Kamran (Ø,G)

🚀🐼 AI + Crypto is about to level up. The first decentralized AI Layer-1 is here , and it’s inviting YOU to build the future🫵🏻⚡️ Introducing the @0G_labs + WaveHack $50,000 Buildathon 🌊🛠️ Join Now📲 app.akindo.io/wave-hacks/xKO… Workshop💻 lu.ma/0g-buildathon Why care?👀

gm socialfi We're leaping into the @farcaster_xyz ecosystem because we believe DeFi can be the backbone for viral social mini apps and consumer-friendly finance. Starting with integrations from @noicedotso, @clankeronbase, @9livesso, @BungeeExchange + $2,500 in weekly rewards for mini app devs. 👇

The zero-to-one trading protocol remains perpetually ambitious. Today, more than ever. That's why we're launching as the native enshrined perps DEX on @FogoChain from day one. Public testnet soon™

Why Doug Colkitt Left Citadel to Build the Only Chain That Can Compete with Wall Street Doug Colkitt sat down with me on the 9th episode of DROPS to unpack the initiative behind his bold pivot from a decade-long trading career in traditional finance to building a blockchain infrastructure that could actually support modern markets. His new project, Fogo, is a decentralized Layer 1 that offers transaction speeds as low as 40 milliseconds i.e., ten times faster than Solana, and is built specifically for the demands of real-time, high-frequency trading. @FogoChain wasn’t born out of ideology. It came from first-hand limitations @0xdoug experienced trading at the highest levels, including stints at Citadel and as the only individual with direct market access on the Chicago Exchange. In both TradFi and crypto, he saw bottlenecks that slowed markets and centralised power, from restrictive data access to latency that made serious trading unviable on-chain. “Even simple things are more complex than they seem,” Doug said, reflecting on the difficulties of replicating trading infrastructure independently after leaving Citadel. “There’s a reason there’s only one Citadel.” Trading to Building: A Shift in Scope Unlike many in the crypto space who arrive from engineering or entrepreneurship, Doug came from trading, a world where outcomes are measured in milliseconds and there is no grey area between profit or loss. Over time, however, he began to question what he was contributing. “At the end of the day, you’re competing for a pot of money,” he told Kevin. “You're not making the pot bigger, just trying to take more of it.” That introspection led him from capturing value to trying to create it. But it also exposed a technical gap. The infrastructure in crypto wasn’t built for speed or fairness. Centralised exchanges held too much power. On-chain trading was too slow. The result was a fragmented market that was fast enough for retail, perhaps, but not for professionals who needed reliability and trustless execution at speed. Why Speed Still Dominates, and Why Crypto Falls Short In high-frequency trading, being first, not necessarily being smarter, is often what matters most. Doug explained how legacy exchanges continue to extract billions in rent simply by offering faster pipes to select participants. Meanwhile, the decentralized alternatives, while ideologically compelling, couldn’t match the performance. “Trading on-chain sucks right now,” Doug said plainly. “Solana’s 400ms is better than Ethereum, but it’s still slow enough to feel. By the time you send a trade, the price might have moved.” This lag doesn’t just frustrate users, it impacts liquidity. Market makers become more cautious, spreads widen, and quote quality drops. Doug’s solution is Fogo, a 40ms chain that seeks to remove this friction while retaining decentralisation. No central authority, no single server, no preferential visibility. Why Build an Entire Layer 1? Doug could have built a decentralized exchange on an existing chain. But, as he explained, none of them could meet the required performance benchmarks. Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap was, in his view, “hell for app builders,” while Solana, though fast, wasn’t optimised for trading-level performance from the ground up. That’s why his team is building the stack from scratch, starting with Fogo as a high-speed Layer 1, and tightly integrating the DEX into the protocol. The entire chain is built on Firedancer ( @jump_firedancer), a high-performance Solana client developed by Jump Trading. By relying on one ultra-optimised client, they’ve stress-tested the upper bounds of throughput that Solana itself hasn’t yet reached. “When you build the DEX into the chain, performance is aligned from the start,” Doug said. “It’s like buying a car that’s built to go fast, not modding a used one after the fact.” Data Access, Fairness, and Market Structure Another key area Fogo aims to improve is data access. In traditional finance, exchanges often make more money from selling data than from trading fees. Access to real-time data is expensive as a structural gatekeeping mechanism. On Fogo, that information is public and equally accessible. Everyone plays by the same rules. “You don’t have to worry someone’s getting a better feed than you,” Doug said. That kind of transparency, he insists, is foundational if crypto is ever going to rival traditional financial infrastructure in credibility. But performance isn’t enough. Doug stressed that for a trading platform to thrive, it also needs participation. And that includes more than just high-frequency firms. “HFTs don’t want to trade against each other all day,” he said. “You need retail. You need normal users.” The long-term plan is to onboard those users without the inefficiencies of centralized platforms by offering them better pricing, more transparency, and no hidden toll booths. What Fogo Could Enable If Fogo succeeds, it’s not just memecoins that benefit. Doug believes a fast, decentralized chain could unlock a broader transformation of how assets are issued, priced, and exchanged globally. “Right now, if you’re in Bangladesh and want to buy Tesla stock, it’s not easy, but if assets live on-chain — not just crypto, but equities, bonds, everything — anyone with an internet connection could access them.” It’s a long-term vision, but he sees crypto infrastructure heading in the direction where it’s not just faster, but also more interoperable, transparent, and globally accessible. When asked what his “we made it” moment would be, Doug doesn’t expect a finish line. “Builders always dream of being done,” he said. “But there’s always more to fix.” 👉If you enjoyed reading the summary, head over to When Shift Happens on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform to access the full convo.