E74: Ethena Founder: Growing to a $10B Protocol Valuation in 1 Year

In this episode, we sit down with Guy Young, the founder of Ethena, to dive deep into the world of

crypto and DeFi.

Ethena is a groundbreaking synthetic dollar protocol built on Ethereum, and it’s shaking up the space with a crypto-native solution that doesn’t rely on traditional banking systems.

In this conversation, we dive into:

- The vision behind Ethena and the quest for creating a new form of money

- Guy’s biggest predictions for the next 12 months in the crypto space

- The story behind Ethena’s explosive growth to a $10 billion protocol in just one year

- The importance of building during market lows and the contrarian mindset

- Guy’s thoughts on the role of speculation, meme coins, and the future of DeFi

- The challenges and innovations in the world of stablecoins and synthetic assets

And more!

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Connect with Guy 👇

Twitter: https://x.com/leptokurtic_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guy-young-a11914279/

Connect with Ethena 👇

Twitter: https://x.com/ethena_labs

Website: https://ethena.fi/

Connect with Kevin & When Shift Happens👇

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinwshpod/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinfollonier/

Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/KevinWSHPod

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Contents of the Video

0:00 Ethena: Guy Young

1:39 Building Discipline

5:09 Introducing Guy Young

5:28 Escaping Harsh Market Conditions

7:47 Gem Hunting in a Bear Market

9:43 What Ethena Labs do Differently and its Impact

11:51 Importance of Decentralization at Different Layers

13:03 Most Important Skills to Success and the Risk to Being the Smartest

14:55 Mindset Towards Building a $10 Billion Project

17:02 SwissBorg Partnership

19:20 Having a “Boring” Daily Routine is Key to Greatness

20:01 Fiat Stablecoins: USDT and USDC Surviving the Bear Market

22:01 Why is Synthetic Dollar so Important in DeFi

23:06 The Practical Approach to Crypto and DeFi Innovations

25:43 How was the Synthetic Dollar Created

27:34 Cash and Carry Trade within Crypto and What Can Go Wrong

29:34 USD Size at Which it Becomes Too Big for Synthetic Dollar

32:44 False Knowledge Leading to Trouble, in Ethena and in Life

34:27 Mantle Partnership

35:50 What is the Worst Thing that Could Happen to Ethena and USD

37:44 Market Structure Response on Meme Coins

39:14 Creating our Own Form of Money Within Crypto

40:01 Ethena Vision for the next 12 Months, Marketing vs Product

42:11 Synthetic Dollar: Stablecoins (ETH) and Centralized Exchanges

43:25 Astar Network Partnership

44:14 Synthetic Dollar: Possible Different Architecture

45:48 Building a Controversial Product and Dealing with Backlash

49:07 Risks to Being Crypto Founder and A Possible Failing Product

52:10 Understanding Attention Economy to Perform a Successful Token Launch

53:44 Sustainable Hype Post-Token Launch and Community Building

56:18 Why Don’t Other Founders Reward Their Users?

58:09 Crypto Alpha: What is PENDLE?

59:42 Crypto Alpha: The MANTLE Approach

01:00:56 Getting into Routine and Habit

01:01:53 Biggest Prediction for the Next 12 Months

01:03:03 Event that Tops the Current Cycle

01:04:00 Ethena Plans Through Bear Market

01:05:37 Conclusion