Strategy is Trapped & in Crisis — "It's Basically a Hedge Fund Now" | Jeff Dorman & Matt Walsh

Inflation cooled, war intensified, and crypto climbed anyway. Ryan and David ask if the bottom is in, unpack Robinhood Chain’s surge past Base, and debate who benefits from Ethereum’s L2 boom. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks  🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS  🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless  👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:29 Cycle Bottom Watch https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2077774313726304659 https://x.com/goodalexander/status/2077031311664197738 https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2076857638059720736 5:24 Inflation Cools, War Heats https://x.com/kobeissiletter/status/2077008212994253025 https://x.com/geiger_capital/status/2077011477580451983 14:56 Crypto Outperforms Stocks https://x.com/saylor/status/2076638696053276748 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2076647130572235017 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2077197119207756098 22:34 Robinhood Chain Breaks Out https://x.com/donnoh_eth/status/2075890751834071189 https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/robinhood-chain-network-overview https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/07/15/the-launchpad-that-fueled-robinhood-chain-s-memecoin-boom-just-gave-away-all-its-revenue https://dune.com/adam_tehc/the-robinhood-trenches 29:31 Base Pivots to Trading https://x.com/jessepollak/status/2077427261586997745 https://x.com/jessepollak/status/2077550728416256489 https://x.com/austincampbell/status/2077545305789067398 36:15 Does ETH Earn Enough? https://x.com/vladtenev/status/2076666114801877310 https://x.com/LorenzoARK/status/2076792007184298076 https://x.com/apolynya/status/2077301418860466487 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2077400104458154428 https://x.com/ethereumJoseph/status/2076838398510211122 47:29 L2s and Rent Sharing https://x.com/sgoldfed/status/2077082053330272454 https://x.com/l2beat/status/2077764769436553272 https://l2beat.com/native-rollups 56:20 Ethereum Spinoffs Multiply https://x.com/eth_systems/status/2077000602320805918 https://x.com/fradamt/status/2077739531520921621 58:49 DeFi Hacks May Be Peaking https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2076682247168827849 https://x.com/maraoz/status/2059413451265441990 1:01:44 Buy-and-Burn Wins https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2077186630566224208 https://x.com/blknoiz06/status/2077773554033037509 1:06:29 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

NEAR wants users to stop thinking about blockchains altogether. Proximity Labs co-founder Kendall Cole joins David to explain how NEAR Intents connects 35 chains, powers products like Infinex, brings tokenized assets and confidential transactions into one seamless experience, and turns fragmented crypto markets into a single account where users see assets, not infrastructure. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:29 Chains Need Neutrality 4:20 Near’s Chain Abstraction Vision 6:03 Wallets to Retail Expansion 9:30 Bootstrapping Liquidity and Partners 11:23 RWA Asset Explosion 15:00 Tokenized Stocks on Near 15:57 One App Across Chains 19:01 Near as Chain Abstraction 21:35 Trading Bots and Payments 24:54 MiCA’s Market Shock 28:16 Noncustodial Compliance Strategy 29:17 Euro Onramps into Near 31:38 Regulation Meets On-Chain Freedom 38:09 Confidential Intents Launch 41:15 Privacy for Users and Firms 43:36 Private Zcash Routing 46:50 Privacy for AI Models 49:52 Near’s Fee Capture Model 52:19 Crypto as Exchange Infrastructure --- RESOURCES Kendall Cole https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendall-cole-91b00534/ Proximity Labs https://x.com/proximityfi Near Intents https://x.com/near_intents --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Onchain trading infrastructure is reaching a point where it can seriously compete with centralized exchanges. Jito founder Lucas Bruder joins David to introduce JTX, a new prosumer trading terminal built to bring major crypto assets, tokenized equities, perps, and eventually global markets into one onchain experience. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Solana and Tokenized Stocks 2:22 What Is JTX? 8:44 A Better Trading UX 11:25 Better Execution 15:37 The JTX Roadmap 19:35 JTO and SOL Tokenomics 25:23 Why Solana Got Better 29:34 Prop AMMs Explained 37:25 Liquidity and Market Makers 40:04 Solana vs. Robinhood Chain 46:51 The JTX Rollout 48:07 Global Markets and the SOL Thesis --- RESOURCES Lucas Bruder https://x.com/buffalu__ JTX https://x.com/jtx_trade --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

What happens when rebel money becomes institutional money? In this episode, David sits down with Bitcoin OG Dan Held to ask whether Bitcoin is actually going according to plan. They unpack Bitcoin’s cypherpunk origins, the rise of ETFs and corporate treasuries, Michael Saylor’s influence, Bitcoin’s missed scaling opportunities, privacy tradeoffs, quantum risk, the Satoshi mystery, and why Dan thinks Bitcoin can still flip gold. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Is Bitcoin Going According to Plan? 2:39 Bitcoin’s Culture Changed, But Did the Code? 9:06 From Magic Internet Money to Digital Gold 15:08 Michael Saylor, Strategy and Concentration Risk 20:08 Is Bitcoin Becoming Too US-Coded? 24:12 Did Bitcoin Miss Its Scaling Moment? 29:42 Privacy, Cash and Bitcoin’s Tradeoffs 32:15 Satoshi’s Design Choices 37:50 BIPs, Quantum Risk and Bitcoin Upgrades 41:35 How Urgent Is Quantum? 44:14 The Satoshi Mystery 47:38 Bitcoin’s Next Phase of Adoption 49:23 Will Bitcoin Flip Gold? 53:11 Being Early Looks Crazy --- RESOURCES Dan Held https://x.com/danheld --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

War with Iran is back, but markets barely blinked. Ryan and David unpack Saylor’s $216 million Bitcoin sale, whether it marked the bottom, Robinhood Chain’s memecoin breakout, and Vitalik’s “Ethereum 3.0” roadmap. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks  🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS  🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless  --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:12 Iran War Returns, Markets Shrug & Saylor Sells 3,588 BTC — Was That the Bottom? https://x.com/DrEliDavid/status/2074781504757027087  https://x.com/saylor/status/2074101854875656316 https://www.bankless.com/read/how-strategy-can-sell-billions-in-bitcoin https://x.com/rob_e89rtosmit/status/2074484772622172307 20:17  Robinhood Chain’s First Hit: Memecoins https://x.com/vladtenev/status/2074695821896065360 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2075062776473546979 https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/07/09/cashcat-trader-turns-usd800-into-over-usd1-million-on-robinhood-s-brand-new-blockchain https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/robinhood-chain-network-overview 28:17 Ethereum 3.0? Vitalik’s New Strawmap https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2073459000398463446 https://strawmap.org https://x.com/r2Jamong/status/2074053557284982925 https://x.com/barnabemonnot/status/2073708226701328474 https://x.com/dankrad/status/2073532475431887354 https://x.com/DefiIgnas/status/2073480431887056958 45:46 JPMorgan’s $700M Ethereum Fund & Paradigm Fundraise https://cryptobriefing.com/jpmorgan-jltxx-tokenized-money-market-fund-surges-250-percent/ https://x.com/TradingProtocol/status/2074383012939141407 https://x.com/matthuang/status/2074873573983035801 53:13 The Fight for 24/7 Markets & David’s Portfolio Check-In https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2075230297134645744 https://x.com/econoar/status/2075056773724062031 https://x.com/rambo_xbt/status/2075192964259672434 https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2062122936790581520 1:04:00 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Multicoin provides investment advice to certain private fund clients that own HYPE tokens discussed herein and stands to gain in the event that the price of the token increases. Multicoin's HYPE valuation report discussed in this podcast can be found as a link in the show notes.  Any trading discussion is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to engage in derivatives, leverage, or any specific trading strategy. --- 🧭OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS --- Hyperliquid is already one of crypto’s biggest perp stories, but Multicoin’s Tushar Jain thinks the market may still be looking at it too narrowly. In this episode, David sits down with Tushar to unpack the deeper thesis: portfolio margining as the hidden unlock, HIP3 and builder codes as the path to platformization, real traction versus farmed volume, and why HYPE’s value-capture model is unusually direct for crypto. --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:50 Perps Get TradFi’s Attention 3:17 More Than a Perp DEX 6:29 Why Portfolio Margining Matters 11:13 HIP3 and Permissionless Market Creation 13:47 Hyperliquid Becomes a Platform 19:54 The On-Ramp Question 21:36 Perps Are Not the Whole Thesis 28:04 Cash Flow as the Credibility Signal 33:05 Valuation Multiples and Lighter 34:36 Multicoin’s HYPE Framework 42:05 Token Value Capture 43:34 Unlocks, Wealth, and Team Motivation 48:30 The US Perps Question 52:27 Does Hyperliquid Need to Come Onshore? 54:32 The Final Bull Case --- RESOURCES Tushar Jain https://x.com/tushar_jain Multicoin's Hype Analysis and Valuation report can be found here: https://multicoin.capital/2026/06/25/hyperliquid-hype-analysis-and-valuation/ The report includes important disclosures concerning the data and assumptions by Multicoin discussed today. Multicoin may have interests in companies mentioned during the episode. --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Robinhood Chain is live, and it may be one of the clearest signs yet that traditional finance is moving onto Ethereum rails. Johann Kerbrat, VP of Crypto at Robinhood, joins David to unpack the launch of tokenized stocks, USDG yield through Morpho, regulated and crypto-native perps, the Lighter integration, and why Robinhood Wallet is being built for the billions of people who have never used crypto before. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:45 Robinhood Chain Goes Live 2:45 Robinhood’s 15-Product Crypto Push 5:47 Tokenized Stocks on Robinhood Chain 11:32 USDG Yield and Robinhood Earn 16:19 Perps Across Robinhood, Bitstamp, and Lighter 19:44 The Lighter Partnership 23:12 Will Robinhood and DeFi Converge? 27:15 Why Robinhood Chose Arbitrum 28:40 Building Crypto for Non-Crypto Users 31:36 How to Get Started on Robinhood Chain --- RESOURCES Johann Kerbrat https://x.com/JohannKerbrat --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto looks bullish again, but the receipts are complicated. David and Ryan unpack OpenUSD’s USDC threat, Robinhood Chain’s tokenized stocks, Saylor’s hedge-fund pivot, Venice’s token dilemma, Cloudflare’s stablecoin payments, and Trump’s $1.4B crypto haul. --- 📣OKX | THE NEW MONEY APP https://app.okx.com/en-us/join/usbankless --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES  0:00 Intro 2:37 Market Bounce + Fed Watch https://x.com/KillaXBT/status/2072288076928266434 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/kevin-warsh-ecb-forum-live-updates.html https://polymarket.com/event/fed-decision-in-july-181 https://thedefireport.io/research/52-of-the-btc-supply-is-now-in-the-red https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/2072660106035028395 8:37 Strategy’s Digital Credit Capital Framework https://x.com/saylor/status/2071565162377568377 https://x.com/Strategy/status/2071565225699004761 16:37 The Rise of Robinhood Chain https://x.com/RobinhoodApp/status/2072390893181481419 https://x.com/charliekerr/status/2072477658802217187 https://x.com/EntropyAdvisors/thread/2072395320752050212 https://x.com/trent_vanepps/status/2072405895313588351 https://x.com/Lighter_xyz/status/2072394977729040722 https://x.com/Lighter_xyz/status/2072401925094441109 26:10 Venice AI Becomes a Unicorn https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/01/venice-ai-becomes-a-unicorn-with-65m-series-a-as-its-privacy-first-ai-platform-takes-off/ https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2072326370206581037 https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2072336126912630921 https://x.com/MikeIppolito_/status/2072353260795572281 https://x.com/ChainLinkGod/status/2072378849921577306 https://x.com/CosimoCapital/status/2072450958270050394 35:07 OpenUSD vs USDC https://joinopenstandard.com/blog/introducing-open-usd/ https://x.com/stripe/status/2071948464762618051 https://x.com/jerallaire/status/2072252803163255179 https://x.com/lorenzoark/status/2071997238713127404 https://x.com/HadickM/thread/2072286093744234864 https://x.com/koeppelmann/status/2071961529671418065 https://x.com/paoloardoino/status/2071982330915225771 46:10 Ethereum Institutional Launches https://x.com/ethereuminsti/status/2072304960142729373 https://www.ethereuminstitutional.org/ https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2072318453248094708 https://x.com/Sharplink/status/2072307000298397834 https://x.com/ethlabs_org/status/2072326438594748921 49:03 Trump’s $1.4B Crypto Disclosure https://x.com/aggrnews/status/2072059335081967812 https://x.com/AC360/status/2072128334666879070  https://x.com/business/status/2072069350060617837 54:28 Solana Memecoin Revival https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2072653822283874481 https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/the-black-bull https://x.com/Adam_Tehc/status/2072183263893065930 https://polymarket.com/event/what-price-will-ansem-hit-in-2026 59:20 Cloudflare x402 Stablecoin Payments https://blog.cloudflare.com/monetization-gateway/ https://youtu.be/TKVY4hVAd9g 1:02:08 Meme of the Week https://x.com/pubity/status/2072436231284072635 https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2072357302942752993 https://x.com/RidazLp2/status/2072563280602927377/photo/4 1:03:35 Closing & Disclosures --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

The stock market is starting to move onchain, and Ondo is one of the teams building the rails. Ian De Bode joins David to explain how Ondo brought tokenized SpaceX stock to Ethereum minutes after trading began, why tokenized equities need real market liquidity instead of shallow DEX pools, and how Ondo Perps could unlock a new generation of RWA trading by using tokenized stocks as collateral. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Ondo’s RWA Moment 1:17 How SpaceX Stock Hit Ethereum in Minutes 2:57 What Actually Backs a Tokenized Stock? 4:49 The Onchain and Offchain Market Machine 10:29 Where the Demand Comes From 12:46 The Most Popular Tokenized Stocks 14:54 Why Perps Need Better Collateral 20:46 New Strategies for Onchain Asset Management 25:02 The Next 12 to 18 Months 26:14 How Big Can Perps Get? 28:46 Offshore Versus Onshore Perp Markets 32:05 Inside Ondo Perps 36:24 Why Not Build on Hyperliquid? 37:49 Launch Timeline and Early Demand 39:48 Will Wall Street Incumbents Compete or Help? 43:52 Ondo’s 2026 Roadmap 45:22 Remembering Nathan Allman --- RESOURCES Ian De Bode https://x.com/iandebode --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Michael Saylor’s Strategy bought itself time, but did it actually solve the problem? David sits down with Jeff Dorman and Matt Walsh to unpack Strategy’s increasingly complex capital structure, why $STRC and MSTR are now fighting for oxygen, whether Saylor may need to sell Bitcoin, and why the company is starting to look less like a levered BTC play and more like an actively managed hedge fund. --- 📣OKX | THE NEW MONEY APP https://app.okx.com/en-us/join/usbankless --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:30 Can Stretch Return to 100? 4:00 Explaining the New Framework 4:43 Can the Capital Stack Coexist? 6:39 Refunding the Converts 8:32 MNAV Near the Breaking Point 11:15 Option Value or Investor Betrayal 15:37 Legal Risk and Retail Exposure 19:52 Buying Time, Not Solving It 22:20 Scenario Odds After the Pivot 24:54 Sell Bitcoin or Wait 28:59 M&A as a New Path 34:13 Temporary Relief, Future Crash 36:21 Slow Bleed, Not Bankruptcy 40:58 Bitcoin Needs a Bigger Narrative 46:56 Would Jeff Buy Stretch? 48:26 Is the Model Actually Genius? 52:09 Closing & Disclaimers --- RESOURCES Matt Walsh https://x.com/MattWalshInBos Jeff Dorman https://x.com/jdorman81 --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures