Uncommon Core 2.0

Uncommon Core 2.0

Uncommon Core 2.0 is a crypto research podcast. This show goes beyond speculation and investing, looking deeper. We explore the fundamental technology and incentives that make public blockchains work under the hood. This show is co-hosted by Hasu and Jon Charbonneau. They’ll be joined by occasional guests, speaking with some of the incredible builders and researchers who are looking to evolve this infrastructure stack to make the mass adoption of crypto possible.

  • 2 hours 23 minutes
    Ethereum’s Staking Endgame

    Hasu and Jon bring on Ansgar and Caspar from the Ethereum Foundation to discuss the ETH staking endgame. 

     

    Ansgar and Caspar recently published two controversial research posts which included a proposal to change Ethereum’s issuance curve. They are concerned that the current ETH staking economics could lead to nearly 100% of ETH being staked, with much of that in LSTs. They propose reducing issuance and targeting a lower stake rate.

     

    We go deep in this episode on PoS economics, liquid staking, restaking, economic security, centralization concerns, and much more.

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    Timestamps:

    (00:00) Intro

    (00:25) Possible Changes to ETH Staking?  

    (00:49) Overview of Current ETH Staking

    (16:32) LSTs & Staking Rate Increasing        

    (21:36) Nominal vs Real Yield

    (23:22) Tax Implications of Staking

    (27:57) Staking Demand & External Revenue

    (35:33) Stake Ratio Targeting

    (36:21) Is 100% Staking Bad?

    (40:05) Can ETH LSTs be Money?

    (55:24) Would Any Changes Make a Difference?

    (01:04:05) Stake Targeting

    (01:10:20) Will Targeting Centralize Validators?

    (01:22:53) Fiat Money Parallels         

    (01:25:16) MEV & Restaking Revenue          

    (01:30:52) Electra Proposal to Change Issuance

    (01:46:01) Security Budget & Economic Security      

    (01:53:40) Validator Set Quality         

    (01:55:10) Incentives to Maximize Validator Decentralization

    (02:19:00) PoS vs PoW Political Complexity

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    Twitter:

    Hasu - https://twitter.com/hasufl

    Jon Charbonneau - https://twitter.com/jon_charb

    Uncommon Core 2.0 - https://twitter.com/UCC2_xyz

    Ansgar - https://twitter.com/adietrichs

    Caspar - https://twitter.com/casparschwa

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    Referenced Materials:

    Endgame Staking Economics: A Case for Targeting - https://ethresear.ch/t/endgame-staking-economics-a-case-for-targeting/18751

    Electra: Issuance Curve Adjustment Proposal - https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/electra-issuance-curve-adjustment-proposal/18825

    Properties of issuance level: consensus incentives and variability across potential reward curves - https://ethresear.ch/t/properties-of-issuance-level-consensus-incentives-and-variability-across-potential-reward-curves/18448

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    Disclaimer: The material and information presented in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and are not the views of any entity or other person with whom the speaker is affiliated, including, without limitation, DBA Crypto, LLC. The “DBA Crypto” name and all forms thereof are the sole property of its owner, and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.

    22 March 2024, 12:00 pm
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    SVM vs EVM

    Hasu and Jon catchup on what’s new in the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) and SVM (Solana Virtual Machine) worlds.


    For the EVM, Ethereum has pushed vertical scaling efforts to other chains. This includes Monad, who is building a new EVM L1 with fundamental optimizations to improve scalability.


    For the SVM, the Solana ecosystem continues to gain momentum across the board. Meanwhile, Eclipse is gearing up to launch their SVM Ethereum L2.


    DBA is an investor in Eclipse Laboratories, Inc. and SOL. Jon has material personal investments in SOL, JitoSOL, ETH, stETH, and TIA. Hasu has material personal investments in ETH and Monad.

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    Timestamps:

    (00:00) Intro

    (00:25) Catch up

    (00:56) VM Performance Improvements

    (02:32) Solana & Eclipse

    (04:26) DA vs Execution Bottlenecks

    (05:53) Rollups & Parallel Execution

    (07:10) Breakpoint

    (08:29) Solana & Eclipse – Competitive or Complementary?

    (12:48) Ethereum & Solana Funds

    (13:33) DBA Research Club

    (15:01) What is a VM?

