Empire

Empire features interviews with top crypto founders to get the real stories that aren’t shared elsewhere. Empire is your look behind the curtain of the crypto industry. We release two episodes per week: guest interviews on Monday and a weekly roundup on Friday.

  1. 4 hrs ago

    Uniswap Is Building The Liquidity Network For Everything | Hayden Adams

    What if Uniswap isn’t really an exchange at all, but a liquidity network for every asset? This week, Uniswap Founder Hayden Adams explains how Uniswap is evolving from a consumer DeFi app into global financial infrastructure. We explore programmable market making, tokenized assets, public market's IPO problem, Robinhood’s breakout traction, and why DeFi could reshape capital markets. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:28 Uniswap Having A Moment 03:31 What Is Uniswap Today? 08:51 How Uniswap Runs The Business 15:24 Who Is Uniswap Building For? 22:09 DeFi Becoming Financial Infrastructure 26:08 Why Do AMMs Keep Winning? 38:39 The Next AMM Unlock 52:06 Are Traditional IPOs Broken? 01:01:14 Robinhood Chain & Uniswap Partnerships 01:06:19 Uniswap’s New Tokenomics 01:11:33 The $100 Million UNI Burn FOLLOW HAYDEN › X/Twitter – https://x.com/haydenzadams › Uniswap – https://x.com/Uniswap FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

    Uniswap Is Building The Liquidity Network For Everything | Hayden Adams
  2. 3 days ago

    Crypto’s Speculation Problem, Regulation Without CLARITY & The Gambling Economy

    Crypto adoption is accelerating, but does that mean token prices follow? This week, we unpack growing institutional interest in crypto as brokerages and fintechs push onchain, even as CLARITY stalls and memecoin activity dominates. We explore SEC and CFTC catalysts, Fomo versus Pump.fun, the durability of meme-driven markets, token value accrual, and crypto’s financialization problem. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 02:17 Has Crypto Found A Bottom? 08:22 Can Regulation Replace Clarity? 14:42 Fomo Vs Pump Fun 22:07 How Founders Survive The Reckoning 26:31 Is Crypto Worth The Venture Bet? 34:39 Is Erebor Worth $8 Billion? 41:40 Is Collector Crypt Just Gambling? 48:03 Everything Is Becoming Financialized 54:23 Why Santi Is Long AI 57:26 What Benchmark Gets Right FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Santi – https://x.com/santiagoroel › Rob – https://x.com/HadickM › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events DISCLAIMER Nothing said. onEmpire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

    Crypto’s Speculation Problem, Regulation Without CLARITY & The Gambling Economy
  3. 6 days ago

    Morpho Is Coming For The $200 Trillion Credit Market | Paul Frambot

    Is DeFi’s future invisible financial infrastructure? This week, Cofounder & CEO of Morpho, Paul Frambot, joins to explore Morpho’s ambition to bring global credit markets onchain for fintechs and institutions. We discuss Midnight and fixed-rate lending, network effects, token-equity alignment, scaling distribution, and why direction can matter more than speed. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:19 Morpho’s Market And Token Thesis 09:00 Ribbit’s Role In Morpho 11:50 Morpho And Midnight Explained 20:42 Why DeFi Becomes Infrastructure 26:29 First Principles Beat Fast Execution 29:30 Building Crypto’s GTM Machine 37:52 Scaling Morpho Without Losing Direction 42:19 Funding A $200 Trillion Ambition 47:47 Where Morpho Grows Next 57:37 Midnight’s Path Beyond Crypto Credit 01:03:18 Agents And The Regulatory Frontier FOLLOW PAUL › X/Twitter – https://x.com/PaulFrambot › Morpho – https://x.com/Morpho FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

    Morpho Is Coming For The $200 Trillion Credit Market | Paul Frambot
  4. 7 Aug

    Venture Mandates, Cloudflare Wallets, Circle Earnings & Saddam Hussein Patek Philippe

    What separates lasting winners from everyone chasing the next trend? This week, we dig into why specialization may be the biggest edge in venture investing as crypto, AI, and traditional finance increasingly converge. We discuss venture mandates, stablecoin competition, Circle's earnings, Cloudflare's agent wallets, and why reputation compounds faster than capital. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 04:05 Crypto Venture Expands Beyond Crypto 09:20 Can Crypto Funds Go Generalist? 16:06 The Hidden Cost Of Dilution 22:43 Crypto Venture Enters Hard Mode 28:39 Ads (Peaq) 29:25 Cloudflare Bets On Agent Wallets 41:04 Is Circle Stock Mispriced? 53:04 Western Union Goes Onchain 01:02:13 Watches And Content Picks 01:09:01 Amazon Discovery Rewrites History 01:11:29 DAS Asia And London Preview Robots will soon outnumber humans onchain. peaqOS turns them into a new trusted liquid asset class, with yield tied to real-world workloads. It gives robots all they need to do business on any chain — and lets humans earn from automation. Explore the Machine Economy: https://peaq.xyz FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Santi – https://x.com/santiagoroel › Rob – https://x.com/HadickM › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

    Venture Mandates, Cloudflare Wallets, Circle Earnings & Saddam Hussein Patek Philippe
  5. 31 July

    AI Fatigue, Robinhood & Every Market Becoming Crypto | Weekly Roundup

    What happens when every market starts trading like crypto? This week, Santi and Rob examine how leverage, automation, and retail speculation are exporting crypto-style volatility across traditional finance. They also explore CLARITY’s fading odds, AI fatigue, Robinhood’s onchain expansion, and the battle between public and private tokenization. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:58 CLARITY’s Falling Odds 04:54 Everything Trades Like Crypto 08:53 AI Capex and Semiconductor Volatility 12:47 The Death of Long-Term Investing 18:19 Why Market-Neutral Funds Win 20:09 Institutional AI Fatigue 24:22 AI’s Token Economics Problem 25:55 peaq Ad 26:41 AI Token Costs and Model Routing 30:37 Robinhood Chain’s Early Traction 34:13 Prediction Markets Eclipse Crypto 38:51 Ethereum L2 Activity Collapses 45:49 Ondo’s Private Chain Bet 52:18 Stablecoin Adoption and Crypto VC 58:55 Content of the Week Robots will soon outnumber humans onchain. peaqOS turns them into a new trusted liquid asset class, with yield tied to real-world workloads. It gives robots all they need to do business on any chain — and lets humans earn from automation. Explore the Machine Economy: https://peaq.xyz FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Santi – https://x.com/santiagoroel › Rob – https://x.com/HadickM › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

    AI Fatigue, Robinhood & Every Market Becoming Crypto | Weekly Roundup
  6. 27 July

    Robinhood's Plan to Bring Global Finance Onchain | Johann Kerbrat

    What happens when Robinhood turns crypto from a trading feature into the backbone of its global financial platform? This week, Robinhood's GM of Crypto, Johann Kerbrat, explains how Robinhood Chain connects DeFi, tokenized assets, and mainstream users. We explore global access, permissionless development, strategic partnerships, token economics, and whether equities and crypto eventually converge. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:59 Robinhood’s Onchain Vision 04:46 Will Robinhood Move Fully Onchain? 11:07 Inside Robinhood Chain’s Explosive Launch 14:33 Building The Chain For Adoption 16:15 Ads (peaq) 17:00 Building Robinhood’s DeFi Stack 21:20 Why DeFi Partners Stay Independent 26:58 Tokenized Equities Go Global 30:38 Robinhood’s Crypto Growth Strategy 34:52 Competition And Financial Convergence Robots will soon outnumber humans onchain. peaqOS turns them into a new trusted liquid asset class, with yield tied to real-world workloads. It gives robots all they need to do business on any chain — and lets humans earn from automation. Explore the Machine Economy: https://peaq.xyz FOLLOW JOHANN › X/Twitter – https://x.com/JohannKerbrat › Robinhood Crypto – https://x.com/RobinhoodCrypto FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

    Robinhood's Plan to Bring Global Finance Onchain | Johann Kerbrat
  7. 23 July

    The Bill That Could Reshape Crypto In America with Greg Xethalis from Multicoin

    Is CLARITY the breakthrough crypto needs or just the beginning? This week, Jason and Multicoin’s Greg Xethalis unpack how the bill could reshape crypto’s regulatory future. They explore CFTC oversight, token classification, DeFi protections, disclosure requirements, and the fight threatening its passage. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 01:20 How CLARITY Came To Be 07:08 Who Built The CLARITY Act? 11:05 What CLARITY Actually Does 15:13 The New Token Taxonomy 18:13 Ads (Peaq) 18:58 When Is A Blockchain Mature? 23:01 Protecting DeFi And Developers 33:51 The Future Of Token Disclosures 40:14 What CLARITY Could Unlock 44:30 Closing Thoughts Robots will soon outnumber humans onchain. peaqOS turns them into a new trusted liquid asset class, with yield tied to real-world workloads. It gives robots all they need to do business on any chain — and lets humans earn from automation. Explore the Machine Economy: https://peaq.xyz FOLLOW GREG › X/Twitter – https://x.com/xethalis › Multicoin – https://x.com/multicoin FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

    The Bill That Could Reshape Crypto In America with Greg Xethalis from Multicoin
  8. 16 July

    Clarity Window Closing, Robinhood Eating Ethereum Value & Coinbase's Base Reset

    Crypto's window for regulatory clarity is about to close while Robinhood raises questions about who actually captures the value created onchain. This week, we unpack Clarity’s narrowing path through Congress and what failure could mean for crypto markets and institutional adoption. We also debate Ethereum’s economics, Coinbase’s Base reset, the Ostium hack vs instant settlement, and Stripe’s reported PayPal bid. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 01:50 Clarity Act’s Closing Window 08:40 Trump’s Crypto Ethics Roadblock 14:07 What Clarity Means For Markets 18:13 Robinhood Exposes Ethereum’s Value Problem 28:14 Coinbase Resets Base’s Strategy 39:28 Ostium Hack Challenges Instant Settlement 50:50 Stripe’s Bid To Reinvent PayPal 01:04:57 AI Trades And Biohacking 01:10:20 Content Of The Week FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Santiago – https://x.com/santiagoroel › Rob – https://x.com/HadickM › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

    Clarity Window Closing, Robinhood Eating Ethereum Value & Coinbase's Base Reset

About

Empire features interviews with top crypto founders to get the real stories that aren’t shared elsewhere. Empire is your look behind the curtain of the crypto industry. We release two episodes per week: guest interviews on Monday and a weekly roundup on Friday.

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