#005: Opolis & EthDenver: John Paller

#007: Axelar Network: James Friel

James joined the blockchain universe from traditional publishing having spent time at both Bloomberg and Time. But his experience there prepared him to truly address the reality of digital transformation. James discusses the difference between the fundamental application of a cross-chain "bridge" and what Axelar is capable of and how it goes above and beyond the standard transfer of assets. Axelar is able to pass granular messages back and forth from different chains even if those chains are using non-compatible languages. The traditional model of bridging assets means a locking, wrapping and a mint/burn mechanism. James identifies this correctly as a solution that leads to greater and greater fragmentation of assets and liquidity as well as a growing attack surface for hackers. Axelar deploys a delegated proof-of-stake method where a decentralized network of validators secures the balance of the ledger. This solves a historic venerability where locked assets would reside in a smart contract that was secured by a simple 2-of-2 or 3-of-5 multi-sig wallet. To learn more about the options that Axelar provides, visit them at https://axelar.network/. You can follow James Friel on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/James__Friel You can follow Axelar Network on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/axelarcore Follow Sam Harrison as he tweets... occasionally at: https://twitter.com/samuelpharrison Follow the pod at: https://twitter.com/ProofOfPrivacy And learn more about what Findora is doing by following them at: https://twitter.com/Findora

#006: Saddle Finance: Jamie Miller a.k.a LowPolyDuck

Sam and Jamie from Saddle Finance set the Way Back Machine to the early days of the blockchain universe. They bond over the mechanism of Web3 to allow new entrants into the world where they don't have to be experts, they don't have to have degrees, all they need is passion. Sam points out that the blockchain market tends to invent new terminology especially when it comes to defi. Jamie gives a good overview on Automated Market Makers, constant product market makers vs constant sum market makers and how Saddle will help the users minimize the slippage in their trades. The entire conversation is terrific. Load in and check it out. Follow LowPolyDuck at: https://twitter.com/lowpolyduck Follow Saddle Finance at: https://twitter.com/saddlefinance Follow Sam at: https://twitter.com/samuelpharrison Follow Findora at: https://twitter.com/Findora Follow the pod at: https://twitter.com/ProofOfPrivacy

#005: Opolis & EthDenver: John Paller

John and Sam talk about the origin of Opolis and the growth of EthDenver. John entered into the blockchain space at the very beginning of Ethereum. He took the local meet-ups in Denver in 2017 and turned the community from just shy of 200 people into a conference that registered over 25,000 people in 2023 -- all at zero-cost to the attendees. Leveraging 15 years in the HR space, John also built the largest payroll service custom built for the independent contractor. Self-employed, independent workers choose the way they want to work, when they want to work and who they want to work for. They get to choose how to express their unique creativity. Opolis represents a new paradigm for employment - one where mutualistic outcomes prevail for workers and the projects they serve. With hours upon hours of talks, panels, work-shops and keynotes - EthDenver is one of the most influential conferences in the blockchain space. You can visit their YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@ETHDenver and catch up with the latest in the industry. If you are an independent worker or if you employ a number of self-employed vendors - visit https://www.opolis.co to learn more about what they offer. You can follow John on his twitter at: https://twitter.com/PallerJohn Follow EthDenver at: https://twitter.com/ethereumdenver Follow Opolis at: https://twitter.com/opolis Follow Sam at: https://twitter.com/samuelpharrison Follow Findora at: https://twitter.com/Findora Follow the pod at: https://twitter.com/ProofOfPrivacy

#004: Undead Blocks & Wagyu Games: Kyle Gordon

Kyle Gordon is Director of Business Development  of Wagyu Games, the publisher of Undead Blocks. Wagyu Games is leading the charge on Kill-to-Earn Gaming. Their flagship product, Undead Blocks, is a multiplayer zombie survival game where you can play with friends and participate in tournaments to earn $ZBUX, which can be used to collect rare weapons and character skins. Undead Blocks seeks to address the well-established problem within the gaming industry: the one-sided value exchange between gamers and game creators. Gamers will invest their time, money and effort into their favorite titles with little to no ability to generate value from their work. However, by tokenizing in-game assets as NFTs, blockchain based gaming allows players to own, retain and financially benefit from their in-game performance. Sam and Kyle talk about the NFT craze from 2022 including the issuance of a collection from Donald Trump, the evolution of the blockchain gaming industry throughout the overall crypto winter and how privacy and surprise can impact the gaming experience. You can play Undead Blocks on Mac, PC and mobile gaming. Follow Undead Blocks on twitter: @UndeadBlocks Follow WagyuGames on twitter: @WagyuGames Follow Sam: @samuelpharrison Follow the pod: @proofofprivacy

#003: Unstoppable Domains: Matthew Gould

Sam sat down with Matthew Gould, co-founder of Unstoppable Domains, as one of the first interviews for this podcast. Sam was still the VP of Growth for Discreet Labs and the podcast didn't yet have a name. Listen in as Sam and Matthew discuss how Unstoppable Domains recently reached a "unicorn" status and why Matthew is building in a space that has 20 to 30 years of development still to be done. The discussion kicks off with commentary on how NFTs are effecting the economics of being a content creator but very quickly moves to ideas of reputation and identity.  Matthew breaks down the importance of centralized vs decentralized identity and how individuals can retain their AUTHORITY over their own identity. He walks through the process of having identity being determined by a centralized entity like Twitter Corporate, to having it be determined by "coin voting" (or paying for a blue check mark) to where we are now where identity systems can be build on bottom-up reputation scores from a variety of crowd-sourced sources. A major challenge to digital identity is who acts as the custodian for privileged personal identifying information (PII). Matthew discusses the application of zero knowledge proofs to serve as a technological answer to this problem - allowing someone to verify that information is accurate without needed to see the information itself. Learn more about Unstoppable Domains at their website https://www.unstoppabledomains.com and follow them on Twitter at @unstoppableweb.  Learn more about Findora at https://www.findora.org and follow them on Twitter at @findora.  Follow Sam Harrison on Twitter at @samuelpharrison and follow the podcast at @proofofprivacy.