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This week, Sal and Zen Llama host another podcast in the "Technical" series - this time talking with Piers Ridyard who is CEO of RDX Works. The episode goes into depth around what makes Radix such a highly novel design, why sharding is the inevitable solution for horizontally scaling blockchains, and why the notion of blocks needs to be revamped to allow for full atomic composability between shards. Find out why Radix may well be the final nail in the coffin of the scalability trilemma.
This week, we speak with Alan Orwick from Quai Network who is attempting to build a completely novel Proof-Of-Work blockchain able to compete with modern Proof-Of-Stake on throughput and latency. The project uses a dual-token design which includes a highly novel stablecoin-like token used to represent energy input into the network. It's a breath of fresh air in the POW landscape and offers a glimpse into the potential future of blockchain scaling.
We chat with Jake Randall, one of the co-founders of Mutant Mon and pioneer of the emergent 404 standard. Mutant Mon is the first SPL-404 hybrid token on Solana, bridging NFTs and fungible tokens under one primitive. The project has been incubating since 2021 and draws inspiration from the fusionmon concept in the Pokemon fan game scene. The team has developed a novel re-rolling aspect where every time an NFT is swapped for tokens, a new NFT with different stats and collectability is created. The project also introduces a 2% tax on swaps, creating a deflationary token and driving revenue for the ecosystem. The conversation explores the concerns and challenges of creating a standard for hybrid NFT collections. We close the episode chatting about the future of marketplaces and the need for change in the NFT ecosystem.
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Drift brings on-chain, cross-margined perpetual futures to Solana and is one of its most widely-used DeFi applications. The Drift team has been around since Solana's early days and has an ambitious vision to bring financial primitives historically only available on CEXs to the world of permissionless finance. Throughout this episode, we chat with Cindy and Chris to learn about Drift's architecture, strategy, differentiators, and endgame.
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Time Stamps
(0:00) - Origins of Drift
(2:27) - Why trade perps
(6:35) - Why perps never gained popularity in tradfi
(10:34) - How to manage risks around offering leverage
(12:34) - How would you handle BonkGuy’s current bet
(15:49) - Purpose of the insurance fund
(17:08) - Strategy behind product expansion
(19:27) - Sourcing maker liquidity
(26:42) - Targeting specific user segments
(29:05) - Importance of on-chain order books
(31:06) - UX strategy
(35:44) - Jup Perps vs Drift
(37:58) - Pre-token perps
(39:56) - Benefits of perps on Solana vs app chains
(41:44) - How sticky is the TVL?
(44:50) - Drift’s endgame
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Podcast Resources
Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz
Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum
Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod
Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod
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Episode Resources
Follow Cindy : https://Twitter.com/CindyLeowTT
Follow Chris : https://Twitter.com/Chrispheaney
Follow Drift Protocol : https://Twitter.com/DriftProtocol
Sal sits down with Lucas to chat about all things Crypto & AI. Lucas, a researcher at Galaxy, recently published a comprehensive report on this topic as he seeks to separate fact from fiction when it comes to where crypto can improve AI applications and vice-versa.
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Time Stamps
(0:00) - Decentralized GPU farms
(5:05) - Posting on-chain proofs of models
(8:28) - Smart agents using crypto
(11:32) - Competing with OpenAI
(15:18) - Using crypto for crowdsourced data
(13:30) - Eth value accrual
(17:52) - How web2 companies are building moats around data
(20:03) - Is MakerDao pivoting to an AI company?
(26:47) - Chat based interfaces
(32:36) - What sets BitTensor apart
(37:45) - Is ZKML overhyped?
(40:16) - Views on Solana
(42:45) - Are NFTs dead on Solana?
(47:48) - Rise of hybrid NFTs
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Podcast Resources
Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz
Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum
Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod
Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod
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Episode Resources
Follow Lucas : https://Twitter.com/UpToDateNow
Galaxy AI report : https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/understanding-intersection-crypto-ai/
Solana Legend returns to Unlayered to share his views on why Solana is winning and will continue to win. We start off by picking up where we last left off with Legend, focusing on the shortcomings of Ethereum and the EVM ecosystem. We then dive into the current state of the markets and a litany of other topics including which narratives Legend is most excited about.
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Time Stamps
(0:00) - Eth Denver takeaways
(2:13) - Problems of scaling via L2s
(4:49) - Predicting the L2 winners
(8:04) - Eth alignment
(10:33) - Modular’s social coordination cost
(13:30) - Eth value accrual
(16:49) - Decentralized order flow on Solana
(20:58) - Outperforming memecoins as a venture fund
(23:40) - Memecoin supercycle?
(26:57) - Crypto investment playbook
(31:23) - Crypto x AI
(37:09) - Airbnb for GPUs
(41:19) - Best moats in crypto
(44:26) - How to decentralize curation
(48:00) - Bring back ICOs?
(53:20) - Why infra keeps getting funded over apps
(58:19) - Why VCs keep getting timing wrong
(1:00:04) - The rise of Bitcoin
(1:05:15) - ERC / SPL 404 standard to kickstart NFT bull run?
(1:07:53) - Will bull market be dominated by ETF flows?
(1:11:33) - What will make up the $10tn asset class?
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Podcast Resources
Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz
Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum
Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod
Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod
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Episode Resources
Follow Solana Legend : https://Twitter.com/SolanaLegend
Anatoly needs no introduction. He is responsible for the creation of Solana and the emergence of high-throughput, next-gen blockchains. We had the privilege of covering a very wide variety of topics with 'Toly thoughout this interview. We start with ‘Toly’s childhood, background, and the origins of Solana. We then move into some of Solana’s core principles and how they differ from Ethereum. This serves as a natural segue into Solana’s upcoming technical upgrades, changes to its fee model, learnings from other ecosystems, and what happens after Firedancer. ‘Toly also address some of Solana’s key criticisms and open questions head-on, such as decentralization initiatives and moneyness properties. This must-listen episode is the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the Solana blockchain from the man who built this ~$60B (and counting) from the ground-up.
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Time Stamps
(0:00) - How Toly’s childhood influenced him
(3:24) - Toly’s route into crypto
(6:15) - The origins of Solana
(11:17) - Why POH’s core value prop is different than originally envisioned
(14:15) - Has Solana created a level playing field for trading yet?
(21:24) - Where will finance ultimately exist?
(25:10) - Interplay between Sol and Eth ecosystems
(27:29) - Solana’s modularity
(31:27) - Upgrading the fee markets
(39:44) - How will Solana handle MEV over a bull market
(43:46) - Is Solana ready for mass adoption?
(46:27) - Next technical hurdle post Firedancer
(48:52) - Integreting DePIN friendly features into the Saga 2
(51:30) - Is Crypto x AI overhyped?
(58:16) - Teachings from other L1 ecosystems
(1:00:42) - No 10x improvements possible over Solana’s design?
(1:02:02) - implications of a multi-validator client future
(1:07:03) - Solana becoming an Eth L2 shared sequencer?
(1:08:08) - Solana’s moneyness properties
(1:10:35) - When will Solana be decentralised enough?
(1:15:21) - The end of the good old days?
(1:16:25) - Which projects excite Toly
(1:19:46) - How Toly touches grass
(1:21:05) - Toly’s advice for this cycle
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Podcast Resources
Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz
Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum
Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod
Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod
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Episode Resources
Follow Anatoly : https://Twitter.com/AEYakovenko
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