Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum, The [LAST] Steward of Decentralisation

The tradition of Epicenter x Vitalik Buterin continued this year as well at EthCC[8], where we got the chance of picking his brain about recent research, interests and Ethereum Foundation’s direction going forward. Join us for a fascinating discussion on biotech and how Vitalik’s Shiba ended up funding it, the utility of blockchains in nowadays society and Vitalik’s view on the Ethereum ecosystem and the Foundation’s response to community requests.Topics covered in this episode:Vitalik’s current interestsHow Shiba Inu funded biotech researchThe Merge and its impactVitalik’s motivation and view on blockchain utilityEthereum Foundation’s changesIs supporting ETH price important for EF?Are L2s incentively aligned with Ethereum L1?Native L2sThe risk of quantum computersEpisode links:Vitalik Buterin on XEthereum on XEthereum Foundation on XEthCC on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sebastien Couture.

Stripe has established itself as a leading payment solution for both enterprises as well as startups and individual sellers. By abstracting away all the complexities of traditional payment rails through simple plug-and-play APIs, Stripe created a facile route for cross-border payments, simplifying e-commerce. Similarly, Stripe’s recent integration of stablecoins could further bolster the adoption of decentralised payment solutions, be them USD or other currency proxies. This allows businesses to reach more markets, at a lower cost, with near-instantaneous settlement.Topics covered in this episode:John’s backgroundStripe’s missionHow Stripe solves the complexity of internet paymentsIntegrating crypto for paymentsSupported blockchainsStripe’s Web3 servicesUpsides of accepting stablecoin paymentsNon-USD stablecoinsMerchant UXExpanding crypto support outside the U.S.On- and off-rampingAcquiring Bridge and PrivyThe best of both worlds: CeFi & DeFiEpisode links:John Egan on XStripe on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

While L2 rollups did help scale Ethereum, they also created siloed ecosystems, all fighting over the same liquidity, users and devs. t1 Protocol is building layer-2 infrastructure to achieve seamless cross-rollup interoperability through real-time proving, powered by TEEs. t1's low-latency with 1-second block times provides faster preconfirmations, significantly improving UX, all while maintaining full Ethereum composability.Topics covered in this episode:Can’s backgroundWhy Enigma/Secret Network built on CosmosSolving Ethereum’s liquidity fragmentationt1’s rollup & real-time proving in TEEsSequencer setup inside the TEEDealing with other rollup trust assumptionsIntegrating new L2sPermissionless TEEsPotential attack vectorsTEE alternativesAsset issuance on mainnet vs. L2st1 developmentPartnerships & BDSolana vs. Ethereum UXTEE misconceptionsEpisode links:Can Kisagun on Xt1 Protocol on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

As the summer tour of European crypto conferences landed in Berlin, one of crypto’s cradles, we couldn’t miss DappCon 25, where we got to sit with Jerome de Tychey, Nixorokish & Joshua Dávila to discuss Ethereum’s restructure and whether its culture is still relevant to the wider crypto community. Join us for a fascinating discussion on the impact of crypto politicization and how Ethereum’s ecosystem evolved amidst a society with ever-changing values.Topics covered in this episode:Jerome, Nixorokish & Josh backgroundsEthereum Foundation restructuringEthereum’s culture & crypto politicizationDAOs & the evolution of Ethereum’s ecosystemIs privacy still a societal value?User experience & account abstractionFuture hopes for EthereumEpisode links:Jerome de Tychey on XNixorokish on XJoshua Davila on XDappCon on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

Bitcoin remains an untapped source of net-new liquidity that could be injected into DeFi. This would completely reshape Bitcoin’s utilization from a mere store of value to a liquid asset that can be ported cross-chain and traded like a liquid staking derivative. Lombard’s LBTC builds upon Babylon’s Bitcoin staking primitive and aims to unlock new yield sources for the industry’s leading asset by increasing its DeFi utilization.Topics covered in this episode:Jacob’s backgroundLessons gathered from PolychainFocusing on BitcoinWhy Bitcoin staking is crucial for BTC DeFiBuilding on top of BabylonLBTC mintingSources of BTC yieldPoS inflation and native token incentivesBTC as a trading pair in DeFiLombard chainFuture challenges to overcomeBitcoin L2sLombard milestonesEpisode links:Jacob Phillips on XLombard on XBabylon on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

Apart from incentivising market participants to secure the network through inflationary rewards, many consider staking as an equivalent of stock dividend yield. As a result, although Bitcoin is regarded as digital gold, protocols are looking for ways to increase its utilisation in DeFi and, ultimately, generate yield. Nowadays, while newer networks are struggling to attract investors and sustain a healthy, decentralised validator set, more established blockchains capture the lion’s share of PoS actors. However, in a constant race for profit basis points, centralised consolidation of stakers seems inevitable. Join us for a fascinating discussion on the staking landscape and the challenges it may present to decentralisation.Topics covered in this episode:Increasing BTC utilization through BTC yieldLooping yield productsThe maturation of the staking marketChorus One staking portfolioHow to prevent staking consolidationRetail vs. institutional-grade operatorsSymbiotic, Eigenlayer & restaking yieldEpisode links:Mirko Schmiedl on XTobias Jung on XStaking Rewards on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sebastien Couture.

After a decade of existence, Ethereum has gone a long way from its initial whitepaper, yet many efforts in scaling and finding product-market-fit have been severely criticized for falling short of their promise. However, despite numerous other ‘Ethereum killers’ being launched over the years, none has managed to attract so many developers and liquidity while sticking true to ethos that (once) powered and united this industry. This year’s ETHPrague plans to confront exactly these existential challenges and steward community culture towards addressing outside criticism and external reality checks. Ethereum’s development, while adapting to market pressures, it always aimed to stick true to its core values in order to remain a technological bedrock for the future of humanity.Topics covered in this episode:The vision for ETH PragueTakeaways from main sessionsHigh-level overview of ETH PragueThe resurgence of PolkadotEuropean crypto summer eventsThe general state of the Ethereum ecosystemCelo’s transition to L2L2 liquidity fragmentationChoosing the right L2 to buildImproving hackathonsLightning roundFinal wordsEpisode links:Austin Griffith on XMarek Olszewski on XBrenda Loya on XJoseph Schweitzer on XBuidlGuidl DAO on XCelo on XTellor on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

We couldn’t miss the Avalanche Summit where we sat down with Emin Gün Sirer, co-founder & CEO of Ava Labs, to discuss the evolution of Avalanche’s ecosystem and how HyperSDK ushers in a scalable, interoperable, multi-chain future. Join us for a fascinating discussion on Avalanche’s approach to decentralisation, scalability & interoperability, and learn why real-world applicability relies heavily on bespoke blockchain solutions.Topics covered in this episode:Gün x Epicenter bromanceHow the Avalanche ecosystem & community evolvedThe future vision for AvalancheScaling Avalanche and the HyperSDKInteroperability and the multi-chain futureDecentralising Avalanche L1sUse cases and institutional adoptionOn-chain privacyAvaCloudThe impact of AI in cryptoGün’s focus in the near futureEpisode links:Emin Gun Sirer on XAvalanche on XAva Labs on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

Blockchain architecture is constantly being forced to adapt to new technologies, as well as to meet new demands from users and builders. While the idea of apps building their own chains was first explored by Cosmos, it lacked the support and tooling to see it succeed. Later on, rollups also took the centerstage of Ethereum’s scaling roadmap, but due to their general purpose design, it led to a cannibalistic ecosystem. Initia learned from these 2 models and combined the best of both worlds: it built a full-stack framework for a seamless DevEx from the get-go and, more importantly, it designed its tokenomics in order to ensure maximum incentive alignment for its appchains. While the former decision removed the need for each separate chain to reinvent the wheel and risk ending up ‘a jack of all trades, master of none’, the latter ensured that appchains would not extract value away from the L1.Topics covered in this episode:Ezaan’s backgroundFrom building on Terra to InitiaHow Initia is rewriting the appchain thesisInitia’s enshrined liquidity & vested interest program (VIP)Metrics & Initia’s bet on crypto innovationSolving liquidity fragmentationDelphi’s involvement in InitiaFuture roadmapEpisode links:Ezaan Mangalji on XJose Maria Macedo on XAnil Lulla on XInitia on XDelphi Digital on XDelphi report on InitiaSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

As society evolves, so do its values and principles, but is that desirable for technology that seeks to build the most reliable, trustless and censorship resistant global settlement layer? Ever since the rise in popularity of Solana with its inflow of retail capital in a memecoin gold rush, Ethereum became even more criticized for sticking true to its core values despite the completely divergent demands of market participants. Moreover, the rollup centric scaling roadmap seemed to further silo attention and cause liquidity fragmentation, driving away value from Ethereum mainnet. As institutional demand is expected to grow with the introduction of staking ETFs, a new executive leadership took charge of Ethereum foundation to help steer the protocol’s narrative at the intersection between community demands and Ethereum’s ethos.Topics covered in this episode:Hsiao-Wei’s & Tomasz’ backgroundsHow they became co-executive directors of Ethereum FoundationEthereum Foundation’s role moving forwardDecision making in Ethereum FoundationShaping Ethereum’s narrativeThe layer 2 landscapeScaling Ethereum as the global settlement layerShardingRollup scalability & their trade-offsWhat values drive adoptionL2 interoperabilityFuture goalsEpisode links:Hsiao-Wei Wang on XTomasz Stanczak on XEthereum Foundation on XEthereum on XSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.