Early Riders Media

AI agents won't barter, and Michael argues they will coalesce around Bitcoin faster than anyone expects. Plus Schwab turns on Bitcoin trading, Deutsche Bank and Stifel move in, and an OpenAI model spends testnet ETH it never owned.BOOK A CONSULTATIONHolding Bitcoin for decades raises two questions: who protects it, and how it reaches your family. Onramp answers both. Three institutions protect it, and no single one can lose it, move it, or use it. Inheritance built in. Insured through Lloyd's of London. Speak with our team to see if it fits.👉 https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/consult-fs-podGET ON THE LIST• Onramp: our research, event invites, and the week's Bitcoin news in one free email. https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/research-fs-pod• Early Riders Insights: the best content in the ecosystem, weekly. https://www.earlyriders.com/researchABOUT THIS EPISODEAn internal OpenAI model, told to deploy contracts with no funded wallet, derived keys from public seed phrases and spent testnet ETH it did not own. Michael and Liam take that to its conclusion: agents will not barter, and they will settle on native internet money, with Bitcoin the asset they coalesce around. They cover OpenAI's talks to buy Trail of Bits, World ID's new suite for banks and AI agents, Anthropic's public benefit fund, and Meta's Muse Spark Open. Then the digital asset side: Chainalysis finds the US importing Bitcoin again as institutions replace retail as the marginal buyer, Schwab turns on Bitcoin and Ether trading, JPMorgan brings JPM Coin to Ethereum, Deutsche Bank readies custody, and Stifel takes a stake in Meow. Brian argues every incumbent move is now defensive, and Michael sketches a Bitcoin savings layer that agents can spend from.CHAPTERS00:00 - Cold open: AI agents won't barter01:41 - An OpenAI model spent testnet ETH it didn't own03:12 - Why AI agents will coalesce around Bitcoin05:24 - AI labs are becoming digital asset companies07:39 - OpenAI in talks to buy Trail of Bits10:16 - World ID for banks, deepfakes and AI agents18:46 - Anthropic's public benefit fund and Elon's SpaceX pledge24:52 - Meta's Muse Spark Open and AI capex concentration28:53 - Ramp at $60B and the second-order AI winners29:56 - Chainalysis: the US is importing Bitcoin again31:55 - AI-to-AI commerce and agents with native wallets37:41 - Schwab turns on Bitcoin, JPM Coin goes to Ethereum43:06 - Deutsche Bank, Stifel and Meow: incumbents on defense51:10 - Stripe, Privy and a Bitcoin savings layer for agents54:36 - Ledger attack update and the chop in the 80sABOUT THE SHOWFinal Settlement is a weekly show on capital markets, dealmaking, early-stage venture, Bitcoin applications, and protocol development, presented by Early Riders and Onramp Media with Michael Tanguma, Liam Nelson, and Brian Cubellis.• Connect with Early Riders: https://www.earlyriders.com/contact• Michael: https://x.com/MTanguma · Liam: https://x.com/Lnelson_21 · Brian: https://x.com/BackslashBTCMORE FROM ONRAMP MEDIA• The Last Trade and First Principles: https://www.youtube.com/@OnrampMedia• Signal vs Noise, live twice a week: https://www.youtube.com/@SignalvsNoiseLIVE• Audio, every show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1690709152 or search Onramp Bitcoin Media on Spotify• News and data: https://onramp.mediaOnramp does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. This episode is for entertainment purposes only.

A traditional VPN sends your entire internet history through one company that also has your name, address and payment details. Liam sits down with Carl Dong, founder of Obscura VPN and former Bitcoin Core developer, on why two hops beat one and why AI makes privacy urgent.Guest: Carl Dong, founder of Obscura VPN and former Bitcoin Core developer:X: https://x.com/obscuravpnWebsite: https://obscura.com/BOOK A CONSULTATIONHolding Bitcoin for decades raises two questions: who protects it, and how it reaches your family. Onramp answers both. Three institutions protect it, and no single one can lose it, move it, or use it. Inheritance built in. Insured through Lloyd's of London. Speak with our team to see if it fits.👉 https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/consult-fs-podGET ON THE LIST• Onramp: our research, event invites, and the week's Bitcoin news in one free email. https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/research-fs-pod• Early Riders Insights: the best content in the ecosystem, weekly. https://www.earlyriders.com/researchABOUT THIS EPISODECarl Dong grew up building ways around China's Great Firewall, then worked at Blockstream and Chaincode Labs on Bitcoin Core, where his focus was software supply chain security. He explains reproducible builds and fuzzing, and why AI's infinite patience turns theoretical attacks into real ones. He makes the case that a traditional VPN swaps your ISP for one unregulated company that sees all of your traffic, and walks through Obscura's two-party relay with Mullvad, where neither company knows both who you are and where you go. He covers disguising VPN traffic as HTTP/3 to get through firewalls in airports, hotels and China, and why privacy tools have to be as easy as the alternatives. Liam and Carl also discuss AI agents overtaking human web traffic, connected AI that may know you better than anyone, private and local models, and how recent hardware wallet supply chain attacks harden the industry.CHAPTERS00:00 - Carl Dong: from the Great Firewall to Bitcoin Core03:15 - The VPN trust problem and the two-party relay idea06:29 - AI, infinite patience and software supply chain attacks08:41 - Reproducible builds: verifying Bitcoin Core downloads11:15 - How a traditional VPN works and what it can see14:25 - VPNs as custodians: don't trust, verify15:31 - Beating censorship by looking like normal traffic18:38 - Mimicking HTTP/3 so VPNs don't get blocked19:18 - Freedom tech has to be easy to use22:07 - AI traffic passes human traffic: what changes online24:59 - AI that knows everything about you, and private AI29:58 - Local AI models on your phone30:57 - What's next for Obscura: Linux and automatic protection32:15 - Supply chain attacks and a hardened Bitcoin industry34:24 - Where to find Carl and ObscuraABOUT THE SHOWFinal Settlement Interview Series: a one on one interview series hosted by Liam Nelson, Partner at Early Riders. One guest, and a deep conversation on the deals, the capital and the technology moving through bitcoin, so you can hear how the people actually doing the work think about where the future is going. Presented by Early Riders and Onramp Media.• Connect with Early Riders: https://www.earlyriders.com/contact• Liam: https://x.com/Lnelson_21• Obscura: https://x.com/obscuravpnMORE FROM ONRAMP MEDIA• The Last Trade and First Principles: https://www.youtube.com/@OnrampMedia• Signal vs Noise, live twice a week: https://www.youtube.com/@SignalvsNoiseLIVE• Audio, every show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1690709152 or search Onramp Bitcoin Media on Spotify• News and data: https://onramp.mediaOnramp does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. This episode is for entertainment purposes only.

Stocks, bonds and cash are all moving onto digital rails, and Michael lays out why that faster money needs Bitcoin as its sponge. Plus the $86M Ledger reseller attack, and why one point of failure can knock you out of the game.BOOK A CONSULTATIONHolding Bitcoin for decades raises two questions: who protects it, and how it reaches your family. Onramp answers both. Three institutions protect it, and no single one can lose it, move it, or use it. Inheritance built in. Insured through Lloyd's of London. Speak with our team to see if it fits.👉 https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/consult-fs-podGET ON THE LIST• Onramp: our research, event invites, and the week's Bitcoin news in one free email. https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/research-fs-pod• Early Riders Insights: the best content in the ecosystem, weekly. https://www.earlyriders.com/researchABOUT THIS EPISODEA reseller in Southeast Asia sold tampered Ledger devices, and roughly $86 million, mostly Bitcoin, was drained before Ledger cut the reseller off. Michael, Liam and Brian on why that is a supply chain lesson rather than the death of self-custody, and why proof of reserves does not fix the real problem. From there: OpenAI's math results and Justin Drake's call for "bunker mode," with Coinbase's Yehuda Lindell on why ECDSA still holds; REA, the GitHub repo that reverse engineers any app; and Jev and the shrinking AI moat. Then the digital asset roundup. Citrini Research maps tokenization, AI agents and TradFi converging, and Michael takes it to Bitcoin: tokenizing everything speeds money up without fixing inflation, which leaves Bitcoin as the liquidity sponge. Plus China's national blockchain, Standard Chartered custody in Singapore, Samsung Wallet stablecoins, Meanwhile's $37.5 million raise, Spiko's $90 million, Breez's 14x jump in agent-driven inquiries, and Kyle Harrison on the death of venture capital.CHAPTERS00:00 - Back after a week off: a world of single points of failure03:37 - Why proof of reserves is not the fix05:37 - Single point of failure of the week: Ledger's reseller attack09:49 - Self-custody isn't dead, but it has to get easier14:05 - The third way: no single point of failure18:08 - Attackers inside custodians, and assuming everyone is fallible23:19 - OpenAI's math leap and Justin Drake's "bunker mode"29:12 - REA reverse engineers anything: is Airbnb next?34:13 - Request for builders: make sending email cost Bitcoin36:43 - Jev, TypeSafe and the vanishing AI moat39:25 - Jevons paradox, the AI capability gap, models as insider risk43:49 - Citrini on tokenization: why Bitcoin is the liquidity sponge50:41 - China's blockchain, Standard Chartered, Samsung Wallet, Cash App55:15 - Deals: Meanwhile, Spiko, and Breez on coding agents59:47 - The death of venture capital, and Nous Research's $90MABOUT THE SHOWFinal Settlement is a weekly show on capital markets, dealmaking, early-stage venture, Bitcoin applications, and protocol development, presented by Early Riders and Onramp Media with Michael Tanguma, Liam Nelson, and Brian Cubellis.• Connect with Early Riders: https://www.earlyriders.com/contact• Michael: https://x.com/MTanguma · Liam: https://x.com/Lnelson_21 · Brian: https://x.com/BackslashBTCMORE FROM ONRAMP MEDIA• The Last Trade and First Principles: https://www.youtube.com/@OnrampMedia• Signal vs Noise, live twice a week: https://www.youtube.com/@SignalvsNoiseLIVE• Audio, every show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1690709152 or search Onramp Bitcoin Media on Spotify• News and data: https://onramp.mediaOnramp does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. This episode is for entertainment purposes only.

Where flaring is limited, an oil company can't produce oil unless it can sell the gas, and Steve Barbour built Upstream Data to turn that gas into Bitcoin. Liam sits down with him on why mining belongs at the power plant and what AI does to that endgame.Guest: Steve Barbour, founder of Upstream Data. https://x.com/upstreamdataincBOOK A CONSULTATIONHolding Bitcoin for decades raises two questions: who protects it, and how it reaches your family. Onramp answers both. Three institutions protect it, and no single one can lose it, move it, or use it. Inheritance built in. Insured through Lloyd's of London. Speak with our team to see if it fits.👉 https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/consult-fs-podGET ON THE LIST• Onramp: our research, event invites, and the week's Bitcoin news in one free email. https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/research-fs-pod• Early Riders Insights: the best content in the ecosystem, weekly. https://www.earlyriders.com/researchABOUT THIS EPISODESteve Barbour is a mechanical engineer who has worked in upstream oil and gas production since 2011, and he started Upstream Data in 2016 after seeing Bitcoin mining as an answer to associated gas that gets vented or flared. He explains why mining on the grid is a hard business of falling hashprice and fast-depreciating ASICs, why he sees Bitcoin compute as edge computing that belongs where power is made, and why AI demand is pushing mining toward that endgame. He walks through selling gas into Bitcoin load so operators can produce more oil, replacing wasted load banks with compute, why Upstream builds its own generators, buildings and control software, and why AI campuses that bring their own power could lower costs for ratepayers.CHAPTERS00:00 - Steve Barbour, Upstream Data and Bitcoin mining on stranded gas05:02 - Who buys it: oil and gas operators and the full-stack build07:16 - Bitcoin mining economics: hashprice, ASIC depreciation, why the grid is hard12:54 - AI demand and why Bitcoin compute lives at the edge15:55 - Gas as a liability: how Bitcoin load keeps oil flowing20:32 - Why oil operators won't hold Bitcoin: the virtual utility model25:25 - Gas generators, microgrids and Bitcoin at the power plant30:39 - Why Upstream built the whole stack itself33:24 - Load banks vs Bitcoin compute: ending wasted generator power42:02 - Patents, hardware and flare gas pioneers45:20 - AI accelerates Bitcoin mining's endgame: the power plant48:03 - AI campuses that bring their own power51:15 - Permitting, communities and why America needs more power54:02 - Where to find Steve BarbourABOUT THE SHOWFinal Settlement Interview Series: a one on one interview series hosted by Liam Nelson, Partner at Early Riders. One guest, and a deep conversation on the deals, the capital and the technology moving through bitcoin, so you can hear how the people actually doing the work think about where the future is going. Presented by Early Riders and Onramp Media.• Connect with Early Riders: https://www.earlyriders.com/contact• Liam: https://x.com/Lnelson_21• Steve Barbour: https://x.com/SGBarbourMORE FROM ONRAMP MEDIA• The Last Trade and First Principles: https://www.youtube.com/@OnrampMedia• Signal vs Noise, live twice a week: https://www.youtube.com/@SignalvsNoiseLIVE• Audio, every show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1690709152 or search Onramp Bitcoin Media on Spotify• News and data: https://onramp.mediaOnramp does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. This episode is for entertainment purposes only.

One chart from Epoch AI shows the cost of AI falling about 47% a quarter since 2023, faster than any technology in history, and it exposes the math under the AI trade. Michael, Liam and Brian on why cheap intelligence competes away profit, and why Bitcoin is the scarce unit left.BOOK A CONSULTATIONHolding Bitcoin for decades raises two questions: who protects it, and how it reaches your family. Onramp answers both. Three institutions protect it, and no single one can lose it, move it, or use it. Inheritance built in. Insured through Lloyd's of London. Speak with our team to see if it fits.👉 https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/consult-fs-podGET ON THE LIST• Onramp: our research, event invites, and the week's Bitcoin news in one free email. https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/research-fs-pod• Early Riders Insights: the best content in the ecosystem, weekly. https://www.earlyriders.com/researchABOUT THIS EPISODEEight major AI models shipped in two weeks, open-weight models now carry most of the tokens on Vercel's AI Gateway, Oracle invoked force majeure on a Stargate site, and Epoch AI finds the cost of a given level of performance has fallen about 47% a quarter since 2023. Michael's read is that AI will compete away the profits it touches, which makes the scarce unit in an abundant world the question that matters. From there the three of them work through Amazon blocking Meta's Muse while Shopify opens its merchants to it, Block bringing Bitcoin Lightning payments to x402 for AI agents, the Open USD stablecoin consortium, the CFTC's call to prepare for mass tokenization, Citi and Coinbase, BlackRock's model portfolios on Ondo, Binance's $100 million stake in Circle, and Apollo's warning that agents could set off a bank run. The single point of failure of the week is the roughly $350 million Bitget hack, linked to North Korea.CHAPTERS00:00 - Eight AI models in two weeks: what the singularity looks like03:53 - Open-weight models, Oracle's Stargate notice, and Jevons paradox07:15 - Frontier versus open models, and why the harness holds the value10:46 - Amazon blocks Muse, Shopify opens the door16:57 - Why blocking bots fails, and why agents may raise prices23:13 - Block brings Bitcoin Lightning to x402 for AI agents26:26 - What if the ads of the agent internet are just money?29:07 - Open USD: Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase and Shopify30:56 - Mass tokenization, from the CFTC to the ECB's Pontes33:51 - Citi and Coinbase, BlackRock on Ondo, Binance into Circle36:50 - Stablecoins as the onramp, and the agentic bank run41:02 - If intelligence is free, where does alpha come from?44:09 - Single point of failure of the week: the Bitget hack48:35 - Russia tells investors to eat stablecoin freeze losses50:16 - The Epoch AI chart: cheaper faster than any tech in historyABOUT THE SHOWFinal Settlement is a weekly show on capital markets, dealmaking, early-stage venture, Bitcoin applications, and protocol development, presented by Early Riders and Onramp Media with Michael Tanguma, Liam Nelson, and Brian Cubellis.• Connect with Early Riders: https://www.earlyriders.com/contact• Michael: https://x.com/MTanguma · Liam: https://x.com/Lnelson_21 · Brian: https://x.com/BackslashBTC▶️ Watch the video: [YouTube link for this episode]MORE FROM ONRAMP MEDIA• The Last Trade and First Principles: https://www.youtube.com/@OnrampMedia• Signal vs Noise, live twice a week: https://www.youtube.com/@SignalvsNoiseLIVE• Audio, every show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1690709152 or search Onramp Bitcoin Media on Spotify• News and data: https://onramp.mediaOnramp does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. This episode is for entertainment purposes only.