If you are blockchain curious, and are confused by the many different Layer 1 technologies out there, this is an excellent introduction. Benjamin is a gifted technical analyst/quant, but this is the first time he’s focused on blockchain fundamentals. He goes into detail about the tradeoffs between decentralization/scalability/security, blocksize, and transactions. He also is well versed on the current and future scaling solutions for Ethereum, which will solve the high fees problem.
The key takeaways for me are:
1 - Ethereum transaction fees will come down with Layers 2 scaling technology like optimistic rollups and zero knowledge proofs
2 - Ethereum’s cost for securing the network is far lower than “Ethereum killers,” (highly performant, but centralized chains e.g. Solana) because the infrastructure costs to run an Ethereum 2.0 validator are miniscule.
3 - Related to points 2, Ethereum will be the most decentralized because of its low cost of security, and will help democratize ownership of the blockchain to all corners of the world.
This is an awesome weekend watch. If you weren’t already convinced about Ethereum’s sustainability and dominance, you will be after listening to Benjamin!