Listen "121: Database Innovations Meet Blockchain: The =nil; Foundation Story with founder and builder Misha Komarov"
Episode Synopsis
In this episode, I interview Misha Komarov, founder of =nil; Foundation. I speak with Misha about how he entered the crypto space by designing databases and blockchain protocols. He discusses the origins of =nil; Foundation, which sought to merge achievements from traditional database architectures into blockchain to enable highly scalable infrastructure.
We explore some of the technologies =nil; has built, like zero-knowledge applications, a circuit compiler, and a proof generation marketplace. Misha explains their proposal for zero-knowledge sharding as a method to scale Ethereum while retaining composability.
He shares his contrarian perspective that Layer 2 rollups may fragment, rather than effectively scale, Ethereum's liquidity. Misha argues that for crypto projects to be taken seriously by large non-crypto companies, they first need to grow substantially in usage and size. He sees finding product-market fit and real-world use cases as the core challenge confronting the crypto industry currently.
Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research.
Finally, I don’t run ads on my podcast. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on ApplePodcasts or share this podcast with a friend.
Connect with Misha and =nil; Foundation here:-
https://nil.foundation/
https://twitter.com/nemothenoone?lang=en
Connect with me here - https://samkamani.com/#linktree
We explore some of the technologies =nil; has built, like zero-knowledge applications, a circuit compiler, and a proof generation marketplace. Misha explains their proposal for zero-knowledge sharding as a method to scale Ethereum while retaining composability.
He shares his contrarian perspective that Layer 2 rollups may fragment, rather than effectively scale, Ethereum's liquidity. Misha argues that for crypto projects to be taken seriously by large non-crypto companies, they first need to grow substantially in usage and size. He sees finding product-market fit and real-world use cases as the core challenge confronting the crypto industry currently.
Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research.
Finally, I don’t run ads on my podcast. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on ApplePodcasts or share this podcast with a friend.
Connect with Misha and =nil; Foundation here:-
https://nil.foundation/
https://twitter.com/nemothenoone?lang=en
Connect with me here - https://samkamani.com/#linktree
More episodes of the podcast Web3 with Sam Kamani
344: Web3 gaming that doesn’t suck: Kam Punia from Pixion Games shares his blueprint for success
05/01/2026
342: How Verified is Tokenizing Finance for the 750 Million with Guest Speaker Kallol Borah
31/12/2025
341: Self-Repaying Loans in DeFi: Tobias on Altitude Finance’s TVL Growth and 2026 Roadmap
29/12/2025
340: Building Planet X: James Ashton on Creator-Owned Gaming, 200M Reach, and Treasure Hunt Gameplay
27/12/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.