Why the Public Internet Can’t Scale Crypto – DoubleZero’s Plan to Fix It

The Latest Development – EXO Tech Podcast Mike sits down with Austin Fedora (formerly Solana Foundation) — co-founder of DoubleZero — to dive deep into one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in crypto. From leaving Solana to become the man with the plan to build a high-performance, permissionless fiber network designed to make blockchains (starting with Solana) dramatically faster than the public internet — Austin is unlocking real high-frequency trading performance for DeFi and beyond. Topics covered: Why the public internet can’t support 1M TPS blockchains Lessons from high-frequency trading & traditional finance networks How DoubleZero uses dedicated fiber + multicast to beat internet latency The future of validator economics and block production Why Solana is the hardest (and best) first use case Expansion beyond crypto: AI, hot storage (Shelby), breaking cloud walled gardens Hiring & fundraising wisdom from someone who’s lived both Solana and startup life Whether you’re a validator, trader, builder, or just crypto-curious about what comes after software optimization — this is a must-listen on the physical layer that could accelerate the entire industry by a decade. Timestamps / Chapters: 0:00 – Intro & why we skipped the countdown 0:50 – From Solana Foundation to building DoubleZero 4:30 – The moment he decided to leave & become a fiber nerd 8:20 – Team & hiring lessons from Solana days 13:00 – Brutally honest advice on hiring & VCs 19:00 – Is Solana ready? Other chains building for DoubleZero 23:00 – Breaking cloud walled gardens (AWS, Google, egress fees) 28:00 – Web2 + Web3 future use cases (AI data movement) 36:00 – Microwave vs fiber – what HFT actually uses today 43:00 – Low-level optimization & why crypto networking lags 49:00 – Spicy take: Should validators even make money? 51:00 – Multicast – the hidden accelerator coming soon 🎙️ Guest: Austin Fedora – Co-founder, DoubleZero 🎙️ Host: Mike – EXO Tech 📺 Subscribe for more deep dives into crypto infrastructure, scaling, and the next wave of performance. #Solana #DoubleZero #CryptoInfrastructure #BlockchainScaling #DeFi #HighFrequencyTrading #Web3