Unchained: Big Ideas From The Worlds Of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency

Ethereum has been left behind in this bull market. As rivals like Solana gain ground in metrics such as speed, cost, and developer mindshare, questions are being raised about whether Ethereum’s reliance on Layer 2 solutions is the right path forward—or if it needs a more fundamental redesign. In this episode, Martin Köppelmann, co-founder of Gnosis, and Justin Drake, researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, discuss the trade-offs of native and based rollups, execution capacity, and Ethereum’s ability to maintain its dominance. They debate how Ethereum should address fragmentation across rollups, whether ETH has strayed from its ultrasound money narrative, and whether its deliberate pace of innovation could make it vulnerable in an increasingly competitive landscape. Whose ideas will lead Ethereum out of this dark forest?  Show highlights: 03:10 Why Justin is so optimistic about pre confirmations and Ethereum scaling its throughput 06:15 Whether Ethereum could reach “maintenance mode” within 5 years 08:20 Whe