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

IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a fully decentralized distributed system for storing and accessing files, websites, applications, and data. Released just over 5 years ago by Protocol Labs, it has had a tremendous impact in the Web3 space as the standard for how blockchain projects store data. Filecoin is a complementary protocol to IPFS and was recently launched on the mainnet. Filecoin is the economic layer which powers IPFS's decentralized file storage network. It enables users to store their files at hypercompetitive prices and verify that their files are being stored and replicated correctly. And it allows storage providers to sell their storage on an open market.

Juan Benet is the Founder & CEO of Protocol Labs, which has had a huge impact in the blockchain ecosystem, as organisation behind IPFS and Filecoin. Juan returns to the show after 5 years to give us an important update on the long-term vision to fund innovative technologies, IPFS since it was created, and Filecoin as a foundation to a new decentralized cloud.This is a 2-part series and in the next episode we deep dive in to the technical aspects of Filecoin.

Topics covered in this episode:

• An update on Protocol Labs and how it has grown on the Bell Labs model
• How they bridge the gap between a research foundation (Bell Labs) and a company (Protocol Labs)
• The intersection between computer science and crypto
• How the Protocol Labs organisation is setup and how Juan has led it as a solo founder
• An overview of IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) and how it has evolved since our last interview
• An introduction to the Filecoin blockchain and its unique design
• How Filecoin is fundamentally different from other layer-1 blockchains
• How hash rates and storage fees affect the Filecoin blockchain consensus system
• The potential impacts of Filecoin on a global level

Episode links:

• Filecoin website
• Protocol Labs website
• IPFS website
• Episode #100 with Juan Benet
• Filecoin on Twitter
• Juan on Twitter

Sponsors:

• cPanel: cPanel's WordPress Toolkit is the all in one solution that makes hosting your website easier than it's ever been - https://epicenter.rocks/cpanel
• Algorand: Learn more about Algorand and how it’s unique design makes it easy for developers to build sophisticated applications - https://algorand.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/367

Data is a huge industry, worth about $500 billion in Europe alone. And currently there's a fundamental misalignment between those creating data and those consuming it. There's a one direction value flow in terms of those who are providing the value (the data) and those extracting it. These are big tech platforms that typically use that data to sell signals and advertising to brands and merchants. This is referred to as a shadow data economy and it's time to flip this model on its head.

Ocean Protocol is a platform which creates data marketplaces, providing an alternative to the current model. Data providers can sell their data to the platform to whoever wants to buy it and that data set is represented as a token. The value is a function of the usefulness of that data. This creates a much more equitable market where value flow is more cyclical than one directional.

Trent McConaghy, Founder of Ocean Protocol, joins us to chat about the platform. They have just released V3 which has seen the introduction of the data token, the Ocean Market, and a new home on the Ethereum Mainchain.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Trent’s background and long history of building blockchain products
• The business models built around data and the “Shadow Data Economy”
• What Ocean Protocol is and what it achieves
• Technical components and stakeholders in the Ocean Protocol
• Staking and providing liquidity for datatoken markets
• The Ocean Market and activity since the launch
• Ocean Protocol and its compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR
• Ocean Protocol V3 and migrating from a sidechain to the mainnet
• The future of Ocean Protocol and the potential for data stream markets

Episode links:

• Ocean Protocol website
• Ocean V3 release
• Episode 78 - Ascribe – The Internet of Ownership
• Episode 126 - BigchainDB – Scalable Public Distributed Databases
• Episode 184 - IPDB – The Interplanetary Database and its Applications in AI
• Ocean Protocol on Twitter
• Trent on Twitter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/366

Circles UBI is a blockchain-based Universal Basic Income created to promote local economy within communities. It was recently launched on Ethereum’s POA network.

The idea is to create a parallel economy by forming trust lines within Circles. Anyone who joins Circles receives a basic income regularly, without conditions. And the more connected your community is, the more valuable your Circles become. Also it is fully decentralized. What makes Circles special is that it doesn't market itself to anyone specific in crypto. It positions itself as an ecosystem and protocol that can help anyone create and promote a local economy within their local community. In the current economic crisis, this is a hugely powerful tool for societies to utilise.

Martin Köppelmann, CEO of Gnosis, joins us for his third appearance on the show. He is also the creator of Circles and chats to us about why he believes the world needs this, and how the project works.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What Universal Basic Income (UBI) is and Martin’s interest and support of it
• Pros and cons of funding UBI through taxation
• Explaining Circles’ decentralized UBI
• How ‘personal tokens’ work in Circles
• Issuance and trust connections
• Dealing with sybil attacks
• On throughput limits
• Conditions attached to your account
• How UBI keeps up with inflation
• Getting started with Circles
• Attracting non crypto users and driving demand
• Can Circles move onto Layer-2 - UX Design choices
• Learn more about Circles and get involved

Episode links:

• Circles UBI website
• Circles Whitepaper
• Martin on Epicenter - Episode 271, How the dxDAO could become the world’s largest organization
• Martin on Epicenter - Episode 139, Gnosis – The Ethereum Prediction Market
• Find Circles on Meetup
• Circles Twitter
• Martin Twitter

Sponsors:

• Algorand: Learn how to start building on Algorand – Free webinar on November 17th - https://algorand.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/365

Alchemy is a powerful blockchain developer platform providing a suite of developer tools. Developers building apps which interact with Ethereum can use Alchemy's powerful APIs to supercharge their apps, and leverage features not available in vanilla nodes. They also provide services like analytics, monitoring, alerting, logging and debugging.

Today, a number of the top Dapps in the Ethereum ecosystem use Alchemy, and the company recently made their API available to the general public. We chatted to Nikil Viswanathan, CEO & Co-founder about the platform, how it works and the problems it solves. We also addressed the concerns around centralization and ecosystem resiliency.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Nikil's background and how he got into crypto
• The Blockchain infrastructure
• Why Alchemy chose to focus Ethereum
• On building developer tools, and what Alchemy offers
• How it works on a technical level and how it’s different from what else is available on the market
• What can users do with supernodes
• Plans for expanding into validation and other services in the future
• Concerns for user privacy
• Adoption of Alchemy among crypto projects
• Nikil’s views on centralization concerns and ecosystem resiliency
• How Jay-Z become an investor/advisor and other interesting partnerships with Alchemy
• Where to learn more and join Alchemy

Episode links:

• Alchemy Website
• Get started on Alchemy
• Alchemy Supernode
• Alchemy on Twitter
• Nikil on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Algorand: Learn how to start building on Algorand – Free webinar on November 17th - https://algorand.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/364

Alameda Research is a quant trading fund founded in 2017. Today it manages over $100 million in digital assets and trades $600 million to $1.5 billion per day across thousands of products: all major coins and altcoins, as well as their derivatives. Whilst running this fund, the team thought there was space for a robust crypto derivatives exchange build for traders which solves some of the issues they saw in derivatives trading. FTX is the crypto derivatives trading platform which came out of Alameda. In just under two years of existence, it has grown to become one of the top trading platforms for crypto, trading over $1B per day in derivatives.

The FTX team are also working on Project Serum. It’s an ambitious project to create a fully decentralized and permissionless DEX and DeFi ecosystem with trustless cross-chain trading. Serum is being built on Solana to allow a centralized orderbook. This offers a much higher speed and throughput than Ethereum. The goal is to create a robust DEX ecosystem which can compete with centralized exchanges on speed, all while being fully interoperable with Ethereum.

Today our guest is Sam Bankman-Fried, he is the CEO of FTX and Alameda Research, and co-founder of Project Serum. We hear all about his journey from Alameda, to FTX, and to his latest venture, Serum.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Sam’s background and how he became involved in crypto trading
• Why and how FTX was created
• How FTX works and why the big focus on derivatives
• The cross-over between FTX and Alameda
• What Serum is and how it fits in the long term vision of FTX
• Sam’s view on where products on DeFi are falling short and how it can be fixed
• What are the trade-offs on Serum?
• The off chain Serum order book
• How cross-chain swaps work
• The boundaries of the Serum ecosystem in relation to Solana
• What is the governance mechanism on Serum
• Sam’s view on the AMM argument
• Where Sam thinks the DeFi ecosystem is heading and what is needed for it to gain legitimacy in the traditional finance world

Episode links:

• FTX
• Alameda Research
• Project Serum
• Epicenter episode 312 with Anatoly Yakovenko, Co-founder and CEO of Solana
• SushiSwap Twitter thread
• FTX on Twitter
• Sam on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Algorand: Learn how to start building on Algorand – Free webinar on November 17th - https://algorand.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/363

Adan (Association for the Development of Digital Assets), is an organization which helps promote the development of the crypto industry in France, and more broadly in Europe. Its President, Simon Polrot, is also the Co-founder Ethereum France, which host the EthCC conference in Paris.

The European Commission has released a regulatory proposal, MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets), which falls under The Digital Finance Package. The Adan team have been working hard to understand, dissect and establish positions with regards to this regulation. The scope of this MiCA is vast, and it covers nearly every type of activity which relates to cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, stablecoins, and security tokens in Europe. In addition to being broad, it puts enormous restrictions on the DeFi ecosystem by merely ignoring most decentralized use cases, making it nearly impossible for DeFi to continue existing as we know it. It's an important piece of regulation which would apply to almost every crypto asset company or issuer across the European continent, as well as companies who have customers or do business here.

We chat to Simon who explains what the draft proposal means and the effects it will have on the European crypto industry. He also shares how the community can get involved in steering the regulation in favour of the industry before it's passed into law.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Simon's background and how he became involved in crypto
• Adan's mission in France en Europe
• The high level principles of crypto regulations in Europe and the frameworks already in place
• The EU Commission's Digital Finance Package explained
• What MiCA is and who falls under this regulation
• How the Commission identifies “token issuers”
• How MiCA affects DeFi stablecoins like DAI
• What are Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) and how they are concerned by MiCA
• How the regulations may impact mining and staking
• How MiCA favors financial institutions over startups in the crypto space
• Why Simon thinks there is a positive side to this regulatory proposal
• What Adan is doing to raise awareness and lobby to amend this proposal and repair the issues arising out of the draft proposal
• How crypto companies can take part in the work of getting this regulation amended before it passes into law
• The possibility for an alternative crypto finance ecosystem to emerge from this regulation

Episode links:

• Adan Website
• About Adan
• Adan Webinar: Understanding the MiCA and Pilot Regime crypto regulation
• Become a member of Adan
• Adan on Twitter
• Simon on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Algorand: Learn how to start building on Algorand – Free webinar on November 17th - https://algorand.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/362

Multicoin Capital is a thesis-driven investment firm that invests in cryptocurrencies, tokens, and blockchain companies. They manage a hedge fund and a venture fund, investing across both public and private markets. They are extremely bullish on smart contract platforms and DeFi is one of their main areas of focus. They've invested in several projects and companies such as Algorand, Arweave, Nervos, Skale, Solana, to name a few.

We originally had Multicoin on the show in February of 2018 when they were still reasonably new and we were in the height of the ICO bubble. Kyle Samani, Co-founder and Managing Partner, joins us back on the show to share not only how Multicoin has changed since then, but also the cryptoasset industry as a whole.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What are the Multicoin theses and have they changed since Kyle was last on the show
• Why the most used smart contract platform will produce the winning store of value
• The role of gold in today's economy
• Bitcoin gaining traction in today's asset management circle
• Other assets that will eventually displace Bitcoin
• Which projects Multicoin are backing at the moment
• DeFi vs CeFi and latency
• Discussing what DeFi actually is
• Cryptocurrency's future role in the traditional financial system and the impact of potential new regulations
• How the cryptoasset industry has changed since Multicoin started and where it is headed
• The underrated areas Multicoin are looking at today

Episode links:

• Multicoin Capital
• Multicoin's first appearance on Epicenter
• Multicoin blog
• The Multicoin Thesis
• Multicoin on Twitter
• Kyle on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Algorand: To learn more about Algorand and how it’s unique design makes it easy for developers to build sophisticated applications. - https://algorand.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/361

Sögur, formerly known as Saga, aims to provide a global digital currency that acts as a store of value, a unit of account, and a medium of exchange. It is not impacted by any single nation state agenda and complements national currencies. And it is governed by its holders.

The SGR is Sögur's digital coin. It's built to provide a self-sustaining, democratic and global currency. It uses a bonding curve market maker, which is modelled to control and mitigate volatility exposure and value loss when market conditions are fast-changing and unpredictable. All whilst creating an opportunity for sustainable intrinsic value growth. SGR holders are the currency decision makers, and enjoy democratic voting rights over how SGR operates now and as it continues to evolve.

Sögur is interesting as it starts off looking like a stablecoin, but as the market grows it departs from its peg to become a free floating currency. It is currently pegged to the SDR (Special Drawing Rights). Deposits are held in FIAT reserves and as demand for SGR increases, the reserve ratio decreases. This causes the relative price to go up.

Ido Sadeh Man is chairman of the board and founder of Sögur. He joins us on the show to discuss the background of the project and what it is hoping to achieve, and an in depth look into the monetary policy of the SGR. He also talks about the impressive team and advisory board that is behind the project.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Ido's background and how he got into crypto
• Why the time is right for Sögur to have a positive impact
• Centres of stability on a global scale
• What Sögur is and what problem it solves
• How it works as a stablecoin
• The economics of the Sögur (SGR) currency
• The connection to the SDR (Special Drawings Right)
• Redeemability of reserves
• Why Sögur was built on Ethereum and not its own blockchain
• The effects of limitations and gas fees
• Will SGR bridge to all networks?
• The bonding curve model
• The governance structure of Sögur and the smart contract itself
• Stake-based voting vs participant-based voting
• Where reserves are held
• The team of investors backing Sögur
• The effects of changing regulations on Sögur
• The long term vision for Sögur

Episode links:

• Sögur Website
• Sögur Monetary
• The Voting Mechanism
• Sögur on Medium
• Sögur on Twitter
• Ido on Twitter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture.  This podcast episode was sponsored by Sögur.

Hidden Forces is a podcast devoted to exploring the underlying forces driving the most powerful changes we see in the world. Demetri Kofinas, host of the show, holds conversations with some of the most brilliant minds in technology, finance, social science, and the hard sciences. He consults blockchain and distributed ledger technology companies, and hedge funds and venture capital firms on how to invest in and around these same emerging technologies. 

We chatted to Demetri about a range of current topics from the US presidential election, the financial crisis and the role of the federal reserve and how it's reacting to the crisis. Also the role of central banks going forward in this new reality in which we live. We also discussed crypto and specifically his thoughts on the DeFi space. He has some very interesting views there. Demetri does not hold back on what he wants to say, so this was a fun and interesting conversation which we are sure you will enjoy too!

Topics covered in this episode:

• The US presidential election
• Demetri’s background and why he started Hidden Forces
• Hidden Forces and how he chooses guests and topics
• Demetri's health
• How Demetri sees the impact of blockchain on a societal level
• The current economic crisis
• The fundamental difference of the handling between past crises and the current one, by financial institutions
• Is the US on the brink of collapse?
• What is the role of the central bank if it can no longer function how it is supposed to, and can crypto play a role
• What are some past dApps that would contribute value to society
• Demetri’s views on Ampleforth
• Can a cryptocurrency become a world reserve currency?

Episode links:

• Hidden Forces
• The story of Demetri's tumour
• Demetri's website
• Demetri on Medium
• Hidden Forces on Twitter
• Demetri on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Algorand: To learn more about Algorand and how it’s unique design makes it easy for developers to build sophisticated applications. - https://algorand.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/360

NB: Since the recording of this podcast LazyLedger changed their name to Celestia.

Celestia is a scalable general-purpose data availability layer for decentralized apps and trust-minimized sidechains. It is a minimal, viable blockchain which does time stamping and block ordering.

Think back to Bitcoin in the early days, before Ethereum. Layer-2 systems were being built on top of Bitcoin and were leveraging Bitcoin’s consensus layer. This is what Celestia is doing, although it is purpose built and scalable for the exact use case. The implementation details are a lot more complex, and the vision is to create a modular pluggable Layer-1 that does nothing but consensus and data availability. It is designed for people who want to create their blockchain without consensus.

The project is yet to be launched, however we had Ismail Khoffi, Co-Founder and CTO, and Mustafa Al-Bassam, Co-Founder and CEO on the show to give us a deep technical overview and vision of Celestia.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Ismail and Mustafa's backgrounds, and how they got into the crypto space
• How Ismail and Mustafa met and created Celestia
• The Data Availability paper which was co-written with Vitalik and introduction to Celestia
• The purpose and function of Celestia
• How data availability works and the advantages and disadvantages to their ledger
• The purpose of Celestia
• How transaction fees work
• The interoperability aspect
• Honest validators on the block
• Non-interactive proofs on Celestia
• The interaction between Celestia and Cosmos SDK
• How will Celestia compete with other Layer One's, in particular Filecoin
• When the ledger will be launched

Episode links:

• Celestia website
• Celestia blog
• GitHub
• Celestia Twitter
• Ismail on Twitter
• Mustafa on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Algorand: To learn more about Algorand and how it’s unique design makes it easy for developers to build sophisticated applications. - https://algorand.com/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/359