Succinct: Every Rollup Will Be A ZK Rollup! - Uma Roy Epicenter - Learn About Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin And Distributed Technologies podcast

1:04:42

In the digital networked age, people’s attention often overlooks local problems in favour of global ones, which don’t necessarily impact them in their daily lives, or over which they don’t have a say due to the skewed Pareto distribution of power in modern day societies. Puja Ohlhaver, in her recent research paper ‘Community currencies’, proposes a dual-currency model that prices attention and influence in each community, with the ultimate goal of creating a Gaussian distribution of power, either locally, or globally through the dynamic interaction of multiple local communities. This model allows community members to stake their currency to earn non-transferable governance rights, creating a substrate for decentralised societal coordination that favours social innovation. Topics covered in this episode: Puja’s background Web3 research ‘Community currencies’ Pareto vs. Gaussian distributions Global vs. local power distributions The community currencies model Meritocracy vs. influence Quadratic funding Governance, bribery and the crisis of legitimacy Experimenting with community currencies Episode links: Puja Ohlhaver on X 'Community Currencies' Research Paper 'Decentralized Society' Research Paper Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Nevermined: Payment System for the AI Agentic Economy - Don Gossen 1:04:38

7 days ago1:04:38

1:04:38

Even though current LLM providers usually charge flat rates regardless if the subscriber is a ‘power user’ or not, as AI agents become the workhorses of the online economy, a dynamic AI-to-AI payments infrastructure would prove crucial for proper remuneration. Nevermined proposes a blockchain-agnostic, AI-agnostic credit system, that each builder can use to implement custom pricing strategies for their users. As the next trillion transactions will be mostly performed by AI agents, a universal payment system would help streamline integrations and economic interactions. Topics covered in this episode: Don’s background Integrating payment systems in the agentic economy Marketplaces vs. payment systems AI agentic economy Fixed vs. variable pricing strategies License tokenization Settlement and payment for AI agents Estimating price and avoiding overcharges Nevermined’s tech stack and integrations Value prop Nevermined metrics Episode links: Don Gossen on X Nevermined on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Turtle Club: Helping Web3 Users Monetize Their On-Chain Activity - Esfandiar Lagevardi 1:09:25

15 days ago1:09:25

1:09:25

As more and more protocols compete for marketshare, user acquisition represents one of the most important elements of the GTM strategy. Web3 projects, through their governance tokens, can incentivise users directly to participate in meaningful activities for each protocol, subsidising their revenue generation through vested upside in the project. Turtle Club built the first distribution protocol of Web3, helping its users maximise their rewards they get for meaningful on-chain activities that help bootstrap projects. Topics covered in this episode: Esfandiar’s background The evolution of DeFi Yield sustainability in DeFi DeFi vs. TradFi Quantifying risk Main blockers for DeFi adoption On-chain transparency or privacy? What is missing in DeFi? Genesis story of Turtle Club How Turtle Club users accrue rewards Episode links: Esfandiar Lagevardi on LinkedIn Turtle Club on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Story Protocol: Tokenizing Intelligence Into Programmable IP Assets - Jason Zhao 58:54

25 days ago58:54

58:54

As online content becomes predominantly AI-driven, intellectual property (IP) rights should not be neglected as (human) creators will heavily rely on them. While the main use cases for blockchains revolve around financial applications, one could argue that our everyday lives constantly intersect IPs in different forms. Although the legal framework is abundant, proper recording, monetization and disputes are often a burden for independent creators. Story Protocol aims to create a decentralised framework for IP management, tokenizing it both through NFTs and fungible tokens, allowing creators to register fully programmable IP, that is also recognized and enforced through the traditional judiciary system. Using smart contracts and programmable metadata, Story Protocol ensures proper monetization for creators whenever their IP is used. Topics covered in this episode: Jason’s background Current IP pain points Tokenizing IP Story Protocol blockchain Preventing IP infringement Story Protocol validators Interoperability Onboarding traditional IP to Story Protocol Story Protocol’s legal framework Enforcing IP rights on Story Protocol Hiding or demonetizing on-chain IP Governance & disputes Roadmap Episode links: Jason Zhao on X Story Protocol on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Balancer: Custom AMMs and Liquidity Solutions - Fernando Martinelli 1:04:35

5 weeks ago1:04:35

1:04:35

While AMMs (automated market makers) represent a DeFi innovation in themselves, research and experimentation have pushed the possibilities well beyond the limitations of the classic x*y=k constant product formula originally used by LPs. One of the main innovators in this field remains Balancer - from multi-token pools with different weights replicating TradFi indices, to dynamic ratios that can be changed under certain conditions preventing further imbalances, Balancer set in place user protection measures. With the recent release of Balancer V3, developers get more freedom to experiment with AMMs, introducing features such as hooks that enable limitless pool customisation, boosted pools that combine LP fees with yield farming from money markets, and many more. Topics covered in this episode: Balancer’s inception The evolution of AMMs Balancer vs. other AMM competitors Fungible vs. non-fungible liquidity Balancer v3 Boosted liquidity pools DevEx and hooks in Balancer v3 Preventing stablecoin depegs MEV mitigation & CoW AMM Scaling to L2s Gyroscope & QuantAMM Balancer’s B2C & B2B solutions Episode links: Fernando Martinelli on X Balancer on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Kiln: Democratising Value Creation in Digital Assets - Laszlo Szabo 59:58

6 weeks ago59:58

59:58

Kiln operates as a staking-as-a-service platform, primarily focused on Ethereum, enabling users to stake assets programmatically, managing validators, rewards, and commissions through an API-first approach. In addition, it offers white-label solutions that allow institutional clients to integrate staking functionalities into their own offerings, with unified API for all assets and rewards, making it easier for businesses to provide staking services without developing the infrastructure themselves. With more than $13bn worth of assets secured, Kiln has proven its reliability, having no slashing events thus far. Moreover, Kiln widget offers a no-code experience for launching custom earn options, integrated with every major wallet and custodian. Topics covered in this episode: Laszlo’s background Founding Kiln Enterprise-grade validators and slashing DevOps & infrastructure maintenance ETH staking and custody Liquid staking and restaking The evolution of staking providers and requirements DeFi yield Institutional investors Kiln roadmap Episode links: Laszlo Szabo on X Kiln on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Babylon: Self-Custodial Bitcoin Native Staking & Bitcoin-Secured Networks - David Tse 49:43

7 weeks ago49:43

49:43

Throughout the years, there were many attempts of tapping into Bitcoin’s liquidity and security, but almost all of them came with different caveats. Most notably, wrapped BTC (wBTC) depended on the wrapper contract security. However, the recent surge in research and development for native solutions has led to breakthroughs previously thought impossible. Babylon launched native BTC staking and plans to further expand this to secure other blockchains, in a model similar to that of mesh security. This would not only help secure other networks, but it would also unlock liquidity from the mother chain through liquid staking derivatives. Topics covered in this episode: David’s background The evolution of Babylon The Bitcoin Renaissance Technical challenges of implementing Bitcoin staking The OP_CAT upgrade Babylon’s Bitcoin staking & Bitcoin-secured networks Bridging liquidity & LSTs Securing multiple chains and slashing Babylon chain - aggregating Bitcoin-secured networks Could Bitcoin become a POS chain? Babylon upgradeability Episode links: David Tse on X Babylon on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sebastien Couture.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
RedStone: The Oracle Pioneering the Future of DeFi - Marcin Kaźmierczak 1:04:40

8 weeks ago1:04:40

1:04:40

The DeFi landscape has significantly evolved since 2018 when Chainlink was launched. Recent developments such as L2 rollups, liquid staking, restaking and the rise of BTC DeFi have created huge demand for more customizable, modular oracles that would be able to provide accurate data for countless use cases, crosschain. RedStone set out to do exactly that and are now securing over $6.6 bn worth of assets (1000+ assets), across more than 60 chains, without a single mispricing event. Topics covered in this episode: Marcin’s background Early oracle landscape RedStone’s technical architecture Network incentives Data aggregation module Node operator module Push vs. Pull oracles RedStone’s business model The role of RedStone token Pyth vs. RedStone Restaking Oracle extractable value Synergies between oracles and institutional investors Episode links: Marcin Kazmierczak on X RedStone on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Privado ID & Quark ID: On-Chain ZK-Powered Unified ID - Diego Fernandez & Evin McMullen 1:06:49

9 weeks ago1:06:49

1:06:49

Traditional KYC and AML regulations have often forced companies to comply, without having the right tools to do so. Simply storing users’ personal information led to the creation of security honeypots which haven’t gone unnoticed by hackers. Web3 solutions like Privado ID aim to cryptographically prove certain traits from a user’s personal data, without disclosing it to the enquirer. This is usually made possible through zero knowledge proofs which allow users to store their personal data on their own device and only exchange verifiable credentials with trusted issuers. City of Buenos Aires has adopted a similar implementation through their Quark ID system, a digital trust framework that creates a new digital identity system, giving people control over their information. Topics covered in this episode: Evin’s background and founding Disco Polygon ID acquisition and blockchain agnostic decentralized IDs Diego’s background, from private to public practice Privado ID and its registry of reputation issuers Use cases, DevEx and UX KYC and regulations Buenos Aires digital ID system Real world applications of Quark ID UX frictions and solutions ZK verification Societal impact and adoption Ethical considerations around DIDs The role of blockchains in other real world applications Episode links: Evin McMullen on X Diego Fernandez on X Privado ID on X Quark ID on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Abundance: The First 1 Gigagas/second Stack for Sovereign Rollups - Hilmar Orth 1:09:00

10 weeks ago1:09:00

1:09:00

One of the most limited blockchain resources is blockspace. From Bitcoin’s Blocksize Wars to Ethereum’s scaling roadmap, a common denominator seems to have emerged in the form of rollups. Advancements in zero knowledge proofs have enabled trustless bridges, which are a cornerstone to onboarding liquidity to any blockchain. Furthermore, Celestia’s modular approach to blockchain architecture and their recent commitment to gigabyte blocks of data availability marked the beginning of commoditization for rollups. Abundance is the first rollup-as-a-service platform that is able to scale to 1 gigagas/second throughput, finally bringing off-chain applications, on-chain. Topics covered in this episode: Gelato’s pivot to rollup-as-a-service platform Sovereign rollups Enshrined bridges and settlement proofs Abundance and 1 Gigagas/second rollups Modularity Security assumptions Sequencer (de)centralisation Social consensus Celestia’s DA layer bandwidth Ethereum native rollups Decentralisation and censorship-resistance Episode links: Hilmar Orth on X Gelato Network on X Abundance on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Monad: The EVM-Compatible 10,000 TPS L1 Blockchain - Keone Hon 1:10:54

11 weeks ago1:10:54

1:10:54

The status quo for developers choosing an ecosystem for their blockchain usually revolves around trade-offs: do they go for Ethereum’s network effect, liquidity and decentralisation, or sacrifice some features in favour of a higher throughput. Monad aims to combine the best of both worlds, while not being limited by excessive hardware requirements. Monad built an EVM-compatible L1 from the ground up, completely rethinking execution and consensus, in order to achieve the infamous 10,000 TPS. This extreme scalability is made possible through Monad’s optimistic parallel execution which is asynchronous from consensus. The latter has also been optimized in order to achieve single-slot finality. Monad’s proprietary database architecture allows for states to be stored on SSDs instead of RAM, which ensures that consumer-grade hardware can run a Monad node, further increasing decentralisation. Topics covered in this episode: Keone’s background TradFi vs. DeFi and how Monad was founded EVM’s network effect vs. other VMs How Monad aims to improve EVM’s performance MonadDB MonadBFT - New consensus mechanism Asynchronous execution MEV and proposer-builder separation (PBS) Monad’s throughput Further scaling and limitations Alternatives & trade-offs DevEx Community & ecosystem development Episode links: Keone Hon on X Monad on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Succinct: Every Rollup Will Be a ZK Rollup! - Uma Roy 49:28

12 weeks ago49:28

49:28

Polynomials are quintessential in machine learning for establishing relationships between outputs and inputs. However, there is also a field in cryptography which could not be made possible without polynomials - zero-knowledge technology. In zero-knowledge proof systems, computations are often represented as arithmetic circuits, and these circuits are translated into polynomials. This process is crucial for generating proofs that can demonstrate the correctness of computations without revealing the underlying data. The involved complexity explains the massive adoption hurdle for zk rollups compared to optimistic ones. Succinct aims to simplify the use of zero-knowledge proofs by providing a zkVM (SP1) that allows code written in languages like Rust to be proven in a privacy-preserving way. By doing so, it aims to lower the barrier to implementing zk-rollups and increase their adoption. Topics covered in this episode: Uma’s background and her interest in zero knowledge tech How Succinct’s story began ZK light clients ZK circuits SP1 and the RISC-V instruction set The prover network Use cases ZK rollups and commoditizing ZKPs Incentivizing provers Succinct’s business model Supported blockchain applications Bottlenecks in ZK adoption Succinct metrics SP1’s competitive advantage and future roadmap The real world impact of verifiability Episode links: Uma Roy on X Succinct on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Bitcoin OS: Bitcoin Block 853626 Changed Everything For BTC Smart Contracts - Edan Yago 1:10:20

13 weeks ago1:10:20

1:10:20

Bitcoin’s Taproot update paved the way for a new & exciting era for Bitcoin, as it expanded its use case far beyond that of an immutable ledger. However, Ordinals, BRC-20 tokens and, more recently, Runes, have limited functionality compared to what DeFi is capable of, on other smart contract blockchains. BitcoinOS envisions a revolutionary Bitcoin economy that stems from truly programmable tokens, unlocking staking, governance and many other use cases. Using BitSNARK and Grail, BitcoinOS enables Bitcoin “rollups”, which act as execution environments that use BTC as gas fee and inherit security from the L1. The missing link was always a trustless bridge between Bitcoin L1 and any potential L2. And Grail Bridge achieved just that - using zero knowledge cryptography, BTC could be transferred to other chains without relying on other custodians’ trust assumptions. In that sense, Bitcoin block #853626 is historically meaningful as it contains the first-ever onchain verification of a zero knowledge proof, on Bitcoin. A truly programmable smart contract operating system on Bitcoin was no longer a mere concept…it became a reality through BitcoinOS. Topics covered in this episode: Yago's background The effect of Trump’s election on the crypto industry The goal behind BitcoinOS The history of Bitcoin’s programmability Verifying ZK proofs on Bitcoin Taproot Ordinals BitSNARK, Grail bridge and Merkle Mesh BitcoinOS modularity and sequencing An impending (r)evolution of the industry Bitcoin vs. Ethereum L2 landscape Bringing Bitcoin liquidity to Cardano BitcoinOS roadmap Episode links: Edan Yago on Twitter Bitcoin OS on Twitter Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Symbiotic: Scaling Shared Security Through Restaking - Misha Putiatin 1:05:36

14 weeks ago1:05:36

1:05:36

Bootstrapping and maintaining a validator set can be a challenging endeavour, especially for projects that are in search of a product market fit. However, this does not mean one should abandon the ethos of decentralisation in favour of a more streamlined centralised approach. The notion of shared security had been previously explored in the Cosmos ecosystem, but Symbiotic takes it a step further, making it readily available for any project, regardless of its native blockchain, through restaking. Symbiotic is a modular coordination layer that sources node operators and economic security in a maximally capital-efficient manner. Topics covered in this episode: Misha’s background Symbiotic’s origin story How Symbiotic tackles decentralisation The role of restaking in proof-of-stake models The economics of restaking The architecture of Symbiotic Liquid restaking tokens (LRT) Expanding restaking beyond Ethereum Slashing Symbiotic smart contract immutability and future updates Ecosystem development Episode links: Misha Putiatin on Twitter Symbiotic on Twitter Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: Chorus One is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.…

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

1
Ari Juels: Can AI Weaponize Blockchain Smart Contracts? - Chainlink 1:04:05

15 weeks ago1:04:05