2024.
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!
OpenSea with Devin Finzer - Episode #2
We talk to Devin Finzer of OpenSea in April 2019 about: - OpenSea’s first customers, platform power users, and NFT games using the marketplace - The marketplace's unique revenue share business model with NFT developers - Open game economies, DAO-ifying OpenSea and open game economies This is one of the earliest podcasts with Devin and OpenSea, well before NFTs had any recognition in the space.