The Gwart Show | Blockspace Media

Zack Shapiro, Head of Policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and Founder of Rains, joins us to talk about the shifting landscape of crypto regulation under the Trump administration. We discuss why the CLARITY Act is in limbo, the "Defi mullet" and the legal challenges facing AI agents. Zack gives a behind-the-scenes look at the banking lobby's war on stablecoin yields and evaluates the progress of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: * Banks lobbied for 1:1 yield ban. * Coinbase takes their pound of flesh * AI ends billable hour standard. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:24 Who is Zack? 01:25 Bitcoin Policy Institute 04:23 Current policy outlook 10:49 CLARITY Act 17:34 Will CLARITY pass? 19:32 Commodities vs Securities 21:02 Safe harbor 21:19 Howey & Utility tokens 22:37 Developer protections 24:25 How good are protections in CLARITY? 28:56 Crypto crashout & AI agents 33:43 Front ends & KYC 36:13 OFAC 39:43 Ideals in crypto 42:21 BASE 43:30 Crypto in-fighting 46:55 LLMs & the law 52:17 Prediction markets The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs dot xyz slash careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin and Mitchell, Co-Founders of Sierra, talk about how their backgrounds in central banking and liquid funds led them to build a next-generation stablecoin protocol. We chat about the mechanics of yield, the regulatory landscape for platforms like Polymarket, and why the current shift in crypto is moving toward lean, efficient fintech models. Notes: * 95% to 100% of capital earns yield * Money market yields currently 2-3% * Industry shift to fintech and robotics Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:44 Mitchell's background 02:11 Kevin's background 03:41 What is Sierra? 05:07 Yield strategies 05:31 Why is Sierra different? 09:01 Abstracting complexity away 10:50 Assessing risk 14:40 Yield percentages 15:48 DeFi Summer yields 18:05 Why use Sierra? 24:00 RWAs & T-bills 27:34 RWA "quality" 32:20 What is "on-chain"? 37:14 Composability 42:04 Current state of funds 46:38 Future of venture funding 49:24 Winners & losers The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs.xyz/careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tyler Whittle, Head of Product at Project 11 , joins us to talk about the intersection of quantum hardware and cryptographic security. He explains why current encryption like RSA and ECC are vulnerable , the progress made by Google’s Willow in noise reduction , and the specific NIST timelines for 2035. Tyler says the industry can prepare for Q-Day with new standards and why the transition is a race against time for global financial privacy and the Bitcoin network. Notes: * NIST says to deprecate classical crypto by 2035. * Google Willow reduces noise as qubits increase. * 35% of Cloudflare traffic is already PQC. * Quantum hardware could factor numbers in 18 mo. * Quantum signatures will increase Bitcoin fees. * Q-Day risk is mispriced in digital assets. Timeline: 00:02:05 Quantum Cats 00:04:57 Project Eleven 00:07:33 Project Eleven business case? 00:10:44 What's currently happening in Quantum? 00:18:10 Willow chip 00:25:33 Physical space vs digital space 00:29:10 Wen Quantum unlock? 00:29:56 Error correction 00:34:16 What is a red flag event? 00:38:00 Won't the NSA save us? 00:43:18 Costs of new signature schemes? 00:44:41 Proposals for BTC changes 00:46:31 Old coins, wat do? 00:51:49 Economic actors 00:53:14 Nuking price 00:59:13 Bitcoin vs other blockchains 01:00:46 Block size increase 01:05:56 Quantum money 01:11:04 Timelines The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs dot xyz slash careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Hoffman, Podcaster at Bankless, joins us to talk about the evolution of crypto from a naive 2017 dream to the harsh reality of 2026. We dive into the "blockchain, not Bitcoin" rebirth, the death of Discord-led communities, and why Wall Street's tokenization is missing the point. David shares his excitement for AI-driven capital markets, the innovative app ecosystem on MegaETH, and why his portfolio remains heavily weighted in ETH despite the nihilistic market sentiment. Notes: * Ryan Sean Adams took a 3-month sabbatical. * David Hoffman's portfolio is still mostly ETH. * Bankless VC fund downsized to 15-20 checks. * China is aggressively increasing gold reserves. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:23 State of crypto 03:21 What's still exciting 08:14 Crypto's original vision 12:57 Community going away? 19:16 Hyperliquid 20:44 What are L2's actually being used for? 25:17 Ordering transactions 27:26 Ellipsis Labs Ad 28:14 Future of media 33:28 Money leaving the crypto space 35:41 Risk & return math 39:41 Bankless Ventures 45:07 Possible bright spots? 50:15 Future of Bankless 58:21 Bankless regrets 1:01:31 Fully changing his mind 1:04:28 Crypto's end game is here? 1:07:51 ETH: bull or bear? 1:10:40 David's personal portfolio? The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs.xyz/careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lucas & Hersch from World Markets joins us to break down why crypto trading infrastructure is fundamentally broken: how fully onchain order books, unified risk engines, and capital-efficient design could reshape perps trading. Chapters: 0:02 Intro & guest background 1:28 From exchanges to hedge funds 3:26 Monad vs MegaETH decision 5:00 Why L2s beat L1s for trading 6:49 DeFi security flaws explained 10:29 How onchain traders find alpha 18:01 What World Markets actually is 21:59 1010 Crash explained 28:13 Why centralized exchanges fail 47:48 The 50% basis trade example 53:00 Hersch finally gets to speak The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs dot xyz slash careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max Resnick, Lead Economist at Anza, joins Gwart to talk about optimizing Solana for financial markets. He discusses the shift from Ethereum, the mechanics of MCP to stop censorship, and how "ACE" (Application Control Execution) empowers apps. Max discusses dominance of Prop AMMs, the controversy around block packing, and how Solana plans to compete with Hyperliquid in the perp market. Notes: - Binance retail fee is ~10 basis points- Prop AMM execution gap up to 10 bps- Humidify quotes 0.1 bps spreads Timestamps:00:00 Start00:28 Anza experience02:10 What's Max working on?05:41 New respect for development08:42 MCP > MEV12:33 Validators & toxic flow15:14 MCP status16:32 Writing code18:20 ACE21:30 Taker speed bump & Hyperliquid23:47 Oracle updates24:13 On-chain co-location26:38 Priority fee27:01 Deny list28:23 Tighter than Binance33:18 Spreads36:23 Prop AMM winners38:33 SEP & Solana40:40 MEV report44:55 User costs of MEV47:26 Block time reduction50:30 Transaction packing58:45 Prop AMMs & breaking composability1:01:23 Hyperliquid1:03:48 Solona slipping on Perps The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges. Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ⁠⁠ellipsislabs.xyz⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bitcoin developer Brandon Black (ReardenCode) analyzes the reality of the quantum computing threat to Bitcoin. He explains the timeline for potential encryption breaks and why the sky isn't falling just yet. Brandon explains proposed solutions like BIP 360 and OP_CAT, and we debate whether Satoshi's stash will eventually be stolen or confiscated. Notes: * RSA keys moved from 1024 to 4096 bits * 2-3k logical qubits needed to break ECC * Logical qubits need 99.999% accuracy * Biggest quantum factored number is ~15. * BIP 360 new BC1Z address type. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:25 The Quantum discussion 02:43 Initial thoughts on Quantum 06:51 How would a Quantum computer work? 11:10 Quantum vs conventional computing 14:25 Rearden's general take on Quantum 16:29 Why so divided on issue? 20:13 Error correction 22:42 You gave it the answer already 25:36 It's not scaling! 30:06 Easily readable research? 34:24 The "hidden" quantum computer 38:08 Crab market = roll FUD dice 39:59 TradFi is jumpy 41:01 The plan 42:57 What is "bitcoin working"? 46:13 Screeching about Core Devs 48:21 Core team & gatekeeping 53:12 BIP 360 56:19 Are MY keys safe now? 1:01:20 Satoshi's coins 1:05:04 Opinions in the community 1:10:56 Bitcoin upgrades coming? The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges.  Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ⁠⁠ellipsislabs.xyz⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vladimir Novakovski, CEO of Lighter, explains their pivot from AI to a high-speed DEX. He addresses the controversy behind their zero-fee model and how ZK circuits ensure verifiability. Vlad says they're surprised at the success of Forex on Lighter, future plans for options and fixed income, and addresses community questions about token value and equity rights. Notes:- Spent 18 months building tech stack- 1,000+ trading shops in contact with Lighter- Polymarket has "pretty efficient" pricing Timestamps:00:00    Start00:35    Surprises of success02:50    Winning Perp DEX Season06:30    Regulations11:49    What parts need to be on-chain?16:57    Sidecar21:35    Forex trading flows24:35    Spot markets28:03    Future of zero fees31:15    Public book & toxic flow36:44    Standardizing Perp DEXs40:16    Paths to revenue45:47    User acquisition & tokens49:28    The Hyperliquid Standard56:24    Dealing with trolls The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges.  Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ⁠⁠ellipsislabs.xyz⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ruslan Fakhrutdinov from Extended Perp Exchange talks about building a unified margin across perps, vaults & yield, spot, and an integrated lending market. He explains critical components for a trustless perp DEX such as self-custody and on-chain solvency checks. Ruslan shares his experience with user acquisition programs, the total cost of execution vs. zero fees, and Extended's transparent fee model. We also discuss gauging sustainable product market fit in a post-airdrop environment and the roadmap for cross-asset collateral. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes:* Perp DEX market share grew 15-20%* Vault earns up to 1% in liquidations* Using 90% of vault shares as collateral Timestamps:00:00 Start00:03 Ruslan's background01:12 What is Extended?03:14 What must be on-chain?05:55 Perp DEX liquidity07:09 Calculating price of execution09:06 Zero fees, good or bad?13:22 Promotions vs regular users18:32 UX design21:35 Mobile trading apps23:43 Perp DEX aggregators?27:51 Vault system29:50 Estimating Vault risk34:28 End stage Vault design?38:10 Spot market plans?42:46 Validators43:34 Next 5 years46:10 RWA on DEXs47:53 Wrapping assets vs native49:06 Wrap up The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges.  Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ⁠⁠ellipsislabs.xyz⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zcash cofounder Ian Miers discusses zero-knowledge proofs, why Bitcoin's public ledger creates massive privacy problems, how SNARKs enable trust without exposure, quantum computing threats to cryptocurrency, identity and reputation systems, and why a blockchain needs privacy to function as actual money. Notes:• Zcash launched as first industrial zero-knowledge proof application• Zero Coin published 2013 (before Ethereum or SNARKs existed)• Quantum computers need thousands of qubits to break RSA• Blockchain transparency makes Bitcoin "Twitter for bank accounts" Timestamps:00:00 Start00:19 What's Ian up to?01:25 Creating Zcash05:59 Why ZK tech is a big deal?08:34 Zero knowledge proofs & Bitcoin10:36 Verifiability vs privacy14:02 The 2025 Zcash resurgence17:20 Other research20:45 Stablecoins & real world assets24:15 Ellipsis Labs Ad25:02 Regulation28:57 Government privacy overreach33:11 Zcash proposals & current development35:51 Swaps39:29 Zcash as medium of exchange?41:37 The possibility of privacy on Bitcoin43:53 Other privacy tech?50:18 Monero vs Zcash53:37 Developer block rewards57:12 Developer rewards & adoption59:39 Quantum risks1:02:45 Quantum timelines The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges.  Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ⁠⁠ellipsislabs.xyz⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Keone Han and Kevin McCormick from Monad Foundation join us to talk about their upcoming mainnet launch on November 24th, why building quality infrastructure takes years not months, their unique Momentum grants program that prioritizes user acquisition costs and retention over vanity metrics like TVL, and how to maintain team focus when crypto Twitter operates on a two-day attention span.Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Monad mainnet launches November 24, 2025 • Momentum grants focus on cost-per-user acquisition • Team values long-term building over quick releases • Testnet ecosystem includes 15+ applications Timestamps:00:00 Start01:20 Why Monad ICO now?02:55 Vibe check06:37 Time to market12:28 What makes Monad unique?14:47 Node count & requirements17:34 Open source & centralization20:15 Monad vs ?23:28 Could ETH borrow from Monad?28:07 Token valuation34:02 Winner take all?34:46 Attracting users42:39 Attracting partners with $$$45:53 Airdrop & community51:14 Monad momentum54:13 Monad apps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annanay Kapila, CEO & Founder of QFEX, joins us to talk about his journey from high-frequency trading at Flow Traders and Tower to building a revolutionary exchange platform. We discuss how crypto market structure solves traditional finance inefficiencies, his Y Combinator experience, regulatory strategy, 100X leverage mechanics, prediction markets, and why sports betting actually works. Launching December 2025. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Tower did half of all major exchange volume • QFEX raised funding through Y Combinator • YC takes 7% equity for $125K investment • Bitcoin trades at 100X leverage on exchanges • S&P futures limited to 10X leverage • QFEX waitlist hit 10,000 people Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:03 Annanay Kapila 02:08 Y Combinator 05:23 Market inefficiencies 09:03 Designing QFEX 12:50 Hyperliquid & Perps 18:30 Zero fees vs UX 22:36 Sharp flow & fees 27:12 Intermediating market makers 34:26 Misaligned incentives 40:53 Perps use cases 45:52 Perps vs Options 49:33 Market fragmentation 58:47 Kalshi vs Polymarket 1:06:23 KYC 1:10:37 Are prediction markets useful? 1:13:02 Wrap The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges.  Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ⁠⁠ellipsislabs.xyz⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kaledora Linn, Co-Founder at Ostium, joins us to talk about revolutionizing onchain trading by bringing traditional finance assets like stocks, commodities, and FX to DeFi through perpetual contracts. We explore why perps are superior to tokenization for trading, the evolution from single-asset to cross-asset platforms, how macro news drives modern volatility, capital efficiency challenges, and why retail traders prefer perps over options. Plus institutional use cases and the future of "perpification." Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Ostium offers up to 200:1 leverage • Mirror had billions in open interest on stocks • Synthetix was heavily over-collateralized with SNX • Perps dominate over options in crypto markets • Post-COVID macro drives cross-asset volatility Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:17 Kaledora Linn - Co-Founder of Ostium 10:01 Ostium's synthetic model 25:08 How Ostium works 35:52 Ellipsis Labs 37:56 KYC & identifying toxic traders 43:01 Market makers 45:22 Price oracles 47:22 Funding rates 52:00 Synthetic vs. on-chain order book 55:29 Weekday markets closing 59:25 On-chain price discovery 1:01:42 24/5 markets 1:03:14 Scaling the market The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges.  Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ⁠ellipsislabs.xyz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DeFi Dave, Head of Growth at Cap Money, joins us to talk about how Cap found product-market fit for restaking. Dave breaks down Cap's three-sided marketplace connecting stablecoin users, market makers (operators), and risk takers. Operators access undercollateralized loans backed by restaked ETH/BTC, paying 8-11% to beat their strategies. If they fail, risk takers eat the loss—users stay protected. We also dive into lore building, why most restaking hype was overblown, and how Cap brings Wall Street on-chain. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: - Cap has $15-20M currently lent to operators - Operators pay 2-4% premium fees to risk takers - Total borrowing costs range from 8-11% hurdle rate - Risk takers earn 6-7% all-in real yield - Uses EigenLayer and Symbiotic for restaking layer Timestamps: 00:00 Start 01:12 Who is DeFi Dave? 02:19 What is Cap? 07:31 Restaking & yield 09:22 Yield range 11:48 Institutional flows 12:50 Cap vs Wildcat 14:07 Legal recourse? 15:42 Staked CUSD vs CUSD 16:25 Current operator marketcap 17:08 Loan terms 19:42 CUSD vs Others 21:48 Ready for institutional capital? 23:59 Other staking use cases? 27:26 Stablecoin regulation 30:23 Collateralization 32:09 Lore building 35:38 The power of belief 41:29 What does Dave do all day? 43:56 Competitive advantage 47:57 What are Caps? 49:08 Gwarts opinion on Cap The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges. Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ellipsislabs.xyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gordon Liao, Head of Research at Circle, discusses the explosive growth of USDC to a $50 billion market cap. Gordon also explains how stablecoins are revolutionizing cross-border payments, the regulatory landscape shaping crypto, Circle's strategic IPO timing, and why blockchain-based payment rails will disrupt tradfi. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • USDC reaches $50B market cap • Cross-border payments cost 6-7% traditionally • Stablecoins settle transactions in seconds • PayPal launched PYUSD competitor Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:40 Who is Gordon? 02:21 Responsibilities at Circle 05:27 What's unique about DeFi? 11:50 Why is fractional reserve bad? 12:40 Separating lending & payments 13:23 AMM functions 15:20 xy=k (inverse variation) 18:06 Circles's mission statement? 21:16 Arc: An L1 Blockchain for Stablecoin Finance 23:15 Proof of Authority 24:32 Ellipsis Labs Ad 25:19 Staking in dollars? 27:48 Courts & laws as slashing mechanism 28:55 Permissionlessness 32:06 Stablecoin competition 34:24 Smaller banks 36:34 Small bank creating stablecoins? 38:19 Will $1 equal $1? 41:29 Arc's value add 45:11 Arc timeline 45:29 Initial use cases 48:23 Liquidity fragmentation 50:35 Managing Circle's multi-chain operations 53:18 Market volatility 55:52 circuit breakers for volatility 57:42 Auto-deleveraging 58:29 Controlling a decentralized marketplace 59:46 Hedge funds & perps 1:02:29 Will TradFi even participate in these markets? 1:04:46 Degens gonna degen The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Backed by Paradigm, Electric Capital and Haun Ventures. The founders, Eugene and Jerry, have experienced Citadel Jane Street in the Solana Core team since launching their order book DEX, Phoenix. They’ve done over $80 billion in trading volume by making onchain order books competitive with centralized exchanges.  Ellipsis is hiring for New York-based engineers. Work with a small focus team who are results driven, collaborative, and use a modern stack. If you’re an engineer who wants to work on infrastructure that’s already proven itself in the market, go to ellipsislabs.xyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Austin Federa, founder of Double Zero, joins us to talk about building a new internet optimized for blockchain. We dive into how Double Zero uses private fiber networks from trading firms like Jump to reduce jitter and latency for validators, why proof-of-utility beats proof-of-stake for infrastructure, how they secured a rare SEC no-action letter, and the wild token launch that had everyone screaming online.Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com# Notes:• Double Zero has 30% of Solana validators connected• Network has $23 billion in total connected value• Validators pay 5% of block rewards as fees• 50% of revenue is burned, 50% to fiber contributors• Token launched at $0.075, spiked significantly• 7.5% free float, 34% circulating supply at launchTimestamps:00:00 Start02:18 Launching DoubleZero03:37 Layered protocol stack08:00 Partnering w/ high frequency trading firms09:28 Monopolies vs Open Source12:43 What is "jitter"?15:14 Reducing jitter16:58 Current public internet market making18:13 Flash Boys comparison19:57 Fiber quality tiers21:39 Fiber vendors22:28 High quality fiber uses24:01 Fiber is actually 2/3 the speed of light24:51 Fiber uses in TradFi27:20 DoubleZero stakeholders30:00 Fiber bandwidth limits30:50 Opting into DoubleZero33:13 30% of stake weight on Solana34:57 How much faster?36:18 First mover advantage?37:13 Solana MEV & speed37:51 Is DoubleZero a blockchain?40:51 Fees & rewards42:44 Burning tokens44:22 Chain agnostic45:47 $23B in "connected value"?46:51 Holding DoubleZero tokens49:08 Legal & trust design50:25 Validator rug pulls?51:45 Malicious validators53:34 Reasons why firms would NOT use DoubleZero?55:22 Geography matters57:47 Proof of utility59:51 B2B utility token1:02:34 SEC letter1:04:45 Subject framing for the SEC1:08:22 Token sale1:08:58 Token NGU1:10:05 Binance Alpha1:12:09 Online hate a distraction?1:13:18 Initial token float?1:15:15 Token unlock schedule1:16:50 FUD fightingThe Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs: https://www.ellipsislabs.xyz/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facundo Werning, former Tether country manager for Latin America and now at Agora, joins us to talk about his journey from Argentine policy work to the front lines of the stablecoin wars. We dive deep into how stablecoins actually work in emerging markets, why Agora is positioning itself as the credibly neutral alternative to Tether and Circle, the real state of crypto adoption in Argentina, and why traditional banks are about to get completely upended. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Argentina has more US cash per capita than America • Stablecoin yields hit 10-12% vs banks' 3% in Argentina • Agora shares revenue with partners unlike competitors • $10B in stablecoins = $400M yearly opportunity cost • Tether built dominant last-mile retail distribution Timestamps 00:00 Start 00:29 Who is Facundo? 08:56 Role at Tether 12:09 Argentina & stablecoins 17:40 Daily stablecoin use 21:17 Ellipsis Labs Ad 22:05 What is Agora? 28:13 What is Agroa (simplified)? 30:03 Will Tether be disrupted? 34:42 Stablecoin fragmented liquidity 40:34 Will stablecoins migrate to one chain? 44:25 Hyperliquid 47:24 Treasury companies (DATs) 51:58 Did you say PROFITS? 56:07 Subscribe Ad 56:44 Anacdote 57:55 Javier Milei 59:22 My dad is a central banker 1:01:27 State BTC adoption 1:04:40 Generational BTC trade The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, the builders behind Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance and Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume.If you’re interested in a mission-driven company, Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance to work on Atlas. Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs and @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Christoph explains why MicroStrategy can't be replicated, DATs are doomed, and crypto markets are more efficient than people think. Plus: Celestia's inflation problem, Ethena's systemic risks, and why Hyperliquid nailed their stablecoin strategy. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • MicroStrategy's structure makes it impossible to blow up • DATs trading at discounts lack restart mechanisms • Ethereum staking yields ~40 bps after inflation/taxes • Celestia's inflation driving price toward zero • Ethena's depeg could trigger cascade in Pendle/Aave • Hyperliquid has ~$10B USDC bridged, negotiating revenue split Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:27 Who is James Christoph? 00:49 Solana treasury companies 04:18 Tom Lee memory hole 05:42 ETH is for stablecoins :) jk 08:04 Bitmine & Sharplink Gaming 10:31 Tom Lee invested in a "fund of DATs" wat? 12:03 DATs & yield 14:29 Ok, define arbitrage? 17:03 Liquid staking tokens are stupid 20:20 Addicted to yield 24:05 Exotic derivatives 27:24 Bitcoin as a benchmark 35:03 ETH, silly silly ETH 39:58 Hyperliquid 43:50 Decentralization doesn't matter, sorry 48:26 Celestia - The Modular Blockchain TM 55:01 Athena 59:06 Fed interest rates 59:39 Circle 1:00:27 USDH The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, the builders behind Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance and Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume. If you’re interested in a mission-driven company, Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance to work on Atlas. Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs and @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mallesh, formerly Special Mechanisms Group and Rice University joins us to talk about his move to Tempo, Stripe's new payments-first blockchain.We dive into why they built another L1, multi-stablecoin architecture, MEV challenges in payments, with credible neutrality Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: • Tempo is designed for fast finality payments • Stablecoin agnostic w/ AMM • Reserved block space for payment txns • Cross-border wire transfers are still broken for traditional systems Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:25 Who is Mallesh? 01:50 Special Mechanisms Group 03:49 Consensys 05:34 Tempo 08:14 Advantages of Tempo 10:36 Specific Tempo designs 13:58 Fungible stablecoins 14:44 Tether & economies of scale 18:14 Validator set 22:45 Payments Only blockspace 25:51 Mallesh's title 26:58 Products 28:36 Tempo AMM 30:33 Remittance use case 35:16 International transfers & corespondent banks 41:26 Are banks cooked? 43:30 Why a new Layer 1? 48:08 Credible neutrality 50:36 Crypto Twitter is now the kiddie pool 54:45 The future of proof of Stake is... trust 1:04:03 MEV memory hole The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs, the builders behind Atlas, a blockchain for verifiable finance and Phoenix, an on-chain orderbook DEX with over $50 billion in unincentivized volume. If you’re interested in a mission-driven company, Ellipsis Labs is hiring engineers passionate about crypto and finance to work on Atlas. Learn more and apply on Twitter at @Ellipsis_Labs and @atlasxyz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Yakes, venture capitalist at Epoch Ventures, joins us to talk about Bitcoin's path from digital gold to banking system integration. We dive deep into his 130-page report on Bitcoin banking, stablecoin dynamics as Trojan horses for Bitcoin adoption, and why he believes we're heading toward a hybrid financial system that bridges traditional finance with crypto innovation. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com NOTES: • Bitcoin lending market could 4x from 50 to 200 basis points • Trading volumes may increase 17x in next 5 years • Tether holds about 5% of reserves in Bitcoin • Bitcoin could reach $100 trillion market cap • SAB 121 repeal opens banks to crypto custody • 32,000 pounds lost in Scottish free banking century Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:41 Eric's background 11:27 Bitcoin Venture Funding 15:51 Medium of exchange 22:20 Reducing the monetary premium in other assets? 26:03 Bitcoin Banking 31:34 Bitcoin Bank Integration Model 35:45 Stablecoins 38:11 Disrupting Banking 47:57 Ellipsis Labs 48:57 Stablecoin Yield as Staking 51:49 Stablecoins: Winner take all? 53:32 Dollar Derivatives 56:32 Stablecoins vs Bitcoin 1:06:22 Money Velocity 1:14:56 Build on Bitcoin 1:24:44 Gaming 1:28:47 Predicyions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices