Consensus 2025
00:02:52:30
The Protocol

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.

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ABOUT

This episode is sponsored by the Stellar Community Fund.

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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.

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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


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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

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.

Margaux Nijkerk
Sam Kessler

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.

Sam Kessler
Bradley Keoun

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.

Bradley Keoun
High Stakes | Intense Competition Among Layer Two Solutions