Today we will be breaking down Ethereum. Launched in 2015, Ethereum is an open-source, blockchain-based platform with a native cryptocurrency, Ether. Today, ETH stands as the second most valuable cryptocurrency to Bitcoin, and Ethereum is the preferred platform for blockchain projects. To help me break down Ethereum, I am joined by Justin Drake. Justin is a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. During our conversation, we cover what differentiates Ethereum from Bitcoin, the increasing number of projects being built on the Ethereum platform, and what a shift from proof of concept to proof of stake means for Ethereum. I particularly enjoy Justin’s framework for defining money and various analogies to better conceptualize the blockchain. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of Ethereum. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:02] - [First question] - What a blockchain is on a fundamental level [00:04:36] - A core overview of Bitcoin and the Bitcoin blockchain [00:06:40] - Proof of work and why security is so important [00:08:38] - How much miners spend to secure the network [00:10:20] - Early days of Ethereum and what separates it from Bitcoin [00:12:02] - Vitalik’s role in the rise of Ethereum [00:13:14] - What can currently be built on top of the Ethereum blockchain [00:16:28] - Gas fees and an overview of ETH as a triple point asset [00:19:42] - What generates ETH and decides its value [00:22:36] - Defining proof of stake, how it works, and staking incentives [00:25:10] - Yields from staking ETH in the form of newly minted tokens and tips [00:29:15] - Load to power ratio of the Ethereum network [00:33:38] - Terms for staking your ETH and how much is expected to be staked [00:39:19] - Sequence of events when using ETH to buy an NFT [00:43:13] - Transaction fees how they’re calculated when buying and selling ETH [00:46:11] - Pros and cons of high network demand while trying to scale the Ethereum blockchain [00:50:41] - Defining money and why Ethereum’s design makes it optimized to become an economic engine [00:55:11] - Defi Pulse - The Decentralized Finance Leaderboard [00:55:47] - Ethereum’s rigorous decentralization standards and best in class proof of stake [00:58:57] - Overview of Bitcoin Wrapped and ETH as the native currency writ large [01:01:16] - A further in-depth analogy to better understand the Ethereum network [01:05:19] - Potential competitors and new DeFi blockchain innovation [01:08:27] - Key lessons for builders when studying Ethereum and decentralized finance [01:11:03] - Bankless, Epicenter.tv, Zeroknowledge.fm, Into The Ether

Today we will be diving into Visa. Starting in 1958 as a BankAmericard credit card program in Fresno, California, it then became a non-profit consortium of banks that operated the Visa network. Over the first few decades of its existence, Visa became the protocol layer that allowed essentially all the banks in the world to communicate with one another.   In 2007, Visa completed a corporate restructuring that took it public and now boasts a larger market cap than all of the banks that previously owned it as part of the consortium.   In this Breakdown, we set the stage with Visa's role in a card transaction, describe the lifeblood of Visa’s revenue, interchange, and then dive into its unique history as a consortium turned multi-hundred billion-dollar public business. We then explore Visa’s unique moat and network effect, how Visa makes money today, and look at the potential threats from other businesses and macroeconomic forces. Visa is a fascinating business, and I recommend you check out our website at JoinColossus.com, where we provide additional articles, books, and podcasts for those who want to keep unpacking the Visa story.   To help me break down Visa, I'm joined by Alex Rampell, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he focuses on investing in financial services. Prior to joining Andreessen, Alex co-founded multiple companies, including Affirm and TrialPay, which was acquired by Visa in 2015.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:20] - [First question] - Key players and functionality of a credit transaction [00:05:50] - How $3 would be split up amongst the network after a $100 purchase is made [00:10:55] - How Visa came to be a central player and why banks don’t talk to each other [00:16:26] - Other businesses that have dominating protocol effects in fragmented sectors [00:19:47] - What the internals of a business like Visa looks like and  [00:24:48] - Visa’s topline revenue is almost entirely exclusive to transaction fees [00:26:11] - Thinking of Visa as a tax and simultaneous enabler of commerce writ large [00:30:48] - Why concentration poses a risk to their business model [00:34:56] - How international standards may play a role in Visa’s future [00:41:52] - Would it be worth it for merchants to build something competitive  [00:44:33] - Thoughts on new value transfer tech companies and their relevance to Visa [00:48:59] - Plaid’s role in the payment ecosystem and as a potential competitor [00:50:40] - Parallels between the crypto space, their protocols, and open-source payments  [00:52:54] - Business lessons for entrepreneurs when studying Visa’s history [00:54:44] - Lessons learned that can be applied to investing when studying Visa’s history [00:55:37] - Books to learn more; A Piece of the Action, One for Many