    (16:33) Optimistic Parallel Execution vs. Access Lists

    (23:45) Solana Resource Pricing

    (25:03) Local Fee Markets

    (30:48) Liveness Failures

    (31:58) A Bottleneck vs. *The* Bottleneck

    (35:39) State Growth

    (41:29) Weak Statelessness

    (45:33) State Expiry & State Rent

    (51:10) Solana Un-merklizes State

    (51:55) Client Level Optimizations

    (53:45) Optimizations for New vs. Old Chains

    (57:17) Will Everyone Converge?

    (01:00:36) Outro

    __

    Hasu - https://twitter.com/hasufl

    Jon Charbonneau - https://twitter.com/jon_charb

    Uncommon Core 2.0 - https://twitter.com/UCC2_xyz


    Ethereum - https://twitter.com/ethereum

    Solana - https://twitter.com/solana

    Eclipse - https://twitter.com/EclipseFND

    Monad - https://twitter.com/monad_xyz

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    Disclaimer: The material and information presented in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and are not the views of any entity or other person with whom the speaker is affiliated, including, without limitation, DBA Crypto, LLC. The “DBA Crypto” name and all forms thereof are the sole property of its owner, and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.


    7 December 2023, 8:50 pm
  • 1 hour 58 minutes
    An Incomplete Guide to PBS - with Mike Neuder and Chris Hager

    Hasu and Jon bring on Mike Neuder (Ethereum Foundation) and Chris Hager (Flashbots) to discuss the design philosophy of proposer-builder separation (PBS). They first dive into the past and present implementations of PBS, including MEV-Geth and MEV-Boost on Ethereum. Then they discuss the future of PBS - whether PBS should be enshrined, protocol-enforced proposer commitments (PEPC), PBS on L2s, how to prevent censorship, and more. 

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    Timestamps:

    (00:00) Intro 

    (01:12) What is PBS?

    (05:37) The History of PBS

    (08:43) MEV-Boost

    (10:18) Block Production in Proof-of-Work 

    (11:31) Benefits of PBS

    (14:17) PBS Makes Based Rollups Viable

    (16:21) PEPC & Proposer Complexity

    (17:46) Other Builder Services

    (19:49) PBS & Regulation

    (22:48) Regulation & Encrypted Mempools

    (24:38) Division of Labor is Inevitable

    (26:15) Risks of PBS

    (29:03) Development of COre Protocol Software

    (33:31) PEPC, POB, & Alternatives to PBS

    (41:53) Decentralization vs. Usefulness Tradeoff

    (46:30) State of PBS in MEV-Boost

    (50:51) Optimistic Relays

    (52:09) Enshrined PBS (ePBS) 

    (55:55) PBS on L2

    (58:47) PEPC

    (01:05:25) Proposer Commitments & User Intents 

    (01:09:03) Concluding Remarks

    (01:11:05) Recap

    (01:12:06) PEPC, PEPC-Boost, & MEV-Boost+

    (01:18:44) PBS From First Principles

    (01:21:41) PBS is a Philosophy, Not an Implementation

    (01:25:44) To Enshrine, Or Not to Enshrine?

    (01:35:12) In-protocol vs. Out-of-protocol Development & Funding

    (01:50:16) Censorship & Proposer Agency

    (01:58:15) Outro & Disclaimer

    __

    Hasu - https://twitter.com/hasufl

    Jon Charbonneau - https://twitter.com/jon_charb

    Uncommon Core 2.0 - https://twitter.com/UCC2_xyz

    Mike Neuder - https://twitter.com/mikeneuder

    Chris Hager - https://twitter.com/metachris

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    Relays in a post-ePBS world - https://ethresear.ch/t/relays-in-a-post-epbs-world/16278

    No free lunch – a new inclusion list design - https://ethresear.ch/t/no-free-lunch-a-new-inclusion-list-design/16389

    Payload-timeliness committee (PTC) – an ePBS design - https://ethresear.ch/t/payload-timeliness-committee-ptc-an-epbs-design/16054

    Notes on Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS) - https://barnabe.substack.com/p/pbs

    PEPC FAQ - https://efdn.notion.site/PEPC-FAQ-0787ba2f77e14efba771ff2d903d67e4#41230925420345af84f31b50d806b8ed

    PEPC Open Problems - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12kpwAXbZqUA0fu2HnZKSesVwO31ICbgIiacHd0EQ_fk/edit#slide=id.g2401d3821ec_1_0

    PBS Guild Proposal [v3 WIP] - https://collective.flashbots.net/t/pbs-guild-proposal-v3-wip/2223

    MEV-Boost+/++ - https://www.blog.eigenlayer.xyz/censorship-resistance-with-restaking/

    __

    Disclaimer: The material and information presented in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and are not the views of any entity or other person with whom the speaker is affiliated, including, without limitation, DBA Crypto, LLC. The “DBA Crypto” name and all forms thereof are the sole property of its owner, and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.

    2 September 2023, 3:00 pm
  • 1 hour 21 minutes
    How will Rollups Decentralize? Proof-of-Governance and more

    In this episode, we explore Jon’s journey into crypto and our mutual passion for research and the writing process. We then give an overview over the key areas of crypto infrastructure today. Finally, we zoom into rollup decentralization roadmaps, and Jon shares a controversial new thesis about sequencer decentralization.

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    Timestamps:

    (00:00) Intro

    (02:42) Interview start

    (03:44) Jon's work week

    (08:04) ChatGPT & writing

    (10:57) Jon's start in crypto

    (14:45) How to pick things to work on

    (17:08) Outsider's perspective on crypto

    (19:05) Jon's research process

    (22:00) Jon's proudest moment in crypto

    (23:06) Crypto Infrastructure overview

    (29:58) Why crypto infrastructure is interesting

    (35:57) Rollup decentralization overview

    (42:44) Challenges decentralizing the sequencer

    (47:46) Ethereum vs Cosmos approach to governance & decentralization

    (53:35) User ability to opt out

    (56:37) Staking vs. governance deciding sequencers

    (01:08:31) L3s

    (01:13:34) Superchain

    (01:16:38) Summary of rollup decentralization

    (01:21:08) Outro

    __

    Hasu - https://twitter.com/hasufl

    Jon Charbonneau - https://twitter.com/jon_charb

    UCC2 - https://twitter.com/UCC2_xyz

    Website - https://ucc2.xyz

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    Disclaimer: The material and information presented in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and are not the views of any entity or other person with whom the speaker is affiliated, including, without limitation, DBA Crypto, LLC. The “DBA Crypto” name and all forms thereof are the sole property of its owner, and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.

    14 July 2023, 3:01 pm
  • 1 hour 26 minutes
    The Merge (Part 2) - with Stephane Gosselin, Danny Ryan, Tim Beiko, and Hasu

    Listen to conversations between two veterans of the crypto industry: Su Zhu, CEO and CIO of Three Arrows Capital, and Hasu, Strategy lead at Flashbots. Exploring the big ideas in crypto from first principles.

    In this episode, Hasu continues the conversation with Danny Ryan and Tim Beiko, two researchers from the Ethereum Foundation. The three are joined by Stephane Gosselin, co-founder of Flashbots, who makes his podcast debut and stands in as Hasu's co-host. 

    Together, they discuss:

    • MEV before and after the Merge
    • mev-boost and proposer-builder-separation (PBS)
    • The rise of liquid staking pools
    • Whether Lido should cap its own growth
    • How the Ethereum Foundation sees its role in interacting with very "protocol-adjacent" projects like Flashbots + Lido

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    25 May 2022, 9:46 am
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    The Merge (Part 1) - with Danny Ryan, Tim Beiko, and Hasu

    Listen to conversations between two veterans of the crypto industry: Su Zhu, CEO and CIO of Three Arrows Capital, and Hasu, Strategy lead at Flashbots. Exploring the big ideas in crypto from first principles.

    In this episode, Hasu sits down with two Ethereum Foundation researchers, Danny Ryan and Tim Beiko, to explore Ethereum's upcoming transition to PoS. Topics discussed include:

    • Why do blockchains need consensus?
    • How does PoW consensus work today, and how will it change after PoS?
    • What happens between the last block of PoW and the first block of PoS?
    • The role of client modularity and diversity
    • How to test for such an important upgrade

    00:00 Intro and guests 03:02 Proof of Stake since 2017  08:18 PoS - Idea to production  12:24 Why do Blockchains need consensus? PoW & PoS Basics  22:21 Why switch to PoS?  37:03 The Merge - How does it happen?  45:14 The Merge - Unbundling of the Consensus & Execution layer  1:01:45 How do you test for such an important upgrade?  1:09:55 End

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    12 May 2022, 6:21 pm
  • 58 minutes 34 seconds
    The Sovereign Individual - with Su Zhu and Hasu

    Listen to conversations between two veterans of the crypto industry: Su Zhu, CEO and CIO of Three Arrows Capital, and Hasu, Strategy lead at Flashbots. Exploring the big ideas in crypto from first principles.

    In this episode:

    • The state of our macroeconomy 
    • Destruction of the nation-state 
    • The rise of the Sovereign Individual 
    • How crypto fits into all of this


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    1 April 2022, 12:02 pm
  • 1 hour 37 minutes
    Hasu gets STARK-pilled - with Eli Ben-Sasson (StarkWare)

    In this episode, I had the opportunity to sit down with Eli Ben-Sasson of Starkware. If you listened to my last episode with Su where we talked about the scaling approaches of different L1s blockchains compared to Ethereum, I argued that L1 blockchains do not scale and that the only way to create true scalability is to perform all of the computation off-chain and only post the results of that computation on-chain. STARKs are a technology that allows huge amounts of computation to be compressed into succinct proofs that anyone can easily verify.

    Our goal for this episode was to create the most approachable and comprehensive audio resource on how STARKs work and how they will scale blockchains in the future. We start by explaining inclusive accountability and the true meaning of scalability. Then we dive into STARKs, how proof systems work in general, and where they fit into the context of unbundling blockchains. Next, we use DYDX as a comprehensive case study to learn about the StarkEx system, before diving into StarkNet and its tradeoffs to StarkEx. Finally, we talk about StarkWare’s programming language Cairo and how the different costs of proving, verifying, and storage are going to scale into the future. If you’re a developer, you should also gain a very good idea of the tradeoffs between building on a regular L1 blockchain, the general-purpose StarkNet blockchain, and a StarkEx application-specific chain.

    Enjoy!

    Timestamps:

    00:00 Intro
    2:03 Eli’s backstory
    5:27 What is computational integrity?
    14:22 What are STARKs and how do they work?
    29:03 How can validity proofs scale blockchains?
    34:13 Looking at DYDX + StarkEx as a case study
    56:20 What are the differences between StarkNet and StarkEx?
    1:02:46 Cairo
    1:13:52 What are the different costs for the end-user?

    Listen to conversations between Su Zhu, the CEO and CIO of Three Arrows Capital, and Hasu, an experienced crypto researcher and writer. Together with occasional guests, we explore the transformative nature of trust-minimized currency and financial services.

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    16 December 2021, 3:43 pm
  • 1 hour 23 minutes
    Ethereum vs. Alt L1s - with Su Zhu and Hasu

    In this episode

    • What the “Crypto Villain of the Year” thinks about his image
    • The arguments for Ethereum’s scaling roadmap
    • The arguments for Alt L1s to out-scale Ethereum
    • What parallels to BTC maximalism Su sees in the ETH community

    Listen to conversations between Su Zhu, the CEO and CIO of Three Arrows Capital, and Hasu, an experienced crypto researcher and writer. Together with occasional guests, we explore the transformative nature of trust-minimized currency and financial services.

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    13 December 2021, 1:47 pm
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    How to value Cryptoassets? - With Su Zhu and Hasu

    With BTC and ETH making new ATHs, new and old investors are asking themselves the same question: How do you value cryptoassets?

    Listen to conversations between Su Zhu, the CEO and CIO of Three Arrows Capital, and Hasu, an experienced crypto researcher and writer. Together with occasional guests, we explore the transformative nature of trust-minimized currency and financial services.

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    10 November 2021, 10:39 pm
  • 1 hour 39 minutes
    From Skin Trader to NFT Expert - with Anish Agnihotri and Hasu

    Today, I’m sitting down with Anish Agnihotri, who is a research associate and colleague of mine at Paradigm. Anish has a fascinating backstory from becoming an entrepreneur at a really young age to later going deep into skin trading. We discuss how that skill transfers to NFT trading and how we see the market structure of both primary and secondary markets for NFTs. Finally, Anish shares some actionable advice on how he learns and how to build projects in crypto. This was a deep and fascinating conversation and I hope you’ll enjoy it.

    Listen to conversations between Su Zhu, the CEO and CIO of Three Arrows Capital, and Hasu, an experienced crypto researcher and writer. Together with occasional guests, we explore the transformative nature of trust-minimized currency and financial services.

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    28 October 2021, 3:23 pm
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