The Gwart Show | Blockspace Media

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The Gwart Show | Blockspace Media episodes

August 09 The Next Marginal Buyer of Bitcoin w/ Lyn Alden
Lyn Alden joins Gwart to talk about the Coldcard security incident, changing self-custody heuristics, game theory behind Bitcoin soft forks, and the true addressable market for stablecoins. She shares insights on MicroStrategy's reserve guidance, her new private equity holding company Orange Juice, early-stage venture thesis, and whether Bitcoin can outperform gold as the ultimate store of value.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:34 ColdCard hack
04:06 Future of Self Custody
11:14 ETF margin is easier
16:19 Stablecoins
23:16 Strategy
26:49 Strategy's game plan
29:28 Treasury companies are cooked
33:20 Strategy: when BTC becomes money
40:12 Orange Juice
44:38 Orange Juice plan
47:06 Investable verticals
51:30 Where' the new Bitcoin buyer?
55:53 Is the bottom in?
56:42 BTC as store of value?
The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs.xyz/careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 4 min
August 02 Bringing Tradfi Liquidity On-Chain w/ Lucas V. Schuermann
Lucas V. Schuermann, Co-Founder of Variational, joins us to talk about building a high-performance crypto brokerage model on Arbitrum. Lucas explains how Variational routes execution to TradFi venues, eliminates external market maker extraction through its in-house LP, introduces flat-rate swaps to fix funding rate volatility, and builds isolated smart contracts to protect user capital.
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---
## Notes:
* Variational sees $1B daily volume on platform.
* Platform holds $1.4B in total open interest.
* Swaps feature a flat carry cost around 4% to 5%.
* LP takes the other side of 100% of platform trades.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:46 Lucas' background
03:20 Hedgefund strategies
05:59 Hedgefund tasks
08:31 Variational founding
10:45 Variational market structure
13:41 RWA
16:32 RWA hedging
19:17 Market neutrality
22:53 "Venue for execution"
26:36 Price discovery on-chain
30:02 Building on Arbitrium
33:52 Liquidity pool
37:08 Users depositing to OLP
39:52 A Prop AMM for Perps?
42:23 Future of Order Flow
46:18 Order book theater?
50:50 Incentive programs
55:09 Swaps
57:06 Wrap up

The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs.xyz/careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
59 min
July 29 Building Regulated Crypto Prediction Markets w/ John Wang, Kalshi
John Wang, Lead of Crypto & Perps at Kalshi, joins us to talk about bringing CFTC-regulated crypto perpetual futures and prediction markets to the US. John shares insights on growing Kalshi's crypto business, expanding across 140 countries, institutional liquidity, standardized compute indices, and why regulatory compliance scales better than offshore exchanges.
The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs.xyz/careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 7 min
July 28 Building Regulated Crypto Prediction Markets w/ John Wang, Kalshi
John Wang, Lead of Crypto & Perps at Kalshi, joins us to talk about bringing CFTC-regulated crypto perpetual futures and prediction markets to the US. John shares insights on growing Kalshi's crypto business, expanding across 140 countries, institutional liquidity, standardized compute indices, and why regulatory compliance scales better than offshore exchanges.
Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com
---
## Notes:
* Crypto volume grew from 2-4% to 20-25%.
* Compute spending is $700 billion per year.
* Kalshi market share in crypto PMs is ~85%.
* XP in Brazil holds 98% market share.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:21 John's background
02:28 Crypto prices vs rails
06:01 What's interesting about Prediction Markets?
09:47 The safety of "Regulation"
13:55 Why are prediction markets controversial?
24:22 Trading AI "compute"
27:53 How does Kalshi "win" these markets?
32:44 Kalshi users globally
37:47 Order books
38:59 John's daily work
41:53 Insider trading and ethics
47:34 The Oracle problem
54:26 Launching Perps
1:00:07 Blockchains as beckend

The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the
most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products
have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in
retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix,
the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer
looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to
ellipsislabs.xyz/careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 7 min
July 19 Open source models & AI value accrual w/ Christian Catalini
Christian Catalini, Co-founder of Lightspark joins us to talk about his journey from the MIT Bitcoin experiment to co-founding Libra. Christian breaks down why regulators killed Libra, the limits of the Lightning Network, and why Bitcoin needs new opcodes. He also shares his framework for AI value accrual, the power of verifiable open-source models, and the reality of agentic payments.
Subscribe to the newsletter! [https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com](https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com)
---
## Notes:
* Lightning Network is capital inefficient.
* AI models are commoditizing intelligence.
* Open-source AI catches frontier models fast.
* Bitcoin scaling requires a new opcode.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:28 Christain's background
02:50 What's up with AI?
05:15 AI conclusions
07:12 The core insight (verification)
11:37 Is there start up value left?
15:24 Do large LLMs still have moat?
20:15 NVIDIA open source models
23:05 Is the future about LLMs or other tech?
26:00 Libra history
29:19 Lightspark
33:36 Scaling Bitcoin
39:02 Does "neutrality " have value?
46:09 Why would stablecoins stay on-chain?
49:55 Bitcoin promise land
55:26 WTF are "agentic payments"?

The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the
most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products
have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in
retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix,
the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer
looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to
ellipsislabs.xyz/careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
59 min
June 29 Next Gen Prediction Markets w/ Ivo Crnkovic-Rubsamen
Ivo Crnkovic-Rubsamen, Co-Founder of Pascal Trading joins us to talk about building the next generation of prediction markets. Ivo shares insights from his time at Bridgewater, D.E. Shaw, and dYdX, explaining how Pascal is solving major capital efficiency issues in DeFi. We dive deep into oracle-free price discovery, order book design, and how to scale robust leverage extension outside the core matching loop to protect trading venues.
Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com
Notes:
* Ivo worked as a quant at Bridgewater and D.E. Shaw.
* Joined dYdX in late 2021 as an early trader.
* Focuses on robust leverage outside matching loop.
* Enables price discovery for oracle-free assets.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:24 Ivo's background
02:27 Pascal design
05:08 Traders as target audience
07:05 Polymarket & nonces
13:30 Building order management system
14:25 testing the markets
21:18 Prediction markets
31:58 "Insider trading"
36:50 Wall St. & sports betting
44:55 Prediction markets as insurnace
50:43 Removing "house edge" & fees
58:17 Markets on Pascal

The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the
most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products
have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in
retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix,
the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer
looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to
ellipsislabs.xyz/careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 3 min
June 14 Solving the $30 trillion Liquidity Silo Problem w/ Ethan Marcus
Ethan Marcus, CEO of Flashnet joins us to talk about how Flashnet is building a global pool of liquidity for Bitcoin. Ethan explains why the Lightning Network falls short for multi-asset scaling and how Spark's state-chain architecture enables instant, zero-fee swaps. We dive into Flashnet’s B2B integrations with neobanks and merchant platforms, the trend toward on-chain retail execution, and their upcoming expansion into liquidations and Bitcoin-denominated financial services.
Subscribe to the newsletter! [https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com](https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com)
Notes:
* Bitcoin trades over $30 trillion annually.
* System requires one honest operator.
* Much of Cash App's revenue is Bitcoin-based.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:49 Ethan's background
03:09 Spark
04:15 State chains
05:12 Spark design
07:22 State chain unlocks
09:07 Flashnet design
10:26 B2B clients
12:03 Comparing Spark vs other L2
13:42 What form does USD take?
15:08 Self custody
20:05 The problems that Spark solves
21:42 Spark ecosystem
24:03 Solana is so good!
26:41 Stablecoins
29:25 Assets other than BTC
33:16 Swaps landscape
36:57 Other Flashnet opportunities
41:33 Spark update
44:01 Roxom
47:09 Flashnet & retail

