I Pledge Allegiance

In this episode, we chat with Joe Lallouz, the head of Coinbase Cloud and founder of Bison Trails. We cover the history of Bison Trails from early inception to acquisition by Coinbase, as well as broader thoughts on the crypto infrastructure landscape. We also discuss the staking industry's evolution over time, and how Bison Trails' value proposition changed with it. Joe and I also discuss the Cry...

In this episode, we chat with Esteban Castaño, co-founder of TRM Labs. TRM is a crypto compliance company working with some of the leading exchanges and protocols in Crypto including FTX, Binance, Uniswap and more. We chat about TRM's early history, how they settled on building a B2B risk and compliance product, and tips for other B2B crypto founders. We also discuss TRM's role in the broader cryp...

In this episode, we chat with Hasu and Sam Kozin (Lido) about Lido governance and the LDO <> stETH Dual Governance proposal. Due to Lido's key role in Ethereum, a major goal is to make the protocol more resilient from both a technical and governance perspective. We go through some of these governance initiatives, and discuss the LDO + stETH dual governance proposal, which better aligns...

In this episode, we chat with Rune Christensen, the founder of MakerDAO. We cover the original history behind MakerDAO, Rune's transition out of MakerDAO and his  year-long hiatus. We also go into why he felt compelled to return, and his new Endgame plan he hopes to implement for MakerDAO's long-term survival. This episode is a dense one, and goes deep into Rune's personal viewpoints on clean...

In this episode, we chat with Fredrik Haga, founder and CEO of Dune Analytics. We cover the complete history behind Dune, their community and brand-building strategy, and the journey to finding product-market fit. Other topics covered include the future of the crypto data and analytics market and Dune's long-term plan. Lastly, Fredrik shares pieces of wisdom for other early-stage founders around f...

In this episode, we chat with Tarun Chitra, founder and CEO of Gauntlet. Tarun shares the inspiration behind starting Gauntlet, how it has evolved over time, and their future plans. He condenses his years of experience building products for DAOs into tangible lessons for new founders. We also cover the history behind Robert Ventures, the venture fund he started with Robert Leshner. Other topics di...

In this episode, we catch up with punk4156, Noun40, and Noun22 about all things Nouns. We go over why NounsDAO is a thriving DAO with a consistent stream of quality governance proposals. We also cover key Nouns Primitives, such as the daily continuous auction mechanism, Prop house, and derivative projects. We also cover what are some open challenges for NounsDAO, and where it must continue to inno...

In this episode, we catch up with MonetSupply about MakerDAO. As one of the first DeFi protocols, MakerDAO is a great case study on progressive decentralization, the working group model, and DAO governance broadly. We cover Maker's core unit model, its focus on real world assets, Rune's recent return and proposal, Hasu's proposal, as well as recent drama around the Lending Oversight Core Unit. Oth...

In this episode, we catch up with Hasu about the current challenges of DAO governance and how it can be improved. Hasu is a prolific researcher, and is active in many protocols including MakerDAO, Lido, and Flashbots. We conduct a bird's eye retrospective of DAO governance, and discuss his takeaways as a leading delegate and participant. Specific themes we touch on include Treasury Management (aga...

In this episode, we chat with Trent Van Epps and Tim Beiko, long-time contributors to Ethereum. We chat about different ways of funding L1 development, Ethereum's strategy, and the Ethereum Foundation's past, present, and future role. We also talk extensively about their new initiative - the Protocol Guild, a new program to fund core development and contributors to Ethereum. It's funded by some of...

In this episode, we chat with Evgeny Gaevoy, the co-founder and CEO of Wintermute. They're one of the largest market-makers in crypto, and are active across many different markets, chains, and products. Evgeny does not mince any words here, and we go into many topics including the origins of Wintermute, the current state of DeFi, and which protocols have moats (and which don't). We also discuss Wi...

In this episode, we explore VectorDAO, a new group of artists, creators, and designers focused on the web3 ecosystem. VectorDAO consists of over 70+ contributors, and works for a variety of startups, protocols, and DAOs. This conversations features VectorDAO's creators, Jon Yan and Yitong Zhang, who have thought extensively about structuring this new collective and have also explored the broader l...

In this episode, I chat with Stefan George, the Co-Founder and CTO of Gnosis, the quintessential DAO tool. We cover the history of Gnosis, from its inception as a prediction markets protocol to where it stands today. In particular, we discuss the Gnosis multi-sig product, which secures billions of dollar in assets and is considered as one of, if not the most important DAO tool. We also cover Gnosi...

In this episode, Larry and I talk with Tina He from Station, a new platform meant to transform the DAO contributor experience. Tina is one of the most thoughtful builders in the DAO tool landscape and has worked with her team to put together a very unique onboarding experience for contributors.  We cover many areas in this podcast, including the vision and history behind Station, the current...

This week Larry and I chat with Bored Ghost Development (BGD) Labs about their Aave development proposal. BGD is a development team composed of the former Aave Genesis core engineering team, and have been working on Aave for the past few years. With this new proposal, they are now working full-time for the DAO over the next 15 months.  The $11m proposal has a large scope, and includes: Mainte...

This week, we chat about Osmosis' unique approach to bridge selection. Unlike other projects which have used many bridges, Osmosis underwent a "canonical bridge selection" process to choose one provider, with the intention of providing a superior UX for end users. All of this was done through on-chain governance. Axelar emerged victorious, and is working on an integration with Osmosis.  In th...

In this episode Larry and I chat about M&A in Crypto, and how it compares to traditional markets. We discuss how they may be similar and more importantly different, in a world with open-source, composable protocols. We also discuss the most prominent merger to date, FEI <> Rari, and the dynamics that went into the merger. --- Follow us on Twitter:   @Sam_Bronstein | @jstastny101 | @...

In this episode Larry and I chat with A16z's Jeff Amico about all things protocol governance. Jeff is the head of network operations at A16z, where he oversees A16z's on-chain participation, including governance, staking, and more. We discuss A16'z participation on the various networks, the delgation program, how DeFi governance will evolve over time and many more themes! --- Follow us on Twitter:...

In this episode Larry and I chat with Getty Hill about Uniswap Protocol's fee switch. We go into detail about the pros/cons of turning the fee switch on, the process that goes into the decision, and how protocol fees could be used to grow Uniswap long-term.  ---- Follow us on Twitter: @getty_hill | @lsukernik | @derek_hsue Resources: v2 fees , v3 fees , Adding a 1 basis point fee tier for Uni...

In this week's episode, we discuss voting markets with the founder of Paladin, Romain Figuereo. We cover many topics, including the general use case of lending/borrowing votes, and the v-staking model and Curve Wars. Additionally, we cover some prominent examples of vote borrowing, and other kinds of use cases that Romain would like to see.  ---- Follow us on Twitter: Romain | @lsukernik | @d...

This week, we chat with Simon Jones, the co-founder of Voltz Protocol. We discuss Voltz's recent governance proposal to allow them to use the UNI v3 license, in order to build their own interest-rate swaps AMM. In this episode, we discuss the proposal, tips for other teams going through governance, and the future of D2D interactions and partnerships.  ---- Follow us on Twitter: @0xSimonJones...

Today's guests are Charles St. Louis and Paul Vienhage from Element Finance. In this episode we go deep on Council, the Element Finance governance framework, which features a few key innovations: Voting Vaults, the Governance Steering Council, and Optimistic Rewards. We also go into the broader philosophy behind Element Finance Governance, and how it differs from existing Governance systems. Charl...

In this episode of I Pledge Allegiance, Larry and I chat about the legal landscape in Crypto with Marc Boiron, General Counsel of dYdX, and Jake Chervinsky, Head of Policy at the Blockchain Association and formerly the General Counsel at Compound.  This episode's focus is a practical approach for founders and DAO operators in navigating the crypto legal landscape, from how to find good outsid...

In this episode of I Pledge Allegiance, we chat about MetaGovernance with Brian Flynn, the founder of Rabbithole, and mel.eth, long-time contributor at Index Co-Op. We cover numerous topics, including the core motivation behind metagovernance, how it effects everyday token-holders, and where it's headed in the future. ---- Rabbithole MetaGovernance Index CoOp MetaGovernance mel.eth Index Forums --...

In this episode of I Pledge Allegiance, hosts Derek Hsue and Larry Sukernik chat about Governance Frameworks with arr00, the creator of Compound Governor Bravo. We also speak bring on Alex Kroeger, who worked on governance for A16z and is a longtime governance participant in numerous protocols. We discuss existing governance frameworks such as Compound Governor, how these systems may evolve in the...