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Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies
Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies episodes
- #215 Elizabeth Rossiello: BitPesa – Building Financial Platforms for Frontier MarketsWe're pleased to be joined by Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO and Founder of BitPesa. BitPesa provides companies in frontier markets with the financial infrastructure to facilitate commerce and payments, where traditional financial markets are known to be fractured and expensive12 hr 55 min
- Christopher Fabian & Shaun Conway: Unicef & Ixo: Towards More Transparent Humanitarian Projects
We’re joined by Christopher Fabian, Co-founder of Unicef’s Innovation Unit. We discuss how the global non-profit institution leverages innovative technology to solve real-world problems in humanitarian work. We explore the different applications of blockchain in the UN and Unicef, as well as the challenges we can anticipate when deploying these technologies in the developing world. Shaun Conway, Founder of Ixo Foundation, also joins the discussion as a startup working Unicef and talks about the value of a global reputation network for humanitarian projects.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Chris’ and Shaun’s respective backgrounds
- A bit of background on the UN and Unicef
- Unicef’s Innovation Unit and Venture arm
- How Unicef evaluates the different technologies in the space (public, permissionned, etc.)
- The challenges faced when deploying new technologies in the developing world
- Unicef’s recent experimentation with an Ethereum smart contract
- Potential applications for blockchain at the UN and Unicef
- Unicef’s Venture arm and the types of projects in which they invest
- Ixo Foundation, their collaboration with Unicef and the value of a Proof of Impact blockchain network
Episode links:
- Blockchain at UNICEF
- Christopher Fabian - Wikipedia
- UNICEF Ventures: Exploring Smart Contracts
- ixo foundation
- ixo foundation – Medium
This episode is hosted by Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/214
1 hr 7 min - #214 Christopher Fabian & Shaun Conway: Unicef & Ixo: Towards More Transparent Humanitarian ProjectsWe're joined by Christopher Fabian, Co-founder of Unicef's Innovation Unit. We discuss how the global non-profit institution leverages innovative technology to solve real-world problems in humanitarian work. We explore the different applications of blockchain in the UN and Unicef, as well as the challenges we can anticipate when deploying these technologies in the developing world. Shaun Conway, Founder of Ixo Foundation, also joins the discussion as a startup working Unicef and talks about the value of a global reputation network for humanitarian projects.1 hr 6 min
- Tim Swanson: Busting the Great Wall of Hype
In the blockchain world, few people are as brave as Tim Swanson when it comes to busting hype. Tim’s unbiased, honest, and sometimes controversial opinions provide a refreshingly realistic view of blockchain adoption and applications of this technology by people and businesses. Cutting through the hype, the over-sold press releases ad the blind optimism of a completely decentralized economy, Tim’s insights provide a sobering look at the state of the blockchain.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Tim’s background and recent departure from R3
- The current state of the enterprise blockchain market
- The state of Bitcoin in the context of the recent price increase
- Tim’s thoughts on the recent spike in ICO’s
- The rumors and concerns surrounding Bitfinex and Tether
- The rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as an asset class
- Current problems in Bitcoin: governance and centralization of power
- Tim’s new project: Post Oak Labs
Episode links:
- Tim's Blog: Great Wall of Numbers
- Bitcoin Is Now Just A Ticker Symbol and Stopped Being Permissionless Years Ago
- Who are the administrators of blockchains?
- Eight Things Cryptocurrency Enthusiasts Probably Won’t Tell You
- Post Oak Labs
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/213
1 hr - #213 Tim Swanson: Busting the Great Wall of HypeIn the blockchain world, few people are as brave as Tim Swanson when it comes to busting hype. Tim's unbiased, honest, and sometimes controversial opinions provide a refreshingly realistic view of blockchain adoption and applications of this technology by people and businesses. Cutting through the hype, the over-sold press releases ad the blind optimism of a completely decentralized economy, Tim's insights provide a sobering look at the state of the blockchain.12 hr 59 min
- Adam Perlow & Asher Manning: Zen Protocol – A Decentralized Financial System
We were joined by Founder Adam Perlow and Developer Asher Manning of Zen, a public blockchain project focused on building a decentralized financial system. The core premise of Zen is that none of the public blockchain networks are focused on financial asset. Zen is aiming to fill that gap through a Bitcoin-like UTXO architecture that supports multiple asset and smart contracts to enforce complex ownership rules.
