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How Futarchy Ends the Rug Pull Era | Felipe Montealegre & Proph3t
Futarchy flips governance on its head—decisions aren’t voted on, they’re traded on. In this conversation with Felipe Montealegre of Thea Research and Proph3t, co-founder of MetaDAO, we explore how market-driven governance can eliminate the token “rug pull” problem, create true shareholder protections on-chain, and unlock the next era of crypto capital markets. From prediction markets and token design to MetaDAO’s “ownership coins,” this is how futarchy could make crypto investable again. ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:51 What is Futarchy? 4:26 US Capital Markets vs Futarchy 6:39 Futarchy Incentives 12:01 Futarchy Market Participants 16:05 A New Form of Governance 18:59 Liquidity & Insider Participation 24:03 Futarchy Genesis 31:31 Crypto Rugs 47:45 Trustworthy Tokens 53:00 Umbra Example 1:00:37 MetaDao 1:07:20 Unrugable Tokens 1:12:42 Regulation 1:18:31 What’s Next? 1:20:48 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Felipe Montealegre https://x.com/theiaresearch Proph3t https://x.com/metaproph3t MetaDao https://metadao.fi/ ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠
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ROLLUP: $19B Flash Crash | Binance Fee Leak | China L2 on ETH | $14B BTC Reserve
Markets just saw a $19B wipeout in a single day. In this week’s Weekly Rollup, we break down the Friday Flash Crash, what really caused it, and whether it signals the end of the cycle or just a reset. We also cover Binance’s leaked listing fees, a major Chinese tech company quietly building on Ethereum, and reports that the U.S. may add $14B in Bitcoin to its strategic reserve. Plus, Democrats renew their push against DeFi, and Larry Fink gears up for BlackRock’s next big crypto play. ------ 📣IMMUNEFI | CRYPTO SECURITY OS https://bankless.cc/Immunefi ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🌳KGEN | REQUEST A DEMO https://bankless.cc/KGEN-podcast 💠BIT DIGITAL ($BTBT) | ETH TREASURY https://bankless.cc/bit-digital We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors ------ TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 3:14 Markets https://x.com/sykodelic_/status/1978728444038152542 https://www.macrotrends.net/1333/historical-gold-prices-100-year-chart https://x.com/Pledditor/status/1978783238614126798 https://x.com/NateGeraci/status/1978254468970909820 https://x.com/iamDCinvestor/status/1978227611722486016 https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/1978800773480825133 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/1978441509788590590 https://x.com/growthepie_eth/status/1978460964245631206 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/1978549428114882674 https://x.com/jconorgrogan/status/1978563381880582649 https://x.com/Paxos/status/1978565015943950411 https://www.kerrisdalecap.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Kerrisdale-BitMine-Immersion.pdf https://www.strategicethreserve.xyz/ https://x.com/AltcoinDaily/status/1978562431640346760 29:31 Black Friday - (Flash Crash Friday) of 2025 https://x.com/kookcapitalllc/status/1976778625942011964 https://x.com/QuintenFrancois/status/1976906323058213118 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1976664345435414918 https://x.com/diogenes/status/1976947177520808270 https://x.com/TedPillows/status/1977000112216805431 https://x.com/diogenes/article/1976947177520808270/media/1976938624139841536 https://x.com/0xdoug/status/1976850615621107743 https://x.com/wacy_time1/status/1976772080768368886 https://x.com/lighter_xyz/status/1976855873344749847 https://x.com/Rabby_io/status/1912055838702784639 https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/1976777483824644454 https://x.com/traderview2/status/1976762799159234661 https://x.com/cobie/status/1976788855006302686 https://x.com/kris/status/1976939942254461094 https://x.com/RaoulGMI/status/1976875434785554831 48:21 Binance listing fees were leaked https://x.com/sjdedic/status/1852049944380932142 https://x.com/cjhtech/status/1978039748565532700 https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1978095944232026236 https://x.com/CryptoDefiLord/status/1978353232838623581 https://x.com/PhilOnChain/status/1978498099493621941 https://x.com/ViktorBunin/status/1978445847235907632 https://x.com/cz_binance/status/1978391907374899379 https://x.com/gregosuri/status/1853219191391650137 https://www.bankless.com/podcast/exposing-binances-listing-fees-cj-hetherington 54:05 MEGAETH VS MONAD TOKENS https://x.com/monad/status/1978525785800495400 https://x.com/megaeth_labs/status/1978449245931012439 https://www.bankless.com/read/news/megaeth-commences-mega-ico-registration-on-cobies-sonar-platform 58:01 Ant Group - Alipay introduced its L2 https://x.com/james_gaps/status/1978350046861984079 https://x.com/Jrag0x/status/1978358112458342697 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/1978431508575613213 59:51 Ethereum Phone - dGEN1 left the factory https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1976710468539715895 1:01:19 US seized 127,000 BTC linked to pig butchering scam https://x.com/zoomerfied/status/1978101347401539638 https://x.com/SilvermanJacob/status/1978121251303334130 https://x.com/business/status/1978122242895630685 https://x.com/tayvano_/status/1978273602719158448 https://x.com/zackbshapiro/status/1978151239796854817 1:06:02 Dems countered the Market Structure bill https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/1976380118437331425 https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/1976678889909805501 1:08:54 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠
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Is Lighter Ethereum's L2 Perp DEX? | Founder Vlad Novakovski
A $19B liquidation wave hit crypto 10 days after Lighter’s public mainnet—so we asked founder/CEO Vladimir Novakovski why they built a ZK L2 Perp DEX on Ethereum, how the escape hatch actually protects users, and what really happened under extreme stress. We dig into ADL vs. LLP, trader-first design, and why verifiability (not vibes) should govern order matching and liquidations. Vlad shares throughput targets, why Lighter chose custom ZK circuits over a generalized ZKVM, and what’s next: Spot, universal cross-margin, and a ZKVM sidecar for a broader platform play. We close with lessons from the cascade, realistic tradeoffs of being an L2, and how L2Beat “stage upgrades” fit into the roadmap. --- 📣IMMUNEFI | CRYPTO SECURITY OS https://bankless.cc/Immunefi --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🌳KGEN | REQUEST A DEMO https://bankless.cc/KGEN-podcast 💠BIT DIGITAL ($BTBT) | ETH TREASURY https://bankless.cc/bit-digital We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 3:04 Guest Intro & ZK L2 “Why” 4:58 L2 Security & Verifiability 11:35 Verifiable Matching & Liquidations 14:02 Mainnet Launch & Liquidation Stress Test 18:16 Outage: Timeline & Make-Good 18:58 Scorecard: Lighter vs Hyperliquid vs Binance 22:20 ADL 101: Why Automated Deleveraging Exists 32:32 “Customer-First” Design Stance 38:32 Takeaways: Transparency, Proofs, Details 41:48 Causes Considered & Vlad’s Market Lens 49:31 Why a Perp DEX: Product & Fit 57:42 L1 vs L2: Tradeoffs, Sovereignty, Incentives 1:06:45 Roadmap: Spot, ZKVM Sidecar, Cross-Margin, New Markets 1:11:21 Points, Token Timing & Transparency 1:15:31 Closing Thoughts --- RESOURCES Vladimir Novakovski https://x.com/vnovakovski Lighter https://x.com/lighter_xyz --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
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Exposing Binance's Listing Fees | CJ Hetherington
Binance listing fees, finally out in the open. CJ Hetherington, Founder of Limitless, published the offer he received after no NDA. 8% of total token supply and $250k. We dig into why the founders accept deals like this, the hidden sell pressure, and how onchain price discovery can replace CEX gatekeeping. CJ also breaks down Limitless on Base, instant-settlement price markets, and the path to Coinbase via Aerodrome. ------ 📣IMMUNEFI | CRYPTO SECURITY OS https://bankless.cc/Immunefi ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🌳KGEN | REQUEST A DEMO https://bankless.cc/KGEN-podcast 💠BIT DIGITAL ($BTBT) | ETH TREASURY https://bankless.cc/bit-digital We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Centralized Exchange Listing Fees 3:08 The Binance Drama Unfolds 3:41 Introducing Limitless 5:00 Conversation with CJ 15:28 The Hidden Costs of Listing Fees 25:17 The Future of Onchain Markets 28:44 Building on Base 32:39 Limitless: A New Prediction Market 43:43 Exploring Limitless Features 53:10 User-Generated Markets & Censorship 1:06:10 How to Engage with Limitless ------ RESOURCES CJ https://x.com/cjhtech Limitless https://x.com/trylimitless ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
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Tom Lee & Arthur Hayes: How Crypto Flips Wall Street
Tom Lee and Arthur Hayes map how crypto is flipping Wall Street: BTC at fresh highs, ETH’s comeback, and a surge of institutional capital, tokenization, and stablecoin rails. Tom lays out Bitmine’s big ETH accumulation and bold targets (BTC $200–250k, ETH $10–12k), while Arthur dives into cycles, liquidity, why perps outshine leveraged ETFs, and the looming clash between prediction markets and TradFi. Plus: banks turning into on-chain tech companies and what Tether’s rise signals for the new banking stack. Please visit https://fundstrat.com/tom for complimentary access to Tom Lee's daily market updates, real-time market alerts, live webinars, and curated stock lists. ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🌳KGEN | REQUEST A DEMO https://bankless.cc/KGEN-podcast 🐂BULLISH | TRADING COMPETITION https://bankless.cc/trading-competition 💠BIT DIGITAL ($BTBT) | ETH TREASURY https://bankless.cc/bit-digital We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:42 BTC All Time Highs 5:07 ETH Performance & Bitmine 9:32 DATs Market 15:26 4-Year Cycles 25:32 5% Bitmine’s Target 28:00 Tom’s Involvement in Ethereum 32:42 ETH’s Position 38:37 Compute for Finance 40:53 Tether’s $500B Valuation 44:57 USDT Flips BTC? 46:35 Crypto Equities 48:26 Hacks & Exploits 50:39 Financial Entertainment 55:13 Perps 58:38 Price Targets 1:00:45 2026 Wish List 1:03:06 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Tom Lee https://x.com/fundstrat Arthur Hayes X - https://x.com/cryptohayes IG - https://www.instagram.com/cryptohayes/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-hayes-b493b42/ Substack - https://cryptohayes.substack.com/ Bitmine https://bitminetech.io/ Fundstrat https://fundstrat.com/tom Maelstrom https://maelstrom.fund/ ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
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