1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: The coin Bureau Podcast is a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: The realization was pretty clear that Ethereum was not fast 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,880 Speaker 1: enough and it hadn't been able to scale up basically 4 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,040 Speaker 1: to cope with all the activity that was taking place 5 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: on the network, and as I think we've said before, 6 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: it became a victim of its own success. Welcome everyone 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: to the coin burea podcast. My name is Guy and 8 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: his name is mad Mike Mooch. We are going to 9 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:39,160 Speaker 1: talk about Ethereum today again Part four, Part four. Yeah, 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: and this is the final part on Ethereum, final part 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: that we're talking about it now, I imagine, because I'm 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: sure this story is not over. Absolutely absolutely, this story 13 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: is just getting started. But yeah, so today we're gonna 14 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: kind of bring Ethereum up were last time we finished 15 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: up by looking at how Ethereum was at the center 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: of the i c O boom that was in kind 17 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:04,479 Speaker 1: of that was all through and into early uh that 18 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: was involved hundreds of projects launching on the Ethereum network 19 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: and raising money through these token sales, these initial coin 20 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: offerings or i c O s, which was this whole 21 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: new way of raising capital. And boy did they raise 22 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: some capital. I mean we're talking billions here, if you remember. 23 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: And yeah, it all got a little crazy. And we 24 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: ended last time by noting that the demand for these 25 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: i c o s, the demand to participate, the demand 26 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: to buy tokens was so great that at times the 27 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: Ethereum network just couldn't cope with it all, with all 28 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: the people trying to use it, and just kind of 29 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 1: crashed or slowed to a crawl. And yeah, so on 30 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: the timeline, we're roughly at the end of Okay, so 31 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: speaking of Ethereum slowing down before we before we kind 32 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: of carry on with the timeline and kind of what 33 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: happened after that. I want to go back to another 34 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: event that took place towards the end of noven, towards 35 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: the end of in November, and that was the launch 36 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: of the Crypto Kitties. The Crypto Kitties, I think we 37 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,640 Speaker 1: may have mentioned these in a previous episode, but for 38 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: anyone unfamiliar, familiar, Okay, So the crypto Kitties were, well 39 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: they still are. There's still a thing. These are digital 40 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: images of cartoon cats, a range of collectible cartoon cats. 41 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: They're all different. They have this range of discernible attributes. 42 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: They were called cat tributes. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. 43 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: But the whole point was these things they could be 44 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: boughts and then bred with each other to create new ones. Yeah, 45 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: so you buy these n f T s um and 46 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: you'd create a new n f T a new crypto kitty, 47 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: which will be yeah, something like that, something like that. 48 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: And depending on the two kitties you bread together, the 49 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 1: other one would come out with sort of certain characteristics. 50 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: So it's kind of like it's Tamagotchi three point, Oh, 51 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: tamagot She's a good good yeah, good reference point. I 52 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: think it's kind of it's kind of similar, but all 53 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: on the blockchain, all virtually these people started buying, collecting, 54 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: breeding these cats. And I should point out that obviously 55 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: all these actions so in order to buy one of 56 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: these n f t s, in order to breed it, 57 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: in order to trade it whatever you needed the native 58 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: currency of Ethereum, So this was obviously a big kind 59 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: of demand driver for the coin. And yeah, these are 60 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: one of the earliest examples of n f t s 61 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: non fungible tokens, and each crypto kitty was represented as 62 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: an n f T on the Ethereum blockchain, so a 63 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: quick recap on n f T s for anyone who 64 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: is still catching up. An n f T basically acts 65 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: as a digital certificate of ownership that's recorded and traceable, 66 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: trackable on the blockchain. We discussed these maybe it was 67 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: one episode or two episodes ago, anyhow, and we'll talk 68 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: about n f T s a lot more in future. 69 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: Non Fungible, as we said, basically means unique, not interchangeable 70 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: with other tokens. Kind of fat money, if you like, 71 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: is fungible. One pound is equal to another pound. So 72 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: the Crypto Kitties, they weren't the first n f T s, 73 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: but they were the first collection of them to gain 74 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,359 Speaker 1: wide attention. They are many people's, most people's kind of 75 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: starting point for the whole n f T board ape 76 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: seems to be like the latest sort of yeah, major, 77 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: sort of well known one. Yeah, the board ep Yacht 78 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: Club is yeah at the time of at the time 79 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: of speaking, the board ep Yacht Club is the kind 80 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: of big name in n f T s. And you 81 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:40,919 Speaker 1: can't you can't move for board apes at the moment. 82 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: And actually, so these crypto kitties, they were so popular, 83 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: they really caught the imagination so much. So many people 84 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: were trading and breathing them that the Ethereum network became 85 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: severely congested. And yeah, they're they're a big early milestone 86 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: in the development of n f t s and a 87 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: kind of an early indication of how big this kind 88 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 1: of this kind of niche was going to become. And 89 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: this is a good example of people basically finding a 90 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: use for a theorem. I don't know if Vitalik had 91 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: envisioned this or anything like this when he created it, 92 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: but it's a it's a perfect example of a group 93 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: of developers, a group of people looking at a theorem 94 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,359 Speaker 1: going what can we do here? Okay, why don't we 95 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,479 Speaker 1: try this? Digital collectibles everyone, you know, they're all different, 96 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah. They created a they created 97 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: a new type of tokens what was called an e 98 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: r C seven twenty one token, if I remember rightly, 99 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,039 Speaker 1: in order to represent these these n f t s 100 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: on the blockchain um. And yeah, they were a big 101 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,280 Speaker 1: old deon. They're still going. I mean then they've been, 102 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: as you point out, they've been kind of overtaken by 103 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: more the more recent Yeah that the latest, the latest fad. 104 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: But yeah, crypto kitties were a big the O G 105 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: n F T if you want to squeeze some acronym 106 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: is in and yeah, we'll we'll talk about n F 107 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: T S a bit more later on UM. So late 108 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen it also saw Vitarli persuaded to eventually 109 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: fire ming Chan, who was the director, the executive director 110 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: of the Ethereum Foundation. And if you remember, she'd kind 111 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: of she'd come on board. Yeah, she'd upset a lot 112 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: of people. She had a very sort of weird style 113 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: of management. Her behavior was a little bit erratic. But 114 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: it wasn't actually until January eighteen that she was sort 115 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,840 Speaker 1: of finally ushered out the door, and she was replaced 116 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: by someone called Iam Miyagucci, who had previously worked at Kraken, 117 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: which is well was then and is now a big 118 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency exchange based in the US. So the Ethereum Foundation 119 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: had this new executive director who I think worked a 120 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: lot better with Vataran was and was just you know, 121 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,160 Speaker 1: a better fit for the roles. So this kind of 122 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: closes a chapter ming ming Chan's departure, and what it 123 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: meant was that Vitalik was by now the only one 124 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: of the original Ethereum founders still on board. Ming Chan 125 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: wasn't an actual founder, but she'd been there for quite 126 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: a while. All the other founders had either been fired 127 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: or kind of pushed out the door, or just left 128 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: to kind of go off and do their own things. 129 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: So Vitalek was the only one left. Highlander. Highlander, Yeah, 130 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: there can be only one Um. And so now let's 131 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: move into two thousand eighteen. So as we saw late 132 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen and even early eighteen, it was just crazy. 133 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: As I said, prices were going crazy. Ethereum was touching 134 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: it's all time high Bitcoin to all these I c 135 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: O s, everyone was talking about crypto and obviously this 136 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: this couldn't last. What goes up must come down. And 137 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: the warning signs had actually been appearing in two thousand 138 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: and seventeen. In September, if I remember, China ordered all 139 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: crypto exchanges to shut down. And this is China is 140 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: a kind of recurring theme in these in these years 141 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: of crypto. It's like China would decide that it was 142 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: going to crack down on crypto a little bit harder 143 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: and the rest and the market would tank as a result. 144 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: So September two seventeen, China ordered all crypto exchanges to shutdown, 145 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: which obviously made it very difficult for Chinese people to 146 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: get their hands on crypto. And this was a warning sign. 147 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: And then on December the eleventh, I think it was 148 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: in the US, the SEC, the Securities Exchange Commission, issued 149 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: a cease and desist order against an ic o project, 150 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: and they accompanied it with a press release saying that 151 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: the project had been selling unregistered securities. Now this was 152 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:47,200 Speaker 1: bad because unread, you know, selling securities without a license 153 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: as a big known America, Yeah you can, you can. 154 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: You can do some pretty good bird for doing that. 155 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: And yeah, this was this was not good news because 156 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: this is something that still is still kind of hanging 157 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 1: over the whole industry. We're seeing this at the moment 158 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: with the SEC's case against Ripple, where it's saying that 159 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: it's sold x r P is an unregistered security. That 160 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: case is still not resolved, you know, in it well 161 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 1: into its second year now, and yeah we still haven't 162 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: got not even an end insight really maybe the end 163 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: of two, but who knows. So late December bitcoin reached 164 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: just below twenty k, which was an all time high, 165 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: and then it crashed big time and continued pumping into 166 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 1: the new year, into and it hit it's all time 167 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: high of just over four dollars on the thirteenth of January, 168 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 1: and then it did the same thing. And this coincided 169 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: with regulators in the US and elsewhere deciding, right, this 170 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: has gone far enough, we're going to crack down on crypto. 171 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: As you can, I guess you can imagine really, given 172 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: everything that had been going on, the crazy money being 173 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: raised by these i c o s, and obviously sadly 174 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 1: many i c o s turned out to be scams. Really, 175 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:12,959 Speaker 1: so you know, people quickly cotton on that this this 176 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: thing was so hot, the sector was so hot, all 177 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: you needed to do was come up with a fancy name, 178 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: idea pitch, maybe a website, not not always a website 179 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 1: like something. Some of them would just like, you know, 180 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 1: you'd think, how on earth would anyone fall for this? 181 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: But people did, because that's what happens when there's a 182 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: gold rush. Yeah, yeah, people are just scrambling over themselves 183 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: to invest in, you know, whatever comes their way. So 184 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: obviously people were lots of people were losing a lot 185 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: of money, and that is a that is bound to 186 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: attract the attention of the regulators, and I mean, you know, 187 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: people like the people like the sec their job is 188 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: protecting investors, so they kind of had to step in. 189 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: So um I c O fraudsters started getting arrested when 190 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: they could actually be found. Plenty kind of disappeared without 191 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: trace and were never seen again. And in janu the 192 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:16,959 Speaker 1: bit Connect ponzi scheme, which had been huge, that imploded 193 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: in January. Investors lost over two billion dollars. It was, 194 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 1: oh god, yeah, I remember it. I remember it pretty well, 195 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: and it was it was a terrible time because yeah, 196 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 1: I mean, this, this the bit Connect thing, had had 197 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: promised investors these crazy returns. And there's some just bizarre footage. 198 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: They had a they had a conference, they had a 199 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,839 Speaker 1: big bit connect event, and they had this guy called 200 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:46,959 Speaker 1: Carlos Matos on stage who was just crazy. And this 201 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: footage if you type in bit connect into YouTube or something, 202 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,840 Speaker 1: you'll see this guy and it's just him like just 203 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,719 Speaker 1: going mental on stage and and he eventually kind of 204 00:11:55,840 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: ends it by shouting bi wow. You know, you look 205 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:06,679 Speaker 1: at it and you think anyone, anyone new to crypto 206 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,199 Speaker 1: at that precise moment in time, you could forgive them 207 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: for just walking away to do it again. You're just like, 208 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: is it worse than that Microsoft dance when there when 209 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: Bill Gates and co word is it Windows ninety eight 210 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: or something like that, and they're they're unvaluant on stage 211 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: and they're all dancing like, Yeah, I think, well, I 212 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:31,440 Speaker 1: don't think Windows was necessarily a Ponzi scheme, but yeah, yeah, 213 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: but which is more cringe E is still debatable? Um. Yeah. 214 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 1: So there were also there were also concerns over Tether 215 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:40,680 Speaker 1: around this time as well. Tether we've I think we've 216 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:44,079 Speaker 1: touched on it before. This is the company which issues USDT, 217 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:46,599 Speaker 1: which is the biggest stable coin on the market and 218 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 1: still was then it is now, as well as Tether's 219 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: sister company, the bit fin x Exchange. There were lots 220 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:55,920 Speaker 1: of questions. People were kind of looking into what was 221 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 1: going on with them with them and the US Commodity 222 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:03,600 Speaker 1: Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC was revealed to be investigating 223 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: both companies. So again not a good look for the 224 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: industry as a whole, and there are actually ongoing concern 225 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: and basically that their their concerns around USDT mostly centered 226 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: on the fact that what assets are actually backing this? 227 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: Like you're printing all these you're printing all these stable coins. 228 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: Where's the money? Yeah, like you know, where's the money? 229 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: Are you operating as a business? Yeah? If if you know, Yeah, 230 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: it's not backed by gold or actual dollars. Yeah, can 231 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 1: we please, can we please have a look at your books? 232 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:44,719 Speaker 1: And and yeah even today maybe okay, maybe later maybe not. 233 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: I think I've lost the books. What's a book? I 234 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: think I just dropped one of the books into the 235 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:54,680 Speaker 1: North Sea. Anyhow, Yes, so even today there are still 236 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: concerns about what assets are actually backing, are actually backing 237 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: us d T Yeah, pretty worrying anyway. In short, seen 238 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: was the party and eighteen was the hangover. That's a 239 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: great discosion. Thanks, I just just it just came to me. 240 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: So nine is kind of is often described now as 241 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 1: crypto winter. Winter is coming. Yeah, winter came to crypto. 242 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: Many projects went to the wall. Those that didn't. Their 243 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: prices took a massive tumble, including bitcoin. Yeah well remember that. Yeah, 244 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: I mean went down to around eighty dollars when you 245 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: consider it was fourteen hundred at one point. I mean 246 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: people would have bought in at fred and yeah, that 247 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: that that's a that's a heck of a ride down 248 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: to UM. So yeah, and as you can imagine, sort 249 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: of interest general interest in crypto, it just dropped off 250 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:54,840 Speaker 1: a cliff because other people had lost money or they'd 251 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 1: heard about people losing money, and so there wasn't really much, 252 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: you know, there weren't many new people me into the space. 253 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: And again I remember that sort of time, and I 254 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: mean I remember thinking, I remember believing that it would 255 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: this wasn't the end, but it was kind of hard 256 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: to It was kind of hard to believe yourself sometimes 257 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: during that time. It was it was it was difficult 258 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: because yeah, you you were sort of convincing yourself that yeah, 259 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: this is this is going to recover, things are going 260 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: to get better, and then you check the chance and 261 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 1: it's fallen another god knows how many percents, like you know. 262 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,480 Speaker 1: But that said, there was still development going on, but 263 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: obviously with the sense that the boom was most definitely over. 264 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: So it was it was a tricky time. But this 265 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: time also began to see the emergence of so called 266 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:49,880 Speaker 1: ethereum killers too. On that note, should we take a break, sure, 267 00:15:49,960 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: you know how much I like a Cliffhanger, welcome back. 268 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: Should we give should we talk about some good news 269 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: that Ethereum had, Keep more doom and gloom, keep going 270 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: with the negativity, gives us good news? Okay, So there 271 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: was some good news for Ethereum in in June Bill Hinman, 272 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: who was a director at the SEC, he stated that 273 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: he believed was not a security because it was quote 274 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: sufficiently decentralized, and he also said the same about Bitcoin 275 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: about BTC as well. Now this was this is good 276 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: news because it meant that there weren't necessarily any any 277 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: barriers to you know, to American investors buying into or bitcoin. 278 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: So that's an importance. That's an important point to note. 279 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: Other than that it's Ethereum had a lot of problems 280 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: facing it, and not least the emergence of rival smart 281 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: contracts platforms. So these are often referred to as the 282 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: Ethereum killers because they all aim to basically replace Ethereum 283 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:14,760 Speaker 1: or you know, take some of its market share by 284 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: being faster or more decentralized, or more secure or ideally 285 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:21,760 Speaker 1: all three. And they all kind of promised this to 286 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: a greater or lesser degree. And there are absolutely tons 287 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,800 Speaker 1: of so called Ethereum killers now and some of them 288 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,320 Speaker 1: are really big projects, but none has yet come close 289 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:35,439 Speaker 1: to toppling Ethereum, And to be honest, I think it's 290 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: fairly unlikely that any will any time soon. But we'll 291 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 1: talk about these. We'll talk about these a bit towards 292 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: the end of the episode as well. But a few examples, 293 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,120 Speaker 1: I mean the Tessos which we mentioned when we talked 294 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: about I c o S. That's one one example of 295 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,480 Speaker 1: a kind of rival to Ethereum eos. Now Eos held 296 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: a year long I c oh It ran from June 297 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,160 Speaker 1: seventeen to June eighteen, and it raised four point two 298 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: billion dollars. Absolutely insane. The guy Twitter could have could 299 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: have brought themselves a little just a little slice of 300 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: Twitter for that. It's extraordinary. The guy, the guy behind 301 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,239 Speaker 1: it was this chap Dan Larimer, whose name has come 302 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:24,440 Speaker 1: up before. He worked with Charles Hoskinson, who was one 303 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,240 Speaker 1: of the one of the cover Ethereum sort of early 304 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: CEO before he was booted out at the Game of 305 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: Thrones night. That they had Um Eos is extraordinary. No 306 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: one is really able to tell what they did with 307 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,880 Speaker 1: this four point two billion dollars, not a lot by 308 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: the sound of it, it's all gone now. Well, Eos 309 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: is still going, it's still the top one crypto, but 310 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,840 Speaker 1: not a lot has happened. M Yeah, we'll talk about 311 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,920 Speaker 1: yours another time. Another example is Cardaro, which was Charles 312 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: Hoskinson's project. Tron is another one the newer ones now Solana, 313 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 1: which is currently the fastest or one of the fastest 314 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: out there. An Avalanche, which emin gun Sarah who we 315 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,280 Speaker 1: talked about before he started Phantoms another one. There are 316 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: There are absolutely loads um and of course there's Gavin Woods. 317 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: Polka Dot that's another competitor. Polka Dot is structured like 318 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,199 Speaker 1: is seen as an Ethereum competitor. It's structured in a 319 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: slightly different way from some of these other smart contract 320 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:26,680 Speaker 1: change Ethereum included. It's actually structured more in the way 321 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: that Ethereum will eventually become. Okay, and this with the 322 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,840 Speaker 1: update to etherem yeah exactly, which we'll talk about shortly. 323 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:38,119 Speaker 1: One of kind of not called two point oh were you? 324 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah it is, but we're not allowed to 325 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: call it two point yeah. It gets complicated. No one 326 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:48,120 Speaker 1: said this crypto business was Sorry, I keep the readingness. 327 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,120 Speaker 1: One of Gavin's kind of one of Gavin's reasons for, 328 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: you know, for moving on from Ethereum, even though he 329 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:59,639 Speaker 1: was kind of moved on, he designed and built Polka 330 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: Dot to to become to fulfill the promises Ethereum could not. 331 00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:09,960 Speaker 1: I think that's his statement. Yeah, something along those lines. Anyhow, Now, Ethereum. 332 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,400 Speaker 1: One of the reasons that all these other smart contract platforms, 333 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: all these Ethereum killers in inverted commas, sprang up, was 334 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 1: because Ethereum itself was pretty slow. It can well, it's 335 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,920 Speaker 1: still can only process around fifteen one five transactions per second, which, 336 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 1: as we've seen, is not very many. And remember that 337 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: Ethereum uses a proof of work blockchain like bitcoins. Newer 338 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,480 Speaker 1: smart contract blockchains made use of another consensus method, which 339 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: is known as proof of steak. Yeah. We we have 340 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: talked about the state before. I want to go over 341 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,719 Speaker 1: it a little bit in in a moment or so 342 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: because it's really relevant to to the next stage of 343 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: ethereum Um. Now, most these are the smart contract blockchains 344 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: have now become more commonly known as layer ones, okay, 345 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,359 Speaker 1: because they're you know, they're the layer that you build 346 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: everything else on top. And these have much greater what 347 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,400 Speaker 1: we call tp escorts transactions per second. They can they 348 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: can process a lot more transactions per second, but few 349 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:14,360 Speaker 1: of them, really, if any, are as decentralized as ethereum. 350 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: And sometimes when you dig into when you dig into 351 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: the nuts and bolts of one of these projects, you 352 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,440 Speaker 1: find out that although they claim to be very decentralized, 353 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: there's only you know, sometimes just not even you know, 354 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: maybe maybe a couple of hundred validators, which are kind 355 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: of the same as equivalent to minors. Sometimes there are 356 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: only you know, maybe a hundred and fifty or two 357 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 1: hundred odd validators on the network, and you think, okay, 358 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,160 Speaker 1: that's that's more decentralized than you know, than one. But 359 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: that's not it's not impenetrable, you know, like it's it's 360 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,359 Speaker 1: you can pressure that you can change a hundred and 361 00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: fifty people's mind by Yeah, when you consider, when you 362 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: consider there are thousands, tens of thousands of both nodes 363 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: and miners combined on the on the Bitcoin network and 364 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: ethereum as well, there lots of people running Ethereum nodes, 365 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: thousands and thousands, and also plenty of ethereum miners too. 366 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: For the time being, at least you know that is 367 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: that is true, truly true decentralization, having you know a 368 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: couple of hundred is, it ain't the same, It ain't decentralized. 369 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:27,119 Speaker 1: So um, the realization was pretty clear that Ethereum was 370 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 1: not fast enough and it hadn't been able to scale 371 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: up basically to cope with all the activity that was 372 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:34,640 Speaker 1: taking place on the network. And as I think we've 373 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: said before, it became a victim of its own success. 374 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:43,199 Speaker 1: So Vitalik, being the massively intelligent chapter that he was, 375 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,919 Speaker 1: had kind of realized this for a while and by 376 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 1: eighteen had already begun working working on fixing it. So 377 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 1: he wasn't he wasn't resting on his laurels. And so 378 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,680 Speaker 1: this is where the this is where Ethereum two point comes. 379 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, we're gonna quite I'm gonna refer to it 380 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: as Ethereum two point out for now and then and 381 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 1: then I will and then I will reveal why we 382 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 1: can't recopate a THEORYM two point This is a command 383 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: from from on high. So in a nutshell, as we 384 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: record this and in in mid Ethereum is in the 385 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,359 Speaker 1: midst of transitioning from its current proof of work blockchain 386 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: to become a proof of steak blockchain. Okay, so I 387 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: think firstly we need a quick recap of what proof 388 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 1: of steak is for anyone who missed that episode or 389 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 1: just potentially who may have forgotten and potentially who I 390 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: saw the information go in one ear and just dribble 391 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: out the other. Okay, So, as we know, a proof 392 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,720 Speaker 1: of work blockchain has minors and they expend energy in 393 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: the form of computing power in order to win the 394 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 1: chance to create a block and add it to the blockchain. 395 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: And of course the winning minor in that situation gets 396 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,480 Speaker 1: the block reward as remuneration for their efforts. And I 397 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: should point out as well that proof of work miners 398 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,320 Speaker 1: they also get paid transaction fees as well. That's an 399 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,160 Speaker 1: added incentive for for doing the work that they do. 400 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: But the block reward is is kind of the big 401 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: headline grabber. Now we've looked at this in detail before, 402 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: but suffice to say that a proof of work chain 403 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,400 Speaker 1: is very secure because you would need to expend an 404 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:18,679 Speaker 1: insane amount of energy to try and corrupt it, certainly 405 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,919 Speaker 1: in Bitcoin's case, and probably that that energy would probably 406 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:26,200 Speaker 1: cost more than you'd actually gain financially from from corrupting 407 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: the network, assuming that the network didn't. You know, the 408 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,119 Speaker 1: bitcoin itself didn't go to zero because everyone realized that 409 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,840 Speaker 1: it had been corrupted. But anyway, so Bitcoin's blockchain is 410 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,840 Speaker 1: also super decentralized because there are so many miners on 411 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: the network, and because there are so many nodes as 412 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: well who aren't miners, but do you know they do 413 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: run the Bitcoin software, so they are participating on the network. Now. 414 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:54,120 Speaker 1: There are disadvantages though, because obviously proof of work blockchain 415 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 1: is extremely expensive. It choose up a lot of energy 416 00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:59,919 Speaker 1: and it is now very expensive to become a bitcoin 417 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,639 Speaker 1: in minor because your electricity bill is insane and you 418 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: need lots of expensive equipment to do it. Proof of 419 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,960 Speaker 1: work because of this energy use. Because of the way 420 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,199 Speaker 1: it's build, it's also kind of heavy and slow. It 421 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: can't process many transactions per second bitcoin, yeah, it is 422 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: only it's about seven or eight transactions per second, which 423 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: is nothing really. Proof of steak, however, works differently. On 424 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: a proof of steake chain. Minors are instead known as 425 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:31,400 Speaker 1: validators as I said earlier, and instead of expending computing 426 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,400 Speaker 1: power to try and get chosen to add the next 427 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: block to the chain validators. Yeah, they stake the block 428 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,919 Speaker 1: chain's native coin. They put their money down, um. And again. Remember, 429 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 1: I think the best way to think of this is 430 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: through the lottery analogy. So with proof of work, the 431 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,680 Speaker 1: more energy you expend, the more lottery tickets you get, 432 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: the more chances you have to win. Proof of steak 433 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: works similarly in its case, the more the validators stake, 434 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: the higher their chances of getting is. And it's like, 435 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 1: you know, let's putting more money down to buy more 436 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,920 Speaker 1: lottery tickets. Again, So proof of stake therefore doesn't need 437 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: lots of computers running you know, hashing all the time. 438 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: The winner of the lottery is instead chosen at random. 439 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: And this means, as you can probably guess, this drastically 440 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 1: lowers the amount of energy that a proof of steak 441 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: chain consumes. I mean it's less. It's a negligible amount 442 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: of energy really in the grand scheme of things to 443 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: run a proof of steak blockchain. But people with more 444 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:36,439 Speaker 1: mula or more yeah, yeah, and this whatever, Yeah, this 445 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,120 Speaker 1: is this is the big This is the more frequently 446 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: yeah exactly, this is that this is the problem that 447 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,400 Speaker 1: you know, proof of proof of work lovers bitcoiners will 448 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 1: will raise about proof of steak and it's a very 449 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:52,919 Speaker 1: valid point. You know, Okay, what happens if someone it 450 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,159 Speaker 1: gives a lot of power to to those to the 451 00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: whales proof of steake. It is much faster, higher, higher tps, score, 452 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: more transactions per second because it's not relying on all 453 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: this heavy computing power to be done. And it has 454 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,000 Speaker 1: as a result, become by far the most popular blockchain 455 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,120 Speaker 1: consensus model. And this is especially in terms of going 456 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,200 Speaker 1: back to this energy usage. Again, this is especially as 457 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: e s G environmental, social, and governance concerns have come 458 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:26,440 Speaker 1: to shape investor behavior, especially big investors um and nowadays, 459 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 1: if you're a big institution wanting to invest, you have 460 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 1: to have an eye on e s G. And obviously 461 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 1: a lot of people say, well, because bitcoin uses so 462 00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 1: much electricity, it's therefore bad for the planet, and that 463 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: ignores the fact that a lot of that electricity comes 464 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,680 Speaker 1: from renewable sources. It ignores the fact that bitcoin mining 465 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 1: has become a lot more energy efficient. But I'm not 466 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,560 Speaker 1: going to fall down that rabbit hole because I've I 467 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,880 Speaker 1: think I've spoken about this before. Now, as you say, Mike, 468 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,359 Speaker 1: the concerns are the proof of sake is not as 469 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: decentralized or as secure as proof of work because that 470 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: the higher state, higher chance model means that those who 471 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 1: are able to stake more are basically able to get 472 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: selected to validator block and claim the reward more so, 473 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:13,400 Speaker 1: and for instance, in order to become a validator on Ethereum, 474 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: you need to stake thirty two I mean that is 475 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is not you know, 476 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: not money that most people have. On some other proof 477 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: of state chains, the barrier to entry is even higher. 478 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:32,359 Speaker 1: You know that the minimum stake to become a validator 479 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,240 Speaker 1: can be hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of the 480 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: particular coin. And also in some cases you need you 481 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 1: need pretty up to date hardware as well, you need 482 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:46,760 Speaker 1: pretty expensive hardware. So again this raises the concerns around centralization. 483 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,720 Speaker 1: How can you call something decentralized if only a handlet 484 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:53,840 Speaker 1: a few or people who can afford it. Yeah, and 485 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: of course steaking can be very profitable because you get 486 00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: a cut of you got you you stand a chart 487 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: to win these block rewards, and you also get network 488 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: fees as well. Now, there are ways that the you know, 489 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:09,880 Speaker 1: the man or woman in the street can participate in 490 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: a proof of staate blockchain. You can you can actually 491 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: you can actually delegate, so you can, or you can 492 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 1: you can put money into a staking pool, which means 493 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: you basically lend your money, lend your eath for instance, 494 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: to someone else, and they will in order that they 495 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: can run a validator themselves. So let's say there's a 496 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: group of us. None of us have thirty two thirty 497 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: two required to become a validator, but if we pulled 498 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 1: all that together, then we'd have enough to run a 499 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:41,040 Speaker 1: validator node. And then we could obviously split up any 500 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: any money that we earned from that, a bit like 501 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,040 Speaker 1: a bit like a lottery syndicate. I guess, you know, 502 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: everyone clubs together, they buy loads of tickets and they 503 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: split any winnings, and so it is possible for you know, 504 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: for for non whales to stake as well. But there 505 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 1: are still a lot of a lot of concerns around 506 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 1: centralization with proof of steak, and but as I said, 507 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 1: that hasn't stopped it becoming much, really really popular for 508 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,080 Speaker 1: a whole load of reasons, not least environmental concerns, but 509 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:14,800 Speaker 1: also speed as well. And it was these concerns around 510 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: speed and scalability. That got Vitalk interested in proof of steak, 511 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 1: and since kind of eighteen he's been working to move 512 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 1: Ethereum onto a proof of state model. Now, as you 513 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: can imagine, for a project that has gotten as big 514 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,720 Speaker 1: as ethereum, with so much going on, that is not easy. 515 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,800 Speaker 1: And this is why the switch over to proof of 516 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 1: steak has been going on for I mean for years now. 517 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 1: They've been working on this, as I say, since eighteen, 518 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 1: So what's that over four years now? But it's a 519 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: necessary one though Ethereum is so dominant, so many projects 520 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:54,760 Speaker 1: are building on it that it needs to be able 521 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: to scale. It can't go on the way it is, 522 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: and this slowness has made it unusable at time, and 523 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: the fees get too high. Yeah, yeah, And that's exactly 524 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: what I wanted to mention at this point, actually gas fees, 525 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: because if you'll remember, in order to in order to 526 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 1: use to in order to transact on the Ethereum network, 527 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,960 Speaker 1: let's say I want to send some to you, I 528 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,720 Speaker 1: have to pay a fee for the miners on the 529 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: network to to process that transaction. That's that's kind of 530 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,760 Speaker 1: a reward for their computing power, and that's part of 531 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,400 Speaker 1: the reason that they're part of the way that miners 532 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 1: on a proof of network network, that's part of how 533 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 1: they earn their crust, if you like. Now, the problem 534 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 1: is that when there are so many people trying to transact, 535 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:42,360 Speaker 1: when there are so many transactions queuing up to get 536 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: kittens loads, yeah, when so many people are trying to 537 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: trying to buy and sell and breed digital cats, there's 538 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:54,000 Speaker 1: this huge backlog of transactions waiting to go through. And 539 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: what happens is that some people are who are willing 540 00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: to pay more, willing to pay more gas to the 541 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:05,920 Speaker 1: minors to have their transaction prioritized surge charge, yeah yeah, 542 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: And what this means is that the gas price gets 543 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: progressively bid up and so in order to in order 544 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: to get your transaction processed that you at times have 545 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: to pay an absolutely exorbitant fee, and gas prices on 546 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:26,200 Speaker 1: ethereum have become insane. Not all the time, it is 547 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 1: still possible to transact relatively cheaply on ethereum, but at 548 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 1: times of high demands forget it. And a recent example, 549 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:38,800 Speaker 1: let's go back to n f t S again. You 550 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 1: mentioned the board a yacht club, so recently the Board 551 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: eight Yacht Club Start held a sale of virtual land 552 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: for its for its metaverse project, which is called other Side, 553 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: and demand for these virtual land n f t s, 554 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: which is how the virtual land was sold, was just insane. 555 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: And I thought there was actually a there was actually 556 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,360 Speaker 1: an article here in the Guardian, you know, in the 557 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: mainstream press, that reported that one user had bought two 558 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 1: n f t s for a total of nine thousand pounds. 559 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:16,479 Speaker 1: I mean, that's what's that eleven tho dollars or something. Uh, 560 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 1: that's what the n f t s had cost them. 561 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:23,080 Speaker 1: The gas in order to execute these transactions was eleven 562 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:28,840 Speaker 1: thousand pounds. Wow. Yeah, yeah, I think that. I think that. 563 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: I think that silence says it all. It's insane. And 564 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:35,080 Speaker 1: but I mean at a time like this, when you 565 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:38,160 Speaker 1: might say, well, why on earth would anyone would anyone 566 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: do this? Well, at a time like this, there's a 567 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,040 Speaker 1: limited number of these n f t s being sold, 568 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: there's a lot of demand for them, and some people, 569 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 1: most people would look at that and go forget it. 570 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: You know, I don't want it that badly, But other 571 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 1: people would be like, yeah, I want one of these 572 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 1: n f t s. I think you know, you see 573 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: these Supreme shop drops and there is a you know, 574 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,320 Speaker 1: a far exting or show with Supreme written on it 575 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 1: and it's like five thousand pounds and you're like what Yeah, 576 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:15,239 Speaker 1: but someone buys it and it's instantly worthy parts. Yeah. 577 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:18,959 Speaker 1: The second it was a second market or whatever it's called, 578 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: is just crazy for these things, and there's people out 579 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,840 Speaker 1: there willing to pay it. It's kind of like, I 580 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 1: suppose in the same way that you know, yeah, I've 581 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,959 Speaker 1: got the actual mona Lisa, or I've got a print. Yeah, 582 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,960 Speaker 1: what's yeah, one is one is going to be. It's mental, 583 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 1: but you know we've created this mentality. Yeah, I mean 584 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: it's human behavior, isn't It's when there's a when there's 585 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: a frenzy, when there's a feeding frenzy, people are willing 586 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,160 Speaker 1: to pay these insane gas costs. These gas costs get 587 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:52,279 Speaker 1: bit up to yeah, just eyewatering degree and um yeah, 588 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: so this is this is like, this is a bad 589 00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:56,279 Speaker 1: look for the theory, and no one really wants this 590 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,879 Speaker 1: situation to continue. And the story of the last few 591 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,399 Speaker 1: years apart from the miners. Apart from the miners, Yeah, 592 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,960 Speaker 1: we're doing doing pretty well out of it. Um, but yeah, 593 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:08,320 Speaker 1: so the last few years ethereum has been largely about 594 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,560 Speaker 1: moving over to proof of stake and ethereum two point oh, 595 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 1: which we're not allowed to call it. Now. The way 596 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:18,320 Speaker 1: that ethereum is is eventually going to solve this problem. 597 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,240 Speaker 1: If you like, you should call it re ethereum theory. 598 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: I like it vitalic. If you're listening there you are, Yeah, okay, 599 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:28,520 Speaker 1: I'm sure he's scribbling frantically on a pad um. There's 600 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:32,000 Speaker 1: Ethereum to two point oh is going to employ a 601 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,880 Speaker 1: technique which is known as scharding. Okay, now this is 602 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,759 Speaker 1: actually this, this is something that existed before blockchain, but 603 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:43,200 Speaker 1: it's a burning of No, this isn't burning. This is 604 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,840 Speaker 1: slightly different. So this basically we'll see a group in 605 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:51,560 Speaker 1: Ethereum's case of sixty four additional blockchains, known as chard chains, 606 00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:56,960 Speaker 1: run in parallel to the main Ethereum chain. Okay, so 607 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,640 Speaker 1: it's basically like imagine, you know, you've got your blockchain, 608 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,239 Speaker 1: which is very slow because it's very congested, So it's 609 00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:05,600 Speaker 1: basically kind of siphoning off all this activity onto these 610 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,439 Speaker 1: separate chains. It's like, I guess if you're if you're 611 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: building a road, you know, a one layer a one 612 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,239 Speaker 1: lane road and it gets congested, you just build more 613 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:17,279 Speaker 1: lanes so as more cars can travel down it. That's 614 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:22,279 Speaker 1: basically what sharding is adding extra block chains. Now, this 615 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:26,320 Speaker 1: the main Ethereum chain which has which the main Ethereum 616 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 1: proof of state chain which has been launched is going 617 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:30,200 Speaker 1: to be, is the Beacon chain. So this is going 618 00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:32,200 Speaker 1: to be where this is going to be, if you like, 619 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:35,919 Speaker 1: at the heart of Ethereum. But these shard chains will 620 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,080 Speaker 1: take a lot of the pressure off of the Beacon chain, 621 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,399 Speaker 1: but they will occasionally submit an updated report of their 622 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,080 Speaker 1: status to the Beacon chain, so as the whole network 623 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,240 Speaker 1: can be updated. Now, the Beacon chain itself has actually 624 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,640 Speaker 1: it actually shipped on the first of December and this 625 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,840 Speaker 1: introduced proof of stake to Ethereum and mark the first 626 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:58,480 Speaker 1: stage of the transition. So this this transition is very 627 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,759 Speaker 1: much underway. The next day is the merge, and this 628 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:06,399 Speaker 1: is where the current Ethereum main net will merge with 629 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:10,400 Speaker 1: the Beacon chain. An Ethereum at that point will cease 630 00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:15,359 Speaker 1: altogether to be a proof of work network. Okay, so 631 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:18,480 Speaker 1: the merge is the next big thing on the horizon 632 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:20,960 Speaker 1: as we speak. Now. It was originally scheduled. Well, no, 633 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 1: it's been kind of put back a lot. It was 634 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:27,879 Speaker 1: scheduled for early two, but has since been pushed back 635 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:32,040 Speaker 1: to Q three or Q four now, so kind of 636 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 1: towards in the second half of the year. And this 637 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,080 Speaker 1: has become a bit of a running joke in the 638 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: crypto community about how long the switch to you know, 639 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 1: the merge is taking um and the final stage, the introduction, 640 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:48,120 Speaker 1: the actual introduction of shard chains, that is scheduled for 641 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: three assuming the merge happens this year, and that should 642 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:58,040 Speaker 1: mark the end of ethereums transition, but we are still 643 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:03,399 Speaker 1: waiting now. I about those holding the original Etherem, Well, well, 644 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 1: there isn't going to be. I mean, that's that's a 645 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,520 Speaker 1: good point one from where there was that breach. Oh 646 00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:13,040 Speaker 1: Ethereum classic, Yeah, no one, Not many people are talking 647 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,160 Speaker 1: about Ethereum classic. Yeah, it's going to be. Yeah, I 648 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:22,640 Speaker 1: don't think Ethereum classic BlackBerry Yeah, why you still got 649 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,040 Speaker 1: youth classic? Good? Yeah? Um. Now this is from the 650 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,239 Speaker 1: Ethereum website. I was trying to find a way to 651 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 1: express why we can't say Ethereum to bind out anymore. 652 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: So I'll just I'll just say what the website says. 653 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:38,759 Speaker 1: So quote, after merging one and two into a single chain, 654 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:42,080 Speaker 1: there will no longer be two distinct Ethereum networks. There 655 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,880 Speaker 1: will be only there will only be one Ethereum. So 656 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: to limit confusion, the community has updated these terms. One 657 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:54,799 Speaker 1: is now the execution layer. Two is now the consensus 658 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:59,799 Speaker 1: layer Consensus, which handles proof of steak. Consensus. Okay. And 659 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: there were additional There were a few kind of additional 660 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:06,920 Speaker 1: points around why we couldn't say it to one one 661 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,520 Speaker 1: of it. One of it pertained to scammers because a 662 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:11,279 Speaker 1: lot of scammers were sort of getting in touch with 663 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,799 Speaker 1: people saying, hey, you know Ethereum is transitioning, Well, you 664 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 1: can swap your eight one for two here. Just send 665 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:23,200 Speaker 1: it to this address and by by money, not if 666 00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:28,760 Speaker 1: you're not if you've been scammed. So were you yawning there? Okay, 667 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:32,480 Speaker 1: that's good to know. So. Ethereum has undergone several network 668 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:35,040 Speaker 1: upgrades in order to pave the way for proof of steak. 669 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: The most important one recently was the London upgrade that 670 00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:43,080 Speaker 1: was back in August. One. London Upgrade implemented a number 671 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:46,879 Speaker 1: of Ethereum improvement proposals or e I p s um 672 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:50,520 Speaker 1: the I P. Yeah, that's pretty for self expansion and 673 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:52,800 Speaker 1: the Ethereum improvement proposal, it's like I have an idea 674 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:56,200 Speaker 1: how to improve Ethereum. The most significant of these in 675 00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:58,799 Speaker 1: the London upgrade was e I P fift nine and 676 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,359 Speaker 1: this made changes to Ethereum's gas fee structure. And one 677 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:04,920 Speaker 1: of the most important aspects of this change was that 678 00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,240 Speaker 1: a portion of gas fees what would from that point 679 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:11,160 Speaker 1: on be burned burned, yeah, and removed from circulation altogether. 680 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:16,360 Speaker 1: And there's no total numbers, that's right. Yeah. Ethereum doesn't 681 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,960 Speaker 1: doesn't have a fixed supply like unlike bitcoin. Bitcoin obviously 682 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,880 Speaker 1: twenty one million BTC will be mined and that's it. 683 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:27,600 Speaker 1: Ethereum has no fixed supply. And this had a lot 684 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:30,680 Speaker 1: of people concerned, Well, you know, how is an asset 685 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:34,759 Speaker 1: that its supply is constantly increasing? How is that? Yeah? 686 00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:38,000 Speaker 1: How is that going to hold its value? And I mean, 687 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,120 Speaker 1: you know, ethereum is eth is so useful for using 688 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,400 Speaker 1: the Ethereum network that you know it's always going to 689 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,279 Speaker 1: have I think the demand even if there is a 690 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,719 Speaker 1: large supply, but the fact that so so much of 691 00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:51,719 Speaker 1: it is now being burned, so many of these gas 692 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:55,279 Speaker 1: fees are being burned. Has raised the possibility that with 693 00:40:55,520 --> 00:41:00,879 Speaker 1: enough network activity could become deflationary. Okay, so and that 694 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:05,000 Speaker 1: has that has you know, pretty serious implications, potential implications 695 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,839 Speaker 1: for the price of as well. You know a lot 696 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,640 Speaker 1: of people saying, well, you know, this asset becomes deflationary 697 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:15,200 Speaker 1: and demand stays the if if supply decreases and demand 698 00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:21,120 Speaker 1: remains the same propos proposition to go, Okay, cool, we'll 699 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,880 Speaker 1: burn less. I suppose they could, but I don't think 700 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:26,960 Speaker 1: if it's burning too much. Yeah, I mean, you know, 701 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:30,640 Speaker 1: you could argue that they wanted to become deflation It 702 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,520 Speaker 1: makes it more makes it more valuable. Um, there is 703 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:36,880 Speaker 1: always going to be new EA being created, but that 704 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:42,840 Speaker 1: ratio and yeah, there's as we speak, there is a 705 00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 1: lot of anticipation around the merge and proof of stake. Now, 706 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:47,880 Speaker 1: a lot of people think that as soon as the 707 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:51,200 Speaker 1: merge happens, gas fees are going to go down to 708 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:54,960 Speaker 1: very little and everything will be fine. It's it's not 709 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:57,799 Speaker 1: that simple. This is such a big this is such 710 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 1: a big transition, This is such a big project, um 711 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,560 Speaker 1: that it's going to take a while, and you know, 712 00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,920 Speaker 1: not until we've got shard chains really, and even probably 713 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:08,400 Speaker 1: a bit beyond the introduction of sharding. It's going to 714 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,320 Speaker 1: be a while before Ethereum you know you can. Gas 715 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,200 Speaker 1: is going to cost you know, a few cents like 716 00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:18,239 Speaker 1: it does on some other proof of state chains. But 717 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:22,800 Speaker 1: we're getting there. We're getting there. Let's take another break, 718 00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:41,680 Speaker 1: shall We're back for part three of this episode of Ethereum. 719 00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:44,440 Speaker 1: This is this? Is it for Ethereum, not really, but 720 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,759 Speaker 1: for the podcast. Yeah, I think we've I think we've 721 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:52,040 Speaker 1: covered this ad nauseum. Okay, So I just want to 722 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:55,160 Speaker 1: quickly talk about something that's um, something that's come up 723 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:58,839 Speaker 1: again in response to these scaling issues that Ethereum has 724 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:01,799 Speaker 1: and the kind of slo rollout of this proof of 725 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 1: steak that's attracted a lot of criticism. So and as 726 00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:06,799 Speaker 1: I say, at times of high demands, as we know, 727 00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,319 Speaker 1: the network is pretty much unusable unless you're prepared to 728 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:13,440 Speaker 1: pay insane gas fees. But recently we've seen the emergence 729 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:18,000 Speaker 1: of some projects that make that use basically make using 730 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:23,000 Speaker 1: Ethereum easier, and these are known as Layer two's Layer 731 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:27,040 Speaker 1: two scaling solutions to give them their full title. Obviously, 732 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:31,200 Speaker 1: Ethereum being a layer one Layer two's UM and some 733 00:43:31,239 --> 00:43:35,279 Speaker 1: examples here Polygon Optimism, Arbitram are all examples of layer 734 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,640 Speaker 1: two projects. They're built on top of ethereum, but they 735 00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:42,200 Speaker 1: use their own chains to compute transactions off the main 736 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:46,239 Speaker 1: ethereum chain, and they reference the main ethereum chain for 737 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:50,600 Speaker 1: security purposes, but take you know, the transactional strain off 738 00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,720 Speaker 1: of it. And this obviously allows for faster and cheaper 739 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:57,120 Speaker 1: transactions than would be possible on the main chain. And 740 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:00,680 Speaker 1: these have become a very a very use full stop 741 00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:03,560 Speaker 1: gap whilst we wait for whilst we wait for shard 742 00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:08,960 Speaker 1: chains and proof of steak in general, and these layer two's, 743 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:12,040 Speaker 1: like shard chains, they can periodically submit summaries of their 744 00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:14,160 Speaker 1: data to the main chain to keep the whole you know, 745 00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:18,040 Speaker 1: the whole network updated. UM. But they've they've been useful 746 00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:20,560 Speaker 1: to take some of the strain off the main Ethereum network. 747 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:25,520 Speaker 1: That said, it's still it's still often slow and expensive 748 00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:28,040 Speaker 1: to use. You know, these layer two's have helped, but 749 00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: they haven't solved the problem UM. And again, as we've seen, 750 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: these kind of rival layer ones have taken advantage of 751 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:39,359 Speaker 1: this situation to make some inroads into Ethereum's market share, 752 00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,719 Speaker 1: but none of them have so far come close to 753 00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:47,200 Speaker 1: mounting a serious challenge to Ethereum's dominance. And I'm going 754 00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:48,759 Speaker 1: to go as far as to say that if the 755 00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:52,759 Speaker 1: move to proof of steak is completed relatively soon and 756 00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:57,400 Speaker 1: without any disasters happening along the way, then it's for 757 00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:00,000 Speaker 1: for me, it's kind of hard to see how ethereum 758 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,040 Speaker 1: could be toppled. It's not impossible, I mean it could, 759 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:08,280 Speaker 1: it could still happen, but Ethereum is is so dominant, 760 00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,000 Speaker 1: you know, even and and it it does surprise me 761 00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:14,920 Speaker 1: in a way, even though it can become so unusable, 762 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,000 Speaker 1: even though the ethereum experience can be can be pretty 763 00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,399 Speaker 1: miserable sometimes if if you're you know, if you're trying 764 00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:23,400 Speaker 1: to pile into some hot new n f T project 765 00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:26,840 Speaker 1: or something like that, despite all this, people are still 766 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:29,959 Speaker 1: building on it. It's it has so much use and 767 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:34,440 Speaker 1: I struggle to see how another project is going to 768 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:38,279 Speaker 1: is going to take that away. Certainly in the short 769 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,600 Speaker 1: term it must. It's going to be a very long 770 00:45:41,719 --> 00:45:45,239 Speaker 1: term thing to try and chip away as ethereums. Ethereums lead, 771 00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:49,680 Speaker 1: I mean um, I think the future like anyone who 772 00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:52,480 Speaker 1: imagines that that that the future of crypto is going 773 00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:54,399 Speaker 1: to be, you know, sort of one chain to rule 774 00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:56,560 Speaker 1: them all. Any thing like that is wrong. I think 775 00:45:56,560 --> 00:46:00,640 Speaker 1: there are there are going to be lots of different blockchain. Um, 776 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,479 Speaker 1: there are lots of other you know, cryptocurrency block chains 777 00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:06,080 Speaker 1: that do different things. It's not all about Bitcoin, and 778 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:07,799 Speaker 1: then a whole load of layer twos. You know, there 779 00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:11,600 Speaker 1: are lots of cryptos that do different things. Um. But 780 00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:13,960 Speaker 1: it's going to be interesting to see how this kind 781 00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 1: of layer one landscape shapes up, and you know, whether 782 00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:21,279 Speaker 1: some layer ones will kind of specialize in, you know, 783 00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:24,160 Speaker 1: in kind of some aspects. You know, maybe maybe one 784 00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:26,560 Speaker 1: or or two block chains will emerge as kind of 785 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:29,120 Speaker 1: the block chains for n f T s or something like, 786 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,960 Speaker 1: maybe one particular blockchain or a small handful of them 787 00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:36,839 Speaker 1: will be where most of you know, decentralized finance kind 788 00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:40,759 Speaker 1: of eventually finds itself. But it's it's so difficult to 789 00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:43,239 Speaker 1: predict how this, how this might pan out, and so 790 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:45,239 Speaker 1: the you know, the easiest thing for the moment is 791 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:48,279 Speaker 1: to say, well, it's it's still very much the ball 792 00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:51,160 Speaker 1: is still very much in ethereums court, and obviously it 793 00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:53,279 Speaker 1: has this kind of network effects, you know, this first 794 00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:57,160 Speaker 1: mover advantage. It's built up so much activity that's going 795 00:46:57,160 --> 00:46:59,920 Speaker 1: to be very difficult for another project to overtake that. 796 00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,239 Speaker 1: And that these rival projects, and I'm going to use 797 00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:05,840 Speaker 1: the examples of Cardano and polka Dot here, they have 798 00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:08,120 Speaker 1: kind of gone about it a different way, you know, 799 00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:11,440 Speaker 1: rather than Ethereum kind of launched. It's like, this is 800 00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:15,160 Speaker 1: what we can do, and they've been trying to basically 801 00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:18,319 Speaker 1: correct it as they go along. Ever since these other 802 00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:21,360 Speaker 1: projects are sort of starting, you know, having learned the 803 00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:25,040 Speaker 1: lessons of what has happened before a Ethereum, they're building 804 00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:30,160 Speaker 1: these supposedly much more resilient networks that should theoretically be 805 00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:35,880 Speaker 1: able to scale to handle ethereums volume. Most of these 806 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:40,200 Speaker 1: are still very much in developments. Yeah, I mean, Polka 807 00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:43,200 Speaker 1: dot is an interesting one. Polka dots. Polka dot uses 808 00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:47,040 Speaker 1: something Its main chain is called the relay chain, and 809 00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:49,719 Speaker 1: then it has what are called para chains, which are 810 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:51,839 Speaker 1: these kind of separate blockchains that work in a kind 811 00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:55,400 Speaker 1: of similar way to shards. And the Polka Dot network 812 00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:58,879 Speaker 1: is in the middle of kind of rolling these these 813 00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:02,840 Speaker 1: para chains out, and various projects each para chain is 814 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:07,319 Speaker 1: going to is reserved for one particular project, and at 815 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:10,240 Speaker 1: the moment, it's conducting what are called para chains slot 816 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:13,120 Speaker 1: auctions in order for you know, whichever projects are building 817 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:16,000 Speaker 1: on polka Dot, they basic you know, they're basically bidding 818 00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:18,960 Speaker 1: to get a para chain slot, and that's how that's 819 00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:22,160 Speaker 1: going to work. But so the polka Dot network is growing, 820 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:26,960 Speaker 1: Cardano is doing it slightly differently. Um. Cardano is basically 821 00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:30,520 Speaker 1: a peer reviewed projects. So rather than kind of put 822 00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:33,000 Speaker 1: the network out there and see what happens, they've been 823 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:37,120 Speaker 1: building its painstakingly for years now. Every stage is being 824 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:38,960 Speaker 1: peer reviewed. You know, it's going out to all these 825 00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:42,000 Speaker 1: various developers and scientists and people like that to look 826 00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:46,359 Speaker 1: over with the hope that you know, when it's when 827 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,320 Speaker 1: it's up and fully functioning, they will have spotted every 828 00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:53,960 Speaker 1: potential problem and it'll you know run like Ethereum, like 829 00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:58,480 Speaker 1: we'd all like Ethereum to run um. But obviously this 830 00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:01,160 Speaker 1: is you know, this is a slow proces. Smart contracts 831 00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:03,480 Speaker 1: have only been enabled on Cardano for a few months. 832 00:49:04,200 --> 00:49:06,439 Speaker 1: They're still kind of rolling out depths. There are lots 833 00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:08,520 Speaker 1: of projects building on it, but there's still you know, 834 00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:13,000 Speaker 1: it's still very much in development. So that is the 835 00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:15,840 Speaker 1: kind of landscape at the moment. Ethereum is the Theoryum 836 00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:19,879 Speaker 1: is the daddy in that particular niche of cryptocurrency. There 837 00:49:19,880 --> 00:49:22,319 Speaker 1: are lots of projects lining up to try and take 838 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:27,280 Speaker 1: its crown, to try and take it down. But Ethereum. Yeah, 839 00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:30,320 Speaker 1: this this change to proof of steak, there's changed to 840 00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:33,239 Speaker 1: Ethereum too that we're not allowed to call it is 841 00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:36,399 Speaker 1: and it's it's it's a huge it's it's a huge 842 00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:38,759 Speaker 1: factor in the whole crypto space at the moment. Really, 843 00:49:38,760 --> 00:49:42,680 Speaker 1: everyone is kind of waiting on, waiting on on this 844 00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:47,640 Speaker 1: to happen, And yeah, I want to finish up by saying, um. 845 00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:51,439 Speaker 1: You know, Ethereum is capturing the public imagination more and more. 846 00:49:51,480 --> 00:49:53,160 Speaker 1: You know, it's not just all the stuff that's happening 847 00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:55,400 Speaker 1: on it. It's not just the fact that Vitally is 848 00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:59,680 Speaker 1: such a it's such a prominent figure in crypto and beyond. 849 00:49:59,719 --> 00:50:01,120 Speaker 1: I think as well. He was on the cover of 850 00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:04,600 Speaker 1: Time magazine recently. You know, he really is becoming a 851 00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:09,239 Speaker 1: kind of global figure. And you'll remember that a few 852 00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,680 Speaker 1: times during these Ethereum episodes, I've referenced a couple of books. 853 00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:15,000 Speaker 1: One was The Cryptopians by Laura Shin and the other 854 00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:19,920 Speaker 1: one was The Infinite Machine by Camilla Russo. And the 855 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:21,920 Speaker 1: Infinite Machine was actually the first. Both of them are 856 00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:25,720 Speaker 1: about the early days of ethereum. Well, um, the Infinite 857 00:50:25,719 --> 00:50:28,719 Speaker 1: Machine has just been optioned. The film rights have just 858 00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:33,440 Speaker 1: been bought by Ridley Scott's company. Talk about a blockbuster. 859 00:50:35,239 --> 00:50:38,080 Speaker 1: Oh god, on that note, let's end it because they 860 00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:42,000 Speaker 1: were blocked in. Yeah, that's that's quite enough. Bye, bye everyone, 861 00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:44,160 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to you soon. Thank you so much 862 00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:46,759 Speaker 1: for listening to the coin Bureau podcast. If you'd like 863 00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:49,960 Speaker 1: to learn more about cryptocurrency, you can visit our YouTube 864 00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:53,560 Speaker 1: channel at YouTube dot com forward slash coin Bureau. You 865 00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:55,920 Speaker 1: can also go to coin bureau dot com for loads 866 00:50:55,920 --> 00:50:58,920 Speaker 1: more information about all things crypto. You can follow me 867 00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:01,359 Speaker 1: on Twitter and at coin beer all one word, and 868 00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:04,959 Speaker 1: I'm also active on TikTok and Instagram as well. First 869 00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:08,000 Speaker 1: of all, it's not thank you for listening. You're welcome 870 00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:12,680 Speaker 1: for great content. Yeah, like this is free and they're 871 00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:16,640 Speaker 1: learning about a fairly great topic in a non boring way. 872 00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:19,359 Speaker 1: If you'd like to visit me and hear more about me, 873 00:51:20,040 --> 00:51:22,600 Speaker 1: go to mooch about m O O c h A 874 00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:35,960 Speaker 1: b o U T or else. For more podcasts from 875 00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:39,799 Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 876 00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:50,840 Speaker 1: or wherever we get your podcasts. The coin Beera podcast 877 00:51:51,000 --> 00:52:15,160 Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio.