### YouTube Description

In this episode of the TLD Podcast, host Dirt (aka Mike) sits down with Nicky Scanz, founder of Layer33 – a new coalition of independent Solana validators aimed at preserving and strengthening Solana’s decentralization.

Fresh off their indie SOL pool launch and a standout presence at Breakpoint, Nicky shares his journey into Solana: from minting Degen Ape Academy NFTs on the legendary Sollet mobile web app in 2021, to becoming CEO of DAA, working at Marinade, and now founding Layer33.

They dive deep into:

- Why 33% stake on truly independent validators is the key safety threshold for Solana’s long-term decentralization

- The alarming trend of independent validators shutting down and stake funneling toward institutional operators

- How Layer33 unites top indie validators to build products, pool resources, and compete for institutional stake

- Upcoming Layer33 tools (RPC service, transaction landing, and bigger secret projects)

- The future of staking innovation (shoutout to Pi Finance), institutional adoption, and whether the Solana Foundation should stick around forever

A must-watch for anyone who cares about Solana staying fast, cheap, AND decentralized for decades to come.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro & Congrats on Layer33 Indie SOL Pool Launch

00:21 - Dirt or Mike? The host’s name transition debate

00:55 - Nicky’s origin story: How he got into Solana

01:10 - Discovering NFTs in 2021 via Degen Ape Academy & Sollet wallet

02:34 - From NFT collector → full-time at DAA → CEO → Marinade → Layer33

04:03 - Nostalgia for Sollet, Phantom, and early Solana wallets

05:27 - Why NFTs were the ultimate crypto onboarding experience

06:56 - The meaning behind the name "Layer33" (33% decentralization threshold)

08:55 - Technical explanation: Why 33% indie stake makes Solana "safe in perpetuity"

11:02 - Responding to the trend of indie validators shutting down

13:00 - Layer33’s vision: Multiple validator coalitions hitting 33% together

14:11 - Criteria for joining Layer33 (performance + resource commitment)

17:03 - Economic incentives, co-ownership, and revenue-sharing for validators

19:13 - Diversifying revenue streams to keep indie validators profitable long-term

21:45 - Early governance: Telegram channels, enthusiastic contributors, and post-Breakpoint momentum

25:32 - Nicky’s day-to-day as a new founder + funding possibilities

28:50 - Thoughts on Pi Finance and on-chain staking innovation vs. backroom deals

31:26 - Attracting institutional stake: Power, influence, and scale matter

34:51 - Current & upcoming Layer33 products (TX landing, global RPC service, secret big bets)

37:03 - Can Solana survive without the Foundation? (Spoiler: Nicky hopes it sticks around)

39:46 - Wrap-up, holiday cheers, and future conversations

🔗 Layer33: www.layer33.com

🔗 Follow Layer 33: https://x.com/layer_33_ on X

🔗 Follow Nicky: @NickyScanz on X

🔗 TLD Podcast: Subscribe for more Solana deep dives

#Solana #Layer33 #Decentralization #Crypto #Blockchain #SolanaValidators

Drop a like if you’re staking with indie validators 🚀

What’s your take on Solana’s decentralization – safe forever or still at risk? Comment below!

Aurimus from Alchemy @ Breakpoint Abu Dhabi | The Latest Development Podcast

In this special on-site episode of The Latest Development, recorded live at Breakpoint 2025 in Abu Dhabi, we sit down with Aurimus from Alchemy to dive deep into Alchemy’s bold entry into Solana infrastructure.

Aurimus shares his journey from building early Solana projects in 2021, founding Dexter Labs (later acquired by Alchemy), and how his team’s bare-metal, open-source innovations are now powering Alchemy’s push to become a top-tier RPC provider on Solana.

We discuss:

- Why Alchemy acquired Dexter Labs

- Key differentiators: sub-millisecond latency, massive scaling, multi-region reliability, and enterprise-grade performance

- How Alchemy stacks up against established players like Helius and Triton

- The future of wallet infrastructure, social logins, and abstracting away blockchain complexity

- Bare metal vs cloud, the exploding data problem on Solana, and the insane race for millisecond-level performance

If you’re building on Solana or just curious about the infrastructure arms race, this one’s for you.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro & Welcome from Breakpoint Abu Dhabi

00:18 - Aurimus’ background and early Solana journey (2021)

01:20 - Building Dexter Labs & the Bigtable problem

02:00 - Alchemy acquires Dexter Labs to enter Solana

03:24 - Size of Alchemy’s Solana team & recent launches

04:08 - Alchemy’s differentiators: speed, scaling, reliability

05:31 - Adoption by larger dApps & being late to the game

06:25 - Why developers use multiple RPC providers

07:27 - Multi-region infrastructure & Cortex routing

07:51 - Beyond RPC: Wallet infrastructure & onboarding tools

09:09 - Abstraction layers, gas sponsorship, and social logins

10:15 - Mobile UX pain points & the future of on-chain access

12:20 - Bare metal vs cloud: the 10x cost difference

13:26 - Competitors & the performance race

14:26 - Advice for founders choosing infrastructure

14:41 - Solana’s massive data growth (1.5PB historical cluster)

16:48 - Hardware vs software scaling debate

17:16 - The millisecond-level RPC arms race

18:45 - Final thoughts & where to find Aurimus

Follow Alchemy on X: @Alchemy (link in bio)

Alchemy on Solana: https://www.alchemy.com/solana

Subscribe for more raw conversations with the builders shaping Solana’s future.

#Solana #Alchemy #RPC #Breakpoint2025 #CryptoInfrastructure #Web3 #SolanaDevs

🔥 Richard Brown (CEO of R3 Labs) on Why Solana is the Future of Institutional Blockchain & Real-World Assets | Breakpoint Abu Dhabi 2025

Live from Solana's Breakpoint conference in Abu Dhabi (December 2025), Richard Brown — CEO of R3 Labs and former CTO — joins us for an in-depth conversation on bridging traditional finance with DeFi.

Richard shares his journey from discovering Bitcoin in 2011 to building enterprise blockchain solutions, and why R3 is now all-in on Solana.

Key highlights:

- How Bitcoin’s permissionless value transfer changed everything for him

- The story behind Corda: R3’s private blockchain powering billions in assets

- Why Solana was the “overwhelmingly obvious” choice for R3’s public chain integration

- The massive pivot: From optimizing TradFi → bringing institutional capital and RWAs into DeFi

- Exclusive reveal: Corda Protocol — a new on-chain RWA marketplace launching early 2026 on Solana

- Partnerships with Kamino, yield vaults, tokenizers, and curators to deliver composable, high-quality real-world yield

- Why Solana’s token extensions are a “secret superpower” for institutional adoption

- Thoughts on clear thinking, writing, and using AI effectively

Richard makes the case that the next trillion dollars of assets will be issued on-chain — and explains why Solana is uniquely positioned to host the unified internet capital markets of the future.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro at Breakpoint Abu Dhabi

00:20 - Richard’s background & Bitcoin origin story

03:35 - The magic of public-key cryptography

06:15 - Writing as thinking + AI advice

07:25 - From enterprise blockchain to Solana

09:40 - TradFi → DeFi: The pivotal shift

12:50 - Connecting private networks to Solana

15:40 - Exclusive: Corda Protocol RWA marketplace announcement

19:30 - Token extensions & Solana’s technical advantages

24:20 - Validators, MEV, and institutional requirements

Follow Richard on X: @gendal

R3 Labs: https://r3.com

Corda Protocol updates: https://corda.xyz

#Solana #Breakpoint2025 #RWA #DeFi #TradFi #Blockchain #AbuDhabi #RealWorldAssets #InstitutionalCrypto #Crypto

Subscribe for more exclusive interviews from Breakpoint and beyond! 🚀