Ethereum just went through its most complex upgrade ever. Justin Drake, researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, discusses what the upgrade, aka the London hard fork, means for ether’s future as what he calls "ultra-sound money." At the end of the episode, he also drops a few Bitcoin hot takes. Show highlights:

his background and how he got involved in crypto
how EIP 1559 will affect Ethereum now that it is live
why burning ether is good for the Ethereum economy
what two concepts are crucial to understanding money
what three ways ether is used as money
why he believes ether will become “ultra sound money,” when gold and silver are just “sound money”
what the main drivers of ETH’s value are
how the merge from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake will happen for Ethereum
how much more efficient Justin calculates proof-of-stake will be compared to proof-of-work
why people are saying Ethereum is going through a “triple halvening”
what factors influence how much Ethereum is issued and burned
how Ethereum could become deflationary
why net sell pressure is about to decrease
what projects are burning the most ETH now that EIP 1559 is live
why Justin is worried about Bitcoin’s future
what Bitcoin could do to survive once it only subsists on transaction fees
whether Justin considers himself a bitcoiner
how ETH as ultra-sound money is becoming a meme