Bell Curve Jason Yanowitz and Mike Ippolito | Blockworks

Season 3 | Episode 3
In this episode of Bell Curve, Nick White and Dev Ojha join us to debate the pros and cons of applications owning the full tech stack vs leveraging a modular architecture. Applications that own their full tech stack can fully customize their chain (how they process MEV, encryption, etc) but is the overhead and cost worth it? In contrast, the modular ideology supports outsourcing all non-core functions to other providers (similar to how websites outsource payments to Stripe). We cover this debate, Celestia, the role of sequencers, security tradeoffs, the idea of the "minimum viable stack" and more!
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro: Pre-Interview
(02:25) Guest Backgrounds
(04:13) Application Design Philosophies
(10:01) Sequencers: Their Role and Security Tradeoffs
(27:00) Tradeoffs: Focus vs Control
(33:38) Mesh Security, ICS and Restaking
(45:51) SDK Network Effects & the “Minimum Viable Stack”
(55:13) Building Credibly Neutral Software
(1:00:41) How Applications Should Approach MEV
(1:04:02) The Path Ahead
(1:06:19) Recap: Post-Interview
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Follow Myles: https://twitter.com/MylesOneil
Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_
Follow Nick: https://twitter.com/nickwh8te
Follow Dev: https://twitter.com/valardragon

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Resources:
Celestia
https://celestia.org/

Osmosis
https://osmosis.zone/
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This episode of Bell Curve explores the crypto venture capital landscape. We discuss how VC funds are managed, what separates the best funds from the pack, why fund size is so important and more! This is your chance to see how the crypto VC business really works.
We then discuss Bitcoin's NFT drama, why Bitcoin mining sucks and a little bit of politics. You won't want to miss this one!
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:38) Is the bull market back?
(12:27) The private fundraising landscape
(21:29) Behind the scenes look at VC funds
(43:09) Bitcoin NFT drama (Ordinals)
(50:43) Being a Bitcoin mining business ain’t easy
(55:13) Charlie Munger, Nikki Haley and election predictions
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Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism
Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson
Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9
Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD
Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH
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Resources:
Illegitimate bitcoin transactions (Ordinals)
https://read.pourteaux.xyz/p/illegitimate-bitcoin-transactions
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Season 3 | Episode 2
In this episode of Bell Curve, Zaki Manian and Sam Hart join us to discuss how Aggregation Theory applies to crypto protocols. We explore if applications can covert user relationships into sticky profits, crypto moats, blockspace as a commodity, the benefits of controlling the full tech stack and more!

PS: don't miss the "Smiling Curve" section of the episode - it's an under-discussed idea that will start appearing in crypto value-capture debates!
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro: Pre-Interview
(02:29) The AppChain Thesis 
(09:31) Aggregation Theory
(25:31) Do Moats Exist?
(31:34) Is Blockspace a Commodity?
(38:25) The Smiling Curve
(47:04) Will dYdX Validate the AppChain Thesis?
(52:28) Controlling the Entire Stack
(1:01:22) Recap: Post-Interview
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Follow Myles: https://twitter.com/MylesOneil
Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_
Follow Zaki: https://twitter.com/zmanian
Follow Sam: https://twitter.com/hxrts

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9
Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD
Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH
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Resources:
Ben Thompson's Aggregation Theory
https://stratechery.com/aggregation-theory/
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This episode of Bell Curve explores the complex money trail from crypto's warped credit market. We know the players - 3AC, DCG, Genesis, Alameda and FTX - but how were these parties tied together and what exposure did they all (carelessly) take?

We then discuss how ecosystem funds work, why we're bullish dYdX and Circle, the Blockworks Research degens, why we're pulling a boomer on social media, Doodles controversy and more!
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:51) Crypto's [Dead] Credit Market
(17:18) How Ecosystem Funds Work
(24:30) dYdX Token Unlocks
(29:32) Circle’s CCTP = Bullish
(34:21) Canto, Blockworks Research and How to “Make It”
(48:44) Stargate Psyops?
(52:01) Doodles Controversy
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Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism
Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson
Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9
Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD
Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Season 3 | Episode 1
In this episode of Bell Curve, Sunny Aggarwal and Dmitriy Berenzon join us to discuss the pros and cons of building a sovereign AppChain. AppChains enable developers and protocols to customize consensus, cryptography, MEV rules, fees and more. But is this customization worth the fragmentation, start-up costs, lack of tooling and other challenges AppChains face? Tune in to find out.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro: Pre-Interview
(02:33) The AppChain Thesis
(10:52) Reasons to Build an AppChain
(28:28) The Downsides and Challenges
(42:04) What is Permissioned Blockspace?
(48:49) Cosmos vs Ethereum
(1:02:09) Solving Interoperability
(1:07:54) User Lock-in: Wallets
(1:13:42) Recap: Post-Interview
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Follow Myles: https://twitter.com/MylesOneil
Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_
Follow Sunny: https://twitter.com/sunnya97
Follow Dmitriy: https://twitter.com/dberenzon

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9
Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD
Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH
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Resources:

Dmitriy's blog
https://dberenzon.medium.com/

Osmosis
https://osmosis.zone/

1k(x)
https://1kx.network/
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This episode of Bell Curve explores the bear market rally and ETH’s monetary design. We start with our views on the recent market rally - have prices bottomed, or are we witnessing a dead cat bounce? What should we expect for 2023?

We then discuss ETH's unique monetary policy, MakerDAO’s counterparty risk, Optimism vs Arbitrum, private fundraising, Su Zhu's false redemption arc and more!
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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction
(01:00) A Bear Market Rally
(12:10) Optimism vs Arbitrum
(17:20) Genesis Bankruptcy Rumors
(22:28) MakerDAO’s Counterparty Risk
(28:28) Raising Funds in a Bear Market
(34:30) ETH’s Monetary Policy
(48:01) ETH Staking Withdrawal Queue
(50:05) Bitzlato and Bitcoin Narratives
(1:00:50) Su Zhu and Kyle are Back

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Follow Vance: https://twitter.com/pythianism
Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/im_manderson
Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Bell Curve: https://twitter.com/thebellcurvepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R1D1D9
Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3pQTfmD
Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cpKZXH
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Resources

Ryan Watkins tweet on Ethereum innovation cycles
https://bit.ly/3ZPirug

ETH 7.5% APR tweet
https://bit.ly/3Wmua0w

ETH withdrawal queue thread (by Westie)
https://twitter.com/WestieCapital/status/1613645213792366595

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Bell Curve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mike, Jason, Michael, Vance and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.