<![CDATA[Ignas | DeFi Research: Insider AMAs]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/s/ama-insighthttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cqst!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55f43980-5baf-4a21-a4fb-bd9fcd51f9fc_1280x1280.pngIgnas | DeFi Research: Insider AMAshttps://www.ignasdefi.com/s/ama-insightSubstackSun, 12 Apr 2026 03:20:37 GMT<![CDATA[Endgame for Starknet]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/endgame-for-starknethttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/endgame-for-starknetTue, 09 Apr 2024 10:05:11 GMTYou’ve probably heard about Starknet, perhaps used a few dApps. And if you spend many hours per day on X, you’ll even know Starknet uses “zk-STARKs” tech.

But what really makes Starknet unique and different from other L2s? What’s next to get excited about, and what’s the ultimate endgame vision for Starknet?

For this post I interviewed Louis Guthmann (Head of Product/Market Strategy at StarkWare) and Henri Lietaud (Head of Developer Relations at Starknet Foudation).

But first, I will review Starknet ecosystem and share protocols I farm for airdrops and high APYs!

Starknet at a Glance

There’s another reason you might’ve heard about Starknet: airdrop.

In February Starknet distributed ~700M STRK to nearly 1.3M addresses.

Yet, there’s another airdrop coming sometime in the future with 200M more STRK tokens dedicated to the Provisions program.

In total, 1.8B STRK are dedicated to the community with a DeFi Spring campaign distributing 40M STRK tokens currently underway.

As a result, Starknet is now…

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]]><![CDATA[Endgame for Sei: AMA with Jeff, Co-Founder of SEI]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/endgame-for-sei-ama-with-jeff-cohttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/endgame-for-sei-ama-with-jeff-coTue, 23 Jan 2024 15:20:30 GMTSei has been on a spotlight recently. But why? What makes SEI L1 special when there are so many alt-L1s & L2s already?

So, I decided to ask the SEI team directly in order to understand their take on the L1 space, their perspective on monolithic vs modular blockchain development, and the endgame vision for SEI.

Other questions discussed:

  • Did Ethereum win the L1 games?

  • What’s so special about SEI V2 and parallelized EVM?

  • What's next for Sei and SEI ecosystem to be excited about? 

Btw, I recently stopped sponsorships for my blog, and decided to share protocols I believe are going to give big airdrops. Yaka Finance DEX on Sei offers free airdrop for testnet users for completing “Milestones” such as swapping and providing LP. I would appreciate if you signed up with my referral link.

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]]><![CDATA[Endgame for Fantom: AMA with the Fantom Team]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/endgame-for-fantom-ama-with-the-fantomhttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/endgame-for-fantom-ama-with-the-fantomTue, 19 Dec 2023 12:08:39 GMTI lied. I said that my AMA with BNB Chain was my last AMA on the role of L1s in the era of L2s.

Yet here we are with the Fantom team, exploring the topic from their perspective. But in this AMA we also discuss the fundamental question of scaling blockchains via monolithic vs modular designs.

Other questions discussed are:

  • Did Ethereum win the L1 games?

  • What’s so special about Fantom’s Sonic upgrade?

  • What’s the plan to rebuild the TVL and bring more users?

By the way, previously I had insightful discussions with Sanket from Polygon, Luigi from Avalanche, Michelle from Solana, Kendall from Near, and Alex from zkSync and BNB Chain Core team. All discussions can be accessed in my “Insider AMAs” section on this blog.

Fantom respondents include:

Make sure you follow them on X for Fantom updates. And if you have ETH on Arbitrum, take a look at Swaap that’s giving 15% boost in the fu…

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]]><![CDATA[The Endgame for BNB Chain: AMA with the Core Development Team]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-bnb-chain-ama-withhttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-bnb-chain-ama-withThu, 09 Nov 2023 14:33:09 GMTThis is probably my last AMA on the role of L1s in the era of L2s.

And I’m happy it’s BNB Chain. Although their team was more difficult to contact compared to other L1 teams, I appreciate that the core development members of BNB Chain took the time to answer my questions.

Even if you're not particularly interested in BNB Chain, it matters. BNB Chain consistently ranks among the top three chains in terms of TVL, active users, and number of dApps.

BSC Ranks 3rd by TVL, and second by Active users.

Yet, BNB Chain might not be the most loved blockchain on Crypto Twitter, and I’ve even got hate in the comments for covering developments in the BNB Chain ecosystem.

Nevertheless, numbers don’t lie. Users like to use BNB Chain. Now, BNB Chain has just launched an L2 on BNB Chain - opBNB to increase performance and reduce gas fees.

So, what’s the point of BNB Chain and the opBNB in the era of so many L2s?

By the way, previously I had insightful discussions with Sanket from Polygon, Luigi from Avalanc…

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]]><![CDATA[The Endgame for zkSync: AMA with Alex, Co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-zksync-ama-with-alexhttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-zksync-ama-with-alexThu, 31 Aug 2023 15:00:15 GMTWhat’s the point of L1s in the era of L2s is the central question that has been the focus of my previous discussions with team members from Polygon, Avalanche, Solana, and Near.

However, this time, I was privileged to interview Alex, the co-founder & CEO of Matter Labs, the team behind the zkSync L2 solution. Unlike my earlier guests who are from Layer 1 projects, Alex offers insights from the perspective of a Layer 2 builder.

So, what’s the point of L1s in the era of L2s?

It's well-known that L2 solutions aim to increase Ethereum's scalability, boasting faster transaction speeds and reduced fees. These were the very reasons L1 protocols were launched a few years back, especially when soaring Ethereum gas fees made dApps nearly unusable on the mainnet.

But with the rising popularity of L2s, what's the future of L1s? Are they on the verge of obsolescence, poised to evolve, or do they have qualities that L2 solutions can't replicate?

Earlier, I engaged in insightful discussions with Sanket f…

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]]><![CDATA[The Endgame for Near Protocol: An AMA with Kendall, R&D for Near DeFi Ecosystem (Proximity Labs).]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-near-protocol-anhttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-near-protocol-anThu, 10 Aug 2023 12:16:10 GMTWhat’s the point of L1s in the era of L2s?

I’ve been asking this question to the industry insiders and reached out Layer 1 teams at Polygon, Solana, Avalanche, and others to understand their perspectives.

I’m very happy that Kendall, R&D for Near DeFi Ecosystem (Proximity Labs), agreed to do an interview. I encourage you to also follow him on Twitter.

Previously I had an interview with Sanket from Polygon, Luigi from Avalanche, and Michelle from Solana where they shared their thoughts. You can find our full AMAs below:

  1. Polygon:

  2. Avalanche:

  3. Solana:

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]]><![CDATA[The Endgame for Solana: An AMA with Michelle, DeFi BD at Solana Foundation]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-solana-an-ama-withhttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-solana-an-ama-withThu, 20 Jul 2023 14:23:10 GMTWhat’s the point of L1s in the era of L2s?

If you’ve read my previous blog post, you know that I’ve been asking this question to industry insiders and reached out to Layer 1 teams at Polygon, Solana, Avalanche, and others to understand their perspectives.

I’m very happy that Michelle, who works on Defi BD at Solana Foundation, agreed to do an interview. I encourage you to also follow her on Twitter.

Previously I had an interview with Sanket from Polygon, Luigi from Avalanche where they shared their thoughts. You can find our full AMAs below:

  1. Polygon:

  2. Avalanche:

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]]><![CDATA[The Endgame for Avalanche: An AMA with Luigi, Head of DeFi at Avalanche]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-avalanche-an-amahttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-avalanche-an-amaThu, 01 Jun 2023 11:00:28 GMTWhat’s the point of L1s in the era of L2s?

This question has been nagging me for weeks. Unsure where to look or whom to ask, I decided to reach out to teams at Polygon, Solana, Avalanche, and others to understand their perspectives.

I’m happy that Luigi, the Head of DeFi/DevRel at Avalanche, agreed to do an interview. I encourage you to also follow him on Twitter.

By the way, last month, I had an interview with Sanket, Head of Growth at Polygon where he shared his thoughts. You can find the full post below:

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]]><![CDATA[The Endgame for Polygon: An AMA with Sanket, Head of Growth at Polygon]]>https://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-polygon-an-ama-withhttps://www.ignasdefi.com/p/the-endgame-for-polygon-an-ama-withTue, 18 Apr 2023 12:19:59 GMTWhat’s the point of L1s in the era of L2s?

This question has been nagging me for weeks. Unsure where to look or whom to ask, I decided to reach out to teams at Polygon, Solana, Avalanche, and others to understand their perspectives.

I’m happy that Sanket, the Head of Growth at Polygon, agreed to do an interview. I encourage you to follow him on Twitter!

Seriously, what’s the point of L1s?

As you know, L2 solutions promise to scale Ethereum with fast transactions and cheaper fees. That's exactly why Layer 1s launched in the first place a few years ago, when high Ethereum gas fees made it too expensive to use dApps on mainnet.

But with the growth of L2s, what is the point of L1s? Will they die out, morph into something different or do they still offer something that Ethereum L2s cannot offer?

In this blog post you’ll get the answer from Polygon’s point of view.

Image

Other questions covered include:

  • What’s the present & future role of Polygon PoS Chain?

  • How does Polygon zkEVM compare to zkSync?

  • And wha…

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