Bankless: What did ETH builders discuss at the EthCC conference in Cannes?

Author: David C, Source: Bankless, Translated by: Shaw Jinse Finance

Last week, the annual Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) attracted thousands of attendees in Cannes, and the scorching Mediterranean heat did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of participants for the packed agenda.

While the broader discussion surrounding Ethereum, the Ethereum Foundation, and the Ethereum Community Fund deserves separate analysis, the most striking signals from this conference came from the surrounding ecosystem—topics such as the tokenized market, mobile experience, and privacy infrastructure were frequently mentioned in conversations at the conference.

Privacy: Institutional Premise

It has been refreshing to hear so much discussion about privacy this week. People are not only interested in it from a technical perspective (given the plethora of acronyms such as TEE, FHE, MPC, ZK, etc. emerging today), but they are also paying attention to it from the perspective of practical daily life. Many people I have spoken to have previously used consumer-oriented privacy applications like ZKP2P and are excited about Aztec’s relaunch.

When it comes to the future direction of privacy protection, the focus is on integrating zero-knowledge proofs more broadly into everyday on-chain activities and combining them with Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) to enhance security.

Indeed, multi-party computation and fully homomorphic encryption are recognized as top technologies worth pursuing, but they are generally considered too complex for practical application environments in their current forms, especially fully homomorphic encryption. However, Yehuda Lindell from Coinbase has introduced their open-source multi-party computation (MPC) library—an initiative aimed at raising security standards across the industry and addressing the talent shortage in MPC to drive related innovations.

In addition to discussing privacy as a key component of the vulnerabilities of our digital age, it is also a necessary condition for attracting institutions to join the blockchain.

Paul Brody, the global blockchain leader at Ernst & Young, pointed out in his speech that privacy is not a feature that companies can choose, but rather a prerequisite for using blockchain in actual business operations. Coordination, rather than computation, is the core bottleneck for enterprises. While tokenized workflows and smart contracts can simplify contracts and reduce inventory costs, it all becomes meaningless if sensitive information is leaked. Without privacy, no company will transfer high-value business logic or transactions onto the chain. This is especially true for institutions, particularly in the context of dark pools that are deeply entrenched in traditional stock trading. We need solutions that allow large participants to go on-chain without having to disclose every step of their operations.

Tokenized Market: The Collision of Stocks and Blockchain

Although Robinhood’s announcement regarding tokenized stocks has indeed attracted a lot of attention, I believe BackedFi is equally deserving of credit, as it launched xStocks on the same day, allowing people to purchase popular stocks such as $SPY, $NVDA, and $TSLA on Solana.

At the EthCC conference, most people still see these statements as merely a stopgap. Indeed, we can trade tokenized Apple stocks, but that’s not new. The real excitement lies in our ability to use this as collateral for lending and incorporate it into yield strategies. So, we are currently in an awkward transitional phase—there’s progress but no integration yet.

However, apart from tokenized stocks, there is a general excitement about tokenization, especially regarding the tokenization of commodities. Given the recent performance of uranium ore, uranium digital assets have been mentioned in multiple discussions, while interest in tokenized gold also remains strong.

This model is very clear: start with familiar assets to demonstrate the feasibility of the pipeline system, and then venture into markets where the advantages of blockchain’s round-the-clock settlement and fractional ownership significantly surpass traditional infrastructure.

Mobile First

One of the most exciting discussions at this conference came from the quiet rise of experimental enthusiasm surrounding consumer crypto applications—almost without exception, these applications are built starting from mobile. Since most wallet activity currently comes from mobile devices, developers (and users) have considered product design, user interaction, and native mobile processes from the very beginning.

The redesigned version of Coinbase Wallet, which is set to launch soon, features social dynamics, which is very prominent as it not only prioritizes mobile but also incorporates the native mobile mode into the wallet’s design.

Interestingly, people are looking forward to the convenience brought by mobile applications for perpetual contract trading on Hyperliquid, especially the two apps Lootbase and Dexari. The announcement of Robinhood launching its own perpetual contract platform has further fueled enthusiasm. In summary, these applications showcase the endless possibilities that a thumb-operated design philosophy can bring: quick execution, clear visuals, and a gamified interface.

The EthCC conference solidified what we have seen online: cryptocurrency is no longer just an endless debate about architecture; it is focused on solving issues of coordination, compliance, and high-quality design for consumers. The question is not whether blockchain can support important real-world applications, but how quickly we can make them usable, private, and portable, thereby truly making an impact.