Ethena Founder: Growing to a $10B Protocol Valuation in 1 Year

In this episode, we sit down with Guy Young, the founder of Ethena, to dive deep into the world of
crypto and DeFi.

Ethena is a groundbreaking synthetic dollar protocol built on Ethereum, and it’s shaking up the space with a crypto-native solution that doesn’t rely on traditional banking systems.

In this conversation, we dive into:

- The vision behind Ethena and the quest for creating a new form of money
- Guy’s biggest predictions for the next 12 months in the crypto space
- The story behind Ethena’s explosive growth to a $10 billion protocol in just one year
- The importance of building during market lows and the contrarian mindset
- Guy’s thoughts on the role of speculation, meme coins, and the future of DeFi
- The challenges and innovations in the world of stablecoins and synthetic assets

And more!

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Connect with Guy 👇
Twitter: https://x.com/leptokurtic_
LinkedIn:   / guy-young-a11914279  

Connect with Ethena 👇
Twitter: https://x.com/ethena_labs
Website: https://ethena.fi/

Connect with Kevin & When Shift Happens👇
Website: https://www.when-shift-happens.co/
Instagram:   / kevinwshpod  
TikTok:   / kevinfollonier_  
Linkedin:   / kevinfollonier  
Twitter (X):   / kevinwshpod  

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Contents of the Video

0:00 Ethena: Guy Young
1:33 Introducing Guy Young
1:52 Escaping Harsh Market Conditions
4:11 Gem Hunting in a Bear Market
6:07 What Ethena Labs do Differently and its Impact
8:15 Importance of Decentralization at Different Layers
9:27 Most Important Skills to Success and the Risk to Being the Smartest
11:19 Mindset Towards Building a $10 Billion Project
13:26 SwissBorg Partnership
15:44 Having a “Boring” Daily Routine is Key to Greatness
16:25 Fiat Stablecoins: USDT and USDC Surviving the Bear Market
18:25 Why is Synthetic Dollar so Important in DeFi
19:30 The Practical Approach to Crypto and DeFi Innovations
22:07 How was the Synthetic Dollar Created
23:58 Cash and Carry Trade within Crypto and What Can Go Wrong
25:58 USD Size at Which it Becomes Too Big for Synthetic Dollar
29:08 False Knowledge Leading to Trouble, in Ethena and in Life
30:51 Mantle Partnership
32:14 What is the Worst Thing that Could Happen to Ethena and USD
34:08 Market Structure Response on Meme Coins
35:38 Creating our Own Form of Money Within Crypto
36:25 Ethena Vision for the next 12 Months, Marketing vs Product
38:35 Synthetic Dollar: Stablecoins (ETH) and Centralized Exchanges
39:49 Astar Network Partnership
40:38 Synthetic Dollar: Possible Different Architecture
42:12 Building a Controversial Product and Dealing with Backlash
45:31 Risks to Being Crypto Founder and A Possible Failing Product
48:34 Understanding Attention Economy to Perform a Successful Token Launch
50:08 Sustainable Hype Post-Token Launch and Community Building
52:42 Why Don’t Other Founders Reward Their Users?
54:33 Crypto Alpha: What is PENDLE?
56:06 Crypto Alpha: The MANTLE Approach
57:20 Getting into Routine and Habit
58:17 Biggest Prediction for the Next 12 Months
59:27 Event that Tops the Current Cycle
1:00:24 Ethena Plans Through Bear Market
1:02:01 Conclusion