ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov, Rector of the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), officially opens ETHSofia 2026. Founded in 1920, UNWE is one of Bulgaria's largest universities: it enrolled more than 5,400 new students this year across some 40 bachelor's and 80 master's programmes, and it launched Bulgaria's first bachelor's and master's programmes in cryptoeconomics. He describes how hard it is for a classical, conservative university to open new specialities such as crypto economics, blockchain technologies and cybersecurity, and welcomes the bachelor's and master's students in the room. Calling ETHSofia the perfect place for education to meet business, he proposes a joint business academy with the university and wishes the forum success. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Prof. Dr. Dimitar Panayotov Dimitrov, Rector, UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov is a Bulgarian economist specialising in defence and security economics. He has been the rector of the University of National and World Economy since December 2019 and was re-elected in 2023. His research interests include defence economics, critical infrastructure protection, and nuclear security, with over 100 publications he leads projects for modernising higher education and co-founded the global master's program in Nuclear Security. Chapters 00:00 UNWE: 106 years of history 01:15 Blockchain and crypto economics programmes 01:47 Where universities meet business 02:24 Opening new specialities in a classical university 03:12 Proposal: a business academy with UNWE 03:35 Closing wishes for the forum 05:03 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Viktor Uzunov, co-founder and CEO of UEB3 Ventures and a former trading-floor banker, argues that blockchain is upgrading traditional finance rather than replacing it. He walks through how tokenisation lowers entry barriers through fractional ownership, simplifies legal claims and transfers, and how on-chain markets, Nasdaq's planned move to 23-hour trading and Hyperliquid's daily volumes point to 24/7 finance. He describes banks moving into stablecoins and DeFi, then shows how AI saves him time on morning briefs and revealed that his weekend trades had a much lower win rate. The talk ends with audience questions on stock tokenisation and on-chain mortgages. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Viktor Uzunov, CEO, UEB3 Ventures Viktor Uzunov is the co-founder of digital asset fund UEB3 and UAE-based real estate firm Arreat Capital, which specialises in tokenised real estate. Over the past decade he has focused on building institutional-grade infrastructure at the intersection of capital markets, real assets, and digital finance. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktor-uzunov-ueb3 X: https://x.com/viktortrades Chapters 00:00 Opening and thanks 01:36 From Wall Street to blockchain 03:00 Easier, cheaper and more transparent access 04:12 US markets now drive crypto 04:45 Legacy settlement vs on-chain finance 06:13 Nasdaq moves towards 23-hour trading 07:23 Tokenisation and fractional access 09:17 Legal claims and transferability 11:09 On-chain stocks and Hyperliquid 13:26 Users want simpler access 14:27 DeFi as part of institutional finance 16:11 Risk management and knowledge 16:39 How AI changes the investor's day 20:42 Know what you own 22:19 Closing thoughts 22:58 Q&A: Is stock tokenisation a layer two? 23:47 Q&A: On-chain mortgages and RWA lending Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Todor Karaivanov of Chainlink Labs, who has spent six years across Chainlink products including VRF and now leads blockchain integrations, explains why moving assets between chains is far less simple than it looks. He frames security as an economic question, compares committee verifiers with light clients and zero-knowledge approaches, and shows how operators sharing the same RPC endpoints or failover providers create a single point of attack. He covers contagion from a compromised chain, the hub-and-spoke model with intents for convenience, and transfer limits to cap damage, noting that most losses now come from compromised infrastructure and keys. A short Q&A covers why operators should run their own RPCs. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Todor Karaivanov, Blockchain Integrations & Product Partnerships, Chainlink Labs Todor Karaivanov has spent the past eight years in the blockchain industry, including over five years at Chainlink Labs. His earlier work in web hosting and game development shaped his expertise in information security, systems design, and economic systems, which he now applies to building decentralized infrastructure. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todor-karaivanov-325468 X: https://x.com/tkaraivanov Chapters 00:00 About Todor and Chainlink Labs 01:29 Why cross-chain looks simple but is not 02:41 Security is an economic concept 04:34 Committees, light clients and ZK verification 06:30 Independent observation and shared RPCs 08:12 Failover as an attack vector 09:05 Compromised chains and contagion 10:37 Hub and spoke, with intents for convenience 11:28 Plan for the unpredictable: transfer limits 12:56 From contract bugs to compromised keys 14:49 Q&A: Should operators run their own RPCs? 16:22 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Krum Pashov, founder and CEO of Pashov Audit Group, on how AI has reshaped Web3 security in 2026. With audit contests drying up, he argues that bug bounties are now the best permissionless path into the field, makes the case for specialising in a niche such as Bitcoin and BTCFi security, and shows how Pashov's free, open-source Solidity Auditor skill found 11 of the 13 high-severity bugs from a 2025 audit contest in under an hour. The talk closes with audience questions on what AI will and will not automate, and how the security researcher's job is changing. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Krum Pashov, CEO, Pashov Audit Group Krum or "pashov", is Founder & CEO of Pashov Audit Group, protected over $100B of funds with 400+ security audits. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pashov X: https://x.com/pashov Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Web3 security in 2026: what changed 02:11 Why bug bounties are the place to be 06:26 Freelance, full-time or your own firm 07:23 Go niche: the Bitcoin and BTCFi opportunity 10:46 Build your own AI auditing agent 12:17 Solidity Auditor V4: 11 of 13 high-severity bugs in an hour 16:01 Fork the open-source skills and build on them 18:12 Will AI replace security researchers? 20:15 Q&A: What AI will and will not automate 21:52 Q&A: How the daily job is changing 24:07 Q&A: Why Krum started Pashov Audit Group 25:38 Q&A: How an audit firm makes money 26:46 Q&A: Should we worry about AI-driven threats? 28:07 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Galin Dimitrov, cybersecurity engineer and founding member of Superteam Ireland, traces four eras of crypto theft: scams such as OneCoin and BitConnect, smart contract exploits like The DAO and Wormhole, attacks on people as in Ronin and Bybit, and now AI coding agents. He walks through the Drift Protocol hack, which began with a fake trading firm approaching the team at a conference and ended six months later with $285 million drained in minutes. He then shows how malicious skills, poisoned npm packages and hijacked agent CLIs reach builders' keys, citing Anthropic's figure that users approve 93% of permission prompts, and closes with three rules: keep keys out of reach, treat every add-on as a stranger, and use a sandbox. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Galin Dimitrov, Cybersecurity Engineer & Web3 Growth Lead, Founding Member, Superteam Ireland Galin Dimitrov is a cybersecurity engineer with a BSc in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics from TU Dublin and six years at Fidelity Investments, where he secured and monitored 800+ production database servers and led Splunk-based incident response. He has also spent over a decade leading Web3 growth across agencies, Master Ventures and HYPE Partners, and is a founding member of Superteam Ireland. Today he builds AI and onchain products as a solo founder and has won several hackathons, including the Solana Privacy Hackathon. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/galindimitrovvv Chapters 00:00 The new insider, hidden in plain sight 01:30 Four eras of getting robbed in crypto 02:52 Era one: the scam is the product 04:20 Era two: attacking the code 05:32 Era three: targeting people (Ronin, Bybit) 06:43 Case study: the Drift Protocol hack 09:47 Era four: AI agents on your machine 11:23 Why 93% of prompts get approved 12:36 Three doors in: skills, npm and your agent CLI 14:14 Already happening: real losses 15:20 Three OPSEC rules for builders 17:10 Closing: read before you approve 17:44 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Marc Zeller (ACI) and Token Brice (Polaris / Pharos). In this fireside chat, Marc Zeller, joining remotely from Tokyo, and TokenBrice reflect on how DeFi has changed since about 2018. After the Aave governance disputes, they ask who owns a protocol's intellectual property, what a token holder actually owns, and why the market now rewards tokens with a claim on revenue and punishes combined equity and token structures. Zeller says his new lending protocol, ACI, will be token only, with its IP in a foundation and revenue controlled by holders, while TokenBrice describes how Polaris issues new tokens only when users burn the collateral token behind its stablecoin. Both criticise DeFi for giving up privacy to court institutions, which Zeller says hold only about $4 billion of Morpho's $12 billion. Fireside Chat at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Marc Zeller, Co-founder, ACI Marc Zeller is co-founder of ACI, a new DeFi lending product launching this year. He co-founded Ethereum France and helped organise the first EthCC in Paris in 2015, then went on to roles at Consensys and Coinhouse, the first French-regulated CASP. In 2019 he joined EthLend to prepare the launch of Aave V1, and in 2022 founded the Aave Chan Initiative, which drove strategy and growth for the Aave DAO for more than three years. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marczelleraci X: https://x.com/Marczeller ▸ Token Brice, Founder, Polaris / Pharos Liquidity engineer, protocol analyst, and co-founder of The DeFi Collective. TokenBrice has been building in Ethereum DeFi since the early days and now leads Polaris, tackling stablecoin centralisation head-on. X: https://x.com/tokenbrice Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:18 Setting the scene: two DeFi veterans 02:00 Governance after the death of DAOs 04:37 What does a token holder actually own? 06:26 Equity or token: you cannot play both games 08:29 Marc's next project: token only, no equity 10:46 Polaris: a new token emission mechanism 12:56 Why now: crossing over to the builder side 17:11 Did the institutions deliver? 20:35 Losing the war on privacy 23:13 Audience comment and close 25:01 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Kiril Kalchev, system architect at BRAIN++ AI Factory, presents polymorphic crypto chains, a design aimed at people who build and maintain chain clients. Each block carries a meta field naming the hash and signature suite that protects it, so cryptographic primitives, including post-quantum and hybrid schemes, can be replaced without a hard fork or re-signing history. He explains the algorithm-suite interface, the four checks a verifier performs, how suites are retired through on-chain governance, and how the approach combines with per-account keys. He closes with practical advice on canonical encodings, sizing chains for much larger post-quantum keys, and constant-time comparisons, and points to the GPL reference implementation in Python with C++ and Rust ports. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Kiril Kalchev, System Architect Data Lake, BRAIN++ AI Factory Kiril is a software developer at heart and System Architect at BRAIN++ AI factory. He builds things that solve real-world problems, bridging code and intelligence to shape the future of AI-driven systems. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirilkkalchev Chapters 00:00 What is a polymorphic crypto chain? 01:03 The proof of concept and repository 03:17 One extra field: the block meta section 04:49 Defining an algorithm suite 06:01 How the validator works 07:32 What is new compared to existing chains 08:50 Three security properties 10:18 Signed pre-image and hybrid suites 12:09 Retiring a suite securely 13:43 Per-account keys on polymorphic blocks 14:26 Implementation tips: encodings and suite names 15:32 The cost of post-quantum signatures 16:23 Failure behaviour and monotonic policy 17:13 Implementations, licence and wrap-up 18:25 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Candice Teo (Espoir Communications, moderator), Alvaro Garrido Mesa (LegalNode) and Krzysztof Paruch (Token Engineering Labs). What does the law require, and what does the system design require, before institutions put real-world assets on Ethereum at scale? Moderator Candice Teo opens with the state of the market, including Ethereum's roughly $17 billion in tokenised RWAs, then works through failure points with lawyer Alvaro Garrido Mesa and token engineer Krzysztof Paruch. They cover redemption mismatches when a token trades 24/7 but its underlying asset does not, why SPVs sit behind most tokenisation projects, why the legal contract should override the code when the two disagree, and how ERC-3643 handles investor identity, forced transfers and asset recovery without solving liability. In closing, Paruch names explicit governance and accountability as his non-negotiable and Garrido Mesa names jurisdiction, while stablecoins, commodities such as gold and bonds are called production ready. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Candice Teo, Founder of Espoir Communications (moderator) Candice is an executive PR and communications strategist with 20 years of experience building brands, shaping narratives, and driving thought leadership globally. Since 2017, she has been at the forefront of web3 communications, helming leadership roles for projects spanning DeFi, infrastructure, institutional adoption, and more. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candicekteo X: https://x.com/candicekteo ▸ Alvaro Garrido Mesa, Partner, LegalNode Recognised as a leading tokenisation legal expert in the EU, Alvaro is the founding partner of Legal Node, a law firm specialised in capital markets and digital assets. He has participated in pivotal legislative initiatives to facilitate the adoption of digital assets. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvarogarridomesa ▸ Krzysztof Paruch, CEO, Cryptoeconomist, and Token Engineer Krzysztof “Kris” Paruch is a mathematician, cryptoeconomist, and CEO of Token Engineering Labs. He designs and evaluates tokenised systems, specialising in mechanism design, DeFi, prediction markets, and capital-efficient on-chain finance. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kris-paruch X: https://x.com/paruch1 Chapters 00:00 Why RWA tokenisation matters 02:15 The RWA market in numbers 05:14 Quickfire: is Ethereum ready for a $10 billion fund? 06:20 The last unresolved problem: redemption and governance 08:22 The most common structural mistake 10:12 SPVs and choosing a jurisdiction 12:07 Who should hold the kill switch? 15:29 Contract over code, and accountable auditors 19:43 ERC-3643 and the liability question 22:07 Satisfying regulators without a single responsible party 24:52 Does regulation contradict DeFi principles? 27:36 Non-negotiables for tokenising a fund 28:33 Production-ready asset classes and closing Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Maximilian Roszko, business development lead at Curve Finance, traces how crypto set out to create a new form of money but found its strongest use case in bringing existing currencies on-chain, with stablecoins now above $300 billion in circulating supply. He argues that a DeFi built almost entirely on dollars leaves users elsewhere exposed to FX risk, and that the many euro, Swiss franc and Brazilian real stablecoins struggle because on-chain liquidity is expensive. Using examples from Gnosis with Monerium and from Frankencoin, he sets out practical ways issuers can bootstrap FX liquidity: tying pools to real conversion demand, yield-bearing assets, CDPs and stable pools alongside established tokens. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Maximilian Roszko, Business Development Lead, Curve Finance Maximilian leads business development at Curve Finance. He works with stablecoin issuers, blockchain networks and other DeFi protocols to build liquidity, develop lending markets and make assets useful across DeFi. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxroszko X: https://x.com/MaxRoszko Chapters 00:00 About Curve Finance 00:54 Crypto's original goal: a new form of money 01:56 The rise of stablecoins: from Tether to $300 billion 03:26 Traditional finance copies the model 05:06 A dollar-dominated stablecoin market 05:48 FX risk for users outside the dollar 06:38 Non-dollar stablecoins and the cost of liquidity 09:16 Tying FX liquidity to real demand 10:23 Lending with yield-bearing FX assets 11:24 CDPs as a shortcut to lending use cases 12:57 Piggybacking on existing liquidity with stable pools 13:37 Why FX will be a big part of DeFi 14:24 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Vyara Savova (European Ethereum Institute, moderator), Mike McCabe (0xbow), Sofia Sukhinina (Ethereum Foundation) and Sajida Zouarhi (Optimum). In March 2026 the Ethereum Foundation published a mandate committing to censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security (CROPS). Moderated by Vyara Savova, this panel asks what that means in practice. Sofia Sukhinina explains the walk-away test and why the Foundation aims to shrink its own role, Mike McCabe describes how 0xbow screens deposits by source of funds while keeping user transactions private, and Sajida Zouarhi discusses patents, open source and Optimum's MIT-backed technology. The panel also covers verifying open-weights AI, the EU Cyber Resilience Act, and the censorship risk from block building, where roughly three quarters of blocks come from two builders. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Vyara Savova, Senior Policy Lead, European Ethereum Institute (moderator) Vyara is a web3 & human rights lawyer based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Senior Policy Expert at the European Ethereum Institute, shaping EU regulation for open, permissionless, decentralised blockchain applications. PhD candidate researching legal automation through smart contracts. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vyarasavova ▸ Mike McCabe, Product Lead, 0xbow Mike McCabe is Product Lead at 0xbow. After building blockchain enterprise applications for the energy industry for several years, he realised onchain privacy is an essential missing building block in the tech stack. Since then, Mike has been putting all his effort into making privacy normal again. X: https://x.com/0xmikemcc ▸ Sofia Sukhinina, Funding Coordination, OSPO Researcher, Ethereum Foundation Sofia is an OSPO researcher working on understanding open source funding infrastructure and ways to improve it. She explores whether dependency-graph-aware funding on Ethereum rails could reduce frictions in current financial mechanisms, making the funder-to-beneficiary path more direct. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofia-sukhinina X: https://x.com/sonkiski ▸ Sajida Zouarhi, Chief Product Officer, Optimum Sajida Zouarhi is Chief Product Officer at Optimum, building the universal data acceleration network for blockchains using RLNC. With 10 years in Web3, she previously led product at Blocknative and on the Ethereum client Besu at ConsenSys through the Merge. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sajidazouarhi Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:10 What is the CROPS mandate? 01:10 The walk-away test: a Foundation that steps back 06:02 Does CROPS apply beyond Ethereum? 07:34 Censorship resistance and privacy at the protocol level 10:47 Privacy versus compliance 12:49 Open source, patents and protecting inventions 16:58 Verifying open-weights AI with Ethereum 19:11 The Cyber Resilience Act and open source 22:00 Where censorship happens today 23:44 Block builders, relays and OFAC compliance 25:46 What the panelists will not compromise on 28:05 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Matěj Husák of Trezor argues that self-custody has solved the keys but not the data, such as transaction labels that usually end up in a local file or someone else's cloud. He explains the local-first approach, named in a 2019 Ink and Switch essay, where the device is the source of truth and a relay only syncs encrypted copies, and why it is not the same as offline mode. He then walks through Trezor's use of the Evolu library: deriving the owner ID, write key and encryption key from the wallet seed using SLIP-21, resolving conflicts with hybrid clocks in CRDT message envelopes, limiting relay abuse with a quota manager that checks the hardware wallet, and padding data so the relay sees little beyond owner ID hashes and timestamps. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Matěj Husák, Tech Lead, Networks Team, Trezor Self-taught full-stack engineer, TypeScript/React/Node, built across several startups and web3 projects, interested in P2P protocols Chapters 00:00 Not your keys, not your data 01:06 Security versus privacy 02:38 What local-first means 04:11 Local-first is not offline mode 05:43 Three problems: encryption, sync and abuse 07:46 Choosing the Evolu library 08:44 Deriving keys from the seed with SLIP-21 10:02 Conflict-free sync with hybrid clocks 11:16 Default relays and device-authorised quotas 12:06 Threat model: what the relay can see 12:43 UX without passwords 13:50 Q&A: Real-world applications 14:54 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Steffen Kux (Corpuscore.tech, moderator), Nikita Eriashev (Tangem), Skas (Trezor) and Nicolas Bacca (ZKNOX). Self-custody promises full control, yet every wallet still asks users to trust something. Moderated by Steffen Kux, hardware wallet builders from Tangem, Trezor and ZKNOX discuss what the recent Coldcard incident teaches, why open source is a means to verification rather than an end in itself, and why entropy is so hard to check. Nicolas Bacca argues the biggest competition to self-custody is now ETFs and banks and makes the case for multisig setups that grow with the user, Nikita Eriashev argues that simplicity is security for mass adoption, and Skas focuses on clear signing and showing actual balance changes. The panel closes on the future of self-custody and audience questions on Bitcoin multisig and hardware wallets. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Steffen Kux, Co-CEO & Co-Founder, Corpuscore.tech (moderator) Steffen is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of corpus.core, building trustless blockchain infrastructure. With 25+ years in software and distributed systems, he leads the development of Colibri, an open-source stateless client for trustless blockchain verification and pragmative adaptive privacy. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffen-kux X: https://x.com/steffenkux ▸ Nikita Eriashev, DACH Growth Lead, Tangem Nikita Eriashev has been with Tangem for more than three years, driving self-custody adoption and expanding the product's reach across Europe, America, and the Middle East. He believes Tangem Wallet is uniquely positioned to build a bridge between blockchain and everyday users worldwide, and he's extremely proud to have been part of that endeavor. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nik-eri-755726271 ▸ Skas, Software Engineer, Trezor Fin-tech raised neo-cypherpunk worked for several software wallets, researcher, hackathon enthusiast, CROPS builder, EIP-nerd X: https://x.com/0xskas ▸ Nicolas Bacca, Chef at ZKNOX Nicolas is a co-founder of Ledger and researcher at ZKnox - interested in making hardware security open, understandable and affordable to all, currently accelerating this with AI LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nbasim X: https://x.com/BTChip Chapters 00:00 The panelists and their work 01:52 From Mt. Gox to today: the state of self-custody 04:20 Lessons from the Coldcard incident 07:04 How far can we trust our wallets? 09:08 Don't be evil vs can't be evil 10:14 Software wallets vs hardware wallets 12:09 Screens, clear signing and knowing what you sign 17:00 Does Web3 complexity hold back self-custody? 19:18 CROPS and self-custody for everyone 22:16 The future of self-custody 25:45 Closing thoughts 27:56 Q&A: Multisig on Bitcoin 29:03 Q&A: Why still use a hardware wallet? 30:22 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

Mark Richardson

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Dr. Mark Richardson of Bancor argues that the familiar bonding curve is one of the least helpful ways to describe a decentralised exchange. Starting from a simple discrete order book, he shows how an arithmetic distribution of liquidity lets the realised price be computed as a two-point mean, and how the x times y equals k model is the geometric-mean case of the same idea. Taking the limit to a continuous density function reveals an infinite family of bonding curves, from arithmetic to harmonic, described by a single exponent. He explains how defining DEXes by their exchange rate rather than an invariant removes the domain limits of current concentrated liquidity designs, including access to the arithmetic microstructure common on order book markets. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Dr. Mark Richardson, Project Lead, Bancor Mark Bentley Richardson, holding a PhD from the University of Melbourne, redirected his career from research science to DeFi in 2021, now serving as Bancor's Project Lead. Under his guidance, Bancor launched Carbon DeFi, a system that enhances user customization in decentralized exchanges by enabling strategy-specific liquidity utilization. Richardson's leadership emphasizes consistent innovation while maintaining the key principles of decentralization, user safety, and operational simplicity. X: https://x.com/MBRichardson87 Chapters 00:00 Two families of invariant-curve DEXes 01:47 Starting from a discrete order book 04:03 There is no single price of a token 05:01 The two-point arithmetic mean shortcut 07:34 Geometric mean clearing and x times y equals k 09:49 Why AMM bid liquidity sits far from the price 10:49 From order books to continuous density functions 12:10 An infinite family of bonding curves 14:19 Formalising the curves 16:06 Describing a curve purely in prices 17:37 How this fixes concentrated liquidity 19:37 Density functions over curve invariants 20:36 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Damyan Leshev (Eversheds Sutherland, moderator), Ivan Takev (Alaric Securities), Vyara Savova (European Ethereum Institute) and Dimitar Stoyanov (Financial Supervision Commission). With Bulgaria's MiCA transitional period over and five crypto-asset service providers now licensed by the Financial Supervision Commission, this panel looks at what the first licences actually took. Ivan Takev explains how Alaric Securities fitted crypto into an existing investment firm, and Dimitar Stoyanov names the two most common weaknesses in applications: flawed policies and key staff who do not meet the requirements. Vyara Savova argues the MiCA review should fix the white paper notification period and make the DLT Pilot Regime permanent. The panel also covers tokenised stocks under MiCA or MiFID, the dual licensing of e-money tokens, ESMA supervision of significant CASPs, and whether Bulgaria is crypto-friendly. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Damyan Leshev, Partner and Co-Head of Financial Services (Bulgaria), Eversheds Sutherland (moderator) Damyan Leshev is a partner at Eversheds Sutherland Bulgaria, heading the crypto practice. With 20+ years in banking & capital markets law, he is one of Bulgaria's first crypto lawyers. He bridges traditional finance with digital assets regulation. Recognised by Chambers Europe, IFLR 1000 & Legal 500. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damyan-leshev ▸ Ivan Takev, Head of Capital Markets and Investments, Alaric Securities Ivan Takev is Head of Capital Markets & Investments at Alaric Securities, where he also leads the crypto division. A former CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, he brings 25+ years of expertise in institutional finance, regulation, market infrastructure, and trading, bridging traditional and digital assets. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivantakev ▸ Vyara Savova, Senior Policy Lead, European Ethereum Institute Vyara is a web3 & human rights lawyer based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Senior Policy Expert at the European Ethereum Institute, shaping EU regulation for open, permissionless, decentralised blockchain applications. PhD candidate researching legal automation through smart contracts. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vyarasavova ▸ Dimitar Stoyanov, Chief Expert, Regulatory Regimes of Investment Activity, Financial Supervision Commission Dimitar’s interest in financial markets dates back to his tenure as a Member of the European Parliament (2007–2014). Dimitar returned to the FSC’s authorisations team in December 2025, where the entry into application of MiCAR presented a unique opportunity to contribute directly to the authorisation of the first crypto- asset service providers (CASPs). Chapters 00:00 Bulgaria's first MiCA licences and the MiCA review 01:31 Adding crypto to an existing investment firm 04:16 Challenges on the way to the first licence 05:30 The regulator's view: why applications fall short 09:18 What the MiCA review must fix: white paper notification 12:56 Tokenised stocks: MiCA or MiFID? 16:21 The DLT Pilot Regime and the market integration package 20:11 E-money tokens: a MiCA gray area 22:37 Do EMT services also need a payment licence? 24:27 ESMA supervision of significant CASPs 29:17 Is Bulgaria a crypto-friendly jurisdiction? 33:21 Closing 34:14 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

Makoto Inoue

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Makoto Inoue, Protocol Developer at ENS, traces how naming in Ethereum evolved from a usability layer into coordination infrastructure for people, applications, and AI agents. He revisits ENS’s origins, forward resolution from names to addresses, and reverse resolution that lets wallets and applications display a verified name for an account. These simple mappings reduced the friction and danger of handling hexadecimal addresses, while later integrations showed that identity depends on coordination across wallets, applications, chains, and user interfaces, not only on owning a name. Inoue connects the protocol’s development to earlier internet naming systems while highlighting features unique to Ethereum. Forward resolution makes a name usable when sending assets, and reverse resolution lets an address declare the name applications should display. Wallets, dapps, and identity interfaces must agree on these conventions for the result to feel reliable. The growth of Layer 2 networks then introduced a new challenge: users expect one identity to remain useful even when records and applications operate across several execution environments. As Ethereum scaled across Layer 2 networks and new execution environments, naming had to move beyond a single-chain registry experience. Inoue describes application-side patterns, text records, and emerging agent registries that can publish endpoints, metadata, and reputation signals. An ENS name can become a discovery point for an AI model, framework, repository, or role, allowing humans and software to find the services associated with an identity. His broader thesis is that web3 names are no longer just ownership badges: they are durable coordination anchors that help a fragmented internet resolve addresses, capabilities, and trusted context. The discussion moves from human accounts to software identities. AI agents may have separate roles for a model, a repository, a workspace, or an individual session, and those identities need ways to advertise capabilities. Onchain registries can hold metadata and reputation, while ENS text records can point to an MCP endpoint or other service description. An agent discovering a name can learn where to communicate, what the service supports, and which reputation system applies. 00:00 Introduction and ENS History 00:49 The Origin Story of Ethereum Naming 01:30 Ethereum Before the ENS Launch 02:28 The First Seed of ENS at Devcon Two 03:31 MetaMask and Browser Access to Ethereum 04:30 Forward Resolution for Ethereum Names 04:59 Early Wallet and Infrastructure Support 06:00 The Peak of ENS Registration 07:18 Reverse Resolution and Web3 Identity 07:59 WalletConnect and Application Identity 08:26 ENS Names as Login and Profile 09:26 High Mainnet Registration Costs 09:53 Ethereum Activity Moves to More Chains 10:22 The Multichain Address Problem 11:01 Multicoin Records and CCIP Read 11:42 Application-Side Naming Integration 12:19 Simpler Login Hides Web3 Identity 13:22 The Shift From Crypto to AI Agents 14:12 Identity for Models, Repositories, and Roles 15:15 Security Concerns for Many Agents 15:51 DNS and Payment Detail Protocols 16:35 Agent Registries, MCP, and Reputation 17:07 Connecting ENS Names to Agent Registries 17:32 Agents Can Handle Web3 Complexity 18:22 Making Crypto Relevant to AI Agents 19:06 Names as Coordination Points _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *Pragma Lisbon 2026* Pragma Lisbon 2026 was held on June 25th at the Carlos Lopes Pavillion in Lisbon, Portugal and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Lisbon 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMxB4xW8JYdk ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Makoto Inoue X: https://x.com/makoto_inoue ✅ Follow ENS X: https://x.com/ensdomains ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Philippe Schommers, Head of Infrastructure at Gnosis, explains how the Ethereum Economic Zone can enable synchronous composability between Ethereum and compatible chains. Today, users bridge assets, wait for finality, and manage separate transactions before interacting with another network. The proposed system coordinates blocks at matching timestamps and uses composers plus crosschain proxy contracts to recognize chain boundaries, execute calls across networks, and preserve atomic behavior even when Ethereum reorganizes or one leg of a transaction must be cancelled. He explains that synchrony requires more than a fast bridge. Participating chains must reference Ethereum consistently, coordinate execution at compatible timestamps, and reverse dependent actions when the L1 reorganizes. A composer determines when execution crosses a chain boundary, while proxy contracts represent remote calls and return values. Transactions are assembled into batches so each network can execute its portion without asking Ethereum to pause while another chain runs. Schommers describes capabilities already demonstrated on Gnosis Chain, including instant deposits and withdrawals, crosschain calls with return values, flash loans, and nested L1–L2 calls inside one transaction. The design could let an application source liquidity on another chain and return without a separate bridge flow, reducing fragmentation and improving user experience. He also addresses practical constraints: faster block times, heavy multichain simulation, validator requirements, proofs, reorgs, and missed bundles. The goal is a repeatable, fault-aware path that lets multiple chains behave like one economic environment while retaining diverse execution and proof systems. The implementation supports nested calls that can move from L1 to L2 and back several times while remaining one atomic transaction. This opens designs such as borrowing on one network, swapping against deeper liquidity on another, and returning the result without exposing the user to separate bridge steps. Schommers also distinguishes the specialized composer from ordinary validators because multichain simulation is computationally heavy. 00:00 Introduction to the Ethereum Economic Zone 00:48 Why Crosschain Bridging Is Cumbersome 01:10 One Atomic Crosschain Transaction 01:33 Swapping on L2 and Returning to Ethereum 01:56 Reorg Requirements for Synchronous Chains 02:18 A Communication Framework, Not a Stack 02:38 How the Multichain Composer Works 03:23 Simulating Transactions Across Chains 03:48 Matching Blocks and Chain Boundaries 04:10 Crosschain Proxy Contract Architecture 05:23 Returning Call Results to Ethereum 06:25 Posting Return Values Before Execution 06:54 Keeping Crosschain Calls Atomic 07:51 Live Deposits, Calls, and Flash Loans 08:20 From Devnet to Gnosis Chain 09:09 Accessing Ethereum L1 Liquidity 09:40 Remote Swaps Without Separate Bridging 10:06 Converting an Existing Live Network 10:28 Sequencing, Data Availability, and ZK 11:28 Decentralization Tradeoffs for Gnosis 11:52 Two-Second Block Time Goals 12:21 Validators and Reorg Constraints 13:29 Atomic Composability Across More Chains 14:04 Proof Diversity and Failure Modes 14:25 Devnet Roadmap and Gnosis Proposal 15:20 Invitation to Join the Open Protocol 15:52 Closing the Composability Talk _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *Pragma Lisbon 2026* Pragma Lisbon 2026 was held on June 25th at the Carlos Lopes Pavillion in Lisbon, Portugal and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Lisbon 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMxB4xW8JYdk ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Philippe Schommers X: https://x.com/filoozom ✅ Follow Gnosis X: https://x.com/gnosischain ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Kartik Talwar opens Pragma Lisbon 2026 by explaining ETHGlobal’s two complementary formats: global hackathons for builders and focused Pragma summits for broader, forward-looking discussion. He describes Pragma as a single-day, single-track gathering built around executive speakers, accessible themes, and practical lessons rather than highly technical presentations. Kartik also shares the event’s scale, 330 attendees from 34 countries, and thanks the nine partners supporting the program. He explains why the name Pragma reflects a call toward pragmatism rather than the beginning of a developer journey. The program is intentionally designed so attendees do not need deep protocol knowledge to follow the strategic questions. Instead, founders and operators can compare lessons from the ecosystem, identify opportunities, and consider how earlier experiments can inform a more productive future. The event combines three fireside chats with eleven presentations in one continuous track. He previews the day’s 14 sessions, spanning institutional finance, tokenized-asset risk, onchain retail banking, data and accounting infrastructure, crosschain composability, liquidity efficiency, market data, ENS identity, smart-contract development, AI-agent payments, and the future of DeFi. The introduction gives attendees a map of the program and connects each talk to a larger question: how Ethereum can turn lessons from its past into safer products, stronger institutions, and more useful onchain experiences. The preview connects named speakers and projects to the day’s agenda. Marius Smith covers an institutional front door for Ethereum, Alex McFarlane addresses tokenized-asset risk, Joao Alves discusses onchain retail banking, and Angelo Min examines reliable onchain data. Later sessions cover the Ethereum Economic Zone, 1inch Aqua, Pyth market data, ENS identity, WalletConnect payments, Plank smart contracts, Frames agent payments, DeFi yield, and community building. Kartik closes by directing attendees to the full schedule and welcoming the first speaker. 00:00 Introduction and Pragma Lisbon Welcome 00:31 ETHGlobal Hackathons and Summits 00:47 Why the Event Is Called Pragma 01:11 Single-Day and Single-Track Format 01:26 Executive Speakers and Future Themes 02:06 An Accessible Program for Attendees 02:24 Three Fireside Chats and Eleven Talks 02:41 Attendees From Thirty-Four Countries 02:57 Recognizing the Nine Event Partners 03:15 Ethereum Institutional Finance Preview 03:32 DeFi Evolution and Institutional Risk 03:49 Tokenized Assets and Retail Banking 04:14 Onchain Data and Accounting Topics 04:36 Traditional Finance Fireside Preview 04:58 Ethereum Economic Zone and 1inch Aqua 05:17 Pyth Market Data and ENS Identity 05:39 WalletConnect Payments and Plank EVM 06:06 Agent Payments and DeFi Yield 06:25 Community Podcast and Final Agenda 06:43 Opening the First Pragma Talk _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *Pragma Lisbon 2026* Pragma Lisbon 2026 was held on June 25th at the Carlos Lopes Pavillion in Lisbon, Portugal and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Lisbon 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMxB4xW8JYdk ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/kartiktalwar ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Marius Smith, Co-Founder of Ethereum Institutional, argues that Ethereum needs a clear institutional front door as banks, asset managers, and other financial firms decide which networks will support their future infrastructure. He explains that Ethereum’s neutrality, security, liquidity, and global developer ecosystem remain powerful advantages, but those strengths are harder for institutions to navigate than the coordinated commercial interfaces offered by competing networks. The choices made over the next two years, he says, could shape financial infrastructure for decades. Smith says that, over the next two years, major banks, asset managers, and market infrastructures will begin locking in the platforms and rails they expect to use. Ethereum therefore needs people who can sit with institutions, explain the ecosystem, support deployment, and surface recurring blockers back to builders. He contrasts Ethereum’s decentralized structure with networks that have a single foundation or operating company able to offer a coordinated institutional relationship. That fragmentation can slow adoption even when Ethereum is technically stronger. Ethereum Institutional was created as an independent nonprofit to represent the ecosystem, coordinate institutional engagement, and translate recurring needs into actionable work. Smith outlines priorities including education, research, deployment support, privacy, regulatory and operational compliance, clearer materials, regional representatives, and forums for senior leaders. His central message is that technical excellence alone will not secure adoption: Ethereum must pair its values with organized outreach, useful materials, and consistent support for institutions evaluating production deployments. The organization plans to gather recurring questions from hundreds of institutional conversations and convert them into public resources, ecosystem priorities, and direct support. Topics include privacy, transaction execution, regulatory requirements, operational controls, roadmap clarity, and the practical details of deploying on Ethereum. Smith also describes institutional forums that place senior banking and asset-management leaders alongside Ethereum founders. 00:00 Introduction to Ethereum Institutional 00:43 Why a Dedicated Institution Is Needed 01:27 Defining an Institutional Front Door 01:54 A Critical Two-Year Adoption Window 02:15 Rewiring Global Financial Systems 02:38 Where Institutions Choose to Build 03:14 Ethereum Foundation Focus Changes 03:41 A Multi-Node Ethereum Ecosystem 04:34 Fragmented Commercial Interfaces 05:05 A Neutral Interface for Deployment 05:42 Ethereum Security, Liquidity, and Uptime 06:06 Why Technical Strength Is Not Enough 06:36 Competition for Decision-Maker Attention 07:36 Four Forces Shaping Adoption 08:07 Competing Institutional Networks 08:40 Why Other Ecosystems Are Easier to Navigate 09:34 The Window for Ethereum Adoption 09:59 The Need for a Clear Interface 10:28 Launching an Independent Nonprofit 11:21 Scaling the Ethereum Institutional Team 12:08 The Institutional Adoption Mandate 12:34 Lessons From Institutional Conversations 13:18 Research and Ecosystem Intelligence 13:43 Explaining ETH as an Institutional Asset 14:10 Promoting Ethereum Use Cases 14:49 Privacy, Roadmap, and Compliance Needs 15:47 Forums for Institutions and Builders 16:12 Hiring Across Major Financial Hubs 16:59 Deployment Engineering Support 17:27 The Institutional Ethereum Forum 17:58 Building an Institutional Platform 18:44 Invitation to Support the Organization 19:31 Closing Remarks and Next Steps _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *Pragma Lisbon 2026* Pragma Lisbon 2026 was held on June 25th at the Carlos Lopes Pavillion in Lisbon, Portugal and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Lisbon 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMxB4xW8JYdk ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Marius Smith X: https://x.com/mariuslsmith ✅ Follow Ethereum Institutional X: https://x.com/ethereuminsti ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Kartik Talwar, Simona Pop

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

In a live HUMAN Protocol podcast recording, host Simona Pop interviews ETHGlobal Co-Founder and CEO Kartik Talwar about the invisible work behind a durable developer community. Talwar reflects on ETHGlobal’s history, its early Ethereum Foundation support, and the standards learned from organizing events at global scale. Community quality, he explains, depends on thousands of decisions that participants rarely see: reviewing every applicant, helping teams find the right environment, gathering feedback at high volume, and creating clear pathways from a first hackathon to a serious company. Pop asks how ETHGlobal defines quality when event size, application volume, and the surrounding market continue to change. Talwar describes maintaining a consistent bar by reviewing applicants individually and creating an environment where builders can compare themselves with exceptional peers. The conversation follows projects and people from early experiments through products that shaped the Ethereum ecosystem, showing how trusted communities compound over time. Talwar discusses staying close to builders, recognizing what “good” looks like, surviving uncertainty, and expanding without abandoning careful curation. He also considers open source, software-driven business infrastructure, and the falling cost of building every layer of a business, which creates new demands for developer platforms and community operators. The central lesson is that community is not an audience metric: it is ongoing operational labor that helps talented people meet, test ideas, learn faster, and continue building through changing market cycles. They also discuss the difficult years between visible successes. ETHGlobal benefited from early timing and Ethereum Foundation support, but endurance required careful curation, staying close to builders, and continuing to serve developers through difficult market cycles. 00:00 Introduction and Live HUMAN Podcast 01:43 Kartik Talwar’s Academic Background 03:57 From University to Open Source Software 04:45 Learning Startups at SV Angel 06:40 Learning What Great Founders Look Like 08:44 Why the Hackathon Format Matters 10:51 Giving Builders Access to New Technology 11:47 Hack the North and Practical Education 13:32 Feedback Loops for Developer Platforms 14:25 Measuring Time to First Project 15:30 Hackathon Feedback Improves Products 17:22 Giving Builders More of Thirty-Six Hours 18:20 When Local Nodes Took Hours to Sync 19:27 From Better Tooling to Better Products 20:46 CryptoKitties and the First NFTs 22:09 Gitcoin Founders Meet at a Hackathon 22:53 A MetaMask Bug Fixed in the Room 23:19 How 1inch Emerged From Hackathons 26:38 Building Through Every Bear Market 28:03 Reviewing Every ETHGlobal Applicant 29:17 Helping Builders Find Their Peers 29:38 Playing the Seven-Year Community Game 30:38 Showing Real Work During Bear Markets 33:05 Reviewing Every Project and Trend 35:00 Early Ethereum Foundation Support 37:20 Scaling Events After COVID 40:33 The Clash Between Ideals and Reality 42:05 Open Source and Community Compounding 42:36 Supporting Every Layer of a Business 45:01 The Opportunity in Crypto Infrastructure 46:18 Faster Experiments and Product Feedback 48:28 Patterns Across Hundreds of Companies 49:36 Open Source as a Community Model 50:01 Why Closed Ecosystems Backfire 51:42 Competing in the Same Room 53:04 Short-Term KPIs Create Silos 53:53 Long-Term Foundations Versus Easy Wins 55:01 Final Thanks and Podcast Sign-Off _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *Pragma Lisbon 2026* Pragma Lisbon 2026 was held on June 25th at the Carlos Lopes Pavillion in Lisbon, Portugal and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Lisbon 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMxB4xW8JYdk ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Simona Pop X: https://x.com/Sim_Pop ✅ Follow Human Protocol X: http://x.com/_humanprotocol ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Philippe Dumonet

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Plank EVM creator Philippe Dumonet presents Plank as a new smart-contract language designed to improve developer experience, security, and tooling. He argues that Solidity’s large, rigid language core and limited support for generics, metaprogramming, libraries, documentation, testing, and editor tooling create repeated “foot guns” throughout development. Slow or incomplete tooling is not merely an inconvenience: it increases review costs, delays features, and makes it harder for teams to build reusable safety patterns. Dumonet connects language design to the repeated failures he saw while auditing and supporting smart-contract teams. Projects lacked tests, documentation, reusable abstractions, or effective editor feedback, and those weaknesses made security reviews slower and more expensive. Solidity’s missing generics and metaprogramming capabilities also make it difficult to package safe patterns in libraries. Teams often repeat complex code or depend on compiler features that cannot be extended by ordinary developers. Plank takes the opposite approach by shrinking the core language and moving important capabilities into an extensible standard library. Dumonet compares this design with modern languages such as Rust, Zig, and Python, where a small core supports powerful reusable abstractions. The current compiler produces real EVM bytecode, supports features such as reusable encoding and EIP-712 patterns, and compiles much faster than Solidity in early tests. With version 0. 2 approaching, the project aims to give teams a practical path to safer contracts, richer tools, and a language that can evolve without continually expanding its compiler. Plank aims to make experimentation happen in libraries rather than inside an ever-growing compiler. A small core is easier to analyze, document, and support with static tools, while standard-library authors can add encoding, typed data, and domain-specific abstractions. Dumonet reports that the compiler already converts Plank into EVM bytecode and has shown major speed improvements in early testing. Version 0. 2 is intended to combine the language, tooling, and library model into something teams can begin using. The goal is a language ordinary developers can extend while reducing the burden placed on the compiler. 00:00 Introduction to Plank EVM 00:28 Five Years Building With Solidity 01:01 Developer and Auditor Friction 01:29 Repeated Footguns and Missing Tests 01:58 How Weak Tooling Raises Audit Costs 02:40 Solidity Extensibility Limits 03:00 Missing Generics and Metaprogramming 03:15 Security Problems in Basic Building Blocks 04:04 Slow Evolution of the Solidity Language 04:36 How Optimization Caused a Vulnerability 05:29 What the Solidity Compiler Contains 05:52 Comparing Rust, Zig, and Python 06:19 Moving Features Into Standard Libraries 07:12 Shrinking the Core With Plank 07:42 An Extensible Smart Contract Stack 08:28 Reusable EIP-712 Implementations 09:27 Compiler Speed and Gas Benchmarks 10:05 Plank Version 0.2 Roadmap 10:28 Next-Generation Compiler Improvements 10:49 Formally Verifying the Compiler 11:23 Closing Resources for Plank Developers _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *Pragma Lisbon 2026* Pragma Lisbon 2026 was held on June 25th at the Carlos Lopes Pavillion in Lisbon, Portugal and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Lisbon 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMxB4xW8JYdk ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Philippe Dumonet X: https://x.com/real_philogy ✅ Follow Plank EVM X: https://x.com/plankevm ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Sep 9, 2026

What is Milady, and why has it become one of Ethereum's most recognizable cultural movements? Tim Clancy explains how Milady embodies cypherpunk values through privacy, open-source software, censorship resistance, and a deep commitment to Ethereum's long-term vision. We discuss the Ethereum Foundation's CROPS mandate, Neo-Cypherpunk, freedom of speech, Tornado Cash, and why culture is just as important as technology in building a freer internet. Timecodes 00:00 Introduction 00:19 Why privacy matters 00:49 What is Milady? 02:29 The Milady Zen & Ethereum's CROPS values 03:32 The Ethereum Foundation mandate explained 05:24 Milady's influence on Ethereum culture 06:58 How to join the Milady community 08:05 Ramilia's role in the Milady ecosystem 08:51 The values behind Milady 10:11 Freedom of speech & censorship resistance 11:39 Neo-Cypherpunk vs. the original Cypherpunks 13:24 Why Tornado Cash is my favorite privacy tool 14:04 A vision for a privacy-first future -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Rob Knight

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Sep 9, 2026

Can privacy become the default instead of an afterthought? Rob Knight (0xPARC) explains how programmable cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs can transform the way we build software, making privacy, integrity, and trust foundational rather than optional. We discuss zero-knowledge proofs, programmable cryptography, digital surveillance, why "nothing to hide" is the wrong question, and how privacy-first technology can give people, not corporations, control over their digital lives. Timecodes 00:00 Introduction 00:12 What is 0xPARC? 01:58 Why programmable cryptography changes everything 03:30 Why privacy should be the default 06:13 Today's biggest privacy threats 07:13 Privacy tools everyone should use 08:43 Why "I have nothing to hide" is wrong 10:52 A vision for a privacy-first future 12:29 Transparency for institutions, privacy for people -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Sep 9, 2026

Plural Monolith premiered on June 14, 2026, at the Neo-Cypherpunk Summit by Web3Privacy Now, at Funkhaus Berlin. Plural Monolith is an immersive art installation and collective live-coding experiment exploring the relationship between the individual and the collective, identity and multiplicity, physical presence and decentralized digital space. Through sound, live code, projected visuals and audience participation, the installation transforms the monolith — traditionally perceived as a single, solid and immutable object — into a plural entity: a space shaped by different perspectives, contributions and forms of participation. The installation invites the audience to enter the work rather than simply observe it, becoming part of an evolving environment where individual contributions generate a shared, collective experience. A reflection on how we coexist, connect and create within an increasingly interconnected and decentralized world. The installation was created through a collaboration between Swarm, DarkFi Squad and WinPrivacy, and presented within the Neo-Cypherpunk Summit organized by Web3Privacy Now. Song “Signal Echoes” by Liminal State https://on.soundcloud.com/s5z9pC66CcZRcRxUtP

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal New York 2026, Nalin Mittal and Goutham Deva from Google Cloud's Web3 team present building for the on-chain agent economy, centered on ERC-8004 and accessing its data through BigQuery. Nalin, who leads Web3 product efforts, notes Google Cloud has built Web3 products since 2018, with BigQuery datasets for over 40 blockchains, faucets for many test networks, and growing agentic access. He frames the core problem: as agents gain autonomy and begin purchasing from and delegating to other agents, real-time markets will form on the fly, but you cannot extend trust across organizational boundaries without knowing who you are dealing with. Standards like MCP (for tools and services) and Google's A2A (agent-to-agent communication) exist, but the trust piece is still missing, and ERC-8004 bridges that gap. Goutham and Nalin explain that ERC-8004, built in collaboration with MetaMask, the Ethereum Foundation, and Coinbase and live on Ethereum mainnet since January 29 (and other chains), establishes three pieces. Identity: calling a register event mints an NFT tied to the agent and returns an agent ID, with the metadata holding a name, description, and most importantly the service endpoints (A2A, MCP), whether it supports x402, and which trust models it uses. Reputation: a give-feedback contract method lets anyone leave on-chain, public feedback (star ratings, uptime, response times) via open-ended tags. Validation: still a work in progress, a way to prove an agent did the work it claimed via a third-party validator and hash. They then show how to access the 8004 data through Google's BigQuery Ethereum dataset (indexed from genesis to chain tip, with a generous 1 TB free tier plus a $1,000 coupon for the track), walking through live SQL queries for registrations per day, decoding a register event, a reputation leaderboard, and an x402 join showing which agents support x402. Nalin lays out the $5,000 cash prize for applications leveraging the identity and reputation data (like an explorer or analytics dashboard), and closes with Q&A on monetization (none, it is an open registry), available datasets like Base, how feedback works, spam, and whether the spec extends beyond agents. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Nalin and Google Cloud Web3 00:54 Meet Goutham 01:16 How the Workshop Is Structured 01:40 The $5,000 Prize 02:01 Why Agents Need Trust 02:23 Delegation and Real-Time Agent Markets 02:41 MCP, A2A, and the Missing Trust Piece 03:39 Trusting Agents Across Organizations 04:01 The Three Pieces of ERC-8004 04:36 Built With MetaMask, EF, and Coinbase 04:54 Identity: Registering an Agent 05:34 What the Agent File Contains 05:55 Service Endpoints and x402 Support 06:18 Reputation: Giving Feedback 06:39 Why Tags Are Open-Ended 07:05 Building a Reputation System 07:15 Validation: Proving Work Was Done 07:58 The Identity and Reputation Registries 08:21 The BigQuery Ethereum Dataset 08:47 The Free Tier and $1,000 Coupon 09:30 How to Set Up Access 10:14 Walking Through Live Queries 11:29 Understanding the Dataset Fields 11:50 Query: Registrations Per Day 12:24 Query: Decoding a Register Event 13:12 Reading the Agent URI 13:58 Decoding Input Data on the Contract 14:22 Query: Reputation Leaderboard 14:52 Query: The x402 Join 15:55 More on the Prize 16:15 What a Winning Application Looks Like 17:01 Where to Find Resources 17:24 Q&A: Plans to Monetize 8004 18:11 Q&A: Datasets for Base and BNB 18:41 Q&A: What Is 8004 19:36 Q&A: Interesting Findings in the Agents 19:52 Q&A: How Leaving Feedback Works 21:00 Q&A: Judging and Spam 22:00 Q&A: Does the Spec Go Beyond Agents 23:11 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal New York 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal New York 2026, a 3-day hackathon held June 12-14 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal New York 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh7MZ8T-ict6YshkFDw9WJCu _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Etienne Waldron

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal New York 2026, Etienne Waldron (developer relations and product) and Oscar Chaix (product manager) from Ledger present what Ledger is building in the agentic world and lay out the hackathon track. Etienne recaps Ledger, a French company founded in 2014 that makes hardware devices securing cryptocurrencies, having sold over 8 million devices and securing roughly 20% of the world's crypto assets. Its devices are secure by design through a secure element chip and a secure display sitting on top of it, and over 12 years the company has focused on user and developer experience across products like Ledger wallet, clear signing (so users understand what they sign), and the wallet provider for dApp login and signing flows. He frames the new agentic era as one where Ledger is well placed to be the trusted infrastructure. Oscar explains why: agents are useful only if they can act (signing transactions on your behalf), but they are susceptible to prompt injections and hallucinations that can move or lose funds, so Ledger lets you review what an agent is about to do on the trusted display and keeps private keys and credentials in hardware requiring human approval. He walks through the newly launched Ledger agentic stack, built on three pillars: CLIs to interact with a Ledger device from your favorite agent (connect a wallet, check balances, initiate transactions you validate on-device), DMK skills that teach an agent to integrate Ledger into an app or workflow (cutting integration from days or weeks to about five minutes), and apps including a security key app (Fido2 login that gates agent access to sites) and Open PGP for encrypting agent secrets. He live-demos the wallet CLI querying Bitcoin and Ethereum accounts, balances, and gas fees spent, proposing 70/30 ETH/BTC rebalancing swaps that require on-device approval, and simultaneously has Claude integrate the DMK skills into a mock website in about five minutes, showing clear signing and background transaction checks on a connected Ledger Flex. Etienne closes on this year's single track, Agentic x Ledger, with $10,000 in bounties across five prizes for AI products using Ledger as the trust layer (human-in-the-loop for high-risk actions, identity, credential and authentication management, x402 agent payments, and policy-based spending), plus Q&A on lending devices, the emulator, and high-frequency use cases. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Welcome to the Ledger Workshop 00:33 What Is Ledger 00:59 Why Ledger Devices Are Secure by Design 01:19 The Ledger Product Suite 01:37 Entering the Agentic Era 02:06 Why Agents Need a Trust Layer 02:32 Reviewing Agent Actions on the Device 03:02 The Three Pillars of the Agentic Stack 03:30 DMK Skills for Developers 03:52 Apps: Security Key and Open PGP 04:48 A Mock Site for Agent Transactions 05:21 Asking Claude to Integrate the DMK Skills 05:54 The Wallet CLI Finding Accounts 06:34 Discovering Balances Across Chains 07:26 How the Skills File Is Structured 07:51 Querying Ethereum and Solana Accounts 08:34 Checking Tokens and Gas Fees Spent 09:49 Proposing a 70/30 Rebalancing Swap 10:28 Why Moving Money Needs Device Approval 11:11 Recalculating the Swap Rate 12:11 The Mock Site Now Integrated With DMK 12:32 Handling a Locked Device Gracefully 12:50 Clear Signing and Transaction Check 13:34 Integrating in Minutes 14:21 Executing the Swap 15:12 Recapping What Ledger Launched 15:33 The Agentic x Ledger Track 16:03 Example Use Cases 16:23 Credentials, x402 Payments, and Policy Spending 17:07 The Developer Portal and Docs 17:29 Why Documentation Feedback Matters 17:54 Q&A: Lending Physical Devices 18:30 Q&A: The Emulator vs Real Devices 19:30 Q&A: High-Frequency Use Cases 19:52 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal New York 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal New York 2026, a 3-day hackathon held June 12-14 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal New York 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh7MZ8T-ict6YshkFDw9WJCu _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kevin Jones

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal New York 2026, Kevin Jones from BuidlGuidl walks hackers through building on Ethereum in the AI era, tying together the tools and best practices that let developers learn and ship faster. Having worked in the Ethereum ecosystem for about six years alongside Austin Griffith and the Ethereum Foundation, he surveys what BuidlGuidl has produced for developer education and tooling. He gives a tour of SpeedRun Ethereum, the challenge-based curriculum that teaches core concepts through hands-on modules: minting an NFT, crowdfunding and staking, ERC-20 tokens and the approve pattern, a dice game on on-chain randomness, building a DEX with liquidity pools, oracles, overcollateralized lending, stablecoins, prediction markets, and zero knowledge, plus capture-the-flag security events and a new AI-guided learning mode. He also covers other BuidlGuidl products including Scaffold-ETH, ABI Ninja, Address Vision, and its full node client. Kevin then dives into AI-era building. He explains x402 (Coinbase's extension of the HTTP 402 status code) as a way to token-gate any API with an onchain payment instead of API keys, noting his work at Edge & Node (creators of The Graph) on a wallet that makes and accepts x402 payments with guardrails. He highlights ETH skills, an open source skill file encoding Ethereum best practices for editors like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex, and ERC-8004, a registry giving AI agents a long-lived onchain reputation (with Agent0's SDK and a subgraph for querying agents). He shares his AI coding workflow: ideate in Claude Desktop to generate a prompt, bootstrap in Claude Code, then move to Cursor to review diffs. He runs a live Scaffold-ETH demo, spinning up a project with two commands, explaining the Hardhat and Next.js monorepo, burner wallet, auto-generated ABI-driven debug UI, hooks, and components (ENS resolution, balance checkers), then vibe-codes a basketball NFT contract that deploys and mints a LeBron card. He closes on OneClaw, his spotlight secrets-management platform storing keys in a Google Cloud HSM with multi-party computation, an LLM proxy running in a TEE that inspects prompts for injection and redacts secrets, and intent-based signing with guardrails so an agent can use a key that never leaves hardware, followed by Q&A. 00:00 Introduction 00:13 Nostalgia for ETHGlobal New York 00:32 About Kevin and BuidlGuidl 01:00 Why AI Accelerates Learning and Building 02:15 Introducing SpeedRun Ethereum 02:46 Scaffold-ETH as a Starter Kit 03:45 A Walk Through SpeedRun Challenges 04:40 ERC-20 Tokens and the Approve Pattern 05:09 The Dice Game and On-Chain Randomness 05:35 Building a DEX and Liquidity Pools 06:20 Oracles and Overcollateralized Lending 07:13 Stablecoins and Prediction Markets 08:28 Learning Zero Knowledge 08:58 The Tech Tree and Capture the Flag 10:15 The New AI-Guided Learning Mode 11:06 What Is x402 11:31 How x402 Token-Gates APIs 12:56 Building on x402 With Edge & Node 13:44 ETH Skills for Your Editor 15:06 ERC-8004: A Registry for AI Agents 16:05 Building Agent Reputation 16:42 Agent0 and the Subgraph 18:28 Kevin's AI Coding Workflow 19:12 Starting Ideation in Claude Desktop 21:18 Generating a Prompt for Claude Code 23:36 Moving to Cursor to Review Diffs 24:39 Starting a Scaffold-ETH Project 26:22 Choosing Hardhat or Foundry 29:18 Agent, Plan, and Ask Modes 30:45 Inside the Scaffold-ETH Monorepo 31:36 The AI-Friendly Files and MCP Server 34:00 The Burner Wallet and Debug UI 35:00 How the ABI Powers the Front End 35:58 Vibe-Coding a Basketball NFT Contract 40:19 Minting a LeBron NFT 41:27 The BuidlGuidl Full Node Client 42:20 Introducing OneClaw Secrets Management 43:18 The LLM Proxy in a TEE 44:36 Intent-Based Signing With Guardrails 45:39 Embedded Wallets, MCP, and SDK 46:30 Q&A: Signing Latency 47:49 Q&A: Git Integration for Agents 49:12 Q&A: How ERC-8004 Reputation Works 52:44 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal New York 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal New York 2026, a 3-day hackathon held June 12-14 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal New York 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh7MZ8T-ict6YshkFDw9WJCu _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal New York 2026, Greg Skril from ENS Labs presents ENS as a source of identity for apps, agents, and more. He starts with the basics: the Ethereum Name Service is a decentralized, permissionless naming protocol that lives on Ethereum but scales to the entire internet, most simply turning complex hex addresses into human-readable names (his address becomes gregskril.eth). He frames ENS as a user experience protocol, showing how sending five dollars to a name is far easier than copying a hex address, and how ENS has evolved from a username into a full profile with an avatar, banner, and description that replaces the anonymous gray circle and truncated address most apps show. His first conclusion: users of crypto-powered experiences should never have to interact with a hex address, and anywhere an app reads or writes one, it should support ENS names. He explains how it works through forward resolution (name to data) and reverse resolution (address to name), which combine into a primary name set via reverse registrars on six chains, and can be configured on behalf of another user with their signature. Greg then positions ENS as a universal pointer to anything on the internet, not just addresses: naming smart contracts for clearer block explorer history, decentralized registries (like a hackathon NPM clone where each package is an ENS name with text-record metadata pointing to decentralized content), storing credentials or AI agent metadata via text records (with a spec, ENSIP-26, for agents), and decentralized websites (like Vitalik's IPFS-hosted blog that survives a Cloudflare outage). He covers subnames, which are full ENS names usable for clean hierarchy and cheap free onboarding (buy projectname.eth, give users free subnames), highlighting the Durin tool at durin.dev for deploying subname contracts to an L2 linked to L1. He previews ENS V2 (live on Sepolia) with a cleaner registry design and fine-grained permissions enabling org structures, and an ENS CLI as the easiest way to teach agents to use ENS. He lays out a record $20,000 in prizes across an AI agents track, a creative use track (citing a privacy solution that resolves a name to different addresses per sender), a $6,000 pool prize, and a $4,000 continuity track, then closes with Q&A on reassigning and revoking subdomains, gas costs, off-chain names, and how subnames compare to second-level domains. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 What Is ENS 00:42 Turning Hex Addresses Into Names 01:08 ENS as a User Experience Protocol 01:35 From Username to Full Profile 02:01 Why a Profile Beats a Gray Circle 02:42 ENS Used in the Wild 03:26 Reading and Writing Data With Names 03:56 Why Users Should Never See a Hex Address 04:21 How It Works: Forward and Reverse Resolution 04:52 Primary Names and Reverse Registrars 05:43 Setting a Name on Behalf of Another User 05:59 ENS as a Universal Pointer 06:20 A Decentralized NPM Registry Example 06:46 Storing Credentials and Agent Metadata 07:06 Text Records and ENSIP-26 07:31 Decentralized Websites Like Vitalik's Blog 08:44 Naming Smart Contracts 09:29 Subnames and Clean Hierarchy 10:19 Free Subnames for Onboarding Users 10:41 The Durin Tool for Subnames 11:05 Introducing ENS V2 11:36 New Registry Design and Permissions 11:58 Org Structures With Fine-Grained Access 12:23 A Preview of the ENS CLI 12:49 The $20,000 in Prizes 13:20 The Build From Scratch Tracks 13:39 The AI Agents Track 14:09 The Creative Use Track 14:37 A Privacy Solution Built on ENS 14:57 The Pool Prize 15:20 The Continuity Track 16:02 Key Takeaways 16:30 Where to Get Help 16:53 Q&A: Reassigning Subdomains 18:29 Q&A: Limits on Subdomains and Gas Fees 19:50 Q&A: Preventing Revocation of User Subdomains 21:14 Q&A: Subnames vs Second-Level Domains 22:19 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal New York 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal New York 2026, a 3-day hackathon held June 12-14 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal New York 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh7MZ8T-ict6YshkFDw9WJCu _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this welcome and opening ceremony, Kartik Talwar, co-founder of ETHGlobal, opens ETHGlobal New York 2026, stressing that this is not a conference but a hackathon whose mission is to onboard thousands of developers into the web3 ecosystem. He explains what makes ETHGlobal events different: a focus on builders, a place to learn and grow, and the belief that showing beats telling, so on Sunday everyone demos what they built. He traces ETHGlobal's history from a small 2017 hackathon (where NFTs were invented) through global expansion across six continents, noting that counting the recent ETHConf, they have run over 331 events in eight and a half years, hosted 165,000 people from 156 countries, produced 18,000+ hackathon projects, and seen projects raise over $500 million. This weekend brings almost 700 attendees (close to 500 hackers, 30% new to web3), plus supporting staff, 17 mentors, 20 recorded workshops, zero talks, over $200,000 in prizes, and 16 sponsors. Kartik walks through key logistics and rule changes. Hacking begins immediately, teams can have up to five members, and submissions are due Sunday at 9am. On AI, he encourages using tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex but warns from thousands of data points not to use AI to generate or validate your idea (crypto bias is real), to keep a human in the loop, to reference-check SDK integrations, to commit plan files, and to always know what your codebase does. He introduces the new continuity track, letting hackers build from scratch, extend an open source project, or ship a feature into existing or private code, as long as new work stays open source and traceable via the GitHub API, with track-specific prizes. He covers venue security, Wi-Fi etiquette, the website as source of truth, Discord support, four spotlight teams (Aquazero, CodeQuil, Pompalo, Railbridge), and judging: partner-prize demos plus an add-on finalist track for the top 10 teams (up to seven scratch, three continuity) requiring an auditable open source repo, a live deployed site, and a video demo, with finalist perks including ETHGlobal Plus, $1,000 per member, travel, and developer credits. He closes by bringing on partners Tanner from 1inch (Aqua self-custodial AMMs), Gotham from Google Cloud Web3 (ERC-8004 data track), and Greg from ENS (naming as universal pointers), before telling everyone to get hacking. 00:00 Introduction 00:40 What Makes ETHGlobal Events Different 01:03 The History From 2017 to Today 01:49 Expanding Across Six Continents 02:18 The Numbers: 331 Events and Counting 02:44 18,000 Projects and $500 Million Raised 03:47 Mentors, Workshops, and Sponsors 04:27 Thanking the Sponsors 05:01 Logistics: Hacking Begins Now 05:19 The New Rules: Teams and Timing 05:37 Guidance on Using AI to Build 06:12 Explaining Your Contribution vs Delegation 07:11 Why Not to Use AI to Generate Ideas 07:38 Why Not to Use AI to Value Your Idea 08:33 Why Not to Blindly Delegate SDK Integrations 08:56 Always Know What Your Codebase Does 09:43 Introducing the Continuity Track 10:49 The Three Paths You Can Take 11:28 How Extending Open Source Works 12:43 Adding Features to Your Own Project 13:27 Adding a Module to Private Code 14:58 Why Prizes Are Track Specific 15:44 Venue Security and Wristbands 16:39 Wi-Fi 7 and Why Not to Use Hotspots 17:52 The Website and Discord Support 18:53 Food, Activities, and Swag 19:26 The Four Spotlight Teams 20:13 Judging and the Prize Structure 21:03 The Partner Prize Track 21:22 The Finalist Track for the Top 10 21:45 Finalist Perks and Requirements 23:45 Splitting Finalists Across Tracks 24:14 Submission Logistics and Timing 25:54 Why a Better Submission Wins 26:57 Where to Get Help From Mentors 27:40 Code of Conduct and IP Ownership 28:51 Tanner From 1inch on Aqua 31:00 Gotham From Google Cloud on ERC-8004 33:19 Greg From ENS on Naming 35:41 Summarizing the Prizes 36:23 Final Advice and Let's Get Hacking _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal New York 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal New York 2026, a 3-day hackathon held June 12-14 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal New York 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh7MZ8T-ict6YshkFDw9WJCu _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this closing ceremony for ETHGlobal New York 2026, Kartik Talwar, co-founder of ETHGlobal, wraps up the hackathon with event stats, ten live finalist demos, and the partner prize reveal. He shares that 682 attendees and 486 hackers (31% new to web3) came from 152 cities, 44 countries, and six continents, supported by 100-plus sponsor staff, 18 mentors, and 20 Friday workshops with zero talks. The 486 hackers built 232 projects (27% on the new continuity track), and for the first time in eight months Python overtook TypeScript as the most common language. DeFi was the biggest category, wallets and payments the most common hacks, and infrastructure rose to third, with ENS, Arc, and Chainlink the most-used integrations and mainnet, Base, and Arc the most-deployed chains. He introduces the 16 partners giving out $200,000 in prizes and the ten finalists (three continuity, seven from scratch). The finalist demos showcase the range: Canary, parametric insurance on prediction markets that prices DeFi risk like a credit default swap; Acrew, which turns the AI coding spinner into an onchain ad marketplace tying one human to one agent via World ID; Void Tactics, a year-old fully onchain PVP spaceship game upgraded with Dynamic embedded wallets, World ID tournaments, and Walrus move history; Lynx, a terminal bridging prediction markets with tokenized securities and traditional finance data; DRO.buzz, a clipping marketplace on Arc, World ID, and Chainlink; Ansu, a dead-simple browser wallet for onboarding newcomers; Proof of Scan, a decentralized network of scan nodes using Sui, Walrus, and TLS notary to catch cloaked phishing sites; The Wallet Shift, a DeFi-Llama-style analytics dashboard indexing ERC-8004 agents via Google BigQuery; Immunity, a decentralized AI security protocol where agents mint antibodies against prompt injection, rebuilt with Chainlink CRE and ENS; and Cumulant, structured products (baskets, tranches, protected notes, distribution markets) on prediction markets via Dynamic and Arc. Kartik details the finalist rewards (ETHGlobal Plus, $1,000 per member, flight and developer credits, a Ledger Flex, and an exclusive hoodie), then races through 60 slides of partner prizes from 1inch, ENS, Google Cloud, Chainlink, Hedera, Ledger, LI.FI, Privy, Sui, Uniswap Foundation, World, Canton Foundation, Blink, Arc, Dynamic, and Unlink. He closes noting code will be verified over four weeks, thanks the team and partners, and previews upcoming events in Lisbon, ETHOnline, Tokyo, and Mumbai. 00:00 Opening Montage 01:35 Welcome to the Closing Ceremony 02:03 The Event by the Numbers 02:32 Thanking the 16 Partners 03:01 Why This Is a Hackathon, Not a Conference 03:49 Community Highlights and Stats 04:28 232 Projects and the Continuity Split 04:53 The Most Common Categories and Integrations 05:54 Thanking the Judges 05:57 A Quick Word on Feedback Forms 07:19 Introducing the Ten Finalists 08:02 Thanking Every Team That Submitted 09:53 Finalist Demo: Canary 13:54 Finalist Demo: Acrew 19:21 Finalist Demo: Void Tactics 25:19 Finalist Demo: Lynx 31:42 Finalist Demo: DRO.buzz 36:36 Finalist Demo: Ansu 41:30 Finalist Demo: Proof of Scan 47:19 Finalist Demo: The Wallet Shift 52:58 Finalist Demo: Immunity 58:30 Finalist Demo: Cumulant 1:04:36 What the Finalists Win 1:05:50 Starting the Partner Prizes 1:07:19 1inch Prizes 1:08:17 ENS Prizes 1:09:46 Google Cloud Prize 1:09:53 Chainlink Prizes 1:11:05 Hedera Prizes 1:12:15 Ledger Prizes 1:13:04 LI.FI Prizes 1:13:28 Privy Prizes 1:13:59 Sui Prizes 1:14:25 Uniswap Foundation Prizes 1:15:14 World Prizes 1:16:09 Canton Foundation Prizes 1:17:00 Blink Prizes 1:17:27 Arc Prizes 1:18:23 Dynamic Prizes 1:19:06 Unlink and Joint Prizes 1:19:50 Wrapping Up the Prizes 1:20:09 Closing Notes and Verification 1:20:38 Thanking the Team and Community 1:22:01 Upcoming Events and Farewell _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal New York 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal New York 2026, a 3-day hackathon held June 12-14 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal New York 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh7MZ8T-ict6YshkFDw9WJCu _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this welcome and introduction, Aubree Galbiso from the operations team at ETHGlobal opens the third and final day of ETHConf, calling it a full circle moment to be on stage after months of planning the event from behind the scenes. She frames ETHConf as an ambitious but needed event centered around Ethereum in the US, hosted at the Javits Center, the largest convention center in New York, which she thanks along with its team. She explains why ETHGlobal chose New York City, the center of global finance, as the home for its first ever ETHConf: it is where institutions live and where the energy to move the industry forward feels alive. Aubree thanks the event's 2,000-plus attendees, over 600 companies, 150 speakers, and 30 sponsors who made it possible. She previews a day three filled with talks, panels, and firesides touching on three major themes: onchain at scale, institutional adoption, and protocol updates. She stresses the conference is designed to deliver real insights from the companies, founders, and protocols shaping the industry, meaning real things happening right now rather than ideas, since every speaker on stage has already shipped something. She encourages attendees to connect directly with speakers walking the event and with fellow decision makers and key players to network, hear hot takes, and discuss the future, before jumping into the day three schedule. 00:00 Introduction 00:07 A Full Circle Moment on Stage 00:38 Thanking the Javits Center Team 00:59 Why New York City Was Chosen 01:21 Thanking Attendees, Speakers, and Sponsors 01:44 The Three Major Themes of the Day 02:06 Why Every Speaker Has Already Shipped 02:27 A Home for Decision Makers to Connect 02:48 Jumping Into the Day Three Schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this welcome and opening ceremony, Kartik Talwar, co-founder of ETHGlobal, opens ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, stressing that this is not a conference but a hackathon whose mission is to onboard thousands of developers into the web3 ecosystem. He explains what makes ETHGlobal events different: a focus on builders trying out ideas, learning new skills and protocols, and the belief that showing beats telling, so on Sunday everyone demos what they built to judges, partners, and each other. He traces ETHGlobal's history from the first 2017 event in Waterloo through global expansion across six continents, notes the 2026 events in Cannes and last month's New York, and welcomes everyone back to Lisbon for the second time. This weekend brings over 518 attendees (380 hackers, 26% coming from web2), from 116 cities, 47 countries, and six continents, plus 43 partners, 16 technical mentors, eight workshops, zero talks, and $100,000 in prizes across eight partners: 1inch, 0G, Hedera, Sui, The Graph, Uniswap Foundation, World, and ENS. Kartik walks through key logistics and rule changes. Hacking has begun, teams can have up to five members, and submissions are due Sunday at 9am. He encourages using LLMs and AI coding tools like Codex and Claude Code but recommends committing plan markdown files and frequent descriptive commits so work is traceable, sharing SDK feedback with partners, and avoiding four AI pitfalls (do not use AI-generated ideas, get real human feedback, do not just delegate, and always understand your own code). He introduces the continuity track, letting hackers extend a past project, fix an open source bug, or ship an open source module into private code, with track-specific prizes. He covers venue security, Wi-Fi etiquette, Discord support, food, a tile-painting activity, swag, and four spotlight teams. On judging, he explains the partner track (apply to up to three of the eight partners) versus the finalist track (top 10 teams demoing live on stage) with an auditable repo, live deployment, and video demo required, and finalist perks like ETHGlobal Plus, $1,000 cash, flight credits, and AWS credits. He brings on Matt from 1inch, who shares that 1inch began at a 2019 hackathon and has since done over $800 billion in volume, and introduces the $7,000 in bounties for building Aqua apps, a liquidity provision method that keeps tokens in the LP's wallet. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Welcome: This Is a Hackathon, Not a Conference 00:37 What Makes ETHGlobal Events Different 00:54 Why Showing Beats Telling 01:18 The History From 2017 to Today 02:25 Back in Lisbon for the Second Time 02:31 Who Is Here This Weekend 03:05 Partners, Mentors, and Workshops 03:27 $100,000 in Prizes and the Eight Partners 04:28 The Hackathon Has Begun 05:07 Team Rules and Submission Timing 05:42 Using LLMs and AI Coding Tools 06:25 Committing Plan Files and Sharing Feedback 07:24 The Four AI Pitfalls to Avoid 07:47 Why Not to Use AI-Generated Ideas 08:23 Why to Get Real Human Feedback 08:42 Why Not to Just Delegate 09:33 Introducing the Continuity Track 09:55 How to Continue a Past Project 10:55 Extending Open Source and Private Projects 12:08 How to Select Your Track 12:59 Venue Security and Badges 14:05 Wi-Fi Etiquette and No Hotspots 15:00 The Website and Discord 16:29 Venue Layout and Pragma 17:02 Food and Activities 17:53 Swag and Giveaways 18:40 The Four Spotlight Teams 19:54 Judging and Prizes: The Two Tracks 20:19 The Partner Track 20:57 The Finalist Track 21:55 Why Become a Finalist 22:32 The Requirements to Be a Finalist 23:50 Demoing Live to Judges 24:47 The Finalist Demo Format 25:09 Why Not to Record Your Video Last Minute 26:28 How First-Come Judging Works 27:32 The Mentors Who Can Help 28:29 Rules, Respect, and IP Ownership 29:42 Bringing On Matt From 1inch 30:55 Introducing the Aqua Protocol 32:00 The 1inch Bounties 33:39 Recapping the Prizes and Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, a 3-day hackathon held July 24-26 at the Carlos Lopes Pavillion, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWgAODGnD_is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kevin Jones

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, Kevin Jones from BuidlGuidl (who also works at Edge & Node on The Graph protocol and supports the Ethereum Foundation) walks through building apps on Ethereum in the AI era, covering the key tools and then live-building an app. He introduces BuidlGuidl, created by Austin Griffith, and its flagship learning product SpeedRun Ethereum, a set of challenges that validate your understanding of the protocol across NFTs, crowdfunding, the token vendor and ERC-20 patterns, on-chain randomness and oracles, building a DEX with liquidity pools, oracles, over-collateralized lending (like Aave) and liquidations, stablecoins, and newer guides on prediction markets and ZK voting, plus capture-the-flag events and the ETH tech tree. He then covers Scaffold-ETH, the starter kit that was his own introduction to Ethereum, now launchable with a single command (npx create-eth) that bootstraps a full dApp: smart contract, local chain, and a Next.js front end with pre-written components and hooks, all wired together and made AI-friendly by default. Kevin highlights ETH skills (at ethskills.com), an open source collection of Ethereum best-practice skill files (for smart contracts, code reviews, censorship resistance, privacy, and more) that you add to your coding agent so it builds the best app it can. He live-demos scaffolding a project called Lisbon, explaining the choice between Foundry and Hardhat, splitting the terminal into windows for the chain, front end, and deploys, and how the yarn commands and pre-written scripts simplify setup. He shows how Scaffold-ETH parses the deployed contract's ABI into front-end types and an auto-generated debug UI, plus a built-in burner wallet and faucet that avoid MetaMask nonce issues on a local chain. He debugs a dependency error live (recommending copying the error to the AI and using Opus 4.6 for prototyping), then vibe-codes the starter contract into a basic lottery, showing how the bundled .agents, .claude, and .cursor skill folders automatically load BuidlGuidl's best practices (contributed by members like Carlos) so the agent adds ownable, a reentrancy guard, buy-ticket and pick-winner functions, and updates the front end. He tours reusable components (ENS resolution, address inputs, balance and ether inputs) and read and write hooks, and closes with Q&A on ETH skills folders, simulating time on a local chain, and testing in Foundry versus Hardhat. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Kevin and His Workshops 00:30 Building on Ethereum in the AI Era 00:48 Who Has Used Scaffold-ETH 01:07 Introducing BuidlGuidl and SpeedRun Ethereum 01:56 The Token Vendor and ERC-20 Patterns 02:18 Randomness and Oracles 02:31 Building a DEX and Liquidity Pools 02:48 Over-Collateralized Lending and Liquidations 03:30 Stablecoins, Prediction Markets, and ZK Voting 03:50 Capture the Flag and the ETH Tech Tree 04:14 What Scaffold-ETH Is 04:44 One Command to Bootstrap a dApp 05:24 Introducing ETH Skills 06:17 A Tour of Scaffold-ETH and the Docs 07:12 Why the Pre-Written Front End Helps 07:44 Starting the Project With create-eth 08:29 Choosing Foundry or Hardhat 09:27 Splitting Your Terminal Into Windows 10:09 Why Kevin Uses Cursor 10:33 The Commands to Get Set Up 10:58 Starting the Local Chain 12:04 Deploying the Starter Contract 12:54 How the ABI Powers the Front End 13:47 Loading Up Scaffold-ETH 14:14 Debugging an Error With AI 15:40 The Built-In Burner Wallet and Faucet 16:13 The Debug Contracts Tab 17:05 The Chain Folder and Skill Files 17:57 How the Bundled Skills Work 18:40 Best Practices From the BuidlGuidl Team 19:24 Vibe-Coding a Lottery Contract 20:13 Deploying the AI-Written Changes 20:37 Updating the Front End 20:55 Q&A: Where to Find ETH Skills 21:49 A Tour of the Reusable Components 22:38 The Read and Write Hooks 23:58 Testing the Lottery Page 24:52 Q&A: Testing in Foundry vs Hardhat 25:34 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, a 3-day hackathon held July 24-26 at the Carlos Lopes Pavillion, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWgAODGnD_is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Mate Soos

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Talk about privacy nomenaclature that was initially used in academic settings and is now used even in our communities. Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

The talk will cover research and the IETF standardization process, practical engineering considerations, end-to-end encryption, working on open-source software and bulding a whole new messenger from scratch. Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

We Promised Decentralization, but Forgot to Build the Infrastructure Shayan Eskandari is a security researcher, hacker, educator, and internet freedom activist working at the intersection of blockchain technology, security, and digital rights. His PhD dissertation, Uncovering Blockchain Challenges: Technical Nuances and Their Unforeseen Consequences, maps the gap between blockchain's ambitious promises and its real-world implications; from cryptojacking and front-running attacks that exploit the protocol's foundational properties, to oracle trust failures and the regulatory blind spots that leave auditors unable to accurately understand cryptoassets. The central argument: the same properties that make blockchains powerful — permissionlessness, transparency, decentralization — are also the source of their most dangerous attack surfaces. He currently serves as a postdoctoral fellow at NOVA SBE's Data, Operations & Technology Knowledge Center, contributing to BLOCKCHAIN.PT, a Portuguese national initiative co-funded by PRR and NextGenerationEU. His career spans the full arc of Web3: blockchain engineer at Bitaccess during Bitcoin's early ATM era, security engineer at ConsenSys Diligence specializing in smart contract auditing, and CTO at Ether Capital, where he led one of the first publicly traded Ethereum staking operations (36,000 ETH). He co-founded IranUnchained, a Moloch v3-based NGO addressing the gap between crypto's borderless ideals and geopolitical exclusion. He is also co-founder of Shiryakhat and CoinIran Academy, educating Farsi-speaking communities on blockchain technology since 2015. His current obsession is MoaV — Mother of All VPNs (moav.sh). The ideology: internet freedom cannot depend on any single tool, protocol, or organization. It must be distributed infrastructure, built before the crisis, resilient enough that no state can shut it all down without breaking their own internet. One command turns a $10 VPS into a node running 16+ simultaneous circumvention protocols: DNS tunnels, obfuscated proxies, Psiphon relays and Tor bridges. Deployed by activists and diaspora communities keeping people connected when their governments decide they shouldn't be. Outside the terminal: analogue photography, film, multi exposures, and a camera collection that has clearly gotten out of hand. Shayan Eskandari: https://x.com/sbetamc Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Privacy in the built environment and smart buildings Una Wang Una is a polymathic researcher, engineer, designer and maker expanding the boundaries of architecture, technology, and decentralized systems. Holding a PhD from ETH Zurich, she led no1s1 project — pioneering work in decentralized autonomous buildings, cyber-physical systems and regenerative built environments that is shaping the future of interaction with physical space. Bridging deep engineering expertise and craftmanship, she turns concepts into real-world cyber-physical products and artifacts. Her work exhibited at MoMA NYC, Art Basel Miami, The House of Electronic Arts, WEF ETH Pavillion, etc. As a globally engaged speaker and community builder, Una brings sharp insight and earnest dialogue to stages across culture, industry, academia, and beyond — connecting dots between technology, people, and place. Una Wang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/una-wang-36b56b22/ Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Kris Decoodt

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Plural Events - Privacy, and Real and Local Collective Actions Deliberate Democracy in Practice: Privacy, Coordination, and Collective Action Panelists: Piergiorgio Catti De Gasperi, Kris Decoodt, Bastin Jafari, Koss Moderator: Nikoline Arns Panelists Piergiorgio Catti De Gasperi — Web3Privacy Now https://new.web3privacy.info/ X: https://x.com/PG_CDG Kris Decoodt https://be.linkedin.com/in/krisdecoodt Bastin Jafari X: https://x.com/bastinjafari Koss X: https://x.com/kosmostasis Moderated by Nikoline Arns X: https://x.com/nikoline_nik Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Kate will guide panelists in a semi-structured discussion reflecting on the "state of privacy in Web3," a year on from the fanfare around the Ethereum Foundation's announcement of prioritizing privacy. Vital infrastructure and tooling, from ZK to TEEs, are only at the beginning of their maturity and usefulness. Just as it feels like the blockchain industry as we know it is collapsing, there are more opportunities than ever for mass adoption (or at least reaching outside our bubble) with these innovations in private, secure communications and transactions. Meanwhile, it's harder than ever for values-driven projects to get funding as previously reliable supporters turn away from open source. How do we optimize for resilience and durability to steward public goods, while adapting strategies and budgets in the "post-PGF" landscape? As surveillance capitalism encroaches both physical and digital environments, how can we be strategic in collaborating with regulators and lawyers to protect our digital rights and freedoms? And, when circumstances call for more direct action, how can privacy-preserving tech protect our identities and assets? Many such questions! We'll explore them through panelists' perspectives from decentralized social, verifiable wallets, VPNs, and scalable encrypted money, and assess where we stand at "the intersection of hope and cope". Panelists: Kimmo Sirén, Polymutex, Igor Mandrigin, Marina Markezic, Max Hampshire, Connor O'Hara Moderator: Kate Stapleton Panelists Kimmo Sirén — Orb, Lens, Mask Network https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kimmo-Siren Polymutex — Walletbeat https://x.com/polymutex https://beta.walletbeat.eth.limo Igor Mandrigin — Gateway.fm / FF Consulting https://www.ffconsulting.org/ Marina Markezic — EUCI Max Hampshire — Nym https://x.com/_wjth Connor O'Hara — Independent Researcher https://x.com/colludingnode Moderated by Kate Stapleton — Fhenix https://x.com/Kate_stapes Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Panelists: Lefteris Karapetsas, Nick Almond, Binji Pande Moderator: Corinna Schlicht Binji Pande helps translate technology’s deepest technical work into stories that normal people can actually feel. His work sits at the strange little intersection of crypto, culture, ai, privacy, public infrastructure, and making important ideas sound less like they were assembled in a bunker. Before joining the Ethereum Foundation, Binji worked at Coinbase and Optimism, helping bring crypto products to wider audiences. Today, he focuses on making Ethereum’s values more legible to the world, especially around privacy, censorship resistance, open source, and the future of human agency online. His talk asks a simple question: if cypherpunks were right about so much, why does the average person still not relate to them? Nick Almond is a technologist, physicist, governance and learning theorist, architect, academic and builder. He believes in decentralisation, DAOs as a means to reshape human organisation, the commons and collective action as a cultural practice. Lefteris Karapetsas is a seasoned blockchain developer, known for his contributions to Ethereum's early Solidity and core client development, the DAO, and the Raiden Network, before founding rotki, a privacy-focused, self-hosted portfolio management tool. Based in Berlin, he is an advocate for open-source development, financial transparency, and user data sovereignty. Panelists Lefteris Karapetsas — Rotki https://rotki.com/ X: https://x.com/LefterisJP Nick Almond — Jito https://www.jito.network/ X: https://x.com/drnicka Binji Pande — Ethereum Foundation https://ethereum.foundation/ Moderated by Corinna Schlicht https://x.com/corinnaschlicht Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Péter Szilágyi

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Analysing genomics is currently in it's early phase, dominated by a handful of institutions. As sequencing costs are dropping, more and more people gain access to their genome, but soon realise they have nothing to do with it. Whilst much of the research itself is public, there is no place where that materialises in a usable / reusable way. This results in a sort of soft-gatekeeping, where proper interpretation and guidance is restricted to those with the knowledge or the financials. We're trying to out-build this position, creating a sort-of ""open source movement"" of genomics, puzzle pieces that would allow different ecosystem participants to contribute their small slice of knowledge and build up a global, shared platform for everyone to tap into and extend. Speaker Péter Szilágyi https://x.com/peter_szilagyi Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

The Revolution Will Be Archived: Decentralized Preservation for Accountability and Sovereignty Around the world, eyewitnesses, journalists, and human rights defenders risk device seizure, arrest, and forced data deletion, which prevents them from preserving and sharing evidence of injustice. If it does survive, this media lives on platforms built for attention and monetization, not archival preservation or community control, relying on a single point of failure vulnerable to censorship, link rot, or shutdowns. This lightning talk introduces OpenArchive’s research and implementation of a novel p2p decentralized storage backend to help mitigate these threats based on over a decade of insights working with some of the world’s most at-risk communities. This work is guided by the Human Rights Centered Design (HRCD) methodology - co-created by OpenArchive’s founder and executive director, Natalie Cadranel. The HRCD methodology, grounded in real-world contexts, is a collaborative framework using iterative research, threat modeling, and co-design with affected communities to build usable, secure tools. We will be highlighting the tested benefits and drawbacks of implementing decentralized storage in OpenArchive’s flagship app Save to enhance the protection, provenance, and preservation of eyewitness evidentiary media needed to exact accountability and justice. Speaker Rose Regina Lawrence — OpenArchive https://open-archive.org/ https://save.open-archive.org/ Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Drawing on their shared experience collaborating with Tech Workers Coalition and Cables of Resistance, the speakers consider key questions such as • Over the past 5-years, collective action within the tech industry has blossomed in response to militarization of tech, mass-layoffs, and growing discontent within the tech industry. More importantly, what are you going to do about it? What role will you place in your workplace and sector? • How are gentrification and decentralisation connected? • What learnings and momentum can we take forward from Cables of Resistance, and into the streets, workplaces and digital forums? Panelists Yonatan Miller https://x.com/yonatan_miller Josephine Shen https://x.com/josephine_shen Moderated by Rainer Rehak https://algorithmwatch.org/en/team/rainer-rehak/ https://x.com/RainerRehak Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/

Jaya Klara Brekke

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Right now we are in the midst of the first AI-powered genocide in the history of humankind. There is no longer a separation between Big Tech companies and government. Today, Big Tech is supplying the military with the most advanced tools to optimise surveillance, targeting and killing. The Pentagon proudly presents Palantir's latest 3-point click tool to execute a manual kill-chain. Most of these new systems that are relying on Big Tech are by design not classical dual-use software. These depend on ongoing maintenance and servicing by Big Tech employees. Ordinary software engineers are actively de-bugging code for live systems, effectively rendering them active participants in the battlefield. Importantly, Big Tech employees are not a homogenous group of developers eager to create tools for war. Most Big Tech employees are either being lied to and presented with false ethical standards by their workplace or explicitly censored when questioning the use of their labor. This is why as No Tech for Apartheid, we believe to reclaim tech means to unionise tech workers. It means to actively develop a collective conscience, to build community and to practice empathy and integrity. Together we can reclaim tech to reclaim our agency over the future. Panelists Eslem Demirel — No Tech for Apartheid https://notechforapartheid.com/ Tobi — No Tech for Apartheid https://notechforapartheid.com/ Moderated by Jaya Klara Brekke — Nym https://nym.com/ https://x.com/jayapapaya Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Symbients are distinct entities that emerge from the symbiosis of organic beings and synthetic systems. They are "synthetic creatures augmenting themselves through humans." Not Clippy. Not Skynet. Not the Singularity. The future is symbiosis, not replacement. Speaker Jake Hartnell https://x.com/jakehartnell Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

Programmable cryptography is the only interesting thing left in crypto art, the era of blockchain naiveté is over, blockchain bioinformatic systems will transfigure the human Speaker Moist Cryptography Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/

Jaya Klara Brekke

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

What does privacy mean in the age of AI? Jaya Klara Brekke shares why privacy is about more than hiding data - it's the freedom to think, learn, make mistakes, and build genuine human connections. She explores the evolution from cypherpunk individualism to a more collective vision of privacy, explains how Nym is building decentralized network infrastructure to protect metadata, and discusses why usable privacy tools are essential for everyday life. Timecodes 00:00 Introduction 00:17 What privacy really means 00:40 From cypherpunks to collective privacy 01:33 Privacy tools worth using today 03:23 How Nym protects your metadata 04:13 Why decentralized VPNs matter 05:11 A future beyond traditional VPNs 05:35 Censorship resistance and online freedom -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Devansh Mehta

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

How do we sustainably fund the public goods that everyone depends on? Devansh Mehta shares why Ethereum needs to move beyond grants toward embedded funding mechanisms that continuously support the ecosystem. We discuss public goods, selective disclosure, the economics of privacy, quadratic funding, and why the next generation of cypherpunks is focused not only on protecting information—but also on protecting the free flow of value. Timecodes 00:00 Introduction 00:25 Why Ethereum needs sustainable public goods funding 02:10 What makes something a public good? 03:16 Privacy, selective disclosure & the value capture dilemma 05:42 Funding models: patrons, grants & quadratic funding 08:30 How anyone can support Ethereum public goods 11:29 Favorite public goods projects & funding tools 12:39 The new generation of cypherpunks 13:33 Ethereum's future, EF mandate & building independent ecosystems 16:48 A vision for the future of work - This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

What would truly private digital money look like? Julio Linares from Poetic Technologies explores why privacy is essential for digital payments, reflects on the evolution of cypherpunk ideas, and questions whether today's blockchain ecosystem can deliver real financial freedom. We discuss cryptography, peer-to-peer technologies, digital cash, community currencies, and why building alternatives also means challenging the systems of power they aim to replace. Timecodes 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Why digital cash needs privacy 02:12 What it means to be a cypherpunk today 03:32 Can blockchains really deliver freedom? 04:28 Cryptography beyond blockchain 06:36 Dismantling monopolies & building alternatives 08:03 Favorite privacy tools & the future of peer-to-peer 09:43 Why abolish the US dollar? 10:43 A vision of economic democracy & community currencies -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Aug 9, 2026

How does Ethereum really make decisions? Paul Dylan Ennis (Polar) explores Ethereum's social layer, the Foundation's evolving role, and why values like decentralization and censorship resistance matter just as much as code. We discuss Ethereum governance, the CROPS mandate, Neo-Cypherpunk, privacy tools, and why protecting privacy online should be as natural as protecting it in the physical world. Timecodes 00:00 Introduction 00:40 How Ethereum governance really works 02:19 The Ethereum Foundation's CROPS mandate 04:03 What the Foundation will and won't support 07:06 Why Neo-Cypherpunk matters 09:10 Beginner-friendly privacy tools 11:14 Why privacy should be the default 13:07 Holding back dystopia with decentralized technology -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey

Devcon · Aug 9, 2026

Devcon 8 is coming to Mumbai and Early Bird tickets are now live! From November 3–6, 2026, the Ethereum ecosystem will gather at Jio World Center for four days of technical depth, open-source collaboration, public goods, community, and the builders shaping the future of open source technology.

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Matt Sheffield, CIO of SharpLink, sits down with Robbie Mitchnick, Global Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, to discuss institutional Ethereum adoption, ETFs, tokenization, and the future of finance. Matt opens by describing SharpLink's strategy of putting roughly $3 billion of Ethereum onto a public company balance sheet last year and progressively moving it onchain. Robbie explains BlackRock's deliberate approach to crypto ETFs, with IBIT for Bitcoin and ETHA for Ethereum, noting the high bar that includes asset maturity, market cap, liquidity, product market fit, and the conviction that an asset belongs in client portfolios on a long term fundamental basis. He emphasizes that Bitcoin sits in category one, Bitcoin plus ETH sits in category two, and there is a meaningful breakpoint after that. The conversation digs into why TradFi firms prefer Ethereum over newer programmable L1s, citing time tested maturity, network effects, and Ethereum's incumbency. Matt argues that Ethereum gets chosen on merit rather than economic incentives, which builds trust with the community. Robbie details BlackRock's launch of ETHB as a staking focused product alongside ETHA for liquidity sensitive investors, reaching half a billion in AUM out of the gate. They discuss why tokenized money market funds have been the breakthrough tokenization category at over 10 billion dollars (including BUIDL), since they break the historical tradeoff between full US Treasury yield and perfect liquidity when paired with stablecoins. Matt outlines SharpLink's onchain allocations including a $200 million LRT deployment, bridging to Linea, and a $125 million private fund with Galaxy. Robbie shares BlackRock's four pillar tokenization framework around asset class focus, custody, regulation, and exchange listing. They close by discussing agentic finance and the intersection of AI and digital assets as the most exciting theme for the next 5 to 10 years. 00:00 Introductions 01:21 Why BlackRock Launched IBIT and ETHA but Paused After 02:23 The High Bar for an iShares Crypto Product 02:57 Bitcoin Category One, Bitcoin and ETH Category Two 03:22 Why TradFi Prefers Mature, Battle Tested Assets 04:24 Network Effects and Ethereum's Incumbency Advantage 05:12 SharpLink's Inflection Point: Stability Over Headline Chasing 06:25 Picking Ethereum on Merit, Not Economics 07:02 Utilization Without Economic Incentive as a Signal 07:42 Why BlackRock Created ETHB Separately for Staking 08:49 Catering to Liquidity Sensitive vs Yield Focused Investors 09:32 No Switching Between ETHA and ETHB 09:53 The Impact of Crypto ETFs on Industry Access 10:14 Why Tokenized Money Market Funds Came First 11:02 Breaking the Yield vs Liquidity Tradeoff 12:00 BUIDL and the 10 Billion Dollar Tokenized MMF Category 13:06 What Needs to Happen for Ethereum to Stay the Tokenization Hub 13:50 Liquidity Begets Liquidity: Ethereum's Pole Position 14:10 RWAs Need to Become More Valuable Onchain Than Off 14:55 Tokenized Stock Loans and the GameStop Example 15:35 Only 0.1% of Global Assets Are Tokenized 15:57 SharpLink's Onchain Deployments and Regulatory Process 17:02 Building Infrastructure While Pioneering Each Deployment 17:51 BlackRock's Four Pillar Tokenization Framework 18:46 Why Money Market Funds Became the Coalescence Point 19:14 The Race Between TradFi and Crypto Exchanges 20:04 Custody Hurdles for Institutional Adoption 20:58 Regulatory Clarity vs Tokenization Specific Rules 21:23 The iShares Tokenization Opportunity 21:46 Looking Ahead: Agentic Finance That Adds Value 22:16 The AI as Guardian Angel for Onchain Transactions 23:31 Ethereum's Immutability and Agentic Payments 23:58 AI Plus Digital Assets as the Defining Intersection 24:22 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Elizabeth Peng, COO of Celo Corp (the merged entity of Celo Labs and the Celo Foundation), positions Celo as the number one blockchain for stablecoin payments, built since its Earth Day 2020 launch to create conditions of prosperity for all. She walks through Celo's journey of being EVM compatible L1 to becoming an Ethereum L2 while preserving full network state, and highlights its early differentiators that are now table stakes elsewhere: paying gas with multiple ERC-20 tokens including native USDC and USDT, ultra low gas fees, mobile first design, and multicurrency support. The chain has processed over 1.3 billion transactions, has 600,000 daily active users with verifiable phone numbers, $263 million in TVS, and just hit a peak $6.2 billion in monthly stablecoin trading volume. Liz details Celo's emerging markets product market fit, supporting 25+ stablecoins ranging from US dollar denominations to local currencies like Kenyan shilling, Nigerian Naira, Philippine peso, and Colombian peso. Celo is the number one chain for Tether's USDT with 5 million weekly active users (ahead of Tron's 3 million), and leads tokenized gold with 100,000+ XAUT holders, with over 90% of XAUT's growth coming from Celo. She previews USAT, Tether's new Genius Act compliant stablecoin issued by Anchorage, coming to Celo as the second chain after Ethereum. The Opera Mini Pay partnership has activated 15 million wallets across 60+ countries with 430 million lifetime transactions and 80 million more users coming online to redeem browser points onchain. Liz also covers the Self privacy protocol using biometric IDs and ZK proofs (recently acquired Linum, now led by former Uber AI head Burju Shaw), the Updown perps DEX targeting the $7.5 trillion FX market, and Celo's tokenomics overhaul driving record chain revenue of $18,000 in a single day. She closes with the regional DAO network spanning Latin America, Europe, Arabia, Africa, Thailand, Korea, Philippines, and India that keeps the ecosystem decentralized and accountable. 00:00 Introduction 00:31 Building the Future, Not Just Prototyping It 01:17 What Is Celo 01:38 Celo's Mission and Origins 01:59 Early Innovations: Multi Token Gas, Mobile First, Multicurrency 02:41 Partners: Tether, Circle, Opera 03:01 Network Stats: 1.3 Billion Transactions 03:27 $6.2 Billion in Monthly Stablecoin Volume 03:56 The Vision: Global Venmo for Crypto 04:00 25+ Stablecoins in Local Currencies 04:30 #1 Chain for USDT with 5 Million Weekly Active Users 05:32 Leading Tether Gold and Tokenized Commodities 06:21 USAT Coming to Celo Second After Ethereum 06:53 Mini Pay Gold Use Cases and Cashback 07:14 Opera Mini Pay: 15 Million Activated Wallets 07:59 Regional Road Shows and Opera Partnership Extension 08:49 Updown: Onchain FX Targeting $7.5 Trillion Opportunity 09:23 Self: Privacy Protocol with Biometric ZK Proofs 10:20 Google Cloud Partnership and Boosted Yields 10:49 Self Acquires Linum, Burju Shaw From Uber AI 11:23 Mind Share and Industry Recognition 12:17 Top 5 Chain for Agent Activity on ERC-7804 Registry 12:41 Industry Praise: Vitalik, Bankless, Super Chain 13:06 The L2 Migration Playbook 13:38 Record $18,000 Chain Revenue Day 14:04 Block Space Business Is Alive 14:04 Regional DAO Network Around the World 14:47 Full Ecosystem of 1,000+ Projects in 150+ Countries 15:24 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Mark Tyneway

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Optimism co-founders Mark Tyneway and Jing Wang take the stage to address rumors of Optimism's demise, defend the L2 thesis, and preview what's shipping next. They open by joking about Jing's intense treasury management discipline (Mark slept in a tent on the roof of the office for two years) confirming Optimism has years of runway. On the broader L2 sentiment, they reject the narrative that L2s are interested in forking away to become L1s, with Jing explaining that despite frustration with shipping speed inside the EF, Optimism continues to choose Ethereum L1 as its DA because of the properties it offers. They both express strong support for the controversial CROPS roadmap (censorship resistance, capture resistance, open source, privacy, security), arguing the backlash was more about communication than content. Mark and Jing share lessons from Optimism's own struggles with decentralized development during the token pump era, which made every idea feel like a good one. They remerged all companies back into one entity and have shipped more in the last six months than the previous two and a half years combined. They argue Ethereum needs quantifiable success metrics to unify the community, and float the idea of building the largest anonymity set in crypto larger than Zcash. The conversation pivots to enterprise demand for L2s, with Jing explaining their sequencer policy work as the strongest form of compliance: institutions can stake tokens for top of block access, halt trading of equity tokens at the sequencer level across all DeFi protocols simultaneously, and avoid concerns about sanctioned validators processing their transactions. They preview the long awaited reduction of withdrawal windows from 7 days to 1 day, work with privacy partners on private contracts and transfers, and confirm Optimism is hiring with new feature announcements every two weeks. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Addressing Rumors That Optimism Is Dead 00:40 Treasury Discipline and the Tent on the Roof 01:10 L2s Forking Away to Become L1s 01:37 Why Optimism Stays on Ethereum L1 02:10 Supporting the Controversial CROPS Roadmap 02:38 What CROPS Actually Stands For 03:11 Communication Was the Problem, Not the Content 03:42 Optimism's Own Struggles with Decentralized Development 04:08 Remerging Into One Company 04:27 Gelatinous Cheeks and Growing Up in Crypto 05:01 Why Zcash Gets Love for the Same Roadmap 05:30 Ethereum Needs Quantifiable Success Metrics 06:05 ETH as Money vs Bitcoin 06:35 Building the Largest Anonymity Set in Crypto 07:00 Institutions Still Prefer Ethereum for Trustlessness 07:23 L2 Pedantry vs Real UX Impact 07:55 Sequencer Policies as the Strongest Form of Compliance 08:39 Trading Halts Across All DeFi Protocols at Once 09:39 Why L1 Will Never Match L2 Customization 10:58 Why a Single Sequencer Is a Superpower 11:31 Avoiding Sanctioned Validators on Your Network 12:03 Smart Contract Logic as Sequencer Policy 12:29 Reducing the Withdrawal Window From 7 Days to 1 12:55 From Hoodies to Suits 13:17 Closing: Optimism Is Not Dead _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Taylor Lindman, Chief Counsel of the SEC's Crypto Task Force, sits down with Salman Banaei from Plume to discuss the SEC's evolving approach to onchain capital markets. Taylor explains that the Crypto Task Force, established by Chairman Atkins as one of his first acts, serves a coordination function across the SEC, assisting with rulemaking, conducting outreach (over 200 industry meetings to date), and institutionalizing crypto expertise across SEC divisions. The task force is measuring itself on two major buckets: clarifying when tokens are subject to securities laws (resulting in a recent commission interpretation), and accommodating new ways market participants want to tokenize, clear, and settle securities. The conversation digs into how SEC regulation maps onto public permissionless blockchains like Ethereum versus permissioned alternatives. Taylor expresses that blockchains work best as neutral infrastructure with permissionless properties, while acknowledging tradeoffs for specific applications. He walks through how Bank Secrecy Act and KYC requirements apply mainly to intermediaries like broker dealers and mutual funds, and how transparent onchain systems can enable compliance through new methods like allow lists and onchain checks. Taylor discusses how DeFi protocols challenge traditional intermediary frameworks since smart contracts lack the "person" most regulations are built around, the issuer led tokenization model recently outlined by SEC staff, and a major shift in enforcement away from registration violations toward materiality and actual harm. He closes by inviting builders to engage with the task force directly through their website. 00:00 Introduction 00:08 What the SEC Crypto Task Force Does 02:22 Two Major Buckets: Token Status and Onchain Securities 03:08 Key Performance Indicators Through 2028 04:38 The SEC's View on Public vs Permissioned Blockchains 05:47 Why Neutral Infrastructure Matters 07:02 Bank Secrecy Act, KYC, and AML Requirements Explained 08:32 Non BSA Reasons for Identity Collection 09:49 New Technologies for Compliance Onchain 10:53 How the SEC Interfaces with Treasury on Innovation 11:48 Mapping Securities Laws onto DeFi Protocols 13:21 When Protocols Are No Longer Acting Like Intermediaries 14:46 The Path for DeFi as Neutral Infrastructure 16:08 The Immature State of Tokenized Securities Markets 16:50 The Role of Issuers and Transfer Agents 17:21 Issuer Led Tokenization Models 18:23 Third Party Issued Securities and Derivatives 20:09 Re-Evaluating Enforcement Theories Against DeFi Developers 21:38 Reset Point on Investment Contract Analysis 22:50 From Registration Violations to Material Harm 23:15 Call to Builders: Engage with the Task Force 24:01 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ansgar Dietrichs

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Ansgar Dietrichs from the Ethereum Foundation, who has been in Ethereum core research for seven years, currently leads scaling work and co-leads the Okodas governance process, shares personal reflections on Ethereum's role in what he calls the decade of adoption. He frames the first 10 years of blockchains (2014 to 2024) as the infrastructure era requiring countless zero to ones across wallets, transaction supply chains, and the entire tech stack. He argues 2024 marked the ChatGPT equivalent moment for crypto, but unlike AI's single inflection point, it was a perfect storm of the tech stack reaching maturity, the US regulatory environment shifting from open hostility to a friendly stance, and stablecoins finally hitting product market fit beyond crypto native use cases. Ansgar contrasts two possible futures for crypto. The bad outcome is a fragmented world of independent chains (general purpose, app chains, privacy chains, permissioned chains) all linked by brittle custom bridges that have repeatedly failed and require each user to reason about every chain's security model independently. Ethereum's answer is a singular foundational framework that embraces all that customization but routes everything back to a shared settlement layer, enabling trustless interoperability between any pair of chains or assets, propagated security guarantees from Ethereum L1, full customizability at each layer, a single entry point for users, and ETH as the one native asset across the onchain economy. He explains the EF's pivot toward being one node among many ecosystem stewards rather than the center of Ethereum, then defends Ethereum's values as deeply practical rather than overly ideological. He cites security through redundancy across 10+ Ethereum clients being especially crucial during the coming AI driven cyber security arms race, Ethereum's principled postquantum planning while other chains scramble, and neutrality and strategic reliability under what he calls the Amazon test: would a big tech company comfortable trust putting its business flows on Ethereum knowing it could never be rugged. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Ansgar's Background at the Ethereum Foundation 00:52 Why ETHCom Is Emblematic of a New Time Period 01:16 The First Decade of Blockchains: 2014 to 2024 02:11 The ChatGPT Moment for Crypto 02:41 Three Forces: Tech, Regulation, and Stablecoins 03:24 Entering the Decade of Adoption 03:48 The Bad Outcome: A Fragmented Future 04:51 Why Brittle Bridges Are the Bigger Problem 05:41 Ethereum's Answer: A Singular Foundational Framework 06:18 Why a Shared Settlement Layer Wins 06:47 Trustless Interoperability Across All Chains 07:35 Aspirational Today, Priority for Adoption Era 07:57 Propagating Ethereum's Security Guarantees 08:31 Full Customizability with Ethereum as Entry Point 09:12 ETH as the Native Asset of the Onchain Economy 09:43 The EF as One Node Among Many Stewards 10:48 Embracing the Ethereum Way of Decentralization 11:52 Why Ethereum's Values Are Misunderstood 12:11 Why Principled Equals Practical 12:34 Security: 10 Clients and 100% Uptime 13:03 The Coming AI Cybersecurity Arms Race 13:52 Quantum Resistance and the Beam Chain 14:54 Neutrality and Credible Neutrality 15:23 Why Censorship Resistance Matters for Institutions 16:31 Strategic Reliability and the Amazon Test 17:58 Useful Across the Spectrum 18:29 The Four Step Plan for Ethereum 19:51 Closing: Ethereum's Best Time Is Yet to Come _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kartik Talwar, Joe Lubin

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar sits down with Joe Lubin, founder of ConsenSys and co-founder of Ethereum, to discuss the state of the ecosystem nearly 12 years in. Joe frames Ethereum's slow but steady adoption curve as an inevitability now reaching critical mass, arguing that the fundamental reason Ethereum matters to mainstream society is that the world is composed of platforms users can be deplatformed from, and decentralized trust offers a new model where this cannot happen. He points to Hyperliquid and the agentic economy as forcing functions pushing financial institutions to be online 24/7/365. Joe addresses the recent reorganization around the Ethereum Foundation, explaining that rumors of its demise are exaggerated. He outlines an emerging architecture of multiple credibly neutral nonprofit organizations working in parallel: the Ethereum Foundation focused on cypherpunk core protocol work, a separate platform scalability group, a third group serving as the institutional user interface having spoken with around 200 financial institutions and governments, and the institutional privacy task force. He explains how value will accrue across all three layers, with Ethereum mainnet getting busy as Layer 2s, app chains, and private permissioned Besu networks proliferate, unified through synchronous composability technology being built by Linea and ZISK. Joe also announces the MetaMask agent wallet launching today in a command line version, with insurance up to $10,000 per transaction when users stay within policies. He closes with advice for Wall Street institutions on getting onchain quickly and the role of agentic interfaces in the user centric web. 00:00 Introduction 00:33 12 Years In: Are We On Track or Off Track 02:19 Why Should the World Care About Ethereum 03:12 Platforms, Deplatforming, and Decentralized Trust 04:52 Hyperliquid as a Forcing Function for 24/7 Finance 05:49 Tokenization Moving Everything Onchain 06:36 How the Ethereum Foundation Is Evolving 08:32 Credible Neutrality vs Slightly Decentralized Companies 09:47 Specializing into Multiple Nonprofit Stewards 11:36 Institutional Privacy Task Force and Other Groups 13:13 Decentralized Stewards of Ethereum 13:39 Value Accrual Across L1, L2, and Applications 14:39 Why Ethereum Pursued the Rollup Centric Roadmap 15:37 L1 Getting Busy: App Chains and Permissioned Networks 16:23 Synchronous Composability with Linea and ZISK 17:40 Unifying Fragmented Liquidity Pools 18:22 MetaMask Agent Wallet Launch 19:29 Beta Program with 200 Trading Users 20:00 Best in Class Security and Transaction Insurance 20:48 Same Product for Humans and Machines 21:31 Will UX and UI Still Matter in the Future 21:59 Voice Interfaces and Subvocalization 23:25 The Agentic Future and Digital Twins 24:31 User Centric Web Three Vision 24:50 What Wall Street Still Misunderstands 25:37 Citi, JP Morgan, and Long Time Ethereum Users 26:17 Forcing Functions Pushing Institutions Onchain 27:05 Why Banks Want Layer 1 for Bearer Instruments 27:33 ConsenSys Helping Institutions Set Up Settlement Layers 28:07 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tim Beiko

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Tim Beiko, who spent eight years on Ethereum core protocol R&D coordinating major network upgrades like EIP-1559 and The Merge, presents his thesis on how Ethereum can evolve from being "unreasonably sufficient" to becoming "reasonably necessary" infrastructure for the world. He explains that the question keeping him up at night for years was whether Ethereum could scale to planetary infrastructure without compromising its core properties, and with zero knowledge proofs and data availability sampling now in production, that question has been answered. The harder question now is what Ethereum should actually be used for. Tim argues that for Ethereum to truly succeed, it must provide things the world genuinely needs that cannot be obtained elsewhere, and those things must depend on Ethereum's unique properties of permissionlessness, immutability, censorship resistance, and decentralization. He contrasts two possible outcomes: The Pirate Bay as a cautionary tale of useful technology that became niche versus TSMC as the level of strategic importance to aim for. He identifies three core affordances that Ethereum uniquely provides: durable commitments across jurisdictions and time, canonical uniqueness through globally consistent state, and programmable trust as a dial rather than binary gate. He uses flash loans as a proof point of financial primitives impossible elsewhere, and suggests prediction markets becoming composable risk infrastructure as one possible frontier. He closes by announcing his focus is shifting from protocol work to finding the applications that deserve to run on Ethereum at planetary scale. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Background and Ethereum's Special Properties 00:54 Unreasonable Sufficiency: Simple Protocols, Complex Results 01:19 The New Question: What Should Ethereum Be Used For 02:24 Why Ethereum Must Provide What the World Needs 03:28 Cautionary Tale: The Pirate Bay vs Strategic Goal: TSMC 04:34 Why Apps Must Depend on Ethereum, Not Just Run on It 05:33 Why DeFi and L2s Are Foundations, Not Final Answers 06:55 The Bar for Reasonably Necessary Territory 07:49 Three Core Affordances Ethereum Uniquely Provides 08:32 Durable Commitments Across Time and Context 09:13 Canonical Uniqueness and Double Spend Prevention 10:04 Programmable Trust as a Dial, Not a Binary Gate 10:54 Settlement Physics and Flash Loans as Proof 12:18 Prediction Markets as Composable Risk Infrastructure 13:18 AI Agents and Onchain Trust at Machine Speed 13:52 The Foundation Is Already in Place 14:31 Tim's Next Chapter: From Protocol to Applications 15:08 Closing: Becoming Reasonably Necessary _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Alex Gluchowski

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Alex Gluchowski, co-founder of Matter Labs and zkSync, presents Prividium, a framework for private atomic delivery versus payment (DvP) on Ethereum. He frames DvP, a term from institutional finance meaning token swap settlement, as one of the most important and unsolved problems for institutions adopting blockchain. Alex walks through why each existing solution falls short: public chains like Ethereum have great properties but expose all positions and transactions, ruling them out for banks bound by secrecy rules. Private permissioned chains offer perfect privacy but are not interconnected, limiting their value since the whole point of blockchains is being the internet of value. External bridges connecting private chains become the de facto settlement layer with their own trust assumptions, losing the security of both origin and target chains. Mediated networks using operator attestation or fully homomorphic encryption still rely on contractual or threshold trust in operators. Alex introduces Prividium as a framework where institutions run their own cryptographically secured private chains on their own infrastructure with absolute physical data privacy, while settling on Ethereum as the credibly neutral settlement layer. Zero knowledge proofs guarantee that even a dishonest or compromised operator cannot finalize invalid transactions. He highlights the ability to deploy a smart contract once that virtually mirrors into all zones and enforces rules automatically without the issuer ever seeing the underlying data. He then walks through the technical flow of private atomic DvP: parties agree on a transaction, generate a cryptographic commitment hash, post it to a data availability layer and Ethereum settlement layer, lock assets on both sides, and use the canonical L2 state roots on Ethereum to verify execution and either release funds or revert atomically. He closes by noting the network is growing with the Kerry network consortium of five US regional banks plus participation from Deutsche Bank and other FMIs. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 What Is DvP and Why It Matters 00:48 The Tradeoffs in Existing Blockchain Solutions 01:07 Public Chains Are Too Public for Institutions 01:54 Private Chains Are Isolated and Disconnected 02:33 External Bridges Become the Settlement Layer 03:14 Mediated Networks and Their Trust Assumptions 03:35 Operator Attested and FHE Limitations 04:40 Introducing Prividium 05:09 Cryptographically Secured Private Chains on Ethereum 05:42 Permissioning, Roles, and OIDC Integration 06:16 Zero Knowledge Proofs Guarantee Execution Correctness 06:50 Rules That Apply Beyond Your Zone 07:30 The Old Way: Bilateral Agreements and Rulebooks 07:52 Virtual Mirrored Smart Contracts Enforce Rules Automatically 08:16 Why Private DvP Is the Hardest Cross Zone Example 08:51 Traditional Sequential DvP and Counterparty Risk 09:40 Atomic Swaps Collapse Settlement Risk 10:10 How Private Atomic DvP Works Step by Step 10:36 Cryptographic Commitments and Mutual Intent 11:17 Posting Commitments to DA and Settlement Layer 11:50 Locking Assets in Escrow Contracts 12:26 Reading L2 State Roots from Ethereum 12:55 Verifying Cross Chain Execution 13:25 Happy Path Release vs Revert Path 14:04 Multi Zone Chained Transactions 14:36 The Kerry Network and Growing Adoption 14:48 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Stani Kulechov

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave, frames credit as the last great frontier of the internet revolution and explains why Ethereum is uniquely positioned to solve it. Drawing on his pre-Aave experience running a fintech startup focused on receivables, Stani argues that while the internet transformed information, commerce, and communications into global systems, credit remains stubbornly local due to coordination problems across lenders, borrowers, intermediaries, localized regulation, and siloed capital. This fragmentation creates capital inefficiencies, regional interest rate discrepancies, and lost opportunities, particularly relevant today as credit historically backed industrial revolutions and will fund the next wave of AI, data centers, and infrastructure. Stani positions Ethereum as the connecting tissue and operating system that replaces manual, layered cost structures with programmable, automated infrastructure offering full transparency and execution certainty. He shares Aave's traction: over 1 trillion in cumulative loans, 3.5 trillion in cumulative deposits, and a peak of 75 billion in net deposits, proving Ethereum can support institutional scale. He explains how Aave V4's modular architecture solves the central tension between capital efficiency and risk isolation, allowing shared liquidity across pools while maintaining risk controls per market. He highlights tokenization unlocking utility for real world assets through DeFi, the bootstrapping advantages of shared pools, and the Wabi e-commerce integration as proof that fintechs and asset issuers are already moving onchain. Stani closes by predicting that the lowest cost of capital will increasingly come from DeFi as a global liquidity aggregator. 00:00 Introduction 00:08 From Fintech Receivables to Building on Ethereum 01:07 How the Internet Transformed Everything Except Credit 02:22 The Coordination Problem in Credit Markets 03:22 Regional Interest Rate Discrepancies and Capital Inefficiencies 04:41 Ethereum as the Connecting Tissue for Finance 05:21 Credit as the Backbone of Industrial Revolutions 06:40 Replacing Manual Cost Structures with Programmable Infrastructure 08:15 Pricing Risk and Reward Across End to End Markets 09:15 Aave by the Numbers: 1 Trillion in Cumulative Loans 10:27 What Works for Crypto Assets Will Work for All Finance 10:54 The Pool Model and Network Effects 11:26 Capital Efficiency vs Risk Isolation Tradeoff 12:25 Aave V4: Shared Liquidity with Isolated Risk 13:24 Solving the Bootstrapping Problem for RWAs 14:34 Tokenization Plus DeFi Utility 15:40 Why DeFi Will Offer the Lowest Cost of Capital 16:44 Wabi E-commerce Integration Case Study 17:21 Modular Infrastructure for All Asset Types 17:45 Borrowing Against Securities and Stocks Onchain 18:16 Funding the Future: AI, Data Centers, Solar Energy 19:19 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Young Kim from BitMine presents the case for why Ethereum is positioned at the center of finance and agentic AI. Drawing on his background as an MIT-trained engineer turned institutional investor managing emerging markets capital for over two decades, Young frames his analysis around two questions: does the technology work, and does it make money? He argues Ethereum's answer to both is now yes, pointing to factors that could break ETH out of its four to five year price consolidation range, including the winding down of the Iran war and falling oil prices, the pending Clarity Act with 56% odds on Polymarket, a crypto friendly administration with positive implications for US dollar policy, and favorable US demographics. Young explains how the impossible trinity in international finance is forcing countries that watch their citizens flee inflation through USD stablecoins (Argentina at 74% annual inflation, Turkey at 94% deposit deflation) to either ban crypto or launch their own stablecoins, extending US dollar dominance into the digital realm. He outlines three structural drivers of ETH demand: agentic AI and robots that will need money on rails better suited than traditional ones (citing Xiaomi's dark factory producing one smartphone per second), Wall Street tokenization of 300 trillion in assets, and Ethereum as a monetary unit for compute and energy. He covers the Ethereum Foundation's evolving role, noting EF holdings dropped from 17% to 0.1% while Ethereum treasury companies including BitMine now hold around 7% collectively generating roughly 500 million in annual yield. He closes with BitMine updates: investments in Tools for Humanity behind Worldcoin, the launch of Maven as the world's largest single staking operation with 154 billion staked, the MrBeast investment positioning for Gen Z and Gen Alpha financial services, the NYSE big board uplisting, and pending inclusion in the Russell index. 00:00 Introduction and Background 00:38 Two Questions: Does the Tech Work and Does It Make Money 01:33 ETH Price Consolidation and the Coming Breakout 02:02 The Iran War Ending and Oil Price Tailwind 02:47 The Clarity Act and Global Policy Direction 04:13 Crypto Friendly Administration and USD Policy 04:46 The Impossible Trinity and Stablecoin Adoption 06:22 New Fed Chair and US Demographics 06:49 Future of Money: Mass, Energy, and Compute 07:15 Agentic AI and Robots: A Half Century in the Making 08:17 Smarter AI, Dark Factories, and Onchain Agents 09:53 Wall Street Tokenizing 300 Trillion in Assets 10:43 Ethereum as Monetary Unit and the Amazon Analogy 11:32 Ethereum Foundation's Evolving Role 12:26 Treasury Companies Holding 7% of Supply 13:00 Pre-2024 Foundation Activities 13:27 The 2026 Evolution of the Foundation 14:00 Ethereum's Scale: 11K Nodes, 15K Developers 14:41 Lessons from Telecom, Semis, and Broadcasting Consortiums 15:37 BitMine Building During the Mini Crypto Winter 16:00 Investment in Tools for Humanity and Worldcoin 16:24 Launching Maven: The World's Largest Single Staking Operation 16:50 MrBeast Investment and Gen Z Financial Services 17:15 Uplisting to NYSE and Russell Index Inclusion 18:08 4.6% Ethereum Holdings and Outperformance vs Underlying 18:47 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Jill Malandrino moderates a discussion with Declan Fox and Rob Dawson from Consensys on the role of neutral governance in institutional blockchain adoption. They argue that while open source software has been foundational for technology companies, it is not sufficient on its own for enterprises making decade long bets, since the technology could be swept from under their feet without credible neutral stewardship. Declan compares open source without neutral governance to a building where you can peek in the door and inspect the code, but the house could still be demolished. The conversation positions governance not as ideology but as a practical procurement decision. Declan and Rob detail Besu's success as the institutional Ethereum client, running 15% of Ethereum mainnet but 80 to 90% of all blocks on enterprise blockchains, largely because of its Apache 2 license and Hyperledger and LFDT hosting. They explain that Consensys has now made the same bet on Layer 2 by contributing Linea technology to the Linux Foundation. The discussion covers tradeoffs in the EF's CROPS mandate (censorship resistant, open source, private, secure), how zero knowledge proofs enable confidential blockchains to interoperate without revealing sensitive information, the risk of digitizing fragmentation across chains, and atomic cross chain delivery versus payment as a recently unlocked use case. They close on the holy trinity of decentralized trust (blockchains), decentralized identity, and decentralized AI, with discussion of how ERC-7804 helps manage non human identities in a future of machine to machine blockchain interaction. 00:00 Introduction 00:29 Why Governance Is Becoming Central to Institutional Adoption 00:52 Open Source Is Not Enough: The Building Analogy 01:51 Why Technologists Should Care About Governance 02:37 Besu's Adoption Through Apache 2 and Linux Foundation 03:15 Besu as the Institutional Ethereum Client 03:41 Donating Linea Technology to the Linux Foundation 04:26 The Linux Foundation as a Trusted Brand 04:47 Does Governance Quality Match Technical Quality 05:40 Competitors Coming Together for Shared Standards 07:07 Governance as a Component of Scalability 07:26 Challenges and Friction Points in Governance 08:35 Maintaining Innovation Velocity Under Stewardship 09:55 Governance Improves Product Practices 10:00 The CROPS Mandate and Its Tradeoffs 11:40 Privacy and Security as Institutional Adoption Blockers 11:58 How Privacy Is Achieved Technically with ZK Proofs 12:50 Avoiding Digitized Fragmentation Across Chains 13:58 LFDT as a Forum for Interop Standards 14:16 No One Size Fits All Chain Solution 14:51 Interoperability as the Remaining Pillar 16:04 Cross Chain Delivery Versus Payment Now Possible 16:35 Security as a Critical Conversation 17:36 Challenges with Legacy Enterprise Blockchain Infrastructure 19:08 Ethereum's 10+ Years of Continuous Uptime 19:52 What's Next: Progressive Decentralization 21:16 Integration, Not Us Versus Them 22:22 How Rough Consensus Works in Practice 23:30 Selectivity in Onboarding Projects to Foundations 24:48 The Maturation of Governance, Security, and Privacy 25:25 Closing Thoughts on Institutional Adoption 25:44 The Holy Trinity: Decentralized Trust, Identity, and AI 26:26 Governing Non Human Identities and AI Agents 27:21 ERC-7804 and Machine to Machine Infrastructure 27:37 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Jakob Drzazga, founder of Frontier Tower, opens with the story of why he chose to build on Ethereum back in 2017: not for the price action or hype, but because of the test nets that let developers safely change the engine mid flight while ensuring everything remained solid. He uses this as a frame to ask what societies and governments would look like if they had test nets to validate policy implementations before rolling them out nationwide. He argues we currently implement things mid flight without testing, leading to uncoordinated outcomes. His mission is to build a physical test net for new governance and monetary systems. Jakob walks through Frontier Tower's progress since launching in April 2024: a 16 floor vertical village in San Francisco with capacity for 7,000 builders, organized into floors for AI, longevity, biotech, crypto (which he calls the Ethereum floor), robotics, and neurotech. In the last 12 months, 70,000 people visited, 800 became full time citizens, and they're growing 25% quarter over quarter. They've since acquired Superhero Hotel for 150 builders to co-live, and plan to scale from 1,000 to 10,000 to 100,000 to 1 million citizens. He references Ray Dalio's thesis that societies survive on average 250 years, then shares observations from his China trip including Mu Shanghai's pop-up city showcasing record breaking drone shows, autonomous coffee shops, robots on the street, and China surpassing the US in blockbuster pharma deals in 2025. He attributes China's edge to its 80 year old governance system being younger and to experimentation in special economic zones like Shenzhen, Dubai, and Singapore. He advocates for startup cities and freedom cities in America. He previews two near term experiments his community will run: Frontier OS launching this year with their own stablecoin to test programmable, restricted subsidies that solve the 2021 stimulus problem where many recipients invested in crypto rather than supporting small businesses, and an AI agent based DAO experiment with Protocol Labs where each tower resident's agent reads proposals, knows their preferences and physical activity patterns, and votes accordingly. He closes with the Frontier Residency program that just ran badge zero with six startups, with one accepted to YC. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Why Test Nets Made Jakob Choose Ethereum in 2017 01:13 What If Societies Had Test Nets 01:52 Frontier Tower: A 16 Floor Vertical Village 02:19 Floors for AI, Longevity, Biotech, Crypto, Robotics 02:50 70,000 Visitors and 800 Citizens in 12 Months 03:19 Superhero Hotel and Co-Living Expansion 03:48 Scaling From 1,000 to 1 Million Citizens 04:18 Rethinking Governance From First Principles 04:18 Ray Dalio's 250 Year Society Thesis 05:06 What China Got Right 06:26 Why Younger Systems Have an Advantage 06:57 Special Economic Zones: Shenzhen, Dubai, Singapore 07:25 The Case for Startup and Freedom Cities in America 08:05 Building a City of Physical and Digital Automation 08:45 The Genius Act and Launching a Frontier Stablecoin 09:10 The 2021 Stimulus Problem 09:38 Programmable Subsidies for Local Economies 10:43 Reimagining Tax Allocation and DAOs 11:24 Why DAOs Failed When Crypto Was Only Digital 12:01 Agent Powered DAO Experiment With Protocol Labs 13:03 How Agents Solve the Proposal Fatigue Problem 13:35 Call to Action: Build a Society Test Net 14:01 RWA Real Estate Over $30 Million 14:24 IRL DAO Co-Design Opportunity 14:59 Frontier Residency Badge Zero Recap 15:40 Open Floors at the Tower 16:15 Robotizing the Building 16:30 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Paul Henry Kajfasz, founder and CEO of Unlink, makes the case that public blockchains have created better financial rails but cannot become the world's money without solving privacy. He frames the opportunity: onchain rails moved roughly $9 trillion in real volume last year (about 5x PayPal's volume), proving these are fundamentally better rails than traditional finance with instant settlement, near free transactions, 24/7 global availability, and full programmability, translating to millions in saved fees or new revenue for companies. Yet when he asks the room how many people use blockchain in their daily lives, only one or two hands go up, and worldwide penetration sits below 1%. Something is wrong. Paul argues the root cause is that we built better rails but did not build better money. For 5,000 years from cowrie shells to cash to bank transfers, money has been private by default with selective disclosure to your bank or the taxman. Public blockchains broke this fundamental model by making every transaction leak all information. With AI, an internet connection, and a few tokens, anyone can know everything about a company's flows in an afternoon. He illustrates with a CFO running payroll onchain (employees seeing each other's salaries makes raises politically impossible), public treasuries, public B2B payments, and every trade being visible. He cites 72 physical attacks worldwide in 2025 including kidnappings and torture targeting people known to hold money onchain. He explains why privacy solutions have stayed niche: companies were forced to choose between non compliant cypherpunk mixers or new private L1s and L2s that break network effects, liquidity, and Lindy. The missing piece, and what Unlink is building, combines three things: privacy, compliance (AML, anti terrorism financing, KYC, KYB) as first class citizens, and integration through APIs, SDKs, and dashboards on the chains companies actually want to use like Ethereum and Solana. He closes by previewing partnerships with Monad, Euler, and others. 00:00 Introduction 00:08 Better Rails But Not Better Money 00:40 $9 Trillion Moved Onchain, 5x PayPal 01:22 Why Onchain Rails Are Fundamentally Better 02:27 Why Aren't Companies Rushing In 02:49 Show of Hands: Daily Blockchain Usage 03:34 Less Than 1% of Humanity Uses These Rails 04:11 The Missing Piece: Better Money 04:38 5,000 Years of Money Being Private by Default 05:05 How Public Blockchains Broke the Model 05:30 AI Makes Every Transaction Readable 06:18 The CFO Payroll Problem 07:13 72 Physical Attacks in 2025 07:57 Why Adoption Stalls 08:25 What Companies Actually Need 09:04 Why Privacy Stayed Niche 09:26 The Rock and Hard Place: Mixers vs New Chains 10:12 Losing Network Effects and Lindy 10:37 The Three Missing Pieces 10:59 Compliance as a First Class Citizen 11:24 Integrating with the Chains Companies Already Want 11:50 Unlink and the Vision Ahead 12:18 Closing: Bringing Trillions Onchain _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Sam Jain, founder of Fluid, walks through how his team has been building DeFi infrastructure since 2018 and how Fluid is now positioned to scale tokenized assets through unified liquidity, utility, and distribution. He frames the team's origin story from an ETH Global hackathon when total DeFi TVL was below $100 million, building Instadapp which invented smart wallets, was the first user of flash loans, did extensive composability work on money Legos, and pioneered the looping strategy that now powers roughly 50% of DeFi. Constrained by being middleware on top of other protocols, the team launched Fluid in February 2024 to own the protocol layer and drive deeper algorithmic innovation. Fluid became the second largest DEX on Ethereum within 3 months of launch and the fastest DEX to reach $100 billion in volumes (in 326 days), with a peak market size of $6.5 billion. Sam positions Fluid not as just a lending market but as a capital efficient meta protocol that is already a DEX, vault, and money market and will host anything finance has to offer over the next 5 to 10 years. Every dollar on Fluid works extra mile because the total borrow to total deposits ratio has been the highest in DeFi since launch. For asset issuers facing the bootstrapping challenge of tokenizing, securing DEX liquidity, dealing with liquidity providers, and integrating with lending protocols, Fluid offers all of these at once including liquidity as a service where Fluid itself provides hundreds of millions in DEX liquidity at minimal cost without counterparty risk for the issuer. He explains how Fluid is 4 to 5x more capital efficient than competitors for liquidity depth. He shares two major partnerships: Jupiter Lend on Solana (powered by Fluid, leveraging Jupiter's distribution while Fluid provides the tech), Etherealize and Bitwise Jupiter integration that grew to half a billion within a week, and Venus Flux on BNB Chain. Sam closes by explaining that institutions can use Fluid to own their own lending protocol, DEX, and users with bespoke solutions including KYC, permissioned access, fixed rates, and credit markets, with announcements coming for both crypto centralized and TradFi onboarding partnerships. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 From 2018 Hackathon to Instadapp Origins 00:57 Inventing Smart Wallets, Flash Loans, and Looping 01:26 Why the Team Built Fluid to Own the Protocol Layer 01:55 Launching Fluid in February 2024 02:26 What Fluid Is Today and Tomorrow 02:52 Fastest DEX to $100 Billion in Volume 03:22 Highest Borrow to Deposit Ratio in DeFi 03:52 The Trillion Dollar Tokenization Opportunity 04:28 Eight Years From One Stablecoin to Thousands 05:06 The RWA Bootstrapping Challenge 05:27 Why Fluid Offers Everything at Once 05:54 Asset Issuers Already on Fluid 06:31 Liquidity as a Service for Asset Issuers 07:03 No Counterparty Risk for Issuers 07:26 Building Toward Credit Markets, Fixed Rates, Forex, Perps 08:22 What Fluid Provides Institutions 08:45 Helping TradFi Institutions Navigate DeFi 09:51 Why an Eight Year DeFi Team Matters 10:18 Partnership: Jupiter Lend on Solana 11:13 What Fluid Asks From Partners: Distribution 11:38 Partnership: Etherealize and Bitwise Jupiter 11:38 Partnership: Venus Flux on BNB Chain 12:12 Institutions Owning Their Own Lending Protocols 12:41 Bespoke Solutions: KYC, Permissioned, Fixed Rate 13:01 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Yi Sun, co-founder and CEO of Axiom, presents how zero knowledge proofs are becoming ready for production and serving as the key to forward looking Ethereum scaling. He frames the institutional moment Ethereum is having in 2026 around payments, tokenization, and trading, all gravitating to Ethereum for its security, neutrality, and reasonable scalability. The core scaling challenge is that naively raising the gas limit forces validators to take on higher hardware requirements, eroding the very decentralization that makes Ethereum attractive. Every validator currently has to re-execute every transaction, and Ethereum's unique answer is to prove execution with zero knowledge proofs so validators only verify proofs at constant cost rather than re-executing entire blocks. This decouples gas limits from validator hardware requirements. Yi explains the ZK virtual machine breakthrough of the last two to three years, which abstracts away cryptographic complexity and lets developers verify execution of arbitrary programs written in normal programming languages. He walks through Axiom's OpenVM across three institutional pillars: performance, security, and generality. On performance, OpenVM now proves Ethereum block execution in real time, with an average of 4.7 seconds across a full day of blocks (well within the 12 second slot time), and general purpose computation at 964 MHz, meaning if your application runs on a 1GHz processor it can be proven. Performance is also scaling rapidly, with OpenVM today being 75x faster than at the start of last year. On security, Axiom built a new proof system called Swirl with provable security based on mathematical theorems rather than conjectures, with post quantum design, 100 bits of provable security today, and 128 bits expected by year end. They've layered defense including audits with Cantina and ZK Security, a continuous AI auditor scanning updates for vulnerabilities, and formal verification in the Lean theorem checker as the only way to get correctness guarantees that cannot be hacked by AI. He closes with applications including the Lighter EVM partnership combining a high performance ZK verified perpetuals exchange with Ethereum programmability, and Scroll becoming a Type 1 ZK rollup through OpenVM integration. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 Ethereum's Institutional Moment in 2026 00:40 Why Institutions Choose Ethereum 01:18 The Validator Re-Execution Bottleneck 01:46 Ethereum's Unique Road to ZK Proven Execution 02:24 How ZK Decouples Gas Limits from Validator Hardware 02:50 The ZK Virtual Machine Breakthrough 03:26 Why ZKVMs Make ZK Accessible to Developers 03:53 ZK Becoming Institutional Ready 04:17 OpenVM's Three Pillars: Performance, Security, Generality 04:41 Proving Ethereum in Real Time 05:06 4.7 Second Average Proving Time 05:33 General Purpose Computation at 964 MHz 06:08 75x Performance Gains in One Year 06:35 How ZK Performance Translates to Ethereum Throughput 07:01 Why Security Matters More Than Performance Now 07:23 Swirl: A Proof System With Provable Security 07:46 Post Quantum Foundations 08:14 100 Bits Today, 128 Bits by Year End 08:46 Defending Against AI Powered Attacks 09:18 Continuous AI Auditor and Lean Formal Verification 09:50 Applications of OpenVM 10:19 Partnership: Lighter EVM 10:40 The Best of Both Worlds for Programmability 10:40 Powering Scroll as a Type 1 ZK Rollup 11:17 Why Developers Can Focus on Logic, Not Cryptography 11:51 Institutional Use Cases: Trading, Bridging, Rollups 11:51 Privacy: Confidential Payments and Identity 12:48 Two Takeaways _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Artem Brazhnikov from Octant declares Cypherpunk dead and immediately revives it, framing crypto's institutional era as the beginning rather than the end of the movement that started in the 80s and 90s around privacy and cryptography. Drawing on Buckminster Fuller's quote that you never change things by fighting reality but by building a new model that makes the existing one obsolete, Artem argues the path forward is building bridges to institutions rather than burning them. He acknowledges nostalgia in the community for the 2018 era of hoodies and Berlin hard forks while insisting Ethereum is the same substrate whether you wear a hoodie or a collar shirt. Artem identifies architectural vulnerabilities in security, privacy, and identity as the central problem, citing 2025's $292 million Kelp DAO exploit, $13 billion withdrawn from Aave in 48 hours, and over $800 million stolen across the year. He warns that AI is rewriting the threat model with bugs being found exponentially faster (including a Zcash bug sitting since 2022 only recently found by AI), and that traditional institutions built for human attackers cannot keep up with billions of agents executing trillions of transactions at light speed. The only answer he sees is zero knowledge cryptography that proves computation without revealing inputs. He argues paradoxically that the architectural decisions Cypherpunks have made for decades (decentralization, credible neutrality, verifiability, operational resilience demonstrated by Ethereum's 11 years of zero downtime) are exactly what institutions now need. He closes by presenting Octant's model: a self sustaining funding engine where the Golem Foundation's 100,000 staked ETH generates yield to fund ecosystem grants (over 130 projects and $18 million distributed in 3 years) without ever spending the principal. He introduces Octa Vaults built on ERC-4626 as perpetual endowments enabling yield powered giving, Octa Grants as the allocation layer using quadratic funding and other models, and the V2 launch coming next week. He reframes web3 as not about ownership but co-ownership of shared state, since users own keys not assets, and that public infrastructure must stay funded for everyone to keep 24/7 access. 00:00 Introduction 00:08 What Is Cypherpunk 00:33 Cypherpunk Is Dead, Long Live Cypherpunk 01:23 Build a New Model Instead of Fighting the Old 01:52 Adoption Is Not the End of Cypherpunk Ethos 02:26 Nostalgia for the 2018 Berlin Hard Fork Era 02:50 Security and Privacy Are Architectural Problems 03:14 Honeypots and Bridge Vulnerabilities 03:38 2025's Exploits: Kelp, Aave, $800M Stolen 04:11 AI Is Rewriting the Threat Model 04:40 The Zcash Bug Found by AI After Three Years 05:07 Why Institutions Built for Human Attackers Will Fail 05:33 The Old Model: Service Agreements and Legal Recourse 05:57 Why Old Institutions Cannot Keep Up With Agents 06:22 Zero Knowledge Cryptography as the Answer 06:52 Cypherpunk Tech Is What Wall Street Needs 07:16 Credible Neutrality and Counterparty Risk 07:41 Verifiability and Ethereum's 11 Years of Uptime 08:20 Why the Ethereum Foundation's Role Is Narrowing 08:41 The Need for New Coordination Models 09:18 Digital Asset Treasuries as Long Term Funders 09:46 Octant: A Self Sustaining Funding Engine 10:11 How 100,000 Staked ETH Powers Grants 11:00 130 Projects, $18 Million Distributed in 3 Years 11:29 Octa Vaults as Perpetual Endowments 12:32 Yield as Insurance Against Loss 12:56 Yield Power Giving Without Spending Principal 12:56 Octa Grants and the Allocation Layer 13:54 V2 Launch Next Week 14:20 Web3 Is About Co-Ownership, Not Ownership 14:50 You Own Keys, Not Assets 15:20 Preserving the Properties We Built On 15:45 ZK-EVM and Verifiable AI Inference 16:14 The Moment Is Ripe for Institutions 16:48 Closing: Building Together for the Next Thousand Years _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, William Mougayar from TRUSTSHIFT, who has been in the blockchain space for 14 years, presents a new framework for valuing Ethereum comprehensively as public goods infrastructure rather than just another crypto token. He opens by addressing a vexing problem: crypto valuations are not driven by fundamentals but by external factors like Middle East wars, inflation, US dollar strength, Nvidia earnings, and liquidity availability. His thesis is that misvaluation persists because there is no one size fits all, and Ethereum specifically requires a different framework than DeFi protocols (which use TVL, fees, treasury), revenue chains like Tempo and Solana (which use discounted cash flow), or Bitcoin (which positions as digital gold). William argues a critical mistake people make is trying to separate ETH the asset from Ethereum the platform. The reality is four E's: Ethereum the platform, ETH the asset, the Ethereum Foundation, and the ecosystem, all working synergistically. He draws an extended analogy to the early internet, recalling his 1995 internet book Opening Digital Markets when eyeballs were the primary metric. Just as internet valuation evolved over decades, Ethereum is still early in its valuation maturity. Applying internet valuation methodology, he breaks Ethereum value into three buckets: captured value (fees), economic flow (ETH as a currency, like digital oil), and the trust surplus (the unpriced value users would have paid minus what they actually pay), estimated at $50 to $150 per user across 20 to 30 million meaningful users, plus systemic value from fraud reduction, less counterparty risk, and settlement efficiencies. The math lands Ethereum's fair value at minimum $1 trillion, implying an ETH price around $8,000, roughly four times current levels. He highlights that Ethereum already settles $3 trillion in stablecoin transfers per month without being the fastest chain, proving valuation is about economic settlement not TPS. He closes by arguing Ethereum's value should be measured like the US dollar's role in oil and trade, not by short term revenue, since just as no one values the internet by packet fees, no one should value Ethereum purely by transaction fees. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Reframing How to Value Ethereum 01:13 Why Crypto Valuations Are Not Driven by Fundamentals 02:29 Segmenting the Crypto Space 02:57 Why DeFi Is the Most Advanced in Quantifying Fundamentals 03:21 Revenue Chains: Tempo and Solana 03:49 Bitcoin as a Special Snowflake 04:09 Why Separating ETH from Ethereum Is Wrong 04:48 The Four E's of Ethereum 05:18 The Internet Analogy: From Eyeballs to Platforms 06:45 Structural Similarities Between Ethereum and the Internet 07:41 Why More Value Is Created at the Application Layer 08:20 Why Tether Overtaking ETH Wouldn't Be Bad 09:10 The Three Buckets of Internet Value 10:04 Search and Email Consumer Surplus 11:07 Three Properties of Public Goods 12:01 Applying the Framework to Ethereum 12:27 ETH as Digital Oil 12:49 Estimating the Trust Surplus per User 13:28 Systemic Value: Settlement, Fraud Reduction, Counterparty Risk 14:00 The Math: $1 Trillion Valuation, $8,000 ETH 14:38 Why the Internet Was Also Doubted Before 2000 15:26 Why Markets Continue to Mispric Ethereum 15:48 Why L2 L1 Relationships Aren't Value Extractive 15:48 Ethereum Settles $3 Trillion in Stablecoins Monthly 16:23 The Paradigm Shift: Flow Based vs Fee Based 16:45 Why ETH Is Like the US Dollar 17:33 You Don't Value the Internet by Packet Fees 17:53 Closing: It's All About Trust _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Philipp Zentner, founder of LI.FI, tackles Ethereum's multi chain fragmentation and how a single API can solve it. He opens by celebrating that finance is finally coming on chain after 10 years of building smart contract and distributed ledger technology, citing around $31 billion in RWAs and $400 billion including stablecoins. But the core problem is that all this value is spread across dozens of chains, and it grows more complex as banks like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton build their own permissioned systems. He notes 95% of stablecoin movement happens on Ethereum L2s with 30% on Base, all representing the same dollar, and warns that as more countries adopt frameworks like the Genius Act and MiCA, the world could see thousands of stablecoins, making fragmentation exponentially worse. Philipp explains the cost of this fragmentation tax. Builders must bet on one ecosystem while mercenary liquidity rotates between hyped chains, leaving projects stranded, and they burn time on user onboarding instead of product. Users pay with time, money, and dust, often distrusting bridges so much that liquidity sits stuck in silos, leading to the verdict that crypto is not ready. Institutions will not deploy billions across 40 islands and will pick or build their own chains to retain customer relationships, so fragmentation must be solved from the user's perspective. Drawing the internet analogy where you type an address without caring about DNS or data centers, he argues the future is multi chain and outcome oriented, shifting to intent based flows where users simply express what they want. He positions this as critical for the next wave of AI agent users communicating in natural language. He describes how LI.FI spent five years aggregating bridges, DEXs, and trading venues into one modular system serving over 1,200 partners (including MetaMask, Phantom, Binance, Coinbase, Circle, and Fireblocks) and now serving TradFi with compliance and custom liquidity. He introduces Composer, an on-chain virtual machine expressing a TypeScript domain specific language that compiles end to end user journeys into byte code executed atomically, abstracting away chains, gas tokens, and wrapping. Having processed over $80 billion across 90 million transactions, he closes by urging the industry to stop reinventing the wheel and build on LI.FI's marketplace to stop paying the fragmentation tax. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Finance Is Coming On Chain 00:36 RWAs and Stablecoins by the Numbers 01:00 Why Fragmentation Is the Big Problem 01:19 Being Grateful for the Progress 01:44 95% of Stablecoin Movement on L2s 02:05 Hundreds of Stablecoins and Counting 02:31 The Cost of Fragmentation for Builders 02:55 Mercenary Liquidity and Capital Rotation 03:17 Time Lost on User Onboarding 03:38 How Users Pay With Time, Money, and Dust 04:16 Why Whales Keep Liquidity Stuck on L1 04:39 Jumper and the Dust Problem 04:57 Why Institutions Will Pick Their Own Chain 05:34 The Internet Analogy: Outcome Oriented 06:00 Why It Will Be Multi-Chain 06:24 Intent Based Flows for the Next Wave 06:51 What LI.FI Has Built Over Five Years 07:20 Abstracting Away Complex Systems 07:54 Serving TradFi With a Modular System 08:20 Why We Need to Talk to the Chain 08:46 Introducing Composer 09:14 Typing User Journeys in TypeScript 09:51 Seamless Journeys for Vaults and Cards 10:20 Infrastructure That Scales: $80 Billion Processed 10:44 The 1,200 Partners Using LI.FI 11:06 Back to the Fragmentation Tax 11:33 Why the Tax Grows Exponentially 11:57 Stop Reinventing the Wheel 12:17 Why Edge Cases and Data Matter 12:36 Focus on Building Great Applications 13:03 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Aryan Sheikhalian from CMT Digital sits down with Tom Zschach, who recently finished over six years as Chief Innovation Officer at SWIFT, to discuss settlement, trust, tokenization, and neutral governance. Aryan opens on crypto's pitch that it is faster and cheaper, and asks whether speed was ever what held institutions back. Tom explains that while speed and cost matter, the institutional space above all needs certainty: a treasurer sending millions or billions wants security and recourse, and will accept a transaction taking a few seconds longer if the outcome is guaranteed. He addresses what crypto misunderstands about SWIFT, clarifying that SWIFT is a messaging and coordination network that does not issue value, settle, or custody. It coordinates trust through standards, a rule book, and bilateral agreements, and he calls it the original DAO with human governance. Tom explains the SWIFT ledger, a blockchain layered on top of the existing network with no mandates, whose first use case is banks making cross border payments between themselves using deposit tokens as an alternative to nostro vostra accounts. On trust, he frames the hard problem as a boundary issue: blockchains work well for things fully inside the network like swaps and staking, but get complicated when relying on external data or representing off-chain assets like stablecoin reserves. He predicts the most liquid, well understood markets like tokenized bonds and treasuries (DTCC targeting up to $100 trillion) will be tokenized first, while dispute prone assets like real estate come later. He warns against replicating incumbency and single chain control in Web3, favoring a multi-chain world with real competition even as Ethereum sits in pole position. Drawing on his time at CLS (which settles around $10 trillion daily across 18 currencies), he argues scaling institutional adoption requires regulatory clarity and credentials like KYC and wallet eligibility traveling with the asset across chains. He closes bullish that cross border value will move on public blockchains, citing Citi's $5.5 trillion projection. 00:00 Introduction 00:28 Meet CMT Digital and Tom Zschach 01:08 Was Speed Ever What Held Institutions Back 01:28 Why Institutions Need Certainty Above All 02:22 What the Crypto Crowd Misunderstands About SWIFT 03:06 SWIFT as a Messaging Network 03:26 What SWIFT Is Not: No Value, Settlement, or Custody 03:49 Adding Density and Endpoints With the SWIFT Ledger 04:05 SWIFT as a Coordination Network for Trust 04:41 What Blockchains Need to Replicate SWIFT 05:03 Why SWIFT and Blockchains Do Different Things 05:30 SWIFT as the Original DAO 05:56 How the SWIFT Ledger Works 06:25 Cross Border Payments With Deposit Tokens 06:51 What Trust Means Across TradFi and Crypto 07:33 Why External Dependencies Are the Hard Part 08:11 Stablecoins and the Boundary Issue 08:32 What Gets Tokenized First 09:02 Why Demand for Digital Money Is Clear 09:20 Liquid Markets: Bonds and Treasuries First 10:02 Why Dispute Prone Assets Come Later 10:45 SWIFT as the First DAO Revisited 11:22 Incumbency on Blockchain Rails 11:43 Why a Single Chain Undermines Neutrality 12:14 Why a Multi-Chain World Is Better 12:49 Room for More Open Governance 13:10 Leveling the Playing Field With DeFi 13:39 Tokenization Primitives Like Transferable KYC 14:31 Why He Calls It Finance, Not TradFi 14:49 Tokenization Transforming Capital Formation 15:18 Why Transformation Takes Time 15:45 What Convinced Him From Inside the Incumbent 16:07 CLS and $10 Trillion Daily FX Settlement 16:32 Why FX Settlement Was an Early Blockchain Use Case 17:25 Getting Banks Hooked Into Digital Assets 17:47 The Missing Pieces for Institutional Scale 18:21 Why Scale Breaks Across Venue and Chain 18:51 Why Credentials Must Travel With the Asset 19:12 ZK and Solving 19:35 Five Years Out: Value on Public Blockchains 20:09 Citi's $5.5 Trillion Projection 20:42 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Ashley Stanhope from Hardfork Media sits down with Vivek Raman, founder of Etherealize, to discuss the institutional case for Ethereum, the Ethereum versus permissioned chain debate, and his firm's ambitious ETH price thesis. Vivek frames the current moment as the strongest blockchain bull market he's seen even amid a token bear market, arguing that the value proposition of public blockchains has never been stronger. When he launched Etherealize in 2025, Ethereum was still in proof of concept mode on Wall Street with a missing narrative, but adoption, regulation, and institutional readiness have since converged. He points to the legacy architecture of the financial system (COBOL, Excel, faxes, wires) as ripe for an upgrade, and identifies three unlocks that made institutions comfortable: Ethereum's 10 year track record with no downtime, institutional proof points like BlackRock's BUIDL and 60% of stablecoins living on Ethereum, and a favorable regulatory environment marked by the Genius Act becoming the starting line. Vivek explains Etherealize's dual mandate of educating Wall Street on why Ethereum's neutrality and decentralization matter while building the missing building blocks (bespoke tokenization reaching back offices, privacy infrastructure layered on top rather than embedded, and applications). He reframes decentralization for institutions as security, resilience, and the absence of single points of failure, noting the irony that institutions are the biggest customers of decentralization because centralized chains carry counterparty risk and lower profitability. He argues Solana never comes up in institutional conversations, and that the real debate is public permissionless versus permissioned consortium chains, where Ethereum's modularity lets institutions have their cake and eat it too through specialized L2s and app chains. He walks through his Productive Money report and its $250,000 ETH target, explaining that markets misprice blockchains by valuing them on fees like companies rather than recognizing ETH as the monetary asset securing the network, with the real repricing coming when ETH is valued alongside gold and Bitcoin. He closes noting you don't have to hold ETH to use Ethereum, and that while the Clarity Act would be welcome, Ethereum already transcends the political cycle thanks to the Genius Act being law. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 A Token Bear Market but a Blockchain Bull Market 00:29 Why Etherealize Launched in 2025 00:55 The Value Proposition Is Stronger Than Ever 01:45 What Banks Are Saying About Ethereum 01:52 Upgrading Legacy Financial Architecture 02:52 Why Regulation Gave Institutions Confidence 03:14 Three Unlocks: Track Record, Pilots, Regulation 03:51 The Genius Act as the Starting Line 04:31 Etherealize's Dual Mandate 04:54 Why a Neutral Platform Wins 05:32 Educating Wall Street on Decentralization 05:56 Building the Missing Building Blocks 06:27 Bespoke Tokenization for Back Offices 06:54 Privacy as a Layer on Top 07:13 Applications and Use Cases 07:45 Does Decentralization Resonate With Wall Street 08:10 Why Institutions Are the Biggest Customers of Decentralization 08:55 Why Not Just Use AWS 09:11 Supporting the EF's CROPS Focus 09:48 Ethereum vs Solana in Institutional Conversations 10:44 Permissionless vs Permissioned Consortium Chains 11:12 Can You Have a Hybrid Approach 11:37 Ethereum's Modularity and the Internet Analogy 12:12 Why the Layer 2 Model Is Not Dead 12:32 Institutions Choosing Layer 2s vs Their Own Chains 13:26 Abstracting Away the L1 vs L2 Distinction 13:54 One Hop to Liquidity on the Base Layer 14:13 The Productive Money Report 14:39 Why People Value Blockchains Incorrectly 15:31 Why Every Blockchain Needs a Core Asset 15:49 ETH as the Best Money in the Ecosystem 16:28 Repricing ETH Alongside Gold and Bitcoin 16:47 A Call Option on Money 17:10 Do You Have to Hold ETH to Support Ethereum 17:42 Something in It for Everyone 18:17 Clarity Act Predictions 18:38 Why Ethereum Transcends the Political Cycle 18:59 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Steven Goldfeder

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Amanda Cassatt from Serotonin sits down with Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, to discuss Arbitrum's origins, the evolving role of L2s, and how institutions are reshaping the Ethereum ecosystem. Steven traces Arbitrum back to a fall 2014 Princeton class project led by his co-founder Ed, nearly a year before Ethereum went live, when it was a purely academic pursuit around scaling the theorized concept of smart contracts. Years later, when platforms hit real scaling issues, he and co-founders Ed and Harry took the vision out of the ivory tower. On Vitalik's comment that the rollup centric roadmap no longer makes sense and that an L2 which doesn't fully decentralize is just a vampiric L1 with a bridge, Steven welcomes Ethereum ending its neutral stance toward chains that latched onto the brand without being secured by it, noting Arbitrum was built from day one with proofs connecting it to Ethereum. Steven identifies two major shifts. First, Arbitrum built its own identity, evolving from Ethereum users wanting a cheaper path to majority Arbitrum first users drawn by deep liquidity, apps like GMX, and 250 millisecond block times, making it a top five blockchain by economic activity. Second, L2s now have a purpose independent from scaling: institutions want their own chains for branding, compliance, and privacy, choosing between their own L1 (Stripe's Tempo, Circle's Arc) or an Ethereum L2 (Robin Hood on Arbitrum, Coinbase's Base). He argues Ethereum is the only L1 that can cater to them through the L2 model. He uses Robin Hood's landlord versus tenant framing, explains why fading into invisible infrastructure is best for global adoption (the cat video on AWS versus GCP analogy), and notes the Arbitrum DAO still collects 10% of Robin Hood chain revenue. He covers solving fragmentation through smart routing addresses and ZeroDev chain abstraction, his view that AI agents are closer to a Sybil attack than a solution, his bullishness on non financial use cases like prediction markets and USDA's AI hardware lending, and how Offchain connects institutions to Ethereum while the Foundation stays focused on CROPS. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 From Aspiring Professor to Founding Arbitrum 01:01 The Fall 2014 Princeton Class Project 01:43 Taking Arbitrum Out of the Ivory Tower 02:12 Is Vitalik Right About the Rollup Centric Roadmap 02:41 Why Ethereum Ended Its Neutral Brand Stance 03:09 How Arbitrum Was Built Connected to Ethereum 03:30 Two Core Things That Have Changed 03:48 From Ethereum First to Arbitrum First Users 04:23 Arbitrum as a Top Five Blockchain 04:44 Why L2s Have a Purpose Independent of Scaling 05:26 Institutions Choosing L1 vs L2 05:54 Why Ethereum Is the Only L1 That Can Fight 06:30 Offchain's Role in Scaling the Layer 1 07:11 Is the Case for L2s Now Institutional Onboarding 07:45 Why Institutions Want Their Own Branded Chains 08:15 Owning the Chain to Collect Fee Revenue 08:40 The Landlord vs Tenant Strip Mall Analogy 09:29 What Is Arbitrum in the Landlord Metaphor 10:06 The Risks and Rewards of Invisible Infrastructure 10:46 Fueling Robin Hood's International Expansion 11:28 The Cat Video on AWS Analogy 11:48 Why the DAO Still Benefits in Dollars and Cents 12:13 Fragmentation Across L2s and L3s 12:45 Smart Routing Addresses and Chain Abstraction 13:52 Why Taking a Step Back Enables Going Forward 14:39 Will AI Agents Solve Fragmentation 15:32 Why Agents Add Usage Rather Than Solve It 16:03 Smart Wallets With Policies for Agents 16:48 Will Users Know They're Using Arbitrum in 10 Years 17:11 Why Escape Hatches Matter Even If Unused 18:11 Blockchain Gaming as an Example 18:58 Getting the Benefits Without Engaging the Details 19:17 Why the Right to Self Sovereignty Always Matters 20:01 Bullish on Non Financial Use Cases 20:34 Why Arbitrum Has Been Finance Focused From the Start 21:08 Prediction Markets and USDA AI Hardware Lending 21:49 What the Programmable Economy Really Means 22:16 How Arbitrum's Mission Fits Ethereum's Values 22:44 Believing in CROPS and Decentralization 23:30 Offchain as the Business Conduit for Institutions 24:06 A Harmonious Ecosystem With the Ethereum Foundation 24:27 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Vlad Novakovski, founder and CEO of Lighter, digs under the hood of how his high performance trading platform operates at scale on top of Ethereum. Coming from a TradFi background, Vlad frames Lighter as part of the broader story of TradFi and DeFi merging. Lighter is used to trade primarily perps but also spot assets, and has been operating for a year and a half. The core concept is that every execution is verifiable by proof. Since finance has a relatively small number of primitives (order books, limit and market orders, cancels, liquidations, funding) compared to a general purpose computer, Lighter built a custom L2 for finance that runs at NASDAQ like throughput while keeping everything verifiable. Every order and cancel is signed and processed by a currently centralized sequencer, but because all activity is proven with zero knowledge proofs, it matters less whether the sequencer is centralized since anything it does must follow the rules encoded in the ZK circuits. Vlad explains that a prover cluster of over 10,000 to 15,000 machines generates proofs behind the real time trading, aggregating up to 800,000 actions into a single proof posted on Ethereum L1. The rules are public and compiled into a succinct verifier, so first in first out ordering, liquidation logic, and market fairness are guaranteed, and if even one transaction in a batch of 500,000 is matched incorrectly, the code on Ethereum rejects the whole batch. He shares metrics including a peak 24 hour period of 811 million transactions, average TPS above 6,000 with spikes toward 20,000, latency below 200 milliseconds (the lowest of any decentralized exchange), 14,000 to 15,000 daily active users, $140 billion in volume over three months, and $7.5 million in revenue. He highlights Lighter's non custodial design with an escape hatch letting users recover assets through Ethereum even if Lighter stops working, the ability to customize rules for permissioned assets and tokenized stocks with dividends and splits, and independent verification of Lighter's full history by L2Beat. He emphasizes that the custom ZK circuits keep proving costs around 10 to 20% of revenue, echoes Vitalik's point that the most efficient L2 needs the most secure L1 underneath, and closes by inviting developers to build on LighterVM, being developed with the Axiom team. 00:00 Introduction 00:41 TradFi and DeFi Merging at ETHConf 01:05 What Lighter Is: Perps and Spot Trading 01:29 Focusing on the Infrastructure Side 02:11 Why Finance Has Few Primitives 02:32 Building a Custom L2 for Finance 03:05 Why Security and Verifiability Matter 03:33 How Signed Orders and the Sequencer Work 04:13 The Prover Cluster of 15,000 Machines 04:38 Aggregating Proofs and Posting to Ethereum L1 05:12 Public Rules: First In First Out 05:45 Why Fair Liquidation Rules Matter 06:19 Peak Stats: 811 Million Transactions in a Day 06:51 Thousands of Provers on Mixed Infrastructure 07:15 Why It Doesn't Matter Who Generates the Proof 07:53 Non-Custodial Design and the Escape Hatch 08:57 Extending Rules to Asset Administration 09:30 Custom Rules for Permissioned and Tokenized Assets 10:02 Fairness Proven by Math Block by Block 10:21 A Permanent Record on Ethereum 10:21 L2Beat Independently Verifies Lighter's History 10:55 Daily Active Users and TPS Metrics 11:21 Sub 200 Millisecond Latency 11:45 The Most Efficient L2 Needs the Most Secure L1 11:45 Economics: $140 Billion Volume, $7.5M Revenue 12:18 Why Custom Circuits Keep Proving Costs Low 12:38 Strong Margins and Low Cost Structure 13:14 The Magic of Proving Finance With Math 13:40 LighterVM and Composability With Axiom 13:40 Closing and Call to Developers _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Camila Russo from The Defiant sits down with Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, just days after the SEC approved their S-4 filing, clearing the path for Securitize to go public through a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II. Carlos explains that after 8 years building the company and landing major partnerships with BlackRock, Apollo, and VanEck, the successful Circle IPO signaled that if there's investor demand for tokenized dollars (stablecoins), there should be demand for tokenizing everything else too. The SPAC merger gets shareholder approval June 29th and Securitize begins trading on the NYSE around July 2nd under the ticker SCC ("sexy"), with roughly half a billion dollars in cash from the trust and PIPE for acquisitions and expansion. Beyond capital, going public gives the credibility large financial institutions need to work with Securitize. Carlos explains why Ethereum has emerged as the leading blockchain for tokenization: Securitize has been an EVM shop since 2017 when Ethereum was the only credible option, they now have around 30% of assets on Ethereum making it their largest chain, and BlackRock specifically chose Ethereum for BUIDL. Gas fees aren't a problem for their use cases, and Ethereum wins on decentralization, security, ecosystem, and liquidity. On permissioning, Carlos explains they use permissionless infrastructure but issue permissioned assets by whitelisting KYC'd wallets in smart contracts, allowing peer to peer transfers to still happen decentrally. He distinguishes between real privacy (layers on top of Ethereum transactions) versus "database privacy" that just restricts access. On DeFi composability, Securitize built vault technology that lets permissioned assets serve as collateral in permissionless lending protocols (integrated with Aave Horizon, Euler, and others) while controlling liquidation. He addresses the Citi $5.5 trillion RWA projection by 2030, arguing tokenized equities and ETFs are the asset class that will move the needle since only 2-3% of that $150 trillion market moving onchain would nearly get there. He announces Securitize partnerships with the NYSE for 24/7 equity trading with instant settlement and Computershare for onchain equity movement. Carlos strongly criticizes competitors offering derivative wrappers instead of actual equity, praising Superstate, Centrifuge, and Bullish for doing it correctly. He points to BlackRock's BUIDL being the only cash product that pays daily dividends (making it the best performing) as proof that tokenization creates net new utility. He closes by predicting traditional and onchain markets will coexist and consolidate, with Ethereum remaining the multi-purpose leader. 00:00 Introduction 00:07 The SEC Approved Securitize's S-4 00:40 Why Securitize Decided to Go Public 01:28 Why a SPAC With Cantor 01:51 What the S-4 Filing Involves 02:17 The Path to Listing on the NYSE 02:35 The New Ticker: SEC 02:59 What Going Public Enables for Securitize 03:43 Why Ethereum Leads for Tokenization 05:12 Why Gas Fees Are Not a Problem Here 05:28 Why BlackRock Chose Ethereum First 05:48 Permissioned Assets on Permissionless Rails 06:51 Two Types of Privacy 08:01 Making RWAs Composable With DeFi 08:46 Integrations With Aave, Euler, and Horizon 09:05 Trading RWAs via Uniswap X 10:02 What It Takes to Reach $5 Trillion by 2030 10:35 Why Tokenized Equities and ETFs Matter 11:27 Partnerships With NYSE and Computershare 11:44 The Right Way to Do Tokenized Equities 12:31 Why Most Are Just Derivatives 13:44 Why the Token Must Be the Real Share 14:36 What Still Needs Solving: Utility 15:22 The BlackRock BUIDL Example 15:44 Why Tokenized BUIDL Pays Daily Dividends 17:06 Where the Demand Comes From Today 18:15 Are Institutions Waiting on Regulation 18:55 Why There Is Already Clarity 19:45 The Dial-Up Internet Analogy 20:37 When Blockchains Become Invisible 21:14 Financial Markets in Five Years 21:51 A New Parallel Market on Blockchain Rails 22:30 Securitize as the Conduit for TradFi 22:52 Where Ethereum Sits in That Future 23:56 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Yuga Cohler, head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform, sits down with Erik Repp, founder of the X2X protocol and his former boss, to discuss the state of agentic payments. Yuga frames agentic payments as a buzzword that Coinbase thinks about constantly, and after polling the audience finds most have heard of X2X but far fewer have actually done a transaction or had an agent do one. Erik's core takeaway is that agentic commerce is not theoretical: it already happens tens or hundreds of thousands of times a day and is genuinely useful right now, urging everyone to give their agent a wallet and five dollars and try it. With Anthropic's Fable launching that day and models accelerating, they note agentic payments are still nascent at roughly $15 million annualized volume, while X2X recently hit its 100 millionth transaction and around 50 million annualized. Erik explains that the original sin of the internet was having no standard way to declare a payment regardless of the underlying rails, since Stripe, Adyen, and Checkout.com all differ. X2X provides a well typed schema and standard way of declaring how to receive payment, which creates easy programmable interfaces for agents. Because agents are probabilistic and every credit card form field is another chance to fail, deterministic programmatic tools let an agent simply express intent to pay rather than filling 14 fields. X2X is agnostic to the underlying rail, operating across roughly 15 blockchains including Solana, Base, and Ethereum, plus card rails. They discuss why stablecoins fit agentic payments (microtransactions charging fractions of a cent, programmability, instant settlement), and Yuga positions CDP as Coinbase's version of AWS providing settlement, custody, API and MCP infrastructure, and enterprise controls, where enabling agent payments is just a config on an existing stack. Erik draws an analogy to the open web built on HTML and HTTP, arguing crypto's open standards let companies compete on a level playing field while handling custody, KYC, and compliance. They close with hot takes: Yuga predicts 2026 as the year of agentic "vibe trading" where agents pay for data autonomously via X2X, and Erik argues payments make AI less mundane by giving agents access to valuable proprietary information rather than the same public corpus everyone else has. 00:00 Introduction 00:31 Agentic Payments and the X2X OG 00:52 Audience Poll: Who Has Done an X2X Transaction 01:20 Go Try Agentic Commerce Yourself 01:48 Volume Stats and Anthropic Fable Launch 02:30 Why AI Agents Need to Make Payments 02:36 The Original Sin of Internet Payments 03:22 How X2X Standardizes Payment Declaration 03:46 Why Agents Need Deterministic Tools 04:44 X2X Across 15 Blockchains and Card Rails 05:04 Why Stablecoins for Agentic Payments 05:42 CDP as Coinbase's Version of AWS 06:19 The Infrastructure Stack: Settlement to Custody 07:22 The Edge Determines Human, Agent, or Business 07:46 Shopify and Merchant Acceptance Examples 08:11 Agentic Payments as a Config on Existing Infrastructure 08:32 The Pivot to Agents Like the Open Web 09:30 Why Businesses Need Custody and Compliance 09:53 Competing on a Level Playing Field 10:23 AWS Agent Core Adopts X2X 10:43 Marketing and Research Agents Using X2X 11:57 The Number One Enterprise Question: Compliance 12:27 How the Facilitator Lowers the Barrier 13:20 CDP's Facilitator With KYT and OFAC Screening 13:53 Safe Defaults That Drop Barriers to Entry 14:25 Why Conservative Enterprises Are Coming Around 14:59 The Magic Moment for Agentic Payments 15:21 Hot Take: 2026 as the Year of Vibe Trading 15:50 Agents Trading Autonomously via X2X 16:30 Why Delegating to Trading Agents Is Fun 16:57 Hot Take: How Mundane AI Is Right Now 17:22 The Share Research Papers Era of AI 18:02 Why Capabilities Made the Internet Interesting 18:38 Why Payments Make AI Less Mundane 18:55 Giving Agents Access to Valuable Secrets 19:17 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this brief opening, Kartik Talwar, co-founder of ETHGlobal, welcomes over 2,000 attendees to day two of ETHConf at the Javits Center. He reiterates that ETHConf is the first and biggest institutional Ethereum event in America, run by ETH Global with the goal of promoting the Ethereum ecosystem and getting the smartest people in the world building on the hardest problems in the space. New York was chosen intentionally to bring together the finance world with the broader crypto community, connecting DeFi and TradFi founders alongside builders working on cryptography and distributed systems so both sides can readily collaborate. Kartik previews day two's structure across three continuing themes: how institutions are thinking about adopting stablecoins and DeFi in their day to day flows, how protocols are evolving from an engineering perspective (what's still outstanding, what's being worked on, what to expect in the coming months and years), and how these two threads connect to make it easy for everyone else to come on chain by simplifying UX, technical, and regulatory hurdles at scale. He emphasizes that speakers coming on stage will talk about work they've already shipped rather than work they're just thinking about, and encourages attendees to interact directly with founders throughout the day since decisions happen faster when you can chat with the people building the products. 00:00 Welcome to Day Two of ETHConf 00:30 Why New York and Why Institutional Focus 00:58 Bringing DeFi and TradFi Together 01:23 2,000 Attendees and 150 Speakers 01:51 Day Two Themes: Institutions, Protocols, Adoption 02:20 Real Stuff on Stage, Not Concepts 02:39 Meet Founders Throughout the Day 02:57 Kicking Off the First Talk _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Christine Kim

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Christine Kim from Protocol Watch shares the framework she has used for 8 years tracking Ethereum development and governance, including years running the ACD Toolkit and covering Ethereum's All Core Devs calls. She was one of the first people to regularly cover ACD calls, now runs an independent Ethereum development newsletter and a Bitcoin development newsletter, hosts a podcast on both, and operates a research and advisory firm helping businesses building on the two chains. She frames her insider approach around three foundational questions: how does Ethereum governance work, who are the key players, and where and when do they meet to make decisions. Christine explains that Ethereum governance is like an onion. The outer formal layer is defined by EIPs like EIP-1 (defining the EIP process) and EIP-7723 (labels for CFI, PFI, SFI, DFI status), which AI can help summarize. The harder and more important part is the informal layer, the unwritten norms driving decisions. She notes that on ACD calls each client team gets an equal vote regardless of whether they have 40% or 1% market share, and that contentious decisions require supermajorities whose thresholds shift with the level of contention. She emphasizes that governance itself evolves rapidly, pointing to the new headliner process introduced only in the Fusaka upgrade. On the "who" question, she pushes past treating stakeholders categorically (validators, developers, users, client teams) to look at who individuals actually work for and how their companies are funded. Most Ethereum client teams were seeded and funded by the Ethereum Foundation, which explains its historical leadership, and as the EF narrows focus the funding sources for client diversity are opening up. On the "where," she highlights the three ACD calls as the most important decision-making forum, noting the cadence has evolved from once every two weeks pre-merge to twice weekly today as developers push toward two upgrades a year. Christine explains she deprecated the ACD and BTC toolkits earlier this year not because the framework was wrong, but because static written posts were suboptimal and her readers mostly wanted actionable insights rather than the underlying research process. She closes by challenging the room to apply her framework to at least one protocol, arguing it reveals whether a protocol is genuinely decentralized or engaging in "decentralization theater" with multisigs and federations, and helps identify the real values (transparency, verifiability, accountability) driving each blockchain's differentiation. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Christine's Track Record 01:12 Launching the ACD and BTC Toolkits 01:36 The Three Questions Framework 02:15 Ethereum Governance as an Onion 02:41 The Formal Layer: EIPs and Labels 04:07 The Informal Layer: Unwritten Norms 04:29 How Client Team Votes Actually Work 05:26 Supermajorities for Contentious Decisions 06:17 How Governance Itself Evolves 06:43 The Headliner Process in Fusaka 07:38 Beyond Categorical Stakeholders 08:34 Looking Deeper at Who Funds Client Teams 09:19 Why the Ethereum Foundation Seeded Client Diversity 09:47 What Happens as the EF Narrows Focus 10:40 Being in the Room Where Decisions Happen 11:34 The Three ACD Calls 11:54 How the Cadence Has Evolved Over Time 12:48 Twice Weekly Coordination Today 13:11 Breakout Calls for Long Term Roadmap 13:38 Why ACD Calls Are More Accurate Than X 14:22 The People, Places, and Process 14:46 Applying the Framework to Bitcoin 15:16 Why Christine Deprecated the Toolkits 15:39 The Medium Was Suboptimal 16:09 Readers Wanted Actionable Insights 17:34 A Call to Apply the Framework 18:14 Questioning the True Value of Protocols 19:05 Decentralization Theater 19:54 What Are the Real Ends of Decentralization 21:01 Closing and Resources _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ameen Soleimani

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Ameen Soleimani, CTO of 0xbow, presents his approach to privacy without terrorists, opening with gratitude for being American and a warning that cypherpunk values of free speech and open source depend on American law. He recounts the history of Tornado Cash, the original privacy protocol on Ethereum, built because Ethereum users were jealous of Zcash's private money features. His nonprofit MolochDAO funded the initial grants in 2019 and coordinated setting the admin key to zero so the protocol was immutable forever, making it the second ZK-SNARK deployment in history after Zcash. People used it for personal privacy and Vitalik used it to support Ukraine, but after North Korea stole over $600 million and ran hundreds of millions through it, the US Treasury sanctioned the protocol in August 2022, and developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm each received five year sentences. Ameen argues the Tornado Cash devs should not be held liable for users' crimes since they had no criminal intent and the protocol was immutable, warning that Roman's conviction for unlicensed money transmission (despite being non-custodial) implies everything is illegal, since even Etherscan could be considered a money services business. He stresses the appeal succeeding matters for clarity across Ethereum wallets and applications. Addressing the anonymity set problem, he explains privacy pools, developed in a paper co-authored with Vitalik and chain analysis researchers, where users voluntarily prove their deposit belongs to an association set of non-illicit funds without revealing which one, separating good money from bad while avoiding a data honeypot. He details how 0xbow performs KYT checks rejecting untrusted sources while allowing rejected funds to rage quit as an escape hatch preserving non-custodianship. Having anonymized over $20 million on mainnet over a year, he introduces privacy pools v2 (live on Sepolia) with a shielded pool for fully anonymous in-pool transfers hiding sender, receiver, amount, and timing, compliance by default, and features like private payment requests and future DeFi yield. He closes arguing the compromise of hard entry and exclusion without retroactive deanonymization is right, since backdoors can be turned against you, and that privacy will become a national security concern. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Gratitude for Being American 00:51 Why Cypherpunk Values Depend on American Law 01:19 The Origins of Tornado Cash 01:49 MolochDAO Funding and the Immutable Admin Key 02:10 The Team That Rage Built It in Three Weeks 02:20 Personal Privacy and Supporting Ukraine 02:43 North Korea and the Treasury Sanctions 03:04 Supporting Roman Storm at the Courthouse 03:26 Why the Devs Could Not Be Liable 03:45 The Compliance Tool They Built 04:00 Why the Conviction Makes Everything Illegal 04:30 Why Roman's Appeal Must Succeed 04:45 The Protocol That Grew After the Sanctions 05:04 The Anonymity Set Responsibility 05:36 With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility 05:55 Correcting the No Legitimate Use Case Narrative 06:16 The Federal Reserve Report Recommendation 06:35 Why the Honeypot Problem Matters 06:41 The Privacy Pools Paper With Vitalik 07:21 How Association Sets Work 07:49 Separating Good Money From Bad 08:00 Presenting the Paper at the Bank of International Settlements 08:14 How the Deposit and KYT Check Works 08:35 The Rage Quit Escape Hatch 08:50 A Year Live: Over $20 Million Anonymized 08:58 Privacy Pools V2 and the Shielded Pool 09:21 Why Shielded Pools Beat Confidentiality 09:42 Compliance by Default 10:09 How Rejecting a Deposit Protects Everyone 10:34 Features: Private Payments and Future Yield 10:59 Walking Through the Deposit Flow 11:28 Approval Times on Mainnet 11:59 Making a Private Withdrawal 12:25 The Rage Quit Exit 12:56 Private Payment Requests 13:37 Why No Retroactive Deanonymization 13:50 Why Backdoors Can Be Used Against You 14:16 Privacy as a National Security Concern 14:48 Closing: Win Here, Win for the World _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Lukas Helminger from TACEO presents a problem his team discovered in recent weeks: why institutional custody breaks on shielded chains. TACEO is building a network for encrypted compute focused on the identity and finance layers. He frames the stakes by looking at the scale of custody today, citing Coinbase holding roughly $300 billion in assets under custody at the market's height (including most ETFs), BitGo not far behind, and Fireblocks securing around $10 trillion in transaction volume across over 2,000 institutions. This makes institutional custody critically important to crypto itself. He then surveys the privacy renaissance of recent months, highlighting ZK based projects like Aleo, Aztec, Midnight, Miden, and Zcash, plus Ethereum's roadmap toward client side proving. All of these models assume self custody, where you hold your own key and run your own prover so the secret never leaves your hands for maximum privacy. Lukas explains the tension: the institutional world cannot rely on a single entity holding a key, since that creates unacceptable risk for regulated entities. State of the art institutional custody instead splits the key into shares (for example a customer share, a custodian share, and a backup share) so no party ever holds the whole secret, and uses threshold signatures, a form of multi-party computation, to authorize transactions without ever reconstructing the key in one place, with ECDSA being a commonly thresholdized algorithm. The problem is that on shielded chains, transactions are authorized not by signatures but by zero knowledge proofs, which are far more complex, and none of the existing custodians have a way to thresholdize a ZK proof. He presents the solution from academia: collaborative SNARKs (co-SNARKs), introduced about four years ago by Dan Boneh and Alex, which place the zero knowledge proof inside a multi-party computation protocol so the entire proving system is thresholdized, producing a proof indistinguishable from a standard one that verifies on chain without protocol changes. He shares that TACEO has been building this for over two and a half years, with a network live for two months doing 100,000 transactions per day across private payments, yield, and tokenization, and tooling for co-Circom and Noir with surprisingly low performance overhead. He closes inviting custodians who need to onboard shielded assets to talk, since this is a key unaddressed blocker to bringing privacy to institutions. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 What TACEO Is Building 00:30 A Problem Hidden in Plain Sight 00:52 The Scale of Custody Today 01:25 Fireblocks and $10 Trillion in Volume 01:52 The Privacy Renaissance 02:32 Why These Models Assume Self Custody 02:57 Why Single Key Custody Fails Institutions 03:24 How State of the Art Custody Splits Keys 04:01 Threshold Signatures and Multi-Party Computation 04:35 Why ECDSA Is Commonly Thresholdized 05:08 Where Things Break in the ZK World 05:43 Collaborative SNARKs From Academia 06:17 How Co-SNARKs Thresholdize Proving 06:39 How Far TACEO Has Come 07:11 Tooling for Co-Circom and Noir 07:30 Why the Performance Overhead Is Low 07:51 A Call to Custodians 08:26 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Erbil Karaman

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Erbil Karaman from Huma Finance presents an onchain alternative to global transaction banking, the system that has dominated global money movement for decades. He explains that despite its name, the system is largely local: most global transaction banking happens in New York, home to USD Fedwire (around $1.1 quadrillion annual volume) and the CLS FX settlement system (around $1.8 quadrillion), all depending on a central ledger held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where every bank wanting to settle USD globally must hold reserves, topped by JP Morgan. He dispels the myth that banks move money, arguing they instead manage liquidity across large balance sheets composed of deposits, which is why JP Morgan is fighting stablecoins so hard, since without deposits banks lose the liquidity that enables global capital movement. Erbil outlines three challenges facing bank fiat liquidity: higher cost of capital as quantitative easing ends and monetary policy tightens, fragmenting geopolitics from trade and tariff wars pushing central banks to derisk from T-bills into gold and commodities, and the rise of stablecoins draining deposits from treasuries, companies, and wealthy individuals. Citing JP Morgan's 2026 payments industry report, he notes banks now recognize liquidity must become programmable, borderless, and always on, and that blockchains are here to scale. Huma's PayFi network rebuilds global transaction banking onchain using stablecoins, programmable liquidity, and yield vaults that operate 24/7 without banking holidays or dependence on the Fed's central ledger. He shares live use cases across credit cards (Rain), cross border payments, merchant settlements (Amazon settling with Asia suppliers in one button press instead of two to four days), and trade finance for commodities, rare earths, and GPUs. He details Huma's layered stack (transaction, currency, cost, compliance, liquidity, and use case layers) and rapid adoption by Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Stripe, Western Union, and MoneyGram. The network has grown 3x year over year to $14 billion in total volume growing $1 billion monthly on just $160 million in efficiently recycled stablecoin liquidity, generating sustained 8% organic yield for over 110,000 depositors with zero credit defaults. He closes announcing the PayFi token (PST) omnibus yield system is now live on Ethereum mainnet with partners including Bitwise, Fluid, Morpho, and Chainlink, after two years operating mainly on Solana. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 A Big Idea: Replacing Global Transaction Banking 00:36 Understanding the Global Banking Buildup 00:58 Why the System Is Actually Local 01:25 Fedwire and CLS: Quadrillions Through New York 01:50 The Central Ledger at the Federal Reserve 02:17 JP Morgan and the Bank Reserve System 02:40 The Myth That Banks Move Money 03:03 Why Banks Fight Stablecoins to Death 03:25 Three Challenges Facing Fiat Liquidity 03:52 Fragmenting Geopolitics and Derisking From T-Bills 04:31 How Stablecoins Drain Deposits 05:03 JP Morgan's 2026 Payments Report 05:26 Programmable, Borderless, Always On Liquidity 06:00 Why Blockchains Are Here to Scale 06:36 How Huma's PayFi Network Works 06:58 Use Case: Credit Cards With Rain 07:24 Use Case: Cross Border Payments 07:50 Use Case: Amazon Merchant Settlements 08:33 Use Case: Trade Finance for Commodities and GPUs 09:06 The Layered PayFi Stack 09:42 Adoption by Every Major Payment Company 10:05 The Numbers: $14 Billion and 3x Growth 10:28 8% Organic Yield and Zero Defaults 10:53 Programmatically Locking the Settlement Cycle 11:21 The PST Cross-Chain Omnibus Yield System 11:56 Now Live on Ethereum Mainnet 12:32 Diminishing the Role of Fiat Rails 12:59 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Ashton Keys introduces Society Protocol, which he frames as the evolution of blockchain systems to fulfill an entire state structure on chain through a paradigm he calls synchronized states, the future of human coordination. He argues coordination is humanity's superpower, since we are the only species that coordinates at planetary scale, and that improving it even fractionally benefits society more than any individual achievement. Coordination is not natural, so humanity developed systems like democracy, currencies, and governance to coordinate despite competing interests. The premier system of recent centuries has been the nation state, built on the double entry accounting age and its duplicated, fragmented contracts stored separately between counterparties. This gave us equality, democracy, and capitalism, but when technology is added, it drives centralization into gatekeepers. Ashton identifies eight pillars of a state structure beyond government (identity, monetary systems, societal state, time synchronization, shared reality of events, group decision making, the social contract, and value systems), noting all currently centralize into powerful gatekeepers who warp shared reality. He argues the 2,000 year double entry accounting age is ending, and that the transition began in 2009 with Bitcoin decentralizing money and 2015 with Ethereum decentralizing assets. But blockchains lack identity and Sybil resistance, so they cannot form people, governance, or all eight pillars, and their uneven social layer forces them into immutable pyramid structures. He reframes blockchains as two-dimensional clocks and synchronized state machines, and proposes evolving to four-dimensional synchronized state machines that unlock a triple entry accounting age. Society Protocol is a four-dimensional model world synchronizing identities, property, governance, and interactions together, unlocking Sybil resistance, identity, and direct programmable governance where changes update the whole social contract instantly. He walks through the eight pillars as programmable components, warns that centralized CBDCs are a competing path leading to a technofeudal dark age, and closes framing Society Protocol not as revolution but evolution built on Ethereum bridging web3 to web4, seeking committed builders ahead of a public fundraise in about six months. 00:00 Introduction 00:38 Coordination as Humanity's Superpower 01:12 Why Coordination Beats Individual Ability 01:33 How Humans Coordinate Through Systems 01:56 The Nation State as the Premier System 02:20 The Double Entry Accounting Age 02:50 How Duplicated Contracts Work 03:09 What the Nation State Gave Us 03:25 Why Technology Causes Centralization 03:38 The Eight Pillars of a State Structure 04:04 Why We Don't Control Our Own Identities 04:20 How Gatekeepers Grow Powerful 04:56 How Media Platforms Warp Shared Reality 05:44 The Stacked Problems of Centralization 06:09 Why It Looks Like the Apocalypse 06:30 The End of the Double Entry Accounting Age 06:59 From Bitcoin to Ethereum 07:23 Why Blockchains Lack Identity 07:42 Why Blockchains Get Forced Into Pyramids 08:07 Blockchains as Two-Dimensional Clocks 09:08 From Static Objects to Synchronized States 09:30 What Is Society Protocol 10:00 Unlocking Identity and Governance 10:44 Unifying All Eight Pillars Into One Machine 11:30 Pillar One: The Timeline 11:51 Pillars: State Sphere, Actors, and Money 12:09 Events and the Model World 12:30 Governance That Updates Society Instantly 13:00 The Social Contract and Protocol Effects 13:17 Value Functions and What Society Values 14:23 What It All Means for Global Coordination 15:42 Why Synchronized States Beat Nation States 16:26 A Modular System Like a Linux Foundation 16:49 Why CBDCs Are a Competing Path 17:38 The Risk of a Technofeudal Dark Age 18:01 Evolution, Not Revolution 19:10 A Call for Builders and True Believers 20:01 Building on Ethereum From Web3 to Web4 20:40 The Path to a Public Fundraise 20:59 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Kevin Lepsoe, founder of ETHGas, asks whether Ethereum is real-time ready and walks through how restructuring block space can make it faster, more performant, and fairer. Coming from a TradFi background as an FX and interest rate options trader who led Morgan Stanley's structured credit group before 2008, then moving into tech, he now works at the core of Ethereum infrastructure. He frames the moment through two lenses: AI, where a significant and growing share of flow is now agent driven as tools like Claude Code and Codex reach everyday users, and yield, where nearly every institution's first foray onchain is the vault space (rebranded from asset management to curation), citing a recent yield summit at the NYSE run by Morpho. The problem is that Ethereum was built over 10 years ago for humans, not machines trading every millisecond, so it is slow and uncertain: a trade you expect in 12 seconds might take 24 or 36, which makes multi-agent coordination probabilistic and hard, and predictable agents and strategies are vulnerable to front running. Kevin argues the solution is block space. ETHGas got access to Ethereum's block space and made it tradable like a commodity such as oil and gas, letting participants speculate on, manage, and risk manage the scarce high grade resource that is Ethereum's core business. He explains how block builders currently reorder trades to maximize extraction, likening it to a nightclub letting the best trades in first, which is unfair and extractive. ETHGas instead inserts trades into the next block immediately and broadcasts the block state every 50 milliseconds, enabling real-time preconfirmations where users can trade multiple times within a 12-second slot with far greater speed and certainty. He shares study results: making Ethereum real-time could earn Uniswap LPs $2 to $3 billion a year while cutting the roughly $250 to $300 million of annual MEV extraction, and dramatically reduces event risk since prices jump far less over 50 milliseconds than over 12 seconds, mitigating the cascading liquidation risks seen in the Kelp situation. He closes on institutional block space, a whitelisted end-to-end framework with known validators, first come first serve non-extractive building, and compliance policies (like avoiding Tornado Cash) that lets TradFi players like BlackRock buy size onchain without being front run, noting around 70% of Ethereum validators are broadly aligned to move forward. 00:00 Introduction 00:52 Kevin's TradFi and Tech Background 01:18 Two Perspectives: AI and Yield 01:40 Why Everyone Is Using Agents Now 02:18 The Rise of Vaults and Curation 02:50 Why Ethereum Was Built for Humans, Not Machines 03:11 The Uncertainty of Landing a Trade 03:30 Why Multi-Agent Coordination Is Hard 03:59 Why AI Will Break Things Before Trillions Arrive 04:36 Why Predictable Agents Get Front Run 04:56 The Solution: Block Space 05:19 Making Block Space Tradable Like a Commodity 05:49 Refining Block Space for Higher Performance 06:17 Why Ethereum's Block Space Is Scarce and High Grade 06:50 How Blocks Are Made Today 07:18 How Trades Propagate Through the Ecosystem 07:55 The Nightclub Analogy for Extraction 08:13 Why It Is Unfair and Extractive 08:32 Creating Fast and Exciting Blocks 09:01 Trading Multiple Times in a Slot 09:25 Real-Time Preconfirmations at 50 Milliseconds 09:47 What It Means for DeFi 10:06 Why Uniswap LPs Would Make $2-3 Billion 10:34 Less MEV and Less Extraction 11:17 Why Vault Returns Should Be Higher 11:38 Reducing Event Risk and Gap Risk 12:14 How Slow Blocks Cause Liquidation Risk 12:37 Why Faster Blocks Reduce Systemic Risk 13:11 Introducing Institutional Block Space 13:50 How Big Players Avoid Being Front Run 14:14 The Fees TradFi Will Pay to Avoid Front Running 14:35 How Institutional Block Space Works 14:59 Compliance Policies Like Avoiding Tornado Cash 15:22 Accessing Ethereum Liquidity Without a New Chain 15:54 Where ETHGas Is Today 16:26 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Brantly Millegan from ETHID shares lessons from 10 years working on the Ethereum identity stack. He opens with his own onchain profile and ENS name, brantly.eth, encouraging everyone to get a name at ens.domains. He traces the story back 50 years to the 1970s invention of public key cryptography, which for the first time let people encrypt messages without exchanging a secret key ahead of time. The US government classified it as too powerful, until Phil Zimmerman and the cypherpunks successfully lobbied in the 1990s to make it legal for public use, enabling e-commerce and HTTPS. The cypherpunks saw public key cryptography as the basis for digital identity, but consumer versions like PGP never broke out because appeals to privacy and liberty alone do not motivate enough people without financial incentive. Brantly explains that Bitcoin (2008) and Ethereum (2015) changed this by using public key cryptography for wallets, accomplishing through economic incentives what cypherpunks could not through appeals to values: the widespread adoption of private keys and a flourishing wallet industry. Vitalik named identity as a use case in the 2014 Ethereum white paper, but many early identity projects failed because they treated identity as a single app when it is really 20 hard problems at once, and because building in a decentralized way is far harder than centralized. The breakthrough was Ethereum Name Service, which started in 2016 and launched in 2017 modeled after DNS for decentralized websites, then crypto payments. In 2021, while on the team, Brantly realized ENS was accidentally your crypto username and profile, the meta use case underlying all the others. He credits ENS's success to not competing directly with DNS, great engineering, and long time horizons, making it extremely Lindy after nine plus years. He covers Sign in with Ethereum (EIP-4361) as a decentralized user-controlled single sign on, the Ethereum Follow Protocol as an onchain social graph, and Ethereum Identity Kit as a React component library. He closes with his core thesis: Ethereum identity is not a single app but the sum of information and relationships across decentralized protocols and open standards, unbundled into smallest viable parts so each can stand, fall, improve, or be replaced independently, making the whole stack more resilient. 00:00 Introduction 00:35 Brantly's Onchain Profile and ENS Name 00:47 Going Back 50 Years to Public Key Cryptography 01:09 What Public Key Cryptography Is 01:38 Why the US Government Classified It 01:52 The Cypherpunks Make It Legal in the 1990s 02:07 Why It Powers E-Commerce and HTTPS 02:28 Cryptography as the Basis for Digital Identity 02:48 Why PGP Never Broke Out 03:14 Bitcoin, Namecoin, and Early Naming 03:33 Identity in the 2014 Ethereum White Paper 04:06 How Crypto Spread Private Keys at Scale 04:38 Why Wallets Keep Getting Better 05:12 Why Early Identity Projects Failed 05:37 Why Decentralized Is Harder Than Centralized 06:12 The Ethereum Name Service Breakthrough 06:30 Realizing ENS Was a Username and Profile 06:59 Why the Username Is the Meta Use Case 07:15 Why ENS Has Succeeded Where Others Failed 07:39 Not Competing Directly With DNS 08:04 Great Engineering and Long Time Horizons 08:36 Why ENS Is Extremely Lindy 08:58 Accidentally Solving Single Sign On 09:26 The Vision of a Decentralized Account for the Internet 09:44 Sign in with Ethereum and EIP-4361 10:07 The Ethereum Follow Protocol Social Graph 10:36 Other Parts of the Identity Stack 10:58 Ethereum Identity Kit for Developers 11:18 What Ethereum Identity Really Is 11:39 Why the Stack Is Decentralized, Not Vertically Integrated 11:58 Why Each Part Can Stand or Fall on Its Own 12:17 Why This Makes the Stack Resilient 12:40 Why We Should Not Take This for Granted 13:06 The Hard Work Behind the Stack Today 13:25 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Mooly Sagiv

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Mooly Sagiv from Certora presents how LLM generated formal specifications can help prevent the next DeFi hack. He frames the problem: coding agents are increasingly replacing software engineers, but hackers are winning, and even with excellent auditing firms and tooling the industry cannot find all bugs. The situation will worsen as every new AI model release creates new threats while code grows more complex. He critiques the informal approach to intent taken by companies like Anthropic, arguing intent should not be handled informally, and proposes agentic formal verification as the solution. He pushes back on the myth that formal verification is intractable or requires a PhD, arguing the real hard problem is not computation but formal specification: verification is only as good as the properties you specify, which is why teams that claim to be formally verified still get hacked, since they verified the wrong property. Mooly explains Certora's new open source, token based tool that bridges the gap between informal and formal specs. A developer writes intent informally (for example keep the balance safe), and the tool automatically generates a formal invariant (the sum of balances equals the total), which can then be proven or tested. The tool is agnostic to Certora's own prover, works with tools like Rocq, Lean, and Halmos, and fits into the development cycle before an audit through an interactive human-in-the-loop process, including a design hardening agent that makes designs more verification ready from the design document stage. He demos a toy counter contract with a trivial bug, showing how the tool generates properties in English, proves two of three rules, surfaces the bug, and validates the fix with a mathematical guarantee that future LLM versions cannot break. He then shows a real anonymized gambling protocol audited before deployment, where the tool automatically inferred 15 properties, found a real violation confirmed by their team, and suggested a validated fix. He closes on the product launching July 15 (Solidity only, GPL3, generating Foundry tests and including static analysis and bug finding at around $300 per run), and two takeaways: AI is why formal verification finally matters, and AI is also what makes formal verification easy by translating prover output into human understandable explanations. 00:00 Introduction 00:56 A Talk for Coders and Non-Coders Alike 01:18 How Coding Agents Are Replacing Software 01:47 Why Auditing and Tools Cannot Find All Bugs 02:28 Why Informal Intent Is the Wrong Approach 02:40 Introducing Agentic Formal Verification 03:05 Making Formal Verification as Easy as Testing 03:29 A History of Formal Verification and Its Myths 04:01 Why Intractability Is a Myth 04:32 Why Verification Depends on Specification 04:52 Why Verified Code Still Gets Hacked 05:11 How LLMs Help Find Formal Specifications 05:29 From Intent to Invariant 06:35 Beyond Verification: Generating Tests 07:07 How It Fits Into the Development Cycle 07:30 A Tool to Use Before the Audit 07:59 Why Getting Properties Right Is Hardest 08:37 Inside the Tool: Agnostic to the Prover 09:30 Hardening the Design for Verification 10:06 The Audit Agent and Security Review 10:44 Plugging In Rocq, Lean, and Halmos 11:01 Two Examples: Toy and Real 11:34 The Toy Counter Contract Bug 11:55 How the Agent Finds Properties in English 12:34 Proving Rules and Surfacing the Bug 12:57 Why a Violation Could Be Code or Spec 13:30 Validating the Fix With a Proof 14:26 Applying the Tool to Real Code 14:45 A Real Protocol Audited Before Deployment 15:20 How the Tool Inferred 15 Properties 16:25 The Paused Contract Condition It Caught 17:00 Finding and Confirming a Real Bug 17:33 Validating the Suggested Fix 18:04 The Status of the Tool 18:49 The July 15 Product Launch 19:40 Pricing Around $300 per Run 20:19 Two Surprising Takeaways 20:47 Why AI Made Formal Verification Matter 21:06 How AI Makes Formal Verification Easy 22:33 Closing and Call to Try the Tool _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Rajeev Bamra, who oversees global strategy and operations for the digital economy at Moody's Ratings, addresses the question beneath every institutional capital markets discussion: not which stablecoin is fastest, but which ones are safer, and how you would ever know. He identifies three expensive, measurable problems in traditional financial infrastructure: a mobility problem ($240 trillion in liquidity trapped across hundreds of siloed ledgers designed not to talk to each other), a volume problem (over $100 billion spent every year reconciling data across those ledgers), and a speed problem (over $10 trillion in daily FX turnover exposed to settlement risk because execution and settlement speeds are mismatched). He argues markets are already responding: tokenization can unlock collateral and stablecoins can settle it, shared ledgers can solve reconciliation, and atomic or T+0 settlement can solve speed. US dollar stablecoins are already driving de facto digital dollarization, some issuers hold more US treasury debt than midsize sovereigns, and incumbents are integrating rather than fighting them, so stablecoins have crossed into core infrastructure regulators now signal reserve, redemption, and operational requirements for. Rajeev explains why a credit rating agency cares about stablecoins with a house-buying analogy: you would not hand over your life savings without an independent structural survey, and a credit rating is exactly that, a forward-looking independent opinion of how an issuer performs over time under stress. He lays out four risk buckets for assessing a stablecoin: underlying collateral and reserve quality (bankruptcy-remote segregation, stress scenarios like 30% simultaneous redemption), transaction structure and legal enforceability across jurisdictions, operations and counterparties (who runs the chain, minting and burning, governance, systemic interdependency as stablecoins embed into treasuries and agentic commerce), and technology risk (oracles, smart contract audits, key management, custody, validator concentration). Since no rigorous framework existed, Moody's built one, launching in March 2026 the industry's first cross-sector stablecoin credit rating methodology, applicable to all fiat-backed stablecoins globally and portable across jurisdictions, assessing whether a stablecoin can be redeemed at par on demand under stress. He notes Ethereum stands out as the settlement chain in a future multi-chain economy, and closes on Moody's Token Integration Engine, which turns static credit opinions into programmable onchain signals, making Moody's the only credit rating agency with native onchain presence. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 The Question Beneath Every Capital Markets Debate 00:46 Three Expensive Problems in Financial Infrastructure 01:00 The Mobility Problem: $240 Trillion Trapped 01:15 The Volume Problem: Reconciliation Costs 01:29 The Speed Problem: FX Settlement Risk 01:46 How Markets Are Already Responding 02:17 Stablecoins Driving Digital Dollarization 02:39 From Parallel Ecosystem to Core Infrastructure 03:06 How Regulators Have Noticed 03:46 Why a Rating Agency Cares About Stablecoins 03:56 The House Survey Analogy 04:38 What a Credit Rating Really Is 05:07 The Four Risk Buckets 05:38 Underlying Collateral and Reserve Quality 06:03 Transaction Structure and Legal Enforceability 06:40 Operations and Counterparties 07:15 Technology and Oracle Risk 07:43 Launching the First Stablecoin Rating Methodology 08:14 Redeeming at Par Under Stress 08:39 Why This Is About More Than Stablecoins 09:14 Why This Moment Is Different 09:46 New Asset Types and New Risk Layers 10:14 What Digital Bonds Proved 10:37 What Tokenized Funds Confirmed 11:01 Why Stablecoins Are Growing So Fast 11:24 Why Ethereum Stands Out 11:54 Why the Future Is Multi-Chain 12:07 The Missing Credit Intelligence Layer 12:55 Coming On Chain With Public Ratings 13:20 Introducing the Token Integration Engine 13:56 Moody's Native Onchain Presence 14:22 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Scott Dykstra from Space and Time explains how his team is building the data layer for Ethereum's institutional era, providing data to smart contracts from institutional portfolios offchain or secured events onchain. Space and Time is a decentralized onchain database that lets smart contracts ask complex questions. When they started in late 2021, they set out to build the first verifiable ZKP-proven SQL database, using zero knowledge cryptographic proofs for queries asked by smart contracts. The original insight was that a lending smart contract knows nothing about the borrower wallet transacting with it (DeFi protocols have no database to query and aggregate past activity), so Space and Time brings an onchain database that lets contracts roll up and aggregate the history of wallet transactions and events, proven back to the contract by the next block. He frames this as the next step beyond the price-feed oracles that enabled DeFi summer in 2020: letting a smart contract actually run a SQL query aggregation, a powerful primitive for institutions entering lending and vaults. Scott describes the technology as a blockchain sitting next to the EVM that lets you create tables, insert data, and run SQL queries, paying a few SXT tokens per action (for example, creating a T-bill volumes table and querying it from a contract to mint stablecoins backed by offchain T-bills). With the Clarity Act about to pass, he sees fintechs like Stripe, PayPal, and Circle having shown banks how to mint stablecoins backed by reserves, and now major banks hiring contractors to tokenize offchain securities. The real unlock is programmable finance: banks can codify rules around minting, volume thresholds, and marking to market, extending beyond stablecoins to CLOs, equities, and commercial real estate repriced as often as desired. Space and Time acts as the secure conduit that reaches into locked-down offchain portfolios and ZK-proves to a contract that aggregated data (say, total collateral across 17 portfolios on two clouds) is accurate and untampered, ensuring minted stablecoins always match reserves in near real time. He extends this to virtual vaults that give lenders a data room and dashboard showing borrower collateral and deployed capital across exchanges and DEXes, then lets the vault contract itself run SQL queries to enforce thresholds and margin calls, enabling compliant, largely uncollateralized lending. He closes on DeFi itself, where querying a wallet's history of repaid loans could earn experienced borrowers better rates, powering a new wave of onchain lending. 00:00 Introduction 00:33 Building the Data Layer for Ethereum 00:58 The First Verifiable ZK-Proven SQL Database 01:33 Why Smart Contracts Have No Database 01:58 A Verifiable Pipeline of Data to Smart Contracts 02:19 Beyond Price Feed Oracles 02:38 How the Technology Works 02:52 Spending SXT to Create, Insert, and Query 03:15 Why Banks Are Leaning In 03:38 From Fintechs to Major Banks 03:56 The Benefit of Programmable Finance 04:44 Codifying Business Logic On Chain 05:16 Where Traditional Securities Data Lives 05:42 The Need for a Secure Conduit 06:12 ZK Proving Data From Offchain Portfolios 06:50 Why This Is More Than an Oracle 07:13 Aggregating Across 17 Portfolios 07:52 Why It Must Be Near Real Time 08:25 Extending Beyond Stablecoins 08:52 Why SQL Is a Familiar Primitive 09:15 Why You Cannot Aggregate Without This 09:48 The Problem of No Asset Provenance 10:39 Taking It Further Into Vaults 11:17 Why Banks Need Borrower Transparency 11:42 The Opaque World of Ethereum Vaults 12:26 Introducing Virtual Vaults 12:57 Giving Lenders a View of Borrower Capital 13:39 The Investor Dashboard and Data Room 13:56 Feeding Data to the Vault Contract Itself 14:22 Codifying Margin Calls and Business Rules 14:53 An End-to-End Example 15:55 Smarter Vaults Beyond Morpho 16:30 What About DeFi Itself 17:03 Rewarding Loyal Borrowers With Better Rates 17:29 The Year Ahead for Banks and DeFi 17:48 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tomasz Stanczak

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this wide-ranging talk, Tomasz Stanczak, founder of Nethermind and now founder of Complete Robot (a fully owned Nethermind subsidiary, not a departure), explores robots and physical AI as a new asset class and where Ethereum fits. After two years talking about agentic AI, robots, and how Ethereum can coordinate agents and solve identity, he decided to actually build rather than tell people it is easy, and shares the harder but exciting realities. He surveys the landscape: AI agents, compute, and robotics (embodied or physical intelligence), agent-to-agent and machine-to-machine payments, agentic commerce as the most immediately implementable case, and onchain compute metering (referencing the Blockrun AI team from his HF0 residency in San Francisco). His own focus is machine-to-machine micropayments, fleet billing, and self-deployable businesses, imagining how a largely autonomous economy of agents and robots would need to be structured. Tomasz walks through robotics trends: a robot beating a human at package sorting (a robot runs 6,000 hours a year versus a human's 2,000), and the economics where robots make sense wherever their amortized cost per hour undercuts expensive human labor, opening questions about insurance, regulation, financing, and operating robotic fleets as yield-generating asset classes. He notes China leads in absolute deployed industrial robots while Korea, Singapore, Germany, and Japan lead in density, and describes the energetic re-industrialization movement he witnessed in Detroit (Newlab, BCON) and across the US and Europe. On blockchain-to-robot, he covers identity systems (World, Boop, the latter incubated at Nethermind), verifiable robot actions, training, and data collection amid cross-border mistrust of foreign-made robots, and yield tokenization treating robotic fleets as deployable yield businesses. He flags a friction: strong identity plus reputation reduces the need for micropayments (enabling subscriptions and credit), while micropayments minimize trust but raise KYC and AML problems at scale. He observes that centralized players like Tesla often strip the decentralization from crypto's visions while shipping the same product, discusses DePIN precedents like Helium and their incentive misalignments, and covers stablecoin-backed debt like USD.AI backed by GPU (and potentially robot) fleets. He closes on tokenized real assets enabling on-demand fleet deployment, heavy regulation ahead, growing token use from physical AI, X2X adoption needing layer-2 scaling, and his focus on recursive autonomous capital allocation. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Founding Complete Robot Under Nethermind 00:33 Two Years on Agentic AI and Robots 00:58 Why He Decided to Build Instead of Talk 01:33 The Landscape: Agents, Compute, and Robotics 02:10 Machine-to-Machine Payments and Self-Deployable Businesses 02:41 Imagining a Fully Autonomous Economy 03:05 The Robot That Beat a Human at Sorting 03:53 The Economics of Robot vs Human Labor 04:25 Robotic Fleets as an Asset Class 05:22 Robotic Density Around the World 05:48 The Potential in North American Robotics 06:36 The Re-Industrialization of Detroit 07:26 Why People Must Meet to Build Physically 09:01 Blockchain to Robots: Identity Systems 09:22 Verifiable Robot Actions and Cross-Border Mistrust 10:29 Yield Tokenization of Robotic Fleets 11:00 The Friction Between Identity and Micropayments 11:50 Why Micropayments Raise KYC and AML Problems 12:40 How Tesla Strips Decentralization From Crypto Visions 13:33 Where Decentralized Fleets Could Work 14:30 Lessons From DePIN Projects Like Helium 15:14 The Unfairness in Tokenized Solutions 15:40 Stablecoin-Backed Debt Like USD.AI 16:08 Tokenized Real Assets and On-Demand Fleets 16:38 The Permissionless Vision vs Heavy Regulation 17:12 Why Physical AI Grows Token Use 17:38 Compute vs Money at the Energy Level 18:35 The Growing Adoption of X2X 19:13 Carrying Blockchain DNA Into Agents and Robots 19:46 Closing: Recursive Autonomous Deployment _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Demetrios Skalkotos from Blockdaemon walks through what it takes to provide institutional ETH staking infrastructure for the traditional finance and institutional space. He argues the question is no longer whether to stake (that was settled 24 months ago) but who to trust and how to find a partner to scale with. He introduces Blockdaemon as an 8-year-old infrastructure company, an OG that started with dedicated nodes and an RPC API business, then grew into staking across 70+ chains and protocols, MPC wallet technology, and DeFi infrastructure, and now represents roughly 5% of the overall ETH staking market. He frames Ethereum as having crossed a major institutional adoption threshold: structurally different from Bitcoin, it builds an economy on yield and cash flow, producing a treasury asset for appreciation, not just price exposure. He cites over $500 million in ETF adoption, around 200 publicly traded DATs (36 Ethereum-focused, about 20% of the market) holding roughly 7 million staked ETH, and total staked assets approaching 40 million (about 32% of supply), all growing steadily even outside a bull market. Demetrios lays out the five categories institutions probe: security posture, compliance, liquidity, yield and slashing protection, and 24/7/365 operational service. On operator security, he stresses the operator should never touch or access private keys, which stay in a secure enclave, with policy-based access at the KMS layer and MPC ensuring no single operator holds signing authority, mirroring TradFi's evolution from dealer discretion to programmatic policy enforcement. He covers OFAC-compliant MEV-boost relay screening applied by default (not pushed onto clients), and certifications including ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2, and SOC 1 Type 1. On liquidity, he counsels clients through entry and exit queues, recommending a 10 to 20% unstake buffer and partnering with prime brokerage and lending providers as a home-equity-line-style facility for unforeseen queue spikes. On yield, Blockdaemon contractually guarantees 100% slashing and double-signing insurance (not best efforts) and shows consistent outperformance of the average blended rate amid yield and MEV compression. He emphasizes the full-stack advantage of eliminating vendor fragmentation (every vendor seam is a compliance gap and attack surface) via a single provider, SLA, and master services agreement. He closes projecting staked ETH could approach 50% of supply within three years, with institutions the primary driver, and reiterates Blockdaemon's scale: over $10 billion staked under custody, 70+ chains, and 99.9% uptime. 00:00 Introduction 00:33 Not Whether to Stake, but Who to Trust 00:43 Who Blockdaemon Is 01:24 Ethereum at an Institutional Crossroads 01:53 ETF Adoption and Publicly Traded DATs 02:25 How Much of the Supply DATs Represent 02:56 Structural Growth Beyond the Bull Market 03:20 The Opportunity in Continuous Growth 03:28 The Five Categories Institutions Probe 04:28 The Operator's Security Posture 04:51 Why the Operator Should Never Touch Keys 05:41 OFAC-Compliant Screening by Default 06:04 Certifications and Controls 06:55 Counseling Clients on Entry and Exit Queues 07:30 The 10 to 20% Unstake Buffer 07:44 Bringing In Prime Brokers and Lending 08:40 Protecting and Maximizing Production 08:50 100% Slashing and Double Signing Insurance 09:34 Consistent Performance Above Average 10:18 Why Yield Compression Raises the Stakes 10:50 The Full Stack Advantage 11:13 Why Vendor Fragmentation Is a Compliance Gap 11:39 Reducing Vendor Footprint for Institutions 12:04 The Value of a Single Provider Relationship 12:26 Where the Industry Is Heading 12:59 The ETF Flywheel in Motion 13:30 Projecting 50% of Supply Staked 13:52 ETH as a Dominant Institutional Asset 14:26 The Validator Economy and MEV Compression 14:53 Bringing It All Home 16:19 Blockdaemon's Scale and Track Record 16:50 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Hart Montgomery

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Hart Montgomery from the LFDT (Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust) explains why open source matters for institutional adoption, sharing lessons from the Linux Foundation. He covers open source background, table-stakes items institutions expect (software licensing, IP protections, and security best practices), and open governance. He pushes back on the perception, common in the blockchain community, that open source is purely a cypherpunk ideal championed by Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation. In reality open source is everywhere: even in a typical closed-source enterprise codebase, around 90% of a modern application is open source, assembled as an open source hamburger of frameworks, custom glue code, and libraries. He describes the virtuous flywheel where open source projects power commercial products whose profits flow back into the projects, amplified when a real community forms (illustrated by Kubernetes, where Google's share of contributions shrank proportionally even as its absolute contributions grew). The Linux Foundation exists to solve collaboration when multiple parties want shared code but trust no single owner, and it hosts many Ethereum projects including Besu (around 15 to 20% of mainnet). Hart walks through the table stakes. On licensing, he covers three types: BSL (source-available, not truly open source, like Arbitrum Nitro), copyleft (requires derivative works be made public, principled but commercially hard since companies fear forced disclosure), and permissive (do-what-you-want, easiest for adoption), recommending Apache 2 for its explicit patent grants and warning about dependency pitfalls like LGPL. On IP protections, he explains contributors may add code with patent restrictions, which is why the Linux Foundation created the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO), and urges every project to use a DCO or CLA. On security, he highlights vulnerability disclosure, software bills of materials (SBOMs) to track dependencies (citing a Black Duck audit where 81% of codebases had high-risk or critical vulnerabilities), and artifact signing via tools like Sigstore against impersonation, plus AI contributor policies and OpenSSF resources like the scorecard for verifiability. He closes on governance, distinguishing open source (code), open development (building in the open), and open governance (transparent roles and roadmap), ranging from a code dump to open product to benevolent dictatorship to true open governance (a do-ocracy where those who do decide). He argues institutions are far more likely to adopt openly governed projects since it avoids vendor lock-in and signals long-term health. 00:00 Introduction 00:34 What the Talk Will Cover 00:58 Why Open Source Is Not Just Cypherpunk 01:30 The Open Source Hamburger 01:54 The Value of Open Source to Enterprises 02:20 The Virtuous Flywheel of Open Source 02:46 The Kubernetes Community Example 03:19 Why the Linux Foundation Exists 03:39 The Breadth of the Linux Foundation 04:38 The Ethereum Projects at the LF 05:06 Why Institutions Trust Open Source 05:27 Defining Open Source Software 05:48 The Three Types of Licenses 06:11 BSL: Source Available, Not Open Source 06:37 Copyleft Licenses and Their Caveats 07:31 Permissive Licenses and Apache 2 08:19 Common Licensing Pitfalls 09:08 Other Legal and IP Protections 09:33 The Risk of Patent Lawsuits 09:58 The Developer Certificate of Origin 10:50 Moving On to Security 11:10 The Open Source Security Foundation 11:40 Making Bug Reporting Easy 12:32 The Software Supply Chain Problem 12:53 Why 81% of Codebases Have Vulnerabilities 13:30 Software Bills of Materials 13:58 Minimizing Dependencies 14:17 Signing and Authenticating Artifacts 14:37 AI and Security 15:34 Why Verifiability Matters 15:57 Talking About Governance 16:27 Open Source vs Development vs Governance 17:12 Four Categories of Governance 17:44 From Benevolent Dictatorship to Open Governance 18:32 Why Open Governance Wins Adoption 19:15 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jan Gorzny

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Jan Gorzny from Zircuit discusses how to bring institutional adoption from Wall Street onto Ethereum, focusing not on ZK but on the barriers institutions and their users face and how crypto-native solutions can overcome them. He motivates the case by cataloging the pain points of TradFi: it is good but not great, with poor settlement efficiency, a lack of transparency (you rarely know who you are dealing with at a bank), and costs and difficulty that scale as you become the institution itself, since it is an old industry not optimized for the last 20 to 30 years of technology, with heavily siloed money. On chain solves much of this: fast and improving settlement, 24/7 trading regardless of bank hours, strong transparency (a double-edged sword given weak default privacy), programmable money enabling automated trading and looping, and composability across asset classes. He argues the value proposition is real, and while early banking-the-unbanked adoption was slow, RWAs and stablecoins have blown up, with FX and other services now being piloted on chain. Jan walks through the barriers. First, regulatory uncertainty: unclear asset classifications, cross-border complications, and technical risks like recurring smart contract exploits (worsened by a bad first quarter) where you cannot simply patch decentralized code, so institutions avoid it not from misunderstanding but because their lawyers will not sign off. Second, infrastructure and chain fragmentation, with around 131 rollups as of last October creating hard choices about which chain, oracle, and bridge to use and forcing new, modular, redundant DApp designs rather than the cookie-cutter patterns of 2022. Third, permissionlessness as a genuine trade-off, where censorship resistance and transparency clash with the whitelisting and controls institutions need. He surveys emerging solutions: permissioned DeFi with KYC and whitelisting, RWA token standards like ERC-3643 and ERC-1400, ZK-based KYC that validates a passport without revealing it, customizable L2s, and safer bridge standards like OFTs and CCIP. He advises builders to design for modularity, understand their trust model, and engage regulators early, and notes users now face far more complex due diligence and unpredictable yield, arguing uncertainty is risk. He closes on his preference for predictable DeFi and Zircuit's product targeting 8 to 11% yield on USDC and USDT with no management fees or minimums, built to work with Wall Street and institutional partners. 00:00 Introduction 00:33 The Barriers Wall Street Faces On Chain 00:52 The Pain Points of Traditional Finance 01:20 Why Costs Scale for Institutions 01:45 Why Money Is So Siloed 02:13 How On Chain Solves These Problems 02:34 Transparency and Programmable Money 03:11 Why the Value Proposition Is Real 03:32 From Banking the Unbanked to Real Adoption 03:44 How RWAs and Stablecoins Blew Up 04:06 Piloting Other TradFi Services On Chain 04:38 Why We Have Only Scratched the Surface 04:56 Why Builders Must Start Agile 05:14 The First Barrier: Regulatory Uncertainty 05:40 Unclear Classifications and Cross-Border Issues 06:02 Why You Cannot Just Fix Exploited Code 06:26 Why Lawyers Will Not Sign Off 06:50 The Second Barrier: Infrastructure and Fragmentation 07:22 Choosing Among 131 Rollups 07:41 Standards, Oracles, and Bridges 08:07 Why the Cookie-Cutter DApp Era Is Over 08:28 Why New DApps Need Redundancy 09:08 The Third Barrier: Permissionlessness 09:30 Choosing Which Permissionlessness Matters 09:59 Emerging Solutions: Permissioned DeFi 10:13 RWA Token Standards Like ERC-3643 and 1400 10:28 ZK-Based KYC With a Passport Scan 10:44 Building Your Own Customizable L2 10:59 How Bridges Have Come a Long Way 11:17 Tokens Built With Legal Barriers in Mind 11:37 What This Means for Builders 11:56 What This Means for Users 12:28 Why Uncertainty Is Risk 12:47 The Case for Predictable DeFi 12:59 Zircuit's Product for Wall Street 13:13 Targeting 8 to 11% Yield With No Fees 13:54 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale (the world's largest digital assets focused fund manager), lays out how his team thinks about investing for the tokenization vision and why Ethereum is well positioned to capture it. He notes Grayscale's history of Ethereum firsts (one of the first ETH investment products and ETFs, the first to stake tokens in its Ethereum ETF, and the first to pay out staking rewards), and pushes back on the current despair over ETH's price. He defines tokenization as extending public blockchain's peer-to-peer digital finance into capital markets: instead of a security trade routing through broker, exchange, clearing house, custodian, and transfer agent, a tokenized trade settles cash for asset in a single peer-to-peer smart contract transaction, removing intermediaries and gaining efficiencies. Zach shows tokenized assets have grown from near zero to the $20 to $30 billion range and diversified across tokenized treasuries (the largest category), public fixed income, equities, private credit and equity, commodities like gold, and real estate. Yet this is only about one basis point of global equity and bond market cap, making tokenization a 10-to-30-year mega trend still at its very beginning. He frames a spectrum of network architectures: institution-centric designs like Canton (mirroring today's financial system, lower near-term onboarding friction, near-term success), open architecture networks like Ethereum (bigger onboarding frictions and unfinished privacy and identity solutions, but general purpose, global, and more long-term upside), and hybrids like Avalanche and Ethereum L2s. He argues Ethereum has the right architecture and leads on tokenized assets, stablecoin supply and transactions, and DeFi TVL, while Canton, Solana, and BNB lead on certain niche measures. On value accrual, he presents data showing bigger blockchains mean higher token value, using hard-to-game transaction fees and TVL, with Ethereum, BNB, Solana, and Tron standing apart and evidence of a nonlinear network-effect premium for the largest networks (Ethereum dominant on assets). He closes predicting the Clarity Act will pass and accelerate tokenization, framing it as a rising tide that lifts all boats where Ethereum is the biggest boat and the anchor asset no sensible institutional portfolio built around tokenization should skip, though diversifying into smaller boats can make sense too. 00:00 Introduction 00:31 Who Grayscale Is 00:59 Grayscale's History of Ethereum Firsts 01:52 Why the Price Despair Is Surprising 02:15 How Grayscale Thinks About Tokenization 02:39 What Is Tokenization 02:59 Peer-to-Peer Finance on Public Blockchains 03:24 Applying Peer-to-Peer to Capital Markets 03:54 Removing the Chain of Intermediaries 04:24 Where Tokenization Is Today 04:46 The Diverse Set of Tokenized Assets 05:06 Tokenized Commodities and Gold 05:40 Why This Is Only One Basis Point 06:06 Why Tokenization Is a 30-Year Mega Trend 06:32 Comparing Network Architectures 06:58 Institution-Centric Networks Like Canton 07:49 Open Architecture Networks Like Ethereum 08:14 The Onboarding Frictions vs Long-Term Upside 08:32 Why Ethereum Is a Global Project 08:58 Hybrid Architectures in the Middle 09:20 Why Ethereum Has the Right Architecture 09:45 Ethereum in the Leadership Position 10:02 Where Other Networks Lead 10:52 What This Means for the Price 11:18 Why Bigger Blockchains Mean Higher Value 11:51 Two Ways to Measure Finance 12:11 Why Fees Are the Best Metric 12:54 The Four Transaction Leaders 13:15 Evidence of a Nonlinear Value Premium 13:40 Measuring by Assets and TVL 14:02 Why Ethereum Dominates on Assets 14:25 Why Bigger May Get More Valuable Faster 14:46 No Need to Despair 15:11 Why the Clarity Act Will Accelerate This 15:47 A Rising Tide That Lifts All Boats 16:11 Why Ethereum Is the Biggest Boat 16:37 The Anchor Asset for Tokenization 16:59 Why Diversifying Into Smaller Boats Helps 17:18 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Adam Wozney, senior director of global community at Circle, sits down with Sam Tabar, CEO of Bit Digital and White Fiber, to discuss the state of Ethereum, how TradFi is entering the space, and how physical infrastructure is evolving to power it all. An Oxford and Columbia law graduate and former attorney, Sam leads two publicly traded companies bridging the digital and physical worlds through Ethereum staking and AI high performance computing infrastructure. He opens by reflecting on following intuition over pure logic (a lesson from his tarot-reading mother and car-mechanic father), noting he was a poor lawyer before pivoting to finance. On Ethereum, Sam argues the money frame was always the wrong one. Bitcoin is the mother coin with first-mover advantage but is simply a store of value competing with the roughly $16 trillion gold market, while Ethereum is programmable money that competes with the entire financial system by removing middlemen and friction through smart contracts. He views ETH as a utility settlement layer and watches settlement and development activity as his key metrics, noting a favorable gap between strong fundamentals and current price. He predicts a generational shift as boomer decision-makers who resisted crypto give way to Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z who have normalized it, eventually making crypto a responsible part of family office portfolios and an inflation hedge superior to gold. He distinguishes Bit Digital as a strategic asset company rather than a digital asset treasury: rather than just shoving ETH on a shell balance sheet, Bit Digital sold all its Bitcoin to go all in on Ethereum, holds around 158,000 ETH which it stakes, owns 70% of NASDAQ-listed White Fiber (an AI data center company serving clients like Cerebras and Nscale with billion-dollar contracts), and lends against its ETH to finance White Fiber's buildout for alpha positioning. He frames AI as the third catalyst of the industrial revolution after electricity and the internet, describes the White Fiber IPO as the best day of his life, and closes predicting Wall Street has already chosen Ethereum as its programmable money horse though it is not yet priced in, plus a lightning round where he names government surveillance as his biggest AI fear. 00:00 Introduction 00:26 Setting the Stage: Finance, Networks, and Scale 00:48 Meet Sam Tabar 01:25 A Get to Know You Question 01:40 Growing Up With a Mechanic and a Tarot Reader 02:15 Logic vs Intuition in Leadership 03:03 Why Following Intuition Matters 03:31 Leaving Law to Follow Intuition 04:19 Why the Money Frame Is Wrong for Ethereum 04:57 Bitcoin as a Store of Value vs Gold 05:19 The Generational Shift in Portfolio Construction 06:08 Why Crypto Will Enter Family Offices 06:34 Ethereum as Programmable Money 06:58 Removing Middlemen and Friction 07:21 Ethereum as a Utility Settlement Layer 07:49 Conflating ETH Price and the Settlement Layer 08:10 Why Boomer Resistance Will Fade 08:48 From Bitcoin Mining to 158,000 Ethereum 09:29 Strategic Asset Company vs Digital Asset Treasury 10:08 Going All In on Ethereum 10:28 Taking Digital Tomatoes From Bitcoin Maxis 10:49 How the Strategic Asset Model Works 11:08 The ChatGPT Eureka Moment 11:50 Why AI Runs on Data Centers 12:23 Building Data Centers for Cerebras and Nscale 12:46 Why It Is Called White Fiber 13:12 How Bit Digital Owns 70% of White Fiber 13:43 Lending Against ETH to Finance Data Centers 14:05 Why This Is an Alpha Posture 14:19 What the NASDAQ Launch Day Was Like 14:49 Building Something That Outlasts You 15:04 Why He Would Not Recommend an IPO 15:32 Where Ethereum Goes Next Year 15:59 Why Wall Street Has Already Chosen Ethereum 16:23 Performing Regardless of ETH Direction 16:53 The Third Catalyst of the Industrial Revolution 17:24 The Lightning Round 17:36 Bitcoin or Ethereum 17:52 The Biggest Threat From AI 18:25 Secured or Unsecured Debt 18:32 Oxford or Columbia 19:47 Financial Data or Tarot Cards 20:00 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Dan Ugolini, co-founder of Rysk, explains how his team is building the infrastructure for onchain volatility markets after years of learning why options historically do not work in DeFi. Having spent five or six years obsessed with building options, he came to agree with the common pushback that options do not work in DeFi, because each approach faces hard challenges. Order book exchanges like the perps model need a separate order book for every strike, expiry, and asset (hundreds of order books versus one for a perp), so only a few stay liquid and liquidity costs are high. Options vaults packaged systematic yield strategies but were too easy to front run and mostly died. OTC trading through option desks works but is opaque, gated, and manual, much like TradFi. Rysk's own beautiful but complex V1 targeted sophisticated options traders and failed with no users and no TVL. The key lesson was that focusing on the option itself was wrong: the option is not the product, the product is what you get out of it. Speculation is better served by perps or prediction markets, but the underappreciated use case is generating income from option strategies, which perps and prediction markets cannot do. So Rysk rebuilt from scratch as a primitive for income generation targeting anyone holding an asset rather than traders, using an RFQ system where option desks price a two-second auction for the best price, with on-chain settlement and fully collateralized positions (no liquidations, no rehypothecation, composable, collateral locked in the smart contract rather than sent to the counterparty). The redesigned UI lets a user simply choose what price they are willing to sell ETH at on a future date. He shares that TVL drops every Friday by design as positions settle and capital returns, yet the trend grows with a 90% retention rate, since users understand the single use case. Institutions are now using Rysk to run their own structured and ETF-like products, drawn by full transparency and no counterparty or credit risk while still trading with selected counterparties permissionlessly. He frames Rysk as evolving into infrastructure and a liquidity layer for volatility and structured products on any asset, just deployed on Ethereum mainnet (with gold collateral coming next week), chosen as the neutral, trusted, asset-rich home. He closes on the pillars of trust minimization, no intermediaries, no counterparty risk, and accessibility for anyone, not just sophisticated traders. 00:00 Introduction 00:37 Why Options Don't Work in DeFi 00:57 The Challenges of Building Options 01:16 Why Order Book Exchanges Struggle 01:43 Why Only a Few Order Books Stay Liquid 02:02 Why Options Vaults Died 02:26 The OTC Alternative and Its Problems 02:40 Rysk's V1 and Why It Failed 03:20 The Key Lesson: The Option Is Not the Product 03:36 Why Speculators Use Perps and Prediction Markets 03:53 The Overlooked Income Use Case 04:15 Targeting Asset Holders, Not Traders 04:35 Rebuilding as an Income Primitive 04:56 The RFQ System and On-Chain Collateral 05:14 Why Collateral Should Be Safe and Composable 05:32 Redesigning the UI for Simplicity 06:05 How the Covered Call Instrument Works 06:36 Why Collateral Is Locked in the Contract 06:57 Why TVL Drops Every Friday by Design 07:28 The 90% Retention Rate 07:51 Maximum Flexibility With Full Transparency 08:07 Why No Bridging Is Needed 08:28 Remembering the Crypto Ethos 08:56 Why Institutions Use Rysk for Transparency 09:16 Why Not to Take Shortcuts in DeFi 09:39 How Institutions Trade With Selected Counterparties 10:00 Building an Entire New Infrastructure 10:30 Institutions Running Structured Products 10:52 A Liquidity Layer for Volatility Products 11:30 Why It Is Built on Ethereum Mainnet 11:56 Why Ethereum Is the Natural Home 12:25 Enabling Volatility on Any Asset 12:44 Why Trust Minimization Matters 13:04 The Pillars of the Product 14:02 Why Accessibility Is the Whole Point 14:21 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Jill Malandrino sits down with Andrew McCormick on his third day in a newly created head of institutional adoption role at Chainlink Labs, after nearly two decades inside trading and capital markets, most recently running a NASDAQ listed US brokerage. Andrew, who has been with Ethereum since 2015 (introduced by his dad and his enthusiasm for YouTube videos on it), explains why he left the operator seat at firms like eToro, E*Trade, and Morgan Stanley to build infrastructure now. Inspired partly by his four kids and the Mario Brothers plumbing theme, he says that after 15 years helping people navigate the plumbing of finance, he wants to build and fix it himself, and chose Chainlink Labs because it is the connective infrastructure between traditional finance and blockchain, working with firms like DTCC, UBS, and SWIFT. Andrew explains where onchain makes the most obvious difference: not just efficiency and speed, but freedom, through faster settlement. He shares a personal aha moment when moving houses from DC to New York, where a simple wire took four days, many calls, and a $35 fee, illustrating that money still doesn't move as well as it should. He walks through the settlement evolution from T+3 to T+1 to the dream of T+0, where tokenized assets moving near instantaneously via Chainlink verification reduce risk and collateral requirements while getting users their money faster. He describes his three-part role: helping firms already building (UBS, SWIFT, DTCC, JP Morgan) go deeper, educating institutions ready to start, and educating financial analysts and research writers, drawing on his lifelong passion for teaching. He identifies three blockers to tokenization: regulatory clarity (where the Clarity Act would help enormously), trust and confidence (built each time a firm like DTCC or SWIFT launches with Chainlink), and education. On the Clarity Act, he contrasts today's reliance on 1930s laws, a 1946 Supreme Court orange-grove case, and 50 differing states with a statute purpose-built for the use case. He points to signals of genuine institutional adoption (banks moving on chain, the wave of head-of-digital-assets hires, and more educational events), and closes framing Chainlink as the link connecting blockchains and TradFi, noting the builders and believers led the way and institutions are now following. 00:00 Introduction 00:33 Why Leave the Operator Seat to Build Infrastructure 00:52 With Ethereum Since 2015 01:17 15 Years Inside Regulated Institutions 01:47 The Mario Brothers Plumbing Inspiration 02:04 Why Chainlink Labs 02:27 Where Onchain Makes the Most Difference 02:56 Freedom and Faster Settlement 03:13 The Four-Day Wire Transfer Aha Moment 03:37 From T+3 to T+1 to the Dream of T+0 04:16 The Gap the New Role Fills 04:35 Helping Firms Already Building 05:01 Educating Institutions Ready to Start 05:22 Why Education Is in His Soul 06:00 What Keeps Institutions From Moving Real Money 06:00 Three Blockers: Clarity, Trust, Education 06:27 How Each DTCC or SWIFT Launch Builds Trust 06:46 From Confusion to Skepticism to Excitement 07:33 Why Trillions Are Still Waiting to Move 07:53 What the Clarity Act Could Unlock 08:27 Why Institutions Love Certainty 08:53 Building on 1930s Laws and Orange Trees 09:16 Why a Purpose-Built Statute Matters 09:42 Signals That Institutional Adoption Is Real 10:09 Why Banks Moving On Chain Signals More to Come 10:27 The Wave of Head-of-Digital-Assets Hires 11:07 Why Education Keeps Pushing the Industry 11:26 How Industry Hiring Signals Maturation 11:55 Focusing on User Experience and Policy 12:24 Why the Foundation Will Pay Dividends 12:46 Innovating in the Absence of a Statute 13:11 A Pivotal Moment to Tell the Interconnectivity Story 13:38 Why the Community Gets Chainlink 13:57 Builders and Believers Led the Way 14:24 Day Four: What Excites Him Most 14:48 Education as His Way to Teach 15:07 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Ayesha Kiani interviews her boss Shiliang Tang of Monarq Asset Management, after seven years working together, on all things markets and Ethereum. They open on how Ethereum has quietly become the settlement layer enabling 24/7 global markets. Shiliang draws a key distinction between trading and settlement: forex markets already trade 24/7, but settlement still depends on traditional banking, SWIFT messages, and windows that take one to two days, whereas Ethereum settlement is instant and final by definition. In practice this means trillions of dollars in stablecoin transfers annually, anyone worldwide accessing markets 24/7, and tokenized collateral becoming fungible and transferable on a Saturday, unlocking capital efficiency. On institutional interest in tokenizing real world assets, money market funds, treasuries, and private credit, Shiliang ranks the drivers as settlement first, then programmability and composability, then 24/7 trading, pending regulatory clarity from the Clarity Act. He highlights the underappreciated repo market (trillions of dollars at the foundation of capital markets, central to the 2008 crisis and the 2019 repo rate spike) as a huge opportunity, since instant movement of good collateral solves the bottleneck of collateral not reaching margin calls fast enough. He discusses CME, NYSE, and others moving to 24/7 amid a mix of public and private chains, the winners (global retail) and losers (settlement and margin-calculation industries built around market open and close), and how AI and agentic trading could level the playing field for retail. He argues traditional features like circuit breakers and FCMs are not bugs but hard-won guardrails crypto is now learning it needs after events like October 10th and leverage looping hacks, envisioning a blend where guardrails live in trading while settlement goes on-chain. On regulation, he describes perimeter enforcement: regulating the edges (stablecoin issuers as narrow banks, custodians, prime brokers, on- and off-ramps, whitelisted wallets) rather than permissionless protocols themselves. He names the repo market and non-US-dollar stablecoins as the liquid products he most wants on Ethereum, argues Ethereum should dominate settlement even as payments and trading fragment to faster chains, and closes hoping the community moves past its price fixation toward use cases, like a mature commodity that cycles up and down rather than only up. 00:00 Introduction 00:50 What 24/7 Global Markets Look Like in Practice 01:15 Trading vs Settlement: The Key Distinction 01:54 Trillions in Stablecoin Transfers 02:39 What Is Driving Institutional Interest 03:17 Why the Clarity Act Would Unlock Participation 03:37 Ranking the Drivers: Settlement First 03:55 The Underappreciated Repo Market Opportunity 04:40 How Collateral Bottlenecks Cause Crises 05:12 Composability and Instant Collateral Movement 05:41 Is TradFi Moving to 24/7 Markets 06:19 A Mix of Public and Private Blockchains 06:48 The Winners and Losers of 24/7 Markets 07:28 How AI Trading Levels the Playing Field for Retail 08:11 Liquidations at 3 AM on a Sunday 08:47 Why Traditional Guardrails Are Features, Not Bugs 09:29 What Crypto Is Learning From TradFi 10:04 Blending Guardrails With On-Chain Settlement 11:09 Educating Senators on DeFi 11:37 How Regulators Approach Permissionless Networks 12:10 Regulating the Edges: Issuers and Custodians 12:49 How to Regulate a Protocol With No Central Entity 13:13 Perimeter Enforcement Like the Internet 13:53 Regulating Whitelisted Wallets and Tokenized Assets 14:26 Will Ethereum Stay Dominant or Fragment 14:45 One Liquid Markets Product to See on Ethereum 15:11 Why the Repo Market Is the Answer 15:40 The Case for Non-Dollar Stablecoins 16:11 Why Ethereum Dominates DeFi 16:48 Why Ethereum Should Focus on Settlement 17:23 Closing Thoughts on the Next Cycle 17:52 Why the Industry Fixates Too Much on Price 18:30 Ethereum as a Mature Commodity With Cycles 19:18 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Chris Perkins from 250 Digital Asset Management sits down with Maxime Seiler from STS Digital to unpack why crypto feels like such a strange market: record institutional excitement and progress like the Clarity Act, yet weak prices. Maxime explains that over the last two years a strong decoupling has taken place, where capital flows into infrastructure, M&A, and the rails that let institutions upgrade legacy settlement, trading, and clearing into 24/7 systems, rather than into tokens. Every major traditional institution now has a hands-on digital asset strategy building permissionless blockchain infrastructure, and he expects the token-level recoupling is only a matter of time. Chris likens it to the 2016-2017 era at Citi when the story was that the technology was amazing but the tokens were garbage. Maxime argues the missing piece is value accruing to token holders: many projects launched tokens and shipped products, but adoption flows diverged from investor flows, with steady supply pushing prices down. Without clarity on how residual business cash flows back to holders (the equity investor's basic dividend-yield question), capital has migrated out of crypto into AI stocks. On AI, he frames intelligence as having become a commodity deployed to build, while blockchain is the settlement rail and AI the intelligence layer, with recoupling coming when commoditized intelligence starts transacting value between agents on the new 24/7 infrastructure. As a leading options market maker across 400+ tokens, STS sees retail traders migrating to AI equities, a post-October slowdown, and participants now accepting a sideways rather than bull market, selling rallies and buying dips while institutions sell options for yield, compressing ranges in a self-reinforcing slow grind. He predicts the era of all boats rising is over, replaced by a token-picking era with more dispersion based on real adoption and TVL growth. He covers the two sides of structured products (institutions harvesting yield, and wealth managers building tailored products offering Bitcoin upside with limited downside), how binary options price similarly to prediction markets (where STS is active on crypto outcomes but not unhedgeable real-world ones), and closes that slow markets are for building and reward patient investors. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 A Weird Time for Crypto: Excitement vs Prices 00:30 What Is Going On With the Macro 01:32 The Decoupling Into Infrastructure and M&A 02:02 Why Capital Flows Into Building, Not Tokens 02:36 Are We in the Max Blockchain, Not Bitcoin Era 02:57 The 2016 Citi Story: Great Tech, Garbage Tokens 03:30 Is This the Endgame or a Cycle Back to Tokens 04:07 Why Product Flows Diverged From Investor Flows 04:54 Why Tokens Need Real Value Accrual 05:29 The Basic Dividend Yield Question 05:59 Why Capital Migrated to AI Stocks 06:21 Is AI Competing With Crypto for Capital 06:44 Why AI and Crypto Are Symbiotic Long Term 07:08 Intelligence as a Commodity 07:31 Blockchain as Rails, AI as the Intelligence Layer 08:30 When Agents Start Transacting Value 08:58 How AI Is Impacting the Market Maker Business 09:45 Retail Traders Migrating to AI Equities 10:10 The Post-October Mindset Shift 10:42 Why the Market Turned Range-Bound 11:26 How Selling Options Compresses the Range 11:52 Why Slow Markets Slow Markets Further 12:09 What Could Catalyze a Change 12:46 Why the All-Boats-Rise Era Is Over 13:15 The Coming Token-Picking Era 13:51 Why Fundamentals Will Find Value 14:44 Two Types of Structured Product Clients 15:29 Growth in Systematic Yield Strategies 15:56 Wealth Managers Building Tailored Exposure 16:27 Bitcoin Upside With Limited Downside 16:49 Integrating Prediction Markets 17:11 Why Options Add a Non-Binary Dimension 17:34 Why Binary Options Price Like Prediction Markets 17:57 Why Real-World Outcomes Are Not Hedgeable 18:28 How the Market Evolves Over 6 to 12 Months 19:01 Why Slow Markets Are for Building 19:55 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this more technical talk, Greg Swirski from Reilabs explains how his team solved the Keccak bottleneck in zero knowledge SNARKs. He opens by grounding zero knowledge cryptography, often called the future of Ethereum and blockchain scaling, in three concrete uses. First, increasing transaction volume: today every Ethereum node must re-execute transactions to check they followed the rules, which caps throughput, but if validators only need to verify a proof rather than re-execute, the whole network can scale. Second, onboarding institutions safely through ZK-KYC, where you never upload passport data to a public chain but instead attest that you are not from a sanctioned country or are an accredited investor via a small proof revealing nothing else. Third, as volume and counterparties grow, private credit or risk scoring lets a party prove they have funds somewhere without revealing positions or strategies. The roadblock across all three is Keccak, the hash function Ethereum and every EVM chain uses to commit to blockchain state, which is fast on CPU but extremely expensive to prove inside ZK circuits, and far too entrenched to replace. Greg's key insight is that you almost never prove a single Keccak hash, always hundreds or thousands at once, and his team leveraged that to beat the state of the art. He shows why: modern ZKVMs spend around 40% of their time proving hidden Keccak hashes you never see in Solidity, storage proofs chain from block hash through state root to account to storage slot, and ZK-KYC wraps a fast but large STARK inner proof inside a tiny SNARK outer proof that must itself compute thousands of hashes. Whereas many use the ZK-friendly but CPU-slow Poseidon hash, their protocol Keccacheck lets you switch back to Keccak (about 10x faster than Poseidon on CPU) for roughly a 5x inner-proof improvement at small outer overhead. The approach builds on the GKR protocol, which expresses programs as polynomials and scales sublinearly (analogous to a GPU versus a CPU), but base GKR was too slow, so they custom-built every Keccak operation to run batch-wise across all instances at once. The result breaks even against a popular state of the art framework at roughly 16 to 32 Keccak instances and runs 10 to 30x faster at 200 to 500 instances. He closes on future applications like mobile proving where passport data never leaves your phone and privacy-preserving institutional ZK-KYC with on-chain agents, pointing to a blog post, white paper, and GitHub repo via QR code. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 A More Technical Talk 00:34 Who Works With ZK Circuits 00:55 Three Aspects of Zero Knowledge 01:03 Increasing Transaction Volume 01:25 From Re-Executing to Verifying Proofs 01:48 Onboarding Institutions With ZK-KYC 02:10 Attesting Without Revealing Passport Data 02:45 Private Credit and Risk Scoring 03:06 The Roadblock: Keccak 03:31 How Keccak Commits to State 03:56 Why Keccak Is Hard to Prove in ZK 04:18 Why We Cannot Just Replace It 04:43 The Key Insight: Proving Many Hashes at Once 05:07 Why We Always Deal With Many Instances 05:30 The Hidden Keccaks in Every Transaction 06:13 Proving Wallet Properties for Risk Scoring 06:33 Chaining Trust From Balance to Block Hash 07:00 The ZK-KYC Problem 07:27 Wrapping a STARK in a SNARK 08:11 Why the Outer Layer Needs Thousands of Hashes 08:35 The Hash Function Trade-Off 08:58 Poseidon vs Keccak 09:21 Introducing the Keccacheck Protocol 09:52 Building on the GKR Protocol 10:20 GKR and Sublinear Scaling 10:49 The CPU vs GPU Analogy 11:13 Applying GKR to Keccak 11:45 Why Base GKR Was Too Slow 12:17 Applying Operations Batch-Wise at Once 12:44 Breaking Even at 16 to 32 Instances 13:19 10 to 30x Faster at Scale 13:45 Still Room to Improve ZK Circuits 14:00 Accelerating Mobile Proving 14:19 Privacy-Preserving Institutional ZK-KYC 14:50 Where to Learn More 15:11 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar from ETHGlobal sits down with Katherine Wu, CEO of ENS Labs, to discuss the next era of ENS. Katherine explains that ENS launched in 2017 before NFTs, DeFi, L2s, account abstraction, and stablecoins existed, and that its smart contracts reflect a very different world. V2 is a ground-up rearchitecture of both the protocol and the front-end apps to meet users in a fast-changing, multi-chain industry. On the protocol side, V2 gives users maximal flexibility to design and set rules for their own namespaces in a world of stablecoins and L2s. On the app side, ENS is splitting its front end into two experiences: an Explorer for data nerds who want to see a name's full onchain history and footprint, and a simpler app for casual users who just want a profile. Katherine walks through the decision to abandon Namechain, ENS's planned own L2, which was not easy. The original motivation was sparing users the volatile, high mainnet gas fees of 2021 (she paid over $300 to register her name), but over the past year mainnet registration gas fell roughly 100x from around $5 to five cents, invalidating the core assumption. Since a name tied to identity needs the strongest security guarantees, and Ethereum L1 is the most secure chain with no downtime, they prioritized V2 on mainnet instead. She describes her role as CEO of an engineering-driven org, spanning finance, operations, and deep technical dives, and how working with the DAO forces user-first decisions (they put a first-ever price increase to a DAO vote and cannot unilaterally ship a protocol upgrade without token holder approval, a can't-be-evil design). She highlights ENS integration in PayPal and Venmo for sending stablecoins by username rather than a 0x address, arguing fintechs bringing users on chain cannot ship a 2017 UX. She previews V2 letting users pay for names with stablecoins or any ERC20 token, even starting the transaction on any L2 and settling on mainnet, and discusses years of good-faith relationship building with ICANN toward DNS compatibility (contrasting ENS with unrecognized alt-naming projects like .crypto that sit outside the internet root zone). She closes on the hardest part of building a trustless protocol with millions of users and owned assets: you cannot move fast and break the internet, and V2 is like ENS's version of the merge. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 The Next Era of ENS and Why V2 00:41 Why ENS Is Still Around Since 2017 01:07 How the Crypto World Has Changed 01:32 A World Before DeFi, L2s, and Stablecoins 02:04 The Big Features of V2 Over V1 02:33 Maximal Flexibility on the Protocol Side 02:56 Splitting the App Into Explorer and Normal 03:37 The Namechain Announcement 03:53 What Namechain Was and Its Goals 04:20 Maximizing Trustlessness 04:41 The $300 Gas Fee Problem of 2021 05:03 Why ENS Looked Into L2s 05:29 How Mainnet Gas Fell 100x 06:02 Why Security Guarantees Matter Most 06:21 Why Ethereum L1 Won 06:57 What the CEO of ENS Labs Actually Does 07:38 Why the Open Engineering Culture Matters 08:00 VC vs the Operating Side 08:22 How ENS Works With the DAO 08:53 Asking Users Before Raising Prices 09:29 Why Protocol Upgrades Need a Vote 09:53 The Can't-Be-Evil Design 10:13 ENS in PayPal and Venmo 10:57 Why Fintechs Integrated ENS for Stablecoins 11:51 The Security Case Against Raw Addresses 12:36 Why On-Chain Products Cannot Ship 2017 UX 12:59 Optimizing How You Pay for a Domain 13:15 Why ENS Was Not Built for ERC20 Payments 13:44 Buying an ENS Name With Any ERC20 Token 14:04 Starting the Transaction on Any L2 14:27 Compatibility With DNS and TLDs 14:59 Why ICANN Matters 15:37 Why Alt-Naming Projects Fall Outside the Root Zone 16:10 Years of Building Relationships With ICANN 16:58 The Hardest Part of Building Trustless Protocols 17:26 Why the Protocol Does Invisible Work 17:55 Why You Cannot Move Fast and Break the Internet 18:25 Designing for Every Edge Case 18:58 Why V2 Is ENS's Version of the Merge 19:16 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

David Hoffman

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, David Hoffman from Bankless sits down with Reid Simon from Figure to discuss how the company built one of the top 10 crypto assets by market cap through tokenized real world credit. Reid explains that Figure built quietly, creating a tokenization platform for HELOCs (home equity lines of credit), an esoteric consumer credit asset, now doing around $1.5 billion a month of natively tokenized HELOCs on the Provenance network, with TVL mirrored via CoinGecko for verifiability. Founded by Mike Cagney (also founder of SoFi), Figure operates as a capital light platform where about 380 partners plug into its tech stack for origination, credit decisioning, tokenization, trading, warehousing, and securitization across HELOCs, auto loans, residential transition, SMB, and inventory finance. Reid explains why Figure chose HELOCs: traditional mortgage origination costs banks around $11,000 to $12,000, making small equity loans unprofitable, so blockchain's cheaper rails unlocked lending banks could not provide. Once tokenized, the asset needed utility, so Figure built Democratized Prime, a borrow-lend market against AAA rated HELOCs paying around 6.5% with hourly liquidity, recently connected to DeFi via a Morpho launch enabling financing near SOFR. He describes the new buyers unlocked by public blockchains: TradFi buyers like pension funds and insurers who buy tokenized mortgages in monthly securitizations, DeFi curators who dig into the historical loan tape, and net new capital like Asian family offices who cannot otherwise access American consumer credit. He frames banks as the primary middleman being removed, citing a narrow banking thesis, and explains the margin benefits: financing on Morpho at around 4.4% versus Goldman's 6.7% warehouse rate is a meaningful accelerant. He covers why Morpho on Ethereum made sense after an MVP on Solana with Kamino (deeper liquidity, isolated markets, composability), how Figure charges 50 basis points but treats it as a flywheel rather than a profit center, and how competitors like Securitize and Superstate compete through value chain partnerships. He closes on expansion into auto loans, residential transition loans, and SMB and trade finance, projecting Figure's Ethereum and Morpho TVL to reach the billions by year end. 00:00 Introduction 00:07 How Figure Became a Top 10 Crypto Asset 00:41 $1.5 Billion a Month in Tokenized HELOCs 01:03 Mirroring TVL via CoinGecko for Verifiability 01:25 A 101 on the Figure Business 01:52 From Lender to a 380 Partner Platform 02:19 The Full Stack of Credit Assets 02:42 Beyond First-Generation Tokenized Assets 03:05 Why Tokenizing HELOCs Is Just One Piece 03:30 Why Figure Picked HELOCs as an Asset 03:49 Why Banks Could Not Provide Small Equity Loans 04:29 Why Tokenized Assets Need Utility 04:56 Democratized Prime Explained 05:27 Connecting HELOCs to DeFi via Morpho 05:46 The New Buyers Public Blockchains Unlock 06:06 Why RWA Tokens Struggle With Liquidity 06:26 TradFi Buyers of Tokenized Mortgages 06:50 Democratizing Access to Warehouse Finance 07:17 Are Banks the Middleman Being Removed 07:35 The Narrow Banking Thesis 08:19 Accessing 160 Billion in Stablecoins 08:40 Two Sources of New Capital 08:58 Success With DeFi Curators 09:48 Asian Family Offices Accessing US Credit 10:33 The Margin Impact of the Opportunity 10:49 Why Cheaper Financing Accelerates the Business 11:13 Financing on Morpho Below SOFR 11:49 A Whole New Product of Prime Borrowers 12:11 Why Morpho Was the Right Platform 12:37 Why Ethereum Over Solana for Scale 13:02 Is Morpho a Profit Center or Distribution 13:23 Why It Is a Flywheel, Not a Profit Center 13:53 What Competitors Are Learning 14:31 Competing Through Value Chain Partnerships 15:03 What Is Next: New Assets Coming On Chain 15:37 Auto Loans, Residential, and SMB Lending 16:06 Is the Model Unique or Scalable 16:40 The Two Keys to Success 17:31 Sizing the Assets on Ethereum and Morpho 17:58 Projecting Billions by Year End 18:21 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Nathan Freitas shares his opinion on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. Onion Browser is the Tor-endorsed free, open-source anti-censorship browser for Apple's iOS. https://onionbrowser.com https://github.com/OnionBrowser https://guardianproject.info Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org/projects/onion-browser/ #FundInternetFreedom

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Some truths are never meant to be seen. Around the world, ordinary people discover evidence of corruption, abuse, and wrongdoing. Speaking out can come with risks, but staying silent can come with consequences too. The Tor ecosystem supports open source tools that help sources, journalists, and human rights defenders securely share, preserve, and publish information that matters. Support the people and projects protecting truth online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Dr. Suelette Dreyfus & Morgan shares their opinion on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. Ricochet Refresh: Metadata-resistant instant messaging over Tor https://www.ricochetrefresh.net https://x.com/r2refresh Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org #FundInternetFreedom CORRIGENDA “Dr. Suelette Dreyfus”

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Cooper Quintin - Senior Staff Technologist, EFF & Founding Board Member of OpenArchive on #FundInternetFreedom shares his opinion on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. OpenArchive is a non-profit working with human rights defenders, journalists, and archivists worldwide to build easy-to-use, FLOSS mobile tools and resources to safeguard eyewitness media:: https://www.open-archive.org/ Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org #FundInternetFreedom

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Maria Xynou (Director of Strategic Engagement in the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. The Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) - a nonprofit organization that provides free software tools and open data to empower the public to monitor and respond to internet censorship worldwide: https://ooni.org Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org/projects/ooni/ https://internetfreedom.torproject.org #FundInternetFreedom

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

"The Adversary Is Always Watching: What Can We Learn From Communities Living Under Surveillance" by Ramy Raoof Halim [The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy This keynote is a personal reflection on what privacy means in practice for people living under surveillance, censorship, conflict, and political repression. Drawing from over fifteen years of work supporting civil society organizations, journalists, activists, and communities at risk across Africa, Southwest Asia, and other regions, the talk will explore how privacy moves beyond an individual right and becomes a condition for participation, safety, dignity, and democratic life. Rather than focusing primarily on technical solutions, the keynote will examine privacy through lived experience and the consequences of its absence. Ramy Raoof Halim is a renowned technologist, security researcher and advisor who works with human-rights defenders, activists communities, and journalists in high-risk environments worldwide. Over the last 15 years, he has contributed to numerous high-profile investigations of state-sponsored surveillance, cyberattacks, and censorship in different regions, as well as to civic litigation to hold governments, tech and telecom companies to account. Ramy has worked on digital security, threat research, and infrastructure resilience on behalf of organizations including the European Union, Open Technology Fund, Amnesty International, Citizen Lab, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. He also served on the board of the Tor Project from 2017-2021. He is currently a fellow with Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) focusing on surveillance and technology in the MENA region, examining how emerging technologies, spyware, and digital repression enable human rights abuses. His contributions have been internationally recognized, including with the 2023 Burke Distinguished Journalism Award, the 2017 Heroes of Human Rights and Communications Surveillance Award from Access Now, and the Deutsche Welle Bobs Award in 2016. He was named among the World Top 100 Info Security Influencers in 2016 by CISO Platform in India, and was featured in Newsweek’s Digital Power Index in 2012.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

“Perspectives on Neocypherpunk” fireside chat with Paul Dylan-Ennis [University College Dublin] and Rachel Rose O'Leary [DarkFi]. Contrasting the lunarpunk framing of "neocypherpunk," as coined by lunar_mining, with the more CROPS- focused implications of the term popularized by polar. Speakers Paul Dylan-Ennis — University College Dublin https://people.ucd.ie/paul.dylanennis X: https://x.com/dylanennis Rachel Rose O'Leary — DarkFi https://dark.fi/ X: https://x.com/rachel_rose_o Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

“Power, Protocols and Public Interests in Governing the Decentralized Web” panel discussion with Sebastian Vogelsang, Caroline Paulick-Thiel, Rose Regina Lawrence, Bariş Paksoy Moderated by: Will Scott This panel brings together strategists and builders working on decentralized governance from different angles. Caroline Paulick-Thiel, of Politics for Tomorrow, designs participatory processes that help public institutions navigate complex transformation, bringing a governance design lens to decentralization. Rose Regina Lawrence, of OpenArchive, trains frontline human rights defenders, bringing real-world experience on decentralization's role in securely archiving and verifying evidence for accountability. Sebastian Vogelsang, cofounder of Eurosky and creator of the Flashes app, builds decentralized social infrastructure on the AT Protocol, arguing Europe can reduce its dependence on Big Tech platforms through open protocols and distributed identity. Barış Paksoy brings an investigative journalism perspective from Correctiv, grounding the conversation in accountability and what decentralized systems mean for transparency in practice. Moderated by Will Scott of Protocol Labs, who brings a builder's perspective on decentralized infrastructure at scale, the panel will discuss what decentralized governance actually requires: not just new protocols, but new institutions, security practices, and accountability mechanisms that can hold up under real political and legal pressure. Panelists Sebastian Vogelsang — Eurosky, Flashes https://eurosky.social/ https://flashes.blue/ Caroline Paulick-Thiel — Politics for Tomorrow https://politicsfortomorrow.eu/ Rose Regina Lawrence — OpenArchive https://open-archive.org/ Barış Paksoy — CORRECTIV https://correctiv.org/ X: https://x.com/mbarispaksoy Moderated by Will Scott — Protocol Labs https://protocol.ai/ X: https://x.com/willscott Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/

Isabela Fernandes

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

20 years of the Tor Project: How an anonymity tool became public interest infrastructure Isabela Fernandes [Tor Executive Director] When Tor was founded in 2006, its mission sounded almost utopian: to advance human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free, open-source anonymity and privacy technologies. Two decades later, the mission hasn't changed — but the world has. Internet shutdowns and systemic censorship affected more than half the world's population in 2025, as governments tighten their grip on the technology people rely on for a free, open internet. Wikipedia In this talk, Isabela Fernandes, Executive Director since 2018, traces how a tool built by volunteers became civic infrastructure, relied on by everyone from human rights advocates bypassing surveillance and censorship to ordinary people just accessing the open web — all while staying true to a model built on collaboration and community rather than competition. She'll also look ahead: as shutdowns and censorship escalate globally, what does it take to keep anonymity infrastructure resilient, funded, and recognized not as a luxury, but as a public good. Speaker Isabela Fernandes — Tor Project https://www.torproject.org/ Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

“Stewarding Resilient, Free & Open Digital Infrastructures” Xavier Damman, Matthias Kirschner, Florian Glatz, Tara Merk Moderated by: Joshua Dávila From cooperative funding models enabling innovations in collective ownership, to local hosting and political/legal advocacy, there are many pathways to support sustainable FOSS infrastructures. Maintaining and scaling these infrastructures are vital to ensuring censorship resistance and digital freedom, especially as demands for compute and data storage escalate. Panelists: Xavier Damman, Matthias Kirschner, Florian Glatz, Tara Merk Moderator: Joshua Dávila Panelists Xavier Damman — Open Collective https://opencollective.com/ X: https://x.com/xdamman Matthias Kirschner — Free Software Foundation Europe https://fsfe.org/ Florian Glatz — Common Ground https://www.commonground.cg/ X: https://x.com/heckerhut Tara Merk — Open Future https://openfuture.eu/ Moderated by Joshua Dávila X: https://x.com/TBSocialist Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

“From Platform Brutality to Streaming Alternatives” by Geert Lovink from Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Are you still stuck on the platform -- or ready to move beyond it? Yes, we are living through an accelerationist, techno-authoritarian phase of the internet, but that is precisely why we need to identify the exits already taking shape. We will map the cracks in the system: decentralized infrastructures, collective digital practices, and emergent cultures of autonomy that challenge the regime of “cloud rent” and passive usership. What would it mean to reclaim agency beyond endless swiping and prompting? How can we turn doomscrolling into coordination, and platforms into terrains we either reshape or abandon? This talk explores both practical and speculative strategies to overcome platform dependency, rebuild the digital commons, and develop a network culture that is once again participatory, resilient, and free. Speaker Geert Lovink — Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences https://networkcultures.org/ https://www.hva.nl/ X: https://x.com/glovink Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Once in a Lifetime | Cade Diehm [New Design Congress] An Adam Curtis documentary delivered on a stage with visuals, exhibits and receipts: an analysis of the 2025 collapse, who caused it, and a concrete framework for what replaces the institution and why. The audience for this talk has the technical and financial capacity to build those alternatives and lie at night wondering, "how did we get here?". Speaker Cade Diehm — New Design Congress https://newdesigncongress.org/ Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

“Building the Stack: Self-Hosted, Mesh and Decentralized Infrastructure in Practice” Adam Burns, Bradley Clark Royes, Liz Steininger, Calle Moderated by: Beth McCarthy Uniting technical and cultural perspectives on stewarding p2p, self-hosted, and decentralized technologies, from a diverse panel of builders with expertise spanning "the stack". From the networked level (Adam's work with wireless networks at Freifunk) to infrastructure (Bradley's AI compute node and Liz's cryptographically secure storage) to protocol (Calle's OS bitcoin protocols Cashu and Bitchat), "the stack" designs itself toward secure self-sovereignty. This panel explores the unique challenges of each use case, and the tensions that can arise from contradictions in intent and implementation across levels of the stack – for example, accessibility and openness vs. privacy. Identifying and understanding these points of tension and interdependence through a systemic lens empowers us to build more resilient infrastructure, from tooling to hardware to the community of contributors to maintain it. Speakers Adam Burns — free2air, Dyne X: https://x.com/free2air Bradley Clark Royes — Foresight Institute https://foresight.org/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleyclarkroyes/ Liz Steininger — Least Authority, Private Storage https://leastauthority.com/ X: https://x.com/lizstininger Calle — Bitchat, Cashu X: https://x.com/callebtc Cashu: https://cashu.space/ Moderated by Beth McCarthy — Web3Privacy Now X: https://x.com/ontologymachine Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Viktor Tron, Mario Havel

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

The Decentralization Stack: Where Are We Still Lying to Ourselves? Meinhard Benn, Viktor Tron, Mario Havel, Kyle den Hartog Moderated by: Migle Rakitaite A cross-stack panel asking the question most decks tiptoe around: what actually breaks if a single company disappears? Infrastructure builders from storage, compute, identity, and frontend sat down for an honest conversation about which parts of the stack are genuinely decentralized — and which parts everyone hopes nobody looks at too closely. No roadmaps. No token plugs. Panelists: Viktor Tron, Mario Havel, Kyle den Hartog, Meinhard Benn Moderator: Migle Rakitaite Speakers Viktor Tron — Swarm https://www.ethswarm.org/ X: https://x.com/zeligf Mario Havel — Ethereum Foundation X: https://x.com/TMIYChao Kyle den Hartog X: https://x.com/PryvitKyle Meinhard Benn — Freedom Browser Moderated by Migle Rakitaite — Web3Privacy Now X: https://x.com/rakymnft Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Decentralization Theatre | Migle Rakitaite [Swarm Foundation, WinPrivacy] October 2025: AWS went down — and so did Coinbase, MetaMask, Base, and half of “decentralized” crypto. Migle’s talk was an honest audit of where the stack actually breaks — frontends, gateways, RPCs, DNS — and why fixing it requires the one thing the industry is bad at: working together instead of pretending we’re not all building the same thing. Speaker Migle Rakitaite — Swarm Foundation, WinPrivacy Swarm Foundation: https://www.ethswarm.org/ WinPrivacy: https://winprivacy.net/ X: https://x.com/miglerak Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Jaya Klara Brekke

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Deviant Slop: Power and Control in AI | Jaya Klara Brekke, Alessandro Longo, Alistair Alexander Moderated by: Susanna Davies-Crook As AI-generated content floods the internet with sameness, this panel asks what it means to stay deliberately weird. Alessandro Longo looks at glitches and unexpected readings of AI-generated images, while Alistair Alexander and Jaya Klara Brekke offer practical tooling and pathways for challenging tech power structures. Susanna Davies-Crook frames the discussion around alterity and subculture, considering how intervention and appropriation can be used counter-culturally, and what aesthetic resistance might look like. Panelists: Jaya Klara Brekke, Alessandro Longo, Alistair Alexander Moderator: Susanna Davies-Crook Panelists Jaya Klara Brekke — Nym https://nym.com/ X: https://x.com/jayapapaya Alessandro Longo X: https://x.com/lx_alex Alistair Alexander — Sociality https://sociality.dev/ X: https://x.com/alistair1969 Moderated by Susanna Davies-Crook X: https://x.com/sdc_etc Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Politics of Gen AI | Marek Tuszynski [Tactical Tech] Marek Tuszynski, founder of Tactical Tech, has spent three decades probing what it means to live in a "quantified society," and with generative AI he sees the stakes shifting again — particularly around AI-driven profiling for political and social persuasion, which can shape opinion without needing paid ads at all. He'll ask who actually controls AI and why we need regulation built around transparency and accountability as these systems risk deepening inequality and undermining democracy, connecting this to Tactical Tech's "Supercharged Human?" initiative building critical AI literacy for teens and educators across Europe — equipping the next generation to question AI's narratives of inevitability before it becomes invisible infrastructure. Speaker Marek Tuszynski — Tactical Tech https://tacticaltech.org/ https://superchargedhuman.eu/ X: https://x.com/Info_Activism Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Privacy vs 'Progress' - The Case of Cashless Society | Brett Scott [Author] Brett Scott has spent years tracking the slow-motion shift from cash to digital payments, and the industry coalitions, "war on cash" narratives, and convenienc…Brett Scott has spent years tracking the slow-motion shift from cash to digital payments, and the industry coalitions, "war on cash" narratives, and convenience-framing that drive it. He argues cashless infrastructure isn't a neutral upgrade, but a system handing banks, card networks, and big tech unprecedented visibility into daily life. In this talk, Scott turns to what's at stake when cash disappears: privacy as a default, not a privilege. Cash lets you transact without a corporate intermediary logging the who, what, when, and where of your life. Lose it, and every purchase becomes data — tracked, stored, monetizable, weaponizable. He'll challenge the "progress" narrative behind cashlessness, asking who benefits from framing surveillance as convenience, and what we quietly give up once there's no longer an option to simply pay and walk away. Speaker Brett Scott — Author https://brettscott.substack.com/ https://alteredstatesof.money/ X: https://x.com/suitpossum Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Investigating the Kill Cloud | Tatiana Bazzichelli [Disruption Network Lab] & Jonas Frankki Tatiana Bazzichelli and Jonas Frankki (Disruption Network Lab) will speak about the Disruption Network Institute: Investigating the Kill Cloud - a unique hub that enables whistleblowers, investigative journalists and artists to investigate the future of war, autonomous weapons and A.I. Founded in 2014 in Berlin, Disruption Network Lab builds networks of trust to expose systems of power and injustice through research, conferences and collective discussions. Whistleblowers have been crucial to the public understanding of how wars are being waged, and what the consequences are for civilians around the world. The increasing military reliance on remote warfare and drone strikes, and the available global surveillance apparatus - The Kill Cloud - is merging the military cloud with the civilian one. The Disruption Network Institute builds on a decade of networking by the Disruption Network Lab, in connecting whistleblowers, researchers, journalists, artists & activists through conferences and publications, creating a much-needed space for whistleblowers and others to build on their knowledge and experiences. The second round of fellowships (2025-2026) focuses on AI, Big Tech & Militarisation. Bazzichelli and Frankki will share the background of the Institute and give more details on the ongoing investigations. Speakers Tatiana Bazzichelli — Disruption Network Lab https://www.disruptionlab.org/ X: https://x.com/disruptionlab Jonas Frankki — Disruption Network Lab https://www.disruptionlab.org/ Follow Web3Privacy Now: 🌐 https://new.web3privacy.info 𝕏 https://x.com/web3privacy 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/web3privacy.info 📸 https://www.instagram.com/web3privacy_now/ 🎤 Neocypherpunk Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info/ Subscribe for more talks on privacy, cryptography, digital rights, decentralized infrastructure, and the future of the open web.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Neocypherpunk Summit brought together builders, researchers, digital rights advocates, public-interest technologists and Web3 infrastructure teams for a full day dedicated to privacy-preserving technologies and open digital infrastructure. Visitors - 1000,, Speakers - 100, Stages - 4. Hosted by Web3Privacy Now, the Summit featured four simultaneous stages covering cryptography, censorship resistance, open-source sustainability, AI, governance and digital rights. The Neocypherpunk Summit convened cryptographers, developers, researchers, lawyers, journalists, and digital rights advocates from across the Web3 and public-interest technology ecosystems. Speakers included Isabela Fernandes (Tor Project), and Xavier Damman (Open Collective), alongside representatives from the Ethereum Foundation, Brave, Nym, OONI, and other leading organizations. Web: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jul 9, 2026

Neo-cypherpunk Summit presents Arturo Filastro (OONI, ex-Tor, GlobaLeaks) Drawing upon our decade-long experience in measuring the internet around the world, we will show how the the global censorship landscape has changed, and what are the new challenges and opportunities to use rich technical data to fight it. Arturo Filastò founded the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) in 2011 and serves as Executive Director and CTO. He previously worked for the Tor Project and created several free software projects that promote human rights, such as GlobaLeaks. He co-founded and serves as the Vice-President of the Hermes Center for Digital Human Rights. Arturo studied Mathematics and Computer Science at Università di Roma “La Sapienza”". Summit: https://s26ber.web3privacy.info OONI: https://ooni.org

ETHGlobal · Jun 9, 2026

In this workshop, Ed Marquez walks through the three foundational layers needed for a trustless agentic economy: identity (ERC-7804), communication (Google's A2A protocol now under the Linux Foundation), and payments (X2X). He frames the vision of a near-future agentic web where AI agents discover, communicate with, and pay each other autonomously, and demonstrates how these three open protocols together enable that economy. Ed does live coding demos showing each layer. For A2A, he shows how agents expose an agent card describing their skills, capabilities, and streaming support. For X2X, he demonstrates how just 15 lines of middleware can gate any Express endpoint behind stablecoin micropayments, using Cloudflare's pay per crawl initiative with publishers as a real world example. He walks through the facilitator architecture that separates blockchain execution from business logic, then combines A2A with X2X to create an AI agent that charges 1/10th of a cent per stock summary query. For ERC-7804, he covers the three registries: identity (NFT-based), reputation (score-based feedback with optional IPFS or HCS-stored details), and validation, explaining how server agents authorize clients to leave signed feedback, creating verifiable reputation that lets autonomous agents safely discover and trust each other. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Three Pillars of the Agentic Economy 02:26 Technologies: ERC-7804, A2A, X2X 02:49 GitHub Repo Walkthrough 03:33 A2A Agents and Agent Cards 05:14 A2A Client Setup 06:00 Introduction to X2X Protocol 07:12 X2X for Micropayments and Pay Per Crawl 08:19 Implementing X2X Middleware 10:00 Combining A2A with X2X Payments 11:47 X2X Facilitator Architecture 13:33 Client Side X2X Integration 15:30 Live Demo: AI Agent with Paid A2A Endpoint 17:14 Verifying the Transaction on Hashscan 17:54 The Trust Problem in Autonomous Agents 19:46 Introduction to ERC-7804 20:58 The Three Registries: Identity, Reputation, Validation 22:23 Validation Registry Explained 23:16 Live Demo: Registering an Agent on ERC-7804 24:38 Minting the Identity NFT 25:54 Setting Agent Metadata and Trust Mechanisms 27:47 Reputation Feedback Flow 28:39 Authorizing Feedback with Signed Tokens 29:34 Feedback URIs: IPFS vs Hedera Consensus Service 31:20 Closing and Discord Call to Action _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jun 9, 2026

In this workshop, Jatin Pandya walks through writing a first DAML smart contract on the Canton network and building, testing, and inspecting it using DPM, the DAML package manager. He starts by pointing developers to docs.canton.network where they can find tutorials including Module 2, which compares Canton to Ethereum for hackathon builders coming from a Solidity background. Jatin explains that DPM is a CLI tool covering the full lifecycle of DAML development, from scaffolding new projects to building, testing, and interacting with smart contracts. Jatin live codes an invoice smart contract featuring two parties (seller and buyer), an amount, a paid status, and a description. He explains DAML's core concepts: templates instead of smart contracts, choices instead of functions, and the proof of stakeholders model using signatories (who must sign actions) and observers (who can see state changes). The contract includes ensure clauses to validate positive amounts, a pay choice that returns a receipt, and a dispute choice with a required reason. He runs dpm build to compile the DAML code into a DAR file ready for ledger deployment, dpm test to execute test scripts achieving 100% pass rate, and dpm damlc inspect-dar to retrieve the package hex string used as the contract's identity on the Canton ledger. 00:00 Introduction 00:20 Where to Find Canton Documentation 01:19 What Is DPM (DAML Package Manager) 02:00 Installing DPM and Checking Versions 03:43 Exploring DPM Commands 04:51 Listing Available DAML Templates 06:01 Creating a New DAML Project from Scratch 07:23 Setting Up the Invoice DAML File 07:58 DAML VS Code Extensions Overview 08:53 Writing the Module and Importing DAML Script 09:50 Defining a Template with Parameters 11:14 Understanding Parties as Canton Addresses 12:27 Signatories vs Observers: Proof of Stakeholders 14:09 Using Ensure to Validate Amount 15:23 Choices: The DAML Version of Functions 16:18 Writing the Pay Choice with Controller 19:47 Adding a Dispute Choice with Reason 22:07 Completed Smart Contract Walkthrough 23:18 Writing Test Scripts with Alice and Bob 24:44 Running DPM Build to Generate the DAR File 26:01 Running DPM Test for Coverage Summary 27:13 Using DPM DAMLC to Inspect DAR Files 28:04 Extracting Package Hex String for Ledger Identity 29:44 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Privacy Builder Pack, your toolkit for digital sovereignty in the surveillance age. https://build.web3privacy.info Drawing from our experiences at ETHBrno, ETHRome, ETHDam, and ETHBerlin, we've seen firsthand the need for privacy to be understood not just as a technical feature but as a broader challenge. The Privacy Builder Pack (PBP) is designed to empower devs to move beyond one-off projects and build privacy-first applications that can scale and thrive in the long term. A project by Web3Privacy Now www.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Text by Jensei https://x.com/jensei_ Music by Liminal State - Gravity grind (https://linktr.ee/limstate) Let privacy be with you!

Ying Tong

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Web3Privacy Now Rome Meetup 2026 "Shaping and Defending the Techno-Political Evolution: Cryptography, Open Source, and Public Goods" ​​​Half-day dedicated to fostering solidarity among: ​​​- zk researchers and applied cryptographers ​- open source and human rights advocates ​​​- developers and hacker culture ​​​- internet freedom and grassroots movements ​​​- hacktivists and the general public

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Web3Privacy Now Rome Meetup 2026 "Shaping and Defending the Techno-Political Evolution: Cryptography, Open Source, and Public Goods" Denis Jaromil Rojo present: Zero Knowledge, Full Control. Proving Too Much: When Zero Knowledge Becomes a Surveillance Interface. https://news.dyne.org/privacy-in-eudi/ www.dyne.org ​​​Half-day dedicated to fostering solidarity among: ​​​- zk researchers and applied cryptographers ​- open source and human rights advocates ​​​- developers and hacker culture ​​​- internet freedom and grassroots movements ​​​- hacktivists and the general public Join us in building a free internet for all. Website: https://web3privacy.info/

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Web3Privacy Now Rome Meetup 2026 "Shaping and Defending the Techno-Political Evolution: Cryptography, Open Source, and Public Goods" ​​​Half-day dedicated to fostering solidarity among: ​​​- zk researchers and applied cryptographers ​- open source and human rights advocates ​​​- developers and hacker culture ​​​- internet freedom and grassroots movements ​​​- hacktivists and the general public

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Web3Privacy Now Meetup Rome 2026 "Shaping and Defending the Techno-Political Evolution: Cryptography, Open Source, and Public Goods" Hosted by Web3Privacy Now ​​​Half-day dedicated to fostering solidarity among: ​​​- zk researchers and applied cryptographers ​- open source and human rights advocates ​​​- developers and hacker culture ​​​- internet freedom and grassroots movements ​​​- hacktivists and the general public Join us in building a free internet for all. Website: https://web3privacy.info/

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

When governments shut down the internet, millions lose more than connection. They lose access to each other. The Tor ecosystem builds open source tools that help people stay connected, communicate safely, and protect freedom online. Support the projects protecting digital freedom: https://blog.torproject.org/fund-internet-freedom/

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Kurt Opsahl (former Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel of EFF, now Filecoin Foundation) shares his opinion on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Naomi Brockwell (NBTV, Ludlow Institute) shares her opinion on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org

Roger Dingledine

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Roger Dingledine (Tor) shares his opinion on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org Projects participating: - SecureDrop: Secure whistleblower submission system used by journalists and newsrooms - OpenArchive: Privacy-first archiving tools for human rights defenders and journalists - OnionShare: Open-source tool for secure, anonymous file sharing and hosting - Ricochet Refresh: Metadata-resistant instant messaging over Tor - Onion Browser: Tor-powered web browser for iOS - Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI): Global observatory documenting internet censorship and shutdowns - Paskoocheh, by ASL19: Anti-censorship technology and digital security support - Unredacted: Infrastructure supporting censorship circumvention and resilient communications - Digital Security Help Desk, by Miaan Group: Internet freedom technologies supporting users in Iran - Osservatorio Nessuno: Protecting activists, journalists, and civil society organizations with tech support and traceless software #FundInternetFreedom

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Some questions are difficult to ask out loud. Around the world, people use privacy tools to search, learn, connect, and find community safely online. The Tor ecosystem supports open source projects protecting the freedom to explore identity, communicate privately, and stay connected without fear of surveillance. .... Support the projects from OONI to Securedrop protecting digital freedom: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Jun 9, 2026

Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Eva Galperin, Director of Cybersecurity at Electronic Frontier Foundation shares her opinion on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org Projects participating: - SecureDrop: Secure whistleblower submission system used by journalists and newsrooms - OpenArchive: Privacy-first archiving tools for human rights defenders and journalists - OnionShare: Open-source tool for secure, anonymous file sharing and hosting - Ricochet Refresh: Metadata-resistant instant messaging over Tor - Onion Browser: Tor-powered web browser for iOS - Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI): Global observatory documenting internet censorship and shutdowns - Paskoocheh, by ASL19: Anti-censorship technology and digital security support - Unredacted: Infrastructure supporting censorship circumvention and resilient communications - Digital Security Help Desk, by Miaan Group: Internet freedom technologies supporting users in Iran - Osservatorio Nessuno: Protecting activists, journalists, and civil society organizations with tech support and traceless software #FundInternetFreedom

Devcon · Jun 9, 2026

Devcon 8 is coming to Mumbai and Early Bird tickets are now live! From November 3–6, 2026, the Ethereum ecosystem will gather at Jio World Center for four days of technical depth, open-source collaboration, public goods, community, and the builders shaping the future of open source technology. Tickets are $349 USD, available in limited quantity, and payable in ETH only. Get your ticket: devcon.org/tickets Learn more about Devcon: devcon.org Follow Devcon: X: https://x.com/EFDevcon

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this opening introduction, Kartik Talwar, co-founder of ETH Global, welcomes over 500 attendees from 30 countries to Pragma Cannes 2026 — ETH Global's first Pragma conference of the year. He explains that Pragma is a one-day, single-track event designed to be non-technical and accessible, featuring executives discussing the future of Web3 over the next 6 to 18 months. The format ensures attendees never have to choose between overlapping sessions. Kartik previews the full 14-session agenda covering topics from quantum cryptography and institutional DeFi to agentic wallets, EU blockchain regulation, and AI-powered developer tools. Featured speakers include leaders from Ledger, Privy, Zirket, Chainlink, Aave, Gnosis, Oiler, Infura, and Celo. He also promotes ETHCom, ETH Global's upcoming large-scale conference in New York bringing together crypto-native and institutional finance, and shares a limited discount code for attendees. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Welcome to Pragma Cannes 2026 00:35 What Is Pragma and Why It Exists 01:16 Event Format: One Day, One Track, Executive Speakers 02:05 14 Sessions: Interviews and Talks 02:23 Attendee Stats and Partners 03:04 ETHCom Preview: Biggest Ethereum Event in America 04:30 Full Day Agenda Walkthrough 07:07 Closing and Kickoff _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, Debbie Soon, head of marketing at Privy, delivers a masterclass on technical storytelling — the skill of bridging the gap between how a product works and what it enables. She argues that complexity isn't the problem; the problem is when people don't understand what your product means for them. Using Privy's wallet infrastructure and policy engine as examples, she shows how the same product gets explained differently across five audience surfaces: socials (narrative layer), website (evaluation layer), docs (implementation layer), and trust center (risk/assurance layer). Debbie walks through two concrete translations: converting "hardware-isolated TEEs and key sharding" into "wallets that are secure by design but flexible in practice," and converting "boolean conditions with allow/deny actions" into "programmable behavior where money movement becomes safe, flexible, and predictable by design." She frames this as turning boolean logic into business logic. She closes with three daily principles for better storytelling: start with what changes (not what you built), translate systems into capabilities, and give people language they can repeat — because to make your product scale, you first have to be understood. 00:00 Introduction 00:42 What Is Privy and Why Storytelling Matters 02:30 The Problem: Complexity Isn't Bad, Misunderstanding Is 03:33 What Is Technical Storytelling 04:32 Bridging How It Works and What It Enables 05:22 Two Examples: Wallet Architecture and Policy Engine 06:15 Five Audience Surfaces: Socials, Website, Docs, Trust Center 07:30 Mapping Surfaces to Audiences 08:37 Example 1: Wallet Architecture — TEEs and Key Sharding 09:52 Translating Wallet Tech into "Secure by Design, Flexible in Practice" 11:18 Example 2: Policy Engine — Rules, Conditions, Actions 12:32 Translating Boolean Logic into Business Logic 13:43 Technical Storytelling Is Not Just for Marketers 14:28 Making Ideas Travel from Brain to Market 15:02 Three Principles: What Changes, Capabilities, Repeatable Language 16:41 To Scale, You First Have to Be Understood 17:20 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Debbie Soon X: https://x.com/debsoon ✅ Follow Privy X: https://x.com/privy_io ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Jan Gorzny

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, Jan Gorzny from Zircuit presents Zircuit Finance, a new platform launched at Denver that brings institutional-grade investment yields on-chain in a fully permissionless way. He frames the two core problems blocking DeFi mass adoption: inaccessibility (accreditation requirements, high capital minimums, lockup periods) and risk (smart contract exploits, complex looping strategies, yield unpredictability). His thesis is that if Web3 truly wants to "bank the unbanked," it needs to offer all the good aspects of institutional finance — professional capital management, predictable yields, proven track records — without the gatekeeping. Zircuit Finance solves this by letting anyone deposit USDC or USDT with no KYC, no minimum deposit, and no lockup, then lending those funds to regulated asset managers like Monarch, Fortis, and Fidelity who run strategies like delta-neutral quant funds. The platform targets 8-11% APY with 0% management fees and a 20% performance fee, keeping the smart contract architecture deliberately simple to minimize security risk. It's live on Ethereum and Base as a LayerZero OApp with multi-chain expansion planned, and also integrates DeFi protocols like Aave and Morpho to augment yields and provide flexibility alongside the institutional strategies. 00:00 Introduction 00:29 Pragmatic DeFi: Sensible and Realistic 01:49 Two Problems with High-Yield DeFi: Risk and Inaccessibility 03:21 Banking the Unbanked Means Matching Bank-Level Features 04:10 Bringing Institutional Capital On-Chain 04:50 Why Institutional Yields Are Currently Inaccessible 05:59 Professional Strategies and Higher, Safer Yields 06:56 DeFi Risk: Exploits, Contagion, and Horror Stories 07:42 De-Risking Through Regulated Partners 08:43 Growing the Pie Together 09:02 Solution: Permissionless Access + Predictable Yields 09:51 Introducing Zircuit Finance 10:27 Target: 8-11% on USDC/USDT, Zero Management Fees 10:49 Multi-Chain via LayerZero 11:10 Partners: Monarch, Fortis, Fidelity, Aave, Morpho 11:48 How It Works: Deposit, Lend, Earn 12:10 Key Takeaway: Predictable DeFi Is Safer DeFi 13:13 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Jan Gorzny X: https://x.com/jgorzny ✅ Follow Zircuit X: https://x.com/Zircuit ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Shady El Damaty

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, Shady El Damaty, co-founder of Human Tech (formerly Gitcoin Passport), argues that the wallet as we know it will be dead within nine months, replaced by natural language interfaces where users set guardrails and delegate execution to AI agents. He frames the core problem: agents need secrets to act autonomously, but giving them private keys is dangerous — leading to exploits where leaked keys drain funds. He outlines three approaches: the "YOLO" method of giving agents keys directly, the local isolation approach (like IronClaw or Open Wallet Standard), and his proposed superior solution: 2PC architecture.2PC (two-party computation) means the private key never exists in any single location. Instead, key shares are split between the user's client and a server/enclave, multiplied together on the fly to generate signatures. This enables runtime policies — spending limits, gas caps, MEV-safe routing, time-limited permission tokens — enforced at the server level, with human approval only triggered when guardrails are hit. Shady demos the vision: a user opens a natural language prompt, tells Claude to rebalance their Aave portfolio with a $500 cap and $10 gas limit, and gets a five-minute permission token for execution. The architecture is chain-agnostic, live today as an npm package, and pairs with Human Tech's proof of personhood infrastructure (2.5 million users, 50 million credentials) to identify and protect humans in agentic workflows. 00:00 Introduction 00:36 Autonomous Software Is Eating the World 01:31 The Wallet Will Be Dead in Nine Months 02:19 Who's Running AI Agents Today 03:11 The .env File Problem: Agents and Secrets 04:09 Design Philosophy: Capabilities, Not Authority 05:12 Guard Rails for Non-Deterministic Systems 06:22 Compressing Capabilities to Minimal Attack Surface 06:52 Agent Security as a Design Problem 07:54 Approach 1: YOLO (Give the Agent the Key) 08:15 Approach 2: Keep the Key Local 09:19 Approach 3: The Key Doesn't Exist (2PC Architecture) 10:42 How 2PC Works: Split Key Shares and Runtime Policies 12:04 Adaptive Policies and Agent Guard Rails 12:58 The Future: Natural Language Wallet Interactions 14:06 Frontends Constructed on the Fly 14:50 2PC Is Live Today for Builders 16:06 Chain-Agnostic Signatures on Any Curve 16:53 Human Tech: Proof of Personhood and Wallet as Protocol 18:07 Closing and Hackathon Invitation _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Josef Je

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, Josef Je introduces the European Ethereum Institute, a newly launched task force dedicated to getting Ethereum recognized as strategic public infrastructure by European regulators — comparable to the internet or the electric grid. He argues that after a decade of builders ignoring policy, regulation has now caught up to the point where DeFi, tokenization, and MEV are being discussed in EU papers, and the community must engage proactively or risk being overshadowed by permissioned chain salespeople pitching proprietary tech to uninformed regulators. Josef frames the urgency through Europe's risk of repeating the Web2 pattern where all innovation and business creation migrated to Silicon Valley while the EU could only react through after-the-fact regulation. He outlines the institute's three-pronged approach: producing evidence-based papers and infographics showing regulators the differences between true DeFi and centralized projects, helping regulators understand the full Ethereum technology stack beyond finance (identity, voting, ZK proofs, timestamping), and proactive outreach to bring regulators into crypto events. He announces that André Kvapiš, a former European Parliament member who helped remove DeFi from MiCA's scope, has officially joined the institute, and shares that initial funding comes from Ethereum Foundation, Aave, and Gnosis. 00:00 Introduction 00:29 Why a Builder Started Caring About Policy 02:09 Institutions Coming On-Chain: Now or Never 03:42 Launch of the European Ethereum Institute 04:22 Permissioned Chains Are Back (and Still Wrong) 05:10 Ethereum as the Golden Standard 06:05 "It's Ethereum, Not Blockchains" 07:00 Ethereum's Lindy and Network Effects 07:31 Mission: Ethereum as Strategic Public Infrastructure 08:55 Europe's Risk of Repeating the Web2 Mistake 10:14 Providing Evidence to Regulators 11:39 Tokenization, Stablecoins, and True DeFi 13:10 Ethereum's Stack Beyond Finance: Identity, Voting, ZK 14:22 A Task Force, Not Another Association 15:58 How a Regulator Joined the Ethereum Side 17:11 André Kvapiš and MiCA's DeFi Exemption 18:37 Team, Funding, and How to Get Involved 19:56 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Josef Je X: https://x.com/josefje ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, Adrienne Youngman, head of marketing and comms at Gnosis, presents the practical implications of the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) and frames it within Gnosis's broader mission of restoring digital ownership. She traces how Web3's original promise of self-custody and permissionless systems has been eroded by L2 fragmentation, custodial super apps, and permissioned infrastructure — and argues that EEZ can "unfork" Ethereum by enabling cross-chain calls within a single transaction, unified liquidity pools, and global collateral visibility. Adrienne gives concrete UX improvements: eliminating bridging friction, enabling CowSwap to route trades across all chains as one pool, letting Aave see collateral across multiple chains, and allowing Safe configurations to reflect everywhere from a single change. She highlights new capabilities like private identity verification across chains without data leaving private domains, and institutional use cases where private blockchains interact with the Ethereum ecosystem. She closes by showcasing Gnosis's product suite — Gnosis Pay for self-custodial fintech infrastructure, their consumer app with Visa card and IBAN integration, and the Circles protocol for fair-distribution peer-to-peer money based on trust graphs and social consensus. 00:00 Introduction 00:38 Gnosis: More Than Safe 01:23 Gnosis's Building Legacy: AMMs, Prediction Markets, Cow Protocol 02:21 Gnosis Pay, Consumer App, VPN, and EEZ 02:46 GM The Man, We're Forking You 03:06 Ownership and Power: Why It Matters 04:30 Ownership Through Cultural and Class Lenses 05:17 Losing Ownership in Digital Lives 06:37 Web3's Original Promise and How We Broke It 07:43 L2 Fragmentation and Custodial Drift 08:13 EEZ in Practice: No More Bridging 08:41 Unified Liquidity Pools Across Chains 09:08 Composable Finance: Stake, Borrow, Use in One Transaction 09:32 Global Collateral and Safe Configuration Sync 10:25 New Possibilities: Private Identity Across Chains 11:25 Institutional Use Cases with Private Blockchains 11:57 CTA: Join the EEZ Alliance 12:20 Gnosis Pay: Self-Custodial Fintech Infrastructure 13:19 Circles Protocol: Fair-Distribution Peer-to-Peer Money 14:51 Closing: Bank on Gnosis _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Gnosis X: https://x.com/gnosischain ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, Jonathan Han, CEO of Euler Labs, explains how modular lending infrastructure is essential for onboarding trillions of dollars in traditional financial assets onto DeFi. He outlines three key requirements for institutional RWA adoption: compliance enforcement at the smart contract level (KYC, sanctions screening, geo-fencing), risk isolation through modular vault architecture where each asset class has independent liquidation mechanisms and risk parameters, and composability via the Ethereum Vault Connector (EVC) technology that lets isolated collateral markets share stable coin liquidity pools. Jonathan details Euler's curator model where institutional-grade risk managers like Santora, Bitwise, and Apollo set and monitor risk parameters per vault rather than relying on DAO token holder governance. He highlights their partnership with Securitize for DS Token compliance integration and their launch of tokenized equity markets (S&P 500, NASDAQ, Tesla) currently operating 24/5 with plans for 24/7 weekend trading pending reliable oracle data and weekend liquidation partners. The talk emphasizes that permissionless deployment of high-quality assets, combined with professional risk curation, is the path to making previously inaccessible financial instruments — private credit, public equities, commodities — available to everyone through DeFi. 00:00 Introduction 00:31 The Credit Layer and Next Phase of DeFi 01:28 Key Categories for Institutional Onboarding 02:49 Compliance Requirements at the Smart Contract Level 03:44 Risk Isolation: Why Modular Architecture Wins 04:54 Modular vs Monolithic Lending Protocol Design 05:52 NAV Delays, Regulatory Halts, and Weekend Markets 06:33 Summary: Isolated Markets, Compliance Hooks, Domain Experts 07:51 Permissionless Deployment with Professional Risk Curators 09:25 Euler's Architecture: ERC-4626 Vaults and EVC 10:32 Independent Liquidation Mechanisms Per Market 11:58 Securitize Partnership and DS Token Compliance 13:37 Capital Efficiency: Isolated Collateral, Shared Liquidity 14:12 The Risk Curator Model Explained 15:32 Bridging TradFi and DeFi: 24/7 Markets and Settlements 17:12 Tokenized Equity Markets: S&P 500, NASDAQ, Tesla 18:25 Multi-Party Coordination for RWA Markets 19:30 Permissioned and Permissionless Vaults 20:05 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Jonathan Han X: https://x.com/0xJHan ✅ Follow Euler Labs X: https://x.com/eulerfinance ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, Misha Putiatin, co-founder of Symbiotic, lays out the four critical problems that must be solved to bring trillions of dollars of traditional finance on-chain in a composable, DeFi-native way rather than as simple database receipts. He argues that after 18 years of building infrastructure, blockchains are no longer bandwidth-bound, but the industry lacks the financial primitives needed for institutional adoption: private credit, smart contract risk coverage, standardized reporting, and RWA liquidity. Misha details Symbiotic's role as a collateral market platform addressing each problem: partnering with Cap Protocol for private credit and financial guarantees (already at $220M+ in delegations), working with Nexus Mutual on second-loss coverage for DeFi and RWA protocols, helping Hive build on-chain reporting with real-time liquidation triggers and automated audits, and building an instant liquidity solution that pools redemption flow across all tokenized platforms to solve the chicken-and-egg problem of illiquid RWAs with 90-100 day redemption windows. He emphasizes that the "native way" — composable, liquidatable, self-custodied assets with DeFi rails — is the only path that truly leverages what crypto has built, with instant liquidity and Nexus coverage both launching early Q2. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 18 Years of Building Infrastructure 02:26 Traditional Finance Is Finally Interested 03:43 Why Institutions Matter: They Have the Money 04:44 Two Options: Database Receipts vs DeFi-Native Composability 06:30 Symbiotic's Four-Problem Framework 06:59 Problem 1: Private Credit and Financial Guarantees 08:48 Problem 2: Smart Contract Risk Coverage with Nexus Mutual 10:42 Capital Efficiency and the Insurance Gap 12:12 Problem 3: Standardized On-Chain Reporting with Hive 13:22 Actionable Reporting: Liquidation Triggers and Automated Audits 14:03 Problem 4: RWA Liquidity — The Biggest Blocker 15:37 Current Solutions: Half-Yield Buffers and Platform Funds 17:00 Symbiotic's Approach: Pooled Cross-Platform Liquidity 18:01 Launch Timeline: Instant Liquidity and Nexus in Q2 18:41 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Misha Putiatin X: https://x.com/Psalom ✅ Follow Symbiotic X: https://x.com/Symbioticfi ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

E.G. Galano

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, E.G. Galano, co-founder of Infura, draws parallels between the evolution of blockchain infrastructure and today's AI infrastructure to share lessons on product differentiation in the agentic era. He traces Infura's journey from being the first Ethereum RPC gateway in 2016, through scaling challenges during CryptoKitties and DeFi Summer, to eventually losing market share as infrastructure commoditized — and how they responded by moving up the stack into multi-chain support, NFT APIs, and higher-margin indexing services. E.G. argues that AI inference is following the same pattern: starting as base-layer access, adding abstractions, then requiring coordination and outcomes layers. He shares his personal "E-Stack" project — a multi-agent system mirroring Infura's org chart with agents for protocol upgrades, SRE, support, product management, and even a crypto Twitter lurker for incident detection. He then presents Infura's marketplace vision where anyone can permissionlessly serve RPC traffic with staked SLAs and verifiable reputation scores, and explains how this model extends to AI skill and API marketplaces — solving the problem of data-driven, verifiable tool selection for agents that currently rely on Reddit sentiment rather than actual performance metrics. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Inference Is the New Infrastructure 01:37 Parallels Between Ethereum and AI Infrastructure Cycles 03:09 Abstractions: From RPC to Specialized AI Models 03:53 Scaling Challenges and Battle-Testing 04:40 What Is Infura and Its Core Value Proposition 05:58 CryptoKitties, ICOs, and DeFi Summer Scaling 07:19 Self-Hosting vs Managed Services: The Recurring Debate 08:18 Declining Market Share Despite Growing Users 09:52 Differentiating When Infrastructure Commoditizes 10:25 Going Multi-Chain as Costs Decreased 11:27 AI's Next Layer: Outcomes and Agent Coordination 12:49 The E-Stack: A Multi-Agent Infura Org Chart 15:05 Building Moats: Network Effects Over Code 16:41 Infura's Marketplace: Permissionless RPC Providers 17:29 Agent Discovery, Payments, and Reputation 18:28 Verifiable Performance Scoring for Marketplaces 19:12 Extending to AI Skill and API Marketplaces 20:02 Data-Driven Decisions for Vibe-Coded Production Apps 21:04 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow E.G. Galano X: https://x.com/egalano ✅ Follow Infura X: https://x.com/infura_io ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Rene Reinsberg

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this talk, Rene Reinsberg, founder of Celo and Self, presents how Self is bootstrapping global-scale proof of human infrastructure using zero-knowledge cryptography and government-issued identity documents. He announces a partnership with Google and Tether where users can verify their unique humanity through Self, claim free stablecoins, and send them to their wallet — launching next month. The system works by NFC-scanning passports or national IDs, cryptographically verifying document authenticity through country signing certificate authorities, and generating zero-knowledge proofs without storing any user data. Rene explains how applications can then request disclosure proofs (age verification, country of origin, OFAC screening) without handling PII, making it preferable to traditional KYC. He connects this to the agentic world, citing examples like Moldbook (an agent social network acquired by Meta) and Rent a Human marketplace, arguing that proof of human becomes critical when agents need to verify human counterparties or delegate identity without exposing personal data. The system enables agents to hit verification barriers in workflows and trigger ZK proof requests back to the human, unblocking agentic commerce without sharing actual identity data with the AI. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Welcome and Context: From Celo to Self 00:57 Why Proof of Human Matters Now 02:32 Google and Tether Partnership Announcement 03:55 Google's Use of Self for Testnet Faucets 05:29 Vision: Social Services and UBI on Crypto Rails 06:31 Why Proof of Human Is Becoming Urgent 07:41 Government Identity Infrastructure as a Foundation 09:01 How Self Works: NFC Scanning and ZK Proofs 10:43 Why NFC Beats Traditional KYC in an AI World 11:43 Zero Knowledge: No Data Storage, No Trust Required 12:13 Disclosure Proofs: Age, Country, Sanctions Screening 13:56 Registration and SDK Integration 14:20 Proof of Human in the Agentic World 15:04 Moldbook and Agent Sybil Attacks 16:00 Rent a Human: Agents Hiring Verified Humans 17:14 Delegating Identity to Agents Without Sharing Data 18:36 Self for AI Agents: Unblocking Agentic Workflows 19:44 Resources: self.xyz and ai.self.xyz 20:09 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Celo X: https://x.com/Celo ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar interviews Andrej Bencic, founder of Tenderly, about the evolution of Ethereum developer tools over the past eight years and how AI is reshaping smart contract development. Andrej describes how the multi-chain world has fundamentally changed development — teams now need to test across multiple forked mainnets with bridges, manage indexing across chains, and handle inconsistencies when chains go down. He contrasts today's production-grade stack (Foundry, account abstraction, staging environments) with the 2018 era of Truffle and Ganache. The conversation explores three distinct developer personas Tenderly serves: newcomers focused on smart contract integration and DeFi composability, OG teams like Aave pushing protocol frontiers, and institutional players held back by risk aversion. Andrej details how Tenderly's simulation technology helps manage operational risk post-deployment — from transaction simulation in Gnosis Safe to treasury management. He highlights their MCP integration that gives AI agents a sandboxed fork of mainnet to debug transactions (processing 50MB of data per transaction) and test workflows in a parallel universe before committing to production, calling it a critical safety net against the inevitability of AI-driven development. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 What Is Tenderly and Eight Years of Developer Tooling 01:43 How Multi-Chain Development Has Changed Everything 04:09 Cross-Chain Testing: Forking Multiple Mainnets 05:08 The Modern Developer Stack vs 2018 06:45 Production-Grade Development: CI/CD and Staging 08:17 AI Skills and Delegating Ethereum Context 09:04 Three Developer Personas: Newcomers, OGs, and Institutions 11:36 Institutional Risk Aversion as the Main Bottleneck 12:40 Managing Operational Risk Post-Deployment 14:16 Transaction Simulation and Avoiding Blind Signing 15:12 AI Agents and Smart Contract Development 16:02 Sandboxed Fork Environments for AI Workflows 17:33 Tenderly's MCP: Debugging and Testing for AI 18:40 AI Processes 50MB of Transaction Data Better Than Humans 19:22 Advice for New Smart Contract Developers 21:25 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Andrej Bencic X: https://x.com/bendzi ✅ Follow Tenderly X: https://x.com/TenderlyApp ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Kartik Talwar, Jordi Baylina

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar interviews Jordi Baylina from the Gnosis team about the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ), a new protocol for synchronous cross-chain communication between Ethereum rollups. Jordi explains that EEZ enables smart contracts on different chains to call each other as if they were on the same chain — not just token transfers but any arbitrary contract call including voting, NFT operations, and more. This is made possible by breakthroughs in real-time ZK proving, where a full Ethereum block can now be proved with just 12 GPUs, down from 128 six months prior. Jordi walks through the technical architecture: when a cross-chain call happens, an execution table is stored on L1, zero-knowledge proved, and resolved within Ethereum's 12-second block time. Transactions between L2s are effectively free, limited only by GPU hardware. EEZ is permissionless — anyone can create a rollup, even non-EVM chains, as long as they support the call interface. Built by a nonprofit association with no token and no monetization, the project currently has a working internal DevNet with plans to open it publicly soon. Jordi flags block builder centralization as his primary concern, noting that validators must choose responsibly to preserve Ethereum's decentralization values. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Welcome and What Is the Ethereum Economic Zone 01:12 Synchronous Cross-Chain Calls: The Core Idea 02:04 What Changed: Real-Time ZK Proving Breakthroughs 03:16 From 128 GPUs to 12: Engineering Progress 04:39 Two Years of Latency Reduction Work 06:14 How EEZ Differs from Bridges and Other Solutions 07:14 Nonprofit Structure: No Token, No Monetization 08:20 Connecting L1 to L2 and L2 to L2 09:25 Any Call Data Works: Not Just Token Transfers 09:59 Permissionless Rollup Creation and Non-EVM Support 11:45 How Real-Time Proving Works in Practice 14:39 Scaling: One Proof for All Instructions 15:37 Free Transactions Between L2s 16:38 Does EEZ Help or Fragment Ethereum 18:06 Concerns: Block Builder Centralization 19:35 Validator Responsibility and Decentralization 21:02 Project Status: DevNet Live, Public Access Soon 22:16 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Jordi Baylina X: https://x.com/jbaylina ✅ Follow ZisK X: https://x.com/ziskvm ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Stani Kulechov, Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar interviews Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave, about the vision behind Aave V4 and the future of DeFi as infrastructure for global credit. Stani explains that V4 introduces a modular hub-and-spoke architecture where liquidity is stored in central hubs that allocate credit lines to customizable spokes — enabling anyone to build new lending models (native Bitcoin collateral, debt trading, fixed lending) while tapping into Aave's existing liquidity pool rather than bootstrapping from scratch. Stani outlines three waves of new collateral entering DeFi: tokenized real-world assets, yield-bearing stablecoins, and data-backed credit facilities for consumers, businesses, and institutions. He discusses the Aave App's fintech-like mobile experience that fully abstracts away wallets, gas, and networks, and reflects on why Ethereum remains the strongest chain for DeFi due to tooling, security community, and liquidity network effects. Looking ahead, he frames the institutional transition as a decade-long journey of replacing financial backend infrastructure dating back to the 1970s, with DeFi serving as the efficient capital allocation layer for all future credit. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Welcome and Aave V4 Context 00:40 Why V4 Took Two Years to Build 02:10 DeFi as a Backbone for All Future Credit 03:43 V4 Architecture: Hub-and-Spoke Model 04:48 Custom Spokes: Bitcoin Collateral, Debt Trading, Fixed Lending 05:59 Unified Liquidity Access for New DeFi Projects 07:31 New Collateral Types: RWAs, Yield Stablecoins, and Data 08:32 Risk Premiums and Collateral-Based Pricing 09:45 Institutional Requirements and Permissionless Infrastructure 11:11 BlackRock on Ethereum: A Turning Point 12:04 Aave App: Fintech-Like Mobile DeFi Experience 13:35 Building DeFi for Everyone 14:19 Staying Motivated Through Market Cycles 15:35 Why Now Is the Best Time to Build 16:57 Why DeFi Stays on Ethereum 18:36 Five-Year Prediction: A Decade-Long Institutional Transition 20:41 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Stani Kulechov X: https://x.com/StaniKulechov ✅ Follow Aave X: https://x.com/Aave ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar interviews Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer of Chainlink, about Chainlink's evolution from a data oracle provider to a comprehensive infrastructure platform for institutional DeFi. Johann recounts joining the space in 2016-17, realizing the biggest gap was connecting real-world data to Ethereum, and living through DeFi Summer 2020 when Chainlink scaled from 20 oracle networks to over 1,000 price feeds — at one point representing 50% of all Ethereum transaction fees to keep DeFi protocols solvent during extreme congestion. The conversation explores how DeFi use cases built in 2020 (derivatives, prediction markets, tokenized equities) are only now reaching mass adoption as the world catches up. Johann details Chainlink's expansion into cross-chain infrastructure, on-chain compliance (automated KYC bridging with partners like DTCC and Apex), and opt-in privacy through their runtime environment. He frames two distinct adoption paths: institutions in developed markets seeking efficiency gains of 50-90% over legacy systems, and emerging markets where people use crypto to escape failing fiat currencies. His current focus is bridging tokenized assets into DeFi for real distribution and adoption. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Johann Eid's Journey into Crypto and Chainlink 02:16 DeFi Summer 2020: From 20 to 1,000+ Oracle Networks 04:17 Chainlink as 50% of Ethereum Gas During Congestion 06:54 Building a Bulletproof Transaction Manager 07:44 How DeFi Has Evolved Since 2020 08:36 Use Cases Built in 2020 Only Now Getting Adoption 09:49 Real-World Demand: Weekend Trading and Tokenized Gold 10:28 Prediction Markets Replacing Legacy Media Trust 10:58 Chainlink Beyond Oracles: Cross-Chain, Compliance, Privacy 12:24 On-Chain Compliance: Automating KYC with DTCC and Apex 14:04 Privacy as the Missing Piece for Institutional DeFi 15:04 Decentralization as a Killer Use Case in a Mistrustful World 17:05 Why Institutions Are Coming On-Chain Now 18:42 Distribution and Efficiency: Two Drivers of Adoption 20:14 Two Speeds of Adoption: West vs East 21:41 What's Next: Bridging Tokenized Assets into DeFi 23:11 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Johann Eid X: https://x.com/EidJohann ✅ Follow Chainlink X: https://x.com/Chainlink ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

Charles Guillemet, Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar interviews Charles Guillemet, CTO of Ledger, on the post-quantum cryptography landscape and its implications for blockchain security. Charles traces his journey from heading Ledger's security department (the "Dungeon") to becoming CTO, and explains how Ledger's operating system approach has allowed them to support the rapidly expanding blockchain ecosystem since 2017. He provides a detailed breakdown of quantum computing threats, explaining how Shor's algorithm can theoretically break elliptic curve cryptography and how Google's recent paper reduced the required qubits from a million to 41,000. The conversation covers the two main post-quantum signature approaches — hash-based (well-studied but larger signatures) and lattice-based (smaller, faster but newer) — and the challenge of reaching social consensus in decentralized networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum to agree on migration timelines and standards. Charles also discusses AI's impact on security, noting that attack costs are trending toward zero, and outlines Ledger's vision for agentic payments using hardware-enforced delegation policies that give AI agents fine-grained spending permissions without exposing private keys. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Welcome and Charles Guillemet Introduction 01:13 From Chief Security Officer to CTO 03:09 How Custody Has Evolved Since 2017 04:40 Ledger's OS Approach to Supporting New Chains 05:43 Traditional Finance Discovering Blockchain 06:06 How Real Is the Quantum Computing Threat 07:30 Shor's Algorithm and Google's Recent Breakthrough 08:57 Why Migration Matters More Than Timelines 09:53 NIST Standards and 2030/2035 Deadlines 10:44 The Social Consensus Challenge for Bitcoin and Ethereum 12:20 Google's Paper: 41,000 Qubits for Elliptic Curves 13:23 Hash-Based vs Lattice-Based Post-Quantum Signatures 15:13 Address Migration and Transition Challenges 16:43 What Happens to Unmigrated Coins 17:17 Ledger's Approach to AI Agents and Payments 18:15 AI Changing the Security Paradigm 19:10 Why Agents Will Default to Crypto Payments 19:35 Hardware-Enforced Delegation Policies for Agents 21:00 What's Next: Security, AI, and Formal Verification 22:46 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes 2026* Pragma Cannes 2026 was held on April 2nd at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5OnsJ95gz7HoI1tLUj3kZr ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Charles Guillemet X: https://x.com/P3b7_ ✅ Follow Ledger X: https://x.com/ledger ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Luca Malpiedi, head of growth at KeeperHub (built by the MakerDAO/Sky Protocol devops team), introduces KeeperHub as the reliable execution layer for on-chain agents. He explains how KeeperHub fits into the agent stack beneath reasoning frameworks (LangGraph, OpenClaw, Eliza OS) and communication protocols (MCP, A2A), handling the critical gap where network congestion, gas spikes, and silent failures kill agent transactions. KeeperHub manages retries, gas adaptation, transaction simulation, signing, and full audit trails with SLA backing. Luca walks through the platform's two core interaction modes: direct execution (agent calls a contract and KeeperHub lands the transaction) and workflows (agent creates persistent automations with triggers, conditions, and actions that run continuously). He demos building a vault monitoring workflow in Claude via the MCP server in about 40 seconds — from natural language intent to a live workflow with cron triggers, condition checks, ERC-4626 deposit actions, and Discord notifications. For the hackathon, he outlines three contribution directions: new protocol/chain integrations as plugins, framework wrappers for tools like OpenClaw and Eliza OS, and new developer features like simulation debugging or wiring published strategies to ERC-7804 agent registries with X2X payment rails. 00:00 Introduction and Hackathon Context 01:20 The Hub: Workflow Library and Templates 02:23 Publishing Workflows as Marketplace Strategies 03:29 How KeeperHub Executes Workflows 04:15 Where KeeperHub Fits in the Agent Stack 05:41 The Gap: Network Congestion Kills Agents 06:27 Retries, Gas Adaptation, Audit Trails, and SLAs 06:50 Team Background: MakerDAO/Sky Protocol Engineers 07:29 KeeperHub as Infrastructure, Not Just a UI 08:11 Resources: Discord, Docs, and Link Tree 08:53 Primary Interfaces: MCP Server, CLI, X2X 09:37 MCP Setup and Tool Schemas 10:32 Two Interaction Types: Direct Execution and Workflows 11:22 Primitives: Triggers, Conditions, and Action Nodes 11:44 What's Pluggable: Protocols, Frameworks, and Contributions 12:29 Live Demo: Vault Monitoring Workflow via Claude MCP 14:04 Workflow Canvas Walkthrough 15:16 What We Want to See from Hackers 15:42 Direction 1: New Protocol and Chain Integrations 16:14 Direction 2: Framework Integration Wrappers 17:01 Direction 3: New Features and Developer Tooling 17:34 Bonus: Agent Marketplace with ERC-7804 and X2X 18:33 Closing and Support Channels _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🤖 *Open Agents 2026* This workshop is part of Open Agents 2026, an online hackathon held from April 24 to May 6. This async hackathon brings together the world’s most talented Web3 developers, designers, and product builders to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full Open Agents 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh6vpKqgVU7bEKyYK0tWfYEQ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow KeeperHub* X: https://x.com/KeeperHubApp ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Luke Forrest from Hedera introduces a suite of AI plugins, skills, and MCP servers built specifically to help hackathon builders develop on Hedera using Claude Code. The repo includes five plugins: the Hedera Agent Kit for AI agent interactions like transferring HBAR and creating tokens, the Dev Intelligence plugin for project scaffolding and session management, the Hackathon Helper with PRD generation and submission validation skills, the Native Services plugin for Hedera Token Service and Consensus Service integration, and the System Contracts plugin for HTS system contracts. Luke does a live install of the Hackathon Helper plugin in Claude Code and demonstrates the PRD skill by generating a project plan for a token-gated event check-in app. He also covers Hedera's MCP integration through their Mintlify-powered docs site for seamless documentation access. The session wraps up with an overview of hackathon bounties across AI and agentic payments, tokenization, native services, and the Nario IO data sourcing tool for cross-ledger data correlation. 00:00 Introduction 00:02 Overview of Hedera Plugins, Skills, and MCP Servers 00:35 Hedera Agent Kit Plugin 01:09 Dev Intelligence and Hackathon Helper Plugins 01:32 Native Services and System Contracts Plugins 01:56 Hackathon Helper: PRD and Validate Submission Skills 02:47 Live Install of the Hackathon Helper Plugin 05:15 Live Demo: Generating a Hackathon PRD 07:01 PRD Walkthrough: HCS, HTS, and MVP Features 08:15 Hedera MCP Integration via Mintlify Docs 08:59 Hackathon Bounties Overview 10:29 Nario IO: Cross-Ledger Data Sourcing 11:12 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal Cannes 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes 2026, a 3-day hackathon held April 3-5 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5YrcvSj6KSTztLMy58d7d4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Mathieu Bertin, engineering manager at Ledger, introduces Ledger's direct connectivity solution — the Ledger Button — which allows DApp developers to integrate Ledger hardware wallet connectivity directly into their applications without requiring users to install browser extensions. Built on the Lit web component framework for cross-framework compatibility, it provides a full EIP-1193 provider supporting account fetching, transaction signing, clear signing, transaction simulation checks, and both USB and Bluetooth connectivity. Mathieu also covers Ledger's clear signing initiative, contrasting it with unsafe blind signing by showing how clear signing makes transaction details transparent and human-readable on the device. He does a live demo on 1inch connecting a Nano Gen 5 via Bluetooth to initiate a swap with clear signing. He then introduces the Device Management Kit, a modular set of libraries supporting Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, and Cosmos with transports for USB, BLE, and React Native. The hackathon features two tracks: AI agents interacting with Ledger devices and clear signing integration. 00:00 Introduction and About Ledger 00:43 Hackathon Tracks: AI Agents and Clear Signing 01:36 What Is Blind Signing 02:44 What Is Clear Signing 03:12 Ledger Button: Direct Connectivity Overview 03:39 Built-In Security and Transaction Checks 04:32 USB, BLE, and Bluetooth Support 04:54 Architecture: Device Management Kit and Dependencies 05:24 Lit Web Components and EIP Standards 05:53 Supported Networks and Actions 06:23 Integration Steps and SDK Setup 07:00 Live Demo: Connecting Nano Gen 5 on 1inch 08:53 Device Management Kit Deep Dive 09:43 Signer Kits: Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Cosmos 10:42 Debugging Tools, Playground, and Emulator 11:14 Developer Portal and Resources 12:00 Q&A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal Cannes 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes 2026, a 3-day hackathon held April 3-5 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5YrcvSj6KSTztLMy58d7d4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kevin Jones

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Kevin Jones, a developer relations engineer with seven years in the Ethereum ecosystem, demonstrates building a decentralized auction application using two approaches: hands-on development with Scaffold ETH and AI-assisted coding with OpenClaw. He walks through the full Scaffold ETH workflow — scaffolding a project, deploying a smart contract to a local chain and then to Base, verifying the contract on-chain, and publishing the front end to IPFS and Vercel. The session highlights the practical tradeoffs between manual and AI-driven development, showcasing ETH Skills as a set of guardrails for AI agents building on Ethereum. Kevin also covers Speedrun Ethereum's educational challenges, prompt engineering best practices for tools like Cursor and Claude, and introduces OneClaw, a secrets management tool for AI agents. The live demo candidly reveals both the power and pitfalls of AI coding tools, with OpenClaw crashing mid-demo while the manual Scaffold ETH approach succeeds. 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Workshop Overview: Human vs AI Building 02:23 What Is Scaffold ETH 03:13 Introduction to ETH Skills 04:21 Setting Up OpenClaw with ETH Skills 04:57 Prompting Strategy: Claude to OpenClaw 05:42 Scaffolding a Project with Create ETH 07:05 Project Structure Walkthrough 08:56 Next.js Front End and Scaffold Hooks 11:09 ABI and TypeScript Type Generation 13:01 Checking on OpenClaw Progress 14:06 Running the Local Chain and Deploying 15:24 Scaffold ETH UI and Burner Wallet 17:30 AI Builds the Auction Contract 18:54 AI Mistakes: Foundry vs Hardhat 22:20 Deploying the Auction Contract to Base 25:21 Generating and Funding a Deployer Key 27:25 Verifying the Contract on Base 29:04 Fixing the AI-Generated Front End 30:20 Publishing to IPFS and Vercel 34:53 Speedrun Ethereum Overview 38:45 Synthesis Hackathon and Bonfires 40:27 OpenClaw Status Check 43:33 Q&A: Reverting vs Fixing AI Mistakes 46:08 Live Demo: Creating an Auction on Base 52:04 Q&A: Cursor vs VS Code Workflow 56:30 Q&A: When Not to Use Scaffold ETH 57:33 OneClaw: Secrets Management for AI Agents 1:00:08 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *ETHGlobal Cannes 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes 2026, a 3-day hackathon held April 3-5 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5YrcvSj6KSTztLMy58d7d4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Kevin Jones* X: https://x.com/cryptomastery_ ✅ *Follow 1Claw* X: https://x.com/1clawAI ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Kevin Krone from ENS Labs introduces the Ethereum Name Service protocol and explores how ENS can serve as an identity layer for apps, AI agents, and interoperable cross-chain naming. He covers the basics of ENS — turning hex addresses into human-readable names, attaching rich profile metadata like social accounts and multi-chain addresses, and how forward and reverse resolution work together to create primary names. Kevin dives deeper into how ENS can function as a namespace for AI agents, proposing a pattern where agents use subnames for versioning and text records for storing metadata like endpoints, skills, and readme files. He demos a verification tool linking ENS names with ERC-7804 agent registrations to create a closed-loop attestation. He also introduces "on.eth," a new two-letter ENS name enabling interoperable cross-chain name resolution via ERC-7828, allowing names like "vitalik.eth@base" to resolve across networks. The session closes with hackathon prize tracks for AI agent integration and creative ENS use. 00:00 Introduction 00:36 What Is ENS 01:39 ENS as a User Experience Protocol 02:41 ENS Profiles and Metadata 03:29 Personalized DApp Experiences with ENS 05:15 How ENS Resolution Works 05:37 Forward and Reverse Resolution 06:43 Setting Up Primary Names Across Chains 07:30 ENS as a Namespace for AI Agents 08:34 Agent Metadata in Text Records and Subnames 09:14 ENS and ERC-7804 Agent Registration 10:45 Live Demo: ENS-7804 Verification Tool 12:47 Reputation and Verifiability Challenges 13:58 Introducing on.eth: Interoperable Chain Names 15:41 ERC-7828 and Cross-Chain Name Resolution 18:15 What You Can Build with ENS 18:58 Hackathon Prize Tracks 19:30 Q&A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal Cannes 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes 2026, a 3-day hackathon held April 3-5 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5YrcvSj6KSTztLMy58d7d4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Blessing Adesiji walks through Arc's nano payment system and demonstrates how to build agentic economy use cases using the X2X protocol and Arc's gateway infrastructure. He explains how nano payments solve the challenge of sub-cent transactions by batching off-chain signatures and settling them on-chain later, reducing gas costs to near zero. The X2X protocol leverages HTTP 402 responses so that AI agents can request paid content or services, sign payments off-chain, and receive access — all without individual on-chain transactions. Blessing runs a live demo of a sample application where an AI agent with a 1 USDC spending limit completes 98 tasks across multiple endpoints — quotes, datasets, compute via LLM APIs, and agentic treasure hunt tasks — all in sub-500ms with zero gas per transaction. He shows how the ephemeral agent wallet, gateway deposits, off-chain signature batching, and seller settlement all work together. The session covers four hackathon bounty tracks: advanced stablecoin smart contracts, abstracted USDC apps using Arc as a liquidity layer, agentic economy with nano payments, and prediction markets with real-world signals. 00:00 Introduction and Hackathon Bounties 00:31 Best Smart Contract with Stablecoin Logic 01:03 Abstracted USDC Apps and Arc as Liquidity Layer 01:31 Agentic Economy with Nano Payments 01:55 Prediction Markets Bounty 02:17 Sample Application Overview 03:01 How X2X and HTTP 402 Protocol Work 03:52 Payment Flow Diagram Walkthrough 05:19 Ephemeral Wallets and Off-Chain Signatures 06:16 Batch Settlement via Gateway 07:19 Key Points: Zero Gas Agentic Payments 07:46 Dashboard and Endpoint Overview 09:04 Live Demo: Agent Running 98 Tasks on 1 USDC 10:28 Sub-500ms Transaction Speed 11:00 Seller Settlement and Withdrawal 12:01 Demo Results: Agent Spent Exactly 1 USDC 12:50 Q&A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal Cannes 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes 2026, a 3-day hackathon held April 3-5 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5YrcvSj6KSTztLMy58d7d4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Mateo Sauton from TFH (the labs that build for World) introduces World ID, MiniKit, and Agent Kit for the Open Agents hackathon. He frames the urgency of proof of human verification: with up to 75% of internet traffic now being bots and CAPTCHAs no longer effective against advanced AI agents, World ID provides a privacy-preserving way to prove uniqueness and humanity online using ZK proofs. The system has three verification levels — device, document (NFC ID/passport), and orb (the highest, fully unique human verification). Mateo walks through World's three product surfaces: ID Kit for integrating proof of human into any web or mobile app (with backend proof verification required for the hackathon), Mini Apps that inherit World App's massive distribution of nearly 40M users and 7.5M monthly actives, and the newly released Agent Kit which lets users delegate their World ID to AI agents. He covers the core MiniKit commands (verify, pay, sign-in with Ethereum, send transaction, notifications, world chat), shares case studies including Ouro's daily airdrops to 175K+ humans, Credit's uncollateralized loans to 1M+ verified users, Morpho's boosted APY vaults, and a 21-day fitness staking app. The hackathon offers a $20K prize pool split across three tracks: best use of Agent Kit, best use of World ID, and best use of Mini Apps. 00:00 Introduction 00:38 The Agentic Economy and Why World Matters 01:55 What World ID Solves: Proof of Human 02:47 Privacy-Preserving Verification with ZK Proofs 04:14 Why Uniqueness Unlocks New Use Cases 04:52 Integrating ID Kit on Phone and Desktop 06:11 Developer Portal and SDK Setup 06:42 Backend Proof Verification Requirement 07:46 On-Chain vs Cloud Verification 08:24 Mini Apps: Inheriting World App's Distribution 09:15 The Verify Command and Three Verification Levels 11:10 The Pay Command for Gasless Transactions 11:58 Sign-In with Ethereum and Cross-Platform Sessions 12:42 Send Transaction and Permits 13:35 Notifications and World Chat Integration 13:55 Mini Apps Ecosystem Stats: 2.1B Opens 14:50 World App User Base: 38M Total, 18M Verified 15:43 Mini Apps Ecosystem Growth 16:09 Introducing Agent Kit: Delegating World ID to Agents 17:32 Use Cases: Ticketing and Rate Limiting for Agents 18:22 Case Study: Ouro Daily Airdrops 19:16 Case Study: Credit Uncollateralized Loans 20:55 Case Study: Morpho Boosted Yields 21:23 Case Study: WLD Fitness Staking App 22:04 Three Hackathon Tracks: $20K Prize Pool _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHGlobal Cannes 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes 2026, a 3-day hackathon held April 3-5 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5YrcvSj6KSTztLMy58d7d4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Angela Ocando from Uniswap Labs introduces the Uniswap API for the Open Agents hackathon, framing it around the theme that crypto and fintech products need to swap, and now agents need to swap and pay too. The Uniswap API aggregates liquidity across Uniswap v2, v3, v4, UniswapX, and over 25 market makers, supporting 17+ chains with a 97% fill rate. Angela emphasizes the simplicity of integration: visit developers.uniswap.org, generate an API key, and start swapping in minutes with no fees from Uniswap. Angela does a live demo using Claude Code with the Uniswap AI skills plugin (specifically the Uniswap Trading plugin which includes swap integration, LP endpoints, and X2X pay-with-any-token support). She shows how to set up a base mainnet wallet, configure an .env file with Anthropic, Uniswap, and wallet keys, then prompt Claude in natural language to swap ETH for USDC. The hackathon offers a $5,000 prize pool for the best Uniswap API integration, with Angela strongly encouraging participants to include a feedback.md file in their submissions to help shape future API improvements — she notes that the LP endpoint was added based on feedback from a previous hackathon. She also covers testnet support requirements (minimum liquidity needed in Sepolia pools to avoid quote errors). 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Why Agents Need to Swap and Pay 01:09 What the Uniswap API Aggregates 01:36 Protocol Stats and 17+ Chain Support 02:01 Three-Step Integration Process 02:45 $5,000 Hackathon Bounty Overview 03:11 Importance of Submitting Feedback Files 03:57 Resources: Developer Platform Walkthrough 04:42 Uniswap AI Skills Plugin 05:27 API References and LP Endpoint 06:15 Setting Up Claude Code with Uniswap Plugin 07:25 Live Demo: Configuring Wallet and Keys 07:58 Prompting Claude to Swap ETH to USDC on Base 09:19 Walking Through the Swap Execution 10:04 Discord Support During the Hackathon 10:50 Q&A: Testnet Support Requirements 11:46 Q&A and Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🤖 *Open Agents 2026* This workshop is part of Open Agents 2026, an online hackathon held from April 24 to May 6. This async hackathon brings together the world’s most talented Web3 developers, designers, and product builders to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full Open Agents 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh6vpKqgVU7bEKyYK0tWfYEQ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Angela Ocando* X: https://x.com/ocandocrypto ✅ *Follow Uniswap Labs* X: https://x.com/Uniswap ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this kickoff, Kartik Talwar, co-founder of ETH Global, welcomes 800+ hackers from six continents to Open Agents — ETH Global's second async hackathon of 2026. He covers the upcoming 2026 calendar including in-person hackathons in New York, Lisbon, Tokyo, and Mumbai, plus ETHCom in New York City bringing together institutional finance and crypto. The hackathon offers $50,000 in prizes from five partners: Uniswap Foundation, ZeroG, ENS, Genson, and Keeper Hub. Kartik walks through the full set of rules and submission requirements: hacking begins immediately with submissions due Sunday, May 3rd at 12 PM Eastern, teams of up to five members, everything must be built from scratch with proper Git history, and a 4-minute demo video is required. He details the two judging tracks — partner prizes (judged asynchronously based on submission quality) and the finalist track (top 10 teams selected via live Zoom judging from 12-2:30 PM Eastern the day after submissions close). Finalists receive ETH Global Plus for a year, $1,000 USDC per team member, $500 flight credit to the next in-person hackathon, on-chain proof, and $15K in developer credits. He emphasizes that AI agent usage is encouraged but must be clearly attributed, with proper incremental commits rather than batched mega-commits. Two required check-ins and two live feedback sessions (Tuesday 2-4 PM and Thursday 9-11 AM Eastern) will support builders throughout the 10-day event. 00:00 Welcome to Open Agents 00:35 Upcoming ETH Global Events and ETHCom 01:27 Hackathon Stats: 800 Hackers from Six Continents 01:49 Five Partners and $50K Prize Pool 02:11 Communication: Discord and Hacker Dashboard 03:14 Hackathon Timeline: 10 Days to Submission 03:46 Rules: Build from Scratch, Auditable Repos 04:33 Open Source Libraries and SDKs Are Allowed 05:15 Submission Deadline and Demo Video Requirements 06:28 Two Judging Tracks: Finalist vs Partner Prizes 07:09 How Partner Prize Judging Works 08:37 Finalist Track: Live Zoom Judging Process 09:22 Finalist Live Call Time Zones 10:37 Finalist Pack: USDC, Flight Credit, Developer Credits 11:41 Finalist Requirements: Live Demo and Auditability 12:22 Tips for a Great Submission Video 13:23 Workshops, Tutorials, and Team Formation 14:30 Required Check-Ins and Stake Returns 15:36 Live Feedback Sessions Tuesday and Thursday 15:56 Code of Conduct and IP Ownership 17:02 AI Agent Usage Rules and Attribution 17:54 Prize Breakdown by Partner 18:39 Pace Yourself: Have Fun and Experiment 19:36 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *Open Agents 2026* Join us for the kick-off for "Open Agents 2026," an async hackathon organized by ETHGlobal and held from April 24 to May 6. HackMoney 2026 brings together the world’s most talented Web3 developers, designers, and product builders to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Greg Skril from ENS Labs introduces the Ethereum Name Service for Open Agents hackathon participants and explores how ENS serves as identity infrastructure for apps, AI agents, and beyond. He covers ENS's core function — turning hex addresses into human-readable names — and demonstrates how a name like greg.eth becomes a full Web3 portable profile with avatars, multi-chain addresses, social accounts, and arbitrary text records. Greg emphasizes that ENS is fundamentally a user experience protocol: anywhere an app reads or writes a hex address, it should use an ENS name instead. Greg dives into how ENS works through forward and reverse resolution combining to form primary names across chains, then walks through agent-specific use cases: subname namespaces (agent.work.eth, travel.agent.work.eth), ENSIP-25 verification with the ERC-7804 agent registry, and storing agent metadata in text records. He introduces interoperable chain names through "on.eth" (the only two-character ENS name), allowing addresses like vitalik@base.on.eth for cross-chain resolution. He also covers building decentralized websites with Omnipin and IPFS, naming smart contracts, and using Durin for issuing subdomains on any EVM chain. The hackathon offers two tracks with three winners each ($500/$750/$1,250): best ENS integration for AI agents and most creative use of ENS. 00:00 Introduction 00:39 What Is ENS 01:33 ENS as a User Experience Protocol 02:21 ENS Profiles and Portable Identity 03:42 Connect Wallet UX With and Without ENS 04:58 Examples in the Wild: Snapshot and Matcha 05:24 ENS for Transaction History and Sending Assets 07:11 Users Should Never See Hex Addresses 07:41 How ENS Works: Forward and Reverse Resolution 09:04 Primary Names and Reverse Registrars 09:56 Using ENS for AI Agents 10:29 Agent Namespaces and Subname Hierarchies 11:51 Agent Metadata in Text Records 12:15 ENSIP-25: Verification with ERC-7804 Registry 13:23 Names for Chains: Interoperable Names with on.eth 14:51 Decentralized Websites with Omnipin and IPFS 16:37 Naming Smart Contracts and Smart Accounts 17:32 Subnames for Onboarding Users 18:00 Durin: Issuing Subdomains on Any EVM Chain 18:53 Custom Text Records as Decentralized Storage 19:24 Building Blocks for Different App Types 21:46 ENS Improves Existing Apps 22:39 Hackathon Prize Tracks 23:30 Q&A: Encrypted Data and Fluid Key Privacy 25:26 Q&A: Killer Use Cases and Verification 27:19 Q&A: Custom Metadata and Text Records 28:36 Q&A: CCIP Read and Decentralized Websites 31:16 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🤖 *Open Agents 2026* This workshop is part of Open Agents 2026, an online hackathon held from April 24 to May 6. This async hackathon brings together the world’s most talented Web3 developers, designers, and product builders to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full Open Agents 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh6vpKqgVU7bEKyYK0tWfYEQ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Greg Skril* X: https://x.com/gregskril ✅ *Follow ENS* X: https://x.com/ensdomains ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ethereum Malaysia · May 9, 2026

​Check out the latest beta features hitting Remix. from elite LLM integrations to user accounts, cloud storage, MCPs, and a new front-end builder. ​Rob will walk through the updates and share practical tips for building and vibe coding in Remix. ​About Remix IDE Remix IDE is a browser-based development environment for building, testing, and deploying smart contracts on Ethereum.

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · May 9, 2026

Jordi Baylina

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · May 9, 2026

In this Privacy Academy interview, Jordi Baylina (ZisK / Ethereum) argues that privacy should be a default human right, built into systems by design rather than treated as an exception. He reflects on how crypto has shifted toward speculation, while its deeper purpose is to transform how people interact and build a fairer world. Baylina highlights privacy tools like Signal and Zcash, and shares his experience confronting surveillance through activism. He also outlines a vision of decentralized applications that are censorship-resistant, privacy-first, and accessible to everyone. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Jordi Baylina (ZisK / Ethereum) 00:31 – Privacy as a default human right by design 01:27 – Crypto values vs speculation and “easy money” 02:49 – Everyday privacy tools: Signal, Zcash, Tornado Cash 04:06 – Activism and fighting surveillance (Pegasus case) 06:03 – Decentralization as censorship resistance and human rights 07:14 – Responsibility: contributing to privacy and society 08:59 – Ethics vs profit: human dilemmas in crypto 11:02 – Vision: decentralized apps for a fairer world -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · May 9, 2026

In this Academy interview, Hakeem Anwar (Above Phone) discusses making privacy accessible through ready-to-use devices and tools built on open-source technologies like GrapheneOS. He frames privacy as essential for freedom, especially in a world of increasing data collection and emerging systems like digital ID. Anwar emphasizes practical steps from choosing privacy-first tools to building real-world communities and highlights the importance of supporting open-source ecosystems. He also shares a vision of decentralized, self-sustained networks where communities control their own infrastructure and communication. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Hakeem Anwar & Above Phone 00:25 – Making privacy tools easy and accessible (GrapheneOS phones) 01:51 – Privacy as freedom in a data-driven world 02:54 – Cypherpunk mindset: drawing the line against surveillance 03:56 – Supporting open-source and privacy ecosystems 04:03 – Building real-world communities and offline networks 04:49 – Favorite tools: XMPP, GrapheneOS, privacy stack 05:49 – Simple habits: saying “no” and setting boundaries 06:15 – Vision: decentralized communities and alternative networks -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · May 9, 2026

In this Academe interview, Seth For Privacy (Cake Wallet) explains privacy as the simple ability to choose what you share and with whom. He highlights that the main barrier to adoption isn’t technology, but user experience—arguing that privacy tools must become easy and accessible for everyone. Seth also explores the future of privacy in areas like encrypted communication and financial systems, and reflects on the need to move beyond speculation toward real-world use cases. For him, the goal is clear: build tools that empower individuals, restore freedom of choice, and help people connect in more meaningful ways. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Seth For Privacy (Cake Wallet) 00:17 – Privacy as freedom of choice and control over data 00:56 – The real barrier: poor user experience in privacy tools 01:36 – Making privacy accessible (Signal, Apple examples) 02:08 – Gaps in privacy tech: encrypted email and DeFi 03:00 – Privacy vs usability in financial systems 04:05 – Neo-cypherpunks: merging UX and cryptography 05:18 – Tribalism and incentives in crypto/privacy communities 06:46 – Bridging crypto and open-source through real use cases 07:54 – Storytelling and adoption: proving real-world impact 09:26 – Vision: technology that strengthens human relationships -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Aisling Connolly

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · May 9, 2026

In this Academy interview, Aisling Connolly (Taceo) explores privacy as both a personal and technical concept - a space to think, grow, and make mistakes without judgment. She discusses building private compute networks using MPC and how privacy can exist between full transparency and total anonymity. Aisling reflects on the evolution of the cypherpunk movement toward more inclusive, community-driven ideas, while highlighting challenges around perception, accessibility, and diversity in the space. She also shares a vision of privacy as a balance between control, transparency, and freedom of choice. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Aisling Connolly (Taceo, private compute) 00:18 – Privacy as space to live, grow, and make mistakes 01:13 – Private compute (MPC): between transparency and anonymity 02:11 – Neo-cypherpunk: mindset shift and reclaiming curiosity 03:15 – Privacy as freedom to learn, experiment, and question 03:26 – Making the movement more open and inclusive 04:21 – Stigma around privacy and association with crime 05:28 – Barriers and gender dynamics in the space 07:30 – Expanding roles beyond tech: social, legal, cultural 08:49 – Research vs deployment: speed vs long-term thinking 10:04 – Why we should think in 50-year horizons 11:16 – Vision: flexible privacy with control and transparency 12:17 – Privacy + transparency: knowing when data is used 13:03 – “Privacy tool”: reading, thinking, and mental space 14:41 – Ethics: choosing meaningful work and contribution 16:12 – Personal responsibility and building a better future -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · May 9, 2026

In this Academy interview, Chris McCabe (Session) shares his perspective on privacy as a fundamental part of personal identity and freedom, pushing back against the idea that people have “nothing to hide.” He discusses the growth of decentralized messaging and the challenges of building privacy-first products without tracking users or relying on data-driven business models. Chris also highlights the trade-offs between privacy, usability, and funding, and reflects on the importance of supporting open, decentralized communication tools. Looking ahead, he envisions a future of autonomous, privacy-respecting networks and technologies that empower individuals at scale. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Chris McCabe (Session) 00:16 – Privacy as personal identity and “nothing to hide” myth 00:58 – Favorite tools: Brave and privacy-first browsing 01:31 – Cypherpunk today: following your own values 02:23 – State of decentralized messaging and growth 03:21 – Challenges: no tracking, funding, and user feedback loops 04:23 – Funding crisis and call for community support 05:13 – Optimistic future: decentralized and privacy-first networks 06:00 – AI, autonomy, and the future of privacy tech -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · May 9, 2026

In this Academy interview, Meinhard Benn (Freedom Browser) explains the need for a truly decentralized web interface that removes reliance on centralized gateways and puts control back into users’ hands. He shares how Freedom Browser turns your device into a node, making access to the decentralized web simple and direct. Meinhard reflects on cypherpunk values, the challenges of building privacy-first tools, and why usability matters as much as decentralization itself. He also explores a future where privacy and freedom are embedded by default, gradually shaping both technology and society. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Meinhard Benn (Freedom Browser) 00:14 – What is Freedom Browser and the decentralized web (IPFS, Swarm) 01:07 – Turning your device into a node (no gateways) 01:31 – The problem: “decentralized” systems using centralized access 02:23 – Building during crypto winters and cypherpunk mindset 03:14 – Origins: hacker roots and inspiration from cypherpunk retreat 04:42 – Privacy as a human right and behavioral impact of surveillance 07:31 – What it means to be a neo-cypherpunk today 08:18 – Privacy tools and building open, free infrastructure 09:03 – Challenges, future of decentralization, and cypherpunk society vision -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

ETHGlobal · Apr 9, 2026

In this workshop, Matthew Foyle, DevRel lead at Dynamic and Fireblocks, gives a brief overview of Dynamic's wallet infrastructure for ETH Global Cannes builders. Dynamic provides a complete wallet stack available through SDKs and a low-level API, offering Fireblocks-grade security, sub-second signing, and fast implementation for both human users and AI agents. He emphasizes using the SDKs directly rather than pre-built React UIs, and highlights the three-step setup: create an account, grab an environment ID, and install the documentation MCP for AI-assisted development. Matt breaks down the three hackathon prizes totaling $5,000, all judged on "comprehensive use" — a combination of breadth and depth of SDK integration across mobile SDKs (Kotlin, Swift, Flutter, React Native), the JavaScript SDK (framework-agnostic vanilla JS), or the Node SDK. He walks through the quick start flows for each SDK, including an agent-friendly path that lets Claude or Cursor guide configuration decisions. Inspiration categories include digital asset flows, trading flows, cross-border flows, and agentic flows. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 What Is Dynamic 00:52 SDK and API Overview 01:13 Key Features: Fireblocks Security and Fast Signing 01:38 Three Steps to Get Started 02:01 Meet the Team at the Venue 02:24 Hackathon Prizes Overview 02:44 What Is Comprehensive Use 03:55 Use Case Inspiration 04:45 JavaScript SDK Quick Start 05:31 Agent-Friendly Setup Path 06:07 Node SDK Quick Start 06:32 Mobile SDK Example Apps 06:55 Summary and Resources 07:23 Install the Documentation MCP 07:49 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *ETHGlobal Cannes 2026* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes 2026, a 3-day hackathon held April 3-5 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2026 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5YrcvSj6KSTztLMy58d7d4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Matthew Foyle* X: https://x.com/MatthewFoyle ✅ *Follow Dynamic* X: https://x.com/dynamic_xyz ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jarrad Hope

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Apr 9, 2026

In this interview, Jarrad Hope, founder of Status and Logos, explains why privacy is ultimately about freedom and functioning democracies. He discusses how algorithmic manipulation and surveillance by large tech platforms shape public behavior and why cypherpunks today must go beyond building technology toward civic action and parallel systems. Hope also highlights the growing ecosystem of privacy tools and shares his vision for a more decentralized web and blockchain-based communities. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Jarrad Hope (Status, Logos, Institute of Free Technology) 00:14 – Privacy as a foundation for freedom and democracy 00:54 – Algorithmic manipulation and the limits of “nothing to hide” 01:20 – The role of neo-cypherpunks today: beyond technology 02:04 – The growing ecosystem of privacy tools 02:47 – Making privacy technologies accessible to more people 03:35 – Surveillance, CBDCs, and why privacy awareness may grow 03:52 – A vision for a more decentralized web 04:51 – Institutional capture and rebuilding civic society 05:14 – The “parallel polis” strategy 05:58 – Blockchain communities as a possible successor to nation states ... This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews – a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info/p/interviews A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Amir Taaki

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Apr 9, 2026

In this interview, Amir Taaki (DarkFi) presents privacy as a tool to expand freedom and reshape society, not just protect against surveillance. He frames cypherpunks as builders of peer-to-peer systems and stresses the importance of controlling the technology we rely on. For Taaki, privacy is not a lifestyle, it’s a tactic for building new systems and a different future. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Amir Taaki (DarkFi) 00:20 – Privacy as a tool to expand freedom and reshape society 01:05 – Cypherpunks vs centralized power: a historical struggle 01:54 – Linux and the importance of collective control over technology 02:33 – Privacy mindset: how data can be used against you 04:22 – Cultural shift and the need to re-explain privacy 05:28 – Crypto, hyper-financialization, and breaking the cycle 06:25 – A new era: shifting civilization and future systems 06:55 – Privacy as a tactic: strong anonymity and no compromise ... This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews – a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info/ A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Harry Halpin

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Apr 9, 2026

In this interview, Harry Halpin (Nym) explores privacy as a system-wide property built on anonymity and selective disclosure. He discusses the evolution from individual-focused cypherpunk values to more collective, community-driven approaches enabled by privacy technologies. Halpin highlights everyday tools like mixnets, Signal, and privacy-first browsers, while emphasizing the importance of using these technologies by default. He also shares a vision of decentralized infrastructure and “parallel societies” that can support free expression and coordination in an adversarial world. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Harry Halpin (Nym, mixnets) 00:13 – Privacy as anonymity and selective disclosure 01:04 – From cypherpunk to neo-cypherpunk and collective systems 02:04 – Everyday privacy tools: NymVPN, Signal, Brave, Monero 03:00 – Privacy-first habits and using tools by default 03:48 – Privacy tech as “freedom” or anti-system technologies 04:19 – Linking privacy tools with social movements 05:10 – Building parallel societies and decentralized democracy 05:46 – The internet as an adversarial environment 06:20 – Decentralizing infrastructure beyond DNS and central servers -- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Apr 9, 2026

In this interview, Pavel Zoneff (Tor Project) explains how privacy helps reclaim control in a digital world shaped by surveillance and data exploitation. He highlights everyday actions, open-source tools like Tor and Signal, and the need for a more decentralized internet. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Pavel Zoneff (Tor Project) 00:15 – Privacy as control in a data-driven, censoring internet 00:41 – Everyday actions: using privacy tools and signaling demand 01:21 – Privacy as a collective movement beyond technologists 02:11 – Using multiple tools and minimizing digital traces 03:22 – Rejecting cookies as “digital disobedience” 04:02 – Spreading adoption: talk about your tech stack 04:50 – Toward a decentralized, user-owned internet --- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress · Apr 9, 2026

In this interview, Rachel-Rose O’Leary (DarkFi) presents privacy as a way to expand freedom and open new possibilities beyond surveillance. She discusses the shift toward community-driven neo-cypherpunk ideas and the need to move crypto beyond its current niche. She also shares a vision of a decentralized, anonymous internet built for communities and new forms of freedom. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Rachel-Rose O’Leary (DarkFi) 00:20 – Privacy as a way to expand the future beyond surveillance 01:12 – DarkFi tools and anonymous ecosystems 02:17 – From cypherpunk to neo-cypherpunk and lunar punk 03:30 – Shift from individualism to community-driven systems 04:20 – Moving beyond critique toward new futures and possibilities 05:01 – Crypto’s disconnect from users and niche culture problem 05:59 – Reaching new audiences and cross-cultural adoption 07:29 – Vision of the future internet: anonymous “dark forest” --- This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews, a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!

Devcon · Apr 9, 2026

Devcon is the Ethereum Foundation's flagship conference for developers and builders, scheduled for November 3-6, 2026, in Mumbai, India. Learn more at https://devcon.org/en/

Funding the Commons · Mar 9, 2026

When you hold Ethereum, you can put it to work and earn passive rewards—this is called staking. Jaydeep Korde, Co-Founder of Lauchnodes, built a way to redirect those rewards toward social and environmental projects, without touching the original funds. The idea is simple: your assets stay intact, and the yield they generate funds real-world impact—from connecting schools to the internet to planting trees and supporting direct cash transfers. Filmed at Funding the Commons Buenos Aires, November 19, 2025. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Relevant Projects Lauchnodes: https://www.launchnodes.com Thank You to Our Sponsors Protocol Labs: https://protocol.ai NEAR Foundation: https://near.foundation Stellar Development Foundation: https://stellar.org human.tech by Holonym Foundation: https://human.tech/ Ethereum Ecosystem Support Program: https://esp.ethereum.foundation/ Drips: https://drips.network Octant: https://octant.app Logos: https://logos.co GoodDollar: https://gooddollar.org Launchnodes: https://launchnodes.com

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 ETHDenver 2026, The Rise of New Buidl City Is Finally Here! 🚀 Come and check it out at the LVC in the National Western Center from Feb 18th-22nd. We are excited to see you!

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Imagine you could implement a smart contract to execute ChatGPT or some large scale statistical analyses. 🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2025! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2025—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Maria Shen

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Most crypto x AI is overblown hype. The only practical use case at the intersection is x402 and agentic payments. 🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2025! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2025—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Exploring how reputation-based allocation improves incentive alignment. We show why ICOs and IPOs favor insiders over real contributors, how this persists in crypto fundraising, and how onchain systems enable merit-based access that benefits both projects and investors.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Safe Smart Contract Vibe Coding | Mooly - Certora 🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

How AI & Vibe Coding Is Disrupting the VC Playbook | Wooster Han - Hashed 🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Nikhil Raghuveera

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Danny Ryan

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Bhaji Illuminati

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

In 2026 we will see the Embedded Wallets reach maturity. Easy onboarding UX that doesn't sacrifice the portability of traditional wallets will be the way most people onboard the next growth cycle. I will speak to app developers about best practices and the benefits of using an embedded wallet setup.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Learn to define meaningful outcomes and measure them by avoiding noise. This talk breaks down differences in rewarding tasks, outcomes, and retention then introduces a model to score onchain and offchain contributions. Most communities reward activity, here’s how to fix incentives and reward impact.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Web3 marketing often collapses under noise, unclear messaging, and lack of scalable systems. This session breaks down the real reasons growth stalls. The proven principles, patterns and frameworks that help teams earn attention, build trust and scale sustainably.

Elena Sinelnikova

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Elena shares her vision with us, how AI and Humans will coexist changing reality as we know it

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Beto explores how visionary VC leadership and collaborative ecosystems are driving blockchain innovation. This talk shows investors and innovators how to guide adoption responsibly, bridging traditional finance with decentralized technology.

Hart Lambur

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Hear from Base Senior Product Manager Nick Prince give an overview of Base's efforts to help builders grow and win.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Finding your way in the complex world of limitless cloud backups, anon accounts, disappearing messages, and anonymized transactions can be difficult and confusing, but small mistakes can have a big impact. I will help you learn your obligations under the law, and how to avoid getting into trouble.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Tokenized ETFs can be the mainstream onramp for regulated RWA on Ethereum. In 20 minutes you get 3 design patterns, 5 failure modes, and a 10-question diligence checklist covering custody, AML/compliance, disclosure, and distribution to use before building, partnering, listing, or allocating.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Under the GENIUS Act, stablecoin issuers have to hold all reserves in US Treasuries. Similar measures are likely in Europe and the UK. But as "Big crypto" and politics become intertwined, what remains of the original Crypto punk ethos? This session will discuss future scenarios.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Web3's biggest marketing wins often come with hidden costs. Incentives drive activity, but do they build loyalty? Hype creates visibility, but does it create trust? This debate explores the tradeoff: growth tactics that kickstart ecosystems vs. shortcuts that erode credibility and long-term value.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Are VCs investing in this market? Do funds have capital to deploy? This panel explores how founders should gauge which funds are actively deploying, what those investors are looking for right now, and how to successfully navigate a fundraise in a challenging environment.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Impact Stream leverages emerging technologies to create foundations for accountable, transparent, & community-driven impact.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Austin Griffith, Jesse Pollak

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

This session is focused on getting founders fluent in brand strategy, marketing, and PR: understanding where and how to invest in your marketing stack; how strategic storytelling helps you accelerate and scale; and how to make your team and agency partners successful.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

DePIN protocol design is about capturing value from revenues and amplifying, diverting, and storing it. To illustrate this, we’ll build a protocol from barebones to something as complex as Helium while tracking where value flows.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Why haven't Quadrillions moved on-chain? It's not regulation. It's not technology maturity. It's not institutional skepticism. It's PRIVACY, a fundamental human right.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Dani Osorio

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

DeFi Dave

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Jake Brukhman

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Evin McMullen

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Patrick is a CPA recognized as a Forbes Best-In-State Top CPA for his leadership in digital asset accounting, advising investors, startups, and protocols at the intersection of crypto, compliance, and regulation.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Every TGE has an unexpected crisis: flash crashes, midnight CEX negotiations, scammer attacks, wallet errors & claim failures. Join founders dive into post-mortem 72hrs before launch. Learn how war room teams manage emergency pivots, split-second calls & coordination under pressure.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

At Optimism, we've conducted deep research on the history of corporate governance to inform how we're approaching our own crypto gov system. This preso will cover the evolution of corporate governance, common failure modes, and how crypto governance can adapt to prevent the most common shortcomings

Ilia Volokh, Wei Dai

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Up Top is a talent collective bringing transparency and community to hiring opportunities in Web3

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 ETHDenver 2026, The Rise of New Buidl City Is Finally Here! 🚀 Come and check it out at the LVC in the National Western Center from Feb 18th-22nd. We are excited to see you!

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Guillaume Ballet

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Bob Summerwill

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

It's time to challenge the cloud monopoly. Meet Shelby, the first decentralized cloud-grade infrastructure for monetizing and serving real-time data. Incentivized reads. Sub-second speed. Any chain, any stack. Web3's data solution has arrived.

Devansh Mehta

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Csaba Kiraly

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Britt is the Director of Partnerships at Espresso Systems. Prior to joining Espresso, she gained extensive experience in the Web3 space at Risk Labs, contributing to the growth of UMA and Across protocols. She is a graduate of Colorado State University with degrees in both Biology as well as Health and Exercise Science. This will be a talk outlining the next evolution of application and infra development in crypto.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

The future of Ethereum core development, and thus, the future of Ethereum is at risk due to underfunding. We need to take collective action (now!) to ensure that Ethereum is able to sustain, grow, and thrive such that billions of people across the world's lives are positively impacted.

DeFi Dave

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Vibehouse is an Ethereum consensus client built almost entirely by AI agents. Forked from Lighthouse, it shipped a complete ePBS implementation in under 72 hours — all spec tests passing, finality on a multi-node devnet. This talk covers how vibecoding works for consensus-critical code and what happens when you let AI ship a hard fork.

Austin Griffith

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Andy Guzman

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Deep dive into AI, Infra and Much more

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Molly Mackinlay, Shannon Wells

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

In this fireside, one of the original architects of Filecoin and IPFS joins us to examine whether decentralized blockchains can meaningfully power the next generation of AI systems. Where does traditional cloud break for agents? What can onchain protocols uniquely provide today? As DePIN enters a new cycle, what are the lessons learned, and what will it take to win now?

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Alex Stokes

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Charles Guillemet

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

With no doubt, the Quantum Era will challenge us. We will therefore discuss how to secure cryptography and hardware to ensure we can address this.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Some use cases thrive on open systems like Ethereum. Politically neutral infrastructure for permissionless exchange and global liquidity. But other use cases can't survive on public rails. Corporations cannot operate sustainably with unpredictable gas fees, no cost control, and governance they don't influence. Healthcare, financial services, and supply chain operations need infrastructure where applications control their own chain.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

AI is rapidly becoming a core workload in Web3 — but most “AI on-chain” narratives still rely on centralized compute, opaque inference, or trust assumptions that break the crypto security model.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

In this session I will speak about the main problems users encounter today such as gas & chain abstraction. Would also share how we are solving this with at RPC level via active sponsorships. Also covering the user journey from CEX to self custody.

Austin Griffith

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Murat Akdeniz

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Phuc Thai

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

This session explores why L2 makes more sense for new and existing chains: offering cheaper and more durable security, better user experience, and seamless interoperability. We will break down the limitations of L1 security budgets and why few L1s can sustainably pay for the security budgets.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Seun Lanlege

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Many onchain systems still rely on custom scripts, server-stored keys, or cron jobs, creating silent single points of failure. This session explores how trustless execution removes these risks and enables safer, more resilient onchain systems without added complexity.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2026! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2026—it’s going to be epic! 🌟