Julien Bouteloup is a serial entrepreneur, Ethereum developer and addict of crazy innovative ideas. He started his entrepreneurial career building websites and selling hardware technologies at age 14. Today he is involved with many projects including Stake Capital, Rekt, Curve Finance, and he advises several crypto companies. Julien strives to bring to light the dark side of crypto. As DeFi grows, so do the number of questionable projects and ethical concerns around certain practices. Julien joins us to talk about the excesses in the DeFi space and how the ecosystem should cope with them. Topics covered in this episode: Julien's background, how he found crypto, and the various projects Julien is working on todayThe Stake DAO - its purpose and visionJulien's views on the state of DeFi todayPrice arbitrage attacks in the ecosystem - FlashloansJulien's involvement in Curve Finance and how this platform is pushing towards more resilient DeFi protocolsJulien's thoughts on NFT and Decentralized MonopolyCurve's reaction to the launch of SaddleThe role of validators in the spaceEpisode links: Stake CapitalRekt NewsRekt Capital on TwitterDecentralised MonopolyJulien on TwitterSponsors: Stacker Ventures: A community-run protocol for initiating and managing pooled capital on the Ethereum blockchain. Structured as a DAO, it initiates decentralized funds, accelerates portfolio investments through an involved community, and provides checks and balances to fund management - https://epicenter.rocks/stackerThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/381

Stacks is an open-source network of decentralized apps and smart contracts. It is a Layer-1 blockchain that connects to Bitcoin. Stacks uses a Proof of Transfer mining mechanism with bidding and staking capabilities. Clarity is the programming language used, a Turing-incomplete language which aims to give developers a safe way to build complex smart contracts where the code itself clearly shows what the program will do when run. Muneeb Ali is the CEO and Co-founder of Hiro Systems, one of the companies creating Stacks. He joined us to chat about why he felt there was a need for Stacks, why he chose to build on top of Bitcoin, and the types of apps that are currently being run on Stacks 2.0. Topics covered in this episode: Muneeb's background and how he got into cryptoWhy Stacks was createdHow this works being built on BitcoinMining and bidding on blocksSmart contracting on Stacks - Clarity programming languageStacks vs “Bitcoin on Ethereum”Stacks vs RootstackThe apps that currently run on Stacks 2.0Episode links: Stacks websiteStacks whitepaperStackingProof of TransferHiroStacks on TwitterMuneeb on TwitterSponsors: 1inch: Discover the best rates and most efficient swapping routes across leading DEXes. Optimize on gas cost and execute DeFi trades faster with 1inch V2 - https://epicenter.rocks/1inchThis episode is hosted by Sunny Aggarwal & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/379