Bankless Rollup: Ethereum’s Big Week | Supercycle Debate | Monad Mainnet | Bitcoin’s Quantum Problem

Date: November 27, 2025
Hosts: David (Bankless), Anthony "Sasu" Sasano
Special Clips: Tom Lee, comments on Monad, Nick Carter on Bitcoin & quantum

Episode Overview

This episode of the Bankless Rollup delivers deep dives into Ethereum's recent momentum, technical upgrades, and scaling breakthroughs, along with wide lens debates on the state of crypto market cycles, the launch of Monad's new L1, regulatory progress for Polymarket, and the emergent threat of quantum computing to Bitcoin. With Anthony Sasano fresh from DevConnect, the episode brings a developer’s eye to key Ethereum advancements and roadmaps, as well as a critical view on where the next generation of chains must differentiate.

Key Topics & Insights

1. Ethereum’s Market Momentum and the End of Traditional Cycles

[00:04 - 08:26]

• Anthony returns bullish post-DevConnect, energized particularly by ETH’s recovery over $3,000 and Ethereum’s "best ever" positioning for 2026.
• Debate on the four-year crypto cycle:
  • Anthony’s stance: "I don't think the four year cycle is a thing anymore," emphasizing new market structures, ETF flows, and evolving participation.
  • The old cycle (BTC up → ETH up → alts up → crash) didn't play out this time—no real “alt season,” lower volatility, and stepwise BTC action observed.
  • Institutional flows and ETF buyers have changed the market; retail has largely left for now.
  • Liquidity cycle more important than the halving cycle: “We've actually been pumping into an environment where rates are still very high.”
• Notable Quote:

  "I think Ethereum is really well positioned right now to have a great 2026. We're firing on all cylinders." – Anthony [00:26]
  "If you believe in the four year cycle, then October was the top... But I've been pretty vocal... I don't think the four year cycle is a thing anymore." – Anthony [03:25]

2. Supercycle? Tom Lee’s Big ETH Bet

[08:26 - 11:10]

• Tom Lee argues for an Ethereum “supercycle”— hypergrowth and wild volatility are signs of early, massive adoption phase.

• Suggests engineered liquidations added to recent downside, projecting $2,500 as a possible bottom before major accumulation.

• Notable Quote:

  "Their price isn't going to be purely anchored on fundamentals... their best utility and growth and innovation are in the years ahead." – Tom Lee [09:12]

• Anthony agrees that recent volatility links to forced liquidations (“someone was carried out on a stretcher on October 10th”)—especially with major altcoin drawdowns, market makers exiting, and black-box exchange behaviors.

3. The DATs Debate & October 10th’s Impact

[14:06 - 18:08]

• Discussion on Digital Asset Trusts (DATs): Are they a threat or just a narrative scapegoat?
• Anthony: They can unbalance markets given variable liquidity; disagrees that their net buying/selling is a wash-out (“I think that’s kind of a naive way to think about markets.” [15:49]).
• More broadly: Everyone scrambles for explanations in down cycles—even if causes are structural and multi-factor.
• Notable Quote:

  "If you think too much about it, you end up going crazy. There's just too much going on." – Anthony [15:49]

4. Ethereum’s Fusaka Upgrade: Scaling L2s, L1, and UX

[21:40 - 39:34]

• Fusaka launches Dec 3, 2025; major L1 and L2 scaling upgrade:
  • Headliners:
    • Peer DAS (Data Availability Sampling): Lays the foundation for massive L2 scale, allowing 20x capacity over time.
    • Blob Target Increases: From 6 → 10 → 14 blobs/block by Jan 2026; further gradual increases possible.
    • L1 Gas Limit up to 60m (doubling block size/capacity this year).
    • Improved UX (native passkeys/facial recognition signing).
  • New Blob Fee Structure (EIP-7918): Introduces minimum pricing for blobs, more burn/better alignment for ETH holders.
  • Subsidizing blobs continues; burning still limited but growing over time.
• L1 scaling:
  • Validators can manually adjust gas limit (now set as default in Fusaka clients).
  • Achieved 2x L1 scaling this year; goal is another 3x (to 180m gas) in 2026, possibly higher.
  • Shifting MEV/proposals and parallelization in Glamsterdam follow-on fork.
• Notable Quotes:

  "[Peer DAS] is this massive scalability unlock for blobs... a kind of sharding where not every node holds every blob." – Anthony [23:14]
  "We've scaled the network 2x this year on L1... and more than 2.2x for L2." – Anthony [32:37]
  "The next [upgrade] after Fusaka is Glamsterdam… Huge: proposer-builder separation, block-level access, maybe Fossil for censorship resistance." – David [39:34]

5. ZK-Proving Breakthroughs: Lean Ethereum & The Cult of Full Nodes

[42:54 - 47:40]

• Justin Drake successfully ran ZK Ethereum block verification with just two RTX 5090 GPUs from home.
  • Milestone: ZK proving is advancing “orders of magnitude” faster than anticipated.
  • Outlook: In a few years, home-grade hardware may easily ZK-verify L1 Ethereum, allowing 10,000+ TPS.
  • More full nodes: Potential to 10x or 100x node count, enhancing decentralization (“return of the cult of the full node” per Vitalik’s DevConnect keynote).
• Notable Quotes:

  "What Justin has achieved here in such a short period of time... is insanely impressive." – Anthony [44:15]
  "It is actually not farfetched to say that on L1 we can get to 10,000+ TPS. I think that's a reality." – Anthony [46:20]

6. DevConnect Takeaways: Ethereum Foundation’s Transformation

[47:40 - 49:50]

• New EF Leadership: More accessible and user-oriented, active across events.
• ZK scaling and privacy dominating discussions, as well as DeFi’s resilience.
• Aztec’s zk-privacy L2 and institutional privacy needs also highlighted.

7. Monad Mainnet Launch & L1 Scaling Competition

[51:54 - 55:44]

• Monad launches high-performance parallel EVM mainnet:
  • Focus on engineering, low-latency consensus; “table stakes” now for new L1s/L2s to be fast/cheap.
  • Anthony: Chains must differentiate beyond speed/fees—"why would a user move from Base, Arbitrum, or Solana?"
  • Concerns about centralization—ultra-low latencies risk co-location, empowering HFT and risking validator centralization.
• Notable Quote:

  "If you're bringing out a new chain... scale isn't the differentiator anymore. You have to enable new applications or build a real ecosystem." – Anthony [53:14]

8. US Regulatory Advances: CFTC & Polymarket

[57:24 - 59:38]

• Polymarket gets CFTC approval for traditional brokerages to display its markets, possibly unlocking US access via intermediaries like Robinhood, Etrade, or Coinbase.
• A marked shift from last year’s crackdown and illustrates regulatory thaw—but US politics remain unpredictable for crypto.

9. Bitcoin’s Quantum Threat: A Brewing Civil War?

[60:00 - 68:06]

• Nick Carter’s extensive essay warns: rapid quantum computing progress could make up to a third of Bitcoin “stealable” as soon as 2030 if not addressed.
  • Breaking Bitcoin’s cryptographic signatures is possible in worst-case scenarios.
  • Even with timely upgrades, some “lost” coins (not moved since genesis) may remain vulnerable.
• Ethereum’s edge: Better culture of forking/upgrading; quantum-resistance is actively planned into the Lean Ethereum roadmap; Ethereum’s model exposes far less supply to quantum threats than Bitcoin (“only about 0.1% ETH at risk” on current estimates).
• Notable Quotes:

  "Ethereum has a culture of upgrading... whereas Bitcoin's biggest issue is that it doesn't." – Anthony [63:21]
  "For Bitcoin, another civil war is brewing over this... how will they even arrive at consensus on upgrades?" – Anthony [63:21]

10. Bankless Community & Outro

[68:46 - End]

• Anthony’s show, The Daily Gwei, returns on a weekly basis in 2026 after a personal reset for health ("I'm in a really good spot now... not going to burn myself out if I do weekly." [68:46])
• Final Reminder: None of this is financial advice; embrace the “frontier” mindset of crypto.

Notable Quotes (by Speaker & Timestamp)

• Anthony Sasano:

  • "We're firing on all cylinders... Ethereum is leading where it matters most with stablecoins, with institutional onboarding, with DeFi." [03:25]
  • "I just don't think that the four year cycle... has really played out at all this time." [06:08]
  • "Peer DAS... is this massive scaling unlock for blobs." [23:14]
  • "We've scaled the network 2x this year on L1." [32:37]
  • "If you think too much about it, you end up going crazy. There's just too much going on." [15:49]
  • "If you're bringing out another [chain] in 2025, your differentiator isn't scale anymore." [53:14]

• Tom Lee:

  • "Their price isn't going to be purely anchored on fundamentals... their best utility and growth and innovation are in the years ahead." [09:12]

• David (Bankless):

  • "This is return of the cult of the full node. If you don't have tens of thousands, ideally hundreds of thousands of full nodes... you don't have a world computer, you have a computer waiting to be captured." [46:20]

Segment Timestamps

• Market Overview, End of Cycles: 00:04 – 08:26
• Supercycle Debate/Tom Lee: 08:26 – 11:10
• DATs & October Crash: 14:06 – 18:08
• Fusaka Upgrade Deep Dive: 21:40 – 39:34
• ZK Proving & Full Nodes: 42:54 – 47:40
• DevConnect/EF Reflection: 47:40 – 49:50
• Monad & L1 Competition: 51:54 – 55:44
• CFTC/Polymarket: 57:24 – 59:38
• Bitcoin Quantum Threat: 60:00 – 68:06
• Outro & The Daily Gwei: 68:46 – End

Summary Table: Ethereum Upgrades Timeline

| Upgrade | Expected Date | Key Features | |--------------|------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | Fusaka | Dec 3, 2025 | Peer DAS, blob scaling (L2s), L1 gas up, UX upgrades | | Blob Param 1 | Dec 9, 2025 | Increase blobs from 6 to 10 per block | | Blob Param 2 | Jan 7, 2026 | Increase blobs from 10 to 14 per block | | Glamsterdam | Q2/Q3 2026 | EPBS (MEV separation), block-level access, gas repricing, 3–5x gas |

In Closing

This episode captured Ethereum at a pivotal inflection point: major scaling breakthroughs are going live, dev velocity is accelerating, and ZK tech may soon transform network decentralization and capacity. Crypto market cycles are evolving, L1/L2 distinctions are blurring, and existential challenges like quantum risk are rising to the forefront. Ethereum’s adaptive, upgrade-centric culture stands in stark contrast to Bitcoin’s ossification—setting the stage for the next era of crypto.

For more: The Daily Gwei returns weekly in 2026.
Catch all links & resources in the show notes.