The Defiant - DeFi Podcast

Immerse yourself in the future of decentralized infrastructure in this exclusive interview with Amira Valliana from the Solana Foundation. Perfect for Web3 enthusiasts, this episode unpacks how onchain solutions are redefining physical networks, policy, and global collaboration.Chapters & Key Topics: 00:00 Introduction to decentralized infrastructure onchain 00:33 Podcast & guest welcome 03:16 Amira Valliana’s policy work at Solana Foundation 09:19 Shaping blockchain policy and its real-world impact 12:31 What is DePIN? (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) 15:25 Case Study spotlight: Geonet 18:19 Current tech limits for onchain assets 20:21 Experiments in tracking real-world objects via blockchain 22:00 Supply chain challenges and onchain opportunities 24:08 Using crypto to coordinate worldwide networks 25:38 Helium Network deep-dive 29:00 Future applications for Helium 31:05 Exploring Hivemapper 34:15 Bridging DePIN and AI innovation 38:27 Decentralized AI and infrastructure synergy 42:32 Macro trends (interest rates, tariffs, resources, and more) and their effect 45:43 What’s next for decentralized physical infrastructure?If you’re curious about DePIN, policy in Web3, or the next wave of decentralized AI, you’ll get actionable insights and real-world examples to fuel your curiosity. Subscribe and hit the bell for more interviews with leaders shaping the decentralized future!

Lending and borrowing onchain has quickly become one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing sectors in Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Among the leaders in this space is Maple Finance, a platform that has already facilitated over $800M in assets, showcasing the growing adoption and practicality of tokenized private credit for institutions. By bridging the gap between traditional finance and decentralized systems, Maple Finance is demonstrating how institutions can leverage blockchain technology for more efficient and transparent lending solutions.In an insightful conversation, Camila Russo sat down with Maple Finance’s CEO, Sid Powell, to delve into the potential of real-world assets (RWAs) within DeFi, the evolving role of stablecoins in this ecosystem, and strategies to unlock new lending markets onchain. Their discussion highlights the rapid innovations taking place in the DeFi space and sheds light on the future of decentralized credit markets.

Explore the future of intellectual property on the blockchain in this insightful interview with Jason Zhao. Discover how Story Protocol is revolutionizing the way creators protect, share, and license their work. By bringing IP and copyright onchain, the protocol streamlines the process, ensures compliance with state and national laws, and secures rights in an innovative, transparent manner. Perfect for Web3 creators and blockchain developers ready to push boundaries and unlock new possibilities.Chapters00:00 - Intro: Jason Zhao, Co-founder and Chief Protocol Officer at Story Protocol 00:45 - How Story Protocol is revolutionizing IP management on blockchain 01:16 - Case study: Acquiring Justin Bieber's "Peaches" song rights 02:34 - The vision: Making IP as programmable as stablecoins 05:15 - Jason's background: From AI at DeepMind to blockchain 08:58 - Story's technical architecture: Custom Layer 1 blockchain 11:13 - Proof of Creativity Protocol explained 13:15 - Storing full IP rights and metadata (beyond NFTs) 18:47 - Legal framework and enforceable IP licenses 21:36 - Mainstream IP vs. native Story Protocol IP 24:07 - DeFi integration: Royalties and liquid IP markets 27:31 - How creators monetize their work on Story 29:50 - Tokenomics and the Big Bang staking event 33:51 - Roadmap: IP Portal and future upgrades 37:23 - David Goyer (Dark Knight trilogy) launching new IP on Story 38:28 - Fraud prevention and attestation services 45:02 - Staking mechanics and validator system 49:08 - Meme coins and IP-backed tokens 54:20 - The long-term vision: "HTTP for IP"✨ Check out our new website ✨https://thedefiant.io/🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pric...🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers herehttps://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_sourc...✊ Follow The DefiantTwitter:  / defiantnews  Discord:  / discord   Instagram:  / thedefiant.io  Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews📬 Contact our Newsroomeditorial@thedefiant.io🤝 Sponsorships & Partnershipssponsors@thedefiant.io#TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Will Robinson, VP of Engineering at Coinbase, explores the company’s expanding role in decentralized finance (DeFi), highlighting the launch of Bitcoin-backed USDC loans through Morpho and Coinbase’s broader efforts to integrate DeFi solutions. He explains how Coinbase is working to connect centralized finance (CeFi) with DeFi by incorporating decentralized protocols while prioritizing security and regulatory compliance. Robinson also discusses the introduction of cbBTC as an alternative to WBTC, the company’s approach to multi-chain development, and its plans for further DeFi integrations. Additionally, he addresses ongoing debates about Ethereum Layer 2 networks and their impact on the main chain, emphasizing the importance of improved cross-chain interoperability. He also provides insights into Coinbase’s asset listing process, the role of meme coins in the crypto ecosystem, and the company’s broader mission to support a more open and accessible financial system.Chapters00:00 - Intro: Will Robinson, VP of Engineering at Coinbase00:45 - Coinbase’s expanding role in DeFi01:16 - Bitcoin-backed USDC loans powered by Morpho02:34 - How Coinbase enables BTC holders to access liquidity05:15 - Risks involved in Bitcoin-backed loans08:58 - Liquidation risks and loan-to-value ratios11:13 - Early demand and adoption of the product13:15 - cbBTC vs. WBTC: Why Coinbase launched its own Bitcoin wrapper18:47 - How cbBTC is issued and traded21:36 - Coinbase’s approach to self-custody and wallets24:07 - The role of Coinbase Wallet in bridging CeFi and DeFi27:31 - Coinbase’s long-term DeFi strategy and future integrations29:50 - Will DeFi become a mainstream part of traditional finance?33:51 - Coinbase’s evolution from exchange to financial institution34:34 - The rise of Base: How Coinbase grew its Layer 238:28 - Are Layer 2s parasitic to Ethereum?49:08 - The role of meme coins in crypto and Coinbase’s listing process54:20 - The future of on-chain finance and economic freedom✨ Check out our new website ✨https://thedefiant.io/🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers herehttps://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha✊ Follow The DefiantTwitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnewsDiscord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews📬 Contact our Newsroomeditorial@thedefiant.io🤝 Sponsorships & Partnershipssponsors@thedefiant.io#TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Bill Barhydt, Founder and CEO of Abra, discusses the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency markets and investment strategies in this week's The Defiant Podcast. He attributes Bitcoin’s price movements to macroeconomic factors, including U.S. monetary policy and liquidity cycles, and notes a growing trend of companies holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Barhydt also examines Ethereum’s scalability challenges and the increasing role of DeFi in financial systems, suggesting that decentralized infrastructure could eventually become the standard for banking. Additionally, he expresses optimism about potential regulatory clarity in the U.S., particularly regarding stablecoins and digital asset classifications.Chapters00:00 - Introduction: Bill Barhydt & Abra00:48 - Barhydt’s Background in Crypto & Finance02:23 - How Abra Manages Crypto Wealth05:45 - Bitcoin Loans & Prime Brokerage Explained10:10 - Crypto Market Volatility & Macroeconomic Factors13:24 - Bitcoin Dominance & Altcoin Cycles18:11 - Solana vs. Ethereum: Market Trends & Adoption24:29 - U.S. Crypto Regulations & Policy Predictions36:05 - Trump’s Crypto Involvement39:04 - Institutional Interest in Bitcoin & ETFs50:18 - The Future of DeFi & Traditional Banking52:14 - Barhydt’s Price Predictions54:12 - Final Thoughts & Closing Remarks✨ Check out our new website ✨https://thedefiant.io/🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers herehttps://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha✊ Follow The DefiantTwitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnewsDiscord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews📬 Contact our Newsroomeditorial@thedefiant.io🤝 Sponsorships & Partnershipssponsors@thedefiant.io#TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix and Infinex, discusses the evolution of DeFi and the trade-offs required to improve user experience while maintaining decentralization. He explains how Infinex aims to offer a more accessible, centralized exchange-like interface while remaining non-custodial, addressing long-standing UX challenges in DeFi. Warwick also reflects on Synthetix’s recent governance restructuring, competition from Hyperliquid, and the potential shift back to a stablecoin-focused model. Looking ahead, he highlights the importance of regulatory clarity, improved infrastructure, and greater accessibility in driving the next phase of DeFi growth.Chapters00:00 - Introduction to Kain Warwick00:15 - Kain’s history in DeFi01:26 - Motivation behind Infinex and staying in crypto02:21 - Challenges of bull and bear markets05:55 - The idea behind Infinex and UX innovation08:40 - Trade-offs in building a user-friendly DeFi platform17:05 - Passkeys and the seamless user experience24:26 - Adoption metrics and user growth26:51 - Future roadmap: Bitcoin, XRP, and Doge integration33:08 - The Patron NFT sale: Lessons learned37:19 - Synthetix updates: Governance and structural changes39:27 - The role of attention in crypto success47:50 - Synthetix’s stablecoin pivot and liquidity strategy51:14 - Differentiating Synthetix’s stablecoin from others54:03 - Avoiding the pitfalls of past algo stablecoins✨ Check out our new website ✨https://thedefiant.io/🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers herehttps://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha✊ Follow The DefiantTwitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnewsDiscord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5agInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews📬 Contact our Newsroomeditorial@thedefiant.io🤝 Sponsorships & Partnershipssponsors@thedefiant.io#TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Preston Van Loon, an Ethereum core developer, joins The Defiant Podcast this week to discuss his role as a plaintiff in the high-profile Tornado Cash lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). He described how the sanctions imposed on Tornado Cash impacted legitimate users seeking privacy on Ethereum and underscored the significance of a recent appellate court ruling questioning whether smart contracts qualify as “property” under U.S. sanctions law. Van Loon also noted the possibility of a friendlier regulatory environment in the United States, suggesting that changing policy stances could spur crypto innovation. Finally, he addressed ongoing discussions within the Ethereum community about development priorities, governance structures, and the challenges of maintaining a decentralized protocol as the ecosystem grows. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Background 01:15 - What is Tornado Cash? 04:00 - Why Tornado Cash Was Sanctioned 06:45 - Filing the Lawsuit 09:50 - Court Ruling and Implications 14:00 - Next Steps in the Legal Case 18:00 - Privacy Rights and Crypto 24:00 - Impact on Builders and Industry 34:00 - Ethereum's Role and Future Challenges 50:00 - Community Feedback and Leadership 55:00 - Closing Remarks Our sponsors https://node.icn.global/?utm_source=TheDefiant&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=node_sale_live https://kelpdao.xyz/gain/growth-vault/?utm_source=Defiant https://betteron.stellar.org/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Sam Kazemian, founder of Frax Finance, outlined the development and goals of FraxUSD, a decentralized stablecoin designed to integrate with both traditional finance and decentralized ecosystems. The upgraded FraxUSD offers redeemability through custodians like BlackRock and SuperState while providing competitive yields through diversified strategies. Kazemian described Frax’s broader vision as building a digital economy anchored by its flagship stablecoin and Fraxstool, a high-performance Ethereum Layer 2. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:48 - Founding Story and Differentiation of Frax 02:01 - Vision for Decentralized Stablecoins 02:41 - Features of FraxUSD 08:51 - Best of Both Worlds Design for FraxUSD 13:08 - Future of Stablecoins 23:05 - Yield Strategy of FraxUSD 34:16 - FraxUSD in Real World and On-Chain Usage 42:02 - Stablecoins as the Gateway to Crypto 47:12 - Roadmap and Future of Frax ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Zhouxun Yin, the Co-Founder of Magic Eden, joins The Defiant Podcast to discuss the evolution of one of the largest NFT marketplaces. In this episode, he shares the story behind Magic Eden’s founding, their decision to focus on Solana early on, and their multi-chain expansion strategy. Z dives into the challenges of navigating the bear market, enforcing royalties, and launching a token to unite their ecosystem. He also explores the future of NFTs, their integration with AI, and Magic Eden's ambitious shift toward becoming an all-encompassing on-chain trading platform. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:30 - Founding Magic Eden 03:40 - Surviving FTX and Solana’s Challenges 07:20 - Navigating the NFT Bear Market 12:00 - The Bitcoin Ordinals Bet 16:00 - Multi-Chain Expansion 24:30 - Launching the $ME Token 32:00 - Addressing Airdrop Challenges 46:50 - The Royalty Debate 54:10 - Long-Term Vision for NFTs 01:03:00 - On-Chain Trading and Future Goals 01:10:35 - Closing Thoughts Our sponsors https://node.icn.global/?utm_source=TheDefiant&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=node_sale_live https://kelpdao.xyz/gain/growth-vault/?utm_source=Defiant https://betteron.stellar.org/ https://www.goat.network/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Sandy Peng, co-founder of Scroll, tells us the journey of building one of the most anticipated Ethereum Layer 2s, their focus on ZK rollups for scalability, and the unique value proposition of high security, decentralization, and low costs. Sandy discusses Scroll's transition from general purpose chain design to supporting specific use cases driven by ecosystem builders and founders. They explore challenges and lessons from Scroll's recent token airdrop, emphasizing the importance of clear communication, equitable distribution, and fostering a vibrant community. Sandy highlights the Scroll Open initiative and their long-term vision to create a thriving "city" for innovation and talent in the blockchain space. Chapters 00:00 - Sandy Peng on Scroll's Rise 00:30 - Scroll’s Evolution and 2025 Vision 01:30 - The Founding Story of Scroll 02:30 - Why ZK Rollups? 04:00 - Scroll's Unique Edge in the L2 Space 07:00 - Transition to Use Case-Specific Chains 09:00 - Scroll's Vision for Builders and Founders 11:00 - Sub-Cent Costs and High Security Explained 15:00 - Decentralization: Scroll’s Progress and Plans 20:00 - Governance and the Role of Scroll Tokens 25:00 - Airdrop Lessons and Community Feedback 35:00 - Reflections on Token Distribution Trends 46:00 - Layer 2s and Ethereum’s Value Narrative 50:00 - Scroll Open: Building the Future Economy 58:00 - Scroll's Big Picture Vision Our sponsors https://node.icn.global/?utm_source=TheDefiant&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=node_sale_live https://kelpdao.xyz/gain/growth-vault/?utm_source=Defiant https://betteron.stellar.org/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Johann Kerbrat is the Vice President and General Manager of Robinhood Crypto, leading the charge in bringing crypto to millions of retail investors. In this episode, Johann shares the journey of Robinhood Crypto, from its early days of launching in 2018 to its recent innovations, including staking, self-custody wallets, and a potential shift towards a full-fledged crypto exchange. He discusses how Robinhood is leveraging blockchain to enhance efficiency, lower costs, and expand access to financial instruments. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:14 - History of Robinhood Crypto 01:23 - Why Robinhood Added Crypto 02:42 - Robinhood's Perspective on Crypto 07:12 - How Robinhood Monetizes Crypto 12:31 - Competing with Crypto Exchanges 14:22 - Token Listing Strategy 16:53 - Balancing Features and Asset Expansion 18:17 - Staking in the EU and Regulatory Concerns 21:22 - Staking Demand and Customer Education 24:08 - Robinhood Wallet Features 27:23 - Self-Custody Wallet Metrics 28:49 - Meme Stock Frenzy and Decentralized Trading 31:42 - Blockchain for Settlement and Efficiency 39:08 - Marketplace vs. Exchange Transition 41:49 - Upcoming Milestones for Robinhood Crypto 43:19 - Market Trends and Future Vision 44:49 - Long-Term Vision for Robinhood Crypto 46:00 - Closing Remarks ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

In this episode, Dimitry Gusakov, Community Staking Lead at Lido, discusses the protocol’s efforts to enhance decentralization and accessibility in Ethereum staking. He explains the launch of the Community Staking Module, which lowers barriers for individual validators while addressing concerns about centralization within the Ethereum ecosystem. The conversation also explores potential impacts of proposed Ethereum staking changes and Lido’s roadmap for further decentralization in 2025. Tune in to gain insights into the evolving landscape of liquid staking and its role in securing Ethereum. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:14 - What is Lido and Liquid Staking? 02:20 - Liquid Staking Use Cases in DeFi 05:33 - Addressing Centralization Concerns in Lido 08:25 - Community Staking Module: Decentralization Efforts 10:49 - Requirements to Become a Home Validator 13:26 - Rewards and Entry Barriers for Home Validators 16:12 - Hardware Setup for Validators 23:39 - Socialized Rewards and Offline Allowances 26:38 - Higher Rewards for Running a Node 34:23 - Impact of CSM on Lido’s Decentralization 41:13 - Ethereum Security and the Importance of Decentralization 52:19 - Ethereum Issuance Proposal: Implications for Lido 01:06:07 - Future Developments for Lido in 2025 Our sponsors https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast http://supra.com ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake dives deep into the Beam Chain proposal, a transformative upgrade aimed at accelerating Ethereum’s roadmap and enhancing its consensus layer. Justin explains how the Beam Chain would incorporate key innovations like SNARK proofs, quantum security, and single-slot finality to boost decentralization, security, and scalability. He also discusses incremental upgrades like staking caps and pre-confirmations, which aim to improve Ethereum’s performance and user experience in the near term. The conversation explores Ethereum’s competition with Solana and Bitcoin, highlighting how Ethereum’s long-term focus on robustness and scalability positions it to thrive as the foundational layer for the decentralized internet. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction: Justin Drake 01:03 - What is the Beam Chain? 02:41 - Why Ethereum Needs Acceleration 05:06 - Lessons from the Merge for the Beam Chain 07:06 - Solving Ethereum’s Technical Debt 15:58 - Faster Confirmation Times 18:11 - Pre-confirmations in Ethereum 24:14 - Layer 1 and Layer 2 Pre-confirmations 30:41 - Big Ticket Changes in the Beam Chain 31:04 - Snarkification of Consensus Layer 33:31 - Single Slot Finality 39:00 - Trustless Bridges Between Blockchains 49:00 - Native Rollups and Execution Sharding 54:04 - Ethereum vs. Solana on Performance 01:10:00 - Near-Term Upgrades to Watch For Our sponsors https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast http://supra.com ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Hart Lambur, co-founder of Across Protocol and UMA, discusses Across’s mission to enable fast, low-cost asset transfers between Ethereum layer twos, with a focus on creating a seamless user experience. He explains how the protocol’s “intent architecture” leverages third-party solvers to improve cross-chain interactions, offering a cohesive way for users to transfer assets and execute transactions across different Ethereum networks. Lambur also emphasizes the importance of Ethereum’s upcoming account abstraction upgrades in achieving a unified ecosystem, allowing actions on any Ethereum chain from a single wallet. He envisions a future by 2025 where Ethereum feels like a unified network, improving user experience significantly. Chapters 00:04 - Introduction to Hart Lambur 00:14 - Hart’s Background and Motivation for Building Across Protocol 00:50 - Integration with Uniswap 10:34 - Challenges in Ethereum Interoperability and Gas Fees 12:03 - Ethereum’s Scalability Achievements and New Issues 18:04 - Account Abstraction: ERC-7702 and Its Role in Ethereum 27:02 - Intents Architecture 41:00 - Current User Experience Issues in Ethereum and Solutions 52:32 - Hart’s Vision for Ethereum as a Unified Network by 2025 57:08 - Closing Thoughts on Ethereum’s Future and Overcoming Fragmentation This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Nana Murugesan, President of Matter Labs and former VP of Business Development at Coinbase, joins Camila Russo in this week’s podcast to discuss the latest updates from ZKsync, including the recently launched Elastic Chain. He explains how ZKsync’s approach to interoperability and customization aims to make Web3 infrastructure as seamless as Web2, emphasizing the importance of user-friendly experiences for mainstream adoption. Nana also highlights Matter Labs' partnership with Buenos Aires to bring ZK-backed digital identity to millions of citizens, showcasing a promising model for government and Web3 collaboration. Finally, he shares upcoming milestones for ZKsync, with new chains and collaborations in Latin America, gaming, and the creator economy. Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 0:17 - ZKsync and Elastic Chain 2:57 - Evolution of ZKsync 5:22 - Interoperability and Customizability in Web3 7:30 - User Experience 10:16 - The Role of Governments in Blockchain Adoption 14:41 - Digital Identity on the Blockchain 17:18 - Why Zero-Knowledge Proofs Matter 21:02 - Cost and Throughput Advantage of ZKsync 25:07 - UX and Interoperability Challenges 27:05 - ZKsync in Latin America 30:05 - Upcoming Projects on Elastic Chain 32:39 - Future Focus for Matter Labs 33:46 - Closing Remarks This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

In this week’s podcast, Dylan Kawalec, Head of Developer Relations at Goat Network, discusses the Goat Founders Club, which is a new initiative aimed at empowering developers and entrepreneurs to build on the Bitcoin Layer 2 ecosystem. He explains how the program incentivizes builders through a unique points reward system that can be converted into tokens, fostering a more developer-centric community. Dylan also dives into the technical aspects of the Goat Network, including its decentralized sequencer model and use of zero-knowledge rollups, to enhance Bitcoin's scalability and interoperability. Lastly, he shares his personal story of how Bitcoin transformed his life, highlighting his unwavering passion and optimism for the future of the network. Chapters 00:00 - Dylan Kawalec and GOAT Network 00:16 - What is the GOAT Founders Club? 03:46 - About GOAT Network: Bitcoin Layer 2 Overview 05:12 - Differentiation from Other Layer 2s 07:00 - Founders Club Tracks for Developers 11:03 - Governance Token: Future Role of GOAT Token 12:28 - Role of Bitcoin on GOAT Network 15:07 - Sequencer Model and Bridging to Other Chains 21:00 - Dylan’s Personal Bitcoin Story 24:56 - Inspiration Behind Founders Club 42:11 - Conclusion and Final Thoughts ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Adeniyi Abiodun is the co-founder of Mysten Labs and a major contributor to the Sui blockchain. In this week’s podcast, he discusses Sui's unique positioning as a "global coordination layer for the internet," emphasizing its decentralized nature and its technical advancements such as parallel execution and the use of the Move programming language. He highlights the expertise of the team behind Sui, their focus on scalability, and the potential for Sui to revolutionize payments and digital asset ownership. Abiodun also addresses challenges like decentralization concerns and outlines future growth areas, including gaming and DeFi. Chapters 0:00 - Introduction with Adeniyi Abiodun, Co-founder of Mysten Labs 0:42 - What is Sui and how it's different from other L1s 1:50 - Addressing the centralization problem of the internet 3:52 - Scalability and throughput advantages of Sui 5:24 - How Sui solves scalability and throughput challenges 7:31 - Move language: A better approach for Web3 development 10:33 - Object-based model vs account-based model in blockchains 16:00 - Sui token's recent price surge and adoption trends 19:16 - Native USDC launch and its impact on DeFi growth 22:11 - Sui's low latency and fast transaction speeds 33:19 - Expanding Web3 adoption and onboarding billions of users 45:37 - Sui’s vision for the future This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

John Avlon is a congressional candidate for New York, advocating for bipartisan support of emerging technologies like cryptocurrency. In this week's podcast, John emphasizes the need for clear and reasonable regulation to foster innovation without stifling it, while warning against making technology a partisan issue. Avlon critiques the current regulatory landscape, including the approach of figures like Gary Gensler, and highlights the potential risks of pushing innovation overseas. He advocates for Democrats to embrace technology as a key driver of U.S. competitiveness, underscoring that this election will shape the trajectory of the nation's future. Chapters 0:00 Intro to John Avlon 1:02 Pivotal Moment For Crypto 3:50 US Crypto Policy 8:40 Regulatory Framework 17:40 Trust In Kamala Harris 26:30 Crypto Lobby 31:21 Balance In Regulation 44:05 John Avlon's Bags 47:12 Threat To Democracy This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Jack Booth is the co-founder of TON Society, a grassroots initiative driving community engagement in the Ton blockchain ecosystem, closely integrated with the Telegram messaging app. Booth explained how TON is evolving as a Web3 super app, bringing decentralized applications and financial tools to a global audience. He discussed the ecosystem’s unique structure, built on Telegram’s open mini-apps platform, enabling users to seamlessly access crypto services. Booth also emphasized TON's vision of onboarding millions of new users into crypto by creating simple, user-friendly applications and fostering mass adoption outside the U.S. 00:00 - Introduction & TON's Relationship with Telegram 02:35 - TON's Vision for Web3 & Telegram Mini Apps 05:15 - The History of TON and Regulatory Challenges 07:22 - Telegram Integrates TON Wallet 09:56 - TON’s Focus on Emerging Markets 13:07 - TON Society & Community Building 17:30 - TON Blockchain's Sharding Model 21:11 - Scaling Challenges 24:20 - TON’s Deflationary Potential 29:25 - Pavel Durov's Arrest & Impact on TON 39:31 - Power of Telegram's Announcement Channels 44:01 - Centralization vs. Decentralization in TON 49:01 - TON as a Web3 Super App 53:19 - Tap-to-Earn Apps & Airdrops This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Paul Frambot, co-founder and CEO of Morpho Labs, explains how Morpho is a decentralized and permissionless lending protocol that allows users to create customized lending and borrowing pools. Unlike traditional DeFi platforms like Aave, Morpho externalizes risk management, giving users control over their risk exposure and liquidity. Frambot shares how Morpho started as a rate-optimizing solution and evolved into Morpho Blue, a more scalable protocol with over $1 billion in deposits. He discusses the advantages of building in Europe, Morpho's vision to make financial infrastructure a public good, and how fintech partnerships could drive future DeFi adoption. We also touch on Morpho's upcoming token launch and its long-term strategy to compete with other major DeFi protocols. 0:00 - Intro to Paul Frambot 0:30 - What is Morpho and How it Differs from Competitors 2:00 - Paul's Background and Entry into DeFi 3:30 - Early Development of Morpho Optimizer 5:00 - Transition to Morpho Blue and Permissionless Lending 8:00 - Managing Risk, Liquidity, and Customization 11:00 - Real-World Assets and New Use Cases in DeFi 14:00 - Challenges and Advantages of Building in Europe 18:00 - Morpho's Long-Term Vision: Financial Infrastructure as a Public Good 23:00 - Future of DeFi: Fintech Integration and Token Launch 28:00 - Competition with Aave and Growth Strategy 33:00 - The Role of Fintech in Scaling DeFi 38:00 - Long-Term Vision for DeFi and Fintech 43:00 - Morpho's Upcoming Tokenomics and Governance 48:00 - Future Trends and Adoption in DeFi 52:00 - Closing Thoughts and Paul's Outlook on DeFi This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Joe Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and Consensys, explores the evolution of blockchain technology and the expanding role of the Ethereum ecosystem in this episode. He discusses Consensys' pivotal work in building foundational infrastructure, such as MetaMask and Infura, while outlining the strategic direction for future applications and decentralized technologies. Joe delves into Layer 2 solutions, regulatory challenges with the SEC, and the broader implications for the industry. He offers a forward-looking perspective on the maturation of Ethereum, emphasizing scalability, decentralization, and the development of Web3. 0:00 - Evolution of Consensys 3:00 - Growth of Ethereum Infrastructure 6:30 - Scaling Ethereum & Layer 2 Solutions 9:00 - Joe Lubin's Beliefs 11:00 - Regulatory Challenges & SEC Lawsuit 14:30 - Future of Ethereum & Regulation 18:00 - Decentralizing Consensys and Network States 21:30 - Ethereum's Layer 1 & Layer 2 Architecture 28:00 - Impact of Layer 2 on Ethereum Mainnet 36:00 - Transitioning Products to On-chain Governance 39:00 - Network States and Decentralization 43:00 - Preparing for the Next Wave of Applications This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Alex Cutler, Co-Founder of Aerodrome, shares the story behind Aerodrome, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem. He explains how Aerodrome incorporates the best features from existing DEXs, such as Uniswap and Curve, to create a more efficient, unified platform for liquidity providers, traders, and token holders. Cutler emphasizes the strategic choice to focus on Ethereum L2s, predicting their growth as faster, cheaper alternatives to Layer 1 while maintaining Ethereum's ecosystem benefits. He also highlights Aerodrome's tokenomics, where protocol revenue is fully redistributed to participants who lock tokens and vote to direct emissions. 00:00 - Aerodrome Founding Story 03:26 - The Move to Layer 2 and Partnership with Coinbase 05:22 - Layer 2s vs Layer 1s 11:01 - Combining the Best Features from DEX Models 14:07 - Improving Tokenomics and Incentivization 20:22 - Revenue Distribution and Protocol Emissions 41:05 - Base’s Exponential Growth and Long-Term Vision 45:47 - Coinbase’s Role in Building the Future of Decentralization 58:00 - The Role of DEXs and the Coming Use Cases for On-Chain Activity This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Sebastian Serrano is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ripio, one of the largest crypto asset platforms in Latin America. In this episode, Sebastian discusses Ripio's evolution from a retail wallet to a comprehensive crypto platform that includes an exchange, OTC desk, and B2B services. Serrano also highlights Ripio's strategic partnerships with major companies in the region and the development of a stablecoin for Mercado Libre. He shares his insights on the future of crypto adoption in Latin America, emphasizing the potential of tokenization and real-world assets. 0:00 Ripio.com 2:56 Sebastian Serrano 6:41 Retail to B2B 14:21 Latin America 28:54 Argentina As A Crypto Hub 35:45 Future Outlook This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Redouane Elkamhi is the Economics Lead at GOAT Network, a project focused on developing a decentralized financial market on Bitcoin. In this episode, we discuss the project's goals, including the creation of a Bitcoin-based Layer 2 ecosystem with a focus on sustainable yield, decentralized sequencers, and economic incentives. Elkamhi outlines the potential impact of GOAT Network on Bitcoin's future and its approach to yield generation. 0:00 GOAT Network 7:02 Building on Bitcoin 20:25 Earning Yield 33:30 Tokenomics 39:52 Getting Involved 41:36 Future of GOAT and Bitcoin L2s ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Yat Siu is the co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, a leading force in the Web3 gaming industry. In this episode, Yat Siu shares the story behind the rise of Animoca Brands, discussing its pioneering work in NFTs, blockchain gaming, and the broader Web3 ecosystem. He delves into the company's mission to bring true digital ownership to users through innovative games and platforms. Yat also provides insights into Animoca's strategic investments and its role in shaping the future of the open metaverse, highlighting the transformative potential of Web3 technologies for gaming, culture, and digital property rights. 0:00 Animoca Brands 6:14 Animoca Investments 10:00 Mocaverse 19:32 "Content as a platform" 24:04 Web3 Social 42:55 NFTs 55:25 Metaverse This episode was sponsored by: PlayFi: http://playfi.ai/ NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Muneeb Ali is the co-founder of Stacks, which is a L2 that enables smart contracts and decentralized applictions to be built on top of Bitcoin. Muneeb is an early adopter in the blockchain industry with over a decade of experience. He offers a unique and insightful perspective on the current landscape of leading Layer 1 blockchains. In our conversation, we explore his views on the role of Layer 2 solutions for Bitcoin, how it compares to Ethereum and Solana, and why Bitcoin holds a unique position as sound money. We also delve into broader industry trends and what the future might hold for scaling solutions. 0:00 Bitcoin L2s 4:07 Muneeb Ali 8:03 Stacks 24:42 Bitcoin VS Ethereum 27:42 Ethereum VS Solana 38:35 Bitcoin As Money 50:40 BitVM 54:24 Rollups on Bitcoin 56:00 DeFi On Bitcoin 1:03:28 EVM 1:05:55 Getting Started With Stacks This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Tory Green is the Co-Founder and CEO of io.net, which is a decentralized computing network that powers ML applications and a prominent project in the DePIN category. Their primary mission is to unlock fair access to computing power by assembling over 1 million GPUs from independent data centers, crypto miners, and projects like Filecoin and Render, aiming to decentralize the AI stack and reduce big tech's dominance in the AI industry. They recently made headlines when their CEO stepped down just days before their token launch. In this episode, Tory shares the behind-the-scenes details of this departure and provides an in-depth look into everything io.net. 0:00 What Is io.net? 3:13 Tory Green 7:52 Ahmad's Departure 12:34 io.net Stats 20:45 Competitors 22:38 Participation 31:20 IO Token 35:30 AI x Crypto 43:40 DePIN 45:45 io.net Vision Our sponsor https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcasthttps://zkverify.io/?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=pd&utm_campaign=ad_1http://playfi.ai/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Evgeny Yurtaev is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zerion, which is is an investing tool that enables users to manage their DeFi and NFT portfolios. Recently, Zerion announced the launch of a new Web3 wallet and a Layer 2 solution, Zero Network. These new products aim to enhance the user experience in DeFi by providing a friendlier user experience cost-effective transactions. In our conversation, we dive into the latest updates from Zerion and explore the exciting developments in the DeFi space. 0:00 Zerion Overview 1:50 Evgeny Yurtaev 3:50 Building Zerion 7:16 Zerion Business Model 9:10 Zero Network 27:14 DeFi 32:42 Wallets 44:24 Zerion Vision Our sponsor https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://zkverify.io/?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=pd&utm_campaign=ad_1 http://playfi.ai/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Kain Warwick is the founder of Synthetix, an OG DeFi protocol which allows users to mint and trade a wide variety of synthetic assets, including cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, commodities, and stocks, providing liquidity and exposure without the need for traditional financial intermediaries. His latest project, Infinex, is focused on solving crypto’s UX problems, aiming to make the user experience more intuitive and accessible for all. During EthCC[7], we had the opportunity to interview Kain to dive deeper into Infinex and the solutions they’re planning to solve Crypto UX. 0:00 Synthetix and Infinex 4:05 Incentive Schemes 8:00 Crates 11:35 NFT Governance Token 15:21 Integrations 17:40 Infinex Vision 23:00 Passkeys 28:30 Infinex Business Model 36:46 Synthetix 38:35 DeFi Our sponsor https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcasthttps://zkverify.io/?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=pd&utm_campaign=ad_1http://playfi.ai/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Benjamin Jones is the director of the Optimism Foundation, which is dedicated to scaling Ethereum and the team building Optimism Layer 2. Currently, Optimism sits in third place among Layer 2s with $6.42B in Total Value Locked. In this episode, we dive deep into the Superchain Thesis and explore how Optimism aims to optimize Ethereum scalability. We start by discussing what Optimism is and its mission to scale Ethereum, moving on to the foundation's end goal and its vision for the future. We also take a closer look at Benjamin Jones, his role, background and contributions. We also compare various scaling solutions, assess their effectiveness and potential, and discuss the future of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK). Benjamin also explains the philosophy underpinning Optimism's Retro Funding approach. 0:00 What Is Optimism? 2:04 End Goal 3:44 Security 5:50 Benjamin Jones 10:00 Open Source 13:02 OP Token 16:25 1 Human = 1 Vote 20:32 Scaling Solutions 30:00 Is ZK The Future? 36:27 Optimism Superchain 49:00 Retro Funding 57:34 Arbitrum 01:01:27 Building On Optimism 01:05:52 Mainstream Our sponsor https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://zkverify.io/?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=pd&utm_campaign=ad_1 http://playfi.ai/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Our guest today is Noah Seidman, who has an impressive systematic view on crypto and how crypto fits into the overall macro market. Noah is a technologist with a career spanning two decades. He has a unique perspective on the intersection of crypto and finance, garnering him a reputation as a thought leader. While most on Crypto Twitter are talking about memecoins and the next few months, Noah has been thinking about crypto over a long time horizon. We talk about his macro views, how he chooses to build his portfolio, advice he has for someone starting out, maybe in their 20s, and the secret to him staying on top of all of the market news. He understands things like the monetary premium and categorizes tokens in a very interesting way. Before we dive into this, we discussed what Noah is focused on on his day to day. 0:00 Captain Rational 1:47 Global Macro 4:45 Before Crypto 5:52 Entering Crypto 11:20 Crypto In Macro 17:30 Bitcoin As Reserve Currency 21:13 L1 Value 22:25 Long Term Narratives 25:22 Investment Strategy 28:30 Self Realization 38:45 Decentralization 45:30 Time Our sponsor http://thegraph.com/sunrise https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://zkverify.io/?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=pd&utm_campaign=ad_1 https://www.karpatkey.com/?utm_source=Youtube_des&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Defiant ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Daniel Fogg is the CEO of RootstockLabs, the organization behind the Rootstock sidechain, which is a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution designed to enhance Bitcoin's capabilities with smart contract functionality. Rootstock was launched in January 2018, becoming the first Bitcoin sidechain, and is secured by Bitcoin's hashing power through a merged mining process. The sidechain leverages Bitcoin's security while enabling Ethereum compatible smart contracts, aiming to reduce transaction costs and improve scalability​ 0:00 Rootstock's Story 7:11 The Architecture 14:52 Use Cases 21:25 Bitcoin Community 27:00 Ordinals and BRC20 30:32 BitVM 36:00 Merged Mining 41:17 Competition Our sponsorhttps://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcasthttps://zkverify.io/?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=pd&utm_campaign=ad_1https://www.karpatkey.com/?utm_source=Youtube_des&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Defiant ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Suji Yan is the founder of Mask Network, a platform that brings privacy and benefits from Web3 to traditional social media like Facebook & Twitter. Suji Yan launched Mask to provide users with tools to encrypt their social media interactions and protect their online privacy. His goal is to create an internet where individuals have more control over their digital presence. In our conversation, we get into the current SocialFi landscape, its limitations, and the importance of decentralized social media for everyday users. 0:00 Intro 0:40 Mask Network 9:30 Web2 + Web3 Social Media 22:05 Content Creation 36:11 Adoption 45:15 Problems With SocialFi 54:07 Why Should We Care? 57:23 Current SocialFi Landscape Our sponsorhttps://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcasthttps://zkverify.io/?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=pd&utm_campaign=ad_1 https://www.karpatkey.com/?utm_source=Youtube_des&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Defiant ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Gabby Dizon is the Co-Founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG), a decentralized autonomous organization that invests in virtual world assets. Yield Guild Games focuses on creating a global community of gamers who earn rewards by playing blockchain-based games. YGG operates on the play-to-earn model, allowing players to generate income through in-game activities and ownership of digital assets. 0:00 Intro 1:23 Yield Guild Games 4:34 New Games 5:42 Gabby Dizon 8:39 Ronin 10:21 YGG Token 15:30 Criticisms 18:05 Protocol Transition 24:15 Onchain Guilds 33:33 Badges and Onchain Reputation 40:25 Gaming and NFT Activity 44:40 Building in 2024 48:35 Mass Applications Our sponsor https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://www.karpatkey.com/?utm_source=Youtube_des&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Defiant ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Johann Kerbrat is the Crypto General Manager at Robinhood, one of the largest exchanges in the world. In today's episode will delve into his journey with Robinhood Crypto. His thoughts on the future of the industry and the groundbreaking work they are doing to democratize finance for all. They have launched a lot of products recently, including a self custodial wallet, staking, Web3 games and more. Before we dive into this, Johann tells us about his background and responsibilities at Robinhood Crypto. 0:00 Intro 0:42 Johann Kerbrat 1:21 Robinhood 1:52 Entering Crypto 2:59 Robinhood Products 4:16 Feedback 6:00 Web3 8:39 Fees 9:46 Crypto Exchanges 11:00 Regulation 14:55 Tokens 16:21 Self Custody Wallet 17:46 DeFi 18:35 Staking 19:48 What's Next? 21:00 Robinhood Chain 21:54 Tokens 24:13 Tokenization 25:33 How Are You Defiant? Our sponsor http://thegraph.com/sunrise https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://www.karpatkey.com/?utm_source=Youtube_des&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Defiant ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

David Schwartz is the CTO of Ripple, a Layer 1 blockchain that has been an established name in the cryptocurrency industry since 2012. Ripple is the platform behind XRP, one of the original cryptocurrencies, which currently ranks eighth in market capitalization at $30 billion. Known for its numerous legal battles with the SEC, Ripple has also recently announced the launch of a new stablecoin. In this podcast, we will explore all of the latest developments and more, starting with the founding story of Ripple. 0:00 Intro 1:04 Founding Story of Ripple 5:20 RippleNet 8:05 XRP Tokenomics and Incentive Model 12:56 Bad Actors 15:11 Network Attacks 17:55 XRP Distribution 26:45 Use Cases 39:25 Ripple Stablecoin 48:18 DeFi On XRP Ledger 53:33 Smart Contracts 57:56 SEC Case 1:05:30 Ripple in the Future Our sponsors https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://near.org/?utm_campaign=defiant&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=defiantgtb ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Jose Fernandez da Ponte is the Head of Crypto at PayPal. PayPal's entry into the crypto market dates back to 2020 when they announced the integration of various crypto assets, enabling users to buy, sell, and hold digital currencies. Since then, they have progressively expanded their crypto offerings and adopted more ambitious strategies to incorporate blockchain technology. In this podcast, we'll explore PayPal's motivation for entering the crypto space, the current crypto applications available on their platform, the creation and purpose of their stablecoin, PYUSD, and their approach to facilitating mass adoption of blockchain technology. 0:00 Intro 0:58 PayPal Enters Crypto 6:27 PayPal Crypto Payments 16:58 Fees 20:16 PayPal Wallet 22:28 PYUSD 36:43 PayPal Yield 40:23 Stablecoin Competition 48:57 Multichain 53:25 Adoption Our sponsors https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://near.org/?utm_campaign=defiant&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=defiantgtb https://safe.global/?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=tte ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Lukas Schor is the Co-Founder of Safe, an onchain asset custody protocol, securing ~$100 Billion in assets today. Originally developed under Gnosis as a smart account for securing digital assets, Safe eventually became an independent project after spinning off on its own. Today, Safe has a TVL of over $100B. In this episode, we go over the recently launched $GNO token, its use cases, early days of Gnosis as an onchain prediction market. Later, Lukas discusses the impact of quantum computing on blockchain security and the future potential of smart accounts. He also explores the challenges and opportunities in achieving mainstream adoption of Web3 wallets. The episode concludes with insights into Safe's upcoming features aimed at supporting a billion Web3 users. 0:00 Intro 1:05 Safe Founding Story 3:30 Gnosis Prediction Markets 5:17 Lukas Schor 7:21 $GNO Token 18:47 Smart Accounts 25:16 Quantum Computing 33:33 Web3 Wallets 37:25 How is Safe safe? 39:23 New Features 47:52 Billion Web3 Users ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Carlos Domingo is the founder and CEO of Securitize, a platform for issuing and trading security tokens or digital securities on the blockchain. Securitize aims to modernize the traditional financial markets by leveraging blockchain technology to provide greater accessibility, efficiency, and transparency in securities trading. Securitize recently partnered up with BlackRock to explore innovations in tokenizing assets and broadening access to the private capital markets. In today's podcast, we uncover all the details behind this collaboration and explore what the future holds for tokenized innovation. 0:00 Intro 1:09 BlackRock BUIDL Fund 3:22 Onchain vs Offchain 5:01 Institutional Investors 5:36 Secondary Market 7:26 Carlos Domingo & Securitize 12:10 Future of Tokenization 15:35 BlackRock's Impact 22:15 Use Cases 30:12 Investors 33:19 Tokenized Innovation 37:53 Real World vs Crypto Economy 47:27 Web2 vs Web3 Our sponsors https://summer.fi/?utm_source=Defiant&utm_campaign=podcast&utm_content= https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://near.org/?utm_campaign=defiant&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=defiantgtb http://pass.safe.global ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Stani Kulechov is the founder of Aave, which has become the largest lending protocol in DeFi. Aave has evolved under a new umbrella called Avara, incorporating additional projects like Lens, a Web3 social media protocol, and a family and Web3 wallet. Stani has previously discussed these developments on our show in 2020 and 2022, and with each appearance, the Avara family has expanded significantly. As a prominent leader in the DeFi and Web3 space, Stani's insights are always highly anticipated. In this podcast, we start with a refreshener on Stani and his journey, then dive into the specifics of the protocols he has developed. 0:00 Intro 1:15 Stani Kulechov 4:40 DeFi + Web3 Social 8:53 Lens Protocol 14:28 Developer Community 17:48 Lens Applications 19:58 Lens Stats 25:20 Monetization in Web3 Social 30:27 Token Integration 34:05 Permissionless 37:15 Farcaster 41:10 Lens Token 43:10 Aave 47:10 Competition 48:52 Lens + Aave 50:04 Reaching Mainstream ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Hello Defiers! Today, I'm bringing you a very special episode from a session I moderated at SXSW this year. SXSW is a massive festival annually held in Austin, Texas, that merges music, film, and tech into an exciting blend of creativity and innovation, drawing artists, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts from around the globe. At SXSW, I had the opportunity of leading a session with Chris Dixon, a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where we focused on his recent publication, "Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet." This book is an essential read for anyone looking to grasp the essence of the Web3 movement. Dixon has a way of making complex topics accessible to all. I'm excited for you to hear our conversation and dive into the insights Chris shared. Let's dive in!0:00 Intro0:50 Panel with Chris Dixon 1:50 Read, Write, Own6:55 Tokens14:33 Hyperfinancialization19:01 Main Use Cases of Crypto27:14 Plutocracy 33:42 Corporatization in Web342:20 AI Content50:05 POS Blockchain Risks54:13 CBDC's 56:08 Future Applications✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Li Jin is a prominent figure in the venture capital industry. She is the co-founder and managing partner at Variant Fund, a venture firm that invests in Web3 and the ownership economy. Before founding Variant, Li Jin worked at Andreessen Horowitz, a leading venture capital firm, where she helped to shape the firm’s views on the emerging tech landscape, including the gig and passion economies. In today's discussion, we delve into memecoins, Web3 social media, and the evolving landscape of token models, examining how these elements are shaping the future of digital economies and influencing user interaction in decentralized networks. 0:00 Intro 1:11 Variant Fund 3:20 Li Jin 4:55 Benefits of Blockchains at Consumer Level 7:55 Web3 Social Media 12:50 Speculative Media 18:20 Memecoin Products 24:24 Censorship 25:47 Web3 GTM Strategy 34:30 Token Models 47:41 Governance Tokens 52:00 Trends ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

In today's podcast we host Mike Silagadze, founder of ether.fi, an Ethereum restaking protocol, and Nikhil Raghuveera, co-founder of Aethos, a decentralized policy engine being built on EigenLayer. Liquid restaking has recently emerged as a significant trend in the Ethereum ecosystem. In today's podcast, we'll delve into the use cases that restaking unlocks via Active Validating Services (AVSs) through EigenLayer, shedding light on how this innovation is shaping the ecosystem. 0:00 Intro 2:08 ether.fi 7:40 Aethos 13:15 Economic Security 18:28 AVS Allocations 23:20 Aethos Revenue 30:08 Risks of AVSs 39:40 Rehypothecation 43:07 Depeg Risk 54:14 ether.fi Roadmap 57:28 Aethos Roadmap Our sponsors https://www.solanacrossroads.com/ https://summer.fi/?utm_source=Defiant&utm_campaign=podcast&utm_content=Synfutures: https://oyster.synfutures.com/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

TN Lee is the founder of Pendle Finance - a DeFi platform that enables users to tokenize and trade future yield on Ethereum assets. Pendle has shown remarkable expansion since the beginning of the year, elevating its TVL from $250 million to over $3 billion in just a few months. In this podcast, we explore the fundamentals of Pendle Finance, providing a comprehensive understanding of one of DeFi's most complex and innovative products. We start off with a background into Lee, then breakdown Pendle's core concepts and gradually dive deeper into Pendle's use cases, risks, and future plans. 0:00 Intro 0:53 TL;DR Pendle 2:06 TN Lee 7:30 Pendle V1 12:13 Growth of Pendle 22:04 Pendle Basics (PT, YT) 30:53 Use Cases 36:25 Pendle Users 38:25 Risks 48:43 Learnings From Kyber 49:39 TradFi vs Pendle 51:20 $PENDLE 58:19 What's Next? Our sponsor Synfutures: https://oyster.synfutures.com/ DeFi Saver: https://defisaver.com/?utm_source=Defiant+Youtube&utm_medium=Podcast+Shoutout+february&utm_campaign=Defiant+podcast+shoutout+ad ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Tomer Weller is the VP of Product at Stellar, one of the earliest alternative Layer 1 chains that existed before Ethereum. Stellar recently launched Soroban, its smart contract platform, designed to enhance the blockchain's functionality with efficient, developer-friendly tools for building sophisticated applications. In today's conversation, we dive deep into Stellar, overview their fundamentals, reflect on its decade long journey as a Layer 1 blockchain, and have a closer look into the current use cases. Thanks to Stellar for supporting independent journalism. 0:00 Intro 0:58 Stellar Overview 2:01 Tomer Weller 3:48 Stellar Fundamentals 8:49 Being Early 12:06 Smart Contracts 17:26 Attracting Developers 23:09 Use Cases 29:52 Argentina 33:10 Franklin Templeton 36:49 Censorship Resistance 39:30 Scaling 55:17 Stellar Validators 1:00:58 What's Next? ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Erica Kang is the CEO and founder of KryptoSeoul, a leading community building team in South Korea that focuses on blockchain projects. Erica has been a bridge between the East and the West for a very long time, and today we get to dive deep into her journey. She grew up in Korea, then moved to the United States and did a stint in Vietnam. She has not only reshaped the blockchain landscape, but she's also championed a new era of community driven empowerment. Before we dive into all of that, Erica will share a little bit about how she first got involved in the crypto community. 0:00 Intro 0:48 Community in Crypto 5:16 Erika Kang's Personal Journey 8:03 Differences in Culture 13:12 BUIDL Asia + ETH Seoul 15:47 Crypto Projects in Korea 20:30 Kimchi Premium 22:20 Information Flow 26:55 BTC as SOV 30:09 Terra's Implosion 33:00 KryptoSeoul Community 38:17 Events in Asia 40:50 How are you defiant? ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

In today's podcast we host two guests: Kevin Owocki, co-founder of Gitcoin, and Meg Lister, GM at Gitcoin Grants Labs. Gitcoin is a platform that connects developers with open-source projects for funding, collaboration, and building digital public goods through various forms of contribution like coding, design, and more. In our conversation we learn about the origin story of Gitcoin and breakdown the main funding mechanisms, such as quadratic funding and retroactive funding, benefits of onchain capital allocation over traditional funding mechanisms, and we delve into Allo Protocol, an open-source protocol that enables groups to efficiently and transparently allocate pooled capital. 0:00 Intro 1:37 Kevin Owocki and Meg Lister 4:12 The Story of Gitcoin 12:39 Quadratic and Retroactive Funding 18:21 Main Usecases 24:35 Grants Programs in the Bull 28:44 Onchain Capital Allocation 33:53 Allo Protocol 37:33 Gitcoin Token 38:17 Revenue 41:01 Ultimate Vision 49:05 Fiat Onramps Our sponsor Synfutures: https://oyster.synfutures.com/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Evan Cheng is the Co-founder & CEO at Mysten Labs, which is the team behind Sui Network. In their words, Sui is a Layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform "designed to make digital asset ownership fast, private, secure, and accessible". In our conversation we explore the potential of this up and coming Layer 1 by learning about the underlying motivation of the founder, what makes it different from other blockchains, in particular Aptos, the current main uses cases, and more. 0:00 Intro 1:06 Who is Evan Cheng 8:32 Why Web2 doesn't work 12:05 Lessons from building Libra 15:46 Sui vs Other Layer 1s 27:11 Modular Blockchains 28:50 Sui Use Cases 33:51 Challenges of usng Move 36:43 Future of DeFi 44:00 Bull Market 2024 46:12 Incentive Program on Sui 51:30 Future of Blockchains 53:50 What's Next for Sui? Our sponsor https://oyster.synfutures.com?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=news_release#/odyssey ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Guy Young is the founder and CEO of Ethena Labs, which is the entity behind Ethena, the synthetic dollar protocol built on Ethereum. Ethena also introduces a universally available dollar-linked savings option known as the 'Internet Bond'. Ethena introduces an innovative stablecoin model. Throughout our discussion, we thoroughly explore the mechanics and intricacies of Ethena, gaining a deeper understanding of its operation and the risks involved. 0:00 Intro 1:24 Guy Young's Background and Ethena Origin Story 5:33 How is USDe Different? 11:56 Off Exchange Provider Risks 20:23 ETH Short Positions 31:08 Insurance Fund 38:35 USDe Scalability 42:44 New Collateral 45:35 Staked ETH Depeg 48:48 Stablecoin / USDe Use Cases 57:33 Ethena Airdrop 1:00:00 Biggest Risk 1:02:42 Success for Ethena 1:05:40 Revenue Our sponsors https://defisaver.com/?utm_source=Defiant+Youtube&utm_medium=Podcast+Shoutout+february&utm_campaign=Defiant+podcast+shoutout+ad https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast https://matcha.xyz/swap-tokens?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=defiant-24Q1 ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Avery Ching is the co-founder and CTO of Aptos, which is a Layer 1 blockchain developed by former Facebook employees that launched towards the end of 2022. Aptos uses the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism and aims to achieve high throughput and high security for smart contracts. In our conversation, we cover the fundamentals of Aptos, with Avery highlighting the unique features that set Aptos apart from other Layer 1s, we delve into the technical aspect, focusing on the concept of Dynamic Parallelism, Avery addresses the concerns surrounding the significant venture capital investment in Aptos, we also explore the current and potential future use cases, including the introduction of the Aptos Phone. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:45 What makes Aptos different? 10:15 Trilemma 15:07 Aptos fundamentals 17:45 Aptos VS Sui 20:07 Dynamic Parallelism 23:30 VC Chain 25:15 Points and Airdrops 27:05 Aptos Labs + Foundation 28:27 Aptos Use cases 38:17 Verifying Content On Chain 42:30 Aptos Phone 48:33 Future of Blockchain 51:45 Success for Aptos ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom editorial@thedefiant.io 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships sponsors@thedefiant.io #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3