Month: April 2024

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Planet Money - Japan’s Lost Decades

Last month, Japan's central bank raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years. That is a really big deal, because it means that one of the spookiest stories in modern economics might finally have an ending.

Back in the 1980s, Japan performed something of an economic miracle. It transformed itself into the number two economy in the world. From Walkmans to Toyotas, the U.S. was awash in Japanese imports. And Japanese companies went on a spending spree. Sony bought up Columbia Pictures. Mitsubishi became the new majority owners of Rockefeller Center.

But in the early 1990s, it all came to a sudden halt. Japan went from being one of the fastest growing countries in the world to one of the slowest. And this economic stagnation went on and on and on. For decades.

On this episode, the unnerving story of Japan's Lost Decades: How did one of the most advanced economies in the world just fall down one day — and not be able to get up? Japan's predicament changed our understanding of what can go wrong in a modern economy. And gave us some new tools to try and deal with it.

This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and engineered by Cena Loffredo. It was edited by Molly Messick. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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CoinDesk Podcast Network - THE PROTOCOL: Polygon | Building a Unified Environment for Value and Liquidity

Brendan Farmer, Co-Founder of Polygon, gives an overview of Polygon's Ecosystem and its adoption and benefits of the Ag Layer.


This episode is sponsored by the Stellar Community Fund

Follow the show here for more.

In this installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk, dive into 

the strategy and vision behind the Ag layer, which aims to solve the problem of L2 fragmentation on Ethereum with Brendan Farmer Co-Founder of Polygon.

Polygon is focused on building a unified environment for value, liquidity, and state in the Ethereum ecosystem. The Ag layer connects different mini-ecosystems within  Polygon and allows chains to plug into the liquidity and value that already exists.

Takeaways

  • Polygon's strategy is to build a unified environment for value, liquidity, and state in the Ethereum ecosystem.
  • The Ag layer connects different mini-ecosystems within Polygon and allows chains to plug into existing liquidity and value.
  • The Ag layer includes a builder marketplace where builders can simultaneously build blocks across multiple chains, providing users with a seamless experience.
  • The goal is to create a positive-sum outcome for all chains involved and avoid fragmentation in the ecosystem.


Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

01:19 Polygon's Strategy and Tech Shift

06:50 Analogies for Understanding the Ag Layer

07:26 Adoption and Benefits of the Ag Layer

09:36 Overview of Polygon's Ecosystem

10:54 Polygon Today: POS Chain and ZKVM Chain

12:28 Polygon's Technological Innovations

14:35 POS Chain and the Future of Polygon

19:42 The Ag Layer as a Connector

22:02 Competition and Collaboration in the Industry

23:36 Avoiding Fragmentation and Rent-Seeking

25:23 The Challenge of Monetizing Users in Crypto

27:44 The Builder Marketplace and Block Building

28:16 MEV and the Ag Layer

32:16 Addressing Outages and Ensuring Stability

34:44 Precautions and Warnings for Users

38:27 The Eigen Layer and L2 Vision

40:17 The Den Koon Upgrade and the Blob Market

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Sign Up for THE PROTOCOL NEWSLETTER 


EPISODE LINKS |  

Polygon Acquires Ethereum Scaling Startup Mir for $400M 

Polygon Plans 'AggLayer,' in Bid to Synthesize Modular, Monolithic Blockchains 

Polygon Releases 'Type 1 Prover,' Claiming Milestone Set by Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin 

Polygon, StarkWare Tout New 'Circle STARKs' as Breakthrough for Zero-Knowledge Proofs  


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From Our Sponsor: 

The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) is an open-application awards program that draws on community input to support developers and startups building on Stellar and Soroban. Accelerate your web3 project today.

Apply for Funding at communityfund.stellar.org

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The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.

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The Gist - Remembering The Repressed Memory Movement

Jena Martin is a pathologist by day who has produced a six-part podcast series looking back at the recovered memory movement of the late 1980s and early 90s. Everyone was having them, were any real? Plus, a partial traipsing down the path of totality in advance of Monday's eclipse.


Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com

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Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack

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CoinDesk Podcast Network - COINDESK DAILY: Australia Moves on a Spot Bitcoin ETF; Franklin Templeton on Bitcoin NFTs

Host Jennifer Sanasie breaks down the latest news in the crypto industry from a potential spot bitcoin ETF in Australia to Franklin Templeton's new report on bitcoin NFTs.

To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.

"CoinDesk Daily" host Jennifer Sanasie breaks down the biggest headlines impacting the crypto industry today, as Australia-based Monochrome Asset Management announced their application for a spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange traded fund. Plus, the state of bitcoin miner Hut 8 (HUT) after its merger with US Bitcoin Corp. (USBTC) And a new report from Franklin Templeton on Bitcoin NFTs.

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Consensus is where experts convene to talk about the ideas shaping our digital future. Join developers, investors, founders, brands, policymakers and more in Austin, Texas from May 29-31. The tenth annual Consensus is curated by CoinDesk to feature the industry’s most sought-after speakers, unparalleled networking opportunities and unforgettable experiences. Register now at consensus.coindesk.com.

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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “First Mover” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and Melissa Montañez and edited by Victor Chen.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Big Technology Podcast - Why Crypto’s Thriving Post-SBF, Sports Betting Crisis Deepens, Jon Stewart vs. AI

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news, with special guest Zeke Faux of Bloomberg News and Number Go Up fame. We cover 1) Why crypto is thriving after poster boy SBF was convicted and sentenced 2) The latest rise of memcoins including dogwifhat and NFTs like CryptoDickbutts 3) Is this evidence of a deeper societal problem or just gambling? 4) The resilience of crypto, including Tether 5) Zeke's reporting on pig butchering scams 6) The rise of Nudes In Bio scams on Twitter 7) Sports betting's deepening crisis 8) Louisiana bans prop bets on college players 9) Jon Stewart's position against AI 10) Is a broader societal backlash against AI coming.

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Lex Fridman Podcast - #424 – Bassem Youssef: Israel-Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, Middle East, Satire & Fame

Bassem Youssef is an Egyptian-American comedian & satirist, referred to as the Jon Stewart of the Arab World. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– AG1: https://drinkag1.com/lex to get 1 month supply of fish oil
– Shopify: https://shopify.com/lex to get $1 per month trial
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Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/bassem-youssef-transcript

EPISODE LINKS:
Bassem’s X: https://x.com/Byoussef
Bassem’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/bassem
Bassem’s Facebook: https://facebook.com/bassemyousseftv
Bassem’s Website: https://bassemyoussef.xyz

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman
YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips

SUPPORT & CONNECT:
– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast
– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(06:30) – Oct 7
(36:59) – Two-state solution
(52:37) – Holocaust
(1:00:24) – 1948
(1:09:17) – Egypt
(1:23:39) – Jon Stewart
(1:25:51) – Going viral during the Arab Spring
(1:49:55) – Arabic vs English
(2:02:18) – Sam Harris and Jihad
(2:07:25) – Religion
(2:26:37) – TikTok
(2:31:10) – Joe Rogan
(2:33:07) – Joe Biden
(2:37:33) – Putin
(2:39:21) – War
(2:44:17) – Hope