255: Why Build Another L1? Paul from Somnia on Somnia Protocol’s High-Throughput Blockchain

Web3 with Sam Kamani

Paul, co-founder of Somnia Protocol and former Improbable exec, joins Sam Kamani to unpack why we still need new Layer 1s—and how Somnia’s high-performance, EVM-compatible blockchain is designed for mass-scale gaming, AI agents, and prediction markets. From his time at Goldman Sachs to building billion-dollar startups, Paul shares deep technical insights on compression, consensus, and abstracting Web3 for everyday users.

Key Timestamps

• [00:00:00] Introduction: Sam introduces the episode featuring Paul from Somnia Protocol.

• [00:01:00] Guest Intro: Paul shares his journey from Goldman Sachs to building billion-dollar gaming infrastructure.

• [00:03:00] Discovering Ethereum: Why Ethereum sparked Paul’s imagination more than Bitcoin.

• [00:04:00] Gaming & Interoperability: Building large-scale immersive events and early Metaverse experiments.

• [00:07:00] Why Somnia?: The technical limitations that forced them to build a new L1.

• [00:10:00] Compression Innovation: Solving blockchain bottlenecks with novel networking and compression.

• [00:13:00] Who’s Building on Somnia: Projects in gaming, DeFi, AI, social, and entertainment.

• [00:15:00] Blockchain Should Be Invisible: Why UX abstraction is the next big unlock for Web3.

• [00:18:00] Mainnet Plans: What Somnia needs before mainnet—ecosystem readiness, tech, and community.

• [00:20:00] Founder's Lessons: Why Paul wishes he invested in public storytelling and personal brand earlier.

• [00:23:00] Gaming Favorites: From League of Legends to Zelda—how Paul still finds time to game.

• [00:25:00] The Real Web3 Gaming Unlock: Prediction markets and financializing gameplay.

• [00:27:00] Final Ask: Paul’s call to developers and consumers to explore Somnia Testnet.

Connect

https://somnia.network/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/somnianetwork/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-thomas-90042b36/

https://x.com/Somnia_Network

https://x.com/0xPaulThomas

Disclaimer

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