Bell Curve

Season 6 | Episode 1 Welcome to season 6 of Bell Curve! Season 6 will take a dive into the world of DEXs and Dan Robinson, General Partner and Head of Research at Paradigm, with be joining Mike as co-host. In today's episode the duo dive deep into DEX designs and discuss the origin story of Uniswap, the V4 design, and the overall growth journey the protocol has endured. They also dive into design...

In today’s episode, the team kicks things off with discussing Celestia and the impact it may have on architecture across ecosystems. The team then goes on to discuss potential catalysts for future cycles including EigenLayer’s future yield role, and the transition of ETH Staking to Liquid Staking. MakerDAOs ongoing interest is broken down before closing out on the ongoing debate around IPO vs. Dir...

Nick White (COO of Celestia) and Neel Somani (founder of Eclipse) join us to debate the tradeoffs of modular vs integrated blockchains. We cover the modular thesis, how Eclipse is bringing the SVM to Ethereum, the hidden costs of modularity, centralized sequencers and L2s, where value will accrue in a modular paradigm and more! - - Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 01:49 What are Modular Blockchains?...

As we gear up for Season 6, this week's episode will be Lightspeed's recent interview with Keone Hon and Kevin G to discuss how Monad is scaling the EVM. Every project in crypto right now is launching an L2 or marketing how their execution environment is better than the EVM. Monad has taken the opposite approach and is building an L1 that leverages the EVM with new optimizations like parallel exec...

In this week’s episode, Mike and Michael breakdown all things DeFi. They discuss the ecosystem writ large and whether we’re seeing a return to 2021’s ‘DeFi Summer’, and the value proposition of sustainable fees as the key differentiator. The guys go on to review Rune Christensen’s Solana Fork MakerDAO proposal, Visa’s crypto stablecoin settlement expanding to Solana, as well as recent regulation s...

Season 5 | Episode 9 In today's season 5 finale we take a deep dive into the multifaceted world of Liquid Staking. Mike and Myles scrutinize critical aspects such as market structure, exploring its influence on liquidity providers and governance. They also discuss social scaling, evaluating its role in the adoption and scalability of Liquid Staking solutions along with the implications of self-lim...

In this week’s episode, the gang is back together. Michael’s 1 and 2, Jason, and Vance dive straight in to discuss the Grayscale Spot Bitcoin ETF Ruling. The guys then review where we are in the crypto cycle, and touch on Uniswap’s lawsuit dismissal and StarkWare’s wallet plunder. The fellas finish out on a ‘Hot Takes’ segment, where the guys get spicy on macro! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introductio...

Season 5 | Episode 8 In this week's episode of Bell Curve, we are joined by Lucas Bruder, Founder of Jito Sol, and Xavier, Chief Investment Officer of Chorus One, two key builders in the Solana ecosystem. The conversation delves into the complexities of staking in Solana versus Ethereum, exploring different validator revenue models and the growth trajectory of liquid staking on Solana. They discus...

In this week’s episode, Mike, Jason, and Vance kick things off with a thorough breakdown of ‘Friend. Tech’. The guys then go on to talk Base and the future of L2’s, ETH’s ultimate value accrual, and touch on the discussion around Tendermint for StarkNet. We then review the DOJ/Tornado Cash charge and arrest. To close, we discuss the GOP debate, NVIDIA Q2 Earnings, EigenLayer’s new LST cap increase...

We're joined by Kyle Samani, the co-founder of Multicoin Capital and one of crypto's most independent thinkers. In this episode, we cover why "monolithic L1s" is a misnomer, the value of global state, how a protocol establishes moats, why DePIN is finding product-market fit, how Kyle synthesizes new ideas and more! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (00:34) The Modular vs Monolithic Debate (07:4...

Season 5 | Episode 7 In this episode of Bell Curve, Mike and Myles are joined by Sam Kazemian, Founder of Frax Finance. They explore FRAX's innovative journey from decentralized stablecoin to Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) and Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs). Sam shares insights into the algorithmic stability mechanism, decentralizing trust, DeFi domination plan, and FRAX V2 decentralization. -- T...

In today’s episode, Mike and Michael discuss all things Stables and more! The guys kick things off with PayPal, discussing their PYUSD Stablecoin launch and what it means for the wider ecosystem and future Stablecoin market structure. We then take a closer look at Coinbase’s Q2 earnings, before touching on future Rollup value accrual. We then close with a Ripple update, Cantina (Web3’s security ma...

Season 5 | Episode 6 In this episode of Bell Curve, Mike and Myles are joined by Aidan, co-founder of Stride labs, and Felix, the Godfather of Liquid Staking. Today they explore the nuances of Liquid Staking across the Cosmos & Ethereum ecosystems. They also dig into the relationship of liquid staking & professional validators, the liquid staking module user flow with NFTs, and solving the princip...

In today’s episode, Mike and Myles dive deep on Curve’s $70M exploit, deconstructing DEX design frameworks, and reviewing the wider ecosystem consequences of vulnerable chain infrastructure. We then move on to assess Coinbase's L2 'Base' launch and touch on meme coin of the week, BALD, hitting $100M+ market capitalization in under 48 hours! The guys also think through network effect accrual before...

Season 5 | Episode 5 In this episode of Bell Curve, Mike and Myles are joined by adcv, chef at Steakhouse Financial, and Vance, Bell Curve RU Host & Framework Ventures co-founder. Zooming out, the team dives into the business approaches for MakerDAO and Lido. They explore value accrual for both protocols, the strategic directions, business models, and their endgame. - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro:...

In today’s episode, the fellas take a wide view on the industry, starting with a review on Paris EthCC, Apps vs Infrastructure, and the future of interoperability standards. We also discuss the launch of Worldcoin, why it’s important and what problems it may present. The conversation then turns to AI, the future of Twitter, Crypto regulation, and 2024 Presidential nominees. Enjoy! - - Follow Jason...

Season 5 | Episode 4 In this episode of Bell Curve, Mike and Myles are joined by Eigen Layer Founder Sreeram Kannan. They dive into Eigen layer's supply & demand sides, its interactions with Ethereum restaking, and the team's vision for the end game of Ethereum LSTs and restaking. - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro: Pre-Interview (01:33) Interview Start: Sreeram (02:19) High Level Eigen Layer Overview...

In today's episode special edition cross-over episode Jason and Santi are joined by Michael, Co-founder at Framework Ventures and Co-host of the Bell Curve podcast. They cover EthCC Account Abstraction takeaways, Infinex, UniswapX, Chainlink CCIP & LayerZero, the VC landscape and MUCH much more.  - - Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Fol...

This is an episode from Blockworks' new podcast Lightspeed! Lightspeed focuses on crypto projects that are pushing the limits of hardware and software to build first-class products. I'm dropping this Solana DeFi Panel episode here as I bet you'll want to add Lightspeed to your podcast lineup! Subscribe to Lightspeed by using the links below: Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/43o3Syk Subscribe o...

Season 5 | Episode 3 In this episode of Bell Curve, we are joined by a duo of special guests: Izzy, Lido Head of Validators, and Oisín, Co-founder of Obol Labs. Today's show dives into the current state of solo staking, distributed validator technology, the impacts of a staking router, and the future of Lido protocol. - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro: Pre-Interview (01:27) Interview Start: Izzy & Ois...

Uncommon Core - one of my favorite podcasts of all time - is back! This reboot is hosted by Hasu and Jon Charbonneau, two of the brightest minds in crypto. We are dropping their first episode here to share the news and because you’ll want to add this show to your podcast lineup! __ In this episode, we explore Jon’s journey into crypto and our mutual passion for research and the writing process. We...

In today’s episode, the guys reflect on the previous 12 months and take a temperature check on where we’re at in the current cycle. We also discuss the latest use case for RWA on-chain lending, with the Patek Philipe NFT loan, the recent new feature releases from Coinbase, and the potential for bipartisan crypto support on The Hill. We finish up reviewing the current seed stage climate, the death...

Season 5 | Episode 2 In this episode of Bell Curve, we are joined by previous Bell Curve Host, Hasu. Serving as Strategic Advisor for Lido DAO Hasu shares his unique perspective on the current state of Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs), Lido Protocol's history & decentralization efforts, LSD winner-take-all market structure, and co-opetition & restaking risks. - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro: Pre-In...

In today’s episode Mike is joined by Blockworks Analysts team members, Dan and Westie. The guys breakdown airdrop functionality and future liquidity provisions. We also discuss what the future of Solana and the development of DEXs within its ecosystem. The conversation then turns to LSDs, with our Analyst Westie breaking down leverage staking, AMM liquidity, LSD baskets, LSD-backed stables, and in...

Season 5 | Episode 1 Welcome to Season 5 of Bell Curve, where we will explore the end game for liquid staking. In this episode, Mike and Myles explore the major themes that we'll be covering this season. We discuss the history of proof-of-stake and liquid staking, how LSTs are a network effects game, why LST protocol governance is a highly debated topic, the risks of restaking, the LST competitive...