Infinite Jungle

On Ep. 86 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Ethereum Foundation Developer Operations Engineer Parithosh Jayanthi and Ethereum Foundation Geth Developer Marius van der Wijden about the recent Holesky and Sepolia testnet upgrades. Both upgrades resulted in major hot fixes to Ethereum clients. Jayanthi and van der Wijden explain why these results are not out of the ordinary for Ethereum developers and what learnings have been gleaned from both testnet incidents. They also share their views on recent organizational changes to the Ethereum Foundation and their outlook on the state of Ethereum protocol development. Guest: Name: Parithosh Jayanthi Title: Ethereum Foundation Developer Operations Engineer X: https://x.com/parithosh_j [https://x.com/parithosh_j] Name: Marius van der Wijden Title: Ethereum Foundation Geth Developer X: https://x.com/vdWijden [https://x.com/vdWijden] Show note links: * Marius’ Sepolia Pectra fork incident recap (https://mariusvanderwijden.github.io/blog/2025/03/08/Sepolia/ [https://mariusvanderwijden.github.io/blog/2025/03/08/Sepolia/]) * Pectra audit competition (https://cantina.xyz/competitions/9ab19e33-b73c-4384-83a8-b905f508ce5e [https://cantina.xyz/competitions/9ab19e33-b73c-4384-83a8-b905f508ce5e]) Timestamps: (00:01:27) Resetting expectations for Pectra testing (00:13:51) The need to reprioritize protocol hardening (00:27:39) When will Pectra be ready for mainnet? (00:32:24) Can Ethereum upgrade safely and faster? (00:46:55) Views on the Ethereum Foundation This episode was recorded on Friday, March 7, 2025. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ [http://www.galaxy.com/research/] to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/ [http://www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/]

On Ep.85 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDC #152 where Ethereum developers agreed on a new game plan for Pectra in the aftermath of the Holesky and Sepolia testnet upgrades. Developers will launch a clone or shadow fork of the Holesky testnet to support testing of the Pectra upgrade by the broader Ethereum ecosystem in lieu of the original Holesky testnet. Holesky remains in a state of non-finalization. However, developers are still working to restore the testnet for long-term use. The Sepolia testnet is healthy in the aftermath of the Pectra upgrade, though developers needed to issue a hotfix to clients within the first few hours of Pectra activation to stabilize the testnet initially. Christine runs through all the latest updates in Ethereum protocol development and shares the silver linings to recent setbacks for the Pectra development timeline. Timestamps: (00:00:50) Holesky Status Update (00:07:46) Sepolia Status Update (00:12:57) New Game Plan for Pectra (00:19:17) Learnings from Pectra Public Testnet Upgrades This episode was recorded on Friday, March 7, 2025. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ [http://www.galaxy.com/research/] to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/ [http://www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/]

On Ep. 84 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Hasu, Strategic Advisor to Lido and Strategy Lead at Flashbots. They discuss the importance of the Lido V3 upgrade, the risks it entails, and opportunities for improving Lido’s competitive value against centralized staking solutions. They also discuss the underperformance of ETH and what needs to change about Ethereum’s research and development culture. Hasu argues for three critical changes. First, allocate mindshare away from “endgame planning”. Second, reduce the number of clients. Third, plan upgrades by goal not EIPs. Guest: Name: Hasu Title: Strategic advisor to Lido and Strategy Lead at Flashbots X: https://x.com/hasufl [https://x.com/hasufl] Show note links: * Lido V3 (https://v3.lido.fi/ [https://v3.lido.fi/]) Timestamps: (00:01:29) What is Lido V3? (00:04:52) What risks does the V3 upgrade entail? (00:12:35) Why should institutions stake with Lido? (00:20:42) Is the Lido DAO competitive against CEXs? (00:31:50) How V3 enables restaking on Lido (00:34:34) Hasu’s thoughts on ETH’s underperformance (00:40:33) Are L2s parasitic to ETH value? (00:43:10) Ethereum’s culture problem This episode was recorded on Friday, February 28, 2025. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ [http://www.galaxy.com/research/] to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/ [http://www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/]

On Ep.83 of Infinite Jungle, Christine shares her main takeaways from ACDE #206. The call was dedicated to figuring out next steps for the Holesky testnet. The testnet devolved into a state of non-finalization following Pectra activation. Developers misconfigured three out of five execution layer clients when upgrading Holesky. Fixes for these clients have since been released and developers have agreed to move forward with Pectra activation on Ethereum’s second public testnet, Sepolia, on Wednesday March 5. Christine explains why this decision may have been a mistake for developers in hindsight and what other impacts the Holesky incident has on the Pectra development timeline. Show note links:  * ACDE #206 Call Notes (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-206/ [https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-all-core-developers-execution-call-206/]) * Georgios Konstantopoulos’ X post on the Holesky incident (https://x.com/gakonst/status/1894173832317211112 [https://x.com/gakonst/status/1894173832317211112]) Timestamps: (00:02:51) What Happened to the Holesky Testnet (00:09:35) How Developers Are Trying to Revive Holesky (00:23:39) What the Holesky Incident Means for Pectra This episode was recorded on Friday, February 28, 2025. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ [http://www.galaxy.com/research/] to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/ [http://www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/]

On Ep. 82 of Infinite Jungle, Christine interviews Giulio Rebuffo, CTO of Erigon. At only 17 years old, Giulio started to contribute to Erigon, one of Ethereum’s open-source execution layer software clients. He was the main engineer for the Erigon team during the pivotal Merge upgrade and now 22, Giulio leads the Erigon team as CTO. Christine asks Giulio about his experience working in crypto as an Ethereum protocol developer and his thoughts about Ethereum’s technical roadmap as developers look ahead to scoping out the Fusaka upgrade.   Guest: Name: Giulio Rebuffo Title: CTO of Erigon X: https://x.com/GiulioRebuffo [https://x.com/GiulioRebuffo]                   Show note links: * Background on the Ethereum Gas Limit project (https://eglvote.medium.com/introducing-the-ethereum-gas-limit-project-egl-3f17c7706e73 [https://eglvote.medium.com/introducing-the-ethereum-gas-limit-project-egl-3f17c7706e73]) * Vitalik’s blog post on increasing the block gas limit (https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/02/14/l1scaling.html [https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/02/14/l1scaling.html])   Timestamps: (00:00:55) How Giulio became an Ethereum developer (00:08:00) The ideal Fusaka scope (00:18:02) The importance of increasing Ethereum’s block gas limit (00:22:14) Why ePBS has a shot in Fusaka but not SSZ (00:25:31) What would make Giulio leave Ethereum This episode was recorded on Friday, February 14, 2025. ++ Follow us on Twitter, @glxyresearch, and read our research at www.galaxy.com/research/ [http://www.galaxy.com/research/] to learn more! This podcast, and the information contained herein, has been provided to you by Galaxy Digital Holdings LP and its affiliates (“Galaxy Digital”) solely for informational purposes. View the full disclaimer at www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/ [http://www.galaxy.com/disclaimer-galaxy-brains-podcast/]