How Blockchains Work: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana

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Show Notes

(00:02:47) - (First question) - An analogy to explain how crypto and blockchain work

(00:11:20) - Scenarios to further explore his schoolyard analogy for Bitcoin

(00:17:03) - The reality of the math and power balance surrounding blockchain technology

(00:23:28) - Expanding the analogy to explain Ethereum

(00:25:26) - The broad impact of Ethereum on smart contracting and proof of staking

(00:29:08) - Major differences between proof-of-work versus proof-of-stake models

(00:31:09) - Comparing Solana’s stateless design to the older chains

(00:34:44) - The added privacy and speed advantages enabled by Solana

(00:35:56) - The real security and risk profiles of these major chains

(00:38:09) - Explaining Solana’s parallel transactions 

(00:40:52) - Why the creation of new chains and further chain optimization still matters

(00:42:27) - Why he got interested in the problem of chain efficiency and accessibility

(00:44:54) - How crypto tech continues to build upon itself and expand to new use cases

(00:48:34) - How Monad is building their blockchain to solve inefficiencies in crypto markets

(00:50:09) - How he thinks about competition given the open-source nature of the space

(00:52:12) - The process of actually building and testing a new chain

(00:55:49) - What motivates him to continue building

(00:56:53) - Diffusing a new blockchain innovation to users and coders

(00:58:38) - What he’s most excited to see built over the next six months and six years