Dave

Over the past period, there has been considerable discussion within the community about @paritytech's strategic direction. From infrastructure to productization, from the launch of @Polkadot Hub to what feels like an ecosystem reset, many changes are underway — yet public explanations from Parity have been relatively limited. During Consensus Hong Kong, we had the opportunity to sit down face-to-face with @dsedacc07, Director of Finance at @paritytech. It’s important to note that the views shared in this interview reflect Dave’s personal understanding and observations, and do not represent official positions of Parity or Polkadot. Precisely because the conversation was candid and expressed from a personal perspective, it offered several meaningful signals worth reflecting on: - Why the current focus is not simply “shipping more products,” but filling the missing middleware layer. - Why Polkadot Hub is lowering entry barriers through EVM compatibility. - What institutional capital truly cares about — regulatory clarity and risk frameworks. - And why Proof of Personhood may become increasingly critical in an AI-dominated era. Web3 infrastructure has largely been laid. What comes next requires time — time to validate, to refine, and to align regulatory progress, institutional participation, and real-world applications. Whether it’s how institutional capital enters the market, how compliance frameworks gradually solidify, or how we address identity and human verification challenges in the AI wave — all of these forces are pushing the industry into a more complex, but also more grounded phase. Perhaps this is also one way to understand @Polkadot's transition into its “Second Age.” Topics & Timestamps 0:00 Opening & Meeting in Hong Kong 0:22 Beyond Crypto-Native Audiences 1:49 Looking Beyond Finance 3:08 Dave’s Background & Entry into Crypto 4:13 The Industry “Hard Reset” & Long-Termism 6:14 Institutional Perspective: Who’s Buying, What, and Over What Horizon 8:42 Is AI Diluting Crypto’s Capital Attraction? 10:17 Bots & Proof of Personhood: Why “Proving You’re Human” Matters 12:12 Institutional Barriers: Risk, Liquidations, Infrastructure & Compliance 16:20 Hong Kong & OASES: A Regulatory Testbed for Real Use Cases For @Polkadot? 18:35 What Is the Real Value of Polkadot Hub? 21:01 Parity Today: Middleware, Toolkits & Proof-of-Concept Products 24:50 Progress on the @Polkadot App 25:55 A New Question for 2026: What Is Polkadot? 28:20 Looking Toward 2026: Institutional Pilots + Product Deployment