Empire Blockworks

In this episode, Santi & Jason talk with Avi and Ro about the current state of the crypto market cycle in both private and liquid markets. They discuss Avi's "bearish" outlook driven by diminishing ETF inflows and stablecoin market caps, Ro's perspective on crywpto venture investing, and how this cycle compares to the last one. The conversation dives into the Solana IOUs auction, the upcoming Ethereum ETF catalyst, and the (un)productive nature of assets like Eigen Layer's restaking product and Bitcoin DeFi. Avi and Ro also outline their framework for crypto portfolio construction and the key indicators they watch. The episode concludes with their 12-month price predictions for BTC, ETH and SOL.

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Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman
Follow Ro: https://twitter.com/roshunpatel
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

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Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
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Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all. 

Get started at:
portal.arbitrum.io 
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This episode is brought to you by Aura, the AI-powered digital security protection app that keeps your personal information, passwords, online activity, and tech safe from digital threats. It’s all-in-one protection from identity theft, financial fraud, malware, scams, and more.

For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14-day FREE trial plus up to 55% off an Aura subscription.

Visit aura.com/blockworks to sign up for your free trial.
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SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption.

Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork
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Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.
https://blckwrks.co/Marinade
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(04:28) Avi's Bearish Take
(09:41) Ro's Private Market Perspective
(16:42) Ethereum's Bull Case
(27:42) Private & Liquid Ratio
(36:49) Arbitrum Ad
(37:26) Aura Ad
(38:25) Marinade Ad
(39:29) SKALE ad
(40:46) Solana's Trade
(45:44) Cycle Timing & Comparison
(54:23) Fundamentals of DeFi
(01:01:06) What Everyone is Missing?
(01:11:14) Price Predictions
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Jason and Santi are joined by special guest Kyle Samani to dive deep into valuing L1 and L2 crypto assets. The conversation covers the importance of MEV as the primary value accrual mechanism rather than transaction fees, the challenges in standardizing valuations across different blockchain architectures, and the evolving fee market designs. They also discuss the true costs and benefits of token airdrops for bootstrapping ecosystems. Thanks for tuning in!

Sign up for the Empire newsletter: https://empire-31ed59.beehiiv.com/subscribe
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Resources
https://youtu.be/aCHY9iPS8sI?feature=shared
https://x.com/kylesamani/status/1721964311008956809
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Follow Kyle: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
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Sei Labs believes the EVM is here to stay.

By providing the fastest time to finality of any chain, thousands of transactions per second and full backwards compatibility with the EVM, Ethereum developers can try out a brand new design space for their applications.

Try out sei v2 devnet - visit the new sei.io to find out more.
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Mantle Network is an Ethereum Layer 2 that aims to bring super-scalability to Ethereum by taking a modular approach that offers low fees and high security.

Mantle recently launched their airdrop program "Rewards Station" to holders of its native token, $MNT. The Rewards Station program distributes pre-sale token allocations or listed token to $MNT holders who stake their $MNT.
Check out the rewards station: https://www.mantle.xyz/rewards-station
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Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses.

If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad
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Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards.

Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk.

Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.
https://blckwrks.co/Marinade
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:43) Crypto as Commodities
(08:50) MEV Fee Stream for Networks
(18:53) L1 Token Valuation
(21:31) Updated Solana Thesis
(33:160 SEI Ad
(34:14) Monad Ad
(35:12) Marinade Ad
(36:17) Mantle Ad
(37:14) Fee Markets & Performant Infra Valuations
(42:40) Income Statements of L1s & L2s
(58:10) Cost of Airdrops
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this deep dive episode, Brandon Curtis (Rio), Myles O'Neil (Reverie), and Ryan West (Blockworks Research) unpack the emerging world of restaking on Ethereum. The conversation starts with a detailed look at the restaking supply chain, from ETH deposits in LRTs to securing AVSs. The group discusses the key differences between LRTs and LSTs, yield strategies, and fragmented user preferences. They also explore the dynamics between LRTs and AVSs, including the leverage AVSs currently have and the challenges with off-chain "handshake" agreements. Thanks for tuning in!
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Follow Myles: https://twitter.com/MylesOneil
Follow Brandon Curtis: https://twitter.com/bcmakes
Follow Westie: https://twitter.com/WestieCapital
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
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Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all. 

Get started at:
portal.arbitrum.io 
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Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses.

If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad
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SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption.

Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork
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Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.
https://blckwrks.co/Marinade
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Timestamps:
00:00 intro
02:37 Restaking Supply Chain
10:56 Restaking Today
18:11 LRTs & AVS Dynamics
30:54 LRT Selection Process
41:21 AVS Leverage Advantage
45:21 Arbitrum Ad
46:09 Monad Ad
47:07 Marinade Ad
48:12 Skale Ad
49:28 AVS Security
55:09 LRTs vs LSTs
01:07:06 LRT Risk & Yield Strategies
01:17:07 Native vs External Staking
01:26:26 Eigen Layer Competitors

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode, Jason sits down with Jake Brukhman and Seth Ginns, co-founders and managing partners at CoinFund. They dive deep into CoinFund's origin story, investment philosophy, and how the firm navigates the complex landscape of liquid and venture investing in the crypto space. Jake and Seth share their insights on the current crypto market cycle, drawing comparisons to previous cycles and discussing potential scenarios for how this one may unfold differently. They explore the intersection of AI and crypto, with Jake highlighting the importance of decentralization and democratization in the development of AI to avoid dangerous centralized control by a few big tech companies. Stay tuned for all of this and much more!

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Follow Jake: https://twitter.com/jbrukh
Follow Seth: https://twitter.com/sethginns
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses.

If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad
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Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.
https://blckwrks.co/Marinade
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:50) CoinFund Origin Story
(12:53) Web2 vs Crypto Venture
(27:28) Liquid Investing
(36:00) Determining Valuations
(44:54) Monad Ad
(45:53) Marinade Ad
(47:00) Opportunity in Interop
(55:32) Market Cycles
(01:11:16) Crypto & AI Thesis

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This week we discuss the current state of crypto after the weekend flash crash. As Bitcoin struggles to break $70,000 with conviction, will the 2024 halving be a strong catalyst for more bullish price action going forward?

We also walk through some of crypto's most promising use cases: Ondo, Hyperliquid & Ethena. Enjoy!
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Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman
Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz
Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
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Perennial is an on-chain derivatives protocol built from first principles to be a DeFi primitive. The core protocol is minimalist, flexible, and efficient, allowing Perennial to mold to the needs of many different users & use cases.

Perennial has a super efficient core protocol that lets LPs use native maker leverage — allowing $1mn in TVL to back to $5-10mn in Open interest.

Trade and LP at: https://perennial.finance/1000x
Social: https://twitter.com/perenniallabs
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Timestamps:
(0:00) Introduction
(2:27) Bitcoin Struggles To Break $70,000
(7:11) Risk Of Further Conflict?
(16:02) Perennial Ad
(17:33) The Bitcoin Halving
(24:02) The Bitcoin & Meme Coin Barbell Strategy
(32:42) Crypto Use Cases: Ondo, Hyperliquid & Ethena
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode, Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, dives deep into the world of Layer 3 blockchains and their potential to revolutionize Ethereum scaling. The discussion covers the benefits of building on Arbitrum's customizable L3 stack, including reduced onboarding costs and improved data availability. Steven also explores the importance of fraud proofs in ensuring the security of L2 and L3 chains, as well as Arbitrum's community-sourced approach to blockchain development. The conversation touches on the future of DeFi, the role of composability and network effects, and the potential for L3s to abstract away the complexity of the blockchain stack for end-users. Stay tuned for all of this and much more!

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Follow Steven: https://twitter.com/sgoldfed
Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz
Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel
Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j
Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7
Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
- -
Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all. 

Get started at:
portal.arbitrum.io 
- -
Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses.

If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad
- -
SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption.

Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork
- -
Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.
https://blckwrks.co/Marinade
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Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:52 L2 State of the Union
08:07 L2 vs L3
14:00 User Acquisition Methodology
18:30 Value Accrual of L3s m
24:20 App Chain vs L3
28:46 Not Using Eth Security
36:33 Fraud Proofs
38:21 Arbitrum Ad
49:09 Monad Ad
50:07 SKALE AD
51:24 Higher Throughput Chains
58:31 Why did Coinbase pick OP
01:03:55 End Game of L3s
01:08:06 Why Not Just L1s?
01:14:57 Crypto Network Effects

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.