Brendan Farmer is the co-founder of Polygon, which is a project that is focused on scaling Ethereum. Brendan's contributions have been instrumental in the research and development of key scaling technologies within Polygon's framework, including Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, and Polygon Miden. Our conversation begins with an exploration of the foundational elements that constitute the Polygon ecosystem. We then delve into the realm of ZK technology, discussing its advantages as a preferred scaling...
Feb 19, 2024•52 min
Alex Blania is a cofounder of Worldcoin alongside Sam Altman and Max Novendtsern. Worldcoin is aiming to become the world's largest digital identity and financial network, giving ownership to everyone. Worldcoin could be considered the frontrunner in terms of ambition, leveraging unique methods to accelerate the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency technologies globally, to a point where critics have labelled it as "dystopian". In our conversation we dive into the controversial aspect of Worldc...
Feb 12, 2024•1 hr 5 min
⚠️IMPORTANT NOTICE ⚠️ Today we're joined by Chris Amani, who's the CEO of Terraform Labs. Our conversation with Chris unfolds in two parts. Initially recorded on January 17th, we begin by catching up on the latest developments and the new strategic direction of the Terra ecosystem following its collapse in May 2022. Intriguingly, just days after our initial dialogue, Terraform Labs announced its filing for bankruptcy. In the latter part of our discussion, we delve into the intricacies of this vo...
Feb 08, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Today we're joined by Mustafa Al-Bassam, CEO and Co-Founder of Celestia Labs. 15 years after Satoshi, we finally have what a blockchain actually is Celestia provides the ability to publish data and make sure that data is available. Celestia had what many are calling one of the best launches of 2023, and they are the first Data Availability Layer live today. In our conversation we get into how Mustafa built Celestia, other Data Availability Layers in the space, how Celestia can be thought of as a...
Jan 22, 2024•48 min
Matt Hougan is the CIO of Bitwise, which is a crypto index fund manager and one of the issuers of Bitcoin ETFs. Hougan is a renowned figure in the financial sector, known for his expertise in cryptocurrency and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In our conversation we get into Matt's initial reaction to the BTC ETF launch, the expected inflows for 2024, and the often underestimated impacts of these developments. We also discuss unique Vanguard's stance, the evolution of Bitcoin ETFs, why Bitwise main...
Jan 15, 2024•50 min
Today we're joined by Jason Bailey, Co-Founder and CEO of ClubNFT. ClubNFT provides solutions to help collectors analyze, monitor, and protect their NFT collections. Jason is an O.G. in the NFT space and today he shares many stories from back in the day. He was an early collector on SuperRare. He created the first NFT IRL drop at Christie's art event back in 2018. He'd been Red Pilling traditional art collectors before the term NFT was even coined. In our conversation we get into Jason's backgro...
Jan 08, 2024•58 min
Illia Polosukhin is the Co-Founder of NEAR Protocol, which is a sharded, proof-of-stake, Layer 1 blockchain. Originally conceived as an Artificial Intelligence endeavor, NEAR underwent a transformation, pivoting its focus to become a crypto project. We begin our conversation by exploring NEAR's shift into crypto, and later gain deeper insight into NEAR's core principles, underlying technology, the users, builders, as well as anticipated new features in the near future. Chapters 1:04 Who is Illia...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Jameson Lopp is the CTO of CasaHODL, a company specializing in Bitcoin security solutions. He has played a pivotal role in developing products and services that empower individuals to safeguard their digital assets. Jameson is a globally recognized voice from his written work on cybersecurity, privacy and the social implementations of Bitcoin. Trigger warning for those in the Ethereum community and beyond as this is a spicy episode that gets gritty with the importance of individual privacy and p...
Dec 25, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Chris Bradbury is the CEO of Summer.fi (previously oasis.app). Summer.fi is the 6th largest DeFi protocol that enables users to borrow, lend, and multiply assets across multiple DeFi protocols. In our conversation we dive into the basics of Summer.fi, the rebrand from oasis.app, learn about popular strategies within the platform and their risks, UX updates, competition, and much more. 0:04 Intro to Chris Bradbury 0:50 TL;DR Summer.fi 2:26 Rebrand from oasis.app 9:20 DeFi in one frontend 16:20 Po...
Dec 18, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Paradigm announces the launch of the Paradigm Policy Lab, a collaborative space for academics, policy experts, lawyers, and technologists in the crypto sector. The lab, a first in the field, focuses on research and analytical thinking applied to policy in the crypto world. Over the last year, Paradigm has become a policy leader, involved in legal battles, hosting discussions, and publishing research. The Policy Lab, guided by three principles, aims to impact the crypto policy landscape through e...
Dec 16, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Matcha recently launched cross-chain swap functionality, allowing users to swap one asset on a particular chain for an new asset on a separate chain with one transaction. Cross-chain swaps on Matcha are available on 7 chains: Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base and BNB Chain. 1:05 Will's background 4:41 Matcha origin story 8:30 USP of Matcha 11:30 Cross-chain swaps 19:13 Bridge security 25:00 Supported chains 35:40 Mainstream catalyst for DeFi 40:03 Hopes for the upcoming bull...
Dec 11, 2023•52 min
Today we're joined by Arjun Bhuptani, founder and CEO of Connext Labs. We get an in-depth look at Connext, an important component in the Web 3 stack. In a world of many Layer 1s and Layer 2s, connecting the chains is so important, especially doing it in a secure way. We get into how they approach security, we dive into the nuance of Vitalik's post on bridging, we talk about rollups-as-a-service, how Connext abstracts away the hassle from a user standpoint around interacting with multiple chains,...
Dec 05, 2023•56 min
David Gogel is the VP of Strategy and Operations at the dYdX Foundation. In today's podcast, David will discuss the recent milestone of the foundation operating on its independent app chain. This transition involved multiple stages and intriguing tokenomics mechanisms, marking a significant moment for the organization. In our conversation, we will delve deeper into the evolution of this move and its implications, offering insights into dYdX's journey going forward.
Dec 04, 2023•54 min
This conversation between The Defiant and Rune Christensen was recorded during Devconnect 2023 in Istanbul. Chapters 0:28 Why Rune is in Istanbul 1:02 Crypto Adoption in Türkiye 5:03 Interest for DeFi in Türkiye 8:09 Emerging Markets 10:50 Regulatory Landscape in Türkiye 24:15 MakerDAO Rebrand 27:51 MakerDAO Endgame Update 33:57 MakerDAO's Exposure to T-Bills vs Macro Conditions 38:00 Different Stablecoins 47:14 MKR and Governance...
Nov 27, 2023•55 min
This conversation between The Defiant and Vitalik Buterin was recorded during Devconnect 2023 in Istanbul. Chapters 0:18 First time in Türkiye? 1:20 Significance of crypto in Türkiye 3:40 Key takeaways from Türkiye 4:56 Türkiye as a crypto hub 7:20 Vitalik's favorite Turkish dish 8:25 Ethereum roadmap update 12:03 Can the roadmap be dynamic? 14:25 Dencun upgrade 16:34 Rollup risks & costs 18:25 Scaling rollups 19:30 UX problems 22:27 Ethereum Security 23:25 Solution to centralized servers 26...
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr
The cryptocurrency world has been buzzing with news of a potential Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) in recent weeks. The idea of a Bitcoin ETF has been around since 2013, with early proposals like the one from the Winklevoss twins facing repeated rejections by the SEC. However, the recent optimism stems from BlackRock's involvement in the application process. This prominent financial institution's interest has reignited hope for the ETF's approval and sparked a new rally in the cryptocurrency ...
Nov 24, 2023•55 min
This week's podcast features a number of interviews we conducted in Romania, during the xDay conference hosted by MultiversX. In this podcast, we will hear from Beniamin Mincu - founder of MultiversX Bogdan Ivan - Romanian Minister of Digitalization Sheraz Ahmed - Managing Partner at Storm Partners Sunny Aggarwal - Co-Founder of Osmosis Sergiu Biriș - Head of Product at MultiversX Grigore Rosu - Founder of Runtime Verification Danilo Carlucci - Founder and CEO of Morningstar Ventures. In this ep...
Oct 30, 2023•42 min
Darren Langley is the general manager of Rocket Pool which provides liquid staking services for ETH holders. Liquid staking on Ethereum has been a major trend this year as it enables ETH holders to earn rewards by staking on the Ethereum network while additionally allowing stakers to seek financial opportunities with their staked ETH. In our conversation, we will get into the Rocket Pool story since their ICO, details of what it takes to become an Ethereum validator and node operator, the utilit...
Oct 23, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Lucas Vogelsang is the founder of Centrifuge, a credit platform that brings Real World Assets onchain. Real World Assets (RWAs) have been a growing sector in DeFi over the last year. In our conversation, we’ll talk about how RWAs bridge the gap between tradfi and DeFi, how the process of beginning on institutional lenders and matching with real-life borrowers works, what protections are in place in case of loan defaults, and what the future looks like for this sector. But first, Lucas will provi...
Oct 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Alex Shevchenko is the CEO of Aurora Labs, which is a Layer 2 scaling solution built on Near. Alex has a doctoral degree in math and physics. Today, we get into the details behind Aurora Labs, the difference between Aurora Cloud and the Aurora EVM, how they have survived the market crash, Alex's vision of Ethereum Layer 2s, his conviction in an AppChain future, and so much more. We begin our conversation with Alex's focus at Aurora Labs.
Oct 10, 2023•48 min
Today we're diving deep into the mind of Spencer Bogart, who is a partner at Blockchain Capital. Spencer has played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of decentralized technologies and digital assets over the last decade. We get into his journey impact in the blockchain sector, their investment thesis around the controversial WorldCoin, how he's continued to thrive among many economic downturns, and we get into their recent news of a $580 million for two new funds. But first, Spencer tells ...
Oct 03, 2023•58 min
This week, we were joined by Christian Montoya, Senior Product Manager for Metamask Snaps Weekly Recap is your one-stop show for the most compelling news of the week, brought to you by the writers at The Defiant. This series delves deeper into our reports, revealing further insights and perspectives that help you make sense of the latest developments. Every Friday, we go live on our YouTube channel, offering a unique mix of analysis and commentary. Stay informed and ahead of the curve by tuning ...
Sep 26, 2023•53 min
Erik Marks is the director of product for permissionless innovation at MetaMask. MetaMask, the popular non-custodial wallet owned by Consensys, has been in the spotlight following the launch of Snaps on open beta. You can think of Snaps as plugins that allow developers to add new and different apps that we can use in MetaMask. One of the biggest implications of this is that Snaps will connect MetaMask to non-Ethereum chains, including Bitcoin and Solana. In our conversation, we dive deep into th...
Sep 25, 2023•57 min
Sean Li is the CEO and Co-founder of Magic Labs, which is a wallet that enables passwordless login and Web3 onboarding without seed phrases. Despite not being as well known as other Web3 wallets, Magic Labs recently raised $52M from PayPal Ventures, onboarded mainstream brands like Mattel and 7-Eleven, and have over 25 million wallets installed. In our conversation, we will dive into how they've built enterprise-friendly wallet solutions, their major collaborations, the onboarding process of Web...
Sep 18, 2023•53 min
Weekly Recap is your one-stop show for the most compelling news of the week, brought to you by the writers at The Defiant. This series delves deeper into our reports, revealing further insights and perspectives that help you make sense of the latest developments. Every Friday, we go live on our YouTube channel, offering a unique mix of analysis and commentary. Stay informed and ahead of the curve by tuning into our weekly broadcasts. Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel for a regular dose o...
Sep 18, 2023•1 hr 10 min
This week, we were joined by Will Warren and Ashley Ebersole from 0x to discuss the CFTC's recent enforcement actions against three DeFi protocols. Weekly Recap is your one-stop show for the most compelling news of the week, brought to you by the writers at The Defiant. This series delves deeper into our reports, revealing further insights and perspectives that help you make sense of the latest developments. Every Friday, we go live on our YouTube channel, offering a unique mix of analysis and c...
Sep 12, 2023•44 min
This week, we were joined by Anatoly Yakovenko, founder and CEO of Solana. Weekly Recap is your one-stop show for the most compelling news of the week, brought to you by the writers at The Defiant. This series delves deeper into our reports, revealing further insights and perspectives that help you make sense of the latest developments. Every Friday, we go live on our YouTube channel, offering a unique mix of analysis and commentary. Stay informed and ahead of the curve by tuning into our weekly...
Sep 09, 2023•49 min
Weekly Recap is your one-stop show for the most compelling news of the week, brought to you by the writers at The Defiant. This series delves deeper into our reports, revealing further insights and perspectives that help you make sense of the latest developments. Every Friday, we go live on our YouTube channel, offering a unique mix of analysis and commentary. Stay informed and ahead of the curve by tuning into our weekly broadcasts. Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel for a regular dose o...
Sep 03, 2023•59 min
In this episode of The Defiant podcast, we are joined by Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino. We discuss Tether's banking partners, its reserve composition, its latest attestation, and why the stablecoin issuer still hasn't presented an audit. Ardoino puts some of the blame on auditing firms.
Aug 31, 2023•43 min
Weekly Recap is your one-stop show for the most compelling news of the week, brought to you by the writers at The Defiant. This series delves deeper into our reports, revealing further insights and perspectives that help you make sense of the latest developments. Every Friday, we go live on our YouTube channel, offering a unique mix of analysis and commentary. Stay informed and ahead of the curve by tuning into our weekly broadcasts. Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel for a regular dose o...
Aug 26, 2023•1 hr 6 min
