Unlayered

How DePIN Will Help Power Virtual Power Plants & The AI Revolution I Fredrik Ahlgren (Sourceful) Oct 22, 2024

This week, Dave speaks with Fredrik Ahlgren (@frahlg) from Sourceful, who are trying to use DePIN tokenomics incentives to create a global green-energy Virtual Power Plant. Green energy is going to be an increasingly important topic in the years ahead with the rise of both AI and global warming, and Fredrik feels that crypto token incentives are exactly what is needed to start onboarding the masses. We also touch on the future of energy, especially in a post-Superintelligence world.

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Episode Resources Follow Fredrik : https://Twitter.com/frahlg Follow Sourceful : https://Twitter.com/srcful

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Time Stamps (0:00) - Fredrik’s Route From Academia To DePIN (7:56) - Issues With Existing Energy Systems (20:37) - Which Actions Do Sourceful Wish To Incentivize (28:40) - Advantages Over Centralized Competitors (31:10) - Business Models For Sourceful (35:26) - Token Demand Side (38:37) - GTM Strategy and Thinking About Regulations (44:23) - Will Nuclear Make Up A Large Part Of Future Energy Mix (49:38) - How Will AI Change Energy Consumption (55:36) - Will Energy Become A Digital Commodity Post AI Super-Intelligence (1:02:44) - Next Steps

How Blinks Will Transform Crypto UI And Help Showcase AI Agents I Chris Osborn (Dialect) Oct 09, 2024

This week, we sit down with Chris Osborn (@aliquotchris) from Dialect - one of the founders of the hugely ambitious Blinks protocol which allows for crypto actions to appear seamlessly on existing web2 social media platforms. Whilst many have mused on possible applications of this tech, from prediction markets to fundraising - we delve deeper with Chris into possible second order effects of this breakthrough technology and discuss how it might form the backbone of a new SDK primitive, or even how Blinks might become the de facto front page for AI Agents in the future.

- - Episode Resources Follow Chris : https://Twitter.com/aliquotchris Follow Dialect : https://Twitter.com/saydialect

- - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- - Time Stamps (0:00) - What Is A Blink (8:40) - Can Blinks Spread To All Social Media Platforms (12:35) - Future Use Cases (21:22) - Combining Blinks and AI Agents (27:44) - Blinks As Next Gen Of SDKs (34:32) - How Does Dialect Benefit From Blinks (37:32) - Can Elon Turn Blinks Off (40:15) - Lessons From Dialect’s Messaging App (46:37) - Which Apps Excite Chris (50:26) - Will Decentralized Messaging Apps Achieve PMF Post Durov Arrest

How DRiP Is Upending Web 2 Creator Revenue Models I Vibhu, DRiP - Recorded At Breakpoint 2024 Sep 30, 2024

This week, Sal sits down with Vibhu (@Vibhu), the founder of DRiP for a live interview recorded at the 2024 Breakpoint Conference in Singapore. DRiP has transformed how people view NFTs and forced the market to move on from the 10k PFP meta to an abundant new mindset. Vibhu talks about DRiP's superior earning potential vs Web2 incumbents, their new iOS app, upcoming permissionless creator onboarding and where he sees the project in 5 years time.

- - Episode Resources Follow Vibhu : https://Twitter.com/Vibhu Follow DRiP : https://Twitter.com/DRiP_Haus

- - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- - Time Stamps (0:00) - What Is DRiP (2:45) - How To Onboard (3:38) - DRiP’s Earning Potential (8:54) - Are NFTs Dead (12:47) - DRiP’s New iOS App (17:59) - How To Solve Discovery (21:06) - How Does DRiP Make Money

HyperLiquid & Crypto's Defi Renaissance I Sunny Shi (@Defi_Monk) - Messari Research Sep 23, 2024

This week, Dave sits down with Sunny Shi (@Defi_Monk) from Messari to discuss his recent report on Hyperliquid and do a deep dive on the most popular perp dex in crypto. Hyperliquid boasts performance similar to its centralized competitors, does more trading volume than all the other per dexes combined, and will imminently launch one of the most anticipated token launches pf recent times. Yet there are many detractors labelling the L1 as centralized as Binance. Check out the episode to find out who's right.

- - Episode Resources Follow Sunny : https://Twitter.com/Defi_Monk Follow Messari : https://Twitter.com/MessariCrypto

- - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- - Time Stamps (0:00) - Sunni's Route From TradFi To Crypto (4:23) - Which Apps Have PMF? (10:34) - What Has Drawn Users To Hyperliquid (14:02) - Why Has DYDX Struggled To Compete (18:01) - How Decentralized Should Perp Dexes Be? (24:39) - How Market Makers Are Prioritized (35:22) - Curation Of Assets On The Dex (39:04) - Lack of VCs (47:05) - How Can L1 Apps Like Drift Compete

Why $ETH Value Accrual Is Dead & Bitcoin's Days Are Numbered I Bullpen Roundup w/ 0xBreadGuy Sep 16, 2024

In this week's Bullpen Roundup, we are joined by @0xBreadGuy who brings his analytical and spicy Twitter takes to the podcast medium. We discuss Eth's continued search for a credible value accrual narrative, why DA commoditization is inveitable, which L2's builders should be focusing on, any reasons to remain bullish on Eth, and whether Btc will lose its number 1 status within the next 5 years... - - Episode Resources Follow Bread : https://Twitter.com/0xBreadGuy - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Are L2s Net Negative For Eth? (7:29) - Is DA Valuable? (15:32) - One Sided Relationship From L2s (21:41) - Which L2s To Build On (28:55) - Reasons To Be Bullish Eth? (33:33) - Is Chain Abstraction Overhyped? (40:44) - Eth DA Will Never Be Sufficient (44:37) - L2 Incentives To Become An L1 (49:25) - Where Is Bread Aligned (53:17) - End State Architecture For L1s (55:01) - State Of The Market (1:01:09) - Is Bitcoin A Special Snowflake?

Why Eth Needs To Scale The L1 To Remain Relevant I Logan Jastremski, Frictionless Capital Sep 02, 2024

This week, Sal (@Salxyz) and Dave (@SolBeachBum) sit down with one of the loudest and most outspoken proponents for high throughput blockchains - Logan Jastremski (@LoganJastremski) from Frictionless Capital. He discusses whether his thesis around high throughput blockchains has been proven correct, and we talk about the recent capitulation seen from within the Ethereum developer camp around scaling the L1 at the expense of reducing decentralization. Logan also talks to the relevancy and his fund's continued interest in defi primitives before talking through new verticals within the umbrella of DePIN which are likely to supercharge this burgeoning asset category.

- - Episode Resources Follow Logan : https://Twitter.com/LoganJastremski Follow Frictionless Capital : https://Twitter.com/_Frictionless_

- - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- - Time Stamps (0:00) - How Has High Throughput Blockchain Thesis Played Out (6:26) - Are On Chain Order Books Overhyped? (16:12) - Can Solana Ever Move Away From Congestion Issues (22:24) - Expectations For Firedancer (26:31) - Which Verticals Are Best To Invest Into (31:43) - Will Institutions Actually Deploy RWAs Onto Solana (37:59) - Where Will Value For L1s Come From If Apps Control Order Flow (44:45) - Under-Explored Use Cases For DePIN (49:20) - What Stops Incumbents Copying DePIN Business Model (54:59) - Difficulties Around Energy-Based DePIN Projects (57:25) - Thoughts on Solana Inspired New Projects (Monad and MegaEth) (1:01:16) - Thoughts On Rise Of Tron and Ton (1:04:40) - Does Eth Need To Scale The L1 To Remain Relevant

SkyTrade: Building The World's First Air Rights Market I Jonathan Dockrell, Skytrade Aug 26, 2024

This week, Sal and Dave sit down with Jonathan Dockrell from SkyTrade - a highly innovative project which is creating a marketplace for property owners to sell the Air Rights above their properties. There are numerous sources of demand for this space, from drone delivery companies to real estate development - with it being estimated to be worth $30 Tn, and yet many owners are not even aware that they own this highly desirable space. SkyTrade utilises novel RWA tokenization techniques on the Solana blockchain as well as a Depin-based Drone tracking app to bring into the light a previously opaque and illiquid asset class.

- - Episode Resources Follow Jonathan : https://Twitter.com/droneevtol Follow SkyTrade : https://Twitter.com/SkyTradeNetwork 'Flying Car' Substack : https://flyingcar.sky.trade/

- - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- - Time Stamps (0:00) - Why Focus on Creating a Market for Air Rights (4:36) - What's Holding Back the Drone Delivery Industry (8:37) - Real Estate Use Cases for Air Space (11:22) - Estimating a TAM for Air Rights (21:24) - Building Out a Depin-Based Drone Tracking App (25:46) - Existing State of Air Rights Market (29:32) - How to Abstract Away Heterogeneity of Each Product (32:01) - Views on Crypto Coming From Web2 Background (40:56) - Reactions to the Project (43:51) - When Can We Expect Flying Cars (49:05) - Future of Drone Delivery Market (52:20) - Looking Ahead for SkyTrade

Hedgehog : What Next For Prediction Markets? I Kyle DiPeppe, Hedgehog Markets Aug 19, 2024

This week, Sal and Dave sit down with Kyle DiPeppe from Hedgehog Markets to discuss their bid to become the largest prediction market in crypto. We talk about the history of prediction markets outside of crypto, what has fuelled their success to date, how to leverage decentralized technology for competitive advantages to traditional betting markets - and what happens to volumes post the 2024 US Elections. Crypto-based prediction markets are one of the clear breakout applications this cycle, and the fight right now is to avoid irrelevancy post the US election. Listen to Kyle explain how he thinks Hedgehog Markets will navigate the difficult 'second album' of prediction market success. - - Episode Resources Follow Kyle : https://Twitter.com/kdipep Follow Hedgehog Markets : https://Twitter.com/HedgehogMarket - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Route Into Crypto & Prediction Markets (4:31) - Comparison Between Memecoins and Prediction Markets (6:45) - History of Prediction Markets (11:22) - How Does Hedgehog Differ To Betting Sites (13:46) - Hedgehog's Competitive Landscape (17:35) - Process to Create a Market (23:46) - How to Deal with Oracle Veracity (28:40) - How to Select Starting Odds (31:34) - Maintaining Volumes Outside US Elections (37:48) - Potential Risks Around Prediction Markets (41:39) - Building Markets Outside of Traditional Betting Verticals (46:36) - Vampire Attacking PolyMarket (52:28) - Going Mobile (54:47) - Looking Ahead

Building Solana Economic Zones I Farhaj Mayan, Forma Aug 08, 2024

This week, Dave speaks with Farhaj Mayan from Forma to better understand their recent announcement about creating the world's first Solana Economic Zone in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There is a long history of highly successful economic zones occurring outside the realm of crypto - and so it feels a natural next step to start talking with governments about how the crypto industry could also help to benefit trade within the relevant country. Argentina's recent history of high inflation and a crypto-savvy population makes it the ideal first step to showcase the benefits that such an economic arrangement could have for Argentinian citizens, and hopefully other citizens around the world as the economic model is rolled out elsewhere. - - Episode Resources Follow Farhaj : https://Twitter.com/farhajmayan Follow Forma : https://Twitter.com/formacity - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Farhaj’s Route To Crypto & Solana (8:45) - Examples of Existing Non-Crypto Economic Zones (13:17) - Bottom Up vs Top Down Approach (18:10) - Helping Bring Dollars Into Argentina (21:24) - Why Are Zones Required (25:43) - Which Crypto Companies Need Regulatory Exemptions (31:20) - Why Would Argentina Allow Citizens To Escape To A Foreign Currency (33:45) - Parallels With Balaji's Network States (37:59) - Upcoming Forma Conference In Buenos Aires (42:23) - Why Build A Solana-Only Initiative (46:39) - Dealing With Lack Of USDT On Solana (50:16) - Expanding To New Countries (51:31) - Differences To Work Done By Superteam

