

The Delphi Podcast
The Delphi Podcast
Conversations with Crypto Gigabrains. Hosted by Tommy, Co-Founder and Founding Partner at Delphi Ventures
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 15, 2021 • 60min
Universe: Aggregating All NFT Media Components and Evolving The Components Faster than Peers
The Delphi Podcast Host and GP of Delphi Ventures Tom Shaughnessy sits down with Tyler Ward and Tim Kang, co-founders of Universe, a community bootstrapping engine designed to embed community building mechanics into the way you mint and monetize NFTs. The three discuss how Universe is aggregating all NFT media components to launch an NFT community, iterating faster with a community-driven approach, and much more.
We would like to thank Kava for making this podcast possible through their sponsorship! Kava gives you the ability to earn more by connecting the world's largest cryptocurrencies, ecosystems and financial applications. With a proven track record of delivering successful projects safely, the Kava Platform is DeFi's most trusted, scalable and secure institutional grade cross-chain engine. Learn more at kava.io.
Every Delphi Podcast is dropped first as a video interview for Delphi Digital Subscribers. Our members also have access to full interview transcripts. Join today to gain exclusive early access to every new interview before it's published.
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Show Notes:
(2:20) - First Question - Tyler´s Intro.
(3:21) - Tim´s Intro.
(4:26) - What is Universe.
(10:39) - Walkthrough Universe's components.
(14:18) - Differences between minting on Universe vs. other platforms.
(21:23) - Chance of other NFT minting platforms rerouting the metadata to Arweave or putting it on something unstoppable.
(25:03) - Universe's Auction House.
(29:56) - Reason behind decentralization of Universe's components.
(36:03) - Tyler's thoughts on the dichotomy between what Larva Labs does to promote punks and what the community does to promote punks.
(39:33) - Differences between polymorphs and other NFTs / why people are going crazy for them right now.
(41:09) - Tim and Tyler's thoughts on Rarities / How to describe rarity to somebody that understands Punks well / how does the rarity value dynamic work.
(46:52) - Polymorph: Rolling and Re-rolling / how expensive is to buy it / bonding curve aspects.
(52:52) - The Foundation / how to incentivize people to curate and get involved.
Resources:
Tyler Ward: Co-Founder of Universe
Tim Kang: Co-Founder of Universe
Universe Website
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for the Chain Reaction Podcast, and our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed

Jul 13, 2021 • 49min
Yenwen Feng and Nick Tong: Introducing Perpetual Protocol v2 ”Curie”
Jose Maria Macedo and Jonathan Erlich sit down with Yenwen Feng and Nicholas Tong to discuss all things Perpetual Protocol, the largest decentralized perpetuals trading platform by volume. They explore Perpetual’s success to date and dive into all the details behind the upcoming Perpetual Protocol v2.
We would like to thank Kava for making this podcast possible through their sponsorship! Kava gives you the ability to earn more by connecting the world's largest cryptocurrencies, ecosystems and financial applications. With a proven track record of delivering successful projects safely, the Kava Platform is DeFi's most trusted, scalable and secure institutional grade cross-chain engine. Learn more at kava.io.
Every Delphi Podcast is dropped first as an audio interview for Delphi Digital Subscribers. Our members also have access to full interview transcripts. Join today to gain exclusive early access to every new interview before it's published.
-
Show Notes
(2:12) – (First Question) – Yenwen and Nick's background and what brought them to crypto.
(5:09) – What is a perpetual future contract / Motivations for Perpetual V2.
(8:41) – Perpetual V1 / vAMM architecture.
(11:19) – Process to start a market in Perp V1 and what parameters are needed before creating a market.
(17:34) – Reasons for the success of Perp V1 and V2 and how intense growth has been experienced from the team’s perspective.
(23:40) - Biggest learnings from Perp V1.
(26:07) - How Perp V2 works.
(32:19) - Yenwen's thoughts on the design trade-offs and where does Perpetual sit.
(34:50) - Advantage of adopting a Uniswap V3 style model versus a centralized limit order book model.
(40:36) - Yenwen's thoughts on scaling perp long-term.
(41:48) - Decentralized vs. centralized derivatives
(44:35) - How the decentralized derivatives market will look like in 5–10 years from now.
(47:44) - Where to find Perpetual Protocol.
Resources:
Yenwen Fang: Co-Founder at Perpetual Protocol
Nick Tong: Head of Strategy at Perpetual Protocol
Perpetual Protocol Website
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for the Chain Reaction Podcast, and our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.
Music Attribution:
Cosmos by From The Dust |

Jul 12, 2021 • 43min
Seb Audet: Zapper Is Illuminating Crypto For All To See
The Delphi Podcast Host and GP of Delphi Ventures Tom Shaughnessy hosts Seb Audet, co-founder of Zapper to discuss user growth, benefits to offering DeFi education, integration speed, communities without a token, and more.
We would like to thank Cosmos for making this podcast possible through their sponsorship! Cosmos is on a mission, link one million blockchains. Name brand projects like Terra, Band, Kava, and Secret use Cosmos and the Cosmos Hub to connect to every other chain in our network. The Cosmos Hub is the port city that delivers Inter-Blockchain Communication today. Learn more at cosmos.network.
Every Delphi Podcast is dropped first as an video interview for Delphi Digital Subscribers. Our members also have access to full interview transcripts. Join today to gain exclusive early access to every new interview before it's published.
-
Show Notes
(1:52) - First Question - Did you ever envision Zapper to be what it is today when you originally founded it?
(6:34) - How Zapper got so many users without a token.
(12:30) - Seb's thoughts on decentralizing and scaling the Zapper Farm feature on Zapper.
(14:49) - Seb's Background.
(17:44) - The idea for Education and Quest with Zapper.
(23:24) - Earnings people get by completing “Quests."
(24:55) - Whether the learning and education that Zapper offers will go beyond DeFi to NFTs.
(30:06) - Zapper's global reach / targeting users with cultural differences.
(33:33) - Zapper's app store.
(35:08) - Zapper's role in NFTs.
(36:58) - Zapper's competition.
(40:11) - Seb's thoughts on supporting a layer two vs. supporting a new layer one.
Resources:
Seb Audet: Co-founder of Zapper
Zapper website
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for the Chain Reaction Podcast, and our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.
Music Attribution:
Cosmos by From The Dust | https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Jul 9, 2021 • 31min
Tascha Pan: Alpha Launchpad Aims to Incubate New DeFi Protocols
The Delphi Podcast Host and GP of Delphi Ventures Tom Shaughnessy sits down with Tascha Pan, co-founder of Alpha Finance Lab, which aims to be a forefront DeFi lab through building and incubating a number of DeFi ecosystems and products that capture unaddressed demand in an innovative and user-friendly way. The two discuss the Alpha Launchpad (the first-ever DeFi incubator program), the Alpha Universe and Ecosystem, value accrual to $ALPHA, and much more.
We would like to thank Cosmos for making this podcast possible through their sponsorship! Cosmos is on a mission, link one million blockchains. Name brand projects like Terra, Band, Kava, and Secret use Cosmos and the Cosmos Hub to connect to every other chain in our network. The Cosmos Hub is the port city that delivers Inter-Blockchain Communication today. Learn more at cosmos.network.
Every Delphi Podcast is dropped first as an video interview for Delphi Digital Subscribers. Our members also have access to full interview transcripts. Join today to gain exclusive early access to every new interview before it's published.
-
Show Notes
(1:37) – (First Question) – What is Alpha Finance.
(4:40) – How Alpha Launchpad works / Alpha Launchpad applications.
(8:10) – What Tascha looks for in a founder.
(12:46) – Scaling with Alpha Launchpad incubator.
(15:29) – $ALPHA token / token econ design and walkthrough.
(21:10) – The value flow to $ALPHA stakers.
(23:19) – Tascha's thoughts on the dichotomy between the project tokens and the $ALPHA token.
(24:23) – How Alpha makes sure that the value flows are to $ALPHA stakers for 1, 5, 10 years.
(27:01) – Tascha's thoughts on non-developer focused projects.
(28:44) – Alpha Homora update.
Resources:
Tascha Punyaneramitdee (Pan Pan): Co-Founder of Alpha Finance Lab
Alpha Finance Website
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for the Chain Reaction Podcast, and our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.
Music Attribution:
Cosmos by From The Dust | https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
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Jul 7, 2021 • 56min
Somnium Space: Virtual Worlds Of Tomorrow — Metaverse Musings Ep 31
Host Piers Kicks, sits down for Episode 31 of Metaverse Musings with Artur Sychov, the Founder of Somnium Space, to cover his immensely exciting virtual reality project. It really feels as though Artur is already living in the future, as he constantly strives to push the boundaries of what virtual reality has to offer with his deep passion for the sector.
Resources:
Project Website: https://somniumspace.com/
Guest’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ASychov
Piers' Twitter: https://twitter.com/pierskicks
Delphi Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastDelphi
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://tinyurl.com/ycvsp75h
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for The Delphi Podcast. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.

Jul 6, 2021 • 40min
Avalanche: Entering the 3rd Generation of Blockchains
Guest Host and Research Analyst at Delphi Ventures Can Gurel sits down with John Wu, president of Ava Labs, the creators behind the 3rd generation blockchain platform Avalanche. Avalanche is built from the ground up as a platform to host interoperable blockchains and enable both permissionless and permissioned use cases to bring new financial primitives into crypto.
We would like to thank Cosmos for making this podcast possible through their sponsorship! Cosmos is on a mission, link one million blockchains. Name brand projects like Terra, Band, Kava, and Secret use Cosmos and the Cosmos Hub to connect to every other chain in our network. The Cosmos Hub is the port city that delivers Inter-Blockchain Communication today. Learn more at cosmos.network.
Every Delphi Podcast is dropped first as an video interview for Delphi Digital Subscribers. Our members also have access to full interview transcripts. Join today to gain exclusive early access to every new interview before it's published.
-
Show Notes
(2:06) – (First Question) – John's Background and what brought him to crypto.
(9:54) – Avalanche’s vision / what is a sub-net and how does it allow us to have permission and permission-less flows.
(14:04) – Avalanche's security mechanisms.
(16:08) – Enterprise use cases on Avalanche.
(22:55) – John's thoughts on Layer 1s.
(25:53) – Bridges to Avalanche and how to port over new liquids.
(27:19) – Avalanche's advantages and its benefits for the community in the future.
(31:23) – Avalanche main upgrades.
(34:40) – John's thoughts on the regulatory environment in crypto how the space will evolve evolve over the next month.
(37:39) – Price, Institutions, and smart people joining the crypto space.
Resources:
John Wu: President of Ava Labs
Ava Labs Website
Avalanche Website
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for the Chain Reaction Podcast, and our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.
Music Attribution:
Cosmos by From The Dust | https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Jun 30, 2021 • 1h 1min
Vega: A Unique Protocol for Creating and Trading Derivatives
The Delphi Podcast Host and GP of Delphi Ventures Tom Shaughnessy sits down with Barney Mannerings, co-founder of Vega, a protocol for creating and trading derivatives on a fully decentralized network. The two discuss the protocol’s ability to allow for any derivative contract to be built, dynamic incentives, and much more.
We would like to thank Cosmos for making this podcast possible through their sponsorship! Cosmos is on a mission, link one million blockchains. Name brand projects like Terra, Band, Kava, and Secret use Cosmos and the Cosmos Hub to connect to every other chain in our network. The Cosmos Hub is the port city that delivers Inter-Blockchain Communication today. Learn more at cosmos.network.
Every Delphi Podcast is dropped first as an audio interview for Delphi Digital Subscribers. Our members also have access to full interview transcripts. Join today to gain exclusive early access to every new interview before it's published.
-
Show Notes
(1:37) – (First Question) – Barney's Background and what brought him to crypto.
(8:33) – Vega's Elevator Pitch.
(10:08) – Problems in the centralized financial system that Vega is attempting to solve.
(12:46) – Where is Vega in its development timeline.
(14:51) – How Vega works and use cases.
(22:43) – Modularity of Vega / how easy it is to implement a derivatives contract on Vega.
(27:01) – Vega's Competition.
(30:19) – Why Vega chose to build its own chain.
(39:29) – Incentivizing liquidity providers.
(43:23) – Risks and initiatives.
(46:44) – Vega's fee structure.
(49:56) – What is "Wendy" / how it tackles the MEV problem.
