By Radix DLT
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The podcast currently has 107 episodes available.
In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard interviews Chris Bradbury, CEO of SummerFi. They discuss Chris's journey from MakerDAO to SummerFi, and the development of user-friendly financial tools and innovative features aimed at making DeFi more accessible to a wider audience by automating complex financial strategies.
Summary
SummerFi curates the best dApps in DeFi to provide the simplest and easiest way to borrow and earn crypto. SummerFi currently manages over $4.5 billion in crypto assets across various DeFi protocols, and in the last 30 days, it has completed $663 million in lend/borrow volume and automated over $275 million in loan positions.
Chris talks about his transition from MakerDAO's product manager to CEO of Oasis.app, which rebranded as SummerFi and focuses on trusted, curated DeFi protocols. Chris discusses SummerFi’s recent advancements and strategic vision, he elaborates on how SummerFi plans to simplify DeFi for a broader audience, and also highlights their goal of integrating DeFi with traditional financial systems to make these advanced tools accessible to everyday users, without requiring them to have deep technical knowledge or actively manage their assets.
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In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard talks with Nikita Ovchinnik, Co-Founder of Barter, a smart router for DeFi swap routes. They delve into Nikita's foray into crypto, the inner workings of Barter, the MEV problem and its possible solutions, and the importance of market makers.
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Nikita describes his journey into crypto, which began in 2017 after initial scepticism. He eventually joined 1inch as their first outsider employee. Nikita describes 1inch's explosive growth during the DeFi Summer, as well as its focus on integrating with wallets and navigating the fundraising landscape until eventually securing investment from FTX.
The conversation between Nikita and Piers dives next into Barter, exploring its role as a smart router program in the DeFi ecosystem. Barter is a decentralized protocol that provides transparent trade routes across liquidity providers like CoW Swap and UniswapX, minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency. Barter has over $4 billion processed on Ethereum.
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In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard interviews Friederike Ernst, co-founder of Gnosis and Gnosis Pay. They cover Gnosis's evolution from foundational blockchain infrastructure like Gnosis Safe and CoW Swap, to user-friendly apps such as Metri and Gnosis Pay. They also discuss blockchain's potential to transform financial infrastructure with projects such as Circles, a blockchain-based UBI protocol.
Summary
In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard is joined by Friederike Ernst, the co-founder of Gnosis and Gnosis Pay. Gnosis is a group of projects centred around the Gnosis token, with a mission to bring all financial rails on-chain. They started with the highly successful Gnosis Safe, a multi-signature wallet that has now been spun out as Safe, securing over $100 billion in crypto assets. Additionally, their decentralized exchange, CoW Swap, has achieved a remarkable total volume of $45 billion.
Friederike shares insights into these groundbreaking projects and discusses the future of decentralized finance. A physicist by training, she talks about the programmability of Ethereum that drew her into crypto technology, what prompted her to co-found Gnosis, and the strategies her team applies to expand distribution and adoption of their product and network.
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In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard speaks with Noah Litvin, a Core Contributor at Synthetix. They talk about Synthetix's vision of revolutionizing derivatives trading in the crypto space by providing innovative solutions.
Summary
Synthetix tackles the challenge of trading derivatives in a crypto-native way, expanding beyond spot trading. Picture it as the derivative equivalent of Uniswap. Synthetix stands as one of the original crypto projects since 2018, playing a pivotal role in the early days of DeFi. It pioneered functionalities that are now commonplace in crypto and pushed the boundaries of what was achievable on public ledgers at the time.
Noah Litvin has been actively working with the project for some time. He is currently a Core Contributor at Synthetix, having started as a community member and gradually progressed to become more involved.
Noah and Piers explore the evolution of Synthetix, from its origin as Haven to Synthetix v3 and perpetual futures. They cover the challenges earlier versions of Synthetix encountered and the notable enhancements of v3. They also discuss Synthetix's future, its deployment on Base, and cross-chain interoperability.
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Chapters
01:39 — Noah's journey with Synthetix
03:07 — A basic orientation on Synthetix
04:45 — Tokenized derivatives trading obstacles
08:53 — Improvements in Synthetix v3
10:43 — Perpetuals in DeFi
13:02 — Synthetix V3 user acquisition
18:19 — Synthetix perpetuals vs. competitors
19:44 — Why Synthetix deployed on Base
21:08 — Synthetix's Base vs. Optimism experience
21:50 — Coinbase's role in driving adoption
23:34 — Next steps for Synthetix v3 and project
24:37 — Stability, liquidity, and scalability
27:05 — Synthetix liquidity and TVL
28:05 — Synthetix's liquidity-protocol-first approach
30:19 — Leveraging collateral diversity
33:22 — Learn more about Synthetix
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In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard speaks with Ramon Recuero, Co-Founder and CEO of Mamori Labs, which is developing Kinto. Tune in to learn how Kinto bridges TradFi to DeFi and paves the way for institutional adoption by introducing the first Layer 2 solution with chain-level KYC and addressing concerns about scams, hacks, and traditional financial institutions' perception of cryptocurrency as the "Wild West.
