{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Slow Hunch","title":"Muneeb Ali (Co-founder of Stacks)","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3945,"description":"In this episode, I spoke to Muneeb Ali, the co-founder of Stacks — a Bitcoin L2 that aims to make BTC more programmable and scalable. \nAt USV, we originally backed Muneeb and his co-founder Ryan Shea back in 2014. Our shared hypothesis was that Bitcoin had the potential to impact more than just finance—it could be a new foundation for the internet itself. \nOf course, this idea wasn't as obvious back then. In my conversation with Muneeb, we used his personal and professional journey to trace the origins of this idea—starting with his PhD in computer science at Princeton leading up to his fascination with Bitcoin and work on Stacks today. \nMuneeb offers insights into the technical and cultural challenges of innovating within the Bitcoin ecosystem, and shares his vision of a future where BTC serves as the foundation for the next generation of decentralized applications.\nChapters: \n00:00:00 Cold open\n00:01:35 Muneeb's background in computer science and peer-to-peer systems research\n00:06:29 Transitioning from academia to entrepreneurship\n00:09:00 The \"aha moment\" - Bitcoin solving the global state problem\n00:11:16 Evolution of Muneeb's vision for Bitcoin\n00:15:00 Comparing different approaches to blockchain architecture\n00:22:48 The current landscape of blockchain ecosystems\n00:26:29 Challenges of building on Bitcoin and navigating community resistance\n00:29:43 The Stacks Nakamoto upgrade and its potential impact\n00:32:44 Decentralization versus user experience\n00:37:38 Future vision for Bitcoin L2s and a decentralized internet\n—————\nThe Slow Hunch is produced by the team at Spectral.","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/Miey0AwAFKTKs0A_ufYSnDbrZHkWY3pdiAZS43mf4rw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8wYTMz/NDYyYTc0NDBkZWNi/YWM3OWI5NDExYzQ5/NGNkMC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}