From Firmware Engineer to Crypto Founder

Host Erin Gambrel (The Blonde Broker) sits down with Lucas Bruder, co-founder and CEO of Jito Labs, to discuss building Solana's leading MEV infrastructure. Lucas shares his journey from electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon working on Tesla's Falcon Wing doors and programming self-driving bulldozers to discovering MEV and realizing this was modern-day high-frequency trading with hard problems to solve. His hardware and firmware background gives him a unique edge: deep systems thinking and understanding the hardware-software boundary. He bought into Anatoly's vision that Qualcomm systems engineers who truly understand computers would build the fastest blockchain.

Today, Jito-Solana validator client runs on 94% of stake and has generated $750M in additional network revenue. Lucas breaks down his market layer manifesto: execution is the foundational pillar, transaction ordering is the lifeblood of markets, and Jito focuses on apps and users over maximizing validator extraction. The thesis is working Solana has the tightest spreads, beating all centralized exchanges. The best place to trade Ethereum is on Solana. Lucas discusses doubling down through 2022's dark bear market, the JTO airdrop inflection point, and his legacy vision of helping his parents move onchain to real DeFi.

This show is brought to you by Token Relations, the leading investor relations platform for blockchains, protocols and token issuers. 

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(00:00) Intro
(01:10) From firmware engineer to crypto: Tesla, self-driving bulldozers, discovering MEV
(02:09) Hardest mindset change from engineer to CEO: business thinking and inspiring people
(03:18) Inflection point: JTO airdrop in 2023, straight-up priority fees on Solana
(04:44) Why Solana: bought into Anatoly's vision, systems engineers understand computers
(05:54) Hardware and firmware background edge: reverse engineering and deep problem-solving
(09:49) Decentralization is means to end: what really matters is getting real markets onchain
(10:14) Core problem Jito solves: helping Solana run efficiently amid spam
(11:43) Market layer manifesto: execution is the most important blockchain layer
(12:28) Value capture: balancing validators, apps, users, and Jito DAO
(14:02) Best place to trade Ethereum is on Solana—tightest spreads beat CEXs
(14:16) MEV explained: high-frequency trading infrastructure, transaction ordering matters
(15:44) What separates essential infrastructure: net new value, focus on apps
(19:32) Bam execution infrastructure: new approach to markets on Solana
(21:16) Doubling down through 2022 bear: dark times, considered pivoting, tripled down
(24:24) Legacy vision: helping parents and family move onchain to real DeFi

Host: Erin Gambrel (The Blonde Broker) Host Socials: @theblondebroker (X) | @blondebrokerofficial (Instagram)

Guest: Lucas Bruder Role: Co-Founder & CEO, Jito Labs Guest Socials: @buffalu__ (X)

Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.