
How This Chain Is Redesigning Crypto for AI + Stablecoins
On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Jack O’Holleran, co-founder of SKALE Network and CEO of SKALE Labs. Jack shares why MEV is a hidden tax on users, how FAIR — SKALE’s new Layer- 1 — aims to eliminate it at the consensus level, and how crypto infrastructure must evolve for an AI-driven future. They discuss the difference between SKALE and FAIR, why stablecoins and AI will become deeply intertwined, and how the dual-token model will reward SKALE holders as FAIR goes live. Jack also shares his vision for category-defining products and why the blockchain industry needs to move past hype and toward fundamentals.
TIMESTAMPS (0:00) - Crypto’s future is stablecoin-native & MEV-free (1:02) - Jack’s journey: enterprise software to SKALE Labs (4:47) - Why SKALE scaled to 100M+ txs/mo (6:01) - What devs want: FAIR as L1 for DeFi & AI (7:16) - Why MEV is crypto’s invisible tax (9:01) - Encrypted mempools, front-running & Byte protocol (10:49) - How AI + stablecoins combine to enable real programmable money (13:11) - Why TradFi bans MEV, and crypto shouldn’t tolerate it (14:24) - The “spin” behind MEV as ‘real economic value’ (15:58) - MEV-resistance as default — not opt-in (17:06) - Why stablecoins may rival AI in impact (21:00) - Will AI payments break traditional banking rails? (24:00) - Infra vs apps: where AI funding should go (26:00) - FAIR launch: already live in testnet (27:00) - The developer traction and feedback (29:00) - SKALE x FAIR: how the dual-token model works (31:00) - Why SKALE supply will deflate as FAIR grows (33:00) - Timing, launch strategy & market sentiment (35:00) - Jack’s take on crypto hype vs utility (36:00) - Final advice: always dig under the hood
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How This Chain Is Redesigning Crypto for AI + Stablecoins
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