Podcast

Rich Rines is a Initial Contributor at Core DAO , the first Proof of Stake (PoS) Layer for Bitcoin, pioneering Self-Custodial Bitcoin Staking and hosting the largest Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem. In this episode, Rich shares his journey from discovering Bitcoin in 2013, captivated by its potential as a non-sovereign store of value, to becoming a key figure in Core DAO’s mission to bridge Bitcoin’s security with decentralized finance (DeFi) innovation. He dives into how Core DAO’s layer-1 revolutionary infrastructure leverages the complementary qualities of Proof of Stake alongside Proof of Work, and discusses his prior experience leading money movement engineering at Coinbase. He provides insights into how Core DAO’s Satoshi Plus consensus mechanism integrates Bitcoin miners and non-custodial Bitcoin staking to unlock Bitcoin’s potential for DeFi applications. He also addresses navigating technical challenges, his vision for user-friendly decentralized solutions, and driving global adoption to make Bitcoin-powered Web3 accessible to all, no matter where they are.

Ezra Kebrab is CEO and Co-Founder of Caliza , a platform leveraging stablecoin infrastructure to revolutionize cross-border payments, enabling instant, cost-effective international transactions, with a focus on Latin America. Ezra shares his journey from leading fintech initiatives at Visa and Intuit to building Caliza’s API-driven platform that bridges the gap in global finance. He also discusses how Caliza is reshaping the future of stable finance in Latin America, tackling regulatory and compliance challenges, his thoughts on the on-chain settlement buildout - DREX in Brazil, and driving innovation to make digital dollar accounts accessible to all, no matter where they are.

Tom Trowbride is CEO and Co-Founder of Fluence Labs, a decentralized, enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure with global compute. Tom dives into Fluence’s mission to reshape the future of the internet through its cloudless computing platform, offering resilient, low-cost, and open alternatives to traditional cloud services. He discusses how Fluence’s DePIN platform, governed by the Fluence DAO and powered by FLT on Ethereum, delivers cheaper decentralized compute compared to conventional providers while enhancing security, scalability, and censorship resistance. Tom shares his journey from launching Hedera Hashgraph to building Fluence Labs, addressing challenges like customer acquisition and simplifying messaging for non-crypto audiences.

Ilya Polosukhin is Co-Founder of NEAR, a high-performant, AI-native blockchain platform that provides the infrastructure needed for AI applications and agents to transact, operate, and interact across both Web2 and Web3. With a deep background in machine learning and software engineering, Ilya shares his journey into crypto, from early contributions in tech to co-founding NEAR, where he focuses on building an accessible Web3 ecosystem. He emphasizes the importance of user-centric blockchain infrastructure, the modularity of NEAR’s design, and its role as a leading stack for creating decentralized applications, empowering developers to innovate seamlessly.

Patrick O'Grady is Founder and CEO of Commonware, an open-source set of primitives that developers can use to build and reassemble their applications without resorting to a complicated fork. Patrick shares his journey into crypto, building in the early days at Coinbase and thereafter joining Ava Labs, where he left to pursue his passion for simplifying blockchain development with the founding of Commonware. He discusses the importance of application specific blockchains, the modularity of Commonware and how it is being designed to be "the best verticalized stack" for building blockchain applications.

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