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

As content becomes more and more abundant and immediately available at our fingertips, our limited attention is a barrier for those whose business it is to attract and harness it. In this context, large (social) media companies understand that attention is a scarce commodity, and, as has been demonstrated, those who control attention wield enormous power over our society. We’re joined by Greg Meredith, CTO of Synereo, to talk about how this new Blockchain platform rebuild the attention economy. In a sense, Synereo is to attention, what Bitcoin is to money, in effect, removing intermediaries from the transaction between those who have attention, and those who wish to attract it. Greg, also gives his insights on how functional programming languages could allow for verifiable computational smart contracts. Topics covered in this episode: Greg’s background as a mathematician and his work on Microsoft’s BizTalk Process Orchestration How he transitioned into the crypto-currency space What is Synereo and what the project is trying to achieve Greg’s thoughts on the attention economy and how it is fundamentally broken Synereo’s technology stack How Vlad Zamfir’s Casper consensus algorithm influenced Synereo Rholang, Synereo’s functional smart-contracting language Synereo’s economic model and product roadmap Episode links: Synereo Synereo White Paper Logic as a distributive law Quit social media by Dr. Cal Newport Deep Work by Dr. Cal Newport This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/154

A topic which is often discussed is the limited use of Ethereum applications without stable cryptocurrencies. Prediction markets are a prime example of this. When one makes a prediction using Ether, he or she is in fact entering into to speculations: one being the outcome of the actual prediction, the other being the price of Ether when the prediction resolves. Projects like Maker DAO try to solve the problem by developing complex systems to ensure that a blockchain token keeps its value in sync with fiat currencies. But Decentralized Capital is taking a different approach by issuing fiat-pegged tokens on Ethereum that are backed by bank deposits. CEO Alex Wearn joined us to explain their approach to providing a fundamental piece of Ethereum infrastructure. Topics covered in this episode: The problem Decentralized Capital is trying to solve What the architecture of Decentralized Capital looks like The relationship between Crypto Capital and Decentralized Capital Why the ability of freezing and confiscating assets is required Some of the best use cases for Decentralized Capital The regulatory environment of Decentralized Capital The Decentralized Capital business model Episode links: Decentralized Capital Website Decentralized Capital is Live article Introducing Decentralized Capital Video Decentralized Capital and Dapp Integration Compliant Decentralized Exchange IDEX Decentralized Capital's DVIP Memberships This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/153

In 2012, a year after discovering Bitcoin in Argentina, Dutch economist Tuur Demeester became one of the first people to advocate investing in Bitcoin to a mainstream audience. Tuur joined us to discuss his thesis for investing in Bitcoin and how it has evolved over time. We also talked about the road ahead and how other cryptocurrencies and Ethereum compare as investment opportunities. Topics covered in this episode: How Tuur discovered Bitcoin in Argentina in 2011 The case for investing in Bitcoin The current state of Bitcoin and metrics he looks at Projections for the Bitcoin price How Bitcoin compares to gold The current state of the financial markets Episode links: How to Position for the Rally in Bitcoin Report Why I'm Short Ethereum (and long Bitcoin) Why Bitcoin is the Petroleum of Our Time Bitcoin - Why It Now Belongs in Every Porfolio Adamant Research Podcast on Soundcloud Tuur Demeester Twitter This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/152

Before 2013 few people paid attention to Bitcoin and blockchain, yet even back in the 1990s a vibrant group of prioneers pursued the vision of financial cryptography and digital cash. One of these was financial cryptographer and software developer Ian Grigg, who today works as an architecture consultant for R3. Grigg joined us for a discussion of the history of the digital cash, Bitcoin and his work on Ricardian Contracts, which foreshadowed today’s smart contracts. Topics covered in this episode: The origin story of financial cryptography DigiCash and the startup scene around it in the 1990s Ricardian Contracts and why contracts are central to digital assets Ricardian Contracts vs blockchain Episode links: Ricardian Contract Paper Financial Cryptography Website Financial Cryptography in 7 Layers R3CEV Brown, Carlyle, Grigg & Hearn: Corda - An Introduction This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/151

Last week the biggest blockchain-focused developer conference took place in Shanghai, China: Ethereum’s DevCon 2. Epicenter show host Meher Roy was at the conference and brought back his impressions and insights for a comprehensive discussion of the current state of Ethereum projects and the Ethereum community. Topics covered in this episode: What Ethereum’s developer conference DevCon 2 was like The big change in going from concepts to alpha version over the last year The continued lack of sustainable business models in Ethereum The lack of interest by Venture Capitalists and the big tech companies in Ethereum and blockchain technology The current state and incentive problems of crowdsales Three areas of focus in Ethereum: Scalability, Privacy and Governance The search for the next protocol Episode links: Ethereum Foundation Website Ethereum YouTube Channel Insanity and Brilliance at Ethereum's Developer Conference Melonport: Decentralized Asset Management on Ethereum Golem: Worldwide Supercomputer Metamask: Ethereum Browser Extension Cosmos Whitepaper This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/150

That blockchains represents a fundamental technological revolution has become widely accepted. What is still more nebulous, but could turn out just as disruptive is how smart contracts while transform the legal system and our understanding of what contracts are and how they work. Legal researcher Lukas Abegg who is currently finishing his PhD on copyright issues around 3d printing and has been researching smart contracts as well joined us to discuss the question whether code is law and what blockchain can learn form 3d printing. Topics covered in this episode: The copyright questions around 3d printing How legal issues around 3d printing are like issues around smart contracts How information theory can help us conceptualize smart contracts The thesis of Lessig’s book ‘Code is Law’ The case for law regulating code Why Alternative Dispute Resolution has big potential for blockchain applications Episode links: Code is Law? Not Quite Yet Lessig's Code Lawrence Lessig Talk 'Thinking Through Law and Code' EB125 - Florian Glatz A Legal Framework for DAOs This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/149

We’re joined by Kyle Torpey, a freelance writer, and journalist who writes for a number of publications in the blockchain space including Bitcoin Magazine, Coin Journal, and others. Know for his well-written articles and in-depth reporting on the important topics affecting Bitcoin today, Kyle provides his point of view on the scalability debate and gives an update on the recent and upcoming changes to the bitcoin protocol. Topics covered in this episode: An update on the scalability debate The outcome of the recent Hong Kong scalability workshop and code dev meeting in California The Bitcoin core development process The recent release of Bitcoin Code 0.13.0 The inclusion of Segregated Witness and what it enables Upcoming features in the roadmap Takeaways from the Ethereum hard fork Division in the Bitcoin community The evolution of the Bitcoin ecosystem in the last 2 years Potential mainstream applications for Bitcoin Episode links: The Five Most Useful Properties of Bitcoin When Should Developers Turn to Bitcoin? Darknet Customers Are Demanding Bitcoin Alternative Monero The Power of Schnorr: The Signature Algorithm to Increase Bitcoin's Scale and Privacy BIP-47 vs BIP-75: How Will Bitcoin Wallets Maintain Privacy While Becoming Easier to Use? This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/148

With academic research on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies still in its infancy, Sarah Meiklejohn’s track record of publications in the area stands out. The UCL computer science professor has explored topics ranging from anonymity in Bitcoin to how a central bank could go about issuing a cryptocurrency. Topics covered in this episode: What techniques can be used to deanonymize Bitcoin users How Bitcoin’s usage evolved over time Whether privacy-enhancing overlays in Bitcoin currently work What a cryptocurrency issued by a central bank could look like The architecture of RSCoin Episode links: Sarah Meiklejohn UCL Website Meiklejohn & Orlandi (2015): Privacy-Enhancing Overlays in Bitcoin Danezis & Meiklejohn (2016): Centrally Banked Cryptocurrencies Meiklejohn et al (2016): A Fistful of Bitcoins EB70 - Michael Gronager: Chainalysis EB83 - David Andolfatto: Fedcoins and Cryptocurrencies Issued by Central Banks This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/147

In the last 20 years, content publishing platforms have proliferated to an almost insane number. There are countless places where people and companies can post articles, blogs, videos, photos, live content and so on. Despite this diverse offering, little innovation has happened in monetizing content, which still mostly remains ad-based. We’re joined by Ryan X. Charles, Bitcoin Developer and Founder of Yours. Yours would like to address the monetization problem by allowing content producers to earnBitcoin when they create good content. Yours is an in-browser application which implements a Bitcoin wallet and enables micro-transactions through their own implementation of the Lightning Network. Content Creators are paid by Curators who attribute value to the content. Curators are themselves rewarded when content they find valuable goes viral. Topics discussed in this episode: Ryan’s background as the Lead Developer of BitCore, and his experience at BitGo and Reddit What is Yours and what types of applications it enables The technical components of Yours The Yours application and how users post and access content Why he chose to build Yours on bitcoin How micropayments are implemented in Yours How Yours addresses the issue of copyright infringement What challenges Yours may face in order to reach critical mass Episode links: Yours website Yours client This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/146

One of the sectors which is ripe for disruption is the real estate industry. In the US for instance, a handful of historic and very powerful players operate what is known as MLS, or Multiple Listing Services, and hold unofficial monopolies on residential and commercial real estate listings. Brokers, who depend on these listing services to sell properties, agree that their incumbent positions have created a situation where fees have continued to rise, while little to no added value has been added for their users. Stephen King and Russel McLernon join us to explain RexMLS, a decentralized Multiple Listing Service built on Ethereum and IPFS. Currently in beta, the DApp would allow brokers to list properties at a very low cost, and be accessible to international markets, something which is lacking in the current model. Topics covered in this episode: The basics of MLS or Multiple Listing Services What is RexMLS and the problems it is trying to address The benefits of a decentralized MLS The different technical components of RexMLS Why they chose Ethereum and IPFS The user experience of RexMLS The product’s roll-out phases How users are incentivized to participate in the system The RexDex token exchange and the token injection model RexMLS’s governance model Episode links: RexMLS Website RexMLS Beta RexMLS White Paper This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/145