Base Layer

Sergey, the co-founder of Chainlink joins us on Base Layer for an amazing episode from a project that has garnered a lot of attention this year after Google announced a partnership with them. Sergey has many years of experience in blockchains and we spend a lot of time discussing Oracles and the "Oracle problem" as it relates to the efficiency and execution of smart contracts. We talk about some integrations they made this past year and what the future holds for Chainlink in public and enterprise level blockchain development. Amazing episode -- one not to miss! 

Mariano joins us on Base Layer to give a fantastic overview of MakerDao and it’s stablecoin Dai. We discuss the evolution of stablecoins and their purpose in the digital asset ecosystem. Additionally, as Mariano lives in Argentina we discuss how digital assets are becoming in more focus with inflationary issues. 

Bill joins us on Base Layer during my recent visit to Dallas for the Digital Asset Strategy Summit (DASS) to discuss his time in traditional finance over the last few decades and his most recent focus on Bitcoin and the revolution associated with distributed and decentralized systems. We discuss the what led up to the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and how that effected his opinion in finding an asset that was deflationary and censorship resistant. This is a great chat from an investor to understand how he views this new emerging asset class and technological revolution. 

Claire from Celo joins us on Base Layer to give a great overview of Celo: driven by purpose -- to solve real-world problems such as lack of access to sound currency, or friction for cash-transfer programs aimed to alleviate poverty. Their mission is to build a monetary system that creates the conditions for prosperity for all. We talk about what that means, how they are doing it and much more. 

Tuur and Dhruv join Base Layer live from the Digital Asset Strategy Summit (DASS) that was recently hosted in Dallas, bringing together Institutional Investors, Family Offices and many great investors and founders in digital assets together to share what they are learning about Bitcoin and other digital assets. Tuur and Dhruv gave a great presentation on Bitcoin and its potential for societal change so we extended that chat about adoption, BIP's and all the things happening in the Bitcoin camp. Enjoy!! 

Zac joins us on Base Layer today to bring us up to speed on BlockFi, a project I've mentioned many times on the show when I discuss the emergence of Open Finance or #defi. Many participants in digital assets have been shut out of traditional finance (loans, business banking, etc) while they maintain assets like Bitcoin & Ethereum. One of BlockFi's mantra's is "don't sell your crypto if you don't have to" - they have created mechanisms to give participants access to loans by acknowledging that these are assets and have value. We talk about the modeling (LTV, yields, etc) and just how they do that and the success they've had, while also discussing the future...hint, credit card?? One not to miss! 

Tom, the CEO of ErisX, joins us on Base Layer to discuss key milestones at ErisX and what role & function it plays in digital assets. This is one not to miss; ErisX has operated a designated contract market for seven years and have used that expertise and applied it to digital assets. We discuss working with the CTFC, how and why it takes some time to get things approved and then all the way to discussions on the processes of listing a new coin or contract to stablecoins and much more. Again, do not miss this one...great conversation with Tom and you'll learn a lot about ErisX and the derivative market in digital assets. 

Stephane joins us in another live recording from Voices of Blockchain hosted in Chicago a few weeks back to talk to us about Numerai; a project in existence for a few years working to essentially re-invent the hedge fund. We talk about the tournaments they are hosting with some of the brightest mathematicians and minds of the world, working to create data that can be used to hopefully make exceptional investment decisions. This was a fascinating conversation about governance & how how blockchains can continue to further the evolution of finance. 

Come join us for a live recording from Voice of Blockchain this past week in Chicago when I to sit with Sunayna from TD Ameritrade. The "Institutions are Coming"!! Remember that? Yes, Sunayna and her team are reviewing ways to provide access to digital assets and leveraging blockchains for their millions of clients - and they've already made progress with work with ErisX. Sunayna and I discuss how large institutions like there's are reviewing the technology and why it's so important to provide the best education possible. One not to miss! 

Gavin joins us on Base Layer today to talk family offices and crypto! Gavin and YGC spun out of Yeoman's Capital - a 100% crypto focused family office down in Texas -- that's right folks...they do exist! We talk about their focus on hybrid blockchains - finding opportunities to address enterprise blockchain use and much more. We also talk about deal origination, valuation and how to navigate this world as a family office investor. 

Jordan joins us today on Base Layer for a heavy Bitcoin talk! We discuss everything from the new BIP's such as Schnorr signatures, MAST, Taproot and more to the new Institutional infrastructure being provided by Bakkt which went live this week...how futures help with price discovery and much more. 

Jutta joins us on Base Layer to break down all that is happening at Parity and especially Polkadot; it's an amazing episode! Jutta is the co-founder and CEO of Parity Technologies. Parity Technologies has developed the most advanced Ethereum client and has recently started a new blockchain network protocol called Polkadot—a pioneering work to address governance, interoperability, and scalability of blockchain technology and a fundamental building block of the future decentral Web 3. She previously served as Chief of Security for the Ethereum Foundation, overseeing security audit and integration prior to the launch of the public blockchain in 2015. Heavy discussion on interoperability and it's importance as well as Substrate - a way to speed up develop in blockchain applications. 

Itamar joins us on Base Layer and it's a very exciting discussion with a founder of a project a lot of people are talking about. Argent has arguably built one of the simplest crypto wallets out there and has really taken the notion of creating simple user experiences to heart. With concepts like Guardians and the ability to freeze funds, you will learn how they are doing this and why there is such a buzz. 

Seth joins us on Base Layer to tell us what Market Protocol is and why people are getting excited about it. MARKET Protocol, using Ethereum, allows users to trade the price of anything while leveraging the benefits of the blockchain. Market Protocol enables people to trade stocks, cryptocurrencies, and traditional assets -- we discuss position tokens, reference assets and much more as it relates to the who, what and how. With Seth's background in traditional finance, starting as a derivatives trader in 2005, we discuss the emergence of #defi and also get into a discussion about systemic risk. 

Ed joins us on Base Layer and it's a great episode -- not often have we had the chance to talk with people who have advised the President of the United States and our government on technology like Ed has in his not to recent past! Ed and I discuss Artbitrum - a L2 solution to make Ethereum scale which also has features to add privacy and a layer of "guaranty" that smart contracts will be abided by. Really enjoyed this episode and so will you! 

Jeanine and Brian from Gemini Trust Co join us on Base Layer to discuss some of the recent work Gemini is doing to offer Institutional Investors more professional services to buy & sell digital assets in the most secure and compliant way possible. This episode Jeanine and Brian have some breaking news to discuss on an important new offering they will be providing to clients. A must listen! 

Dean joins us on Base Layer for an in-depth discussion on Agoric and it's not to be missed. Dean designed the negotiation process and contract for the first smart contracting system, AMiX which dates back to the 1980's. As a Principal Architect at Microsoft, he designed the Midori distributed object-capability operating system. While most smart contract platforms currently use an identity-based security architecture where access is granted based on the sender of a transaction, it has been shown that identity-based security architectures have issues. In contrast, Agoric uses an object capacity security architecture, in which access to a programming object itself is the authority to use the object. We discuss all these differences and why companies like Google and Salesforce are currently using these designs as well.

Roneil from Audius joins us on Base Layer for episode 60 and it's really a fun one! Aside from an exceptional career that has had stops at places like Kleiner and being early to the blockchain party, Roneil and team are focusing on a use case of blockchains - getting people who create content paid and removing a lot of excesses paid to the "middleman". We discuss how Audius is doing that for content creators and the technology stack involved in decentralizing what has been a legacy centralized system. 

Akin from Decred joins us on Base Layer for a great overview of the project. Decred forked from the Bitcoin codebase when a proposal for new suite of features to be added to Bitcoin from Company 0 was rejected by the Bitcoin core team. Named btcsuite, these features became the core of the Decred project. Decred’s governance and consensus mechanism relies on a PoW/Proof-of-Stake (PoS) hybrid, which the project regards as a sort of “second authentication factor for consensus” by enabling coin holders to curb potential miner centralization, Decred employs a governance body called the Politeia to guide the project’s direction and fund operations from its treasury. We learn all about their special governance mechanisms and why people are talking about Decred.