Ethereum will switch from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) likely already later this year in a much anticipated upgrade to Ethereum 2. The switch to PoS aims to make Ethereum both more secure and more sustainable by securing the network through Ether instead of mining. A second Eth2 update will address scaling through sharding at a later time. Danny Ryan, Researcher with Ethereum Foundation, has been a major driving force behind the Eth2 project. He joined us for a progress update and we chatted about how the protocol will work in its steady state, what has launched so far, what happens in The Merge, and how PoS will affect centralization tendencies. Topics covered in this episode: Danny's background and how he got into cryptoAn overview of Eth2 - Phase 0, Beacon ChainThe role of a validator and building blocksPenalties and rewards within the protocol including slashingWhat the epoch is and how it relates to finalityThe Proof-of-Stake mergeWhy Proof-of-Stake is favorable for security purposesWhat is the roadmap for sharding?Ethereum feesEpisode links: Ethereum CommunityEth R&D DiscordEthereum on GitHubEth ResearchEF on TwitterEF blogDanny on TwitterSponsors: Solana: Solana is the high performance blockchain supporting over 50k transactions per second to power the next generation of decentralized applications. - https://solana.com/epicenterExodus: Exodus the easy-to-use crypto wallet available on all platforms and supporting over 100 different assets. - https://exodus.com/epicenterParaSwap: ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage - http://paraswap.io/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Martin Köppelmann. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/393

Curve is an Automated Market Maker (AMM) that lets users and other decentralized protocols exchange stablecoins (DAI to USDC for example) with low fees and low slippage. Unlike exchanges that match a buyer and a seller, users transact with the smart contract itself. By providing a flatter curve targeted for relatively stable pairs, Curve has established the lead position for these markets. Curve is also leveraging its own token CRV to incentivize long-term adoption of the protocol and decentralize control of governance. We were joined by Curve Finance Founder, Michael Egorov, to chat about why he created the protocol and his long term vision for the project. Topics covered in this episode: Michael's background and how he got into cryptoHow Curve works from the perspective of a trader and as a liquidity providerHow they came up with the stableswap designHow Curve compares to Uniswap v3Michael's take on forks, fork threat, and Curve's moatCurve's thesis on good governanceHow they keep the protocol secureAn overview of the Curve community and ecosystemThe long term vision for CurveEpisode links: Curve FinanceCurve ResourcesCurve on TwitterMichael on TwitterSponsors: ParaSwap: ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage - http://paraswap.io/epicenter Solana: Solana is the high performance blockchain supporting over 50k transactions per second to power the next generation of decentralized applications. - https://solana.com/epicenterExodus: Exodus the easy-to-use crypto wallet available on all platforms and supporting over 100 different assets. - https://exodus.com/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Zubin Koticha. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/391