Support the show, consider donating: 3PVXyxtfq7kHLRES353WXydBMdmSATuido (http://bit.ly/1DRyaKs) Adam B. Levine, the “Spiritual Grandfather” of Epicenter Bitcoin and Editor-in-Chief of Let's Talk Bitcoin, joins us to share is “crazy” passion for information and cryptocurrency. Never shy when it comes to talking about complicated subjects, Adam divulges his ideas about the next iteration of the experimental Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network and his newly launched standalone token vending machine, SwapBot. Adam also opens up about his role as the Chief Visionary Officer of CoinPowers and why it ultimately failed as a project. We also get Adam’s take on the future of crowdfunding and what role he sees himself playing within the crypto community moving forward. We covered a many of topics on this episode: - The integral part Adam played in the creation of Epicenter Bitcoin - How the Let’s Talk Bitcoin podcast show and network were born - The Tokenly Platform - The recent discontinuation of certain LTB Network shows - LTBCoin and the problems it aims to solve - Tokens Vs. cryptocurrencies - Content monetization and crowdfunding Links mentioned in this episode: - Let's Talk Bitcoin: http://letstalkbitcoin.com - LTBCoin: http://ltbcoin.com - SWAPBOT Prototype: http://letstalkbitcoin.com/vend - Tokenly Project: https://github.com/tokenly/tokenly-cms Sponsors: - ShapeShift: https://shapeshift.io Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/064 SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-064 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

Support the show, consider donating: 14PRgGymfhzY19Jw7x3T9DrXD5Jjxo76JV (http://bit.ly/2hgRr1l) One of the shortcomings of decentralized smart contracts is their inability to retrieve information from the outside world. The deterministic nature of Etehreum-style blockchains makes it impossible for them to incorporate functions allowing them to do things such as make API calls to websites and data feeds. Though oracles are often cited as the solution to this problem, they require users to place a high level of trust in their operators, a model which would undermine the very nature of a decentralized smart contract. Ari Juels, a Professor at Cornell Tech (Jacobs Institute) and former Chief Scientist of RSA, joins us to discuss his work on Authenticated Data Feeds for Smart Contracts. These 'Town Crier' feeds would act as bridges between smart contracts and websites, srapping data over TLS and feeding to to a smart contract. Relying on sophisticated hardware enclave technology (Intel SGX), one who uses a Town Crier feed would not need to trust its operator as code execution would be guaranteed signed by the hardware. Topics discussed in this episode: - Ari's background in cryptography and cryptocurrencies - The pain points with oracles as we describe them today - The idea behind Authenticated Data Feeds - The hardware and software architecture of the Authenticated Data Feed model and how hardware isolation works - How Authenticated Data Feeds could be used to create criminal smart contracts - The differents ways in which criminals could use Authenticated Data Feeds to release bounties for crimes such as private key theft or even murder - Countermeasures which may prove effective in fighting criminal smart contracts - The Initiative For Cryptocurrencies & Contracts (IC3) and its raison d'être Links mentioned in this episode: - Ari Juels' website: http://www.arijuels.com - Town Crier: An Authenticated Data Feed for Smart Contracts (white paper): http://www.initc3.org/files/tc.pdf - The Ring of Gyges: Investigating the Future of Criminal Smart Contracts (white paper): http://www.initc3.org/files/Gyges.pdf - IC3 - The Initiative For Cryptocurrencies & Contracts: http://www.initc3.org/ Sponsors: - Jaxx: Wallets that Unify the Blockchain Experience Across Devices - http://jaxx.io Watch or listen, Epicenter is available wherever you get your podcasts. Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.

Support the show, consider donating: 37GWXKviy7rGpJnBCnb9s7pLUrtTQ16Fr4 (http://bit.ly/1EMsTG0) Peter Thiel argued in his book 'Zero to One' that the way to build a great and highly profitable company is to build a monopoly. But with decentralized technologies, there is a real question whether these monopolies can be built or whether the monopolies will end up being publicly owned goods (like Bitcoin) that can't be monetized directly. William Mougayar, who is an experienced tech executive and angel investor, has been writing extensively about these issues and was one of the investors in OB1, the venture-backed company launched by the founders of the decentralized market place Open Bazaar. He joined us for a discussion of the cryptocurrency space, Ethereum, Open Bazaar and monetizing decentralized technologies. Topics covered included: - Bitcoin as the new, thin cloud - His long-term predictions about where the space is going - What kind of business models are the most promising - Why he chose to invest in OB1, the company behind Open Bazaar - What the state of Venture Capital in the cryptocurrency space is Links mentioned in this episode: - Predictions in Cryptography, Blockchains and Consensus Protocols http://bit.ly/1giM8gJ - The Old Cloud is Dead, Welcome the New Cloud http://bit.ly/1H3AZGk - The Business Imperative Behind the Ethereum Vision http://bit.ly/1JPRgms - An Operational Framework for DAOs http://bit.ly/1NKQKr4 - Union Square Ventures: Introducing OB1 http://bit.ly/1S1YCFe - Peter Thiel: Competition is for Losers http://on.wsj.com/1NKRbS8 Sponsors: - Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly at http://ShapeShift.io - Vaultoro: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg at http://vaultoro.com Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/086 SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-086 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

Support the show, consider donating: 19ACvaz7TKaMmJ9W1tsTELUv2rK9R5YbZP (http://bit.ly/1Jvi5QP) The problem around content monetization is one which content producers are constantly trying to solve. At the core of this problem is a mismatch between supply and demand. Content, which is increasingly abundant, is captured by human attention, which is in limited supply. The volume of content being produced is growing at staggering rates while total human attention remains flat. Our guest, Maciej Olpinski, argues that the current content monetization model is outdated, broken and is in need of an overhaul. Previously at Google and YouTube, Maciej has a broad understanding content monetization models and lays out a vision for open marketplaces for attention using blockchains. He argues that content discovery systems like the Google Page Rank algorithm and Facebook's News Feed could be replaced by open networks based on the mechanics of Bitcoin. Topics covered in this episode include: - How the current content monetization model works and why it's broken - The inner workings of content discovery - The economics of content discovery - Open marketplaces for attention and reputation - New web-native business models for content discovery Links mentioned in this episode: - Maciej's blog http://www.maciejolpinski.com/ Sponsors: - GTEC: Apply now to enter the GTEC Blockchain Contest and win prizes worth €50k epicenterbitcoin.com/gtec - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/120 SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-120 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc