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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

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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.
 
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EB91 – Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Frontier Launch, Scalability And The Road Ahead

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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.
 
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EB97 – Paul Sztorc: Truthcoin & Prediction Markets, From Information-Overload To Crowd Intelligence

Blockchain without bitcoin? It's a debate as old as the cryptocurrency itself (which, to be honest, isn't that old). Given that bitcoin is not just a digital bearer instrument/token but is a network, a distributed ledger, a protocol, the question of separating blockchain from bitcoin isn't a moot one. Especially when you think of it analogously to voice over IP, but for financial services.

So what is the financial services industry doing with this "money over IP"? Clearly many large business players are paying attention and trying to get ahead of disruption, by asking themselves exactly what their bitcoin/blockchain strategy is. Adam Ludwin shares what's happening here from his perspective as founder of Chain, an enterprise blockchain platform that partners with financial institutions to help them apply the technology to their markets.

In this episode of the a16z Podcast, Ludwin covers what it's like merging the cultures of finance and tech; what's driving the recent bitcoin prices; why he believes in blockchain beyond bitcoin; whether there can be such a thing as private or permissioned blockchains; definitions of newer concepts like 'colored coins' and 'sidechains'; and more. Oh and what are the most interesting native apps, too.

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
 
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

a16z Podcast: Blockchain vs/and Bitcoin

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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.
 
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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.
 
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EB119 – Adam Gibson: A New Kind Of Auditing - Cryptographic Proof Of Online Accounts

Whether you think of it as a distributed ledger, decentralized database, computing infrastructure, open source/ software development platform, cryptocurrency, transaction platform, or financial services marketplace, the bitcoin blockchain is driven by two key features: that it is a peer-to-peer network, and that it unbundles trust. Imagine moving from Googling for things to offering proof-as-a-service instead (which itself begins with rethinking identity).

In fact, there's a lot of parallels -- both in evolution and development -- with the blockchain and the internet before it. Only the blockchain doesn't need the web. And that has profound implications for what applications and new businesses are now possible, especially in financial services. But if "the worst place to develop a new business model is from within your existing business model", then how can banks move beyond mere process innovations to offering entirely new services built on the blockchain? Many financial institutions are trying to get ahead of the blockchain disruption by exploring it proactively, but how do they overcome the innovator's dilemma and looking at startups like animals in a zoo?

In this episode of the a16z Podcast, William Mougayar, the author of the new book The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice, and Application of the Next Internet Technology shares how traditional, established industries can overcome the innovator's dilemma in this case; what the future of banks might be; and what new applications, services, and startups are possible due to the features -- really, benefits -- of the blockchain. Because the blockchain, ultimately, is an innovation platform.

a16z Podcast: Banking on the Blockchain

Vitalik Buterin Interview- Ethereum & Blockchain Technology Talk (EXCLUSIVE)

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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.

Epicenter Bitcoin

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

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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

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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

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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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The saying goes: if you're not paying for it, it's likely that you're the product. And with the rise of targeted ads, user behavior tracking, and alike, more and more users are turning to ad blocking software to protect their privacy and improve their browsing experience. In the last 25 years, the content monetization and Internet advertising industries have evolved to become complex ecosystems with multiple intermediating layers between users, publishers, and advertisers. This has created a situation where user's rights are constantly violated and where little accountability exists.

We're joined by Brendan Eich, Founder, and CEO of Brave. As an early Internet pioneer, Brendan created Javascript while working at Netscape in the mid 90's, and helped found the Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation, where he served as CEO for several years. Brave is a new desktop and mobile browser which blocks ads and tracking by default. This has the advantage of drastically improves page load times while protecting users' privacy. But Brave is much more than just a browser. Their team will launch the Basic Attention Token, which will serve as the currency of attention marketplaces between publishers, advertisers, and users. With the ambition to turn the Internet advertising industry on its head, this new attention economy marketplace will eliminate the need for unneeded intermediaries, provide publishers with new content monetization models and remunerate users when they chose to share their data with advertisers.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Brendan's background as an early Internet pioneer
- How monetization of content and attention on the Internet are broken
- How the Internet advertising industry works and the players involved
- A high-level overview of the Brave browser
- Brave's features and product roadmap
- The Basic Attention Token and its role as a currency for attention
- How BAT will serve to create attention marketplaces between publishers, advertisers, and users

