Dan Held: Bitcoin DeFi Will Change Everything! - Asymmetric

In a world where everyone chases every basis point of marginal return, core values are often overlooked. The emergence of liquid staking protocols made stake delegation a norm rather than an exception. The hassles of running their own node and dealing with slashing risks were often too much of a burden for regular users. Dappnode offers both hardware and open-source software solutions for home stakers which are as facile to implement as a plug-n-play device. Their newly released Dappnode Smooth aims to offer the advantages of staking pools (via smart contracts), without centralisation risks.Topics covered in this episode:Eduardo’s and Pol’s backgroundsFounding DappnodeDappnode userbaseSupported networksDappnode’s tech stackSetting up DappnodeDappstoreUpdating nodesDappnode hardware usage percentageDappnode SmoothSolo staking vs. liquid stakingDistributed validator technology (DVT)RestakingETH issuanceFuture roadmap for DappnodeEpisode links:Eduardo Antuna on TwitterDappnode on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

One of the best known educators in the space and OG Bitcoin maxi, Dan Held joined us to discuss his crypto journey from entrepreneur to marketing & growth specialist and why he decided to start the Asymmetric Bitcoin DeFi Fund. Although initially a contentious topic, the emergence of Ordinals revealed Bitcoin’s untapped potential, sparking tremendous interest for Bitcoin L2s and DeFi on the ‘mother chain’. Apart from bringing new utility to the highest liquidity blockchain, the new-found demand for blockspace significantly increased fees, thus incentivising miners to further secure the chain despite halving rewards.Topics covered in this episode:Dan’s backgroundZeroBlockIncreasing marketing reachZeroBlock acquisition & marketing at KrakenAsymmetric Bitcoin DeFi FundBitcoin’s history: NFT & DeFi emergenceOP_CAT & trustless bridgingBitcoin ‘governance’, forks & BIPsUsecases for DeFi on BitcoinBitcoin block reward subsidy and long-term securityEpisode links:Asymmetric on TwitterDan Held on TwitterBlockchain.com on TwitterTaproot Wizards on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

From a cross-platform media company, to launching their own conference and, more recently, an advisory branch, Blockworks has seen and done it all. We couldn’t miss Permissionless III, one of the largest crypto conferences in the US, where we sat down with Jason Yanowitz to discuss emerging trends in the industry and where the attention might shift over the coming months.Topics covered in this episode:Blockworks’ evolutionThe crypto conference landscapeBlockworks advisoryApps & infrastructureRegulationsZK & AIStablecoinsPodcastingEpisode links:Jason Yanowitz on TwitterBlockworks on TwitterPermissionless on TwitterEmpire Podcast on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture, Friederike Ernst & Sunny Aggarwal.

Outside of BTC’s cypherpunk movement, the early days of crypto were more or less barren in terms of innovation. However, this presented a huge opportunity for visionaries and angel investors to either launch or back bold projects, recognizing the potential of crypto stretching far beyond than just payments. One of them was Konstantin Lomashuk, co-founder of cyber•Fund which was a key actor in bootstrapping the cybernetic economy. Apart from early investments in Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana and many others, Konstantin recognized the potential threats to the core ethos of decentralisation and also co-founded Lido DAO in order to stave off Ethereum’s centralization risks.Topics covered in this episode:Konstantin’s backgroundcyber·Fund & cybernetic economyEntrepreneurship vs. angel investingDelegating tasks and scaling businessesLido’s origin storyLido DAO proposals and improvementsSolana vs. EthereumThe evolution of Ethereum’s economyKonstantin’s other areas of interestAI’s risk of centralizationThe impact of AI on cryptoHow CyberFund invests in new narrativesEpisode links:Konstantin Lomashuk on Twittercyber·Fund on TwitterP2P orgSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

As Ethereum’s roadmap shifted to a rollup-centric approach, a plethora of rollups have been launched, to the point where L3s have been conceptualized. Celestia sits at the forefront of modularity as it aims to replace the monolithic blockchain architecture with specialized layers that are more suited for scalability and customization. As a result, Celestia strictly focuses on data availability to accommodate the recent rollup expansion, as data storage represents the largest portion of fees on L2s. The Lemongrass upgrade lays the foundation for further use cases being enabled through Celestia, mainly revolving around interoperability and zk proof enabled ‘lazy bridging’. Topics covered in this episode:The vision behind CelestiaRollup architectureCentralised sequencers and the role of fraud proofsCelestia’s market shareRollkit & sovereign rollupsGovernance & light clientsThe importance of decentralisation: L1s vs. rollupsCelestia’s data availability capacityLatency & Celestia block timesInteroperability & ‘lazy bridging’The Lemongrass upgradeOn-chain economics & value accrualInterchain accounts on CelestiaCrypto’s mainstream adoptionFuture roadmapEpisode links:Mustafa Al-Bassam on TwitterIsmail Khoffi on TwitterCelestia on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

Prediction markets were one of the first use cases of smart contracts, yet their popularity only recently spiked, following Polymarket’s social media spread. However, while prediction markets are generally zero-sum games, the rise of AI models trained on large datasets led to AI-powered prediction feeds and hedge funds. Crypto offers a unique array of use cases as it allows data scientists to not only share their data sets and models with complete privacy, but also access decentralised computing and model training. While Predictoor employs Ocean’s data infrastructure to run AI-powered prediction bots on lower timeframes, Numerai developed its own AI hedge fund for stocks, that recently also expanded to crypto (Numerai does not trade cryptocurrencies, and Numerai’s Hedge Fund(s) have no relation to Numerai Crypto).Topics covered in this episode:Predictoor & Numerai overviewPrediction marketsPrediction feedsPrediction markets in TradFi and other use casesImplementation of Ocean’s tech in PredictoorPredictions vs. FuturesMarket participantsNumerai hedge fundNumerai’s trust assumptionsThe role of AIThe evolution of AI and how it might solve market inefficienciesNumerai crypto and how it differs from PredictoorPredictoor x Numerai collaborationsThe future of prediction marketsEpisode links:Trent McConaghy on TwitterRichard Craib on TwitterPredictoor on TwitterNumerai on TwitterOcean Protocol on TwitterOasis Protocol on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

Interoperability is the holy grail for a multi-chain future or the ‘internet of blockchains’. However, while IBC (inter-blockchain communication protocol) revolutionised permissionless cross-chain transfers, it was Skip Protocol’s Go API that took advantage of Cosmos’ infrastructure (and its numerous messaging protocols), to create an end-to-end interoperability platform, allowing developers to design seamless cross-chain user experiences.We were joined by Sam Hart, head of product at Skip Protocol, to discuss the challenges of interoperability across Cosmos & Ethereum, and how Skip:Go API & Skip:Connect push the crosschain boundaries towards end user adoption.Topics covered in this episode:Sam’s backgroundThe Other InternetSkip Protocol: bringing seamless interoperability to CosmosMonetization for Skip:Connect & Skip:GoThe Skip:Connect oracle and how Cosmos chains pull dataCross-chain MEVMEV blockersEthereum vs. Cosmos ecosystem development and activityEthereum bridges vs. Cosmos IBCCross-chain interoperabilitySkip’s multi-chain expansionEpisode links:Sam Hart on TwitterSkip Protocol on TwitterThe Other InternetSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

In this day and age, privacy and confidentiality are more important than ever. Advancements in the cryptographic research of zero knowledge proofs (ZKPs), fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) and multi-party computation (MPC) paved the way for computational integrity and confidential computing. While FHE allows for computation to be performed on encrypted data without the need for prior decryption, it is MPC that enables compliance with regulations (e.g. AML). Arcium aims to build a global super computer for parallelised confidential computing, powered by custom MXEs (multi-party computation execution environments).Topics covered in this episode:Yannik’s backgroundConfidentiality & decentralised complianceConfidential computingTEEs (trusted execution environments) & side-channel attacksZKP vs. MPC vs. FHEArcium’s global super computer architectureHow Arcium differentiates itself from other privacy protocolsUse casesCensorship risksEcosystem developmentEpisode links:Yannik Schrade on TwitterArcium on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Felix Lutsch.

The future is multi-chain, scalable and modular. However, while Cosmos’ IBC set the standard for interoperability, Ethereum’s L2 shift revealed a huge problem of liquidity fragmentation across the many rollups fighting for market share. Polymer aims to bridge the two ecosystems and bring the best of both worlds: Ethereum’s native liquidity and Cosmos’ interoperability, through a modular framework using the OP-stack and IBC.Topics covered in this episode:Bo’s background and the evolution of PolymerScaling limits of L1s vs. L2sThe ‘endgame’ for rollup frameworksIBCInteroperability & network topology: 70’s/80’s vs. blockchainsPolymer hubMonomer frameworkPre-confirmation & finality trade-offsCross-rollup interoperabilityBuilding appchains with MonomerModularityEpisode links:Bo Du on TwitterPolymer Labs on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture.

Self-custodial wallets often represent the first point of contact for crypto users that venture away from centralised exchanges. As a result, their security and user experience should be paramount. This often explained Metamask’s first mover advantage and the users’ reluctance to change. However, as infrastructure evolves, new wallets are equipped from the get-go with features that are designed for normie adoption, such as: account abstraction, gas fee abstraction, easier on- and off-ramp, etc. Zeal was envisioned as a day-to-day wallet solution, allowing users true freedom to transact, both on-chain, as well as off-chain (i.e. real world spendings).Topics covered in this episode:Hannes’ backgroundExisting wallet solutions and Zeal’s userbaseWallet UX, account abstraction and passkeysSecurity assumptions and passkey recoverySmart contract interactionsZeal’s mobile-first focusIBAN & Gnosis Pay integrationsCapturing market shareBanking the unbankedGas feesCross-chain interoperabilityDeFi & stakingMonetisationPrivacyZeal’s backendGrowth & business scaling in Web3Zealot recruitmentEpisode links:Hannes Graah on TwitterHannes Graah on LinkedInZeal on TwitterSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.