In the last year, blockchain protocols have matured at an exciting pace. Open source projects like Ethereum, the Eris stack and Tendermint are behind much of the experimentation being conducted at leading companies. These protocols would not be where they are today if it wasn’t for the hard work of dedicated open source developers.

One of those people is Rick Dudley. An opinionated and passionate developer, Rick is involved in multiple projects. He works as a DevOps at Monax, works closely with Vlad Zamfir on implementing Casper in Ethereum, is a leading member of the Coala organization and is Founder and CEO of the startup Vulcanize. Rick gives us insider insights on Ethereum and on how the project may evolve, in particular, once Casper is implemented and when more robust, strongly typed language VMs are made available to the protocol.

Topics covered in this episode:

How Rick got involved with blockchain and Ethereum
His views on the Ethereum’s planned transition to Casper
The risks and benefits of moving to Casper
The subtle differences between Casper and Tendermint
The recent break up of the Synereo project
Greg Meredith’s work on Rchain and Rholang, and how that relates to Ethereum
Potential synergies between Zcash and Ethereum
Vulcanize and VulcanizeDB

Episode links:

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/168

Rick Dudley: The Future of Ethreum as a Strongly Typed Proof-of-Stake Blockchain Network