Shows
Into the Bytecode#52 – Michael Nielsen on being a wise optimist about science and technologyThis is my conversation with Michael Nielsen, scientist, author, and research fellow at the Astera Institute.Timestamps:- 00:00:00 intro- 00:01:06 cultivating optimism amid existential risks- 00:07:16 asymmetric leverage- 00:12:09 are "unbiased" models even feasible?- 00:18:44 AI and the scientific method- 00:23:23 unlocking AI's full power through better interfaces- 00:30:33 sponsor: Splits- 00:31:18 AIs, independent agents or intelligent tools?- 00:35:47 autonomous military and weapons- 00:42:14 finding alignment- 00:48:28 aiming for specific moral outcomes with AI?- 00:54:42 freedom/progress vs safety- 00:57:46 provable beneficiary surveillance...2025-03-271h 16
Into the Bytecode#51 – Jeffrey Quesnelle on Nous Research, large language models, and the human mindThis is my conversation with Jeffrey Quesnelle, cofounder of Nous Research.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:01:08) working with new technologies- (00:06:15) Nous Research origin story- (00:14:08) open frontiers in research- (00:26:07) fourier transforms for gradient compression- (00:32:58) math behind distributed training- (00:38:18) sponsor: Splits- (00:39:02) neural networks history and fundamentals- (00:51:29) the human mind and AI, hyperdimensional representation- (01:01:15) intuition and reasoning- (01:15:00) parallels with reinforcement learning- (01:19:15) the cat is out of the bag- (01:47:11) deeper mysteriesLinks:- Jeffrey Quesnelle...2025-03-182h 05
Into the Bytecode#50 – Alexander Long on Pluralis Research and protocol learning for frontier modelsThis is my conversation with Alexander Long, Founder & CEO of Pluralis Research.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:00:55) collaborative training- (00:09:49) economics of training- (00:13:10) what is protocol learning? - (00:20:48) protocol learning design and politics- (00:33:39) sponsor: Splits- (00:34:22) hardware requirements- (00:41:53) adapting to the landscape- (00:49:53) open and closed models- (00:52:52) market structure with fully open models- (00:56:34) research and risks- (01:02:19) labor and national security- (01:10:58) looking to the future- (01:14:20) outroLinks:- Alexander on X: https://x.com...2025-02-251h 14
Into the Bytecode#49 – Jim Posen on cryptographic acceleration with BiniusThis is my conversation with Jim Posen, the Cofounder and CTO at Irreducible.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:01:12) getting deeper into cryptography- (00:07:06) revisiting binary fields- (00:15:50) building the verifiable internet- (00:26:14) sponsor: Splits- (00:26:57) revival of binary fields- (00:38:55) Binius- (00:42:46) bringing Binius to production- (00:48:27) creating new hardware- (00:53:57) getting to v1- (01:02:03) Ethereum stateless proofs and zkVMs- (01:13:21) outroLinks:- Jim on X: https://x.com/jimpo_potamus- Jim on Github: https://github.com/jimpo...2025-02-131h 13
Into the Bytecode#48 – Michael Bentley on Euler, credit, and natural selectionThis is my conversation with Michael Bentley, the cofounder and CEO of Euler and previously a dynamical systems postdoctoral research associate at Oxford.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:01:11) early DeFi and experiencing the 2008 crash- (00:06:52) interest rate design and PIDs- (00:20:40) risk management- (00:28:27) sponsor: Splits- (00:29:10) macro view of the world- (00:32:27) the fundamental importance of credit- (00:35:47) Euler protocol design- (00:39:08) modularity and integration- (00:54:40) network topology- (01:10:55) natural selection and dynamical systems- (01:26:33) outroLinks:- Michael on X: https...2025-01-101h 26
Into the Bytecode#47 – Jake Chervinsky on regulations from first principlesThis is my conversation with Jake Chervinsky, Chief Legal Officer at Variant, and previously the Chief Policy Officer at Blockchain Association and General Counsel at Compound Labs.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:01:15) ELI5: how the US government works- (00:10:44) DOGE and the powers of the executive- (00:19:27) DUNAs, DAOs, and decentralized governance- (00:27:55) how the law reacts to new technology- (00:40:19) sponsor: Splits- (00:41:02) incentives and philosophies of regulators- (00:48:10) lobbying and goals for the next administration- (01:01:58) advice for crypto founders- (01:13:39) personal motivations- (01:19:30) outro2024-12-231h 19
Into the Bytecode#46 – Andrew Miller on TEEs, account delegation, research, and the early days in BitcoinThis is my conversation with Andrew Miller who is working on product at Teleport, and is also Associate Director at IC3 and Board Member at the Zcash Foundation.Timestamps:- (00:00:00) intro- (00:00:59) from bitcoin research to privacy, ZKPs, and MPC- (00:13:23) trust models and threat vectors to TEEs- (00:21:16) what is possible with trustless TEEs?- (00:38:37) TEEs-based internet agents- (00:45:41) Dstack, a p2p architecture for TEEs- (00:52:50) learnings as a researcher- (00:58:42) sponsor: Splits- (00:59:25) pathfinding in research- (01:06:11) 2011 bitcoin unboxing and the early bitcoin ecosystem2024-12-161h 21
Into the Bytecode#45 – Quintus Kilbourn on TEEs and Secure HardwareThis is my conversation with Quintus Kilbourn, researcher at Flashbots and currently working on Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs).Timestamps:- (00:00:00) - intro- (00:01:06) - what is a TEE- (00:12:23) - TEE use cases: one-shot transactions, autonomous AI agents- (00:25:27) - unbreakable hardware enclaves- (00:41:14) - physical hardware access as a threat vector- (00:47:20) - sponsor: Splits- (00:48:04) - defending against physical attacks- (00:55:57) - resources focused on TEEs- (01:10:25) - defending against supply chain attacks- (01:19:34) - hardware imaging- (01:28:48) - the roadmap- (01:32:53...2024-12-061h 33
Into the Bytecode#44 – Markus Haas on ethOS and building a crypto-native deviceThis is my conversation with Markus Haas, the CEO of Freedom Factory and cocreator of the dGEN1.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:28) - ethOS origin story(00:07:54) - the vision and values(00:09:56) - the need for an alternative to iOS and Android(00:15:30) - sponsor: Splits(00:16:14) - building on GrapheneOS(00:28:32) - dGEN1, an everyday carry device(00:37:05) - what's next for ethOS?(00:43:02) - the company, funding, profitability(00:49:00) - outroLinks:- Markus on X: https://x.com/mhaas_eth- ethOS on X: https://x.com/EthereumPhone...2024-11-2949 min
Into the Bytecode#43 – Uma Roy on Succinct, STARKs, and zkVM architectureThis is my conversation with Uma Roy, cofounder and CEO of Succinct.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:57) - origin story(00:02:19) - SP1 architecture(00:09:43) - STARKs, FRI, and hash-based cryptography(00:15:09) - recursion(00:21:12) - upgrading the proof system(00:33:11) - sponsor: Splits(00:33:54) - security in ZK systems(00:37:46) - converting optimistic rollups into zk rollups(00:43:39) - zkVM vs custom circuits(00:48:48) - ZK for scaling and interoperability(01:00:24) - the lifecycle of a proof(01:06:26) - hardware(01:10:57) - outroLinks- Uma on X: https://x.com/pumatheuma...2024-10-231h 11
Into the Bytecode#42 – Andrew Huang on Conduit and scaling onchain computeThis is my conversation with Andrew Huang, the founder and CEO of Conduit.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:42) - onchain and cloud compute(00:05:20) - parallel execution(00:09:08) - the application's perspective(00:16:14) - scaling the sequencer(00:26:52) - sponsor: Splits (00:27:36) - interoperability(00:33:11) - rollup economics(00:42:33) - moving from tech to crypto(00:47:43) - Georgios Konstantopoulos(00:52:02) - outroLinks:Andrew Huang: https://x.com/KAndrewHuangConduit: https://www.conduit.xyzConduit on X: https://x.com/conduitxyzThank you to our sponsor for making this podcast...2024-10-1852 min
Into the Bytecode#41 – Georgios Konstantopoulos on Reth, engineering management, and feedback loopsThis is my conversation with Georgios Konstantopoulos, General Partner and CTO at Paradigm.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:47) - iterating on rollups(00:07:52) - Reth architecture(00:25:44) - sponsor: Splits(00:26:27) - feedback loops with performance, stability, extensibility(00:36:14) - feedback loops with the team(00:49:17) - writing for thinking(00:54:47) - the big vision(01:10:49) - outroLinks:Georgios Konstantopoulos on X - https://x.com/gakonstGeorgios Konstantopoulos on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gakonsParadigm on X - https://x.com/paradigmTailscale Blog: The New...2024-09-301h 11
Into the Bytecode#40 – Vitalik Buterin on political philosophy in the 21st centuryThis is my conversation with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:33) - the crypto lens on political philosophy(00:15:12) - the transition from the 20th to the 21st century(00:24:29) - sponsor: Splits(00:25:12) - the dimensions of uncertainty(00:46:14) - the duality between being idealistic and effective(00:58:46) - outroLinks:Vitalik Buterin on X - https://x.com/VitalikButerinVitalik Buterin on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/vitalik.ethVitalik Buterin on making sense in a changing world - https://www.intothebytecode.com/26-vitalikVitalik...2024-09-2059 min
Into the Bytecode#39 – Eric Alston on the US constitutionThis is my conversation with Eric Alston, faculty director at the Leeds School of Business at CU Boulder and research associate with the Comparative Constitutions Project.Timestamps:(00:00) - intro
(01:29) - choice in institutions matters
(08:53) - secondary rules as rules for making rules
(17:41) - constitutional moments
(20:41) - how the US constitution has endured
(28:39) - the characteristics of the US constitution
(34:18) - sponsor: Splits
(35:01) - the economic balance between federal/state govts
(47:24) - presidential vs parliamentary systems
(01:01:13) - blockchains as experimental ground for governance
(01:13:50) - outro
Links:Eric Alston - https://x.com...2024-09-181h 14
Into the Bytecode#38 – BaseCamp 001: Jesse Pollak (Base), Ben Leventhal (Blackbird), Julian Holguin (Doodles), Yele Bademosi (Onboard)This is my conversation with Jesse Pollak (creator of Base), Ben Leventhal (founder/CEO of Blackbird), Julian Holguin (CEO of Doodles), and Yele Bademosi (cofounder/CEO of Onboard).Timestamps:(00:00) - intro
(00:50) - Jesse Pollak, Base
(09:41) - how the Base team is structured
(17:25) - how the mission and strategy came together
(27:43) - the focus in year two
(35:38) - Ben Leventhal, Blackbird
(39:35) - the restaurant P&L
(43:36) - identity and payments
(51:25) - Flynet as an L3
(53:11) - building an economy
(55:46) - the current era of crypto
(57:27) - Julian Holguin, Doodles
(59:40) - the status quo and the new...2024-08-141h 35
Into the Bytecode#37 – Colin Armstrong: Paragraph, writing onchainThis is my conversation with Colin Armstrong, the founder of Paragraph.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:49) - Substack network effects(00:03:53) - new business models(00:15:32) - the content layer and the economic layer(00:21:18) - sponsor: Privy(00:22:34) - mechanisms to think about as a writer(00:29:32) - markets and social networks as forces of chaos(00:33:42) - building for the crypto-native vs the general audience(00:40:43) - emails vs wallets(00:48:23) - ARPU is higher in crypto(00:51:52) - algorithm for finding product-market fit(00:57:10) - sponsor: Optimism(00:58:15) - focus + urgency(01:02:51) - learnings...2024-08-011h 12
Into the Bytecode#36 – Justin Glibert: from Economicus to LudensThis is my conversation with Justin Glibert, CEO of Lattice and cofounder of 0xPARC.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:00:44) - digital physics(00:06:27) - changing physics + capitalism = theme parks(00:16:12) - objective functions are political(00:22:53) - sponsor: Optimism(00:23:58) - individual agency(00:27:25) - violence on the internet(00:39:17) - monoliths(00:47:24) - sponsor: Privy(00:48:40) - value systems(00:58:34) - homo economicus and homo ludens (01:10:50) - Emissary’s guide to worlding(01:16:55) - reading weird books(01:28:49) - outroLinks:Justin Glibert - https://x.com/justinglibert Lattice - https://latt...2024-07-161h 29
Into the Bytecode#35 – Jonny Mack: Hypersub, building for the crypto-native creatorThis is my conversation with Jonny Mack, Cofounder of Fabric and Hypersub.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:05) - motivations(00:05:43) - pooled capital for shared ownership and upside(00:09:24) - the computer and the casino, the purist and the tourist(00:13:59) - sponsor: Privy(00:15:15) - $higher, memecoins, cashflow, headless brands(00:24:38) - STP, Hypersub, minting time(00:32:29) - onchain memberships are legible(00:40:55) - creators are multi-dimensional(00:46:21) - sponsor: Optimism(00:47:25) - a network of networks(00:53:11) - authentic communities(00:59:31) - the difference between punk and hip hop, revenue vs GDP(01:06:41) - building...2024-07-111h 16
Into the Bytecode#34 – Stephane Gosselin: OneBalance, credible accounts and credible commitmentsThis is my conversation with Stephane Gosselin, cofounder of Flashbots, Frontier Research, and OneBalance.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:29) - sponsor: Optimism(00:02:34) - my existential question about crypto(00:07:13) - global consensus is the problem(00:14:27) - architecting a new system(00:21:56) - OneBalance and Credible Accounts(00:29:39) - credible commitment machines(00:34:20) - sponsor: Privy(00:35:35) - the user issues permissions for solvers(00:37:06) - the trust model(00:42:20) - the CAKE framework and the Credible stack(00:47:59) - privacy(00:54:54) - global consensus blockchains and LLM foundation models(00:58:55) - a company is a...2024-06-241h 18
Into the Bytecode#33 – Molly Mackinlay: building FilecoinThis is my conversation with Molly Mackinlay, Head of Engineering, Product, and Research Development at Protocol Labs, and CEO at FilOz.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:59) - sponsor: Privy(00:03:15) - motivation(00:09:30) - exabytes of network capacity(00:12:11) - edge computing, bringing compute to data(00:14:26) - the history of IPFS, libp2p, IPLD, Filecoin, FVM, L2s and IPC(00:20:08) - designing incentives in Filecoin(00:25:11) - designing the block rewards curve(00:27:28) - progress through time(00:31:19) - learnings from building production systems, (00:34:15) - EVM-compatibility, future-proofing and network upgrades(00:43:51) - sponsor: Optimism2024-06-131h 21
Into the Bytecode#32 – Rish: building infrastructure with NeynarThis is my conversation with Rish, cofounder of Neynar, building infrastructure for Farcaster.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:51) - sponsor: Optimism(00:03:01) - the idea maze for Neynar(00:12:46) - exit, building blocks, and monetization models(00:17:20) - how Neynar is architected(00:21:52) - handling Frames Friday(00:25:04) - scaling infrastructure by mapping requests to resources(00:35:05) - sponsor: Privy(00:36:25) - taking good risks as a startup(00:41:55) - iteration and planning ahead, breadth vs depth-first search(00:45:36) - the channel protocol spec(00:51:26) - why build Frame Studio(00:56:55) - companies become extensions of their...2024-05-171h 19
Into the Bytecode#31 – Sreeram Kannan: building the verifiable cloudThis is my conversation with Sreeram Kannan, founder at EigenLayer.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:21) - sponsor: Optimism(00:02:42) - the AVS economy(00:05:24) - blockchains separate trust and innovation(00:16:53) - sponsor: Optimism(00:18:02) - specialized services and SaaS on EigenLayer(00:24:50) - rollups are open verifiable web servers(00:41:35) - rollup economics and business models(01:55:14) - the transition from academic to builder/operator(01:06:38) - impact per unit action(01:10:26) - outroLinks:Sreeram Kannan - https://twitter.com/sreeramkannanEigenLayer - https://twitter.com/eigenlayerThank you...2024-05-081h 11
Into the Bytecode#30 – Doug Petkanics & Eric Tang: open video infrastructureThis is my conversation with Doug Petkanics and Eric Tang, cofounders of Livepeer.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:45) - sponsor: Optimism(00:03:55) - Livepeer origin story(00:11:54) - FFmpeg and the video infrastructure stack(00:17:07) - compute capacity and cost in open vs closed systems(00:22:59) - GPUs as the supply side, working at NVIDIA(00:40:27) - finding latent demand(00:46:10) - sponsor: Privy(00:47:30) - learnings on go-to-market, Livepeer Studio, AI video processing(01:00:54) - AI subnets in the Livepeer network(01:07:51) - doing whatever it takes to get it done(01:13:19) - interacting with the...2024-05-061h 24
Into the Bytecode#29 – Martin Köppelmann: AI agents as onchain actorsThis is my conversation with Martin Köppelmann, cofounder of Gnosis.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:47) - sponsor: Privy(00:03:08) - Gnosis Pay as an onchain bank account(00:13:49) - security, passkeys and recovery(00:21:19) - privacy, Tornado Cash(00:28:25) - sponsor: Optimism(00:29:35) - AI agents as a new form of life(00:36:43) - training with prediction markets as RLHF(00:46:00) - agents and prediction markets as interconnected concepts(00:56:21) - why now for prediction markets(01:09:08) - outroShow notes:Martin Köppelmann - https://twitter.com/koeppelmannPrediction Prophet, an age...2024-03-261h 09
Into the Bytecode#28 – Varun Srinivasan: Farcaster, building a decentralized social networkThis is my conversation with Varun Srinivasan - cofounder of Merkle Manufactory, the company building the Farcaster protocol and the Warpcast client.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:34) - sponsor: Optimism(00:02:44) - Farcaster origins(00:05:59) - sufficient decentralization, namespaces, hubs and CRDTs(00:16:02) - type 1 vs type 2 decisions(00:21:23) - the protocol, channels, clients, spam(00:30:13) direct messaging and end-to-end encryption(00:36:38) - a turing complete social protocol(00:41:58) - sponsor: Privy(00:43:19) - why frames(00:52:14) - Facebook, Twitter, Farcaster(01:03:25) - backstory, growing up in India, Microsoft, YC(01:08:11) - learnings from Coinbase(01:15:13) - b...2024-03-011h 28
Into the Bytecode#27 – Rebecca Rettig & Michael Mosier: genuine DeFi as critical infrastructureThis is my conversation with Rebecca Rettig and Michael Mosier. Rebecca is the Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs. Michael is cofounder of Arktouros and partner at Ex Ante.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:38) - sponsor: Privy(00:02:59) - Rebecca's background, the Silk Road case, Aave, Polygon(00:07:22) - Michael's background, Department of Justice, FinCEN, Espresso Systems, the White House, ex/ante (00:15:12) - the current regulatory regime, Bank Secrecy Act, sanctions laws, miners/validators(00:29:30) - sponsor: Optimism(00:30:40) - genuine DeFi vs onchain CeFi, critical infrastructure(00:44:54) - Uniswap contracts, app vs protocol, w...2024-02-201h 14
Into the Bytecode#26 – Vitalik Buterin: making sense in a changing worldThis is my conversation with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:07) - sponsor: Optimism(00:02:17) - micro prediction markets, community notes, AIs as participants(00:14:13) - decentralized social networks, zk identity, Dark Forest, and Frogcrypto(00:25:54) - the dense jungle(00:30:08) - sponsor: Privy(00:31:29) - political instability, technology(00:34:16) - coordination and technology in climate(00:36:13) - AI, debugging and drawing, agency, security(00:44:02) - timeline for the singularity(00:52:36 ) -living to a 1000 years old(00:54:00) - brain-computer interfaces(01:02:15) - LojbanThank you to our sponsors for making this p...2024-02-091h 05
Into the BytecodeHart Lambur: UMA, Across, Oval, and MEV capture for protocolsThis is my conversation with Hart Lambur. We talk about Hart's path in building UMA (an oracle using schelling points to bring data onchain), Across (an intents-based bridge connecting ETH/L2s), and now Oval (MEV capture for oracle price updates).Timestamps:(00:00:00) - Intro(00:01:29) - Sponsor: Privy (privy.io)(00:02:50) - The idea maze, Goldman Sachs, RFQ systems, legal vs smart contracts(00:11:03) - UMA, schelling point and optimistic oracle(00:16:41) - Raising the seed round(00:19:38) - Across, intent-based bridging architecture(00:30:42) - Sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io)(00:31:52) - Oval(00:46:15) - MEV capture...2024-01-241h 01
Into the BytecodeJesse Pollak: Base, Coinbase's path to building an L2This is my conversation with Jesse Pollak. He led retail engineering at Coinbase for many years — building Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Wallet. More recently, he is leading the development of Base, Coinbase's L2 built on the OP Stack. Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro (00:01:43) - sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io) (00:03:07) - motivation behind Base (00:11:12) - pitching Base to the Coinbase exec team (00:14:24) - challenges of innovating on a schedule (00:17:54) - failing repeatedly to find the right answer (00:22:09) - decision to build an L2 with Michael (00:23:30) - convincing Surojit Chatterjee, Coinbase’s CPO ...2023-06-081h 43
Into the BytecodeLiam Horne: Optimism, and why scaling Ethereum mattersThis is my conversation with Liam Horne, former CEO and advisor to Optimism Labs.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro (00:00:59) - sponsor: Privy (privy.io)(00:03:35) - early influences, classmates with Vitalik in Waterloo(00:08:31) - Ethereum's potential and why scalability matters(00:10:06) - learning from Jeff Coleman(00:17:23) - defining a common language (00:21:06) - importance of community in Ethereum(00:26:34) - hackathons lead to progress(00:31:36) - collaboration as a core ETH value(00:38:30) - humility and collective learning(00:47:27) - building a public good(00:53:07) - building Optimism with Ethereum values(01:09:27) - sponsor: Optimism...2023-06-021h 48
Into the BytecodeAya Miyaguchi: reflections on Ethereum and the Ethereum FoundationThis is my conversation with Aya Miyaguchi, Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:20) - sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io)(00:02:32) - reflecting on early days of Ethereum(00:08:54) - Ethereum as an Infinite Garden(00:19:08) - books and ideas that influenced Aya(00:24:48) - the insignificance of titles(00:31:56) - what does “Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation” mean?(00:40:27) - the “teacher” mindset and how it applies to management(00:47:18) - the importance of diversity(00:51:35) - sponsor: Privy (privy.io)(00:52:57) - the idea of subtraction and how it plays out in pract...2023-05-251h 49
The Life StylistThe Power of Breathwork for Energy, Sleep, Healing, & Spiritual Awakening w/ Othership's Robbie BentToday’s guest, Robbie Bent, and I hit it off right away – kindred spirits, you might say. He's the CEO and co-founder of Othership, which is building a global community to solve the loneliness epidemic, operating the first emotional training classes in North America through a combination of beautiful social spaces, saunas, ice baths, and the leading breathwork mobile app. I am a big fan of the app and will absolutely be attending the workshop tour’s next visit to Austin. Guests on this show often share solutions to what ails the world. But som...2023-02-211h 48
Into the BytecodeDan Romero: Farcaster, building a decentralized social networkThis is my conversation with Dan Romero about Farcaster - a decentralized social network being developed as an open protocol.We talked about how product decisions in social networks have ripple effects on society, Farcaster’s strategy in the highly competitive world of social products, and Dan's personal philosophies around hiring and team building.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:02:08) - why this problem?(00:12:54) - both product and protocol(00:23:41) - the algorithmic feed(00:29:40) - Farcaster’s strategy for competing with Twitter(01:00:52) - approach to team building(01:14:41) - how to use social netw...2022-11-041h 21
Into the BytecodeJango & Nnnnicholas: Juicebox, programming internet-native organizationsThis is my conversation with Jango and Nnnnicholas from Juicebox Protocol. Juicebox is a playful but ambitious project: the DAO operates as a full-stack instantiation of the protocol it's building, and fully reconceptualizes the relationship between contributors and shareholders. It has powered projects like SharkDAO, ConstitutionDAO, and AssangeDAO in the past.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:01:37) - an alternative to traditional org structures(00:09:53) - philosophical alignment(00:27:30) - the key mechanisms of the Juicebox Protocol(00:35:51) - fundraising mechanics and the extensibility of Juicebox v2(00:46:05) - a DAOs’s origins shape its culture(00:54:46) - gu...2022-09-281h 39
Into the BytecodeNadia Asparouhova: on public goods & peer productionNadia Asparouhova is an independent researcher. She previously wrote about her research on open-source communities in "Working in Public", and more recently, has been researching the history of and approaches to philanthropy - which she defines with this phrase “if venture capital is risk capital for private goods, philanthropy is risk capital for public goods”.In this conversation, we talked about public goods from this broader perspective. We talked about how previous generations have thought about this question, and how the tech ecosystem outside of crypto are grappling with this today. We talked about the second-order effects of w...2022-08-311h 15
Into the BytecodeJulien Niset: Argent, building on StarkNet, and a primer on account abstractionJulien Niset is the cofounder and Chief Science Officer at Argent, a crypto wallet that's used and loved by many people in the crypto ecosystem.In this conversation, we talk about how Argent has evolved to get to where it is today. How Julien sees user experience evolving broadly in the ecosystem, and what the flow of a new person interacting with a crypto application for the first time might look like in the future.Another topic we get into deeply is L2s, how Julien and Argent have thought about the topic of EVM equivalence...2022-08-241h 34
Into the BytecodePedro Gomes: WalletConnect v2, account abstraction, and building a communications protocolPedro Gomes is the cofounder of WalletConnect, a communications protocol that enables wallets and apps to securely connect and interact.In this conversation, We talked about WalletConnect v2 and its architecture, account abstraction, potential downstream effects of a crypto-native chat protocol, and other topics.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - intro(00:08:00) - developing the user experience before creating the product (00:10:23) - account abstraction and the spectrum of security and convenience(00:20:39) - WalletConnect APIs and “Log in with Ethereum”(00:28:55) - how WalletConnect works(00:37:45) - light clients and generalized messaging protocols(00:45:36) - the politics of m...2022-08-111h 02
Into the BytecodeBonus: Zeitgeist season threeZeitgeist is a laboratory for building crypto-native products/protocols, and is what I've been working on alongside this podcast.We've come together for two seasons in the past with teams you'll be familiar with from this podcast like Sound.xyz and Coordinape, and are bringing together a new cohort of teams for season three later this year. If you're building a new crypto-native product/protocol, get in touch by August 26 to participate: zeitgeist.xyz2022-08-1001 min
Into the BytecodeJosh Stark: the Ethereum Foundation & Atoms, Institutions, BlockchainsHere is my conversation with Josh Stark.Josh has a long history in the Ethereum ecosystem going back to the early days of the community. He cofounded one of the first L2 scaling protocols with Counterfactual. He also cofounded ETHGlobal which is a much-loved series of hackathons/events that brings the community together and which acts as an entry point into the ecosystem for many people. And nowadays and most relevant to our conversation, he works in a leadership capacity at the Ethereum Foundation.In this conversation, we talked about two topics: one being the...2022-06-141h 16
Into the Bytecode0age: Seaport, and protocol development with OpenSea0age is the Head of Protocol Development at OpenSea, and this was a conversation about Seaport, the new marketplace protocol for buying and selling NFTs.0age takes us through a tour of the Seaport protocol, talking about how it's architected; how conduits and zones work; and we even get into the low level gas optimization work they've done on the contracts. I hope this can be a helpful resource for anyone looking to understand the Seaport protocol or anyone who's building with NFTs more broadly. I also consider 0age to be a true veteran of the space...2022-06-021h 22
Into the BytecodeCharles St.Louis: Element Finance, and voting vaults as a primitiveCharles St.Louis is the COO at Element Finance, a protocol for fixed and variable rate yield markets and previously the governance architect at MakerDAO. In this conversation, we talked about Element’s governance system - with a particular focus on voting vaults, a powerful new primitive that decouple the relationship between capital and voting power and allow much more expressiveness in how users are given a governance voice in the ecosystem.Timestamps:(00:02:54) - MakerDAO’s arc of decentralization(00:07:51) - how Maker influenced Element’s design(00:10:22) - the Governance Steering Council(00:21:25) - voting vaults...2022-05-2448 min
Into the BytecodeHenri Stern: Privy, building for data privacy and securityHere is my conversation with Henri Stern who is building Privy.Henri was previously a research scientist at Protocol Labs and worked on Filecoin’s consensus protocol. And after many years of thinking through problems related to data privacy and security, he recently co-founded a new company called Privy where they provide a suite of API tools to store and manage user data off chain.In this conversation, we talked through a set of topics that Henri has a unique point of view on — starting with the question around the seeming trade-off between privacy/security on the...2022-05-201h 15
Into the BytecodeMatthew Chaim: Songcamp, immersive digital theatreMatthew Chaim is building a laboratory experimenting at the edges of music and web3.It's called Songcamp, and right now they're running their third immersive experience. They're coming together with a group of musicians, visual designers, developers, and at the end of this process, will be releasing new music under the moniker of a single headless artist called Chaos.I've been personally completely nerdsniped by Songcamp and think it’s one of the most beautiful corners of our web3 ecosystem.Timestamps:(00:01:08) - Songcamp a web3 laboratory(00:03:27) - songwriting camps(00:06:30) - imaginative language an...2022-05-0556 min
Into the BytecodeSimon de la Rouviere: cc0, derivatives, and bottom-up storytellingHere is my conversation with Simon de la Rouviere.Simon’s exploration of creative mechanism design through the years is documented on his blog. His contributions to the space range from seeding the idea of bonding curves and curation markets, to building one of the first creator platforms with Ujo, to writing a full length novel experimenting with different publishing models, to now working on bottom-up storytelling with Untitled Frontier.In this conversation, we talked about cc0, designing NFT economies to welcome derivative works, bottom-up storytelling, and much more.Timestamps:(00:01:29) - How Si...2022-04-2851 min
Into the BytecodeSound.xyz: web3 listening parties | David Greenstein, Matt Masurka (Gigamesh), & Vignesh HirudayakanthHere is my conversation with David Greenstein, Matt Masurka (Gigamesh), & Vignesh Hirudayakanth, the cofounders at Sound.xyz.Sound is a platform that helps musicians host listening parties and engage with their fans. It's a suite of tools that will grow over time to help musicians make a living using NFTs and other web3-native primitives.I was particularly looking forward to this conversation since David, Matt, and Vignesh participated in Zeitgeist Season One and we got to work pretty closely together. They're moving fast and are working towards a beautiful vision of the world.2022-03-0145 min
Into the BytecodeMike Sall & Blake West: Goldfinch, uncollateralized loans in emerging markets.Mike Sall and Blake West are the founders of Goldfinch, a decentralized protocol facilitating uncollateralized credit.“One of the borrowers is a company based in Uganda. They provide rent-to-own loans for motorcycle taxis to thousands of customers. They've borrowed $5m to expand their operations."Thousands of people in countries like Uganda, India, and Brazil have been financed by Goldfinch loans through local lenders, largely without realizing crypto is the source of funds.These local lenders are largely innovative fintechs in the global south, and have historically fallen into an uncanny valley — they need too...2022-02-081h 28
Into the BytecodeJustin Glibert: Ember, and building onchain games.The conversation on publishing today is the very first one I recorded for the podcast about six months ago. It's a conversation with Justin Glibert about patterns he's uncovered while building Ember (an onchain game) and Lattice (the engine behind the game) — patterns related to inflation and zero sum resources, spacial constraints, and user impersonation. I hope you enjoy.Into the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https://twitter.com/sinahab- Sina Habibian on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahab- Into the Bytecode: https://intothebytecode.com Disclaimer: this podcast is for...2021-12-2434 min
Into the BytecodePhillip Wang and Nate Foss: Gather, and building the open metaverseThis is a conversation with Phillip Wang and Nate Foss two of the co-founders of Gather.Gather is a video chat platform that puts you and the people you're communicating with in a virtual space - and gives you the ability to move around and interact with them based on your locations in that space, just like in real life. It's had a ton of traction over the last year and is being used by millions of people around the world. It's one of the coolest products I've personally used in recent memory.As you...2021-11-251h 11
Into the BytecodeTracheopteryx: Yearn, Coordinape, and pseudonymityThis is a conversation with Tracheopteryx about the evolution of Yearn, Coordinape, and pseudonymity.Tracheopteryx has been a key leader in the Yearn Finance community since its legendary genesis event. In this conversation, we talk about key moments in Yearn's evolution with an eye towards takeaways that might be useful for other projects. We talk about the introduction of the multisig; the mint — a complex governance proposal where the community eventually chose to dilute themselves in order to reward core contributors; and constrained delegation - the governance framework that Trach helped design and which is operating in Ye...2021-11-041h 12
Into the BytecodeJohn Palmer & Danny Aranda: PartyDAO, and shipping product as a DAOThis is a conversation with John Palmer and Danny Aranda about PartyDAO and PartyBid - the product that lets people pool their funds and participate in NFT auctions as a team.We dive deep into their experience building this project. We talk about what they see as the role of product vision in the DAO, how they think about hiring, the organizational design, the stack of tools they use to operate, and the legal structures they're considering. And that's not all — we also touched the role of community in NFTs, social investing, and what John and Danny se...2021-10-291h 40
Into the BytecodeAustin Griffith: building on EthereumThis is a conversation with Austin Griffith about his continued journey as a builder/educator, and learnings from onboarding thousands of developers onto Ethereum.Austin is a friend and someone I've had the good fortune of working with extensively in our shared time at the Ethereum foundation. In this conversation, we take a tour through the different projects he's worked on over the last two years — starting with ETH.build (the graphical interface for working with smart contracts), moving to scaffold-eth (his development starter kit that has really taken off and been used by thousands of developers), an...2021-10-131h 17
Into the BytecodeGubsheep: Dark Forest, and building crypto-native games.This is a conversation with Gubsheep about Dark Forest and building crypto-native games.Dark Forest is a uniquely crypto-native game, and embodies patterns that we can all learn from. It's a game that takes place in a procedurally-generated universe that's shared by all players, where the smart contracts enforce the rules of the game, but where they don't leak information about what each player is up to by using ZK SNARKs.In this conversation, we talk about how Dark Forest uses ZK SNARKs to enable this core game mechanic, how it has organically built a...2021-09-3050 min
Into the BytecodeDanny Ryan & Tim Beiko: Eth1, Eth2, and the MergeMy guests today are Tim Beiko and Danny Ryan - the lead coordinators for the Eth1 and Eth2 development efforts.In this conversation, we go deep on the future of the Ethereum protocol together. We talk about the Merge (the transition from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake via the Beacon Chain - which is the most substantial Ethereum network upgrade to date, and happening sooner than many people realize), the cryptoeconomics of PoS, MEV, staking derivatives, and how protocol development works in practice.Into the Bytecode:- Sina Habibian on X: https...2021-09-201h 28
Into the BytecodeVitalik Buterin & Karl Floersch: Retroactive Public Goods FundingThis is a conversation with Vitalik Buterin and Karl Floersch. Vitalik is the creator of Ethereum, and Karl is a long-time Ethereum researcher who is working on Optimism (the Layer 2 optimistic rollup). We begin the conversation with a focus on retroactive public goods funding - a compelling idea that Vitalik and Karl shared earlier this year. We then move onto topics like decoupling value creation and value capture, the sustainability of public goods, Ether's Phoenix (a play on Roko's Basilisk, the thought experiment which originated in the LessWrong community), and governance models as lying somewhere on the c...2021-09-1052 min