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The Future Of Crypto-currency With Founder Of Ethereum.org And BitcoinDecentral.ca at bitcoin decentral

Ethereum is a contract validating and enforcing system based on a distributed public ledger such as the one implemented by the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The system allows for the management of complex distributed autonomous organizations, which raises questions about legality. Could this new platform promote the establishment of an entirely decentralized society, or will its disruptive [...]
  
 Apr 15, 2014

Primavera Di Filippi on Ethereum: Freenet or Skynet? [AUDIO]

Chris Clark discusses the blockchain's potential to disrupt the financial industry, from contracts to mortgages to government taxation.

Blockchain and decentralization hold big implications for society

Conrad Barski on the bitcoin and blockchain landscape and how the technology will evolve over the next 10 years.

For more on the interview, visit O'Reilly Radar: oreil.ly/15A9cCp

Bitcoin's road to democratization lies in decentralization

Support the show, consider donating: 3MUpiVGuzDeGUyQLLcxFN8QGSbbEBZaqpq (http://bit.ly/1Basjj9)

Is Bitcoin secure from attacks that could destroy the currency? To a large part, this is determined by how expensive it is to carry out an attack and by the potential profits the attacker could generate. Ideally, an attack is so expensive to carry out that no profit-driven attacker would engage in it.

But in this episode, Brian argues that the cost of attacking Bitcoin will likely decrease in the future and the ability to short Bitcoin and thus benefit from an attack will increase dramatically. We take an in-depth look at the anatomy of such an attack including:

- How an attacker would need to go about shorting bitcoin
- How the kamikaze mining pool could be used to bribe miners to join the attacker
- Why all profit-driven miners will have an incentive to join the attack, whether or not they believe it will succeed
- Why the block halving in 2016 could be an exceptionally dangerous time for Bitcoin, since an attack would be cheap to execute and likely to succeed
- How a gradual decrease of the block reward, instead of the 4-year halving rhythm would reduce risk

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Bitcoin Development Mailing List Thread - Death by halving: http://bit.ly/1Ch3Qdx

Sponsors: 

- ShapeShift: http://shapeshift.io

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/068
YouTube: http://youtu.be/aTH43WRpqe8


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB68 – Kamikaze Attack, Block Halving And The Perils Of Proof-Of-Work

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When one is busy driving a technological and societal revolution forward, complying with complicated regulatory requirements is rarely a top priority. Yet, the reality is that at this stage the often ambigious and rapidly evolving regulatory landscape can have an outsized impact on the fate of cryptocurrency startups and on the adoption/integration into existing systems.

Epicenter Bitcoin Regulatory Correspondent and founder of COINsult Siân Jones joined us for an update on the state of Bitcoin regulation in a variety of jurisdiction.

Topics included:
- The recent statement by the UK’s treasury on digital currencies
- How the Isle of Man keeps pioneering a cryptocurrency-friendly environment
- The stance of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) towards Bitcoin
- The insanity of the looming BitLicense rules and difficult-to-predict consequences they may have

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- COINsult: http://bit.ly/1jrH1er
- UK HM Treasury: Digital Currencies - Response to the Call for Information http://bit.ly/1BJ3rvn
- Isle of Man Introduces Regulation for Bitcoin Businesses http://bit.ly/1Ny79Q3
- California Bill Proposes License Requirement for Bitcoin Businesses http://bit.ly/1F98Dfq
- Bitlicense Comment Period Closes http://bit.ly/1DdcNDY

Sponsors: 

- Buy and sell alt coins instantly with http://ShapeShift.io

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/072
YouTube: http://youtu.be/qvX7pFO0N4Q


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB72 – Siân Jones - Cryptocurrency Regulation Update: UK, Isle Of Man, California, Bitlicense

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Peter Thiel argued in his book 'Zero to One' that the way to build a great and highly profitable company is to build a monopoly. But with decentralized technologies, there is a real question whether these monopolies can be built or whether the monopolies will end up being publicly owned goods (like Bitcoin) that can't be monetized directly. 

William Mougayar, who is an experienced tech executive and angel investor, has been writing extensively about these issues and was one of the investors in OB1, the venture-backed company launched by the founders of the decentralized market place Open Bazaar. He joined us for a discussion of the cryptocurrency space, Ethereum, Open Bazaar and monetizing decentralized technologies. 

Topics covered included:
- Bitcoin as the new, thin cloud
- His long-term predictions about where the space is going
- What kind of business models are the most promising
- Why he chose to invest in OB1, the company behind Open Bazaar
- What the state of Venture Capital in the cryptocurrency space is


Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Predictions in Cryptography, Blockchains and Consensus Protocols http://bit.ly/1giM8gJ
- The Old Cloud is Dead, Welcome the New Cloud http://bit.ly/1H3AZGk
- The Business Imperative Behind the Ethereum Vision http://bit.ly/1JPRgms
- An Operational Framework for DAOs http://bit.ly/1NKQKr4
- Union Square Ventures: Introducing OB1 http://bit.ly/1S1YCFe
- Peter Thiel: Competition is for Losers http://on.wsj.com/1NKRbS8

Sponsors: 

- Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly at http://ShapeShift.io
- Vaultoro: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg at http://vaultoro.com

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/086
YouTube: https://youtu.be/ROQDaagEDi8


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB86 – William Mougayar: The Business Of Decentralization

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Close to two years after the initial whitepaper, the revolutionary Ethereum network has finally launched. The decentralized smart contract platform is, without a doubt, the most exciting cryptocurrency project since Bitcoin. The versatile platform with its turing-complete scripting language aspires to power the distributed applications of the future.

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin joined us for the second time to discuss the Frontier Launch, future plans for scalability, governance and the road ahead for the organization and the protocol.

Topics covered included:
- Ethereum's frontier launch and the upcoming development stages
- The plans for how to create a scalable blockchain architecture
- The thinking around transitioning to proof-of-stake
- The state and new board of the Ethereum Foundation
- How Ethereum's development will be funded in the longer term
- His thoughts on the governance of Ethereum and Bitcoin
- When private blockchains make sense and if Ethereum
- What mistakes were made during the development of Ethereum

Review us on iTunes and WIN a Free T-Shirt!

Each week we will be giving away an Epicenter Bitcoin t-shirt to one lucky listener! All you need to do is leave us a review on iTunes. Then send us an email at show@epicenterbitcoin.com with the review text so we can identify you and we’ll draw one winner per week who will get a t-shirt.

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15)

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/091
YouTube: https://youtu.be/3uvbIyzsCLY


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB91 – Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Frontier Launch, Scalability And The Road Ahead

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In a long-overdue episode, we finally had the chance to dive into one of the most known but poorly understood cryptocurrency/blockchain project: Ripple. Reviled by many in the Bitcoin space, we put aside any prejudices and sat down for a fascinating conversation with Ripple Labs CTO Stefan Thomas.

We talked about his early days in the Bitcoin space, how Ripple came about, what the Ripple network looks like today and how its consensus protocol works.

Topics covered included:
- Stefan Thomas' early experiences in the Bitcoin space
- How Ripple was created
- The problem Ripple is trying to solve
- How the Ripple consensus algorithm works
- Whether Ripple is decentralized or not
- What the correspondent banking system is and how Ripple wants to disrupt it
- The recent FinCen fine and what it means for Ripple

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Ripple http://bit.ly/1hgMTaV
- Ripple Labs http://bit.ly/1Msvnfe
- Ripple Labs Fined $700,000 by FinCen http://bit.ly/1WwHyMx
- Richard Gendal Brown:  The Deep Insight at Ripple's Cores http://bit.ly/1UMG7YC
- Peter Todd Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm Review http://bit.ly/1hgN0U0
- Ripple Consensus Protocol Whitepaper http://bit.ly/1HQ4202

Review us on iTunes and WIN a Free T-Shirt!

Each week we will be giving away an Epicenter Bitcoin t-shirt to one lucky listener! All you need to do is leave us a review on iTunes. Then send us an email at show@epicenterbitcoin.com with the review text so we can identify you and we’ll draw one winner per week who will get a t-shirt.

Sponsors: 

- Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly at http://ShapeShift.io

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/092
YouTube: https://youtu.be/KMydq_m9f_4


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB92 – Stefan Thomas: Understanding Ripple

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As the debate about the blocksize continues to roar through the Bitcoin community, Gavin Andresen joins us to take a step back and ask the big questions: How should these decisions be made in the first place? What does the governance of Bitcoin look like now and what do we want it to look like in the future?

In a challenging time for Bitcoin, it's a critical discussion to have with the Chief Scientist of the Bitcoin Foundation and successor of Satoshi. We cover everything from the current blocksize debate to the nature of forks to how decisions will be made in Bitcoin XT.

Topics covered included:
- MIT Digital Currency Initiative
- The way Gavin thinks about Bitcoin
- How were decisions made throughout Bitcoin's history
- What the Nakamoto/market consensus is
- Forking the software vs a fork of the blockchain
- Who should make decisions in Bitcoin and how the interest of different stakeholders should be reconciled
- Why the desirable state is to move towards many different implementations
- How decisions will be made for the Bitcoin XT code base

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Eli Durado: How should Bitcoin be governed? http://bit.ly/1Vm7JnM
- Arvind Narayanan: Bitcoin faces a crossroads, needs an effective decision-making process http://bit.ly/1LCq8bf
- Matt Asay: Why you should fork your next open-source project http://tek.io/1N2bk9i
- Robles & Gonzalez-Barahona, A comprehensive study of software forks http://bit.ly/1JDCtwB
- Chinese Mining Pools Call for Consensus; Refuse Switch to Bitcoin XT http://bit.ly/1Ukpph6
- Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies - Chapter 7: Community, Politics, and Regulation http://bit.ly/1PZVZo5
- BIP 100 Proposal http://bit.ly/1iakV0M

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15)
- Vaultoro: Invest in the gold-Bitcoin trading platform on Bank to the Future http://bit.ly/1ER5gIo

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/094
YouTube: http://youtu.be/B8l11q9hsJM


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB94 – Gavin Andresen: On The Blocksize And Bitcoin's Governance

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Prediction markets are considered one of the most promising applications of blockchain technology. Although the concept and some early implementations have existed for years, decentralized prediction markets present a number of advantages to their centralized counterparts. 

Paul Sztorc joins us to discuss Truthcoin, a “Peer-to-Peer Oracle Protocol which absorbs accurate data into a blockchain so that Bitcoin-users can speculate in Prediction Markets”. We dive deep to explore the advantages of decentralized prediction markets, their various real-world applications, and their potential to revolutionize the creation and propagation of knowledge in our society. 

On this episode, we are thrilled to introduce a new co-host on Epicenter Bitcoin, Meher Roy. He has a biochemical engineering background and previously worked as an adviser to HyperLedger. Since discovering Bitcoin, he spends most of his free time understanding blockchain technology and its potential impact on our lives. We’re confident that Meher will bring a high level of understanding and critical thinking to the topics we cover, and we’re certain our listeners will be as happy as we are to have him on the show.

Topics covered include: 
- What are prediction markets and why they are useful
- The mechanics of prediction markets 
- The potential for prediction markets to provide useful aggregation to today's abundant information
- The parallels between crowd intelligence and artificial intelligence
- The different components of Truthcoin and the state of the project
- How Truthcoin differs from other decentralized prediction markets

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Truthcoin Website: http://bit.ly/1V5pOcY
- Truthcoin Whitepaper: http://bit.ly/1JkkIgY
- The Win-Win Blocksize Solution: http://bit.ly/1j2nUsE
- Blocksize Markets: http://bit.ly/1LHXi74

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15)

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/097
YouTube: https://youtu.be/qNeX_5jvAI0


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB97 – Paul Sztorc: Truthcoin & Prediction Markets, From Information-Overload To Crowd Intelligence

Support the show, consider donating: 1FNPtiqcHnNW2Bxx27T3UTNiJNVAmRkvPv (http://bit.ly/1N6TbI9)

With Proof-of-Stake (PoS) a blockchain is secured not by spending an external resource such as electricity but by using value internal to the chain itself. The promise of higher security at a lower cost is what also drives Ethereum to plan a move away from Proof-of-Work to PoS in the future.

Ethereum researcher Vlad Zamfir, who leads their effort in the complex search for the optimal PoS consensus system joined us for an in-depth discussion of the challenges of PoS, the approach Casper is taking and what consensus in Ethereum land could look like in the future.

Topics covered included:
- How he became interested in consensus and Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
- Why Ethereum plans to switch to the PoS systems Casper in the future
- What the Long-Range Attack and Nothing-at-Stake problems are and how Casper addresses them
- How a betting mechanism is used to get validators to reach consensus
- What centralization pressures exist for validators and what operating a validator will look like
- The role of security deposits in Casper
- The difference between Tendermint and Casper
- Whether forks create big UI/UX issues for Casper
- Why Casper is very light client friendly

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Introducing Casper - Ethereum Blog http://bit.ly/1ONermJ
- Review of Casper, Ethereum’s proposed Proof of Stake Algorithm http://bit.ly/1YcWG1G
- Casper Protocol Specification http://bit.ly/1Nzi8GI
- Slasher, Ghost and Other Developments in Proof-of-Stake http://bit.ly/1NziInC
- Epicenter Bitcoin Episode 58 with Vitalik Buterin on Proof-of-Stake http://bit.ly/1PKdHNK

Sponsors: 

- Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/105


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB105 – Vlad Zamfir: Bringing Ethereum Towards Proof-Of-Stake With Casper

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In the midst of the heated blocksize debate one could be forgiven to think that there is very little Bitcoin developers are able to agree on. Yet, when core developer and Blockstream co-founder Pieter Wuille introduced the concept of segregated witness at the Scaling Bitcoin conference in Hong Kong most of the Bitcoin community quickly rallied behind the proposal. 

Eric Lombrozo, CEO of wallet company Ciphrex and responsible for running the segregated witness testnet, joined us to discuss the proposal and its implications. Segregated witness, it turns out, does not only provide an elegant way to increase the blocksize via a soft-fork, it also solves transaction malleability and greatly simplifies updating the Bitcoin's scripting language. It's a crucial topic and may well enable a new wave of accelerated innovation in Bitcoin.

Topics covered included:
- The various benefits of segregated witness
- The mechanics of segregated witness
- How segregated witness solves transaction malleability
- How segregated witness could increase the blocksize to 2-3MB with a soft fork
- What segregated witness means for wallet developers
- How segregated witness could facilitate development of off-chain networks such as Lightning Network
- The important difference between hard forks and soft forks
- How segregated witness will allow updates of Bitcoin's script language via soft forks

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Scaling Bitcoin Talk by Pieter Wuille http://bit.ly/1RhgRKA
- Let's Talk Bitcoin! #277 Separating Signatures with Segregated Witness http://bit.ly/1SaELZi
- Gavin Andresen: Segregated Witness is Cool http://bit.ly/1RhgOyh
- Bitcoin Magazine Series on Segregated Witness Part 1: http://bit.ly/1PgyFD8 Part 2: http://bit.ly/1SYEK9K Part 3: http://bit.ly/23Soo7H
- Eric Lombrozo's company Ciphrex: http://bit.ly/1T83Bcs

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/117
YouTube: https://youtu.be/iipca5gmcT8


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB117 – Eric Lombrozo: Upgrading Bitcoin With Segregated Witness

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A pioneering feature of Bitcoin is verifiability of transactions: It is designed to enable low-power devices and high end computers alike to be able to verify occurrences on the blockchain.

This observation led our guest, Adam Gibson, to wonder why webpages aren't so easily verifiable as a Bitcoin transaction? Can I prove to you that I have certain bank account balance over the internet? Why do we submit photocopies of passports rather than furnishing a cryptographically verifiable proof of citizenship by logging on to a Government site?

Born out of this intellectual itch is the TLS Notary protocol. It pioneers a new kind of auditing that enables participants to prove that a certain https page was in their browser. This protocol paves the way to brilliant designs for Proof of Reserves, Smart contract oracles and Decentralised fiat-to-bitcoin exchange.

Topics covered included:

- Why is the current Web structured to be not easily verifiable?
- What is TLS and how does it work?
- How TLS differs from SSL.
- The TLS Notary protocol
- Capabilities and limitations of TLS Notary.
- Applications of TLS Notary including provably honest smart contract oracles.

Links mentioned in this episode:

- The TLS Notary website: https://tlsnotary.org/
- Oraclize, the provably honest oracle service: http://www.oraclize.it/
- The TLS specification (TLS 1.0 RFC 2246):  https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2246.txt

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com
- GTEC: Apply now to enter the GTEC Blockchain Contest and win prizes worth €50k http://epicenterbitcoin.com/gtec

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/119
YouTube: https://youtu.be/MVjTOZ_lJ30

Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB119 – Adam Gibson: A New Kind Of Auditing - Cryptographic Proof Of Online Accounts

Programmer: Rogelio Segovia
https://github.com/segovro/Community-Currency 

Join us on a journey with Rogelio Segovia as he tells us of his mind expanding project on managing local currencies using ethereum technology.  This is surely a missing piece of the puzzle to empowering local communities, which if you think about it are the backbones to cities globally.

This is certainly a high level conversation on money, and credit and how it will interface with larger currencies.

Interviewed by Tom Miller
http://blog.transitionfoundation.org

Rogelio Recording - Turn-Key Community Currency powered by Ethereum

Support the show, consider donating: 1895oevDkjuxipbMBan3bvuvYH1brqEhgx (http://bit.ly/1WMUkW3)

We were joined by repeat guest Anthony Di Iorio, a definite contender for having (co-)founded the most projects in the blockchain space including Ethereum, Kryptokit, Decentral and Jaxx. We got an update on the vibrant Toronto blockchain scene and Decentral. The main discussion revolved around the new wallet Jaxx that is simultaneously a Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet and takes a significant step towards a more unified and accessible cryptocurrency experience. Finally, we discussed his recent appointment as Chief Digital Officer at the Toronto Stock Exchange / TMX Group and the upcoming trade show Blockchain World Expo.

Topics covered included:
- Update on Decentral and Kryptokit
- How the Jaxx wallet 
- Unique UI challenges of Ethereum wallets
- The role of community in bringing innovation to corporates
- His role as Chief Digital Officer at the TMX Group
- The upcoming Blockchain World Expo in Toronto

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Jaxx Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet http://bit.ly/23TWfw8
- Decentral http://bit.ly/1jBWUd9
- Decentral.tv
- Blockchain World Expo http://bit.ly/1WbH5j1

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/127
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Epm8S-PBSvs


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB127 – Anthony Di Iorio: Jaxx, Ethereum And Why Community Matters

Support the show, consider donating: 1NuPtD5RvyfbFPCzCtLu9xxJJZZcnLzQE9 (http://bit.ly/2bBo7V7)

From BitShares to his central role during the inception of Ethereum Charles Hoskinson has continually influenced key projects in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. After departing the Ethereum project in 2014, he has recently stepped back into the limelight by pledging support and resources to turn the fledgling Ethereum fork ETC into a viable project. 

Charles joined us together with Alex Chepurnoy, a developer at his company IOHK. Besides Ethereum Classic, we talked about IOHK and Scorex, IOHK's modular blockchain framework project that Alex Chepurnoy has been leading.

Topics covered included:
- The vision and activities of IOHK
- Scorex: A Modular Blockchain Framework
- Conflicts of vision that lead to Charles' departure as original CEO of Ethereum in 2014
- Why the hard fork broken Ethereum's social contract
- Why ETC should differentiate and find its own path
- The role governance could play in ETC's future

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- IOHK Scorex http://bit.ly/2bqM65q
- IOHK - Input Output Hong Kong Website http://bit.ly/2aRE2sN
- Charles Hoskinson: Hoskus Parvum Opus: A Brief Sojourn Back to Ethereum http://bit.ly/2aTQH44
- Ethereum Classic: keep censorship-resistant Ethereum going http://bit.ly/2brVMzc
- ETC Declaration of Independence http://bit.ly/2bq8QmI
- Let's Talk Bitcoin #304 Immutability vs Consensus Debate http://bit.ly/2aSjxvE

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com
- Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices http://jaxx.io

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/144
YouTube: http://youtu.be/5040I0PW7rc
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-144


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
- Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter
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Epicenter Bitcoin

EB144 – Charles Hoskinson & Alex Chepurnoy: IOHK, Scorex And The Case For Ethereum Classic

Support the show, consider donating: 12yXxgTFJ8ZCz9ysSA59XRHLonP5SFNGVq (http://bit.ly/2drGQjb)

Before 2013 few people paid attention to Bitcoin and blockchain, yet even back in the 1990s a vibrant group of prioneers pursued the vision of financial cryptography and digital cash. One of these was financial cryptographer and software developer Ian Grigg, who today works as an architecture consultant for R3.

Grigg joined us for a discussion of the history of the digital cash, Bitcoin and his work on Ricardian Contracts, which foreshadowed today's smart contracts.

Topics covered included:
- The origin story of financial cryptography
- DigiCash and the startup scene around it in the 1990s
- Ricardian Contracts and why contracts are central to digital assets
- Ricardian Contracts vs blockchain

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Ricardian Contract Paper http://bit.ly/2cOnQsU
- Financial Cryptography Website http://bit.ly/2dM4men
- Financial Cryptography in 7 Layers http://bit.ly/2d9GRXT
- R3CEV http://bit.ly/2dVJiRX
- Brown, Carlyle, Grigg & Hearn: Corda - An Introduction http://bit.ly/2dmtPLP

Sponsors: 

- Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices http://jaxx.io
- BitFiniti Conference in Miami Beach Oct 30 - Nov 2: Go to bitfiniti.com/epicenter for discounts on registrations and presenter packages

Show notes: http://epicenter.tv/151
YouTube: http://youtu.be/wokvO1ptE1k
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-151


Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.

151 – Ian Grigg: Ricardian Contracts And Digital Assets Prehistory

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As content becomes more and more abundant and immediately available at our fingertips, our limited attention is a barrier for those whose business it is to attract and harness it. In this context, large (social) media companies understand that attention is a scarce commodity, and, as has been demonstrated, those who control attention wield enormous power over our society.

We're joined by Greg Meredith, CTO of Synereo, to talk about how this new Blockchain platform rebuild the attention economy. In a sense, Synereo is to attention, what Bitcoin is to money, in effect, removing intermediaries from the transaction between those who have attention, and those who wish to attract it. Greg, also gives his insights on how functional programming languages could allow for verifiable computational smart contracts. 

Topics discussed in this episode:

- Greg's background as a mathematician and his work on Microsoft's BizTalk Process Orchestration
- How he transitioned into the crypto-currency space
- What is Synereo and what the project is trying to achieve
- Greg's thoughts on the attention economy and how it is fundamentally broken
- Synereo's technology stack
- How Vlad Zamfir's Casper consensus algorithm influenced Synereo
- Rholang, Synereo's functional smart-contracting language
- Synereo's economic model and product roadmap

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Synereo: https://synereo.com
- Synereo White Paper: https://github.com/synereo/synereo.github.io/raw/master/whitepapers/synereo.pdf
- Logic as a distributive law: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1610.02247v2.pdf
- Quit social media by Dr. Cal Newport: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E7hkPZ-HTk
- Deep Work by Dr. Cal Newport: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com
- Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices http://jaxx.io


Show notes: http://epicenter.tv/154
YouTube: http://youtu.be/0jRNSEt-D9A
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-154


Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.

154 – Greg Meredith: Rebuilding The Attention Economy From The Ground Up With Synereo

Support the show, consider donating: 1TonpBUGNCtBJm82a8K5hwiym5zVaQPDq (http://bit.ly/2mu3ptS)

Writing his college thesis on Bitcoin in 2012 and becoming Coinbase's first employee in 2013, Olaf Carlson-Wee has been at the forefront of cryptocurrency for many years. Recently, he left Coinbase to start Polychain Capital, a hedge fund focused solely on investing in cryptocurrencies and protocol tokens. Olaf joined us to discuss his journey in the industry and the investment thesis behing Polychain. 

Topics discussed in this episode:
- How Olaf Carlson-Wee became Coinbase's first employee
- The investment thesis behind Polychain Capital
- Why protocol tokens represent a huge investment opportunity
- The current state of tokensales
- Why the blockchain crowdfunding campaigns will start resembling VC deal structure
- His view on the state of the Bitcoin network and community

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Polychain Capital: http://polychain.capital	
- Beyond Bitcoin: The future of cryptocurrencies - The Signal: https://blog.mixpanel.com/2016/07/27/blockchain-technology-olaf-carlson-wee/
- Bitcoin Will Never Be a Currency—It's Something Way Weirder | WIRED: https://www.wired.com/2017/01/bitcoin-will-never-currency-something-way-weirder/
- The Golden Age Of Open Protocols – AVC: http://avc.com/2016/07/the-golden-age-of-open-protocols/
- Blockchain Tokens and the dawn of the Decentralized Business Model: https://blog.coinbase.com/app-coins-and-the-dawn-of-the-decentralized-business-model-8b8c951e734f#.rl4mv6p98
- Fat Protocols | Union Square Ventures: http://www.usv.com/blog/fat-protocols
- a16z and USV invest $10m in new digital asset hedge fund: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/12/09/andreessen-horowitz-and-union-square-ventures-invest-10-million-in-new-digital-assets-hedge-fund/#2e6f5ce95e97
- The future is a decentralized internet | TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/08/the-future-is-a-decentralized-internet/

Sponsors: 
- Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices - http://jaxx.io


Watch or listen, Epicenter is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.

173 – Olaf Carlson-Wee: Polychain Capital and the Rise of Protocol Tokens

Support the show, consider donating: 
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Years into the great Bitcoin scaling debate no solution is in reach. Neither bigger blocks nor Segregated Witness have anywhere near consensus support. With the conflict escalating, a Bitcoin fork has become a real possibility.

Electrum Developer Thomas Voegtlin joined us to discuss the state of the Bitcoin scaling debate. We discussed Bitcoin Unlimited, ASICBoost, SegWit activation without miner support and how a Bitcoin fork could play out. Possible outcomes include that Bitcoin Unlimited gains a majority of hashing power and starts mining bigger blocks. In the event of a fork, a proof-of-work change could be done to defend the minority chain from miner attacks. And lately a proposal was brought forward to activate SegWit without the support of the hashing power.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- ASICBoost and its potential role in the conflict
- How a Bitcoin fork could happen
- How to split coins in case of a fork
- How UASF could be used to activate SegWit without miner support
- Requirements for UASF to be safe
- How Electrum would handle a fork

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Electrum Bitcoin Wallet: https://electrum.org/#home
- ASICBoost – Hacker Noon: https://medium.com/@samcole_74219/asicboost-655a73d48ae4
- Bitcoin's New Controversy: The AsicBoost Allegations Explained - CoinDesk: http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-new-controversy-asicboost-allegations-explained/
- Timo Hanke on ASICBoost and SegWit Non-Activation: https://twitter.com/timothanke/status/849896505653706753
- From AsicBoost to UASF: Greg Maxwell on Bitcoin's Path Forward - CoinDesk: http://www.coindesk.com/asicboost-uasf-greg-maxwell-bitcoins-path-forward/
- [bitcoin-dev] Thomas Voegtlin: Soft Fork Threshold Signaling Proposal: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-April/014146.html
- UASF Working Group: https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/uasf/
- [bitcoin-dev] Greg Maxwell: I do not support the BIP 148 UASF: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-April/014152.html
- Thomas Voegtlin: Electrum, SPV Wallets And Bitcoin Aliases — Epicenter: https://epicenter.tv/episode/069/

Sponsors: 
- Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices - http://jaxx.io

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/179
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/18QdbsSo8T8
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-179

Watch or listen, Epicenter is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.

179 – Thomas Voegtlin: Blocksize, Bitcoin Unlimited, ASICBoost and Activating SegWit

Support the show, consider donating: 
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Anyone who has ever started a company knows just how tedious that process that can be. Whether it's establishing a shareholder's agreement, defining the company's constitutional structure, raising funds, or transferring shares, corporate governance procedures remain largely paper-based, requiring validation from multiple stakeholders, and their lawyers. Blockchain technologies, and specifically smart contracts, provide the rails upon which these processes can be digitized and streamlined, reducing operational costs, eliminating errors and automating menial tasks.

Manu Thanabalan, CTO of Otonomos, joins us to discuss how his company is leveraging smart contracts to accelerate incorporation and automate corporate governance. Otonomos provides the tools and services which allow for anyone to start a company in any of the jurisdictions they support. Using their platform, founders are able to define board members and issue shares, while captables are kept up-to-date in real-time. Day-to-day governance mechanisms and standard procedures such as voting and share transfers are automated through a smart contact, which complies with local jurisdictional regulation. 

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Mano's background as a quantitative trader and how he transitioned into blockchain
- The fundamental problem Otonomos is addressing
- How we may be able to unlock a tremendous amount of value by liberating shares currently locked in private companies
- Leveraging smart contracts to automate standardized corporate legal procedures
- The types of constitutional rules which can be digitized and automated with smart contracts
- The ability to simplify accounting and auditing with Otonomos
- The Otonomos technology stack
- The current state of Otonomos and their product roadmap

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Otonomos Website: http://otonomos.com

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/180
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/i7e_ORfk-Lg
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-180

Watch or listen, Epicenter is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.

180 – Mano Thanabalan: Simplifying Incorporation & Automating Corporate Governance with Otonomos

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Epicenter is a podcast about the technologies, projects & people driving decentralization and the global blockchain revolution.

Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sebastien Couture and Meher Roy. Every week, we find the most interesting people in the industry for in-depth discussions about their projects, ideas and stories.