What's after Layer-1s? with Mitja Goroshevsky

My guest today is Mitja Goroshevsky, CTO of TON Labs. TON Labs is a core developer of the Free TON blockchain protocol and TON OS (operating system). Free TON is a fast, secure, and scalable blockchain and network project, capable of handling millions of transactions per second if necessary, and both user-friendly and service provider-friendly. One might think about Free TON as a huge distributed supercomputer, or rather a huge "super server", intended to host and provide a variety of services. Free TON is based on a flexible multi-blockchain platform called TON Blockchain, which is capable of processing millions of transactions per second, with Turing-complete smart contracts, upgradable formal blockchain specifications, multi-cryptocurrency value transfer, support for micropayment channels and off-chain payment networks. Before Co-Founding TON Labs in 2018, Mitja spent over two decades in the IT industry, establishing various successful businesses such as DeltaThree Communications, the first international voice over IP provider; Internet Telecom, a telecoms and enterprise-grade IP solution provider; and BrainsMatch, a Machine Learning company. Following a productive stint in the telecoms and IT space, Mitja ventured into the world of blockchain and served as the Chief Architect for US-based ShelterZoom. Aside from his expertise in entrepreneurship, IT, and blockchain, he also participated in various research projects and has co-authored several patents in distributed computing. All of this to say, Mitja is incredibly knowledgeable and provides and wealth of knowledge. In our conversation, we cover Free TON and Ton Labs, unlocking the power of DeFi, scaling blockchains, decentralization, and much more. We begin our conversation with Mitja going over his personal history within crypto and how the founding of TON Labs and Free Ton. We discuss the importance of learning multiple programming languages and Mitja gives his advice to developers about which smart contracts language he would recommend learning and why. O