Bell Curve

Season 3 | Episode 1

In this episode of Bell Curve, Sunny Aggarwal and Dmitriy Berenzon join us to discuss the pros and cons of building a sovereign AppChain. AppChains enable developers and protocols to customize consensus, cryptography, MEV rules, fees and more. But is this customization worth the fragmentation, start-up costs, lack of tooling and other challenges AppChains face? Tune in to find out.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro: Pre-Interview

(02:33) The AppChain Thesis

(10:52) Reasons to Build an AppChain

(28:28) The Downsides and Challenges

(42:04) What is Permissioned Blockspace?

(48:49) Cosmos vs Ethereum

(1:02:09) Solving Interoperability

(1:07:54) User Lock-in: Wallets

(1:13:42) Recap: Post-Interview

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Follow Myles: https://twitter.com/MylesOneil

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Sunny: https://twitter.com/sunnya97

Follow Dmitriy: https://twitter.com/dberenzon

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Resources:

Dmitriy's blog

https://dberenzon.medium.com/

Osmosis

https://osmosis.zone/

1k(x)

https://1kx.network/

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This episode of Bell Curve explores the bear market rally and ETH’s monetary design. We start with our views on the recent market rally - have prices bottomed, or are we witnessing a dead cat bounce? What should we expect for 2023?

We then discuss ETH's unique monetary policy, MakerDAO’s counterparty risk, Optimism vs Arbitrum, private fundraising, Su Zhu's false redemption arc and more!

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(01:00) A Bear Market Rally

(12:10) Optimism vs Arbitrum

(17:20) Genesis Bankruptcy Rumors

(22:28) MakerDAO’s Counterparty Risk

(28:28) Raising Funds in a Bear Market

(34:30) ETH’s Monetary Policy

(48:01) ETH Staking Withdrawal Queue

(50:05) Bitzlato and Bitcoin Narratives

(1:00:50) Su Zhu and Kyle are Back

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Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism

Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

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Resources

Ryan Watkins tweet on Ethereum innovation cycles

https://bit.ly/3ZPirug

ETH 7.5% APR tweet

https://bit.ly/3Wmua0w

ETH withdrawal queue thread (by Westie)

https://twitter.com/WestieCapital/status/1613645213792366595

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Season 3 | Pilot

Layer One protocols have dominated the value capture narrative since Ethereum's inception, but a new narrative is forming: the AppChain Thesis. This thesis predicts crypto's top applications will not rent land and conform to the limitations of other platforms (e.g. Ethereum) but will launch their own independent chain. An AppChain.

How should applications approach this decision? Where will value accrue? What are the pros and cons? Will applications prove stickier than protocols? These are just a few questions we'll explore in Bell Curve Season 3. Get ready!

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(00:35) Meet Myles, Our New Co-Host

(03:35) Why the AppChain Thesis?

(07:12) Season 3 Overview

(14:45) The Fat App Thesis

(18:38) AppChain Tradeoffs

(23:36) Where Cosmos and Ethereum Collide

(26:30) The Market Opportunity

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Follow Myles: https://twitter.com/MylesOneil

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

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Resources:

Fat Protocols by Joel Monegro

https://www.usv.com/writing/2016/08/fat-protocols/

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This episode of Bell Curve explores the standoff between the Winklevoss twins (Gemini) and Barry Silber (Genesis/DCG). Is there a resolution or will both companies watch their equity slide to zero? We also discuss Solana's future, the bank run at Silvergate, Cosmos-native USDC, the LSD narrative and more!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:18) Will Solana Survive?

(08:58) Winklevoss Twins vs Barry Silbert

(27:20) Binance Acquisition Blocked & Coinbase’s Good Luck

(30:16) Silvergate Announces $8.1B Fall in Deposits

(39:08) Public Equity Proxy Investing

(45:22) How Bullish is Native USDC for Cosmos?

(53:42) The Liquid Staking Derivative (LSD) Narrative

(1:02:34) Tech Layoffs & the Changing Employment Environment

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Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism

Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD

Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

It's here, our 2023 predictions episode! We debate if the market's bottomed, CeFi vs DeFi market share dynamics, L2s vs a multichain future, Bitcoin's new narrative, the Wallet Wars, MEV as the primary business model and more. Sit back, relax and get ready for the team to drop some knowledge.

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Timestamps

Introduction (00:00)

Have Markets Bottomed? (02:20)

What Projects Gain/Lose Market Share? (17:18)

zkEVMs Disappoint (23:51)

The Multichain Future Debate (26:38)

Bitcoin’s Future (37:25)

Visa & Mastercard Will Double Down on Crypto (39:54)

Ava labs (43:55)

The Wallet Wars (45:10)

MEV & Payment for Order Flow (53:30)

The Rise of Guilds (59:00)

Tech Disruption (01:01:59)

NFTs Become a Core Business Strategy (01:14:04)

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Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism

Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD

Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH

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Core, from Ava Labs, is more than just a wallet. It’s a free, non-custodial browser extension that gives Avalanche users a more seamless and secure Web3 experience. Download Core today at https://www.core.app/

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Season 2 | Finale

In this episode of Bell Curve, we recap the best of Bell Curve Season 2. In Season 2 we explored the evolution of DAOs, asking what's worked, what needs to change, and where DAOs go from here.

We break down every episode and our key learnings here. And don't miss the end, where we introduce the theme for Season 3!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:17) S2 Recap, Our Biggest Takeaways

(41:30) Season 3 Preview: The App-Chain Thesis

(43:31) Thanks to Avalanche and Reserve!

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Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

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Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH

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Resources:

ENS website

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Reserve Protocol aims to protect consumers from the effects of high inflation and hopes to one day eradicate it.

It's a self-service, permissionless factory where anyone can build, deploy and govern their own asset-backed stablecoins (RTokens), which can be integrated within DeFi and real-world commerce.

The Reserve App is a user-friendly way for ordinary people to buy RSV stablecoin with their local currencies and use them locally. More info at https://reserve.org/

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This episode of Bell Curve explores one of the most bullish signs during this bear: Visa is building on Starkware. Visa is the largest payment network in the world, and they just announced they are now building an automatic payments tool on Starkware's ZK-rollup technology. Tune in to find out why this is huge for the industry! We also cover Grayscale's GBTC disaster, how Yuga Labs is going all in on the metaverse and the concept of experiential loyalty. This is a fun one!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:03) Not $10B, $20B! Gary and Caroline Flip on SBF

(07:41) Visa Proposes Automatic Payments Using Starknet

(19:30) “Avalanche Ad”

(20:44) Grayscale GBTC Tender Offer & Liquidity Reflexivity

(30:43) Yuga Labs Hires Activision Blizzard President as CEO

(40:18) Experiential Loyalty

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Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism

Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD

Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH

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Resources:

Vitalik on Account Abstraction

https://notes.ethereum.org/@vbuterin/account_abstraction_roadmap

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Core, from Ava Labs, is more than just a wallet. It’s a free, non-custodial browser extension that gives Avalanche users a more seamless and secure Web3 experience. Download Core today at https://www.core.app/

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Bell Curve, Nick Johnson joins us to discuss his core insights from launching the ENS DAO. This is a behind-the-scenes look at when to launch a DAO, the challenges of decentralized management, token voting, DAO risks and building infrastructure as public goods. My favorite section? The challenges of token economic systems; Nick provides thoughtful insights I haven't heard anywhere else!

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro: Pre-Interview

(02:25) History of the ENS DAO

(06:27) Building Infrastructure as Public Goods

(17:41) When is a Project Ready to be a DAO?

(22:43) DAOs vs Centralized Governance

(28:19) “Reserve Ad”

(30:32) DAOs vs Centralized Governance

(32:04) The Challenges of Token Economic Systems

(37:53) Shifting the Overton Window

(42:02) Has All Base Infrastructure Been Built?

(44:38) Gaps in DAO Infrastructure & DAO Evolution

(49:42) A DAO’s Biggest Risk

(50:59) The Value of Community

(54:36) Post-interview recap

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Follow Nick: https://twitter.com/nicksdjohnson

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD

Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH

- -

Resources:

ENS website

https://app.ens-domains.io/

- -

Reserve Protocol aims to protect consumers from the effects of high inflation and hopes to one day eradicate it.

It's a self-service, permissionless factory where anyone can build, deploy and govern their own asset-backed stablecoins (RTokens), which can be integrated within DeFi and real-world commerce.

The Reserve App is a user-friendly way for ordinary people to buy RSV stablecoin with their local currencies and use them locally. More info at https://reserve.org/

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This episode of Bell Curve explores the art of valuing L1 ecosystems. Should you look a protocols transaction fees vs inflation, # of developers, applications built on top or something else?

We then discuss SBF's arrest, Sushi's fee proposal, the fixed token supply debate, 2023's outlook and more! My favorite segment? The fixed token supply debate - this is about to be a widely contested topic.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:33) Solana’s Outlook and Valuing L1s

(13:39) SBF Arrested and Alameda’s Degen Gambling

(30:15) Drama at The Block

(31:56) “Avalanche Ad”

(33:09) Drama at The Block

(36:29) Sushi’s Fee Proposal & Fixed Token Supply Debate

(46:43) Dividends and Buybacks

(56:02) 2023 Outlook

(1:03:55) A Gold and Bitcoin Thesis

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Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism

Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson

Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9

Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD

Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH

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Resources:

Vance's Tweet thread on the broken alt L1 thesis

https://twitter.com/pythianism/status/1600895603512180737

Sushi's protocol fee proposal

https://forum.sushi.com/t/reinstated-increase-kanpai-treasury-allocation-to-100/11475

Felix Zulauf

https://www.felixzulauf.com/

Jurrien Timmer tweet on BTC and Gold

https://twitter.com/timmerfidelity/status/1559997086912942080?lang=en

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Core, from Ava Labs, is more than just a wallet. It’s a free, non-custodial browser extension that gives Avalanche users a more seamless and secure Web3 experience. Download Core today at https://www.core.app/

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Blockworks just released a new podcast called 1000x! We're dropping the first episode here as we think you might want to add this podcast to the lineup. 1000x is a crypto markets podcast hosted by professional traders Avi Felman and Jonah Van Bourg that dives deep into the macro and micro factors that represent the lifeblood of digital money and web3. 

In this episode, Avi and Jonah discuss how to think like a crypto trader. They explore how today's market compares to the 2018 bear, where to look for opportunities, the investment landscape post-FTX and our top investing frameworks. 

A new 1000x episode will drop on Empire's RSS feed and the 1000x YouTube channel every two weeks.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:28) Why We Started 1000x

(06:18) Today’s Market Compared To 2018

(16:17) How To Think About Trading Markets

(23:25) Market Structure Post-FTX

(28:05) Managing Risks

(36:30) Investing Frameworks

(48:12) Crypto Is Here To Stay

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Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman

Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz

Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3Fw083Z

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

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Resources

Golden Tree

https://www.goldentree.com/

Cumberland

https://cumberland.io/

Avi's psychology of a market tweet

https://twitter.com/AviFelman/status/1595176484766883843

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.