Web3 Innovators

In the tenth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Elena Sinelnikova is the Co-Founder and Decentralization Coordinator at Metis. She is also CEO at Crypto Chicks.Episode highlights:How and why Elena founded Crypto ChicksThe diversity of people working within Web3The advice that Elena would give to recruiters trying to encourage applicants from a more diverse backgroundHow Metis was formed to create the infrastructure for a layer 2 solutionOther work that Metis is focusing onThe biggest challenges with layer 2 networksElena explains what ZK rollups and optimistic rollups are and the work Metis is doing to combat the challenges they faceElena’s advice for anyone wanting to become involved in Web3Where Elena believes Web3 technology will be in 10 years timeKey Takeaways:When we opened Crypto Chicks back in 2016 at Conferences there were hardly any women, probably one or two women per thousand people. And now we see about half and half. So the picture changed dramatically. - ElenaWe wanted to create layer two. And not only layer two, we also wanted to create a Web3 economy where people can go create a business, find a job, create a nonprofit organisation, create their own project, and fundraise. - ElenaOptimistic roll ups - and here is a little educational piece, is the transactions process in batches. So instead of adding transactions, one by one and saving them into layer one, layer two actually captures these transactions, bundles them up in one batch, and saves the whole batch into layer one. - ElenaAll layer twos are innovating. We already have successes where layer twos are lowering the cost quite significantly and also speeding up transactions quite significantly. - ElenaSo right now, for us, the most important part is we have this ability to build. We have the capability, we have great minds that are building and we know that we are bringing good to the world. - ElenaWe need more people, like entrepreneurs who create those ideas, create those businesses, who go and try and build and make mistakes. And we see in the space right now there are a lot of projects, but we can always have more because each one brings a very unique value proposition. - ElenaFollow Elena on TwitterShout outs:Natalia AmelineKevin LiuResources:BitcoinEthereumOptimistic RollupsZ-K RollupsMetisDAO➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the ninth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Arthur Gervais, Associate Professor of Information Security at University College LondonEpisode highlights:How doing his PhD on blockchain increased Arthur’s interest in the spaceThe growth of Bitcoin technology within the academic worldThe research he and his PhD students are doing, looking at how challenges are evolving over timeThe disconnect between the academic and the practitioner communitiesThe differences between the technology which may be valuable in practise and what academics are focusing onApplying existing understandings and lessons learned from the regular Finance domain to their researchThe lending and borrowing side of DeFiThe topics they are working on for their next paperHow we can mitigate the risk of security exploitsWhere Arthur sees DeFi in 10 yearsKey Takeaways:In many cases we are more fascinated by interesting problems that bring new security properties about. And blockchains and particular proof of work, at that time was such a technology, right? It solved the double spending problem in a new way that we haven't thought about before. And this in itself was already groundbreaking. - ArthurWith DeFi and the advent of Ethereum and more aggressive smart contracts in general. We found this great new playground. Now we have an expressive language and we can play on that. - ArthurI feel this is where, for me, most of the exciting opportunities lie on the research side, what is unsolved and how can we solve it? ArthurThe decision trade table they created is designed to help classify protocols into different models,  it's a tool that brings a lot of power. It's an enabler for anyone to try out these protocols, and it's an enabler for attackers too. - ArthurSecurity is all about having multiple walls and having multiple layers of protection, right? Your iPhone, for example, doesn't have only one feature to protect you from somebody hacking your phone, right? - ArthurResources:BitcoinEthereumBellman-Ford Algorithm ➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the eighth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Bo Brustkern, Co-Founder and CEO of Fintech Nexus, a niche media company covering innovation in financial services.Episode highlights:How one of Bo’s Co-Founders insisting he bought at least one Bitcoin initially got him interested in the spaceThe research he undertook to fully understand the role DeFi and DAOs were going to play in the evolution of financial servicesHow Fintech Nexus developing into a Web3 business benefits the communityWhy Bo believes regulation is the biggest challenge the industry faces The impact of the way different world governments interpret Web3 technologies will have on regulation“Economic dissatisfaction breeds war”, Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State (1933- 1944)The impact of accredited investor laws in the USThe technology advances Bo sees when attending Web3 conferencesHow Bo sees blockchain and Web3 technology impacting events in the futureFintech Nexus USA event in May 2023Key Takeaways:As a media company, we're so focused on developing. Doing our work for the benefit of the community. It's the perfect place to be to both consume and report on, to engage in, to discuss Web3 technologies and if we do our job really well then both sides benefit. - BoI don't think we're headed in the right direction. I think there really are sceptics are beyond sceptical. They are becoming really quite effective in trying to beat back the Web3 economy and blockchain technology and the various crypto tokens that are part of that. In the end, will those sceptics win? - BoWe not only have to embrace the technologies, but we have to embrace the values behind those technologies. - BoThe majority of the world's people have the freedom where they can choose to work with these technological innovations. Now, of course, the regulatory climate in the US does create some hurdles for people, but people can still hold cryptocurrencies and get involved in these projects. - BoConnect with Bo on TwitterResources:Peter RentonJason Jones FTXTemple BikesNational Western Stock ShowGary VaynerchukEth DenverFintech Nexus USA➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the seventh episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by David Creer, Global DLT and Crypto Lead at GFT Group who develop sustainable solutions across new technologies.He is also a Course Instructor at the European Tech School.Episode highlights:What initially drew David’s interest into the spaceHow GFT has evolved into an innovation driven organisationHow product delivery and production differs within financial servicesWhy there used to be hesitation when putting products into productionHow regulation has evolved within the financial sectorHow David sees Crypto developing with banksDavid’s advice for anyone uncertain about the application of blockchainThe UDPN network project that David has been involved in (The UDPN is a decentralised payments messaging backbone connecting the digital currency systems of the future to enable seamless, efficient payments of regulated stablecoins and CBDCs)How David things blockchain will influence the way financial markets operate in the futureKey Takeaways:The tier one banks and the tier two banks are really only working on things that they want to take into production at this point in time. So that's a completely different mindset from how things were when we started, where it was, we want to just see whether this is possible. - DavidWhen cloud first came out banks didn't want to go down that route at all. The policy was non-public cloud. Now a lot of banks are going down that path, which makes sense because it saves them a lot of money and it's more efficient. - DavidIf you're thinking about using blockchain or distributed ledger technology for your project, you need to understand your use case really well. - DavidIt's quite exciting to be involved in that because potentially that could be a really important piece of infrastructure for the financial system of the future. - DavidIf smart cities develop the way that they are developing in countries such as China, I think that we will have a financial services system which is much more focused on micropayment. And therefore I think that blockchain technology or cryptographically based stablecoins or CBDCs will be used much more widely. - DavidConnect with David on TwitterResources:TOKOBitcoinEthereumSatoshiUDPN NetworkmCBDC Bridge➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the sixth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson has the tables turned on him and is interviewed by Joshua Lory, Head of Blockchain GTM at VMware, a multi-cloud service for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control.These were follow up questions that Joshua wanted to ask Conor after he was interviewed on the podcast earlier this season, which you can listen to here.Connect with Joshua on Twitter.Episode highlights:Who Conor believes are the three players that will capture 80% of the market in the next 10 years and whyHow this differs from Joshua’s viewsOther up and coming players in this space who it is worth keeping an eye onWhy the decentralised infrastructure projects have got a big part to play in the futureHow we narrow the skills gap needed for these new ecosystemsThe issue with smart contract development on public blockchain networksThe potential with AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) to help close the skills gapKey Takeaways:In every single technology space the top three players capture 80% of the market time and time again. And then you have a long tail of the 20%, where you have thousands of different options that capture one or 2%. - JoshuaEthereum, I've always felt that it's like the Linux of this generation. - ConorFrom a personal perspective, I think Polka Dot is building a strong ecosystem. They have some very strong technology in terms of what they've done. So they're model of having this layer zero blockchain and then these power chains, which are kind of permission chains spun up on top, seems to be viable. - ConorWe’ve got 10 million Java developers that could be writing to this new ecosystem, but are not. - JoshuaThe real challenge with smart contract development is that it, especially on public blockchain networks, is that people can't afford to make mistakes with it. - ConorResources:EthereumPolygonCoinMarketCapBinance Ripple CardanoSolanaPolkadotFileCoinLightning Network➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the fifth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Ben Edgington, is the founder and lead product owner of Teku, an Ethereum 2.0 client at ConsenSys.Episode highlights:Why Ben decided to work exclusively on proof of stake and scalability of EthereumThe surprises with Ethereum governanceThe pragmatism surrounding Ethereum and knowing it may not immediately be perfectThe alternatives to Ethereum and where Ben sees compromises being madeHow the Ethereum ecosystem has been expanded and what this means for adoption and new technologiesThe Shanghai Hard Fork and Shanghai Stroke Capella upgrades and what this will mean for ETH stakingWhy institutions are happy to stake in ETHThe areas of focus for Ben moving forwardWhat the Ethereum ecosystem needs to achieve just to give every person on the planet one transaction per dayThe e-book that Ben is currently working on outlining the specifications for Ethereum’s protocolsKey Takeaways:It was basically chaos. And yet somehow order emerges from the chaos. And I've come to believe this is really important for the health of Ethereum. We purport to be open and permissionless and we have to design and build our protocols in a way that reflects that. - BenI'm not an Ethereum maximalist, right? I don't think there should be Ethereum and nothing else. I'm very much for other approaches and explorations of the design space as long as people are aware of the compromises that are being made. - BenThe upcoming Shanghai Stroke Capella upgrade. This is gonna happen in, my guess, early April and will unlock the rewards that stakers have put down. Currently we've got, it's about 16 million ETH staking, which is extraordinary, over half a million validators. - BenIn the longer term, we need a solution in which every node on the network does not need to see every piece of data. - BenWe are not going to get into infinite scalability, but for one transaction per day for everybody on the planet, we need a hundred thousand transactions per second. So there's a sort of order of magnitude estimate for when the Ethereum main net becomes capable. - BenResources:Ben’s Ethereum ‘stuff’What’s New in Eth2BlockchainLinuxDeFiChainNFTChainShanghai Hard ForkShanghai / CapellaEthereum Consensus Protocol➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the fourth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by David Palmer, a digital visionary and global platform innovator who works as Blockchain Lead at Vodafone Business IoT. Episode highlights:How the technology innovation of blockchain initially made David interested in the spaceThe opportunities he saw for blockchain to help shape the telco business modelThe four use cases they focused on when looking at the application of blockchainDigital Asset Broker and what it means for electronic vehicle chargingHow Web3 can bring new liquidity to assetsDavid’s advice for those unsure about blockchain’s potential for their organisation or industryHow David believes blockchain can bring new business and opportunities to external facing companiesHow Web3 will not exist in isolation and instead will be a component within the digital tool setBusiness opportunities as we move to the metaverseHow David believes Web3 and blockchain technology will develop Key Takeaways:I saw an opportunity for blockchain to really reshape the telco business model and present new opportunities. - DavidSo blockchain as a centre for trust and transaction settlement made a lot of sense. That is now live, so that was one of the proof of concepts. - DavidI'm a founder, innovator of, it's called the digital asset broker. This one was slightly different because it wasn't just using blockchain for trust, it was really using blockchain to create a whole new business for IoT devices. - DavidThere is a blockchain based solution out there which has been implemented with some of the biggest companies in mobility in the world. And energy and Web3 and blockchain are a key component of that. - David I think services around identity are gonna be absolutely critical and a massive business opportunity. - DavidThere's millions of people who are in poverty, millions of people who don't have access to business or a career or jobs or career paths. And It would be really exciting to see Web3 fill that void. - DavidResources:DeFiBlockchain InnovatorsDigital Asset BrokerNFTMcKinseyMetaverseEuropean Identity WalletShoutouts:Jorge Bento➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the third episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Joshua Lory, Head of Blockchain GTM at VMware, a multi-cloud service for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control.He is also the host of the 48 Hours to Lead Podcast.Episode highlights:What initially attracted Joshua to BitcoinThe plugability of Bitcoin and what this means for businessesVMware’s mission and how Joshua became involved with the companyWhere Joshua believes cloud could grow to despite -  being a relatively new technologyThe scepticism surrounding enterprise blockchain  Organisations that are building assurance applications on blockchain as a service and the solutions they are usingHow Financial Services and capital markets are building a new digital asset exchangeThe experiment that the Bank of Israel ran for their CBDC on VMware blockchain for Ethereum and what this could mean for the future of moneyJoshua’s advice for anyone on the fence about the potential of blockchain technologyThe company's current blockchain focusHow Joshua believes this technology will have been adopted and developed in 10 years timeKey Takeaways:Bitcoin improves on the gold standard and it really is gold 2.0 in many senses. - JoshuaBusinesses in days can plug into something like the Lightning Network without doing any application, replatforming engineering, and have essentially instant free transactions, peer-to-peer transactions. - JoshuaThat is still the mission; bringing this technology to the forefront of big businesses so that they can transform. - JoshuaWithin financial services, it's more about new products and services and transforming the market, which means there's more budget behind these projects, that's higher priority. I think you'll see this contagion happen across all industries once financial services really figures it out. - JoshuaIf you just look at cloud in its essence, it helps organisations focus on their core competency instead of building data centres and infrastructure to move more quickly and launch new products and services. And so if you layer blockchain on top of cloud, this has very similar effects. - JoshuaEconomic energy will be running on blockchain rails, I believe that's a certain. - JoshuaSo that's what I would say to users is go back in the history books, look at all these huge technology shifts, and then look at blockchain with a fresh set of eyes. - JoshuaConnect with Joshua on TwitterResources:Andy Jassy, AWS earnings callASXNSW GovernmentSymphony➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the second episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Bharat Gupta, Senior Principal for Financial Services and Insurance at Infosys, which is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consultingBharat is focused on digital strategy for financial services clients covering crypto and blockchain advisory for new business initiatives.Episode highlights:How blockchain as a technology initially sparked Bharat’s interest in the spaceThe similarities he saw between mission critical systems and blockchain technologyWhy he became fully involved in 2019 after large organisations showed an interest in the spaceWhat Bharat believes will happen in the future with the digitisation of financial servicesHow digitisation of product can help raise capital and introduce a wider customer baseWhat regulation is currently like for financial servicesThe scalability issues with the Bitcoin and Ethereum network and how these are being resolvedHow financial services are dealing with transparency and privacy on the networkBharat’s advice for anyone wanting to become involved in the spaceThe projects Bharat is currently focusing onKey Takeaways:So that really intrigued me and then pulled me in completely. If large institutions are looking into this then I think it makes more sense for all of us to look into this space. - BharatIt was never a thought for financial services that they need to change their product. - BharatSo this whole new field has opened up for startups to raise capital. And how this is happening is because of that same underlying technology, and that's what I call digitisation of the product. - BharatThese networks are not designed for transit. These networks are designed for settlement. So I call it the base layer. Layer one networks are nothing, but it's a settlement networks. Whatever you need to do on top of it, that is your transaction layer. So transaction layer has to be very scalableNow they are building, and I believe that ecosystem will definitely thrive and then scale again, because Bitcoin would not just become a store of value, it will also become a transaction mechanism. - BharatResources:BlockchainEthereumBitcoinLightning NetworkCharles SchwabICO RushMiCA RegulationRollupsZK Rollups➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the first episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Paul Brody, Global Blockchain Leader at EY where he drives EY's initiatives and investments in blockchain technology across consulting, audit, and tax business lines.Paul is also a Board Member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and prior to working at EY was Vice President and Global Industry Leader of Electronics at IBM.Episode highlights:The prototype system, ‘Adapt’ that Paul built and how IBM not wishing to take it further inspired him to leave and join EYHis role in developing blockchain within the organisationWhy Paul is such an advocate for public blockchainWhy there is a lack of privacy with public blockchains and the problems this causesThe reasons you can’t migrate applications built on private blockchain to publicWhy he sees blockchain as transformational technologyThe issues around forming and working with a consortiumThe differences between permission and permissionless blockchain and the problems Paul sees with permissionedThe key differentiators between trust anchors and trusted third partiesThe two initiatives; Nightfall and Starlight Paul is currently working onHow Paul believes the future landscape for Web3 technologies will lookKey Takeaways:We had created this product, we had pitched it to IBM leadership and they were not interested. They didn't want to go any further than the prototype, and that was at the point where I parted company with IBM because I wanted to do this. - PaulWe see this over and over again, people created these centrally run private blockchain business models and they just didn't work. - PaulWe've had this vision of a value proposition where you can basically take any kind of business application and run it on a public blockchain, any kind of B2B transaction. But the reality has been that we can't do it. - PaulThere will be many stablecoin firms, there will be many audit firms, there will be many external data sources at Oracles. We will have to decide to trust some of them in how we build our transactions, but none of them will become central intermediaries. None of them will become monopolists. None of them will have overwhelming power in the ecosystem. - PaulMy goal is that in January of 2023 we will launch the first production versions of both Nightfall and Starlight as production betas on the public Ethereum main net. - PaulWhat's really cool about X.509 certificates is they are themselves public open standards supported by many different third party providers. So nightfall will remain truly public and permissionless. - PaulResources:HyperledgerCordaEY NightfallEY Starlight➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

Exciting news! The Web3 Innovators Podcast returns next week with a new season packed full of new learning from leaders who are changing the face of finance and other industries with web3 and blockchain technologies 🎉➡️ In Season 6 you'll hear from guests like Paul Brody - Global Blockchain Leader at EY, Bharat Mohan - Senior Principal for Financial Services and Insurance at Infosys and Joshua Lory - Head of Blockchain GTM at VMware amongst many others➡️ Episodes every Wednesday with seasons that include handy recaps so you won’t miss key learnings from our guests➡️ Subscribe now so you don’t miss out on Episode 1 of Season 6➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In this special episode of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson has picked out a selection of best bits from Season 5. It was a great season and a range of topics were covered, from NFTs to DeFi and crypto. These hand picked sections are key highlights from the season and contain valuable insights that you won't want to miss!Follow these links if specific clips catch your interest and you'd like to listen to the full episode.Can wholesale payments be tokenised?Can Ethereum be infinitely scaled?Should we decentralise ownership?Can trade repositories tokenise assets on public blockchains?Is Web3 a New World or New Economy?Are NFTs extensions of who we are?How J.P. Morgan is generating revenue and saving money with blockchain.How will tokens change your online experience?Can financial speculation create useful Web3 ecosystems?Do we need quantum resistance in Web3?➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the last episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Marcos Allende López, CTO at LACChain and Specialist in Blockchain, Digital Assets, Quantum Technologies, and SSI at  Inter-American Development BankEpisode highlights:How Marcos started to learn more about blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies after applying for his current position at Inter-American Development BankHow quantum technologies and blockchain are linked by cryptographyThe work that Marcos is doing on blockchain and how this is developingHow Marcos believes we need better assurance frameworks in addition to the regulatory policiesThe biggest challenges Marcos sees with quantum and blockchain technology both in the immediate and futureHow Marcos believes we should be focusing on quantum resistance now so we have solutions in place should quantum computers be ready before the blockchain networks are ready for themHow they created one of the first orchestration vehicles for blockchainThe advice Marcos would give to anyone hesitant to use blockchainKey Takeaways:Quantum computing and quantum cryptography which are being actively developed are essential for the blockchain Web3 and all the assets that are now being created and generated in blockchain networks. So the quantum and blockchain worlds are actually very connected and it is very important to start having a conversation around what might happen in the next few years around this. - MarcosMy work has been focused on building and maintaining something that is between the enterprise and the crypto blockchain worlds, which is a permission public blockchain. So basically we created this infrastructure that is intended for Latin America and the Caribbean but available globally, with suitable features for public and public sectors. - MarcosWe need to start having the conversation about quantum computers hacking blockchain now because the solution might not be that easy. Replacing or adapting the cryptography of current blockchain networks is not going to be an easy problem to solve because blockchains are so inherent to the type of cryptographic algorithms that they're using. - MarcosIt is important to start developing great interfaces. I think it is time to understand that not every organisation needs to run a blockchain node and run their blockchain, their smart contracts and their APIs, and do their integrations. We know how difficult it becomes because some organisations don't have the expertise or don't need to run their own notes and smart contracts and be responsible and accountable for that. - MarcosConnect with Marcos on TwitterResources:Inter-American Development BankGlobal Leaders TodayLACChainLACNet➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the ninth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Lex Sokolin, Chief Cryptoeconomics Officer at ConsenSys where he has built and now leads the Cryptoeconomics team.Lex is a New York and London entrepreneur who previously held the role of CMO & Global Fintech Co-Head at ConsenSys. He also writes a Fintech newsletter, Fintech Blueprint.Episode highlights:How being at a Conference and seeing how many other people owned Bitcoin, inspired Lex to startThe challenges surrounding Blockchain adoptionLex’s view on the current capital market situation and how this impacts people’s view on cryptoHow speculation surrounding regulation can generate economic use casesHow Lex believes computational infrastructure will develop as we want to create digital third spaces for ourselves, away from the home and officeThe pain points that people experience in cryptoLex’s opinion on where companies should and shouldn’t be using BlockchainHow he believes Web3 technology will impact the financial landscape over the next 10 yearsKey Takeaways:It’s figuring out and taking action on how to help crypto businesses operate and how to remove barriers that prevent those businesses from having functional operations. So, it’s more about having these seamless rails in place, so that people can engage with the technology. - LexI think that you can draw a line and you can say, is blockchain a cost saver for your company or is it a revenue generator? - LexYou can look at Apollo or KKR, the large private equity firms or some of the large hedge funds that are essentially price insensitive and are willing to continue investing into an ecosystem that they own because they own the underlying capital for the whole ecosystem. - LexI think there's some cases where they just put all of their own float on top of their own system or a system that essentially holds through equity ownership. But I think for most midsize to small, to even medium or large banks, the cost savings story is tough. - LexWhat's going to feel very natural in 10 or 15 years is that you'll have digital ownership over all your stuff. And if it's not on chain, and you don't have it in your wallet, then you will feel like it's not real. Like in the same way that I wouldn't want that paper document today, because it does me no good. - LexConnect with Lex on TwitterResources:ConsenSysConsenSys CryptoeconomicsFintech BlueprintCoinbaseApollo➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the eighth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Weiwu Zhang, Founder and CTO of Smart Token Labs.Weiwu has over 9 years of experience in blockchain technology, alt currency design and trading algorithms. He has served as a blockchain architect for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, held the R3 global architect office, and also architected 3 altcoins and 7 ICO projects.Smart Token Labs is creating a new standard for a tokenized future, building composable smart token bridges from tomorrow to today.Connect with Weiwu on TwitterEpisode highlights:How Weiwu bought his first Bitcoin in 2010, which sparked his interest in blockchainWhere his inspiration and focus came from, which led to him founding his own company The struggles he faced starting Smart Token Labs at a time when the community viewed tokens differentlyThe broad change of perception and understanding of tokens sparked by NFTsIssues they face with wider adoption of the technologyHow technology capabilities will increase as people demand more functions from tokensWeiwu’s belief that tokens will create a less frictional marketWhat Soulbound tokens are and what they may mean for the futureWhat Weiwu believes mainstream adoption of tokens will look like in 10 years timeKey Takeaways:Instead of trying to focus on how to make the blockchain programmable, I try to understand what blockchain means to the industry. - WeiwuPeople started to see tokens differently because NFTs demonstrated that tokens can be different things. Ever since, it became very easy for us to explain the idea behind Smart Token Labs, how smart tokens can reduce market friction and allow integrated applications like Web3 without synchronised points. - WeiwuBusinesses need to see that with wider access to the market, they're able to sell more goods and services. So they should be more incentivised to use tokens. - WeiwuWe will see a lot of token use cases. We will see all of the smart devices have a token interface.That includes cars, smart luggage or smart meeting rooms. We will see individuals start issuing their time as tokens so that if you want to book a meeting room your app can solve this automatically by the token from the market. - WeiwuPreviously Chrome and Firefox struggled with the idea of whether or not they should be Web3 browsers and connect to the blockchain. The reason they struggled is they didn't see how connecting blockchain would change the web experience. But that will change because they will start to realise that it's not the blockchain they're connecting, it's the token that they're servicing. - WeiwuResources:Smart Token LabsBitcoinCommonwealth Bank AustraliaNFTLabo➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the seventh episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Tyrone Lobban, Head of Blockchain Launch and Onyx Digital Assets at J.P. Morgan where he’s responsible for identifying and creating innovative blockchain- based products and solutions.Prior to this he was Senior Blockchain Product Manager in J.P. Morgan's Blockchain Center of Excellence and was also the Product Lead for Quorum.Connect with Tyrone on TwitterEpisode highlights:How Tyrone’s career evolved from Product Management in Credit Markets to becoming a Software Developer, before reading the Ethereum White Paper which changed his trajectory into BlockchainThe early days of the Blockchain program at J.P. Morgan and how this subsequently became OnyxWhy J.P. Morgan launched Quorum and how this has developedThe challenges and opportunities J.P. Morgan have faced due to the high level of interest in Blockchain projectsThe complexities when setting up and implementing a use case, even if the end state is clearTyrone’s advice for anyone looking to use technology to solve a problem within their industryThe work that is happening moving money on to Blockchain and how Tyrone sees this progressingKey Takeaways:It was an obvious thing for me to want to get into this technology. I could see, especially with my experience through the financial crisis, how much a technology like this can bring everyone on the same page - having a shared ledger of information, streamlining processes and information flow. How that could really make a difference. - TyroneIt's always been about the technology. Web3 wasn't really a word back then. I'm just extremely passionate about how we can use the tech to make improvements, not just within finance, but across industries generally. - TyroneIt’s evolved over the years, but I would say internally we've been quite consistent around how we want to use the technology. What we have learned is exactly where it makes sense and where it doesn't necessarily make sense. And that has helped us to be more precise around the types of use cases that we focus on. - TyroneFor us it's really about how we create value not only for ourselves, but for our clients and how we really make it a step change improvement. - TyroneWe're looking to disrupt an industry or disrupt a business or create something entirely new. So it's very rare that you don't have this challenge of okay, what is the interim step going to be? - TyroneWe launched a tokenization platform called Onyx Digital Assets, which is a general tokenization platform. It allows for you to represent traditional assets on Blockchain. We've seen real value through this platform. We are saving millions of dollars a year. - TyroneResources:Onyx Digital AssetsEthereum White PaperEthereum Enterprise Alliance ➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the sixth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Daniel Heyman the Co-Founder and CEO of Palm NFT Studio. Palm NFT studio is a collective of Software Developers, Generative Artists, Storyworld Creators, and Strategists and spans all aspects of Web3 technology and creative production.Before starting his current company, Daniel was the Co-Founder of PegaSys, which is now the Protocol Engineering division of ConsenSys.Episode highlights:How studying the adoption of mobile technology in Kenya got Daniel interested in the spaceHis learning outcomes from founding a company that wasn’t successful and the path after thisWhere the inspiration for Palm NFT Studio came from and its founding storyThe challenges the company has faced in its 1st year and how they have worked to overcome themTheir aim for people to have direct ownership over the digital assets they care about and how they are trying to make this a realityDaniel’s belief that eventually all assets will be represented by NFTsKey Takeaways:It seemed evident to me that if we could connect the biggest brands in the world into this technology innovation, we could not only produce some really meaningful projects, but we could use those as the tip of the spear to broader adoption of our entire ecosystem. So Palm Studio set out to create the best platform for large scale web artists, creators, and brands to adopt Web3 technologies. - DanielA huge problem that NFT’s have is the misconception in the market of what they are. A lot of people see them as speculative assets that are there to make a quick buck, and people understandably react negatively to that idea. - DanielWe need to do a lot of work educating the fan base that this isn't a way to make a quick buck. It is to give the audience a deeper connection to the brand and people's relationship to the brand. It’s to give them a piece of the universe, or a piece of the art, or something they can truly own themselves. - DanielEverything is focused around delivering value to the end user and if there's revenue associated with that, wonderful. But, just like any product, you start from the point of what value you are providing, not how much money you can make. - DanielMy belief is that in five years, 99% of NFTs will either be free or below $10. These need to be things that everyone can adopt and consume and interact with, and they can't just be high value collectables for the crypto rich. - DanielResources:Palm NFT StudioPegaSysConsenSysMIT's Poverty Action LabSafaricomDefiSummer➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the fifth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandner who founded the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC) at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.The Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC) was launched in February 2017 and analyses the implications of blockchain technology on companies and business models.Philipp was ranked among the top 30 Economists by FAZ, a major newspaper in Germany. He was also in the ‘Top 40 under 40’ ranking by the German Business Magazine, Capital. Episode highlights:How Philipp started Bitcoin as a hobby, before setting this up within the University Can Bitcoin be framed as a commodity?Whether Bitcoin and Ethereum are decentralised assetsExploring new developments in the Web3 domainHow recent FTX Exchange activity has affected the crypto marketWhy Philipp believes companies have struggled to get into the Blockchain and the workaround for thisThe pros and cons of regulation in the spacePhilipp’s view on legacy vs new networks How new technologies are changing the way we work and who comes into the spaceKey Takeaways:As years have been passing, I think we can say that we are now regarded as an institution, as a think tank, educating people in the field focusing on all these topics, including Bitcoin, a couple of crypto assets projects and also focusing on stable coins and so on. - PhilippEven Bitcoin is not fully decentralised. You have some central aspects there as well. But from all that we know, I think Bitcoin is by far the most decentral asset out there. - PhilippIt's a little bit sad for Bitcoin, because Bitcoin was never the problem this year. Bitcoin was something like the victim, it has been dragged down, like synchrony with other assets. - PhilippIn the token ecosystem, in the crypto ecosystem, there are also approaches popping up with regard to Web3 in the metaverse which will be really changing the world. - PhilippCorporations have had huge difficulties getting into the blockchain ecosystem. They try to apply this technology like any other enterprise technology, but blockchain is different. - PhilippBlockchain creates new economic areas which haven't been there, and therefore, they can't be one to one compared to existing legacy domains. - PhilippResources:Connect with Philipp on TwitterFrankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC)Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)CapitalNeo Banks➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the fourth episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Carlos Vivaus Augier, Senior Principal Engineer / Director (Innovation & Research) at The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).DTCC and its family of companies serve as the premier post-trade market infrastructure in the industry, advancing the automation, centralization, standardisation and streamlining of processes critical to the markets’ safety and soundness.Carlos has worked as a Blockchain advisor for Tier 1 and large corporations from Finance, Energy, Health and Retail industries. He was awarded 2nd place in a national level blockchain hackathon and he co-authored two Blockchain books with top experts from the space.Episode highlights:How Carlos became involved in the space How platforms integrate with Ethereum The regulatory frameworkWhat goes on chain vs what stays offCarlos’ view on blockchain's impact on the industryKey Takeaways:“Our goal is that this platform is able to support multiple networks or operate on multiple networks.”  - Carlos“So this is, I guess to some extent the first time that you would see users have the possibility to mint a security to an Ethereum main net so it could introduce efficiencies in secondary market where investors who directly hold those securities in their wallets are able to instruct transactions directly from their wallet on the blockchain.”  - Carlos“It's better, as an enterprise with a highly regulated environment, to be conservative on how we use it and how we protect our clients and our users.” - Carlos“The important thing here is that the challenge is not necessarily how you're exchanging those assets, it is whether or not you're compliant with the rules of that asset.”  - Carlos“What I like about the main net is not the fact that it's a public blockchain, it's the fact that it's a common infrastructure that could be used and that it works a hundred percent uptime, right since it started.” - CarlosResources:DTCCOpinnioEthereum MainnetEnterprise Ethereum AllianceCommercializing Blockchain➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/

In the third episode of our new season of Web3 Innovators, our host Conor Svensson is joined by Julian Kwan, Co-Founder at Investax. Investax is a Singapore licensed digital asset securities platform.  They provide key infrastructure to digitise real assets, so you can use them to buy, sell, trade, borrow or lend instantly, across the world, 24x7.Julian has founded 6 companies over his 22-year career based in Asia, including social media/technology, real estate investment & development, proptech and blockchain. He is currently focused on building key digital infrastructure connecting TradFi (Traditional Finance) to DeFi (Decentralized Finance).Connect with Julian on TwitterEpisode highlights:How Julian got started in the space.The importance of being licensed in a specific jurisdiction in order to provide a web3 type of service.Using technology as a better way to hold, issue and trade shares.DAOs living on Ethereum and finding ways to regulate this.NFTs as the future of memberships, communities and frequent flyers.Julian gives advice to those thinking about buying into an NFT, or crypto.Key Takeaways:“If you look at the public markets as we know them today, every significant expansion of capital is when new technology married that marketplace.” - Julian“You're either living in a cave or you don't understand what the Bitcoin White paper did to create such a kind of a paradigm shift in what is, how humans are exchanging value and how they communicate and how they actually exist.” - Julian“My vision was, if you open up your phone and you can see all your stocks on interactive brokers and you buy them really easily, why shouldn't we be able to do that with all of our assets?” - Julian“The more that there's institutional adoption for the whole space, the more that it does move towards the regulated space.” - Julian“The industry grows the volume of trades, volume of assets, and so if you're in that space as an investor, numerically, it's working for you. Even if philosophically it might be losing.” - JulianResources:Network StateEthereumInvestaxIxswapInfinity and Beyond Podcast➡️ Remember to leave us a 5* review and we'd love to hear your comments too!➡️ Discover Web3 Labs➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on Twitter➡️ Follow Web3 Labs on LinkedIn➡️ Follow Conor on Twitter➡️ Get Conor’s latest thoughts on Web3 at https://writing.conorsvensson.com/