Bankless

Can Ethereum become private without giving anyone a master key? Aztec co-founder Zac Williamson joins David Hoffman to discuss the race to build private smart contracts, why transparent blockchains struggle with tokenized finance, and how ZK Passport could bring identity checks onchain without exposing personal data.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 The Race for Private Ethereum
07:21 Why Crypto Still Isn't Private
15:01 ZK Passport and Private Identity
21:29 AI-Powered Attacks and Trustless Infrastructure
29:44 Private DeFi and Institutional Adoption
35:42 Aztec Tokenomics, MEV, and Transaction Costs
40:52 Aztec Tierra and the 2027 Roadmap
43:43 Getting Started With Aztec

---
RESOURCES

Zac Williamson
https://x.com/Zac_Aztec

Aztec Network
https://aztec.network

ZK.money
https://zk.money

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What would it take for private money to work at global scale? Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe and ZK researcher Dev join David Hoffman to unpack the next chapter of Zcash, from Tachyon's ambitious scaling roadmap to the challenge of building private wallets that actually work.

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🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS
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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Why Zcash Matters Now
07:53 AI Makes Privacy Urgent
11:20 The Zcash Development Roadmap
17:33 Privacy Without Compromises
25:26 Scaling Zcash With Tachyon
39:42 Private Wallets and Proof of Work
41:06 Zcash's Quantum Defense Roadmap
1:00:53 AI Threats and Formal Verification
1:12:53 Security Through Multiple Assumptions
1:19:37 Why Payments Come First
1:25:54 Funding Proof-of-Work Security
1:29:34 Governance and Coinholder Voting
1:34:53 ZEC Price and Protocol Threats

---
RESOURCES

Sean Bowe
https://x.com/ebfull

Dev Ojha
https://x.com/zkDragon

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Venice’s Head of Strategy, Jon joins David for the October $VVV community call to unpack Venice crossing 5M users and 1T daily tokens, $1M+ in monthly $VVV burns, the DeepSeek-powered growth surge, accelerating AI video demand, the new $VVV ETP, private AI in an era of rising data breaches, and what comes next.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro
0:21 September AI Update
2:12 Token Growth Surge
8:36 Emissions and Diem Supply
16:10 Burn Mechanics Explained
23:40 OpenAI Privacy Controversy
32:00 Data Retention Warnings
35:52 Anthropic's Retention Shift
39:24 Privacy Boosts Venice
43:03 Minds and Model Combinations
52:48 Staking and Burn Questions
55:47 Data Center and Near
59:37 Lumara Film Festival

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Binance was hit by a $6 billion hack. What happens when the stolen crypto starts moving? TRM Labs' Ari Redbord joins David Hoffman to unpack the frantic first hours of the response, how stablecoin issuers froze billions, and the clues pointing investigators toward North Korea.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 The $6B Binance Hack
01:38 Inside TRM's War Room
03:29 Freezing Billions and Tracking Funds
08:51 Law Enforcement and Attack Clues
13:50 Why North Korea Is Different
21:26 The Regulatory Fallout for Crypto
24:53 AI and the Next Cyber Threat
27:43 Securing Crypto After the Attack

---
RESOURCES

Ari Redbord
https://x.com/ARedbord

TRM Labs
https://www.trmlabs.com/

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bitcoin to $57K or a new bull market? Ryan and David unpack the wildly conflicting price predictions, Hyperliquid’s Wall Street breakthrough, the fight over tokenized stocks, Robinhood Chain’s revenue collapse, and Zcash’s governance controversy.

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🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

https://thedefireport.io/bankless

---

TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:12 Bitcoin's $57K Warning & Macro Fears

https://x.com/Jason/status/2114956980674605075

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2115504620219007201

https://polymarket.com/event/fed-decision-in-december

10:17 Bitcoin Price Predictions: $200K to $1.6M

https://x.com/willywoo/status/2114852726337347670

https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2114730275242426648

https://x.com/Bitwise/status/2115494114980458741

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2114690544588996809

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2115791352579391896

24:30 Hyperliquid's Wall Street Breakthrough

https://x.com/tradexyz/status/2115755854125478285

https://x.com/standuquesne/status/2115777839622689036

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2115823011399938182

https://x.com/NYSE/status/2115802359959790069

31:43 The War Over Tokenized Stocks

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-10-05-okx-ice-joint-venture-tokenized-stock-trading-417613

