Top Ethereum talent is leaving. The Ethereum Foundation is shrinking. And one question now hangs over the entire ecosystem: what happens to ETH if the EF steps back? In this livestream, Camila Russo is joined by Dankrad Feist, Laura Shin, Ajit Tripathi, and William Mougayar to break down the EF departures, leadership turmoil, the cypherpunk mandate, the debate over tokenomics, and whether Ethereum is still positioned to win as competition intensifies. The big tension in this conversation is clea...
May 25, 2026•52 min
DeFi is approaching a breaking point.After a wave of hacks and growing concerns around smart contract risk, liquidity risk, and hidden dependencies, the biggest question in crypto is no longer just how much yield you can earn, but whether that yield is actually worth the risk.In this debate, Camila Russo is joined by Santiago Roel Santos of Inversion, Daniele Ugolini of Rysk Finance, and Mauricio Di Bartolomeo of Ledn to break down why DeFi yields may be fundamentally mispriced, what TradFi stil...
May 14, 2026•57 min
Explosive debate: after one of DeFi's biggest attacks left Aave facing bad debt, DeFi United raised more than $300M to stop the contagion. But did the ecosystem prove its strength - or expose hidden trust assumptions, opaque risk, and the need for a real DeFi backstop? The Defiant's Camila Russo is joined by Dean Eigenmann (Markets Inc.), binji (Ethereum Foundation), and David Phelps (Confetti) to debate whether crypto bailouts are good for crypto, what this means for decentralization, and what ...
Apr 30, 2026•59 min
The Arbitrum Security Council just made one of the most controversial decisions in DeFi history — freezing $70M in ETH stolen by North Korean hackers from the KelpDAO bridge exploit. But was it the right move? And what does it say about the systems we're building? Griff Green (Giveth Co-Founder and Arbitrum Security Council member) and Gabe Shapiro / Lex_node (crypto lawyer, MetaLex founder, ZK Sync Guardian Council) go head-to-head on the decisions, the precedent it sets, and the hard questions...
Apr 23, 2026•57 min
Two new research papers just intensified one of crypto’s most serious long-term risks: quantum computing. In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Camila Russo sits down with Alex Pruden, co-founder and CEO of Project 11, to unpack what the latest quantum breakthroughs actually mean for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the broader crypto ecosystem. Alex explains why the new papers matter, how quantum computers could use Shor’s algorithm to break the cryptography behind blockchain ownership, why exposed pub...
Apr 10, 2026•36 min
A new DeFi exploit triggered millions in losses, but the deeper story is about risk. In this episode, Omer Goldberg, founder of Chaos Labs, explains how the attack unfolded, why the damage spread across lending markets, what vault curators got wrong, and whether DeFi is truly ready for mainstream adoption. If you want to understand stablecoin risk, oracle design, curator incentives, and the future of safer onchain finance, this is the conversation to watch.Big thanks to our sponsors;NEXONexo is ...
Mar 30, 2026•41 min
What happens when the institution at the center of U.S. market plumbing starts putting securities onchain? In this episode of The Defiant, Chris Storaker sits down with Tom Sullivan, Managing Director at DTCC Digital Assets, to discuss how DTCC is approaching tokenization, why regulatory clarity changed the game, and what it means for U.S. Treasuries, stocks, ETFs, collateral, and 24/7 markets. Tom explains DTCC’s role as the trusted infrastructure behind much of the U.S. securities market, why ...
Mar 20, 2026•43 min
New Podcast with Aave founder Stani Kulechov just dropped: Aave is at a turning point - will the Aave Will Win proposal lead to innovation or chaos? Aave is navigating a pivotal moment with the recent "Aave will win" proposal. This initiative aims to redirect 100% of protocol revenue back to the Aave DAO, a move that many in the community have embraced. But with any major change comes scrutiny.Critics are questioning the governance structure, suggesting that Aave Labs may have too much influence...
Mar 13, 2026•52 min
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Camila Russo sits down with Jing Wang to discuss how Optimism is evolving and why the debate over what counts as a “real” Ethereum L2 might be missing the point. Jing argues that the most important question isn’t whether a chain is an L1, L2, or sidechain. It’s whether the architecture actually serves users and real-world use cases. “If it looks like an L1, we’ll build that. If it looks like an L2, we’ll build that.” In the conversation we cover: Why Optim...
Mar 06, 2026•37 min
Layer 2 was supposed to scale Ethereum. But what if it fragmented it instead? I n this episode, we break down: • Why public chains are “expensive databases” • Why composability is Ethereum’s real value • Why stablecoins don’t need blockchains • Why L2 may be weakening Ethereum’s core Is scaling helping Ethereum — or hollowing it out? Explore The Defiant ✨
Feb 27, 2026•52 min
Bitcoin Renaissance or JPEG Hype?In 2023, Bitcoin had what many called a renaissance.NFTs on Bitcoin.BRC-20 tokens.Runes.10x transaction spikes.Fee revenue surging to levels not seen since 2017.And then — just as quickly — it cooled.So was the Bitcoin renaissance just a flash in the pan?Or did Ordinals, BRC-20s, and Runes permanently change Bitcoin?In Episode 2 of our Beyond Digital Gold docu-series in partnership with StarkWare, we break down:• What Ordinals actually are and how they work• How ...
Feb 26, 2026•21 min
"In a decentralized governance system, it's unavoidable to develop politics." Rune Christensen explains why DAO governance becomes a struggle for resources, how the "iron law of bureaucracy" emerges, and why Sky redesigned its architecture to survive it. From USDS growth to the Atlas rulebook and Genesis Capital — this is Sky's long-term vision for sustainable decentralized finance.
Feb 20, 2026•56 min
Robinhood is opening the testnet for its Arbitrum-based Ethereum Layer 2. In this episode, we sit down with the fintech’s head of crypto, Johann Kerbrat, to discuss the strategic move to build on Ethereum. He believes institutions can get the privacy and compliance guarantees they need on public chains like Ethereum, so building on private chains doesn’t make sense as they are just a “fancy database.” Kerbrat says he sees a future where most financial infrastructure and assets transact on public...
Feb 11, 2026•41 min
Stablecoins have quietly become the most successful use case in crypto.In this episode, Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Circle, explains why USDC is more than a digital dollar — it’s a global financial network.We discuss economic inclusion, internet-scale finance, programmable payments, emerging markets, AI-driven payments, and why stablecoins are becoming the backbone of global money movement.
Feb 06, 2026•46 min
2025 marked a turning point for crypto.In this episode, Brett Tejpaul, head of Coinbase Institutional, sits down with Camila Russo to explain why institutional adoption accelerated last year. From ETFs and stablecoin regulation to banks using public blockchains in production, crypto crossed a line it can’t uncross.We explore how Coinbase evolved from a retail exchange into a global financial infrastructure layer, why tokenization is finally happening for real, and what regulation unlocked that y...
Feb 04, 2026•49 min
Kain Warwick —DeFi OG and founder of Synthetix and Infinex —is back on The Defiant Podcast with Camila Russo for a no-BS conversation at a pivotal moment: Infinex just ran its INX token sale and is heading into its TGE. We get into: Why Kain believes DeFi’s biggest bottleneck isn’t “more decentralization,” but UX + distribution The hard lesson OG DeFi learned: users won’t “learn to love complexity”—the product has to be holistically better The INX sale controversy: $2,500 cap → cap removed , one...
Jan 30, 2026•54 min
In this interview, Camila Russo sits down with Danny Ryan — former Ethereum Foundation researcher and a key leader behind Ethereum’s shift to proof of stake — now Co-Founder & President at Etherealize , to talk about the next big wave for crypto: institutional adoption of Ethereum . Recorded in Buenos Aires during Devconnect , Danny breaks down why the mood inside banks has flipped from “we can’t touch crypto” to “if we don’t adopt it, we’ll be left behind.” We dig into what institutions act...
Jan 29, 2026•26 min
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Chris Storaker sits down with Alex Garn, Chief Product Officer at Borderless, to unpack how stablecoins are quietly transforming cross-border payments — and what it actually takes to move money at scale across jurisdictions. Alex walks through Borderless’ role as an orchestration layer for global on- and off-ramps, why the company stays out of the flow of funds, and how a single API can replace dozens of fragmented integrations across local regulators, liq...
Jan 09, 2026•26 min
For consumer crypto to thrive it needs to embrace financialization to deliver a better experience, and maker sure crypto disappears everywhere else. Projects doing this right sit in an emerging sector called fantech. In this episode of the Avalanche Ecosystem Series, we explore the rise of Fantech: a new category where sports fans, music fans, creators, and event-goers become participants in real digital economies. From loyalty programs and ticketing to creator monetization and on-chain rewards,...
Jan 05, 2026•18 min
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams joins us right as the UNIfication (Unification) proposal has moved to a final governance vote—a sweeping plan from Uniswap Labs + the Uniswap Foundation that would activate protocol fees, introduce a programmatic UNI burn, and realign how value accrues across the Uniswap ecosystem. We go deep on what’s actually inside the proposal (and what isn’t), why this moment feels like the end of one DeFi era and the start of another, an...
Dec 22, 2025•1 hr 8 min
In this episode of The Defiant podcast, Camila Russo sits down in Buenos Aires (Devconnect) with Marissa Foster (Product, Ethereum Foundation) and Yoav Weiss (security researcher, Ethereum Foundation) to unpack The Trustless Manifesto and the Ethereum Interop Layer (EIL), why “trust assumptions” are quietly creeping into Ethereum’s stack, and what it will take to preserve Ethereum’s core values while making UX actually usable.We dig into the hidden places users are forced to trust intermediaries...
Dec 19, 2025•40 min
In this episode of The Defiant podcast we speak with Morgan Krupetsky, VP of OnChain Finance at Ava Labs, to break down one of the most significant shifts happening in crypto today: the rapid institutionalization of blockchain and Avalanche’s strategy to lead it. Morgan walks us through Avalanche’s “real-world adoption first” ethos, explaining how its unique architecture enables enterprises, fintechs, banks, governments, and consumer apps to build purpose-designed blockchains while tapping into ...
Dec 05, 2025•40 min
Robert Leshner — the mind behind Compound, and now the founder of Superstate — believes the next trillion-dollar shift will come from bringing the world’s assets on-chain. In this episode, Cami sits down with one of DeFi’s earliest pioneers to unpack: Why DeFi itself shouldn’t change — but assets will How tokenized T-bills, basis strategies, and even equities are finally getting institutional traction Why regulatory “tailwinds,” not new laws, unlocked the RWA boom The two competing models of tok...
Nov 18, 2025•22 min
In a world of fast-advancing technology, we are told to trust in our own research. But as the crypto space matures, scams and exploits remain a constant presence. When your assets are gone, they are gone forever, with a near-zero chance of recovery. The old mantra of "Do Your Own Research" falls short against sophisticated threats like address poisoning, advanced malware, and convincing AI deepfakes. How, then, do we build a safer Web3 without sacrificing the decentralized ideals at its core? Al...
Nov 14, 2025•37 min
In the second episode of Ecosystems: Avalanche, we track the protocol’s trajectory, which included a peak valuation of $13 billion, followed by a period of consolidation and strategic redevelopment. The Defiant founder Camila Russo and Ava Labs' Chief Strategy Officer Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo are joined by founders from BENQI, Euler Labs, and LFJ, who are building on the Avalanche protocol. The conversation covers technical upgrades such as Octane and Etna, aimed at reducing fees, and Interchain Mes...
Nov 12, 2025•15 min
In this conversation, May Zabaneh breaks down PayPal’s move into stablecoins with PYUSD and why it matters for financial inclusion. We explore how PYUSD could lower costs for cross-border payments, deliver faster settlement, and plug directly into PayPal’s existing ecosystem. The discussion covers why PayPal built a proprietary stablecoin, early adoption and real-world use cases, and plans for international expansion. We also examine the role merchants play in crypto acceptance, how DeFi and tra...
Nov 07, 2025•42 min
In Web3, we find ourselves in an age of digital phantoms, a "click-farm" era where identity is flimsy and easily fabricated. But what if reputation could be real, portable, and valuable? Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu returns to explore this very question, detailing a vision for a trust layer built on zero-knowledge proofs. He reveals plans for a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, a joint venture with Standard Chartered and HKT awaiting regulatory approval, and unpacks the Mocaverse ecosystem where...
Oct 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Vinny sits down with Ahmad Shadid—former quant trader turned founder—who redirected the 2022 GPU crunch into a decentralized GPU network and now leads a bold push toward “sovereign superintelligence”: an AI CEO framework that can govern, fund, and scale itself transparently. We unpack vibe coding (building with AI at 20x speed), how zero-knowledge proofs and decentralized networks could reshape AI, and why security must keep pace in a world moving faster t...
Oct 17, 2025•47 min
Avalanche says it can finally square the circle: sub‑second finality, a large decentralized validator set, and thousands of sovereign L1s connected through native messaging for shared liquidity. In the genesis episode of our new ECOSYSTEMS podcast, Camila Russo and guest cohost Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo of Ava Labs unpack the Avalanche story—from Team Rocket’s probabilistic consensus and the stadium sampling intuition, to today’s “city of chains” (C‑Chain liquidity hub, P/X chains, and customizable L...
Oct 14, 2025•27 min
Crypto’s next chapter isn’t a shinier coin—it’s invisible rails. In this episode, we sit down with Aryan Sheikhalian, Research Lead at CMT Digital, to unpack the shift from “crypto as an asset” to crypto as infrastructure: 24/7 markets, instant clearing and settlement, and new structured products that couldn’t exist before. We talk about tokenized equities (wrappers vs. native tokenization and why dividends/governance matter), how identity layers and ZK proofs unlock mainstream distribution thro...
Oct 10, 2025•47 min
