The Rollup

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...

Amos joins us to break down why inference is the new oil and companies will hedge inference costs the same way airlines hedge jet fuel, why AntSeed is open router without open router in the middle, and why all network revenue goes to buy and burn with no company capturing value. 14 years in crypto. This is what he's building next. Amos Meiri is Co-Founder of AntSeed, an open-source P2P marketp...

Yesterday Robinhood hosted their “The World is Flat” event where they announced the Robinhood chain mainnet & deepened relationship with Lighter, amidst many other digital asset focused initiatives. Lighter was named the official perps partner of Robinhood and will be directly integrated within the Robinhood wallet. Vladimir Novakovski is CEO and Co-Founder of Lighter, a decentralized perpetua...

VirtualBacon Dennis Liu breaks down why Bitcoin at 58K is deep value territory, why the four year cycle has repeated exactly as expected and isn't going anywhere, and why HYPE and Lighter are the cleanest expressions of the tokenization trade while ETH wins the underlying technology stack. Plus his hot take on MicroStrategy's real liquidation level and why the $1.25B Bitcoin sale is barely...

MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo breaks down why launching MGUSD was a vertical integration play straight out of Apple's microprocessor playbook, why MoneyGram's 500,000 physical locations are an unbeatable moat in a stablecoin world, and why their new Kraken partnership lets anyone cash out crypto at a MoneyGram or Walmart location worldwide. Anthony Soohoo is Chairman and CEO of MoneyGram, a...

Evan Fisher breaks down why blockchain is more analogous to legal technology than financial technology, why AI-proof moats in crypto are network effects, liquidity, and trust rather than code, and why momentum investors who mistake good metrics for durable value will be this cycle's biggest losers. Evan Fisher is Founder of Portal Ventures, a pre-seed blockchain investment firm managing $120M...

Se Yong Park breaks down why FOMO is building the trading app for the rest of us... any chain, any asset, never miss out again, why AI will commoditize content but can never commoditize money and risk, making social the most defensible moat in on-chain finance, and why FOMO raised $75M from Benchmark, Robinhood, and Coinbase without touching a single venture dollar before closing the round. Se Yon...

Jess Houlgrave breaks down why 2026 is the year of non-USD stablecoins with USDC losing Mica compliance, 30 European banks now issuing a euro stablecoin, and HKD, JPY, SEK and CHF versions all coming to market. She covers WalletConnect's $6B per week in stablecoin volume, why broad asset support is the key to reducing merchant and much more. Jess Houlgrave is CEO of WalletConnect, the leading...