2021-03-28 · timestamps by Eric Czuleger & ADAtainment
AMA 03/28/2021
- Alonzo is on track for Q2, with the public Plutus Pioneers testnet confirmed for May and smart contract details coming on Cardano360.
- I'm expanding into Africa, hiring in Ethiopia, training developers in Ghana, and shifting our strategy toward consumer products and financial inclusion.
- I'm facing escalating harassment and death threats as Cardano grows, but no amount of evidence changes committed critics' minds, so I lean on float tanks and keep shipping.
- I've budgeted fifteen to thirty million dollars for 2021 R&D, funded a Lean theorem prover grant, and kept side projects alive in Wyoming, from farm tech to a new game studio.
- I share fundraising and entrepreneurship advice, dismiss HBAR and other centralized competitors, and defend the NFT tweet whose proceeds went to King Soopers shooting victims.
- I close with the usual Kiva segment, funding a loan in Togo, and call bringing peer to peer microfinance onto Cardano one of my life goals.
120 entries
Broadcasts the March 27th update live from Colorado.
Over 10,000 native assets have already been minted on Cardano, mostly NFTs.
Recaps the Cardano360 update and confirm Alonzo's tentative rollout dates, feature complete in Q2.
Highlights hundreds of Project Catalyst funded proposals and praises the community's ideas.
The Plutus and Ledger teams are overloaded integrating everything for Alonzo, so surge resources were added.
Aim to release the long Africa special in April.
Announces hiring plans in Ethiopia, expanding the office and scouting universities for a new lab.
A pan African expansion with Ghana as the next site for developer training classes.
Reports over a thousand signups for the Plutus Pioneers program that Lars will need to train.
Reflects on the growing negativity and slander directed at him as Cardano gains more attention.
Traces the anti Cardano narrative back to early Ethereum figures who call the whole project a scam.
Argues that no amount of evidence changes the minds of people who already believe Cardano is fake.
A big uptick in personal and death threats as the harassment escalates.
The harassment has spread to his employees, contractors, and outside scientists working with IOG.
Announces a new internal team dedicated to investigating scams brewing in the Cardano ecosystem, including one particular fund.
Plans to take a short break once Alonzo ships after three and a half months of overtime.
Budget fifteen to thirty million dollars for research and development in 2021, the company's largest line item.
Funds a grant for logician Jeremy Avigad at Carnegie Mellon to advance the Lean theorem prover.
Pursue micro mechanization as a passion project, working with the University of Wyoming on 3D printed farm equipment.
Shift the Africa strategy from government relations toward building consumer products.
Plans a ten to twenty million dollar per year line item for African strategic investment starting in 2022.
Criticizes rich nations for failing to share vaccines, delaying his planned Africa tour.
Contrasts his measured investment philosophy with the Gates Foundation's poor return on billions spent.
Calls the community's price obsession unhealthy and explains he has no way to burn or control ADA's price.
Names Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro as his favorite Miyazaki movie.
Assess Mina Protocol and recursive SNARKs as promising but still theoretically unsettled.
Confirms the public Alonzo testnet for dapp developers is coming in May despite reports calling it delayed.
He hasn't yet had his call with Mike Novogratz but is happy to talk.
Greets a viewer from Iraq and mention owning cuneiform tablets from Babylon.
Confirms his microphone is not the same one Michael Jackson used on Thriller.
Update on trusted hardware and RISC-V supply chain chip research at the University of Wyoming.
Plans appearances on Lex Fridman's show and eventually Joe Rogan once the IOHK to IOG rebrand lands.
Confirms he has visited Krakow and Warsaw in Poland.
The delayed Litecoin LIP after the original writing team left to start their own company.
Details video game plans including the Legends of Valor IP and reviving the Gold Box engine in the Pathfinder setting.
Wishes Dr. Michael Lesser a happy birthday.
Reminisces about Sierra games and says the new game studio will be based in Wyoming.
Using float tanks to de-stress amid the constant negativity.
The float center he uses sits next to the Boulder King Soopers where ten people were murdered.
Condemns a culture with no social consequences for cruelty and death threats online.
Lists examples of Cardano tie ins, from Chateau Cardano wine to gaming and biotech supply chains.
Dismisses an HBAR shill as off topic for a Cardano centric AMA and explains why he ignores patented, centralized competitors.
State he has never applied for a defensive patent.
Brushes off a viewer bragging about buying HBAR, saying it has zero effect on his life.
Confirms he can solve a Rubik's Cube, just not as fast as a mantis shrimp.
Recalls knowing Dominic Williams and criticize Dfinity for trying to poach his scientists and engineers.
Defends the tweet he sold as an NFT, a reply mocking someone who joked about the King Soopers shooting victims.
He has met Elon Musk a few times but isn't really friends with him.
Promises a livestream celebration when Cardano's decentralization parameter D reaches zero.
Clarifies the NFT tweet proceeds, nine thousand dollars total, went to the shooting victims.
Shows off a Totoro plush he flew home business class from Narita Airport.
He isn't worried about quantum computing as a threat to Cardano.
Confirms he owns an Oliver tractor.
Asks his security chair live on the stream to track down the Quantstamp audit report status.
He plays piano poorly and lists classic rock, country, and synthwave among his favorite genres.
To find investors, using a recent VC pitch meeting with the Ardana team as an example of storytelling.
Warns founders to keep skin in the game rather than only wanting funding without personal risk.
Compares entrepreneurship to burning your ships on a beach, describing his own relentless drive building Cardano.
He stopped watching football once it got too political, sticking to Tom Brady's Super Bowls.
Names star fruit as one of the most delicious healthy fruits.
Recalls visiting Iceland's Blue Lagoon and glaciers as one of the prettiest places he's seen.
He hasn't followed League of Legends esports lately but used to enjoy playing Zed and Cassiopeia.
The Lamborghini isn't about materialism, just a love of driving fast after motorcycles got too dangerous.
Recalls a 32 hour drive from Colorado to Virginia through West Virginia at 2am listening to Howard Stern.
Every item in his office has a personal story and none of it would really be mourned if lost.
Running the company and the farm in parallel through delegation to farm hands.
Jokes about restarting a Bob Ross style Joy of Painting series once he has time.
Recounts defusing a tense meeting by showing everyone pictures of anteaters wearing sweaters.
Diagnose poor math pedagogy as the reason schools struggle to produce the next generation of cryptographers.
Riffs on a tongue twister troll question about why Cardano is always Cardano except when it's Colorado.
Names Hibiki as one of his favorite whiskeys.
Demo his Microsoft HoloLens headset and talk about trying out Microsoft Mesh.
Nod to a Warhammer 40K reference about laxity and heresy.
Teases that a lot is coming in the Cardano 2025 roadmap, to be detailed near the DCF announcement at the Gogol Summit.
Points to Microsoft ION launching on Bitcoin mainnet as proof Bitcoin has become the safe, interoperable chain.
Offers to point computer scientists to relevant papers once he knows their background.
Hoskinson Biotechnologies' plans for regenerative medicine and longevity escape velocity research.
Points viewers to the previous day's Cardano360 episode for the smart contract launch timeline.
Mocks a conspiracy theory troll question with a joke about 5G towers and vaccines.
The Africa announcement delay came from Ethiopian government tender bureaucracy that finally cleared on March 25th.
His old, unrestored Oliver tractor that came with the farm.
To structure African deals so the economics stay stable no matter which political regime is in power.
Compares that political risk to how the Biden administration is reassessing agreements made under Trump.
Recalls losing a US State Department hurricane relief deal after Rex Tillerson was abruptly fired.
The Gogol Summit will likely be online again around August or September.
His post Voltaire responsibilities will be decided by community proposals and votes.
Proposes micro ISPs and offline capable cryptography to connect the unconnected.
Declines to comment on Ethereum's delays beyond saying this stuff is just hard.
A US Bitcoin ban is not happening at this point, that ship has sailed.
His matte black Lamborghini Huracan Evo with titanium tailpipes.
Lists his four dogs, two tiny and two big breeds.
The Lambo was actually paid for with Bitcoin, not Cardano.
He'd enjoy doing an actual deal with Lamborghini someday.
The Huracan drives like an Audi in Strada mode and like a track car in Corsa.
Save the free will debate for a future appearance on Sam Harris's show.
Promises a statement soon on the Pepper Wallet and his wish for a proper QR code paper wallet.
Update on plans for a glow in the dark paver driveway tied to a geothermal radiant heat system.
The farm is doing well, with alpacas coming soon, and that he watches MMA.
Agrees humanity is probably living in a simulation, calling it his nightmare.
Jokes that he grew up worshipping Odin, pointing to a woodcut of Odin fighting Fenrir in his office.
Breaks out a Scottish accent bit about whiskey and haggis.
Recommends Python as the best programming language to start learning.
Fans increasingly drive by his farm shouting his name, prompting more security cameras.
Confirms he enjoys eating Wiener schnitzel.
Dismisses Peter Schiff's and Mike Green's crypto criticism, comparing Schiff to a WWII holdout still fighting Bitcoin.
Jokes he might get an actual Lamborghini tractor for the Wyoming ranch since the Massey can't handle it.
Rank his favorite coffees, praising Indonesian and Colombian blends alongside Ethiopian and elephant dung Black Ivory coffee.
Update on the mycology project, growing lion's mane mushrooms and training a mycologist.
A call with Philippine Governor Garcia about Tarlac City.
He has fond memories of visiting Toronto.
Calls himself blockchain McCartney when asked Lennon or McCartney.
Ongoing talks with a university in Okinawa as a possible entry point into Japan.
Confirms yes, he's been to Greece.
Wraps up the AMA with the usual Kiva microfinance loan segment.
Reviews his existing Kiva loan portfolio, including Rosa's repayments from Kenya.
The US itself has a large unbanked population within Kiva's regions.
Picks Togo, a country he's never visited, to browse for a loan recipient.
Funds a full loan for Adzowa, a 59 year old oil seller in Togo.
Calls bringing peer to peer microfinance onto Cardano one of his life goals.
Closes the AMA thanking viewers and hyping the Plutus Pioneers testnet launch in the next 60 days.