In this episode of BeaconLayer Podcast, Kenzi Morikawa, Sachi Miyasaki, and Diksha Wells sit down with Ethan Sun to explore what happens when consumer AI meets crypto rails — and why creators may be the biggest winners.

Ethan shares his journey into the blockchain-and-AI intersection and the origin story of MyShell, an “AI consumer layer” designed to connect users, creators, and open-source AI researchers. His core thesis: the next wave of the creator economy won’t require everyone to be technical — it’ll give non-technical creators real leverage to build, remix, and distribute AI-native experiences.

We unpack MyShell’s approach to making AI models more accessible, what it means to transition from Web2 to Web3 without losing users, and where blockchain fits into the product (beyond buzzwords). Ethan also offers a Chin ...