The DeFi Download

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.

Key takeaways

• Ben came across Radix at Consensus 2023 and was impressed with the thoughtfulness and organization of the Radix team and builders. He found it easy to jump into Scrypto because of his previous experience with Rust. 
• Amir found Scrypto to be easier to learn and use than Plutus because it abstracts away some of the lower-level details and has well-named concepts and design patterns. Amir was able to quickly understand and experiment with Scrypto by reading the documentation and the community examples that are available.
• Radix’s guardrails and intent-based transactions make programming and building applications easier and safer, unlike Ethereum’s state-based transactions. It is difficult to explain Radix’s advantages to someone who has not faced Ethereum’s challenges.

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

• Website: mlabs.city 
• Twitter: @MLabs10

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

• 
  Swaap v2 is a new iteration in terms of infrastructure that aims to be more flexible and have better performance than Swaap v1.
• 
  Swaap v2 has a hybrid infrastructure consisting of both on-chain and off-chain components. The off-chain module operates the quotation system to provide faster price information, and the on-chain verification module prevents extreme events and ensures a trust-minimized environment.
• Swaap is available on both Ethereum and Polygon, with Polygon being a preferable option for smaller portfolios due to its lower gas fees.
• The Swaap protocol enables DAOs to create liquidity against volatile assets, and the team is working on establishing partnerships with a number of DAOs.

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

• Website: swaap.finance 
• Twitter: @SwaapFinance 
• Discord: discord.com/invite/vMNHgz7bMU 

In this episode of the DeFi Download, Tommy Johnson, Core Contributor of PsyFi, joins Piers Ridyard to discuss their two-sided DeFi marketplace for structured products, which allows users to earn yield on their assets and traders to hedge or leverage their portfolio.

Summary

PsyFi offers products such as covered calls, secured puts, and spread structured products, which PsyFi wraps up and tokenizes. The PsyFi team is developing a market-making vault product where users can deposit two-sided liquidity and earn fees based on participating in and providing liquidity for trades.

Piers and Tommy explain what a structured product is and use covered calls as an example to discuss how the PsyFi platform works. They discuss the risks and rewards of PsyFi's covered call options compared to over-collateralized borrow-lending products like Aave. They also discuss the market need for a riskier product like PsyFi and the usefulness of buying covered calls or secured puts for market actors who have a directional view or want to hedge their positions.

Key takeaways

• PsyFi is a decentralised finance platform that allows users to trade options on Solana.
• A covered call is a selling strategy in which the user sells calls week-to-week, taking the position that the price of the underlying asset will not cross the strike price by the expiration date of the call.
• PsyFi's covered call options provide a 0.35% weekly return and 12% APY but can result in users making lots of money or suddenly losing money depending on the volatility of the asset. They are riskier than over-collateralized borrow-lending products like Aave.
• PsyFi's structured products provide an opportunity for people to earn impressive yields on their assets, but they require a directional view and are not a leave-it-and-see-what-happens kind of product.
• Buyers of PsyFi's structured products include speculators with market opinions and more institutional market makers who may be hedging across their book.

Chapters

[01:07] The definition of structured products

[02:15] How a covered call works on the PsyFi platform

[04:42] Does the trader's profit from a PsyFi covered call come from the user's Solana?

[05:22] Selling volatility and making money through covered calls on PsyFi

[06:21] What is the expected return on a two-week covered call on Solana?

[06:50] The risks and rewards of PsyFi's covered call options compared to Aave's over-collateralized borrow-lending products

[08:02] Why does the market need a riskier product like PsyFi?

[09:20] What functionalities do buyers of covered calls or secured puts need, and why are these products necessary?

[10:50] Using covered call options for asset exposure and risk hedging in DeFi

[14:03] Are people primarily using the PsyFi protocol for hedging or speculation? 

[15:41] How does collateralization work in PsyFi's covered call scenario, even if a portion of assets have been sold?

[17:20] Capital efficiency in options markets and borrow-lend protocols

[20:12] How a high-interest rate environment has affected the market for structured products in decentralised finance

[21:34] How has PsyFi responded to the higher yield environment created by the Fed?

[24:23] Democratising market maker returns in DeFi with a delta-neutral vault

[26:11] How does PsyFi evaluate market makers before granting access to capital?

[27:43] PsyFi’s launch date

[28:03] Where to find out more about PsyFi

Further resources

• Website: psyfi.io 
• Twitter: @PsyOptions
• Documentation: docs.psyfi.io

In this DeFi Download podcast episode, Piers Ridyard interviews David Garai, founder of Raft. Raft is a stablecoin protocol similar to MakerDAO, but it is backed by liquid staking tokens. Piers and David talk about the potential of liquid staking and its role in DeFi, as well as concerns about centralization.

Summary

Raft is a decentralised stablecoin protocol that uses liquid staking tokens (LSTs), such as staked ETH, as collateral. Raft requires a collateralization ratio of 120% compared to MakerDAO’s 175% and charges a one-time fee rather than an ongoing APY.

The protocol manages risks associated with using fewer liquid tokens as collateral through its liquidation mechanism and position and protocol level caps. Raft also employs a redistribution mechanism to socialise losses and ensure that the protocol remains overcollateralized.

Raft charges a variety of fees, including liquidation fees and flash minting fees, and is integrating with other DeFi protocols to create use cases for R stablecoins. The potential use cases for Raft stablecoins include spending and short-term trading, and the possibility of onboarding other stablecoins as collateral in the future.

Key takeaways

• Raft is an LSDFi protocol. LSDs (liquid staking derivatives) are ERC20 tokens issued by liquid staking platforms to represent the staking share in that particular platform. They are also referred to as liquid staking tokens.
• Raft’s lower collateralization ratio and one-time fee differentiate it from MakerDAO.
• Raft aims to create an even playing field for users to select their preferred staking provider and encourages competition in the market.

Chapters

[00:00] Introduction

[03:02] Raft's motives to enter the market for decentralised stablecoins backed by liquid staking tokens

[05:08] Does the use of LSTs in DeFi applications accelerate Ethereum centralization and increase risks?

[08:23] What differentiates Raft from MakerDAO

[11:35] Managing risk while using less liquid underlying assets and reducing the collateral requirements

[18:46] Raft's second tier of defence

[26:35] Raft's strategies for integrating its stablecoin with other DeFi protocols

[30:39] Raft's focus on spending as a growth market for its stablecoin

[36:41] Where to learn more about Raft

Further resources

• Website: raft.fi 
• Twitter: @raft_fi 
• Discord: discord.com/invite/raft-fi 
• Documentation: docs.raft.fi 

In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard talks with Lasha Antadze, co-founder of Rarify Labs. They explore the growing value of identity across digital ecosystems, the challenges of portable identity in the crypto space, and the benefits of Rarimo's interoperability protocol for application builders.

Summary

Rarify Labs focuses on creating and implementing interoperability protocols for identity and reputation. Their goal is to make identity portable across ecosystems and layer-1 protocols, allowing users to carry their reputation with them when they move between different applications. To accomplish this, they developed Rarimo, an interoperability protocol that provides identity primitives supported by the ecosystem, enabling users to transfer their reputation across different chains and dApps.

Rarimo enables the movement of reputation and identity components across different ecosystems. It integrates with various identity providers, making it easier for developers to incorporate identity and reputation standards into their dApps. The protocol emphasizes the need for end-to-end flow and demonstrates how it tangibly improves the user experience. Developers are expected to start building on top of Rarimo by the end of the summer.

Key takeaways

• The concept of portable identity is difficult to solve because identity evolves and is not just a token, but a token with history associated with it.
• Rarimo aggregates various identity components that exist across different forms and allows for full control and management of this entire interaction on-chain via smart contracts.
• Rarimo is expected to launch with partnerships with the ten largest identity providers, and a beta mainnet will be available by the end of the summer.
• The best place to get started with Rarimo is to read through the documentation available on their website, docs.rarimo.com.
• The development of identity space and standardization will require time and upbuilding, but Rarify Labs is committed to delivering tangible and user-centric demos to address these challenges.

