On the mic
Summary
Dave, Kool, NatNat and Benny Lee open the week by discussing the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France and what it could mean for founders, privacy-focused platforms and the TON blockchain, which Dave notes fell from just under $7 to around the $5 range. The conversation then turns to India's CBDC pilot reaching 5,000,000 people, and the panel shares concerns about how governments could weaponize CBDCs. They also cover the stablecoin market nearing $200,000,000,000, PayPal's PYUSD growth, how stablecoins should be backed, and BlackRock's BUIDL fund as tokenized treasury funds cross $2,000,000,000. NatNat gives a TradFi breakdown of Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole speech and the upcoming NVIDIA earnings, and the group then discusses where AI and blockchain intersect, along with Sony's crypto exchange plans and other notable headlines. King Wabi closes by talking about the grind of hosting spaces and why now is the time to do research before the next run. All of this is discussion, not financial advice.
Chapters
NatNat on the New York Times update about the investigation behind the detentionMomentAt 0:13:33 on X
Ross Ulbricht comparison, the Tucker Carlson interview, and whether platform builders should be liableMomentAt 0:19:35 on X
Sony's crypto exchange plans and Soneium, plus notable stories and King Wabi on spaces and researchMomentAt 1:19:25 on X
Key quotes
“they're a privacy focused platform. That's it. That's as simple as it gets.”
Dave0:19:35Share on X
“Stablecoins are massive on multiple chains. It's only gonna get bigger. It's not gonna slow down.”
Kool0:45:55Share on X
“So I think if regardless of how you spin it, whichever way you look at it, it's a positive sign for crypto for sure.”
NatNat0:47:10Share on X
“I think AI can be the great teacher, like, for generations to come.”
Excerpts
Opening: Dave arrives a few minutes late after falling asleep on another stage
- 0:00:41 Dave Nat, you hear me or no? I feel like I'm rugged, or this space is kinda rugged.
- 0:05:13 Dave those that are wondering, what in the hell is wrong with this dude right now? Like, why would he be playing something like that? Actually, I should get a Tardy come up and be like,.
- 0:06:22 Kool to talk about, man. I'm excited. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
Pavel Durov arrested in France, and how it hit the TON blockchain
- 0:07:05 Dave Alright. Let's get into, I mean, there's a lot. Obviously, like, let's start with the big elephant in the room. Let's talk real quick, Pablo Durab. Obviously, the arrest, what this means. I know we talked about it. I…
- 0:09:09 Kool Yeah. So in the... So I I I, you know, I just think that there's a lot going on. I think there's a lot of conspiracy stuff going on. This wasn't... This is planned, man. This is a 100% planned. This
- 0:13:00 Dave taunting me like that, Nat? He goes on mute then comes right back off with Junie just playing in the background. Like, that ain't... You ain't right. Cool.
NatNat on the New York Times update about the investigation behind the detention
- 0:13:33 NatNat Yeah. That's the most random thing to the most random piece of news to pop up on a weekend. Right? But I was reading into it further. There was... The New York Times actually updated the story a few hours ago, and they…
- 0:14:55 Kool May... Now now please... That's... So so this is this is this is why it's it's so unfortunate, though, because this is the reason why, this is just a bunch of crap, bunch of bullshit, man, because they... This happens…
- 0:16:35 NatNat I agree with you 100%, but we're just educating the, our listeners as to, like, both sides of the story here. That's what the New York Times updated today. But those of us in this business for a very long time, we…
UAE demands that France give consular access to the Telegram CEO
- 0:18:01 Dave And there's a lot of people also that are watching this, like, really closely. Right? Like, I'm looking on Mario's page now. UAE demands France provide consular access to Telegram CEO. They don't wanna give him access…
- 0:18:32 Kool Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He... He's a French citizen, a Russian citizen. I think he he lives in Dubai. I don't know if he has a... Since it would... With with with UAE, though.
- 0:18:42 Dave So he has an Emirati passport. 100% that I know. So, yeah, French and and Russian. Right? It says, who was arrested by the French authorities in in a Paris airport, emphasizing that The UAE has submitted a request to…
Ross Ulbricht comparison, the Tucker Carlson interview, and whether platform builders should be liable
- 0:19:35 Dave But, like, let's talk about this for a second. Right? Let's let's just talk about the general, like like, really what this is. And I and I actually did... I don't know if it was Mario or somebody else that that that…
- 0:22:59 Dave Yeah. Elon, the top of biggest target on his back right now?
