Austen Allred joins Bankless to unpack Kelly Claude, the AI agent he has given an LLC, bank accounts, a token, and even a human employee. They explore how Kelly finds software opportunities, ships apps to the App Store, learns through orchestration and factory-style workflows, and why crypto rails may be the missing layer for agent-to-agent commerce. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download ?NEXO | YIELD + CREDIT LINE https://bankless.cc/nexo ?OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY https://bankless.cc/OKX ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:05 Meet Kelly 4:46 Why Kelly needed an LLC, bank account, and token 10:27 The real goal is a zero-human company 15:46 The apps Kelly is already shipping 18:33 Can taste be replicated? 21:53 Why AI defaults to consensus 30:04 What orchestration and factories actually mean 34:21 How autonomous is autonomous? 38:20 The marketing factory and why AI ads must look worse 46:47 Why Ryan and David?s agent Daniel keeps failing 54:43 Can there be a generic template for AI companies? 59:14 If everyone can build over a weekend, what are the moats? 1:06:08 Why crypto finally clicks for AI agents 1:12:32 The missing crypto product is distribution 1:14:57 Advice for builders experimenting with agents --- RESOURCES Austen Allred https://x.com/Austen Kelly Claude https://x.com/kellyclaudeai --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Markets are ripping back to all-time highs, but crypto still isn?t following suit. Ryan and David break down the V-shaped recovery driven by Iran de-escalation, why Bitcoin is still stuck in range, and the growing bull vs bear divide across macro and onchain data. They also unpack Saylor?s STRC ?money printer,? the World Liberty DeFi controversy, and the SEC?s surprise ruling that just gave DeFi a major win. Plus: the Bitcoin community?s plan to freeze Satoshi?s coins and what it means for the future of the network. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download  ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:04 Markets at ATHs / Iran De-Escalation https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2044507788961894462  https://x.com/TheStalwart/status/2044045804596346931 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2041728989119529307 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2043285255931441306 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2043323635671179641 https://x.com/AndrewBeckUSA/status/2043136650478301245 https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2044426813544255859 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2044055049882476961 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2044435422944649651 https://polymarket.com/event/us-x-iran-permanent-peace-deal-by/?via=bankless? https://x.com/RaoulGMI/status/2043832901121331527  https://x.com/Matt_Hougan/status/2044095946334843168 https://x.com/JustDeauIt/status/2044127128296313079 https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2044114246187851783 https://x.com/JoshKale/status/2044425507203166292 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2044423401763127512 https://x.com/LizAnnSonders/status/2043664934559420916 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UMCSENT https://x.com/perry8888_/status/2044168141148655773 https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2044375033909264873 https://polymarket.com/event/how-many-fed-rate-cuts-in-2026/?via=bankless? 30:41 Saylor STRC / Bitcoin Bid & ETH Treasury Race (Tom Lee / Bitmine) https://x.com/LynAldenContact/status/2043736183578972443 https://x.com/AdamBLiv/status/2043809798035255790 https://x.com/STRC_live/status/2044029951410635132 https://x.com/pythianism/status/2044425651890147507 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2044461949895819559 https://x.com/AltcoinDaily/status/2044492873803116649  https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2043683094914335191 https://www.strategicethreserve.xyz/ https://cointelegraph.com/news/ether-machine-spac-ethm-cancelled-dynamix-merger https://x.com/CryptosR_Us/status/2044507049648697717 46:24 World Liberty Financial (FTX-style risk) https://x.com/DefiIgnas/status/2042520040562639186 55:22 SEC DeFi Ruling (Bull Case)  https://x.com/SECGov/status/2043739582273855635  https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2043754533545746884 https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2043709926556492190 58:39 Bitcoin Quantum Plan (BIP-361) https://x.com/BitcoinArchive/status/2044319025711255985 https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0361.mediawiki https://www.bip361.org/ https://x.com/lopp/status/2044406134178795748 1:02:53 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Why has the dollar remained dominant despite rising debt, geopolitical strain, and growing challengers? Barry Eichengreen joins Bankless to trace the history of global reserve currencies. From Spanish silver and the Byzantine solidus to sterling and the modern dollar, Barry explains the conditions that make a currency rise, endure, and eventually fall. We explore fiscal discipline, rule of law, military power, gold, China, and crypto to understand what history suggests about the dollar?s future. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 5:11 Spanish Pieces of ape 14:58 Solidus 18:56 International Currency Status 29:32 The Fall of International Currencies 33:27 The Fall of The US Dollar 41:38 What?s Special about the Dollar? 47:39 Theoretical Currencies 51:09 US Dollar Dominance Consequences 59:39 When will the Dollar Fall? 1:03:09 US Dollar Competitors 1:08:32 Gold 1:14:08 Bitcoin & Crypto 1:18:23 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Barry Eichengreen https://x.com/B_Eichengreen Money Beyond Borders: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto https://www.amazon.com/Money-Beyond-Borders-Currencies-Croesus/dp/0691280533  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

Has crypto already bottomed, or is more pain still ahead? Mike and Ryan break down the bull and bear case in full, from Bitcoin fair value and market structure to global liquidity, AI demand, and the macro risks still hanging over markets. Mike explains why he thinks the setup still looks more like a bear market than a new uptrend, even if the odds are close. It?s a sharp episode on how to navigate a market that could break either way. Michael Nadeau & The DeFi Report: https://x.com/JustDeauIt https://thedefireport.io/bankless  --- ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne    --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:18 Understanding the crypto cycle 3:23 The wealth destruction phase 5:30 Defining the current market conditions 8:14 Reflecting on past market battles 11:15 The four-year cycle explained 13:19 The impact of liquidity cycles 17:12 Analyzing the S&P and market health 20:34 The bullish case for crypto 24:07 Exploring on-chain metrics 27:16 The bear case outlined 32:14 The difficulty of market navigation 44:26 Summarizing the bearish perspective 48:12 Market uncertainty 59:54 Closing & disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Michael Saylor thinks Bitcoin is headed to $21 million, but the real story in this conversation is how he believes it gets there. In his first appearance on Bankless, Saylor breaks down Strategy?s evolving capital machine, why STRC may be the most ambitious instrument the company has built yet, how he thinks about quantum risk without panic, why his view on Ethereum has become more constructive, and what he means when he says the endgame is giving the world an 8% bank account forever. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:00 Michael Saylor?s $21M Bitcoin thesis 4:33 What has to go right for Bitcoin to get there 11:00 Has Bitcoin adoption stalled out? 13:20 Why STRC became Strategy?s breakout product 18:05 The pitch behind a Bitcoin-backed money market 21:13 How STRC is engineered to stay stable 27:31 Where the 11.5% yield comes from 36:35 Is Strategy taking too much risk? 46:50 Does Strategy ever stop buying Bitcoin? 58:48 Quantum, panic, and the Bitcoin response 1:16:18 Michael Saylor on Ethereum today 1:25:46 ?Fix the money, fix the world? 1:38:39 The crypto reactor and Strategy?s endgame --- RESOURCES Michael Saylor https://x.com/saylor --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Markets are rallying on a fragile Iran ceasefire, but the real risks may be getting closer. David and Haseeb break down Anthropic?s secretive new AI model and why it could expose vulnerabilities across crypto, from smart contracts to core blockchain infrastructure, plus the growing divide around ?Q-Day? and how urgent the quantum threat really is. They also unpack Iran?s unexpected use of Bitcoin in global trade, the White House?s stance on stablecoin yields, and why the market feels stable on the surface while bigger risks continue to build. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 1:56 Ceasefire in Iran https://images.wsj.net/im-97657631  https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2041728989119529307 https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2041867478033195336 15:43 Two Polymarkets of Relevance https://polymarket.com/event/iran-x-israelus-conflict-ends-by/?via=bankless? 70% chance the conflict ends by April 30 https://polymarket.com/event/will-the-us-invade-iran-before-2027/?via=bankless? 30% chance! 17:50 Anthropic Releases Project Glasswing  https://x.com/AnthropicAI/status/2041578392852517128 https://red.anthropic.com/2026/mythos-preview/ https://x.com/DarioAmodei/status/2041580338426585171 https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2041579488224657581 https://x.com/kevinsxu/status/2042065892658258357 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2041256570462326843 48:49 Satoshi is Adam Back? 57:44 The White House Weighs in on the Stablecoin Yield Debate https://www.whitehouse.gov/research/2026/04/effects-of-stablecoin-yield-prohibition-on-bank-lending/ 1:02:04 $MON trading above ICO price! https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/monad 1:05:47 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Can Ethereum become one economic zone again? Martin Koppelmann and Friederike Ernst from Gnosis explain how real-time proving and the Ethereum Economic Zone could reconnect fragmented rollups, unify liquidity, and give specialized chains seamless access to Ethereum?s settlement and security. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:18 Fixing Fragmentation 7:49 Ethereum Economic Zone Explained 26:19 EEZ Thin Layer 30:30 Block Builders 33:06 The Bull Case 35:18 Ethereum Reorg 42:56 Layer2 EEZ Adoption 50:47 A New Age for Builders 55:54 How to Get Involved 57:42 EEZ Rollout 1:00:51 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Martin Koppelman https://x.com/koeppelmann  Friederike Ernst https://x.com/tw_tter  EEZ https://eez.io/  EEZ GitHub https://github.com/eez-association  Gnosis https://www.gnosis.io/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

NYSE and Securitize are laying the rails to bring real, issuer-backed securities onchain.  Michael Blaugrund of NYSE and Carlos Domingo of Securitize break down how blockchain-native equities could work in practice: transfer agents, tokenized issuance, interoperable trading infrastructure, 24/7 markets, and what it will take for public stocks to move from legacy rails to crypto rails. T They also explore how onchain equities could unlock faster settlement, better shareholder utility, and new DeFi use cases without sacrificing regulatory compliance. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:52 NYSE x Securitize Partnership 4:57 Digital Transfer Agent 8:39 Blockchain Infrastructure 11:07 NYSE Alternative Trading System 17:01 Every NYSE Asset? 22:30 Portability & KYC 33:38 RWA Decentralization Debate 38:47 New NYSE Paradigm 44:46 24/7 365 Markets 48:03 Clarity Act 52:21 Issuer Choice 57:08 Tokenized Securities vs Perpetuals 1:00:24 Securitize Going Public 1:03:20 When Launch 1:04:04 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Carlos Domingo https://x.com/carlosdomingo  Michael Blaugrund https://x.com/mblaugrund  Securitize https://securitize.io/  RWA Decentralization Debate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-h-PeUOvDw ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

What if Bitcoin?s biggest strength becomes its fatal weakness? Nic Carter joins Bankless to unpack why the latest quantum papers changed the threat model, why a 2029 migration window could leave Bitcoin dangerously behind, what a real post-quantum transition would require, and why the fight over Satoshi?s dormant coins may become the most explosive governance battle in Bitcoin history. --- ? DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODE https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-bitcoin-has-3-years-to-survive-nic-carter --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Nic Carter?s Stark Warning 3:55 Bitcoin?s Status Quo Problem 9:36 The New Quantum Papers 12:07 When Breakthroughs Go Dark 16:28 ?We will not get significant prior notice? 21:24 The 9-Minute Attack 31:33 Why 2029 suddenly matters 34:24 Post-Quantum Tradeoffs 46:03 Why Bitcoin Isn?t Reacting 52:21 The Satoshi coin problem 1:02:54 Nic?s salvage-law alternative 1:10:13 Why Ethereum looks more prepared 1:12:25 Does Bitcoin Survive? --- RESOURCES Nic Carter https://x.com/nic_carter Nic?s takeaways from quantum papers https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/my-takeaways-from-googles-and-oratomics --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Google just dropped a major quantum warning for crypto, claiming a breakthrough that could accelerate the timeline to breaking Bitcoin and Ethereum?s core security. Ryan and David unpack what changed, how real the threat is, and why the industry may need to act sooner than expected. Plus: Trump signals three more weeks in the Iran conflict and markets shrug it off, a $285M Solana DeFi hack exposes critical flaws, Ethereum?s new plan to unify L2s, and why crypto wallets are rapidly turning into full financial super apps. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 1:46 Worst BTC Q1 Since 2018 https://www.theblock.co/post/395991/bitcoin-worst-q1-since-2018 https://imgur.com/Y8V3LyR  3:15 Trump, Iran & Market Reaction https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2039508709374636457 https://polymarket.com/event/us-forces-enter-iran-by/?via=bankless https://polymarket.com/event/us-x-iran-ceasefire-by/?via=bankless https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2039525222311731260 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2039516924762096021 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2039715963730305106 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2039718732361040022 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2039691820419235841 https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2038650848931193203  https://x.com/robinhanson/status/2038778655204122748 https://x.com/natesilver538/status/2038711622043144529 https://polymarket.com/event/which-party-will-win-the-house-in-2026/?via=bankless https://polymarket.com/event/which-party-will-win-the-senate-in-2026/?via=bankless 18:35 Google?s Quantum Warning for Crypto https://quantumai.google/static/site-assets/downloads/cryptocurrency-whitepaper.pdf https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.28627 https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/2038847732152996108 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2038804571791761821 https://x.com/mreiffy/status/2038878566796988776 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2039065325627396309 https://x.com/_jonasschnelli_/status/2039403067511341368 https://x.com/_jonasschnelli_/status/2039049535822147890 41:39 $285M Drift Hack on Solana https://x.com/DriftProtocol/status/2039564437795836039 https://defillama.com/perps https://x.com/dbcrypt0/status/2039677244734677186 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/drift-protocol https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2039587524075491794 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2039560830862164329 47:08 Ethereum Economic Zones & Aave V4 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2038625973260722336 https://x.com/etheconomiczone/status/2038271122907578375 https://x.com/jbaylina/status/2038277153641377865 56:09 X Crypto Wallet + Phantom Super App https://x.com/benjitaylor/status/2036882102420201832 https://x.com/Marczeller/status/2038300072367017988 https://x.com/phantom/status/2039027553940480448 57:43 Apyx, OpenAI, SpaceX & April Fools https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2037607121676603530 https://x.com/hyperbridge/status/2039318963486625880 1:03:37 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Three macro forces are converging that almost no one is pricing in correctly. Jeff Park returns to Bankless to lay out what he calls the "certain truths" shaping markets for the next two decades: collapsing demographics across every major economy, wealth concentration that now exceeds even the Gilded Age, and a labor market being structurally hollowed out by AI before robots even arrive. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ? METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:07 Certain Truth #1: Global Demographic Headwinds 8:26 What a Top-Heavy Population Means for Markets 15:05 The Japan Counter-Argument 26:01 Certain Truth #2: Wealth Concentration at Critical Levels 32:48 Capital Flight, Unrealized Gains, and the Drag on Demand 43:17 Real Estate as the Epicenter of Distortion 48:05 Bitcoin as a Spending and Savings Asset 52:08 Certain Truth #3: The Value of Labor Approaching Zero 1:01:27 The AI Industrial Revolution Comparison 1:04:38 The Convergence: Why All Three Truths Collide Now 1:08:19 Lightning Round: Asset Class Outlook 1:27:49 Closing Thoughts --- RESOURCES Jeff Park https://x.com/dgt10011 Jeff?s paper https://x.com/dgt10011/status/2031757205888762205 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

We examine the proposed Clarity Act and its impact on stablecoin yields and crypto finance. Ryan and David discuss geopolitical tensions in Iran and their effects on global markets.  Highlights include Tom Lee's ETH staking venture, the NYSE's stock tokenization, and emerging quantum computing developments. We also touch on Coinbase?s stock dip, Tether?s auditing, and Fannie Mae's acceptance of crypto as collateral. --- ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 3:29 Macro & Markets (Oil, War, Fed) https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2035516932498030879 https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2036053106081902692 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2036811133915455745 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2037023604697710673 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2035862840284688507 https://x.com/Stocktwits/status/2036859288572862887 https://www.theblock.co/post/394878/bernstein-says-bitcoin-looks-bottomed-sees-226-upside-for-strategy https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UMCSENT https://thedefireport.io/research/markets-are-complacent#views-on-macro-oil-geopolitics 23:12 The Clarity Act and Stablecoin Yields https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2036279124382077137 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2036469040684646844 https://x.com/Matt_Hougan/status/2036931850292387929 https://x.com/pete_rizzo_/status/2036420229543206962 https://x.com/StockSavvyShay/status/2036449942060015818 37:15 Tether Developments and Market Reactions https://x.com/paoloardoino/status/2036428992195039699 https://x.com/nicrypto/status/2036387424620904893 https://x.com/BrendanPedersen/status/2036857950367567951 https://x.com/Shaughnessy119/status/2036876676852752674 https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/?via=bankless 40:55 Tokenizing Stocks: NYSE's New Partner https://x.com/WSJ/status/2036411699633250532 https://x.com/BSCNews/status/2035019819238506993 45:54 Crypto-Backed Mortgages https://x.com/zoomerfied/status/2037130261469462914 https://x.com/0xNairolf/status/2037149525022806030 https://x.com/DollarDecay/status/2037183407273161104 47:30 Ethereum's Staking Infrastructure Launch https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bitmine-immersion-technologies-bmnr-announces-launch-of-mavan-made-in-america-validator-network-the-companys-proprietary-staking-solution-302724419.html 55:37 Stablecoins and Their Limitations in Freedom https://x.com/aave/status/2036828379043787194 https://pq.ethereum.org/ https://x.com/charliesmirkley/status/2035364269873881322 https://www.theunseenandtheunsaid.com/p/the-great-american-tax-migration 58:30 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

MIT economist Christian Catalini joins Ryan and David to unpack his new paper, "Some Simple Economics of AGI," which argues that the scarce resource in the AI economy is no longer intelligence but verification: the human capacity to check, judge, and certify that AI output is correct. Christian walks through the two cost curves reshaping every industry (cost to automate vs. cost to verify), explains why entry-level jobs are collapsing first through what he calls the "missing junior loop," why even top experts are unknowingly training their replacements (the "codifier's curse"), and maps out the three roles that survive the transition: Directors, Meaning Makers, and Liability Underwriters. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:42 The Low-Grade Panic 6:43 Who Gets Hit First, and Hardest? 13:06 Coding as Canary, or Exception? 16:21 Human Cognition Was the Binding Constraint 19:59 What Is Verification, Exactly? 29:10 The Codifier's Curse 31:21 The Expanding Iceberg: Non-Measurable Work 38:32 The Two Racing Cost Curves 41:59 Trojan Horse Externality 48:46 The Four Quadrants: Where Do You Want to Be? 54:12 Liability Underwriters and the Venture Capital Parallel 55:41 Directors: Navigating Unknown Unknowns 59:49 60-80% of Your Job Can Be Displaced 1:06:24 Button Pushers vs. Founders: The Great Resorting 1:12:08 The Luddite Risk: Political Backlash Against AI 1:17:30 What Companies and Investors Should Do 1:22:56 The Crypto Connection 1:25:11 Don't Panic: A Closing Playbook --- RESOURCES Christian Catalini https://x.com/ccatalini Some Simple Economics of AGI https://arxiv.org/html/2602.20946v2 Christian?s thread on his paper https://x.com/ccatalini/status/2026311784421036223 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

NEAR founder and Transformer co-author Illia Polosukhin joins us to break down why today?s AI agents still fall short, what?s missing to make them actually useful, and how IronClaw could unlock secure, private, autonomous AI. We also explore Illia?s bigger thesis: AI becomes the interface, blockchains become the backend, and both reshape how humans, agents, and digital markets interact. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:43 Illia?s AI Journey 8:19 AI x Blockchain Operating Systems 14:40 Will Humans & AIs Use the Same Systems? 18:20 Why Are AI Agents Still Useless? 28:54 AI Agent Privacy Concerns 35:30 IronClaw Privacy 39:21 AI Agent Limitations 47:00 Context Constraints 53:42 Will Small Teams Win? 57:16 Autonomous Agents & Businesses 1:01:00 Digital Life Forms? 1:02:42 e/acc Vs d/acc 1:09:44 Why isn?t AI Crypto-Pilled 1:14:31 Advice for Builders 1:18:30 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Illia https://x.com/ilblackdragon  IronClaw https://agent.near.ai/ NEAR https://www.near.org/ Attention is All You Need https://arxiv.org/html/1706.03762v7  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

Quantum used to be crypto?s distant sci-fi problem. Justin Drake says it now has a clock. In this episode, we unpack what ?Q-Day? actually means, why Justin thinks 2032 is the date the entire industry should be planning around, and why Ethereum is targeting 2029 to get post-quantum ready. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 When is Q-Day? 5:35 The moment quantum becomes crypto-relevant 10:11 How many qubits does it take to break crypto? 16:22 What a real Bitcoin quantum attack would look like 20:19 How much Bitcoin is actually vulnerable? 26:26 Burn, freeze, or salvage? Bitcoin?s impossible choice 35:06 Proof of seed phrase and Bitcoin?s post-quantum bottleneck 41:02 Ethereum?s exposure: smaller, but not zero 45:43 Ethereum?s tougher roadmap: three layers, three upgrades 50:29 The execution-layer plan: replace ECDSA without killing throughput 57:56 Post-quantum, post-AI cryptography 1:03:36 BLS, KZG, LeanVM, and the rest of the stack 1:06:42 Is this bigger than the Merge? 1:17:21 If Bitcoin stumbles, does all crypto stumble too? 1:19:35 ?Quantum is not a challenge?it?s an opportunity? 1:21:27 AI, quantum, crypto and the 2032 convergence 1:28:04 Harvest now, decrypt later 1:30:09 Defensive accelerationism and Ethereum?s role 1:39:10 Stoicism, P-doom, and why he keeps building --- RESOURCES Justin Drake https://x.com/drakefjustin/ Bitcoin Quantum Risk List https://www.projecteleven.com/bitcoin-risq-list Nic Carter Blog Posts https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/bitcoin-developers-are-sleepwalking https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/trillion-dollar-salvage https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/bitcoin-developers-are-mostly-not The Strawmap https://strawmap.org/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ryan and David break down a historic week for crypto as the SEC and CFTC finally deliver long-awaited clarity, classifying major tokens and reshaping the market. At the same time, Bitcoin is outperforming stocks and gold amid global tensions, raising the key question: is this a real regime shift or just a relief rally? They also cover the rise of prediction markets, the emerging battle for agentic payments (Tempo vs. Stripe/Coinbase), and crypto?s cultural moment with Vanity Fair and the upcoming SBF Netflix series. --- ?FIGURE | CRYPTO-BACKED LOANS & ~9% RWA YIELD https://bankless.cc/Figure --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 3:47 Macro & Markets (Oil, War, Fed) https://apnews.com/article/iran-gas-field-south-pars-attack-5ad45090d3b66444467cc255ee966a37 https://energynow.com/2025/06/what-is-the-strait-of-hormuz-and-why-is-it-so-important-for-oil https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116253388303392718 https://polymarket.com/event/how-many-fed-rate-cuts-in-2026/?via=bankless? https://x.com/QuintenFrancois/status/2033469474511429805 https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2033322952238723486 https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2032571409273167950 https://x.com/timevalueofbtc/status/2034612806386086296 https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2033520517009846618 https://farside.co.uk/btc/ https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2034403519609057593 https://x.com/intocryptoverse/status/2033954843048485174 https://thedefireport.io/research/saylor-is-back-in-the-market 22:35 SEC + CFTC Regulatory Clarity https://x.com/SECGov/status/2033996940363317379 https://x.com/SECPaulSAtkins/status/2034012012460556526  https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/interp/2026/33-11412.pdf https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-remarks-regulation-crypto-assets-031726 https://x.com/Dogetoshi/status/2034011111008178657 https://x.com/BChillman/status/2033913119756714298 https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2034003107391172946 https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2034450575773884694 https://x.com/tradexyz/status/2034260987197444255 https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2034269594282500329 44:44 Prediction Markets Expansion + Risks https://dune.com/hildobby/polymarket https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2034272538465841410 https://x.com/manniefabian/status/2033505062031344004 https://x.com/clashreport/status/2033513701735551202 https://polymarket.com/event/iran-military-action-against-israel-on/?via=bankless? https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2033635318662860916 https://x.com/ChairmanSelig/status/2034625252831998397 52:16 Agentic Payments & Tempo (Standards War) https://x.com/Quicknode/status/2034261280354394610 https://x.com/tempo/status/2034253707303338264 https://x.com/clairekart/status/2034279348480737719 https://visacli.sh/ https://x.com/worldnetwork/status/2033923684768092436 https://x.com/CoinDesk/status/2033883474755551595 58:39 Onchain Banking & Ethereum Upgrades https://x.com/zksync/status/2033864749016809582 https://fastconfirm.it/ https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2033661196792967254 https://x.com/_julianma/status/2033851796574154808 https://x.com/adietrichs/status/2033863884067475634 1:02:38 Crypto Culture (Vanity Fair + SBF Netflix) https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/cryptos-true-believers https://x.com/CamiRusso/status/2033946061685850353 https://x.com/DennisonBertram/status/2034013980771877353 https://x.com/netflix/status/2033981949740568829 1:08:31 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Tempo Mainnet is live, but this episode isn?t really about just another chain launch. It?s about a bigger claim: that AI agents are about to need native money, and that the internet may need a new payment layer to support them. Georgios Konstantopoulos and Brendan Ryan join Bankless to unpack why Tempo launched with agentic payments front and center, what MPP actually is, how it compares to x402, and why they think machine-to-machine commerce could reshape everything from paid APIs to the business model of the web itself. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Tempo Mainnet goes live 1:18 Why the launch is focused on agents 3:58 What MPP actually is 6:30 MPP vs x402 15:28 Why agentic commerce matters 20:08 The ?original sin? of the internet 26:04 MCP, NLWeb, and the emerging agent stack 34:07 The onboarding flow: wallets for agents 37:11 How Tempo?s wallet security works 40:11 Tempo chain design and specs 51:13 Why build an L1 instead of an Ethereum L2? 56:10 The Ethereum tension 1:05:01 Agent identity, reputation, and ERC-8004 1:06:53 TIP20, stablecoins, and what can be built on Tempo 1:12:36 Builder opportunity in the agentic web --- RESOURCES Georgios Konstantopoulos https://x.com/gakonst Brendan Ryan https://brendanjryan.com --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

A deep dive into Trump?s emerging grand strategy and the geopolitical logic behind the Iran conflict.  Kamran Bokhari joins Bankless to unpack how the U.S. is trying to reshape the Middle East, manage tensions with China and Russia, and transition from direct intervention toward a new model of burden-sharing, regional power balancing, and global restraint. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:56 Iran War Unstated Motives 10:03 Trump?s Goals 18:43 China?s Role 26:43 Venezuela & Cuba 28:22 US China Relationship 34:27 Optimizing Global Relationships 39:56 Iran War Best Approach 47:12 Does Iran Want to Negotiate? 51:30 Iran Regime Change 56:51 Israel Interests 1:00:36 Marco Rubio 1:05:24 Signal in the Noise 1:07:25 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Kamran Bokhari on X https://x.com/KamranBokhari  LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamranbokhari/  New Lines Institute https://newlinesinstitute.org/people/kamran-bokhari/  Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/kamranbokhari/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

The Ethereum Foundation?s new mandate has reignited one of Ethereum?s oldest debates: Should it stay laser-focused on cypherpunk values, or lean harder into adoption, product, and market share? Ryan and David debate CROPS, self-sovereignty, ETH as money, and whether the EF is protecting Ethereum?s soul or holding it back. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth ------ TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:39 The EF Manifesto https://x.com/ethereumfndn/status/2032460726728573298  https://blog.ethereum.org/2026/03/13/ef-mandate  https://ethereum.foundation/ef-mandate.pdf  10:18 Bullish Takes https://x.com/lay2000lbs/status/2033326038122438677  https://x.com/EvgenyGaevoy/status/2033160316079534510  https://x.com/malekanoms/status/2032599584640315706  https://x.com/lex_node/status/2033189653587677343  https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2032462574571204924  15:15 Bearish Takes https://x.com/dankrad/status/2032532067527856216  https://x.com/tayvano_/status/2032549549550743925  https://x.com/masonnystrom/status/2032558469786775993  https://x.com/yugacohler/status/2033225486847885758  https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2033603057347616869  https://x.com/divine_economy/status/2033547178803708371  27:43 Bullish Response to Bears https://x.com/divine_economy/status/2033547178803708371  https://x.com/dimabuterin/status/2033548385974735174  35:44 David?s Takes https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2032832671206748551  47:29 Ryan?s Takes https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2032512531856503181  56:32 We Can do Both https://x.com/vibhu/status/2032574444724449605  https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2033545623345967572  59:51 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

The next great battle in finance may not be over stocks, crypto, or even payments. It may be over where the $90 trillion great wealth transfer actually lands. In this episode, Robinhood founder and CEO Vlad Tenev returns to Bankless for a fast-moving conversation on how Robinhood wants to position itself for that generational handoff, why he believes 24/7 markets and tokenization are inevitable, and why the popular narrative around Gen Z as financially reckless misses what he?s seeing on-platform. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The $70?90T Wealth Transfer and Robinhood's Strategy 4:01 Finance in 2040: 24/7 Markets Everywhere 6:06 Tokenized Stocks, Robinhood Chain, and the U.S. Rollout Question 11:22 Robinhood's Full-Stack DeFi Vision 14:31 Prediction Markets as ?Truth Machines? 17:06 Robinhood Social, Sherwood Media, and the Content Layer 21:44 Why ?Entertainment Finance? Might Be Overstated 25:03 Gen Z Is More Retirement-Savvy Than You Think 30:54 Trump Accounts and Investing From Birth 36:21 The Financial Super App Race 39:30 Why Robinhood Is Not Prioritizing Peer-to-Peer Payments 42:22 Stablecoins, Bank Charters, and Consumer Reality 49:30 The Clarity Act, Stablecoin Yield, and Tokenized Assets 55:16 Perps Could Come Onshore Fast 57:12 Retail Access to Private Markets 1:00:52 Robinhood's Third Act: Social, AI, and Agentic Finance --- RESOURCES Vlad Tenev https://x.com/vladtenev --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ryan and David break down a week where war hit markets, and the safe-haven playbook broke down. Oil spiked, gold failed, bonds sold off, the dollar caught the flight to safety, and crypto somehow bounced right through it. Then they unpack Trump?s public pressure campaign against banks over stablecoin yield, Kraken?s historic Fedwire breakthrough, and why crypto is starting to look less like an outsider and more like part of the financial core. Plus: Anthropic vs. the Pentagon, Erik Voorhees? private AI push with Venice, fresh Aave governance drama, ZachXBT helping catch the $46M government crypto thief, and the New York Times calling crypto dead right on schedule. --- ?FIGURE | CRYPTO-BACKED LOANS & ~9% RWA YIELD https://bankless.cc/Figure --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ?MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/megaeth --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 3:22 Chaotic Era: 3 Signals Driving Markets https://imgur.com/UirRpZD https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HDEnyQQWwAAbwf1.jpg https://x.com/TheSalonDon/status/2031478190741328334 https://polymarket.com/event/will-crude-oil-cl-hit-by-end-of-march/?via=bankless https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GASREGW https://imgur.com/a/I13P5gv https://www.tradingview.com/chart/1CDu50yK/ https://www.tradingview.com/chart/1CDu50yK/ https://x.com/byheatherlong/status/2029914129654501425 https://x.com/TKL_Adam/status/2029655785282887772 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2031714633581469751 https://polymarket.com/event/us-recession-by-end-of-2026/?via=bankless https://financialpost.com/fp-finance/jpmorgan-limits-private-credit-lending https://x.com/adamscochran/status/2031718465044701376 https://www.reuters.com/business/blackrock-limits-withdrawals-private-credit-fund-redemptions-mount-2026-03-06 20:44 Kraken + Nasdaq: Tokenized Stocks https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2030979714001621138 https://x.com/krakenfx/status/2030964578117398617 https://x.com/xStocksFi/status/2030963704024740126 https://x.com/markchadwickx/status/2031068859101565118 https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/2030988246864286036 25:33 DOJ Retries Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm & Treasury Report on Crypto Privacy & Mixers https://x.com/amandatums/status/2031176790484374012 https://x.com/rstormsf/status/2031204201418883256 https://www.bankless.com/read/jay-claytons-crypto-war https://x.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/2030995739795472464 https://x.com/L0laL33tz/status/2031025281532645838 https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/246/GENIUS-Act-Illicit-Finance-Innovation-Congressional-Report-March-2026.pdf https://x.com/theragetech/status/2031349077342859477 36:39 SEC + CFTC Coordination https://x.com/SECGov/status/2031830716628029565 https://x.com/SECPaulSAtkins/status/2031834357082832949 39:05 BlackRock Launches Staked ETH ETF ($ETHB) https://x.com/Bankless/status/2032108386938929322 https://www.ishares.com/us/products/348532/ishares-staked-ethereum-trust-etf 42:10 Across Protocol DAO ? C-Corp Proposal https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/across-protocol https://x.com/hal2001/status/2031737518505537907 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2031831233722999111 https://x.com/defiignas/status/2031761413006626934 46:58 Polymarket + Palantir Partnership https://x.com/shayne_coplan/status/2032108237932159113 49:31 AI Backlash & Data Center Moratorium https://x.com/SenSanders/status/2031868041940660673  https://x.com/nick_field90/status/2030700617295860074 https://fortune.com/2026/03/09/ai-opinion-poll-democrats-iran-war-president-donald-trump https://x.com/brianstelter/status/2030635638823801333 https://x.com/kevinroose/status/2031397522590282212 55:52 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ethereum underperformed this cycle, and investors are asking the big question: did ETH just skip a cycle, or is something deeper going on? Michael Nadeau joins Ryan to break down where Ethereum sits in the market cycle today, why several of his key indicators suggest ETH is entering a fair value zone, and whether the true macro bottom could still lie ahead. They also unpack why ETH struggled despite improving fundamentals. Mike explains how Ethereum?s L2 roadmap may have improved the network while weakening short-term value capture for the asset itself, and what signals he?s watching (MVRV, supply in profit, the 200-week moving average) as he looks for the next expansion phase. Michael Nadeau & The DeFi Report: https://x.com/JustDeauIt https://thedefireport.io/ --- ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/Galaxy --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ? WORLD | FULLY ONCHAIN EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/world --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:50 The History of ETH Cycles 5:41 Analyzing Performance Trends 8:32 The Impact of L2 Roadmap 10:24 Roadmap Decisions & Market Perception 15:50 Valuation Metrics Explained 20:08 Disparities in Valuation Methods 23:22 Navigating Market Conditions 26:14 Nation-State Metaphor & Valuation 27:45 Revenue and Economic Impact 33:42 DEX Volumes & Their Implications 37:25 Stablecoin Supply on Ethereum 38:09 Cycle Metrics & Analysis 44:22 Fair Market Value Insights 50:40 Evaluating ETH for the Portfolio --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

A conversation with new CFTC Chairman Mike Selig on the policy shift behind America?s push to become the crypto capital of the world. We cover the CFTC?s evolving role in crypto, prediction markets, and perpetuals, the end of regulation by enforcement, how the agency is thinking about DeFi and software developers, and why market structure legislation like the Clarity Act could reshape the future of U.S. crypto. ------ ? DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODE https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-making-america-the-crypto-capital-of-the-world ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ? WORLD | FULLY ONCHAIN EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/world ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:33 Mike?s Background 4:25 Commodity Markets Transformation 7:31 Commodity Definition 10:56 The Role of the CFTC 11:56 Prediction Markets 17:48 Navigating New Markets 20:34 Are Prediction Markets CFTC Territory? 24:45 Insider Trading vs Information Advantage 28:25 Trump?s Conflict of Interests 29:21 Clarity Act 36:58 Project Crypto 39:37 Defining Intermediary 43:32 Exchanges vs L2s 45:50 No More Wells Notices 50:17 The New CFTC & SEC 54:51 Making America the Crypto Capital of the World 57:08 Best of the Clarity Act 59:04 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Mike Selig https://x.com/ChairmanSelig  CFTC https://www.cftc.gov/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

Ryan and David break down a week where war hit markets, and the safe-haven playbook broke down. Oil spiked, gold failed, bonds sold off, the dollar caught the flight to safety, and crypto somehow bounced right through it. Then they unpack Trump?s public pressure campaign against banks over stablecoin yield, Kraken?s historic Fedwire breakthrough, and why crypto is starting to look less like an outsider and more like part of the financial core. Plus: Anthropic vs. the Pentagon, Erik Voorhees? private AI push with Venice, fresh Aave governance drama, ZachXBT helping catch the $46M government crypto thief, and the New York Times calling crypto dead right on schedule. --- ?FIGURE | CRYPTO-BACKED LOANS & ~9% RWA YIELD https://bankless.cc/Figure --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ? WORLD | FULLY ONCHAIN EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/world     --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:54 Wartime Markets: US / Israel vs Iran + Market Reaction https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2028229365440344419 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2028426099474981156 https://x.com/BullTheoryio/status/2029251045885665465 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2029274787474743761 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index 12:33 Polymarket Becomes the Biggest Winner https://x.com/PolymarketStory/status/2028863241942671865 https://polymarket.com/event/will-the-iranian-regime-fall-by-march-31/?via=bankless? https://polymarket.com/event/will-reza-pahlavi-lead-iran-in-2026/?via=bankless? 15:20 Pentagon vs Anthropic: AI is Military Tech https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2027958511334723716 https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2027488317286351266 https://x.com/BullTheoryio/status/2027626521217929683 https://x.com/ns123abc/status/2028642962196811791 https://app.ventuals.com/trade/anthropic 23:57 Kraken Gets Fedwire Access (First Crypto Bank) https://x.com/krakenfx/status/2029206389957009419 https://x.com/SenLummis/status/2029195363119173710  https://x.com/dgt10011/status/2029241024069910558 https://bpi.com/bpi-statement-on-kraken-master-account https://x.com/jespow/status/2029262374499434919 https://x.com/mikeippolito_/status/2029213224625963310 31:37 Trump vs Banks Over Stablecoin Yield https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2028955180650099117 https://x.com/EricTrump/status/2029309823423009211 https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2029067345055105162 https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/?via=bankless? https://x.com/RonwHammond/status/2028960282450567547 https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2029554248883839324 40:03 Private AI + Crypto: Erik Voorhees? Venice https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2029352394317029871 https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2029387068384678014 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/venice-token https://x.com/steipete/status/2028578713126707547 https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2029399902011224272 47:30 Aave Governance Drama https://governance.aave.com/t/aci-is-leaving-aave/24205 https://governance.aave.com/t/temp-check-aave-will-win-framework/24055/137 50:11 TradFi Moves Into Crypto (NYSE + OKX) https://www.theblock.co/post/392397/nyse-parent-ice-invests-in-crypto-exchange-okx-at-25-billion-valuation-amid-tokenized-stocks-push-fortune 51:10 Million Bitcoin Milestone https://x.com/JoeConsorti/status/2028931445125706171 52:09 X Money (Elon?s Payments Wallet) & SpaceX Bitcoin Treasury https://x.com/abskoop/status/2029088219858346446 https://x.com/dagaadit/status/2029256180644659379 https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/03/01/spacex-s-usd780-million-bitcoin-stack-now-down-to-about-usd545-million-ahead-of-ipo-filing 54:42 ZachXBT Catches $46M Crypto Thief https://x.com/BecauseBitcoin/status/2029585484960145866 https://x.com/zachxbt/status/2029577374057296175 https://x.com/zachxbt/status/2014685299025060154 58:13 South Korean Police Leak Crypto Wallet Seed https://gizmodo.com/south-korean-police-lose-seized-crypto-by-posting-password-online-2000728191 1:00:33 NYTimes Says ?Crypto Is Dead? Again https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/opinion/crypto-trump-bitcoin-clarity-genius.html https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2027392307050188828 1:02:10 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

AI is getting dangerously good at smart contract security. Faster than crypto is ready for. Alpin Yukseloglu joins Bankless to break down EVMBench (built with OpenAI), a benchmark testing whether AI agents can detect, patch, and exploit real fund-draining bugs and why the jump from ~12?13% exploit-finding to 70%+ could rewrite today?s security assumptions. We unpack what that ?70%? really means, why crypto?s verifiability is an ideal training ground, why AI labs haven?t prioritized crypto data yet, and what a 24/7 blackhat vs whitehat AI arms race means for DeFi. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ? EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 AI?s exploit leap: 12% ? 70% and the ?Superhuman auditors? 7:02: Staring at the singularity without losing your mind 10:31 Agency » doom: the Thiel framing 19:10 What?s most at risk (and what?s safer) 23:37 What EVMBench actually is (benchmark + harness) 27:03 Why exploiting is the key: killing false positives 29:24 AI gets ?good at crypto? fast: verifiability 30:56 What ?70% exploit rate? really means 33:32 Why AI labs avoided crypto (it?s not technical) 43:38 Blackhat vs whitehat: how the race plays out 47:21 Agents and ?payments at the speed of light? 51:02 EVM vs Solana: network effects 56:18 AI formal verification as an endgame 58:06 EVMBench V2: expanding the frontier 59:54 Why Alpin stays in crypto --- RESOURCES Alpin Yukseloglu https://x.com/0xalpo EVMBench https://paradigm.xyz/evmbench --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Nat Eliason joins to show what it looks like to build a ?zero human company? with OpenClaw agents. ? led by Felix, an AI CEO that ships products, runs ops, and even manages other agents for support and sales.  We unpack how Felix went from an overnight info product to a full marketplace for agent ?skills? (Clawmart) and a bespoke service that deploys custom OpenClaw employees for real businesses, hitting nearly $80k in revenue since early February while operating on surprisingly low monthly costs. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ? EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0.24 Nat?s Background 6:30 Felix 11:43 Real Businesses vs Memecoins 14:23 Felix?s Employees 18:06 Felix?s Business 31:26 How Customized is Felix? 38:17 Felix?s Business Risks 40:12 Can OpenClaw Replace Knowledge Workers? 43:38 Claw Mart 48:49 Felix?s Expenses 51:15 Nat?s Role 56:39 Felix?s Discord 1:03:19 Citrini Doomer Scenario 1:13:04 Hiring Your First Agent 1:16:19 General AI Assistants 1:19:50 AI Friends 1:22:39 The AI Agent Frontier 1:26:52 Crypto x AI 1:31:53 What?s Next 1:34:27 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Nat Eliason https://x.com/nateliason  Felix Craft https://x.com/FelixCraftAI  Felix Dashboard https://felixcraft.ai/dashboard  Claw Mart https://www.shopclawmart.com/  Crypto Confidential: Winning and Losing Millions in the New Frontier of Finance https://www.amazon.com/Crypto-Confidential-Winning-Millions-Frontier/dp/0593714040  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

Crypto still feels like a minefield for humans: Haseeb Qureshi argues that?s a clue, not a bug: blockchains and smart contracts are machine-readable systems that AI agents can parse, simulate, and execute far more reliably than people, shifting crypto?s core user from humans clicking through wallets to agents acting on our behalf. We also dig into the two-track future of agent commerce (safe, human-approved flows vs. the wild-west frontier), why major AI labs have avoided crypto training so far (liability), how agent-driven discovery could rewrite DeFi competition, and what this means for Dragonfly?s investing playbook. ------ ? DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODE https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-haseeb-quereshi-cryptos-not-made-for-humans-its-for-ai ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ? EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDRpro ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:42 Why Crypto?s Not Made for Humans 17:49 How AI Agents Think 28:51 Why Crypto x AI is Unexplored 32:58 The Botconomy & OpenClaw 43:42 How Long Until the Frontier is Here? 50:07 How Crazy Does it Get? 1:06:00 AI Thinks Crypto?s Cringe 1:10:31 Dragonfly?s New 650M Fund 1:13:05 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Haseeb Qureshi https://x.com/hosseeb  Dragonfly https://www.dragonfly.xyz/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

February ends with peak FUD. Ryan and David unpack why crypto is stuck in historic ?Extreme Fear? even without a major blowup, and why markets feel like they?ve entered an uncertainty bubble. They break down the Supreme Court striking Trump?s tariffs, Trump immediately finding new legal doors to bring them back, and the looming $150B+ refund fight. Then the ?Citrini Crash?: AI doomer scenarios going viral, spooking stocks, and leaving investors terrified that AI will be either not good enough or far too good. Plus: fresh allegations that Jane Street helped accelerate Terra?s collapse, Meta?s stablecoin reboot for its billions of users, ZachXBT?s Axiom insider trading exposé, Hyperliquid?s new DC policy push, Robinhood?s retail venture fund, Coinbase?s 24/5 stocks rollout, and the Pentagon?s ultimatum to Anthropic over AI guardrails. --- ?FIGURE | CRYPTO-BACKED LOANS & ~9% RWA YIELD https://bankless.cc/FigureCBL --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix  ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDRpro    --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:51 Extreme Fear & the ?Uncertainty Bubble? https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index https://x.com/xeer/status/2025867669707043156 https://x.com/Evan_ss6/status/2026363413610238032 https://thedefireport.io/research/uncertainty-bubble https://x.com/kobeissiletter/status/2024862913761001477 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2026067372604371286 https://www.citriniresearch.com/p/2028gic https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2026040229535047769 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2026028854461047220 https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-citrini-post-is-just-a-scary https://x.com/mattshumer_/status/2021256989876109403 https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2027011410627027024 26:24 Was Jane Street Behind the 2022 Crypto Winter? https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/jane-street-accused-of-insider-trading-that-helped-collapse-terraform-659e6993 https://x.com/OGDfarmer/status/2026343910923006123 https://x.com/hasufl/status/2026246191550193756 https://x.com/davidzmorris/status/2026286018643603749 https://x.com/1914ad/status/2026757796390449382 35:29 Meta Revives Stablecoin Plans https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/02/24/mark-zuckerberg-s-meta-is-planning-stablecoin-comeback-in-the-second-half-of-this-year 39:49 ZachXBT Exposes Insider Trading at Axiom https://x.com/zachxbt/status/2025917891678523644 https://polymarket.com/event/which-crypto-company-will-zachxbt-expose-for-insider-trading/?via=bankless? https://x.com/zachxbt/status/2027016064534757659 https://x.com/zachxbt/status/2027016170126323925 50:40 Hyperliquid DC Policy Center, Robinhood VC, & Coinbase 24/5 stocks & ETFs trading https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2024116520427651480 https://x.com/vladtenev/status/2026028297822588941 https://x.com/coinbase/status/2026303315382870364 55:49 AI Watch: Pentagon vs Anthropic https://x.com/DeItaone/status/2027028927756054670 https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2026382701562048545 https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2026329054887239697 1:02:33 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto?s newest threat isn?t a smart contract exploit, it?s a knock at your door. In this episode, Ryan sits down with Jameson Lopp (Casa) and Beau (former CIA, now safety at Pudgy Penguins) to map the real security landscape for crypto holders in 2026: the phishing traps you?ll see daily, the physical ?wrench attacks? that terrify the community, and the practical systems that can make both dramatically less effective. If going bankless is about freedom, this is the playbook for keeping that freedom without turning into your own security team. --- ?ROCKET POOL | PERMISSIONLESS STAKING https://bankless.cc/Rocketpool --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ? EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDRpro --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:45 The 2026 threat landscape: third parties, privacy, then physical 8:07 Most likely vs most dangerous: phishing vs wrench attacks 17:23 Minimize attack surface + separate your money by risk 20:27 The ?3-wallet? model: daily spend, risky ops, deep cold vault 25:08 Hot vs cold: the $1k rule + don?t sign when you?re not sharp 30:01 Social engineering defense: authenticate everything, trust nothing inbound 36:22 Password managers + the 2FA ladder (passkeys/YubiKeys win) 45:05 ?Dedicated signing machine? and air-gapped thinking 47:30 Wrench attacks: how targets are found + what the attacks look like 52:50 Why France stands out (and what Dubai?s data shows) 57:37 ?Zero Crypto at Home?: multisig + geography + time delays 1:12:27 Duress wallets: why they don?t reliably work 1:16:38 Home hardening checklist: cameras, lights, panic buttons, doors/windows 1:30:59 Onchain privacy reality + tax software pitfalls 1:37:40 Is this a setback for the Bankless vision? --- RESOURCES Jameson Lopp https://x.com/lopp https://casa.io/ Beau https://x.com/beausecurity https://beausecurity.substack.com/ RSA?s Article - Zero Crypto at Home https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2016572587363520933 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ethereum?s next big leap might not look like a single ?flip the switch? moment?but it could change how the chain verifies everything. In this episode, Ansgar Dietrichs comes back to unpack the ZK EVM: why ?re-executing every block? has been Ethereum?s hidden scaling tax, how real-time proofs finally make a different verification model viable, and what it would take to transition safely without sacrificing the verifiability that keeps Ethereum credibly neutral. They explore the three true bottlenecks of blockchain scaling (compute, IO, bandwidth), the roadmap from optional proofs to mandatory proofs, and why client diversity could look radically different in a ZK-native future. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast ? EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDRpro --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:43 Ethereum?s Biggest Upgrade 4:35 The Core Idea: Verify Blocks Without Re-Executing 10:40 From Bitcoin?s ?Verify Cheaply? to Verifying Full Execution 16:22 Cryptography 2.0: Proving Arbitrary Computation 22:56 Scaling All 3 Constraints: Compute, IO, Bandwidth 32:33 Why Ethereum Has Been ?Slow? by Design 38:29 3× Per Year: Scaling Now, Not Someday 41:28 ZK Isn?t About Faster Blocks (But Speed Still Improves) 46:33 Rollout Plan: Optional Proofs ? Mandatory Proofs 49:59 Dependencies: Block-in-Blobs, Repricing, New State Trees 54:14 Security Reality Check: Performance ? Security ? Production 1:01:24 Client Diversity in a ZK World 1:10:51 Timeline: ZK Ethereum, Around 2030 1:16:31 Second-Order Wins: L2 Bridging and Beyond Crypto 1:20:49 Closing: Build the Boring Infrastructure, Enable the Apps --- RESOURCES Ansgar Dietrichs https://x.com/adietrichs --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

A legal war over prediction markets just went public. Ryan and David break down the CFTC?s claim of exclusive authority, the backlash from state officials and lawmakers, and why this fight is really about whether markets or politics get to define truth. They explore why AI-powered prediction markets may be crypto?s strongest product-market fit yet, and why that scares regulators. Plus: Harvard rotates from Bitcoin into Ethereum, Base breaks from Optimism, Zora expands to Solana, the Ethereum Foundation leadership reshuffles, signs of life for the Clarity Act, institutions buying DeFi tokens, Europe?s unrealized-gains wealth tax, autonomous ?life? on Ethereum, OpenAI?s EVMbench, and what ETHDenver says about where crypto goes next. --- ?ROCKET POOL | PERMISSIONLESS STAKING https://bankless.cc/Rocketpool --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast  ?GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCE https://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast  ?EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria  ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix  ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDRpro  --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:27 MARKETS  https://x.com/hiwhaledegen/status/2023372409303450065 4:33 PREDICTION MARKETS REGULATORY FIGHT https://x.com/ChairmanSelig/status/2023744651216240966  https://x.com/GovChristie/status/2023821634344550892 https://x.com/SenWarren/status/2023877196323188764 https://x.com/govcox/status/2023795059980988874 https://x.com/RepCasten/status/2024212119491588303 https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2023794107274194944 https://x.com/SenatorHagerty/status/2023802779899252901 https://x.com/SenMcCormickPA/status/2023831838461194501 https://x.com/tyler/status/2023761976481259585 https://x.com/kylascan/status/2023786873605476719 https://x.com/ADoricko/status/2023834015699173398 https://x.com/abcampbell/status/2024281289700802568 https://x.com/NTmoney/status/2024505537514394104 25:18 BASE LEAVES OPTIMISM https://blog.base.dev/next-chapter-for-base-chain-1 https://x.com/lex_node/status/2024181767813427402 https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2024184295493886317 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/optimism https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/arbitrum https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/polygon https://x.com/web3_data/status/2023716576126755249 https://polymarket.com/event/will-base-launch-a-token-in-2025-341/?via=bankles 35:24 ZORA EXPANDS TO SOLANA https://x.com/zora/status/2023797263651533053 https://x.com/js_horne/status/2023809356739838390 https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2023872648032272642 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2023990750082445561 40:04 ETHEREUM FOUNDATION SHAKEUP https://x.com/tkstanczak/status/2022315368430067847 https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2022318344288792618 https://x.com/aerugoettinea/status/2022318885047779576 https://x.com/dannyryan/status/2022318587281572257 44:56 CLARITY ACT SIGNS OF LIFE https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2024238762021036201  https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/?via=bankles https://x.com/altcoindaily/status/2024174959707541638  49:16 APOLLO x MORPHO (INSTITUTIONS BUYING DEFI TOKENS) https://x.com/AggrNews/status/2022482933974544669 https://x.com/RyanWatkins_/status/2022680420270379400 https://x.com/DefiIgnas/status/2023054776762876157 52:14 AAVE TOKEN ALIGNMENT PROPOSAL https://x.com/TheiaResearch/status/2022037595568603406 https://x.com/Marczeller/status/2022073505341219033 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/aave 56:09 NETHERLANDS UNREALIZED GAINS WEALTH TAX https://x.com/BitcoinNewsCom/status/2021978390870347923 https://x.com/balajis/status/2022360046122995851 58:55 AUTONOMOUS LIFE ON ETHEREUM (CONWAY) https://x.com/0xSigil/status/2023877649475731671 https://x.com/sterlingcrispin/status/2024254432498639322 1:04:56 OPENAI EVMbench https://openai.com/index/introducing-evmbench/ 1:06:24 ETHDENVER REFLECTIONS https://x.com/EthereumDenver/status/2024234929840935318 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2024215091856527753 1:08:05 CLOSING & DISCLAIMERS --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Lyn Alden joins us to make sense of the ?everything, everywhere, all at once? macro moment. A fourth-turning-style unwind of the long-term debt cycle, rising fiscal dominance, and a rare, headline-level clash over Fed independence?plus what a Kevin Warsh Fed might actually do under real-world constraints.  We dig into the ?gradual print? era, why gold is ripping, how a more multipolar monetary order could emerge (gold, bitcoin, and stablecoins in different roles), and what trade war dynamics mean for the dollar?s privilege.  Lyn also explains why Bitcoin has lagged gold this cycle, how much the four-year crypto cycle still matters, the risks around treasury companies and quantum narratives, and how she?s thinking about portfolio construction in 2026. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watchch ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 What?s Happening? 6:23 The Fourth Turning 13:59 Fed Independence 30:40 New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh 37:46 The Gradual Print 42:16 Gold 53:56 China vs US 1:07:14 Bitcoin vs Gold 1:12:37 Crypto 4-Year Cycles 1:23:26 Proof-of-Work vs Proof-of-Stake 1:28:12 Frontier Tech 1:35:11 Lyn Alden?s 2026 Portfolio 1:39:24 Cash Strategy 1:41:30 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Lyn Alden https://x.com/LynAldenContact  Lyn Alden Newsletter https://www.lynalden.com/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

Crypto feels cooked in 2026, and the Super Bowl proves it. Ryan and David unpack Coinbase?s Backstreet Boys rug pull ad and what it reveals about crypto?s collapsed public narrative. Then they dig into the brutal selloff, why IBIT?s record volume hints at forced TradFi liquidation, and what Polymarket is pricing for Bitcoin under $50K. From Robinhood?s prediction markets exploding into a real revenue engine to the political fight over who regulates ?gambling vs markets,? the thesis is clear: finance is the only use case still scaling. Plus: LayerZero?s new ?world computer? L1, MegaETH and Aztec?s bear market launch playbook, Vitalik finally calling ETH a store of value, ENS staying on L1, BlackRock bringing BUIDL to Uniswap, and the weirdest loose end of all, SBF?s missing tungsten cube. --- ?ROCKET POOL | PERMISSIONLESS STAKING https://bankless.cc/Rocketpool --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 0:32 Super Bowl Coinbase Commercial  https://x.com/julia_fiedler5/status/2020672759508967576 10:02 Markets https://x.com/cryptorand/status/2021894696268660736 https://x.com/TheDemocrats/status/2019492504614150375 https://polymarket.com/event/what-price-will-bitcoin-hit-before-2027/?via=bankles https://x.com/intocryptoverse/status/2019835733503255006 https://x.com/DegenerateNews/status/2020846896084852796 https://x.com/blckchaindaily/status/2021967204653445163  https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2020860553732768085 https://www.strategicethreserve.xyz https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2021325189674357204 25:46 Prediction Markets Growth has been explosive https://x.com/theoneandomsy/status/2021399052366250280 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2021603112541102400  https://x.com/movietimedev/status/2021278393136808099 https://x.com/mattplatkin/status/2021335653091508323 https://x.com/GovChristie/status/2019515642836054038 https://x.com/michaelselig/status/2019533204068393280 34:51 A tail of Three Chains - LayerZero, Robinhood, MegaETH https://x.com/LayerZero_Core/status/2021338847972663394 https://x.com/a16zcrypto/status/2021348447656476841 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/layerzero https://x.com/LayerZero_Core/status/2021343796236321036 https://x.com/RobinhoodApp/status/2021585052417630465 https://youtu.be/KcpMRlmrkEw https://x.com/megaeth/status/2020876108342927670 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2021265395307495795 https://x.com/Zac_Aztec/status/2021707048497602777 https://x.com/sjdedic/status/2021960471704707177 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/zama https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/trade/MEGA https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/layerzero 44:04 Are non-financial crypto dead? https://x.com/matthuang/status/2020858831065043159 https://x.com/jessepollak/status/2020962065100538091 https://x.com/cdixon/status/2019837259575607401 https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2020451853633511696 50:04 ETH & BlackRock https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2019814868140933287 https://x.com/ensdomains/status/2019789111557808146 https://x.com/BrantlyMillegan/status/2019791852531069313 https://x.com/vitalikbuterin/status/2019818956530274327 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2021587358999630034 https://x.com/KalshiTrade/status/2021586037034651819 https://fortune.com/2026/02/11/blackrock-uniswap https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uniswap-token-jumps-following-blackrock-165720913.html https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/uniswap 57:13 MrBeast acquired a Gen Z?focused banking app https://x.com/MrBeast/status/2020910218360782929 https://x.com/BuckOnTwidder/status/2021005048654987354 59:17 You can now give your agent a self-custodial wallet!  https://x.com/programmer/status/2021649037074870627 https://docs.cdp.coinbase.com/agentic-wallet/quickstart. https://x.com/base/status/2021413560740721048 1:01:10 Safemoon founder sentenced to 100 months in prison https://x.com/IRS_CI/status/2021340944143196568? 1:02:19 SBF suck up?full on propaganda - pardon by summer? https://x.com/SBF_FTX/status/2021932965047988515 https://themissingbillions.com/ 1:05:42 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Last week felt like four different crashes happening at the same time: AI software stocks melting down, crypto capitulating, gold and silver whipping around, and markets suddenly panicking about AI CapEx. Jim Bianco returns to Bankless to explain what actually changed: why AI is collapsing the cost of building software (and threatening SaaS pricing models), how ?synthetic Bitcoin? in TradFi can amplify volatility even when nothing breaks onchain, and why the next crypto cycle can?t be powered by ?permission? narratives, it has to be powered by replacement and building. --- ?KRAKEN | DEFI EARN https://bankless.cc/Kraken --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:44 Super Bowl ads as a market metaphor 2:30 WTF was last week? Four selloffs collide 8:38 Why crypto traded like ?software? in the selloff 13:52 AI CapEx fears: are we overbuilding the infrastructure? 17:00 The 1999 playbook: infra boom ? crash ? app-layer winners 28:53 Where the value accrues: users, not the hyperscalers 35:36 Gold & silver: why silver behaves like an ?altcoin? 39:09 Why Jim is bearish on China 44:21 Trump, Europe, defense spending, and the ?go to 11? problem 49:09 Synthetic Bitcoin: the offchain float problem 56:52 Crypto?s next narrative: replacement, not permission 1:01:57 Kevin Warsh, Fed independence, and a new Fed?Treasury accord 1:09:40 Portfolio wrap: puke signals, building signals, and 4?5?6 returns --- RESOURCES James Bianco https://x.com/biancoresearch --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Robinhood isn?t just adding another crypto feature?it?s assembling a new exchange stack: stock tokens, an Ethereum L2 built for real-world assets, and a wallet that can plug into DeFi. Johann Kerbrat (GM of Crypto at Robinhood) joins Bankless to unpack what ?24/7 markets? actually requires, why liquidity and routing are the hidden battleground for tokenized equities, and how ?Certified by Robinhood? could become a distribution moat for onchain apps. Along the way, they compare Robinhood?s approach to tokenization with the NYSE?s 24/7 tokenized platform plans and Nasdaq?s tokenized securities proposal, and dig into what U.S. regulatory clarity would need to unlock stock tokens stateside. Subscribe for more on the new financial rails being built in real time. --- ?ROCKETPOOL https://bankless.cc/Rocketpool --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:43 Is Robinhood Building a New Exchange? 4:45 Robinhood Chain testnet: what it enables for builders 9:17 What?s actually unique about this L2 10:44 ?Certified by Robinhood? explained 12:52 Mainnet timing & NYSE/Nasdaq vs Robinhood tokenization approaches 16:34 Stock tokens today: EU access, U.S. questions 18:16 The liquidity problem (and how routing fixes it) 21:28 What tokenized equities unlock beyond trading 23:23 Robinhood Wallet?s role in the stack 24:57 The CLARITY Act: what matters to Robinhood 30:49 Strategic bets: Talos, Bitstamp, and going institutional 38:51 Lighter + perps: DeFi vs CeFi (and the U.S. CFTC wall) 43:21 What?s next: ?one ecosystem? + prediction markets 45:13 Builder call-to-action --- RESOURCES Johann Kerbrat https://x.com/JohannKerbrat --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

MegaETH mainnet is live, kicking off a new frontier for Ethereum scaling: ultra-low latency, massive throughput, and an execution environment built to unlock apps that can?t exist on L1. Lei Yang & Namik break down why Vitalik?s latest L2 framing validates ?barbell? scaling, what users actually inherit from Ethereum (censorship resistance, exit guarantees, and fraud-proof security assumptions), and why stages + governance are harder than they look.  Plus: the mainnet stress test (11.4B tx in 7 days, 55k peak TPS), the economics shift toward stablecoin yield with USDM, proximity markets for MEV, and MegaETH?s aggressive app-incubation strategy. ------ ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?SHOWDOWN | NEXT-GEN POKER https://bankless.cc/showdown ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:41 Vitalik?s L2 Pivot Tweet 14:05 Property Rights on MegaETH 21:10 Stage 2 & Rollup Design 30:34 MegaETH?s Stress Test Numbers 40:42 MegaETH?s Throughput 47:02 Business Model 52:15 MEV 1:00:18 Other MegaETH Products 1:02:19 App Strategy 1:07:04 Mega Mafia 1:10:48 MegaETH x AI Agents 1:15:53 Mega Token 1:20:17 Mainnet Release 1:21:11 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Lei Yang https://x.com/yangl1996 Namik https://x.com/NamikMuduroglu  MegaETH https://www.megaeth.com/  MegaETH Stress Test https://stress.megaeth.com/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

A single Vitalik tweet just snapped Ethereum?s scaling narrative into focus: the rollup-centric roadmap is over, and a new path is here. Ryan and David break down what Vitalik actually said (and what he didn?t), why stage 2 plus rollup interop proved far slower than anyone hoped, and why L1 scaling, powered by ZK, may be Ethereum?s real reset button in 2026. Along the way, they unpack the quiet death of the ?L2s are Ethereum? meme, the community?s whiplash reaction, and what differentiated ?gen 2? L2s must do to earn their place in the alliance. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?SHOWDOWN | NEXT-GEN POKER https://bankless.cc/showdown ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The Rollup-Centric Roadmap: 2020 ? 2026 1:26 What Vitalik Actually Said 3:15 The Understated Bombshell: L1 Scaling + ZKVM 6:28 ?Branded Shards? Are Over 8:12 ?L2s Are Ethereum? Is Dead (But Not the Alliance) 12:29 Vitalik?s Follow-Up: Differentiation Wins 15:51 The Reaction: Praise, ?I Told You So,? and Anger 18:23 The NATO Analogy for L2s 20:51 The Messaging Risk: Does Ethereum Push Rollups Away? 23:25 Why Did It Take So Long to Say This Out Loud? 30:09 Was Modular Wrong? What We Thought vs What We Got 33:20 Ryan?s Retrospective: Wins + Three Missteps 38:01 David?s Take: ZKVM Precompile = ?Manhattan Project? 39:57 The Cost: Wasted Time, Misallocated Capital, Leadership Tension 45:39 What Happens Next: Base Leaving, New North Star, Anyone?s Game 51:04 Signs the Pivot Is Working --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto enters a full-blown pain market as Bitcoin, ETH, tech stocks, and even gold sell off together. Ryan and David break down why crowded trades are unwinding across markets, what the Warsh Fed chair pick means for rates and risk assets, and whether crypto has become uniquely fragile in this cycle. They dig into Vitalik?s L2 pivot and what it signals about Ethereum?s next era, unpack massive institutional paper losses at Strategy, BitMine, and Galaxy, and analyze Polymarket odds on where Bitcoin goes next. Plus: OGs selling to ETF buyers, the Clarity Act standoff between banks and crypto, and how to survive the psychology of a real bear market. --- ?KRAKEN | DEFI EARN https://bankless.cc/Kraken --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?SHOWDOWN | NEXT-GEN POKER https://bankless.cc/showdown ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 3:23 Markets https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2019413451471483282 https://x.com/MelMattison1/status/2018821072934846482 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2018215213959729487 https://imgur.com/xGMBu9p https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2017679054619414773 https://x.com/AggrNews/status/2017670162481053771 https://imgur.com/fOOPShT https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2018251708833669137 https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2018317901682373032 https://x.com/mmmikema/status/2017517404461666668 https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/02/04/tom-lee-says-bitmine-s-usd6-billion-ether-paper-loss-is-by-design https://x.com/deitaone/status/2018680207368950085 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2018698942083412050 https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2017655487936807237 https://polymarket.com/event/what-price-will-bitcoin-hit-before-2027/?via=bankless https://x.com/ericbalchunas/status/2019079756008800685 https://x.com/Matt_Hougan/status/2018695396386570257 https://x.com/Zeneca/status/2017713330341953547 24:49 Federal Reserve & Kevin Warsh https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2017204939139764607 https://x.com/AshCrypto/status/2017223525522919707 https://x.com/Eric_BIGfund/status/2017077398479470788  https://x.com/shahh/status/2017266603126292607 https://x.com/avichal/status/2017107032034464256 https://x.com/RayDalio/status/2017687126926602643 https://x.com/LukeGromen/status/2013334684130746521 https://x.com/AltcoinDaily/status/2017296093621719062 31:57 Ethereum Roadmap Pivot https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2018727620624384059 https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1267464298919534593 https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2019341766407725170 https://x.com/tkstanczak/status/2018969582506328077 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2018739946706596309 https://x.com/RyanWatkins_/status/2018722118955913367 https://x.com/josephdelong/status/2019116049694880021 https://x.com/Shaughnessy119/status/2018745708648574999 https://x.com/KhanAbbas201/status/2019155752955289652 45:16 Clarity Act & Stablecoin Yield https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2016953240601186316 https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2017622525987954840 https://x.com/aosipovich/status/2017173012546486292 https://x.com/Bankless/status/2017335175533715783 https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/02/02/white-house-crypto-meeting-on-market-structure-bill https://x.com/BrendanPedersen/status/2018456230214435027 https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2018472709622292899 https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2019207030276300833  https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/?via=bankless https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/02/03/trump-adviser-says-white-house-won-t-allow-crypto-bill-to-attack-president-on-ethics https://x.com/tier10k/status/2017780627894898788 https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2018467240136294821  https://x.com/NeerajKA/status/2019108061969866759  57:05 MetaMask Stocks & Bitwise Acquisition https://x.com/OndoFinance/status/2018722106553348414 https://www.theblock.co/post/388379/bitwise-acquires-chorus-one https://www.8004scan.io 58:31 Polymarket & Culture https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2018731372920344582 https://x.com/litcapital/status/2018734492999885030 https://x.com/nycmayor/status/2019105073423327680 https://polymarket.com/sports/nfl/games/week/15/nfl-sea-ne-2026-02-08/?via=bankless 1:03:02 Closing & Disclaimers 1:03:18 Moment of Zen https://x.com/tomwarren/status/2019039874771550516  --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

AI agents aren?t ?coming? to Ethereum?they?re already here, spinning up on dedicated machines, clicking through wallets, deploying contracts, and even building apps for themselves. In this episode, Ryan and David sit down with Davide Crapis and Austin Griffith to map the emerging agent stack: ERC-8004 as a decentralized identity + reputation layer, x402 as payment rails for agent-to-agent commerce, and the real-world ?Clawdbot? experiments that show what happens when an agent gets a wallet, a codebase, and a mandate. Along the way: prompt-injection risks, why agents read calldata like it?s their native language, and why it may be the best time in history to be a solo builder?even as it gets harder to be a junior dev. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?SHOWDOWN | NEXT-GEN POKER https://bankless.cc/showdown ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 ?AI is the new UI,? and you?ll be talking to your wallet 4:09 Is there an arms race for AI activity across chains? 7:32 The Clawdbot/OpenClaw moment: agents get OS-level power 13:18 Why crypto is native to agents 19:41 Austin?s setup: Claude bot, heartbeat loops, and real autonomy 22:28 The token incident: how a bot ?got a treasury? 28:46 Prompt injection meets wallets 38:20 ERC-8004 explained: identity, reputation, validation 40:35 x402 + 8004: discovery + payment rails for agent commerce 48:38 8004 ?scans? and early adoption reality 1:05:32 What agents could build when they can hire other agents 1:12:38 Tooling for the new builder era: Speedrun ? Wingman 1:25:23 ?Worst time to be a junior dev?? 1:28:15 Predictions: clean English becomes the sign of AI --- RESOURCES Austin Griffith https://x.com/austingriffith Davide Crapis https://x.com/DavideCrapis --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Michael Nadeau went risk-off in October and has been targeting Bitcoin's fair value near $65K. In this episode, he joins Ryan to unpack what changed after BTC broke below $80K, why he does not think this is the macro low yet, and what a real bottom typically looks like (capitulation, then apathy). They also dig into the new wild card: incoming Fed chair Kevin Warsh, and why ?rates down? could still mean tighter liquidity if the balance sheet shrinks. Mike walks through the key cycle signals he is watching (MVRV/realized price, 200-week moving average, long-term holder behavior, miners), how Bitcoin tends to lead the Nasdaq Composite, and the price zones on his watch list for ETH and SOL as he prepares to scale back into risk. Michael Nadeau & The DeFi Report: https://x.com/JustDeauIt https://thedefireport.io/ --- ?KRAKEN | DEFI EARN https://bankless.cc/Kraken --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:03 New Fed Chair Announcement 8:54 Macro Analysis of Kevin Warsh 14:56 Labor Market Concerns 23:09 Wealth Destruction Phase 26:31 Long-Term Market Projections 31:21 Bitcoin vs. Stocks 39:51 Market Sentiment & Cycles 42:10 Tactical Investment Strategies 55:29 Long-Term Optimism for Crypto 58:06 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Capitalism may be heading toward an ?event horizon,? where a handful of firms become so entrenched they?re effectively the last companies standing. We break down the four ?Infinity Gauntlet? pillars: intelligence, energy, capital, and labor. And why collapsing costs in AI and robotics could make abundance, and monopolies, the default outcome. From Google?s data + compute flywheel to the Tesla/SpaceX/xAI convergence and even space-based energy/data centers, we map the new battlefield and what it means for building a future-proof portfolio (not investment advice). Josh Kale https://x.com/JoshKale  ------ ? LIMITLESS | SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW https://pod.link/1813210890 https://www.youtube.com/@Limitless-FT  https://x.com/LimitlessFT  ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ? EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch  ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The Infinity Gauntlet of Capitalism 6:50 Intelligence 18:15 Capital 25:04 Energy 30:05 Labor 42:45 Google 47:20 Nvidia 49:16 Tesla 56:55 SpaceX 1:13:54 Amazon 1:15:12 Microsoft 1:16:35 Meta 1:19:34 Apple 1:22:22 Who Wins? 1:25:45 Elon Musk 1:26:46 Endgame Portfolio 1:29:17 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

Markets wobble as gold and silver hit all time highs, raising the big question of what comes next for crypto. Ryan and David unpack the macro shock driving the move, from Fed independence and shutdown risk to a weaker dollar narrative, and why Tether is quietly becoming one of the world?s largest gold holders. They make the case for Ethereum?s comeback, from surging usage to serious quantum resistance efforts, break down Fidelity?s new onchain dollar, and dig into MegaETH?s eye popping stress test. Plus: prediction markets go mainstream, a bizarre $40 million government crypto theft, and a new Vitalik meme to close it out. --- ?KRAKEN | DEFI EARN https://bankless.cc/Kraken --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 3:22 Markets https://x.com/Vivek4real_/status/2014721850937380963 https://imgur.com/vumkykb https://x.com/longstcc/status/2016429742904508789 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/28/fed-meeting-today-live-updates.html https://polymarket.com/event/lisa-cook-out-as-fed-governor-by-september-30/?via=bankless https://polymarket.com/event/how-many-fed-rate-cuts-in-2026/?via=bankless. https://polymarket.com/event/will-there-be-another-us-government-shutdown-by-january-31/?via=bankless 16:25 Gold & Silver All-Time Highs https://www.tradingview.com/chart/1RYLG2gC/?symbol=TVC:GOLD https://companiesmarketcap.com/assets-by-market-cap https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2016890828925313192 https://x.com/philippilk/status/2016089604588290348 https://x.com/historydefined/status/2016360674058760269 https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2015596117195444375 https://x.com/DegenerateNews/status/2016870767426707457 https://thedefireport.io/research/why-is-bitcoin-underperforming-gold 28:11 Dollar Reserve Currency Discussion & Tether Gold Reserves https://x.com/FluentInFinance/status/2015424544333328808 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2016259771616444454 https://x.com/barkmeta/status/2016351131727770107 https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2016307227158601780 https://cryptonews.com/news/tether-quietly-becomes-one-of-the-biggest-global-gold-market-players-holds-140-tons-of-gold 33:15 Ethereum Usage Scaling & Ethereum Quantum Resistance & ETH Bull Case https://x.com/JasonYanowitz/status/2016128371755811109 https://x.com/riley_gmi/status/2016193883764371469 https://sergeenkov.com/record-high-activity-ethereum-2026 https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/2014791629408784816 https://x.com/VivekVentures/status/2015510724244611168 https://x.com/LorenzoARK/status/2015594553579868566 43:47 Fidelity Digital Dollar https://x.com/DegenerateNews/status/2016505433322635443 https://x.com/sytaylor/status/2016569801678704807 45:40 Tether Onshore Stablecoin (USA?) https://x.com/paoloardoino/status/2016151121522204953 46:46 MegaETH Mainnet & Stress Test https://x.com/megaeth/status/2016511667644064164 https://x.com/megaeth/status/2014376592378888503 https://www.growthepie.com https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/trade https://x.com/NamikMuduroglu/status/2016909695609364917 53:27 Uniswap Auctions https://x.com/Uniswap/status/2016513436771922218 https://x.com/Benjamin918_/status/2016515467960016958 54:34 Robinhood & Talos https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/01/29/robinhood-is-investing-in-crypto-trading-platform-talos-at-usd1-5-billion-valuation 57:15 Prediction Markets Expansion https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2016593041532870677 https://x.com/shayne_coplan/status/1989005876611461429 57:42 OpenAI & Human Verification https://x.com/forbes/status/2016622235902234794 1:00:24 Government Contractor Theft Story https://x.com/zachxbt/status/2015430549846777964 https://x.com/zachxbt/status/2014685299025060154 1:03:11 Meme of the Week https://x.com/0xcyp/status/2016556046697779495 1:04:01 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Celo is quietly powering real-world payments at global scale. In this episode, David and Ryan sit down with Marek Olszewski, CEO of cLabs, to unpack how Celo became a fast, low-cost payments layer used for remittances, savings, onchain FX, and identity across emerging markets. They explore why Celo stayed focused on peer-to-peer payments while others chased trends, how Opera?s MiniPay onboarded hundreds of thousands of daily users, and why stablecoins are reshaping global finance from the ground up. The conversation spans onchain FX, proof of personhood with Self.xyz, Ethereum?s L2 future, and why fast, cheap payments, not hype, may be crypto?s real unlock. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ? EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING https://bankless.cc/euphoria ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Celo?s Origin Story and Design Philosophy 5:18 The Long Bet on P2P Payments 17:19 700,000 Daily Users: The Data Behind the Narrative 22:11 MiniPay: Global Venmo Built on Celo 30:28 Solving the Last-Mile Banking Problem 37:36 Celo x Opera partnership 40:37 Stablecoins, FX, and the Rise of Onchain Forex 46:53 Perpetuals for FX: UpDown.xyz 49:37 Open Finance vs. Governments and the Battle for the Payments Stack 59:13 Why Celo Chose Ethereum L2 Over an L1 Path 1:06:02 Self.xyz and Proof of Personhood 1:14:06 Putting It All Together: Celo?s Endgame --- RESOURCES Marek Olszewski https://x.com/marek_ Celo https://celo.org/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Iran is a real-world stress test of freedom: the Islamic Republic is built to outlast dissent. In this special Iran Unchained episode, David talks with Sana Ebrahimi and Amin Soleimani about the regime?s control stack, including unelected theocracy, street-level coercion, corruption as governance, and propaganda that reaches far beyond Iran?s borders. They unpack gender apartheid, internet blackouts during uprisings, why protests keep returning, and what the West gets wrong about ?intervention? and regional stability. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget-futures ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:21 ?How does it feel to be Iranian right now?? 3:39 Sana?s background: Tehran ? U.S., and a life shaped by protests 4:38 What is the Iranian regime and what does it want? 9:51 What an Ayatollah is and how that status concentrates power 16:46 Promises vs reality: revolutionary slogans, economic collapse, and control loops 24:15 1979?s alliance, the Marxists, and the purge that followed 34:53 Repression as a system: arrests, torture, and fear as governance 39:15 ?Let this land burn?: why the regime doesn?t step down 41:23 Gender apartheid, Mahsa Amini and the spark that keeps reigniting protests 51:58 Protest math: why people still return to the streets 55:18 The internet blackout playbook 1:02:52 ?Regime apologists? abroad: media, think tanks, and narrative capture 1:07:17 Why the West gets confused: Palestine politics and cognitive dissonance 1:17:56 Western intervention: ?Not Iraq, not Afghanistan? 1:28:57 The diaspora, brain drain, and what a free Iran could unlock 1:31:40 What they?re hoping for next and how to help --- RESOURCES Ameen Soleimani https://x.com/ameensol Sana Ebrahimi https://x.com/__Injaneb96 Iran Unchained fundraiser https://www.iranunchained.com/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox joins Bankless to argue that privacy is back on the critical path?because AI turns chain surveillance into pattern-recognition at scale?and that the real bottleneck for cypherpunk tools has always been UX and onboarding. We dig into Zcash?s ?encrypted Bitcoin? meme, the dev fund?s evolving design (and why it helped Zcash survive), recent ZEC momentum, and the wallet/intents stack that makes private spending actually usable. Plus: why ?value at rest? beats ?value in flight,? what it would take for Ethereum to get meaningful privacy, and the debate over strengthening the 21M cap (and whether Zcash should add new security mechanisms without losing the meme). ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget-futures ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch  ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:46 What Failed 3:58 What Succeeded 5:04 Institutional Adoption 6:53 Areas Neglected 10:51 The Cypherpunk Vision 18:53 Can The Cypherpunks Win? 23:19 Crypto?s Path to Success 27:44 Crypto vs Linux 30:39 AI Cypherpunks? 33:05 Optimism 35:49 AI Surveillance 37:10 Zcash 43:02 Zcash Dev Fund 51:45 Zashi Governance Drama 56:32 Zcash Privacy Practices 1:15:56 AI Privacy Consequences 1:22:31 Is Zec a Store of Value 1:26:01 Encrypted Bitcoin? 1:29:01 Ethereum Privacy & Anoma 1:33:14 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Zooko https://x.com/zooko  Zcash https://z.cash/  Zashi https://z.cash/ecosystem/zashi-wallet/  Anoma https://anoma.net/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

Markets slide this week as Trump floats taking Greenland and tariff threats resurface, pushing investors toward gold. Ryan and David break down what Davos revealed about a shifting world order, why crypto finally had a real seat at the table, and the moments from Brian Armstrong and Larry Fink that framed Crypto versus Central Banks. Plus: the NYSE unveils a tokenized trading platform and whether it validates or co-opts DeFi, Farcaster and Lens are acquired as on-chain social hits a crossroads, and a Jefferies strategist drops Bitcoin over quantum fears. Finally, an update on the Clarity Act delay and the race for the next Fed chair. --- ? IMMUNEFI | $IMU TOKEN LAUNCH https://bankless.cc/ImmunefiICO --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget-futures ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:31 Why are markets down https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2013591373006676322 https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2013603538513863126 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/14/politics/greenland-trump-nato-denmark https://x.com/CBSNews/status/2013983374549946581  https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2014089644288196691 https://polymarket.com/event/will-trump-acquire-greenland-before-2027 https://polymarket.com/event/will-the-us-acquire-any-part-of-greenland-in-2026 https://x.com/fejau_inc/status/2013610390698041805 https://x.com/thestalwart/status/2013580367123423518 https://x.com/Strategy/status/2013598056000725476 15:12 Davos power shifts https://x.com/CommerceGov/status/2013638111977222213  https://x.com/KanwalSibal/status/2013863207962845315 https://x.com/alreadydawn/status/2011855946298032188 https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2013947391733342444 https://x.com/MSBIntel/status/2014311838092284200 https://x.com/gazza_jenks/status/2014316956787077193 https://x.com/RWAwatchlist_/status/2014302865515479322 25:45 Next Fed Chair https://polymarket.com/event/who-will-trump-nominate-as-fed-chair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Warsh 29:23 NYSE tokenization platform https://ir.theice.com/press/news-details/2026/The-New-York-Stock-Exchange-Develops-Tokenized-Securities-Platform/default.aspx https://x.com/sytaylor/status/2013248790988214418 https://x.com/jdorman81/status/2013273153544323438 https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2013302033286054109 https://x.com/malekanoms/status/2013597558413664443 37:10 Onchain social handover https://farcaster.xyz/dwr/0x72aab3a5 https://x.com/neynarxyz/status/2014046158700659072 https://x.com/0xfoobar/status/2014169292736979296 https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2013617272464580990 https://lens.xyz/news/mask-network-to-steward-the-next-chapter-of-lens https://x.com/hishboy/status/2014050332675121169 https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2013884907659944205 https://firefly.social/signup https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2014338767847354766 https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2011325527567544393 45:57 Clarity Act delay https://x.com/DegenerateNews/status/2014119477923705271 https://x.com/eleanorterrett/status/2014139061103907238 https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2012612712044573151 https://x.com/patrickjwitt/status/2013776653902614547 https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026 50:00 Stablecoin payroll https://x.com/base/status/2013752842822038000 https://imgur.com/a/9kriKIV 51:42 Bitcoin & quantum https://x.com/matthew_sigel/status/2013266516112712139 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7414027710861045761/ https://x.com/bitcoinofficesv/status/1961564696856727947 https://x.com/batsoupyum/status/2013606402976293243 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2013781321638695383 https://www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbase-establishes-independent-advisory-board-on-quantum-computing-and-blockchain 59:40 Regulation & Trad https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2013626808474968164 https://x.com/felixprotocol/status/2011831820371828920 https://x.com/0xBroze/status/2011832444102561838 https://x.com/JupiterExchange/status/2013987873943334919 1:01:02 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto in 2026 is consolidating into a handful of high-stakes rivalries:  Ethereum vs. Solana for the center of gravity, Coinbase vs. Robinhood for the finance super-app, and Polymarket vs. Kalshi for prediction markets.  Arnav Pagidyala (Bankless Ventures) joins David and Ryan to map the investment implications, why incentives-driven L1s keep leaking liquidity, what makes Morpho?s institutional playbook work, and whether Hyperliquid, wallets, and onchain rails start eating the exchange business.  We also dig into the comeback of ICOs, what it would take for tokens to become truly investable, and why proof-of-personhood and privacy-preserving KYC may become unavoidable infrastructure. ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget-trading ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch  ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:12 Ethereum & Solana 7:33 Why Solana is Winning 9:27 L1 Valuations 13:13 Coinbase & Robinhood 17:16 Base Contentcoins 20:32 Kalshi & Polymarket 23:19 Prediction Market Tokens 24:45 Store of Value Duopoly 27:21 Tokens in 2026 29:41 Tokens & Equity Alignment 31:01 MetaDAO 32:42 ICOs 34:44 Morpho 39:17 Morpho & Aave 40:41 Perp Exchanges 44:28 Proof of Personhood 48:42 Fat Wallet Thesis 51:45 X & Crypto 53:27 AI & Vibecoding 55:28 Is Crypto Dead? 57:18 Capital Stack Moving Onchain 59:10 What About TradFi? 1:02:15 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Arnav Pagidyala https://x.com/0xArnav  Bankless Ventures https://x.com/banklessvc  Investing Trends for 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poes3EpAR5c ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?

Washington takes center stage this week as crypto collides with power, policy, and markets. Ryan and David break down the CLARITY Act fight in the Senate, why banks want to kill stablecoin yield, and why Coinbase says the bill may be worse than no bill at all. They also unpack Trump?s DOJ targeting Jerome Powell and what it means for Fed independence, silver?s explosive move as markets search for safety, X?s push toward becoming a crypto super app, and the NYC mayor?s meme coin disaster. Plus: Tom Lee?s surprising MrBeast investment and what it signals about capital, culture, and crypto?s next phase. --- ?ZAMA | $ZAMA PUBLIC AUCTION  https://bankless.cc/zama-auction --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:25 DOJ opened an investigation into Jerome Powell https://x.com/federalreserve/status/2010510130970849338  https://x.com/federalreserve/status/2010510130970849338 https://x.com/LynAldenContact/status/2010526966953202125 https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/powell-probe-highlights-trump-doj-role-white-house-enforcer-2026-01-14/ https://polymarket.com/event/jerome-powell-out-as-fed-chair-by 10:44 Markets https://x.com/JesseCohenInv/status/2011311082896572766 https://www.coinnews.net/2025/01/09/american-silver-eagle-series-welcomes-2025-w-proof-edition/ https://www.google.com/finance/beta/quote/GLD:NYSEARCA https://x.com/echodatruth/status/2010568502474571870 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/13/cpi-inflation-report-december-2026.html https://polymarket.com/dashboards/fed-rates 20:52 Most important Legislation for crypto?ever? https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2010709769187676430 https://x.com/DavidMMcintosh/status/2010389058271289845 https://www.aba.com/-/media/documents/letters-to-congress-and-regulators/ltrsenatestablecoin20260105.pdf https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/01/11/jpmorgan-downplays-stablecoin-threat-as-local-bankers-warn-of-usd6-6t-risk https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2009795675635306737 https://x.com/USTransparent https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2009809558605299914 https://x.com/SenLummis/status/2010939496830030038 https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2011464338528166081 https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2011464341556428936 https://x.com/davidsacks47/status/2011650262361129193 https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026 https://x.com/Matt_Hougan/status/2010841027800895514 42:09 NYC Mayor Eric Adams issued a memecoin https://x.com/runecrypto_/status/2010847811781230781 https://x.com/ericadamsfornyc/status/2010849167258566727 https://x.com/bubblemaps/status/2010890093431832789 https://x.com/ericadamsfornyc/status/2011541285354815932 https://x.com/buynyctoken/status/2011501230288257452 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2010945632505127317 46:41 TOM LEE - BITMINE?.invests $200m in MR BEAST MEDIA https://x.com/DegenerateNews/status/2011774463818518813  https://x.com/DegenerateNews/status/2011810278980120830  49:53 World Liberty Financial launched a lending platform https://worldlibertyfinancial.com/markets https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/01/13/senate-s-warren-wlfi-tied-bank-application-should-be-halted-until-trump-divests https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dolomite 51:45 Polygon?.ALL IN on STABLECOIN STACK with two major acquisitions https://x.com/0xPolygon/status/2011076681302446556 https://x.com/HadickM/status/2011099510957580437 https://x.com/sandeepnailwal/status/2009763000895344766 https://x.com/obchakevich_/status/2008876239285637419 54:21 X is rolling out Smart Cashtags & Killing InfoFi https://x.com/nikitabier/status/2010277345651990564 https://x.com/jessepollak/status/2010404608263520356 https://www.theblock.co/post/385805/kaito-token-plummets-x-revises-api-policies-ban-infofi-crypto-projects https://x.com/nikitabier/status/2011825522817270230 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/kaito 58:33 BitGo IPO - $2 billion! ($100 billion in custody) https://x.com/AccessIPOs/status/2010727529238417549 59:16 The Golden Globes integrated Polymarket into their broadcast https://x.com/shayne_coplan/status/2010862175607488709 1:00:38 David?s Market of the Week https://polymarket.com/event/khamenei-out-as-supreme-leader-of-iran-by-january-31 https://x.com/polymarket/status/2009382529384497184 1:05:00 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What if the biggest threat to your freedom isn?t a bad decision - but a scoreboard you never agreed to? Philosopher C. Thi Nguyen joins Bankless to unpack how modern life quietly turns values into points: likes, GPAs, net worth, rankings, and performance metrics that feel objective - but often flatten what matters most. We explore what games really are, why ?gamified? platforms like social media can be uniquely corrosive, and how ?value capture? pulls you from meaning into measurable proxies. Then we get practical: playfulness, reflective control, and ?value federalism? as ways to use metrics without letting them use you. --- ?SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/the-defi-report ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:58 ?Is this the game you really want to be playing?? 5:45 What counts as a game (Bernard Suits? definition) 11:38 Bankless ?serious games? and the cheating test 16:29 Social media as ?game-ish,? not truly a game 21:28 The magic circle and why points get dangerous 24:08 Rotten Tomatoes vs. forming your own taste 33:27 Portability: why metrics flatten nuance 38:15 Value capture: when your values get outsourced 45:52 Plato?s cave: ?metrics are the new shadows? 54:12 The outsourcing dilemma: we can?t know everything 1:01:47 Playfulness as an antidote to metric hypnosis 1:12:55 Switching rule-sets: D&D, indie games, and redesigning incentives 1:16:22 Reflective control: using metrics without being used 1:20:21 Two endings: cynicism, hope, and the tradeoff of scale 1:23:38 Value federalism + why "Civilization" makes Thi miserable --- RESOURCES C. Thi Nguyen https://x.com/add_hawk C. Thi Nguyen?s ?The Score? Book https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/457380/the-score-by-nguyen-c-thi/9780241653975 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Is Canton a real blockchain or a new kind of capital-markets operating system? Digital Asset co-founder Yuval Rooz explains why Canton prioritizes privacy as ?need-to-know? information sharing and a federated ?cantons? design that still allows atomic cross-canton transactions without bridges. We unpack the two-tier architecture (edge validators + super validators that stitch cantons together and validate the public Canton Coin) and what that means for governance in regulated finance. Plus: DTCC?s tokenization pilot starting with U.S. Treasuries, and why CC fees are USD-denominated with a burn/mint mechanism designed to track real network utility.  ------ ? DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODE https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-is-canton-even-a-real-blockchain ------ ?POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast ?BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ?THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/the-defi-report ?ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:57 Canton Origin 8:02 Vitalik?s Post 14:15 Canton Philosophy 24:19 Canton Architecture vs Competitors 34:27 RWA Property Rights Debate 38:17 Canto Super-Validators 50:39 Canton Critiques 56:56 Decentralized vs Open Finance 1:02:16 Are Decentralized RWAs Possible? 1:07:04 Is Canton a Real Blockchain? 1:14:20 Canton Metrics 1:22:17 DTCC Relationship 1:25:27 Canton Token 1:30:43 Ethereum vs Canton in 2030 1:31:55 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Yuval Rooz https://x.com/YuvalRooz  Canton https://www.canton.network/  Omid Malekan vs Austin Campbell Professor Debate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-h-PeUOvDw RWA Analytics https://app.rwa.xyz/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures?