ECH Institute Podcast

Meet the Herders is a new series where we talk to the people who make the Ethereum Cat Herders work.

Meet the Herders is a series of interviews with members of Ethereum Cat Herders (ECH).In this episode we speak to Pooja Ranjan who is the Herder-In-Chief. We discuss the history, motivations , workings of ECH & much more.

Today we're going to be talking to Octant. Octant is a decentralized governance platform that awards participation with ETH. It is a project by the Golem Foundation and Octant's mission is to streamline the funding for public goods and to ensure they receive the support that they deserve. Octant is doing this by taking a portion of their staking rewards and using that to distribute to the community, who can give it to public goods projects. We're here with James and we're going to be learning about their app today.

What can you expect from the Merge? What are the challenges and opportunities presented to smaller client developers? What impact will new technologies like Bonsai and Snapsync have for client operators? Learn about all this and more in this Merge special episode of PEEPanEIP.

In this podcast, Nidhi Harihar shares her journey into the Ethereum ecosystem, her work supporting public goods and women's participation in Web3, and her plans for DEVCON India. Discover how her initiatives are bridging gaps, empowering women, and shaping the future of blockchain technology.👥 FeaturingGuest Speaker: Nidhi Harihar - https://twitter.com/NidhiHariharECH Institute TeamHost: Pooja Ranjan – https://twitter.com/poojaranjan19Podcast Production: Akash – https://twitter.com/lookupforskyCoordinator: Meenakshi Singh – https://twitter.com/Meenakshiy2k🕒 Chapters00:00 Introduction to Nidhi Harihar and Her Journey05:15 Empowering Women Through Voice Deck DAO10:27 Challenges Women Face in Web314:08 Envisioning Success in Web3 Diversity16:16 Empowering Women in Web318:45 Rapid Fire Insights on Web319:54 Introduction to Women Powering Web320:03 Nidhi's Journey and Impact in Ethereum🔗 Follow ECH InstituteX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/echinstituteWarpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethcatherdersMedium: https://medium.com/ethereum-cat-herdersDiscord: https://discord.gg/H2eYpKCxxm🔗 Follow GuestVoiceDeck DAO: https://x.com/VoiceDeckDAO💸 Support ECH InstituteDonate: https://www.ethcatherders.com/donate#InternationalWomen'sDay #Ethereum #Web3 #WomeninCrypto

In this episode of the Women Powering Web3 by ECH Institute podcast, host Pooja engages with Christine Kim, a prominent figure in the Ethereum ecosystem. They discuss Christine's journey into the crypto space, significant Ethereum upgrades, the increasing institutional adoption of Ethereum, and the evolving role of women in the industry. Christine shares insights on the importance of visibility for women in crypto and debunks common myths surrounding participation in the space. The conversation concludes with a rapid-fire round and resources for listeners to explore further.🎬 Related ContentProtocol Watch: https://protocolwatch.com/Ready for Merge: https://x.com/ready4mergeChristine's Substack: https://christinedkim.substack.com/💸 Support ECH InstituteDonate: https://www.ethcatherders.com/donate👥 FeaturingGuest Speaker: Christine D. Kim - https://twitter.com/christine_dkimECH Institute TeamHost: Pooja Ranjan – https://twitter.com/poojaranjan19Podcast Production: Akash – https://twitter.com/lookupforskyCoordinator: Meenakshi Singh – https://twitter.com/Meenakshiy2k🕒 Chapters00:00 Introduction to the Ethereum Ecosystem03:03 Christine Kim's Journey into Web305:23 Significant Ethereum Upgrades and Their Impact08:21 Institutional Adoption of Ethereum10:56 Women's Participation in Ethereum13:18 Visibility and Communication in Web315:46 Myths Surrounding Women in Crypto17:33 Rapid Fire Round with Christine Kim19:05 Closing Thoughts and Resources19:51 Introduction to Women in Web3🔗 Follow ECH InstituteX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/echinstituteWarpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethcatherdersMedium: https://medium.com/ethereum-cat-herdersDiscord: https://discord.gg/H2eYpKCxxm#InternationalWomen'sDay #Ethereum #Web3 #WomeninCrypto

Do blockchains help with privacy or hinder it? Why do we need transactional privacy? Roman Semenov, creator and builder at Tornado Cash joins us to discuss privacy on blockchains and how Tornado strives to improve it. We also discuss the differences between the original version of Tornado and Nova, the new version of Tornado which is rolling out now.

One of the pillars of the ideology around web3 is that of decentralization. Are we delivering on our promises to create decentralized ledgers, or are we falling into the same snares that gave us the highly centralized internet we see around us? Kristy Leigh Minehan, noted consultant and blockchain hardware specialist joins the podcast to talk about decentralization from a number of different potential centralization vectors.

What could be hard about building a crypto wallet? Taylor Monahan, founder of MyCryto (recently acquired by ConsenSys) and currently at MetaMask, joins the podcast to discuss the intricacies of wallets, the challenges in presenting something decentralized and yet user-friendly to a spectrum of users, and more.

We've all heard of DAOs, but what are they practically? How can you contribute to one if you wanted to? What different challenges do DAOs and those contributing to them face? Chase Chapman, a DAO researcher and contributor joins the podcast to talk about all things DAOs.

Running nodes on the Ethereum network (and other blockchain networks) can be hard. The client software can update frequently and be hard to work with. In addition, they need monitoring and maintenance. The data provided as specified can be difficult to work with too. Yet, nodes are necessary to connect applications with the blockchain. The difficulties and need have led to the rise of providers running nodes as a service and providing an API for app builders to use to connect their application to the blockchain. Alchemy is one such provider. Deric Chang and Omar Ceja of Alchemy join to discuss running node infrastructure at scale, and providing useful data to users.

Building apps that aggregate blockchain data opens up new paradigms in application development. Lefteris Karapetsas, a longtime contributor to the Ethereum ecosystem, joins the podcast to discuss his current project, Rotki, a crypto asset accounting app. We discuss the difficulties of obtaining event data from nodes, the benefits and challenges of developing in the open, and more.

Smart Contracts can hold immense amounts of value in an ecosystem that makes them accessible to anyone. As a result, exploits in smart contracts can have catastrophic results. samczsun, a researcher at Paradigm and famous white-hat hacker, joins us to talk about finding vulnerabilities in smart contracts. Among the topics, we talk about his preferred setup for analyzing contracts, how he picks what to look at, and how he goes about looking at code once he's picked something. We also talk about anonymity in the space and his work at Paradigm and previous.

Nethermind is an execution client for EVM-compatible blockchains. Tomasz Stańczak discusses what motivated him to begin working on creating a new execution client and the specific challenges (and joys) of building and maintaining one. We also discuss some of Nethermind's specific features as a client, and future directions for both the larger Nethermind company and the client specifically.

Smart contracts have opened up new opportunities, and we are still exploring what we are able to build with them. Andre Cronje is the creator of Yearn Finance, Keep3r, and more, and joins us in this episode to talk about building innovative platforms with smart contracts, and the various pressures that can come from being a recognized builder in the space.

Agenda: https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/1931

Agenda: https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/1930

Agenda: https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/1921Eth Magician: https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/all-core-devs-execution-acde-230-feb-12-2026/27707

Featured Resources:Meeting Agenda: https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/1907Ethereum Magician: https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/all-core-devs-consensus-acdc-174-feb-5-2026/27613/6

Agenda: https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/1883