Chapters

[01:08] Why is identity becoming an increasingly important topic in the Web3 and DeFi space?

[03:14] Is identity interoperability the missing Holy Grail in the crypto space?

[04:00] Managing multiple identities across different platforms in the digital space using blockchain and Web3

[06:28] What is Lasha Antadze's background in identity and what makes him interested in identity today?

[10:47] COVID-19's impact on digital identity in the crypto and Web3 space, changes making identity more portable and creatable on ledger, and how this applies to businesses in the crypto ecosystem

[14:41] What is Rarimo doing in the identity space?

[18:46] The challenge of portable identity in the crypto space

[21:38] What benefits does Rarimo integration provide for application developers, and when should they consider using Rarimo's tools?

[24:43] What identity providers is Rarimo integrated with?

[26:58] What is the expected launch date for Rarimo and how can people get involved?

Further resources

• Website: http://rarimo.com/ 
• Discord: https://discord.gg/Bzjm5MDXrU 

With Oliver Linch, CEO

In this episode of the DeFi Download, Piers Ridyard talks with Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex Global, about the advantages and disadvantages of centralised and decentralised exchanges, the company's history of operating in the cryptocurrency market, and its legal challenges with the SEC.

Summary

Bittrex Global is a successful cryptocurrency exchange that grants global users access to over 650 tokens. However, the company is currently facing legal challenges from the SEC, despite being regulated in Liechtenstein and Bermuda.

During the discussion, Linch and Piers talk about the future of the crypto industry and its regulation. They argue that a balance between regulation, security, and innovation is necessary. Both centralised and decentralised exchanges have a role to play. They also touch on the challenges of verifying smart contracts and the significance of trust in both systems.

Key takeaways

• Despite being regulated in Liechtenstein and Bermuda, Bittrex Global is facing legal challenges from the SEC.
• Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex Global, believes that a legal framework is required to ensure that people can engage in commercial activities with confidence and that regulation is critical when things go wrong.
• Centralised and decentralised products can collaborate to create something more productive than destructive, and there will always be a place for both centralised and decentralised products in the crypto industry.
• Regulation will have an impact on the crypto industry's future, and the next ten years will be crucial in determining how the industry will evolve.
• Bittrex Global is primarily focused on regulation, security, and innovation, with a particular interest in the tokenization of real-world assets.

Chapters

[01:18] Oliver Linch’s unusual for a crypto exchange CEO background as a lawyer 

[02:08] The story behind Oliver Linch's journey to becoming CEO of Bittrex Global

[03:49] How is Bittrex Global handling the SEC's lawsuit while building its business? How are they considering the US regulator while operating globally?

[07:42] Why is Bittrex Global being sued by the SEC despite providing services to non-US citizens from a regulated jurisdiction?

[10:36] The implications of the SEC's lawsuit against Bittrex Global for the crypto industry

[11:39] What is Oliver's opinion, from a jurisprudential perspective, on the impact of regulation? Is regulation entirely beneficial or only partially so?

[13:15] The necessity of a legal framework in facilitating interactions between people

[15:18] Is regulation in crypto necessary only when something goes wrong?

[17:19] Trust-minimization and transparency in DeFi: Are decentralised finance (DeFi) and decentralised exchanges (DEXs) a threat to centralised exchanges?

[20:01] How does trusting a regulated process differ from trusting a coder for an exchange regulated in a different country than the user's residence?

[23:14] The risk of internal fraud in regulated crypto exchanges

[24:08] The trustworthiness of banks regulated in different countries

[24:30] Verifying entities in the crypto industry: Smart contract audits and auditor reputation

[25:29] The importance of validation and auditing in both centralised and decentralised exchanges

[29:05] The future of the crypto industry and Bittrex Global's next steps

Further resources

• Website: global.bittrex.com 
• Twitter: @BittrexGlobal
• Oliver Linch’s Twitter: @OliverLinch

Mark Richardson, the project lead at Bancor, joins Piers Ridyard to discuss Carbon, the next stage in DEX evolution, in this episode of the DeFi Download. Carbon provides order book-like functionality on-chain and has already seen over 100 strategies created since its launch on April 20th.

Summary

From Bancor V1 to Uniswap, the evolution of cryptocurrency liquidity provision has been characterised by significant innovations that sparked DeFi Summer. Although the Automated Market Maker (AMM) was a game-changer, Bancor is turning away from the AMM, recognising the complexities involved in providing liquidity.

Carbon, as an on-chain order book functionality provider, offers greater flexibility and control over liquidity provision than traditional AMMs. Carbon's app runs in the user's browser using an open-source software development kit (SDK), which is lightweight enough to run smoothly on a smartphone.

Key takeaways

• Carbon is a gas-efficient, lightweight DEX that prioritises efficiency while still executing swaps trustlessly.
• In retrospect, some of the most significant innovations appear obvious, but until an innovation is defined and described, it may not be immediately apparent. The irony of invention is that it is only apparent after it has been discovered. Previously, it may have been unclear why others were not in the right frame of mind to make the discovery themselves.
• Carbon's development priorities include identifying the demographic that uses Carbon, exploring other blockchain ecosystems, and supporting features that did not make the critical path for the MVP but still need support.

Chapters

[01:12] What killed the AMM, and what comes next in the world of DeFi liquidity provision?

[07:05] How providing liquidity can align incentives and create a social basis for market making in DeFi

[10:45] What is the simplest way to describe impermanent loss to someone in the context of AMMs?

[13:37] Impermanent loss in liquidity provision and missed profit opportunities

[16:02] What are Mark Richardson's thoughts on how Bancor's Carbon can contribute to the concentrated liquidity pools model, and what is the next step in liquidity provision?

[18:21] What is a short gamma option, and why is it called that?

[23:53] The rise of constant function AMMs and the naive phase of decentralised finance and crypto

[26:50] What are the limitations of the Automated Market Maker (AMM), and why is it not the ideal financial instrument for liquidity provision in DeFi? How does Carbon solve these limitations, and what does it do differently?

[29:20] Carbon's customizable "buy low, sell high" strategy execution

[33:39] Is it possible that CLOBs lack statefulness and a concept of time, resulting in only valid or invalid orders and no if-then statements?

[35:27] How does Carbon solve the challenge of creating order book-like functionality and making it easy for users to buy within a certain range without having to pick specific orders, while still maintaining the ability to put trades on in microseconds or nanoseconds and avoiding potential performance issues with state-based logic in order matching engines?

[38:59] The genius of Carbon: a simple on-ledger solution for order routing

[43:29] Does using the SDK in Carbon for executing positions trustlessly while still submitting the execution to the ledger raise concerns among decentralisation maximalists?

[46:37] What are Carbon’s plans for the next 6–12 months?

Further resources

• Website: bancor.network 
• Twitter: @Bancor 
• Discord: discord.com/invite/CAm3Ncyrxk 

Michael Videtto, co-founder of Astrolescent, a decentralised exchange aggregator, is Piers Ridyard's guest on this week's episode of the DeFi Download Podcast. Piers and Michael discuss the launch of USDA, the first fully collateralized stablecoin on Radix.

Summary

Michael Videtto, Astrolescent's co-founder, has a background in physics and electrical engineering, as well as 15 years of investing experience in both crypto and traditional finance. He has an interest in macroeconomics and aims to further his knowledge in the field.

Astrolescent intends to bring Radix into the mainstream by combining DeFi and traditional finance through four financial products. Their first product is a decentralised exchange aggregator, which will be followed by other products that will use the aggregator to provide users with more options and flexibility. Astrolescent seeks to mitigate risk by looking into partnering with multiple banks rather than just one. In July 2023, they plan to launch USDA, an audited and fully-backed stablecoin issued in the US on Radix, along with other products.

During the discussion, Michael emphasised the importance of crypto industry regulation to prevent scams and build trust. He also discussed the stability of stablecoins such as USDC, as well as how well-regulated and diversified companies like Circle can recover from losses and continue offering stablecoins. Michael also highlighted the importance of transparency and proof of reserves in stablecoins. Astrolescent will use a KYC verification token to ensure the security of their DeFi products and to track token ownership on the network.

Chapters

[01:05] Michael’s view on the impact of the Silicon Valley Bank USDC wobble on stablecoins

[02:28] Are decentralised stablecoins the future of DeFi in light of the recent events?

[03:39] The importance of stablecoins for DeFi and public ledgers

[04:39] The founding of Astrolescent and their first product

[06:23] Michael’s background and interest in crypto and finance

[07:09] Did Michael initially become interested in crypto through his interest in finance and macroeconomics?

[08:39] The challenges of launching a stablecoin in a mature market issued out of the USA: Astrolescent's approach with USDA

[10:38] Launching the first stablecoin on Radix

[11:45] Using Radix-specific features for USDA launch

[12:59] A new emerging narrative in DeFi: Is building on-ledger applications that are transparent, leverage smart contracts, and are also compliant becoming a big growth area for DeFi?

[14:10] Astrolescent's plans for the liquidity around their first product, the USDA stablecoin

[16:03] Astrolescent's challenge with state-by-state banking regulations in the US

[16:59] The global availability of USDA and who can use it

[17:54] Can USDA be freely transferred after purchase or is it subject to restrictions?

[18:42] Astrolescent leverages the powerful rule set associated with tokens in the Radix engine to future-proof their stablecoin and build a product that works for both DeFi and traditional finance.

[21:04] Hybrid permissioned and permissionless systems, regulation, and innovation in DeFi

[24:45] What is the most useful thing that the Radix community can do for Astrolescent right now?

Further resources

• Website: astrolescent.com 
• Twitter: @astrolescent

Summary

On this episode of the podcast, Piers talks with Will Jones, founder of Paper Street Capital, about his experiences with Scrypto and the future of decentralised development. 

Paper Street Capital is a crypto investor who came from TradFi and follows the same fundamental principles that worked in the traditional space, but now in Web3, betting on people.

From his admiration for Radix to his experiences with Solidity and Scrypto, Will shares his insights into the challenges and opportunities facing developers in the crypto space.

During the discussion, Will and Piers talk in detail about Scrypto, a Rust-based programming language for Web3 development. They discuss the importance of asset handling and security, the user-friendliness of Scrypto, and the challenges of code reusability in public ledger code. They also explore the potential for blueprints and components to incentivize creativity and reward developers with royalties.

Key takeaways

• Scrypto is a Rust-based programming language for Web3 development that emphasises asset handling and security, user-friendliness, and code reusability through blueprints and components.
• Radix has implemented a system of micropayments for useful actions on the ledger, with delegated fees allowing third parties to pay transaction fees on behalf of users.
• Scrypto is intuitive and rewarding, with the use of polished blueprints and components lowering the bar for entry-level developers.
• The transaction manifest simplifies the process of composing smart contracts and allows for greater composability.
• A blueprint is a piece of functionality that you want to instantiate on the Radix ledger, while a component is the functioning smart contract on top of the ledger. They allow for safer and cheaper instantiation of code and easier code reusability for building more complicated applications.

