BITCOIN ATH. Pump IS FUN. Interviewing @tarunchitra (2pm pst), @everythingempt0 (230pm) AND @brezscales (3pm) PULL UP

The L1 vs. L2 navel gazing misses the obvious thing: every company chooses build vs. buy vs. partnership L1 = build + buy (c.f. all the talent acquisitions involved) L2 = partnership Every company involved here followed their historical behavior for build / buy / partner

OH: “MNAV is just REV for tradfi suits, sometimes it is useful but it doesn’t often explain success”

deeply grateful for today’s announcement the biggest market in crypto is still the hardest to use derivatives make up nearly 80% of all exchange volume, but for most retail users, the ux is a nonstarter so we’ve built the interfaces that finally just make sense. distilling options, perps, and more into the most intuitive and fun forms imaginable. first up: our flagship product, tap trading. sub-60 second options, expressed with a simple tap and 100 hand‑picked killers from every corner of crypto are backing us to make it happen euphoria is by the people, for the people. to our community and everyone who’s supported our mission over the past year, we thank you. this next stage is for you.

Thanks @zeroknowledgefm for having me on the show! It was a pleasure chatting with @AnnaRRose and @tarunchitra about AI watermarks, one of my favorite research areas

Optimism: "Amazing projects like Chai Research have been funded, maybe DeSci has funded something useful" Pessimism: "Scammers like Bio + supporting VCs are shilling a 50% increase after their scam tokenomics led to this chart" This is a real reason smart people hate crypto 🤡

Ep about watermarking AI generated content... and it's connection to ZK is out!

This was one of my favorite ZK pods to record — @miranda__christ is a really amazing interdisciplinary cryptography researcher and if you want to understand how ZK and AI watermarks are related, you have to listen to this

The Storm conviction is unacceptable in “the crypto capital of the world.” Here are the necessary steps to right this wrong and protect software developers: 1) DOJ must accept the jury’s refusal to convict on money laundering and sanctions, and must not retry the case 2) DOJ must dismiss the Section 1960 charge, or else Roman must be pardoned 3) Congress must amend Section 1960 to clarify that money transmission requires control of funds and does not apply to the developers of non-custodial software There is no greater threat to crypto than DOJ’s misguided war on developers, which started under Biden and must stop under Trump. This battle may have been lost, but the war will be won.

Coin Center’s Seven Takeaways from the Storm Verdict: ▪️ 1. The sole conviction—unlicensed money transmission (18 U.S.C. § 1960)—turns mainly on legal/regulatory interpretation (“does this count as money transmission?”), not jury fact-finding. ▪️ 2. The court, at the motion-to-dismiss stage, discounted FinCEN’s stated guidance on what counts as “money transmission” in crypto and treated the category as broader than “control of customer funds.” ▪️ 3. With “money transmission” defined that broadly, the jury’s room to decide facts was narrow; the court’s interpretation largely dictated the outcome. ▪️ 4. DOJ’s prior “end regulation by prosecution” memo didn’t fully resolve §1960 issues left things open for continued prosecution; the DOJ dropped the failure-to-register theory but not the “knowingly transmitting criminal funds” theory. Coin Center’s view: both hinge on “transmitting” and are improper against developers excluded by FinCEN guidance. ▪️ 5. The BRCA (Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act), now attached to CLARITY and passed by the House, would confirm that non-controlling developers aren’t money transmitters. It can’t help Roman retroactively, but the Senate should pass it in upcoming market-structure debates. ▪️ 6. Coin Center fellow Michael Lewellen is suing DOJ for a declaration that publishing/maintaining his software isn’t unlicensed money transmission. Coin Center will continue supporting this effort to correct the legal interpretation. ▪️ 7. Coin Center is sorry Roman faces sentencing on a theory that contradicts the regulator’s guidance. He should appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss; Coin Center will assist however possible.