Episode Details

Is it Ethereum or bust? Ansgar Dietrichs makes the case that only Ethereum can anchor the financial system, and admits ETH still lacks a clear value story.

========================================================

Thank you to our sponsor!

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fidelity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Fidelity has been building in crypto and DeFi since 2014 — now they're hiring. Explore career opportunities at one of the most forward-thinking names in finance here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠crypto.fidelitycareers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED).

========================================================

The Ethereum Foundation is deliberately shrinking its role, and five former researchers have launched Ethlabs to take over the work they worry will otherwise go undone.

Ansgar Dietrichs, co-founder of Ethlabs, joins Laura Shin to lay out the split: the Foundation will protect what should not change, while Ethlabs pushes the parts of Ethereum that must evolve. He makes the case that the global economy is moving onchain, and that Ethereum is the only candidate to sit at the center of it, or no one will.

The conversation traces why ETH the asset has been stuck between $1,000 and $5,000 for five years, why Dietrichs thinks EIP-1559 and cheap blockspace were never intentional choices, how Ethlabs divides labor with the Foundation, Etherealize, and Consensys, and what DeFi founders like Uniswap's Hayden Adams actually need. The throughline is a single missing ingredient he keeps returning to: intentionality about what ETH is actually for.

Host:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained

Guests:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ansgar Dietrichs - Co-founder of Ethlabs

  
  

Timestamps

🏛️ 01:26 Why the Ethereum Foundation is stepping back and the gap Ethlabs fills

🌐 04:00 What Ethereum would look like if Ethlabs succeeds

🧱 07:56 Why Ethlabs is scaling the L1 and fixing interop at the same time

🤝 10:48 How Ethlabs divides labor with the EF, Etherealize, and Consensys

📣 18:34 Fidelity: Explore crypto careers that could shape the future of finance at https://crypto.fidelitycareers.com

🔐 19:16 Cape: Get 33% off your first six months with code unchained at https://cape.co/unchained

💸 20:15 Why ETH has been stuck waiting five years for its next act

🔗 24:24 Does L1 activity still drive ETH's value, and why ETH's interop lags

🔥 27:25 Why Ansgar says cheap blockspace and EIP-1559 were never intentional

🪙 33:27 Why being an Ethereum L2 isn't yet the superpower it should be

🦄 36:17 The culture at the EF and what kind of culture Ethlabs will have

🏢 39:41 The accountability loop: a two to three year runway and who Ethlabs serves

🛠️ 45:33 What DeFi founders actually need from Ethereum, per Hayden and others

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

Listen Now