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Brave Website: https://brave.com
- Basic Attention Token: https://basicattentiontoken.org/

Sponsors: 
- Ledger: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - http://ledgerwallet.com

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/185
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/MUtHhYes6-A
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-185

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

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

185 – Brendan Eich: Brave – Reinventing the Monetization of Content and Attention

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We're joined by Loi Luu, Co-founder of KyberNetwork. This new decentralized exchange protocol, built on Ethereum, aims to match buyers with reserve operators, who create liquidity for crypto-asset pairs. Trades occur instantaneously and without the need for a trusted third party exchange operator.


Topics discussed in this episode:
- Loi's background and involvement with various projects such as TrueBit, Smart Pool, and Oyente
- The desirable features of a decentralized exchange
- Other decentralized exchange projects and how they compare to KyberNetwork
- KyberNetwork's unique design philosophy
- KyberNetwork's user experience and how a trade occurs from start to finish
- The various actors in the network and their respective roles
- How KyberNetwork mitigates certain vulnerabilities, such as transaction front running
- How network actors are compensated
- KyberNetwork's DAO governance model and development roadmap

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- KyberNetwork: https://kyber.network/
- KyberNetwork Blog: https://blog.kyber.network/
- KyberNetwork White Paper: https://kyber.network/assets/KyberNetworkWhitepaper-v0.5.pdf

Sponsors: 
- Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly and securely without a centralized exchange - http://epicenter.tv/shapeshift
- Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices - http://epicenter.tv/jaxx

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/195
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/FrC67cv0MKA
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-195

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

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

#195 Loi Luu: KyberNetwork – Towards Truly Decentralized Crypto-Asset Exchanges

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Scalability and interoperability are two of the main issues facing blockchain protocols today. In a future in which entire industries and economies rely on distributed technologies, it is unclear how blockchain networks will support massive amounts of data, and exchange transactions in a trusted way. 

Peter Czaban, co-founder of Polkadot, joins us as we dive deep into the Polkadot Network. Polkadot is a heterogeneous multi-chain network, consisting of many connected chains (or parachains), all of which have their own set of features and characteristics. Transactions flow across chains, while Polkadot ensures the global security and consensus of the network, forming an ‘Internet of Blockchain networks’. Scalability is achieved through the parallel processing of transactions on the different parachains.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Peter's background and his role at Parity technologies
- What is the Polkadot project and what problems it is addressing
- How Polkadot handles the issue of scaling
- The different components of the Polkadot Network
- The various players in the network
- The consensus model used in Polkadot
- The types of applications Polkadot would enable
- The Web3 Foundation and its goals

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Polkadot Website: https://polkadot.io
- Polkadot Pre-Sale Website: https://polkadot.network
- Polkadot Community Chat: https://riot.im/app/#/room/#polkadot-trenches:matrix.org
- Aura Consensus: https://github.com/paritytech/parity/wiki/Aura

Sponsors: 
- Ledger: Industry standard security meets convenience and usability with the Nano S - http://epicenter.tv/ledger
- Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly and securely without a centralized exchange - http://epicenter.tv/shapeshift


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

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

#199 Peter Czaban: Polkadot – The Internet of Blockchain Networks

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Nasdaq is one of the largest and most well known financial institutions in the World. As the second-largest stock market by market capitalization, Nasdaq is also one of the leading software companies in capital markets, providing its Nasdaq Financial Framework to exchanges all around the globe. 

Fredrik Voss, VP of Blockchain Innovation at Nasdaq, joins us to discuss how Nasdaq is leveraging blockchain technologies to propel itself into the future. Having invested in Chain and Stratumn, Nasdaq is taking a very hands-on approach, building products which it integrates into the various software solutions they sell.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- A high-level overview of Nasdaq as a stock exchange and software company
- Nasdaq's thesis regarding blockchain technologies
- The potential challenges ahead
- What blockchain technologies bring to regulators regarding oversight and auditing
- Nasdaq's Venture Program and its investment thesis
- Why Nasdaq chose to invest in Chain and Stratumn
- Types of applications built in partnership with Chain and Stratumn
- Fredrick's views on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Why Nasdaq Is Even More Optimistic About Blockchain Than It Was 3 Years Ago: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/02/21/why-nasdaq-is-even-more-optimistic-about-blockchain-than-it-was-3-years-ago/#109986f51a26
- Inside Linq, Nasdaq's Private Markets Blockchain Project: https://www.coindesk.com/hands-on-with-linq-nasdaqs-private-markets-blockchain-project/
- Nasdaq Executive Fredrik Voss Optimistic About Blockchain in Capital Markets: https://cointelegraph.com/news/nasdaq-executive-fredrik-voss-optimistic-about-blockchain-in-capital-markets
- Fredrik Voss, Nasdaq Vice President – About Blockchain: http://www.finyear.com/Fredrik-Voss-Nasdaq-Vice-President-About-Blockchain_a35732.html

Sponsors: 
- Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly and securely without a centralized exchange - http://epicenter.tv/shapeshift

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/203
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/Zfx8_ycVkkg
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-203

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

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

#203 Fredrik Voss: Nasdaq – How Blockchain Technologies Will Transform Capital Markets

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Energy markets form a complex ecosystem of actors. Wholesale energy producers create energy through various means, grid operators transport electricity over long distances and deliver it to homes and businesses, who buy it from local utility companies. The utilities act as resellers in this scheme and take on much of the financial risk associated with selling a commodity which is consumed long before payment settlement from consumers. However, utilities have high operation and marketing costs and charge a high markup on the electricity they buy from wholesalers. 

Karl Kreder, Co-founder of Grid+, a Consensys project, joins us to talk about how blockchain technology can help disintermediate utilities and allow consumers buy electricity directly from producers. The Grid+ Agent is a hardware device which sits in your home, is connected to your energy meter and can interact with the power grid. The Agent has built-in logic allowing it to respond to your energy needs and predict usage. It is also equipped with a Trusted Execution Environment and a wallet which keeps private keys secure and can make near real-time payments to the network. 

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Karl's background and how he became part of Consensys Energy
- A high-level overview of the energy market and the different players in this ecosystem
- Where lie the inefficiencies and how they can be improved
- The challenges facing the energy market today
- The Grid+ Agent and its functionality
- How the Grid+ Agent works and how it interacts with the grid
- Other potential applications for the Grid+ Agent
- The economics of the Grid+ smart contract and how it handles risk
- The Grid+ token sale

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Grid+: https://gridplus.io/
- Grid+ Whitepaper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz90riPGRHquNDVXVE81RmppaUk/view
- What is Grid+? - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwkjAXom_6U

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/206
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/u1M2N8N6kuw
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-206

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

#206 Karl Kreder: Grid+ – Unlocking Direct Access to Wholesale Energy Markets

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Neufund CEO Zoe Adamovicz joined us to discuss how Neufund is creating a platform to allow companies to sell tokens backed by actual company equity.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Neufund's thesis of the revolutionary implications of token equity
- The difference between ICOs and Equity Token Offerings (ETO)
- Why from a regulatory perspective ETOs are uncomplicated
- How Neufund's token Neumarks serves to build a community
- How the Initial Capital Building Mechanism is bootstrapping the ecosystem
- The long-term vision of creating a global stock market

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/211
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/Ow6OAP0nipI
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-211

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

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

#211 Zoe Adamovicz: Neufund and the Case for Selling Equity on the Blockchain

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.