DeFi's Near-Death Moment | Mike Silagadze on Ether.fi, Security, and What Comes Next
How close did DeFi come to a real systemic collapse?In this episode, Camila Russo sits down with Mike Silagadze, co-founder and CEO of Ether.fi, to break down the Kelp exploit, the DeFi United rescue effort, and why Mike believes the default path could have been far worse if nobody had stepped in. He explains why the bigger lesson is not just smart contract risk, but operational security, app-layer responsibility, and the need to move past "decentralization theater."They also get into why Ether.fi wants to be "the safest place to stake," why application-layer protocols should have emergency controls, and how Ether.fi is evolving from liquid staking into a vertically integrated DeFi bank with vaults, card rails, and real-world utility.If you want to understand where DeFi security is failing, what serious builders are changing, and what the next phase of crypto products could look like, this is the episode to watch.
Is 'All of DeFi Unsafe'? What You Need to Know About Holding Assets Onchain
A co-founder of OpenZeppelin said he’s urging friends to exit blue chip DeFi. Isaac Patka and Mike Silagadze explain what he got right, what he got wrong, and what needs to change.
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A co-founder of OpenZeppelin set off a firestorm on Crypto Twitter this week by declaring that he now considers all of DeFi unsafe, citing superhuman AI coding agents and the asymmetry between attackers and defenders.
Isaac Patka, certifications lead at Security Alliance, and Mike Silagadze, CEO of Ether.Fi, join Laura Shin to push back on that framing — and to make the case that the real problem isn’t AI finding sophisticated zero-days, it’s that 90% of hacks are still embarrassing opsec failures.
They cover the full threat taxonomy: opsec and parameter mistakes, contagion from bridge failures, AI-enabled social engineering, and the decentralization theater that leaves protocols unable to protect their own users.
Mike makes a pointed argument for why every serious DeFi protocol needs a hard pause button and a blacklist mechanism, while Isaac explains the three-multisig architecture that should be the minimum standard. Plus, both lay out the practical question every user should ask before putting money into any protocol.
Host:
Laura Shin, Host / Unchained
Guests:
Isaac Patka (@isaacpatka) — Certifications Lead at Security Alliance & Co-founder of Shield3
Mike Silagadze (@MikeSilagadze) — CEO of Ether.Fi
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How KelpDAO's $290M Exploit Nearly Killed DeFi | Stani Kulechov & Mike Silagadze
This week, Stani Kulechov & Mike Silagadze join the show to discuss the aftermath of the KelpDAO exploit. We deep dive into why this hack could have potentially killed DeFi, launching the DeFi United fund, how to mitigate against future hacks, why DeFi tokens are uninvestable and more .Enjoy!
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Follow Stani: https://x.com/StaniKulechov
Follow Mike: https://x.com/MikeSilagadze
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Follow Empire: https://x.com/theempirepod
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This episode is brought to you by Fidelity Crypto. Learn more at https://Fidelity.com/crypto
Fidelity Crypto was built in-house with over a dozen years of crypto experience. So you can trade crypto and stocks in one place at Fidelity, backed by industry-leading security. Fidelity Crypto. We're here to help you feel good about investing in crypto.
Crypto is offered by Fidelity Digital Assets, NA, is not insured by FDIC or SIPC and includes risk of complete loss. Securities offered by Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. Member NYSE, SIPC.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(04:08) How The KelpDAO Exploit Could Have Killed DeFi
(14:13) Fidelity Crypto Ad
(14:48) Launching DeFi United
(30:12) Fidelity Crypto Ad
(30:52) The Future of Aave & EtherFi
(39:00) DeFi’s Speculative Premium
(43:00) How To Prevent DeFi Hacks?
(53:00) Why DeFi Tokens Are Uninvestable
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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, Rob and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
How Crypto Neobanks Make It Easier to Earn Passive Income - Ep. 930
Neobanks changed how fintech thinks about money. Now, crypto builders want to do the same, without custody.
In this episode, Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready, and Mike Silagadze, CEO of EtherFi, argue the real shift isn't about "crypto cards," it's about who controls your assets. EtherFi’s and Ready’s self-custodial apps merge saving, spending, and investing. The result: faster settlement, lower fees, and more transparency, but also new challenges around compliance, credit, and security.
Itamar Lesuisse and Mike Silagadze explain how layer 2 networks made crypto cards economically viable after years of failed attempts and how Africa’s FX markets could become the breakthrough use case for crypto banking.
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Guests:
Itamar Lesuisse, Co-founder and CEO of Ready (formerly Argent)
Mike Silagadze, Founder and CEO of EtherFi, and Founder of Top Hat
Links:
The Block: Best crypto cards with token rewards in 2025
Bitcoin Starknet Staking Post by Ready (Formerly Argent)
Timestamps:
🎬 0:00 Intro
💳 1:57 What crypto neobanks are, and why they’re suddenly booming
⚖️ 6:19 Custody as the real divide between traditional and crypto banking
🏦 8:07 From Argent to Ready, turning wallets into full neobanks
💳 10:05 Why early crypto cards failed, and how L2 settlement fixed them
💰 18:49 Credit without credit scores: the rise of collateralized cards
🔒 32:52 How smart accounts and recovery improve wallet security
🌍 44:29 Onchain FX and the next profit frontier for crypto banks
🚀 55:36 How self-custody could reach mass adoption
🔚 58:19 Closing thoughts
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"Really Crazy Stuff Will Happen With AVSs", ether.fi Founder Mike Silagadze
In today's podcast we host Mike Silagadze, founder of ether.fi, an Ethereum restaking protocol, and Nikhil Raghuveera, co-founder of Aethos, a decentralized policy engine being built on EigenLayer. Liquid restaking has recently emerged as a significant trend in the Ethereum ecosystem. In today's podcast, we'll delve into the use cases that restaking unlocks via Active Validating Services (AVSs) through EigenLayer, shedding light on how this innovation is shaping the ecosystem.
0:00 Intro
2:08 ether.fi
7:40 Aethos
13:15 Economic Security
18:28 AVS Allocations
23:20 Aethos Revenue
30:08 Risks of AVSs
39:40 Rehypothecation
43:07 Depeg Risk
54:14 ether.fi Roadmap
57:28 Aethos Roadmap
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Ethereum is "Terrifyingly" Centralized but there's a way out, ether.fi founder says
Mike Silagadze is the founder and CEO of ether.fi, which is a new player in ethereum staking space, which allows stakers to control their keys while delegating their stake. A reminder that Ethereum now runs on Proof of Stake, which requires users to deposit, or stake, their ETH. Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade introduced the ability for early stakers to withdraw their ETH, which made Ethereum staking and the projects around it one of the hottest themes of crypto this year. Tokens that function as a receipt of staked ETH, called Liquid Staking Tokens, grew in popularity, as did concerns about centralization. We will begin our conversation with an introduction to ether.fi, followed by their differentiation in the already competitive liquid staking sphere.
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20VC: Why Virtually All Companies Hire The Wrong Way, Why EdTech Is The Most Brutal Market & How To Scale Your Sales Team for Engineering Founders with Mike Sliagadze, Founder & CEO @ Top Hat
Mike Silagadze is the Founder & CEO @ Top Hat, the market leader in student engagement software, and is used by millions of students at three-quarters of the top 1,000 colleges and universities in North America. To date, they have raised over $47m in VC funding from many friends and former guests on the show including Albert Wenger @ USV, Boris Wertz @ Version One, Uncork Capital, Felicis and Emergence just to name a few. As for Mike, prior to TopHat, he was a developer at MioVision Technologies.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Mike made his way into the world of startups and came to realise the current method of learning was so broken?
2.) Why does Mike believe that investors have an automatic dislike to edtech? Why does he believe it is the most difficult to market to enter? Why is go to market one of the biggest challenges? How can on innovate on this antiquated go-to-market to enable the rapid scaling required? How did TopHat achieve this?
3.) Why does Mike believe that most companies hire in fundamentally the wrong way? How does Mike balance the complex elements of raw IQ over culture when hiring? If there was one predictive factor Mike uses to hire, what is it? What is the framework and methodology Mike has constructed to ensure the best hires?
4.) What were the biggest mistakes Mike made in scaling out the sales team? Why does Mike think he made them? If he were to advise a younger self, what would be the biggest advice and tips with regards to scaling the sales team, from an engineer's mindset?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Mike's Fave Book: Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Mike on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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