Into the Bytecode

This is my conversation with Michael Nielsen, scientist, author, and research fellow at the Astera Institute.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:01:06) cultivating optimism amid existential risks- (00:07:16) asymmetric leverage- (00:12:09) are "unbiased" models even feasible?- (00:18:44) AI and the scientific method- (00:23:23) unlocking AI's full power through better interfaces- (00:30:33) sponsor: Splits- (00:31:18) AIs, independent agents or intelligent tools?- (00:35:47) autonomous military and weapons- (00:42:14) finding alignment- (00:48:28) aiming for specific moral outcomes with AI?- (00:54:42) freedom/progress vs safety- (00:57:46) provable beneficiary surveillance- (01:04:16) psychological costs- (01:12:40) the ingenuity gapLinks:- Michael Nielsen: https://michaelnielsen.org/- Michael Nielsen on X: https://x.com/michael_nielsen- Michael's essay on being a wise optimist about science and technology: https://michaelnotebook.com/optimism/- Michael's Blog: https://michaelnotebook.com/- The Ingenuity Gap (Tad Homer-Dixon): https://homerdixon.com/books/the-ingenuity-gap/Thank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster: https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Jeffrey Quesnelle, cofounder of Nous Research.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:08 working with new technologies- 00:06:15 Nous Research origin story- 00:14:08 open frontiers in research- 00:26:07 fourier transforms for gradient compression- 00:32:58 math behind distributed training- 00:38:18 sponsor: Splits- 00:39:02 neural networks history and fundamentals- 00:51:29 the human mind and AI, hyperdimensional representation- 01:01:15 intuition and reasoning- 01:15:00 parallels with reinforcement learning- 01:19:15 the cat is out of the bag- 01:47:11 deeper mysteriesLinks:- Jeffrey Quesnelle: https://jeffq.com/- Jeffrey Quesnelle on X: https://x.com/theemozilla- Nous Research: https://nousresearch.com/- Psyche: https://nousresearch.com/nous-psyche/Thank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster: https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer:This podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Alexander Long, Founder & CEO of Pluralis Research.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:00:55) collaborative training- (00:09:49) economics of training- (00:13:10) what is protocol learning? - (00:20:48) protocol learning design and politics- (00:33:39) sponsor: Splits- (00:34:22) hardware requirements- (00:41:53) adapting to the landscape- (00:49:53) open and closed models- (00:52:52) market structure with fully open models- (00:56:34) research and risks- (01:02:19) labor and national security- (01:10:58) looking to the future- (01:14:20) outroLinks:- Alexander on X: https://x.com/_alexanderlong- Alexander on Github: https://github.com/AlexanderJLong- Article 2: Protocol Learning, Protocol Models and the Great Convergence: https://www.pluralisresearch.com/p/article-2-protocol-learning-protocol- Decentralized Training Looms: https://www.pluralisresearch.com/p/decentralized-ai-loomsThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Jim Posen, the Cofounder and CTO at Irreducible.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:01:12) getting deeper into cryptography- (00:07:06) revisiting binary fields- (00:15:50) building the verifiable internet- (00:26:14) sponsor: Splits- (00:26:57) revival of binary fields- (00:38:55) Binius- (00:42:46) bringing Binius to production- (00:48:27) creating new hardware- (00:53:57) getting to v1- (01:02:03) Ethereum stateless proofs and zkVMs- (01:13:21) outroLinks:- Jim on X: https://x.com/jimpo_potamus- Jim on Github: https://github.com/jimpo- Irreducible: https://www.irreducible.com/- Binius: a Hardware-Optimized SNARK: https://www.irreducible.com/posts/binius-hardware-optimized-snark- Binary Tower Fields are the Future of Verifiable Computing: https://www.irreducible.com/posts/binary-tower-fields-are-the-future-of-verifiable-computingThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Michael Bentley, the cofounder and CEO of Euler and previously a dynamical systems postdoctoral research associate at Oxford.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:01:11) early DeFi and experiencing the 2008 crash- (00:06:52) interest rate design and PIDs- (00:20:40) risk management- (00:28:27) sponsor: Splits- (00:29:10) macro view of the world- (00:32:27) the fundamental importance of credit- (00:35:47) Euler protocol design- (00:39:08) modularity and integration- (00:54:40) network topology- (01:10:55) natural selection and dynamical systems- (01:26:33) outroLinks:- Michael on X: https://x.com/euler_mab- Michael on Medium: https://medium.com/@euler-mab- Michael Bentley on the evolution of lending protocols: https://youtu.be/TW9Tv2Y0fkw- Euler: https://www.euler.financeThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.com Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Jake Chervinsky, Chief Legal Officer at Variant, and previously the Chief Policy Officer at Blockchain Association and General Counsel at Compound Labs.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:01:15) ELI5: how the US government works- (00:10:44) DOGE and the powers of the executive- (00:19:27) DUNAs, DAOs, and decentralized governance- (00:27:55) how the law reacts to new technology- (00:40:19) sponsor: Splits- (00:41:02) incentives and philosophies of regulators- (00:48:10) lobbying and goals for the next administration- (01:01:58) advice for crypto founders- (01:13:39) personal motivations- (01:19:30) outroLinks:- Jake on X: https://x.com/jchervinsky- Variant Fund: https://variant.fund/- DeFi Education Fund: https://www.defieducationfund.org/- Fairshake PAC: https://www.fairshakepac.com/- Blockchain Association: https://theblockchainassociation.org/Thank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Andrew Miller who is working on product at Teleport, and is also Associate Director at IC3 and Board Member at the Zcash Foundation.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:00:59) from bitcoin research to privacy, ZKPs, and MPC- (00:13:23) trust models and threat vectors to TEEs- (00:21:16) what is possible with trustless TEEs?- (00:38:37) TEEs-based internet agents- (00:45:41) Dstack, a p2p architecture for TEEs- (00:52:50) learnings as a researcher- (00:58:42) sponsor: Splits- (00:59:25) pathfinding in research- (01:06:11) 2011 bitcoin unboxing and the early bitcoin ecosystem- (01:17:54) vision for the future - (01:21:22) outroLinks:- Andrew on X: https://x.com/socrates1024- Andrew on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Socrates1024- Andrew's research: https://soc1024.ece.illinois.edu- Personal site: https://soc1024.com- Zero Trust Execution Environments paper: https://writings.flashbots.net/ZTEE- Zcash Foundation: https://zfnd.org- IC3: https://www.ic3.govThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.com Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Quintus Kilbourn, researcher at Flashbots and currently working on Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs).Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:06) - what is a TEE(00:12:23) - TEE use cases: one-shot transactions, autonomous AI agents(00:25:27) - unbreakable hardware enclaves(00:41:14) - physical hardware access as a threat vector(00:47:20) - sponsor: Splits(00:48:04) - defending against physical attacks(00:55:57) - resources focused on TEEs(01:10:25) - defending against supply chain attacks(01:19:34) - hardware imaging(01:28:48) - the roadmap(01:32:53) - outroLinks:- Quintus on X: https://x.com/0xQuintus- Flashbots: https://www.flashbots.net/- ZTEE: https://writings.flashbots.net/ZTEEThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Markus Haas, the CEO of Freedom Factory and cocreator of the dGEN1.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:28) - ethOS origin story(00:07:54) - the vision and values(00:09:56) - the need for an alternative to iOS and Android(00:15:30) - sponsor: Splits(00:16:14) - building on GrapheneOS(00:28:32) - dGEN1, an everyday carry device(00:37:05) - what's next for ethOS?(00:43:02) - the company, funding, profitability(00:49:00) - outroLinks:- Markus on X: https://x.com/mhaas_eth- ethOS on X: https://x.com/EthereumPhone- GrapheneOS: https://grapheneos.org/- Freedom Factory website: https://www.freedomfactory.io/Thank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Uma Roy, cofounder and CEO of Succinct.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:57) - origin story(00:02:19) - SP1 architecture(00:09:43) - STARKs, FRI, and hash-based cryptography(00:15:09) - recursion(00:21:12) - upgrading the proof system(00:33:11) - sponsor: Splits(00:33:54) - security in ZK systems(00:37:46) - converting optimistic rollups into zk rollups(00:43:39) - zkVM vs custom circuits(00:48:48) - ZK for scaling and interoperability(01:00:24) - the lifecycle of a proof(01:06:26) - hardware(01:10:57) - outroLinks- Uma on X: https://x.com/pumatheuma- Succinct on X: https://x.com/succinctlabsThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:- Splits: https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Andrew Huang, the founder and CEO of Conduit.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:42) - onchain and cloud compute(00:05:20) - parallel execution(00:09:08) - the application's perspective(00:16:14) - scaling the sequencer(00:26:52) - sponsor: Splits (00:27:36) - interoperability(00:33:11) - rollup economics(00:42:33) - moving from tech to crypto(00:47:43) - Georgios Konstantopoulos(00:52:02) - outroLinks:Andrew Huang: https://x.com/KAndrewHuangConduit: https://www.conduit.xyzConduit on X: https://x.com/conduitxyzThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:Splits - https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Georgios Konstantopoulos, General Partner and CTO at Paradigm.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:47) - iterating on rollups(00:07:52) - Reth architecture(00:25:44) - sponsor: Splits(00:26:27) - feedback loops with performance, stability, extensibility(00:36:14) - feedback loops with the team(00:49:17) - writing for thinking(00:54:47) - the big vision(01:10:49) - outroLinks:Georgios Konstantopoulos on X - https://x.com/gakonstGeorgios Konstantopoulos on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gakonsParadigm on X - https://x.com/paradigmTailscale Blog: The New Internet - https://tailscale.com/blog/new-internetThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:Splits - https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:Sina Habibian on X -  https://twitter.com/sinahabSina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabInto the Bytecode - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:33) - the crypto lens on political philosophy(00:15:12) - the transition from the 20th to the 21st century(00:24:29) - sponsor: Splits(00:25:12) - the dimensions of uncertainty (00:46:14) - the duality between being idealistic and effective(00:58:46) - outroLinks:Vitalik Buterin on X - https://x.com/VitalikButerinVitalik Buterin on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/vitalik.ethVitalik Buterin on making sense in a changing world - https://www.intothebytecode.com/26-vitalikVitalik Buterin on retroactive public goods funding - https://www.intothebytecode.com/1-vitalik-buterin-karl-floersch-retroactive-public-goods-fundingThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:Splits - https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:Sina Habibian on X -  https://twitter.com/sinahabSina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabInto the Bytecode - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Eric Alston, faculty director at the Leeds School of Business at CU Boulder and research associate with the Comparative Constitutions Project.Timestamps:(00:00) - intro (01:29) - choice in institutions matters (08:53) - secondary rules as rules for making rules (17:41) - constitutional moments (20:41) - how the US constitution has endured (28:39) - the characteristics of the US constitution (34:18) - sponsor: Splits (35:01) - the economic balance between federal/state govts (47:24) - presidential vs parliamentary systems (01:01:13) - blockchains as experimental ground for governance (01:13:50) - outro Links:Eric Alston - https://x.com/incompleterulesEric Alston on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-alstonThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible:Splits – https://splits.orgInto the Bytecode:Twitter – https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster – https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes – https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer:This podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Jesse Pollak (creator of Base), Ben Leventhal (founder/CEO of Blackbird), Julian Holguin (CEO of Doodles), and Yele Bademosi (cofounder/CEO of Onboard).Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:50) - Jesse Pollak, Base(00:09:41) - how the Base team is structured(00:17:25) - how the mission and strategy came together(00:27:43) - the focus in year two(00:35:38) - Ben Leventhal, Blackbird(00:39:35) -  the restaurant P&L(00:43:36) -  identity and payments(00:51:25) - Flynet as an L3(00:53:11) - building an economy(00:55:46) - the current era of crypto(00:57:27) - Julian Holguin, Doodles(00:59:40) - the status quo and the new model(01:09:36) - people want to be a part of something(01:18:22) - Yele Bademosi, Onboard(01:23:48) - being an entrepreneur in Nigeria(01:29:34) - building Onboard(01:34:45) - outroLinks:Jesse Polak: (https://x.com/jessepollak)Base: https://www.coinbase.com/, https://x.com/baseBen Leventhal: https://x.com/benleventhalBlackbird: https://www.blackbird.xyz/, https://x.com/blackbird_xyzJulian Holguin: https://x.com/jholguin Doodles: https://www.doodles.app/, https://x.com/doodles Yele Bademosi: https://x.com/YeleBademosi Onboard: https://www.onboard.xyz/, https://x.com/OnboardGlobalInto the Bytecode:Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahab Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab Other episodes - https://intothebytecode.com Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Colin Armstrong, the founder of Paragraph.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:00:49 Substack network effects- 00:03:53 new business models- 00:15:32 the content layer and the economic layer- 00:21:18 sponsor: Privy- 00:22:34 mechanisms to think about as a writer- 00:29:32 markets and social networks as forces of chaos- 00:33:42 building for the crypto-native vs the general audience- 00:40:43 emails vs wallets- 00:48:23 ARPU is higher in crypto- 00:51:52 algorithm for finding product-market fit- 00:57:10 sponsor: Optimism- 00:58:15 focus + urgency- 01:02:51 learnings from Google- 01:07:58 creating is fulfilling- 01:11:35 outroLinks:Colin Armstrong on X: https://x.com/colinarmsColin Armstrong on Farcaster: https://warpcast.com/colinParagraph: https://paragraph.xyz/  Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahab Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab Other episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Justin Glibert, CEO of Lattice and cofounder of 0xPARC.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:00:44 digital physics- 00:06:27 changing physics + capitalism = theme parks- 00:16:12 objective functions are political- 00:22:53 sponsor: Optimism- 00:23:58 individual agency- 00:27:25 violence on the internet- 00:39:17 monoliths- 00:47:24 sponsor: Privy- 00:48:40 value systems- 00:58:34 homo economicus and homo ludens - 01:10:50 Emissary's guide to worlding- 01:16:55 reading weird books- 01:28:49 outroLinks:Justin Glibert: https://x.com/justinglibert Lattice: https://lattice.xyz/ 0xPARC: https://0xparc.org/ Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahab Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab Other episodes - https://intothebytecode.com Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Jonny Mack, Cofounder of Fabric and Hypersub.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:05 motivations- 00:05:43 pooled capital for shared ownership and upside- 00:09:24 the computer and the casino, the purist and the tourist- 00:13:59 sponsor: Privy- 00:15:15 $higher, memecoins, cashflow, headless brands- 00:24:38 STP, Hypersub, minting time- 00:32:29 onchain memberships are legible- 00:40:55 creators are multi-dimensional- 00:46:21 sponsor: Optimism- 00:47:25 a network of networks- 00:53:11 authentic communities- 00:59:31 the difference between punk and hip hop, revenue vs GDP- 01:06:41 building in public is native to the medium- 01:16:15 outroLinks:Jonny Mack: https://x.com/_nonlinear Hypersub: https://hypersub.withfabric.xyz/ Fabric: https://withfabric.xyz/ Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahab Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab Other episodes - https://intothebytecode.com Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Stephane Gosselin, Cofounder of Flashbots and Frontier Research, and now, the head of OneBalanceTimestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:29 sponsor: Optimism- 00:02:34 my existential question about crypto- 00:07:13 global consensus is the problem- 00:14:27 architecting a new system- 00:21:56 OneBalance and Credible Accounts- 00:29:39 credible commitment machines- 00:34:20 sponsor: Privy- 00:35:35 the user issues permissions for solvers- 00:37:06 the trust model- 00:42:20 the CAKE framework and the Credible stack- 00:47:59 privacy- 00:54:54 global consensus blockchains and LLM foundation models- 00:58:55 a company is a mirror on your state of being- 01:08:26 having a strong why - 01:17:46 outroLinks:Stephane Gosselin: https://x.com/thegostepOneBalance: http://onebalance.ioFrontier Research: https://frontier.tech/Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahab Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab Other episodes - https://intothebytecode.com Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Molly Mackinlay, Head of Engineering, Product, and Research Development at Protocol Labs, and CEO at FilOz.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:59 sponsor: Privy- 00:03:15 motivation- 00:09:30 exabytes of network capacity- 00:12:11 edge computing, bringing compute to data- 00:14:26 the history of IPFS, libp2p, IPLD, Filecoin, FVM, L2s and IPC- 00:20:08 designing incentives in Filecoin- 00:25:11 designing the block rewards curve- 00:27:28 progress through time- 00:31:19 learnings from building production systems, - 00:34:15 EVM-compatibility, future-proofing and network upgrades- 00:43:51 sponsor: Optimism- 00:44:56 IPC, L2 scaling on Filecoin- 00:48:55 architecting applications on subnets- 00:54:12 business models on subnets- 00:57:27 the interface between a subnet and the internet- 01:04:41 FilOz as a public goods amplifier- 01:07:10 opening up the Protocol Labs network- 01:12:23 Edge Esmeralda, field building, neurotech, and education- 01:21:04 outroLinks:Molly Mackinlay - https://x.com/momack28Protocol Labs - https://protocol.aiFilecoin - https://filecoin.ioFilOz - https://www.filoz.orgInterPlanetary Consensus - https://www.ipc.space/ Textile Basin - https://basin.textile.io/ web3.storage - https://web3.storage/ Filecoin Virtual Machine - https://fvm.filecoin.io/ Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.io Into the Bytecode:Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahab Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab Other episodes - https://intothebytecode.com Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Rish, cofounder of Neynar, building infrastructure for Farcaster.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:51 sponsor: Optimism- 00:03:01 the idea maze for Neynar- 00:12:46 exit, building blocks, and monetization models- 00:17:20 how Neynar is architected- 00:21:52 handling Frames Friday- 00:25:04 scaling infrastructure by mapping requests to resources- 00:35:05 sponsor: Privy- 00:36:25 taking good risks as a startup- 00:41:55 iteration and planning ahead, breadth vs depth-first search- 00:45:36 the channel protocol spec- 00:51:26 why build Frame Studio- 00:56:55 companies become extensions of their founders- 01:05:53 working on the Base team- 01:10:28 having a tight feedback loop with users- 01:15:18 cofounder relationship with Manan- 01:19:25 outroLinks:Rish - https://warpcast.com/rishNeynar - https://neynar.comThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -    / sinahab Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Sreeram Kannan, founder at EigenLayer.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:21 sponsor: Optimism- 00:02:42 the AVS economy- 00:05:24 blockchains separate trust and innovation- 00:16:53 sponsor: Optimism- 00:18:02 specialized services and SaaS on EigenLayer- 00:24:50 rollups are open verifiable web servers- 00:41:35 rollup economics and business models- 01:55:14 the transition from academic to builder/operator- 01:06:38 impact per unit action- 01:10:26 outroLinks:Sreeram Kannan: https://twitter.com/sreeramkannanEigenLayer: https://twitter.com/eigenlayerThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Doug Petkanics and Eric Tang, cofounders of Livepeer.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:45 sponsor: Optimism- 00:03:55 Livepeer origin story- 00:11:54 FFmpeg and the video infrastructure stack- 00:17:07 compute capacity and cost in open vs closed systems- 00:22:59 GPUs as the supply side, working at NVIDIA- 00:40:27 finding latent demand- 00:46:10 sponsor: Privy- 00:47:30 learnings on go-to-market, Livepeer Studio, AI video processing- 01:00:54 AI subnets in the Livepeer network- 01:07:51 doing whatever it takes to get it done- 01:13:19 interacting with the market- 01:18:51 the inner game- 01:24:30 outroLinks:Doug Petkanics - https://twitter.com/petkanicsEric Tang - https://twitter.com/ericxtangLivepeer - https://twitter.com/livepeerLivepeer Studio - https://twitter.com/livepeerstudioThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Martin Köppelmann, cofounder of Gnosis.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:47 sponsor: Privy- 00:03:08 Gnosis Pay as an onchain bank account- 00:13:49 security, passkeys and recovery- 00:21:19 privacy, Tornado Cash- 00:28:25 sponsor: Optimism- 00:29:35 AI agents as a new form of life- 00:36:43 training with prediction markets as RLHF- 00:46:00  agents and prediction markets as interconnected concepts- 00:56:21 why now for prediction markets- 01:09:08 outroShow notes:- Martin Köppelmann: https://twitter.com/koeppelmann- Prediction Prophet, an agent by Polywrap in collaboration with Autonolas and Gnosis: https://predictionprophet.ai/Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Varun Srinivasan - cofounder of Merkle Manufactory, the company building the Farcaster protocol and the Warpcast client.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:34 sponsor: Optimism- 00:02:44 Farcaster origins- 00:05:59 sufficient decentralization, namespaces, hubs and CRDTs- 00:16:02 type 1 vs type 2 decisions- 00:21:23 the protocol, channels, clients, spam- 00:30:13 direct messaging and end-to-end encryption- 00:36:38 a turing complete social protocol- 00:41:58 sponsor: Privy- 00:43:19 why frames- 00:52:14 Facebook, Twitter, Farcaster- 01:03:25 backstory, growing up in India, Microsoft, YC- 01:08:11 learnings from Coinbase- 01:15:13 building a company- 01:18:53 doing the one thing that matters- 01:28:07 outroThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Rebecca Rettig and Michael Mosier. Rebecca is the Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs. Michael is cofounder of Arktouros and partner at Ex Ante.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:38 sponsor: Privy- 0:02:59 Rebecca's background, the Silk Road case, Aave, Polygon- 00:07:22 Michael's background, Department of Justice, FinCEN, Espresso Systems, the White House, ex/ante - 00:15:12 the current regulatory regime, Bank Secrecy Act, sanctions laws, miners/validators- 00:29:30 sponsor: Optimism- 00:30:40 genuine DeFi vs onchain CeFi, critical infrastructure- 00:44:54 Uniswap contracts, app vs protocol, wallet risk scoring, OFAC, Lazarus Group- 00:54:19 the Security Alliance (SEAL), white hats, working with the FBI- 01:08:04 why do this work, the ability to innovate in the US is a freedom- 01:12:13 crypto policy bootcamp- 01:14:00 outroThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum.00:00:00 intro00:01:07 sponsor: Optimism00:02:17 micro prediction markets, community notes, AIs as participants00:14:13 decentralized social networks, zk identity, Dark Forest, and Frogcrypto00:25:54 the dense jungle00:30:08 sponsor: Privy00:31:29 political instability, technology00:34:16 coordination and technology in climate00:36:13 AI, debugging and drawing, agency, security00:44:02 timeline for the singularity00:52:36 living to a 1000 years old00:54:00 brain-computer interfaces01:02:15 LojbanThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Hart Lambur. We talk about Hart's path in building UMA (an oracle using schelling points to bring data onchain), Across (an intents-based bridge connecting ETH/L2s), and now Oval (MEV capture for oracle price updates).Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro00:01:29 Sponsor: Privy (privy.io)00:02:50 The idea maze, Goldman Sachs, RFQ systems, legal vs smart contracts00:11:03 UMA, schelling point and optimistic oracle00:16:41 Raising the seed round00:19:38 Across, intent-based bridging architecture00:30:42 Sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io)00:31:52 Oval00:46:15 MEV capture for protocols01:01:22 OutroInto the Bytecode: More episodes - https://intothebytecode.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahabThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible: Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.io

This is my conversation with Jesse Pollak. He led retail engineering at Coinbase for many years — building Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Wallet. More recently, he is leading the development of Base, Coinbase's L2 built on the OP Stack. 00:00:00 intro 00:01:43 sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io) 00:03:07 motivation behind Base 00:11:12 pitching Base to the Coinbase exec team 00:14:24 challenges of innovating on a schedule 00:17:54 failing repeatedly to find the right answer 00:22:09 decision to build an L2 with Michael 00:23:30 convincing Surojit Chatterjee, Coinbase's CPO 00:24:59 launching Base internally00:31:58 blockchains as serverless compute 00:36:53 uniswap as a serverless API for currency conversion 00:39:30 the power of small but leveraged teams 00:42:31 how to straddle product building in the onchain and offchain world 00:45:25 sponsor: Privy (privy.io) 00:51:22 the significance of THIS moment in Crypto 00:53:56 getting a 100M devs and 1B users onchain 00:57:02 how the NFT UX will change with Base 01:10:13 how crypto will be incorporated in applications 01:14:00 the risk of onchain heterogeneity01:17:27 building privacy-oriented onchain platforms 01:26:00 upgrading the financial system 01:28:33 attending Quaker School 01:34:43 relentless positivity in life 01:38:47 building a better futureJesse Pollak: jesse.xyz on ETH Twitter Github Into the Bytecode: More episodes and transcripts - https://intothebytecode.xyz/ Newsletter - https://bytecode.substack.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahabThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible: Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.ioRelevant Links: Base - https://base.org/ Coinbase - https://www.coinbase.com/ Brian Armstrong - https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong Surojit Chatterjee Coinbase's CPO - https://www.coinbase.com/blog/welcome-surojit-chatterjee-coinbases-chief-product-officer OP Stack - https://stack.optimism.io/ Uniswap - https://uniswap.org/ Goldfinch - https://goldfinch.finance/ Zora - https://zora.co/ Produced by Spectral.to

This is my conversation with Liam Horne, former CEO and advisor to Optimism Labs.00:00 Intro 00:59 sponsor: Privy (privy.io)03:35 early influences, classmates with Vitalik in Waterloo08:31 Ethereum's potential and why scalability matters10:06 learning from Jeff Coleman17:23 defining a common language 21:06 importance of community in Ethereum26:34 hackathons lead to progress31:36 collaboration as a core ETH value38:30 humility and collective learning47:27 building a public good53:07 building Optimism with Ethereum values01:09:27 sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io) 01:17:41 decentralization is a journey01:20:59 staying true to your principles01:32:51 building something new is difficult01:36:28 Jing Wang01:42:10 Georgios KonstantopoulosThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Other episodes and transcripts - https://intothebytecode.xyz/Newsletter for updates - https://bytecode.substack.comTwitter - https://twitter.com/sinahabRelevant Links:University of Waterloo https://uwaterloo.ca/(Almost) Everything you need to know about Optimistic Rollup by Georgios Konstantopoulos https://www.paradigm.xyz/2021/01/almost-everything-you-need-to-know-about-optimistic-rollupETHGlobal https://ethglobal.com/Produced by https://spectral.to

This is my conversation with Aya Miyaguchi, Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation.00:00 intro01:20 sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io)02:38 reflecting on early days of Ethereum9:01 Ethereum as an Infinite Garden19:14 books and ideas that influenced Aya24:54 the insignificance of titles32:02 what does “Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation” mean?40:33 the “teacher” mindset and how it applies to management47:24 the importance of diversity51:41 sponsor: Privy (privy.io)53:03 the idea of subtraction and how it plays out in practice1:05:42 funding in a non-profit context1:08:48 why it's difficult to describe the potential of Ethereum 1:16:46 embracing imperfection1:20:43 learning from (un)natural disasters1:33:20 what the 'next billion' means for Ethereum1:42:59 Ethereum in emerging economies1:49:09 outroRelevant Links:Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_and_Infinite_GamesAya on Executing with Subtraction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noXPewi5qOkEthereum Foundation - https://ethereum.org/en/foundation/Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Other episodes and transcripts - https://intothebytecode.xyz/Newsletter for updates - https://bytecode.substack.comTwitter - https://twitter.com/sinahab

This is my conversation with Dan Romero about Farcaster - a decentralized social network being developed as an open protocol.We talked about how product decisions in social networks have ripple effects on society, Farcaster's strategy in the highly competitive world of social products, and Dan's personal philosophies around hiring and team building.Timestamps:0:00 intro2:08 why this problem?12:54 both product and protocol23:41 the algorithmic feed29:40 Farcaster's strategy for competing with Twitter1:00:52 approach to team building1:14:41 how to use social networks, and meme'ingRelevant links:Dan Romero - https://twitter.com/dwrFarcaster - https://www.farcaster.xyz/Farcaster docs - https://github.com/farcasterxyz/protocolVarun - https://twitter.com/varunsrinKeybase - https://keybase.io/

This is my conversation with Jango and Nnnnicholas from Juicebox Protocol. Juicebox is a playful but ambitious project: the DAO operates as a full-stack instantiation of the protocol it's building, and fully reconceptualizes the relationship between contributors and shareholders. It has powered projects like SharkDAO, ConstitutionDAO, and AssangeDAO in the past.Timestamps:0:00 intro1:37 an alternative to traditional org structures9:53 philosophical alignment27:30 the key mechanisms of the Juicebox Protocol35:51 fundraising mechanics and the extensibility of Juicebox v246:05 a DAOs's origins shape its culture54:46 guiding principles for compensation1:02:06 working backwards from the future1:12:11 the subtraction philosophy and Ethereum as the Big Bang1:31:25 StudioDAO and models for permissionless DAOsRelevant links:Jango - https://twitter.com/me_jangoNnnnicolas - https://twitter.com/nnnnicholasJuicebox - https://juicebox.money/Nouns - https://nouns.wtf/StudioDAO - https://www.studiodao.xyz/Juicecast podcast about StudioDAO - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-9-kenny-from-studiodao/id1623504302?i=1000576149672

Nadia Asparouhova is an independent researcher. She previously wrote about her research on open-source communities in "Working in Public", and more recently, has been researching the history of and approaches to philanthropy - which she defines with this phrase “if venture capital is risk capital for private goods, philanthropy is risk capital for public goods”.In this conversation, we talked about public goods from this broader perspective. We talked about how previous generations have thought about this question, and how the tech ecosystem outside of crypto are grappling with this today. We talked about the second-order effects of wealth booms which have happened in both tech and crypto, how peer production happens, and the role that intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards might play in the development of crypto protocols.Timestamps:0:00 intro2:01 working as an independent researcher6:09 understanding wealth booms in tech and crypto13:01 the unique perspectives of each successive community25:46 the right (and wrong) question to ask34:41 the landscape of public goods provisioning39:22 innovative philanthropic funding models45:35 the first wave of open source communities and crypto54:42 different classes of stakeholders1:05:00 research methodology and tools for thoughtRelevant links:Nadia Asparouhova - https://twitter.com/nayafiaNadia's website - https://nadia.xyz/“Working in Public” - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578675862/Gitcoin - https://gitcoin.co/

Julien Niset is the cofounder and Chief Science Officer at Argent, a crypto wallet that's used and loved by many people in the crypto ecosystem.In this conversation, we talk about how Argent has evolved to get to where it is today. How Julien sees user experience evolving broadly in the ecosystem, and what the flow of a new person interacting with a crypto application for the first time might look like in the future.Another topic we get into deeply is L2s, how Julien and Argent have thought about the topic of EVM equivalence and compatibility, and why they ultimately chose to build on ZK Rollups like ZkSync and StarkNet.And lastly, we dive into what has been like to build on StarkNet, what the early community feels like today, what it's been like to write code in Cairo, and as a bit of a snapshot into this experience we do a deep dive into what account abstraction looks like on StarkNet.Timestamps:0:00 intro1:56 leaning into zk rollups and account abstraction7:29 scaling the self-custody experience13:20 what onboarding users to crypto will look like in 3 years20:24 some of the friction points that still need to be abstracted33:52 L2s and the trade-offs between different rollups39:45 is breaking EVM-equivalency worth it?48:01 Julien's experience in the StarkNet ecosystem58:24 a primer on account abstraction1:15:38 session keys1:28:17 starting a sensible wallet set up from scratchRelevant links:Julien Niset: https://twitter.com/jnisetArgent - https://www.argent.xyz/StarkNet - https://starkware.co/starknet/zkSync - https://zksync.io/Topology - https://www.topology.gg/

Pedro Gomes is the cofounder of WalletConnect, a communications protocol that enables wallets and apps to securely connect and interact.In this conversation, We talked about WalletConnect v2 and its architecture, account abstraction, potential downstream effects of a crypto-native chat protocol, and other topics.Timestamps:0:00 intro8:00 developing the user experience before creating the product10:23 account abstraction and the spectrum of security and convenience20:39 WalletConnect APIs and “Log in with Ethereum”28:55 how WalletConnect works37:45 light clients and generalized messaging protocols45:36 the politics of making big changes to the Ethereum protocol50:14 connecting wallets with WalletConnect ChatMentioned in the show:WalletConnect - https://walletconnect.com/EIP2938 (account abstraction) - https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-2938WalletConnect APIs - https://docs.walletconnect.com/2.0

Zeitgeist is a laboratory for building crypto-native products/protocols, and is what I've been working on alongside this podcast.We've come together for two seasons in the past with teams you'll be familiar with from this podcast like Sound.xyz and Coordinape, and are bringing together a new cohort of teams for season three later this year. If you're building a new crypto-native product/protocol, get in touch by August 26 to participate: zeitgeist.xyz

Here is my conversation with Josh Stark.Josh has a long history in the Ethereum ecosystem going back to the early days of the community. He cofounded one of the first L2 scaling protocols with Counterfactual. He also cofounded ETHGlobal which is a much-loved series of hackathons/events that brings the community together and which acts as an entry point into the ecosystem for many people. And nowadays and most relevant to our conversation, he works in a leadership capacity at the Ethereum Foundation.In this conversation, we talked about two topics: one being the Ethereum Foundation, and two being the question of why blockchain is matter — this being something that Josh has spent a lot of time thinking about and which he's written about in a long form piece titled Atoms Institutions Blockchains.Timestamps:3:50 subtraction7:22 creating a self-sufficient crypto ecosystem12:33 the property of ‘hardness' for blockchains17:47 understanding decentralization23:11 Atoms, Institutions, Blockchains26:00 blind men and an elephant33:06 our civilization's infrastructure43:33 digitally-native hardness59:38 how the EF operates1:06:21 challenges with decentralized coordination1:12:08 infinite players have nothing but their namesMentioned in the show:Atoms, Institutions, Blockchains: https://stark.mirror.xyz/n2UpRqwdf7yjuiPKVICPpGoUNeDhlWxGqjulrlpyYi0

0age is the Head of Protocol Development at OpenSea, and this was a conversation about Seaport, the new marketplace protocol for buying and selling NFTs.0age takes us through a tour of the Seaport protocol, talking about how it's architected; how conduits and zones work; and we even get into the low level gas optimization work they've done on the contracts. I hope this can be a helpful resource for anyone looking to understand the Seaport protocol or anyone who's building with NFTs more broadly. I also consider 0age to be a true veteran of the space, and hearing him talk through the design of the protocol can be an educational experience in its own rights.Timestamps:1:42 why build Seaport10:20 the Seaport architecture12:44 EIP712 signatures14:17 the global concept of a nonce16:02 EIP1271 and bulk listings17:18 the Executor and conduits25:08 zones, additional rules that can be applied on top of an order29:47 implementing English auctions via zones32:17 layers of the stack36:05 fulfillment40:42 gas optimizations and understanding the low-level behavior of the EVM58:40 the interaction between OpenSea the product and Seaport the protocol01:07:06 criteria based items, and partial fills01:17:50 ideas to build on top of Seaport

Charles St.Louis is the COO at Element Finance, a protocol for fixed and variable rate yield markets and previously the governance architect at MakerDAO. In this conversation, we talked about Element's governance system - with a particular focus on voting vaults, a powerful new primitive that decouple the relationship between capital and voting power and allow much more expressiveness in how users are given a governance voice in the ecosystem.Timestamps: 2:54 - MakerDAO's arc of decentralization 7:51 - how Maker influenced Element's design 10:22 - the Governance Steering Council 21:25 - voting vaults 29:10 - L1 and L2 for governance 33:23 - qualitative evaluation for contributions 37:50 - the ElFiverse and NFTs in the Element community 42:24 - on being a protocol delegate

Here is my conversation with Henri Stern who is building Privy.Henri was previously a research scientist at Protocol Labs and worked on Filecoin's consensus protocol. And after many years of thinking through problems related to data privacy and security, he recently co-founded a new company called Privy where they provide a suite of API tools to store and manage user data off chain.In this conversation, we talked through a set of topics that Henri has a unique point of view on — starting with the question around the seeming trade-off between privacy/security on the one hand and UX/convenience on the other. We talked about principles he has in mind in designing an off-chain data system; how privy does encryption and key management; how they do permissioning; and how they think about data storage.Timestamps: 2:30 - designing the product/protocol roadmap 10:30 - privacy/security vs. convenience 19:27 - building an web3 application 23:20 - decentralizing Privy 32:09 - key management architecture 46:11 - verifiability, transparency as a disinfectant 59:02 - building a product with private data 1:07:08 - cofounder relationship

Matthew Chaim is building a laboratory experimenting at the edges of music and web3.It's called Songcamp, and right now they're running their third immersive experience. They're coming together with a group of musicians, visual designers, developers, and at the end of this process, will be releasing new music under the moniker of a single headless artist called Chaos.I've been personally completely nerdsniped by Songcamp and think it's one of the most beautiful corners of our web3 ecosystem.Timestamps: 1:08 - Songcamp a web3 laboratory 3:27 - songwriting camps 6:30 - imaginative language and lore 11:12 - incentive alignment 20:55 - selection and curation 30:31 - immersive digital theatre 36:18 - having fun 38:03 - the power of IRL 43:01 - what's next 51:37 - economic models for internet-native collectives

Here is my conversation with Simon de la Rouviere.Simon's exploration of creative mechanism design through the years is documented on his blog. His contributions to the space range from seeding the idea of bonding curves and curation markets, to building one of the first creator platforms with Ujo, to writing a full length novel experimenting with different publishing models, to now working on bottom-up storytelling with Untitled Frontier.In this conversation, we talked about cc0, designing NFT economies to welcome derivative works, bottom-up storytelling, and much more.Timestamps: 1:29 - How Simon got into the craft of storytelling 6:25 - The lonely process of long-form content creation 9:53 - Kishōtenketsu 14:26 - Top-down vs. bottom-up storytelling 21:52 - “The medium is the message.” 27:17 - CC0, derivatives, Jenkins the Valet 34:43 - Harberger Taxes and mechanism design 39:51 - NFTs vs ERC20s for ownership and governance 44:06 - New power structures

Here is my conversation with David Greenstein, Matt Masurka (Gigamesh), & Vignesh Hirudayakanth, the cofounders at Sound.xyz.Sound is a platform that helps musicians host listening parties and engage with their fans. It's a suite of tools that will grow over time to help musicians make a living using NFTs and other web3-native primitives.I was particularly looking forward to this conversation since David, Matt, and Vignesh participated in Zeitgeist Season One and we got to work pretty closely together. They're moving fast and are working towards a beautiful vision of the world.Timestamps: 3:42 - Redefining engagement between artists and fans 7:23 - MySpace, HypeMachine, Optimism, and Friends With Benefits 12:50 - Using Discord DMs for recruiting 16:53 - NFTs as the perfect medium for music patronage 20:34 - Fair-play incentive structures for music 26:25 - Differentiating the first fan and the millionth fan 32:03 - The technical architecture underpinning Sound 34:33 - Getting to market and building in public 39:45 - Oshi breaks the website 41:37 - The Daniel Allan EP 42:14 - RAC and deploying to mainnet 44:12 - Zeitgeist's impact

Mike Sall and Blake West are the founders of Goldfinch, a decentralized protocol facilitating uncollateralized credit.“One of the borrowers is a company based in Uganda. They provide rent-to-own loans for motorcycle taxis to thousands of customers. They've borrowed $5m to expand their operations."Thousands of people in countries like Uganda, India, and Brazil have been financed by Goldfinch loans through local lenders, largely without realizing crypto is the source of funds.These local lenders are largely innovative fintechs in the global south, and have historically fallen into an uncanny valley — they need too much capital for what is available in their local financial markets, and too little capital to navigate foreign institutional markets.3:09 - The 'lightbulb' moment8:20 - The financing gap for emerging-market borrowers13:04 - Borrower profiles; Tugende, DiviBank, and Greenway15:43 - Interfacing with Goldfinch20:37 - Crypto-native KYC and how UID works23:18 - Bottlenecks for the global adoption of crypto34:40 - Compliance requirements for Goldfinch in the United States45:25 - Compliance requirements for borrowers in emerging markets50:56 - Demographics of ‘Backers'52:43 - Incentive alignment and fraud-prevention1:03:53 - Learnings from shipping a production smart contract system1:15:01 - Launching GFI token and governance of the protocol1:26:04 - The macro point of viewCheck out our website for other episodes: intothebytecode.xyzSubscribe to our newsletter for updates: bytecode.substack.comTwitter: twitter.com/sinahab

The conversation on publishing today is the very first one I recorded for the podcast about six months ago. It's a conversation with Justin Glibert about patterns he's uncovered while building Ember (an onchain game) and Lattice (the engine behind the game) — patterns related to inflation and zero sum resources, spacial constraints, and user impersonation. I hope you enjoy.Check out our website for other episodes: intothebytecode.xyzSubscribe to our newsletter for updates: bytecode.substack.comTwitter: twitter.com/sinahab

This is a conversation with Phillip Wang and Nate Foss two of the co-founders of Gather.Gather is a video chat platform that puts you and the people you're communicating with in a virtual space - and gives you the ability to move around and interact with them based on your locations in that space, just like in real life. It's had a ton of traction over the last year and is being used by millions of people around the world. It's one of the coolest products I've personally used in recent memory.As you will hear in this conversation, Phillip and Nate are two incredibly thoughtful and mission-oriented people — and they plan to build Gather into a progressively open and decentralized system. So in this conversation, we went deep on what this could actually look like. We talked about how Gather is architected under the hood and how they think about decentralizing the game engine and the tech stack. We talked about identity, login, and social graphs. We talked about business models. And lastly, we talked about the metaverse and the path dependence of how the future unfolds from here.I hope you enjoy the conversation.Check out our website for other episodes: intothebytecode.xyzSubscribe to our newsletter for updates: bytecode.substack.comTwitter: twitter.com/sinahab----Show notes:- Gather's websocket API.

This is a conversation with Tracheopteryx about the evolution of Yearn, Coordinape, and pseudonymity.Tracheopteryx has been a key leader in the Yearn Finance community since its legendary genesis event. In this conversation, we talk about key moments in Yearn's evolution with an eye towards takeaways that might be useful for other projects. We talk about the introduction of the multisig; the mint — a complex governance proposal where the community eventually chose to dilute themselves in order to reward core contributors; and constrained delegation - the governance framework that Trach helped design and which is operating in Yearn today.The other big area we get into is Coordinape. Coordinape is a protocol for decentralizing compensation. It was designed and incubated inside of Yearn, and is now being built as an independent project.Towards the end of the conversation, Trach tells the story behind his name and shares a perspective on becoming pseudonymous that has stayed with me since.I hope you enjoy the conversation.Check out our website for other episodes: intothebytecode.xyzSubscribe to our newsletter for updates: bytecode.substack.comTwitter: twitter.com/sinahab

This is a conversation with John Palmer and Danny Aranda about PartyDAO and PartyBid - the product that lets people pool their funds and participate in NFT auctions as a team.We dive deep into their experience building this project. We talk about what they see as the role of product vision in the DAO, how they think about hiring, the organizational design, the stack of tools they use to operate, and the legal structures they're considering. And that's not all — we also touched the role of community in NFTs, social investing, and what John and Danny see as interesting things to work on today.Check out our website for other episodes: intothebytecode.xyzSubscribe to our newsletter for updates: bytecode.substack.comTwitter: twitter.com/sinahab

This is a conversation with Austin Griffith about his continued journey as a builder/educator, and learnings from onboarding thousands of developers onto Ethereum.Austin is a friend and someone I've had the good fortune of working with extensively in our shared time at the Ethereum foundation. In this conversation, we take a tour through the different projects he's worked on over the last two years — starting with ETH.build (the graphical interface for working with smart contracts), moving to scaffold-eth (his development starter kit that has really taken off and been used by thousands of developers), and then moving onto the BUIDL GUIDL and the Moonshot Collective (DAO-like collections of developers who work on prototyping interesting new ideas). We also go down a few fun tangents around Loot, the Doge NFT, DAO tooling, and we get to hear a walkthrough of Austin's curriculum for bringing a new developer into the space.I consider Austin to be a gem of the ecosystem, and feel lucky that we have him here. I hope you enjoy the conversation.Check out our website for other episodes: intothebytecode.xyzSubscribe to our newsletter for updates: bytecode.substack.comTwitter: twitter.com/sinahab

This is a conversation with Gubsheep about Dark Forest and building crypto-native games.Dark Forest is a uniquely crypto-native game, and embodies patterns that we can all learn from. It's a game that takes place in a procedurally-generated universe that's shared by all players, where the smart contracts enforce the rules of the game, but where they don't leak information about what each player is up to by using ZK SNARKs.In this conversation, we talk about how Dark Forest uses ZK SNARKs to enable this core game mechanic, how it has organically built a community of players and developers, how early DAOs are participating in the games, how the game might interoperate with other games in the near future, and we also have a good discussion on Layer 2s and the trade-offs involved in choosing a scaling solution.Check out our website for other episodes: intothebytecode.xyzSubscribe to our newsletter for updates: bytecode.substack.comTwitter: twitter.com/sinahab