245: Simon Brown from Consensys | Spot Crypto ETFs and Overcentralization

Blockchain ecosystem advisor and researcher Simon Brown from Consensys joins me as guest co-host this week. Consensys is a leading blockchain and web3 software company whose products like MetaMask and Infura are well known to the blockchain and crypto community. Simon and I riffed on Spot Crypto ETFs, the Besu Outage and the creation of the PBS Foundation in the context of the over-centralization of crypto.

Show Notes
Guest Profile

While overjoyed that spot Bitcoin ETFs finally launched, I felt like something was not quite right about it, and I wanted to go deeper.

There is an element of over-centralization of crypto happening, not only with Spot Crypto ETFs, but with the overall 'client diversity' of the Ethereum ecosystem. Through the latest news on Spot Bitcoin ETFs, the Besu outage in the Ethereum ecosystem not reported by media outlets, the creation of the PBS (or Proposer-Builder Separation) Foundation, and speculation on the next wave of Spot Crypto ETFs with ETH, Simon helps me to make sense of over-centralization of crypto and where we might go from here.

Our weekly MoneyNeverSleeps newsletter is live on Substack, subscribe to go deeper into the topics we cover on each episode.

STORIES WE COVERED:

Spot Crypto ETFs

Gensler sees bitcoin ETF irony in light of Satoshi's mission, says he respects Sen. Warren and the law (The Block, 12-Jan-24)

BlackRock on pace to become largest bitcoin holder in the world (The Street, 15-Jan-24)

Ethereum Execution Client Outage (Besu)

Hyperledger Besu Incident Report (11-Jan-24)

X/Twitter Scenarios From Hanniabu on Geth Potential Outage (5-Jan-24)

ClientDiversity.org dashboard of consensus and execution clients

Project Sunshine dashboard measuring the health of Ethereum decentralization

PBS (Proposer-Builder Separation) Foundation

Buterin, Coinbase and more to fund Ethereum decentralization grants (Blockworks, 21-Dec-23)