The Gwart Show | Blockspace Media

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Benedict Brady, former quant trader and founder of Meridian joins us to talk about Solana's dark pool ecosystem, Jupiter's market dominance, the move from traditional AMMs to sophisticated trading infrastructure, MEV wars, and how his AI-powered trading assistant is changing crypto trading interfaces. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:19 Benedict intro 02:32 Solana focused work 05:14 Solana market evolution 13:03 RFQ vs Dark AMM 15:24 Partial RFQ Fills 17:17 Dark AMMs in practice 19:58 Define "Dark" 23:46 Why Jupyter? 27:45 Dark AMM big unlock? 30:19 Deep thoughts... 32:14 Are Solana spreads tight? 36:02 Wintermute 37:19 Why the secrecy? 40:01 Hello MEV, my old friend 45:26 Gwart the Bitcoin Maxi (or not) 49:23 SOL vs ETH 52:44 App sequencing 55:33 Perp DEX is actually an L2 58:35 BAM 59:36 Permissionless building 1:04:29 Meridian 1:07:11 LLM trading 1:09:27 AI + Crypto killer apps 👋 Watch on your podcast player of choice! Apple http://tiny.cc/e7wuwz Spotify https://tinyurl.com/aj3ymv6h RSS http://tiny.cc/wbwuwz YouTube https://tinyurl.com/4kwhu4s7 The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, the builders behind Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance and Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume. If you're interested in a mission-driven company, Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance to work on Atlas.Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs and @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Alex B from Ark Labs joins us to talk about the Ark protocol and Arkade implementation - a Bitcoin layer 2 that uses transaction batching and virtual UTXOs to scale Bitcoin beyond Lightning. We explore how Ark competes with roll-ups, enables Bitcoin capital markets, and could transform Lightning's UX while maintaining self-custody. Alex explains the technical innovations, use cases from payments to lending, and why this could be Bitcoin's answer to Ethereum's scaling solutions. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Phoenix wallet charges 0.4% per transaction • Bitcoin market cap reached $2 trillion • Roll-ups rely on bridge security assumptions • Ark enables unlimited swap throughput Chapters: 00:00 Start 01:03 What is Ark? 13:34 Sequencers 16:15 Why rollups? 23:47 Security Counsel 28:17 Ellipsis Labs 29:18 EVM vs Ark 35:41 Arkade's killer app 51:30 Bitcoin payments 1:02:17 All innovation comes back to Bitcoin 1:12:12 Fragmented liquidity 1:15:35 Open source 1:19:42 Wen Arkade beta? 👋 Watch on your podcast player of choice! Apple http://tiny.cc/e7wuwz Spotify https://tinyurl.com/aj3ymv6h RSS http://tiny.cc/wbwuwz YouTube https://tinyurl.com/4kwhu4s7 The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, the builders behind Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance and Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume. If you're interested in a mission-driven company, Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance to work on Atlas. Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs and @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felix Jauvin, Macro Economist and host of Forward Guidance podcast, joins us to talk about the regime shift from monetary to fiscal dominance, why Bitcoin and risk assets are hitting all-time highs despite high interest rates, the treasury company revolution led by MicroStrategy, and why "hyper gambling your way to wealth" has become a rational strategy in our current economic environment. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com **Notes:** • US running 7% GDP deficit during full employment • Bitcoin at ATH despite 5% interest rates • MicroStrategy's 0% coupon convertible bonds • Stablecoins can't pass yield to holders • Treasury companies trading above NAV • Fiscal dominance replacing monetary policy Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:50 Felix background 01:57 TradFi history 05:51 Current market outlook 11:48 10 yr prediction 16:37 Firing the Fed Chairman 21:29 Stablecoins 26:47 Long degens, short society 29:09 Where's my altcoin summer! 32:08 Elipsis Labs 33:09 Hyperliquid 38:21 Place your bets or eat bugs, you choose 44:40 Remember Etherium... what happened to those guys? 48:34 A black hole for capital = NGU 55:27 MSTR failure state 59:22 management teams 1:01:57 Discount to NAV, harbinger of death 1:04:11 Advice for plebs 👋 Enjoy the clip? Click below to listen on a podcasting app! Apple http://tiny.cc/e7wuwz Spotify https://tinyurl.com/aj3ymv6h RSS http://tiny.cc/wbwuwz YouTube https://tinyurl.com/4kwhu4s7 👋 The Gwart Show is proudly presented by Ellipsis Labs! Ellipsis Labs is building foundational products in DeFi. Their first product @PhoenixTrade is the leading orderbook DEX on Solana. The team is growing—visit ellipsislabs.xyz for engineering opportunities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Josh Lim from FalconX joins us to talk about the massive boom in corporate crypto treasury vehicles. We talk about how these deals work, from management teams and investment bankers structuring vehicles to raise capital, to the 45-60 day liquidity windows and 2-6x NAV premiums investors are seeing. Josh explains the Michael Saylor playbook, yield strategies, and whether this trend is sustainable or headed for a crash. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Treasury vehicles see 45-60 day liquidity windows • Some trade at 2-6x NAV premiums currently   • $4 billion new Bitcoin vehicle announced recently • Circle IPO traded at $230 per share peak • MicroStrategy model being widely replicated • 3-5 month timeline for SPAC conversions Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:46 Josh's background & FalconX 03:12 Arbelos Markets 04:03 Market overview 07:03 Digital asset treasury companies 11:07 Starting a treasury vehicle company 12:36 Hostile takeovers? 16:06 Deal structure 21:17 LOL "Management team" 23:09 ROI for investors 26:56 What's a healthy multiple? 28:19 Copy/Paste Strategy 29:32 Yield strategies 32:02 How does this fail? 35:40 Premium longevity 38:10 Out "Sayloring" Saylor, c'mon bro? 41:26 Alt Season go bye bye? 46:06 Trading on-chain, relic of the past? 49:30 24/7 trading 50:57 Prediction markets 53:24 Gwart's take on treasury companies 54:49 Josh's optimistic take 56:19 Circle IPO 57:29 Degen's gonna degen 59:05 Wrap 👋 Enjoy the clip? Click below to listen on a podcasting app! Apple http://tiny.cc/e7wuwz Spotify https://tinyurl.com/aj3ymv6h RSS http://tiny.cc/wbwuwz YouTube https://tinyurl.com/4kwhu4s7 👋 The Gwart Show is proudly presented by Ellipsis Labs! Ellipsis Labs is building foundational products in DeFi. Their first product @PhoenixTrade is the leading orderbook DEX on Solana. The team is growing—visit ellipsislabs.xyz for engineering opportunities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Christopher Goes, early Ethereum contributor and IBC protocol creator, joins us to talk about why Ethereum failed as a world computer, the organizational chaos at Cosmos (including a CEO who declared himself Jesus), privacy solutions like Narmada, intent-based systems, and how crypto shifted from idealistic public goods to pure attention-driven capitalism. Follow our guest on Twitter! @cwgoes Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Cosmos Hub generates zero revenue still • Bitcoin was $1 when Goes started mining • Anoma synthesizes Ethereum, Cosmos, Zcash • Wyvern protocol was OpenSea's backup • IBC connects all Cosmos chains today • Signal adoption shows privacy step functions Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:57 CW background 04:41 Early days of Ethereum 08:17 Cosmos 09:56 IBC protocol 10:16 Cosmos: God, Bad & Ugly 14:09 App chain thesis 15:17 Anoma 21:19 Intent-centric design 24:08 Ellipsis Labs 25:09 Namada 26:35 Goal of Namada 28:46 Anonymity set 30:44 Open ledgers vs privacy 36:15 Traders want privacy 37:20 Blockchains & the surveillance state 38:51 Evolution of ETH theory 42:48 ETH fails at "global computer" 45:02 Source of failure 47:37 L1 vs L2 scaling 51:30 The state of interoperability 59:02 People following incentives 1:03:34 Innovation fragmentation 👋 Enjoy the clip? Click below to listen on a podcasting app! Apple http://tiny.cc/e7wuwz Spotify https://tinyurl.com/aj3ymv6h RSS http://tiny.cc/wbwuwz YouTube https://tinyurl.com/4kwhu4s7 👋 The Gwart Show is proudly presented by Ellipsis Labs! Ellipsis Labs is building foundational products in DeFi. Their first product @PhoenixTrade is the leading orderbook DEX on Solana. The team is growing—visit ellipsislabs.xyz for engineering opportunities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Carl Dong, founder of Obscura VPN and former Bitcoin Core developer at Chain Code Labs, joins us to talk about his transition from Bitcoin development to building privacy infrastructure. We discuss his work on reproducible builds, supply chain security, the funding dynamics of Bitcoin development, and why he created the first multi-hop VPN that eliminates single points of trust. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Timestamps: 00:00 Start 01:09 Carl's professional background 02:54 Personal background 07:50 Open source vs product dev 18:14 Chaincode's influence 23:05 Ellipsis Labs 24:06 Funding open source work 30:21 Obscura VPN 36:07 The state of TOR 40:30 VPN user base 45:10 Easy personal privacy steps 47:57 Privacy in Bitcoin 53:21 Simplicity 58:02 Innovations from the "crypto" space 1:00:21 Wrap up 👋 Enjoy the clip? Click below to listen on a podcasting app! Apple http://tiny.cc/e7wuwz Spotify https://tinyurl.com/aj3ymv6h RSS http://tiny.cc/wbwuwz YouTube https://tinyurl.com/4kwhu4s7 Newsletter https://blockspace.media/newsletter/ 👋 The Gwart Show is proudly presented by Ellipsis Labs! Ellipsis Labs is building foundational products in DeFi. Their first product @PhoenixTrade is the leading orderbook DEX on Solana. The team is growing—visit ellipsislabs.xyz for engineering opportunities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Robert Chang, a crypto trader and savvy Twitter commentator, as he shares tales from the tumultuous world of crypto. He opens up about his wild ride from a Luna enthusiast to battling setbacks with Hyperliquid. The conversation delves into the rise of AI token markets and critiques of VC practices, where he describes many as 'incredibly stupid.' Chang also explores the future of Internet Capital Markets, questioning their legitimacy and value. It’s a mix of insights, humor, and a candid look at crypto's chaotic landscape.

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Doug Colkitt, co-founder of Fogo and Ambient Finance joins us to talk about building the fastest Solana-based blockchain for trading. Doug explains why order books are winning over AMMs, how Fogo's 21-validator set enables 40ms blocks, and why verifiability matters more than full decentralization for perp DEXs. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:13 Doug history 02:28 What is Fogo? 02:53 Why not L2? 06:29 Ambient perps 09:07 Are blockchains the right database? 10:00 Why DEX at all? 12:32 Composability as an unlock? 16:17 AMMs 19:18 Decentralization doesn't matter 24:19 Problems with perps on orderbooks 25:51 Fogo vs Hyperliquid 27:35 Ellipsis Labs 29:35 MEV & flashloans 32:42 Tragedy of the commons 35:00 MEV of Perp DEX 37:44 Opportunities for innovation 41:22 Coinbase launching Perps 44:24 Is no KYC an unloack? 46:24 Verifiability 49:00 Liquidity injection 51:41 24/7 markets 52:36 Perp-ify THE WORLD! 54:05 Zero Day Futures 55:08 Ambient Perps elevator pitch 58:10 Gold oracle price origin 👋 Enjoy the clip? Click below to listen on a podcasting app! Apple http://tiny.cc/e7wuwz Spotify https://tinyurl.com/aj3ymv6h RSS http://tiny.cc/wbwuwz YouTube https://tinyurl.com/4kwhu4s7 👋 The Gwart Show is proudly presented by Ellipsis Labs! Ellipsis Labs is building foundational products in DeFi. Their first product @PhoenixTrade is the leading orderbook DEX on Solana. The team is growing—visit ellipsislabs.xyz for engineering opportunities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Liam from Through (formerly Fire Dancer engineer) joins us to talk about building a high-performance L1 blockchain from scratch. We dive into why Solana has structural limitations, his leaderless consensus design, proof-of-burn mechanisms, and why economic security is overrated. Plus takes on trading, Fire Dancer's progress, and the future of DeFi. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Fire Dancer has ~10% of Solana network • Through team is only 5 people currently • Testnet launching in 1-2 months timeline • SDK support targeting July release • Solana chain halts if clients disagree • Economic security was higher than ETH Timestamps 00:00 Start 00:12 Liam's background 02:18 Early trading 03:13 Firedancer experience 03:58 What's Unto? 05:40 Solana L1 limitations 08:07 Applications 09:51 CLOB wars 11:58 Proof of stake flaws 18:23 Multiple concurrent proposers 21:38 Burn design 25:27 Improvements in trading 27:47 Commodities on chain 30:08 Onto chain performance 32:52 Performant L1 chain competition 35:38 Desired apps 38:00 Firedancer progress & marketshare 42:10 Decentralization & price discovery 45:57 The value of a market 50:10 MEV on Solana 53:56 L1 token value 1:01:28 Through updates 1:03:42 Wrap up The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs is building Atlas, the blockchain purpose-built for verifiable finance. You may know of Ellipsis Labs by their first product Phoenix, a fully on-chain orderbook DEX that’s done over 50 billion dollars in unincentivized volume.They are one of the strongest teams I know in crypto. If you’re interested in working for a mission-driven company, Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance to work on Atlas. You can learn more and apply on Ellipsis Labs’ Twitter “at Ellipsis_Labs”. Don’t forget to check out Atlas too, @atlasxyz on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Bitcoiner Post Capone joins us to talk about the risks of OP_CAT activation, MEV extraction concerns on Bitcoin, how increased expressivity could lead to mining centralization, the promise of scaling solutions like Arc and Spark, and why constrained covenants like CTV might be a better path forward than unlimited expressivity. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:27 Who is Post Capone? 03:05 OP_CAT 07:11 Erosion of MEV 11:29 Expressivity of OP_CAT 20:56 Execution on L2 23:33 Elipsis Labs 24:33 OP_CAT vs CTV 28:20 What should be on Bitcoin? 35:32 Stablecoin Maxi 38:42 Programmatic lending contracts 40:30 Ark 44:14 BitVM 47:02 Scaling solution adoption 50:07 Oden.fun54:12 Rollups The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, which is building Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance. Ellipsis Labs is known for Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume. They are a top crypto team. Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance for Atlas. Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs. Check out Atlas at @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices