The Gwart Show | Blockspace Media

Gordon Liao, Head of Research at Circle, discusses the explosive growth of USDC to a $50 billion market cap. Gordon also explains how stablecoins are revolutionizing cross-border payments, the regulatory landscape shaping crypto, Circle's strategic IPO timing, and why blockchain-based payment rails will disrupt tradfi. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • USDC reaches $50B market cap • Cross-border payments cost 6-7% traditionally • Stablecoins settle transactions in seconds • PayPal launched PYUSD competitor Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:40 Who is Gordon? 02:21 Responsibilities at Circle 05:27 What's unique about DeFi? 11:50 Why is fractional reserve bad? 12:40 Separating lending & payments 13:23 AMM functions 15:20 xy=k (inverse variation) 18:06 Circles's mission statement? 21:16 Arc: An L1 Blockchain for Stablecoin Finance 23:15 Proof of Authority 24:32 Ellipsis Labs Ad 25:19 Staking in dollars? 27:48 Courts & laws as slashing mechanism 28:55 Permissionlessness 32:06 Stablecoin competition 34:24 Smaller banks 36:34 Small bank creating stablecoins? 38:19 Will $1 equal $1? 41:29 Arc's value add 45:11 Arc timeline 45:29 Initial use cases 48:23 Liquidity fragmentation 50:35 Managing Circle's multi-chain operations 53:18 Market volatility 55:52 circuit breakers for volatility 57:42 Auto-deleveraging 58:29 Controlling a decentralized marketplace 59:46 Hedge funds & perps 1:02:29 Will TradFi even participate in these markets? 1:04:46 Degens gonna degen The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges.  Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ellipsislabs.xyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Austin Federa, founder of Double Zero, joins us to talk about building a new internet optimized for blockchain. We dive into how Double Zero uses private fiber networks from trading firms like Jump to reduce jitter and latency for validators, why proof-of-utility beats proof-of-stake for infrastructure, how they secured a rare SEC no-action letter, and the wild token launch that had everyone screaming online.Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com# Notes:• Double Zero has 30% of Solana validators connected• Network has $23 billion in total connected value• Validators pay 5% of block rewards as fees• 50% of revenue is burned, 50% to fiber contributors• Token launched at $0.075, spiked significantly• 7.5% free float, 34% circulating supply at launchTimestamps:00:00 Start02:18 Launching DoubleZero03:37 Layered protocol stack08:00 Partnering w/ high frequency trading firms09:28 Monopolies vs Open Source12:43 What is "jitter"?15:14 Reducing jitter16:58 Current public internet market making18:13 Flash Boys comparison19:57 Fiber quality tiers21:39 Fiber vendors22:28 High quality fiber uses24:01 Fiber is actually 2/3 the speed of light24:51 Fiber uses in TradFi27:20 DoubleZero stakeholders30:00 Fiber bandwidth limits30:50 Opting into DoubleZero33:13 30% of stake weight on Solana34:57 How much faster?36:18 First mover advantage?37:13 Solana MEV & speed37:51 Is DoubleZero a blockchain?40:51 Fees & rewards42:44 Burning tokens44:22 Chain agnostic45:47 $23B in "connected value"?46:51 Holding DoubleZero tokens49:08 Legal & trust design50:25 Validator rug pulls?51:45 Malicious validators53:34 Reasons why firms would NOT use DoubleZero?55:22 Geography matters57:47 Proof of utility59:51 B2B utility token1:02:34 SEC letter1:04:45 Subject framing for the SEC1:08:22 Token sale1:08:58 Token NGU1:10:05 Binance Alpha1:12:09 Online hate a distraction?1:13:18 Initial token float?1:15:15 Token unlock schedule1:16:50 FUD fightingThe Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs: https://www.ellipsislabs.xyz/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facundo Werning, former Tether country manager for Latin America and now at Agora, joins us to talk about his journey from Argentine policy work to the front lines of the stablecoin wars. We dive deep into how stablecoins actually work in emerging markets, why Agora is positioning itself as the credibly neutral alternative to Tether and Circle, the real state of crypto adoption in Argentina, and why traditional banks are about to get completely upended. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Argentina has more US cash per capita than America • Stablecoin yields hit 10-12% vs banks' 3% in Argentina • Agora shares revenue with partners unlike competitors • $10B in stablecoins = $400M yearly opportunity cost • Tether built dominant last-mile retail distribution Timestamps 00:00 Start 00:29 Who is Facundo? 08:56 Role at Tether 12:09 Argentina & stablecoins 17:40 Daily stablecoin use 21:17 Ellipsis Labs Ad 22:05 What is Agora? 28:13 What is Agroa (simplified)? 30:03 Will Tether be disrupted? 34:42 Stablecoin fragmented liquidity 40:34 Will stablecoins migrate to one chain? 44:25 Hyperliquid 47:24 Treasury companies (DATs) 51:58 Did you say PROFITS? 56:07 Subscribe Ad 56:44 Anacdote 57:55 Javier Milei 59:22 My dad is a central banker 1:01:27 State BTC adoption 1:04:40 Generational BTC trade 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

James Christoph explains why MicroStrategy can't be replicated, DATs are doomed, and crypto markets are more efficient than people think. Plus: Celestia's inflation problem, Ethena's systemic risks, and why Hyperliquid nailed their stablecoin strategy. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • MicroStrategy's structure makes it impossible to blow up • DATs trading at discounts lack restart mechanisms • Ethereum staking yields ~40 bps after inflation/taxes • Celestia's inflation driving price toward zero • Ethena's depeg could trigger cascade in Pendle/Aave • Hyperliquid has ~$10B USDC bridged, negotiating revenue split Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:27 Who is James Christoph? 00:49 Solana treasury companies 04:18 Tom Lee memory hole 05:42 ETH is for stablecoins :) jk 08:04 Bitmine & Sharplink Gaming 10:31 Tom Lee invested in a "fund of DATs" wat? 12:03 DATs & yield 14:29 Ok, define arbitrage? 17:03 Liquid staking tokens are stupid 20:20 Addicted to yield 24:05 Exotic derivatives 27:24 Bitcoin as a benchmark 35:03 ETH, silly silly ETH 39:58 Hyperliquid 43:50 Decentralization doesn't matter, sorry 48:26 Celestia - The Modular Blockchain TM 55:01 Athena 59:06 Fed interest rates 59:39 Circle 1:00:27 USDH 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

Mallesh, formerly Special Mechanisms Group and Rice University joins us to talk about his move to Tempo, Stripe's new payments-first blockchain.We dive into why they built another L1, multi-stablecoin architecture, MEV challenges in payments, with credible neutrality Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Tempo is designed for fast finality payments • Stablecoin agnostic w/ AMM • Reserved block space for payment txns • Cross-border wire transfers are still broken for traditional systems Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:25 Who is Mallesh? 01:50 Special Mechanisms Group 03:49 Consensys 05:34 Tempo 08:14 Advantages of Tempo 10:36 Specific Tempo designs 13:58 Fungible stablecoins 14:44 Tether & economies of scale 18:14 Validator set 22:45 Payments Only blockspace 25:51 Mallesh's title 26:58 Products 28:36 Tempo AMM 30:33 Remittance use case 35:16 International transfers & corespondent banks 41:26 Are banks cooked? 43:30 Why a new Layer 1? 48:08 Credible neutrality 50:36 Crypto Twitter is now the kiddie pool 54:45 The future of proof of Stake is... trust 1:04:03 MEV memory hole 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

Eric Yakes, venture capitalist at Epoch Ventures, joins us to talk about Bitcoin's path from digital gold to banking system integration. We dive deep into his 130-page report on Bitcoin banking, stablecoin dynamics as Trojan horses for Bitcoin adoption, and why he believes we're heading toward a hybrid financial system that bridges traditional finance with crypto innovation. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Bitcoin lending market could 4x from 50 to 200 basis points • Trading volumes may increase 17x in next 5 years • Tether holds about 5% of reserves in Bitcoin • Bitcoin could reach $100 trillion market cap • SAB 121 repeal opens banks to crypto custody • 32,000 pounds lost in Scottish free banking century Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:41 Eric's background 11:27 Bitcoin Venture Funding 15:51 Medium of exchange 22:20 Reducing the monetary premium in other assets? 26:03 Bitcoin Banking 31:34 Bitcoin Bank Integration Model 35:45 Stablecoins 38:11 Disrupting Banking 47:57 Ellipsis Labs 48:57 Stablecoin Yield as Staking 51:49 Stablecoins: Winner take all? 53:32 Dollar Derivatives 56:32 Stablecoins vs Bitcoin 1:06:22 Money Velocity 1:14:56 Build on Bitcoin 1:24:44 Gaming 1:28:47 Predicyions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rory Murray, Director of Digital Asset Management at Cleanspark, joins us to discuss his journey from global macro investing to leading Bitcoin mining operations, the Griid acquisition, cost structures, hedging strategies, and how the business is evolving into a hybrid energy‑finance powerhouse. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: Clean Spark: “America’s Bitcoin miner” Margins shrink toward zero over cycles Hedging via covered calls at $65K Power contracts lock in multi‑million deals Bitcoin used as collateral for loans Goal: monetize megawatts, not just hash Timestamps: 00:00 Start 04:38 GRIID role 14:36 Managing BTC treasury 20:21 HODL strategy 24:09 Ellipsis Labs 25:10 Miners vs Treasury Companies 33:22 Miners could be better treasury companies 55:14 What is "cost to mine 1 BTC"? 58:50 Miners will fail 1:04:16 Future miner income diversity 👋 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

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce joins us to talk about the evolving crypto regulatory landscape—from the Clarity Act and the Howey test to protocol ownership, governance tokens, and the challenges of MEV. She shares insider perspectives on market‑structure bills, self‑custody, and what regulators really care about in decentralized finance. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: Fit‑21 introduced market‑structure framework. Clarity Act pending in House & Senate. SEC can use existing authority for interim rules. Token offerings lack suitable registration exemptions. Governance tokens may or may not be securities. MEV remains a regulatory gray area. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:32 Market structure bills 02:22 Securities vs commodities 06:33 Why wasn't the SEC process working? 08:39 Protocols are just a set of rules 12:21 Smart contract & multisig structures 16:30 Token distribution matters 18:45 Other factors for designation 21:36 Ellipsis Labs 22:37 Custody 26:08 Bridges & multisig 27:57 Memecoins 32:38 Lobbying & education 42:22 Tokenizing equities 44:19 Governance tokens 48:56 Self custody of tokenized equities 51:47 MEV 52:59 Single sequencer 👋 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

Anatoly from Solana joins us to talk about the recently launched Seeker phone and its strategy to break Apple/Google's 30% monopoly through crypto-native distribution. We dive deep into Hyperliquid's centralized matching engine vs Solana's decentralized approach, Bitcoin as digital gold vs investment, the meme coin phenomenon, and why hardware might be key to building alternative app ecosystems. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Seeker sold 150K units targeting crypto users • Apple/Google charge 3000 basis points (30%) • Spreads dropped from 5bp to sub-2bp in a year • Hyperliquid has 30K daily active traders • Bitcoin works same at $10K or $100K price • 1% terminal inflation rate discussion Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:23 SOL Secret Phone 02:31 Replacing App Stores 04:29 User migration 06:42 Why mkae hardware 08:52 Spending resources on phone dev 09:36 Hyperliquid's effect on Solana 11:12 Perp Dex on Solana? 19:30 Centralized coordinators galore! 24:39 Solana narratives 27:59 Censorship resistance, no, seriously... 36:20 Memecoin chain or not? 37:27 Tether can print unlimited tokens 41:33 Solana slashing 43:02 Special snowflake BTC 53:03 Tokenomics of SOL 58:05 SOL treasury companies 1:02:00 SOL treasury company risks 1:04:17 Base is an L1, deal with it 1:05:44 Base vs SOL 1:08:20 Memecoin supply Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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