My Top Picks for Technical Crypto Podcasts & Articles
What I've Been Listening to & Reading Lately - mostly on MEV
In the crypto world, it's an understatement to say that there is an overwhelming amount of resources. With the explosion of new projects, countless "experts", influencers, and the never-ending stream of breaking news, it's easy to get lost in the noise.
Recently, I've noticed that many new people are interested in learning more about MEV (Maximal Extractable Value), and generally more technical-deep dives in certain areas. This motivated me to create this post, having spent a lot of time searching for good technical resources and now having a list of my favorite podcasts & articles that I follow regularly.
In this post, I want to share some of my recent favorite podcasts and articles. Please note most are on MEV stuff; if you follow me on Twitter, you may very well be aware of this. So, without further do, let's dive into my recent reading & listening resources.
Before getting to them, worth noting that for me, a good resource should:
Be technical: I want something that goes beyond surface-level discussions and, at the very least, points to more in-depth technical resources. (well %90 of the time)
Avoid the hype: I want objective, well-reasoned content, not just the latest buzz or wild speculation.
Have credible sources: The person writing or speaking should be knowledgeable about the topic, not just someone who got rich in crypto and became famous. (Seems like this should be case by default, funnily enough it really isn’t)
Be fun & engaging: Most topics are super technical topics (and most people seem to overcomplicate them with their explanations) and I definitely want a deep dive, still the content should be both informative and engaging.
Podcasts & Playlists
Bell Curve
There are a few different series here on the Bell Curve podcast, and I've been super into Season 4, a dive into crypto's dark forest: MEV with Mike & Hasu.
Interview with a Searcher 2.0 | Dean Eigenman, Anish Agnihotri: Interesting episode with two searchers, people looking for MEV opportunities. There aren't many interviews or insights into what searchers do; I hope there'll be more. All the episodes in this section have been great; I'm calling this one out because I'm trying to learn more about what searchers are doing & how to go about finding and capturing MEV opportunities. On similar lines, here's another good resource for searchers: the flashbots forum.
Ethereum Cat Herders
If you want to follow the latest news in Ethereum from the folks that are actually working on it, you should check out Ethereum cat herders.
MEV Boost with Alex Stokes: I've been learning a lot about MEV. This was a good overview to MEV and how Ethereum protocol researchers are approaching it with mev-boost.
Zero Knowledge Podcast
One of my favorite podcasts. Not specifically MEV, although everything is tied & linked to MEV in some way or another. Instead of suggesting an episode, I'd recommend checking out the guests and topics and choosing the most interesting.
You can also signup for the monthly newsletter about the latest in decentralised privacy-preserving technologies, privacy protocol development and Zero Knowledge systems.
0xResearch
0xReasearch podcast by Blockworks is another podcast diving into technical research & developments.
The latest episode called the Solana Bet with Anatoly Yakovenko was an interesting one, talking about the why and the how of Solana, discussing some of the difference with Ethereum. Also it was fun intro talking about the meme-coin action and the mev-bot crazyness (jaredfromsubway.eth) from the past week.
Articles
Hack Analysis: 0xbaDc0dE MEV Bot, September 2022: Deep dive hack analysis of an MEV bot on Ethereum that lost $ 1.46 million! Code walk-through (yay!)
SUAVE, Anoma, Shared Sequencers, & Super Builders: Tech deep dive on Suave, Anoma and Shared Sequencers. Jon is great at breaking down super complicated technical concepts for regular humans, highly recommend following him. You should also listen to the recent Bell Curve episode with Jon & Robert on the same topics.
Exploration of MEV Latencies: How latency affects MEV trading and how traders build low-latency systems for more precise trades. It also compares on-chain trading to traditional HFT and defines latency metrics for measuring the trading lifecycle.
Time, slots, and the ordering of events in Ethereum Proof-of-Stake: On mev-boost, vulnerability in the mev-boost relay (April 2nd unbundling attack), the patches, areas of research around mev & mev-boost. (Highly suggest to follow the writings from Paradigm)
More
I’ve recently discovered Frontier Research, an independent research and advisory group on all things MEV. You can also contribute to a publication.
Immunefi is web3's bug bounty platform and they cover different exploits and walkthroughs on their Youtube channel. You should also checkout their blog if you’re interested in smart contract security.
MEVconomics is a full playlist containing a series of presentations and panels on MEV. Highly recommend, worth mentioning that its better if you already have a good understanding of MEV before diving in. So if you're just learning about MEV, check out this collection of MEV resources before the MEVconomics playlist.
I usually scan through Messari and Delphi Digital's research papers to find new and interesting topics, although most posts have been for paid versions on both platforms. I'd still recommend checking and following them on Twitter for the latest news.
Benedict Evans Newsletter: This is an extra suggestion, not just crypto; it's a newsletter on Tech. Always gives me a brief overview of recent events and ideas. Super highly recommended.
Consuming the right resources makes a huge difference. While my suggestions may not be super interesting for everyone, they can hopefully provide a starting point for those interested in technical deep-dives.
I'll definitely share more of what I'm reading and listening, please do let me know if you have any suggestions, my dm’s are open 👀
See you on the next one! 👋