Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

DarkFi is a new DeFi platform that prioritizes privacy. As a base layer for anonymous applications and smart contracts, it's a multichain interoperable, and open source product that anyone can build any type of application on utilising zero knowledge proof. The goal is to create a universe that anyone can access irrespective of their nationality or political beliefs. Amir Taaki, Rachel-Rose O'Leary and Ivan Jelincic, the members of the squad, joined us to chat about the importance of darkness and privacy within crypto utilizing zero knowledge proof technology. This is a 2-part series and in the next episode we explore AMMs, and the Free Assange DAOTopics covered in this episode:An introduction to the DarkFi team and how they got into cryptoDarkness and why it's importantThe crisis of civilization in the WestCrypto anarchyThe connection between crypto and moral fiberThe problems within crypto DarkFi is aiming to solve and how they are doing itEpisode links: DarkFi Element channelDarkFi on TwitterAmir on TwitterRose on TwitterIvan on TwitterThe Dark ForestThe Sovereign IndividualSecular CyclesSponsors: Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusoneParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/423

Fei Protocol is a decentralized, liquid, and scalable stablecoin platform, based on a new concept called Protocol Controlled Value (PCV). After a rocky start, Fei is now back on the road to growth with an upcoming v2 and one of the biggest token mergers in crypto history.On the day before the Fei v2 launch, we were joined by Founder Joey Santoro to chat about the differences between v1 and v2, how the platform works on a PCV model, TRIBE and protocol governance, and the Rari merger.Topics covered in this episode:Joey's background and how he got into crypto and stablecoins specificallyThe Fei launchThe mechanisms of Fei v1RedeemabilityUse cases of FeiThe Fei PCV system and Balancer's roleThe Rari MergerWhat's next for FeiEpisode links:Fei ProtocolDiscordFei on TwitterJoey on TwitterSponsors:Tally: Tally is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycashGnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafeThis episode is hosted by Sunny Aggarwal & Statelayer. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/422

2021 was an exciting year for the crypto space. We've seen all time market highs, dramatic regulatory shifts, and some use cases hit the main stream. 4 of our hosts got together to dissect the standout events of this year, and share their predictions for what is coming next.Topics covered in this episode:The NFT explosion of 2021The DeFi bluechip declineLayer 1 wars & bridgesDAO proliferation, tooling, and emergence of new organization paradigmsReturn of DogecoinBitcoin in El SalvadorLooking ahead - crypto and its tax implicationsThe future of MEVUrbitEpisode links:Episode 374 - The Great Epicenter Host Extravaganza 2021Epicenter - About UsBrian on TwitterFriederike on TwitterSebastien on TwitterSunny on TwitterSponsors:ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenterChorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusoneThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture, Brian Fabian Crain, Friederike Ernst & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/421

Sorare is a blockchain sports game which bridges fantasy football and NFT collectibles. A player collects a team of players in the form of NFTs and based on the performance of the players in the real world, scores points. At the end of the tournament, the Sorare participant is ranked and earns rewards.Nicolas Julia, Co-founder & CEO of Sorare, created the game in 2018, way before the NFT craze of 2021. He joined us to chat about fantasy sports and what convinced him of NFTs, working in the football industry and the impact of licenses, and the regulatory push backs they have faced as a company.Topics covered in this episode:Nicolas' background and how he got to into the crypto spaceHow Nicolas got into NFTs in 2018An overview of fantasy sports and SorareWhy did Sorare choose to work with licenses and how they workThe challenges of working in the football industrySorare as a Web3 productThe size and value of the Sorare communityRegulatory push backs against SorareThe motivations behind the numerous platform transitionsThe biggest entrepreneurial lessons Nicolas took away from his time at Stratumn and his vision for SorareEpisode links:Sorare websiteSorare CommunityDiscordSorare on TwitterNicolas on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafeThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/420

Avalanche is an open, scalable, and secure smart contracts platform. It targets three broad use cases; building application-specific blockchains, building and launching highly scalable decentralized applications (dapps), and building arbitrarily complex digital assets with custom rules, covenants, and riders (smart assets). It prides itself off on being blazingly fast, low cost, and eco-friendly.Emin Gün Sirer is the Founder & CEO of the Avalanche network. He is also a long time friend of the show, and joined us again for the 4th time after a 5 year break to share his journey since then, which led him to creating Avalanche. We also dove deep into the technical aspects of the protocol and how it fits into the blockchain ecosystem as a whole.Topics covered in this episode:Gun's journey over the past 5 years which led him to creating AvalancheThe unique features and trade-offs in the protocolA deep dive into bridging within AvalancheMEV extraction within the protocolAvalanche consensus - reliance on seed anchorsEpisode links:Episode 76 - From Selfish Miners to The Miner’s DilemmaEpisode 103 - Bitcoin-NG – Scientists Versus the ChurchEp 134 - On a Rocky DAOAvalancheAva LabsAvalanche on TwitterGun on TwitterSponsors:Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusoneParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/419

