The DCo Podcast

Before we begin… Last week, we announced the launch of DCo.build.  As our publication grew, it was time to create a single hub for founders looking to collaborate with us on advisory, distribution and go-to-market strategies. The newsletter will continue to be the place where we showcase our research. DCo.build, will be where we put it to practice through our portfolio of companies. If you are an early-stage operator or a pre-token founder, make sure to reach out.

Hey there!

Last week, we wrote about how one of Compound's members raided its DAO. The lack of voter activity on-chain is partly to blame for such events. For all the surrounding noise and excitement, decentralised governance still has a long way to go.

Our guest today, Steve Ngok, is one of many contributors building tooling for improving it. We had previously written about Dora Factory in Stealth Democracy. 

The conversation today explores how DoraHacks played a pivotal role in nurturing projects that would become major players in the space. Steve recounts stories of hosting hackathons that birthed influential protocols like Injective and Polygon, offering listeners a glimpse into the grassroots origins of today's blockchain giants.

Unlike the voting you do for things like selecting a political leader, on-chain voting is public. Imagine if everybody knew who voted for whom. It might be far from ideal. Steve and his crew have been building tools to bring privacy to the equation.

Imagine if civic governance ran with on-chain tools. Or if art and music were ranked with on-chain votes? How can consumer apps get better feedback from users regarding on-chain elections? We cover all of this and more in today’s episode.Tune in to learn from an operator who has closely observed the evolution of on-chain governance over the years and built critical tooling for it. Signing out,Saurabh

From The Community

Many of our community members have been busy shipping. Highlighting some of them below in today’s issue.

* Stormzer0 from Anagram, announced the launch of Glider - a personal, customizable hedge fund that runs on-chain

* Sage announced the release of Rolodex.social. Think of it as a private member directory for communities.

* Aditya Shetty from Superteam announced a grant for analysts looking to explore the state of consumer applications.

* Charliemarketplace.eth shipped a trending dashboard for crypto-twitter.

* Saumya Saxena has been tinkering with a prediction market that runs natively on Telegram and Farcaster. Get an early preview here.

* Swastik dropped a beautiful compilation on GTM strategies.

Join us on Telegram to talk directly with the people behind these products and for some fun debates.

Related Reading:

- Stealth Democracy

- Humpty Dumpty Took Over a DAO

- How To Take Over A DAO?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

Robert Drost is the CEO of @eigenfoundation, research partner at Ethereal Ventures and the former head of R&D at ConsenSys. Prior to jumping into crypto, he was an accomplished engineer with a 159 patents to his name.

Our conversation delves into▪ Parallels between Web2 and Web3 infrastructure development▪ Issues in Web2 that are the biggest opportunities in Web3▪ What EigenLayer unlocks and the value it brings▪ How restaking to revolutionises blockchain economics▪ Why intersubjectivity might be the key to decentralised governance

Tune in to our latest episode for some deep insights on the evolution of internet infrastructure, the potential of restaking to revolutionise blockchain economics, and why intersubjectivity might be the key to genuinely decentralised governance.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

Have you ever made an impulse purchase on Instagram? Our guest today may have a role to play in it. Antonio García Martínez was part of the team that helped Facebook build its ad engine.

He is also the author of Chaos Monkeys—a beautiful memoir of how the startup ecosystem used to be in the early 2010s and what it took to survive it. He was also a former advisor to Twitter.

Antonio’s latest startup, Spindl, helps Web3 native firms attribute users to their traffic sources. Think of it as a Web3 native ad network. In our issue today, we explore why ads as primitive are here to stay, the challenges with business models in Web3, and why a fully on-chain ad network is a necessity for scaling the industry to a billion users.

Tune in to our latest episode for some distilled wisdom on what it takes to survive market cycles, the need for conviction, and why advertisements are here to stay. 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

Gin Chao from No Limit Holdings joins us today to draw parallels with the evolution of the web and the state of crypto. No Limit Holdings is a venture investment firm that was early to back the likes of Ethena (now valued at $7.5 Billion) and Wynd. Gin's journey into crypto started a decade back with a poker game involving CZ. Prior to starting No Limit Holdings, he was the Chief Strategy Officer at Binance. His core focus areas were venture investments and corporate development. He has been on the board of Binance US, for a little over three years.

In today’s episode, we go deep into Gin’s investment philosophies, his view on the cycle, and the key sectors he’s focused on. Tune in for notes from a seasoned veteran who has seen multiple billion-dollar companies from their seed stages to multi-billion-dollar valuations.Twitter: https://x.com/DecentralisedcoWebsite: Decentralised.coSaurabh: https://x.com/desh_saurabh/photoSid: https://x.com/shutterbugsid

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

Today, we’re joined by Mike Silagadze, the CEO and founder of EtherFi. Before EtherFi, he was the founder and CEO of Top Hat, a dynamic courseware company for educators. He scaled that to over 500 employees and $60 million in revenue before switching his focus to crypto.

Mike was also early to Bitcoin. His first Bitcoin purchase was at 80 cents in 2011, and he has been closely following the space ever since.

Our conversation delves into the waters of the liquid restaking landscape, discussing the value and risks associated with it.  We uncover the genesis and evolution of EtherFi over the years. Mike shares how EtherFi went from being a hedge fund to becoming the largest liquid restaking protocol on Ethereum.

We also get Mike’s thoughts on the difficulties of doing an airdrop and the low float high FDV meta.Listen for a crash course on liquid restaking and the road ahead for EtherFi. 

_________Links.1. Newsletter : Decentralised.co2. Our Twitter: https://x.com/Decentralisedco3. Saurabh Deshpande: https://x.com/desh_saurabh4. Mike Silagadze: https://x.com/MikeSilagadze

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

Today, we are joined by one of our portfolio founders, Prasanna Sankar. We have been huge fans and investors in what he has been building with 0xppl. The product helps users know what their friends are doing on-chain. Think of it as Facebook, but for user wallets. Prior to founding 0xppl, Prasanna was involved with building Rippling - a company currently valued at $10 billion.

He has been building consumer social products since the early 2010s and brings a wealth of knowledge around what it takes to go 0 to 1. We discuss why optimists win in markets, how philosophy helps persevere and the similarities between 2008 era Silicon Valley and Web3 today. Tune in for insights from a seasoned operator.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

Monad was in the news in April 2024 for raising a little over $225 million. As of publishing, it is the largest venture round round in crypto for the year. But what even justifies that amount of money going into a new network? Why is it even needed?Our latest episode is an hour long conversation with Keone Hon. Prior to building Monad, he spent a decade as a quant working on high frequency trading strategies. He and his crew, have been building a blockchain from the ground up, with the intention of supporting large-scale financial markets. What would that take? A custom state database, a whole new consensus mechanism and an alternative approach to transaction execution. Sounds like jargon? It likely does. Keone explains how these things work in fairly simple terms. Along the way, he breaks down notes for founders looking to raise and how to engage with communities while building a protocol.Tune in for some alpha on what could be built on Monad and what it takes to make 10,0000 transactions per second possible on a blockchain. 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

How do you scale as an employee alongside a network that is on its way to a multi-billion dollar valuation? What does it take to go from being an intern to Head of Strategy at a network that has acquired some of the most talented people in Web3? Sankset Shah may have the answers. In today’s episode, he joins us to discuss his journey over the years with Polygon Network. Early on, he had joined in a part-time capacity while juggling the needs of a startup and B-School. In his own words, he “focused where the fire was”. That focus had him juggling roles in marketing, BD and strategy. He joins us to explain Polygon’s evolution over the years and what’s next for the network trying to be the trust layer for the internet. Tune in for a brief on how early-stage employees adapt to the needs of a rapidly growing rocket ship and a good explainer on what’s cooking under the hood at Polygon Network. 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

Our guest for the episode is Austin Adams from Anagram . We discuss the reasons for Solana’s congestion, fixes that have already gone live, and other measures in the works that will further alleviate the problem. We also discuss the highly anticipated Firedancer client and the state of L2s on Solana. Austin also helps us keep up to speed on the developments of ZK projects on Solana. 

This is a technical discussion. If you’re new to the Solana ecosystem, we recommend reading our past articles on Solana to get adequate context. 

1. The Solana Ecosystem2. Jito’s Joyride3. MEV on Solana

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co

Sunny Aggarwal from Osmosis labs joins us in this episode to discuss the emergence of L2s, meme-assets, and the future of shared security. Sunny was an early member of the team behind Cosmos and is currently a co-founder of Osmosis labs. He joins us to share how his career has evolved over the past three cycles, what he has learned along the way, and a few contrarian stances on where the market is headed. His takes are backed with substance that comes from operating deep in the industry. Stream for lessons from one of the best in our industry. 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.decentralised.co