Fixing Ethereum: Hart Lambur on Cross-Chain Intents & the Future of Interoperability

The Charlie Shrem Show

In this episode, I sit down with Hart Lambur, the co-founder of Risk Labs, the team behind UMA and Across Protocol, two projects solving some of the biggest challenges in crypto—cross-chain interoperability and on-chain data verification.

Ethereum has scaled, but in the process, it’s fragmented into over 50 Layer 2s, creating a messy user experience. Hart and his team are pushing for a cross-chain intent standard (ERC-7683) to make blockchain transactions feel instant and seamless—because let’s be real, waiting minutes (or days) to move assets across chains is a joke.

We also dive deep into:

• The “two-second rule” for crypto UX and why speed is king
• How ERC-7683 enables cross-chain swaps without waiting for block confirmations
• Why Ethereum’s fragmentation problem could kill adoption if we don’t fix it
• The future of prediction markets and decentralized oracles
• How Chainlink maintained dominance in the Oracle space—and whether that’s changing
• Why AI-powered agents will need blockchain-based dispute resolution

If you're into DeFi, cross-chain tech, and the future of Ethereum, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Ethereum has scaled, but it now feels like 50 separate chains—interoperability must be solved.
✅ The two-second UX rule: If a transaction takes longer, users will lose focus and abandon it.
✅ ERC-7683 introduces cross-chain intents, allowing instant swaps by having solvers front transactions.
✅ Optimistic oracles (used by UMA) enable decentralized dispute resolution, powering prediction markets like PolyMarket.
✅ AI agents will need on-chain contract enforcement—blockchain oracles will play a crucial role.

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