In this episode, we’re joined by Jayendra Jog, the Co-founder of Sei – a general purpose, open-source Layer 1 blockchain offering infrastructure optimized for the exchange of digital assets. We discuss what Sei is and what the main optimizations are that they have focused on. We cover the current state of the blockchain market sector, and Sei’s position within it. We discuss striking a balance between efficiency and decentralisation, we walk through Sei’s current developer and user bases, breakd...
Sep 19, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 71
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Jason Kam, the founder of Folius Ventures – a fund that invests in, evangelizes, and builds web3 initiatives. We discuss Folius Ventures, their investment strategy, and how they approach the market. We speak about project discovery, due-diligence, decision-making, and the role that data plays in analyzing investment opportunities. We then move on to speak about Jason’s thoughts on Blur and the NFT market, MakerDAO and his thesis on an ...
Sep 11, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 70
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Niklas Kunkel, the Founder of Chronicle – an oracle service born out of MakerDAO’s Oracle Core Unit that will be launching publicly in September 2023. To cover the basics, Oracles are decentralized networks that bridge critical information from the real world to the blockchain. Chronicle currently provides exclusive support to MakerDAO’s total user deposits of $5.2b, meaning that it has captured a 22% market share of the total value se...
Sep 06, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 68
In this episode, were joined by Dominic Williams, the Founder and Chief Scientist as DFINITY, a major contributor to the internet computer blockchain. The Internet Computer is a general-purpose blockchain that hosts canister smart contracts. It is designed to provide a World Computer that can replace traditional IT and host a new generation of Web3 services and applications that run solely from the blockchain, without the need for traditional IT. It can also play the role of Web3 orchestrator, b...
Aug 29, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 68
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by James and Vincent, the founders of Modular Capital – a crypto investment firm with a fundamental and thesis-driven approach. In this episode, we discuss Modular Capital, their investment strategy, the underwriting process, and how they work with the projects they invest in. We discuss what makes crypto interesting, and what the most common misconceptions are that traditional investors have about the asset class. We speak about the pros...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 67
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Evan Fisher, the founder of Portal Ventures – a fund that is accelerating the protocol economy through business fundamentals. Portal Ventures identifies and supports crypto businesses that will define the next generation of our economy. They advise on strategy, roadmap, go-to-market, value capture, fundraising, and more. In this episode with Evan, we discuss Portal Venture, their investment strategy, and how they work with the projects...
Aug 15, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 66
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Getty Hill, the Co-Founder of GFX Labs, a multi-faceted blockchain research and development company. GFX Labs operates as both a crypto products studio and an active DAO governance contributor. On the product side, GFX has built various products including Interest Protocol, Web3 Sheets, and most recently the advanced DeFi trading platform Oku Trade which is powered by Uniswap v3. On the governance side of things, which GFX is widely kn...
Aug 02, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 65
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by H.E. Justin Sun, the Founder of Tron – a layer 1 blockchain. We discuss Tron’s position within the blockchain market and the core optimizations they have focused on. We also uncover the drivers behind Tron’s market-leading user activity numbers, speak about the network’s impressive traction in emerging markets, what perspective blockchains should be analyzed and valued from, and plans for the future. TRON’s dashboard on Token Terminal:...
Jul 26, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 64
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Chris Abiaad, the founder of frens capital – a thesis-driven investment fund focused on liquid digital assets. frens capital’s strategy is to make long-only investments based on fundamentals and the core principles of value investing. We discuss frens capital's investment strategy and what makes web3 interesting from an investor's point of view, and also break down liquid venture and why is it a superior form of investing compared to t...
Jul 19, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 63
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we're joined by Kain Warwick, the founder of Synthetix – a derivatives liquidity protocol providing the backbone for derivatives trading in DeFi. Synthetix is built on Ethereum and OP Mainnnet. How it works is that synthetic assets, and associated products, are collateralized by stakers via the SNX token, which when locked in a staking contract enables the issuance of synthetic assets, called synths. This pooled collateral model allows users to perfor...
Jul 12, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 62
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, I’m joined by Michael Nadeau, a crypto data and research analyst and author of the DeFi report. In this episode with Michael, we explore how blockchains can be valued, especially from the perspective of more traditional and institutional investors. We discuss the main differences between traditional assets and crypto assets - focusing on L1 blockchains and their native tokens, the role of key metrics in analyzing these projects, we speak about market ...
