Infinite Jungle

Season 2 Finale w/Nethermind’s Łukasz & Marek

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 92 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Łukasz Rozmej and Marek Moraczyński from the Nethermind client team. Nethermind is the 2nd most popular Ethereum execution layer client used by close to 40% of all Ethereum node operators. Christine asks Łukasz and Marek about their thoughts on Ethereum upgrades Pectra and Fusaka, as well as their views on Ethereum client diversity. This is the final episode of Infinite Jungle Season 2 and the last episode hosted by Christine. Christine shares a word of thanks to her listeners and everyone who supported the show for the past 2 seasons.

Guest:

Name: Łukasz Rozmej

Title: Team Lead at Nethermind

X: https://x.com/urozmej

Name: Marek Moraczyński

Title: Team Lead at Nethermind

X: https://x.com/M25Marek

Show note links:

Nethermind Fusaka scope team view (https://x.com/M25Marek/status/1896911082628727213)
Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, FOCIL (https://ethresear.ch/t/fork-choice-enforced-inclusion-lists-focil-a-simple-committee-based-inclusion-list-proposal/19870)
Nethermind Surge rollup (https://www.surge.wtf/)

Timestamps:

(00:01:05) Comparing Pectra to prior upgrades

(00:03:10) Pectra mainnet timeline expectations

(00:05:12) Nethermind’s view on Fusaka scope

(00:18:08) Nethermind’s competitive edge

(00:24:44) Nethermind’s preparations for history expiry

(00:29:03) Marek and Lukasz’s future as core devs

(00:35:03) A word of thanks

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 21, 2025.

Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/

ACDE #208: Something’s Gotta Give

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.91 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDE #208 where developers set an ambitious date for Pectra activation on Ethereum mainnet. They also reconfirmed the inclusion of EOF in the Fusaka upgrade and agreed to pursue the largest version of EOF in Fusaka with the addition of a few new EIPs. Finally, Christine announces her departure from Galaxy and the Infinite Jungle podcast. Due to her departure, Infinite Jungle Season 2 will be ending early. The final episode will air on Wednesday, April 2.

Show note links:

ACDE #208 call notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-208/)
Concerns about April 30 (https://x.com/philngo_/status/1905630338413396184)
Infinite Jungle guest episode with Danno Ferrin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlzd_XMI0KE)
Concerns about EOF (https://hackmd.io/@pcaversaccio/eof-when-complexity-outweighs-necessity)
Ethereum protocol upgrade process document (https://github.com/ethereum/pm/pull/1409)
EIP 7883, ModExp gas cost increase (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7883)
Christine’s X profile (https://x.com/christine_dkim)
Galaxy Research website (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/)

Timestamps:

(00:02:12) Hoodi testnet upgrade

(00:07:03) April 30

(00:17:34) Complete EOF

(00:29:11) Something’s gotta give

(00:35:29) Christine’s big announcement

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 28, 2025.

Do Less: The Power of History Expiry on Ethereum

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 90 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Piper Merriam, an Ethereum Foundation researcher leading efforts for history expiry on Ethereum. History expiry enables Ethereum nodes to prune old block and transaction data from their databases. It is estimated to free up 100s of GB worth of hard disk space. It is also expected to open the design space for differentiated and use case specific client software. Christine speaks to Merriam about the benefits, risks, and timeline for history expiry, as well as his views on why history expiry efforts are often underappreciated in the Ethereum community.

Guest:

Name: Piper Merriam

Title: Ethereum Foundation Researcher

Show note links:

The Portal Network (https://ethportal.net/)

Timestamps:

(00:01:00) How Piper got involved with Ethereum

(00:08:08) How history expiry enables node differentiation

(00:14:26) The risks of history expiry

(00:21:42) The game theory behind history expiry

(00:35:38) Meet the Portal team

(00:38:27) The history expiry timeline

(00:43:28) Piper’s motivation for working on Ethereum

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 21, 2025.

ACDC #153: Pectra on Hoodi, The Final Testnet Upgrade

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.89 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDC #153 where developers reconfirmed next steps for Pectra testing, discussed the strategy for history expiry, and debated the merits of EIP 7688 for the Fusaka upgrade.

Show note links:

Hoodi blockchain explorer (https://dora.hoodi.ethpandaops.io/)
EIP 7688, Forward compatible consensus data structures (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7688)
EIP 4788, Beacon block root in the EVM (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4788)
ACDC #153 call notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-153/)

Timestamps:

(00:01:29) Hoodi is alive!

(00:05:25) Concerns about the history expiry timeline

(00:20:54) Concerns about the scope of Fusaka

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 21, 2025.

Is ETH Gas or Sound Money? w/Camila Russo

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 88 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Camila Russo, the founder of The Defiant and author of The Infinite Machine. Christine speaks with Camila about how she started The Defiant, a news site that specializes in covering major developments in decentralized finance and on-chain activity. Christine also speaks with Camila about her views on Ethereum’s value and recent organizational changes in the Ethereum Foundation. Christine and Camila discuss concerns about Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap and the value accrual mechanisms for ETH considering the migration of user activity to L2s.

Guest:

Name: Camila Russo

Title: The Founder of The Defiant and Author of The Infinite Machine

X: https://x.com/CamiRusso

Show note links:

The Defiant (https://thedefiant.io/)
The Infinite Machine (https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Machine-Crypto-hackers-Building-Internet-ebook/dp/B07X8HS2WC)

Timestamps:

(00:00:56) The Defiant is independently owned

(00:03:39) How the Defiant is going on-chain

(00:10:23) Cami’s ETHDenver 2025 takeaways

(00:18:32) Ethereum’s two main problems

(00:31:01) The most promising Ethereum competitors

(00:39:03) Why ETH is gas or sound money but not both

(00:43:26) Cami’s take on recent changes in the EF

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 14, 2025.

ACDE #207: Hoodi & Chill

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.87 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDE #207. Ethereum developers agreed on another new game plan for Pectra that involves the launch of a brand new public testnet called Hoodi. Hoodi will mimic Ethereum mainnet in almost every way, including Ethereum’s validator set size and network specifications. From genesis, Hoodi will activate with Dencun specifications, which are the specifications live on Ethereum mainnet today, and within 10 days of launch, developers will roll out the Pectra upgrade on Hoodi. If the Pectra upgrade on Hoodi goes well, developers may schedule the Pectra upgrade for Ethereum mainnet as early as 30 days out thereafter. This means developers are now estimating the earliest Pectra could go live on mainnet is late April. Christine explains why the upgrade is more likely to happen some time in May and highlights the surprising shift in developer sentiment on the ACD call from shipping faster to taking it easy.

Show note links:

ACDE #207 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-207/)

Timestamps:

(00:01:25) Holesky win changes Pectra plans

(00:08:08) The 4 options for Pectra testing

(00:18:42) What developers needs to see before Pectra goes live on mainnet

(00:26:51) Why developers decided to with Option #1

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 14, 2025.

Setting the Record Straight on Pectra Testing w/Pari and Marius

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 86 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Ethereum Foundation Developer Operations Engineer Parithosh Jayanthi and Ethereum Foundation Geth Developer Marius van der Wijden about the recent Holesky and Sepolia testnet upgrades. Both upgrades resulted in major hot fixes to Ethereum clients. Jayanthi and van der Wijden explain why these results are not out of the ordinary for Ethereum developers and what learnings have been gleaned from both testnet incidents. They also share their views on recent organizational changes to the Ethereum Foundation and their outlook on the state of Ethereum protocol development.

Guest:

Name: Parithosh Jayanthi

Title: Ethereum Foundation Developer Operations Engineer

X: https://x.com/parithosh_j

Name: Marius van der Wijden

Title: Ethereum Foundation Geth Developer

X: https://x.com/vdWijden

Show note links:

Marius’ Sepolia Pectra fork incident recap (https://mariusvanderwijden.github.io/blog/2025/03/08/Sepolia/)
Pectra audit competition (https://cantina.xyz/competitions/9ab19e33-b73c-4384-83a8-b905f508ce5e)

Timestamps:

(00:01:27) Resetting expectations for Pectra testing

(00:13:51) The need to reprioritize protocol hardening

(00:27:39) When will Pectra be ready for mainnet?

(00:32:24) Can Ethereum upgrade safely and faster?

(00:46:55) Views on the Ethereum Foundation

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 7, 2025.

ACDC #152: The New Pectra Game Plan

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.85 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDC #152 where Ethereum developers agreed on a new game plan for Pectra in the aftermath of the Holesky and Sepolia testnet upgrades. Developers will launch a clone or shadow fork of the Holesky testnet to support testing of the Pectra upgrade by the broader Ethereum ecosystem in lieu of the original Holesky testnet. Holesky remains in a state of non-finalization. However, developers are still working to restore the testnet for long-term use. The Sepolia testnet is healthy in the aftermath of the Pectra upgrade, though developers needed to issue a hotfix to clients within the first few hours of Pectra activation to stabilize the testnet initially. Christine runs through all the latest updates in Ethereum protocol development and shares the silver linings to recent setbacks for the Pectra development timeline.

Timestamps:

(00:00:50) Holesky Status Update

(00:07:46) Sepolia Status Update

(00:12:57) New Game Plan for Pectra

(00:19:17) Learnings from Pectra Public Testnet Upgrades

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 7, 2025.

Ethereum’s Culture Problem w/Hasu

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 84 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Hasu, Strategic Advisor to Lido and Strategy Lead at Flashbots. They discuss the importance of the Lido V3 upgrade, the risks it entails, and opportunities for improving Lido’s competitive value against centralized staking solutions. They also discuss the underperformance of ETH and what needs to change about Ethereum’s research and development culture. Hasu argues for three critical changes. First, allocate mindshare away from “endgame planning”. Second, reduce the number of clients. Third, plan upgrades by goal not EIPs.

Guest:

Name: Hasu

Title: Strategic advisor to Lido and Strategy Lead at Flashbots

X: https://x.com/hasufl

Show note links:

Lido V3 (https://v3.lido.fi/)

Timestamps:

(00:01:29) What is Lido V3?

(00:04:52) What risks does the V3 upgrade entail?

(00:12:35) Why should institutions stake with Lido?

(00:20:42) Is the Lido DAO competitive against CEXs?

(00:31:50) How V3 enables restaking on Lido

(00:34:34) Hasu’s thoughts on ETH’s underperformance

(00:40:33) Are L2s parasitic to ETH value?

(00:43:10) Ethereum’s culture problem

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 28, 2025.

ACDE #206: Public Testnets are Not for Breaking

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep.83 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDE #206. The call was dedicated to figuring out next steps for the Holesky testnet. The testnet devolved into a state of non-finalization following Pectra activation. Developers misconfigured three out of five execution layer clients when upgrading Holesky. Fixes for these clients have since been released and developers have agreed to move forward with Pectra activation on Ethereum’s second public testnet, Sepolia, on Wednesday March 5. Christine explains why this decision may have been a mistake for developers in hindsight and what other impacts the Holesky incident has on the Pectra development timeline.

Show note links:

ACDE #206 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-206/)
Georgios Konstantopoulos’ X post on the Holesky incident (https://x.com/gakonst/status/1894173832317211112)

Timestamps:

(00:02:51) What Happened to the Holesky Testnet

(00:09:35) How Developers Are Trying to Revive Holesky

(00:23:39) What the Holesky Incident Means for Pectra

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 28, 2025.

Meet Giulio, CTO of Erigon

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 82 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Giulio Rebuffo, CTO of Erigon. At only 17 years old, Giulio started to contribute to Erigon, one of Ethereum’s open-source execution layer software clients. He was the main engineer for the Erigon team during the pivotal Merge upgrade and now 22, Giulio leads the Erigon team as CTO. Christine asks Giulio about his experience working in crypto as an Ethereum protocol developer and his thoughts about Ethereum’s technical roadmap as developers look ahead to scoping out the Fusaka upgrade.

Guest:

Name: Giulio Rebuffo

Title: CTO of Erigon

X: https://x.com/GiulioRebuffo

Show note links:

Background on the Ethereum Gas Limit project (https://eglvote.medium.com/introducing-the-ethereum-gas-limit-project-egl-3f17c7706e73)
Vitalik’s blog post on increasing the block gas limit (https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/02/14/l1scaling.html)

Timestamps:

(00:00:55) How Giulio became an Ethereum developer

(00:08:00) The ideal Fusaka scope

(00:18:02) The importance of increasing Ethereum’s block gas limit

(00:22:14) Why ePBS has a shot in Fusaka but not SSZ

(00:25:31) What would make Giulio leave Ethereum

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 14, 2025.

ACDC #151: Full Steam Ahead for Pectra on Holesky!

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep.81 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDC #151. On ACDC #151, developers agreed to finalize two new EIPs, EIP 7870 and 7872. Though neither of these EIPs require a hard fork to implement, they will still be official documents that live on in the Ethereum GitHub repository. EIP 7872 specifies how client teams should implement the max blob flag for the benefit of local validators and EIP 7870 specifies minimum hardware and bandwidth requirements for validators. Christine explains both in more detail and why there’s still work that needs to be done on EIP 7870.

Show note links:

ACDC #151 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-151/)
Pectra Retrospective w/Nixo and Yorick (https://open.spotify.com/episode/45Ws5Ekc1oqFXcJWvPM2eW)

Timestamps:

(00:00:49) Holesky upgrade incoming!

(00:04:58) EIP-7872, Max blob flag

(00:10:35) EIP-7870, Validator hardware and bandwidth

recommendations

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 7, 2025.

ETH vs. SOL vs. TIA w/Jon Charbonneau

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 80 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Jon Charbonneau, Co-Founder and General Partner at crypto investment firm DBA. As an investor in the Ethereum, Solana, Celestia, and Bitcoin ecosystems, Christine asks Jon about his thoughts on Ethereum’s competitive advantages and technical roadmap. Jon explains the trap that many Ethereum stakeholders have fallen into by becoming hyper-focused on “endgame” or long-term goals. Jon explains the importance of prioritizing short-term objectives to achieve long-term goals and leaning into what Ethereum does best today, instead of what the blockchain could one day achieve in the future.

Guest:

Name: Jon Charbonneau

Title: Co-Founder and General Partner at DBA

X: https://x.com/jon_charb

Show note links:

A Bitcoin L2 Thesis, DBA report (https://dba.xyz/a-bitcoin-l2-thesis/)
Ethereum’s North Star, DBA report (https://dba.xyz/ethereums-north-star/)
We’re All Building the Same Thing, DBA report (https://dba.xyz/were-all-building-the-same-thing/)
Jon’s tweet on Ethereum’s roadmap and timing estimates (https://x.com/jon_charb/status/1883912628952850935)
Payy application (https://x.com/payy_link)

Timestamps:

(00:02:01) Ethereum is the world computer

(00:12:04) Ethereum vs. Solana

(00:22:31) Ethereum needs a dual scaling strategy

(00:27:53) Ethereum vs. Celestia

(00:48:34) Jon’s hopes for crypto

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 7, 2025.

ACDE #205: Let the Fusaka Scoping Discussions Begin!

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:12:00 -0000

On Ep.79 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDE #205. Ethereum developers are on track to upgrade public Ethereum testnets Holesky and Sepolia on February 24 and March 5, respectively. Christine reminds listeners that Pectra is the largest Ethereum upgrade by number of EIPs so there is heightened technical risk to activating Pectra and potential for developers to identify unexpected bugs in Pectra even during the public testnet upgrades. Christine also shares the latest updates about the scope of Ethereum’s next upgrade, Fusaka, and what disagreements are already causing tension in the Ethereum developer community.

Show note links:

ACDE #205 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-205/)
Pectra Retrospective w/Nixo and Yorick (https://open.spotify.com/episode/45Ws5Ekc1oqFXcJWvPM2eW)
ACDC #147: Eth Devs Pump the Brakes on Pumping the Gas (https://open.spotify.com/episode/0R8Mpovr1JNewo8sWyu10W)
Vitalik’s blog post on increasing the block gas limit (https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/02/14/l1scaling.html)

Timestamps:

(00:00:47) Pectra timeline update

(00:06:37) The new goal for Fusaka

(00:18:16) Fusaka scope discussion

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 14, 2025.

Pectra Retrospective w/Nixo and Yorick

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 78 of Infinite Jungle, Christine welcomes back Ethereum Foundation’s Nixo and Galaxy’s Yorick to the show. They have a mini-debrief session on the Pectra upgrade planning process and debate how useful exercises like a Pectra retrospective are to the evolution of Ethereum. They also discuss the pros and cons of creating minimum hardware and bandwidth requirements for Ethereum validators. Christine recommends that Nixo present her own document on validator hardware and bandwidth requirements for the Ethereum staking community.

Guests:

Name: Nixo Rokish

Title: Former Executive Director of EthStaker and Protocol Support Team Member at the Ethereum Foundation

X: https://x.com/nixorokish

Yorick Downe

Title: Founder of Cryptomanufaktur and Chief Architect of Blockchain Services at Galaxy

X: https://x.com/yorickdowne

Show note links:

The official Pectra retrospective forum (https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/pectra-retrospective/22637)
Graphic of past Ethereum forks since 2020 (https://x.com/nixorokish/status/1884705154890596601)
EIP for validator hardware and bandwidth requirements (https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/9270)
EthPandaOps community data collection efforts (https://ethpandaops.io/posts/contribute-to-xatu-data/)
Validator hardware and bandwidth requirements discussion forum (https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/hardware-and-bandwidth-recommendations-for-full-nodes-and-validators/22675/6)

Timestamps:

(00:00:38) The Pectra retrospective

(00:31:41) Minimum validator hardware and bandwidth requirements

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 7, 2025.

ACDC #150: The Competitive Advantage of $ETH

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep.77 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDC #150. Concerns were raised from major Ethereum stakeholders representing Layer-2 rollup projects and staking pools about the timeline for Pectra mainnet activation being too hasty. Developers agreed to push back Pectra activation by a month and leave at least 30 days between the last public testnet upgrade and mainnet upgrade. Christine also shares her main takeaways about the competitive value of Ethereum against other up and coming general purpose blockchains.

Show note links:

ACDC #150 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-150/)
Galaxy Research Ready Layer 1 Report (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ready-layer-one/)

Timestamps:

(00:00:45) Update on the Pectra timeline

(00:08:24) Ethereum’s value from a markets point of view

(00:19:00) Ethereum’s value from a technical point of view

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 7, 2025.

The Ethereum Revolution feat. Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 76 of Infinite Jungle, Christine speaks with CEO of Galaxy, Mike Novogratz, about the underperformance of ETH. ETH has been persistently lagging behind major coins like BTC and SOL for all of 2024 and so far into 2025. Mike speaks to this trend that has been confounding crypto enthusiasts and investors and explains why he is still optimistic about the revolutionary potential of Ethereum. Mike reiterates his convictions about the decentralized web, stablecoins, and how Ethereum remains the frontrunner to become “the base layer of trust for Web3.”

Guests:

Name: Mike Novogratz

Title: CEO of Galaxy

X: https://x.com/novogratz

Show note links:

Galaxy company website (https://www.galaxy.com/)

Timestamps:

(00:00:41) The biggest reason for ETH’s underperformance

(00:03:30) What’s the investment narrative of ETH?

(00:05:24) What does Ethereum need to succeed?

(00:08:48) The importance of stablecoin adoption

(00:20:50) The strengths of Ethereum’s leadership

(00:25:45) Community as an input to valuation

This episode was recorded on Thursday, January 30, 2025.

ACDE #204: Ethereum in Wartime Mode

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep.75 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDE #204. She offers her insights on the latest Pectra upgrade timeline and takeaways on the discussion about how to speed up the governance process of Ethereum. She explains why the governance process of Ethereum is unlikely to change, despite tweaks to its form and structure. War time mode for Ethereum doesn’t look all that different from Ethereum’s regular mode but this may have its benefits, Christine argues.

Show note links:

ACDE #204 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-204/)

Timestamps:

(00:01:31) Pectra timeline update

(00:11:03) Improvements to the ACD process

(00:21:29) The truth about Ethereum’s Wartime mode

This episode was recorded on Friday, January 31, 2025.

MERRY GRINDMAS! (feat. Santa Nixo)

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 74 of Infinite Jungle, Christine speaks with Nixo, who works on the Protocol Support Team at the Ethereum Foundation, about her highlights from 2024 and hopes for the Ethereum ecosystem in 2025. Nixo also shares updates about the new staker deposit CLI tool maintained by EthStaker and her perspective on the Ethereum gas limit debate. Christine shares a few predictions about what narratives will take hold on Ethereum next year and restates her convictions about Ethereum’s superpower as the world’s most decentralized and transparent general purpose blockchain. This is the last episode of Infinite Jungle Season 1. Be on the lookout for Season 2 in the new year!

Guests:

Name: Nixo Rokish

Title: Protocol Support Team at the Ethereum Foundation and Former Executive Director of EthStaker

X: https://x.com/nixorokish

Show note links:

EthStaker deposit CLI release notes (https://github.com/eth-educators/ethstaker-deposit-cli/releases)
Christine’s take on the block gas limit debate (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/weekly-top-stories-12-06-24/)

Timestamps:

(00:02:20) Celebrating a new Ethereum deposit CLI

(00:10:00) Debriefing the gas limit debate

(00:28:48) Highlights from 2024, hopes for 2025

This episode was recorded on Friday, December 13, 2024.

ACDE #202: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 73 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her takeaways on All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) Call #202, where Ethereum developers finalized Pectra Devnet 5 specifications. She also shares three outlooks for Ethereum in 2025 about Pectra, rollup adoption, and institutional adoption of $ETH. She discusses how a new regulatory environment next year could propel institutional adoption of ETH and how the large size of Pectra scope hints at increased risk in mainnet activation for the upgrade. This is the penultimate episode of Infinite Jungle Season 1. Be on the lookout for the final episode coming out tomorrow on Wednesday, Christmas Day!

Show note links:

ACDE #202 call writeup (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-202/)
Infinite Jungle episode 71 explaining the gas gossip limit dependency (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/acdc-147-eth-devs-pump-the-brakes-on-pumping-the-gas/id1728091874?i=1000680670086)

Timestamps:

(00:01:47) ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

(00:05:07) Pectra Updates

(00:14:32) Prediction #1: Pectra in 2025

(00:21:09) Prediction #2: L2 Ecosystem Expands

(00:23:27) Prediction #3: More Institutions Start Using Ethereum

This episode was recorded on Friday, December 19, 2024.

BuilderNet: Ethereum’s First Collaborative Builder Network

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 72 of Infinite Jungle, Christine speaks with Robert Miller, Product Lead at Flashbots, and Lily Johnson, Rust Engineer at Astria Labs, about the launch of BuilderNet. BuilderNet is Flashbot’s latest product designed to enable collaborative block building on Ethereum. It allows third-party builders to create blocks based off shared private order flow. It also incentivizes users, wallets, and apps to share their order flow with BuilderNet and earn kickbacks from the MEV created from their transactions. Christine and Lily grill Robert about the design of BuilderNet, its timeline, and motivation.

Guests:

Name: Robert Miller

Title: Product Lead at Flashbots

X: https://x.com/bertcmiller

Name: Lily Johnson

Title: Rust Engineer at Astria Labs

X: https://x.com/lobstermindset

Show note links:

BuilderNet docs (https://buildernet.org/docs)
Relayscan data (https://www.relayscan.io/)
Infinite Jungle episode about RollupBoost and EIP 7727 (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/podcasts/infinite-jungle/the-most-pressing-challenges-to-solving-the-mev-problem/)

Timestamps:

(00:02:43) How does BuilderNet compete in the MEV-Boost auction?

(00:08:08) How does the BuilderNet MEV refund rule work?

(00:11:33) Why did Beaverbuild join BuilderNet?

(00:15:09) How do builders compete in BuilderNet?

(00:19:31) How transparent is BuilderNet activity?

(00:30:12) BuilderNet next steps

This episode was recorded on Friday, December 13, 2024.

ACDC #147: Eth Devs Pump the Brakes on Pumping the Gas

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep.71 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDC #147. Notably, on this call, one of the main discussion topics was not about the Pectra upgrade. It was about community efforts to increase the Ethereum block gas limit. Though prominent community figureheads advocated for an increase, developers on this week’s call surfaced concerns about a little-known technical limitation on the consensus layer that would make a significant increase to the block gas limit unsafe for the network. Rather than address this limitation, developers decided not to change the protocol and instead communicate to the community that a doubling to the gas limit should not be pursued at this time. Christine advocates for why this situation was a “close call” for the stability of the Ethereum protocol and why developers need to “slow down” when it comes to advocating for and making changes to the network.

Show note links:

ACDC #147 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-147/)
Ethresearch post on the technical considerations to increasing the block gas limit (https://ethresear.ch/t/on-increasing-the-block-gas-limit-technical-considerations-path-forward/21225)
PumptheGas website (https://pumpthegas.org/)

Timestamps:

(00:01:04) Summary of the Ethereum gas limit debate

(00:08:32) What developers decided to do about the gossip limit

(00:17:00) Concerns about Ethereum protocol complexity

(00:20:47) Why EIP 7742 was removed from Pectra

This episode was recorded on Friday, December 13, 2024.

Can ETH Solo Stakers Handle the Heat? Why More Blobs Won’t Hurt Them

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 70 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with founder of ProbeLab, Yiannis Psaras, about a data-driven study his team conducted on Ethereum node bandwidth availability. The study (linked in the show notes) measured the bandwidth availability of 70% of online and reachable nodes in the Ethereum network. It found that the mean available bandwidth for nodes stayed between 18 to 23 mbps, indicating that nodes do have additional capacity for packaging more blobs into blocks. Yiannis supported the decision by Ethereum protocol developers to include a blob capacity increase from 3/6 to 6/9 target/max blobs per block in the Pectra upgrade. Finally, he shared improvements that could be made to Ethereum’s P2P network to alleviate bandwidth constraints and enforce geographic decentralization of nodes.

Guests:

Name: Yiannis Psaras

Title: Founder, ProbeLab

X: https://x.com/yiannisbot

Show note links:

Probelab study on Ethereum node bandwidth availability (https://ethresear.ch/t/bandwidth-availability-in-ethereum-regional-differences-and-network-impacts/21138)
EthPandaOps study on performance of home stakers (https://ethresear.ch/t/block-arrivals-home-stakers-bumping-the-blob-count/21096)
Codex node crawler for Ethereum (https://ethresear.ch/t/crawling-the-ethereum-discv5-network-fast/20962)
Infinite Jungle episode mentioning Probelab data and analysis (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/podcasts/infinite-jungle/acdc-139-the-role-of-acd-call-chairs-in-ethereum-governance/)
Probelab website (https://probelab.io/)

Timestamps:

(00:01:09) What does ProbeLab do?

(00:03:59) How Probelab measured Ethereum node bandwidth availability

(00:07:49) Differences in upload vs download bandwidth availability

(00:11:16) Comparing bandwidth of solo stakers vs professional stakers

(00:15:32) How the Probelab study compares other studies on Ethereum node bandwidth

(00:18:20) Study recommendations to save node bandwidth

(00:24:50) How geography impacts node bandwidth

This episode was recorded on Friday, December 6, 2024.

ACDC #146 & ACDE #201: 2 New EIPs in Pectra, How Did This Happen?!

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 15:36:00 -0000

On Ep.69 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDC #146 and ACDE #201. Over the course of two developer calls, Ethereum developers agreed to include two new EIPs in the Pectra upgrade. Christine explains what these EIPs do and the decision-making process that led to their inclusion this late into the upgrade planning process. She also discusses how the latest additions to Pectra impact the upgrade’s mainnet activation timeline.

Show note links:

ACDC #146 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-146/)
ACDE #201 Call Notes https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-201/)
Report on blob base fee volatility (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-150-days-after-dencun/)

Timestamps:

(00:02:22) EIP 7691, Blob throughput increase

(00:03:25) EIP 7623, Increase call data cost

(00:05:12) EIP 7762, Increase minimum blob base fee

(00:07:38) Decision-making on EIP 7691

(00:09:42) Decision-making on EIP 7623

(00:14:19) Decision-making on EIP 7762

(00:20:09) Pectra Timeline

This episode was recorded on Friday, December 6, 2024.

ePBS Office Hours w/Potuz and Terence

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 68 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Prysm developers Terence Tsao and “Potuz” about their efforts to prepare EIP 7732, enshrined payload block separation, for the Fusaka upgrade. They discuss the benefits of EIP 7732 for Ethereum’s decentralization and censorship resistance, as well as some of the open questions and concerns related to the proposal. Finally, they discuss the likelihood of the EIP’s inclusion in Fusaka and the EIP’s next steps in the Ethereum governance process.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:24) Potuz and Terence’s Devcon 2024 takeaways

(00:04:36) What’s the main selling point of ePBS?

(00:05:53) How ePBS improves node bandwidth constraints

(00:09:42) How ePBS offers CPU advantages and better censorship resistance

guarantees

(00:16:53) How ePBS removes the need for a trusted relay

(00:20:12) How much will builders have to stake in ePBS?

(00:23:59) How ePBS helps dapps capture MEV from high value blocks

(00:26:37) What are slot auctions?

(00:30:17) What are the blockers to ePBS in Fusaka?

(00:37:00) How should developers resolve disagreements about what EIPs to include in

Fusaka?

This episode was recorded on Friday, November 22, 2024.

Learnings from Devcon 2024: Decentralization Matters

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep.67 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from Devcon 2024. She shares her thoughts on the Beam Chain announcement and native rollups. She explains why the most compelling ideas shared at the conference were not related to Ethereum’s technical roadmap or ZK innovations, but rather ideas about the values and beliefs grounding the Ethereum ecosystem. Christine makes the case for Ethereum’s new North Star post-Merge to be building Ethereum and Ethereum-based technologies with decentralization and credible neutrality as top of mind over and above other objectives like scalability and mass adoption.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:03:14) The Beam Chain Announcement

(00:14:13) Introducing Native Rollups

(00:22:38) d/acc Day at Devcon

(00:27:43) Ethereum’s North Star as Values and Beliefs Not a Technical Roadmap

(00:35:07) Pectra Testing Call Updates

(00:38:09) Infinite Jungle Programming Notes

This episode was recorded on Friday, November 22, 2024.

How to Spin Up an Ethereum Validator in 5 Minutes w/Lido’s Dmitry Gusakov

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 66 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Dmitry Gusakov, Technical Lead for the Lido Community Staking Module (CSM), about the future of solo staking on Ethereum. Gusakov explains why he believes there will always be solo stakers on Ethereum staking 32 ETH directly on the network even if it’s an irrational behavior. He posits that a realistic share of validators operated by solo stakers on Lido would be between 2% to 4% and that a meaningful change to the minimum effective balance of validators from 32 ETH to 1 ETH could help increase this share in the long run. Finally, Gusakov explains the tools and resources available for individuals with no technical knowledge to stake on Ethereum and spin up a validator in 5 minutes. This episode is the second in a two-part interview series with Gusakov.

Show note links:

https://dappnode.com/en-us/blogs/news/lido-is-looking-to-decentralize-its-operator-base-become-a-lido-node-operator-with-dappnode

Timestamps:

(00:01:00) Is there a future for solo stakers on Ethereum?

(00:05:29) How to spin up an Ethereum validator in 5 minutes

(00:10:43) What is a realistic share of solo stakers on Lido?

(00:13:14) What should Ethereum protocol devs do to help solo stakers?

(00:18:12) How out of protocol apps like Lido can help Ethereum decentralization

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 29, 2024.

ACDE #200: Ethereum’s Superpower is Transparency

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep.65 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #200 where developers talked about all the usual topics related to Pectra development, including devnet testing, specifications changes, and new EIPs. The newest EIP presented on the ACD calls was presented by Erigon developer Giulio Rebuffo. His proposal seeks to address the problem of history growth. Christine explains what history growth is and the various solutions that developers are weighing alongside Rebuffo’s latest EIP to address the problem. Finally, in commemoration of the 200th ACDE call, Christine gives a brief history lesson on how these ACD calls got started and why they are so important to Ethereum governance.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-200/

Timestamps:

(00:01:20) Pectra Devnet Updates

(00:04:24) PeerDAS Devnet Updates

(00:15:28) Urgency to Fix Ethereum’s History Growth Problems

(00:23:46) The History of Ethereum ACD Calls

(00:35:06) Infinite Jungle Programming Notes during Devcon Week

This episode was recorded on Friday, November 7, 2024.

How to Double Your Staking Rewards w/Lido’s Dmitry Gusakov

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 64 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Dmitry Gusakov, Technical Lead for the Lido Community Staking Module (CSM), about the mainnet launch of the CSM. Gusakov explains how solo stakers can earn 2.3 times more rewards staking their ETH through the CSM than vanilla staking or staking 32 ETH on Ethereum directly. Gusakov shares the technical details of how the CSM works and why it is an important step towards making Lido permissionless and towards enabling the permissionless onboarding of new Lido node operators. He talks about what learnings were applied to the CSM from the mainnet launch of the Simple DVT Module earlier this year and what the next steps are for the CSM. He anticipates an end to the Early Adoption phase of the CSM as early as Q1 2025. This episode is the first in a two-part interview series with Gusakov.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:38) Is the CSM truly permissionless?

(00:06:15) What happens once the early adoption phase is over?

(00:08:46) Why are rewards from the CSM higher than vanilla staking?

(00:11:08) Why are validator rewards higher in the CSM than the Lido Curated Module?

(00:13:09) Why is the CSM capped at 1% of total ETH staked in Lido?

(00:17:36) When will the early adoption phase end?

(00:21:31) Are there any reasons solo stakers may not be qualified to join the CSM?

(00:26:01) What learnings from the Simple DVT Module have been applied to the CSM?

(00:31:47) What is MEV stealing?

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 29, 2024.

ACDC #145: Introducing Mekong, the 1st Public Pectra Testnet

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On Ep.63 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #145. Ethereum Foundation Developer Operations Engineer Barnabas Busa announced that his team has launched a public Pectra testnet called Mekong on Halloween, October 31, 2024. Mekong will be a long-lived testnet that application developers can use to test out new features like batching transactions and validator consolidations. However, given the constant iterations being made to Pectra specifications and the high potential for new bugs and issues to be found in Pectra code, Christine shares concerns about how stable Mekong will be for public use. Christine also summarizes the state of PeerDAS development and shares her thoughts on whether developers should plan PeerDAS in advance for inclusion in the Fusaka upgrade before Pectra specifications are ready for mainnet activation. Finally, Christine reminds listeners of the need for a discussion among developers about how Ethereum nodes are handling blob transactions to inform a final decision on the inclusion of a blob capacity increase in Pectra. All this in 30 minutes! Tune in!

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-145

Timestamps:

(00:00:56) Announcing Mekong, a public Pectra Testnet

(00:08:01) 100,000 slot reorg on PeerDAS Devnet 3

(00:12:22) Should PeerDAS be tested as part of Fusaka?

(00:16:30) Looking back on Verkle

(00:18:56) New EIP proposed but not for Pectra

(00:21:41) Data incoming to help inform a blob capacity increase

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 31, 2024.

The Most Pressing Challenges to Solving the MEV Problem

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 62 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Robert Miller, Product Lead at Flashbots, and Lily Johnson, Rust Engineer at Astria Labs, about the latest developments in the MEV space. Robert presents Rollup-Boost, a new platform for enabling various features on Layer-2 rollups such as fast confirmation times and transaction ordering rules. He explains the role of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) in Rollup-Boost and how “shreds” on Solana inspired the design of Rollup-Boost. Lily presents EIP 7727, a proposal to change the Ethereum protocol to enable app-specific sequencing rights. Lily explains the purpose of the EIP is to give smart contracts on Ethereum more control over how their transactions are ordered and thereby redirect MEV value based off these transactions to app stakeholders, such as liquidity providers.

Guests:

Name: Robert Miller

Title: Product Lead at Flashbots

X: https://x.com/bertcmiller

Name: Lily Johnson

Title: Rust Engineer at Astria Labs

X: https://x.com/lobstermindset

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:32) What is Rollup Boost?

(00:07:21) How Solana Shreds Inspired the Design of Rollup-Boost

(00:10:28) The Role of TEEs in Rollup-Boost

(00:15:40) What is EIP 7727?

(00:18:46) What Stakeholders Should Capture MEV Value?

(00:26:32) Is MEV Easier to Solve on L2s than L1?

(00:31:15) The Most Pressing Challenges to Solving MEV

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 25, 2024.

ACDE #199: Will the Real Use Cases for BLS Precompiles Please Stand Up?

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.61 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #199. On the latest call, developers reconfirmed the decision to include EIP 7742 in Pectra as a pre-requisite for a blob capacity increase. They also debated the merits of doubling the Ethereum block gas limit. Christine explains what the block gas limit is and what concern were raised by developers about changing it. She also notes that developers are recalculating costs for BLS precompiles. One of the additional concerns about these code changes aside from their pricing is their use case for application developers. One of the developers on the call said that he was unsure of the use cases for the precompile given that application developers may find it difficult to migrate existing infrastructure to rely on the new cryptographic signature scheme.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-199/

Timestamps:

(00:01:04) Pectra Devnet Updates

(00:04:34) BLS Precompile Repricing Efforts

(00:13:25) What is the Block Gas Limit?

(00:19:38) Concerns About Raising the Block Gas Limit

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 25, 2024.

The Why Behind Monad’s Design w/CEO Keone Hon

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 60 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Keone Hon, Cofounder and CEO of Monad Labs. They speak about the technology behind Monad, an alternative Layer-1 blockchain. Keone explains the four key optimizations of Monad that will enable the network to scale the transaction throughput of Ethereum by 1,000x. He also explains how Monad is pursuing higher levels of decentralization than its competitors through various design decisions impacting the network’s architecture. Finally, Keone reaffirms that Monad is on track to launch on mainnet early 2025. He talks about what users can expect from Monad post-mainnet launch.

Guests:

Keone Hon, Cofounder and CEO of Monad Labs

X: https://x.com/keoneHD

Show note links:

https://www.monad.xyz/

Timestamps:

(00:00:54) Why scale blockchains through EVM optimizations?

(00:02:17) Challenges building support for the EVM

(00:10:06) How Ethereum upgrades impact Monad

(00:18:42) Will Monad need to adopt additional scaling techniques for mass adoption?

(00:26:36) What differentiates Monad from its other high throughput EVM competitors?

(00:31:53) When will Monad go live on mainnet?

(00:34:25) How will Monad retain users and engagement in the project post mainnet

launch?

(00:37:12) What is the roadmap for strengthening decentralization on Monad?

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 18, 2024.

ACDC #144: New EIP Included in Pectra

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.59 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #144. On the latest call, Ethereum developers agreed to include a new EIP in Pectra, EIP 7742. This code change will enable the Consensus Layer (CL) of Ethereum to dynamically set the network’s target and maximum blob gas limit. The inclusion of this EIP in Pectra means it is likely that developers will also include a blob capacity increase in Pectra. However, developer did not agree by how much to increase blob capacity on the latest call. They will rediscuss the decision to include EIP 7742 in Pectra on the next ACD call, which is more focused on discussions about the Execution Layer (EL) of Ethereum. Christine explains why it is rare that decisions made on ACDC calls are reversed or changed on ACDE calls.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:04) Francis’ Case for Increasing Blob Capacity in Pectra

(00:03:23) Updates on Engine_GetBlobsV1 Method

(00:06:46) The Urgency of EIP 7742

(00:13:36) ACDC vs ACDE Calls

(00:18:55) Updates to the Pectra Timeline

(00:24:52) Who will Pectra impact in terms of Ethereum stakeholders?

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 18, 2024.

Understanding Anoma, An Intent Interface for Ethereum

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 12:29:00 -0000

On Ep. 58 of Infinite Jungle, Christine speaks with Adrian Brink, Co-founder of Anoma and Namada. Namada is a privacy-enhanced Layer-1 blockchain and Anoma is a generalized intent interface. Both projects are in development and have not yet launched on mainnet. Brink talks about the launch timeline for Anoma and Namada, as well as their respective utility in the crypto industry. Brink explains how intent-based systems represent a fundamental shift in blockchain architecture and how intents can solve key problems related to blockchains such as MEV and privacy.

Guests:

Adrian Brink, Co-founder of Anoma and Namada

https://x.com/adrianbrink

Show note links:

https://anoma.net/

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 11, 2024.

ACDE #198: 2 New EIPs Proposed For Pectra

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.57 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #198. Christine shares updates about the timeline for Pectra Devnets 3 and 4. She highlights two new EIPs that were discussed on the call for inclusion in the Pectra upgrade. EIP 7782 proposes reducing Ethereum slot times from 12 to 8 seconds to increase transaction and blob throughput. EIP 7783 creates a mechanism for client teams to gradually increase the gas target over time. They are two proposals for improving scalability that do not require any changes to blob throughput. Christine explains why this matters and the likelihood of their inclusion in Pectra.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-198/

This episode was recorded on Friday, October 11, 2024.

Nixo Joins the Foundation & Yorick Shills Router Changes For Solo Stakers

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 13:16:00 -0000

On Ep. 56 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats again with Galaxy Blockchain Engineer Yorick Downe and Former Executive Director of EthStaker Nixo Rokish about the latest developments in the Ethereum staking ecosystem. Nixo speaks about her new role at the Ethereum Foundation as part of the Protocol Support team. She voices her opinion about how developers should refrain from including a blob throughput increase in Pectra due to a lack of sufficient data on the impact of such an increase on the solo staking community. Yorick highlights initiatives that he is working on at EthStaker to improve the performance of validator nodes run by solo stakers.

Guests:

Nixo Rokish, Former Executive Director of EthStaker and Protocol Support Team Member at the Ethereum Foundation

https://x.com/nixorokish

Yorick Downe, Founder of Cryptomanufaktur and Blockchain Engineer at Galaxy

https://x.com/yorickdowne

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:02:15) Nixo’s New Role at the Ethereum Foundation

(00:04:06) Concerns about a Blob Throughput Increase in Pectra

(00:07:32) Difference Between Bandwidth Usage vs. Requirements

(00:10:34 ) Engine_getBlobsV1 and IDONTWANT Message Explained

(00:13:09) The Power of Changing Routers for Solo Stakers

(00:19:04) How Solo Stakers Could Go About Changing Routers

(00:24:26) Will Data About Blobs Inform Decisions About Pectra?

This episode was recorded on Thursday, October 4, 2024.

ACDC #143: Pectra Timeline Analysis

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.55 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #143. Christine shares updates about the timeline for Pectra Devnets 3 and 4. She dives into how the launch of the next devnet can inform the launch of the public Pectra testnet that developers are planning for Devcon and even thereafter, the activation of Pectra on public Ethereum testnets and mainnet. She estimates that an activation of Pectra on mainnet is more likely in March or April than February. However, she highlights how this analysis is subject to change based on when developers reach important milestones in the Pectra testing process.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:11) Pectra 3 & 4 Devnet Updates

(00:03:59) PeerDAS Devnet Updates

(00:07:03) Engine_GetBlobsV1 Method

(00:10:22) Preliminary Analysis on Block Reorgs

(00:20:05) Plans for a Public Pectra Devnet for Devcon

(00:21:41) Pectra Mainnet Activation Timeline

This episode was recorded on Thursday, October 4, 2024.

The Rise of Bitcoin Staking Protocols w/Staking Rewards’ Mirko Schmiedl

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 54 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Mirko Schmiedl, CEO and co-founder of Staking Rewards, about important developments in the crypto staking industry at large. Mirko highlights the impressive year-over-year growth of total value staked across all proof-of-stake blockchains. He alludes to forthcoming optimizations to the Staking Rewards website that will help users easily customize information and alerts about staking activity on the site. Mirko also talks about impressive developments in the Bitcoin staking industry with the development of Bitcoin staking protocols like Babylon.

Guests:

Mirko Schmiedl, CEO and co-founder of Staking Rewards

X: https://x.com/berlincrypto

Show note links:

https://www.stakingrewards.com/

Timestamps:

(00:00:58) Growth of the staking industry over the past year

(00:04:05) What factors influence a user’s decision to stake?

(00:08:39) Challenges to staking UX

(00:12:26) Takeaways from the inaugural Bitcoin Staking Forum

(00:16:28) Challenges to staking BTC

(00:19:02) Key innovations behind the Bitcoin staking project, Babylon

(00:22:42) Parallels between BTC staking and ETH restaking

(00:25:19) Predictions about staking industry growth in 2025

(00:29:16) The importance of incentivizing home stakers on Ethereum

This episode was recorded on Thursday, September 27, 2024.

ACDE #197: Vitalik Voices His Support for More Blobs

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 14:26:00 -0000

On Ep.53 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #197, where founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin voiced his support for the inclusion of additional code changes in Pectra to increase Ethereum’s blob capacity. As background, blobs are a type of transaction on Ethereum that is usually priced more cheaply than regular user transaction. Blobs are designed to temporarily store arbitrary data on the network such as batched transaction data from rollups. Developers are concerned that the introduction of blobs through the Dencun upgrade has negatively impacted the viability of home staking, that is operating validators on resource-constrained devices. They agreed to conduct a data-driven investigation into the impact of blobs and increasing the number of blobs per block on home stakers before deciding on the inclusion of additional EIPs in Pectra.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:18) Updates to the scope of Pectra, Fusaka, and Amsterdam

(00:07:26) A rare example of unanimous support for a decision on ACD

(00:14:26) What Vitalik said about Pectra on ACDE 197

(00:18:24) Concerns about increasing the blob capacity in Pectra

(00:21:10) Updates about Pectra Devnet 4 timeline

(00:22:30) What blob-related EIPs are in the running for Pectra inclusion?

(00:27:10) What are the minimum requirements to run an Ethereum node?

This episode was recorded on Thursday, September 27, 2024.

ACD After Hours w/Pari and Marius

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0000

ACD After Hours w/Pari and Marius

Description:

On Ep. 52 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Parithosh Jayanthi, Developer Operations Engineer at the Ethereum Foundation, and Marius Van Der Wijden, Geth Developer at the Ethereum Foundation about ACDC #142. As participants of the ACD calls, Pari and Marius share their view on how they think the latest developer call went and what Ethereum stakeholders can expect next in the planning process for Pectra. Christine asks Pari and Marius for their thoughts on many controversial subjects brought up on ACDC #142 including the urgency of the Verkle transition, the lack of consensus about restricting the scope of Pectra 1 and 2, and the strong influence ACD call moderators seem to have in forcing a decision on the calls.

Guests:

Parithosh Jayanthi, Developer Operations Engineer at the Ethereum Foundation

X: https://x.com/parithosh_j

Marius Van Der Wijden, Geth Developer at the Ethereum Foundation

X: https://x.com/vdWijden

Show note links:

https://devcon.org/en/

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Introducing Pari & Marius

(00:04:38) Was the decision to split Pectra already made before the call?

(00:08:18) The biggest worry about splitting Pectra

(00:11:52) Christine’s conspiracy theory about EF Researchers

(00:15:41) More context on how the Pectra split idea gained traction

(00:19:43) Best guess on Pectra timeline from here on out

(00:25:26) Marius’ view on the Verkle transition

(00:33:30) Pari’s view on the ACD process

(00:39:08) Important maintainers of Ethereum are strapped for time

(00:43:00) What does Ethereum need to be successful?

This episode was recorded on Thursday, September 19, 2024.

ACDC #142: Pectra FUD Gets Worse

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.51 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #142. Developers did not reach a decision about how to split the Pectra hard fork into two separate upgrades. Despite the call moderator’s best efforts to rally consensus for strictly limiting the scope of the first Pectra hard fork, there was disagreement among call participants about how to split Pectra code changes. Christine summarizes the main disagreements about the Pectra split idea shared on the call and gives her take on what can be done to improve the Ethereum upgrade planning process.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-142/

Timestamps:

(00:00:55) Disagreement about how to split Pectra, not whether to split Pectra

(00:01:49) Disagreements about Verkle

(00:08:49) Disagreements about SSZ-related code changes

(00:13:28) Potential blob capacity increase in Pectra 1

(00:15:52) Commitment issues about Pectra

(00:19:26) Takeaway 1, Finalize scope of upgrades before testing

(00:23:51) Takeaway 2, Assess EIPs readiness for upgrades over their importance

(00:25:05) Takeaway 3, Refrain from scoping out multiple forks

This episode was recorded on Thursday, September 19, 2024.

Exploring the Boundless Potential of ZK Powered Apps w/RISC Zero’s Steven Li

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 50 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Steven Li, Head of Strategy at RISC Zero. They talk about the use cases for zero knowledge tech in the crypto industry and the adoption for RISC Zero’s zkVM product since its launch back in June. Steven explains the bottlenecks that exist with using the zkVM product and what improvements he envisions for it over the coming months. He also shares details about a new product that his team is building called “Boundless” that will improve the decentralization of provers and solvers that can service requests from applications wanting to utilize RISC Zero’s zkVM. Finally, the two also discuss the problem with too many infrastructure projects and not enough applications in crypto and explore what catalysts are needed to move the need forward on meaningful user adoption into crypto.

Guests:

Steven Li, Head of Strategy at RISC Zero

https://x.com/Li_Steven1

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:00:39) Background on Steven and RISC Zero

(00:02:05) Use cases for RISC Zero’s zkVM

(00:08:01) Technical challenges with RISC Zero’s zkVM

(00:13:24) Other ZK tools RISC Zero is building

(00:15:46) Introducing Boundless, RISC Zero’s decentralized verifiable compute layer

(00:19:54) Are there too many infrastructure projects and not enough apps?

(00:26:34) What use cases for ZK exist beyond crypto and blockchain?

This episode was recorded on Friday, September 13, 2024.

ACDE #196: The Great Pectra Split

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.49 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #196. Christine shares updates about the launch of Pectra Devnet 3. She also dives into the implications of splitting Pectra across two hard forks, an idea that developers are seriously re-evaluating to reduce implementation risks associated with the upgrade. She explains how this idea was brought up on the call, what feedback it immediately received from developers, and what developers need to consider so that the split does not result in an even larger and more drawn-out upgrade than intended.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:16) Pectra Devnet Updates

(00:05:05) Callout for wallet developers to start testing on Devnet 3!

(00:08:24) Why the idea to split Pectra was not seriously considered then

(00:11:52) Why the idea to split Pectra is being seriously considered now

(00:16:00) What a Pectra split could look like and timelines for mainnet activation

(00:18:29) My views on the Pectra split idea

(00:23:45) How I think Pectra should be split from a narrative perspective

(00:29:11) Concerns about splitting Pectra into two separate upgrades

This episode was recorded on Friday, September 13, 2024.

Exploring Paths Forward for PeerDAS & Home Stakers

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 48 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Nixo Rokish, Executive Director of EthStaker, and Yorick Downe, Founder of CryptoManufaktur and Blockchain Engineer at Galaxy, about changes to the staking deposit CLI tool and the expected impacts of PeerDAS on home stakers. The staking deposit CLI is a tool for users operating their own validators to stake their ETH. safely and securely. It has long been overdue for an update, as explained by Nixo and Yorick. Despite efforts to improve the staking experience for home stakers, Christine expresses concern about the viability of home staking. She explains how the PeerDAS update could have negative impacts on users running validators on low-grade hardware. Yorick highlights the rationale for PeerDAS and ongoing research to outsource computationally intensive work like block building and proof generation to other stakeholders in the network so that home stakers can continue to participate. Nixo adds that Ethereum protocol researchers and developers are committed to preserving the viability of home staking long-term.

Guests:

Nixo Rokish, Executive Director of EthStaker

https://x.com/nixorokish

Yorick Downe, Founder of Cryptomanufaktur and Blockchain Engineer at Galaxy

https://x.com/yorickdowne

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:00:55) Deposit CLI, What It Is and Why It’s Important

(00:03:01) What’s Changing About the Deposit CLI and When

(00:07:43) Blockers to Updating the Ethereum Launchpad Website

(00:11:46) Christine’s Concerns about the Impact of PeerDAS on Home Stakers

(00:14:49) Why Increases in Hardware Requirements for Home Stakers is Reasonable

(00:18:06) Networking Requirements for Home Stakers Can be a Pain Point

(00:19:57) The Point of PeerDAS and How It’s Meant to Preserve the Viability of Home

Staking

(00:23:30) The Difference Between Home Staking and Solo Staking

(00:24:22) Medium to Long-Term Ideas for Preserving Home Stakers

(00:28:07) The Urgency for Preserving Home Staking Activity on Ethereum

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 16, 2024.

ACDC #141: The Viability of Home Staking on Ethereum

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.47 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #141. Christine highlights progress being made on Pectra, the next Ethereum upgrade. She also dives into an open question about the implementation of PeerDAS, the main code change that will enhance Ethereum’s scalability as a data availability layer for rollups. Developers are concerned that the current design of PeerDAS will negatively impact home stakers, users that are operating validators on low-grade hardware. Though there are paths forward for changing the design of PeerDAS to minimize impacts on home stakers, it is unclear to what extent home staking will remain a viable activity over time.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-141/

Timestamps:

(00:01:16) Pectra Devnet Updates

(00:04:07) Three Examples of How Pectra Specifications Are Changing

(00:04:53) Example #1: EIP 7251 Correlation Penalty Edge Case

(00:10:06) Example #2: How to Best Package Validator Withdrawal and Consolidation Requests

(00:12:55) Example #3: EIP 6110 Deposit Queue

(00:17:22) PeerDAS Progress Updates

(00:19:48) Open Questions About PeerDAS Proof Computations

(00:29:07) Open Questions About the Viability of Home Staking on Ethereum

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 16, 2024.

ACDC #140: Explaining PeerDAS, the Main Code Change in Pectra

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.46 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #140.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:22) Pectra Devnet Updates

(00:05:24) Pectra EIP Implementation Updates

(00:12:34) PeerDAS Implementation Updates

(00:17:56) Examining the Approval Process for EIP 7742 vs EIP 7688

(00:20:34) Fusaka, Explaining Ethereum Upgrade Naming Conventions

(00:23:27) Programming Notes

(00:25:28) 150 Days After Dencun, Analysis on the Impact of Blobs on Ethereum and

Rollups

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 16, 2024.

ILs, ePBS, Preconfs, and More! Oh, the Possibilities of Commit Boost!

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 45 of Infinite Jungle, Christine speaks with Drew Van der Werff, independent Ethereum researcher, and Alex Stokes, Ethereum Foundation Researcher, about commitment boost, an Ethereum validator sidecar that standardizes communication between validators and third-party protocols like MEV-Boost.

Guests:

Drew Van der Werff, independent Ethereum researcher

https://x.com/DrewVdW

Alex Stokes, Ethereum Foundation Researcher

https://x.com/ralexstokes

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:42) What are examples of validator commitments that can be created through

Commit Boost?

(00:06:00) What is the motivation for commit boost considering plans for in-protocol

inclusion lists and ePBS?

(00:09:49) What are the risks that Commit-Boost could address and create?

(00:16:12) What will drive adoption for Commit-Boost?

(00:22:41) How will Commit Boost impact searchers, builders, and relay dynamics?

(00:25:02) Commit Boost Implementation Progress and Timeline

(00:27:34) What is the vision behind Ethereum?

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 16, 2024.

ACDE #194: EILI5 ePBS Edition

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.44 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #194.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:03) ACDE #194 Updates

(00:07:29) Background on EIP 7732

(00:09:35) What is Maximal Extractable Value?

(00:15:20) The Main Concerns About MEV

(00:21:00) Criticisms About the Dominant MEV Narrative

(00:24:16) How the Merge Upgrade Changed MEV dynamics

(00:28:30) The main motivation for ePBS and EIP 7732

(00:32:02) Concerns About ePBS and EIP 7732

(00:35:01) Timing for EIP 7732 Implementation

(00:36:30) Next ACD Call Preview

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 16, 2024.

The Next Big Unlock For Institutional Adoption of ETH

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 43 of Infinite Jungle, Christine speaks with Chris Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund, and Andrew Baehr, Head of Product at CoinDesk Indices, about CESR, a daily benchmark rate that represents the annualized staking yield of Ethereum.

Guests:

Chris Perkins, Managing Partner and President of CoinFund

https://x.com/perkinscr97

Andrew Baehr, Head of Product at CoinDesk Indices

https://x.com/baehr

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:01:07) What CESR does

(00:04:13) The Use Cases for CESR

(00:10:15) Why CESR Does Not Track MEV Rewards

(00:17:20) How CESR Contributes to ETH Adoption

(00:19:48) Explaining the Lack of Institutional Adoption for ETH

(00:24:29) How will changes in ETH issuance impact institutional interest in Ethereum?

(00:27:11) How soon will ETH ETFs in the U.S. incorporate staking?

(00:30:30) The Next Big Unlock for Institutional Adoption

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 9, 2024.

ACDC #139: The Role of ACD Call Chairs in Ethereum Governance

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.42 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #139.

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:02:11) Pectra Devnet Updates

(00:06:05) PeerDAS Updates

(00:07:28) EIP 7688 Updates

(00:11:34) How Devs Decided to Delay a Decision on EIP 7688

(00:16:33) ACD Call Chairs and Their Role in the Governance Process

(00:19:51) The Idea of a Rotating ACD Call Chair

(00:23:56) Interesting Facts About Ethereum’s Node Distribution

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 9, 2024.

Galaxy x CryptoManufaktur Join Forces

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 41 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Nixo Rokish, Executive Director of EthStaker, and Thorsten Behrens, “Yorick Downe”, Founder of CryptoManufaktur, about a new proposal to improve the viability of solo staking on Ethereum.

Guests:

Nixo Rokish, Executive Director of EthStaker

https://x.com/nixorokish

Thorsten Behrens, “Yorick Downe”, Founder and CEO of Cryptomanufaktur

https://x.com/yorickdowne

Show note links:

Timestamps:

(00:00:10) Intro

(00:00:56) Galaxy Acquires CryptoManufaktur

(00:06:45) Orbit SSF Overview

(00:11:04) Skepticism About Orbit SSF

(00:13:19) What is Single Slot Finality?

(00:18:16) Validator Dynamics Under Orbit SSF

(00:22:00) How Orbit SSF Helps Solo Validators

(00:28:31) Design Space Recap for Reducing Validator Set Size

(00:31:51) Anti-Correlation Penalties, EIP 7716

(00:33:45) Outro

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 2, 2024.

ACDE #193: Should Quantum Resistance Be the Priority After Pectra?

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.40 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #193.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-193/

Timestamps:

(00:00:40) Show agenda

(00:01:49) Pectra Devnet Updates

(00:03:18) EIP 7702 Updates

(00:05:26) EIP 6110 Discussion

(00:11:43) New Engine API Method

(00:13:30) EIP 7212 Discussion

(00:15:33) New State Expiry EIP

(00:19:33) EIP 4444 Updates

(00:21:36) The Threat of Quantum Computers to Ethereum

(00:31:47) What to Expect from the Next ACD Call

This episode was recorded on Friday, August 2, 2024.

Wake Me Up When September Ends and Restaking Begins

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 39 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Lucas Kozinski, Founding Contributor of Renzo, and Zack Pokorny, Research Analyst at Galaxy, about the risks and rewards of liquid restaking.

Guests:

Lucas Kozinski, Founding Contributor of Renzo

https://x.com/LucasKozinski

Zack Pokorny, Research Analyst at Galaxy

https://x.com/ZackPokorny_

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, July 26, 2024.

ACDC #138: Removing the “S” in Data Availability Sampling

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 13:52:00 -0000

On Ep.38 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #138.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, July 26, 2024.

The Surprising Truth About Self-Built Blocks

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 37 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Matt Cutler, CEO and Co-Founder of Blocknative, about base fee volatility.

Show note links:

Matt’s Modular Summit presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqJ5oicJOME&t=15074s [3:57:29-4:12:21]
Blocknative blog post on base fee volatility: https://www.blocknative.com/blog/how-self-built-blocks-unintentionally-introduce-base-fee-volatility
Ethernow, Ethereum Mempool Explorer: https://www.ethernow.xyz/mempool/all
Mallesh Pai and Max Resnick paper on fee mechanism design: https://www.mechanism.org/spec/04
Mike Neuder and Max Resnick on MEV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wbTWpf7Yzg

This episode was recorded on Friday, July 19, 2024.

ACDE #192: If Mainnet Goes to Sh*t…

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 16:39:00 -0000

On Ep.36 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #192.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-192/

This episode was recorded on Friday, July 19, 2024.

Poking Fun at Pectra with Lighthouse Dev Sean Anderson

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 35 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Sean Anderson, Software Engineer at Sigma Prime about the Pectra upgrade.

Show note links:

https://sigmaprime.io/

This episode was recorded on Friday, July 12, 2024.

ACDC #137: The Waning Importance of Eth Upgrades

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.34 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #137 and her takeaways from attending the 7th annual Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC).

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-137-writeup/

This episode was recorded on Friday, July 12, 2024.

Introducing Sal, the SOL Bull

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 33 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Sal Qadir, Founder and CEO of Bullpen, about technical developments on Solana and his thoughts on Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, June 28, 2024.

ACDC #136: Chain Splits Suck, Cross-Validation Might Help

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 13:59:00 -0000

On Ep.32 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #136.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-136/

This episode was recorded on Friday, June 28, 2024.

ExEx Excitement w/Ethereum Researcher James Prestwich

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 31 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with James Prestwich, Researcher at Init4 Tech, an Ethereum-focused research collective, about execution extensions (ExEx), client diversity, and the future market share of Ethereum.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, June 21, 2024.

ACDE #190: From Scoping to Shipping, Eth Devs Shift Gears

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.30 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #190.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, June 21, 2024.

ACDC #135: Blobs Complicate Everything

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.29 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #135.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-135/

This episode was recorded on Friday, June 14, 2024.

The Endgame for MakerDAO Starts With SparkDAO

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 28 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy Alex Thorn about the latest slew of ETH ETF approvals in the U.S. Christine also invites co-founder of MakerDAO Rune Christensen to discuss next steps in MakerDAO’s Endgame vision. This episode was recorded live at the CoinDesk Consensus conference in Austin, Texas on Friday, May 31, 2024.

This episode was recorded on Friday, June 4, 2024.

ACDE #189: No Such Thing as a Small Fork

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.27 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #189.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-189-writeup/

This episode was recorded on Friday, June 4, 2024.

ACDC #134: Pectra, PeerDAS, & Endless Fork Possibilities

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.26 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #134 where Ethereum developers agreed to include PeerDAS in the Pectra upgrade but with one small caveat; PeerDAS will be activated on a separate epoch from other Pectra EIPs.

Links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-134/

This episode was recorded on Friday, June 4, 2024.

Why MEV Looks Different on L2s

Wed, 29 May 2024 13:17:00 -0000

On Ep. 25 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Robert Miller, Product Lead at Flashbots, about MEV product development for Layer-2 rollups.

Links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, May 17, 2024.

ACDE #188: Should Tipping Be the Norm on Ethereum?

Tue, 28 May 2024 18:20:00 -0000

On Ep.24 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #188 where Ethereum developers discussed the pros and cons of adding a default minimum priority tip requirement in execution layer clients.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-188/

This episode was recorded on Friday, May 24, 2024.

The DOJ Arrests 2 Bros for Attacking Ethereum

Tue, 21 May 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.23 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Uri Klarman, Co-Founder and CEO of bloXroute Labs, about the Department of Justice’s charges against two brothers for their hack of MEV-Boost relay software.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, May 17, 2024.

The Challenges of Bridging Blockchains Explained By Axelar’s Galen Moore

Wed, 15 May 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep. 22 of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Galen Moore, Global Communications Lead at Interop Labs, about the Axelar Network, how it works, and the importance of permissionless blockchain interoperability protocols.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, May 10, 2024.

ACDE #187: Vitalik Buterin Presents New EIP to Improve Ethereum UX

Tue, 14 May 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On Ep.21 of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #187 and why decision-making about EIP 3074 is an important case study for understanding Ethereum’s decentralized governance process.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, May 10, 2024.

Maximizing the Impact of MaxEB w/Nixo and Yorick

Wed, 08 May 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the twentieth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Nixo Rokish, Executive Director of EthStaker, and Thorsten Behrens, “Yorick Downe”, Founder and CEO of Cryptomanufaktur, about a new crypto project targeting solo stakers called Heroglyphs and the implementation details of MaxEB.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, May 3, 2024.

ACDC #133: What to Expect From the First Pectra Devnet

Tue, 07 May 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the nineteenth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the timeline for the first Pectra devnet and ongoing research for implementing a confirmation rule for node operators to confirm the canonicity of blocks on Ethereum faster.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, May 3, 2024.

To EOF or Not? ETH Devs Can’t Decide

Wed, 01 May 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the eighteenth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Danno Ferrin, an independent Ethereum protocol developer, about an upgrade to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) called EOF.

Guest: Danno Ferrin, Independent Ethereum Protocol Developer

https://twitter.com/shemnon

Show note links:

https://github.com/ipsilon/eof/blob/main/spec/eof.md

This episode was recorded on Friday, April 26, 2024.

ACDE #186: Ethereum Governance Should Be Chaotic

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the seventeenth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about why EIP 3074 may be removed retroactively from the Pectra upgrade and why that might be a good thing.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, April 26, 2024.

One Small Step For Lido, One Giant Leap For DVT

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the sixteenth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Lido DAO Contributor Isidoros (Izzy) Passadis, about the launch of the Simple DVT Module on Lido and next steps for Lido’s decentralization roadmap.

Show note links:

https://blog.lido.fi/simpledvt-new-phase-for-lido-on-ethereum/

This episode was recorded on Friday, April 19, 2024.

ACDC #132: How to Build and Test Ethereum Upgrades

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 13:42:00 -0000

On the fifteenth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the first draft specifications for the Electra upgrade and what comes next for Ethereum developers now that these specifications are out.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Crypto UX Promises & Pitfalls w/ENS’ Nick Johnson

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the fourteenth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine chats with Nick Johnson, Founder and Lead Developer at Ethereum Name Service, about the crypto user experience, its promises, and pitfalls.

Guest: Nick Johnson, Founder and Lead Developer at Ethereum Name Service

https://twitter.com/nicksdjohnson?lang=en

Show note links:

https://ens.domains/

This episode was recorded on Friday, April 12, 2024.

ACDE #185: The Engine of Ethereum Needs A Makeover

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 15:06:00 -0000

On the thirteenth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about what codes changes Ethereum developers have decided to include vs. exclude from Prague. She also highlights the controversy about EOF, a bundle of EIPs upgrading the EVM that developers remain uncertain about including in Prague.

Show note links:

https://ens.domains/

This episode was recorded on Friday, April 12, 2024.

Is Ethereum Printing Too Much ETH?

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 16:59:00 -0000

On the twelfth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine and Nixo debate whether Ethereum developers should include a change to the issuance schedule of ETH in the upcoming Electra upgrade.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, April 5, 2024.

ACDC #131: Lighthouse Bloxroute Make Amends, Electra Devnet Incoming

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the eleventh episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the resolution to the mainnet missing blocks incident and explains what four code changes Ethereum developers are prioritizing for the Electra upgrade.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, April 5, 2024.

Blocks Go Missing On Ethereum, Who’s to Blame?

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 14:11:00 -0000

On the tenth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine talks about the main takeaways from All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #184. Christine also chatted with Verity Coltman, Head of Ecosystem and Partnerships at Espresso Systems, about shared sequencing.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 29, 2024.

Estimating Expected Yields From Liquid Restaking with Puffer's Jason Vranek

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:16:00 -0000

On the ninth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #130, where developers agreed to include MaxEB in the next Ethereum upgrade Electra. Christine also chatted with Jason Vranek, Co-Founder and CTO of Puffer Labs, about liquid restaking.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, March 22, 2024.

Ethereum Developers Celebrate A Successful Dencun Upgrade

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the eighth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #183, where developers celebrated a successful activation of the Dencun upgrade. Christine also chatted with Kenny Li, Co-Founder of p0x Labs and the Core Contributor of Manta Network, about the modular blockchain thesis and Ethereum’s roadmap to scale through rollup adoption.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 23, 2024.

How Ethereum Validators Are Preparing for The Dencun Upgrade

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 08:00:00 -0000

On the seventh episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #129, where developers shared last-minute updates on their final preparations for the Dencun upgrade. Christine also chatted with Terence Tsao, Ethereum Protocol Developer and Researcher at Offchain Labs, about two important proposed code changes, inclusion lists and enshrined proposer builder separation (ePBS).

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 23, 2024.

Ethereum Devs Debate Account Abstraction EIPs for Electra

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On the sixth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #182, where developers debated the merits of two code changes that would help enable account abstraction on Ethereum. Christine also chatted with EthStaker Executive Director Nixo Rokish about her thoughts on a potential reduction in staking rewards to slow the growth of total ETH staked.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 23, 2024.

Is There Too Much ETH Staked? Devs Weigh Reduction In Staking Rewards

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 14:51:00 -0000

On the fifth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #128, where developers agreed to start working on the Electra upgrade with an initial set of three code changes. Christine also chatted with the Obol team about the development roadmap for distributed validator technology (DVT).

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-consensus-call-128/

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 23, 2024.

Debating Ethereum's Identity Crisis with Ben Edgington

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:57:00 -0000

On the fourth episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #181, where developers debated the scope of the Prague/Electra upgrade. Christine also chatted with OP Labs' Ben Edgington about Ethereum core protocol development and scaling Ethereum through Layer-2 rollups.

Show note links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-181/

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 16, 2024.

The Blobs Are Coming! Dencun Mainnet Activation Set For March

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 16:55:00 -0000

On the third episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #127, where developers picked a date for the Dencun upgrade on Ethereum mainnet and discussed an incident leading to nine missed slots on the network. Christine also chatted with with Flashbot’s Danning Sui about common misconceptions when it comes to working with on-chain data, specifically MEV data.

Show note links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 9, 2024.

The Supermajority Risk of Ethereum Explained

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On the second episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Call (ACDE) call #180, where developers agreed to schedule Verkle, an overhaul to Ethereum’s data structure, to the Osaka upgrade and work on laying the groundwork for EIP 4444 in parallel to the Prague upgrade. Christine also chatted with EthStaker’s Nixo Rokish and CryptoManufaktur’s Thorsten Behrens about execution layer client diversity.

Links:

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-180/

This episode was recorded on Friday, February 2, 2024.

Welcome to the Jungle, Ethereum Devs Explore Electra

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 09:00:00 -0000

On the first episode of Infinite Jungle, Christine summarizes All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #126, where developers scoped out priorities for the next major consensus layer upgrade, called Electra. Christine also chatted with Yi Tong from the Galaxy Ventures team about the narratives and trends she expects to take off in the Ethereum ecosystem in 2024.

Links:

This episode was recorded on Friday, January 26, 2024.

Introducing Infinite Jungle

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 16:48:00 -0000

This is a podcast about the evolution of Ethereum. Hosted weekly by Galaxy Research’s Christine Kim, the show dives into the ways Ethereum as an ecosystem is changing, covering broad trends and narratives that are shaping the way people use Ethereum and think about the value of Ethereum.