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

Republic is an investment platform that allows anyone pretty much anywhere in the world, of any income and net worth, to invest in some of the best private equity startups. It allows regular people, not just a few wealthy accredited investors, to invest in highly vetted private startups, with as little as $10 or as much as $100,000 per investment.In the past, accredited investors were the only ones allowed to invest in startups through equity-based incentives. However the JOBS Act of 2016 created an exemption under the federal securities laws so that crowdfunding can be used to offer and sell securities to the general public. Republic launched just after the JOBS Act was passed with a goal to create an investment platform which was truly accessible to everyone. This was around the time that companies began raising funds with ICOs, and Republic was among the first platforms to offer a framework for Security Token Offerings.Republic has recently innovated again with their Republic Note product. This is a profit sharing token which allows investors to receive dividends when companies who raise money on the platform make an exit. The tokens are issued by Republic which distributes a portion of the exit profits to investors in proportion to their holdings. This is a similar model to the Binance Token, which isn't surprising since Republic was the first portfolio company of Binance Labs. Ken Nguyen, Co-founder and CEO of Republic, explains the advantages of crowdfunding over traditional investing, the long term regulatory implications, and the opportunities this model opens up for startup funding.Topics covered in this episode:Ken’s background and his history with AngelListThe implications from the JOBS Act 2016Ken’s vision for Republic and making investment more accessible for more peopleOverview of the US Securities Law and investingThe interaction between Republic and cryptoThe types of start-ups and investors using RepublicThe importance of the community aspect within start-ups on RepublicThe Republic Note tokenRepublic Note’s Reg A offering and what the benefits of this will beWhere Republic Note can be tradedEpisode links: Republic websiteRepublic on MediumRepublic NoteWhen will the Republic Note’s Reg A offering be qualified?Republic TwitterKen Nguyen TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/353

SKALE Network's modular protocol is one of the first of its kind to allow developers to build application specific blockchains. These are interoperable and compatible with the Ethereum mainchain, and the entire Ethereum ecosystem. They provide the benefits of decentralization without compromising on computation, storage, or security.The focus of SKALE Network is slightly different to other scaling solutions, many of which we have had on the show in the past. SKALE Network aims to scale smart contracts, not necessarily transaction throughput. Think of it as a highly performant Ethereum as a service side chain, where developers can deploy their own app specific blockchains. Within the scale network, their dapps will benefit from thousands of TPS with zero gas fees, and addons like file storage. In the future, it’s possible that SKALE will support other addons like machine learning. Jack O'Holleran, CEO and Co-Founder of SKALE Labs, talks about how they are tackling the scaling issues on Ethereum.Topics covered in this episode:Jack's background and how he got into cryptocurrencyJack's thoughts on the problem of scaling on EthereumWhat is a SKALE node and how to start oneComparisons to Cosmos, Polkadot and Eth 2.0 shardingThe SKALE NetworkThe purpose of the SKALE Manager and how it interacts with validators and nodesCreating a dapp on the SKALE networkWhat is the future of access to connectors - are stores an option?How security properties work on the networkWho are the users of SKALE and how does one onboard to the networkThe NODE Foundation - the launch and grants availableEpisode links: SKALE Labs WebsiteSKALE WhitepaperSKALE DevelopersSKALE DiscordThe NODE FoundationSKALE Labs TwitterJack TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/352

Ampleforth is a cryptocurrency attempting to become an essential building block to an alternative financial ecosystem. The protocol’s native token, AMPL, is a non collateralized cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, but with a twist: It is supply elastic. This means the token and protocol will automatically increase or decrease the quantity of tokens held in user wallets based on 24 hour weighted volume price. AMPL operates as an ERC-20 token on top of the Ethereum blockchain. Some claim that the Ampleforth protocol’s implementation of “countercyclical” economic policy makes it a good complimentary collateral because they posit that this mechanism ought to give AMPL a low correlation to the likes of BTC and ETH. Others are not so sure: Does it really make a difference whether you have an inelastic supply without a target price, or an elastic supply with a target price of one? Is AMPL really not correlated to other types of collateral, and should this be so, does it even matter?There has been a lot of chatter about Ampleforth in recent months. Is it legit, or is it a scam, 'HEX with Stanford credentials', as one pundit commented? We spoke with the co-founder Evan Kuo, who attempts to explain how it all works and straighten out misconceptions surrounding the protocol.Topics covered in this episode:Evan’s backgroundWhat is Ampleforth and its missionWhat is Ampleforth’s value proposition and the rules based system it usesHow the rebasing worksSlow traders vs fast tradersWhere profits from fast traders come fromUsing Ampleforth as base moneyToken distributionThe integration hurdles with AMPLDoes the community truly understand the protocol?Episode links: Ampleforth websiteAMPL TalkAMPL Token DistributionAmpleforth White PaperAmpleforth TwitterEvan Kuo TwitterThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/351

Balancer is a generalized automated market maker (AMM) protocol built on Ethereum. It allows anyone to create or add liquidity to customizable pools and earn trading fees. On one side there are liquidity providers (LPs) that generally seek to balance their holdings, and they get rewarded with trading fees. On the other side, traders that are looking for the best rate possible.One way to look at Balancer is as a generalization of Uniswap, however Balancer pools aren't restricted to the same 50/50 split between 2 tokens. A Balancer pool can support up to 8 tokens with any weights. It supports smart order routing which ensures trades get sent to the pools which provide the best rate possible. They can be seen as self balancing index funds which pay you for contributing liquidity to the platform. Instead of paying fees to portfolio managers to rebalance your portfolio, you collect fees from traders, who continuously rebalance your portfolio by following arbitrage opportunities.The inner workings are quite complex but CEO & Co-founder of Balancer, Fernando Martinelli, breaks down the token economics and governance of the protocol for us.Topics covered in this episode:Fernando’s background and how he got into the spaceBalancer's connection to MakerAn introduction to liquidity mining and some of the problems with thisThe connection to the Uniswap formulaWhat Balancer is and how the protocol worksHow does this work as a Portfolio Management tool and how dynamic are the feesHow smart pools wok - The network of pools and the offchain set upHow the weighting system works on BalancerThe options for users - keeping it simple and the data that is available in your Balancer accountGovernance tokensHow the BAL token is designed and how it worksHow finance for the protocol is raisedThe future plan of dissolving BalancerHow they plan to attract volumeWhat’s coming up in Balancer V2Episode links: Balancer WebsiteBalancer White PaperBalancer DiscordBalancer BlogBalancer TwitterFernando TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sunny Aggarwal & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/350

UMA, or Universal Market Access, is an open source financial contracts protocol for building synthetic assets. It allows any two counterparties to design and create their own financial contracts for derivatives. An example of these assets in the traditional finance world, are interest rate derivatives. These are used to hedge against fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Today, interest rate derivatives are commonly used and the contracts to create these are standardized. Similarly, UMA allows anyone to create a derivative on a blockchain. Enforcement of agreement will be enforced by the network and so will settlement.What’s unique about UMA is how it ensures proper collateralization of derivatives. Maker and other platforms based on collateralized positions use a price oracle and will automatically liquidate positions if they go below a certain threshold. UMA is ‘priceless’ and does not use an on-chain price feed as the primary means to determine proper collateralization. Rather, it incentivizes participants to identify improperly collateralized positions. UMA token holders essentially vote on the price. Allison Lu, co-founder of UMA, chats in-depth about the platform and provides a great introduction to the world of financial derivatives.Topics covered in this episode:Allison’s background and how she got into blockchainWhat derivatives are and how they work in the legacy financial systemHow the UMA protocol worksHow synthetic tokens are traded and fungibilityCreating put options on the frameworkHow does this compare to prediction marketsUMA’s liquid mechanismPriceless syntheticsWhat are the incentives on the protocolThe importance of delayed reaction timesHow liquidation work and minting worksHow to prevent scammingThe dispute process and corruptionWhat makes the UMA protocol uniqueThe UMA roadmapEpisode links: UMA WebsiteUMA DocsUMA GithubUMA MediumUMA TwitterAllison Lu TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sunny Aggarwal & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/349

Numerai, the "hardest data science tournament on the planet". It's a hedge fund with its own distributed research platform designed specifically for AIs. It's the first of its kind and takes a radically different approach to making market predictions. It's completely crowd-sourced and data scientists around the world compete to create the best predictions and get paid with cryptocurrencies. Users are completely blind to the data and Numerai is blind to the code, and the predictive models users generate. The result is a hedge fund which is market neutral, currency neutral, and geography neutral. It makes all decisions solely on the data.Richard Craib, Founder of Numerai, was first on the show 3 years ago when the project's token, Numeraire, was just launched. Since then they have released a number of additions to the network including Numerai Signals and Erasure Bay, with plenty more in the pipeline.Topics covered in this episode:An overview of what the past 3 years since the last episodeThe Numerai staking modelNumerai datasetsWhat is a market neutral fundNumerai’s current assets and their position in the marketStaking liquid NMRThe latest project - Numerai SignalsNumerai's prediction markets Erasure BayHow the future looks for hedge funding on the blockchainEpisode links:Numerai websiteErasure BayNumerai SignalsNumerai MediumNumerai TwitterRichard Craib TwitterThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/348

Polkadot is a unique protocol connecting multiple purpose-built blockchains into one scalable network. It's using blockchain technology to make way for new markets and future decentralized economies and has many stand out features. It's a sharded multichain network enabling many transactions on several chains in parallel. It offers interoperability and cross-chain communication. Communities on Polkadot govern their own network, and hold a stake in the future of Polkadot’s network governance as a whole. It also enables forkless upgrades, allowing blockchains to evolve and adapt easily. Over 100 projects have been or are currently being built for the Polkadot ecosystem, in a wide range of services and systems.After being in the development stage for 3 years, Polkadot was launched earlier this year. It's the first project by Web3 Foundation, and Parity are behind the development. Dieter Fishbein, Head of Ecosystem Development at Web3 Foundation, and Joe Petrowski, Research Analyst at Parity Technologies, share an in depth overview on the economics and incentives behind the protocol.Polkadot is designed to take back our digital sovereignty from powerful third-parties who currently control the web. It promises to take blockchain technology to the next level, and we believe it will do just that.Topics covered in this episode:Dieter and Joe’s backgrounds and how they got into the crypto spaceThe Polkadot visionThe key components of the Polkadot protocolKusama - Polkadot's cousinScalability, Security, and InteroperabilityThe stages of the Polkadot launch and what is coming nextBuilding with SubstrateThe parachains being developedLeasing parachain slotsRunning validators on PolkadotEpisode links:Polkadot WebsiteKusama WebsiteThe Polkadot launchPolkadot TwitterDieter Fishbein TwitterJoe Petrowski TwitterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/347

Just like all software, smart contracts on the blockchain are subject to serious security vulnerabilities and coding errors. The fact however that smart contracts are often directly in charge of assets and cannot be changed once they are on the blockchain, makes secure development and running essential. Some smart contract platforms have their own languages, for example Solidity in Ethereum. Bugs and vulnerabilities in the source code, and errors in the virtual machines used by the network, are the main reasons behind security issues in smart contracts.Projects using blockchain applications should expect constant changes in the security landscape. New bugs, security risks, and best practices will continue to emerge over time. Trail of Bits is a software security firm who advise in a range of industries for some top companies, including in the blockchain space. They are experts at identifying top-level risks and implementation vulnerabilities, and providing essential recommendations on best practices. Dan Guido, the CEO and Co-founder, explains all things software security in a really detailed and technical, yet easy to digest way. We also recommend you check out their exceptional blog packed with invaluable resources.Topics covered in this episode:Dan’s background and how he came to create Trail of BitsWhat led Dan into the blockchain fieldHow security software has changed over the last 20 yearsThe unique challenges for security on blockchain and smart contract protocolsSmart contract languages and securitySlither - Trail of Bits’s suite of Ethereum based security toolsDan’s opinion on Solidity’s future and Vyper as an alternativeFormally Verified LanguagesA use case on how Trail of Bits worksWorking with upgradeable contractsComposability and securityAre compilers trustworthy?Other security issues in the blockchain space as DeFi growsThe future of software security and the role of AIEpisode links: Trail of Bits WebsiteAnatomy of an Unsafe Smart Contract Programming LanguageSlither, GithubSlither: The Leading Static Analyzer for Smart Contracts246 Findings From our Smart Contract Audits: An Executive SummaryRapid Risk Assessment (RRA)Our Full Report on the Voatz Mobile Voting PlatformA Guide to Post-Quantum CryptographyBSides Lisbon 2016 - Keynote - The Smart Fuzzer Revolution by Dan GuidoThe Smart Fuzzer RevolutionTrail of Bits TwitterDan Guido TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/346

Nexus Mutual provides an alternative decentralized insurance solution for Ethereum. The protocol is built on the public chain and operates under a discretionary mutual structure meaning it is owned wholly by its members. It allows anyone to become a member and buy cover, and the model encourages engagement as members receive incentives for participating in Risk Assessment, Claims Assessment and Governance. At present the product offered is cover to protect against hacks in smart contract code. When Nexus Mutual is alerted to a claim, members will also be asked to vote on whether to pay out on that claim or not. Hugh Karp, the CEO and Founder of Nexus Mutual, has combined his insurance industry knowledge with his passion for decentralized technology to build this platform which is replacing the traditional insurance setup. They are currently looking into expanding to offer more insurance products and we are excited to see where they go next.Topics covered in this episode:Hugh’s background in insurance and how he moved into the blockchain spaceWhat drove Hugh to build this decentralized platformMutual insurance and the regulations involvedThe scaling problem in mutual companiesThe benefits this type of insurance can bring to the DeFi worldThe claim assessment processThe native token, NXMHow Nexus tackle price discoveryHow does Nexus manage correlation risksHow much has been contributed to the pool so farMutual vs other models of insurance on the DeFi spaceThe legalities behind NexusWhere they are looking to expand and what the next 12 months look likeEpisode links: Nexus Mutual WebsiteThe White PaperNexus Mutual Use CasesNexus Mutual DiscordNexus Mutual TwitterHugh Karp TwitterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/345

Opyn is a smart contract-based insurance platform built on a generalized (supports both put and call) options protocol called Convexity. It is intended as a platform to protect DeFi users against both technical and financial risks, and a place where ETH holders can earn substantial premiums on their holdings by providing insurance.Opyn uses tokenized ERC20 put options, oTokens, on ETH to allow option buyers to keep their upside while limiting their downside. If you buy Opyn protection, you are buying “the right but not the obligation to sell an asset at a pre-specified price”. Currently, you can buy insurance for DAI, ETH, and USDC deposits on Compound and it is completely noncustodial and trustless. Zubin Koticha, CEO & Co-founder of Opyn, is currently working on V2 of the platform with his team. Their focus for improvements are in 3 main areas; cash efficiency, trading mechanism, and network effects. They are hoping to release this within the next 6 months. This is a much-needed generalizable insurance solution against some attacks/ vulnerabilities within the DeFi ecosystem and it will be very interesting to see how their contribution to DeFi progresses.Topics covered in this episode:Zubin’s background and how he got into cryptoHow Opyn was created and the roles within the companyThe evolution of the Opyn productUsing options as an insurance solutionThe difference between traditional markets and OpynAmerican vs European optionsImprovements they are making in V2 - capital efficiency, fungibility, network effectsThe collateral as a different asset featureTrading venueAn overview of VegaSwapTimelines for the new versionEpisode links: Opyn WebsiteOpyn WhitepaperWhat is Opyn?Opyn DiscordOpyn TwitterZubin Koticha TwitterThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/344