The Defiant

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Should Arbitrum Have Frozen North Korea's Funds? Griff Green vs. Gabe Shapiro Apr 23, 2026

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The Arbitrum Security Council just made one of the most controversial decisions in DeFi history — freezing $70M in ETH stolen by North Korean hackers from the KelpDAO bridge exploit. But was it the right move?

And what does it say about the systems we're building?

Griff Green (Giveth Co-Founder and Arbitrum Security Council member) and Gabe Shapiro / Lex_node (crypto lawyer, MetaLex founder, ZK Sync Guardian Council) go head-to-head on the decisions, the precedent it sets, and the hard questions the DeFi ecosystem can no longer avoid.

They debate:Was freezing North Korea's funds the right call?

Do Stage 1 rollups like Arbitrum have too much centralized power?

How does the Arbitrum Security Council compare to PayPal, Bitcoin miners, and Ethereum validators?

What would real accountability look like for security councils?

What's the path to Stage 2 — and how long will it take?This is one of the most important conversations in DeFi right now. Don't miss it.

🔔 Subscribe to The Defiant for more crypto deep dives, breaking news, and live debates.

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Quantum Could Break Bitcoin Sooner Than We Thought | Alex Pruden Apr 10, 2026

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Two new research papers just intensified one of crypto’s most serious long-term risks: quantum computing.

In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Camila Russo sits down with Alex Pruden, co-founder and CEO of Project 11, to unpack what the latest quantum breakthroughs actually mean for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the broader crypto ecosystem.

Alex explains why the new papers matter, how quantum computers could use Shor’s algorithm to break the cryptography behind blockchain ownership, why exposed public keys are especially vulnerable, and what “Q-Day” could look like if the industry is unprepared. He also breaks down the difference between theoretical progress and live quantum systems, why some chains may be vulnerable in different ways, and what post-quantum migration could realistically involve.

The takeaway: this is not just a technical curiosity. It is a foundational challenge for crypto, and one the industry may need to start addressing now.

Topics covered:

Why the new quantum papers are a big deal
How quantum computers could break Bitcoin and Ethereum
Why exposed public keys matter
What real-time attacks could look like
Whether faster blockchains are safer
What post-quantum cryptography can and can’t solve
Why Ethereum may be the furthest along in preparing
What Project 11 is building to help secure crypto before Q-Day

Omer Goldberg: The DeFi Exploit That Exposed a Bigger Problem Mar 30, 2026

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A new DeFi exploit triggered millions in losses, but the deeper story is about risk. In this episode, Omer Goldberg, founder of Chaos Labs, explains how the attack unfolded, why the damage spread across lending markets, what vault curators got wrong, and whether DeFi is truly ready for mainstream adoption. If you want to understand stablecoin risk, oracle design, curator incentives, and the future of safer onchain finance, this is the conversation to watch.Big thanks to our sponsors;NEXONexo is a premier digital assets wealth platform that helps clients build, manage, and preserve their wealth through advanced interest-generating products, crypto-backed credit, advanced trading tools, and 24/7 client care. Get started at nexo.com/defiant MERCURYOYour Web3 product deserves solid payment infrastructure. Global on/off-ramps, custom APIs, and DeFi connectivity trusted by the biggest names in crypto: mercuryo.ioROCKET POOLRocket Pool is Ethereum’s decentralised liquid staking protocol. Node operators can join with just 4 ETH, or liquid stakers can hold rETH and automatically earn staking rewards. rocketpool.net

Optimism Is Done With “Ethereum Alignment” — Users Come First Mar 06, 2026

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In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Camila Russo sits down with Jing Wang to discuss how Optimism is evolving and why the debate over what counts as a “real” Ethereum L2 might be missing the point.

Jing argues that the most important question isn’t whether a chain is an L1, L2, or sidechain.

It’s whether the architecture actually serves users and real-world use cases.

“If it looks like an L1, we’ll build that. If it looks like an L2, we’ll build that.”

In the conversation we cover:

Why Optimism now sees itself as a network of blockchains (the Superchain)
The debate around Ethereum L2 decentralization sparked by Vitalik Buterin
Why institutions are already using decentralized rails
Why ZK proofs are the future
And why Jing believes finance inevitably moves on-chain

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Did L2 Fragment Ethereum? - With Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset, Co-Founder of Canton Feb 27, 2026

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Layer 2 was supposed to scale Ethereum.

But what if it fragmented it instead?

n this episode, we break down:

• Why public chains are “expensive databases”

• Why composability is Ethereum’s real value

• Why stablecoins don’t need blockchains

• Why L2 may be weakening Ethereum’s core

Is scaling helping Ethereum — or hollowing it out?

Explore The Defiant ✨

The Bitcoin Renaissance Legacy : Beyond Digital Gold Ep. 2 Feb 26, 2026

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Bitcoin Renaissance or JPEG Hype?In 2023, Bitcoin had what many called a renaissance.NFTs on Bitcoin.BRC-20 tokens.Runes.10x transaction spikes.Fee revenue surging to levels not seen since 2017.And then — just as quickly — it cooled.So was the Bitcoin renaissance just a flash in the pan?Or did Ordinals, BRC-20s, and Runes permanently change Bitcoin?In Episode 2 of our Beyond Digital Gold docu-series in partnership with StarkWare, we break down:• What Ordinals actually are and how they work• How BRC-20 tokens turned Bitcoin into a memecoin battlefield• Why Runes were introduced — and what they fixed• The fee spike impact on miners• How maximalism fractured• Why the Overton window for building on Bitcoin shifted permanentlyFeaturing:@isabelfoxenduke@0xBinari@rodarmor@domodata@NathanOnCryptoThe hype faded.But the structural shift didn’t.Watch to understand what really changed — and why the next battle for Bitcoin is infrastructure.⸻Chapters:Cold OpenEthereum vs Bitcoin EraTaproot ExplainedWhat Ordinals Actually DidBRC-20 ExplosionThe Cultural WarRunes & The RefinementWas It Just Hype?⸻#Bitcoin #Ordinals #BRC20 #Runes #BitcoinDeFi #Crypto #Taproot

Why DAO Governance Always Turns Political Feb 20, 2026

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"In a decentralized governance system, it's unavoidable to develop politics."

Rune Christensen explains why DAO governance becomes a struggle for resources, how the "iron law of bureaucracy" emerges, and why Sky redesigned its architecture to survive it.

From USDS growth to the Atlas rulebook and Genesis Capital — this is Sky's long-term vision for sustainable decentralized finance.

Robinhood’s Crypto Head Johann Kerbrat on Why Public Blockchains Will Win Feb 11, 2026

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Robinhood is opening the testnet for its Arbitrum-based Ethereum Layer 2. In this episode, we sit down with the fintech’s head of crypto, Johann Kerbrat, to discuss the strategic move to build on Ethereum. He believes institutions can get the privacy and compliance guarantees they need on public chains like Ethereum, so building on private chains doesn’t make sense as they are just a “fancy database.” Kerbrat says he sees a future where most financial infrastructure and assets transact on public blockchains. Topics:Robinhood Layer 2 LaunchTokenized Stocks & Real-World AssetsThe "Adapt or Die" moment for BanksSelf-Custody vs. Platform Safety

Rebuilding Global Payments with Stablecoins | Circle & USDC with Nikhil Chandhok Feb 06, 2026

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Stablecoins have quietly become the most successful use case in crypto.In this episode, Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Circle, explains why USDC is more than a digital dollar — it’s a global financial network.We discuss economic inclusion, internet-scale finance, programmable payments, emerging markets, AI-driven payments, and why stablecoins are becoming the backbone of global money movement.

Crypto’s Point of No Return: Institutions are Finally Here, with Brett Tejpaul Feb 04, 2026

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2025 marked a turning point for crypto.In this episode, Brett Tejpaul, head of Coinbase Institutional, sits down with Camila Russo to explain why institutional adoption accelerated last year. From ETFs and stablecoin regulation to banks using public blockchains in production, crypto crossed a line it can’t uncross.We explore how Coinbase evolved from a retail exchange into a global financial infrastructure layer, why tokenization is finally happening for real, and what regulation unlocked that years of innovation couldn’t.This is about the moment crypto became part of the financial system.

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