Jul 04, 2023•46 min•Ep. 61
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, I’m joined by Darren Camas and Dimitar Dinev, the Co-Founders of IPOR Protocol. IPOR is a non-custodial exchange for interest rate swaps built on Ethereum. As a DeFi protocol, IPOR refers to a series of smart contracts that provide a benchmark interest rate and enable users to access Interest Rates Derivatives on the Ethereum blockchain. IPOR is an abbreviation for Inter Protocol Over-block Rate. It derives its name from major indices from traditional...
Jun 30, 2023•49 min•Ep. 60
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, I’m joined by Arno Bauer, a Senior Solution Architect at BNB Chain. BNB Chain is a smart contract platform for decentralized applications and is currently the most widely used blockchain. BNB Chain is made up of an ecosystem of blockchains, comprising of the BNB beacon chain for staking and governance, the BNB smart chain which is an EVM-compatible smart contract settlement layer, zkBNB, a layer 2 zero knowledge scaling solution for developers to buil...
Jun 19, 2023•38 min•Ep. 59
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, I’m joined by Pablo, the Co-Founder of Angle Protocol – a decentralized Euro stablecoin protocol. In this episode with Pablo, we discuss what Angle is, how it works, its core value proposition, and its position within the market. We also get an overview of Angle’s smart contract infrastructure, how they ensure robust security, the team behind the project, the venture case for Angle - and Euro stablecoins in general - plans for the future, and more! An...
Jun 12, 2023•26 min•Ep. 58
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Rune Christensen, Co-Founder of MakerDAO – a decentralized stablecoin protocol built on Ethereum, and the first-ever DAO. Maker recently published their Endgame plan, which is a roadmap for a significant overhaul and improvement to the governance and tokenomics of the Maker Ecosystem. Its primary aim is for the ecosystem to reach a self-sustainable equilibrium called the Endgame State. In this episode with Rune, the mastermind behind t...
Jun 07, 2023•52 min
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by John McNiff and Felipe Montealegre, the founders of Theia Blockchain – a fundamentals-driven investment fund that is applying the principles of prudent investing to blockchain. We discuss Theia’s founding story, their investment strategy and underwriting engine, what fundamentals mean in crypto, and the main KPIs that Theia is looking for in potential investments. We also learn about the thesis behind Theia’s investments in GMX, Trader...
May 31, 2023•42 min
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Shawn Tabrizi, Lead Developer at Polkadot. Polkadot is the first fully-sharded blockchain, i.e. it is a multi-chain environment. Polkadot enables scalability by allowing specialized blockchains to communicate with each other in a secure, trust-free environment. In our interview with Shawn, we discuss Polkadot’s core value proposition, the main optimizations they have focused on, the concepts of shared security, interoperability, and un...
May 24, 2023•48 min
In this episode of the Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Greg Skril, a core contributor at Ethereum Name Service (ENS). ENS is a distributed, open, and extensible naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. ENS’s job is to map human-readable names like ‘alice.eth’ to machine-readable identifiers such as Ethereum addresses, other cryptocurrency addresses, content hashes, and metadata. In our interview with Greg, we discuss the core problem that ENS solves, how ENS supports existing intern...
May 19, 2023•27 min
Scoopy Trooples, Co-Founder of Alchemix, joined us for an episode to discuss what Alchemix is and how it works, the protocol’s use cases, target customer profile, economic and business models, current growth drivers and challenges, the most exciting things coming up, the team behind the project, and more! Alchemix’s dashboard: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/alchemix-finance Alchemix Site: https://alchemix.fi/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlchemixFi Scoopy: https://twitter.com/scupyt...
May 10, 2023•22 min
Merlin Egalite, Co-Founder of Morpho – a lending pool optimizer that operates a peer-to-peer layer built on top of lending pools such as Compound and Aave – joined us for an interview to dive into the details behind Morpho-Aave V3, and the teams approach to building a truly secure protocol. Tune in to learn about the new features that come with Morpho-Aave V3, the details behind Morpho’s smart contract development process, and how the team is ensuring the technical, operational, and economic saf...
May 05, 2023•23 min
Anatoly Yakovenko, Co-Founder of Solana, joined us for an episode to discuss what Solana’s core value proposition is, the optimizations Solana has focused on, and how they are positioned within a multi-chain ecosystem. Also, we cover how blockchains can be valued, how economic sustainability should be addressed, the most exciting things happening on Solana right now, who the core contributors behind the blockchain are, and more! Solana’s dashboard: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/sol...
May 03, 2023•40 min
Wouter Kampmann, Co-Founder at MakerDAO Sustainable Ecosystem Scaling (SES) – a Core Unit that focuses on sustainably growing the Maker Protocol’s moats by removing barriers between decentralized workforce, capital, and work – joined us for an episode to discuss the basics of Maker and the SES Core Unit. In this episode we cover how Maker is structured as an on-chain organization and break down the current state of its operations, after which we dive into the details behind the MakerDAO ecosyste...
Apr 25, 2023•29 min
Tyson, CTO & Co-Founder of Zora, joined us for an episode the discuss what Zora is, how it works, the state of the NFT market, current growth drivers and challenges, plans for the future, and more. Zora is a non-custodial NFT protocol built on Ethereum that makes it easy for creators and collectors to experience and express creativity and imagination on-chain. Zora's dashboard on Token Terminal: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/zora Zora: https://zora.co/ Twitter: https://twitter....
Apr 20, 2023•16 min
Murloc from Trader Joe joined us for another episode of 15-minute fundamentals to discuss the basics of Trader Joe, its mission, how it works, current growth drivers, expanding to new chains, the protocol’s economic model, and more. Trader Joe is a non-custodial exchange protocol built on Avalanche, Arbitrum, and the BNB Chain. Trader Joe’s dashboard: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/trader-joe Trader Joe: https://traderjoexyz.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/traderjoe_xyz Murloc: ht...
Apr 17, 2023•30 min
Mike Silagadze, Founder & CEO of ether.fi joined us for another episode of 15-minute fundamentals to discuss the basics of ether.fi , how it works, its position whiting the staking market, current opportunities and challenges, the team behind the projects, what effects the Shanghai upgrade might have, plans for the future, and more. Ether.fi is a non-custodial delegated staking protocol. Ether.fi ’s dashboard: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/etherfi ether.fi : https://ether.fi/ T...
Apr 12, 2023•21 min
Gauntlet is a financial modelling platform that uses battle-tested techniques from the algorithmic trading industry to inform on-chain protocol management. Nick Cannon joined us for an episode to cover the basics of Gauntlet, the core problem that Gauntlet has set out to solve, core products and how they work under the hood, what Gauntlet’s work with different protocols and DAOs looks like in practice, current growth drivers and challenges, plans for the future, and more! Gauntlet: https://gaunt...
Apr 11, 2023•22 min
Jamie Holmes from Perpetual Protocol joined us for another episode of 15-minute fundamentals to discuss the past few months at Perp, current growth drivers and challenges, new products and markets, ensuring security, and more. Perpetual Protocol is an on-chain perpetual futures DEX built on Optimism, with deep liquidity and builder-ready composability. https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/perpetual-protocol Perpetual Protocol: https://perp.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/perpprotocol Ja...
Apr 03, 2023•23 min
Mike Griffith & Matt Losquadro, core contributors at Synthetix – a derivatives liquidity protocol – joined us for an episode to discuss the basics of the protocol, how it works, Synthetix V3, the market, what makes Synthetix unique, current growth drivers and challenges, economic model, plans for the future, and more. Synthetix’s dashboard on Token Terminal: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/synthetix Synthetix Site: https://synthetix.io/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/synthetix_io M...
Mar 27, 2023•26 min
Andriy Velykyy, Co-Founder of Allbridge – a cross-chain bridge between EVM and non-EVM compatible blockchains – joined us for an episode to discuss the basics of the protocol, how it works, the bridge market, what makes Allbridge unique, current growth drivers and challenges, economic model, plans for the future, and more. Allbridge’s dashboard on Token Terminal: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/allbridge Allbridge Site: https://allbridge.io/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Allbridge_io ...
Mar 21, 2023•32 min
Chef Mochi, Head Chef at PancakeSwap – a multichain all-in-one DeFi hub – joined us for an episode to discuss the basics of PancakeSwap, how it works, the market, what makes PancakeSwap unique, expanding to new chains, current growth drivers and challenges, economic model, the CAKE token, plans for the future, and more. PancakeSwap’s dashboard: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/pancakeswap PancakeSwap: Site: https://pancakeswap.finance/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/PancakeSwap Chef Moc...
Mar 06, 2023•20 min
