FAIR: SKALE’s New L1 To Eliminate MEV and Unlock AI-Powered DeFi

Jun 11, 2025

Jack O'Holleran, co-founder of SKALE and CEO at SKALE Labs, unveils FAIR, an innovative L1 blockchain designed to eliminate miner extractable value (MEV). He discusses the importance of building practical infrastructure for DeFi and AI, emphasizing user-friendly features like zero gas fees. O'Holleran shares his journey from crypto skepticism to becoming a pioneer in the space and explains how FAIR aims to attract users by enhancing accessibility and aligning blockchain economics with effective user practices.

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INSIGHT

FAIR's MEV Elimination Advantage

MEV steals money from end users by enabling front-running and sandwich attacks.
FAIR builds MEV resistance into consensus, eliminating this user cost while still rewarding validators well.

ANECDOTE

Jack's Journey Into Crypto

Jack O'Holleran started in enterprise software with cryptography and AI before fully committing to crypto in 2017.
His first serious engagement with Bitcoin was inspired by a CoinDesk founder and later Ethereum captivated him with programmable money.

INSIGHT

SKALE's Middleware Emergence

Early Ethereum scaling debates were dominated by complex solutions but had low real user activity.
SKALE emerged as middleware providing low-cost, high-volume transaction scaling, neither fully Layer 1 nor Layer 2 rollups.

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Jack O'Holleran is the CoFounder of SKALE and CEO at SKALE Labs.

In this episode, Jack breaks down why they built FAIR, a new L1 blockchain designed to eliminate MEV at the consensus level and unlock a new wave of AI and DeFi applications.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
7:01 - Jack’s background
12:52 - Building in crypto under hostile regulators vs today
18:14 - Mission behind SKALE
20:10 - Why build FAIR?
21:42 - Early traction with SKALE
24:08 - Sponsor break
24:49 - How 0 gas fees work on SKALE
27:02 - What is BITE Protocol and why MEV is bad for users?
29:05 - Thoughts on REV
32:58 - What’s the connection between SKALE and FAIR?
35:49 - Is FAIR its own L1 or could it work alongside Ethereum?
37:43 - How will FAIR attract users?
41:10 - Sponsor break
42:49 - What new products might be possible on FAIR?
45:53 - Which users should look at FAIR?
47:16 - Did retail ever return this cycle?
49:02 - Why this time is different for crypto / DeFi adoption?
53:22 - FAIR Testnet and what’s next?
54:56 - Closing

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🔗 Guest Links 🔗

► FAIR website: https://www.fairchain.ai/
► SKALE website: https://skale.space/
► FAIR on X: https://x.com/FAIR_Blockchain
► SKALE on X: https://x.com/SkaleNetwork
► Jack on X: https://x.com/jackoholleran

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All opinions expressed by hosts and podcast guests are solely their own opinions. Podcast guests and hosts may have positions in the assets or other matters discussed in this podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Do your own research. This is not a recommendation or endorsement to buy any token(s) related to any platform(s) discussed.