I launched the Chainlinked podcast in August of 2021, which seems forever ago in crypto time. Since then, I’ve recorded 20 episodes with some of the most compelling thought leaders pioneering the worlds of DeFi, NFTs, decentralized gaming, and more with Chainlink oracle networks. Now that we’ve wrapped up Season 1, I want to highlight the top ten memorable moments that deepened my understanding of the most promising decentralized technologies and lent fascinating glimpses into the future.
I spoke with BSC Ecosystem Coordinator Samy Karim about the growth of GameFi and gaming dApps on BSC. At the very end of this episode, Samy dropped a very interesting note about the future of Binance Smart Chain that I don’t think anyone is tracking or talking about. Though it’s not widely publicized yet, I’m guessing it will be a major news story coming out of 2022.
When a blockchain integrates Chainlink natively, it opens a ton of opportunities for dApps to launch using secure price feeds on that chain. When Connor Daly came on the podcast, Chainlink Price Feeds had very recently launched on Avalanche, so Connor and I had the opportunity to talk about the exciting road that would eventually lead to Avalanche’s recent massive success.
Chainlink Labs colleague Lauren Halstead and I reflect on the benefits and challenges of being an anonymous builder. Web3 is in a unique position where anonymity is relatively common, and it’s a choice that inspires a variety of different reactions. The nuances of anonymity form an incredibly fascinating wormhole to explore within the larger crypto industry.
Because blockchain technology is evolving at, as Rich Brown from Smart Contract Research Forum (SCRF) put it, “breakneck speed,” there’s an inevitable gap between academic research and industry applications. Rich reflects on the purpose of SCRF as a means to connect the rapid iterations and growth of web3 with slower, but vital, deep academic research.
Harmony is a fast and open blockchain whose name epitomizes its developer team culture. Founder and CEO Stephen Tse shares how he brings his team together to create social impact. In a world where game theory seems to be the common denominator, Stephen emphasizes the importance of empathy in web3 and his perspective is both refreshing and inspiring.
Anush and I dove deep into smart contract automation with Chainlink Keepers. Even as a non-developer, I couldn’t help but get excited about future use cases after hearing the decentralized and reliable solutions Chainlink Keepers enables. Anush and I also revisited a new potential Chainlink use case we came up with during a group team-building exercise at a Chainlink Labs retreat. It’s a fun idea and I hope someone picks it up and builds it.
This conversation features two internet freedom geeks nerding out about growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, watching the transition from analog media to digital media, and understanding the consequences of those changes. Our spirited chat touched on a ton of topics relating to digital information, value, and how lessons from the past can inform the future.
Karl and Ben reveal their colorful hobbies relating to music and spirituality after a deep discussion on scaling and emergent systems. Ben is an Ethereum parody song pseudo-celebrity and Karl can be described as “freestyle rapper meets spiritual blockchain guru.” Getting insight into the magic sauce of Ethereum and web3 from these builders was fun and fascinating.
(Bonus content: I lay out my vision and definition of the metaverse around the 7:30 mark. I have strong opinions about the metaverse.)
Patrick and I have a recorded bro session where we talk about his smart contract developer tutorial video with over a million views and I commit to cooking him burgers for breakfast after an Andy-Patrick dance-off session. We both have a lot of energy and we bring it all to this chat.
Illuvium is an AAA game metaverse that Kieran’s team is working hard to develop as a deep and engaging high-fidelity fantasy world. Inspired by Kieran’s mission and vision, we stumble onto the idea of sitting around a virtual metaverse bar with friends. In real time, Kieran conceives the idea for a metaverse beer hat that would simulate the feel of enjoying a real drink in the virtual world.
Hear all the best moments from Chainlinked Season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.