https://x.com/mikemaccana/status/2114427237521117472

https://x.com/toly/status/2115483790109974844

https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2115648239525585168

44:45 Robinhood Chain's Revenue Collapse

https://x.com/ceterispar1bus/status/2115402880253300753

https://x.com/AltcoinDaily/status/2115205102533509141

https://x.com/econoar/status/2114838303266705789

52:58 Zcash's $125M Dev Fund Controversy

https://x.com/Bankless/status/2115433097822949732

https://x.com/ebfull/status/2114911107718742451

59:16 Venice's $1M Token Burn & Buyback Debate

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2115565172047675604

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2115132856934535434

https://x.com/tulipking/status/2115270309309829334

https://x.com/fejau_inc/status/2008302312402686110

1:04:30 Ethena's 12% Yield & Anthropic's $2T IPO

https://x.com/ethena/status/2115413879840989651

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2114710153417118191

https://x.com/socialcapital/status/2114740894914187557

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Is crypto building a freer financial system, or giving Wall Street and Washington new ways to control it? Former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo returns to Bankless to unpack crypto's political battles, why he believes Wall Street will move onto digital rails by 2040, and what the 2008 financial crisis taught him about the limitations of traditional finance. Plus, the evolution of Bitcoin futures and perpetuals, the debate over stablecoins and CBDCs, and why financial privacy may matter more than the technology itself. His new book, The New Adventures of CryptoDad, brings these questions into focus.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 CryptoDad's New Mission
04:36 How Crypto Became Political
12:16 Why the SEC Crackdown Failed
17:09 Bitcoin Futures, Perps, and Regulation
27:54 Passing the CFTC Baton
33:52 Who Controls Digital Finance?
39:40 The 2008 Banking Blind Spot
45:31 Wall Street Moves Onchain
50:52 Privacy and the Digital Dollar

---
RESOURCES

Christopher Giancarlo
https://x.com/giancarloMKTS

The New Adventures of CryptoDad
https://www.amazon.com/New-Adventures-CryptoDad-Digital-Century/dp/1394431228

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Could Bitcoin be signaling the next liquidity recovery before the rest of the market sees it? Global liquidity expert Michael Howell returns to Bankless to revisit his 2027 outlook, explain why Bitcoin's $70K level matters, and examine whether the next market rebound could arrive sooner than expected. Ryan and David dig into rising Treasury yields, the Fed and Treasury's evolving relationship, Michael's "Treasury QE" thesis, and the four phases of the liquidity cycle.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Is Bitcoin Signaling an Early Liquidity Recovery?
07:35 The $70K Bitcoin Level That Could Change Everything
11:08 What's Really Driving Treasury Yields Higher?
19:55 Michael Howell vs. Ray Dalio on the Future of Bonds
28:48 Inflation, Economic Growth, and the Liquidity Squeeze
35:02 The Four Phases of the Liquidity Cycle and What to Own
41:07 Can the AI Boom Defy the Market Cycle?
51:08 Treasury QE and the Fed's New Liquidity Playbook
1:01:06 Why China's Liquidity Could Be Driving Gold
1:06:19 Bitcoin vs. Gold as Monetary Inflation Hedges
1:11:08 How Much Could Global Liquidity Grow?

---
RESOURCES

Michael Howell’s Substack
https://capitalwars.substack.com/

Global Liquidity Index
https://www.glindexes.com/

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

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Is AI turning the entire internet into a dark forest? Security experts Hari Mulackal and Odysseas Lamtzidis join David Hoffman to unpack Black October, why AI-powered hacking is becoming cheaper and more scalable, how defenders are falling behind, and what it means for your crypto and personal data.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

0:08 Black October: Cybersecurity’s New Reality

1:01 Why Cyber Incidents Are Surging

4:06 AI Makes Hacking Cheap and Scalable

6:46 The Real-World Cost of Data Breaches

11:00 AI, Personal Data, and Targeted Scams

15:32 Is Mass Data Exposure Inevitable?

18:02 What the CVE Explosion Reveals

20:50 Can AI Defenders Keep Up?

23:22 Why Crypto May Be Better Prepared

27:34 Are Crypto Assets Still Safe?

31:41 A Silver Lining After the Cyber Turbulence

34:18 Practical Security Advice for Individuals

36:05 Redundancy, Self-Custody, and Limiting Risk

38:02 Simple Steps to Protect Your Wallet

40:39 What Crypto Custodians Should Do

41:29 Security Startups and How They Can Help

---

RESOURCES

Hari Mulackal

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hari-mulackal

Odysseas Lamtzidis

https://www.linkedin.com/in/odysseaslamtzidis

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Uptober lasted four hours. Now comes Black October: rising war fears, AI-powered cyber threats, and a market on edge. Ryan and David debate whether crypto is next, JPMorgan’s bullish Bitcoin forecast, fusion-made gold, and a major stablecoin win.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:08 Black October, Uptober & Market Jitters

https://www.coingecko.com/

https://apnews.com/article/mideast-yemen-saudi-israel-october-22-2026-dde5b98a8bf961224514994b02babce9

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2113252218568679571

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2113215401983152439

5:38 Bitcoin's Early Bull Case

https://thedefireport.io/research/cycle-awareness-update-3e75

9:26 JPMorgan's Bitcoin Forecast & Ethereum's Struggles

https://am.jpmorgan.com/us/en/asset-management/adv/insights/portfolio-insights/ltcma/

https://x.com/saylor/status/2112587713060757820

https://x.com/Matt_Hougan/status/2112387154923983105

https://imgur.com/8j76G5h

20:23 Crypto Movers: Pearl, Lighter, Venice & Monero

https://x.com/zoomerfied/status/2112970717591748767

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2112966535744544859

https://www.21shares.com/en-eu/product/venc

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/monero

28:31 Black October: Cyberattacks, AI & Banking Risks

https://x.com/takaichi_sanae/status/2112890642590564386

https://x.com/NSACyber/status/2112903220209098897

https://x.com/Mudit__Gupta/status/2112938784392163779

https://x.com/devmuzzammil/status/2113042127039164663

https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2113064786556592250

https://x.com/jachiam0/status/2112968705240109558

https://x.com/eastdakota/status/2113079352682570051

https://x.com/MadisonMills22/status/2113251043173683683

42:53 Fusion Gold: Bitcoin's Unexpected Advantage?

https://x.com/MarathonFusion/status/2113001073019662481

https://x.com/MarathonFusion/status/2113001085912895846

https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2113054840595390792

50:23 Stablecoin Rewards, Solana Upgrade & Aero Merger

https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2112871300079161630

https://cointelegraph.com/news/american-bankers-association-occ-genius-rules-stablecoins

https://x.com/solana/status/2112906742585512150

https://aero.xyz/articles/aero-launches-today

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Could American crypto traders finally get the same features available on offshore exchanges? CFTC Chair Mike Selig joins David Hoffman to unpack Reg CTX and Reg CAM, two proposed rules that could bring retail spot margin trading and a new federal framework for crypto exchanges to the US.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 CFTC Chair Mike Selig Returns
03:09 Why Financial Markets Need Federal Regulation
11:13 Who Actually Regulates Spot Bitcoin?
17:27 The CFTC, FinCEN, and State Regulators
22:29 The New Crypto Regulatory Trilogy
27:16 Reg CTX: Bringing Margin Trading Onshore
29:22 Reg CAM: A New Federal Exchange Framework
31:11 The Problem with 50 State Licenses
35:11 What Retail Crypto Leverage Could Look Like
39:24 Ending the SEC and CFTC Turf War
42:58 The Risks of Combining Financial Businesses
54:04 What Other Products Could This Unlock?
56:35 Where the CFTC Gets Its Authority
1:01:05 Can These Rules Survive Without the CLARITY Act?
1:05:05 Prediction Markets and the Supreme Court
1:08:11 How the Crypto Industry Can Respond

---
RESOURCES

CFTC Chair Mike Selig
https://x.com/ChairmanSelig

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Uptober has turned into Redtober. Ryan and David unpack crypto’s selloff, why the early bull market may still be intact, and how inflation and AI debt fears are rattling markets. Plus, Ledger’s $102M supply-chain attack, Bank of America’s $5B scandal, and Richard Heart’s arrest.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:09 Redtober: Crypto Selloff & Early Bull

https://imgur.com/Jx7GgQg

https://thedefireport.io/research/early-bull-reset

https://x.com/tulipking/status/2110373109861675080

https://polymarket.com/predictions/midterms

10:38 Hot Inflation & AI Market Risks

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2110711659115200824

https://imgur.com/dok7hZN

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/ai-vs-the-railroads

19:55 Ray Dalio's Debt Warning

https://www.tradingview.com/news/benzinga:ef9c504ad094b:0-ray-dalio-warns-us-debt-crisis-could-deepen-as-2-1t-in-new-treasury-supply-hits-market-credit-market-players-call-that-a-death-spiral/

26:23 Ledger's $102M Supply-Chain Attack

https://x.com/Ledger_Support/status/2108551100613714002

https://x.com/MagicalTux/status/2108556423445835827

https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/ledger-finds-unauthorized-hardware.html

https://news.bitcoin.com/security/cryptobilis-founder-reveals-company-was-sold-months-before-exploit/

31:34 France's Crypto Wallet Reporting Proposal

https://x.com/alistairmilne/status/2110051872363159959

34:52 Bank of America, CZ & Debanking

https://x.com/cz_binance/status/2110309077175963947

https://x.com/nic_carter/thread/2110375740097138847

41:15 Richard Heart Arrested

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/10/15/hex-founder-richard-heart-arrested-in-istanbul-turkish-media-report

https://x.com/BitcoinNewsCom/status/2110369479729299872

https://x.com/ercwl/status/2110385013900341709

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2110362834043273313

48:43 PaperTrade's 1,000x Leverage Game

https://x.com/papertrade_xyz

https://exchange.papertrade.xyz/dashboard

https://www.theblock.co/news/defi/2026-10-11-trader-nets-1-28-million-on-new-1000x-exchange-papertrade-by-moving-hyperliquids-eth-prices-418239

53:28 Solana Upgrades & Starknet's Layer 1 Vote

http://theblock.co/news/ecosystems/2026-10-15-starknet-opens-seven-day-vote-on-independent-layer-1-over-quantum-risks-418673

57:52 NEAR Foundation & Venice AI Growth

https://x.com/TheBlockCo/status/2110717366447268011

https://x.com/sabrinaesaquino/status/2110126741142556857

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2110391671762325563

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

In a world of powerful AI, how private is a public blockchain? Will McEvoy, CIO of Cypherpunk Technologies and principal at Winklevoss Capital, joins David to explore why Bitcoin holders may be rethinking transparency and why Zcash is attracting renewed attention. They break down Cypherpunk's ambitious plan to accumulate 5% of the Zcash supply, the surprising economics behind its mining business, and the larger opportunity in digital privacy.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Why Zcash Is Back in the Spotlight
3:24 Why Did Zcash Take So Long to Break Out?
5:09 Who Is Buying Zcash?
8:03 Can AI Identify Bitcoin Whales?
12:33 Inside Cypherpunk Technologies
16:39 Cypherpunk's Treasury and Valuation
17:57 Why Zcash Mining Is So Profitable
27:38 The Gap Between Zcash's Price and Hashrate
31:21 Mining Zcash and Keeping It
33:01 Why Buy CYPH Instead of Zcash?
38:05 What Is Cypherpunk Technologies Actually Worth?
41:44 Zcash's Builders and the Orchard Bug
46:37 Will McAvoy's Investing Background
49:23 Could Zcash Reach $10,000?
51:22 Will Governments Accept Financial Privacy?

---
RESOURCES

Will McEvoy
https://x.com/will__mcevoy

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Could AI break crypto before quantum does? Ryan and David unpack Justin Drake’s “bunker mode” warning, whether holders should move funds, Tom Lee’s decision to stop buying ETH, and the shutdown of two Ethereum L2s.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

1:51 Yields, Oil & Bitcoin

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-US10Y

https://x.com/santiagoaufund/status/2107548024310464790

https://x.com/josephwang/status/2108100745086275897

https://farside.co.uk/btc/

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-10-07-robinhood-adds-25-million-bitcoin-balance-sheet-417890

9:32 Tom Lee Stops Buying ETH

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2107763103756878003

https://x.com/lex_node/status/2107811138532774349

https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2108072716960149662

19:06 AI Threatens Crypto Security

https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/2107837081313505768

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/science/openai-math-problems.html

https://x.com/matthew_d_green/status/2107992246360649879

31:24 Cryptographers Push Back

https://x.com/LindellYehuda/status/2107999859219587309

https://x.com/mert/status/2108058959852773442

https://x.com/vitalikbuterin/status/2107976296320106851

37:00 Ethereum L2 Shutdowns

https://x.com/blast/status/2106032805280891073

https://x.com/AbstractChain/status/2107554632675340420

https://x.com/Starknet/status/2108113391525204034

41:25 Zcash ETF Momentum

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/news/grayscales-zcash-etf-reaches-usd-1b-as-zec-price-gains-lift-assets

https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-10-06-winklevoss-files-spot-zcash-etf-wink-417826

44:57 FinCEN Withdraws Wallet Rules

https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-announces-withdrawals-proposed-digital-asset-related-rules

50:22 Token2049 Takeaways

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

NEAR just got a new institutional gateway, but the ETF may only be the beginning of the story. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley and Sovereign’s Sal Ternullo join David to unpack why investors are starting to view NEAR through the lens of AI, how NEAR Intents has already processed more than $32 billion in volume, what staking and token buybacks mean for the asset, and why a future filled with many AI models, chains, agents, and stablecoins could play directly into NEAR’s strengths.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 NEAR’s New ETF
2:15 Bitwise and NEAR
8:49 Selling NEAR to Investors
12:18 Intents and Buybacks
20:23 Staking and ETF Demand
26:34 The AI Opportunity
33:11 Many Models, Many Chains
38:37 AI Privacy
42:48 Closing Thoughts

---
RESOURCES

Sal Ternullo
https://x.com/sal_ternullo

Hunter Horsley
https://x.com/HHorsley

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Venice‘s Head of Strategy Jon, joins David for the September $VVV community call to unpack Venice reaching 250B daily tokens, the latest $VVV emissions cuts and $DIEM supply changes, accelerating burns, rising demand for private AI, Venice Minds, the upcoming data center rollout, and what comes next.

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[TIMESTAMPS]

0:00 Intro
0:21 September AI Update
2:12 Token Growth Surge
8:36 Emissions and Diem Supply
16:10 Burn Mechanics Explained
23:40 OpenAI Privacy Controversy
32:00 Data Retention Warnings
35:52 Anthropic's Retention Shift
39:24 Privacy Boosts Venice
43:03 Minds and Model Combinations
52:48 Staking and Burn Questions
55:47 Data Center and Near
59:37 Lumara Film Festival

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bitcoin just broke its bearish market structure, but surging bond yields could still test the rally. Ryan and David unpack Uptober, Robinhood’s trading push, the Bitget hack, and prediction markets’ path to the Supreme Court.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:09 Bitcoin Breaks Bearish Structure

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin

https://x.com/hariskhantrader/status/2104621748591403035

6:35 Bond Yields, Liquidity & Macro Risk

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105337195884052870

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-inflation-rises-less-than-expected-august-consumer-spending-surges-2026-09-30/

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105355997892239838

https://x.com/EpsilonTheory/status/2105345560064745548

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-MOVE/

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105279482957369587

22:06 Robinhood Goes All-In

https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2105082039733305734

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105062331436966323

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105063773165818119

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105072369509257220

https://robinhood.com/us/en/agents/

33:19 BitGet Hack & NEAR Permissionless Debate

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/bitget-starts-phased-withdrawal-resumption

https://x.com/AlexAuroraDev/status/2104554958754357482

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2104955420401955273

https://x.com/kylekrason/status/2104562944457740481

https://x.com/near_intents/status/2105642219357241796

44:23 Prediction Markets Head to Court

https://www.legalreader.com/new-york-sues-polymarket-over-gambling-rules/

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-appeals-court-rules-against-kalshi-says-states-can-regulate-prediction-2026-09-25/

https://www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbase-receives-cftc-approval-for-coinbase-clearing-llc

48:29 Ethereum’s Cryptographic World Computer

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2104160561374343176

https://x.com/cryptographicas/status/2104212366271390055

https://x.com/barnabemonnot/status/2104260847975707013

56:14 AI Agents & Bank Runs

https://x.com/JasonYanowitz/status/2104213040937812262

https://openai.com/index/introducing-dots/

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What if the next major onchain trading platform looks less like a crypto exchange and more like Robinhood with institutional liquidity underneath? Variational co-founder Lucas Schumann and Head of Product Justin Bram join David to unpack the broker model behind Variational, why they believe swaps can improve on perps for real-world assets, and how TradFi liquidity can be brought onchain without rebuilding every market from scratch.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Broker, Not Exchange
5:07 Why Brokerage Wins for Retail
8:22 What Is a Swap?
9:58 The Real Cost of Trading
11:43 Bringing TradFi Liquidity Onchain
14:44 Building Variational
23:14 From Crypto Traders to Everyone
26:42 The Next User Base
30:35 What Actually Happens Onchain?
34:00 Inside OLP
37:03 Arbitrum and User Funds
39:44 The VAR Token and 32% Airdrop
42:34 Funding the Token Model
44:11 The 2027 Roadmap
47:44 Protocol or Platform?

---
RESOURCES

Lucas Schuermann
https://x.com/variational_lvs

Justin Bram
https://x.com/JustinCBram

Variational
https://www.variational.io/en

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ben Cowen is back on Bankless after publicly admitting one of his key Bitcoin calls was wrong. What changed? Ben and David unpack the breakout that challenged his bear-market thesis, whether the four-year cycle is still intact, why Bitcoin is shrugging off a macro environment Ben expected to pressure it, and the crucial difference between easier monetary policy and genuinely abundant global liquidity.

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https://thedefireport.io/bankless

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---
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Ben Cowen Admits What He Got Wrong
3:30 Did the Bear Market End Too Easily?
6:06 Why This Bear Market Looks Different From 2022
9:59 Is the Four-Year Cycle Still Alive?
12:27 What an Early Low Means for the Next Bull Market
14:02 Why Altcoins Are Already Moving
19:15 Monetary Policy vs. Global Liquidity
22:56 Does Altseason Need a Crisis?
28:13 Why Liquidity Could Stay Tight
31:56 Can Bitcoin Catch Up to Stocks?
34:41 Five Years of Restrictive Conditions
37:27 Is Retail Finally Coming Back?
45:46 Bitcoin Defies the Macro Setup
48:47 The Weekly Bitcoin Close That Matters
53:43 Building a Conference Around Disagreement

---
RESOURCES

Ben Cowen
https://x.com/benjamincowen

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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The bull market may be back, but Bitcoin might not be leading it. Ryan and David break down the early-bull signals, Zcash and NEAR’s surge, rising yields, Kalshi’s wash-trading controversy, and BlackRock’s expanding crypto push.

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---

TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:28 Early Bull Confirmed

https://thedefireport.io/research/early-bull-confirmed

https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2102007452057079986

https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2102572123185107151

https://x.com/saylor/status/2102011709808353551

13:23 New Bull Market Leaders

https://www.bankless.com/read/this-is-not-bitcoin-s-cycle

https://x.com/Delphi_Digital/status/2064430003731804517

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/zcash

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/near

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2100789397960704285

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2102787878552015357

https://x.com/CosimoCapital/status/2102886894115696978

33:18 Rising Yields & the Debasement Trade

https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/2103118843061182872

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-US10Y/

https://www.tradingview.com/chart/KZYJV3ef/

https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights/memo/shall-we-repeal-the-laws-of-economics---part-iii

42:29 Kalshi Wash Trading Drama

https://x.com/icobeast/status/2101358009477632410

https://x.com/beniduboss/status/2101459048247808010

https://news.kalshi.com/p/the-facts-behind-kalshi-s-perpetuals-volume

https://cointelegraph.com/news/kalshi-says-cftc-hasnt-contacted-it-over-unusual-5b-trading-activity

47:57 Vitalik Backs Trueo

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/true

https://trueo.com/

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2102143283493507554

https://x.com/Trueo_/article/2102123554162561272

54:37 New Tokens & Institutional Crypto Expansion

https://x.com/variational_io/status/2102929439063765192

https://x.com/Ondo/status/2103106602593087575

https://x.com/WSJmarkets/status/2103092730880569691

https://x.com/BlackRock/status/2102409739175141458

https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/literature/whitepaper/the-machine-native-economy.pdf

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-09-22-binance-takes-100-million-circle-stake-alongside-five-year-usdc-deal-416042

https://www.blockhead.co/2026/09/22/coinbase-opens-ipo-share-allocations-to-us-retail-customers-starting-with-smart-ring-maker-oura/

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Meme coins are back, but this time the more interesting story may be what they're building around them. David sits down with Eric and Andy to unpack the latest meme-coin cycle, the rise of stock-paired memes on Robinhood Chain, and the strange possibility that speculative trading could actually bootstrap liquidity for tokenized equities.

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---
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Meme Coins Are Back
5:47 Can Meme Markets Mature?
7:48 AI as a Safety Layer
13:10 Stock-Paired Meme Coins
17:01 Building Stronger Schelling Points
21:00 Will Public Companies Care?
28:56 The Community Takeover Scenario
32:18 Meme Coins as a Liquidity Engine
36:16 How Andy and Eric Use FOMO
42:39 What Signals Actually Matter
47:54 When Do You Sell a Loser?
52:26 FOMO Rewards and Public Trading Data
55:36 The $20K ETH Jinx

---
RESOURCES

Andy 8052
https://x.com/andy8052

Eric Conner
https://x.com/econoar

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures