The Rollup

Bitwise's CIO Matt Hougan and Head of Research Ryan Rasmussen break down why institutional ETF investors kept buying through the summer's 50% drawdowns and explain why they expect the next bull market to look a lot different than previous ones. They also make the case that ETF flows are expanding, what institutional allocators really want to buy, and the long-term forecasts for top digital...

Edward Woodford, CEO of zerohash breaks down their new Visa Direct partnership, which lets Visa move value instantly across its 12 billion endpoints in over 190 countries using stablecoins. He explains how zerohash quietly powers stablecoin infrastructure for Stripe, Morgan Stanley, and BlackRock's BUIDL fund. He also makes the case that stablecoins are just the first tokenized asset class, an...

Matthew Sigel breaks down why the AI buildout looks more like the 19th-century railroad boom than a bubble about to pop, comparing capital scale, financing structure, and multiyear purchase order backlogs. He also explains why VanEck has gone underweight major L1s like Solana in favor of corporate chains from Circle, Stripe, and Robinhood, and why he believes a CLARITY Act relief rally could be &q...

Jesse Pollak joins us on CLARITY week to break down how Base is leading in trading, onchain finance, and payments. He also explains how x402 agentic payments and tokenized inference are turning Base into the settlement layer for AI agents, something we've been excited about for a while. He also gives a real update on the long-awaited Base token, Ethereum and the scaling Base is bringing, and a...

CLARITY final countdown special today on the show. We're getting the legal, investor, builder, and the onchain business-impact angles in today's show. 00:00 Intro 05:10 Equities Rally And Earnings Momentum 09:01 SEC's Rulemaking Backup Plan 10:44 Tokenized Deposits Explained 17:48 Open USD And Permissioned Chains 19:39 Base's Internet Exchange Vision 21:23 Tokenizing Equities On Avalanche 26:14 Wr...

Haseeb Qureshi breaks down why crypto markets have become numb to CLARITY Act headlines, and explains why Western Union partnering with Dragonfly portfolio company Rain signals stablecoins are already eating into legacy payment margins. He also makes the case that tokenized deposits are "basically uninteresting" compared to stablecoins, and questions whether Tempo's Open USD consorti...

Cody Carbone breaks down the real vote count behind the CLARITY Act and explains why ethics has become "the whole ballgame" holding up trillions in potential capital inflows. He also draws parallels to the GENIUS Act's rocky path to passage, making the case that history says this bill still gets done. Cody Carbone is the CEO of The Digital Chamber, a leading blockchain advocacy organ...

Eleanor Terrett breaks down the state of play on the CLARITY Act just before the August recess deadline, unpacking the ethics language dividing Democrats and Republicans and why the DOJ-versus-state-AG enforcement fight remains the key sticking point. She also explains why the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act has suddenly become just as contentious, pitting developer protections against law enf...

Vladimir Novakovski breaks down why both Lighter Core and Robinhood Chain sit on top of Ethereum, and how ZK proofs let market makers move capital between instances within minutes. He also previews a future where users simply describe their market thesis and let an AI agent execute the trade, plus options on pre-IPO stocks currently in the works. Finally, he lays out why the LIT token carries zero...

Sam Kazemian makes the case that there's no hidden "dead body" under this digital assets cycle, and he breaks down how GENIUS-compliant stablecoins could power instant business banking, from incorporation to payroll to DeFi, from day one. He also unpacks Frax's new banking partnership with Erebor and why he believes a handful of stablecoin consortiums could become "the next Visa network." Sam Kaze...

Rebecca breaks down the 600-page CLARITY Act, from its unprecedented ethics language to the extensive new rulemaking powers it hands regulators, and explains why full implementation could take years even after passage. She also unpacks hidden riders in the bill and a lesser-known fight brewing between prediction markets and the gaming industry. Rebecca Rettig is the COO at Jito Labs, a Protocol La...

Sergej Kunz breaks down 1inch's new Aqua protocol, built on research showing liquidity providers left over $150 million in fees on the table, and explains how it lets users earn yield without giving up custody, governance rights, or capital efficiency. He also traces 1inch's evolution from intent-based swaps and Fusion. Sergej Kunz is the Co-Founder of 1inch, a leading DeFi aggregator and...

Paul Frambot breaks down how Morpho's new Midnight protocol lets curators price risk directly, unlocking under-collateralized lending onchain for the first time, and explains why he believes DeFi is finally ready to capture a slice of the $200 trillion global credit market. He also makes the case against aggressive token buybacks, arguing that reinvesting in growth beats shrinking the float. P...

Leo Fan breaks down why the real bottleneck in AI isn't model intelligence but a persistent GPU shortage driving up inference costs, even as open-source models from China close the gap. He also unpacks the financialization of compute and why some believe it could become one of the largest derivatives markets in the world. Leo Fan is the Founder of Cysic, a full-stack compute network turning GP...

Johann Kerbrat breaks down Robinhood Chain's explosive first three weeks and explains the strategy behind bringing tokenized equities, DeFi, and stablecoin yield onchain. He also unpacks the Base vs. Robinhood Chain rivalry and Robinhood's broader vision to become a true financial super app. Johann Kerbrat is the General Manager of Crypto at Robinhood, leading the launch of Robinhood Chain...

Maredith Hannon breaks down why WisdomTree built its own end-to-end tokenization platform rather than relying on partners, and explains why she believes regulatory clarity from the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts will unleash a "tidal wave" of onchain asset growth. She also makes the case that privacy and identity are the next must-solve primitives for institutional adoption of tokenized assets....

Salman Banaei breaks down the state of play in DC on the CLARITY Act, from the ethics fight holding up Democratic support to the DeFi and conflicts-of-interest provisions still being negotiated, and puts the odds of passage this cycle at 40-50%. He also explains why Title IV's bank provisions and the bill's token fundraising framework could be some of the biggest unlocks in digital assets...

Andre Cronje breaks down why he believes decentralization is dead as a design goal, and unpacks how Flying Tulip is rebuilding DeFi composability. He also explains the security-versus-UX tradeoffs behind circuit breakers, upgradable contracts, and Flying Tulip USD's delta-neutral staking design. Andre Cronje is the Founder of Flying Tulip and a veteran DeFi builder known for creating Yearn Fin...

Alex Shevchenko breaks down Confidential Intents, NEAR's new privacy layer that brings bank-level confidentiality to every DeFi primitive, and explains why a dollar that becomes payroll onchain tends to stay onchain. He also unpacks NEAR's "practical privacy" design and how it differs from Zcash and Tornado Cash. He also shares his personal bull case for Zcash and NEAR's own...

Hanson Birringer breaks down why Hyperliquid is the purest way to express the bull case on perps, tokenization, and stablecoins all at once, and unpacks the mechanics behind the Grayscale ETF and Hyper Holdings' push to bring institutional capital onchain. He also explains why Hyperliquid's revenue could grow exponentially as HIP-3 markets and USDC0 stablecoin flows scale. Hanson Birringer...

Joseph Chalom makes the case that Ethereum has the license to win and is finally going on offense to prove it, backed by ETH Labs, Ethereum Institutional, and dominant market share across stablecoins, tokenization, and DeFi. He argues ETH is the trust commodity behind trillions in future onchain asset flows, and that the risk-reward for holding it has never been better. Joseph Chalom is the CEO of...

Lincoln Murr breaks down why Coinbase is building toward a post-AGI economy where autonomous agents hold their own financial accounts and transact using digital assets rails. He also unpacks the geopolitics of AI regulation, from potential government stakes in frontier labs to the rise of cheaper Chinese models challenging U.S. dominance. Lincoln Murr is the Head of AI Product at Coinbase, leading...

Michael Egorov breaks down why FX markets are slowly but inevitably moving onchain, driven by real demand from crypto-native fintechs rather than a big institutional push. He also explains how Curve is evolving its concentrated liquidity design to support currency pairs beyond stablecoin-to-stablecoin swaps, and why dollars that enter the chain tend to stay there. Michael Egorov is the Founder and...

Niklas Kunkel breaks down the strange divergence between record institutional bullishness on digital assets and the apathy in digital asset-native circles. He also details Chronicle's path to becoming the leading oracle, the mechanics of an upcoming token, and why the next phase of tokenization is just beginning. Niklas Kunkel is the Founder and CEO of Chronicle Labs, the oracle infrastructure...

Gracy Chen breaks down how Bitget evolved into a universal platform offering tokenized stocks, ETFs, bonds, forex, and pre-IPO positions, shares the 10% vision she pitched to BlackRock CEO Rob Goldstein, and explains why stablecoin issuers and Solana's RWA positioning are the biggest winners of the tokenization wave. One of the most globally-minded CEO perspectives we've had on the show. G...