Loading video player...
Episode 395. Aired on Mar 18, 2026 See full episode on https://zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/395/ zkMesh+ is live! Subscribe for zkMesh+ and catch the latest State of ZK 2025 report (https://zkmesh.substack.com/subscribe) ----------- In this episode Nico Mohnblatt chats with Will Corcoran and Raúl Kripalani from the Ethereum Foundation. This is part 5 in the 6-part leanEthereum miniseries, shifting focus from the cryptographic primitives and LeanVM stack to the real-world integration happening through devnets, specs, and cross-team coordination. They dive into the human coordination layer, how independent teams align on post-quantum signatures, SNARK aggregation, and protocol changes, plus the networking upgrades needed for larger payloads. Raúl explains the shift from today's libp2p stack to a purpose-built Eth P2P next-gen version optimised for Ethereum's workloads, including better broadcast layers, erasure coding, and control planes to handle bandwidth competition between execution and consensus layers. Related Links * zkSummit14 applications are open! (www.zksummit.com) * lean Ethereum Part 1: Introduction with Justin Drake (https://zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/391/) * lean Ethereum Part 2: PQ Signatures and Poseidon with Dmitry and Benedikt (https://zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/392/) * lean Ethereum Part 3: Security of PQ SNARKs and an update about the Proximity Prize (https://zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/393/) * lean Ethereum Part 4: leanVM, a Custom VM for Signature Aggregation (https://zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/394/) * lean Ethereum (https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/07/31/lean-ethereum) * Lean Consensus R&D Progress (https://leanroadmap.org/) * Ethereum Foundation (https://ethereum.foundation/) ----------- **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree (https://linktr.ee/zeroknowledge) * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter (https://zeroknowledge.substack.com) * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm (https://twitter.com/zeroknowledgefm) * Join us on Telegram (https://t.me/+taXrPJIp_30zZTNi) * Catch us on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYWsYz5cKw4wZ9Mpe4kuM_g) **Support the show:** * Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge) * ETH - Donation address (https://etherscan.io/address/0xE2C080047213C1d8cDf2099E0B07479C5D9cee8a) * BTC - Donation address (https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/bc1q9mrh34n6mvses59r3hq9dz6j3vxm3tlwlg8ws2) * SOL - Donation address (https://explorer.solana.com/address/Eqfm4maSDUN3ikjDfSgDeJ1mh3iC8tr69eHB5iTHz35x) * ZEC - Donation address (https://mainnet.zcashexplorer.app/address/t1gmdc8jKj4EXfYnNvwkToZUahx78GrQ2zv) 04:32 Coordination Between Social and Networking Layers 06:59 DevNet Process and Client Coordination 12:06 Networking Challenges with Larger Signatures 15:49 Signature Size Comparison (BLS vs XMSS) 18:16 Pipelining and Network Utilization 19:29 Signature Aggregation Topologies 21:08 Network Design Trade-offs and Security 22:31 Coordination Across Teams and DevNets 26:33 Network Metrics (Throughput, Goodput, Efficiency) 29:56 Finality Goals and Current Targets (3SF Mini) 31:02 ETH P2P and Future Networking Stack 34:07 Broadcast Layer and Data Propagation Improvements 36:38 Closing Remarks