Bankless

Crypto prices are down, but the most important players are still building. In this week’s Weekly Rollup, Ryan and David break down Coinbase’s push to become a financial super app, JPMorgan’s first tokenized money market fund on Ethereum, and why regulators are quietly opening the door for onchain settlement through DTCC pilots. They also unpack Solana’s Firedancer finally going live, the growing fight over tokenholder rights at Aave and what Uniswap’s unification proposal gets right, and why tokenization and prediction markets are advancing faster than prices suggest. --- 📣M0 | THE UNIVERSAL STABLECOIN PLATFORM https://bankless.cc/m0  --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANS https://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, & EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | CONTINUOUS CLEARING AUCTIONS https://bankless.cc/uniswap-cca 🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025 https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon 💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:14 Markets https://www.google.com/finance/beta/quote/BTC-USD?hl=en&window=1Y&comparison=SOL-USD%2CETH-USD&type=line https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/12/12/barclays-sees-down-year-for-crypto-in-2026-without-big-catalysts https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/cpi-november-inflation-rate-rcna249847 https://x.com/0xNonceSense/status/2000561186497233247  https://x.com/leshka_eth/status/2000738467953967362 12:38 Bankless Announcements https://x.com/Bankless/status/2001694903084937469 https://www.bankless.com/ico-watch/ https://x.com/JustDeauIt/status/2001380424329892009 20:12 Coinbase System Update https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1BRJjgWpwwpxw  https://www.coinbase.com/ccm https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/robinhood-stock-tokens https://www.coinbase.com/prediction-markets https://app.morpho.org/base/borrow https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48/GOOGLON 37:50 Aave Drama, v4 & the 2026 Master Plan https://governance.aave.com/t/aave-cowswap-integration-tokenholder-questions/23530 https://x.com/aave/status/1996591393817473247 https://x.com/DefiIgnas/status/1999728596626342177 https://www.circle.com/blog/circle-signs-agreement-to-acquire-interop-labs-team-intellectual-property https://x.com/howdymerry/status/1991932582938943798 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2001566377656602705 https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2001036446098919461 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2001303903447466476 47:20 Solana BreakPoint https://x.com/solana/status/1999399841957576741 https://x.com/phantom/status/1999442547039756491 https://x.com/jerallaire/status/2000926577727562023 https://x.com/theoneandomsy/status/1999654845607710749 52:48 SEC says DTCC can tokenize stocks https://x.com/Snapcrackle/status/1999389068321300814 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS5cDEyEf38 https://www.dtcc.com/news/2025/december/17/dtcc-and-digital-asset-partner-to-tokenize-dtc-custodied-us-treasury-securities https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/canton 57:06 JPMorgan launched their first ever tokenized money market fund - Ethereum https://x.com/ethereum/status/2000665928598524014 57:56 Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison  https://x.com/zoomerfied/status/1999237162361888869 59:43 New York Times put out another anti-crypto piece  https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2000334663479447557 https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/2000573428093341865 1:01:23 Netflix announced new Bitcoin comedy  https://x.com/BitcoinArchive/status/1999491003451867515 1:03:02 Closing & Disclaimers  --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Trading is no longer just a financial activity; it has become a spectator sport. In this episode, Threadguy explains how Gen Z’s internet-native fluency, built through sneaker markets, NFTs, and meme cycles, translates into a new kind of market intuition: attention, momentum, and mimetics. We delve into “Entertainment Finance,” where perps, prediction markets, and live trading are starting to resemble streaming and esports more closely than Wall Street. Along the way, we explore why “internet capital markets” may pull everything on-chain over time, what happens when every asset becomes content, and why creators and traders will keep pushing into the open frontier. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANS https://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, & EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | CONTINUOUS CLEARING AUCTIONS https://bankless.cc/uniswap-cca 🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025 https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon 💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Threadguy: “Gen Z crypto face” 2:58 Sneaker Twitter: trade-first upbringing 8:03 Onboarding via social proof 13:08 Two Gen Z money paths 16:53 Crypto as opportunity engine 20:38 Why he won’t leave crypto 23:35 Media growth and infinite TAM 29:31 Entertainment finance: markets as content 37:28 Risk takers become “athletes” 42:27 PVP arcs and downfall appetite 44:25 Trading mimetics: valuation doesn’t matter 49:53 One internet note, spills to equities 55:15 Counterparty: home for internet markets 58:40 Token launch replaces IPO 1:02:38 Where to follow + content grind --- RESOURCES Threadguy https://x.com/notthreadguy Threadguy’s Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/threadguy --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

The Fed cut rates and announced $40B/month in T bill purchases. Is that the signal to buy back into crypto? Mike says no. In this episode, we explain why “QE light” is not real easing, the key indicators Mike needs before flipping risk on, and what Bitcoin’s onchain market structure suggests about where this cycle could go next. ---- 📣THE DEFI REPORT | FOLLOW & SUBSCRIBE https://thedefireport.transistor.fm/ https://thedefireport.io/ https://x.com/the_defi_report https://x.com/JustDeauIt ---- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Introduction to the DeFi Report 2:28 Current Market Positioning 9:25 Federal Reserve's Actions Explained 13:13 Economic Conditions & Predictions 18:35 Big Picture of Economic Strategy 23:17 Analyzing Bitcoin's Market Structure 29:57 Closing & Future Outlook ---- Not financial or tax advice. For educational purposes only.

Bitwise’s Matt Hougan and Ryan Rasmussen return with 10 big predictions for 2026. From the case for $1M BTC (and why the classic four-year cycle may be dead) to a world where ETFs soak up more than 100% of new BTC/ETH/SOL supply. We get into Bitcoin volatility vs. mega-cap tech, crypto equities vs. tech equities, and why Polymarket could smash past its 2024 election-era highs. Plus: stablecoins as an “escape valve” that emerging economies may blame for currency stress, on-chain also known as “ETFs 2.0,” and how the Clarity Act could be the starter’s gun for ETH and SOL to run. ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24  https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANS https://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, & EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | CONTINUOUS CLEARING AUCTIONS https://bankless.cc/uniswap-cca 🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025 https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon 💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep 💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Last Year Predictions 13:12 1. Bitcoin Breaks 4-Year Cycle 16:19 2. BTC Less Volatile Than NVDA 22:09 3. ETFs Purchasing New Supply of Crypto 30:02 4. Crypto Equities Outperforming Equities 37:23 5. Prediction Markets All-Time Highs 42:50 6. Stablecons Destabilizing Currencies 48:16 7. Onchain Vaults Doubling in AUM 52:56 8. Clarity Act Triggering ETH & Sol All-Time Highs 56:40 9. Ivy League Endowments Investing in Crypto 58:49 10. 100+ Crypto ETPs Launching 1:01:14 Bitwise Announcement 1:04:08 Bonus. Bitcoin Equity Correlation Falling 1:07:29 Progress in 2025 1:10:48 Cross-Generational Wealth Transfer? 1:13:02 Closing Thoughts & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Matt Hougan https://x.com/Matt_Hougan  Ryan Rasmussen https://x.com/RasterlyRock  Bitwise https://bitwiseinvestments.com/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

AI is becoming the most powerful surveillance machine ever built and most people are feeding it their deepest secrets without realizing who can read them. Proton founder Andy Yen joins Bankless to explain how Big Tech captures your identity, why AI chat logs are a privacy disaster waiting to happen, and what a self-sovereign, user-aligned future could look like. We explore how AI models profile you, why subscription business models don’t guarantee privacy, how Proton built Lumo without retaining user data, and why encrypted email remains the cornerstone of your digital identity. Andy also breaks down EU “chat control,” Apple’s privacy-washing, the crisis of trust in crypto, and the practical steps anyone can take today to reclaim their digital freedom. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANS https://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, & EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP LABS | SWAP NOW https://bankless.cc/uniswap-labs 🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025 https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon 💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:18 Why Privacy Matters More Than Ever 3:24 How Screwed Are We? Andy’s 1–10 Privacy Score 5:43 Who Can Read Your AI Chats? 12:22 Worst-Case Scenarios: AI Breaches & Behavioral Profiles 15:08 AI Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself 16:55 Privacy as a Digital Civil Liberty 20:26 Can Big Tech Ever Offer Real Privacy? 26:28 Why Lumo AI Can Be Private (and Big Tech Won’t Copy It) 31:08 What Lumo Runs On & How It Competes With Frontier Models 35:45 The Case for a Self-Sovereign AI 38:46 How Proton’s Foundation Model Really Works 45:47 Can Private AI Be Sustainable? 49:47 The Full Proton Privacy Stack 54:59 The Messy State of Encrypted Chat Apps 58:49 Browsers, Search, and the Dark Patterns of AI Integration 1:02:53 Are iPhones Actually Private? 1:12:42 The Fight Over Encryption: EU Chat Control & Beyond 1:26:08 “A Backdoor for the Good Guys” — Why It Can’t Work 1:29:42 Financial Privacy = Freedom 1:32:58 Crypto’s Reputation Problem 1:39:24 Practical Privacy: The One High-Leverage Step 1:45:15 Two Futures: One Dark, One Bright --- RESOURCES Andy Yen https://x.com/andyyen --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures