Lightspeed

Sam Blackshear and Evan Cheng join us to discuss how the Move programming paradigm will accelerate blockchain development. Sam and Evan are the founders of Sui, a global state L1 that leverages the novel Move programming language (created by Sam while at Facebook). This episode covers Sui's technical specs, the power of Move, Sui's validator requirements and scaling technique, state growth and sto...

Bartosz Lipiński joins us to discuss how Cube is building the first crypto-native centralized exchange. Cube leverages MPC wallets, Solana's client (creating a Solana appchain) and native integrations to offer the best trading experience in crypto. In this episode, we cover Bartosz's journey with Solana Labs, how he helped launch Solana's NFT ecosystem and Hacker House program, Cube's crypto-nativ...

Rooter (co-founder of Solend) and Edgar (co-founder of MarginFi) join us to debate last week's mSOL depeg and how to implement risk management. Last week's mSOL depeg led to liquidations throughout Solana DeFi and a heated debate between the Solend and MarginFi teams. In this episode, we discuss what happened, where Solend and MarginFi disagree, the oracle debate, why liquidator profitability matt...

Udi Wertheimer joins us to discuss Ordinals, Taproot Wizards and how to solve Bitcoin's branding problem. Udi is the co-founder of Taproot Wizards, a wildly successful Bitcoin NFT project that hopes to change Bitcoin's image and community. In this episode, we discuss the history of Bitcoin NFTs, how ordinals and inscriptions work, why Taproot Wizards has been so successful, Bitcoin L2s, the power...

Andre Cronje joins us to discuss his drive to build crypt applications with real use cases. Andre has one of the most incredible stories in crypto and is the founder of multiple blue chip projects (Yearn, Keeper Network, Fantom) and a prolific entrepreneur. In this episode, we discuss the ICO era, the launch of Yearn Finance, Andre's f*ck ups (self-proclaimed), why Andre has dedicated his focus to...

Solana just had one of the craziest weeks in its history. Jito's airdrop has created a wealth (and attention) effect that has captured all of crypto. What a week. In this episode, we cover Jito's token launch, Solana's airdrop season, finding value in the bull market, the integrated chain advantage, the nuances of client diversity and more! - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this...

Meow, the co-founder of Jupiter, joins us to discuss how Jupiter is building crypto's leading aggregator. Jupiter is a DEX aggregator on Solana that routes over 80% of all DEX trades! It's an absolute killer app that has served as the entry to Solana's vast ecosystem. In this episode, we discuss how Jupiter found PMF, why Meow chose Solana, how Jupiter will onboard millions of users, Jupiter's air...

Ben Chow joins us to discuss how Meteora will multiply Solana's TVL. Ben is the co-founder of Meteora and a Solana DeFi OG. In this conversation, we discuss Meteora's origin story, why TVL matters, Meteora's 3-pronged plan to increase Solana's TVL, how Meteora prevents cascading risk, Solana's DeFi competition, how to launch a token and more! - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London thi...

Ariel Seidman, CEO of Hivemapper, joins us to discuss how Hivemapper has built the most successful DePIN product in crypto. In just twelve months, Hivemapper has mapped over 6M unique road kilometers (10% of the world's roads!) and has over 25,000 contributors. In this episode, we discuss Hivemapper's origin story, how Hivemapper maps the world, Hivemapper's killer feature, what DePIN projects get...

Ted Livingston joins us to discuss crypto's micropayments opportunity and Code's big announcement! Ted is a product legend who built the fastest-growing messenger app (Kik) and is now building the best payments experience in crypto. In this episode, we discuss the history of micropayments, how micropayments unlock new use cases, why Code uses Kin, why Code built an L2 on Solana, Ted's Bitcoin thes...

Did Pyth's airdrop overwhelm the Solana network? Was the degraded user experience an application fault, the result of a crude fee market or a stability issue? Garrett and Mert answer these questions in today's roundup. We also cover the SEC's attack on crypto, Solana's airdrop season, the changing L2 sentiment, Bonk's meteoric rise and more! - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this...

Emon Motamedi joins us to discuss how Solana Labs hopes to find the next killer app. Emon leads product at Solana Labs and is the founder of Reddit's Digital Currency team. In this episode, we discuss Solana Labs' new incubator, finding the next killer app, multichain strategies, what crypto teams get wrong and more! - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this March! DAS is the #1 ins...

Paul Bohm joins us to discuss how decentralized marketplaces, like ride-sharing, can leverage crypto's coordination tools to compete against today's incumbents. Paul is a visionary, crypto OG and founder of Teleport. In this episode, we discuss Paul's core insight, Teleport's design, go-to-market strategies, how to ensure quality in decentralized services, why AirBnB onchain isn't a thing and more...

Today's episode is from our other favorite podcast, 0xResearch. Garrett joins the team to explain this month's Solana rally! We dive into Solana's developer traction and documentation quality, the sustainability of low fees, comparisons to Ethereum L2s, and upcoming major ecosystem upgrades and catalysts like Firedancer. To close out the team touches on governance updates on inflation and incentiv...

Qiao Wang from Alliance DAO (a web3 accelerator) joins us to discuss the applications and protocols that are primed to dominate crypto's next cycle. Qiao reviews thousands of crypto startups every year, has an uncanny ability to predict future narratives and is one of my favorite thinkers in the space! In this episode, we discuss why RWAs and payments are crypto's massive opportunity, how speculat...

Matthew Sigel and Patrick Bush join us to discuss their recent report that predicts SOL to hit $335 by 2030. Matthew (head of crypto research) and Patrick (senior investment analysts) lead VanEck's crypto division. VanEck is a prolific TradFi asset management firm founded in 1955, but that hasn't stopped them from building one of the best research teams in crypto. In this episode, we discuss their...

Welcome to Lightspeed's third "Roundup" episode, where Mert and Garrett discuss the top stories of the week and trends they are seeing in crypto. In this episode, we discuss why all eyes are on Solana, hype vs reality, Bankless' Ethereum vs Solana episode, the significance of Solana projects launching tokens and our takeaways from Breakpoint. - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London thi...

Jorrit Palfner and Yannik Schrade join us to discuss why privacy is required for crypto to go mainstream. Jorrit (Light Protocol's co-founder) and Yannik (Elusiv's co-founder) are building Solana's leading privacy protocols. This discussion is more technical than usual, but the insights are incredible. We discuss the implications of private computation, how Light and Elusiv bring privacy onchain,...

This episode is the opening presentation from Breakpoint 2023! You'll hear from Solana's top talent, including Anatoly, Dan Albert, Amira Valliani, Noah Prince and Mert Mumtaz. This is the Solana ecosystem deep dive you won't want to miss! - - Join us at DAS (Digital Asset Summit) in London this March! DAS is the #1 institutional conference in crypto, hosted by Blockworks. Use the link below to le...

Tushar Jain joins us to discuss how he identifies crypto applications that both create AND Tushar Jain joins us to discuss how he identifies crypto applications that create AND capture value. Tushar co-founded Multicoin Capital and is one of the most prolific investors in the space, known for his contrarian [and often correct] theses. In this episode, we cover Solana's rise from the ashes, how L1s...

Kash Dhanda and Brandon Potts join us to discuss how builders can leverage Solana's unique value proposition to be the go-to ecosystem for crypto's next wave of users. Kash is a founding member of Superteam, where he helps Solana projects launch and grow their community, and Brandon is a Principal at Framework Ventures. In this conversation, we cover Solana's resurgence and payments narrative, cry...

Joel Monegro, co-founder of Placeholder, joins us to discuss Solana's compounding advantage. Joel is a crypto OG, a prolific writer (wrote The Fat Protocol Thesis in 2016) and co-founded Placeholder with Chris Burniske. In this episode, we cover Joel's Solana thesis, upcoming infrastructure consolidation, app-specific L2 use cases, Joel's updated thoughts on The Fat Protocol Thesis, finding your i...

Jon Charbonneau joins us to discuss how integrated and modular chains are on an inevitable path toward the same endgame. Jon is an investor and the most prolific researcher in the space who understands the nuances and tradeoffs of the Solana and Ethereum ecosystems. In this episode, we cover what SVM adoption means for Solana, if rollups scale Ethereum, why Jon is spending more time in Solana and...

Fisk and Matti, from Zee Prime Capital, join us to discuss the rise of crypto's first superapp. In this episode, we cover the Fappening Thesis (superapp), why everyone invests in middleware, how protocols establish moats, the future of Web3 social, how crypto will impact equality and more! Fisk and Mattie have some of the most eccentric and prescient ideas in crypto - you won't want to miss this o...

Welcome to Lightspeed's second "Roundup" episode, where Mert and Garrett discuss the top stories of the week and trends they are seeing in crypto. In this episode, we discuss Solana disinformation, the increasing adoption of the SVM, why DePIN could be crypto's next narrative, the ETH vs SOL debate, the power of permissionless frontends and more! - - Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (00:36) Solana...