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

November 21, 2017 #210 Alex Morcos: Chaincode Labs and Why Bitcoin is Our One Shot at Creating Digital Gold
In the last few years, Chaincode Labs played one of the most active roles in the development of Bitcoin core. Its founder Alex Morcos joined us to talk about his own journey from high frequency trading to discovering Bitcoin and starting Chaincode. We talked about what drives him, what the essential characteristics of Bitcoin are and how to think about recent event like the SegWit2x controversy.
1 hr 5 min
November 14, 2017Amrit Kumar & Xinshu Dong: Zilliqa – A Scalable Sharded Public Blockchain
Scaling public blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum is a long standing technical challenge. In this episode, we cover Zilliqa which has pioneered a design to scale public blockchain throughput with the number of nodes by sharding the blockchain. Sharding has been hitherto proposed as a scaling technique by Ethereum. Zilliqa is one of the first projects to propose a concrete design with an operational testnet processing a couple thousand transactions per second across several shards.
Our guests, Xinshu Dong (CEO) and Amrit Kumar (Crypto Lead), walk us through the objectives, protocol design and fundraising structure of this innovative project. We also briefly cover Zilliqa’s novel approach to designing a smart contract language and execution environment.
Topics covered in this episode:
Sharding as a scaling technique
Different kinds of sharding, including state sharding and non-state sharding
How Zilliqa works under the hood – consensus algorithms & transaction processing
Zilliqa’s novel approach for a smart contract language
Details of a new cryptocurrency, Zillings
Episode links:
Zilliqa Website
Zilliqa Blog
Zilliqa Whitepaper
Prateek Saxena and his research group at NUS Singapore
This episode is hosted by Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/209
1 hr 14 min
November 14, 2017 #209 Amrit Kumar & Xinshu Dong: Zilliqa – A Scalable Sharded Public Blockchain
Our guests, Xinshu Dong and Amrit Kumar, walk us through the objectives, protocol design and fundraising structure of Zilliqua, a new public blockchain which achieves scalability through sharding.
1 hr 13 min
November 10, 2017Post DevCon3 Roundtable: State of Ethereum, Cosmos Retreat and Parity Hack
For the very first time, all three Epicenter hosts found themselves in the same location. After attending Ethereum’s DevCon 3 in Cancun, we were at a Cosmos Retreat and discussed the conference, retreat, state of the Ethereum ecosystem and recent Parity hack.
Topics covered in this episode:
Recap of Ethereum’s DevCon 3 conference
Current state of Ethereum
The most interesting new projects at DevCon
The post-DevCon Cosmos retreat
The internet of blockchain thesis
The case for blockchain’s having sovereignty
The massive loss of funds due to Parity’s flawed multisig contract
The pros and cons of an Ethereum hard fork
Episode links:
Ethereum Developers Conference (Devcon3)
Cosmos - Internet of Blockchains
Many Chains One Ecosystem Slides
Many Chains One Ecosystem - YouTube
"Ethereum Client Bug Freezes User Funds as Fallout Remains Uncertain - CoinDesk"
Parity Multi-Sig Wallets Deployed After 7/30 Issue : ethereum
Paritytech - Security Alert
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/208
1 hr 9 min
November 10, 2017 #208 Post DevCon3 Roundtable: State of Ethereum, Cosmos Retreat and Parity Hack
The three Epicenter hosts discuss the Ethereum Developer conference, state of Ethereum ecosystem, Cosmos retreat and the Parity hack.
1 hr 8 min
November 01, 2017Micah Winkelspecht: Gem – The Enterprise Platform That Powers Data-Driven Applications
We are joined by Micah Winkelspecht, CEO and Founder of Gem. What started as a Bitcoin API in 2014 has evolved into a leading provider of blockchain solutions for enterprise. Gem addresses the problem of digital data silos and the complexities they introduce when companies and individuals collaborate and share information. Their product, GemOS, provides a full-stack blockchain middleware platform which allows companies to build applications on top of blockchains protocols like Ethereum or Hyperledger Fabric.
Topics covered in this episode:
Micah’s background and how he got involved in the Bitcoin space
How the company and product have evolved to support his original vision
How blockchain technologies are transforming process digitization
The siloed identity problem and what complexities it introduces for people and companies
How GemOS is addressing fundamental issues in health care and insurance
How blockchain technologies can support regulated industries
Micah’s insights on creating awareness among enterprise clients
The importance of building ecosystems and network economies which enterprise can leverage
Episode links:
Gem.co
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/207
1 hr 4 min
November 01, 2017 #207 Micah Winkelspecht: Gem – The Enterprise Platform That Powers Data-Driven Applications
Micah Winkelspecht, CEO and Founder of Gem, joins us to talk about GemOS, a full-stack blockchain middleware platform that allows companies to build applications on top of blockchains protocols like Ethereum or Hyperledger Fabric.
1 hr 3 min
October 24, 2017Karl Kreder: Grid+ – Unlocking Direct Access to Wholesale Energy Markets
Energy markets form a complex ecosystem of actors. Wholesale energy producers create energy through various means, grid operators transport electricity over long distances and deliver it to homes and businesses, who buy it from local utility companies. The utilities act as resellers in this scheme and take on much of the financial risk associated with selling a commodity which is consumed long before payment settlement from consumers. However, utilities have high operation and marketing costs and charge a high markup on the electricity they buy from wholesalers.
Karl Kreder, Co-founder of Grid+, a Consensys project, joins us to talk about how blockchain technology can help disintermediate utilities and allow consumers buy electricity directly from producers. The Grid+ Agent is a hardware device which sits in your home, is connected to your energy meter and can interact with the power grid. The Agent has built-in logic allowing it to respond to your energy needs and predict usage. It is also equipped with a Trusted Execution Environment and a wallet which keeps private keys secure and can make near real-time payments to the network.
Topics covered in this episode:
Karl’s background and how he became part of Consensys Energy
A high-level overview of the energy market and the different players in this ecosystem
Where lie the inefficiencies and how they can be improved
The challenges facing the energy market today
The Grid+ Agent and its functionality
How the Grid+ Agent works and how it interacts with the grid
Other potential applications for the Grid+ Agent
The economics of the Grid+ smart contract and how it handles risk
The Grid+ token sale
Episode links:
Grid+
Grid+ Whitepaper
What is Grid+? - YouTube
This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/206
1 hr 1 min
October 24, 2017 #206 Karl Kreder: Grid+ – Unlocking Direct Access to Wholesale Energy Markets
Karl Kreder, Co-founder of Grid+, a Consensys project, joins us to talk about how blockchain technology can help disintermediate utilities and allow consumers buy electricity directly from producers. The Grid+ Agent is a hardware device which sits in your home, is connected to your energy meter and can interact with the power grid.
1 hr
October 18, 2017Galen Wolfe-Pauly: Urbit – A Digital Republic Reinventing the Internet
Galen Wolfe-Pauly, CEO of Tlon, the company behind Urbit, joined us to discuss one of the most radical and curious projects to come on the podcast. In development for 15 years already, Urbit aims to unravel the cloud computing paradigm that led to the creation of internet monopolies like Google and Facebook. Instead, in Urbit, each person has a personal server, a kind of digital sovereign entity, where applications are run, which leaves control and data in the hands of users.
Galen joined us to discuss what the philosophy and ideas driving Urbit, how a radically different internet could look like and what our path is to get there.
Topics covered in this episode:
The 15 year long history and evolution of Urbit
Understanding Urbit through the metaphors of a personal server, a personal blockchain, a republic or an operating function
The main Urbit components Nock, Hoon and Arvo
How Galaxies, Stars and Planets create Urbit’s hierarchy
The Urbit namespace and why it has value
How Urbit aims to radically reengineer how the internet works
Episode links:
Urbit - Website
Urbit - An Overview
Urbit - Beliefs and Principles
Urbit - Interim Constitution
Urbit and the Blockchain Wars
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/205
1 hr 5 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.