Ethereum’s “HTTP Moment” with Marissa Posner & Yoav Weiss
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
Ethereum’s “HTTP Moment” with Marissa Foster & Yoav Weiss
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...
ETH's HTTP Moment? How Ethereum Interop Layer Hopes to Fix L2 Fragmentation - Ep. 953
Thank you to our sponsors!
Uniswap
Mantle
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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
StarkWare Sessions #3 | Account Abstraction & EIP 4337 with Yoav Weiss
Sometimes, the frontier is at a crypto conference. We’re returning from our adventures in Tel Aviv with nine exclusive interviews with some of the key players in the StarkNet space.
Wish you could make it to all the crypto conferences, but don't have the time? Don't worry, Bankless brings the frontier to you.
In this episode, we’re talking to Yoav Weiss, a security fellow at the Ethereum Foundation and pioneer of account abstraction through EIP-4337. The future of smart contract wallets is massive—Yoav helps tell us how.
------ 📣 MetaMask Learn https://bankless.cc/metamaskshow
------ 🚀 JOIN THE NATION: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/subscribe
------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:
🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/kraken
🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE https://bankless.cc/uniswap
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
🚁 EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS https://bankless.cc/earnifi
👻 PHANTOM | CROSS-CHAIN WALLET https://bankless.cc/phantom
------ Timestamps:
0:00 Intro 3:45 Starknet and the Conference 5:30 Account Abstraction 7:30 EVM Equivalence 8:50 Huge Developments 10:30 Experimenting in Public 11:50 Smart Contract Wallets 15:30 The Future of Wallets 18:30 Yoav’s Interests
----- Resources:
Yoav Weiss https://twitter.com/yoavw
StarkNet https://starkware.co/starknet/
----- 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.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures