Bankless

Could American crypto traders finally get the same features available on offshore exchanges? CFTC Chair Mike Selig joins David Hoffman to unpack Reg CTX and Reg CAM, two proposed rules that could bring retail spot margin trading and a new federal framework for crypto exchanges to the US.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 CFTC Chair Mike Selig Returns
03:09 Why Financial Markets Need Federal Regulation
11:13 Who Actually Regulates Spot Bitcoin?
17:27 The CFTC, FinCEN, and State Regulators
22:29 The New Crypto Regulatory Trilogy
27:16 Reg CTX: Bringing Margin Trading Onshore
29:22 Reg CAM: A New Federal Exchange Framework
31:11 The Problem with 50 State Licenses
35:11 What Retail Crypto Leverage Could Look Like
39:24 Ending the SEC and CFTC Turf War
42:58 The Risks of Combining Financial Businesses
54:04 What Other Products Could This Unlock?
56:35 Where the CFTC Gets Its Authority
1:01:05 Can These Rules Survive Without the CLARITY Act?
1:05:05 Prediction Markets and the Supreme Court
1:08:11 How the Crypto Industry Can Respond

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RESOURCES

CFTC Chair Mike Selig
https://x.com/ChairmanSelig

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

Uptober has turned into Redtober. Ryan and David unpack crypto’s selloff, why the early bull market may still be intact, and how inflation and AI debt fears are rattling markets. Plus, Ledger’s $102M supply-chain attack, Bank of America’s $5B scandal, and Richard Heart’s arrest.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:09 Redtober: Crypto Selloff & Early Bull

https://imgur.com/Jx7GgQg

https://thedefireport.io/research/early-bull-reset

https://x.com/tulipking/status/2110373109861675080

https://polymarket.com/predictions/midterms

10:38 Hot Inflation & AI Market Risks

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2110711659115200824

https://imgur.com/dok7hZN

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/ai-vs-the-railroads

19:55 Ray Dalio's Debt Warning

https://www.tradingview.com/news/benzinga:ef9c504ad094b:0-ray-dalio-warns-us-debt-crisis-could-deepen-as-2-1t-in-new-treasury-supply-hits-market-credit-market-players-call-that-a-death-spiral/

26:23 Ledger's $102M Supply-Chain Attack

https://x.com/Ledger_Support/status/2108551100613714002

https://x.com/MagicalTux/status/2108556423445835827

https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/ledger-finds-unauthorized-hardware.html

https://news.bitcoin.com/security/cryptobilis-founder-reveals-company-was-sold-months-before-exploit/

31:34 France's Crypto Wallet Reporting Proposal

https://x.com/alistairmilne/status/2110051872363159959

34:52 Bank of America, CZ & Debanking

https://x.com/cz_binance/status/2110309077175963947

https://x.com/nic_carter/thread/2110375740097138847

41:15 Richard Heart Arrested

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/10/15/hex-founder-richard-heart-arrested-in-istanbul-turkish-media-report

https://x.com/BitcoinNewsCom/status/2110369479729299872

https://x.com/ercwl/status/2110385013900341709

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2110362834043273313

48:43 PaperTrade's 1,000x Leverage Game

https://x.com/papertrade_xyz

https://exchange.papertrade.xyz/dashboard

https://www.theblock.co/news/defi/2026-10-11-trader-nets-1-28-million-on-new-1000x-exchange-papertrade-by-moving-hyperliquids-eth-prices-418239

53:28 Solana Upgrades & Starknet's Layer 1 Vote

http://theblock.co/news/ecosystems/2026-10-15-starknet-opens-seven-day-vote-on-independent-layer-1-over-quantum-risks-418673

57:52 NEAR Foundation & Venice AI Growth

https://x.com/TheBlockCo/status/2110717366447268011

https://x.com/sabrinaesaquino/status/2110126741142556857

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2110391671762325563

---

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

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

In a world of powerful AI, how private is a public blockchain? Will McEvoy, CIO of Cypherpunk Technologies and principal at Winklevoss Capital, joins David to explore why Bitcoin holders may be rethinking transparency and why Zcash is attracting renewed attention. They break down Cypherpunk's ambitious plan to accumulate 5% of the Zcash supply, the surprising economics behind its mining business, and the larger opportunity in digital privacy.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Why Zcash Is Back in the Spotlight
3:24 Why Did Zcash Take So Long to Break Out?
5:09 Who Is Buying Zcash?
8:03 Can AI Identify Bitcoin Whales?
12:33 Inside Cypherpunk Technologies
16:39 Cypherpunk's Treasury and Valuation
17:57 Why Zcash Mining Is So Profitable
27:38 The Gap Between Zcash's Price and Hashrate
31:21 Mining Zcash and Keeping It
33:01 Why Buy CYPH Instead of Zcash?
38:05 What Is Cypherpunk Technologies Actually Worth?
41:44 Zcash's Builders and the Orchard Bug
46:37 Will McAvoy's Investing Background
49:23 Could Zcash Reach $10,000?
51:22 Will Governments Accept Financial Privacy?

---
RESOURCES

Will McEvoy
https://x.com/will__mcevoy

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

Could AI break crypto before quantum does? Ryan and David unpack Justin Drake’s “bunker mode” warning, whether holders should move funds, Tom Lee’s decision to stop buying ETH, and the shutdown of two Ethereum L2s.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

1:51 Yields, Oil & Bitcoin

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-US10Y

https://x.com/santiagoaufund/status/2107548024310464790

https://x.com/josephwang/status/2108100745086275897

https://farside.co.uk/btc/

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-10-07-robinhood-adds-25-million-bitcoin-balance-sheet-417890

9:32 Tom Lee Stops Buying ETH

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2107763103756878003

https://x.com/lex_node/status/2107811138532774349

https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2108072716960149662

19:06 AI Threatens Crypto Security

https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/2107837081313505768

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/science/openai-math-problems.html

https://x.com/matthew_d_green/status/2107992246360649879

31:24 Cryptographers Push Back

https://x.com/LindellYehuda/status/2107999859219587309

https://x.com/mert/status/2108058959852773442

https://x.com/vitalikbuterin/status/2107976296320106851

37:00 Ethereum L2 Shutdowns

https://x.com/blast/status/2106032805280891073

https://x.com/AbstractChain/status/2107554632675340420

https://x.com/Starknet/status/2108113391525204034

41:25 Zcash ETF Momentum

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/news/grayscales-zcash-etf-reaches-usd-1b-as-zec-price-gains-lift-assets

https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-10-06-winklevoss-files-spot-zcash-etf-wink-417826

44:57 FinCEN Withdraws Wallet Rules

https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-announces-withdrawals-proposed-digital-asset-related-rules

50:22 Token2049 Takeaways

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

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NEAR just got a new institutional gateway, but the ETF may only be the beginning of the story. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley and Sovereign’s Sal Ternullo join David to unpack why investors are starting to view NEAR through the lens of AI, how NEAR Intents has already processed more than $32 billion in volume, what staking and token buybacks mean for the asset, and why a future filled with many AI models, chains, agents, and stablecoins could play directly into NEAR’s strengths.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 NEAR’s New ETF
2:15 Bitwise and NEAR
8:49 Selling NEAR to Investors
12:18 Intents and Buybacks
20:23 Staking and ETF Demand
26:34 The AI Opportunity
33:11 Many Models, Many Chains
38:37 AI Privacy
42:48 Closing Thoughts

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RESOURCES

Sal Ternullo
https://x.com/sal_ternullo

Hunter Horsley
https://x.com/HHorsley

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

Venice‘s Head of Strategy Jon, joins David for the September $VVV community call to unpack Venice reaching 250B daily tokens, the latest $VVV emissions cuts and $DIEM supply changes, accelerating burns, rising demand for private AI, Venice Minds, the upcoming data center rollout, and what comes next.

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[TIMESTAMPS]

0:00 Intro
0:21 September AI Update
2:12 Token Growth Surge
8:36 Emissions and Diem Supply
16:10 Burn Mechanics Explained
23:40 OpenAI Privacy Controversy
32:00 Data Retention Warnings
35:52 Anthropic's Retention Shift
39:24 Privacy Boosts Venice
43:03 Minds and Model Combinations
52:48 Staking and Burn Questions
55:47 Data Center and Near
59:37 Lumara Film Festival

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

Bitcoin just broke its bearish market structure, but surging bond yields could still test the rally. Ryan and David unpack Uptober, Robinhood’s trading push, the Bitget hack, and prediction markets’ path to the Supreme Court.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:09 Bitcoin Breaks Bearish Structure

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin

https://x.com/hariskhantrader/status/2104621748591403035

6:35 Bond Yields, Liquidity & Macro Risk

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105337195884052870

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-inflation-rises-less-than-expected-august-consumer-spending-surges-2026-09-30/

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105355997892239838

https://x.com/EpsilonTheory/status/2105345560064745548

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-MOVE/

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105279482957369587

22:06 Robinhood Goes All-In

https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2105082039733305734

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105062331436966323

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105063773165818119

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105072369509257220

https://robinhood.com/us/en/agents/

33:19 BitGet Hack & NEAR Permissionless Debate

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/bitget-starts-phased-withdrawal-resumption

https://x.com/AlexAuroraDev/status/2104554958754357482

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2104955420401955273

https://x.com/kylekrason/status/2104562944457740481

https://x.com/near_intents/status/2105642219357241796

44:23 Prediction Markets Head to Court

https://www.legalreader.com/new-york-sues-polymarket-over-gambling-rules/

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-appeals-court-rules-against-kalshi-says-states-can-regulate-prediction-2026-09-25/

https://www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbase-receives-cftc-approval-for-coinbase-clearing-llc

48:29 Ethereum’s Cryptographic World Computer

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2104160561374343176

https://x.com/cryptographicas/status/2104212366271390055

https://x.com/barnabemonnot/status/2104260847975707013

56:14 AI Agents & Bank Runs

https://x.com/JasonYanowitz/status/2104213040937812262

https://openai.com/index/introducing-dots/

---

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

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What if the next major onchain trading platform looks less like a crypto exchange and more like Robinhood with institutional liquidity underneath? Variational co-founder Lucas Schumann and Head of Product Justin Bram join David to unpack the broker model behind Variational, why they believe swaps can improve on perps for real-world assets, and how TradFi liquidity can be brought onchain without rebuilding every market from scratch.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Broker, Not Exchange
5:07 Why Brokerage Wins for Retail
8:22 What Is a Swap?
9:58 The Real Cost of Trading
11:43 Bringing TradFi Liquidity Onchain
14:44 Building Variational
23:14 From Crypto Traders to Everyone
26:42 The Next User Base
30:35 What Actually Happens Onchain?
34:00 Inside OLP
37:03 Arbitrum and User Funds
39:44 The VAR Token and 32% Airdrop
42:34 Funding the Token Model
44:11 The 2027 Roadmap
47:44 Protocol or Platform?

---
RESOURCES

Lucas Schuermann
https://x.com/variational_lvs

Justin Bram
https://x.com/JustinCBram

Variational
https://www.variational.io/en

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

Ben Cowen is back on Bankless after publicly admitting one of his key Bitcoin calls was wrong. What changed? Ben and David unpack the breakout that challenged his bear-market thesis, whether the four-year cycle is still intact, why Bitcoin is shrugging off a macro environment Ben expected to pressure it, and the crucial difference between easier monetary policy and genuinely abundant global liquidity.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Ben Cowen Admits What He Got Wrong
3:30 Did the Bear Market End Too Easily?
6:06 Why This Bear Market Looks Different From 2022
9:59 Is the Four-Year Cycle Still Alive?
12:27 What an Early Low Means for the Next Bull Market
14:02 Why Altcoins Are Already Moving
19:15 Monetary Policy vs. Global Liquidity
22:56 Does Altseason Need a Crisis?
28:13 Why Liquidity Could Stay Tight
31:56 Can Bitcoin Catch Up to Stocks?
34:41 Five Years of Restrictive Conditions
37:27 Is Retail Finally Coming Back?
45:46 Bitcoin Defies the Macro Setup
48:47 The Weekly Bitcoin Close That Matters
53:43 Building a Conference Around Disagreement

---
RESOURCES

Ben Cowen
https://x.com/benjamincowen

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

The bull market may be back, but Bitcoin might not be leading it. Ryan and David break down the early-bull signals, Zcash and NEAR’s surge, rising yields, Kalshi’s wash-trading controversy, and BlackRock’s expanding crypto push.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:28 Early Bull Confirmed

https://thedefireport.io/research/early-bull-confirmed

https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2102007452057079986

https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2102572123185107151

https://x.com/saylor/status/2102011709808353551

13:23 New Bull Market Leaders

https://www.bankless.com/read/this-is-not-bitcoin-s-cycle

https://x.com/Delphi_Digital/status/2064430003731804517

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/zcash

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/near

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2100789397960704285

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2102787878552015357

https://x.com/CosimoCapital/status/2102886894115696978

33:18 Rising Yields & the Debasement Trade

https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/2103118843061182872

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-US10Y/

https://www.tradingview.com/chart/KZYJV3ef/

https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights/memo/shall-we-repeal-the-laws-of-economics---part-iii

42:29 Kalshi Wash Trading Drama

https://x.com/icobeast/status/2101358009477632410

https://x.com/beniduboss/status/2101459048247808010

https://news.kalshi.com/p/the-facts-behind-kalshi-s-perpetuals-volume

https://cointelegraph.com/news/kalshi-says-cftc-hasnt-contacted-it-over-unusual-5b-trading-activity

47:57 Vitalik Backs Trueo

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/true

https://trueo.com/

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2102143283493507554

https://x.com/Trueo_/article/2102123554162561272

54:37 New Tokens & Institutional Crypto Expansion

https://x.com/variational_io/status/2102929439063765192

https://x.com/Ondo/status/2103106602593087575

https://x.com/WSJmarkets/status/2103092730880569691

https://x.com/BlackRock/status/2102409739175141458

https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/literature/whitepaper/the-machine-native-economy.pdf

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-09-22-binance-takes-100-million-circle-stake-alongside-five-year-usdc-deal-416042

https://www.blockhead.co/2026/09/22/coinbase-opens-ipo-share-allocations-to-us-retail-customers-starting-with-smart-ring-maker-oura/

---

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

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures