Mindfully Curated
A few months ago, we announced a renewed focus of Protocol on three strategic initiatives: Scale L1, Scale blobs, Improve UX. Following previous updates on Scale L1 and Scale blobs, this note relates to our “Improve UX” track, and its mission: **Seaml…
The EF’s Grants Program launched in 2018 and has evolved over time to become the Ecosystem Support Program (ESP), providing grants and support to builders that help the Ethereum ecosystem thrive. Our mission is to enable work that strengthens Ethereum’…
In this episode of FYI, ARK CEO Cathie Wood and Analyst Nick Grous sit down with Vlad Tenev, Co-Founder and CEO of Robinhood. Together they explore how Robinhood is redefining retail investing and financial services—from expanding access to private markets and tokenized assets to transforming its product ecosystem into a fintech super app.
Vlad discusses Robinhood’s long-term vision at the intersection of capitalism and democracy, why retail ownership matters more in the age of AI, and how the company is building around the upcoming $124 trillion generational wealth transfer. He also shares the strategic thinking behind Robinhood’s expansion into credit, crypto, and international markets, including the development of its own blockchain and stablecoin.
Finally, they explore the role of AI in Robinhood’s platform evolution, including the launch of Cortex, and the guiding philosophy behind the company’s product velocity and value-driven subscription model.
In this episode of the Brainstorm, Sam Korus and Nicholas Grous dive into the intriguing world of prediction markets, focusing on the recent partnership between Robinhood and Kalshi. They explore how this collaboration is reshaping access to sports bet…
In this article, I describe how the unbundling and rebundling cycles in SaaS and fintech are playing out in DeFi (Decentralized Finance) and crypto apps.
Last week, Robinhood joined forces with Kalshi to expand prediction markets with event contracts on professional and college football.1 Because the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates the new contracts, users no longer need to navigat…
Following up from Protocol Update 001, we’d like to introduce our approach to blob scaling. The L1 serves as a robust foundation for L2 systems to scale Ethereum, and a necessary component of secure L2 solutions is data availability provided by the L1….
In this episode of the Brainstorm, Sam, Nick, and ARK Chief Futurist, Brett Winton, explore whether browsers are worth billions and the implications of launching L1 blockchains with stable coins. From the strategic importance of browsers in the AI arms…
Since announcing the Trillion Dollar Security project, we have surveyed the ecosystem to understand which improvements are highest priority to every layer of the Ethereum stack and community. Now it is time to begin the next phase of this initiative: …
On June 22 in Austin, Tesla launched its robotaxi service to a limited group of users, beginning the shift in its model from one-time low-margin hardware sales to recurring, high margin revenues. Now that it is scaling, Tesla should be able to meet u…
Last week, AI search startup Perplexity made an unsolicited bid to acquire Google Chrome, the largest web browser in the world, for $34.5 billion in cash.1 Though the bid is unlikely to succeed, Perplexity clearly is trying to scale its distribution.
Since January 2019, the Ethereum Foundation has held a tradition of engaging directly with the community through our “Ask Us Anything” (AMA) series on Reddit, occurring roughly every six months. These AMAs, previously hosted by the EF Research team, ha…
In this episode of the Brainstorm, Sam, Nick, and ARK Chief Futurist, Brett Winton, dive into the world of OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5, exploring its advancements and the impact on user experience. They discuss the balance between performance and user…
Last week, OpenAI unveiled GPT-5,1 the newest addition to its flagship model lineup. While its gains against various benchmarks are modest, the real breakthrough is in the usability of GPT-5.
Since inception, ARK has researched and published thoughts on the cryptocurrency ecosystem within Big Ideas and through articles, whitepapers, monthly Bitcoin reports and podcasts. Now, in coordination with Bitcoin Park, ARK is pleased to introduce a m…
In this episode of the Brainstorm, Sam, Nick, and Multiomics Research Analyst, Shea Wihlborg, dive into the complexities of the FDA’s recent decisions and their implications for gene therapy. They discuss the controversial halt of a Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment, the role of AI in drug discovery, and the exciting future of genomics.
This article is the second in a two-part series examining the evolution of marketplaces. In the first, we journeyed through the marketplace innovations that lowered friction in the purchasing process. In this piece, we examine the rise of agentic comm…
In June, we introduced Protocol, reorganizing the Ethereum Foundation’s research & development teams to better align on our current strategic goals, Scale L1, Scale Blobs, and Improve UX without compromising on our commitment to Ethereum’s security and…
The US is turbocharging its nuclear ambitions, thanks to hyperscaler demands and multilateral support following decades of neglect. In his recent Executive Order, President Trump set forces in motion to increase nuclear capacity in the US ~4x by 2050, …
On episode LXX of "In The Know" (August 1, 2025), ARK CEO/CIO Cathie Wood discusses various aspects of fiscal and monetary policy, economic indicators, and market dynamics, with a focus on innovation. Cathie breaks down surprising labor marke…