🎙️ METACAST: Top Crypto Podcasts of August 2023

Hello, everyone!

Check a quick overview of what we’ve been listening to last month!

TL;DR

• Justin Drake and Tim Beiko explore Ethereum’s roadmap, its components, and the potential impact of quantum cryptography.
• RiscZero CEO Brian Retford and Justin Drake discuss the implications of zkEVM for Ethereum’s scalability.
• Rune Christensen discusses the “Endgame Plan” to improve DAO governance in MakerDAO and address voter apathy.
• Amanda Tuminelli discusses the US Government’s indictment of Tornado Cash developers and the potential implications for the crypto space.
• Lawyer Brian Klein explains the impact of SBF’s revoked bail and the legal implications for his upcoming trial.
• José Fernández da Ponte from PayPal discusses the launch of PYUSD and its competition with other stablecoins.
• Sam Kazemian talks about the lessons from the Curve crisis and the systemic risks in the DeFi space.
• Alex Blania from Worldcoin defends the project against criticism and addresses concerns about privacy, data protection, and tokenomics.
• CoinFund’s Jake Brukhman and Chris Perkins discuss their investment in Worldcoin and how the Coinbase lawsuit could impact the industry.
• Nick Tomaino and Richard Chen from 1Confirmation discuss the role of VCs in the crypto market and the outlook for the industry.
• Jesse Pollak discusses Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 solution, its unique features, and its growth in adoption.
• Stephen Young and Storm from NFTFi talk about the potential of P2P NFT lending and its impact on liquidity.
• Stefan George from Gnosis shares updates on projects like Safe, Zodiac, and the evolution of Gnosis Chain.
• Jon Hillis talks about Cabin’s community-centric living and working model and its use of Web 3 tools.
• Erick Calderon from Art Blocks discusses the platform’s approach to fostering creativity, community, and generative art.
• Niklas Anzinger discusses Infinita Funds and how they support startups overcoming regulatory bottlenecks through network states.
• Boris Dyakov and Mikey Fischer discuss DeSci’s potential to revolutionize the scientific system using blockchain technology.
• Jacob Ko from Superscrypt talks about their investment philosophies and the Web 3 scene in Asia.
• Anita Posch highlights the importance of Bitcoin in empowering marginalized communities in African countries.
• Yoseph Ayele and Eche Emole discuss the potential of Web3 and crypto adoption in Africa for financial stability and access.
• And much more!

Unchained

• Can Maker’s Rune Christensen Fix the Sad State of DAO Governance?: The height of the last bull run was when MakerDAO cofounder Rune Christensen felt most disillusioned by DeFi and DAOs. “I didn’t even see how Maker was going to survive,” Christensen tells Laura Shin in the latest episode of Unchained. Now Christensen is leading an effort to help DAOs escape their trough of disillusionment. He says the ambitious “Endgame Plan” for MakerDAO seeks to overcome “the central issue of voter apathy.” Will it work or are DAOs doomed to fail?

• Is This the End of DeFi? Why the US Government Is Going After Tornado Cash: Last month, the U.S. Government indicted Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Roman Semenov for three counts of conspiracy involving a staggeringly large number: $1 billion in criminal proceeds. The U.S. Department of Justice attached North Korean hackers to a large portion of this sum, alleging that Tornado’s privacy tech enabled nefarious deeds. Amanda Tuminelli, chief legal officer of the DeFi Education Fund, joins the Unchained show to assess whether the U.S. Government got it right or is merely misguided in its understanding of how blockchain technology works. Should Tornado Cash devs be held to account for the criminal use of their software?

• SBF Behind Bars: Why Revoked Bail Is a Big Deal for Crypto’s Biggest Trial: Lawyer Brian Klein joins the Unchained show to explain why Sam Bankman-Fried being locked up makes it “much tougher” for his legal team. The judge presiding over the case said SBF went too far in attempting to intimidate key witnesses — chief among them former Alameda Research co-CEO (and ex-flame) Caroline Ellison. Will a jail cell change SBF’s defiant tune ahead of a hotly anticipated October trial date? Klein weighs in.

• Will PayPal’s PYUSD Steal Market Share From Tether and Circle?: A major player has entered the stablecoin wars. PayPal went deeper down the crypto rabbithole this week with the launch of its Ethereum-based PYUSD. The dollar-backed stablecoin now puts PayPal in competition with the likes of Tether and Circle for quickly sending value around the world on-chain. José Fernández da Ponte, PayPal’s crypto SVP, joins the Unchained show to unpack how the fintech giant is building a long-term strategy around blockchain-based payments.

• What Does the Curve Crisis Say About DeFi?: While it’s now mostly contained, the Curve crisis has exposed some of the systemic risks in the world of DeFi. Sam Kazemian, founder of Frax Finance, joins the show to discuss what DeFi needs to do to get better — and what builders should learn from a novel attack that was ultimately about much more than $50 million in drained funds.

• Orb Outrage: Worldcoin Cofounder Defends Project Amid Backlash: Worldcoin is getting hit from all sides. Following a popular launch in late July, critics from the crypto community and public sector alike are coming out in droves with concerns about privacy, data protection, and tokenomics. Worldcoin co-founder Alex Blania joins the show to address the recent criticism and reiterate the project’s lofty goals. “It sounds crazy,” he said, “so you really need to understand the technology to understand why it’s not concerning.”
• Why CoinFund Believes Worldcoin Could Become More Popular Than Bitcoin: CoinFund’s Jake Brukhman and Chris Perkins join Unchained to dissect their recent $158 million seed round and the transformation of the investment landscape following the 2022 crypto carnage. As backers of Worldcoin, they confront criticisms about the project’s approach of distributing money to individuals who may not fully comprehend the underlying technology. They also delve into why the Coinbase lawsuit could potentially boost the industry, share their perspectives on current crypto legislation, and explore the intersection of AI and crypto.
• Anita Posch on Why ‘Bitcoin Is a Tool for Freedom’ — Especially in Africa: Educator Anita Posch has spent months on the ground in Africa onboarding new users into the world of Bitcoin. In the West, bitcoin may seem extraneous; but in her telling, bitcoin in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other African countries is essential. “Bitcoin can be one of the solutions for people who are disempowered, who are outlawed, the misfits,” says Posch. “Bitcoin is for them because no one can take it away from you.”

The Chopping Block:

• The Chopping Block: All About That Base With Jesse Pollak
• The Chopping Block: How Wintermute Avoids ‘Zombie’ Exchanges, Base’s Early Success, Bank Fraud in the AI Era
• The Chopping Block: Curve Crisis Concludes With a Whimper, PayPal’s PYUSD Raises New Questions
• The Chopping Block: Who’s to Blame for the Curve Hack?

The Chopping Block: Who's to Blame for the Curve Hack?

Bankless

• Scaling Ethereum To The Next Level with zkEVM: The deeply technical conversation with RiscZero CEO Brian Retford and Justin Drake. RiscZero is attempting to create a zkEVM for Ethereum that will require such low compute requirements that validators could be run on smart watches and mobile phones. Moderated by Justin Drake, the hosts take a look at the implications this tech can have on the future of Ethereum.
• Tim Beiko & Justin Drake: The Sci-fi Roadmap to Ethereum: In this, Justin Drake and Tim Beiko explore Ethereum’s uncharted roadmap. You know about EIP-4844. You know about Proposer-Builder Separation. But the Ethereum roadmap does not stop there. It continues! Each component of the Ethereum roadmap has deeper frontiers than what you may be familiar with. 4844, PBS, these are just the first stops on a longer track of Ethereum’s Sci-Fi roadmap. Other areas Justin, Tim, and David explore statelessness, how VCs are subsidizing Ethereum L1 R&D efforts, enshrined rollups, how all of this stuff leads to Ethereum needing fewer and fewer honest actors to work trustlessly, what quantum computing has to do with the Ethereum roadmap, trustless mempools and so much more.

• Why VCs Suck | 1confirmation’s Nick Tomaino & Richard Chen: And who better to answer that question than VCs themselves? The hosts are joined by Nick Tomaino and Richard Chen of 1Confirmation to discuss the role of VCs in crypto, the outlook on the markets, and how retail should prepare for the next cycle.
• The Superchain Explained with Jesse Pollock & Ben Jones: On this episode the hosts brought on repeat Bankless guests, Ben Jones, Co-Founder of Optimism and Creator of Base, Jesse Pollock. Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 has almost hit 1 million users in 2 weeks. It has more transactions per second than Ethereum mainnet. Jesse digs into the magnitude of this development. Base chain was built on Optimism’s tech stack. This is just 1 chain of many thousands we’ll see over the coming years. How do we tie them all together? Ben dives into all things Superchain. The Superchain is how we bring 1 billion people onchain.
• Arbitrum’s BOLD New Bet with Ed Felten & Raul Jordan: What did the Arbitrum L2 just unlock with its BOLD release? What stage of L2 is Arbitrum in? What is next for decentralizing the Arbitrum stack? The hosts brought on Ed Felten and Raul Jordan to help answer these questions and much more. Ed Felten is a Co-Founder of OffChain Labs, the organization that created Arbiturm. Raul Jordan is one of the Co-Founders of Prysmatic Labs, the Ethereum consensus client which not too long ago got acquired by Offchain Labs.

