Best Jason Crain Podcasts (2026)

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2025 Rewind: End of the Infinite Money Glitch and Looking Ahead to 2026 52:32

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19h ago52:32

52:32

In this episode, hosts Sebastien Couture, Brian Crain, and Friederike Ernst gather for their annual wrap-up to discuss the end of the "infinite money glitch": the era where tokens traded at billions without proven product-market fit. They explore the 2025 "spring cleaning" that devastated the altcoin market and the quiet, efficient entry of web2 in…

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Solving The AI Black Box: ZK-Proofs in Defence Tech 55:37

6d ago55:37

55:37

In this episode, host Sebastian Couture is joined by Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh, CEO of Lagrange, to explore the intersection of frontier cryptography and national security. Ismael discusses the transition of zero-knowledge (ZK) technology from a "token-centric" crypto tool to a vital component of defense, specifically focusing on its role in securin…

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Aztec's Rebirth, The $61M Token Sale & Programmable Privacy on Ethereum 1:05:09

14d ago1:05:09

1:05:09

Fresh off the launch of the Ignition Chain and a successful community-led $61M token sale, Aztec Network co-founder Zac Williamson joins Friederike Ernst to unpack the "existential" journey of building programmable privacy. Zac opens up about the "sacrificial altar" moment where the team decided to kill their live product, Aztec Connect which had 6…

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Will stablecoins end the US debt Crisis? 54:23

14d ago54:23

54:23

Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin joins Friederike Ernst to discuss why we are at the "end of a supercycle," a chaotic transition period where legacy institutions are finally adopting blockchain rails not just for efficiency, but for survival. They explore the "inevitable convergence" where the US government may actively rely on stablecoins to absorb d…

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What will Quantum Computing Change? 1:21:41

29d ago1:21:41

1:21:41

Quantum computing is often dismissed as a distant sci-fi future, but Ethereum OG John Lilic and Oxford physicist Stefano Gogioso argue the timeline is shrinking fast with roadmaps converging around 2030. In this episode, they break down the "woeful" state of quantum readiness in crypto, explaining how Shor's algorithm could eventually shatter the e…

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DevConnect 2025: Inside The Biggest Ethereum Event in History 44:43

1M ago44:43

44:43

“DevConnect 2025 was about touching and feeling Ethereum IRL”Nathan Sexer, lead of the DevConnect 2025 and Events team at the Ethereum Foundation, gives a peek into the largest iteration of Devconnect ever, with 20,000 attendees, and why the team pivoted to a "World's Fair" format, creating tangible districts for DeFi and Privacy to let attendees t…

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Why is the SEC Concerned about Privacy now? 1:02:58

1M ago1:02:58

1:02:58

At DevConnect 2025, Sebastian and Friederike speak with Peter Van Valkenburgh about the rapidly evolving battle for digital rights. Peter challenges the industry's comfort with transparency, arguing that "transparency will destroy neutrality." He uses the history of SWIFT to illustrate how a once-neutral messaging system was captured by geopolitica…

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Cosmos: The Linux of Blockchains? 55:06

1M ago55:06

55:06

Captured live at Cosmoverse 2025, this episode brings host Sebastian in conversation with Michael (better known as Cryptocito, Cosmos investor via Cito Ventures) and Magnus (@0xMagmar, Co-CEO Cosmos Labs). Against a backdrop of institutional gravitas, central banks mingling alongside Revolut executives, the conversation traces Cosmos' arc across fi…

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Yield Basis: Disrupting Defi & Bitcoin Yield 1:00:05

2M ago1:00:05

1:00:05

Brian Fabian Crain and Michael Egorov, Curve Finance founder, discuss Curve's origins: solving inefficient DAI/USDC swaps after MakerDAO borrows by creating a DeFi AMM for stablecoins and LSTs. It hit 1M TVL with a bonding curve concentrating liquidity at 1:1, more effective for pegged assets than Uniswap. Features grew to include BTC wrappers, stE…

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192: Joshua Ray Walker defends East Dallas 58:13

2M ago58:13

58:13

This one comes with a bonus. Josh brought along his songwriting partner and recording engineer, John Pedigo. So, yes, we talked about Josh's new album, Stuff, but we ventured far afield to explore the tattoos on Josh's "trash leg," BlueChew commercials, the official Tex-Mex dish of Dallas, and lesbians gentrifying Oak Cliff. Buckle up and prepare y…

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Lamina1: Building The Future of The Creator Economy 59:47

2M ago59:47

59:47

Sci-fi titan Neal Stephenson, whose Snow Crash coined the term 'metaverse' and Cryptonomicon, which foreshadowed crypto in 1999, joins Friederike to discuss his "hard sci-fi" method: building immersive, consistent worlds, not prophecy. He's now co-founder of Lamina1, aiming to restore Web1's ethos and give creators IP sovereignty with direct microp…

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Is Blockchain Still a Revolution or Becoming Another Upgrade? Ep.621 1:15:34

2M ago1:15:34

1:15:34

As blockchain tech gets co-opted by legacy players for efficiency gains, has the revolution lost its edge? Crypto philosopher Paul Dylan-Ennis and Jito's Head of Governance, Dr. Nick Almond, join Friederike to probe this shift from 2017's visionary DAOs to today's Telegram-negotiated votes and whale capture. Rooted in philosophy and complex systems…

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Brave: Building the Private User-Friendly Internet - Kyle Den Hartog 1:07:04

3M ago1:07:04

1:07:04

Brave has spent a decade building a privacy-first browser that empowers users with tools like ad-blocking and fingerprinting protection, now serving 100 million monthly active users. Security engineer Kyle Den Hartog joins Friederike to unpack the centralization traps in digital identity from email's spam-driven dominance to one-size-fits-all DeFi …

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Noble: Solving Crypto's Liquidity Problem, One Chain at a Time - Jelena Djuric 41:26

3M ago41:26

41:26

In this episode, Sebastien is joined by Jelena Djuric, co-founder of Noble, a generic asset issuance chain built for the Cosmos ecosystem. Jelena shares her journey into crypto, which began with an interest in political science, leading her to discover Bitcoin's potential. She describes the origins of Noble, created to solve a critical need within …

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Benjamin Sarquis Peillard: Cap Labs – Insured Yield & the Future of Stablecoins 58:02

3M ago58:02

58:02

In this episode, Sebastien Couture is joined by Benjamin, the founder of CAP, a stablecoin protocol designed to provide insured yield. The protocol features two main products: CUSD, a digital dollar, and stCUSD, its staked, yield-bearing version. Yield is generated through an "allocation engine" where third-party operators borrow from the protocol'…

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Mento: Onchain FX Markets - Decentralising World Currencies - Markus Franke 1:06:14

3M ago1:06:14

1:06:14

TradFi FX markets are slow, expensive and often lack liquidity for direct swaps between different world currencies, having to route through USD pairs. While crypto could technically solve pairing through AMM pools, those needed to be arbitraged in order to reflect TradFi rates. With 15 fully-backed stablecoins, Mento is building the largest FX infr…

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191: Actress Giovannie Cruz did bad things in "Superman" and got to meet a real hero, Flo from Progressive 1:09:16

3M ago1:09:16

1:09:16

In this movie-intensive episode, D Magazine contributing editor and noted cinephile Eric Celeste joins Tim Rogers at the Old Monk to hear Giovannie's stories about James Gunn, Richard Dreyfuss, and the Old 97's; learn what a "honeywagon" is; and discuss whether her parents should have let her play outside when she was little. Also, she explains the…

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f(x) Protocol: Decentralized Yield-Bearing Stablecoin & 0-Liquidation Perp - Cyrille Brière 1:00:22

4M ago1:00:22

1:00:22

Without a doubt, the introduction of stablecoins has vastly increased overall crypto liquidity, adoption and real-world use cases as they offered a safe haven against the industry’s volatility, especially during bearmarkets. However, despite being extremely efficient, the main stablecoin actors (i.e. Circle & Tether) are centralised entities. Many …

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Euler: The DeFi Super App - Michael Bentley 1:00:01

3M ago1:00:01

1:00:01

Euler is a DeFi lending protocol built around the idea of permissionless modularity, enabling users to lend and borrow almost any crypto asset with flexible, permissionless pools, tailored to individual risk profiles. Moreover, Euler Vault Kit (EVK) and Ethereum Vault Connector (EVC) enable the creation of custom lending vaults which, in turn, can …

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Zama: FHE and The Holy Grail of Blockchain Privacy 56:12

4M ago56:12

56:12

Blockchains operate as a public ledger, ‘disclosing’ the entire transaction history and associated data to everyone. While verifiability and traceability are key traits, as blockchains gain global adoption, those very features hinder the process. Self custody, on-chain identities, corporate strategies, transaction history, private deals, all repres…

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Pareto: Customizable On-Chain Private Credit Marketplace - Matteo Pandolfi 1:08:21

4M ago1:08:21

1:08:21

Built primarily for institutional-grade clients, Pareto delivers customizable on-chain credit markets designed to expand DeFi liquidity and TradFi tokenization through structured yield strategies tailored to diverse risk profiles. Pareto allows its users to construct individualized credit lines in specific risk-ajusted tranches, with custom: intere…

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Lagrange: ZK-Proving AI Alignment - Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh 56:51

5M ago56:51

56:51

In an age when AI models are becoming exponentially more sophisticated and powerful, how does one ensure that proper results are being generated and that the AI model functions in desired parameters? This pressing concern of AI alignment could be solved through cryptographic verification, using zero knowledge proofs. ZKPs not only allow for verifyi…

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Zorp: Nockchain's ZK Proof-of-Useful-Work Consensus - Logan Allen 1:12:47

5M ago1:12:47

1:12:47

Inspired by Urbit’s minimal assembly language, Nockchain fuses Urbit’s vision of sovereign computing with a novel proof-of-useful-work consensus mechanism, creating a blockchain where every computation fuels progress and scaling. The crypto-economics behind Nockchain’s zkVM incentivise competition between zero knowledge provers, ultimately bootstra…

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UMA & Across: Optimistic Oracles & Intent-Based Bridges for Unifying Ethereum - Hart Lambur 1:11:16

5M ago1:11:16

1:11:16

Universal Market Access (UMA) was founded by 2 ex Goldman Sachs traders that wanted to make global markets universally accessible through financial smart contracts that used synthetic assets on Ethereum. However, this was taking place long before the massive boom of DeFi summer of 2020. As a result, UMA shifted to building an optimistic oracle to p…

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Dragonfly: The Secrets of a Top-Tier Crypto VC - Haseeb Qureshi 1:29:13

5M ago1:29:13

1:29:13

Founded in 2018, Dragonfly has quickly become one of the most prestigious crypto VCs. Dragonfly was one of the first to adopt a global approach to backing founders and disruptive tech, all while building a strong brand that allowed them to secure top-tier deals. Join us for a fascinating discussion with Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly…

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Near One: Scaling the Agentic Internet. AI X Crypto - Bowen Wang 1:01:40

6M ago1:01:40

1:01:40

‘Attention Is All You Need’, co-wrote by Illia Polosukhin in 2017, laid the foundation for arguably one of the most consequential tech breakthroughs in our recent history. 1 year later, Illia founded Near AI, which later became Near Protocol. They were visionaries ahead of their time and, although AI took several more years before becoming a viable…

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190: Remembering the Great Zac Crain 56:43

5M ago56:43

56:43

In the Roman Catholic tradition, there's something called a year's mind. It's a requiem Mass held on the one-year anniversary of someone's death. That's exactly what we did for Zac and those who loved him. Except the Mass was held at a bar called the Old Monk. And we recorded a podcast during the Mass. We boldly declare that it's the funniest year'…

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Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum, The [LAST] Steward of Decentralisation 39:19

6M ago39:19

39:19

The tradition of Epicenter x Vitalik Buterin continued this year as well at EthCC[8], where we got the chance of picking his brain about recent research, interests and Ethereum Foundation’s direction going forward. Join us for a fascinating discussion on biotech and how Vitalik’s Shiba ended up funding it, the utility of blockchains in nowadays soc…

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Stripe: The Stablecoin (R)Evolution - John Egan 1:05:36

6M ago1:05:36

1:05:36

Stripe has established itself as a leading payment solution for both enterprises as well as startups and individual sellers. By abstracting away all the complexities of traditional payment rails through simple plug-and-play APIs, Stripe created a facile route for cross-border payments, simplifying e-commerce. Similarly, Stripe’s recent integration …

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t1 Protocol: Unifying Ethereum's L2 Liquidity Through Real-Time Proving - Can Kisagun 1:01:41

6M ago1:01:41

1:01:41

While L2 rollups did help scale Ethereum, they also created siloed ecosystems, all fighting over the same liquidity, users and devs. t1 Protocol is building layer-2 infrastructure to achieve seamless cross-rollup interoperability through real-time proving, powered by TEEs. t1's low-latency with 1-second block times provides faster preconfirmations,…

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DappCon 25: The Ticker Is $ETH - Jerome de Tychey, Joshua Dávila & Nixorokish 1:12:32

6M ago1:12:32

1:12:32

As the summer tour of European crypto conferences landed in Berlin, one of crypto’s cradles, we couldn’t miss DappCon 25, where we got to sit with Jerome de Tychey, Nixorokish & Joshua Dávila to discuss Ethereum’s restructure and whether its culture is still relevant to the wider crypto community. Join us for a fascinating discussion on the impact …

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189: Sarah Saldaña, former director of ICE 41:38

7M ago41:38

41:38

Sarah was the U.S. Attorney for the North District of Texas before Barack Obama appointed her head of ICE in 2014. She talks with Tim about why the agency shouldn't be abolished, despite President Trump's current campaign to use it as a tool of terror; about why Dallas hasn't yet seen the sorts of raids that have gone down in other large cities; ab…

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Lombard: Unlocking Bitcoin DeFi Through Liquid, Yield-Bearing LBTC - Jacob Phillips 1:11:09

7M ago1:11:09

1:11:09

Bitcoin remains an untapped source of net-new liquidity that could be injected into DeFi. This would completely reshape Bitcoin’s utilization from a mere store of value to a liquid asset that can be ported cross-chain and traded like a liquid staking derivative. Lombard’s LBTC builds upon Babylon’s Bitcoin staking primitive and aims to unlock new y…

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Staking Rewards: Is Crypto Staking Killing Decentralisation? - Mirko Schmiedl & Tobias Jung 54:55

7M ago54:55

54:55

Apart from incentivising market participants to secure the network through inflationary rewards, many consider staking as an equivalent of stock dividend yield. As a result, although Bitcoin is regarded as digital gold, protocols are looking for ways to increase its utilisation in DeFi and, ultimately, generate yield. Nowadays, while newer networks…

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ETHPrague: ETH Renaissance - Austin Griffith, Brenda Loya, Joseph Schweitzer, Marek Olszewski 1:00:25

7M ago1:00:25

1:00:25

After a decade of existence, Ethereum has gone a long way from its initial whitepaper, yet many efforts in scaling and finding product-market-fit have been severely criticized for falling short of their promise. However, despite numerous other ‘Ethereum killers’ being launched over the years, none has managed to attract so many developers and liqui…

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188: How to Judge BBQ, Cake, and Fort Worth Women 48:50

7M ago48:50

48:50

It's a themed episode! Kathy tells us about a controversy she experienced while judging cakes for the State Fair of Texas. Brian covers the same ground, except with a halal barbecue contest. And then Tim takes us to the Colonial for some golf talk that involves way more fashion choices than it does golf. Remember: print makes the podcast possible. …

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The Multi-Chain Avalanche - Emin Gün Sirer 31:52

7M ago31:52

31:52

We couldn’t miss the Avalanche Summit where we sat down with Emin Gün Sirer, co-founder & CEO of Ava Labs, to discuss the evolution of Avalanche’s ecosystem and how HyperSDK ushers in a scalable, interoperable, multi-chain future. Join us for a fascinating discussion on Avalanche’s approach to decentralisation, scalability & interoperability, and l…

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Initia: Incentively Aligned Appchains - Ezaan Mangalji, Anil Lulla & Jose Maria Macedo 1:02:08

8M ago1:02:08

1:02:08

Blockchain architecture is constantly being forced to adapt to new technologies, as well as to meet new demands from users and builders. While the idea of apps building their own chains was first explored by Cosmos, it lacked the support and tooling to see it succeed. Later on, rollups also took the centerstage of Ethereum’s scaling roadmap, but du…

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187: Bull Riding and Cooper Flagg 54:24

8M ago54:24

54:24

Our own Mike Piellucci talks about one of the world's best bull riders, John Crimber, who lives with a bunch of other badass Brazilian bull riders in or near Decatur, Texas. Kathy Wise reveals her secret nicknames and the difference between her marriage and that of Tim Rogers. Also: Cooper Flagg! Kathy gets a bit quiet during this portion of the po…

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Ethereum Foundation: Humanity’s Shared World Computer - Hsiao-Wei Wang & Tomasz Stańczak 1:10:22

8M ago1:10:22

1:10:22

As society evolves, so do its values and principles, but is that desirable for technology that seeks to build the most reliable, trustless and censorship resistant global settlement layer? Ever since the rise in popularity of Solana with its inflow of retail capital in a memecoin gold rush, Ethereum became even more criticized for sticking true to …

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Taiko: Scaling Ethereum in a Decentralised Manner - Joaquin Mendes 1:08:05

8M ago1:08:05

1:08:05

Taiko is a decentralized, Ethereum-equivalent (type I) rollup scaling solution which uses ZK technology. Taiko's goal is to scale Ethereum efficiently while maintaining security and decentralization. Being a type I zkEVM, Taiko retains full Ethereum equivalence, which creates a seamless DevEx, although this comes at the expense of UX as slower proo…

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Mysten Labs: How Sui Leverages Move to Build the Composable Web3nternet - Adeniyi Abiodun 1:03:09

8M ago1:03:09

1:03:09

Founded by former Meta Diem team members, Sui is a high-performance, layer-1 blockchain designed for horizontal scaling and low-latency transactions. It uses an object-centric data model and the Move programming language to enable transaction parallelization which can handle >200,000 txs/s. Sui’s goal is to combine the benefits of blockchains with …

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Maple Finance: On-Chain Institutional Yield & Lending Markets - Sidney Powell 54:49

8M ago54:49

54:49

With an extensive experience in traditional money markets, Maple Finance was envisioned as an institutional capital marketplace which combines the transparency & capital efficiency of blockchains with the regulatory framework of TradFi. Unlike many DeFi protocols that require over-collateralized loans (e.g. Aave), Maple also specializes in under-co…

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186: The Best Barbecue in Dallas 2025 1:03:35

8M ago1:03:35

1:03:35

We discuss meat and the proper smoking thereof. Plus what is "motorcycle paint" and who in the D Magazine office is most likely to assassinate whom? Oh! Also, we reveal a secret Thai menu at a restaurant in Allen. But that's all. Remember: print makes the podcast possible. Consider subscribing to D Magazine.…

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Tally: The Software Layer for Tokenized Organizations - Dennison Bertram 1:01:21

9M ago1:01:21

1:01:21

Tally is a software platform designed to support tokenized organizations, particularly Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and crypto communities. It provides tools for launching tokens, governing protocols, and enabling staking to foster community participation and growth. Tally facilitates onchain governance, allowing transparent and de…

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ENS V2 Cross-Chain Domains & Namechain - Nick Johnson 48:42

9M ago48:42

48:42

Namechain is an L2 developed by ENS Labs, to enhance the scalability and efficiency of managing decentralized identities on Ethereum. It is designed to work in tandem with ENS V2, which introduced a hierarchical registry system for more efficient subdomain management and custom resolvers. A key vision for Namechain is to unify multi-chain user iden…

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Lido V3: Ushering in Institutional Staking Through stVaults - Hasu 1:19:32

9M ago1:19:32

1:19:32

Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake created a unique set of conditions (i.e. lack of protocol-level delegation, 32 ETH requirement, long exit queues, etc.) that led to Lido’s liquid staking model to gain huge traction, significantly eclipsing other LSD providers on native PoS chains. stETH added on-demand liquidity, bypassing…

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Ronin: How Axie Infinity Kickstarted the Blockchain Gaming Revolution - Jeff Zirlin 54:34

9M ago54:34

54:34

While DeFi’s ultimate goal is to provide an alternative for TradFi, blockchain gaming caters to retail masses, onboarding millions of users to crypto through incentives and fun gameplay. The greatest success story in Web3 gaming thus far has been, without a doubt, Axie Infinity. Apart from creating an engaged community whose early adopters also exp…

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Solana: From On-Chain Nasdaq to the Pump Fun Craze - Anatoly Yakovenko 1:18:28

10M ago1:18:28

1:18:28

Solana needs no introduction. Ever since its inception, it pushed throughput scaling on a single chain, without the need of sharding or rollups. Despite its ups and downs that culminated at the bottom of the bear market after the FTX crash, it managed to not only survive, but build a vibrant community around crypto's (arguably) most prominent PMF (…

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Build on Bitcoin: Combining Bitcoin's Security With Ethereum's Versatility - Alexei Zamyatin 1:10:10

10M ago1:10:10

1:10:10

Bitcoin’s security and reliability as a store of value are undeniable. However, its liquidity remained untapped for too long due to a lack of trustless bridges and native smart contract capabilities. As BTC is only native to Bitcoin’s L1, any attempt to include it in DeFi relies on the trust assumptions of third party custodians that wrap it. Build…