Proof of Coverage

Sami, Connor, and Mahesh are joined by Jake Steeves, Founder of Opentensor / Bittensor. Bittensor is a decentralized protocol for the aggregation and coordination of machine intelligence, which can be applied to many use cases such as AI training and decentralized storage and compute.  Jake explains why open ownership models mark the death of the YC business model, his views on AI regulation, the most interesting use cases he’s seen for Bittensor machine intelligence so far, and why he thinks we’re entering a golden era of technological innovation and human progress. 00:00 The cold open that almost wasn’t 1:33 $TAO community as the NBA Youngboy fans of crypto  7:15 The techno-optimists/effective accelerationists vs. the decels/regulators and how Bittensor strikes a balance 8:51 Bitcoin is apolitical 9:12 The meaning behind Jake’s screen name “Const_reborn” 10:25 Why the YC business model is dead 15:25 Should AI be regulated? 18:43 How the Bittensor community regulates itself 21:01 Bittensor’s vision and purpose, inspiration from Bitcoin 23:14 Bittensor subnets / use cases 25:32 Will regulation of centralized AI development be a boon for decentralized AI? 27:20 Can open-source AI compete with closed-source? 34:30 How Bittensor uses incentives and monetization to compete with closed-source AI 35:13 Bittensor Revolution upgrade and its subnet architecture  40:40 Example Bittensor subnets  44:30 Bittensor is a DePIN 49:07 What’s your most non-consensus take? 50:52 Outro Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Connor and Mahesh are joined by John Dogru, Founder of 3DOS, the world’s largest decentralized peer-to-peer manufacturing network. John walks us through the current state of the 3D printing industry, how 3DOS’ brings a new meaning to just-in-time manufacturing, dramatically improves rates of materials waste, and empowers a new generation of creators. 00:00 Intro 1:10 Are we aliens? 3:10 3DOS founding story 4:30 Where’s the 3D printing industry at today? 8:20 Not drop-shipping, but drop-manufacturing? 13:05 End-to-end use case  17:35 How starting with higher ed strengthened 3DOS from the ground up 20:00 How 3DOS fulfils the last mile 23:00 How 3DOS helps load balance capacity across devices 26:20 Impact of democratizing manufacturing 29:40 The long-term vision for 3DOS 32:30 How 3DOS is using crypto principles to drive network activity and empower creators 27:05 How 3DOS is optimizing its incentive structure for quality Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

In this episode of the Proof of Coverage podcast, Sal interviews Maria Lima, the founder of Weaver Labs and the Adeno network. Maria shares the origin story of Weaver Labs and discusses their work in powering lab deployments across Europe. They delve into the innovative technology behind Weaver Labs, including their full-stack modular software platform for scaling wireless networks. Listeners will gain insights into the exciting advancements being made in the field of telecommunications. Follow Maria:  ⁠@MariaMariuru [00:02:05] Demo or die approach. [00:04:41] Decentralizing telecommunications infrastructure. [00:08:30] Innovation in the telecom ecosystem. [00:09:41] UK's investment in telecoms. [00:14:50] Building a 5G private network. [00:16:20] Using street furniture for network deployment. [00:19:58] Neutron host model explained. [00:23:34] Fixed wireless access trial. [00:26:14] Residential connectivity cost analysis. [00:30:16] Telecom sector funding scarcity. Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Join Mahesh and Connor for a thought-provoking conversation with Greg Osuri, the founder of Akash Network. They discuss the importance of Akash and its implications as the first-ever super cloud for computing. Akash operates in a decentralized manner, utilizing crypto incentives to source compute power and providing it to those who need it through an innovative leasing framework. The conversation also touches on recent events, such as Mexico's Congress unboxing aliens, prompting reactions and thoughts on the existence of non-human life in the universe. [01:02] Aliens and extraterrestrial life [04:33] The cloud's influence on innovation [07:23] Decentralized marketplace for cloud [10:07] Aggregating latent compute resources [12:59] Fragmenting the AI chip market [16:17] Akash vs. competitors [20:12] AI developers and user friction [22:07] Network effects in crypto [26:08] Crypto and AI convergence [28:19] Incentivizing equitable AI [31:43] Akash Network and community Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.

Meet David Minarsch, Founder and CEO of Olas Network, as he discusses creating autonomous AI services for on-chain governance and index funds. The Olas protocol offers easy service creation and scalability, with topics on decentralized autonomous agents, governance products, fund management in DeFi, and community use cases.

Join Mahesh as he discusses the world of lucid dreaming with Eric Wollberg, Founder of Prophetic AI, and Evan Fisher, Founder of Portal Ventures. Prophetic AI has created the first hardware device capable of stabilizing lucid dream states among casual participants. An operating system to explore consciousness, Prophetic aims to create a platform to allow us to explore the inner workings of our brains, which may present over time as immersive, VR-like experiences. We discuss the process of lucid dreaming, the value of contextualized sleep data, and the implications of using such a novel mechanism to explore consciousness. Show Notes 01:19 What is lucid dreaming and why is it important?  03:45 Eric and Evan discuss their experiences with lucid dreaming 06:15 Eric’s background and origin on Prophetic 10:45 Key unlocks of the last 10 years 12:40 Business model and the value of dream data 18:50 Evan’s thoughts on sleep data 22:12 Regulatory and public backlash 27:25 Evan’s view on the brain and technology Note: Mahesh and Evan are both angel investors in PropheticAI

Join Sal and Connor as they interview Cornelius Greyling, CEO of VulaCoin. VulaCoin (www.vulacoin.com) and its sister company Isizwe (www.isizwe.com) are connecting the next billion unconnected by providing low-cost, high-quality internet access to underserved communities, beginning in South Africa. We discuss: how Isizwe’s operating model was determined by their sole focus on the end user experience, the unique challenges of building a network in underserved communities, how VulaCoin is enabling an ecosystem of small hyper-local businesses, and the current state of crypto regulation in South Africa. Show Notes 0:00 Intro 03:39 Cornelius’ Background and Isizwe’s Origin 09:20 Isizwe’s Mission and Design around the End User 15:56 How VulaCoin lowers transaction costs and facilitates an ecosystem of small businesses 28:40 How Isizwe differs from other mobile money businesses 34:10 Improving the Crypto User Experience   38:17 Why Solana? 39:37 South Africa’s Crypto Regulatory Environment 42:48 The Future of Isizwe and VulaCoin

Join Connor and Mahesh as they interview Denis Sklyarov, CEO of WiFi Map. Wifi Map is an eight year old travel and connectivity app that makes Internet connectivity as cheap and easy as possible for its 4 million monthly active users. We discuss: how Wifi Map solves connectivity issues around the world, how a singular focus on their users helped them grow to 120+ million downloads without any paid marketing, and the exciting new products they have planned in conjunction with the launch of their public token, $WIFI. Show Notes: 0:00 Intro 03:15 Denis’ Background and Wifi Map’s Origin 07:40 The problem WiFi Map solves 10:06 How WiFi Map serves their users 12:08 WiFi Map’s organic growth 15:18 Wifi Map’s User Personas 20:18 Why Businesses Love WiFi Map 24:16 WiFi Map’s Upcoming Token Launch 28:53 How WiFi Map Uses AI 31:52 Denis’ View on the Future of Crypto 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 hosts or the companies they work for (Second Element Partners or Escape Velocity Ventures) may own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast.

Join Connor and Sal as they interview Rob Solomon of DIMO. DIMO helps drivers access useful data about their car and enables developers and other third-party services to build on a large and growing network of mobility data. We discuss: how DIMO helps both drivers and developers, the vision of a mobility industry driven by open data networks, the guiding principles behind DIMO’s token structure and the exciting features coming soon to DIMO. Show notes: 0:00 Intro 3:25 Rob’s background in decentralized systems and the automotive industry. 6:09 The DIMO team’s background 8:25 Get Rob to the table 8:51 The current state of automotive data, and the problem that DIMO solves 13:26 The data that DIMO collects, and who it helps 17:20 DIMO’s token structure and origins 22:15 The current state of being a crypto founder 24:35 Incentive token structures (single vs. double) 30:30 Audience Questions - data privacy and blockchain choice 34:09 Token Governance 40:58 The DIMO Product Roadmap Learn more: Website Discord Twitter Tokenomic deep dive 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 hosts or the companies they work for (Second Element Partners or Escape Velocity Ventures) may own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast.

Join Sal from EV3 for the third episode of the Proof of Coverage podcast as he interviews Neil Chatterjee, CEO of Andrena. Andrena is a quickly growing traditional wireless ISP (internet service provider) that's innovating in the DeWi space as well. We discuss:  Andrena's quickly growing, core WISP business, the technological breakthroughs that are allowing for innovation at the edge of connectivity, and the role Andrena sees DeWi playing in the buildout of next-gen networks Show notes: 0:00 - intro, Andrena overview and model 2:37 - Neil's background in healthcare analytics, then connectivity at Facebook 6:02 - what's so hard about the fixed wireless industry? 13:01 - why is mm wave spectrum and point to multi-point connectivity so important? 15:30 - is there enough unlicensed spectrum for DeWi to succeed? 19:00 - the golden age of wireless 19:30 - DeWi cartel installations in Salt Lake City? 20:14 - Andrena's background and involvement in DeWi 24:12 - owning your backhaul and transport is the best position to be in 25:56 - bear take on DeWi? 29:23 - can the DeWi model work for mobile? 34:41 - any ideas on how to validate indoor cellular coverage? 39:42 - outro, socials 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 hosts or the companies they work for (Second Element Partners or Escape Velocity Ventures) may own tokens that are mentioned on the podcast.