Credible Commitments

In this episode of Credible Commitments I chat with Michael from Quasar Builder (#2 block builder on Ethereum). Michael started out mining Bitcoin before turning to block building, launching Quasar in 2025 with no privileged orderflow and climbing the leaderboard from the public mempool. The episodes progresses as we discuss PropAMMs and the market structure behind orderflow dynamics. Orderflow is downstream of trust. In particular we break down different types of orderflow and discuss what sharing orderflow between competing parties actually looks like and where multi-party block construction is heading. We close by discussing: ACE, faster blocks, and coordination as the next frontier including where ePBS fits into the auction's future, and a final question worth sitting with: is the public mempool beyond saving?

Timestamps

(00:00) - Bitcoin mining origins

(02:15) - Launching Quasar at the right time

(03:14) - Building credibility from the public mempool

(05:04) - Climbing the leaderboard

(07:31) - Trust is king

(09:22) - Different types of orderflow

(12:51) - CEX-DEX arbitrage

(14:59) - PropAMMs

(22:13) - Sharing orderflow

(25:15) - Multi-party block construction

(29:15) - Focus on bringing value to users

(30:51) - ACE/ Faster Blocks/ Coordination

(36:31) - Ship it mentality

(41:31) - Impact of AI on building products

(46:27) - Touching on ePBS

(53:52) - Is the public mempool beyond saving?

Disclaimer
Nothing in this episode should be interpreted as financial, technical, or legal advice.

In this episode of Deeply Intents I chat with Markus Schmitt, Founder of Propeller Heads. We dive into PropAMMs: what they are and how they are changing the market microstructure on Ethereum. In addition we unpack the Propeller stack of Tycho, Fynd, and Turbine which will enable a trustless trading experience on Ethereum main-net. 

Timestamps

(00:00) - Setting the stage

(01:11) - What is a PropAMM?

(03:24) - Solana PropAMMs vs Ethereum PropAMMs

(04:56) - RFQ Systems in comparison

(06:44) - PropAMMs solve many issues

(08:17) - Offchain actors set parameters on a curve

(10:05) - How PropAmms impact onchain routing

(14:31) - AMM can provide better prices than a maker

(16:34) - PropAMMs and market microstructure

(20:32) - Ethereum is a coordination layer

(25:48) - Building a self-sovereign trading stack

(30:16) - Advantages of open source

(31:38) - Fynd turns Tycho into a DEX aggregator

(37:10) - Listening to developer feedback

(39:31) - Local routing is 100x faster

(45:01) - Fynd is customizable

(46:50) - Turbine solves problems for large traders

(49:20) - Inspiration for Turbine

(50:24) - Trades settle in batches

(53:45) - Confidentiality, Transparency, & TEEs

(57:06) - Turbine is a mixture of many things

(56:30) - Open source can be very good business

(59:51) - Spicy prediction on DeFi

(1:03:44) - Ethereum is the model to follow

Disclaimer
Nothing in this episode should be interpreted as financial, technical, or legal advice.

In this episode of Deeply Intents I chat with Quintus from Flashbots. We discuss the current transaction supply chain and how PropAMMs fit in. Quintus provides fresh insights and a wealth of technical understanding around this new market micro structure. In particular, the ways in which the working processes of PropAMMs affect determinants of transaction costs, prices, quotes, volume, and trading behavior.

Timestamps

(00:00) - Revisiting Private Orderflow research

(03:12) - A machine that solves problems

(08:00) - Tx supply chain from the user's perspective

(11:55) - Blockchains have multiple sources of liquidity

(16:47) - Market Makers, AMMs, and liquidity

(19:26) - CEX-DEX arbitrage

(21:01) - Priority fee ordered chains

(22:52) - Prop AMMs solve 2 problems that AMMs had

(25:37) - The "Prop" in "Prop AMMs" stands for proprietary

(27:19) - Flow segmentation that happens

(29:14) - Why do market makers prefer prop AMMs?

(35:49) - How pAMMs impact the market micro structure

(37:58) - Barriers to entry in block building

(39:03) - Talking about takers and spoofing

(40:53) - ETH price discovery on Ethereum

(43:29) - How does pre-trade privacy impact execution

(45:01) - Closed source is silly

(46:34) - Onchain contracts as order types

(47:15) - Closing thoughts on PropAMMs & Ethereum

Disclaimer
Nothing in this episode should be interpreted as financial, technical, or legal advice.

It already happened, propAMMs won, you just didn't notice. In this episode of Deeply Intents, I chat with Katia Banina, CEO at Bebop . We discuss prop AMMs on Ethereum, how they compare to RFQ systems, and pushing the limits of DeFi innovation with PopAMM (Block Oracle Priced AMM).

Timestamps

(00:00) - Cat stories

(02:19) - BopAMM

(06:28) - Request for stream (RFS)

(09:41) - RFQ & RFS both have their place

(10:53) - Block building and pAMMs

(15:47) - Prop AMMs on Ethereum

(18:20) - Integrating market makers

(23:28) - BopAMM solves the last mile problem

(25:00) - Providing passive liquidity is irrational

(26:50) - AMMs, Price discovery & Execution quality

(30:32) - Block building with pAMMs

(33:45) - The oracle update & use cases

(40:44) - Performance improvements and optimizations

(43:05) - L2s in the future, focused on Ethereum

(44:53) - Thinking about security

(50:14) - Building with AI

(54:18) - The future of DeFi is finance

(55:10) - The innovation is blockchain

(57:08) - RFQ innovation in the pipeline

Disclaimer
Nothing in this episode should be interpreted as financial, technical, or legal advice.

In this episode of Deeply Intents I chat with Will Quist of Slow Ventures and Dan Gray from Odin. This episode pulls apart the current discourse on venture investing looking at an investor's and researcher's perspectives.

In particular we grapple with existential questions like; 

- Do exits even matter? 

- Are Megafunds the future of venture? 

- Is the current venture environment limiting innovation? 

- Are seed-strapping startups more than a trend? 

- Are founder archetypes predictive of outcomes? 

- What's something in venture people don't see coming?

This was a lively conversation with plenty of spice. You will surely enjoy. 

Timestamps

(00:00) - Intros

(03:01) - Exits don't matter

(06:41) - Everyone eats their own BS

(07:46) - Paper marks and management fees

(10:25) - Now you can have your cake and eat it too

(11:25) - The carry is not dependent on time value of money

(13:18) - Megafunds do the easy thing

(14:39) - Top of funnel is still limitless

(15:16) - 90% of venture is professional asset management

(16:03) - True venture doesn't scale

(18:29) - Funny that VC and Software are tied together

(21:00) - A machine for fake value

(24:14) - In a perfect moment with AI

(26:33) - Great investors are great editors of the future

(29:25) - Seed-strapping trends

(31:12) - Businesses and art projects

(35:30) - How important and big is it?

(39:12) - The assumptions are the important part

(39:43) - It's all a DCF, everything in life is a DCF

(41:54) - Are founder archetypes predictive of success?

(45:39) - Founders should be the best allocator and investor in their own company

(47:02) - What's something people in venture don't see coming?

(54:45) - Founder opportunity cost is extremely scarce

Disclaimer
Nothing in this episode should be interpreted as financial, technical, or legal advice.