Bankless

The bull market may be back, but Bitcoin might not be leading it. Ryan and David break down the early-bull signals, Zcash and NEAR’s surge, rising yields, Kalshi’s wash-trading controversy, and BlackRock’s expanding crypto push.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:28 Early Bull Confirmed

https://thedefireport.io/research/early-bull-confirmed

https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2102007452057079986

https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2102572123185107151

https://x.com/saylor/status/2102011709808353551

13:23 New Bull Market Leaders

https://www.bankless.com/read/this-is-not-bitcoin-s-cycle

https://x.com/Delphi_Digital/status/2064430003731804517

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/zcash

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/near

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2100789397960704285

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2102787878552015357

https://x.com/CosimoCapital/status/2102886894115696978

33:18 Rising Yields & the Debasement Trade

https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/2103118843061182872

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-US10Y/

https://www.tradingview.com/chart/KZYJV3ef/

https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights/memo/shall-we-repeal-the-laws-of-economics---part-iii

42:29 Kalshi Wash Trading Drama

https://x.com/icobeast/status/2101358009477632410

https://x.com/beniduboss/status/2101459048247808010

https://news.kalshi.com/p/the-facts-behind-kalshi-s-perpetuals-volume

https://cointelegraph.com/news/kalshi-says-cftc-hasnt-contacted-it-over-unusual-5b-trading-activity

47:57 Vitalik Backs Trueo

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/true

https://trueo.com/

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2102143283493507554

https://x.com/Trueo_/article/2102123554162561272

54:37 New Tokens & Institutional Crypto Expansion

https://x.com/variational_io/status/2102929439063765192

https://x.com/Ondo/status/2103106602593087575

https://x.com/WSJmarkets/status/2103092730880569691

https://x.com/BlackRock/status/2102409739175141458

https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/literature/whitepaper/the-machine-native-economy.pdf

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-09-22-binance-takes-100-million-circle-stake-alongside-five-year-usdc-deal-416042

https://www.blockhead.co/2026/09/22/coinbase-opens-ipo-share-allocations-to-us-retail-customers-starting-with-smart-ring-maker-oura/

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Meme coins are back, but this time the more interesting story may be what they're building around them. David sits down with Eric and Andy to unpack the latest meme-coin cycle, the rise of stock-paired memes on Robinhood Chain, and the strange possibility that speculative trading could actually bootstrap liquidity for tokenized equities.

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TIMESTAMPS

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

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RESOURCES

Andy 8052
https://x.com/andy8052

Eric Conner
https://x.com/econoar

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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Robinhood is trying to erase the line between crypto markets and traditional finance. David sits down with Johann from Robinhood to unpack the rise of tokenized stocks, why so much activity is already happening outside normal trading hours, and what changes when equities become programmable, composable and available across DeFi.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Bringing Tokenization to the U.S.
2:17 How Robinhood Stock Tokens Actually Work
5:19 TradFi Pushback and Demand for Tokenized Stocks
7:59 Voting Rights, Redemption and DeFi Utility
10:29 What Happens When Stocks Trade on Weekends
13:42 Will Blockchain Become the Primary Market?
18:46 Robinhood Chain’s Early Traction
21:22 Beyond Stocks: Real Estate, Gold and More
24:22 How Robinhood Chooses What to Build
26:36 What U.S. Users Still Can’t Access
29:49 Combining Tokenized Stocks With Perps
32:51 Why Robinhood Chose Ethereum
35:32 AI Agents and the Next Robinhood Products

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RESOURCES

Johann Kerbrat
https://x.com/JohannKerbrat

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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Crypto just shrugged off a Fed hike and the death of the Clarity Act. Ryan and David break down the early-bull signal, the SEC’s tokenized-stock breakthrough, the coming options race, and Hyperliquid’s path into the U.S.

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👑 BANKLESS CONTENT MCP

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:26 Bull Market Signals: BTC, Zcash & Altcoins

https://x.com/econoar/status/2099874713539604734

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2100286172253815281

https://x.com/AviFelman/status/2100288435474825301

https://x.com/NEARProtocol/status/2099968050405495246

https://x.com/NEARProtocol/status/2099883498848784778

8:39 Macro: Tom Lee, Bonds & the Fed Hike

https://x.com/StockMKTNewz/status/2100267546683543913

https://x.com/geiger_capital/status/2099503989364609340

https://x.com/CNBC/status/2100284014221295770

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2026-09-16/fed-chairman-warsh-calls-rate-hike-a-sober-decision-video

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/16/trump-fed-interest-rate-warsh.html

23:43 Clarity Act Falls Apart

https://x.com/CoinDesk/status/2099429197034766830

https://x.com/tradfi/status/2099319531168731528

https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2099529644596731950

https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2100389230874689650

26:27 Regulators Fill the Gap: SEC & Tokenized Stocks

https://x.com/chairmanselig/status/2100232064259735589

https://x.com/SECPaulSAtkins/status/2100256253645668860

https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2100274788170162522

https://x.com/SECPaulSAtkins/status/2100572313334821271

https://x.com/Bankless/status/2100582318335275190

https://x.com/NateGeraci/status/2100581006004691453

42:31 The Crypto Options Race

https://thedefireport.io/research/the-watch-list-derive-drv

https://www.bankless.com/podcast/crypto-is-ready-for-onchain-options-nick-forster-ceo-of-derive

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2100297485147406766

45:46 Hyperliquid Comes Onshore

https://x.com/Payward/status/2100178016617869710

https://www.payward.com/press-release/payward-hyperliquid-onchain-perpetual-futures

48:38 Arc Chain Launches

https://x.com/arc/status/2100170550857404852

50:50 OpenZeppelin Joins S&P Global

https://x.com/OpenZeppelin/status/2100557026438848568

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Circle just launched Arc Mainnet, and its ambition is much bigger than putting USDC on another blockchain. Circle Chief Product and Technology Officer Nikhil Chandhok joins David on launch day to unpack the vision for an “economic OS” built around fast settlement, stablecoin gas, privacy, and institutional-grade financial infrastructure.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Arc Mainnet Is Live
2:57 The “Economic OS” Vision
5:29 Validators, Privacy and Post-Quantum Security
8:27 How Private Is Arc?
12:24 Immutability and the Lazarus Test
16:14 What Gets Built on Arc First?
19:19 AI Agents Become Economic Actors
26:45 Agentic Commerce Gets Real
33:17 Reputation, Nano-Payments and Agent Credit
36:37 Tokenized Stocks and 24/7 Markets
39:59 Solving the On-Ramp and FX Problem
47:39 What Happens After Launch Day?
49:16 Closing Thoughts

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RESOURCES

Nikhil Chandhok
https://x.com/chandhok

Arc
https://www.arc.io/

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures