I Pledge Allegiance

In this episode, we chat with Cem Ozer, founder of Sovereign Labs. We begin with Cem’s personal journey in crypto, and how this experience led him to build Sovereign Labs.

We then discuss how developers evaluate the many permutations of rollups and blockchain frameworks available today, and where Sovereign Labs fits into this landscape. We dive into why Cem believes that the most successful projects will choose app-specific rollups and the challenges that have impeded broader adoption of appchains to date.

We also explore a few themes that are top of mind for many developers including the potential of proof aggregation systems to facilitate interoperability, and the state of the modular versus monolithic debate (please forgive our Start Wars reference).

In this episode, we chat with Jacob Arluck, head of strategy at Celestia Labs, and Andrew Huang, founder of Conduit. We cover a number of topics in the modular blockchain space, starting with the impact of DA solutions on the rollup landscape and the budding partnership between Conduit and Celestia, the leading RaaS and DA solutions in the market respectively.

With the recent implementation of EIP 4844 and a new DA solutions set to launch in the near future, we then put on our prediction hats with a discussion around the future of the DA market. In particular, we share opinions on what will ultimately drive purchasing decisions for developers, the economics of DA solutions, and the most likely end state market structure outcomes.

We also cover the critical role of RaaS providers in facilitating a rollup centric future, how RaaS solutions determine which frameworks to support, and the emerging ecosystem of Base L3’s.

In this episode, we chat with Emily and Alvin Hsia, co-founders of Shadow. We begin with their journey working on DeFi, MEV, an early idea to unify on-chain data, and their journey to building Shadow. They walk us through the challenges with events, their solution for developers, users, and data consumers, and other details on the product such as pricing.

We dig into the impact of shadow forks, ideas for broader adoption, and their goal for standardizing shadow events with ERC 7571. We also get a glimpse of what it’s like building a company as siblings, and where Shadow goes from here.

In this episode, we chat with Ido Ben-Natan and Raz Niv, co-founders of Blockaid, a crypto security firm. They share their journey from the Israeli Defence Force cybersecurity unit to launching Blockaid, discussing their product and the importance of protecting web3 customers.

Later, we dig into Blockaid's approach to a stealth launch, fostering a customer-first culture, and scaling the product in a fast-moving market. We also discuss the landscape of malicious actors in crypto and their never ending game of cat and mouse to chase them away.

In this episode, we chat with Michael Shaulov, co-founder of Fireblocks. Michael revisits with us the early days of building Fireblocks and finding product market fit by solving customer pain points. We chat through both strategic and tactical approaches to building a B2B product in crypto, exploring lessons learned on early customer relationships and market expansion.

We then discuss broader topics like decision-making in a growing business, the role of luck in success, cementing core principles for company culture and acquiring customers as an international founder.

In this episode, we chat with Henri Stern, the co-founder and CEO of Privy. We begin with Henri’s personal journey in Crypto, how it led him to build Privy, and how his vision for Privy has changed over time.

We then get into Privy’s product mindset, how the primitives it enables benefit both users and developers, and where the product goes from here.

We also explore the current wallet landscape and how Privy fits in, what their forward-looking vision for embedded wallets is, the tradeoffs that must be taken into account when building embedded wallets and the ones Privy is optimizing for, as well as how Henri thinks the end state market structure for wallets will shape up.

In this episode, we chat with Neel Somani, the founder of Eclipse. We begin with an overview of Neel's personal journey in Crypto, from exploring Cosmos and appchains, to thinking about Rollups-as-a-service, to now building an L2.

We then dig into Neel's dream customer, Eclipse's go-to-market strategy, and how they are building a differentiated ecosystem. Lastly, we dig into Eclipse's culture, how Neel manages his time, and how he thinks about building a cap table.

In this episode, we chat with Yi Sun, founder of Axiom. We begin with an overview of what Axiom does and the core problems it's solving for Ethereum applications. Then, we dig into Axiom's go-to-market strategy, some of the use cases they're supporting, and some of the capabilities they're building for in the future. We also explore the broader zero-knowledge landscape, and the dynamics of building commercial products in a space that evolves so rapidly.

In this episode, we chat with Andrew Huang, founder of Conduit and Brandon Curtis, a long-time infrastructure builder and investor. We begin with a brief overview of Andrew’s background and what led him to build a Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) business. We then speak to the value proposition of RaaS businesses, compare them to previous iterations of blockchain-as-a-service, and hear why Andrew believes that this is the “cloud moment” for crypto.

We also explore Conduit’s strategic positioning and future roadmap – as well as value accrual across stakeholders in the rollup stack. Stick around until the end to hear Andrew’s thoughts on who his dream customer would be!

In this episode, we chat with Scott Sunarto, the founder of Argus Labs and former co-creator of Dark Forest. We begin with an overview of the current landscape of Crypto Gaming and the crypto gaming primitives Scott is excited about. We also talk about what most crypto gaming investors are getting wrong and the narratives within crypto gaming he disagrees with.

We also discuss Argus Labs and why Argus is a gaming company first, not a picks and shovels infrastructure company. We also discuss Scott's mental model for the rollup stack, where the World Engine fits in, and discuss some unspoken truths about rollups, sequencers, and rollup value capture.

In this episode, we chat with Aidan Salzmann and Vishal Talasani, the co-founders of Stride, the leading liquid staking protocol in Cosmos. Our conversation is a deep dive into Stride's long-term strategy, their execution-focused culture, and the lessons from building appchains. We also explore why Aidan and Vishal chose to build in Cosmos, lessons they've gained from other DeFi protocols, and how Stride thinks about building long-term moats and network effects.

In this episode, we chat with Rune Christensen, the founder of MakerDAO. We dive into his ambitious Endgame plan, the long-term roadmap for MakerDAO, and the motivation behind these decisions. In particular, we talk about his new stablecoin and governance token, new subDAOs, and his role spearheading these initiatives. This episode offers clarity for anyone interested in the future of crypto's leading decentralized stablecoin

In this episode, we chat with Diogo Monica and Nathan McCauley, the co-founders of Anchorage Digital. We discuss numerous topics, starting with their unique partnership and what they learned from working together at Square and Docker. We then dive into the founding story behind Anchorage Digital, the story of the initial seed round, and scaling the company to hundreds of people. Diogo and Nathan also share their thoughts on the value chain of crypto financial services, lessons from working with various protocols, and how they think about the "Build vs. Buy" tradeoff internally. We also discuss how fundraising differs for later stage rounds, what crypto VCs can help founders with, and general lessons from building one of the largest companies in crypto.

In this episodes, we chat with Christopher Goes, the co-founder of Anoma and Namada. Christopher has a wealth of knowledge about privacy in crypto, and has previously contributed to the Zcash and Cosmos ecosystems. We discuss the different "eras" of privacy dating back to 2017, and how Anoma and Namada builds upon the existing state of privacy research. We also discuss what a successful privacy protocol looks like, public goods funding, and the Cosmos ecosystem.

In this episode, Larry and I chat with Matteo Leibowitz, Ventures Lead and former Strategy Lead at Uniswap. We discuss Matteo's research into DeFi at The Block, and how that led to his move to Uniswap to 2020. We also dive into what the day-to-day of a Strategy Lead at a major DeFi protocol looks like, and how Uniswap developed a dominant market position. We also dive into Uniswap's historical positioning and future roadmap. Other topics discussed also include the importance of narratives in Crypto, the MEV value chain, NFT market infrastructure, and more.

In this episode, we chat about the MEV landscape in Osmosis with Dev Ohja, founder of Osmosis, and Barry Plunkett, founder of Skip. Osmosis has had a very unique, first-principles approach to dealing with MEV, attempting to mitigate "bad" forms while allowing the protocol to internalize" good" forms. We discuss how MEV has been an important theme for Osmosis since inception, and how Dev feels about existing MEV approaches on Ethereum. We also discuss how Skip's products help Osmosis with internalizing MEV, and the long-term implications of these design decisions. Lastly, we touch-on how MEV in Osmosis will change once changes like threshold encryption and mesh security are implemented. 

In this episode, we chat with Lakshman Sankar, contributor to Personae Labs, an R&D lab focused on applying zero-knowledge technology to advance digital identity. Lakshman has been a long-time Crypto researcher, and was previously at the Ethereum Foundation. In this episode, we chat about Personae's new private voting tool - HeyAnoun, and the first deployment on NounsDAO. We also discuss the commercial applications and timelines of zero-knowledge research. 

In this episode, we chat with Travis Scher, founder of North Island Ventures. Travis has been investing in crypto startups since 2015, and has a wealth of experience across many market cycles. We go into detail about what Travis looks for when evaluating early stage startups, his experience at Digital Currency Group, and the importance of ethics/integrity in Crypto. 

In this episode, we chat with Stani Kulechov, the founder of Aave. We cover the history of Aave, from the transition of ETHLend to Aave, to its current positioning as the leading lending project in DeFi. Aave has had a unique journey, and this episode goes into the nitty-gritty details behind the scenes. We also cover Stani's thoughts on Aave Governance, the challenges of risk management in bear markets, and how he thinks about Aave's value capture and long-term positioning within the DeFi stack. 

In this episode, we chat with Mike Ippolito and Jason Yanowitz, the founders of Blockworks. Since 2018, they've built Blockworks up into one of crypto's largest and most prominent media companies. We dive into the early history, various product lines today, and where they see Blockworks in the future. They also share valuable feedback on how crypto founders and operators should think about and engage the media. 

In this episode, we chat with Sam Hart, longtime contributor to the Cosmos hub and author of the ATOM 2.0 whitepaper. We talk about the history of Cosmos and how its governance has evolved since inception. We also discus how protocol narratives evolve over time, and how Cosmos' story compares to that of Ethereum and Bitcoin. Lastly, we talk about the journey of writing the whtitepaper, and what the future holds for the Cosmos ecosystem. 

In this episode, we chat with Joe Lallouz, the head of Coinbase Cloud and founder of Bison Trails. We cover the history of Bison Trails from early inception to acquisition by Coinbase, as well as broader thoughts on the crypto infrastructure landscape. We also discuss the staking industry's evolution over time, and how Bison Trails' value proposition changed with it. Joe and I also discuss the Crypto M&A experience, the broader infrastructure landscape, and the future innovations in staking he's excited about.

In this episode, we chat with Esteban Castaño, co-founder of TRM Labs. TRM is a crypto compliance company working with some of the leading exchanges and protocols in Crypto including FTX, Binance, Uniswap and more. We chat about TRM's early history, how they settled on building a B2B risk and compliance product, and tips for other B2B crypto founders. We also discuss TRM's role in the broader crypto ecosystem, thoughts on the state of DeFi, and how future privacy innovations may impact the business.

In this episode, we chat with Rune Christensen, the founder of MakerDAO. We cover the original history behind MakerDAO, Rune's transition out of MakerDAO and his  year-long hiatus. We also go into why he felt compelled to return, and his new Endgame plan he hopes to implement for MakerDAO's long-term survival. This episode is a dense one, and goes deep into Rune's personal viewpoints on clean energy, DAO governance, working group structures, and his overall feeling about MakerDAO's future.

In this episode, we chat with Fredrik Haga, founder and CEO of Dune Analytics. We cover the complete history behind Dune, their community and brand-building strategy, and the journey to finding product-market fit. Other topics covered include the future of the crypto data and analytics market and Dune's long-term plan. Lastly, Fredrik shares pieces of wisdom for other early-stage founders around fundraising, building sticky product, and general startup-building philosophy. 

In this episode, we chat with Tarun Chitra, founder and CEO of Gauntlet. Tarun shares the inspiration behind starting Gauntlet, how it has evolved over time, and their future plans. He condenses his years of experience building products for DAOs into tangible lessons for new founders. We also cover the history behind Robert Ventures, the venture fund he started with Robert Leshner. Other topics discussed include the current state of DeFi and DAOs, MEV, and governance in emerging L1s. If you're building a product for protocols, this one is a must-listen!

In this episode of I Pledge Allegiance, host Derek Hsue chats with Michael Shaulov from Fireblocks and Roshun Patel from Genesis. Michael is the CEO and Founder of Fireblocks, and Ro is VP of Lending at Genesis. The focus of this episode is Fireblock's recent Aave Arc proposal, which paves the way for institutional, KYC'd pools for DeFi. Additionally, we talk the downstream effects of institutional pools on DeFi, and how players like Fireblocks and Genesis might get involved in the future.

Show notes and links included below.

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Aave Arc Proposal: https://governance.aave.com/t/add-fireblocks-as-a-whitelister-on-aave-arc/5753

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Follow us on Twitter: @derek_hsue | @FireblocksHQ | @roshunpatel

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Show Notes:

(0:48) - What is Fireblocks' and how do they support DeFi today?

(4:31) - What is Genesis?

(7:09) - What is Aave Arc, and what are institutional pools for DeFi?

(12:23) - How will rates differ between existing and institutional pools?

(14:32) - How does Michael respond to people who don't think KYC or regulation should be part of DeFi?

(18:56) - What was Fireblocks' experience going through the governance process, compared to traditional B2B?

(23:20) - Ro's view on the second order effects of institutional pools on the broader DeFi market.

(26:50) - How does Rho think regulated institutions will participate in on-chain governance?

(28:30) - What will tokenholders care about when voting on institutional governance participants?

(32:44) - How will Aave Arc and institutional pools affect the average DeFi user today?