BlockLayer Podcast

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Michael Heinrich, Founder of 0G Labs, to explore a bold thesis: the future of AI infrastructure may need its own modular, crypto-native stack. Michael shares his unconventional journey — from high school boredom to building 0G Labs — and how practices like spiritual reading and meditation reshap...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi sits down with Ron Bodkin, CEO and Co-Founder of Theoriq, to unpack what “agent collectives” really are — and why the next wave of AI may be coordinated by crypto-native incentives. Ron explores the intersection of AI and Web3 through the lenses of responsibility, governance, and long-term alignment. He shares his journey from Google to found...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Anna Kazlauskas, CEO and Co-Founder of Vana, to unpack one of the biggest bottlenecks in AI: data ownership and incentives . Anna shares her path from traditional finance into decentralized AI, and what it’s like building Vana — a platform designed to let people own their data and contribute it...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi speaks with Karan Sirdesai, Co-Founder and CEO of Mira Network — a decentralized AI infrastructure platform taking aim at one of the biggest blockers to real adoption: hallucinations and reliability . Karan explains how Mira approaches “trustworthy AI” for high-stakes use cases like finance and healthcare — where being mostly right isn’t good...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi sits down with David Minarsch, Co-Founder and CEO of Valory, to explore what “autonomy” really means — and why autonomous agents might become the next major interface layer between humans, software, and markets. David shares his path into crypto and AI, including his work with Fetch.ai , and the founding story behind Valory and OLAS. We dig i...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Nick Emmons, Co-Founder and CEO of Allora Labs, to explore what crypto actually adds to AI — and where the hype ends. Nick breaks down the synergies between Web3 and AI through a practical lens: how decentralized systems could coordinate models, incentives, and data into something closer to a “c...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Gabby Dizon, Co-Founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG), to unpack what makes Web3 gaming economies work — and why most of them don’t. Gabby shares his journey from PC gamer to Web3 pioneer, and what he’s learned after years of watching in-game economies succeed, fail, and evolve. We talk about token...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Greg Osuri, Founder and CEO of Akash Network, to explore the ideas powering the decentralized web — liberty, sovereignty, and what “freedom” should mean in an AI-driven internet. Greg shares his founder journey and the real challenges of building a Web3 product: staying grounded through volatili...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Ethan Sun to explore what happens when consumer AI meets crypto rails — and why creators may be the biggest winners. Ethan shares his journey into the blockchain-and-AI intersection and the origin story of MyShell, an “AI consumer layer” designed to connect users, creators, and open-source AI re...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai speak with DC Builder, Research Engineer at Worldcoin Foundation, about one of the hardest problems on the internet: proving you’re a real human — without giving up privacy. DC Builder breaks down the project’s approach to decentralization and its mission to expand access to digital identity and finance globa...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with David Tse, Co-Founder of BabylonChain, to explore a bold idea: using Bitcoin to help secure a broader decentralized world — without wrapping, bridging, or handing your coins to a third party. David breaks down BabylonChain’s approach to Bitcoin staking and why it matters: enabling bitcoin holder...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Sergey Gorbunov, Co-Founder of Axelar Network, to explore the next chapter of Web3: interoperability that actually scales. Sergey shares Axelar’s founding story and why he believes “the internet of blockchains” only works if cross-chain communication becomes as reliable and programmable as anyth...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Victor Ji, Co-Founder of Manta Network, to break down what zero-knowledge proofs actually enable — and how Manta is trying to make ZK development feel as seamless as building any other modern app. Victor explains ZK in plain terms, why developer experience is the make-or-break factor for ZK adop...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Sandy Peng, Co-Founder of Scroll, to unpack what it takes to build Layer 2 scaling in a way that’s truly intertwined with Ethereum’s long-term roadmap. Sandy shares the founding story of Scroll, how she thinks about the L2 landscape, and why “just build” is still the most underrated strategy in...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Chris Spadafora, Founder of BadgerDAO, to talk about one of crypto’s longest-running goals: making Bitcoin a first-class citizen in DeFi. Chris breaks down his mission to bring Bitcoin liquidity into decentralized finance — not as a narrative, but as usable collateral across a growing set of DeF...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Eli Ben-Sasson, Co-Founder and President of StarkWare, to unpack the story behind one of the most important breakthroughs in blockchain scaling: zero-knowledge proofs . Eli shares how a career in core theory and academia ultimately led him into Web3 — from earning his Ph. D. under Avi Wigderson...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi speaks with Sreeram Kannan, Founder and CEO of EigenLayer, about the leap from academia to building one of the most talked-about infrastructure layers in crypto — and what problem EigenLayer is actually trying to solve. Sreeram shares how he first got pulled into Web3, why he chose to leave an academic path to ship a real product, and the big...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi talks with Aniket Jindal, Co-Founder of Biconomy, about what it really takes to build infrastructure that normal users can actually enjoy — not just tolerate. Aniket breaks down the traits he sees in the strongest Web3 founders, how teams can keep momentum during bear markets, and why community management is a core operating system (not a “ma...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi sits down with Beryl Li, Co-Founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG) — widely known as one of the largest decentralized networks of gaming guilds. Beryl shares her path into Web3 and what guilds actually do in a tokenized gaming economy: onboarding players, coordinating communities at scale, and bridging the gap between games, education, and owners...

In this week’s episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi and Diksha Desai sit down with Illia Polosukhin, Co-Founder of NEAR Protocol. Illia breaks down how NEAR was created, what “real scalability” in Web3 actually requires (beyond marketing claims), and the hard truths of building infrastructure when the market turns. We talk about staying focused during a bear cycle, the tradeoffs behind...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi sits down with Ryan Sungho Kim, Partner at Hashed, to unpack how top-tier Web3 deals are evaluated across Asia — and what founders often miss when pitching investors. Ryan shares his path from building and exiting LOOKET to Recobell, to leading product development around recommendation systems — an experience that exposed him to the fragility...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi speaks with Alex Svanevik about the leap from data science into building a Web3 company — and why on-chain data becomes truly valuable only when it’s translated into decisions users can act on. Alex breaks down the business model behind Nansen: turning raw blockchain activity into clear, user-friendly intelligence for traders, teams, and inst...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi , Sachi Shiokava , and Diksha Desai speak with Jeff Zirlin (“Jiho”) about his early days in Web3, building Sky Mavis, and launching Axie Infinity alongside Trung Nguyen, Tu Doan, Aleksander Larsen, and Andy Ho. Jiho talks about what it’s like building deep in a bear market — being “small and unrecognized,” but still stubbornly confident in th...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi speaks with Yat Siu about the idea that has guided Animoca Brands from the start: the “north star” of Web3 is digital ownership — not speculation, not hype, but the ability for people to truly own and control assets online. Yat’s path into tech started unusually early. Coming from a musician family, he was training to be a musician when he be...

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast , Kenzi Takahashi , Sachi Shiokava , and Diksha Desai speak with Matthew Gould, Founder & CEO of Unstoppable Domains, about building a digital-identity company in Web3 without leaning on a token — and why he believes that choice can be a long-term advantage, not a limitation. Matthew unpacks what it takes to turn decentralized naming into a mainstream prod...