Bankless
@Bankless • 411,608 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 - "We Want to Be Bigger Than the CME" Kalshi is moving far beyond prediction markets. John Wang joins David Hoffman to unpack its regulated crypto perps push, why regulation could be its biggest competitive advantage, and how event contracts could evolve into serious institutional hedging infrastructure. They also debate prediction markets’ insider trading problem, preview gold and silver perps, and address the rivalry with Polymarket, including Kalshi’s claim that its crypto volume is now 10x larger. CHAPTERS --- 0:00 Is Kalshi a Crypto Company? 3:56 Global Expansion and the Regulated Edge 14:55 The Regulated Perps Bet 21:38 Combining Perps and Predictions 27:51 The Insider Trading Problem 38:50 Who Owns Market Information? 45:58 From Sportsbooks to the CME 55:24 Prediction Markets for Institutions 1:02:40 Kalshi Versus Polymarket
Bankless70,729 views • 1 day ago
NEW EPISODE - What’s Next for BitMine After 5% of ETH? Bitmine (NYSE-BMNR) $ETH $BMNP is closing in on its goal of owning 5% of all ethereum:native after 60+ straight weeks of buying. Chairman Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com joins David Hoffman to break down what happens after 5%, why BitMine may keep accumulating, and how he sees Ethereum’s next phase unfolding through tokenization, AI, and institutional adoption. Plus: why Tom thinks ETH could easily trade above $10K in the next cycle. CHAPTERS --- 0:00 BitMine’s Rapid March Toward 5% of ETH 3:36 More Than 60 Consecutive Weeks of ETH Purchases 5:29 Where BitMine’s Capital Comes From 8:27 What Happens When BitMine Reaches 5%? 13:47 Would BitMine Ever Sell Its ETH? 15:29 Maven and BitMine’s Evolution Beyond a Treasury Company 16:52 Ethereum’s Next Narrative 23:06 Does Ethereum Actually Capture Value? 29:13 Is ETH a Store of Value or a Cash-Flowing Asset? 35:19 What BitMine Has Learned From Michael Saylor 37:42 Why BitMine Issued BMNP 42:13 The Proposal That Could Reduce Staking Yield to Zero 47:54 Funding Ethereum Foundation Spinouts 53:23 BitMine’s Role in Ethereum’s Future 1:02:14 Is AI Crowding Crypto Out of the Market? 1:05:11 Has the Crypto Market Already Bottomed? 1:06:18 Tom Lee’s ETH Price Outlook
Bankless251,776 views • 9 days 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
Bankless140,418 views • 5 days ago
Tom Lee’s (Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com) ETH target for the next 1–2 years: “I think ethereum:native could easily be over 10,000 in that time frame.” The full conversation is already live for Bankless Premium subscribers. Subscribe to Premium and watch now 👇
Bankless261,872 views • 11 days ago
AI may be stealing crypto’s attention today, but Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com sees it making crypto more important over time. “The stronger AI gets, it doesn't make crypto less relevant.” “In fact, the more AI evolves, the more important crypto is.” “Crypto is clearly a downstream story to AI.” “From a timing perspective… earlier this year, no one cared about owning anything else. But now that’s changing.”
Bankless91,283 views • 7 days ago
![WEEKLY ROLLUP: The Debasement Trade Is Back Bitcoin may be entering a new cycle just as the Treasury starts pushing back on rising yields. RYAN SΞAN ADAMS and Haseeb Qureshi ＞|＜ break down the Bessent Put, the return of the debasement trade, Coinbase’s tokenized stocks push, Ethena’s token reset, and whether AI is starting to consume the world’s capital. [TIMESTAMPS] 0:00 Intro 0:31 Crypto Energy Shift & Bitcoin’s New Cycle 5:55 The Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Put - *Walter Bloomberg - Charles Gasparino 14:11 Druckenmiller vs. Bessent - Nick Timiraos 23:31 Debasement Trade Returns - Jurrien Timmer - Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com 30:03 Coinbase 🛡️ Tokenized Stocks - Base 41:14 Ethena’s Token Reset - Ethena Foundation 53:59 AI Capital Hunger - Raoul Pal](https://image.24vids.com/tw-2093307613911843148/amplify_video_thumb/2093181949468704768/img/SB_juBvoCcBSS5PY.jpg)
WEEKLY ROLLUP: The Debasement Trade Is Back Bitcoin may be entering a new cycle just as the Treasury starts pushing back on rising yields. RYAN SΞAN ADAMS and Haseeb Qureshi ＞|＜ break down the Bessent Put, the return of the debasement trade, Coinbase’s tokenized stocks push, Ethena’s token reset, and whether AI is starting to consume the world’s capital. [TIMESTAMPS] 0:00 Intro 0:31 Crypto Energy Shift & Bitcoin’s New Cycle 5:55 The Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Put - *Walter Bloomberg - Charles Gasparino 14:11 Druckenmiller vs. Bessent - Nick Timiraos 23:31 Debasement Trade Returns - Jurrien Timmer - Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com 30:03 Coinbase 🛡️ Tokenized Stocks - Base 41:14 Ethena’s Token Reset - Ethena Foundation 53:59 AI Capital Hunger - Raoul Pal
Bankless51,167 views • 5 days ago
.Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com's 10-year vision for Bitmine (NYSE-BMNR) $ETH $BMNP is a bet on Ethereum becoming the dominant chain for tokenization and AI. “We made a bet that Ethereum will be the place where a lot of this will take place.” “I think our legacy is really helping Ethereum remain the most important of the chains in that future.” “Should $ETH flip bitcoin:native ? I think it’s a very plausible argument.” “If it’s $50,000 or $100,000 or $200,000, the returns to our shareholders are gonna be legendary.”
Bankless52,281 views • 8 days ago
![INTERVIEW: The EIP That Destroys DeFi | Stani Kulechov & Mike Silagadze Ethereum’s latest staking proposal is sparking backlash across DeFi. Aave founder Stani and ether.fi CEO Mike Silagadze🛡 join David Hoffman to break down why stake tapering could push $ETH yield toward zero, weaken solo staking, drive capital out of DeFi, and make ETH less attractive to institutions. They debate Ethereum’s monetary policy, whether the network is overpaying for security, and why trying to make ETH more like Bitcoin could undermine what makes Ethereum valuable in the first place. [TIMESTAMPS] Intro 0:00 0:09 Ethereum’s Staking Debate 2:41 Stani’s First Reaction 7:48 Mike’s Centralization Concerns 14:37 DeFi Under Pressure 17:15 Stani on Yield and Cash Flow 24:54 The Case for Vanilla Ether 27:20 Mike Pushes Back 34:27 Issuance and Monetary Policy 35:16 Minimum Viable Issuance 40:47 Institutions Need Predictability 46:10 Conservative Yield, Not Zero 47:46 Legitimacy and Process 52:54 Final Verdict on the EIP](https://image.24vids.com/tw-2086784633539035326/amplify_video_thumb/2086646809343279105/img/GMV3Y6u0xjcdz7j-.jpg)
INTERVIEW: The EIP That Destroys DeFi | Stani Kulechov & Mike Silagadze Ethereum’s latest staking proposal is sparking backlash across DeFi. Aave founder Stani and ether.fi CEO Mike Silagadze🛡 join David Hoffman to break down why stake tapering could push $ETH yield toward zero, weaken solo staking, drive capital out of DeFi, and make ETH less attractive to institutions. They debate Ethereum’s monetary policy, whether the network is overpaying for security, and why trying to make ETH more like Bitcoin could undermine what makes Ethereum valuable in the first place. [TIMESTAMPS] Intro 0:00 0:09 Ethereum’s Staking Debate 2:41 Stani’s First Reaction 7:48 Mike’s Centralization Concerns 14:37 DeFi Under Pressure 17:15 Stani on Yield and Cash Flow 24:54 The Case for Vanilla Ether 27:20 Mike Pushes Back 34:27 Issuance and Monetary Policy 35:16 Minimum Viable Issuance 40:47 Institutions Need Predictability 46:10 Conservative Yield, Not Zero 47:46 Legitimacy and Process 52:54 Final Verdict on the EIP
Bankless131,254 views • 23 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
Bankless160,130 views • 28 days ago
.Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com isn’t taking a side yet on EIP-8363: “Are we over rewarding the cost of security? And is it unfairly burdening those who aren’t staking? I think it’s a fair question.” “I think that it is unknown where the optimization curve is.” “On the flip side, I understand the argument that there’s the risk of a lot of unintended consequences and volatility.” “If there was no yield on Ethereum, there’s still plenty of ways to generate yield.”
Bankless46,416 views • 8 days ago
NEW EPISODE - NEAR Just Turned Staking Yield Into AI Compute What if staking yield could keep an AI agent thinking? Illia (root.near) (🇺🇦, ⋈) joins David Hoffman to unpack NEAR Protocol’s new AI economy, where users can redirect staking yield toward private, verifiable inference. They dig into autonomous businesses with their own treasuries, AI inside blockchain transactions, token value capture, and the coming global market for GPU compute. TIMESTAMPS --- 0:00 Private, Verifiable AI 4:57 Why AI Outputs Need Proof 9:13 From Staking Yield to Inference 16:16 NEAR’s Integrated AI Stack 20:01 NEAR as AI Money 24:27 Autonomous Businesses 28:51 Partners and Real-World Uses 33:26 What NEAR Ships Next 38:01 Where AI Value Accrues 40:56 The AI Operating System 48:07 Turning Compute Into a Market 51:48 Closing Thoughts
Bankless113,984 views • 22 days ago
LIVE NOW - Coinbase Launches Tokenized Stocks on Base jesse.base.eth joins David Hoffman to talk about Coinbase 🛡️ Tokenized Stocks and what changes when equities move onchain. 24/7 trading. Dividends. Governance rights. Permissionless composability. Borrowing, lending, yield, and eventually thousands of stocks plugged directly into Base DeFi. CHAPTERS --- 0:00 Coinbase Brings Tokenized Stocks to Base 5:17 Permissionless Stocks and the First Assets Going Live 10:11 Plugging Stocks Into Base DeFi 17:52 From Tokenized Stocks to Neo Brokerages 23:32 Crypto as a Global Financial System 27:20 What Builders Can Create With Onchain Stocks 32:04 Bringing Every Currency Onchain 42:47 Jesse’s Role at Base and the Everything Exchange 49:50 Tokenized Stocks Beyond Base
Bankless38,991 views • 8 days 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
Bankless303,827 views • 2 months ago
bitcoin:native probably isn’t staying at $80K. Haseeb Qureshi ＞|＜ sees the 2026 setup as roughly $60K vs. $100K: “Clearly Bitcoin’s gonna move. It’s not gonna sit here at 80K.” “It’s about equally likely that we hit 100K as that we go down to… closer to 60K.” “I think it’s very unlikely that we tread below 60 this year. That to me feels like it’s behind us… because of just the seller exhaustion.”
Bankless21,309 views • 4 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
Bankless444,479 views • 3 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
Bankless518,352 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 $80k in revenue since early February while operating on surprisingly low monthly costs. -------------- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0.24 Nat’s Background 6:30 Felix 11:43 Real Businesses vs Memecoins 14:23 Felix’s Employees 18:06 Felix’s Business 31:26 How Customized is Felix? 38:17 Felix’s Business Risks 40:12 Can OpenClaw Replace Knowledge Workers? 43:38 Claw Mart 48:49 Felix’s Expenses 51:15 Nat’s Role 56:39 Felix’s Discord 1:03:19 Citrini Doomer Scenario 1:13:04 Hiring Your First Agent 1:16:19 General AI Assistants 1:19:50 AI Friends 1:22:39 The AI Agent Frontier 1:26:52 Crypto x AI 1:31:53 What’s Next 1:34:27 Closing & Disclaimers
Bankless535,632 views • 6 months ago
![$VVV Community Call | August Venice Head of Strategy Jon Venice joins David Hoffman for the August $VVV community call to unpack Venice crossing $100M in annualized revenue, 4M total users, record $VVV burns, upcoming emissions cuts, expanding $DIEM supply, the tokenized inference economy, and what comes next. [TIMESTAMPS] 0:00 Livestream Kickoff 2:51 Burn Surge Explained 10:06 Revenue Milestone Unveiled 13:43 Emissions Cut Ahead 17:39 New Utility for Stakers 24:57 Trading Unused DM 30:28 DM Utilization Outlook 34:41 Diem Versus Compute Markets 38:05 Deflation Timeline Debate 40:57 Frontier Models Drive Demand 44:31 Model Explosion Accelerates 47:13 OpenRouter and Venice 52:26 Token-Equity Misalignment 1:01:12 Who Wins Compute Deflation? 1:04:26 Rainy Day DM Risk 1:06:54 Community Shoutouts and Closing](https://image.24vids.com/tw-2090137400337146303/amplify_video_thumb/2090135848457224192/img/tP23Tz5jJeezp9DL.jpg)
$VVV Community Call | August Venice Head of Strategy Jon Venice joins David Hoffman for the August $VVV community call to unpack Venice crossing $100M in annualized revenue, 4M total users, record $VVV burns, upcoming emissions cuts, expanding $DIEM supply, the tokenized inference economy, and what comes next. [TIMESTAMPS] 0:00 Livestream Kickoff 2:51 Burn Surge Explained 10:06 Revenue Milestone Unveiled 13:43 Emissions Cut Ahead 17:39 New Utility for Stakers 24:57 Trading Unused DM 30:28 DM Utilization Outlook 34:41 Diem Versus Compute Markets 38:05 Deflation Timeline Debate 40:57 Frontier Models Drive Demand 44:31 Model Explosion Accelerates 47:13 OpenRouter and Venice 52:26 Token-Equity Misalignment 1:01:12 Who Wins Compute Deflation? 1:04:26 Rainy Day DM Risk 1:06:54 Community Shoutouts and Closing
Bankless41,455 views • 13 days ago
.Secretary Janet Yellen (Archived)'s message (threat) to the crypto industry
Bankless1,890,826 views • 2 years ago
LIVE NOW - Productive Money: The Most Bullish Case for Ethereum ($250K) Ethereum may be one of the most underappreciated assets. Michael McGuiness and Vivek Raman of Etherealize lay out the case for ETH as “productive money”: A monetary asset with the store-of-value properties of gold and Bitcoin, but with the ability to compound through network activity. Enjoy! -------------- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 4:45 $250K ETH? 6:04 How to Price ETH 8:15 ETH’s Monetary Premium 10:25 What Differentiates ETH 13:54 The Path to $250K ETH 16:35 Menger’s Monetary Attributes 20:28 Scarcity 24:58 Fungibility 26:43 Divisibility 27:45 Portability 28:28 Durability 34:30 Verifiability 35:27 Censorship Resistance 37:00 ETH is Productive Money 41:39 How is ETH Productive? 46:40 Ethereum’s Tollbooth 51:28 Counterparty Risk 53:48 Productive Money vs Dead Capital 58:03 Pitching Productive Money to Wall Street 1:00:08 Why is ETH Underappreciated? 1:04:19 Wall Street ETH Investors 1:11:28 Other L1s 1:14:06 Why Not Just Buy the S&P? 1:15:00 Ethereum Technical Risks 1:17:20 How Does ETH Get to $250K? 1:23:18 Closing & Disclaimers
Bankless257,127 views • 4 months ago