Summary
Join Piers Ridyard and Ramon Recuero as they explore the inner workings of Kinto, a groundbreaking platform that seeks to bridge the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). Kinto's innovative approach addresses the longstanding issue of security in the crypto space by introducing the first Layer 2 (L2) solution with KYC at the chain level, revolutionizing user protection and trust within the ecosystem. Kinto's native account abstraction enhances security by requiring users to utilize account-abstracted wallets, preventing common scams seen on other chains.
Ramon recounts his journey from the gaming industry to crypto and from the traditional finance sector to the realm of DeFi, fuelled by the realization of the disruptive potential of crypto. From his involvement in ventures like OpenSea, to founding Babylon Finance and recently Mamori Labs and Kinto, Ramon's experiences underscore the critical need for trust, security, and regulatory compliance in the crypto space.
Discover why Kinto is gaining traction among major financial institutions like Franklin Templeton and BlackRock, indicating a significant shift towards institutional adoption. With a focus on crypto-native RWA protocols and diverse capital inflows from traditional funds like Skybridge and networks like Solana, Kinto is poised to revolutionize the DeFi landscape, catering to both seasoned investors and newcomers with enhanced asset accessibility and streamlined user experiences.
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Willy Woo is managing partner at Crest and SyzCrest, a fund that builds financial products to give higher yield than T-bills by harvesting the volatility in crypto.
Willy Woo and Piers discuss various aspects of trading, covering topics like price predictions, the balance between intuition and data when building predictive models, and the social value inherent in trading activities. Their conversation extends to exploring the dynamics of DeFi and altcoin markets, drawing comparisons with TradFi, examining market manipulation, and emphasizing the crucial role of transparency in the crypto space. They weigh the pros and cons of transaction privacy in creating a fairer market and touch upon the impact of MEV, DeFi’s high-frequency trading.
They explore the three forms of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), hodling versus directional trading, and the fundamental concepts that are necessary for successful trading. They also examine the concept of purpose, discussing how it motivates individuals in their pursuits.
Segueing into Radix, their conversation highlights the Radix team's dedication to their vision and integrity, rather than rushing launch and compromising for easy wins. They talk about compounding games and underscore the need for adopting a long-term view for achieving meaningful, lasting change.
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The Boson Protocol is a Web3 decentralized commerce layer that allows anyone to tokenize and exchange any physical thing as an NFT. Currently deployed on Ethereum and Polygon, they have recently signed a strategic partnership with WooCommerce, WordPress's eCommerce arm.
Justin's journey into the DeFi ecosystem began with him wondering what happens when you transition from paper to digital to blockchain, what digitized physical assets look like on a blockchain, and what properties they have. He discusses his experiences revolutionizing digital transformation at Priority Pass while studying for a master's degree in digital innovation, digitizing physical products that significantly increased turnover, combining his interests in the physics of business and the blockchain, and developing the Boson Protocol.
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This episode of the DeFi Download with host Piers Ridyard features Robert Lauko, founder and head of research at Liquity. Tune in to discover how Liquity is addressing the stablecoin trilemma and reshaping the crypto space with game-changing innovations ranging from principal protection to improved peg stability.
Summary
Liquity is a pioneering DeFi protocol that is reshaping the DeFi and stablecoin landscape with its innovative approach. At its core, it prioritizes stability and scalability while maintaining decentralization. It achieves this through groundbreaking features such as principal protection, which ensures users can confidently redeem their assets at or above their principal value, and a tighter peg to minimize deviations from the dollar value. A hybrid stability pool, a ground-breaking feature that not only supports the loans but also acts as a backup for the reserve, highlights Liquity's commitment to stability even further.
Robert Lauko takes us on a deep dive into Liquity's mechanics, shedding light on its inner workings, from its liquidation mechanism to its impressive growth, including the endorsement of Justin Sun, who injected over a billion dollars into the nascent protocol.
Robert and Piers delve into Liquity's unwavering commitment to decentralization and transparency, alongside its reliance on ETH as collateral in its V1 version. Additionally, they explore the formidable challenges faced within the stablecoin landscape and the ingenious strategies Liquity has employed to overcome them.
Looking forward, Liquity V2 takes center stage. Robert introduces the concept of a decentralized reserve mechanism and emphasizes the vital role of a decentralized Peg-Stability Module (PSM) in maintaining a stablecoin's peg. Liquity V2 sets out to redefine the stablecoin trilemma by demonstrating that resilience, scalability, and decentralization can harmoniously coexist.
Tune into this episode to find out how Liquity offers stability and leveraged upside, potentially revolutionizing lending. You'll also gain an understanding of principal protection and learn about Liquity's stability pool, which uses staked ETH to deliver attractive yields and security.
Key takeaways
Chapters
[01:15] Introduction to Liquity and its unique approach to loan-to-value ratios
[04:32] Liquity's efficient liquidation mechanism and incentives
[08:29] Liquity's meteoric rise: A billion dollars in 10 days to 2.5 billion in two weeks
[10:28] Lessons from Liquity: How its launch attracted whales and big players
[12:01] ETH-exclusive V1: Exploring the early design decision and future considerations
[12:41] How Liquity ensures a liquid and useful stablecoin
[15:19] Liquity's strategies for establishing partnerships and integration
[17:48] The stablecoin trilemma and Liquity's approach to resilience, scalability, and decentralization
[20:17] Innovation in action: The vision behind Liquity V2
[22:35] Rebalancing stablecoin supply and demand: The role of a decentralized Peg Stability Module (PSM)
[26:27] Liquity V2's strategy for tightening stablecoin bands and reducing volatility risk
[33:13] Navigating ETH volatility: Liquity V2's strategy with principal pr
In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard is joined by Ben Hart, CTO, and Amir, blossoming Scrypto developer at MLabs. Ben and Amir share their experience with different programming languages and platforms, such as Haskell, Plutus, Rust, and Scrypto.
Summary
MLabs is a Haskell, Rust, and Blockchain AI consultancy working with various industries, such as fintech and blockchain. MLabs is also the developer of the Plutonomicon library, a major contributor to it, and one of the main contributors to the Plutarch eDSL version of the Plutus smart contract language.
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Chapters
[01:01] The story of MLabs' founding
[03:33] What are Haskell and Plutus, and how did MLabs get their team up to speed with these languages?
[08:04] Advantages and challenges of using Plutus for building applications
[10:18] Haskell's reputation as a secure language and the difficulty in finding and training new Haskell developers—has MLabs encountered this?
[11:32] The philosophical and principles-based approach of Haskell and Rust advocates who are willing to change careers to write production code in these languages
[12:40] How and why did MLabs expand to Rust, a language that is ideologically similar to Haskell?
[13:42] How did the MLabs team learn about Radix and Scrypto, and how has their experience been so far?
[16:03] When and how did MLabs begin developing on Radix with clients from other communities, such as Cardano, and bringing that functionality to the Radix network?
[18:38] From Haskell and Plutus to Scrypto: Amir’s journey and insights
[20:03] Amir's favourite aspect of Scrypto and what he has built up to this point
[22:06] The need for critical tooling in an ecosystem: how DAO tooling enables governance features for DeFi applications
[23:20] Amir’s insights on building governance functionality in Scrypto and the benefits of the platform
[26:30] What are Amir’s timelines for testing and deploying the governance tooling, and when can people start using it?
[27:42] How does Ben, as CTO, use Scrypto to plan and implement MLabs' application architecture?
[31:35] The inverse relationship between speed of development and security
[33:09] What new Scrypto developers or those considering a move to the Radix ecosystem need to know
[35:42] How open-source repositories can aid in learning Scrypto, despite being outdated
[37:35] Radix’s goal to have the best crypto documentation and match Web2 standards
Further resources
In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard interviews Cyrille Pastour, co-founder of Swaap. Cyrille and Piers discuss the inner workings of the automated market maker that is designed to protect liquidity providers by dynamically responding to the market.
Summary
Swaap provides yield to liquidity providers by utilising cutting-edge market-making models developed in collaboration with mathematicians. They use oracles and dynamic spread to ensure real and long-term yields.
Swaap's algorithm determines what pricing it will provide to the market on a per-swap basis and includes safeguards to limit damage in the event of a hack. It is designed to safeguard liquidity providers against impermanent loss and ensure that returns are greater than hodling.
During their discussion, Piers and Cyrille clarify the difference between exchanges and market makers. They analyse the problem Swaap seeks to address and the role of market makers in mature versus immature markets in determining price. They also touch on issues with Uniswap v2, in which liquidity providers are perpetually behind the information curve and unable to rebalance themselves, whereas arbitrageurs can make risk-free profits by manipulating the market price.
Key takeaways
Chapters
[01:05] What is the problem that Swaap is looking to solve as an automated market maker in the DeFi space, and why is it important to separate exchanges and market makers when considering liquidity providers and users?
[03:59] The Uniswap conundrum: How inexperienced traders create risk-free profits for arbitrageurs
[05:49] The role of market makers in mature vs. immature markets for determining price
[08:38] Uniswap v2 liquidity providers are behind the information curve, while arbitrageurs make risk-free profits
[12:02] The roles of exchange venues and market makers in financial market liquidity and market-making success factors
[14:54] How Swaap differs from other market makers
[18:54] Swaap's solution to sophisticated market actors exploiting liquidity providers
[28:25] How Swaap's algorithm guards liquidity providers against hacks and impermanent loss
[31:29] What's next on Swaap's roadmap and what to get excited about after V2
[33:43] Where can people find out more about Swaap, and should they start on Ethereum or Polygon?
Further resources
The podcast currently has 107 episodes available.