Bell Curve

In today's episode, the fellas discuss how onchain RWAs (real-world assets) will transform DeFi. We also cover Prime Trust's implosion, regulated DeFi, Azuki's controversial NFT mint, why Corporate VCs fail, the recent token delistings and more! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (0:56) Prime Trust Implodes (15:36) Debating Onchain RWAs (34:04) Azuki’s New Collection and NFT Business Models (43:...

In today's episode, the fellas discuss what a Blackrock BTC ETF would mean for crypto, why you should watch BTC's dominance, if NFTs will make a comeback, Binances L2 and more! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:24) BTC ETF Filings & The Clash of Narratives (24:33) “Valora Ad” (25:31) Who Will Trade on EDX Markets? (33:11) SAP’s Announcement: Cross-Border USDC Payments (40:49) The Ethscripti...

In today's episode, the fellas discuss Uniswaps v4 announcement, whether demand will stay on mainnet vs L2s, our bullish market outlook, why everyone's watching Curve's 3Pool and the (potential) decimation of private equity markets.  - - Timestamps: (00:00) Uniswap v4: The Design and Speculation (09:39) Demand for Mainnet for L2 Blockspace (19:07) Market Sentiment: 2019 vs 2023 (31:01) The Prometh...

In today's episode, the fellas debate the SEC's attack on crypto, what's in store for Uniswap v4, if a protocol could vampire attack Lido, the US crypto exodus and more! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:28) SEC Sues Binance and Coinbase (14:08) Uniswap v4, Compound vs Aave & LSTs (23:09) L2 Momentum & Vampire Attacking Lido (31:18) The Exodus to Asia (38:38) Battling Apathy and Industry Se...

In today's episode, the fellas debate if Uniswap should turn on the fee switch (this gets spicy), why the Lido FUD is overblown, the complexities of Rune's Endgame, crypto's risk-free rate and more!  - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:15) Uniswap Fee Switch Debate (17:36) Lido FUD, stETH vs ETH & Network Effects (40:48) Rune’s Endgame Review (54:32) Does Crypto Have a Risk-Free Rate? (57:01)...

Season 4 | Bonus Episode In today's Bell Curve, we are joined by Stephane Gosselin, the founder of Flashbots and Frontier Research. We discuss why we need to reframe MEV, MEV burn, app-specific order flow auctions, user intents and EIP-4337, why centralized sequencers are fine, enshrined PBS and more! Stephane is a legend - you don't want to miss his unique insights.  - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro...

In today's episode, we discuss Vitalik's new article and if L2s/restaking will lead to Ethereum's "too big to fail" moment. We also explore the similarities of AI and crypto, Paradigm's pivot, why large funding rounds kill optionality, if the fork rule is determined by apps vs the L1 and if a protocol should ever be ossified! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:08) AI Takeover: Nvidia, Regula...

Season 4 | Episode 8 In this episode, Mike and Hasu give a masterclass on MEV. They discuss their biggest takeaways from this season, what questions remain unanswered and where MEV markets will go next. You don't want to miss this epic recap of our journey through the dark forest. - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:32) The Latency Death Blow and Optimistic Relays (09:37) MEV Burn: Hasu’s Cha...

In today's episode, we discuss if protocols should distribute revenue to token holders. This debate was sparked by a Lido proposal for a token revenue share mechanism that now has all of Crypto Twitter debating the merits of revenue distribution, buyback and burn vs dividends, protocol treasuries and more. Tokenomics is a theme you can no longer ignore. We also discuss roadblocks at Stacks (a Bitc...

Season 4 | Episode 8: In this episode of Bell Curve, we are joined by Quintus Kilbourn and Barnabé Monnot to discuss order flow auctions, proposer-builder separation (PBS) and the future of MEV. We start with a deep discussion on order flow auctions, application vs protocol layer designs and the implementation tradeoffs. Quintus and Barnabé then explain the risks of vertical integration and how we...

In today's episode, we discuss frameworks for valuing crypto projects. The fellas debate token buybacks vs dividends, fundamentals vs flows, protocol revenue vs supply-side revenue and how these factors impact investor valuation frameworks. We also explore activist crypto investing, jaredfromsubway's MEV strategy and more! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:59) Activist Investing: Aragon DAO...

SPECIAL EPISODE: This is an episode of Blockworks' new podcast called 1000x! 1000x is a crypto markets podcast hosted by professional traders Avi Felman and Jonah Van Bourg that is for traders by traders (or anyone interested in trading/markets). In this episode, Avi and Jonah discuss Bitcoin's outlook and recent meme coin mania. We start with a discussion on Bitcoin and if bank failures are price...

Season 4 | Episode 7 Welcome to Bell Curve! In this episode, we are joined by Henry de Valence and Barry Plunkett to discuss MEV in Cosmos. Henry and Barry explain the negative implications of Ethereum's maximal extraction philosophy, the benefits of AppChain sovereignty (as demonstrated by Osmosis' ProtoRev Module), the importance of privacy in MEV, ABCI 2.0 and much more. Join us for this exciti...

In today's episode, we discuss Coinbase's earnings beat and Blur's new NFT lending product! Coinbase crushed revenue, meme coins are pumping and NFTFi is here. Is this all noise or have markets finally turned after the wild year? Tune in as we debate our market outlook, Blur and the financialization of NFTs, Curve's new crvUSD stablecoin, LST Summer and more! - - Follow Michael: https://twitter.co...

Season 4 | Episode 6 In this episode of Bell Curve, we are joined by Eugene Chen and Lucas Bruder to discuss MEV on Solana. We compare Solana's MEV market to Ethereum's and then delve into the unique MEV challenges from Solana's high-throughput design. Our conversation then turns to Solana's missing mempool, spam reduction strategies, resource pricing, and a detailed explanation of Jito's MEV solu...

In today's episode, we discuss why crypto's top apps will win the wallet wars. We start by exploring tech's move to profitability, why we're bullish on Coinbase and the challenges of decentralized sequencers. We then discuss how suave and account abstraction are changing the landscape of MEV and user interactions. The wallet wars are coming; who will win? We finish with a discussion on ETH's LSD m...

Season 4 | Episode 5 Join us on Bell Curve as we delve into the world of MEV Searchers with guests Dean Eigenman and Anish Agnihotri. We start with an introduction to the role of Searchers, today's Searcher landscape and the Searcher business model. Dean and Anish then explain how Searchers find MEV opportunities, the relationship between Searchers and Builders, atomic vs non-atomic trades, the ro...

In today's episode, we discuss this week's regulatory updates, the MEV debate and what to expect in the next bull cycle! We've had a hectic regulatory week with Gary Gensler's committee meeting, the EU's MICA legislation and a heated stablecoin hearing. We explore where US regulation is heading, the positive implications of MICA and if companies like Coinbase will move their operations to crypto-f...

Season 4 | Episode 4 In this episode of Bell Curve, we are joined by Jon Charbonneau and Robert Miller to discuss how Ethereum's modular roadmap impacts the future of MEV. We explore L2 MEV design, decentralized sequencer models, cross-domain MEV, latency games, and Suave. Jon and Robert are two giga brains that understand the bleeding edge of modular MEV design! - - Timestamps: (00:55) Intro: Pre...

In today's episode, we discuss the pros and cons of Uniswap's new mobile wallet. Can Uniswap leverage their proximity with users to acquire the next wave of retail, build horizontal products, establish moats and compete with centralized offerings? Tune in to find out! We also discuss account abstraction, the fappening, ETH's Shapella upgrade and how the US is falling behind in crypto. - - Timestam...

Season 4 | Episode 3 In this episode of Bell Curve, we are joined by Matt Cutler from Blocknative to discuss the economics of MEV. We dive deep into MEV value capture, incentive structures and the relayer monetization debate (p.s. there's a great debate between Matt and Hasu). We also cover order flow auctions, latency wars, account abstraction, user preferences and more! - - Timestamps: (00:00) I...

In today's episode, we debate Mike's tweet that Eth L2s have every feature Alt L1s are criticized for: centralized, downtime, opaque resource allocation and wild valuations. To get close to the metal, we compare Solana vs Arbitrum based on economics, network effects and future roadmap. If you listen to one conversation this week, this is it. We also discuss Arbitrum's governance debacle, the value...

Today's episode is a bonus episode from our podcast 0xResearch, produced by the Blockworks Research team. This is one of my favorite episodes they've done, a deep dive into the future of rollups, scaling and zk-tech. The first 15 minutes is the "analyst bullpen" segment on Arbitrum's recent governance debacle, followed by an interview with Preston Evans from Sovereign Labs (use the Timestamps if y...

Season 4 | Episode 2 In this episode of Bell Curve, we are joined by Tarun Chitra and Justin Drake to discuss how builders are navigating the complex world of MEV. One of the hottest debates is MEV precedence. What parties in the MEV value chain should accrue MEV? Tarun and Justin give their takes and explain how applications and protocols are approaching this challenge. We then explore MEV auctio...

In this episode of Bell Curve, we explore the implications of CBDCs and how governments will use CBDC efficiencies as a veneer for control. We start by discussing stablecoins, how Tether has surprisingly become the "trusted" stable of crypto (or has it...) and the heated CBDC debate. We also discuss startup treasury management, if apps will launch their own L2s or launch on an existing ecosystem,...