E38: Crypto Hour and IQ, the Next Great Culture War Issue

Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss what is exciting in Crypto right now, covering friend.tech, Farcaster’s updates, PWAs, superchain 2a, and infrastructure improvements for more use cases. If you’re building a business and need compliance for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA, head to www.vanta.com/zen for $1000 off.

Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

(00:01:36) How Dan is building Farcaster

(00:02:39) Using Ethereum is expensive

(00:04:14) Crypto and climate change

(00:07:49) Dan's take on the buzzy new friend.tech

(00:12:27) Friend.tech's smart use of a PWA + impressive growth

(00:17:11) Coinbase has its own blockchain now

(00:21:47) Are SPACs worse than Crypto's scammy retail stuff

(00:24:21) Chamath and accountability

(00:30:24) How will crypto get to a billion users?

(00:39:11) The case for Farcaster and the future of social media

(00:52:25) How much value can be captured by subscaled social networks?

(00:56:51) Why we'll see startups move away from venture-backed business models

(00:59:26) Most successful media company of the past decade

(01:03:59) Crypto's regulations are a gray cloud over financial innovation

(01:08:08) Opportunities to expand upside for people, from businesses to UBI

(01:09:12) Crypto is not politicized

(01:14:40) Genetics and IQ

(01:24:04) The Sam Harris + Ezra Klein Charles Murray debate

(01:32:48) Why this is the next major culture war issue

RELATED EPISODES:

Upstream w/ Erik Torenberg ft/ Sam Harris

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DeR2VZOjpnE9pQ9b3Om9S?si=u662cEDUTt6D27D09Jnk0w

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e10-sam-harris-on-populism-polarization-and-his-beef/id1678893467?i=1000614749192

Upstream with Erik Torenberg ft/ Ezra Klein

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/36vTPPcpisMVXSgq9bnj1w?si=WEysQWc4RouTxd1hzNl1iw

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e3-ezra-klein-on-supply-side-progressivism-polarization/id1678893467?i=1000607892890

SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite

Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox.