Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

Flashbots has pioneered the work around MEV which has become one of the most important topics in crypto today. MEV-Boost is an implementation of proposer-builder separation (PBS) built by Flashbots for proof of stake Ethereum. Validators running MEV-Boost maximize their staking reward by selling their blockspace to an open market while protecting Ethereum decentralization. It is estimated that validators running MEV-Boost can increase their staking rewards by over 60%. MEV-Boost is free, open-source, and neutral software.

Lido has become the leading liquid staking solution on Ethereum with a huge amount of stake and has also taken on a key role in shaping the future of staking on Ethereum.

We were joined by Stephane Gosselin, co-founder of Flashbots, to chat about MEV and the importance of MEV-Boost, how it works and it's impact on Ethereum. Also joining the chat is Vasiliy Shapovalov, Tech Lead at Lido, to share with us the significant impact MEV-Boost will have on Lido.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Stephane and Vasily introductions
• What is MEV and why is it important?
• MEV supply chain and the centralization risks with it
• The significance of MEV for Lido
• Lido MEV policy for node operators
• The economics around MEV-Boost
• Flashbot Protect - will this still exist in MEV-Boost?
• Beyond Ethereum - what are the solution for cross-chain MEV
• The impact of L2s and rollups on MEV and MEV-Boost
• Timelines as we approach The Merge

Episode links:

• Flashbots
• Lido
• MEV-Boost in a nutshell
• Why your blockchain needs an MEV solution - Hasu
• Stephane on Twitter
• Vasily on Twitter

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/455

An interesting question that has sparked debate in the Twittersphere and amongst our hosts. Hear as Meher, Friederike and Brian discuss scaling visions currently in the ecosystem, with particular focus on Ethereum Layer 2s and whether or not this is a good path forward for holders of Eth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Introduction to the hosts
• Meher's opinions and recent twitter thread on Ethereum
• How Layer 1s and Layer 2s work together
• Smart contract sharding
• Bitcoin vs Ethereum
• Solana
• The Ethereum roadmap from here

Episode links:

• Meher's twitter thread
• Epicenter - About Us
• Brian on Twitter
• Friederike on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/454

EthCC is over for another year and what a week it was! 6 stages, 2,000 attendees, over 200 speakers, 40 hours of talks and content, 40 sponsors, and 130 side events (and parties) all over Paris. The Ethereum France team pulled it off again with the fifth edition of the Ethereum Community Conference bringing the community together in the city of love.

Keeping with tradition we did an EthCC recap panel and were joined by Ethereum France President Jerome de Tychey, EthCC Project Manager Bettina Boon Falleur, and Founder of Giveth Griff Green. We talk about the standout moments of this year's event, how the conference has grown over the years, NFT tickets, the European Ethereum community, and the future of EthCC.

Episode links:

• EthCC 5
• Ethereum France
• Giveth

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/453

Enzyme Finance, previously named Melon, is a decentralized protocol built on Ethereum (ETH) that allows users to create, manage and invest in custom crypto asset management vehicles onchain. Using Enzyme Smart Vaults, individuals and communities can build, scale and monetize investment strategies that employ the newest innovations in decentralized finance. Enzyme enables Depositors to interact with Vaults in a way that is non-custodial and requires minimal trust between parties. Vault Managers can be bound to performing certain actions or forbidden from others.

We were joined by Mona El Isa, CEO & founder at Avantgarde Finance and Enzyme Finance, for the second time after her first appearance 5 years ago. We chat about the transition from Melon to Enzyme and the current state of the protocol, how vaults work on the platform, decentralized governance and how to survive a bear market.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The transition from Melon to Enzyme
• Has the vision for Enzyme changed?
• How does the protocol work?
• Choosing your vault and redeemability
• Who are Enzyme users?
• Becoming a vault manager and sharing your vault
• 24/7 reporting
• The MLN token
• Governance - Enzyme’s path to decentralization

Episode links:

• Episode 158 - The Polkadot Protocol – One Blockchain to Connect Them All
• Enzyme
• Enzyme on Twitter
• Mona on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/452

The hotly anticipated Ethereum merge due later this year, will see the joining of the existing execution layer of Ethereum (the Mainnet we use today) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. It eliminates the need for energy-intensive mining and instead secures the network using staked ETH. This is a truly exciting step in the Ethereum vision of more scalability, security, and sustainability.

Tim Beiko, Protocol Support for the Ethereum Foundation, is heavily involved in the project. He joined us to give some deep insights into governance within Ethereum, a full update on how the merge is coming along and the next steps, and how Ethereum will look post-merge.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Tim's background and how he got involved in the space
• Unpacking governance on Ethereum
• The Ethereum client ecosystem
• The current state of Ethereum's testnet landscape
• The Merge: what is it, and where do we stand?
• What is coming next in the lead up to the merge and how is success measured?
• How did the very recent Sepolia test go?
• Scaling - what will the ecosystem look like post-merge?
• The Ethereum roadmap

Episode links:

• Nebular Summit
• Ethereum Foundation
• The Merge
• Ethereum on Twitter
• Tim on Twitter

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Joseph Schweitzer. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/451

Urbit is an exciting new operating system and peer-to-peer network that’s simple by design, built to last forever, and 100% owned by its users. Under the hood it's a from-scratch software stack compact enough that individual developers can understand and control it completely. Urbit deconstructs the client-server model in favor of a federated network of personal servers with built-in, cryptographically-owned identity, each of which is capable of distributing and running their own applications that communicate over the Urbit network.

We were joined by the Executive Director of the Urbit Foundation, Josh Lehman, who explained in depth how the Urbit ecosystem was built and now runs, the advantages of the network from user and developer perspectives, the bridge with crypto, and how the roadmap for the kernel is looking going forward.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Josh's background and how he became involved with Urbit
• An overview of Urbit and the current state of the system
• What’s changed about Urbit over the last three years
• Urbit's address space consisting of galaxies, stars and planets
• What Urbit applications are and how they differ from iphone applications or a dApps
• The advantages of the Urbit user and developer experiences
• The connection between Urbit and crypto
• The projects currently being built on Urbit - Holium, Uqbar, Tirrel
• What the roadmap for the underlying Urbit kernel looks like
• How you can get involved

Episode links:

• Episode 205 - A Digital Republic Reinventing the Internet
• Urbit
• Urbit Grants
• Urbit on Twitter
• Josh on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -
• Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafe
• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/450

Wyre is a leading fiat-to-cryptocurrency and payment infrastructure company for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In blockchain time, Wyre has been around forever -- it was founded in 2013. Wyre leverages blockchain to facilitate cross-border payments, bridging the gap between traditional payment processing and digital assets. Focusing on developers, the company provides easy-to-integrate APIs which enable thousands of developers to bring cryptocurrency to the masses. The company has “on-ramped” over 15 million end users to their partners and has processed over $10B in payments since inception.

We were joined by Co-founder and CEO Yanni Giannaros, and Director of Crypto Strategy Jamal Raees, to chat about payments applications in general and in web3, how Wyre works on a technical and business level including regulatory constraints, their recent acquisition by Bolt, and the roadmap for the platform.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The history of Wyre and the changes they have seen in the space over the past 10 years
• Yanni and Jamal's backgrounds and how they met
• A technical overview of Wyre
• The challenges of running an onramp
• Bolt's recent acquisition of Wyre
• Payments applications in web 3 - what works and what doesn't
• The Wyre business model and fees
• The jurisdictional restrictions for using Wyre and Yanni and Jamal's thoughts on the current regulatory environment
• The future of crypto interfaces
• The Wyre roadmap

Episode links:

• Wyre
• Wyre on Twitter
• Yanni on Twitter
• Jamal on Twitter

Sponsors:

• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/449

Arbitrum is a Layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain which helps reduce high transaction gas fees. Arbitrum uses a multi-round optimistic rollup that regularly checks in with Ethereum’s main chain.

OG cypherpunk and ex deputy CTO of the USA, Ed Felten, is one of the creators of Arbitrum. He joined us for an in depth chat about how transactions are processed on the protocol, who validates them, what the security guarantees are, and how the economics will work in the longer term.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Ed's background (including his time as deputy CTO of the USA!) and what led him to creating Arbitrum
• A walk back to pre-blockchain crypto
• Why Arbitrum chose to build on top of Ethereum
• What are roll-ups and what's the user experience with them on Arbitrum?
• A deep dive into how transactions work on Arbitrum
• How nodes work on the platform
• Transaction fees on Arbitrum
• How is Arbitrum designed differently to Optimism?
• Arbitrum and bridges to ETH and other assets
• How will different scaling solutions co-exist in the future?

Episode links:

• Arbitrum
• Arbitrum on Twitter
• Ed on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafe
• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/448

Connext is a crosschain liquidity network that speeds up fully-noncustodial transfers between EVM-compatible crosschains (xapps) and L2 systems. Connext works in tandem with nomad bridge technology, enabling fast transfer of value between blockchains and interchain DeFi protocols. Their goal is to create a world where users never need to know what chain or rollup they're on, and developers can build applications that utilize resources from many chains/rollups simultaneously.

We were joined by Connext founder Arjun Bhuptani to chat about bridge technology in general, Connext's pivot from state channels to bridges, their recent partnership with Nomad, and what is coming next.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Arjun's background and how he got into the space
• Arjun's involvement with the Moloch DAO
• What is Connext?
• The history of interoperability
• Connext and the bridges they utilize
• Connext's partnership with Nomad
• Bridge hacks
• Finality and rollbacks - dealing with reorgs and probabilistic finality
• What is Connext's capital efficiency model

Episode links:

• Connext
• Nomad
• Connext / Nomad partnership
• Connext on Twitter
• Arjun on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash
• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/447

MetaMask is the de-facto standard self-custodial wallet for Ethereum. It started off as a web browser extension on chromium. More recently, it also launched a mobile app. MetaMask allows you to interact with decentralized applications (dapps) natively.

We were joined by Dan Finlay, Founder & Group Manager at MetaMask, to chat about the motivation for building MetaMask, the security of the platform, decentralization, the future of seed phrases and much more!

Topics covered in this episode:

• Dan's background and how he got into the space
• The journey of creating MetaMask Consensys
• Why this was built as a browser extension
• MetaMask mobile: What’s the scope? How do people use it?
• Number of MetaMask accounts, funds stored in MetaMask wallets and some use cases
• Security on the platform
• The future of seed phrases
• How thinking has shifted from smart wallers to EoA's with enhanced capabilities
• What is MetaMask Snaps?
• When will we see the MetaMask token?

Episode links:

• MetaMask
• Forum
• Twitter
• Dan on Twitter

Sponsors:

• CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswap
• Steakwallet: Steakwallet is your new favorite multi-chain, mobile wallet. Tired of having a different wallet for every chain? Get Steakwallet today and get the power of Web 3 across all chains right at your fingertips: https://steakwallet.fi/ -

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/446"