Episodes

  • Alex Thorn (Galaxy Digital) on L1s, L2s, and Institutional Crypto

    Alex Thorn (Galaxy Digital) on L1s, L2s, and Institutional Crypto
    Aug 26 2023
    Alex Thorn, Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy Digital, shares his L1 thesis and how he thinks ETH + L2s will outcompete most alt L1 platforms over time. He also comments on potential tailwinds for both mainstream and institutional adoption of crypto and shares his views on certain areas of crypto that might be overhyped. This is an entertaining conversation with a Bitcoin OG who’s been through multiple boom/bust cycles in crypto with the scar tissue to prove it. (0:54) - Ready Layer One thesis (4:02) - Will Eth win new web3 categories (17:23) - How does adoption happen (24:05) - Regulation as crypto’s final boss (26:31) - Technological change on BTC (32:30) - Could BTC lose its no. 1 spot (41:08) - Crypto drivers for next bull market (45:56) - Sol Vs Eth L2 narratives (48:05) - Base as dominant L2 (53:53) - How to avoid cynicism (58:46) - What will be top of funnel for new entrants -    - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 -    - Episode Resources Follow Alex Thorn: https://twitter.com/IntangibleCoins Follow Galaxy: https://twitter.com/GalaxyHQ Follow Galaxy Research: https://twitter.com/GlxyResearch Galaxy Website: https://Galaxy.com
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Solana Legend on Next Generation Blockchains

    Solana Legend on Next Generation Blockchains
    Aug 18 2023
    Solana Legend (@solanalegend), managing partner of Frictionless and co-founder of monkeDAO. Spends most of his waking hours thinking about next generation blockchains. As one of Solana’s earliest and loudest supporters, Legend has a unique vantage point into how Solana and other high throughput blockchains are well-positioned to onboard the masses into crypto. This convo, is a fun mix about Solana’s early history, initial ties to FTX, its meteoric rise during the bull run of 2021, and some of Legend’s contrarian takes. (0:30) - How new L1s compete with incumbents (9:10) - What will bring new users onto L1s (15:14) - The aha moment of DePIN  (19:00) - Value prop of web3 gaming (24:05) - Integration of web2 social with web3 rails (32:40) - Signal vs noise of current on-chain meta (36:31) - View on recent DeGods saga (41:55) - Ethereum’s endgame (45:18) - Most under-appreciated narratives -    - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 -    - Episode Resources Follow Solana Legend: https://twitter.com/SolanaLegend Follow Frictionless Capital: https://twitter.com/_Frictionless_ Frictionless Website: https://frictionless.fund
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    47 mins
  • How Dynamic NFTs Will Replace Coffee Shop Punchcards (Underdog Protocol)

    How Dynamic NFTs Will Replace Coffee Shop Punchcards (Underdog Protocol)
    Aug 11 2023
    Kevin and Nick from Underdog Protocol, grand-prize winners of Solana Grizzlython 2023, are on a mission to help business integrate dynamic NFTs into their products. Their vision for the future includes blockchains as a shared data layer for both consumers and businesses. While early experiments in bringing web3 to industry incumbents like Starbucks have shown limited success, Underdog’s unique approach combines the scalability of Solana with the developer-friendliness of integrating any standard API like Stripe. In a roundtable format, Sal, Dave, Kevin, and Nick talk at-length about this emerging use-case of NFTs with an intense focus on the long-term utility of NFTs and how they tangibly add value to current user journeys. (1:12) - What is Underdog (7:50) - Why brands will share data on-chain (14:46) - The real value prop of web3 (21:44) - Issues of curation for decentralised social graphs (24:40) - Completely new marketing models (29:39) - How to build moats in an open data world (38:43) - On-chain cookies  (40:25) - Which blockchains will win (44:59) - How Underdog is architected (49:40) - Future use cases of NFTs -    - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 -    - Episode Resources Follow Tony : https://twitter.com/TonyPlasencia3 Follow Kevin : https://twitter.com/Kevarifin Follow Underdog Protocol : https://twitter.com/BackAnUnderdog Underdog Protocol Website : https://UnderdogProtocol.com
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    53 mins
  • Kyle Samani on Crypto’s Role in AI, Consumer Tech, & other Contrarian Views

    Kyle Samani on Crypto’s Role in AI, Consumer Tech, & other Contrarian Views
    Aug 4 2023
    Kyle Samani (Multicoin) joins Unlayered to share his views on a litany of topics. Mainly, what role does crypto have to play in emerging technological primitives like artificial intelligence and spatial computing. The trio also discuss why so much attention has been focused on infra vs consumer apps and the historical debate on modular vs integrated software architecture. This episode is a great way to gain a 10,000ft view of the space from the perspective of one crypto’s best, and often contrarian, thought leaders. (1:03) - State of the market (8:29) - Crypto social apps vs web2 (13:46) - Verticalisation of NFT marketplaces (18:47) - Will AI agents use crypto? (28:56) - Are AI bots a net good? (34:02) - Eth’s social scalability problems (39:15 - The merits of different blockchain designs (47:39) - Contrarian areas of interest in crypto (55:00) - Spatial computing -    - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 -    - Episode Resources Follow Kyle: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani Follow Multicoin: https://twitter.com/multicoincap  Relevant Multicoin Blogposts: Verticalization of NFT marketplaces - https://multicoin.capital/2022/06/22/beyond-verticalization-of-nft-marketplaces AI and Crypto - https://multicoin.capital/2023/06/02/the-convergence-of-crypto-and-ai-four-key-intersections Social Scalability - https://multicoin.capital/2021/05/25/technical-scalability-creates-social-scalability Rendering the Metaverse - https://multicoin.capital/2021/12/21/rendering-the-metaverse -    - Disclosures Although our guest this week is the managing partner of a registered investment adviser, nothing in this podcast should be considered an offer of Multicoin’s investment advisory services or should otherwise be confused for investment, tax, legal or other financial advice.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Reframing the Solana Narrative with Kel (Messari)

    Reframing the Solana Narrative with Kel (Messari)
    Jul 28 2023
    Kel (@kelxyz_) is a researcher at Messari who recently dropped an amazing 30-page report (and awesome summary thread) on Solana. Sal and Dave chat with Kel about what he sees in Solana that others may have overlooked. Specifically, the trio cover the shifting narrative that has more people believing in the Solana ecosystem than ever before. Topics covered throughout the interview include Solana’s state compression, how to quantitatively judge SOL vs ETH performance, the class of users that crypto ultimately needs to support, and what consumer crypto applications should focus on (among other topics). (0:14) - Experiencing IRL Solana events (6:25) - Quantitative comparison of Sol Vs Eth  (16:13) - Recency bias (21:11) - NFT compression unlocks (27:34) - Blockchain ecosystem taxonomy  (30:15) - Valuing an L1  (35:36) - Which apps will lead the next bull market (45:16) - Imagining web 3 social protocols (55:37) - Looking ahead -    - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 -    - Episode Resources Follow Kel: https://twitter.com/kelxyz_ Kel’s Solana Report: https://twitter.com/kelxyz_/status/1673725589876797441?s=20 Follow Messari: https://twitter.com/MessariCrypto
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    58 mins
  • Embracing Memes, Speculation, NFTs (and more) with @fxnction

    Embracing Memes, Speculation, NFTs (and more) with @fxnction
    Jul 20 2023
    Sal and Dave chat with Michael (@fxnction) about his journey towards growing a sizable Twitter following on two separate accounts across two separate crypto cycles. Michael has a knack for knowing what will go viral on Twitter and isn’t afraid to be first. The trio chat about the future of social media, why NFTs matter, lessons from getting hacked, how to diligence projects, and a litany of other topics. Michael keeps a close pulse on everything happening in the depths of crypto Twitter and generously shares a treasure trove of wisdom throughout this conversation. (1:07) - How crypto can transform the music industry (8:45) - Crypto and AI (12:06) - Social trends and speculation (18:57) - Taking personal responsibility around security (31:07) - Failings of the fiat system (37:22) - The utility of NFTs (51:02) - Crypto clout  (55:32) - Due diligence on new projects (59:31) - Focusing on our spiritual side -    - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 -    - Episode Resources Follow Fxnction : https://twitter.com/fxnction Roast Him Jim : https://twitter.com/RoastHimJim
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • What’s the point of a non-EVM chain? A Technical deep-dive with Zenllama

    What’s the point of a non-EVM chain? A Technical deep-dive with Zenllama
    Jul 14 2023
    Kevin (@zen_llama) is a former Apple (AirPods) and Solana Labs (Core) engineer. Kevin joins Sal & Dave in bringing his unique insight as a protocol engineer with experience across multiple blockchain ecosystems (ETH, Solana, Monad, and others) to provide a concrete explanation into why these different approaches exist and how they differ. Some interesting topics we discuss include: the key components of a blockchain, why multithreading matters for scalability in blockchains, Ethereum vs EVM Chain vs non-EVM Chain (like Solana), the advantages of scaling the EVM, how L2s differ from monolithic EVM chains (like Monad), and how Ethereum could one day be a multithreaded execution environment. While this is a longer and more technical episode than usual, there are tons of nuggets throughout our interview from the perspective of an engineer who’s been “chewing glass” for years.  (1:16) - The issues with the scalability trilemma (6:53) - Blockchains from first principles (15:17) - The value add of blockchains (22:03) - The flywheel effect (26:40) - Design choices for blockchains (29:57) - Storing blockchain history (42:06) - Bandwidth as a bottleneck (45:52) - Consensus and time to finality (1:02:04) - Separation of state and data (1:11:02) - Solana’s Runtime V2 (1:16:03) - Where Monad sits on the spectrum (1:21:00) - Modular Vs Monolithic (1:30:56) - Competition of a modular stack (1:35:57) - Which chain will win (1:42:53) - Why Solana posts votes on-chain -    - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 -    - Episode Resources Follow Kevin : https://twitter.com/Zen_Llama Vitalik’s Endgame Blogpost : https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/12/06/endgame.html
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    1 hr and 48 mins
  • The Crypto and AI Renaissance

    The Crypto and AI Renaissance
    Jun 29 2023
    Sal and Dave are joined by Josh Rosenthal, a former historian and AI founder turned crypto investor. Josh presents an illuminating history lesson, detailing the catalysts and chaos as the Middle Ages transitioned into the Renaissance period - and highlighting the many parallels that crypto and AI are facing today with their own push for decentralisation and freedom of choice. Josh also delves into crypto’s ability to turn cost centres into revenue generators, and explores how that can help to unlock moats and disproportionately reward those within the long tail of society’s distribution curve. Check out the full episode for Josh’s uniquely historical perspective on the future of crypto and AI. (1:12) - Josh’s path to crypto (7:33) - Transition from Middle Ages to the Renaissance (14:57) - Crypto as the next Renaissance (17:28) - Pendulum shifts around centralisation (24:24) - The American ‘Renaissance’ (33:25) - The urge to ban what’s new (38:35) - Crypto turning the world into entrepreneurs (41:21) - Crypto as a Business Model (46:04) - Why have decentralised start ups struggled to take off (58:13) - Crypto as an economic substrate for AI (1:00:40) - Turning cost centres into revenue generators (1:04:49) - Synthetic vs physical realms (1:10:49) - Finding your tribe (1:15:39) - Identity in a Web 3 world (1:20:23) - Volatility as a feature (1:23:08) - Using history to contextualise the moment -    - Podcast Resources Follow Sal: https://twitter.com/sal_coin Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/SolBeachBum Follow Unlayered: https://twitter.com/UnlayeredPod Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/3VyBSWI Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42q03J2 Subscribe on Google: https://tinyurl.com/5dwn2476 -    - Episode Resources Follow Josh: https://twitter.com/JoshuaRosenthal Sixth Event: https://Go6ixthEvent.com Narwhal Ventures: https://GoNarwhalVentures.com
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    1 hr and 28 mins