Espresso Systems

This week, Jill Gunter from Espresso joins the show to discuss the state of crypto today. We deep dive into how has crypto evolved, why privacy matters, predictions for 2026, will Espresso launch a token & more. Enjoy! -- Follow Jill: https://x.com/jillgun Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- This Empire episode is brought to you by VanEck. Learn more about the VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE): http://vaneck.com/EmpireNODE An investment in the Fund involves a substantial risk and is not suitable for all investors. It is possible to lose your entire principal investment. The Fund may invest nearly all of its net assets in either Digital Transformation Companies and/or Digital Asset Instruments. The Fund does not invest in digital assets or commodities directly. Digital asset instruments may be subject to risks associated with investing in digital asset exchange-traded products (“ETPs”), which include the historical extreme volatility of the digital asset and cryptocurrency market, as well as less regulation and thus fewer investor protections, as these ETPs are not investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“1940 Act”) or commodity pools for the purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”). Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. Visit vaneck.com to read and consider the prospectus, containing the investment objective, risks, and fees of the fund, carefully before investing. © Van Eck Securities Corporation, Distributor, a wholly owned subsidiary of Van Eck Associates Corporation. -- GEODNET is the world’s largest RTK network, delivering real-time, centimeter-level precision for drones, robots, farmers, and first responders. Recognized by the U.S. Congress, this blockchain-powered network supports mission-critical applications across a wide range of industries. Discover how GEODNET is changing the world: [https://geodnet.com] -- Uniswap’s Trading API offers plug-and-play access to deep onchain and off-chain liquidity, delivering enterprise-grade crypto trading without the complexity - from one of the most trusted teams in DeFi. Click to get started with seamless, scalable access to Uniswap’s powerful onchain trading infrastructure. https://hub.uniswap.org/?utm_source=blockworks&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ww_web_bw_awa_trading-api_20251117_podcast_clicks -- Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (02:44) The State of Crypto Today (10:21) How Has Crypto Evolved? (19:18) Ads (VanEck, Geodnet, Uniswap) (21:40) Why Privacy Matters (35:55) Who Wins In Crypto Infra? (45:56) Crypto's Identity Crisis (52:52) Predictions For 2026 (55:49) When Will Espresso Launch A Token? -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Jill Gunter

Co-founder

Espresso SystemsSlow Ventures

The SEC this week held a roundtable on financial surveillance and privacy in another sign of the major shift in the regulator's approach to crypto. In this DEX in the City episode, Espresso co-founder Jill Gunter joins hosts Jessi Brooks and Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos to unpack the major talking points and takeaways from the roundtable. And more importantly, what it signals about the SEC’s approach to crypto and privacy. With legacy financial institutions coming onchain, like JPMorgan and DTTC, they discuss how crypto can actually help prevent data breaches and have a better product for users and companies alike.  Interestingly, Jill recounts how she lost $30,000 in an exploit involving crypto mixer Railgun and why she didn’t even try to hide it from regulators at the roundtable.  Plus, was Do Kwon's sentence excessive? Well, according to Jessi, it’s a complicated question, but she unpacks what people misunderstood about the judge’s decision. Hosts: Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare Guest: Jill Gunter, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Espresso Systems Links: Unchained: Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action Do Kwon Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison Jessi's and Katherine's paper on programmable risk management Timestamps: 🚀 00:00 Introduction  ⚡️ 3:23 How SEC privacy roundtable marks a sea change in the regulatory approach to crypto  💡 12:39 Why privacy is also important for legacy institutions moving onchain  📍 17:31 How projects and institutions can be compliant while collecting less data 🤧 24:57 Jill recounts being the victim of a hack and seeing the hackers use a privacy protocol ❕️ 30:36 Why Jill says the hack did not change her perspective on crypto privacy 😎 33:30 How far the crypto industry has come since Tornado Cash ⚔️ 35:54 The debate over proof of innocence  ⚖️ 42:09 What everyone misunderstood about Do Kwon's sentence 💫 52:24 Shoutout to Save the Children for their innovative Bitcoin initiative Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jill Gunter

Co-founder

Espresso SystemsSlow Ventures

Bankless Nation, we’ve got the hottest debate in crypto right now: Are L2s extensions of Ethereum? On one side, we’ve got Kyle Samani and Max Resnick proposing that the current Ethereum Rollup-Centric Roadmap is off-track. On the other side we’ve got David Hoffman and Jill Gunter defending L2s as successful  extensions of Ethereum. ------ 📣 GET YOUR ALL ACCESS PASS TO THE PODCAST https://bankless.cc/podshownotes ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2    ⁠  🦄UNISWAP | BROWSER EXTENSION https://bankless.cc/uniswap  🪄 MAGIC EDEN | HOME OF WEB3 https://bankless.cc/MagicEden  🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle    🤖 0G | MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE, INEVITABLE https://bankless.cc/0G  ------ ✨ Mint the episode on Zora ✨ https://zora.co/collect/zora:0x0c294913a7596b427add7dcbd6d7bbfc7338d53f/85?referrer=0x077Fe9e96Aa9b20Bd36F1C6290f54F8717C5674E  ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 8:54 Defending “Extensions of Ethereum” 16:33 Interoperability Standards 25:36 Are L2s Parasitic to Ethereum? 32:37 ETH Economics & Value Accrual 41:30 Solana vs Ethereum L2s 49:09 Closing Thoughts ------ RESOURCES Kyle Samani https://x.com/KyleSamani   Max Resnick https://x.com/MaxResnick1   Jill Gunter https://x.com/jillrgunter   ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures ⁠

Kyle Samani

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Multicoin Capital

Max Resnick

Researcher

Special Mechanism GroupOP Labs

Jill Gunter

Co-founder

Espresso SystemsSlow Ventures

In today’s episode, we do a shared sequencing deep dive with repeat guest, Mr. Moonmath himself, the Blockchain Brainiac, and the Ethereum Evangelist– Justin "The Juggernaut" Drake. Justin is joined by The Sultan of Sequencing, the Espresso Emperor, the Cross-Rollup Connoisseur himself, Ben, the Blockchain Barista Fisch.   Where the fragments of Ethereum threaten to turn the digital ecosystem into a maze of confusion, these two men stand tall, illuminating the way, to come and save us from the labyrinth of Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap.  ------ 📣SUI | Register for Sui Basecamp https://bankless.cc/SUI-podcast  ------ 🎧 Listen On Your Favorite Podcast Player:  https://bankless.cc/Podcast  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2     ⁠  🦄UNISWAP | SWAP SMARTER https://bankless.cc/uniswap   🔗CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON https://bankless.cc/Celo     🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/toku     🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle     ⚖️ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 💸CRYPTO TAX CALCULATOR | USE CODE BANK30 https://bankless.cc/CTC  ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 6:09 Goals For the Episode 8:32 Sequencing / Sharing Explained  15:13 Ethereum’s Arc  18:20 Shared Sequencing Obstacles  23:52 Network Effects & the Cold Start Problem 32:54 MEV Redistribution  45:25 Reserve Price 46:45 Loss of Sovereignty  54:34 Espresso Announcement!   1:03:52 Fast L2 Finality  1:09:52 Real-Time, Recursive Proving, & Hardware  1:13:32 Flash Loans & Snark Proving  1:15:38 Low Latency Finality 1:17:08 Censorship Solutions 1:21:50 Discussing the Downsides 1:35:38 Known Unknowns of the Future 1:39:46 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Justin Drake https://twitter.com/drakefjustin   Ben Fisch https://twitter.com/benafisch  ------ Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Justin Drake

Researcher

Ethereum Foundation

Ben Fisch

Co-founder and CEO

Espresso Systems

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Trying to regulate DeFi is a huge challenge because in a truly decentralized system, there should be no centralized actors to make and enforce rules for. This could make combating illicit finance challenging since traditionally, regulation has been targeted at centralized intermediaries. Yet Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs; Michael Mosier, the co-founder of boutique law firm Arktouros; and Katja Gilman, senior lead for public policy at Polygon Labs, published a paper last week that proposes to do just that.  Rebecca and Michael join Unchained to discuss what prompted them to write the paper, what the difference is between "onchain CeFi" and "genuine DeFi," how targeting high-risk wallets can be one part of the solution, how critical communications transmitters (CCTs) are another piece of the puzzle, and what next steps they are pursuing.  Show highlights: The motivations behind their paper and Michael and Rebecca’s legal backgrounds Why Michael views the Bank Secrecy Act as outdated in the context of DeFi How critical KYC and AML compliance is for the integrity of DeFi What Rebecca identifies as the principal risks in the DeFi sector Why their proposal targets the protocol layer for effective DeFi regulation How "onchain CeFi" differs fundamentally from "genuine DeFi" Whether a decentralized protocol can be effectively regulated when controlled by a DAO How if DeFi were to be classified as critical infrastructure by the Cyber and Information Security Agency (CISA), it would impact the sector Whether the critical components of blockchain networks, such as RPCs, can be regulated effectively How categorizing wallets based on risk can be one part of the solution to fighting illicit finance Why Rebecca considers Tornado Cash a prime example of “genuine DeFi” What steps Rebecca and Michael plan to take next following the publication of their paper Thank you to our sponsors! Popcorn Network Polkadot Guest: Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs Previous appearances on Unchained: Just a Coincidence? Coinbase and Polygon Lawyers See Bad Omens in SEC Crackdown Kik’s Surprising Move in Its Lawsuit With the SEC Michael Mosier, cofounder of Arktouros PLLC Links Previous coverage of Unchained on the topic: Could the Bank Secrecy Act Harm Crypto? Coin Center Thinks So  Full paper: Genuine DeFi as Critical Infrastructure: A Conceptual Framework for Combating Illicit Finance Activity in Decentralized Finance Rebecca’s thread Coin Center: Broad, Ambiguous, or Delegated: Constitutional Infirmities of the Bank Secrecy Act Tornado Cash Unchained: Given the Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Is Ethereum Censorship Resistant? Illicit funds in crypto: Unchained: How Much Money Are Terrorists Actually Raising in Crypto? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rebecca Rettig

Chief Policy Officer

Polygon LabsJito LabsPolygonDeFi Education Fund

Michael Mosier

Co-Founder

ARArktourousArktourosEspresso Systems

Katja Gilman

Senior Lead for Public Policy

Polygon Labs

Seth Hertlein, VP Global Head of Policy at Ledger, and Michael Mosier, Co-Fouder of legal boutique Arktourous, Build Exante - FinCEN, Treasury, and Chief Technical Counsel at Chainalysis join us on today’s show to explain the modern financial surveillance apparatus. FATF, FinCEN, AML/KYC, OFAC...the blacklists, the greylists. How does it all work? Who makes the rules? ------ 🎁 Check your wallet with our brand new tool: Claimables  https://bankless.cc/GetClaimables ------ 📣 AAVE V3 is Here! http://app.aave.com/ ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE ⁠https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2 ⁠ 🦊METAMASK PORTFOLIO | MANAGE YOUR WEB3 EVERYTHING ⁠https://bankless.cc/MetaMask ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum ⁠ 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle ⁠ 🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE ⁠https://bankless.cc/uniswap  🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/Toku  ----- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 9:10 Financial Surveillance  13:10 Data Collection 17:10 The Bank Secrecy Act  20:30 SARS 23:10 Understanding the Enforcers  30:30 Goals for FINCEN 38:55 OFAC Explained  51:11 Strict Liability  56:26 Process of Getting OFAC SDN List  1:00:50 Tornado Cash 1:11:05 What Should We Do?  1:21:05 Closing & Disclaimers  ----- RESOURCES Michael Mosier https://twitter.com/m_mosier_   Seth Hertlein https://twitter.com/SethHertlein   ----- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures ⁠

Seth Hertlein

VP Global Head of Policy

Ledger

Michael Mosier

Co-Founder

ARArktourousArktourosEspresso Systems

Today we are joined by Josh Bown (Astria) and Ben Fisch (Espresso Systems) to discuss the role of shared sequencers in the modular future. Josh and Ben explain the risks of centralized sequencers, why rollups will use a shared sequencer and the core tradeoffs. What is the value proposition of a shared sequencer? How will MEV be allocated between rollups and sequencers? Why haven't rollups already decentralized their sequencer? We discuss these questions and more in this epic conversation! - - Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (04:27) The Role of a Sequencer (11:24) The Risks of Centralized Sequencers (20:13) Using the L1 as the Sequencer (23:12) Why Use a Shared Sequencer? (34:56) Quicknode (36:43) Kwenta (37:40) The Tradeoffs (40:35) Who will be the Sequencers? (45:23) The AWS Analogy (50:27) Economic Capture and Allocation Challenges (58:28) How Block Times Impact Shared Sequencing (01:01:12) Competition (01:05:04) Restaking Risk and Timelines - - Follow Josh: https://twitter.com/Jskybowen Follow Ben: https://twitter.com/benafisch Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/  - - This episode is brought to you by Quicknode. QuickNode is an end-to-end blockchain developer platform that makes building Web3 apps easy. Go to QuickNode.com and use code Empire for a free month on their feature-packed Build Plan! - - This episode is brought to you by Kwenta, the premier derivatives trading platform on Optimism that offers deep liquidity, low fees and up to 50x leverage across 24+ assets. Go to Kwenta.io and start trading today! - - Resources Espresso Systems https://www.espressosys.com/ https://twitter.com/EspressoSys Astria https://www.astria.org/ https://twitter.com/AstriaOrg - -  Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Josh Bowen

Co-Founder

Astria

Ben Fisch

Co-founder and CEO

Espresso Systems

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi and Tom Schmidt chop it up about the latest news in the digital asset industry. In this episode, Jill Gunter, the empress of Espresso, also joined the conversation.    Show topics: Whether product management is the new consulting What is going to happen with macroeconomics and whether monetary policy is data-driven Why Jill’s faith is getting renewed, especially after listening to Fed authorities The TL;DR on the Ava Labs conspiracy story Why the industry needs a decentralized RPC The role of Flashbots and Ethermine in censoring transactions  Potential over-compliance from the biggest crypto projects on how to deal with sanctioned addresses Whether social slashing allows Ethereum to stay uncensored The importance of educating regulators on crypto What Haseeb thinks lawyers would recommend to Coinbase about validating transactions from sanctioned addresses The significance of both transactional and application-layer privacy How stablecoin providers need to implement some basic levels of privacy Why corporations do not run Ethereum and whether users are pro-OFAC restrictions Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital https://twitter.com/hosseeb Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly Capital https://twitter.com/tomhschmidt   Guest Jill Gunter Twitter: https://twitter.com/jillrgunter Episode Links   Tornado Cash Treasury Press release  Tornado Cash developer arrested  Circle freezes USDC in sanctioned wallets Crypto exchange dYdX blocked accounts that received funds from Tornado Cash What the sanctions mean for privacy coins Celebrities get dusted Previous coverage of the Tornado Cash Sanctions on Unchained: Is TRM Labs Blocking Addresses From DeFi Protocols? Ari Redbord Says No  Tornado Cash Sanctioned. Did the Government Overstep Its Bounds? The Chopping Block: Did OFAC Overstep by Sanctioning Tornado Cash? Ava Labs Accusations: CoinDesk article  Crypto Leaks article   Social Slashing and Censorship on ETH Axios summary of the situation BitMex research on how the sanctions affect Ethereum Ethermine banning transactions Nic Carter’s article Eric Wall’s article on social slashing Hetzner banning Ethereum users Previous Coverage on Unchained Given the Sanctions on Tornado Cash, Is Ethereum Censorship Resistant? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jill Gunter

Co-founder

Espresso SystemsSlow Ventures

The US Treasury's sanctions on Tornado Cash could go down as one of the most significant events in crypto's history. The implications and nuances are vast, so we've decided to do something a little different for today's episode. On August 12th, Jill Gunter and Michael Mosier from Espresso Systems hosted a Twitter Space on Tornado's sanctions, financial privacy and regulation. We've teamed up with Jill and Michael to share this epic conversation with a wider audience. This is a massive episode, almost 3 hours, but it's full of profound insights and has an all-star lineup of speakers. I highly recommend listening if you want to learn more about the recent sanctions and where regulation is heading! Shoutout to @f1v3am and @nedbgq, who provided a recording of the conversation and made this episode possible. -- Follow Jill: https://twitter.com/jillrgunter Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/M_Mosier_ Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod -- Resources Link to the original Twitter Space https://twitter.com/jillrgunter/status/1558150917387534336

Jill Gunter

Co-founder

Espresso SystemsSlow Ventures

Michael Mosier

Co-Founder

Espresso SystemsARArktourousArktouros

Jill Gunter is the co-founder and chief strategy officer at scaling solution Espresso Systems and a venture partner at Slow Ventures. She became interested in Bitcoin via her experience with Latin American markets — which is somewhat of a pattern in the space. She was a debt trader at Goldman Sachs, focusing on Argentina and Venezuelan bonds, and saw crypto’s potential to help those in corrupt or repressive regimes. She continued exploring how crypto can help skirt currency controls and enable more global and efficient markets, and we discuss how those themes are playing out right now in the war in Ukraine. We talk about how Jill went from Wall Street to crypto, and from VC to founder. Her latest venture is Espresso Systems, which aims to bring scalability and privacy to web3. Thanking our podcast sponsors: 0x/Matcha makes sure you’re getting the best possible price by routing trades over various DEXs, without taking commissions. Head over to matcha.xyz/defiant. Eden Network is a next-generation private transaction service for Ethereum, providing traders with MEV protection by submitting transactions directly to miners and away from the prying eyes of harmful bots. 1inch finds the best rates across multiple networks. Why use a single DEX when you can use them all? Find your best deal at 1inch. Sperax has created $USDs, the stablecoin that generates passive income for holders. Thanks to the Auto-Yield feature, it pays to hold $USDs. Try it yourself here!

Jill Gunter

Co-founder

Espresso SystemsSlow Ventures