Bankless

Markets are ripping despite $120 oil and an escalating war. Ryan and David break down why the AI boom is drowning out macro risks, whether a wave of trillion-dollar IPOs could mark the top, and how DeFi just bailed itself out after its biggest hack ever.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

2:28 Oil War & $120 Oil Crisis

https://x.com/pete_rizzo_/status/2049589290326212768

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2049713857728524691

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2049534394302394603

https://x.com/Rory_Johnston/status/2049834460233756744

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2048593172423495858

https://x.com/charliebilello/status/2049613424749838445

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2048461842540834913

https://x.com/biancoresearch/status/2049598646648181221

https://tether.io/news/tether-supports-freeze-of-more-than-344-million-in-usdt-in-coordination-with-ofac-and-u-s-law-enforcement/

https://x.com/AggrNews/status/2047711619304587602

https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/2049281442451001711

16:46 Markets Rally vs Reality (AI Boom) or AI Bubble & IPO Top Signal

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2049165243100827821

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2049149137292001672

https://x.com/NoLimitGains/status/2049213286311436597

https://x.com/shiri_shh/status/2049040515107270751

https://x.com/Shaughnessy119/status/2049228075766788402

https://x.com/IvayloPashov/status/2049475041113378909

https://x.com/realarmaansidhu/status/2047080574737592798

27:22 Fed, Powell, Rising Inflation, Bitcoin Narrative & National Security

https://x.com/EdwardLawrence/status/2049583458393980995

https://x.com/firsttohearit/status/2049574617665c114570 

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2049551229349511663

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/29/jerome-powell-says-he-will-continue-to-serve-as-a-fed-governor-even-after-chairmanship-ends-.html

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2049609008399503750

https://x.com/pete_rizzo_/status/2049589290326212768

https://x.com/TFTC21/status/2049135996654981459 

36:59 MegaETH Launch

https://x.com/megaeth/status/2047352341473505435

https://cryptobriefing.com/megaeth-token-generation-event-set-for-april-30-2026/

https://x.com/bread_/status/2049870525779128345

https://dexscreener.com/megaeth/0x5fb29184c49546c13a14a3958f21e5759f0821f2

https://x.com/bubblemaps/status/2049874252153618436

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4YI5u-hZJo

40:33 DeFi Bailout (KelpDAO → DeFi United)

https://defiunited.world/

https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/2047413237113868576

https://x.com/aave/status/2048189931856535887

https://x.com/CoinDesk/status/2049290843677151501

https://x.com/aave/status/2048958367658332413

https://x.com/jussy_world/status/2049534154488840259

48:30 Polymarket Insider Trading Case

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-soldier-charged-using-classified-information-profit-prediction-market-bets

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyxd5wrr0wo

https://www.wsls.com/news/national/2026/04/28/us-soldier-charged-with-using-intel-to-win-400k-on-maduro-raid-to-appear-in-court-in-nyc/

https://x.com/shayne_coplan/status/2047712706342326496

51:27 “Code Is Not a Crime” vs Reality

https://cointelegraph.com/news/acting-ag-blanche-signals-doj-pivot-code-is-not-a-crime

https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2048834708088267256 

https://www.therage.co/blanche-vegas/

https://x.com/valkenburgh/status/2048846522347884669

https://x.com/rstormsf/status/2049157683916464278

55:45 Stablecoins Go Mainstream (Visa + Meta)

https://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2026/Visa-Accelerates-Stablecoin-Momentum-Adding-Five-Blockchains-for-Settlement/default.aspx

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/04/29/tech-giant-meta-starts-paying-some-creators-in-stablecoin-with-stripe-s-support

https://x.com/dwr/status/2049551855991308387

58:50 Closing & Disclaimers

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$MEGA token is live, but the bigger story is what the launch says about the future of L2s. Co-Founders Shuyao and Lei join Bankless to unpack why MegaETH tied its TGE to app milestones, why USDM and proximity markets could become core revenue streams, and how the team is thinking about appchains, AI agents, security, and Stage 2 decentralization.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 MegaETH Reaches TGE: KPIs and Milestones
3:10 The 10 Apps That Unlocked Launch
8:12 Composability for New Crypto Apps
11:22 World Markets as MegaETH’s Liquidity Hub
14:13 USDM and the First Revenue Stream
15:59 Co-Location, Low Latency, and Proximity Markets
19:40 Proximity Markets vs. MEV
22:13 Revenue and Token Value Accrual
25:15 Ethereum Decentralization as a KPI
27:40 Token Unlocks and Launch Supply
30:31 Terminal, Incentives, and Flux
32:28 MegaETH vs. Appchains
38:31 Could MegaETH Support Polymarket Scale?
41:12 AI Agents on a Fast, Cheap Chain
47:23 KelpDAO, Arbitrum, and L2 Decentralization
55:38 Life After TGE

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RESOURCES

Shuyao Kong
https://x.com/hotpot_dao

Lai Yang
https://x.com/yangl1996

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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Rory Johnston, the “oil quant,” joins us to explain why the Hormuz crisis could become the biggest oil shock in history.

Oil markets are already screaming. Supply is trapped, inventories are being drained, and the market may still be underpricing the scale of the disruption. 

If the Strait stays closed, Rory says the path to $200 oil is no longer crazy. It may be the next stop.

This is oil, geopolitics, inflation, and markets all colliding at once.

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🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

1:17 What is a Barrel of Oil?

7:04 How is Oil Transported?

8:24 Is Oil Fungible?

13:25 Oil Then Vs Now

17:10 Peak Oil?

24:59 Hydrocarbon World Distribution

29:32 What is Spare Capacity?

32:14 Inventories in the Buffer System

35:04 Oil Futures

38:59 Oil Curve

44:51 Economic Implications of Oil Markets

48:48 Straight of Hormuz

55:30 Future Oil Price Action

1:03:53 Steelmanning the Market Reaction

1:13:23 When will the Straight Open?

1:21:57 Is the USA Winning?

1:27:49 Pressuring Iran

1:31:48 Signals to Watch

1:33:36 Fast Forward to 2050

1:38:38 Closing & Disclaimers

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RESOURCES

Rory Johnston

https://x.com/Rory_Johnston 

Commodity Context

https://www.commoditycontext.com/ 

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

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Has Bitcoin already bottomed, or are investors still looking at the wrong signals? Jordi Visser joins Bankless to argue that AI is destroying software moats, reshaping inflation, and pushing capital toward scarce assets, with Bitcoin at the center of that shift. We get into his “AI is the new QE” thesis, the scarcity-versus-abundance portfolio, why the S&P may struggle in an AI regime, what a more muted Bitcoin cycle looks like, and where he still sees upside across the rest of crypto.

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💰NEXO | YIELD + CREDIT LINE
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🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY
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---
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro
2:07 Jordi’s bold Bitcoin call
4:18 The AI endgame lands at Bitcoin
9:26 Bitcoin as the purest AI trade
12:49 SaaSpocalypse, quantum fear, and the private credit risk
20:49 AI is the new QE
26:55 Inflation, deflation, and the scarcity squeeze
34:28 What happens to stocks from here
44:24 Is AI a bubble?
48:17 The Bitcoin IPO and muted cycles
1:01:01 Has Bitcoin already bottomed?
1:09:03 The broken social pact
1:13:21 The rest of crypto, from ETH to stablecoins
1:17:29 Inside the scarcity portfolio
1:20:42 Jensen vs. Dwarkesh, China, and the chip war
1:27:42 Jordi’s AI stack and where to follow his work

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RESOURCES

Jordi Visser
https://x.com/jvisserlabs

Jordi’s Substack
https://substack.com/@visserlabs

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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Markets are hitting new highs, but crypto just took a major hit. Ryan and David break down the $300M KelpDAO exploit and why it exposed deeper flaws across DeFi and Layer 2s, including Arbitrum’s controversial decision to freeze funds. They also explore whether AI will drive deflation or inequality, unpack a new bullish ETH thesis, and debate why the biggest risks in crypto may be building beneath the surface.

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💰NEXO | YIELD + CREDIT LINE

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🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

https://thedefireport.io/bankless

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

1:57 Markets Still Bullish?

https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/2047282771664453641

https://thewolfden.substack.com/p/strategy-owns-more-btc-than-blackrock

https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/2046703137541837285

https://polymarket.com/event/us-x-iran-permanent-peace-deal-by/?via=bankless?

https://x.com/danielisdizzy/status/2047037188500554010 

https://x.com/MikeZaccardi/status/2045855067710914995

https://polymarket.com/event/kevin-warsh-confirmed-as-fed-chair-by-may-15/?via=bankless?

https://polymarket.com/event/fed-rate-cut-by-629/?via=bankless?

https://x.com/ylecun/status/2045610129119117574

https://x.com/pdmsero/status/2046943519101661561

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2045675498529808886

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2046071375446606125

27:32 KelpDAO $300M Exploit & DeFi Fallout

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/kelpdao-layerzero-exploit-defi

https://defillama.com/protocol/aave-v3

https://x.com/LayerZero_Core/status/2046081551574983137

https://x.com/0xdoug/status/2045988844718453186

https://x.com/arbitrum/status/2046435443680346189

http://l2beat.com/scaling/projects/arbitrum

https://x.com/TheCryptoNexus/status/2046569510442787209

https://x.com/0xfluid/status/2046971208550486244

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

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

50:26 Productive Money ETH Thesis

https://thewolfden.substack.com/p/the-250k-eth-thesis-sounds-great

55:28 Prediction Markets & Perps Expansion & Tether $344M Freeze

https://x.com/polymarket/status/2046653304810156283/?via=bankless?

https://polymarket.com/perps/?via=bankless?

https://x.com/aaronjmars/status/2047017251270734309

https://polymarket.com/event/highest-temperature-in-paris-on-april-23-2026/?via=bankless?

https://tether.io/news/tether-supports-freeze-of-more-than-344-million-in-usdt-in-coordination-with-ofac-and-u-s-law-enforcement

1:00:11 MegaETH & New Chain Activity

https://x.com/bread_/status/2047336293462589788

https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/trade

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

1:01:52 Device-Level KYC / Surveillance State

https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2044491861125996617

https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2045232433197695392

1:06:58 Closing & Disclaimers

---

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

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures