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

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

Genesis Mining is a leading hash power provider offering cloud cryptocurrency mining as a service. They offer mining for Bitcoin, Zcash, Dash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero and serve over 2 million users in 100+ countries. The company was formed in 2013 and saw tremendous growth in its seven years in operation. In the mining business, process optimization, controlling costs, and vertical integration are key. Crypto prices, difficulty adjustments, hardware availability – all can have an impact on profits. Co-founder & CEO Marco Streng shares how he built his company from the ground up, and is now expanding beyond crypto to address other profitable markets in cloud computing.Topics covered in this episode:Marco's background and how he started Genesis MiningThe biggest challenges they faced in the early daysThe company's cost structures and vertical integrationWhy they got into cloud computing and the applications of GPUsThe major shifts in the mining industry since they were foundedThe ecological footprint of miningWhy people would buy cloud mining and its profitability opportunitiesThe risk of mining centralizationBitcoin halving and the impacts of this on the mining industryMarco's views on Proof of StakeEpisode links: Genesis Mining websiteBitcoin Halving - What to Expect as a MinerGenesis GroupGenesis CloudGenesis Mining TwitterMarco Streng TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/338

Aave is building a suite of non-custodial DeFi tools that allow users to earn interest on their deposits and borrow assets. Earlier this year, Aave released its Flash Loans feature, which is drumming up a lot of excitement in the ecosystem. Flash Loans have a number of applications like executing liquidations or refinancing and require no collateral on the part of the borrower. As we have seen since they were introduced, they have also been used by malicious actors to exploit vulnerabilities in some DeFi protocols. Nevertheless, this powerful tool is an important “money lego” component that enables various new use cases. Stani Kulechov, Aave Founder & CEO, and Marc Zeller, Integrations Lead, explain their vision for the Aave protocol as an essential part of the DeFi ecosystem.Topics covered in this episode:Stani and Marc's backgrounds and how they became involved in cryptoMarc's previous project, Variabl, and why it failedHow Aave came out of EthLendSwitching from an OTC model to a pooled modelYield hacking and other DeFi use casesWhat the Flash Loan is and why it is usefulHow one can do DeFi refinancing with Flash LoansThe Flash Loans attacks which happened in FebruarySmart contract security and how the community should response to attacksWhy privacy is DeFi is desirable, but also hard to doEpisode links: Aave Protocol websiteSneak Peek at Flash LoansFlash Loans - One Month InAave TwitterStani Kulechov TwitterMarc Zeller TwitterSponsors: Least Authority: Register for Security Sessions on April 30th to learn about security audits for your blockchain project - https://leastauthority.com/meetupShapeShift: 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/337

The Plasma Group was a not for profit research group focussing on layer-2 scaling on Ethereum. Optimism is a new Public Benefit Corporation that builds on the lessons of the Plasma research and is implementing Optimistic Rollups. This solution scales Eth 1.x and offers near-instant transaction finality on Ethereum, while providing over 100x transaction throughput. Jinglan Wang and Karl Floersch, co-founders of Optimism, explain the transition to this new entity and its goals moving forward.Topics covered in this episode:Jinglan and Karl's backgrounds and how they came to work togetherHow the Plasma Group and all of the Plasma research evolved into OptimismFunding of Optimism through Gitcoin, and the lessons learned from donation fundingWhat are Optimistic Rollup and how they achieve scalingHow to make an Optimistic Rollup chainOptimistic Rollups compared to other scaling solutions like Truebit, sharding and zkRollupsHow Optimistic Rollups fit within the Eth 2.0 roadmapThe role of an aggregator and how to become oneSubmitting transactions, the fees involved, and different finality levelsProblems that could arise from mining transactions on incorrect statesWho is using the OVM alpha and what's next for the projectEpisode links: Optimism WebsitePlasma Group WebsiteIntroducing the OVM - Plasma Group Blog""Ethereum Smart Contracts in L2: Optimistic Rollup - Plasma Group BlogA New Way to Scale - Optimized Optimistic Rollup — IDEX BlogOptimism TwitterJinglan Wang TwitterKarl Floersch TwitterSponsors: Least Authority: Register for Security Sessions on April 30th to learn about security audits for your blockchain project - https://leastauthority.com/meetupThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/336