Avalanche is an open, scalable, and secure smart contracts platform. It targets three broad use cases; building application-specific blockchains, building and launching highly scalable decentralized applications (dapps), and building arbitrarily complex digital assets with custom rules, covenants, and riders (smart assets). It prides itself off on being blazingly fast, low cost, and eco-friendly. Emin Gün Sirer is the Founder & CEO of the Avalanche network. He is also a long time friend of the show, and joined us again for the 4th time after a 5 year break to share his journey since then, which led him to creating Avalanche. We also dove deep into the technical aspects of the protocol and how it fits into the blockchain ecosystem as a whole. Topics covered in this episode: Gun's journey over the past 5 years which led him to creating AvalancheThe unique features and trade-offs in the protocolA deep dive into bridging within AvalancheMEV extraction within the protocolAvalanche consensus - reliance on seed anchorsEpisode links: Episode 76 - From Selfish Miners to The Miner’s DilemmaEpisode 103 - Bitcoin-NG – Scientists Versus the ChurchEp 134 - On a Rocky DAOAvalancheAva LabsAvalanche on TwitterGun on TwitterSponsors: Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusoneParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/419

Cometh is a game on Ethereum that lets users own yield-generating NFTs, integrating both DeFi and NFT features into a single, fun gaming experience. As a player, you control spaceships (also called astronomers) orbiting around giant stars and your goal is to position yourself close to the asteroids (also known as smart asteroids) passing by. When you are close enough, you will be able to mine tokens from that asteroid. Jerome de Tychey, founder of the project, joined us to chat about how the game works, interactions with AMMs and lending protocols, and the future of blockchain gaming. Topics covered in this episode: Jerome's background and his involvement building the French Ethereum communityJerome's role at Ledger and ConsenSysAn overview of Cometh and how the game worksHow Cometh interacts with AMMs and lending protocolsThe game’s native tokens: MUST and DUSTCometh's use of Polygon and the launch of its own layer-2 networkHow Cometh taps into the existing NFT worldThe potential for games built on top of existing DeFi infrastructureThe future of blockchain gaming and NFTsEpisode links: ComethDocs on ComethGithubGeckoConCometh on TwitterJerome on TwitterSponsors: CowSwap: CowSwap is a Meta-Dex Aggregator built by Gnosis. It taps into all on-chain liquidity - including other dex aggregators such as Paraswap, 1inch and Matcha - offering the best prices on all trades. It provides some UX perks (no gas costs for failed transactions!) and protects traders against MEV. - https://epicenter.rocks/cowswapThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/416