Bitmain is one of the most well known, and one of the most polarizing companies in the blockchain space. The largest ASIC manufacturer and operator of several mining pools, Bitmain is the center of many controversies and discussions around centralization in the space. But not only is it the subject of discussion, Bitmain breaks out of the “passive miner” stereotype and is very active in many of the discussions in the community, most notably the Great Scaling Debates. In this episode, we sit down with Nishant Sharma, Head of Community Relations, who is responsible for acting as a bridge between the Bitmain company and the many communities it interacts with through its mining and ASIC operations. We explore the origins of Bitmain and its founders, the economics of ASIC production, its past and current relationships with different communities, and the future of the company. Topics covered in this episode: Nishant's Story in the Bitcoin mining space and how it led to joining BitmainOrigin of Bitmain and its founders, notably Jihan WuDoes Bitmain contribute to centralization in the blockchain spaceHow Bitmain maintains its superiority in the ASIC manufacturing spaceEconomics of ASIC production and manufacturingBalancing business models of ASIC production, operating multiple mining pools, and exploring new verticalsBitmain's role in blockchain debates like the scaling debate, Bitcoin Cash split, and ProgPowEpisode links: Bitmain WebsiteNishant on TwitterBitmain on TwitterFallout: Everyone’s a loser after Bitcoin Cash split – Brave New CoinBitmain WikipediaBTC.com PoolAntpoolLeaked Transcript Details Power Struggle Inside Bitcoin Mining Giant Bitmain – CoinDeskDovey Wan on TwitterSponsors: Vaultoro: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg - http://vaultoro.comCosmos: Change the future of finance at the SF Blockchain Week Defi Hackathon – $50,000 prize pool for winning teams - https://epicenter.rocks/sfcosmosThis episode is hosted by Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/314

The vision of a world computer on which anyone can deploy smart contracts has captured our imagination since the publication of the Ethereum whitepaper. But while Ethereum demonstrated the viability of the concept, its shortcomings in terms of capacity and throughput prevent it from realizing the vision. Today, throughput has become a major bottleneck for widescale adoption of decentralized technologies. Many projects have set out to deliver where Ethereum 1.0 falls short. Most projects, including Ethereum 2.0, aim to create some kind of sharded network with many interoperable chains. Solana may be the only project that went the other way. Through identifying every performance bottleneck for a single blockchain and developing novel ways of removing them, they target to achieve throughput of 50,000 tps. We were joined by Solana creator and CEO Anatoly Yakovenko to discuss Solana's approach to building a web-scale blockchain. We covered some of their novel ideas including proof-of-history and parallelizing smart contract execution. Topics covered in this episode: The performance-obssessed engineering background of the Solana teamThe arguments against sharding for scalabilityThe value of a shared sense of time in a distributed systemHow Solana's Proof-of-History creates a global clock for the networkHow Solana uses GPUs to parallelize smart contract executionHow value could be accrued for the native token if transaction throughput is abundantSolana's upcoming Tour de Sol testnets and launch timelineEpisode links: Solana WebsiteProof of History: A Clock for BlockchainThe World Computer Should Be Logically Centralized - Multicoin CapitalMulticoin Capital: The Separation of Time and State - Multicoin CapitalHow Solana's Proof of History is a Huge Advancement for Block TimeTower BFT: Solana’s High Performance Implementation of PBFTSponsors: Trail of Bits: Trust the team at the forefront of blockchain security research - https://trailofbits.comVaultoro: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg - http://vaultoro.comThis episode is hosted by Meher Roy & Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/312