How the New Ethlabs Plans to Make Ethereum More Intentional in Designing ETH
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
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💸 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
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Ethlabs: The New Org to Make Ethereum Win | Ansgar & Caspar
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
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RESOURCES
Ansgar Dietrichs
https://x.com/adietrichs
Caspar Schwarz-Schilling
https://x.com/casparschwa
Ethlabs
https://ethlabs.org/
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Ethereum's Last Big Upgrade: The zkEVM | Ansgar Dietrichs
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
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RESOURCES
Ansgar Dietrichs
https://x.com/adietrichs
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Ethereum’s Next Decade | Tomasz K. Stańczak, Ansgar Dietrichs, Dankrad Feist, & Danny Ryan
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:
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Ethereum’s Strategic Pivot: The Plan it Needs to Win
Ethereum Foundation researchers Dankrad Feist and Ansgar Dietrichs join David Hoffman and Michael Ippolito to discuss Ethereum’s identity crisis—and how it’s turning the ship around.
They break down Ethereum’s cultural and organizational challenges, the pivot toward L1 growth, and the evolving role of the Ethereum Foundation under new leadership. The conversation covers the future of base and native rollups, L2 alignment, and why Ethereum’s unique values still matter in a competitive landscape.
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 Intro
00:05:42 Top Problems with Ethereum
00:12:33 Lack of Growth in Ethereum Layer 1
00:27:49 Ethereum’s Roadmap Dilemma
00:38:08 Layer 1 Scaling Progress
00:39:08 Ethereum L1’s Value Proposition to L2s
00:48:44 Base and Native Rollups Explained
00:57:25 Canonical EVM in a Rollup World
01:01:26 Vitalik’s Vision for L1 Scaling
01:05:59 ZK Scaling Becomes Real
01:08:12 Fast Block Times and DeFi
01:16:59 The Evolving Ethereum Core Culture
01:22:38 Other Interesting Changes
01:26:41 Ethereum’s Direction Feels Different Now
01:30:09 Closing and Disclosure
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RESOURCES
Dankrad Feist
https://x.com/dankrad
Ansgar Dietrichs
https://x.com/adietrichs
Mike Ippolito
https://x.com/MikeIppolito_
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures