How DoubleZero Built a Faster Internet for Crypto and Helped All DePIN - Ep. 914
DoubleZero just launched its mainnet-beta, offering a new type of high-performance fiber network for blockchains, live across 5 continents and already adopted by 20%+ of Solana stake.
Co-founder Austin Federa joins Unchained to walk through:
How DoubleZero creates a dedicated internet for crypto
Who contributes fiber and why they earn the 2Z token
What the SEC’s no-action letter means for crypto and DePIN specifically
And what this could unlock for L2s, onchain trading, and more
Thank you to our sponsors!
Binance
Token2049
Guest:
Austin Federa, Co-founder of DoubleZero
Timestamps:
🎬 0:00 Introduction and ads: Token2049 and Binance
🌐 0:59 What’s wrong with the public internet—and why crypto needs its own
⚡ 5:28 How DoubleZero is building a dedicated network for blockchains
🌍 7:54 How the physical world gets integrated into the blockchain economy
⏱️ 10:49 Why traders demand more determinism in transaction times
🛠️ 13:09 How anyone can become a contributor to the DoubleZero network
🚫 14:32 Why Ethereum might not be the right fit for this product
💰 16:06 What role the 2Z token plays in the ecosystem
🔥 23:12 Why Jump’s token allocation sparked controversy
⚖️ 27:40 What the SEC’s no-action letter really means for DePIN
🏆 32:59 If DoubleZero succeeds, who will come out on top?
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Does High REV Signal a Blockchain's Strength or Its User Exploitation? - Ep. 841
A debate has been heating up on crypto Twitter about Real Economic Value (REV) — a metric meant to measure the value blockchains accrue from user activity. REV includes transaction fees and MEV tips, but excludes issuance — the inflationary rewards paid to validators. Some say it’s the clearest window into genuine usage. Others argue it’s a flawed and misleading proxy.
So we brought the argument to Unchained. Tom Dunleavy, Head of Venture at Varys Capital, says fees are headed to zero, and blockchains shouldn’t be valued like companies. Meanwhile, Austin Federa, Co-founder of DoubleZero, believes REV offers a real lens on activity, maturity, and demand.
The conversation covers:
Whether REV is a meaningful metric (and how to game it)
Whether L2 tokens are fundamentally broken
What happens to security when fees (and MEV) go to zero
If high REV signals product-market fit or just economic noise
How to value blockchains, if not with REV
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
Bitwise
Guests:
Tom Dunleavy, Head of Venture at Varys Capital
Austin Federa, Co-founder of DoubleZero
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Intro
📊 2:50 What REV actually measures and why it’s sparking so much debate
💸 4:33 Why fees that don’t go to the protocol are included in this metric
🪙 14:43 Whether L2 tokens are fundamentally worthless
🧮 15:53 How to factor Ethereum L2s into the REV equation
📉 18:15 Why Tom thinks all fees are going to zero and what that means for value accrual
📈 34:06 Austin defends REV and explains why it reflects real user demand
⚠️ 37:07 MEV debate: is it a feature or a flaw?
🔀 42:59 Why Solana might not follow Ethereum’s REV path
🛡️ 44:18 Who secures the network when MEV goes to zero
🤔 53:46 Whether high REV means success
🚫 59:46 Why Austin calls out Jesse Pollak’s “no sandwiching” claim on Base
🌄 1:02:30 Whether Solana’s Alpenglow proposal could reshape MEV
🔄 1:03:43 How REV might rise even as MEV declines
👑 1:07:11 Why Bitcoin lives in its own reality when it comes to metrics
🎮 1:09:57 How protocols can game the REV metric
📐 1:15:19 What other metrics matter when valuing blockchains
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Austin Federa's DoubleZero is rewiring the internet to supercharge crypto
Austin Federa is a co-founder of DoubleZero.
The Scoop's host, Frank Chaparro, was joined by Federa to discuss how the current public internet infrastructure bottlenecks blockchain performance, and how DoubleZero looks to address this by leveraging underutilized fiber optic cables to create a dedicated global network to support higher performance.
OUTLINE
00:00 - Introduction
01:02 - Sponsor break
02:03 - DoubleZero’s core thesis
05:42 - The problem with the public internet infrastructure
10:13 - Understanding the current infrastructure
16:36 - DoubleZero’s impact
19:59 - Speed is the name of the game
24:18 - Timeframes for rebuilding infrastructure
31:11 - How DoubleZero finds and utilizes infrastructure
35:35 - Tokenization
36:55 - Technical difficulties
37:20 - This isn’t your grandfather’s internet
39:20 - Hiring talent and being a founder
40:21 - Hiring Talent for a New Layer of the Internet
44:37 - Conclusion
GUEST LINKS
Austin Federa on X: https://x.com/Austin_Federa
DoubleZero on X: https://x.com/doublezero
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Inside Baseball of Building a Crypto Brand | Austin Federa & Ekram Ahmed
In today's episode Austin Federa (Head of Strategy at Solana Foundation) and Ekram Ahmed (CMO of Celestia) - break down what actually works in crypto marketing. They discuss why Web2 marketing principles fail in crypto, reveal how Solana and Celestia developed their distinct narrative positions, and explain what most projects get wrong about crisis communications and community building. The conversation covers everything from the "modular vs monolithic" narrative war to why marketing agencies rarely work in crypto. Thanks for listening!
- -
Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis.
Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts
Follow Ekram: https://x.com/ekrahm
Follow Austin: https://x.com/austin_federa
Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod
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Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
04:54 Crypto vs Web2 Marketing
10:29 Creating a Brand in Crypto
36:44 Building Narratives
43:56 Genius of Modular
52:07 When to Pivot?
58:09 Hiring Marketers
01:09:58 Crisis Management
01:19:21 Value of KOLs
- -
Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
Solana strategy exec claims work done during the bear market is paying off
Austin Federa is Head of Strategy at the Solana Foundation.
In this episode of The Scoop recorded live at Solana Breakpoint 2023, Federa unpacks some of Breakpoint's biggest announcements and explains how Solana builders persevered through the depths of the bear market to continue enhancing Solana's tech.
According to Federa, Solana's recent performance enhancements have rectified many of the problems that plagued Solana's performance throughout the 2021 bull run.
"I think you saw a lot of 'thinkfluencers' tweeting 18 months ago that Solana's architecture was somehow fundamentally flawed and they could never get this thing stable because of 'original sins' in the code base — and like most most radical statements on Twitter, it turns out to really not be substantively true."
This episode is brought to you by our sponsors PayPal.
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David @ Solana Breakpoint | Anatoly & Austin
David sits down in person at Solana Breakpoint 2023 with Solana’s Founder, Anatoly Yakovenko, and Austin Federa, Solana Foundation’s Head of Strategy.
The three chat about Breakpoint’s Evolution, Solana vs. Ethereum, and exciting new releases/products coming out of Solana.
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🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE https://bankless.cc/uniswap
🔗 CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON https://bankless.cc/Celo
------ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro 6:00 Breakpoint 2023 6:53 What’s Breakpoint? 7:49 Breakpoint 1 12:20 Breakpoint 2 13:54 Evolution of Breakpoint 16:13 Aesthetic of Breakpoint 17:35 Who Attends Breakpoint 18:30 Solana’s Hardest Year 20:52 Solana Community Excitement 23:50 Consumer Solana Apps 24:48 Up Next For Anatoly 26:00 Anatoly Role Change 26:44 Solana vs. Ethereum Relationship 30:44 Solana Dev Mindset 31:44 Anatoly Cult 35:17 Firedancer 42:33 Solana 2.0 43:11 Runtime v2 44:18 Confidential Transactions 46:00 Up Next For Solana 48:48 Solana L2s & Slow-Lana 52:37 Solana Governance 56:05 Next For Austin 56:45 Breakpoint 2024 59:28 Closing & Disclaimers
----- RESOURCES
Anatoly Yakovenko https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko
Austin Federa https://twitter.com/Austin_Federa
Solana Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@SolanaFndn/videos
----- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Austin Federa: Is SOL Money?
Bankless hasn’t had the most coverage of Solana, the network, and SOL, the asset, but in this episode that changes. Our guest, Austin Federa is Head of Strategy at the Solana Foundation and is the host of the Validated podcast.
David was recently a guest on Austin’s podcast where they went back and forth on some of the cultural and philosophical differences between the Solana and Ethereum projects. Today is a continuation of that episode.
Despite some differences in community perspectives, Austin brings a fresh perspective on the design philosophy that relates Solana the network to SOL the asset and so much more.
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------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:
🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2
🦊METAMASK PORTFOLIO | MANAGE YOUR WEB3 EVERYTHING https://bankless.cc/MetaMask
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle
👾POLYGON | VALUE LAYER OF THE INTERNET https://polygon.technology/roadmap
🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/Toku
----- TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro 6:50 Programmable SOL Values 8:10 SOL’s Story Arc 12:25 SOL’s Architecture & Utility 17:30 SOL’s Economic Sustainability Model 19:20 SOL’s Triple Point Asset Thesis 25:15 Solana’s LSDs 28:48 Solana’s MEV Philosophy 33:56 End Game of Solana MEV 40:00 Ethereum vs. Solana 50:00 Market Cap, Values, & Layers Debate 1:00:15 Closing & Disclaimers
----- RESOURCES
Austin Federa https://twitter.com/Austin_Federa
157 - Will Solana Make It with Anatoly Yakovenko https://youtu.be/zlx64JjXlgQ
Solana is Launching a Phone? | Co-Founders Anatoly & Raj https://youtube.com/live/9wfNeVTtBz0
The Philosophy of Ethereum According to Bankless' David Hoffman https://solana.com/validated/episodes/the-philosophy-of-ethereum-according-to-bankless-david-hoffman
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Crypto Self-Custody 101 (with Austin Federa)
The Acquired community's own Austin Federa joins us for a 101 primer on how to self-custody your crypto assets, and why it’s the only truly safe way to hold them. Given all the current turmoil (and fraud) in crypto-land, we were thinking “how could we do something to help the Acquired community right now”, and Austin gave us the perfect idea. In addition to running the #digital-assets channel on the Acquired Slack, Austin is the head of communications at the Solana Foundation and has plenty of hard-won experience through previous crypto cycles and implosions. This episode covers both the nuts and bolts of a “how-to” guide, as well as a more philosophical discussion of self-custody across asset classes, and the practicalities and convenience tradeoffs involved.
Sponsors:
Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
The 2022 State of Crypto + Web3 with Solana's Austin Federa
We sit down with long (long!) time-acquired community member Austin Federa to discuss the current state of crypto and Web3. By day Austin is the head of marketing & communications at the Solana Foundation, where he was one of the earliest employees. But many of you also know Austin from his "night job" as the founder and lead of the #digital-assets channel in the Acquired Slack, where he does an incredible job curating some of the best and most accessible digital asset discussion on the internet. No matter whether you're already deep in Web3, curious but sitting on the sidelines, or a diehard crypto skeptic, this episode is well worth listening to and learning from.
Sponsors:
Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
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