Validated

RWAs (Real World Assets) are assets that exist in the real world that are tokenized on chain. The RWA market comprises things like equity, fine art, loans, and more, all of which globally account for trillions of dollars in value. In this episode, Trevor Bacon discusses Parcl's unique approach to real estate as an RWA. He's bullish on opportunities such as higher liquidity and lower barriers to entry for retail investors. Although RWAs are a promising new frontier for crypto, we also discuss some of the concerns they raise, such as centralization and information asymmetries between on chain and off chain data. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

If web3 had an intuitive Venmo-like app for sending and receiving crypto, could that expedite mass adoption? Aleksei Zakharov (Ottr) seems to think so. Aleksei describes how blockchain-based products such as Ottr can give users the experience of a modern bank, all without the bank. Banking 3.0, as he calls it, eliminates the possibility of bank failures, all while making USD more accessible to emerging markets and reducing friction in international transactions. According to Aleksei, solutions like these will incentivize both consumers and merchants alike to adopt banking 3.0 platforms in the near future. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

If blockchain is going to scale to billions of users with use cases like payroll and and savings, privacy is a prerequisite for adoption. But if privacy preserving technology is vulnerable to the law - think OFAC's sanction of Tornado Cash - how will adoption at that scale ever be possible? In this episode, Yannik Schrade (Elusiv) describes the possibility of a gray area between public and private transactions on blockchain. Through community consensus, Elusiv is making it possible to flag illicit actors and grant temporary decryption authority to third parties, all without compromising the privacy of its honest actors. Yannik describes the mechanics of how such a system works and wrestles with the role of human judgement in trustless systems. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

When Congress passed Section 230 in 1996, it created the legal preconditions for the growth of the modern internet. Today, web3 faces legislative uncertainty in the US, harkening back to the state of the internet before Section 230. In this episode, Chris Grieco (Rain, ex-DOJ) and Lauren Culbertson Grieco (ex-Twitter) offer a historical primer on Section 230 and consider the law in the context of web3. Could Section 230 apply to blockchain? If not, what would the web3 version of Section 230 look like? Without a comprehensive law akin to Section 230 for web3, what will the future of blockchain be in the US? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

Traditionally, maps have been built by centralized entities like governments and tech companies. But in this episode, Ariel Seidman discusses the potential of Hivemapper, a decentralized mapping protocol, to completely disrupt the space. When it comes to building a global map, Hivemapper claims that decentralized, community-owned infrastructure can produce a higher quality of service with more granular data than a centralized network. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

In this episode, Austin talks with Kevin Bowers, Chief Science Officer at Jump Trading. Kevin and his team are the brains behind Firedancer, Solana's second independent validator client. As Kevin describes the process of building Firedancer, it's clear that this episode is not only about building a validator client; it's about Kevins unique perspective on the 1% of computer science focused on making things as fast and efficient as possible. Throughout his interdisciplinary career, Kevin has again and again proven to be an iconoclastic thinker, unabashedly dissatisfied with the status quo. He expresses his unconventional views on programming languages, scaling solutions, data flow optimization, and more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

In this episode, David Hoffman (Bankless) and Austin have an honest and multi-faceted conversation about the differences between Solana and Ethereum’s decisions, community, and future. David makes the case for an Ethereum-dominant future, and in doing so, illuminates much about Ethereum's philosophy of design and the culture of its most fervent believers. Naturally, Austin makes a similar case on behalf of Solana. This is a conversation between two people who have mutual respect for each other, but fundamentally different opinions about how a blockchain should be built. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

DeFi is defined as, “smart contracts that can execute trustless financial transactions," but beyond that, understanding what’s actually going on under the hood of DeFi protocols and how to use them is still a very narrow area of expertise. Wrapped assets, bridges, automated market makers––these are new tools foreign to the world of traditional finance. In this episode, Cindy Leow offers a primer on how both the technical and practical features of DeFi work. She also shares thoughts on the direction of DeFi in the next twelve months and what we have to look forward to. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

One of the things holding back crypto from mass adoption is bad UX. According to Ori Kwan (Orca), crypto's history of bad UX isn’t just because of blockchain’s software constraints. It’s also because of the underrepresentation of designers’ voices. In this episode, Ori helps us understand how she thinks about building web3 products that are desirable, feasible, and viable, all from a designer's point of view. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

In this live taping of Validated from NFT.NYC, Austin has an informal chat with his Solana Foundation colleagues Amira Valliani and Pedro Miranda. They discuss how web3 x web2 partnerships are evolving, the pros and cons of Central Bank Digital Currencies, and the disconnect between crypto Twitter and conversations among crypto regulators. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

In this episode, Austin, Amira (Head of Policy at the Solana Foundation), and two ex-OFAC lawyers discuss regulation in web3 as it pertains to national security. Naturally, they discuss OFAC's sanction of Tornado Cash and consider other ways in which the government could have handled the situation. While the Tornado Cash sanction may be old news at this point, thoughtful conversations about the intersection of blockchain, national security, and technology ethics are always relevant. The recent Warren-Marshall Bill threatens to hold blockchain validators responsible for illicit activity on chain, which, like the Tornado Cash sanctions before it, will have overreaching consequences for the blockchain industry if it passes. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

Will mobile-first applications be a driving force of mass adoption during the next crypto bull run? With over 5 billion smart phone users around the globe, Chris Osborn, founder and CEO of Dialect, thinks that's a solid bet. In this episode, Chris discusses some of the innovative features that will set web3 messaging platforms like Dialect apart from their Web 2 counterparts. He also shares thoughts on why crypto has taken so long to embrace a mobile-first mindset, the difficulties of dealing with traditional app distributors, and the role of crypto phones like Saga will play in the ecosystem. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

Self-sovereignty is one of the foundational promises of crypto, but without self-custody, that promise simply falls flat. In this episode, Charles Guillimet (CTO of Ledger) discusses topics like the importance of self-custody and the role of security, in addition to the the evolution of Ledger's product offerings as the crypto industry has changed over the last decade. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

When Meta Angels launched in 2021, it branded itself as an NFT community using web3 to "harness real world opportunities." In late 2022, Meta Angels was acquired by Hug, an NFT curation platform, and their respective communities merged. In this episode, Meta Angels co-founder Alex Cavoulacos discusses how a values-driven NFT project can be sustainable and what it's like for an NFT community to undergo a merger. As the current Head of Product at Hug, Alex also shares insights on scaling a web3 organization that is part platform, part product, and part community. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

During the last bull run, legacy fashion brands raced to incorporate web3 into their strategy. Now, with consumer demand for web3 in hibernation, where does that leave marketers in the traditional fashion space who are still bullish on web3? In this episode, Lisa Pillette (CMO of Fossil Group) discusses Fossil's venture into NFTs and how the company's attitude toward web3 has changed in the last year. Lisa remains bullish on the implementation of web3 strategies for both Fossil and other legacy brands in the long term, but only if those strategies are implemented for the right reasons. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

To skeptics, blockchain-based AI may sound like a solution in search of a problem. But to Humayun Sheikh, founder and CEO of Fetch, decentralized AI has the power to revolutionize how we transact on the Internet by creating truly peer-to-peer information systems. That sounds straightforward enough, but consumer-facing AI still in its infancy, and the industry faces many hard questions in the years to come. Humayun navigates these questions with nuance and diligence as he shares his compelling thesis on the future of decentralized AI. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

Crypto venture investing has plummeted from all time highs, but maybe perceiving this as a "crypto" problem is the wrong way of looking at it. Through the lens of seasoned investors, Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal (Acquired) help us make sense of the present moment of crypto venture and the future conditions under which investing in crypto will become attractive again. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

Running a blockchain network requires sophisticated hardware and software working together. The term "blockchain infrastructure" refers to any component of this system that actually facilitates the existence of a blockchain. In this episode, we talk with Aaron Henshaw, co-founder of Bison Trails, a pioneering blockchain infrastructure platform that was later acquired by Coinbase. Aaron shares his perspective on building infrastructure for different blockchains, running blockchain infrastructure at enterprise scale, how infrastructure companies will have to adapt if legacy tech giants become competitive within the space, and more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

In 2019, Li Jin was a tech VC and evangelist for specialized Web 2 platforms and marketplaces. Now, she's all in on web3. From Li's point of view, many of the "passion economy" businesses that were hard to scale in Web 2 are actually more viable in web3. Her current thesis is that ownership - not just revenue - is the next big opportunity in tech, and the best way to facilitate that is on web3. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com

Zero-knowledge proofs are one of the most compelling and counterintuitive technologies in crypto today. How can you prove something with zero knowledge of the thing you're proving? This episode examines the current and future use cases of zero-knowledge systems while having an honest dialogue about both their challenges and promise. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rsswcq21u3livfeedssimplecastcom.substack.com