In the latest episode of The Blockchain Experience, I sit down with Ben Naderewski, founder of Solstice Labs, to talk Solana, stablecoins, and the future of capital markets. If you care about where DeFi is headed, you need this episode in your ears.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• USX Stablecoin, Explained: Learn how Solstice’s fully collateralized stablecoin powers fast, low-cost transactions on Solana—no yield drag, no fluff.

• Up to 19% Yield? Ben breaks down their delta-neutral strategy inside the Yield Vault—and how you might benefit.

• "Buy Now, Pay Never": Yes, really. Explore how yield-generated spending could flip finance on its head.

Plus, we dive into the Genius Act, the future of stablecoin regulation, and why Solana might be the secret weapon for capital market disruption.

Listen now: The Blockchain Experience Podcast

Best,
meta-david
The Blockchain Experience

In the latest episode of The Blockchain Experience, I sit down with Charles Wayn, co-founder of Galxe, to explore how they’re bridging blockchain technology and community engagement like never before.

Why you should listen:

• Beyond NFTs: Learn how Galaxy evolved from a simple NFT minting tool to a powerful platform for building interactive, credential-based communities.

• Innovate Engagement: Discover tools like Quests, rewards, and Smart Savings that eliminate gas fees and make participation frictionless across 69 blockchains.

• Shape the Future: Hear how Galxe is creating an omnichain ecosystem, driving millions of transactions daily, and paving the way for the next billion web3 users.

If you’re a community builder, developer, or curious about the future of blockchain-powered engagement, this episode is packed with practical insights you can’t miss.

Listen now: The Blockchain Experience Podcast

Let’s build thriving communities!

Best,
meta-david
The Blockchain Experience

PS -- Don't forget to check out The Blockchain Experience Premium for the very best in experiencing the blockchain!

In this episode of The Blockchain Experience, I chat with Matt Katz, co-founder of Caldera. If you're curious about one-click deployable Layer 2 and Layer 3 chains, this episode's for you!

Why you’ll want to listen:

• Build Your Own Chain: Learn how Caldera helps communities like ApeChain launch dedicated chains tailored for specific needs—game-changing for mass-market apps.

• Scaling Masterclass: Discover why Layer 3 chains could make nearly fee-free transactions a reality and how they’re poised to revolutionize user experience.

• Real Talk on Blockchains: Dive deep into asset bridging challenges, the impact of zero-knowledge rollups, and the role of community in building successful chains.

Whether you're a developer, blockchain enthusiast, or just intrigued by what’s next, this conversation is packed with insights you can’t miss.

Listen now: The Blockchain Experience Podcast

Here’s to a new era of communication!

Best,
meta-david
The Blockchain Experience

PS -- Don't forget to check out The Blockchain Experience Premium for the very best in experiencing the blockchain!

In this episode of The Blockchain Experience, I chat with Ayush Ranjan, co-founder of Huddle01, about how they're revolutionizing real-time communication using blockchain technology. Get ready to explore the future of decentralized communication!

Why you’ll want to listen:

• Zoom Who? Discover how Huddle01 is eliminating the high costs and latency of platforms like Zoom with privacy-first, peer-to-peer communication.

• Exclusive Sneak Peek: Get the inside scoop on Huddle01’s groundbreaking node sales coming soon and how you can be part of their decentralized network.

• Build the Future: Learn how developers can easily integrate Huddle01’s API for video and audio calls, with all the privacy perks—perfect for gaming, AI, and beyond.

If you're into blockchain, decentralized tech, or just sick of poor video calls, this episode is a must!

Listen now: The Blockchain Experience Podcast

Here’s to a new era of communication!

Best,
meta-david
The Blockchain Experience

PS -- Don't forget to check out The Blockchain Experience Premium for the very best in experiencing the blockchain!

Here's what you might have missed last week in the land of crypto. Too busy to read? Subscribe to the podcast to get your recap and commentary in under 15 minutes!

• Solana’s second phone, the Seeker, is slated for a 2025 release. The phone will come with a Genesis Token NFT. The phone is also integrated with a native wallet that works with Solana Mobile’s secure seed vault.

• Mark Cuban wants to replace Gary Gensler at the SEC. Cuban stated that he would be interested in leading the agency should Vice President Kamala Harris win the 2024 presidential election. Cuban has long been critical of Gensler’s oversight of the blockchain industry.

• BNY Mellon receives SEC approval to custody crypto assets. BNY Mellon will be the first bank to offer cryptocurrency custody services for its bitcoin and ether ETP clients. The SEC approval is specific to this particular use case for ETPs, and it remains unclear if other asset managers will apply for or receive similar exemptions.

• Coinbase launches cbBTC wrapped Bitcoin on Solana. Coinbase’s wrapped Bitcoin product, cbBTC, will soon be available on the Solana network. This will allow users to retain control of their Bitcoin while leveraging it as collateral in DeFi applications on the Solana network.

• Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the FTX collapse. Ellison, former co-CEO of Alameda Research, pled guilty in December 2022 to charges of wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. Her cooperation with authorities earned her a reduced sentence.

• Kamala Harris highlighted blockchain, AI, and tech leadership amid growing crypto focus. It is unclear from the source what Harris's specific comments on these subjects were.

• Visa is launching a new tokenized asset platform for banks called VTAP. The platform will allow banks to create tokens that represent real-world assets like bonds and commodities, all backed by fiat currency. The Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) is already on board to try it out.

• The FBI seizes $6 million from crypto scammers targeting US citizens. The scammers targeted US citizens with confidence investment schemes. Tether aided in recovering the stolen crypto by freezing the scammers’ wallets, which the FBI then seized.

Best,
meta-david
The Blockchain Experience

PS -- Don't forget to check out The Blockchain Experience Premium for the very best in experiencing the blockchain!

In this can't-miss episode of The Blockchain Experience, I chat with Robin O'Connell, CEO of Uphold's Enterprise division, about how they're transforming how we trade and manage assets across crypto, fiat, and even precious metals like gold!

Why tune in:

• "Anything to Anything" Trading: Learn how Uphold enables seamless trading between assets in seconds, no intermediaries needed!

• Business & Enterprise Insights: Discover how Uphold is helping companies make cross-border payments easier and cheaper, especially in regions like Latin America.

• Topper by Uphold: Add crypto to your wallet in a minute or less! There are over 200 cryptocurrencies: provide your purchase amount, enter your wallet address, and submit your order. It's that easy!

Whether you're a trader, business owner, or blockchain enthusiast, this episode offers powerful insights on navigating the future of digital finance.

Listen now: The Blockchain Experience Podcast

To seamless transactions!

Best,
meta-david
The Blockchain Experience

PS -- Don't forget to check out The Blockchain Experience Premium for the very best in experiencing the blockchain!

This episode of The Blockchain Experience is a game-changer! I sit down with Andrew Saunders, Chief Marketing Officer of SKALE, to reveal how SKALE's blockchain is redefining scalability, user experience, and gaming.

Here’s why you don’t want to miss this episode:

• Gas-Free Gaming: Discover how SKALE's "invisible" blockchain eliminates gas fees, letting players jump into their favorite games—no interruptions, just fun.

• Mind-Blowing Stats: With over 44 million unique wallets, SKALE is dominating GameFi. Learn how it consistently outperforms competitors in speed and performance.

• Build Without Limits: If you're a developer, Andrew shares how SKALE’s grant programs and 200+ partners help you bring your vision to life.

• SKALE SWELL: Ongoing opportunities, winners, and achievements will be announced across social media for a wholly interactive community experience.

Whether you're into gaming, blockchain, or just curious about what the future holds, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

Listen now: The Blockchain Experience Podcast

Catch you on the other side of innovation!

Best,
meta-david
The Blockchain Experience

PS -- Don't forget to check out The Blockchain Experience Premium for the very best in experiencing the blockchain!

We're so early.
You're so early.
You're not bullish enough.
Don't rush it. It takes time.

There's a growing segment of the onchain population that is increasingly weary of these statements. The truth is, Bitcoin has been around since 2009, Ethereum smart contracts since 2015, and NFTs since 2017 (plus or minus). We're talking 15 years, 9 years, and 7 years respectively. Factor in tech, especially blockchain, operates in dog years, one can figure we are not early anymore. We're lagging, if anything.

The analogy often given is the advent and adoption of the Internet. It is one I like to give too, because I'm old enough to have lived through it. But as I think about it, I am not sure if this is the best analogy. Connecting one computer to another is not something new, in fact, I remember my father routinely doing this in the early 1980s (BBS), and I myself was using services such as Prodigy and CompuServe a few years later. The Internet was more of an iteration, but the underlying technology and paradigm was not new.

Blockchain technology is not an iteration. It's radically different which is why many are steering away from calling it web3 because it isn't another iteration of the web. It's decentralization and ownership of your digital data, regardless of how it is accessed.

Given this, I am starting to lean more towards using personal computing as a better analogy. Granted, this is one is a much harder one to relate to because it predates most millennials and even some Gen Xers, but it certainly is more applicable.

It is unclear exactly when the first computer was invented (research this and you'll see 200 BC, 1812, 1842, 1951, and more). We'll limit the scope of the conversation to the first modern personal computer, and many would agree it was the Apple I released in 1976. As you can see, the design looks quite...different than anything Apple has released recently.

Here are some other milestones you should be aware of:

1981: MS-DOS operating -- your PC-based system was almost useless without it
1986: Intel i386 processor to handle multi-tasking
1993: Intel Pentium processor: first superscalar processor (can handle two instructions at the same time)
1995: WIndows 95, the first mainstream graphical user interface for an x86 system

Mind you, a system running Windows 95 today is by no means a modern miracle (this was almost 30 years ago!), but it can be argued since then, the UI has been mostly the same and hardware innovations have been iterative (faster processors, more RAM, more storage, etc.)

1) Are we really that early? Yes.
2) Is it really going to take nearly 48 years to get widespread adoption?! No.
3) Then how long will it take? I don't know.
4) Why don't you know? Here's why:

Personal computing was facing one major headwind which was the convergence of easy-to-use UI to consumer behavior. Onchain technology is facing two: the former and regulatory challenges on major fronts. Some regulatory concerns are reasonable yet solvable, but many others are rooted in special interests because blockchain technology threatens to eliminate entire industries. For example, in the US, if you buy a house with a loan, you typically are required to also have title insurance (which costs thousands of dollars) which protects both the buyer and seller if there is an issue with the home's title. With onchain technology, there cannot be any title issues since it resides on a decentralized ledger which serves as the single source of truth. Title insurance industry? Gone. Credit card companies skimming 2-3% as transaction fees? Won't happen.

In the US, we'll need other countries to continue to be warm to blockchain technology and unfortunately probably have a major breakthrough for the US government to wake up, ease the regulatory concerns and help steward innovation. It may sound dire, but if you look at the course of US history, we often were not the first to do it, but once we did it, we did it well, and virtually every other country followed suit.

I expect this to be no different. It'll still be a bumpy few years (certainly more than 1-2 years), and you'll continue to be called crazy, but remember -- the underlying technology is not only sound but also required when artificial technology becomes ubiquitous in the future.

Build. YOU are a builder. You do not need to be technical to build. You do not need to have a background in product, marketing, or sales. Anyone and everyone can build. It can be as simple as posting photographs you took on Zora (which is as easy as posting as on Instagram, if you use the Zora app).

You have two options. In a few years from now, you can watch documentaries about the people who helped build the onchain universe. Or you can be one of the people interviewed for the documentary because you helped build the onchain universe! Where are you going to sit?

The Blockchain Experience is not only a podcast, but we also have a collective of other builders and consumer crypto maxis. We're eager to help you, as a public good (no expectations of anything in return). Join our channel on Warpcast, and ask away. And if you need more motivation, check out this video from the Head of Base, Jesse Pollack.

Happy building!

Ready to dive into the cutting edge of blockchain tech? In the latest episode of The Blockchain Experience, I sit down with Ken Timsit, the powerhouse Chief Revenue Officer behind Cronos Labs, to reveal what’s next for the crypto world.

Here’s why you don’t want to miss this episode:

• Get Ahead of the Curve: Discover how Cronos is revolutionizing the shift from custodial to self-custody crypto, setting the stage for the next wave of DeFi and GameFi innovation.

• Exclusive Insights: Learn about the soon-to-launch Cronos ZK EVM and why zero-knowledge proofs are a game-changer for blockchain scalability and security.

• Empower Your Vision: Whether you're a developer, founder, or crypto enthusiast, Ken shares actionable advice on leveraging Cronos’s open-source ecosystem to build the next big thing.

This episode is packed with the strategies and insights you need to stay ahead in the ever-evolving blockchain space. Don’t just stay informed—get involved!

🎧 Listen now: The Blockchain Experience Podcast

Catch you on the other side of innovation!

Best,
meta-david
The Blockchain Experience

PS -- Don't forget to check out The Blockchain Experience Premium for the very best in experiencing the blockchain!

What kinds of things excite me?

At the core, to recap I'm an onchain maxi and tech enthusiast, so they're generally within the confines of culture or consumer crypto. This is not intended to be "alpha" on what or where the next big token pump will be, but rather, things I find interesting and should spawn something new.

As you read through the below, you may question some omissions. It's normally because a) I feel like it's already gotten enough attention or b) I do not think it's worthy of highlighting (yet).

Without further ado, here we go...

Moshicam
Moshicam puts your memories onchain by allowing you to wrap a Polaroid-style border around your uploaded images. These images are called "moshis." Once they have the border, you can put them onchain (which costs less than ~30 cents), and they can be collected by others for less than ~30 cents (at the time of this writing). The moshi creator gets about ~16 cents, the border creator creates about ~2 cents, and Moshicam gets the remainder.

Why would you want to do this? This empowers creators (photographers) to monetize (and get visibility/distribution of) their work and another set of creators (border artists) monetize usage of their borders. Since the moshis live onchain, it also adds a level of posterity, so these snapshots can be passed down and enjoyed by generations to come.

Receipts.xyz
This is Receipt's second appearance on this list. Why? Because they've shipped a major update. They are now Apple's App Store and support a handful of wearables while looking to add more. They have leaderboards and frequent group challenges.

One change they made is individual workouts no longer live on the blockchain, but rather, the data is now aggregated to add a layer of anonymity. However, you can still download an image of the receipt, but it isn't the version that lives on the blockchain.

Why download and use this app? I find it has sufficiently gamified the workout experience, and it helps keep me accountable. Since using the app, I've gone on a 15 day Peloton Power Zone challenge and have kept the streak alive!

Zora
OK, yes, most of these projects are emerging ones, so why put an established player like Zora on the list?

They've made a LOT of changes. They have an app now that makes it super easy to upload and mint art. Mints, by default, only cost around ~$0.30 cents now. And get this: when the mint ends, the art pieces can be traded like ERC20s (in fact, they get wrapped in them) and get instant liquidity on Uniswap. This is a great feature because it allows one to mint more liberally and not be worried about their "bags being down," knowing they can always sell their tokens to move on to something else (not to mention the 10x reduction in mint price).

It also unlocks some other cool possibilities where you'd need to deploy an ERC20 instead of an ERC1155 -- let's see how creative people get!

Check-In Caster
Although I featured this app in the last publication, I was also skeptical. My biggest concern was where the external value flow would come from to make this project sustainable.

The good news is, that the team has released a whitepaper which speaks to some of those value flows as well as their past experiences with partnerships. I find the app fun and engaging, but I am unsure if most crypto-natives are comfortable sharing their location Foursquare style. The app is certainly interesting, and one of the few that adds back to the Warpcast social graph, so I would continue to keep tabs on it.

Hopefully, I hit the mark by giving you a few quick hits in under 3 minutes.

Let me know what you think! Suggestions for the next publication are welcome!

As most of you are aware, there is a new Degen allowance allocation system for season 6. This article is not intended to be an op-ed on that system. This article is meant to serve those who would like some guidance on how to continue tipping on Farcaster without having to lock up a significant amount of their tokens.

In lieu of tipping exclusively on $Degen, you can create what I will call a "tipping stack," where you can aggregate multiple tokens in one reply. I am certainly not the first one to do this, but I thought it would be helpful to spotlight it and give some additional exposure to other methods of tipping.

Here is a sample of what my current tipping stack looks like, and below is a breakdown of each token. I will acknowledge the coins are only worth what the recipient believes them to be worth, and some might not bother to claim. On the other hand, by using these tokens to tip, you're helping increase their value by supporting their discovery and adoption in your replies.

50 $DEGEN

x100

150 $FARTHER

This is the original tipping system and the one with the highest adoption & market cap. Everyone should participate to the degree they feel comfortable (more on what that means below). Their description reads Degen, an ERC-20 token launched in January 2024, has reshaped the Farcaster ecosystem by enabling Casters to reward others with DEGEN for posting quality content. They do have their own L3 network, but their tipping processes, for now, operates on Base.

Website: https://www.degen.tips/

To get an allowance: You must vault a minimum of 10K $Degen (Base network) for at least 3 months in a Farcaster-connected wallet, and your daily allowance will be your proportion of the vaulted pool, not to exceed 10,000 $Degen.

To tip (see first line reference above): Put the amount you want to tip followed by $Degen.

To claim: You go to the website to claim your points every ~month.

This is the second most adopted tipping system and is the only one (to my knowledge) where you receive your tips immediately (no claims required, other than going back and converting your previous Ham tips to $TN100x). Their description reads Join the shift to social tipping with Ham. Reward quality content on Warpcast, the decentralized social media app, by dropping the Ham emoji as a comment on posts that you like. This costs nothing to you, but rewards the receiver in a big way! Ham tips are backed by the social token $TN100x and have real value for those that receive them.

Website: https://ham.fun/

To get an allowance: You need to meet one of these requirements in your Farcaster-connected wallet: 1) Hold 100,000 $TN100x (Base), 2) 1 Based LP NFT (Base), 3) 1 Ham LP NFT (Ham). To increase your allowance, cast engaging content on the /lp channel.

To tip (see second line reference): The most common way is to denote the amount you'd like to tip followed by the emoji, " x100." You can also head to their website and configure your Warpcast likes to count for an amount of $TN100x of your choosing. Be mindful of your likes, as each one will be deducted from your allowance.

To claim: When you get tipped, the tipped amount goes immediately into your wallet as $TN100x on the Ham network.

Website: https://farther.social/

This is the Farcaster evangelical token. You get rewarded for socializing the Farcaster protocol. Their mission statement reads Farther is a tokenized community accelerating the global adoption of Farcaster.

To get an allowance: You need to hold 100,000 $Farther (Base network) in your Farcaster-connected wallet. Your allowance is determined by a combination of how much $Farther token you hold as well as how wide your distribution is (number of accounts you are giving tips to without receiving). There are some important nuances to read about here: https://farther.social/tips

To tip (see third line reference): Put the amount you want to tip followed by $Farther or Farther

To claim: You go to the website to claim your points every ~month.

All the tokens we have discussed so far have an origin story in Base. This one has its story on Optimism, the L2 Superchain. The intent is the same, to incentivize user engagement. Their description reads On social media, user engagement is valuable but rarely paid. With the emergence of tokens like $DEGEN on Base and $ENJOY on Zora, this dynamic is starting to change.

Website: https://www.masks.wtf/

To get an allowance: Follow the /masks channel. You are given an allowance every Monday for distribution that week.

To tip: It's a 2-step process. You must reply to the cast with the emoji. Then to validate the tip, use the "Tip $Masks" cast action.

To claim: You go to this website at the conclusion of the season: https://app.masks.wtf/airdrop

• Can I be a guest on your podcast?

• Can you get me on the allow list for the project you just had on the pod?

• Can you make me a short-form video for my TikTok/Instagram Reel/Drakula?

• I'm working on XYZ, can you give me your feedback?

Effective today, I will be able to say yes to all of the above!

I am inviting you to join an exclusive collective of onchain thought leaders, enthusiasts, artists, founders, and memeologists with the following available benefits:

• Art & music airdrops

• Allow lists for various projects as the opportunity arises

• 30-minute consulting session ($125 value)

• First-in-line Degen tipping & replies on Warpcast

• Short form videos

• Being a guest on the podcast

• "Special Thanks" credit on IMDB

• ...and more!

Join before June 1 to ensure you get the first series of airdrops. Because of the richness of the benefits and to ensure the highest level of satisfaction for our collective, membership will be capped at 110 members.

This is not an official guide from the Sonata team and is entirely composed by a community member.

Sonata is a platform where you can earn NOTES (lives on an L3 by Stack) by simply sharing your favorite songs. By casting your favorite songs on Warpcast or posting them on Sonata, it allows others to discover new music, and for you to earn NOTES in the process!

Be sure to follow the Sonata account and join the /sonata channel on Warpcast to stay updated on all things Sonata!

1) Sign in with Farcaster on sonata.tips.
2) Follow Sonata Bot on Warpcast.
3) Share links of your favorite songs on either Warpcast OR sonata.tips.
4) Earn NOTES (tips) from others on the platform who appreciate what you have shared.

To earn NOTES for the song you casted/posted, it must be a link from Spotify, SoundCloud, or sound.xyz. Sonata will support more music platforms in the future.

1) Go to sonata.tips.
2) Ensure you signed in with your Farcaster account.

3) On the top left, you will see your "Daily Allowance" of NOTES. That is your daily allowance of NOTES you can tip each day (resets at 10AM PST).
4) On the lower left-hand side, underneath each posted song, you will see a music symbol that you can click to leave a tip in NOTES.
5) You can toggle between, "Trending," "Recent," and "Following," to filter your feed.

NOTE: You must be a Power User on Warpcast to have an allowance, but stay tuned for an update there. Currently tipping in NOTES has to be done on sonata.tips, however, you can share songs on either Warpcast or sonata.tips for it to be eligible to receive NOTES tips. sonata.tips is able to extract casts from Warpcast and post them on sonata.tips to make them available for NOTES tipping.

To quote Sonata, "Tipping good music is the core focus of Sonata." Their novel mechanics in the music space incentivizes and rewards people to share good music, especially songs from emerging artists who have not been shared on the platform before.

The Sonata team is heavily inspired by DEGEN, and NOTES works very similarly, so you may be able to benefit from being early!

I would argue Bitcoin is a meme coin with characteristics not too different from any other meme coin in the market. It's just been more successful. Sure, we can look under the hood and observe it's more decentralized and reliable than most other cryptocurrencies, but if we're candid, is that really where Bitcoin derives its value from? No, its value comes from the meme. What do I mean?

When we think of memes, we think of images of cats with captions. But obviously, that's not what I'm referring to. Here's the Oxford definition:

A meme is an element of a culture or system of behavior passed from one individual to another by imitation or other nongenetic means.

Now that we have defined what a meme is, let's look at where Bitcoin gets its value from. It's not from a currency exchange, but rather, the fact that you value it at a certain price and you feel confident the next party you will transact with will also value it at the same price. When it first launched, that valuation was around $0.0008 US. Essentially, most people thought it was worthless, but there was a non-zero chance it could be worth something someday.

And that was further validated when a Florida man was able to pay for 2 pizzas (valued at ~$41 at the time) with 10,000 Bitcoin. This is an element of culture being passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means (and some imitation). As the Bitcoin meme continued to proliferate culture and enter the mainstream, its value continued to increase.

With a finite supply, increasing demand, and pretty damn cool and reliable technology, scarcity kicked in, and fast forward to 2024 where the price hovers above $60,000. Zoom out for a moment: it took 14 years, but a currency went from almost one-thousandth of a penny to $60,000.

So what does that mean for emerging coins on Farcaster, such as $DEGEN and Ham?

A lot.

Amount of time it took Bitcoin to reach $1: 2 years
Amount of time it took Bitcoin to reach $13: 4 years

You can see where I'm going with this: outsized gains are fun to fantasize about, but even for the most mature and widely accepted cryptocurrency, it was a long and volatile road.

As early adopters and the maiden patrons of the currency meme, we're too quick to lose our attention and move on to the next thing that saw a slight pump in price, go all in, find our tribe, do a dance, get discouraged by a dip, and then move on to the next currency. This type of lily padding makes it virtually impossible for any other cryptocurrency to gain traction. Granted, one can argue the issuer should be the torchbearer for driving the meme, but given the decentralized nature of the space, I am not so sure about that.

What it does require is a tight-knit, ironclad community with not only conviction but also amazing meme skills. Part of that is, yes, cat pictures with captions. It's not enough to be "diamond-handed" and refuse to sell. You have to be a brand ambassador and evangelizer. Be opportunistic and find ways to fit the currency into things that are witty, relatable, and ubiquitous, all at the same time.

Take the currency (whatever it is you choose, and perhaps you want to pick multiple), embrace it, run with it, and above all, have fun with it!

As you'll see, most of our collecting is art that is memeish in nature and a commentary on what's current in the crypto landscape. At the time of most of our collecting, it was the $Degen token, but we suspect we will see more pieces including Ham token and narratives about Power Badge soon.

Don't hesitate to share your feedback, and we're always open to suggestions from the community, so if you have anything you'd like to share for our consideration, you can reply to this newsletter, or send me a direct cast on Warpcast.

And if you do mint any of these, join /theblockexp channel on Warpcast and cast about it. We'll have a surprise for you.

Sponsorship: Did you know we dropped a free mint on sound.xyz this week? This is a tongue-in-cheek house song with a soul vibe to it paying tribute to both the Base network and Farcaster protocol. The lyrics start around the 30-second mark. Hopefully, it has your head bobbing and smiling.

Give it a listen, and hopefully you'll consider minting it. 100% of the earnings will be rolled back into the platform to support emerging artists by collecting them and make short-form videos/articles highlighting them.

Farcaster Base Groove

meta-david

Collect

Collect NFT

This piece was created by a notable creator in this space, ccarrela.eth. It looks like it takes place sometime in the 1950s, and what you have is a couple kissing and cars that almost seem to be driving into the building. It has a surreal vibe, where you feel like the kissing couple are in a trance themselves. The clever use of AI and figurative imagery makes it a great mint.

Collect NFT

This piece is a commentary synergizing excess, consumerism, and probably above all else American culture as it's perceived. For the record, I am a very proud American myself, but I think this is a witty take on how we Americans are stereotyped from the outside: standing on top of the world, arrogantly speaking on the phone (or is that a Nintendo Switch?), wearing Nikes, and firing an automatic weapon into the sky that "mints" while wearing a Degen hat. I certainly hope this is not how we are perceived, but I think it's a piece that merits discussion!

Collect NFT

A simple yet fun animation based on Reggae culture by TAKASHOSHI with the color theme, references to marijuana/420, the car driving off the cliff (and not carrying), and a Jamaican flag flashing. Its pixelated simplicity and themes are what make this is a fun piece to add to your collection.

Collect NFT

I found this piece by Artbella while doom-scrolling on Zora. It appears to be set in the 90s with pixelation, a vintage desktop (the flatscreen borders are thicker than they need to be), the girl also seems to be styled from the 90s, and she's pointing at her computer saying "Degen to $1" and the monitor depicts a $1 bill, but instead of George Washington it has a Degen hat. I like how it's set in the 90s because it gives a sense of time and expressing patience is a virtue. Overall, an aesthetically well-done piece and fun messaging. After I highlighted this on Warpcast, a few people minted it too, so clearly I am not the only one!

Collect NFT

Playing to the same theme as the previous piece, this one by Bunyamin Bulak shows a character posing victoriously, wearing a "Degen to $1" hat and an animation of a price chart. Clearly, I have a bias towards work containing Degen, and it going to $1. A good amount of work went into this piece (especially interesting is the illumination animation), but the message and call to action are clear: Degen to $1!

Collect NFT

OK, OK, yes, another Degen piece! Although this piece is not saying Degen to $1, it is a humorous satire of Leonardo DiCaprio playing Calvin Candle on Django Unchained, but instead of the attire from the commonly distributed meme, he is wearing purple, a Degen hat, and has an Ethereum lapel. This piece was originally done by t0ma, and the animation was added by V5MT as part of a collaboration. Both works are excellent, the original piece by t0ma and the addition by V5MT make it dazzle!

Collect NFT

Last, but not least, is one of my favorite all-time pieces on Zora, and it is by t0ma (who was mentioned previously). There's a lot to unpack here. This is a parody of the classic piece by John Lewis Krimmel called The Village Politician. There's a Degen who is apparently making the case on why he should be receiving the much-coveted Power Badge. The man in gold/light brown, seems to be half-intently listening (as evidenced by his hand on his chin and there might be something to be said about the covering over his eye and the color of his clothes), while a couple of other Power Badge holders seem to be finding the situation humorous. As you can see, there is no shortage of Power Badges to give around. They're all in plain sight. An extremely witty commentary about Power Badges. I was very impressed with the artist's use of symbolism.

And that's what we collected the past couple weeks on Zora! We hope you enjoy them as much as we did, and we encourage you to mint (it's almost free) and support these artists to continue their craft!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a controversial article about why I was leaving Twitter/X for Warpcast. It was the most-read article in the history of the newsletter (in all its incarnations). I received a wide range of responses from, "Why would you do that?" to "Me too!" All said, it did do one thing across the aisle: spark curiosity.

Some of you are now on the Farcaster side, so the question is, "What are the apps I can use on Farcaster?" But before we go there, just a quick primer on Farcaster, and if you're already familiar, you can skip ahead.

Most of you reading this article have an X account, a TikTok account, an Instagram account, and/or all of the above. Each of them operates completely independently, meaning your X followers are different than your TikTok followers than your Instagram followers. If you intended to build an audience for any of them, you had to put a lot of effort into each platform.

Suppose I told you that you could build your following, and that following would always be yours, and carryover on any app you use? That is what the Farcaster social media protocol is. I'll show you how that plays out. One of the apps running on it is called Warpcast which is functionally very similar to X. Personally, I have built a follower list of about 1,300 at the time of this writing and follow 200 over the past couple of months. Yesterday, I installed an app called "Jam" which is functionally very similar to Instagram and also runs on the Farcaster protocol.

You want to know what was cool? As soon as I logged in with my Farcaster login credentials to Jam, all my followers I built up on Warpcast carried over, all my casts, all my posts (presented in an IG-type manner), as did the comments to said casts. Build once and lasts forever.

The underlying technology is built on the Optimism blockchain technology stack. Your followers, your follows, your messages, are all stored on a peer-to-peer network of nodes. We don't need to get into the technicalities; the key takeaway, again, is that you own your data, and you can take it wherever you want.

Without further ado, let's get into the best apps sitting on the Farcaster protocol!

Warpcast

Warpcast is built by the Farcaster team and serves as their flagship app. It closely resembles X -- as you can cast (post), re-cast, quote cast, and like casts you come across. There are a couple of significant draws, one is they have "channels" which essentially are groups you can join tied to a specific subject. I am a fan of the show "Curb Your Enthusiasm," so I'm a member of the /curb channel. This helps with feed curation. Additionally, while not a construct of the core Farcaster team, there is this concept of tipping with the $DEGEN token. For the sake of brevity, I will not go too deep into it, but essentially it allows Warpcast users to tip in $DEGEN (currently denominated at $0.02) to other users for content they like. It's an interesting mechanic incentivizing good content on a decentralized platform.

Drakula

Drakula is functionally very similar to TikTok, but it does not contain the breath of in-app production tools. Additionally, insofar as I can tell, there is not too much in the way of an algorithm capturing your habits and using it to curate content you would become addicted to. All major advantages! Perhaps the biggest advantage is unlike TikTok, you can get paid for your content. This can help in one of two ways. One is through the Drip system which is an in-house point system where you can earn for posting & sharing content, and from other users who like your content. There's some speculation about whether this will turn into a currency, akin to $DEGEN. Another method is people can trade you as a content creator, and as a creator, you get a cut of the trading fees based on a bonding curve. There have been some surprises with a $GOAT token claim, and it likely won't be the last surprise. We'll see how these creator incentives combined with impending legislation in the US regarding TikTok will help usher in wider Drakula adoption.

Paragraph

Paragraph has been around for 2 years, and is a platform where you can start and host your newsletter. We use Paragraph ourselves. It's easy to use and built onchain -- the articles published are stored on a decentralized storage service (Arweave), and they're collectible by the readers as well. This adds an additional revenue funnel for the creator. They have a bot that announces on Farcaster when you have published an article which helps with reach. Token-gating, communities, and subdomains are all also supported. Paragraph is a must-have for any creator who wants to write onchain.

Jam

One of the newcomers in this article is Jam. Their messaging suggests they're styled after Instagram. Something that stands out about Jam is the ability to buy and speculate on specific casts. Typically the ones being purchased are from notable people on the Farcaster protocol and/or ones announcing milestones, which makes sense, since presumably, these can be historical collectibles. Jam is certainly on to something with regard to collecting casts. At the time of this writing, it's a newer app, so they're working on ironing out small bugs, but it's certainly an app to keep an eye on.

Unlonely

Similar to Paragraph, you don't need a Farcaster account to use Unlonely, but the app still sits adjacent to it, and you can use your Farcaster socials. It is the streaming server of choice for many Farcasters, including myself. Built on Base, actions you can take are buying/selling $VIBE token (which is similar to what it sounds; it fluctuates in price based on buys/sells so it captures the vibe of the moment), launching your own token during a stream, and NFCs which are 30-second non-fungible clips. Although not specifically geared toward gaming, it does have a Twitch-like feel to it.

AlfaFrens

AlfaFrens is the newest player in town. It's not open to the public, and you'll need a referral code to access it. Admittedly, I have not used it myself, so most of what I will share is extracted directly from their website. They're a SocialFi app built on Farcaster for gated alpha chat subscriptions powered by Superfluid and $DEGEN on Base. As you spend more $DEGEN, you earn $ALFA, and you can stake $ALFA on creators. The more $ALFA staked on a creator, the more $ALFA is issued to subscribers. The name of the game is to stake $ALFA on the right creators so you can earn more than you've spent. It currently has a lot of attention, so we will see how well it can stand the test of time.

This list is not exhaustive; there will be more apps added and some may become less relevant. Based on my observations so far, app adoption at this stage is primarily driven by opportunities for the end-users to make money. A lot of this has been back-stopped by grants or other sources of funding. Clearly, this is not sustainable in the long-term, and what remains to be seen is which of these apps can maintain their daily average users once the well runs dry. Ultimately the app will need to do one of two things: a) continue to organically attract revenue so it can self-sustain or b) it has usage/applicability extending monetization so it will remain sticky, even once users are not incentivized financially.

We will see how it all pans out!

Hello, gm, gm!

Last week, I announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that I would be canceling my premium subscription, and eventually sunsetting the account in favor of Warpcast. This likely raised some eyebrows from my acquaintances but was expected by those close to me.

Before we go further, did you know we're on Farcaster now? Join our channel! Perks & benefits coming soon!

Farcaster

The Blockchain Experience

This is the Farcaster home for The Blockchain Experience podcast community.⚡️ Despite the name, most anything goes in our community channel including culture, food, travel, business, and general technology. https://theblockexp.com/

Warpcast is an app running on a decentralized social media protocol called Farcaster. I probably made things even more confusing, so let me break it down. Most of you reading this article have an X account, a TikTok account, an Instagram account, and/or all of the above. Each one of them operates completely independently, meaning your X followers are different than your TikTok followers than your Instagram followers. If you intended to build an audience for any of them, you had to put a lot of effort into each platform.

Suppose I told you that you could build your following, and that following would always be yours, and carryover on any app you use? That is what the Farcaster social media protocol is. One of the apps running on it is called Warpcast which is functionally very similar to X. Personally, I have built a follower list of about 800 at the time of this writing and follow 200 over the past couple of months. Yesterday, I installed an app called "Jam" which is functionally very similar to Instagram and also runs on the Farcaster protocol.

You want to know what was cool? As soon as I logged in with my Farcaster login credentials to Jam, all my followers I built up on Warpcast carried over, all my messages, all my posts (except only the ones with images showed, of course, to give the Instagram experience), as did the comments to said images.

And that's the Farcaster social media protocol in action. As you can see from the above, the data is built on the Farcaster social media protocol, and I own it, and it carries with me wherever I go. Some apps running on the Farcaster protocol are Warpcast (X), Jam (Instagram), Drakula (TikTok), Farcord (Discord), and there's much more.

The underlying technology is built on the Optimism blockchain technology stack. Your followers, your follows, your messages, are all stored on a peer-to-peer network of nodes. We don't need to get into the technicalities; the key takeaway, again, is that you own your data, and you can take it wherever you want. Build once and lasts forever.

I have multiple grievances against X:

The algorithm. There are way too many landmines limiting your reach whenever you post something on X. Put a link on your post? Its reach will be limited. Mention an X competitor? Your reach will be limited. Say something political? Your reach will be limited. Use the wrong emojis? Yup, you guessed it, reach will be limited. The algorithm is constantly changing, and there's a cat-and-mouse game trying to stay ahead of it. Since Farcaster is decentralized, this is not an issue (though there is some slight nuance here; but for the most part, it is not).

It's not well-built for crypto. When Elon first acquired Twitter (as it was known at the time), there was a lot of excitement around the crypto community the platform would go more crypto-native because of Elon's enthusiasm for meme coins, notably Doge. The truth is, X has gone the other way -- one notable change was the removal of hexagon profile pictures which indicated the picture was an NFT belonging to the user. There's been a lot of speculation about how crypto-focused X will become, but none of that has happened. With Farcaster on the other hand, it's much easier for developers to build crypto-native functionality on the protocol since the protocol itself is based on blockchain. I do not see any reason why the crypto Twitter community should not migrate to Farcaster; it's just so much better equipped for what we, crypto folks, want to do.

I don't own my data. And that brings me to the most important part. On X, I don't own my data. I've had to rebuild my network (10K+ followers on X) from scratch again on Warpcast. Warpcast is an app developed by 2 people. Do I always agree with them? No. If I ever get fed up with Warpcast, I can always install a new app, and so long it runs on the Farcaster protocol, (almost) everything carries over. Not only I don't have to start over, but I own my data. In fact, I'm on several of those apps I mentioned above like Drakula (TikTok) and Jam (Instagram). It was great. I installed them, and I immediately had the same network as before. No cold start.

Should you follow my lead? Probably, but I won't say definitely. There are a few things to consider:

What else do you use X for? If you're using X to engage with people about world events, sports, food, and the like, completely migrating to Farcaster probably doesn't make sense for you (yet). Those kinds of communities do exist on Farcaster, but they're certainly much smaller than X.

Is your tribe on Farcaster yet? Similar to the above -- are the people you frequently interact with on Farcaster? If not, and they're not crypto people, then it might behoove you to split your time between Farcaster and X. However, if your tribe is crypto, and none of you are on Farcaster yet, then you need to get on there now. All of you! Farcaster is functionally superior in every way, and it's not even close. In fact, I would make the bold statement that you are not a true crypto person if you're still fully residing on X and haven't started on Farcaster yet.

How confident do you feel about your ability to rebuild your network? For some, this comes naturally, for some it's daunting. I actually don't think it has much to do with your level of introversion vs. extroversion. I think it has more to do with who you engage and how you engage. Regardless, one core tenet is very true about Farcaster though -- you have to give before you can get. Do not enter the platform trying to extract from it. Make meaningful posts and give thoughtful responses to build up your credibility. It's not too different than any other social media platform, but perhaps more so applicable on the Farcaster protocol since it's still relatively new and small.

So, you might be wondering, what do I do next? The easiest way to start on the Farcaster protocol is probably through Warpcast which is the flagship app (mobile & web) built by the same people who built Farcaster. Once you go through their short registration process, congratulations, you're now sitting on the Farcaster protocol. I know this ending is abrupt, but yes, that's it.

Now get to work on meeting new people, vibing, using channels to discover people with similar interests, and building your new network that you own! Follow me on there, and shoot me a direct cast that you read this article, so we can connect

The future is decentralized, my friends! Until next time...

(Do note that a couple of links in this article do include my referral code)

NFT NYC 2024 is over, and do you know what the best part was? It was putting a face and personal connection to the PFPs. This year was fun-filled: interesting panel discussions, side events, and novel project exhibits. I realize many were unable to attend, so I'll give you a few of the recurring topics/themes so you have some insights into where things are headed in 2024 and beyond.

Before we go further, did you know we're on Farcaster now? Join our channel! Perks & benefits coming soon!

Farcaster

The Blockchain Experience

This is the Farcaster home for The Blockchain Experience podcast community.⚡️ Despite the name, most anything goes in our community channel including culture, food, travel, business, and general technology. Family friendly please. 🤗

Blockchain Abstraction
This was probably the most used word of the week. Abstraction. We've come to a saturation point where we cannot onboard more people into Web3 unless the UI and UX are familiar. No clunky wallets, no bridging, and no overly complicated solutions to do things that should be simple like purchasing something. Bitcoin Spot ETFs are a perfect example of abstraction. While most of us in this space take buying Bitcoin for granted, it is not straightforward to most. Bitcoin ETFs simplify that: you go to the institution you usually transact with, and buy with fiat money already in your account, into something that is publicly traded much like a stock. It's simple and familiar. We need the same for everything onchain. Abstraction.

Real World Assets (RWAs)
This was another topic that came up frequently, particularly fashion. There's a real opportunity to blend the physical with digital twins. Provenance and authenticity for luxury goods are obvious, but there is also opportunity in fashion gamification and value return to the consumer. What the heck does that mean? Let's use an example to explain: imagine you're out with friends on a Friday night, and you get a push notification on your mobile from brand XYZ that if you're wearing their shoes right now, scan the NFC chip embedded in them within the next 10 minutes. Indeed, you are wearing those shoes, and you scan them to see what your surprise is. Voila! You just received $20 in your digital wallet to cover your next 2 drinks! Score! In this world, which shoes would you wear when you're out on a Friday or Saturday night? Those kinds of immediate, instant, trustless, and permissionless incentives can drive powerful behaviors and habits. There was a 9dcc pop-up; sadly, I could not attend because I was speaking at the conference during its operating hours, but the feedback was that it was very well executed.

Music
Yes, I know music is brought up every year. And each year, it's disappointing because there's been little progress. The corporations in the industry have not budged. I can't say anything profoundly different has happened there yet, but there's a constituency of musicians (many of them who were present at NFT NYC) who have been able to find success without a dependency on major record labels or music streaming services. There was discussion around tokenizing music, but the conversation leaned away from how labels/distribution companies can adapt the blockchain and more towards how do musicians emulate the successful ones to succeed independently. This could be in the form of having membership token drops (on a gasless L2) with utility such as access to music, access to the musician, and more! We'll see in the coming months how much pressure this puts on the broader industry to embrace onchain innovation.

Memes
I'll be frank, I didn't care too much for meme culture in this space when I first entered it. I thought it was emblematic of a certain immaturity as long as it exists, the space will never reach mass adoption. This was the traditional straight-laced corporate American inside me. After much observation and reflection, it's with a great amount of humility I admit I was wrong. Memes are a connector of people in any stratosphere. They're culture. I've learned to not only embrace memes personally, but I would make the controversial argument they should be leveraged and utilized by most emerging brands regardless of industries. If you're starting your own beverage company to compete with the likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, make it fun and whimsical so people remember it. As it applies to the blockchain, projects, whether they're a marketplace, a DeFi platform, or a cryptocurrency need to embrace memes to win attention and mind share. In talking to others at NFT NYC who have a background similar background as mine, we have all come to the same conclusion (albeit, we're a bit late).

$DEGEN/Farcaster/Warpcast
Ah $DEGEN, and by extension, Farcaster/Warpcast, was the talk of the town. In case you aren't familiar, Farcaster is a decentralized social protocol, and Warpcast is the main client operating on it. You'll often see the two terms used interchangeably, but think of Farcaster as radio airwaves, and Warpcast as the radio. Functionally, Warpcast is similar to X/Twitter, but in the case of Farcaster, there isn't an Elon Musk or a single entity that can censor you on the protocol. It's been around for a couple years now, but it's seen runaway growth since the introduction of frames (which essentially allow crypto-related actions natively on the Warpcast client) and the $DEGEN token launch in January 2024. Contrary to popular belief, the $DEGEN token was not shipped by the Farcaster/Warpcast team, but rather a group of investors. The token straddles a fine line between a meme coin and a patron token. Its value has seen runaway growth from a fraction of a penny to 4 cents at the time of this writing. While the token's increase in value has brought a ton of interest and daily users to Farcaster, the real story here is a case study on how an entity can build permissionlessly on a decentralized social protocol like Farcaster. I would strongly recommend you pay attention to what is being built on Farcaster as it'll give you a glimpse on what a decentralized future will look like. If there's enough interest, I'll write a separate article (maybe even record a video) on Farcaster/Warpcast.

Conclusion
While I would say the attendance of NFT NYC was down this year compared to last, the sentiments were much more optimistic. Last year, there was an underlying tension and stress around the sustainability of the space (especially since royalties were being eliminated and prices were falling across the board), but this year it carried a different tone. Sure, prices were up, but that is only part of the story. The innovation was up. Ordinals have become mainstream, social graphs/analytics for wallets, and more. While meme coin culture is still strong, this year was less about PFPs with ambitious roadmaps and more about solving problems the blockchain is perfectly positioned for. The future is bright, my friends.

Until next time...

Welcome to The Blockchain Experience newsletter which is complementary to The Blockchain Experience podcast. The podcast has hosted the biggest names in the space, including Art Blocks, Base by Coinbase, Optimism, Sabet, Gabe Weis, 9gag & Memeland CEO Ray Chan, Collab.Land, and more. It is hosted by the editor of The Best of fxhash, meta-david, so it should carry a familiar tonality.

But we want to be more than a podcast or community. We want to be a community. Allow us to share more!

The Blockchain Experience is a podcast running for nearly 2 years now and is ranked in the top 1% of podcasts in listenership according to Listen Notes. It originally was known as "The Dead NFT Artist Society," and was mostly focused on emerging 1/1 art, but over time, we started to experiment and see demand to expand beyond that domain, so we re-branded as "The Blockchain Experience," and have seen large listener growth since. You can find us on our website where you can find a link to our podcast (we're on all major platforms), as well as our socials. Episodes are dropped bi-weekly and we try to keep them anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes in duration. Our guests are carefully curated to what we find interesting and notable in the space.

Provide Value
First and foremost, our mission is to provide value to you. Everything you read below is intended to meet that end. We want to make sure our podcast keeps you engaged, our short forms satisfy your mobile dopamine hits, our newsletter is worth an open, and above all else, you're vibing with others in The Blockchain Experience community.

Create Community
Speaking of community, we want to provide a safe, warm, and welcoming safe for you. Have questions? Ask. Need support from some hype people? Tell us. Need support on a project? Pitch us. Have some DeFi alpha you want to share with us? Shill us. We're big believers the space is not a zero-sum game, rather, we can work together to increase the size of the pie, so we can all feast. We also think there is value in sharing interests, goals, and visions beyond the blockchain. Broadly speaking, we encourage discussions around culture, travel, food, technology, and business. Our only ask is we keep it relatively family-friendly (not a hard & fast rule; just more a suggestion).

Stay Onchain as Possible
Given that "blockchain" is in our community name, it would be on-brand to stay as onchain as possible. But it goes beyond simply staying on-brand just for the sake of being on-brand. We believe the future is onchain. Onchain is the best solution to align incentives to provide maximum value for all stakeholders involved. So what does staying onchain as much as possible mean? It means our home will reside on the Farcaster protocol. It means our podcast player of choice will be Scoop3. It means our short-form videos will be on Drakula. Our publication will be here, on Paragraph. Heck, we hope to even have gatherings & community events onchain (more on that to come). Stay tuned, as you will see more and more of our assets and arteries go onchain to best serve you.

Surprise & Delight (Free Mints/Airdrops/Perks/etc.)
It sounds a bit cliche, but yes, we do try to under-promise and over-deliver. We will never have "act now," type activities, but you may find us leveraging some of our relationships to be able to throw some surprises your way. We have some things in mind, but of course, since it is a surprise, our lips have to stay sealed!

We are extremely excited about the future ahead and are thrilled to have you with us! We have some plans and surprises coming up in the next few weeks, so be sure to:

• Join us at /theblockexp channel on Warpcast

• Be sure to say hello & introduce yourself on the channel (may even have a surprise for you)

• Follow our host, meta-david, on Warpcast

• Give us feedback on how we're doing, what you'd like to see, and how we can continue to best serve you!

Oh, and moving forward, "we" will be changing to "I," as meta-david is the author, and I want to keep things as personal as possible. We are currently a staff of 6 (myself, the show producer, and developers), but unless stated otherwise, it'll always be myself, David, writing!

And as I always say on the pod, "Until next time..."