Gavin Wood

Once again, the year's @polkadot roundup is out. Get it while it's hot 🔥🎄 medium.com/polkadot-netwo…

Day 173 of building Asimov, an open-source humanoid. Working on locomotion. It's getting better.

Great interview by Radha here: How Polkadot Could Erase Bots From X ccn.com/news/crypto/we…

Gavin Wood and the Fight to Bring Crypto Back to Its Roots Through @Polkadot Crypto was never meant to be about hype coins and corporate assimilation. Its founding ethos was truth over trust. A system where rules, not rulers, protect sovereignty. Yet somewhere along the way, the industry lost its way. Meme tokens crowd headlines, regulators reshape the playing field, and “Layer 2 shortcuts” are presented as progress when they often compromise decentralisation. In his When Shift Happens interview, @gavofyork, co-founder of Ethereum, creator of Solidity, and founder of Polkadot, argued that this shift strikes at the very heart of crypto’s purpose. “What I want is less trust, more truth,” he said. “I don’t want to rely on arbitrary, opaque decisions made behind closed doors. That’s what regulation means, unfortunately. It’s the assimilation of crypto into the traditional banking establishment.” Why Gavin Stepped Away Wood has never seen himself as a frontman. Unlike founders who thrive on personality, he believes “charismatic leaders have no place in crypto.” For him, decentralisation only works when systems replace personalities with rules that are transparent and enforceable. That belief shaped his 2022 decision to step down as CEO of @paritytech, Polkadot’s core development team. Management was not his strength. Building protocols was. “The reason I stepped down as CEO of Parity was so I could do more work with Polkadot,” he explained. “It gave me a means to transition from CEO of Parity to, in some sense, grand architect of Polkadot.” To make that shift real, he created the Polkadot Technical Fellowship, a developer-driven body that placed protocol evolution firmly under the community’s governance. The move reduced the risk of one company holding too much sway, while giving Polkadot a more durable foundation. Governance as the Hard Problem If money was crypto’s first breakthrough, governance has always been the hardest challenge. Bitcoin largely avoided it by freezing its design. But Wood has never believed that any human system is perfect. “Governance is how a system evolves over time,” he said. “At least with Polkadot, we’ve tried to codify how the system should decide to evolve, and autonomously enforce that.” That vision powers Polkadot’s OpenGov model. Proposals are discussed and voted on transparently, with mechanisms like conviction voting, where long-term stakers have a stronger voice, such that decision-making aligns with the protocol’s survival. The system is not flawless. Wood calls it a “mixed success.” But compared to the opaque, personality-driven governance of other chains, he sees it as a step closer to crypto’s true mission. “DAOs are just better governments,” he said. “They remove the arbitrary nature that plagues our real-world systems.” A Return, and a New Chapter Now, after nearly three years away from the CEO role, Wood has returned to Parity. The timing matters. Polkadot’s infrastructure — parachains, the upcoming JAM protocol, PolkaVM — has matured. The foundations are solid enough to sustain his broader vision. His return signals a new chapter. Polkadot no longer has to prove that its architecture works. The challenge ahead is ensuring that the technology serves real-world needs while staying anchored to first principles. Cultural Proof Points This is where projects like @mythicalgames matter. The studio has already shown Web2-level retention with @PlayNFLRivals and @FIFARivals, and its new @PlayPudgyParty brings an extra layer of culture and community crossover. For Wood, who has always insisted that crypto’s value lies in utility rather than speculation, the move is a proof point in culture. Players won’t know or care that they are using a parachain i.e @EnterTheMythos. They will simply see digital items that work across ecosystems without friction. And that is the point. Can Polkadot Steer Crypto Back? The big question is whether the founding ethos — truth over trust — can survive in a world shaped by regulators, meme coins, and shortcuts. Wood believes it can, but only if crypto resists the temptation to lean on personalities and instead embraces rules-based systems. That means DAOs instead of back-room deals, protocols instead of promises, and sovereignty instead of speculation. With his return to Parity, Polkadot’s infrastructure upgrades, and the latest Mythical Games’s projects, Wood’s ethos finally has both the infrastructure and the cultural adoption to stand on. Whether the rest of the industry chooses to follow is the challenge ahead. 👉 If you enjoyed reading this excerpt, head over to When Shift Happens on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform to access the full convo.

@emielsebastiaan Still a lot of question marks around this idea, but yes, it could potentially offer a means of securing a blockchain without the need for (nearly so much) capital at stake.

One wild theory is that the eventual use case of POP could replace ‘stake’ in Polkadot’s Proof of Stake. Given sufficient humans in POP, personhood could be stake, which you risk to lose with dishonest behavior. This in turn might have the eventual implication of removing DOT altogether from the staking system. @Polkadot @gavofyork x.com/emielsebastiaa…

Parachains ≠ L2s L2s extract value from Ethereum, whilst Parachains are the product of @Polkadot. In Ethereum, L2s are add-ons that offload pressure, turning the L1 into a rollup host. But Polkadot’s whole proposition is parachains. They’re not bolted on - they’re core. Unlike Ethereum, Polkadot never used its L1 to host smart contracts directly. This isn’t a limitation - it's by design. The DOT that goes into @AcalaNetwork is still immediately transferable into @MoonbeamNetwork - so the capital flows a lot easier between the L2 Different intent, different architecture. @gavofyork explains 👇

“Crypto Has Lost Its Way”: Gavin Wood speaks on Governance, Greed, and Rebuilding the Blockchain Ethos Gavin Wood, the co-founder of Ethereum and founder of @Polkadot, sat down with me on the 124th episode of When Shift Happens to unpack why he believes crypto has fundamentally failed its original mission. Through a long and honest conversation, @gavofyork diagnoses the problems plaguing the blockchain industry and offers a philosophical and technical reimagining of what it could become. The episode is almost like a manifesto. From Ethereum’s controversial Layer 2 design to the dysfunction of blockchain governance, from the illusion of free societies to the rise of meme coins and financial escapism, Gavin explores what went wrong, how we got here, and what could come next. “I Stopped Trusting Systems” Early in the conversation, Gavin traces the roots of his disillusionment with broader systems of governance and power. “We’re not free,” he says plainly, describing modern society as an illusion of autonomy propped up by invisible gatekeepers, regulations, and traditional institutions. He describes our ‘neutral’ world as a tightly controlled sandbox. His diagnosis? The current social contract is broken, and not just in Web3. His response was to build: to create tools that offer actual sovereignty. But even in the crypto world, things didn’t go to plan. Stablecoins, Banks, and the Illusion of Progress One of the early wake-up calls for Gavin was how quickly crypto reinvented traditional institutions under a new name. Stablecoins, he notes, are too similar to digital banks: custodial, opaque, and dependent on regulations. This critique sets the stage for his broader point: that Web3 has often traded its ideals for convenience, familiarity, and short-term gains. Ethereum’s Layer 2 Mistake and the JAM Response For Gavin, Ethereum’s pivot toward Layer 2 solutions was a betrayal of its founding ideals. "It was a mistake." The reliance on L2s, he says, represents a dangerous power grab that undermines decentralisation by consolidating control in fragmented silos with weak trust assumptions. Instead, Gavin introduces Join-Accumulate Machine (JAM), a new vision for a “magic internet supercomputer.” JAM is Polkadot’s next evolution, a response to Ethereum’s shortcomings. What sets JAM apart is its multi-core elastic scaling architecture. Instead of fragmenting trust across rollups or external execution environments, JAM allows for many parallel “cores” to operate in synchrony within the same trust model. Each core can process its own workloads, like a modern multi-core CPU, and the system dynamically allocates resources based on demand. We Can’t Remove Greed One of the episode’s central themes is the challenge of aligning human incentives with the ethos of crypto. Gavin argues that we can’t remove greed, but we can design systems where personal gain aligns with the collective good. He explores how DAOs can become better models of governance, but only if they’re rooted in shared fate, meaningful transparency, and actual utility. He’s particularly critical of shallow tokenomics and flashy launches that serve only early investors and speculators. Polkadot’s Mixed Governance and the Limits of Leadership When I pushed Gavin to explain Polkadot’s journey, from the successes, to the challenges, Gavin admits the governance system has had “mixed results,” with transparency and communication often falling short. Yet he remains committed to experimenting with better models. He also speaks frankly about stepping down from the CEO role: “I suck at management, I hate managing people.” Instead, he has shifted toward a more architectural/conceptual role, trying to define what “good” looks like for Polkadot and for crypto at large. The Cultural Decay of Crypto: From Cypherpunk to Casino Perhaps the most striking part of the conversation is Gavin’s harsh critique of the current crypto culture. What began as a movement for freedom and trustless systems, he says, has devolved into a meme-driven casino, full of "fart coins" and “financial escapism.” He worries that the space now rewards charisma over engineering, and hype over utility. But rather than abandon ship, he sees an opportunity to rebuild. To use the tools we’ve created to re-centre around values like transparency, curiosity, and decentralisation. Still, there are bright spots. Within the Polkadot ecosystem, parachains have quietly become home to some of the most grounded efforts in the space. Projects like @mythicalgames, @EnterTheMythos, and @frequency_xyz aren’t trying to win the attention war with memes or token stunts. Instead, they’re a reminder that not everything is about hype. Some teams are still quietly chasing that early ethos, solving real problems and building actual products. A great example is the newly released mobile game @FIFARivals . On Bitcoin, Digital Gold, and the Best Tech Losing While Gavin is no Bitcoin maximalist, he sees value in Bitcoin as a decentralised store of value. But he’s also realistic about its limitations, particularly in governance and adaptability. He warns that better technology doesn’t always win. History shows that convenience, inertia, and marketing often prevail. “Sometimes the best tech doesn’t win — but the tech that solves the most relatable problems does.” Rebuilding Crypto’s Ethos As our talk came to a close, Gavin returned to JAM, a project that synthesises years of learning from Ethereum, Polkadot, and other chains. He sees it as a chance to get things right from the ground up without compromising on trust. Gavin’s belief is in crypto as a philosophical project, not merely a financial one. He talks about more than replacing money, but also building better systems to live and govern ourselves. He states firmly that Crypto has an ethical problem as opposed to a technical one. And that, for Gavin, is the heart of the problem: “We forgot why we were building,” he says. Still, the episode closed on a note of quiet optimism. If the space can let go of hype, embrace complexity, and return to curiosity, there’s still a path forward. 👉If you enjoyed this summary, head over to YouTube or your favorite podcast app for the full episode and more insights that didn’t make it in here.

E124: @gavofyork reveals why crypto has failed and how network founders can work together to save it! Gavin Wood is the co-founder of Ethereum, the creator of the EVM and the Solidity language, and the Founder of @Polkadot & @paritytech Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:59 Partnerships:@JupiterExchange, @bitwise, @SuiNetwork, @Mantle_Official, @ForzaBitcoin 2:40 Spending Crypto with @KASTcard 6:26 Stablecoins Are Just Banks 7:26 Regulation Destroys Web3 Vision 11:20 Self-Custody with @Trezor 12:13 The Illusion of Free Society 14:27 Self-Sovereignty or Societal Collapse 15:59 Why I Stopped Trusting Systems 18:46 Attaining Self-Sovereignty 24:33 Rethinking the Social Contract 27:27 Network States Need Territory 33:09 Can Networks Work Together? 39:28 Why Blockchain Governance Is Broken 45:41 DAOs Are Just Better Governments 50:04 Democracy Fails Without Shared Fate 53:10 Turning Greed Into Alignment 56:07 Polkadot’s Mixed Governance Results 58:25 Polkadot’s Transparency Problem 1:06:39 Network Founders’ Hardest Problems 1:09:36 Why I Hate Managing 1:11:57 From CEO To Architect 1:13:21 Defining Good for Polkadot 1:14:56 Letting Go Of Control 1:18:29 Charismatic Leaders vs Protocols 1:23:53 Polkadot Without Gavin Wood 1:26:58 Bitcoin as Digital Gold 1:31:44 Bitcoin: Swiss Bank In Pocket 1:33:33 Does Best Tech Always Win? 1:38:03 Solve Hard Problems, Products Will Follow 1:45:37 Fart Coins and Financial Escapism 1:49:51 Ethereum L2s vs Polkadot Parachains 2:03:20 Building useful stuff on Parachains like @EnterTheMythos & @mythicalgames 2:04:34 Multi-Core Elastic Scaling 2:10:08 JAM vs. Ethereum Explained 2:20:51 Is JAM Good For Polkadot? 2:22:33 Ethereum’s Layer Two Mistake 2:24:48 The L2 Power Grab 2:26:25 Has Crypto Failed? 2:32:02 Rebuilding Crypto’s Core Ethos 2:36:51 The Mixed Blessing Of Wealth 2:45:35 Dealing With Injustice 2:52:10 Curiosity Fuels Joyful Living 2:53:27 Concluding Remarks

@danicuki @Polkadot @Cardano Be careful comparing apple to banana. It can backfire. Hydra head doesn't inherit the security of their main chain. They can spawn a head with like 3 participants and be way faster than JAM (as long as the participants agree together).

@danicuki @Polkadot @Cardano honestly this makes cardano look a lot better than it actually is. cardano can't actually run doom, not even close, because it is a utxo ledger and not a compute platform

First rule of staying sane in crypto: ignore maxis.

@OG_Mavrickks @csaint02 @VitalikButerin Yeah apparently he worked with a guy called “Woods”

@csaint02 @VitalikButerin @gavofyork Polkadot foresight is totally unmatched. Gary knew what he was building when he made Polkadot

Some may get a feeling of animosity or bitterness from the Polkadot ecosystem This is not the whole story TLDR; Nice copy/paste of JAM paper my guy @VitalikButerin Longer version: @gavofyork created solidity and built the EVM in collab w/ many other builders, and the network effects have been massive with a huge wave of adoption w/ the most millionaires printed in history Now the Polkadot core is moving toward RISC-V with JAM and suddenly this “new” idea comes from Vitalik Polkadot eco carries a feeling just short of bitterness about the gross misallocation of attention from what Polkadot has built and continues to improve on But stay humble fam, this is validating and will turn out to be net positive for all crypto in the end 🫡

@csaint02 @VitalikButerin @gavofyork yeah, it's not bitterness or animosity it would be great if Vitalik started giving credit where credit is due he can copy-paste everything he wants, it's open source

@TheDotsTalks JAM is an open protocol. Just sayin’.

Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern 😅 Vitalik just dropped a proposal on the Ethereum forum, aiming to replace the EVM with RISC-V!!! They see Polkadot’s tech dominance coming… and they’re desperately racing to catch up. Maybe Ethereum should just become a Polkadot rollup instead of trying to fix a sinking ship, Vitalik? 😉

What an incredible batch of entries at @assemblyparty—so much talent on display! Now let’s gooo, @revision_party!

Agreed. And from what I’ve seen, I think your public-facing conduct throughout has been exemplary and your posts insightful and accurate.

The Decay of Time and How Polkadot Is Breaking That Cycle 🧠 Over time, we are faced with a cycle of decay that repeats itself. People often circle around an idea or a goal. Things that seem meaningful at first lose their meaning after a certain point. Because constantly wanting the same thing creates fatigue in the human mind and soul. And this fatigue gives way to ingratitude. This cycle is destructive. Change stops. Nothing new is produced. Minds close. And decay begins. But here is what Polkadot is doing that deeply impresses me: As I took a closer look at the Polkadot ecosystem, I realized that things work very differently here. There are no people here who are stuck in a fixed point. Here, there is a community that is constantly in search of innovation, that has made change not a goal but a way of life. These people are not content with just maintaining what is. They strive to deliver something better every day. And they do this not just for profit, but often without expecting anything in return, just for a vision they believe in. This approach prevents the system from decaying. Because if something is constantly being renewed, there can be no stagnation there. A community that is constantly producing, a structure that captures the spirit of the times; is inherently immune to decay. This is exactly where Polkadot's biggest difference lies

PARTNER: @hyperbridge , a secure and highly scalable blockchain interoperability protocol, has raised over $5 million – $2.5 million in its seed round and $2.8 million in its public sale. The seed round was led by the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund techcabal.com/2025/04/17/pol…