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

In today's world, life and business is moving more into to a virtual space and this has of course been accelerated as a result of the Covid pandemic. Now more than ever it is important to rethink the very basis of how we organise, make decisions, and structure the world’s governance. And how can we do this in the context of crypto and Web3?Web3 infrastructure can provide the foundations of a digital jurisdiction. In the Web3 world rules are enforced by decentralized governance and DAOs allow for a group of stakeholders to participate in governance of an organisation that has no affiliation to a nation state. How do we treat that in the judicial system and how does it sit within existing national jurisdictions?Topics covered in this episode:What is a digital jurisdiction?How Aragon is helping create decentralised autonomous organisations and communitiesThe behaviours of millennials today and how geographical borders have fallenHow to ensure new digital jurisdictions remain utopianSome applications currently being built on AragonWhere new systems sit within current judicial systemsWhy Tim invested in the Aragon Network Token (ANT) modelEpisode links:Powered By AragonAragon Project on TwitterDraper AssociatesLuis Cuende on TwitterTim Draper on TwitterLuis on Epicenter: Episode #236Rethinking the Justice System: A Digital Jurisdiction for Decentralised Organisations | CogX 2020Fabric VenturesCogXShow notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/371

Torus is an open-source and universal key management system for the Web3 ecosystem. It's simple, secure and non-custodial, and suitable for anyone to manage their keys. Torus runs a Distributed Key Generation protocol built on Shamir's Secret Sharing.Supporting over a hundred thousand authentications a month on popular applications like AAVE, KyberSwap, Augur, GoodDollar, and MyCryptoHeroes, Torus empowers decentralised applications with seamless user onboarding flows while maintaining recoverability and high standards of security for key management.The Torus Wallet is the second layer to the system and allows one-click login and authentication on partners including Gmail, Facebook, or passwordless logins on Web3 applications. It is however reinforced behind the scenes by a clever distributed architecture. Notably, clever cryptography makes it possible for users to send crypto to social accounts that don't yet have crypto wallet. For example, one could send crypto to a Twitter username, which could be claimed once the recipient creates an account.The team also recently released a custom version of two-factor authentication (2FA), tKey.We were joined by Founders of Torus, Yong Zhen Yu and Leonard Tan, who gave us fascinating insight into why and how Torus was built, the recent products released, and what their aims are for the future.Topics covered in this episode:Zhen and Leonard's backgrounds and how they got into cryptoHow and why Torus was formedThe path Torus has followed over the past yearUnwrapping the base layer, the Torus NetworkHow Shamir's Secret Sharing works and why Torus chose to build on itThe Torus Wallet and a step by step of how it worksTorus and account portabilityUse cases and applications built on TorusThe second layer of security, tKeyTheir plans for introducing Touch IDHow Torus educate their users on how to stay secureThe long term goal for Torus and how users are protected in the futureEpisode links:Torus websiteTorus StatusA beginner’s guide to Shamir’s Secret SharingDeveloper documentationTorus on TelegramTorus Charity Twitter CampaignWhat Distributed Key Generation IsKey Assignments, Resolution and RetrievalHow to Share a Secret in ProductiontKey - An open standard for threshold key management - HackMDTorus on TwitterZhen on TwitterLeonard on TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/B003

