Validated

In this episode, Austin chats with Sreeram Kannan (Eigen Labs) about EigenLayer's vision for restaking. Sreeram argues that restaking is merely a way of making proof-of-stake networks more programmable, addressing the economic and architectural considerations required to make the restaking thesis work. The conversation also elucidates the relationship between EigenLayer and the Ethereum L1, partic...

In this episode, Austin chats with Jarry Xiao from Ellipsis Labs about Phoenix, the fastest on-chain orderbook on Solana. They explore Phoenix's innovative design, which enables settlement without the need for asynchronous cranks, setting it apart from previous order books on Solana. The conversation covers a range of topics including capital efficiency in DeFi, strategies for market making, the i...

In this episode, Austin talks with Ahmad Abbasi (Syndica) about Sig, a new Solana validator client built in Zig. Unlike other Solana validator clients, Sig is optimized for reads as opposed to writes. Ahmad unpacks the seemingly herculean task of writing a new validator client from scratch and why this was an important decision for Syndica's core business of providing RPC node infrastructure. He e...

Web3 gaming is one of the oldest proposed use cases for blockchain. In this episode, Austin chats with Albert Chen (Genopets) about the state of web3 games on Solana and beyond. They dive into Genopets, exploring its gameplay, its web3 integration, and the philosophy guiding its backend design. The discussion also covers Genopets' semi-custodial approach to in-game assets, composability, and the c...

In this episode, Austin talks with Nicolas and Conor from Cordial Systems, an enterprise custody solution initially developed for Jump Crypto. They discuss how to build a self-custody solution that serves crypto-native businesses without compromising the security standards of traditional systems. Nicolas and Conor explain the limitations of current enterprise custody solutions and how Cordial Syst...

In this episode, Austin chats with Vibhu Norby, CEO of DRiP, a platform that has distributed millions of digital collectibles to its community ... for free. Among other topics, Vibhu discusses the unlikely emergence of the company's vision and how the innovation of compression helped that vision become a reality. According to Vibhu, platforms like DRiP not only offer new experiences to creators' c...

In this episode, Austin chats with Alex Rawitz, co-founder of DIMO, a DePIN project built on Polygon which allows users to collect and monetize their car's data. Instead of pitting one blockchain against another, Austin and Alex have an optimistic, open-minded discussion about the DePIN space in general. The conversation also highlights a non-maxi, cross-chain attitude toward building DePIN projec...

In this episode, Austin chats with Lev Gelfer and Serge Levin from DeVol Network, a low-cost, fully onchain option trading platform. Serge and Lev dive deep into complex trades and the advantages of bringing options to blockchain, but at a higher level, this episode is an exploration of exactly the kinds of projects that are only possible on Solana. It's a testament to how every step-function chan...

In this episode, Austin chats with Nabil Manji of Worldpay, one of the largest payment processing companies in the world. In a recent collaboration with Worldpay, Visa expanded its USDC settlement to the Solana blockchain. Austin and Nabil chat about the current landscape of card payments and what the integration of blockchain unlocks for large financial institutions. Why complicate the legacy fia...

In this episode, Austin chats with Matt Luongo (Thesis) about the role of decentralized custodial solutions for Bitcoin such as Threshold's tBTC. Beyond the technical details of how tBTC works and what its holders can do, the conversation often digresses into Bitcoiner views of the world in the context of a crypto industry now dominated by smart contracts. What should the role of BTC be in DeFi? W...

In this episode, Tommy Johnson discusses Armada, a collaborative project between PsyFi and HXRO that provides an open-source toolkit for launching tokens from inception to full decentralization. He and Austin reflect on the historical pain points of token launches, the evolution of tokenomics over the last several years, "governance-light" vs. "governance-heavy" DAO models, and more.    DISCLAIMER...

In the early days of Solana, Justin Bons (Cyber Capital) was one of the network's biggest public critics. However, in the last several months, Justin has had a change of heart. In this episode, Justin opens up about both his disillusionment with the Ethereum L2 roadmap and why no longer sees Solana in a negative light. He also discusses the importance of approaching crypto through an interdiscipli...

In this episode live from BP 2023, Austin sits down with Rune Christensen to discuss MakerDAO's Endgame plan. Rune outlines how the concept of subDAOs will fix the current problems faced by DAOs, why SVM architecture is best suited to carry out his Endgame vision, the toxicity of tribalism, and more.  DISCLAIMER The content herein is provided for educational, informational, and entertainment purpo...

In this episode, Austin is joined by Amira Valliani (Solana Foundation) to chat with Dante Disparte (Circle) about stablecoin adoption, regulation, and more. Dante envisions a promising future for stablecoins as he explores fundamental questions about their ultimate objectives and distinct applications in the world of payments.    DISCLAIMER The content herein is provided for educational, informat...

In this episode, Austin has a freeform conversation with Anatoly Yakovenko about the state of Solana. Beyond the cliches of the past, present, and future of the network, Austin and Toly explore higher level ideas such as design philosophy, hardware limitations, balancing new features with network performance, AI and blockchain, and much more.  DISCLAIMER The content herein is provided for educatio...

 Private credit in emerging markets like Latin America generally lacks modern infrastructure. According to Thomas Bohner (Credix), blockchain is the perfect technology to bring these markets into the future. With a company like Credix, investors and borrowers are able to leverage smart contracts for things like instant settlement and frictionless cross-border transactions, all while operating with...

Oracles are an essential part of how real-world data gets integrated into DeFi smart contracts, but historically, that process has been fraught with challenges. In this episode, Jayant Krishnamurthy (Duoro Labs) explains how Pyth is addressing these challenges and redefining how a blockchain oracle can work. Originally built on Solana’s L1, Pyth is a low-latency, high-frequency oracle that has exp...

Multisigs, short for "multiple signatures," are wallets that require multiple private keys to authorize transactions. In the wake of 2022's many collapses, multisigs have increasingly become the default security paradigm in both the Solana ecosystem and the crypto space more broadly. In this episode, Stepan Smikin (Squads) discusses the many use cases for multisigs and the importance of having a s...

Technology has defined the form and function of storytelling since the beginning of time. In this episode, storyteller, artist, and professor Lance Weiler offers an optimistic perspective on how blockchain, AI, and other frontier technologies will affect storytellers across mediums. Rather than discussing the tech behind NFTs on Solana, Lance shows us what it's like for an artist to apply that tec...

In today's episode, Austin moderates a panel discussion about compression with Jon Wong (Solana Foundation), Noah Prince (Helium Foundation), and Ilmoi (Tensor). Compression is a way of storing data on Solana that reduces costs by orders of magnitude. For now, its most common use case is compressed NFTs. With compression, you can mint one hundred million NFTs for two thousand dollars. Jon, Noah, a...

Transparency is one of the key features of blockchain, and block explorers play an important role in that transparency. However, navigating explorers on Solana can have a high learning curve, even for crypto natives. This is due to Solana’s abstract data structures, a feature that makes indexing and interpreting data on the blockchain difficult. In this episode, Fathur Rahman (SolanaFM) discusses...

As of 2023, the gaming industry is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Why disrupt something that's working so well by introducing blockchain into the equation? In this episode, Michael Wagner (ATMTA/Star Atlas) makes the case for blockchain games. Star Atlas, the flagship game that Michael and his team are working on, is a AAA game that uses Solana as its main infrastructure. He describes why...

With Anchor, Backpack, and Mad Lads under his belt, Armani Ferrante is one of Solana's most senior and prolific developers. In this episode, Armani reflects on the values and design philosophies that first attracted him to the Solana ecosystem and where he thinks the ecosystem is headed. He also discusses some of the tech behind xNFTS and Backpack, their use cases, and the importance of building a...

RWAs (Real World Assets) are assets that exist in the real world that are tokenized on chain. The RWA market comprises things like equity, fine art, loans, and more, all of which globally account for trillions of dollars in value. In this episode, Trevor Bacon discusses Parcl's unique approach to real estate as an RWA. He's bullish on opportunities such as higher liquidity and lower barriers to en...

If web3 had an intuitive Venmo-like app for sending and receiving crypto, could that expedite mass adoption? Aleksei Zakharov (Ottr) seems to think so. Aleksei describes how blockchain-based products such as Ottr can give users the experience of a modern bank, all without the bank. Banking 3.0, as he calls it, eliminates the possibility of bank failures, all while making USD more accessible to eme...