Unlayered

One of the most interesting experiments in all of crypto right now is The MetaDAO Project. Prophet's vision for MetaDAO is to create a decentralized autonomous organization that's governed by markets instead of politics. We start the episode by first discussing the organizational challenges that have plagued DAOs in the past and how futarchies, initially proposed by economist Robin Hanson in the early 2000s, could be the answer. We then dive into what the early days of MetaDAO will look like and how it will evolve over time. Finally, we talk about how futarchies built on DeFi primitives might completely remove the need for base currencies.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - Intro to futarchy-based governance

(10:51) - Misaligned incentives

(13:22) - Scaling futarchy

(19:27) - MetaDao proposals

(25:32) - Potential downsides

(41:34) - Does crypto make all currencies redundant?

(48:33) - Can defi operate without mediums of exchange 

(51:36) - Coinbase’s view of continued dollar dominance 

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

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 Prophet : https://twitter.com/Metaproph3t

Follow MetaDAO : https://twitter.com/MetaDAOProject

Our conversation with Tushar, Cofounder and Managing Partner at Multicoin, is a refreshing change-of-pace from our usual set of topics. We talk about why crypto even needs to exist in the first place and what types of applications benefit most from the advent of permissionless digital assets. We also learn about how Tushar spots opportunities in the market from the perspective of an investor and what areas he's most excited for in the near-term.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - Why crypto matters

(9:45) - Defi’s Endgame

(13:57) - What doesn’t need a blockchain

(19:12) - DePIN’s superpower

(26:42) - Long-term L1 staking

(33:23) - Will MEV be accepted by regulators

(38:49) - Blast controversy

(45:15) - How does Eth accrue value in a rollup world

(49:52) - How to be early to investments

(51:59) - Which narratives could lead next bull market

(54:50) - Web 3 defensibility

(59:05) - Could ICOs ever re-emerge?

(1:00:28) - Secret to being a good founder

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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 Tushar : https://twitter.com/TusharJain_

We chat with Patrick Bush of Van Eck to get his take on how their recent report painted a $3k SOL bullish scenario based on various fundamentals. Throughout the discussion, we touch on various metrics the underpin Van Eck's valuation framework and learn more about how Patrick views the current crypto landscape in terms of adoption and potential growth drivers.

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Time Stamps

(1:10) - Crypto valuation fundamentals

(7:28) - Layer 1 valuation methodology

(10:28) - Can Eth maintain a premium on take rate Vs Sol

(17:42) - Is TVL king?

(20:23) - Valuing ‘moneyness’

(28:03) - Solana thesis validation in real time

(36:02) - Sol’s superior design space

(41:39) - Is DePIN overhyped?

(50:32) - How to reach 2030 bull forecasts

(55:13) - Have the institutions arrived?

(59:46) - Crypto regulations

(1:06:56) - Closing thoughts

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

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 Patrick : https://twitter.com/Patrick_Bush_VE 

Follow Van Eck: https://twitter.com/VanEck_US

Van Eck Solana Report: https://www.vaneck.com/us/en/blogs/digital-assets/matthew-sigel-vanecks-base-bear-bull-case-solana-valuation-by-2030/

Armani is one of Solana's most prolific contributors. From Anchor to Madlads to Backpack and now Backpack Exchange, his vision for bringing crypto to the masses is truly multi-faceted. In this conversation, we focus primarily on his ambitions for Backpack Exchange. We dig into his learnings from working as an engineer at FTX, how Backpack is architected from a technical standpoint, and how he sees crypto adoption playing out in the near future.

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Time Stamps

0:00 - Piecing together Armani’s journey to this point

9:59 - Backpack Exchange overview

17:26 - Could this be the future of all centralised exchanges

25:37 - Avoiding the mistakes of AOL

27:01 - Strategy behind other CEXs launching L2s

32:10 - NFTs as a Go-To-Market strategy

35:30 - Multichain strategy

40:07 - Designing UX around crypto’s potential endgame 

46:19 - Do L2s and app chains make sense

50:08 - Unlocks and roadblocks for xNFTs

57:13 - Advice for crypto founders

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

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 Armani: https://twitter.com/armaniferrante 

Follow Backpack: https://twitter.com/xNFT_backpack 

Follow Madlads: https://twitter.com/MadLadsNFT 

Backpack Exchange : https://backpack.exchange

We catch up with Kel, Messari's pre-eminent Solana researcher, to see how his views have changed since we last spoke during the summer. Specifically, what can we look forward to on Solana in the short, medium, and long term? What are some key remaining headwinds to overcome? We cover these key questions and a bunch of others throughout this discussion.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - Price leading narrative

(3:52) - Being caught offside 

(5:41) - Are institutions buying

(11:23) - Impact of upcoming airdrops

(15:11) - The need for SPL token launches

(19:55) - Breaking out of the points meta

(22:30) - The death of social?

