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The Protocol

Inside the MIT Brothers' Ethereum Exploit

Flashbots’ Hasu discusses the recent MEV Boost exploit, emphasizing the ongoing MEV challenges and the need for decentralized solutions.

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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 interview Hasu, head of strategy at Flashbots and advisor to the Lido DAO. They discuss the recent exploit in the MEV Boost codebase, the Department of Justice's response, and the ongoing efforts to solve MEV. The conversation also covers restaking, Lido's role in the restaking ecosystem, censorship resistance, design differences between Eigenlayer and Symbiotic, and the future of Ethereum.

Takeaways |

  • The recent exploit in the MEV Boost code base highlights the ongoing battle to solve MEV and the need for more decentralized solutions.
  • Restaking is a market to rent economic security and work from an open market, and there are different approaches to restaking, such as native restaking and non-native restaking.
  • Lido aims to make staked ETH the dominant asset in Ethereum DeFi and stimulate demand for renting security with StakeETH.
  • The design differences between Eigenlayer and Symbiotic in the restaking ecosystem offer different trade-offs in terms of capital efficiency and spillover effects.
  • Censorship resistance in Ethereum can be addressed through inclusion lists, private memepools, and geographical/geopolitical diversity in the network.


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EPISODE LINKS |

How MIT Brothers Allegedly Cheated a Noxious-But-Accepted Ethereum Practice for $25M

Brothers Accused of $25M Ethereum Exploit as U.S. Reveals Fraud Charges


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
Inside the MIT Brothers' Ethereum Exploit