We're joined by Mike Pieciak, President of the NASAA. Not to be confused with the space agency, the North American Securities Administrators Association brings together state, provincial, and federal securities regulators in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This relatively unknown organization helps align the financial regulation policies of over 50 agencies across North America and coordinates enforcement action in cross-border cases. In 2018, the NASAA launched “Operation Cryptosweep” in which over 200 ICOs and cryptocurrency-related investment products were investigated for potential investor fraud. Topics covered in this episode: Mike's background as a lawyer and the Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation What is the NASAA, it's goals, members and jurisdiction The story of “Operation Cryptosweep” and what came out of that action Mike's thoughts on the future of blockchain regulation How regulation might apply in the context of transnational projects which are nation state-invariant The United State's restrictive securities laws in the context of Defi and security tokens Vermont's attempt to attract blockchain projects, and the “Blockchain-Based LCC” Vermont DFR's pilot project in Captive Insurance What Mike hopes to achieve during his one-year term as president of the NASAA Episode links: NASAA Operation Cryptosweep NASAA Reminds Investors to Approach ICOs with Caution Get in the Know About ICOs (video) Vermont Governor Signs Bill Clearing Way for Blockchain Companies Captive Insurance Blockchain Pilot Press Release Vermont Department of Financial Regulation Mike Pieciak (@mspieciak) on Twitter Sponsors: Azure: Deploy enterprise-ready consortium blockchain networks that scale in just a few clicks - http://aka.ms/epicenter This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/285

At the core of the Web 2.0 stack lies the REST API. It's the fiber which allows frontend applications to communicate with their backend counterparts, as well as the services on which they depend. But the API model is highly constrained and inflexible. The API is divorced from the data model, which creates a number of restrictions and inefficiencies. Most blockchain clients, including Geth, Parity and Bitcoin Core, use a JSON-RPC model which suffers from similar issues. Several Ethereum DApps maintain high-availability, centralized data indexes which sit between the client and the blockchain. Thought user experience is greatly improved, the practice means most of the ecosystem relies on centralized infrastructure. We're joined by Yaniv Tal, Project Lead at The Graph. The project aims to create a scalable marketplace of robust and high-availability blockchain data indexes. Relying on the modern GraphQL data query language initially developed by Facebook, The Graph allows developers to make complex queries to a robust and high-availability data infrastructure. Launched as a hosted service earlier this year, The Graph plans to move to a decentralized model in the future. Topics covered in this episode: The vision of The Graph and why the team chose to work on this problem The REST API client-server model in the Web 2.0 paradigm The state of the Ethereum ecosystem and the challenges relating to data availability How DApps work behind the scenes and their backend infrastructure GraphQL as the evolution of the API model How The Graph addresses the issue of data querying and availability Their hosted services and plans to move to a hybrid model How The Graph addresses privacy and scalability The incentive mechanisms and economics related to data integrity Early applications and the project's near-term roadmap Episode links: The Graph - A Query Protocol for Blockchains The Graph on Medium Browse and Explore Subgraphs Graph Docs GraphQL Will Power the Decentralized Web The Graph’s Research and Specifications are Now Open Source Our Investment In The Graph - Multicoin Capital GraphQL Yaniv Tal on Twitter Sponsors: Cosmos: Join the most interoperable ecosystem of connected blockchains - http://cosmos.network/epicenter This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/283