Proof of Coverage

In this episode, Mahesh and guest host John Wu are joined by Kaledora Fontana Kiernan-Linn, Co-Founder of Ostium Labs. Ostium is committed to delivering solutions around stablecoin settlement, low-latency oracle-based pricing, minimal liquidity provider exposure, and a disintermediated and unbiased trading environment.

We discuss the world of Ostium, finance, and various platforms like Interactive Brokers, LMAX, CME, and Coinbase futures. Kaledora examines the flexibility and benefits of the current trading model, highlighting institutional liquidity, potential partnerships, and the intriguing concept of "perpification."

We also explore the noncustodial perp market for commodities, the significance of funding rates, and the creation of a platform for onboarding real-world assets through synthetic products. Kaledora shares insights into the technical challenges and the project's potential to disrupt traditional markets. Additionally, we uncover the novel solution for market hours data at the node level, emphasizing the importance of quick and decisive decision-making in the startup landscape.

Gain valuable perspectives on trading strategies, decision-making, and the exciting innovations reshaping the world of finance and investment.

00:00 Prioritize quick decision-making over perfection, use intuition.

04:25 Rational decision-making process for quitting ballet.

07:33 Encouraging team trust, accepting imperfect decisions.

10:50 Constructive disagreements focus on idea generation approaches.

15:48 Trading any asset as a perpetual summary.

17:24 Innovative funding rates create balance in crypto.

23:27 Express thoughts freely, don't overthink sharing.

25:32 Advice for overcoming writer's block and perfectionism.

27:57 Accounting for market features crucial for creating oracles.

31:28 Improved solution for market hours data reporting.

36:08 Decentralized system using pool-based market making.

39:10 Excited about future opportunities in crypto markets.

41:18 Creating perpetuals, a unique onboarding approach overview.

44:34 Cryptocurrency, perpetual futures, and evolution of assets.

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Sal is joined by Tom Trowbridge, Co-Founder of Fluence Labs. Fluence’s DePIN platform frees developers from centralized clouds by offering natively decentralized, low cost, and verifiable compute. In today’s episode, we dive deep into the world of decentralized networks with real-world utility. We discuss the trade-offs of decentralization, share personal experiences transitioning into the crypto space, and explore the changing landscape of talent and innovation in the crypto industry. The conversation delves into Fluence's unique approach to attracting utility-focused compute providers to power a decentralized, fault- tolerant, low-cost cloudless computing platform. This episode is filled with valuable insights covering the benefits and challenges of decentralized governance in token economies.

00:00 - Balancing institutional background with entrepreneurial experience.

05:48 - Sal's crypto-interest sparked by the first dedicated Crypto VC funds in 2018.

11:30 - Fluence’s new-generation Aqua programming language for distributed systems.

19:00 - Approximating demand for FLT through CPU staking.

25:31 - Drawbacks against community-run governance and centralization.

38:05 - Governance-minimized DePIN protocols.

42:40 - Sal discusses decentralized energy projects he’s excited about.

49:57 - AI model training, e.g. Grass for text and Frodobots for robotics.

56:30 - Complex crypto network economics impact crypto cycles.

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

In this episode, Sal is joined by ZX and Sylvan from Parasail - the leading restaking protocol for DePIN. Parasail is the first restaking protocol to provide onchain economic guarantees for DePIN services, helping drive DePIN adoption and onchain revenues. Discover how they’re connecting established crypto assets with emerging DePIN services to backstop on-chain refunds and boost staking rewards. ZX and Sylvan discuss Parasail's origins in the Filecoin ecosystem and their vision for the future of decentralized infrastructure. Whether you're a crypto enthusiast, a DePIN founder, or just curious about web3, this episode provides an inside look into the bleeding edge of crypto-economic innovation.

0:00 - Using onchain crypto incentives to backstop offchain services.

5:19 - Decentralized storage and staking in the Filecoin ecosystem.

11:27 - DePIN restaking: leveraging BTC, ETH, and SOL for security.

20:04 - Insurance for decentralized protocols, customer acquisition strategies, and service quality.

28:40 - Lessons from decentralized finance (DeFi) and the potential risks of centralization in staking networks.

36:19 - Token delegation and future development ideas.

In this special episode, Connor is joined by Abhay Kumar and Joey Hiller from Helium, as well as Fredrik Ahlgren and Tobias Ohlsson from Srcful to discuss Srcful’s proposal to build a decentralized energy grid on top of Helium Network infrastructure. Helium is one of the oldest, largest DePIN projects, mostly focused on building out wireless networks but now leveraging its vast footprint and community to support DePINs in other verticals like energy and mobility. Meanwhile, Srcful is developing a community-driven virtual power plant (VPP) that utilizes distributed energy resources (DERs) like solar panels and batteries to gather real-time energy production and consumption data and sell energy back to the grid. They discuss the development of virtual power plants, the economics of energy control in a global network, and how homeowners can participate in energy markets. Listen in as they explore the challenges and opportunities of building a physical infrastructure network with tokenomics, leveraging the Helium community, and expanding their network's reach. 00:00 - The expansion of the Helium network.

04:22 - Simplifying network participation for individuals and expanding beyond wireless.

08:27 - Srcful being inspired by Helium and creating a physical infrastructure network.

09:46 - The transition to renewable energy is reshaping the energy grid.

14:07 - Entering new markets is complex and expensive.

17:38 - Focusing on Helium IoT gateways for communication.

20:17 - Utilizing existing hardware for real-world verification.

26:00 - Consumer devices now connect via WiFi and Helium.

28:23 - Srcful-driven data transfer increases the value of HNT and IoT.

30:11 - Behind the intent to expand the Helium network, seeking community approval.

34:08 - Global energy market pricing and value proposition.

39:52 - Considering revising the subDAO utility score and therefore $HNT flows to include non-wireless on-chain revenue generated by non-wireless subDAOs

42:07 - Passion for new energy data is exciting.

44:16 - Excited about energy data and demand response.

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Connor and Sal are joined by guests Houman Shadab and Wyatt Benno from NovaNet. NovaNet is building an incentive and coordination network for zero knowledge proofs that run locally and leverage the latest advances in ZK technology. The group discusses the zk yin to blockchain’s yang, how ZK proofs compare to other trustless verification methods like TEEs and secure hardware elements, and most importantly, how ZK technology will play an important role in shaping the future of the DePIN industry.

00:00 - Discussion on Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and blockchain consensus, comparing on-chain vs. off-chain implementations.

04:16 - Exploration of the long history of ZKPs, their role in privacy, and verifiable computation.

07:48 - Appeal of ZKPs due to their verifiability, especially from a legal perspective.

10:56 - How blockchain technology ensures the verifiability of on-chain transactions.

16:23 - Introduction to an efficient folding scheme developed by a Microsoft researcher, known as Supernova.

19:18 - The concept of aggregating proofs for more efficient blockchain posting.

22:52 - Discussion on varying trust assumptions and the potential of soft enclaves.

25:44 - Incentivizing new proving schemes on NovaNet.

28:29 - Examination of multiple ZKP proving networks, each with its own limitations.

32:08 - Initial confusion about NFTs, which eventually turned into excitement.

34:27 - The potential applications of ZKPs in law and regulation.

37:42 - Anticipation of ongoing innovation in cryptocurrency and improvements in accessibility.

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Connor and Sal are joined by guests Boris Renski & Amir Haleem from Helium. The Helium project is a DePIN building wireless networks. From tackling the intricacies of the token structure to discussing strategies for increasing data flow over Helium mobile hotspots, this episode promises to be an insightful exploration of the latest developments in the crypto and telco industry. We’ll dissect the dynamics of decentralized network planning, the significance of user experience in network development, and the evolving landscape of data offload technologies.

