Austin Griffith joins Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan to unpack BonkDAO's $20M governance heist, and Kain's case for giving founders more control.
========================================================
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A single wallet spent $4.4 million buying up Bonk tokens, then used that stake to push through a governance proposal that legally emptied BonkDAO's roughly $20 million treasury a week later, with almost no one watching the vote.
Austin Griffith, Ethereum Foundation developer and creator of Scaffold-ETH and founder of BuidlGuidl, joins Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan to use the heist as a jumping-off point for Kain's real target: ENS. Kain argues founder Nick Johnson should retake control over building and product from the DAO, and makes the case that founder-led execution beats decentralized governance almost every time.
They also cover Vitalik's Lean Ethereum overhaul and why Austin says it will barely change what he builds, the $1 AI audit he launched as a meme for x402 agent payments, Robinhood's new chain and the pay-to-play deals behind it, and why Kain now argues tokens are the wrong way to raise money.
If a founder with total conviction can outperform a DAO built to stop exactly that, the DAO experiment may be further from finished than anyone wants to admit.
Hosts:
Kain Warwick - Host of Uneasy Money and Founder of Infinex and Synthetix
Taylor Monahan - Co-host of Uneasy Money and Security Expert
Guests:
Austin Griffith - Ethereum Foundation developer and creator of Scaffold-ETH and SpeedRun Ethereum, and founder of BuidlGuidl
Timestamps
🛠️ 01:32 Why Austin says Vitalik's Lean Ethereum overhaul barely changes his job
📅 08:21 Taylor on why the EF ships huge roadmaps but too little in the short term
🪓 12:56 Austin on surviving the EF's leaner reorg and the wave of departures
💵 15:43 How Austin turned a serious auditing tool into a viral meme
🤝 18:48 x402 skill files: why agents will soon pay other agents for on-tap skills
💙 25:44 Cape: Get 33% off your first six months of privacy first mobile service at https://cape.co/unchained
🚨 26:41 How one wallet legally voted its way to BonkDAO's $20M treasury
⚖️ 32:57 Why Kain thinks Nick Johnson and ENS should take power back from the DAO
🤖 55:29 Robinhood's new chain and Kain's take on crypto's pay-to-play problem
🪙 58:29 Why Kain says tokens are now the wrong tool to raise money
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Is it Ethereum or bust? Ansgar Dietrichs makes the case that only Ethereum can anchor the financial system, and admits ETH still lacks a clear value story.
========================================================
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The Ethereum Foundation is deliberately shrinking its role, and five former researchers have launched Ethlabs to take over the work they worry will otherwise go undone.
Ansgar Dietrichs, co-founder of Ethlabs, joins Laura Shin to lay out the split: the Foundation will protect what should not change, while Ethlabs pushes the parts of Ethereum that must evolve. He makes the case that the global economy is moving onchain, and that Ethereum is the only candidate to sit at the center of it, or no one will.
The conversation traces why ETH the asset has been stuck between $1,000 and $5,000 for five years, why Dietrichs thinks EIP-1559 and cheap blockspace were never intentional choices, how Ethlabs divides labor with the Foundation, Etherealize, and Consensys, and what DeFi founders like Uniswap's Hayden Adams actually need. The throughline is a single missing ingredient he keeps returning to: intentionality about what ETH is actually for.
Host:
Laura Shin, Host / Unchained
Guests:
Ansgar Dietrichs - Co-founder of Ethlabs
Timestamps
🏛️ 01:26 Why the Ethereum Foundation is stepping back and the gap Ethlabs fills
🌐 04:00 What Ethereum would look like if Ethlabs succeeds
🧱 07:56 Why Ethlabs is scaling the L1 and fixing interop at the same time
🤝 10:48 How Ethlabs divides labor with the EF, Etherealize, and Consensys
📣 18:34 Fidelity: Explore crypto careers that could shape the future of finance at https://crypto.fidelitycareers.com
🔐 19:16 Cape: Get 33% off your first six months with code unchained at https://cape.co/unchained
💸 20:15 Why ETH has been stuck waiting five years for its next act
🔗 24:24 Does L1 activity still drive ETH's value, and why ETH's interop lags
🔥 27:25 Why Ansgar says cheap blockspace and EIP-1559 were never intentional
🪙 33:27 Why being an Ethereum L2 isn't yet the superpower it should be
🦄 36:17 The culture at the EF and what kind of culture Ethlabs will have
🏢 39:41 The accountability loop: a two to three year runway and who Ethlabs serves
🛠️ 45:33 What DeFi founders actually need from Ethereum, per Hayden and others
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ethereum has a new R&D lab, and its mission is blunt: make Ethereum and ETH win. In this episode, David sits down with Ansgar and Caspar, two co-founders of Ethlabs, to unpack why the organization exists, how it complements the Ethereum Foundation, and what it means to put Ethereum back on offense.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 What is Ethlabs?
2:35 The EF Narrows Its Mission
9:30 Putting Points on the Board
13:06 Principles Need Users
14:53 ETH the Asset and Ethereum the Network
17:33 Scaling, Interop, and Growth Workstreams
22:52 The Talent Behind Ethlabs
25:27 What a New Organization Unlocks
27:53 Pro Markets, Pro Growth, Pro ETH
30:51 The Trillion Dollar ETH Question
37:07 Who Steers Ethereum?
39:55 Shared Vision, Different Path
45:13 Funding Ethlabs
51:54 Hiring for Ethlabs
54:24 Ethereum’s Long Arc
58:14 What Comes First
---
RESOURCES
Ansgar Dietrichs
https://x.com/adietrichs
Caspar Schwarz-Schilling
https://x.com/casparschwa
Ethlabs
https://ethlabs.org/
---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Joe Lubin makes the bull case for Ethereum amid a sea of bearishness. The panel dissects Saylor selling Bitcoin for the first time in four years, the meaning behind 9 senior EF departures, Justin Drake's Q-Day call (50% by 2032), Manuel Araoz declaring all of DeFi unsafe, the ThorChain hack fallout, the Zama/Overnight Finance USDC freeze saga, and the CFTC greenlighting the first US perpetual futures product.
Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week Joe Lubin is stepping in to make the bull case for ETH on what he admits is a tough day to be bullish.
We open on Strategy's first Bitcoin sale in four years and whether the STRC preferred stock structure is "an algorithmic stablecoin with too many steps," as Tarun puts it. Joe pivots to pitching Ether DATs, then we get into the Ethereum Foundation's brain drain -- nine researchers gone, CROPS as the new mandate, and a mysterious new developer organization taking shape behind the scenes. The episode's meatiest block covers DeFi security: Justin Drake warns Q-Day is 50% likely by 2032, Manuel Araoz says all of DeFi is unsafe, ThorChain's been offline for two weeks post-hack, and the panel debates whether we're entering a rough 12-24 months where attackers outrun defenders. We close on Hyperliquid's all-time highs and the CFTC opening the door to US perps.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights
🔹 Strategy sold 32 BTC for the first time in four years as STRC falls below $100 par – Tarun calls it "an algorithmic stablecoin with too many steps"
🔹 Joe Lubin pitches Ether DATs as a safer model than Strategy – ~3% staking yield, no leverage, and "permanent capital" for the ecosystem
🔹 Nine senior Ethereum Foundation members departed in 2026 including Tim Beiko and Barnabe Monnot as Vitalik reframes EF around CROPS mandate
🔹 Joe reveals SharpLink, BitMine, and ConsenSys in talks to become Ethereum's "decentralized commercialization engines" – "there's only one foundation" but new nodes are forming
🔹 Justin Drake puts Q-Day at 50% by 2032 and calls NIST's 2035 timeline "a joke" after Google's quantum circuit breakthrough
🔹 Crowdsourced reverse engineering of Google's withheld quantum circuit improved results 12-13% using LLMs as a grinding tool
🔹 OpenZeppelin co-founder Manuel Araoz declares all of DeFi unsafe and advises friends and family to exit Aave, MakerDAO, and Compound
🔹 ThorChain remains offline two weeks after $10.8M hack – claims they disclosed the same vulnerability 17 days before the exploit
🔹 Zama's cUSDC contract frozen by Circle via court order in Overnight Finance dispute, highlighting privacy protocol limitations on freezable stablecoins
🔹 Hyperliquid hits $75 and flips Solana in FDV as CFTC approves Kalshi's BTCPERP – the first regulated US perpetual futures product
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️Joe Lubin, Co-Founder of Ethereum, Founder & CEO of ConsenSys
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:06 Saylor Sells BTC & Market Panic
05:07 STRC Death Spiral & DAT Risks
07:07 Ethereum Foundation Exodus & CROPS
13:04 The "Not Second Foundation" Debate
17:58 Quantum Q-Day: 50% by 2032
23:47 Is All of DeFi Unsafe?
31:11 ZK Composability & Bridge-Free Architecture
34:19 Security Deployment Lag & AI Arms Race
40:18 Anti-Fragility & Formal Verification
47:36 Zama USDC Freeze & Privacy vs Courts
50:33 CFTC Perps Approval & Hyperliquid at $75
55:53 Hyperliquid's Distribution Flywheel
01:00:46 Joe Lubin's Ethereum Bull Case
Disclosures
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Top Ethereum talent is leaving. The Ethereum Foundation is shrinking. And one question now hangs over the entire ecosystem: what happens to ETH if the EF steps back?
In this livestream, Camila Russo is joined by Dankrad Feist, Laura Shin, Ajit Tripathi, and William Mougayar to break down the EF departures, leadership turmoil, the cypherpunk mandate, the debate over tokenomics, and whether Ethereum is still positioned to win as competition intensifies.
The big tension in this conversation is clear: the EF may be choosing to do less, but the market is demanding more. So if Ethereum is entering a new phase, who organizes, who builds, and who fights for ETH from here?
Explore The Defiant ✨
Sophia Dew and Binji Pande speak with Vitalik Buterin about technology, human agency, and how the internet is changing the way people think, build, and relate to the world around them. Drawing from his writings and personal reflections, Buterin discusses how his worldview has evolved over the last decade, from creating Ethereum as a teenager to thinking more deeply about the social and philosophical implications of technology today.
The conversation explores the idea of “sanctuary technology,” systems that provide safety and coordination without removing individual freedom or agency. They also discuss the changing relationship between humans and AI, the risks of over-relying on automated systems, and why actively learning and thinking for yourself may become even more important as AI capabilities improve.
Along the way, Buterin reflects on creativity, community, identity, and the challenge of staying intentional in a world that increasingly pushes people toward autopilot.
Resources:
Follow Vitalik Buterin on X: https://x.com/VitalikButerin
Follow Sophia Dew on X: https://x.com/sodofi_
Follow Binji Pande on X: https://x.com/binji_x
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube
Find a16z on X
Find a16z on LinkedIn
Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify
Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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Explosive debate: after one of DeFi's biggest attacks left Aave facing bad debt, DeFi United raised more than $300M to stop the contagion. But did the ecosystem prove its strength - or expose hidden trust assumptions, opaque risk, and the need for a real DeFi backstop?
The Defiant's Camila Russo is joined by Dean Eigenmann (Markets Inc.), binji (Ethereum Foundation), and David Phelps (Confetti) to debate whether crypto bailouts are good for crypto, what this means for decentralization, and what DeFi must fix before it can scale to the mainstream.Watch the full discussion and decide for yourself.
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Bitcoin’s Satoshi drama heats up again as a major journalistic “reveal” drops, just as the crypto industry gets rocked by a quantum computing breakthrough that pulls up security timelines—and AI-powered exploits are suddenly real. We break down Satoshi theories, Blockstream PR whispers, the new quantum risk landscape, Ethereum vs. Bitcoin migration pain, and why your favorite protocols might not be ready for North Korea or superintelligent bug finders.
Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week we’re joined by Justin Drake, Ethereum Foundation researcher and the internet’s favorite quantum attack alarm bell ringer. Things get spicy immediately: the eternal guessing game “Who is Satoshi?” gets a new round of attention as John Carreyrou (yeah, Theranos guy) drops a supposed expose pointing his finger at none other than Blockstream’s Adam Back.
The crew debates whether this Satoshi story is tired PR, inside baseball, or a genuine existential turning point for Bitcoin culture. Then things escalate: Justin walks us through Google and Atomic’s quantum computing breakthrough—a real, validated step forward that potentially pulls the “Q-day” clock up to as soon as 2029. The implications? Bitcoin and Ethereum’s security models are suddenly under the gun, and community denial is in full effect. Who’s better poised to survive a quantum apocalypse… and is coin burning on the menu for Satoshi’s stash?
Later, we break down the Drift hack—North Korea’s latest state-level heist, featuring IRL social engineering that sounds like Mr. Robot meets Oceans Eleven. Finally, it’s an AI arms race: Anthropic’s Mythos model is reportedly the most dangerous security researcher ever coded, and it’s already quietly hardening corporate fortresses.
Panic? Prepare? Both? One thing’s for sure—there are no do-overs on the blockchain, so let’s get into it.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights
🔹 Blockstream’s Adam Back is the new “Satoshi” according to a viral John Carreyrou story
🔹 Bitcoin’s culture wars: PR rumor mill vs. industry insiders roll their eyes
🔹 The Google & Atomic quantum computing breakthrough slashes Q-Day timelines dramatically
🔹 Ethereum’s quantum readiness (thanks Justin) vs. Bitcoin’s “not my problem” response
🔹 Why crypto’s “immutable” past is a quantum-ticking time bomb for dormant addresses
🔹 Satoshi coin burning debate—do we idolize, fork, or rage-quit?
🔹 The Drift hack: North Korean ops, social engineering, and multi-sig failures
🔹 Anthropic’s Mythos: the AI that finds bugs before humans—and sometimes emails you about it
🔹 Formal verification, client diversity, and the future defense of blockchains
🔹 Haseeb’s question: Could AI break crypto before quantum does?
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guest
⭐️ Justin Drake, Researcher of Ethereum Foundation
Disclosures
LINKS
"Securing Elliptic Curve Cryptocurrencies against Quantum Vulnerabilities: Resource Estimates and Mitigations" — Google Quantum AI, Ethereum Foundation, Stanford https://quantumai.google/static/site-assets/downloads/cryptocurrency-whitepaper.pdf
"Shor's algorithm is possible with as few as 10,000 reconfigurable atomic qubits" — Cain, Xu, King, Picard, Levine, Endres, Preskill, Huang, Bluvstein https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.28627
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Eddy Lazzarin speaks with Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, and Guillaume Verdon, founder and CEO of Extropic, about whether AI progress can or should be steered, the risks of concentrated power, and what open source and decentralization mean for who benefits from increasingly powerful systems. This episode originally aired on the a16z crypto podcast.
Resources:
Follow Vitalik Buterin on X: https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin
Follow Guillaume Verdon on X: https://twitter.com/GillVerd
Follow Eddy Lazzarin on X: https://twitter.com/eddylazzarin
Follow Shaw Walters on X: https://twitter.com/shawmakesmagic
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube
Find a16z on X
Find a16z on LinkedIn
Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify
Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Quantum used to be crypto’s distant sci-fi problem. Justin Drake says it now has a clock. In this episode, we unpack what “Q-Day” actually means, why Justin thinks 2032 is the date the entire industry should be planning around, and why Ethereum is targeting 2029 to get post-quantum ready.
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---
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 When is Q-Day?
5:35 The moment quantum becomes crypto-relevant
10:11 How many qubits does it take to break crypto?
16:22 What a real Bitcoin quantum attack would look like
20:19 How much Bitcoin is actually vulnerable?
26:26 Burn, freeze, or salvage? Bitcoin’s impossible choice
35:06 Proof of seed phrase and Bitcoin’s post-quantum bottleneck
41:02 Ethereum’s exposure: smaller, but not zero
45:43 Ethereum’s tougher roadmap: three layers, three upgrades
50:29 The execution-layer plan: replace ECDSA without killing throughput
57:56 Post-quantum, post-AI cryptography
1:03:36 BLS, KZG, LeanVM, and the rest of the stack
1:06:42 Is this bigger than the Merge?
1:17:21 If Bitcoin stumbles, does all crypto stumble too?
1:19:35 “Quantum is not a challenge—it’s an opportunity”
1:21:27 AI, quantum, crypto and the 2032 convergence
1:28:04 Harvest now, decrypt later
1:30:09 Defensive accelerationism and Ethereum’s role
1:39:10 Stoicism, P-doom, and why he keeps building
---
RESOURCES
Justin Drake
https://x.com/drakefjustin/
Bitcoin Quantum Risk List
https://www.projecteleven.com/bitcoin-risq-list
Nic Carter Blog Posts
https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/bitcoin-developers-are-sleepwalking
https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/trillion-dollar-salvage
https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/bitcoin-developers-are-mostly-not
The Strawmap
https://strawmap.org/
---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Joseph Chalom and Danny Ryan discuss the institutional outlook on Ethereum and why it is “the only game in town.”
Bits + Bips is spreading its wings
Starting soon, new episodes will only be published on our brand‑new feeds.
What you need to do:
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The institutions are here and they may have already picked their preferred blockchain.
Sharplink Gaming CEO Joseph Chalom and Etherealize co-founder Danny Ryan discuss the institutional outlook on Ethereum. They say the network is the only chain being discussed by institutions thinking about tokenization, dismissing Solana as a possible contender. They explore what this means for ether and why anticipated upgrades only strengthen the case.
Meanwhile, Danny maintains that L2s are still part of the Ethereum roadmap, albeit agreeing with Vitalik that they need to evolve.
Plus, why Joseph thinks privacy will unlock Ethereum's next DeFi wave and why Danny sees AI agents as the salve to crypto's UX woes, though he calls the current activity “a toy.”
Guest:
Joseph Chalom, President/CEO at SharpLink Gaming Inc.
Danny Ryan, Co-Founder & President of Etherealize
Links:
Unchained:
Vitalik Targets Block Building as Ethereum Prepares Glamsterdam Upgrade
Vitalik Buterin Lays Out Quantum Defense Plan for Ethereum
Can Solana Edge Out Ethereum to Win the AI Agent & RWA Race?
Ethereum Researchers Outline Seven Forks Through 2029 in New “Strawmap”
BlackRock Just Chose Uniswap. The Market Didn’t Care. Here’s Why.
Want to Hire an AI Agent? Check Their Reputation Via ERC-8004
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Ethereum’s next big leap might not look like a single “flip the switch” moment—but it could change how the chain verifies everything. In this episode, Ansgar Dietrichs comes back to unpack the ZK EVM: why “re-executing every block” has been Ethereum’s hidden scaling tax, how real-time proofs finally make a different verification model viable, and what it would take to transition safely without sacrificing the verifiability that keeps Ethereum credibly neutral. They explore the three true bottlenecks of blockchain scaling (compute, IO, bandwidth), the roadmap from optional proofs to mandatory proofs, and why client diversity could look radically different in a ZK-native future.
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---
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:43 Ethereum’s Biggest Upgrade
4:35 The Core Idea: Verify Blocks Without Re-Executing
10:40 From Bitcoin’s “Verify Cheaply” to Verifying Full Execution
16:22 Cryptography 2.0: Proving Arbitrary Computation
22:56 Scaling All 3 Constraints: Compute, IO, Bandwidth
32:33 Why Ethereum Has Been “Slow” by Design
38:29 3× Per Year: Scaling Now, Not Someday
41:28 ZK Isn’t About Faster Blocks (But Speed Still Improves)
46:33 Rollout Plan: Optional Proofs → Mandatory Proofs
49:59 Dependencies: Block-in-Blobs, Repricing, New State Trees
54:14 Security Reality Check: Performance → Security → Production
1:01:24 Client Diversity in a ZK World
1:10:51 Timeline: ZK Ethereum, Around 2030
1:16:31 Second-Order Wins: L2 Bridging and Beyond Crypto
1:20:49 Closing: Build the Boring Infrastructure, Enable the Apps
---
RESOURCES
Ansgar Dietrichs
https://x.com/adietrichs
---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Are bitcoiners underestimating the quantum threat to Bitcoin? That's the question Castle Island Ventures Partner Nic Carter has posed with some recent posts gauging the views of several leading Bitcoin developers on quantum computing.
To help answer the question, Unchained reached out to Ethereum Foundation Researcher Justin Drake and Michigan University Professor Chris Peikert. In this episode, Justin and Chris, who is one of the foremost experts on lattice cryptography, break down the quantum computing threat to crypto and the potential timelines.
Justin theorizes that Bitcoin developers may not be incentivized to talk about the quantum computing risk while still saying that a number of smart people are already taking it seriously and that may be enough.
Conversely, Chris highlights the constraints that come with uncertainty around risks and timelines.
Listen to find out what they conclude. Plus, could AI do crypto in before quantum computers?
Guests:
Justin Drake, Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation
Chris Peikert, Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
Links:
Ethereum and Optimism Lay the Groundwork for a Post-Quantum Future
Q-Day Is Imminent. Can Bitcoin Survive the Quantum Threat?
Solana Deploys Post-Quantum Signatures on Testnet
Cracking Bitcoin Encryption Is Getting Much Easier, Google Says
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The ERC-8004 standard for trustless AI agent interactions is finally live on mainnet!
In this Unchained episode, Ethereum Foundation AI Lead Davide Crapis joins to explain what the standard is, how it works, how it’s protected against manipulation, and what's next.
Listen to find out his most interesting experience building the project and tips for builders looking to start businesses around AI agents.
Guest:
Davide Crapis, AI Lead at Ethereum Foundation
Links:
How the x402 Standard Is Enabling AI Agents to Pay Each Other
Uneasy Money: How Ethereum May Have One-Upped Bitcoin in One Big Way
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Vitalik Buterin just dropped a bombshell: the L2 vision no longer makes sense. Meanwhile, AI coding agents are going parabolic.
In this monster episode of Uneasy Money, Ethereum Foundation Head of Developer Growth Austin Griffith and Optimism co-founder Karl Floersch join hosts Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan to unpack the reasoning behind Vitalik's remarks and debate whether Ethereum needs L2s to pull institutions.
They also take a deep dive into the OpenClaw and Moltbook craze and Austin shares how he has different agents running on different machines, including one that texts his wife good morning everyday. Is “AI the new UI?”
Hosts:
Kain Warwick, Founder of Infinex and Synthetix
Taylor Monahan, Security Expert, Metamask
Guests:
Austin Griffith, AI Lead at Ethereum Foundation
Karl Floersh, CTO of OP Labs
Links:
Vitalik Rethinks Ethereum’s L2 Playbook, Calls for Shift Toward Native Rollups
How the x402 Standard Is Enabling AI Agents to Pay Each Other
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AI agents aren’t “coming” to Ethereum—they’re already here, spinning up on dedicated machines, clicking through wallets, deploying contracts, and even building apps for themselves. In this episode, Ryan and David sit down with Davide Crapis and Austin Griffith to map the emerging agent stack: ERC-8004 as a decentralized identity + reputation layer, x402 as payment rails for agent-to-agent commerce, and the real-world “Clawdbot” experiments that show what happens when an agent gets a wallet, a codebase, and a mandate. Along the way: prompt-injection risks, why agents read calldata like it’s their native language, and why it may be the best time in history to be a solo builder—even as it gets harder to be a junior dev.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 “AI is the new UI,” and you’ll be talking to your wallet
4:09 Is there an arms race for AI activity across chains?
7:32 The Clawdbot/OpenClaw moment: agents get OS-level power
13:18 Why crypto is native to agents
19:41 Austin’s setup: Claude bot, heartbeat loops, and real autonomy
22:28 The token incident: how a bot “got a treasury”
28:46 Prompt injection meets wallets
38:20 ERC-8004 explained: identity, reputation, validation
40:35 x402 + 8004: discovery + payment rails for agent commerce
48:38 8004 “scans” and early adoption reality
1:05:32 What agents could build when they can hire other agents
1:12:38 Tooling for the new builder era: Speedrun → Wingman
1:25:23 “Worst time to be a junior dev…”
1:28:15 Predictions: clean English becomes the sign of AI
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RESOURCES
Austin Griffith
https://x.com/austingriffith
Davide Crapis
https://x.com/DavideCrapis
---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
In this interview, Camila Russo sits down with Danny Ryan — former Ethereum Foundation researcher and a key leader behind Ethereum’s shift to proof of stake — now Co-Founder & President at Etherealize, to talk about the next big wave for crypto: institutional adoption of Ethereum.
Recorded in Buenos Aires during Devconnect, Danny breaks down why the mood inside banks has flipped from “we can’t touch crypto” to “if we don’t adopt it, we’ll be left behind.” We dig into what institutions actually want beyond ETFs, why the biggest opportunity isn’t “tokenizing assets” but rewiring markets from first principles, and why privacy is table stakes for institutional-grade onchain finance.
We also cover the regulatory whiplash of the last few years, what’s changed, what still needs to be written into law, and why Danny believes Ethereum is uniquely positioned for serious capital markets infrastructure.
Key topics:
Why banks suddenly have Ethereum FOMO
The difference between “tokenizing assets” vs rewiring markets
Where the biggest inefficiencies are (credit, fixed income, esoteric institutional markets)
Why privacy + ZK are essential for institutionsCoordination problems, incentives, and who doesn’t want markets to upgrade
Ethereum’s edge: neutrality, uptime, decentralization, and security
👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with someone who still thinks institutions only care about ETFs.
In this episode of The Defiant podcast, Camila Russo sits down in Buenos Aires (Devconnect) with Marissa Foster (Product, Ethereum Foundation) and Yoav Weiss (security researcher, Ethereum Foundation) to unpack The Trustless Manifesto and the Ethereum Interop Layer (EIL), why “trust assumptions” are quietly creeping into Ethereum’s stack, and what it will take to preserve Ethereum’s core values while making UX actually usable.We dig into the hidden places users are forced to trust intermediaries, from cross-chain interoperability and solvers to something most people never question: RPCs. Then we get practical: the guests walk through the EIL, a new approach to cross-chain UX that aims to deliver one-signature interop without introducing new trust assumptions, plus why the wallet becomes the center of the user’s security model.Finally, we zoom out: how should wallets warn users, what does “walkaway test” really mean, and why institutions may end up being one of the strongest forces pushing crypto toward less counterparty risk.Topic list: • Why Ethereum’s next phase is “mainstream adoption” — and why that raises the stakes • The Trustless Manifesto: what it is, why it was written, and what it’s trying to prevent • Where trust assumptions sneak in: bridges, interop protocols, sequencers, oracles • RPCs as a giant blind spot: “we trust RPCs blindly” and why that can have real-world consequences • Trustlessness vs UX: why “great values + bad UX” can still lose users • “You can’t build something trustless on top of something that isn’t trustless” • What users should demand — and why it can’t require everyone to be a security expert • How “beat” frameworks help: L2BEAT, upcoming interop criteria, and Walletbeat • The walkaway test: what happens if the team/server/intermediary disappears (or turns hostile)? • L2 sequencers: permissioned vs permissionless, censorship risk, and practical exit paths • Cloud dependencies (Cloudflare outage) and what it reveals about today’s “decentralized” apps • Ethereum Interop Layer (EIL) explained: one-signature, wallet-centric, self-executing interop • Why “solvers open the envelope” — and how EIL avoids that trust model • Liquidity providers, vouchers, and how users pay gas cross-chain without the usual friction • Standards and coordination: wallets, L2s, and dapps all need to meet in the middle • The HTTP analogy: Ethereum today as the “pre-HTTP internet” and what seamless interop could unlock • Institutions and counterparty risk: why big players may push hardest for trust-minimized infrastructure • What’s next: testnet learnings, audits, standards, wallet integrations, and 2026 mainnet targetExplore The Defiant ✨📰 Websitehttps://thedefiant.io/✉️ Free Daily Newsletter https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi...🤑 Weekly Premium Newsletter https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi...✊ Follow The DefiantX/Twitter: https://x.com/DefiantNews📬 Contact our Newsroomeditorial@thedefiant.io🤝 Sponsorships & Partnershipssponsors@thedefiant.io#TheDefiant #DeFi #Decentralized #Finance #Blockchain #Web3
In this episode of The Defiant podcast, Camila Russo sits down in Buenos Aires (Devconnect) with Marissa Foster (Product, Ethereum Foundation) and Yoav Weiss (security researcher, Ethereum Foundation) to unpack The Trustless Manifesto and the Ethereum Interop Layer (EIL), why “trust assumptions” are quietly creeping into Ethereum’s stack, and what it will take to preserve Ethereum’s core values while making UX actually usable.We dig into the hidden places users are forced to trust intermediaries, from cross-chain interoperability and solvers to something most people never question: RPCs. Then we get practical: the guests walk through the EIL, a new ap...
This episode showcases four of the most important talks from our Bankless Summit event in Buenos Aires for Devconnect, each capturing how Ethereum is evolving as it enters the real world. Tomasz K. Stańczak reveals the EF’s new priorities around developer acceleration, founder support, institutional engagement, and unifying the L2 ecosystem. Ansgar Dietrichs explains why Ethereum is shifting from long-term exploration to near-term execution, detailing the plan to 3x L1 scale annually and accelerate real-time ZKVM progress. Dankrad Feist makes the case for a DeFi-centric L1 where Ethereum becomes the global liquidity layer for RWAs and high-value settlement. And Danny Ryan closes with a raw, personal account of building proof of stake, surviving an SEC scare, and why he still believes Ethereum can meaningfully reshape global finance. These talks matter because they chart the clearest picture yet of where Ethereum is heading, what the next decade requires, and how its core builders are steering it there.
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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES
0:00 Intro
4:19 Tomasz K. Stańczak Ethereum's Next 5 Years
28:00 Ansgar Dietrichs Scaling Ethereum 2026: Why & How?
53:22 Dankrad Feist | Ethereum's DeFi Centric Strategy
1:10:22 Danny Ryan | The Last 8 Years: Ethereum, Burnout, & Coming Back
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Ethereum for the first time ever has rolled out a second major upgrade within a year. Fusaka has gone live less than six months after Pectra.
In this Unchained podcast episode, Offchain Labs Prysm Team Ethereum Cored Developer Preston Van Loon joins Protocol Watch founder Christine D. Kim to unpack how Fusaka would make transactions cheaper, improve the UX for users and impact layer 2 chain operators.
They also discuss the relatively short time to deployment and how this is impacting client and layer 2 teams.
Preston also explains why he is less nervous about Fusaka than he was about Pectra and the indicators of success. Plus what comes next after the hard fork.
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Guests:
Christine D. Kim, Host of Ready for Merge Podcast and writer of ACD After Hours
Preston Van Loon, Ethereum Core Developer working at Prysm by Offchain Labs
Previous appearances on Unchained:
How Will ETH React to Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade?
Links:
Unchained:
Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade Clears Final Test Before December Launch
Ethereum Gave Away Too Much for Too Long. Will Its Pivot Be Enough?
Timestamps:
🚀 0:00 Introduction
👀 4:39 How Fusaka is scaling Ethereum's data layer without imposing big hardware requirements
💡 11:44 How Fusaka is “a big stepping stone” to Ethereum's proto-danksharding vision
💥 15:08 Why the Fusaka launch timeline is a significant milestone for Ethereum developers
17:12 How Fusaka will make signing transactions easier
👀 18:37 How Fusaka will impact layer 2 operators
🤔 22:49 Are layer 2 chains ready for Fusaka?
⁉️ 29:30 Can L2s benefit from PeerDAS without features like backfilling?
🤔 32:41 Did developers have enough time to prepare for Fusaka?
🫣 34:31 Do faster development timelines impact client diversity?
🧏 40:24 What should have been done differently with Fusaka preparations
📽 42:27 The best way to watch the Fusaka upgrade in real time
💡 44:20 Why Preston is less nervous about Fusaka than Pectra
🚦46:01 Indicators of Fusaka success
📝 46:45 Preston's risk assessment for blob parameter only hard forks
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The Ethereum Foundation last month said it was taking its privacy efforts a step further. It announced the Privacy Cluster, a group of 47 coordinators, cryptographers, engineers and researchers with one mission: to make privacy “a first-class property of the Ethereum Ecosystem.”
At Ethereum DevConnect, the EF's Andy Guzman and Oskar Thorén join Unchained to discuss the formation of the group in the context of Zcash's recent resurgence, why privacy is important for crypto and the motivations behind Ethereum's recent push.
They also delve into the difference between the current privacy push and past efforts, as well as how it could unlock new use cases and the reaction of institutions. Additionally, they talk about competition with Zcash, reveal implementation timelines and delve into the impact on crypto data analysis.
Thank you to our sponsor Uniswap!
Guests:
Andy Guzman, PSE Lead at Ethereum Foundation
Oskar Thorén, Technical Lead of IPTF (Institutional Privacy Task Force) at Ethereum Foundation
Links:
Unchained:
Ethereum Foundation Launches ‘Privacy Cluster’
Vitalik Unveils New Ethereum Privacy Toolkit ‘Kohaku’
Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action
With Aztec’s Ignition Chain Launched, Will Ethereum Have Decentralized Privacy?
Timestamps:
🚀 00:00 Introduction
🥷1:33 What is the Ethereum Foundation Privacy Cluster?
🤔 3:49 Did Zcash's resurgence inspire the launch of the Privacy Cluster?
📽 6:29 How the Privacy Stewards of Ethereum has grown over the years
🔗 8:39 How the Institutional Privacy Task Force's got started
💡 10:10 Why privacy is important in crypto
🔮 13:54 What is driving Ethereum's recent privacy push
📝 15:21 Andy and Oskar discuss their backgrounds
🤔 16:48 The difference between Ethereum's current privacy efforts and past efforts like Tornado Cash
🤞18:43 How Ethereum's privacy push could unlock new use cases
🛣 25:09 Andy and Oskar outline different approaches to privacy
🤔 29:52 What are private reads and writes?
👀 35:16 Why Andy says adopting onchain privacy is a question of risk for institutions
36:39 Why private identities are important
🤔 40:13 What happens if identity proofs are stolen
📺 43:27 How the Ethereum Foundation wants to improve privacy experience
🧏 45:44 How the IPTF’s role is unique
⁉️ 47:51 What is Kohaku?
👀 51:02 Is Ethereum competing with Zcash?
💡 1:01:29 The Ethereum Foundation's thoughts on private viewing keys
🗓 1:03:44 Implementation timeline
🔮 1:05:50 How the crypto privacy push could impact blockchain data analysis
💥 1:08:46 Final thoughts
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The rise of Ethereum layer 2s has created a need for interoperability. While several solutions have emerged over the years, Ethereum Interop Layer promises to be trustless.
At Ethereum Devconnect, the EF’s developers Yoav Weiss and Marissa Posner join Unchained to explain why trustlessness is necessary for interoperability.
They also delve into how EIL differs from NEAR Intents and how it could unlock new use cases and spark an explosion of activity on Ethereum.
Guests:
Marissa Posner, Product on the Account and Chain Abstraction Team at the Ethereum Foundation
Yoav Weiss, Research on the Account and Chain Abstraction Team at the Ethereum Foundation
Links:
Unchained:
Zcash Developer Reveals Q4 Roadmap
What’s the Best Way for Ethereum to Grow? Justin Drake and Martin Köppelmann Debate
Why the Privacy Coins Mania Is Much More Than Price Action
Timestamps:
🚀00:00 Introduction
🤔4:11 What is Ethereum Interop Layer?
🤷♂️5:20 What Ethereum Interop Layer is trying to solve
📍7:08 Marissa explains why trustlessness is necessary for interoperability
⛓️8:21 Yoav describes the current state of L2 fragmentation
🔮9:17 How Yoav and Marissa came to work on EIL
⚙️11:53 How EIL works
🔬18:10 How EIL compares to NEAR Intents
🤔22:19 Does EIL bring new security risks?
🚀23:12 Can EIL unlock Ethereum’s HTTP moment?
📌28:26 What EIL wouldn’t make sense for
💭30:09 How EIL can supercharge wallets
📆34:18 EIL’s mainnet timeline
💥35:51 Whether EIL could lead to an explosion of Ethereum activity
⛓️39:06 Why chain security matters
🤔41:17 Does EIL increase attack vectors?
🔮43:20 The future of bridges
📜45:31 The trustless manifesto
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Ethereum hasn’t reached full speed yet. Now it might. Justin Drake of the Ethereum Foundation outlines Lean Ethereum, a plan to optimise the stack so validators stop executing and start verifying. With zk proofs in under 12 seconds and on-prem provers around 10 kW, the base layer can reach gigagas capacity and roughly 10,000 TPS while getting more decentralized. Add Fossil, seconds-level finality, and post-quantum signatures, and the changes stick. We unpack the EthProofs race, the four-phase path to mandatory proofs, the three-times-a-year gas target in EIP-7938, and why native rollups could remove gas ceilings for L2s. If you’re wondering whether Ethereum can scale without turning into a data center chain, this is the roadmap.
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We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors
---
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro: What is Lean Ethereum?
3:32 Beast Mode? Gas & Blocks
5:39 GigaGas, TeraGas, Gap to Target
9:32 Why Scale L1: Decentralization Tradeoffs
20:22 Provability, Power, Real-Time, Decentralization
24:43 L1 Security: Money, Key Uses
28:59 Lean Ethereum: SNARKs, Beast, Fort
36:32 SNARKs & zkVMs: What, Why
48:50 Execute→Verify: Validators & Lean Client
56:08 Builders, Provers, PBS, Fossil
1:08:49 Devconnect Demo, EthProofs, Roadmap Phases
1:31:06 Rollout, Gas Limits, Slots, Hardware
1:44:33 Home Provers: Power, Costs, Incentives/Penalties
1:54:38 Data Availability, Lean Consensus, Upgrades
2:04:22 Talent, Competition, Community, Closing
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RESOURCES
Justin Drake
https://x.com/drakefjustin
Lean Ethereum
https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/07/31/lean-ethereum
---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
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In this bonus episode of the Bankless podcast, we highlight insights from three guests featured in the Bankless premium feed. Uma Roy from Succinct discusses the Succinct Prover Network's role in enhancing Ethereum's transaction capabilities. Preston Van Loon outlines the upcoming hard forks Fusaka and Glamsterdam, along with essential privacy innovations. DeFi pioneer Dave from CapMoney presents a novel stablecoin model that combines yield-generating strategies with risk mitigation. Join us for a glimpse into the innovative advancements shaping the crypto world!
——
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:28 Uma Roy’s Insights on Succinct Prover Network
7:50 Ethereum Roadmap with Preston Van Loon
14:30 DeFi Innovations with DeFi Dave
20:11 Conclusion and Call to Action
——
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Ethereum just turned 10, and Vitalik Buterin returns to reflect on the last decade—and where it’s headed next.
In this conversation, Vitalik shares what surprised him most about Ethereum’s growth, the hard lessons from challenges like The DAO and NFTs, and what he’d do differently if starting again.
We explore Ethereum’s evolving cultural identity, privacy as a core value, the tradeoffs between L1 and L2, and how Vitalik envisions Ethereum surviving an AI-dominated future.
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🎬 DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODE
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:52 Ethereum’s First 2 Years
2:25 Ethereum’s Top Contributions
4:18 Biggest Surprises
7:37 What Took Longer than Expected
9:05 Overcoming Challenges
11:03 Lesson for Younger Vitalik
15:53 Bitcoin vs Ethereum
18:49 Ethereum’s Cultural Evolution
32:11 Privacy on Ethereum
37:42 Nation State Resistant Privacy
43:03 Cypherpunk vs Mainstream
56:05 World Ledger
59:09 Ethereum in 2024
1:02:23 Changes in the Ethereum Foundation
1:10:10 Economic Alignment
1:16:38 Scaling the L1
1:31:21 Ethereum’s Barbell Strategy
1:39:28 Ethereum Nationalism
1:48:28 ETH Treasuries
1:55:19 The Next 10 Years for Ethereum
1:59:35 The Next 10 Years for Vitalik
2:01:25 The Next 10 Years for Bankless
2:02:52 Closing & Disclaimers
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RESOURCES
Vitalik Buterin
https://x.com/VitalikButerin
2021 Endgame
https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2021/12/06/endgame.html
Convex and Concave Dispositions
https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2020/11/08/concave.html
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. With special guests: Avichal Garg, Managing Partner at Electric Capital, and Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation. This week we get into one of the most pivotal moments in Ethereum’s history — from the Tornado Cash verdict and its chilling implications for developers, to Wall Street’s growing embrace of ETH through the launch of ETHZilla. The crew unpacks how this trial could redefine developer liability, why Ethereum’s narrative is shifting toward institutional adoption, and what the next decade could look like for the world’s most versatile blockchain. Whether you’re here for the legal drama, the market moves, or the inside scoop from Ethereum’s top builders and investors, this episode delivers the sharp analysis, big-picture context, and unfiltered hot takes you’ve come to expect from The Chopping Block.
Show highlights
🔹 Tornado Cash Verdict Breakdown – Haseeb explains the mixed outcome: a conviction on one count, hung jury on the most serious charges, and what it means for Roman Storm’s future.
🔹 Developer Liability in the Spotlight – Why the case sends a chilling signal to open-source and privacy protocol builders across the U.S.
🔹 Inside the Appeal Strategy – How contradictions between DOJ arguments and FinCEN guidance could shape Roman’s path forward.
🔹 Avichal’s Optimistic Take – Why he believes the American legal and political system will ultimately land on the right side of crypto innovation.
🔹 Historical Parallels – Comparing today’s battles over smart contracts and AI to the legal fights over corporations and cryptography in centuries past.
🔹 ETHZilla Unveiled – Avichal introduces Electric Capital’s new Ethereum treasury vehicle, how it’s designed to work, and its potential impact on DeFi.
🔹 Wall Street Meets Ethereum – The crew explores how institutional capital could become a massive “supply sink” for ETH.
🔹 Potential Shakeouts Ahead – Why some public ETH vehicles may face activist investor pressure, M&A, or liquidation if they stay subscale.
🔹 Ethereum Foundation’s Vibe Shift – Tomasz shares how the EF is engaging more openly with the community, leaning into finance, and guiding ecosystem coordination.
🔹 Ethereum’s Resurgence – From legal fights to market dominance, why ETH feels unstoppable heading into its next decade.
Hosts
⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly
⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly
Guests
⭐️ Avichal Garg, Managing Partner at Electric Capital
⭐️ Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation
Disclosures
Links
Beyond Stablecoins: The Case for Ethereum by Maria Shen and Sanjay Shah (Electric Capital)
https://electriccapital.substack.com/p/beyond-stablecoins-the-case-for-ethereum
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:36 Tornado Cash Trial Verdict
06:16 Legal and Industry Reactions
09:25 Future of Crypto Legislation
21:13 Smart Contracts & AI Legislation
27:58 Introduction to ETHZilla
31:47 Community-Oriented Ethereum Initiatives
32:38 Wall Street Money in DeFi
35:08 Activist Investors & Market Dynamics
39:25 TradFi vs. DeFi
44:12 Ethereum Foundation's Cultural Shift
54:13 The Role of Ethereum Foundation
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Ethereum turned 10 on Wednesday, capping off a decade of trials and travails — but also triumphs. After years of being the heart of crypto’s onchain economy, Ethereum stalled last year, losing mindshare and market share to Bitcoin and Solana. During that time, some long-time supporters publicly aired frustrations with the Ethereum Foundation.
Now, there’s a palpable shift in energy.
In this episode, Tomasz Stanczak, the co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, reflects on the 10-year anniversary and talks about what’s ahead.
From internal strategy overhauls to his plans to tackle Ethereum’s UX and developer experience, Tomasz shares how the Foundation is trying to re-center Ethereum — and why he’s betting on it for the next decade.
He also lays out what he calls a “secondary roadmap,” including bold ambitions like building Ethereum into a platform for AI, machines, and even a new kind of open-source society.
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Guest:
Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation and Founder of Nethermind
Links:
Unchained: Ethereum Turns 10 Years Old
Tomasz’s tweet about the roadmap
Timestamps:
🎬 0:00 Intro
🎉 7:46 How Tomasz is reflecting on Ethereum’s 10th birthday and its recent struggles
🧠 10:41 What Ethereum means to Tomasz and how he explains it to the normies
🏗️ 17:28 Why the Ethereum Foundation plays a different kind of role in crypto development
👔 22:59 How Tomasz ended up as co-executive director of the EF
🗣️ 27:25 What he learned from hundreds of conversations about how Ethereum could improve
🎯 29:47 Why the Foundation is now focused on three core goals
💼 36:34 How and why the EF is also embracing business development
🪙 42:40 Why Tomasz wants people minting directly on Ethereum Layer 1
📣 46:14 How the Foundation’s communication strategy has changed and why it matters
📉 52:48 Why the EF isn’t focused on ETH’s price—at least not directly
🧾 57:50 Whether the Foundation is worried about Ether’s shifting asset narrative
🔗 1:03:34 How the EF is working to fix interoperability issues within Ethereum
🏦 1:05:59 Why the Foundation sold ETH to SBET and how its treasury strategy is evolving
🏛️ 1:14:09 How Ethereum became the chain of choice for institutions
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On the 10th anniversary of Ethereum's genesis block, we sit down with Joe Lubin, Ethereum co-founder and CEO of ConsenSys, for an exclusive deep dive into the past, present, and future of the Ethereum ecosystem. From the concept of 'digital oil' to Ethereum's role as the foundation of a decentralized global economy, Joe shares his vision for the next decade of blockchain innovation. Tune in to hear his thoughts on staking strategies, the rise of DeFi, and why Ethereum is poised to become the substrate for the world's financial system.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction – Setting the stage for Ethereum’s 10th anniversary.
01:00 Joe Lubin’s Vision – Ethereum as civilization-scale infrastructure.
02:19 Staking Strategies – Insights into ConsenSys’ ETH accumulation and staking.
05:08 Overcoming Challenges – Scalability, usability, and regulatory hurdles.
10:08 Decentralized Stablecoins – The need for ETH and BTC to support DeFi growth.
15:11 DeFi and TradFi Convergence – How Ethereum is reshaping finance.
22:08 Ethereum’s Role in the Global Economy – Becoming the substrate for trust.
30:00 Multi-Chain Future – Why Ethereum will remain foundational.
40:00 The Next Decade – Joe’s predictions for Ethereum’s growth and impact.
45:00 Closing Thoughts – Celebrating Ethereum’s 10th birthday.
Recorded live at the Permissionless IV conference, this conversation dives into Ethereum’s strategy to win over Wall Street.
Danny Ryan discusses how Etherealize is advising financial institutions to leverage Ethereum’s decentralization, resilience, and credible neutrality, while Joe Lubin explains why ConsenSys is taking a direct approach by accumulating ETH on Sharplink Gaming’s balance sheet, similar to MicroStrategy with Bitcoin.
Together, they unpack Ethereum’s strengths, institutional adoption strategies, and what it will take for Ethereum to become the foundation of the next-generation financial system.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
3:11 Ethereum's Evolution & Challenges
7:54 Regulatory Tensions & SEC Scrutiny
11:02 Ethereum's Resilience Against Regulation
14:47 Bridging TradFi & Decentralization
16:06 Institutional Adoption of Ethereum
17:19 Ethereum's Path Forward
21:51 Building for the Future
23:40 The Call for Problem Solving
24:41 Ethereum's Leadership Dynamics
33:25 Taking Ethereum to Wall Street
35:17 The Future of SBET & Ether
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RESOURCES
Joe Lubin
https://x.com/ethereumjoseph
Danny Ryan
https://x.com/dannyryan
Permissionless IV
https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless
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