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In this installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk,  explore the following stories:

Infura's baby step toward decentralization.

Infura, from the Ethereum developer Consensys, is so dominant it's been cast as a single point of failure. Now it's creating a "decentralized infrastructure network" to help protect against outages – with a "federated" group of partners.

What are ‘Intents’?

Intent-centric programs are quietly transforming how we use blockchains, but they bring risks as well as benefits.

PROTOCOL VILLAGE SEGMENT

OKX Apes into L2 race PLUS a wrap of L2 developments including:

Kinto

Redstone

Polygon's Ryan Wyatt joining Optimism Foundation in a growth role. "We're going to need a lot of L2s," he told CoinDesk TV.

Plasma blockchain designs, all the rage after they were first invented in 2017, could come back in vogue after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote in a blog post-Tuesday that the category "opens the door to very large scalability gains."

EPISODE LINKS |

Ethereum Platform Infura's Step Toward Decentralization Includes Microsoft, Tencent

'Intents' Are Blockchain's Big New Buzzword. What are They, And What Are the Risks?

Cryptocurrency Exchange OKX Coming Out With Layer 2 ‘X1’ Built on Polygon Technology

Blockchain Startup Kinto Plans 'First KYC'd' Ethereum Layer-2 Network After Raising $5M

Blockchain Developer Lattice Unveils 'Alternative Data Availability' Network for Optimism

Ex-Polygon Veteran Wyatt Joins Optimism Foundation Unit in Growth Role

Plasma: Scalable Autonomous Smart Contracts

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The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.