superb interview! cheers!

TLDR: Smart contracts are code that excudes inside of a block chain. They need inputs (asset prices) and outputs (interact with external services, e.g. PayPal). Smart contracts require trusted, reliable, secure ways of interacting with inputs and outputs, which is the problem Chainlink solves. The end.

Wow, tough crowd. I thought this interview was awesome. I learned a lot and at least now i understand what an oracle is and the purpose.

Any chance we can get Charles Hoskinson for an interview? He's bar none the best speaker in the space.

I thought the interview was pretty bad. Everything was explained in the most complicated way, when it is quite simple. I have never heard a more complicated explanation of what a smart contract is. The descriptions of how stuff works was unreal and cloudy. A smart contract is super easy to explain, its a program that runs autonomously. You could then explain how that is made possible via the blockchain. If you get a guy from chainlink have him explain what chainlink is and how it works. Listening to this interview made me feel like Sergey Nazarov is a scammer since everything was mad so cloudy and just sounded like he is trying to sell a ponzi scheme and his mother. Please try to stay focus on teaching and communicating real information vs just clouds of buzzwords that make no sense and have little to do with reality. I hope this feedback is productive.

People who didn't get this interview or found it too 'vague' likely would not get Bill Gates & Steve Jobs in the 90s and find them too 'vague'.

Nope - I understand the point you are trying to make by using the idea of maths and physics, but that is just not a legit analogy. Firstly, the context is finance and banking, and traditionally it is not a logo that is making the system work - it is a rule of law! It used to be trust, and a militia to back up the institution/country (still is), and that has evolved to a rule of law and trust. Not the building with the big pillars/columns. So the algo operating at the moment is the rule of law. Take a safety deposit box - that is secured by the laws of maths and physics, however safe you want to make it. A simple key and lock is secured by the laws of physics. Plus you have the key to your safety deposit box just like BTC has a public ke - you could have a system (an algo ie. set of instructions) where the safety box requires two keys to use - different keys. You keep one and make lots of copies of the other, and give them away. I mean I am making this up, and my example is not 100% perhaps, but it illustrates that while BTC is very advanced, conceptually you can't put it out there as immutable due to maths and physics compared to traditional methods. The issuance of currencies is a new aspect of BTC, and that in my opinion is where is started (conceptually) as a anarchists tool. I just see Mr Bob B has already said similar things so will continue watching and reading the comments.

The math based guarantee is great for those who understand code to check the smart contract logic. That won't tell them whether that logic has unintended consequences. Taking the example of bitcoin, of all the ppl i know in crypto i can think of 2 who actually implemented a chain (one was FBA based) and not many more who even know the general concepts around RSA cryptography. So most users will be blissfully ignorant of the fine details, ie the mathematics. And that's just fine, there is ample proof that something is working though. Trust is an emerging property of the tech, and it is trust placed in the crypto 'brand'. Because on-chain transactions are too complicated, the next step is for nearly everyone to jump on an exchange to trade crypto. Trustless now has become traditional trust and has a brand name: coinbase, gemini, kraken, etc. One such brand name used to be MtGox. So I respectfully disagree with the whole "pure mathematics" argument insofar as it is disconnected from reality. Even remaining at a theoretical R&D level discussion, we haven't started talking about unintended consequences, of uniswap AMMs say. Early days.

As a holder and believer in Chainlink, I found this to be rather boring and uninformative. I'm getting bored with the same of jargon and theoretical overly verbose crypto pablum that goes on in these interviews. This isn't specific to the people on RV but a lot of "leaders" in the crypto space in general. This is long winded and repetitive. -Give me the practical, specific real-world use cases for Chainlink today and tomorrow. -What are the possible pitfalls? -Why are other similar platforms inferior? How will Chainlink remain the the dominant platform in this space as it grows? -What is keeping Chainlink today from being the globally adopted platform it is being heralded as for the future and what will change this? -How dependent is it on the success of Ethereum and the successful switch to PoS? Sergey Nazarov is clearly ultra bias toward the platform, which is not per se a bad thing but some tough questions and push back and not an hour long tour of "the future is crypto wonderland" would be much more productive.

Great interview by Ash! Sergey shows a knack for explaining crypto concepts in a way a layman can start to understand and he gives a real feel for the potential and power of smart contracts and the oracle concept. I have listened to 5 or 6 RV shows on crypto and this one has added the most value to my understanding of the space. NICE JOB! Look forward to having Sergei back.

Great interview Ash. The first part of the interview gives a nice interview of crypto in general.

Smart contracts, in my opinion already exist. They are code. Smart contracts are software. What Sergey is trying to do with chainlink is to decentralize it. But why would I want to decentralize data coming from weather sensors? I agree that if I had a choice between a trusted decentralized network vs a centralized company, I would chose the trusted network. But at what cost? On top of all these questions, why does the premined token LINK need to be at the center of this system and how do I determine it's value?

I think that there may actually be a role for brands going forward for smart contracts. Consider for example in the future when multiple entities are offering similar smart contracts. Let’s say I can choose between entering into a smart contract being offered by Fidelity and can review the credentials of their contract programmers (let say they’re Stanford PhDs in computer sci) and the high quality of their oracles versus some other firm offering a more favorable contract but there’s little or no info available about who’s doing the programming or the quality of their oracles. Being personally unable to read smart contract code and having to TRUST in the programming skills of the smart contract writer I know which firm I would likely sign a contract with.

Great interview. The Chainlink story is amazing and to get Sergey on is great. LINK is a top 10 crypto in terms of market cap. Now we just need the following please RV: Vitalik - ETH Gavin Wood - Polkadot

That was the best interview on crypto, use cases, and the future of blockchain that I have ever seen, bar none, including all of the many excellent videos on Real Vision!

wikipedia: “Nick Szabo (a polymath) is a computer scientist, legal scholar and cryptographer known for his research in digital contracts and digital currency. The phrase and concept of "smart contracts" was developed by Szabo with the goal of bringing what he calls the "highly evolved" practices of contract law and practice to the design of electronic commerce protocols between strangers on the Internet. Smart contracts are a major feature of cryptocurrency[citation needed] and the programming language E. Szabo influentially argued that a minimum granularity of micropayments is set by mental transaction costs.” The rest are speculation by programmers / mathematicians / etc. desperately trying to bend reality around their perception of the world.

Ash, you are my favorite interviewer. Always the right questions and asked in a way that we can all understand. Keep it up. Thanks

Thank you Ash, As always the best

Excellent Discussion! Thanks!

While i am excited by smart contracts within an encrypted blockchain, it's hugely overly simplistic to equate the process to fundamentals of physics and math. Reality suggests to me smart contracts dis-intermediate the trust and interpretation mechanisms of traditional contracts. Nazarov's comparison to Brand is part of the traditional trust mechanism. Smart contracts do not guarantee fulfillment. Eventually smart contracts need to interface with the objective world. Rule of law helps address the objective reality and the rule of law is as fluid as the laws forming the rule of law framework. Smart contracts are huge step forward but not omnipotent and certainly subject to human frailties. I do like his "High Standard" labeling. My concern also revolves around the the increased speed of executing the contract coupled with complexity will become black box laws. For slow humans we will not be able to comprehend and respond in realtime in the hyper transaction world. Heavens we might be there now even without smart contracts. Think of the volatility dynamics in today's markets and events such as Longterm Capital Management, 2008 Credit Crisis,...

Great interview, crash course, articulate. Question re: savings contracts: how does the other side of the contract earn the interest they are paying you? How does the smart contract eliminate this risk?

11/10.

Would highly recommend you get Anatoly Ressin (from Parsiq) on RV. He’s doing something similar but different to LINK and would be a great guest (he’s super humble as well).

Great interview. . Chainlink is such a fascinating concept

Excellent subject matter, content and interview. It furthered my understanding of oracles and their role within the crypto space, as well as the potential future of Chainlink in particular. This type of interview is what makes RV Crypto unique. The mainline financial media seem to focus only on the latest guru price projections of selected coins/tokens, while the popular digital asset sites seem to focus on the latest news, and on technical aspects of digital assets.

Great interview! Chainlink and Sergey are solely responsible for the DeFi boom, but of course he is too humble to bring it up. If anyone is interested to learn more about Chainlink I suggest you look up their YouTube channel.

Good questions, the world of smart contracts once it takes off will be a defining moment, where trust is no longer an issue. That Chainlink solves this problem in terms of the real world and putting the real life dynamic variable data in to the smart contract, speaks to the level of vision of Chainlink. Thank you.,

excellent interview.

Great guest. I hope we see more projects leveraging oracles on the show to help illuminate how powerful this space has become.