Top Flywheel Episodes by Views
#1 The Ultra Bull Case For Curve w/CurveCap - Flywheel #33
#2 How to Catch the Next Bull Market w/ Ansem - Flywheel #45
Pragmatism, Loyalty, & Synthetix v3 w/Kain Warwick
Dave’s Favorite’s
This year, we had a lot of fantastic content and I am proud to say that even in the heart of the bear, we were still able to release content week after week. It’s tough to pick favorites, each episode were unique in their own way, but the three that stood out the most (in no particular order).
The BULL EPISODE with Cryptovestor
Cryptovestor has been one of my favorite anons to emerge this year and really encapsulates the statement “ask not what your bags can do for you, ask what can you do with your bags.” When I saw him in the telegram ask the right questions and posting Sam’s answers on the timeline, I knew we had to get him on to You can just feel the energy Cryptovester has on this pod, his excitement is palpable as he explains his bull case for Frax and crypto as a whole coming into next year.
Pragmatism, Loyalty, & Synthetix v3 w/Kain Warwick
Kain has been in the trenches building and shipping for multiple cycles, a true OG that has built one of DeFi’s most influential protocols, Synthetix. We went into everything in this interview from the history of Synthetix, his philosophy when building, and what was upcoming with Synthetix v3. You can tell that Kain’s points are well-thought out whether it's his mechanism decisions or something else. One of my favorite stories from this one was his thoughts on DegenSpartan’s development and then after the interview DegenSpartan brought his point of view on the timeline to his “survivorship bias”. Maybe one day we can DegenSpartan on, who knows.
How Crypto is Re-Architecting Trust w/ Omid Malekan - Flywheel #63
Reading and interviewing Omid reminded me of why I got into crypto in the first place. Out of all the interdisciplinary elements that make up the field, it is politics and philosophy that lays at my personal foundation which is exactly what Omid covers in his book. Trust has always been the layer 0 holding society together and Omid gets deep into the history of trust, money, and settlement. The book was dense but I was able to go through it in a few days preceding the interview. It was a treat being able to talk with the author himself and get into the details of the book which is probably why it was so much fun doing this one.
Kiet’s Favorite’s
My top three for the year, in no particular order: (1) EigenLayr; (2) Infinity Pool; (3) loldefi.
The EigenLayer episode was one where I put in a lot of extra research. It reminded me of that feeling of finding a gem in the market that compelled me to dig deeper. Then on the episode the founder dropped mad knowledge on me and I felt Dave did a great job talking about the more qualitative nature of restaking, what it means for trust, what it means for governance, and what it means for the whole ecosystem writ large.
The Infinity Pool episode was when I went full shape rotator. I apologize to the listener (and our producing team) for going so hard in the paint. Haha. Again like EigenLayer, IP gave me the butterflies in my belly feeling. This will be a true capital P: Primitive. And of course our very own BAMM takes similar shape to IP’s design.
Then there is the loldefi episode. He took me back in time to 2017. Not a lot of people can do that for me so I thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia. From the ICO analysis and spreadsheet rankings to the throngs of DeFi summer, I loved it all. Normally I let Dave do his thang on these pods but on this one I had to jump in.
Sam’s Favorite’s
My three picks have all to do with what’s coming next year. BAMM, frxETH v2 and Eigenlayer. We were one of the first media outlets to cover all three of these billion dollar products. These videos are still fresh and give us a view of what’s to come in 2023.
Eigenlayer
With the news of Eigenlayer breaking $1 bn TVL two weeks ago, it’s fitting that our interview with Sreeram makes this list. Eigenlayer is poised to be the bedrock of Ethereum’s modular future, with it lending Ethereum’s security to back new Active Validated Services (AVS). We were one of the first media outlets to interview Sreeram and I still love this interview even today. Sreeram is down-to-earth and open about why he’s building Eigenlayer and the depth of knowledge and scope of his vision was on full display in the interview. A must watch.
Infinity Pools
This is one of those episodes that I had to watch 3-4 times to fully understand everything discussed. The infinity pools design is the basis for Borrow AMM (BAMM), which potentially is going to drive significant changes for the entire crypto trading narrative. With BAMM, every token now becomes borrowable with no reliance on oracles. I can’t really describe how big of a deal this is. In the current meta, all lending markets need at least 1, preferably 2-3 oracles to give pricing data for collateral. Additionally, deep liquidity is also needed to facilitate swaps for liquidation. If you don’t have either of those two, your asset simply will not be borrowable. This all changes with BAMM.
Sam K on frxETH v2
My sleeper for biggest Frax product launch of 2024 is frxETH v2, which creates dynamic lending markets for ETH validators.
Lewy’s Favorite's
Each and every episode has it's own special place, regardless of the topic or guest. There is so much to learn from different projects, primitives, founders, & anons that it was hard not to write about every episode. However, in no particular order, here are my four picks from 2023.
Loldefi
I truly enjoyed the episode with loldefi, oftentimes we cover high level projects or very technical individuals. Although with this episode it brought out the side of crypto which is typically overlooked upon, the culture of it all. In this specific episode we covered fashion and the documentation of crypto & DeFi through who*anon* highlighting the unity and openness of the space compared to the fashion industry. I believe that without the culture, memes, designs, music and art the space would be a very dull place. Although all the decentralized aspects and technology is extremely exciting, what holds it all together is the culture defining aspects documented and expressed via the creative side of it all.
CryptoVestor
What isn’t there to love about this episode? Probably the most bullish episode I have heard from any podcast. The energy, the confidence, the conviction, it was perfect. Everything about it brought hopium rushing through the veins of each and every listener/viewer. We have had CryptoVestor on before covering his bi-weekly Alpha corner and to have him on officially was bound to happen. From stating “we never needed an ETF” to explaining the PYUSD PayPal & Paxos deal with Frax, this episode is an essential one to get a grasp of what is yet to come.
F(x) Protocol:
We first interviewed Kmets and Crouger from AladdinDAO & F(x) protocol back in the beginning of October. This interview resonated with me especially as it demonstrated the impact that the philosophy/ideology of stablecoin maximalism holds. With f(x) protocol they developed an entire new primitive of creating a “stablecoin” fully based and backed within the ETH ecosystem. For those who want more of a stable experience they can mint fETH and for those who want more exposure to the volatility and want to leverage ETH long, they can do so without any liquidation risk and zero funding rate with xETH. Overall this new ETH primitive which helps spread the wings of stablecoin maximalism beyond the USD based mentality has made its mark in DeFi and will continue to as we enter the bull.
frxETH v2 Explained w/ Sam K:
This one is a special interview for me since it was the first interview since joining Flywheel. I spent a good 24 hours straight researching and learning about frxETH v2 especially from what Sam K mentioned during the FraxBuild Technical Workshop 01 video w/ DoraHacks. Even with the little amount he said I extracted an immense about of info to get a grasp of what’s to come with frxETH v2. It was the catalyst for a deeper passion and stronger conviction for Frax as well as frxETH. As DeFiDave said to me once, “you got the bug” and since this interview I was obsessed, spreading the word about Frax, it’s products, and frxETH like a wildfire to all my friends, normies and family. What’s to come is revolutionizing especially with Fraxchain, BAMM, frxETH v2, the PayPal & paxos deal and more.
Honorable mentions:
I truly enjoyed the episode with Ryon Nixon as well as the one with Sean from Radical SemiConductor. Both shared lots of insights of the world on-chain from a Birds Eye view so to say. With Ryon, in my eyes it is a must listen for all founders in the space to gather some insight on how the legal playing field works as well as all the possibilities with legal structuring. It is not legal advice (though you can hire him if you’d like) but it provides essential insight for founders and builders alike. As for the Radical SemiConductor Episode, Sean shows us how we are getting closer and closer towards a world we’re we will be able to truly use a “crypto card" for our day to day activities/transactions. What they are building whilst breaking the boundaries of post-quantum computing with their special chip, RSC will be one of the pioneers to bring real world utility when It comes to buying and selling goods such as a burrito or even that house we all dream of.
Peep’s Favs
FDR
