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

Data is the new oil, and those who control massive amounts of it have a major competitive advantage. That advantage becomes exponential when that data is used to teach artificial intelligence. Companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon have a far greater probability of building strong AI than smaller actors simply by the sheer amount of user data and metadata they possess. Let’s now envision an alternate reality where big data lives on public infrastructure and is accessible to anyone who wishes to use it for the purpose of teaching AI. Big data as a public resource could have the potential to enable vast amounts of innovation at the edges, far greater than that of a small set of incumbents building large centralized AI systems. We’re joined by Trent McConaghy, who is the CTO and Co-founder of BigchainDB and Ascribe. Trent brings along a special surprise guest, Fred Ehrsam, former Co-founder at Coinbase. For the first half of the show, we have a fascinating discussion with Trent and Fred about the intersection of AI and blockchain technologies, and the implications of publicly available data sets on innovation in AI. For the second half of the show, we talk with Trent about the public implementation of BigchainDB, the Interplanetary Database (IPDB), and the applications for a public big data storage network accessible to all of humanity. Topics covered in this episode: The issues which arise with big data centralization in the context of building artificial intelligence How blockchain technologies could serve as the public data infrastructure for teaching AI How an AI might gain financial dominance over humanity by selling art on a DAO An update on Ascribe and BigchainDB The IPDB network and what goals it hopes to achieve The IPDB Foundation, its members and governance rules The technical components of the IPDB network Use cases and applications for a public decentralized global database Episode links: IPDB - Interplanetary Database Foundation IPDB Dev Portal This episode is hosted by Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/184

Naming systems are an important component of any networked information system. It’s difficult to imagine how the Internet could have been adopted by the masses had it not been for the Domain Name System, which translates machine-readable IP addresses into human-readable domain names. Blockchains, with their long and complex address formats, suffer from a similar problem. One might think a solution would be to apply the same naming system architecture we have for the public Internet to public blockchains. But DNS, in the eyes of many, is a largely flawed system. Centrally controlled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Internet domain names are vulnerable to censorship and barriers to entry are kept artificially high – registering a new Top Level Domain (ex: .epicenter) costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. We’re joined by Alex Van de Sande and Nick Johnson to discuss their approach to creating an open, secure and decentralized naming system for the Ethereum Network. The Ethereum Naming System (ENS) allows users to register .eth domain names, which can be used in supporting Ethereum wallets and clients. Names are reserved by placing a deposit in a smart contract and can be mapped to any Ethereum addresses. So rather than sending funds to 0x8cd…0935, one would simply need to type a memorable name like epicenter.eth into their wallet. Backed by the Ethereum Foundation, ENS will likely become the defacto standard for name registration in Ethereum. Topics covered in this episode: Alex and Nick’s respective backgrounds and roles in the Ethereum Foundation How the Internet’s Domain Name System works The problems and pain points with DNS and how it is governed today What is ENS and what problems it is addressing The ENS auction system and how names are registered The different parties involved in ENS ENS’s technical architecture and governing smart contract The current governance model of ENS and future plans for increased decentralization of governance ENS’s economic model and technical roadmap Episode links: Ethereum Name Service ENS Registrar ENS Github Project ENS Gitter Channel ENS Twitter Bot This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/183

Coin Center is a non-profit in Washington DC that focuses on research and advocacy issues facing public blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Their aim is to protect users and foster innovation through achieving sound policies and regulations. Director of Research Peter Van Valkenburgh joined us to discuss the work of the center and the most pressing regulatory issues facing the industry today. Topics covered in this episode: The origins and objectives of Coin Center How to judge the success of Coin Center Why Peter is more bullish on permissionless than permissioned blockchains The three areas of blockchain regulation: Consumer protection, anti money laundering and securities His view about ICOs Why people should pay attention to money transmission regulations Episode links: Coin Center Website Open Matters: Why Permissionless Blockchains are Essential to the Future of the Internet Framework for Securities Regulation of Cryptocurrencies Twitter Peter Van Valkenburgh This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/182

The road to mainstream adoption of blockchain technologies is a long one. Although the user experience of wallets has greatly improved since the dark days of command-line only interfaces, decentralized applications continue to struggle with onboarding non-technical users. Jarrad Hope and Carl Bennetts, join us to discuss Status, a mobile Ethereum client which aims to turn the standard wallet experience on its head. At its core, Status is a mobile instant messenger client that leverages the Whisper protocol for secure peer-to-peer communication. Through its familiar messaging interface and elegant design, users can chat and send Ether directly in the app. As the first implementation of Ethereum’s Light Client Protocol, users may also use decentralized applications such as uPort, Gnosis and Aragon on their mobile phones. Built as an open source project, Status’ developer platform also allows developers to easily port their Dapps to the app. Topics covered in this episode: Jarrad and Carl’s background and journey to the Ethereum space Status’ vision for a friendly, mobile Dapp client Status’ technical architecture How Status leverages Ethereum’s Light Client and Whisper protocols The Status user experience and feature set Jarrad and Carl’s views on privacy and how Status fulfils their goal of privacy by default The long term vision for a Status Network The project’s roadmap and business model Episode links: Status: The Mobile Ethereum Client Status Reddit This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/181

Anyone who has ever started a company knows just how tedious that process that can be. Whether it’s establishing a shareholder’s agreement, defining the company’s constitutional structure, raising funds, or transferring shares, corporate governance procedures remain largely paper-based, requiring validation from multiple stakeholders, and their lawyers. Blockchain technologies, and specifically smart contracts, provide the rails upon which these processes can be digitized and streamlined, reducing operational costs, eliminating errors and automating menial tasks. Manu Thanabalan, CTO of Otonomos, joins us to discuss how his company is leveraging smart contracts to accelerate incorporation and automate corporate governance. Otonomos provides the tools and services which allow for anyone to start a company in any of the jurisdictions they support. Using their platform, founders are able to define board members and issue shares, while captables are kept up-to-date in real-time. Day-to-day governance mechanisms and standard procedures such as voting and share transfers are automated through a smart contact, which complies with local jurisdictional regulation. Topics covered in this episode: Mano’s background as a quantitative trader and how he transitioned into blockchain The fundamental problem Otonomos is addressing How we may be able to unlock a tremendous amount of value by liberating shares currently locked in private companies Leveraging smart contracts to automate standardized corporate legal procedures The types of constitutional rules which can be digitized and automated with smart contracts The ability to simplify accounting and auditing with Otonomos The Otonomos technology stack The current state of Otonomos and their product roadmap Episode links: Otonomos Website This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/180

Years into the great Bitcoin scaling debate no solution is in reach. Neither bigger blocks nor Segregated Witness have anywhere near consensus support. With the conflict escalating, a Bitcoin fork has become a real possibility.Electrum Developer Thomas Voegtlin joined us to discuss the state of the Bitcoin scaling debate. We discussed Bitcoin Unlimited, ASICBoost, SegWit activation without miner support and how a Bitcoin fork could play out. Possible outcomes include that Bitcoin Unlimited gains a majority of hashing power and starts mining bigger blocks. In the event of a fork, a proof-of-work change could be done to defend the minority chain from miner attacks. And lately a proposal was brought forward to activate SegWit without the support of the hashing power.Topics discussed in this episode:ASICBoost and its potential role in the conflictHow a Bitcoin fork could happenHow to split coins in case of a forkHow UASF could be used to activate SegWit without miner supportRequirements for UASF to be safeHow Electrum would handle a forkEpisode links:Electrum Bitcoin WalletASICBoost – Hacker NoonBitcoin's New Controversy: The AsicBoost Allegations Explained - CoinDeskTimo Hanke on ASICBoost and SegWit Non-ActivationFrom AsicBoost to UASF: Greg Maxwell on Bitcoin's Path Forward - CoinDesk[bitcoin-dev] Thomas Voegtlin: Soft Fork Threshold Signaling ProposalUASF Working Group[bitcoin-dev] Greg Maxwell: I do not support the BIP 148 UASFThomas Voegtlin: Electrum, SPV Wallets And Bitcoin Aliases — EpicenterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/179

For decades, science and academia have leveraged distributed computing to solve massive computational problems. Distributed grid computing schemes allow donors to volunteer their desktop computer’s idle resources toward scientific projects in physics, biology, and chemistry, where large amounts of parallel computing resources are necessary. Relying on software like BONIC, these networks provide features such as built-in fault tolerance and result verification. And with the proliferation of mobile and IoT, the potential for massively distributed grid networks has never been greater. Gilles Fedak, a researcher at the French computer science research body Inria, joins us to discuss a new project which aims to build a high-performance distributed cloud infrastructure marketplace. Relying on mature grid computing technologies, iExec utilizes Ethreum to organize a peer-to-peer marketplace of computing resources, allowing anyone to rent their idle resources to grid networks. If it succeeds to execute on its vision, this game-changing project could revolutionize distributed computing through cost reduction and the commoditization of resources. Topics covered in this episode: Gilles’ background as a distributed computing researcher Distributed computing and it’s applications in science and industry The problems we see in distributed computing networks The iExec project and its vision for a distributed computing resource marketplace How iExec works as an Ethereum smart contract The different components and participants of iExec The iExec token and upcoming crowds ale The project’s business model and roadmap Episode links: iEx.ec Website Gilles Fedak Home Page at ENS Lyon iEx.ec White Paper iEx.ec Crowdsale This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/178

Bitcoin and Ethereum miners collectively make up what is perhaps the most powerful computational resource in the world. However, mobile phones from the early 2000’s could arguably run more complex operations than these networks combined. While blockchains themselves may never reach the level of computational power of modern computers, they may be leveraged as the underlying verification layer for centralized computing. We’re joined by Jason Teutsch and Christian Reitwiessner. They are the co-authors of a visionary whitepaper which describes Truebit. This protocol would allow complex computations to be executed on off-chain systems while being validated by Ethereum miners. The results of these computations would consequently be available to on-chain smart contracts. Truebit makes clever use of proof systems and game theory to build a protocol where a Task Giver can ask a third party, the Solver, to execute a complex computation in exchange for a reward. Not limited to Solidity, these could be executed in traditional languages such as Go, Python or C++. Verifiers could then challenge the results, incentivising the Solver to be honest or see his reward be stripped away. This incentive structure would guarantee fast and reliable results while eliminating the need for a trusted third party. Topics covered in this episode: Jason and Christian respective backgrounds in the ecosystem. The core problem being addressed by Truebit Why a scalable decentralized computational resource is desirable How Truebit makes use of proof systems and game theory to enable trusted computations off-chain How the verification game works the incentive structures proposed in Truebit The various use cases for Truebit How Truebit could allow for blockchain interoperability without the need for “blockchain of blockchains” type networks Episode links: TrueBit Website TrueBit Subreddit TrueBit: Scalable Computation talk by Christian Reitwiessner at Ethereum Meetup in Berlin Slides for the Scalable Computation talk This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/177

In the world of Bitcoin podcast, there is one show which definitely stands out as the longest running, Let’s Talk Bitcoin! In its 4-year history, the show has produced over 320 episodes and expanded to become a network of podcasts which includes Epicenter and many others. We’re joined by Adam B. Levine the founder and host of Let’s Talk Bitcoin! It was thanks to Adam that Sébastien and Brian first connected in 2013, so in many ways, we consider him as the “”spiritual grandfather”” of Epicenter. Adam reflects on his signature show and the network he created in 2014. He discusses the future of the network and makes an announcement live on the show, which even takes us by surprise. Topics discussed in this episode: The history of the Let’s Talk Bitcoin! podcast What listeners can expect for the future of the show The LTB Coin reward token experiment, what was learned and the future of that project The Let’s Talk Bitcoin! Network and how it’s evolving The Tokenly project and its use cases Token.fm: a platform for music creators to sell licences to their music as tokens Episode links: Token.FM - Early Access BTC Media Adam B. Levine: Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network, LTBCoin, Monetizing Content & Crowdfunding — Epicenter Let's Talk Bitcoin! This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/176

For a long time the native asset of the Ripple network XRP was the cryptocurrency with the second biggest market cap. But with much of the supply controlled by Ripple, it remained surrounded by controversy. Still, XRP remains an interesting asset to enable cross-border payments in the future. Miguel Vias recently joined Ripple after a long career on Wall Street to develop XRP as a liquid and widely accepted asset. Topics covered in this episode: How Miguel Vias went from trading precious metals to XRP The similarities between precious metals and cryptocurrencies The role Ripple sees for XRP The connection between XRP and interledger Why the FinCEN fine changed Ripple’s course XRP’s role in cross-border payments How Miguel is trying to create liquid markets for XRP Episode links: Ripple Website CME Group Executive Miguel Vias Joins Ripple | Ripple "Ripple and R3 Team Up with 12 Banks to Trial XRP for Cross-Border Payments | Ripple" Q4 2016 XRP Markets Report | Ripple Welcome | Interledger FinCEN Fines Ripple Labs for Bank Secrecy Act Violations This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/175