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The Rollup

Where digital assets and finance converge. Live from the financial capital of the world.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Latest Episodes:

The Role of Operators, Slashing, and Liquid Restaking with EigenExplorer Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to the 1st episode of EigenLayer Unlocked. This episode is meant to be a primer into how restaking fundamentally works, the key players in the restaking system, and why EigenLayer is leading this category today.

At its core, restaking allows users to earn additional rewards by taking on slashing risks, offering a way to maximize risk-adjusted returns. EigenExplorer introduces a novel concept through operator quorums (now referred to as operator sets), which bring more granularity and customization to how services, operators, and stakers interact.

These operator sets create tiers of services, allowing for more tailored, efficient staking choices that can yield vastly different outcomes depending on the strategy employed.

One of the standout points in today’s discussion is the direct liquid restaking system EigenExplorer is building, designed to simplify decision-making for stakers by enabling them to delegate assets to specific services. This streamlines the process, making it easier for stakers to manage risk and rewards without diving into complex configurations.

Additionally, strategy managers play a crucial role in helping stakers navigate this space, acting as market makers who optimize yield and manage risks across different services. As the market matures, data transparency and better tools for managing operator quorums will be key to improving market efficiency and ensuring everyone benefits from these innovations.

As the first episode in the series, we wanted to prioritize an understanding of restaking and its core parts. Throughout the next several weeks, we will dive into the deep technical weeds of AVSs and rollups using EigenDA.

Onwards and upwards.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

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The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗥: 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘍𝘪 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬, 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘈𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭, 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴.

Ethereum's ZK & Formal Verification Endgame with Alexander Hicks Oct 08, 2024

Show notes

The Ethereum Foundation has been very active in the public discourse, notably with Vitalik's return back to X and engaging in the technical debates about the Ethereum roadmap.

Following our recent podcast with Justin Drake about Ethereum's roadmap, we set out to understand one key component of that discussion in further detail. This component? Real-time proving, formal verification, and building a more resilient smart contract environment for Ethereum.

While it might not get as much spotlight as the latest protocol launch or governance upgrade, formal verification is a crucial foundation for ensuring that the infrastructure we rely on is secure, efficient, and free from catastrophic errors (and thus, exploits). It’s about verifying that the code we trust with billions of dollars works exactly as intended, which is especially important as we transition from optimistic rollups to full ZK rollups, with no backup.

In this discussion with Alexander Hicks from the Ethereum Foundation, we explore the Foundation’s ongoing efforts to apply formal verification to ZKVMs. This approach is designed to make ZKVMs more scalable, secure, and ultimately more reliable for users and developers alike.

Formal verification ensures that every step of a complex system like a ZKVM is mathematically proven to be correct, offering a new layer of security to the onchain world. Alexander walks us through his journey from computer security and mathematics into the blockchain space, and how this background helped shape his work on formal verification at Ethereum.

With a $20 million budget for builders and a long-term focus on sustainable solutions, Ethereum’s formal verification program is aiming to safeguard not only ZK rollups but potentially Ethereum L1 itself.

Whether you’re a founder, builder, developer or an onchain maxi looking to get involved this one is for you.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy

Join our TG group: https://t.me/+8ARkR_YZixE5YjBh

The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

Why Purpose-Built L1s? Oct 05, 2024

Show notes

Find out why purpose-built L1s with Jason from StoryProtocol, Luigi from Avax and Zmanian from IQ.

𝗪𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗽𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺. 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀:

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy

Join our TG group: https://t.me/+8ARkR_YZixE5YjBh

The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

Are Based Rollups Really Based? Oct 04, 2024

Show notes

Are Based Rollups Really Based with Bread and Ceciliaz from Gwnyenth Taiko, and Sam Battenally from Rise Chain.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy

Join our TG group: https://t.me/+8ARkR_YZixE5YjBh

The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

Why Solver Rebalancing is An Untapped Market For The Intent-Centric Future Oct 03, 2024

Show notes

We've been really honing in on the intent-centric future with regards to chain abstraction in recent podcasts, as its something we are particularly excited for and believe in.

One of the interesting aspects of the chain abstracted stack is that it requires a ton of collaboration amongst different players to fulfill the endgame of a smooth UX with chain agnosticism.

Today, we're taking a closer look into this landscape with an in-person interview in Singapore. Andy sat down with Arjun Bhuptani to discuss Everclear, a protocol designed to tackle one of the most pressing challenges in solving and intents—rebalancing liquidity efficiently across multiple chains.

In the early days of Connext, Arjun realized this issue of helping solvers manage inventory was going to become a pressing one in the future. As he grew belief in the thesis that capital rebalancing and liquidity flow are major bottlenecks, especially when it comes to smaller, niche (or long-tail) chains, he made the tough choice to reposition to build Everclear.

In this piece, we’re going to break down Everclear’s approach to solving this problem through intent-based bridging, a concept that’s gradually taking center stage in the crypto space. Instead of relying on the traditional, expensive bridging models that involve validator sets or multisigs, Everclear uses intents—enabling fast, trustless atomic swaps between chains while keeping fees low and security intact, via offchain market makers.

We’ll also be covering Everclear's unique approach to netting liquidity across chains, akin to something like Visa’s netting mechanism.

Plus, we'll touch on the growing relevance of long-tail chains and how Everclear’s rebalancing system could play a pivotal role in expanding liquidity access to smaller, more specialized ecosystems.

Finally, at the end we'll touch on the new vote bonding token model for Everclear, and why they settled on this economic model.

Lets dive in.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy

Join our TG group: https://t.me/+8ARkR_YZixE5YjBh

The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

App-Specific Sequencing (ASS) & LVR Technical Debate with Yuki Yuminaga & Alex Nezbolin Oct 02, 2024

Show notes

Another technical debate served up for you guys around the redistribution of MEV to apps, the tradeoffs of sequencing for apps, composability, LVR and more.

We had the pleasure of chatting with Yuki Yuminaga & Alex Nezbolin, two gigabrains, about the tradeoffs in the app specific sequencing (ASS) paradigm. This concept was introduced by Yuki from Sorella Labs, which aims to optimize how transactions are processed onchain.

In this discussion, we explored how ASS allows customized transaction sequencing tailored to individual app goals. This opens up new possibilities for LPs to capture more value, addressing one of the key issues they face— MEV via arbitrage losses due to slower price updates onchain compared to centralized exchanges like Binance.

But, is the tradeoff worth it?

Composability plays a huge role in supporting uninformed flow, according to Alex. If we move to an ASS model, the loss of this flow could be highly detrimental to LPs. This flow is retail trades that aren’t driven by arbitrage and often represent a key revenue source for LPs. Alex argues that maintaining this composability while lowering LVR is critical for the future of DeFi liquidity.

However, Yuki managed to explain how builder commitments and shared sequencing also open up a new design space for sequencing.

This was a highly technical podcast and a really really good primer for all things ASS, LVR, MEV and more.

Stick around as we break down the technical aspects and what they mean for the future of onchain liquidity, where builders deploy their applications, and a ton more.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy

Join our TG group: https://t.me/+8ARkR_YZixE5YjBh

The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

Eigenlayer Token Unlock: Everything You Need to Know Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

The world's first intersubjective token is now officially transferable and live, enabling the next era of the Eigenlayer ecosystem. The core breakthrough of the EIGEN token is the enabling of slashing for their ecosystem of AVSs.

If you believe in cryptoeconomic security, you can think of the EIGEN token unlock as the first step towards this ecosystem being "turned on" in a sense.

There has been a lot of buzz around their approach, especially with the lock drop mechanism, which had a few heads turning. Rather than taking the usual route of an claimable airdrop, they’ve prioritized stability and community-building by rolling out a non-transferable token first.

This cautious but forward-thinking approach has opened up the conversation around how projects like Eigenlayer can ensure long-term value for both builders and users - and also enabled the ecosystem of AVS builders to work on their tech for another 6 months or so.

In today's special podcast from Singapore, Andy sat down with Vyas Krishnan to discuss the transferability of the token, the new layers of utility being introduced, what social consensus problems within the Ethereum ecosystem Eigenlayer is solving, and the future of Eigenlayer's ecosystem.

Let’s get into it.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy

Join our TG group: https://t.me/+8ARkR_YZixE5YjBh

The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

Why AI Is A Tool For Advancing Humanity With Emad Mostaque Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

At the DeAI summit, held by Polychain Capital and OpenLedger, Andy had the pleasure to chat with @EMostaque, a mathematician and former CEO of Stability AI.

The conversation embraced the changes that we are going to see in 2025, how to prepare for AGI, the techno-optimistic mindset, and why we shouldn't be intimidated by AI.

The era of arts, philosophy, and abundance ushered in by machine learning feels all too futuristic, but Emad believes we are on the precipice of this happening.

Very, very interesting times we are living in.

How Safe Sequencing Will Power the Appchain Future with Firewall Sep 30, 2024

Show notes

If we want the institutions to come onchain, the current security measures are ripe for an improvement.

The state of exploits and sequencing for L2s, in their eyes, is like the wild wild west and is extremely risky (if not straight up impossible due to regulations).

Today, we're diving into onchain sequencing security via an interesting concept called "safe sequencing" from Firewall.

We sat down with Devin Purhar, co-founder of Firewall, to get the inside scoop on how they’re tackling one of the biggest roadblocks to mainstream crypto adoption .

So what’s the deal with sequencing today and how can we make it "safe" in the lens of Devan?

The safe sequencer is a plug-and-play security layer that integrates directly into L2s. It’s not just another audit or monitoring tool; this system filters out malicious transactions in real-time, aiming for an endgame of a "zero exploits" environment. We discuss the usage of AI and ZK proofs and how this combination creates a new standard for rollup security.

But, is there other centralization risks at play with introducing a new blockchain for sequencing?

How will this get traction if there are more complexities at play?

Does the market really care about the security of sequencing, as its a very complex topic?

These answered, and more, in today's podcast where we explore why building a more secure onchain ecosystem could be the key differentiator for rollups going forward.

Enjoy.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy

Join our TG group: https://t.me/+8ARkR_YZixE5YjBh

The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

Solving The Extensibility Problem with Griffin Dunaif of Halliday Sep 27, 2024

Show notes

In today’s piece, we’re taking a closer look at Halliday, a project that’s working to simplify and automate one of the most crucial yet complex aspects of DeFi—commerce across multiple chains.

Led by Griffin Dunaif, Halliday is focused on building the infrastructure that enables seamless value exchange between different blockchain networks, tackling the challenge of automating asset transfers, on-ramping fiat, and bridging the gaps between L1s, L2s, and L3s.

Commerce Automation is rooted in the idea that digital spaces—much like cities—require a balance of culture and commerce to thrive. While the blockchain world has no shortage of vibrant communities, the infrastructure to support efficient, automated transactions across chains is still in its early stages. Halliday is stepping in to address this gap by automating these processes, making it easier to transfer assets, manage liquidity, and integrate fiat into onchain systems.

One of the key highlights from Griffin’s vision is multi-chain expansion. With the number of blockchains set to grow exponentially, Halliday is preparing for a future with millions of interconnected chains. The focus here isn’t just on basic interoperability but on automating complex, multi-hop transaction workflows—think of going from fiat to a stablecoin on an L1, bridging to an L2, and then settling on an L3.

Halliday aims to make this process seamless and automated, allowing users and developers to interact with different ecosystems without the usual technical complexities. As they gear up for their protocol release in 2025, Halliday is positioning itself to be a crucial player in the evolving landscape of multi-chain commerce, driving the next phase of DeFi growth.

Website: https://therollup.co/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd..

Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast

Follow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbie_rollup

Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandy

Join our TG group: https://t.me/+8ARkR_YZixE5YjBh

The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl