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

The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) allows users to register .eth domain names, which can be used natively in some browsers and all Ethereum wallets. It provides a solution to long crypto addresses with a human-friendly format, analogous to DNS domain names that point to IP addresses. There are now 1.1 million registered domains on ENS.

Nick Johnson, Lead Developer of ENS, was last on the show 5 years ago when ENS had just been created. We had him back on to give us an update on how the project had evolved and to chat about the kinds of content ENS domains point to, the ENS token airdrop, the governance of the platform, and the road ahead, particularly with respect to scaling solutions and spiralling Ethereum gas costs.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What is Domain Name Service (DNS)?
• How do you register a top level domain?
• The relevance of ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
• The kinds of content ENS domains point to and some use cases
• The fees associated with .eth domains
• The ENS token airdrop
• Governance - how the process of using delegates worked
• The kinds of decisions delegates have made so far
• Trading ENS tokens
• Nick's views on the major challenges facing the ethereum ecosystem today

Episode links:

• Episode 183 - ENS – A Global Naming System for Ethereum
• ICANN
• ENS
• ENS Governance
• ENS on Twitter
• Nick 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/445

Aave is an open-source moneymarket protocol. An Ethereum native, it's deployed on Avalanche and Polygon, with more than $1 billion deposited on each. V3 is now live on seven different blockchains, including Fantom, Arbitrum, Optimism and Harmony. Aave, which has a decentralized governance system, collects about $50 million in revenue per year to its treasury through its various activities, which makes it self-sustainable.

Two years after his last visit to the show and after the recent Aave 3.0 release, we had Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, back on to chat about governance within the DeFi space, his new project Lens Protocol, and the road ahead for not only his projects, but also the ecosystem as a whole.

Topics covered in this episode:

• In view of the situation this week with Terra and UST, we hear Stani's take on stable coins and stable coin mechanisms and how this has evolved over time
• New collateral - how a collapse of an asset can affect lending markets
• Governance within Aave and DeFi protocols in general
• How interoperability looks for a lending protocol
• Stani's new project LensProtocol - the composable and decentralized social graph
• Why have other decentralized social networks not managed to take off?
• Stani's recent ban from Twitter #freestani
• The roadmap for both Aave and Lens over the next 2 years
• What is coming next for the ecosystem?

Episode links:

• Aave
• Lens Protocol
• Aave on Twitter
• Lens on Twitter
• Stani 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/ -
• 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
• 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 Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/444

Chun Wang started mining Bitcoin in 2011 and later created F2Pool, one of the leading Proof-of-Work mining pools. Despite his deep involvement in Proof-of-Work, Chun also recognized the transformative impact of Proof-of-Stake and started stakefish. stakefish has become one of the leading staking provider.

Chun joined us to talk about his journey and reflections on Bitcoin, Ethereum and Proof-of-Stake. We also dove into the topic of humans becoming a multi-planetary species and whether Bitcoin's consensus could be modified to allow mining on different planets.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Chun's background and how he got into crypto
• Why he created the mining pool F2Pool
• The biggest differences between running validators like stakefish vs a mining pool like F2Pool
• What led him to build stakefish
• Chun's views on Ethereum
• Why Bitcoin is more decentralized than Ethereum
• The future of Proof-of-Stake
• Stakefish's Ethereum staking product
• Chun's thoughts of MEV and how will stakefish deal with it in the future
• Making Bitcoin multiplanetary

Episode links:

• stakefish
• F2Pool
• stakefish on Twitter
• Chun 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. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/443

Florian Glatz, blockchain.lawyer, is one of the most knowledgeable OG's at the intersection of crypto and law. He was last on the show 6 years ago when we talked in great detail about smart contracts and the DAO. We welcomed him back to discuss the regulatory environment, with a focus on Europe. We covered key topics like the recently floated Proof of Work ban, Travel of Funds Regulation (TFR), and Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation. We also discussed the European Crypto Initiative, a new lobby organization that Florian co-founded, which is advocating for crypto-friendly regulation on a European level.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What Florian got wrong about DAOs when he was on the show in 2016
• The story of the Geman blockchain association Bundesblock that Florian co-founded and was president of
• The European Crypto Initiative - Why a European-level organization is needed
• The most important regulatory questions facing crypto today
• Why crypto taxation is a particularly challenging issue
• How will competition between different nation states play out?
• Whether we will see the rise of new nation states or digital nations

Episode links:

• Episode 125 - Defining a Legal Framework for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO)
• The Sovereign individual
• blockchain.lawyer
• Florian on Twitter

Sponsors:

• 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 Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/422

Multicoin Capital is a thesis-driven investment firm that invests in the crypto space. They manage a hedge fund and a venture fund, investing across both public and private markets. Since their founding in 2017, they have become known for their high returns.

We were joined by founders Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain, for Multicoin's third visit on the show, to chat about how they came together to form Multicoin, their current investment thesis and how it has evolved, and the road ahead in the blockchain ecosystem.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Tushar and Kyle's backgrounds and what led to Multicoin
• Why did they choose to create an investing company?
• Their current investment thesis and how it has evolved
• Multicoin's decision to not invest in certain lucrative projects
• How they chose what to invest in
• The Proof of Physical Work thesis
• The process of how they select an investment and the strategy behind their portfolio
• Projects they regret not investing in
• A prediction of how the blockchain ecosystem will look in three years
• Dominance of DeFi

Episode links:

• Episode 361 with Kyle
• Episode 223 with Kyle and Tushar
• Protocols dont capture value, DAOs manage risk - thesis
• Multicoin on Twitter
• Kyle on Twitter
• Tushar 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/441

Regen Network is a blockchain focused on ecological regeneration and reversing climate change. Their aim is to reinvent the economics of agriculture so that farmers are seen not only as food producers, but also as land stewards. Regen Network serve as the foundation on which which other projects and protocols may build upon and harness to execute their own climate-focused business models. Using a distributed ledger and modern remote sensing technology, the Regen team are creating new tools allowing humanity to reconnect with the environment.