We talked through their original design choices, their use of formal verification, connection to Bitcoin and vision for a fully decentralized financial system.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Why existing public blockchains are ill-suited for financial instruments
- Why Zen chose to use a Bitcoin-like UTXO architecture
- How Zen uses formal verification to allow smart contracts without a virtual machine or needing gas
- How the Active Contract Set reduces the burden on the miners
- Walking through creating, trading and settling a call option on Zen
- How Zen allows payments to be settled in Bitcoin
- Getting data from the outside world with oracles
- Zen’s use of Proof-of-Work regulated by on-chain governance
Episode links:
- Zen Protocol - A Financial Engine
- Zen Protocol - Whitepaper
- Zen Protocol - Deck
- Google Campus Presentation - YouTube
- Zen - Alpha Version
- Zen Protocol Founders Film - YouTube
- Oracles and Zen – Zen Protocol
- Zen’s contract lifecycle – Zen Protocol
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/212
1 hr 3 min - #212 Adam Perlow & Asher Manning: Zen Protocol – A Decentralized Financial SystemAdam Perlow and Asher Manning of Zen Protocol joined us to discuss how Zen aims to build a decentralized financial system combining smart contracts with a Bitcoin-like UTXO architecture.1 hr 2 min
- Zoe Adamovicz: Neufund and the Case for Selling Equity on the Blockchain
Neufund CEO Zoe Adamovicz joined us to discuss how Neufund is creating a platform to allow companies to sell tokens backed by actual company equity.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Neufund’s thesis of the revolutionary implications of token equity
- The difference between ICOs and Equity Token Offerings (ETO)
- Why from a regulatory perspective ETOs are uncomplicated
- How Neufund’s token Neumarks serves to build a community
- How the Initial Capital Building Mechanism is bootstrapping the ecosystem
- The long-term vision of creating a global stock market
Episode links:
- Neufund
- Neufund Whitepaper
- Neufund Light Paper
- Neufund | ICBM Commit Page
- German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) on ICOs and cryptocurrencies
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/211
1 hr - #211 Zoe Adamovicz: Neufund and the Case for Selling Equity on the BlockchainWith the meteoric rise of ICOs, the questionable incentives and regulatory pitfalls of such offerings are becoming abundantly obvious. Yet, raising money from a global crowd by selling tokens is here to stay.Neufund CEO Zoe Adamovicz joined us to explain their approach to blockchain crowdfunding. By putting tokens backed by actual equity on a blockchain, they allow sales that protect investors and are accessible to non-token-based projects.12 hr 59 min
- Alex Morcos: Chaincode Labs and Why Bitcoin is Our One Shot at Creating Digital Gold
Chaincode Labs Founder Alex Morcos joined us to discuss his journey, the role of the company in Bitcoin’s development and the views that drive his work.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Alex’s background in high frequency trading as a founder of Hudson River Trading
- How Alex first learned about Bitcoin
- The vision of Chaincode Labs
- Why Bitcoin represents our only chance of creating digital gold
- Why Bitcoin’s resistance to change is one of its core features
- Why the NYA & SegWit2x approach was misguided
- How getting consensus around a hard fork blocksize increase could work
- Why Alex is not excited about the efforts to use blockchains in banks
Episode links:
- Chain Code Labs, Inc
- Twitter Alex Morcos
- Why Bitcoin doesn’t need a solution – Alex Morcos – Medium
- No2x: Centralized Services – Alex Morcos – Medium
- No2x: Full Nodes – Alex Morcos – Medium
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/210
1 hr 6 min
About Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies
From the publisher's feed
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.
Epicenter is hosted by Sebastien Couture, Brian Fabian Crain, Friederike Ernst, Meher Roy and Felix Lutsch. Since 2014, our episodes have been downloaded over 8 million times.
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