Bankless

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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