AVAX's Emin Gun Sirer Says Blockchains Should be Scalable at Their Core; Layer 2s Mean Giving Up
When Emin Gun Sirer first came on The Defiant in May 2020, Avalanche was not even on mainnet yet. Since then, it has risen to become one of the leading smart contract networks, while the AVAX token has risen over 7x in the last 12 months. We talk about how the project got here and how it wants to create a path for faster and more scalable decentralized network, amid heavy competition from other Layer 1 blockchains. Emin makes the case for Avalache’s novel consensus mechanism, paired with subnets with their own virtual machines, and he also has scathing criticism for Ethereum and other Layer 2 scaling solutions. To him, once a platform starts building Layer 2s, it means they’ve run out of ideas on how to make a good Layer 1. We also discuss the big picture goal for Avalanche; Bitcoin centers around digital gold, Ethereum strives to create the world computer, and Avalanche wants to digitize all assets. If it's on a balance sheet, Emin says, it can be on a blockchain, and we discuss what it will take for it to get there. Thanking our podcast sponsors: Zerion Zerion is Mission Control for Web3: an intuitive DeFi portfolio manager, multichain tracking & trading and the best place to show off your NFT collection Matcha: Matcha makes sure you’re getting the best possible price by routing orders across all the various DeFi exchanges, now with an integrated fiat on-ramp. Start trading at matcha.xyz/defiant Nexo.io: Nexo is a crypto lending and exchange platform where you can buy cryptocurrencies at the touch of a button and start earning double-digit annual interest that is paid out daily. Unstoppable Domains: Go to unstoppabledomains.com and replace your long, complex wallet address with YourName dot crypto, dot x, dot nft or a range of other endings for as low as $5.
3 Feb 20221h 14min
Synthetix's Kain Warwick: What it Takes to Scale an Ethereum DeFi Protocol
This week, we sit with Kain Warwick, DeFi OG and founder of Synthetix. In some ways, last year wasn’t a great one for the synthetic assets protocol. As many DeFi projects boomed, SNX’s price and TVL dropped. Kain says he was too optimistic about how soon Synthetix would be able to scale with optimistic roll-ups. If he were to do things again, he would probably use Polygon first and move to Optimism once the solution was ready. But last year was also a time to build on a strong foundation. He’s looking forward to the months to come, when all of that effort hopefully comes to light, with the protocol fully live on Optimism, with perpetual swaps expected to be launched too. He’s a firm believer that Ethereum and its Layer 2 solutions will capture the most value being built in DeFi and web3. Thanking our podcast sponsors: Zerion Zerion is Mission Control for Web3: an intuitive DeFi portfolio manager, multichain tracking & trading and the best place to show off your NFT collection Matcha: Matcha makes sure you’re getting the best possible price by routing orders across all the various DeFi exchanges, now with an integrated fiat on-ramp. Start trading at matcha.xyz/defiant Nexo.io: Nexo is a crypto lending and exchange platform where you can buy cryptocurrencies at the touch of a button and start earning double-digit annual interest that is paid out daily. Unstoppable Domains: Go to unstoppabledomains.com and replace your long, complex wallet address with YourName dot crypto, dot x, dot nft or a range of other endings for as low as $5.
24 Jan 20221h 27min
Behind the Scenes of The Defiant with Robin and Camila
Welcome back to The Defiant podcast! After a brief break at the end of last year, we’re back stronger and better than ever to continue chatting with the greatest and brightest minds in DeFi and web3. Our first guest is our very own Robin Schmidt, aka SuperMassive. Robin leads multimedia at the Defiant and produces our video content, which has become known for raising the bar way beyond what’s expected not just from crypto videos, but from all of YouTube. If you haven’t already, check out and subscribe to our channel. I wanted to do the first video of the year with Robin to get the chance to talk about The Defiant itself – what moves us, what sets us apart and what we’re expecting for this year. After over a year working together, I also wanted to finally shine the spotlight on the man behind the video host, and hear the story of how he got here. Thanking our podcast sponsors: Zerion Zerion is Mission Control for Web3: an intuitive DeFi portfolio manager, multichain tracking & trading and the best place to show off your NFT collection Matcha: Matcha makes sure you’re getting the best possible price by routing orders across all the various DeFi exchanges, now with an integrated fiat on-ramp. Start trading at matcha.xyz/defiant Nexo.io: Nexo is a crypto lending and exchange platform where you can buy cryptocurrencies at the touch of a button and start earning double-digit annual interest that is paid out daily. Unstoppable Domains: Go to unstoppabledomains.com and replace your long, complex wallet address with YourName dot crypto, dot x, dot nft or a range of other endings for as low as $5.
