# Ethereum's Manhattan Project

*Author: Bankless*
*Published: Nov 15, 2025*
*Source: https://www.bankless.com/ethereums-manhattan-project*

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Ethereum’s Manhattan Project

  
  Published on Nov. 15, 2025

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**gm Bankless Nation,**
Ethereum is far bigger than programmable money.  

The resources we’ve built here are evolving into something that can become the 21st century's most impactful public infrastructure. Civilization's open backend, if you will — private, trustless, and verifiable by default. 

Today’s essay from Peaster explores this future we're advancing upon — the rise of Ethereum as the world’s leading digital public works project, through which anyone, anywhere, can manage their lives autonomously. Enjoy. 

Thanks for being a subscriber,
[*luma*](https://x.com/lucasmtny) 🫡

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[**Sponsor: Frax**](https://www.bankless.com/sponsor/frax-1737128738?ref=read/the-universal-protocol-is-already-here&email=true) — Fraxtal Ecosystem: Where DeFi Meets AI.

[Learn More](https://www.bankless.com/sponsor/frax-1737128738?ref=read/the-universal-protocol-is-already-here&email=true)

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ANALYSIS

  
  

The Universal Protocol Is Already Here

  
  
   
     
     Author: 
     
       [
       
William Peaster](https://www.bankless.com/author/william-m-peaster)
     
    
 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/11/image---2025-11-14T215708.708-2.png)](https://www.bankless.com/read/the-universal-protocol-is-already-here)**Now 10 years old, Ethereum is entering its "civilization infra phase."**

The network has become a *digital public works project. *Like how power grid modernization revolutionized 20th-century life, Ethereum will optimize 21st-century society. 

But Ethereum isn't backed by a government, and it's not just for the people of one nation. It's for the world, built by people from around the world. And it's actualizing as [The Universal Protocol](https://0xparc.org/blog/programmable-cryptography-1) so that anyone, anywhere, can increasingly do anything on their own terms.

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/11/universal_adapter.png)](https://0xparc.org/blog/programmable-cryptography-1)*Toward the Universal Protocol - via 0xPARC*
Put metaphorically, Ethereum can be the fortress *and *the cathedral. Ethereum can get to a point where it's indefinitely impervious to nation-state attacks and beyond, and it can do this hardening while scaling to the point that it can trustlessly facilitate all the world's commerce and culture. 

That's the future. And it's not a mystery how to complete this becoming. It'll take making good on visions like [Lean Ethereum](https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/07/31/lean-ethereum) and [lowercase snarks](https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/1987865569362632936), while living up to the tenets of [*The Trustless Manifesto*](https://trustlessness.eth.limo/general/2025/11/11/the-trustless-manifesto.html). 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/11/image-16.png)](https://leanroadmap.org/)*Lean Ethereum Roadmap - via leanroadmap.org*
We'll evolve through lean consensus, and lean data, and lean execution. And this streamlining will come via programmable cryptography, i.e. next-gen cryptographic primitives like zkSNARKs, which allow for provably correct *and *private computation and point the way to Ethereum's zkVM future. 

The potential here cannot be overstated. This power is why Ethereum researcher Justin Drake has said Ethereum's SNARKs embrace is "a cryptographic Manhattan Project, one the [Ethereum Foundation] is investing tens of millions into" as it evolves "into a snark-first org." 

[Ethereum Beast Mode - Scaling L1 to 10k and Beyond | Justin Drake on BanklessJustin Drake unveils “Lean Ethereum,” a bold blueprint to make the base layer dramatically faster and cheaper, without turning it into a datacenter chain.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-585.png)Bankless![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/thumbnail/ethereum-beast-mode-scaling-l1-to-10k-and-beyond-justin-drake-1762947200-1.png)](https://www.bankless.com/podcast/ethereum-beast-mode-scaling-l1-to-10k-and-beyond)Better yet, this zk vision won't just make Ethereum cheaper and faster, as it'll *also *help the L1 offer [better privacy](https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1988035181127626810) through things like private account abstraction, private RPC queries, and proof aggregation protocols for more affordable private transactions.

> also:* Kohaku roadmap (wallet-side privacy work, including work on often-less-mentioned areas like reading the state privately with TEE+ORAM and later PIR)* BAL + ZK-EVM provers (along with other benefits, makes a full node much lighter, letting you query state without giving…— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) [November 11, 2025](https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1988035181127626810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Plus, the underlying cryptographic primitives here are mathematical extensions of the philosophical values written into *The Trustless Manifesto *([which you, too, can sign](https://trustlessness.eth.limo/general/2025/11/11/the-trustless-manifesto.html)). No unverifiable outcomes. No indispensable gatekeepers. Autonomy, security, and verifiability for all. 

My read, then? Lo the ascent of the World Computer! The unlimited public good, the universal machine, lean, snarky, trustless, and always on. This dream is a dream worth fighting for, and one upon which an open civilization can stand and thrive. Bully for us, and now let's finish the job.

[Share This Post](https://www.bankless.com/read/the-universal-protocol-is-already-here)

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WHAT YOU MISSED
    
    
  
  
Cryptographic Jet Engines

  
 

### **📈 The Asset**
- **BlackRock **[disclosed holding +$200M worth of shares in the BitMine and SharpLink ETH DATs](https://x.com/maxxTFSA/status/1988659228488458382)
- **BTCS**, [another Ethereum treasury company, just had its best quarter yet](https://www.bankless.com/read/news/btcs-eth-q3-record)
- **SharpLink **[released its Q3 earnings](https://x.com/SharpLink/status/1988763897294356821)
- **The US Treasury **[paved the way for crypto ETPs to offer yield via ETH staking](https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1987968331681317312)

### **🏛️ The Protocol**
- **Justin Drake **[laid out the “lowercase snarks” vision for Ethereum](https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/1987865569362632936)

### **📱 The Apps**
- **Aerodrome **[is merging with Velodrome and expanding to Ethereum](https://www.theblock.co/post/378634/aerodrome-upgrades-evm-extensions-circles-arc-metadex)
- **Bracky **[is preparing thread markets](https://x.com/tldr_x/status/1988233359613382964)
- **ElizaOS **[migrated its native token to Ethereum](https://x.com/ElizaEcoFund/status/1988292273008693282)
- **ENS DAO** [is running an ENS Contract Naming reward pool](https://x.com/enscribe_/status/1987575665630011445)
- **Football.fun **[launched fantasy NFL trading on Base](https://x.com/footballdotfun/status/1988290698148540462)
- **JAKE **[introduced Kondo, a batch swapping tool for cleaning wallets](https://x.com/0FJAKE/status/1988245369017278910)
- **J. P. Morgan** [launched its USD deposit token on Base](https://x.com/base/status/1988621702876581926)
- **Octant **[unveiled yield-donating vaults in its V2 protocol](https://x.com/Toluajet/status/1989100927236669507)
- **Polymarket **[partnered with Yahoo](https://x.com/Polymarket/status/1988603156473991562) and [the UFC](https://x.com/Polymarket/status/1988966638595502205)
- **PoolTogether **[crossed 100k unique users](https://x.com/PoolTogether_/status/1986809611329171877)
- **Tokenized gold** [is surging on Ethereum](https://x.com/eth_everstake/status/1987938404357603547)
- **Unchained **[released a podcast mini app in the Base App](https://x.com/laurashin/status/1988985244696093135)
- **Uniswap **[proposed turning on protocol fees](https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/1987990314997739625) and** **[introduced Continuous Clearing Auctions on Ethereum and Unichain](https://x.com/unichain/status/1988983258110189890)
- **Zapper** [is rolling out Farcaster support](https://x.com/sebaudet26/status/1987986372846850260)

### **🐸 The Culture**
- **The EF **[announced its 1st Founders Lab selections](https://x.com/KhanAbbas201/status/1988617953236140154)
- **Devconnect **[published a map of the Ethereum World’s Fair grounds](https://x.com/EFDevcon/status/1989007318672179295)
- **Vitalik **[introduced and signed “The Trustless Manifesto”](https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1988764537034616903)

### **🔏 The Privacy Stack**
- **Aztec **[introduced its AZTEC token sale and opened bidding](https://x.com/aztecnetwork/status/1988973159920595029)
- **Nillion**, [the "blind compute" L1, is migrating to an Ethereum L2](https://nillion.com/news/the-next-frontier-for-nillion-ethereum/)
- **Vitalik **[posted a primer on Ethereum’s privacy roadmap](https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1988035181127626810)
- **Paul Brody **[published “2026: The Golden Year for Ethereum Privacy”](https://x.com/ethereum/status/1988991966223511746)

### **💽 The Tech**
- **Base **[notched a new ATH of 16.1M daily transactions](https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1989005300079484930)
- **EigenLayer **[introduced EigenZero, the 1st implementation of the Cryptoeconomic DVN Framework](https://x.com/eigencloud/status/1988668491210412386)
- **T1 **[released the whitepaper for its trustless rollup interop architecture](https://x.com/t1protocol/status/1987928321603367318)

.  .  .

 
  
    
      
  WEEKLY ROLLUP
    
    
  
  
Market Uncertainty Looms

  
 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/11/image---2025-11-14T224902.092.png)](https://www.bankless.com/podcast/rollup-market-uncertainty-trumps-bullish-plan-coinbase-icos-return-uniswap-fee-switch-on-jpm-base-coin-crypto-privacy-season)**In this week’s Rollup, Ryan teams up with Dragonfly's Tom Schmidt to make sense of the markets: are we chopping further down or setting up for the next leg? **

They also dig into Trump’s “bullish plan,” Coinbase’s Monad ICO, Uniswap’s long-awaited fee switch, and JPM’s deposit token on Base—plus the whiplash of “privacy season” with Zcash’s surge contrasted against a harsh sentence for a wallet dev. 

*Tune in to catch up on all the latest crypto intrigues*! 👇

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.bankless.com/podcast/rollup-market-uncertainty-trumps-bullish-plan-coinbase-icos-return-uniswap-fee-switch-on-jpm-base-coin-crypto-privacy-season)
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*\* Bankless team holds crypto assets and advise crypto projects. [Aztec](https://www.bankless.com/aztec) is included in our disclosures. See our complete investment disclosures [here](https://www.bankless.com/disclosures)*