Empire
by Blockworks
Latest episode
What Do The Midterms Mean For Crypto And AI?
What Do The Midterms Mean For Crypto And AI?
About this podcast
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.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 683 episodes
- What Do The Midterms Mean For Crypto And AI? · 1 h 4 minIs the post-midterms selloff a buy-the-dip moment or a hard pass? This week, Jason and Rob sit down with Matthew Sigel of VanEck as the AI trade implodes following the…
- Will Druck Kick Off The Next Phase of Crypto's Bull Market? · 58 minDruckenmiller is bullposting TradeXYZ and you're bearish? This week, we break down the TradFi incumbents suddenly leaning into crypto rails and what it means for the startups…
- Cybersecurity Panic, Nationalizing AI, The Model Squeeze & Can't Own Anything · 1 h 6 minIs AI about to make the whole internet a target? This week, we unpack the PHP exploit wave and why crypto saw this cybersecurity attack pattern first. We also explore whether…
- Which Businesses Will Survive AI? | Michael Dempsey · 1 h 10 minWill the AI labs eat everything or is tech just too sure of itself to tell what actually lasts? This week, Compound's Michael Dempsey explains why he invests against the herd in…
- Is The AI Debt Bubble Finally Popping? | Weekly Roundup · 1 h 4 minIs AI's infinite capital era finally running out of road? This week, we unpack the AI bloodbath and why credit markets are flashing warnings while crypto quietly holds its…
- Kamino's Plan To Make Tokenized Assets Actually Useful | Michael Weisz · 56 minIs tokenization pointless until you can borrow against it? This week, we sit down with Kamino's new CEO Michael Weisz on why he left fintech to build the onchain credit layer…
- Jeff Yan On Hyperliquid’s Plan To Bring All Finance Onchain · 31 minWhat if Hyperliquid’s biggest opportunity is helping the exchanges it’s compared against? This week, Hyperliquid Labs CEO & Co-founder Jeff Yan explains how Hyperliquid is…
- Compute Is A Trillion-Dollar Market Trading In Group Chats | Brett Harrison & Andrawes Bahou · 1 h 5 minHow do you price a commodity that still clears in text messages? This week, we're joined by Brett Harrison of Architect and Andrawes Bahou of Compute Desk to discuss why GPU…
- Everyone Is Watching AI While Crypto’s Bull Market Builds | Weekly Roundup · 60 minAI is absorbing investor attention while crypto fundamentals keep improving and fueling growing signs of the long-awaiting bull market. This week, we debate the economics behind…
- Markets Sending, Just Buy Consensus, Meta's AI Moment & Who Wins Tokenization? | Weekly Roundup · 51 minDo markets even need CLARITY when quality names and regulators are already sending? This week, we dig into pro-innovation regulators and consensus momentum trades outperforming…
- CLARITY Failed, Many Stablecoins Debate, Circle Launches Arc & Meta's AI Edge | Weekly Roundup · 1 h 3 minCLARITY failed, but SEC and CFTC action could still accelerate onchain markets. This week, we cover what's next for crypto regulation, debate the many-stablecoin thesis, and dig…
- The Six Tokens To Own This Cycle | Yan Liberman · 59 minWhich tokens are actually worth owning in today’s market? This week, Yan Liberman shares his six-token portfolio and the framework behind each position. We dig into productive…
- Memecoins Are Stress-Testing The Future Of Tokenized Stocks | Weekly Roundup · 44 minWhat happens when memecoin speculation collides with onchain equities? This week, Jason and Santi unpack why Robinhood’s tokenized stocks may be crypto’s hottest new…
- Cloudflare CEO: The Man Deciding The Internet’s Next Business Model · 1 h 11 minWhat happens when AI agents become the internet’s dominant users? This week, Jason sits down with Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince to explore how AI agents could fundamentally…
- Robinhood Is Proving Distribution Captures Crypto’s Value | Weekly Roundup · 1 h 9 minCan Robinhood turns the crypto trenches into a serious business? This week, we unpack Robinhood Chain’s explosive growth and what it could mean for tokenized markets, Ethereum…
- Beezie & Collector Crypt CEOs on Why Onchain Collectibles Are Exploding · 1 h 0 minTokenized collectibles are one of the hottest markets right now, turning an antiquated resale market into a liquid, gamified form of commerce built around collectors. This week…
- Story vs Valuation, Hyperliquid TAM, Pump’s Problem & Ethena’s Token Reset · 1 h 3 minWhat matters more in today’s market: the numbers or the story investors believe? This week, we debate crypto’s rebound and why markets increasingly reward narrative, momentum…
- New SEC Crypto Proposal Could Finally Fix Tokens · 55 minCan new regulations finally fix the broken token market? This week, we debate whether the SEC’s new crypto framework meaningfully changes token design, capital formation, and…
- Uniswap Is Building The Liquidity Network For Everything | Hayden Adams · 1 h 16 minWhat 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…
- Crypto’s Speculation Problem, Regulation Without CLARITY & The Gambling Economy · 1 h 0 minCrypto 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…
- Morpho Is Coming For The $200 Trillion Credit Market | Paul Frambot · 1 h 8 minIs 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…
- Venture Mandates, Cloudflare Wallets, Circle Earnings & Saddam Hussein Patek Philippe · 1 h 13 minWhat 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…
- AI Fatigue, Robinhood & Every Market Becoming Crypto | Weekly Roundup · 1 h 2 minWhat happens when every market starts trading like crypto? This week, Santi and Rob examine how leverage, automation, and retail speculation are exporting crypto-style…
- Robinhood's Plan to Bring Global Finance Onchain | Johann Kerbrat · 43 minWhat 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…
- The Bill That Could Reshape Crypto In America with Greg Xethalis from Multicoin · 45 minIs 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…
- Clarity Window Closing, Robinhood Eating Ethereum Value & Coinbase's Base Reset · 1 h 14 minCrypto'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…
- Fomo Co-Founders on Building the Social Network for Finance · 1 h 14 minWhat happens when crypto finally builds a trading experience for everyone, not just crypto natives? This week, Jason sits down with fomo co-founders Paul and Se to discuss why…
- Crypto's Value Capture Problem & Why Robinhood Built Its Own Blockchain · 1 h 13 minAI and distribution moats are forcing investors to separate real business transformation from crypto’s unresolved value-capture problem. This week, Jason and Santi discuss what…
- What’s Circle’s End Game, Robinhood Launches A Chain & Venice Raises $65M · 1 h 17 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the announcement of OUSD and what it means for the future of Circle. We then deep dive into Robinhood’s recent…
- Can You Really Buy A House Without Selling Your Crypto? | Vishal Garg · 49 minThis week, Vishal Garg joins the show to discuss how crypto and AI are reshaping the mortgage market. We deep dive into Better’s business model, why the mortgage market is so…
- State of The Market, The Prediction Market Wars & Kraken Pursues Aave · 54 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the current state of markets as worries around Strategy drag crypto lower. We then deep dive into the competition in…
- Optimism Co-Founders: What Happened to the L2s? Ben Jones & Karl Floersch · 1 h 9 minThis week, Ben Jones and Karl Floersch join the show to discuss what happened to the L2s. We take a deep dive into Optimism's new strategy for 2026, the current state of…
- Anthropic's Fable Banned, Will Microstrategy Blow Up & Structuring A Portfolio in 2026 · 1 h 10 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss why the US government placed export controls on Anthropic's Fable model. We then deep dive into open vs close sourced…
- The Bull Case For Hyperliquid | Ryan Watkins · 1 h 8 minThis week, Ryan Watkins join the show to discuss the current state of crypto and where he sees the most opportunity in 2026. We deep dive into running a crypto fund in 2026, do…
- Blockworks Acquires Messari · 29 minIn this special episode, Blockworks announces its acquisition of Messari and unpacks what it means for crypto’s next phase. Michael and Jason explore why Messari’s breadth of…
- CFTC Chair Michael Selig On Perps, Prediction Markets & Crypto In The U.S · 1 h 2 minThis week, CFTC Chair Michael Selig joins the show to discuss the CFTC's recent policy announcement on perps in the U.S. We deep dive into how to regulate crypto in the U.S…
- SpaceX’s $1.75T IPO, Strategy Sells Bitcoin & Crypto’s Hard Reset · 1 h 16 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the upcoming SpaceX IPO with early investor Ryan Zurrer. We deep dive into how to value SpaceX, why this crypto bear…
- Avichal Garg On Investing in Crypto, AI and Ethereum’s Path Forward · 1 h 1 minThis week, Avichal Garg joins the show to discuss how he is currently allocating to crypto in 2026. We deep dive into the opportunity in crypto and AI venture, how to build a…
- Why’s Everyone So Bearish, Robinhood's AI Agent and SoFi's Stablecoin Launch · 1 h 2 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss why everyone in crypto feels so bearish. We then dive deep into whether stablecoins significantly improve payment…
- Hyperliquid Just Had It's Breakout Moment · 58 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss why Hyperliquid is having its breakout moment by capitalizing on the trillion dollar IPO wave. We then deep dive into…
- Figure Co-Founder: How Figure Became A $10B Business | Mike Cagney · 1 h 14 minThis week, Mike Cagney joins the show to discuss Figure and how it became the leading non-bank HELOC lender in the U.S. We deep dive into how Figure leverages blockchain rails to…
- AI Feels Like Crypto In 2017, Circle Raises $222M and Anthropic Cracks Down On SPVs · 1 h 16 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the current AI mania and how it feels similar to crypto in 2017. We then deep dive into Circle's $222M raise…
- How KelpDAO's $290M Exploit Nearly Killed DeFi | Stani Kulechov & Mike Silagadze · 59 minThis week, Stani Kulechov & Mike Silagadze join the show to discuss the aftermath of the KelpDAO exploit. We deep dive into why this hack could have potentially killed DeFi…
- Big Tech Earnings, DeFi United and Pump Fun’s Token Burn · 1 h 2 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the current state of markets during earnings season. As equities push to new all time highs on stronger than expected…
- A Quantum Fork is Coming to Bitcoin | Alex Pruden & Philip Martin · 1 h 5 minThis week, Alex Pruden & Philip Martin join the show to discuss Bitcoin's rising quantum threat. We deep dive into what is the risk from quantum, what to do with Satoshi's coins…
- DeFi’s Latest $290M Hack, Kalshi vs Polymarket & Will the Clarity Act Pass? · 1 h 13 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the latest DeFi exploit of KelpDAO which saw $290M in funds exploited. We deep dive into how to resolve the recent…
- The Blockworks Vision · 45 minThis week, Jason and Mippo sat down to discuss the Blockworks rebrand! They examine the trust problem in crypto, onchain capital markets, disclosure frameworks, industry…
- Solana vs Hyperliquid, Why Ethereum Is Overvalued & Crypto In 2026 | Logan Jastremski · 1 h 8 minThis week, Logan Jastremski joins the show to discuss his current crypto thesis in 2026. We deep dive into who wins the competition for onchain trading volume between Solana and…
- Markets Bounce Back, The Hyperliquid Thesis and Kraken Raises $200M · 58 minThis week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the current state of markets as the S&P hits a new all time high. We then deep dive into Tether's $150M recovery plan…
- How To Make DeFi Great Again | Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic & Luca Prosperi · 1 h 26 minThis week, Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic & Luca Prosperi join the show to discuss what's next for DeFi in 2026. We deep dive into why are rates so low in DeFi today, how to…
