Are Stablecoins Crypto's Achilles' Heel? Quai Network's Energy-Backed Alternative with Alan Orwick
April 24, 2025
In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Alan Orwick, the CEO of Dominant Strategies, a development entity creating tooling and applications on the Quai Network. Together, they discuss the future of stablecoins, PoW innovation, and how the Quai Network is developing a new type of energy-backed cryptocurrency system.
In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by Alan Orwick, the CEO of Dominant Strategies, a development entity creating tooling and applications on the Quai Network.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why traditional stablecoins represent an "Achilles heel" for crypto
- How Quai Network's dual-token model (QUAI and QI) creates a complete monetary system with a store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account
- The surprising environmental benefits of PoW mining, including carbon-negative operations through methane capture
- Why PoW can be more scalable than PoS through innovations like proof-of-entry-minimum
- How Quai's UTXO-based QI token creates a truly private, cash-like digital currency with fixed denominations
And much more!
Alan graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2020 with a degree in Computer Science, where he founded Texas Blockchain, a student club focused on exploring blockchain technology. Following graduation, Alan worked at Apple as a full stack software engineer. Alan is currently driving forward a portfolio of projects, most notably Quai Network.
Episode Highlights:
- [20:50] Stablecoins, Strategic Reserves & US Dominance
- [25:44] Stablecoin Monopoly and Opportunity for Disruption
- [35:21] Why QI Is More Than Just a Stablecoin
- [53:29] PoEM and the Return of Proof of Work
- [56:49] Dual Token Model: QI and QUAI
Previous guests include: Rusty Matveev, Chief Strategy Officer at Calaxy; Andrew Lawrence, CEO and Co-Founder of Censo; Zac Townsend, CEO and Co-Founder of Meanwhile; Jesper Johansen, CEO and Co-Founder of Northstake; Tama Churchouse, COO of Cumberland Labs; Holly Wood of Boson Protocol; Sid Powell of Maple Finance; Chad Barraford of THORChain; and many others.
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:
- Laying the Groundwork for a Billion-User Blockchain with Rich Rines, Contributor at Core DAO
- Staking the Future: From Blockchain Beginnings to Institutional Innovations with Chen Zhuling of RockX
- The Unstoppable Nature of Blockchain: A Conversation with Bonart Mati of Obligate
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