Austin Federa, Co-Founder of DoubleZero, on The Next Internet, The Future of Solana, and Validators | Ep. 438

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May 21, 2025

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Austin Federa, Co-Founder of DoubleZero and former Head of Strategy at the Solana Foundation, joined the Cryptonews Spotlight Podcast to share his vision for a new layer of internet infrastructure built for Web3-scale throughput.

In this expansive conversation, he discussed Solana’s emergency patch drama, AI’s misunderstood impact, and why narrative-driven founders are dangerous.

Solana’s Emergency Patch Was Responsible, Not a Red Flag

“Bitcoin cores send emergency patches. Ethereum has had emergency patches, too. Solana just does it publicly.”

Federa explains that emergency patching is standard practice in major protocols, but Solana gets flak because its updates are visible. In reality, Solana’s approach is secure, decentralized, and validated by multiple teams before rollout.

There’s No Centralization in a Well-Coordinated Patch

“The ability to coordinate a patch like this does not mean that something is centralized. In fact, it kind of means the opposite.”

Contrary to critics, Federa argues that public, verifiable patch coordination shows decentralized maturity, especially when validators independently verify code changes.

Crypto Twitter Is Often Paid to FUD

“Some of these are just paid FUD accounts… I’ve had competitors pay bot farms to attack Solana.”

Federa doesn’t mince words: some anti-Solana noise is orchestrated, even involving class action suits bankrolled by rival ecosystems.

We’re On a Good Track – Despite Headlines

“It’s very hard to look around and not say that we’re making a ton of progress.”

In a viral quote, Federa rebutted crypto pessimism, pointing out that global poverty is down and technological cycles tend to improve the world over time.

AI Is Not the Apocalypse

“I think a lot of jobs are going to be toast. But that’s not new. We’ve been through this before.”

Federa compares the AI shift to the Industrial Revolution or 1990s automation, stressing that economic realignment is inevitable but survivable.

Responsibility Still Needs a Human

“AI doesn’t solve the responsibility problem. Most companies still want someone to sue.”

Even with advanced models, accountability will keep humans informed about many jobs, especially in regulated industries.

AI Can Revolutionize Social Services

“We do a poor job with mental health. But a ChatGPT therapist on a phone is better than nothing.”

Rather than dismissing AI therapy as dystopian, Federa believes technology could scale access in broken social systems.

Double Zero Is Infrastructure, Not Hype

“Private networking is how TradFi operates. We’re just bringing that to crypto.”

Double Zero is building high-performance private bandwidth for validators, enabling millions of transactions per second, not meme coins or ponzinomics.

Public Internet Can’t Handle Web3 at Scale

“Mainnet is always slower than testnet. The public internet just isn’t fast enough.”

Federa says most protocols underperform after launch because public routing adds latency, something private pipes can fix.

Consumer-Scale dApps Are Coming – We Need to Be Ready

“If 100 million people join Solana tomorrow, it might work. But if they each do 1,000 txs per day? No.”

Solana can handle a ton already – but if consumer-grade social, gaming, or DePIN apps go viral, networks will need DoubleZero’s scale.

The Real Vision Behind DoubleZero

“If DoubleZero is doing its job, we’ll have multiple chains doing over 100,000 TPS – with real validator sets.”

Federa doesn’t want centralization or shortcuts. The goal is to scale performance while preserving permissionless validation.

Founders Shouldn’t Be Narrative-Driven

“The founder-as-lifestyle business is far too prevalent in crypto.”

He warns against founders who chase optics over product, leading to “Roadrunner off the cliff” decisions like FTX.

Solana Is About Honest Engineering, Not Manufactured Narratives

“Solana isn’t a narrative factory. That’s one thing I deeply respect.”

He praises the Solana dev culture as practical, honest, and results-driven, not preoccupied with hype cycles or Twitter influencers.

The DoubleZero Token Drop Favored Real Validators

“Validators are the second most important operators on the network. The first are the people providing the fiber.”

Federa emphasized that DoubleZero’s token wasn’t an airdrop gimmick – it was a targeted distribution to real network participants building the core.