Empire

Today we are joined by Josh Bown (Astria) and Ben Fisch (Espresso Systems) to discuss the role of shared sequencers in the modular future. Josh and Ben explain the risks of centralized sequencers, why rollups will use a shared sequencer and the core tradeoffs. What is the value proposition of a shared sequencer? How will MEV be allocated between rollups and sequencers? Why haven't rollups already decentralized their sequencer? We discuss these questions and more in this epic conversation!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(04:27) The Role of a Sequencer

(11:24) The Risks of Centralized Sequencers

(20:13) Using the L1 as the Sequencer

(23:12) Why Use a Shared Sequencer?

(34:56) Quicknode

(36:43) Kwenta

(37:40) The Tradeoffs

(40:35) Who will be the Sequencers?

(45:23) The AWS Analogy

(50:27) Economic Capture and Allocation Challenges

(58:28) How Block Times Impact Shared Sequencing

(01:01:12) Competition

(01:05:04) Restaking Risk and Timelines

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Follow Josh: https://twitter.com/Jskybowen

Follow Ben: https://twitter.com/benafisch

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

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

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

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This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!

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This episode is brought to you by Kwenta, the premier derivatives trading platform on Optimism that offers deep liquidity, low fees and up to 50x leverage across 24+ assets. Go to Kwenta.io and start trading today!

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Resources

Espresso Systems

https://www.espressosys.com/

https://twitter.com/EspressoSys

Astria

https://www.astria.org/

https://twitter.com/AstriaOrg

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire 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. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In today's episode, Jason and Santiago discuss why Santi is bullish on Solana. We start with a debate on how low liquidity creates wild volatility, BTC's correlation to the S&P and if shared sequencers are overhyped. This leads to a conversation on the MadLads mint, Santi's allocation to the Solana ecosystem, Circle's CCTP launch and more!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:38) Low Liquidity Side Effects

(06:42) First Republic Bank & BTC's S&P Correlation

(019:46) “Valora Ad”

(20:45) Shared Sequencer Hype

(30:00) MadLads Mint

(34:01) Why Santi is Bullish on Solana

(41:45) “Crypto is Dead”

(44:16) Base’s Adoption, Franklin Templeton & CCTP launch

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Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

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

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

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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This episode is brought to you by Valora. Valora is a self-custody, mobile-first wallet... and the easiest way to send, swap, collect and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain. Download the app and start exploring today at valoraapp.com/empire.

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Resources:

1000x Episode

https://spoti.fi/41VjYPU

Frank Templeton fund

https://bit.ly/446T09Q

Director of Podcasts application

https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Blockworks/adb7324a-0635-4dbc-ac40-aec73474daad

Empire Multicoin episode

https://spoti.fi/3AxlrQP

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire 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. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

1000x is officially back! If you're new here, 1000x is a crypto markets podcast by professional traders Avi Felman and Jonah Van Bourg. We bring on experts to dive deep into the macro and micro factors that represent the lifeblood of digital money and web3.

1000x is officially back! If you're new here, 1000x is a crypto markets podcast by professional traders Avi Felman and Jonah Van Bourg. We bring on experts to dive deep into the macro and micro factors that represent the lifeblood of digital money and web3.

In this episode, Avi and Jonah discuss how markets responded to the banking crash, what catalysts are on the horizon and where prices will trend next. Where was retail in the last rally? What catalysts could revive BTC? What metrics should you watch for the next Alt L1 narrative? Tune in to find out!

We'll drop a new 1000x episode on Empire's RSS feed and the 1000x YouTube channel every two weeks. Hit the links below and give us a follow!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:36) Market Outlook: Retail Didn’t Show Up

(08:06) The Mystery BTC Buyer

(13:01) Event-Driven Price Movements

(18:47) The Debt Ceiling Opportunity

(27:22) Pepe, Shiba & New Money

(31:57) The AppChain Thesis and Alt L1s

(40:37) Crypto: 24/7 Dopamine 

(44:04) Moving Beyond the Casino Use Case

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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/3FuSarX

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/

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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.

Today we are joined by Julian Holguin, the CEO of Doodles. Julian reveals how Doodles is creating an IP powerhouse that will become the Pixar of Web3. The OG Doodles NFT collection is just the tip of the iceberg (their "Toy Story"), with even more exciting things to come.

In this episode, Julian explains the power of combining narrative with technology, Doodles' business plan and collaboration with global brands, the secret to community content creation, Doodles' growth strategy and more! You won't want to miss this inside look at one of the most captivating NFT/IP houses in Web3!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(01:26) Doodles Origin Story

(08:44) Julian’s Digital Media Background

(15:41) Building the Pixar of Web3

(20:09) Why Leverage NFTs?

(23:47) The Impact of Doodle’s Floor Price

(27:16) Quicknode

(29:04) Synthetix

(30:43) The Business Model

(39:29) Collaborations with Global Brands

(44:32) Why Choose Flow for Doodles 2?