Crypto is largely reliant on incentive mechanisms, and liquidity mining is one of the more recent cryptoeconomic incentive models to emerge. When decentralized exchanges need liquidity, they can leverage liquidity mining to incentivize users to provide it. In turn, the “miners” generate revenue, generally in the form of a native tokens, proportional to their share of liquidity in a pool. This summer saw a surge in activity surrounding this concept, with Synthetix a notable player.Kain Warwick is the founder of Synthetix, a company creating synthetic assets for DeFi, enabling exposure to fiat currencies, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. Hasu is a crypto researcher and writer with a focus on game theory and economics. They joined us to explain the key concepts behind liquidity mining, how and why it was created, and its increasingly important role in DeFi.Topics covered in this episode:Introductions by Kain and HasuHow and when liquidity mining was createdWhat they hoped to achieve with their liquidity mining programsHow liquidity mining works in SynthetixIncentive mechanismsYield Farming and 'getting rich'How Automated Market Makers (AMM) played a part in the success of liquidity miningHow Uniswap leverages liquidity miningProjects that don't currently have liquidity mining but would benefit from itUse cases in pre-blockchain systemsEpisode links: Synthetix websiteKain on Epicenter, Episode 325Uncommon CoreDeribit InsightsSynthetix on TwitterKain on TwitterHasu on TwitterSponsors: cPanel: cPanel's WordPress Toolkit is the all in one solution that makes hosting your website easier than it's ever been - https://epicenter.rocks/cpanelAlgorand: Learn more about Algorand and how it’s unique design makes it easy for developers to build sophisticated applications - https://algorand.com/epicenter1inch: Discover the best rates and most efficient swapping routes across leading DEXes. Optimize on gas cost and execute DeFi trades faster with 1inch V2 - https://epicenter.rocks/1inchThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/370

Matic Network is a Layer-2 scaling solution that provides instant, low cost, and secure transactions on Ethereum. Built on an adapted implementation of Plasma and a decentralized network of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) validators, its goal is to solve the scalability and usability issues for developers building Dapps, whilst not compromising on decentralization and user experience.Sandeep Nailwal, COO & Co-founder of Matic, joins us to chat about how Matic works and the problems it's solving, and we also get a fascinating look into the crypto and startup community in India.Topics covered in this episode:Sandeep’s background and how he got involved in cryptoWhat the crypto scene looks like within Bangalore’s startup ecosystemHow have the Indian regulations on crypto affected Matic's businessWhat Matic is and the main problem it’s solvingA deep dive into Matic’s technical infrastructure and building on TendermintWhy choose Matic over other off-chain scaling solutions for EthereumMatic's leveraging of hackathons in their go-to-market strategySome of the trade offs one needs to make when using MaticHow Matic will fit into the Ethereum 2.0 ecosystem as it developsDagger, and other tools they are planning to buildLearning more about MaticEpisode links:Matic websiteWhat is Matic Network?Episode 352 with Jack O'Holleran of SKALE LabsEpisode 336 with Jinglan Wang & Karl Floersch of OptimismEpisode 340 with Daniel Wang of LoopringMatic on TwitterSandeep on TwitterSponsors:cPanel: cPanel's WordPress Toolkit is the all in one solution that makes hosting your website easier than it's ever been - https://epicenter.rocks/cpanelAlgorand: Learn more about Algorand and how it’s unique design makes it easy for developers to build sophisticated applications - https://algorand.com/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/369

Filecoin is a peer-to-peer network data storage network, with built-in economic incentives for storage providers. It facilitates open-markets for storing and retrieving data, in which anyone can participate. Users can pay the network to access storage space, which can be encrypted, replicated, and highly available. After years of development and iteration, Filecoin recently launched its mainnet. The long term vision of the protocol is a fully decentralized future for the web. Juan Benet, Founder & CEO of Protocol Labs, returns for the second part of this 2-part episode. In this show we deep dive in to the technical aspects of Filecoin, how Juan and his team decided to design it, and the types of projects that are building on top of it.Topics covered in this episode:How Filecoin works under the hood and the life cycle of dataThe role of miners in the protocolThe bridge between Filecoin and EthereumHow the economics of Filecoin were designedHow governance works in the Filecoin networkThe Filecoin FoundationThe projects that are building on top of FilecoinJuan’s views on blockchain scalability and Ethereum 2.0, and the challenges Web3 facesEpisode links: Filecoin websiteProtocol Labs websiteIPFS websiteEpisode #367 with Juan Benet (Part 1 in this series)Episode #100 with Juan BenetFilecoin on TwitterJuan on TwitterSponsors: cPanel: cPanel's WordPress Toolkit is the all in one solution that makes hosting your website easier than it's ever been - https://epicenter.rocks/cpanelAlgorand: Learn more about Algorand and how it’s unique design makes it easy for developers to build sophisticated applications - https://algorand.com/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/368

IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a fully decentralized distributed system for storing and accessing files, websites, applications, and data. Released just over 5 years ago by Protocol Labs, it has had a tremendous impact in the Web3 space as the standard for how blockchain projects store data. Filecoin is a complementary protocol to IPFS and was recently launched on the mainnet. Filecoin is the economic layer which powers IPFS's decentralized file storage network. It enables users to store their files at hypercompetitive prices and verify that their files are being stored and replicated correctly. And it allows storage providers to sell their storage on an open market.Juan Benet is the Founder & CEO of Protocol Labs, which has had a huge impact in the blockchain ecosystem, as organisation behind IPFS and Filecoin. Juan returns to the show after 5 years to give us an important update on the long-term vision to fund innovative technologies, IPFS since it was created, and Filecoin as a foundation to a new decentralized cloud.This is a 2-part series and in the next episode we deep dive in to the technical aspects of Filecoin.Topics covered in this episode:An update on Protocol Labs and how it has grown on the Bell Labs modelHow they bridge the gap between a research foundation (Bell Labs) and a company (Protocol Labs)The intersection between computer science and cryptoHow the Protocol Labs organisation is setup and how Juan has led it as a solo founderAn overview of IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) and how it has evolved since our last interviewAn introduction to the Filecoin blockchain and its unique designHow Filecoin is fundamentally different from other layer-1 blockchainsHow hash rates and storage fees affect the Filecoin blockchain consensus systemThe potential impacts of Filecoin on a global levelEpisode links: Filecoin websiteProtocol Labs websiteIPFS websiteEpisode #100 with Juan BenetFilecoin on TwitterJuan on TwitterSponsors: cPanel: cPanel's WordPress Toolkit is the all in one solution that makes hosting your website easier than it's ever been - https://epicenter.rocks/cpanelAlgorand: Learn more about Algorand and how it’s unique design makes it easy for developers to build sophisticated applications - https://algorand.com/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/367

Data is a huge industry, worth about $500 billion in Europe alone. And currently there's a fundamental misalignment between those creating data and those consuming it. There's a one direction value flow in terms of those who are providing the value (the data) and those extracting it. These are big tech platforms that typically use that data to sell signals and advertising to brands and merchants. This is referred to as a shadow data economy and it's time to flip this model on its head.Ocean Protocol is a platform which creates data marketplaces, providing an alternative to the current model. Data providers can sell their data to the platform to whoever wants to buy it and that data set is represented as a token. The value is a function of the usefulness of that data. This creates a much more equitable market where value flow is more cyclical than one directional.Trent McConaghy, Founder of Ocean Protocol, joins us to chat about the platform. They have just released V3 which has seen the introduction of the data token, the Ocean Market, and a new home on the Ethereum Mainchain.Topics covered in this episode:Trent’s background and long history of building blockchain productsThe business models built around data and the “Shadow Data Economy”What Ocean Protocol is and what it achievesTechnical components and stakeholders in the Ocean ProtocolStaking and providing liquidity for datatoken marketsThe Ocean Market and activity since the launchOcean Protocol and its compliance with privacy regulations like GDPROcean Protocol V3 and migrating from a sidechain to the mainnetThe future of Ocean Protocol and the potential for data stream marketsEpisode links: Ocean Protocol websiteOcean V3 releaseEpisode 78 - Ascribe – The Internet of OwnershipEpisode 126 - BigchainDB – Scalable Public Distributed DatabasesEpisode 184 - IPDB – The Interplanetary Database and its Applications in AIOcean Protocol on TwitterTrent on TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/366

Circles UBI is a blockchain-based Universal Basic Income created to promote local economy within communities. It was recently launched on Ethereum’s POA network. The idea is to create a parallel economy by forming trust lines within Circles. Anyone who joins Circles receives a basic income regularly, without conditions. And the more connected your community is, the more valuable your Circles become. Also it is fully decentralized. What makes Circles special is that it doesn't market itself to anyone specific in crypto. It positions itself as an ecosystem and protocol that can help anyone create and promote a local economy within their local community. In the current economic crisis, this is a hugely powerful tool for societies to utilise. Martin Köppelmann, CEO of Gnosis, joins us for his third appearance on the show. He is also the creator of Circles and chats to us about why he believes the world needs this, and how the project works.Topics covered in this episode:What Universal Basic Income (UBI) is and Martin’s interest and support of itPros and cons of funding UBI through taxationExplaining Circles’ decentralized UBIHow ‘personal tokens’ work in CirclesIssuance and trust connectionsDealing with sybil attacksOn throughput limitsConditions attached to your accountHow UBI keeps up with inflationGetting started with CirclesAttracting non crypto users and driving demandCan Circles move onto Layer-2 - UX Design choicesLearn more about Circles and get involvedEpisode links: Circles UBI websiteCircles WhitepaperMartin on Epicenter - Episode 271, How the dxDAO could become the world’s largest organizationMartin on Epicenter - Episode 139, Gnosis – The Ethereum Prediction MarketFind Circles on MeetupCircles TwitterMartin TwitterSponsors: Algorand: Learn how to start building on Algorand – Free webinar on November 17th - https://algorand.com/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/365

Alchemy is a powerful blockchain developer platform providing a suite of tools for Ethereum apps. Topics covered include Nikil's background, building developer tools, supernodes, concerns for user privacy, adoption of Alchemy, and interesting partnerships with Jay-Z and Stanford University.

Alameda Research is a quant trading fund founded in 2017. Today it manages over $100 million in digital assets and trades $600 million to $1.5 billion per day across thousands of products: all major coins and altcoins, as well as their derivatives. Whilst running this fund, the team thought there was space for a robust crypto derivatives exchange build for traders which solves some of the issues they saw in derivatives trading. FTX is the crypto derivatives trading platform which came out of Alameda. In just under two years of existence, it has grown to become one of the top trading platforms for crypto, trading over $1B per day in derivatives. The FTX team are also working on Project Serum. It’s an ambitious project to create a fully decentralized and permissionless DEX and DeFi ecosystem with trustless cross-chain trading. Serum is being built on Solana to allow a centralized orderbook. This offers a much higher speed and throughput than Ethereum. The goal is to create a robust DEX ecosystem which can compete with centralized exchanges on speed, all while being fully interoperable with Ethereum.Today our guest is Sam Bankman-Fried, he is the CEO of FTX and Alameda Research, and co-founder of Project Serum. We hear all about his journey from Alameda, to FTX, and to his latest venture, Serum.Topics covered in this episode:Sam’s background and how he became involved in crypto tradingWhy and how FTX was createdHow FTX works and why the big focus on derivativesThe cross-over between FTX and AlamedaWhat Serum is and how it fits in the long term vision of FTXSam’s view on where products on DeFi are falling short and how it can be fixedWhat are the trade-offs on Serum?The off chain Serum order bookHow cross-chain swaps workThe boundaries of the Serum ecosystem in relation to SolanaWhat is the governance mechanism on SerumSam’s view on the AMM argumentWhere Sam thinks the DeFi ecosystem is heading and what is needed for it to gain legitimacy in the traditional finance worldEpisode links: FTXAlameda ResearchProject SerumEpicenter episode 312 with Anatoly Yakovenko, Co-founder and CEO of SolanaSushiSwap Twitter threadFTX on TwitterSam on TwitterSponsors: Algorand: Learn how to start building on Algorand – Free webinar on November 17th - https://algorand.com/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/363