Fighting for the Soul of Crypto: Charles Hoskinson on Institutional "Federation" and the Rise of AI Agents

Google has agreed to backstop Anthropic’s $19 billion lease at bitcoin miner TeraWulf’s Kentucky data center. If Anthropic defaults, Google can take over the lease or take a stake in the project. Plus, Payward purchases AAVE tokens and Standard Chartered’s venture arm invests in Soter. CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie hosts “CoinDesk Daily.”  - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com.

Hyblock Capital co-founder and CEO Shubh Varma joins CoinDesk’s Ray Salmond on Markets Outlook in the aftermath of the largest hack in crypto history. Varma says the order books barely moved because Binance could cover the $6.3 billion loss and refunded users in coin, not dollars. Plus, what the Democrats’ midterm wave means for crypto regulation, why he thinks Bitcoin’s next run will come from capital rotating out of the AI trade, and his contrarian call that 2027 will be bullish despite a Fed that’s raising rates. - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com [grayscale.com]. - Learn more about CoinDesk Data & Indices at coindesk.com/institutions. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Shubh Varma Joins Markets Outlook 01:51 - Why Bitcoin Shrugged Off the Biggest Hack in History 04:12 - The Spot vs. Perps Signal to Watch 06:55 - Is Alt Season Dead for Good? 09:29 - Do Retail Investors Even Need to Trade Crypto Anymore? 12:38 - What the Midterm Blue Wave Means for Crypto 14:29 - Is AI Stealing Bitcoin’s Bull Run? 17:38 - The Contrarian Bull Case for 2027

Hunter Biden sits down with CoinDesk’s Nik De on Election Day to talk about his $LAPTOP meme token, Democrats’ crypto blind spot and why he’s done hiding. Biden blames the token’s chaotic launch on a market maker he says put just $5,000 to work. He calls himself a “true believer” in crypto, and says most Democrats who weigh in on it “don’t know anything about it.” He also argues that President Trump’s personal crypto ventures are a danger to the industry, and says Trump’s refusal to accept ethics provisions is the only reason market structure legislation stalled. Plus, his take on the swift dismissal of charges against two FBI agents tied to the laptop investigation why he chose to “walk through the fire” instead of disappearing. - Register for Consensus Hong Kong 2027 (February 1-3) and Consensus Miami 2027 (May 4-6) at events.coindesk.com. - Learn more about CoinDesk Data & Indices at coindesk.com/institutions. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Hunter Biden Joins CoinDesk 01:40 - Why He’s a Crypto “True Believer” 02:44 - The First Meme Coin With a Built-In Prediction Market 03:28 - Why Progressives Have Crypto Wrong 04:27 - What Happened at the $LAPTOP Launch 06:47 - $LAPTOP Tokenomics and the 5% Charity Floor 09:02 - Hunter Biden’s Election Day Predictions 12:56 - Why Crypto Money Is Flowing to Republicans 14:34 - Why He Says Trump’s Crypto Ventures Are “Dangerous” for the Industry 17:06 - The Ethics Fight That Stalled Market Structure Legislation 22:29 - Owning the Launch, and the Rug Pull Perception 23:52 - A Judge Tosses Charges Against FBI Agents in the Laptop Probe 26:18 - Comey, Don Lemon and the DOJ’s “Eye of Sauron” 29:58 - Can Government Weaponization Be Stopped? 35:00 - Iran, Vietnam and the Nuclear Codes 37:19 - Why Hunter Biden Stays in the Public Eye

What the Democrats' win means for crypto. Democrats are projected to take both chambers of Congress, shifting control of crypto legislation despite the industry spending tens of millions to back Republicans. Sherrod Brown won his Ohio seat back after crypto PACs poured $63 million into defeating him, and Elizabeth Warren is now likely to chair the Senate Banking Committee. CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie hosts “CoinDesk Daily.” - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com. - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

DPRK denies it was behind the $6.4B Binance hack. Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, denied the FBI's claim that Pyongyang's TraderTraitor group was behind the $6.4 billion Binance hack, calling it a political attack. But analytics firm Elliptic says the on-chain evidence backs the attribution. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com. - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

On this episode of CoinDesk’s Public Keys from the New York Stock Exchange, Jennifer Sanasie is joined by co-host Tim Grant, Co-Founder and CEO of TensorX, as crypto reckons with the largest hack in its history. Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs, breaks down the roughly $6.4 billion drained from Binance across 10 blockchains and what it means for exchange security. Rich Widmann, Director of Digital Assets Strategy at Google Cloud, explains the newly unveiled Google Multi-Party Compute custody system, and whether it could have stopped the Binance breach. Plus, Tim Grant unpacks TensorX’s push into sovereign AI compute, the rise of “neoclouds,” and the leverage risks hanging over the GPU buildout. - Learn more at bullish.com. - Register for Consensus Hong Kong 2027 (February 1-3) and Consensus Miami 2027 (May 4-6) at https://events.coindesk.com/. - Learn more about CoinDesk Data & Indices at https://indices.coindesk.com/institutions. - Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to Public Keys 00:32 Morgan Stanley Downgrades Coinbase to $120 02:26 Binance Hit by Crypto's Largest Hack 02:53 TRM Labs' Ari Redbord on the $6.4B Heist 03:32 "The Largest Bank Robbery in Human History" 05:33 Midterms, GENIUS and CLARITY in Focus 08:41 How the Breach Happened and Hardening Cyber 11:58 Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs See Outflows 12:55 Tim Grant on Flows and Institutional Risk 16:47 Private Keys, Crypto's Weak Point 17:15 Google's Rich Widmann on Multi-Party Compute 21:30 The Quantum and AI Threat to Custody 23:51 Could MPC Have Stopped the Binance Hack? 27:25 Tim Grant on TensorX and Sovereign AI 32:45 GPUs, Neoclouds and the CoreWeave Risk

More than $6B left Binance after record hack. More than $6 billion in crypto flowed out of Binance-linked wallets in the first 24 hours after the exchange reopened withdrawals, following a record hack that stole roughly $6.3 billion. Rival exchanges OKX and Bybit absorbed hundreds of millions in the shuffle. CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie hosts “CoinDesk Daily.” - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com. - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

The NBA enters prediction markets. The NBA signed a data-sharing deal with the CFTC and named Kalshi and Polymarket as preferred exchanges, formally stepping into prediction markets. The move puts the league at odds with the NFL, which has sided with states fighting to regulate the sector. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com. - Digital asset vaults are growing rapidly, but understanding the risks behind them requires more than on-chain data. S&P Global Ratings' Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking insight into vault credit quality, governance, and risk management, helping bring institutional-grade risk transparency to digital asset markets. Learn more at https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/products/vault-risk-assessments. - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

SpaceX raised $40B to buy GPUs. Elon Musk's SpaceX raised $40 billion in debt to buy GPUs, but he warned that debt markets have almost entirely cut off financing for companies without revenue independent of AI data centers. He predicts most of the 200-plus "neoclouds" will not survive. CoinDesk's Uyen Truong hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com. - Digital asset vaults are growing rapidly, but understanding the risks behind them requires more than on-chain data. S&P Global Ratings' Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking insight into vault credit quality, governance, and risk management, helping bring institutional-grade risk transparency to digital asset markets. Learn more at https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/products/vault-risk-assessments. - This episode was hosted by Uyen Truong. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

Venice.ai founder Erik Voorhees sits down with CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie ahead of the Lumara Film Festival to explore the fast-growing world of AI filmmaking. He says video generation has grown to about 30% of Venice’s usage since the company launched its video studio this spring, and that creators can now make a full movie with roughly $10,000 in AI credits. He also previews the festival’s roughly 750 submissions, most of them from amateur filmmakers, and predicts how AI could transform filmmaking by 2030. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Venice.ai’s Erik Voorhees Joins CoinDesk Spotlight 01:45 - Venice.ai: A Private, Uncensored ChatGPT 02:18 - How Video Grew to 30% of Venice’s Usage 03:33 - Why Privacy Should Be the Default 05:11 - What Creators Really Want 08:14 - Inside the Lumara Film Festival 12:18 - What AI Filmmaking Looks Like in 2030 - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com [grayscale.com]. - Digital asset vaults are growing rapidly, but understanding the risks behind them requires more than on-chain data. S&P Global Ratings' Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking insight into vault credit quality, governance, and risk management, helping bring institutional-grade risk transparency to digital asset markets. Learn more at https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/products/vault-risk-assessments.  - Read CoinDesk Research's report on the future of equity ownership and the issuer-sponsored platform Bullish and Equiniti are building: https://www.coindesk.com/research/the-future-of-equity-ownership-an-issuer-s-guide-to-tokenized-equities