Searching For Truth By Building A Decentralized Quora I Isaac Simons, Gator Labs Jul 31, 2024

This week, Sal and ZenLlama speak with Isaac Simons from Gator Labs to discuss their new app "Chomp" - which is available for use right now. Chomp intends to incentivise the seeking of truth through a gamified consensus platform whereby users are rewarded through token incentives to try and provide the consensus response to posed questions. Think of a decentralized Reddit or Quora where truth, rather than sensationalism, is incentivised. Its a truly novel concept bringing together aspects of consensus, economics, game theory and prediction markets. - - Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources

Follow Chomp : https://twitter.com/chompdotgames

Follow Isaac : https://twitter.com/sno_mis

Download Chomp App : https://app.chomp.games - - Time Stamps

(0:00) - Snomis’ Background (6:28) - Creating Informational Context Through Games (15:19) - Defining Better Information (21:18) - Designing The Incentive Layer (26:57) - Using Gamification To Achieve Data At Scale (31:10) - Drawing Inspiration From Blockchain Consensus (33:16) - How Questions Are Devised (36:01) - Contrasting Model To Prediction Markets (41:37) - Usage Of The Tech In Existing Social Media (43:29) - Using Tokens For Large Scale Social Coordination (50:00) - What's Next For Chomp

BULLPEN ROUNDUP : The 'Trump Pump', Fall Of FriendTech & MegaEth Centralization Jul 18, 2024

This week Sal, Dave and Zen get together for another Bullpen roundup to give their thoughts on current events in crypto. They discuss the attempted assassination of Trump, appointment of his crypto friendly VP and the pump in crypto markets that has entailed. They also go into the fall from grace that Friendtech has suffered since launch, whether there is any point in developers building net new apps given the poor run of attempts over the past few years - and finally we compare Monad, MegaEth and Berachain and ask the question whether the Ethereum community has capitulated on their values. - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Impact Of Trump Assassination Attempt (3:22) - Memecoins As A New Decentralized Trending List (7:10) - Trump’s VP Pick (11:52) - Have We Run Out Of App Ideas (18:04) - FriendTech vs PumpFun (22:14) - Will NFTs Ever Make A Comeback (30:07) - Upcoming Hyped EVM Chains (32:51) - Maxing Out Centralization at L2 Level (41:15) - Eth Capitulation On It’s Values?

Why $TON Is Overpriced & Memes Are Here To Stay I Ryan Connor, Blockworks Research Jul 11, 2024

This week, Sal and Dave asr joined by Ryan Connor of Blockworks Research to discuss his recent controversial report on the soaring $Ton ecosystem, highlighting the bear case and why Ryan believes $Ton is currently overvalued. We also leverage Ryan's former career as a macro expert to discuss the state of the market, moneyness claims around Bitcoin and Eth, before getting into the memecoin mania and why Ryan doesn't believe it will ever go away. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - State Of The Market (3:09) - Death Of Altcoins? (10:14) - Ton’s Bear Case (19:39) - Ton’s Metoeric Adoption Rates (23:15) - Does Tap-To-Earn Have Any Future? (24:56) - The Difficulty With Sybilling Telegram MiniApps (26:43) - Trying To Fair Value Ton (29:44) - Telegram’s Attempt At Becoming A Super App (32:06) - Why Researchers Don’t Publish Many Bear Cases (33:53) - Ton’s Other Unique Offerings (39:19) - Issues With L2 Value Accrual (45:25) - Pushing Back Against Eth’s Moneyness Claims (55:25) - Reasons For US Dollar Strength Since Credit Crisis (57:55) - What Everyone Misses About Memecoins (1:06:53) - Memecoins To Create Decentralized Trending Lists (1:09:18) - Pump Fun As The TikTok For Memecoins (1:11:13) - Pump Fun vs Other SocialFi Apps (1:15:50) - Advice To Becoming A Crypto Analyst - - Episode Resources Follow Ryan : https://Twitter.com/_RyanConnor SOLETH relative value trade : https://x.com/_ryanrconnor/status/1807878422950998476 Blockwork's TON Research Summary : https://x.com/blockworksres/status/1806380764369670367 - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

Tiplink : Using Link-Based Wallets To Onboard A Billion People I Greg Gotsis (Tiplink) Jul 04, 2024

This week, Sal catches up with Greg Gotsis from Tiplink to discuss the simplest wallet onboarding experience that we have seen to date. Whilst Tiplink's wallet creation process is made incredibly fast and intuitive via a Google Login workflow, it is Tiplink's ability to share and send ownership of their wallets via links over the internet which could truly help to unlock mass market user behaviours. Links form the bedrock of the internet, and so Tiplink can utilize all existing web infrastructure and social media applications to increase adoption of its wallet, without needing to reinvent the wheel. Greg talks about the project's journey so far, how a combination of Tiplink and the recently unveiled Solana Blinks could further help to transform user behaviours, and how he imagines the wallet landscape improving over the next 10 years. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Tiplink Overview (3:59) - How Wallet Works In Back-End (7:12) - Growth and Marketing Strategy (10:16) - Predicting Wallet Landscape In 10 Years (12:44) - Next Steps For The Team (15:09) - Pinpointing Tiplink’s Wedge (17:42) - Dealing With On/Off Ramps (19:50) - The Unlock Of Solana’s Blinks (22:53) - Building For Mobile Users (29:50) - Tiplink’s Non-Linear Route To Today (32:56) - Future Products - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Greg : https://Twitter.com/GreggMachine Tiplink Website : https://Tiplink.io

How $Ore Could Herald A New Wave Of POW Mining I Hardhat Chad (Ore Supply) Jun 28, 2024

This week, Sal and Dave catch up with Hardhat Chat to discuss one of the most talked about and exciting launches in recent crypto history - Ore Supply. Ore is a POW coin which is being mined on Solana in an attempt to fulfill Satoshi's original vision of a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Ore's unique insight is in decoupling consensus from the POW token's distribution to miners (leaving it instead up to Solana's consensus engine) - thus allowing for a completely new design space for a new-age Bitcoin, and potentially heralding a new wave of POW mining tokens on highly scalable modern blockchains. At Unlayered, we seek out upcoming narratives and market metas before they become consensus - and Ore might just be the project to lead the next stage of this cycle. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Why Bring POW to Solana? (5:03) - Use cases for $Ore (7:12) - Advantages From Removing Consensus From A POW Coin (12:36) - Designing Crypto Mining With The Little Guy In Mind (19:36) - How The v1 Launch ‘Broke’ Solana (27:03) - How Chains Should Deal With Spam In The Future (30:40) - Why Build On Solana (35:42) - Designing Ore’s Supply Schedule (37:14) - The Problem With Halvenings (40:38) - Scaling Up The Operational Side (47:33) - Introducing Native Staking To POW (49:54) - Importance Of Mining Via Mobile (54:55) - Ore To Lead Crypto’s Next Meta? - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Hardhat Chad : https://Twitter.com/HardhatChad

Mine Ore : https://ore.supply

BULLPEN ROUNDUP : Sustainability of Celebrity Memecoins | The Rise of Ton | L1 vs L2 Culture Clash Jun 20, 2024

This week, Sale, Dave and Zen Llama get together for a Bullpen roundtable episode to discuss the recent run up in celebrity backed memecoins and whether they are a net positive for the space. We then discuss the rise of Ton and the potential future threat of high distribution blockchains, who won the Toly vs Justin Drake debate, and how Monad is starting to bootstrap its developer community. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - The Argument For Celeb Memecoins (14:17) - Where Are The Apps This Cycle? (16:15) - L1 vs L2 culture (22:35) - Will Eth Lose First Mover Advantage? (19:18) - Future of Stablecoins on Eth (23:25) - The Rise Of Ton and High Distribution Blockchains (35:58) - BNB Outperformance (38:57) - Sol vs Eth Value Accrual (42:56) - Is Economic Security a Meme? (49:12) - How Monad is bootstrapping it’s developer community - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

How To Make Ethereum Great Again I Emmanuel Awosika (Ethereum R&D) Jun 10, 2024

This week we are joined by Emmanuel Awosika, a prominent member of the Ethereum R&D community, to explore the ways in which Ethereum needs to improve to become more competitive with newer, high throughput blockchains. We discuss the current issues with Ethereum, including the challenges of interoperability between rollups and the ossification of Eth's "OG" culture, before exploring the solutions to help make Eth great again. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Current Issues with Eth (5:22) - Why Build On EVM Stack vs SVM (9:23) - Why Would L2s Give Away Sequencer Fees? (14:01) - Toly v Justin Drake Thoughts (19:18) - Future of Stablecoins on Eth (23:06) - Can You Tokenize The World on Eth L1? (25:14) - Upcoming EIPs That Will Transform UX (36:10) - Eth’s Need To Start Focusing on Apps (41:22) - What Could Eth Learn From Solana (51:50) - Timelines For Eth L2 Throughout To Be Competitive With Solana (59:57) - How To Prioiritze What Eth Needs To Focus On - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Emmanuel : https://Twitter.com/eawosikaa
Emmanuel's Writings : https://emmanuelawosika.bio.link/

Solforge : Combining Physical Card Games With Web3 Primitives | Justin Gary (Solforge Fusion) May 30, 2024

In this conversation, Sal is joined by Justin Gary to discuss the design and creation of Solforge Fusion, a hybrid deck game from the creators of Magic the Gathering. They delve into the gaming industry, the evolution of trading card games, and the impact of digital technology on game design. They also explore the concept of Web3 gaming and the unique mechanics of Solforge Fusion as it looks to straddle the physical and web 3 card game world and usher in the next phase of Web3 gaming. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Justin's Career to Date (2:43) - The Evolution of Trading Card Games (13:09) - Solfate Ad (13:36) - How Solforge is Utilising Crypto Primitives (21:27) - Card Creation Mechanism (27:47) - Understanding Good Game Design (38:40) - Future State of Solforge (44:41) - Combining Physical Games With Web3 (46:36) - State of Crypto Gaming (56:24) - Closing Thoughts - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Justin : https://Twitter.com/justin_gary Follow Solforge : https://Twitter.com/SolForgeGame

Friendtech, Fantasy Top & The Future Of SocialFi I Bread (@0xBreadGuy) May 23, 2024

We are joined this week by Bread (@0xbreadguy) to discuss the rise of SocialFi and the apps which have taken the crypto space by storm, namely FriendTech and Fantasy Top. Bread is a Crypto Twitter personality who has been in the trenches of SocialFi since the very beginning, helping to popularize the 3,3 Friendtech meta and providing a trove of useful information for those looking to get started. We also talk about the future and relative positionings of Btc, Eth and Sol - before breaking news about the SEC's reversal on a potential Eth ETF approval and providing live reactions to this potentially seismic new shift in political tone - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Intro to FriendTech (4:21) - Bonding curve as the unique insight (7:27) - Do FT keys hold any real utility? (12:52) - Risk of doxxing users’ wallets (16:35) - FT starting a new 100% airdrop meta? (22:07) - FriendTech V2 and Clubs (27:17) - Intro to Fantasy.Top (35:01) - Reducing friction for content creators (37:43) - Solfate Ad (38:07) - L1 landscape and looking to the future (48:50) - NFT inscriptions on Eth (57:24) - Btc and progress vs ossification (1:08:27) - ETF approvals, politics and the rise of $BODEN - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Bread : https://Twitter.com/0xbreadguy

Audius : Building Spotify On Chain I Ray Jacobson (Audius) May 16, 2024

Ray Jacobson, CTO at Audius, joins Unlayered to discuss the decentralized music marketplace and how Audius aims to bring fans and artists closer together. The platform allows for economically incentivized music experiences and leverages blockchain technology to create an open and transparent platform. Spotify’s business model simply doesn’t work for the long tail of artists, and so Audius aims to reduce the distance between artists and fans while allowing a far larger segment of the music industry to make money doing what they love. Audius is an ambitious project which has been in the crypto space for many years, and perhaps now is the time that this project can finally break into the mainstream. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Ray’s journey into crypto (2:35) - Which problem is Audius solving? (10:05) - Future of AI generated music (13:11) - Fixing music royalties with smart contracts (22:11) - UX is king (24:25) - Obtaining music rights (27:56) - How web 3 improves creator revenues (36:08) - Have music NFTs been a failure? (44:54) - Solfate Podcast Ad (45:22) - Getting Audius streams onto other websites (47:40) - How Audius can compete with Spotify (50:40) - Nurturing Audius-native artists (55:59) - Favourite artists - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Ray : https://Twitter.com/RaymondJacobson Audius Website : https://Audius.co - - Sponsor Resources Follow Solfate : https://Twitter.com/SolfatePod Solfate Podcast : https://solfate.com/podcast

The Bullpen : What Happens Next? May 09, 2024

The Bullpen is the start of a new regular series where we have informal discussions around the recent news and events from the cryptosphere, and give our take on what this might mean going forwards. This week, we delve into Solana's scaling issues, memecoin mania, Eth narratives bleeding over into Solana and the potential rise of apps (finally!) in crypto. Let us know on Twitter which topics you'd like us to discuss next time! - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Solana scaling issues (8:34) - Comparison to Monad (15:15) - Will MEV be the only material revenue stream for L1s? (19:41) - Eth narratives bleeding into Solana (21:03) - The Rise of the Apps? (29:32) - Telegram as Crypto’s distribution layer (32:30) - Will crypto gaming and metaverse skip this cycle? (38:10) - Which verticals to focus on during this downturn (41:23) - Memecoin thesis (49:54) - Ore Mining as a new meta? - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

Making Fitness Accountable Using Crypto I Marbius (Moonwalk Fitness) May 02, 2024

This week, Dave and Zen Llama talk to Marbius, head of product at Moonwalk Fitness to discuss the most hyped game on Solana at the moment, Moonwalk. The game leverages crypto payments to enforce accountability into users' exercise routines, by introducing global mini games where you pay to play, and have the opportunity to earn money should you succeed in the challenge (and others fail)! Its a simple yet brilliant concept which crypto payments help to unlock, and which could help further legitimize the space should it reach critical mass from a non crypto-native audience. - - Time Stamps (00:00) Introduction (02:26) The Origins of Moonwalk (05:12) Promoting Accountability with Personal Contracts (12:46) Using Steps as a Baseline Metric (14:49) Designing for Trust Between Participants (18:23) Last Man Standing? (23:40) Exploring Sponsorship Opportunities (28:00) Building Useful Crypto Apps (33:40) Building Without a Token at the Centre (38:06) Exploring Different Ways to Track Fitness Metrics (40:50) How to Get Involved (44:34) Financing the Project (45:14) Benefits of Blockchain Payments (46:30) Screen Time As a Metric (47:11) The Benefits of Outdoor Exercise (49:57) Tailouring Games For Different Demographics - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen Llama : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Marbius : https://Twitter.com/MarbiusC Follow Moonwalk Fitness: https://Twitter.com/MoonwalkFitness

MetaDAO (Pt 2) : The Start Of A World-Changing Governance Experiment ꟾ Nallok & Prophet, MetaDAO Apr 25, 2024

Following our earlier episode on MetaDAO, we are once again joined by Prophet, and first time guest to the show Nallok, to talk about the early days of MetaDAO and the start of a potentially transformative form of governance. Many agree this is one of the most exciting experiments happening in crypto today and so we get into how the early months have been, how the DAO has successfully fought off several adversarial proposals, and what Robin Hanson, the father of Futarchy, really thinks about the project. The discussion concludes with an interesting discussion around the differences between futarchy and prediction markets, and how futarchy could be used to elect presidents one day. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - MetaDAO update (2:13) - Concept of Futarchy-As-A-Service (FAAS) (4:28) - Fighting off adversarial proposals (7:15) - Metanallok’s involvement with MetaDAO (12:22) - MetaDAO’s UI troubles (13:52) - Liquidity problems for Meta token (18:00) - Working with the father of futarchy, Robin Hanson (20:13) - Which projects are looking to integrate FAAS? (22:19) - Fielding proposals to buy Meta token (24:06) - Working with Colosseum (27:13) - Why are there proposals to buy Meta from treasury rather than buying from market (28:52) - How MetaDAO shows inefficiencies of voting (31:48) - Is bribing possible with Futarchy? (33:54) - How do the fail markets work? (36:15) - Unforeseen challenges so far (39:04) - How granular can futarchic voting be? (41:36) - Need for a benevolent dictator? (44:38) - MetaDAO in next few years (49:15) - Futarchy vs prediction markets (55:29) - Where are MetaDAO finding PMF? - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Nallok : https://Twitter.com/MetaNallok Follow Prophet : https://Twitter.com/MetaProph3t Follow MetaDAO : https://Twitter.com/MetaDAOProject

Radix : Why Sharding is Crypto's Next 0 to 1 Moment I Piers Ridyard, RDX WorksT Apr 18, 2024

This week, Sal and Zen Llama host another podcast in the "Technical" series - this time talking with Piers Ridyard who is CEO of RDX Works. The episode goes into depth around what makes Radix such a highly novel design, why sharding is the inevitable solution for horizontally scaling blockchains, and why the notion of blocks needs to be revamped to allow for full atomic composability between shards. Find out why Radix may well be the final nail in the coffin of the scalability trilemma. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Overview on Radix (3:47) - How Radix reduces risk of exploits (17:25) - Comparing Radix to Solana and Move (28:35) - Radix’s novel approach to sharding (43:30) - How do nodes sync up the full state (45:09) - What are trade offs from a DevEx perspective? (48:46) - How to onboard devs to a new programming language (1:00:25) - How to get involved - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen : https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Piers : https://Twitter.com/PiersRidyard Follow Radix : https://Twitter.com/RadixDLT Radix Website : https://RadixDLT.com

Navigating Crypto Tax Season I Patrick Camuso, CPA Apr 09, 2024

This week, we are joined by Patrick Camuso, a crypto-focused CPA, as we discuss the challenges of managing crypto taxes in advance of the US tax filing deadline. This conversation covers various topics related to taxes in the cryptocurrency space including how to account for NFTs, the tax implications of being hacked, the importance of tracking rolling balances, selecting a CPA and how to prepare your taxes in a manner that will appease the IRS. Its a subject that most try to ignore until the last minute - and yet can have material impacts on your annual profits - so dive in and see how best to prepare for the end of the tax year. - - (00:00) : Introduction and Technical Difficulties (01:03) : The Unique Challenges of Crypto Taxes (10:06) : Crypto Taxes as Property (14:56) : Treatment of NFT Mints (19:15) : Tracking Rolling Balances (24:00) : When To Use a CPA (29:04) : Filing an Extension and Preparing for Taxes (33:41) : Tax Treatment of Hacks and Phishing Attacks (35:55) : Other Rules People Might Not Be Aware Of (40:22) : Pricing Data for Low Liquidity Assets (42:27) : Importance of Consistent Methodology (47:53) : Closing Thoughts and Importance of Compliance - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Patrick: https://Twitter.com/PatrickCamuso Patrick's Website : https://CamusoCPA.com

How Quai Network Is Reinventing Proof-Of-Work I Alan Orwick (Quai Network) Apr 04, 2024

This week, we speak with Alan Orwick from Quai Network who is attempting to build a completely novel Proof-Of-Work blockchain able to compete with modern Proof-Of-Stake on throughput and latency. The project uses a dual-token design which includes a highly novel stablecoin-like token used to represent energy input into the network. It's a breath of fresh air in the POW landscape and offers a glimpse into the potential future of blockchain scaling. - - Time Stamps (0:00) - Introduction (1:37) - Path into crypto (3:46) - High level overview of Quai Network (5:21) - Is Quai trying to be money? (7:31) - What does POW enable? (17:53) - Quai as a settlement layer? (21:07) - Boosting POW tps using horizontal scaling (32:29) - How is horizontal scaling different to Eth’s modular scaling (36:28) - Wallet UX (38:28) - Removing necessity for bridged assets (40:32) - How to balance shards (43:09) - 2 token design (49:44) - Avoiding Luna comparisons (51:56) - Go-To-Market strategy (54:52) - Could Quai work with other L1s (57:41) - Future milestones - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Zen Llama: https://twitter.com/ZenLlama Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow Quai Network : https://Twitter.com/QuaiNetwork

How Hybrid NFTs (SPL-404) Will Be The Next Meta | Weedlechamp (Mutantmon) Mar 28, 2024

We chat with Jake Randall, one of the co-founders of Mutant Mon and pioneer of the emergent 404 standard. Mutant Mon is the first SPL-404 hybrid token on Solana, bridging NFTs and fungible tokens under one primitive. The project has been incubating since 2021 and draws inspiration from the fusionmon concept in the Pokemon fan game scene. The team has developed a novel re-rolling aspect where every time an NFT is swapped for tokens, a new NFT with different stats and collectability is created. The project also introduces a 2% tax on swaps, creating a deflationary token and driving revenue for the ecosystem. The conversation explores the concerns and challenges of creating a standard for hybrid NFT collections. We close the episode chatting about the future of marketplaces and the need for change in the NFT ecosystem.

- - Time Stamps (0:00) - Introduction to Mutantmon (4:54) - Differences to fractionalizing NFTs (7:16) - Interplay of SPL404 with rarity (10:52) - Will 2% tax kill velocity? (12:38) - Tying NFT valuation to memecoins (16:24) - Proposal to turn SMB v3 into SPL404 (21:18) - Memecoins into NFTs or NFTs into memecoins? (22:55) - Mutantmon too similar to Pokemon? (24:59) - Building a 404 Launchpad (27:55) - Why NFT meta on Solana has died (34:22) - Mutantmon tokenomics (36:56) - Building 404 on Solana vs Eth (39:55) - SPL404 vs SPL22 (42:17) - Future of NFT marketplaces (44:49) - Tensor in competiton with Jupiter? (50:21) - How will NFT space evolve - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow WeedleChamp : https://Twitter.com/WeedleChamp Follow Mutantmon : https://Twitter.com/Mutantmon_Sol

Building Binance On-Chain | Cindy Leow & Chris Heaney, Drift Protocol Mar 23, 2024

Drift brings on-chain, cross-margined perpetual futures to Solana and is one of its most widely-used DeFi applications. The Drift team has been around since Solana's early days and has an ambitious vision to bring financial primitives historically only available on CEXs to the world of permissionless finance. Throughout this episode, we chat with Cindy and Chris to learn about Drift's architecture, strategy, differentiators, and endgame.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - Origins of Drift

(2:27) - Why trade perps

(6:35) - Why perps never gained popularity in tradfi

(10:34) - How to manage risks around offering leverage

(12:34) - How would you handle BonkGuy’s current bet

(15:49) - Purpose of the insurance fund

(17:08) - Strategy behind product expansion

(19:27) - Sourcing maker liquidity

(26:42) - Targeting specific user segments

(29:05) - Importance of on-chain order books

(31:06) - UX strategy

(35:44) - Jup Perps vs Drift

(37:58) - Pre-token perps

(39:56) - Benefits of perps on Solana vs app chains

(41:44) - How sticky is the TVL?

(44:50) - Drift’s endgame

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Cindy : https://Twitter.com/CindyLeowTT

Follow Chris : https://Twitter.com/Chrispheaney

Follow Drift Protocol : https://Twitter.com/DriftProtocol

Understanding The Intersection Of Crypto & AI | Lucas Tcheyan (Galaxy) Mar 18, 2024

Sal sits down with Lucas to chat about all things Crypto & AI. Lucas, a researcher at Galaxy, recently published a comprehensive report on this topic as he seeks to separate fact from fiction when it comes to where crypto can improve AI applications and vice-versa.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - Decentralized GPU farms

(5:05) - Posting on-chain proofs of models

(8:28) - Smart agents using crypto

(11:32) - Competing with OpenAI

(15:18) - Using crypto for crowdsourced data

(13:30) - Eth value accrual

(17:52) - How web2 companies are building moats around data

(20:03) - Is MakerDao pivoting to an AI company?

(26:47) - Chat based interfaces

(32:36) - What sets BitTensor apart

(37:45) - Is ZKML overhyped?

(40:16) - Views on Solana

(42:45) - Are NFTs dead on Solana?

(47:48) - Rise of hybrid NFTs

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Episode Resources

Follow Lucas : https://Twitter.com/UpToDateNow

Galaxy AI report : https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/understanding-intersection-crypto-ai/

Why Solana Wins | Solana Legend Mar 11, 2024

Solana Legend returns to Unlayered to share his views on why Solana is winning and will continue to win. We start off by picking up where we last left off with Legend, focusing on the shortcomings of Ethereum and the EVM ecosystem. We then dive into the current state of the markets and a litany of other topics including which narratives Legend is most excited about.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - Eth Denver takeaways

(2:13) - Problems of scaling via L2s

(4:49) - Predicting the L2 winners

(8:04) - Eth alignment

(10:33) - Modular’s social coordination cost

(13:30) - Eth value accrual

(16:49) - Decentralized order flow on Solana

(20:58) - Outperforming memecoins as a venture fund

(23:40) - Memecoin supercycle?

(26:57) - Crypto investment playbook

(31:23) - Crypto x AI

(37:09) - Airbnb for GPUs

(41:19) - Best moats in crypto

(44:26) - How to decentralize curation

(48:00) - Bring back ICOs?

(53:20) - Why infra keeps getting funded over apps

(58:19) - Why VCs keep getting timing wrong

(1:00:04) - The rise of Bitcoin

(1:05:15) - ERC / SPL 404 standard to kickstart NFT bull run?

(1:07:53) - Will bull market be dominated by ETF flows?

(1:11:33) - What will make up the $10tn asset class?

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Episode Resources

Follow Solana Legend : https://Twitter.com/SolanaLegend

The Father of High-Throughput Blockchains | Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana) Mar 04, 2024

Anatoly needs no introduction. He is responsible for the creation of Solana and the emergence of high-throughput, next-gen blockchains. We had the privilege of covering a very wide variety of topics with 'Toly thoughout this interview. We start with ‘Toly’s childhood, background, and the origins of Solana. We then move into some of Solana’s core principles and how they differ from Ethereum. This serves as a natural segue into Solana’s upcoming technical upgrades, changes to its fee model, learnings from other ecosystems, and what happens after Firedancer. ‘Toly also address some of Solana’s key criticisms and open questions head-on, such as decentralization initiatives and moneyness properties. This must-listen episode is the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the Solana blockchain from the man who built this ~$60B (and counting) from the ground-up.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - How Toly’s childhood influenced him

(3:24) - Toly’s route into crypto

(6:15) - The origins of Solana

(11:17) - Why POH’s core value prop is different than originally envisioned

(14:15) - Has Solana created a level playing field for trading yet?

(21:24) - Where will finance ultimately exist?

(25:10) - Interplay between Sol and Eth ecosystems

(27:29) - Solana’s modularity

(31:27) - Upgrading the fee markets

(39:44) - How will Solana handle MEV over a bull market

(43:46) - Is Solana ready for mass adoption?

(46:27) - Next technical hurdle post Firedancer

(48:52) - Integreting DePIN friendly features into the Saga 2

(51:30) - Is Crypto x AI overhyped?

(58:16) - Teachings from other L1 ecosystems

(1:00:42) - No 10x improvements possible over Solana’s design?

(1:02:02) - implications of a multi-validator client future

(1:07:03) - Solana becoming an Eth L2 shared sequencer?

(1:08:08) - Solana’s moneyness properties

(1:10:35) - When will Solana be decentralised enough?

(1:15:21) - The end of the good old days?

(1:16:25) - Which projects excite Toly

(1:19:46) - How Toly touches grass

(1:21:05) - Toly’s advice for this cycle

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Anatoly : https://Twitter.com/AEYakovenko

Token Extensions and Solana’s Long-Term Strategy | Austin Federa Feb 22, 2024

We catch up with Austin, Head of Strategy at Solana Foundation and former Head of Communications at Solana Labs. In particular, we focus on how Solana continues to differentiate itself from a fast-growing array of challenger blockchain ecosystems with token extensions. We also chat about Solana's emphasis on grassroots growth over top-down business development approaches and how Solana positions itself across a variety of strategic sub sectors within the emergent crypto economy. A great overview from the perspective of one of Solana's most prominent voices.

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Time Stamps

0:00 - Business Development strategy

5:18 - Token Extensions program

7:55 - Why build app chains anymore?

10:06 - Native L1 private transactions

14:03 - Unlocking on-chain payments

17:05 - Why Coinbase ignores Solana

19:05 - DePIN achieving PMF

24:53 - The rise of Solana-based games

30:50 - Unlocking the abundance of NFTs through compression

33:01 - Mobile strategy

38:06 - L1 governance

40:42 - Maintaining fast updates alongside decentralization

44:12 - Surviving state-level attacks

49:57 - Human coordination is the final boss?

55:59 - What is Austin excited about?

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Austin : https://Twitter.com/AustinFedera

Follow Validated : https://Twitter.com/ValidatedPod

Colosseum : The Y-Combinator For Solana | Matty Taylor Feb 18, 2024

Matty is the man behind some of the biggest hackathons in all of crypto (such as Grizzlython and Hyperdrive among many others). He recently left his role as Head of Growth at Solana Foundation to build Colosseum, an organization dedicated to running Solana-centric hackathons with a built-in accelerator for select winners. Throughout this episode, we get into the nitty gritty of why hackathons have historically produced some of Solana's best projects (Tensor and STEPN for example) and how aspiring founders can best position themselves for success.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - What is Colosseum?

(6:11) - IRL vs online hackathons

(12:00) - Why YC was superior to incubators

(15:27) - Matty’s journey before Colosseum

(18:53) - Solana projects that got their start in hackathons

(22:21) - Selecting Hackathon winners

(28:15) - Finding world changing ideas

(39:50) - Rising focus on mobile

(44:14) - Advice to builders

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Matty : https://Twitter.com/MattyTay

Follow Colosseum : https://Twitter.com/ColosseumOrg

Dino (Fluent) vs Zen (Monad) : Modular vs Integrated Feb 08, 2024

In this special episode, we feature a debate of sorts between ZenLlama of Monad who's representing integrated blockchains and Dino of Fluent Labs who's representing modular blockchains. We start by defining terms relevant to both architectures and making analogies to the non-crypto world. We then evaluate the tradeoffs of both approaches with an emphasis on the design decisions Fluent and Monad each make in their quest for scalability. This episode is a great way to get a 10,000ft view of how these dominant ideologies work in practice.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - Modular / monolithic terminology

(5:08) - Real world analogues

(18:10) - Similarities to edge computing

(23:11) - Does modularism discourage composability?

(28:18) - Does monolithic ossification slow innovation?

(33:09) - What will drive on-chain demand

(46:12) - Content curation in decentralized systems

(47:43) - Do modular costs outweigh benefits

(57:24) - Modular and integrated designs converging

(1:01:04) - Examining crypto case studies

(1:08:05) - Where does value accrue

(1:08:58) - Fluent and Monad overview

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Zen : https://Twitter.com/Zen_Llama

Follow Dino : https://Twitter.com/0xDinoEggs

Monad : https://Monad.xyz

Fluent : https://FluentLabs.xyz

Bartosz On Building A Tamper-Proof CEX | Cube Exchange Feb 03, 2024

Bartosz is a man on a mission to right the right the wrongs of centralized exchanges like FTX. His approach to building Cube blends the UI/UX benefits of using a CEX with the security gurantees of onchain settlement. Throughout this interview we dig into the intricacies of making this ambitious vision of creating a "tamper-proof CEX" a reality, covering topics like Cube's tech stacks, the current CEX competitive landscape, and their go-to-market strategy.

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Time Stamps

(0:00) - Reinventing CEX custody

(5:05)- Hybrid centralization model

(8:30) - CEX market landscape

(14:11) - Binance’s popularity

(17:26) - FTX-inspired motivation

(21:14) - Navigating regulations

(24:27) - MPC wallets

(32:08) - Forking the SVM

(35:12) - Go-To-Market strategy

(39:32) - User Interface innovations

(41:41) - Advice for founders

(43:47) - Jupiter preparations

(44:57) - Testing the product

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Bartosz : https://twitter.com/baalazamon

Cube Exchange : https://Cube.Exchange

0xJaypeg's View on a Multichain World Jan 28, 2024

0xJaypeg has been a fast-growing account in crypto Twitter over the past few months. We chat about a variety of topics that he's been commenting on such as ETH vs. SOL, NFT markets, token extensions, and predictions for 2024.

- -

Time Stamps

(0:00) - What’s Eth’s narrative?

(10:43) - NFT market prospects

(19:02) - Solana token extensions

(26:51) - How Larry Fink will tokenize the world

(29:19) - Portfolio allocation

(39:00) - NFTs Vs Memecoins

(49:11) - Coinbase end game

(54:20) - 2024 predictions

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow 0xjaypeg : https://twitter.com/0xJaypeg

ROUNDTABLE: Points Are Good | Saga FOMO | Memecoin Mania | Jupiter Airdrop Jan 20, 2024

This new episode format features a more casual conversation between Sal and Dave catching up on the latest topics in the crypto/Solana sphere. Today, we hone in on the state of memecoins, review Solana's Saga phone, talk about the points meta and why it's actually a good thing, and close things off with some $JUP airdrop commentary.

- -

Time Stamps

(0:00) - Memecoin Mania

(4:30) - Saga Success

(18:05) - DePIN starting to awaken

(26:30) - Points Meta

(39:07) - $JUP biggest airdrop ever?

(48:27) - Spotting the cycle top

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

A Novel Framework for Reputation-Based Systems: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/reputation-based-systems/

Preorder the Saga (Chapter 2): solanamobile.com/refer/salxyz

Bonkbot & Memecoin Trading On Telegram | Karol (Bonkbot) Jan 14, 2024

Sal and Dave chat up with Karol, co-founder and lead developer of Bonkbot. In the last 2 months, Bonkbot has cemented itself as one of the top Telegram trading bots in the world, processing over $1B in swaps and earning over $10M in fees. Throughout this interview we learn about Bonkbot’s origin story, the delicate balance Bonkbot makes between security and UX, what it’s like to build crypto apps in Telegram, Bonkbot’s relationship with $BONK, and what the future of trading interfaces for retail looks like. Tons of insights packed into this interview with one of the top Telegram trading applications in the world.

— —

Time Stamps

(0:00) - Bonkbot’s recent growth

(6:30) - Building on Telegram

(12:51) - The rise of trading bots

(18:53) - Balancing security with UX

(27:15) - Bonk more than just a meme?

(25:15) - Working alongside Bonk team

(37:57) - Future of AI and crypto

(42:27) - Competition and building moats

(45:49) - Future of Bonkbot

— —

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

— —

Episode Resources

Follow Karol : https://twitter.com/FutureKarol Bonkbot Website : https://Bonkbot.io

Crypto Infra, DePIN and Identity | Austin Barack, Relayer Capital Jan 07, 2024

Austin is a liquid/venture investor who previously was a partner at Coinfund and has recently launched his own fund, Relayer Capital. Throughout this discussion, Sal and Austin chat about crypto infrastructure, the bull case for chains like Avalanche, DePIN projects, and how identity primitives might change with the emergence of AI. We also touch on some of Austin's predictions for 2024.

- -

Time Stamps

(0:00) - Thesis behind Relayer Capital

(6:40) - How do devs choose ecosystems

(8:40) - Why bullish on Sol at the bottom

(15:45) - Alt parallelised chains

(20:06) - Modular narrative underappreciation

(25:15) - Onchain identity

(33:41) - Future of DePIN

(46:51) - 2024 predictions

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Austin : https://twitter.com/AustinBarack

The LeBron of Solana | Ansem Dec 30, 2023

We close out 2023 chopping it up with Ansem (aka the King of Retail & LeBron of Solana). Throughout this riveting conversation, we unpack what's been happening in the Solana memecoin landscape, upcoming airdrops, big narratives for 2024, the future of L1s, and Ansem's process for finding good trades + alpha in an increasingly noisy market. You don't want to miss this one.

- -

Time Stamps

(0:00) - Sourcing Alpha

(4:17) - Solana’s memecoin mania

(9:50) - Airdrop season

(16:24) - Rotating between L1s

(20:01) - What is Eth’s narrative?

(26:00) - Eth’s security meme

(29:50) - Biggest themes for next cycle

(34:15) - Future of L1s

(37:13) - NFT Inscriptions

(41:27) - Predicting the market top

(47:06) - Spicy 2024 predictions

(55:00) - How to stay grounded

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Ansem : https://twitter.com/blknoiz06

Solana Fee Markets : Fact vs Fiction | Jon Charbonneau (dba) + Zen Llama (Monad) Dec 21, 2023

How is Solana so cheap AND fast? What sorcery is at play with Solana's fee markets, and what still needs to be fixed. We brought on two of the world's best experts on this topic, Jon Charb and Zen Llama, to dive into the world of Solana fee markets and how they differ from ETH + L2s. We also discuss the implications of fees on validator economics and value accrual to the $SOL token. A very insightful, albeit technical, topic.

- - Time Stamps (0:00) - Eth’s journey to EIP 1559 (7:43) - Running validators on Eth vs Sol (19:12) - Mempools and block production (28:00) - Do local fee markets work as advertised? (33:18) - Solana’s fee model (1:03:06) - Comparing SVM L2s to Solana - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod - - Episode Resources Follow ZenLlama : https://twitter.com/Zen_Llama Follow MetaDAO : https://twitter.com/Jon_Charb

Building A World Free Of Currencies | Prophet (MetaDAO) Dec 15, 2023

One of the most interesting experiments in all of crypto right now is The MetaDAO Project. Prophet's vision for MetaDAO is to create a decentralized autonomous organization that's governed by markets instead of politics. We start the episode by first discussing the organizational challenges that have plagued DAOs in the past and how futarchies, initially proposed by economist Robin Hanson in the early 2000s, could be the answer. We then dive into what the early days of MetaDAO will look like and how it will evolve over time. Finally, we talk about how futarchies built on DeFi primitives might completely remove the need for base currencies.

- -

Time Stamps

(0:00) - Intro to futarchy-based governance

(10:51) - Misaligned incentives

(13:22) - Scaling futarchy

(19:27) - MetaDao proposals

(25:32) - Potential downsides

(41:34) - Does crypto make all currencies redundant?

(48:33) - Can defi operate without mediums of exchange

(51:36) - Coinbase’s view of continued dollar dominance

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Prophet : https://twitter.com/Metaproph3t

Follow MetaDAO : https://twitter.com/MetaDAOProject

Why Crypto Matters | Tushar Jain (Multicoin) Dec 08, 2023

Our conversation with Tushar, Cofounder and Managing Partner at Multicoin, is a refreshing change-of-pace from our usual set of topics. We talk about why crypto even needs to exist in the first place and what types of applications benefit most from the advent of permissionless digital assets. We also learn about how Tushar spots opportunities in the market from the perspective of an investor and what areas he's most excited for in the near-term.

- -

Time Stamps

(0:00) - Why crypto matters

(9:45) - Defi’s Endgame

(13:57) - What doesn’t need a blockchain

(19:12) - DePIN’s superpower

(26:42) - Long-term L1 staking

(33:23) - Will MEV be accepted by regulators

(38:49) - Blast controversy

(45:15) - How does Eth accrue value in a rollup world

(49:52) - How to be early to investments

(51:59) - Which narratives could lead next bull market

(54:50) - Web 3 defensibility

(59:05) - Could ICOs ever re-emerge?

(1:00:28) - Secret to being a good founder

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/salxyz

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Tushar : https://twitter.com/TusharJain_

Will $SOL Reach $3,000 by 2030? Nov 30, 2023

We chat with Patrick Bush of Van Eck to get his take on how their recent report painted a $3k SOL bullish scenario based on various fundamentals. Throughout the discussion, we touch on various metrics the underpin Van Eck's valuation framework and learn more about how Patrick views the current crypto landscape in terms of adoption and potential growth drivers.

- -

Time Stamps

(1:10) - Crypto valuation fundamentals

(7:28) - Layer 1 valuation methodology

(10:28) - Can Eth maintain a premium on take rate Vs Sol

(17:42) - Is TVL king?

(20:23) - Valuing ‘moneyness’

(28:03) - Solana thesis validation in real time

(36:02) - Sol’s superior design space

(41:39) - Is DePIN overhyped?

(50:32) - How to reach 2030 bull forecasts

(55:13) - Have the institutions arrived?

(59:46) - Crypto regulations

(1:06:56) - Closing thoughts

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Patrick : https://twitter.com/Patrick_Bush_VE

Follow Van Eck: https://twitter.com/VanEck_US

Van Eck Solana Report: https://www.vaneck.com/us/en/blogs/digital-assets/matthew-sigel-vanecks-base-bear-bull-case-solana-valuation-by-2030/

From FTX To Next-Gen CEX | Armani Ferrante (Backpack) Nov 23, 2023

Armani is one of Solana's most prolific contributors. From Anchor to Madlads to Backpack and now Backpack Exchange, his vision for bringing crypto to the masses is truly multi-faceted. In this conversation, we focus primarily on his ambitions for Backpack Exchange. We dig into his learnings from working as an engineer at FTX, how Backpack is architected from a technical standpoint, and how he sees crypto adoption playing out in the near future.

- -

Time Stamps

0:00 - Piecing together Armani’s journey to this point

9:59 - Backpack Exchange overview

17:26 - Could this be the future of all centralised exchanges

25:37 - Avoiding the mistakes of AOL

27:01 - Strategy behind other CEXs launching L2s

32:10 - NFTs as a Go-To-Market strategy

35:30 - Multichain strategy

40:07 - Designing UX around crypto’s potential endgame

46:19 - Do L2s and app chains make sense

50:08 - Unlocks and roadblocks for xNFTs

57:13 - Advice for crypto founders

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Armani: https://twitter.com/armaniferrante

Follow Backpack: https://twitter.com/xNFT_backpack

Follow Madlads: https://twitter.com/MadLadsNFT

Backpack Exchange : https://backpack.exchange

How Solana Reached Escape Velocity | Kel (Messari) Nov 17, 2023

We catch up with Kel, Messari's pre-eminent Solana researcher, to see how his views have changed since we last spoke during the summer. Specifically, what can we look forward to on Solana in the short, medium, and long term? What are some key remaining headwinds to overcome? We cover these key questions and a bunch of others throughout this discussion.

- -

Time Stamps

(0:00) - Price leading narrative

(3:52) - Being caught offside

(5:41) - Are institutions buying

(11:23) - Impact of upcoming airdrops

(15:11) - The need for SPL token launches

(19:55) - Breaking out of the points meta

(22:30) - The death of social?

(24:13) - Solana project diversity

(26:08) - Do L1s need native CEX integrations to succeed

(28:49) - Sal’s Breakpoint takeaways

(31:55) - Solana headwinds

(36:54) - Which narratives are overheated

(42:41) - Eth Vs Sol alignment

(51:49) - Sol token economics

(57:24) - End state for Eth defi

(1:01:28) - Stablecoins on Solana

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Kel: https://twitter.com/kelxyz_

Kel’s Solana Report: https://twitter.com/kelxyz_/status/1673725589876797441?s=20

Follow Messari: https://twitter.com/MessariCrypto

Crypto's Role in Payments w/ Arnold (Sphere Labs) Nov 10, 2023

Arnold, Founder and CEO of Sphere Labs, joins Sal on Unlayered to talk about payments. Throughout the conversation, we try to separate hype from reality when it comes to crypto’s role in transforming global payments infrastructure. We also discuss how payments networks differ in various jurisdictions and recent advancements TradFi has made with respect to real-time payments

- -

Time Stamps

0:00 - How crypto and payments can work together

4:47 - How to abstract away the crypto token

11:49 - Signs of initial adoption

19:00 - Sphere’s unique insights

26:42 - Solana’s adoption of tether

29:12 - Sphere’s target userbase

37:04 - Legal framework behind deposit limits

42:31 - Tradfi advancements in payments

47:58 - Crypto offering 100x improvements

50:42 - Synergies between Solana-based payment projects

54:45 - What needs to happen near time to transform payments

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Arnold : https://twitter.com/0xdirichlet

Follow Sphere : https://twitter.com/Sphere_Labs

Sphere website : https://spherepay.co

Combining Ethereum's Reach and Solana's Speed, Eclipse w/ Neel Somani Nov 02, 2023

Neel Somani is the Founder & CEO of Eclipse and has an ambitious vision to build Ethereum’s fastest Layer 2 blockchain by tapping into Solana’s Virtual Machine (SVM) as the execution environment. We start our discussion by deconstructing the landscape of L2s in order to better understand where Eclipse fits in and why Neel views Eclipse’s approach as preferable. We also dig into Neel’s conscious design decision to tap into ETH’s massive network effects while simultaneously leveraging Solana’s high-throughput execution environment. Eclipse’s unique position amongst L2s may ultimately prove to be mutually beneficial to both the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems, and we unpack why that may be the case throughout the interview.
- -

Time Stamps

0:00 - How did you get to this point

3:21 - Who are Eclipse’s stakeholders

8:37 - Comparison to OP Stack

14:03 - Rollup fundamentals

19:29 - Tradeoffs from losing EVM comparability

22:22 - Key unlock of local fee markets

24:21 - Eclipse positioning across ecosystems

27:14 - Can Eth retain network effects

30:51 - Does Eclipse destroy Eth’s value accrual

33:40 - Would Eclipse ever turn away from Eth

34:50 - Do L2s need tokens

36:42 - Go-To-Market strategy

39:44 - Do L2s need to decentralise their sequencers

43:10 - Who wins the L1 wars

46:40 - How will people use crypto products

49:20 - Which verticals are most bullish

53:32 - Crypto and AI

55:49 - Eclipse roadmap

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Neel : https://twitter.com/NeelSalami

Follow Eclipse : https://twitter.com/EclipseFND

Eclipse website : https://eclipse.builders

Eclipse blog : https://mirror.xyz/eclipsemainnet.eth

Neel’s personal blog : https://www.neelsomani.com/blog/

The Star Atlas Story & Gaming On-Chain Oct 28, 2023

We chat with Michael Wagner, Founder & CEO of Star Atlas, about everything crypto gaming. We start with the origins of building the Star Atlas game before diving into a litany of topics covering fully on-chain games vs minimally on-chain games, dealing with botting, IP rights, economic balance, and many others. We also spend a good deal of time understanding Star Atlas's multi-pronged approach to engaging with their userbase across desktop, mobile, and augmented reality applications.

- -

Time Stamps

0:00 - Pre Breakpoint excitement

4:44 - Star Atlas origins

11:12 - Why build on Solana vs App Chain

19:00 - Modding and IP rights

22:14 - Building a sustainable game economy

29:20 - How to deal with botting

36:12 - Thinking about player types

41:33 - How much state can be recorded on-chain

45:55 - Hiding on-chain state from players

47:01 - Future of gaming venues

54:42 - Star Atlas tokenomics

1:01:34 - Using novel mobile games to increase touch points with the players

1:06:05 - Advice for builders

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Michael : https://twitter.com/at_mwagner

Follow Star Atlas : https://twitter.com/staratlas

Play Star Atlas : https://play.staratlas.com

Sal’s Web 3 gaming megathread : https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull/status/1575969083492810772

RNDR: How 'Airbnb for Graphics Cards' is Powering AI & Modern Media Oct 19, 2023

We sit down with Jules Urbach and Trevor Harries-Jones to chat about Render Network, a protocol built on Solana that lets users rent out access to their graphics cards like they would their spare bedroom on Airbnb. We start the conversation with a deep-dive into the origins of Render by chatting about Jules' journey through founding Otoy and revolutionizing rendered media in Hollywood. We get into the mechanics of how Jules was about to clearly identify a future spike in demand for GPU-driven graphic rendering in 2008. That historical context serves as an excellent launching point into Jules' current thesis on the need for distributed GPU access to power exponentially increasing AI and Spatial Computing jobs. We also learn about the RNDR network journey from 2017 to present across multiple L1 ecosystems before settling on Solana by way of Trevor. It's an extremely insightful conversation that touches on multiple converging technological trends.

- -

Time Stamps

0:00 - History of OTOY

11:40 - Rising demand for GPUs

21:50 - Render’s multi billion dollar GPU arbitrage

26:23 - Octane app

30:00 - Move from Ethereum to Solana

33:40 - Render’s supply and demand

39:56 - Render Tokenomics

46:27 - Dealing with crypto skepticism

48:37 - Perceived dangers of AI

54:44 - Jules’ vision for the metaverse

1:00:35 - Spacial computing and its unlock for human connections

1:06:08 - What makes a great founder

1:07:09 - Which tech advancements most excite

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Jules : https://twitter.com/JulesUrbach

Follow Trevor : https://twitter.com/drjonessf

Render website : https://RenderNetwork.com

Multicoin Capital essay on Render : https://multicoin.capital/2021/12/21/rendering-the-metaverse/

Matty's Masterclass on Tokenomics (@mattyTokenomics) Oct 12, 2023

Matty is one of the world's foremost experts on tokenomics, having led token design efforts for Status.im and advising 50+ projects on their token design to-date. Throughout this episode, we unpack various topics within Matty's open-source guide "Tokenomics for Builders" and ask him to elaborate on some of the key Dos and Don'ts of incentivizing user behavior with tokens. We also cover why historical examples like STEPN and Steemit failed and chat about the importance of sybil resistance in making any design work. This episode is a great primer into the world of tokenomics and is an incredibly useful resource for builders, investors, researchers, and anyone in-between.

- -

Time Stamps

0:00 - What are tokenomics

5:27 - Defensibility of web3 network effects

9:30 - Uniswap and Unibot as token models

16:21 - Has Friendtech solved social model

20:57 - Incentivising low vs high frequency activity

26:44 - Overcoming the cold start problem

33:11 - What Stepn got right and wrong

39:53 - Is holder governance a good idea

42:50 - Matty’s current projects

51:06 - Are tokenomics held back by regulation

55:22 - Achieving Sybil resistance

1:00:07 - Are bull runs driven by new tokenomic models

1:04:30 - Which projects have innovated

1:15:23 - What is Matty bearish on

1:17:38 - Tokenomics Design Canvas for builders

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Matty Tokenomics : https://twitter.com/MattyTokenomics

Tokenomics For Builders : https://tr.ee/8sTcnRLPTZ

Tokenomics Design Canvas : https://tr.ee/fcCeSk9smS

Tokenomics Design Playlist : https://tr.ee/Bj9NbTkuQg

Multicoin DePIN Tokenomics : https://multicoin.capital/2023/09/21/exploring-the-design-space-of-deping-networks/

Karim's Hot Takes on the State of Crypto Oct 05, 2023

In this informal chat, Sal catches up with his good friend and former colleague, Karim Helmy (@karimhelpme). A departure from our typical interview format, this chat covers a wider basket of topics from the perspective of someone who's expertise spans Bitcoin mining, MEV, on-chain data science, and markets infra. Topics of discussion include current market conditions, DeFi vs CeFi, Bitcoin, the rise of Friend.tech, his view on high-performance L1s, and bear market phenomena (among others).

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Follow Karim Helmy : https://twitter.com/karimhelpme

Why Aren't Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) Popular on Solana? (Marinade) Sep 29, 2023

In this episode, we chat with Brandon Tucker, head of comms at Marinade Finance, to dive into the world of liquid staking tokens on Solana. In theory, the value prop of LSTs is clear. In practice, only a tiny fraction of staked Solana uses LSTs. Throughout this conversation, we unpack why that is the case and what Marinade is doing to lean into this predominant user behavior on Solana that is much less common on chains like Ethereum.

- -

Time Stamps

1:43 - The rise of LSTs

5:59 - Why LST adoption on Sol is so low

12:20 - Should epoch times be longer

15:18 - Marinade governance

20:23 - Marinade business model

16:44 - How to ensure accurate data gathering

25:47 - Centralisation vectors

33:28 - How to get more LST adoption into Sol dapps

39:04 - Competitive landscape from other providers

44:09 - Will Lido exit Sol ecosystem

47:44 - Competiton from centralised players

49:15 - How to bring liquidity back to Sol defi

53:07 - Future of LSTs

58:27 - Marinade roadmap

1:02:20 - What’s the next big thing in crypto

- -

Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

- -

Episode Resources

Marinade Native Staking Referral Code : https://marinade.finance/app?ref=s7iob5by

Follow Brandon Tucker : https://twitter.com/BrandonTucker

Follow Marinade Finance : https://twitter.com/MarinadeFinance

Marinade Website : https://Marinade.Finance

The Parcl Paradigm: Trevor's Big Bet on Bricks and Bytes Sep 21, 2023

In this episode, we explore the intersection of crypto and real estate. Throughout our conversation with Trevor, Founder and CEO of Parcl Protocol, we learn why bringing DeFi primitives to the $3.69T real estate market is an inevitability and what new behaviors this potent combination enables for end-users. Trevor's wealth of knowledge from his buy side experience on Wall St helps anchor a comprehensive view into where Parcl plans on taking it's unique product-suite next.

- -

Time Stamps

0:00 - Sal and Dave opening thoughts

4:24 - Why crypto and real estate

7:54 - Parcl Vs REITs

9:31 - Who would use the product?

11:31 - Why haven’t we seen RE shorting mechanisms before

16:44 - How to ensure accurate data gathering

19:17 - Was Solana the correct choice to deploy

25:03 - How does the DEX operate

28:33 - Surprising findings

30:02 - How to attract liquidity

35:22 - Is this the perfect macro conditions to launch

40:25 - Lack of yield an issue?

43:17 - Hedging benefits

45:25 - Real estate macro view

50:16 - Future of RWA in crypto

53:20 - What’s holding apps back in crypto

56:45 - Future features of Parcl

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google: https://unlayered.io/

Clips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UnlayeredPod

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Episode Resources

Follow Trevor Bacon : https://twitter.com/TrevorJBacon

Follow Parcl : https://twitter.com/Parcl

Parcl Website : https://app.Parcl.co

Solarplex Spotlight: Viksit's Vision to Bond Communities Through Crypto Sep 14, 2023

Solarplex (fka Dispatch Protocol) has been one of Solana's most successful projects at the intersection of crypto and social. In spite of still being in an invite-only beta, Solarplex's userbase has been on a tear, generating tens of thousands of unique posts each week. During our chat with Viksit, the Founder of Solarplex, we learn about his views on crypto social, Solarplex's unique value proposition to communities, the role of cNFTs in creating novel experiences, and where he sees Solarplex going long-term.

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Time Stamps

1:05 - Viksit’s background

6:16 - Decision to build Solarplex

11:12 - Why build decentralised social media

16:00 - Business case for opening up social graphs

24:51 - How to attract users from web 2

30:12 - Using digital assets in social media

34:06 - Monetisation from gaining access

35:15 - Roll-out strategy

37:39 - Dealing with bots

40:08 - Decentralised moderation

45:51 - Data storage on-chain

48:36 - Where Solarplex sits within existing social media

53:51 - Future features to be rolled out

58:34 - What has been a surprise

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Podcast Resources

Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum

Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod

Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI

Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2

Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476

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Episode Resources

Follow Viksit : https://twitter.com/viksit

Viksit’s blog : https://Viksit.com/

Follow Solarplex : https://twitter.com/solarplex_xyz

Solarplex Website : https://Solarplex.xyz

Richard Wu (Tensor) on the Financialization of NFTs (and if we accidentally killed them) Sep 09, 2023

We chat with Richard Wu, Co-Founder of Tensor, to understand how Tensor's 2-man team successfully took on Goliath (Magic Eden) and chipped away at Magic Eden's 95%+ market share last year. We learn about how Tensor's intense focus on power-traders gave them a beachhead market that demonstrated the viability of heavily financialized, terminal-esque trading interfaces for NFTs. We also ask Richard if Blur/Tensor killed NFTs and what he's most excited about for future NFT adoption. It's a very insightful conversation with one of the best builders in all of crypto and Solana. (0:00) - Finding the right co-founder (9:25) - Selecting the correct market to disrupt (12:03) - Building early PMF (14:59) - Has Blur ruined NFTs? (20:17) - Thinking about product design (23:59) - Building web 3 applications (33:17) - Tensorians NFTs (42:39) - Moving beyond Solana? (46:33) - Future of Eth NFT ecosystem (49:38) - Drivers for NFT adoption (55:01) - What’s exciting outside NFTs (58:00) - Next steps for Tensor (1:03:53) - Thoughts on the last year - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/Sal_The_Bull Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Richard : https://twitter.com/0xrwu Follow Ilya : https://twitter.com/_ilmoi Follow Tensor Trade : https://twitter.com/Tensor_hq Tensor Trade Website : https://Tensor.trade

The Monad Movement: Keone's Journey from HFT Systems to EVM Scalability Aug 31, 2023

We chat with Keone, Co-Founder & CEO of Monad.xyz, about his background in building high-performance systems for Jump Trading’s high-frequency trading and crypto divisions. We unpack how Keone is leveraging his expertise to scale the EVM. Traditionally, most approaches to scaling blockchains, such as Solana, Sui, Aptos, Sei, etc, choose to eschew the EVM in favor of maximizing performance. Keone believes that maintaining compatibility with existing EVM tooling and infra is key to long-term success. We talk about his vision for scaling the EVM to 10k TPS, the challenges of launching an L1 ecosystem, what consumer adoption looks like, and a litany of design considerations throughout this discussion. (0:52) - Monad’s vision (3:54) - Why not build out an L2? (9:56) - Parallelizing the EVM (17:19) - Hardware requirements (22:02) - Future of DEX trading (32:32) - Exciting areas of crypto (36:29) - Responding to criticism (40:13) - Where does Monad fit within Ethereum (42:21) - Horizontal scaling future for Monad (44:37) - Integration with Solana (45:44) - Benefits of single slot finality (49:00) - Go-To-Market strategy (52:36) - Privacy on blockchains - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Keone: https://twitter.com/KeoneHD Follow Monad: https://twitter.com/Monad_xyz Galaxy Website: https://Monad.xyz

Alex Thorn (Galaxy Digital) on L1s, L2s, and Institutional Crypto Aug 26, 2023

Alex Thorn, Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy Digital, shares his L1 thesis and how he thinks ETH + L2s will outcompete most alt L1 platforms over time. He also comments on potential tailwinds for both mainstream and institutional adoption of crypto and shares his views on certain areas of crypto that might be overhyped. This is an entertaining conversation with a Bitcoin OG who’s been through multiple boom/bust cycles in crypto with the scar tissue to prove it. (0:54) - Ready Layer One thesis (4:02) - Will Eth win new web3 categories (17:23) - How does adoption happen (24:05) - Regulation as crypto’s final boss (26:31) - Technological change on BTC (32:30) - Could BTC lose its no. 1 spot (41:08) - Crypto drivers for next bull market (45:56) - Sol Vs Eth L2 narratives (48:05) - Base as dominant L2 (53:53) - How to avoid cynicism (58:46) - What will be top of funnel for new entrants - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Alex Thorn: https://twitter.com/IntangibleCoins Follow Galaxy: https://twitter.com/GalaxyHQ Follow Galaxy Research: https://twitter.com/GlxyResearch Galaxy Website: https://Galaxy.com

Solana Legend on Next Generation Blockchains Aug 18, 2023

Solana Legend (@solanalegend), managing partner of Frictionless and co-founder of monkeDAO. Spends most of his waking hours thinking about next generation blockchains. As one of Solana’s earliest and loudest supporters, Legend has a unique vantage point into how Solana and other high throughput blockchains are well-positioned to onboard the masses into crypto. This convo, is a fun mix about Solana’s early history, initial ties to FTX, its meteoric rise during the bull run of 2021, and some of Legend’s contrarian takes. (0:30) - How new L1s compete with incumbents (9:10) - What will bring new users onto L1s (15:14) - The aha moment of DePIN (19:00) - Value prop of web3 gaming (24:05) - Integration of web2 social with web3 rails (32:40) - Signal vs noise of current on-chain meta (36:31) - View on recent DeGods saga (41:55) - Ethereum’s endgame (45:18) - Most under-appreciated narratives - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Solana Legend: https://twitter.com/SolanaLegend Follow Frictionless Capital: https://twitter.com/_Frictionless_ Frictionless Website: https://frictionless.fund

How Dynamic NFTs Will Replace Coffee Shop Punchcards (Underdog Protocol) Aug 11, 2023

Kevin and Nick from Underdog Protocol, grand-prize winners of Solana Grizzlython 2023, are on a mission to help business integrate dynamic NFTs into their products. Their vision for the future includes blockchains as a shared data layer for both consumers and businesses. While early experiments in bringing web3 to industry incumbents like Starbucks have shown limited success, Underdog’s unique approach combines the scalability of Solana with the developer-friendliness of integrating any standard API like Stripe. In a roundtable format, Sal, Dave, Kevin, and Nick talk at-length about this emerging use-case of NFTs with an intense focus on the long-term utility of NFTs and how they tangibly add value to current user journeys. (1:12) - What is Underdog (7:50) - Why brands will share data on-chain (14:46) - The real value prop of web3 (21:44) - Issues of curation for decentralised social graphs (24:40) - Completely new marketing models (29:39) - How to build moats in an open data world (38:43) - On-chain cookies (40:25) - Which blockchains will win (44:59) - How Underdog is architected (49:40) - Future use cases of NFTs - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Tony : https://twitter.com/TonyPlasencia3 Follow Kevin : https://twitter.com/Kevarifin Follow Underdog Protocol : https://twitter.com/BackAnUnderdog Underdog Protocol Website : https://UnderdogProtocol.com

Kyle Samani on Crypto’s Role in AI, Consumer Tech, & other Contrarian Views Aug 04, 2023

Kyle Samani (Multicoin) joins Unlayered to share his views on a litany of topics. Mainly, what role does crypto have to play in emerging technological primitives like artificial intelligence and spatial computing. The trio also discuss why so much attention has been focused on infra vs consumer apps and the historical debate on modular vs integrated software architecture. This episode is a great way to gain a 10,000ft view of the space from the perspective of one crypto’s best, and often contrarian, thought leaders. (1:03) - State of the market (8:29) - Crypto social apps vs web2 (13:46) - Verticalisation of NFT marketplaces (18:47) - Will AI agents use crypto? (28:56) - Are AI bots a net good? (34:02) - Eth’s social scalability problems (39:15 - The merits of different blockchain designs (47:39) - Contrarian areas of interest in crypto (55:00) - Spatial computing - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Kyle: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani Follow Multicoin: https://twitter.com/multicoincap Relevant Multicoin Blogposts: Verticalization of NFT marketplaces - https://multicoin.capital/2022/06/22/beyond-verticalization-of-nft-marketplaces AI and Crypto - https://multicoin.capital/2023/06/02/the-convergence-of-crypto-and-ai-four-key-intersections Social Scalability - https://multicoin.capital/2021/05/25/technical-scalability-creates-social-scalability Rendering the Metaverse - https://multicoin.capital/2021/12/21/rendering-the-metaverse - - Disclosures Although our guest this week is the managing partner of a registered investment adviser, nothing in this podcast should be considered an offer of Multicoin’s investment advisory services or should otherwise be confused for investment, tax, legal or other financial advice.

Reframing the Solana Narrative with Kel (Messari) Jul 28, 2023

Kel (@kelxyz_) is a researcher at Messari who recently dropped an amazing 30-page report (and awesome summary thread) on Solana. Sal and Dave chat with Kel about what he sees in Solana that others may have overlooked. Specifically, the trio cover the shifting narrative that has more people believing in the Solana ecosystem than ever before. Topics covered throughout the interview include Solana’s state compression, how to quantitatively judge SOL vs ETH performance, the class of users that crypto ultimately needs to support, and what consumer crypto applications should focus on (among other topics). (0:14) - Experiencing IRL Solana events (6:25) - Quantitative comparison of Sol Vs Eth (16:13) - Recency bias (21:11) - NFT compression unlocks (27:34) - Blockchain ecosystem taxonomy (30:15) - Valuing an L1 (35:36) - Which apps will lead the next bull market (45:16) - Imagining web 3 social protocols (55:37) - Looking ahead - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Kel: https://twitter.com/kelxyz_ Kel’s Solana Report: https://twitter.com/kelxyz_/status/1673725589876797441?s=20 Follow Messari: https://twitter.com/MessariCrypto

Embracing Memes, Speculation, NFTs (and more) with @fxnction Jul 20, 2023

Sal and Dave chat with Michael (@fxnction) about his journey towards growing a sizable Twitter following on two separate accounts across two separate crypto cycles. Michael has a knack for knowing what will go viral on Twitter and isn’t afraid to be first. The trio chat about the future of social media, why NFTs matter, lessons from getting hacked, how to diligence projects, and a litany of other topics. Michael keeps a close pulse on everything happening in the depths of crypto Twitter and generously shares a treasure trove of wisdom throughout this conversation. (1:07) - How crypto can transform the music industry (8:45) - Crypto and AI (12:06) - Social trends and speculation (18:57) - Taking personal responsibility around security (31:07) - Failings of the fiat system (37:22) - The utility of NFTs (51:02) - Crypto clout (55:32) - Due diligence on new projects (59:31) - Focusing on our spiritual side - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Fxnction : https://twitter.com/fxnction Roast Him Jim : https://twitter.com/RoastHimJim

What’s the point of a non-EVM chain? A Technical deep-dive with Zenllama Jul 14, 2023

Kevin (@zen_llama) is a former Apple (AirPods) and Solana Labs (Core) engineer. Kevin joins Sal & Dave in bringing his unique insight as a protocol engineer with experience across multiple blockchain ecosystems (ETH, Solana, Monad, and others) to provide a concrete explanation into why these different approaches exist and how they differ. Some interesting topics we discuss include: the key components of a blockchain, why multithreading matters for scalability in blockchains, Ethereum vs EVM Chain vs non-EVM Chain (like Solana), the advantages of scaling the EVM, how L2s differ from monolithic EVM chains (like Monad), and how Ethereum could one day be a multithreaded execution environment. While this is a longer and more technical episode than usual, there are tons of nuggets throughout our interview from the perspective of an engineer who’s been “chewing glass” for years. (1:16) - The issues with the scalability trilemma (6:53) - Blockchains from first principles (15:17) - The value add of blockchains (22:03) - The flywheel effect (26:40) - Design choices for blockchains (29:57) - Storing blockchain history (42:06) - Bandwidth as a bottleneck (45:52) - Consensus and time to finality (1:02:04) - Separation of state and data (1:11:02) - Solana’s Runtime V2 (1:16:03) - Where Monad sits on the spectrum (1:21:00) - Modular Vs Monolithic (1:30:56) - Competition of a modular stack (1:35:57) - Which chain will win (1:42:53) - Why Solana posts votes on-chain - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Kevin : https://twitter.com/Zen_Llama Vitalik’s Endgame Blogpost : https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/12/06/endgame.html

The Crypto and AI Renaissance I Josh Rosenthal Jun 29, 2023

Sal and Dave are joined by Josh Rosenthal, a former historian and AI founder turned crypto investor. Josh presents an illuminating history lesson, detailing the catalysts and chaos as the Middle Ages transitioned into the Renaissance period - and highlighting the many parallels that crypto and AI are facing today with their own push for decentralisation and freedom of choice. Josh also delves into crypto’s ability to turn cost centres into revenue generators, and explores how that can help to unlock moats and disproportionately reward those within the long tail of society’s distribution curve. Check out the full episode for Josh’s uniquely historical perspective on the future of crypto and AI. (1:12) - Josh’s path to crypto (7:33) - Transition from Middle Ages to the Renaissance (14:57) - Crypto as the next Renaissance (17:28) - Pendulum shifts around centralisation (24:24) - The American ‘Renaissance’ (33:25) - The urge to ban what’s new (38:35) - Crypto turning the world into entrepreneurs (41:21) - Crypto as a Business Model (46:04) - Why have decentralised start ups struggled to take off (58:13) - Crypto as an economic substrate for AI (1:00:40) - Turning cost centres into revenue generators (1:04:49) - Synthetic vs physical realms (1:10:49) - Finding your tribe (1:15:39) - Identity in a Web 3 world (1:20:23) - Volatility as a feature (1:23:08) - Using history to contextualise the moment - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Josh: https://twitter.com/JoshuaRosenthal Sixth Event: https://Go6ixthEvent.com Narwhal Ventures: https://GoNarwhalVentures.com

How to Value $SOL Jun 22, 2023

Sal and Dave are joined by Lamar, a TradFi early stage investor. Throughout this round table discussion, the trio dig deep into Layer 1 blockchain economics to better understand what they should be worth long-term. Key topics include 1.) how value accrues to these L1 tokens 2.) when is the right time to monetize 3.) how to appease both holders’ and users’ best interests and 4.) whether Metcalfe’s Law still applies to a modular blockchain stack. One common source of Solana FUD centers on how its economic design compares to other more established chains. Is there a world where SOL is in fact more likely to become money in the future? Check out the full episode to find out for yourself. (0:14) - How to think about L1 assets (5:53) - How and when to monetize Solana (20:43) - The importance of LSDs for DeFi (30:45) - How crypto gets users to interact with on-chain applications (33:54) - The difficulties with valuing Layer 1 tokens (42:04) - Money-ness properties of Solana (46:33) - Key metrics for appraising different L1s (53:07) - How Metcalfe’s Law will work in crypto (59:10) - The inevitable commoditization of blockspace - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources Follow Lamar: twitter.com/DaliaLlamar Valuing L1s: twitter.com/solbeachbum/status/1659977808880230406 Bottoms Up Sol Valuation: twitter.com/solbeachbum/status/1660604668332896258 Top Down Sol Valuation: twitter.com/solbeachbum/status/1668600382547718146

Light Protocol: Where Zk Meets Solana Jun 15, 2023

Swen (@Swen_sjn) is the CEO and Co-Founder of Light Protocol, an open-source zkLayer enabling private program execution on Solana. Throughout this interview, Dave and Sal leverage Swen’s expertise to better understand 1.) the importance of privacy on blockchains and 2.) the future of privacy on Solana specifically. In a world with an ever-expanding universe of zk execution environments, Swen is convinced that Solana is uniquely positioned to combine its incredible UX with the privacy guarantees enabled by Light Protocol. (0:14) - Sal and Dave Opening Chat (6:19) - A primer on ZK Tech (13:43) - Light Protocol’s architecture (20:04) - Building out a private NFT marketplace (23:30) - Thinking around smart contract risks (27:18) - What other new use cases does this make possible (31:27) - Why this can be built on Solana’s L1, rather than an L2 (41:38) - Thinking about privacy and regulations (44:26) - ZK landscape over next 5 years - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources https://twitter.com/Swen_sjn https://twitter.com/LightProtocol https://lightprotocol.com

Paul’s Vision for Decentralizing Rideshare with Teleport Jun 08, 2023

Paul Bohm, Founder and CEO of Teleport, wants to decentralize Uber with crypto...and he just might be the first to actually do it. His ambitious vision for a rideshare protocol powered by Solana is only months away from launch. Throughout Sal and Dave’s discussion with Paul they learn why he chose to focus on the rideshare market, the benefits of building this as a protocol for others to use, and how Solana is uniquely capable to power this technology. While Teleport is initially focused on rideshare, the goal of this initiative is to demonstrate the power crypto has to break existing network effect moats held by rent-seeking incumbents with new incentive mechanisms powered by open-source technology and blockchains. Could Teleport capture 50% of the rideshare market in under 10 years? Check out the full episode to find out for yourself. (0:39) - Sal and Dave Opening Chat (6:26) - Building web 3 bridges, not web 2 moats (15:36) - Why ride sharing market is ripe for disruption (20:48) - How to fight against centralization risks (25:29) - Go-To-Market strategy (33:03) - Governance token use cases (38:53) - Why US regulators love this business model (45:22) - Trojan-horsing 100m new people into crypto (52:38) - Why Teleport is building on Solana (1:01:18) - Parallels and differences to the ICO business models from 2017 (1:08:41) - Team structure to pull this off (1:09:51) - When launch? (1:11:44) - How will the space develop in next 5-10 years - - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources https://twitter.com/paulbohm https://twitter.com/teleportxyz https://dec.dev https://trip.dev https://teleport.xyz

Can Helium’s Wireless Revolution Put 100M Devices On-Chain? Jun 01, 2023

Sal and Dave initially chat about one of the most exciting and important adoption vectors for crypto, Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN). They subsequently sit down with Noah, Head of Protocol at Helium Foundation. Helium is one of the original DePIN projects and sits at the forefront of this movement in its quest to start a Wireless Revolution with token-incentivized, people-powered, wireless networks. They discuss a variety of topics including Helium’s initial vision, DAO/sub DAO structure, and why they moved over to Solana. Check out the full episode for the inside scoop. (0:14) - Sal & Dave Opening Chat (12:21) - Noah’s move from Strata to Helium (21:10) - How to incentivize demand (24:02) - Cost saving properties of Helium’s business model (28:37) - The potential of IOT networks (30:20) - Incentivization through tokenomics (35:41) - Helium’s move to Solana (52:11) - Rust Vs other programming languages (57:11) - Future of Helium - - Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources: https://twitter.com/redacted_noah https://twitter.com/helium https://helium.com

The Future of NFTs with Zedd of Magic Eden May 26, 2023

Join hosts Sal and Dave as they engage in a captivating conversation about NFTs with the one and only Zedd Yin, Co-Founder and COO of Magic Eden. In this power-packed interview, they delve into a range of intriguing topics, including the origin story of Magic Eden, the intricacies of their multi-chain strategy, their view on the rise of Tensor, and their compelling vision for the future of NFTs as a whole. Furthermore, they explore the buzzing excitement within the Bitcoin Ordinals ecosystem, contemplating the potential role of Solana as a future Layer 2 solution for the Bitcoin network. With Zedd Yin at the helm of one of the leading NFT marketplaces in the crypto space, this interview offers invaluable insights into the fast-evolving NFT landscape. (0:14) - Sal and Dave Opening Thoughts (10:03) - The Story of Magic Eden (26:15) - Multichain vs Single Chain Dapps (34:18) - The Decision to add Polygon (39:36) - Marketplaces go $BLUR + The Rise of Tensor (47:44) - The Future of NFTs (51:44) - The Future of Web3 Gaming (58:24) - Solana’s Emergence as a Bitcoin Layer 2 - - Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 - - Episode Resources: Magic Eden https://twitter.com/MagicEden https://magiceden.io/

The Key to the Next Billion I Steven Laver (Solana Mobile) May 19, 2023

Sal and Dave tackle the hot-button issue of the Ledger recovery feature, providing their insight into the controversy. They shift gears and sit down with Steven Laver, lead software engineer at Solana Labs, for an enlightening chat into the future of crypto mobile experiences. Specifically, they delve into the world of the Saga smartphone and Solana Mobile Stack, highlighting the utility of the secure element and Solana dapp store. From exploring its potential to support other chains like ETH at the hardware level, to discussing why the phone is much more than a marketing gimmick, Steven underscores the significance of mobile experiences in driving global adoption of digital assets. (0:14) - Sal & Dave Opening Thoughts (13:56) - Why the Saga is more than a gimmick (18:42) - Solana Dapp Store, Crypto’s App Store moment? (34:50) - How Seed Vault Secures Your Keys (44:50) - Wallet Adaptor & Support for ETH (55:05) - What Does Success Look Like?

The State of Solana DeFi I Barrett (Cypher Protocol) May 11, 2023

Join Sal and Dave as they explore the world of decentralized finance and memecoins with DeFi expert and Cypher.trade founder, Barrett. In this episode, they discuss the philosophical importance of memecoins during Pepe mania, and dive into topics such as Solana's DeFi TVL, the differences between monolithic and app chains for DeFi, and how Cypher enables capital efficiency with its suite of DeFi products. The conversation also touches on the importance of non-DeFi projects for user adoption, and compares the tradeoffs between AMMs, CLAMMS, and CLOBS. Spoiler alert: Solana DeFi airdrop season might be coming as soon as summer 2023. Check out the episode to learn more 👀

Solana Is Dead I Mert Mumtaz (Helius) May 04, 2023

In our first-ever episode, we debunk the false narrative that Solana is dead and showcase its immense potential as one of the most scalable blockchains on the planet. We also discuss why one should even care about crypto in a future dominated by AI and other emerging technologies. Our guest for this episode is Mert, the founder and CEO of Helius.xyz, who provides us with an in-depth breakdown of Solana's architecture. We compare it to other approaches, including both Ethereum and non-EVM challengers like SUI, to understand how Solana's unique design contributes to its scalability. We also cover the Solana crypto ecosystem in broad strokes, discussing some of the most promising projects including Driphaus, Dialect, and Metaplex. These projects sit at the cutting-edge of what's possible with NFTs and are defining the playbook for what NFTs will look like over the next 10 years. While this episode may not be for the faint of heart, it's an excellent way to dive head-first into the various applications people are building in crypto today. Join us as we uncover the hidden gems in the world of Solana and discuss the key role crypto will play in shaping our future.

Introducing Unlayered Apr 19, 2023

Unlayered is an alternative crypto podcast where we explore the cutting-edge of the non-mainstream, non-EVM crypto ecosystem. Join us weekly as we uncover hidden gems, breakthrough projects, and game-changing innovations transforming the digital asset landscape. Our show cuts through the theory and the hype, focusing instead on real usage and innovations poised to bring crypto to the next billion users. Dive into the depths of the future of crypto with Unlayered, your ultimate guide to the unconventional side of digital assets. Embark on a journey with us as we delve into the technology powering NFTs, DeFi, Web3, and beyond, uncovering the potential that lies at the heart of the crypto revolution.

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