What began as an AI company trying to seek solutions in order to pay remote (unbanked) workers, Near AI became, in 2018, Near Protocol. Its sharded design was inspired by modern database architecture and large language model (LLM) training. Near Protocol aimed to solve the scalability trilemma, through a modular approach, combining data availability sharding with stateless validation. By abstracting away archaic blockchain standards, Near basically enabled decentralised full stack development and, in terms of UX, a distributed custodial solution via chain abstraction and account aggregation.

We were joined by Illia Poloshukhin, co-founder of Near Protocol, to discuss Near’s journey, from AI company to high-throughput L1 blockchain, and how LLM training influenced the modular design choice.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Illia’s background in AI & ML
- Scaling large language models (LLMs) and the role of attention
- Stochastic Parrot vs. Understanding spectrum
- From Near AI to Near Protocol and the role of LLMs
- How Near abstracted the blockchain away and enabled decentralised full stack development
- Defining ecosystem standards to improve UX
- Chain abstraction, account aggregation and interoperability
- Chain threshold signature
- Near’s intent layer
- Near’s modularity, Nightshade sharding & stateless validation
- EigenLayer integration

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Illia Poloshukhin on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3S7lz2P
- Near Protocol on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3tFpYAR

Sponsors: 
- 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.io - 
- Chorus1: Chorus One 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.one -

This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: https://epicenter.tv/529

Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

#529 Illia Poloshukhin: Near Protocol – From AI to High-Throughput Blockchain

Support the show, consider donating: 38FSP6jyf8Mok3qGRyh3Uz9eVr76CmKxrz (http://bit.ly/1DsnyOg)

As the cost of computing continues to plummet, the number of connected devices is increasing dramatically. In the future powerful computing capacity will be in billions of devices ranging from the lightbulb to the car door to new wearables. This new internet of things (IoT) will dramatically change our lives. 

Paul Brody, a Technology Strategist and the former VP of Mobile and IoT at IBM, joined us for a discussion of where the IoT is going. We discussed their white paper on why a decentralized, blockchain-based internet of things could solve the problems of the current IoT in terms of privacy, scalability, and business models.

Topics covered included:
        - What the Internet of Things and its core value proposition is
        - Why the current IoT business models are broken
        - How a decentralized IoT infrastructure would be more secure, scalable and economically feasible
        - What role the blockchain could play in a decentralized IoT
        - The three components of IBM’s ADEPT proof-of-concept


Links mentioned in this episode: 

- IBM Democracy of Devices Whitepaper: http://ibm.co/1HKIVAF
- Paul Brody IFA Talk: http://bit.ly/1aJYLOp
- IBM Empowering the Edge Report: http://ibm.co/1EiZlAF
- IBM Empowering the Edge Use Cases: http://ibm.co/1H7b0TM
- IBM & Samsung ADEPT Demo at CES: http://bit.ly/1zAXDTL

Sponsors: 

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

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/075
YouTube: http://youtu.be/HfVHsoG50RM


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB75 – Paul Brody: Internet Of Things And The Democracy Of Devices

Support the show, consider donating: 36QwTNb3fmpRwAVkTEf2f8mYsWVsxEffyS (http://bit.ly/1A4aX3f)

Bitcoin's approach to solving the double spending problem is to make a collusion and attack on the network prohibitively expensive. One of the main factors that will determine Bitcoin's chance of survival in the long-term is whether the behavior that maximizes the profits of miners contributes to or sabotages the health of the network.

The game theory that determines this is complex and our understanding of it still incomplete. But research is increasing and two people who have been at the forefront of this work are Emin Gün Sirer, a professor in computer science at Cornell University, and Ittay Eyal, a post-doc at the same department.

They joined us for a fascinating discussion of their work on 'selfish mining', the incentive structure that underlies Bitcoin and their recent positive conclusions from the Miner's Dilemma. 

Topics covered included:
        - Emin Gün Sirer's early interest in cryptocurrencies and work on a cryptocurrency to incentivize bittorrent users in 2004
        - What selfish mining is and how miners could profit from withholding blocks
        - How an attacker would execute a selfish mining attack
        - Why the miner's dilemma implies that the equilibrium might be small mining pools
        - Why the lack of security of clients and servers is holding back adoption

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Selfish Mining paper (PDF): http://bit.ly/1DsCgEK
- Miner's Dilemma blog post: http://bit.ly/1EcdbSe
- Miner's Dilemma paper (PDF): http://bit.ly/1djBsgj
- Hacking, Distributed: http://bit.ly/1A4YTyJ
- Meni Rosenfeld's paper on mining pool reward systems (PDF): http://bit.ly/1djBFQL


Sponsors: 

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

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/076


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

EB76 – Emin Gün Sirer & Ittay Eyal: From Selfish Miners To The Miner's Dilemma

Support the show, consider donating: 3Pxbqsv8AJgn68HoZ5jAz5otxWwJSisLPs (http://bit.ly/1Qt8fMk)

Whether the block size should be increased to 20MB has created more controversy than any other question in Bitcoin's recent history. For some, it is an urgent and necessary step in Bitcoin's evolution. Their view is that leaving the block size at 1MB would be irresponsible inaction with potentially catastrophic consequences. Others see increasing the block size as unnecessary and a dangerous first step down a slippery slope towards a more centralized Bitcoin.

We were joined by Mike Hearn, along with Gavin Andresen the most outspoken supporter of a block size increase. He is also the creator of Bitcoin XT, a modified fork of Bitcoin Core, that may become the vehicle for the push for bigger blocks if no agreement is reached regarding Bitcoin Core. Don't miss this crucial conversation!

Topics included:
- What would happen if blocks started being consistently full
- Whether bigger blocks create a centralization risk
- Why Bitcoin core development has become pervaded with toxic division
- What Bitcoin XT is and how it differs from Bitcoin Core
- The roadmap ahead and how a transition to BitcoinXT would occur
- Update on Lighthouse

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- The Capacity Cliff: http://bit.ly/1Ap8NRP
- Crash Landing: http://bit.ly/1HrOhNd
- Let's Talk Bitcoin! #217 The Bitcoin Block Size Discussion: http://bit.ly/1dXmOvU
- Gavin Andresen Moves Ahead with Push for Bigger Blocks: http://bit.ly/1FKzgFf
- Bitcoin Dev Mailing List: http://bit.ly/1QEhsS8
- Lighthouse: http://bit.ly/1eXxwCP

Sponsors: 

- CoinCap: Crypto-currency market cap rankings, charts, and more http://coincap.io/#/
- 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: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg at http://vaultoro.com

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/082
YouTube: http://youtu.be/8JmvkyQyD8w


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

EB82 – Mike Hearn - Blocksize Debate At The Breaking Point

Daniel and Yann discuss the themes Anthemis is looking at in the FinTech space and some of the deals the firm has done to bet on those trends. Yann also provides some insight into where he thinks the most exciting opportunities are in FinTech and gives advice to students and others that want to invest in FinTech.

Yann Ranchere, Partner at Anthemis Group

Support the show, consider donating: 1JiYLskKV4JcS4RuXQqJwC7LCmwmvuXoen (http://bit.ly/2amTtOL)

Legendary scientist and cryptography pioneer Ralph Merkle joined us to discuss his recent paper on DAOs. Merkle examined how the voting mechanisms in today's democracies are flawed and how a decentralized, transparent DAO making decisions using prediction markets could create more efficient democratic systems.

Topics covered included:
- Merkle proofs, Merkle Roots and his early forays into cryptography
- Blockchains as living organisms
- Why DAOs will be subject to a Darwinian evolutionary process
- Why voting is flawed and we need new governance methods to save democracy
- The concept of a DAO democracy
- How prediction markets and futarchy would help govern a DAO democracy

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Ralph Merkle DAO Democracy Paper [PDF] http://bit.ly/29XR7RG
- Ralph Merkle's Homepage http://bit.ly/2anLaPA
- Ralph Merkle's Wikipedia page http://bit.ly/2am6xE6
- EB98 - Robin Hanson: Futarchy, Prediction Markets http://bit.ly/2aE3djy
- Tim Urban: Why Cryonics Makes Sense http://bit.ly/2akC6MV
- Alcor - Life Extension Foundation http://bit.ly/2a9P7IM

Sponsors: 

- Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter
- 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/141
YouTube: http://youtu.be/dvzpvXLbpv4

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
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

Epicenter Bitcoin

EB141 – Ralph Merkle: Revolutionizing Democracy Using DAOs

Support the show, consider donating: 17QpAaTfUn4kTCwjFcoCHvxjrs8EAxmNkh  (http://bit.ly/1tvum0a)

Attracting over 70 of the world's biggest financial institutions to its consortium in just over a year, R3 has accomplished a formidable task. Aiming to rethink the fabric of the financial system, they first conducted experiments testing blockchain platforms for their member and last year began developing their own distributed ledger platform: Corda. 

The effort to build Corda was lead by R3 CTO Richard Brown and the former Bitcoin developer and R3 lead architect Mike Hearn. In a wide-ranging discussion, we covered the vision of the project and why it represents a radical departure from existing blockchain platforms.

Topics covered included:

- The origin story of R3
- Why existing blockchain designs didn't meet their needs
- How the R3 team lead a design effort to develop a new platform from scratch
- The business problem Corda is aiming to solve
- The components of Corda's architecture
- How Corda handles privacy
- Notaries and preventing double spends
- Open sourcing Corda and the plan to join Hyperledger

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- R3 Corda: What Makes it Different http://bit.ly/2f1SamA
- Introducing R3 Corda: A Distributed Ledger for Financial Services http://bit.ly/2dSqrYm (APRIL)
- Corda: An Introduction [PDF] http://bit.ly/2eR4ky5 (AUGUST)
- R3 Website http://bit.ly/2dVJiRX
- E151 - Ian Grigg: Ricardian Contracts and Digital Assets Prehistory http://bit.ly/2f1V6ji
- Smart Contract Templates: Foundations, Design Landscape & Research Directions http://bit.ly/2f0wCY1

Sponsors: 

- Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices http://jaxx.io
- 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://epicenter.tv/155
YouTube: http://youtu.be/3YTSwB5UrEI
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-155


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

155 – Richard Brown & Mike Hearn: Corda - A Distributed Ledger For Financial Services

Support the show, consider donating: 1KF4BfKqsejkWQJqE6atoZVkmU11bhPKLJ (http://bit.ly/1tvuPiQ)

As is the case with most luxury goods, the diamond industry is faced with the issues of theft, fraud, and counterfeiting. Illegal activity is present at every level of the supply chain, which collectively costs the industry and its insurers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. In recent years, international treaties and regulation have been put in place in an attempt to combat illegal activity, but criminals are most often a step ahead.

Leanne Kemp, CEO of Everledger, joins us to explain how her company is using advanced geological techniques, and blockchains, to bring more traceability to the diamond industry. Everledger, whose clients include many of the largest insurance companies, builds software which allows for a diamond's unique characteristics to be hashed and notarized in the blockchain. Hence, a stone's provenance, and the trail of ownership can be traced, therefore limiting the opportunities for fraud and making it difficult for stolen diamonds to re-enter the market. 

Topic's covered include:

- Leanne's background as a technologist
- A broad overview of the diamond industry
- A look at the diamond supply chain
- What roles banks and insurance companies play in the supply chain
- How diamonds are uniquely fingerprinted
- The Kimberly process and other regulations
- Everledger's technology stack and business model
- Other sectors which can also benefit from increased traceability


Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Everledger: http://everledger.io
- Kimberley Process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Process_Certification_Scheme

Sponsors: 

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

Show notes: http://epicenter.tv/156
YouTube: http://youtu.be/UOKYUY7_Gd4
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-156


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

156 – Leanne Kemp: Detecting Diamond Fraud And Theft With Everledger

Support the show, consider donating: 
BTC: 1CD83r9EzFinDNWwmRW4ssgCbhsM5bxXwg (https://epicenter.tv/tipbtc)
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Over the past year, cryptoassets have exploded in popularity. From a mere $18bn at the start of 2017, the aggregate market cap of all cryptoassets recently reached $820bn as interest in Bitcoin and its cousins went mainstream. Jack Tatar and Chris Burniske joined us to discuss their new book 'Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond'. It is one of the first systematic views on cryptoassets from a mainstream investor's perspective. 

Topics discussed in this episode:
- How Jack and Chris originally became interested in Bitcoin and cryptoassets
- Why the term cryptoassets is a good umbrella term for the different kinds of tokens
- The different categories of cryptoassets: Cryptocurrencies, cryptocommodities and cryptotokens
- How cryptoassets fit into an overall investment portfolio
- How to value cryptoassets
- Whether we are in a cryptoasset bubble and expectations for the future

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Cryptoassets on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cryptoassets-Innovative-Investors-Bitcoin-Beyond/dp/1260026671
- Cryptoassets - Book Website: https://www.bitcoinandbeyond.com/
- Cryptoasset Valuations – Chris Burniske – Medium: https://medium.com/@cburniske/cryptoasset-valuations-ac83479ffca7
- Why I like the term, “Cryptoassets” – Chris Burniske – Medium: https://medium.com/@cburniske/why-i-like-the-term-cryptoassets-ab6b76e1ee33
- The Crypto J-Curve – Chris Burniske – Medium: https://medium.com/@cburniske/the-crypto-j-curve-be5fdddafa26
- Bitcoins are the best investment in my retirement account - MarketWatch: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoins-are-the-best-investment-in-my-retirement-account-2016-06-17


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

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

#218 Chris Burniske & Jack Tatar: Cryptoassets - The Rise of a New Asset Class

Support the show, consider donating: 
BTC: 1CD83r9EzFinDNWwmRW4ssgCbhsM5bxXwg (https://epicenter.tv/tipbtc)
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ETH: 0x8cdb49ca5103Ce06717C4daBBFD4857183f50935 (https://epicenter.tv/tipeth)

That decentralized networks represent a massive investment opportunity is no longer a controversial view. In the last year alone, over 200 funds dedicated to investing in cryptoassets have been created. 

But the principles and frameworks to understand this new world are still in its infancy. One fund at the forefront of advancing this understanding has been Multicoin Capital. Their Founders Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain joined us to discuss some of the concepts they use to invest in decentralized networks.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Google Glass and the origin story of Multicoin Capital
- Why the most used smart contract platform will produce the winning store of value
- Why they are bearish on Bitcoin
- Why money is best thought of as an adjective not a noun
- Differentiating between work, payment and burn-and-mint tokens
- Why work tokens capture network value better than payment tokens
- The future of Multicoin

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Multicoin Capital Website: https://multicoin.capital/
- New Models for Utility Tokens: https://multicoin.capital/2018/02/13/new-models-utility-tokens/
- Blockchains: A New Social Order: https://multicoin.capital/2017/10/06/blockchains-new-social-order/
- The Smart Contract Network Fallacy: https://multicoin.capital/2017/08/28/smart-contract-network-effect-fallacy/
- The Opportunity for Interoperable Chains of Chains: https://multicoin.capital/2018/01/27/opportunity-interoperable-chains-chains/
- Multicoin Capital Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-multicoin-capital-podcast/id1337809097?mt=2

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/223
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/JajqF1IWquQ
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-223

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

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

#223 Kyle Samani & Tushar Jain: Multicoin - Emerging Frameworks for Cryptoasset Investing

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ETH: 0x8cdb49ca5103Ce06717C4daBBFD4857183f50935 (https://epicenter.tv/tipeth)

The healthcare industry is paradoxical. On the one hand, treatment technologies represent some of the most advanced science known to humankind, while some administrative tasks are still performed using paper and fax machine. Studies have shown that the administrative costs of healthcare can represent up to one-third of the total cost of care. Also, as diagnosis, treatment, and care, becomes increasingly data-driven and patient-specific, the industry needs to adopt more secure and robust technologies to manage patient data and communications between the patient and the different participants in the healthcare supply chain.

We are joined by John Bass and Corey Todaro, who are respectively CEO and CPO of Hashed Health, an innovation firm focused on accelerating the meaningful development of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies for the industry. Hashed Health works to build solutions which leverage blockchain to solve some of the most important challenges facing this sector.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- John and Corey's respective backgrounds in the building technology for the healthcare sector
- Nashville as a hub for the US healthcare industry
- What is Hashed Health and what problems the company is trying to solve
- The particular issues facing the US and global healthcare sectors
- How healthcare in the US differs from that of European countries
- The different entities of Hashed Health: Hashed Collective, Hashed Labs, and Hashed Enterprise
- Hashed Enterprise and the products they are building for the industry

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Hashed Health Website: http://hashedhealth.com
- Hashed Health Blog: https://hashedhealth.com/blog/
- Hashed Health Podcast: https://hashedhealth.com/media/podcasts/

Sponsors: 
- Gnosis X: Build a revolutionary prediction market dApp on Gnosis & win up to  $100,000 in GNO tokens - http://epicenter.tv/gnosisx

This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/228
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/SVJSjQ8wwCk
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-228

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

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

#228 Corey Todaro & John Bass: Hashed Health – Rebooting The Healthcare Industry

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.

#529 Illia Poloshukhin: Near Protocol – From AI to High-Throughput Blockchain

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