Getting external data into a blockchain is a challenging problem, rooted in the requirement that anyone validating the network will always need to have the same data as everyone else. Complexity arises because validators are running in parallel on different computers around the internet and they all need the same data at the same time. Blockchain oracles are designed to address this problem, and there are varying approaches to how oracles are designed and operated.

On this episode of The Next Block, I speak with Burak Benligiray, co-founder of API3.org, about why he decided to start API3, and how it works under the cover. I was interested in speaking with Burak after first learning about API3 at ETH Denver, coupled with my interest in oracles. The need for publishing trusted data into blockchain networks is only going to grow as more businesses incorporate blockchain as a critical technology. Think: weather data, financial data, sports data, the list goes on.

I hope you enjoy the conversation. I planned for a 30 minute session but we blew way past that. There's a lot to talk about!

Links:

Burak's ETH Denver talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94tqEQgTwVg

API3: https://api3.org/

API3 Twitter: https://twitter.com/API3DAO

API3 Discord: https://discord.gg/qnRrcfnm5W

Two common problems users face when transacting on Ethereum layer 2 rollups and sidechains, are the cost and the wait time to withdraw. Enter Hop Protocol. Hop enables users to easily and quickly do exactly this, saving them 10-100x in fees, and paring 7 day transfer windows down to just minutes.

Chris Whinfrey, co-founder of Hop, joins me to do a deep technical dive into Hop Protocol. We cover a wide range of topics beginning with Chris's first intro to blockchain back when he was at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), covering how Hop works under the hood, how Hop's design will enable them to also support transferring NFTs (not just tokens), how it could be used provide cross chain liquidity, and lots more.

I was fascinated by Chris's depth of knowledge of Ethereum which he has acquired from working on Ethereum since its inception. Case in point, a few years back Chris and his team were hired to do security audits for Open Zeppelin smart contracts, which have become the most relied on open source smart contracts for Ethereum developers.

I hope you enjoy the discussion.

You can learn more about Hop at hop.exchange

Follow them on Twitter @HopProtocol

Join them on Discord at http://discord.gg/PwCF88emV4

You can reach out to me on Twitter @emilebaizel

The intro/outro track is Euler Beats Enigma LP #17, generously provided by the Beets DAO https://beetsdao.com/

Gelato is a smart contract automation service that has become a critical piece of infrastructure for many popular DeFi protocols. It is commonly used to automate limit orders on Uniswap, do dollar cost averaging across decentralized exchanges, and to refinance debt positions to avoid liquidations.

On this epsiode, co-founder Hilmar Orth joins us to tell the story of how Gelato began through a grant from Gnosis, why the team moved from Berlin to Zug, and as always, we do a deep dive into the product and learn how it works from a developer's point of view.

You can learn more about Gelato at gelato.network

Follow them on Twitter @gelatonetwork

Join them on Discord at discord.gg/ApbA39BKyJ

You can reach out to me on Twitter @emilebaizel

The intro/outro track is Euler Beats Enigma LP #17, generously provided by the Beets DAO https://beetsdao.com/

Tenderly is a smart contract monitoring, alerting, and analytics service (and more) that has become widely popular among Ethereum smart contract developers. The product is used by many well-known projects including Aave, Uniswap, and Chainlink.

On this epsiode, co-founder Nebojsa Urosevic joins us to tell the story of how Tenderly started, and then we do a deep dive into several of the most popular features.

You can learn more about Tenderly at https://tenderly.co/

You can reach out to me on Twitter @emilebaizel

The intro/outro track is Euler Beats Enigma LP #17, generously provided by the Beets DAO https://beetsdao.com/

Welcome to episode Zero! In this episode I give a bit of background on myself and my motivation for creating The Next Block podcast. If you are involved with a blockchain project and would like to discuss coming onto the show, please reach out to me on Twitter @emilebaizel

The intro/outro track is Euler Beats Enigma LP #17, generously provided by Beets DAO https://www.beetsdao.com