Strange Water Podcast
Strange Water is a podcast hosted by Rex Kirshner. The show is a conversation-based podcast based around exploring Ethereum and Ethereum-adjacent topics. Strange Water is relatively unstructured show focused on organic, engaging conversations with people who are building, building on or otherwise deeply care about Ethereum.
Featured Episodes
Episode 67
The Epilogue
Guests: Rex Kirshner, NoSleepJon
In this final episode of the Strange Water Podcast, join us as we announce our exciting acquisition by Blockworks, the end of Strange Water, and the launch of our new podcast, Expansion. We have a fantastic interview with (Expansion cohost) nosleepjon and Blockworks cofounders Mike Ippolito and Jason Yanowitz on all things Expansion and modular blockchains. Thank you for being part of our adventure, and we can't wait to take you along on the next one with Expansion! Twitter: @ExpansionPod_ Apple: http://apple.co/4bGKYYM Spotify: http://spoti.fi/3Vaubq1 YouTube: @expansionpod
Episode 59
An Inside Look into the Ethereum All Core Devs Calls w/ Christine Kim (Galaxy)
Guests: Christine Kim
Guest: Christine Kim (Twitter: @christine_dkim) Host: Rex (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) I believe that Ethereum is the pinnacle achievement of the open source movement, describing it as an intricate, globally-built, and continuously evolved system through voluntary contributions. Christine Kim plays a crucial role in this ecosystem, attending All Core Developers calls, documenting them, and making the insights accessible to the public. Through her contributions, the discussion delves into the meticulous process behind Ethereum hard forks, providing a deeper understanding of the core development processes that guide the evolution of Ethereum. This conversation underscores the profound impact of open source values on Ethereum's development trajectory.
Episode 50
Polygon's Next Chapter: Aggregated Blockchains w/ Brendan Farmer (Polygon)
Guests: Brendan Farmer
Guest: Brendan Farmer (Twitter: @_bfarmer) Host: Rex (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) In 2022, Vitalik discussed the transformative impact of zkEVMs on crypto, highlighting their evolution from theoretical concepts to tangible scaling solutions for Ethereum. A year later, multiple zkEVM implementations had reached mainnet, rendering zkEVMs less of a novelty and shifting the focus of discussions to practical scalability challenges. Brendan Farmer, Co Founder of Polygon and Co Head of Polygon Zero, joined a podcast to address these challenges and present the AggLayer, a solution aimed at addressing fragmentation in the rollup-centric blockchain landscape. This conversation offered insights into the future of blockchain scaling and Ethereum, marking it as a particularly enlightening discussion.
Episode 40
Reflecting on the State of ZK w/ Kobi Gurkan (Geometry)
Guests: Kobi Gurkan
Guest: Kobi Gurkan (Twitter: @KobiGurk) Host: Rex (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) Geometry Research was established as a research and investment firm to catalyze the growth of the ZK community. The author expresses excitement about Geometry's role in funding innovative ZK-based projects and interviews Kobi Gurkan, Geometry's co-founder and head of research, discussing the state of the ZK industry, technological developments, and areas of promising innovation. The conversation also explores the challenges of building in a rapidly evolving field and the importance of designing systems with upgradability in mind.
Episode 38
Modularity Maximalism w/ Uma Roy (Succinct Labs)
Guests: Uma Roy
Guest: Uma Roy (Twitter: @pumatheuma) Host: Rex Kirshner (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) In every builder's career, there's a common experience of getting caught up in implementation details while solving complex problems, leading to the creation of custom tools or thoughtless architectures. The realization that others likely face the same challenges prompts some developers to invest time in creating tools that not only make their own development easier but can also benefit other developers. Uma Roy, the co-founder and CEO of Succinct Labs, recognized an opportunity in the field of zero-knowledge cryptography (ZK) and founded a company aiming to simplify ZK development. Succinct Labs functions as a "Foundry for ZK," abstracting away the complexities of advanced cryptography to provide developers with a modular platform for building applications without delving into post-doc-level mathematics.
Episode 30
Decentralization Maximalism w/ Superphiz
Guests: Superphiz
Guest: Superphiz (Twitter: @Superphiz) Host: Rex (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) The Ethereum community is currently immersed in many dramatic developments, and yet amidst all this, one critical concern remains constant: the preservation of decentralization, particularly in the core Ethereum protocol. While Ethereum is mostly decentralized now, the risk of centralization threatens its credibility as a neutral global platform. Today’s guest is Superphiz, a long-standing figure in the crypto space, is a prominent advocate for decentralized staking and a guest in the discussion, emphasizing the significance of decentralization for Ethereum's future. The conversation delves into the importance of decentralization, the challenges it faces, and the need to combat centralizing threats within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Episode 10
Building, Upgrading and Documenting Ethereum w/ Ben Edgington (Consensys)
Guests: Ben Edgington
Guest: Ben Edgington (Twitter: @benjaminion_xyz) Host: Rex (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) Upgrading Ethereum (formerly eth2book) Ben Edgington is not just a writer and educator; he's a vital figure in the Ethereum community due to his dedicated work on building Ethereum infrastructure as a leader at Consensys. His passion project, "Upgrading Ethereum," has become an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the inner workings of Ethereum, making it an essential reference point for those not directly involved in coding. This conversation explores Ben's journey into Ethereum, his advocacy for following one's passion in their career, insights into deciphering the Ethereum roadmap, and much more. It's a discussion filled with valuable insights for anyone interested in Ethereum and its development.
Episode 23
The History, Reality and Future of Off-Shore Finance w/ Alex Golubitsky
Guests: Alex Golubitsky
Guest: Alex Golubitsky (Twitter: DumbApe69420) Host: Rex (Twitter: LogarithmicRex) The Strange Water Podcast welcomes Alex Golubitsky, an attorney turned crypto enthusiast, who once specialized in off-shore finance before immersing himself in Ethereum. He brings insight from his experience in the more enigmatic realms of global finance in the US Virgin Islands. This episode explores the concept of off-shore finance, its history, and offers initial paths for deeper understanding. Alex challenges the notion that decentralized finance (De-Fi) targets traditional finance, asserting that it poses a genuine threat to off-shore finance.
Episode 22
The Next Frontier: Trustless Compute w/ Tim, Wolfgang and Rami (RISC Zero)
Guests: Tim Carstens, Wolfgang Welz, Rami Lukata
Guests: Tim Carstens (Twitter: intoverflow), Wolfgang Welz (Github: Wollac), Rami Khalil (Twitter: hashcashier) Host: Rex (Twitter: LogarithmicRex) As of 2021, I believed Ethereum would revolutionize finance, drawing from my financial background. While I still hold that belief, my perspective has shifted over the past couple of years. I now see Ethereum's purpose as trustless computation, extending beyond finance to encompass various computer applications. In this episode, we're joined by Tim Carstens, Wolfgang Welz, and Rami Khalil from Risc Zero to delve into the concept of trustless compute, its readiness, and its potential to transform Ethereum, crypto, and computing as a whole.
Episode 20
Building a Decentralized Banking Institution w/ Sam Kazemian (Frax Finance)
Guests: Sam Kazemian
Guest: Sam Kazemian (Twitter: @samkazemian) Host: Rex (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) More info on Frax Gov Frax Finance Founder Sam Kazemian discusses his journey to Frax and Frax's journey to v3. The episode begins with Sam's DOGE mining in college, his first startup Everpedia (now IQ.wiki) and the founding of Frax Finance. We then discuss the genesis of Frax and the design principles that not only built a huge protocol, but provided resilient and thoughtful enough to survive the regular black swans crypto/De-Fi has been experiencing. Sam also walks us through Frax v1, v2 and finally the imminent Frax v3 (for which Sam shares so brand new alpha). During this conversation you'll hear Rex and Sam discuss tokenomics, how to building in the regulatory environment and the overall purpose of Ethereum.
Episode 19
Remember When Ethereum Almost Ended w/ Hudson Jameson
Guests: Hudson Jameson
Guest: Hudson Jameson (Twitter: @hudsonjameson) Host: Rex (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) We begin with the current context of the recent earthquake in the De-Fi world: Curve Finance has been hacked, and the CRV token hangs precariously between the hacker, Curve's founder and a handful of De-Fi lending protocols. The episode reflects on past existential moments for Ethereum and brings in a special guest, Hudson Jameson, to provide insights and background on previous challenges faced by the Ethereum community. The podcast concludes with a reminder not to take financial advice from the show and a call to bring on Hudson for further discussion.
Episode 1
What is Ethereum and Why Should We Care? w/ Chris Chauvin
Guests: Chris Chauvin
Guest: Chris Chauvin (Twitter: @cchauvin) Host: Rex (Twitter: @LogarithmicRex) While I have some very exciting ideas for this show, I don’t want to give away too much, so let me say this: Strange Water will be a platform that elevates the voices of the people building the World Computer, those building applications on top of it and anyone trying to navigate a quickly changing world order. In this first episode I wanted to go back to basics - what is Ethereum and why should we care. And so, I called an old friend and colleague who knows nothing about the world of crypto and asked him if I could explain.
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