Into the Bytecode

This 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/koeppelmann- Prediction Prophet, an agent by Polywrap in collaboration with Autonolas and Gnosis: https://predictionprophet.ai/Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This 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 building a company- 01:18:53 doing the one thing that matters- 01:28:07 outroThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This 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- 0:02:59 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, wallet risk scoring, OFAC, Lazarus Group- 00:54:19 the Security Alliance (SEAL), white hats, working with the FBI- 01:08:04 why do this work, the ability to innovate in the US is a freedom- 01:12:13 crypto policy bootcamp- 01:14:00 outroThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This is my conversation with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum.00:00:00 intro00:01:07 sponsor: Optimism00:02:17 micro prediction markets, community notes, AIs as participants00:14:13 decentralized social networks, zk identity, Dark Forest, and Frogcrypto00:25:54 the dense jungle00:30:08 sponsor: Privy00:31:29 political instability, technology00:34:16 coordination and technology in climate00:36:13 AI, debugging and drawing, agency, security00:44:02 timeline for the singularity00:52:36 living to a 1000 years old00:54:00 brain-computer interfaces01:02:15 LojbanThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Twitter -  https://twitter.com/sinahabFarcaster - https://warpcast.com/sinahabOther episodes - https://intothebytecode.comDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This 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 Intro00:01:29 Sponsor: Privy (privy.io)00:02:50 The idea maze, Goldman Sachs, RFQ systems, legal vs smart contracts00:11:03 UMA, schelling point and optimistic oracle00:16:41 Raising the seed round00:19:38 Across, intent-based bridging architecture00:30:42 Sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io)00:31:52 Oval00:46:15 MEV capture for protocols01:01:22 OutroInto the Bytecode: More episodes - https://intothebytecode.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahabThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible: Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.ioDisclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

This 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. 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 00:24:59 launching Base internally00:31:58 blockchains as serverless compute 00:36:53 uniswap as a serverless API for currency conversion 00:39:30 the power of small but leveraged teams 00:42:31 how to straddle product building in the onchain and offchain world 00:45:25 sponsor: Privy (privy.io) 00:51:22 the significance of THIS moment in Crypto 00:53:56 getting a 100M devs and 1B users onchain 00:57:02 how the NFT UX will change with Base 01:10:13 how crypto will be incorporated in applications 01:14:00 the risk of onchain heterogeneity01:17:27 building privacy-oriented onchain platforms 01:26:00 upgrading the financial system 01:28:33 attending Quaker School 01:34:43 relentless positivity in life 01:38:47 building a better futureJesse Pollak: jesse.xyz on ETH Twitter Github Into the Bytecode: More episodes and transcripts - https://intothebytecode.xyz/ Newsletter - https://bytecode.substack.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/sinahabThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible: Optimism - https://optimism.io Privy - https://privy.ioRelevant Links: Base - https://base.org/ Coinbase - https://www.coinbase.com/ Brian Armstrong - https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong Surojit Chatterjee Coinbase’s CPO - https://www.coinbase.com/blog/welcome-surojit-chatterjee-coinbases-chief-product-officer OP Stack - https://stack.optimism.io/ Uniswap - https://uniswap.org/ Goldfinch - https://goldfinch.finance/ Zora - https://zora.co/ Produced by Spectral.to

This is my conversation with Liam Horne, former CEO and advisor to Optimism Labs.00:00 Intro 00:59 sponsor: Privy (privy.io)03:35 early influences, classmates with Vitalik in Waterloo08:31 Ethereum's potential and why scalability matters10:06 learning from Jeff Coleman17:23 defining a common language 21:06 importance of community in Ethereum26:34 hackathons lead to progress31:36 collaboration as a core ETH value38:30 humility and collective learning47:27 building a public good53:07 building Optimism with Ethereum values01:09:27 sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io) 01:17:41 decentralization is a journey01:20:59 staying true to your principles01:32:51 building something new is difficult01:36:28 Jing Wang01:42:10 Georgios KonstantopoulosThank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Other episodes and transcripts - https://intothebytecode.xyz/Newsletter for updates - https://bytecode.substack.comTwitter - https://twitter.com/sinahabRelevant Links:University of Waterloo https://uwaterloo.ca/(Almost) Everything you need to know about Optimistic Rollup by Georgios Konstantopoulos https://www.paradigm.xyz/2021/01/almost-everything-you-need-to-know-about-optimistic-rollupETHGlobal https://ethglobal.com/Produced by https://spectral.to

This is my conversation with Aya Miyaguchi, Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation.00:00 intro01:20 sponsor: Optimism (optimism.io)02:38 reflecting on early days of Ethereum9:01 Ethereum as an Infinite Garden19:14 books and ideas that influenced Aya24:54 the insignificance of titles32:02 what does “Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation” mean?40:33 the “teacher” mindset and how it applies to management47:24 the importance of diversity51:41 sponsor: Privy (privy.io)53:03 the idea of subtraction and how it plays out in practice1:05:42 funding in a non-profit context1:08:48 why it’s difficult to describe the potential of Ethereum 1:16:46 embracing imperfection1:20:43 learning from (un)natural disasters1:33:20 what the 'next billion' means for Ethereum1:42:59 Ethereum in emerging economies1:49:09 outroRelevant Links:Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_and_Infinite_GamesAya on Executing with Subtraction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noXPewi5qOkEthereum Foundation - https://ethereum.org/en/foundation/Thank you to our sponsors for making this podcast possible:Optimism - https://optimism.ioPrivy - https://privy.ioInto the Bytecode:Other episodes and transcripts - https://intothebytecode.xyz/Newsletter for updates - https://bytecode.substack.comTwitter - https://twitter.com/sinahab

This 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:0:00 intro2:08 why this problem?12:54 both product and protocol23:41 the algorithmic feed29:40 Farcaster’s strategy for competing with Twitter1:00:52 approach to team building1:14:41 how to use social networks, and meme’ingRelevant links:Dan Romero - https://twitter.com/dwrFarcaster - https://www.farcaster.xyz/Farcaster docs - https://github.com/farcasterxyz/protocolVarun - https://twitter.com/varunsrinKeybase - https://keybase.io/

This 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:0:00 intro1:37 an alternative to traditional org structures9:53 philosophical alignment27:30 the key mechanisms of the Juicebox Protocol35:51 fundraising mechanics and the extensibility of Juicebox v246:05 a DAOs’s origins shape its culture54:46 guiding principles for compensation1:02:06 working backwards from the future1:12:11 the subtraction philosophy and Ethereum as the Big Bang1:31:25 StudioDAO and models for permissionless DAOsRelevant links:Jango - https://twitter.com/me_jangoNnnnicolas - https://twitter.com/nnnnicholasJuicebox - https://juicebox.money/Nouns - https://nouns.wtf/StudioDAO - https://www.studiodao.xyz/Juicecast podcast about StudioDAO - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-9-kenny-from-studiodao/id1623504302?i=1000576149672

Nadia 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 wealth booms which have happened in both tech and crypto, how peer production happens, and the role that intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards might play in the development of crypto protocols.Timestamps:0:00 intro2:01 working as an independent researcher6:09 understanding wealth booms in tech and crypto13:01 the unique perspectives of each successive community25:46 the right (and wrong) question to ask34:41 the landscape of public goods provisioning39:22 innovative philanthropic funding models45:35 the first wave of open source communities and crypto54:42 different classes of stakeholders1:05:00 research methodology and tools for thoughtRelevant links:Nadia Asparouhova - https://twitter.com/nayafiaNadia’s website - https://nadia.xyz/“Working in Public” - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578675862/Gitcoin - https://gitcoin.co/

Julien 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 and compatibility, and why they ultimately chose to build on ZK Rollups like ZkSync and StarkNet.And lastly, we dive into what has been like to build on StarkNet, what the early community feels like today, what it's been like to write code in Cairo, and as a bit of a snapshot into this experience we do a deep dive into what account abstraction looks like on StarkNet.Timestamps:0:00 intro1:56 leaning into zk rollups and account abstraction7:29 scaling the self-custody experience13:20 what onboarding users to crypto will look like in 3 years20:24 some of the friction points that still need to be abstracted33:52 L2s and the trade-offs between different rollups39:45 is breaking EVM-equivalency worth it?48:01 Julien's experience in the StarkNet ecosystem58:24 a primer on account abstraction1:15:38 session keys1:28:17 starting a sensible wallet set up from scratchRelevant links:Julien Niset: https://twitter.com/jnisetArgent - https://www.argent.xyz/StarkNet - https://starkware.co/starknet/zkSync - https://zksync.io/Topology - https://www.topology.gg/

Pedro 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:0:00 intro8:00 developing the user experience before creating the product10:23 account abstraction and the spectrum of security and convenience20:39 WalletConnect APIs and “Log in with Ethereum”28:55 how WalletConnect works37:45 light clients and generalized messaging protocols45:36 the politics of making big changes to the Ethereum protocol50:14 connecting wallets with WalletConnect ChatMentioned in the show:WalletConnect - https://walletconnect.com/EIP2938 (account abstraction) - https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-2938WalletConnect APIs - https://docs.walletconnect.com/2.0

Here 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 Ethereum Foundation, and two being the question of why blockchain is matter — this being something that Josh has spent a lot of time thinking about and which he's written about in a long form piece titled Atoms Institutions Blockchains.Timestamps:3:50 subtraction7:22 creating a self-sufficient crypto ecosystem12:33 the property of ‘hardness’ for blockchains17:47 understanding decentralization23:11 Atoms, Institutions, Blockchains26:00 blind men and an elephant33:06 our civilization’s infrastructure43:33 digitally-native hardness59:38 how the EF operates1:06:21 challenges with decentralized coordination1:12:08 infinite players have nothing but their namesMentioned in the show:Atoms, Institutions, Blockchains: https://stark.mirror.xyz/n2UpRqwdf7yjuiPKVICPpGoUNeDhlWxGqjulrlpyYi0

0age 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, and hearing him talk through the design of the protocol can be an educational experience in its own rights.Timestamps:1:42 why build Seaport10:20 the Seaport architecture12:44 EIP712 signatures14:17 the global concept of a nonce16:02 EIP1271 and bulk listings17:18 the Executor and conduits25:08 zones, additional rules that can be applied on top of an order29:47 implementing English auctions via zones32:17 layers of the stack36:05 fulfillment40:42 gas optimizations and understanding the low-level behavior of the EVM58:40 the interaction between OpenSea the product and Seaport the protocol01:07:06 criteria based items, and partial fills01:17:50 ideas to build on top of Seaport

Charles 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:2:54 MakerDAO’s arc of decentralization7:51 how Maker influenced Element’s design10:22 the Governance Steering Council21:25 voting vaults29:10 L1 and L2 for governance33:23 qualitative evaluation for contributions37:50 the ElFiverse and NFTs in the Element community42:24 on being a protocol delegateMentioned in the show: The Governance Steering Council - https://medium.com/element-finance/the-governance-steering-council-63aea7732262 Voting Vaults - https://docs.element.fi/governance-council/council-protocol-smart-contracts/voting-vaults The Elfiverse - https://elfiverse.element.fi/

Here 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 one hand and UX/convenience on the other. We talked about principles he has in mind in designing an off-chain data system; how privy does encryption and key management; how they do permissioning; and how they think about data storage.Timestamps:2:30 - designing the product/protocol roadmap10:30 - privacy/security vs. convenience19:27 - building an web3 application23:20 - decentralizing Privy32:09 - key management architecture46:11 - verifiability, transparency as a disinfectant59:02 - building a product with private data1:07:08 - cofounder relationship

Matthew 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:1:08 - Songcamp a web3 laboratory3:27 - songwriting camps6:30 - imaginative language and lore11:12 - incentive alignment20:55 - selection and curation30:31 - immersive digital theatre36:18 - having fun38:03 - the power of IRL43:01 - what’s next51:37 - economic models for internet-native collectives

Here 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:1:29 - How Simon got into the craft of storytelling6:25 - The lonely process of long-form content creation9:53 - Kishōtenketsu14:26 - Top-down vs. bottom-up storytelling21:52 - “The medium is the message.”27:17 - CC0, derivatives, Jenkins the Valet34:43 - Harberger Taxes and mechanism design39:51 - NFTs vs ERC20s for ownership and governance44:06 - New power structures

Here 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.Timestamps:3:42 - Redefining engagement between artists and fans7:23 - MySpace, HypeMachine, Optimism, and Friends With Benefits12:50 - Using Discord DMs for recruiting16:53 - NFTs as the perfect medium for music patronage20:34 - Fair-play incentive structures for music26:25 - Differentiating the first fan and the millionth fan32:03 - The technical architecture underpinning Sound34:33 - Getting to market and building in public39:45 - Oshi breaks the website41:37 - The Daniel Allan EP42:14 - RAC and deploying to mainnet44:12 - Zeitgeist’s impact