We were joined by CEO & Co-founder of Regen, Gregory Landua, to chat about what has motivated him to create Regen. We took a deep dive into how Regen Network works and especially discussed carbon credits and the Nature Carbon Ton (NCT), a novel carbon credit token they are launching.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Gregory's background and what motivated him to create Regen
• Why he chose to build Regen on Cosmos
• What are carbon credits and how is their impact measured?
• How the Nature Carbon Ton (NCT) token works and what is the vision for how it evolves
• The 2 modules Regen have built on Cosmos SDK - Ecocredits and Data
• Regen 4.0 - what is coming next?

Episode links:

• Regen website
• Regen on Medium
• Regen on Twitter
• Gregory on Twitter

Sponsors:

• 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 Brian Fabian Crain and Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/440

Brian was joined by Felix Lutsch, CCO of Chorus One, for a discussion of what is going on in crypto today. The discussion included the evolving Proof-of-Stake landscape, the role of and trends around liquid staking and interoperability. They also discussed the crypto markets and the possible impact of a changing macro environment with increasing inflation.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Felix's background and how he got into crypto
• How the staking landscape is evolving
• The increasing complexity within the staking industry and the impact this will bring, including compliance and MEV
• Liquid staking - where it is today and where it is headed
• Interoperability - IBC adoption, Terra, composability
• Crypto markets - inflation and predicting the future

Episode links:

• Chorus One
• Chorus One on Twitter
• Felix on Twitter
• The Q-Trap by Arthur Hayes

Sponsors:

• 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 Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/439

Anoma is a set of protocols that puts privacy front and center. It aims to facilitate “Self-Sovereign Communities” by providing tools that grant increased control to individuals and communities governing their day-to-day interactions and activities.

We were joined by co-founders Adrian Brink and Christopher Goes, to help unravel the complex offering that is the Anoma Network. Hear as we chat about why they created Anoma, some use cases to explain how it works, and the roadmap going forward.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What led Adrian and Christopher to starting their own PoS blockchain
• What 'undefining money' actually means
• How Anoma works
• The Namada blockchain
• Multi asset shielded pools - why aren't they used more often?
• A deep dive into the technical components of Anoma
• The relationship between Anoma and Namada
• Thoughts on FATF and recent moves to make sending KYC information with transactions mandatory
• Timelines for upcoming launches

Episode links:

• Anoma
• Discord
• Anoma on Twitter
• Adrian on Twitter
• Christopher on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Tally: Tally 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
• 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

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/438

Leveraging the Cosmos SDK, Evmos is the first IBC-compatible EVM-based blockchain, bringing composability, interoperability, and fast finality to Ethereum. While much of the Cosmos ecosystem has embraced CosmWasm to deploy smart contracts, Evmos brings EVM capabilities to the Interchain and allows developers to write contracts in Solidity, the most widely used language in crypto.

While the Evmos launch was halted in early March due to a critical vulnerability and a failed chain upgrade, the project is highly anticipated by the Cosmos community as it promises to bring speed, scale, and interoperability to Ethereum. This week, Sebastien was joined by the co-founder of Evmos, Federico Kunze Küllmer, to chat about the innovation that Evmos is bringing to the EVM ecosystem and the long-term vision for the project.

This episode is an excerpt of an extended interview with Federico released on The Interop, a new podcast hosted by Sebastien Couture. To hear the full interview and subscribe to The Interop, check the episode links.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Fede's background and how he got into crypto
• The early days at Tendermint and contributing to Ether Mint
• The delayed launch of the Evmos upgrade and how that has affected the project
• What innovation does Evmos bring to the EVM now and in the future
• Evmos' interoperability with other chains
• Bridges and the issue asset fungibility
• How sovereign chains will interact with smart contracts or addresses on Evmos
• What DeFi applications will be launched on Evmos
• Standout features of the token model
• Is fragmentation on the Interchain a good approach?

Episode links:

• Hear the full interview on The Interop podcast
• Evmos
• Evmos on Twitter
• Federico 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. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/437

After more than three years in the making, Laura Shin has just released her first book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze. In it she dives into the history of Ethereum and the 2017 ICO craze by telling the tale of the early tensions and power struggle that defined Ethereum's founding. It gives the inside story of The DAO, and depicts 2017's global initial coin offering tidal wave that boosted prices and fortunes.

Laura Shin, former Forbes journalist, podcast host, and now author, joined us for a fascinating chat about the research that went into the book (including the 200+ interviews), revealing the infamous Ethereum hacker, and how the book has been received and her future plans for another.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Laura's background and how she got into crypto
• Why did Laura choose to write this book?
• Researching for the book and the people she interviewed
• Laura's takeaways about the Ethereum founders
• The reveal of the hacker and the reactions from those close to them
• The Ethereum 'Shadow Government'
• The importance of Vitalik to Ethereum today and where he might be headed next
• Where are the other co-founders of Ethereum now?
• What's next for Laura?

Episode links:

• Buy the book
• Laura Shin
• The Unchained Podcast
• Laura on Medium
• Laura 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

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/436