The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the
most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products
have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in
retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix,
the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer
looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to
ellipsislabs.xyz/careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
50 min
June 07 Udi Critiques Michael Saylor w/ Udi Wertheimer
Udi Wertheimer, Founder of Taproot Wizards joins us to talk about the shifting narratives of Bitcoin, the structural flaws of layer-2 scaling solutions, and how stablecoins enable Hyperliquid and Polymarket. He critiques Michael Saylor’s aggressive financial engineering tactics, explaining why MicroStrategy stopping its Bitcoin buying spree is a far greater systemic risk to the market than Saylor actually selling his bags.
Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com
Notes:
* Udi missed his $400k 2025 BTC forecast.
* Saylor's treasury is worth $55 billion.
* Saylor not buying for one quarter poses major risk.
* Treasury value could drop to $20 billion.
* MSTR holds a $2 billion cash reserve limit.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:10 "I was wrong" - Udi
03:02 Layer 2
04:08 Recent Bitcoin history
07:56 On-chain activity will be fringe behavior
13:10 True believers & this cycle
17:37 narrative changes
21:02 Stablecoins
26:00 Agentic payments
27:26 Stablecoins & prediction markets
36:32 STRC selling BTC
43:22 Saylor thought experiment
47:05 Saylor BTC supply overhang
50:05 Saylor "folding"
57:48 10% of Gold supply
1:00:14 Is ANYTHING bullish now?
1:04:14 AI vibe coding

The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the
most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products
have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in
retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix,
the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer
looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to
ellipsislabs.xyz/careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 11 min
May 31 Building A Bitcoin Bank w/ Alexander Leishman
Alexander Leishman, CEO and Founder of River, joins us to talk about his vision for building a Bitcoin bank. We dive deep into why Coinbase pursued a local maximum with altcoin trading, the stickiness of traditional banking despite 0.01% yields, and why stablecoins lack product-market fit for Americans. Alex also shares his perspective on the limits of Lightning Network for global commerce, the necessity of proof of reserves after the FTX collapse, and why Bitcoin's terminal state is to become a boring treasury asset.
Subscribe to the newsletter! [https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com](https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com)
Notes:
* River started in 2019 as a Bitcoin bank.
* Coinbase charged retail 2% for altcoin trades.
* Major banks pay 0.01% interest on savings.
* Proof of reserves adopted after FTX collapse.
* Zombie nodes have near-zero running costs.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:34 Starting River
01:51 Before River
02:59 From altcoins to Bitcoin
05:15 Save in BTC
08:17 Coinbase trajectory
10:13 Stablecoins
14:10 Yield, and other fun distractions
17:45 Lightning
24:24 Proof of reserves
26:39 Paper BTC
28:08 10/10/25 fallout?
33:19 Current cycle vibes
36:10 Portfolio allocation
39:47 Self custody
42:06 Self custody unlocks
45:07 Hyperliquid & others
50:44 Admitting you were wrong
56:05 Quantum

The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the
most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products
have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in
retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix,
the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer
looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to
ellipsislabs.xyz slash careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
58 min
May 24 The Cat-and-Mouse game of Market Making w/ Rahul Jain
Rahul Jain, Head of Trading at Ellipsis Labs, joins us to talk about the reality of market making on Solana. Rahul breaks down why spot order books fail against toxic makers, how transactional introspection protects liquidity, and the economics of running modern prop execution systems. He dives into the mechanics of Phoenix's new perps platform, managing oracle attacks on illiquid tokens, the structural advantages of owning user flow on-chain, and whether decentralized perps are a winner-take-most game.
Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com
Notes:
* Firm held 20-25% crypto options market share.
* Toxic takers pick off makers for tens of K a day.
* Basic prop contracts can make around $1,000/day.
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:50 Rahul's background
02:45 Why move from spot trading?
06:50 Future of Prop AMMs
09:21 Order book games
14:07 Innovations on the horizon
16:17 RFQ
18:14 On-chain price dislocations
20:04 Why Perps?
25:35 Taker speedbumps
26:29 Market making in TradFi vs Crypto
28:30 MEV
29:39 Deciding assets to quote
31:43 Managing risk
33:16 MCP or bust
34:57 MPC problems
38:00 Why use Pheonix?
40:36 Composability
42:22 Splines
45:22 Scaling the market
47:51 "king making" on Solana
53:58 Are perps "winner take all"?

The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the
most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products
have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in
retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix,
the best on-chain perpetuals platform.
Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer
looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to
ellipsislabs.xyz slash careers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
57 min

About The Gwart Show | Blockspace Media

From the publisher's feed

Through conversations with crypto’s brightest lights, Gwart embarks on a one-man crusade to find the real value of cryptocurrency. Once weekly episodes with guests.