The Protocol

The Zuzalu Retreat, Million-Dollar Bitcoin Art, and Ethereum Diversity Dilemma

Grants are sparked by a retreat led by Vitalik Buterin, and creations akin to NFTs are minted on the Bitcoin blockchain, garnering attention at Sotheby's. Meanwhile, a glitch in Ethereum's Nethermind client software resulted in the removal of 8% of validators.

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In this installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk, explore the following stories:

TOPICS |

Zuzalu - Vitalik Buterin-Led Retreat in Montenegro

The program aims to continue the "growth of the pop-up city movement" and "support technology-driven projects,” according to a post on Gitcoin.

Genesis Cat NFT Sells for $254K in Sotheby's Auction

The sale of the digital image from the Taproot Wizards project came as popularity surges for the NFT-like creations minted atop the Bitcoin blockchain's Ordinals protocol. All in, some 19 lots sold by Sotheby's raked in a combined $1.1 million.

Ethereum outage

The lion's share of Ethereum's validators rely on the same piece of software to power their operations. According to some experts, this could be a big risk.


EPISODE LINKS |

Zuzalu, Vitalik Buterin-Led Retreat in Montenegro, Inspires Grants for 'Zu-Villages'

Bitcoin-Based Digital Art Image 'Genesis Cat' Sells for $254K in Sotheby's Auction

Bug That Took Down 8% of Ethereum's Validators Sparks Worries About Even Bigger Outage


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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