In this episode of The NFA Podcast, Michiel and Nish break down the biggest stories of the week, including the massive Libra insider trading scandal, Microsoft’s claim of a quantum computing breakthrough, and the increasing dominance of crypto sponsorships in Formula 1.

We also discuss former OpenAI leaders raising billions for AI competitors, China’s president Xi's surprising reunion with tech leaders after six years, and the long-term outlook of Solana and meme coins after recent controversies.

Timestamps:

📌 00:00 - Intro & Weekly Crypto Market Sentiment

📌 05:12 - Libra Scandal: Insider Trading, Political Fallout & Meme Coin Reckoning

📌 16:07 - Microsoft’s Quantum Computing Breakthrough & Its Impact on Crypto Security

📌 18:59 - Ex-OpenAI Leaders Raising Billions for AI Rivals

📌 19:02 - Xi Jinping Meets China’s Tech Giants: A Shift in Strategy?

📌 21:37 - Formula 1’s Crypto Sponsorship Boom: Who’s In & Who’s Out?

📌 24:53 - Crypto vs Stocks: Where’s the Real Opportunity?

📌 27:25 - Solana’s Future: Meme Coin Trap or Blockchain Powerhouse?

📌 30:22 - Meme Coin Market Crash: The End of an Era?

📌 32:03 - Market Predictions: Will Crypto Go Up or Down Next Week?

In this episode, Nish and Michiel discuss the unexpected price movement of Near Protocol following an embarrassing livestream incident, the shifting sentiment around Ethereum, and GameStop’s potential investment in Bitcoin. The conversation also touches on Elon Musk’s bid for OpenAI, the European Union’s massive funding plans for “AI Giga Factories”, whatever those may be, and the challenges of AI regulation. Tech education, the rise of young AI startup founders, and the debate over college vs. entrepreneurship are also explored. The episode wraps up with stock market insights, a personal investment experiment, and a surprise AI-generated theme song for the NFA podcast.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to NFA Podcast and Hosts Nisheta and Michiel

01:42 Surprising News in Crypto: Near Protocol Incident

03:53 Market Reactions and Near Token Performance

05:22 Ethereum's Market Sentiment and Fear Index

08:09 Ethereum's Performance Compared to Other Blockchains

09:29 Market Predictions and New Money Flowing In

11:35 GameStop's Potential Move into Crypto

12:42 Upcoming Launches:  Tinder Swindler's Token

13:06 Elon Musk's Bid for OpenAI

14:44 The AI Summit and Global AI Treaties

16:49 Youth and Startups: The College Dropout Phenomenon

20:44 Market Spotlight: Insights and Predictions

22:34 Investing Strategies and Personal Experiences

24:44 Supermicro, Palantir and Nvidia

25:20 Dutch Trance NFA Podcast Theme

25:41 NFA Dutch Trance Theme Review 

25:59 Indian NFA Podcast Theme

26:25 Indian NFA Theme Review

All links:

NEAR Protocol incident

Tweet 1

Tweet 2

Near token price

Litecoin identifies as memecoin

Ethereum Fear & Greed

Vitalik communist tweet

Price comparison 1 year Bitcoin vs Ethereum

Ethereum drops below $3,000 What’s Happening

Traders pile $130m into short bets on Ethereum. Here’s where they see the price

AI Guru Geoffrey HInton wins Nobelprize for physics

Binance CEO Remains Optimistic Amid Crypto Market Turmoil: “Market Cycles Are Normal”

Who is David Sacks? The Trump crypto czar and Elon Musk pal is about to lay out his plan

GameStop movie trailer: Dumb Money

With Trump all-in on crypto, bitcoin bulls bet the trillions in cash on America's corporate balance sheets are next

Exploding paper straws

How Elon Musk $97.4 billion bid complicates matters for OpenAI

UK and US refuse to sign international AI declaration

US, UK decline to sign Paris AI summit declaration

EU looks to the private sector to help fund ‘AI Gigafactories,’ eyeing the frontier AI race

San Francisco full of college dropouts starting AI startups, too young to drink

Create AI music with Suno

This week onThe NFA Podcast, Nish and Frackers dive into the wildest stories in crypto and tech.Meme coins are back in full force as PAIN Coin raises a staggering $35 million in a pre-sale and even return money to early investors; they don't need that much. Meanwhile,OpenAI is set to raise $40 billion at a $300 billion dollar valuation, despite facing competition from DeepSeek. Palantir’sstock is up over 350% – but is it overvalued?

We also break down why71% of institutional investors still refuse to trade crypto, El Salvador’s decision toend Bitcoin as legal tender, and Telegram’s blocking other chains thanTON. Plus, Nish lets herdog pick investments (yes, really), and Frackers explains that as great as Palantir and to a lesser extent Nvidia stock did, Supermicro fell apart when the accountant walked out!

NFA: Nish, Frackers & you is Not Financial Advice – just takes, opinions, and a lot of fun. Listen now!

Crypto marketing expert Dr. Nisheta Sachdev and tech entrepreneur and investor Michiel Frackers discuss the latest news in the fast paced worlds of tech, AI, crypto and Web3 and highlight the tokens and stocks they find most interesting. NFA stands for Not Financial Advice or Nish, Michiel & Anon.

In the first episode, Nish talks about upcoming AI-crypto projects and Michiel compares the performance of the biggest cryptocurrencies with the biggest tech companies. Which had the highest return? You may be surprised.