The Defiant - DeFi Podcast

In this episode, Dimitry Gusakov, Community Staking Lead at Lido, discusses the protocol’s efforts to enhance decentralization and accessibility in Ethereum staking. He explains the launch of the Community Staking Module, which lowers barriers for individual validators while addressing concerns about centralization within the Ethereum ecosystem. The conversation also explores potential impacts of proposed Ethereum staking changes and Lido’s roadmap for further decentralization in 2025. Tune in to gain insights into the evolving landscape of liquid staking and its role in securing Ethereum. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:14 - What is Lido and Liquid Staking? 02:20 - Liquid Staking Use Cases in DeFi 05:33 - Addressing Centralization Concerns in Lido 08:25 - Community Staking Module: Decentralization Efforts 10:49 - Requirements to Become a Home Validator 13:26 - Rewards and Entry Barriers for Home Validators 16:12 - Hardware Setup for Validators 23:39 - Socialized Rewards and Offline Allowances 26:38 - Higher Rewards for Running a Node 34:23 - Impact of CSM on Lido’s Decentralization 41:13 - Ethereum Security and the Importance of Decentralization 52:19 - Ethereum Issuance Proposal: Implications for Lido 01:06:07 - Future Developments for Lido in 2025 Our sponsors https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast http://supra.com ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom [email protected] 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships [email protected] #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake dives deep into the Beam Chain proposal, a transformative upgrade aimed at accelerating Ethereum’s roadmap and enhancing its consensus layer. Justin explains how the Beam Chain would incorporate key innovations like SNARK proofs, quantum security, and single-slot finality to boost decentralization, security, and scalability. He also discusses incremental upgrades like staking caps and pre-confirmations, which aim to improve Ethereum’s performance and user experience in the near term. The conversation explores Ethereum’s competition with Solana and Bitcoin, highlighting how Ethereum’s long-term focus on robustness and scalability positions it to thrive as the foundational layer for the decentralized internet. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction: Justin Drake 01:03 - What is the Beam Chain? 02:41 - Why Ethereum Needs Acceleration 05:06 - Lessons from the Merge for the Beam Chain 07:06 - Solving Ethereum’s Technical Debt 15:58 - Faster Confirmation Times 18:11 - Pre-confirmations in Ethereum 24:14 - Layer 1 and Layer 2 Pre-confirmations 30:41 - Big Ticket Changes in the Beam Chain 31:04 - Snarkification of Consensus Layer 33:31 - Single Slot Finality 39:00 - Trustless Bridges Between Blockchains 49:00 - Native Rollups and Execution Sharding 54:04 - Ethereum vs. Solana on Performance 01:10:00 - Near-Term Upgrades to Watch For Our sponsors https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast http://supra.com ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom [email protected] 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships [email protected] #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Hart Lambur, co-founder of Across Protocol and UMA, discusses Across’s mission to enable fast, low-cost asset transfers between Ethereum layer twos, with a focus on creating a seamless user experience. He explains how the protocol’s “intent architecture” leverages third-party solvers to improve cross-chain interactions, offering a cohesive way for users to transfer assets and execute transactions across different Ethereum networks. Lambur also emphasizes the importance of Ethereum’s upcoming account abstraction upgrades in achieving a unified ecosystem, allowing actions on any Ethereum chain from a single wallet. He envisions a future by 2025 where Ethereum feels like a unified network, improving user experience significantly. Chapters 00:04 - Introduction to Hart Lambur 00:14 - Hart’s Background and Motivation for Building Across Protocol 00:50 - Integration with Uniswap 10:34 - Challenges in Ethereum Interoperability and Gas Fees 12:03 - Ethereum’s Scalability Achievements and New Issues 18:04 - Account Abstraction: ERC-7702 and Its Role in Ethereum 27:02 - Intents Architecture 41:00 - Current User Experience Issues in Ethereum and Solutions 52:32 - Hart’s Vision for Ethereum as a Unified Network by 2025 57:08 - Closing Thoughts on Ethereum’s Future and Overcoming Fragmentation This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom [email protected] 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships [email protected] #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3

Nana Murugesan, President of Matter Labs and former VP of Business Development at Coinbase, joins Camila Russo in this week’s podcast to discuss the latest updates from ZKsync, including the recently launched Elastic Chain. He explains how ZKsync’s approach to interoperability and customization aims to make Web3 infrastructure as seamless as Web2, emphasizing the importance of user-friendly experiences for mainstream adoption. Nana also highlights Matter Labs' partnership with Buenos Aires to bring ZK-backed digital identity to millions of citizens, showcasing a promising model for government and Web3 collaboration. Finally, he shares upcoming milestones for ZKsync, with new chains and collaborations in Latin America, gaming, and the creator economy. Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 0:17 - ZKsync and Elastic Chain 2:57 - Evolution of ZKsync 5:22 - Interoperability and Customizability in Web3 7:30 - User Experience 10:16 - The Role of Governments in Blockchain Adoption 14:41 - Digital Identity on the Blockchain 17:18 - Why Zero-Knowledge Proofs Matter 21:02 - Cost and Throughput Advantage of ZKsync 25:07 - UX and Interoperability Challenges 27:05 - ZKsync in Latin America 30:05 - Upcoming Projects on Elastic Chain 32:39 - Future Focus for Matter Labs 33:46 - Closing Remarks This episode was sponsored by: NEAR: https://redactedbangkok.ai/?utm_source=thedefiant&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=defiant&utm_content=newsletter Stellar: https://stellar.org/soroban?utm_source=defiant&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=defiant_podcast ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/ 🚀 Sign up to our newsletter 🚀 https://thedefiant.io/go-premium#pricing?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signup 🤑 Find DeFi investment opportunities & educational primers here https://thedefiant.io/promo?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=alpha ✊ Follow The Defiant Twitter: https://twitter.com/defiantnews Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3SdRdEs5ag Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefiant.io/ Telegram: https://t.me/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom [email protected] 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships [email protected] #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3