Blake and Craig take the anchor roles this week for an iconic interview with Stani Kulechov, the founder of defi project AAVE. As passionate defi users themselves, Craig and Blake could barely contain their excitement interviewing one of the pioneers of not only the defi space, but the cryptosphere as a whole.

To kick off proceedings Stani talks about the founding days of AAVE with nostalgia, as well as some of the struggles and highlights throughout the project so far, which already includes close to a decade of work. He also provides a more insightful outlook on the problems they're trying to solve within AAVE and endorses the strength of his team and the mindset that helps them continue to innovate…Which paints a pretty clear picture of why they’re the industry leaders in defi!

Following that Craig quizzes Stani on how the protocol actually works, which brings about some interesting points of discussion, including some powerful thoughts about the decentralisation of AAVE and the benefits of true decentralisation in the finance sector. Which Blake uses a a great segway to invite Stani to talk about AAVE Arc - which allows institutions to interact with the Aave Protocol the same way any other user would, but on their own separate and permissioned liquidity pool where every user has been verified. Stani elaborates on the ins and outs of how it operates as well as how it ties into the AAVE ecosystem.

Craig then shares an inside joke for the crypto world bringing up how Stani tweeted that he was the interim CEO of Twitter, after the turmoil that broke out after Elon Musks takeover offer. The tweet resulted in Stani being suspended from the platform which forms as a great entry point for the guys to discuss another Web 3 project Stani is spearheading called Lens Protocol, which will essentially provide an opportunity for decentralised social media. A hugely exciting prospect which Stani prefaces with the challenges faced, then provides insight into the inner workings of how it interacts with the blockchain. Ever the optimist, Stani talks excitedly about the ways in which social media would work if it was decentralised and with a Web 3 spin on it. He emphasises that things like ensuring profile ownership and giving back to the creators are front of mind in the innovation and with the help of Blake’s encouragement he shares the go to market strategy.

Craig starts bringing the conversation to conclusion by asking Stani about where he sees the defi world going and what he is most excited about when he thinks of the future of blockchain technology. Stani’s mind seems set on making sure the fundamentals of blockchain are held in check as he mentions things like making more impactful use of the blockchain and its decentralisation. As you’d expect from an industry leader he’s excited about the future of Web 3 and in particular the idea of decentalised social media as well as how that ties into NFT’s; which he sees as an important tool in the infrastructure moving of the space forward.

Overall an extremely optimistic discussion that will leave you feeling pumped up about the future and excited to follow along with the innovations he and his team will no doubt lead as time progresses and the space matures.

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