Western Union, Visa, PayPal, Meta: Why Major Payments Giants Are Racing to Solana

Kevin O'Leary joins the mainstage at Consensus wearing a $5.2 million Michael Jordan card around his neck and explains why collectibles have become his best-performing asset class, including a 3am bidding war that cost him nearly $13 million. He then breaks down why 97% of institutional crypto interest is concentrated in just BTC and ETH, why altcoins got slaughtered, and what it will actually take for blockchain to get adopted by the S&P 500. Plus, why he thinks power infrastructure and data centers are a better bet than picking crypto winners. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Kevin O'Leary at Consensus Miami 2026 01:16 - Sports Cards as an Asset Class 03:25 - Tokenization, the Clarity Act, and Why Altcoins Got Slaughtered 05:21 - The S&P 500 Blockchain Thesis: One Chain Will Win 07:53 - Why Power Is More Valuable Than Bitcoin 09:34 - The US vs China AI Race

Senator Angela Alsobrooks joins hosts Rebecca Rettig and Renato Mariotti to discuss the three outstanding issues she needs resolved before voting Clarity off the Senate floor. Plus, insights into Jamie Dimon's criticism over stablecoin yield. And, former Congressman George Santos named person of the week for the Kalshi insider trading investigation. - Timecodes: 00:00 Sen. Alsobrooks on Ethics 00:26 Welcome to The Policy Protocol 00:56 CFTC Greenlights Perps in 24 Hours 02:33 OFAC Sanctions Iran's Nobitex 05:56 Offshore Exchanges Coming Onshore 07:05 Senator Angela Alsobrooks Joins 07:45 Defending the Yield Compromise Against Jamie Dimon 10:21 What's Needed for an Ethics Compromise 12:17 How ClarityHelps Underbanked Constituents 15:03 Why More Democrats Aren't on Board 16:25 What It Takes to Get Clarity Across the Line 17:13 Sen. Alsobrooks's Approach 18:33 Why Clarity Is the World's Only DeFi Legislation 21:27 Senator Lummis Pushes Back on Jamie Dimon 22:31 George Santos Named Person of the Week

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig sits down on the mainstage at Consensus to break down the most consequential regulatory shift in crypto history: a joint SEC-CFTC taxonomy that finally defines what kind of asset everything is, effectively putting the Howey Test to rest. He also makes the case for why prediction markets belong under federal jurisdiction, not state gaming commissions, and why he's already suing multiple states to prove it. Operating as the sole commissioner on a five-member body, Selig is moving fast on rulemaking, AI-powered market surveillance, and cementing the US as the global home for crypto innovation. - Timecodes: 00:00 - CFTC Chairman Mike Selig at Consensus Miami 2026 01:00 - The New Crypto Taxonomy 03:13 - Joint CFTC/SEC Rulemaking and Its Durability 04:34 - Protecting Software Developers 06:53 - Why Prediction Markets Belong With the CFTC 09:13 - Sports Wagers vs Event Contracts Explained 11:33 - State Lawsuits and the Path to the Supreme Court 13:36 - Using AI for Market Surveillance 15:09 - Operating as the Sole Commissioner

Market convictions with Helius' Mert Mumtaz. On today's Markets Outlook, Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz tells CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie why he's tuning out the noise and staying convicted on Zcash, Solana, BTC and Hyperliquid. Plus, he weighs in on the Arthur Hayes drama, the Clarity Act, and why Bitcoin's transparency is actually a long-term vulnerability. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Institutional Capital Rotating into AI IPOs 01:53 - Met's 'Shield and Chill' Strategy 04:29 - Responding to Arthur Hayes Selling HYPE and NEAR positions 08:44 - Mert's Zcash Thesis 13:00 - Solana as the "Silicon Valley of Finance" 15:43 - Hyperliquid Thesis - Check out CoinDesk's latest episode of Public Keys from the NYSE: https://youtu.be/Nlp1QLZx0r0 - Register now for CoinDesk’s Policy and Regulation event on September 24, 2026: https://policy-regulation.coindesk.com/. - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie.

Charlie and Will break down the crash of Michael Saylor’s STRC, IREN's massive 800MW deal in Australia, a critical Zcash soundness bug, Google’s massive $80B equity raise for AI, and why Joe Wiesenthal calls this the coldest crypto winter ever. Janusz, former engineer at Electric Coin Company, joins us to talk about a potential Zcash soundness bug and the trade-offs of privacy versus auditability. Plus, Charlie and Will dive into Michael Saylor's STRC asset crash, IREN’s massive 800MW data center agreement in Australia, Google's unprecedented $80B equity upsize for AI infrastructure, and why the Texas grid is moving away from the 4CP mechanism. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: * Saylor's STRC credit dropped 5% to $94. * IREN’s total power pipeline exceeds 5GW. * Zcash Orchard pool holds 4.5M locked tokens. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 02:07 STRC down bad 05:03 IREN back to the AUS 13:37 Zcash bug with Janusz 28:20 Google upsizes deal 31:50 Jeff Park tweet 41:15 Joe Weisenthal thread 46:56 ERCOT & 4CP Check out our latest report, “What’s a Megawatt Worth?” where we quantify the trillion dollar opportunity for bitcoin miners venturing into the AI sector. Download here: https://megawattreport.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates for all of our shows and content: https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com 👉CleanSpark (Nasdaq: CLSK), a market-leading data center developer with a proven track record of success. 👉Luxor, Blockspace's preferred mining pool. Start hashing today with Luxor! 👉Lygos Finance, Borrow against your Bitcoin, without compromising on custody.

Bitmine sitting on $9B of unrealized losses from its ETH bag. Bitmine, the largest corporate holder of ether, is sitting on nearly $9 billion in unrealized losses as ETH falls below $1,800. Chairman Tom Lee still predicts a $250,000 price target, but shares of BMNR are down drastically since early May. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

$7 trillion goes digital. Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley's Head of Digital Asset Strategy, breaks down how one of the world's largest wealth platforms is going all-in on crypto, from a Bitcoin ETF that crossed $200 million in just three weeks to spot crypto trading coming to their full advisory platform later this year. On the mainstage at CoinDesk’s Consensus, she makes the case that the TradFi vs. DeFi battle is over, and it's all just finance now. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Amy Oldenburg at Consensus Miami 2026 00:47 - Morgan Stanley's Digital Asset Strategy 01:52 - The Bitcoin ETP Hits $200M in Three Weeks 05:21 - Morgan Stanley's Early Lead in Crypto Access 08:38 - Advisor Education When Clients Know More Than the Advisors 10:38 - What Comes Next: Tokenization and Redemptions 12:35 - The DeFi vs TradFi Battle 13:43 - A Decade-Long Project, Not a 2026 Project

Payment giants in stablecoin? Stripe, Visa and Mastercard are close to launching a new stablecoin platform, with Coinbase considering joining. The total stablecoin market sits around $320 billion, dominated by Tether's USDT at $187 billion. CoinDesk's Uyen Truong hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Uyen Truong. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

Is big money choosing Solana? Kyle Samani, co-founder of Forward, breaks down his latest deal on the main stage at Solana, a minority stake in Henri, a reinsurance RWA yielding 12-13%, funded by a Galaxy debt facility at 3.5%. He makes the case for why Solana has quietly become the dominant chain for institutional payments, tokenized equities, and real world assets. From Western Union and Visa to Meta and PayPal, the biggest names in finance are all building on the same rails. Plus, why he thinks most altcoins are bleeding out, Ethereum L2s are in trouble, and why this bear market might be the best investing opportunity in crypto right now. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Kyle Samani at Consensus Miami 2026 02:08 - Bear Markets Are Where Winners Are Born 03:30 - Why Solana Is Winning Payments and RWAs 06:00 - DTCC's Tokenized Equities Pilot and SEC's Project Crypto 08:48 - Building a Market Maker With Claude Code 10:00 - Agentic Payments and the x402 Protocol 13:46 - Why Institutions Pick Public Chains Over Walled Gardens 15:43 - Why Solana: Gas, On-Ramps, Neutrality 17:21 - Are Ethereum L2s in Trouble?

Tom Lee says Strategy's BTC sale is "bottom behavior." Bitmine's Tom Lee told CoinDesk that the record 11-day bitcoin ETF outflow streak and Strategy's first BTC sale since 2022 are just typical signs of a market bottom. CoinDesk's Sam Ewen hosts "CoinDesk Daily."  - This episode was hosted by Sam Ewen. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.