DePINed podcast

Privacy for Web3: Confidential On-Chain for Stablecoins, DeFi & RWAs | Francis Otshudi, iExec (#79)

Privacy is becoming a critical layer for Web3 infrastructure — especially as stablecoins, DeFi, and RWAs move on-chain and attract institutional adoption. But how can decentralized systems ensure both transparency and confidentiality? In this episode of the DePINed Podcast, host Tom Trowbridge, Co-Founder & CEO of Fluence, sits down with Francis Otshudi, CTO of iExec, to explore how privacy-preserving infrastructure is evolving in Web3. Together, they discuss: - How iExec uses Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to enable confidential computation on decentralized infrastructure - Why privacy is not just about security, but about ownership of digital assets and data - The shift from protocol-first thinking to productized platforms in DePIN and Web3 - How confidential stablecoins, private DeFi strategies, and privacy-preserving KYC can unlock institutional adoption - Why iExec is focusing on Web3-native users first This episode dives into one of the biggest challenges for decentralized compute today — making privacy usable, scalable, and compatible with real-world use cases. 🎧 Listen and watch the episode on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts and follow DePIN Space for more materials with founders building real-world decentralized infrastructure.

Bitcoin Mining as Home Heat: Turning Compute Into a Consumer Product | Alex Busarov, Heatbit (#78)

Bitcoin mining, energy efficiency and decentralized infrastructure are increasingly intersecting as new hardware models emerge.In this episode of the DePINed Podcast, host Tom Trowbridge, Co-Founder of Fluence, sits down with Alex Busarov, Founder of Heatbit, a company building home heating devices that mine Bitcoin.The conversation explores how Heatbit turns a simple physical principle — electricity becoming heat — into a new consumer hardware category. Instead of treating heat as a waste product of computation, Heatbit uses it as a primary function, effectively transforming Bitcoin mining into a household appliance.In this episode, they discuss: - How Heatbit turns a space heater into a Bitcoin mining device - Why compute always produces heat and how that changes energy economics - The idea of distributed “home data centers” instead of centralized mining farms - Why energy costs are becoming the dominant factor in Bitcoin mining - Heatbit’s vision for making Bitcoin mining accessible to everyday users again🎧 Listen and watch the episode on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts — and follow DePIN Space for more materials with founders building real-world decentralized infrastructure.

Asset-Backed Loans for Compute: Turning GPUs into DeFi Yield | Conor Moore, USD.ai (#77)

GPU compute is becoming the core infrastructure layer of AI, but financing that infrastructure is still broken. Traditional lenders can’t efficiently underwrite small-to-mid GPU loans and the ABS market can’t move fast enough for hardware that depreciates in 3–5 years.In this episode of the DePINed Podcast, host Tom Trowbridge, Co-Founder & CEO of Fluence, sits down with Conor Moore, сo-Founder of USD.ai, a lending protocol building asset-backed GPU loans and turning them into a yield-bearing on-chain token.- Why GPU lending barely exists in TradFi and why private credit doesn’t serve the “missing middle” - How on-chain rails make GPU credit “tradable day one,” bypassing slow securitization cycles - What USD.ai’s loan terms look like: ~3-year duration, 70–80% LTV, ~7–15% rates depending on offtake quality - Why non-recourse, asset-localized collateral (bankruptcy-remote SPVs + title) matters for compute operators🎧 Listen and watch the episode on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts — and follow DePIN Space for more materials with founders building real-world decentralized infrastructure.

DePIN for Atmosphere Monitoring: Telescopes, SkyBridge, Incentives | Franck Marchis, Skymapper (#76)

2024–2025 became a breakout moment for decentralized sky monitoring.In this episode of the DePINed Podcast, host Tom Trowbridge (Co-Founder & CEO of Fluence) sits down with Franck Marchis (Co-Founder & CEO of Skymapper) to explore how a decentralized network of telescopes and all-sky cameras can monitor space and the atmosphere — satellites, debris, drones and unexplained phenomena — with data that’s verifiable and hard to fake.Franck breaks down how Skymapper is scaling a global observation layer by plugging into existing hardware and why incentives and coverage design matter as activity above our heads accelerates.In this episode, we cover:- Why Space Situational Awareness is becoming critical as satellite activity explodes- How SkyBridge connects existing telescopes into a coordinated DePIN network- Incentives (points → token) designed around coverage gaps, sky quality, and network usefulness- The next expansion: all-sky cameras + AI classification for drones, aircraft, re-entries, and anomalies- What trusted, multi-point observations could change for investigating UAPs and rare atmospheric events🎧 Listen and watch the episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts — and follow DePIN Space for more materials with founders building real-world decentralized infrastructure.

DePIN eSIM Connectivity in 190+ Countries Without the Web2 Friction | Marcus Hearne, Ubitel (#75)

In this episode of the DePINed Podcast, host Tom Trowbridge, co-founder & CEO of Fluence, sits down with Marcus Hearne, founder & CEO of Ubitel.Marcus is building Ubitel — a DePIN-powered connectivity platform that uses Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) in mobile phones to create secure, anti-sybil infrastructure for global internet access.In this conversation, we explore how phone-level TEE can become a trust layer for DePIN networks, why consumer devices may be better suited for secure attestations than traditional server hardware and how Ubitel is approaching eSIM as a go-to-market strategy while building toward a broader decentralized infrastructure vision.Topics covered include: – Using phone TEE for anti-sybil security and real-world attestations – Why consumer devices can unlock new DePIN trust models – eSIM as an entry point to decentralized connectivity – Stablecoin payments, points systems, and token design considerations – Scaling DePIN networks through real usage, not speculation🎧 Listen and watch the episode on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts — and follow DePIN Space for more materials with founders building real-world decentralized infrastructure.