Ethereum's Inflection Point | Danny Ryan | Austin Griffith - BuidlGuidl |

[Music] looks like a pack packed house uh how's everyone doing uh next up we have a great talk uh given the very topical Danny Ryan who shipped the beacon chain and Austin Griffith from Biddle G gild [Applause] all right Danny freaking Ryan the Big D Danny R guy let's go here we go bring it up bring it up let's go yes so the title of this talk is inflection point regulation real world ethereum the tech is lining up the leadership is changing uh you kind of thread the needle on the merge you hot swapped p w for OS you left ethereum what happened yeah um on the hello I think this is the first time I've been on a stage in in over a year um so that's that's interesting I did leave ethereum last year uh I wasn't actually sure I would ever come back honestly um that wasn't for lack of believing in ethereum it was just like I just needed some air I needed to to come up for air get the lay of land and and figure out what was the right thing for me to do personally um I've been at the EF for seven8 years um worked on some big stuff and just needed needed a moment uh but it was actually really good it was good to get some error it was good to like not think purely only about ethereum all day every day but at the same time begin to look at the things that I did look at the ethereum ecosystem look at the EF but from an outsid perspective you know what what has what are the what are the successes what has changed you know and and what are the challenges uh that we we face today a and what did you see from the outside um I saw that the world had changed right I've been heads down working on shipping proof of stake working on shipping critical upgrades to ethereum uh for so long and and and very very important work um but to come out come up for ER and see that uh you know the world was very different with respect to regulation the world was very different with respect to blockchains and competition uh the world was very different in all of these these manners and and honestly it seemed like the world actually very recently is is eager to actually adopt these systems you know we've been saying that for a long time but the Confluence of the tech getting there the Confluence of uh user experience getting there some changes in wallets coming up um um and the regulatory Spectre being lifted and and honestly people like Larry thinkink saying we're tokenizing the world like it is it actually is different this time and I think that blockchains are not uh you know they're not going to be relegated to toys anymore I think that they're they're really coming online now and you announced today that you're joining ethereal eyes uh specifically I want to dive into what you plan to do there like what is the strategy what are some real practical examples of things that you will accomplish at ethereal eyes yeah so I I announced today I'm going on as co-founder at the ear eyes with uh VC and you know you've probably seen potentially seen on the internet I was thinking about going back to the ethereum foundation um that door we closed um and I got introduced to VC and VC has an incredible energy and he's spent the past four years trying to talk to everyone on Wall Street about ethereum saying this is this is the future this is obviously the future and the answer was always apparently we get it but we can't touch it and in the past six 8 12 months um it's changed from yes yes and and we're ready and and it's time um so seeing that opportunity it was very exciting um seeing that there and knowing that there's a vacuum not only in institutions but with government and and all sorts of the things that need to come together uh for real world ethereum to happen um it just seemed like a great great opportunity to complement his skill set expand uh the mission and the vision uh to not just hit some of these initial targets but really build a new ethereum institution um and it seemed like it be a lot of fun so that's what I'm doing specifically what I want to hear you say is there are nation states having conversations about how to come on chain there are big institutions having these conversations I want to hear you say that you will be in that room and you will be answering and you will be standing up for ethereum yeah I mean quite quite frankly as far as I can tell there is this massive massive vacuum and massive desire to talk to people from the Ean world and the Ean landscape and and my intention at eiz is to be you know make e theal and myself one of the answers to that who do we talk to you know how do we make this happen um because there's in every other ecosystem which are far inferior to ethereum in almost every respect there's somebody in that room saying oh yeah we'll do it oh yeah like of course oh yeah this is the answer oh yeah here's $100 million um I don't have $100 million to give them but I can show them the way awesome uh and as yes bring it up yes he will be in that room and that's great uh and from the side of a builder and someone who's educating a lot of Builders go speedrun a e if you're a builder yeah speedrun aum.com uh we want to support you too so whatever it comes to in that room whatever they need help with like we have an army of Builders out here then we're ready to help build whatever needs to get built yeah absolutely okay now let's get let's get a little weird let's talk about the EF they also announced a thing today dual leadership at the Ed level uh any comments on that yeah I mean it it became clear to me just first from my perspective uh that the range of what I was interested in accomplishing in the the theum ecosystem and what the boundaries of what the EF wants to set with respect to what they you know will do and Steward and say um we were just it was discordant so it made sense for me to jump into something else rather than to to jump in there and be properly probably constrained but I you know I'm excited to do some new stuff as for the announcement of the EF I'm super amped um time will tell uh the co-leadership is a is a complex thing sometimes in very in particular scenarios can work out beautifully um and I know that they're both very optimistic about this being you know a beautiful kind of relationship to to balance each other um Shia represents deep technical expertise and represents really an understanding of of how uh the the ethereum foundation operates and some and really the good things that are there and so I think that she can be a good anchoring Tomas you know comes from the outside but yet still from ethereum Tomas run you know has run uh you know a successful and large organization Tomas has shipped very important things in ethereum with nethermind with l2s Etc um and honestly I'm excited for there to be some some outside blood you know someone who can come in look at the organization as it is and think you know more clearly about the organization as it can be so I I I'm optimistic I I'm going to keep pushing here a little bit so there's still a disagreement here between leaders at the EF or per perhaps even vitalic and you uh would you care to uh just kind of comment on or give us some information or uh something about maybe the the fundamental disagreement between you and vitalic and how that will shape ethereum I think ultimately maybe disagreement is not the right word but it's really defining the boundary of what the EF is and should be in relation to the ecosystem um you know the EF exists and through its existence people expected to do certain things and so what people expect the EF to do is probably like this and what the EF actually does is something much more narrow and if we had any disagreement it's at the boundary of you know what the EF is today and and that ring that's currently a vacuum um and so I do and and hoped in that opening that conversation they might expand that ring and fill more of that vacuum but I I don't believe that's the intention that said the vacuum still exists and so I see a ton of opportunity for companies like etherealized and for organizations that exist today and new organizations to come to fill that ring that that otherwise has been a vacuum and has become very clear to to be more concrete you know in Bitcoin world there's no single foundation so people just kind of do then you go to the other side of the spectrum and you have competing blockchains like salana and they they have some organization that exists that sits in the middle and they're willing to do everything and we kind of we're in this weird middle Zone where we have a very important institution at the center of of ethereum but they're not going to do everything and so I I do hope to to help fill the vacuum fill the void with etherealized and I hope that others you know through this conversation we've all had over the past four weeks on the internet talking about the in future people realizing that that ring exists and we should all be filling the vacuum 100% we need to go fill the vacuum all of us every single organization institution Builder everyone out there it's about stepping up okay uh here here's maybe a a soft pitch we got nine minutes left and I'm nearing the end of my question oh my God yeah yeah yeah uh slow pitch how does ethereum win or maybe that's way complicated too I mean the my thesis is that the world is actually ready to do a block uh adopt blockchain systems there's also a a gap between meeting the world where it is and ethereum as it is today getting to where it needs to be um and so I think how what we do is we fill this Gap right we we knock on the door with the we talk to the institutions we talk to the the banks we talk to the consumers we talk to the governments we figure out what how the hell we actually bring them onto these systems and at the same time allow that to inform uh you know critical research and development at at layer one layer two in the application layer to make sure that ethereum as it is today steps up and fills that void and meets meets the world as it is um very abstract I know know that you know there's there's 100,000 little things to do uh to do that um I I plan on on trying to meet the from both sides you know I want to help figure out you know what do institutions need what do governments need what do other people need um and and become an active uh player again in the R&D space to help inform uh where ethereum goes from here uh but you know as as I said on my my post like ethereum is a bizarre uh the I will intend to be one one of those players in the bizaar but we're going to all have to build this together you you're really close to the R&D or or you were six months ago right like R&D to you is something that I think is like second nature to you uh will there be as much R&D at etherealized or is this more BD and R&D is to EF or what what what do you see the role of R&D in the future yeah I mean there's a lot of players right there's there's the etherum foundation that does very important research there's a dozen client teams that do badass engineering but increasingly are the critical R&D players um there's a lot of other companies and institutions that that also show up to the table um I do one of the reasons that I went to etherealized was to expand the Mandate uh and to under that perform some R&D over there uh so I I do hope to build a pretty cracked team over there and and be a player one of the players at the table here um help move the needle so yeah what does real world ethereum even mean does it mean like my mom using ethereum does it mean institutions using ethereum is it all of those things so I'll answer part of that question okay I honestly I I when so I had exited ethereum I was in a contemplative State hanging out with my family doing the thing um and I I watched the to be president of the United States Ro will launch well I I I'll be I won't something uh that I and I was just like oh this isn't going to end well and I got really worried about crypto from like an existential standpoint and it was like crypto has been a scammer's paradise um in many respects it also has massive promise and a lot of very interesting things going on I think you get that with a lot of early Tech in general you know the internet itself in the 9s uh lots of very positive things but like you know gambling and porn I mean all which is you know to to each their own um nonetheless I got I got pretty worried um one that we could usher in just like a new wave of arguably like crime on blockchains um and uh that although regulation might end up in a good spot for crypto for some time Horizon that the the pendulum could easily swing far back in the other direction in not too distant of the future um so I see the demand [Music] for uh institutions specifically wanting to adopt blockchains and I see it as actually uh potentially existential you know if we can if if black Rock's serious and they're ready to tokenize the world let's do it because once we do that the regulatory pendulum can only swing back so far and so certainly one of of like the primary targets for me at a theorizes is to bring real world assets on chain um one because it it will blockchains will be established they will not be going anywhere once that happens um Additionally you know I I really do think that the democratization of access to financial products and assets and things not only um in the US but maybe even on a global front um ultimately will lead to like a a safer and more equable fair and more Equitable World um so there's a lot a lot going on there in real world ethereum doesn't end at institutions um you know that's just the one of our initial targets over at etheral I just want to double click on that like the the regulation has swung back the other way institutions are wanting to come on chain if we bring them onchain and when regulation swings back the other way it can only go so far that's so critical and so like we have like a couple years four years to really like make this move happen yeah I really see it as like a a unique opportunity in time that we have to capitalize on and and that it's critical for ethereum it's not the only opportunity in this window and there's tons of different opportunities that I think e theorized and many others in the space will be capitalizing over on the next few years but uh it's a super important Target um yeah uh kind of you know down the road of meme coins a little bit there there is a piece here of following the meta and understanding like what is important in the space and what is hot and and not being a super cold decentralized layer but actually like being warm and open to whatever that meta is even if it is meme coins AI agents tees what what do you think about following the meta and like is is ethereum doing enough there I mean my my personal thesis is that um ethereum should focus on real decentralized systems and real value for real people as much as possible that does not mean that like following the meta isn't valuable um you know AI AG what what what look like toy AI agent experiments might become critical to you know to blockchains and Society what become you know Meme coins as a as as a simple meme coin I see saw my thing but experiments in in organizing communities and uh layering in functionality and stuff like they be it can be a stratum for something valuable so yet I do not think that you know the the the EOS system should just Chase what's hot I do think that 95% of what we're focusing on as as a community and as a group should be building real things building things of tangible value building sustainable you know protocols and goods and building on the backbone of a truly decentralized and open platform awesome okay wo let's go let's go and you've already answered this backstage but I want to make sure we kind of talk about it uh out loud here uh the two things that you said that are really important to bring these folks on chain are scalability and privacy and and both of those are super important uh but I kind of wanted to touch first on scalability and I know the answer to this but I want you to say it was the L2 rope map wrong not not at all systems and we talked about this like [Music] the you cannot have like monolithic systems that scale to meet the global adoption like that is not how computation works that's not we haven't seen that pretty much anywhere in computer science and in in Practical engineering um and thus you have to have a modular approach that does not mean we shouldn't turn the knob up to the extent that it's possible on L1 uh but this thing you know a modular future is is is critical amazing Danny Ryan everyone the ticker is e let's go [Applause] off a