Vitalik Declares DeFi Ethereum’s Killer App | Ryan & David

Bankless

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Tech News, News, Technology

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Vitalik Buterin just declared DeFi as Ethereum’s “killer app.” In his new post, he compares it to Google Search, the dependable core business that powers everything else. Ryan and David break down why Vitalik believes DeFi has finally earned this title, how it survived the volatility of the last cycle, and what it means for ETH as collateral, culture, and revenue. They cover the Google analogy, the risks DeFi has outgrown, and why this moment could define Ethereum’s future. ------ 📣0G | CRYPTO X AI https://bankless.cc/OGAI ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAX | SELF SUFFICIENT DeFi https://bankless.cc/Frax 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🎩DEGEN | JOIN THE COMMUNITY https://bankless.cc/degen 🌳KGEN | REQUEST A DEMO https://bankless.cc/KGEN-podcast 🏄SURF | UPGRADE YOUR CRYPTO RESEARCH https://bankless.cc/surf ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:09 DeFi: Ethereum's Core Business 3:50 The Significance of Vitalik's Article 5:27 Vitalik's Perspective on DeFi Maturity 9:27 The Stability of DeFi vs. TradFi 12:20 Core Low-Risk DeFi Activities 14:47 DeFi's Global Accessibility 15:37 DeFi and Ethereum's Cultural Goals 17:56 Economic Contributions of DeFi 21:24 ETH as a Store of Value 26:05 The Noble Purpose of DeFi 30:48 Alignment of DeFi with Ethereum 34:45 Google Analogy: DeFi's Backbone 39:27 Vitalik's Pride in DeFi 41:49 Marketing Messages and Ethereum 1:04:37 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Vitalik’s Post https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/09/21/low_risk_defi.html ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	In a brand new blog post, Vitalik Beteran positions Defyi as the main quest line of the Ethereum
0:09.1	project. He thinks Defy can and should be Ethereum's core business that provides the
0:15.5	economic backbone to the rest of the Ethereum project. He makes this comparison between
0:20.6	Ethereum's DeFi and Google's Search,
0:23.5	where Google's search was this boring business,
0:26.5	but it was a stable, dependable revenue engine,
0:29.5	massively profitable revenue engine that sustains the Google network
0:33.1	and enables Google to have more experimental values-driven moonshots.
0:37.9	At Bankless, we think this article is significant.
0:40.9	Yes, we do.
0:41.3	Historic, even?
0:43.1	Because of what it represents for Ethereum
0:45.9	and also Vitalik's attitude towards what Ethereum is good for.
0:51.2	So in this episode, we're going to break down the article.
0:53.4	We're going to highlight the main points, provide some commentary, and then give our takes about what we think was perhaps left unsaid or left up to the imagination of the reader. Right. What's you think? I love this article, and I got to say, you and I, David, we have a big imagination. So there's lots of embellishment we could do. And there's lots of interpretation we can bring into this episode. And of course, we're going to do that because this is a
1:15.3	bankless takes episode. So it's not just Vitalik's take. It's mostly my take. It's our take about
1:20.8	Vitalik's takes. Just content upon content here. David, before we get in, we got some friends
1:27.0	and sponsors.
1:28.1	We got a shout out.
1:29.3	Tell them about 0G,
1:31.8	the AI blockchain.
1:33.7	Yeah,
	...

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