The competition between blockchain networks is fierce. Will monolithic or modular blockchains take the lead? Which L1 will come out on top? Which L2?

Instead of asking these questions, ether.fi Co-Founder and CEO Mike Silagadze argues that users shouldn’t have to care about what chain they’re transacting on. Instead, users should just go ahead and transact for their benefit.

Mike and ether.fi Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer Rok Kopp join Mined with CoinFund hosts Alex Felix and Evan Feng to chat about the current state of Ethereum, the competition between blockchain networks, and the importance of preserving decentralization while onboarding new users. They cover:

• Ethereum’s fight for mindshare (4:33)
• Winning the L1 game (14:49)
• Onboarding to the future of finance (18:31)
• Preserving decentralization (29:31)

Don’t miss the latest episode of Mined with CoinFund, available on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mined-with-coinfund/id1758988850

https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZxUQqsbsjLvtjyyTxHoNR

https://youtu.be/3naJ2meQY3Y

Web3 is comprised of some of the most advanced technological innovation to date.

But gamers don’t care to interact with it, at least today. According to Gunzilla Games’ Director of Web3 Theodore Agranat, in order to onboard the next billion people to the industry, web3 user experiences need to mimic the ease of opening and closing an iPhone app.

Theodore and Ava Labs SVP of Corporate Development and Blizzard Fund Investor Lydia Chiu join Mined with CoinFund hosts David Pakman and Evan Feng to chat about the challenges to building web3 games, crypto’s ongoing marketing problem, and how Gunzilla’s breakout title Off The Grid was a smashing success upon its launch in October. They cover:

• Challenges in web3 marketing and onboarding (5:29)
• Abstracting away the technology (15:57)
• Retaining gamers post-launch (22:41)
• The biggest obstacles in building web3 games (34:51)

Don’t miss the latest episode of Mined with CoinFund, available on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mined-with-coinfund/id1758988850

https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZxUQqsbsjLvtjyyTxHoNR

https://youtu.be/wdw_rWD2ZrQ

What’s one thing in crypto that no one is talking about, but should be paying attention to?

According to Alex Gluchowski, Co-Founder and CEO of Matter Labs – the company behind zkSync – it’s that ZK is the only technology that enables trust automation, and no other technologies can accomplish full transaction verifiability.

Alex joins Mined with CoinFund hosts David Pakman and Jake Brukhman to chat about how developers approach building proofs, the timeline of building verifiable computation, and scaling privacy. They cover:

• ZKsync & how developers approach ZK (6:36)
• Verifiable computation’s timeline (14:57)
• Appchains vs. monolithic chains (27:13)
• Scaling privacy (31:30)
• The most pressing problems in ZK (41:39)

Download the latest episode of Mined with CoinFund on Apple and Spotify, and catch the full video on YouTube.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mined-with-coinfund/id1758988850

https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZxUQqsbsjLvtjyyTxHoNR

https://youtu.be/rpJfhJGdeWA

One of the most non-consensus narratives in AI today is decentralized training.

While some claim it will never work, others believe that open-source innovation is the key to democratizing AI.

CoinFund CEO and Founder Jake Brukhman sits down with Bagel Founder and CEO Bidhan Roy, Gensyn COO Jeff Amico, Kiva Founder and CEO Ahmed Rashad, Pluralis CEO and Founder Alex Long, and Prime Intellect Co-Founder and CTO Johannes Hagemann – some of the brightest minds in decentralized AI in our portfolio – to chat about how they envision a world in which models are built by the people, for the people.

Want to watch the whole video? Check out our Youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ichh_3gQF94&t=2s

In 2021, hundreds of creators launched NFT collections, with plans to build robust brands around digitally-native IP.

Today, only a handful of projects have been able to do so, and one colony of penguins has taken the lead in bringing unique IP to consumers on and offchain.

Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins, joins CoinFund's Head of Venture Investments David Pakman on Mined with CoinFund to discuss web3 IP distribution, building a digital and physical web3 brand, and how consumer crypto has reached a critical moment that will determine its success or failure. They cover:

• Pudgy’s origin story (3:03)
• Building between the physical and digital (12:18)
• Branding & co-owning novel IP (19:34)
• Consumer crypto: memecoins vs. NFTs (30:33)

Don’t miss the latest episode of Mined with CoinFund, available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mined-with-coinfund/id1758988850

https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZxUQqsbsjLvtjyyTxHoNR

https://youtu.be/cONRLdDfSjY

Since 2020, CoinFund’s investment thesis in World – formerly Worldcoin – has been driven by the idea that biometric proof of personhood is critical for identity verification.

While World was met with criticism in the summer of 2023 for its iris-scanning orbs, today, it’s become clear that amid the rapid expansion of AI, identifying who’s human and who’s not will play an important role in payments, social media, elections, and more.

Alex Blania, CEO of Tools for Humanity – the company behind World – sat down with CoinFund CEO Jake Brukhman to discuss World’s approach to proof of personhood, its emerging ecosystem of projects, and why identity verification is an urgent problem to address. They discuss:

• From Worldcoin to World (2:45)
• Building on World Chain (7:36)
• Distributing identity (24:08)
• Why proof of personhood (28:55)
• The underlying rails for adoption (41:58)

Tune into the latest episode of Mined with CoinFund, available on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/9xpAnu0QRG8

Web3 has attracted some of the most technical developers across the world, finding innovative ways to leverage blockchain framework. But often, builders tend to forget that crypto’s nomenclature problem can alienate consumers from seeing the true value of a decentralized technology. What gets lost in translation?

It’s just one of the challenges developers face in solving some of the hardest problems in web3, and this week on Mined with CoinFund, David and Jake dig into how different facets of the industry can address these concerns to usher in adoption. They cover:

• L2s & ZK (10:22)
• Decentralized training (16:31)
• Scaling consumer crypto (25:39)
• Can AI automate coding? (33:17)
• Web3 adoption patterns (38:47)

Don’t miss the latest episode of Mined with CoinFund, now available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

https://youtu.be/f-3obdfasow

It’s commonly known in crypto that if you’re launching a Layer 1 blockchain, you should ensure it has absolutely zero bugs. To accomplish this, you need a thorough security audit that carefully combs through your code and pinpoints all vulnerabilities.

While there’s plenty of demand for these services, Zellic Co-Founder and CEO Luna Tong believes that in the age of AI and automation, only humans can scale web3 cybersecurity.

Luna joins CoinFund CEO and Managing Partner Jake Brukhman to chat about the day-to-day operations of a web3 cybersecurity auditor, the trajectory of growing these kinds of firms, and how AI lacks human ingenuity. They cover:

• The business of web3 cybersecurity (4:16)
• AI’s role in security audits (11:18)
• Is web3 cybersecurity scalable? (17:17)
• The pre-mainnet auditing process (26:04)
• Web3 cybersecurity ≠ Web 2.0 (32:28)

Be sure to download the latest episode of Mined with CoinFund where you get your podcasts, and subscribe to CoinFund’s YouTube channel for more.

https://youtu.be/OjgrCT0CWyg