In this episode, we dive in with Trent Van Epps, a non-technical core contributor to Ethereum and the founder of Protocol Guild. Trent shares his journey from studying to be an architect to working at the Ethereum Foundation & founding the Protocol Guild.

Currently serving on the Protocol Support team, overseeing network upgrades & maintenance; Trent highlights the need for non-technical people to make it all gel. He also outlines the decentralized governance & compensation mechanics of the Protocol Guild as well as the criticism he’s faced about it.

"Time weighting is one of the most important aspects because we're able to sidestep a lot of the... things that members are responsible for managing."

Overall, peth & Trent cover everything from the original Mist demo back in 2016 that got them both excited about Ethereum, all the way to the time-weighted compensation inside the Protocol Guild, contributor retention, decentralized protocol development funding, public goods, their favourite applications of Ethereum & their long term hopes for it.

"I think there's still something to build, there's still a lot of work to do to shape this blockchain substrate that we're all constructing together."

Key Topics:

• Mist Demo 2016

• Architecture to Blockchain Transition

• Protocol Guild Initiative

• Decentralized Applications & Usecases

• Evolving Blockchain Design

• Protocol Guild Origins

• Funding Model

Resources:

1. Mist Demo
2. Ethereum Foundation
3. Protocol Guild Documentation
4. EAS (Ethereum Attestation Service)
5. Protocol Guild Website
6. Trent Van Epps on Twitter
7. Optimism Research Forum
8. SourceCred