Bankless Podcast Episode Summary

Episode: PREMIUM - Preston Van Loon, Uma Roy, DeFi Dave | David's Personal Research
Date: September 13, 2025
Host: Ryan Sean Adams
Guests: Uma Roy (Succinct), Preston Van Loon (Ethereum Core Dev), DeFi Dave (Cap Money)

Episode Overview

This episode offers listeners a curated sampler of the Bankless Premium feed, featuring in-depth, research-driven conversations with three notable figures shaping the future of crypto. Each guest provides a five to eight minute insight into major innovations in ZK proofs (Uma Roy), Ethereum’s roadmap (Preston Van Loon), and decentralized stablecoin models (DeFi Dave). Listeners get a cutting-edge, behind-the-scenes look at how core infrastructure, protocol development, and DeFi products are evolving to serve billions.

1. Uma Roy: The Succinct Prover Network and the ZK Proof Marketplace

Timestamps: 00:55–07:50

Main Points:

• Succinct Prover Network Explained:
  The network serves as a decentralized marketplace, linking those who need cryptographic proofs (demand side) with those providing them (supply side).

  “The Succinct Prover network is a decentralized marketplace connecting applications needing proofs with a global network of provers.”
  — Ryan Sean Adams, reading from Succinct’s blog [00:43]

• Major Consumers of Proofs:

  • ZK Rollups and L2s:
    Platforms like Optimism, Base, Arbitrum—eventually, all rollups aim to adopt ZK tech for instant (or near-instant) finality and reduced transaction costs.

    “Basically every roll up will be a ZK roll up. They're huge consumers of proofs and ... get a lot of benefits from it, like instant or close to instant finality ...”
    — Uma Roy [02:16]

  • Ethereum L1:
    Real-time block proving allows Ethereum to scale while remaining decentralized and verifiable.

    “The way they're going to ... scale it while still keeping it verifiable is this concept of real time proving where you can prove Ethereum blocks in less than 12 seconds ... instead of having to re execute transactions.”
    — Uma Roy [03:06]

  • Verifiable Exchanges:
    Growth in on-chain order books and verifiable trading exchanges, particularly for perpetuals and spot trading.

• Proof Demand is Real and Large:
  Roy refutes skepticism about demand for ZK proofs, presenting numbers that show hundreds of millions in annual proving demand as the ecosystem scales.

  “If you multiply out those numbers ... that ends up being like $100 million of proving demand ... And same with the exchange.”
  — Uma Roy [05:36] “Ethereum L1 today ... spends like 4 to 5 billion dollars in issuance to the validators. ... Imagine you take 10% of that... $500 million which is also a lot of money.”
  — Uma Roy [06:33]

• Supply Side:
  Now that the network is live, decentralized entities globally are entering as prover operators.

2. Preston Van Loon: Ethereum’s Roadmap – Fusaka, Glamsterdam, and Beyond

Timestamps: 07:50–14:25

Main Points:

• Fusaka and Glamsterdam Hard Forks:

  • Fusaka planned by end of 2025, Glamsterdam by mid-2026.
  • Prepares the chain for critical upgrades; discussion around major EIPs still “in the air.”

• Decreasing Block (Slot) Times:

  • Preston advocates ramping down slot times by one second monthly over six months. Testing has demonstrated feasibility even at very low slot times.

    “You can just say...we can have a fork and progressively over...six spots, we can just reduce the slot time by one second every month for six months...”
    — Preston Van Loon [08:28]

  • Impact: Shorter slot times and three- or single-slot finality would be major for both users and L2s, providing confirmation in seconds instead of minutes.

    “At least with six seconds and like a three slot finality you go from finality being every six minutes to now it's like every 18 seconds. So that's like a really, really huge improvement.”
    — Preston Van Loon [11:07]

• Privacy Tech:
  Preston hopes to see native encrypted mempools and private transactions in Ethereum’s future—vital for mainstream, anonymous use cases.

  “Hope for some privacy solutions that are built into Ethereum soon.”
  — Preston Van Loon [09:22]

• Cross-L2 Homogeneity for UX:
  The vision: a seamless, interoperable “big ledger” among all L2s, improving wallet UX and abstracting away network complexity.

  “You have this like cross, cross L2 compatibility where I can just like swap between things...feels like one big account that I can swap between three things really quickly.”
  — Preston Van Loon [12:04] “One big global computer.”
  — Preston Van Loon [12:41]

• Timeline:
  Expect dramatic UX and speed upgrades by H Star (mid-2027), possibly sooner if the current acceleration continues.

3. DeFi Dave: Cap Money and Next-Generation Stablecoins

Timestamps: 14:25–19:58

Main Points:

• What is Cap Money?
  Cap is a new Ethereum-based stablecoin protocol, collateralized by existing stablecoins (like USDC, PYUSD) and characterized by a three-pronged marketplace:

  1. Users: Mint the stablecoin (cUSD) with USDC, PYUSD, etc.
  2. Operators (Yield Generators): Professional, regulated Wall Street trading firms and market makers deploy these assets to generate yield, using both on-chain and proprietary off-chain strategies.
  3. Restakers: Provide capital and take the risk, underwriting the protocol via restaked ETH or LRTs (Liquid Restaked Tokens).

  “Cap, we are a stable coin but built on Ethereum and we are backed by your standard reserved collateral. So usdc, pyusd and we basically use Reef stakers...they basically allocate the collateral to different yield generators...and they generate on yield for on behalf of the protocol.”
  — DeFi Dave [15:18]

• Innovative Design:

  • Infinite Canvas for Yield:
    Unlike protocols with a single yield strategy, Cap allows any operator with a compelling strategy to compete, theoretically making it highly scalable.

    “I like to call cap, the infinite canvas for yield. So instead of just, you know, one strategy...But with cap, you have different operators competing to beat the hurdle rate...this cap, can scale infinitely greater than any stablecoin before.”
    — DeFi Dave [18:50]

  • Downside Protection for Users:
    Stablecoin holders are fully protected from operator failures; losses are absorbed by the restakers, not users.

    “Instead of the user holding the bag, which we've seen all too often, it's the rest taker taking the risk and getting rewarded for it on behalf of the user.”
    — DeFi Dave [18:50]

  • Industry Credibility:
    Team includes veterans from Frax, Redacted, Beefy, and Qidao. Operators include regulated, global trading firms.

• Academic Framing:
  Cap positions itself as the first “Type 3 Stablecoin”—a classification recently highlighted in a Stanford Crypto blog.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “You can do this today. I mean, yeah, I think like Justin and all those people had thought this would be like five, 10 years out and then I think we all kind of like surprised them with how fast it came...”
  — Uma Roy, on ZK proving speed [03:49]

• “At least with six seconds and like a three slot finality you go from finality being every six minutes to now it's like every 18 seconds. So that's like a really, really huge improvement.”
  — Preston Van Loon [11:07]

• “All the capital that they keep, they make for themselves. So they basically have a way to grow their book at no cost of capital, which is to any yield generator and operator...music to their ears...”
  — DeFi Dave [17:47]

Key Timestamps for Segment Jumping

• 00:55–07:50 – Uma Roy on Succinct, ZK proofs, and marketplace supply/demand
• 07:50–14:25 – Preston Van Loon on Ethereum roadmaps, shorter slot times, privacy, and cross-L2 UX
• 14:25–19:58 – DeFi Dave on Cap Money, restakers, and the stablecoin marketplace model

Takeaways

• ZK proving tech and the associated proving marketplace are entering mainstream utility, serving both rollups and exchanges, with real—and large—demand.
• Ethereum’s hard forks and roadmap promise faster finality, better privacy, and user experience breakthroughs via L2 interoperability, with ambitious but credible acceleration.
• DeFi stablecoins are entering a new era of risk separation, infinite-yield opportunity, and institutional involvement, as exemplified by Cap’s model.

For deeper dives, access the full episodes (and ad-free listening) via the Bankless Premium feed.