Month: September 2024

Ethereum scaled its Layer 2s, but now they are raking in the fees while paying little to the base chain. Are L2s parasitic to ETH, or will things turn around? Justin Bons and Ryan Berckmans debate.

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Ethereum's Layer 2 solutions are booming, but are they inadvertently holding back the value of ETH itself? 

In this episode, Justin Bons and Ryan Berckmans engage in a heated debate over whether L2s are enhancing Ethereum's ecosystem or siphoning off its potential. They discuss the impact of L2s on decentralization, network effects, and whether Ethereum L1 can scale on its own or if the base layer and the rollups now have different incentives. Has Ethereum scaled appropriately for future usage, or was scaling via L2s the wrong roadmap for Ethereum?

Show highlights:

• How Ethereum's rollup-centric roadmap consists of a decentralized Layer 1 (L1) for security with Layer 2 (L2) providing more transaction throughput
• Why Justin is so critical about how L2s centralize Ethereum
• Why, according to Ryan, Layer 2 solutions aren't parasitic to Ethereum but instead enhance its network effects, decentralization, and long-term value
• Why Justin criticizes Ryan’s reliance on "trust me, bro" arguments, questioning the tribalism and authority in claiming the superiority of Ethereum researchers over those from other blockchains
• How Justin thinks the Ethereum L1 could scale and what the tradeoffs are 
• Justin’s argument that Ethereum is stuck in the past and his claim that the blockchain trilemma doesn't exist anymore
• Ryan’s take on Ethereum's L1 scaling focuses on solving bandwidth limitations and addressing whether L2s are going to fully decentralize
• Whether SNARKS is the way that Ethereum scales the L1
• Whether L2s will start accepting other tokens to pay for gas
• Why Ryan predicts Ethereum's L2 adoption will surge, driving up L1 fees and boosting Ether's value as the leading digital money
• Whether based rollups are a good solution for Ethereum to scale without losing all the fees 
• Why L2s would even try to decentralize and why Justin says that Solana has a better roadmap than Ethereum
• Concluding thoughts from Ryan and Justin

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Polkadot
• Mantle
• Stellar
• Coinbase

Guests:

• Justin Bons, Founder & CIO of Cyber Capital
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Is Bitcoin Doomed to Fail? Eric Wall and Justin Bons Face Off
• Ryan Berckmans, Ethereum community member and investor
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Post-Merge, If Lido Becomes Dominant, What Does That Mean for Ethereum?

Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk.

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Donald Trump and Kamala Harris spar on the economy, immigration and abortion in their first debate. Hurricane Francine targets Louisiana. California wildfires. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.

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Vice President Kamala Harris took the fight to former President Donald Trump as they faced off in their first presidential debate, clashing over the economy, abortion, immigration, and other issues. Congress is heading towards a potential government shutdown as House Republicans push a controversial bill, which faces opposition from both Democrats and some within their own party. And, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the UK's foreign secretary are in Kyiv, discussing lifting restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range weapons as Ukrainian leaders push to strike military targets in Russia.

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The vice-president turned in a confident if imperfect performance, leaving Donald Trump flustered. But will it change anything? A global shortfall of blood plasma is hampering the development of new medicines; we argue for some simple market forces that could plug the gap (11:40). And how Nigerians are slimming their legendarily lavish weddings amid a cost-of-living crisis (18.10).

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Alabama

• Mobile & Baldwin counties modify school schedules ahead of Hurricane
• Sen. Tuberville blocks promotion of Lt. General who hid SecDef's illness
• Mayor of Decatur says he will finish his full term, which ends next August
• Residents of Athens seek to remove council member over Haitian migrants
• 6 juveniles arrested related to social media threats to schools in 3 counties
• College Pulse ranks Auburn University as #11th for best school for free speech

National

• Donald Trump and Kamala Harris completed debate #1 in Philadelphia
• Megan Kelly says she's disgusted with the ABC Moderators bias
• 8 GOP members not happy with CR moves by House Speaker Johnson
• Apple Tech company gets fined 14B by European high court over taxes