Temoc Weber & Igor Mandrigin are the Co-Founders of Gateway (https://gateway.fm). Backed by Lemniscap, Unstoppable Domains, & more, Gateway is building the next generation of web3 infrastructure and tooling products—offering RPC, staking, and instant private zk-rollups. In this episode we discuss private rollups and app-chain development, building during the bear market, what keeps them excited about building in crypto (despite macro adversity), their best advice for founders in web3, &a...
Sep 29, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Julia Zhou is a Partner—Venture & Market-Making at AlphaLab Capital (www.alphalab.capital). AlphaLab Capital Group is a technology-driven trading group that transacts over $2B daily in cryptoassets on 40+ exchanges, both centralized and decentralized. They were one of the first movers in quantitative trading on the blockchain, and today they operate thousands of algorithms 24/7 on a globally distributed network of trading servers. In this episode we chat about whether market makers are neces...
Sep 22, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Amrit Kumar is the COO at AltLayer (https://www.altlayer.io). Backed by Polychain, Binance Labs, Balaji Srinivasan, & more, AltLayer offers Rollups-as-a-Service products that accelerate web3 projects. In this episode we discuss the original insights that led to the creation of AltLayer, the remarkable traction of their testnet, Amrit’s advice for building and scaling teams, his outlook on the crypto space writ large, & much more. Recorded Wednesday August 30, 2023....
Sep 04, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Tim Beiko is part of the Protocol Team at the Ethereum Foundation (https://ethereum.org/en/foundation). In this role Tim orchestrates development teams focused on the core protocol—most notably for The Merge. In this episode we discuss Tim’s origin story in crypto, how Ethereum can serve as an economic testnet for new types of coordination in the world (and why that’s a valuable proposition), what he’s most excited about for the future of Ethereum, his advice for developers new to the crypto spa...
Sep 02, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 67
J.M. Porup is the Chief Information Security Officer of Ava Labs (here in a personal capacity to talk security and web3). In this episode we discuss security differences within web2 vs. web3, how to think about security in web3 as an individual and as an institution, why being a CISO is about risk reduction (not risk elimination), and why security in crypto right now is like “fighting Mike Tyson with a blindfold on” (hint: it has to do with playing defense against actual nation-states—without go...
Aug 29, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Foobar is the Founder & CEO of Delegate (https://delegate.xyz). Delegate is all about securing your on-chain identity—enabling you to keep your vaulted NFTs and ERC20s safe by linking wallets together, plus claim airdrops, prove token ownership, and more from your hot wallet. In this episode we talk about unexpected challenges of semi-pseudonymity on the internet, Foobar’s present outlook on the crypto space writ large, the interesting product evolution of Delegate (formerly Delegate Cash), ...
Aug 26, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Zac Williamson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Aztec ( https://aztec.network ). Backed by Variant, a16z, & more, Aztec is a first-of-its-kind hybrid zkRollup supporting both public and private smart contract execution. In this episode we learn how Zac got into crypto from his past life as an Oxford researcher in particle physics, his perspective on the practical uses of privacy (and the implications for the future of the internet), the limitations of blockchains today (compared to the past), th...
Aug 23, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Evin McMullen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Disco (https://www.disco.xyz/). Backed by Polychain Capital, Winklevoss Capital, WAGMI Ventures, & more, Disco is your own personal data backpack—where you own yourself, and control what you share. In this episode we hear about Evin’s fascinating educational journey, her formative experiences with Napster early-on, how decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials work in Disco, some upcoming exciting news for the Disco community, & much,...
Aug 21, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Jay Jog is the Co-Founder of Sei Labs (https://www.sei.io/). Backed by Multicoin Capital, Coinbase, WAGMI Ventures, & more, Sei is the fastest Layer 1 blockchain, designed to scale with the industry. In this episode we discuss Jay’s experience at Robinhood (and how it inspired the creation of Sei Labs), how speed unlocks new building possibilities, Sei’s evolution from the “DeFi-focused chain” to a “general-purpose permissionless chain,” and of course–today’s mainnet launch (plus much, much ...
Aug 15, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Max Galka is the Founder and CEO of Elementus (https://www.elementus.io/). Backed by Gemini, Lightspeed, & more, Elementus puts the democratization of quality blockchain data at the forefront of everything we do in order to transform industries at web3 scale. In this episode we chat about his tradfi experience during the financial crisis, the quest for enabling quality data at-scale, what’s got Max excited at Elementus these days (and looking toward the future), and much more. Recorded Monda...
Aug 08, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Antonio Garcia-Martinez is the Founder and CEO of Spindl (https://www.spindl.xyz). Backed by Dragonfly, Chapter One, Balaji Srinivasan, & more, Spindl is creating Web3's first real attribution system—so you can know where your users came from, what they're doing, and why. In this episode we chat about what attribution enables for analytics, communicating the value of marketing to crypto-natives, differences between building in web2 vs. web3 (and why web3 is simply more interesting), predicti...
Aug 04, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Max Howell is the Founder and CEO of Tea (https://tea.xyz). Backed by Acuitas Group Holdings, Betaworks Ventures, & more, Tea is unified packaging infrastructure—and through that packaging infrastructure, they have plans of leveraging blockchain to help remunerate devs for their contributions to OSS. In this episode we discuss Max’s illustrious history within the open-source movement as creator of Homebrew, how blockchains uniquely enable what web2 technologies can’t in the quest to remunera...
Jul 21, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 59
Sreeram Kannan is the Founder and CEO of EigenLayer ( https://www.eigenlayer.xyz/ ). Backed by Blockchain Capital, Figment Capital, WAGMI Ventures, & more, EigenLayer is the first market for decentralized trust—creating an ecosystem for restaking, which enables staked ETH to be used as cryptoeconomic security for protocols other than Ethereum, in exchange for protocol fees and rewards. In this episode we discuss Sreeram’s journey through academia, the key insights that produced EigenLayer, t...
Jul 12, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Raj Parekh is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Portal (www.portalhq.io). Backed by Haun Ventures, Chapter One, Slow Ventures, & more, Portal enables you to launch a powerful and secure offering with a single integration for all of Web3 that gives your users direct access to the world of DeFi, NFTs, blockchain-based gaming, and more. In this episode we discuss Raj’s perspective on user experience in web3 given his background at Visa, his thoughts on the future of multi-party-computation and account...
Jul 07, 2023•20 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Michael Hiles is the Founder & CEO of 10XTS (https://10xts.com/). Backed by LOUD Capital, 10XTS builds compliant, programmable digital securities and interoperable web3-powered capital markets infra solutions. In this episode we discuss a law-centric approach for the blockchain industry, the importance of a solid legal regime for global capital markets (and integrating well), the state of crypto regulation in the US and abroad, & much more. Recorded Monday June 26th, 2023....
Jul 03, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Timur Csillik (Co-Founder & CEO @ Nabu) and Diederik Kruijssen (Chief Data Officer @ Nabu) join us on today’s episode. Backed by Founders Factory, Nabu (nabu.xyz) is building the most trusted NFT valuation engine, to increase transparency in Web3 and enable the universal adoption of NFTs as an asset class. In this episode we discuss Nabu’s approach of leveraging machine learning and AI to ascertain NFT prices, perspectives on upcoming growth drivers within web3, the frontier space of NFTs in...
Jul 01, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 55
John Crain is the Co-Founder and CEO of SuperRare Labs (https://superrare.com). Backed by Sound Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and angels like Naval Ravikant and Mark Cuban, SuperRare is an NFT marketplace for curated cryptoart—a new art market for artists, collectors, and curators. In this episode we discuss the fascinating origin of SuperRare, $RARE and their progressive decentralization into a DAO, interesting recent collabs and how those come to exist, the exciting future of cryptoart (and Su...
Jun 25, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Nick Emmons is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Upshot (https://upshot.xyz). Backed by Polychain and Blockchain Capital, Upshot is building financial infrastructure for NFTs, including industry-leading NFT appraisals and other financial tools that provide deep insight into NFT markets and unlock a wave of new DeFi possibilities. Upshot is currently providing accurate, real-time appraisals for 104M+ NFTs from over 87k collections. In this episode we discuss Nick’s narration of the NFT space’s history a...
Jun 17, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Darshan Vaidya is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Credora (http://credora.io). Backed by Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, WAGMI Ventures, & more, Credora is building infrastructure for institutional credit—with its complete lending platform, counterparty credit ratings, & more. In this episode we discuss the advantages of data-driven lending relative to relationship-driven lending, the early challenges to adoption (and how they’ve successfully solved for those challenges), the promise of crypto’s...
Jun 16, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Ivo Georgiev is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Ambire (https://www.ambire.com/). Backed by LAUNCHub Ventures, MetaCartel Ventures, & more, Ambire is the Web3 wallet that makes self-custody easy and secure for everyone (built on account abstraction). Ambire Wallet is available on mobile and allows registering using email (while keeping full custody). In this episode we discuss the journey from AdEx to Ambire, the wallet market when they originally launched Wallet, the two distinct types of accoun...
Jun 09, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Michael Feng is the Co-Founder @ Hummingbot ( https://hummingbot.org/ ). Backed by Initialized Capital, Slow Ventures, & more, Hummingbot is open source software that helps you build high-frequency crypto trading bots that specialize in market making and arbitrage strategies. They average $100M+ 24H volume, have 1M+ all-time downloads, and support 13+ HFT strategies. In this episode we dive deep on recently decentralizing their operations to HBOT token holders, why they restructured as a not...
Jun 02, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Omar Yehia is the Head of Investments at Matter Labs, creators of zkSync (https://matter-labs.io/). Backed by a16z, Variant, Dragonfly, & more, Matter Labs is scaling Ethereum with zero-knowledge proofs to accelerate public blockchain adoption. In this episode we discuss zkSync’s evolution from testnet to mainnet alpha, the breadth of their ecosystem (and Omar’s opinion on most exciting directions), how he thinks about capital allocation on behalf of Matter Labs, and his predictions for the ...
May 26, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Matt Cutler is the Co-Founder & CEO of Blocknative (https://www.blocknative.com/). Backed by Blockchain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Ryan Sean Adams & David Hoffman, & more, Blocknative is powering the crypto space—building for validators, for dApps, for wallets, and for traders. In this episode we discuss Blocknative’s product evolution (from their beginnings to their now-expansive product offerings), rogue Ethereum validators, the possibilities & implications of ERC 4337, lesson...
May 24, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Abhinav Gaur is the Founder & COO @ urFeed (https://urfeed.xyz). urFeed is a social video & streaming platform, co-owned by creators and their community. In this episode we discuss problems with traditional web2 social platforms, why their feed experience is better than the usual algorithmic feeds, migrating users from web2, the road of progressive decentralization, and much more. Recorded Tuesday May 16th, 2023.
May 23, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Bradley Miles is the Co-Founder & CEO of Roll (https://tryroll.com/). Backed by Techstars, Arthur Hayes, Balaji Srinivasan, & more, Roll is enabling a world where the future of social tokens belongs to you. In this episode we discuss Bradley’s background in venture capital, what Roll is building toward (and soon launching!), and the incredible experience they’re designing for users that will broaden adoption and usability for tokens across the space. Recorded Monday May 15th, 2023. SHOW ...
May 22, 2023•20 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Himanshu Sahay & Dhruv Patel are the Co-Founders of Arch (www.archlending.com). Backed by Tribe Capital, Picus Capital, & more, Arch is the most secure way to borrow against alternative assets. Users can access instant credit without selling your crypto or equity stake, on the platform with best-in-class security and a regulatory-first approach. In this episode we discuss their policy to not “touch or reloan customer funds for any reason,” their state-by-state approach to getting regulat...
May 18, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Ben Su is the Co-Founder & COO of Capita (https://www.percapita.io/). Capita allows you to easily design, launch, and operate the investment group you want, on a platform made for you. End-to-end. No-code—whether syndicates, incubators, funds, or DAOs. In this episode we discuss their interesting path from working as lawyers to landing on the present iteration of Capita, the missing ingredients in tooling they've stepped in to solve, the future of the crypto space in general, and much more. ...
May 16, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Alex Salnikov is the Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at Rarible ( https://rarible.com/ ). Backed by Coinbase Ventures, CoinFund, & more, Rarible is a leading blue-chip NFT company that powers both established and emerging brands and creators. Through a multi-chain, aggregated marketplace for NFTs, a self-serve marketplace builder tool, and a white-glove service for custom marketplaces, their products help brands and creators achieve success at every stage of their NFT journey. In thi...
May 15, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Chad Lynch is the Co-Founder of Loreum (https://www.loreum.org/). Previously engineer #1 at Maple Finance, Chad is creating Loreum to explore the frontier of human coordination. Right now Loreum is building a DAO Governance protocol for EVM chains, DAO capital formation tooling, and DAO labor market and productivity tooling. In this episode we discuss why Loreum is necessary given the current state of DAO’s, what ingredients have been missing to bring web3 into the next inning, and much, much mo...
May 12, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Shane Mac is the Founder & CEO of XMTP ( http://xmtp.org ). Backed by a16z, Sound Ventures, Alexis Ohanian, Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, & many more, XMTP is building the communication network & protocol for web3. In this episode we discuss the remarkable people who’ve come alongside XMTP’s purpose (with emphasis on the developers), the nature of value accrual for a network like XMTP, what the earliest days of XMTP were like, and much more. Recorded Monday April 17th, 2023....
May 11, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 41
