Retroactive Public Goods Funding: a paradigm shift in crypto's funding dynamics?

Join us as we speak with Mark, Co-Founder and Systems Engineer at OP Labs, the team behind Optimism, an extension to Ethereum that scales both its technology and philosophy and enables orders of magnitude more performance.

Tune in to learn about Optimism’s long-term mission, their Superchain vision and much more. Enjoy!

Link to Optimism’s Twitter page
👉🏻 https://twitter.com/optimismFND

Link to Optimism’s website
👉🏻 https://www.optimism.io/

Episode Breakdown

00:40 - How would you explain smart contracts using a simple and illustrative analogy?

02:00 - What was your background prior to joining Optimism?

06:00 - Did you find your interest in coding particularly enhanced when you found out about Ethereum and the possibilities that it could unlock?

09:00 - Will the decentralised nature of blockchain to distribute the decision-making power democratically among all stakeholders help us solve some of the most pressing challenges that the world is facing today?

15:00 - Considering Peter Thiel’s dichotomy, presented in his ‘Zero to One’ book, between competition and monopoly for long-term value creation, can decentralisation represent a valid and credible third alternative at our disposal?

25:00 - How will value be defined in the future as new technologies, such as Web3 and AI, will develop and evolve?

30:00 - Will our constant appetite for new innovation slow down eventually due to the environmental burden brought forward by these new technologies?

33:00 - What is the long-term vision behind Optimism and how is Optimism different from other Layer2 solutions?

37:00 - What is the meaning of Retroactive Public Goods Funding and what role does this mechanism play within Optimism?

39:00 - If according to the Retroactive Public Goods Funding capital allocation mechanism you are rewarded for your contribution ex-ante, how are you supposed to have the resources in place to be positioned to create that initial impact?

40:00 - Have there been any rounds of Retroactive Public Goods Funding to date?

43:00 - How does Optimism ensure that the governance of the resources allocated within the Retroactive Public Goods Funding mechanism is fair and equitable?

45:00 - How does Optimism envision accounting for differing cultures within its hypothesised new and more efficient governance paradigm?

50:30 - What is the Superchain and its long-term vision?

51:30 - In terms of next steps, what can we expect from Optimism?