In today's episode Jason and Santi are joined by Solana Labs founder and CEO Anatoly Yakovenko and Ben Sparango, the Head of Strategic Business Development. The duo has returned to discuss Solana's progress beyond the FTX fallout. They dive into Solana's priorities around scaling, fees, and alignment incentives between builders and validators. Anatoly elaborates on the network effects of opensourcing core technology like the SVM, while Ben highlights mobile adoption and NFTs as driving new crypto demand. They debate the trajectory for permissionless finance to run mainstream markets on Solana, and whether the Saga phone can make a dent in Apple and Google's distribution monopolies. We hope you enjoy!

Follow Anatoly:   / aeyakovenko  
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Timestamps

0:00 Introduction
02:00 The Solana Recovery Post SBF
10:30 Priorities for Solana Development
22:14 The Next Gen L1 Case for Builders
24:56 Economics of the SVM
34:17 State of Solana Fee Market
48:18 Inflation & Staking Dynamics
51:17 DAS 2024
52:32 Arbitrum Ad
53:18 Harpie Ad
54:32 Open Source & Security Approach
01:02:02 Governance & Alignment
01:12:25 The Value of Permisionless Systems
01:19:04 Saga Mobile Strategy & Potential
01:25:14 Remaining Moonshot Ideas

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.