the scalability trade-off is dead, with Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero

Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero, at publication

2026-04-08 · Marc Baumann and Sangam Bharti

Bryan Pellegrino discusses the path from professional poker and AI work to building LayerZero and the Zero blockchain. The conversation links risk-taking and technical design with the ambition to support financial-market activity on-chain. It also considers the meaning of scalability claims and demonstrations. The episode's performance figures should be read as reported claims with specific conditions, rather than as independently reproduced production benchmarks.

In this conversation

• LayerZero and Zero
• Blockchain scalability
• Risk management and technical design

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Chapters

1. 00:00 — From Poker to Crypto: A Journey of Obsession
2. 06:08 — Risk Management Lessons from Poker
3. 11:48 — The Birth of Layer Zero Labs
4. 18:09 — Building a Layer One Blockchain: The Zero Architecture
5. 24:00 — Privacy in Blockchain: The Three Zones of Zero
6. 29:56 — Advisory Board Insights and Future Plans
7. 32:08 — The Rapid Rise of USDT Zero
8. 35:49 — Choosing the Right Interoperability Standard
9. 39:25 — The Strategic Acquisition of Stargate
10. 41:39 — The Future of Machine-to-Machine Payments
11. 46:36 — Adapting Traditional Institutions to New Realities
12. 49:02 — The Evolution of the Crypto Mission
13. 53:09 — The Case for In-Person Collaboration
14. 55:04 — Lightning Round: Quick Insights

Chapter labels and timestamps follow the publisher’s episode notes.