Open source models & AI value accrual w/ Christian Catalini

Christian Catalini, Co-founder of Lightspark joins us to talk about his journey from the MIT Bitcoin experiment to co-founding Libra. Christian breaks down why regulators killed Libra, the limits of the Lightning Network, and why Bitcoin needs new opcodes. He also shares his framework for AI value accrual, the power of verifiable open-source models, and the reality of agentic payments. Subscribe to the newsletter! [https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com](https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com) --- ## Notes: * Lightning Network is capital inefficient. * AI models are commoditizing intelligence. * Open-source AI catches frontier models fast. * Bitcoin scaling requires a new opcode. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 00:28 Christain's background 02:50 What's up with AI? 05:15 AI conclusions 07:12 The core insight (verification) 11:37 Is there start up value left? 15:24 Do large LLMs still have moat? 20:15 NVIDIA open source models 23:05 Is the future about LLMs or other tech? 26:00 Libra history 29:19 Lightspark 33:36 Scaling Bitcoin 39:02 Does "neutrality " have value? 46:09 Why would stablecoins stay on-chain? 49:55 Bitcoin promise land 55:26 WTF are "agentic payments"? The Gwart Show is sponsored by Ellipsis Labs. Ellipsis Labs builds the most efficient on-chain markets. Their orderbook and Prop AMM products have delivered price improvement to hundreds of billions of dollars in retail volume. Now, they are bringing their expertise to build Phoenix, the best on-chain perpetuals platform. Ellipsis Labs is hiring New York-based engineers. If you're an engineer looking to work with a proven team in making DeFi better, go to ellipsislabs.xyz/careers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices