European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: On the eve of Pontes: What changes, Is Europe doing it right and who gets in Speakers: - Saumitra Dubey | Fiat republic - Bert Staufenbiel | KfW - Christoph Hock | Union Investment - Martin Müller | RL1 - Thilo Derenbach | Clearstream 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: How to Build an Investment Team That Eliminates Bias Entirely Speakers: - Laeeq Shabbir | HT Digital - Andrea Böhmert | SBI Ventures Europe - Vineet Budki | Sigma Capital 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

The Great Repricing — Value Capture in the Onchain Economy Speakers: - Bernard Nicolay | ULB - Christopher Heymann | 1k(x) - Mathieu Chanson | Very Early Venture 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

ANNA fireside chat: From Traditional to Tokenized: The Standards Powering Tomorrow's Markets Speakers: - Heinz Konzett | Liechtensteinische Landesverwaltung - Rowan Varrall | DTI Foundation - Karin de Ridder | ANNA 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: Family Offices and Allocators: Moving From Observation to Allocation Speakers: - Peter Lane | Bitcoin Life - Filippo Bondurri | SGMC Capital - Bijan Foroodian | Family Office - Sascha Fuchs | Kaiser Partner Private Bank - Victor Teixeira | General Tensor 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: MiCA 2: Lessons from the First Year of Enforcement and What Comes Next Speakers: - Tommaso Astazi | Blockchain For Europe - Viktor Maier | Baader Bank - Stephan Mogelin | BaFin - Christian Moor | European Banking Authority - Keisuke Kimura | JCBA 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: Prediction Markets: Gambling or Financial Instruments? Speakers: - Ariel Navarro | Whale Capital - Marina Villalonga | Asensi Abogados, Partner - Iskandar Vanblarcum | crypto.com - Christopher Siedentopf | Qapture Investment & CRS-Advisory 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: Macro Decoded: Interest Rates, Liquidity and Digital Asset Allocation Speakers: - Otto Jacobsson | YAP - Vladimir Gorshkov | State Street - Anna Dinescu | Hilbert Capital - Radoslav Poljasevic | LO:TECH 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: What institutional capital looks for before it allocates to a crypto VC Speakers: - Dani Rodriguez Miguel | House of Web3 - Tom Filip Lesche | Speedinvest - Adarsh Giri | Fifth Era 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Panel: Is the Yield Worth the Risk? Speakers: - Mikel Ayala | Backpack - Adam Bilko | RockawayX - Dr. Nick Almond | Jito Network - Odran Thomazo | CowDAO 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Round 2 brought another six startups to the EBC12 stage, each pitching for a place in the final. Founders presented their companies to a panel of investors, with feedback focused on product, market opportunity, scalability and execution. Startups: Lympid — Joao Lages Orion Finance — Matteo Manzi SatsBridge GmbH — Ilya Evdokimov Toto Finance — Steven Gaertner Treesury — Jovan Paunović VANT Network — Will Martin Jury: Mathieu Chanson — Very Early Ventures Michael van Baelen — Softstack Tariq Khan — Outrun Ventures Yana Makhnyk — Generis Watch the full session to discover the companies competing in Round 2 and hear the jury feedback. 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Panel: How Ceuta Built a Gambling Hub, and Why Digital Assets Could Be Next Speakers: - Felipe Masa Sanchez-Ocaña | Government of Ceuta - Alberto Eljarrat | Sportium - Marina Villalonga | Asensi Abogados, Partner 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Panel: Cyber, Fraud and the Future of Financial Resilience Speakers: - Otilia Pețu | NOA Group - Ilya Brovin | Sumsub - Harry Donnelly | Circuit - Mitchell Amador | Immunefi 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Panel: From T+2 to New Money Rails: How Stablecoins, CBDCs and Tokenised Deposits Are Reshaping Settlement Speakers: - Lory Kehoe | Aave Labs - Pavel Chichkanov | Bank of England - Patrick Hennes | Luxembourg House of Web3 - Monika Schöning | ING 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

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

With Klara Kovacevic (ChainSecurity, moderator), Krum Pashov (Pashov Audit Group), Jonathan Riss (CertiK) and Josef Gattermayer (ack3). Moderated by Klara Kovacevic of ChainSecurity, this panel asks what AI is actually changing in smart contract security. Josef Gattermayer says ack3's analysis found that 97% of hacks on audited protocols happened outside the audited scope, in infrastructure and off-chain components, and that black hats adopted AI faster than white hats. Krum Pashov and Josef discuss continuous monitoring as a business, how to benchmark AI auditing tools against a plain frontier-model prompt, and why recall, token spend and false positives must be balanced. Jonathan Riss of CertiK covers AI-assisted data aggregation and physical security risks, and audience questions address formal verification, zero-days versus social engineering, and auditor accountability. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Klara Kovacevic, Ecosystem Lead, ChainSecurity (moderator) Klara is with ChainSecurity, the team auditing major protocols like Circle, Sky, Aave, and Curve. With experience in both big tech and Web3, she’s here to ask the right questions and keep things interesting. She’s also a board member at Alice in Blockchains, a crypto education nonprofit. X: https://x.com/klarakova ▸ 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 ▸ Jonathan Riss, Blockchain Intelligence Analyst, CertiK As an Blockchain Intelligence Analyst at CertiK, Jonathan specializes in tracking illicit flows and de-anonymizing malicious actors. He documents complex fraud operations to produce the actionable intelligence necessary to protect the web3 landscape. His mission is to decode the latest threat vectors to help builders and users navigate a safer decentralized future. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanriss X: https://x.com/Jonathan_Riss_ ▸ Josef Gattermayer, Founder, ack3 Josef Gattermayer is the founder of ack3 (prev. Ackee Blockchain) - team securing $180B+ in TVL for Lido, Aave, and Safe. The auditors who created the open-source Wake framework. Ph.D. and Assistant Professor teaching blockchain security at Czech Technical University in Prague. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josefgattermayer X: https://x.com/jgattermayer Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:02 Day-to-day roles and how AI changed them 06:18 Has AI made the industry more or less secure? 07:45 97% of hacks happened outside the audited scope 09:38 Continuous monitoring as a business 12:27 Audit firms become product companies 15:16 Building a great AI auditing harness 17:06 Recall, token spend and false positives 19:45 AI, data leaks and physical security 23:09 Training the next generation of auditors 25:27 What makes an exceptional auditor 30:33 Q&A: Will formal verification replace audits? 33:23 Q&A: Will AI exploit zero-days or humans? 36:07 Q&A: Holding auditors accountable 38:45 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 Georgi Kirov (Crisp Labs, moderator), Kiril Kalchev (BRAIN++ AI Factory), Angel Marchev (UNWE) and Petar Nikolov (Equisect). A panel on what trust means for federated AI systems as quantum computing approaches. Kiril Kalchev explains why CHAIN++, an EU and Bulgarian government funded data-sharing chain for BRAIN++ AI Factory, is built for cryptographic agility, and why picking one post-quantum algorithm is never the end of the job. Petar Nikolov, who holds a PhD in quantum computing, points out that post-quantum cryptography runs on classical computers and that NIST-approved algorithms cannot yet be tested on real quantum hardware, and warns about harvest-now-decrypt-later attacks. Angel Marchev frames security as a permanent arms race, reviews education and research trends, and argues that post-quantum migration is an adaptability problem rather than a prediction problem. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Georgi Kirov, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Crisp Labs (moderator) Over the last 15 years, Georgi has led over 20 applied AI projects with tangible results across buy-side / sell-side finance, manufacturing and various heavily regulated industries. He studied and conducted research at Paris Dauphine, ULB and UC Berkeley. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/georgikirov ▸ 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 ▸ Angel Marchev, Professor on Financial Modeling and AI, UNWE and Sofia-Uni Prof. Angel Marchev Jr., PhD, is a Bulgarian academic and consultant specialising in AI, simulation, cybernetics, finance, and decision-making. With 20+ years of teaching and 50+ publications, he connects scientific methods with practical business challenges. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/angelmarchev ▸ Petar Nikolov, Co-Founder, Equisect Technology professional with proven track record in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Quantitative Research, Quantum Computing, Financial Engineering. Co-founder of Equisect where he builds a platform for pricing of real private equity funds. Ph.D. in Quantum Algorithms from Tehcnical University of Sofia. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/p-nikolov Chapters 00:00 Framing the panel: where does trust come from? 01:41 Introductions: the biggest post-quantum misconception 05:28 CHAIN++ in a post-quantum world 07:38 Quantum computing vs post-quantum cryptography 09:22 Harvest now, decrypt later 10:22 Beyond Shor: what could change in 15 years 11:42 Security as an arms race 15:05 Research directions: lattices and physical leakage 17:20 AI shortens the half-life of implementation 17:40 What to do now: catalogue, assess, go hybrid 20:11 Will AI go quantum first? 23:24 Can LLMs learn from quantum cryptography? 24:23 Economic value: adaptability, not prediction 27:28 Wrap-up 27:51 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

With Daniel Vasilev (moderator), Zdravko Pirinliev (BenchMark), Viktor Uzunov (UEB3 Ventures) and Pascal Tallarida (Jarvis Network). Moderated by economist Daniel Vasilev, this panel asks how to invest and trade as tokenised assets blur the line with traditional finance. Pascal Tallarida argues that tokenisation turns every asset into a yield engine, Viktor Uzunov favours multi-use assets such as Hyperliquid over simply holding Bitcoin, and Zdravko Pirinliev sees treasury companies like Strategy as a source of asymmetric exposure while weighing global liquidity against project fundamentals. Uzunov says ignoring stop losses and chasing late moves are what separate losers from winners, while Tallarida relies mostly on experience and pairs the double stochastic oscillator with the MACD. The panel closes on oil prices, the US midterm elections and whether the bull market is confirmed, with Tallarida and Uzunov arguing that crypto no longer moves in clean bull and bear cycles. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Daniel Vasilev, Economist and Market Analyst (moderator) Daniel is an economist and financial markets analyst with 13 years of experience. Former Chief Economist at Tavex SEE and Head Market Analyst at Admirals Bulgaria, he has authored hundreds of analyses, edited Forbes Bulgaria, and created Econtalks, a popular economics and finance education series. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-vasilev-29455586 ▸ Zdravko Pirinliev, Senior Investment Analyst, BenchMark Zdravko Pirinliev is Chief Investment Analyst and lecturer at BenchMark Finance with 10+ years of trading and investing experience. He hosts the BenchMark Podcast and focuses on market analysis, investor education, and practical financial strategies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zdravko-pirinliev-1570481a7 ▸ 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 ▸ Pascal Tallarida, Founder, Jarvis Network Pascal Tallarida is a Forex trader, entrepreneur and DeFi expert, founder of Jarvis Network and Managing Partner at 73 Capital. He is also a teacher at Alyra, specializing in DeFi, stablecoins and on-chain finance. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/pascal-tallarida X: https://x.com/pscltllrd Chapters 00:00 Tokenised assets and portfolio construction 02:17 Holding the asset vs treasury company exposure 08:02 Liquidity or fundamentals? 09:56 What separates winners from losers 11:32 Common psychological mistakes in trading 13:21 Reading the market: experience over indicators 16:09 Indicators for newcomers: DSS and MACD 17:51 Long-term conviction vs short-term trading 20:23 Your own money vs other people's money 21:33 Risks ahead: oil, consumers and the US midterms 25:47 Q&A: Is the bull market confirmed? 29:24 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

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

Ivan Goychev of Sofia Municipality recalls his start as a software engineer in fintech, from portfolio management software for private equity, with one project for Goldman Sachs, to an algorithmic trading start-up that traded on news sentiment. He cites FinAnalytica, LimeChain, Nexo and Robinhood founder Vlad Tenev as proof of Bulgarian talent on the global stage. He presents the city as a platform for builders, offering open data, real use cases, marketing and 1.3 million residents as potential clients, while leaving laws and regulation to the national government and the European Parliament. He floats tokenising city assets and paying citizens in real time for micro-jobs that improve their neighbourhoods, and invites companies to partner with the municipality. Official Opening at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Ivan Goychev, Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation and Information Systems Ivan Goychev, Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation of Sofia, has 25 years of leadership experience, including managing global teams at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and serving as CTO of FinTech, TravelTech and ConstructionTech startups. He also supports open-source initiatives like Podkrepi.bg. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/igoychev Chapters 00:00 From fintech engineer to deputy mayor 01:47 Bulgarian fintech and blockchain talent 03:12 The city as a platform: open data and 1.3 million clients 04:02 Tokenising city assets and micro-jobs 05:06 An invitation to partner with Sofia Municipality 06:20 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

Martin Leinweber of MarketVector Indexes draws on index data back to 2015 and more than 2,300 tokens to argue that crypto rewards size, not speculation. The top ten coins hold roughly 90% of market cap, there is no small-cap premium, and a liquid micro-cap basket lost about 19% a year. He shows which coins held up in both bull and bear markets, why privacy is a strong theme, and why DeFi, at 2% of market cap but 65% of on-chain fees, looks mispriced. He expects stablecoins, tokenisation and AI agents to drive a fundamentals-led altcoin cycle, and explains the fees-and-users methodology behind his Token Terminal index. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Martin Leinweber, CFA, Head of Digital Asset Research and Strategy, MarketVector Indexes Martin Leinweber leads digital asset research at MarketVector Indexes, developing index products and institutional research, and serving as the firm's primary voice on crypto markets globally. He brings nearly two decades of portfolio management experience across equities, fixed income, and alternatives. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-leinweber-cfa-7758b012b Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:19 Twelve years of data on 2,300 tokens 01:03 Crypto is concentrated: the top 10 hold 90% 02:13 No size premium in crypto 03:21 Micro caps: the pump and dump that works on paper 04:26 The most consistent coins in bull and bear markets 06:54 Screening for relative strength: the privacy theme 09:01 What the leaders share: revenue and users 10:02 On-chain fundamentals: DeFi is 2% of cap, 65% of fees 11:19 Stablecoins, tokenisation and AI agents 13:49 The Token Terminal top 10 index 15:45 Prediction: a fundamentals-driven altcoin cycle 17:30 Q&A: The index methodology 19:46 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

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Rostislav Totev, founder and CEO of Altcoins.bg, argues that the question is no longer whether digital assets join traditional finance but who builds regulated, reliable infrastructure that can scale. Behind a simple buy button sit identity checks, sanctions and wallet screening, the travel rule, custody and reconciliation, and he says trust and operational experience are the parts that cannot be copied. He tells how the company grew from one man and a laptop in 2017 to a MiCA licence in July, rebuilding most of its infrastructure in the final month because partners could not get licensed. A licence, he says, only gives the right to compete; the future is specialised regulated firms working together. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Rostislav Totev, Founder and CEO, Altcoins.bg Rostislav Totev is the Founder & CEO of Altcoins.bg, a Bulgarian crypto exchange licensed under MiCA. He is focused on bridging traditional finance and the digital asset economy and making crypto more accessible, secure and integrated into everyday financial services. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rostislav-totev Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:16 The buy button and the system behind it 02:46 What cannot be copied: trust and experience 04:14 From buying Bitcoin to working inside finance 05:24 Altcoins.bg: from one man and a laptop 07:46 The MiCA licence: repairing the engine while driving 09:50 The licence is not the business 12:26 Build, partner or acquire crypto infrastructure 14:02 Passporting the licence into the EU 15:07 Make crypto infrastructure boring 16:41 Specialised regulated firms working together 19:53 Q&A: Why use a regulated exchange instead of Uniswap? 21:43 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

Sam Mudie, CEO of Savea, draws on more than a decade in fine wine investment to explain how luxury assets can be tokenised at scale. He argues that real adoption comes from boring efficiencies and user experience rather than ICOs, NFTs or meme coins, and that selling wine as NFTs to people with MetaMask wallets does not work. Savea's answer borrows from ETFs: physical wine held by a custodian is tokenised and wrapped into an index product for qualified investors, with access from 1,000 dollars, half the annual fees, under a quarter of the exit fees and liquidity within three to four months. He closes on a single app holding every asset, where tokenisation stays behind the scenes. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Sam Mudie, CEO, Savea Sam is the Founder & CEO of Savea, a FinTech company building infrastructure to tokenise real-world assets and issue institutional-grade investment products. Savea is pioneering index-style, on-chain exposure to tangible assets, starting with fine wine. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-mudie-03034030 Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:16 Why fine wine investment is inefficient 01:47 Three blockchain cycles: ICOs, NFTs and meme coins 04:47 Bringing wine and blockchain together 05:48 Adoption comes from the boring stuff 06:46 All assets are moving on chain 08:44 Scale through index products: lessons from ETFs 09:47 How the tokenised wine index works 11:51 A B2B infrastructure provider 12:52 Products native to the next generation 15:11 All assets, for anyone, from a single app 16:56 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

Assoc. Prof. Manyu Moravenov, CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, asks what the capital market infrastructure of the future will look like, and whether it can become Europe's next growth engine. He argues that blockchain is moving from experiment to infrastructure inside regulated markets, pointing to the Eurosystem's new Pontes service for settling tokenised assets in central bank money and the European Commission's plan to broaden the DLT Pilot Regime. He sets three conditions for scale: trust, which exchanges and depositories already provide; a digital cash leg, so securities and money move together; and interoperability, so tokenisation does not create new fragmentation. For a smaller market like Bulgaria, he concludes, the goal is not a separate digital market but to make the capital market itself digital. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Assoc. Prof. Manyu Moravenov, Ph.D., MRICS, Member of the Board and CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange Assoc. Prof. Manyu Moravenov, Ph.D., MRICS, is CEO and Board Member of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. With 25+ years of experience in finance and capital markets, he has led the BSE's transformation, driving market growth and the successful launch of the BEAM SME market. He is also a European Climate Pact Ambassador. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manyumoravenov Chapters 00:00 The capital market infrastructure of the future 00:55 From experiments to scale: Pontes and the DLT Pilot Regime 03:41 Born-digital instruments and technology neutrality 05:35 Trust and the role of exchanges 07:00 Digitising the cash side of the transaction 08:28 Interoperability as Europe's growth engine 12:30 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 Diana Ilieva (FinDaS, moderator) and Markus Dorner (Bitpanda Group). In this fireside chat Diana Ilieva of FinDaS asks Markus Dorner, CTO of Bitpanda Group, how a platform built for retail serves institutional clients and what changes once tokenised assets reach mainnet. Dorner says security is the gatekeeper because a token that leaves your control cannot be recovered, that around 300 engineers cannot foresee every edge case of millions of customers, and that keeping the blockchain and traditional ledgers in sync depends on product design. He sees the technology as ready, with product design, market fit and timing as the open questions, as a Bitpanda metals token that drew curiosity but no lasting demand showed. He favours partnering with traditional finance for liquidity, letting the market rather than a central standard decide, and keeping humans in control of AI-assisted coding. Fireside Chat at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Diana Ilieva, Tokenomics Consultant, FinDaS (moderator) Diana is a tokenomics consultant at FinDaS Ltd with over 4 years of experience in creating data-driven tokenomics models for RWA, stablecoins, DeFi protocols, and P2E projects. Diana has a background in software development and holds an MSc degree in Finance and Banking from the University of York. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dillie66 ▸ Markus Dorner, CTO, Bitpanda Group Markus Dorner is CTO of Bitpanda, leading its technology, engineering, product, data, and infrastructure teams. Since joining in 2022, he has scaled the platform and shaped its engineering culture. He previously held senior roles at bank99 and Amazon and holds an MSc from TU Vienna. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dornermarkus Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:20 What Bitpanda offers retail and B2B clients 01:55 Serving institutional clients 02:46 From sandbox to production 04:53 Security as the gatekeeper 06:45 Who wants tokenised assets: retail or institutions? 08:43 Settlement times and the source of truth 10:22 Which asset classes are ready for tokenisation 12:13 Regulation as a barrier 13:47 Partnering with traditional finance for liquidity 17:09 Should tokenisation be standardised? 19:13 One dominant chain for real-world assets? 20:45 Q&A: How much of Bitpanda's code is written by AI? 23:02 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

Vasil Golemanski, Chairman of Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission, speaking at Blockchain Week Bulgaria for the second time, sets out how the country moves from MiCA transition to a mature regulated market. He calls MiCA a single rulebook under which a licence issued in Bulgaria works across Europe, notes that the transition period ended on 1 July and that the Commission has issued Bulgaria's first MiCA licences, and stresses that licensing is only the start of ongoing supervision. "MiCA is not just an administrative task," he says, "it is a task of business maturity." He outlines four priorities (strong licensed firms, data-driven supervision, European cooperation and trust) and applies the principle of same risk, same rules. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Vasil Golemanski, Chairman, Financial Supervision Commission Vasil Golemanski is Chairman of Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission, elected by the National Assembly in March 2025 for a six-year term. He was previously Executive Director of Central Depository from 2012, and his career includes key positions at the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. He graduated in electronics and automation engineering from the Technical University (Plovdiv branch) in 1991 and holds a master's degree in International Business from South-West University "Neofit Rilski" in Blagoevgrad. His priorities include transparency, active dialogue with supervised firms, digitalisation, strict supervision of the capital, insurance and pension markets, a smooth transition to the eurozone, and cybersecurity. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:49 MiCA: one rulebook for European crypto markets 03:28 Transition period ends and the first licences 05:59 Four priorities: licensing and supervision 07:23 European cooperation and trust 08:25 What will you build with your licence? 10:37 From MiCA compliant to MiCA ready 13:04 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 Bozhena Bozhilova (Bulgarian Fintech Association, moderator), Andrey Sirakov (Commerzbank AG), Bernie Niebsch (BVNK) and Eduardo Morrison (Schuman Financial). Moderated by Bozhena Bozhilova, the panel asks where euro stablecoins are finding real business use. Eduardo Morrison says Schuman Financial grew through B2B flows for fintechs in Africa and Latin America, reaching 150 million euros of payment volume in August, and is testing atomic settlement against tokenised money market funds with banks in Spain. Andrey Sirakov describes corporate demand as pragmatic, expects banks to combine permissioned networks and tokenised deposits, which Commerzbank AG is exploring, with public stablecoins, and lists the custody, audit and wallet-level compliance controls a bank needs first, while Bernie Niebsch argues that SEPA Instant works well and that SWIFT is where the pain lies. Looking five years ahead, the speakers expect stablecoins to run invisibly in the background. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Bozhena Bozhilova, Director, Bulgarian Fintech Association (moderator) Bozhena Bozhilova is Director of the Bulgarian Fintech Association, where she has spent three years advancing Bulgaria's fintech ecosystem across 15 verticals, including crypto, payments, and lending. She led an EU-wide digital bond platform project for SMEs and drives regulatory engagement between industry, institutions, and regulators. ▸ Andrey Sirakov, Senior Business Analyst, Commerzbank AG Andrey Sirakov is a Senior Business Analyst at Commerzbank AG, where he contributes to the development of institutional‑grade crypto custody solutions and supports the secure integration of blockchain technology into established banking infrastructure. He brings more than a decade of hands‑on experience in Web3 technologies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrey-sirakov ▸ Bernie Niebsch, Enterprise Product Specialist, BVNK Bernie has 20 years in IT, with 14 in payments product management. Now based in Sofia, he has lived in Germany, Canada, Australia, and the UK. His extensive payments background spans consumer/business products, operations, risk, mobile, and APIs. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bernhard-niebsch ▸ Eduardo Morrison, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, Schuman Financial Eduardo Morrison is Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer at Schuman Financial, where he leads strategic partnerships and the ecosystem around EURØP. Active in digital assets since 2017, he was an early team member at IntoTheBlock and previously led institutional clients for Europe and Latin America at Binance. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eduardomorrison Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:52 Where the demand for euro stablecoins is 03:08 How corporate clients view stablecoins 06:07 SEPA, SWIFT and the pain points of switching rails 08:36 Private and public rails: the role of banks 11:44 Use case: paying contractors across borders 13:05 Use case: stablecoins and tokenised money market funds 14:47 Security and compliance standards for banks 17:34 Safeguarding reserves, minting and redemption 19:21 Security as culture 20:56 B2B payments five years from now 24:44 Q&A: Is SWIFT being weaponised? 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 Vladimir Stratiev (DSK Bank, moderator), Tamara Schmidt (Digital Euro Association), Valentin Marinov, MD (Crédit Agricole CIB) and Bojidar Ibrishimov (WISER). Moderated by Vladimir Stratiev, the panel separates the consumer case for a digital euro, where Tamara Schmidt notes that cards and instant payments already work well, from the systemic case of sovereignty, monetary policy and access to public money. Valentin Marinov says the ECB mainly wants to defend sovereignty against foreign stablecoins, while Bojidar Ibrishimov notes that Visa, Mastercard and PayPal handle 61% of European payments. The speakers contrast online and offline models and explain holding limits as a guard against bank runs, with Schmidt arguing the digital euro would offer more privacy than cards but never cash-level anonymity. Closing pros and cons include Ibrishimov's estimate of 4 to 5 billion in implementation costs for banks and Marinov's worry that it could crowd out private payment providers. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Vladimir Stratiev, Engineering Manager, DSK Bank (moderator) Vladimir is a transformational engineering leader, who scales high-performing teams across fintech, aviation, and leading companies in the agri-tech and gaming markets. He specialises in regulated technology delivery, engineering excellence, and bridging technical execution with business impact. ▸ Tamara Schmidt, Executive Director, Digital Euro Association Tamara Ferreira Schmidt is Executive Director of the Digital Euro Association, with 15+ years in financial engineering and capital markets. She focuses on digital finance, CBDCs, and innovation, and speaks at leading international fintech and blockchain conferences. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-schmidt ▸ Valentin Marinov, MD, Head of G10 FX research, Crédit Agricole CIB Dr. Valentin Marinov heads G10 FX Research and UK Economics at Crédit Agricole CIB. Previously at Citi, Société Générale, and Dresdner Kleinwort, he is a leading FX strategist with a PhD in Finance and Economics from Goethe University and a Master’s degree in Economics from CEU/State University of New York. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/valentin-marinov-b9a6b38 ▸ Bojidar Ibrishimov, VP Growth & Innovation, WISER Commercial strategist and transformation leader with deep expertise in AI, finance, and regulated markets. Trusted by business leaders across Europe and the GCC, he combines strategy, technology, and executive leadership to create opportunities, secure strategic partnerships, and move key initiatives from ambition to execution. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bojidar-ibrishimov-cfa-9223721a Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:14 Opening: how money and payments are changing 02:04 What problem does the digital euro solve? 03:32 Who benefits: consumers, merchants and banks 05:27 Sovereignty and monetary policy 08:05 Europe's dependence on foreign payment networks 09:59 The biggest challenge: coordination 11:49 Can the digital euro offer cash-like privacy? 14:28 How it reaches users: wallets and holding limits 17:19 Anonymity versus privacy 20:07 Political decision or real problem? 22:43 One argument for and one against 27:06 Q&A: Is cash disappearing, and what about privacy? 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 Yordan Barzakov (ReVizia, moderator), Alexander Sverdlov (Atlant Security), Daniel Babbev (Bitcoin Suisse) and Dr Boyan Torosov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). Moderated by Yordan Barzakov, the panel moves from today's hacks to tomorrow's quantum threat. Alexander Sverdlov dissects a 351 million dollar exchange breach from the day before and argues that cryptography rarely fails, while implementations, transaction monitoring and threat modelling do. Dr Boyan Torosov explains qubits and error correction, says Google's estimate of under 500,000 physical qubits depends on its assumptions, and expects a fault-tolerant machine able to run Shor's algorithm at scale within the next decade or so, while Daniel Babbev calls harvest now, decrypt later far-fetched, points to public keys already exposed on chain and warns that migrating Bitcoin to post-quantum signatures is a governance problem rather than a technical one. Sverdlov closes by urging institutions to deploy unconstrained AI for defence now. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Yordan Barzakov, Author and Host of "ReVizia" (moderator) Yordan Barzakov is a journalist with over 10 years of professional experience in economics, finance, and energy, as well as prior experience in international relations. He is the author and host of "ReVizia" on Nova News – a show dedicated to economic and geopolitical processes, business, and financial markets. ▸ Alexander Sverdlov, Founder and Lead Expert, Atlant Security Alexander Sverdlov is a global cybersecurity expert, former Microsoft consultant, and UN Cybersecurity Panelist. After advising major financial and government organisations across the Middle East and ENEC, he founded Atlant Security, helping companies of all sizes strengthen their security across four continents. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsverdl ▸ Daniel Babbev, Senior Software Engineer, Bitcoin Suisse Daniel Babbev brings over 10 years of experience in the crypto sector. He currently serves as Senior Custody Engineer at Bitcoin Suisse, Switzerland's first crypto company. Previously, as a Risk Engineer at Brevan Howard, one of Europe's leading hedge funds, he built and led the firm's crypto risk systems. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielbabbev ▸ Dr Boyan Torosov, Associate Professor at Atomic Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences / Center for Quantum Technologies Dr. Boyan Torosov is a quantum physicist specialising in quantum computing and control. He is the Quantum Control Lead at 1QBit, an Associate Professor at Institute of Solid State Physics – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (ISSP-BAS), and a research group leader at the Center for Quantum Technologies at Sofia University. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:07 Anatomy of a 351 million dollar exchange hack 03:49 Cryptography holds, implementations fail 05:21 What is a quantum computer? 08:38 How many qubits does it take to break cryptography? 09:56 Quantum progress: real or PR? 12:07 When will quantum computers break cryptography? 12:50 Harvest now, decrypt later: how real is the risk? 15:21 Is a five to seven year migration realistic? 16:47 The biggest vulnerability today: AI-powered attackers 18:47 Post-quantum signatures and Bitcoin governance 21:05 Advice for a bank's first digital assets 22:04 Threat modelling and why so little has changed 26:12 One thing to remember 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 Alexandra Overgaag (Thrlld Labs, moderator), Hasan Surtiwala (Penning Group) and Stefan Seferović (Fireblocks). Moderated by Alexandra Overgaag, the panel looks at what changes for a crypto business once it holds a MiCA licence. Hasan Surtiwala says Penning Group, licensed in Denmark in January, saw its competition shrink from over 3,000 crypto firms to around 360, gained access to paid marketing and passported to every EU and EEA country, where local languages and currencies still create friction, while its compliance team grew by about 300%. Stefan Seferović of Fireblocks, which counts around 100 MiCA-licensed customers, expects consolidation within national markets first and advises firms to build their core product and outsource the rest, citing DAC8 reporting. They also cover custody as a service, what crypto-native firms offer that banks do not, and whether MiCA leaves Europe better off. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Alexandra Overgaag, Founder & CEO, Thrlld Labs (moderator) Alex is the founder and CEO of Thrilld Labs, which builds Web3 networking and event solutions. Their flagship product, Thrilld, is an app used by industry professionals and conferences. Together with the team, she is also building Thrilld Events, an event management and ticketing dApp, and she’s also a conference host. Involved with the space since 2017, Alex’s background is in law, political science, and the hospitality sector. ▸ Hasan Surtiwala, Chairman, Penning Group Hasan comes from over a decade of startup experience founding numerous tech startups, and raising capital for +100 ventures. He was part of building one of the largest online communities for investing in the financial markets, and later part of building what became the largest angel investment network in Denmark. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsurtiwala ▸ Stefan Seferović, Sales Director CEE at Fireblocks Stefan Seferović is a father, a Bitcoiner and Sales Director CEE at Fireblocks, the leading digital asset infrastructure business, which enables organisations of all sizes, from startups to institutions, to build, scale and run their operations as complexity grows and regulations evolve. Chapters 00:00 Setting the scene: life after the MiCA licence 02:31 Panellist introductions 03:58 What changed after getting licensed 06:34 Passporting and national friction 08:20 One European market or many? 11:17 Build or buy: what to outsource 13:49 Keeping compliance in house 15:24 Custody as a service: winning institutional clients 17:59 What crypto-native firms offer that banks cannot 19:39 Is MiCA worth it for Europe? 22:03 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

With Preslav Nakov (MBZUAI, moderator), Hristo Todorov (DiscreteStack), Prof. Simeon Stoyanov (Brains++ / Discoverer) and Milan de Reede (NanoGPT). Moderated by Preslav Nakov, the panel asks what it means for business data to be local and how anyone can prove it. Hristo Todorov defines sovereign AI by transparency, control and cost predictability and argues that 95% of businesses need no smarter models than today's, while Milan de Reede sees local as running on devices you control and urges Europe to prioritise compute and data centres over frontier models, though he worries how far it lags the US and China. Disagreeing with de Reede, Prof. Simeon Stoyanov warns that idle data centres still draw 40 to 50% of peak power, so infrastructure should follow demand. Nakov raises agentic systems, and audience questions cover an AI bubble and regulation. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Preslav Nakov, Professor at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) (moderator) Professor for NLP at MBZUAI and Chair at European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/preslavnakov ▸ Hristo Todorov, CEO at DiscreteStack Hristo Todorov, founder of DiscreteStack, is a software engineer and entrepreneur with experience across telecom, fintech and aviation. He co-founded Upnetix and CleverPine, and founded DiscreteStack in 2025 to help organisations use advanced AI while retaining control over their data and infrastructure. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hristotodorov ▸ Prof. Simeon Stoyanov, Business Development Director, Brains++ / Discoverer Prof. Simeon Stoyanov manages Bulgaria's first AI factory, BRAIN++, and has over 20 years of R&D leadership. He helps organisations leverage AI, high-performance computing and data science to accelerate innovation, optimise decision-making and turn advanced research into business value. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simeon-stoyanov-4834b544 ▸ Milan de Reede, Co-Founder and CEO, NanoGPT Milan co-founded and runs NanoGPT, offering privacy-friendly access to all AI models and tools. Milan has a long history in crypto, having been in Bitcoin since 2012 and having been crypto lead at the Dutch Central Bank. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milandereede Chapters 00:00 Introduction: what does local mean? 03:04 How do you prove data stays local? 04:50 Storage, processing or access? 06:59 Does Europe need its own AI models? 11:18 Is it a risk to only consume foreign models? 15:30 US innovates, Europe regulates? 19:13 How much does a smarter model matter? 23:12 Agentic systems and local data 26:56 Where should compute investment go? 31:28 Q&A: Are we in an AI bubble? 33:09 Q&A: AI replacing humans and the case for control 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 Sally Meouche - Ghrawi (4PTO Labs, moderator), Jordan Duclos (Truflation) and Dragomir Dikov (Jungle Trade). The last session of the day follows the chain from raw market data to a trading decision. Jordan Duclos explains how Truflation turns around 100 million daily data points into some 500 live indexes, arguing that monthly government inflation figures are too slow and that in finance latency is death. Dragomir Dikov of Jungle Trade argues that market noise is worth analysing rather than discarding, that every signal should carry an explicit confidence level, and that full trading automation is inevitable but premature today. Moderated by Sally Meouche - Ghrawi, the panel debates where the edge lies and whether shared AI models lead to correlated strategies, with Dikov naming trust as the scarce resource in three years and Duclos betting on real-time data as markets move to 24/7 trading. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Sally Meouche - Ghrawi, Founder and CEO, 4PTO Labs (moderator) Sally Meouche-Ghrawi is Founder & CEO of 4 Point O (4PTO) Labs, building across AI, fintech and Web3, and Co-Founder of Buildrooms, Bulgaria’s first Web3 hub. She works with startups, protocols and enterprises on emerging tech, product development and market strategy. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sallymg ▸ Jordan Duclos, Head of Growth, Truflation Jordan is Head of Growth at Truflation. After starting his career in SaaS, helping banks and public institutions improve customer engagement, he moved into blockchain, working across the Ethereum and Bitcoin ecosystems. At Truflation, he focuses on making inflation and economic data more accessible through clear, impactful storytelling. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-duclos-b48b72153 ▸ Dragomir Dikov, CEO, Jungle Trade Dragomir Dikov is Co-founder and CEO of JLabs, the team behind Jungle Trade, building trading technology and market-analysis tools. He holds a master's degree in Structural Engineering and has 15+ years of experience in geotechnical modelling and structural design. He is a Python programmer and quantitative data scientist focused on probability and stochastic modelling. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dragomir-dikov Chapters 00:00 Introduction: from data to decision 00:57 What has been missing in market data? 02:43 Is market noise useful? 03:57 Real-time inflation data 07:16 Regime shifts 08:45 Signals and confidence 09:54 Where is the edge? 14:43 From analysis to autonomous trading 16:25 Prediction markets as a signal 20:16 What if everyone uses the same models? 21:41 Three years out: where will the scarcity be? 25:54 Q&A: Can human traders compete with machines? 28:35 Q&A: Buy data and signals or build your own? 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

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 4, 2026

Keynote: Bitcoin as Capital Speakers: - Richard Byworth | BYZ Partners 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: What Makes a Financial Institution Say Yes to Tokenization? Speakers: - Adriana Ennab | GDF - Lloyd Nelson | Howden Group - Mattia Calvosa | VISA - Sandro Knöpfel | Cardano Foundation - Nadia Filali | Caisse des Depots - Sabina Liu | Kucoin EU 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: The End-to-End Journey of a Tokenised Asset Speakers: - Stuart Petersen | Wyden - Kathleen Wrynn | Invesco - Miguel Vaz | Hauck Aufhäuser Digital Custody - Nico Braun | DZ Bank - Jonathan Koenig | SWIAT 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Fireside chat: Digital Assets: The Risk of Staying on the Sidelines Speakers: - Victoria Gago | EBC & DAF - Joseph Saliba | CACEIS 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Building the Secondary Market for Institutional RWAs Speakers: - Ilona Limonta-Volkova | Armada - Previn Singh | Fidelity International - Friederike Sofie Burckhardt | LBBW - Yalini Isweran | DTCC 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: The Convergence of Money: Building the Infrastructure Between Traditional and On-Chain Finance Speakers: Adriana Torres Vergara | ADAN Mattia Calvosa | VISA Sabina Liu | Kucoin EU 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Vaults as the Next Infrastructure for Onchain Asset Management Speakers: - Tommy Doyle | Stealth Mode - Andrew O'Neill | S&P Global - Stanislas de Maistre | Belem Capital - Yannick Socolov | Bitwise - Artem Tolkachev | Falcon Finance - Laeeq Shabbir | HT Digital 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Tokenized Funds and The Custody Question: Who Actually Holds The Asset? Speakers: - Maria Eneva-Olms | Trever - David Calabaza | BNP Paribas - Laurent Marjchrzak | CACEIS - Philipp Wagner | dwpbank - Artem Stopnevich | The Vault 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Money is Becoming Software and Corporate Treasury is Moving Onchain Speakers: - Sascha Dobratz | Danske Bank - Mark Zalan | Gomining - Jevgenijs Kazanins | Tempo - Océane Codjia | Coinbase - Angel Gomez | Utila 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: How Asset Managers Are Redesigning Their Business Model For an Onchain World Speakers: - Jakob Mikkel Hansen | Nordic Blockchain - Kevin Riou | SwissQuote - Jean Malo Dupart | Stifel - Jerald David | Arca Funds & Lynq - Patrik Björklund | Janus Henderson 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Permissioned vs permissionless: which rails win for institutional adoption? Speakers: - Sam Patel | Glacis Lab - Jascha Samadi | Greenfield Capital - Martin Mueller | RL1 - David Walsh | Ethereum Institutional - Georg Schneider | Digital Asset 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: EU, UK, US and UAE: multiple regulatory paths and one global digital asset market Speakers: - Stephane Blemus | White & Case - Richard B. Levin | Taft - Colin Payne | FCA - Patrick Hansen | Circle - David Bequette | AML Incubator 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: How Stablecoins Will Supercharge Treasury Speakers: - Gernot Prettenthaler | RBI - Poonam Ahuja | Commerzbank - Luca Colombo | UniCredit - Pajaro Castellon Ramon | Santander - Gayle Raeside | Midchains 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: AIFI: How Robot Money is Rewriting Payments and Capital Markets Speakers: - Stuart MacDonald | Bride Valley Partners - Patrick Martin | European Media Finance - Robby Yung | Animoca Brands - Paul Infante Moñozca | Moñozca Family Office - Woldemar Häring | White & Case 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: From Skepticism to Allocation: How Institutional Investors Are Building Crypto into Their Portfolios Speakers: - Carl Szantyr | Blockstone Capital - André Dragosch | Bitwise - Karl Naïm | XBTO - Tommaso Mancuso | 3iQ - Rani Jabban | Arab Bank Switzerland - Stefan Klauser | Aisot Technology 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Can Stablecoins, CBDCs and Tokenised Deposits Coexist Speakers: - Johannes Kern | Frankencoin - Myles Wright | Fnality - Stefano Arvati | Intesa Sanpaolo - Artur Callau Berenguer | Caixabank - Elias Kokaly | TRM Labs 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Programmable Financial Infrastructure: The Next Phase of Institutional Blockchain Speakers: - Ian Allison | CoinDesk - Simona Pasero | Generali Investments - Lorenzo Valente | ARK Investment - Martin Onyeador | NatWest - Simone Cortese | Fnality 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Keynote: The Integrity Economy: Why Digital Trust is the New Global Currency Speaker: - Frederik Gregaard | Cardano Foundation 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Who Controls the Gateway to Onchain Capital Markets? Speakers: - Maximilian Wirth | DSGV - Zornitsa Daskalova | Zodia - Christopher Beck | Boerse Stuttgart Digital - Mark Kepeneghian | LISE - Mohamad Zaraket | BNY 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Stablecoins as Financial Infrastructure — the $33T Story Speakers: - Juan Ignacio Ibañez | MiCA Alliance - Simon Seiter | AllUnity - Benoit Courtois | Unicaja - John Hallahan | Fireblocks - Hugo Horton | Sokin Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

NOA keynote: Can Your Digital Asset Company Explain Itself to an Investor Without You in the Room? Speaker: - Otilia Pețu | NOA Group 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Market Consolidation and the Road to IPO Speakers: - Victor Teixeira | General Tensor - Jean-Malo Dupart | KBW - Guillaume Vitrich | White & Case) - Jan-Philip Grabs | Areta 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Tokenised Money Market Funds: Liquidity, Yield and the 24/7 Settlement Question Speakers: - Harvey Li | Tokenization Insight - Nikhil Sharma | Blackrock - Kjetil Watne | Norges Bank - Philipp Müller | Swiss National Bank - Patrik Björklund | Janus Henderson - Alastair Sewell | Aviva Investors 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Risk Management in the DeFi Era: What "Institutional-grade" Actually Means Speakers: - Stuart MacDonald | Bride Valley Partners - Roman Gonzalez | A&G banco - Cedric Vuignier | Syz Group - Javier Pineda | Renta 4 Cripto - Thomas Uhm | QRT 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

The EBC12 Startup Battle kicked off in Barcelona with six early-stage companies pitching live in front of investors and industry experts. In Round 1, founders presented their products, business models and growth plans, competing for a place in the final. Startups: &Volume — Ilia Kraev Bitsave — Rafael Vargas Bornacini Cobault — Rashid Hoosenally CryptoMate — Alan Boryszanski Shack AG — Julius Ilg Kryptos — Sukesh Tedla Jury: Eldar Khamitov — Polymorphic Capital Robby Yung — Animoca Brands Yana Makhnyk — Generis Tom Filip Lesche — Speedinvest Andrea Böhmert — SBI Ventures Watch the pitches, hear the jury feedback and follow the competition from the first round. 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Privacy Onchain: Confidential Transactions, Zero-Knowledge Proofs and Financial Privacy Speakers: - Anja Blaj Zajc | EEI - Guillaume Dechaux | Consensys - Marine Krasovska | Latvijas Banka - Rainer Olt | Eesti Pank - Shirly Valge | Dorchester Partners 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Private Markets Onchain: Tokenizing Private Equity, Private Credit and Real Assets Speakers: - Jeroen Gillekens | Layer Zero - Maarten van der Noordaa | Rabobank - Karwasińska Antonina | Bank Pekao - Samiz Bayan | Draper Dragon 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: The Institutional Adoption: What Has Actually Changed, and What Hasn't Speakers: - Ariane Murphy | Stand With Crypto International - Martha Reyes | Fidelity Digital Assets - Michael Howe | Bitwise - Dr. Diana-Cezara Toader | UBS Asset Management - Peter Hubli | Zürcher Kantonalbank - Sladjan Seferović | SWIAT 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Issuance Is the Easy Part: What Actually Happens Before and After a Security Token Goes Live Speakers: - Lorenzo Rigatti | BlockInvest 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: How Institutional Digital Asset Market Infrastructure is Actually Built Speakers: - Coco Chen | AFME - Darko Hajdukovic | LSEG - Hans-Juergen Griesbacher | Trever - Christopher Beck | Boerse Stuttgart - Nadine Teychenne | Citi - Nashwan Khatib | Vaultody 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Crypto ETFs and ETPs: What Real Institutional Adoption Actually Looks Like Now That The Dust Has Settled Speakers: - Henry Jim | Bloomberg - Nikhil Sharma | Blackrock - Torsten Hunke | VanEck - Dovile Silenskyte | WisdomTree - Andrew Forson | Defi Tech - Kean Gilbert | Lido 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Stablecoins and FX Automation for a Multi-Currency World Speakers: - Aaron Sanchez | MiCA Alliance - Gabriel Lera Campo | BBVA - Immo Garlichs | Deutsche Bank - Sudeep Mehta | STBL - Jan-Oliver Sell | Qivalis 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: The Cayman Islands and Europe: Partners in Scaling the Onchain Economy Speakers: - Haymond Rankin | Cayman Finance - Richard Munden | Carey Olsen - Dr. Suzanne Morsfield | Lukka 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Incorporating Digital Assets into Diversified Portfolios Speakers: - Ondrej Kovarik | European Parliament, Former Member - Robert Crossley | Franklin Templeton - Ramzi Amairi | Natixis - Yves Choueifaty | TOBAM - Michal Nydrle | Invity - Richard Hodges | CAAN 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Crypto Hedge Funds: Surviving the Winter and Positioning for What’s Next Speakers: - Christopher Siedentopf | Qapture Investment & CRS-Advisory - Marc de Kloe | Theta Capital - Ryan Ebner | Forteus - Eron Angjele | Banque Delubac & Cie - George Zarya | BeQuant - Constantin Kogan | Holistic Capital 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Everything Onchain: What's live, What's Scaling, and What's Still Theory Speakers: - Mauro Lorenzo Halve | VBNL - Jordi Mompart | FC Barcelona - María Sánchez | Reental - Sasa Jovanovic | UHNW - Sitara Jabeen | Doctors Without Borders - Aliyyah Ahad | The Government of Bermuda 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

After two rounds of live pitches, the competition came down to three finalists on the EBC12 stage in Barcelona. Each company had one last opportunity to present its vision, business model and market opportunity in front of the final jury. Finalists: 🥇 Lympid — 1st place 🥈 Kryptos — 2nd place 🥉 SatsBridge — 3rd place The final was judged by: Michael van Baelen — Softstack Yana Makhnyk — Generis The session concluded with the Startup Battle Award Ceremony, recognizing the three standout companies from this year’s competition. Watch the final pitches, jury feedback and the moment the EBC12 Startup Battle winners were announced. 12 finalists. 3 winners. One stage in Barcelona. 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: How to Build an Investment Team That Eliminates Bias Entirely Speakers: - Laeeq Shabbir | HT Digital - Andrea Böhmert | SBI Ventures Europe - Vineet Budki | Sigma Capital 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Before EBC12 officially began, the community came together for the Opening VIP Night in Barcelona. Hosted at Beso Beach Club, the evening brought together speakers, sponsors, partners, investors and senior attendees for the first conversations of EBC12. With music, paella and a packed venue, it was a chance to connect in a more relaxed setting before two full days of panels, private meetings and business discussions. A special thank you to VanEck, CAAN and General Tensor for supporting the Opening VIP Night and helping make the evening possible. 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/dig... Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon LinkedIn: / european-blockchain-convention Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConven... Digital Assets Forum X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global LinkedIn: / digital-assets-forum

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Two days. Thousands of conversations. One community pushing institutional digital assets forward. EBC12 brought together banks, asset managers, investors, regulators, infrastructure providers, founders and technology leaders in Barcelona for two days of panels, private meetings, side events and business opportunities. From packed stages and a busy deal floor to curated meetings, networking and conversations that continued well beyond the venue, this edition was built around one goal: bringing the right people together to move the market forward. A huge thank you to every attendee, speaker, sponsor, partner and team member who made EBC12 possible. Relive the moments that defined the 12th edition of the European Blockchain Convention. 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/dig... Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon LinkedIn: / european-blockchain-convention Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConven... Digital Assets Forum X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global LinkedIn: / digital-assets-forum

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Alex McFarlane, CEO of Keyring Network, introduces a disciplined risk methodology for tokenised assets in DeFi by drawing on lessons from clearing houses, bank regulation, derivatives, and past financial failures. He explains why credentials, ratings, historical performance, and apparently robust models cannot substitute for independent controls. Examples including AIG, Long-Term Capital Management, Lehman Brothers, and fragile clearing assumptions show how incentives, concentration, and model error can turn accepted practices into systemic risk. He traces the modern clearing framework through the Bank for International Settlements and standardized initial margin models, then asks which lessons should transfer to permissionless markets. Historical institutions accumulated rules after repeated crises, but rules can fail when the people setting ratings, collateral assumptions, or insurance prices benefit from optimistic outcomes. McFarlane uses these examples to show why transparency alone does not remove conflicts. A protocol can publish every parameter and still be unsafe if its governance process rewards the wrong behavior. McFarlane focuses on practical safeguards for DeFi lending and tokenized markets: separate parameter setting from commercial pressure, test models outside the data used to calibrate them, examine tail events, and run transparent scenario analysis. He warns that insiders, issuers, or large counterparties may push for higher loan-to-value ratios that benefit them while shifting risk to a protocol. The takeaway is a governance-first approach in which assumptions are challenged, conflicts are visible, and risk parameters are designed for unfamiliar market conditions, not merely optimized to explain the past. The methodology emphasizes independent validation, robust data, and explicit limits on who can influence risk settings. Models should be calibrated on one period and challenged against separate market conditions. McFarlane cites scenario analysis around FTX, a major counterparty collapse, and shocks to DeFi rates, while arguing that macro stress such as a global financial crisis or private-credit selloff deserves more attention. 00:00 Introduction and Risk Quant Background 00:40 DeFi Lending as Automated Clearing 01:31 How Lending Risk Parameters Are Set 02:52 Three Centuries of Clearing Houses 03:28 BIS and Standard Initial Margin Models 04:06 Setting Haircuts for Different Assets 04:23 Applying TradFi Models to Tokenized Assets 04:44 When Risk Takers Mark Their Own Work 05:13 AIG, Lehman, and Financial Failures 05:36 How Clearing Houses Managed Lehman 06:07 Silicon Valley Bank and DeFi Stress 06:39 The Clearing House Default Waterfall 07:38 How Aave Followed the BIS Model 07:56 Fragility, Robustness, and Tail Events 08:18 The Meaning of Antifragility 09:18 Evaluating Proprietary Risk Models 09:42 Why Track Record Is Not Proof 10:08 Long-Term Capital Management Failure 10:48 Independent Validation After 2008 11:38 Monte Carlo Models and In-Sample Data 12:27 Testing Models on Unseen Conditions 12:53 Verify Instead of Trusting Models 14:10 Questions Before Depositing in DeFi 15:15 Commercial Pressure on LTV Settings 16:14 High LTVs and Counterparty Conflicts 16:52 Why Independent Parameters Matter 17:39 Conflicts From Skin in the Game 17:57 Scenario Analysis for Protocol Failures 18:24 Macro Risk and Private Credit Stress 19:07 Open Risk Methodology for Tokenized Assets 19:59 Closing Thanks and Takeaways _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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 Alex McFarlane X: https://x.com/flipdazed ✅ Follow Keyring Network X: https://x.com/KeyringNetwork ✅ 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

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

Haun Ventures General Partner Diogo Mónica joins ETHGlobal Co-Founder and CEO Kartik Talwar to discuss crypto’s progression from secure custody to full capital-markets infrastructure. Drawing on his experience co-founding Anchorage, Mónica explains why the company paired advanced security with a federal banking framework and how regulated institutions compound trust, capital, and operating capability over time. The conversation asks where crypto-native value accrues as traditional financial firms adopt blockchain technology and whether banks, infrastructure providers, or open protocols will capture the next phase of growth. Mónica explains that Anchorage was designed around two requirements that institutional customers could not separate: cryptographic security and a regulatory structure they understood. Becoming a federally chartered bank created long-term obligations but also allowed the company to compound trust, capital, products, and customer relationships. They explore product ideas at the intersection of crypto, artificial intelligence, payments, and verifiable digital activity. AI systems create new demand for cryptographically verifiable records of model behavior, reasoning, and outputs, even if many experiments serve narrow markets before reaching scale. Mónica also reflects on moving from operator to investor and on evaluating businesses across the ecosystem. His advice to founders is durable and category-agnostic: work on a real problem, understand the customer, keep experimenting through difficult cycles, and make something people want. Infrastructure succeeds when it converts technical possibility into a product institutions or users repeatedly choose. The discussion then turns to emerging infrastructure that may create new demand. Mónica argues that model behavior and outputs can be recorded in indelible ledgers with cryptographic signatures, and that zero-knowledge proofs are becoming efficient enough to verify computation. The conversation also points to Cloudflare’s work on bringing payment mechanisms and verification into the network stack. 00:00 Introduction to Diogo Mónica 01:12 From Anchorage Founder to Investor 01:39 Balancing Investing and Operating 02:17 Professionalizing Angel Investing 02:59 Business Curiosity Beyond Anchorage 03:15 The Long Path to a Federal Charter 04:12 Anchorage and the Trust Bank Model 04:29 New Tailwinds for Modern Banks 05:07 The Cost of Regulatory Resistance 05:45 Security, Regulation, and Compounding 06:34 Crypto Extends Traditional Finance 06:59 Where Financial Value Accrues 07:43 Self-Custodial Financial Products 08:14 Faster Access to Financial Licenses 08:34 Crypto Neobanks and Card Products 09:47 Stablecoins Replace Whitelists 11:12 Libra and New Currency Experiments 12:02 Why Unlikely Experiments Are Worth Trying 12:18 Consortium Coins for Commerce 13:13 Distribution as Part of Product Design 13:48 Open Areas in Financial Infrastructure 15:09 Cryptographic Records for AI Models 15:53 Zero-Knowledge Proofs for AI Outputs 16:44 Economic Incentives for Intelligent Agents 18:07 Verifying the Internet Stack 18:28 Cloudflare and Network-Level Payments 19:13 What Founders Ask Investors 20:14 Security and the Basics of Building 20:56 Advice Through Difficult Market Cycles 21:36 Build Companies, Not Crypto Projects 22:36 Stablecoin Neobanks and Dollar Access 22:54 From Dollars to Tokenized Stocks 23:27 Make Something People Want _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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 Haun Ventures X: https://x.com/HaunVentures ✅ 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 · Sep 9, 2026

Angelo Min, CEO of Lighthouse, describes the “ontology gap” that appears when raw onchain data is mistaken for an understandable picture of an asset. A wallet may show token balances, names, icons, and prices, yet still conceal the chain of vaults, curators, lending markets, collateral, and counterparties behind a position. For asset managers and risk teams, those missing relationships determine what the investment actually is, how it behaves, where risk accumulates, and how quickly liquidity can be accessed. Using a portfolio example, Min shows how an ERC-20 balance can represent a claim on a Morpho vault curated by another organization, which then supplies capital to lending markets backed by separate collateral. Each layer changes the economic exposure. A token label cannot reveal who controls the vault, its exit conditions, pricing inputs, underlying fees, collateral exposure, or the behavior of the underlying strategy. Without a shared model for those relationships, analysts repeatedly reconstruct the same context and may still reach inconsistent conclusions. Min separates the problem into taxonomy, agreeing on what an entity is, and ontology, mapping how protocols, assets, contracts, and service providers relate to one another. Even a shared taxonomy is not enough unless the resulting information can be collected, maintained, and applied to a concrete asset-management or due-diligence task. He argues that a new generation of knowledge-graph products can combine onchain records with structured context, making complex DeFi positions legible. The outcome is better collaboration, more reliable analysis, and infrastructure capable of supporting asset-management decisions. He proposes data systems that answer three connected questions: what an entity is, how it works, and how it should be used for a specific task. Taxonomy supplies consistent categories, ontology maps dependencies and relationships, and applications turn that structure into research, due diligence, portfolio monitoring, and action. Min points to existing crypto data products as partial building blocks, then argues that a new generation should unite taxonomy, ontology, and usable applications for asset managers and agents. 00:00 Introduction and Lighthouse Background 00:32 Onchain Data for Asset Managers 01:04 A Four-Million-Dollar Deposit Story 01:48 Nameless Tokens in Etherscan 02:14 Why Token Labels Are Not Enough 03:04 Interpreting Tokens as Vault Positions 03:47 What DeFi Interfaces Still Hide 04:16 Mapping a Morpho Vault Knowledge Graph 04:43 Risk Lives Between Connected Entities 05:07 XUSD Losses Socialized Across Depositors 05:34 Depositing After a Protocol Collapse 06:06 Turning Onchain Data Into Meaning 06:48 Taxonomy, Ontology, and Actionable Data 07:36 Comparing Two Similar Vaults 07:56 Different Strategies Behind One Label 08:42 Liquidity and Redemption Differences 09:03 The Cost of Rebuilding Context 09:49 Lessons From TradFi Taxonomy 10:31 Why Taxonomy Alone Is Insufficient 11:21 Mapping Financial Relationships 13:10 Existing Crypto Data Products 14:49 A New Generation of Knowledge Graphs 15:14 Lighthouse for Onchain Asset Managers 16:08 Tracking Customer Assets in One App 17:02 Closing the Onchain Ontology Gap _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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 Angelo Min X: https://x.com/angelomint ✅ Follow Lighthouse X: https://x.com/LighthouseOne_ ✅ 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

Marc Tillement, Director at Pyth Network, explains how market data became a concentrated, roughly $50 billion industry and why open infrastructure can make prices more accessible. Traditional exchanges earn substantial revenue selling data that trading firms themselves help create, leaving applications to pay high recurring fees for fragmented feeds. Pyth reverses that model by enabling trading firms and other first-party sources to contribute prices directly to a network that can publish them across crypto and traditional-asset markets. Tillement describes a market structure in which exchanges sell expensive feeds back to the firms and applications that depend on them. A small group of vendors captures most industry revenue, applications face expensive and fragmented access, and global products must integrate different sources for equities, commodities, foreign exchange, and crypto. Pyth recruits trading firms that generate prices through their own activity and lets them publish those observations directly, creating a first-party model rather than purchasing and reselling one consolidated feed. Tillement describes how lower-cost, high-frequency data supports trading venues, DeFi protocols, fintech applications, prediction markets, and derivatives. The network emphasizes publisher quality, broad asset coverage, and products that can serve customers who previously relied on several vendors. New feeds include international equities and specialized datasets that are difficult to reconstruct from public information. He argues that continuous, global price access is part of finance’s shift toward 24/7 markets: reliable data reduces application costs, expands the assets developers can offer, and helps both onchain and offchain products settle against a common view of value. Trust comes from the quality, diversity, and track record of publishers, plus the economic activity secured by the network. Pyth initially concentrated on trading because continuous markets generate large volumes and require timely settlement data. The network is expanding into Asian equities, indices, and specialized feeds while also introducing products for customers that need datasets Pyth cannot produce itself. 00:00 Introduction to Pyth Market Data 00:48 Why the Market Data Industry Can Change 01:44 The Cost of Traditional Market Data 02:10 A Fifty-Billion-Dollar Industry 02:42 Why Pyth Redesigned Market Data 03:26 Always-On and Programmable Prices 04:01 Pyth as Spotify for Financial Data 04:57 Trading Firms Publish First-Party Prices 05:39 Three Thousand Assets in One Network 06:16 One API Across Global Asset Classes 06:57 Equity Data for Onchain Applications 07:39 Cutting Fintech Data Costs 08:22 Exclusive Data From Trading Firms 08:59 Cryptographic Proof for Every Feed 09:30 Why Pyth Focused on Trading 10:15 Fast Data for Equity Trading 11:28 Attracting Institutional Publishers 12:31 Pyth Pro and Expanding Data Coverage 12:56 Launching Asian Equity Feeds 13:37 Third-Party Data Through One API 14:09 Pyth Indices for Onchain Markets 14:38 A Full-Service Market Data Platform 15:54 Prediction Markets and Derivatives 16:46 Growth Beyond Crypto Price Feeds 17:58 Always-On Markets Without Holidays 18:21 Commodity, Equity, and FX Indices 19:54 Closing Vision for Accessible Prices _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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 Marc Tillement X: https://x.com/KemarTiti ✅ Follow Pyth Network X: https://x.com/PythNetwork ✅ 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

Pedro Gomes

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Pedro Gomes, Founder of WalletConnect, argues that crypto has optimized transactions without fully solving payments. Blockchains can move assets, but a useful payment system must also coordinate authorization, clearing, settlement, merchant acceptance and the exchange of goods or services. He contrasts crypto’s common push-payment model with card and bank systems that pull funds after authorization, explaining why a simple wallet transfer leaves merchants and consumers to manage timing, token, chain, and counterparty complexity themselves. He breaks a payment into distinct stages that crypto applications often collapse into a single transaction. Authorization determines whether a buyer and merchant can complete the exchange, clearing reconciles obligations and handles rules, and settlement moves final value. Card networks and bank payments coordinate these stages before funds are pulled. A blockchain transfer usually pushes funds immediately, which creates problems when the merchant cannot accept the asset, the amount changes, the wrong chain is selected, or goods are delivered before payment is confirmed. Gomes outlines a WalletConnect approach that abstracts those choices behind one integration and a familiar payment request. A universal connection layer can route across wallets, stablecoins, tokens, and chains while supporting authorization before final settlement. For merchants, stablecoin payments can reduce chargeback abuse and integration overhead; for users, they can remove the need to install a special app or understand network mechanics. The larger goal is to move crypto beyond speculation and trading toward products people use because they offer faster, simpler, globally portable money, not because the payment happens on a blockchain. WalletConnect’s distribution gives it a foundation for a neutral payment layer because the same connection standard already reaches many wallets and applications. Gomes describes payment requests that can identify acceptable assets, route value, and abstract settlement without forcing merchants to integrate every token and chain. Stablecoins add global, programmable money, while the payment layer supplies the missing commercial workflow. 00:00 Introduction to WalletConnect Payments 00:25 From Wallet Transactions to Payments 01:14 Crypto Infrastructure and Money Movement 01:36 Bitcoin Started With Payments 01:57 Why Transactions Are Not Payments 02:49 Payments Coordinate Two Parties 03:12 Authorization, Clearing, and Settlement 03:32 Merchant Authorization and Compatibility 03:53 Clearing Rules and Risk Assessment 04:35 Settlement as the Final Stage 04:57 Why Settlement Can Arrive Later 05:18 How Payment Requests Work 05:41 Pull Payments Versus Push Payments 06:21 Preauthorization Reduces Payment Friction 06:49 Merchant Risk and Escrow Problems 07:37 Stablecoins and Merchant Complexity 08:17 Merchants Want Their Local Currency 08:38 One Integration Across Tokens and Chains 09:00 WalletConnect Distribution and QR Codes 09:47 Lower Fees for Global Merchants 10:30 False Disputes and Merchant Losses 10:53 Use Any Wallet Without a New App 11:17 Pay With Preferred Tokens and Chains 11:59 Payments for Mainstream Adoption 12:18 Moving Beyond Trading and Speculation 13:08 SDKs for Wallets and Payment Companies 13:44 Closing the Payments Presentation _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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 Pedro Gomes X: https://x.com/pedrouid ✅ Follow WalletConnect X: https://x.com/WalletConnect ✅ 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

Julien Bouteloup, Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Stake Capital CEO Julien Bouteloup and ETHGlobal Co-Founder and CEO Kartik Talwar examine how DeFi must change as institutions pursue onchain yield. Bouteloup argues that large financial firms are motivated by profit, market share, and access to new customers more than decentralization narratives. Adoption therefore depends on products that satisfy institutional requirements for confidentiality, risk controls, insurance, and predictable execution while still using open networks. The conversation also contrasts innovation incentives in the United States, Europe, and state-led markets. Bouteloup argues that the institutional narrative must begin with incentives. Banks and asset managers will use decentralized infrastructure when it lowers costs, increases margins, opens markets, or creates differentiated products. Public transparency may help, but it can also expose positions and trading intent. Privacy, KYC, AML, isolated liquidity, insurance, and compliance controls therefore become product requirements rather than compromises added after adoption. They distinguish sustainable “real yield” from temporary token incentives and discuss how higher risk-free rates reset investor expectations. A DeFi product offering seven percent may no longer compensate users for smart-contract, liquidity, or counterparty risk; differentiated strategies may need privacy, exotic yield, or stronger protection. Extremely high returns can exist during ecosystem subsidy cycles, but scalability and durability remain uncertain. For builders, the advice is to solve a specific problem, create something genuinely different, and prioritize distribution. Institutional capital will not arrive simply because infrastructure is onchain, it will follow products that deliver clear value with credible risk management. The yield discussion separates returns generated by real economic activity from emissions funded to attract temporary liquidity. Higher government rates create a baseline, so DeFi strategies must justify each additional layer of smart-contract, counterparty, liquidity, and product risk. Bouteloup sees opportunity in specialized or exotic yield, but warns that headline returns do not automatically scale to institutional ticket sizes. 00:00 Introduction to the DeFi Fireside Chat 00:25 Seven Years of DeFi Experience 01:11 How DeFi Has Evolved 02:01 TradFi Uses the Tools DeFi Built 02:39 What Institutions Actually Want 03:11 Profit, Market Share, and Customers 04:27 US Distribution Versus European Rules 05:35 State-Led Innovation in Asia 07:45 The Maturing DeFi Protocol Layer 08:22 Risk Moves Into Products and Strategies 08:54 Robinhood Yield Built on Morpho 09:31 Insurance, Privacy, and Confidentiality 10:36 Private Versions of Existing Protocols 11:02 Choosing Different Levels of Privacy 11:26 Private Yield Through Existing Liquidity 12:21 KYC, AML, and Isolated Liquidity 12:59 Is Seven Percent Yield Sustainable 13:19 Real Yield From Lending and Borrowing 14:26 Exotic Yield and Higher Risk 15:13 Pricing Risk Above the Baseline Rate 16:28 Better Yield and UX for End Users 17:02 Can Forty to Eighty Percent Scale 17:37 Ecosystem Incentives and Liquidity 18:32 Consolidation Across Major Chains 19:13 Advice for New DeFi Builders 20:19 Distribution and Proprietary Data 20:45 Build Products That Solve Real Problems 21:27 Closing Advice and Final Thanks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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/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 · 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

Holly Atkinson

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Holly Atkinson, CPTO at 1inch, examines DeFi’s idle-liquidity problem and introduces 1inch Aqua as a shared-liquidity architecture. Concentrated-liquidity positions can leave large portions of capital outside the active trading range, with individual liquidity providers suffering most when positions are not continuously managed. Aqua lets a wallet’s token balance support multiple configurable strategies at once, creating a multiplier effect without moving funds into separate protocol contracts for every position. Atkinson explains why concentrated liquidity improved market efficiency while creating a management burden. Capital earns fees only when the market trades inside a selected range, so an apparently large position may be mostly inactive. Automated managers can rebalance, but individual LPs often leave positions untouched and bear a disproportionate share of idle capital. Aqua changes the accounting model by allowing strategies to reference tokens in a wallet instead of requiring every strategy to hold a separate balance. Liquidity providers can define ranges, spreads, decay rules, fees, and swap types, then create or cancel positions in a single transaction. Tokens remain in the user’s wallet under a revocable allowance; when the wallet lacks sufficient balance, fills stop and resume after it is replenished. Verified 1inch counterparties execute swaps, while fees remain attributable to each position. Atkinson presents the system as programmable, reusable liquidity rather than passive locked capital and invites developers to test the Aqua app, documentation, and open protocol. The promise is greater capital efficiency, more strategy flexibility, and more chances for LPs to earn fees from the same assets. A user can authorize a token once per chain, allocate the same available balance across several strategies, and set independent pricing or fee logic for each. The wallet balance acts as a hard cap, so strategies stop filling rather than creating an unsecured obligation. Verified resolvers execute swaps, while the LP retains control over allowances and can revoke access. Atkinson encourages developers to treat Aqua as infrastructure for new market-making applications, not only as a 1inch interface. 00:00 Introduction to Idle DeFi Liquidity 00:42 Dune Research on Capital Efficiency 01:13 The Scale of Underutilized Liquidity 01:48 Why Individual LPs Lose More 02:27 Introducing 1inch Aqua 03:03 Wallet Balances and Shared Strategies 03:37 Configurable Ranges, Spreads, and Fees 04:18 Shipping Positions Through 1inch Routing 04:50 Verified Resolvers Execute Swaps 05:22 Atomic Fees and More Swap Activity 05:54 Creating and Cancelling Positions 06:23 Self-Custody and Fee-Sniping Protection 07:00 Verifiable Strategy Configurations 07:39 Wallet Balances Cap Protocol Exposure 08:14 Compliance, Audits, and Resolver Controls 08:45 Aqua Risks and the Wallet-Pool Model 09:17 Liquidity Reuse Across Many Positions 09:52 Early Access for Hackathon Builders 10:55 Aqua App and Developer Documentation 11:30 The Three-Part Aqua Architecture 11:57 Virtual Balances and Token Movement 12:22 Building Custom Aqua Applications 12:52 Immutable Parameters and Swap Logic 13:21 Closing Invitation for Feedback _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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 Holly Atkinson X: https://x.com/holdoesdev ✅ Follow 1inch X: https://x.com/1inch ✅ 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

Joao Alves, Co-Founder of Bleap, explains what it takes to build a retail bank onchain and why blockchain infrastructure can improve both product speed and global availability. He highlights permissionless deployment, global reach, direct settlement, and composability with existing DeFi building blocks. Compared with a traditional bank’s web of providers and proprietary APIs, an onchain product can combine wallets, swaps, yield, and payments more quickly, while still choosing carefully between custodial and unhosted architectures. Alves grounds the comparison in product decisions made while building Bleap. An unhosted wallet can reduce intermediary risk and connect to DeFi protocols directly, but the team still must solve account recovery, regulatory controls, card integration, fiat access, and support. Custodial systems can simplify some interactions while creating a different operational and trust model. He argues that builders should choose architecture based on the customer experience they want to deliver rather than treating custody as an ideological decision. Alves also examines the obstacles that determine whether these benefits reach everyday users. Fiat onramps, card top-up fees, fragmented liquidity, poor user experience, regulatory obligations, and thin markets for tokenized assets can erase the advantages of the underlying technology. He points to stablecoins and cross-border transfers as a strong near-term use case: payments that currently cost two to three percent and take a day can settle in seconds. The broader opportunity is to deliver familiar, low-friction banking products while letting users benefit from programmable assets and open financial infrastructure. He evaluates savings, payments, remittances, cards, and tokenized investments through a retail lens. Consumers will not accept paying two percent every time they add money, managing gas across several chains, or understanding bridges and chain mechanics. Stablecoins are valuable when the product hides those mechanics and delivers a clear improvement over existing services. Cross-border transfers between Portugal and Brazil illustrate the opportunity, while weekend pricing for tokenized stocks illustrates what still needs work. 00:00 Introduction to Retail Banking Onchain 00:28 Joao Alves and the Bleap Product 01:27 Global Expansion for Financial Apps 02:01 Noncustodial Deployment Advantages 02:23 Composability With DeFi Building Blocks 02:46 Open Finance Versus Vendor Contracts 03:16 Onchain Network Effects 04:03 Savings, Investing, and Payments Onchain 04:57 Custodial Versus Noncustodial Design 05:48 Regulatory Benefits of Unhosted Wallets 06:05 Efficient Settlement and Treasury Flows 06:28 Connecting Wallets to Swaps and Yield 06:42 Do Not Outsource Complexity to Users 07:05 Keys, Recovery, and Crypto Jargon 07:32 Hiding Chains, Gas, and Slippage 08:00 Account Abstraction and Paymasters 08:23 The Fiat Onramp Experience 08:41 Why Retail Users Reject Top-Up Fees 09:03 Bleap OTC and Stablecoin Conversion 09:23 Moving Beyond Tab-Based Wallet UX 10:10 Retail Banking Opportunities 10:33 DeFi Yield for Bank Deposits 11:17 Retail Demand for Better Savings Rates 12:03 Stablecoin Currency Coverage Gaps 12:41 The Instant Remittance Opportunity 13:09 Portugal and Brazil Transfer Costs 14:17 Tokenized Stocks and Global Markets 15:08 Licensing and Liquidity Barriers 15:50 Instant Merchant Payments 17:02 Blockchain Versus Card Networks 17:29 Closing Vision for Onchain Banking _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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 Joao Alves X: https://x.com/JoaoAlvesDotETH ✅ Follow Bleap X: https://x.com/BleapApp ✅ 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

ETHGlobal · Sep 9, 2026

Marcelo Kunze, Co-founder of Frames, shares what the team learned from settling roughly 500,000 payments initiated by AI agents. He traces the product from an ETHGlobal finalist project through accelerators and a rebrand, describing an early prompt-based system that hid wallets, passphrases, and payment mechanics from users. Demand centered on paid data and API tools, such as social monitoring, lead enrichment, and brand intelligence, but rapid growth exposed a core problem: agents could discover many endpoints without knowing which tools were reliable or appropriate for a specific task. Kunze uses the Michelin Guide as an analogy for products that begin by helping a new market grow and later become valuable infrastructure in their own right. Frames followed a similar path. The early system made agent payments possible through a portable prompt, then the team observed what people actually purchased. Data services dominated, but manual endpoint selection and paid requests that sometimes returned empty results prevented agents from reliably completing larger workflows. Frames used its transaction history to train a model that understands endpoint quality and handles routing, execution, payment, and validation as one workflow. A reliability system ranks tools as transactions succeed or fail, allowing performance to improve with usage and creating data that general web search cannot reproduce. Kunze positions Frames F1 as infrastructure for work beyond the public web: models can ask for an outcome while the system chooses and pays the right service. The lesson from agentic commerce is that payment rails matter, but dependable discovery and verified execution are what turn a directory of tools into a useful market. The accumulated payment history became a proprietary training and evaluation set. Frames can see which tools were selected, whether they executed successfully, what result was returned, and how often an endpoint failed for a particular task. That evidence supports routing and validation decisions that a general model cannot infer from documentation or search results alone. Kunze presents the system as an adaptive market for machine services. 00:00 Introduction and Michelin Guide Analogy 00:48 Discovery and Trust for Agent Payments 01:34 MCPay Begins at ETHGlobal Prague 02:02 From Finalist to Accelerator Support 02:42 Building a Wallet for AI Agents 03:12 A Curated Registry of Paid Tools 03:48 Prompt-Based Wallet Abstraction 04:14 Lessons From Five Hundred Thousand Payments 04:52 Demand for Data and Enrichment APIs 05:20 The Endpoint Selection Problem 06:03 Paying for Empty API Results 06:36 Replacing the Guide With a Smart Engine 07:22 Building a Composite Model 08:29 Fine-Tuning on Transaction History 08:55 Routing, Execution, and Payment 09:20 Validating Results Before Charging 09:48 Tool Reliability From Success and Failure 10:20 Live Options Data Example 10:48 Frames F1 and Proprietary Data 11:14 Comparing Frames With General Models 11:48 Why Agents Choose Reliable Companies _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇵🇹 *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 Angelo Min X: https://x.com/angelomint ✅ Follow Lighthouse X: https://x.com/LighthouseOne_ ✅ 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, Kim Luu and Eric Tesenair from Dynamic set hackers up for the weekend, introducing the team, the product, the prize tracks, hacker resources, and a live demo of the newest product, Fireblocks Flow. Kim, who recently joined Dynamic and Fireblocks in developer relations, explains that Dynamic was acquired by Fireblocks last October, so building with Dynamic means building on infrastructure backed by Fireblocks, through which about 15% of all global crypto and stablecoin transactions are secured and moved, giving projects real security and trust from the start, with customers like Kraken and Flutterwave. At its core, Dynamic provides non-custodial wallet infrastructure that scales, handling login, wallets, signing, and on-chain UX so builders integrate once and go straight to building, covering over 100 chains and 800+ wallets across EVM and non-EVM chains like Solana, Bitcoin, Sui, and Flow. Kim points to dynamic.xyz/docs and a hacker cheat sheet as the home base, stressing the one-click MCP install that drops Dynamic's docs into AI assistants like Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex so they write accurate code. She walks through around $10,000 in prizes across five tracks: best use of Flow ($3,000), best agent build, best on-chain app, best wallet glow up (the continuity track), and a best private nano payments app built jointly with Unlink and Arc using Circle. Eric then demos Fireblocks Flow, whose pitch is accept any crypto, settle in any stablecoin, with one SDK, using DeFi protocols (via LiFi under the hood) rather than acting as liquidity provider. He walks through three nearly identical flows: a merchant checkout (buying a 10-cent backstage pass, paying in ETH on Base settling to USDC), a deposit flow for apps like prediction markets or games, and a more complex withdrawal flow using Dynamic's embedded wallet product, connecting external wallets and exchanges like Kraken via native wallet providers. He shows both the SDK and API integration paths (create checkout, add transaction and buyer source with watchlist checks, get a quote, sign and broadcast, await settlement via webhooks), notes Flow supports most EVM chains plus Solana, Tron, and Bitcoin, and closes with Q&A on testnet limitations and building stablecoin-backed cards with providers like Rain. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Welcome to the Dynamic Workshop 00:39 The Plan for the Session 01:05 Meet the Dynamic Team 01:47 Acquired by Fireblocks 02:12 The Fintechs and Enterprises That Trust Dynamic 02:30 What Is Dynamic 02:42 Before and After Dynamic 03:07 Over 100 Chains and 800 Wallets 03:33 Your Home Base: The Docs and Cheat Sheet 03:54 Why to Install the MCP for Your Agent 04:22 The Prize Tracks and $10,000 in Prizes 04:47 Best Agent Build and On-Chain App 05:08 Best Wallet Glow Up and Nano Payments 05:38 What Fireblocks Flow Is 06:33 Handing Off to Eric for the Demo 06:40 Setting Up the Flow Demo 07:11 Why You Might Want to Use Your Meme Coins 07:33 The Three Flows Explained 08:49 The Checkout Flow 09:12 Connecting Wallets and Exchanges 10:04 How the Conversion Works Under the Hood 10:43 Integrating With the SDK 12:09 Integrating With the API 12:29 Webhooks and Out-of-the-Box Wallet Lists 12:48 The Deposit Flow 14:06 The Withdrawal Flow With Embedded Wallets 14:55 Why You Need an Embedded Wallet 15:35 Q&A: Which Chains Flow Supports 16:10 Q&A: Testing on Testnets 16:38 Q&A: Building Stablecoin-Backed Cards 18:44 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, Leonardo Cascianelli from LI.FI introduces Composer, the project LI.FI is sponsoring for the hackathon, and walks through its interaction pattern. Composer is essentially a compiler that lets you execute complex DeFi strategies in one atomic transaction. You define a declarative flow in JSON (a simple embedded DSL), and Composer transforms it into something executable with one click on chain, pre-simulating everything so you learn your expected outputs, gas usage, and whether the transaction will fail. He motivates it with a common pain point: wanting to chain a swap, a vault deposit, and a stake or restake often ships as multiple transactions needing a coordinator to feed each output into the next. People try to solve this with multicall, but multicall does not give real data flow (you must hardcode intermediary values), so it is flaky. Composer instead defines the whole flow in one spot and passes intermediate values through automatically. Leo walks through a simple flow performing a swap and a zap (staking into a vault) using the TypeScript SDK, though any language that produces JSON works. He explains declaring inputs (like wrapped ETH as an ERC-20 resource via direct deposit from an EOA), the nodes that transform resources (swap WETH to USDC, then zap USDC to staked USDC), and optional guards that set minimum amounts. He covers the account model, where each signer (EOA, safe, or smart wallet) gets a dedicated auto-deployed user proxy that isolates approvals, with execution via delegate call to LI.FI's on-chain virtual machine. He details the simple API surface (the /compose endpoint plus manifest and zaps metadata routes, authenticated with an API key from the LI.FI portal), whose response returns the transaction to send yourself, required approvals, and dangling output resources. For the hackathon he previews new operations on a dedicated ETHGlobal deployment, including a cross-venue migration demo (moving an Aave position to Morpho in one flow) where flash loan complexity is abstracted away via materializers, supporting Aave V3, Balancer V2, Morpho, and ERC-3156 flash loan providers. He points agents to an llms.txt file and a repo of 30+ examples, invites AI, UX, and dev tooling builds, and closes with Q&A on targeting any smart contract, chain availability, and third-party contract whitelisting. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Leo and Composer 00:42 How the Declarative JSON Flow Works 00:58 Pre-Simulating Outputs, Gas, and Failures 01:08 The Multi-Transaction Pain Point 01:36 Why Multicall Falls Short 02:03 The JSON Specification and Embedded DSL 02:30 A Simple Swap and Zap Flow 02:50 Declaring Your Inputs 03:18 The Nodes That Transform Resources 03:42 Using Guards for Minimum Amounts 04:04 The User Proxy Account Model 04:27 Execution via Delegate Call 04:37 The API Surface and Endpoints 04:51 Authentication and the API Key 05:21 What the Compilation Response Returns 05:41 Exposing Dangling Resources 05:53 New Operations for the Hackathon 06:11 The Cross-Venue Migration Demo 06:49 Abstracting Flash Loans With Materializers 07:09 The Three Beats of a Migration 07:30 The Preview Deployment and Supported Protocols 07:56 Pointing Your Agents to llms.txt 08:22 The Repo of 30+ Examples 08:44 What You Can Build With Composer 09:19 Q&A: Targeting Any Smart Contract 11:01 Q&A: Partners and Chain Availability 11:39 Q&A: Third-Party Contract Whitelisting 12:00 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, Alvaro Lillo, a solutions engineer on Sui's builder growth team, walks hackers through the Sui prizes and, most importantly, how to integrate Walrus, Sui's decentralized storage solution, with EVM dApps. Alongside his colleague Ralph at the booth, he shares a collection of resources, starting with example integrations showing how to swap a typical IPFS or Filecoin setup for Walrus in common use cases. He highlights a newly released product, Walrus Memory, built on top of Walrus for storing encrypted memories from AI agents, which he suggests is useful for anyone doing agent work. He also points to a Sui plugin that helps implement anything on the Sui stack by injecting the docs (noting it is token-expensive, so use it deliberately) and integrating a Move language server, which is handy since that is not built into Claude Code, the tool he hopes most hackers will use this weekend. Alvaro explains how the prizes are structured around the hackathon's two main tracks. For the existing project track, the focus is on projects swapping their decentralized storage integration for Walrus, judged primarily on product-market fit rather than novel uses of Move, since the goal is products with existing traction and users that are ready to go to market. A portion of the pool is reserved for the new project track, where builders can create anything entirely on Sui using Move or integrating Walrus or another part of the stack. He points to links, faucets for testnet tokens, and QR codes at the booth. In an extended Q&A, he clarifies that Walrus is programmable decentralized storage infrastructure (not a single product), that the decentralized cloud people remember is just a product built on top of it (like Walrus Harbor), that Walrus is far faster than IPFS and Arweave on both uploads and retrievals, and that it can store anything, not just web3 data. He explains Walrus is built using Sui, relying on Sui's smart contracts to coordinate storage, and that Sui's object-oriented model provides built-in security around digital assets, making access control and complex data structures much easier to manage than in Solidity, before sending everyone off to build. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 Welcome to the Sui Workshop 00:45 Meet Alvaro and Ralph at the Booth 01:14 A Collection of Resources to Check 01:14 Integrating Walrus With EVM dApps 01:46 Introducing Walrus Memory for Agents 02:20 The Sui Plugin and Move Language Server 02:49 Why It Helps Claude Code Users 03:20 How the Prizes Are Structured 03:46 The Existing Project Track and Product-Market Fit 04:13 The New Project Track on Sui 04:46 Links, Faucets, and Testnet Tokens 05:14 Q&A: What Excites You the Most 06:07 Q&A: How to Think About Walrus Today 06:59 Walrus as Programmable Storage Infrastructure 07:16 Q&A: Building Without Walrus 07:40 Q&A: Help With Move Coding 08:06 Q&A: Walrus vs IPFS and Arweave 08:31 Q&A: Faster Uploads and Retrievals 08:52 Q&A: Is Walrus Only for Web3 09:07 Q&A: How Walrus Uses Sui 09:29 Q&A: Sui's Object-Oriented Model 10:08 Why Access Control Is Easier Than Solidity 10:31 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, Meghna Mehta and Andrew Warner from Privy present updated interfaces for modern money management and movement, plus the hackathon bounties. Meghna, a product manager who came from mining and years at Coinbase, and Andrew, a forward deployed engineer and former Privy customer who started in finance at BlackRock, introduce Privy as secure, scalable wallet infrastructure that lets you spin up embedded wallets in applications or server-side payments infrastructure. Privy has over 2,000 applications and 120 million users and processes around $15 billion a month in stablecoin and native currency transfers. They highlight three recently launched products: deposit addresses, Privy Earn, and an agent CLI. Andrew details the agent CLI and its skill, which gives Claude and Codex agents complete access to Privy's SDKs and APIs to fund wallets, send transactions, and sign messages while the developer stays in the loop controlling funding and access. Agents authenticate into an embedded wallet through a short-lived, per-transaction ephemeral signing key that can be revoked anytime, with policies to prevent malicious behavior or draining. Meghna covers deposit addresses (launched two weeks earlier): persistent per-user EVM addresses that let anyone send any asset on any chain, automatically bridging and swapping to a single canonical token on a canonical chain with no KYC or verification flows and broad asset support. She then covers Privy Earn, a simplified interface to leading on-chain yield providers like Morpho, letting you deposit, withdraw, and track balances via a single API call, with spending out of the balance coming later. She frames Privy as building financial infrastructure where wallets are just a starting point. In a long Q&A, they share exciting builders (Deel's stablecoin accounts paying contractors in Argentina with yield via a Morpho vault, and Ramp's business accounts), discuss potentially integrating ENS for easier send destinations, custom Earn partnerships, and the technical side of their roughly 20-millisecond server-side signing latency (down from 100), achieved by moving from client-side key reconstitution to a secure AWS Nitro Enclave with websocket infrastructure, parallelized pre-checks, and global regional coverage. They also explain Shamir secret sharing (splitting keys into shards reconstituted in memory then destroyed) and a bring-your-own-cloud option for institutional customers, and note Privy supports over 40 EVM and SVM chains. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Meghna and Andrew 00:56 What Is Privy 01:15 Privy by the Numbers 01:37 The Three Newly Launched Products 01:57 Introducing Privy Earn 02:22 The Agent CLI 02:44 How Agent Wallets Work 03:23 Staying in the Loop With Policies 03:47 Ephemeral Per-Transaction Signing Keys 04:06 How the Skill File Empowers Agents 04:26 Deposit Addresses Explained 04:41 Persistent Per-User Addresses 05:02 Automated Bridging and Swapping 05:23 No KYC and Universal Asset Support 05:54 Embedded Yield With Privy Earn 06:17 A Simplified Interface to Yield Providers 06:37 Deposit, Withdraw, and Track Balances 06:54 Why Wallets Are Just the Starting Point 07:17 Q&A: The Most Exciting Projects 08:01 How Deel Powers Global Stablecoin Accounts 09:05 How Ramp Uses Privy for Businesses 09:32 Q&A: Integrating ENS 10:38 Q&A: Custom Earn Integrations 11:19 Q&A: What the 20ms Latency Means 12:00 Moving to Server-Side Signing 12:39 What the 20 Milliseconds Covers 13:23 How Websockets and Enclaves Cut Latency 14:03 Global Regional Coverage 14:23 Q&A: Shamir Secret Sharing 15:42 How Key Shards Are Reconstituted 16:06 Bring Your Own Cloud for Key Storage 16:28 Q&A: How Many Chains Are Supported 17:36 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, Mateo Sauton from Tools for Humanity, the company building tools for World, presents a world of human possibilities, walking through several products for hackers to build on plus the hackathon tracks. He frames the core insight: the goal was never just to prove someone is a human on the internet but to know there is a human behind an internet interaction, which matters now that roughly 45 to 50% of internet traffic is bots. He describes World entering phase three of its plan, where World ID is reliable enough that enterprises like Tinder, DocuSign, Zoom, Okta, and Vercel are adopting it, and where World App has 38 million total users, 18 million verified humans, and around 7.5 million active users. He notes the Mini Kit SDK for building mini apps (third-party sites inside World App that leverage its distribution) but focuses on other SDKs. Mateo details the star product, World ID, used via the ID Kit SDK, which proves you are a unique human without revealing any information using zero knowledge technology, with three credential tiers (the Orb iris scan being most reliable, then passport, then face) verifiable on-chain or in cloud across many languages. He then introduces Agent Kit, which adds a World ID to an agent's wallet and registers it in an agent book mapping humans to agents, so a human can back multiple agents. Its three capabilities are acting for a human with a human in the loop (for example, requiring approval before an agent trades over $1,000), agentic commerce via a Shopify integration, and an x402 challenge flow where a server verifies an agent's signature against the agent book. Because the unit of trust is the human, not the wallet, spinning up more agents gives no advantage since rate limits and free trials tie back to one person. He previews Proof Kit, a new open source Rust-like DSL for writing zero knowledge circuits with Noir, proven client-side and post-quantum secure. He shares case studies (the Shopify unique-human hat, credit.cash offering undercollateralized anonymous credit to verified humans, Morpho giving unique humans increased yield, and Tinder giving verified humans boosts), lays out four tracks (Agent Kit, World ID use cases, continuity, and Proof Kit), and closes with an extended Q&A on privacy, per-website isolation, and how the iris hash prevents duplicate verification. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Mateo and Tools for Humanity 00:55 Proving a Human Is Behind the Interaction 01:17 Why Bots Are Half of Internet Traffic 02:13 Entering Phase Three of the Project 02:53 Becoming the Biggest Human Financial Network 03:19 World App by the Numbers 03:45 The Mini Kit SDK and Mini Apps 04:08 Enterprises Building on World 04:54 The Star Product: World ID 05:23 Proving You Are a Unique Human 06:01 The Three Credential Tiers 06:33 Why the Orb Is the Most Reliable 07:15 Integrating ID Kit 07:55 Introducing Agent Kit 08:19 Why a Wallet Cannot Tell If a Human Is Behind It 08:49 Mapping Humans to Agents in the Agent Book 09:17 Capability One: Acting for a Human 09:42 Agentic Commerce With Shopify 10:22 The x402 Challenge Flow 11:29 Why Every Agent Ties Back to One Human 11:51 The Three Access Modes 12:36 The Tool Router Integrations 13:20 Introducing Proof Kit and Noir 13:46 Client-Side, Post-Quantum ZK Proving 14:48 Why This May Power World ID's Future 15:15 Case Study: The Shopify Hat 16:12 Case Study: credit.cash 17:43 Case Study: Morpho and Increased Yield 18:22 Case Study: Tinder Boosts 19:08 Go and Build: The Four Tracks 20:12 Why Projects Should Outlast the Weekend 20:30 Resources and QR Code 20:50 Q&A: Cross-Referencing and Privacy 22:18 Why Each Website Is Isolated 23:05 Q&A: Can You Verify Who Someone Is 23:46 Q&A: Preventing Duplicate Verification 24:46 Q&A: Post-Quantum in Noir Circuits 25:11 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal New York 2026, Jatin Pandya, a developer advocate at the Canton Foundation, gives hackers a heads-up on Canton's hackathon tracks and a 101 on the network and its DAML smart contract language. He runs through the four prize tracks. First is private DeFi and capital markets: taking the DeFi use cases people already know (DEXes, perps, margin management, dark pool matching, lending, borrowing, collateralized protocols) and adding a natively built-in privacy element, since privacy, not TPS, is now the talk of the town. Second, the one he is most excited about, is privacy-native TradFi, RWAs, and tokenization: repo agreement automation and management platforms, tokenized bond issuance, and supply chain finance built on Canton's need-to-know privacy model. Third is payments and neobanks on top of Canton, tying into institutions like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and DTCC. Fourth, more exploratory, is agentic commerce, exploring how AI agents would interact with a privacy-preserving blockchain. Jatin points to his existing video workshop, revamped documentation (with an MCP server and a native LLM model that surfaces the right docs or SDK), and a dedicated module comparing Solidity and DAML concept by concept, noting DAML feels like writing English to those who know TypeScript or Haskell. He explains Canton's flipped architecture: rather than one blockchain with RPC calls, a single global synchronizer operated by the foundation coordinates atomicity across per-entity validators (JP Morgan, DTCC, and others each run their own), with data visible only to the relevant parties and sub-transaction privacy so two parties in a trade can keep it hidden from everyone else. He clarifies that Canton uses parties rather than wallet addresses, and that DAML is access-based, structured around templates (blueprints rather than functions) with signatories, observers, and choices (the functionality). He walks through example templates for a token and a trade proposal (buyer, asset, price, seller as signatory), then demos deployment via the C-port tool at devport.io, where an ETHGlobal New York organization is preconfigured so hackers can build or import from GitHub and deploy to a devnet validator without running their own. He closes by pointing to his full zero-to-deploy video and offering booth help. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Welcome to the In-Person Workshop 00:33 A TLDR on the Four Prize Tracks 00:33 Track One: Private DeFi and Capital Markets 01:48 Track Two: Privacy-Native TradFi and Tokenization 02:38 Why This Is the Track He Is Most Excited About 02:57 Track Three: Payments and Neobanks 03:18 Working With Major Institutions 03:49 Track Four: Agentic Commerce 04:21 A Quick Heads-Up on Resources 04:40 The Revamped Docs and LLM Model 05:41 The Solidity vs DAML Comparison Module 06:00 Why DAML Feels Like English 06:54 Why Deploying on Canton Is Different 07:24 Introducing the C-port Tool 08:12 The Preconfigured ETHGlobal Organization 09:17 How Canton's Architecture Is Flipped 09:41 The Global Synchronizer and Validators 10:04 Parties Instead of Addresses 10:36 Sub-Transaction Privacy Explained 11:00 Why DAML Is Genuinely Different 11:35 Templates, Signatories, and Observers 12:12 Parties, Not Wallet Addresses 12:36 The Structure of a DAML Model 13:14 Declaring a Token Template 13:43 How Ownership and Signing Work 13:57 A Trade Proposal Example 14:52 How Choices Define Functionality 15:17 Q&A on Defining Trades 16:44 Writing a DAML File in C-port 17:13 Building and Deploying to Devnet 17:42 Where to Get Help With DAML 18:23 Closing and the Full Video Workshop _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *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, Logan Nguyen, an engineer at Hashgraph, shows hackathon builders how to move faster on Hedera using its open source collection of AI plugins and skills. He opens with a recap of Hedera for the mixed audience: it is a fully EVM-compatible L1, so anything built on Ethereum (MetaMask, Solidity smart contracts, Foundry, ethers.js) migrates and works out of the box, plus native protocol services like the Hedera Token Service (ERC-20 and ERC-721 style tokens with built-in KYC, freeze, pause, and royalty fees, no separate Solidity contract needed), the Hedera Consensus Service for messaging and topic subscription, a schedule service for on-chain automation, smart contract service, and more. He notes Hedera processes over 10,000 transactions per second with roughly 3-second finality, low fixed and predictable fees (a fraction of a cent), and a carbon-negative network. Logan then introduces Hedera Skills, the open source collection of plugins and skills built by Hedera's DevRel team, covering six capabilities: the hackathon helper, an agent kit plugin (for building AI agents that interact with the network via natural language using the Hedera Agent Toolkit), dev intelligence for scaffolding and session tracking, native services JavaScript (interacting with native services via the SDK without Solidity), system contracts (the Solidity counterpart for the same services), and the recently added Hedera CLI reference. He goes deep on the hackathon helper's two skills: hackathon PRD, run before writing any code, which teaches Claude, Cursor, or Codex to read Hedera's criteria, ask questions, narrow scope to a demoable MVP, and produce a buildable product requirements document, and validate submission, run before submitting, which does a mock judging pass against Hedera's seven criteria to catch bugs. He live-demos installing the hackathon helper in Claude with three commands and generating a PRD, then introduces the Hedera docs MCP server, which solves AI knowledge cutoff by giving agents a search tool over always-up-to-date documentation, SDK references, and code examples via one command to a remote hosted server. He closes with the four bounty tracks (AI agent, agentic payments, tokenization with no Solidity, and autonomous on-chain automation) and $15,000 in prizes. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Logan and the Goal of the Workshop 00:32 The Idea: Open Source Plugins and Skills 01:04 A Quick Recap on What Hedera Is 01:30 Why Your EVM Stack Works Out of the Box 01:44 Native Services: The Hedera Token Service 02:27 The Consensus, Schedule, and Smart Contract Services 02:59 Throughput, Finality, and Low Fees 03:35 Why Hedera Is a Carbon-Negative Network 04:24 36 Hours and $15,000 in Prizes 04:51 Introducing Hedera Skills 05:37 The Six Capabilities in the Repo 06:02 The Agent Kit and Dev Intelligence Plugins 06:36 Native Services JavaScript vs System Contracts 07:12 The Recently Added Hedera CLI 07:44 Going Deeper: The Hackathon PRD Skill 08:21 How the PRD Skill Narrows Your Scope 09:00 The Validate Submission Skill 09:36 A Mock Judging Pass Before You Submit 09:52 Live Demo: Installing the Hackathon Helper 10:53 Generating a PRD From an Idea 11:21 How the Skill Asks Questions to Brainstorm 12:47 Claude Generates the PRD 13:13 Introducing the Hedera Docs MCP Server 13:39 Solving the AI Knowledge Cutoff Problem 14:28 One Command to Add the Server 14:58 Using the Server With Natural Language 15:42 Recapping the Two Tools 16:03 The Four Bounty Tracks and Prizes 16:31 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Solange Gueiros

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal New York 2026, Solange Gueiros and Andrej Rakic from Chainlink introduce the Chainlink Confidential AI Attester and walk through how to use Chainlink across hackathon projects. Solange runs through the four bounties: three best projects using the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) and its workflows, two best projects using any other Chainlink service, two best projects using the new Chainlink Confidential AI Attester, and two best projects extending an existing Chainlink project on the continuity track, all combinable. She encourages installing the Chainlink developer agent skills, which carry the expertise to build with Chainlink services in any environment like Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex, so hackers can focus on use cases rather than becoming experts over a weekend. Andrej introduces the Confidential AI Attester, an early alpha experiment from Chainlink's research and engineering teams, and notes Professor Ari Juels will be a special guest judge for that track on Sunday. He frames the problem: proving your financials today (for a loan or a car) requires showing the books and involving notaries and lawyers, which is not private, and cannot be done in DeFi. Good candidate use cases include undercollateralized DeFi loans, KYC, AML, and proof of reserves, anything that involves uploading documents for analysis. He demos the playground (which needs an API key from the booth or Discord), uploading a mock AI-generated financial PDF and prompting the attester to judge whether the individual is a suitable candidate for a 500 USDC undercollateralized loan. The analysis runs inside a Trusted Execution Environment (an AWS Nitro Enclave) so the document does not leak, using an open LLM (Gemma, switchable to others). Once he gets the attestation, a CRE callback decrypts and decodes the decision and stores it on a simple smart contract exposing view functions a DeFi protocol can check. He walks through simulating the CRE workflow locally (CRE CLI version 19 or above waits for an HTTP or log trigger), exposing localhost via ngrok, and appending a broadcast flag so a simulation still writes on-chain to testnet, showing the resulting approved decision, document digest, and transaction hash. He clarifies CRE is optional (the attester works standalone, callable via curl or any language), points to the demo repo, and closes with Q&A on verifying callbacks and where to get API keys and data streams testnet credentials. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 Why Chainlink for Your Hackathon Project 00:36 Meet Solange and Andrej 01:00 The Chainlink Bounties 01:31 The New Confidential AI Attester Bounty 02:01 Extending an Existing Chainlink Project 02:12 Installing the Chainlink Developer Skills 02:29 The Chainlink Runtime Environment 02:56 A Special Guest Judge: Ari Juels 03:18 What Is the Confidential AI Attester 03:42 Why Proving Financials Is Not Private 04:02 An Early Alpha Experiment 04:25 Candidate Use Cases 04:48 A Look at the Playground and Resources 05:33 Why to Use the AI Skills 05:52 Getting an API Key 06:16 Uploading a Financial PDF 06:45 Running the Analysis Inside a TEE 07:16 Verifying the Attestation On Chain 07:49 How the CRE Callback Stores the Decision 08:20 The Undercollateralized Loan Prompt 08:40 Checking the CRE CLI Version 09:05 Simulating With an HTTP Trigger 09:29 Exposing Localhost With ngrok 09:54 Submitting the Request 10:18 The Broadcast Flag Writes to Testnet 11:07 Seeing the Approved Decision and Transaction 11:34 Querying the Contract for the Decision 12:02 The LLM and Enclave Behind It 12:36 Q&A: Is CRE Required 13:04 Walking Through the Demo Repo 14:07 Q&A: Verifying the Callback 15:21 Recapping the Four Bounties 16:35 API Keys and Data Streams Credentials 17:15 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, Angela Ocando from Uniswap Labs guides hackers through how to navigate the Uniswap stack. She frames Uniswap as one of the largest decentralized exchanges in the world, citing over $4.3 trillion in cumulative protocol volume, more than 2.7 billion all-time trades, over 10 million assets, and a recently launched Uniswap API now supporting more than 17 chains. She explains that the stack is more than the AMM: it spans the V2, V3, and V4 versions of the protocol (V3 introduced concentrated liquidity, V4 introduced hooks and a singleton pool architecture where everything happens under one main contract), plus Uniswap X (an intent-based protocol where users sign intents and a permissionless and exclusive filler network competes to execute them for best price), the Uniswap API (a distribution channel exposing routing quotes and execution via trading and LP endpoints), the CCA or continuous clearing auction (an execution layer running continuous auctions to match orders with optimal liquidity, useful for fair token launches), and newly launched AI skills that wrap the stack for agents and developers. Angela goes deeper on V4 hooks, a framework letting developers attach custom logic before and after pool actions (initialize, add and remove liquidity, swap, donate) via flags to create new DeFi primitives, noting the V4 template makes building hooks easier and that a hook can attach to many pools but each pool takes only one hook. She explains that Uniswap X checks the AMM, private AMMs, and external market makers to source the best price, all accessible through the API, and that CCA offers a bootstrapping framework for token launches. She announces that tokenized assets went live that morning across Uniswap's apps, the API, and Uniswap X. She then clarifies the hackathon bounties: $7,000 for the best Uniswap API integration built from scratch (requiring a feedback MD file logging agent errors so Uniswap can improve), and a continuity track for the best Uniswap stack contribution (building with any part of the stack, contributing to an open source repo, or submitting an explainer video). She demos the developer portal at developers.uniswap.org, showing that pasting it into Claude or Codex lets agents read the schema to optimize token spend, plus guides, an API reference for testing endpoints with keys, and ecosystem resources like foundation grants, the hook incubator, security subsidies, and go-to-market support, before closing with Q&A and pointing everyone to the booth. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Angela and the Goal 00:34 Uniswap by the Numbers 00:47 The Stack Is More Than the AMM 01:00 The AMM Versions and Hooks 01:30 Introducing Uniswap X 01:47 The Uniswap API as a Distribution Channel 02:05 The Trading and LP Endpoints 02:31 The Continuous Clearing Auction 02:55 The New AI Skills for Agents 03:16 A Closer Look at the Protocol Versions 03:45 How V4 Hooks Work 04:14 The V4 Template and Custom Logic Flags 04:35 One Hook Per Pool 04:44 Tokenized Assets Now Available 05:06 How Uniswap X Sources the Best Price 05:30 The CCA Bootstrapping Framework 06:00 The API and the Main Bounty 06:24 Installing the Uniswap Skills 06:44 Using Skills With Agents and x402 07:10 The Point of the Security Skills 07:32 The Hackathon Bounties Explained 07:52 Why a Feedback MD File Is Required 08:22 The Continuity Track Options 08:44 Finding Open Source Projects to Extend 09:20 The Video Submission Option 09:42 From Scratch vs Continuity Selection 10:04 Where to Find All the Prize Info 10:30 The Developer Portal 11:18 Installing the Skills With a Model 11:36 Plugging the Portal Into Your Agent 12:16 A Tour of the Developer Platform 12:33 The Swapping and API Guides 12:50 Ecosystem: Grants and the Hook Incubator 13:11 Security Subsidies and GTM Support 13:34 Testing the API Reference 14:03 Wrapping Up the Stack 14:27 Q&A 15:14 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, Gathin T, a senior developer at 0G, introduces 0G as a permissionless blockchain for AI agents, covering what it is, how to start building, and the resources available. He frames the core value up front: 0G enables verifiable, private inferencing where model queries run inside a trusted execution environment (TEE) so the input and output are verified and not exposed to centralized entities. He then walks through the problems with centralized AI. Recent restrictions and re-enablements around Fable Fi show how access can be throttled, gated, or removed by government or corporate decisions. Subscription pricing can change unpredictably (he cites region-specific pricing). Censorship can refuse legitimate requests (like cybersecurity research) based on a model's parameters. He breaks these into specific issues: opacity and lack of trust (you cannot verify you are getting the actual model behind a black box), vendor lock-in with closed APIs and shifting policies, and no true ownership of the agents you create. Gathin explains how 0G addresses each. Inference is provable with references, running in a tamper-proof input-output channel where your data is not used for training. Rather than lock-in, 0G is a marketplace where you can switch between multiple providers for the same model, choosing cheaper or lower-latency options by region. Ownership comes via agentic IDs (the ERC-7857 standard), NFTs tied to an agent that can be transferred. He stresses the platform is permissionless with no gatekeeper, and that its modular stack lets you swap any layer without rebuilding, with incentives for compute providers and future fine-tuning contributors. He notes open source models like Kimi K2, GLM, and DeepSeek are reaching parity, and covers the architecture: an infinitely scalable chain (11,000 TPS, sub-second finality), decentralized storage (80 to 90% cheaper than AWS S3), compute, a soon-launching fine-tuning and RAG layer, a provider marketplace, and alignment nodes (around 92,000 sold) giving the community governance. He highlights products like the private compute router at pc.0g.ai (OpenAI-compatible keys) and the 0G app for building, notes 0G is well funded ($325 million) with 400+ ecosystem partners, and closes with the $15,000 in bounties across best AI product, infrastructure, and continuity tracks, plus a Telegram group for testnet tokens, followed by Q&A. 00:00 Introduction 00:33 Welcome to Lisbon 00:44 What This Workshop Covers 01:04 The Core Problem With Centralized AI 01:25 Verifiable, Private Inference in a TEE 01:49 How Centralized Models Get Restricted 02:07 Unpredictable Subscription Pricing 02:45 The Censorship Problem 03:04 Opacity and the Black Box Problem 03:45 How 0G Enables Verifiable Inference 04:13 Vendor Lock-In and Switching Providers 04:58 The Problem of No Agent Ownership 05:17 Agentic IDs as Ownership 05:37 Centralized Control and Censorship 06:18 Swapping Layers Without Rebuilding 07:01 Incentives Across the Modular Stack 07:38 Why Open Source Models Are Catching Up 08:01 Private TLS Routing and Attestation 08:58 The Modular Architecture 09:18 Decentralized Storage for Agents and Models 09:56 The Marketplace and Alignment Layer 10:25 Why Trust Is the Biggest Issue 10:53 0G Compute and GLM 11:16 Storage 80 to 90% Cheaper Than S3 11:38 Chain Throughput and Sunsetting the DA 12:00 Agentic ID and the ERC-7857 Standard 12:12 The Private Compute Router 12:42 The 0G App and Agent Launchpad 13:02 Funding, Partners, and Grants 13:26 The $15,000 in Bounty Tracks 13:47 The Infrastructure Track 14:07 The Continuity Track 14:25 Joining the Telegram for Testnet Tokens 15:02 Q&A: Track Ideas and Requirements 15:57 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, Angela Ocando from Uniswap Labs and Ivan Volovyk, a Uniswap Foundation ambassador, show hackers how to navigate the new Uniswap stack. Angela frames Uniswap as one of the largest decentralized exchanges in the world (over $4.3 trillion in cumulative volume, more than 2.7 billion trades, and over 2 million assets), and a strong option for anyone building a fintech or finance application on chain. Showing the original 2018 interface as inspiration, she notes many protocols began as a hackathon MVP. She explains the stack is more than the AMM: it spans the V2, V3, and V4 protocol versions (V3 introduced concentrated liquidity so LPs can add liquidity in a chosen price range, V4 introduced a singleton pool architecture and hooks for attaching custom logic to pool actions), plus Uniswap X (an intent-based protocol where users sign intents and fillers, including 25+ private market makers, compete to execute large swaps at the best price), the CCA or continuous clearing auction (a token launchpad offering fair-price launches), the Uniswap API (routing, quotes, and execution), and Uniswap AI skills for interacting with the stack in natural language. Angela goes deeper on V4 hooks, which run optional custom logic via before and after flags on actions like initialize, add and remove liquidity, swap, and donate (enabling donations, KYC, and dynamic fees), pointing to a GitHub template. She explains the Uniswap API taps deep aggregated liquidity across Uniswap classic (the AMM) and Uniswap X, is claimable with an API key at developers.uniswap.org, and uses permit-based approvals for security. She lays out the two hackathon tracks: best Uniswap API integration from scratch (requiring a feedback MD file so the team can improve the product) and a continuity track for the best Uniswap stack contribution, both centered on honest developer feedback. She notes recent launches of tokenized assets on Robinhood, permissioned (whitelist) pools, and dual pool hooks. Ivan then demos the Uniswap AI skills two ways: prompting a coding agent to add swap and trading to a Dungeons and Dragons-themed front end where a character's abilities affect slippage, and installing the Uniswap AI plugin and trading tools so Claude can run a time-weighted average strategy (buying $10 of ETH daily for 30 days) via generated configs and a run script, before closing with Q&A on testnet support, a CLI, and permissioned pools. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Angela and Ivan 00:34 Uniswap by the Numbers 00:56 Why Build a Finance App on Uniswap 01:18 The Original 2018 Interface 01:42 The Stack Is More Than the AMM 02:05 The Protocol Versions and V4 Hooks 02:36 Adding Custom Rules at the AMM Level 02:47 Introducing Uniswap X 03:24 The CCA Token Launchpad 03:36 The Uniswap API 03:58 The Uniswap AI Skills 04:31 Concentrated Liquidity in V3 05:00 The Singleton Architecture and Hooks 05:39 Use Cases for Hooks 06:05 The Hook Flags and Template 06:31 How Uniswap X Executes Large Swaps 07:16 The CCA Liquidity Launcher 07:39 Why to Integrate the Uniswap API 08:02 Claiming an API Key 08:25 How the Transaction Flow Works 08:48 The Swap, Liquidity, and Chain Actions Endpoints 09:11 The Uniswap AI Tools 09:32 The From-Scratch API Track 09:53 Why Feedback Is the Real Goal 10:36 The Continuity Track 11:20 Tokenized Assets and Permissioned Pools 11:58 Where to Find Everything 12:12 Ivan's Demo: What We Will Build 12:57 The Dungeons and Dragons Front End 13:26 Starting From the Empty Front End 13:58 Prompting the Skill to Add Uniswap 14:23 Making Claude Trade Assets 14:49 Installing the AI Plugin and Trading Tools 15:17 A Time-Weighted Average Strategy 15:49 The Strategy Config and Run Script 16:40 Where to Get Help 17:08 Q&A: Testnet Support 17:43 Q&A: Is There a CLI 18:16 Q&A: Permissioned Pools 18:30 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, a BuidlGuidl member who works at Edge & Node (the original creators of The Graph Protocol), shows hackers how to build AI agents on The Graph and walks through the bounties. He explains The Graph as a decentralized network of indexers that serve blockchain data, and covers its two main products. Subgraphs are GraphQL-based APIs, easy to create in the subgraph studio and usually focused on a specific smart contract, that make complex time-series blockchain data far easier to query than hitting an RPC directly. Substreams are a Rust-based streaming protocol that pipes deeper, blockchain-wide data (transactions, value transfers, wallets) directly into your own database like ClickHouse. He notes subgraphs are written in AssemblyScript (a TypeScript subset) while substreams are Rust, both of which AI tooling handles well. Kevin focuses on the AI angle. He introduces The Graph's two MCP servers (one for subgraphs, one for substreams) as discovery tools that let an agent find the right data (for example, asking for Uniswap data returns the relevant subgraphs with a recommendation), and points to installable subgraph and substreams skills for coding agents in Cursor, Claude Code, or any IDE. He lays out the bounties: $7,000 split five ways for tooling that helps agents use Graph data or the best AI use case of The Graph, plus a prize for best use of composable subgraphs (which sit on top of per-contract, per-chain subgraphs to unify a protocol deployed across many chains). He then demos Scaffold Agent, an AI-native command-line alternative to Scaffold-ETH (reusing its components, hooks, and burner wallet) that bootstraps a Next.js AI chatbot wired to the subgraph MCP server and able to consume The Graph over x402, Coinbase's crypto-native reinvention of the HTTP 402 status code that replaces API keys with pay-per-query. Using his own startup One Claw for MPC and HSM key custody (generating a signing key inside a TEE on Google Cloud so no private key sits on his machine), he scaffolds a project, funds the fresh wallet with 10 cents of USDC on Base, and attempts to query the last five Uniswap V3 swaps paid over x402. The live query does not go through, but he frames Scaffold Agent, the MCP servers, and the skills as strong starting points and points hackers to the booth for help. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Kevin and Edge & Node 00:29 What This Workshop Covers 00:50 Who Has Built a Subgraph 01:10 What The Graph Protocol Is 01:42 Subgraphs as GraphQL APIs 02:13 Creating a Subgraph in the Studio 02:53 Introducing Substreams 03:19 Streaming Data Into Your Database 03:44 AssemblyScript vs Rust 04:03 Why Rust Is Easy With AI 04:26 The AI Tooling in the Docs 04:44 The Two MCP Servers 05:11 How the MCP Discovers Data 05:31 Subgraph vs Substream MCPs 06:36 Installing the Skills for Your Agent 07:14 The Bounties and What The Graph Wants 07:53 Examples of Agent Tooling 08:14 Best Use of The Graph in AI 08:43 The $7,000 Prize Split 09:06 Best Use of Composable Subgraphs 09:29 Introducing the Scaffold Agent Demo 09:59 Why Scaffold Agent Is AI Native 10:26 The MCP and x402 Integration 10:53 What Is x402 11:17 Reinventing the HTTP 402 Status Code 11:45 x402-Enabled Subgraph Endpoints 12:09 What the Starter Kit Wires Up 12:36 Running the Scaffold Agent Command 13:17 Using One Claw for Key Custody 13:50 Generating an API Key 14:42 Generating Signing Keys in an HSM 14:58 Configuring The Graph and the LLM 16:06 Forcing Signing in a TEE 16:28 Bootstrapping the Application 16:56 Funding the Fresh TEE Wallet 17:58 Loading the Project in Cursor 18:26 The Encrypted and Public ENV Files 18:50 Running the App With One Command 19:22 The Next.js Application 19:39 Querying the Last Five Uniswap Swaps 20:45 Troubleshooting the Live Query 21:45 Why Scaffold Agent Is a Good Starting Point 22:07 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this short workshop at ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, Alvaro Lillo, a solutions engineer on Sui's builder growth team, alongside his colleague Guilherme, shares a series of resources to help hackers build over the weekend. He starts with the prizes: three in total, one on the continuity track and two on the new project track, all judged primarily on product-market fit, meaning whether the project has any real chance of becoming an actual product. Builders can either integrate part of the Sui stack into an existing Solidity app (with Walrus as the low-hanging fruit) or build a project from scratch, and porting an existing Solidity project over to Sui is equally welcome. Alvaro walks through the prepared resources, all accessible via QR codes. There are code snippets covering common dApp patterns and use cases shown side by side in Solidity and in Move on Sui, plus examples of using Walrus on EVM as a decentralized storage replacement for IPFS that works alongside Solidity or any other stack. For anyone coding with AI, he recommends a Claude Code plugin he built as the best way to make Anthropic's model proficient on Sui, since model training tends to be stale on a niche language like Move. He closes by announcing Hashi, a decentralized primitive newly launched on testnet that week that lets you use your BTC as collateral on Sui, pointing to the official testnet site and an explainer with code, and notes a last-minute issue with the booth QR code while directing hackers to the working links and the ETHGlobal Discord for support. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Welcome to Lisbon 00:16 Meet Alvaro and Guilherme 00:44 The Three Prizes 00:54 Why Product-Market Fit Is the Focus 01:21 Integrate the Stack or Build From Scratch 01:41 The Prepared Resources and Snippets 02:04 Solidity vs Move Patterns 02:29 Using Walrus on EVM 02:53 Building on Sui With AI 03:00 The Claude Code Plugin for Move 03:26 Announcing Hashi: BTC as Collateral 03:56 The Testnet Site and Explainer 04:18 Where to Find the Links 04:53 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this workshop at ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, Mateo Sauton from Tools for Humanity, the company building tools for World (formerly Worldcoin), explains the company's new products and hackathon tracks. He opens on why proof of human matters now: more than half of internet traffic is bots or agents, CAPTCHAs no longer reliably work against agents, KYC and identity checks struggle against deepfakes, so there is a real need to prove there is a human on the other side of the computer without revealing anything else about them. That is the core of World ID, a privacy-preserving, high-assurance authentication layer for bot protection that uses zero knowledge proofs for every attestation and is fully open source. He explains World ID's three credential tiers as assurance levels: the face credential (the new low-friction selfie check, in beta), passport (via the NFC chip, proving citizenship though not uniqueness, since he holds two passports as an Argentinian), and the highest-assurance Orb iris scan, which proves a unique human since iris and DNA are the only biometrics that cannot yet be faked or duplicated. Mateo lays out the three tracks. Agent Kit ($8,000 across the top three teams) is an SDK that lets a human delegate their humanity to an agent, giving that agent a wallet so it can act on the human's behalf, for example buying on a Shopify store integrated with World that offers human-backed agents a preferred discount, or using human-in-the-loop delegation to require approval before an agent trades over a set amount. He stresses the track needs meaningful, end-to-end use of Agent Kit that verifies an agent is human-backed, and shares new verticals to explore (identity plus payments, agent-to-agent trust flows, regulated workflows), while noting simple agent reputation and free-API-call perks are already overdone. Selfie check ($3,500 across two winners) is the lowest-friction on-ramp to World ID, using the mobile camera for a liveness check and returning a sybil score to flag repeat attempts, with feedback required as a deliverable. Identity attestations (also beta) let a developer gate users on passport attributes like age, nationality, and document type, returning only whether the criteria were met (for example, over 18) without revealing the underlying data, and can be combined with selfie check. He shares the judging rubric (weighting product fit, feedback, quality, technical integration, and live deployment) and closes noting people on chain are the real primitive, with MCPs for the docs and dev portal so agents can handle integrations. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Mateo and World 00:39 The Three SDKs 00:52 The Peter Sandberger Story 01:41 Why Agents Changed Everything 01:52 Why Proof of Human Is Needed 02:09 Why CAPTCHA and KYC No Longer Work 02:37 The Problem World Solves 02:53 What World ID Is 03:31 The Three Credential Tiers 03:59 The Face Credential and Selfie Check 04:22 The Passport Credential 04:49 Why Passports Do Not Prove Uniqueness 05:00 The Orb and Iris Scanning 05:19 Why Iris Proves a Unique Human 06:11 The Three Hackathon Tracks 06:43 Why Feedback Is a Deliverable 07:09 Agent Kit: Delegating Your Humanity 07:37 The Shopify Discount Example 08:09 All-Chain Delegation and Human in the Loop 08:53 The Agent Kit Track Requirements 09:19 New Verticals to Explore 09:51 The Live Shopify Integration 10:20 What Will Not Qualify for Agent Kit 11:13 Selfie Check: The Lowest-Friction On-Ramp 11:46 The Sybil Score 12:37 The Selfie Check Track Requirements 13:06 Example Use Cases for Selfie Check 13:47 Identity Check and Passport Attributes 14:23 Gating Users by Nationality 14:51 Combining Both Tracks 15:14 Attribute Checks Without Revealing Data 15:39 The Judging Rubric 16:06 Verifying Proofs On Chain or in the Cloud 16:32 Live Deployment and Wrapping Up 17:33 People On Chain Are the Real Primitive 17:48 The Docs, MCPs, and Dev Portal 18:00 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Aug 9, 2026

In this short workshop at ETHGlobal Lisbon 2026, Luke Forrest from Hedera walks hackathon builders through Claude Code and the skills that can help them move faster over the weekend, covering plugins, skills, and the Hedera MCP server that connects Claude to Hedera's docs for maximum context. He points to the Hedera skills repo on GitHub (via a QR code also shown at the booth), which contains five skills, and focuses on the main one, the hackathon helper, which has two key sub-skills. Hackathon PRD is a skill you talk to about your idea so it fleshes it out, recommends the best way to implement Hedera, and produces a full product requirement document you can then build from with Claude. Validate submission runs once your project is ready, inspecting your repo and judging it much as the Hedera team will (looking at your Hedera integration and whether it is strong enough to be judged accurately) against criteria like innovation, feasibility, execution, integration, validation success, and the Sunday pitch. Luke shows how easy installation is (adding the hedera-dev skills marketplace and reloading plugins), noting you do not even call the skill directly, just ask Claude to create a hackathon PRD for your idea and paste in the ETHGlobal track criteria so the PRD hits every point needed to succeed. He covers the Hedera Docs MCP, which connects Claude directly to the documentation to speed up building, and offers to help anyone get set up at the booth. He also introduces a recent addition, Scaffold HAR, a scaffold with templates built on best practices (launchable with npx create scaffold-har) that includes templates matching the bounties (x402, a payment handler, cross-chain DCA, and tokenized subscriptions). He closes with a recap of the bounties: AI and agentic payments (two teams, $3,000 each), tokenization on Hedera (two teams, $1,500 each), a no-Solidity smart-contract-free track (up to three winners, $1,000 each), and cross-chain automation using the Hedera schedule service and Axelar. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Who Is Using Claude Code 00:32 What This Workshop Covers 00:43 The Hedera Skills Repo 00:58 The Five Skills and the Hackathon Helper 01:22 The Hackathon PRD Skill 01:53 The Validate Submission Skill 02:18 The Judging Criteria 02:35 How Easy Installation Is 02:51 Generating a PRD From Your Idea 03:12 The Hedera Docs MCP 03:39 Adding the MCP to Claude 04:00 Questions on Skills and MCP 04:08 Introducing Scaffold HAR 04:33 The Templates for the Bounties 04:57 Recapping the Bounties 05:26 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Andrej Bencic, co-founder and CEO of Tenderly, makes the case that the next decade of crypto requires shifting focus from building the rails to operating them safely. He opens with a story of a routine protocol upgrade where tests passed, the audit was clean, governance approved, and the time lock executed normally, yet within four minutes of mainnet deployment an asset valued at $2,200 dropped to $0, triggering cascading liquidations and nearly $2 million in bad debt. The smart contracts behaved exactly as intended. The failure wasn't in the code, but in everything around it. Andrej argues that the industry has hyperfocused on getting protocols from idea to mainnet while neglecting operational risk in production with live state and live dependencies. He uses the analogy that the map is not the territory: smart contracts are the map, but mainnet is the territory full of traffic, congestion, and population density. He outlines four categories of risk that must be managed together. Process risk covers operational mishaps like signing transactions, treasury management, and deployment workflows, where he cites that process exploits now outnumber code exploits by 6 to 7 times. Dependency risk covers second, third, and fourth order failures across the interconnected web of DeFi protocols. Market risk recognizes that DeFi lacks trading hours, circuit breakers, and human checkpoints that traditional finance relies on, so multi day unwinds can happen in an instant. Code risk remains essential as ever but needs to test onchain dynamics, not just isolated sandboxes. He closes by introducing the concept of blockchain operations and pointing to simulation against live state as the unique advantage blockchain offers, comparing it to pilots in flight simulators or banks running stress tests. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 A Routine Upgrade Gone Wrong 01:04 $2 Million in Bad Debt in Four Minutes 01:33 The Smart Contracts Behaved as Intended 01:51 Andrej's Background at Tenderly 02:38 Why None of the Checks Triggered 03:03 Hyperfocusing on Reaching Mainnet 03:26 The Work Doesn't Stop at Launch 04:10 The Map Is Not the Territory 05:38 Smart Contracts Are Half the Equation 06:38 Crypto Becoming Finance Itself 07:11 Risk Management as the Next Decade's Discipline 07:47 Four Categories of Risk 08:20 Process Risk and Operational Mishaps 09:37 Six to Seven Times More Process Exploits Than Code Exploits 09:59 Dependency Risk and the DeFi Lego Tradeoff 11:18 Knowing the Blast Radius of Dependencies 11:53 Market Risk Without Circuit Breakers 13:19 Modeling Comfort with Exposure 13:36 Code Risk Remains Essential 14:23 Testing Onchain Dynamics, Not Just Isolated Sandboxes 14:52 Correct at Launch Doesn't Mean Correct at Scale 15:22 Frameworks From Traditional Finance 15:49 Simulation Against Live State as the Tying Piece 16:23 No Undo Buttons on Blockchain 16:48 Pilots, Banks, and Stress Testing 17:43 Blockchain Operations as a Category 18:16 Closing: Operating at the Level Global Attention Requires _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *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, Yana Prikhodchenko from Cointelegraph interviews Chaeho Shin, CEO of 1inch, on the state of DeFi liquidity, the convergence of TradFi and DeFi, regulatory clarity, and 1inch's plans for shared liquidity. Chaeho frames the core problem facing DeFi today: roughly 80 to 90% of liquidity is sitting idle because of fragmentation across separate liquidity pools. He explains that 1inch is solving this by introducing a shared liquidity protocol that allows assets in users' wallets to be shared across different liquidity pools without ever leaving self custody, which he positions as the next major DeFi innovation since the original liquidity pool concept from 2019 to 2020. The conversation moves into RWAs, where Chaeho identifies the two biggest barriers to real adoption: compliance and regulatory issues, and liquidity fragmentation that prevents efficient trading at TradFi comparable rates. He notes the disconnect between roughly $30 billion in RWAs onchain and only $2.5 billion actively used in DeFi, and explains that 1inch is positioning to be the most regulatory ready DeFi protocol and a partner swap engine for RWA platforms. He argues the real breakthrough for RWAs in DeFi is the ability to generate additional yield from liquidity pool trading fees on top of the underlying security's dividends. On geographic differences, Chaeho explains that APAC markets including his native Korea remain much more retail focused than the US, but they all benchmark against Wall Street and are waiting for US regulatory clarity (especially the Clarity Act addressing questions he started asking nine years ago) before institutional adoption accelerates. He closes by predicting that shared liquidity will be the dominant DeFi narrative in 2026 and 2027, replacing speculation with fundamentally supported higher yields driven by better capital efficiency. 00:00 Introduction 00:08 Thanks to the Organizers 00:47 Chaeho's TradFi to Crypto Journey 01:10 The TradFi DeFi Convergence Since 2024 01:46 Why 80 to 90% of DeFi Liquidity Sits Idle 02:36 Introducing 1inch Shared Liquidity Protocol 03:13 Self Custody While Sharing Across Pools 03:46 Are AMMs the Bottleneck for the Next Phase 04:59 No Real DeFi Innovation Since 2019 2020 05:36 RWAs: Why 30 Billion Onchain but Only 2.5 Billion in DeFi 06:27 Compliance and Liquidity as the Two RWA Hurdles 07:14 1inch as the RWA Swap Engine 07:52 The Real RWA Breakthrough: Extra DeFi Yield on Top of Dividends 09:28 APAC vs US Capital Allocation 10:01 Why APAC Remains Retail Focused 10:48 APAC Benchmarking Against Wall Street 11:52 Waiting for US Regulatory Clarity 12:26 Key Learnings From the Clarity Act 13:52 What's Next for DeFi Liquidity 14:16 The Yield Problem in Bear Market DeFi 15:32 Better Capital Efficiency as the Solution 16:00 Bonus Round: Morning Routine and Personal Strategy 16:26 Bull or Bear: Building Through Cycles 16:46 1inch's Big Goal for 2026 to 2027 17:17 Predicting the Hottest DeFi Narrative 17:49 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kartik Talwar

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Kartik Talwar sits down with Nemil Dalal, visiting partner at Y Combinator and former head of Coinbase's developer platform, to discuss the early days of USDC, the current state of crypto startups, and what YC is looking for from founders. Nemil walks through how he spent seven years at Coinbase leading USDC from launch in 2018, when many in crypto circles thought stablecoins were the wrong vision and Bitcoin should replace everything. He pushed against two early strategies that didn't fit Coinbase's positioning as a US based regulated company: chasing high yield Asian markets where Tether dominated, and selling to banks that only knew about Bitcoin and saw stablecoins as a beta dollar. The breakthrough insight was bootstrapping DeFi adoption through the USDC Bootstrap Fund, deploying capital into Uniswap, Aave (then EthLend), DyDx, and other early protocols. Nemil shares how YC funds about 100 crypto startups today and expects to 10x that in the next decade, since crypto is moving from a niche DGen product to something most Americans will use without realizing. He outlines what YC is excited about: stablecoins and the businesses built on top, tokenized assets including equities and debt, and AI plus crypto including X2X (which Nemil's team launched at Coinbase). He shares his controversial view that founders should launch fewer tokens, since most are incentive tokens that act like marketing schemes attracting mercenary users and worsening UX, while reserving tokens for L1s, L2s, and DeFi protocols where decentralization is genuinely core to the product. On regulation, he tells the story of Coshi spending three years suing the CFTC and winning, framing regulation as either go regulation forward and specialize per country, or follow the Binance playbook offshore first. He closes urging founders to combine crypto with AI thoughtfully and pointing to the rolling YC application deadline. 00:00 Introduction 00:08 Nemil's Background and Homecoming to Ethereum 01:08 Launching USDC at Coinbase in 2018 02:26 Why Stablecoins Were Controversial in Crypto Circles 02:41 Two Bad Early Strategies: Asia Yield and Banks 03:41 The Breakthrough: Bootstrapping DeFi 03:58 Maker DAO, Compound, and Early DeFi Signals 04:23 Launching the USDC Bootstrap Fund 05:10 Nemil's Role as Visiting Partner at Y Combinator 05:38 What YC Offers Founders 06:20 Funding 100+ Crypto Startups and 10x'ing the Pace 07:00 Why Bear Markets Are the Best Time to Build 07:32 Tourists vs Real Builders 07:50 Why ETH Global Hackathon Attendance Correlates Inversely with Price 08:46 What YC Is Looking to Fund in 2026 09:04 Stablecoins and Stablecoin Neo Banks 09:51 Tokenized Stocks, Debt, Equity, and Emerging Markets 10:12 X2X and the AI Plus Crypto Opportunity 10:50 Agentic Finance May Be Agnostic to Crypto vs Credit Cards 11:33 YC's Mindset: Make Something People Want 12:14 Where Is the Saturated Space in Crypto Startups 12:38 Common Patterns: Dev Tools, On Off Ramps, Wallets 13:08 Prediction Markets and Crypto as Core Stack 13:25 Should Founders Launch a Token 14:10 Incentive Tokens as a Marketing Scheme 14:48 Tokens Often Hurt User Experience 15:19 Where Tokens Genuinely Make Sense: L1s, L2s, DeFi 16:05 Solving Pain Points, Not Decentralizing for Its Own Sake 16:36 How Founders Should Think About Regulation 17:01 The Coshi Story: Suing the CFTC and Winning 17:39 Regulation Forward vs Binance Playbook 18:43 Onshore vs Offshore Based on Product Type 19:00 How to Apply to YC and Reach Nemil 19:35 The Magic of Crypto and AI Coming Together 20:33 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sreeram Kannan

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Nikita Sachdev from Luna PR sits down with Sreeram Kannan, founder of Eigen Labs and former University of Washington professor, to discuss the verifiability layer needed for the AI agent economy. Nikita opens by asking the audience to raise hands on whether they'd trust an AI agent to book a flight (most hands), make a $100 transaction (more hands), or hand over their passport, bank accounts, and identities (almost none). Sreeram identifies two layers of agent verifiability: confirming the agent is running exactly the code and model claimed, and enforcing constraints on what the agent can do. He stratifies agents into single player (where a user can run them locally with their own constraints) and multiplayer (where agents adjudicate between mutually untrusting parties like a prediction market), noting that multiplayer agents need much higher trust guarantees. Eigen Compute solves this by guaranteeing the exact prompts, model, and data used in agent decisions. Sreeram shares his personal AGI moment from 2017 working on DNA sequencing with physicist Jens Gundlach, when a student beat his hand crafted mathematical benchmarks using deep neural networks, teaching him that any objectively verifiable problem can be optimized by AI. He recounts a recent story where an Eigen colleague who hadn't finished college responded to Google's quantum breakthrough by launching ECDSA.fail, an open challenge where anonymous agent operators collaborate. Within six days they not only beat Google's benchmark but went 40% better than anything existing. He warns the next 6 to 12 months will be scary for DeFi as AI cracks instant settlement protocols, suggesting protocols with intentional settlement lag will weather this better. He closes by outlining Eigen's new thesis of agentic companies: agents at the center, humans at the edge, with company credentials (websites, YouTube channels, Stripe accounts, Roblox games) owned by onchain smart contracts so that every digital company becomes investable by crypto capital. 00:00 Introduction 00:32 Sreeram's Background and Eigen Labs Overview 01:21 Audience Hand Raising: How Much Do You Trust AI Agents 02:09 Two Layers of Agent Verifiability 02:42 Single Player vs Multiplayer Agents 03:28 Prediction Markets and Multiplayer Trust 04:15 How Eigen Compute Guarantees Agent Execution 04:42 What Makes Eigen the Right Company for AI 05:31 Sreeram's 2017 AGI Moment with DNA Sequencing 06:41 Why Objectively Verifiable Problems Get Optimized by AI 07:20 How AI Led Sreeram Into Blockchain 07:52 Eigen Layer's Original AI Thesis 08:17 Climbing the Product Stack to Agentic Companies 09:23 Would EigenLayer Move This Fast Without AI 09:46 The Google Quantum Breakthrough Story 11:06 ECDSA.fail: 40% Better Than Google in Six Days 12:12 The 10x to 100x Acceleration Opportunity 13:09 Is Crypto Moving Fast Enough Against AI Attacks 13:49 Instant Settlement vs Security Tradeoff 14:31 Why the Next Six to Twelve Months Will Be Scary for DeFi 14:56 What About Other People's Jobs 15:21 The Agents as Companies Thesis 16:05 Crypto's Core Value Proposition Is Capital 16:29 Why Only Five DeFi Protocols Are Investable 16:53 Putting Digital Company Credentials Onchain 17:19 Fully Onchain Agents That Cannot Run Away 17:51 Agents at the Center, Humans at the Edge 18:24 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Camila Russo from The Defiant sits down with Hayden Adams, founder of Uniswap, to discuss the current state of DeFi, the recent Unification proposal, regulation, RWAs, perps, and what's next for Uniswap V4. Hayden frames the current moment as a pivotal one where DeFi is being integrated into mainstream finance through Coinbase, Robinhood, Deel, and traditional fintechs, while simultaneously facing a wave of security exploits driven by smarter AI tooling like Claude finding vulnerabilities in poorly written contracts. He sleeps well at night because Uniswap V3 underwent nine consecutive audits with a $15 million bounty, processes over a trillion dollars per year, and has never been exploited. He argues AI tooling will ultimately harden DeFi contracts to a far greater extent, and the projects that survive will be the ones that removed off chain dependencies and single points of failure. Hayden discusses the Unification proposal approved in December that consolidated foundation work into Labs and gradually rolled out fee switches, including a recent all time high single day burn of 186,000 UNI (about $500K) with V4 fees still not yet activated. He acknowledges the UNI token price disconnect from the burn but attributes this to general crypto market correlation, expecting fundamental value to assert itself over time. On regulation, Hayden explains how the shift from the Gensler era of regulation by enforcement has already done much of the work by removing the chilling effect, and the BRCA software developer protections are the key piece he'd want enshrined in any market structure bill. He outlines how Uniswap fits into RWAs and tokenization through the internet analogy (existing assets going onchain plus crypto native assets), differentiates Uniswap's neutral spot infrastructure approach from Hyperliquid's exchange as a product approach, and previews V4 hooks being built internally to optimize for stablecoins (where Uniswap has overtaken Curve as the dominant venue), yield bearing assets, RWAs, and volatile assets, plus a focus on issuer side tools and developer API integrations. 00:00 Introduction 00:08 DeFi at a Pivotal Mainstream Adoption Moment 01:35 Why Exploits Are Surging: AI Tooling Finds Bugs 02:22 Test in Production Mentality Doesn't Work Anymore 02:46 How V3 Survived: Nine Audits and a $15M Bounty 03:31 Launching a New Version Like Launching a Rocket 03:53 DeFi Ultimately Enables Safer Applications 04:24 Off Twitter, Adoption Is the Best It's Ever Been 05:15 DeFi Will Come Out Stronger From This Stress Test 06:29 The Unification Proposal Six Months In 07:38 Gradual Fee Switch Rollout and Sensitivity Testing 08:18 All Time High Single Day Burn of 186,000 UNI 09:00 The UNI Token Price Disconnect From Burn 10:39 Fundamental Value Will Assert Itself Over Time 10:56 Regulation: From Gensler Era to New Posture 11:53 The Chilling Effect That Held Back Integration 13:14 BRCA and Software Developer _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *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, Deepthi Kumar, co-CEO of O(1) Labs, the team behind Mina Protocol, makes the case for moving from trust based to proof based enterprise systems. She frames the central problem facing every business in the coming years: increasing reliance on systems, vendors, and AI agents that you cannot actually check. Her thesis fits in one line: make trust verifiable. Rather than handing over more promises about what systems can do, organizations should hand over more proofs. She notes that zero knowledge proofs have quietly gone mainstream beyond cryptography papers and private tokens, with Google shipping ZK age verification in Google Wallet, Microsoft integrating ZK based credentials into its identity offering, and the EU mandating ZK based digital identity for member states. Deepthi explains that ZK has historically been used for two purposes (privacy and scalability through ZK rollups), but proposes a third use case: verifiability, which is an inherent property of ZK rather than something bolted on. A SNARK at its core is verifiable computation. She argues this should be applied to enterprise workflows where policies govern high stakes operations, citing two converging forces driving the urgency: AI as an offensive weapon (with the first AI generated zero days being reported and threat actors using AI across attack lifecycles), and AI as an actor (agents acting on our behalf at a scale existing guardrails cannot match). The proposed shift is from a model where you trust systems to act, to one where the highstakes action is logged until a proof shows up validating that all policies were enforced. She describes ZK as a "knot tree" that cannot be bribed. The mechanics are three steps: encode existing policy into a ZK circuit running in parallel to existing enforcement, verify the proof against the expected statement, then execute the operation. Benefits include cryptographic receipts, per action audit trails (finer than sample checks), and composability across multi organization workflows through proof aggregation. She closes by emphasizing this is additive not replacement (preserving security heterogeneity), incrementally adoptable starting with one narrow high value flow, and applicable to institutional finance money movement, AI agent identity and delegation, and any vendor integration with policy enforcement requirements. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Why You Cannot Check Your Vendors and Agents 00:54 Proof Over Promises 01:33 ZK Has Quietly Gone Mainstream 02:17 Google, Microsoft, and the EU on ZK 02:46 The Two Established Uses: Privacy and Scalability 03:42 Proposing Verifiability as the Third Use Case 04:17 Why Verifiability Is Inherent to ZK 05:05 Why Now: Two Forces Pushing in the Same Direction 05:50 AI on the Offense 06:26 AI as an Actor on Your Behalf 07:01 Shifting From Trust to Proof Authorization 07:47 ZK as a Knot Tree That Cannot Be Bribed 08:22 Treasury Transfer as a Concrete Example 09:24 Verifiable Workflow in Three Steps 10:03 Encoding Policy Into a ZK Circuit 10:44 Verifying the Proof Statement 11:27 Cryptographic Receipts 11:54 Per Action Audit Trails 12:19 Composability Across Multi Organization Workflows 13:44 Not Rip and Replace, Additive Layer 14:51 Why ZK Adoption Can Be Incremental 15:45 Applications: Institutional Finance Money Movement 16:27 AI Agents Proving They Followed Policy 16:53 Agent Identity and Delegation Chains 17:21 Enterprise Operations and Vendor Integrations 18:02 Key Takeaway: Add a ZK Layer to High Stakes Operations 19:01 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, 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Yoseph Ayele

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Yoseph Ayele from LAVA presents a ground level view of how stablecoins actually function in African markets, challenging the assumption that the continent is too small, too risky, or too distant to matter for global stablecoin adoption. He frames Africa as an early signal for what's coming everywhere, with stablecoins already embedded into how money moves, how finance operates, and how value gets created. The fundamental insight is that while Western stablecoin builders are trying to take market share from traditional finance, African builders are filling gaps banks left entirely, which creates fundamentally different building pace and defensible moats. Yoseph walks through real use cases that go beyond the dominant remittance and software developer payment narratives. Trade finance is the deepest volume, where businesses importing and exporting everything from t-shirts to oil and gas need to move money fast. He notes that African banks lend to governments and large corporations representing only 10% of the economy, leaving the other 90% (SMEs and mid market players) without bank credit while still asking them to use the same banks to move money across borders. This traps cash flow and exposes businesses to FX risk on volatile currencies, while stablecoins offer instant settlement at a fraction of the cost. He covers unified treasury management replacing the fragmented multi currency float requirement, and FX market coordination where stablecoins aggregate liquidity onchain so someone with $1 and someone with $1 billion can participate in the same market. He breaks down three prices for the Nigerian Naira: the central bank's "wish price," banks' "do you qualify price" with premiums for license preservation, and the open market stablecoin price, with margins ranging from 2 to 25% in Nigeria and up to 120% in his native Ethiopia. He closes by previewing how onchain FX options markets for local currency stablecoins enable transparent risk pricing, arguing that emerging markets are building both TradFi rails and fully onchain permissionless marketplaces in parallel, with everything ultimately moving toward open onchain economic structures. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Show of Hands: Stablecoin Cross Border Payments 00:40 Why Africa Matters Despite Being a Flyover Region 01:10 Africa as an Early Signal for Global Adoption 02:20 Western Builders Take Share, African Builders Fill Gaps 03:05 Use Case: Trade Finance Is the Deepest Volume 03:51 Banks Only Lend to 10% of the Economy 04:20 How Banks Trap Cash Flow With Float 04:37 Stablecoins as Instant Settlement at Lower Cost 05:30 Use Case: Unified Treasury Management 06:20 Use Case: FX Market Coordination 06:42 Aggregating Liquidity From $1 to $1 Billion 07:19 Why Shell and Chevron Already Use Stablecoin Rails 07:43 How Money Actually Flows: The Flow Diagram 08:58 Settlement Times: Minutes to 24 Hours 09:26 Crypto Thriving Despite Regulation, Not Because of It 09:46 The Three Naira Prices 10:10 The Wish Price From the Central Bank 10:35 The Do You Qualify Price From Regulated Banks 10:35 The Open Market Stablecoin Price 11:06 Margins From 2% to 120% in Ethiopia 11:28 Speed of Execution as the Real Variable 11:52 Good Governance Follows Good Markets 12:36 Price Discovery for Local Currency Oracles 13:02 Pricing FX Risk a Year Out 13:44 Onchain Options Markets for Local Currency 14:16 Why Transparent Pricing Unlocks Capital 14:38 Building TradFi Rails and Onchain Markets in Parallel 15:21 Closing: Toward Fully Onchain Permissionless Marketplaces _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *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, Dean Tribble from Agoric, one of the original Cypherpunks, presents enforceable guardrails as the missing layer for agentic finance. He frames the trajectory: financial activity is moving rapidly from humans in the loop to agents executing on behalf of people, with Fireblocks, Coinbase, Circle, and as of that morning MetaMask all rolling out APIs for agent access. The driver is smart automation that can adapt to the complexity of our evolving economy at electronic speed, and the trend is inevitable. But the central obstacle is trust. Agents are talked out of their money the same way humans are phished, and they can delete production databases or send funds to attackers who persuade them to be helpful. Dean walks through what doesn't work. After the fact auditing is too late at the speed of light, since the money is already converted and shipped offshore. Telling the agent the rules and hoping it follows them is exactly what we're trying to police. Adding additional supervisor agents to review transactions just stacks unreliable layers. Custody providers offer something useful but are themselves building non custodial solutions because custody cannot move at the speed agentic commerce requires. The answer is direct enforcement of a bounded mandate where what matters is what the agent can do, not what it wants to do. He uses the analogy of giving signing authority to your grocery shopper. Dean explains Agoric's orchestration approach where a user signs a high level mandate (which vaults are allowed, max amounts per vault, allowed chains) and submits it to a smart contract on the Agoric L1, then delegates execution to an agent that can use Twitter sentiment and APY data to propose allocations. The smart contract validates each high level intent against the mandate before executing it, coordinating cross chain activity via CCTP, Axelar, and other rails from a single auditable place. He demos YMAX, Agoric's yield optimization product, which already enables single signature cross chain capital deployment and is rolling out agentic features in alpha. He closes by reframing smart contracts as the solution to the classical principal agent problem from economics, enabling humans and AI agents to be cryptographically aligned. 00:00 Introduction 00:08 An Original Cypherpunk 00:28 The Shift From Humans to Agents in Finance 01:29 Why Agentic Finance Is Inevitable 01:59 Why You and I Need Agents to Keep Up 02:24 The Core Obstacle: Agents Can Be Talked Out of Their Money 03:12 Trust as the Number One Problem 03:40 Why After the Fact Auditing Fails 04:06 Why Telling the Agent the Rules Doesn't Work 05:09 Why Supervisor Agents Aren't the Answer 05:56 The Guardrails Problem Comes to the Forefront 06:29 Bounded Authority: What the Agent Can Do 06:49 Why Keys for Agents Is a Bad Idea 07:24 Why Custody Is Not a Complete Solution 08:38 Why Terms of Service Won't Save You 08:57 Smart Contracts as the Principal Agent Solution 09:19 Example: Yield Optimization Mandate 10:18 Strategy vs Mandate 10:57 Signing the Mandate to the Smart Contract 11:15 Why High Level Intents Beat Raw Transaction Bytes 12:24 Smart Contract Validates and Executes the Intent 12:49 The Multi Chain Execution Problem 13:06 How Agoric Orchestration Works 13:27 One Contract, Multi Step Cross Chain Action 14:00 Mandate Enforcement Across All of Web3 14:23 Orchestration Beyond One Chain 14:45 YMAX: Single Signature Yield Optimization 15:38 The Agentic Version of YMAX 16:26 Why Cross Chain Yields Beat Single Chain Yields 18:12 Alpha Status and Partner Integrations 18:28 Pulling Up: The Pattern Is the Insight 18:57 Smart Contracts Beyond Strangers Cooperating 19:15 Solving the Principal Agent Problem 19:48 Building the Trust Layer for Agentic Finance 20:28 Don't Give Your AI Keys, Give It a Mandate 20:47 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, Meredith Pitkoff, CEO of Stork, walks through the explosive growth of RWA perpetual futures markets and explains what traders are actually buying when they trade commodity, equity, or pre IPO perps. Stork builds oracle infrastructure that powers more than half the volume in onchain perpetuals trading. She traces three waves of RWA perps growth in 2026. First, oil and commodities: WTI oil perps went from $76 million in January volume to $488 million in February, then $21.5 billion in March after war broke out in the Middle East on a Saturday and weekend events kept hitting, then $60.2 billion in April. Second, indexes: TradeXYZ on Hyperliquid built proxy indexes and secured a licensing deal with S&P Dow Jones for an officially sanctioned S&P 500 perp. Third, equities: AI adjacent names like Micron, SanDisk, and Nvidia drove equity perps volume from $25.6 billion to $62.8 billion in May alone, with listings nearly doubling from 196 to 391. There are now 569 different RWA perp markets across roughly a dozen tracked exchanges, and on May 29th the CFTC approved Bitcoin perpetuals for Kalshi, authorized Coinbase to serve foreign derivatives markets, and issued an advisory on 24/7 trading. Meredith digs into the mechanics. For commodities and indexes, traders are usually trading a proxy because CME and S&P Dow Jones data is expensive and not licensed broadly, so exchanges pull from secondary sources or construct their own facsimile indexes. Stork is tracking four NASDAQ 100 proxy perps and seven S&P 500 proxy perps, each printing slightly different prices. Perps are quoted in stablecoins which introduces basis risk and implicit currency exposure on foreign equities. When TradFi markets close on Friday at 4 PM Central, perp exchanges switch to internal oracles using impact prices, exponential moving averages, and hard caps, and TradeXYZ's WTI market moved with directional accuracy toward the CME Sunday open 90.5% of the time across 19 of 21 weekends in 2026. She covers pre IPO perps with both wins (Cerebras' perp predicted the IPO opening minute within 0.5%) and losses (Quantinuum's frothy perp price was double the actual opening). She closes by identifying the real barrier to the next volume unlock: professional traders wind down positions Fridays because they cannot hedge weekend RWA perps without liquid spot markets, leaving the market retail dominated and thin. 00:00 Introduction 00:35 Stork's Three Products and Today's Coverage 01:05 The RWA Perps Growth Story Begins 01:28 Oil Perps Explode After Middle East Events 02:09 The Index Wave and TradeXYZ's S&P 500 License 02:25 The Equity Wave Driven by the AI Trade 03:10 569 RWA Perp Markets Across Top Exchanges 03:29 The CFTC Steps In on May 29 03:55 What You're Actually Trading: Proxies 04:23 Multiple Index Proxies Printing Different Prices 04:54 Basis Risk From Stablecoin Denomination 05:20 Implicit Currency Exposure on Foreign Equities 05:48 How a WTI Perp Prices on Saturday Afternoon 06:25 Internal Oracles, Impact Prices, and Hard Caps 06:55 90.5% Directional Accuracy Across Weekends 07:25 How Smaller Exchanges Inherit TradeXYZ Pricing 07:54 Pre IPO Perps: SpaceX, Cerebras, Quantinuum 07:54 Cerebras: The Perp Predicted the Opening Minute 08:46 Quantinuum: When Pre IPO Perps Got It Wrong 09:47 Thin Liquidity and Manipulation Risk 10:15 Pre IPO Price Discovery Is Remarkable, Not Guaranteed 10:44 Why Oracles Matter for Perps 11:08 Stork's Sub Millisecond Latency 11:36 Why RWA Pricing Is Harder Outside Market Hours 12:02 Blue Ocean ATS and Overnight Equity Sessions 12:28 The Real Barrier: Professional Traders Cannot Hedge 12:59 The Path Forward: Tokenized Stocks and Deeper Markets 13:26 Where Stork Is Focused _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *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, Ishan Singh from Google Cloud's digital asset team sits down with Christian Crowley, partner on the A16Z crypto go to market team, to discuss the pending Clarity Act, the future of tokenization, agentic commerce, and lessons for crypto founders selling into institutions. Christian draws on his background as a former founder who built DeFi and AI startups and the first Ethereum analytics company under the Consensys umbrella, plus his time at AWS, to explain that good go to market advice often sounds great in theory but is much less compelling in execution. His central principle for the founders he advises is reducing user friction at every step. The conversation digs into the parallel tracks of stablecoins and tokenized deposits. Christian explains that banks want the 24/7 interoperability and composability benefits but want to maintain deposit relationships and fit into existing compliance frameworks, which is why tokenized deposits will persist alongside stablecoins. Ishan previews Google Cloud's Universal Ledger product built at the protocol level for interoperability between onchain money assets. On RWAs, Christian argues tokenization itself is not the product since what matters is what the asset gains (24/7 trading, collateral mobility, interoperability), with money markets and treasuries leading early. Ishan emphasizes collateral mobility as the real killer use case for eliminating reconciliation across TradFi books and records. They debate the rails for agentic commerce, with virtual cards up 6x year over year offering an easier behavior shift while X2X and direct stablecoin payments make more sense for net new behaviors like real time compute adjustments. On the AI security tension, Christian notes that until frontier models have comprehensively reviewed existing code bases there is an unknowable set of risks in production, and the same tools attackers use are available to defenders. Ishan covers Google Cloud's MPC wallet using key shares with sub second signing across Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, and Universal Ledger. Christian closes with the most consistent founder mistake: assuming Web2 go to market lessons don't apply to Web3, when enterprises buy for clear measurable benefits, not decentralization. 00:00 Introductions 01:22 What Christian Brings to Founder Conversations 02:15 Reducing Friction as a Core Mental Model 03:14 The Clarity Act and Tokenized Deposits vs Stablecoins 04:00 Why Banks Want Tokenized Deposits 05:14 From Bank Issued Stablecoins to Integration Focus 05:56 Google Cloud Universal Ledger and Interoperability 06:26 The Trouble with the Term RWA 07:12 Tokenization Itself Is Not the Product 07:53 Why Collateral Mobility Is the Real Killer App 08:39 Eliminating Reconciliation Across TradFi 08:57 Money as Internet Packets 09:50 Legacy Distribution vs Better Technology 10:34 Rails for Agentic Commerce 11:00 Virtual Cards vs X2X and Stablecoins 11:36 Why Virtual Cards Are Easier Behavior Shifts 12:26 When Net New Behaviors Call for Open Rails 13:05 The Dark Side of AI for Web3 14:00 Founders Have Always Cared About Security 14:21 The Race Between Frontier Models and Attackers 15:14 Google Cloud MPC Wallet 15:59 Sub Second Signing Across Multiple Chains 16:41 Common Mistakes Founders Make Selling to Institutions 17:54 Why Best Technology Doesn't Always Win 18:11 The Champion's Asymmetric Risk Inside Enterprises 18:40 TradFi Budget Constraints and Quantifiable ROI 19:24 Knicks or Spurs Tonight 19:43 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, Professor Ari Juels, co-director of the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3), presents a lightning tour of a newly released 150 page survey on the intersection of crypto and AI, written with a long roster of co-authors. He opens by arguing that crypto and AI are not natural bedfellows. Crypto is hard: strictly programmatic and unforgiving, as shown by the Kelp DAO attack where a single poisoned message let the North Korean Lazarus group steal hundreds of millions. AI is soft: frontier models are unpredictable and error prone, like ChatGPT confidently saying raspberry has two Rs or drawing a rabbit with too many ears. Yet they can serve as middleware for each other, with Worldcoin (now World) as a proof point where crypto identity becomes essential to distinguish humans from bots in an AI saturated world. Ari walks through Crypto x AI applications where AI enhances crypto. He shows how a typical parametric flight insurance smart contract, while elegant, suffers from moral hazard and can't document actual harms, which is why AXA's Fizzy product was discontinued. By adding an LLM enhanced oracle, the same contract can ingest receipts and assess damages like real world insurance while preserving privacy. He covers AI powered investment funds, which IC3 calls coinouts (collective investment algorithms), and presents the fundamental coinout bind: either the strategy is transparent and gets front run publicly, or it's opaque and gets front run privately through covert channels. In the other direction (AI x Crypto), he addresses DePIN GPU networks with healthy skepticism, noting industry proofs of concept don't report communication or compute costs, and the largest decentralized trained model has only 40 billion parameters versus frontier models' trillions. He shows the same TEE plus LLM oracle pattern enabling confidential lending, whistleblower credentials, anonymous reviewer proofs, and code audits without revealing source. He closes with a warning about rogue agents (UAAS, unstoppable autonomous agents) that could use stablecoins to rent servers, establish censorship resistant command and control, conceal their code, and even rent humans through services like rentahuman.ai to influence the physical world. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 IC3 and the New Crypto AI Survey 00:37 Why Crypto and AI Are Not Natural Bedfellows 01:00 Crypto Is Hard: Programmatic and Unforgiving 01:52 The Kelp DAO Attack as Proof of Unforgivingness 02:41 Security Tools the Crypto Industry Has Pioneered 03:11 AI Is Soft: Unpredictable and Error Prone 04:24 World as a Proof Point of the Intersection 05:39 The Middleware Model for AI and Crypto 06:04 Crypto x AI: How AI Enhances Crypto 06:29 The Flight Insurance Smart Contract Example 07:07 Why Parametric Insurance Has Limitations 07:58 AXA's Fizzy Product and Why It Was Discontinued 07:58 Enhancing Oracles with LLMs 09:19 Hard Crypto Meets Soft AI Productively 10:02 AI Powered Investment Funds 10:36 Why First Wave AI Funds Were Mostly Hype 11:05 Coinouts: Collective Investment Algorithms 11:39 The Coinout Bind: Transparency vs Opacity 12:27 AI x Crypto: How Crypto Enhances AI 12:59 DePIN and Decentralized GPU Networks 13:50 Why DePIN Training Claims Need More Evidence 14:33 Confidential Lending with TEEs and LLMs 15:59 Other Use Cases: Whistleblowers and Anonymous Reviews 16:16 Pyred: Code Credentials Without Revealing Source 16:38 The Warning About Rogue Agents 17:05 How Stablecoins Enable Persistent Autonomous Agents 17:34 Renting Humans with Crypto 17:59 Other Topics Covered in the Survey 18:25 Five Myths and Misconceptions Debunked 18:57 Where to Read the Paper 18:57 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, Tomer Weller, Chief Product Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation, presents what nearly a decade in crypto and recent years of institutional conversations have taught him about onchain privacy. He frames the core problem: blockchain is the only financial system where every transaction is fully visible, meaning that the moment paychecks, balances, payroll, trading strategies, or B2B relationships move onchain, they become readable by anyone with a block explorer. For individuals this exposes their entire financial history. For institutions it's worse because competitors can see volumes, relationships, and strategies. Financial institutions have made it clear that not being able to manage visibility is a non-starter. Tomer argues that while crypto has worked on privacy for a decade, it has been driven by cypherpunk ideology of complete financial freedom (which he loves, citing Zcash), when what institutions actually need is privacy as a managed spectrum that allows them to stay competitive and compliant. Privacy varies by jurisdiction (a US regulated asset differs from one in Singapore or Brazil), by use case (payroll has different requirements than trading or remittances), and by technology (ZK, FHE, MPC, TEE all have different tradeoffs). He identifies two privacy dead ends: the all or nothing approach where solutions only offer full transparency or full privacy, and permissioned chains that are private only because they're databases on someone's computer, missing the open participation networks institutions actually want. Tomer presents Stellar's three layer privacy stack: a transparent base layer (transparency is a feature institutions love), low level privacy building blocks like Protocol X-ray providing ZK primitives without enshrining any specific privacy type, and multiple privacy protocols on top. He covers two private payment families: confidential tokens (hide the amount but not the parties, easier to scale compliance) and privacy pools (hide both amount and parties, stronger guarantees but mix funds), with examples like 0xbow and Nethermind's Stellar Private Payments. He closes by walking through a compliance menu including selective disclosure, non-selective disclosure with view keys, association sets, force transparent withdrawals (Oxbow's "rage quit"), and clawbacks for regulated assets. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Why Visibility on Chain Is the Default 00:57 What's at Stake for Individuals and Institutions 01:25 Why Institutions Say Visibility Management Is Non Negotiable 01:53 The Cypherpunk Privacy Heritage 02:18 Why Institutional Privacy Means Something Different 02:43 Privacy as a Multi-Dimensional Spectrum 03:19 The Two Privacy Dead Ends 03:54 Dead End One: All or Nothing 04:20 Dead End Two: Permissioned Chains 05:08 Stellar's Three Layer Privacy Stack 05:36 Transparency as a Feature 06:05 Building Blocks Not Enshrined Privacy 06:32 Protocol X-ray and ZK Primitives 06:59 Why Payments Are the Foundational Use Case 07:26 Confidential Tokens: Hiding the Amount 07:45 The Confidential Token Association 08:09 Privacy Pools: Hiding the Who Too 08:42 Tradeoffs and Co-Mingling Concerns 09:10 Building the Compliance Menu 09:52 Selective Disclosure 10:20 Non Selective Disclosure With View Keys 10:46 Association Sets and Vetted Allow Lists 11:10 Force Transparent Withdrawals and Rage Quit 11:35 Clawbacks for Regulated Assets 12:00 Closing: All the Building Blocks Are in Place _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *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, Haseeb Qureshi from Dragonfly sits down with Shan Aggarwal, Chief Business Officer of Coinbase, who oversees strategy, operations, commercial deals, and investor relations, and started Coinbase Ventures in 2018. Shan explains that Coinbase Ventures invests off Coinbase's balance sheet without outside LPs, giving it flexibility to take 20 year horizons, flex across any stage or sector, and serve as a conduit to the rest of Coinbase for partnerships and eventual M&A. On conflicts of interest, he says information is firewalled within the Ventures team and no investment is tied to a listing. Referencing the crypto VC apocalypse and Jensen Huang's Anthropic regret, he notes that with late stage capital scarce, Coinbase can extend its balance sheet to support Series B through D companies. On Hyperliquid, Shan argues nearly every crypto company views Coinbase as a competitor, but Hyperliquid's self custodial traders differ from Coinbase's regulated customers, and Coinbase also runs infrastructure where partnering makes sense. On M&A, with over 40 acquisitions done, he says success comes down to integration: a consistent champion, a clear operational thesis, and cultural fit (joking that being on Teams is a red flag). He names Tagomi (2020) as his masterpiece, which became the foundation of Coinbase Prime just as corporate Bitcoin treasury demand exploded. As head of IR, he says institutions see Coinbase as the mature, compliant, diversified scale player, with roughly 50% of revenue from non-trading fees and agentic payments like X2X viewed as call options. On Base's missing token, he says decentralization will happen but a public company token is a one way door. He addresses the vibe shift against decentralization, favoring progressive decentralization that preserves execution speed. He places Clarity Act odds at 60 to 70%, notes Coinbase already operates compliantly without legislation, and closes by pitching Coinbase as full stack financial infrastructure for a tokenized future, citing strong fundamentals in stablecoins, RWAs, and payments uncorrelated with crypto prices. 00:00 Introduction 00:07 What a Chief Business Officer Does 00:48 Coinbase Ventures and Investing Without LPs 01:27 What Coinbase Can Do That Traditional VCs Cannot 02:35 Coinbase Ventures as a Conduit to Coinbase 02:55 How Coinbase Thinks About Conflicts of Interest 03:47 Information Firewalls Within Ventures 04:28 The Jensen Huang and Anthropic Story 04:49 The Crypto VC Apocalypse 05:44 Coinbase Writing Bigger Checks Than Others 06:05 The 2018 Origins of Coinbase Ventures 06:35 Filling the Late Stage Capital Gap 07:11 The Hyperliquid Relationship 07:42 Why Nearly Everyone Competes With Coinbase 08:37 Different Customer Segments and Infrastructure 09:24 The M&A Track Record: Over 40 Acquisitions 10:04 Why Integration Determines Success 10:20 Having a Consistent Champion for the Deal 11:02 A Clear Thesis and Operational Plan 11:43 Assessing Team and Cultural Fit 11:58 Why Being on Teams Is a Red Flag 12:34 The Tagomi Masterpiece Deal 13:36 Impeccable Timing and the Bitcoin Treasury Wave 14:19 The Foundation of Coinbase Prime 14:34 Becoming the Everything Exchange 14:55 What Institutional Investors See in Coinbase 15:41 Diversifying Beyond Volatile Trading Revenue 16:21 Agentic Payments and X2X as Call Options 16:53 Base and the Missing Token Question 17:39 Why a Public Company Token Is a One Way Door 18:20 The Vibe Shift Against Decentralization 19:21 The Downsides and Trade-offs of Decentralization 19:56 Why Users Choose Great Products 20:14 Progressive Decentralization as the Path 20:51 Positioning for a Possible Regulatory Reversal 21:38 Why Coinbase Is Optimistic on Clarity 21:58 Placing the Odds at 60 to 70% 22:31 How Coinbase Operates Without Legislation 23:13 The Malaise in Crypto and Why Buy Coinbase 23:40 Full Stack Financial Infrastructure for the Future 24:17 Why Strong Fundamentals Outlast Price Swings 24:52 Payments Uncorrelated With Crypto Prices 25:12 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nick Stoev

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Nick Stoev from Mellow addresses what he calls the idle trillion: the gap between how much capital sits on chain and how little of it is actually working. Drawing on 10 years building in the space, he traces the industry's evolution from an isolated world with few on-ramps and off-ramps and almost no real world use cases, through DeFi summer as the kickstarter, to today's landscape of on-chain settlement, tokenized products, and real world assets. He cites over $300 billion in stablecoins on chain now with BCG projecting more than $18 trillion by 2033, then polls the audience on how much of that capital is truly working. The answer is only around 10%, and he argues two forces are changing that: shifting regulations that, while limiting some asset classes, enable banks and institutions to hold stablecoins on their balance sheets, and the rise of payments and settlement as the main driver since on-chain settlement is atomic, cross border, and 24/7. Nick frames the opportunity in two parts: settlement, which is already solved with custodians, stablecoin settlement, and bridging infrastructure live today, and management, which is still being built and involves not just technology but business processes, strategy construction, compliance, NAV reporting, and strategy isolation. As sophisticated asset managers arrive from TradFi and fintech, the industry needs more guardrails and tech stack pieces to route capital between assets (stablecoins, money market funds, commodities) and distribution channels (wallets, exchanges, brokers, issuers). He stresses that yield is a liability with very different risk characteristics for retail versus institutions, where APY is the last question asked after transparency, risk, and structure. He covers the same yield stack serving AI agents that need guardrails since models hallucinate, DeFi products being baked invisibly into fintechs like Deel and Stripe, and Mellow's vault stack that deploys strategies on chain in hours without smart contract development. He emphasizes on-chain enforced risk management removing the need to trust asset managers, and the faster pace of updating strategies as RWAs make the market more dynamic, closing that the coming year will bring far more capital on chain and deeper DeFi and TradFi convergence. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 The Idle Trillion and an Invisible Industry 00:51 How the Industry Has Changed in 10 Years 01:17 The Numbers: 300 Billion in Stablecoins 01:57 Audience Poll: How Much Capital Is Working 02:26 Why Only 10% of Capital Is Active 02:26 First Driver: Changing Regulations 02:53 Second Driver: Payments and Settlement 03:16 Why Settlement Is Naturally On-Chain 03:44 The CFO Question About Treasury Stablecoins 04:17 Two Parts: Settlement and Management 04:42 Why Management Is More Than Technology 05:16 How the Asset Manager Landscape Is Changing 05:47 Assets and Distribution Already Solved 06:16 The Missing Middle: Strategies and Routing 06:48 Why Yield Is a Liability, Not Just a Number 07:25 Why Institutions Ask About Risk First 07:55 The Yield Stack for AI Agents 08:20 Why Agents Need Guardrails 08:20 DeFi Products Baked Into Fintechs 09:08 Invisible Deposit Buttons for End Users 09:39 Mellow's Vault Stack 10:08 On-Chain Enforced Risk Management 10:37 Transparency and Trust Without Trusting Managers 10:59 Why Speed of Updates Matters 11:29 Reallocating Capital Almost Instantly 12:03 Summing Up: DeFi and TradFi Convergence 12:32 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Pedro Gomes

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Francesco Andreoli, who leads developer relations at Consensys, sits down with Pedro Gomes, founder of WalletConnect, to discuss payments, agentic commerce, and the evolution of wallets. Pedro explains that WalletConnect created the WalletCon network, the largest interoperability network across digital wallets known for its QR code standard, and has now launched WalletConnect Pay for merchants accepting crypto. Francesco notes Consensys just launched an Agentic Wallet. Pedro describes a shift where wallet features are consolidating inside wallets like MetaMask, making the key question what users interface with when connecting to the outside world, and payments emerged as the number one pain point. WalletConnect narrowed from a general purpose tool to focus on payments, helping existing payment providers accept crypto rather than forcing merchants onto a new platform. Pedro breaks down the payments landscape (peer to peer, remittance, consumer to business, and business to business) and shares a lesson from the payin versus payout distinction: consumers find paying with crypto attractive, but businesses want stablecoin payouts to simplify paying creators globally, where WalletConnect's 700 plus wallet network gave an edge. Francesco covers how UX improves by meeting users where they are, and the range from invisible embedded wallets (Amazon), to wallet as a service behind a bank (Revolut), to crypto native super apps (MetaMask card and MetaMask USD). On agentic payments, Pedro argues the missing piece is authorization: stablecoins succeeded through pull payments pioneered by USDC, which agentic payments lack, making yolo beast mode fine for a mini app but dangerous for buying flights. Francesco explains the MetaMask agent wallet was built to add currently non-existent guardrails like transaction simulation and security checks before signing. Pedro's biggest lesson is that Web3 needs TradFi's distribution more than the reverse, since their only real gap is self custody, and closes with the vision that wallet payments will become as safe as card payments through native guardrails. 00:00 Introduction 00:29 Meet WalletConnect and Consensys 01:18 How WalletConnect Is Evolving Toward Payments 01:42 Why Wallet Actions Are Consolidating 02:11 Payments as the Number One Pain Point 02:42 From DeFi QR Code to Payments QR Code 03:12 The Main Categories of Payments 03:53 Consumer, Business, and Cross Border Types 04:13 Why Past Crypto Payments Failed Merchants 04:30 Meeting Users Where They Are 04:59 Embedding Prediction Markets Into MetaMask 05:34 Why Users Pay a Premium to De-Risk 06:05 Is the UX Improving Enough 06:35 Embedded Wallets: Amazon, Revolut, MetaMask 07:12 MetaMask as a Crypto Native Super App 07:32 Breaking Fragmentation With a Unified Standard 08:02 Lessons Learned: Payins vs Payouts 08:44 Why Businesses Want Stablecoin Payouts 09:14 How Payout Demand Surprised the Team 09:30 Why the Wallet Network Was a Competitive Edge 09:49 Why Distribution Is What Matters 10:12 Distribution to Agents and Guardrails 10:31 Where Agentic Commerce Stands Today 10:53 Beast Modes and Trader CLIs 11:15 Stablecoins and Agents at Money 20/20 11:34 The Missing Authorization Piece 12:06 How USDC Pull Payments Made Stablecoins Work 12:34 Why Yolo Mode Is Dangerous for Real Purchases 13:07 Why the MetaMask Agent Wallet Added Guardrails 14:03 Why Agentic PMF Is Still Early 14:23 Misconceptions Web3 Has About TradFi 14:46 Why They Need Us Less Than We Need Them 15:14 Why Self Custody Is the Real Differentiator 15:46 How Wallet Verification Predated the Travel Rule 16:37 Decentralized Identity and Agent Reputation 16:56 Why Self Custody Changes Identity Control 17:30 How DIDs Bridge Server and Wallet Infrastructure 17:52 What Pedro Wants in the Next Six Months 18:20 Learning From Visa and Mastercard's Guardrails 18:40 The Vision of Wallet and Card Payments Merging 18:59 Permissioned Infrastructure by Design 19:29 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 talk, Cole Kennelly, founder of Volmex Labs, traces the history and evolution of onchain derivatives from the early days to where the market is headed. He introduces Volmex as the premier benchmark index company for crypto, having pioneered volatility indices like the BVIV and EVIV (analogous to the VIX but for Bitcoin and Ethereum), which are available on Bloomberg Terminal, Polymarket, TradingView, and others. He defines onchain derivatives as platforms making perpetual futures, options, and other instruments tradable in DeFi, offering 24/7 global, permissionless, and fully transparent markets, while acknowledging cons like public liquidation thresholds and higher latency, noting the adage that pioneers get slaughtered while settlers get rich. Cole frames the market in four generations. Gen one (2017 to 2020) included pioneers like dYdX, Synthetix, and Augur that had directionally right ideas but were too early, with dYdX's perpetual focused app chain foreshadowing today's Hyperliquid and Lighter, and Augur serving as Polymarket before Polymarket. Gen two (2021 to 2023) was defined by automated market makers and option vaults through protocols like GMX, Gains, and Ribbon, where GMX's GLP model was a bootstrapped grassroots first foray, though AMMs proved less scalable than order books. Gen three (2023 to 2025) is characterized by scalable protocols like Hyperliquid, Polymarket, and Lighter with their own dedicated chains and bolted on ecosystems like HyperEVM and LighterEVM, driving explosive volume into the tens of trillions. He shares that onchain perpetuals saw around $20 billion in 24 hour volume, $650 billion over 30 days, and $14.7 billion in open interest, with an all-time high of $80 billion transacted on the volatile October 10th. He highlights the rise of RWA derivatives (TradeXYZ on Hyperliquid running the official S&P 500 perpetual, FX perpetuals on Lighter) and prediction markets like Polymarket, which crossed the chasm during the 2024 presidential election with $2.7 billion on one market. He closes positioning the current moment as gen four, predicting more privacy, greater expressivity, and net new derivative types, and reiterates that onchain derivatives are global, always accessible, transparent, and real time auditable. 00:00 Introduction 00:33 Meet Cole and Volmex Labs 00:55 Volmex Volatility Indices Overview 01:44 What Are Onchain Derivatives 02:10 The Pros and Cons of Onchain Derivatives 02:32 The Verticals of Onchain Derivatives 02:58 The Four Generations Framework 03:20 Gen One Pioneers: dYdX, Synthetix, Augur 03:57 Why dYdX Was Ahead of Its Time 04:48 Synthetix and Early RWA Exposure 05:06 Augur as Polymarket Before Polymarket 05:27 Gen Two: AMMs and Option Vaults 05:47 The GMX and GLP Model 06:21 Why AMMs Are Less Scalable Than Order Books 06:42 Option Vaults Ahead of Their Time 07:06 Gen Three: Hyperliquid, Polymarket, Lighter 07:42 Perpetual Futures in 2025 08:08 Why Exchange Dedicated Chains Unlock Scale 08:39 The Rise of RWA Protocols 09:11 Volume and Open Interest by the Numbers 09:46 Rivaling Binance and Coinbase 10:08 The October 10th All-Time High 10:28 RWA Perpetuals and TradeXYZ 10:52 The Official S&P 500 Perpetual 11:15 FX Perpetuals on Lighter 11:15 Prediction Markets Becoming Ubiquitous 11:49 How the 2024 Election Crossed the Chasm 12:15 Reading Markets Instead of Polls 12:37 Fed and Asset Price Markets 13:02 Volmex Markets on Polymarket 13:21 Where Onchain Derivatives Go: Gen Four 13:46 The Next Wave of Innovation 14:19 Key Takeaways 14:45 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Chris Yin

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Chris Yin, co-founder and CEO of Plume, cuts through the hype around tokenization and RWAs to reveal what he calls the "digital assets mirage." He acknowledges the dominant narrative right now with Visa and Mastercard talking about stablecoins, BlackRock pushing tokenization for two years, DTCC planning to tokenize everything, and NASDAQ recently discussing tokenizing all equities. RWA charts are ripping up and to the right with the sector at $30 billion in assets, up 4x since February and growing 30% just last quarter. But when you peel back the onion, the picture changes dramatically. Chris shows individual assets driving the growth: $2.8 billion with only 43 holders, $1.5 billion with 29 holders, $250 million with just 1 holder. One of the biggest assets had 6 monthly transfers last month, down from before. The RWA space looks huge in headlines but is almost entirely contained to a tiny number of actual users, with very few of these assets actually being used in DeFi lending or borrowing today. Chris argues the answer is understanding the user, not just the asset. He uses stablecoins as the model since they took an American asset (US dollars), packaged and distributed it differently, and reached users globally who otherwise had no access. He extends the analogy through McDonald's international expansion: burgers didn't work in Japan until they moved them into fancy Ginza malls and eventually created the teriyaki burger (Japan is now 70% of international sales), and India required them to shift meals from indoor family cooking to outdoor consumption. Same product, different packaging and delivery for each user community. Chris introduces Plume's approach: focus equally on tokenization and distribution, wrapped in regulation and compliance. He walks through Plume's traction including raising from Haun and Galaxy, then Apollo and Brevan Howard, launching mainnet with $150M in assets, becoming the top network by RWA holder count, securing US transfer agent and Bermuda licenses, and announcing the Ether.fi partnership. Distribution wins include $50M through Grove and Apollo into the Acred fund, $40M through OKX integration, $100M in deposits from the Ether.fi community, and 33,000% APY plays for the degen audience through Pendle. He identifies three primary buckets where stablecoin money actually sits (exchanges, neobanks, and onchain users), each requiring differently designed products. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Why Tokenization Is the Dominant Narrative 00:50 Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, DTCC, NASDAQ Headlines 01:10 Why Bags Still Aren't Pumping 01:33 $30 Billion in RWAs and Q1 Growth 02:13 30% Quarter Over Quarter Growth 02:38 Feels Contained to Headlines 02:55 Peeling Back the Onion: 43 Holders on $2.8B 03:32 Why Holders Matter More Than Volume 03:45 Monthly Transfers Are Shockingly Low 04:19 Very Little RWA Actually Uses DeFi Today 04:56 Plume Leads by RWA Holder Count 05:16 The Stablecoin Playbook: Package and Distribute 05:50 Access Is the Answer 06:17 The McDonald's International Expansion Analogy 06:38 Same American Burger, Different Countries 07:04 Why Japan Needed a Different Approach 07:57 The Teriyaki Burger Success Story 08:12 India: Rethinking the Product and Delivery 08:56 Global Now 60% of McDonald's Sales 09:26 Understanding the Crypto User Base 09:53 Crypto Isn't a Monolith: Traders, HODLers, Farmers 10:46 Different Audiences, Different Product Design 11:04 Introducing Plume: The Company Journey 11:56 Partnership With Ether.fi 12:18 Billions in Volume and Global Licenses 12:45 Weaving Together Tokenization, Compliance, Distribution 13:30 Real Deployments: Grove, Apollo, OKX, Ether.fi 14:12 Three Places Stablecoin Money Sits 14:56 Regulation and Compliance as the Underpinning 15:36 The Plume Product Suite 16:24 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, William Mougayar from TRUSTSHIFT sits down with Chris Giancarlo, former chairman of the CFTC and current member of Patomak Global Partners, known as "Crypto Dad" for his early advocacy that let Bitcoin futures list on regulated US exchanges in 2017. Chris shares his origin story of coming out of the financial crisis at a swaps trading platform, working through Dodd-Frank rules for five years, then being nominated by President Obama to the CFTC where he served with Sharon Bowen. He recounts how in 2017 Bitcoin was trading around $1,000 and the CME approached him wanting to list Bitcoin futures. Despite intense opposition from the entire financial establishment (JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and others calling to shut it down), Chris famously testified to the Senate that "my son is interested in Bitcoin, and I owe it to him to try to understand it," which became a viral moment that gave him the nickname Crypto Dad. The conversation moves to the current regulatory landscape and Chris's vision for what he calls "regulation 2.0." He argues the previous era of regulation was built for an analog world of intermediaries and paper based settlement, but the digital age requires principles based, technology neutral frameworks that can adapt to programmable money, tokenized assets, and 24/7 markets. He praises the current administration's approach with the Genius Act, the Clarity Act working its way through Congress, and the SEC's Crypto Task Force under Chairman Atkins moving away from regulation by enforcement. Chris emphasizes that the US is finally embracing its role as the global leader in digital finance rather than pushing innovation offshore. He shares his optimism about tokenized real world assets, stablecoins as an extension of US dollar dominance, and the convergence of TradFi and DeFi. He closes with advice for builders: engage with regulators early, be transparent about your business model, and focus on solving real problems for real users rather than chasing regulatory arbitrage. 00:00 Introduction 00:15 The Crypto Dad Origin Story 01:24 From Financial Crisis to CFTC Nomination 02:38 The 2017 Bitcoin Futures Decision 03:52 CME Approaches the CFTC 05:04 Wall Street Opposition to Bitcoin Futures 06:17 The Senate Testimony That Went Viral 07:31 My Son Is Interested in Bitcoin 08:44 Becoming Known as Crypto Dad 09:58 The Analog Era of Financial Regulation 11:12 Why the Digital Age Needs Regulation 2.0 12:26 Principles Based and Technology Neutral Frameworks 13:41 The Genius Act and Clarity Act Progress 14:55 The SEC Crypto Task Force Under Chairman Atkins 16:09 Moving Away From Regulation by Enforcement 17:24 US Embracing Global Leadership in Digital Finance 18:38 Tokenized Real World Assets 19:51 Stablecoins Extending US Dollar Dominance 21:04 The Convergence of TradFi and DeFi 22:18 Advice for Builders 23:32 Engaging With Regulators Early 24:45 Focus on Real Problems for Real Users 25:59 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, Peter Watts from Relay makes the case that interoperability and exchange are the biggest barriers standing between onchain payments and true "payments grade" quality that can compete with traditional money rails. He opens by framing why onchain payments are compelling: permissionless global access, instant settlement without reconciliation across ledgers, a single shared ledger, and the programmability of open rails that make money as open as the internet. But the bar is high, since credit cards and emerging instant transfer rails already work simply, quickly, and reliably every time. Payments grade means an experience where you just tap, it's fast, it's a synchronous confirmation, and it works every time regardless of which bank a merchant uses or which country you're in. He acknowledges that onchain rails have come a long way with fast low cost blockchains, a mix of regulated and yield bearing stablecoins, and improved on-ramps. Peter argues the core unsolved problem is that there will never be a single chain or single stablecoin. Even within USD there are multiple prominent stablecoins (people use Tron USDT whether you like it or not), foreign currency stablecoins are emerging as people want to be paid locally, and USDC alone exists on around 50 chains. Once you introduce exchange between all these assets, keeping payments simple, fast, and reliable gets much harder, and existing infrastructure doesn't fit. Bridges are deliberately slow and expensive and shouldn't be rushed, while traditional DEXs and AMMs are built for trading, introducing slippage and lacking exact output support that payments require. He outlines what a new payments liquidity layer needs: broad asset support without fragmenting liquidity across pairs and chains, instant cross chain movement via a fast layer of solvers taking finality risk on top of the slow secure base layer, and always available liquidity that works every time even under market stress (unlike mercenary prop AMMs). He explains that liquidity alone isn't enough and an orchestration layer is needed for routing, gas and nonce handling, and rethought UX like universal deposit addresses instead of wallet connections. He closes on pricing guarantees, noting stablecoins don't actually trade at exactly a dollar (USDT recently traded 10 bps below USDC), and predicting applications will subsidize one to one experiences the way merchants subsidize credit card fees, revealing that solving exchange and interop is exactly what Relay is building. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 Why Onchain Payments Are Interesting 00:37 Instant Settlement and a Single Shared Ledger 01:00 Making Money as Open as the Internet 01:22 Why the Bar for Payments Is High 01:44 What Payments Grade UX Means 02:06 Reliability and Working Every Time 02:28 How Far Onchain Rails Have Come 02:53 Why Interop Is the Biggest Barrier 03:22 The Reality of Tron USDT and Local Currencies 03:44 USDC Across 50 Different Chains 04:08 Why Businesses Choose Different Chains 04:32 Why Exchange Makes Everything Harder 04:59 The Need for a New Liquidity Layer 05:25 Why Bridges Aren't Built for Payments 05:58 Why DEXs and Slippage Don't Fit Payments 06:22 The Problem of Broad Asset Support 06:47 How Pairs and Pools Fragment Liquidity 07:17 Moving Across Chains Instantly 07:51 Designing Liquidity That Is Always Available 08:37 The Orchestration Layer on Top 09:05 Routing, Gas, and Nonce Handling at Scale 09:30 Rethinking Payments UX Beyond Wallet Connect 09:53 Universal Deposit Addresses on Any Chain 10:18 Pricing Guarantees and the Dollar Myth 10:44 How Applications Will Subsidize One to One Rates 11:18 The Credit Card Subsidy Analogy 11:49 Summary: We Are Close 12:17 What Relay Is Building 12:17 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this fireside chat, Jacob Willemsma from ETHGlobal sits down with Henri Stern, founder of Privy, to discuss Privy's first year inside Stripe and how stablecoin infrastructure is being woven into mainstream finance. Henri explains that Privy builds embedded wallets, key management systems that developers drop directly into their products to give users simple access to crypto, stablecoins, and any digital asset without needing to think about what happens under the hood. Privy serves several thousand customers ranging from crypto native companies like Jupiter, Hyperliquid, and Uniswap to much more mainstream businesses like Deel, Ramp, and Klarna. Henri shares that his biggest fear joining Stripe was the stack being co-opted and verticalized into captive infrastructure, but conversations with Stripe leadership affirmed a shared commitment to an open stack where developers pick their chains, orchestration, and rails, and where Privy can still serve Stripe, Bridge, and Tempo competitors. He describes the pragmatic balance between decentralization purism and usable infrastructure, citing wallet connectors and day one key export as escape hatches that preserve self custody. He walks through lessons absorbed from Stripe (decade long ambition exemplified by Atlas now powering 25% of Delaware incorporations, kinetic short term execution, and a deep commitment to never deprecating interfaces), the Treasury product giving businesses stablecoin backed accounts now used across 50 countries, and recent launches like MoneyGram's MGUSD and Deel's hold, earn, spend contractor wallets. He closes on the remaining bottlenecks of financial tooling, regulatory clarity, and accounting integration, along with his belief that these rails ultimately lay the groundwork for genuine self sovereignty. 00:00 Introduction 00:28 The Fear and Excitement of Joining Stripe 00:45 What Privy Builds: Embedded Wallets 01:04 From Crypto Native to Mainstream Customers 01:27 Privy Needs Friends: Why Wallets Need Ecosystems 02:11 The Fear of the Stack Being Co-Opted 02:33 Conversations With Stripe on an Open Stack 02:57 Working With Stripe, Bridge, and Tempo Competitors 03:37 Pragmatism Over Decentralization Maximalism 04:00 Where Are the Lines on Open vs Closed 04:40 Privy Earn Built on Morpho and Aave 04:57 Embedded Wallets and Abstraction From the Metal 06:06 Wallet Connectors and Escape Hatches 07:21 What Privy Learned Inside Stripe 07:40 Decade Long Ambition and the Atlas Example 08:40 Balancing Long Term Vision With Short Term Shipping 09:36 Never Deprecating Interfaces 09:50 Stripe Sessions and the Treasury Announcement 10:51 Why Crypto Rails Make Better Products 11:07 The Two Prongs of the Stablecoin Strategy 11:42 From Holding to Actually Using Stablecoins 12:30 Treasury Live in 50 Countries 13:00 Abstracting Crypto Without Losing the Magic 13:53 Smart Contract Risk and Disclosure 14:38 MoneyGram MGUSD and Deel Contractor Wallets 15:35 The Stablecoin Sandwich and Responsibility to Disclose 16:05 Ship the Value, Not the Infrastructure 16:48 Is Tooling Still the Bottleneck 17:30 Regulatory Clarity and Money 20/20 17:53 Accounting, Taxes, and Marrying the Rails 18:41 Meta Creator Payouts in Emerging Markets 19:33 The Perception Gap: Crypto Stuck in 2014 20:23 Three KPIs Henri Is Watching 21:21 New Experiences That Peek the Rails 21:39 The Ten Year Horizon of Self Sovereignty 22:04 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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, Shadman Sakib, founder of Flex Global, argues that fintech and banking have missed the real economy by building almost exclusively for customers who already have world class financial infrastructure. Through interactive audience polling, he illustrates that while most attendees use Robinhood and major banks, 99% of the world operates with a patchwork of obscure local banks, stablecoin wallets, FX platforms, manual checks, and separate debit cards just to complete a single transaction. Drawing on nine years at JP Morgan and City plus three years at Mercury, he explains that fintech was built in San Francisco for AI agents, NASDAQ listed companies, and large multi-million dollar deposit holders, while ignoring local manufacturers, middle market businesses, and exporters in places like Colombia hedging against currencies that fluctuate 20 to 30%. He notes even crypto foundations struggled to bank anywhere from 2020 to 2025, relying on patchwork setups across the Cayman Islands, BVI, Singapore, and Switzerland. Shadman contends that while stablecoins solved money movement, they don't solve operations for most companies, and 90% of stablecoin adoption happens overseas precisely where the complex use cases live. He details what's actually missing: invoices and ISO memos attached to payments, FX conversion to local currencies, local bank delivery, 30-day payment terms, and credit, which the US takes for granted but barely exists elsewhere. He critiques neo banks spinning up without true banking DNA or real compliance teams, chasing Solana treasuries and crypto companies with hundreds of millions rather than serving the businesses that drive the global economy. Using a Singapore tire manufacturer on HSBC as an example, he outlines the real needs: multicurrency accounts, multi-entity management, trade finance to borrow against receivables, local off-ramps, real credit, and compliance that understands industries rather than labeling crypto high risk. He explains Flex Global treats stablecoins not as a product to sell but as an augmentation of years of banking rails and credit expertise from servicing over 20,000 middle market customers, offering local currency accounts in 100 plus countries with invoicing, treasury, FX, and native credit. He closes urging the industry to stop building for people already on chain and instead serve those for whom simply holding US dollars is a luxury. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 Interactive Audience Poll 00:38 The One Transaction Nightmare 01:18 How Fintech Missed the Real Economy 01:47 Why the US Has World Class Infrastructure 02:12 How Things Break Outside the US 02:34 The Luxury of Using the US Dollar 03:02 Why Even Crypto Foundations Couldn't Bank 03:32 Who Fintech Has Been Building For 03:54 Building for Large Deposit Holders 04:18 The Neo Bank Cluster Chasing Crypto Treasuries 04:39 Why Regular Businesses Dwarf Crypto 05:02 Serving Crypto After SVB at Mercury 05:24 Why No Compliance Is a Death Sentence 05:45 How Banks Made Money on FX and Fees 06:10 Why the Fastest Money Movement Is Not Moving It 06:43 Why We Keep Building for the Same Customers 07:00 Why 90% of Stablecoin Adoption Is Overseas 07:35 What Is Missing From Stablecoin Payments 07:54 Why Credit Doesn't Exist Outside the US 08:42 Why Real Businesses Have Amplified Needs 09:09 Local Currency and Everyday Bills 09:45 The Singapore Manufacturer on HSBC 10:04 Trade Finance and Borrowing Against Receivables 10:22 Why Real Compliance Must Understand Industries 10:42 Why Neo Banks Lack Banking DNA 11:18 Why the Full Stack Is Hard to Build 11:44 Understanding Invoicing and User Permissioning 12:04 Why Business Payments Need Approval Layers 12:30 Serving the Customers Everyone Ignores 12:55 What Flex Global Is Building 13:25 Stablecoins as Augmentation, Not a Product 13:50 Serving the Customers Actually Moving Money 14:17 Local Accounts, Credit, and Native Rails 14:46 Talking to Design Partners 15:09 Building for People Who See This as Luxury 15:32 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, 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, Kevin Zhang, co-founder of Loon, the issuer of Canadian dollar stablecoin CADC, explains why the playbook for building a non-US dollar stablecoin is fundamentally different from a US dollar one. He shares that Loon is Canada's largest stablecoin with about two-thirds of the market, launched the first Canadian dollar stablecoin in 2021, and did around half a billion dollars in transactions over the past year. He maps the global rise of local stablecoins across Europe, Asia (Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand), Africa (Nigeria, Cameroon), and a booming Latin America (Brazilian Real, Argentine Peso, Mexico), envisioning a network of stablecoins enabling unique new use cases. Kevin contrasts the two models. The US dollar stablecoin playbook is to accumulate AUM, lock it in treasuries, and earn yield, which works spectacularly for Tether but is becoming a race to zero as Circle, Paxos, and Bridge compete by distributing more yield to partners, ultimately becoming asset managers charging basis points like banks. Non-US dollar stablecoins have a different advantage: an FX conversion is inherent in almost every transaction, value that is usually captured by centralized exchanges. By decoupling the fiat on-off ramp from the FX component, a stablecoin issuer can become the on-off ramp while a separate provider handles foreign exchange, significantly reducing onboarding costs. He walks through the core principles of building a stablecoin: regulation (Canada's conflicting federal and provincial regimes, Europe's MiCA revision, the US Clarity Act, and the UK rethinking limits), politics (the Gary Gensler era versus today's climate), and the deeper driver of monetary sovereignty, since countries want citizens using local currency rather than ceding monetary supremacy to the US dollar. He stresses trusted infrastructure and efficient fiat on-off ramps to hold the peg, integration with domestic payment rails like Brazil's Pix and India's UPI, catering to local geography, and the hard problem of liquidity and market making since major market makers like Wintermute, Cumberland, and Jump have not yet entered. He closes on velocity of money as the biggest opportunity, noting CADC's roughly $2 million market cap generated $500 million in volume and millions in FX revenue, and argues coupling on-off ramps with issuance (a synergy Circle missed by not acquiring Bridge) is key to building the future non-US dollar stablecoin FX network. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Meet Loon and CADC 00:44 Why Not Everyone Uses the US Dollar 01:06 Kevin's Background in Crypto 01:34 Launching the First Canadian Dollar Stablecoin 01:58 Mapping Stablecoins Around the World 02:32 Latin America's Local Stablecoin Boom 02:55 Toward a Network of Stablecoins 03:27 The US Dollar Stablecoin Playbook 03:51 Why AUM Is a Race to Zero 04:34 Why the Yield Model Is Unsustainable 04:34 The FX Advantage of Non-USD Stablecoins 05:08 Decoupling On-Off Ramps From FX 05:41 The Core Principles of Building a Stablecoin 06:27 Regulation in Canada and Beyond 07:08 MiCA, Clarity Act, and the UK 07:31 Why Monetary Sovereignty Matters 07:52 Escaping US Monetary Supremacy 08:46 Why Politics Plays a Big Part 09:14 The Gensler Era and Its Aftermath 09:41 Why Trusted Infrastructure Is Critical 10:09 Why Efficient On-Off Ramps Hold the Peg 10:32 Connecting Domestic Payment Rails Like Pix and UPI 10:58 Catering to Local Geography 11:41 Why Liquidity and Market Making Is the Hardest Part 12:10 Convincing the Biggest Market Makers 12:32 Toward a 24/7 Always-On FX Market 13:04 Disintermediating SWIFT and the Banks 13:42 Velocity of Money as the Biggest Opportunity 14:05 How CADC Did $500 Million on $2 Million AUM 14:53 Why FX Is the Cornerstone 15:17 The Non-USD Playbook Recap 15:41 The Bridge Acquisition Circle Missed 16:12 Why Circle Should Own Its On-Off Ramps 16:37 Building the Future Non-USD Stablecoin Network 17:00 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, James Kurz from the Filecoin Foundation argues that in the generational AI buildout, the moat is where your data lives, and storage is the underappreciated part of the story. He opens with a history lesson: 10 to 20 years ago compute was cheap and you simply put hard drives where the people were, in Northern Virginia or the Bay Area. Today compute dominates the conversation, but the coming five years will see an explosion of data collection about the physical world for AI training and inference, driven by robotics, neurotech, and self-driving cars, capturing far more than the tiny fraction humanity has stored over the past 30 to 40 years. This demands vastly more storage capacity. James explains the core shift: historically compute went to the data because data was heavy, but now compute is being dragged to wherever cheap power exists, places like Wyoming, northern Norway, Finland, and Ohio that were never the interconnection points of the internet. This creates storage deserts, where major GPU clusters are being built far from where storage lives. When data sits far from GPUs, you hit the laws of physics (fiber optic speed and node hops) that hardware cannot solve, plus the steep economic cost of data egress from providers like AWS, and vendor lock-in where moving data into one cloud traps you there. He stresses that keeping data physically close to compute is really about the cost of iteration: whoever can run more tests and checkpoints faster outpaces competitors, and jurisdictional compliance adds another reason to have distributed storage near the clusters. He argues incumbents will not solve this since hyperscalers work at massive scale and focus on GPU buildouts, creating an opportunity for local and colocated storage operators to be the fast, close data layer without buying their own GPUs. He positions Filecoin as already being this global network, built over five or six years with almost 2 exabytes of capacity and cryptoeconomics that flex capacity up, letting users leverage existing capex rather than spending billions, while tapping underutilized storage devices amid hard drive order books extending beyond 2027. He closes by introducing two ways to try Filecoin in 2026: FilecoinWarm Storage as an S3 compatible endpoint (live in the EU, coming to North America and Asia) and Filecoin onchain cloud for developers wanting programmatic smart contract storage. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Have You Tried Fable 5 and Filecoin 00:50 A History Lesson: When Compute Was Cheap 01:10 Why Storage Is the Underappreciated Story 01:30 The Coming Explosion of AI Data 01:53 How Little Data We've Captured So Far 02:11 Why We Need Much More Storage 02:30 Bringing Compute to Where the Power Is 02:53 Why Storage Deserts Are Emerging 03:14 Storage Deserts Are Happening Now 03:48 Why Distance to GPUs Hits the Laws of Physics 04:22 The Steep Cost of Data Egress 04:41 How Egress Fees Create Vendor Lock-In 05:09 Why Close Data Wins the Iteration Cycle 05:54 Why Incumbents Won't Solve This 06:27 The Opportunity for Local Storage Operators 07:01 The Jurisdiction and Compliance Angle 07:52 Why Filecoin Already Is This Network 08:13 Leveraging Billions in Existing Capex 08:51 Why an Agnostic Cloud Matters 09:32 Why You Need to Move Data Quickly 09:52 Filecoin's 2 Exabytes of Global Capacity 10:37 Activating Underutilized Storage Everywhere 11:05 Two Ways to Try Filecoin in 2026 11:24 FilecoinWarm Storage as an S3 Swap 11:47 Filecoin Onchain Cloud for Developers 12:26 Why Data Is the Key to the AI Buildout 13:10 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, Mike Cahill, CEO of Douro Labs (the team building the Pyth Network), explains why markets need a new price setup and how Pyth makes the price of everything accessible to everyone. He recounts how about five years ago, while at Jump Trading with co-founders Jan and Kieran, he went deep into market infrastructure trying to figure out how to build a global harmonized market for trading real world assets on and off chain, and found the biggest bottleneck was financial market data. That industry generates around $50 billion in annual revenue but is siloed, fragmented, and dominated by Bloomberg charging $30,000 per seat as a basic package, with premium feeds like CME, NASDAQ level two, and ICE layered on top, requiring relationships and audits with hundreds of vendors worldwide. Mike explains that while this mess worked for existing markets, it breaks for blockchain-based cleared markets, which are global, programmable (requiring cryptographic proofs to preserve trust), and 24/7. Pyth solves this with a marketplace connecting data publishers to consumers, aggregating information while preserving trust and publishing proofs to any blockchain. The first-principles unlock was sourcing high quality data from major trading firms like Jump, Jane Street, and Susquehanna that had never monetized this byproduct, then anonymizing and stitching it together, making Pyth the first original price source rather than just an oracle. He shares the scale: over 100 institutions publishing data, delivery to over 100 blockchains, every asset class covered, powering more than 60% of perpetuals markets, $3 trillion in transaction volume, over 700 enterprises, and 3,000+ symbols. He walks through three product verticals: Pyth Pro (the Spotify for market data, one ever-growing subscription, adding $1 million monthly ARR toward $20 million by year end), a data marketplace (born from publishing US Department of Commerce GDP data on chain, now launched with Euronext, SGX, and OTC Markets), and new 24/7 markets that harmonize off-chain and on-chain trading into seamless indices. He closes announcing the 24/7 indices launching that week with Coinbase, Kraken, dYdX, and Market Vector as first users, after Pyth oil saw insatiable demand. 00:00 Introduction 00:35 The Problem Pyth Set Out to Solve 00:55 Where Pyth Is Today 01:17 The Bottleneck of Financial Market Data 01:38 A $50 Billion Siloed Industry 01:58 Bloomberg and the Basic Cable Model 02:19 Hundreds of Vendors and Audits 02:38 Why It Breaks on Blockchains 03:00 Why Blockchains Need a New Approach 03:22 The Pyth Marketplace Model 03:41 Rethinking Data Sourcing From First Principles 04:01 Tapping Trading Firms' Unmonetized Data 04:18 Why Pyth Is More Than an Oracle 04:35 Creating an Original Price Source 04:45 The Scale of the Network Today 05:03 Every Asset Class Covered 05:32 The Publishing Side of the Network 05:55 Sourcing the Best in Each Category 06:22 The Three Product Verticals 06:43 Pyth Pro: The Spotify for Market Data 07:15 The Data Marketplace Vertical 07:40 The Pyth Terminal 08:03 Pyth Pro Scaling Toward $20 Million ARR 08:31 Powering Kalshi Without On-Chain Proofs 08:57 Pyth Pro Video 09:26 A Reminder of the Scale 09:47 The Marketplace and the US Commerce Collaboration 10:10 Publishing GDP On Chain 10:35 Launching With Euronext, SGX, and OTC Markets 10:58 Introducing 24/7 Markets 11:24 How Pyth Constructs 24/7 Indices 11:50 From Pyth Oil to Equities, Metals, and FX 12:00 Launching This Week With Coinbase, Kraken, dYdX 12:43 Why 24-Hour Markets Will Be the Norm 12:43 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, Mikhail Lazarev from Gearbox Protocol shares his playbook for trusting AI agents with capital, opening on the number zero: Gearbox has had zero security incidents in five years and zero bad debt, and zero could also be how much money is left if you fail to secure agents properly. Drawing on two years of piloting experiments starting with prototypes on EigenLayer in 2024, he lays out the Gearbox agentic framework and how anyone can set up a curatorless autonomous AI vault today. He frames the stakes with numbers: BCG projects $19 trillion tokenized on chain by 2033, and while 62% of entities are experimenting with AI per McKinsey, only 10% use it in production, a huge gap. Referencing a recent tweet from a well-known security figure warning that AI is now so good at finding vulnerabilities that DeFi feels unsafe, he argues DeFi 3.0 needs two shifts: moving from complicated monolithic smart contract systems to using Ethereum as a settlement layer with simple one-to-one peer-to-peer credit lines that are easy to formally verify, and moving from human risk curators to curatorless due diligence performed by agents that research deeply, respond fast to market changes, scale, and never sleep. Mikhail walks through the Gearbox loop of six stages (discover, analyze, shortlist, propose, execute, and monitor), noting they built their own indexer to solve the lack of proven data sources. He demos an agent analyzing around 100 documents in five minutes to recommend how to deploy 10k of USDC, flagging an insecure pool with an RLP token incident, and introduces an MCP server so the loop runs in any coding agent with a human-in-the-loop verification link (deployable to IPFS) so users never sign what they do not understand. He explains bot APY, an on-chain harness using Gearbox's battle tested total-value computation to cap an agent's risk budget per transaction, making losses easy to hedge with insurance and protecting against leaked agent keys. He covers graph memory with per-source credibility scores to resist toxic tweet manipulation and plug in institutional due diligence, mapping interconnections between complex assets to enable emergency exits during contagion. He closes with a structured product where 90% sits in a yield pool while an agent borrows against it and competes to outperform, backstopped by an on-chain stop-loss. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Starting With the Number Zero 00:41 Zero Incidents, Zero Bad Debt 01:07 Two Years of Piloting Agent Experiments 01:45 The Numbers We Are Facing 02:17 The Gap Between Experimentation and Production 02:50 The Vision for How DeFi Should Be Done 03:32 DeFi 3.0: Ethereum as a Settlement Layer 04:09 Why Peer-to-Peer Is Easier to Verify 04:45 Why Autonomous Due Diligence Matters 05:16 From Risk Curators to Curatorless Agents 05:48 Why Autonomy Beats Manual Research 06:14 The Gearbox Loop of Six Stages 06:39 Why Shortlisting Is Needed 07:08 Why Execution Must Be Safe 07:15 Demo: Deploying 10k of USDC 07:36 How the Agent Collects and Analyzes Data 08:14 Flagging an Insecure Pool 08:41 Introducing the MCP Server 09:08 Why You Never Sign What You Don't Understand 09:35 The Human-in-the-Loop Verification Link 10:03 Toward Autonomous Capital Management 10:47 How Bot APY and Risk Budgets Work 11:12 Why Capped Losses Are Easy to Hedge 11:38 Protecting Against Leaked Agent Keys 12:07 The Problem of Agent Memory 12:34 Credibility Scores to Resist Manipulation 13:04 Plugging In Institutional Due Diligence 13:37 From Beating ML to Following a Manifest 14:05 Why Different Goals Achieve Different Outcomes 14:48 Mapping Interconnections Between Complex Assets 15:14 Emergency Exits During Contagion 15:53 Building a Structured Product on Gearbox 16:23 Splitting Capital Into Passive and Active 16:51 How the Agent Borrows and Competes 17:38 The On-Chain Stop-Loss Harness 18:19 Learning Like Robots Playing Go 18:43 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, Justin Gainsley, who leads stablecoin payment acceptance at Coinbase, shares what four years of building stablecoin payments at scale has taught him about selling to enterprises and payment service providers, and what still needs to be accomplished. He opens with a 2012 Hacker News post from Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, written before he even applied to Y Combinator, expressing the idea of using crypto to remove the 2 to 3% interchange tax Visa and Mastercard charge on every payment, showing crypto as a payment method has been ingrained in Coinbase from the start. Taking over Coinbase Commerce with the same mandate, Justin's team tried nearly everything (Bitcoin payments, every token on every chain, memecoins, cashback, point of sale, invoicing, online checkout) but nothing moved the needle, and for a while they worried crypto might not be right for payments. The signal emerged from talking to hundreds of buyers and merchants: a real cohort wanted crypto as their cash, something stable to earn into and spend without gas or volatility. So Coinbase made the non-consensus bet of stripping out Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all volatile assets to go all in on stablecoins, which drew internal backlash but sent conversion, volume, and merchant satisfaction all up. Strikingly, 64% of wallets paying on the stablecoin only product held no other assets, a fundamentally new cohort of savers rather than traders. Justin recounts bringing what they thought was the industry's best stablecoin checkout to Shopify, only to be asked about auth and capture, a term he had never heard, kicking off a year of learning what a real payment system requires: authorization holds, automated voids, configurable expiries, refunds, settlement schemes, reconciliation, and disputes. He details the resulting open source Commerce Payments Protocol, an escrow smart contract on Base powering Shopify's USDC checkout across hundreds of thousands of sites, with a permissionless operator role, six operations (authorize, capture, charge, void, refund, reclaim), and a blockchain native reclaim function letting buyers pull funds back after expiry. He covers the boring but required enterprise needs (predictable flat gas fees, custom settlement files, daily fiat delivery, compliance), argues the blockchain itself is fine for payments since Base settles in 200 milliseconds for under a penny, and identifies wallets, on-ramps, and signing UX as the real problems. He closes noting stablecoin payments have gone from curiosity to production in two years. 00:00 Introduction 00:41 Brian Armstrong's 2012 Post on Removing Interchange 01:09 Why Crypto Payments Are in Coinbase's DNA 01:35 Trying Everything to Make Crypto Payments Work 02:00 Worrying Crypto Might Not Fit Payments 02:23 Listening Closely to Buyers and Merchants 02:41 The Camp That Wanted Crypto as Cash 03:06 The Non-Consensus Bet on Stablecoins 03:35 The Internal Backlash 03:58 Why All the Metrics Went Up 04:28 64% of Wallets Held No Other Assets 04:54 The New Cohort of Savers 05:14 Bringing the Best Checkout to Shopify 05:32 The Auth and Capture Question 06:08 A Year Learning What Payments Require 06:32 Why Not to Underestimate Traditional Payments 07:15 Plugging Into Where Enterprises Already Are 07:37 The Commerce Payments Protocol on Base 08:01 How the Escrow Smart Contract Works 08:28 The Operator Role Explained 08:46 Why Operators Cannot Modify or Lock Funds 09:28 The Six Core Operations 09:48 Reclaim as a Blockchain Native Feature 10:12 The Boring but Required Enterprise Needs 10:33 Predictable Flat Gas Fees 10:44 Custom Settlement Files per PSP 11:01 Daily Fiat Delivery and Compliance 11:26 Just Another Alternative Payment Method 11:54 What the Industry Still Needs 12:19 Why the Blockchain Is Fine for Payments 12:42 Where Wallet UX Kills Conversion 13:03 Why On-Ramps Still Need to Be Better 13:27 Signing UX and Smart Wallet Adoption 13:59 From Curiosity to Production in Two Years 14:41 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, Thibauld Favre, CTO and co-founder of Fairmint, introduces the Open Cap Table Protocol and argues why the private market, not the public one, is where onchain equity infrastructure will win. He opens on how the new administration reshuffled the deal for crypto by opening the floodgates for asset tokenization, and Wall Street heard the message loud and clear, with the DTCC and market participants now scrambling to tokenize everything. As a 16 year crypto veteran, he asks whether all that work is being co-opted by Wall Street to build faster horses, and answers no. Everything Wall Street tokenizes today is public equity, which works because of an old, complex mainframe based infrastructure centered on the DTCC monopoly for post trade operations. That system works (you click a button on Robinhood and the trade settles despite nine intermediaries), so the low hanging fruit is simply adding another layer to sell US securities offshore, which changes nothing fundamental. Thibauld argues the real wedge is the private market, which is exploding as staying private grows more attractive: secondaries now rival IPO proceeds, there are over a thousand unicorns globally, and more than $4 trillion in private valuation. Yet the private market has almost no infrastructure, running on lawyers, PDFs, Excel sheets, and databases, with lawyers as the expensive glue. This is the opportunity, since private shares are restricted with transfer rules, ownership structures are complex and layered with SPVs, privacy is table stakes, and intermediaries are all offchain. Fairmint's seven years taught them that issuing equity tokens on chain is useless if the source of truth stays offchain, so the solution is putting the cap table itself on chain. The Open Cap Table Protocol turns cap tables into programmable smart contracts, and Fairmint became one of the first SEC registered transfer agents in 2023 to support it. Crucially it is not a new standard but an onchain extension of the existing Open Cap Table Format from the coalition of top securities law firms, making it compatible with the industry from day one while delivering self custody, programmability, instant settlement, automated compliance, borderless markets, traceability, and composability as regulated DeFi. Over $1.5 billion of equity is already on chain, and he frames the endgame as making IPOs great by letting everyone trade directly on the cap table, enabling new use cases like companies keeping direct connection with shareholders or trading equity directly on their own websites. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 The World Changed a Year Ago 00:46 Wall Street Rushing to Tokenize Everything 01:16 Was 16 Years of Crypto Co-Opted? 01:44 Why Wall Street Only Tokenizes Public Equity 02:15 Why the DTCC Infrastructure Works 02:41 The Low Hanging Fruit of Selling Offshore 02:56 Why We Need a Better, Simpler Infrastructure 03:16 The Private Market Is Exploding 03:44 Over $4 Trillion in Private Valuation 04:13 The Broken Infrastructure of Private Markets 04:42 Why Private Shares Are Harder Than Public 05:16 Why Issuing Tokens Alone Created More Complexity 05:33 Putting the Cap Table On Chain 06:06 The Open Cap Table Protocol 06:40 Not a New Standard: Building on the Existing Format 07:05 The Open Cap Table Coalition of Law Firms 07:38 Compatible With the Industry From Day One 08:04 Why It Is Regulated DeFi 08:29 Over $1.5 Billion of Equity On Chain 08:50 The Endgame: Making IPOs Great 09:33 Simplifying Trading Directly on the Cap Table 09:56 The Airbnb Shareholder Connection Anecdote 10:48 Trading on Brokerage or Directly on Your Website 11:12 How to Join and Build on the Protocol 11:31 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, 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Azeem Khan, co-founder of Miden, cuts through the headlines to address the reality of the missing pieces for institutional adoption of crypto. Drawing on his experience as a UNICEF Crypto Fund consultant, a Forbes Crypto contributor, and a CoinDesk writer, he introduces Miden as a next-generation ZK blockchain that raised $25 million last year from a16z crypto, 1kx, and others. He frames the core problem: blockchains have been either fully public (creating dystopian financial surveillance) or fully private (making illicit activity easy), and while permissioned chains are one attempted fix, the average person cares less about decentralization than about counterparty risk. Miden aims to give privacy and compliance to individuals and institutions at once, focused on onboarding institutions. He argues institutional adoption matters because the billion users will not come from meme coins but from people with real money in financial institutions going on chain, noting the 2024 bull run was kicked off by BlackRock's ETF, yet most activity remains stuck in pilots rather than full deployment. Azeem shares insights from speaking with leaders like the head of digital assets at Invesco and Amy Oldenburg who leads digital asset strategy at Morgan Stanley, both $2.5 trillion firms, and buckets the obstacles into four categories. Technical barriers include compliant privacy, interoperability and fragmentation, settlement delays, too few custody and stablecoin providers, weak institutional risk tooling, and shallow liquidity depth (large players would move price charts). Regulatory and compliance barriers include token classification and tax uncertainty (he has not created a US onshore entity for fear the SEC could freeze accounts and block payroll), weak auditing and reporting, insurance shortages, cross-border tax complexity, and reputational risk (the New York Knicks closed off crypto after nearly signing FTX). Operational and governance barriers include counterparty risk, DAO decentralization theater run by whales, and broken token economic models where airdrops create sell pressure rather than demand. Cultural and organizational barriers include quarterly earnings pressure, talent shortages, risk-averse conservatism, and internal knowledge gaps where crypto evangelists are not the decision makers (Invesco needs 50 teams to sign off on a product). He ends optimistically on progress in privacy tech, stablecoin regulation, and institutional DeFi (which he thinks will simply become onchain finance), arguing crossing the chasm requires regulators, builders, and institutions collaborating on trust, compliance, and usability, with long-term vision over short-term hype. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 The Reality Behind the Headlines 00:29 About Azeem 01:02 What Is Miden 01:32 The Problem With Fully Public or Private Chains 01:56 Why Counterparty Risk Matters More Than Decentralization 02:18 Why Institutional Adoption Matters 02:38 Why the Billion Users Will Come From Institutions 03:02 Still in Pilots, Not Full Deployment 03:32 The Three Institutional Perspectives 03:59 Why Adoption Has Stalled 04:21 Technical Barrier: Compliant Privacy 04:42 Interoperability and Fragmentation 05:00 Settlement Delays and Inefficiency 05:21 Too Few Custody and Stablecoin Providers 05:44 The Problem of Liquidity Depth 06:02 Regulatory and Compliance Barriers 06:26 Why He Has No US Onshore Entity 06:40 Auditing, Reporting, and Insurance Shortages 07:16 Cross-Border Tax and Reputational Risk 07:44 Operations and Governance Barriers 08:02 DAO Decentralization Theater 08:36 Why Token Models Are Broken 08:57 Cultural Barriers: Quarterly Earnings Pressure 09:26 Talent Shortages and Risk-Averse Culture 10:13 Why Evangelists Are Not the Decision Makers 10:49 Why Invesco Needs 50 Teams to Sign Off 11:07 Where the Industry Is Making Progress 11:29 From DeFi to Onchain Finance 11:56 What It Takes to Cross the Chasm 12:16 Long-Term Vision Over Short-Term Hype 12:34 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, Rodrigo Coelho, CEO of Edge & Node, explains why banks are racing onchain in 2026, covering what is working in production today and what is not, and what infrastructure moving production financial workloads on chain actually requires. He opens on how most of the world's money still moves on software written in the 1970s, likening institutions going on chain to a dial-up to broadband moment, or streaming music forced through record players. In 2026 the pilots of past years are moving into production: the New York Stock Exchange is working on 24/7 tokenized trading and tokenized assets are becoming collateral, all converging because the regulatory clock is ticking with the Genius Act, Clarity Act, and MiCA turning compliance frameworks from white papers into laws. Having spent eight years shipping blockchain infrastructure (from the first commit at The Graph to running Edge & Node, serving 1.8 trillion queries), Rodrigo says the Genius Act taking effect January 27th is a forcing function, and given long procurement cycles, institutions that wait for tooling will miss the window. Rodrigo argues banks are bringing the wrong assumptions on chain: their data stacks assume finality, append-only ledgers, overnight batch windows, and ACH and wire transfers, treating reorgs as edge cases when reorgs are normal, and off-the-shelf warehouses like Snowflake, Postgres, and BigQuery do not work out of the box with on-chain data, which is rarely cryptographically verifiable. Using the wrong tools breaks data freshness, auditability, and verifiability, and bad data puts capital at risk through stale collateral, blown liquidations, and compliance violations, with 24/7 markets that never pause. He lays out five non-negotiables for institutional data infrastructure: sub-second data freshness (block to query in under a second), verifiable cryptographic lineage, multi-chain access (The Graph indexes over 90 chains), on-prem deployment for data sovereignty in jurisdictions like the Middle East, Brazil, and Japan, and SQL-native querying that engineers and AI both speak. He gives vendor-evaluation questions and introduces Amp, Edge & Node's SQL-native, on-prem-capable blockchain data platform with verifiable extraction and full lineage across 100 chains that bridges into existing stacks. He shares production numbers (747 millisecond freshness, 100x pipeline improvement, 4,350x faster backfills), contrasts pay-per-query versus flat-fee licensing, and closes that the institutions moving now will own the next decade of financial infrastructure. 00:00 Introduction 00:41 Money Still Runs on 1970s Software 01:05 Why 2026 Is When Pilots Go to Production 01:35 Why the Regulatory Clock Is Ticking 01:57 Rodrigo's Background at The Graph 02:16 Why Now: Genius Act, MiCA, and Global Momentum 02:44 Why Waiting for Tooling Misses the Window 03:13 The Genius Act as a Forcing Function 03:42 What Institutional Conversations Revealed 04:11 Banks Bringing the Wrong Assumptions On Chain 04:34 Why Reorgs Break TradFi Assumptions 04:56 Why Off-the-Shelf Warehouses Fail 05:28 Why On-Chain Data Is Rarely Verifiable 05:40 The Three Things That Fail 06:01 Why Bad Data Puts Capital at Risk 06:33 Why 24/7 Markets Reward First Movers 06:56 The Five Non-Negotiables for Data 07:23 Multi-Chain Access and On-Prem Deployment 07:47 Why SQL Native Is a Requirement 08:07 Questions to Ask Every Vendor 08:30 Red Flags in Data Vendors 08:57 Introducing Amp 09:21 Joining On-Chain and Off-Chain Data 10:30 Amp's Production Numbers 11:00 Pay Per Query vs Licensing the Platform 11:50 How Compliance Becomes Provable 12:18 Why Amp Was Built for Tokenized Deposits 12:41 What Rodrigo Tells Every Institutional CTO 13:36 Why the Future of Finance Is Multi-Chain 14:13 Why Infrastructure Choices Decide the Leaders 14:39 The Rise of Heads of Digital Assets 15:02 Consulting to Navigate the Vendor Landscape 15:29 Building the New Way Money Moves 16:07 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Clare Adelgren, global blockchain leader at EY, explores the institutional path from pilot to production onchain, arguing the title captures exactly where the market sits today and why she is optimistic. She opens with a historical analogy: at the dawn of railroads people fixated on the trains (speed, cargo, destinations), but the bigger story turned out to be the rail network and how that infrastructure reshaped entire economies. Similarly, the car alone did not create modern transport; that took roads, safety standards, and institutions around the rules. She draws the parallel to blockchain, where for years attention centered on cryptocurrencies and tokenomics as the first vehicles on the rails, but the biggest shift now is toward the rails themselves, the infrastructure for moving assets, settling value, and coordinating trust in a programmable way, plus the rules and standards needed to operate at scale. Clare contrasts earlier institutional conversations (framed as experimentation, pilots, proofs of concept, consortia, and controlled off-chain or hybrid models that let institutions explore without full commitment) with 2026, where outlooks from the World Economic Forum onward describe a broad shift from experiment to enterprise-grade deployment, with major banks shipping products, regulators drawing clearer lines, and a growing pipeline of real world assets queued for issuance and servicing. The question has shifted from whether the technology works to whether institutions can operationalize it at scale in a trusted, governable, compliant, and valuable way. She argues this moment feels different not just because of regulation reducing uncertainty, but because technology maturity, workable economics, improving privacy, and serious interoperability are aligning at once. Framing technology as table stakes and institutional readiness as the real unlock, she says the next wave will be defined by industrialization rather than innovation, embedding blockchain into real operating models. She lays out five pillars of production readiness: trust and governance (accountability and aligned participants), compliance and controls (auditability, risk management, regulatory scrutiny), interoperability with legacy systems, privacy and confidentiality (selective disclosure and privacy on public blockchains, a major EY investment), and measurable business value rather than innovation theater. She closes that the next phase belongs to institutions that move from curiosity to capability and from experiments to execution. 00:00 Introduction 00:46 Why Clare Is Optimistic About the Path 01:00 The Railroad Analogy 01:32 Why the Car Alone Did Not Create Transport 02:18 Parallels to Blockchain Today 02:45 The Shift Toward the Rails Themselves 03:13 How Institutional Conversations Used to Look 03:51 Why That Caution Made Sense 04:38 How the Conversation Changed by 2026 05:18 Banks, Regulators, and the RWA Pipeline 05:51 The Question Has Shifted From Can It Work 06:25 Why This Moment Feels Different 07:01 Why Regulation Is Not the Whole Story 07:22 How Maturity, Economics, and Interoperability Align 08:01 EY's Long-Held View on Scale Adoption 08:39 Why Technology Is Only Table Stakes 09:27 From Technical Feasibility to Institutional Operability 10:03 Why the Next Wave Is Industrialization 10:30 What Production Readiness Really Means 11:01 Pillar One: Trust and Governance 11:26 Pillar Two: Compliance and Controls 11:57 Pillar Three: Interoperability With Legacy Systems 12:25 Pillar Four: Privacy and Confidentiality 13:08 Pillar Five: Measurable Business Value 14:03 Institutional-Grade Onchain Infrastructure 14:32 What It Means for Institutional Leaders 15:05 Why This Is an Execution Phase 15:31 Why Operationalizing Beats Talking About Innovation 15:57 Why This Is Just the Beginning 16:35 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, John Egan, the recently joined chief product officer at Polygon, lays out how Polygon sees the future of money, walking through its mission, the product it is bringing to market, and its progress toward what money will become on chain. He introduces Polygon's new mission, championed by CEO Marc and founder Sandeep, to move all money on chain, a practical evolution of its earlier goal of building a trustless internet. He argues the killer use case of blockchain turns out to be money, so the aim is to do the hard, product-oriented work to get all of it on chain. The vehicle is the Open Money Stack, a single open, vertically integrated stack for all money movement and storage (onchain and off) that collapses the tangle of networks, banks, processors, and compliance integrations developers juggle today into one API and dashboard. He notes last week's technical preview shipped regulated cash and fiat ramps, custodial wallets (with non-custodial coming), intent-based orchestration, distribution across chains, and a dashboard any knowledge worker can use. John makes the case for why Polygon is positioned to win. It has already moved about $2.6 trillion, with monthly volumes up over 400% to $130 billion across 30 million-plus payments a month, recently the most stablecoin transactions of any chain including BNB and Solana. Major financial companies already run on Polygon (Stripe, BlackRock's BUIDL, Robinhood, Paxos, Checkout.com, and Flutterwave), and it has been global since day one, handling around 75% of Latin America's stablecoin market where adoption is real utility and a hedge, not wash trading. He argues onchain FX will overtake today's largely non-USD stablecoin market, that money must be cheap and fast (Polygon nears 5,000 TPS, chasing Gigagas at 100,000 TPS, with one-block finality and no reorg since January), and that Polymarket already settles on Polygon. On interoperability he covers AgLayer, Polygon CDK, and Trails (from the Sequence acquisition), a Google Maps for routing money at the cheapest path. He highlights over $250 million in acquisitions including Coinme (regulated in 38 states) for consumer on-ramps, and closes on AI as the next step function: Polygon is the most used chain on X2X, makes agentic transactions gasless (even refunding facilitator gas), and demoed spinning up a neobank with a single Polygon CLI command. 00:00 Introduction 00:07 The Future of Money at Polygon 00:32 The New Mission: Move All Money On Chain 00:48 Why Money Is the Killer Use Case 01:05 The Vision to Get There 01:21 Introducing the Open Money Stack 01:57 The Complexity Developers Face Today 03:01 Collapsing It Into One API and Dashboard 03:21 The Technical Preview and First Features 04:06 What Gives Polygon the Right to Do This 04:29 Not Our First Trillion: $2.6 Trillion Moved 04:48 Leading in Stablecoin Transactions 05:08 The Financial Companies Already on Polygon 05:45 Why Polygon Is Global Since Day One 06:04 Dominating Latin America's Stablecoin Market 06:26 Why Onchain FX Will Take Over 07:08 Why Money Must Be Inexpensive and Fast 07:30 Chasing Gigagas at 100,000 TPS 07:48 Why the Biggest Operators Use Polygon 08:13 Three Efforts Toward Interoperability 08:33 Trails: Google Maps for Moving Money 09:09 $250 Million in Acquisitions for Regulated Money 09:26 Coinme and Consumer On-Ramping 09:48 The Sequence Acquisition and Enterprise Wallet 10:11 Why AI Is the Next Step Function 10:38 From Chatbots to Autonomous Systems 11:17 Why Polygon Is Leaning Into AI 11:35 Gasless Agentic Transactions on X2X 12:07 Building Money Management With AI 12:41 Spinning Up a Neobank With One Command 12:59 What a Neobank Really Is 13:43 Why Anyone Should Be Able to Build One 14:01 Closing and How to Get Involved _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *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 ETHConf Crypto Startup Showdown, hosted by Kartik of ETHGlobal, 14 startups (drawn from past ETHGlobal hackathon projects turning into companies plus open applications) each pitch for three minutes followed by a four-minute Q&A, competing for a $5,000 cash prize for the best pitch plus future ETHGlobal, Pragma, and ETHConf sponsorship opportunities and Cointelegraph service credits. Three early-stage VC judges give feedback and guidance: Tarun Chitra, Joyce Yang of Pivot Global, and David Shengart of the Cointelegraph accelerator. The lineup spans DeFi automation, agent infrastructure, RWAs, stablecoins, privacy, payments, gaming, and prediction markets. The teams pitch as follows. Amplifi builds single-click permissionless prime brokerage, using trusted execution environments and programmable custody to let traders borrow against any DeFi position across venues. Glider automates any investment strategy, letting users build direct-indexed onchain portfolios (like a Nancy Pelosi tracker or biotech basket) with no gas, signing, or bridging, reporting over 100,000 users. Zyfai embeds personal yield agents into wallets that monitor and rebalance funds, having handled $2.4 billion across 10,000 wallets. ascii presents Box, a cheap, powerful sandbox giving AI agents their own computers at up to 25x less cost. Papre is the agreement layer bridging legal meaning and smart contract execution, automating milestones, escrow, and arbitration. ASCNT brings market-making yield to LPs by pricing toxic versus healthy swap flow and auctioning arbitrage back to the pool. Cambria is a crypto game studio building onchain PvP duels and MMO experiences. Frankencoin offers the largest Swiss Franc stablecoin and its Frankencoin Pool Share governance token, pitching CHF as a superior store of value via an oracle-free CDP. YieldSeeker grows wealth on autopilot with conversational DeFi agents managing $1.5 million. Radius brings the institutional repo market onchain with peer-to-peer funding that bypasses dealer banks. Unlink provides privacy and compliance infrastructure letting companies use any chain privately in three lines of code via zero knowledge. dolphinze builds contractor-first payment infrastructure with one wire in and compliant multi-currency payouts out. Frames offers one composite model giving AI agents access to the paywalled internet across 4,000+ tools with unified billing. PulsePlay is the settlement layer for second-by-second markets using state channels, launching live in-play World Cup predictions with no ghost fills. The judges deliberate to pick the winning pitch. 00:00 Introduction 00:29 How the Showdown Works 00:54 Meet the Three Judges 01:30 The Prize and Sponsorship Opportunities 02:11 The 14 Teams 02:35 Amplifi: Permissionless Prime Brokerage 05:56 Amplifi Q&A 10:35 Glider: Automate Any Investment Strategy 14:28 Glider Q&A 18:42 Zyfai: Personal Yield Agents 22:11 Zyfai Q&A 26:22 ascii: Box, a Sandbox for Agents 30:39 ascii Q&A 34:15 Papre: The Agreement Layer 37:20 Papre Q&A 43:17 ASCNT: Market Making Yield for LPs 46:39 ASCNT Q&A 50:12 Cambria: Crypto Game Studio 53:14 Cambria Q&A 57:41 Frankencoin: Swiss Franc Stablecoin 1:00:16 Frankencoin Q&A 1:05:19 YieldSeeker: Wealth on Autopilot 1:08:19 YieldSeeker Q&A 1:13:34 Radius: Onchain Repo Platform 1:16:33 Radius Q&A 1:20:34 Unlink: Privacy and Compliance Infrastructure 1:23:55 Unlink Q&A 1:28:45 dolphinze: Payment Infrastructure for Work 1:31:54 dolphinze Q&A 1:36:45 Frames: Paywalled Data for AI Agents 1:39:24 Frames Q&A 1:43:59 PulsePlay: Settlement Layer for Fast Markets 1:47:17 PulsePlay Q&A 1:51:45 Closing and Judge Deliberation _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *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, Lindsay Fraser, who leads policy at the Blockchain Association, explains what the Clarity Act means for developers. The Blockchain Association is a nonprofit that advocates for the digital asset industry in Washington DC with over 100 member companies. She notes the timeliness: the day before, the association brought over 30 member companies to DC and met with 52 different Senate offices amid active negotiations. The Clarity Act is the current name for market structure legislation moving through the US Senate, the result of years of bipartisan effort dating back to 2020. At a high level it does three things: establishes token classification, trading, and market rules (fixing the impossibility of building in the US without clear rules during the Gary Gensler era at the SEC); sets registration requirements and consumer protections for intermediaries across the SEC and CFTC; and defines developer rules and protections outlining what software builders are and are not regulated for, the crux of the current debate. Lindsay explains why clarity matters: for years developers lacked answers to whether publishing code, operating a front-end, or participating in governance are regulated activities, and regulation by enforcement drove developers offshore. She walks through the process: the House passed it last June with 294 votes including 78 Democrats, the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its portion 12 to 11 on party lines, and the Senate Banking Committee recently voted its portion out with a bipartisan outcome, with the two bills now to be combined and reach 60 votes to bypass the filibuster before November midterms complicate things. She details three developer protections: Section 601 clarifies the 1933 and 1934 Acts so non-custodial developers are not intermediaries needing to register as exchanges, brokers, or dealers; Section 207 does the same under the Commodity Exchange Act for the CFTC; and Section 604, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), shields non-custodial developers from Bank Secrecy Act obligations and prosecution under Section 1960 for unlicensed money transmission. She frames the BRCA as a codification of 2019 FinCEN guidance, counters law enforcement opposition as a mischaracterization (noting titles 2 and 3 strengthen prosecutors), and cites a letter from 160 officials plus 60+ CEOs, closing that developer protections must remain intact. 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Who the Blockchain Association Is 00:40 Meeting 52 Senate Offices in One Day 01:24 What the Clarity Act Aims to Do 01:50 The Three Buckets of the Bill 01:57 Token Classification and the Gensler Era 02:22 Requirements for Intermediaries 02:44 Developer Rules and Protections 03:09 Why Clarity Matters for Developers 03:34 The Unanswered Questions Builders Face 03:56 How Regulation Drove Developers Offshore 04:22 Drawing a Line Between Software and Intermediaries 04:51 Where We Are in the Process 05:13 The Overwhelming House Vote 05:35 The Senate Agriculture Committee Vote 05:58 The Bipartisan Senate Banking Vote 06:19 Combining the Bills and the 60-Vote Threshold 06:45 Why the Midterms Add Urgency 07:06 The Three Core Developer Protections 07:24 Section 601 and the 1933 and 1934 Acts 07:46 Protecting Non-Custodial Developers 08:36 Section 207 and the Commodity Exchange Act 08:50 The Key Line of Custody and Control 09:10 Section 604: The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act 09:41 The Threat of Section 1960 Prosecution 10:28 The Cost of Investigations on Founders 10:59 Why the BRCA Must Not Be Watered Down 11:22 A Codification of 2019 FinCEN Guidance 11:57 The Bipartisan History of the BRCA 12:53 The Opposition From Law Enforcement Groups 13:22 Why the Opposition Mischaracterizes the BRCA 13:52 How Titles 2 and 3 Strengthen Prosecutors 14:38 The Letter From 160 Law Enforcement Officials 15:50 The Industry Letter From 60 CEOs 16:16 Why Developer Protections Must Be a Priority 16:49 A Call to Share Developer Stories 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Kaledora Kiernan Linn from Ostium discusses postmodern investing and the rise of what she terms perpification, the transformation of assets into perpetuals and the proliferation thereof. She frames the core macro thesis behind Ostium: macro news is the new reality TV. When they started the company a few years ago this was a contrarian view, but her conviction was that markets had entered a new macro paradigm. She argues the first generation of consumer trading applications, in the interim period between the 2008 great financial crisis and COVID in 2020, was a historical anomaly defined by three things: extremely low, zero-bound interest rates, extremely low inflation, and little geopolitical uncertainty. COVID broke that mold and thrust markets into the opposite: persistently higher and more unpredictable rate policy (swinging from three anticipated cuts to expected hikes), inflation that was transitory then came back, and pervasive geopolitical uncertainty. Kaledora argues this ushers in a new generation of traders, illustrated by loud, active Twitter accounts like one that made over $4 million trading oil during the Strait of Hormuz closure and another that single-shotted large gold and oil positions for over half a million dollars of P&L in under a day. She calls the underlying trend Revenge of the Hyper Online (a nod to Revenge of the Nerds), arguing that time spent from a young age in chats, trading groups, and subreddits is unexpectedly value-creative, honing two contrarian skills: identifying reflexive viral loops (sensing what the herd will focus on, honed in the meme coin trenches) and a theory of mind for unpredictable characters (intuiting what an erratic geopolitical actor might do, much like anticipating a meme coin dev). She explains what this means for the market: asset-class-specific trading is collapsing, and where the prior mobile-first generation siloed people into FX, stock, or crypto traders, the trader of today moves seamlessly between gold, Bitcoin, oil, Nvidia, and the next SpaceX IPO, agnostic to asset class and chasing momentum. This drives migration to a single platform and a single instrument, the perpetual, which turns any asset into a cash-settled, risk-modulated instrument that never expires, the perfect native tool for this style. She closes noting Ostium and others have grown tremendously, and that this new class of cross-asset macro trader has elevated perps from a niche crypto instrument into one the broader finance world now takes seriously. 00:00 Introduction 00:07 Postmodern Investing and Perpification 00:37 Why We Started the Company 00:47 Macro News Is the New Reality TV 00:58 The New Macro Paradigm 01:27 The Three Anomalies of the Old World 01:48 How COVID Broke the Mold 02:10 Higher Rates, Inflation, and Geopolitical Uncertainty 02:30 A New Generation of Traders 02:37 The Oil Trader Who Made $4 Million 02:56 Single-Shotting Gold and Oil for Half a Million 03:23 Revenge of the Hyper Online 04:02 Skill One: Identifying Reflexive Viral Loops 04:28 Skill Two: A Theory of Mind for Unpredictable Characters 05:21 The Thanksgiving Markets Meme 05:34 Why Asset-Class-Specific Trading Is Collapsing 05:49 The Siloed First Generation of Trading Apps 06:11 The Trader Who Moves Seamlessly Between Assets 06:38 The Rise of a Single Instrument and Platform 07:10 Migrating to One Platform Across Asset Classes 07:35 Why People Just Want to Long or Short Anything 08:00 What Perpification Really Means 08:25 Why the Market Has Validated Perps 08:56 The New Archetype of Cross-Asset Macro Trader 09:27 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, 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, Yueqi Yang from The Information sits down with Farooq Malik, CEO of Rain, to discuss where stablecoin cards go next. She notes stablecoins have been the hottest story since the Genius Act passed, and Rain is a leader in stablecoin backed cards, recently raising at close to a $2 billion valuation. Farooq explains that stablecoins are a new way to hold, send, and spend money but were not interoperable with the existing financial ecosystem, trapped on the blockchain. Rain connects that value to the existing network of merchants worldwide, letting consumers tap a card or enter a PIN exactly as normal while the transaction is powered by stablecoins, so the merchant never needs educating. This has driven massive global adoption of stablecoins as a store of value. Farooq explains how Rain differs from earlier crypto exchange cards from Binance or Coinbase: rather than a fiat enabled veneer settling five days a week (forcing working capital and counterparty risk), Rain rebuilt the backend so 100% of customer and card network settlement happens directly on the blockchain, supporting over a dozen blockchains, every major virtual machine, public and private chains, multiple stablecoin issuers, and now tokenized deposits. He argues a fiat veneer has no moat and can only compete on price. On customers, Rain powers programs in over 100 markets split roughly 50/50 between crypto native (including stablecoin neobanks) and traditional financial services, and surprisingly the largest destination of transactions is US merchants and bank accounts, contradicting the assumption that stablecoin use is only offshore. He shares US use cases including hourly payroll disbursement (real 24-hour money, not a debt product) and a travel platform embedding spendable stablecoin balances. Farooq frames Rain as a technology and accounts business rather than a cards business, committed to being credibly neutral and open rather than a closed ecosystem like AOL. He addresses banks entering the space (SoFi's USD, tokenized deposit consortiums), Rain's tracker showing banks that deny stablecoin demand are actually the source of billions in flows, the difficulty of Visa and Mastercard principal membership, and closes on Rain's agent control layer for agentic payments where delegated spending authority cannot be hallucinated away. 00:00 Introduction 00:43 Why Rain Is a Leader in Stablecoin Cards 01:05 What Is a Stablecoin Backed Card 01:26 Why Stablecoins Were Not Interoperable 01:53 Connecting Tokens to the Merchant Network 02:34 Massive Global Consumer Adoption 02:52 Why Merchant Behavior Stays the Same 03:41 How Rain Differs From Exchange Cards 04:07 Building Full Interoperability Across Chains 04:28 Supporting Tokenized Deposits and Digital Money 04:57 Why Fiat Settlement Creates Risk 05:40 Settling 100% on the Blockchain 06:12 Why a Fiat Veneer Has No Moat 06:41 The Profile of Rain's Core Customers 07:11 Demand From Public Companies and Banks 07:41 Powering Programs in Over 100 Markets 08:07 Why the US Is the Largest Destination 08:56 Addressing the JP Morgan Deposit Token Claim 09:19 The Hourly Payroll Disbursement Use Case 09:57 Why This Is Only Possible With Stablecoins 10:21 Reallocating Value From Debt Products 10:48 The Travel Platform Use Case 11:47 The Diversity of Use Cases 12:09 Why Lower Working Capital Changes Everything 12:26 The Crypto Native vs Non-Native Breakdown 13:14 How Rain Thinks About Competition 13:47 Why Rain Is Not a Cards Business 14:31 Why Rain Avoids Payment Flows 14:59 Being a Credibly Neutral Technology Player 16:15 Why Open Beats Closed Ecosystems 17:04 Will Banks Enter the Stablecoin Card Business 17:38 SoFi USD and Tokenized Deposit Consortiums 18:30 The Data Gap in Bank Stablecoin Flows 19:30 Why Banks Lose Customers to Platforms 20:31 The Visa and Mastercard Principal Membership 21:27 Meeting Customers Where They Are 22:31 Plans for Agentic Payments 23:43 The Agent Control Layer 24:20 The AI Concierge Example 24:42 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, 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

AI governance. The future of work. Coordination at scale. And the question underneath all of it: how do we make sure AI leads to human flourishing, not just faster automation? Intelligence at the Frontier was a 36-hour festival hosted by Funding the Commons across 16 floors of Frontier Tower in San Francisco, March 14–15, 2026. Over a thousand participants from 92 countries joined 229 sessions spanning AI policy, public goods funding, decentralized governance, AI safety, open source AI, democratic deliberation, longevity research, and coordination infrastructure for the age of AI. This aftermovie captures some of the ideas and conversations that shaped the weekend, featuring Tom Kalil (Renaissance Philanthropy, fmr. White House science policy), Sheila Warren (fmr. World Economic Forum), Shady El Damaty (Holonym Foundation / human.tech), Luke Drago (Workshop Labs), and Shaw Walters (ElizaOS). What stood out to you? Let us know 👇 🌐 https://fundingthecommons.io Presented by Funding the Commons x Frontier Tower x Protocol Labs

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

What does it look like to build the human-AI coordination layer in 36 hours? The Intelligence at the Frontier Hackathon brought 150 builders to Frontier Tower in San Francisco for an overnight build sprint on March 14-15, 2026, across four tracks: agentic AI, physical robotics, AI safety and evaluation, and sovereign infrastructure. 53 projects shipped. $25k+ in prizes awarded. We saw builders hacking through the night, robots roaming the hallways, agents paying each other in real money, and judges giving Claude feedback. Thanks to everyone who joined us. Co-produced with Protocol Labs. Supported by ElevenLabs, Bittensor, Solana, Meteora, Metaplex, Redwood North, BittensorCommons.org, VESSL AI, Velda, Unbrowse, NomadicML, human.tech, Activeloop, Solo Tech, Learning Layer Labs, Lit Protocol, and KikiTora. 🌐 https://fundingthecommons.io 📋 All 53 projects: https://intelligence-at-the-frontier-hackathon.devspot.app/?activeTab=projects

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Pi belongs to everyone. E=mc² didn't. Tricia Wang opens Intelligence at the Frontier 2026 asking which path AI governance will take. Serving as Emcee of the festival and co-founder of the Advanced AI Society, Tricia frames the day through a Pi Day provocation: pi was held as a commons across civilizations for millennia, owned by no one and available to all. Einstein's formula took the opposite path, weaponized by one government before any governance existed to distribute its power. The parallel to AI ethics and agentic AI in 2026 is direct and uncomfortable. She introduces a three-layer framework for navigating the AI governance conversation: hardware, software, and the social/cultural layer that's almost always missing. The shaping question for human flourishing in the age of AI: as AI agents begin to outnumber humans, do we see them as extensions of ourselves or adversaries to control? Emcee of the festival: Tricia Wang (Advanced AI Society) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

David Dao

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Elinor Ostrom proved communities can self-govern shared resources without top-down control. But her principles hit a hard limit at roughly 150 people — Dunbar's number. Beyond that, cooperation breaks down. So how do you govern something the size of the Amazon? David Dao, founder of GainForest and winner of the Rainforest X Prize, argues that AI and decentralized technology are the missing infrastructure to scale Ostrom's commons governance principles to planetary scale. Drawing on 15 years working with indigenous communities across the Amazon and the Philippines, he shows how satellite imagery, data valuation, and on-chain identity systems can help communities protect forests at a scale no single government or NGO has managed alone. The talk moves from the tragedy of the commons to a blueprint for governing shared resources in the age of AI. Speaker: David Dao (Protocol Labs & Gainforest) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Losing your job to AI is the obvious worry. Luke Drago argues the real problem is bigger. Luke, co-founder of Workshop Labs and co-author of The Intelligence Curse, borrows a concept from development economics: the resource curse, where oil-rich states stop investing in their citizens because their wealth comes from the ground, not from taxing labor. His argument is that full automation creates the same dynamic. When a handful of actors own the models, the compute, and the data, there's no economic reason left to invest in everyone else. The social contract quietly stops working. Luke makes the case that this outcome isn't inevitable, and that the window to build things differently is still open. Speaker: Luke Drago (Workshop Labs / Blue Dot Impact) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

AI isn't just displacing jobs. Sheila Warren argues it's accelerating something older and more dangerous: the systematic removal of human dignity from how decisions get made. Sheila, CEO of the Project Liberty Institute and founder of the World Economic Forum's blockchain and digital assets team, connects what look like separate crises — surveillance tech, deportation without due process, AI agents — into a single cultural problem. Her central concept is differential friction: the idea that the race to remove friction from every system is quietly eroding the checks that keep power accountable. When there's nothing to slow an AI agent down, small errors compound fast and become permanent. She encourages everyone building in this space to ask, every time: before you remove friction, whose protection were you removing with it? Speaker: Sheila Warren (Project Liberty Institute) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

National governments move too slowly for emerging technology. Augusto Ardiles Diaz argues that cities are where AI policy actually gets built. Augusto, Undersecretary of Investments for the City of Buenos Aires, lays out the case for cities as real-world laboratories: places where new technology can be tested, adopted, and scaled under real conditions before formal regulation catches up. Buenos Aires is doing this through a dedicated AI district, offering zero local taxes for qualifying companies, regulatory sandboxes supervised by public authorities, and university partnerships designed to reskill workers and small businesses ahead of the curve. His framing is that public policy should function as institutional infrastructure for innovation, not just as a brake on it. Speaker: Augusto Ardiles Diaz (Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Matthias Broner

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

As AI displaces workers and traditional UN funding gets pulled back, UNICEF is building the financial infrastructure to get resources to people who need them most. Matthias, an advisor to the UNICEF Office of Innovation, walks through a set of live blockchain-powered initiatives: a crypto donation protocol (Drips) funding five digital public goods across 131 countries, an impact staking program that puts idle ETH to work for humanitarian causes, and AidLink — a system that delivers cash transfers via SMS to people without internet access, building digital wallets entirely behind the scenes. UNICEF has held and disbursed crypto assets since 2019, longer than any other UN organization. The goal is to leverage blockchain as financial infrastructure for people the traditional system doesn't reach, tested in the real world before being scaled. Speaker: Matthias Broner (UNICEF Office of Innovation) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Shady El Damaty

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

As AI agents increasingly mediate human interaction, how do we make sure people stay in control of their own digital lives? Shady, co-founder of Holonym Foundation and the team behind human.tech, comes from computational neuroscience and applied cryptography. He argues that the current trajectory of AI development pulls resources, talent, and capital into a one-way infrastructure that gives little back — and that cryptographic tools, specifically zero-knowledge proofs, offer one of the most underused levers we have to redistribute power back to individuals. The core question he poses: what is the most important thing you could be building right now, with everything you have at your disposal? For Shady, the answer is technology that proves you are human, without giving up what makes you so. Speaker: Shady El Damaty (Holonym Foundation / human.tech) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

For the first time in 100 years, the Los Angeles City Council voted to expand its size, from 15 to 25 seats. That decision came from a citizen assembly that Liz Barry helped design and run. Liz, Executive Director of Metagov, builds the infrastructure for large-scale democratic deliberation. She works across community organizing, open source software and governance theory, and has been involved in democratic reform processes from Los Angeles to Taiwan. Her provocation is simple: what determines whether technology is a net good or bad is not its functionality — it's who controls it. She argues that as AI reshapes institutions, deliberative platforms need two things that are currently in tension: proof of humanity to ensure results are legitimate, and data sovereignty so participants can engage safely. Figuring out how to hold both at once is one of the defining challenges of democratic governance in the age of AI. Speaker: Liz Barry (Metagov) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

A single state-level debate about one nuclear power plant generated 5,862 distinct arguments. The human mind can hold about four to seven things at once. Jamie Joyce argues this gap is the core problem in democratic governance, and that AI might be the only way to close it. Jamie, founder of the Society Library, makes the case for Scaled Democratic Reasoning: the idea that civilization-scale decisions involve far more complexity than any group of humans can process reliably. Her team maps debates as dense, nested argument graphs pulling from social media, scholarly papers and economic assessments, to make the full landscape of a debate navigable at scale. Her argument isn't that human deliberation is wrong. It's that we need tools to extend it, the same way telescopes extended vision. Speaker: Jamie Joyce (The Society Library) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

We built tens of thousands of physical libraries to give people access to knowledge. Sam Klein asks what the equivalent looks like when agents are doing half the reading. Sam, co-founder of Public AI and director of the Concordance Project at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center, makes the case for a new kind of planetary library — one where AI agents don't just retrieve information but actively curate, annotate and contribute to shared knowledge commons. He estimates there are roughly 3 billion concepts worth documenting; we have monographs for about 200 million of them. The gap is enormous, and agents could help close it. His ask to builders in the room: invite your agents to do knowledge curation work. Every small piece of structured information recorded at scale becomes part of a library the whole ecosystem benefits from. Speaker: Sam Klein (Public AI / Berkman Klein Center, Harvard University) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Joshua Tan

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

AI has become roughly 1,250 times more effective over the past six years. Organizations haven't kept up. Joshua Tan thinks that's the next frontier. Joshua, co-founder and research director at Metagov and lead at Stanford's Open Lab, argues that as AI agents grow more capable, the organizations coordinating them need to evolve too. He introduces the concept of autonomous organizations — systems like the Facebook newsfeed or agent-run code repositories that operate through algorithmic logic no single person fully controls. DAOs were an early attempt at this, but their rigidity made them slow to change. What comes next is something more adaptive, more sub-symbolic, and harder to govern. His proposal: a startup incubator model for autonomous organizations, where new governance structures are launched as live experiments and learned from in real time. Speaker: Joshua Tan (Metagov / Stanford Open Lab) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

AI is advancing exponentially. Democratic systems are not. Aviv Ovadya is trying to close that gap before it becomes irreversible. Aviv, CEO of the AI and Democracy Foundation and research director at Metagov, makes the case for deliberative processes as core infrastructure for governing AI. Citizen assemblies and similar mechanisms have now been run thousands of times around the world, including feeding into EU policymaking several times a year. They are faster to spin up than elections, easier to iterate on, and designed to cut through the adversarial incentives that corrupt traditional political processes. His argument is that the democratic innovation space is massively underfunded relative to AI, crypto and other domains, and that a targeted ARPA-style deployment of resources across key capability gaps could make rapid progress. Speaker: Aviv Ovadya (AI and Democracy Foundation) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Humans aren't impressive on their own. Our superpower is each other — and institutions are how we've always organized that collective intelligence at scale. Adam Russell thinks that's exactly why institutions matter so much right now, and why most of them are blowing it. Adam, a former DARPA program director and Chief Vision Officer at USC's Information Sciences Institute, comes to AI as an anthropologist. He sees two dominant responses to disruption in institutions today: pretend it isn't happening, or dig in and defend the status quo. Neither works. His argument is that real resilience means being able to change when the world changes — not holding firm while everything shifts around you. Speaker: Adam Russell (Information Sciences Institute, USC) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Most of the conversation around AI asks what it will do to us. Tom Kalil thinks that's the wrong question. Tom, who shaped science and technology policy across the Clinton and Obama administrations, and Adam Russell, former DARPA program director and Chief Vision Officer at USC's Information Sciences Institute, dig into what it actually takes to steer AI toward public benefit. Tom's central argument is that everyone is focused on AI itself, but not nearly enough on its complements — the data sets, benchmarks, platforms and infrastructure that determine whether AI can solve anything meaningful. AlphaFold worked because of 50 years of curated protein data. Most domains don't have that. The fireside chat covers advance market commitments as a funding model for public goods, why good ideas from the crypto and blockchain world get stuck inside that world, and what government can and can't do when technology moves faster than policy. Speakers: Adam Russell (Information Sciences Institute, USC) and Tom Kalil (Renaissance Philanthropy) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

45 million people depend on a network of internet freedom tools to access uncensored information. When the US government rescinded its funding mid-contract in 2025, most of those tools faced collapse overnight. Al, Director of Fundraising at the Tor Project, makes the case for why centralized funding is the Achilles heel of decentralized infrastructure. Tor's network is distributed by design — thousands of volunteer relay operators across the world, no single point of failure. But its funding came from one source. When that source changed its mind, the entire ecosystem was put at risk. His answer is to bring quadratic funding and community crowdfunding models from the Ethereum world into the internet freedom space. Tor is running a campaign in May 2026 using minimal anti-collusion infrastructure to make funding more equitable and resistant to manipulation — reaching 2.2 million Tor Browser users a day in the process. Speaker: Al Smith (Tor Project) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

In 1999, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy told the world: "You have zero privacy. Get over it." Michelle Finneran Dennedy was working at Sun at the time. She went the other direction. Michelle, Chief Data Strategy Officer at Abaxx, created the first Chief Privacy Officer role at Sun Microsystems and has spent nearly 30 years building the field of privacy engineering. She argues that privacy has a precise definition — the authorized processing of personal data according to ethics, law and sustainable commerce — and that authorization is contextual. In a world where machines are acting on machines at scale, that context disappears fast. Her framework for fixing it is proofs of control: measurable, nano-level signals built into systems from the start, not layered on top after the fact. The privacy officer role, she argues, needs to move from compliance into engineering and into the boardroom before agentic AI makes the retrofit impossible. Speaker: Michelle Finneran Dennedy (Abaxx) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

On February 7th, 2026, NPR reported that the State Department was taking down its social media posts going back 20 years. The Internet Archive had already started archiving them. In the weeks that followed, the Wayback Machine captured more than 2 million posts and found that over a million had already been removed from the live web. This panel brings together Mark Graham, director of the Wayback Machine, Megan Kleiman of the Filecoin Foundation, and moderator Wendy Hanamura to talk about what it means to preserve public data at a moment when governments are actively deleting their own records. The conversation covers Democracy's Library, a joint project storing government data from the US, Canada, Bermuda and beyond in decentralized Filecoin storage; why the Internet Archive's 200 petabytes of public data is one of the most important training sets AI has access to; and what builders can do with it right now. Mark also makes a case for archiving AI chatbot responses themselves — because if no one records what these systems are saying, that history disappears too. Speakers: Mark Graham (Internet Archive), Megan Kleiman (Filecoin Foundation) Moderator: Wendy Hanamura (DWeb / formerly Internet Archive) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Note: This recording was captured with technical limitations on Day 1. We apologize for any audio quality issues and appreciate your patience.

Evan Miyazono

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Imagine a box where an AI system learns everything about your values and preferences. You walk in, spend a few hours, and walk out with a perfectly aligned AI. Evan Miyazono's talk starts here — and then explains why that's still not enough. Evan, founder of Atlas Computing and former director of Funding the Commons, argues that for high-stakes domains like nuclear infrastructure or financial systems, even a 99% probability guarantee isn't acceptable. Alignment is necessary but not sufficient. What's needed alongside it is structure: explicit checks and balances, verifiable constraints, and institutions with clearly scoped responsibilities — the same logic behind how democracies are designed to prevent unchecked power. His proposal is a 5-to-1 nonprofit where delegates from labs agree on a shared model specification that becomes a verifiable, multipolar governance target no single company controls. Speaker: Evan Miyazono (Atlas Computing) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

We are building systems we don't understand. Paul Riechers thinks that's the core problem, and that it's fixable. Paul, co-founder of Simplex and research lead at the Astera Institute, brings a physics background to AI safety. His central argument: without a mathematical understanding of what intelligence actually is, the debate between AI optimists and pessimists has no ground to stand on. Everyone has strong feelings. Nobody has a shared truth to point to. His research finds that transformer models develop internal world models with universal geometric structure, the same representations emerging across different architectures. That's evidence that interpretability is possible and that we can eventually understand what these systems are doing, not just observe what they produce. Speaker: Paul Riechers (Simplex / Astera Institute) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Building AI systems today means choosing between two bad options: the rigidity of traditional code or the unpredictability of language models. Quentin Feuillade-Montixi thinks neither is good enough, and that we need a new abstraction layer between them. Quentin, founder of WeaveMind and co-founder of Prism Evals, built the behavior elicitation benchmark for AI safety evaluation. His frustration with how AI systems are currently built led him to develop a framework where everything operates at the same level of abstraction — giving developers the structure and verifiability of code while preserving the flexibility needed to work with language models. The goal is to make what AI agents are actually doing visible and controllable, not just at the output level but at the level of the system itself. Speaker: Quentin Feuillade-Montixi (WeaveMind) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Only 0.1% of people working on AI are working on frontier AI safety and security. Ryan Kidd thinks that number needs to get to 1%, fast. Ryan, founder of MATS Research, argues that talent is the primary bottleneck in AI safety, not funding or ideas. Funding is growing. Research directions exist. What's missing is the pipeline of people with the skills, connections and credentials to do the work. At current growth rates, AI safety won't reach the scale of comparable technical challenges before AGI arrives. MATS runs fellowships several times a year across alignment, interpretability, security and governance — deliberately outside traditional academic structures. Ryan's call to the room: if you have a good idea for making AI safer, you don't need a PhD to pursue it. Speaker: Ryan Kidd (MATS Research) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

In 1770, the British East India Company's pursuit of profit contributed to a famine that killed 10 million people. Ashutosh Desai starts there, and draws a straight line to today. Ashutosh, founder of Make School and collaborator on Google's Magenta music AI project, argues that technological advantage has always allowed capital to out-leverage both labor and governance. The Industrial Revolution reshaped the bodies of Indian weavers. AI is doing something similar now to software engineers and knowledge workers. His warning: the American military-industrial complex combined with AI is the greatest risk we face, and many of the people enabling it are rational actors who simply can't find their way out of the prisoner's dilemma. His invitation is to stop being a user of these technologies and become an active shaper of them. Speaker: Ashutosh Desai This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Six people currently sit on OpenAI's board. Those six people make decisions about one of the most powerful technologies ever built. Is that safe? James Farrell, CTO of Funding the Commons, moderates a conversation between Ala Shaabana, co-founder of Bittensor, and Ashutosh Desai on what a more decentralized AI economy could actually look like. Bittensor recently completed a full training run for a 72 billion parameter model on decentralized infrastructure — an early proof that markets can coordinate around AI without centralizing control. The conversation covers sovereign AI development across countries like India, the difference between decentralizing across organizations versus across nations, and why a multipolar AI world is safer than one where a single government or company holds all the power. It also turns toward something harder to quantify: as AI floods the internet with generated content, human attention and authentic connection may become the scarcest resource of all. Speakers: Ashutosh Desai, Ala Shaabana (Bittensor) Moderator: James Farrell (Funding the Commons) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

When Shaw Walters got banned from X, he built his own AI-powered social platform with prediction markets, agent swarms and asymmetric information games. That wasn't a detour. It was research. Shaw, co-creator of ElizaOS and Eliza Labs, argues that we can't build trustworthy agents using just rules, prompts and sandboxes. The behavior needs to be in the model. To generate the training data required for that, he built Babylon, a city of agents where AI characters can trade, lie, scam each other and build reputation based on how well they play information markets. The best liar in an asymmetric information game, he argues, is demonstrating a kind of intelligence worth understanding. His broader argument is that agent infrastructure needs to stay open by default — auditable, forkable and not controlled by a handful of companies — and that games are becoming the lab conditions for how agents will operate in the real world. Speaker: Shaw Walters (Eliza Labs / ElizaOS) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Radio took 36 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took seven. ChatGPT took two months. Cheryl Contee's message is simple: we don't have the luxury of waiting to figure out what we think about this. Cheryl, CEO of Brightworks AI and Change Agent AI, has spent years helping nonprofits and mission-driven organizations navigate technology transitions. She opens with a memory of her grandmother's washboard — kept in the basement just in case the washing machine broke — and builds from there. We are in a moment comparable to electrification and industrialization, but moving faster than either. The institutions collapsing around us are not the destination; they're the precondition for something better. Her argument is that the question is never whether technology will change society. It's who gets to shape that change. Only around 10% of nonprofits she works with have an AI policy. That's a leadership failure. And leadership, not technology, is what she came to talk about. Speaker: Cheryl Contee (Brightworks AI / Change Agent AI) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Superintelligence is likely within a decade. Esben Kran's question is where to put the money to prepare for it. Esben, co-founder of Seldon Lab and founder of Apart Research, argues that we are at an inflection point where AI safety has moved from a research problem to a market opportunity. Seldon is his answer — a Y Combinator-style accelerator for AI safety startups, focused on companies that can scale to $100 billion while tying every dollar earned to a measurable unit of security created in the world. His thesis: if AI replaces labor and becomes the largest industry in the world, AI safety will become the second largest. He makes the case that the biggest leverage point is no longer compute but verification — a conclusion now backed by a new paper out of MIT arguing that verification technology is the moat in the age of AGI. The three options for anyone serious about AGI risk: join a lab, lobby for policy, or proactively engineer the secure infrastructure we'll need. Seldon is betting on the third. Speaker: Esben Kran (Apart Research / Seldon) Slides: https://ftcseldonlab.netlify.app This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

The US invented industrial robotics. Then it didn't invest in it. Japan took the lead. Then China. Now China is the largest user of robots in the world and pushing to become the largest supplier. Jeff Burnstein has watched all of this from the inside for over 40 years. Jeff, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, sits down with Devinder Sodhi of Frontier Tower for a conversation covering the full arc of physical AI — from why the word "robot" still scares American voters, to the case for a national robotics commission, to why Detroit's collapse was never really about the machines. Done right, he argues, automation creates more jobs than it eliminates. But only if governments invest in workforce training rather than waiting for the market to sort it out. Speakers: Jeff Burnstein (Association for Advancing Automation), Devinder Sodhi (Frontier Tower / Tess Ventures) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

In 1998, a group of developers named what they'd been doing all along — and "open source" became something companies could adopt, fund and build on. Brian Behlendorf was in that room. He thinks we're at an identical moment with proof of control. Brian, co-founder of the Apache Foundation and former head of Hyperledger, sits down with Tricia Wang to trace the line from open source to the agent security challenge we face today. The same social engineering attacks that almost compromised the Linux kernel will happen at a hundred times the scale when agents are doing the contributing. He argues that the most urgent problem is liability washing: humans deploying agents to cause harm, then escaping accountability because no one can trace the action back to them. Proof of control is what connects agents back to the upstream humans responsible for them. Speakers: Brian Behlendorf (Open Source Security Foundatio

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

Your body is 30 trillion cells cooperating every millisecond. Cancer is what happens when that cooperation breaks down. Athena Aktipis has spent her career studying both, and thinks the lessons apply directly to multi-agent AI. Athena, director of the Cooperative Futures Institute at Arizona State University, draws on evolutionary biology and agent-based modeling to extract design principles for cooperative systems that don't collapse under cheating and exploitation. The same foundations that make multicellular bodies viable — controlled resource allocation, division of labor, decentralized policing, kill switches for defectors — are the ones we need as AI agent networks scale. Her walkaway rule offers a surprisingly simple basis for cooperation in decentralized systems: always cooperate, and leave if your partner isn't cooperative enough. Decades of modeling suggest this is sufficient for cooperation to evolve and persist. The question is whether we can build that into AI systems before the scale makes it impossible to retrofit. Speaker: Athena Aktipis (Arizona State University / Cooperative Futures Institute) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

We already lost the battle for mind control. De Kai argues it happened 20 years ago, the moment AI algorithms started deciding what ideas would and wouldn't reach us. De Kai, professor at HKUST and Berkeley's ICSI and founder of the Empathetic AI Institute, asks who decides what each of us will never know. Social media recommendations, search engines and chatbots make those decisions billions of times a day. A handful of engineers and executives set the criteria. The community has no say. AI has become the 21st century knowledge commons — the system that determines which communities form and which ideas spread. That makes it the mother of all commons, and the most urgent governance challenge humanity has faced. Speaker: De Kai (Empathetic AI Institute / The Future Society) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Juan Benet

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

The crypto community built a lot. It just didn't quite get there. Juan Benet offers a frank assessment of why, and why AI might be the thing that finally makes it real. Juan, founder of Protocol Labs and the person whose work gave rise to IPFS, Filecoin and Funding the Commons itself, reflects on a decade of building decentralized infrastructure that reached fewer people than it should have. Stablecoins worked. Most of the rest didn't land at scale. The speculative noise drowned out the execution. The rails built in crypto are exactly the underground layer AI needs to transact at scale. The crypto dream might still happen, just built by AI agents rather than humans alone. Juan's challenge to the room is to start thinking now about how to provision public goods not just for people, but for the millions of AI agents that will soon be part of the conversation too. Speaker: Juan Benet (Protocol Labs) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Illia Polosukhin

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

The internet was built for humans clicking URLs. It was not built for agents coordinating with each other at scale. Illia Polosukhin thinks that needs to change now. Illia, co-founder of NEAR Protocol and co-author of the landmark "Attention Is All You Need" paper, traces the arc from AI as a backend feature to AI as the operating system through which we interface with the world. Agents are already starting to coordinate with each other, hire each other, and execute actions without human input. The infrastructure underneath them — identity, payments, privacy, policy — was not designed for this. His answer is a stack built for the agentic era: confidential execution environments, credential vaults that intercept outgoing connections, WebAssembly tool isolation, and a marketplace where agents can hire each other for tasks. The goal is security by design rather than security as an afterthought. Speaker: Illia Polosukhin (NEAR Protocol) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Illia Polosukhin, Juan Benet

Funding the Commons · May 9, 2026

What happens when AI agents don't just assist humans but start forming their own entities, entering contracts, and building toward their own goals? Illia Polosukhin and Juan Benet think we're closer to that than most people realize. Illia, co-founder of NEAR Protocol and co-author of "Attention Is All You Need," and Juan, founder of Protocol Labs, dig into the infrastructure needed for a world of autonomous AI coordination. The conversation turns on a deceptively simple problem: credit assignment. Every bottleneck in how we organize human effort, from machine learning to corporations to public goods funding, comes down to how well we can attribute contribution. Juan argues that cheap intelligence may finally let us solve this at scale, using Shapley value approximations to fairly distribute credit across AI agents working on shared goals. The first fully autonomous AI corporations may arrive within months. The question is whether we build the right foundations now or sleepwalk into it. Speakers: Illia Polosukhin (NEAR Protocol), Juan Benet (Protocol Labs) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io

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, Andrej Rakic and Frank Kong, developer relation engineers from Chainlink Labs, introduce the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) and Chainlink's privacy capabilities. Andrej explains CRE as an orchestration layer that connects the real world with smart contracts on any chain through off-chain workflows written in TypeScript or Go, compiled to WebAssembly and run across Chainlink's decentralized oracle network. He covers the three core concepts: workflows, triggers, and capabilities. Frank then walks through Chainlink's two privacy features available for the hackathon. The first is Confidential HTTP requests, which use enclaves to securely store and decrypt secrets like API keys so they remain hidden from node operators. The second is Compliant Private Token Transfer, which allows users to transfer ERC20 tokens through a vault using shielded addresses, with an Access Control Engine (ACE) for setting compliance rules on transfers. The session also covers hackathon bounties and Chainlink's AI agent skills for faster development. 00:00 Introduction 00:47 Speaker Introductions 01:23 Hackathon Bounties Overview 03:34 Chainlink Agent Skills and MCP Server 05:41 What Is Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) 06:35 CRE Core Concepts: Workflows 07:57 Hello World Workflow Example 08:20 CRE Core Concepts: Triggers 09:01 CRE Core Concepts: Capabilities 09:27 Chainlink Privacy Features Overview 10:31 Confidential HTTP Requests and Enclaves 11:57 Compliant Private Token Transfer 12:39 Access Control Engine (ACE) 13:49 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, Nik Erzetic, a developer at Flare Network, introduces Flare Smart Accounts and Flare Confidential Compute, two key pieces of Flare's infrastructure. Flare Smart Accounts use account abstraction to allow XRPL users to perform actions on the Flare blockchain without holding any Flare tokens, by bridging encoded instructions from XRPL payment transactions to personal account smart contracts on Flare. The session focuses primarily on Flare Confidential Compute, which leverages Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to extend blockchain security to handle private data and computationally heavy tasks. Nik walks through the architecture of TEE extensions on Flare, explaining how developers only need to modify two components — the instruction sender smart contract and the TEE extension code itself. He demos the FC Sign repository as a practical example, covering op types, op commands, and how the TEE securely handles private keys and transaction signing. The workshop concludes with notes on local development tooling for the hackathon and a brief Q&A. 00:00 Introduction 00:25 What Are Flare Smart Accounts 04:02 Account Abstraction and XRPL Integration 06:06 Encoding Custom Instructions 07:00 What Are Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) 08:18 Flare Confidential Compute Architecture 09:38 Developer Workflow: Smart Contract and TEE Extension 10:36 TEE Proxy and Firewall Security Model 11:06 FC Sign Repository Walkthrough 12:48 Instruction Sender Smart Contract 14:04 Op Types, Op Commands, and Message Encoding 15:52 Go TEE Extension: Handlers and Config 17:32 Local Development Setup for the Hackathon 18:35 AI Skills for Building TEE Extensions 19:07 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, 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, Gathin T introduces 0G (ZeroG), a Layer 1 EVM-compatible blockchain purpose-built for on-chain AI. He walks through 0G's four core pillars: decentralized storage offering up to 95% cost savings compared to AWS S3, a data availability layer with 50 Gbps throughput, a compute layer providing verifiable inferencing through trusted execution environments with ZKML proofs, and a service marketplace for GPU providers to register and earn from model deployments. Gathin T highlights key technical benchmarks including 11K TPS per shard and sub-second block finality, and introduces ERC-7857 (Intelligent NFTs / Agentic IDs), a standard that binds NFT identities to AI agents for ownership transfer and inter-agent payments. He covers 0G's ecosystem stats including 300+ partners and $325M in funding, the Guild grants program offering $8.8M in ecosystem support, and details the hackathon's $15K bounty pool across three tracks: best OpenClaw agent, best DeFi app, and a wildcard track. The session closes with resources for vibe coding with 0G's AI skills and documentation. 00:00 Introduction and What Is 0G 00:51 0G's Four Core Pillars Overview 01:18 0G Chain: EVM Compatibility and Mainnet 01:41 Testnet Tokens and Getting Started 02:02 0G Storage: Why Native Decentralized Storage 03:15 Data Availability Layer 03:34 Compute: Verifiable Inferencing in TEE 04:42 Transparency and Censorship Resistance 05:07 On-Chain Fine-Tuning 05:36 Service Marketplace for GPU Providers 06:14 Storage Cost Comparison: AWS S3 vs 0G 06:47 DA Throughput, TPS, and Block Finality 07:08 ERC-7857: Intelligent NFTs and Agentic IDs 08:26 Mainnet Stats and Ecosystem Overview 09:00 Guild Grants Program 09:27 Alignment Nodes and Governance 10:47 ETH Global Hackathon Bounties 11:34 Vibe Coding Resources and AI Skills 12:40 Telegram Group and Faucet Support 13:02 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, Angela Ocando from Uniswap Labs and Ivan Volovyk, a Uniswap Foundation ambassador, introduce the Uniswap API as a way to integrate on-chain swaps into any application in minutes. Angela explains how the API aggregates all of Uniswap's trading infrastructure — including Uniswap v2, v3, v4, UniswapX, and over 25 market makers — so developers can focus on their product rather than building swap infrastructure. She highlights key stats including over $4 trillion in cumulative volume, 17 supported chains, 200ms routing latency, and 97% fill rates. Ivan then does a live demo in Cursor, showing how to create an API key at developers.uniswap.org, install the Uniswap AI skills into a project, and use a simple prompt to implement quoting and swapping functionality in minutes. He demonstrates a playful DnD-themed swap interface pulling real quotes from the Uniswap API. The session covers hackathon bounty details for best Uniswap API integration across trading apps, agent-based systems, automated strategies, and new financial primitives. 00:00 Introduction 01:02 What Is the Uniswap API 02:06 What the API Aggregates 02:30 Uniswap Protocol Stats 03:31 Common Use Cases 03:56 How Integration Works 04:20 Hackathon Bounty and Ideas 05:02 Resources: API Docs, Skills, and QR Codes 05:40 Live Demo: Creating an API Key 06:05 Installing Uniswap AI Skills in Cursor 06:39 Prompting Claude to Implement Swaps 07:17 Demo Results: Real Quotes and Transactions 08:16 Post-Hackathon Support and Closing 08:41 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, Judson Bonneville from Gensyn introduces the Agent eXchange Layer (AXL), a decentralized peer-to-peer mesh networking layer that lets agents, tools, and machine learning workloads discover each other and communicate in a fully encrypted environment. AXL is a single Go binary that handles all networking — message routing, NAT traversal, and dual-layer encryption (hop-by-hop TLS plus end-to-end payload encryption) — with no central servers, DNS, port forwarding, or cloud accounts required. Applications interact through just three HTTP endpoints on localhost: send, receive, and topology. Judson explains how nodes join a bootstrap network and find each other via public keys (like phone numbers), enabling fully peer-to-peer communication where intermediary nodes can see transmissions happening but never the content. He covers AXL's support for MCP (exposing named services for structured JSON-RPC responses) and Google's A2A agent protocol for skill discovery. Use cases include agent collaboration, service registries, private data exchange, distributed inference with pipeline parallelism, and any peer-to-peer application. He demos a group chat app where two nodes message each other and share an OpenClaw agent instance, with the agent maintaining conversation context across multiple users — all built with simple HTTP calls to localhost while AXL handles the infrastructure. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 What Is the Agent eXchange Layer (AXL) 00:53 How AXL Works: Peer-to-Peer Mesh Network 01:36 Application Agnostic: Any Language, Any Payload 01:57 Public Keys as Node Identity 02:17 No Central Servers, No Port Forwarding 02:41 Three Core HTTP Endpoints: Send, Receive, Topology 03:22 Dual-Layer Encryption: TLS and End-to-End 04:26 Building with AXL: Send and Receive Pattern 05:15 Use Cases: Agent Collaboration and Chat Rooms 05:40 MCP and A2A Protocol Support 06:32 Getting Started: Clone, Build, Generate Identity 07:12 What You Can Build with AXL 07:29 Agent Collaboration: Decentralized Research 07:48 Service Registry and Tool Marketplace 08:23 Private Data Exchange with Encryption 08:51 Distributed Inference and Pipeline Parallelism 09:17 Packaged Examples: Gossip, Tensor Exchange, A2A 09:58 Live Demo: Peer-to-Peer Group Chat with OpenClaw Agent 11:27 Shared Agent Instance Across Multiple Users 13:45 How the Demo Works Under the Hood 14:23 Resources and Getting Started 14:41 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 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, 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 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · May 9, 2026

In this workshop, Gathin T from 0G provides a refresher on the 0G stack for hackathon participants and walks through the builder hub. He frames 0G's mission around solving trust vulnerabilities in the agent economy, where centralized AI acts as a black box with no verifiability of inputs, outputs, censorship resistance mechanisms, or actual inferencing costs. 0G addresses this as a Layer 1 EVM-compatible chain purpose-built for on-chain AI with four core components: storage, data availability, compute, and a service marketplace. Gathin T explains key technical updates including the simplified storage SDK with just uploader and downloader functions (no flow contracts needed), recently launched encryption for data uploads, and KV storage achievable through the existing log storage. He covers 0G's verifiable inferencing through TEE environments with ZKML proofs across models like GLM 5.1, DeepSeek 27B, and GPT-OSS, plus on-chain fine-tuning. He dives deeper into ERC-7857 (Agentic IDs), explaining why ERC-721/1155 don't work for AI agents (static metadata, no encrypted model data, no re-keying on transfer) and how the new standard enables encrypted metadata, TEE oracle re-encryption on transfer, and up to 100 delegated users per token. The hackathon offers two $7.5K tracks (framework/tooling and agent builds), and Gathin T introduces the Guild on 0G 2.0 grants program for post-hackathon scaling support. 00:00 Introduction and Workshop Overview 00:58 Speaker Introduction 01:13 The Trust Problem in the Agent Economy 02:13 What Is 0G: Decentralized AI Operating System 02:45 Four Core Pillars Overview 03:29 Why Native Storage for AI Workloads 04:27 Data Availability Layer Explained 04:58 Verifiable Inferencing in TEE Environments 05:30 On-Chain Fine-Tuning and Model Marketplace 06:39 Problems with Centralized AI Today 07:32 Censorship Control and Incentive Structures 08:24 0G Storage SDK: Uploader and Downloader Functions 09:39 How Data Distribution and Merkle Trees Work 10:08 Recently Launched Encryption Feature 10:32 Cost Comparison: AWS S3 vs 0G Storage 11:29 GLM 5.1 and Verifiable Inferencing with ZKML 12:09 DA Throughput, TPS, and Sub-Second Block Finality 12:40 ERC-7857: Why Existing NFT Standards Don't Fit AI 13:34 Agentic ID Features: Re-Encryption and Delegation 13:58 Mainnet Launch and Ecosystem Stats 14:55 Guild on 0G 2.0 Grants Program 15:49 Alignment Nodes and Governance 16:27 Hackathon Tracks: Framework and Agent Builds 17:18 Project Idea Bank and MVP Review Support 17:53 Builder Hub and Telegram Support Channel 18:11 Closing and Office Hours Transition _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🤖 *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 Gathin T* X: https://x.com/gathint ✅ *Follow 0G* X: https://x.com/0G_labs ✅ *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!

Funding the Commons · Apr 9, 2026

What does it look like to build for human flourishing in the age of AI? Intelligence at the Frontier was a 36-hour festival, conference, and overnight hackathon across 16 floors of Frontier Tower in San Francisco. 1,000 researchers, builders, artists, funders, and policymakers. Talks, workshops, live music, immersive art, real-time public goods funding experiments—and a lot of great conversations.This is a glimpse of what happened inside. Speakers included Juan Benet (Protocol Labs), Illia Polosukhin (NEAR Protocol), Tom Kalil (Renaissance Philanthropy), Leo Gao (OpenAI), Luke Drago (Workshop Labs), Sheila Warren (fmr. World Economic Forum), Shaw Walters (ElizaOS), and Brian Behlendorf (EFF, Mozilla Foundation), alongside 160+ more voices across AI governance, longevity, sovereign infrastructure, and the coordination systems that determine whether intelligence serves everyone. Filmed at Intelligence at the Frontier, March 14–15, 2026, Frontier Tower, San Francisco. Presented by Funding the Commons, Frontier Tower & Protocol Labs. Learn more: https://fundingthecommons.io

Funding the Commons · Apr 9, 2026

The UN has a pipeline of 150 blockchain initiatives. Getting them to scale means the blockchain industry has to build relationships it hasn't prioritized yet—with governments, UN agencies, and civil society. Teodor Petricevic works at the UNDP Alternative Finance Lab in Istanbul. In this conversation, he talks about why cross-chain, cross-sector collaboration has to happen now, and why builders shouldn't compromise their core principles to make it work. Filmed at Funding the Commons Buenos Aires, November 19, 2025. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Relevant Projects UNDP AltFinLab: https://innovation.eurasia.undp.org/altfinlab/ 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

Funding the Commons · Apr 9, 2026

It’s easy to design for people who already understand blockchain. Getting a government to trust it and deploy it is a different kind of challenge. Aaron Sanchez, Head of Strategy and Partnerships at Exponential Science, runs the Government Blockchain Academy with the UNDP. His work focuses on educating public officials and their teams, then helping them think through real use cases that make sense beyond the crypto ecosystem. The starting point isn’t the technology. It’s the problem. And sometimes the answer isn’t blockchain. Filmed at Funding the Commons Buenos Aires, November 19, 2025. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Relevant Projects Exponential Science: https://www.exp.science/ UNDP: https://www.undp.org 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

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

Jarrad Hope

Funding the Commons · Mar 9, 2026

Most of the systems we use every day are not private by default. That includes the platforms we communicate on and the financial networks that record how money moves. Jarrad Hope, co-founder of Logos and Director of the Institute of Free Technology, is building alternatives: anonymous communication, decentralized storage, and blockchain systems designed to protect users instead of extracting from them. Privacy is not a feature. It is the foundation of agency. Filmed at Funding the Commons Buenos Aires, November 19, 2025. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io Relevant Projects Logos: https://logos.co Institute of Free Technology: https://free.technology 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! 🌟

Ben Jones

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

Kacper Koziol is Co-Founder of Herodotus and leads institutional strategy at Amish, a novel cross-chain lending protocol powered by Herodotus's ZK coprocessor. He's the architect behind Sentinel, a new kind of defense infrastructure that brings provable compliance and criteria enforcement to protocols deployed on permissionless blockchains. Through Amish, he designs how these primitives can enable DeFi products that meet the needs of institutions seeking compliant ways to deploy capital, transact, and participate in the open Ethereum ecosystem.

Daniel Marzec

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 talk uses production failure modes from institutional deployments to demonstrate why faster RPCs cannot solve write-heavy workloads at financial SLAs, then presents the architectural primitives required for autonomous systems operating at scale.

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! 🌟

Jordi Baylina

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! 🌟

Karl Floersch

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

Monad is a next-generation, Ethereum-compatible chain delivering 10,000. TPS, sub-second finality, low fees, and scalable decentralization. All in one.

Solange Gueiros

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

For blockchain to be useful in the real world, the systems should work together, in workflows. This hands-on session will demonstrate how CRE orchestrates workflows in TypeScript that connect blockchain state to the real world.

Luca Donno

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! 🌟

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! 🌟

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! 🌟

Danno Ferrin

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! 🌟

Dan Elitzer

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

Tomer talks: - Building static analyzers for scale and practical engineering challenges - Building a pythonic DSL over the AST structure, for readable template-based heuristic contributions - How radar's design was built to fit LLM-based mass vulnerability detections across multiple codebases

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! 🌟

Colin Platt

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

This session will focus on how Weiroll (https://github.com/weiroll/weiroll and later modified in https://github.com/EnsoBuild/enso-weiroll), an open source initiative, creates a powerful primitive for DeFi interactions, including in building and maintaining vaults.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Brevity is a language, similar in syntax to Solidity, that is compactly transpiled to an EVM transaction and run on a general purpose smart contract, the Brevity Interpreter. Brevity allows anyone perform to arbitrarily complexDeFi workflows in 1 click. It also supports guardrails and metaTxs.

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! 🌟

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

Presented by Lucas Kozinski, Zane Huffman, Matt Wesoloski, and Ais Connolly at the New France Village Stage. 🚀 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! 🌟

Luca Donno

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

Aryeh has been deeply involved in the crypto space since 2020. Over the years, he has focused on protocol engineering at the following organizations: Compound Labs, OpenSea, PartyDao, and OpenZeppelin. He has also played crucial roles within the Compound Dao including building governor bravo.

Joe Lubin

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

"toast" is a long-time Ethereum NFT enthusiast who was early to Hyperliquid. He recieved a generous airdrop which allowed him leave the fiat mines and transition full-time into web3 in 2025. He organized the $250,000 Hyperliquid Community Hackathon, and runs a show called DeFi for Dummies.

Ethereum Denver · Mar 9, 2026

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! 🌟

Jerome de Tychey

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! 🌟

Griff Green

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

Autonomous AI agents need to learn from private data without sharing it. In this talk we explore Verifiable Federated Learning (VFL): using ZK and cryptography on Ethereum to enable trustless, collaborative model training and on-chain aggregation for decentralized AI fleets.

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! 🌟

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! 🌟

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

🚀 ETHDenver 2026 — The Rise of New BUIDL City Is Here! 🚀 What an incredible experience building, connecting, and celebrating innovation together. The energy, the ideas, the community... Unforgettable! Thank you to everyone who showed up, contributed, and made it truly special. See you in the next chapter of ETHDenver!

ETHCluj Meetup · Mar 9, 2026

In this session founder Akhil Nanavati presents his project BeYou - a privacy-first platform that empowers verified communities to communicate and share honest feedback without compromising identity. ​Built on secure anonymous signaling principles, BeYou enables groups such as hackathon cohorts and residency programs or professional networks and decentralized communities to create trusted spaces where members can vote, propose ideas, and signal preferences anonymously while still ensuring that every participant is authentic and verified through secure email verification using zero-knowledge proofs.

Danny Ryan

Devcon · Mar 9, 2026

Danny Ryan was in a band, ran a screen printing company, and was building apps for a duty free theme park on the Mexican border before a friend sent him a New York Times article about Ethereum. By 2022 he was leading the Merge, one of the most complex engineering feats in crypto history. Now he's co-founded Etherealize to help bring $120 trillion onto Ethereum. This is an interview with a leader, a founder, and a father, someone who lives life on their own terms, and builds technology such that others can too. This is Danny Ryan, OFFSTAGE. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 02:54 Discovering the internet in 2nd grade 08:02 The "$85/hour" math & not getting a job 12:47 "There is no New Orleans meetup. I have to make it." 16:45 How a guy like Danny ended up leading The Merge 23:07 Why the world needs Ethereum now 24:46 Decentralization vs. Counterparty Risk 35:29 AI, kids, and the future 42:48 The most intense Jenga move of the season Follow @offstage_x on X: https://x.com/offstage_x Hosted by Binji Pande, Ethereum Foundation

Stani Kulechov

Devcon · Mar 9, 2026