Bankless - Devcon #7 - Supermodular with Kevin Owoki

Starting point is 00:00:02 Welcome to Biggestnation back to the DevCon Six experience, except this one's a little bit different because this one was actually at Shelling Point. Shelling Point is the conference that tags along with so many of the other Ethereum community conferences. There was a Shelling Point at DevCon. There's a Shelling Point here at DevCon. And so this interview is with Kevin Awaki of former Gitcoin fame and now of super modular fame, the CEO of a brand new company, which is something that he debuted at Shelling Point at DevCon. Super modular is Kevin O'Walky's centralized software company that is built on top of the decentralized get coin protocol, the protocol that he founded. And I think this is a theme that we're going to see moving forward. It's not the first time we've seen this. Uniswap, for example, and Hayden Adams, Hayden makes Uniswap. And then the next thing he does is he makes Uniswap Labs, a centralized software company built on top of the Uiswap protocol.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Now, Kevin Owocky is doing that with Super Modular. And overall, I ask Kevin, of course, about that, building that. And also what role Schelling Point has in the global conversation that is Ethereum. So I hope you enjoy this fantastic conversation with Kevin Milwaukee as soon as we talk to some of these fantastic sponsors that make the show possible. TrueFi is leading defy into the future of on-chain, uncollateralized loans, opening up defy to the $8 trillion global credit market. Whether you want higher yields on your lending or you're a fund manager who just wants access to global liquidity and the cost savings of defy, TrueFi is here for you. But if you're going to use TruFi, use it through the

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Starting point is 00:03:12 What's up, Kevin? How's it going? Hey, Jim, how's it going to? Oh, you know, just hanging out at Shilling Point once again. This Shreling Point has turned into a beast. It's going real big. That's a bigger Shelling Point now. Why the name Shilling Point? So Shelling Point is a game theoretic place where people gather without having to coordinate or to communicate about it. And so like a campfire is a, is a

Starting point is 00:03:35 shilling point that at night when we all go camping together, we all just go around the campfire without having to communicate around it. And shelling point, the conference is a shelling point for the region, Web 3 move, and people are using Web 3 to build a better world. And it's gotten so much just like energy

Starting point is 00:03:51 really, really quickly. I was talking to Simona a little bit about this earlier. Like, why do you think Schelling Point has grown so fast so quickly? Like, what niche is in serving? Yeah. Well, I mean, I think it's Samona's baby and I mean I think

Starting point is 00:04:05 you couldn't have planned SP or Samo's initials and Schelling point is SP also so there's something in fate here with Simone who gets all the credit if things are growing well but I think that what you're really seeing here

Starting point is 00:04:17 is a nascent need to have more purpose in the protocols that we're building in Web3 how to, as Simone says it was so well how do we create how do we cultivate human thriving using Web3 protocols and the internet money and so I'm here to

Starting point is 00:04:31 support public goods to support local communities and create more human thriving using Web3. And I think that you're seeing there's a lot of latent demand from people who want to use Web3 to make a better world for everyday humans. And that's why Sheldon Point is growing. So for the listeners that weren't able to make it, what kind of vibe is Shilling Point here? What are the themes of content? What's kind of the purpose? What's the overall? Does your overall gist of Shelling Point for the listeners that can't make it? Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that the vibe is definitely kind of like earthy and green. I think that there might actually be screen behind us in the video.

Starting point is 00:05:04 And I think that what you're seeing is people who are building protocols for impact, whether that's, you know, Gitcoin in quadratic funding or civil resistance or impact certificates. There's just kind of a diversity of protocols that are being built around the Regen Web 3 movement. And this is our place for, it's a shelling point for us to come together and to discover each other and to hopefully collaborate on each other's work. And what I would like to see is that the next market cycle, all of these impact entrepreneurs are some of the top growing protocols in the next market cycle. And what would have to be sure to rotate capital and talent from the projects that just have the best Ponziomics into the projects that have the most impact on the world? How can we kind of like align capital and talent to go into those things? And that's what we're working on here.

Starting point is 00:05:52 So I bet this of course you like this frontier metaphor. And I think what you just stated is what trailing point is really on the frontier of is rewiring. these Ponzi-nomic games that have, you know, from, you know, more or less plagued or whatever you want to call it, plagued crypto throughout history, and now we are trying to re-architect it into being Republicans. How would you describe it if you had your own words? I mean, I think that, you know, we can program our values into our money with programmable money, and you're going to see anything from, like, Ponzi schemes to things that regenerate the world

Starting point is 00:06:26 built out of the Web3 movement. I mean, I think that, you know, there's a certain number of, like, gross. facts that have been pioneered in DFI that region Web3 will probably leverage and there's certain ones like the unethical ones or the fragile ones that I think that they won't and and you know the real the real the real the real opportunity I think I you know since you use the frontier metaphor is like I think that Web 3 has done a really great job of capturing the minds of of money people people who want to get better yield on their assets but 99% of humanity their financial lives is not their bank accounts or their investments it's their jobs and it's their communities and

Starting point is 00:07:00 And so if we want Web3 to be able to enter those communities, we've got to have anti-fragile things that are good for local communities in order for Web 3 to enter those spaces. And this is 95% and 99% of the world. And that's the frontier that I think Shell and Point in Regent. Web 3 is pointing towards. So I can't wait for the next market cycle and to see the ecosystem of Retain Web 3 really start to grow. I think that's the third shilling point that's ever occurred and by far the biggest.

Starting point is 00:07:30 It's always super refreshing, especially in the middle of the bear market, where, like, an activity is just kind of down. The shelling point, reach, and world of crypto is actually at its all-time high in energy. And it's just something that's so, like, refreshing to see that, like, the energy here is not reflective of the depression that you see on crypto Twitter, for example. What's your take on that? What do you think when you see all these people here? Yeah, well, I mean, you and I are second cyclers, right? We kind of know that there's going to be really high highs and really low lows and you turn to ride those out and hopefully have a little bit of fun. And I think that one of the really great things we've seen, you know, as you know, I run a podcast called The Greenfield podcast on the Bankless Network.

Starting point is 00:08:14 And, you know, I was looking at the analytics. I think it was with Brian or someone on your team and like number go up on like podcast downloads for Greenville. Actually, you should subscribe to the Greenfield podcast at Greenfield Night Party. But basically number go up. And I think it's the reason is that even in the depths of the bear market, people are intrinsically motivated to make their communities better and to make the lives of their friends and family better. And I think that it's that provides a higher floor than a lot of other markets

Starting point is 00:08:39 that just sort of like that intrinsic motivation to work on Regenum Up 3. Yeah, this is kind of how I think about crypto at large is that the crypto, you know, massinations of the bubbles, right? It goes up, it goes down, it goes up, but it goes down. It always hits a new floor, right? There's always a new higher floor. And that is true both on prices. That's both on user retention, on user activity.

Starting point is 00:08:59 And it's that floor that I think is supported by the regent public goods side of things. And that is the floor. And that's why I think the Greenfield podcast hasn't seen a drop in viewership. It's only gone up. Well, actually, if you go listen to the bank list, look at the bankless views, it tracks crypto prices, right? It went out with crypto prices. But we have things like Greenpill.

Starting point is 00:09:18 And also just the reason why people are here and why crypto never actually ends up getting smaller every single cycle. Because the sticky people are here because of the region reasons, not the pond re-earnsons. Yeah. Yeah, well, you know, one of the things I'm most of your listeners may know me from launching Bitcoin in advance,

Starting point is 00:09:35 which is one of the top crowdfunding platforms of the ecosystem. I'm really proud that Gitcoin grants is running several million dollar rounds, even through the fair market. And I kind of think of quadratic funding as this way of allocating capital when all the other, when the VC capital dries up,

Starting point is 00:09:50 when, you know, other people are deploying, hopefully we can build Bitcoin grants into this ecosystem that's always kind of funding even through the bear markets. And, you know, I meet people from the 2018 and 2019 cycle to say that they just lived off of their Gekcoin grants donations, which I think it's awesome. And, you know,

Starting point is 00:10:06 the fact that Gipcoin grants was some of the first capital into projects like Yern and Uniswap and 1-inch exchange in the last cycle just makes me wonder what projects were funding this cycle that are going to be the breakouts of the next cycle. So it really does make sense to stay through the bear markets and to continue out capital and attention to projects because then you're there for when things turn around.

Starting point is 00:10:27 And it's just really exciting. The energy here at Schelling Point and in the Web 3 ecosystem, and I can't wait to see what it culminates in. Yeah, and of course, for those who those who are that don't know, Banquist is a Great Coin alumni. And so we can definitely test to the usefulness of Gitcoin as a funding mechanism to make it through the bear market. Kevin, you recently announced something here at Shelling Point. talk to the listeners who missed the announcement about what you announced? Yeah, so I've disaffiliated from leadership in Gitcoin,

Starting point is 00:10:58 and I believe in Gitcoin in many ways it's my life's work, but I felt like because I was the CEO and founder and kind of the outsized personality in the Dow, that it made sense to distance myself a little bit from leadership. And, you know, the Dow needs to be governed by the community that it serves. That's the loop is the consent of the governed in these Web3 communities that we want to maintain. That's the legitimacy of the governments. And so I'm disaffiliated from Gitcoin Dow, and I am now the founder and CEO of a project called

Starting point is 00:11:29 Supermodular.xy-Z. And you can go to the website at Supermodular. Ati-X-XYZ and see that we are a venture studio built on top of Gitcoin's protocols. So basically, like, as early consensus was to the Ethereum ecosystem, building things that Ethereum newly enabled for the world, supermodular. Xyz is building things that only Gitcoins protocols and the civil resistance and quadratic funding they enable, uh, allow. So we're going to be, we're going to be, I think that we've got some

Starting point is 00:11:58 interesting projects coming up and I'll be announcing those hopefully at Schelling Point in Denver in 2023. So you're building an in the app layer around the Gitcoin protocol. That's right. Yeah. Also, can we just celebrate that there actually is a get coin protocol now? I launched it as a centralized platform in a monolith back in 2017. It did a lot of good for people. But we're kind of naming the new company super modular to repent for our sins and building a centralized model. Now, we're modular and decentralized protocols are the future. And I've seen the light, and it's been a long, painful transition. But Gitcoin Passport is out.

Starting point is 00:12:31 Gitcoin Grants Hub and the Round Manager protocols are all out in Alpha. And I'm hopeful that the next Gitcoin Grants run will be on the decentralized protocols. So there's actually a protocol to build upon now. And I feel like, man, I, Gitcoin's seen a lot of things, but becoming a decentralized modular protocol, I think is a huge reinvention for it and I'm here for it. And Karen, I hope this is a microcosm for many, many platforms moving forward. And we've seen this at Uniswap too, right? Where Hayden Adams and the Uniswop team built Uniswap,

Starting point is 00:13:01 and now they're building Uniswap Labs as like a software company on top of the protocol. And so I think this is a path that many pioneers are carving, where they're first they build a protocol, and then they like retire into their own app layer that they've established. and by retire, I mean just another startup, but now in the app player. And so I think this is going to be a pattern that many, many, many founders follow in your footsteps, you and Hayden and all the others. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:27 Yeah, I mean, I think it's really fun. Like, I think that, you know, I've been crypto for multiple phases full time, and I was even in a part-time before that as a hobbyist. And some of the most interesting projects I think are going to come from entrepreneurs that have been through multiple cycles and have multiple phases to their career. And so super modular is the next phase of my career, and I'm just so lucky that it's built on the fast phase, which was GIC coin. And also just all the things around Gekcoin that have grown up about. I just give a shout-outs like Giveth in CLR Fund and proof of humanity, things that are built adjacent to GICCoin.

Starting point is 00:14:05 Because they're modular, super modular can build on top of those as well, and the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. So it's a really great ecosystem for multi-stage entrepreneurs because you just, you just get, there's just so much to explore and so much to build. Well, Kevin, a number of people here is attest to some, much of the legacy that you've built with Bitcoin. And I'm looking forward to seeing what you were building with that super modular. Are you excited to be a builder again or another startup? Or like, what's your emotions about this? I think it's pronounced biddler. Builder, first off.

Starting point is 00:14:37 In part of my transcripts. Yeah, exactly. Well, no, I, so the first thing I'll say is, like, thank you for the nice things you said about Shelling Point and Gitcoin. But I really, really have to emphasize that there are hundreds of people that worked on Gitcoin down in the last market cycle and on Shelling Point. And it's all credit to them. And as the founder, I will always get more credit than is due and will get more blamed than is due. And so I think that it's really important that people see that Gitcoin is this ecosystem of people and not just me. But yes, I am excited to be a builder again.

Starting point is 00:15:08 and I'm really excited to kind of build a visual. Oh, no, I'm a transcast on my own thing. But yeah, the cool thing is that because everything is modular now, I can kind of build on top of GitHub as being on top of it. And it's just fun to be advancing and trying pushing new frontiers but still be leveraging stuff we built before. It'll be it before. Kevin, thank you so much for your time.

Starting point is 00:15:33 Cheers. Cheers.

Bankless - Devcon #7 - Supermodular with Kevin Owoki

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