Social Block

Hosted by Magdalena Hristova

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Latest episode

Jul 2024

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EN-US

About the show

Welcome to The Social Block, where we explore the intersection of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and society. Our focus is on how these innovative tools can shape our social interactions, us as individuals, our institutions, and even our culture. From decentralized finance to social impact projects, we'll be talking to experts and thought leaders in this and other fields about how blockchain and crypto can be harnessed for the greater good… and also just for a better more convenient future. Join us on this titillating journey as we look ahead to a more equitable and empowered society. Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

Listen to episodes

24 recent

July 2, 2024Episode 2347 min

Episode #23: The Re-staking Revolution with Mike Silagadze, CEO & Founder of EtherFi

Ever wondered what the big deal is with staking, solo staking, re-staking, liquid staking, and even liquid re-staking? If yes, (or if just the list of all these concepts intimidates you 😀) then this is the perfect Social Block episode for you. Meet Mike Silagadze, CEO and Founder of EtherFi – the renown decentralized, non-custodial liquid staking platform! Mike sat down with Magy for a dedicated episode on all things staking on Ethereum. Buckle up, ‘cause here we go! 👇 Here’s what you can look forward to in this episode: 🙆 The key differences and similarities between staking, re-staking, liquid staking, and all its other shapes and forms? 🌟 Solo staking: Why it’s not currently very accessible and why we must democratize it! 👍 Ethereum ETF(s): Their (surprise?) approval, effect on the space, and more. 🔑 How EtherFi allows users to retain their private keys while staking and why this is so important. More information about EtherFi: http://ether.fi And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

June 11, 2024Episode 2243 min

Episode #22: Bitcoin DeFi & Bitcoin-based Stablecoins with Jakob Schillinger, Founder and CEO of Hermetica Labs

This time on the Social Block, we dive into the fascinating world of Bitcoin DeFi and Bitcoin-based stablecoins, exploring their potential and impact on the ecosystem. Joining us is Jakob Schillinger, Founder and CEO of Hermetica whose expertise as a builder and active participant in the blockchain space recently led to the launch of the very first Bitcoin-based stablecoin. Here’s what you can look forward to in this episode: 🎉 Bitcoin-based Stablecoins! The rationale behind creating a stablecoin that can live on the Bitcoin blockchain. 👀 Why stablecoins are outpacing even Bitcoin adoption in growth. 📊Bitcoin DeFi: The thriving DeFi economy on Bitcoin and stats around TVL in DeFi 🌅Why Jakob thinks we are exiting what he calls “the Bitcoin Dark Ages”, marking a new era for Bitcoin. And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

May 31, 2024Episode 211 hr 15 min

Episode #21: Post-Halving Play-by-Play with Allen Farrington

It’s been a month since the Bitcoin halving. The dust has settled, we’re past the supposed 2-week danger zone for BTC prices. All in all, it’s a good time to look back and see what happened in the ecosystem and where we’re headed from here. Have a listen to our post-halving episode where Magy was joined by none other than Allen Farrington , co-author of Bitcoin Is Venice . The episode features stories from how the Nexo team spent the halving, a breakdown of events following it, and after the end of the episode, a short bonus discussion of how Allen came to publish Bitcoin is Venice . What we covered: 🤨 Was the halving priced in, what part ETFs played and why we shouldn’t fixate on the price. 🎢 The rollercoaster ride in the first days after the halving: the launch of Runes, transaction fees ups and downs, and mainstream vs. crypto newsflows. ⛄ Why the Bitcoin halving is like Soviet Christmas – bear with us on this one, t’was a fun analogy. 🐦 Why Twitter (X) is not real life, but Bitcoin will become the infrastructure for our lives. 🎉 How Allen, Magy and the Nexo team spent the 2024 Bitcoin halving. (Clues: 😴& 🚗) And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

May 13, 2024Episode 2048 min

Episode #20: DeFi Points Farming & Stuff with Dan from Pendle

Wondering what all the buzz about DeFi points farming is about? Us too. In Episode #20, we dial into the heart of one of DeFi's currently much-contended trends, exploring how points aren't just digital tallies but pivotal opportunities for loyalty and reward. Join Dan from Pendle – the permissionless yield-trading protocol – and Magy as they pin point (pun intended 😎) exactly how these mechanisms are reshaping the landscape of digital finance. In this episode: ⛓️ Yield tokenization and trading! How Pendle creates new investment opportunities by separating a token into two parts – its principal and its yield. 🌟 Why DeFi’s points’ trends are essentially a tool for rewards based on user loyalty. 🎯 A behind-the-scenes on The Hunt for $12M in NEXO Tokens – Nexo’s own take on points . 🎁 What can points be redeemed for beyond airdrops? 🎭 Is gamification needed and beneficial in a points-based system? How playful should we be? And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

April 30, 2024Episode 1957 min

Episode #19: Gaming Wars? Web3 v. Big Tech with Can Picak from Eldarune

For Episode #19 of the Social Block, we ventured back into the space of Web3 gaming to complete our quest to learn its value. Our guide was Can Picak, CEO and Co-founder of DIGA Labs and popular Web3 game development company – Eldarune. Can and Magy teamed up to complete the following quests together (just kidding, they just talked about these topics): 🧩 Why interoperability is a vital feature for Web3 games. 🎮 How gaming will be a profession in the future far more than it already is now. 🇹🇷 The crypto scene in Turkey. 🏙️ Is Big Tech moving into Web3, and if so, how 🧐? ⏳ Will the Bitcoin halving affect the Web3 gaming sector in the long term? Extra Links: Eldarune: https://www.eldarune.com/ Can’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/canpicak/ And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

April 19, 2024Episode 1852 min

Episode #18: The Halving & the Hype with Joe Nakamoto

What’s up in the crypto space? Bitcoin halving ! If you’re still a little frazzled by that fact, then it might help to sit back and listen to the Social Block episode dedicated to the halving. Magy celebrated the landmark event with a discussion on the Bitcoin halving as explained by Bitcoin advocate and independent journalist, Joe Nakamoto (no relation to Satoshi, unfortunately). Joe and Magy talked about: 🎓 Bitcoin halving 101: The basics about the halving, plus common misconceptions. 📖 Tales of halvings past…and present. Joe and Magy shared their experiences of halving events. ⛏️ Bitcoin mining: How the halving will affect miners and the complexity of the mining sector. 🎄 In a perhaps-not-so-dystopian future will the Bitcoin halving be celebrated like Christmas? 🌪 Is the hype around each Bitcoin halving good or bad? Extra Links: Joe’s documentary on Witsand, which we mentioned a couple of times in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp2SonEgquQ And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

April 9, 2024Episode 171 hr 4 min

Episode #17: Blockchain’s Backbone – Nodes & More with Eugene Aseev, CTO and Founder of Chainstack

In this episode of Social Block, we’re putting the spotlight on the guardians of blockchain infrastructure, namely nodes. From there, this session also touches on what our host Magy likes to call “the spectrum of decentralization.” Meanwhile, our guest, Eugene Asseev, the Founder and CTO of Chainstack, the Web3 development stack designed for building scalable applications, shares why he thinks blockchain should become… well, boring. Here’s what Eugene and Magy talked about: 🏗️ The place and importance of infrastructure providers in the blockchain space. 🗝️ Nodes. What are they & what is the difference between full, archive & other types of nodes? ⚖️ Is usability a trade-off of decentralization? 🤦‍♀️ Magy’s latest ChatGPT blunders. 🐶 Why we – the people in the industry – need to start dogfooding crypto and blockchain. And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

March 13, 2024Episode 161 hr 9 min

Episode #16: Zero Knowledge & the Future of Trust with Pavel Sinelnikov from ZKM.io

If you have zero knowledge about zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), this episode is for you. For this session, Social Block host Magy made it her prerogative to learn more about ZKPs, exploring what they are from a technical standpoint, as well as their use cases. To help her, she had ZMK.io’s Pavel Sinelnikov who specializes in the development of zkMIPs solutions, and took the time to unpack the complexity of a technology that is finding crucial application in the blockchain space. In this episode, Magy and Pavel started with a breakdown of ZKPs as a technology, and then moved on to its applications and more philosophical questions: ⁉️ Did you know zero-knowledge proofs can be used for more than just privacy? (Magy didn’t). 🤔 Can zero-knowledge proofs prove anything? 😱 Types of zero-knowledge proofs – i.e. interactive vs. non-interactive, zkSTARKs, zkSNARKs. 🧩 Use cases for ZKPs specifically for blockchain – think Layer 2s, batching, rollups, and lower gas fees. 🪐 How zero-knowledge proofs can change the concept of trust in the future. And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Тwitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

February 25, 2024Episode 151 hr 9 min

Social Block – Episode #15: The Future = AR/VR + AI + Web3? with Aragorn Meulendijks (Mr. Metaverse)

Today the Social Block is getting more techy and more philosophical with an episode dedicated to how Web3, paired with augmented and virtual realities, as well as AI will shape the future. Now, imagining the future is no easy feat and to help Magy trudge through the many possibilities before humanity, we had Aragorn Meulendijks, more popularly known as Mr. Metaverse. As a historian turned futurist, Aragorn dedicates a lot of his time theorizing about what’s to come. Aragorn’s vision of the future, definitely includes Web3, making this the perfect listen for our community. He and Magy discussed: 💰 What will the currency of the future be? 💡 Can AI have ideas? 👓 Are we going to live in a virtual world or will augmented reality be all the rage? 🦾 Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and will humans become cyborgs? 🧒 At what point in our education should we introduce AI, and AR?VR? Useful resources (as promised): A talk by Aragorn worth watching about the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtjbjI7fJ1k The sources about Organoid intelligence (biological AI) that we couldn’t remember the names of: https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2023/04/28/forget-ai-organoid-intelligence-may-soon-power-our-computers/?sh=58d6b0605240 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/science/articles/10.3389/fsci.2023.1017235/full And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com

February 11, 2024Episode 1456 min

Episode #14: Women in Crypto 2.0 with Gracy Chen from Bitget

It’s yet another Social Block episode, we unravel the layers behind the funding landscape for female-led blockchain projects, the strides we're making towards inclusivity, and why this will boost the industry overall. The brilliant Gracy Chen, Managing Partner at Bitget, joins Magy in a second episode dedicated to women in crypto. Gracy has dedicated her time to addressing diversity in the industry, specifically by spearheading the Blockchain4Her initiative to uplift female entrepreneurs. What to expect in this episode? Well, there was a lot of ground to cover, but we started with: 🚨The Problem: Gracy and Magy discuss potential reasons why, in 2023, only 6% of VC-funded blockchain startups were women-led via insights from recent reports. 👍Solutions: How Gracy and the Bitget team are structuring solutions for the gender gap via the Blockchain4Her initiative. 🌱And Tips: Success stories and examples from Gracy throughout her journey in the industry. Useful Links from the episode: For Bitget’s latest report on VC funding trends for female-led startups: https://www.bitget.com/blog/articles/bitget-report-the-gender-gap-in-blockchain-startup-funding And finally, follow Magy and the Social Block: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@social.block Twitter: https://twitter.com/HristovaMagy Send your feedback, topics, and guest suggestions to: socialblock@nexo.com