Bankless

Can Crypto disrupt the IP Market?

In this episode, we dive deep with Jason Zhao, co-founder of Story Protocol, on how their new token launch could unlock the $70 trillion intellectual property market. We explore the bold vision of making IP liquid, programmable, and globally accessible — and how crypto-native creators, DAOs, and even major studios could reshape how stories are owned and bui...

Ethereum has achieved groundbreaking technological success, but has it failed to properly define ETH the asset?

In this episode, Frax founder Sam Kazemian joins us to discuss what he believes is Ethereum’s biggest mistake: confusing the ETH asset with Ethereum the technology. Sam argues that post-EIP-1559 and Proof of Stake, ETH unintentionally shifted toward a discounted cash flow (DCF) va...

This week, the one, the only, Ryan Sean Adams makes his return to the Weekly Rollup and crypto, after a 90-day crypto detox to find a radically changed landscape. Ryan and David break down crypto’s shifting cycle, what Ryan missed, and Bitcoin’s dramatic decoupling from equities as it earns a strategic reserve in the U.S. Treasury. Meanwhile, Ethereum faces an existential pivot as it tries to reclaim lost groun...

In this episode, we unpack Paradigm’s groundbreaking 2025 report, “TradFi Tomorrow: DeFi and the Rise of Extensible Finance,” with Paradigm’s Dan Robinson and Justin Slaughter.

We explore the stunning stat that 66% of traditional financial institutions are actively engaged with DeFi—and what that really means. From tokenization and stablecoins to regulatory clarity and decentralized exchang...

Jon Charbonneau and Bread join David Hoffman to unpack Ethereum’s pivotal moment—facing tough choices to re-focus on its Layer 1.

They break down Ethereum’s shift back toward prioritizing L1 growth, the delicate dance between Layer 1 and Layer 2 strategies, and why Ethereum must reclaim DeFi as its core strength. The conversation also explores the nuanced dynamics between Ethereum’s cultural...

Ethereum Foundation researchers Dankrad Feist and Ansgar Dietrichs join David Hoffman and Michael Ippolito to discuss Ethereum’s identity crisis—and how it’s turning the ship around.

They break down Ethereum’s cultural and organizational challenges, the pivot toward L1 growth, and the evolving role of the Ethereum Foundation under new leadership. The conversation covers the future of base an...

Stablecoins are no longer a niche crypto curiosity—they're a full-blown financial revolution.

In this episode, Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, joins us to unpack the emerging stablecoin tech stack and why cross-border payments, savings, and financial infrastructure are being rebuilt from the ground up.

From Circle and Tether to next-gen orchestration layers an...

This week, Haseeb Qureshi joins us to break down Trump’s explosive new tariffs that rocked global markets and triggered a full-blown trade war with China. Stocks whipsawed, recession odds spiked, and the world scrambled to the negotiation table — except China. Was it 3D chess or policy chaos? Plus, we explore the ripple effects on crypto markets, investor sentiment, and what this all means for the future of U.S...

Welcome to the AI Rollup, your weekly ride through the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence! This week, we’re joined by frontier tech enthusiast Josh Kale to unpack the drama around Meta’s controversial launch of Llama 4, scrutinized for potentially overstating its capabilities. We dive into “AI 2027,” a provocative roadmap predicting espionage, geopolitical turmoil, and runaway intelligence, and explore...

We’ve got the team behind Etherealize on the show today—Vivek Raman and Danny Ryan—to discuss their mission to onboard institutions, governments, and capital markets to Ethereum.

We explore how Ethereum is “open for business” with L2 scaling, modular architecture, and a maturing regulatory landscape. The Etherealize team breaks down their dual structure—a for-profit consulting and product ar...

This week, Alex Thorn joins us to unpack Trump's shocking tariff announcement that sent markets plunging and investors scrambling. Circle files for its IPO, revealing surprising financials, while the FDIC gives banks the crypto green light. CoreWeave debuts with a blockbuster IPO, and Eric Trump dives deeper into Bitcoin mining. We cover all this chaos and more in this week’s Weekly Rollup.

Felipe Montealegre, co-founder of Thea Capital, joins us to unpack a new vision for global finance—what he calls the Internet Financial System. 

Felipe makes the case that today's financial world still runs on siloed, permissioned databases—slow, expensive, and riddled with gatekeepers. But blockchains and smart contracts offer something radically different: a u...

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev returns to Bankless for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of tokenization, crypto regulation, and Robinhood’s evolving product suite. 

Vlad lays out a bold vision for bringing tokenized assets like SpaceX and OpenAI equity to retail investors, discusses the role of prediction markets as "truth machines," and introduces Robinhood'...

This week, Mike Ippolito joins us to break down crypto’s big flip as institutions rush into stablecoins—triggering excitement and anxiety alike. Hyperliquid faces drama after a high-stakes market manipulation attack, BlackRock's tokenized treasuries surge to nearly $2 billion, and the U.S. Treasury finally removes Tornado Cash from its sanctions list. Meanwhile, Robinhood enters banking, raising questions about...