High Stakes | Intense Competition Among Layer Two Solutions
The battle for supremacy among layer two solutions in crypto has projects vying to showcase their tech. Despite criticism, airdrops and token launches by Ren and Eigenlayer have faced user disappointment.
ABOUT
This episode is sponsored by the Stellar Community Fund.
Follow the show here for more.
This installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk; they cover the story of Celo choosing Optimism as their layer two solutions, the vulnerabilities found on Optimism and the launch of tokens by Ren and Eigenlayer.
Sign Up forTHE PROTOCOL NEWSLETTER
EPISODE LINKS |
Celo Chooses Optimism, Concluding Bake-Off Among Layer 2s
The Protocol: EigenLayer's 'Intersubjective Forking' Is Objectively Not Done
What Is Restaking? What Is Liquid Restaking? What Is EigenLayer?
EigenLayer, After Touching Off Restaking Frenzy, Plans Own EIGEN token
Avail Data Availability Integrated by Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, StarkWare, ZkSync
From Our Sponsor:
The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) is an open-application awards program that draws on community input to support developers and startups building on Stellar and Soroban. Accelerate your web3 project today.
Apply for Funding at communityfund.stellar.org
The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.
HOSTS
Margaux Nijkerk reports on the Ethereum protocol and L2s. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Sam is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for tech and protocols. His reporting is focused on decentralized technology, infrastructure and governance. Sam holds a computer science degree from Harvard University, where he led the Harvard Political Review. He has a background in the technology industry and owns some ETH and BTC. Sam was part of the team that won a 2023 Gerald Loeb Award for CoinDesk's coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX collapse.

Bradley Keoun is CoinDesk's managing editor of tech & protocols, where he oversees a team of reporters covering blockchain technology, and previously ran the global crypto markets team. A two-time Loeb Awards finalist, he previously was chief global finance and economic correspondent for TheStreet and before that worked as an editor and reporter for Bloomberg News in New York and Mexico City, reporting on Wall Street, emerging markets and the energy industry. He started out as a police-beat reporter for the Gainesville Sun in Florida and later worked as a general-assignment reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, he double-majored in electrical engineering and classical studies as an undergraduate at Duke University and later obtained a master's in journalism from the University of Florida. He is currently based in Austin, Texas, and in his spare time plays guitar, sings in a choir and hikes in the Texas Hill Country. He owns less than $1,000 each of several cryptocurrencies.

EPISODES
The Significance of User-Owned AI and NEAR Protocol's Emphasis on Practical Applications
NEAR’s co-founder Illia Polosukhin shares the need to shift from corporate-owned AI to models that benefit individual...
Jul 8, 2024
Sui as a Global Coordination Layer for Intelligent Assets
Adeniyi Abiodun envisions a long-term goal for Sui to develop a decentralized web stack, leading to a fully decentra...
Jun 28, 2024
The Major Narrative in the Blockchain Space | Interoperability
Sergey Gorbunov on Axelar's Focus on Security and Programmability
Jun 17, 2024
Live from Consensus 2024 | The Financialization of Crypto and the Influence of Narratives
David Schwartz and Robert Leshner share how the convergence of traditional financial markets and on-chain systems pre...
Jun 6, 2024

The Mining Pod
Feb 10, 2025

CoinDesk Podcast Network
The top stories and best shows in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk.
Dec 20, 2023

Markets Daily Crypto Roundup
Tune in as CoinDesk runs down daily action in bitcoin markets and some of the most important recent industry development.
Dec 19, 2023

Unchained
Unchained, your no hype resource for all things crypto by former Forbes senior editor Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopians.
Dec 18, 2023