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What if staking a token could keep an AI agent thinking? NEAR cofounder Illia Polosukhin joins David to explain NEAR’s new staking-powered inference model, where yield funds access to confidential and verifiable AI. They unpack how NEAR AI Cloud, IronClaw, Intents, and the NEAR token fit into one integrated economy for autonomous agents, why AI outputs may need cryptographic proof when money is at stake, and how GPU compute could become a liquid global market.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Private, Verifiable AI
4:57 Why AI Outputs Need Proof
9:13 From Staking Yield to Inference
16:16 NEAR’s Integrated AI Stack
20:01 NEAR as AI Money
24:27 Autonomous Businesses
28:51 Partners and Real-World Uses
33:26 What NEAR Ships Next
38:01 Where AI Value Accrues
40:56 The AI Operating System
48:07 Turning Compute Into a Market
51:48 Closing Thoughts

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RESOURCES

Illia Polosukhin
https://x.com/j0hnwang

Near revenue
https://revenue.near.org/

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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Ethereum’s latest staking proposal is sparking backlash across DeFi. Aave founder Stani Kulechov and EtherFi CEO Mike Silagadze join David to break down why stake tapering could push ETH yield toward zero, weaken solo staking, drive capital out of DeFi, and make ETH less attractive to institutions. They debate Ethereum’s monetary policy, whether the network is overpaying for security, and why trying to make ETH more like Bitcoin could undermine what makes Ethereum valuable in the first place. Subscribe for more conversations from the frontier of crypto.

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TIMESTAMPS

Intro 0:00 

0:09 Ethereum’s Staking Debate

2:41 Stani’s First Reaction

7:48 Mike’s Centralization Concerns

14:37 DeFi Under Pressure

17:15 Stani on Yield and Cash Flow

24:54 The Case for Vanilla Ether

27:20 Mike Pushes Back

34:27 Issuance and Monetary Policy

35:16 Minimum Viable Issuance

40:47 Institutions Need Predictability

46:10 Conservative Yield, Not Zero

47:46 Legitimacy and Process

52:54 Final Verdict on the EIP

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RESOURCES

Stani Kulechov

https://x.com/StaniKulechov

Mike Silagadze

https://x.com/MikeSilagadze

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

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ethereum’s monetary policy is suddenly up for debate. Ryan and David unpack the issuance fight dividing researchers and DeFi builders, the Coldcard exploit that hit users who “did everything right,” Saylor’s latest Bitcoin sale, and markets ripping back to all-time highs.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

0:25 Markets, AI, and Bitcoin

https://x.com/bulltheoryio/status/2084634593836372202

https://www.vanityfair.com/story/anthropic-situational-awareness-wedding

6:31 Saylor’s Bitcoin Selloff

https://x.com/hedgeye/status/2084278278794117372

https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2084247862833971631

https://x.com/saylor/status/2084315637715763579

18:00 Ethereum Issuance Fight

https://x.com/zoomerfied/status/2084641592615256254

https://x.com/jdetychey/status/2084638778677751889

https://issuance.wtf/

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2084685295484633349

https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2084925768711213105

https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2084667208668467574

https://x.com/DCinvestor/status/2084971858311438688

https://x.com/MikeSilagadze/status/2084703078909907000

39:59 Coldcard Wallet Drain

https://x.com/itscoachgoodman/status/2083527082223563157

https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/04/hackers-steal-over-130-million-by-exploiting-bug-in-offline-hardware-wallets/

https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/08/05/coldcard-exploit-could-boost-demand-for-regulated-bitcoin-exposure-analysts-say

https://thedefiant.io/news/hacks/i-did-everything-right-coldcard-victims-recount-losing-life-savings

https://x.com/EpsilonTheory/status/2083642741075124680

https://x.com/lopp/status/2083575437599371321

https://x.com/AriDavidPaul/status/2083591462726361235

https://x.com/PeterMcCormack/status/2083631731052290261

52:00 Uniswap, Clarity, and Crypto Updates

https://x.com/Uniswap/status/2084678603812274275

https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/07/27/u-s-senate-puts-off-crypto-clarity-act-for-now-as-it-focuses-limited-bandwidth-elsewhere

https://x.com/Cloudflare/status/2084648084131242402

https://x.com/NEARProtocol/status/2082879865385062520

https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2084614210118426971

https://x.com/arc/status/2084993791413678099

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Memecoins were supposed to be a dead end, but Mike Dudas believes their deeper idea is only beginning to spread. The 6MV investor joins David to unpack Bonk’s role in reviving Solana, Ansem’s latest experiment, Robinhood’s push into the trenches, and how games, collectibles, prediction markets, and compute could power consumer crypto’s next chapter. Mike also answers the $1 million ETH versus SOL question, lays out Ethereum’s best strategic response, and explains why crypto’s slower progress may be setting up a more durable cycle. Subscribe for more conversations from the frontier of crypto.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Bonk at Solana’s Bottom
7:07 What Gives Memecoins Value?
13:45 The Ansem Experiment
20:53 Are Memecoins Built to Die?
26:19 Culture Goes Onchain
29:45 Robinhood, Base, and the Trenches
32:59 Better Assets, Better Cycles
36:20 What 6MV Is Betting On
38:21 The Consumer Crypto Comeback
43:37 Compute Becomes a Market
47:57 Crypto’s AI Diaspora
50:53 SOL Versus ETH
57:02 Cycles, Equity, and Tokens
1:01:34 Why Crypto Takes Longer

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RESOURCES

Mike Dudas
https://x.com/mdudas

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Crypto prices are weak, OG sentiment is exhausted, and institutions are leaning in. Blockchain Capital GPs Aleks Larsen and Spencer Bogart join David Hoffman to explain why this disconnect may be the opportunity. They unpack crypto’s shift toward application-layer value, stablecoins as onchain working capital, tokenized equities, Aave V4, public blockchains, and BCAP. Is the cypherpunk dream fading, or becoming the foundation of global finance?

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Buybacks, Burns and Tokenholder Trust
5:47 Why Blockchain Capital Is Doubling Down
14:38 Institutions Arrive as Crypto OGs Lose Faith
21:03 From Infrastructure Scarcity to Abundant Blockspace
30:24 What AI Can Learn From Crypto
38:43 Stablecoins Become Onchain Working Capital
44:41 The Stablecoin Revenue Multiplier
47:40 Aave and Open Financial Infrastructure
55:08 The Roadmap for Tokenized Equities
59:41 Public Chains, Ownership and Compliance
1:04:24 Blockchain Capital’s Tokenized Fund
1:09:03 Bringing BCAP Fully Onchain

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RESOURCES

Spencer Bogart
https://x.com/CremeDeLaCrypto

Aleks Larsen
https://x.com/alekslarsen

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