Bankless

The Return of the ICO | Ryan & David

ICOs are suddenly back, but this time the projects are real, the mechanisms are better, and retail isn’t shut out. Ryan and David break down why MegaEth, Monad, Aztec, Zama, and Infinex are launching public sales all at once, how onchain auctions are fixing 2017’s mistakes, and what regulatory clarity means for U.S. participation.They also dive into the rise of internet native capital markets on Ethereum, the shift away from airdrop farming, and why fair price discovery could be a defining theme of 2026.------📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium------BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANShttps://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, & EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet🦄UNISWAP LABS | SWAP NOWhttps://bankless.cc/uniswap-labs🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEPhttps://bankless.cc/eight-sleep------TIMESTAMPS0:00 Intro0:13 Are ICOs Back?2:54 The Rise of Capital Formation5:04 Learning from 2017 ICO Mania7:19 Regulatory Challenges & Arbitrage10:56 Recent ICOs Overview17:01 Exploring the MegaEth Sale26:21 Monad's Unique Approach30:40 The Innovative Aztec ICO45:19 Upcoming Auctions: Zama & Infinex1:04:41 The Future of Capital Formation1:07:46 Closing & Disclaimers------Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Inside Gary Gensler’s SEC: A Conversation with Former Crypto Policy Advisor Corey Frayer

What was really happening inside the SEC during the Gensler years?Today, we sat down with Corey Frayer, former senior crypto policy advisor to SEC Chair Gary Gensler and now Director of Investor Protection at the Consumer Federation of America.We dig into how the agency thought about securities law, DeFi, Uniswap, stablecoins, SAB 121, and why platforms like Coinbase and Kraken ended up in the crosshairs. Corey defends the Gensler playbook while responding to the industry’s harshest criticisms, from “regulation by enforcement” to claims of a political war on crypto. Corey Frayer:https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-frayer-990a6b2 ------🎬 DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODEhttps://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-inside-gary-genslers-sec ------BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANShttps://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, & EARNhttps://bankless.cc/fraxnet🦄UNISWAP LABS | SWAP NOWhttps://bankless.cc/uniswap-labs🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEPhttps://bankless.cc/eight-sleep------TIMESTAMPS0:00 Intro4:58 Crypto Industry Misconceptions7:59 Corey’s Role & Background14:20 How it All Started24:16 No Path to Register?31:26 Technology vs Economic Activity38:22 Protecting Investors41:07 DeFi Regulation44:53 Uniswap’s Wells Notice57:00 Fake DeFi vs True DeFi1:03:41 Google Analogy1:08:35 The Howey Test1:16:53 SEC: Good or Evil?1:26:52 GENIUS Bill1:29:10 SAB 1211:33:01 Crypto & SEC Political Impact1:36:02 Paul Atkin’s SEC1:38:15 What Would Corey Change?1:41:23 Gary’s Text Messages1:43:10 Is ETH a Security?1:44:39 Gary Gensler’s Radio Silence1:47:37 Gary’s Twitter April Fools PFP1:50:44 Closing & Disclaimers------Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Crypto’s Agentic Future: AI, ZK & Money Networks | Lincoln, Shea, Michael, & Luca

At our Bankless Summit in Buenos Aires, four standout talks captured the frontier of crypto’s next chapter. Lincoln Murr lays out why x402 is emerging as the missing payment layer for the agentic internet. Shay Ketsdever explains how bots already run modern markets, and how programmable auctions and privacy can turn the bot economy into something that benefits people instead of exploits them. Michael Dong shows how real-time ZK proving unlocks a hundred-fold expansion of Ethereum’s computational power. And Luca Prosperi reframes money as a network, warning that today’s stablecoin architecture is a single point of failure and arguing for a more resilient, distributed monetary system. ------📣BANKLESS SUMMIT 2025 | SPONSORED BY M0https://bankless.cc/m0------BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANShttps://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, & EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet🦄UNISWAP LABS | SWAP NOWhttps://bankless.cc/uniswap-labs🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEPhttps://bankless.cc/eight-sleep------TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES0:00 Intro4:26 x402 & The Agentic Internet | Lincoln Murr22:58 The Bot Economy: When AI & MEV Collide | Shea Ketsdever47:16 1000x the L1: The Path To Infinite Compute | Michael Dong1:09:25 A Network Theory of Money | Luca Prosperi------Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

ROLLUP: Buy Signal? | Fusaka Launch | Polymarket Mainstream | Trump’s Fed Chair | SEC Crypto Shift

Bitcoin hit a rare signal this week, dropping to its cheapest level relative to gold in nearly 15 years. Is that a buy signal or something deeper in the macro picture? Ryan and David break down what the BTC–gold anomaly really means, how liquidity, rates, and Trump’s surprise Fed Chair pick factor in, and whether the market is entering a shallow cycle instead of a true winter.We also cover Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade, Vitalik’s push to bring builders back to L1, Polymarket’s mainstream breakout and CNN–Kalshi deal, and Aztec’s 16K ETH privacy auction. Plus, the SEC’s coming innovation exemption and the growing alliance between Larry Fink and Brian Armstrong.------📣REYA | ETHEREUM FOR TRADERShttps://bankless.cc/reya ------BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANShttps://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAINhttps://bankless.cc/unichain🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEPhttps://bankless.cc/eight-sleep------TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES0:00 Intro4:09 Spotify Wrapped https://x.com/AviiWeb3/status/1996326825736487062https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/19963311311643734417:17 Marketshttps://x.com/stacy_muur/status/1995761132527911338https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/11/29/why-gold-is-winning-over-bitcoin-in-2025-liquidity-trade-and-trusthttps://x.com/simonkim_nft/status/1993744596908802121https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/1996543833753174365https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-new-federal-reserve-chair-be-announced-early-next-year-2025-12-02/https://polymarket.com/event/who-will-trump-nominate-as-fed-chairhttps://thedefireport.io/research/macro-risks-are-mispriced#rate-cutshttps://www.strategy.com/press/strategy-announces-establishment-of-1-44-billion-usd-reserve-and-updates-fy-2025-guidance_12-1-2025https://www.tradingview.com/chart/52u4tG3f/https://x.com/BlackRock/status/1995537254022869438https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/1996264980241617007https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/1996275431625159096https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/02/bank-of-america-greenlights-wealth-advisors-to-recommend-up-to-4-bitcoin-allocationhttps://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/199627002466395788130:20 Polymarket Live in the U.S. on 60 mins & Kalshi CNNhttps://x.com/Polymarket/status/1996231420117688701https://apps.apple.com/us/iphone/charts/6004https://polymarket.com/event/will-polymarket-us-go-live-in-2025https://app.artemisanalytics.com/asset/polymarkethttps://www.forbes.com/profile/shayne-coplanhttps://youtu.be/ZA5bY4K9XPshttps://x.com/60Minutes/status/1995293602612691238https://x.com/WhaleInsider/status/1995886355713589307https://x.com/WALLACHLEGAL/status/1994039650877628546https://x.com/Kalshi/status/199623318625107586240:27 Ethereum Fusaka is live!https://x.com/sassal0x/status/1996336227474423991https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1996342458234605895https://x.com/sassal0x/status/1996442356464361817https://etherscan.io/gastrackerhttps://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1995209899182375024https://ultrasound.moneyhttps://x.com/haydenzadams/status/1995349830265159782https://x.com/nero_eth/status/1995480367050920265https://x.com/nero_eth/status/199548764030994463950:05 Tether Fudhttps://x.com/CryptoHayes/status/1994915256150495652https://x.com/JosephA140/status/1994943733054542124https://x.com/MonetSupply/status/199518700780328593653:21 The AZTEC token sale just crossed 15.9k ETH committedhttps://x.com/aztecnetwork/status/1996054062450786392https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/1996088299354497325https://x.com/BillHughesDC/status/199585199008222415155:28 SEC announced Innovation Exemptionhttps://x.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1995839722854514838https://x.com/DeItaone/status/199584979521937859056:22 Uniswap & Revoluthttps://x.com/Uniswap/status/199587389733466942856:45 Bullish UK Crypto?https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/29/pdfs/ukpga_20250029_en.pdfhttps://www.theblock.co/post/381181/uk-new-law-crypto-property55:25 Meme of the Weekhttps://x.com/jonwu_/status/199548357423834728958:58 Closing & Disclaimers------Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ethereum’s Next Decade | Tomasz K. Stańczak, Ansgar Dietrichs, Dankrad Feist, & Danny Ryan

This episode showcases four of the most important talks from our Bankless Summit event in Buenos Aires for Devconnect, each capturing how Ethereum is evolving as it enters the real world. Tomasz K. Stańczak reveals the EF’s new priorities around developer acceleration, founder support, institutional engagement, and unifying the L2 ecosystem. Ansgar Dietrichs explains why Ethereum is shifting from long-term exploration to near-term execution, detailing the plan to 3x L1 scale annually and accelerate real-time ZKVM progress. Dankrad Feist makes the case for a DeFi-centric L1 where Ethereum becomes the global liquidity layer for RWAs and high-value settlement. And Danny Ryan closes with a raw, personal account of building proof of stake, surviving an SEC scare, and why he still believes Ethereum can meaningfully reshape global finance. These talks matter because they chart the clearest picture yet of where Ethereum is heading, what the next decade requires, and how its core builders are steering it there.------📣BANKLESS SUMMIT 2025 | SPONSORED BY M0https://bankless.cc/m0------BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANShttps://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAINhttps://bankless.cc/unichain🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORKhttps://bankless.cc/Mantle💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEPhttps://bankless.cc/eight-sleep------TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES0:00 Intro4:19 Tomasz K. Stańczak Ethereum's Next 5 Years28:00 Ansgar Dietrichs Scaling Ethereum 2026: Why & How?53:22 Dankrad Feist | Ethereum's DeFi Centric Strategy1:10:22 Danny Ryan | The Last 8 Years: Ethereum, Burnout, & Coming Back------Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:https://www.bankless.com/disclosures