Chapters

[01:09] How Radix's presentation and focus on pain points in the crypto industry impressed Will Jones

[03:08] Scrypto's technical features: a bowling alley with gutter guards down

[04:48] Radix's story of creating Scrypto, the secure and user-friendly Rust-based programming language for Web3 development

[12:00] Will Jones's experience learning blockchain programming: Solidity vs Scrypto, and blueprints as Lego pieces for Web3 development

[14:25] Radix's blueprint and component system: safer and cheaper instantiation of code and easier code reusability in public ledger development

[23:05] How blueprints and components in Scrypto can incentivize creativity and reward DeFi developers with royalties

[24:30] Incentivizing useful code: how Radix is using micropayments and delegated fees to accelerate their ecosystem

[28:42] The benefits of Scrypto: lowering the bar for entry-level developers, saving time and stress in Web3 development with components and blueprints

[30:52] Avoiding Ethereum's risks: the benefits of Radix and Scrypto

[35:03] Efficient development using the tools and components of the Radix marketplace

[36:09] The power of coordination layers: standardised building blocks for innovation

[38:06] The role of components in the Radix ecosystem

[40:11] Building dApps with ease and efficiency, low barrier to entry, and polished, easy-to-use components and blueprints

[43:12] The benefits of Radix's transaction manifest for smart contract development

[48:38] Simplifying DeFi: how Radix is improving user experience

In this episode of the DeFi Download podcast, Piers Ridyard and Bruno Škvorc, the founder of RMRK, delve into the RMRK NFT 2.0 standard and the Singular marketplace, which is designed to showcase the possibilities of NFT 2.0s. They also talk about marketing challenges and Bruno’s hope for widespread technology adoption. 

Summary

RMRK (pronounced “remark”) is a collection of smart contract standards and building blocks that allows NFTs to be infinitely extended and exist as NFT2.0s. It runs on the Kusama blockchain, Polkadot's canary network, without requiring parachains or smart contracts, and aims to elevate NFTs beyond just monkey pictures.

Key takeaways

• RMRK is a protocol created by a team of developers who are working to establish a new standard for NFTs. This new standard enables more complex data structures to be used.
• The RMRK team has created a marketplace called Singular that showcases the possibilities of the NFT 2.0 standard and allows artists and collectors to trade NFTs 2.0. Singular is very much like the OpenSea of NFTs 2.0.
• NFTs can be used to represent anything from music tracks to financial instruments.
• Adopting a new idea, even if it's a really good one, can be difficult. To capture the popular imagination, it's important to create a narrative around a new technology.
• The RMRK team has struggled with marketing their technology, but they recognise that it is necessary to build familiarity through exposure.

Chapters

[01:06] The origin story of RMRK

[02:52] The journey of RMRK: from hacking NFTs on layer 1 to building robust cross-platform standards

[06:46] Game equipables and the power of NFTs owning NFTs and equipables

[10:35] Examples of combining fungible tokens with non-fungible tokens to experiment with data structures in a decentralised way

[13:01] Exploring the boundaries of NFTs: Should chat history be an NFT?

[14:06] Is the creation of identity and reputation as on-ledger objects leading to lighter front ends?

[15:52] NFTs owning NFTs and fungible tokens: how does it differ from a wallet?

[18:02] Social media and finance are converging on Web3 and DeFi, but there may also be a convergence with gaming. Will game skill sets be the next big thing in DeFi?

[24:24] Does a large number of generative arts need to be involved in making two pieces of artwork together in NFTs and making a new collection compatible with equipables?

[27:20] Younger generations have grown up with digital gaming and missions, which can be applied to the DAO economy and lead to interesting developments. What are some examples of groups understanding and using the RMRK standard?

[28:39] The value of reputation in building successful Web3 communities: lessons from Web2 communities like Reddit

[30:23] What is the new marketplace that Bruno is building besides RMRK?

[32:57] What defines success for Singular? Is it having many RMRK-standard marketplaces or becoming the main NFT2.0 trading platform?

[34:29] Overcoming the challenges of introducing a good idea to the world and the road ahead for RMRK

[36:03] The importance of narrative in NFT 2.0 adoption — RMRK's nestable NFTs and Radix compatibility

[38:00] Navigating the RMRK and Singular ecosystems: where to start?

Further resources

• RMRK Website: rmrk.app 
• Singular App: singular.app 
• Twitter: @RmrkApp 
• Bruno’s Twitter: @bitfalls