Bankless
@Bankless • 410,722 subscribers
Welcome to Bankless: where we explore the frontier of crypto money, tech and finance. Learn how to get started, get better, and front-run the opportunity.
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NEW EPISODE - Zcash Names: ENS for Zcash Zcash Names founder James Joseph (Zechariah.zec) joins David Hoffman to break down how .zec usernames make shielded payments simpler without exposing your transaction history. They dive into how ZNS compares to Ethereum's ENS, the technology behind private usernames, the remaining security tradeoffs, and whether the system could pass the Edward Snowden privacy test. CHAPTERS --- 00:11 Making Private Payments as Easy as Venmo 05:06 How Zcash Names Actually Works 14:13 Would Edward Snowden Trust Zcash Names? 22:22 How to Claim Your Zcash Name 28:21 The Business and Economics of Zcash Names 36:55 Not Your Keys, Not Your Name
Bankless39,988 views • 10 days ago
NEW EPISODE - Why the Near $NRR ETF is Different NEAR Protocol just got a new institutional gateway. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley and SVRN's Sal Ternullo join David Hoffman to break down NRR’s strong launch, $32B+ in NEAR Intents volume, staking and token buybacks, and why NEAR may increasingly be viewed as a bet on the convergence of crypto and AI. Plus, why a future with many models, chains, and agents could play directly into NEAR’s strengths. CHAPTERS --- 0:00 NEAR’s New ETF 2:15 Bitwise and NEAR 8:49 Selling NEAR to Investors 12:18 Intents and Buybacks 20:23 Staking and ETF Demand 26:34 The AI Opportunity 33:11 Many Models, Many Chains 38:37 AI Privacy 42:48 Closing Thoughts
Bankless75,535 views • 26 days ago
LIVE NOW - Quantus is taking on crypto’s quantum problem. David Hoffman sits down with Quantus founder Christopher Smith and NEAR Protocol's Alex Shevchenko 🇺🇦 to unpack why Bitcoin’s hardest quantum challenge may be getting users to migrate, what happens to dormant wallets at Q-Day, and how Quantus + NEAR Intents are building for a post-quantum crypto economy. CHAPTERS --- 0:00 Why Quantum Matters for Crypto 5:00 Bitcoin’s Quantum Migration Problem 9:13 How NEAR Is Preparing for Post-Quantum Cryptography 12:42 Why Quantus Exists 16:40 Inside the Quantus Architecture 19:04 Can Better Technology Compete With Bitcoin’s Lindy? 26:49 The Race Before Q-Day 34:32 How Quantus Got Started 39:42 QTC Token Economics 42:57 Why Quantus Is Launching Through NEAR 47:23 NEAR as a Crypto Capital Market 50:54 Bootstrapping QTC Liquidity 53:44 Mainnet, Mining and the Quantus Launch 56:03 The Bigger Picture
Bankless71,522 views • 24 days ago
LIVE NOW - The $200 Billion Shadow Market Behind Anthropic's Stock | Dio Casares Anthropic's secondary market is tens of billions of dollars deep, stacked with SPVs on top of SPVs charging 10% fees plus carry, and almost entirely opaque. Diogenes of Patagon Markets breaks down how it actually works: - which deals Anthropic blesses and which get cease-and-desists, - why fake share certificates show up in 10-20% of executed deals, - what tokenized equities and pre-IPO perps actually represent, - and the mess of lawsuits and stuck shares coming when Anthropic finally IPOs. Enjoy. -------------- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:40 What is Going on in Secondary Markets? 7:03 How Anthropic Secondary Markets Unfold 14:51 Anthropic’s Secondaries Social Elite 19:00 Emerging SPV Structure 21:51 Accidental Frauds? 27:04 After IPO Consequences 35:13 Private Market Lessons 38:21 Patagon Markets 43:54 Tokenized Perps 44:57 Closing Thoughts
Bankless445,134 views • 5 months ago
LIVE NOW - Michael Salor’s Master Plan: "Fix the Money, Fix the World." Bitcoin to $21M. Strategy as a digital credit machine. An “8% bank account” for a billion people. Michael Michael Saylor joins Bankless for the first time to unpack: - Bitcoin becomes digital capital - Strategy’s Bitcoin credit machine - Quantum without panic - A new view on Ethereum - The “fix the money” thesis Enjoy the episode! -------------- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:00 Michael Saylor’s $21M Bitcoin thesis 4:33 What has to go right for Bitcoin to get there 11:00 Has Bitcoin adoption stalled out? 13:20 Why STRC became Strategy’s breakout product 18:05 The pitch behind a Bitcoin-backed money market 21:13 How STRC is engineered to stay stable 27:31 Where the 11.5% yield comes from 36:35 Is Strategy taking too much risk? 46:50 Does Strategy ever stop buying Bitcoin? 58:48 Quantum, panic, and the Bitcoin response 1:16:18 Michael Saylor on Ethereum today 1:25:46 “Fix the money, fix the world” 1:38:39 The crypto reactor and Strategy’s endgame
Bankless519,353 views • 6 months ago
INTERVIEW: Arthur Hayes - The AI Crash That Could Send bitcoin:native to $1M Arthur thinks the AI trade is sucking the oxygen out of crypto, and the real opportunity may come after the AI bubble cracks. Inside the episode: - AI CapEx mania - Why ethereum:native looks cheap - Oil as the macro bear case - “The Fed can’t print Moore’s Law” - How an AI credit event could send money back into crypto - Why Hyperliquid can challenge Binance - Why the inventor of perps says not to use leverage --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Why Arthur Sold HYPE, NEAR and ZEC 4:26 The AI Trade Starts to Look Crowded 6:25 How Arthur Is Positioned Now 7:15 Crypto’s Strange Market Dispersion 11:09 Oil, Iran and the Fake-Out Risk 14:16 Why the Iran Deal May Not Be Durable 17:29 Can AI Survive Higher Oil? 21:20 The AI Bubble Thesis 26:11 China’s Cheap AI Threat 30:38 The Credit Event Arthur Is Watching 35:51 The 2028 Perfect Storm 39:45 Why AI Is Draining Crypto’s Bull Market 44:28 Arthur on Inventing Perps 48:11 Why Perps Could Eat Wall Street 51:18 Socialized Loss Explained 53:21 Onshore vs Offshore Perps 55:50 Why Hyperliquid Can Flip Binance 56:30 The Perp Inventor Does Not Use Leverage
Bankless303,983 views • 4 months ago
LIVE NOW - Building a Million Dollar Zero Human Company with OpenClaw | Nat Eliason Nat Eliason joins us to show what it looks like to build a “zero human company” with Felix Craft, an AI CEO that ships products, runs ops, and manages other agents for support and sales. Felix went from an overnight info product to a full marketplace for AI agent skills: Claw Mart is service that deploys custom OpenClaw employees for real businesses, hitting nearly $80k in revenue since early February while operating on surprisingly low monthly costs. -------------- 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
Bankless536,278 views • 8 months ago
NEW EPISODE - Is Variational the Next Hyperliquid? Variational isn’t trying to be another perp exchange. Lucas Schuermann (lucas.var) & Justin Bram break down its broker model, how it taps into TradFi liquidity, why swaps could be a better retail primitive for RWAs, and the vision for accessing thousands of global markets from one USDC balance. Plus: the 32% VAR airdrop, mobile, and the push to bring the next wave of traders onchain. CHAPTERS --- 0:00 Broker, Not Exchange 5:07 Why Brokerage Wins for Retail 8:22 What Is a Swap? 9:58 The Real Cost of Trading 11:43 Bringing TradFi Liquidity Onchain 14:44 Building Variational 23:14 From Crypto Traders to Everyone 26:42 The Next User Base 30:35 What Actually Happens Onchain? 34:00 Inside OLP 37:03 Arbitrum and User Funds 39:44 The VAR Token and 32% Airdrop 42:34 Funding the Token Model 44:11 The 2027 Roadmap 47:44 Protocol or Platform?
Bankless73,442 views • 1 month ago
NEW EPISODE - Wall Street Wants Ethereum. Privacy Is the Bottleneck Institutions want to move onchain, but public-by-default finance still exposes too much. EthSystems co-founders Mo and oskarth join David Hoffman to break down why privacy may be Ethereum’s biggest institutional unlock, what banks and asset managers are actually asking for, and how private institutional rails could eventually plug into DeFi. CHAPTERS --- ETH Systems The Founders Institutional Privacy Real-World Use Cases From Bespoke to Scalable Building the Product Institutions Are Coming The Future of Institutional DeFi Privacy vs Transparency What Ethereum Can Do? Cypherpunks and Institutions
Bankless143,203 views • 2 months ago
NEW EPISODE - The CFTC’s Proposed Rules to Reshape US Crypto Markets CFTC Chair Mike Selig joins David Hoffman to unpack two proposed rules, Reg CTX and Reg CAM, that could reshape US crypto markets. They break down how traders could use ETH and SOL as collateral, why federal licensing could replace the state-by-state patchwork for participating exchanges, and how the rules aim to prevent another FTX. CHAPTERS --- 00:00 Intro 03:09 Why Financial Markets Need Federal Regulation 11:13 Who Actually Regulates Spot Bitcoin? 17:27 The CFTC, FinCEN, and State Regulators 22:29 The New Crypto Regulatory Trilogy 27:16 Reg CTX: Bringing Margin Trading Onshore 29:22 Reg CAM: A New Federal Exchange Framework 31:11 The Problem with 50 State Licenses 35:11 What Retail Crypto Leverage Could Look Like 39:24 Ending the SEC and CFTC Turf War 42:58 The Risks of Combining Financial Businesses 54:04 What Other Products Could This Unlock? 56:35 Where the CFTC Gets Its Authority 1:01:05 Can These Rules Survive Without the CLARITY Act? 1:05:05 Prediction Markets and the Supreme Court 1:08:11 How the Crypto Industry Can Respond
Bankless28,578 views • 12 days ago
Starknet says they are "Activity considering becoming an L1", because Ethereum might not being ready for Q-Day David Hoffman is skeptical: "okay guys... Starknet been posturing about leaving Ethereum as long as I can remember 🤣" Do you think Starknet will actually do it this time?
Bankless41,843 views • 19 days ago
.Secretary Janet Yellen (Archived)'s message (threat) to the crypto industry
Bankless1,890,989 views • 2 years ago
NEW EPISODE - Cypherpunk Owns $500M of Zcash and 18% of Its Hashrate Cypherpunk holds nearly $500M in $ZEC, controls ~18% of its mining hashrate, and has its sights set on 5% of the total supply. Will McEvoy, CIO of Cypherpunk Technologies, joins David Hoffman to unpack the company's massive Zcash bet and why AI could make financial privacy more important than ever. They dive into Zcash's explosive comeback, why its mining economics resemble Bitcoin's early gold rush, and the strategy behind accumulating and holding ZEC. CHAPTERS --- 0:00 Why Zcash Is Back in the Spotlight 3:24 Why Did Zcash Take So Long to Break Out? 5:09 Who Is Buying Zcash? 8:03 Can AI Identify Bitcoin Whales? 12:33 Inside Cypherpunk Technologies 16:39 Cypherpunk's Treasury and Valuation 17:57 Why Zcash Mining Is So Profitable 27:38 The Gap Between Zcash's Price and Hashrate 31:21 Mining Zcash and Keeping It 33:01 Why Buy CYPH Instead of Zcash? 38:05 What Is Cypherpunk Technologies Actually Worth? 41:44 Zcash's Builders and the Orchard Bug 46:37 Will McAvoy's Investing Background 49:23 Could Zcash Reach $10,000? 51:22 Will Governments Accept Financial Privacy?
Bankless40,390 views • 19 days ago
NEW EPISODE - solana:9cRCn9rGT8V2imeM2BaKs13yhMEais3ruM3rPvTGpump, Robinhood Chain, & Why $SOL Still Beats $ETH in 2026 | Mike Dudas Mike Dudas joins David Hoffman to unpack: • Whether solana:9cRCn9rGT8V2imeM2BaKs13yhMEais3ruM3rPvTGpump can become more than a memecoin • Robinhood Chain’s push into consumer crypto • Why memecoin culture is still expanding • The case for SOL over ETH • Where he’d put $1M for the next five years TIMESTAMPS --- 0:00 Bonk at Solana’s Bottom 7:07 What Gives Memecoins Value? 13:45 The Ansem Experiment 20:53 Are Memecoins Built to Die? 26:19 Culture Goes Onchain 29:45 Robinhood, Base, and the Trenches 32:59 Better Assets, Better Cycles 36:20 What 6MV Is Betting On 38:21 The Consumer Crypto Comeback 43:37 Compute Becomes a Market 47:57 Crypto’s AI Diaspora 50:53 SOL Versus ETH 57:02 Cycles, Equity, and Tokens 1:01:34 Why Crypto Takes Longer
Bankless160,839 views • 2 months ago
NEW EPISODE - FOMO, Meme Stocks and Robinhood Chain | andy & eric Eric and Andy join David Hoffman to unpack how fomo is changing meme coin discovery, which signals they actually watch before buying, how AI can surface bundled wallets and red flags, and the brutal reality of knowing when to cut a loser. From social trading and copy traders to information asymmetry and finding the next runner, this is a look inside how the meme coin game actually works today. CHAPTERS --- 0:00 Meme Coins Are Back 5:47 Can Meme Markets Mature? 7:48 AI as a Safety Layer 13:10 Stock-Paired Meme Coins 17:01 Building Stronger Schelling Points 21:00 Will Public Companies Care? 28:56 The Community Takeover Scenario 32:18 Meme Coins as a Liquidity Engine 36:16 How Andy and Eric Use FOMO 42:39 What Signals Actually Matter 47:54 When Do You Sell a Loser? 52:26 FOMO Rewards and Public Trading Data 55:36 The $20K ETH Jinx
Bankless68,330 views • 1 month ago
$200–$250k BTC and $10–$12k ETH by year-end? Tom Lee ( Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com ) and Arthur Hayes ( Arthur Hayes ) share their price predictions, and why they think ETH could do a 2.5x in just 2 months. 2 Legends. Same ballpark. Are we ready for these levels by Dec 31? 👀
Bankless576,545 views • 1 year ago
"As long as Bitcoin can hold 83k... it's hard to be bearish" - Benjamin Cowen
Bankless57,524 views • 1 month ago
LIVE NOW: Tom Lee, the World's Biggest ETH Holder Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com has made $BMNR the largest ETH treasury in the world. Over 800,000 ETH. And he's bullish for a reason: ETH is about to have it's Bitcoin 2017 moment. -------- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:57 The Rise of ETH Treasuries 8:27 The 5% ETH Strategy 12:08 The Role of Ethereum in Wall Street 17:57 Accumulating More ETH 26:39 Wall Street's Misunderstanding of Crypto 32:41 Ethereum's 2017 Moment 40:09 The Potential for 100x 48:52 Estimating ETH's Value 53:08 Navigating Market Risks 1:01:36 Closing Thoughts on Ethereum
Bankless656,453 views • 1 year ago