17 Jan 20221h 26min
Nick Johnson of ENS: "We Want to be the Naming System for Every Digital Resource in the World"
In this week’s episode I speak with Nick Johnson, founder and lead developer of Ethereum Name Service, or ENS. Nick talks about the journey of ENS, from an internal project within the Ethereum Foundation, to spinning off to become a public good for Ethereum and other blockchains, and recently decentralizing and becoming a DAO controlled by token holders. Nick talks about the big vision of ENS, which is to become the naming service for every digital resource in the world. Thanking our sponsors: Matcha, which routes orders across DEXs on Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, fantom, and Avalanche to provide the best possible prices without taking any commissions. Tracer Perpetual Pool tokens, leveraged tokens that can be put into cold storage OR used as collateral throughout the DeFi economy without worrying about liquidation risk, or margin requirements Balancer, one of the leading DeFi automated market makers (AMM) for multiple tokens. Dive into their pools here! Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi
29 Nov 20211h
Geoff Cook on Building a Crypto Name: "The Strongest Brands Compete on Emotion"
In this week’s episode I speak with Geoff Cook, co-founder of Base, a design studio with huge clients from all industries, including The New York Times, MoMA, ING Bank and large-scale projects like JFK’s Terminal 4 and the Meatpacking District in New York. Geoff hopes to soon add crypto to the list. He recently wrote an article stating that "For Crypto, Branding Could be the Highest Currency” as the success of these projects will rely on communicating complex concepts and features to gain mass adoption. We discuss that crypto is in its teenage years in terms of branding: crypto, and especially DeFi projects, are rebelling against traditional finance and web2, but they’re still seeking to belong to a group and are not expressing their own individual characteristics and values. This is making all DeFi brands look alike. Geoff says that a company, or in the case of crypto, a protocol, that wants to build a powerful brand needs to figure out the story they want to tell. Thanking our sponsors: Matcha, which routes orders across DEXs on Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, fantom, and Avalanche to provide the best possible prices without taking any commissions. Tracer Perpetual Pool tokens, leveraged tokens that can be put into cold storage OR used as collateral throughout the DeFi economy without worrying about liquidation risk, or margin requirements Balancer, one of the leading DeFi automated market makers (AMM) for multiple tokens. Dive into their pools here! Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi
22 Nov 202156min
Nadya of Pussy Riot: "We Can Be Truly Unstoppable if We Combine Our Ideals With Tools that Crypto Provides"
In this week’s episode I, speak with Nadya Tolokonnikova, one of the founding members of the feminist punk rock protest collective, Pussy Riot. Nadya has been protesting against the repression of individual freedoms in Russia since she was 17. She started Pussy Riot to focus on women and non-binary people as she noticed leadership would always fall on men. The group started performing in the streets of Moscow and were being repeatedly arrested for a few hours at a time, until one day in 2012, Nadya was put in jail for two years, for performing in a church. She believes art is a more effective vehicle for influencing hearts and minds than politics and that’s why she continues to perform. This year, she discovered she can use cryptocurrency and NFTs as tools to amplify her art, and coordinate people and capital on a global scale. Thanking our sponsors: Matcha, which routes orders across DEXs on Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, fantom, and Avalanche to provide the best possible prices without taking any commissions. Tracer Perpetual Pool tokens, leveraged tokens that can be put into cold storage OR used as collateral throughout the DeFi economy without worrying about liquidation risk, or margin requirements Balancer, one of the leading DeFi automated market makers (AMM) for multiple tokens. Dive into their pools here! Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi Integral is a new DeFi primitive and OTC trading protocol built for large crypto trades. Join the waitlist for a new version launching in Q4!
15 Nov 202139min
Zeneca: "The Market is Fed Up With the Same Sorts of NFT Projects and There's a Flight to Gaming NFTs"
Zeneca is an NFT investor and content creator who grew his collection of non-fungible tokens from 0 to about 3,000 pieces worth millions in less than a year. He comes on the podcast to talk about how he went from professional poker player to full-time NFT trader, and what lessons from poker he has brought over to crypto.Zeneca believes the NFT market has hit a downturn amid rising crypto prices because it has become saturated with the same types of projects. He believes avatars will take a back seat to projects where NFTs have utility beyond displaying the art itself and being part of a community. That’s why gaming is setting up to be the next big movement in NFTs, he says. Still, he doesn’t believe we’ve seen a true bull and bear market yet — that will come when NFTs better integrate with DeFi and leverage comes into play. Thanking our sponsors: Matcha, which routes orders across DEXs on Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, fantom, and Avalanche to provide the best possible prices without taking any commissions. Tracer Perpetual Pool tokens, leveraged tokens that can be put into cold storage OR used as collateral throughout the DeFi economy without worrying about liquidation risk, or margin requirements Balancer, one of the leading DeFi automated market makers (AMM) for multiple tokens. Dive into their pools here! Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi Integral is a new DeFi primitive and OTC trading protocol built for large crypto trades. Join the waitlist for a new version launching in Q4!
8 Nov 20211h 7min
Eric Wall of Arcane Assets: "Bitcoiners Protect BTC Against 'Shitcoinism' But They're Also Keeping it From Valid Technical Ideas"
In this week’s episode I speak with Eric Wall, chief investment officer at Arcane Assets. He used to be known as the Altcoin Slayer, thanks to his brutal takedowns of non-bitcoin tokens in the 2017 ICO era, which made him popular among Bitcoin maximalists. But he’s not a maximalist anymore, and sees value in other blockchains as he has recognized they can fulfill use cases that Bitcoin can’t. He even argues Bitcoin risks being overtaken by Ethereum if it doesn’t adopt some ETH’s own features and developments, such as a fee-burning mechanism and a more expressive scripting language. Thanking our sponsors: Matcha, which routes orders across DEXs on Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, fantom, and Avalanche to provide the best possible prices without taking any commissions. Tracer Perpetual Pool tokens, leveraged tokens that can be put into cold storage OR used as collateral throughout the DeFi economy without worrying about liquidation risk, or margin requirements Balancer, one of the leading DeFi automated market makers (AMM) for multiple tokens. Dive into their pools here! Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi Integral is a new DeFi primitive and OTC trading protocol built for large crypto trades. Join the waitlist for a new version launching in Q4!
2 Nov 20211h 24min
