Weekly Roundup 12/12/25 (Do Kwon sentenced, DTC no action letter, Circle’s private stablecoin) (EP.690)

Matt and Nic are back with more news and deals. In this episode: 

  • CIV grows the team
  • Nic does not regret 8 years in crypto
  • People are getting blackpilled about crypto
  • Does speculation in crypto have positive externalities?
  • Matt has never seen LOTR
  • Will web3 ever come back?
  • The OCC lets banks broker crypto trades
  • The Bitwise 10 lists
  • Rushi Manche returns with a fund
  • Circle is launching a private stablecoin
  • The DTC gets a no action letter from the SEC to settle tokenized securities
  • We do a Terra/Luna restrospective
  • Terra’s fatal mistake
  • Oracle mishaps on prediction markets
  • Why did the nation’s largest teachers union come out against the Market Structure bill

Content mentioned in this episode:

 

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Weekly Roundup 12/05/25 (The trouble with Taproot, a prediction market paradox, HFSC OCP.2 report) (EP.689)

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Quantum risk again
  • Are banks filled with spooks?
  • The trouble with Taproot addresses
  • Microstrategy’s dollar reserve
  • Kalshi is going on chain
  • Prediction market predicaments
  • Are insiders monetizing Google search information on Polymarket?
  • Are prediction markets insider trading machines by definition?
  • DAT activist fights
  • Vanguard adds Bitcoin ETFs
  • House Financial Services Committee releases their final report on OCP2.0
  • What’s going on with leverage in crypto?
  • Are AI agents going to start stealing crypto?
  • Is Eliezer Yudkowski to be trusted?
  • AI is going to usher in the golden age of fraud

Check out this episode!

Stepan Simkin (Squads) on Stablecoin-Powered Financial Services

Stepan, founder of Squads, sits down with Wyatt on today’s episode. In this discussion:

  • Squads’ evolution from a DeFi-facing product to servicing a broader range of companies’ asset treasury needs.
  • What are the pain points of local small-medium businesses?
  • What is driving the gradual global movement from local currencies into USD stablecoins?
  • The appetite for safe yield across user types.
  • Other traditional digital banking players and how they are evolving with technology.
  • How the stablecoin trend impacts governments.
  • What happens to local banks?

Check out this episode!

Weekly Roundup 11/27/25 (Who we are thankful for, S&P downgrades Tether) (EP.687)

Matt and Nic record a special Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode: 

  • What’s the deal with deep fried turkeys?
  • Polymarket gets CTFC approval
  • Klarna is launching a stablecoin on Tempo
  • Upbit is hacked
  • Berachain drama
  • Tether gets a downgrade from S&P
  • Robinhood is spinning up their own prediction market with Susquehanna
  • Are Visa and Mastercard moving fast enough?
  • Who are we thankful for?

Check out this episode!

Weekly Roundup 11/21/25 (Quantum FUD, DAT hangover, stablecoin duration risk) (EP.686)

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Is Quantum FUD causing Bitcoin to sell off?
  • Ray Dalio is worry about Quantum
  • Scott Aaronson is worried about quantum computing
  • Vitalik is worried about quantum
  • Quantum upgrade scenarios
  • Are we still suffering from the flash crash?
  • The DATs are selling
  • DAT spot arbitrage
  • Will the US government end up with the Satoshi coins
  • Should the government bail out AI?
  • Will NFTs come back?
  • IBIT is Harvard’s largest 13F position
  • David Frum on stablecoins
  • Will stablecoins require a bailout?

Check out this episode!

Weekly Roundup 11/14/25 (Miran speech, Cash App adds Stables, DAT Hangover)(EP.685)

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • The Senate Ag Cmte publishes a Market Structure draft
  • Paul Atkins’ token taxonomy speech
  • Fed Governor Stephen Miran gives a major stablecoin speech
  • Grayscale files their S-1
  • Coinbase announces a tokensale platform
  • Coinbase is leaving Delaware
  • The Coinbase BVNK deal falls through
  • Visa Direct adds stablecoin support
  • The Czech republic buys Bitcoin
  • DATs are struggling
  • CBDC holdouts
  • Jack Dorsey bends the knee on stablecoins 

Content mentioned:

 

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Weekly Roundup 11/07/25 (Balancer hack, DATs are suffering, Zcash rally) (EP.684)

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Tom Brady’s clone dog
  • We reminisce on the Nic Carter v Mike Green debate
  • Is the government shutdown draining market liquidity?
  • The trouble with Opendimes 
  • Balancer hacked
  • Stream finance’s xUSD collapses
  • DATs are selling coins
  • Why is Zcash rallying?
  • Are stablecoins the lightbulb of crypto

Content mentioned:

 

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Keone Hon (Monad Foundation) on Blockchains Built to Scale (EP.683)

Keone Hon, founder of the Monad Foundation joins the show. In this episode:

  • From the point of view of Keone’s trading background, what is the promise of blockchains?
  • Reimagining financial systems with blockchains in 2025
  • Why build Monad, and for anyone using a chain, why use Monad?
  • How the importance of decentralization and chain efficiency becomes underscored during fragile market periods
  • Auto-Deleveraging (ADL): What it is and why it is important.
  • Where is there economic efficiency to be created?
  • How has Keone gone about building a team to tackle this challenge?
  • What would make Monad “successful” in 2-3 years?

Check out this episode!

Giovanni Vignone (Octane Security) on Protecting Onchain Assets (EP.682)

Wyatt sits down with Giovanni Vignone, the founder of Octane Security, a crypto security platform focused on vetting application code pre-deployment. In this episode we discuss:

  • What poses the greatest threat to crypto right now?
  • How are hackers evolving?
  • What are the important categories of crypto-facing cybersecurity?
  • How much should startup teams be spending on security?
  • How should teams think about counterparty risk?
  • What do you wish early stage teams knew?
  • Where is there room for improved security practices across the industry?

Check out this episode!

Weekly Roundup 10/31/25 (DATs selling coins, prediction market problems, Bessent’s pesos) (EP.681)

Matt and Nic are back for more news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Mastercard buys Zerohash for around $2b
  • Fiserv has a catastrophic day
  • Bitwise launches a Solana staking ETF
  • Is there another regional banking crisis?
  • EthZilla sold some ETH to buy back shares
  • Will there be activists with the DATs?
  • Are prediction markets structurally doomed?
  • Sen Tillis introduces the Ensuring Fair Access to Banking act
  • Could you go back and time and trade effectively?
  • Bessent’s great peso trade
  • What’s going to happen with Venezuela?
  • We review the Iran-Contra scandal

Content mentioned in this episode:

 

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Geetha Panchapakesan (Tesser) on Enabling FIs to Utilize Stablecoins (EP.680)

Geetha Panchapakesan, the founder and CEO of Tesser, joins the show. In this episode: 

  • Geetha’s background in payments and how she arrived in stablecoins
  • Major shifts across payments over Geetha’s career
  • Building a one-stop shop solution for financial institutions, PSPs and MSBs
  • Where FIs are today as it relates to engaging to stablecoins
  • Regulatory tailwinds post-GENIUS

See more at tesser.xyz

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Weekly Roundup 10/24/25 (Quantum, Crypto Pardons, Fed Payment Accounts) (EP.679)

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Old fashioned crime is back
  • Quantum risk to Bitcoin
  • More outcry in Washington over the Democratic edits to market structure
  • CZ gets a presidential pardon 
  • Federal Reserve announces a payments charter 

 

Check out this episode!

Weekly Roundup 10/17/25 (Flash crash, pig butchering scam busted, Erebor charter granted) (EP.678)

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • We dissect the market structure behind the flash crash last week
  • What happened with Binance and Ethena?
  • Palmer Luckey’s de novo bank Erebor gets an OCC charter
  • Paxos’ fat finger
  • The US government has seized $15b in funds tied to pig butchering scams

 

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Pbj (Perpl) on the Perp DEX Market & Monad’s Imminent Launch (EP.677)

Wyatt sits down with Pbj, the founder of Perpl, a prominent perpetuals exchange on the imminently launching Monad blockchain. In this episode:

  • How large are perp exchanges in the crypto market?
  • Why perps are attractive to crypto users and traders
  • Hyperliquid’s success
  • What assets would people trade on Perpl vs Hyperliquid?
  • What makes Monad unique
  • Perps for other asset classes?
  • Reasons to be excited

Check out this episode!

Dave Balter (Flipside) on the convergence of AI and Blockchain Analytics (EP.676)

Dave Balter, the co-founder and CEO of Flipside Crypto joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • How Flipside has shifted its product to fully harness the power of LLMs for analyzing public blockchain networks.
  • Building a product organization in the age of A.I.
  • Perspectives on the evolving landscape of layer one and layer two blockchains.
  • How the role of a data analyst will evolve in the coming years.
  • Where Flipside is focusing its efforts within the blockchain data/analytics segment.

To learn more about Flipside visit flipsidecrypto.xyz and follow the company on X.

Check out this episode!

Weekly Roundup 10/10/25 (Luxembourg buys BTC, N. Dakota’s stablecoin, Salomon bros dust attack) (EP.675)

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Will stablecoins drive deposit flight from the banks?
  • Is FDIC insurance obsolete?
  • Can CBDCs provide real privacy?
  • ICE invests in Polymarket
  • North Dakota is looking to issue their own “rough rider” stablecoin, joining Wyoming
  • Luxembourg buys bitcoin out of their sovereign wealth fund
  • Is the quantum bubble creating risks for Bitcoin?
  • The “Salomon brothers” OP_RETURN dusting attack on old Bitcoins
  • Reg NMS for blockchains?
  • Katie Porter has a new drama
  • Congress is still working on the market structure bill
  • Shutdown update

Content mentioned in this episode:

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Pelle Braendgaard on the Notabene Flow payments platform (EP.674)

Pelle Braendgaard, the co-founder and CEO of Notabene joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Pelle’s background and path to co-founding Notabene.
  • The travel rule and how institutions achieve compliance for blockchain transactions.
  • The launch of Notabene Flow, the first open stablecoin payments platform enabling pull payments for businesses.
  • Views on the evolving market structure for stablecoin payments
  • The state of digital identity.

To learn more about Notabene visit notabene.id and follow the company on X.

Check out this episode!

Mike Cagney (Figure) on Blockchain Capital Markets (EP.673)

Mike Cagney, the founder of Figure joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • The process of taking Figure public in September 2025.
  • The market structure for tokenized securities.
  • Perspectives on the key issues being debated in the context of The Clarity Act.
  • Reg NMS considerations for blockchain assets.
  • The impact of stablecoins on the banking sector.
  • The original thesis of Figure and the attractiveness of the HELOC market.
  • The Provenance Blockchain
  • Competition versus legacy financial services firms.

To learn more about Figure visit figure.com. Follow Mike on X. Follow Figure on X.

Check out this episode!

Weekly Roundup 10/03/25 (Stablecoin Wars, SEC no action letters, Government shutdown) (EP.672)

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

  • AI bailed out the mining companies
  • AI people deal with the same energy use claims
  • We reflect on the life of Jane Goodall
  • DoubleZero gets a no-action letter from the SEC
  • Will Tether and Circle lose market share?
  • Who could challenge the Big Two stablecoins?
  • Do optimists always win?
  • Some DATs are troubled
  • Is Kalshi starting to take over?
  • Stripe announces Open Issuance
  • The US Government is shut down

Content mentioned:

 

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Ben Ward & Steven Pack (RockSolid) on DeFi Vaults (EP.671)

Wyatt sits down with Ben Ward and Steven Pack of RockSolid. In this episode:

  • What are DeFi vaults? What is RockSolid?
  • Lido vs Rocket Pool
  • Creating effective unified efforts in decentralized communities
  • A look at the wider landscape of DeFi yield
  • How do you measure protocol success?
  • Strengthening the broader Ethereum ecosystem

Check out this episode!