Proof of Coverage

Latest Episodes:

Raullen Chai, Co-Founder of IoTeX Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

Connor, Sami, and Mahesh are joined by Raullen Chai, Co-Founder of IoTeX. IoTeX is the platform for DePIN builders, combining a fast, secure blockchain with IoT and smart devices.

Raullen talks about how he fell in love with crypto when he tried to break Bitcoin (and couldn’t do it), why he dedicated his work in crypto to supporting DePIN, the competitive landscape of DePIN-focused L1’s and where IoTeX fits in, and how IoTeX’s hardware origins help them serve founders better.

0:00 Cold Open

0:36 The State of DePIN Fundraising

2:10 How working at Google and Uber exposed Raullen to crypto

5:56 Why Raullen was moved to leave Big Tech to crypto

7:28 Raullen’s Multi-Cycle Learnings

10:04 Why DePIN?

12:18 IoTeX’s Role in the DePIN Ecosystem

15:38 The Competitive Landscape of DePIN L1’s

18:23 What are DePIN Founders looking for in L1’s?

21:32 IoTeX’s W3bstream’s Value Prop

24:22 How IoTeX’s hardware expertise adds value to projects

28:10 Dedicated Hardware vs. Consumer Mobile Device Trends in DePIN

31:00 IoTeX’s Hardware Origins and Early Adoption

34:06 The Benefit to a DePIN Builder of the Marshall DAO

36:38 Lightning Round

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Matt Katz (CEO of Caldera) and Neel Somani (CEO of Eclipse) Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

Sal is joined by Matt Katz of Caldera, and Neel Somani of Eclipse. Caldera is a no-code web3 infrastructure platform, trying to simplify the process of creating app-specific blockchains so builders can create layer-2 blockchains in a matter of hours. Eclipse is Ethereum’s fastest L2, powered by the Solana Virtual Machine - a new kind of architecture built to power the next generation of decentralized applications.

0:00 Welcome Matt and Neel!

1:14 High Level Approaches of Caldera and Eclipse

6:07 Why build on Caldera or Eclipse and not directly on an L1?

13:51 The State of the Solana & SVM Infrastructure Ecosystem

15:30 The Current and Future State of Chain Feature Differentiation

27:52 The Economics of Caldera and Eclipse Over Time

38:08 How Best To Serve the DePIN Compatibility Use Case

42:40 SVM or New “Next-Gen” VM’s?

45:43 How Caldera and Eclipse Sell DePIN Founders

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Jonathan Victor, Co-Founder of Ansa Research, former Ecosystem Lead at Protocol Labs Feb 12, 2024

Show notes

Mahesh and Connor are joined by Jonathan Victor. Jonathan formerly worked on Filecoin at Protocol Labs, and left to found Ansa Research, a research firm focused on distributed infrastructure covering digital networks that aim to rebuild how internet infrastructure operates.

Jonathan talks about how his Palantir background influenced his time at Protocol Labs, why content addressing is a critical component to the future of the web, what the long-term Filecoin roadmap looks like, the protocol’s recent investments into retrieval, where Filecoin and other storage protocols fit into the broader ecosystem of enterprise storage, and clears up Filecoin’s revenue model.

0:00 Cold Brew Open

0:40 How Jon’s background at Palantir led him to Filecoin

4:28 Jon’s Decentralized Infrastructure Theses

9:42 How the Various Storage Solutions May Work Together in the Future

13:33 Filecoin’s Long-term Roadmap

20:03 Filecoin and Retrieval

24:55 Storage as a Commodity or a Differentiated Offering

29:30 Why Location Matters in Storage

34:04 IPFS and Filecoin’s Value Prop

39:33 How Filecoin Cultivated it’s robust developer ecosystem

43:42 Filecoin’s Revenue Model and Transparency

50:47 Where to find Jon’s Work

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Ryan Selkis, Founder and CEO of Messari Jan 29, 2024

Show notes

Sami, Connor and Mahesh are joined by Ryan Selkis, Founder and CEO of Messari. Messari provides market intelligence that drives high-conviction participation in the crypto economy.

Ryan discusses his thoughts on the current state of crypto regulation, its implications on the 2024 US Presidential election, where he hopes Vivek Ramaswamy lands next, the 3 areas of DePIN that excite him most, and if it has a hat (spoiler: it does).

0:00 Is this the cold open?

0:47 Does it have a hat?

2:26 What did the term “Web3” do to Selkis?

5:47 State of crypto & the US Presidential Race

16:03 Vivek Ramaswamy’s next step

21:01 Trump’s stance on crypto

27:00 How well do US regulators understand DePIN?

37:00 The sectors of DePIN Selkis is most interested in

44:29 How to be a cockroach

50:06 Lightning round

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Nick Emmons, CEO & Co-Founder of Upshot Jan 11, 2024

Show notes

Sami and Mahesh are joined by Nick Emmons, CEO & Co-Founder of Upshot. Upshot is a decentralized AI network optimized for DeFi applications. The network incentivizes participants to contribute their expertise, which can include machine learning models, data, and other forms of knowledge, cultivating a cooperative ecosystem where contributors collectively strive towards achieving shared AI objectives.

Nick shares his insights on the regulatory landscape for AI, discussing the competitive edge that decentralized AI could have over traditional centralized AI systems. He also speaks about the evolution of Upshot into a platform that leverages the collective intelligence of its participants to create and improve DeFi applications. The conversation also touches on the critical role of zero-knowledge proofs for integrating AI with blockchains. Lastly, Nick highlights various use cases for Upshot, showcasing its potential to transform the DeFi space.

00:00 - Hair Routines

1:04 - Crypto and AI Regulation

2:47 - The Rapid Rate of AI Innovation

5:35 - Entering an Era of Hyperfinancilization

8:20 - Competing with OpenAI’s GPT Store

9:50 - Upshot’s Origin

15:26 - How Price Predicting Models on Upshot Work

19:30 - How Models on Upshot Work Together

20:40 - Upshot Machine Intelligence Network Architecture

25:05 - Upshot + zkML

29:05 - opML vs zkML

31:30 - Upshot Use Cases

34:40 - How the Community can Help

37:55 - Rapid Fire Questions

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Jules Urbach (CEO) and Trevor Harries-Jones (Director) of The Render Network Dec 18, 2023

Show notes

Connor and Sami are joined by Jules Urbach, CEO of OTOY and Founder of Render, and Trevor Harries-Jones, COO of OTOY and Director at Render Network Foundation. The Render Network is the first decentralized GPU rendering platform, empowering artists to scale GPU rendering work on-demand to high performance GPU nodes around the world. Through a blockchain marketplace for idle GPU compute, the network provides artists the ability to scale next-generation rendering work at fractions of the cost and at orders of magnitude increases in speed when compared to the centralized GPU cloud. OTOY Inc. is the definitive cloud graphics company, pioneering technology that is redefining content creation and delivery for media and entertainment organizations around the world.

Jules and Trevor discuss the moment when artists first discover how useful the Render Network can be, how the Render Network is currently powering highly demanding projects on the world’s premier stages (like The Sphere in Las Vegas), whether our mobile devices will someday be nodes on the Render Network, and the future of immersive entertainment.

00:00 - Chrome Tab Overload

1:04 - Hello Jules and Trevor!

1:17 - The Future of Entertainment & the Metaverse

7:40 - When Jules first started thinking about a token-based GPU network

14:24 - Use cases the Render Network serves today

18:40 - Why Render vs. other GPU networks?

23:47 - The Render Network and AI

29:44 - Why Render moved to Solana

32:45 - The future of node types on the Render Network

38:46 - Render’s thinking behind partnership with general-purpose compute networks

41:43 - GPU requirements of AI projects

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Ariel Seidman, Co-Founder and CEO of Hivemapper Dec 11, 2023

Show notes

Connor, Sami, and Mahesh are joined by Ariel Seidman, CEO / Co-Founder of Hivemapper. Hivemapper is building the world’s freshest map with AI and a network of drivers using dashcams. Ariel talks about why Hivemapper uses purpose-built hardware, the problems with centralized mapping today, how they designed the HONEY token design to dynamically match Hivemapper’s progress towards its long-term goals, and the weirdest things the team has seen on driver images.

0:00 - Cold Open - A TradWi Conspiracy Afoot?

0:42 - Hello Ariel!

3:00 Privacy is one of Hivemapper biggest concerns

5:38 How Ariel explains DePIN

7:30 How Ariel’s background at Yahoo and Gigwalk informed the early Hivemapper days

11:47 The emerging use cases that only a fresh, high-quality map can serve

18:31 How has centralized mapping reacted to Hivemapper’s emergence?

20:24 What the Hivemapper protocol is designed to incentivize

25:05 How the HONEY token emissions are engineered to keep the network sustainable

30:16 Hivemapper’s first customers

34:05 Why Hivemapper uses dedicated hardware

41:52 How the Hivemapper Map AI acts as the brains of the network

47:31 Hivemapper’s product suite

50:50 Ariel’s advice for DePIN founders

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Adam Jackson, Co-Founder and CEO of Braintrust Nov 27, 2023

Show notes

Connor and Mahesh sit down with Adam Jackson, Co-Founder and CEO of Braintrust. Braintrust is the first user-owned talent network, matching enterprise employers to vetted knowledge workers. Today, Braintrust boasts over 3,000 employers hiring from a pool of 500,000 freelancers who have collectively earned over $150M on the Braintrust network.

Adam discusses Braintrust’s origins from a DePIN-focused hedge fund, what DePIN means to him, the reality of the US crypto regulatory environment, and what levers Braintrust can pull to drive growth.

0:00 - 0:20 Hello Adam!

0:20 - 5:10 Why Remote Works Makes Sense

5:10 - 10:44 Adam’s Background and How Braintrust Came to Be

10:45 - 12:38 What does DePIN mean to Adam?

13:14 - 18:24 Braintrust’s Enterprise-Grade User Experience

18:24 - 21:53 The Upside and Downside of Decentralization

21:53 - 23:07 The Vetting Process for Knowledge Workers

23:07 - 28:15 Braintrust Revenue and Governance Model

28:15 - 32:48 Braintrust’s Growth Levers

32:48 - 34:57 How Braintrust Can Pull Levers to Balance Marketplace Demand and Supply

34:57 - 37:40 Braintrust’s Clients Don’t Care about the Token

37:40 - 39:02 Crypto’s Regulatory Environment

39:02 - 44:40 Has Technology Really Improved Productivity?

44:40 - 48:30 Is Talent Happier Using Braintrust?

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Sam Williams, Founder and CEO of Arweave Nov 13, 2023

Show notes

Sami and Mahesh are joined by Sam Williams, Co-Founder and CEO of Arweave. Arweave is a permanent and decentralized storage network, designed for the preservation of humanity’s most important data.

Sam discussed what inspired him to work on permanent storage, why he doesn’t view Filecoin as a major competitor, how Arweave is designed to store the highest-value data, and some of the exciting projects currently using Arweave.

0:00 - 0:59 DePIN Date Night

1:00 - 7:44 How recent global events inspired Arweave

7:45 - 12:09 Why Sam doesn't view Filecoin as a behemoth

12:10 - 15:04Arweave's competition

15:05 - 19:13 Bitcoin as a storage layer

19:14 - 25:09 Arweave's PMF

25:10 - 29:27 Applications currently using Arweave

29:28 - 34:52 How Sam thinks the industry can drive user behavior

34:53 - 38:30 What Sam's most excited about in the next few years

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Jake Steeves, Founder of Bittensor Oct 30, 2023

Show notes

Sami, Connor, and Mahesh are joined by Jake Steeves, Founder of Opentensor / Bittensor. Bittensor is a decentralized protocol for the aggregation and coordination of machine intelligence, which can be applied to many use cases such as AI training and decentralized storage and compute.

Jake explains why open ownership models mark the death of the YC business model, his views on AI regulation, the most interesting use cases he’s seen for Bittensor machine intelligence so far, and why he thinks we’re entering a golden era of technological innovation and human progress.

00:00 The cold open that almost wasn’t

1:33 $TAO community as the NBA Youngboy fans of crypto

7:15 The techno-optimists/effective accelerationists vs. the decels/regulators and how Bittensor strikes a balance

8:51 Bitcoin is apolitical

9:12 The meaning behind Jake’s screen name “Const_reborn”

10:25 Why the YC business model is dead

15:25 Should AI be regulated?

18:43 How the Bittensor community regulates itself

21:01 Bittensor’s vision and purpose, inspiration from Bitcoin

23:14 Bittensor subnets / use cases

25:32 Will regulation of centralized AI development be a boon for decentralized AI?

27:20 Can open-source AI compete with closed-source?