Bankless

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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