Blockchain Won't Save the World Anthony Day

DePIN is a sector where Blockchain tech is having a major impact. We talk this, and Filecoin’s 6-year history with Porter Stowell.

Decentralised Physical Infrastructure Networks: In short, the democratisation of compute, storage, communication and more. Optimising existing industrial-grade infrastructure and also allowing individuals to participate in a P2P sharing economy. Sound interesting and disruptive? It is.

Amazon and Google aren’t exactly quaking in their boots, but they’re watching with interest, and have been making moves in Web3 to make sure their legacy businesses doesn’t get blindsided by Blockchain.

Filecoin has been leading the charge, particularly in storage, since 2017 and was one of the most love projects from Web3’s previous growth cycle. Porter gives us his take on the emergence of DePIN, what it REALLY takes to scale viable decentralised networks, as well as:

- A Filecoin 101 for those who are new here

- How to manage supply and demand in DePIN networks

- The art of the ‘deal’ for B2B, large-scale storage

- What more is needed for DePIN networks to become attractive to enterprises and a wider user base

Note: This episode contains at least 2 very important knowledge bombs about the importance of SaaS for Web3, and the art of dealmaking for chain partnerships!

We've got more Blockchain infrastructure than we can possibly use... But is it USABLE?

Tim from Venly will explain the importance of developer tools to make Web3 more accessible to everyone...

Blockchains are brilliant. Tokens are tremendous. But development on most chains can be dire... Esoteric languages, confusing contracts, limited interoperability, and APIs that don't connect to anything legacy organisations actually use today. Venly are looking to change that.

In this show we'll talk about:

- The challenge of building with Blockchains today

- What do we mean by 'tooling' for Web3

- What's in the Venly tooling stack

- Example use cases where enterprises and projects are benefiting from SaaS / BaaS solutions

- What more is needed to see wider Web3 adoption

How many Layer 1 Blockchains do you know that are mission-driven to support sustainability? VeChain might be the only one…

Not only that, they’re the only Blockchain whose whitepaper was co-authored by BCG. This is a serious team, with serious ambitions, and Sunny Lu joins us to answer YOUR questions.

Many Blockchains will say they are ‘sustainable’… Which is a common reference to the fact that their energy usage (through Proof of Stake Consensus) is 99% lower than Bitcoin’s. But are they driving change through enabling sustainability projects? VeChain are, and along with insights into the technology and the use cases, we talk about:

- The history of VeChain

- Why Blockchains uniquely benefit sustainability initiatives

- Collaboration with BCG and how a top consultancy committed to writing a Web3 whitepaper

- Blockchain incentive design, and how mature ‘X to Earn’ models have become in 2024

- What more is needed to see wider use of Blockchain and decentralised technology

Onboarding is one of the biggest UX challenges with Web3, and Mysten Labs think they've cracked it with zkLogin. Single sign-on but privacy-preserving. I'm joined by Kostas Chalkias (AKA Kostas Kryptos) to learn more...

Google, Facebook and Apple have cornered the single sign-on (SSO) market in an attempt to improve UX but also capture more about YOU and what you do online... The emergence of Zero Knowledge technology paired with the existing SSO providers' tools can enable simple UX while protecting your ID and data. Curious? You should be.

Join me and Kostas, where we'll talk about:

- The problems with SSOs and credentials today

- An introduction to zkLogin

- Use cases and what can be built on top of zkLogin

- A beginners guide to the Sui network

- What more is required to see zk tech adopted more widely

- Guidance for people building with Blockchain and zk

We'll never get to widespread adoption of Blockchain and Web3 unless we can make it easy for enterprises and governments to easily integrate the tech. AvaCloud (from Ava Labs) believe they have cracked this problem...

I'm joined by Nick Mussallem, Head of Product for Ava Labs, who will share everything the Avalanche community has learned about Blockchain adoption. They have partnered with major enterprises, AAA games, top brands, and have a bustling Web3 ecosystem.

AvaCloud is the Avalanche 'Blockchain as a Service' (BaaS) offering that aims to make adoption and integration of decentralised technologies easy-peasy. But what does that mean, and why weren't we doing this before?

In this show we discuss:

- The rise of Avalanche and why it's different to other Blockchains

- The importance of Blockchain as a Service and how it helps

- The creation of AvaCloud and what's 'in the box'

- Use cases and real world examples of AvaCloud in action

- Advice for anyone looking to build with Blockchain technology

(Note: apologies for my audio quality - realised I wasn't using the podcast mic halfway through the show! smh)

Season 4 of BWSTW kicks off with the legendary Charles Hoskinson. He shaped the direction of Ethereum and Cardano, and now Midnight. So you'll want to hear what he has to say about what is needed for Blockchain and Crypto to properly scale...

Charles is recognised as one of the leading thinkers when it comes to Web3, but is also the founder of a number of non-Blockchain businesses making use of disruptive technologies, so he brings a broad commercial perspective He also knows what it takes to scale Blockchain and Crypto ecosystems, from the code, to the community, to regulation and engaging with market intermediaries.

In this show we talk about the path ahead for Blockchain technologies for further enter the mainstream, including:

- What Charles has learned about adoption from his years with Cardano

- The imperatives for further use of decentralised technologies

- The main use cases where Blockchains can drive meaningful change

- His vision for Midnight, and where a data protection Blockchain succeed where others have so far failed, and

- Advice for enterprises and governments looking to engage with Web3, Blockchain & Dapps