00:00 Iggy Azalea's involvement in cryptocurrency

05:48 Marketing strategies for better penetration in the crypto sector

08:33 New security feature to prevent SIM swaps

11:22 Scammers targeting T-Mobile employees and related security concerns

15:19 Understanding and filtering data for the Mobile network

18:14 Network enhancements improving coverage and rewarding operators

21:53 Engineers' misplaced focus on user experience

25:05 The Helium team's innovative cellular network deployment

32:17 Critiques of the sub-DAO model and multi-token system

34:28 Original token ideas overlooked, voting system needs attention

37:38 Acknowledging model complexity and the need for community-driven changes

42:40 Boris’ wildest Helium community story

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Connor and Sal sit down with Harrison Hines of Fleek Network. Fleek is the lightning fast onchain cloud, powered by the Fleek Network, permissionless onchain cloud infrastructure, edge-optimized for performance.

Harrison talks about what parts of Web2 infrastructure Fleek is solving, how they think about their GTM operations vs. technical operations in a Web3 world, how they deliver a highly performant network despite the need for higher verification than Web2 alternatives, and Fleek’s upcoming mainnet and token launches.

00:00 Welcome Harrison

00:58 What is Fleek?

05:31 What problems with how Web2 infrastructure works is Fleek solving?

12:30 How Fleek balances general purpose vs. customized use cases

17:17 Distinction between Fleek and the Fleek Network

26:53 How Fleek designs and distributes its commercial ops from its technical ops

34:43 How does Fleek balance the need for automated verification against high performance?

42:04 What use cases is Harrison excited about being built on Fleek?

49:44 Wen mainnet? Wen token? What functions will the token perform?

54:00 Lightning Round

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

This week, Sal is joined by Anon Morpho, Neuratic and DNB from the Ator team. Ator is building the largest global anonymous-routing ecosystem, leveraging a decentralized privacy protocol, on-chain incentives and signature hardware to rapidly scale its network. 

The team discusses why privacy is so important to them, how Ator is advancing decades-old privacy concepts, the first-party benefits their hardware provides to customers straight out-of-the-box, why privacy is still critical in web3, and the importance of token taxes in ATOR’s early fundraising.

00:00 Hello Ator!

01:27 Why Privacy? 

04:16 What is Ator? 

05:52 How Ator is architected for privacy

07:08 The history of Onion Routing and how Ator is iterating on the concept

14:17 How ATOR’s hardware provides rewards and first-party value

17:35 ATOR as a value-add for other web3 developers

21:19 Why privacy is still critical in web3

26:08 How ATOR bootstrapped their early token liquidity with token taxes

41:33 Where to find ATOR

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Sami and Connor are joined by Andrej Radonjic, Founder of Grass Network. Grass is a network of over 2M+ people incentivized to assist AI developers in accessing data on the internet. Grass creates a more equitable and inclusive future for the development of AI.

00:00 Connor lives in a Resort

00:34 Grass merch coming soon

01:20 Catching up with Andrej

03:15 Open source datasets for AI

06:40 Why Andrej doxx’d himself on Twitter

09:30 Deep dive on Grass and the web scraping/AI market

17:11 What has contributed to the fast growth of Grass?

20:25 Implementing points in DePIN

22:19 What goes into becoming a data layer?

34:02 Layer 2 sovereign data rollups

40:20 Discussing monetization

43:50 Grass’ future partners and competitors in the AI space

52:27 Lightning round!

1:01:44 Where to find Andrej and the Grass Network Team

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Mahesh and Sal are joined by Alireza Ghods, CEO & Co-Founder of Natix. Natix is a global mapping network of smart cameras. Natix’s 100k drivers have mapped 30M km across 170 countries. 

Alireza takes on the great DePIN mapping hardware debate, making the case for smartphones over dedicated hardware, lays out the long-term vision for Natix as a camera network beyond just road mapping, and illustrates how Natix could eventually enable a wide variety of use cases, including facilitating the use of drones in forest fire rescue.

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.