Fireside Chat with Lisa Cuesta Bunin and Kartik Talwar

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

In this fireside chat, Lisa Cuesta Bunin, COO of Aztec Labs, discusses her transition from investor to operator, joining Aztec to address key blockchain challenges: scalability and privacy. She shares insights on scaling a crypto startup, building a world-class technical team, and bridging gaps as the first non-technical hire. Lisa details Aztec’s evolution from a research-heavy, cryptography-focused startup to a leading developer of a decentralized, privacy-centric Layer 2 (L2) on Ethereum. She explains the importance of decentralization, the shift from centralized products like ZK Money to a fully programmable L2, and Aztec’s approach to privacy—enabling client-side proofs and developer control over public/private data. Lisa highlights Noir, Aztec’s universal zk programming language, and previews upcoming milestones: the adversarial testnet, ZK Passport for proof of humanity, and the Ignition launch, which will deploy governance, staking, and sequencer contracts on Ethereum L1, followed by the Alpha execution environment. The conversation emphasizes leadership, adaptability, decentralization, privacy, and ecosystem growth in web3. 00:00 Introduction 00:30 Lisa’s Background: Investing to Operating 01:45 Entering Crypto: Early Observations 03:07 Joining Aztec: First Non-Technical Hire 04:54 Scaling Aztec: Early Challenges & Growth 07:32 Building Company Processes & Unique Problems 09:12 Aztec’s Evolution: Research to Product 11:41 Balancing Research & Engineering 13:38 Decentralization at Aztec 16:11 Aztec’s Approach to Privacy 18:19 Developer Experience & Noir Language 19:20 What’s Next: Testnet, ZK Passport, Ignition Launch 20:10 Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇺🇸 *Pragma New York* Pragma New York 2025 was held on August 14th at Vesper Events in Brooklyn, New York and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma New York YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5TRLdUXjnhUVfdbBtu6z2j ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Lisa Cuesta Bunin X: https://x.com/lisacuesta ✅ Follow Aztec X: https://x.com/aztecnetwork ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _