The Gwart Show | Blockspace Media

Vladimir Novakovski, CEO of Lighter, explains their pivot from AI to a high-speed DEX. He addresses the controversy behind their zero-fee model and how ZK circuits ensure verifiability. Vlad says they're surprised at the success of Forex on Lighter, future plans for options and fixed income, and addresses community questions about token value and equity rights. Notes:- Spent 18 months building tech stack- 1,000+ trading shops in contact with Lighter- Polymarket has "pretty efficient" pricing Timestamps:00:00    Start00:35    Surprises of success02:50    Winning Perp DEX Season06:30    Regulations11:49    What parts need to be on-chain?16:57    Sidecar21:35    Forex trading flows24:35    Spot markets28:03    Future of zero fees31:15    Public book & toxic flow36:44    Standardizing Perp DEXs40:16    Paths to revenue45:47    User acquisition & tokens49:28    The Hyperliquid Standard56:24    Dealing with trolls 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

Ruslan Fakhrutdinov from Extended Perp Exchange talks about building a unified margin across perps, vaults & yield, spot, and an integrated lending market. He explains critical components for a trustless perp DEX such as self-custody and on-chain solvency checks. Ruslan shares his experience with user acquisition programs, the total cost of execution vs. zero fees, and Extended's transparent fee model. We also discuss gauging sustainable product market fit in a post-airdrop environment and the roadmap for cross-asset collateral. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes:* Perp DEX market share grew 15-20%* Vault earns up to 1% in liquidations* Using 90% of vault shares as collateral Timestamps:00:00 Start00:03 Ruslan's background01:12 What is Extended?03:14 What must be on-chain?05:55 Perp DEX liquidity07:09 Calculating price of execution09:06 Zero fees, good or bad?13:22 Promotions vs regular users18:32 UX design21:35 Mobile trading apps23:43 Perp DEX aggregators?27:51 Vault system29:50 Estimating Vault risk34:28 End stage Vault design?38:10 Spot market plans?42:46 Validators43:34 Next 5 years46:10 RWA on DEXs47:53 Wrapping assets vs native49:06 Wrap up 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

In this engaging discussion, Ian Miers, cofounder of Zcash and a cryptography expert, shares insights on vital topics including the importance of zero-knowledge proofs for privacy in cryptocurrencies. He explains the privacy pitfalls of Bitcoin's public ledger and why Zcash’s unique mechanisms enable transactions without compromising user data. The conversation also touches on the potential threats of quantum computing and explores future prospects for a resurgence of interest in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.

Keone Han and Kevin McCormick from Monad Foundation join us to talk about their upcoming mainnet launch on November 24th, why building quality infrastructure takes years not months, their unique Momentum grants program that prioritizes user acquisition costs and retention over vanity metrics like TVL, and how to maintain team focus when crypto Twitter operates on a two-day attention span.Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Monad mainnet launches November 24, 2025 • Momentum grants focus on cost-per-user acquisition • Team values long-term building over quick releases • Testnet ecosystem includes 15+ applications Timestamps:00:00 Start01:20 Why Monad ICO now?02:55 Vibe check06:37 Time to market12:28 What makes Monad unique?14:47 Node count & requirements17:34 Open source & centralization20:15 Monad vs ?23:28 Could ETH borrow from Monad?28:07 Token valuation34:02 Winner take all?34:46 Attracting users42:39 Attracting partners with $$$45:53 Airdrop & community51:14 Monad momentum54:13 Monad apps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annanay Kapila, CEO & Founder of QFEX, joins us to talk about his journey from high-frequency trading at Flow Traders and Tower to building a revolutionary exchange platform. We discuss how crypto market structure solves traditional finance inefficiencies, his Y Combinator experience, regulatory strategy, 100X leverage mechanics, prediction markets, and why sports betting actually works. Launching December 2025. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Tower did half of all major exchange volume • QFEX raised funding through Y Combinator • YC takes 7% equity for $125K investment • Bitcoin trades at 100X leverage on exchanges • S&P futures limited to 10X leverage • QFEX waitlist hit 10,000 people Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:03 Annanay Kapila 02:08 Y Combinator 05:23 Market inefficiencies 09:03 Designing QFEX 12:50 Hyperliquid & Perps 18:30 Zero fees vs UX 22:36 Sharp flow & fees 27:12 Intermediating market makers 34:26 Misaligned incentives 40:53 Perps use cases 45:52 Perps vs Options 49:33 Market fragmentation 58:47 Kalshi vs Polymarket 1:06:23 KYC 1:10:37 Are prediction markets useful? 1:13:02 Wrap 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

Kaledora Linn, Co-Founder at Ostium, joins us to talk about revolutionizing onchain trading by bringing traditional finance assets like stocks, commodities, and FX to DeFi through perpetual contracts. We explore why perps are superior to tokenization for trading, the evolution from single-asset to cross-asset platforms, how macro news drives modern volatility, capital efficiency challenges, and why retail traders prefer perps over options. Plus institutional use cases and the future of "perpification." Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Ostium offers up to 200:1 leverage • Mirror had billions in open interest on stocks • Synthetix was heavily over-collateralized with SNX • Perps dominate over options in crypto markets • Post-COVID macro drives cross-asset volatility Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:17 Kaledora Linn - Co-Founder of Ostium 10:01 Ostium's synthetic model 25:08 How Ostium works 35:52 Ellipsis Labs 37:56 KYC & identifying toxic traders 43:01 Market makers 45:22 Price oracles 47:22 Funding rates 52:00 Synthetic vs. on-chain order book 55:29 Weekday markets closing 59:25 On-chain price discovery 1:01:42 24/5 markets 1:03:14 Scaling the market 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

DeFi Dave, Head of Growth at Cap Money, joins us to talk about how Cap found product-market fit for restaking. Dave breaks down Cap's three-sided marketplace connecting stablecoin users, market makers (operators), and risk takers. Operators access undercollateralized loans backed by restaked ETH/BTC, paying 8-11% to beat their strategies. If they fail, risk takers eat the loss—users stay protected. We also dive into lore building, why most restaking hype was overblown, and how Cap brings Wall Street on-chain. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: - Cap has $15-20M currently lent to operators - Operators pay 2-4% premium fees to risk takers - Total borrowing costs range from 8-11% hurdle rate - Risk takers earn 6-7% all-in real yield - Uses EigenLayer and Symbiotic for restaking layer Timestamps: 00:00 Start 01:12 Who is DeFi Dave? 02:19 What is Cap? 07:31 Restaking & yield 09:22 Yield range 11:48 Institutional flows 12:50 Cap vs Wildcat 14:07 Legal recourse? 15:42 Staked CUSD vs CUSD 16:25 Current operator marketcap 17:08 Loan terms 19:42 CUSD vs Others 21:48 Ready for institutional capital? 23:59 Other staking use cases? 27:26 Stablecoin regulation 30:23 Collateralization 32:09 Lore building 35:38 The power of belief 41:29 What does Dave do all day? 43:56 Competitive advantage 47:57 What are Caps? 49:08 Gwarts opinion on Cap 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

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