We’re joined by Eric Conner and Anthony Sassano, founders of EthHub. Started in January of 2019, EthHub’s goal is to provide a trusted, objective source of information for the Ethereum ecosystem. The platform is made up of an open-source documentation website, a weekly newsletter, and a podcast, “Into the Ether” hosted by Eric and Anthony. Both active and vocal members of the Ethereum community, they are known to embody what some consider to be Ethereum Maximalism. Topics covered in this episode: What is EthHub and why they decided to start the organization Eric and Anthony’s view on the current state of the Ethereum community The different cliques, factions, and sub-groups in Ethereum The role of the Foundation and Vitalik Buterin as they see it A close look into project funding in Ethereum and the emergence of DAOs for funding Reflections on Anthony’s “Why Ether is Valuable” piece The state of Ethereum 2.0 research and the different parties involved Their views on where the crypto space is heading in the next 5 years Episode links: EthHub website Into the Ether podcast EthHub Newsletter Why Ether is Valuable Is Ether needed for transaction fees? Ethereum Project Funding EthHub on Twitter Anthony Sassano on Twitter Eric Conner on Twitter Epicenter Meetup at TelAviv Blockchain Week – Monday September 16th Sponsors: Vaultoro: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg - http://vaultoro.com Trail of Bits: Trust the team at the forefront of blockchain security research - https://trailofbits.com This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/302

We’re joined by Erik Voorhees, Founder & CEO of Shapeshift. His third appearance on the podcast is timed nicely as July marked ShapeShift’s fifth anniversary. From its early days as the “Google Translate for cryptocurrencies”, it has grown into an organization of 75 people, and Erik talks about the learning curves he has endured on his journey. Our conversation also coincides with the launch of ShapeShift’s brand new V2 platform, which includes a self-custodial asset management dashboard, hardware wallet support, and many other new features. One notable change is that ShapeShift now requires users to create an account and perform KYC, something which very much pains Erik. We also discuss Bitcoin, Libra, and the future of money, topics which are always fascinating to approach from Erik’s Libertarian viewpoint. Topics covered in this episode: ShapeShift celebrating its 5th anniversary the lessons learned since launch What is ShapeShift 2.0 and the problems addressed by this product ShapeShift's new features and what people can expect to come in the future Why users now have to register and perform KYC What is the FOX token and what is it's utility ShapeShift's business model and target segment Why the company chose to shut down Prism Erik's views on the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems today Speculations about Libra and the future of money Episode links: ShapeShift ShapeShift on GitHub Building a Bridge to Financial Sovereignty (ShapeShift 2.0 announcement) Erik's tweetstorm on Libra KeepKey Release Notes ShapeShift Twitter Erik Voorhees Twitter Sponsors: Trail of Bits: Trust the team at the forefront of blockchain security research - https://trailofbits.com Azure: Deploy enterprise-ready consortium blockchain networks that scale in just a few clicks - http://aka.ms/epicenter StarkWare Sessions: September 16th in Tel Aviv – 20% off with the code EPICENTER - https://epicenter.rocks/starkware This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/300