Blockchains, the State of the Crypto Ecosystem, Proof-of-Stake, and Figment Networks :: with Lorien Gabel, Andrew Cronk, and Tony Little

In this episode of Ventures we dive into all-things blockchains, the state of the crypto ecosystem, the evolution of the industry (especially since 2017), the nuances between Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-State, and the suite of services that Figment Networks provides.  Guests: Lorien Gabel, Andrew Cronk, and Tony Little. 

You can watch the video of this episode here. 

This episode is both an introduction to the blockchain space (for those new), and a deep-dive into nuanced blockchain topics if you are an industry expert.

Below is a condensed overview of the topics covered, visit the episode page for the full notes. 

8:47 - Question: Tell us more about Figment Networks. What is the story and what is the company up to? 

11:20 - Backing up and getting more high-level, what is a blockchain? 

16:20 - Lorien’s comment regarding blockchains as creating digital scarcity, and Tony’s followup comment regarding blockchains providing a source of truth, and who to “reward”. 

17:06 - Will’s recollection of Tony’s Harry-Potter-esque description of blockchains replicating information across nodes. 

18:14 - What is Proof-of-Work? Proof-of-Stake? Why do these matter in the blockchain ecosystem? 

22:02 - The three layers of blockchains: networking, consensus, and changing application state. 

22:49 - Blockchains can track other state changes besides payment transactions

21:20 - Tony’s comment regarding Proof-of-Work really being Proof-of-Stake indirectly within Proof-of-Work

25:40 - Is “decentralization” destined to simply recreate a different form of centralization again? How important is decentralization?

28:01 - What are the different components/players within the blockchain ecosystem today? 

32:48 - Where does Figment Networks specifically contribute within the overall blockchain ecosystem? 

36:19 - When starting up a new blockchain network, at what point should founders talk to Figment about helping out? How should founders think about the steps of building their networks? 

37:40 - Staking Hub, a group for the validator community, and a place for network founders to recruit validators

38:22 - Figment has been up close and personal with 15+ network launches, what are best practices for launching a network? 

40:35 - Problems with so many new networks coming out of academia and theory/research backgrounds. 

41:18 - What has Tony seen on this topic with regard to enterprises bringing blockchains to market (built on technology like Hyperledger)? 

45:05 - Enterprise consortiums vs. projects like Libra. How do they compare? How do token economics come into play, if at all?

46:59 - What are the big problems in the blockchain space? 

49:59 - Why is governance participation so hard to encourage? Is there maybe not enough economic or social incentive at play in most networks? 

54:38 - What problems exist currently in the blockchain ecosystem for decentralized application (dApp) developers? 

58:04 - What is the Ethereum 1 to Ethereum 2 transition, and why is that important for the blockchain community? 

1:11:20 - Where do you see the blockchain ecosystem heading? What sorts of things should we be looking out for in the future? How do you see Figment Networks playing a role?  

1:17:40 - Livepeer as an example of how to create a utility at a lower cost using blockchains