(55:35) – Barney's thoughts on inter-blockchain communication (IBC).
(57:15) – Dealing with lag between moving collateral between chains or cascading liquidations.
(59:18) – What’s keeping Barney up at night.
Resources:
Barney Mannerings: Co-founder of Vega Protocol
Vega Website
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for the Chain Reaction Podcast, and our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.
Music Attribution:
Cosmos by From The Dust | https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons

Jun 28, 2021 • 1h 8min
Yield Guild: The Job Board of the Metaverse — Metaverse Musings Ep 30
Hosts Piers Kicks, Anil Lulla, and Yan Liberman sit down for Episode 30 of Metaverse Musings with Gabby Dizon, Founder of Yield Guild, to talk through his groundbreaking project directly impacting the lives of thousands of people all over the world. Delphi backed Yield Guild early on and are proud to continue to support the journey. We couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds and firmly believe that the project will revolutionize the way we perceive work. Tune in for a glimpse of the future.
Resources:
Project Website: https://yieldguild.io/
Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo-BrASMHU4
Guest’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabusch
Piers' Twitter: https://twitter.com/pierskicks
Delphi Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastDelphi
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://tinyurl.com/ycvsp75h
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for The Delphi Podcast. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.

Jun 25, 2021 • 52min
Jean Miao: The Permissionless Protocol for Decentralized Perpetual Swaps on Arbitrum
The Delphi Podcast Host and GP of Delphi Ventures Tom Shaughnessy sits down with Jean Miao, co-founder of MCDEX, a next-gen, fully permissionless protocol for decentralized perpetual swaps (perps). The two discuss the entire protocol from V2 to V3, the case for decentralized perps overtaking centralized perps and much more.
We would like to thank Cosmos for making this podcast possible through their sponsorship! Cosmos is on a mission, link one million blockchains. Name brand projects like Terra, Band, Kava, and Secret use Cosmos and the Cosmos Hub to connect to every other chain in our network. The Cosmos Hub is the port city that delivers Inter-Blockchain Communication today. Learn more at cosmos.network.
Every Delphi Podcast is dropped first as an audio interview for Delphi Digital Subscribers. Our members also have access to full interview transcripts. Join today to gain exclusive early access to every new interview before it's published.
Show Notes
(2:06) – (First Question) – Jean's Background and what brought her to MCDEX.
(6:29) – MCDEX Overview.
(7:56) – What is perpetual swap.
(9:21) – How MCDEX works.
(14:36) – Differences between V3 and V2.
(17:10) – Thoughts on bootstrapping liquidity.
(19:04) – MCDEX target / differences in attracting a different class of trader or investor.
(22:57) – MCDEX's Competition.
(26:48) – How the permissionless market creation works.
(31:21) – What benefits does permissionless market creation give to the long tail of assets.
(35:56) – MCDEX L2 launch.
(38:52) – Lessons learned from halting V2 and going to V3 / why MCDEX switched from V2 to V3.
(45:55) – $MCB, the token.
(49:44) – MCDEX limit orders.
(50:57) – Where to find MCDEX.
Resources:
Jean Miao: Co-Founder of MCDEX
MCDEX Website
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for the Chain Reaction Podcast, and our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.
Music Attribution:
Cosmos by From The Dust | https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Jun 19, 2021 • 46min
Showtime: Social Media In The Time of NFTs — Metaverse Musings Ep 29
Host Piers Kicks sits down for Episode 29 of Metaverse Musings with Alex Masmej, the Co-Founder of Showtime to talk through the future of social media in a world of Web 3.0 and NFTs. Alex has an awesome background and exploded into the crypto space by being the first person to ever tokenize themselves in order to finance his move to San Francisco...
Resources:
Game Website: https://twitter.com/tryShowtime
Guest’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlexMasmej
Piers' Twitter: https://twitter.com/pierskicks
Delphi Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastDelphi
More
Our Video interviews Can Be Viewed Here: https://tinyurl.com/ycvsp75h
Access Delphi's Research Here: https://www.delphidigital.io/
Disclosures: This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host may personally own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast. Lets Talk Bitcoin is a distribution partner for The Delphi Podcast. Delphi’s transparency page can be viewed here.