Cross-Chain Money Legos - Orest Tarasiuk

What would it actually take to make Ethereum's rollups composable like smart contracts on a single chain? In this episode, I sit down with Orest Tarasiuk, CTO at t1 Protocol, to unpack how t1 is tackling Ethereum's fragmentation problem with Real-Time Proofs and TEE-based infrastructure. We begin by discussing Orest's background as an entrepreneur across three startups, from digestive health apps to video calling. Next, we unpack his interop thesis and how t1 aims to solve Ethereum's composability and fragmentation problems. Thereafter, we discuss Real-Time Proofs, TEEs, and security, including t1's innovative value at risk counter. We then dive into encrypted mempools and solving capital efficiency for cross-chain intent solvers. We finish the episode by discussing t1's same block deposit-trade-withdraw flow and what it's been like collaborating on interoperability standards with the Ethereum community.  Timestamps(00:00) - Freedom maxi to startup founder arc(04:01) - Startup helping people with digestive disease [Cara Care](06:01) - Kraken-Mt.Gox arbitrage(08:15) - Founding a video calling app [Knit](10:39) - Time at Scroll(13:34) - Founding t1(15:32) - Interop thesis(17:43) - Reading L1 from L2(26:33) - What t1 offers end users and developers(33:15) - Security, trust assumptions, determinism(38:53) - The VAR counter, high demand, finality(43:57) - Inspiration for the VAR counter(46:00) - Security budget in AVS systems(49:53) - t1 Sequencing AVS and architecture(54:32) - Challenges with encrypted mempools(57:14) - Different cryptographic primitives under the hood(1:00:45) - Solving capital efficiency for solvers(1:04:27) - Applications that leverage t1(1:09:23) - Same block deposit-trade-withdraw flow(1:15:59) - Collaborating on Ethereum interop standards DisclaimerNothing in this episode should be interpreted as financial, technical, or legal advice. The host does contract work for Heliax, a public goods laboratory, focusing on Anoma.