(51:12) Scarcity, Utility and Community Content Creation

(58:49) The Doodle Bank

(01:04:46) Doodle’s Audience and Value Accrual

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Follow Julian: https://twitter.com/jholguin

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

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

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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This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!

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This episode is brought to you by Synthetix. Synthetix Perps is the most efficient decentralized perpetual futures engine, with 5/10 bp fees and up to 25x leverage. With a growing list of over 20 tradable markets, Synthetix Perps are available on Optimism via Kwenta.io and Polynomial.fi, with more coming soon! As a permissionless liquidity layer, Synthetix makes it easy for any protocol to integrate perps and earn 5%-10% of trade fees.

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Resources

Doodles

https://doodles.app/

https://twitter.com/doodles

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire 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. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In today's episode, Jason and Santiago discuss Gary Gensler's crypto crusade. The SEC Chair has continually attacked crypto and revealed this week that... he has never owned or interacted with any "digital asset". We debate Garry's comments from this week's committee meeting, if regulators are pushing companies like Coinbase out of the US and why we remain optimistic.

We also cover Flashbot's new MEV Share protocol, an ongoing mystery wallet exploit, the meme coin craze and more!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(05:06) Gary Gensler: An Anti-Crypto Cruade

(20:32) “Valora Ad”

(21:26) Coinbase's Global Expansion 

(28:27) Flashbots Launches MEV Share

(30:00) On-Going Mystery Wallet Exploit

(39:49) Meme Coins, MEV & Jared from Subway

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Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

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

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

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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This episode is brought to you by Valora. Valora is a self-custody, mobile-first wallet... and the easiest way to send, swap, collect and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain. Download the app and start exploring today at valoraapp.com/empire.

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire 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. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Although our guests this week are managing partners of a registered investment adviser, nothing in this podcast is investment, tax, legal or other financial advice.

In this episode of Empire, Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain of Multicoin join us in their first public discussion since the fall of FTX and Solana's crash. We start with a detailed discussion about Multicoin's relationship with SBF and FTX: how they met, their views on SBF, watching the blow-up and the implications for Multicoin's fund.

Kyle and Tushar then explain why they are still betting big on Solana, why most funds don't earn excess returns, how L2s offer false security, why defi isn't ready yet, prioritizing speed of security and more! Prediction: This will be the best episode of 2023.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(01:37) SBF and FTX Backstory

(15:48) Multicoin’s Solana Bet

(23:04) Quicknode

(24:51) Synthetix

(26:34) Conviction, Sizing and Earning Excess Returns

(33:43) The Intersection of AI and Crypto

(42:15) Why DeFi Isn’t Ready

(45:50) Decentralized Sequencers and the EVM

(52:51) Poritizing Speed and L2 [False] Security

(01:01:33) Multicoin’s Bet on Filecoin

(01:08:47) BTC and the SoV Use Case

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Follow Kyle: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani

Follow Tushar: https://twitter.com/TusharJain_

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

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

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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This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!

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This episode is brought to you by Synthetix. Synthetix Perps is the most efficient decentralized perpetual futures engine, with 5/10 bp fees and up to 25x leverage. With a growing list of over 20 tradable markets, Synthetix Perps are available on Optimism via Kwenta.io and Polynomial.fi, with more coming soon! As a permissionless liquidity layer, Synthetix makes it easy for any protocol to integrate perps and earn 5%-10% of trade fees.

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Resources

Multicoin Capital

https://multicoin.capital/

https://twitter.com/MulticoinCap

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire 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. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In today's episode, Jason and Santiago discuss the bull vs bear case for ETH's Shapella upgrade. Since December 2021, ETH staking was one way. You could stake your ETH, but it was locked until the Shapella upgrade finally arrived. Shapella is here, and ETH is unlocked for the first time! Does this mean a giant supply of ETH sell pressure will hit the market? Will institutions embrace ETH now that Ethereum's roadmap is de-risked? Tune in to find out!

We also discuss the NFT killer use case, Multicoin's L2 thesis and if the bear market has ended!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:23) NFT NYC and the NFT Killer Use Case

(12:47) Shapella is Here

(26:04) “Valora Ad”

(27:10) Multicoin’s Thesis: Solana, L2s & Speed vs Security

(43:37) Is the Bear Market Over?

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Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

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

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

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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This episode is brought to you by Valora. Valora is a self-custody, mobile-first wallet... and the easiest way to send, swap, collect and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain. Download the app and start exploring today at valoraapp.com/empire.

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Resources:

ETH Withdrawal Dashboard

https://app.metrika.co/ethereum/dashboard/withdrawals-overview?tr=1d

ETH Staking Dashboard

https://dune.com/hildobby/eth2-staking

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire 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. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Robert Leshner - founder of Compound Labs - joins us to discuss how DeFi will evolve in the wake of Operation Choke Point 2.0 and the coordinated effort to debank crypto. We discuss what this means for today's DeFi protocols, the end of the DeFi Mullet thesis and how teams will respond. Then we explore Robert's thoughts on why MakerDAO's RWA strategy is short-sighted, the stablecoin landscape, the AppChain thesis and more!

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:24 Operation Choke Point 2.0

07:24 Compound Treasury and the DeFi Mullet

11:19 The Return of DeFi?

16:09 BTC vs ETH

19:17 Building in the US vs Offshore

26:25 Real World Assets

28:52 Quicknode ad

30:38 Synthetix Ad

32:17 Stablecoin Landscape

39:48 The AppChain Thesis and Value Accrual

48:24 Reputation, Limit Orders and Security

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Follow Rob: https://twitter.com/rleshner

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

Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

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/ 

- -

This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan!

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This episode is brought to you by Synthetix. Synthetix Perps is the most efficient decentralized perpetual futures engine, with 5/10 bp fees and up to 25x leverage. With a growing list of over 20 tradable markets, Synthetix Perps are available on Optimism via Kwenta.io and Polynomial.fi, with more coming soon! As a permissionless liquidity layer, Synthetix makes it easy for any protocol to integrate perps and earn 5%-10% of trade fees.

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Resources

Compound

https://compound.finance/

Bell Curve, S4 Premiere: A Journey Into The Dark Forest

https://spoti.fi/3MpTjWH

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire 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. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In today's episode, we debate Mike's tweet that Eth L2s have every feature Alt L1s are criticized for: centralized, downtime, opaque resource allocation and wild valuations. To get close to the metal, we compare Solana vs Arbitrum based on economics, network effects and future roadmap. If you listen to one conversation this week, this is it.

We also discuss Arbitrum's governance debacle, the value of protocol BD deals, a $25M MEV exploit, Euler's $200M recovery and Shanghai predictions!

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Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

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

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

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

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

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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This episode is sponsored by Public.com. Put your cash to work in a Treasury Account on https://Public.com/empire and get access to a 5.3% yield today!

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This episode is brought to you by Valora. Valora is a self-custody, mobile-first wallet... and the easiest way to send, swap, collect and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain. Download the app and start exploring today at valoraapp.com/empire.

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Resources

Mike's Eth L2 vs Alt L1 debate tweet

https://twitter.com/mikeippolito_/status/1642262306712109057

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire 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. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Today's episode is a bonus episode from our podcast 0xResearch, produced by the Blockworks Research team. This is one of my favorite episodes they've done, a deep dive into the future of rollups, scaling and zk-tech. The first 15 minutes is the "analyst bullpen" segment on Arbitrum's recent governance debacle, followed by an interview with Preston Evans from Sovereign Labs (use the Timestamps if you want to skip ahead). If you enjoy this episode, follow the link in the show notes below to subscribe!

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Join us on 0xResearch as we interview Preston Evans, the Chief Scientist of Sovereign Labs. Why should you care about Sovereign? Because they're building the Sovereign SDK. Like the Cosmos SDK that enables modular plug-and-play experimentation for L1s, the Sovereign SDK is a modular toolkit for building zk-rollups on any chain with seamless composability. In this episode, we discuss how Sovereign's design compares to the Cosmos SDK and IBC, smart contract vs Sovereign rollups, the role of data availability, decentralized sequencer design and more! This is my favorite 0xResearch episode yet.

And as usual, we start the episode with our analyst bullpen to discuss the recent governance drama at Arbitrum!

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:45) Arbitrum's Governance Blunder

(15:04) Blockworks Research

(16:03) Interview Start: What is Sovereign?

(22:23) The Sovereign SDK vs Cosmos SDK

(23:59) Settlement on Smart Contract vs Sovereign Rollups

(28:14) The Role of Data Availability

(32:24) Decentralized Sequencers

(37:54) Optimistic Rollup Tradeoffs

(41:24) Composability and IBC

(52:22) What Is Sovereign’s X Factor?

(54:17) Building Rollups on Bitcoin

(59:11) Sovereign’s Business Model and Timeline

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Follow Preston: https://twitter.com/prestonevans__

Follow Westie: https://twitter.com/WestieCapital

Follow Dan: https://twitter.com/smyyguy

Follow Sam: https://twitter.com/swmartin19

Follow Purplepill: https://twitter.com/purplepill3m

Follow Matt: https://twitter.com/MattFiebach

Follow Blockworks Research: https://twitter.com/blockworksres

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3foDS38

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

Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3NlP1hA

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

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Resources:

Delegate ARB to Blockworks Research

https://twitter.com/blockworksres/status/1639279479368368132

Sovereign Labs

https://www.sovereign.xyz/

https://twitter.com/sovereign_labs

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Check out Blockworks Research today! Research, data, governance, tokenomics, and models – now, all in one place

Blockworks Research: https://www.blockworksresearch.com/

Free Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on 0xResearch 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. Dan, Sam, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.