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Celestia, a data availability layer for blockchains, was launched last October to much fanfare. The platform takes a modular approach to blockchains, allowing developers to post data onto it without the need for smart contracts or execution. This makes it extremely useful for scaling roll-ups and other layer two technologies. 

Celestia co-founder Mustafa Al-Bassam and COO Nick White join Unchained to discuss what Celestia is and how it works, how data availability sampling allows for more scalability, how Celestia compares with other data availability layers, whether Celestia could become a data availability layer for Bitcoin, and comparisons between Celestia and Solana. 

Modular vs. monolithic

Celestia

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Starknet made news this week for announcing what will be the largest initial airdrop by number of eligible addresses ever. But it faced heavy criticism online for many of the details of the airdrop, from the fact that Ethereum solo takers received almost 22% of the distribution to eligibility requirements that users held at least 0.005 ETH in their wallets as of Nov. 15, 2023 to the fact that the token generation event took place almost two years before the unlock date.

Starkware CEO Eli Ben-Sasson joined Unchained to respond to the multiple critiques of the airdrop and discuss why he and the Starknet Foundation decided on the details that they did.  

Show highlights:

Learn more:

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and special guest Dan Romero, co-founder of Farcaster, engage in a riveting discussion on decentralized social media and the burgeoning meme coin trend within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This episode offers an in-depth analysis of Farcaster's innovative mechanisms for user engagement and its significant role in shaping the future of social interactions in the crypto domain. We delve into the mechanics behind meme coins, examining their influence on community dynamics, market behavior, and the broader implications for digital asset valuation. Our conversation navigates through the intricacies of decentralized platforms like Farcaster, probing into their potential to disrupt conventional social media models and foster a new era of user-centric, blockchain-enabled online communities. Join us for a comprehensive exploration of these pivotal developments, enriched with Dan Romero's firsthand insights, as we dissect the evolving landscape of social media in the crypto age and the captivating allure of meme coins, all aimed at providing a deeper understanding of their impact on the global cryptocurrency market.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show Highlights

🔹 Decentralized Social Media Evolution: Exploring the growth and challenges of platforms like Farcaster in the decentralized web landscape.

🔹 User Empowerment in Crypto: Analyzing how crypto-native features on platforms empower users through economic incentives and community building.

🔹 The Rise of Social Tokens: Delving into the emergence of social tokens and their role in fostering online communities and creator economies.

🔹 Interactive Crypto Features: Investigating innovative features like Farcaster's frames and their impact on user engagement and content sharing.

🔹 Sustainable Tokenomics: Discussing the sustainability of token models in social platforms and the potential for long-term value creation.

🔹 Behavioral Economics in Crypto: Understanding the psychological factors driving the speculative nature of meme coins and their market dynamics.

🔹 Decentralization vs. Centralization: Debating the balance between decentralized ethos and the need for centralized governance in crypto platforms.

🔹 The Future of Online Identity: Discussing the evolution of online identities in the context of decentralized platforms and blockchain technology.

🔹 Celebrity and Crypto Synergies: Speculating on the future of celebrity involvement in crypto through personalized tokens and endorsements.

🔹 Cross-Platform Crypto Integration: Exploring the possibilities and challenges of integrating crypto-native features across various social and digital platforms.

🔹 Ethical Considerations in Crypto: Delving into the ethical implications of rapid token creation, distribution strategies, and their impact on unsuspecting users.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

Guest

⭐️ Dan Romero, Farcaster Co-Founder

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In the two weeks since Farcaster introduced its Frames feature that allows developers to easily add mini apps to users’ posts, the decentralized social network has become the talk of Twitter, now X, and increased its user base by ten times, according to co-founder Dan Romero. 

Romero joins Unchained to discuss why Frames has become so popular, the philosophy behind Farcaster and its client Warpcast, why the crypto component behind Farcaster is being kept to a minimum, how Apple’s new Vision Pro could lead to the creation of a 3D social network on Farcaster, how he and his fellow co-founder’s background at Coinbase helped shape their decisions about building Farcaster, and his vision for eventually getting Farcaster to a billion-plus users. 

Farcaster architecture

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Crypto: The Game captivated a large swath of the crypto community this past week. The game, modeled after “Survivor,” was the brainchild of Dylan Abruscato, Tyler Cagle and Bryan Lee. The intention of the game, which was played virtually but also unfolded in real life, was to ruthlessly vote people off to determine a single winner. Throughout, multiple psy-ops operations created chaos. Despite all that, the competition ended up fostering numerous friendships (including for Unchained reporter Sage Young, whose coverage is below) and resulted in a shocking, but heartwarming ending. 

On Friday afternoon, after the winner was announced, we hosted a Spaces with Dylan, the winner, and some of the more notable players, which we’re releasing here. In the discussion, we cover the inspiration for the game, some of the behind-the-scenes surprises, who was causing chaos for various teams and how, and why the winner may be one of the winning-est contestants ever. 

Guest:

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On Tuesday, Solana suffered a network outage, just shy of a year since its last shutdown. The blockchain had to quickly get a new version out and notify its validators to upgrade to it and restart their systems before blocks could be produced again, resulting in downtime of roughly five hours. This was previously something that had happened regularly to the blockchain, but seemed to have been largely addressed over the past year.

Lucas, the CEO of Jito Labs, which builds infrastructure for Solana and staged a highly successful airdrop last year that helped rejuvenate the blockchain, joined Unchained to discuss what caused the outage, whether it’s something that builders on Solana should be concerned about for the future, recent improvements Solana has made to its technology, whether the implementation of Firedancer would have prevented this incident, and the promise of the Solana phone. 

Show highlights:

Outage

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news and with special guest, and Farcaster aficionado Ted! This episode zooms in on Farcaster Frames: How are they revolutionizing the platform? We examine Farcaster's transformation and its impact on the future of social media: Can Farcaster redefine decentralized communication? Delving into its user base, we ask: What makes Farcaster's community unique? How do airdrop strategies and global hub distribution shape its ecosystem? And what's next for decentralized social networks like Farcaster? Join us for an insightful discussion on these pivotal questions impacting the crypto sphere.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show Highlights

🔹 Farcaster frames launch: Revolutionizing user engagement in crypto communities.

🔹 Social Media Evolution: Farcaster's Rise from Niche Network to Powerhouse.

🔹 Global dynamics: Farcaster's u.s. focus vs. Lens' worldwide appeal.

🔹 Decentralized platforms: the unique soul of Farcaster and Lens communities.

🔹 Airdrop strategies: boosting Farcaster's growth and user engagement.

🔹 From social networks to media: Farcaster's balancing act.

🔹 Overcoming adoption barriers: user reluctance vs. Farcaster's innovations.

🔹 A shift in content, authenticity and interaction on Farcaster.

🔹 Expanding Farcaster's ecosystem globally.

🔹 Farcaster's vision: the future of decentralized social networks.

🔹 Discovering Farcaster: overcoming hesitation, embracing curiosity.

➡️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly 

➡️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

➡️Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound

Guest

⭐️ Ted, the Farcaster Fangirl #1

Why Farcaster Frames are important: How a failed Facebook bet is coming to fruition in Web 3 By Antonio García Martínez

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Trying to regulate DeFi is a huge challenge because in a truly decentralized system, there should be no centralized actors to make and enforce rules for. This could make combating illicit finance challenging since traditionally, regulation has been targeted at centralized intermediaries. Yet Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs; Michael Mosier, the co-founder of boutique law firm Arktouros; and Katja Gilman, senior lead for public policy at Polygon Labs, published a paper last week that proposes to do just that. 

Rebecca and Michael join Unchained to discuss what prompted them to write the paper, what the difference is between "onchain CeFi" and "genuine DeFi," how targeting high-risk wallets can be one part of the solution, how critical communications transmitters (CCTs) are another piece of the puzzle, and what next steps they are pursuing. 

Tornado Cash

• Unchained: Given the Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Is Ethereum Censorship Resistant?

Illicit funds in crypto:

• Unchained: How Much Money Are Terrorists Actually Raising in Crypto?

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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news and with special guest Aevo's Co-Founder - Julian Koh. This episode zeroes in on the latest buzz around the Jupiter ($JUP) airdrop: What's the real story behind Jupiter’s valuation and controversy? We peel back the layers of Jupiter's token strategy and its impact on market dynamics. The dialogue then shifts to the innovative approaches of Aevo (formerly Ribbon Finance) in pre-launch derivatives and the burgeoning trend of airdrop farming: How are Airdrop strategies altering the landscape of token valuation and investor behavior? The debate intensifies as we tackle the contentious battle between points systems and traditional airdrops: Are points a revolutionary engagement tool or a complex web of incentives? With the resurgence of ICOs and the strategic pivot of Ribbon Finance, we explore the implications of rebrands on the crypto ecosystem. Join us for an in-depth exploration of these critical topics and their profound impact on the world of cryptocurrency.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show Highlights

🔹 Jupiter Airdrop Deep Dive: Unraveling the complexities and controversies behind the Jupiter ($JUP) airdrop.

🔹 Valuation Variance: Examining the fluctuations in Jupiter token valuation and their market repercussions.

🔹 Community Engagement: Evaluating the effectiveness of @weremeow's live streams in shaping community perceptions.

🔹 Airdrop Discontent: Analyzing the liquidity dynamics and user dissatisfaction stemming from airdrop strategies.

🔹 Innovations in Derivatives: Exploring Aevo's unique approach to pre-launch derivatives in the DeFi space.

🔹 The Airdrop Farmer's Dilemma: Discussing the strategies used by airdrop farmers to hedge against price volatility.

🔹 Points vs. Airdrops Debate: Delving into the pros and cons of points systems compared to traditional airdrop mechanisms.

🔹 Rebranding Strategies: Assessing the impact of token rebrands, with a focus on Ribbon Finance's evolution.

🔹 Pre-IPO Markets and Crypto: Drawing parallels between traditional pre-IPO conversion markets and crypto points systems.

🔹 The Uncertainty Factor: Considering how the allure of uncertainty influences engagement and investment in crypto.

🔹 Protocol Dynamics: Investigating the effects of airdrop farmers on the health and engagement of blockchain protocols.

🔹 ICO Resurgence: Discussing the potential comeback of Initial Coin Offerings and their role in the crypto funding landscape.

🔹 Stress Testing with Points: Highlighting innovative uses of points for protocol stress testing like Eigenlayer.

🔹 Referral Systems in Crypto: Analyzing the impact of referral-based points systems on protocol engagement and growth.

⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly 

⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

Guest

⭐️ Julian Koh, Aevo's Co-Founder

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While Solana DeFi protocol Jupiter staged what was by most measures a very successful airdrop launch on Wednesday, achieving a market cap of close to $800 million, the company’s critics pointed out numerous ways the company seemed to unfairly enrich itself in the process. While Jupiter’s founder, who goes by the pseudonym Meow, acknowledges he might have done some things differently, he finds the criticisms of the launch mostly based on “bad faith” and misinformation.  

Meow joined Unchained to discuss the thinking behind the launch mechanics of JUP, how the prior launch of memecoin WEN served as a dry run for JUP, whether the aggressive pricing strategy of JUP was a mistake, and what he hopes to achieve with Jupiter next, including the possibility of enabling companies of all kinds to list themselves publicly on chain. 

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