(24:13) - Solana project diversity

(26:08) - Do L1s need native CEX integrations to succeed

(28:49) - Sal’s Breakpoint takeaways

(31:55) - Solana headwinds

(36:54) - Which narratives are overheated

(42:41) - Eth Vs Sol alignment 

(51:49) - Sol token economics

(57:24) - End state for Eth defi

(1:01:28) - Stablecoins on Solana

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Episode Resources

Follow Kel: https://twitter.com/kelxyz_ 

Kel’s Solana Report: https://twitter.com/kelxyz_/status/1673725589876797441?s=20 

Follow Messari: https://twitter.com/MessariCrypto

Arnold, Founder and CEO of Sphere Labs, joins Sal on Unlayered to talk about payments. Throughout the conversation, we try to separate hype from reality when it comes to crypto’s role in transforming global payments infrastructure. We also discuss how payments networks differ in various jurisdictions and recent advancements TradFi has made with respect to real-time payments

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Time Stamps

0:00 - How crypto and payments can work together

4:47 - How to abstract away the crypto token

11:49 - Signs of initial adoption 

19:00 - Sphere’s unique insights

26:42 - Solana’s adoption of tether

29:12 - Sphere’s target userbase 

37:04 - Legal framework behind deposit limits

42:31 - Tradfi advancements in payments

47:58 - Crypto offering 100x improvements

50:42 - Synergies between Solana-based payment projects

54:45 - What needs to happen near time to transform payments

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Episode Resources

Follow Arnold : https://twitter.com/0xdirichlet

Follow Sphere : https://twitter.com/Sphere_Labs

Sphere website : https://spherepay.co

Neel Somani is the Founder & CEO of Eclipse and has an ambitious vision to build Ethereum’s fastest Layer 2 blockchain by tapping into Solana’s Virtual Machine (SVM) as the execution environment. We start our discussion by deconstructing the landscape of L2s in order to better understand where Eclipse fits in and why Neel views Eclipse’s approach as preferable. We also dig into Neel’s conscious design decision to tap into ETH’s massive network effects while simultaneously leveraging Solana’s high-throughput execution environment. Eclipse’s unique position amongst L2s may ultimately prove to be mutually beneficial to both the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems, and we unpack why that may be the case throughout the interview.
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Time Stamps

0:00 - How did you get to this point

3:21 - Who are Eclipse’s stakeholders

8:37 - Comparison to OP Stack

14:03 - Rollup fundamentals

19:29 - Tradeoffs from losing EVM comparability

22:22 - Key unlock of local fee markets

24:21 - Eclipse positioning across ecosystems

27:14 - Can Eth retain network effects

30:51 - Does Eclipse destroy Eth’s value accrual

33:40 - Would Eclipse ever turn away from Eth

34:50 - Do L2s need tokens

36:42 - Go-To-Market strategy

39:44 - Do L2s need to decentralise their sequencers

43:10 - Who wins the L1 wars

46:40 - How will people use crypto products

49:20 - Which verticals are most bullish

53:32 - Crypto and AI

55:49 - Eclipse roadmap

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Episode Resources

Follow Neel : https://twitter.com/NeelSalami

Follow Eclipse : https://twitter.com/EclipseFND

Eclipse website : https://eclipse.builders

Eclipse blog : https://mirror.xyz/eclipsemainnet.eth

Neel’s personal blog : https://www.neelsomani.com/blog/

We chat with Michael Wagner, Founder & CEO of Star Atlas, about everything crypto gaming. We start with the origins of building the Star Atlas game before diving into a litany of topics covering fully on-chain games vs minimally on-chain games, dealing with botting, IP rights, economic balance, and many others. We also spend a good deal of time understanding Star Atlas's multi-pronged approach to engaging with their userbase across desktop, mobile, and augmented reality applications.

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Time Stamps

0:00 - Pre Breakpoint excitement

4:44 - Star Atlas origins 

11:12 - Why build on Solana vs App Chain

19:00 - Modding and IP rights

22:14 - Building a sustainable game economy

29:20 - How to deal with botting

36:12 - Thinking about player types

41:33 - How much state can be recorded on-chain

45:55 - Hiding on-chain state from players

47:01 - Future of gaming venues

54:42 - Star Atlas tokenomics

1:01:34 - Using novel mobile games to increase touch points with the players

1:06:05 - Advice for builders

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Episode Resources

Follow Michael : https://twitter.com/at_mwagner

Follow Star Atlas : https://twitter.com/staratlas

Play Star Atlas : https://play.staratlas.com

Sal’s Web 3 gaming megathread : https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull/status/1575969083492810772

We sit down with Jules Urbach and Trevor Harries-Jones to chat about Render Network, a protocol built on Solana that lets users rent out access to their graphics cards like they would their spare bedroom on Airbnb. We start the conversation with a deep-dive into the origins of Render by chatting about Jules' journey through founding Otoy and revolutionizing rendered media in Hollywood. We get into the mechanics of how Jules was about to clearly identify a future spike in demand for GPU-driven graphic rendering in 2008. That historical context serves as an excellent launching point into Jules' current thesis on the need for distributed GPU access to power exponentially increasing AI and Spatial Computing jobs. We also learn about the RNDR network journey from 2017 to present across multiple L1 ecosystems before settling on Solana by way of Trevor. It's an extremely insightful conversation that touches on multiple converging technological trends.

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Time Stamps

0:00 - History of OTOY

11:40 - Rising demand for GPUs

21:50 - Render’s multi billion dollar GPU arbitrage 

26:23 - Octane app

30:00 - Move from Ethereum to Solana

33:40 - Render’s supply and demand

39:56 - Render Tokenomics

46:27 - Dealing with crypto skepticism

48:37 - Perceived dangers of AI

54:44 - Jules’ vision for the metaverse

1:00:35 - Spacial computing and its unlock for human connections

1:06:08 - What makes a great founder

1:07:09 - Which tech advancements most excite

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Episode Resources

Follow Jules : https://twitter.com/JulesUrbach

Follow Trevor : https://twitter.com/drjonessf

Render website : https://RenderNetwork.com

Multicoin Capital essay on Render : https://multicoin.capital/2021/12/21/rendering-the-metaverse/

Matty is one of the world's foremost experts on tokenomics, having led token design efforts for Status.im and advising 50+ projects on their token design to-date. Throughout this episode, we unpack various topics within Matty's open-source guide "Tokenomics for Builders" and ask him to elaborate on some of the key Dos and Don'ts of incentivizing user behavior with tokens. We also cover why historical examples like STEPN and Steemit failed and chat about the importance of sybil resistance in making any design work. This episode is a great primer into the world of tokenomics and is an incredibly useful resource for builders, investors, researchers, and anyone in-between.

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Time Stamps

0:00 - What are tokenomics

5:27 - Defensibility of web3 network effects

9:30 - Uniswap and Unibot as token models

16:21 - Has Friendtech solved social model

20:57 - Incentivising low vs high frequency activity

26:44 - Overcoming the cold start problem

33:11 - What Stepn got right and wrong

39:53 - Is holder governance a good idea

42:50 - Matty’s current projects

51:06 - Are tokenomics held back by regulation

55:22 - Achieving Sybil resistance

1:00:07 - Are bull runs driven by new tokenomic models

1:04:30 - Which projects have innovated

1:15:23 - What is Matty bearish on

1:17:38 - Tokenomics Design Canvas for builders

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

-        -

Episode Resources

Follow Matty Tokenomics : https://twitter.com/MattyTokenomics

Tokenomics For Builders :  https://tr.ee/8sTcnRLPTZ

Tokenomics Design Canvas : https://tr.ee/fcCeSk9smS

Tokenomics Design Playlist : https://tr.ee/Bj9NbTkuQg

Multicoin DePIN Tokenomics : https://multicoin.capital/2023/09/21/exploring-the-design-space-of-deping-networks/