• In Defense of Lido, w/ Hasu: Lido has over 30% ETH staked. Should we be alarmed? Joining the hosts is Hasu to shed some light on this question. In this wide ranging interview they discuss the State of Staking, the state of Lido, Idealist vs Pragmatics and asking the question — is Lido’s reputation unfair?
• The New DeFi Meta with Paradigm’s Head of Research, Dan Robinson: Dan Robinson is GP and Head of Research at Paradigm. He, over the years, has done a lot of deep thinking about markets, auctions, and liquidity in DeFi, with a particular focus on Uniswap and Uniswap V3. Recently, Uniswap Labs released UniswapX, a new dutch auction mechanism, that Dan thinks changes the meta for swapping assets in DeFi, MEV, chain interoperability, and much more. The last time Dan was on Bankless was September 2020…almost 3 years ago! If you have ever heard Ryan or I say the phrase “Ethereum is a dark forest”…it came from that episode.
• Why Facebook’s Stablecoin Failed, with David Marcus: David Marcus started a company that was acquired by PayPal, he then became President of PayPal (running the company), then he joined Facebook as VP of the Messenger app, and that’s when he started Facebook’s Libra project. Currently, he’s the CEO and Co-founder of Lightspark, a company that builds out Bitcoin Lightning tech. From whitepaper to being summoned in front of Congress in 3 weeks…what really happened to Facebook’s stablecoin endeavors and what can we learn from it? This episode is a post-mortem of Facebook’s highly ambitious crypto project from 2019.
• David and Anthony Discuss the Crypto Meta: David speaks with Anthony from the Daily Gwei about the current crypto meta, price swings, and emerging narratives from around the Ethereum sphere.
• Is friend.tech Good or Evil? Friend.tech has dominated the crypto landscape as of late and it’s now breaking out into multiple mainstream non-crypto audiences. Should we pat ourselves on the back? Or do we need to more carefully about the consequences of this new financialized social application? Ryan and David give their raw thoughts on these questions and much more.

• David’s Take: This is the Last Cycle: Is crypto entering its last market cycle before its mature era begins? For today’s take, David makes the case that crypto will always have a Wild West, yet there are signs all around us that the ecosystem is trending toward being more dependable and safer. In other words? Crypto’s growing up!
• Vance Spencer: The FAANG of DeFi (S.M.E.L.L): Vance talks about S M E L L. Not an odor, but instead 5 different assets. The FAANG of Crypto? They walk through all 5 assets and talk about the merits of each, along with the other subjects running around the current crypto meta. Let Vance loop you into what he thinks is worth paying attention to. David’s Takes: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Riding an MEV Bot: Welcome to David’s takes. A new format with David and RSA where we explore David’s weekly articles in 30 minutes or less. This week, we’re diving into one gigantic metaphor. Ethereum as a reserviour of liquidity. So sit back, relax, and enjoy “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Riding an MEV Bot”.

• Austin Federa: Is SOL Money? Austin Federa is Head of Strategy at the Solana Foundation and is the host of the Validated podcast. David was recently a guest on Austin’s podcast where they went back and forth on some of the cultural and philosophical differences between the Solana and Ethereum projects. This is a continuation of that episode. Despite some differences in community perspectives, Austin brings a fresh perspective on the design philosophy that relates Solana the network to SOL the asset and so much more.

• Will DeFi Survive This?: A special episode is in order as the hosts discuss the string of events that led to one of the largest risks DeFi has faced in a long time. What happened to Curve, what’s at risk, and what can we learn from all of this?
• DeSci: How Blockchains are Powering Science 3.0 | Zuzalu #7: In this episode, they delve into the world of DeSci, or Decentralized Science, which serves as a bridge between technologies like Synthetic Biology, Longevity, and Ethereum. DeSci aims to revolutionize the current scientific system, highlighting its flaws such as friction, corruption, and outdated practices. By utilizing blockchain technology, DeSci seeks to improve scientific institutions and processes. The conversation with pioneers Boris Dyakov and Mikey Fischer sheds light on the vast potential of DeSci and its ability to transform scientific progress. It goes beyond mere improvement, presenting a paradigm shift in the way science is conducted. The second conversation with Alok Tayi of VibeBio illustrates a fascinating use case for using DeSci to solve diseases that are underserved in TradSci. DeSci envisions open and modular scientific data, akin to the accessibility of financial tools in the blockchain world. Additionally, the emergence of DAOs in DeSci brings opportunities for capital allocation and funding clinical trials. Join us on this exploration of the frontier of Scientific Progress, where traditional and decentralized science collide.

• Would You Live Forever? The Science and Ethics of Longevity: In this video, the hosts delve into the frontier of longevity and the pursuit of living forever. The discussion of longevity sparks different reactions among people, with some rejecting the idea outright, deeming it unnatural or immoral. At Zuzalu, two distinct groups emerged — the Health and Wellness tribe, focused on healthy lifestyles, and the longevity tribe, resembling crypto enthusiasts, passionately researching the silver bullet for eternal life. They explore the two conversations of slowing down aging and accelerating rejuvenation, with a particular focus on the latter. Interviews with Patrick Linden, author of “The Case Against Death,” Sergio Ruiz, an epigenetic reprogramming expert, and Michael Greer, founder of the Humanity app, shed light on the socio-cultural reactions, DNA reprogramming, and AI-driven longevity scoring. While the pursuit of longevity faces regulatory challenges, its potential to eliminate diseases and revolutionize healthcare holds transformative power. The quest for extended health spans offers tremendous benefits for humanity’s future.

• Africa’s Crypto Revolution: Leapfrogging into the Future | Zuzalu #4: In this episode, the hosts explore the frontier of crypto in Africa and the immense potential for both the continent and the crypto industry. Africa has a unique ability to leapfrog technologies, just as it skipped landlines and embraced cell phones. The dialogue revolves around crypto adoption in Africa and a network state project called Afropolitan, which aims to build an Afro-centric digital nation. Yoseph Ayele discusses the opportunities that Web3 can provide in terms of financial stability, access, identity services, and credit facilities for Africa. He believes that Africa will be the first to reach a billion Web3 users. Eche Emole shares insights on Afropolitan, highlighting the project’s focus on crypto, network states, and the creation of Afro-centric hubs worldwide. Both guests express unwavering optimism and articulate the transformative power of these developments. This engaging and enjoyable discussion sheds light on Africa’s trajectory in the crypto landscape and the potential for uplifting individuals and communities.

Rollups:

• ROLLUP: Friend.Tech | SBF to Jail | SEC vs Coinbase
• ROLLUP: Base Kicks-Off Onchain Summer
• ROLLUP: Under Attack — Crypto, Freedom, & Privacy
• ROLLUP: Curve Exploit | BASE Memecoins | Richard Heart vs SEC

ROLLUP: Curve Exploit | BASE Memecoins | Richard Heart vs SEC on Bankless

Zero Knowledge

• Episode 289: Penumbra Catch Up with Finch, Erwan and Jen: Last week, host Anna Rose chats with Finch, Erwan and Jen from the Penumbra team. They share an update about Penumbra and discuss how this zk-powered project works under the hood. Specifically, how Penumbra harnesses ZK to offer new paradigms for staking, voting and trading.

Episode 289: Penumbra Catch Up with Finch, Erwan and Jen - ZK Podcast

• Episode 288: Quantum Cryptography with Or Sattath: Anna Rose and Kobi Gurkan chat with Or Sattath, Assistant Professor at the Ben-Gurion University in the Computer Science department. They deep dive into Or’s work on Quantum Cryptography. They begin by defining Quantum Computing and Quantum Cryptography, covering what this means for existing cryptography. They also explore how new discoveries in this field can interact with existing Proof-of-work systems and how Quantum computers could affect the game theory of mining in the future.
• Episode 287: Gnosis catch-up with Stefan George: Anna Rose chats with Stefan George from Gnosis. They start with an update on the projects that have spun out of Gnosis — Safe, Zodiac, CoW Swap — as well as older experiments that the team had incubated. They then cover the evolution of Gnosis Chain from its origin as xDai, discuss the new aggregate bridge architecture Hashi and explore Gnosis Pay — an on-chain p2p payments product that fulfills some of the original motivations of Bitcoin. They discuss a range of relevant topics such as intents, prediction markets, account abstraction, ZK Bridges, decentralization and more.

Episode 287: Gnosis catch-up with Stefan George - ZK Podcast

Epicenter

• Marko Baricevic: Cosmos SDK — The Internet of Appchains. Ep. 510: The hosts were joined by Marko Baricevic, Cosmos SDK product lead, to discuss the development philosophy behind the Cosmos Hub and how appchains evolved over time.

• Sandeep Nailwal: Polygon 2.0 — The New Value Layer of the Internet?: The hosts were joined by Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, to discuss their upcoming 2.0 revamp, which will feature an aggregation layer for interoperable scaling solutions.

• Stephen Young & Storm: NFTFi — P2P NFT Lending Protocol: From PFPs & Art to RWA: The hosts were joined by Stephen Young & Storm from NFTFi, to discuss the general state of the NFT market, future prospects for NFTs and how P2P NFT lending unlocks new sources of liquidity in a bear market.
• Alex Gluchowski: zkSync — A New Era for EVM-compatible ZK Rollups: The hosts 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.

The Defiant

• Reimagining Work and Community: Unveiling the Cabin Lifestyle and Polycentric Governance: The hosts were joined by the driving force behind a venture that has redefined the concept of modern travel and community: Jon Hillis, the founder of Cabin, a network city for remote workers in nature, who is actively working to grow a global network of neighborhoods for people interested in community-centric living and working. Cabin exists today and they have many different locations around the world. Cabin is a great example of merging the digital with the physical and using Web 3 tools in real life. They delve into the purpose behind Cabin, how the COVID lockdowns inspired and allowed room for a Cabin to emerge, the shift in the remote work mindset, the different governance structures that exist within the DAO ecosystem, why Cabin chose polycentric governance, the best DAO practices, how you can get involved in Cabin communities and so much more.

• Base: Coinbase’s New Layer 2 Kicks Off: Jesse Pollak is the creator of Base, which is a Layer 2 scaling solution from Coinbase that launched last week. Base has quickly become a trending topic this summer, attracting more than $200M of value in its short life. Coinbase is the world’s second-largest crypto centralized exchange by volume, and now it’s moving to the on-chain world, so it’s worth watching. In this conversation, they dive into the origin story of Base, why opt for a Layer 2 and not start a new Layer 1, why go for Optimistic rollups, how Base is unique in the already crowded Layer 2 space, their decentralization road map and more.

• Revealing ONE Secret for Crypto Adoption: Art Blocks Founder Erick Calderon: Erick is not only a talented artist but also a tech innovator and entrepreneur who has redefined the limits of artistic expression in the digital era. Today he gets into how Art Blocks fosters creativity and community via the platform, how they differ from other projects, Erick’s views on why you should even buy art in the first place, as well as his passion for generative art and decentralization. We also get into his views on the NFT market fluctuations and he shares a bit about the community of curators that are curating art on Art Blocks and how you can get involved there.

MISC

• Investing in Network States, DeSci, and Over-regulated Industries | Niklas Anzinger: The DeSci Podcast hosts were joined by Niklas Anzinger, the founder and GP of Infinita, the first VC fund based in a modern charter city (Prospera), investing in founders overcoming regulatory bottlenecks in bio-/healthtech, hardware & crypto-finance through network states & startup cities. In this episode, Niklas shares insights on Infinitia Funds and how it supports innovative ventures and technological startups. Niklas also sheds light on Prospera’s mission to create a self-sustaining and efficient business environment for entrepreneurs and innovative minds to thrive. They further discuss how poor governance hinders human potential and causes economic stagnation. This highlights the pressing need for an alternative and improved regulatory system, which would revolutionize the startup landscape, fostering growth and progress.

• Superscrypt: A Conversation with Asia’s Powerhouse Web 3 Venture Fund — Jacob Ko, Superscrypt, Ep. 246: Superscrypt is an early-stage web3 company seeded by Temasek, a globally recognized investment powerhouse headquartered in Singapore. Recognizing the immense potential of the decentralized digital landscape, Superscrypt focus exclusively on the next generation of internet technologies. Today, they Jacob Ko, Partner at Superscrypt to share with us: contrasting investment philosophies between the West and Asia, Verticals Superscrypt is excited about, convincing & onboarding non-Web 3 users, Singapore vs HongKong’s Web 3 scene.

• Court Rules SEC Must Review Rejection of Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF Bid, Bitcoin Jumps 5%: The most valuable crypto stories for August 29, 2023.

Subscribe to Paradigm!

Medium, Twitter, Telegram, Telegram Chat, LinkedIn, and Reddit.