- 0:25:35 Kool No. Yeah. So they... They've already they've already tried to kill crypto multiple times already. I mean, that that one is a bit different because it's they try to kill it multiple times, and it doesn't die. You can't…
What the arrest means for TON long term, compared with BNB
- 0:31:07 NatNat So what do we think that this means for the ton block chain? What do do we think that it's going to... Because it's been down. Since the news came out, it has been down. So do we think that it's going to hinder it for…
- 0:31:31 Kool The the... So so this is similar to the, the, BNB token. So the the problem is this. I I made a tweet, like, couple days ago or yesterday. I think I said b... BNB went from 500 to 200 to 700. But but the difference is…
- 0:33:54 Dave Yeah, man. It's gonna be interesting to watch to say the least. You know? Yeah. I... The the story in and of itself is crazy. You know what I thought at one point? And then we can move on, like, right after this. My my…
How the nightly Thon story time spaces work
- 0:35:47 Dave Yeah. A lot of peep... Like, so for those that don't know, like, what we do. Right? So we we host spaces Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Right? And, ultimately, what we're gonna be doing is we've…
India's CBDC pilot reaches 5,000,000 people
- 0:36:51 Dave We went from being, like... He went from being, like, a normal kid, right, to ultimately being a normal kid to maybe he's the chosen one. Maybe he's the one that, you know, saves the world, and and we come back to the…
- 0:40:59 NatNat Yeah. I think this is also very interesting, and I agree with Ku. And I believe, the reserve bank of Bank of India also has some reservations about it because they said... The RBI governor, he stressed that they need…
- 0:41:58 NatNat Yeah. Because it sounds like the RBI governor... The Reserve Bank of India's governor, he's very cautious about it. He's not he's not too, like... He's not, like, happily doing this and jumping up and down. He has some…
Stablecoin market nears $200,000,000,000 and PYUSD grows toward $1,000,000,000
- 0:43:34 Dave You better stop with this Fortnite now, man. You better stop with this shit. Please. Better mute that phone. Yeah, man. But, look, I don't know. I'm... A CBDC, they've almost I've almost become, like, allergic to…
- 0:47:43 Dave Let's go. Then, yeah, don't mind if we're gonna touch your Fortnite stuff, so finish your game before you chime in again before I'm gonna I'm gonna kill you. Okay. Yeah. I like it too. I guess I was just asking it more…
- 0:49:24 Dave Yeah. Cool. I I hear you. I hear you. But we'll drop Fortnite and Yeah. Don't worry about it. He come back right back.
Forbes' three reasons stablecoins could have a breakout year
- 0:53:29 NatNat I'm just reading something I wanted to share here. Just to ex... Just to expand our knowledge base. Right? According to Forbes, there are three reasons why they believe that stablecoins will go on to have a breakout…
- 0:54:34 NatNat Yeah. So the three reasons Forbes listed why they believe the, stablecoins will continue to have a breakout year. Right? The last point that they stated was stablecoins are a proxy for USD leadership.
- 0:55:43 Dave We just said Coinbase is rolling out the EURC. Right? Like, the European... The Euro Stablecoin. Right? Like, if that's not the thing that's like, everything started off as, like, the USD proxy ready with USDC, with…
BlackRock's BUIDL as tokenized treasury funds cross $2,000,000,000
- 0:58:43 Dave Token... BlackRock, okay, has a program called Biddle. Right? B u I d l. Look at them trying to be cool. Like, Huddl, but Biddle. You know how we have build, they say Biddle. Right? For those that don't know, this is…
- 1:00:51 Kool don't I don't know why you think this is negative. This is not a good thing. I mean, if you want... He wants stratified to to meet, DeFi. That's what happened right now. You know, I I watched a video from... I... The…
- 1:02:43 Dave Fair. Nat... I mean, I... Just FYI for clarity. Right? I wasn't saying, like, is this... When I say good or bad thing, like, I mean, I guess the the the the freezing behind the question was, yeah, we want TradFi coming…
Powell's purple tie at Jackson Hole, rate cuts and NVIDIA earnings
- 1:04:44 Dave Let's go. I'm down. Nat Nat, what is the deal with the TradFi world in terms of Jerome Powell, blue ties, purple ties, yellow ties? I don't know whichever ties we're talking about. We're obviously getting closer…
- 1:05:23 NatNat Yeah. So on Friday, he came out... Jerome Powell came out at Jackson Hole with a purple tie. So markets rallied. Remember on Thursday, I was like, guys, this is whole saying. Purple tie means market's gonna rally. He's…
- 1:07:10 Dave Are we project... Is NVIDIA expected to absolutely smash, like like, are they... Like, what are the potential numbers or, like, what's Wall expectations, right, of what they're gonna do? Like, do they commit... Do…
Where AI and blockchain intersect: gaming, startups, trading
- 1:09:35 Dave Yeah. She said after hours. Yeah. 04:30 EST. That's what the market goes off of is EST. Yeah. I mean, think about this also. Right? Oh my god. It's so weird. I saw 06:43, and I'm just like, oh my god. We've only been…
- 1:12:18 Kool So the the finance part, I'm not I'm not too sure, but the gaming parts are more... I... That seems more promising to me I know gaming and AI already basically... Already married. Right? I think you... When you add…
- 1:14:08 Dave Yeah. Like, it's... We're gonna... I fully agree with that. Like, I love that. Like, I think, like, in order... Like, think about how many... Think about how much it takes to just launch, like, to just launch a, like…
Sony's crypto exchange plans and Soneium, plus notable stories and King Wabi on spaces and research
- 1:19:25 NatNat Yeah. I just saw this by now on, Vivek's page. Sony is going to launch Bitcoin and crypto exchange soon. I'm reading up on this now, but this is very interesting. Or is Sony making a massive play into the crypto world?…
- 1:24:13 Dave of... Oh, yeah. BlackRock put... Oh, that's right. I saw that BlackRock bought their their own ETF, putting it into their own, like like, the BlackRock, like, personal portfolio, which is hella bullish, obviously.
- 1:29:42 NatNat Yes. I will do my best to stay up as long as I can, being that tomorrow is Tuesday and mom life.
Short excerpts from the auto-generated transcript. Listen on X for the full show.