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

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

In late 2017, Gabriel Jimenez was approached by the Venezuelan presidency and asked to create a national digital currency, the Petro. Although very much against the regime, Gabriel saw this as a chance to save his country which was on the brink of economic collapse. A new currency that would move freely over an open network, like Bitcoin. And the government would not be able to control it. So he agreed. Things didn’t go as Gabriel had envisioned. Months later, Gabriel almost paid with his life when he was held at gunpoint by military guards in the President’s palace. He was accused of being a traitor to the government and was forced to hand over the project, which still hasn’t taken off. Last year he fled to the US to avoid being arrested and has since been granted asylum status. He is passionate about cryptocurrency and his country, and is working on a new way to combine the two. From the safety of the US, Gabriel is finally able to share his side of the story and wants to set the record straight on why he did what he did.Topics covered in this episode:Gabriel’s background growing up in VenezuelaGabriel’s return to Venezuela from the USVenezuela in the pre-Chavez daysLiving in Venezuela during Chavez’s ruleThe introduction of crypto to VenezuelaThe Maduro regime and how things got worse from thereWhen the government turned on Gabriel and his teamKnowing the risks of this projectThe current state of the PetroHow things could have gone differently so that Petro could have workedEpisode links: The Coder and the Dictator - Gabriel's first interview with the NY TimesThe Petro WebsiteThe Petro - WikipediaGabriel signing the documents on Live TVGabriel Jimenez TwitterThe Social UsThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/343

We've heard it over and over again, Covid-19 has plunged us into a crisis like none other we’ve experienced in our lifetime. Although it is primarily a public health issue, it is also having a major impact on the global economy and financial system. Many businesses have been forced to shut down sparking debates on whether this is supply or demand shock. Wall Street proclaims that any increase in economic activity is a good sign. However, Jim Bianco, President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research, says a return to 90% of pre-crisis level will still not be enough to recover. Bianco Research is a Chicago-based firm that provides research and analysis for institutional finance. Jim started to take serious notice of the Covid-19 outbreak back in January. Since then he has been sharing his views on the long- term, macroeconomic consequences of the pandemic. He brings an enormous amount of clarity and insight into this issue.Topics covered in this episode:Jim’s background on Wall Street and how he transitioned into researchWhy he was so early to talk about the pandemic and the crisisThe lessons learned from this pandemic and what’s nextWhat long-term economic and societal trends we can expectThe FED: their response, the effects on the economy and where we go from hereJim’s views on UBI and the legitimacy of taxes if states can just print moneyThe US debt problem caused by the slowing of international tradeThe US dollar as a reserve currency and how it could be displacedThe prospect of crypto-based reserve currencies and the disruption of central banksHow close are we to Crypto and Bitcoin becoming an asset class in the traditional finance systemJim’s visions for the post virus worldEpisode links: Bianco Research“Is the Fed Making it Better?” Reset Everything TalkJim Bianco TwitterBianco Research YoutubeWTF Happened In 1971?Mainnet 2020 – Messari's Flagship Crypto Event (June 1 to 3)Free tickets to Web 3.0 Forum (June 8 to 10)Sponsors: Least Authority: Learn how Zero-Knowledge Access Passes can help you build a more privacy-minded business by disconnecting payment and user data. - http://www.leastauthority.com/zkapsThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/342

In this inaugural post-interview chat, Friederike and Sebastien discuss their recent interview with Arweave Co-founder and CEO, Sam Williams.Moving forward, these conversations will be released every week on Substack. Subscribe to never miss an episode at https://epicenter.rocks/substack

The internet was originally created as a platform to communicate freely, but it soon became a place where people could be monitored, controlled, and censored. 98% of content on the internet is deleted every 20 years. More surprisingly, based on a Twitter study, a third of links change their content fundamentally or are removed completely, within three months of their creation. Arweave is a new data storage protocol that enables economically sustainable permanence for the very first time. Built on a blockchain-like structure called the blockweave, one of the applications on Arweave is what they have coined “the permaweb”. This is an array of data, websites, and decentralised applications, to which anyone can contribute and maintain. This system provides an incentive to store your data without compromising your privacy, solving one of the key issues facing the current web.Sam Williams, Co-founder & CEO of Arweave, talks about the technical solution they have built, the economic model around endowment, and the ethical and philosophical questions the permanence of information against concepts like “the right to be forgotten” raises.Topics covered in this episode:- Sam’s background and how he got into the blockchain space- Breaking down BitTorrent – the first scalable decentraized file sharing system- Data sustainability on the web and what should be kept- Arweave under the hood and what is a blockweave- How data is stored and retrieved in blocks- Arweave’s economics and incentive model- Data replication within the infrastructure and ensuring decentralization in the future- The AR tokens and how the Arweave endowment works- Arweave vs Skynet vs IPFS- Does Arweave help with the data availability problem in Ethereum?- Arweave's business model- Community projects that Arweave are involved with and what’s next for the projectEpisode links: - [Arweave website](https://www.arweave.org/)- [Welcome to the Permaweb](https://medium.com/@arweave/welcome-to-the-permaweb-ce0e6c73ddfb)- [Arweave Whitepaper](https://www.arweave.org/files/arweave-lightpaper.pdf)- [Arweave on Medium](https://medium.com/@arweave)- [Arweave Twitter](https://twitter.com/ArweaveTeam)- [Sam Williams Twitter](https://twitter.com/samecwilliams)- [Mainnet 2020 – Messari's Flagship Crypto Event (June 1 to 3)](https://mainnet.events)- [Free tickets to Web 3.0 Forum (June 8 to 10)](https://ti.to/cogx/cogx-2020/discount/TPDODSFP100)- [Casual meetup for friends of Epicenter](https://epicenter.rocks/virtualmeetup)Sponsors: - ShapeShift: ShapeShift is the leading crypto platform offering zero-commission trading - https://shapeshift.com/This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: [epicenter.tv/341](https://epicenter.tv/341

Today, half of the internet is built on top of Amazon S3. Although the cloud has allowed Internet applications to scale, centralized infrastructure means less control over one's own data. And when it goes down, so does half of the internet.Sia CEO David Vorick is back on the podcast to talk about a new product recently released by their team: Skynet. Skynet builds on Sia and enables web applications to be developed and deployed over a decentralized data storage infrastructure. David also shares his thoughts on Trusted Setups, why he thinks they're "busted," and how the crypto industry can create better and more secure Zero-Knowledge primitives.Topics covered in this episode:- What is Skynet and how it builds on Sia- Skynet compared to IPFS/Filecoin- The need for a decdentralized data marketplace- An example of how the Sia network works- What are trusted setups and how they are used- Threat models in trusted setups and what can happen when they break- The alternative to trusted setups and solutions for the futureEpisode links: - [Sia Website](https://sia.tech/)- [Sia Blog](https://blog.sia.tech/)- [Decentralization & Cutting-Edge Cryptography - Starkware Sessions Talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naw0HajYDxI)- [David Vorick on Twitter](https://twitter.com/davidvorick)- [Sia on Twitter](https://twitter.com/SiaTechHQ)- [Epicenter Virtual Meetup on May 29](https://epicenter.rocks/virtualmeetup)This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: [epicenter.tv/B005](https://epicenter.tv/B005)

Decentralized exchanges have been around for some time, and various designs have been attempted. Although they provide a number of privacy and censorship resistance benefits, one of their pitfalls has been transaction throughput. However, recent advancements in Zero-Knowledge Proof-based scaling solutions is creating a new breed of scalable DEXes.Loopring is a non-custodial DEX protocol that achieves high-throughput trading. It leverages ZK-Rollups to achieve upwards of 2,000 transactions per second with on-chain settlement. As an order book-based exchange, it sets itself apart from other DEXes like Uniswap and the Gnosis Protocol. However, users should keep in mind that the orderbook is centralized. Daniel Wang, Founder & CEO of Loopring, talks about why they decided to focus on DEXes and their plans beyond the current version 3.0.Topics covered in this episode:Daniel's background and how he became involved in cryptoLoopring's 2017 token sale and why they needed to return funds to investorsThe concept of ring matching in the Loopring protocolLoopring's use of ZK-RollupsThe current throughput and transaction costLooping vs Binance and centralized exchangesWhy Loopring chose to build on a centralized order book modelThe differences between the Optimistic Rollup and the ZK-RollupThe Loopring token (LRC) and how it's used in the protocolDaniel’s views on the future of the DEX ecosystemEpisode links:Loopring websiteLoopring 3.0Loopring’s Frontend Vulnerability, ExplainedLoopring Exchange frontend password bug: PostmortemLoopring TwitterDaniel Wang TwitterSponsors:Learn how Zero-Knowledge Access Passes can help you build a more privacy-minded business by disconnecting payment and user data. Learn more at leastauthority.com/zkapsThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/340

Julian Assange, the creator of WikiLeaks, is currently in a maximum-security prison in London facing extradition to the US for violating the Espionage Act. This charge came, among other things, from exposing US war crimes in Iraq. This has put journalists around the world under fear of being prosecuted for exposing the truth. Opinions on Julian Assange are divided, unsurprisingly. But we can assume that a conviction would set a dangerous precedent for journalism, free press, and freedom of speech. John Shipton, Julian's father, is seeking support from the crypto community to help fund Julian's legal defense. Harry Halpin, CEO of Nym Technologies and friend of Julian's, teams up with John to discuss how a conviction could jeopardize the values of censorship resistance, permissionless innovation, and privacy.Topics covered in this episode:John and Harry's backgrounds and their connection to Julian AssangeThe extradition case against JulianHow the outcome of the orders could impact the Ethereum communityThe negative effects of WikiLeaksMaking changes to journalism and legacy mediaThe effects of Social MediaHow this case could open the gates for more prosecutions within the crypto/technology communityContributing to Julian's legal fundEpisode links: Nym TechnologiesState and Terrorist Conspiracies & Conspiracy as Governance, Julian AssangeWikiLeaks on WikipediaCourage FoundationHarry Halpin TwitterNym Technologies TwitterSponsors: ShapeShift: ShapeShift is the leading crypto platform offering zero-commission trading - https://shapeshift.com/This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/339