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The Return of the ICO | Ryan & David
ICOs are suddenly back, but this time the projects are real, the mechanisms are better, and retail isn’t shut out. Ryan and David break down why MegaEth, Monad, Aztec, Zama, and Infinex are launching public sales all at once, how onchain auctions are fixing 2017’s mistakes, and what regulatory clarity means for U.S. participation. They also dive into the rise of internet native capital markets on Ethereum, the shift away from airdrop farming, and why fair price discovery could be a defining theme of 2026. ------ 📣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 0:13 Are ICOs Back? 2:54 The Rise of Capital Formation 5:04 Learning from 2017 ICO Mania 7:19 Regulatory Challenges & Arbitrage 10:56 Recent ICOs Overview 17:01 Exploring the MegaEth Sale 26:21 Monad's Unique Approach 30:40 The Innovative Aztec ICO 45:19 Upcoming Auctions: Zama & Infinex 1:04:41 The Future of Capital Formation 1:07:46 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
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Inside Gary Gensler’s SEC: A Conversation with Former Crypto Policy Advisor Corey Frayer
What was really happening inside the SEC during the Gensler years? Today, we sat down with Corey Frayer, former senior crypto policy advisor to SEC Chair Gary Gensler and now Director of Investor Protection at the Consumer Federation of America. We dig into how the agency thought about securities law, DeFi, Uniswap, stablecoins, SAB 121, and why platforms like Coinbase and Kraken ended up in the crosshairs. Corey defends the Gensler playbook while responding to the industry’s harshest criticisms, from “regulation by enforcement” to claims of a political war on crypto. Corey Frayer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-frayer-990a6b2 ------ 🎬 DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODE https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-inside-gary-genslers-sec ------ 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 4:58 Crypto Industry Misconceptions 7:59 Corey’s Role & Background 14:20 How it All Started 24:16 No Path to Register? 31:26 Technology vs Economic Activity 38:22 Protecting Investors 41:07 DeFi Regulation 44:53 Uniswap’s Wells Notice 57:00 Fake DeFi vs True DeFi 1:03:41 Google Analogy 1:08:35 The Howey Test 1:16:53 SEC: Good or Evil? 1:26:52 GENIUS Bill 1:29:10 SAB 121 1:33:01 Crypto & SEC Political Impact 1:36:02 Paul Atkin’s SEC 1:38:15 What Would Corey Change? 1:41:23 Gary’s Text Messages 1:43:10 Is ETH a Security? 1:44:39 Gary Gensler’s Radio Silence 1:47:37 Gary’s Twitter April Fools PFP 1:50:44 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠
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Crypto’s Agentic Future: AI, ZK & Money Networks | Lincoln, Shea, Michael, & Luca
At our Bankless Summit in Buenos Aires, four standout talks captured the frontier of crypto’s next chapter. Lincoln Murr lays out why x402 is emerging as the missing payment layer for the agentic internet. Shay Ketsdever explains how bots already run modern markets, and how programmable auctions and privacy can turn the bot economy into something that benefits people instead of exploits them. Michael Dong shows how real-time ZK proving unlocks a hundred-fold expansion of Ethereum’s computational power. And Luca Prosperi reframes money as a network, warning that today’s stablecoin architecture is a single point of failure and arguing for a more resilient, distributed monetary system. ------ 📣BANKLESS SUMMIT 2025 | SPONSORED BY M0 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 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 & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 4:26 x402 & The Agentic Internet | Lincoln Murr 22:58 The Bot Economy: When AI & MEV Collide | Shea Ketsdever 47:16 1000x the L1: The Path To Infinite Compute | Michael Dong 1:09:25 A Network Theory of Money | Luca Prosperi ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
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ROLLUP: Buy Signal? | Fusaka Launch | Polymarket Mainstream | Trump’s Fed Chair | SEC Crypto Shift
Bitcoin hit a rare signal this week, dropping to its cheapest level relative to gold in nearly 15 years. Is that a buy signal or something deeper in the macro picture? Ryan and David break down what the BTC–gold anomaly really means, how liquidity, rates, and Trump’s surprise Fed Chair pick factor in, and whether the market is entering a shallow cycle instead of a true winter. We also cover Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade, Vitalik’s push to bring builders back to L1, Polymarket’s mainstream breakout and CNN–Kalshi deal, and Aztec’s 16K ETH privacy auction. Plus, the SEC’s coming innovation exemption and the growing alliance between Larry Fink and Brian Armstrong. ------ 📣REYA | ETHEREUM FOR TRADERS https://bankless.cc/reya ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANS https://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025 https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon 💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep ------ TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 4:09 Spotify Wrapped https://x.com/AviiWeb3/status/1996326825736487062 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/1996331131164373441 7:17 Markets https://x.com/stacy_muur/status/1995761132527911338 https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/11/29/why-gold-is-winning-over-bitcoin-in-2025-liquidity-trade-and-trust https://x.com/simonkim_nft/status/1993744596908802121 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/1996543833753174365 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-new-federal-reserve-chair-be-announced-early-next-year-2025-12-02/ https://polymarket.com/event/who-will-trump-nominate-as-fed-chair https://thedefireport.io/research/macro-risks-are-mispriced#rate-cuts https://www.strategy.com/press/strategy-announces-establishment-of-1-44-billion-usd-reserve-and-updates-fy-2025-guidance_12-1-2025 https://www.tradingview.com/chart/52u4tG3f/ https://x.com/BlackRock/status/1995537254022869438 https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/1996264980241617007 https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/1996275431625159096 https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/02/bank-of-america-greenlights-wealth-advisors-to-recommend-up-to-4-bitcoin-allocation https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/1996270024663957881 30:20 Polymarket Live in the U.S. on 60 mins & Kalshi CNN https://x.com/Polymarket/status/1996231420117688701 https://apps.apple.com/us/iphone/charts/6004 https://polymarket.com/event/will-polymarket-us-go-live-in-2025 https://app.artemisanalytics.com/asset/polymarket https://www.forbes.com/profile/shayne-coplan https://youtu.be/ZA5bY4K9XPs https://x.com/60Minutes/status/1995293602612691238 https://x.com/WhaleInsider/status/1995886355713589307 https://x.com/WALLACHLEGAL/status/1994039650877628546 https://x.com/Kalshi/status/1996233186251075862 40:27 Ethereum Fusaka is live! https://x.com/sassal0x/status/1996336227474423991 https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1996342458234605895 https://x.com/sassal0x/status/1996442356464361817 https://etherscan.io/gastracker https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1995209899182375024 https://ultrasound.money https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/1995349830265159782 https://x.com/nero_eth/status/1995480367050920265 https://x.com/nero_eth/status/1995487640309944639 50:05 Tether Fud https://x.com/CryptoHayes/status/1994915256150495652 https://x.com/JosephA140/status/1994943733054542124 https://x.com/MonetSupply/status/1995187007803285936 53:21 The AZTEC token sale just crossed 15.9k ETH committed https://x.com/aztecnetwork/status/1996054062450786392 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/1996088299354497325 https://x.com/BillHughesDC/status/1995851990082224151 55:28 SEC announced Innovation Exemption https://x.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1995839722854514838 https://x.com/DeItaone/status/1995849795219378590 56:22 Uniswap & Revolut https://x.com/Uniswap/status/1995873897334669428 56:45 Bullish UK Crypto? https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/29/pdfs/ukpga_20250029_en.pdf https://www.theblock.co/post/381181/uk-new-law-crypto-property 55:25 Meme of the Week https://x.com/jonwu_/status/1995483574238347289 58:58 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
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Ethereum’s Next Decade | Tomasz K. Stańczak, Ansgar Dietrichs, Dankrad Feist, & Danny Ryan
This episode showcases four of the most important talks from our Bankless Summit event in Buenos Aires for Devconnect, each capturing how Ethereum is evolving as it enters the real world. Tomasz K. Stańczak reveals the EF’s new priorities around developer acceleration, founder support, institutional engagement, and unifying the L2 ecosystem. Ansgar Dietrichs explains why Ethereum is shifting from long-term exploration to near-term execution, detailing the plan to 3x L1 scale annually and accelerate real-time ZKVM progress. Dankrad Feist makes the case for a DeFi-centric L1 where Ethereum becomes the global liquidity layer for RWAs and high-value settlement. And Danny Ryan closes with a raw, personal account of building proof of stake, surviving an SEC scare, and why he still believes Ethereum can meaningfully reshape global finance. These talks matter because they chart the clearest picture yet of where Ethereum is heading, what the next decade requires, and how its core builders are steering it there. ------ 📣BANKLESS SUMMIT 2025 | SPONSORED BY M0 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 | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep ------ TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 4:19 Tomasz K. Stańczak Ethereum's Next 5 Years 28:00 Ansgar Dietrichs Scaling Ethereum 2026: Why & How? 53:22 Dankrad Feist | Ethereum's DeFi Centric Strategy 1:10:22 Danny Ryan | The Last 8 Years: Ethereum, Burnout, & Coming Back ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
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