Aave is building a suite of non-custodial DeFi tools that allow users to earn interest on their deposits and borrow assets. Earlier this year, Aave released its Flash Loans feature, which is drumming up a lot of excitement in the ecosystem. Flash Loans have a number of applications like executing liquidations or refinancing and require no collateral on the part of the borrower. As we have seen since they were introduced, they have also been used by malicious actors to exploit vulnerabilities in some DeFi protocols. Nevertheless, this powerful tool is an important “money lego” component that enables various new use cases. Stani Kulechov, Aave Founder & CEO, and Marc Zeller, Integrations Lead, explain their vision for the Aave protocol as an essential part of the DeFi ecosystem. Topics covered in this episode: Stani and Marc's backgrounds and how they became involved in cryptoMarc's previous project, Variabl, and why it failedHow Aave came out of EthLendSwitching from an OTC model to a pooled modelYield hacking and other DeFi use casesWhat the Flash Loan is and why it is usefulHow one can do DeFi refinancing with Flash LoansThe Flash Loans attacks which happened in FebruarySmart contract security and how the community should response to attacksWhy privacy is DeFi is desirable, but also hard to doEpisode links: Aave Protocol websiteSneak Peek at Flash LoansFlash Loans - One Month InAave TwitterStani Kulechov TwitterMarc Zeller TwitterSponsors: Least Authority: Register for Security Sessions on April 30th to learn about security audits for your blockchain project - https://leastauthority.com/meetupShapeShift: ShapeShift is the leading crypto platform offering zero-commission trading - https://shapeshift.com/This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/337

AZTEC Protocol is a protocol that enables private transactions on Ethereum. At its core, AZTEC is an Ethereum contract, otherwise known as the AZTEC Cryptography Engine. The protocol uses a zero-knowledge proof system, allowing users to effectively create shielded representations of tokens, which can then be sent and redeemed for the underlying token. CEO and CTO, Tom Pocock and Zac Williamson have plans to build AZTEC into a fully functional DeFi stack with which all kinds of trades, swaps, and financial operations will be possible, with privacy. Topics covered in this episode: How Tom and Zac met and founded AZTEC ProtocolWhat AZTEC is and what problem is solvesHow AZTEC enabled transactions work in practice from a user perspectiveThe challenges of making DeFi systems like MakerDAO fully privateHow ERC-20 tokens could be issued as private tokensThe AZTEC trusted setup ignition ceremonyZKPs for privacy vs scaling solutionsGrowing the privacy ecosystem and getting people excited about privacyThe security guarantees of using AZTEC and other ZKP systemsEpisode links: AZTEC ProtocolAZTEC Protocol - SDKAZTEC Protocol - research papersAZTEC Protocol TwitterTom Walton-Pocock TwitterZac Williamson TwitterReset EverythingSponsors: Least Authority: Register for Security Sessions on April 30th to learn about security audits for your blockchain project - https://leastauthority.com/meetupStatus: A multi-purpose communication tool that combines a peer-to-peer messenger, secure crypto wallet, and web3 browser - https://status.im/This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/335