The Crypto Beat

The Block's Head of Growth, Tim Copeland, was joined by Thrive Founder Daniel Jacobs.

In this episode, Jacobs shares how Thrive uses a mix of expert and AI agent reviewers to validate contributions, making grant funding faster, fairer, and ensure they are supporting the creation of value. Jacobs also critiques the value-extraction mindset in crypto and advocates for a shift toward long-term value creation and ecosystem sustainability.

OUTLINE

00:00 – Introduction

01:03 – The Origin of Thrive

04:23 – Reviewer Incentives 

05:35 – AI Agent Adoption

08:52 – Confirming AI Accuracy

12:36 – Comparisons to Kaito

13:58 – Growth Metrics

16:26 – Challenges in Crypto Grant Funding

20:50 – Extracting vs. Creating Value

25:07 – Are VCs good for the space?

28:37 – Moving into “Fundamental Season”

30:07 – Interesting projects

31:17 – Daniel’s Predictions for 2025

31:42 – Closing Thoughts

The Block Newsletters

The Block's newsletters bring you the latest news and analysis of the fast-moving crypto and DeFi markets. To subscribe, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠theblock.co/newsletters⁠⁠⁠⁠

Guest links:

Daniel Jacobs - ⁠https://x.com/thrivegiraffe

Thrive Protocol - https://x.com/thriveprotocol

Are you hiring in crypto?

Use Campus to quickly find your best candidates with our challenging Crypto Assessment Test.

Faster hiring, stronger teams.

Sign up for a trial today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠theblock.co/campus

Show Notes

The Block's Head of Growth, Tim Copeland, was joined by Thrive Founder Daniel Jacobs.


In this episode, Jacobs shares how Thrive uses a mix of expert and AI agent reviewers to validate contributions, making grant funding faster, fairer, and ensure they are supporting the creation of value. Jacobs also critiques the value-extraction mindset in crypto and advocates for a shift toward long-term value creation and ecosystem sustainability.


OUTLINE

00:00 – Introduction

01:03 – The Origin of Thrive

04:23 – Reviewer Incentives 

05:35 – AI Agent Adoption

08:52 – Confirming AI Accuracy

12:36 – Comparisons to Kaito

13:58 – Growth Metrics

16:26 – Challenges in Crypto Grant Funding

20:50 – Extracting vs. Creating Value

25:07 – Are VCs good for the space?

28:37 – Moving into “Fundamental Season”

30:07 – Interesting projects

31:17 – Daniel’s Predictions for 2025

31:42 – Closing Thoughts


The Block Newsletters

The Block's newsletters bring you the latest news and analysis of the fast-moving crypto and DeFi markets. To subscribe, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠theblock.co/newsletters⁠⁠⁠⁠


Guest links:

Daniel Jacobs - ⁠https://x.com/thrivegiraffe

Thrive Protocol - https://x.com/thriveprotocol


Are you hiring in crypto?

Use Campus to quickly find your best candidates with our challenging Crypto Assessment Test.

Faster hiring, stronger teams.

Sign up for a trial today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠theblock.co/campus

What is The Crypto Beat?

The Crypto Beat is a live streaming podcast focused on topical crypto news events. The podcast will feature multiple guests who are deep in the crypto industry sharing their views on the topic of the day. It will be available across X, Twitch and YouTube and made available afterwards on popular audio platforms.