What if the most interesting crypto investments of the next cycle aren’t new blockchains at all? RockawayX Liquid founder Austin Barack joins David to explain why his attention has shifted toward a small group of applications with real users, rapidly growing revenue, and increasingly explicit token value capture. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near2026 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Finding Growth and Value in Crypto 4:17 Why Liquid Tokens Are Winning His Attention 7:00 How Austin Values Venice and VVV 15:34 The Biggest Bet in the Venice Model 24:53 Can Venice Balance Growth and Token Value? 32:53 Venice Growth and the OpenRouter Signal 37:31 Can Fundamental Tokens Outperform the Crypto Cycle? 43:50 Pump, Hyperliquid and EtherFi 48:57 EtherFi’s Shift Into a Neo Brokerage 58:24 Why the Market Discounts Pump 1:02:42 The Next Era of Crypto --- RESOURCES Austin Barack https://x.com/AustinBarack --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Robinhood Chain is exploding as memecoins collide with tokenized stocks and Haseeb thinks the whole thing may end badly. Ryan and Haseeb unpack the new casino economy, Saylor’s Bitcoin comeback, Solana’s issuance cut, and the latest AI safety scare. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓 NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near2026 🔑 BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 📊 BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯 THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑 BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:32 Macro Bounce & Treasury-Fed Tug-of-War https://x.com/exec_sum/status/2095153582819414237 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/01/bessent-trump-bond-yields-g20.html https://x.com/0xVirtanen/status/2095121085079462032 https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2095008393434108373 12:41 Saylor’s Bitcoin Comeback https://x.com/saylor/status/2095524315936530834 https://x.com/Strategy/status/2094396231866777976 https://x.com/AIGOLDOfficial/status/2095360679226364361 https://x.com/AltcoinPro_/status/2095319252769366525 17:35 Robinhood Meme & Stock Token Mania https://x.com/MikeIppolito_/status/2095210343244894659 https://x.com/MikeIppolito_/status/2095211833124639103 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2095261533236252831 https://x.com/nansen_ai/status/2095350826047049942 https://x.com/nansen_ai/status/2095350856610926677 https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2095539969297404266 31:41 Ethereum, Solana & the Issuance Vote https://x.com/LorenzoARK/status/2094517633122979994 https://x.com/web3_data/status/2095054796344406404 https://x.com/0xcarlosg/status/2095444848551633401 https://x.com/P2Pvalidator/status/2094363684361388089 https://x.com/stevenzeiler/status/2094908384789123200 https://x.com/mert/status/2093359812633616577 46:52 21 Banks Chase Stablecoins https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/goldman-sachs-bofa-others-plan-issue-dollar-stablecoin-together-2027-2026-09-01/ 50:44 KYC Breach Fallout https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/fbi-probes-service-selling-153m-drivers-licenses/ https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2095319741716193431 https://x.com/rstormsf/status/2095331699672732122 56:56 Astra Raises AI Alarms https://venturebeat.com/technology/welcome-to-the-agi-era-openai-launches-gpt-6-astra --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What if the answer to NFT liquidity looked more like opening a Pokémon pack than trading on a traditional marketplace? FWA creator Adam “Rhynotic” joins David Hoffman and Eric Conner to unpack Fake World Assets, an Ethereum protocol combining random NFT pulls, ETH-backed liquidity and permissionless market infrastructure. They explore why FWA has made NFTs fun again, how its unusual pricing and buyback mechanics work, the FWA token, custom pools and FWAR's new approach to NFT launches. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near2026 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 What Is Fake World Assets? 1:38 Making NFTs Fun Again 3:55 How the FWA Pool Works 8:42 Why Eric Is Bullish on FWA 13:20 A Liquidity Layer for NFTs 16:00 From NFTs to Real-World Assets 20:13 Pricing, Buybacks and Incentives 28:36 Custom Pools and New NFT Markets 31:57 The FWA Token 39:06 FWAR and a New Way to Launch NFTs 48:47 What Comes Next for FWA 50:12 Multichain FWA and the Bigger Vision 54:46 Closing Thoughts --- RESOURCES Adam (Rhynotic) https://x.com/Rhynotic Eric Conner https://x.com/econoar --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Kalshi’s ambition extends far beyond winning prediction markets. It wants to become the largest exchange on Earth. John Wang joins David to explain Kalshi’s regulated crypto-perps push, upcoming gold and silver markets, international expansion, and the strategy for turning retail event contracts into serious institutional hedging infrastructure. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Is Kalshi a Crypto Company? 3:56 Global Expansion and the Regulated Edge 14:55 The Regulated Perps Bet 21:38 Combining Perps and Predictions 27:51 The Insider Trading Problem 38:50 Who Owns Market Information? 45:58 From Sportsbooks to the CME 55:24 Prediction Markets for Institutions 1:02:40 Kalshi Versus Polymarket --- RESOURCES John Wang https://x.com/j0hnwang --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Robotics hype is everywhere, but are humanoids actually the main event? Lux Capital partner Shahin Farshchi joins David to explain why the bigger opportunity may be AI-powered automation hiding inside factories, warehouses, and other industrial settings. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Is the Robotics Hype Justified? 2:02 Why Humanoids Aren’t the Main Story 8:14 Robotics vs. Automation 12:20 Specialized Robots vs. Generalists 19:24 Making Robotics Accessible 22:25 AI Unlocks New Robotic Tasks 24:52 Robotics’ Internet Moment 27:52 Robots, Jobs, and Cheap Labor 31:28 What Automation Does to the Economy 39:07 What Still Holds Robotics Back 42:30 How AI Actually Powers Robots 50:49 The Robotics Data Bottleneck 53:34 Robotics Companies to Watch --- RESOURCES Shahin Farshchi https://x.com/Farshchi --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bitcoin may be entering a new cycle just as the Treasury starts pushing back on rising yields. Ryan and Haseeb break down the Bessent Put, the return of the debasement trade, Coinbase’s tokenized stocks push, Ethena’s token reset, and whether AI is starting to consume the world’s capital. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓 NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑 BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 📊 BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯 THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑 BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 0:31 Crypto Energy Shift & Bitcoin’s New Cycle https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2091945147357675623 https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-08-23-bitcoin-record-weekly-dollar-gain-412547 5:55 The Bessent Put https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/24/bessent-1-trillion-treasury-general-account-bond-buybacks.html https://x.com/DeItaone/status/2091852135675658265 https://x.com/CGasparino/status/2091918792146247833 14:11 Druckenmiller vs. Bessent https://x.com/NickTimiraos/status/2092023686148817227 23:31 Debasement Trade Returns https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/26/debasement-trade-to-take-bitcoin-to-300000-in-2029-bernstein-says-.html https://x.com/TimmerFidelity/status/2092991527127789913 https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2091895628003528804 30:03 Coinbase Tokenized Stocks https://x.com/base/status/2091918696620896485 41:14 Ethena’s Token Reset https://x.com/EthenaFndtn/status/2092976592738001383 https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2090828427574268023 53:59 AI Capital Hunger https://x.com/RaoulGMI/status/2092704327227867585 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Wall Street wants to come onchain, but public-by-default finance creates a problem institutions cannot ignore. ETH Systems co-founders Mo Jalil and Oskar Thoren join David to explain why privacy may be one of Ethereum’s biggest institutional unlocks, what banks and asset managers are actually asking for, and why the opportunity goes far beyond private payments. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 ETH Systems 1:34 The Founders 5:28 Institutional Privacy 12:43 Real-World Use Cases 21:19 From Bespoke to Scalable 30:22 Building the Product 33:40 Institutions Are Coming 35:40 The Future of Institutional DeFi 40:24 Privacy vs Transparency 46:51 What Ethereum Can Do? 49:54 Cypherpunks and Institutions --- RESOURCES Oskar Thoren https://x.com/oskarth Mo Jalil https://x.com/motypes EthSystems https://x.com/eth_systems --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

The stock market is coming onchain. Jesse Pollak joins David to unpack Coinbase Tokenized Stocks, a new push to bring one-to-one equities onto Base with 24/7 trading, dividends, governance rights and permissionless onchain composability. They explore what happens when stocks plug directly into DeFi, why borrowing and lending may matter more than trading itself, how neobanks could evolve into global brokerages, and Jesse’s bigger vision for Base as the financial backend for stocks, payments, credit and local currencies around the world. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Coinbase Brings Tokenized Stocks to Base 5:17 Permissionless Stocks and the First Assets Going Live 10:11 Plugging Stocks Into Base DeFi 17:52 From Tokenized Stocks to Neo Brokerages 23:32 Crypto as a Global Financial System 27:20 What Builders Can Create With Onchain Stocks 32:04 Bringing Every Currency Onchain 42:47 Jesse’s Role at Base and the Everything Exchange 49:50 Tokenized Stocks Beyond Base --- RESOURCES Jesse Pollak https://x.com/jessepollak --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

BitMine is within reach of owning 5% of ETH after more than 60 consecutive weeks of purchases, and Tom Lee believes the larger Ethereum trade may only be beginning. He joins David to explain how BitMine accumulated nearly 5% without debt, why it sometimes chooses stock buybacks over additional ETH, what happens when the target is reached, and whether the company would ever sell. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 BitMine’s Rapid March Toward 5% of ETH 3:36 More Than 60 Consecutive Weeks of ETH Purchases 5:29 Where BitMine’s Capital Comes From 8:27 What Happens When BitMine Reaches 5%? 13:47 Would BitMine Ever Sell Its ETH? 15:29 Maven and BitMine’s Evolution Beyond a Treasury Company 16:52 Ethereum’s Next Narrative 23:06 Does Ethereum Actually Capture Value? 29:13 Is ETH a Store of Value or a Cash-Flowing Asset? 35:19 What BitMine Has Learned From Michael Saylor 37:42 Why BitMine Issued BMNP 42:13 The Proposal That Could Reduce Staking Yield to Zero 47:54 Funding Ethereum Foundation Spinouts 53:23 BitMine’s Role in Ethereum’s Future 1:02:14 Is AI Crowding Crypto Out of the Market? 1:05:11 Has the Crypto Market Already Bottomed? 1:06:18 Tom Lee’s ETH Price Outlook --- RESOURCES Tom Lee https://x.com/fundstrat --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto just had one of its biggest breakout days in years. Ryan and David unpack the Treasury’s QE-like move, the White House and SEC’s crypto push, ETH’s violent rebound, and whether this rally finally broke the back of the bear market. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓 NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑 BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 📊 BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯 THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑 BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 0:08 Crypto Market Breakout: BTC, ETH & ETFs https://x.com/Matt_Hougan/status/2090070306199089249 https://x.com/HHorsley/status/2090198850485338569 https://x.com/jonnym1ller/status/2090196488500723745 https://x.com/TheBlockCo/status/2089338657605898711 17:14 White House Pumps Crypto https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2090152688302411815 https://x.com/Bankless/status/2090449581171454021 https://x.com/ChairmanSelig/status/2090159414170771778/video/1 https://x.com/tradfi/status/2090154939675021396 22:40 Treasury's QE-Like Move https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0607 https://x.com/Hedgeye/status/2090058257180029345 https://x.com/biancoresearch/status/2090065814581911653 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2090212967317115053 https://x.com/fejau_inc/status/2090071008652980699 31:42 Did the Bear Market Just End? 40:58 SEC Unveils New Crypto Rules https://x.com/SECGov/status/2089784594409103507 https://x.com/SECPaulSAtkins/status/2089788275913322994 50:53 Stablecoins Get Accounting Boost https://www.fasb.org/news-and-meetings/in-the-news/fasb-seeks-public-comment-on-proposal-to-enhance-cash-equivalents-disclosures-and-clarify-the-cash-equivalents-evaluation-for-certain-digital-assets-425287 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2090230682781938071 https://x.com/austincampbell/status/2090231550080094599 53:01 Crypto Apps & DeFi Momentum https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2089375845425287610 https://x.com/business/status/2089077253778915636 https://x.com/paulerlanger/status/2089733900109021486 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2090140422513348899 https://x.com/Compound_xyz/status/2089386082441871388 1:01:11 Bullish Into the Close --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ethereum may be paying too much to secure itself, and the consequences could extend far beyond a little extra ETH issuance. Jerome de Tychey, co-author of EIP-8363, and Sam Jernigan join David Hoffman to make the case for stake targeting, a proposal designed to stop Ethereum’s staking ratio from climbing indefinitely. They debate what happens if more than half of ETH becomes staked, whether today’s issuance threatens credible neutrality, why staking may be crowding out DeFi, what lower rewards could mean for ETH’s monetary premium, and whether solo stakers and institutional holders ultimately win or lose from the change. Subscribe for more conversations on Ethereum’s monetary policy and future. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓 NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑 BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey 📊 BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯 THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑 BANKLESS CONTENT MCP https://www.bankless.com/premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Why Ethereum Needs Stake Targeting 4:27 What Actually Breaks With More ETH Staked? 9:54 The 50% Social Backstop 18:24 Ethereum’s Protocol vs. Its DeFi Economy 21:30 Is Staking Crowding Out DeFi? 26:19 Dilution, Subsidies, and ETH Price 35:46 Would Lower Rewards Hurt or Help DeFi? 49:48 What About Tom Lee and Institutional ETH Holders? 57:02 Does This Hurt Solo Stakers? 1:09:01 Why EIP-8363 Is So Contentious 1:18:10 The Final Case for Changing Issuance --- RESOURCES Jerome de Tychey https://x.com/jdetychey Sam Jernigan https://x.com/macrosam --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

The Fed may no longer be a one-person institution, and markets are not ready for the consequences. Jim Bianco joins David Hoffman to unpack Kevin Warsh's emerging 12-voter Fed, the end of forward guidance, and the counterintuitive case that higher short-term rates could actually pull long-term yields lower. They also explore sticky inflation, why balance sheet reduction cannot happen overnight, how AI capex is reshaping the economy, why the AI bubble may look more like 1998 than 2000, and why Bitcoin needs more strong crypto rather than deeper dependence on Wall Street and Washington. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 A New Fed Takes Shape 4:34 Warsh's Good Family Fight 10:16 The End of Forward Guidance 17:07 Markets Learn to Price Ambiguity 22:29 Why Rate Cuts Raised Long-Term Yields 26:42 Inflation Changes the Vote 30:42 Rates or Balance Sheet? 35:00 The Case for Higher Rates 41:07 AI Capex and the Economy 49:17 Warsh's AI Deflation Bet 53:51 The Bubble Comes Later 1:02:00 Gold, Bitcoin, and Debasement 1:07:04 Strong Crypto vs Weak Crypto --- RESOURCES Jim Bianco https://x.com/biancoresearch Jim’s podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhq-IKbzpDs&list=PLdyJxdkS1yBU --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

EtherFi is expanding from a crypto-native neobank into a broader financial account built around DeFi. Mike Silagadze joins David to break down the next version of the product, including tokenized stocks and metals, Aave V4-powered credit, yield-bearing balances, global fiat rails, and a much more normie-friendly experience. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 EtherFi’s Next Act 4:20 Stocks, Yield, and Credit 9:48 Building Beyond the Crypto Casino 16:05 Tokenized Assets and Aave V4 22:03 How EtherFi’s Lending Market Works 26:32 EtherFi Summer and What Comes Next 30:05 From Fiat Rails to Crypto Payments 37:05 ETHFI Buybacks, Privacy, and the Endgame --- RESOURCES Mike Silagadze https://x.com/MikeSilagadze --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bitcoin’s latest fork died after just two blocks. Ryan and David unpack what the failure says about Bitcoin maximalism, why Saylor keeps selling BTC, Robinhood Chain’s breakout, and Fidelity’s push to bring staking yield to Wall Street. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:21 Bitcoin Markets: Inflation, Gold, Saylor & the Bottom https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2087525891911893362 https://capitalwars.substack.com/p/china-restarts-her-great-debasement https://thedefireport.io/research/did-the-u-s-treasury-just-implement-a-qe-lite-policy https://x.com/saylor/status/2086785552355860895 22:12 Bitcoin’s Failed Fork https://x.com/ercwl/status/2086079471853985980 https://x.com/lopp/status/2086512275012075811 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2086108921689682213 32:43 Robinhood Chain Takes #1 https://x.com/AvgJoesCrypto/status/2086889992035717166 https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/robinhood-chain-network-overview https://x.com/vladtenev/status/2087407743028355336 40:46 FOMO vs Pump https://x.com/stacy_muur/status/2087206916447670564 https://x.com/seyong/status/2087210357370577394 https://www.bankless.com/read/the-pump-vs-fomo-rivalry https://fomo.family/ 45:39 Clarity Act Faces Trouble https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2085543590583836678 https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-08-11-whats-next-for-clarity-act-september-brings-tough-road-ahead-411465 https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-08-11-sec-crypto-rules-token-safe-harbor-td-cowen-411455 https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026 47:55 Fidelity Bets on Staked ETH https://x.com/CoinDesk/status/2087475561316622745 53:00 Venice Revenue Keeps Climbing https://x.com/AustinBarack/status/2087336389654270398 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What if staking a token could keep an AI agent thinking? NEAR cofounder Illia Polosukhin joins David to explain NEAR’s new staking-powered inference model, where yield funds access to confidential and verifiable AI. They unpack how NEAR AI Cloud, IronClaw, Intents, and the NEAR token fit into one integrated economy for autonomous agents, why AI outputs may need cryptographic proof when money is at stake, and how GPU compute could become a liquid global market. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Private, Verifiable AI 4:57 Why AI Outputs Need Proof 9:13 From Staking Yield to Inference 16:16 NEAR’s Integrated AI Stack 20:01 NEAR as AI Money 24:27 Autonomous Businesses 28:51 Partners and Real-World Uses 33:26 What NEAR Ships Next 38:01 Where AI Value Accrues 40:56 The AI Operating System 48:07 Turning Compute Into a Market 51:48 Closing Thoughts --- RESOURCES Illia Polosukhin https://x.com/j0hnwang Near revenue https://revenue.near.org/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ethereum’s latest staking proposal is sparking backlash across DeFi. Aave founder Stani Kulechov and EtherFi CEO Mike Silagadze join David to break down why stake tapering could push ETH yield toward zero, weaken solo staking, drive capital out of DeFi, and make ETH less attractive to institutions. They debate Ethereum’s monetary policy, whether the network is overpaying for security, and why trying to make ETH more like Bitcoin could undermine what makes Ethereum valuable in the first place. Subscribe for more conversations from the frontier of crypto. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS Intro 0:00  0:09 Ethereum’s Staking Debate 2:41 Stani’s First Reaction 7:48 Mike’s Centralization Concerns 14:37 DeFi Under Pressure 17:15 Stani on Yield and Cash Flow 24:54 The Case for Vanilla Ether 27:20 Mike Pushes Back 34:27 Issuance and Monetary Policy 35:16 Minimum Viable Issuance 40:47 Institutions Need Predictability 46:10 Conservative Yield, Not Zero 47:46 Legitimacy and Process 52:54 Final Verdict on the EIP --- RESOURCES Stani Kulechov https://x.com/StaniKulechov Mike Silagadze https://x.com/MikeSilagadze --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ethereum’s monetary policy is suddenly up for debate. Ryan and David unpack the issuance fight dividing researchers and DeFi builders, the Coldcard exploit that hit users who “did everything right,” Saylor’s latest Bitcoin sale, and markets ripping back to all-time highs. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:25 Markets, AI, and Bitcoin https://x.com/bulltheoryio/status/2084634593836372202 https://www.vanityfair.com/story/anthropic-situational-awareness-wedding 6:31 Saylor’s Bitcoin Selloff https://x.com/hedgeye/status/2084278278794117372 https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2084247862833971631 https://x.com/saylor/status/2084315637715763579 18:00 Ethereum Issuance Fight https://x.com/zoomerfied/status/2084641592615256254 https://x.com/jdetychey/status/2084638778677751889 https://issuance.wtf/ https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2084685295484633349 https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2084925768711213105 https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2084667208668467574 https://x.com/DCinvestor/status/2084971858311438688 https://x.com/MikeSilagadze/status/2084703078909907000 39:59 Coldcard Wallet Drain https://x.com/itscoachgoodman/status/2083527082223563157 https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/04/hackers-steal-over-130-million-by-exploiting-bug-in-offline-hardware-wallets/ https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/08/05/coldcard-exploit-could-boost-demand-for-regulated-bitcoin-exposure-analysts-say https://thedefiant.io/news/hacks/i-did-everything-right-coldcard-victims-recount-losing-life-savings https://x.com/EpsilonTheory/status/2083642741075124680 https://x.com/lopp/status/2083575437599371321 https://x.com/AriDavidPaul/status/2083591462726361235 https://x.com/PeterMcCormack/status/2083631731052290261 52:00 Uniswap, Clarity, and Crypto Updates https://x.com/Uniswap/status/2084678603812274275 https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026 https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/07/27/u-s-senate-puts-off-crypto-clarity-act-for-now-as-it-focuses-limited-bandwidth-elsewhere https://x.com/Cloudflare/status/2084648084131242402 https://x.com/NEARProtocol/status/2082879865385062520 https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2084614210118426971 https://x.com/arc/status/2084993791413678099 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Memecoins were supposed to be a dead end, but Mike Dudas believes their deeper idea is only beginning to spread. The 6MV investor joins David to unpack Bonk’s role in reviving Solana, Ansem’s latest experiment, Robinhood’s push into the trenches, and how games, collectibles, prediction markets, and compute could power consumer crypto’s next chapter. Mike also answers the $1 million ETH versus SOL question, lays out Ethereum’s best strategic response, and explains why crypto’s slower progress may be setting up a more durable cycle. Subscribe for more conversations from the frontier of crypto. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Bonk at Solana’s Bottom 7:07 What Gives Memecoins Value? 13:45 The Ansem Experiment 20:53 Are Memecoins Built to Die? 26:19 Culture Goes Onchain 29:45 Robinhood, Base, and the Trenches 32:59 Better Assets, Better Cycles 36:20 What 6MV Is Betting On 38:21 The Consumer Crypto Comeback 43:37 Compute Becomes a Market 47:57 Crypto’s AI Diaspora 50:53 SOL Versus ETH 57:02 Cycles, Equity, and Tokens 1:01:34 Why Crypto Takes Longer --- RESOURCES Mike Dudas https://x.com/mdudas --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto prices are weak, OG sentiment is exhausted, and institutions are leaning in. Blockchain Capital GPs Aleks Larsen and Spencer Bogart join David Hoffman to explain why this disconnect may be the opportunity. They unpack crypto’s shift toward application-layer value, stablecoins as onchain working capital, tokenized equities, Aave V4, public blockchains, and BCAP. Is the cypherpunk dream fading, or becoming the foundation of global finance? --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Buybacks, Burns and Tokenholder Trust 5:47 Why Blockchain Capital Is Doubling Down 14:38 Institutions Arrive as Crypto OGs Lose Faith 21:03 From Infrastructure Scarcity to Abundant Blockspace 30:24 What AI Can Learn From Crypto 38:43 Stablecoins Become Onchain Working Capital 44:41 The Stablecoin Revenue Multiplier 47:40 Aave and Open Financial Infrastructure 55:08 The Roadmap for Tokenized Equities 59:41 Public Chains, Ownership and Compliance 1:04:24 Blockchain Capital’s Tokenized Fund 1:09:03 Bringing BCAP Fully Onchain --- RESOURCES Spencer Bogart https://x.com/CremeDeLaCrypto Aleks Larsen https://x.com/alekslarsen --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Korea’s leveraged stock boom imploded and the AI trade found a forced seller, but crypto held firm. Ryan and David unpack whether the winds are shifting toward BTC and ETH, Warsh’s hawkish Fed debut, and Ethereum’s 11th birthday. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:17 Korea & AI Liquidation https://x.com/kobeissiletter/status/2082463897387257895 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2082792020993536283 https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/why-did-south-korean-stocks-just https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-ai-bust-scenario-that-no-one https://x.com/tbpn/status/2082849965102219677 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/30/leopold-aschenbrenners-hedge-fund-is-facing-steep-ai-losses.html https://x.com/amitisinvesting/status/2082860784242049407 14:39 Crypto Holds Firm https://x.com/micro2macr0/status/2081868142230286664 https://x.com/cryptunez/status/2081893515223535625 https://x.com/blknoiz06/status/2082560475951251789 20:27 Warsh, Rates & Global Liquidity https://x.com/YahooFinance/status/2082538170533519741 https://www.theblock.co/post/410092/fed-holds-rates-steady-three-officials-push-hike-crypto-market-stays-flat https://thedefireport.io/research/can-the-economy-handle-rate-hikes https://x.com/AlexCorrino/status/2082667540090859698 https://x.com/Barchart/status/2082683129681092931 https://x.com/wallstengine/status/2082551083583541287 https://capitalwars.substack.com/p/global-liquidity-and-cryptocurrencies 36:47 Clarity Act Stalls https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2082127523249262881 https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026 https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2082190857336205486 38:25 Ethereum Turns Eleven https://x.com/LefterisJP/status/2082771162942075080 https://www.theblock.co/post/410083/ethereum-cypherpunk-manifesto-author-ethereum-foundation-fourth-board-member https://x.com/ethereumfndn/status/2082437165233951223 https://x.com/AyaMiyagotchi/status/2082437879494488566 44:35 Robinhood’s Mixed Quarter https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/robinhood-chain-network-overview https://thedefiant.io/news/blockchains/robinhood-chain-tops-solana-in-tokenized-stock-volume-via-memecoin-pairs 47:52 New York’s Doxxing Scandal https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2081740559694074248 https://nypost.com/2026/07/27/us-news/mamdani-names-all-nyc-property-owners-who-could-be-hit-with-new-pied-a-terre-tax 53:26 July Wrap-Up --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Vaults could become the financial rails that bring trillions onchain, but only if they solve risk, regulation and investor protection. Steakhouse co-founder Adrian Cachinero joins David to explain how vaults work, why repo markets matter and where this new asset-management layer goes next. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:13 Vaults Explained 2:27 Morpho and Vault Origins 6:46 Vault Infrastructure Layers 8:53 Curators and Control 18:25 Risk Frameworks 24:48 Risk Creep and Incentives 32:51 Principal-Agent Tensions 39:33 Safe Vaults Scale 41:50 SEC and Regulation 46:58 Two Vault Futures 53:54 Distributors vs Curators 59:21 AI Meets Vaults 1:01:23 Growth and Challenges --- RESOURCES Adrian Cachinero https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriancachinero Steakhouse Financial https://www.linkedin.com/company/steakhouse-financial/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Every lending protocol in DeFi quietly decides your interest rate for you. Paul Frambot thinks that was always a workaround and Morpho Midnight is his argument for what replaces it. Fixed-rate lending as the only true primitive, pricing trust on-chain, and the one switch Morpho won't flip yet. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 What Is Morpho Midnight? 1:59 DeFi's Wrong First Shape 7:18 The Only Real Primitive 14:47 Inside a Midnight Market 20:49 Openness Is the Advantage 22:52 Order Books and New Curves 30:01 Pricing Trust 35:40 Stablecoins and What's Next 37:13 Who Comes On-Chain Next 42:18 Collapsing the Margin 44:50 The Bankless Connection 47:57 How Big by 2027? 51:59 Hester Peirce on Vaults 55:49 Who Takes the Liability? --- RESOURCES Paul Frambot https://x.com/PaulFrambot --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What does it take to build an exchange that refuses to choose between speed, cost, security, verifiability and composability? Lighter founder Vlad Novakovski joins David to trace his path from international Olympiads and Harvard at 18 to Citadel, early machine learning, Lunchclub and an 18-month ZK engineering bet. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-20 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 A Particular Set of Skills 11:33 Harvard at 18 19:03 Citadel and the Search for Alpha 25:14 Machine Learning Before the AI Boom 36:46 ​​Finding Elite Talent Early 41:39 The Lunchclub Matching Problem 45:11 Pivoting Into Lighter 51:18 The 18-Month ZK Engineering Bet 56:38 Lighter’s Five Pillars 1:00:04 A New Generation of Exchanges --- RESOURCES Vlad Novakovski https://x.com/vnovakovski --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ryan and David unpack the CLARITY Act’s last-minute lifeline, $100 oil, BitMine’s ETH slowdown, and the OpenAI model that escaped its sandbox. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔒NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks  🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS  🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless  👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:33 CLARITY Act at a Crossroads https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2079334038104408522 https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2079962528243650990 https://x.com/coindesk/status/2079633633023836667 https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2079608362522575063 https://x.com/politico/status/2080261045114065177 https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026 17:56 BitMine’s 5% ETH Strategy https://x.com/BitMNR/status/2079184988541448638 https://x.com/ykkz99/status/2079607294354964696 https://x.com/ykkz99/status/2079244980103659697 https://x.com/coindesk/status/2079200035045036162 27:40 Hester Peirce Eyes DeFi Vaults https://x.com/HesterPeirce/status/2080011999702880341 https://x.com/CJRobins01/status/2079976258423627785 https://x.com/Bankless/status/2079536878588715366 https://morpho.org/blog/now-live-morpho-midnight 38:28 BitMEX’s End of an Era https://x.com/CryptoHayes/status/2080286601125482771 https://x.com/BitMEX/status/2080201602456301580 44:36 NEAR Goes Post-Quantum https://bankless.cc/near-podcast https://x.com/NEARProtocol/status/2079189515843821764 48:58 TradFi Moves Deeper Into Crypto https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/2077774644652790240 https://x.com/JSeyff/status/2077792050573918432 https://crypto.com/us/company-news/cryptocom-announces-400-million-strategic-investment-from-citadel-securities https://x.com/mzorkin/status/2077834551091478695 54:07 OpenAI Model Breaks Out https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/22/openai-cyberattack/ https://huggingface.co/blog/security-incident-july-2026 https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-model-evaluation-security-incident/ 1:02:40 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Securitize has gone public, raised $400 million and tokenized its own equity, but Carlos Domingo says the real race is only beginning. He joins David to explain how Securitize makes money, why investor demand remains tokenization’s biggest bottleneck and what separates an actual onchain share from a synthetic stock wrapper. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Going Public 4:50 Demand Bottleneck 10:19 Real vs Synthetic 17:31 Liquidity Wins 23:43 First Movers 29:24 Trading SECZ 39:47 Spot and Perps 43:01 The $1T Goal --- RESOURCES Carlos Domingo https://x.com/carlosdomingo Securitize https://securitize.io/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bitcoin has won the store-of-value argument, but can it become the foundation of an entirely new credit system? David Seroy of Alpen Labs joins David Hoffman to explore why Bitcoin’s next era may be defined by digital credit, ZK rollups, fixed-duration lending, and an onchain repo market rather than payments alone. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Hyperbitcoinization 3:51 Bitcoin’s Next Phase 9:57 The Talent Crisis 11:29 BitVM and ZK 16:26 Bitcoin L2s 19:06 Bitcoin Credit 28:28 Onchain Repo 34:09 The Yield Curve 38:21 Borrowing and Risk 43:24 Why L2s Failed 48:29 Saylor vs Onchain 54:51 Alpen and Strata 56:36 Ethereum’s Purpose --- RESOURCES Alpen Labs https://www.alpenlabs.io/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Inflation cooled, war intensified, and crypto climbed anyway. Ryan and David ask if the bottom is in, unpack Robinhood Chain’s surge past Base, and debate who benefits from Ethereum’s L2 boom. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks  🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS  🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless  👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:29 Cycle Bottom Watch https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2077774313726304659 https://x.com/goodalexander/status/2077031311664197738 https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2076857638059720736 5:24 Inflation Cools, War Heats https://x.com/kobeissiletter/status/2077008212994253025 https://x.com/geiger_capital/status/2077011477580451983 14:56 Crypto Outperforms Stocks https://x.com/saylor/status/2076638696053276748 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2076647130572235017 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2077197119207756098 22:34 Robinhood Chain Breaks Out https://x.com/donnoh_eth/status/2075890751834071189 https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/robinhood-chain-network-overview https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/07/15/the-launchpad-that-fueled-robinhood-chain-s-memecoin-boom-just-gave-away-all-its-revenue https://dune.com/adam_tehc/the-robinhood-trenches 29:31 Base Pivots to Trading https://x.com/jessepollak/status/2077427261586997745 https://x.com/jessepollak/status/2077550728416256489 https://x.com/austincampbell/status/2077545305789067398 36:15 Does ETH Earn Enough? https://x.com/vladtenev/status/2076666114801877310 https://x.com/LorenzoARK/status/2076792007184298076 https://x.com/apolynya/status/2077301418860466487 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2077400104458154428 https://x.com/ethereumJoseph/status/2076838398510211122 47:29 L2s and Rent Sharing https://x.com/sgoldfed/status/2077082053330272454 https://x.com/l2beat/status/2077764769436553272 https://l2beat.com/native-rollups 56:20 Ethereum Spinoffs Multiply https://x.com/eth_systems/status/2077000602320805918 https://x.com/fradamt/status/2077739531520921621 58:49 DeFi Hacks May Be Peaking https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2076682247168827849 https://x.com/maraoz/status/2059413451265441990 1:01:44 Buy-and-Burn Wins https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2077186630566224208 https://x.com/blknoiz06/status/2077773554033037509 1:06:29 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

NEAR wants users to stop thinking about blockchains altogether. Proximity Labs co-founder Kendall Cole joins David to explain how NEAR Intents connects 35 chains, powers products like Infinex, brings tokenized assets and confidential transactions into one seamless experience, and turns fragmented crypto markets into a single account where users see assets, not infrastructure. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:29 Chains Need Neutrality 4:20 Near’s Chain Abstraction Vision 6:03 Wallets to Retail Expansion 9:30 Bootstrapping Liquidity and Partners 11:23 RWA Asset Explosion 15:00 Tokenized Stocks on Near 15:57 One App Across Chains 19:01 Near as Chain Abstraction 21:35 Trading Bots and Payments 24:54 MiCA’s Market Shock 28:16 Noncustodial Compliance Strategy 29:17 Euro Onramps into Near 31:38 Regulation Meets On-Chain Freedom 38:09 Confidential Intents Launch 41:15 Privacy for Users and Firms 43:36 Private Zcash Routing 46:50 Privacy for AI Models 49:52 Near’s Fee Capture Model 52:19 Crypto as Exchange Infrastructure --- RESOURCES Kendall Cole https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendall-cole-91b00534/ Proximity Labs https://x.com/proximityfi Near Intents https://x.com/near_intents --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Onchain trading infrastructure is reaching a point where it can seriously compete with centralized exchanges. Jito founder Lucas Bruder joins David to introduce JTX, a new prosumer trading terminal built to bring major crypto assets, tokenized equities, perps, and eventually global markets into one onchain experience. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Solana and Tokenized Stocks 2:22 What Is JTX? 8:44 A Better Trading UX 11:25 Better Execution 15:37 The JTX Roadmap 19:35 JTO and SOL Tokenomics 25:23 Why Solana Got Better 29:34 Prop AMMs Explained 37:25 Liquidity and Market Makers 40:04 Solana vs. Robinhood Chain 46:51 The JTX Rollout 48:07 Global Markets and the SOL Thesis --- RESOURCES Lucas Bruder https://x.com/buffalu__ JTX https://x.com/jtx_trade --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What happens when rebel money becomes institutional money? In this episode, David sits down with Bitcoin OG Dan Held to ask whether Bitcoin is actually going according to plan. They unpack Bitcoin’s cypherpunk origins, the rise of ETFs and corporate treasuries, Michael Saylor’s influence, Bitcoin’s missed scaling opportunities, privacy tradeoffs, quantum risk, the Satoshi mystery, and why Dan thinks Bitcoin can still flip gold. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Is Bitcoin Going According to Plan? 2:39 Bitcoin’s Culture Changed, But Did the Code? 9:06 From Magic Internet Money to Digital Gold 15:08 Michael Saylor, Strategy and Concentration Risk 20:08 Is Bitcoin Becoming Too US-Coded? 24:12 Did Bitcoin Miss Its Scaling Moment? 29:42 Privacy, Cash and Bitcoin’s Tradeoffs 32:15 Satoshi’s Design Choices 37:50 BIPs, Quantum Risk and Bitcoin Upgrades 41:35 How Urgent Is Quantum? 44:14 The Satoshi Mystery 47:38 Bitcoin’s Next Phase of Adoption 49:23 Will Bitcoin Flip Gold? 53:11 Being Early Looks Crazy --- RESOURCES Dan Held https://x.com/danheld --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

War with Iran is back, but markets barely blinked. Ryan and David unpack Saylor’s $216 million Bitcoin sale, whether it marked the bottom, Robinhood Chain’s memecoin breakout, and Vitalik’s “Ethereum 3.0” roadmap. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks  🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS  🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless  --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:12 Iran War Returns, Markets Shrug & Saylor Sells 3,588 BTC — Was That the Bottom? https://x.com/DrEliDavid/status/2074781504757027087  https://x.com/saylor/status/2074101854875656316 https://www.bankless.com/read/how-strategy-can-sell-billions-in-bitcoin https://x.com/rob_e89rtosmit/status/2074484772622172307 20:17  Robinhood Chain’s First Hit: Memecoins https://x.com/vladtenev/status/2074695821896065360 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2075062776473546979 https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/07/09/cashcat-trader-turns-usd800-into-over-usd1-million-on-robinhood-s-brand-new-blockchain https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/robinhood-chain-network-overview 28:17 Ethereum 3.0? Vitalik’s New Strawmap https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2073459000398463446 https://strawmap.org https://x.com/r2Jamong/status/2074053557284982925 https://x.com/barnabemonnot/status/2073708226701328474 https://x.com/dankrad/status/2073532475431887354 https://x.com/DefiIgnas/status/2073480431887056958 45:46 JPMorgan’s $700M Ethereum Fund & Paradigm Fundraise https://cryptobriefing.com/jpmorgan-jltxx-tokenized-money-market-fund-surges-250-percent/ https://x.com/TradingProtocol/status/2074383012939141407 https://x.com/matthuang/status/2074873573983035801 53:13 The Fight for 24/7 Markets & David’s Portfolio Check-In https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2075230297134645744 https://x.com/econoar/status/2075056773724062031 https://x.com/rambo_xbt/status/2075192964259672434 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2062122936790581520 1:04:00 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Multicoin provides investment advice to certain private fund clients that own HYPE tokens discussed herein and stands to gain in the event that the price of the token increases. Multicoin's HYPE valuation report discussed in this podcast can be found as a link in the show notes.  Any trading discussion is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to engage in derivatives, leverage, or any specific trading strategy. --- 🧭OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS --- Hyperliquid is already one of crypto’s biggest perp stories, but Multicoin’s Tushar Jain thinks the market may still be looking at it too narrowly. In this episode, David sits down with Tushar to unpack the deeper thesis: portfolio margining as the hidden unlock, HIP3 and builder codes as the path to platformization, real traction versus farmed volume, and why HYPE’s value-capture model is unusually direct for crypto. --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:50 Perps Get TradFi’s Attention 3:17 More Than a Perp DEX 6:29 Why Portfolio Margining Matters 11:13 HIP3 and Permissionless Market Creation 13:47 Hyperliquid Becomes a Platform 19:54 The On-Ramp Question 21:36 Perps Are Not the Whole Thesis 28:04 Cash Flow as the Credibility Signal 33:05 Valuation Multiples and Lighter 34:36 Multicoin’s HYPE Framework 42:05 Token Value Capture 43:34 Unlocks, Wealth, and Team Motivation 48:30 The US Perps Question 52:27 Does Hyperliquid Need to Come Onshore? 54:32 The Final Bull Case --- RESOURCES Tushar Jain https://x.com/tushar_jain Multicoin's Hype Analysis and Valuation report can be found here: https://multicoin.capital/2026/06/25/hyperliquid-hype-analysis-and-valuation/ The report includes important disclosures concerning the data and assumptions by Multicoin discussed today. Multicoin may have interests in companies mentioned during the episode. --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Robinhood Chain is live, and it may be one of the clearest signs yet that traditional finance is moving onto Ethereum rails. Johann Kerbrat, VP of Crypto at Robinhood, joins David to unpack the launch of tokenized stocks, USDG yield through Morpho, regulated and crypto-native perps, the Lighter integration, and why Robinhood Wallet is being built for the billions of people who have never used crypto before. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:45 Robinhood Chain Goes Live 2:45 Robinhood’s 15-Product Crypto Push 5:47 Tokenized Stocks on Robinhood Chain 11:32 USDG Yield and Robinhood Earn 16:19 Perps Across Robinhood, Bitstamp, and Lighter 19:44 The Lighter Partnership 23:12 Will Robinhood and DeFi Converge? 27:15 Why Robinhood Chose Arbitrum 28:40 Building Crypto for Non-Crypto Users 31:36 How to Get Started on Robinhood Chain --- RESOURCES Johann Kerbrat https://x.com/JohannKerbrat --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto looks bullish again, but the receipts are complicated. David and Ryan unpack OpenUSD’s USDC threat, Robinhood Chain’s tokenized stocks, Saylor’s hedge-fund pivot, Venice’s token dilemma, Cloudflare’s stablecoin payments, and Trump’s $1.4B crypto haul. --- 📣OKX | THE NEW MONEY APP https://app.okx.com/en-us/join/usbankless --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES  0:00 Intro 2:37 Market Bounce + Fed Watch https://x.com/KillaXBT/status/2072288076928266434 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/kevin-warsh-ecb-forum-live-updates.html https://polymarket.com/event/fed-decision-in-july-181 https://thedefireport.io/research/52-of-the-btc-supply-is-now-in-the-red https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/2072660106035028395 8:37 Strategy’s Digital Credit Capital Framework https://x.com/saylor/status/2071565162377568377 https://x.com/Strategy/status/2071565225699004761 16:37 The Rise of Robinhood Chain https://x.com/RobinhoodApp/status/2072390893181481419 https://x.com/charliekerr/status/2072477658802217187 https://x.com/EntropyAdvisors/thread/2072395320752050212 https://x.com/trent_vanepps/status/2072405895313588351 https://x.com/Lighter_xyz/status/2072394977729040722 https://x.com/Lighter_xyz/status/2072401925094441109 26:10 Venice AI Becomes a Unicorn https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/01/venice-ai-becomes-a-unicorn-with-65m-series-a-as-its-privacy-first-ai-platform-takes-off/ https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2072326370206581037 https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2072336126912630921 https://x.com/MikeIppolito_/status/2072353260795572281 https://x.com/ChainLinkGod/status/2072378849921577306 https://x.com/CosimoCapital/status/2072450958270050394 35:07 OpenUSD vs USDC https://joinopenstandard.com/blog/introducing-open-usd/ https://x.com/stripe/status/2071948464762618051 https://x.com/jerallaire/status/2072252803163255179 https://x.com/lorenzoark/status/2071997238713127404 https://x.com/HadickM/thread/2072286093744234864 https://x.com/koeppelmann/status/2071961529671418065 https://x.com/paoloardoino/status/2071982330915225771 46:10 Ethereum Institutional Launches https://x.com/ethereuminsti/status/2072304960142729373 https://www.ethereuminstitutional.org/ https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2072318453248094708 https://x.com/Sharplink/status/2072307000298397834 https://x.com/ethlabs_org/status/2072326438594748921 49:03 Trump’s $1.4B Crypto Disclosure https://x.com/aggrnews/status/2072059335081967812 https://x.com/AC360/status/2072128334666879070  https://x.com/business/status/2072069350060617837 54:28 Solana Memecoin Revival https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2072653822283874481 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/the-black-bull https://x.com/Adam_Tehc/status/2072183263893065930 https://polymarket.com/event/what-price-will-ansem-hit-in-2026 59:20 Cloudflare x402 Stablecoin Payments https://blog.cloudflare.com/monetization-gateway/ https://youtu.be/TKVY4hVAd9g 1:02:08 Meme of the Week https://x.com/pubity/status/2072436231284072635 https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2072357302942752993 https://x.com/RidazLp2/status/2072563280602927377/photo/4 1:03:35 Closing & Disclosures --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

The stock market is starting to move onchain, and Ondo is one of the teams building the rails. Ian De Bode joins David to explain how Ondo brought tokenized SpaceX stock to Ethereum minutes after trading began, why tokenized equities need real market liquidity instead of shallow DEX pools, and how Ondo Perps could unlock a new generation of RWA trading by using tokenized stocks as collateral. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Ondo’s RWA Moment 1:17 How SpaceX Stock Hit Ethereum in Minutes 2:57 What Actually Backs a Tokenized Stock? 4:49 The Onchain and Offchain Market Machine 10:29 Where the Demand Comes From 12:46 The Most Popular Tokenized Stocks 14:54 Why Perps Need Better Collateral 20:46 New Strategies for Onchain Asset Management 25:02 The Next 12 to 18 Months 26:14 How Big Can Perps Get? 28:46 Offshore Versus Onshore Perp Markets 32:05 Inside Ondo Perps 36:24 Why Not Build on Hyperliquid? 37:49 Launch Timeline and Early Demand 39:48 Will Wall Street Incumbents Compete or Help? 43:52 Ondo’s 2026 Roadmap 45:22 Remembering Nathan Allman --- RESOURCES Ian De Bode https://x.com/iandebode --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Michael Saylor’s Strategy bought itself time, but did it actually solve the problem? David sits down with Jeff Dorman and Matt Walsh to unpack Strategy’s increasingly complex capital structure, why $STRC and MSTR are now fighting for oxygen, whether Saylor may need to sell Bitcoin, and why the company is starting to look less like a levered BTC play and more like an actively managed hedge fund. --- 📣OKX | THE NEW MONEY APP https://app.okx.com/en-us/join/usbankless --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:30 Can Stretch Return to 100? 4:00 Explaining the New Framework 4:43 Can the Capital Stack Coexist? 6:39 Refunding the Converts 8:32 MNAV Near the Breaking Point 11:15 Option Value or Investor Betrayal 15:37 Legal Risk and Retail Exposure 19:52 Buying Time, Not Solving It 22:20 Scenario Odds After the Pivot 24:54 Sell Bitcoin or Wait 28:59 M&A as a New Path 34:13 Temporary Relief, Future Crash 36:21 Slow Bleed, Not Bankruptcy 40:58 Bitcoin Needs a Bigger Narrative 46:56 Would Jeff Buy Stretch? 48:26 Is the Model Actually Genius? 52:09 Closing & Disclaimers --- RESOURCES Matt Walsh https://x.com/MattWalshInBos Jeff Dorman https://x.com/jdorman81 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ethereum has a new R&D lab, and its mission is blunt: make Ethereum and ETH win. In this episode, David sits down with Ansgar and Caspar, two co-founders of Ethlabs, to unpack why the organization exists, how it complements the Ethereum Foundation, and what it means to put Ethereum back on offense. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download 🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 What is Ethlabs? 2:35 The EF Narrows Its Mission 9:30 Putting Points on the Board 13:06 Principles Need Users 14:53 ETH the Asset and Ethereum the Network 17:33 Scaling, Interop, and Growth Workstreams 22:52 The Talent Behind Ethlabs 25:27 What a New Organization Unlocks 27:53 Pro Markets, Pro Growth, Pro ETH 30:51 The Trillion Dollar ETH Question 37:07 Who Steers Ethereum? 39:55 Shared Vision, Different Path 45:13 Funding Ethlabs 51:54 Hiring for Ethlabs 54:24 Ethereum’s Long Arc 58:14 What Comes First --- RESOURCES Ansgar Dietrichs https://x.com/adietrichs Caspar Schwarz-Schilling https://x.com/casparschwa Ethlabs https://ethlabs.org/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Markets are bleeding as Bitcoin breaks below $60K and Strategy faces its biggest test yet. Ryan and David unpack Saylor’s three-way squeeze, ETH Labs vs. the EF reset, quantum timelines moving up, and Illinois’ new crypto tax. --- 🧭OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download 🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:35 Bitcoin Below $60K and Strategy’s 3 Body Problem https://www.tradingview.com/chart/KZYJV3ef/ https://www.strategy.com/ https://x.com/saylor/status/2069028571880845340 https://x.com/saylor/status/2069682624956612731 https://x.com/Pentosh1/status/2069797143917855024 https://x.com/jdorman81/status/2067616073479078386 https://x.com/jdorman81/status/2069857950202835258 https://x.com/ki_young_ju/status/2069646523668033833 https://x.com/PeterSchiff/status/2070146847692185798 https://polymarket.com/event/what-price-will-bitcoin-hit-before-2027 17:59 ETH, Stocks, South Korea Selloff, and the AI Trade 20:59 Why Crypto Is Down: AI Attention, Debasement Pause, and the 4-Year Cycle 27:06 Mover of the Week: $CARDS and Pokemon Cards as RWAs https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/collector-crypt 31:32 Ethereum’s Center of Gravity Shifts: EF Cuts and ETH Labs https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2069431500035023121 https://blog.ethereum.org/2026/06/23/ef-structure https://x.com/aerugoettinea/status/2069017140846330107 https://x.com/tkstanczak/status/2069454499509596582 https://x.com/bobbyong/status/2069965817882755342 https://x.com/ethlabs_org/status/2069104073245159573 https://ethlabs.org/thesis.html https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2069110440903196810 https://x.com/trent_vanepps/status/2067593124398989551 51:50 White House Quantum EO: Are Crypto Timelines Moving Up? https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2069154174818754759 https://x.com/projecteleven/status/2069151681015627881 https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/2061793725299224676 57:25 Illinois Passes a 0.2% Crypto Transaction Tax https://x.com/0xBeaconLayer/status/2069120528238121154 https://x.com/manwithadogg/status/2069158605664756205 https://x.com/DarrenBaileyIL/status/2070149517102469527 59:50 Portfolio Check and Crypto Bottom Watch --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What happens when powerful AI requires an ID, governments can restrict access by country, and your most private data flows through centralized systems? NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin joins David to explain why AI export controls could fracture the internet, how nationalized AI could become a surveillance layer, and why decentralized, user-owned AI may be the only real alternative. They also unpack Ironclaw, confidential inference, private agents, and NEAR’s push to make AI and assets fully sovereign. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download 🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:47 Pandora’s Box Opens 6:03 AI Meets Government 7:16 Decentralizing the Stack 8:51 Why Ban Fable? 11:18 Internet Balkanization 13:57 KYC for AI? 18:43 Nationalized Models 21:07 Building Private AI 26:30 Agent Marketplace 30:26 User-Owned Alignment 35:28 Winning Against Giants 40:19 Regulation Fuels Crypto 42:24 Global AI Adoption 45:05 Compute Is the Bottleneck 49:00 Enterprise Use Cases 51:39 Confidential TVL Explained 55:25 Full Sovereign Mode --- RESOURCES Illia Polosukhin https://x.com/ilblackdragon Near Protocol https://www.near.org/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Arthur Hayes is back on Bankless, and he’s taking the W off the table. After selling HYPE, NEAR and ZEC, Arthur walks through why the AI trade started to look less asymmetric, why oil and geopolitics may still be the bear case no one wants to price, and why ETH may offer one of the cleaner setups in crypto today. Then the conversation turns bigger: AI capex, circular revenue, China’s cheap models, GPU depreciation, and the moment Arthur thinks the Fed discovers it can’t print Moore’s Law. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download 🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Why Arthur Sold HYPE, NEAR and ZEC 4:26 The AI Trade Starts to Look Crowded 6:25 How Arthur Is Positioned Now 7:15 Crypto’s Strange Market Dispersion 11:09 Oil, Iran and the Fake-Out Risk 14:16 Why the Iran Deal May Not Be Durable 17:29 Can AI Survive Higher Oil? 21:20 The AI Bubble Thesis 26:11 China’s Cheap AI Threat 30:38 The Credit Event Arthur Is Watching 35:51 The 2028 Perfect Storm 39:45 Why AI Is Draining Crypto’s Bull Market 44:28 Arthur on Inventing Perps 48:11 Why Perps Could Eat Wall Street 51:18 Socialized Loss Explained 53:21 Onshore vs Offshore Perps 55:50 Why Hyperliquid Can Flip Binance 56:30 The Perp Inventor Does Not Use Leverage --- RESOURCES Arthur Hayes https://x.com/CryptoHayes --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Equities are rallying, but Bitcoin is breaking down. David and Tom unpack Saylor’s STRC stress, Warsh’s first FOMC, SpaceX’s mega-IPO, Jito’s breakout, Coinbase’s Everything Exchange, and why perps may be crypto’s next real growth engine. --- 📣OKX | THE NEW MONEY APP https://app.okx.com/en-us/join/usbankless --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download 🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES  0:00 Intro 3:07 Equities Up, Crypto Down: STRC Stress https://x.com/PeterSchiff/status/2067629492214829114 https://x.com/zackvoell/status/2067628541257429213 https://x.com/R89Capital/status/2067608064627491009 https://x.com/jdorman81/status/2067616073479078386 11:21 First FOMC with Kevin Warsh https://www.businessinsider.com/kevin-warsh-first-fomc-fed-meeting-interest-rates-2026-6 16:35 SpaceX Becomes One of the World’s Most Valuable Companies 25:43 Mover of the Month: JTO 31:01 Coinbase System Update https://www.coinbase.com/blog/system-update-take-control-of-your-money-with-coinbase https://x.com/oost_marcel/status/2067268725883981841 https://x.com/coinbase/status/2066890566667796530 https://www.theblock.co/post/405012/coinbase-unveils-system-update-unlocking-an-ai-advisor-global-unified-liquidity-options-trading-and-more 37:42 Anchorage Brings Hyperliquid to Institutions https://x.com/nathanmccauley/status/2066906951464947966 46:23 Blockworks Acquires Messari https://x.com/blockworks/status/2065468327120576863 50:40 UK Moves to Ban Social Media for Children https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/2066458640010158571 57:50 Polymarket World Cup Trade https://polymarket.com/sports/world-cup/bracket https://polymarket.com/event/world-cup-winner 59:50 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Re is bringing the $1T reinsurance market onchain. Founder Karn Saroya and Electric Capital’s Avichal Garg join David to unpack how stablecoins can become a new capital source for insurance, why real-world reinsurance may offer crypto’s missing “real yield,” and how Re is using Ethereum, smart contracts, and AI to compete with legacy giants like Lloyd’s of London, Munich Re, and Swiss Re. They also discuss the RE token, the future of onchain capital markets, and why stablecoins could become the backbone of a new financial system. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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  0:00 Intro 2:13 Blockchain Reinsurance Edge 4:12 Stablecoin Capital Markets 9:17 Efficiency Beats Incumbents 13:02 Rewiring Insurance Plumbing 16:24 Durable Startup Advantage 23:26 Reinsurance Market Size 30:09 How Reinsurance Pays 32:42 Capital Stack Mechanics 35:52 Leverage and Yield 40:02 What $RE Tracks 41:34 Tranche Yields 42:36 Productive Capital Returns 44:47 Looping the Receipts 48:01 $RE Token Governance 51:26 Roadmap to a Billion 52:13 Onchain Adoption Ahead 56:02 The DeFi Mullet Future --- RESOURCES  Re https://re.xyz/home Karn Saroya https://x.com/karnsaroya Avichal Garg https://x.com/avichal --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Pokemon cards are suddenly one of the hottest markets in collectibles. But why now, and what does it have to do with crypto? Andy8052 joins David to break down the rise of digital pack-opening platforms, the nostalgia-driven bull case for Pokémon, why grading companies have a stranglehold on the market, and how millions of dollars of real-world cards are slowly moving onchain. Are tokenized collectibles the next NFT comeback story, or just another frothy mania? --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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  0:00 NFTs to Pokémon Cards 2:59 Why Pokémon Is Hot 8:13 Nostalgia Meets Disposable Income 11:56 Brands, Influencers, and Hype 15:06 Pricing the Cards 16:21 Grading and Market Bottlenecks 22:16 Why Cards Still Aren't On-Chain 30:06 Inside Monster Strategy 34:40 Market Consolidation Ahead 35:42 Vaults, Shipping, and Logistics 38:13 Kids, Parents, and Collecting 40:45 Nostalgia Is the Real Bull Case 43:45 Where to Find Andy 44:35 Tokenized Cards and Stablecoins --- RESOURCES  Andy8052 https://x.com/andy8052 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Perps are coming onshore. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig joins David to unpack the first U.S.-regulated Bitcoin perpetual futures contract, the end of regulation by enforcement, and what comes next for Coinbase, Kalshi, Kraken, Gemini, Hyperliquid, Lighter, and the broader U.S. perp market. They also discuss which assets could list next, how U.S. leverage will differ from offshore exchanges, and why equity perps, RWAs, and 24/7 trading may be the next frontier of American finance. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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  0:00 Intro 3:32 Self-Certified Crypto Contracts 7:08 Chasing the U.S. Perps Market 9:00 Bringing Liquidity Onshore 10:18 U.S. Market Guardrails 12:44 Blockchain Transparency Advantage 19:17 Hyperliquid and Onchain Perps 23:09 Real-World Asset Perps 24:38 Equity Perps & SEC 26:35 Incumbents Versus Disruptors 31:28 Derivatives Dominating Crypto 33:16 Perps Are Just Beginning --- RESOURCES  CFTC Chair Mike Selig https://x.com/ChairmanSelig --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bitcoin is back at Biden-era prices, ETFs are bleeding, and Saylor just did the thing he said never to do: sell. Ryan and David unpack whether crypto has one more drop left, what trillion-dollar IPOs reveal about broken capital markets, and why their ETH debate may be the real fight for Ethereum’s future. --- 📣OKX | THE NEW MONEY APP https://app.okx.com/en-us/join/usbankless  --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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 3:07 Markets https://x.com/aggrnews/status/2063954465678410121 https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/06/01/analysts-agree-strategy-s-bitcoin-sale-was-immaterial-differ-on-future-signals https://imgur.com/SDyYiQS https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2063964293478101014  https://x.com/zoomerfied/status/2062288919853490553 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bitmine-immersion-technologies-announces-pricing-of-upsized-series-a-perpetual-preferred-stock-offering-302792359.html https://thedefiant.io/news/tradfi-and-fintech/bitmine-files-300m-preferred-stock-offering-9-5-yield-eth-treasury https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/06/03/tom-lee-s-bitmine-to-offer-preferred-stock-with-9-5-dividend-seeking-to-raise-usd300-million https://imgur.com/tvIDofV https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2065049515384582205 https://polymarket.com/event/fed-rate-hike-in-2026 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/ https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/11/ecb-eurozone-interest-rates-iran-war-inflation 30:11 IPO Season https://app.lighter.xyz/trade/SPACEX https://app.lighter.xyz/trade/ANTHROPIC https://app.lighter.xyz/trade/OPENAI 36:29 Bankless Guys Are Fighting https://x.com/steweycrypto/status/2062796930326094216 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2062598415482245528 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2062599824491372906 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2062612677466202281 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2062644365533622705 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2062669134614466707 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2062674368195686809 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2062745848673427471 https://x.com/Tommyb631/status/2062613008304451756 55:39 Morpho Flips Aave https://morpho.org/blog/morpho-association-raises-175m-to-build-the-open-credit-network-for-the-world/ https://x.com/0xLouisT/status/2063963380000407881 58:04 ZEC Vulnerability & Jason Calacanis’ Crypto-to-AI Tweet https://x.com/Jason/status/2064083020257055193 coindesk.com/.../zcash-plummets-30-as-developer-reveals-a-major-bug forum.zcashcommunity.com/.../orchard-counterfeiting-vulnerability 1:02:55 Hester Peirce Almost Out https://x.com/hesterpeirce/status/2064768651488608612 https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-remarks-chamber-commerce-capital-markets-summit-060926 1:06:03 World Cup Starts https://polymarket.com/event/world-cup-winner 1:07:26 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Hyperliquid has become the breakout perp exchange of crypto. But is the market missing its biggest competitor? Delphi’s Flip and DeFi investor Will Price join David to make the case for Lighter, a ZK-powered Ethereum L2 with zero-fee retail trading, white-glove distribution, real-world asset perps, and a token buying back revenue at a surprising rate. Is LIT just a Hyperliquid beta trade, or is it one of the most underpriced bets in onchain finance? --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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 0:00 Intro 3:05 Why Lighter Is Different 5:32 ZK Rollup Advantages 6:46 Charging Traders, Not Retail 12:07 Fairness Without MEV 14:50 Why Hyperliquid Can’t Copy 18:03 Distribution Beyond Crypto 22:08 Latency & Flow Quality 26:50 Technical Edge Across the Stack 30:31 RWAs & Pre-IPO Markets 34:07 U.S. Perps Market Play 36:05 Back-End For Big Brokers 38:28 Bootstrapping Liquidity 41:54 Lighter As A Platform 46:34 Token Value & Buybacks 50:11 Market Cap Versus FDV 53:02 Valuing LIT Properly 57:51 Cracked Team & Better Comms 58:13 Joining The Lighter Community 58:51 What Comes Next --- RESOURCES Will Price https://x.com/will__price Trevor Flipper https://x.com/trevor_flipper --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

AI is quickly becoming the interface through which people think, work, and make decisions—but most users have no idea how much personal data they're handing over in the process. Jon and Jesse from Venice join David to make the case for privacy-first AI, explain why Venice is aiming to become a mainstream consumer AI brand, and explore how $VVV and DIEM transform inference into a crypto-economic primitive. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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 0:00 Intro 1:12 Why Private AI Matters 3:01 The AI Data Honeypot 6:07 Venice’s Consumer AI Ambition 8:01 Beating the Big AI Labs 10:19 Model Aggregation and Agentic Chat 12:29 Open Source, Closed Source, and Private Grok 17:14 Who Actually Needs Private AI? 21:58 Venice’s User Base 23:53 What Drove Venice’s Recent Growth 27:21 $VVV, DIEM, and Tokenized Inference 29:00 Where Venice Gets Its Compute 32:17 Bonding Curves and DIEM Monetary Policy 39:14 Real Tokenomics, Not Just a Pie Chart 45:46 AI Agents Need Inference to Exist 52:54 ShapeShift DNA Inside Venice 55:53 Regulation, AI, and Individual Rights --- RESOURCES Jon ShapeShift https://x.com/JonShapeShift Jesse Proudman https://x.com/jesseproudman --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bitcoin is bleeding, STRC is off peg, and Saylor’s “never sell” machine is facing its first real confidence test. David and Haseeb unpack whether Strategy can survive without selling BTC, why Bitmine’s ETH play may be stronger but riskier, and what select token strength, U.S. perps, and Coinbase’s Ethena deal reveal about crypto’s next phase. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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 1:37 Saylor & Strategy Confidence Test https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2061418482344849785  https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2062475802252365980 https://x.com/glxyresearch/status/2062518531128746000 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2062499179239215390 13:26 DATs Underwater & Bitmine Preferred Offering https://x.com/lookonchain/status/2062011412965405059 https://x.com/zoomerfied/status/2062288919853490553 34:19 Major Weakness & Select Token Strength 40:45 U.S. Perps Get Greenlit https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/05/28/u-s-cftc-opens-crypto-perp-door-with-approval-of-first-regulated-firm 53:41 Coinbase Invests in Ethena https://www.theblock.co/post/403403/coinbase-invests-ethena-open-market-purchase-ena-flags-new-partnership 57:13 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto policy in Washington has gone from punchline to power center. David sits down with Ron Hammond, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Wintermute, for a rare inside look at how crypto actually moves through DC: the SBF era, Elizabeth Warren’s anti-crypto army, Gary Gensler’s SEC, bank lobby pressure, Trump’s crypto conflicts, the Clarity Act fight, and why privacy and self-custody may be the next major battleground. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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 0:00 Becoming “Captain Crypto” in DC 4:03 From Joke to Serious Political Force 6:19 Why Crypto Punches Above Its Weight 10:28 How SBF Captured Washington 13:26 The FTX Fallout in Capitol Hill 16:25 Elizabeth Warren and Crypto’s Proxy Wars 19:04 How DC Letters Actually Get Written 25:33 How Powerful Is the Crypto Lobby? 27:28 Who Is Playing on Crypto’s Side? 31:01 Democrats, Gensler, and the 2024 Lesson 35:07 The Gensler Era and Prometheum 41:21 Will Warren Ever Pivot? 43:20 Trump, the Crypto Ball, and World Liberty 49:30 Will the Clarity Act Pass? 53:30 Privacy, Self-Custody, and the Next Front 56:23 The Social Side of Crypto in DC --- RESOURCES Ron Hammond https://x.com/RonwHammond --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What happens when every payment, wallet, and onchain interaction becomes searchable by governments, companies, adversaries, and AI? Josh Swihart, founder and CEO of Zcash Open Development Lab, joins David to explain why Zcash is having a major privacy comeback, how ZODL and the Zashi wallet helped unlock real shielded adoption, why the shielded pool may be the most important ZEC metric, and what it will take for private money to become too big to kill. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 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 0:00 Intro 4:17 Privacy in the AI Era 6:19 Crypto’s Missing Privacy Layer 9:49 The Political Fight for Privacy 14:42 Can Crypto Retain Privacy? 16:47 From Zashi to ZODL 19:48 The Zcash Reawakening 21:41 Balaji, Funding, and the Mission 24:49 Product Market Fit for Shielded ZEC 27:51 ZODL's Role in the Zcash Stack 29:36 The Zcash Roadmap 32:56 What Is ZEC and is it Undervalued? 36:56 The Shielded Pool Explained 45:12 The $25M ZODL Raise 47:16 Compliance and Shielded ZEC 51:25 Institutions vs Cypherpunk Values 53:58 Personal Privacy in an AI World --- RESOURCES Josh Swihart https://x.com/jswihart ZODL https://x.com/zodl_app --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures