web3 with a16z crypto

• AI and the End of Apps (with NEAR)

  with @ilblackdragon @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. I’m your host, Robert Hackett.In this episode, we're diving deep into one of the most intriguing intersections in tech today: AI and crypto.To help us unpack it, we're joined by Illia Polosukhin — co-founder of the crypto protocol NEAR and co-author of the groundbreaking 2017 "transformers" paper that kicked off the current AI boom. Ilia has been early to some of the biggest recent tech trends, and today he brings us a rare, panoramic view of the tech industry’s cutting edge.Together we explore what the phrase “user-owned AI” really means; why the so-called agentic internet — that is, a world where your AI assistant talks directly to services on your behalf — might replace the very notion of websites and apps as we know them; and much more.Timestamps:(0:00) Introduction(3:40) Centralization and Challenges of AI(6:17) "User-Owned" AI(12:14) Confidential Computing and AI(17:51) The Birth of Transformers(22:33) NEAR AI and Crowdsourcing(27:56) AI Agents and Future Applications(31:04) The End of Websites and Applications(34:08) Dead Internet Theory & Distinguishing Humans(41:49) Open Source vs. Open Weight Models(43:48) Geopolitical Implications of AI(46:55) NEAR Protocol and Blockchain Scaling(59:29) The Role of Humans in an AI WorldResources:Attention is all you need by Vaswani et al. (Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2017)As a reminder, none of the content should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice; please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

  --------  

  1:02:18
• All About Airdrops

  with @eddylazzarin @DarenMatsuoka @ahall_research @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. I’m Robert Hackett.Today we’re talking about one of the most familiar — and most misunderstood — mechanics in crypto: the airdrop.We’ll explore the history of airdrops in and outside crypto, the challenges of incentive design, and learnings from airdrops to date. We’ll also answer questions like how do you avoid Sybil attacks and professional airdrop farming? Should your drop be big or small, one-time or ongoing? And what happens when AI agents enter the mix? To break it all down, we’re joined by:a16z crypto’s Chief Technology Officer Eddy Lazzarin;a16z crypto Data Science Partner Daren Matsuoka; anda16z crypto Research Consultant Andrew Hall, who is also a Professor of Political Economics at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.Whether you're planning a token launch, looking for token rewards, or just curious why airdrops have become such a powerful mechanism in crypto — this episode is for you. Timestamps:(0:00) introduction(1:42) what is an airdrop?(6:27) tokens vs traditional equity(8:49) incentive design challenges(15:18) origins from credit cards to crypto(17:14) Optimism airdrop case study(23:09) NFT market learnings(28:32) Sybil resistance and verifying humanity(33:04) Uniswap airdrop and beyond(36:35) AI agents and the future of airdrops(40:33) connection to performance reviews(45:30) token vesting and volatility(49:08) experimentation vs. best practices(59:20) Batesian mimicryResources:Research into how airdrops can increase user retention [Optimism Collective forum; January 2025]Effects of Optimism airdrop 2 on governance participation [a16z crypto; June 2024]One From Many: Visa and the Rise of Chaordic Organization by Dee Hock [Berrett-Koehler Publishers; October 2005]How the '9-Box' talent review system can make or break your career [Forbes; March 2024]Batesian mimicry [American Museum of Natural History; July 2023]As a reminder, none of the content should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

  --------  

  1:02:00
• Congestion Pricing? Economics, Theory, Reality

  with @mostrovs @skominers @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. I’m your host Robert Hackett, and today we’re talking about congestion pricing — an area of mechanism design that’s aimed at alleviating something everyone hates: traffic.Now you may have heard this term recently since New York adopted its own version of congestion pricing at the beginning of the year. This is the first program of its kind in the U.S. — and it’s got supporters and detractors. We’ll talk about that, and we’re also going to talk about much more. In the first part of today’s episode we’ll trace the history of the economic ideas that got us here. In the middle, we’ll dig deeper into the details of putting congestion pricing into practice, plus technological alternatives. And in the final part, we’ll explore parallels to — and implications for — crypto networks.Our guests are Michael Ostrovsky, a Stanford Economics Professor who specializes in this area and who has done research on congestion pricing in New York. We’re also joined by a16z crypto Research Partner Scott Kominers, who is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School where he teaches market design and entrepreneurship.Timestamps:(0:00) introduction(1:51) NYC proposal history(3:38) economic theory of congestion pricing(9:15) implementation: challenges and solutions(26:00) technological alternatives and drones(29:49) overnight delivery and other possibilities(35:20) carpooling and how to encourage it(39:34) congestion pricing and crypto(47:59) lessons for blockchainsResources:Michael Ostrovsky's paper on congestion pricing in New York City (from before the launch, foreseeing its issues): https://web.stanford.edu/~ost/papers/nyc.pdfMichael Ostrovsky's thread that went viral on X shortly after the debut of congestion pricing in New York, discussing the post-launch evidence, his team's data collection efforts, and the link between observed data and predictions in the above paper: https://x.com/mostrovs/status/1876798157595476420Two of Ostrovsky's earlier theoretical papers on the topic: (1) https://web.stanford.edu/~ost/papers/complementarity.pdf, (2) https://web.stanford.edu/~ost/papers/sdc.pdfEconomist William Vickrey's influential paper on congestion pricing: Vickrey, W. S. (1969). Congestion theory and transport investment. American Economic Review 59 (2), 251–260. https://matthewturner.org/ec2410/readings/Vickrey_AER_1969.pdfAs a reminder, none of the content should be taken as tax, business, legal, or investment advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

  --------  

  57:31
• You Better Have a 30-Year Goal (with Eigen Labs)

  Welcome to web3 with a16z. Today we’re talking about a founder’s journey from academia to the tech startup world — and the many lessons he’s learned along the way. We dig into big ideas, like what people mean when they call blockchains "truth machines." We also share practical advice and insights, like how to go about deciding on your life’s work; what you can do to keep increasing — and compounding — your leverage; plus, how a bungled interview question can change your life.Today’s episode features a conversation between Eigen Labs Founder Sreeram Kannan, formerly an associate professor at the University of Washington where he led its Blockchain Lab, and a16z crypto General Partner Ali Yahya. This conversation originally took place in the fall at our CSX crypto startup accelerator in New York. If you like what you hear, subscribe to the a16z crypto YouTube channel for this video and many others like it.Timestamps:(0:00) introduction(1:25) open innovation(4:08) evolution of blockchain technologies(12:34) journey from academia(16:00) one of the best life lessons(19:40) impact of network information theory(24:31) activation energy and moving earth(29:13) building a trust network(36:20) blockchains as commitment engines(45:17) Q&A(45:57) the power of narrative(52:19) restaking and the memetic sphere(56:01) two approaches to problem solving(59:53) startup focus and exponential games(1:04:56) professor coins(1:09:03) win-win or no deal(01:13:59) conclusionAs a reminder, none of the content should be taken as tax, business, legal, or investment advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

  --------  

  1:15:09
• Blockchain Performance, Demystified

  with @SashaSpiegelman @Tim_Roughgarden @rhhackettWelcome to web3 with a16z. Today we’re talking about the ins and outs of blockchain performance. How does the “speed” of one chain compare to another? What are the tricky ways that people talk about important metrics like throughput and latency? And how do design choices across things like consensus and execution result in performance tradeoffs? Our guest today is Aptos Labs’ Head of Research Sasha Spiegelman, who is helping build out and develop technologies he originally co-created at Meta. We’re also joined by a16z crypto Head of Research and Columbia University professor Tim Roughgarden, who specializes in the intersection of computer science and economics, which is fitting as we dig into technical details throughout.Timestamps:(0:00) introduction(2:48) understanding blockchain metrics(7:59) consensus protocols: PBFT and beyond(14:56) innovations from Meta’s Novi to Aptos(20:51) optimizing blockchain execution (with BlockSTM)(25:23) tech debate: dynamic vs. static parallelism(27:55) open source and the prisoner’s dilemma(29:15) conclusion***As a reminder, none of the content should be taken as tax, business, legal, or investment advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

  --------  

  30:18

Więcej Technologia podcastów

Trendy w podcaście Technologia

O web3 with a16z crypto