Episode description

In today’s episode Melrose PR Director of Content Strategy Nikki Del Principe guest-hosts Emre Tekisalp. Emre is the Head of Business Development at O(1) Labs, the team behind Coda Protocol. Before joining O(1) Labs, Emre was at Coinbase, the largest exchange in the U.S., and found his way into crypto back in 2015 through roles at Ripple and a few other projects.

When you look at blockchains in general, starting with Bitcoin, one of the biggest struggles is how to make these virtual machines more accessible, personal, and powerful. Emre describes this dilemma as the "infamous scaling debate." Coda addresses this problem by deploying zero knowledge proofs to keep the blockchain at a tiny fixed size. At Coda, the data needed to download the blockchain is only about 20 kilobytes, which, when compared to other blockchains that require hundreds of gigabytes, is incredibly small and lightweight. Coda recently introduced a new term, ScaDe ScaDe (Scalability-per-unit-of-Decentralization), that incorporates decentralization into the measure of scalability rather than only focusing on throughput (transactions per second). With its Genesis token program underway, Coda is well on its way to being highly decentralized for its upcoming mainnet launch.

Topics covered:

- The problem Coda Protocol addresses and the solution it offers
- Emre’s view on blockchain’s scalability problem and the introduction of a new term for measuring scalability
- Emre's thoughts on Libra and how it familiarizes people with the concept of digital money
- How blockchains can scale for mobile and why that is so important
- More about Coda’s milestones and the recently launched Genesis token program
- Coda’s ultimate vision for the future
- Emre’s predictions and hopes for the blockchain industry
- The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Coda and crypto in general
- Emre’s recommendations on resources for people to dive deeper into the blockchain space

Links to Resources:

Coda Protocol website: https://codaprotocol.com/

Coda Protocol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/codaprotocol

Coda Protocol on Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/Vexf4ED

Apply to the Genesis token program: https://codaprotocol.com/genesis

Solving the Scalability Trilemma Blog Post: https://codaprotocol.com/blog/solving-the-scalability-trilemma

Coinbase video on Cryptocurrency and the Future of Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWeCQkIJNkY

Hash Power Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/is/podcast/hash-power-ep-1-understanding-blockchains/id1154105909?i=1000392721406

"Why Decentralization Matters" via OneZero Medium: https://onezero.medium.com/why-decentralization-matters-5e3f79f7638e