The Gwart Show | Bitcoin Tech & Culture

Welcome back to the Gwart Show! Today we have Haseeb Qureshi and Tarun Chitra about whether VC-funded tokens are vaporware or valuable investments. They tackle fundamental questions about crypto market structure, token valuation models, and the long-term economics of L1 blockchains. Is there a carrying capacity for tokens? Are smart contract platforms overvalued? Will L1s converge to their utility value or maintain monetary premiums?Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com# Notes:- Crypto market caps follow power law distribution- Solana valued at ~$80 billion despite skepticism- Stablecoin market grew from $130B to $240B- Bitcoin dominance may increase over time- Most tokens trending down in USD since launch- L1 valuation combines utility, equity & monetary useTimestamps:00:00 Start03:09 Infinite tokens - Haseeb06:10 Infinite tokens - Gwart09:55 Infinite tokens - discussion11:47 How to value a token21:32 Proof of stake30:02 Staking pro & con33:38 ETH value35:18 ETH is money (or not)39:20 Value of new L1s44:44 ROI for tokens46:33 REV50:46 Payments.. meh👋 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.Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here.Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Jarry Xiao, co-founder and engineering lead at Ellipsis Labs, joins to chat tradfi to crypto infrastructure. Jarry dives deep into Phoenix, their central limit order book on Solana, and introduces Atlas - their purpose-built blockchain for financial applications. The conversation touches blockchain trading challenges, the economics of validator networks, and why truly effective trading systems require opinionated design.Follow our guest on Twitter! https://x.com/jarxiao?lang=enSubscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.comNotes:- Phoenix did $70B+ in organic trading volume- Solana's 400ms blocks still too slow for HFT- Atlas uses single verifiable sequencer model- Market makers need priority cancellations- Blockchain revenue sustainability questionable- MEV/sandwiching not sustainable for financeTimestamps:00:00 Start00:33 Who is Jarray?01:09 TradFi experience01:50 What was Jarry trading?03:23 Phoenix order book06:45 Aggregators10:31 Open validator set blockchain13:15 Market making on SOL17:05 Atlas20:57 Limitations of SOL25:02 Rejecting SOL base assumptions28:09 What does Atlas unlock?34:46 Purpose built?36:31 Opinion sequencing37:53 Multiple use cases42:37 Stock market on-chain46:53 Why L2 sequencer design?54:11 Memecoins here to stay1:04:39 Why did it take so long?👋 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.Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here.Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Gwart Show! Today, @rajivpoc from @hiFramework joins us. We discuss the L1 trade narrative (“not cooked”), the influx of talented builders entering crypto, and dynamics between VCs and retail investors. Rajiv offers perspectives on Hyperliquid's success, the future of memecoins, and why Bitcoin-based financial products represent a massive opportunity. He also shares his optimistic outlook on washing away "grift" from the space while supporting serious builders with real business models.Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.comTimestamps:00:00 Start00:50 Who is Rajiv?01:35 Venture capital vibes04:26 What are builders focused on?05:54 AI + Crypto = ?07:51 What's Rajiv's specialty09:54 Are L1 investments cooked?13:49 Application development16:16 Infra vs Apps definitions19:19 Pump Swap20:41 Are memecoins done?22:42 Hyperliquid27:48 Hyperliquid & VC funding32:37 Direct investment36:35 Investment time horizons40:11 Tokens don't make assets NOT securities43:46 Long TSLA at 75x leverage LFG47:21 Where's the trade in stablecoins49:35 VC gonna get REKT?57:21 Bleeding value from tokens1:01:20 Golden age of pump & dump1:05:48 I WANT TO BELIVE👋 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.Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here.Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Gwart Show! Today, we are joined by Guy, the founder of Ethena, one of crypto's fastest-growing stablecoin projects, which reached $6 billion faster than any dollar-pegged asset in history. We discuss how Ethena's synthetic dollar works by capturing funding rates from perpetual futures markets, why they've embraced centralized exchanges while maintaining neutrality, and their ambitious new Converge blockchain. The conversation explores stablecoin competition, the limitations of decentralized approaches, and how they plan to bridge traditional finance with crypto through their partnership with Securitize.Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com# Notes:- Ethena reached $6B faster than any dollar asset- Currently offering ~16% yield (avg 18% last year)- Uses Bitcoin perps funding rates for yield- Maintains neutrality across exchanges- Converge is launching with Securitize partnership- Looking to tokenize equities and T-billsTimestamps:00:00 Start00:19 Guy's background03:11 What's Ethena?04:52 What hasn't this been tried before?06:50 Rival stablecoins10:57 Where are the risks?15:13 Hyperliquid cancels order18:04 How to compete with other stablecoins21:01 One stablecoins to rule them all!22:47 Why no yeild yet?24:54 Why USDE isn't for payments (yet)27:25 Superiority of a yield asset30:54 What is Converge?34:16 Alt L1?34:31 Why build a new chain?37:51 ETH in stagnation?39:43 Vitalik the business man?41:35 ETH as collateral for stablecoins43:58 RWAs48:15 Regulatory capture49:57 Why equities on-chain?54:16 On-chain price discovery56:47 Airdrops58:52 AMMs1:01:57 Perpetual Futures funding rates1:06:54 Trading edge1:07:39 Citadel1:10:09 Payment for order flow👋 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.Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here.Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Andrew Bailey–fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute– joins Gwart to discuss Bitcoin's role as resistance money, the philosophical implications of cryptocurrency, and why simplicity might trump utility in digital assets. Follow our guest on Twitter: @resistancemoneyTOPICS-Bitcoin as Resistance Money-Philosophy in Cryptocurrency-Stablecoins vs Bitcoin-Ethical Money Creation-Future of Financial FreedomCHAPTERS00:00 Start01:07 Andrew bio01:55 Why philosophy & Bitcoin?04:26 Bitcoin background06:31 What is resistance money?07:14 Why is this book important?10:24 Examples of BTC as resistance money13:14 Tron is the People's Blockchain18:12 ETH as alternative20:48 Long EVM, Short ETH32:40 What new-coiners care about35:27 The philosophy of ETH36:07 Vitalik's writing41:50 Legitimate use cases46:13 What is "utility"?51:21 Lightning & MoE54:16 What crypto tech should come to BTC?1:03:05 Worldcoin1:09:17 Effective altruism1:14:16 Ends justify means?1:17:28 When David Hoffman cries👋 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.Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here.Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Gwart Show! Today, Willem from Botanix Labs joins us to discuss their pioneering "spider chain" approach for Bitcoin's second layer. Unlike traditional rollups, Botanix creates a decentralized network of multi-sig validators to bring EVM capabilities to Bitcoin while maintaining censorship resistance. Willem explains why decentralization matters for DeFi applications, how their validator system works with Bitcoin staking, and why they've chosen a different path than rollups. With mainnet launch planned for Q2, Botanix aims to enable Bitcoin holders to use their BTC in familiar DeFi applications without sacrificing security.Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.comNotes:- Spider chains prioritize decentralization over speed- Botanix launching mainnet in Q2 2025- Initial 15 validators expanding to hundreds- Block time is 5 seconds with ~$0.01 fees- Uses Bitcoin as gas fee, no separate token- Validators will stake 3-5 BTC as bondTimestamps:00:00 Start00:21 Intro01:04 Spiderchain02:20 Proof of stake on layer 206:14 Risk vs reward08:02 Spiderchain vs rollup14:55 BitVM16:42 ZK tech20:34 Data availability w/ Spierchains21:25 Data on Bitcoin chain22:13 Alt DA24:23 Updates on Botanix26:47 Wen token?28:00 Primary users?30:27 Block interval30:50 Decentralization design limits32:55 Fees33:43 Porting ETH apps to Botanix34:52 Bitcoin staking36:34 EVM wallet compatibility37:28 Place in L2 ecosystem39:35 Functional BitVM rollup?40:32 Changes to BTC41:16 L2 protocol consensus?42:17 Social consensus in BTC45:49 Ordinals & Runes👋 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.Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here.Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Gwart Show! Today, Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation, joins us to discuss how Bitcoin functions as essential "money dictators can't stop" for human rights activists worldwide. With nearly 18 years at HRF, Alex shares fascinating stories of Bitcoin adoption in authoritarian regimes, his journey from skeptic to advocate, and why Bitcoin—not general "crypto"—provides the unique properties needed for financial freedom in oppressive environments. He explores privacy solutions, scaling challenges, and the future of complementary technologies like ecash and Nostr.Follow Alex on Twitter: @gladsteinNotes:- HRF quarterly Bitcoin grants- The "currency of activists"- Most global humanitarian funding stays in free countries- Alex’s "Check Your Financial Privilege" book- Bitcoin users in Malawi upgrading from saving with goats- Stablecoins are primarily valuable when permissionlessTimestamps:00:00 Start00:30 Alex intro11:48 HRF Bitcoin focus17:08 Current projects21:55 Cross border vs circular economies27:30 Stablecoins38:17 Bitcoin privacy45:59 Covenants51:17 Education is lagging55:24 Does "crypto" have value?1:02:31 NOSTR👋 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.Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here.Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.comWelcome back to The Great Show! Today, we finish the second half of our chat with Felipe Montealegre from Theia Research on traditional private equity valuation methods and crypto investing. We explore fundamental analysis in DeFi, token valuations, shareholder rights, and the evolution of crypto markets. Felipe shares insights on identifying quality revenue streams, evaluating moats, and building sustainable value in the crypto ecosystem.Topics: • DeFi Investment Strategies• Token Valuation Methods• VC vs Liquid Fund Dynamics• Revenue Sustainability• Market Psychology• Risk Management Approaches🐦Follow our guests on Twitter: @TheiaResearchTimesstamps00:00 Start00:32 Wall street follow fast problem01:41 Micropayments for services05:20 Fat protocol thesis07:10 Lack of innovation09:26 The social role of investors11:17 Lending on Solana13:18 Incentive programs16:38 Hyperliquid air drop22:08 Radium30:51 Houdini35:54 Absolute trash projects38:43 Bad token strategies40:27 VC44:30 VC vs liquid investing52:01 Being early vs actual utility55:57 LP process59:35 Bitcoin1:02:56 Private equity👋 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.Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here.Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felipe Montealegre, the CIO of Theia Research, brings his expertise in private equity to the world of crypto investing. He delves into the nuances of traditional valuation methods compared to token metrics, offering insights on identifying quality revenue streams. Discussion includes the importance of defendable moats in crypto, evaluating cash flow for tokens, and the challenges of regulatory environments. Felipe emphasizes building sustainable value in a volatile market, contemplating the balance between investment strategies like buybacks and dividends.

Jacob Phillips, Co-founder of Lombard Finance and expert in Bitcoin liquid staking, dives into the world of Bitcoin staking. He explains how the Babylon protocol enhances security and integrates Bitcoin into DeFi. The conversation covers liquid staking derivatives, highlights market dynamics, and discusses the importance of economic security in blockchain. Phillips also explores the competitive landscape for staked Bitcoin and the future of yield, offering insights into the evolving role of Bitcoin in decentralized finance.