The Scoop

Michael Cahill is the CEO of Douro Labs, where he oversees the development and acceleration of the Pyth Network — an oracle network for real-time financial market data delivery to smart contract applications.In this episode, Cahill unpacks the unique advantages of Pyth Network over other oracle providers and explains what obstacles currently stand in the way of replicating the centralized trading experience on-chain.According to Cahill, DeFi is "very close to feature parity with some of the backend elements of derivatives trading on centralized exchanges — what we haven't yet cracked is the user experience."Pyth Network was incubated by Jump Trading before going live on Solana mainnet back in August of 2021.

Keone Hon is the founder and CEO of Monad Labs — the development team behind a new Layer-1 blockchain that aims to bring pipelined execution to the Ethereum Virtual Machine.In this episode, Keone shares how his background at various HFT firms led him to identify problems with existing blockchain infrastructure and ultimately inspired him to rebuild the EVM entirely to optimize it for high-performance trading activity.Monad has raised $19 million from investors including Dragonfly Capital, Naval Ravikant, Cobie, Hasu and others.OUTLINE:03:33 - Monad Overview05:17 - Another Layer-1?06:26 - ‘Pipelining’08:32 - Web3 Social11:38 - Bridges to Monad12:11 - High Performance DeFi13:34 - DeFi Summer 2.0?16:01 - Monad’s Funding16:49 - Onchain HFT19:05 - The Future of Trading22:55 - Onchain Sports Betting23:19 - Surviving Crypto Winter28:30 - Closing Thoughts

Prometheum CEO discusses securing a special purpose broker-dealer license and the key to increased institutional participation in the digital asset industry. Exploring advantages of trading digital assets on an ATS, implementation of crypto securities, tensions between market participants and federal regulators, unforeseen attention, and navigating current challenges in the crypto industry.

Mike Dudas, experienced investor in the crypto industry, discusses the painfully slow pace of dealmaking in the crypto venture market. He attributes the slowdown to dwindling real users and unrealistic founder expectations. However, he sees hope in the uptick of developer activity, promising better experiences and products for future crypto users.

Li Jin is the co-founder and a general partner at the VC firm Variant and has written extensively about the benefits of web3 social platforms for creators. Stani Kulechov is the creator of Aave (one of the largest decentralized finance protocols) and has been key to the development of the web3 social network platform, Lens Protocol.In this episode, Li and Kulechov examine the problems with the existing social media landscape and explain the opportunities that exist for new web3 social media attempts such as Lens Protocol.As Jin explains, one of the key benefits of web3 social is that "every element of the business model is totally in the creator's control."Outline:01:15 - Existing Social Media Landscape08:18 - Opportunities for Web3 Social12:35 - 'Socioeconomic Graph'14:20 - Lens Protocol17:44 - Financialization of Social Media25:30 - Monetization on X (Twitter)31:00 - Community Ownership34:46 - 'Liquid Citizen'38:26 - Investing in Web3 Social40:09 - Tokens & Web3 Social45:17 - Lens Protocol v2

Kristin Smith, CEO of Blockchain Association, unpacks the potential impact of a market structure bill on digital assets. Topics covered include current state of crypto in DC, stablecoin legislation, XRP ruling, and anti-crypto congressional sentiment. The podcast also delves into the implications of a bill passing, regulatory framework, and the views of 2024 presidential candidates on cryptocurrency.

Rebecca Rettig discusses the SEC's legal proceedings against Coinbase and Ripple, highlighting the challenge to the SEC's authority. The Court questions the SEC's actions towards Coinbase. Other topics include regulatory frameworks for digital assets, the value prop of blockchain, and the state of the crypto market.

Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami and Republican candidate for the 2024 US Presidential Election, discusses his campaign, plans to encourage innovation in the crypto industry, challenges faced, and his views on monetary and fiscal policy, cryptocurrency, and technological advancements.

Aubrey Strobel is the host of The Aubservation and the producer of "Lekker Feeling: A Bitcoin Ekasi Story."In this episode, Strobel explains how the combination of bitcoin and surfing is transforming a South African community and gives a behind the scenes look at the filmmaking process.Outline:1:33 - Film Background4:38 - Bitcoin in Africa7:07 - Bitcoin Ekasi9:18 - Merchant BTC Adoption11:09 - Bitcoin vs. Banking in South Africa13:15 - Lekker Feeling Highlights16:20 - Surfing & Bitcoin17:58 - Filmmaking18:27 - Global Perceptions of Bitcoin22:19 - Bitcoin Culture24:20 - Crypto Fundraising Difficulties27:48 - What’s Next?29:23 - Building on Bitcoin

Mastercard EVP Raj Dhamodharan discusses Mastercard's vision for a future of seamless value transfer between blockchains, including CBDCs and tokenized bank deposits. The podcast covers topics such as the Multi Token Network, KYC, public/private transactions, and the potential of central bank digital currencies.