Episodes

  • The Road to Private Smart Contracts: Aztec's Multi-Year Journey with Zac Williamson

    The Road to Private Smart Contracts: Aztec's Multi-Year Journey with Zac Williamson
    Jan 30 2025
    In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Zac Williamson, CEO and co-founder of Aztec, a startup operating in the blockchain technology space focusing on privacy. Together, they dive into the evolution of ZK technology, the importance of privacy in blockchain, and the exciting developments leading up to Aztec's Mainnet launch in 2025.
    Show more Show less
    49 mins
  • Building Bitcoin's Third Native Use Case with Babylon Labs Co-Founder Fisher Yu

    Building Bitcoin's Third Native Use Case with Babylon Labs Co-Founder Fisher Yu
    Jan 16 2025
    In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Mingchao (Fisher) Yu, co-founder and CTO of Babylon Labs, a non-custodial staking protocol that uses the underlying value of Bitcoin to secure a variety of proof-of-stake networks. Together, they dive into Bitcoin's previous limitations in providing liquidity to Defi protocols, how Babylon aims to turn Bitcoin into a first-class staking asset, Babylon's approach to bridging into other ecosystems, the team's multi-phased approach to launching its protocol, and so much more.
    Show more Show less
    54 mins
  • Building Bitcoin's Next Layer: BOB's Cross-Chain Solution with Alexei Zamyatin

    Building Bitcoin's Next Layer: BOB's Cross-Chain Solution with Alexei Zamyatin
    Jan 2 2025
    In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Alexei Zamyatin, co-founder of BOB, a Layer 2 blockchain aiming to combine the security of Bitcoin with the versatility of Ethereum. Together, they discuss how BitVM empowers building in the Bitcoin ecosystem, how Bitcoin and Ethereum mutually benefit one another, Bitcoin's developer renaissance, bridging solutions and their trust assumptions, forthcoming Bitcoin-enabled applications, and so much more.
    Show more Show less
    58 mins
  • Bridging Bitcoin to DeFi: Lombard's Vision for Liquid Staking with Jacob Phillips

    Bridging Bitcoin to DeFi: Lombard's Vision for Liquid Staking with Jacob Phillips
    Dec 19 2024
    In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Lombard co-founder Jacob Phillips. Together, they discuss how Bitcoin's market capitalization is an ideal solution for DeFi's need for liquidity, the differences in the mentality of deploying Bitcoin as an asset into DeFi versus deploying other assets like Ether, building on the Babylon staking protocol, upcoming Lombard releases, and much more.
    Show more Show less
    57 mins
  • Social Intelligence in Crypto: LunarCrush's Vision for Market Analytics with Jon Farjo & Joe Vezzani

    Social Intelligence in Crypto: LunarCrush's Vision for Market Analytics with Jon Farjo & Joe Vezzani
    Dec 5 2024
    In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by LunarCrush co-founders Joe Vezzani and Jon Farjo. Together, they discuss how social media metrics can help determine the appetite for specific digital assets, the metrics and categories that LunarCrush follows, how AI has improved the team's ability and processes, the forthcoming rise of AI agents, and so much more.
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Building DeFi Infrastructure: From Zero to MEV Resistance with ParaSwap Founder Mounir Benchemled

    Building DeFi Infrastructure: From Zero to MEV Resistance with ParaSwap Founder Mounir Benchemled
    Nov 21 2024
    In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Mounir Benchemled, founder and CEO of ParaSwap, a platform in the decentralized finance landscape. Together, they explore what ParaSwap is bringing to the DeFi space, delve into the technical challenges of building on blockchain, and discuss the future of decentralized exchanges. Mounir also shares his vision for driving mass crypto adoption through scalable infrastructure and user-centric experiences.
    Show more Show less
    56 mins
  • Building a Better Internet: Privacy as Web3's Missing Link with Anthony Day

    Building a Better Internet: Privacy as Web3's Missing Link with Anthony Day
    Nov 7 2024
    In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Anthony Day, head of strategy and marketing at Midnight, a Layer 1 protocol developed by Input Output (IOHK). Together, they discuss the importance of data protection and privacy, why Web3 needs to be professionalized for mass adoption, the value of blockchain for enterprise and large-scale entities, and how Midnight is building itself to be a fourth-generation blockchain network.
    Show more Show less
    58 mins
  • Covalent's Vision for the Future of Data and AI with Ganesh Swami

    Covalent's Vision for the Future of Data and AI with Ganesh Swami
    Oct 24 2024
    In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Ganesh Swami, CEO and co-founder of Covalent to discuss blockchain data infrastructure, AI integration, and the evolution of Ethereum. They explore how Covalent is helping bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3, the importance of decentralized infrastructure for AI, and the development of tools like the Ethereum Wayback Machine.
    Show more Show less
    57 mins