This is my conversation with Michael Nielsen, scientist, author, and research fellow at the Astera Institute. Timestamps: - (00:00:00) intro - (00:01:06) cultivating optimism amid existential risks - (00:07:16) asymmetric leverage - (00:12:09) are "unbiased" models even feasible? - (00:18:44) AI and the scientific method - (00:23:23) unlocking AI's full power through better interfaces - (00:30:33) sponsor: Splits - (00:31:18) AIs, independent agents or intelligent tools? - (00:35:47) autonomous ...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 52
This is my conversation with Jeffrey Quesnelle, cofounder of Nous Research. Timestamps: - (00:00:00) intro - (00:01:08) working with new technologies - (00:06:15) Nous Research origin story - (00:14:08) open frontiers in research - (00:26:07) fourier transforms for gradient compression - (00:32:58) math behind distributed training - (00:38:18) sponsor: Splits - (00:39:02) neural networks history and fundamentals - (00:51:29) the human mind and AI, hyperdimensional representation - (01:01:15) int...
Mar 18, 2025•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 51
This is my conversation with Alexander Long, Founder & CEO of Pluralis Research. Timestamps: - (00:00:00) intro - (00:00:55) collaborative training - (00:09:49) economics of training - (00:13:10) what is protocol learning? - (00:20:48) protocol learning design and politics - (00:33:39) sponsor: Splits - (00:34:22) hardware requirements - (00:41:53) adapting to the landscape - (00:49:53) open and closed models - (00:52:52) market structure with fully open models - (00:56:34) research and risk...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 50
This is my conversation with Jim Posen, the Cofounder and CTO at Irreducible. Timestamps: - (00:00:00) intro - (00:01:12) getting deeper into cryptography - (00:07:06) revisiting binary fields - (00:15:50) building the verifiable internet - (00:26:14) sponsor: Splits - (00:26:57) revival of binary fields - (00:38:55) Binius - (00:42:46) bringing Binius to production - (00:48:27) creating new hardware - (00:53:57) getting to v1 - (01:02:03) Ethereum stateless proofs and zkVMs - (01:13:21) outro L...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 49
This is my conversation with Michael Bentley, the cofounder and CEO of Euler and previously a dynamical systems postdoctoral research associate at Oxford. Timestamps: - (00:00:00) intro - (00:01:11) early DeFi and experiencing the 2008 crash - (00:06:52) interest rate design and PIDs - (00:20:40) risk management - (00:28:27) sponsor: Splits - (00:29:10) macro view of the world - (00:32:27) the fundamental importance of credit - (00:35:47) Euler protocol design - (00:39:08) modularity and integra...
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 48
This is my conversation with Jake Chervinsky, Chief Legal Officer at Variant, and previously the Chief Policy Officer at Blockchain Association and General Counsel at Compound Labs. Timestamps: - (00:00:00) intro - (00:01:15) ELI5: how the US government works - (00:10:44) DOGE and the powers of the executive - (00:19:27) DUNAs, DAOs, and decentralized governance - (00:27:55) how the law reacts to new technology - (00:40:19) sponsor: Splits - (00:41:02) incentives and philosophies of regulators -...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 47
This is my conversation with Andrew Miller who is working on product at Teleport, and is also Associate Director at IC3 and Board Member at the Zcash Foundation. Timestamps: - (00:00:00) intro - (00:00:59) from bitcoin research to privacy, ZKPs, and MPC - (00:13:23) trust models and threat vectors to TEEs - (00:21:16) what is possible with trustless TEEs? - (00:38:37) TEEs-based internet agents - (00:45:41) Dstack, a p2p architecture for TEEs - (00:52:50) learnings as a researcher - (00:58:42) s...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 46
This is my conversation with Quintus Kilbourn, researcher at Flashbots and currently working on Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). Timestamps: - (00:00:00) - intro - (00:01:06) - what is a TEE - (00:12:23) - TEE use cases: one-shot transactions, autonomous AI agents - (00:25:27) - unbreakable hardware enclaves - (00:41:14) - physical hardware access as a threat vector - (00:47:20) - sponsor: Splits - (00:48:04) - defending against physical attacks - (00:55:57) - resources focused on TEEs - (...
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 45
This is my conversation with Markus Haas, the CEO of Freedom Factory and cocreator of the dGEN1. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:28) - ethOS origin story (00:07:54) - the vision and values (00:09:56) - the need for an alternative to iOS and Android (00:15:30) - sponsor: Splits (00:16:14) - building on GrapheneOS (00:28:32) - dGEN1, an everyday carry device (00:37:05) - what's next for ethOS? (00:43:02) - the company, funding, profitability (00:49:00) - outro Links: - Markus on X: https://x...
Nov 29, 2024•49 min•Ep. 44
This is my conversation with Uma Roy, cofounder and CEO of Succinct. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:57) - origin story (00:02:19) - SP1 architecture (00:09:43) - STARKs, FRI, and hash-based cryptography (00:15:09) - recursion (00:21:12) - upgrading the proof system (00:33:11) - sponsor: Splits (00:33:54) - security in ZK systems (00:37:46) - converting optimistic rollups into zk rollups (00:43:39) - zkVM vs custom circuits (00:48:48) - ZK for scaling and interoperability (01:00:24) - the ...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 43
This is my conversation with Andrew Huang, the founder and CEO of Conduit. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:42) - onchain and cloud compute (00:05:20) - parallel execution (00:09:08) - the application's perspective (00:16:14) - scaling the sequencer (00:26:52) - sponsor: Splits (00:27:36) - interoperability (00:33:11) - rollup economics (00:42:33) - moving from tech to crypto (00:47:43) - Georgios Konstantopoulos (00:52:02) - outro Links: Andrew Huang: https://x.com/KAndrewHuang Conduit: ht...
Oct 18, 2024•52 min•Ep. 42
This is my conversation with Georgios Konstantopoulos, General Partner and CTO at Paradigm. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:47) - iterating on rollups (00:07:52) - Reth architecture (00:25:44) - sponsor: Splits (00:26:27) - feedback loops with performance, stability, extensibility (00:36:14) - feedback loops with the team (00:49:17) - writing for thinking (00:54:47) - the big vision (01:10:49) - outro Links: Georgios Konstantopoulos on X - https://x.com/gakonst Georgios Konstantopoulos on ...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 41
This is my conversation with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:33) - the crypto lens on political philosophy (00:15:12) - the transition from the 20th to the 21st century (00:24:29) - sponsor: Splits (00:25:12) - the dimensions of uncertainty (00:46:14) - the duality between being idealistic and effective (00:58:46) - outro Links: Vitalik Buterin on X - https://x.com/VitalikButerin Vitalik Buterin on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/vitalik.eth Vitalik B...
Sep 20, 2024•59 min•Ep. 40
This is my conversation with Eric Alston, faculty director at the Leeds School of Business at CU Boulder and research associate with the Comparative Constitutions Project. Timestamps: (00:00) - intro (01:29) - choice in institutions matters (08:53) - secondary rules as rules for making rules (17:41) - constitutional moments (20:41) - how the US constitution has endured (28:39) - the characteristics of the US constitution (34:18) - sponsor: Splits (35:01) - the economic balance between federal/st...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 39
This is my conversation with Jesse Pollak (creator of Base), Ben Leventhal (founder/CEO of Blackbird), Julian Holguin (CEO of Doodles), and Yele Bademosi (cofounder/CEO of Onboard). Timestamps: (00:00) - intro (00:50) - Jesse Pollak, Base (09:41) - how the Base team is structured (17:25) - how the mission and strategy came together (27:43) - the focus in year two (35:38) - Ben Leventhal, Blackbird (39:35) - the restaurant P&L (43:36) - identity and payments (51:25) - Flynet as an L3 (53:11) ...
Aug 13, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 38
This is my conversation with Colin Armstrong, the founder of Paragraph. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:49) - Substack network effects (00:03:53) - new business models (00:15:32) - the content layer and the economic layer (00:21:18) - sponsor: Privy (00:22:34) - mechanisms to think about as a writer (00:29:32) - markets and social networks as forces of chaos (00:33:42) - building for the crypto-native vs the general audience (00:40:43) - emails vs wallets (00:48:23) - ARPU is higher in cry...
Aug 01, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 37
This is my conversation with Justin Glibert, CEO of Lattice and cofounder of 0xPARC. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:44) - digital physics (00:06:27) - changing physics + capitalism = theme parks (00:16:12) - objective functions are political (00:22:53) - sponsor: Optimism (00:23:58) - individual agency (00:27:25) - violence on the internet (00:39:17) - monoliths (00:47:24) - sponsor: Privy (00:48:40) - value systems (00:58:34) - homo economicus and homo ludens (01:10:50) - Emissary’s guid...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 36
This is my conversation with Jonny Mack, Cofounder of Fabric and Hypersub. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:05) - motivations (00:05:43) - pooled capital for shared ownership and upside (00:09:24) - the computer and the casino, the purist and the tourist (00:13:59) - sponsor: Privy (00:15:15) - $higher, memecoins, cashflow, headless brands (00:24:38) - STP, Hypersub, minting time (00:32:29) - onchain memberships are legible (00:40:55) - creators are multi-dimensional (00:46:21) - sponsor: O...
Jul 11, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 35
This is my conversation with Stephane Gosselin, cofounder of Flashbots, Frontier Research, and OneBalance. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:29) - sponsor: Optimism (00:02:34) - my existential question about crypto (00:07:13) - global consensus is the problem (00:14:27) - architecting a new system (00:21:56) - OneBalance and Credible Accounts (00:29:39) - credible commitment machines (00:34:20) - sponsor: Privy (00:35:35) - the user issues permissions for solvers (00:37:06) - the trust model...
Jun 24, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 34
This is my conversation with Molly Mackinlay, Head of Engineering, Product, and Research Development at Protocol Labs, and CEO at FilOz. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:59) - sponsor: Privy (00:03:15) - motivation (00:09:30) - exabytes of network capacity (00:12:11) - edge computing, bringing compute to data (00:14:26) - the history of IPFS, libp2p, IPLD, Filecoin, FVM, L2s and IPC (00:20:08) - designing incentives in Filecoin (00:25:11) - designing the block rewards curve (00:27:28) - pro...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 33
This is my conversation with Rish, cofounder of Neynar, building infrastructure for Farcaster. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:51) - sponsor: Optimism (00:03:01) - the idea maze for Neynar (00:12:46) - exit, building blocks, and monetization models (00:17:20) - how Neynar is architected (00:21:52) - handling Frames Friday (00:25:04) - scaling infrastructure by mapping requests to resources (00:35:05) - sponsor: Privy (00:36:25) - taking good risks as a startup (00:41:55) - iteration and pl...
May 17, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 33
This is my conversation with Sreeram Kannan, founder at EigenLayer. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:21) - sponsor: Optimism (00:02:42) - the AVS economy (00:05:24) - blockchains separate trust and innovation (00:16:53) - sponsor: Optimism (00:18:02) - specialized services and SaaS on EigenLayer (00:24:50) - rollups are open verifiable web servers (00:41:35) - rollup economics and business models (01:55:14) - the transition from academic to builder/operator (01:06:38) - impact per unit acti...
May 08, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 31
This is my conversation with Doug Petkanics and Eric Tang, cofounders of Livepeer. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:45) - sponsor: Optimism (00:03:55) - Livepeer origin story (00:11:54) - FFmpeg and the video infrastructure stack (00:17:07) - compute capacity and cost in open vs closed systems (00:22:59) - GPUs as the supply side, working at NVIDIA (00:40:27) - finding latent demand (00:46:10) - sponsor: Privy (00:47:30) - learnings on go-to-market, Livepeer Studio, AI video processing (01:...
May 06, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 30
This is my conversation with Martin Köppelmann, cofounder of Gnosis. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:47) - sponsor: Privy (00:03:08) - Gnosis Pay as an onchain bank account (00:13:49) - security, passkeys and recovery (00:21:19) - privacy, Tornado Cash (00:28:25) - sponsor: Optimism (00:29:35) - AI agents as a new form of life (00:36:43) - training with prediction markets as RLHF (00:46:00) - agents and prediction markets as interconnected concepts (00:56:21) - why now for prediction marke...
Mar 26, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 29
This is my conversation with Varun Srinivasan - cofounder of Merkle Manufactory, the company building the Farcaster protocol and the Warpcast client. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:34) - sponsor: Optimism (00:02:44) - Farcaster origins (00:05:59) - sufficient decentralization, namespaces, hubs and CRDTs (00:16:02) - type 1 vs type 2 decisions (00:21:23) - the protocol, channels, clients, spam (00:30:13) direct messaging and end-to-end encryption (00:36:38) - a turing complete social proto...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 28
This is my conversation with Rebecca Rettig and Michael Mosier. Rebecca is the Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs. Michael is cofounder of Arktouros and partner at Ex Ante. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:38) - sponsor: Privy (00:02:59) - Rebecca's background, the Silk Road case, Aave, Polygon (00:07:22) - Michael's background, Department of Justice, FinCEN, Espresso Systems, the White House, ex/ante (00:15:12) - the current regulatory regime, Bank Secrecy Act, sanctions laws, ...
Feb 20, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 27
This is my conversation with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:07) - sponsor: Optimism (00:02:17) - micro prediction markets, community notes, AIs as participants (00:14:13) - decentralized social networks, zk identity, Dark Forest, and Frogcrypto (00:25:54) - the dense jungle (00:30:08) - sponsor: Privy (00:31:29) - political instability, technology (00:34:16) - coordination and technology in climate (00:36:13) - AI, debugging and drawing, agency, secur...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 26
This is my conversation with Hart Lambur. We talk about Hart's path in building UMA (an oracle using schelling points to bring data onchain), Across (an intents-based bridge connecting ETH/L2s), and now Oval (MEV capture for oracle price updates). Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:29) - Sponsor: Privy ( privy.io ) (00:02:50) - The idea maze, Goldman Sachs, RFQ systems, legal vs smart contracts (00:11:03) - UMA, schelling point and optimistic oracle (00:16:41) - Raising the seed round (00:19:...
Jan 24, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 26
This is my conversation with Jesse Pollak. He led retail engineering at Coinbase for many years — building Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Wallet. More recently, he is leading the development of Base, Coinbase's L2 built on the OP Stack. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:01:43) - sponsor: Optimism ( optimism.io ) (00:03:07) - motivation behind Base (00:11:12) - pitching Base to the Coinbase exec team (00:14:24) - challenges of innovating on a schedule (00:17:54) - failing repeatedly to fin...
Jun 08, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 25
This is my conversation with Liam Horne, former CEO and advisor to Optimism Labs. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:59) - sponsor: Privy (privy.io) (00:03:35) - early influences, classmates with Vitalik in Waterloo (00:08:31) - Ethereum's potential and why scalability matters (00:10:06) - learning from Jeff Coleman (00:17:23) - defining a common language (00:21:06) - importance of community in Ethereum (00:26:34) - hackathons lead to progress (00:31:36) - collaboration as a core ETH value (0...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 24