Solana has pursued the vision of a single, fast and scalable blockchain from the start. Today, it has become one of the fastest growing ecosystems in crypto with hundreds of projects spanning DeFi, NFTs, Web3, and more.Last week 2,000 attendees descended on Lisbon for the first-ever Solana conference, Breakpoint. We caught up with Co-founder and CEO Anatoly Yakovenko at the event for a chat about the Solana journey and some of the most important questions they are facing today around decentralization, scalability, governance, and MEV.Topics covered in this episode:Solana's origin story and thesisThe current state of SolanaWhat censorship resistance is and why it mattersSolana's bottlenecks and remaining scaling challengesAnatoly's views on governanceSolana and Miner Extractable Value (MEV)Rollups as an Ethereum scaling solutionMarket and adoption cycleEpisode links:Episode 312 with AnatolyBreakpointSolana on TwitterAnatoly on TwitterSponsors:CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswapThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/418

Coin Center is an independant not-profit research and advocacy organisation focused on the public policy issues that affect cryptocurrencies and open permisionless blockchain networks. Their mission is to build a better understanding of technologies like Ethereum and Bitcoin and to promote a regulatory climate that preserves free speech and privacy.Jerry Brito and Peter Van Valkenburgh joined us for a fascinating chat about the current regulatory landscape in the US and how that might affect the crypto ecosystem going forward.Topics covered in this episode:An overview of Coin CenterHow the political and regulatory has changed in the past 2 years since the release of LibraThe regulatory topics currently impacting the USRansomware and investor protection lawIs the consumer protection force too tough?The Infrastructure BillThe US vs Europe approachThe future of the ecosystemEpisode links:Epicenter Episode 296 with JerryEpicenter Episode 227 with PeterCoin Center on TwitterJerry on TwitterPeter on TwitterSponsors:ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenterChorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusoneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/417

Cometh is a game on Ethereum that lets users own yield-generating NFTs, integrating both DeFi and NFT features into a single, fun gaming experience. As a player, you control spaceships (also called astronomers) orbiting around giant stars and your goal is to position yourself close to the asteroids (also known as smart asteroids) passing by. When you are close enough, you will be able to mine tokens from that asteroid.Jerome de Tychey, founder of the project, joined us to chat about how the game works, interactions with AMMs and lending protocols, and the future of blockchain gaming.Topics covered in this episode:Jerome's background and his involvement building the French Ethereum communityJerome's role at Ledger and ConsenSysAn overview of Cometh and how the game worksHow Cometh interacts with AMMs and lending protocolsThe game’s native tokens: MUST and DUSTCometh's use of Polygon and the launch of its own layer-2 networkHow Cometh taps into the existing NFT worldThe potential for games built on top of existing DeFi infrastructureThe future of blockchain gaming and NFTsEpisode links:ComethDocs on ComethGithubGeckoConCometh on TwitterJerome on TwitterSponsors:CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswapThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/416

Gyroscope is an "all-weather stablecoin" that is backed by a reserve portfolio that tries to diversify across many risk factors. By maintaining a reserve of many decorrelated assets, it makes Gyro Dollars more resilient, similar to how it is hard to move a spinning gyroscope. In a market where there's an explosion of new stablecoins, Gyroscope attempts to find a niche by providing a very stable and resilient option. We were joined by co-founders Lewis Gudgeon and Ariah Klages-Mundt to chat about how Gyroscope works and their strategy to try to make it a standard throughout DeFi.Topics covered in this episode:Their backgrounds and how they got into cryptoAn overview of the Gyroscope StablecoinThe collateral being usedThe mechanism used for stabilizing reservesUse cases of the GyrodollarSAMMs and PAMMsLeverage loansGovernance within the protocolThe goals of the current testnetHow to get involvedEpisode links: GyroscopeDiscordGyroscope blogTwitterLewis on TwitterAriah on TwitterSponsors: Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusoneParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/415

PieDAO is is a decentralized asset manager for tokenized portfolios and enables anyone to create allocations for both crypto and traditional assets. PIES are non-custodial pools available to anyone in the world with an internet connection. PIES require no minimum deposits for users. DOUGH is the token that governs the platform. Token holders are given voting rights on all decisions.We were joined by the Founder of PieDAO, Alessio Delmonti, to talk about how the project works and why he is so committed to making wealth creation more accessible to all.Topics covered in this episode:Alessio's background and how he got into cryptoAlessio's views on 'financial inclusion'What is PieDAO and its missionA breakdown of the different components of PieDAONFTs in PieDAOUsing ETFs in their methodologiesKPI options and how that plays into governanceThe PieDAO OvenThe roadmap for the projectEpisode links:PieDAOThe OvenPieDAO DiscordGovernance ForumPieDAO on TwitterAlessio on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis Safe: Gnosis Safe is a smart wallet for securely managing digital assets and allows you to define customized access permissions. - https://epicenter.rocks/gnosissafeThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/414