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

By Epicenter Media Ltd.Business Investing

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

July 24, 2018 #245 Martin Becze: Primea – The Next-Generation Blockchain Operating System
Martin Becze is a researcher at Dfinity working on a next-generation “Blockchain Operating System” called Primea - a continuation of his work on the eWASM project from his time at the Ethereum Foundation. Primea is an actor based IPC layer intended for use with WebAssembly programs.
1 hr 5 min
July 17, 2018Anthony Lusardi: Ethereum Classic Cooperative – Accelerating the Growth of ETC
The 2016 Ethereum hard fork left us with two distinct Ethereum chains. While the main Ethereum chain dwarfs Ethereum Classic in terms of market cap, ETC has sustained its position as a significant actor in the broader blockchain ecosystem. ETC’s recent listing on Coinbase demonstrates its credibility as a significant industry player.
We’re joined by Anthony Lusardi, Director of the Ethereum Classic Cooperative, an organization who’s goal is to promote the development of the Ethereum Classic Network. Similarly to other industry organizations, The Cooperative invests in core development of the ETC blockchain, community building, marketing, and brand awareness.
Topics covered in this episode:
Anthony’s background and how he became involved in the crypto community
The Ethereum Classic Cooperative and the goals of the organization
What the ETC ecosystem looks like two years after the fork
The people and companies contributing to the project and building on the platform
The overlap and friction points with the broader Ethereum community
ETC’s unique value proposition as a blockchain platform
SputnikVM as an alternative to the Ethereum Virtual Machine
The potential attack vectors on ETC, including 51% attacks
Why the ETC community stands behind Proof-of-Work
The Cooperative’s plans to remain relevant and the project’s development roadmap
Episode links:
Ethereum Classic Cooperative Website
Ethereum Classic Website
Crypto51: Cost of a 51% Attack for Different Cryptocurrencies
@eth_classic on Twitter
This episode is hosted by Sébastien Couture and Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/244
1 hr 5 min
July 17, 2018 #244 Anthony Lusardi: Ethereum Classic Cooperative – Accelerating the Growth of ETC
We're joined by Anthony Lusardi, Director of the Ethereum Classic Cooperative, an organization who's goal is to promote the development and growth of the Ethereum Classic Network.
1 hr 4 min
July 12, 2018Evan Shapiro & Izaak Meckler: Coda – A Succinct Blockchain
One of the key scalability challenges with public cryptocurrency blockchains is that their size grows linearly with the number of transactions. Mature blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum contain >170GB and >1 TB of historical data respectively. New nodes joining these chains need to download this data and verify it in order to become a “full node”. The number of full nodes is a key measure of decentralization, and difficulty becoming a full node translates into future centralization.
In this episode, we are joined by the duo of Evan Shapiro and Izaak Meckler, CEO and CTO at O(1) Labs respectively. O(1) Labs is a pioneering company that uses zkSNARK technology in order to construct a cryptocurrency blockchain, called Coda, that solves the blockchain size scalability bottleneck. New nodes joining the Coda network will be able to trustlessly boot up in under a minute by verifying cryptographic proofs that attest to the validity of the current chain. This technology has great potential to enable decentralization, and for one blockchain to be a light client of another blockchain.
Topics covered in this episode:
Scalability challenges of current cryptocurrencies
Background on O(1) Labs and their mission statement
How Coda uses succinct computational integrity technology (zkSNARKs) to enable further decentralization of blockchains
Snarky – a domain specific language for zkSNARK computations
Current state of Coda and roadmap
Episode links:
Coda protocol website
Coda Whitepaper
Presentation on Snarkly by Izzak Meckler
zkSNARKs in a nutshell by Christian Reitweissner
zkSNARKs in a nutshell by Vitalik Buterin
Coda presentation at hack.summit("blockchain") 2018
This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/243
54 min
July 12, 2018 #243 Evan Shapiro & Izaak Meckler: Coda – A Succinct Blockchain
O(1) labs is a pioneering company that uses zkSNARK technology in order to construct a cryptocurrency blockchain, called Coda, that solves the blockchain size scalability bottleneck.
12 hr 53 min
July 04, 2018Neha Narula: MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative – A Research-Driven Approach to Blockchain
When the Bitcoin Foundation fell apart and funding for Bitcoin core development was needed, the MIT founded the Digital Currency Initiative to step in. In the years since, the DCI has evolved into a vibrant center of cutting edge research on some of the most difficult challenges around blockchain technology.
DCI Director Neha Narula joined us to discuss the DCI’s position between academia and industry, their policy on conflicts of interest, and their most fascinating research topics.
Topics covered in this episode:
How her interest in distributed systems and scaling lead led her to the blockchain space
The mission and history of the MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative
How cryptocurrency might evolve over time as an academic field
The DCI’s project on digital fiat currency
How zkLedger could enable privacy-preserving auditing for distributed ledgers
Why sharding is unlikely to succeed in the short- and medium term
Why Neha is most optimistic about layer 2 approaches to scaling like lightning network
The story of discovering and writing about IOTA’s vulnerability
How DCI handles conflicts of interest and strives for neutrality
Episode links:
MIT Digital Currency Initiative
Neha Narula Personal Website
What’s New at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative
The Importance of Layer 2
Cryptographic vulnerabilities in IOTA
zkLedger | the future of audit
zkLedger Whitepaper
Neha Narula: The future of money | TED Talk
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/242
1 hr 16 min
July 04, 2018 #242 Neha Narula: MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative – A Research-Driven Approach to Blockchain
Neha Narula, Director of the MIT's Digital Currency Initiative, joined us to discuss the evolution of the DCI, their most important research items and the recent controversy around IOTA.
1 hr 15 min
June 27, 2018Eric Larchevêque: Ledger – How to Build an Industry-Leading Cryptocurrency Security Company
Before founding what is now one of the most successful companies in the cryptocurrency industry, Eric Larchevêque and his co-founder opened La Maison du Bitcoin, a Bitcoin education center and co-working space in the second district of Paris. It was through chance encounters in this space that Leger was born in the basement of 35 rue du Caire, where the company also operated a Bitcoin exchange desk and a handful of crypto miners.
Eric Larchevêque, CEO of Ledger, joins us again since his last appearance as a guest 200 episodes ago. We discuss the meteoric rise of Ledger from a ten-person team to now nearly 150 people across three continents. This fascinating discussion is a master class in product development, scaling at lightning speed, and staying true to your vision when everyone is pushing you to change course.
Topics covered in this episode:
Eric’s background and how he became involved in the Bitcoin space
La Maison du Bitcoin and the early days of Ledger in Paris
The meteoric growth of Ledger and how the company managed to scale without imploding
The appointment of Pascal Gautier as President how to hire the right people when scaling fast
Ledger’s various funding rounds and lessons learned from working with corporate investors
The particularities of building products for the crypto community
Ledger’s product lineup (Nano S, Blue, and Vault) and target clients
The upcoming release of the revamped wallet app
Ledger Vault as a security solution for institutional investors
Ledger’s hardware technology and rock-solid approach to security
Episode links:
Ledger Wallet Website
Ledger Corporate Website
CoinHouse (formerly La Maison du Bitcoin)
Announcing the new Ledger Wallet desktop and mobile applications
Former CRITEO COO joins leading security player in Cryptocurrency space
Ledger raises USD 75 million to secure cryptocurrency assets
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/241
1 hr 16 min
June 27, 2018 #241 Eric Larchevêque: Ledger – How to Build an Industry-Leading Cryptocurrency Security Company
Eric Larchevêque joins us to discuss the meteoric rise of Ledger from a ten person team to now nearly 150 people on three continents. This fascinating discussion is a master class in product development, scaling at lightning speed, and staying true to your vision when everyone is pushing you to change course.
1 hr 14 min
June 21, 2018Pamela Morgan: Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning
While many cryptocurrency holders have thought about how to secure their assets, how to pass on cryptoassets in case of one’s death is rarely on people’s mind. Lawyer Pamela Morgan has been helping people and organizations build solutions to safely store their cryptoassets and has recently turned her attention to inheritance planning. Though we have often explored the legal issues surrounding blockchains and cryptocurrencies on Epicenter, never have we discussed the topic of inheritance.
We discussed her new book “Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning” and how people can design a simple plan to give heirs a high chance of recovering assets in less than an hour.
Topics covered in this episode:
How an impassioned talk on Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopoulos started her crypto journey
Common misconceptions lawyers have about crypto
Her work through Empowered Law on educating lawyers
Third Key Solutions and building non-custodial key management solutions
The most frequent mistakes people make when it comes to protecting cryptoassets
How to do inheritance planning for cryptoassets
Differentiating between technical and legal aspects to inheritance planning
Episode links:
Empowered Law – Law and Education to Empower the World
Third Key Solutions – Non-Custodial Key Management and Consulting Services
Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning Book
Inheritance Planning for Cryptocurrencies: 3 Steps in 3 Minutes
When Disaster Strikes: Developing a Recovery Plan for Bitcoin and Digital Tokens
Pamela Morgan on Twitter
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/240
1 hr 10 min

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Epicenter brings you in-depth conversations about the technical, economic and social implications of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Every week, we interview business leaders, engineers academics and entrepreneurs, and bring you a diverse spectrum of opinions and points of view.