The Gwart Show

Zack Shapiro, Head of Policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and Founder of Rains, joins us to talk about the shifting landscape of crypto regulation under the Trump administration. We discuss why the CLARITY Act is in limbo, the "Defi mullet" and the legal challenges facing AI agents. Zack gives a behind-the-scenes look at the banking lobby's war on stablecoin yields and evaluates the progress of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: * Banks lobbied for 1:1 yield ban. * Coinbase takes their pound of flesh * AI ends billable hour standard. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:24 Who is Zack? 01:25 Bitcoin Policy Institute 04:23 Current policy outlook 10:49 CLARITY Act 17:34 Will CLARITY pass? 19:32 Commodities vs Securities 21:02 Safe harbor 21:19 Howey & Utility tokens 22:37 Developer protections 24:25 How good are protections in CLARITY? 28:56 Crypto crashout & AI agents 33:43 Front ends & KYC 36:13 OFAC 39:43 Ideals in crypto 42:21 BASE 43:30 Crypto in-fighting 46:55 LLMs & the law 52:17 Prediction markets The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs dot xyz slash careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Mitchell, Co-Founders of Sierra, talk about how their backgrounds in central banking and liquid funds led them to build a next-generation stablecoin protocol. We chat about the mechanics of yield, the regulatory landscape for platforms like Polymarket, and why the current shift in crypto is moving toward lean, efficient fintech models. Notes: * 95% to 100% of capital earns yield * Money market yields currently 2-3% * Industry shift to fintech and robotics Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:44 Mitchell's background 02:11 Kevin's background 03:41 What is Sierra? 05:07 Yield strategies 05:31 Why is Sierra different? 09:01 Abstracting complexity away 10:50 Assessing risk 14:40 Yield percentages 15:48 DeFi Summer yields 18:05 Why use Sierra? 24:00 RWAs & T-bills 27:34 RWA "quality" 32:20 What is "on-chain"? 37:14 Composability 42:04 Current state of funds 46:38 Future of venture funding 49:24 Winners & losers The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs.xyz/careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tyler Whittle, Head of Product at Project 11 , joins us to talk about the intersection of quantum hardware and cryptographic security. He explains why current encryption like RSA and ECC are vulnerable , the progress made by Google's Willow in noise reduction , and the specific NIST timelines for 2035. Tyler says the industry can prepare for Q-Day with new standards and why the transition is a race against time for global financial privacy and the Bitcoin network. Notes: * NIST says to deprecate classical crypto by 2035. * Google Willow reduces noise as qubits increase. * 35% of Cloudflare traffic is already PQC. * Quantum hardware could factor numbers in 18 mo. * Quantum signatures will increase Bitcoin fees. * Q-Day risk is mispriced in digital assets. Timeline: 00:02:05 Quantum Cats 00:04:57 Project Eleven 00:07:33 Project Eleven business case? 00:10:44 What's currently happening in Quantum? 00:18:10 Willow chip 00:25:33 Physical space vs digital space 00:29:10 Wen Quantum unlock? 00:29:56 Error correction 00:34:16 What is a red flag event? 00:38:00 Won't the NSA save us? 00:43:18 Costs of new signature schemes? 00:44:41 Proposals for BTC changes 00:46:31 Old coins, wat do? 00:51:49 Economic actors 00:53:14 Nuking price 00:59:13 Bitcoin vs other blockchains 01:00:46 Block size increase 01:05:56 Quantum money 01:11:04 Timelines The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs dot xyz slash careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Hoffman, Podcaster at Bankless, joins us to talk about the evolution of crypto from a naive 2017 dream to the harsh reality of 2026. We dive into the "blockchain, not Bitcoin" rebirth, the death of Discord-led communities, and why Wall Street's tokenization is missing the point. David shares his excitement for AI-driven capital markets, the innovative app ecosystem on MegaETH, and why his portfolio remains heavily weighted in ETH despite the nihilistic market sentiment. Notes: * Ryan Sean Adams took a 3-month sabbatical. * David Hoffman's portfolio is still mostly ETH. * Bankless VC fund downsized to 15-20 checks. * China is aggressively increasing gold reserves. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:23 State of crypto 03:21 What's still exciting 08:14 Crypto's original vision 12:57 Community going away? 19:16 Hyperliquid 20:44 What are L2's actually being used for? 25:17 Ordering transactions 27:26 Ellipsis Labs Ad 28:14 Future of media 33:28 Money leaving the crypto space 35:41 Risk & return math 39:41 Bankless Ventures 45:07 Possible bright spots? 50:15 Future of Bankless 58:21 Bankless regrets 1:01:31 Fully changing his mind 1:04:28 Crypto's end game is here? 1:07:51 ETH: bull or bear? 1:10:40 David's personal portfolio? The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs.xyz/careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lucas & Hersch from World Markets joins us to break down why crypto trading infrastructure is fundamentally broken: how fully onchain order books, unified risk engines, and capital-efficient design could reshape perps trading. Chapters: 0:02 Intro & guest background 1:28 From exchanges to hedge funds 3:26 Monad vs MegaETH decision 5:00 Why L2s beat L1s for trading 6:49 DeFi security flaws explained 10:29 How onchain traders find alpha 18:01 What World Markets actually is 21:59 1010 Crash explained 28:13 Why centralized exchanges fail 47:48 The 50% basis trade example 53:00 Hersch finally gets to speak The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs dot xyz slash careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max Resnick, Lead Economist at Anza, joins Gwart to talk about optimizing Solana for financial markets. He discusses the shift from Ethereum, the mechanics of MCP to stop censorship, and how "ACE" (Application Control Execution) empowers apps. Max discusses dominance of Prop AMMs, the controversy around block packing, and how Solana plans to compete with Hyperliquid in the perp market. Notes: - Binance retail fee is ~10 basis points- Prop AMM execution gap up to 10 bps- Humidify quotes 0.1 bps spreads Timestamps:00:00 Start00:28 Anza experience02:10 What's Max working on?05:41 New respect for development08:42 MCP > MEV12:33 Validators & toxic flow15:14 MCP status16:32 Writing code18:20 ACE21:30 Taker speed bump & Hyperliquid23:47 Oracle updates24:13 On-chain co-location26:38 Priority fee27:01 Deny list28:23 Tighter than Binance33:18 Spreads36:23 Prop AMM winners38:33 SEP & Solana40:40 MEV report44:55 User costs of MEV47:26 Block time reduction50:30 Transaction packing58:45 Prop AMMs & breaking composability1:01:23 Hyperliquid1:03:48 Solona slipping on Perps 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

Bitcoin developer Brandon Black (ReardenCode) analyzes the reality of the quantum computing threat to Bitcoin. He explains the timeline for potential encryption breaks and why the sky isn't falling just yet. Brandon explains proposed solutions like BIP 360 and OP_CAT, and we debate whether Satoshi's stash will eventually be stolen or confiscated. Notes: * RSA keys moved from 1024 to 4096 bits * 2-3k logical qubits needed to break ECC * Logical qubits need 99.999% accuracy * Biggest quantum factored number is ~15. * BIP 360 new BC1Z address type. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:25 The Quantum discussion 02:43 Initial thoughts on Quantum 06:51 How would a Quantum computer work? 11:10 Quantum vs conventional computing 14:25 Rearden's general take on Quantum 16:29 Why so divided on issue? 20:13 Error correction 22:42 You gave it the answer already 25:36 It's not scaling! 30:06 Easily readable research? 34:24 The "hidden" quantum computer 38:08 Crab market = roll FUD dice 39:59 TradFi is jumpy 41:01 The plan 42:57 What is "bitcoin working"? 46:13 Screeching about Core Devs 48:21 Core team & gatekeeping 53:12 BIP 360 56:19 Are MY keys safe now? 1:01:20 Satoshi's coins 1:05:04 Opinions in the community 1:10:56 Bitcoin upgrades coming? 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

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

Zcash cofounder Ian Miers discusses zero-knowledge proofs, why Bitcoin's public ledger creates massive privacy problems, how SNARKs enable trust without exposure, quantum computing threats to cryptocurrency, identity and reputation systems, and why a blockchain needs privacy to function as actual money. Notes:• Zcash launched as first industrial zero-knowledge proof application• Zero Coin published 2013 (before Ethereum or SNARKs existed)• Quantum computers need thousands of qubits to break RSA• Blockchain transparency makes Bitcoin "Twitter for bank accounts" Timestamps:00:00 Start00:19 What's Ian up to?01:25 Creating Zcash05:59 Why ZK tech is a big deal?08:34 Zero knowledge proofs & Bitcoin10:36 Verifiability vs privacy14:02 The 2025 Zcash resurgence17:20 Other research20:45 Stablecoins & real world assets24:15 Ellipsis Labs Ad25:02 Regulation28:57 Government privacy overreach33:11 Zcash proposals & current development35:51 Swaps39:29 Zcash as medium of exchange?41:37 The possibility of privacy on Bitcoin43:53 Other privacy tech?50:18 Monero vs Zcash53:37 Developer block rewards57:12 Developer rewards & adoption59:39 Quantum risks1:02:45 Quantum timelines 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

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

James Christoph explains why MicroStrategy can't be replicated, DATs are doomed, and crypto markets are more efficient than people think. Plus: Celestia's inflation problem, Ethena's systemic risks, and why Hyperliquid nailed their stablecoin strategy. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • MicroStrategy's structure makes it impossible to blow up • DATs trading at discounts lack restart mechanisms • Ethereum staking yields ~40 bps after inflation/taxes • Celestia's inflation driving price toward zero • Ethena's depeg could trigger cascade in Pendle/Aave • Hyperliquid has ~$10B USDC bridged, negotiating revenue split Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:27 Who is James Christoph? 00:49 Solana treasury companies 04:18 Tom Lee memory hole 05:42 ETH is for stablecoins :) jk 08:04 Bitmine & Sharplink Gaming 10:31 Tom Lee invested in a "fund of DATs" wat? 12:03 DATs & yield 14:29 Ok, define arbitrage? 17:03 Liquid staking tokens are stupid 20:20 Addicted to yield 24:05 Exotic derivatives 27:24 Bitcoin as a benchmark 35:03 ETH, silly silly ETH 39:58 Hyperliquid 43:50 Decentralization doesn't matter, sorry 48:26 Celestia - The Modular Blockchain TM 55:01 Athena 59:06 Fed interest rates 59:39 Circle 1:00:27 USDH The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, the builders behind Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance and Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume. If you're interested in a mission-driven company, Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance to work on Atlas. Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs and @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mallesh, formerly Special Mechanisms Group and Rice University joins us to talk about his move to Tempo, Stripe's new payments-first blockchain.We dive into why they built another L1, multi-stablecoin architecture, MEV challenges in payments, with credible neutrality Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Tempo is designed for fast finality payments • Stablecoin agnostic w/ AMM • Reserved block space for payment txns • Cross-border wire transfers are still broken for traditional systems Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:25 Who is Mallesh? 01:50 Special Mechanisms Group 03:49 Consensys 05:34 Tempo 08:14 Advantages of Tempo 10:36 Specific Tempo designs 13:58 Fungible stablecoins 14:44 Tether & economies of scale 18:14 Validator set 22:45 Payments Only blockspace 25:51 Mallesh's title 26:58 Products 28:36 Tempo AMM 30:33 Remittance use case 35:16 International transfers & corespondent banks 41:26 Are banks cooked? 43:30 Why a new Layer 1? 48:08 Credible neutrality 50:36 Crypto Twitter is now the kiddie pool 54:45 The future of proof of Stake is... trust 1:04:03 MEV memory hole The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, the builders behind Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance and Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume. If you're interested in a mission-driven company, Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance to work on Atlas. Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs and @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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

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

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Benedict Brady, former quant trader and founder of Meridian joins us to talk about Solana's dark pool ecosystem, Jupiter's market dominance, the move from traditional AMMs to sophisticated trading infrastructure, MEV wars, and how his AI-powered trading assistant is changing crypto trading interfaces. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:19 Benedict intro 02:32 Solana focused work 05:14 Solana market evolution 13:03 RFQ vs Dark AMM 15:24 Partial RFQ Fills 17:17 Dark AMMs in practice 19:58 Define "Dark" 23:46 Why Jupyter? 27:45 Dark AMM big unlock? 30:19 Deep thoughts... 32:14 Are Solana spreads tight? 36:02 Wintermute 37:19 Why the secrecy? 40:01 Hello MEV, my old friend 45:26 Gwart the Bitcoin Maxi (or not) 49:23 SOL vs ETH 52:44 App sequencing 55:33 Perp DEX is actually an L2 58:35 BAM 59:36 Permissionless building 1:04:29 Meridian 1:07:11 LLM trading 1:09:27 AI + Crypto killer apps

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Alex B from Ark Labs joins us to talk about the Ark protocol and Arkade implementation - a Bitcoin layer 2 that uses transaction batching and virtual UTXOs to scale Bitcoin beyond Lightning. We explore how Ark competes with roll-ups, enables Bitcoin capital markets, and could transform Lightning's UX while maintaining self-custody. Alex explains the technical innovations, use cases from payments to lending, and why this could be Bitcoin's answer to Ethereum's scaling solutions. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Phoenix wallet charges 0.4% per transaction • Bitcoin market cap reached $2 trillion • Roll-ups rely on bridge security assumptions • Ark enables unlimited swap throughput Chapters: 00:00 Start 01:03 What is Ark? 13:34 Sequencers 16:15 Why rollups? 23:47 Security Counsel 28:17 Ellipsis Labs 29:18 EVM vs Ark 35:41 Arkade's killer app 51:30 Bitcoin payments 1:02:17 All innovation comes back to Bitcoin 1:12:12 Fragmented liquidity 1:15:35 Open source 1:19:42 Wen Arkade beta?

Felix Jauvin, Macro Economist and host of Forward Guidance podcast, joins us to talk about the regime shift from monetary to fiscal dominance, why Bitcoin and risk assets are hitting all-time highs despite high interest rates, the treasury company revolution led by MicroStrategy, and why "hyper gambling your way to wealth" has become a rational strategy in our current economic environment. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com **Notes:** • US running 7% GDP deficit during full employment • Bitcoin at ATH despite 5% interest rates • MicroStrategy's 0% coupon convertible bonds • Stablecoins can't pass yield to holders • Treasury companies trading above NAV • Fiscal dominance replacing monetary policy Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:50 Felix background 01:57 TradFi history 05:51 Current market outlook 11:48 10 yr prediction 16:37 Firing the Fed Chairman 21:29 Stablecoins 26:47 Long degens, short society 29:09 Where's my altcoin summer! 32:08 Elipsis Labs 33:09 Hyperliquid 38:21 Place your bets or eat bugs, you choose 44:40 Remember Etherium... what happened to those guys? 48:34 A black hole for capital = NGU 55:27 MSTR failure state 59:22 management teams 1:01:57 Discount to NAV, harbinger of death 1:04:11 Advice for plebs

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Josh Lim from FalconX joins us to talk about the massive boom in corporate crypto treasury vehicles. We talk about how these deals work, from management teams and investment bankers structuring vehicles to raise capital, to the 45-60 day liquidity windows and 2-6x NAV premiums investors are seeing. Josh explains the Michael Saylor playbook, yield strategies, and whether this trend is sustainable or headed for a crash. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Treasury vehicles see 45-60 day liquidity windows • Some trade at 2-6x NAV premiums currently   • $4 billion new Bitcoin vehicle announced recently • Circle IPO traded at $230 per share peak • MicroStrategy model being widely replicated • 3-5 month timeline for SPAC conversions Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:46 Josh's background & FalconX 03:12 Arbelos Markets 04:03 Market overview 07:03 Digital asset treasury companies 11:07 Starting a treasury vehicle company 12:36 Hostile takeovers? 16:06 Deal structure 21:17 LOL "Management team" 23:09 ROI for investors 26:56 What's a healthy multiple? 28:19 Copy/Paste Strategy 29:32 Yield strategies 32:02 How does this fail? 35:40 Premium longevity 38:10 Out "Sayloring" Saylor, c'mon bro? 41:26 Alt Season go bye bye? 46:06 Trading on-chain, relic of the past? 49:30 24/7 trading 50:57 Prediction markets 53:24 Gwart's take on treasury companies 54:49 Josh's optimistic take 56:19 Circle IPO 57:29 Degen's gonna degen 59:05 Wrap

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Christopher Goes, early Ethereum contributor and IBC protocol creator, joins us to talk about why Ethereum failed as a world computer, the organizational chaos at Cosmos (including a CEO who declared himself Jesus), privacy solutions like Narmada, intent-based systems, and how crypto shifted from idealistic public goods to pure attention-driven capitalism. Follow our guest on Twitter! @cwgoes Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Cosmos Hub generates zero revenue still • Bitcoin was $1 when Goes started mining • Anoma synthesizes Ethereum, Cosmos, Zcash • Wyvern protocol was OpenSea's backup • IBC connects all Cosmos chains today • Signal adoption shows privacy step functions Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:57 CW background 04:41 Early days of Ethereum 08:17 Cosmos 09:56 IBC protocol 10:16 Cosmos: God, Bad & Ugly 14:09 App chain thesis 15:17 Anoma 21:19 Intent-centric design 24:08 Ellipsis Labs 25:09 Namada 26:35 Goal of Namada 28:46 Anonymity set 30:44 Open ledgers vs privacy 36:15 Traders want privacy 37:20 Blockchains & the surveillance state 38:51 Evolution of ETH theory 42:48 ETH fails at "global computer" 45:02 Source of failure 47:37 L1 vs L2 scaling 51:30 The state of interoperability 59:02 People following incentives 1:03:34 Innovation fragmentation

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Carl Dong, founder of Obscura VPN and former Bitcoin Core developer at Chain Code Labs, joins us to talk about his transition from Bitcoin development to building privacy infrastructure. We discuss his work on reproducible builds, supply chain security, the funding dynamics of Bitcoin development, and why he created the first multi-hop VPN that eliminates single points of trust. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Timestamps: 00:00 Start 01:09 Carl's professional background 02:54 Personal background 07:50 Open source vs product dev 18:14 Chaincode's influence 23:05 Ellipsis Labs 24:06 Funding open source work 30:21 Obscura VPN 36:07 The state of TOR 40:30 VPN user base 45:10 Easy personal privacy steps 47:57 Privacy in Bitcoin 53:21 Simplicity 58:02 Innovations from the "crypto" space 1:00:21 Wrap up

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Robert Chang, crypto trader and prolific Twitter shitposter, joins us to talk about his wild ride through crypto's highs and lows - from being a Luna lunatic to losing everything on Hyperliquid, navigating AI agent metas, getting rugged by VCs stealing his ideas, and why internet capital markets might just be elaborate poker chips with better marketing. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com • Luna looping strategy led to total account loss • Hyperliquid refunded liquidation due to oracle issues   • AI agent tokens hit incredible market caps in 2024 • Worm project went from idea to 4M market cap • A16Z agent reached peak before January market top • Most crypto VCs are "incredibly stupid" mercenaries Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:24 Robert's background 01:20 Working in crypto 05:11 Lately 07:07 Traders vs users 11:07 Hyperliquid early days 13:10 Markets recently 15:05 Bigger names enter market 16:27 Current market 20:50 AI agents 22:48 WORM 26:12 WORM goes to zero 28:47 Elipsis Labs 29:48 VCs sniping ideas 32:43 ICM 36:08 ICM (this time is different) 44:05 AI16z value proposition? 47:15 Base 50:05 The future 54:15 Bullish VC coins? 58:28 Alliance DAO 1:01:28 Bullish on what? 1:04:32 Ryan Park 1:07:28 ETH (don't call it a comeback) 1:08:23 BTC is mid 1:09:16 Wrap up

FILL OUT THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Doug Colkitt, co-founder of Fogo and Ambient Finance joins us to talk about building the fastest Solana-based blockchain for trading. Doug explains why order books are winning over AMMs, how Fogo's 21-validator set enables 40ms blocks, and why verifiability matters more than full decentralization for perp DEXs. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:13 Doug history 02:28 What is Fogo? 02:53 Why not L2? 06:29 Ambient perps 09:07 Are blockchains the right database? 10:00 Why DEX at all? 12:32 Composability as an unlock? 16:17 AMMs 19:18 Decentralization doesn't matter 24:19 Problems with perps on orderbooks 25:51 Fogo vs Hyperliquid 27:35 Ellipsis Labs 29:35 MEV & flashloans 32:42 Tragedy of the commons 35:00 MEV of Perp DEX 37:44 Opportunities for innovation 41:22 Coinbase launching Perps 44:24 Is no KYC an unloack? 46:24 Verifiability 49:00 Liquidity injection 51:41 24/7 markets 52:36 Perp-ify THE WORLD! 54:05 Zero Day Futures 55:08 Ambient Perps elevator pitch 58:10 Gold oracle price origin

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Liam from Through (formerly Fire Dancer engineer) joins us to talk about building a high-performance L1 blockchain from scratch. We dive into why Solana has structural limitations, his leaderless consensus design, proof-of-burn mechanisms, and why economic security is overrated. Plus takes on trading, Fire Dancer's progress, and the future of DeFi. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Fire Dancer has ~10% of Solana network • Through team is only 5 people currently • Testnet launching in 1-2 months timeline • SDK support targeting July release • Solana chain halts if clients disagree • Economic security was higher than ETH Timestamps 00:00 Start 00:12 Liam's background 02:18 Early trading 03:13 Firedancer experience 03:58 What's Unto? 05:40 Solana L1 limitations 08:07 Applications 09:51 CLOB wars 11:58 Proof of stake flaws 18:23 Multiple concurrent proposers 21:38 Burn design 25:27 Improvements in trading 27:47 Commodities on chain 30:08 Onto chain performance 32:52 Performant L1 chain competition 35:38 Desired apps 38:00 Firedancer progress & marketshare 42:10 Decentralization & price discovery 45:57 The value of a market 50:10 MEV on Solana 53:56 L1 token value 1:01:28 Through updates 1:03:42 Wrap up 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Bitcoiner Post Capone joins us to talk about the risks of OP_CAT activation, MEV extraction concerns on Bitcoin, how increased expressivity could lead to mining centralization, the promise of scaling solutions like Arc and Spark, and why constrained covenants like CTV might be a better path forward than unlimited expressivity. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:27 Who is Post Capone? 03:05 OP_CAT 07:11 Erosion of MEV 11:29 Expressivity of OP_CAT 20:56 Execution on L2 23:33 Elipsis Labs 24:33 OP_CAT vs CTV 28:20 What should be on Bitcoin? 35:32 Stablecoin Maxi 38:42 Programmatic lending contracts 40:30 Ark 44:14 BitVM 47:02 Scaling solution adoption 50:07 Oden.fun54:12 Rollups The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, which is building Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance. Ellipsis Labs is known for Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume. They are a top crypto team. Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance for Atlas. Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs. Check out Atlas at @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Wilson Huang from DRW Cumberland joins us to talk about the explosive growth of Bitcoin options markets, why crypto volatility attracts both miners and hedge funds, how ETFs are reshaping institutional adoption, and why traditional finance principles are finally making sense in digital assets. We dive deep into market structure, OTC trading, and the future of crypto derivatives. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Bitcoin dominates 90% of crypto options volume • DRW started 30 years ago in CME trading pits • ETF volumes reached historic highs recently • Crypto vol trades in 40-60% range typically • Cumberland handles thousands of BTC clips OTC • Mining companies hedge at specific cost levels Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:48 Background 02:04 Crypto options markets 04:52 Requirements for a good options market 10:13 How exposed are miners? 19:05 OTC 21:24 Custody 29:53 Spot selling 36:13 Coinbase buying Deribit 41:40 Options & DeFi 45:02 Perpetuals 49:11 The future

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Smac, partner at Compound VC, joins us to talk about why stablecoins have become the dominant crypto narrative despite being "boring fintech," DePIN opportunities in energy and water networks, venture capital market structure issues with massive fund sizes, the lack of creativity in crypto development, and why most social crypto apps are features not companies.  Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Follow our guest on Twitter: @0xsmac Notes: • Compound VC focuses on pre-seed/seed stage investments • $100M checks at $3B valuations more like growth investing • Stablecoins captured outsized narrative due to lack of innovation • Virtual power plants represent distributed energy networks • Crypto needs more non-crypto native talent for creativity Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:16 Who is Smac? 01:53 Market overview 03:25 Are stablecoins the killer use case? 06:09 Stablecoin are just FinTech 09:51 Let a thousand stablecoins bloom 13:16 Decentralization & stablecoins 16:04 Users don't care about centralization 21:47 Worldcoin 24:20 DePin 25:19 Virtual power plants 30:20 ElLipsis Labs 31:21 Water harvesting 34:17 Venture funding is too high 41:21 Funding NOT infrastructure projects 43:25 What's interesting? 52:23 Friend.Tech 1:01:24 Wrap up

Welcome to The Gwart Show! Today, Ethereum bull Ryan Berckmans joins us to dissect Ethereum's current strategy and why he believes it remains on the right path despite recent challenges. Ryan explains the "hub and spokes" L1+L2 model, arguing that communication failures—not technical problems—damaged ETH sentiment. He breaks down why L2 growth combined with L1 scaling will drive Ethereum toward becoming a multi-trillion dollar asset, how blob fees will generate significant revenue, and why Solana's success doesn't threaten Ethereum's long-term dominance in the institutional market. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com # Notes: • L2s like Base hit 100M+ in Bitcoin-backed loans • World L2 has 12M verified humans with 25M accounts • Ethereum plans to scale to 48 blobs per block • Current blob usage at ~80% full (2.4 per block) • Rollups may pay ~30% of revenue for blob space • Median user fees could remain at ~$0.01 with scale Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:22 Who is Ryan B? 01:12 Why bullish on ETH? 06:38 Failure to communicate 11:01 Is this a pivot? 18:32 Justin Drake is bad at PR 24:31 Lido 28:05 Solo staking 31:50 It's all SOL's fault 33:03 Vitalik changing narratives 35:14 Thoughts on Solana 44:03 WHY NGU now? 48:50 Blobs need to pay up

Welcome to The Gwart Show! Today, Noah Goldberg of Theia Research, joins us to dive deep into the world of liquid token markets. Noah breaks down why the "token premium" is unsustainable, how his firm evaluates fundamental value in DeFi applications, and why the market structure creates perverse incentives. He explains why on-chain finance hasn't supplanted traditional finance as quickly as many expected, discusses problems with market making in crypto, and offers insight into how crypto can build sustainable moats. A must-listen for understanding crypto's real financial underpinnings. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Token premium is unsustainable long-term • RTV (Revenue to Transaction Volume) models for L1s • Market makers often artificially prop up token prices • Money markets account for $800B in traditional finance • Most tokens are marked at unrealistic valuations • Venture investors create circular valuation patterns Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:37 Who is Noah? 02:36 Why Liquid? 05:03 Tokens vs equity 09:03 Token premium 12:25 Are tokens irrational? 17:55 Why isn't RadFi embracing DeFi? 23:26 Global investor base for tokens 25:46 Infrastructure apps 29:30 Cash flow modeling 31:31 REV on L1 32:32 Investing in L1s & REV 35:46 Is the market valuing REV? 39:16 Unitoken 42:43 Uniswap valuation vs equity 45:53 Token moats 48:18 Liquidity as moat 58:50 Improvements for markets 1:02:00 Market making vs token price 1:06:29 Whay are weak tokens valued so high? 1:11:28 Value of low liquidity tokens

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Today, Santisa @Tiza4ThePeople from Lucidity joins us to discuss market neutral strategies in DeFi. He breaks down how his fund extracts alpha from stablecoin pairs and incentive programs while maintaining a risk-neutral position. We dive into the sophistication behind monitoring protocols, identifying opportunities through on-chain analysis, and why DeFi tokens rarely represent true equity value. Santisa explains why his fund immediately dumps governance tokens, how they achieved double digit APY with "negligible risk," and why Bitcoin remains his primary conviction despite years in the DeFi ecosystem. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: - Fund achieved 21.3% APY with "negligible risk" - Stablecoin strategies focus on risk-adjusted returns - DeFi getting safer but smart contract risks remain - Massive accounts ($40-50M) farming UniChain - Athena paying up to 39-40% yields initially - Most DeFi tokens lack fundamental value connection Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:28 Santisa's story 01:48 Lucidity 02:22 What's a market neutral strategy? 03:50 Can a pleb trade market neutral? 06:33 Long or short ETH? 08:10 Structure risk strategies 10:22 Unichain 12:46 Farm & dump 12:57 Farming in size 15:15 Market maturity & deal killers 19:10 Covering hacking losses 23:18 USDC pairs & incentives 24:40 Are you long ANY asset? 25:46 Bearish DeFi tokens 27:24 Any hope for DeFi tokens? 31:14 It's a Bitcoin market, hop on 33:51 Maker DAO buy back model 36:46 Athena is NOT a stablecoin 39:20 Athena farming 41:06 Athena token losing value 42:49 Token vs VC money burn 45:16 What is actually exciting 47:17 SOL 48:48 Future of Lucidity? 50:40 Identifying opportunities 52:21 Outperforming BTC 56:14 Is crypto VS over?

Welcome back to the Gwart Show! We got Round II of the Crypto VC debate with Gwart and Haseeb. Are tokens actually worth anything? Do VCs provide real signal value? What's the right benchmark for success? The conversation gets spicy as they examine Dragonfly's portfolio performance, discuss whether tokens truly capture value, and question if early-stage crypto investments can ever live up to their promises. With occasional moderation from Tarun, this debate exposes the tension between VC optimism and market skepticism. Follow our guests: @tarunchitra @hosseeb # Notes: • Tokens launched in bull markets typically underperform • Bitcoin has decoupled from alts as a "macro asset" • VCs typically invest at much lower valuations pre-listing • Zora launched at $200M valuation as a "fun token" • Crypto VC returns are power-law distributed Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:03 THE tweet heard around the world 01:17 Tokens must be traded 07:36 BTC dominance 10:50 Pricing tokens 17:03 Apples to apples 20:44 VC is going to ZERO 37:09 Uniswap token 44:56 Different reality 50:14 Moving the goalpost 1:01:14 Infinite money printer 1:05:24 Who's the fool? 1:17:06 Claim on cashflows 1:24:53 Steel-man my argument 1:36:41 Investor protection

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 use Timestamps: 00:00 Start 03:09 Infinite tokens - Haseeb 06:10 Infinite tokens - Gwart 09:55 Infinite tokens - discussion 11:47 How to value a token 21:32 Proof of stake 30:02 Staking pro & con 33:38 ETH value 35:18 ETH is money (or not) 39:20 Value of new L1s 44:44 ROI for tokens 46:33 REV 50:46 Payments.. meh

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=en Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: - 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 finance Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:33 Who is Jarray? 01:09 TradFi experience 01:50 What was Jarry trading? 03:23 Phoenix order book 06:45 Aggregators 10:31 Open validator set blockchain 13:15 Market making on SOL 17:05 Atlas 20:57 Limitations of SOL 25:02 Rejecting SOL base assumptions 28:09 What does Atlas unlock? 34:46 Purpose built? 36:31 Opinion sequencing 37:53 Multiple use cases 42:37 Stock market on-chain 46:53 Why L2 sequencer design? 54:11 Memecoins here to stay 1:04:39 Why did it take so long?

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.com Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:50 Who is Rajiv? 01:35 Venture capital vibes 04:26 What are builders focused on? 05:54 AI + Crypto = ? 07:51 What's Rajiv's specialty 09:54 Are L1 investments cooked? 13:49 Application development 16:16 Infra vs Apps definitions 19:19 Pump Swap 20:41 Are memecoins done? 22:42 Hyperliquid 27:48 Hyperliquid & VC funding 32:37 Direct investment 36:35 Investment time horizons 40:11 Tokens don't make assets NOT securities 43:46 Long TSLA at 75x leverage LFG 47:21 Where's the trade in stablecoins 49:35 VC gonna get REKT? 57:21 Bleeding value from tokens 1:01:20 Golden age of pump & dump 1:05:48 I WANT TO BELIVE

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-bills Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:19 Guy's background 03:11 What's Ethena? 04:52 What hasn't this been tried before? 06:50 Rival stablecoins 10:57 Where are the risks? 15:13 Hyperliquid cancels order 18:04 How to compete with other stablecoins 21:01 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 asset 30:54 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 stablecoins 43:58 RWAs 48:15 Regulatory capture 49:57 Why equities on-chain? 54:16 On-chain price discovery 56:47 Airdrops 58:52 AMMs 1:01:57 Perpetual Futures funding rates 1:06:54 Trading edge 1:07:39 Citadel 1:10:09 Payment for order flow

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: @resistancemoney TOPICS -Bitcoin as Resistance Money -Philosophy in Cryptocurrency -Stablecoins vs Bitcoin -Ethical Money Creation -Future of Financial Freedom CHAPTERS 00:00 Start 01:07 Andrew bio 01:55 Why philosophy & Bitcoin? 04:26 Bitcoin background 06:31 What is resistance money? 07:14 Why is this book important? 10:24 Examples of BTC as resistance money 13:14 Tron is the People's Blockchain 18:12 ETH as alternative 20:48 Long EVM, Short ETH 32:40 What new-coiners care about 35:27 The philosophy of ETH 36:07 Vitalik's writing 41:50 Legitimate use cases 46:13 What is "utility"? 51:21 Lightning & MoE 54:16 What crypto tech should come to BTC? 1:03:05 Worldcoin 1:09:17 Effective altruism 1:14:16 Ends justify means? 1:17:28 When David Hoffman cries

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.com Notes: - 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 bond Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:21 Intro 01:04 Spiderchain 02:20 Proof of stake on layer 2 06:14 Risk vs reward 08:02 Spiderchain vs rollup 14:55 BitVM 16:42 ZK tech 20:34 Data availability w/ Spierchains 21:25 Data on Bitcoin chain 22:13 Alt DA 24:23 Updates on Botanix 26:47 Wen token? 28:00 Primary users? 30:27 Block interval 30:50 Decentralization design limits 32:55 Fees 33:43 Porting ETH apps to Botanix 34:52 Bitcoin staking 36:34 EVM wallet compatibility 37:28 Place in L2 ecosystem 39:35 Functional BitVM rollup? 40:32 Changes to BTC 41:16 L2 protocol consensus? 42:17 Social consensus in BTC 45:49 Ordinals & Runes

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: @gladstein Notes: - 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 permissionless Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:30 Alex intro 11:48 HRF Bitcoin focus 17:08 Current projects 21:55 Cross border vs circular economies 27:30 Stablecoins 38:17 Bitcoin privacy 45:59 Covenants 51:17 Education is lagging 55:24 Does "crypto" have value? 1:02:31 NOSTR

Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Welcome 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

Welcome back to The Great Show! Today, Felipe Montealegre from Theia Research joins to discuss 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. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Topic: 3. PE vs Crypto Valuations 4. Finding Crypto Fundamentals 5. Investing in Token Cash Flow 6. Crypto Moats & Real Value

Welcome to The Gwart Show! Today, Jacob Phillips, founder of Lombard Finance, joins us to talk Bitcoin staking. From Babylon protocol's approach to Bitcoin security to Lombard's role in creating liquid staking derivatives, we chat about Bitcoin as a productive asset. Plus thoughts on technical infrastructure, market dynamics, and Bitcoin staking in DeFi. TOPICS • Bitcoin Staking Mechanisms • Babylon Protocol Overview • Liquid Staking Derivatives • DeFi Integration • Security Models • Cross-chain Bitcoin Solutions

Welcome back to The Gwart Show! Peter van Valkenburgh breaks down Coin Center's legal battle against the DOJ's crackdown on privacy tools like Tornado Cash. From First Amendment rights to money transmission laws, we explore how these cases could alter development. Peter explains why software isn't money transmission and how these prosecutions threaten innovation in America.

In this deep dive episode, Kevin Mills from Triton Liquid Fund joins us to examine the fundamental value of Ethereum through multiple analytical frameworks. Building on John Pfeifer's influential 2017 paper, Kevin explores cash flow models, equation of exchange, and the internet bond theory to assess ETH's true value. The conversation challenges popular narratives around monetary premium and questions traditional valuation approaches in crypto markets. Essential listening for anyone interested in crypto asset valuation fundamentals. Read the paper: https://whatisethereumworth.com/