Bankless

Circle just launched Arc Mainnet, and its ambition is much bigger than putting USDC on another blockchain. Circle Chief Product and Technology Officer Nikhil Chandhok joins David on launch day to unpack the vision for an “economic OS” built around fast settlement, stablecoin gas, privacy, and institutional-grade financial infrastructure.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Arc Mainnet Is Live
2:57 The “Economic OS” Vision
5:29 Validators, Privacy and Post-Quantum Security
8:27 How Private Is Arc?
12:24 Immutability and the Lazarus Test
16:14 What Gets Built on Arc First?
19:19 AI Agents Become Economic Actors
26:45 Agentic Commerce Gets Real
33:17 Reputation, Nano-Payments and Agent Credit
36:37 Tokenized Stocks and 24/7 Markets
39:59 Solving the On-Ramp and FX Problem
47:39 What Happens After Launch Day?
49:16 Closing Thoughts

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RESOURCES

Nikhil Chandhok
https://x.com/chandhok

Arc
https://www.arc.io/

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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Getting the direction of ETH right doesn’t guarantee you survive the trade. Derive co-founder Nick Forster joins David Hoffman to unpack why crypto’s options market has lagged behind perps, and why he believes that is changing. From the October 10 crash to a $300,000 Ethereum trade, they explore the different risks of leveraged bets, where options-based yield comes from, and why the deadline matters.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Why Options Lagged
5:56 The October 10 Shift
9:03 Options vs. Perps
21:37 Market Size & Economics
27:26 Derive’s HYPE Strategy
30:01 Why Onchain Matters
33:09 Inside the Risk Engine
35:51 What V3 Changes
38:02 Options in Everyday Apps
41:53 Does Volume Lift Prices?
44:08 Following Derive

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RESOURCES

Nick Forster
https://x.com/nickforster

Derive
https://x.com/DeriveXYZ

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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Crypto speculation is back, but is this really a new bull phase? Ryan and David unpack the altcoin surge, Treasury’s escalating bond-market fight, Robinhood’s tokenized stock boom, and the OpenAI controversy raising new questions about AI, privacy, and ownership.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

2:03 Altcoin Season & Degen Debasement Trade

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTC.D/

https://x.com/JustDeauIt/status/2095608847381733386

16:00 Treasury vs. The Bond Market

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2097708859531923682

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2097719382533177507

https://x.com/uncnooman/status/2097579298181853548

https://x.com/Hedgeye/status/2098029288092013024

https://x.com/Hedgeye/status/2098045985926914317

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2097746862463955076

http://pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-promises-5000-dividend-for-americans-if-gop-wins-midterms

27:31 Robinhood Chain & AMC’s Tokenized Stock War

https://x.com/0xcarlosg/status/2096919808235208766

https://x.com/uttam_singhk/status/2096903386168021033

https://x.com/Pumpfun/status/2097785975434846285

https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2095874039927509161

https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2095932954417451020

https://x.com/CEOAdam/status/2095622531524784212

https://x.com/vladtenev/status/2095711439810159027

https://x.com/CEOAdam/status/2095761359388520460

https://x.com/Ryan__Rigg/status/2097744223269188000

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2098063002205659638

40:12 OpenAI Math & Privacy Controversy

https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2097374640582668336

https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2097375276384567642

https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2097217378753106336

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2097396382982340783

52:30 Hunter Biden’s LAPTOP Memecoin

https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2097696366596071825

https://x.com/HunterBiden/status/2097790749861638547

55:00 MetaMask Split & Ethereum’s Smart Wallet Future

https://x.com/MetaMask/status/2097689508187680794

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-09-09-consensys-splits-metamask-institutional-ethereum-infrastructure-businesses-414022

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2097054140350554620

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2096370186094076098

https://x.com/ethlabs_org/status/2097838222621446629

https://www.theblock.co/news/ecosystems/2026-09-08-ethereum-foundation-quantum-resistance-2029-413716

1:03:24 Clarity Act’s Do-or-Die Vote

https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-08-08-majority-leader-thune-files-cloture-on-clarity-act-setting-up-sept-15-senate-vote-411211

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

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What if the most interesting crypto investments of the next cycle aren’t new blockchains at all? RockawayX Liquid founder Austin Barack joins David to explain why his attention has shifted toward a small group of applications with real users, rapidly growing revenue, and increasingly explicit token value capture.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Finding Growth and Value in Crypto
4:17 Why Liquid Tokens Are Winning His Attention
7:00 How Austin Values Venice and VVV
15:34 The Biggest Bet in the Venice Model
24:53 Can Venice Balance Growth and Token Value?
32:53 Venice Growth and the OpenRouter Signal
37:31 Can Fundamental Tokens Outperform the Crypto Cycle?
43:50 Pump, Hyperliquid and EtherFi
48:57 EtherFi’s Shift Into a Neo Brokerage
58:24 Why the Market Discounts Pump
1:02:42 The Next Era of Crypto

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RESOURCES

Austin Barack
https://x.com/AustinBarack

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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Robinhood Chain is exploding as memecoins collide with tokenized stocks and Haseeb thinks the whole thing may end badly. Ryan and Haseeb unpack the new casino economy, Saylor’s Bitcoin comeback, Solana’s issuance cut, and the latest AI safety scare.

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📊 BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0

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🎯 THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

2:32 Macro Bounce & Treasury-Fed Tug-of-War

https://x.com/exec_sum/status/2095153582819414237

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/01/bessent-trump-bond-yields-g20.html

https://x.com/0xVirtanen/status/2095121085079462032

https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2095008393434108373

12:41 Saylor’s Bitcoin Comeback

https://x.com/saylor/status/2095524315936530834

https://x.com/Strategy/status/2094396231866777976

https://x.com/AIGOLDOfficial/status/2095360679226364361

https://x.com/AltcoinPro_/status/2095319252769366525

17:35 Robinhood Meme & Stock Token Mania

https://x.com/MikeIppolito_/status/2095210343244894659

https://x.com/MikeIppolito_/status/2095211833124639103

https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2095261533236252831

https://x.com/nansen_ai/status/2095350826047049942

https://x.com/nansen_ai/status/2095350856610926677

https://x.com/hosseeb/status/2095539969297404266

31:41 Ethereum, Solana & the Issuance Vote

https://x.com/LorenzoARK/status/2094517633122979994

https://x.com/web3_data/status/2095054796344406404

https://x.com/0xcarlosg/status/2095444848551633401

https://x.com/P2Pvalidator/status/2094363684361388089

https://x.com/stevenzeiler/status/2094908384789123200

https://x.com/mert/status/2093359812633616577

46:52 21 Banks Chase Stablecoins

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/goldman-sachs-bofa-others-plan-issue-dollar-stablecoin-together-2027-2026-09-01/

50:44 KYC Breach Fallout

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/fbi-probes-service-selling-153m-drivers-licenses/

https://x.com/ErikVoorhees/status/2095319741716193431

https://x.com/rstormsf/status/2095331699672732122

56:56 Astra Raises AI Alarms

https://venturebeat.com/technology/welcome-to-the-agi-era-openai-launches-gpt-6-astra

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

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures