Epicenter brings you in-depth conversations about the technical, economic and social implications of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Every week, we interview business leaders, engineers academics and entrepreneurs, and bring you a diverse spectrum of opinions and points of view. Epicenter is hosted by Sebastien Couture, Brian Fabian Crain, Friederike Ernst, Meher Roy and Felix Lutsch. Since 2014, our episodes have been downloaded over 8 million times.
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episode 58: Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum, Proof-of-Stake, The Future of Bitcoin
At just 20-years young, Vitalik Buterin is one of the most brilliant minds in the cryptocurrency space. Previously, a co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine, he has conceptualized Ethereum, the most radical and ambitious cryptocurrency project since Bitcoin. After raising $18m in a crowdsale, a team of over 30 are working on launching the project by March 2015. In his work on designing a system for the future, he has been grappling with many of the hardest problems in the cryptocurrency space over the past year.
Topics covered in this episode:
- How Ethereum has evolved since the white paper
- The problems of Proof-of-Work
- Why Proof-of-Stake is the future of consensus protocols
- Why his main focus has been on consensus issues and scalability
- Why Bitcoin will never be stable enough to price things in
- The flawed ideology of ‘Bitcoin maximalism’ that prevents people from considering Proof-of-Work alternatives
Episode links:
- Ethereum
- How to get started: Your first DApp in under one hour
- Ethereum Proof-of-Concept 7
- Proof of Stake: How I Learned to Love Weak Subjectivity
- Slasher: A Punitive Proof-of-Stake Algorithm
This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/058