Today's episode is a bonus episode from our podcast 0xResearch, produced by the Blockworks Research team. This is one of my favorite episodes they've done, a deep dive into the future of rollups, scaling and zk-tech. The first 15 minutes is the "analyst bullpen" segment on Arbitrum's recent governance debacle, followed by an interview with Preston Evans from Sovereign Labs (use the Timestamps if you want to skip ahead). If you enjoy this episode, follow the link in the show notes below to subscribe!
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Join us on 0xResearch as we interview Preston Evans, the Chief Scientist of Sovereign Labs. Why should you care about Sovereign? Because they're building the Sovereign SDK. Like the Cosmos SDK that enables modular plug-and-play experimentation for L1s, the Sovereign SDK is a modular toolkit for building zk-rollups on any chain with seamless composability. In this episode, we discuss how Sovereign's design compares to the Cosmos SDK and IBC, smart contract vs Sovereign rollups, the role of data availability, decentralized sequencer design and more! This is my favorite 0xResearch episode yet.

And as usual, we start the episode with our analyst bullpen to discuss the recent governance drama at Arbitrum!
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:45) Arbitrum's Governance Blunder
(15:04) Blockworks Research
(16:03) Interview Start: What is Sovereign?
(22:23) The Sovereign SDK vs Cosmos SDK
(23:59) Settlement on Smart Contract vs Sovereign Rollups
(28:14) The Role of Data Availability
(32:24) Decentralized Sequencers
(37:54) Optimistic Rollup Tradeoffs
(41:24) Composability and IBC
(52:22) What Is Sovereign’s X Factor?
(54:17) Building Rollups on Bitcoin
(59:11) Sovereign’s Business Model and Timeline
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Follow Preston: https://twitter.com/prestonevans__
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Resources:
Delegate ARB to Blockworks Research
https://twitter.com/blockworksres/status/1639279479368368132

Sovereign Labs
https://www.sovereign.xyz/
https://twitter.com/sovereign_labs
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on 0xResearch is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Dan, Sam, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.