BlockLayer Podcast

Michael Heinrich | Founder of 0G Labs — Building the First Modular AI Chain

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast, Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Michael Heinrich, Founder of 0G Labs, to explore a bold thesis: the future of AI infrastructure may need its own modular, crypto-native stack. Michael shares his unconventional journey — from high school boredom to building 0G Labs — and how practices like spiritual reading and meditation reshaped his leadership style as a founder. We talk about the less-discussed side of company-building: clarity, emotional regulation, and staying consistent when the market (and your own head) is volatile. On the product side, we dive into what “the first modular AI chain” means in practice, why decentralized AI infrastructure is emerging as a category, and why Michael believes a community-owned approach is essential for the future of AI and data. 0G Labs is building a modular Web3 platform aimed at unlocking data infrastructure and storage for advanced AI workloads — connecting decentralized networks with tooling designed for machine-learning-native applications. Expect a wide-ranging conversation on decentralized AI, community ownership, founder psychology, and what it takes to build at the frontier where crypto meets compute. This episode was supported by Diksha Desai and Sachi Shiokava.

Ron Bodkin | CEO & Co-Founder of Theoriq — Understanding Agent Collectives in AI

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast, Kenzi Takahashi sits down with Ron Bodkin, CEO and Co-Founder of Theoriq, to unpack what “agent collectives” really are — and why the next wave of AI may be coordinated by crypto-native incentives. Ron explores the intersection of AI and Web3 through the lenses of responsibility, governance, and long-term alignment. He shares his journey from Google to founding Theoriq and ChainML, and reflects on what changes when you move from corporate AI leadership to startup execution. The conversation dives into agent collectives, why standardization in AI is still a mess, and what metrics might actually matter for decentralized AI success. Ron introduces “Proof of Contribution” and “Proof of Collaboration” as trust-building mechanisms for agents and teams — and explains Theoriq’s core pillars: interoperability, composability, and decentralized innovation. We also get into token economics, governance design, and how company culture shapes what a protocol becomes over time. Ron closes with lessons on leadership — and a forward-looking view of where decentralized AI could go next. This episode was supported by Diksha Desai and Sachi Shiokava.

Anna Kazlauskas | CEO & Co-Founder of Vana — Solving AI’s Data Dilemma

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast, Kenzi Takahashi, Sachi Shiokava, and Diksha Desai sit down with Anna Kazlauskas, CEO and Co-Founder of Vana, to unpack one of the biggest bottlenecks in AI: data ownership and incentives. Anna shares her path from traditional finance into decentralized AI, and what it’s like building Vana — a platform designed to let people own their data and contribute it to AI models on their terms. We dig into why tokenomics matters in this model (and where it can go wrong), plus the hard parts of starting a Web3 company: hiring mission-aligned teams, staying focused through noise, and designing systems that can survive contact with real users. The conversation goes deep on the AI data shortage and how Vana approaches it through decentralized data ownership and data DAOs. Anna breaks down the difference between data DAOs, trusts, and unions, why private data is uniquely valuable, and what the ecosystem has learned from experiments like the Reddit Data DAO concept. If you’re interested in the future of AI, data rights, and crypto-native coordination, this one is packed. This episode was supported by Diksha Desai and Sachi Shiokava.

Karan Sirdesai | Co-Founder & CEO of Mira Network — Building Reliable AI on the Blockchain

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast, Kenzi Takahashi speaks with Karan Sirdesai, Co-Founder and CEO of Mira Network — a decentralized AI infrastructure platform taking aim at one of the biggest blockers to real adoption: hallucinations and reliability. Karan explains how Mira approaches “trustworthy AI” for high-stakes use cases like finance and healthcare — where being mostly right isn’t good enough. We dig into the core idea behind Mira’s architecture: using multiple models and consensus-based verification to catch errors, reduce hallucinations, and make outputs more auditable and dependable. He also shares his non-linear founder journey — from hustling in university and working with Balaji Srinivasan, to building Mira alongside deep AI and crypto operators. You’ll hear the team’s “aha” moment: hands-on experimentation with GPU rentals and AI pipelines that revealed where reliability breaks — and how those learnings led to a breakthrough approach that could make AI systems safer by default. This episode was supported by Diksha Desai and Sachi Shiokava.

David Minarsch | Co-Founder & CEO of Valory — The Rise of Autonomous Agents and the Future of Web3

In this episode of Blocklayer Podcast, Kenzi Takahashi sits down with David Minarsch, Co-Founder and CEO of Valory, to explore what “autonomy” really means — and why autonomous agents might become the next major interface layer between humans, software, and markets. David shares his path into crypto and AI, including his work with Fetch.ai [http://Fetch.ai], and the founding story behind Valory and OLAS. We dig into the rise of autonomous agents: what they can do today (beyond demos), where they’re already useful, and what breaks when you try to deploy them in the real world — especially inside permissionless, adversarial environments like Web3. The conversation also covers the challenges in the Web3 × AI landscape: coordination problems, incentive design, security, and reliability. David makes a strong case for mission-driven teams that can keep building through cycles, and for an open-source ethos — with OLAS positioned as infrastructure to coordinate decentralized autonomous agents in a way that’s composable, verifiable, and scalable. Expect a thoughtful deep dive on autonomy, agent coordination, and the future shape of Web3 as agents become first-class participants. This episode was supported by Diksha Desai and Sachi Shiokava.